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How to START a Personal Brand (Full Course) — Transcript

by Caleb Ralston · 59,895 words · 8,427 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Right now, you have a choice to make.
0:02You're either building a personal brand
0:03to get followers or you're building it
0:06to get customers. Gurus would tell you
0:08that you need to make the widest content
0:10possible to get the most amount of
0:12views. But the reality is all you need
0:14to do is [music] build real trust with
0:17your ideal customer. In 2025, after 16
0:20years of building personal brands, I
0:22decided to do something crazy and build
0:25my own. And in the first 10 months, we
0:27got over 200,000 followers, 40,000
0:30people on our email list. But most
0:32importantly, we received over 750
0:35applications to work with us. In this
0:37course, I'm going to help you start your
0:39personal brand by establishing your
0:41brand positioning and building a content
0:43strategy that gets real customers, not
0:46just followers. But here's the crazy
0:47thing. There's a chance that you are
0:49here watching this video thinking that
0:51you should start your personal brand
0:52purely because you've seen somebody you
0:55admire do it and so you think this is
0:57just something that you have to do. A
0:59huge mistake that I see is people are
1:02building their personal brand just to
1:04check a box. They have never actually
1:07sat down and defined a goal or what
1:10their desired outcome is and then use
1:12that to inform whether or not they
1:13should actually build their personal
1:14brand. I actually believe that there
1:16might be a case where you don't need to
1:18do that. When I was embarking on this
1:20crazy journey of building my own
1:21business and potentially building my own
1:24personal brand, I had the fortune of
1:27being able to sit down with Gary
1:28Vaynerchuk. Uh I worked for Gary for a
1:30couple of years. When I shared with him
1:32that I was considering not only building
1:34my own consulting firm, but starting to
1:36put out content to help people build
1:39their personal brand, but then also
1:41drive awareness and conversion to my
1:43business. and his response shocked me.
1:45This is the man that preaches online
1:4824/7, everyone needs to be making
1:50content. Content is the gateway drug to
1:52what you want out of life. That's like
1:54his direct quote. But what he said to me
1:55is, I really think you should be sure
1:58that this is what you really want. You
2:00might be able to build a great business
2:02without ever making content. I want you
2:05to make sure that this fits into the
2:07life that you are building. And as you
2:09can imagine, sitting down with the
2:10content king, hearing something like
2:12that, it caused me to think twice. And I
2:16really tried to look at what am I trying
2:18to accomplish? Is making content
2:20publicly, is this necessary to
2:23accomplish that? And what I realized is
2:25that I had two main goals. The first one
2:28was that I wanted to grow my business.
2:30Theoretically, I could do that without
2:31making content. But the second goal was
2:34that I wanted to help people build a
2:37personal brand. I think there's a
2:39shitload of people teaching people how
2:40to build a bad personal brand that makes
2:42the world worse. I want to help people
2:45build personal brands that add to the
2:48world, that make the world better. I
2:49wanted to do that for a huge amount of
2:52people that I know will never work with
2:54us directly at Rston. They'll never pay
2:57us a dime. And so the first desired
3:00outcome I had, I could accomplish that
3:02without making content. The second one
3:06where I help a bunch of people for free
3:08that never work with us, I would never
3:10have been able to do that, at least at
3:11the scale that I'm looking to accomplish
3:14without making content. And so it
3:16answered the question for me. The beauty
3:20of it is now I have something to measure
3:22against. Every decision I make supports
3:25those two desired outcomes. Is this
3:28helping build the business or is this
3:30helping educate people for free? If it's
3:32not doing one of those two things, I'm
3:34probably not gonna put it out in the
3:36content. You really need to think about
3:39what it is that you are trying to
3:40accomplish and whether or not content
3:42supports that. So, all that to say, it
3:44was absolutely insane to me that Gary
3:48said this and kind of gave me a pause,
3:50but it really made me realize just how
3:52important it is to establish and
3:56understand the end goal in mind because
3:59you may realize that there are better
4:02ways of accomplishing that goal outside
4:05of making content. Here's an example.
4:07Uh, I have a friend who is in uh
4:09executive protection, okay? And let's
4:12say that this friend of mine is
4:14currently a security guard at a local
4:18mall or a local bank. We'll use the mall
4:20example. And they have the desire to
4:22work their way up into executive
4:25protection where they are protecting and
4:27being like a basically a bodyguard for
4:31somebody who is probably pretty
4:33important. If you're going to be Taylor
4:34Swift's uh EP, it's probably not a good
4:38thing if a bunch of people know who you
4:41are because you're not going to be able
4:42to move through different scenarios as
4:45discreetly. In that case, do you think
4:48that it would be a good idea to make
4:49content? Do you think that making
4:51content and building your personal brand
4:53publicly will help you accomplish your
4:57desired outcome? I'm going to go ahead
4:59and answer it for you. I'm going to say
5:00the answer is no. There are scenarios
5:03where being more publicly known actually
5:06hurts your desired outcome and makes it
5:09harder to accomplish the goal at hand
5:11rather than easier. And so what we need
5:14to do is we need to establish what is
5:17that desired outcome? What are we trying
5:19to accomplish? And does building a
5:22public personal brand and making content
5:25support that or does it hurt it? But
5:29before we get into establishing your
5:31brand positioning, I want to figure out
5:35what this goal is, this desired outcome
5:38that you have, what you're trying to
5:39achieve. A couple years ago, I came up
5:41with a framework called the brand
5:42journey framework. And it's four simple
5:44questions and it basically helps you
5:46figure out what that desired outcome is
5:49and then everything you need to do from
5:51today to get to that point. It reverse
5:54engineers all the way from the desired
5:56outcome to today. Very, very simple.
5:58very effective. But actually, before we
6:00get into the questions, we have a
6:02workbook that goes with this entire
6:04course and it allows you to take what
6:06you are hearing me say and supposedly
6:09learning and actually make sure that you
6:11learn it and apply it to your personal
6:13brand. You're going to click that link,
6:14go to the website, enter your email. We
6:16will send you the workbook for you to
6:17download and go through in accordance
6:20with this entire course. And the brand
6:22journey framework is the first exercise
6:25you're going to do. Here's the four
6:26simple questions. Question number one is
6:29what is your desired outcome? What are
6:32you wanting to achieve? The second
6:33question you'll answer is in order to
6:35achieve that desired outcome, what would
6:37I need to be known for? Right? Like what
6:39is the reputation that I need to have?
6:41The third question is in order to
6:43develop that reputation to be known for
6:46the thing to get the outcome I desire.
6:48What would you have to do? We become
6:50known for things not just by saying
6:52[ __ ] out of our mouth but by the
6:54actions that we actually take day in and
6:56day out. What are the actions you need
6:58to do to be known for the thing to get
6:59your desired outcome? The last and final
7:02question, the fourth one, what do I need
7:04to learn in order to do the things to
7:07become known for the thing to get my
7:09desired outcome? If you go through this
7:12journey, you're going to have a very
7:13clear road map on how you're going to
7:15get to your desired outcome. But then
7:17you can look at what is that end goal in
7:19mind and does making content accelerate
7:22my ability to get there or does it
7:24actually make it slower and harder for
7:26me to accomplish that goal? If the
7:28answer is it makes it easier, amazing.
7:31Let's proceed. If the answer is it
7:33doesn't make it easier and it's actually
7:34going to be harder, I would encourage
7:36you don't waste any more time on this
7:38video. The rest of this video is for
7:41those of you who have identified that
7:44making content and building a public
7:46personal brand moves you closer to your
7:48end goal. If that's the case, let's get
7:50you closer to the end goal. And the
7:52first question that I would like to
7:53address is why should anybody listen to
7:56you? You watching this, you're in one of
7:58two camps. You're either the student or
8:00the expert. And the majority of this
8:02video, to be very clear, is for the
8:04expert. But one thing that I want to
8:05call out is that some of you are
8:08actually a student who are pretending to
8:10be an expert. If you're the student, you
8:13don't have the big W's. You don't have
8:15years of experience. You're not who your
8:18audience wants to be. You're on the
8:20journey of becoming who your audience
8:22wants to become. What your job is is to
8:25be the guinea pig, to be the proxy for
8:28your audience. You do all the testing
8:30and investing that either goes well or
8:33doesn't go well. And so if you're the
8:35student, [ __ ] be the student. Don't
8:38pretend and posture as the expert. This
8:41is where I see so many people get
8:43trapped and stuck online. And what you
8:45end up doing is you burn trust forever
8:49with that audience. So for the students
8:51watching, know that you are the student.
8:53Now, the expert, I think it's it's
8:56probably pretty clear to you, although
8:57you might be somebody who would feel
8:59awkward calling yourself an expert, but
9:01if you have multiple W's on your resume,
9:05if you are the person who your audience
9:08wants to become or you have done the
9:10thing that your audience wants to do,
9:12then you are the expert and is your job
9:15to teach in public. The student is
9:17learning in public, but you are teaching
9:19in public. And there's a little bit of
9:21build in public that you can you can add
9:23into that. But the main thing that I
9:24want to focus on is that you're going to
9:26be sharing how you've accomplished what
9:28you've accomplished, the mistakes, I
9:30guess, that you've made along the way
9:31that you would encourage others to avoid
9:34when going on the same journey. But you
9:36also want to make sure that you're
9:37imparting to them the ability to go from
9:40where they are to that expert level
9:42quicker than you did. And the first
9:44thing I want to do is actually an
9:46exercise. I want to start this video off
9:47by actually taking some real action and
9:50getting some results right away for us.
9:52Okay? And so what you're going to do is
9:54there's a link in the description below
9:55this video on YouTube. Click that link,
9:57enter your email. We're going to send
9:59you the workbook. And in that workbook,
10:03there's one exercise that I really want
10:04to start off with, which is building
10:06your bank. Now, for the students
10:09watching this, and again, like I said,
10:10we're not going to talk too much to the
10:12students, but I do want to give you this
10:14cuz I think it's really useful. You're
10:15going to build what I call an interest
10:18bank. Interest as in what you are
10:20interested in. This is a running list of
10:22the things that you are studying, you're
10:24experiencing, you're experimenting with,
10:27you're learning, you're testing. These
10:29are all the things that you are on your
10:31journey of learning. And your channel is
10:34going to be documenting the process of
10:36improving or becoming better or working
10:39towards becoming the expert in this
10:42field. Now for the experts watching, you
10:45need to establish a credibility bank.
10:48This is a running list of the things
10:49that you've done, you've achieved,
10:51you've solved, you've proven the
10:52mistakes that you've made and the
10:54lessons that you learned from that.
10:56These are the things that you built.
10:57These are the successes that you have in
11:00your career. And what this does is it
11:03builds the foundation that you're going
11:05to build and amplify your personal brand
11:08off of. Now, a really important note
11:10here for some of you, you might feel
11:12like, "Ah, that's not fair." It's just
11:13the way that life is. The reality is the
11:16results that you're going to get for
11:18your personal brand do have a lot to do
11:20with what you put down in your
11:21credibility bank. Now, real quick, I
11:23don't want you to misunderstand this.
11:24I'm not saying make [ __ ] up in your
11:26credibility bank, but the more
11:28impressive the items in your credibility
11:30bank are, the more likely you are to
11:33have better than average results with
11:36growing your personal brand in the first
11:38couple of years. It's no secret to me
11:40that one of the reasons why we're having
11:42the success we're having with building
11:44my personal brand in the first year, I
11:46mean, hello, we're at over 200,000
11:48followers, over 39,000, maybe even
11:5140,000 people on our email list at this
11:53point. like it's getting kind of crazy.
11:55And I believe that we're being
11:57intentional with how we're making our
11:58content, but it's not lost on me that I
12:01have had several big public W's in my
12:04career that have added to the legitimacy
12:07and credibility that I bring into the
12:10content I'm sharing. For example, rather
12:12than listening and watching content on
12:15how to build your personal brand from
12:17somebody who has only done it for
12:18themsel, a lot of people value the fact
12:21that I have helped build multiple very
12:24big personal brands within the business
12:27creator space. And so they know that I'm
12:29not just speaking from a tactic point of
12:32view, but I'm teaching principles that
12:35work in differing scenarios. And so what
12:37I want you to do is put together your
12:39credibility bank that that's in the
12:41workbook. You can go in fill that out
12:43for yourself. And what you're going to
12:45do is this is the foundation that you
12:47draw from and you speak to because the
12:51question that we're trying to answer is
12:52why would anybody listen to you? Well,
12:54the answer is in your credibility bank.
12:57This is why people will listen to what
12:59you have to say. Because if you do more
13:01epic [ __ ] you're going to have more
13:02epic [ __ ] to talk about. It's a crazy
13:04concept. If you aren't impressed with
13:06your credibility bank, well, that's
13:09fine. You can keep rolling and start
13:11building your personal brand, but just
13:12know that you should work on building a
13:15more impressive credibility bank, which
13:17means go do cool [ __ ] For example, if
13:20I'm wanting to learn from you on how to
13:23climb a mountain, well, if you've only
13:25climbed, you know, 5,000 6,000 ft peaks,
13:30that's not that impressive to me. But if
13:32you've bagged a bunch of 14ers, you've
13:34done Everest, you've done K2 and all of
13:36these other crazy summits, well then I'm
13:39suddenly going to take what you have to
13:41say from a different frame than maybe
13:45you know Joe who has only climbed a
13:47couple local hills [snorts] as we would
13:49call them in the Northwest, not
13:50mountains. Okay? And so the more
13:53impressive your credibility, the more
13:55buyin and belief your audience will have
13:58with you and belief that what you're
14:00saying is going to lead them to the
14:02outcomes they desire. Now that we are on
14:05the path of establishing why people are
14:07going to actually listen to what we have
14:09to say, one thing that I want to stop
14:11and do real quick is address burnout.
14:14But I want to hit this from a brand
14:15perspective because I think there's ways
14:16that you can burn out from a content
14:18creation perspective, but also from
14:20actually how you're building your brand
14:22and determining your brand positioning.
14:24And I believe this happens, burnout,
14:27because most creators end up building a
14:29brand that they [ __ ] hate. You start
14:32talking about [ __ ] that you're not
14:35actually interested in or passionate
14:36about and definitely not an expert in,
14:39but you just see these trending topics
14:41that all these other personal brands
14:43have built their brand around. And so
14:46you assume that you need to do the same.
14:48But the reality is is if you don't like
14:51the brand that you are building, do you
14:53really think that you're going to stick
14:54with it for long enough to get the
14:55results that you desire? No. And so
14:58instead of trying to build a brand that
15:00the algorithm tells you, build the brand
15:03that excites you. This year there's been
15:06a lot of things that we have chosen to
15:08not do from a actual content
15:10perspective, from a brand pillar
15:12perspective, from a packaging on our
15:15content perspective that we know would
15:17actually lead to more views, more
15:19subscribers, more followers. We'd get
15:20better numbers, but it'd be building a
15:23brand that I was embarrassed of, that I
15:25wasn't proud of. I can't tell you the
15:27amount of times that I have uh met with
15:30different individuals who they make
15:32YouTube content as an example and
15:34they're consistently putting out YouTube
15:35videos. But here's an interesting little
15:37element. They won't text those YouTube
15:41videos to any of their friends. They
15:42won't share it with anybody whose
15:44opinion they actually care about. Why?
15:46Because they are embarrassed of the
15:48brand that they are building. And to me,
15:50that is just a countdown clock to
15:53quitting. If you quit, you don't get
15:55your desired outcome. And so, I really
15:58want to just take this moment really
15:59quick here for you to be very
16:01intentional with how you're crafting
16:03this. As we move through the rest of
16:05this video and the rest of the exercises
16:07that you're going to go through in your
16:08workbook, I want you to be very
16:10thoughtful. Don't think through the lens
16:12of what do people want? What is going to
16:14get the most views? What are people
16:15going to be most interested in? That's
16:17not the first question that you should
16:19be asking. The first question that you
16:20should be asking and answering is, what
16:23am I going to be most proud of? What is
16:25going to make me most stoked to continue
16:27doing this? What am I wanting to put out
16:30into the world to show who I am as a
16:32human, not this curated caricature
16:35version of me that I've crafted so that
16:37the algorithm works in my favor? What
16:41you want to do is you want to talk about
16:42your core subject matter, right? Like
16:44for me, it's personal branding. And
16:45within personal branding, you have a
16:46bunch of different subtopics. But in
16:48addition to that core subject matter,
16:50you want to inject elements that show
16:52you the human. You don't want your
16:55brand, in my opinion, to be based around
16:57just one sole thing because you, the
16:59human, more than likely, is not based
17:01around one sole thing. And so that's why
17:04in my content I will reference my
17:06Harley-Davidsons or the fact that I love
17:08metal or the fact that I'm the biggest
17:09Seahawks fan imaginable other than the
17:11guys that wear no shirts and they paint
17:13Seahawks across their chest in the
17:15middle of winter during the Seahawks
17:17games. I'm trying to share in addition
17:19to the value I'm trying to provide you.
17:20I want you to know who I am as a human.
17:23One, because I'm interested in those
17:25things. I'm passionate and I'm going to
17:26want to talk about them. When I'm
17:28sitting and talking with my friends,
17:29those subject matters and those topics
17:31naturally come up. They should be coming
17:33up in the content as well, rather than
17:35trying to hide who you are and and think
17:38that there's this this world where you
17:40only talk about one thing ever, cuz
17:42that's what so many of the gurus online
17:44have told you to do. That is maybe a way
17:47to grow really quick on the platform,
17:48but it's also a way to quit really
17:50quickly from the platform. And so again,
17:53I am trying to help you build something
17:55that is sustainable. And so I want you
17:58to take a moment and really reflect on
18:00who you are as a human. The rest of the
18:02work that we're going to do in this
18:03video needs to be based off of that. Not
18:05some ideal version that you think that
18:07your audience will desire, but who you
18:09are as a human. The next question that
18:11you should be trying to answer and solve
18:14is why would your audience care? We know
18:17why they're going to listen to us
18:19because we've established that we have
18:20the credibility that gives proof to why
18:24we have something good to say. But why
18:26are they going to care? What's in it for
18:29them? A mistake that I see you making is
18:33looking at what your competitors are
18:34doing and building your personal brand
18:37based on those findings. Aka, you're
18:39optimizing around your competitors, not
18:42your customers. Do you want more
18:44competitors? Whatever group you optimize
18:46for is the group that you're going to
18:48attract more of. If you optimize around
18:51what your customers actually want, not
18:53what your competitors are doing, but
18:54what your customers actually want and
18:56need, then you will attract more of
18:59them. So when you start with your
19:01customers, the way you do that is you
19:03identify what is the pain that they are
19:05facing. Ultimately the main reason why
19:09we as humans consume educational content
19:12is there's some problem that we are
19:14looking to solve. There's some pain that
19:16we are feeling that we want relief from.
19:19You want to start by defining what the
19:21very painful problem is and what your
19:23unique solution is to it. Your brand
19:27should be built around that. It's a
19:29combination of who you are as a human,
19:31your expertise, and solving the problems
19:34that your customers actually face.
19:36That's what they care about. You
19:38probably have somebody in your life who
19:39is kind of the the fixer, right? There's
19:42people in our lives that we know that
19:44are always fixing things. And what do we
19:46end up doing with them? We go to them
19:47when we have a problem. We also often
19:50times will recommend our friends or
19:52family go to them with that same
19:54problem. If you become known as someone
19:57who solves your ideal customers
19:58problems, guess what? More people will
20:02come to you. And so by building and
20:04optimizing your brand not around being
20:07second best to the top dogs in your
20:09space and copying everything they do,
20:11but instead you start from the place of
20:13how do I solve real painful problems for
20:16my customer. Then what you're going to
20:18find is that your brand becomes known as
20:21somebody who solves real problems, not
20:24somebody who just makes cool content
20:26online. Cool content online will get
20:28views and it will attract attention, but
20:30it doesn't build trust like solving
20:33problems does. And so, if you know your
20:35ideal customer's painful problems, then
20:38that's going to help inform you of
20:40everything else that you need to work on
20:42through the rest of this video and the
20:44workbook associated with it. So, make
20:45sure that you've downloaded the
20:46workbook. Click the link below, download
20:48that, enter your information. It's
20:50literally just your email, I think, or
20:52something like that. and we're going to
20:53email you the workbook and I want you to
20:55list out your customers painful
20:58problems. What you're going to see in
20:59the workbook is it's asking you for 10
21:01to 15. Some of you might not be able to
21:04come up with that many right now. That's
21:05okay. As many as you can. But what I
21:08will tell you is the more painful
21:09problems you identify, the more ideation
21:12you have for the content that you're
21:14going to make in the future. Now, one of
21:16the questions that we mentioned at the
21:18top of this video is how do you stand
21:20out? And I'm sure this hits a painful
21:22nerve for you because more than likely
21:25you feel at some level like your space,
21:28your niche is saturated. You feel like
21:31there are a lot of individuals who are
21:33making content talking about the thing
21:35that you would be talking about or you
21:37are currently talking about. That's very
21:39real. There are more content creators
21:41online today than ever before. I think
21:43there's something like 700,000
21:46hours of YouTube content uploaded every
21:48single day. like it's [ __ ] absurd out
21:50here. And so you need an intentional and
21:54strategic way of actually standing out.
21:57And I believe that there are three
21:59different main levers that you can pull
22:02to stand out. Now, two of them are in
22:04your content. But today, what I want to
22:06talk about is your contrarian belief.
22:09And this is the biggest lever in terms
22:11of the three levers that you can pull to
22:13stand out. I think this gives you the
22:15greatest returns out of all three. Like
22:17you can take the other two, combine
22:18them, and they won't come even close to
22:22identifying your contrarian belief. This
22:24is the way that I believe you are going
22:26to get the best traction the quickest.
22:29You know that whole 8020 principle that
22:32everybody always talks about? Well, I
22:34will tell you this is your 80%. This is
22:36the thing that's going to drive the
22:39actual growth and make all the other
22:41things and initiatives you do for
22:43growing your personal brand a lot
22:45easier. Now, when I say contrarian
22:47belief or contrarian take, people
22:50misunderstand this. I've been on
22:51podcasts where I'll say that and they
22:53immediately regurgitate it, but instead
22:55of contrarian, they say controversial.
22:58I want to distinguish and define
23:01contrarian versus controversial because
23:04I will never ever ever
23:07tell you to be controversial for
23:09controversy's sake. I think that is a
23:11terrible terrible approach. See, your
23:14contrarian belief is when you are going
23:16against the dominant belief because you
23:19actually genuinely believe it. You are
23:22incapable of not sharing this belief
23:25because at your core it's so [ __ ]
23:28true. Now, a controversial belief on the
23:30other hand is when you're taking a
23:32position because you know it's going to
23:34trigger people. This is when you design
23:36your statement to get a reaction. There
23:40are plenty of people that take this
23:41strategy on. There's plenty of people
23:43that preach it and by all means you do
23:45you, boo boo. I am all for you taking
23:48whatever approach you desire. But what I
23:50will tell you is if you build that
23:52brand, you start to get known as
23:55somebody who is controversial. For you
23:57watching this, you've probably not been
23:59in these rooms, but I've worked with
24:01some of the biggest personal brands in
24:03the business world. And what I will tell
24:05you is that they avoid people who are
24:08highly controversial, like the plague.
24:10Nobody who has a really strong
24:12established brand who is very thoughtful
24:15about the associations they make,
24:17they're not going to want to pair
24:18themselves with you. If you're building
24:21just a controversial brand for
24:23controversy's sake, most people who
24:25build a controversial brand, they're
24:27kind of known as a loose cannon. You
24:29don't know where that controversy is
24:31going to be aimed. I encourage you build
24:33a contrarian belief, not a controversial
24:36belief. Now that we have that defined,
24:38let's go into how you go about building
24:40your contrarian belief. I really want
24:43you to identify the belief that you have
24:46that is fundamentally different than the
24:49other individuals in your space, in your
24:51niche, and be able to articulate that to
24:54your audience consistently. A couple
24:56examples that I think might help you
24:58understand just how impactful having a
25:00contrarian take is. Sometimes, as a side
25:03note, the contrarian take when you hear
25:04it after the fact, you're like, "That
25:06was contrarian. That's insane." Yavon
25:08Shinard, and I I hope I'm pronouncing
25:09that right. If I'm not, let me know in
25:11the comments. He is the CEO and founder
25:13of Patagonia. And he was in an industry,
25:15the outdoor apparel world and industry,
25:17where they were hardcore about mass
25:19consumption and they prioritized profits
25:22over everything. He came onto the scene
25:25and built a company based on the belief
25:27that you should prioritize environmental
25:30stewardship aka taking care of the
25:32[ __ ] environment rather than
25:34prioritizing profits. And so his actions
25:36followed all the things that he has done
25:39within Patagonia point to the fact that
25:41he's actually caring more about the
25:43environment than he is about profits.
25:45And now he's known as the model for
25:48building an organization where it's
25:50valueled,
25:52not profitled. And another example, the
25:55final one that I want to share is Reed
25:56Hastings with Netflix. Everybody thought
25:58that people loved, absolutely adored and
26:02held tightly the ability to go to their
26:04local Blockbuster or video rental store.
26:06There was the Hollywoods and all the
26:08other ones, and pick out the VHS. They
26:09wanted to physically hold them and read
26:11the back in order to understand what the
26:13video was going to be about. And Reed
26:15had this crazy contrarian belief that
26:17actually people don't want to leave
26:18their house. They want to be able to
26:20select a movie from their couch, have it
26:22delivered to their front door, be able
26:24to watch it, and then return it without
26:26ever leaving their home. And I think
26:28it's pretty obvious uh that contrarian
26:30take kind of worked. He started by
26:34shipping DVDs, right? So that you
26:36wouldn't have to like go to the local
26:37store. you could just open your front
26:39door and boom, there it is. Watch it,
26:41open your front door, place it right
26:43back in the mailbox, and off we go. And
26:45eventually that evolved into not even
26:47having to open the front door, just
26:48having to literally flip on the switch
26:50of the TV, and boom, you can stream. And
26:53I think it's pretty clear where that
26:55contrarian take not only took Reed
26:57Hastings and Netflix, but took the
26:59entire entertainment industry as a
27:02whole. Streaming is now the number one
27:03thing. That's what everybody is doing,
27:05right? Every single network that we used
27:06to watch on cable now has their own
27:08version of an OTT. I just can't hammer
27:10home just how important it is to have
27:13your contrarian belief. This is how you
27:16are going to stand out from all the
27:18other individuals in your space in your
27:20niche. Hey, you're here because you're
27:23investing all of this time, money, and
27:25effort to build your personal brand and
27:28you're not seeing any results. You might
27:30be seeing your views going up, but often
27:32times sales aren't matching. It reminds
27:35me of one of the clients that we worked
27:36with this year. Highle media team,
27:38absolute gangsters. Yet, they hit a
27:40plateau. See, from a views and
27:42subscribers perspective, they were
27:43growing like crazy. But from a business
27:45perspective, all of this new attention
27:47was not converting into leads. It's
27:50because they thought they were making
27:51educational content when in reality they
27:54were making entertainment content. So,
27:56we walked them through our principles
27:58and tactics of how to make educational
28:00content, not entertainment. Their
28:01previous average per video was four to
28:045,000 leads. This video got over 20,000
28:07leads. And even though they weren't
28:08optimizing for this, that video ended up
28:11being their number three video of the
28:13entire year with over a million views.
28:16This is why we created Rson Select.
28:18Click the link in the description below
28:19if you want more information. Now, let's
28:21get back to the video. So, clearly a
28:23great business and a great brand can be
28:25built off of a contrarian belief. But
28:28the question that you are probably
28:30asking is, "How do I figure out what
28:32mine is? How do I know what my
28:34contrarian belief actually should be?"
28:37Now, there's a chance that you actually
28:38do know it off top, right? Like that was
28:40me. For years, I had been hearing people
28:43preach going viral and maximizing for
28:45views. And I just knew at my core that
28:48was not the right way to build a
28:50personal brand where you're trying to
28:51actually grow your business if you sell
28:53a high ticket offer. It just didn't make
28:56sense to me. I knew it. And so when I
28:58would hear those things, I would have
28:59that reaction that I described earlier.
29:01My blood would boil. The hair on my neck
29:03would stand. Like I would get a little
29:04annoyed and irritated. The first thing
29:06that you could think of is what do you
29:08hear people in your industry say that
29:11rubs you the wrong way that makes you
29:13go, uh, I don't know if I completely
29:16agree with that. I guarantee there's
29:18several of these industry tropes that
29:20are out there that you fundamentally
29:22view differently. But if you are
29:25struggling with coming up with what your
29:27contrarian belief is, you don't totally
29:29know what it is, I have a very simple
29:32exercise that I want to walk you through
29:34that I think is wildly useful and will
29:37provide immense levels of clarity on
29:40what your contrarian belief could be or
29:43potentially provide you several that
29:44then you can go and test in your
29:47content. It's called the two column
29:49approach. And what I want you to do is
29:51[snorts] you're going to draw out two
29:53columns or if you downloaded that
29:54workbook, you actually have this table
29:56right in front of you so you can fill it
29:58out. On the left side, you're going to
29:59write down all of the different things
30:00that people in your space or niche say
30:03that you disagree with. And on the right
30:05side, you're going to write out what
30:07your view of that is. I also, in
30:10addition to the statements that they
30:12say, I want you to write out the things
30:14that your competitors do that you
30:16disagree with, that you don't like, or
30:17that you think your customers hate. If
30:21you're an agency, and most agencies are
30:24really slow to respond, terrible with
30:26communication, and not organized, that
30:28is less of a statement that they're
30:29making and more of their actions. And
30:31so, what I want you to do is identify
30:33that on the left side. And then on the
30:35right side, I want you to write out what
30:36you would do differently. What this is
30:38is it ends up being a list of contrarian
30:40takes. It's a contrarian belief or a
30:42contrarian action that then you can
30:45utilize for building your personal
30:47brand. When I started, I had three. I'm
30:50going to share with you the belief that
30:52I disagreed with and what my view of it
30:54was. And I'm going to do that for two
30:56more after that because I think it'll
30:57help get your wheels turning on what you
31:00could identify in your niche or your
31:03space that you don't [ __ ] with. So the
31:05first one is always try to go viral a
31:08million views or bust. That's what I
31:10hear so many people preaching. I believe
31:13and I preach that you should optimize
31:15for trust, not virality. That is my
31:19contrarian belief. Another one is that
31:21there's plenty of people out there that
31:23preach that you should be posting on
31:25every single platform. Volumes,
31:28mountains, mountains of content that you
31:31should be posting daily on every single
31:33platform imaginable. And the moment that
31:35a new platform appears in the app store,
31:37you better download that, sign up for a
31:39new account, and be posting at least 20
31:40times a day on it. Like, it's it's
31:42crazy, right? And sure, that probably
31:44works, but it's not practical. I believe
31:47that you should build a system that you
31:48will actually stick with, not what your
31:51favorite creator does. Okay? You need to
31:53build it around you, not optimizing
31:56around them. The third one is that you
31:58need your media team to fear you in
32:01order to respect you and listen to what
32:03you have to say. And [snorts] it sounds
32:05kind of audacious when I say this, but
32:08if you're not in this world and you
32:10don't lead media teams and work with a
32:12lot of people that do, well then you
32:14might not realize this, but this is a
32:16very very it's weird, but it's a common
32:18belief that a lot of people have. And my
32:21contrarian belief, my contrarian take on
32:23that is that you need to create an
32:24environment of psychological safety or
32:28the work will suffer. Creative will
32:30suffer if they don't feel safe to take
32:33risks. And so these are the three
32:35contrarian takes that I entered onto the
32:39scene with when we first started
32:40building my personal brand. I talked
32:42about all three of these in podcast and
32:44in my content. But what I did is I
32:46started to notice that one of them was
32:49clearly resonating with the audience
32:52more than the other two. We're at a
32:54point right now where all of a sudden
32:56I'm seeing more and more people talk
32:58about optimizing for trust than
33:00virality. When I first started making
33:02content a year ago, that was not the
33:04case. There were very few people
33:06preaching this message. And so what I
33:08noticed is it was catching fire. People
33:10were resonating with it and understood
33:12it. They agreed with it. They were
33:14frustrated and tired of the old way of
33:17building a personal brand online. And so
33:19when I noticed that, instead of trying
33:22to force all three onto my audience, I
33:24doubled down on the one that was clearly
33:26resonating with you. And by the way,
33:29thank you for resonating with that. Uh
33:31that's the one that I am most passionate
33:33about. And so this actually worked out
33:34really well for me because the one that
33:36I like to preach and share with as many
33:40people one-on-one or in small group
33:42settings as possible, I'm now able to
33:45preach and shout from the mountaintops
33:47in my content. Not because it's what I
33:50want, but because it's what you have
33:52told me you wanted. So once you've done
33:54the exercise, you'll have identified a
33:57couple of different contrarian takes,
33:58and I want you to test them in your
34:01content. And then once you notice that
34:05one is resonating more with your
34:07audience, just like I described with my
34:08contrarian take around optimizing for
34:10trust over virality. Once you notice
34:13that, I want you to double and triple
34:15down with your audience on sharing that
34:19statement over and over and over again.
34:22Now, the natural question that you have
34:24is, "How do I know that they're
34:26resonating with it?" Yes, I do read your
34:28DMs. I do read your comments. I knew you
34:30were about to ask that question. And
34:32it's a very fair question and there's a
34:34lot of different places that you can
34:36look to as indicators that your audience
34:39is [ __ ] with this. Look at the piece
34:41of content where you're talking about
34:42this contrarian belief. Are people
34:44commenting literally quoting your
34:46contrarian belief back at you? That's a
34:49big sign. That's something that I see uh
34:51a lot of times is a great indicator.
34:53Another one is if you make a video that
34:55is central around or a piece of content
34:57in general. It could be a blog post, a
34:58substack, whatever. If you make a piece
35:00of content around your contrarian belief
35:02and you get more DMs than normal
35:05referencing that piece of content, that
35:07is another good indicator that your
35:09audience is [ __ ] with this. If you
35:11get to a point where things start
35:13getting really crazy for you, and this
35:15is a wild point to get to with your
35:16personal brand. It it blows my mind
35:18every time I see it. If people start
35:19making content talking about your
35:22contrarian take and tagging you in it,
35:25that's when you really know this thing
35:28has gone intergalactic. This is what
35:30you're going to build your brand around.
35:32This is what you become known for. If
35:34you actually listen to your audience and
35:36you actually pay attention to what
35:37they're saying to you, you will know
35:39you'll know that they're liking this one
35:41more than the other ones. And that
35:44actually brings up a really important
35:46point which I haven't really talked
35:48about much ever in my content, which is
35:51who should you be listening to? Not what
35:54creators should you be listening to, you
35:57as the creator. Who [snorts] should you
35:59be listening to to inform the pivots or
36:03lack of pivots that you make with your
36:06personal brand? And it's a very
36:07interesting discussion that happens
36:08online. You have half of the camp that
36:10falls into the the belief that you
36:12should respond to every comment, read
36:14every comment and take it as doctrine,
36:17as gospel. And then you have the other
36:19camp that is like ignore the comments
36:21completely, make whatever you want, and
36:22never take into account what they have
36:24to say. And I think there needs to be a
36:26happy medium. But first, we need to
36:28define what are you doing. I believe
36:31that if you have a mass market low
36:34ticket offer that you are selling, this
36:38is why you're building your personal
36:39brand is to lead towards that, drive
36:41sales, build your business. If that's
36:43the world that you're in, then I do
36:45think you can listen to the audience in
36:48your comment section. If they're saying
36:50that they want more of something or they
36:52want less of something, I think it's
36:54worth listening to them. Now on the flip
36:57side, if you have a narrow market, high
37:01ticket offering, I don't know that it
37:04makes sense to listen to what the
37:07audience is saying in your comment
37:09section to dictate how you build your
37:11personal brand. I think you need to go
37:13to a different group of people. I think
37:16what you need to do is look at what your
37:18customers are saying, what they want
37:20more of, what the questions are that
37:22they have. That's what you want to
37:23optimize around because whatever group
37:26you optimize around is the group that
37:28you're going to get more of. Do you want
37:29more followers or do you want more
37:31customers? For me, I want more
37:33customers. I love that you are
37:35subscribed to my channel. If you're not,
37:37you should hit that subscribe button.
37:39I've never said that before, but it just
37:41felt natural here. But I'm not looking
37:44to build my follower count. I'm looking
37:47to build my business. And so, I want to
37:50optimize. I care about everyone who's
37:52watching the content greatly. And it's
37:54not to say that I don't look at your
37:56comments and take it into account, but
37:58the biggest driver of the pivots or
38:00adjustments or the things that we'll
38:01double down on for my personal brand
38:04comes from our clients. And so, back to
38:07noticing that people were resonating
38:09with optimizing for trust, not virality.
38:12Yes, the general audience was [ __ ]
38:14with that very clearly, but more
38:16importantly, my ideal clients were. I
38:19was getting DMs from people that I knew
38:22but had never worked with for years that
38:25were saying, "Oh my god, this makes so
38:27much sense. I click with this. I'm so
38:30tired about working with this agency
38:32that is having me film these topics that
38:34we know are going to get millions of
38:36views, but I could give less than a [ __ ]
38:38about. My Instagram has turned into
38:39something that I'm ashamed of, not
38:41something that I'm proud of." And so
38:43that's what we're optimizing around.
38:45Again, I want to leave you with this on
38:47this point. This is super super
38:49important. The group that you optimize
38:51around is the group that you will get
38:52more of. If you optimize around your
38:54followers, sure, you'll get more
38:56followers, but if you optimize around
38:58your customers, you will get more
39:01customers. Now, once you land on that
39:04contrarian belief, that contrarian take
39:06that you're going to really lean into,
39:09what you're going to want to do with
39:10that is you need to craft what I call a
39:12brand statement. This is a way for you
39:15to clearly and concisely communicate
39:19that contrarian belief so that you can
39:21say it as many times as you [ __ ] can
39:25in the content that you make. Okay? I
39:28believe that you want to consistently
39:30pair yourself with that belief so that
39:32eventually your audience makes that
39:34association. I'm going to share a lot
39:36more on that in just a second. But it's
39:38kind of like how Apple and Johnny IV
39:42have created the association with Apple
39:45being a design first, not a processor or
39:50tech first company. When you think of
39:53Apple, I would bet you're not thinking
39:55about the technical. You think about the
39:57design. And I don't believe they became
40:00known as a design company because of
40:03their marketing. I believe they became
40:05known as a design company because for
40:09years they consistently paired
40:11themselves with a very clear contrarian
40:15approach to building computers and
40:18ultimately hardware design as a whole.
40:21Johnny IV is known for approaching
40:25design with simplicity, clarity,
40:28restraint, not being overly done, but
40:31actually exercising discipline and
40:33having an elegant approach to a world
40:37that the word elegant couldn't have been
40:40further away from. And Apple continued
40:43to pair themselves with this for 20
40:46years. Okay? So now when you hear Apple,
40:49you don't think processor first. you
40:51think design first. And so again, make
40:54sure that you downloaded the workbook
40:55and you do the two column exercise. This
40:59is going to give you the ammo that then
41:01you can go into the world making your
41:03content to test which of these
41:05contrarian takes, which one is
41:07resonating with the customer or the
41:10audience that I'm optimizing for, my
41:13ideal customer. That's what you want to
41:15optimize around. Again, if you have a
41:17mass market low ticket offering, cool.
41:20your ideal customer is loud in your
41:23comments, but typically if you have a
41:25high ticket narrow market offer, what I
41:28have found is my ideal client more often
41:32than not they end up texting, dming, or
41:36emailing me rather than commenting
41:38publicly on the piece of content. And I
41:41don't need to get into the why behind
41:43that, but that's just the reality. And
41:45so in my world, I'm optimizing more
41:47around the private messages I'm
41:49receiving than the public comments I'm
41:51getting. And so that pairing that we're
41:54talking about of Apple pairing
41:56themselves with design first thinking
41:58leads to an association. If you haven't
42:01heard me define these terms, I want to
42:03actually define branding and brand for
42:06you because this is how you're going to
42:08determine how you want to be viewed. At
42:11its core, branding is just a pairing of
42:15things. And I believe that brand is the
42:18byproduct of that. A good brand is when
42:21your audience inherently associates you
42:24and the thing that you are intentionally
42:26pairing yourself with. If Apple is for
42:2920 years straight consistently pairing
42:31themselves with design first thinking,
42:35it's no surprise for us that the
42:38association that we draw upon very
42:40quickly when thinking of Apple is
42:41design. That's how this actually works.
42:44That's how branding works and how the
42:47byproduct occurs, which is brand. A
42:50really simple example is below this this
42:53cool shirt that I just recently got.
42:55Below it is a black t-shirt, just plain,
42:58right? And if you see me in a plain
43:00black t-shirt, there's not that much to
43:03draw upon. You're more looking at maybe,
43:05you know, my rings, my glasses, my hat,
43:08whatever, there's not that much to go
43:10off of. Now, if I were to take that same
43:13plain black t-shirt and slap a black
43:16metal logo, you know, like a Swedish or
43:18Norwegian black metal band that you
43:20can't even read, that might change how
43:23you perceive me. you suddenly have
43:25different associations that you're
43:26drawing upon. Why? Because I'm pairing
43:28myself with that logo. Now, if we were
43:31to exchange that black metal logo for a
43:34Hello Kitty logo might be a different
43:36perception, might be some different
43:37associations that you draw upon, right?
43:40So, what you you the brand, what you
43:44pair yourself with consistently informs
43:47the brand that your audience sees. This
43:51is the lens. This is the filter that
43:53they view you through. And so, you want
43:56to be very thoughtful and strategic with
43:59the pairings that you make. Knowing
44:01this, I think you're going to want to be
44:03a little bit more thoughtful with the
44:05words that come out of your mouth and
44:07the people that you show up publicly
44:08with. And so, the formula that you can
44:10think of is pairing times consistency
44:15equals an association. Pairing times
44:19consistency equals association. Here's
44:22an example that I want to share with
44:23you. You're very familiar probably with
44:25Instagram stories. I think it's
44:26something that we interact with on a
44:28pretty regular basis. For me, it's a,
44:30you know, too many times per day, uh, as
44:32my screen time report on my phone is
44:35constantly telling me. If you look at
44:37Instagram stories, for example, let's
44:39say you meet somebody recently and you
44:42both follow each other on Instagram. You
44:44don't know that much about this person.
44:46And so what's going to end up happening
44:49is whatever you see them consistently
44:51posting in their Instagram story is
44:53going to shape the brand that you
44:57develop or the brand that you view them
45:00through the lens that you view them
45:02through. For example, you connect with
45:04Sarah and you now follow Sarah on
45:07Instagram and suddenly you start
45:09noticing that Sarah posts a lot of black
45:12metal songs in her stories. What are you
45:16going to assume? It's simple. It's not
45:18like some loaded question. The answer is
45:21you're going to assume that she's into
45:22black metal, right? Pairing times
45:24consistency equals association. She is
45:27consistently pairing herself with black
45:29metal songs. And so the association is
45:31she must like black metal. Now, if
45:34you're one of those people who love
45:36Amish romance novels and you're posting
45:38a screenshot of your favorite Amish
45:40romance novel in your story, I'm going
45:43to make the assumption that you like
45:45Amish romance novels. And even more than
45:48that, if I have known people in my life
45:51previously who have liked Amish romance
45:55novels, I am going to associate not only
45:57you with the Amish romance novel, I'm
46:00going to associate you with what it
46:03means in my life to like an Amish
46:06romance novel. Okay, it's a little heady
46:08there, but basically the point being is
46:11whatever you consistently pair yourself
46:13with, that is the association that your
46:15audience is going to start creating for
46:17your brand. Now, something that we want
46:20to be careful and weary of is we've
46:23described this from like a positive
46:25frame, right? I love black metal, so I
46:27think it's very positive to be
46:28associated with black metal, but this
46:30works equally as powerfully in the
46:32reverse. Okay? Okay. So, just as
46:34effective as it is for a positive
46:36association, it's also just as effective
46:39for a negative one. If you pair yourself
46:42with something or someone that is the
46:47opposite of what your desired outcome
46:49is, that is the opposite of the brand
46:51that you want to build and what you want
46:52to be known for, then that be a bad
46:56pairing. That's not a good pairing for
46:58you to make. That's not what you want to
47:00do. I'm trying to build a trustworthy
47:03brand. I want to be known as a trusted
47:05figure. And so, knowing that this is how
47:08branding works, it would be really
47:10[ __ ] stupid of me to start
47:12consistently showing up online with
47:15people who are known as untrustworthy
47:17characters. If I show up with
47:19untrustworthy individuals consistently,
47:21you are going to start wondering if I'm
47:23trustworthy myself. Like I said, these
47:26associations are the lens that your
47:28audience views you through. And the way
47:31that you can actually control and set
47:35these associations is by being
47:36intentional with the pairings that you
47:39consistently make. Now, I'm a huge fan
47:43of reverse engineering from a desired
47:45outcome to today. I try to apply that
47:48way of thinking to as much uh that I do
47:51in my work life and in my personal life
47:53as humanly possible. And it's what I
47:55want to do here with your desired
47:57associations. In that workbook that if
48:00you haven't downloaded yet, click the
48:02link in the description, enter your
48:03email, we'll email you the workbook. In
48:06your workbook, there's a desired
48:08associations exercise. I think it's
48:10called that or something like that. And
48:11what it's going to prompt you to do is
48:13it's very simple. I want you to write
48:15out two associations that you want to be
48:18known as being for and I want you to
48:21write out two associations that you want
48:23to be known as being against. Just as
48:25much as you want to build a brand as
48:27what you are going towards, you also
48:30want to build a brand that speaks to
48:31what you are not willing to do, what you
48:33do not want. Something that a lot of
48:36luxury brands do a really good job of is
48:38not only speaking to who they do make
48:42their product for, but who their product
48:44is not for. And by doing that, you
48:47create an exclusivity for the audience
48:49that you are actually building and
48:51optimizing around. And so this is how
48:53you're going to be able to reverse
48:55engineer these desired associations. And
48:57once you determine what those are, the
48:59next logical question you need to ask
49:01yourself and answer is, well, in order
49:03to get those associations, what do I
49:06need to consistently pair myself with?
49:08This gives you the actions in order to
49:10shape the associations that your
49:13audience makes when thinking of your
49:14brand. It's no longer this crapshoot
49:18where you're, you know, pulling the
49:19lever out the slot machine and hoping
49:21that you get all three bananas. like
49:23this is how you do it intentionally, not
49:26with guesswork. Now, watching this
49:28video, you're probably at the beginning
49:31of building your personal brand or you
49:33saw this and realized you don't like
49:35your personal brand and you want almost
49:37like a restart or a refresh. And so,
49:40what I'm about to walk you through at
49:42this stage that you're at might feel
49:45absurd. I want to walk you through and
49:48talk about some brand threats. And in
49:52the beginning stages, this feels
49:53audacious. This feels insane. Like you
49:55can't even imagine that there would be a
49:58threat to your brand right now because
50:00you're just in the beginning stage. But
50:01let me tell you, this is a very, very
50:04real thing. There's been several
50:05incidents this year where people have
50:07come to us and worked with us for a
50:10short period of time purely to help
50:12solve a problem they were having with
50:15their brand publicly. You know, one
50:17could call it a little PR disaster
50:18moment. And this is something that I
50:21think sure you're going to have things
50:23that you can't predict, but a lot of the
50:26time if you build with the right
50:28foundation, I think you can avoid a lot
50:30of these brand problems and brand
50:33threats that a lot of personal brands
50:35find themselves encountering
50:38in the first couple of years of
50:40establishing who they are online. And
50:43the thing that I want you to really be
50:45thinking about is what you say now
50:49publicly creates the lens that your
50:51audience is going to view you through
50:54and what you claim that you are strong
50:59and staunch about. Your audience will
51:01hold you to that for a lot longer than
51:04maybe you realize right now. Like maybe
51:06you hate how authors or or you know
51:09subject matter experts pump out a new
51:11book every year because that that
51:14indicates that it must be a shitty or
51:16lowquality book. I believe that if you
51:19say that enough a year, 2 years, 3
51:22years, even four or five years down the
51:24road, it might be very difficult for you
51:27to ever do something like put out a book
51:29every single year or even just put out a
51:32book in general. And this might seem
51:34surprising to you, but you'll be shocked
51:36at how much your audience can latch on
51:39to some of these messages. You have no
51:41idea what the future holds. And so I
51:43would encourage you, I'm not saying
51:45don't take any strong stances, but keep
51:48your optionality open. If you really
51:51truly believe it, like you'll die on
51:54that [ __ ] hill, say it. Right? Like I
51:56talk about optimizing for trust over
51:58virality. That's something that I'm not
52:00going to change. I I do not foresee that
52:02change. But there's other things that
52:04maybe I believe that I'm not interested
52:06in doing right now, but maybe in 5 years
52:08I learned that that would be really
52:10important and impactful for our
52:11business. And that's something that we
52:12need to do. And so I want to be careful
52:15about restricting my future ability to
52:18act based on current statements and
52:22thoughts that I share in my content
52:24half-hazardly without real intentional
52:27thought. It's kind of like what my mom
52:29always told me about tattoos. only get
52:31it if you're still going to be proud of
52:34it when you're in your 50s and 60s. I
52:36would encourage you to think about the
52:38things that you say and the statements
52:40you make in your content and the stances
52:43that you take. Is it a stance that
52:45you're still going to be proud of and
52:47agree with in 5, 10, 15 years? If not, I
52:52would take a second stab at maybe
52:56thinking about whether or not you want
52:57to say that publicly because what you
53:00can end up doing is actually creating a
53:02prison that your brand lives within and
53:04cannot escape. For example, there was a
53:07time where I was working with a creator
53:09where it became wildly difficult for us
53:12to sell a product that we were selling
53:15and had because they had built the
53:17expectation for a long time that they
53:19were just giving away free content and
53:21that was all they were ever going to do.
53:23Even though they had given a lot of
53:25goodwill to the audience and done really
53:28well by the audience, when they went to
53:30make this transition of informing their
53:32audience of an offer they had, their
53:34audience got pretty pissy about it. And
53:37the reason why is because they set up
53:39expectations that this would never
53:41happen. What you say now influences your
53:45ability to act later. Now, I'm not
53:48saying, and please don't get it twisted
53:50and misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm
53:52not saying you can't change your
53:53position down the road. You absolutely
53:55can. I admire people that admit that
53:58they said one thing one way and they
54:00have new information now and they're
54:02changing their view on something, right?
54:04But just like in politics, whenever a
54:06politician, and it's very rare that they
54:07do this, whenever a politician comes out
54:09and says, "I held this position and now
54:10I believe it differently." Sure, I
54:12respect and admire that and I think you
54:14probably do, but the masses ridicule
54:18them and critique them heavily. It's
54:20very difficult as a public figure on
54:23whatever spectrum, whether it's massive
54:24or even a small little community of
54:26people. It's very difficult for humans
54:29to see you say something consistently
54:31and now say something different. And so
54:32what I would recommend is if you believe
54:36that this is something worth dying on
54:38the hill for, cool. By all means, say
54:40it, share it. But if you don't, I would
54:44question whether or not this is worth
54:47sharing publicly because you can make a
54:50change in what you believe. You can say
54:52you can change your stance, but you will
54:55deal with backlash. I I promise you
54:58that. I'm not saying that's a reason to
55:00not do it. I'm not saying backlash is
55:01the worst thing in the world, but it is
55:03something that you should know that you
55:04are going to experience if you go about
55:07changing your views, beliefs, and
55:09opinions on things that you have been
55:11consistently saying for a significant
55:13amount of time. Now, so much of this
55:15video has been focusing around you and
55:19how all these different elements of who
55:22you are. And so, we're really clear on
55:25you, right? We know who you are. But the
55:28question is, should you assume that your
55:31audience knows who you are when they're
55:33engaging with your content? And more
55:35than likely, you have made the mistake
55:37or you've seen another creator make the
55:39mistake where they make content for a
55:42warm audience. They have inside jokes.
55:44They have all these little things that
55:46only their warmest, most consistent
55:49audience understands and knows. I assume
55:53a lot of times in my content that you
55:56know my background and and the different
55:59work that I've done in my career, but
56:01the reality is you don't. And so I need
56:03to at some point in the video give a
56:05qualifier or give some credibility so
56:08that somebody you who doesn't know who I
56:12am wants to listen to what I have to
56:14say. But the mistake here that I want to
56:17correct is thinking that your audience
56:19knows who you are. What you should be
56:22doing is every piece of content you
56:24make, you should assume that the person
56:26watching it has no clue anything about
56:29you. Who you are, what you stand for,
56:31what your preferences are, what your
56:32interests are, what your track record
56:34is. None of that is known by the
56:37audience. And so I would tell you that
56:40everything you do with your personal
56:41brand, you should approach it through
56:42the lens of these people are witnessing
56:45or experiencing me for the first time.
56:48And with that in mind, you're going to
56:50contextualize things a little bit
56:52differently. It's kind of like when
56:54you're talking to a a group that you've
56:56just recently met versus friends you've
56:59known for 13, 14 years. It's going to be
57:02a wildly different conversation. With
57:04this new group, if you mention, you
57:06know, Valerie, I'm going to have to
57:08mention the fact that Valerie is my
57:10mom's name. That that is something that
57:12my friends all know, but a new group
57:14doesn't. That's a very simple example,
57:16but you need to apply that way of
57:18thinking to building your personal
57:20brand. It's kind of like what I said
57:21earlier, which is the principle of
57:23whatever group you optimize for is the
57:25group that you're going to get more of.
57:26If you optimize your content around a
57:29warm audience, you're just going to
57:30continue with your current audience and
57:33you're going to have a very tough time
57:34bringing new people into your world. If,
57:37however, you optimize for a cold
57:39audience, and cold and warm just means
57:41cold, they don't know who you are. warm.
57:43They do know who you are. If you
57:45optimize for a cold audience, you're
57:47going to attract more of those
57:48individuals. But guess what? The cold
57:50audience, they come up, they come up to
57:52your front door, you open the door, and
57:53you say, "Come on in. The fire is warm
57:55and there's hot cocoa in the kitchen."
57:57That's how you can convert them from
57:59being a cold audience to being a warm
58:01audience. You're not going to ever
58:03convert them if they don't engage with
58:06your content. and they won't engage with
58:08your content if in the beginning you're
58:10alluding to things that only people who
58:12know you would understand. I hope this
58:15makes sense. This is a huge mistake that
58:17some of the biggest creators in the
58:19spaces and niches that you follow and
58:22admire, this is the mistake that a lot
58:24of them are making. Don't make the same
58:26mistake. Now, a funny part in this is in
58:30order for you to be able to share what
58:32your brand is and what you stand for,
58:35you kind of need to know. In order to be
58:38able to explain what your personal brand
58:40is and what it stands for, you need to
58:41understand that. And so, that's why
58:43we've been focusing on what we've been
58:44focusing on in this video. Everyone
58:47wants to jump to content strategy right
58:48away. What is the content strategy
58:50that's going to get me a million views
58:51or whatever? That [ __ ] doesn't matter.
58:54If you get a million views around a
58:56brand that you don't understand, how the
58:58[ __ ] are those million people ever going
59:00to actually understand what your brand
59:02stands for? Here's the secret. They
59:04won't. And so, you don't want to be
59:07doing that. Please make sure you
59:09understand your brand so that you can
59:11then communicate what your brand is and
59:14who you are to a cold audience and then
59:17you can convert them into a warm
59:18audience. Now, a little uh caveat that I
59:21want to add here. I'm going to share a
59:22moment of of interesting vulnerability.
59:25I'm in my first year of building my
59:26personal brand and we've put out uh to
59:29date, as of filming this video, we've
59:31put out, I believe, eight videos. No,
59:33nine videos. Eight videos.
59:35>> Nine videos. Thank you, Trevor. We've
59:37put out nine videos to date. We're still
59:40in the early stages. We're still in our
59:42first year of putting content out on
59:43YouTube. And something that I noticed is
59:46in our most recent video on YouTube, we
59:49got some comments saying that we were
59:51getting a little bit more repetitive. I
59:53saw the comment and immediately I was
59:55like, "Oh, okay. I want to make sure
59:57that we're not doing anything that is
59:59going to bore the audience. Like, I want
1:00:00to make sure we're providing value and
1:00:01usefulness and all of those things." And
1:00:03so, I had a little moment, like a little
1:00:04mini panic attack. Nah, that's a little
1:00:06dramatic. I had a moment where I was
1:00:07like, "A gasp is is more uh realistic."
1:00:11Then Trevor and I were really thinking
1:00:12about it and we're like, "Okay, we're in
1:00:14our first year." So yes, we are going to
1:00:17optimize our content around a cold
1:00:20audience. But something that we can do a
1:00:22better job of in 2026 is doing both. You
1:00:28want to make sure that you are doing a
1:00:29good job of making content that is for
1:00:33new audience acquisition
1:00:35and a good job of making content that is
1:00:38providing current audience nurture. And
1:00:42if you're missing one or the other,
1:00:44what's going to happen is you
1:00:45essentially one is you're not attracting
1:00:47anybody new and so you're only just
1:00:49working with the people that are
1:00:50currently in your audience. If you're
1:00:51only optimizing for the new audience and
1:00:54not nurturing the old, it's like a leaky
1:00:56bucket. You're going to be adding water
1:00:57in all the time, but as you're adding in
1:01:00more water, you've got water escaping.
1:01:01So, you're staying at the same level.
1:01:03You're not going to see the numbers on
1:01:05your content or more importantly, the
1:01:07conversions for your business go up
1:01:10because what happens is every new person
1:01:12that comes in, you have one of the
1:01:14current members leave. And so, you need
1:01:16to make sure from a personal brand
1:01:18highlevel perspective that you're
1:01:20thinking about not only the cold
1:01:22audience. I'm telling you hardcore
1:01:24optimize and make every video assuming
1:01:26that they're a cold audience, but also
1:01:28make sure that you are nurturing the
1:01:31warm audience, the people that have
1:01:32already showed you that they are loyal
1:01:34and care about you and what you are
1:01:36producing. So earlier I teased that
1:01:39brand statement. This is where you're
1:01:41able to take that contrarian belief that
1:01:43you have identified, right? You probably
1:01:45identified a couple. Then you started
1:01:47testing them in your content and seeing
1:01:49which one was resonating the most. and
1:01:51that's the one you're going to double
1:01:52down on. Once you have that contrarian
1:01:54take that you're going to double down
1:01:55on, you need to form it in a very clear
1:01:58and concise statement. Okay, why do you
1:02:01want to do that? Well, what did we talk
1:02:02about earlier? What is branding? It's
1:02:05consistently pairing yourself with
1:02:06something. And the byproduct of that is
1:02:08your brand. If you want to build a brand
1:02:11that stands out, it needs to be a
1:02:13contrarian take, but you need to be able
1:02:15to say it consistently in the content
1:02:17you produce. And so I believe that what
1:02:20you want to do is take all the work that
1:02:22we've done so far. And there's been a
1:02:24lot of it. You want to take that and put
1:02:26it into one single statement that you're
1:02:29able to articulate in any scenario,
1:02:32shape, or form. Okay? I say it in the
1:02:34content that we're making for our own
1:02:36channels. I say it if I go on a podcast
1:02:38or on the rare occasion where I speak at
1:02:40an event, I will share it there. And my
1:02:43brand statement is as follows. I believe
1:02:47that business owners and entrepreneurs
1:02:49trying to grow their business through
1:02:50their personal brand should optimize for
1:02:53trust, not virality. There's a lot that
1:02:56is communicated in that statement. The
1:02:58beautiful thing is is I'm communicating
1:03:00who I serve, how I serve them, and what
1:03:03I do differently than my competitors.
1:03:06Three important things to make it very
1:03:08clear to my ideal customer why they
1:03:10should choose me or not choose me over
1:03:13my competitors. It makes it very easy
1:03:15for them to make a decision. We want to
1:03:17make things easy for people to decide
1:03:20on, not just for buying and converting
1:03:23with you, but also whether or not
1:03:24they're going to opt in to consume the
1:03:26content in general. We want this to be
1:03:28an easy decision for them. So, there is
1:03:31a an exercise that walks you through,
1:03:33it's very simple, the framework that I
1:03:36use for crafting a brand statement. I'm
1:03:38not saying this is the only way that you
1:03:39can make your brand statement. There's
1:03:40other ways you can do it, but this is a
1:03:42very simple and effective way to do it.
1:03:44And what it does is it produces
1:03:46something that communicates to your
1:03:47audience who you serve, how you do it,
1:03:50and what makes you different than your
1:03:52competitors. And so in the workbook,
1:03:54make sure you downloaded it. If you
1:03:56didn't, it's the link in the
1:03:57description. Click that link, enter your
1:03:59email. We're going to email you the
1:04:01workbook. In the brand statement
1:04:03section, you're going to follow the
1:04:04framework. I believe insert your
1:04:07audience who want their core desire
1:04:10should your contrarian belief not common
1:04:14belief in niche or space. If you fill
1:04:17this in, you're going to have something
1:04:18that you can regurgitate and say in any
1:04:21scenario, day or night, awake, tired,
1:04:25good mood, bad mood, whatever. It's very
1:04:28easy for you to say. I can say my brand
1:04:30statement in my sleep. In fact, if you
1:04:33ask my girlfriend, I'm sure there's been
1:04:34times where I have said it in the middle
1:04:36of the night while I'm dreaming. This
1:04:38becomes the powerful leverage that you
1:04:41have to amplify your brand and stand out
1:04:43from all these other [ __ ] Just
1:04:45kidding. All these other individuals who
1:04:47are lovely and wonderful in your space
1:04:49that you want to differentiate yourself
1:04:51from. You want to separate yourself from
1:04:53the pack. This is how you do it. Okay.
1:04:55Another analogy uh that we shared
1:04:57earlier is how Apple consistently paired
1:05:00themselves with design verse thinking.
1:05:02And then what happened? We start
1:05:04thinking of design when we think of
1:05:06Apple. You have to say this statement
1:05:08over and over and over again so that
1:05:10when your audience thinks of you, they
1:05:12think of this statement. I believe that
1:05:14we through a very low volume of content
1:05:17have done this very effectively in our
1:05:19first year of building my personal
1:05:21brand. So much so that last year there
1:05:24was a video that we put out that was
1:05:26really long. It's like 3 and 1/2 hours
1:05:28long. And one of the comments on the
1:05:29video was calling out the fact that this
1:05:31is too long, too boring, too educational
1:05:33to ever get a million views. And before
1:05:35I could even respond, you or other
1:05:39people in the audience were going and
1:05:41commenting, saying, and telling
1:05:44informing this person, that's not what
1:05:45I'm optimizing for. They beat me to it.
1:05:48They knew and they know what I am trying
1:05:52to build and what I'm optimizing around
1:05:53which is trust, not virality. And they
1:05:56know that because I am consistently
1:05:57pairing myself with it. Okay? And so,
1:06:00please go through that exercise. It
1:06:02might take you a little bit longer than
1:06:04you think. It seems really simple when I
1:06:05say it out loud, but then when you go to
1:06:07put pen to paper, it actually takes a
1:06:08little while. So, block some real
1:06:10meaningful time to craft this. Once you
1:06:13have this, I think you're going to be
1:06:15blown away at the results that you get
1:06:17on how you stand out compared to others
1:06:19in your space. Now that you understand
1:06:22your brand, it's time to amplify it with
1:06:24your content strategy. Now, the first
1:06:26thing that I want to immediately flag
1:06:28and qualify is saying that there is a
1:06:32lot of nuance to this viral verse trust
1:06:36conversation and debate. Just for the
1:06:38sake of time, I'm going to make the
1:06:39assumption that you have a high ticket
1:06:41offer that you're selling to a very
1:06:43specific and fairly narrow group of
1:06:46people. Okay? It's not like you have a
1:06:47probiotic soda that you're selling or uh
1:06:50an anti-aging cream, right? For those
1:06:52kinds of brands, going viral is a lot
1:06:55more effective. It's actually kind of a
1:06:57biggie that you really want. But if you
1:06:59are selling a high ticket offer to a
1:07:02very narrow group, well, I think it's
1:07:06probably the case that maybe going viral
1:07:09is not as useful as some of your local
1:07:12gurus on Instagram will have you
1:07:14believe. So, what I want to do is I want
1:07:16to break down what optimizing for going
1:07:19viral typically looks like, like how it
1:07:22actually goes based on my 17 years of
1:07:24experience. Now, I'm not saying this is
1:07:25always the case. There are obviously
1:07:26outliers. And this is to be clear when
1:07:29it goes well. When you do it really,
1:07:32really good. When you optimize for going
1:07:34viral, you start getting more views, a
1:07:36lot more views, and you start gaining a
1:07:39lot more followers, which is wonderful.
1:07:42You're seeing everything move up and to
1:07:43the right on all the social platforms.
1:07:45But here's what actually happens when
1:07:47you do this. When you optimize for
1:07:49virality, inherently, you have to make
1:07:51content that is wider. Okay? And
1:07:53typically what this ends up doing is
1:07:55diluting the message. Think of it like a
1:07:58shot of whiskey versus a whiskey and
1:08:00coke. Going viral and optimizing for
1:08:02virality is like having a whiskey and
1:08:03coke when you really want the foolproof
1:08:06whiskey that burns as it goes down.
1:08:08Right? That's what you are looking for.
1:08:10Okay? And so in doing this, what you end
1:08:12up doing is you create wide content that
1:08:15is vanilla and attracts followers and
1:08:18viewers off of that content. But what
1:08:20are they wanting more of? that same [ __ ]
1:08:23that you brought them in with. It's not
1:08:25like they're coming in from some really
1:08:28wide vanilla piece of content and all of
1:08:29a sudden being like, "Yes, I would love
1:08:31a very deep breakdown on how I can
1:08:33conduct my marketing funnel from
1:08:35Instagram to my email and then convert
1:08:38on the back end." Like they don't give a
1:08:40[ __ ] about that [ __ ] And so what I have
1:08:42seen and I have been a part of a team
1:08:45where the creator wanted to do this.
1:08:48Okay? And what happens is originally
1:08:51you're building and optimizing your
1:08:52audience around solving problems for
1:08:55them. Taking the painful problems that
1:08:57they deal with and helping them solve
1:08:59them. But over time as you go wider, you
1:09:02no longer serve their need. So what do
1:09:05they stop doing? Consuming your content.
1:09:07So what you're doing is you're bringing
1:09:08in all these people that are not
1:09:10interested in the high ticket niche
1:09:12offer that you have and they're coming
1:09:14in but they don't care to buy. They have
1:09:17no interest in it. Meanwhile, the people
1:09:18that were buying from you are now tuning
1:09:21you out because your content no longer
1:09:23serves them. So, as views and followers
1:09:24are going up to the right, guess what
1:09:26sales are doing? Straight down. It
1:09:29suddenly becomes so clear. You end up
1:09:32alienating the people that actually want
1:09:34to buy from you. How dumb, right? Yet,
1:09:37you are considering doing this. I've
1:09:39considered doing this. Many creators
1:09:41that I love and respect and admire and
1:09:43look up to have considered or have done
1:09:46this in a season. You don't have to make
1:09:48that mistake. I'm sharing the mistake
1:09:50with you right now so you don't have to
1:09:52go down that road and learn this lesson
1:09:54the painful way. Because what I will
1:09:56tell you is it is extremely painful to
1:09:58wake up one day and realize the people
1:10:00that were buying from you no longer give
1:10:02a [ __ ] about what you're putting out
1:10:04because what you're putting out does not
1:10:05serve them. It's kind of like how I tend
1:10:08to gain weight. One day I wake up, I'm
1:10:10like, "Oh [ __ ] I put on 20 pounds."
1:10:12Right? I wasn't paying attention. I was
1:10:13just going living my life, doing things
1:10:16and being busy. And then one day I'm
1:10:18like, "Oh fuck." It's the same in this
1:10:20instance. You don't realize it as it's
1:10:22happening until one day your ideal
1:10:25customer, maybe somebody that you know
1:10:26and previously had a relationship with
1:10:28or still do, they tell you something
1:10:30like, "I used to consume your content. I
1:10:32loved it. I haven't watched a single
1:10:34video in the last 6 months because none
1:10:35of it has helped me. none of it has been
1:10:38helping me solve the problems and the
1:10:40painful problems that I have within my
1:10:42business or whatever use case you're
1:10:44making content around. Right? Maybe you
1:10:47were helping people lose weight and keep
1:10:49track of their calories and, you know,
1:10:51get at least 15,000 steps a day,
1:10:53whatever. And suddenly you're starting
1:10:54to make videos where you're comparing
1:10:56candy bars. That's no longer serving
1:10:59your customers need. And so what's going
1:11:01to happen is they're going to start to
1:11:02tune out your content. Now on the other
1:11:05hand, if you optimize for building
1:11:07trust, I believe that is going to
1:11:09provide insane results for your
1:11:12business. Why is that going to provide
1:11:14insane results? Well, I think in order
1:11:16to answer that question, we have to
1:11:18define what trust is. And I have a very
1:11:20simple definition that I think will be
1:11:22very useful for you. I believe that
1:11:24trust is how much you believe that
1:11:26someone or something will meet your
1:11:30expectations in the future based on how
1:11:34they have behaved in the past. If I go
1:11:37out to start my Harley-Davidson, okay, I
1:11:40flip the switch on and then I start it.
1:11:43If all of a sudden tomorrow I go out
1:11:46there and I press the ignition button
1:11:48and it
1:11:50and it doesn't start, it just peters and
1:11:52it just dies. Do you believe that the
1:11:54next day when I go out there, if I do
1:11:55nothing different that I am going to
1:11:57trust that it's going to start a little
1:11:59bit less? Okay, that I believe is a very
1:12:02simple version of how trust works. So
1:12:05then how do you optimize your content
1:12:07around building trust rather than going
1:12:10viral? Well, I think it's actually very
1:12:11simple. Do you need to identify what the
1:12:14painful problems are that you are
1:12:16solving for your ideal customer? What is
1:12:18your unique solution to that painful
1:12:21problem? How do you go about solving it
1:12:22differently than others? I'm not saying
1:12:24make [ __ ] up, but just look at what do
1:12:26you do a little differently than some of
1:12:27your competitors? And then the third
1:12:29thing, you need to set expectations of
1:12:31what the painful problem is that we're
1:12:33going to solve in this video. The next
1:12:35step is you need to make it easy for
1:12:37them to take the actions to go from here
1:12:39to here. What do they need to do in
1:12:42order to get the outcome they desire to
1:12:44solve the problem that they're looking
1:12:45to solve? And if you do that and repeat
1:12:47over and over, I believe that your
1:12:51audience is going to have a strong
1:12:53belief that you will meet or even exceed
1:12:57expectations in the future. This is a
1:12:59beautiful thing. Why? Because it means
1:13:01that they're going to continue to
1:13:02believe that you will deliver. And if
1:13:04they believe that you're going to
1:13:05continue to deliver, when you suddenly
1:13:07make them aware of an offer that you
1:13:09have, the likelihood that they believe
1:13:11you'll deliver on that offer goes up.
1:13:14So, the likelihood that they actually
1:13:16convert goes up. And the reason why they
1:13:19believe that is because they trust
1:13:21they're going to get more
1:13:23out of what you provide in your offer
1:13:26than what they invest. Why? Because
1:13:28that's what's been happening for the
1:13:30last 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 months,
1:13:34however long you've been making content.
1:13:35Those actions on repeat builds that
1:13:39pattern of trust in your audience. It's
1:13:41incredible what this can do. And so it
1:13:43takes this like wildly confusing thing
1:13:46of like how do I build trust and makes
1:13:48it very simple. These are the very basic
1:13:51actions that you need to take in order
1:13:52to increase this trust with your
1:13:54audience. Now something you'll hear a
1:13:56lot of people talking about is who
1:13:58should you be listening to in future
1:14:02ideation on your content, right? Do you
1:14:04go to the comment section as your
1:14:06source? Do you go to your customers?
1:14:08Which one do I do? Well, it's going to
1:14:10depend on what your offer is. If your
1:14:13offer is a mass market, not niche
1:14:16offering and it's low ticket, well then
1:14:18yeah, you can look at the comment
1:14:19section as inspiration. Why? Because you
1:14:22have more people in the comment section
1:14:23that are reflective of what your buyer
1:14:25looks like, acts like, and who they are.
1:14:28On the flip side, if you're like me and
1:14:30you have a high ticket offering, well,
1:14:33maybe the comment section isn't going to
1:14:35be the best place for you to optimize
1:14:37off of because maybe those are people
1:14:39who are consuming your content, engaging
1:14:41with it. They're awesome. I love them.
1:14:43But they're not the type that is going
1:14:44to actually end up buying my offering,
1:14:48right? My one-on-one service or even
1:14:49potentially joining one of our group
1:14:51offering. Whatever group you want more
1:14:53of, that's what you should optimize for.
1:14:55If you want more followers, cool. Listen
1:14:57to your followers. Make the content
1:14:59they're asking you for. But if you want
1:15:01more customers, what are your customers
1:15:03asking for? I want to be clear. I care
1:15:06about what you, the audience, is saying
1:15:08in the comment section. That's I don't
1:15:10want that to get misunderstood. But what
1:15:12I want to share with you is that the
1:15:13majority of my content that I put out,
1:15:17the customers that we end up working
1:15:18with, they don't, this is not a rule,
1:15:21it's an observation. Often times, they
1:15:23don't comment publicly on the content.
1:15:25They will DM, they'll text, they'll
1:15:27email privately. And so I'm looking at
1:15:30those conversations and what are those
1:15:32people finding useful? What are their
1:15:35follow-up questions that they want more
1:15:37in-depth information on? This is how I'm
1:15:39optimizing my content and it's how if
1:15:42you have a high ticket offer, it's how I
1:15:44recommend you optimize yours. This is
1:15:46the source that you want to go to, your
1:15:48customers, not necessarily your
1:15:49followers. But the thing is is you're
1:15:51never going to get to the point of
1:15:53reaching your ideal customer because
1:15:55it's not like the first video you put
1:15:56out, boom, all of a sudden thousands of
1:15:58people are seeing it. That's not what
1:16:00usually happens. You have to go through
1:16:02the painful period of doing this for a
1:16:05while with very little results. And the
1:16:07only reason that you're going to stick
1:16:08with it is if you build a system and a
1:16:11foundation that is actually sustainable.
1:16:13Not trying to copy what your favorite
1:16:15content creator is doing. not trying to
1:16:17replicate what the guru on your
1:16:19Instagram feed is telling you you need
1:16:20to do by being on every single platform
1:16:22all at once, posting 10 to 20 times a
1:16:24day. That's ludicrous. I mean, there's a
1:16:27crazy stat that up to 73% of people who
1:16:31start making content quit within their
1:16:33first year. Within their first year, all
1:16:35the investment that you made, all of the
1:16:37uncomfy feelings that you went through
1:16:39and and being public and everything was
1:16:41for nothing. And so you're watching this
1:16:44video because you want to build
1:16:45something that will last. So let's build
1:16:48a foundation and a content strategy that
1:16:50will do the same. So what does it mean
1:16:52to build a sustainable system and
1:16:54foundation? It means that your content
1:16:56strategy needs to fit within the
1:16:58constraints of your business, your life,
1:17:01and your experience level. Now, I don't
1:17:03want to sound like I'm like one of those
1:17:05woo woo people. I'm saying you have
1:17:08realities based on the business life and
1:17:11experience that you have. You might only
1:17:13have one or two hours a week that you
1:17:15can dedicate to content. Another person
1:17:16watching this video might have up to 10
1:17:20hours a week that they can dedicate.
1:17:22Everybody has different constraints on
1:17:25their time and bandwidth, right? Like
1:17:28energy bandwidth, mental bandwidth, not
1:17:30just the time. You need to reverse
1:17:32engineer what your work, your life, and
1:17:35the experience level that you have. And
1:17:37by that I mean like how much content
1:17:39have you filmed on camera? You're gonna
1:17:41want to build a system that eases you
1:17:43into it. I didn't start off this year
1:17:45making content, putting out a video
1:17:47every single week on YouTube. That would
1:17:49have been [ __ ] absurd for me. I was
1:17:51not used to being on camera. I had to
1:17:53ease my way into it. Okay? And so that's
1:17:56what I mean by creating a sustainable
1:17:58system and foundation to work from.
1:18:02You'll get way greater returns doing
1:18:0420-minute walks every day for the rest
1:18:06of your life than six months of Ronnie
1:18:09Coleman-esque working out. It's the same
1:18:11with your content strategy. If you post
1:18:14a low volume but consistently for many
1:18:18years, you're going to beat the creator
1:18:21that tried to sprint hard for a year and
1:18:24then burned out and gave up after 12
1:18:26months. And and honestly, this is what
1:18:28kind of separates you, the business
1:18:31owner, from the average creator. You
1:18:33have a business that you are running.
1:18:35And so, your content strategy and system
1:18:37needs to complement what your business
1:18:41looks like and what your day-to-day in
1:18:43the business looks like, not some round
1:18:47hole that we're trying to jam a square
1:18:48peg into. I can't tell you how many
1:18:50different systems I've had to design
1:18:52based on the entrepreneur. I've worked
1:18:54with entrepreneurs who are incredibly
1:18:56busy and they literally have like at
1:18:58most 60 seconds a week where they can
1:19:01actually dedicate time to making
1:19:04specific content for the platform. The
1:19:06rest of their content is purely
1:19:08documented. It's just somebody following
1:19:10them around and filming them. I've also
1:19:11worked with individuals who allocate up
1:19:13to 12 to 18 hours a week for filming
1:19:15where they'll sit down for a full
1:19:1712-hour session on a Friday and film all
1:19:20[ __ ] day. There's all kinds of
1:19:23versions of this across the spectrum
1:19:25here, but it doesn't matter what others
1:19:27are doing. You need to look at what your
1:19:28day-to-day looks like and then build the
1:19:30system from there. So, some questions
1:19:32that I would encourage you to answer in
1:19:34the workbook. And just a reminder, if
1:19:37you haven't downloaded it, download the
1:19:38workbook. There's a link in the
1:19:40description down below. All you got to
1:19:41do is click the link, enter your email,
1:19:42check your email. We sent you the
1:19:44workbook. You can download it and go
1:19:47through all of these exercises along
1:19:49with me. And this exercise has some
1:19:51questions that I want you to answer.
1:19:53They're going to be like prompts.
1:19:54They're basically going to help you
1:19:55develop and understand what does my
1:19:59actual capacity for content look like?
1:20:01How many hours a week do you actually
1:20:02have for content? Or what parts of the
1:20:05content creation process bring you
1:20:07energy? What parts drain you? What time
1:20:10of day are you most on? Where is your
1:20:14brain the sharpest? Or where do you
1:20:16communicate the best? I know for me, I
1:20:19am the sharpest and the best in the
1:20:20morning. In the morning is where I am
1:20:22primed. That's where I am my best. Okay?
1:20:24And so, we try to orient as much as we
1:20:26can. Today, we've been filming all day,
1:20:28but we do our best to orient our film
1:20:30sessions to when I have the best energy
1:20:33and when I communicate and verbally
1:20:35process the best. Make sure that you go
1:20:37through the worksheet, answer these
1:20:39questions. It's not anything complex,
1:20:40but it's something that I guarantee you
1:20:42have not sat down and done. And so by
1:20:44putting this together, you are able to
1:20:46then build your content system, reverse
1:20:49engineering the amount of time that you
1:20:50have available rather than trying to
1:20:53keep up this unsustainable thing that
1:20:56you know is just a ticking time bomb for
1:20:58you to give up at any point. Real quick,
1:21:00I just want to say I am so sorry. I know
1:21:03that this is a lot to take in right now
1:21:05and even more for you to take action on,
1:21:07but that is the whole reason why we
1:21:09created Rston Select. Rston Select is
1:21:11your one-stop destination to not only
1:21:14learn but to actually implement. We're
1:21:16talking pre-production, production,
1:21:18post-production, and platform strategy
1:21:20all through the lens of educational
1:21:23content. Click the link in the
1:21:24description below if you want more
1:21:25information. Now, let's get back to the
1:21:27video. Now, the next thing that we need
1:21:29to do after that we've understood like,
1:21:31okay, we have these foundations on how
1:21:32we're going to do content, we need to
1:21:34choose our medium. And this is really,
1:21:36really simple. There's four different
1:21:38mediums or ways of making content.
1:21:40There's video, audio, written, and
1:21:42graphic content. And instead of picking
1:21:45the medium that all of your favorite
1:21:47content creators are doing, or the
1:21:49medium that everybody online is talking
1:21:51about, pick the one that is most natural
1:21:53for you. If you're already writing
1:21:56stuff, if you're really into the written
1:21:58word, well then I would argue maybe the
1:22:01best way for you to start is with
1:22:03Substack rather than trying to do long-
1:22:05form YouTube videos, especially if the
1:22:06idea of being on camera makes you like
1:22:08shudder. I wouldn't push you into doing
1:22:11that. I want you to work your way up to
1:22:14doing that. On the flip side, if you
1:22:16want to communicate verbally, but the
1:22:19idea of being on camera is scary, audio
1:22:21is going to be a great method for you.
1:22:24No matter what it is, I want you to pick
1:22:26how are you going to communicate your
1:22:28ideas and thoughts and who you are as a
1:22:30human most authentically. That's the
1:22:33medium that we're going to go with. Now,
1:22:34the clear and obvious reality here is
1:22:36video is the best as in you can get the
1:22:40most out of video. When you film a
1:22:42video, you can then clip a short. You
1:22:44can take the audio and make it a
1:22:46podcast. You can take the transcript and
1:22:48write LinkedIn posts, emails, whatever,
1:22:50right? Substacks. you are able to pull
1:22:52so much from video. But again, if that's
1:22:56not what you [ __ ] with, if that
1:22:57terrifies you, then you're probably not
1:23:00going to stick with it or realistically,
1:23:02you're probably not going to ever start
1:23:04in the first place. And so I would tell
1:23:07you, pick something that you can get
1:23:08momentum on and allow the momentum to
1:23:11guide you into the next medium that you
1:23:14choose. And now once we have our medium,
1:23:16we need to pick our platform. Oh my god,
1:23:18this is where I think so many people go
1:23:20wrong. and they misunderstand a lot of
1:23:23messages that people share online.
1:23:25Everybody talks about dominating all the
1:23:28platforms, being everywhere all at once,
1:23:30being omniresent. And here's the reality
1:23:33that is a terrible strategy for you. You
1:23:35are not Gary Vee. You're not Gary
1:23:36Vaynerchuk. You're not Cody Sanchez.
1:23:38Okay? Trying to be everywhere all at
1:23:41once will cause you more harm than good.
1:23:45At this stage, you will make diluted
1:23:48[ __ ] content. I can tell you with
1:23:52absolute certainty. Rather than trying
1:23:53to focus on all of them, I think you
1:23:56want to focus on a very select few. Like
1:23:58let's say for example, I all of a sudden
1:24:00tell my girlfriend I'm going to take up
1:24:02this new hobby of rock climbing. And all
1:24:05of a sudden, the first time that I'm
1:24:07going to go rock climbing, I decide to
1:24:11do the scramble up K2. Now, if you don't
1:24:13know what K2 is, it's a extreme mountain
1:24:15that is very difficult to summit. Um,
1:24:18many people have unfortunately passed
1:24:20actually in trying to do it. I'm using
1:24:22an extreme example here, but that's what
1:24:24a lot of you think you can do with your
1:24:26content strategy. You think that you can
1:24:28get into climbing and suddenly climb one
1:24:31of the most complex mountains in the
1:24:33[ __ ] world. You think that you can
1:24:34start making content and
1:24:37make content at the volume and cadence
1:24:40that the best creators in the world that
1:24:42have been doing this for years that have
1:24:43teams of 10, 20, 30 people behind them
1:24:46are doing. And that is ludicrous. And
1:24:48so, if you're starting off solo just as
1:24:51yourself, what I want you to do is pick
1:24:53one primary platform and one secondary
1:24:55platform. Let's use the example of
1:24:57YouTube and Instagram. Okay? What you're
1:24:59going to do is you're going to make
1:25:00pillar content for your primary
1:25:02platform. Okay? That's YouTube. That's
1:25:04the main dish that you are making. A
1:25:06long form direct to camera video like
1:25:08this. That could be an example of the
1:25:09content that you're making as your
1:25:11primary platform pillar content. And so
1:25:15this is an example of my pillar content.
1:25:18It's a long form piece of content that
1:25:20I'm then going to use this pillar
1:25:22content from my primary platform in
1:25:25order to create content for my secondary
1:25:28platform. in this example, Instagram,
1:25:30which means you might just take the
1:25:32direct to camera long form YouTube video
1:25:35and you might cut or clip moments for
1:25:38Instagram reels. Or you might get a
1:25:41little crazy and saucy and you mine a
1:25:44moment that you really love, you want to
1:25:46rewrap it as a carousel for Instagram.
1:25:49That would be another way of utilizing
1:25:52this process. See, your primary
1:25:55platform, that's the one that gets the
1:25:57energy and the innovation. Your
1:25:59secondary platform gets repurposed
1:26:02content. It's not that you don't care
1:26:03about it, but it's that you're not
1:26:05putting any of your energy towards
1:26:07innovation on that platform. You're
1:26:09reserving that for the primary. Now, if
1:26:12you're starting out or restarting and
1:26:14you have a team, I expect more of you.
1:26:18What I want you to do is I want you to
1:26:20pick three primary platforms. That's
1:26:22what we did when we set out to build my
1:26:24personal brand. And let's use me as an
1:26:26example. We picked YouTube, Instagram,
1:26:29and LinkedIn. Okay? And you're going to
1:26:32follow a very similar flow to the solo
1:26:34creator. You're going to make pillar
1:26:36content for one of the primary
1:26:38platforms. That's what this is. This is
1:26:40the pillar content on our primary
1:26:42platform. Then what you're going to do
1:26:44is you're going to use the pillar
1:26:45content to inform platform native
1:26:47content that you create for the two
1:26:49other platforms. I kind of hinted at
1:26:52this for the solo creator. This could
1:26:55look like taking a moment that you clip
1:26:57and post as an Instagram reel. A moment
1:26:59from the YouTube long form Instagram
1:27:01reel. But another version of this is you
1:27:03find the moment and then you rewrap it
1:27:06contextual to the platform you're
1:27:07posting it on. So maybe what that looks
1:27:09like is you mine a moment from your long
1:27:11form and instead of just clipping it and
1:27:13posting that to LinkedIn as a short
1:27:16vertical video, maybe you take that
1:27:18moment and you do a written post with
1:27:19it. You recontextualize the rapper in
1:27:24order to perform best given what that
1:27:26platform wants natively. Not every
1:27:29platform prefers the same kind of
1:27:31content, not the same style, not the
1:27:34same way of communicating. There's many
1:27:36nuances to this. And so this is how you
1:27:38can behave in a dynamic where you have
1:27:40three primary platforms. One thing that
1:27:42I want to call out here is you need to
1:27:46apply the eye of Sauron approach. I
1:27:49believe this is the most sustainable way
1:27:50to actually drive innovation on your
1:27:53three primary platforms but not all at
1:27:55once. And that's the key. In Lord of the
1:27:57Rings, there's you know the eye of
1:27:59Sauron and he's moving around and
1:28:01focusing on one area at a time trying to
1:28:03find the ring. Well, what we are trying
1:28:05to do is find innovation. And so what we
1:28:07are going to do is we are going to focus
1:28:09on one of the three primary platforms at
1:28:12once. All of the focus there. Everything
1:28:15else goes on maintenance mode. And so
1:28:16that's what we've been doing in the
1:28:18first year of building my personal
1:28:20brand. We have had the eye on YouTube,
1:28:22Instagram, and LinkedIn have been on
1:28:24maintenance mode. What does that mean?
1:28:26That means that we're still posting on
1:28:28all three, but YouTube is the only
1:28:30platform right now that we're putting
1:28:32our time, attention, and money towards
1:28:36innovation. The other platforms, we're
1:28:38making content that we know works in
1:28:40formats that we know work. They're not
1:28:43doing exceptionally well. Sometimes we
1:28:45have a breakout, but we're not
1:28:47optimizing for that. YouTube is our main
1:28:49focus right now. And then once we get to
1:28:51a point where we feel like YouTube is
1:28:53really dialed, we will turn the eye to
1:28:55Instagram or to LinkedIn and then we'll
1:28:58move on to the next one. So you just get
1:29:00to here's the key. Once you go through
1:29:03all three, don't stop there. Turn your
1:29:06eye back to the first one. Let's say you
1:29:09go YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn. By the
1:29:11time you get to LinkedIn and get some
1:29:12innovation over there, you're going to
1:29:14need to innovate on YouTube because your
1:29:16audience has probably gotten fatigued.
1:29:18the preferences of the audience on the
1:29:19platform are constantly evolving and
1:29:21that's why your eye needs to constantly
1:29:23be shifting. Now, what platforms do you
1:29:25pick? Like, how do you know which ones
1:29:27to go with, right? Like, how did I
1:29:29determine YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn?
1:29:30Here's the first question. What medium
1:29:32did you pick? If you picked video, well,
1:29:35what platforms prefer video the most? If
1:29:38you picked written, for example, what
1:29:40platforms do really well with written?
1:29:42I'm going to say if you chose written,
1:29:44YouTube might not be the best strategy
1:29:46for right now. Substack, LinkedIn, maybe
1:29:50Facebook. These are platforms that might
1:29:52better serve you and the medium that you
1:29:54have picked. Now, the other thing that
1:29:56you can ask is, "Where does my ideal
1:29:59customer spend the most time?" And the
1:30:01natural follow-up question that
1:30:02immediately comes is, "Well, how do I
1:30:04figure that out?" You just ask. Okay?
1:30:06You ask around. It's not that
1:30:08complicated. Whenever you go to a new
1:30:10city and you're trying to find your
1:30:12favorite organic market that serves
1:30:15non-GMO,
1:30:17you know, healthy [ __ ] you find
1:30:19somebody who looks like they only eat
1:30:21granola bars and go on hikes all day and
1:30:24you ask them. Find somebody who looks
1:30:26like or acts like or seems like your
1:30:29ideal customer and ask them where
1:30:30they're hanging out and go from there.
1:30:33It's not that complicated. If you are
1:30:36complicating it, I'm going to call you
1:30:37out right now. you are using it as a
1:30:39form of procrastination and that's some
1:30:41[ __ ] Just pick a [ __ ] platform
1:30:43and start. You can always evolve and
1:30:46iterate from there. You can change what
1:30:48platforms you do 5 months or 5 days into
1:30:52this thing. Don't debate. Pick a
1:30:54platform and let's start posting. Now,
1:30:56make sure that in this section you
1:30:58didn't just listen to me share this.
1:31:00There's actually an exercise in the
1:31:02workbook that you should have
1:31:03downloaded. If you haven't, click the
1:31:04link in the description. Enter your
1:31:06email. We're going to email it to you.
1:31:07Go to your email. Grab the workbook and
1:31:09go through the exercise of determining
1:31:13your platforms. Okay, for the solo
1:31:15creator, you have an exercise. For the
1:31:16creator with a team, you have an
1:31:18exercise. Fill that information in. Now,
1:31:21even if you are being the most
1:31:23disciplined Dan out there and you
1:31:27[laughter] have done a great job of only
1:31:29picking, if you're a solo creator, one
1:31:31primary and one secondary platform or if
1:31:33you have a team, three primary platforms
1:31:35that you're going to focus on. Great
1:31:37job. That's amazing. You can still [ __ ]
1:31:39it up by having an incorrect cadence, a
1:31:42cadence that you cannot sustain. Okay?
1:31:45So, just because you're disciplined on
1:31:46the platforms that you choose doesn't
1:31:48mean that you have a winning formula.
1:31:50You need to also be disciplined on the
1:31:52cadence that you choose. If you choose
1:31:55an output that matches your favorite
1:31:57creator with a team of 30, you are
1:31:59doomed. As cliche and [ __ ]
1:32:02ridiculously repetitive as this sounds,
1:32:04because you've heard so many people say
1:32:05this in so many different ways, it truly
1:32:08is a marathon, not a sprint. You can
1:32:10always increase the volume of content
1:32:13that you post, but what I have found is
1:32:16creators have a very tough time stepping
1:32:18back the volume. Very easy to increase,
1:32:20but once you set an expectation with
1:32:23your audience, a lot of creators
1:32:25struggle to walk that back. And so I
1:32:28encourage you start with something that
1:32:30feels very realistic now and increase
1:32:32over time. And in the true sense of this
1:32:34being a marathon, not a sprint, a great
1:32:36example of what a sprint looks like on
1:32:39an extreme level is think of all those
1:32:40creators in the last, you know, 3 or 4
1:32:43years that have had their 15 minutes of
1:32:45fame. They went wildly viral and then
1:32:47they disappeared. How much did they
1:32:49actually get from that sprint? Sure,
1:32:51there's a few individuals who were able
1:32:53to take it and run with it, but I would
1:32:56uh beg you to find somebody who had that
1:33:0115 minutes two years ago and is still
1:33:04consistently showing up [laughter] for
1:33:07their audience and is relevant in any
1:33:09sort of way. I'm sure there's examples
1:33:12uh and anomalies, but by and large it
1:33:16ends up being a very short sprint that
1:33:19is short-lived. If you don't stick with
1:33:21this for a long time, no matter how big
1:33:23you get, if it's for a short period of
1:33:25time, there's not actually that much
1:33:27value long term for you in it. You want
1:33:30to build a system that allows you to
1:33:32keep reaping the benefits of building a
1:33:34strong personal brand and putting out
1:33:36content that compounds in interest year
1:33:40after year, not some 15minute moment in
1:33:45the spotlight. Now, for you who may
1:33:47still be on the climb of your career,
1:33:49and if you're watching this, you're
1:33:50probably that type of person, you you've
1:33:52never reached your destination. So,
1:33:53you're always climbing. And one thing
1:33:55that I will note from experience, both
1:33:57for myself and a lot of people that I
1:33:59have worked for in the past, [ __ ] is
1:34:01going to get bigger. If you're doing
1:34:02this correctly and it's working, things
1:34:05are only going to get crazier. Make sure
1:34:07to build a system that is sustainable
1:34:09now so that your future self thanks you.
1:34:12What I will tell you is when we started
1:34:14when I released my first how to build a
1:34:17personal brand course back in April 2025
1:34:20to now we're filming this December 2025.
1:34:24My capacity has changed significantly. I
1:34:27had a whole lot more time dedicated
1:34:29towards content at the beginning of this
1:34:31journey than I do right now. But lucky
1:34:33for us, we didn't build an output
1:34:36cadence that was optimized around the
1:34:38time that I had then. We built it in a
1:34:40way that was optimized around the time
1:34:42that I was going to have in the future.
1:34:44I probably had the capacity at the
1:34:46beginning to do a weekly YouTube video.
1:34:47But if we would have done that six
1:34:49months, well actually probably like four
1:34:51months into putting content out on
1:34:53YouTube, we wouldn't have been able to
1:34:54sustain that because I got way too busy
1:34:58running the actual business. And the
1:35:00whole reason why we're building this
1:35:02personal brand is to support the
1:35:04business. And so all of a sudden, if you
1:35:06don't do this correctly, you get to this
1:35:08weird place where your personal brand
1:35:10and your business are like at odds and
1:35:12competing with each other when really
1:35:14they should be complimentary. So if
1:35:15you're wondering, well, okay, this is
1:35:17all nice and dandy, but how much should
1:35:19I [ __ ] post, Caleb? Well, here's what
1:35:21I would say. I'm not going to give you
1:35:22an exact amount because you are
1:35:24different from everybody else seeing
1:35:26this right now. Start with a cadence
1:35:27that feels doable. If I say, "I want you
1:35:30to make a video uh twice a week on
1:35:33YouTube." Does that sound doable? Are
1:35:35you like, "Woof, that sounds like a
1:35:36push." If it sounds like a push, don't
1:35:38do it. What about weekly? What about
1:35:40bi-weekly? What about monthly,
1:35:43quarterly, yearly? Right? Like, you can
1:35:45chunk up as much as you want. Here's the
1:35:48key. It has far less to do with what you
1:35:50start out with and far more to do with
1:35:53the frequency at which you increase that
1:35:55cadence. So as long as you know that
1:35:57you're going to increase the volume
1:35:59every two weeks, every month, every
1:36:00quarter, every year, whatever, then you
1:36:03are set. So even if in the first year of
1:36:06making content, you only put out one
1:36:07YouTube video a month, you know, in year
1:36:09two, you could increase that volume if
1:36:12you wanted and that wouldn't be a
1:36:13problem because we are doing a marathon,
1:36:17not a sprint. And I've got two
1:36:19frameworks that will really help you in
1:36:21accomplishing this. First one is the
1:36:23accordion method and the second one is
1:36:24the 702010 framework. I recommend using
1:36:28the accordion method to figure out what
1:36:29the [ __ ] your audience wants more of
1:36:32from you. And I recommend utilizing the
1:36:35702010 framework to help improve the
1:36:39performance and longevity of your
1:36:42content. The accordion method works just
1:36:44like an accordion. You are expanding and
1:36:47contracting, right? You are going to
1:36:49expand the accordion when you are making
1:36:52more content in the beginning. Okay? So
1:36:55in the beginning you should have your
1:36:56accordion fully expanded. This is your
1:37:00high volume content so that you can
1:37:03learn what your audience wants more of
1:37:07aka what they call quality. So you're
1:37:09using quantity
1:37:11to inform what your audience says is
1:37:13quality. And then once you have that
1:37:16information on what your audience says
1:37:18is quality, you're going to contract it
1:37:21and not make higher quality content per
1:37:24se because I believe that quality is not
1:37:26something that you determine, but your
1:37:27audience does. But what you're going to
1:37:29do is you're going to put the same
1:37:30amount of effort you were putting into
1:37:32the expanded amount of volume and put
1:37:35that same effort into less pieces of
1:37:38content, increasing the odds that your
1:37:41audience labels it as quality. And this
1:37:45is a neverending cycle because the
1:37:48moment that you think you know what your
1:37:50audience likes and you contract and you
1:37:52start making more of that, soon you'll
1:37:54get to a point where your audience is no
1:37:57longer resonating or responding to that
1:38:00content the same way they were
1:38:02previously. Which means we will have to
1:38:04expand the accordion again to do more
1:38:07volume to get more data and more
1:38:09information on what our audience is
1:38:11calling quality. Now, real quick, how do
1:38:13you determine when your audience is
1:38:15calling something quality? Well, if
1:38:17you've never posted a single thing on
1:38:18Instagram, let's start with your first
1:38:2112 posts. If you do 12 posts over the
1:38:24course of, let's say, four weeks, that's
1:38:27three posts a week. At the end of that
1:38:29month, you're going to notice that some
1:38:32posts did better than others. And in the
1:38:36beginning, you don't have much you can
1:38:38go off of. So, I know this is shocking.
1:38:41coming from me. But you're going to look
1:38:42at the views. Okay, look at the views,
1:38:44likes, and comments. What content got
1:38:47more of those metrics, okay? That is
1:38:51probably a very good [laughter]
1:38:53indicator that you should make more of
1:38:55that because your audience clearly liked
1:38:57that more than the other content you
1:38:58made. You want to continue the expansion
1:39:01until you feel like you have enough
1:39:03information and certainty that you know,
1:39:07okay, cool. Every time that I share,
1:39:09like for me, like something that Trevor
1:39:11and I have figured out very clearly on
1:39:12my Instagram is when I share the brand
1:39:14journey framework, it seems to work
1:39:16really well. It does really well on
1:39:18Instagram specifically. We expanded the
1:39:20accordion enough to get that information
1:39:22and then we can contract it and make
1:39:23more content specifically around that
1:39:25through Instagram reels, carousels, etc.
1:39:28The next one is the 702010 framework. It
1:39:31is extremely simple and wildly useful.
1:39:34Consistent theme with me. I like things
1:39:36that are simple and useful. 70% of the
1:39:39content that you make should be [ __ ]
1:39:40that you know works from the accordion
1:39:43method, right? You expanded the
1:39:44accordion. You got information on what
1:39:45works. 70% of what you're doing should
1:39:48be that [ __ ] You should know that this
1:39:50is going to work. I'm not saying, you
1:39:52know, it's going to be like uh, you
1:39:53know, 10x multiplier, as in do 10x your
1:39:56normal performing content. I'm not
1:39:58saying it's going to go crazy, but it's
1:40:0070% should be content that you know is
1:40:02going to at least perform at benchmark,
1:40:04if not higher. The next 20% should be
1:40:07iterations of that 70%. It's still the
1:40:10content that you know that works, but
1:40:12you're doing slight tweaks to either the
1:40:14hook, the setting, the delivery, the
1:40:16packaging. You're changing one little
1:40:19variable to try to improve the
1:40:21performance of what is already working
1:40:23to get better results. The last 10%,
1:40:26this is where you are most likely to
1:40:29[ __ ] up. They hear me say this and they
1:40:31get excited about the 10%. But in
1:40:33reality, once you start building a brand
1:40:34and having content that works and you
1:40:36have kind of a baseline performance, you
1:40:39have a high likelihood of falling victim
1:40:42to the trap of needing to always hit
1:40:44your benchmark performance and you start
1:40:47to get scared of trying anything new
1:40:50that may or may not perform as well as
1:40:53your standard. This is where people go
1:40:56wrong. You need that 10%. You need those
1:40:59big swings in order to figure out what
1:41:01the next thing is. A lot of people who
1:41:04make content for more than a year
1:41:06experience audience fatigue. And what
1:41:0999.9% of creators do is they get to the
1:41:12point where their audience is fatigued
1:41:14on their current style of content and
1:41:15then they go into scramble mode. They
1:41:17are suddenly met with the challenging
1:41:20difficult process of needing to figure
1:41:21out what does my audience want from me
1:41:23now when it is needed. If you implement
1:41:27the 10% in the 702010 framework, what
1:41:30you actually end up doing is you find
1:41:32the next version of your content before
1:41:35your audience tells you they want it.
1:41:37Thus, you never go into a point where
1:41:39you're panicking and trying to figure
1:41:41out what do we do? Suddenly, our content
1:41:43isn't resonating. We got to figure this
1:41:44out ASAP. No, you're going to be the
1:41:47intentional, thoughtful creator who
1:41:49actually ends up building a system where
1:41:52you're always trying to put your content
1:41:54out of business. You're trying to find
1:41:56the next style, next format, next
1:41:59version of content that you're going to
1:42:01make that your audience isn't fatigued
1:42:03over currently. The crazy thing is is
1:42:05eventually they will. And that's why you
1:42:07always want to be prioritizing that 10%.
1:42:10Now, it's 10%. So, just to be clear, the
1:42:13majority of your content should not be
1:42:14these big swings that you have no idea
1:42:15whether or not they're going to work or
1:42:16not. You should have some predictability
1:42:19in your content and then 10% of it
1:42:21should be big, big swings. Cool. So, we
1:42:24have some clarity on how we're going to
1:42:26make content and how we're going to
1:42:28operate and all these things, but the
1:42:30big question is, how do we come up with
1:42:32ideas? How do you know what to make?
1:42:34Right? I'm sure you've heard the classic
1:42:37guru advice, which is something to the
1:42:39effect of list out your top 10 favorite
1:42:42creators in your niche. Then, what you
1:42:44want to do is identify their top 10
1:42:47videos on YouTube. Then, what you're
1:42:48going to do is you're going to take the
1:42:50transcripts from those videos. you're
1:42:52going to put them into Claude,
1:42:53Perplexity, ChatgBT, whatever AI tool
1:42:56you use, and reconfigure the script for
1:42:59you.
1:43:01[sighs]
1:43:02It might be the the the little push that
1:43:05gets you over the barrier of entry of
1:43:07creating content. And if that's the
1:43:09case, I'm not here to judge you. I'm not
1:43:11trying to make you feel bad. But very
1:43:13quickly, I encourage you to change how
1:43:18you do this, okay? I am not the guy to
1:43:20teach you how to rip off other people's
1:43:22ideas and make them your own. That's not
1:43:24me. To be fair, it is a strategy that
1:43:27works as far as generating views and
1:43:30impressions. But if you're here, you
1:43:32want to learn how to build a brand
1:43:33around optimizing for trust, which means
1:43:37we need to start with the pain that our
1:43:39customers feel. And so, like I said
1:43:41earlier in this video, what you need to
1:43:43do is start with your customers in mind
1:43:46and the pain that they are feeling. What
1:43:48problems do they have that you solve?
1:43:51What are they afraid of? What pisses
1:43:54them off and makes them frustrated? What
1:43:55are they doing wrong? Maybe they think
1:43:58they're doing it right, but what are
1:43:59they actually doing wrong? Once you have
1:44:01that painful problem, like we talked
1:44:03about earlier, you need to take your
1:44:04unique solution and pair it together. I
1:44:08like to call this a beautiful gift that
1:44:10you're giving your audience. Their
1:44:12painful problem plus your unique
1:44:14solution equals gift for your audience.
1:44:17Now this gift gets multiplied by your
1:44:21credibility. Okay, ideally contextual
1:44:25credibility. What do I mean by
1:44:26contextual credibility? Well, for
1:44:28example, some videos I will give my
1:44:32credibility as a general credibility
1:44:34statement, which is something the effect
1:44:36of I've been scaling personal brands for
1:44:3817 years to over 30 million followers.
1:44:40That is a general credibility statement.
1:44:44Sometimes, however, we will use a
1:44:46contextual credibility statement
1:44:48specifically for the video. So, for
1:44:50example, if we're making a video on
1:44:52building a media team, I might reference
1:44:55as my credibility statement building a
1:44:58media team from 0 to 18 full-time
1:45:00members while increasing content
1:45:02performance quarter over quarter rather
1:45:05than my general 17 years to 30 million
1:45:08followers credibility statement. It's
1:45:10contextual to the topic that we're
1:45:12talking about, which increases the odds
1:45:14that your audience is going to believe
1:45:16what you are about to say because you
1:45:18have proven yourself worthy. Not in the
1:45:20general space, but in the very specific
1:45:22space in which you are about to speak
1:45:24to. And so, in your workbook, again, if
1:45:28you haven't downloaded it, click that
1:45:29[ __ ] link in the description. What
1:45:30are you doing here? We want to be taking
1:45:32action. Click the link, enter your
1:45:34email, go to your email, grab the
1:45:35workbook, and let's work on this
1:45:37together. What you're going to notice is
1:45:38in the workbook there's an formula
1:45:40that's listed out or laid out for you to
1:45:43be able to look at and follow. The
1:45:45formula goes as follows. So the problem
1:45:48that your customer faces plus your
1:45:50unique solution times the contextual
1:45:54credibility that you have and a proven
1:45:58rapper. That is what determines the
1:46:00success of your content. If somebody's
1:46:03making a video on how to start your
1:46:04personal brand and their credibility is
1:46:07that they've built five different brands
1:46:09to 5,000 followers each, that's great.
1:46:12That's impressive. That's not easy to
1:46:13do, right? I'm I'm not belittling it.
1:46:15But you're going to take that
1:46:18information differently than somebody
1:46:20who has scaled personal brands to over
1:46:2230 million followers. Or another
1:46:24example, someone who has built personal
1:46:27brands and had millions of followers,
1:46:29but they've only been doing it for the
1:46:31last 5 years versus somebody who has
1:46:33gotten the same amount of total
1:46:34followers, but they've been doing it for
1:46:3617 years. And I I know this is sounding
1:46:38like I'm trying to put myself into this
1:46:39like wonderful corner. Just roll with me
1:46:41here. Hear it through a humble tone. You
1:46:43might hear that person differently
1:46:45because not only have they gotten a
1:46:46great result, they've done it through
1:46:48many different seasons and scenarios.
1:46:51And so you are more likely to believe
1:46:54that they're not sharing what worked in
1:46:55one scenario. They're sharing principles
1:46:57that you can apply into your specific
1:47:00scenario. The credibility that you have
1:47:04is a huge multiplier that determines the
1:47:07success of your content. Make sure that
1:47:10the credibility that you're providing in
1:47:12the piece of content is contextual to
1:47:15what you're speaking to. The more
1:47:16contextual it is, the more your audience
1:47:18will believe what you are about to say.
1:47:21Now, the exercise that I want you to do
1:47:22is you're going to list out 10 to 15
1:47:24painful problems that your ideal
1:47:26customer faces. Then, for each problem,
1:47:28you're going to attach your unique
1:47:31solution to it. For each problem plus
1:47:33solution, you need to write out what is
1:47:35your credibility or the contextual
1:47:38credibility that you are going to share.
1:47:40Or if this is a video that lends itself
1:47:42to your general credibility statement,
1:47:44label it as such. In your workbook, you
1:47:47can fill this out. you can actually
1:47:49identify your problems that you solve,
1:47:51what your unique solution is, and what
1:47:54the credibility statement is going to be
1:47:56that you're going to share in that piece
1:47:58of content. This becomes wildly
1:48:01effective. Now, the 2.0 version is maybe
1:48:04you actually identify these things, the
1:48:06painful problem and the unique solution,
1:48:08and maybe you write two or three
1:48:10different versions of what the
1:48:11contextual credibility is going to be.
1:48:13Why? Because you're not just going to
1:48:14make one video about this problem.
1:48:16You're going to make multiple videos
1:48:17over the next couple of years about this
1:48:19painful problem. And so you may want
1:48:21different versions of a contextual
1:48:23credibility statement to give for those
1:48:26individual videos. Now, what I want to
1:48:28focus on is your delivery. How you
1:48:32communicate these ideas that we just
1:48:34worked on coming up with. Right?
1:48:36Delivery is one of the three levers that
1:48:38I talk about in helping you stand out.
1:48:41You have your contrarian belief, your
1:48:43delivery, and your wrapping paper. I
1:48:44believe contrarian belief is the
1:48:46strongest lever you can pull. But I
1:48:48actually believe that the second
1:48:50strongest one you can pull is not your
1:48:52wrapping paper, not the packaging, not
1:48:54the formats. It's actually your
1:48:56delivery. It's how you communicate the
1:48:58information and ideas that you have in a
1:49:02different way potentially than other
1:49:04people in your space. I think a lot of
1:49:07people mess up their delivery because
1:49:09they think they need to be like this
1:49:12like content version of themselves. And
1:49:15I understand that that thinking, right?
1:49:16Like I understand that there's a lot of
1:49:18people out there that talked about how
1:49:19you need to be really animated. You
1:49:21know, there's the classic old statement
1:49:23that I remember on old productions that
1:49:25I used to do telling talent, you know,
1:49:28whatever you would normally do, turn up
1:49:30times 10 because it it shows up
1:49:32differently on camera, whatever.
1:49:34Essentially, what a lot of the industry
1:49:36has done is created this perception that
1:49:39you need to create this alter ego for
1:49:41your content. Now, if that's your
1:49:43stickick and that's the brand that
1:49:44you're creating and you're intentionally
1:49:46creating this alter ego, by all means,
1:49:47you do you. But what I recommend is that
1:49:50your delivery should actually be the
1:49:53most authentic version of who you
1:49:55actually are as a human. Delivery is not
1:49:58about becoming someone else or building
1:50:01this caricature version of yourself.
1:50:03Delivery is actually about removing all
1:50:06the things that keep you and are
1:50:09stopping you from being fully you.
1:50:12Delivery isn't this performance or
1:50:14performative act. And this is where you
1:50:16can go wrong. You start trying to
1:50:18perform. You start acting right. You do
1:50:22things that feel unnatural and not true
1:50:25to who you are. You start trying to
1:50:28match energy. This is a big one. you
1:50:30start trying to match energy of your
1:50:32favorite creator and you actually just
1:50:34become like a an off-brand version of
1:50:36them. You burn out because you've built
1:50:38a character, not a personal brand. See,
1:50:42I'm not asking you to perform. I don't
1:50:43want you to act. I don't want you to
1:50:45pretend and become somebody that you are
1:50:48not. I want you to talk the way that you
1:50:51talk. If you're an extremely calm
1:50:54individual and that's how you
1:50:56communicate in real life, be calm in
1:50:59your content. If you're more intense in
1:51:01the way that you teach, be intense. If
1:51:04you're naturally dry and witty, I love
1:51:07those kinds of people. Bring the dryness
1:51:09and the witty humor into your content.
1:51:12It should be a natural reflection of how
1:51:15you operate and communicate and deliver
1:51:18information in your everyday life. See,
1:51:22it's far less about being some
1:51:24charismatic character on camera, and
1:51:27it's far more about actually
1:51:29understanding the points that you're
1:51:31trying to communicate to your audience.
1:51:33The better that you understand what
1:51:34you're trying to say, the better the
1:51:37delivery becomes. It's not about being
1:51:40this crazy charismatic character. It's
1:51:41about actually understanding what the
1:51:43[ __ ] are you trying to communicate so
1:51:44that you can communicate in a way that
1:51:47they understand. Something that I've
1:51:48noticed that you might be struggling
1:51:50with is communicating your points of
1:51:52view. And sometimes I think this comes
1:51:54down to communication styles, uh,
1:51:57experience, confidence, all those
1:51:59things. But I've also come to realize
1:52:01that a lot of the times, and it's kind
1:52:03of embarrassing for for us to admit, but
1:52:06a lot of the times, the reason why we're
1:52:08having a tough time communicating
1:52:09something is maybe we don't fully
1:52:12understand the point that we're actually
1:52:13trying to communicate. Now, this might
1:52:15get a bit heady, um, so I don't want to
1:52:16get bogged down on it, but I want to
1:52:18give you something that can be very
1:52:20useful helping you communicate your
1:52:22ideas when you're starting off with your
1:52:24personal brand and trying to get up and
1:52:25running. Here's how I think about it.
1:52:27You should be able to explain a concept
1:52:30to three different people in three
1:52:33completely different and unique
1:52:35scenarios. If you are able to do this, I
1:52:38believe you are at the point where you
1:52:41understand the concept enough to be able
1:52:43to communicate it in your content in a
1:52:45way that your audience is going to
1:52:48actually understand. And so even if
1:52:50you're the most dry, sarcastic, monotone
1:52:53individual, if you understand what
1:52:55you're communicating and you're
1:52:57communicating something useful, your
1:52:59audience is going to [ __ ] with it. You
1:53:02will build a following. It might not be
1:53:04the biggest following in the world, but
1:53:05it's going to be a following of
1:53:06individuals who trust you deeply. You
1:53:09don't have to be the most charismatic.
1:53:12You just need to be the most useful. If
1:53:15you optimize your personal brand around
1:53:18usefulness rather than charisma, you
1:53:21will build a strong personal brand. If
1:53:24you optimize around charisma over
1:53:25usefulness, you will build a vanitybased
1:53:29brand. So the biggest thing that I want
1:53:31you to take away from this section is
1:53:32that you don't need to get better at
1:53:35your delivery. You need to remove
1:53:38everything that restricts you or makes
1:53:41you feel unlike yourself when you are
1:53:44making content. And one way that I've
1:53:47gone about doing this for myself is
1:53:50actually implementing game tape reviews.
1:53:52It's like a quarterback Monday morning
1:53:54reviewing the game tape footage of how
1:53:56they performed on Sunday. I like to look
1:53:58at my content and see what is it that
1:54:01I'm communicating that was clear and
1:54:03what are the areas that are not clear.
1:54:05Trevor and I have been talking about
1:54:06this a lot lately where I go on podcast
1:54:09and I'll watch how I answer a question
1:54:11to see how quickly am I able to
1:54:14communicate the important points without
1:54:17going down some crazy rabbit hole. I'm a
1:54:19verbal processor and so sometimes I can
1:54:22take a little bit longer than I need to
1:54:24to communicate a point. And so something
1:54:26I'm trying to implement with Game Tape
1:54:28Reviews is every time that I find that
1:54:30I'm taking a little too long on the
1:54:32spot, I'll pause the video and figure
1:54:34out how could I answer this question
1:54:37more clearly and more concisely. Now
1:54:39that we understand how we're going to
1:54:41approach our delivery, trying to remove
1:54:43all the things that make us feel like we
1:54:45are not ourselves and not show up as we
1:54:48are, we want to move on to the third
1:54:52lever to pull on standing out. The first
1:54:54two, like I said, are contrarian belief
1:54:56and delivery, like we just spoke about.
1:54:58The next one is your wrapping paper.
1:55:00Okay, this is the third lever that you
1:55:02can pull on to stand out in your space
1:55:07or your niche. Something that I hear so
1:55:09many times is like, man, this was such a
1:55:13good piece of content. Why did it get no
1:55:15views? Nobody watched it. I think a lot
1:55:17of times, not always, cuz some of y'all
1:55:19are creating some [ __ ] but most of
1:55:21you are making really good content. And
1:55:24it's not necessarily that the content
1:55:26isn't good, it's that it doesn't have a
1:55:28good wrapping paper or wrapper around it
1:55:31to make it attractive to the audience
1:55:33you're trying to reach. Cuz here's the
1:55:35way that this actually works. When you
1:55:37make content on YouTube, for example,
1:55:40sure you have competitors within your
1:55:43niche or space, but the way that
1:55:45consumption works is you're not
1:55:47competing with just your competitors.
1:55:49You're competing with everybody making
1:55:51content on YouTube. I'm competing on
1:55:54your YouTube homepage with whatever
1:55:56other channels you're subscribed to
1:55:59along with Mr. beast and a creator
1:56:02you've never heard of and 10 other
1:56:04creators that you love and admire and
1:56:05have watched a ton of videos from. Your
1:56:07rapping is the only competitive
1:56:10advantage you have before somebody
1:56:12clicks. The contrarian belief and the
1:56:15delivery that we talk about, those are
1:56:18only able to be shared and communicated
1:56:20and engaged with after they click. Your
1:56:24wrapping paper is what causes them to
1:56:26click so they can find out what your
1:56:28contrarian belief is. so they can
1:56:29experience your delivery. So, the way
1:56:31that you wrap your content determines
1:56:33how likely or unlikely someone is to
1:56:37actually consume it. Aka, it's really
1:56:39[ __ ] important. It's so important.
1:56:43It's why it's one of the three levers
1:56:45that you can pull on in order to stand
1:56:46out. Your packaging, right? So, on
1:56:48YouTube, this is your title and
1:56:50thumbnail. It's also your hook. It's
1:56:52also the format in which you're making
1:56:55the content. What do I mean by format?
1:56:56Well, you have like a direct to camera
1:56:58video here. Uh, we have our in the wild
1:57:01cinematic videos which on our channel
1:57:03are if you're struggling with making
1:57:04content, please watch this or if you're
1:57:06struggling in your creative career,
1:57:07watch this video. There are two videos
1:57:09that are wildly different format, right?
1:57:12And so that is how you can think of your
1:57:15wrapping paper. It's either your
1:57:16packaging, your hook, or your format.
1:57:19It's how you're wrapping the concept or
1:57:22concepts that you're sharing in the
1:57:25content. Back to what we were talking
1:57:26about earlier, how you're taking the
1:57:28painful problem your customer faces,
1:57:30your unique solution, that's the gift.
1:57:32You need to wrap the gift in a way that
1:57:34your ideal viewer is going to want to
1:57:37rip open, aka click on. Now, the
1:57:40exercise that we're going to walk
1:57:41through in your workbook, again, if you
1:57:43haven't downloaded it, download it.
1:57:44Click the link in the description down
1:57:45below. You're going to build a wrapping
1:57:48paper library. Okay? I like to think of
1:57:51this as I really love Christmas time.
1:57:53I'm obsessed with it. I love Christmas
1:57:55wrapping paper. I have all different
1:57:57kinds. If I'm giving them multiple
1:57:58gifts, each of them should be a unique
1:58:01wrapper. Okay? And so my vision for my
1:58:04future is one day I have a home where
1:58:07there's an entire room dedicated towards
1:58:10wrapping paper. I know that's absurd,
1:58:11but this is how I like to think about
1:58:13it. You want to create a room where you
1:58:15walk in and there's all these different
1:58:17wrapping paper options that you can
1:58:19choose from. You know those screenshots
1:58:20that you take when you're scrolling
1:58:22through Instagram or you see a title
1:58:24thumbnail that you like on YouTube? You
1:58:25take the screenshot and it just goes off
1:58:27into nowhere in your photo or your photo
1:58:30album and you never see it again. Well,
1:58:33this is something where you can actually
1:58:36house that inspiration and utilize it in
1:58:40the future. No longer are those
1:58:41screenshots just going to live on your
1:58:43phone. They're actually going to be
1:58:44utilized for the work you're doing. If
1:58:47we're thinking about just the lens of
1:58:48the packaging, right, the title,
1:58:50thumbnail for a YouTube video, for
1:58:51example, if you're making a YouTube
1:58:53video, you've already filmed it, you're
1:58:55in the edit, and you're trying to figure
1:58:56out how are we going to package it. What
1:58:58I have found, and what a lot of my
1:59:00friends in the industry have found, is
1:59:02when you need packaging, that is when it
1:59:05is hardest to find. And so what you want
1:59:07to do is you want to develop this in an
1:59:09evergreen sense so that when you have a
1:59:11video that you are wanting to package,
1:59:13you go into your wrapping paper library
1:59:16and you see what wrapping paper best
1:59:18fits this video or this gift that I am
1:59:22giving my audience. What I recommend you
1:59:24do is you want to have a habit weekly,
1:59:28bi-weekly, monthly, whatever cadence you
1:59:31want. You want a habit of searching and
1:59:35shopping for wrapping paper. And the two
1:59:37best sources that I will recommend when
1:59:39it comes to YouTube are oneof10.com and
1:59:41YouTube itself. You want to set up a one
1:59:43of 10 account. And I recommend that on a
1:59:45weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, you
1:59:48scroll one of 10. And literally, you're
1:59:51not searching for anything specific. You
1:59:53are generally scrolling until something
1:59:56catches your attention. And when it
1:59:58catches your attention, you need to
1:59:59screenshot that and add it to your
2:00:01wrapping paper library. You can do this
2:00:03in, you know, Google Docs, in notion, in
2:00:05whatever project management tool you
2:00:07use. Wherever you are going to actually
2:00:09access this and use it on a recurring
2:00:11basis, that's where you want to store
2:00:13this inspiration. That's the room that
2:00:16you want to house all your wrapping
2:00:17paper in. To be clear, when I say you're
2:00:20scrolling one of 10 and looking for
2:00:22things that stand out, I'm talking
2:00:24things that stand out that it's like,
2:00:25oh, you clearly immediately know, oh,
2:00:27this would be a perfect video for me.
2:00:29But also, I want you to screenshot the
2:00:31absurd [ __ ] the [ __ ] that you're like,
2:00:32I don't know how I could ever turn this
2:00:34into a video of mine or or package a
2:00:37video of mine with this. You would be
2:00:38surprised if you were able to see our
2:00:40wrapping paper library. There are some
2:00:42wild uh videos in there or packaging
2:00:46options in there that are absolutely
2:00:48absurd. There are some crazy things in
2:00:50there, but I guarantee at some point
2:00:51over the next 2 years, we're going to
2:00:53use I'd say probably a good 50 60% of
2:00:57what we have in there. This becomes
2:00:59wildly useful and you'll be surprised.
2:01:01One example that I will share is I
2:01:02remember we were scrolling through and
2:01:04we came across a video. It was like
2:01:06something to the effect of how I attract
2:01:0710 out of 10 girls every single day.
2:01:09Trevor called it out and was like, "Wow,
2:01:11this is a great idea." I'm just
2:01:13[laughter] kidding.
2:01:15We were looking and we were like, "Oh,
2:01:16wow. It caught both of our attention."
2:01:18And then we were like, "Okay, let's
2:01:20screenshot it, put it in. I don't know
2:01:21how we would use this, but maybe one day
2:01:23we can figure it out." A couple weeks
2:01:24later, we were talking with one of our
2:01:26clients. All of a sudden, I realized I
2:01:27was like, "Holy [ __ ] what we just
2:01:29discussed with them, we could turn into
2:01:31a video on how we attract 10 out of 10
2:01:33clients every single day, week, or
2:01:35month, whatever." cadence. There's an
2:01:36example where an absurd piece of
2:01:38packaging that on the surface would
2:01:40never make sense for us suddenly made
2:01:42sense when we had the right problem and
2:01:44solution combination to meet that
2:01:46wrapping paper. So develop your wrapping
2:01:48paper library ideally with some
2:01:50diversity having all kinds of crazy
2:01:52different ideas in there. And then the
2:01:53next thing that you're going to do after
2:01:55you've built that wrapping paper library
2:01:56is you're going to wrap the gift.
2:01:58Remember that beautiful gift that you
2:01:59developed earlier? You're going to take
2:02:01that combination, the painful problem
2:02:02and unique solution, and you scroll
2:02:04through your library to see what
2:02:06wrapping paper best wraps this gift.
2:02:10This is not just for YouTube, by the
2:02:12way. I have a friend who he has been and
2:02:14logged into LinkedIn every single day, I
2:02:17think, for probably at least the last 5
2:02:19years, if not longer. He has a photo
2:02:21album on his phone where he has, I think
2:02:24at this point, it's over five or 600
2:02:26screenshots of top performing posts on
2:02:28LinkedIn. What he'll do is he'll put
2:02:30together his concept, his problem plus
2:02:33solution, and then he looks at all of
2:02:36these screenshots of the way various
2:02:38LinkedIn posts that performed really
2:02:40well have been formatted. What was the
2:02:43structure? What was the hook? How could
2:02:45I reorient this for my problem solution
2:02:48combination? And then he writes it in
2:02:50that context. You can also do this for
2:02:52Instagram, for Tik Tok, for Pinterest,
2:02:55for Snapchat, for LinkedIn, for any
2:02:58platform you can imagine. You can
2:03:00develop your wrapping paper library
2:03:02because, like I said at the top, you
2:03:04want to share your contrarian belief and
2:03:05you want people to experience your
2:03:07delivery, but they're only going to know
2:03:08what your contrarian belief is and
2:03:09experience your delivery if they
2:03:11actually click on the video or engage
2:03:14with the post. And they only do that if
2:03:17you have an appealing rapper that makes
2:03:20them want to tear it open. If you're
2:03:22trying to optimize for the short form
2:03:24platforms, they have a beautiful feature
2:03:26called save. I'm not recommending that
2:03:28you just hit the general save button cuz
2:03:30that is basically like taking a
2:03:32screenshot and having it drop into your
2:03:33photo album and never seeing it again.
2:03:35We've all done that. I do it a million
2:03:37times to this day. What you do want to
2:03:39do is you can actually on a lot of these
2:03:41platforms, Instagram for sure, you can
2:03:44actually create different folders that
2:03:46you save posts in. And so I would
2:03:48recommend you create an inspiration
2:03:50folder that you can save specific pieces
2:03:54of content that you really like. And the
2:03:56cool thing about Instagram is you can
2:03:57really get that variety or really get
2:03:59that diversity that I was encouraging
2:04:01you to do because you can save reals,
2:04:04you can save carousels, or you can save
2:04:06singular posts. And so you can develop
2:04:08this beautiful diverse library of what
2:04:11good content on Instagram looks like. So
2:04:13that when you're trying to figure out
2:04:14how to share your gift, the problem, and
2:04:18solution with your audience, you can
2:04:20look at several or potentially hundreds
2:04:24of different versions of what a top
2:04:26performing post contextualized for that
2:04:28platform looks like. Now, in looking at
2:04:31these, you know, outliers and looking at
2:04:35packaging from other creators or an
2:04:37Instagram reel or a Tik Tok or a YouTube
2:04:40short that somebody made that you really
2:04:41admire that you're saving for
2:04:43inspiration for later. Look outside of
2:04:46your space and niche. Look at creators
2:04:48that are in completely different worlds.
2:04:51What's working for them? And then how
2:04:53can you borrow that from a first
2:04:56principal way of thinking? What are the
2:04:57the elements that would work for my
2:05:00message, my gift, the painful problem
2:05:03plus unique solution? What could I take
2:05:06from a gardening YouTube channel that
2:05:10would work in wrapping my ideas in my
2:05:14lane? I believe this is the way that you
2:05:16can stand out even more. The problem
2:05:18that we are facing right now in all
2:05:20these different spaces and niches is
2:05:22everybody's copying each other in their
2:05:24own space and niche. So you all look the
2:05:26same. If you want to not look the same,
2:05:29don't do what everybody else is doing,
2:05:31right? It seems obvious, but you are not
2:05:34doing this right now with your own
2:05:35content or the people you admire aren't
2:05:38even doing this. And so if you just look
2:05:40into other niches and spaces, I think
2:05:43you'll be blown away at how much your
2:05:45content stands out from your
2:05:46competitors. You might be sharing
2:05:49similar subject matter, similar advice
2:05:52even. You might not have some strong
2:05:54contrarian belief even. You might not be
2:05:56at that point yet. But if you are
2:05:58borrowing your wrapping paper from other
2:06:01industries, this will help you do things
2:06:04fundamentally different than all the
2:06:06other creators that are looking like
2:06:08each other within your niche or space. I
2:06:10don't know who needs to hear this, but
2:06:11that thing I'm talking about,
2:06:13educational content, it's really hard to
2:06:15learn. See, everybody online is teaching
2:06:17you entertainmentbased tactics and
2:06:19principles. And that's why we created
2:06:21Rollston Select. We designed it
2:06:23specifically to be the one place that
2:06:25you go to learn how to do
2:06:27pre-production, production,
2:06:28post-production, and platform strategy
2:06:31through the lens of educational content.
2:06:33If you want to learn more, click the
2:06:34link in the description. Let's get back
2:06:36to the video. Now, [snorts] a big debate
2:06:37that you're going to see online around
2:06:39content strategy is, do you make deep
2:06:42content or do you make wide content? And
2:06:44here's the reality. It's not one or the
2:06:46other. See, so many people online are
2:06:49telling you to lean into just one of
2:06:51these. [ __ ] that. That's some [ __ ]
2:06:54It's It's like anything in life. There's
2:06:56nuance to it. You need a strong ratio of
2:06:59both and you need to inject something
2:07:01that's missing from this conversation,
2:07:03which is a personal element. We are
2:07:06after all building a personal brand,
2:07:09aren't we? And so, you want to make sure
2:07:10that it's not just deep and wide. It's
2:07:12deep, wide, and personal. And I have a
2:07:15ratio that I roughly loosely follow and
2:07:18recommend that you follow as well. You
2:07:20should be able to give or take 10 points
2:07:22roughly on this. 75% of the content I
2:07:25believe should be deep content. Solving
2:07:29deep problems for your ideal customer.
2:07:3320% is nichewide content. Now, I'm going
2:07:35to explain what nichewide means here in
2:07:38a second. And the remaining 5% is
2:07:41personal. Now again, just a reminder
2:07:43before we break this down and go into
2:07:45what the deep, what the niche wide, and
2:07:47what the personal content looks like.
2:07:49This is a very rough ratio to follow. It
2:07:52is not a rule. Please do not be one of
2:07:54those people that takes this wildly too
2:07:56literally. You need to eb and flow this
2:07:58and adjust it based on you, and it's
2:08:01going to look different monthtomonth.
2:08:02But if you roughly loosely follow 7525,
2:08:07you will be in a really good spot. Now
2:08:09the 75% deep content, this is your
2:08:12educational content. This is the main
2:08:14source of the value from your personal
2:08:17brand. These are the frameworks. These
2:08:19are the painful problems that are
2:08:21solved, right? These are the tactical
2:08:23nuggets that you're giving. These are
2:08:25the belief shifts or the point of view
2:08:27that you have on your industry, niche,
2:08:29or space. This is the content that is
2:08:31going to establish the most trust in
2:08:34your ability to get results
2:08:36and it will reinforce your credibility.
2:08:40This is also the content that I believe
2:08:42is going to get you the most customers,
2:08:45the most highpaying customers because
2:08:48this is the content that increases the
2:08:50odds they believe that you can actually
2:08:52help them solve the problem they are
2:08:54wanting to solve. 20% of the content
2:08:58being nichwide. This is what I like to
2:09:01think of as broad within your niche.
2:09:04These are the subtopics that serve your
2:09:07ideal customer still, but they also
2:09:09serve a broader base of viewers. An
2:09:12example of what nichewide content could
2:09:14look like if you're making content
2:09:17helping business owners leverage the
2:09:19relationships that they already have to
2:09:22create new business rather than trying
2:09:25to go out and acquire new customers. A
2:09:28version of nichewide content within this
2:09:30example that you could make is helping
2:09:33people reconnect with old friends or
2:09:37colleagues in general, right? Not just
2:09:39within the context of business. This is
2:09:42still useful for your ideal customer and
2:09:45the main audience that you are trying to
2:09:47build, but it also serves a broader
2:09:50audience and increases the odds that
2:09:53your content will show up to new people.
2:09:56But here's the key. Unlike making
2:09:59general random wide content, you're
2:10:02still attracting people that are
2:10:04interested in the general topic that you
2:10:07are talking about. This increases the
2:10:10odds that the average person that comes
2:10:12in will have interest in your offer.
2:10:15They're not just a random person that
2:10:16has no relation to the offer that you're
2:10:18actually providing, right? It's somebody
2:10:20that's still going to be at least
2:10:22adjacent to the offer that you have and
2:10:25potentially through nurturing them
2:10:28through your content may get to a point
2:10:30where they do become interested in
2:10:32purchasing the offer that you make
2:10:34available to them. Think of this like
2:10:35your side dishes, okay? your nichewide
2:10:37content, that's the side dish. The deep
2:10:40content, that's 75%. That is your main
2:10:44dish. Okay? And the nichewide content is
2:10:47the sauteed spinach. It's the garlic
2:10:49mashed potatoes. It's your side dishes.
2:10:53And the other thing that you want to
2:10:54definitely not miss out on is the 5%
2:10:57personal content. Okay? Again, you are
2:11:00building a personal brand. I'm not
2:11:02saying do that influencer [ __ ] that you
2:11:06probably are thinking of immediately.
2:11:07I'm not saying make content where it's
2:11:10like look at my lifestyle. Look at how
2:11:12awesome I am. What this is is sharing
2:11:15you the human in that personal brand.
2:11:20And I believe that this is what helps
2:11:21you stand out from the crowd because
2:11:24these are the only things that are truly
2:11:26unique to you. more than likely the
2:11:28subject matter that you've decided to
2:11:30speak to, there's other people that are
2:11:32talking about it. And if we're being
2:11:34honest with ourselves, there are
2:11:36probably other people that are teaching
2:11:38similar principles and even potentially,
2:11:41crazy enough, similar contrarian takes.
2:11:44There probably are. But what they
2:11:46definitely cannot replicate is the
2:11:48unique combination of all of your
2:11:51interests and preferences and hobbies
2:11:53and passions that make up you. the
2:11:56unique human that you are. Okay. So, for
2:11:59me, what I constantly try to inject as
2:12:02much as I can into my content and my
2:12:05brand is my love for Harley-Davidson and
2:12:07the three Harleys that I have and obsess
2:12:10over. My love for metal, right, and all
2:12:12the different subg genres, the black
2:12:13metal, the hardcore, the metal core. I
2:12:16like it all. My roots in the fitness
2:12:17industry. I try to share that a lot.
2:12:19It's the combination of all of these
2:12:22things that create the lens that you
2:12:25view my personal branding advice and
2:12:27information and content through that
2:12:30makes me unique compared to the next
2:12:32person that you see off on the right
2:12:34side of your screen here that is also
2:12:36talking about a similar subject matter.
2:12:38Knowing that your deep content, the 75%
2:12:42is your steak and the nichewide content,
2:12:45the 20% are your side dishes, you can
2:12:48almost think about your personal content
2:12:51like it's the dessert. A quick note here
2:12:54is the 5% personal doesn't mean that 5%
2:12:57of your content should be a singular
2:12:59video or Substack article around your
2:13:03personal passion. I believe that the 5%
2:13:06should be sprinkled in to the other
2:13:09content. You haven't seen me make a
2:13:10video in depth on my Harley-Davidson
2:13:13Roadk special build out, right? Going
2:13:16into detail on that. But what you have
2:13:18seen if you've watched some of my
2:13:19content is you've seen that bike. You've
2:13:22seen one of my other bikes. I'm
2:13:24injecting it. I'm wearing a
2:13:25Harley-Davidson hat right now for God's
2:13:28sake. And so I'm not saying that you
2:13:29need to make specific content around
2:13:32your hobbies, passions, interests, but I
2:13:34do recommend you inject those into both
2:13:35the deep content and your nichewide
2:13:39content. It gives your audience more at
2:13:42bats to connect with you. I wasn't
2:13:44planning on sharing this, but it's
2:13:45really important. The more of the
2:13:48interests and individual unique things
2:13:50that make you unique and and wildly you,
2:13:54the more chances to connect with you.
2:13:57our relationships in our personal life,
2:14:00in our work life, the closer the
2:14:02relationship on the relationship sphere
2:14:04or circle, the closer they get to you,
2:14:07more than likely you have more than one
2:14:10interests in common, right? That's
2:14:13typically an indicator of the closeness
2:14:15of your relationship. And so, if you're
2:14:17wanting to develop a close relationship
2:14:19with your audience, you want to identify
2:14:22more interests that you have in common
2:14:25with them. But if you never share those
2:14:27interests, you never inject that into
2:14:29your content, how are they going to know
2:14:32what they can connect with you on other
2:14:34than the core thing you talk about? It's
2:14:36really important to focus on the 75%.
2:14:38The deep content, that is where you're
2:14:39going to get the greatest returns, the
2:14:41nichewide content, that's how you're
2:14:43going to start to develop a more
2:14:44well-rounded brand and bring more people
2:14:47in and increase the odds that you can
2:14:49reach a newer audience. But the thing
2:14:51that is going to make you actually stand
2:14:54out is the 5% that is personal in your
2:14:58personal brand. Now, let's talk about
2:15:01structuring your content because we now
2:15:03know what we're going to be making, but
2:15:05we need to figure out how we're going to
2:15:08go through it in a sequential order to
2:15:11make it easiest for our audience to
2:15:14actually not only consume all the way
2:15:17through, but learn and take action on
2:15:20what we are saying. There is a ton of
2:15:23[ __ ] out there on content nerds talking
2:15:27about how to keep people watching your
2:15:28content. And this is affectionately
2:15:31referred to as the art of retention.
2:15:34These retention editing hacks, I'd say
2:15:37I'm going to make a bold statement here.
2:15:3998% of them come from the lens of
2:15:42entertainment content, not educational.
2:15:45They have this method where it's like
2:15:47every, you know, 13 seconds or whatever,
2:15:50you need to make sure that there's a
2:15:51graphic or a scene change or some new
2:15:55element on screen that might be
2:15:57effective for entertainment content. Uh,
2:15:59I know I hate watching it personally,
2:16:01but there's a lot of people that like
2:16:02that. I get that. But if you're truly
2:16:04making educational content, your actual
2:16:06goal is for the audience to take action
2:16:08on what you say. But if you're
2:16:10constantly having all these graphics
2:16:12that distract from the actual message,
2:16:15you're inhibiting your audience's
2:16:17ability to be educated and you're
2:16:20actually just making entertainment
2:16:22content. I personally believe that
2:16:24within the world of educational content,
2:16:26the greatest retention hack in the world
2:16:29without competition is your audience
2:16:31learning. The way that we like to
2:16:33structure our intros is actually fairly
2:16:37different than what a lot of people talk
2:16:39about. You've heard a lot of people talk
2:16:41about proof, promise, plan, and I think
2:16:42that is an incredible framework. We have
2:16:44created our own framework for how we
2:16:47structure our intros to our videos and
2:16:49it's called the four C's framework. I I
2:16:51like the letter C. What can I say? The
2:16:53four C's are call out, credibility,
2:16:56compass, and the fourth one, which I've
2:16:59not really heard anyone mention, which
2:17:01is core learning. If we believe the
2:17:03greatest retention hack in educational
2:17:05content is the audience learning, then
2:17:08why would we not try to get to the first
2:17:10learning as quick as possible in the
2:17:12video? And so, we have now wrapped this
2:17:14into how we conduct our intro. Now, real
2:17:17quick, the four C's applies to your
2:17:19wrapping and your intro. We have a call
2:17:22out first. The call out can be in your
2:17:24intro, but the call out can also be
2:17:27addressed in your packaging, in the
2:17:29wrapping of your video, aka on YouTube,
2:17:32your title and thumbnail. You might not
2:17:34need to do a call out in the actual
2:17:37script of your intro because your title
2:17:40and thumbnail already take care of that.
2:17:41The call out basically is addressing who
2:17:43the [ __ ] is this video for? The
2:17:45credibility, as we've talked about, is
2:17:47why would somebody listen to you on this
2:17:50specific subject matter? Sure, you might
2:17:52be successful in general, but are you
2:17:54successful within this subject matter
2:17:56that we're addressing in this piece of
2:17:57content? The compass, give them the
2:17:59overview of how we're going to get from
2:18:00the problem they are currently facing to
2:18:02the solution that they are seeking. What
2:18:05is the road map or the compass that is
2:18:08going to guide us along this journey?
2:18:10You're previewing what you're going to
2:18:12hit in the video. And I believe the most
2:18:14important one, the core learning, you
2:18:17want to start off the video as quick as
2:18:20possible, getting to a valuable, useful
2:18:23nugget. Now, I'm not saying you want to
2:18:26create or take the most important,
2:18:28biggest learning that you're going to
2:18:29share in the video and share it up
2:18:30front. That I'm not saying is the best
2:18:32thing. But you have this thing that a
2:18:34lot of people have been preaching for
2:18:35years now, which is bury the value. It's
2:18:38like put the the value and the learning
2:18:40deeper in the video so that people stay
2:18:43longer to get it. And
2:18:46I think that did work for a long time,
2:18:49but we are at a point now where there is
2:18:51just way too much content out there
2:18:53being produced that people don't have
2:18:55the patience to wait. And that's why I
2:18:57believe you need to get them to a
2:18:59learning as quick as possible. Why?
2:19:01Well, if I learn something in the
2:19:03opening 60 seconds of a video, my belief
2:19:06that I'm going to continue learning
2:19:07throughout the video increases. If I see
2:19:10even a 20-minute video, in that opening
2:19:1260 seconds, if I learn, I'm assuming
2:19:15that's not the only learning I'm going
2:19:17to get and the rest is going to be
2:19:18[ __ ] I'm assuming I'm going to
2:19:20continue learning. That's an assumption
2:19:21that I'm making based on previous
2:19:23behaviors in other pieces of content
2:19:25that I've consumed. So, you need to
2:19:27optimize your introduction in your
2:19:29content, whether it's video or written.
2:19:32A lot of people talk about time to
2:19:33value. You want to deliver value as
2:19:34quick as possible for the person that's
2:19:36paying for your service. Well, think of
2:19:39it the same way with your video. You
2:19:41want to give them value and usefulness
2:19:42as quick as possible. People's attention
2:19:45spans, it's not even their attention
2:19:47span, actually, it's their level of
2:19:48patience. They're less willing to wait
2:19:52for value from you because they know
2:19:54there's another creator that they could
2:19:55get it from quicker. Now, from your
2:19:57intro, you then have the rest of the
2:20:00structure of your content. I could
2:20:02probably make an entire course just on
2:20:04this alone. definitely could talk at
2:20:06least for an hour or two just on how you
2:20:09structure your video, but for the sake
2:20:11of time, I want to give you something
2:20:14valuable that will be a great starting
2:20:16point for you that you can begin to
2:20:18adapt and evolve for yourself. And I
2:20:20recommend that you follow loosely a
2:20:22structure like this. You have your
2:20:24introduction, then you give context on
2:20:27what you're about to speak to. You share
2:20:29a principle, a story about that
2:20:33principle, the tactic or the action that
2:20:36your audience needs to take, and then an
2:20:38example of what it looks like to either
2:20:41do that correctly or incorrectly or both
2:20:43if you're feeling crazy. And then after
2:20:45that, you link to the next video. It's
2:20:48that simple. You can get wildly robust
2:20:50and complex. I have an entire YouTube
2:20:53course framework that I share with
2:20:55people in Rston Select that is like
2:20:57absolutely insane and very deep and
2:20:59robust. It's many pages long. But this
2:21:02will give you a very very good starting
2:21:04point to get you rolling on creating
2:21:07this content. Rather than you sitting
2:21:09there looking at a blank page being
2:21:11like, "What the hell do I do? How do I
2:21:13craft this?" Use this framework to help
2:21:15you get started on making your YouTube
2:21:18content. Now, I'd like to talk about how
2:21:21to go about repurposing your content.
2:21:23And most business owners when they hear
2:21:26repurposing, they think that that means
2:21:28just reposting the same clip everywhere.
2:21:30And that's one part of it. I guess
2:21:33that's a version of repurposing for
2:21:35sure, but that's not the waterfall
2:21:37method. The waterfall method is about
2:21:39taking one really good moment from your
2:21:42pillar piece of content and getting as
2:21:44much as possible out of it. This looks
2:21:46like one long form piece of content
2:21:48leading to many platform native pieces
2:21:52of content potentially many off of one
2:21:55specific moment. This is not copy and
2:21:57paste. This is not post the same short
2:21:59everywhere even though that's what we
2:22:01are currently doing right now. We're
2:22:03working on getting towards this point.
2:22:05This is platform native repackaging.
2:22:09Maybe you've heard me actually say in
2:22:11podcast, which is you want to take your
2:22:13long form, mine it for moments,
2:22:16repackage those moments in the way that
2:22:19the platform prefers. So now I want to
2:22:22walk you through how we actually use the
2:22:24waterfall method in our content. We
2:22:27create one long form piece of YouTube
2:22:29content. Right now our cadence is once a
2:22:31month. We will go through and watch it
2:22:33back to mine for the golden moments.
2:22:37Now, these are moments where I'm giving
2:22:40an aha or we're watching it, we're like,
2:22:43damn, that that was a good that was a
2:22:44banger line, right? It's a belief
2:22:46breaker. It's an oh [ __ ] moment. It's
2:22:49it's something where you're sharing a
2:22:51story or a tactic that can change the
2:22:54belief of the viewer or give them the
2:22:56exact steps that they need to take in
2:22:58order to get the outcome they are
2:23:00looking for. These are the moments that
2:23:02get clipped. Not like some random
2:23:04moment, not random timestamps or
2:23:07arbitrary timestamps. Actually, useful
2:23:10moments. Something that you may have
2:23:12experienced before is if you hire a uh a
2:23:16less than ideal editor, they'll go
2:23:18through your long form content and
2:23:20they'll pull 30 clips from it. They'll
2:23:22get you a lot of volume, but half to
2:23:25twothirds of those clips are not useful
2:23:27in any way. They don't exist or they
2:23:30don't work. sorry, on their own. They're
2:23:33not self-contained. They need the
2:23:35context of the moment that they exist
2:23:36within. And so what you're looking for
2:23:38is self-contained clips. Clips and
2:23:41moments that don't need the context of
2:23:43the surrounding conversation in order to
2:23:46make sense. And then number three, what
2:23:48you're going to do is you're going to
2:23:49take those moments, those mind moments
2:23:51that you have, and you're going to turn
2:23:52them into platform native content.
2:23:54That's what we are trying to do more and
2:23:56more. Sometimes what we'll do is we will
2:23:59due to bandwidth we'll clip a moment and
2:24:02then we'll post that short that clip to
2:24:05all the different platforms. Sometimes
2:24:07what we'll do is we'll identify damn
2:24:09this was a really good moment from a
2:24:10podcast for example where I go back and
2:24:12forth with the host and maybe what we're
2:24:15going to do is take that concept and
2:24:17turn it into a written LinkedIn post or
2:24:19maybe we'll turn it into a newsletter
2:24:22that we send to people on our email
2:24:24list. And so what you're looking at is
2:24:26taking a golden moment and then figuring
2:24:28out how do I correctly wrap it using the
2:24:31wrapping paper. What format should I
2:24:35wrap this idea in in order for it to
2:24:38best serve my audience on the platform
2:24:40that I am sharing it to? All of those
2:24:43moments are communicating the same
2:24:45message, right? It's the same source
2:24:48material, but you're using a different
2:24:50rapper to share it with your audience.
2:24:53And again, this is something that you're
2:24:55going to need to work your way up to. We
2:24:57are almost a year into building out my
2:24:59personal brand and posting content
2:25:01publicly. And we're not at the point of
2:25:04consistently doing this to the level
2:25:05that we want. It's Trevor and then half
2:25:08me. Not even half, like maybe like a
2:25:10quarter or a fifth me devoted to the
2:25:12content and the rest I'm I'm running the
2:25:14business. And so as we expand our team,
2:25:16you'll start to see more and more of the
2:25:19content that we're posting on all three
2:25:21of our primary platforms start to look
2:25:23more and more contextual and native to
2:25:25the platform we're distributing on. This
2:25:28is something that you can work your way
2:25:30up to. you don't have to tackle from the
2:25:32very beginning, but I wanted to share it
2:25:34with you because I think it's something
2:25:35that you want to start building towards
2:25:38rather than 2, three years, four years
2:25:41down the road figuring out this is a new
2:25:43operation that you have to completely
2:25:45steer a massive ship. Let's course
2:25:48correct while we're still a little
2:25:49speedboat and it's easy to correct and
2:25:52adjust how we're operating. All of this
2:25:54incredible work to understand what kind
2:25:57of content we're going to make, how
2:25:58we're coming up with ideas, all of this
2:26:01amazing work has been done. You've been
2:26:03going through your workbook cuz you
2:26:05downloaded that earlier, right? And
2:26:06you've been filling out the exercises
2:26:09and we have gotten a lot of clarity. We
2:26:12really understand what we're going to be
2:26:14doing. A pretty obvious question that
2:26:16you're going to be asking is what are
2:26:17the first couple of videos that I make?
2:26:19And so what I want to share with you is
2:26:21the first three videos that I recommend
2:26:23you make. Now, there's a million
2:26:26different versions of your first three.
2:26:28I'm mainly sharing what my first three
2:26:31were and how you can go about doing this
2:26:34for yourself, your own version of it. So
2:26:37to be clear, this is not the end- all
2:26:39beall. I'm more just adapting what I did
2:26:41and sharing it with you because I think
2:26:43it was very useful and successful for
2:26:46us. So, the first video that I recommend
2:26:48you make is an introduction video. This
2:26:50is where you're sharing your story
2:26:53paired with lessons that your audience
2:26:55can use immediately. To be very clear,
2:26:58what this video is not, it's not a brag
2:27:01reel. It's not a resume dump. What this
2:27:04video is is it's three to five key
2:27:07moments over your career or life that
2:27:10were pivotal moments. And each one is
2:27:13paired with a lesson that your audience
2:27:17can immediately benefit from. This is
2:27:20what makes the video valuable. It's not
2:27:23just sharing what you have done and
2:27:25giving the credibility that they can
2:27:27view your brand through from then on.
2:27:29It's also providing them useful value in
2:27:33the form of lessons that you have
2:27:35learned along the way, both from doing
2:27:37things correctly and incorrectly. This
2:27:40is exactly how I built my intro video.
2:27:42It was every season or big seasons of my
2:27:46career along with one lesson that you
2:27:48could take away. It was not every single
2:27:50job that I've had and every little tiny
2:27:52thing that's happened. It's the biggest
2:27:54moments in my career that were pivotal
2:27:57turning points that I also had a very
2:28:00strong lesson associated with. That's
2:28:03what I recommend you build. Now, as far
2:28:06as what the flow of this video looks
2:28:08like, well, I think you can start with
2:28:11why are you making content now? Why are
2:28:13you building your personal brand? What
2:28:14is the purpose behind this? And why now?
2:28:17Okay, that's how I started mine. That
2:28:19sets the frame. Then what you want to do
2:28:21is you want to share three to five key
2:28:23moments from your career and life.
2:28:26Again, they're not random moments. It's
2:28:27not like you're doing, you know, a full
2:28:29biography or anything like that. These
2:28:31are three to five turning points in your
2:28:35career or life that shaped how you think
2:28:37and what you believe. And then you're
2:28:39going to pair each of those moments with
2:28:43one clear lesson, a takeaway that your
2:28:47audience can act on. This is what most
2:28:49people miss. People don't want to just
2:28:50hear about the awesome [ __ ] you've done.
2:28:52They want to hear about what you learned
2:28:54in doing the awesome [ __ ] and how it can
2:28:57benefit them. So pair each of these
2:28:59moments with a clear and valuable lesson
2:29:04for your audience. See, ultimately you
2:29:06need to connect it back to the viewer.
2:29:08The video is about you, but it is for
2:29:12your audience. So each lesson needs to
2:29:15speak to their pain, their goals, the
2:29:18stage that they are at, the confusion
2:29:21that they are experiencing, and the
2:29:23clarity that they are looking for.
2:29:25Finally, you need to close with what
2:29:28they can expect from you going forward.
2:29:30What I try to do is share what I am
2:29:33trying to embark on, which is this crazy
2:29:35wild journey of building my personal
2:29:36brand. And you want to set the stage for
2:29:39the kind of content that they can
2:29:41expect, who it is for, what you do to
2:29:44help, and maybe potentially you can
2:29:48start to inject a contrarian belief into
2:29:52this introduction video so that people
2:29:54can start to know what you stand for.
2:29:56This is kind of setting the trajectory
2:29:58or the frame for the relationship that
2:30:01you're going to have with your audience
2:30:03in future content. Now, video number two
2:30:06is a positioning deep dive. This is
2:30:09where you teach the subject that you
2:30:11want to be known for through the lens of
2:30:13that contrarian belief. My version of
2:30:16this was psychotic. It was a 6-h hour
2:30:18and 22minute course that we put out for
2:30:20free on YouTube. This was a really
2:30:23strong and very deep positioning video.
2:30:25I'm not saying that you need to do that,
2:30:27but I'm also not saying that it should
2:30:28be like a a quick little tips and tricks
2:30:30educational video. It's not a high-level
2:30:33overview of your industry or of your
2:30:36space. And it's definitely not something
2:30:38that's trendy or broad. None of the
2:30:41shallow end [ __ ] We want to go into the
2:30:43deep end of the pool here. And so what
2:30:44this video is is it should be a very
2:30:47deep useful breakdown of the core
2:30:50subject that you want to be known for.
2:30:52Mine was how to build a personal brand.
2:30:54That's what I want to be known for. And
2:30:56so my positioning deep video was that.
2:31:00and it needs to be taught through the
2:31:02lens of your contrarian belief. This
2:31:06video, what it communicates to your
2:31:08audience is here's how I see this space
2:31:10differently and why it matters to you
2:31:13and then how you can utilize how I view
2:31:16it differently to benefit you in
2:31:19accomplishing the outcome you desire.
2:31:22That is the entire point. That is what
2:31:25my 6 and 1 half hour course was. Now
2:31:27again, it does not need to be that long.
2:31:29Just make sure that you make it wildly
2:31:32useful. It can be 30 minutes, it can be
2:31:3445, 60, two hours, whatever duration you
2:31:37want. I will say I would recommend
2:31:40making it at least 25 minutes. And once
2:31:43you start creeping into this like 10 to
2:31:4515 minute masterclass world, it just
2:31:47becomes almost laughable. Like it's not
2:31:50truly that indepth. A 10 to 15 minute
2:31:53video is not going to do what we are
2:31:56trying to accomplish with this deep
2:31:57positioning video. Now the flow that you
2:31:59can take in this video is one I
2:32:01recommend start or at least in the
2:32:04opening you know section start with your
2:32:06contrarian belief. Get this out of the
2:32:08way get this communicated to your
2:32:10audience so they view the rest of the
2:32:12video through that lens. The next thing
2:32:15is is you should probably define the
2:32:17subject that you want to be known for.
2:32:18In my course, I very quickly define what
2:32:21branding and brand is because that's
2:32:23something that I really want to be known
2:32:25for. It's also a wildly different
2:32:28definition of those two terms than the
2:32:30majority of what the industry says. What
2:32:32this does is it creates instant clarity
2:32:35for your audience. Then what you want to
2:32:38do is you want to teach the core belief
2:32:40through a few key breakthroughs. Okay?
2:32:43Not 20 surface level points, just three
2:32:46to five big useful mindset shifting
2:32:50ideas. Looking at my course, it's six
2:32:52and a half hours, but there's four core
2:32:56subjects that I speak to. Brand,
2:32:59content, team, and monetization. I
2:33:02suggest three to five big things that
2:33:05you tackle within the core subject
2:33:07matter that you're addressing. A prompt
2:33:09that may help you is what are the few
2:33:13ideas that if I would have gotten them
2:33:16earlier in my life, earlier in my
2:33:18career, would have changed everything
2:33:20for me. Once you have figured out what
2:33:22those are, teach those. That's what's
2:33:25going to make everything easier for your
2:33:27audience to get to the desired outcome
2:33:30where you're currently at faster than
2:33:32you ever did. And then you need to make
2:33:34it easier for the viewer to take action.
2:33:38Again, this is where trust happens. If
2:33:40you make it easier for them to take
2:33:42action on what you say and they get the
2:33:44outcome they want. If you do that
2:33:46consistently, they're going to start to
2:33:47associate you with them achieving their
2:33:50desired outcomes. What a beautiful brand
2:33:52to build. And then you want to close by
2:33:55setting your point of view as their new
2:33:58lens. This needs to change their belief.
2:34:02Okay? You want them moving forward after
2:34:05this video to view everything that they
2:34:07do through this new lens. You are
2:34:11building the foundation
2:34:13for all the future videos that come. As
2:34:16long as you maintain a high value per
2:34:18minute, the more in-depth you go, the
2:34:20more material source material you have
2:34:23to help you and your team with future
2:34:28ideiation of content. One of the big
2:34:30reasons why I did a six and a half hour
2:34:31course as my second [ __ ] video ever
2:34:33on YouTube within building this personal
2:34:36brand was so that Trevor would have a
2:34:38lot of source material to help him
2:34:39ideulate on future content ideas. And
2:34:42then the third video that I recommend
2:34:44you make is an experimental video. This
2:34:47needs to be completely an experiment
2:34:48trying something wildly different to
2:34:51discover what you enjoy making and what
2:34:53your audience enjoys viewing. The
2:34:55purpose of this video is a creative
2:34:56experiment. you are trying something
2:34:58wildly different as far as the style,
2:35:00the format, and the approach that you
2:35:02take. Even potentially the way that you
2:35:03show up in your delivery might be a
2:35:05little bit different. This exists to
2:35:06help you answer two extremely important
2:35:08questions. What do I enjoy making? And
2:35:10what does my audience want more of? See,
2:35:12if you're going to stick with this whole
2:35:14making content thing, you're going to be
2:35:16doing it for years, you should probably
2:35:18enjoy the formats that you make. Why not
2:35:22try to find multiple formats that you
2:35:25actually enjoy making? So, the flow of
2:35:28your experiment video could be as
2:35:30follows. Pick a format that you've been
2:35:32curious to try. Here are a couple of
2:35:34options. A vlog, a rant, a voiceover
2:35:37with B-roll, a scripted piece, a highly
2:35:39produced creative video, a simple
2:35:41talking head with a twist, a day in the
2:35:43life with an educational tie-in, a
2:35:45walkthrough or a demo, a storybased
2:35:48video. It doesn't really matter what
2:35:49format you choose. It's more what one
2:35:52are you most curious about you trying.
2:35:56Then the next thing is you need to make
2:35:57sure that it is completely different
2:35:58from the first two videos. It should
2:36:00almost feel in my opinion like a
2:36:02completely different YouTube channel.
2:36:04Your average YouTube guru will tell you
2:36:06you need to pick a topic and a format
2:36:08and consistently do that over and over
2:36:09so your audience knows what to expect
2:36:10from you. And sure, that is probably the
2:36:12best way to get the most amount of
2:36:14subscribers and views on YouTube. But
2:36:15that's also a big reason why a lot of
2:36:17YouTubers burn out really quickly. And
2:36:19so what we're building here, like we've
2:36:21talked about, is a sustainable system
2:36:23that you can actually stick with. The
2:36:25next thing that you're going to do is
2:36:26you need to anchor it to one useful
2:36:28idea. So my experimental video that I
2:36:30did, the third video that we put out on
2:36:31YouTube, it's called if you struggle
2:36:33with making content, please watch this.
2:36:35The whole concept is me talking through
2:36:39the mindset shifts that I had to go
2:36:41through in order to go from being the
2:36:43guy behind the camera to being the
2:36:45character in front of the camera. And
2:36:47what we chose to do is a 100% scripted
2:36:50video where I am delivering scripted
2:36:53written out lines over the course of a
2:36:56motorcycle ride throughout Las Vegas,
2:36:58Nevada. This was quite the experiment to
2:37:01be honest with you. I was just curious
2:37:03if I had the chops to be able to do a
2:37:05video like that. And so again, the
2:37:07format was new, but the value was
2:37:09consistent with the value that we were
2:37:11delivering in the previous two videos.
2:37:13It wasn't an entertainment video that we
2:37:16were making. Though I will say I I think
2:37:18based on the comments, a lot of people
2:37:20would say it was more of an entertaining
2:37:22video than our previous educational
2:37:24content. But still the purpose for the
2:37:28viewer was to educate them on what
2:37:31shifts I was making in order to be
2:37:33somebody in front of the camera. Cuz
2:37:35turns out you and a lot of other people
2:37:37have moments where you struggle with
2:37:40being in front of the camera. Good news.
2:37:42Me too. It's a crazy thing. And so
2:37:44that's how I conducted that experiment.
2:37:46What you want to do next is after you're
2:37:48done making the video, take note of how
2:37:50it felt making it. Did you enjoy it?
2:37:52Like a big thing for Trevor and I was
2:37:54during the course of filming that video,
2:37:56there was a couple of, you know,
2:37:57stressful moments or whatever. We're in
2:37:59public in a gas station trying to film a
2:38:01scene and not piss off the gas uh
2:38:04station attendee and the customers that
2:38:06are in there. But the amount of times
2:38:08that we would both turn to each other
2:38:09and be like, "Man, this is so much fun.
2:38:10We're having a blast." Right? We did
2:38:12another video like this, like the first
2:38:14experimental video in London, and it was
2:38:17so much fun. And so what we learned is
2:38:20like, okay, we walked away with it. Like
2:38:23even if the audience doesn't really
2:38:24resonate with this, we really enjoyed
2:38:27making it. So we're going to continue to
2:38:28make these kinds of videos because we
2:38:30enjoy it. By increasing the amount of
2:38:33content that we make that we like, we
2:38:35increase the odds that we stick with it.
2:38:36The next thing that you want to do is in
2:38:38addition to paying attention to how you
2:38:39resonated with it, look at how your
2:38:41audience resonated. Here is the key.
2:38:44What you just heard me say is even if
2:38:46the audience didn't [ __ ] with it, we
2:38:47would continue to do it. And now I'm
2:38:48saying pay attention to how the audience
2:38:50responds. Seems contradictory, right?
2:38:52No. Here's the reality. If the audience
2:38:54wouldn't have responded well, if you
2:38:56didn't care about that video and didn't
2:38:58show interest in it, but we really liked
2:39:00it, we would still continue to do it,
2:39:01just at a very low frequency, just
2:39:03enough to make sure that we are enjoying
2:39:05making content, but not so much that we,
2:39:07you know, bore the audience. However,
2:39:10what ended up happening is you and a lot
2:39:13of other people that were watching it
2:39:15were like, "Hey, we'd like to see more
2:39:17videos like this." So now we know that
2:39:20we like making it and the audience likes
2:39:22watching it. So we're going to do more
2:39:24of those videos. So within I think it
2:39:27was 7 months later, we released another
2:39:29video in that style. And probably 6
2:39:32months later from that, we'll probably
2:39:34release another one in a similar style
2:39:36because again, we enjoy it and so does
2:39:39the audience. And there's your first
2:39:41three videos. You now have no excuse to
2:39:44not get started on YouTube. You have to
2:39:47take action. I have removed every bit of
2:39:50excuses that you have. So, stop
2:39:51procrastinating. Stop waiting for some
2:39:53perfect idea and get started on the
2:39:55first video, your introduction video.
2:39:58Now that you know how to make content
2:39:59and what content you're going to make, I
2:40:01think it would be really cool if Trevor
2:40:02and I, my content director, walked you
2:40:05through together how we approached
2:40:07building my personal brand in the first
2:40:10year. In 2025, I decided to start
2:40:14building my personal brand. Up until
2:40:15that point, I had always been the
2:40:17character behind the camera, not in
2:40:19front of it. And in the first year of
2:40:21building this personal brand, we grew
2:40:23the audience to over 265,000
2:40:26people. More impressively, I would say,
2:40:29is the 44,000 people that we were able
2:40:31to get on our email list. Now, a lot of
2:40:35people share these cool aspirational
2:40:38numbers, but what a lot of people don't
2:40:40do is they do not introduce you to the
2:40:43characters who are behind the scenes
2:40:45helping make this actually happen. And
2:40:47so, what I wanted to do in this special
2:40:50video, this special episode, my first
2:40:52podcast ever on my channel, is introduce
2:40:54two characters that have been helping
2:40:55make this happen. First, someone you've
2:40:58heard me reference quite a bit, my
2:40:59content director, Trevor Odum, and also
2:41:02uh my dog Bugsy. He's going to be
2:41:04hopping in and out probably throughout
2:41:05this, maybe even chiming in with his
2:41:07opinions on how to build your personal
2:41:09brand. But what we wanted to do is go
2:41:11month by month. And so, we want to start
2:41:14at the very beginning, which is January.
2:41:17And the thing that I want to start with,
2:41:18which was really funny for me, is I've
2:41:21been doing this, this is like 17 years
2:41:23now. But I remember I turned to Trevor
2:41:26the first week and I was like, "Dude, I
2:41:28know exactly what I would say to any
2:41:31client, anybody that we work with,
2:41:32anybody who asks me how to start their
2:41:34personal brand, but for some reason with
2:41:36my own, and I'm sure a lot of people can
2:41:38relate to this, I I felt too close to it
2:41:41and I didn't know what to do and I
2:41:42wasn't exactly sure where to start. Do
2:41:44we shoot photos? Do we like So, kind of
2:41:47walk me through and remind me really
2:41:49like where did we start with all of
2:41:51this?" Basically, my first few tasks was
2:41:53like, "Okay, we have a limited amount of
2:41:55content of you already out there."
2:41:57>> Yeah. Very limited.
2:41:58>> I think it was what, three podcasts that
2:42:00you had done,
2:42:01>> including one that was like seven or
2:42:03eight years old from when I was on Team
2:42:04Gary.
2:42:05>> I remember it was like in the conference
2:42:06room, I think, or something at Vayner.
2:42:08Yeah.
2:42:08>> I remember uh basically I took all of
2:42:10that content. one of my in the first few
2:42:12days I built an AI database of just
2:42:15content cuz like having worked with you
2:42:17for 5 years I know what you talk about
2:42:21but at the same time you starting your
2:42:23own personal brand I had no idea all of
2:42:25the like the breadth of the talking
2:42:26points like I know you're going to hit
2:42:27heavy on personal brand you're going to
2:42:29go deep into content but what are those
2:42:31points and what are those main pillars
2:42:33that you're going to stick to like
2:42:34>> I think the you you had the brand
2:42:36journey framework you had the brand
2:42:38journey framework I didn't even know I
2:42:40don't even know if that's what it was
2:42:41called back then. But like,
2:42:43>> so all of these things I'm kind of
2:42:45learning for the first time after I I
2:42:47mean, I've been working with several
2:42:49other creators to now transition
2:42:51completely to somebody who's starting
2:42:52new. I'd never actually
2:42:54started a personal brand before. I have
2:42:57been on a team
2:42:58>> that's been pumping hundreds of pieces
2:43:00of content out a week, but I've never
2:43:01actually started one. My first few
2:43:03pieces of priority were I needed to
2:43:06build an AI database of all of your
2:43:08content, transcribe all the content that
2:43:10you had out there. Uh a speaking gig,
2:43:13like everything that you had done, which
2:43:16was only a handful of pieces,
2:43:17>> a couple like voice memos and stuff like
2:43:19that that I had recorded on walks to try
2:43:21and give you a little bit of ammo and
2:43:22stuff like that, but not a lot. Not a
2:43:24lot.
2:43:25>> So, we did that. uh that gave me some
2:43:27ideation points of like cool he's going
2:43:29to talk about the these select few
2:43:31things and this is like this is what we
2:43:32can start making our short form content
2:43:33on this is what we can start building
2:43:35long form content off of. Um so and then
2:43:38from there I developed kind of like
2:43:40systems to stay organized and basically
2:43:43keep us on track.
2:43:45It's funny because we come from teams
2:43:47that are much bigger.
2:43:49>> And so it it kind of sounds silly that
2:43:51we're like we're going to we're going to
2:43:54build our project management board for
2:43:55all of our content that doesn't actually
2:43:57exist yet and we're going to organize
2:44:00our Google Drive a certain way and have
2:44:01a file structure like a file naming
2:44:03convention and everything. But like in
2:44:05the back of our heads, I remember we
2:44:07were talking about this. It was like
2:44:08we're going to want to stay organized.
2:44:09might not be us forever and it's going
2:44:11to be helpful for when [ __ ] actually
2:44:13does start happening. So, one of the
2:44:16another thing that I started doing was I
2:44:18set up our Google Drive. Uh I think we
2:44:20purchased a few different pieces of
2:44:22equipment like one FX3 and
2:44:26>> yeah, this main a cam here. That's what
2:44:28we had bought
2:44:28>> an FX3 and I think a lens, a tripod and
2:44:33like a light.
2:44:34>> Yeah,
2:44:34>> that might have been what we purchased
2:44:35in like the first
2:44:37>> uh few weeks there. And then from there
2:44:40was organizing a project management
2:44:41board which is something like I was
2:44:42speaking to a uh like a creative manager
2:44:45on a team yesterday actually uh who is
2:44:49oddly in a very similar boat to what
2:44:51we're doing and like
2:44:53>> what my role is which is he has never
2:44:56done this before
2:44:57>> and he's coming in
2:44:58>> doing everything
2:44:59>> and he's coming in and he's doing
2:45:00everything. I had not done that before.
2:45:03After a year of this, I'm like, I have a
2:45:05few pieces of advice for you, buddy.
2:45:06Like, and one of the first things I told
2:45:08him to do was open notion, a sauna,
2:45:12Monday, whatever it is, and get yourself
2:45:13a project management board. um set it up
2:45:16as a board view. Go left to right. Your
2:45:20you put your content in there, all this
2:45:22all your raw footage that you film, you
2:45:23can have Google Drive links, whatever.
2:45:25And you move it left to right of like
2:45:26this content is for review. This content
2:45:28is ready for review. This content is
2:45:30already reviewed and approved, ready to
2:45:32be captioned and posted. You have a con
2:45:35you have a calendar view of all of your
2:45:36content. So that like this is something
2:45:38that a a lot of teams we work with don't
2:45:41have like in place when they come to us.
2:45:44And it's one of the first few pieces
2:45:45that we did and we tell people to do is
2:45:47like jump in, get organized, and make
2:45:51sure that you can stay on track.
2:45:53>> And the beauty of it for the person
2:45:55who's on camera too, the talent, is they
2:45:58get a bird's eye view of where
2:45:59everything's at, right? Like I I know
2:46:02for years the amount of entrepreneurs
2:46:04I've talked to that have gone and filmed
2:46:06a vlog or filmed a bunch of shorts and
2:46:08then they're wondering
2:46:11what is the status of all that epic [ __ ]
2:46:14we just filmed and invested a lot of my
2:46:16time into like where's the status on
2:46:18that? And what's cool is when you have
2:46:20that system and you maintain that
2:46:22system, then the talent is able to
2:46:24actually take a look and see where
2:46:26everything is in in the status, right?
2:46:28And so I think that's really helpful.
2:46:30One thing that I'll I'll just quickly
2:46:31hit on that I I focused on and then we
2:46:33can move on to February is this was the
2:46:36first time where I was really taking
2:46:39what I did naturally and just felt
2:46:42inherent to me, my way of operating and
2:46:45learning how to distill it into
2:46:48bite-sized chunks for people to learn
2:46:50from. And so the thing that I was really
2:46:52focusing on in January was like, how do
2:46:54I develop my my natural ways of
2:46:57operating into frameworks? The way that
2:46:59my brain thinks and analyzes things. How
2:47:02do I develop this into a framework that
2:47:04the audience can follow and makes it
2:47:05easy? And that was a very interesting
2:47:07transition because I've worked for some
2:47:09amazing individuals who are wildly
2:47:11gifted communicators and incredibly good
2:47:14at teaching people things.
2:47:15>> So I think I had a little bit of a leg
2:47:17up from observing them. But January was
2:47:20really me focusing on
2:47:23figuring out how do I communicate these
2:47:24things, right? And then actually one
2:47:26other thing that we should hit on really
2:47:27quick is the first video we did, we
2:47:30decided to do an introduction video,
2:47:32right?
2:47:32>> We decided to introduce
2:47:34>> your career.
2:47:35>> Yeah. It was like, do you mind walking
2:47:37through just a little bit of like what
2:47:39that video was and what the goal was?
2:47:41>> Yeah. I mean, I think I don't even know
2:47:43whose idea I It was just kind of like
2:47:46the easiest lowhanging fruit that we can
2:47:47do for our first YouTube video is we can
2:47:49make a video about what you've done in
2:47:51your career. Shocker. like it's like the
2:47:54lowest hanging fruit that we that I
2:47:56think that we thought of and it was like
2:47:58um going back through your actually I
2:48:01remember seeing a ton of uh old clips of
2:48:04you and Drock when I was going through
2:48:06all the old footage of you transcribing
2:48:07all that stuff and it was like huh
2:48:09there's been a lot of things you've done
2:48:11and like I think a lot of people would
2:48:12want to be reintroduced to who Caleb is
2:48:15now that you've done this for what 16
2:48:18years. Yeah. Um, and so we kind of just
2:48:21laid out your career. Uh, I remember we
2:48:23whiteboarded it. We probably a f you we
2:48:25have photos because I remember you
2:48:26started taking you're like doc starting
2:48:29to document the process.
2:48:30>> Yep.
2:48:30>> Um, and we whiteboarded out for a whole
2:48:33day your career all the positions that
2:48:35you have been in
2:48:37>> and then uh one or two lessons from each
2:48:40of those like high it's like it's very
2:48:43high level but it's also extremely
2:48:46tactical and extremely important. It was
2:48:47like and I think it ended up being like
2:48:49a 50inute long video for your for your
2:48:52first video
2:48:53>> which is crazy. And the kind of the
2:48:55takeaway for people is
2:48:58you should assume that nobody knows who
2:49:00you are, right? And obviously for the
2:49:02majority of people that seems obvious,
2:49:03right? I've worked for some high-profile
2:49:05individuals. So maybe it would have been
2:49:07easier for us to go into this assuming
2:49:09that some people knew who I was. That'd
2:49:11be kind of bold. But what we did is we
2:49:13decided, okay, cool. We're building an
2:49:15audience. We need to frame how the
2:49:17audience is going to view me. And so for
2:49:19a lot of people who are starting or
2:49:21restarting their personal brand, I think
2:49:23something that is wildly effective is to
2:49:25create an introduction video that gives
2:49:27the credentials as to why you are
2:49:29somebody who should be listened to on
2:49:30the subject matter you're about to speak
2:49:32to in your content, right? And like I
2:49:35think you know some of the people which
2:49:38again it's not a lot but some of the
2:49:39people that knew who I was before we did
2:49:41this they were aware of some of the
2:49:43characters that I've worked with in the
2:49:44past but maybe they didn't know about
2:49:46the time that I spent at Constellation
2:49:48Brands working on prisoner wine company
2:49:50high west whiskey right like they didn't
2:49:52know about my first job at Logos Bible
2:49:54software where I learned a lot and was
2:49:57able to develop skills of how to work on
2:50:01software and make you know software that
2:50:03might be kind of seemingly boring for a
2:50:04lot of people. Look cool. So, I I think
2:50:06it was a good moment for us to share a
2:50:09little bit more of who I was, but to
2:50:12your point, if it was just a list of my
2:50:14resume, that'd be boring as [ __ ] and
2:50:16nobody would give a [ __ ] But we tried
2:50:17to tie in an applicable lesson for
2:50:20everybody watching. And I I think
2:50:23another side note, I'm going to keep
2:50:24doing that because this is a podcast
2:50:26where we're given as much gold as we
2:50:28can. Um, one thing that Trevor did a
2:50:30really good job on on that video is
2:50:33taking really good note of what I was
2:50:35saying and asking me follow-up
2:50:36questions, helping to make those piece
2:50:38of the pieces of advice that I was
2:50:41giving more practical, not just not just
2:50:44high level, but also in the dirt so that
2:50:47people could actually act on it.
2:50:48>> I appreciate that.
2:50:49>> Yeah, absolutely. It was great. Before
2:50:51we go on to February, something that I
2:50:53realized I didn't do at the top is I
2:50:55didn't really list off all of the
2:50:57amazing credentials that Trevor has. And
2:51:00I want to do it because he's not going
2:51:02to do that. He is a humble character and
2:51:05uh kind of like myself, he's not going
2:51:06to want to tout all of those things. Uh
2:51:09he'll feel awkward doing that. And so
2:51:10I'm going to do it for him. So in
2:51:12addition to Trevor being one of Bugsy,
2:51:15my dog's best friends, uh he freaks out
2:51:17every time that Trevor comes over.
2:51:19Trevor and I have actually been working
2:51:21together, like he said, for five years
2:51:23now, which is absolutely insane. And
2:51:26before he was my content director,
2:51:29Trevor actually led all of the short
2:51:31form for two very prominent
2:51:34entrepreneurs and creators in the
2:51:36business creator space. Uh, I'm talking
2:51:39like billions of views a year kind of
2:51:42level and hundreds and hundreds of
2:51:44shorts being produced every single week
2:51:47overseeing many different editors also
2:51:49editing himself. Um, that was another
2:51:52interesting thing that I thought was
2:51:54really cool going into this year was
2:51:56I've watched you go from being an
2:51:58individual contributor, right? You're
2:52:00you're the editor making the short form
2:52:01clips to being a manager where you're
2:52:04overseeing other editors and you're
2:52:07reviewing all of the clips and you're
2:52:09the one in charge of the short form
2:52:11process and the quality or sometimes
2:52:14lack of quality and then quickly
2:52:15adjusting and improving it. You oversaw
2:52:18all of that and then now you're going
2:52:20into this role where you are a director
2:52:23and in the beginning it was director of
2:52:25nobody but very quickly for our second
2:52:27project we hired somebody on to help
2:52:30with the motion graphics and now we just
2:52:32recently brought on a contract editor
2:52:34that we absolutely love that you're
2:52:36overseeing. We've worked with a couple
2:52:38other freelancers on other various
2:52:39projects. [snorts] And so this is now an
2:52:42a time where you're not just focusing on
2:52:44short form, but actually, oddly enough,
2:52:47Trevor was most experienced on short
2:52:48form. And what did we not do for the
2:52:50first year? Shorts. We focused on
2:52:52YouTube. And so I think that brings us
2:52:54perfectly to February, which is when we
2:52:56shipped the first YouTube video that we
2:52:58talked about that intro. We don't need
2:52:59to talk about that. Let's talk about the
2:53:01course. like not only my second video
2:53:05that we're doing on YouTube, this is
2:53:07your second video that you're filming,
2:53:10leading, and editing.
2:53:11>> Mhm.
2:53:12>> For YouTube. Like, let let's talk
2:53:14through like take take it from the
2:53:16beginning here. What what was the
2:53:17process for making? And real quick for
2:53:19context, uh if you're not familiar with
2:53:20it, no reason that you should be. Uh we
2:53:23produced a 6 and 1 half hour free course
2:53:26on YouTube called How to Build Your
2:53:28Personal Brand. Uh it's absurd. I think
2:53:31it's really really high value. It's long
2:53:33as [ __ ] but I think a lot of people
2:53:35have gotten an insane amount of value.
2:53:36It's at I don't remember. It's somewhere
2:53:38over 750,000 views at this point. It's
2:53:40insane. Nobody is more surprised than
2:53:42me. But yeah, Trevor, let's let's walk
2:53:44through kind of that process. That
2:53:45seemed to be like the biggest focus in
2:53:47February.
2:53:47>> Mhm. I mean, as our second video, well,
2:53:50I kind of reverting back just a little
2:53:52bit like we filmed our first video end
2:53:55of January. I remember we booked like
2:53:57some it was a decent like Airbnb. It was
2:54:00just like a small setup. We used we used
2:54:03a a Sony and a Canon and just we we just
2:54:05kind of
2:54:07we just started um
2:54:08>> used what we had available.
2:54:10>> Mhm. And then essentially I it was I
2:54:14remember this because you've actually
2:54:15had this idea for a while. You've told
2:54:17me that you've been eyeing this idea of
2:54:19how to how to build a brand or a
2:54:22personal brand for a very long time in
2:54:24past roles too.
2:54:25>> Yeah. Um, but in during that film
2:54:28session, I remember we were probably
2:54:31midfilm session and you turned to me in
2:54:33the kitchen and you were like, "Wouldn't
2:54:35it be crazy if we did like some mega
2:54:38like free course that we released on
2:54:40YouTube as like like super soon?" And we
2:54:44and I was like, "Internesting." Yeah.
2:54:46Like that would be kind of cool. And I
2:54:48think, funny enough, I brushed it off at
2:54:51that moment, but I think you immediately
2:54:52went back after that film session and
2:54:55started writing it. Right.
2:54:57>> Two days later, I Yeah, that was on a
2:55:00Thursday that we filmed that video.
2:55:02>> Mhm.
2:55:02>> And that Saturday, I woke up and felt
2:55:06like a fire under me and felt like I I I
2:55:09felt compelled to to put all of this,
2:55:12you know, to paper. It was a very quick
2:55:14like let's set a deadline for this when
2:55:17this is going to go live. Let's let's
2:55:18book a space for this. Let's like it. I
2:55:22think it all happened within a matter of
2:55:23a couple weeks where you went from this
2:55:26would be a funny thing that we that we
2:55:28should do like this would be helpful for
2:55:29us and people would would get a lot of
2:55:31value from it to I think a couple weeks
2:55:33later we're booking the space. I'm
2:55:34looking at spaces uh in LA to film. It's
2:55:38like a we I found a warehouse.
2:55:40>> Yeah. Talk about that. Like how did you
2:55:42find the space?
2:55:43>> I wanted to do this for our first video
2:55:45because I remember I saw like
2:55:46screenshots of like Harley's in the
2:55:48background of this warehouse and I was
2:55:49like
2:55:50>> we can put your bike in the back and we
2:55:52can like
2:55:53>> that was the main motivating factor just
2:55:54to be very clear is the fact that we
2:55:56could put the Harley in the set.
2:55:59>> That was the selling point. Um but no it
2:56:01looked like a dope they don't shoot I
2:56:03remember the the studio manager whatever
2:56:05was like we have never had anybody like
2:56:08shoot audio in here. does like it's a
2:56:11place where basically rappers in LA go
2:56:13and film all their music videos. What
2:56:14What's the rapper?
2:56:15>> Kevin Gates and YG were in there two
2:56:17days filming a music video. Uh
2:56:19separately, not together, separate music
2:56:21videos days before we were there. It was
2:56:23insane.
2:56:24>> So I
2:56:25>> And then there's us.
2:56:26>> Yeah, there's like us. We show up with
2:56:28like a truckload of like some rented
2:56:30gear. We rented like half the gear. I
2:56:32remember cuz the studio manager was
2:56:33like, "How many people like is it going
2:56:36to be like a 20 person team that's going
2:56:38to come in? you guys have a truck that
2:56:39we're going to have to back in. And I
2:56:40was like, two people. They were like,
2:56:43are you sure? We charge if the party's
2:56:46over five. And I was like, there's two
2:56:47of us. There's two people that just show
2:56:49up.
2:56:50>> It wasn't us trying to sneak people on
2:56:51set. That's for sure.
2:56:53>> Um, but yeah, we we booked that space. I
2:56:55had found that on I think it was like
2:56:57Pure Space or something.
2:56:58>> Pier Space.
2:56:59>> Um,
2:56:59>> shout out Pier Space.
2:57:01>> We booked that. I picked it cuz there
2:57:03were so many different scenes that we
2:57:04could do three different scenes. I also
2:57:05picked it because like we liked it
2:57:07because it looked very different from
2:57:10almost every like course or anything
2:57:12that you've seen is like
2:57:14>> again rappers use this space and there's
2:57:16graffiti on these like walls and we're
2:57:18like it would be cool to set up a chair
2:57:20and a green backdrop and literally film
2:57:23our course in there cuz it's just so
2:57:26like it's super cool. But I remember you
2:57:28invested a lot for like
2:57:31>> for a second video.
2:57:32>> For our second video, it was a lot to
2:57:34book that space for three days.
2:57:37>> Um, and I don't even know if you
2:57:39finished writing the video until like
2:57:41two days prior.
2:57:42>> Dude, what's crazy is we were never
2:57:44really done because remember the night
2:57:46before our first day of filming, we were
2:57:49up until probably 2 or 3 in the morning
2:57:52finishing and rewriting a section
2:57:54basically. And then we continued to do
2:57:57that every evening after filming
2:58:00>> because what we would do is, you know,
2:58:02this was our second video ever that we
2:58:04were doing. So we would learn from the
2:58:06film session. We immediately would go
2:58:08back to the Airbnb. I remember we would
2:58:10order um
2:58:12>> Oh man, I I can't. Yeah, I can't
2:58:14remember the name of the restaurant, but
2:58:15these awesome burritos and we would get
2:58:18that and I always made sure to have my
2:58:20805 curvea and we would then rewrite the
2:58:25next section taking into account the
2:58:27things that we learned, right? Like
2:58:29lines that maybe I had written that
2:58:32>> read really well when you would read
2:58:34them, but when I would go to say them
2:58:35out loud, it just like felt weird and
2:58:37stuff. And we actually, if I remember
2:58:39correctly, we after the first day
2:58:42rewrote the second section so that it
2:58:44was not as many lines but more bullet
2:58:47points because I quickly realized
2:58:50>> I'm a terrible reader. Uh, just for
2:58:52context for everybody, I don't read
2:58:54books. I just listen to audiobooks. And
2:58:57so what we quickly discovered is it does
2:59:00not work well for me to have
2:59:02predetermined lines. for an intro. Sure,
2:59:05we'll script it pretty heavily, but
2:59:07everything else is bullet points to keep
2:59:08me in line. Let's talk through. Okay, we
2:59:11we picked a location, Pure Space. It was
2:59:14really sick. It was really cool. It was
2:59:15very, very expensive, but it was worth
2:59:17it, right? We did that. How did we go
2:59:20about setting everything up? Another
2:59:22question is why did we do different
2:59:24setups?
2:59:26>> Right? Like there's four sections to the
2:59:28course, right? We got brand, content,
2:59:32team, and then a very, very quick
2:59:34monetize section. Why did we make them
2:59:37all different settings?
2:59:38>> I think there's probably a few
2:59:41reasons to why we did that, ranging from
2:59:44we want to get a bunch of different
2:59:45shorts from this, and it allows us to
2:59:47go, you know, for you to switch outfits,
2:59:48for you to get shorts so that we can
2:59:50distribute that on the short form
2:59:51platforms a little bit easier. Um, one
2:59:55other thing which we never ended ended
2:59:56up doing, but like we also had the idea
2:59:59at one point to actually split those
3:00:01into four different videos after we
3:00:04posted the course and posted them as
3:00:06individual sections, which should maybe
3:00:07we'll actually do this year anyways.
3:00:09>> Kind of like what we're doing with this
3:00:11series this month. Yeah.
3:00:12>> Mhm. which is when we're actually
3:00:14testing it now. We had an idea last
3:00:15[clears throat] year but um
3:00:17>> doing that it's also and this is
3:00:19something I think we realized after
3:00:21>> I think for you you actually like the
3:00:24change of environment and change of pace
3:00:27I think refreshes you a little bit when
3:00:28and this is not something I don't think
3:00:30I planned when we had the idea to like
3:00:32switch this up but it was like
3:00:35>> you actually do really good if you have
3:00:37like a reset
3:00:38>> and you go into a new scene and it looks
3:00:41nice and it's like okay we're refreshed.
3:00:43We also shot this over three different
3:00:45days. I think it was three days, right?
3:00:47It was like three and a half days or
3:00:48something like that.
3:00:49>> Hi, buddy. So, like that also I mean it
3:00:53just makes it easier for us to swap
3:00:55every day. I think we did a new scene.
3:00:57Yeah.
3:00:58>> Up until I think
3:01:00>> we did I remember we did brand and we
3:01:04did team together.
3:01:06>> Then we did content in one day and then
3:01:09we did monetize on the half day.
3:01:11>> Last day. Yep.
3:01:12>> Yep. So, it was two and a half days.
3:01:13>> So, those I mean that's probably a
3:01:15there's definitely a few reasons why we
3:01:17did that. Um mainly it's also just
3:01:20because we we thought it was cool to
3:01:21show off all the scenes in the warehouse
3:01:23because it had so many cool scenes. But
3:01:24there like
3:01:25>> the other thing too is we made the
3:01:26assumption that if anybody was going to
3:01:28be crazy enough to watch all this stuff,
3:01:30they're probably not going to watch it
3:01:31in one sitting. Shout out to the
3:01:33individuals who have watched it in one
3:01:34sitting. That's pretty crazy and I'm
3:01:37eternally grateful to you.
3:01:38>> People do that. I I have literally I
3:01:41have gotten DMs of people that are like,
3:01:42"Yep, I woke up this Saturday and
3:01:44decided my Saturday is dedicated to
3:01:46that."
3:01:46>> Real quick, I just want to say I am so
3:01:48sorry. I know that this is a lot to take
3:01:51in right now and even more for you to
3:01:53take action on, but that is the whole
3:01:55reason why we created Rston Select.
3:01:57Rston Select is your one-stop
3:01:59destination to not only learn, but to
3:02:01actually implement. We're talking
3:02:03pre-production, production,
3:02:04post-production, and platform strategy
3:02:07all through the lens of educational
3:02:09content. Click the link in the
3:02:11description below if you want more
3:02:12information. Now, let's get back to the
3:02:14video. What I was also thinking about is
3:02:17like people are going to come back to
3:02:18this video. And so, we almost tried to
3:02:20treat each section like it's its own
3:02:23video in this massive self-contained
3:02:27thing, right? And and that way if they
3:02:30did come back, it would kind of
3:02:32re-engage them. To your point, it
3:02:33re-engaged me filming it. But also the
3:02:36theory was maybe this will help
3:02:37re-engage people on some pretty heady,
3:02:40deep, long [ __ ]
3:02:42>> bumping into the table. Bugs is just
3:02:44trying to find a spot right now. Hey,
3:02:45you can you can sit down. You can sit
3:02:47down. He's a golden doodle. He's 2 years
3:02:50old. He's the sweetest. I know there's
3:02:52going to be comments about him asking
3:02:54about him. So, moving on from that and
3:02:56and I want to be careful because we're
3:02:58spending a lot of time on the course,
3:02:59but I think it was like, you know,
3:03:01>> the biggest probably arguably the
3:03:03biggest thing we did.
3:03:04>> Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think
3:03:05it it it bears uh a little bit more
3:03:08attention. So, the next thing that we do
3:03:10is after we're done filming, how did we
3:03:12handle post-production? Like I I feel
3:03:14like one, you know, we can talk about
3:03:16hiring Michael, bring him on, but yeah,
3:03:19I'd love to talk through a little bit
3:03:20more.
3:03:21>> Yeah. I mean, like I said before, you
3:03:25you and your ever knowing wisdom knew
3:03:27that if we didn't set a date for this
3:03:29thing and actually like get it done, we
3:03:31were going to procrastinate the hell out
3:03:32of it.
3:03:32>> It's true.
3:03:33>> Um, and it's just such a massive
3:03:35project. We would have spent months
3:03:37doing this. But from like start to
3:03:38finish, what what did we determine was
3:03:39like a month and a half or something?
3:03:42Yeah.
3:03:42>> From start to finish, from idea to
3:03:44posted was less than two months.
3:03:45>> I started it on February 1st and we
3:03:47published it on April 4th.
3:03:48>> Mhm. I mean, as soon as we got back, we
3:03:51went into post-prouction. I wanted to
3:03:54take a pass at the cut. We had three
3:03:56camera angles. We did a simple like we
3:03:59did a basic three camera setup. It was
3:04:01nothing fancy. The lighting was nothing
3:04:03fancy.
3:04:03>> Okay, Trevor, you're saying not fancy
3:04:06and basic, but I want to real quick
3:04:07interrupt you here. Most people at most
3:04:11do two cameras.
3:04:12>> It's true. And real quick, he's not
3:04:14going to say this because we're going
3:04:15into post-production, but real quick, a
3:04:17shout out to Trevor on the production.
3:04:19Trevor was managing three cameras, the
3:04:22audio, and he was running the uh the
3:04:26outline. So, basically, we we have a 55
3:04:28in TV that we put right below the camera
3:04:30lens, and he was scrolling through the
3:04:33outline because, you know, you zoom into
3:04:35it, and you can only get a couple of
3:04:37lines before boom, we're on to the next
3:04:39section. So Trevor is managing audio,
3:04:41camera angles, making sure focus,
3:04:42lighting is all good, and making sure to
3:04:45keep up with me on the outline, but
3:04:48please continue on the post-production,
3:04:50>> Mr. Simple.
3:04:50>> I appreciate that. Before we even shot
3:04:52it, we actually had a few calls with a
3:04:55few different uh motion designers. Yeah.
3:04:57Because one thing that uh we wanted to
3:05:00do was like there's a lot of people who
3:05:03um like
3:05:06there some people are very visual and
3:05:08like they draw on a whiteboard or
3:05:10something like that. Um I asked you
3:05:12you're like I'm not a I'm not I don't
3:05:14draw.
3:05:14>> I suck at drawing you guys. My
3:05:15handwriting is horrible. It looks
3:05:17terrible. Maybe one day but not not in
3:05:19the first year that's for sure. And one
3:05:20of the things that we also noticed with
3:05:22a lot of these, like the whole idea for
3:05:25this course came from looking at the
3:05:27industry, looking at the niche that
3:05:29we're in and doing the opposite of that.
3:05:33Everybody does paid courses, we do a
3:05:34free one. Everybody does 2hour
3:05:37masterclass courses and we do six hours.
3:05:40It could have been more. We cut it down.
3:05:41I think we had 14 hours of raw footage.
3:05:44Um, so like everything that you're
3:05:46hearing, like we just took a look at
3:05:48what everybody else was doing and we're
3:05:49like, you know what?
3:05:51>> Which would become a very staple piece
3:05:53for us later in our in our content. But
3:05:55um the the motion design basically uh
3:05:59nobody does that. Nobody has motion
3:06:01graphics throughout their courses like a
3:06:04lot of the times like we wanted
3:06:06professional.
3:06:08I am Yeah. custom. No, no. Like Mgurts
3:06:10or anything like that. For all the
3:06:11editors out there, you know what a
3:06:12Mogurt is. Um, but we wanted custom
3:06:16motion graphics in our style. Our green,
3:06:20uh, our tan stuff like that, our opal
3:06:22mist color.
3:06:24>> Love our colors. Um, so we wanted to do
3:06:27that. So, we had a call. We actually
3:06:28hired somebody before we did the
3:06:30project. The the thing was I was going
3:06:32to do the I was going to cut it, swap
3:06:35the cameras, color grade it. Everything
3:06:37was going to be done and then I'm going
3:06:39to ship it off to this motion designer.
3:06:40And this is all going to happen in like
3:06:42four weeks that we shot it. We shot it
3:06:45>> even less cuz you were going on a trip.
3:06:47>> Yeah, I flew to London like the I had to
3:06:51finish it by a certain day in like I
3:06:53think I had less than two weeks to cut
3:06:55it and actually like and this is a 6 and
3:06:56a half hour cut it and then you and I
3:06:58review it.
3:07:00>> So like I I think it was like a 5day
3:07:02edit where I'm just I'm cutting this
3:07:04thing down from 14 hours down to 6 and
3:07:071/2 or something like that. um making
3:07:10notes in the timeline, grading it, doing
3:07:12the audio, doing a pass on the audio,
3:07:14and then we actually one of the things
3:07:17we wanted to do was review the whole
3:07:19thing together before we shipped it off
3:07:22so we could have a bunch of notes for um
3:07:25this is actually a really good workflow
3:07:27that we do a lot of the times. First
3:07:29off, we we almost always do an A-roll
3:07:32cut so that you can review it,
3:07:34especially when you're working with
3:07:35contractors and stuff like that. Oh, I
3:07:37was talking to somebody yesterday who
3:07:39was like wanting to know how this like
3:07:41workflow. They're like, I'm giving a lot
3:07:43of notes and we're doing like V5, V6,
3:07:45V7. And I'm like, you want to know how
3:07:47you can avoid that? Something that we
3:07:48learned early on, which was we review an
3:07:51A-roll cut or somebody reviews an A-roll
3:07:53cut. So, we did that together for this
3:07:55one. Um, we can jump into that in just a
3:07:57second, but uh you do the A-roll cut and
3:08:00then you leave a bunch of notes on frame
3:08:02from that A-roll cut of like I'm
3:08:04picturing this here. I'm thinking this
3:08:07here the road map I'm thinking can be
3:08:09something like this and you can actually
3:08:11draw on frame so that when the
3:08:13contractor comes in like I had a hundred
3:08:16something notes for Michael of like
3:08:18motion graphic here something here this
3:08:20lower third for the workbook that we
3:08:22included in the course that needs to
3:08:24have a motion graphic that I think so
3:08:27when Michael sat down to film it I could
3:08:29go on a on a trip to London because he
3:08:32had all that he needed in a frame folder
3:08:35ready for ready to go for him.
3:08:36>> Shout out Michael Moyes. We're going to
3:08:38link him in the description. He's an
3:08:40incredible motion graphics uh artist. If
3:08:42you want to hire him, I I highly
3:08:44recommend him. He's [ __ ] awesome.
3:08:46>> He killed it. He killed it. And he took
3:08:48a bet on us.
3:08:49>> Yeah. [laughter]
3:08:50>> Really early on.
3:08:51>> Um which was really cool. But we
3:08:53reviewed that together. And that was
3:08:54probably the biggest thing we did in
3:08:56that post-prouction process is we sat
3:08:58here in this living room actually for
3:09:01>> 14 hours or something.
3:09:04>> Yeah. Uh, we cut the intro. We actually
3:09:06changed it, like completely changed the
3:09:08intro.
3:09:08>> That's right. That's a big point.
3:09:10Actually, we had scripted an intro and
3:09:14I'm going to be real. I thought it was a
3:09:16good intro and I still think it was, but
3:09:18when we were watching it back, there was
3:09:21a moment, the way that it starts right
3:09:23now is you're on one of two paths.
3:09:24>> Mhm.
3:09:25>> And [clears throat] that was originally
3:09:26probably about 30 to 40 seconds into the
3:09:29video,
3:09:30>> over a minute. Yeah.
3:09:30>> Yeah. And we decided in post to cut that
3:09:35opening and go right to that. And uh it
3:09:39turns out apparently it was good because
3:09:40there's a lot of other individuals who
3:09:42are using a very similar intro which I
3:09:44love that I that is the best compliment
3:09:48that you could ever give. But it
3:09:50[snorts] it was something that was not
3:09:52planned.
3:09:52>> A happy accident.
3:09:54>> Yeah. Yeah. Bob Ross moment big time.
3:09:56Okay. So you're you do the edit, you
3:09:58pass it off to Michael. What did that
3:10:01look like? I imagine, and this is a
3:10:03moment for all of the the creators, the
3:10:06people who are on the actual production
3:10:07team, like what were the details there?
3:10:11How did you hand off a 6 and 1/2 hour
3:10:14file, but more than that, right? Because
3:10:16you still have to have the source media,
3:10:18you have three angles, you have all the
3:10:20different cuts. Like, walk through a
3:10:22little bit of what that looked like. So
3:10:24basically the handoff for that project
3:10:26was the the workflow was that Michael
3:10:29was going to do transparent on alpha
3:10:32likeov files for all of his motion
3:10:34graphics so that he can actually just
3:10:36upload those onto a Google drive and
3:10:39then I can actually I believe I
3:10:42downloaded them and placed them in I
3:10:44want to say.
3:10:44>> Yeah, you did. Yeah, you were you were
3:10:46doing the placements.
3:10:46>> I think I was Yeah,
3:10:47>> you got all the lossless or not lossless
3:10:49the alpha channel files.
3:10:51>> Mhm.
3:10:51>> Yep.
3:10:52>> So that was the workflow there. But like
3:10:54I said, he had that whole frame folder
3:10:55to basically go through and he had very
3:10:59little questions for me. I had very
3:11:01little text from him when he was
3:11:02actually go he's like he read through it
3:11:04all. He's like cool no I have no
3:11:05questions like I know what I'm going to
3:11:06do. We gave him a lot of creative
3:11:08freedom on like the style. I don't know.
3:11:11I'm not a I'm not a motion gra. I do
3:11:13remember we sent him one example and it
3:11:17was a a really cool video with Arthur
3:11:20Brooks and it was on Harvard Business
3:11:22Review on their YouTube channel and
3:11:24there was some motion that they did on
3:11:25that that I loved
3:11:27>> cuz I remember he was asking for a
3:11:29reference and I was like I don't I don't
3:11:31know this is our second [laughter]
3:11:32video.
3:11:32>> Yeah. And also like I could tell you all
3:11:35of the stuff that I didn't like what the
3:11:38majority of the people in the industry
3:11:39were doing for their motion graphics.
3:11:41that was like what I wanted the opposite
3:11:42of.
3:11:43>> And so, and man, he did an amazing job
3:11:46matching that.
3:11:47>> I bas I mean, I remember I was like, I'm
3:11:50picturing something like this here, but
3:11:51like I don't know how you're going to
3:11:52execute this. I give you full creative
3:11:54freedom. And I think it actually bred
3:11:56like some of the coolest [ __ ] that like
3:11:59I remember we were reviewing it, we were
3:12:00like, "Yes,
3:12:01>> damn." Yeah.
3:12:02>> We were like, "Holy shit."
3:12:03>> The heads were nodding hardcore.
3:12:05>> Yep. Yep. Um, but that was that
3:12:07workflow. We we I think for the footage,
3:12:09it was so much footage and we had so
3:12:11little time. I actually shipped them an
3:12:12SSD and like overnighted it. Yep.
3:12:14>> UPS, by the way. What the [ __ ] It's
3:12:17like $300 to overnight a little
3:12:19>> 4 TB.
3:12:20>> I did not know that. That's wild. Okay.
3:12:22>> Sorry. No,
3:12:22>> that used your card.
3:12:24>> That was that was kind of the process
3:12:25there. It was like a little bit of back
3:12:27and forth. There were a couple different
3:12:29versions I think that I was reviewing
3:12:31back and forth.
3:12:32>> So then after we're doing all of that,
3:12:34we're placing them in. We're reviewing
3:12:36it. We're stoked about it. One note
3:12:38actually off of what you said that I
3:12:40think is really important for people. If
3:12:41you're going to hire somebody, now I I
3:12:44this shouldn't be a qualifier that I
3:12:46have to add, but I'm going to add it.
3:12:47They need to be good and they need to
3:12:49have a portfolio to show you that
3:12:50they're good at what they do.
3:12:52>> But if you hire somebody who has a
3:12:53portfolio that shows you that they are
3:12:54good at what they do, trust them. You're
3:12:57bringing them on. If if you hire
3:12:59somebody and then you tell them exactly
3:13:02what to do, um at least in the creative
3:13:06world, I think you're kind of defeating
3:13:07the purpose, right? Then you're hiring a
3:13:09robot, not a contributor. And we we
3:13:12literally I remember telling Michael
3:13:13like, "Man, we want you to flex your
3:13:16muscles here and show us like what you
3:13:18would do, what you think would be cool
3:13:20in this instance, what you think is
3:13:22different than what other people are
3:13:23doing." And Michael had done a wide
3:13:25variety of different projects in the
3:13:27back. Like in his portfolio was a lot of
3:13:30stuff that wasn't this, which was also
3:13:32really appealing to us because it showed
3:13:34that he had a a different edge or angle
3:13:36he was coming from. He wasn't like it
3:13:38wasn't that he had been doing motion
3:13:40graphics for all of these talking head
3:13:42videos on YouTube, right? Like he from
3:13:44what I remember, I didn't see a lot of
3:13:45that in his portfolio.
3:13:46>> I think he was like a gaming like
3:13:48editor.
3:13:48>> Yeah.
3:13:49>> I Yeah. For like Twitch streamers and
3:13:51stuff like that. killed it for like
3:13:53>> and it's so sick and we saw that we're
3:13:55like, "Oh, that's that could be a cool
3:13:58unique approach here." So, yeah, you
3:14:00know, we're we're giving Michael a lot
3:14:02of love. Highly recommend. Check him
3:14:04out. Uh his [ __ ] is linked in the
3:14:06description. Please, if you need a
3:14:07motion graphics artist uh as a
3:14:09freelancer, he is an amazing person to
3:14:11hire. So, uh,
3:14:12>> real quick, actually,
3:14:14>> I I kind of want to hit on that cuz you
3:14:16>> you talk about leading a team with
3:14:18trust, and I think that that's what you
3:14:20taught me to do
3:14:21>> when I was working under you in my
3:14:24previous role. And I think that that's
3:14:25how we've kind of ran teams for a while.
3:14:28um now and I think that's how you've
3:14:30always led which I think is really cool
3:14:32of like even the latest this video and
3:14:36the video the few videos before this I
3:14:38was just reviewing them last week um
3:14:40from our contract editor Max Gangster.
3:14:43Shout out Max.
3:14:44>> Shout out Max.
3:14:45>> Love him. I'm not going to try to say
3:14:46his last name because I wouldn't know
3:14:48how to say it. But
3:14:50>> apologies Max. We we don't mispronounce
3:14:52so we just won't say it.
3:14:54>> That's the that's the key. But that is a
3:14:56huge like there have been so many we did
3:14:59this the other day where we're on frame
3:15:02Max is leaving us and I'm first of all
3:15:05I'm never demanding anything in frame.
3:15:07I'm always asking questions.
3:15:09>> Do you think that this would be cool
3:15:11right here?
3:15:11>> Yep.
3:15:12>> Do would it be possible if we did this
3:15:14right here? And then I'm also including
3:15:16them like we were having a discussion I
3:15:19think it was the other night or
3:15:20something where it was like let's ask
3:15:22Max.
3:15:23>> Yep. It was I think like I think it was
3:15:26if we were going to include this podcast
3:15:28in the full course uh upload.
3:15:32>> Spoiler alert.
3:15:33>> Yeah, that's
3:15:33>> which is awesome. No, no, it's good. If
3:15:35you're in at this point on the podcast,
3:15:38we're going to take all the videos that
3:15:39we have uploaded in January, pack them
3:15:41together into one mega course on how to
3:15:44start your personal brand. But we
3:15:45haven't decided whether or not we're
3:15:46going to include this.
3:15:47>> And we brought we're bringing it like
3:15:49I'm going to shoot a Slack message over
3:15:50to Max and be like, "Hey, what do you
3:15:52think about this? is this good enough?
3:15:54Like you're gonna you're gonna edit the
3:15:56footage and see it more than anyone
3:15:57else. Like and bringing in that level of
3:16:00trust and asking your team um it doesn't
3:16:04have to be like major decisions like hey
3:16:05what do we want to do with this offer or
3:16:07something like that but like bringing
3:16:08them in those creative decisions giving
3:16:10that creative flexibility. Like Max
3:16:12asked several questions to me uh in this
3:16:15latest upload on this frame link and I
3:16:17was like uh I think we could do this but
3:16:20what do you think? And one thing I tell
3:16:21Max is like if you make a good if it's
3:16:24not going to be like I kind of separate
3:16:26my notes from like game-breaking notes
3:16:28to like this is a preference of mine and
3:16:31I state that in this is like I love this
3:16:33>> but I'm also open to this.
3:16:35>> Yes.
3:16:35>> Um when I'm looking through notes and
3:16:37giving notes to editors uh to designers
3:16:40whoever it is on a creative team.
3:16:42>> Um and this is this all just comes back
3:16:44to trust of like um what do you think of
3:16:48this? Like I'm asking Max more questions
3:16:50of like,
3:16:52oh, I remember what I was going to say.
3:16:53Like I told Max, um, if you make an
3:16:56argument for it, I'm probably going to
3:16:57go with you. There's a 98% chance if you
3:17:00make a good argument. And he did it. He
3:17:01was like, I think we should include this
3:17:03and leave this in because it's kind of a
3:17:04humorous moment that shows Caleb's side
3:17:06of like create like little little funky
3:17:09side of Caleb. And I was like, cool,
3:17:10heard. Let's do it. I I trust you.
3:17:12>> Love that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a really big
3:17:14point. I think
3:17:17the other thing that I would say and
3:17:18then we should move on to March is your
3:17:21team if they're the right characters and
3:17:23again that's a stupid qualifier that I
3:17:25have to put in because a lot of people
3:17:26don't realize that if you hire the right
3:17:28people and you give them that level of
3:17:30trust they will rise above the level
3:17:33that you are bestowing that trust at.
3:17:36Like I I've seen it time and time again.
3:17:38So it's it's a really good point. I'm
3:17:40glad you brought that up. moving into
3:17:42March, uh, we went psycho mode and we
3:17:45had just filmed this video, uh, middle
3:17:49to end of February. And then I think
3:17:52about two or 3 weeks later, we're like,
3:17:54you know what? Let's do another course
3:17:55level video. And so I wrote the how to
3:17:58lead a media team. I can't remember what
3:18:00the title is on YouTube right now, but
3:18:01the video is like how to lead an already
3:18:04existing media team. And uh we I think
3:18:09within three or four weeks of filming
3:18:11the course, we went out to Joshua Tree
3:18:13and filmed for an entire day. Was it a
3:18:16full day?
3:18:18>> Yeah, I think it was one full day. I
3:18:19think we did. Yeah.
3:18:20>> Sunrise to sunrise to like way after
3:18:23sunset
3:18:23>> cuz I remember you jumped to the pool at
3:18:25the end when it was freezing.
3:18:26>> [ __ ] cold. Yeah. So, we went into
3:18:29that. I think some interesting things to
3:18:32talk about here are the location and the
3:18:35outlining process.
3:18:37You you mentioned when we were talking
3:18:39about and planning for this podcast and
3:18:41talking about what we were going to go
3:18:42over, you mentioned something that was
3:18:43really interesting which was that I
3:18:45chose the location. Can you speak to
3:18:48that a little bit? It's so interesting
3:18:50because a lot of people think that like
3:18:51when you bring on a a creative director
3:18:55and you're just starting your brand or
3:18:57whatever, like they know everything and
3:18:58like they will handle all the decisions
3:19:00and stuff. And I think actually contrary
3:19:03to probably what a lot of people are
3:19:04thinking anyways like about my role and
3:19:06what I'm doing for you is uh it's it's
3:19:10actually it wasn't like that and it
3:19:12still isn't. I actually had this
3:19:14conversation yesterday and I remember I
3:19:16told this certain it was a creative
3:19:18manager that I was talking to was the
3:19:19one that I said was was starting in a
3:19:21similar role.
3:19:22>> I was like, you know, I'm actually still
3:19:25being onboarded one year into this role.
3:19:28>> I'm still being onboarded.
3:19:30>> Um cuz you mentioned like you picked the
3:19:32location at this point. Three months in
3:19:35I I did pick the location for the
3:19:37course, but that was like a mutual kind
3:19:38of like one-off thing. But
3:19:40>> you nailed it. Um, three months in, I
3:19:42actually had no idea your taste and what
3:19:45you um what you actually preferred in
3:19:48your locations and I sure as hell could
3:19:51not write for you. Like you keep
3:19:53mentioning that you were writing these
3:19:55videos. I wasn't actually involved in
3:19:58the writing till I think month five or
3:19:59six, right?
3:20:00>> Yeah, I think so.
3:20:01>> I think it was like the three stages
3:20:03videos when we started it. Yep.
3:20:05>> And then now we write videos together.
3:20:07>> Uh, which we'll talk about in a bit, I'm
3:20:08sure. But like at this stage you were
3:20:11writing the videos a lot of times you
3:20:13were picking the locations and like
3:20:14sending them to me like what do you
3:20:16think can we what what is the setup
3:20:17you're thinking here I have some
3:20:19contribution to that I think a lot of
3:20:21people would expect that I am doing
3:20:23those things and I'm writing your videos
3:20:24and I'm doing all that things but two
3:20:26months in it is interesting because it's
3:20:29actually the opposite and it wasn't
3:20:30until month five or six that that
3:20:32started happening and people do things
3:20:34differently and I think we advise
3:20:35different things for different teams but
3:20:38for us specifically speifically I think
3:20:39what's made the content the best so far
3:20:41and why it feels so authentic and it's
3:20:43so deep and so like is cuz actually
3:20:46you're at the you're still so close to
3:20:47it right now
3:20:48>> which is really key especially if you
3:20:51are starting out
3:20:52>> in your first year making content with
3:20:54your personal brand
3:20:56>> and it's the most frustrating thing for
3:20:57people to hear too because one of the
3:20:58most common things that uh you know one
3:21:02of the most common I should say
3:21:03conversations that we've had with
3:21:04clients this year is a lot of them
3:21:07wanting their team to handle all of it.
3:21:10And I I love the thinking, right?
3:21:12Because it's like we don't have a ton of
3:21:14time. We're trying to spend as much time
3:21:17on focusing on the business as possible.
3:21:20We don't have a ton of time. A lot of
3:21:22people, I mean, me, I don't have as much
3:21:24time to write content as I did when we
3:21:26started, right? The business has gotten
3:21:27a lot busier. Thank God. That's an
3:21:29amazing thing. I'm so grateful for it.
3:21:31But that means that I have less time for
3:21:33it. But I still fight to be involved in
3:21:37it because the thing that I literally
3:21:39was just having this conversation with
3:21:40somebody today. Um, if and I mean this
3:21:44with all due respect to everybody who is
3:21:46behind the scenes behind somebody, but
3:21:49if your team was capable of writing this
3:21:53[ __ ] just as good as you would, why are
3:21:55they not the ones on camera? Right? At a
3:21:58certain point, maybe that'll happen.
3:22:00That's starting to happen now. you're
3:22:01starting to come on camera and stuff,
3:22:02but like it still needs to come from me
3:22:06at some level. Now, what we're going to
3:22:08be working on, and we we'll talk about
3:22:09this later, is like this year we're
3:22:11going to start working on you getting
3:22:13the outlines to third base, right? And
3:22:15then me rounding it home. But if we
3:22:18didn't have the year of the first half
3:22:21of the year, me writing it and then the
3:22:23rest us writing it together, right?
3:22:26Because that's how you delegate. you
3:22:27demonstrate, you uh duplicate, I believe
3:22:30is what what I always talk about.
3:22:32Something like that. You do it together,
3:22:33and then you have the other person do it
3:22:35themselves, and you observe that. And
3:22:38that's the phase that we're about to go
3:22:39into, and we can talk about that later,
3:22:41but I think it was a really good point
3:22:42to call out because it's an expectation
3:22:44a lot of people have when they hire a
3:22:45content director that they're just going
3:22:46to write everything for them and make
3:22:48everything magically happen. But, you
3:22:50[snorts] know, we've known each other
3:22:52for a very long time. You have a lot
3:22:53more context on me than most people do
3:22:55starting this position. And even in that
3:22:57scenario, we had to do this. Um, and we
3:23:00could have done it the opposite way, but
3:23:03then it wouldn't be my words and it
3:23:06wouldn't be me, right? It'd be an
3:23:08outsourced version of me. And so I think
3:23:10we we need to calibrate. And that's what
3:23:12a lot of people need to do is they need
3:23:13to go through that calibration phase,
3:23:15which is one that a lot of people want
3:23:17to skip, which I think is interesting,
3:23:19>> super crucial. Yeah, I think it's but
3:23:21yeah, that was So we we went in, we shot
3:23:24that video
3:23:25>> only like a week prior having posted our
3:23:27first video. So we we recorded almost
3:23:29three videos before ever dropping one of
3:23:31them. I feel
3:23:32>> Yeah. Which is crazy. And actually we
3:23:35would not advise that. A big thing that
3:23:38we preach is uh you want to use posted
3:23:42content to inform how you make the next
3:23:44content. And the thing that I always
3:23:46talk about, which is so funny, is the
3:23:48last thing you want to do is batch
3:23:50content too much because then you have
3:23:53that sunk cost fallacy of like, well, we
3:23:55we filmed all day. We might as well post
3:23:57all this. But what if you learn that
3:23:59what you did in the film session was
3:24:01completely [ __ ] and it ruins the
3:24:03rest of the videos? Well, then why would
3:24:05you keep posting it, right? But, you
3:24:07know, we uh we worked with the reality
3:24:09that we had and the reality that we had.
3:24:13This is the real godhonest answer. I was
3:24:15[ __ ] motivated and I was stoked and
3:24:17we took advantage of that instead of
3:24:20spacing everything out. It was like in
3:24:22the matter of two months we filmed three
3:24:26three videos, no four videos. We filmed
3:24:29that intro video. We filmed the course.
3:24:32We filmed the media team video. And then
3:24:34in April,
3:24:35>> Mhm.
3:24:35>> In April, we filmed the uh if you
3:24:38struggle with making content, watch
3:24:40this, which was a completely different
3:24:42format than the first three videos that
3:24:45we filmed. Now, we're saying this, but
3:24:48the video I'm describing that if you
3:24:50struggle with making content, please
3:24:51watch this. That was the third video we
3:24:53released. This is moving into April.
3:24:54Now, can you kind of share
3:24:57why we did that and why we approached
3:24:59that video the way that we did? So,
3:25:01let's tackle the order of upload because
3:25:04we filmed the media team course and then
3:25:06we filmed this, but we uploaded them
3:25:08differently. Explain that.
3:25:10>> Uh, I mean, the media team course was a
3:25:13two two and a half hour video. We was
3:25:16going to need more time in in
3:25:17post-production. Um, especially cuz I
3:25:19was handling the post-production
3:25:21entirely on that video. We weren't
3:25:23outsourcing to a contractor or something
3:25:25like that. And that's something you'll
3:25:27kind of notice. Hi, buddy. That's
3:25:29something you'll kind of notice for um
3:25:31all of our like we did one video every
3:25:35month of our first year only one video
3:25:38>> which to some I mean when they look at
3:25:39the run times on those some it's
3:25:41impressive and to others it's like one
3:25:42video only
3:25:44>> um but that is the resources that we had
3:25:47um on a solo team
3:25:50>> and the cadence that we felt like I
3:25:52could stick to.
3:25:53>> We wanted to do something that we would
3:25:55do the entire year. sustainability going
3:25:58into uh the if you struggle video. That
3:26:00was the biggest thing for that video is
3:26:02you I remember when uh in the first few
3:26:05weeks it was like wouldn't it be cool if
3:26:08we started doing some crazy [ __ ] like uh
3:26:10we got a a car mount and we did a video
3:26:13on my bike. All of you'll notice this is
3:26:16a theme. All of our videos come from
3:26:19like one of us being [laughter] like,
3:26:20especially especially Caleb being like,
3:26:24"Wouldn't it be crazy if" and then we
3:26:26actually do it and we set we set a date
3:26:28and we actually do it. Um, but the the
3:26:31biggest part of that video was
3:26:32sustainability. It was we wanted to make
3:26:34a video that we don't actually know if
3:26:36it's going to do well or not, but it's
3:26:38just something completely different. We
3:26:40That video was a shotbyshot
3:26:43uh just it was that was scripted. It was
3:26:47completely shotlisted. 100% shot listed.
3:26:50Um, and that was our first video that we
3:26:52actually did that.
3:26:53>> It was insane. The other thing too is I
3:26:56remember we were about to upload like we
3:27:00were planning on doing the media team
3:27:01video and then we were like, "Oh [ __ ]
3:27:03our first video was 54 minutes. Our
3:27:04second video was 6 and 1 half hours. And
3:27:06if we upload this next, our third one is
3:27:082 hours." We're setting the expectation
3:27:10that we only upload mega videos, which
3:27:14if you look at our channel, a good
3:27:16percentage, I'd say there's three.
3:27:18There's three mega, no, four, four mega
3:27:20videos now. So, of the eight videos or
3:27:2210 videos that we released in 2025, I'd
3:27:24say four of them are pretty beefy, long
3:27:28videos, but we didn't want to set that
3:27:30expectation that that's all we were
3:27:32going to upload. I remember the other
3:27:34thing that we talked about was like I
3:27:36wanted to see how many different styles
3:27:38can I do
3:27:39>> like and this might I'm going to share
3:27:43this this might sound a little
3:27:44egotistical um but I promise it came
3:27:47from a place of not knowing and there
3:27:48was no ego involved here but I wanted to
3:27:50see like can I show
3:27:53the audience that I'm capable of
3:27:56communicating in multiple different ways
3:28:01in the very beginning of me
3:28:03communicating to people. That was
3:28:05insane. Like I remember we every single
3:28:09every shot is planned, right? We're
3:28:12resetting the camera, either you on the
3:28:15[ __ ] Ronin or the tripod, resetting
3:28:18it in public with traffic, with other
3:28:21humans, like everything. There was a
3:28:23moment where we're filming in a gas
3:28:24station and I'm literally like thanking
3:28:27the lady at the checkout and then I turn
3:28:29to the camera and start talking with her
3:28:30right there and I'm she I gave her a
3:28:33warning but she was definitely like what
3:28:35the [ __ ] is going on? This is so weird
3:28:37cuz it was very weird. We're in this
3:28:38wasn't in like downtown Vegas or
3:28:40anything. We filmed it in Vegas. Uh but
3:28:42this was on the outskirts of Vegas. This
3:28:44was this is closer more to like you know
3:28:46the mountains and Red Rock and
3:28:47everything like that. And so they were
3:28:48looking at us like what the hell is
3:28:50going on? But that was an interesting
3:28:52one because this was the first time that
3:28:54we learned a lesson that we'll learn
3:28:56again and we'll share with you again in
3:28:58this. But preparation.
3:29:00>> Yeah. We ended up shooting this video
3:29:03over 3 days
3:29:05wanting to get it done in one. Like we
3:29:07flew out your best friend Jordan um to
3:29:10drive the truck while I hung out the
3:29:12back and grabbed uh rolling shots of you
3:29:14on your bike.
3:29:15>> Yeah. And to be very clear for all the
3:29:17law enforcement individuals watching, he
3:29:20was secured with a seat belt in the
3:29:22back.
3:29:22>> A singular strap that was like
3:29:24[laughter] I remember Jordan looked at
3:29:25it and he was like, I don't know if that
3:29:28is actually going to work, but
3:29:29[laughter]
3:29:30do you feel safe? And I was like, "Yeah,
3:29:32I feel we're okay.
3:29:33>> Safe enough."
3:29:34>> I remember realizing really quickly when
3:29:36I'm setting up these cameras, like we
3:29:39the first time we tried it, we said we
3:29:41shot listed this whole thing. We had a
3:29:42very loose shot list.
3:29:44>> Rough idea. He had not. And then I think
3:29:46the lines were there, but I think the
3:29:48shot list the lines that you wrote were
3:29:50good. The shot list was just like uh
3:29:54probably a medium shot somewhere in this
3:29:56gas station.
3:29:57>> Uh and we didn't I don't even know if we
3:29:59picked the gas station.
3:30:00>> No,
3:30:01>> no, we just like saw it.
3:30:02>> We just were driving and found the
3:30:04coolest looking one on our route
3:30:06>> and we got to the sun was starting to go
3:30:10down and we had maybe we had our rolling
3:30:12shots and I think that was it. We barely
3:30:14had any.
3:30:14>> I remember we literally there was a
3:30:16moment where we were trying to figure
3:30:18out the next shot quickly and we
3:30:20realized this is not a good idea. We
3:30:23should just lean in fully to rolling
3:30:24shots.
3:30:25>> Mhm. Which I which was an amazing pivot.
3:30:28I think that was your pivot on on the
3:30:30fly. I think it was just out of I think
3:30:32we were all getting frustrated that like
3:30:35this is not going very well.
3:30:36>> Yeah.
3:30:36>> And it's cuz we didn't prepare.
3:30:39>> Um and this is a lesson.
3:30:42Spoiler alert. We'll learn again a
3:30:44little bit later, but like pouring
3:30:47dozens of hours into a video that's 10
3:30:50minutes long is essential. Like for this
3:30:53video, we then went back to the drawing
3:30:55board and I think Jordan had to fly
3:30:58home. We had to do it on a separate day
3:31:00and I think we recorded two other days.
3:31:02Um, but we went back and we spent a
3:31:05handful of hours shot listing this every
3:31:08shot, shot by shot. This is going to be
3:31:10here. we are going on Google Maps and
3:31:12we're doing satellite images and like
3:31:14this is the gas station that we want and
3:31:16I'm thinking that this is the setup and
3:31:18this is the shot we know where we're
3:31:19shooting exactly where we're shooting
3:31:20it. Um and we took a whole another day.
3:31:23We went back out um and shot at a bunch
3:31:26of different places.
3:31:27>> We had already gotten the rolling shots,
3:31:29the shots of me looking at the camera
3:31:31and talking while I'm riding with my
3:31:33helmet on, which by the way, those are
3:31:36actually moments where I am literally
3:31:38saying the line. We re-recorded it in
3:31:40post for most of them because the audio
3:31:43was a little tough with uh my 2021
3:31:46Harley-Davidson Road King special, as
3:31:48loud and as aggressive as it is, we had
3:31:51to re-record them. But like a lot of
3:31:52those lines I'm saying and looking at
3:31:54the camera as we're writing. But
3:31:56anyways, now we're going to film the
3:31:58talking [ __ ]
3:31:59>> So we go out and we're going to all
3:32:01these locations and doing this. We're
3:32:03filming in public. Like you said, we
3:32:04went to a restaurant. The the um
3:32:07waitress was unbelievably kind. The
3:32:10manager on the other hand was not so
3:32:12stoked. I don't know if you remember
3:32:13that. Yeah.
3:32:14>> At the end. At the end. But I was like
3:32:15standing on a booth getting that top
3:32:17down shot of you just like and the
3:32:19waitress was super cool there. I wish we
3:32:20had a behind-the-scenes photo because
3:32:22you would look into the booth and you
3:32:24would see I'm sitting there eating and
3:32:26on the other side of the booth, Trevor
3:32:28is literally just standing on it with
3:32:31the the Ronin and the camera like to get
3:32:34those high angles and I mean, we
3:32:35probably looked absurd to anybody, but
3:32:37um but we did it. And one little tip
3:32:40actually that I'm going to throw out
3:32:42there that I've never mentioned ever
3:32:43before is for anybody who is trying to
3:32:46film publicly around other humans where
3:32:50they're going to be looking at you. I'm
3:32:52telling you, sunglasses are your best
3:32:55friend. You'll notice that in both of
3:32:57the videos that we've done like this,
3:32:58the one in Vegas on the Harley and the
3:33:00one that we'll talk about later,
3:33:01probably walking around London and
3:33:04talking to the camera, I'm wearing
3:33:05sunglasses. if you're going to film out
3:33:07in public and have people look at you
3:33:08and you're embarrassed by that. Some
3:33:10people are not and I envy those people,
3:33:11but I am not one of those. Like a lot of
3:33:14the comments on those videos are like,
3:33:15"I can't believe you did that. I can't
3:33:16believe you said that in the convenience
3:33:18store." Like with people around you. And
3:33:20the reality is is I am probably more
3:33:23terrified of what other people think of
3:33:25me than most of you watching or
3:33:28listening to this. That is a very real
3:33:31like real reality is I am very uncomfy
3:33:36talking to a camera when there's other
3:33:38humans around. It makes me squeamish. I
3:33:41do not like it. But what I try to do is
3:33:44I just try to completely ignore them. I
3:33:46used to play basketball in high school
3:33:47and for better or for worse I would just
3:33:49completely black out. I mean there was
3:33:51literally one time where I remember I
3:33:52was going for a wide open layup and I'm
3:33:54like why the hell am I so wide open?
3:33:56Turns out it was the other team's
3:33:57basket. And my whole team was yelling at
3:33:59me, "Bale, Caleb." But I couldn't hear.
3:34:01And so I try to channel that kind of
3:34:03same energy when I'm filming in public.
3:34:04It's like, how do I just completely
3:34:06ignore the fact that that dude over
3:34:08there is looking at me very puzzled? Cuz
3:34:11the reality is is it doesn't really
3:34:12actually matter. And more often than
3:34:14not, they're thinking about it in the
3:34:16moment and then seconds later they're
3:34:17driving and they're paying attention to
3:34:19the road or their kids screaming in the
3:34:21back and they don't give a [ __ ] But I
3:34:23thought that was a very interesting
3:34:24video because you got to exercise some
3:34:28interesting skills that you have not
3:34:30ever in the past, which is you probably
3:34:33did, I think we could comfortably
3:34:36comfortably say 30 different camera
3:34:39setups
3:34:40>> in like
3:34:42>> 12 hours.
3:34:42>> Yeah, like 10 or 12 hours. Yeah.
3:34:44>> Yeah.
3:34:44>> Which was insane. Real quick before we
3:34:47move on, let let's talk about that real
3:34:49quick. Like a lot of people in the
3:34:51comments on that video ask about what
3:34:53was the film setup. Some people think
3:34:55that I filmed it myself. Um which that
3:34:57is wildly impressive on those walking
3:34:59shots, but talk to us about that. Like
3:35:01what was that like?
3:35:02>> We've had to get very scrappy. And also
3:35:05in the past year, I think my my actual
3:35:07production skills have leveled up so
3:35:10much. I used to do it all the time when
3:35:12like I filmed quite a bit at uh at my
3:35:15last role but all sit down talking head
3:35:19stuff and then before that I did some
3:35:20commercial work and and some stuff like
3:35:23but nothing crazy like nothing like
3:35:26super but like it's been interesting
3:35:28that we have some ideas like you also
3:35:31have this one idea of going to New York
3:35:32and filming in the back of a taxi cab
3:35:35and I actually have like in my head how
3:35:37I shoot that and how I do that with like
3:35:39GoPros and stuff Like there's been some
3:35:41interesting production setups, but uh
3:35:43for this one particularly in like in
3:35:45particular, I think we rented
3:35:48No, we bought we bought a Ronin a Ronin
3:35:50uh RS4 or something like that. Um
3:35:53>> RS4 Pro,
3:35:54>> I think. Yeah, it was an RS4 Pro Ronin.
3:35:56So, knowing that like we have to
3:35:59basically be in and out. Uh this this
3:36:02restaurant or this convenience store
3:36:03will kick us out if we're not if we're
3:36:05there for more than two minutes. And we
3:36:08officially got permission, but they
3:36:10still they were like, "Make it quick."
3:36:13>> Every It's funny because like when you
3:36:14walk around with a phone and a camera,
3:36:16you're like,
3:36:17>> "Yeah."
3:36:17>> Which is something you can't you can get
3:36:19a phone. Honestly, it's something we we
3:36:21should have considered is a phone
3:36:22stabilizer and just shot with with an
3:36:24iPhone. That would have been probably a
3:36:26little bit more inconspicuous. But we
3:36:27did a full RS4. I had wired earbuds and
3:36:31then I had you lapped up um with I
3:36:34believe the DJI Holyland mics like some
3:36:36something like these wireless mics. The
3:36:39audio isn't the best like the audio
3:36:41quality but for running gun like
3:36:44everything that we're doing right now
3:36:45it's not like a it's not like a wired
3:36:47Sennheiser mic or anything. We're going
3:36:49for speed. Like I remember you telling
3:36:51me I know you haven't like you haven't
3:36:53done this much before but like we're
3:36:55going to need to be in and out. You need
3:36:57your white balance. Like I think
3:36:58sometimes I even did auto white balance
3:37:00cuz I'm not going to sit here and like
3:37:01fumble with the settings. Like you need
3:37:03to be in and out for a lot of these
3:37:05different shots. And you also
3:37:06>> I'm going to say something here real
3:37:08quick. It was a little bit more dramatic
3:37:10and intense than that. There were at the
3:37:11gas station. I literally turned to
3:37:12Trevor and I was like, "You have two
3:37:15shots, two takes for each of these
3:37:17scenes. I'm going to walk up, grab a Red
3:37:20Bull, and you have two attempts to get
3:37:22it and then we're moving on." Like I I
3:37:25it was a little intense. I was like,
3:37:27"You have two tries and if we [ __ ] this
3:37:29up,
3:37:31>> we're moving on."
3:37:31>> It It was It was very stressful. But I'd
3:37:34say by the time we got to the London
3:37:35video, I had it mostly dialed. Like,
3:37:38>> oh yeah,
3:37:38>> you can tell I'm in a whole different
3:37:39world and I'm like But like we had the
3:37:42pre-production dialed, but that that was
3:37:43the setup. It's the most basic like what
3:37:46can go wrong. I'm on autofocus. I have
3:37:48like auto settings. Like anything that I
3:37:50can eliminate going wrong in those
3:37:52scenarios, I learned that like we need
3:37:54to do it. We also just had a certain
3:37:56amount of daylight and so setting up I
3:37:58think was that the video that we had a
3:38:00monopod for? No, that was a London
3:38:02video.
3:38:02>> Yep.
3:38:02>> Um but we had very quick we've I I
3:38:06almost very rarely I think used an
3:38:07actual tripod.
3:38:08>> Yeah.
3:38:09>> And I went handheld
3:38:10>> with the gimbal just like this. I mean
3:38:13and just sitting there like shot like
3:38:16the we're going to do a top down shot.
3:38:18Cool. Holding the gimbal right here like
3:38:20and we're going to go and roll. Um, very
3:38:23interesting production challenge, but
3:38:24but like that's how we did it. And we're
3:38:26scrappy with it, too. Like I think we
3:38:27taped a mic to the inside of your helmet
3:38:30and that's how we recorded the audio
3:38:31there when we drove down. Like I just
3:38:33had you roll through the neighborhood on
3:38:34your bike and we recorded audio a
3:38:36different day and I just like taped a
3:38:38mic into your helmet or something. And
3:38:40we wanted it to sound real,
3:38:43but we also wanted it to be hearable and
3:38:45legible or not legible but hearable,
3:38:48understandable. You know what I'm
3:38:49saying? And so what we did for the the
3:38:52real nerds out there is we did not
3:38:54record that audio on the same bike. We
3:38:55actually I'm kind of a weirdo and I have
3:38:58a couple Harley-Davidsons that I love.
3:39:01And we picked my quiet one, the Panam,
3:39:03which is it sounds like a sewing machine
3:39:05basically. And so it would still have
3:39:07the sound of being on a motorcycle but
3:39:10wouldn't be quite as intense as the Road
3:39:12King. And then in post, I remember you
3:39:15added but more like you had control to
3:39:18separate my audio from the bike audio,
3:39:20but you added in the road king so that
3:39:23it was authentic. So like if you are a
3:39:25Harley nut and you watch that video, all
3:39:27of that [ __ ] is real. We recorded all of
3:39:29that folly. Like when I take off and you
3:39:32hear the exhaust get louder and louder,
3:39:34like we recorded all of that on the
3:39:37third day, I think, right? Yeah.
3:39:39>> All planned with pre-production. all in
3:39:42like this is how I'm going to tackle
3:39:43this and how this is how we're going to
3:39:45do it. And that's probably the biggest
3:39:46lesson that month. We all I think we
3:39:48also launched the course.
3:39:49>> Yep.
3:39:50>> Yeah. April 4th we launched the course
3:39:53and it didn't do that much in the
3:39:55beginning. Like it did better than we
3:39:56expected by all means, but compared to
3:39:59what you guys see now, that first month
3:40:04gave us no indication that it was going
3:40:06to take off and go in our world
3:40:09intergalactic, right? like we did not
3:40:10see that. So we go from April into May
3:40:15and May was interesting. There was a lot
3:40:17of different things but I think the cool
3:40:18thing that we could talk about is
3:40:21there's there's two things. The second
3:40:24thing will be this is the month that the
3:40:26course did start taking off. But the
3:40:28first thing that I think we should talk
3:40:29about Gary Gary Vaynerchuk uh if you
3:40:32don't know who Gary Vee is, what rock
3:40:34are you living under? Um, this man
3:40:36pioneered the whole space of being a
3:40:40entrepreneur who's creating their
3:40:41personal brand online and making content
3:40:43at scale. Like he pioneered the whole
3:40:46thing. All these individuals that you
3:40:48probably watch and learn from right now
3:40:49that you admire, they are here because
3:40:52of the trail that he blazed. And Gary
3:40:56for the last couple years has been
3:40:57focused, as far as I understand, far
3:40:59more on V friends and Vayner Media and
3:41:02really operating those things. and he
3:41:04wanted to do something really [ __ ]
3:41:06cool in May for V friends. They had a
3:41:09massive release. They partnered with
3:41:12Topps, the card like playing card
3:41:15collector card maker Topps. And I'm a
3:41:18little ignorant on this world, so please
3:41:20excuse my ignorance. Anybody who's
3:41:21really in it, you can roast me in the
3:41:23comments, but Topps has a limited
3:41:26edition uh version of their cards called
3:41:30Topps Chrome Cards, I think is something
3:41:32like that. and V friends was doing a
3:41:35Topps Chrome release, which as a side
3:41:38note, y'all, is [ __ ] wild. It was not
3:41:41that long ago that Gary was drawing
3:41:44these characters on a piece of paper and
3:41:46had this idea and within less than 5
3:41:49years, that dude is doing a partnership
3:41:51with the number one card maker. I I
3:41:54could go on. I I really admire Gary. I
3:41:55love him to death. He's the best. But he
3:41:58wanted [snorts] to document that month
3:42:00of releasing that by bringing back Daily
3:42:03V, which was a series that he did, a
3:42:05vlog series on YouTube where for a very
3:42:07long time, he was uploading almost every
3:42:09single day, a vlog from the previous
3:42:12day, usually literally just 24 hours
3:42:14prior cuz the team would stay up all
3:42:15night, edit it, and then release it.
3:42:17Bunch of savages. And he wanted to bring
3:42:20that back kind of like a nostalgic play
3:42:22to document the whole process. And in
3:42:24doing that, he invited all the OG
3:42:27characters that had been videographers
3:42:30over the years, which was so cool. Like,
3:42:32uh, I know that Justin Dalres came back
3:42:35and filmed. Uh, David Rock, obviously,
3:42:37Tyler Babin, Jason Marina, right? Dustin
3:42:40Lee did an episode. I did an episode. It
3:42:42was awesome. Stfan did an episode from
3:42:44Ask Gary Vays. Like, it was it was
3:42:46awesome. It was so cool. And I felt
3:42:49really honored to uh be invited, but
3:42:52then I felt a little insecure because I
3:42:55have not edited a video in years. I mean
3:42:59years. I've cut maybe like a short here
3:43:01and there and stuff like that. I did a
3:43:03couple of shorts edits, but for the most
3:43:04part, I hadn't done any editing. And we
3:43:07were the plan was like, we're doing
3:43:09quick turnarounds. I have historically
3:43:11that one of the things that I I think I
3:43:13tried to build my editing brand on when
3:43:15I was an editor is like my speed. I was
3:43:17really fast, but now I am not. And I
3:43:20wanted to deliver for the man, right?
3:43:22Like Gary's asking me to come out and
3:43:24stuff. And so we tag team that.
3:43:26>> Mhm.
3:43:26>> And that was really cool because you've
3:43:28been a Gary fan for a while now, right?
3:43:30>> That's how I got introduced to you was
3:43:32through a fellow uh I was
3:43:35>> doing
3:43:37internesque work for uh it Tyler Babin,
3:43:40>> Gary's original videographer after
3:43:42Drock.
3:43:43>> Yeah, he came in after Drock.
3:43:44>> Right after Drock. I was doing some some
3:43:47work for him back years and years ago.
3:43:50Um, and that's how we actually
3:43:52connected. But yeah, I literally grew up
3:43:5516, 17. That's why I'm doing what I'm
3:43:57doing right now is because of Gary,
3:43:59which was a very surreal being in a car
3:44:02with him. [laughter]
3:44:04And yeah, that was weird.
3:44:05>> That was so cool. And so what we did is
3:44:07we tag teamamed it. I filmed and then I
3:44:10was giving you the footage and you were
3:44:11editing. But let's be real, in addition
3:44:13to that, Trevor was also helping me. Cuz
3:44:16again, I have not I haven't been the
3:44:18person on the go filming in a long time.
3:44:20And what people don't realize, that man
3:44:22is a mutant. He has energy like I have
3:44:26never ever seen. If he has coffee or he
3:44:30doesn't have coffee, the man is
3:44:32electric. It's crazy. He's go go go go
3:44:34go. To this day, he's still that way,
3:44:36right?
3:44:36>> I saw it. I witnessed it. I had heard
3:44:38stories you had on like at our on our
3:44:42last team you so many times were like
3:44:46I've been in this scenario trust me with
3:44:47Gary and like bro Gary would have me up
3:44:49for three days straight and I'm taking a
3:44:51private jet flight trying to sleep and
3:44:53edit at the same time like I didn't like
3:44:56I heard it and I was like yeah yeah like
3:44:59yeah you worked hard but like I don't
3:45:01know if I realize the extent of how this
3:45:03man moves until I'm traveling cuz you I
3:45:07was editing But I was traveling with you
3:45:09while while we were going.
3:45:10>> Yeah. Like Trevor was helping me carry
3:45:13the bag with all the [ __ ] camera
3:45:16batteries and stuff like that. Like you
3:45:18were helping me with that. You were
3:45:19helping me grab headphones. Like all
3:45:22kinds of things. I mean, I remember we
3:45:23were standing in the auditorium where
3:45:25the the convention was happening and I
3:45:29hadn't eaten in like 9 hours. And I I
3:45:32have a fun little thing where if I don't
3:45:33eat for a super long time, I get like
3:45:35low blood sugar, shaky, and I end up
3:45:37fainting. And so Trevor like ran and
3:45:40grabbed me food and stuff like that.
3:45:41Like that was super helpful. Back in the
3:45:43day, I didn't have that. I would just
3:45:44grab like a, you know, my blood sugar
3:45:46was low, so it' be like, "Oh, there's a
3:45:47Snickers bar in the green room. Cool.
3:45:49I'm just going to down the Snickers bar
3:45:50real quick." And one thing that I want
3:45:51to mention that to be super clear here,
3:45:53it wasn't that Gary was demanding these
3:45:55things. It's that I respect that man so
3:45:58much. And I would see time and time
3:46:00again, we'd have a full day where he's,
3:46:02you know, shaking hands and answering
3:46:04questions for hundreds of people. And
3:46:06then immediately on the next, you know,
3:46:084hour flight, he's on his phone working
3:46:11the whole time. And it's like, God, how
3:46:12can I not, you know, I remember at the
3:46:15time, I think when I was working with
3:46:17him, I think he was like 44, 45, and I
3:46:19was, you know, 24, 25 or something like
3:46:21that. And I was like, this dude's almost
3:46:22double my age and he has triple the
3:46:24energy. This is insane. I'm at the point
3:46:26in my life where I should have the most
3:46:27energy and be the most willing to stay
3:46:29up and scrappy and I was. [snorts] But
3:46:32it was wild. And so the the thing that
3:46:34was really cool though is you got to
3:46:36edit two different Daily Vs,
3:46:39>> the series that I watched in high
3:46:41school. Yeah, that was cool.
3:46:42>> That was an amazing moment. And and one
3:46:45thing that was really cool, too, is I
3:46:47think um we got to work with team Gary
3:46:51as team Gary is now. And that was also
3:46:53really cool. I mean, like Sid obviously
3:46:55great individual, great human. Uh, did a
3:46:58great job of corraling all of us crazy
3:47:01characters cuz you know, Stefan, David,
3:47:04Tyler, like myself, we all have things
3:47:06that we're doing, right? Like we either
3:47:08have jobs or we're building our own
3:47:09businesses. And the fact that Sid and
3:47:13the team were able to help corout Nura,
3:47:16everybody was able to help corral all of
3:47:18these moving parts and make this
3:47:20actually happen, right? Like um shout
3:47:22out Victoria like awesome EA like that
3:47:25was super helpful. Aaron on the team
3:47:27managing YouTube like gangster like that
3:47:30was it was so fun but it was also so
3:47:32interesting for me to see how things
3:47:34have evolved right as they should but
3:47:36that was that was kind of an interesting
3:47:37moment but it was cool for you to see
3:47:39some of the behind the scenes of the
3:47:41stories that I've told and stuff like
3:47:42that you know the war stories.
3:47:44>> It was all true [laughter]
3:47:46he just moves. He just doesn't stop. He
3:47:48is awake 3 hours like I remember we did
3:47:52like five cities in 3 days or something
3:47:54like that.
3:47:54>> It was wild.
3:47:55>> Uh like uh somewhere in Canada to uh
3:48:00>> somewhere else in Canada.
3:48:00>> New York. Yeah. To somewhere else in can
3:48:02Toronto, New York uh Orlando, Atlanta,
3:48:06back to V. Like insane. And he just
3:48:09moves. He just doesn't stop. Don't meet
3:48:11your heroes. But my respect for him only
3:48:12grew. Yeah.
3:48:13>> Of just like seeing him interact. Like
3:48:15he always makes time for people. He
3:48:16never stops.
3:48:18at that booth. I remember he never Who
3:48:20walked by when we were at the at the
3:48:22booth? It was um
3:48:24>> Oh, [ __ ] Why am I blanking?
3:48:26>> I know. I know. The rapper.
3:48:28>> Yeah. Waka flocka.
3:48:29>> Waka flocka just walked by the booth and
3:48:32Gary doesn't go and talk to Waka. Like
3:48:34clearly I think Waka like wanted to like
3:48:36like hang out or do something but like
3:48:38he just
3:48:38>> they had talked backstage. They had
3:48:41connected. Wa was like, "Yo, I'm going
3:48:42to stop by the booth at some point." and
3:48:44Gary was in the middle of a conversation
3:48:46with somebody who um was in a I'll just
3:48:49say a wild scenario and uh this would
3:48:52have been a really good moment for Gary
3:48:54and for V friends and he could have
3:48:56easily stepped aside taken the photo and
3:48:57then come back but instead he focused
3:48:59all his attention on this person who uh
3:49:03was going through a wild scenario and
3:49:05really looked up to Gary and got a lot
3:49:07from him and I remember like both of us
3:49:10that like was a a crystal clear moment.
3:49:13The thing that I noticed too is, you
3:49:15know, we've been able to work for some
3:49:17great people. We've been able to work
3:49:19with some incredible characters this
3:49:20last year and a lot of them have huge
3:49:23personal brands and are talked about a
3:49:26lot online.
3:49:27But there has never been a human that
3:49:29I've walked through a public place with,
3:49:31not one person, who has more people
3:49:35stopped to ask for a photo, but even
3:49:37more than that, people whispering being
3:49:39like, "Oh my god, that's Gary Vee. I
3:49:41don't want to bug him, but wow. Like,
3:49:44I've been watching him since I was in
3:49:45junior high. I've been watching him
3:49:47since I was in high school. Like,
3:49:49incredible to see. And I think for me,
3:49:53it was a moment where this was about
3:49:54halfway into us building my personal
3:49:57brand. And I just remember I never have
3:50:00ambitions of ever being at Gary's level,
3:50:01nor do I think that I'm capable of doing
3:50:03that. That man is on a different level.
3:50:06But I remember thinking, okay, with the
3:50:08audience that we're building, I really
3:50:11want to act like Gary and do what Gary
3:50:14does, which is put the audience first
3:50:16above his own self-interests
3:50:19at times where it is so clear how much
3:50:22it would help him, he still chooses the
3:50:25audience. And I just I I thought that
3:50:26was so cool. And that's something that
3:50:28we've tried to take into the content
3:50:30that we make, right? Is like putting the
3:50:32audience first. Like for example, we got
3:50:35my dog here who's kind of disturbing
3:50:37things and stuff and we didn't have
3:50:41really any time other than now to film
3:50:43this podcast and it's a little
3:50:44distracting and this is your third
3:50:46podcast and you've been doing this
3:50:48despite him being like in the background
3:50:50and that's distracting. See that's
3:50:51distracting but we're still trying to do
3:50:53this because we've never done anything
3:50:55like this. We've never shared this kind
3:50:56of information on our approach to
3:50:58growing my personal brand and it's a
3:51:00tiny little way. It's an insignificant
3:51:03example comparison to what Gary has
3:51:04done, but it's it's one way that we're
3:51:07trying to apply and live that out in
3:51:10what we're doing, which I think is the
3:51:11coolest thing. So May was fun getting to
3:51:14work with Gary again and hang out with
3:51:16him and travel with him and seeing him
3:51:18in action. It was really [ __ ] cool.
3:51:20Trevor also edited those daily V's. Like
3:51:23we got done with that trip and like he
3:51:26said it was like five cities, six
3:51:27cities, something crazy in a very short
3:51:29amount of time, like 3 days and we were
3:51:31exhausted and I turned to Trevor. I'm
3:51:33like, "Oh man, I'm so excited to go home
3:51:36and get cozy in my bed and sleep." And
3:51:38he's like, "I'm so excited to go home
3:51:39and get cozy with the editing." Cuz he
3:51:42still had the videos to edit. So, shout
3:51:43out to Trevor and shout out to all the
3:51:45editors that uh don't get mentioned but
3:51:49stay up all night editing content for
3:51:52the people who are in front of the
3:51:53camera. Um, you deserve more
3:51:55acknowledgement in my opinion. But
3:51:57beyond that, uh, we go into June and
3:52:00this is when like May is kind of when I
3:52:04felt like things started picking up
3:52:05because the other thing that I forgot to
3:52:07mention that we'll just hit really quick
3:52:08is in May is when the course took off.
3:52:10May 1st, the course was at 49,362
3:52:15views. Um, so that was after a little
3:52:18less than a month of being up and it for
3:52:21a while there was looking like it was
3:52:22actually flatlining on YouTube.
3:52:24>> And to be clear, 49,000 views in the
3:52:26first month is [ __ ] absurd. We never
3:52:27could have dreamed or imagined.
3:52:28>> Yeah. Like uh so that's where it was at
3:52:30as of May 1st. Uh as of May 31st it was
3:52:34at 165,161
3:52:36and climbing every day. I mean, to this
3:52:39day, we're still getting anywhere from
3:52:40like 2 to 4 thousand hits a day. Like,
3:52:43that's where the curve absolutely took
3:52:46off and this thing just took on a a mind
3:52:48of its own. And I think with that, uh,
3:52:52also put the, uh, because we made a
3:52:55workbook associated with this course.
3:52:58>> Um, I don't know if we've actually
3:52:59talked about that.
3:53:00>> Uh, it was completely free. All you
3:53:03needed to do is just add your email. We
3:53:04actually ended up growing our email
3:53:05list. Like right now I think we're at
3:53:07like 44,000 people on that email list
3:53:10mostly from the course alone. But that
3:53:13was when I think up until this point
3:53:16we've been we've been spending a lot of
3:53:18our time in uh pre-production production
3:53:22for our YouTube videos and having fun.
3:53:24And this is I think to where I think
3:53:26you're about to go with this. Like this
3:53:27is where along with that video things
3:53:30started to change.
3:53:31>> Yeah. I'd say up until this point,
3:53:34probably 65 to 70% of my time was spent
3:53:38on the amazing clients that we partnered
3:53:41with from the very beginning. And that
3:53:43was awesome. And then like Trevor said,
3:53:46we not only were racking up all these
3:53:48views, but there was a lot of people, a
3:53:49high percentage of the viewers were
3:53:51downloading the workbook. And with that,
3:53:55we were also getting a lot of people
3:53:56going to the homepage on our site
3:53:58applying to work with us. Like in the
3:54:01first year alone, we got over 800
3:54:04companies that applied to work with us.
3:54:06Like that was insane. We had so much
3:54:08demand. And I remember we got to a point
3:54:10where I started to feel pretty like a
3:54:14little freaked out cuz I didn't know
3:54:15what to do. And I had all these people
3:54:17being like, "How are you not sending
3:54:18emails? How are you not doing this?" D.
3:54:20And I had so many people, which I'm
3:54:22grateful for. These are like gangsters
3:54:24in business that for whatever reason
3:54:27care about me and what we're doing and
3:54:28are giving me advice on what we should
3:54:30do. But it was a lot of different voices
3:54:32with a lot of different ideas. And I
3:54:35just remember end of May or no actually
3:54:37like beginning of May I'm like I need
3:54:39help on the operation of this and what I
3:54:43thought I needed was an EA. And so I
3:54:45think it was in May when we posted that
3:54:47I was looking for an executive
3:54:48assistant. and I started running
3:54:52interviews and everything like that.
3:54:53Well, come June um or actually really
3:54:56end of May, I was conducting quite a few
3:55:00of these interviews and one in
3:55:02particular really stood out. Uh I
3:55:04interviewed uh Kate Padoba and I won't
3:55:07go into all the details to to spare her
3:55:09privacy and everything, but it was
3:55:11[ __ ] unbelievable. Like I had a lot
3:55:13of good interviews and a lot of the
3:55:14people that I talked to I loved and it
3:55:16was amazing. Like I was so grateful at
3:55:18the quality of individuals that were
3:55:20coming through, but Kate stood out and I
3:55:23remember uh we ended the conversation
3:55:25basically being like, "This isn't going
3:55:27to work out. Um I'm not going to be able
3:55:29to figure out how to afford you." All of
3:55:31those things. And this was the craziest
3:55:35part. I remember later that evening,
3:55:38Kate followed up via email saying, "Uh,
3:55:40totally understand that this isn't going
3:55:42to work moving forward and everything. I
3:55:44love what you're doing. Um, I remember
3:55:47you mentioned that there's all these new
3:55:49people coming into your life and you're
3:55:50having a tough time managing all these
3:55:52relationships. You want to check in with
3:55:54people. You want, you know, if it's
3:55:55their birthday, you want to send them a
3:55:56text or you want to send them a card or
3:55:58a gift or just different things, right?
3:56:01I was just suddenly getting an influx of
3:56:03humans in my life. And you know me, I'm
3:56:05pretty introverted. And so, like, I
3:56:06don't necessarily naturally have the
3:56:08gift of doing that. And so she said
3:56:11something that I uh built for the
3:56:13executive that I work for right now uh
3:56:15is this simple Google sheet, but it was
3:56:19incredibly useful. It was the
3:56:21relationship database that she used to
3:56:23manage all the different people in her
3:56:25exec's life. And whether they were
3:56:27professional, personal, whatever, family
3:56:29members, all of that. And she sent it to
3:56:31me and she said, "Feel free to duplicate
3:56:32this and customize it to yourself. Any
3:56:35good EA will know how to use this." And
3:56:37I remember I probably texted you within
3:56:40seconds of seeing that. I was like,
3:56:41"Fuck, I got to figure out how to get
3:56:44Kate." And
3:56:46through a series of meetings with my CPA
3:56:49and coming up with how we were going to
3:56:51make this work, we determined that uh we
3:56:54didn't just need an executive assistant.
3:56:56We needed a chief of staff, somebody to
3:56:57help with the operations of everything,
3:56:58right? Not just the operations of my
3:57:00life, both personal and professional,
3:57:02but the operations of the business.
3:57:04Because now it was turning into a
3:57:05business. Before it was kind of like I
3:57:08had a cool job and you were helping me
3:57:10make content to get more jobs.
3:57:14This was the moment where we started
3:57:16turning into a business. Now mind you,
3:57:18I'm not saying we're like some big
3:57:20business or anything like that. I hate
3:57:22when people pretend to be something that
3:57:24they are not. We are not that. But it
3:57:26was way more serious than what I
3:57:27anticipated in the first year. And so we
3:57:29brought on our chief of staff, Kate
3:57:30Padoba. And that's when I feel like
3:57:32things started to get a lot crazier.
3:57:36June is kind of the moment. And I
3:57:38remember turning to Trevor because I
3:57:40didn't I don't think we filmed anything
3:57:41in June. I didn't really have any time.
3:57:44Like I I'm looking here. Yeah, we had
3:57:45nothing that we filmed. Um I in June I
3:57:49went on a long motorcycle trip, like a
3:57:51week-l long motorcycle trip. That's
3:57:52something that I've never been able to
3:57:53do in my entire career. So as a side
3:57:56note, the really cool thing about this
3:57:57year is not only did we do a lot with
3:57:59the business content, but I also got to
3:58:01live, which was [ __ ] wild. It was a
3:58:04crazy first time in years.
3:58:05>> Yeah, it was so crazy. I just spat
3:58:06everywhere. Like it was it was amazing.
3:58:08And so June was a little bit slow from a
3:58:11content perspective. We didn't have a
3:58:13ton that we were working on, but things
3:58:16were starting to ramp up with the offers
3:58:17we were working on and the plans that we
3:58:20were building for what we were going to
3:58:21do for the second half of the year. So
3:58:24June, I'd say the biggest thing is we
3:58:26hired uh Kate. That was awesome. She is
3:58:29the [ __ ] best. We're so grateful for
3:58:31her. Moving into July, we went to
3:58:36Mexico. We went to Cabo and I spoke at I
3:58:40loved that little dance move right
3:58:41there. Yeah, we we'll we'll give that.
3:58:44[laughter]
3:58:45>> I did have a few surveys. Um
3:58:47>> you just kept singing that
3:58:50in the card [laughter] just I remember
3:58:53for a month after that trip you just
3:58:57>> just one more please. One more. Yeah. I
3:59:00mean, there's there's something about
3:59:02sipping a Corona with lime in Mexico
3:59:04that just hits a little bit different.
3:59:05But we went there uh to do my first
3:59:09public speaking moment ever. I had
3:59:13spoken in front of like teams internally
3:59:16uh at the companies that I've worked
3:59:17for, but never done anything publicly
3:59:18like this. This was the first time that
3:59:20I was going to like talk on like a stage
3:59:23and it was it was crazy. And it it
3:59:25wasn't like it was a massive group,
3:59:26right? Like it was it was Takis like it
3:59:28was a group of like a hundred people and
3:59:30I was freaked the [ __ ] out. Uh I
3:59:33remember really trying to hide my
3:59:35anxiety as much as I could but there was
3:59:37no hiding it. But let let's talk through
3:59:38that cuz that was an interesting trip
3:59:40cuz not only did we capture that talk
3:59:42which we uploaded which was a funny
3:59:44moment where I thought I completely
3:59:46bombed it and then I watched the footage
3:59:47and I was like oh that wasn't half bad.
3:59:49That was actually kind of decent. But
3:59:51then the second thing which was
3:59:52interesting is we developed a very
3:59:56interesting view that now I preach as
3:59:58like gospel but in the hotel room I
4:00:01remember we were jamming and working on
4:00:03something and that's where the whole
4:00:05contrarian take came. Do you remember
4:00:08that?
4:00:09>> Yeah. I feel like we we get some gold
4:00:10when we go on trips.
4:00:11>> It's funny. I've discovered like when
4:00:13we're traveling uh for all these shoots
4:00:15because throughout the year we basically
4:00:17have shot I think like what two videos
4:00:20in Vegas itself and the rest has been
4:00:22Airbnbs and Joshua Tree and Utah and all
4:00:26these different places that we go for
4:00:27some reason. I think it's just cuz we're
4:00:29in the same room together. That's where
4:00:30we come up with I think some of our best
4:00:32ideas. One of them was like we were
4:00:34analyzing
4:00:35why uh
4:00:38you were talking through why certain
4:00:40brands or personal brands can blow up
4:00:42when others don't. And I think that's
4:00:44when you discovered the uh the three
4:00:47levers of brand positioning.
4:00:49>> Yeah. The contrarian take, the delivery,
4:00:50and the wrapping paper. And the most
4:00:52important being the contrarian take. We
4:00:54were just like looking at the the
4:00:56clients that we've worked with this year
4:00:58who was having crazy results versus like
4:01:00mediocre results cuz that's the reality.
4:01:03Not everyone was like a [ __ ] banger
4:01:05this year by no means. Um and the big
4:01:09unlock that was so wildly clear was all
4:01:12the ones that were doing a really good
4:01:13job had a contrarian take. Either a
4:01:15belief they held that was fundamentally
4:01:18different than the other people in their
4:01:19industry or a contrarian action. Right?
4:01:23like they were building a luxury
4:01:26treehouse hotel in a world where like
4:01:30luxury and outdoors is not typically
4:01:32associated, right? They were they viewed
4:01:36that you could build a strong business
4:01:38and manage a big business effectively
4:01:41while also prioritizing your family and
4:01:43spending time with your f like these
4:01:44were contrarian takes and we were
4:01:46starting to notice like oh man these
4:01:47things are really standing out. Then I
4:01:49started looking at people that I've
4:01:50worked with in the past or worked for in
4:01:52the past or other creators that I admire
4:01:54from afar and started looking like whoa
4:01:57all of them came onto the scene with a
4:02:00wildly different view than a lot of
4:02:02others. And at this point like you
4:02:04mentioned we were starting to have some
4:02:05success with our content and it was way
4:02:07more than we could have ever imagined in
4:02:09our first year. And so we're like why
4:02:11are we having success? What is it that
4:02:13is like you know I I tend to be
4:02:16self-deprecating. I like that kind of
4:02:18humor. I'm trying to work on it to be a
4:02:19little bit less self-deprecating. So,
4:02:21you might notice that, but I've never
4:02:23thought of myself as a really articulate
4:02:25and clear communicator. Now, a lot of
4:02:27people are DMing me and saying that in
4:02:29the comments. I appreciate it. And I'm
4:02:31really trying to [gasps] like let that
4:02:34sink in and really receive that, but up
4:02:36until this point, I did not think that
4:02:38was the reason why anything was working.
4:02:40And I do believe the main reason why is
4:02:42because we came onto the scene from the
4:02:43very beginning talking about optimizing
4:02:46your personal brand around trust, not
4:02:48virality. In a world where every other
4:02:51video that was served on the right side
4:02:53of our videos suggested, every video
4:02:56competing with us on the homepage was
4:02:58talking about how to go viral. And not
4:03:00that there's anything wrong with that,
4:03:01but I don't think that's the way to
4:03:02optimize. That was our contrarian take.
4:03:05But to your point, I think an
4:03:07interesting thing that we've recognized
4:03:09is we need to be sometimes in different
4:03:10environments in order to get new ideas.
4:03:13And so that's something that we have
4:03:14operationalized. It was something that
4:03:16happened. It was a happy accident. Back
4:03:18to earlier your Bob Ross reference.
4:03:21>> It was a happy accident that we
4:03:22recognized, but it puts us in a
4:03:24different environment. I find that we
4:03:26think differently. And also, I'm going
4:03:29to be real. For me at least, I [ __ ]
4:03:31love my little family that I'm building
4:03:33here. my girlfriend, my dog, and I
4:03:36really find that
4:03:38if I don't go away to do some of the
4:03:42really deep writing, I get pulled not
4:03:46because they're pulling me, but because
4:03:47I want to go hang out with them. And so
4:03:49sometimes I think it's really nice to
4:03:51carve out time where I'm not going to
4:03:54and I don't like I prefer not to call my
4:03:56family a distraction. I I used to think
4:03:58that way and I think that's a real
4:04:00interesting way of thinking. Uh, family
4:04:03is wildly important, but I am more prone
4:04:06to stepping away from the writing
4:04:08process if I'm at home. And so,
4:04:10something that we have done is we got
4:04:12Jesse's big ass calendar, which is
4:04:14[ __ ] awesome. Shout out Jesse. Shout
4:04:15out Taylor, who runs all that [ __ ]
4:04:17She's a gangster. Big ass calendar.
4:04:19Highly recommend that you purchase this.
4:04:21Uh, we planned out our film sessions,
4:04:23our writing sessions, and writing
4:04:25retreats. To your point, we're going
4:04:27away for a week next week, but we're not
4:04:28just doing that next week. We're doing
4:04:30that several times throughout the year
4:04:32because we noticed that was something
4:04:34that led to great insights and new
4:04:37concepts, right? And so I think the
4:04:39lesson for everybody here is it's it
4:04:41sounds so weird. Observe yourself in
4:04:43your process. If you are doing something
4:04:45that leads to something great and it
4:04:47happened by accident, turn that into a
4:04:49process. Operationalize that [ __ ]
4:04:52Right. So I think that was very
4:04:54interesting.
4:04:55>> Huge. No, I mean that's what it is. Like
4:04:57all year it's been constant iteration.
4:04:59Not only on the content of like those
4:05:01little things of like, oh, we can we
4:05:03operate better this way or we like to do
4:05:06things this way. That's constant
4:05:07iteration there. Also constant iteration
4:05:10on the concepts and things that you were
4:05:12talking about in the content. Yes.
4:05:14>> Every podcast that you've done, I've
4:05:15watched you articulate better and better
4:05:18the brand journey framework. Like all of
4:05:20these different things that you talk
4:05:21about articulated much more clean. like
4:05:24uh you were talking about the levers of
4:05:26brand positioning in the last few
4:05:27podcasts that you've done and the latest
4:05:28one was so much better than the first
4:05:31time you talked about it cuz you're
4:05:32constantly iterating on that content and
4:05:34that's probably something you'll see
4:05:36like the number one thing that I can
4:05:38give us props to I think this year is
4:05:40just the constant iteration like we we
4:05:42set a date we did it to our point
4:05:44earlier and we iterate on it after that
4:05:47after we've done it and after we realize
4:05:49we like to do things a certain way you
4:05:51like to do things this way like this is
4:05:53how I learned how to book. Look, I I
4:05:54pick our locations now for filming and
4:05:56everything. How I learned was I picked a
4:05:58location and Caleb [laughter] didn't
4:06:00like it because it was a really ugly
4:06:02studio. I was trying to be cheap. Um,
4:06:04and Caleb was like, "No, I get more
4:06:06reinforcement
4:06:08being uh in really dope filming
4:06:11environments." So, I'm like, "Cool. Oh,
4:06:13got it. Now I can pick locations for
4:06:16you." Something that I had to learn the
4:06:18hard way is a lot of times creatives and
4:06:22me when I was more immature and younger
4:06:24and and earlier in my career, I viewed
4:06:27what now I call iterations and how
4:06:30you're calling it, I thought it was like
4:06:32indecisiveness.
4:06:34I thought, you know, people that I've
4:06:36worked for, I thought they were
4:06:37constantly just changing their mind and
4:06:39just couldn't make up their mind. But in
4:06:41reality, they were pinballing
4:06:45iter iterating their way to the ideal
4:06:48end product. And that's what we do
4:06:51massively. And something that I think is
4:06:54a good takeaway for two different
4:06:56[clears throat] groups here for the
4:06:57person who's behind the scenes, the the
4:06:59creative who's making the content, uh,
4:07:02be more flexible. Understand that that
4:07:04is crucial. And why would you want to be
4:07:08in an environment where everything is
4:07:09always staying the same? Like you want
4:07:11to constantly be improving and
4:07:12constantly be getting better. And two,
4:07:14for the talent, I would say I would urge
4:07:17you make real changes after each film
4:07:21session. Take note of what you liked,
4:07:23what you didn't like. Put those into
4:07:25place. But also have some empathy for
4:07:28your team to know that, at least this is
4:07:31the way my brain works. I've been
4:07:32thinking about this for a long time and
4:07:33they're just hearing about this. And so,
4:07:36yes, the team needs to adapt. Like, when
4:07:38I come to you with a crazy new thing
4:07:39that I want to do, you do need to adapt
4:07:42to that. But you do a good job of doing
4:07:44it quickly. But I also think, at least I
4:07:46think, I try to contextualize it for
4:07:48you. I try to address the fact that I
4:07:50know I'm changing my mind. I said the
4:07:51exact opposite last week. This is
4:07:53completely different. I know this is a
4:07:54pain in the ass. I know you've already
4:07:55sunk 12 to 15 hours into this project,
4:07:58and I'm telling you, we're doing it
4:07:59completely different or we're scrapping
4:08:01it all together.
4:08:02>> And that's [ __ ] painful. But I think
4:08:05if both parties have a little bit more
4:08:07empathy for each other and a little bit
4:08:09more understanding that ultimately both
4:08:11are wanting to make the best product, it
4:08:13will be viewed less as whiplash and more
4:08:16just as you said, iterating. I think
4:08:19that's probably the number one takeaway
4:08:20so far in this entire podcast is like if
4:08:23you can operate like that for your first
4:08:25few years of your personal brand, you
4:08:28will grow. Like I take notes when we do
4:08:32this thing. I'm I'm taking notes and
4:08:34we're iterating and we're just like
4:08:36those things time and time again. If you
4:08:39do one, two, three things better on
4:08:41every every shoot that you do, you
4:08:44eventually get to a place that's really
4:08:47you're in a really good spot.
4:08:48>> I agree. I completely agree. So, stop
4:08:51staying stagnant, everybody, and stop
4:08:53doing the same things over and over,
4:08:54right? What is it? Uh definition of
4:08:56insanity everyone talks about is doing
4:08:58the same things over and over and
4:08:59thinking you're going to get different
4:09:00results. Like stop doing the same [ __ ]
4:09:02over and over if you want different
4:09:04results.
4:09:05>> Hey you watching this video right now. I
4:09:07know that this is overwhelming and a lot
4:09:09for you to take in. If you want to go
4:09:11deeper in a slower paced environment, we
4:09:15designed something specifically for you.
4:09:17Rston Select is your one-stop
4:09:19destination to not only learn, but to
4:09:21actually implement. We're talking
4:09:23pre-production, production,
4:09:24post-production, and platform strategy
4:09:27all through the lens of educational
4:09:29content. Click the link in the
4:09:31description below if you want more
4:09:32information. Now, let's get back to the
4:09:34video. Moving into August, we have two
4:09:36things that we should cover. The August
4:09:39video that we released, let's talk
4:09:41through that one. Do you remember which
4:09:44one that was? That was the respecting
4:09:45the audience's time.
4:09:47>> Ah, we learned our lesson. This is what
4:09:49we teased earlier. Learning our lesson a
4:09:51second time.
4:09:51>> Yeah.
4:09:52>> Uh, yeah. We had we'd filmed footage
4:09:55with a client of ours earlier in the
4:09:58summer um getting B-roll behind the
4:10:00scenes. Our idea was to make a what we
4:10:03were literally just talking about of
4:10:04like I know how to show up to shoots
4:10:06with Caleb. I know what to bring. I know
4:10:08all these different things. Uh we have a
4:10:11whole like SOP on that internally for uh
4:10:14how to film with
4:10:15>> It's a pretty hefty playbook actually.
4:10:17huge like everything we've learned over
4:10:18the past few years, everything you've
4:10:20learned, especially over the past few
4:10:22years of filming with different types of
4:10:24talent. And our plan was to make that
4:10:26into a video using that B-roll footage
4:10:28and everything. Um, it was yet another I
4:10:32think lesson where I like I booked I
4:10:36think I booked a shitty studio. That was
4:10:38the first time that I did that because
4:10:39it was my first time picking the
4:10:41location. After the course, um, we went
4:10:44into it. We were like, I think both I
4:10:46develop like a series of questions to
4:10:47ask you. Um, and then it was like, we're
4:10:50gonna loosely follow the SOP and like
4:10:52that's going to be the video and we show
4:10:54up to film. He's leaving out the fact I
4:10:56did zero preparation for this. Every
4:10:58other video leading up to this I had
4:11:00done at least 10 hours of pre-production
4:11:02on minimum way more for most of them.
4:11:04And this one I did zilch.
4:11:06>> This is where we're like starting to,
4:11:08you'll hear me talk about this in a
4:11:09minute, like this is where we're
4:11:10starting to get stretched very thin.
4:11:12This is why we're bringing on the chief
4:11:13of staff that we just did like a month
4:11:14ago. Like this is where things This is
4:11:17why uh the month prior we actually
4:11:20didn't film a direct to camera video. We
4:11:22had to film at the Takim Moore event and
4:11:24use that as our video which actually did
4:11:26surprisingly well. But like we're
4:11:28starting to have to be more creative and
4:11:30we need but the thing we forgot is like
4:11:32we still the the 12 hours of concepting
4:11:37this intro or this hook for this YouTube
4:11:39video. We forgot like all this
4:11:41pre-production, all this work that we
4:11:43put. That's what made the first few
4:11:44videos so successful for us. And I think
4:11:47I don't know.
4:11:47>> I got cocky. That's what it was. I
4:11:49thought I could show up and do a better
4:11:51job off top cuz I think I
4:11:55Please hear this through a humble tone.
4:11:56I think I do a decent job on podcasts
4:11:58and I explicitly tell the host, "Do not
4:12:02send me the questions ahead. It's all
4:12:03off the cuff." So I thought, well, we'll
4:12:05just rip a podcast. We prepared more for
4:12:08this podcast than we did for that
4:12:10[ __ ] video now that I think about it.
4:12:12Actually,
4:12:12>> we didn't even do packaging. We didn't
4:12:13even talk about packaging before we were
4:12:15gonna do it.
4:12:15>> Which is never the case. We literally
4:12:17never do that.
4:12:18>> Well, we learned our lesson. Yeah. We're
4:12:19just so busy and we're we're diving into
4:12:21things. But that we sat down to film
4:12:23that and it was very clear after an hour
4:12:25of not getting anything that I'm sitting
4:12:27here like, "Oh god." I mean literally I
4:12:30was getting frustrated with myself
4:12:32because I just he would ask me a
4:12:34question and I was just not answering it
4:12:36well or maybe some of the questions to
4:12:38be fair I was like ah I don't know if I
4:12:41love that like and I remember there was
4:12:43one point where I am a big fan of the
4:12:45Wimhof breathing and I literally was
4:12:47like I'm just going to stop and right
4:12:50there with the camera rolling with
4:12:52Trevor right there I just closed my eyes
4:12:54and turned on YouTube and put on the
4:12:57Wimhof breathing
4:12:58to try and calm myself down and get
4:13:00myself into the right headsp space and
4:13:01that didn't [ __ ] work. And we
4:13:04>> It did.
4:13:05>> What?
4:13:05>> I think it did.
4:13:06>> It calmed me down a little bit, but we
4:13:07still tried to do the video and it was
4:13:08still like
4:13:09>> that I think that that brought about the
4:13:11pivot which was like
4:13:13>> good point.
4:13:13>> You know what? We're not getting this
4:13:15today. Like we are not we're not going
4:13:17to get this video. Not to the
4:13:19>> We can get a video. It will not be
4:13:21something we want to release.
4:13:23>> Yeah.
4:13:23>> At all in the slightest. not nowhere
4:13:25near the level of the first five or six
4:13:28videos that we've done. Um, so I think
4:13:31you like I think you had the idea to
4:13:33pivot into, you know what, here's
4:13:35[snorts] what's happening. You turn to
4:13:36the camera and you were like, I just
4:13:38tried to film a video and if I had tried
4:13:41to put this video out, I wouldn't be
4:13:44respecting the audience's time. Um, and
4:13:46it was like a one minute insert of just
4:13:48talking about that and talking about how
4:13:49like I'm not going to put this on you.
4:13:51This is me. I promise I'll show up
4:13:53better than the next one. And that was
4:13:54the video. It was like a minute and 30
4:13:56seconds.
4:13:56>> And we posted that for that month. We
4:13:59wanted to stick to that goal of one a
4:14:02month.
4:14:02>> And that month was a one and a half
4:14:05minute video.
4:14:06>> Me admitting that I had not shown up and
4:14:09I had not respected the audience's time.
4:14:11I chose my time over the audience's
4:14:14time. And it was a moment I remember so
4:14:18distinctly too just pounding into my
4:14:22head as I was sitting there in front of
4:14:23the lights with nothing to say being
4:14:25like this will never happen again. I
4:14:28will not make this mistake again.
4:14:29>> Yeah, that was a it was a big lesson for
4:14:31us. We have not made that mistake since
4:14:33and we have promoted like we have we
4:14:35have dedicated so much time now into
4:14:37pre-production. We're like I think the
4:14:39next video or maybe it was the one after
4:14:40that. I think I want to say we put 12
4:14:43hours into just the intro of just like
4:14:46beating up this intro for a whole day of
4:14:48>> the next one was the the brand
4:14:50strategies video.
4:14:51>> Oh, well that one was like a full day
4:14:53and a half
4:14:54>> which we filmed like 2 and 1/2 weeks
4:14:56after this moment.
4:14:58>> I remember that.
4:14:58>> And I had spent before. So we we um
4:15:02rented an Airbnb, a sick one that you
4:15:04chose cuz the studio was like a a
4:15:06boowbo. Yeah, studio was boowbo. But the
4:15:09next location was [ __ ] sick. I
4:15:11remember I walked into that Airbnb. I
4:15:14wish we had that on camera because I was
4:15:15like, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."
4:15:19Like it was so cool. And uh leading up
4:15:23to us being out there, I had probably
4:15:26written put maybe like five to eight
4:15:29hours into the rough outline, like the
4:15:32overview, not details, right? just an
4:15:35overview because we did not have that
4:15:39much time. Like Trevor said, I was
4:15:41really [ __ ] busy. This is a point
4:15:42where like things started getting crazy
4:15:44and so I didn't have enough time to be
4:15:45able to do this. But I put enough I put
4:15:48like an evening and a Saturday morning
4:15:50into it. And then I think we went out on
4:15:53a I want to say like a Wednesday night
4:15:56or something like that. Thursday morning
4:15:58we woke up and what were we doing?
4:16:01>> We wrote the whole video. I think we
4:16:02just rewrote it.
4:16:03>> Rewrote it.
4:16:03>> Yeah. That's actually a a trend. We have
4:16:06>> big trend.
4:16:07>> We've like you've taken like the first
4:16:09stab at it and then we sit down from
4:16:11this moment on. I think we've done that
4:16:12with almost every video which is like
4:16:14you do like a a rough draft at it and
4:16:16then we have a full day or two of
4:16:18sitting down and actually writing the
4:16:19video together.
4:16:20>> Like scrapping the original version, be
4:16:22like that's dog [ __ ] Cool. And now
4:16:23that's out of the way, we can actually
4:16:24write the video.
4:16:25>> Looking through our wrapping paper
4:16:26library, coming up with the packaging
4:16:28beforehand. Like lessons all learned,
4:16:30but like that's that started now. Like
4:16:33to my point earlier of like I'm still
4:16:35being onboarded. It's only month six now
4:16:37I think that we're now sitting down and
4:16:40we write these videos together and I'm
4:16:41seeing your process and how you
4:16:43structure the videos and how you like to
4:16:45flow and the disclaimers you like to add
4:16:47in certain areas. Y
4:16:48>> all of those things now start to happen
4:16:50with this video. But we wrote that video
4:16:52in it was like a long 14 hour.
4:16:55>> Yeah. 14-hour day in that Airbnb. Uber
4:16:58Eats for meals so that we wouldn't take
4:17:01a moment away from riding. Like, yeah,
4:17:04plenty of Red Bulls, that's for sure.
4:17:06Like, that was But it was fun, too.
4:17:08Like, we love those days. Yeah, they're
4:17:10the best.
4:17:11>> But we did that. Wrote it in 14 hours uh
4:17:14on Thursday and then Friday
4:17:16>> we filmed it
4:17:17>> in 14 hours, I would say. Probably like
4:17:1912 to 14.
4:17:20>> That one was like 8 hours of raw
4:17:21footage. I remember.
4:17:23>> Yeah. This is where my brain now starts
4:17:24to come back to me like this at this
4:17:26moment in time. But yeah, that was like
4:17:27eight hours of raw footage. Our second
4:17:30biggest video that we had done. I think
4:17:31the video ended up being 3 and 1/2
4:17:33hours.
4:17:34>> Yep.
4:17:35>> Yeah. So 8 hours down to three and a
4:17:36half hours. So we did that. We did the
4:17:38multiple scenes like we had done in the
4:17:40other videos. Um and then we also made a
4:17:43workbook that went with that. So that
4:17:45was really cool. You made that workbook.
4:17:47the one that we did for the um personal
4:17:50brand course that we released in April.
4:17:52I wrote that and then Vin
4:17:54[clears throat]
4:17:55Vin Calibrizzy, an amazing designer
4:17:58gangster uh did that. And then for the
4:18:00brand strategies video, you did an
4:18:02amazing job of taking all the exercises
4:18:05that I walked through in the video and
4:18:07translating that into a workbook because
4:18:09again I I didn't have any time. But we
4:18:11knew that we wanted this was like, you
4:18:13know, we were talking about zero to
4:18:14100K, 100K to a million, million to 10
4:18:17million. There was a lot of actionable
4:18:19[ __ ] and so we wanted to give people the
4:18:20ability to actually take action. And so
4:18:23you did that whole thing. You created it
4:18:26and designed it. All of that. We put
4:18:28that out in August. No, no, that was
4:18:30released in September, right?
4:18:31>> I think it was released the next month.
4:18:33>> Yeah.
4:18:33>> But yeah, that was like the first time I
4:18:35had actually written like something in
4:18:37your voice, too. Like that was like it
4:18:39was your it was your words, but it was
4:18:41>> Oh, but those cover letters, like the
4:18:43intro letter, you wrote that. You 100%
4:18:45wrote that. I read it. Maybe made a
4:18:47couple tweaks, but like this is when I
4:18:49remember this was the first time cuz you
4:18:51had submitted some like LinkedIn posts
4:18:53before and stuff and they would get
4:18:55close, but I I never felt like it was
4:18:57like there. This was the first time
4:18:58where I read something that you had
4:19:00written for me. I was like, "Oh [ __ ]
4:19:03that sounds like me. I'm good with
4:19:04that." So that was cool.
4:19:06>> Took six months, but that's that's what
4:19:08it like now you're not like this is the
4:19:11moment where I'm starting to like come
4:19:12online. I almost feel like of like you
4:19:14are getting busier. Oh, I know how to
4:19:17pick locations now cuz I have [ __ ] up
4:19:18picking a location.
4:19:20>> I know how to write like we've written a
4:19:22workbook now. I can take this and like I
4:19:24understand our workflow. I understand
4:19:26this is video number six. Um I
4:19:29understand now a lot of these things and
4:19:31I can actually dive in and get my hands
4:19:32dirty.
4:19:33>> Yeah. And then uh we're about to get to
4:19:36September, but the last thing that I
4:19:38thought was really cool in August was I
4:19:40and we've been talking mainly about the
4:19:42content, but this was a cool thing with
4:19:44a client that I I figured I would share.
4:19:46Uh I went out to one of our clients and
4:19:48did a content workshop and that was
4:19:49[ __ ] awesome. That was so much fun. I
4:19:51think we kind of revamped the way that
4:19:53they went about making content. uh
4:19:55helped improve some some efficiencies
4:19:57around their normal content flow, but
4:20:00also introduced a couple of really fun
4:20:03variations of how to make content and
4:20:05pair it with something that you really
4:20:06enjoy, an activity, a hobby, whatever.
4:20:08Um, but then the other thing that we
4:20:09worked on, uh, which I didn't expect
4:20:11going into it, but we actually rebuilt
4:20:13their editor onboarding plan. And what
4:20:15usually took 2 to 3 months to get an
4:20:17editor up to speed now takes them two to
4:20:19three weeks, which was incredible. That
4:20:21was really fun. Um, and I remember on
4:20:24that trip, it was another moment where
4:20:25being away from home and being in
4:20:27another environment. I got a couple of
4:20:29really good points and ideas that we
4:20:32later end up talking about in the
4:20:33content. But yeah, let's go into
4:20:35September cuz things start getting a
4:20:37little crazy. September, Trevor got the
4:20:40greatest bicep workout of his entire
4:20:42[ __ ] life. Talk about filming the
4:20:45career advice video in London. So, this
4:20:48was similar to the if you struggle with
4:20:50video that we did a few months prior. We
4:20:53like I think we enjoyed that so much we
4:20:55decided to do another one. We're in
4:20:56London with a client.
4:20:58>> Yeah.
4:20:58>> Um doing doing some It was so fun. How
4:21:01can we get a video out of this trip?
4:21:02Like um like could we do a vlog? Oh,
4:21:05we're with the client most of the time.
4:21:06Like let's give them our full attention
4:21:08there. But we had a free day. To be
4:21:10clear, the free day it was one day was
4:21:13one day the day after we had done the
4:21:17flight from Vegas and we arrived to our
4:21:20hotel rooms at 11:00 p.m. and the next
4:21:24morning we're getting on a train at 6:00
4:21:28a.m. And I don't fly internationally
4:21:30that often. So like jet lag was [ __ ]
4:21:33real.
4:21:33>> It was crazy. You had the you had like a
4:21:35a nice seat too that you could sleep in.
4:21:37>> Yeah. Yeah.
4:21:38>> I don't know how you I don't literally
4:21:40was, shout out to KM, you can actually a
4:21:43full 67 human can lay out completely
4:21:46flat. It was amazing.
4:21:47>> Crazy. Yeah, we did that and then we
4:21:49took a train into London cuz we were
4:21:50staying up north. Um, and we took a that
4:21:54morning we took a train ride, the B&M
4:21:57B&M,
4:21:58>> our horrible accents.
4:22:00>> Yeah, we took a train out to London and
4:22:01our goal was we have one day to film
4:22:03this. We can't reshoot this. not like
4:22:06the first video where we were basically
4:22:08condensing what we did with the first
4:22:09video in 3 days and we're like let's do
4:22:11it in one day cuz we've we're better at
4:22:13this now.
4:22:14>> And not even like like not like our
4:22:18normal like 12 to 14 hour days like we
4:22:20had like 10 hours.
4:22:21>> We were finishing the last scene for
4:22:22that on the plane. [laughter]
4:22:24>> I wrote the shot list for that. I think
4:22:26one of the scenes on the plane going
4:22:29there cuz this is still at a time where
4:22:31like
4:22:31>> we I think in recent months have gotten
4:22:33much better at 2 months prior starting
4:22:35production uh pre-production on the
4:22:37video but right now we're in the thick
4:22:39of it. We're still like Kate's being
4:22:41like Kate's brand new onto the team.
4:22:43We're in the thick of it right now. Um
4:22:45so we're we're writing we're still
4:22:47finishing videos the day before. But we
4:22:50did that in 10 hours. We went to five
4:22:53different neighborhoods in London. We're
4:22:55filming uh on the on the tube in the
4:22:58tube.
4:22:59>> We're filming
4:23:00>> front of Big Ben.
4:23:01>> Big Ben.
4:23:02>> Yep. Uh Piccadilly Square or Piccadilly
4:23:05Circus. Sorry.
4:23:06>> All those things. And I mean we we
4:23:09learned our lesson. Same like this time
4:23:11we like we just went like gimbal or
4:23:13monopod and we were just running around
4:23:14the city setting up shots really
4:23:16quickly. Audio was a very big uh issue
4:23:20with that shoot that we had to reorder
4:23:22some some new mics. Um, but yeah, that
4:23:25was an insane, but we got a video out of
4:23:27it.
4:23:28>> To be clear, the lesson that we learned
4:23:30from it was,
4:23:33uh, maybe next time, don't try and jam
4:23:36like a wild video to shoot with many
4:23:39different scenes in one day after you
4:23:43have a really long flight in a city that
4:23:46Trevor had been to once and I had never
4:23:48been to.
4:23:48>> I think one of the only like things that
4:23:50made that possible was like 3 months
4:23:52prior I was there. Yeah.
4:23:53>> So, I knew roughly where we wanted to
4:23:56shoot.
4:23:57>> So, I was like,
4:23:58>> I know that we could shoot it here. I
4:24:00don't think we're going to be able to
4:24:01like in front of the palace. It's all
4:24:02gated off. But, um, yeah, we shot that
4:24:05all in one day. It was a bit too much,
4:24:07but we got it done. I remember we ran
4:24:09out of time, so we had to film the last
4:24:11scenes at the train station.
4:24:12>> Yeah.
4:24:13>> And we were just You were falling
4:24:14asleep.
4:24:15>> I was shot.
4:24:15>> You were just It was gone. I was in
4:24:18pain. I was in pain.
4:24:20>> Trevor was physically ill. I was
4:24:22mentally ill. Like it was it was wild.
4:24:25There's so many other things that people
4:24:26don't realize that you're managing in
4:24:28that. Like you have, you know, every
4:24:31once in a while security coming up and
4:24:32being like, "What are you doing here?"
4:24:34Right? And I then one of us has to
4:24:36navigate that conversation. Um I'm
4:24:39trying to remember these lines and say
4:24:41them correctly. And then half the time
4:24:44the audio the [ __ ] mic that we were
4:24:46using the and Holly lands are great but
4:24:49not when you're out in the wild with a
4:24:51distance between you because those were
4:24:53cutting out constantly. I mean there was
4:24:55so many times where I'd be across the
4:24:57street, not that far across the street
4:25:00and I would deliver the line and Trevor
4:25:02would be like running again. And I was
4:25:04like oh my god.
4:25:06>> I could see the frustration.
4:25:07>> And the thing that sucks is like that's
4:25:08not Trevor's fault. That's neither one
4:25:10of our faults. I remember it was so bad
4:25:12at one point you were like considering
4:25:14trying to find a camera shop to buy a
4:25:16new lav like a new mic. Yeah, that that
4:25:19was wild. But it was fun. We had a
4:25:21blast. I think the lesson though is we
4:25:24would probably spread that out over two
4:25:25days next time.
4:25:26>> We did learn our lesson of of
4:25:28pre-production from this hence forward.
4:25:30We never had an issue with that and we
4:25:32kept getting more and more like this was
4:25:34finished the day before. We keep getting
4:25:36more and more in advance of the video
4:25:38actually finishing the video. That was
4:25:40that. But we got a video out of it. It
4:25:42in this season, you're still in this
4:25:45season. Really, it's getting very
4:25:48>> difficult to find three days to go out
4:25:51to Joshua Tree and film a giant 6-hour
4:25:54video. How can we come up with what can
4:25:57we do to get content on the fly?
4:25:58>> Yeah. Which brings us perfectly to
4:26:01October because in October, we started
4:26:03writing the December video. This is the
4:26:07true moment where we started being two
4:26:09months ahead. Let's go. We wrote this
4:26:12together. What what was the video? Let's
4:26:14let's start there.
4:26:15>> The December video was uh what uh
4:26:19basically how you went about creating
4:26:21the course, right?
4:26:22>> Yeah. Like why we did it for free and
4:26:24all of that.
4:26:25>> Yeah. And we wrote that together. This
4:26:27is the one that you mentioned earlier.
4:26:29Uh this is the video that we spent 12
4:26:32hours on the intro.
4:26:33>> I actually think it was the London
4:26:35video.
4:26:36editor Max, you can leave that moment
4:26:39[laughter] in, please. That was a great
4:26:40moment. As a side note, thank you, Max.
4:26:42That
4:26:42>> that though, like I remember we started
4:26:45dedicating I think we dedicated a couple
4:26:47days just to that one. And that one's a
4:26:49smaller video for us.
4:26:50>> Yeah. Yeah. We reworked that intro quite
4:26:53a few times. Probably not as much as 12
4:26:55hours, but it we went into it knowing it
4:26:57was a shorter video, but we wanted it to
4:26:59be really tight. And the other thing
4:27:01that we were trying to focus on is
4:27:04having this be the video where I am the
4:27:07most myself.
4:27:09>> Were there a couple of things that we
4:27:11did intentionally to try and make that
4:27:13possible for me?
4:27:14>> It's it's interesting now I think that
4:27:16we're getting so in the flow of things
4:27:18that like a big thing that we I think
4:27:21wanted to start showcasing is this like
4:27:24this silly personality that you have.
4:27:26Um, I think when we're filming direct to
4:27:29camera videos, I think it's harder to to
4:27:31like to get a sense of who this person
4:27:33is. And I think everybody who's watching
4:27:34YouTube videos right now is like, "Yes,
4:27:36I can agree. This person sounds like a
4:27:37robot." Like how do we inject more
4:27:40personality into our videos and start
4:27:42like you want to enjoy the videos that
4:27:44you make and you want to show those
4:27:45sides of you and like we talk about uh
4:27:4970 255 70% deep content 25% n or
4:27:54nichewide content and then 5% personal
4:27:57content is kind of the rough ratio that
4:27:59we like to do especially in the first
4:28:01year or two uh with our clients and
4:28:03that's what we did. But the 5% injecting
4:28:06that into your content that doesn't need
4:28:09to be it can be right like I mean
4:28:11Kendall Jenner makes probably 70 to 95%
4:28:14personal content but like it can be a
4:28:16carousel on Instagram that you like
4:28:19here's my Harleyies and you've done that
4:28:20too and we've we're starting to get more
4:28:22intentional about that stuff or a little
4:28:24selfie video that you just toss up but
4:28:26also that 5% can be injected into the
4:28:29content itself of like how can we make
4:28:32how can we show off Caleb silly side
4:28:33well delivered ing this this this deep
4:28:36educational video. We ordered like a a
4:28:40green wasn't it a green bathrobe? We You
4:28:42didn't You didn't wear that for the
4:28:43video. You wore that for the ad. You
4:28:45wore that for the ad for the lead magnet
4:28:46with it.
4:28:47>> Yep.
4:28:47>> Yep. Uh you you wore that. You You got
4:28:50like a Bob Ross mug.
4:28:52>> Um we set up like a cozy by the
4:28:54fireplace. We actually rented out a spot
4:28:56in Big Bear, California.
4:28:58>> And we
4:28:59>> Cabin vibes.
4:28:59>> Yeah. We got this cabin vibe fireplace.
4:29:02I'm having to stop every 20 minutes and
4:29:04stoke the fire, which is [laughter]
4:29:05something I've never thought I'd need to
4:29:07do in
4:29:08>> dog slippers.
4:29:09>> You had the Yep. We ordered you dog
4:29:11slippers. So that like I don't know if I
4:29:13saw a comment on the dog slipper.
4:29:14>> Yeah, shockingly I don't think I've seen
4:29:16anybody call that out which is wild.
4:29:18People texted me about it, but
4:29:19>> your feet are up. Maybe that maybe
4:29:21that's it. But um yeah, it's injecting
4:29:24like at this point we have a cadence, we
4:29:26have a flow. Now it's like talking about
4:29:28iterations. we want to start injecting
4:29:30more of that 5% throughout our content.
4:29:32Um,
4:29:33>> and that's where I think that was the
4:29:35first video we did it on really.
4:29:36>> And it was an environment where I felt
4:29:38like
4:29:40because of the almost coziness, I guess,
4:29:43of the environment, like I could bring
4:29:44out the silly little isms, right? Like
4:29:46my my more gregarious side, the the way
4:29:49that I'll say something and then comment
4:29:50on what I just said. And I think we've
4:29:54we've left that out in some of the the
4:29:56content leading up to this moment. And
4:29:58some of it is I don't I haven't brought
4:30:01that out as much in the filming. It's
4:30:02not even that we've cut it out. It's
4:30:04just that I've been more in I guess
4:30:06teacher Caleb mode.
4:30:08>> And I remember Oh, this is actually a
4:30:10really great point. I forgot about this.
4:30:11I remember telling you
4:30:12>> there was one person in particular that
4:30:15I was making that video for cuz I was
4:30:17trying to convince her I want her to do
4:30:20this in 2026 on her YouTube channel. And
4:30:24I was focused on her. And I remember
4:30:27telling you, I want the vibe to feel
4:30:29like we'll see if I can accomplish it,
4:30:30but my goal is to feel like more like
4:30:32I'm sitting down for a nice warm cup of
4:30:35tea by the fireplace talking to her
4:30:38about why I did it, the success that
4:30:41we've had with it, and how I think she
4:30:43could make it even better than mine. And
4:30:47I think having that frame
4:30:50really helped and it's something that I
4:30:52want to try to do with every video,
4:30:55which is determine what is the the vibe
4:30:59really that I want.
4:31:01>> How do I want the viewer to feel? Do I
4:31:03want them to feel like they're in a
4:31:04classroom? Like the course, right? And
4:31:06this January series that we're releasing
4:31:08right now, like that, I want it to feel
4:31:09more like a classroom. I do want it to
4:31:11feel very much like this might be a
4:31:15little self agrandizing, but like
4:31:16Professor Caleb vibes, right? But then
4:31:18that video, that December video, the one
4:31:20where I'm sitting by the fire, I wanted
4:31:23it to feel like we're just sitting down
4:31:25and having a conversation. And if you,
4:31:28and I'm not saying that anybody needs to
4:31:29do this, but if you were to go watch it,
4:31:31I never say you guys. I don't generalize
4:31:34to the audience. I don't generalize to
4:31:38everybody watching. I talk to you
4:31:40specifically. I always say you you're
4:31:43probably thinking this like I really was
4:31:46intentional with that language. And
4:31:48every time that I would say you guys or
4:31:52speak to the group, I would stop myself
4:31:55and resay the line so that I was
4:31:57speaking to the individual person. And
4:31:59I, you know, that's very specific and
4:32:02granular, but I think it's really useful
4:32:04for people. If you can pick somebody in
4:32:06your life that you know that needs this
4:32:08information and you picture like you're
4:32:10sitting down to give it to them, it's
4:32:12amazing. The other thing, and then I
4:32:14think we move on, but the other thing is
4:32:18going back to some of the other videos
4:32:20that I've made, I do pick somebody that
4:32:22I'm making the video for. It hasn't been
4:32:24for the same reason, right? But in the
4:32:27course, for example, a really good
4:32:28friend of mine that I I love and adore,
4:32:30Dustin, he was starting a new role. And
4:32:33so I was like, "Okay, cool. I am making
4:32:36this for Dustin because I think some of
4:32:39this information is going to be really
4:32:40crucial for him and he's going to want
4:32:41this, right?" And so when I was [ __ ]
4:32:44exhausted and felt like blood was coming
4:32:46out of my eyeballs and my throat was
4:32:48going to dry up from talking more in a
4:32:51single day than I probably did in the
4:32:53entire year leading up to that moment. I
4:32:56just kept thinking this is for Dustin
4:32:57because I am not internally motivated. I
4:33:00am motivated for others. And so by
4:33:02making it for somebody else, that caused
4:33:05me to push through those tougher moments
4:33:07where I just wanted to say, Trevor,
4:33:08let's [ __ ] call it a day.
4:33:10>> Having somebody in mind when you're
4:33:12making this video is crucial to like how
4:33:15you even it's crucial into the language
4:33:17that you're using in that video. And I
4:33:19remember when we were filming that video
4:33:20in December, this was the first time I
4:33:22saw you very intentional about the use
4:33:24of like you guys versus you. Um the
4:33:27audience versus you. Again, on those
4:33:29iterations, you were also like the
4:33:31camera's inverted, so you're also like
4:33:34when you when you go from like left to
4:33:36right, you actually have to go right to
4:33:37left, right. Yeah.
4:33:38>> And that is another thing that you're
4:33:39picking up on and you like
4:33:42>> shout out to Moore. He texted me about
4:33:44that.
4:33:44>> All these little micro iterations. It's
4:33:47just it it just keeps coming
4:33:48>> ginormous. Yeah. Yeah. That is a really
4:33:51good takeaway from the entire podcast is
4:33:53that is the meta theme of our year was
4:33:56iteration. I don't think I realized it
4:33:58till until right now, but
4:33:59>> yeah, what a cool what a cool thing. So,
4:34:01now we're moving into November, and
4:34:04outside of the content, this is when I
4:34:07roped Trevor. Really, October and
4:34:09November is when I started roping Trevor
4:34:11into some cool projects that we're
4:34:13working on that are releasing this year
4:34:14on this really cool offer that we're
4:34:16building that I think is [ __ ] insane
4:34:18that him and I are putting an insane
4:34:20amount of of time, effort, and brain
4:34:23power into. And I started having you
4:34:25work on that. And so this is like a
4:34:27moment where, and I'll speak for Trevor
4:34:29here, where he's now having to navigate
4:34:31a wildly new skill, which is how do I do
4:34:34the stuff that I know how to do and do
4:34:37all the time, but then also a big
4:34:40portion of my time is starting to be
4:34:42like client delivery or this new
4:34:44exciting offer that we're building at
4:34:46Rston, right? And it's like the
4:34:48interesting thing is two points for
4:34:51November. We start writing this series
4:34:54that's coming out right now. That's the
4:34:56two videos that have been released right
4:34:57before this one and the video that comes
4:35:00out after this one. We started writing
4:35:02that, right? And in writing that,
4:35:05knowing all the work that you were going
4:35:07to be doing in Q1, the first quarter of
4:35:10the year, on this exciting project and
4:35:12this amazing offer we're putting
4:35:14together, we knew you didn't have the
4:35:15time to edit the January series because
4:35:18at this point, spoiler, not really a
4:35:19spoiler, we have only released one video
4:35:22a month for the first 10 months of
4:35:24making content. And January 2026, we
4:35:27decided to release four videos. We
4:35:30didn't have really probably capacity for
4:35:31that regardless of working on this
4:35:33special project. Now that you're working
4:35:34on it, it was impossible. So what did we
4:35:37do?
4:35:37>> Yeah. But I So the last like four months
4:35:39of 2025 have been like I'm progressively
4:35:43hopping into more and more on the client
4:35:45side. I'm trying to like I'm doing uh
4:35:48I'm involved a lot more in
4:35:50pre-production, production. I'm doing
4:35:51the production, the post-production, all
4:35:52these different things. Um, and we're
4:35:55realizing as of like I'm like I'm
4:35:58jumping into this like I think the month
4:36:01prior I I was like helping redesign the
4:36:04website for this offer that we're like
4:36:06coming like my brain is being pulled in
4:36:08so many directions and the first thing
4:36:10of like when we talk about hiring right
4:36:13hiring off constraints or off of
4:36:15bottlenecks like the first thing that we
4:36:18started and this was a conversation long
4:36:20time in the making but finally in
4:36:21November I think it we kind of turned to
4:36:23each other and it was like
4:36:24>> the last straw.
4:36:26>> It's like honestly there's no way unless
4:36:28I get no sleep um that we're going to be
4:36:32able to go more than one video a month
4:36:35at my capacity with all the different
4:36:37things that I'm doing. We zoomed out for
4:36:38a second. We're not focusing on short
4:36:39form this year. And that's a great
4:36:40decision that we made pretty early on.
4:36:42Yep.
4:36:43>> Um after learning our lesson and trying
4:36:44to go more consistent on shorts, it was
4:36:46like we're going to be our primary focus
4:36:48is on YouTube this year.
4:36:50>> Yep.
4:36:50>> Until we get some help. The help came in
4:36:53November. Um, we decided the most amount
4:36:55of my time was going to editing these
4:36:58long forms, right? We've now had to hire
4:37:00at this point a couple different
4:37:02contractors to help with motion design
4:37:03because I just don't have time. Uh,
4:37:06because the next week we're flying to
4:37:07London and we have to go shoot this
4:37:09video that like there's no time for this
4:37:12stuff. And so that's the biggest
4:37:13constraint that we had at that moment.
4:37:15And so we knew that we needed to hire an
4:37:17editor. So, we did editor tryyouts
4:37:19actually for like finding an editor. We
4:37:23I think it was like in two weeks we put
4:37:25all the footage together. We prepped
4:37:27everything and we got like this funnel
4:37:29ready. You went on Instagram, you
4:37:30announced it and you're like, "Hey, we
4:37:32are looking for an editor." Our kind of
4:37:34process for that, which we've which I've
4:37:36seen you do in the past, but this is the
4:37:38first time I got to lead it.
4:37:39>> Um, was this editor tryyouts
4:37:42>> in Rston Slack? Like I mentioned, we
4:37:44actually have a playbook that walks
4:37:46through all of this that you can get,
4:37:47but I'll give you a high level overview.
4:37:48Basically, you use your own socials if
4:37:51you have a decent following to uh be
4:37:53able to attract editors. And what you
4:37:55want is you want all of these editors to
4:37:57edit the same footage so that you can
4:37:59see who fits what you are wanting to do
4:38:02the best. Um, but you should promote
4:38:04this in multiple places. So, not only
4:38:06did we promote this through social, we
4:38:08also did a job posting on ytjob.co,
4:38:12um which I talk about quite a bit to
4:38:14people and you know to be fair there's a
4:38:18lot of different characters on ytjob.com
4:38:20and that's something I know they're
4:38:21working on refining and and and helping
4:38:23to make sure it's really clear who the
4:38:25best are and and who you know maybe the
4:38:27the early individuals in their career
4:38:29are. But we promoted it over there as
4:38:32well. And we got incredible candidates
4:38:35through socials, but also some
4:38:36incredible candidates, including the one
4:38:39that we ended up bringing on as a
4:38:40contractor, Max, through ytob.co.
4:38:42>> Hundreds. There was like a few hundred
4:38:44people. We went through
4:38:45>> a lot. Shout out to Trevor for going
4:38:47through all of that. But the point being
4:38:50is that a question I get a lot of times
4:38:52is like, how do I go about finding these
4:38:54people? And I think you need to start
4:38:59going where they are living. And a lot
4:39:02of people go to ytjob.co.
4:39:05I'm not sponsored or affiliated with
4:39:07them in any way. I get no money for
4:39:08this. I'm just trying to help y'all out.
4:39:10That is a place where a lot of creatives
4:39:12go to find gigs. And so we also decided
4:39:15to post on there. It was a moment where
4:39:17I was like lacking ego, right? It was
4:39:20like, "No, we might not find exactly
4:39:22what we're looking for in the right
4:39:24scenario through just my socials, even
4:39:26though I have a ton of creatives that
4:39:27follow me." Right now, we got a fuckload
4:39:30of really good individuals that were
4:39:31awesome and amazing, but something about
4:39:34Max just kind of stood out. His editing
4:39:36style was incredible. We loved it. Blah
4:39:38blah blah blah blah. Max, you're
4:39:40incredible. You're awesome. We love you.
4:39:41>> He's editing this video right now.
4:39:43>> That was amazing. And we did that ahead
4:39:45of time preparing because as we were
4:39:48writing the series, it just started to
4:39:51morph into more and became bigger and
4:39:52bigger. Basically, the original idea was
4:39:54like a 20-minute video, a 20-minute
4:39:56video, an hourong podcast, and we
4:39:58combined those two things into roughly
4:40:00an hour and a half to 2-hour long video.
4:40:02And as we started writing this, it just
4:40:04grew and grew into a much bigger
4:40:06project. I rewrote it three times. And
4:40:08then on the fourth rewrite, we did it
4:40:10together. And that's where it got
4:40:12crystallized and dialed. This was the
4:40:14first time where I started seeing
4:40:19comments, but also messages from people.
4:40:22Not a lot. It wasn't like high volume. I
4:40:24mean, there was probably like four or
4:40:25five. And most of the time, I ignore if
4:40:28it's just, and I want everyone to hear
4:40:30this correctly, if it's just the
4:40:31audience giving feedback and they're not
4:40:33proven customers, I try not to take too
4:40:36much direction from that. I try to take
4:40:38more direction from customers than just
4:40:40viewers, right? I love viewers and you
4:40:43are wildly important, but I'm trying to
4:40:45build a business here, too. And so, I
4:40:47optimize my content around what the
4:40:48customers need or want more of.
4:40:51>> But this was a moment where I saw some
4:40:53feedback from the audience that was
4:40:54saying, "Hey, uh, you're using the same
4:40:57examples over and over. It it's a lot of
4:41:00the same stuff." And that is kind of my
4:41:02point, right? Like I really believe that
4:41:04you should consistently say the same
4:41:06[ __ ] over and over in different ways. I
4:41:08believe that's how you build a strong B
4:41:09brand is consistently pairing yourself
4:41:11with those concepts. Then you get known
4:41:13as being somebody who delivers those
4:41:15concepts and solves those problems. But
4:41:18I also knew that I could come up with
4:41:20different examples and I had a couple
4:41:22other frameworks in my back pocket that
4:41:24I had not shared that I had been maybe
4:41:25working on, mulling over, whatever. And
4:41:27so this was the first series where we
4:41:29took that feedback and I was like, my
4:41:32goal is to have at least 60 to 70% of
4:41:37this be brand new [ __ ] that I've never
4:41:39shared. And so that was another cool
4:41:41thing and another fun exercise for us,
4:41:43which was like, okay, I've given the
4:41:45Nike and Michael Jordan example a
4:41:47million times. What's another way that I
4:41:49can illustrate this that not only might
4:41:52help sell the point to people who have
4:41:54heard the Michael Jordan analogy, but
4:41:56also will connect with different people
4:41:58that don't give a [ __ ] about sports,
4:42:00right? And so we use the Apple and
4:42:02Johnny Ives example, and I'm not going
4:42:03to explain it here. You got to watch the
4:42:05video if you haven't to to get it. But
4:42:07we we tried new [ __ ] and it was the
4:42:10first time where I I felt like I really
4:42:12pushed myself to I had come up with new
4:42:15concepts for other videos, that's for
4:42:17sure. but share things that I've said
4:42:19before in a new light. And something
4:42:20that I think we'll probably talk about a
4:42:22lot more in future videos this year is
4:42:24like how do you continue to solve the
4:42:27same problems over and over in new and
4:42:29interesting ways with variety. It's
4:42:32actually something we were talking with
4:42:33one of our clients about literally this
4:42:34morning. What happened in December? Uh
4:42:36it looks like we hired Max and onboarded
4:42:39him. Let let's talk through that. We'll
4:42:41we'll hit on filming the January series,
4:42:43but I think the most important thing in
4:42:45Janu or in December, sorry, is how you
4:42:48onboarded Max.
4:42:51>> Like even he called it out, right? And
4:42:55I'm trying to give you as much
4:42:56permission to toot your own horn here
4:42:58because Trevor did an incredible job.
4:42:59But please like let's walk through how
4:43:01you did that. I think that's the most
4:43:03valuable thing that we could share from
4:43:04December.
4:43:05>> Yeah. Uh first and foremost when you I
4:43:08mean anyone who has started in a role
4:43:10knows the pain points and knows the like
4:43:12and Max is is a contractor right now but
4:43:15I still consider like anybody who we're
4:43:17bringing into our team to work on
4:43:19something like I consider them in a way
4:43:21a part of the team.
4:43:22>> Um and so I want to treat them as as
4:43:26though they are part of the team as
4:43:27though they are like at any in any point
4:43:30>> we don't view them as just a contractor.
4:43:33>> Yeah. Yeah. But we shout out how many
4:43:36times have we mentioned Michael this
4:43:37entire video? Mars who who edited uh the
4:43:40three stages video
4:43:41>> and did a phenomenal [ __ ] job on it.
4:43:43>> Um so we brought him in.
4:43:46>> Mars is also linked down below as well.
4:43:48>> Every person that we bring in I like to
4:43:50make it as clear as like so I have an
4:43:52onboarding call with him where I'm going
4:43:54through. We had the videos filmed and
4:43:56this was a real unique situation. The
4:43:58reason we were in like a two-eek crunch
4:44:00to hire this person is because right as
4:44:02I gave him and sent him the contract is
4:44:05>> [clears throat]
4:44:06>> uh is when I'm like the next day, hey,
4:44:08the footage is uploaded for you on a
4:44:10drive. Um it is neatly organized for
4:44:12you. Uh here is a sheet of
4:44:14>> What does neatly organized mean?
4:44:16>> I'm separating all this stuff into a
4:44:17cam, bcam, ccam at times sometimes. I
4:44:20don't know if I did it for this, but I'm
4:44:22labeling all these things. I'm also
4:44:24creating a Google doc pointing out all
4:44:26like there was an audio issue towards
4:44:27the end. The camera lost f or cam lost
4:44:31focus for 20 minutes and I actually
4:44:33couldn't I couldn't get to it cuz it was
4:44:34on the other side of the room. Um all of
4:44:37these things I'm noting I'm noting like
4:44:39we filmed ads here and the ads are going
4:44:42to be in this this and this and this is
4:44:43how we want it. Like same thing with
4:44:45that frame folder that I mentioned at
4:44:47the very beginning. I did that here too,
4:44:50which was the first thing I told him to
4:44:51do was like, "Hey, don't bother jumping
4:44:54into this." Like, "This is your first
4:44:56video with us, by the way." Absolutely
4:44:59nailed it. And like absolutely nailed
4:45:02the style of these videos in one
4:45:04version. But I was like, "Give us get us
4:45:06an A-roll cut first. Don't worry about
4:45:08cutting [ __ ] out unless you feel like
4:45:10it's really not valuable. Give us this
4:45:12A-roll cut and that's the first thing
4:45:14that we're going to work on. I will give
4:45:15you notes from there and I will actually
4:45:17like I will guide you through the
4:45:18project from there. Um you have all of
4:45:21these resources. I have a neatly
4:45:22organized Google Drive folder of all the
4:45:24mgurts that actually Mars I think gave
4:45:26us a bunch of like mgurts for
4:45:28>> shout out Mars
4:45:29>> the pasti jewels. Yeah.
4:45:31>> Um I have those in a folder. I have our
4:45:34branding colors uh guidelines brand
4:45:37style guide everything in a folder.
4:45:39anything that this person like zoom out
4:45:41when you're onboarding somebody like
4:45:42this like what are the things that
4:45:44they're going to ask for and provide it
4:45:46for them upfront and it sounds simple
4:45:49but I remember yeah Max is like oh thank
4:45:52you like it's ready to go like I'm ready
4:45:55to hit the ground running and if you
4:45:56want to s like and then I have a 2-hour
4:45:58call with him walking through all these
4:46:00things and I'm like if you need me
4:46:02here's this we set you up with a Slack
4:46:04channel and I'm going to be as fast as I
4:46:06can at responding to you all these
4:46:08things just help even in a contract
4:46:10scenario, but especially with a with an
4:46:12actual hire. This is how you do it. Like
4:46:14you give them all the resources, you
4:46:15give them all the materials, and you
4:46:17give them a lot of your time at the
4:46:18beginning as well. Even though the goal
4:46:20was to save me time with this project,
4:46:22and it did, I'm still dedicating a lot
4:46:24of time to doing this A-roll cut, to
4:46:26organizing this folder, to doing all
4:46:27those things. Um, but it just set them
4:46:30up with like,
4:46:31>> yeah, here's here's how we roll. And I
4:46:33mentioned this before, but the trust
4:46:36factor still plays into even the
4:46:38contractors that we hire, right? Like 20
4:46:40minute of our call was here's exactly
4:46:42how you're going to see notes from me.
4:46:44>> I'm never going to demand. I'm always
4:46:45going to ask. I'm always going to trust
4:46:47you first and I'm always going to like
4:46:50please and if I give you a note, I'm
4:46:52going to give you a reason for why I'm
4:46:53giving you that note. This is extremely
4:46:56important when you onboard editors,
4:46:58designers, anyone. The thing that you do
4:47:00with your feedback is you provide
4:47:01feedback and then you provide the reason
4:47:04why you are giving that feedback.
4:47:05>> Oh, huge.
4:47:06>> When I was hiring this editor, all of
4:47:08the people in the interviews asked me
4:47:09like, "What is the number one thing
4:47:10you're looking for?" And I'm like,
4:47:11"Communication. Somebody who knows how
4:47:13to communicate, somebody who like I can
4:47:15give feedback to and they jump on it
4:47:17immediately and understand it." And how
4:47:19does somebody understand something? It's
4:47:21explained to them. It's shown to them.
4:47:23It's like, "Yeah." So, every note, this
4:47:25is I'm explaining this to to Max. I'm
4:47:28going through I am like I'm going to
4:47:32explain every single note why I'm doing
4:47:34this if we should do this in the future
4:47:35or not.
4:47:36>> That is the playbook 100 fucking%. Uh
4:47:40it's actually a playbook that again I'm
4:47:42sounding now like I'm pushing it but
4:47:43that is a playbook that we offer in
4:47:45Rston Select. Like that is how you do
4:47:48it. So uh you can either do that or just
4:47:50literally list out scratch down
4:47:52everything that he just said cuz he just
4:47:53gave it all away right there. There was
4:47:55two other things that I wanted to
4:47:56briefly call out for December. One is we
4:48:00filmed the January series. We went out
4:48:02to an Airbnb and sprinted through that.
4:48:05Again, it was another like gnarly 12, 14
4:48:07hour day. That was fun. That was
4:48:09awesome, but it's also exhausting,
4:48:10right? Like I don't want to pretend
4:48:11here. Like they're very fun and it's
4:48:14some of my favorite days that that's
4:48:16like some of my favorite memories, but
4:48:18it's also exhausting. So, we did that.
4:48:19That was awesome. That was really fun.
4:48:21Uh, side note, we rented an Airbnb that
4:48:24had more windows um than there are
4:48:27Starbucks locations in downtown Seattle.
4:48:30It was absurd. And we had a couple
4:48:32reflectors and flags or whatever, but
4:48:34like we didn't have that much to cover
4:48:36it. But we went to Walmart and bought
4:48:38just a bunch of black sheets, like
4:48:41king-size bed sheets, and probably to
4:48:45the neighbors looked like we were
4:48:47cooking something illegal. won't mention
4:48:50what that is, but it looked a lot like
4:48:53some of the homes in the area where I
4:48:55grew up. But anyways, out in the
4:48:57country, we covered all of those windows
4:49:00with uh blankets, and then we took
4:49:03moving boxes that we grabbed from Home
4:49:05Depot, cut them up, and shoved them into
4:49:09the skylights to cover the skylights.
4:49:11>> Here's the uh here's the front door.
4:49:13>> We're keeping the zombies out is what
4:49:14we're doing.
4:49:15>> Yeah, it was it was a very interesting
4:49:17setup. very very scrappy working with
4:49:20what we have, but [snorts] we made it
4:49:22happen. And I I think that's another
4:49:24like big thing that I would encourage
4:49:26everybody is
4:49:28I'd say very few times has everything
4:49:32gone according to plan when we show up
4:49:33at an Airbnb, an uncontrolled location,
4:49:36all of these things, right? Uh shifting
4:49:38light, uh a terrifying spider in the the
4:49:41couch. Yeah, that was
4:49:44>> You have the video of that.
4:49:45>> Yeah. getting attacked by a ram.
4:49:48>> Yeah,
4:49:48>> almost. We didn't get attacked by a ram.
4:49:49>> No, but almost got attacked. I mean, we
4:49:51got intimidated by a mountain goat. That
4:49:54was [ __ ] freaky. Um, but yeah, I I
4:49:57think the the big thing for us has been
4:49:59adaptability. We've done a really good
4:50:01job of, you know, maybe getting
4:50:03frustrated for a second and being like,
4:50:04"Fuck, this light is impossible to work
4:50:06with." And then be like, "Well, we could
4:50:07go get sheets and cover it." And is it
4:50:09going to completely cover the light? No.
4:50:11But it gives us 95% control and that's
4:50:14what we need.
4:50:16>> What's really interesting on that point
4:50:18just real quick I'll hit it is
4:50:21it's the the stepping stones to that of
4:50:24like we have now started controlling the
4:50:27light in our locations for film
4:50:30sessions. We didn't care about that nor
4:50:33did we have the means or the time or the
4:50:35headsp space to think about that when we
4:50:37filmed the course. When we filmed the
4:50:38course actually the light changes
4:50:40throughout the entire course. I don't
4:50:41know if people noticed it or not, but
4:50:43like sun up to sun down in that
4:50:45warehouse still had windows and like
4:50:47>> those windows were like 20 ft high
4:50:50[laughter]
4:50:50>> in in LA. Sunny LA like I don't know if
4:50:52it was sunny, but um
4:50:55this like we don't don't try and bite
4:50:58off more than you can chew is I think a
4:50:59great lesson here of like we're only
4:51:02doing that. We're only starting to
4:51:03control light in our setups. Like we
4:51:05have like here we have blinds actually
4:51:07which is really nice. But um we're only
4:51:10now starting to shift and buying another
4:51:12light to light some other spaces and
4:51:14we're starting to get little uh
4:51:17batteries for the cameras so that we
4:51:19don't have to actually plug like all
4:51:21these things. I think it just goes back
4:51:23I you're I'm going to sound like a
4:51:24broken record here that iteration but
4:51:26like don't try and bite off more than
4:51:27you can chew in the beginning and start
4:51:29stairstepping. Like you'll see even what
4:51:31we did for our first or second video was
4:51:33probably too much for somebody who's
4:51:35just starting out to actually handle in
4:51:37their first like the three camera setup
4:51:39is ridiculous.
4:51:40>> Yeah. Like let's be very clear here.
4:51:42When we started this, it was my first
4:51:45time making a video for me, but I had
4:51:47been doing this for 16 years when we
4:51:49started this, right? You had been doing
4:51:51it for what, like six or seven years?
4:51:53>> Yeah. Yeah.
4:51:54>> We all come from production backgrounds.
4:51:55>> Yeah. We we definitely had a little bit
4:51:58of an upper hand on that than your
4:52:01average bear. And even us, we selected
4:52:04what we would focus on knowing that down
4:52:06the road will improve that. But right
4:52:08now, that's not what is necessary. It's
4:52:12it's choosing the things in the
4:52:13beginning that have the what is going to
4:52:15get you the biggest bang for your buck.
4:52:17I actually we were just talking about
4:52:18this before this podcast. One of the
4:52:21things I was talking to somebody the
4:52:23other day, they were asking for advice
4:52:25on this editing workflow because they're
4:52:28like, "It's taking me a really long time
4:52:30here." Um, and like the h these I'm
4:52:34really having a tough time like going
4:52:35through and picking music or picking
4:52:37LUTs or whatever it is. Like I this is
4:52:41something you could do both for editing
4:52:42production workflows, but also just your
4:52:44content in general. I feel like is a
4:52:46priority list when you're attacking
4:52:48projects and content is
4:52:51in order of priority. I actually asked
4:52:54this person the other day. I was like,
4:52:55"Okay, so when you're tackling an edit,
4:52:58what's the biggest what will move the
4:53:00needle the the furthest for this
4:53:02educational video?" And specifically,
4:53:05they're like, "Well, it's the it's the
4:53:07cut. It's all the content in it and like
4:53:09choosing like how the video flows and
4:53:11the structure of the video." And I was
4:53:13like, "Amazing. That's our first
4:53:15priority if we get nothing else done in
4:53:17this video because we are all strained
4:53:19for time and all strained on resources.
4:53:22Like that is huge. I was like, what's
4:53:24the next thing? Well, the next thing's
4:53:25probably it's like honestly it's not
4:53:27motion graphics. It's actually audio.
4:53:29Like audio is actually a huge part. And
4:53:31I was like I I completely agree. I don't
4:53:33know if I'm missing something, but like
4:53:34I agree. So that's like and you can do
4:53:36that with content in general. You can do
4:53:38that with your workflows. And I think
4:53:40you can do that with your brand. like
4:53:41what are the things that move the needle
4:53:43the furthest and like attack those
4:53:46first. That's what we did with the
4:53:47course is we're prioritizing. We hired
4:53:49somebody for the motion graphics too.
4:53:51>> Yeah.
4:53:51>> But the first thing we're prioritizing
4:53:53is like
4:53:54>> we pre-production that's actually that's
4:53:56before the editing. That's
4:53:58pre-production is the is on top of the
4:53:59checklist and what is pre like the
4:54:01packaging uh the idea the concept the
4:54:03structure of the video all those things
4:54:05get attacked beforehand. So, like I
4:54:07don't know if I'm going on a tangent
4:54:08here, but basically I think that huge
4:54:10thing of just that priority list
4:54:13>> helps with [ __ ] like this. Helps with
4:54:15like the controlling the lights to be
4:54:17honest is at near the bottom of that
4:54:19list for educational content. And I
4:54:21don't know if it changes for any other
4:54:23type of content, but for educational
4:54:24content in particular, it's like, no,
4:54:27there are 10 to 20 to 30 things above
4:54:30that that I would actually focus on
4:54:31before you tackle like, okay, in this
4:54:33shoot now, we should get batteries for
4:54:35the cameras that attach to the tripod in
4:54:37a really fancy way. But that's just that
4:54:39priority list is so key and so crucial.
4:54:41>> I completely agree. Well, it's fun. I
4:54:43feel like we've gone into a lot of
4:54:46granular detail. Maybe so much that
4:54:48maybe uh we bored Bugsy to sleep here.
4:54:50He's finally sleeping. He's been so
4:54:52active during the whole thing and then
4:54:54now that we're nearing the end, he's
4:54:56just like just chilling over there. We
4:54:59wanted to very briefly talk about what
4:55:00we're focusing on in 2026. And there's
4:55:02going to be a ton. And I'm sure what we
4:55:05share will change within 3 days, but as
4:55:08of [snorts] right now, what is kind of
4:55:11your area that you're focusing on for
4:55:132026 with our content specifically? We
4:55:17spent the first year being very
4:55:18intentional.
4:55:20Maybe we didn't know what we were doing
4:55:22at first, but we got very intentional
4:55:24very quickly and iterating so quickly on
4:55:27that. Like we've been very intentional
4:55:28over this past year of building the
4:55:30foundation, building the sustainability
4:55:31aspect,
4:55:32>> how you're going to stick with this.
4:55:33>> Yeah.
4:55:34>> How I'm going to want to stick with
4:55:35this.
4:55:36>> Yeah. 100%.
4:55:37>> Finding the holes in everything, finding
4:55:40out uh where we're best at, where we
4:55:43need to improve.
4:55:45um getting this cadence down, getting
4:55:47these workflows down, getting organized,
4:55:48getting set up, bringing on an editor
4:55:51for our first constraint. Like we've
4:55:52spent the first year being very
4:55:54intentional with building the
4:55:56foundation, I'd say, of your personal
4:55:58brand. And I think next year especially,
4:56:02it's now I mean, everybody talks about
4:56:04scaling like I think it's not not
4:56:06necessarily scaling that. I think that
4:56:07the the media team will stay very lean
4:56:10even into next year. But next year, uh,
4:56:14I want to sp like we're we have the goal
4:56:16of doubling the amount of YouTube videos
4:56:19at the same quote unquote quality,
4:56:22um, for lack of a better term there. Um,
4:56:26going into next year. So, we're going to
4:56:27double that output. Doubling that
4:56:29output. And I now am going to have more
4:56:32time and attention to focus onto another
4:56:35primary platform because we have support
4:56:38now going into Instagram and short form
4:56:41content. Like we've been repurposing.
4:56:43That's been our strategy. And it's not
4:56:45something that you want to do, but like
4:56:47like I've been making podcast clips for
4:56:48you here and there. We've been making
4:56:50some uh promo pieces for our YouTube
4:56:53videos and stuff like that. But now it's
4:56:55time to get serious. And now it's like,
4:56:57okay, I actually cut my teeth on short
4:56:58form content for years and years. Now my
4:57:01brain is starting to open up and to be
4:57:03able to do that. Um, so that's my
4:57:05biggest focus is turning the the eye of
4:57:08Sauron, as you like to call it, to
4:57:10another platform. Um, getting that up
4:57:13and running, cutting my teeth again, and
4:57:15getting getting a lot sharper in that
4:57:16area while still maintaining and
4:57:19actually doubling our output in other
4:57:21areas. So that's that's been huge.
4:57:24>> It's a big one. I mean that that that is
4:57:26no simple task, right? That that's a
4:57:28lofty goal. But I think we we did a
4:57:31really good job at the end of December
4:57:33of sitting down and planning out our
4:57:35year and what it'll look like and and
4:57:38saying, "Okay, if this is our goal,
4:57:40these things have to be true. How do we
4:57:42make these things true?" Well, one of
4:57:44them is we need pre-production time.
4:57:46Well, then we should probably plan that
4:57:48on the calendar in December for all of
4:57:522026. And of course, it'll eb and flow.
4:57:54It'll shift. We'll have to move things
4:57:55around. Things will come up. But it
4:57:58gives us a plan to operate off of that
4:58:00we can then break. If you have no plan,
4:58:03there's nothing to break other than
4:58:04yourself, right? And so it's like I love
4:58:06breaking the plan, but you got to have
4:58:08the plan in order to break it. It's like
4:58:11breaking the rules is great, but you
4:58:13can't. I remember Ruben Evans, uh, my
4:58:15director when I worked at, uh, Logos,
4:58:18the software company. I remember him
4:58:21telling me, he goes, "Great editors
4:58:24break the rules all the time, but
4:58:27they're only capable of breaking the
4:58:29rules because they know the rules." And
4:58:32I think it's very similar with having a
4:58:33plan. You're always going to need to be
4:58:35able to break a plan and change a plan,
4:58:38but you can only change or break
4:58:39something if it exists. And so us
4:58:41carving out the time at the end of
4:58:42December to do that and plan that out, I
4:58:45think was huge. I think a big one that I
4:58:47want to focus on that I wrote here, I'm
4:58:48reading it real quick. There's [snorts]
4:58:50two things. One, I think I've just
4:58:52scratched the surface of my ability to
4:58:54take problems that customers bring us,
4:58:57our solutions, and then create
4:58:59frameworks for the audience to be able
4:59:01to utilize in their content. I'm just
4:59:03scratching the surface of that. A lot
4:59:05more that I can do. I can get a lot
4:59:08better at that. And so that's something
4:59:09that I'm going to be pushing myself on.
4:59:11If you look at my calendar, which none
4:59:12of you can cuz that would be crazy. But
4:59:14if you saw my calendar, you'd see a huge
4:59:16portion of my time this year is
4:59:18dedicated towards writing. I I've I've
4:59:20put, you know, probably if you were to
4:59:23add it all up, there's probably three
4:59:25entire weeks, maybe even four entire
4:59:27weeks out of the whole year just for
4:59:29writing, which I think is really cool.
4:59:31So, that's the first thing. And the
4:59:33second thing is what we started to what
4:59:35we were talking about for the December
4:59:36video. I want to bring more of who I am
4:59:38as a person, my silly isms, my quirks,
4:59:41the things that are going to make the
4:59:44way that I communicate attractive to
4:59:46some people and turn off a bunch of
4:59:47other people. And that's okay. I just
4:59:50want to be unbelievably me. I think for
4:59:53two reasons, and this is how I want to
4:59:54end this. The two reasons why I want to
4:59:56be unbelievably me in the content. one
4:59:59AI content is very much prevalent and at
5:00:05scale and the only way in my opinion to
5:00:08stand out is to be human as [ __ ] I was
5:00:11texting a buddy of mine uh the other
5:00:12day. I think that would be such a cool
5:00:13brand as a side note to build human as
5:00:15[ __ ] I don't have the time. It would be
5:00:17a distraction. If anybody wants to take
5:00:18it, do it. But I think that is the way
5:00:20to stand out amidst the ever growing
5:00:23amount of AI slop. And depending on when
5:00:25you're watching this, it's only getting
5:00:26worse and worse and worse. the beginning
5:00:28of this year, there wasn't that much of
5:00:30that [ __ ] on my feed. I rarely saw that.
5:00:32I didn't see the panda, you know,
5:00:34vlogging like I saw midway through the
5:00:36year. It has gotten [ __ ] crazy. So,
5:00:39being unbelievably human is a great way
5:00:41to stand out. And two, to the point that
5:00:43we've hit on, probably second most to um
5:00:46iterating in this podcast is
5:00:48sustainability. It's really hard to be a
5:00:50caricature of who you are. It's really
5:00:52hard to pretend to be somebody that you
5:00:53think your audience wants. And if you
5:00:56are one of those unique characters that
5:00:58can keep that up for a long time, well,
5:01:01here's another motivation for you. The
5:01:03moment that you meet somebody who
5:01:04watches you online in real life and you
5:01:06are not that way, boom, game over. You
5:01:09have ruined trust with that person. And
5:01:11if that happens enough, your personal
5:01:14brand starts changing and the way that
5:01:16it is interpreted changes. So, the more
5:01:18that you are who you actually are, not
5:01:20who you think your audience wants, I
5:01:23think the longer you'll stick with it
5:01:25and the more you will actually stand
5:01:27out.
5:01:27>> That was great. That was great.
5:01:29>> This was fun. Thanks for doing this.
5:01:30>> Super fun.
5:01:31>> You killed it.
5:01:32>> Oh, you killed it. This was great. And
5:01:34that is what we do after every [ __ ]
5:01:35film session. As another note, there's
5:01:37another piece of value for you guys. The
5:01:39moment that you get done with filming,
5:01:41somebody on your team should [ __ ]
5:01:42come up and dap you up and say, "Great
5:01:44job." Uh, with that, I think the next
5:01:47video that people should watch is going
5:01:48to be somewhere right here in the
5:01:49middle. They should click on this
5:01:51somewhere right here. Uh, you'll get a
5:01:52lot of value from it. Hopefully, if you
5:01:54got value from this, we would love to
5:01:56know what your favorite moment was. Cuz
5:01:58let's be real, there's not a lot of you
5:01:59here. And so, we're not getting that
5:02:00much traction off of sending you to
5:02:02another video. So, the more interesting
5:02:03thing is actually if you can comment
5:02:06with either your number one question
5:02:07because we said all this [ __ ] and it
5:02:09revealed a bigger question that you have
5:02:11or the number one point that you took
5:02:12from this. I'm looking forward to all
5:02:14three of these comments. Appreciate you
5:02:16all. You're the best. Peace.
5:02:19>> Holy [ __ ] [ __ ] We just built the
5:02:22foundation for your entire personal
5:02:24brand. We got your brand positioning
5:02:26down. We've got your content strategy
5:02:28down. Absolutely insane. You have your
5:02:31personal brand operating system. You
5:02:34figured out your brand journey
5:02:35framework, right? We figured out what is
5:02:37our end goal and does making content and
5:02:40building a public personal brand help me
5:02:42accomplish that or not. We figured out
5:02:44your brand positioning. We built out
5:02:46your credibility bank or if you're the
5:02:49student, we did your interest bank. We
5:02:52helped figure out how we're going to
5:02:53avoid burning out. This is such a common
5:02:55thing for creators and we're figuring
5:02:58out how to avoid that. We figured out
5:03:01identifying the pain that your customer
5:03:03is feeling and how you can integrate
5:03:05that into both your brand and the
5:03:07content that you make. We identified
5:03:09your contrarian belief. This is how
5:03:10you're going to stand out. We figured
5:03:12out what your desired associations are
5:03:14going to be. We wrote your brand
5:03:15statement so that you can clearly
5:03:17communicate what your personal brand
5:03:19stands for, what it's about, and why
5:03:21you're different than your competitors.
5:03:23We then moved into content and we talked
5:03:25about the trust first strategy,
5:03:26optimizing for trust over virality. We
5:03:29talked about building a sustainable
5:03:30system. This doesn't matter if you quit
5:03:33after six months. You need something
5:03:34that you're going to actually stick
5:03:35with. Then we figured out how the [ __ ]
5:03:38do we come up with ideas. This is such a
5:03:39common problem that people have is like
5:03:41how do I [snorts] know what to make?
5:03:43Well, we figured out how you can come up
5:03:45with your content ideas. We also worked
5:03:48on your delivery. Okay, this is a form.
5:03:50This is one of the three levers on how
5:03:52you can stand out. We figured out what
5:03:54you can do in your delivery and lean
5:03:56into who you are as a human, not build
5:03:58some caricature that you see online. We
5:04:01also talked about your wrapping paper,
5:04:02how you're going to wrap this beautiful
5:04:04gift called your content that you give
5:04:06to your audience. We also went through
5:04:09how to repurpose your content, right?
5:04:11Like not only how to make the primary
5:04:14pillar platform content, but we also use
5:04:17the waterfall method on how to get more
5:04:19out of what we're already doing. We
5:04:21also, and this I've never done before,
5:04:23but we actually went through what your
5:04:25first three videos can be in building
5:04:28and amplifying your personal brand
5:04:30online. Woo, that was a lot, but I am so
5:04:33proud of you for getting to this point.
5:04:35I know this is a lot of work. There's a
5:04:37lot of like self-reflection, a lot of
5:04:39pushing yourself, a lot of asking
5:04:41uncomfy questions sometimes. And so, I
5:04:43just want to say I'm very proud of you
5:04:45for getting to this point. I'm very
5:04:47excited to hear the results that you get
5:04:49from taking action on what we shared in
5:04:52here. One thing I want to really quick
5:04:54remind you on, if you watch this and
5:04:56you're at this point now and you haven't
5:04:58been filling in that workbook, what the
5:04:59[ __ ] are we doing here? This is what
5:05:01drives me nuts, okay? I'm not here
5:05:04trying to make entertainment content.
5:05:05I'm not that entertaining. I'm a little
5:05:07silly and wacky and fun, but I'm not
5:05:09that entertaining. I'm here to change
5:05:11what you do. That is my goal here. So,
5:05:14please, if you watched this all the way
5:05:15through and did not fill out the
5:05:16workbook, start over. Download that
5:05:19workbook. The link is in the description
5:05:21below. I've said it a million times
5:05:22already, so you already know. Get the
5:05:24workbook and go through the course and
5:05:27actually go through the exercises. This
5:05:30is going to make all this time you
5:05:32invested into consuming this worth it
5:05:34for you. If you're still watching at
5:05:36this point, you probably want some more
5:05:38content to watch, more actions to take,
5:05:39and more information to digest. Click
5:05:41this video to watch it. It's the three
5:05:43stages of your personal brand. We go
5:05:44from zero to 100K, 100K to a million,
5:05:46and a million to 10 million. Enjoy.

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