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How Experts Make YouTube Videos Worth Millions — Transcript

by Wes McDowell · 2,590 words · 388 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00YouTube is changing. Huge creators are
0:02seeing their views drop by as much as
0:0450%.
0:05But at the same time, a very specific
0:08type of creator in some of the most
0:11boring niches you can think of are
0:13silently building million-dollar
0:14businesses, and they're doing it by
0:17leading with [music] proof instead of
0:19all the usual YouTube advice you've
0:21heard a thousand times. So, if you're an
0:23expertise-based business owner who's
0:26been on the fence about starting a
0:27channel, this shift is exactly the
0:30opening that you've been waiting for.
0:31Today, I'm going to show you what these
0:33creators are doing differently and why
0:35the old playbook for businesses on
0:37YouTube is not only dead, it's actually
0:39hurting your credibility. And then
0:41later, I'm going to give you my exact
0:43content stack that over 1,200 of my
0:45students are now using to stand out
0:48ahead of their competition from day one.
0:50All right, so let's start with what's
0:52happening right now on YouTube because
0:54this shift didn't come out of nowhere.
0:56You know, for years the playbook for
0:57business channels on YouTube was simple.
0:59Make easy explainers and how-to videos
1:02like five things you need to know about
1:04X or a beginner's guide to Y. Just
1:07general step-by-step walk-throughs. That
1:09was how they proved they knew their
1:11stuff. And for a long time, that worked.
1:14But AI ate the information layer.
1:17ChatGPT now has 900 million weekly
1:20users, and almost 80% of those
1:22conversations are people just asking for
1:25the exact kind of how-to advice that
1:27businesses were building their YouTube
1:29channels on. On top of that, Google's
1:31own AI now just summarizes that kind of
1:34content right in the search results. So,
1:36people will get their answer without
1:39ever clicking on a video. The [music]
1:40information-only layer of every
1:43profession is being replaced in real
1:45time. And YouTube's algorithm is moving
1:48in the same direction. [music] They're
1:49actively prioritizing videos that go
1:52beyond just the facts. I see this all
1:55the time with my own students, too. You
1:56know, video formats that used to be
1:58reliable, the kind of titles you could
2:00post and almost guarantee views, are now
2:04consistently underperforming across
2:06every niche I work in. Now, it's not
2:08that the formats got worse, the viewer
2:10just doesn't need [music] them the same
2:12way anymore. Now, if you're hearing this
2:14and thinking, "Great, you know, so the
2:15one strategy everyone told me to use is
2:17dead before even started." Hang on,
2:20because the thing that replaced it is
2:22way better for you, and it's something
2:24that you already have. Think about how
2:26people actually learn things now.
2:28Someone has a question, so they ask
2:31ChatGPT or Google AI and they get a
2:34solid answer in about 10 seconds. But
2:37for many searches, that's not enough.
2:39People want to go deeper than that. So,
2:41they then go to YouTube and they watch a
2:43couple videos on the topic just to kind
2:45of see if the AI was right and to fill
2:48in the gaps that it didn't cover. But
2:51what do they find there?
2:52Every video saying the same thing, the
2:54same advice, same framework, same
2:57surface-level tips that ChatGPT already
3:00gave them. So, by the second or third
3:01video they watch, their brain just
3:03checks out, you know, "I've heard all
3:05this before." And then they leave. So,
3:07if you're starting a channel right now,
3:09this is actually the opportunity of a
3:11lifetime because the bar for information
3:14content is gone. Your viewer already
3:17knows what to do. The real question that
3:19you can answer is, "What do I do when
3:23that doesn't work?" So, think about the
3:25last time you bought anything from IKEA,
3:27right? You get the little manual with
3:29clean, clear diagrams, and technically,
3:32it's correct from start to finish. But
3:33then you start building, and uh-oh, your
3:36floor is slanted, so the thing wobbles
3:39no matter how closely you follow the
3:40steps. Or you strip a screw hole by
3:43tightening too hard and nothing grips
3:44anymore. Or the pre-drilled holes don't
3:46quite line up, and forcing it is going
3:49to crack the particle board. None of
3:50those problems are covered in your
3:52precious little manual. It assumes
3:54you've got a flat floor, perfect parts,
3:56and a builder who never makes a mistake.
3:58That's what information content is.
4:00[music] Technically correct, but
4:02practically useless the moment real life
4:04doesn't match the diagram. The person
4:06you actually need in that moment is the
4:08one who's built 200 of those dressers
4:10and says,
4:11>> "This happens all the time. Most floors
4:13are a little off. And whatever you do,
4:14don't force those holes when they don't
4:16line up. Run a bar of soap along the
4:18screw threads first."
4:19>> That's experience content. And the fact
4:21that he can say this happens all the
4:23time, that's proof. That's what makes
4:26you trust him. And that's exactly what
4:28you have if you've been doing client
4:30work for years. You've been on those
4:31crooked floors. You've stripped those
4:33screws yourself. You know what the
4:35manual doesn't say. The old YouTube
4:37playbook told you to just make the
4:39manual. The new one says to make videos
4:42from the perspective of the guy who's
4:44built lots of dressers in less than
4:47perfect conditions. That's why this
4:49shift is your perfect opening. Not
4:51despite being late to YouTube, but
4:53because [music] of it. All your
4:54competition who've been making those
4:55IKEA manual videos for 3 years now have
4:58a library full of content that's losing
5:00value every day. But you're starting
5:02fresh with the exact thing [music] that
5:04YouTube now rewards. And while we're at
5:06it, I put my entire system into my
5:09unlimited YouTube clients playbook. The
5:11link to that is in the description if
5:12you want to grab it. But just having
5:14experience isn't [music] enough, you
5:15know. There are thousands of experienced
5:18professionals on YouTube right now.
5:20Consultants with over a decade of client
5:21work, accountants who filed thousands of
5:23returns, and a lot of them are barely
5:26getting traction either. That's because
5:28experience you can't prove looks exactly
5:31the same as no experience at all. Let me
5:33show you what I mean. There's a woman
5:34named Deborah Niemann who runs a YouTube
5:36channel called For the Love of Goats. 20
5:39years ago she bought some goats because
5:40she wanted to make cheese, and
5:42unfortunately, they started dying on
5:44her. So, she spent the next 20-plus
5:46years figuring out how to keep them
5:49alive. [music]
5:50And today, she runs a full business off
5:52that expertise. Her channel feeds into
5:55her courses that she sells. Someone else
5:57in her niche should probably you just
5:59make a video called, you know, how to
6:00raise goats for beginners, the IKEA
6:02manual version. But she goes deeper.
6:05Which medications did the vets prescribe
6:07that actually make things worse? Which
6:09breeding combinations produce healthier
6:11goats? No AI is generating that. No
6:14beginner can fake it. She teaches what
6:16only 20 years of dead goats can teach
6:18you. But here's where a lot of people
6:20get this wrong. They think proof is as
6:22simple as just saying, "I'm an expert."
6:24or flashing income screenshots. That's
6:27the weakest kind of proof and now it's
6:29actually harmful. That old playbook,
6:31it's been so exposed that it just brings
6:33out skepticism, not trust anymore. And
6:36here's the crazy part, you know,
6:37imperfect proof builds more trust than a
6:40perfect highlight reel. Research
6:42actually shows that sharing honest
6:44failures scores 44% higher in
6:47credibility. YouTube isn't rewarding
6:49people who perform success. It's
6:51rewarding the people who lead with real,
6:54proven, messy experience. Your scars are
6:57the star attraction here. So, if you're
6:59sitting there thinking that you don't
7:01have anything impressive enough to share
7:02on YouTube, you're looking at it
7:04backwards. [music] Your messy client
7:06stories, the mistakes you made early on,
7:08the problems that you now can catch in 5
7:10minutes that used to take you weeks,
7:13that's the content. All the messiness is
7:15what actually makes it credible. And
7:17this isn't theory, either. There are
7:18people building massive businesses right
7:20now by doing exactly this in the most
7:23boring niches you can think of. Roger
7:25Wakefield is a master plumber in Texas
7:27with over 40 years of experience and he
7:30started his YouTube channel in 2018
7:33because his plumbing business was
7:34failing on him. Now he's got 700,000
7:36subscribers and more work than he knows
7:39what to do with in plumbing. [music]
7:41And his content isn't, you know, how to
7:42unclog a drain. It's which drain
7:44cleaners will destroy your pipes even
7:47though the label says they're safe. And
7:48what a $200 repair turns into when you
7:51ignore it for 6 months. This is the
7:53stuff that only 40 years of being inside
7:55people's homes can teach you. And the
7:57proof is right there on camera every
7:59time he pulls out a destroyed pipe out
8:01of a wall and shows you exactly why it
8:03failed. And I have a student named Kayla
8:05who just started this channel a few
8:07months ago that helps [music]
8:08freelancers make more money on the
8:10Upwork marketplace. When she first
8:12started, she was making videos like
8:14Upwork rates for beginners and Upwork
8:17contracts explained. The kind of stuff
8:19that ChatGPT could probably handle in a
8:21few seconds. But then, pretty early on,
8:24she made a bit of a shift. So, she
8:26started making videos from her actual
8:28experience.
8:29>> [music]
8:29>> Like, if I had to start over on Upwork,
8:31my exact plan. Worst Upwork jobs to
8:34avoid. And stop wasting connects on
8:36Upwork. And you'll notice that the
8:38videos where she teaches from what she
8:40learned doing Upwork for years, from her
8:42own scars, are now her top performers by
8:45a mile. None of these people are in a
8:47glamorous niche, yet they're all
8:49thriving on YouTube because their
8:51content proves they've done the work.
8:54And that proof is what's going to turn a
8:55viewer into a client, whether you've got
8:57300 subscribers or a million. Whether
9:00you've been doing what you do for 5
9:02years or 40. So, how do you actually
9:05build your content this way from the
9:06start? [music]
9:07I came up with what I call the scar
9:09scale. Now, this is how you create real
9:12content from your scars, not just from
9:14scripts. Most professionals who start on
9:16YouTube default to making content at the
9:19two most basic levels. And [music] those
9:21two levels are exactly where AI can
9:25replace you before you even post your
9:26first video. The content that gets
9:28clients lives at two deeper levels that
9:31most people never even touch. So, let me
9:33walk you through all four so you can see
9:35the difference. S is for surface. This
9:38is pure information only content. Let's
9:41say you're a web designer. So this might
9:43be a video called five things every high
9:46converting website needs. This is the
9:49Google-able layer and it's also what
9:51chat GPT answers perfectly. So if
9:53someone can get the same answer from AI
9:55in 30 seconds, you're at an S level
9:58here. C is for competence. In other
10:00words, how does this actually work in
10:03practice? These are videos where you
10:04show the process, right? [music] A
10:06screen share of you building a homepage
10:07layout, walking through your wireframing
10:10process in real time. It's better than
10:12level one because you're showing, not
10:14just telling, but any qualified designer
10:17>> [music]
10:17>> could give the same walk-through. You're
10:19just building that IKEA dresser on a
10:21perfectly flat floor in a well-lit
10:23studio. Useful? Yes. Replaceable? Also
10:27yes. So the S and the C here are the
10:30IKEA manual. That's the default for most
10:33people starting a channel. But what
10:34comes next is where the clients live. A
10:37is for adversity. In other words, when
10:39does this break and what did you do
10:41about it? So this is the web designer
10:43who says, "A client came to me after
10:45spending 15 grand on a site that looked
10:47incredible and got zero leads. I've seen
10:49this exact pattern at least 30 times
10:50now. Here's the section I add that fixes
10:52it every time." The specific client
10:54situation, the specific pattern from
10:56doing the work, the number of times
10:57you've seen it. That's proof baked
11:00directly into the content. You'll learn
11:02this from doing the work, not from
11:04reading about it. And finally, R is for
11:07reframe. These videos answer why most
11:10people get this completely wrong and
11:12what to focus on instead. So the web
11:14designer would say here, "Everyone
11:16obsesses over homepage design, but after
11:18building 200 client sites, I can tell
11:20you the page that actually makes or
11:21breaks your revenue is one most
11:23businesses don't even have." That's not
11:25just a tip. That's a complete reframe of
11:28how someone thinks about their website.
11:30That takes the years of pattern
11:31recognition. No AI can generate it, no
11:34beginner can fake it. And the depth of
11:36proof saying after 200 client sites is
11:39what gives it its authority. So, if S
11:41and C are the IKEA manual, A and R is
11:45the person who built the 200 dressers on
11:47200 different crooked floors. If your
11:49content lives at A and R, you have no
11:52real competition because nobody else has
11:55your lived experience. Your scars are
11:57your own and no one else has earned them
11:59except for you. Now, I'm not saying
12:01every video you make needs to live at
12:03the two deepest levels. Any healthy
12:06growing channel still needs that top
12:08level content, too. Those videos target
12:10search phrases and bring new people in
12:12the door. And some of your most serious
12:14potential clients actually would want a
12:16human to explain a simple concept or to
12:19watch you walk through a process. They
12:21want to see how you think, how you lay
12:23things out, or whether your approach
12:25feels right for their situation. And
12:27that's an example of C-level content
12:30doing real work for your business.
12:31>> [music]
12:32>> I'm just saying don't stop there. You
12:34want to layer your scars into it. So,
12:36when you're making that S level video
12:38about the five things every website
12:41needs, drop in a client story, you know,
12:43reference the pattern that you've seen
12:45over and over again. Mention the thing
12:47that the steps [music] don't prepare you
12:49for. Just one real experience woven into
12:52an otherwise informational video changes
12:55everything about how it lands. So, think
12:57of the scar scale less like four boxes
12:59you pick from and more like a dial. The
13:02further you turn it toward the bottom,
13:04the harder your content's going to be to
13:05replicate and the faster your viewers
13:08turn into clients. Even turning that
13:10dial just one click down makes your
13:12content something that AI can't touch.
13:14So, now you know what kind of content to
13:15make. The next question is how it all
13:18fits together because the scar scale is
13:20one piece of a bigger system. What to
13:23make, how to get found, how to turn
13:25viewers into actual clients, and how to
13:27do it all without burning yourself out.
13:29And I put that whole system into one
13:31free downloadable resource called the
13:33Unlimited YouTube Clients Playbook. It's
13:35the same system that 1,200 of my
13:37students are running right now.
13:39Step-by-step, no fluff. Click right here
13:42or in the description below, and you're
13:43going to have a clear plan for your
13:45whole first year on YouTube. Download it
13:48right here, and I'll see you next time.

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