Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.67 | The Unexpected Benefits of Using YouTube as a Business Owner, with Shay & Mariah

Transcript

Ep.67 | The Unexpected Benefits of Using YouTube as a Business Owner, with Shay & Mariah · Curiously Guided Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Curiously Guided Podcast, the show for intentional business owners and curious minds looking to combine the inner work and outer work to create a life, business, and career that feels deeply fulfilling and wildly aligned on all levels.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're your hosts.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Shay and I'm Mariah.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're two business strategists passionate about rewriting the rules to success in a way that combines both strategy and energetics.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: So this podcast started with both of us being in the online business world, craving more deep, meaningful, and transparent conversations.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we decided to come together and create a space to do just that.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Our guest interviews highlight cool humans doing cool shit, chasing their dreams, and going down their own rabbit holes to create a more sustainable and fulfilling life in whatever way that means for them.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We see this podcast as everything that people won't share on social media.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: We don't give a fuck about highlight reels or proven frameworks.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We love getting in the weeds, asking the tough questions, and doing the work to create a life and career we love, all while committing to ourselves and our personal growth.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because only through that lens can we truly create a lifestyle that feels good from the inside out.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Are you ready to trust the nudge and let curiosity guide the way?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're excited to shake shit up and live outside the box with you.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you guys, I am selfishly so excited for this episode.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but today I am interviewing my co-host, Mariah Leshevsky, all about her experience as an online business owner on YouTube.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to be honest, this is a bit selfish on my part.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think that I've shared on the podcast many times, you know, I struggle with the idea of like content creation, and that's always been a big block for me as a business owner.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I really, if I am going to create content, I want it to have a lot of bang for its buck.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't want to just be like on the hamster wheel.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want it to have some shelf life.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have always, you know, as I'm planning out how I want to show up, YouTube has always been on the radar for me.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's a really smart move, um, just because there is a bit higher of a barrier to entry on YouTube, that it's not quite as easy to throw something up as it would be, say, on like an Instagram or a TikTok.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that can already weeds out a lot of noise, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's um, in my opinion, you know, we know video is the way, the place to be right now in online marketing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we know that YouTube is the platform.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: To me, when I Google things, I see YouTube videos popping up first.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like there's a lot of search engine optimization juice there that we can dive into.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, long story short, as I'm cruising for ideas of where's low-hanging fruit for content creation, YouTube keeps coming up for me.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have always kind of just wanted to grill you about um, you know, you've been on YouTube for a while now, you've been walking the walk, you've you are a data person.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've been collecting the data.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, today we're just gonna ask Mariah a bunch of questions about why YouTube, um, how she uses it in her online business, whether it's still worthwhile to get on the platform.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people have concerns about it being too saturated as well.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna put our normal, curiously guided twist on things as usual.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the the whole goal of this episode is just to really explore YouTube as a platform for being visible and getting your word out and how we all potentially can better leverage it in our own businesses.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that, I want to introduce you guys to our guest today, Mariah.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you mind just sharing with us?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even know what is the origin story with you on YouTube.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, when did you get started?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: How many years have you been on there?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um I'm curious about like what were your initial like motivations for getting on in the first place?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's funny because like when you said that, I'm like, shit, what is my origin story for it?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna try to remember because it really started back in like 2016 or 2017.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: So like I started my business in what is it, 2015?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: So like I was a very baby business owner.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was like 23, 24 years old.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the motivation for YouTube, it was one of the only social media platforms besides Facebook at that time.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So like I wasn't on LinkedIn, that wasn't really popping off.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was really for like super corporate people, if it was even a thing yet.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: But also, I was younger and I was like, fuck LinkedIn, that shit sounds awful.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Instagram, I wasn't using it for business, so I was hanging out in Facebook groups, but then I was like, okay, well, the only other option is YouTube.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so that I think that's kind of why I wanted to dive into it because it was really one of the only options that I was aware of back then.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I liked the idea of long form content.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So back then I was writing blog posts, but I was still I was getting questions in Facebook groups and from clients at the time that were like, Hey, Mariah, I don't know how to do this.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, What do you mean you don't know how to do that?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's so easy, like I could just show you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so I kind of realized that it's like I'm really good at breaking down complex things into easy to understand ways.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And like I love creating tutorials.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, why don't I just create tutorials that can be found on a platform where people look for tutorials?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just started creating YouTube videos, and I remember I was horrified, dude.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like my very first YouTube video didn't even have like me, like my face was not on there.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was literally just a screen share.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the very first video was like how to add social media icons to your WordPress header, because I was still doing web design and development.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: That video got like 9,000 views, dude.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, what?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube is so easy.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna kill this shit, right?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: So then the next one is when I was like, okay, but I know that like I have to show my face.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So the next one is me showing my face and like, if anybody wants to go back and like have a little giggle, you can go back and watch my first YouTube videos.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Your girl would not stop tanning.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was one of those things where it's like I never thought that I was tan enough.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was orange as hell.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Also, I was living in my parents' house, and so behind me was like, it was a joke at the time with my clients on calls because I had this black curtain behind me, and everybody was like, What's behind the curtain?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: thinking it's like some mysterious thing.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was my sewing machine.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just had like it was like my craft closet where I used to like do projects and stuff like that.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: But like I tried to be really professional, like being 23, 24 years old.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like in my parents' house creating YouTube videos, like I used to have to put like a sign on my door to tell my nieces, because they were younger at the time that they couldn't just bust into my house.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, like that whole time when I started YouTube was like such a different version of me.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I can tell in my voice, my voice is like shaky, and I kind of like talk like that, like how I thought that I had to talk.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like so cringy to me now because like there wasn't any confidence in my voice, and like there wasn't any power in there.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I could just sound how shaky it was.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of just kept doing it.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I was like, okay, I'm gonna create a YouTube video every week because I thought that that's what you had to do.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I thought in order to grow, you have to create a YouTube video every week.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I was I was also editing my videos at the time.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So like these were taking in a very long time for me, but I kept doing it, kept doing it weekly.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I got up to maybe like 30 videos.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the very first thing, it might have been less than that, but I remember being like, okay, what's holding me back from creating weekly videos?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I have to edit them myself.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the very first things that I ended up hiring out in my business before I even hired a bookkeeper.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Your girl was still doing her own taxes, but like I had to hire somebody to edit these videos.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: So then I started doing that, but then it was kind of just like throwing shit at the wall.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't really have a strategy.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't really, I didn't really have digital products back then.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't really getting any like website design clients from it.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it kind of felt a little pointless.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like maybe I was getting some views on my blog, but like there really was no purpose behind the YouTube channel.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't making any money from it.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then I was also paying somebody to edit my videos.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of got really burnt out from it and I stopped creating videos until I think it was 2020 or 2019, something like that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: GA4, like Google Analytics 4, that version just came out.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I was having clients ask me.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so at this time, I wasn't creating videos for like a full year, wasn't monetized, wasn't making any money from them.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, maybe I'll pick it back up, maybe I won't, whatever.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I ended up having clients be like, Raya, how do we set up this new version of Google Analytics?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm looking on YouTube and I was just like, I have no idea.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's no good YouTube videos, nothing that's breaking it down in a way that's like easy to understand.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them are using Google Tag Manager, which is like really complex and a little overcomplicated for small business owners.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, I remember spending like a full weekend trying to figure this out.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was testing it on all of these different sites.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I finally figured it out.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I have to create a YouTube video on this, literally just so I could send it to my clients.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I ended up creating a YouTube video, how to set up Google Analytics for that video took off.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think right now it's at like 47,000 views, which, like as a channel of I had less than a thousand subscribers at the time.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: That video is the one that took off, got me over the thousand subscriber hump.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it got me enough views to where I was able to get monetized on YouTube.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of like where it all really started, but it did include like a cycle of burnout.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and sounds like a cycle of like um finding your voice and like getting clear on like what the purpose was for the YouTube channel in your business.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you mentioned a couple, this is gonna sound like basic, basic bitch stuff.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: What I want to just make sure though, for people that are brand new and me, I think I know what this means.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: What does getting monetized mean and like what is the threshold you have to reach to get there?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So getting monetized essentially means that you can run YouTube ads on your content.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So you can get paid from it's like YouTube AdSense, you can get paid from YouTube for putting ads on your content.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: So before you hit this threshold, YouTube will still put ads like on your videos, but they're making all of the money.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: But when you hit this certain threshold, which to be honest, I'm not really sure, they've been changing it a little bit.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think you need at least a thousand subscribers and then a certain amount of watch hours might be like 300 watch hours in a year, or I don't remember.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have a clue exactly what that threshold is, but you need to hit something because basically, as you were saying, which I didn't even realize in the beginning, but like the barrier to entry, like anybody can create TikTok videos, anybody can create Instagram videos, same thing with YouTube, anybody can create videos, but I feel like YouTube wants to prove that your channel is worth putting ads from their advertisers on these videos.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So they only want to allow people that are kind of taking the platform seriously in order to start making money from it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a really interesting thing about YouTube that I think sets it apart.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And even just the act of making a video and showing your face is a level up from writing a blog post or maybe making an Instagram carousel, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it just weeds out a lot of competition just by the nature of the platform.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then they themselves are slightly more picky on what kind of content can go on there.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I know that there's all kinds of stuff on YouTube.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about um where uh I'm curious, like um what content-wise, what these days, I know in the past it was like answering client questions.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Where a common fear I have to be honest, around getting on YouTube is like I can think of like one good video idea, maybe a handful of good video ideas, but then I feel like it's gonna stop, right?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, how where are you getting your ideas from for videos these days?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I will come back to that in just a second.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just Googled really quick because I knew that I was giving shitty information.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think they just updated.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's 500 subscribers, at least three public uploads in the last 90 days, and then I said 300.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's 3,000 watch hours on long form videos in the last year, or 3 million shorts views in the last 90 days.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And can you break down the difference as much as you know, what's the difference between like a long form video versus a short?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the shorts are essentially like those little clips that you'll see, like an Instagram reel or a TikTok.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Those are like the vertical style videos, like YouTube has their own version of that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's called YouTube Shorts.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: The long form videos are basically the videos that I create, tutorial style or just like the horizontal typical YouTube video.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: And is there a certain length that it has to be to be long form?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't think so.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't think so.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So back to like content ideas and like how you kind of plan and organize that these days.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say the very first place that I start with content ideas is questions that my audience is asking me, questions that my clients are asking me.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because what this allows me to do is to create content that has multi purposes.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I'll create a video based on somebody's question.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, like how to set up Google Search Console, for example.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I get that question all of the time.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have to walk people through it in my DIY SEO course.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I recommend to people that they send they set up Google Search Console all of the time, but then it's like, okay, how do I do that?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it would be silly for me not to have a tutorial that walks them through how to do it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first place that I get my content from is really like, what are questions that people are asking me?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, what do my clients need to know?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: And how can I give them resources to better support them in the things that I already need them to do?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that's like the very first place that I start.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the think that then works in your favor, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because if one person is asking that question, you can probably assume that many people have that question.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: But do you do any, like I know you have your SEO background.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any kind of consideration for like key targeting keywords or like you know certain ideas are more popular than others?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I essentially start with the questions that people ask, and then the very next thing that I do is like look up keywords related to it.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I can figure out just like what keywords are associated with this idea, and then I'm hitting two birds with one stone.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm creating content that I literally refer clients to all of the time.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm creating content that could also be connected to an SEO keyword.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm getting brand new people searching for this.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that it's a really good fit because it's literally what my clients are already asking.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, before I publish any YouTube video, I'm always doing SEO keyword research.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but sometimes some of my videos, like one of my videos that I did, I just wanted to share when I had less than 5,000 subscribers.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I created a video about like how much YouTube pays me with a small channel of less than 5,000 subscribers.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: So that video was more just like storytelling and just connection and like it felt really fun to create.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so that one's not really connected to any SEO keywords.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it really just depends on like the piece of content too.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, um success-wise or performance-wise, are there any threads or themes that you've noticed with your videos that have taken off versus the ones that haven't?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would say I'm in a unique position to where there isn't really any females in my industry being able to break this stuff down in a way that's like easy and approachable and practical.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like when you're looking up, let's say, like SEO keyword research tools, I'm probably one of the only females like showing up on page one of YouTube.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like that really falls into my favor.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then like I create tutorials.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So not every YouTube channel creates tutorials.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love tutorials, but big time YouTube people will tell you tutorials are not the way to grow a channel because it doesn't keep people coming back and like people don't buy from tutorials.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: And like if they see a tutorial, you're solving one problem, but like they're probably not gonna subscribe because you've already solved their problem.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So why would they hang around on your channel?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, tutorials are the easiest content to create, and like I said, they're multi-use.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I use them for so many different reasons, and they're so, like I said, they're so easy for me to create.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, why would I try to fit myself into a box of somebody else's idea of what a successful YouTube channel is when really I can stay in my lane and stay with what I'm good at, and that's breaking down complex things into easy to understand ways and teaching people how to do things that might be overwhelming when it comes to SEO, when it comes to website stuff, when it comes to trying to figure out like which tools and recommendations to use to grow an online business.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like I'm in like an interesting pocket in the YouTube space where like I'm not trying to grow a vlog.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like those are a little bit harder to grow, but once you grow them, like your people will continue to be your people.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So they get a lot higher return viewers than I do.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of like most of my views are new people, but my return viewers are also going up.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it really just depends, too.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't really thought about thinking about new viewers versus returning viewers, but one thing that you're pointing out is really interesting to me, and it relates to something you and I talk about on the podcast a lot of just what is success to you, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not, I think it's important what you're saying here is you can certainly get on YouTube with the goal of becoming a YouTuber.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there are certainly like metrics and strategies you can follow.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: But this conversation is more about how do we use YouTube as a tool to grow our businesses.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So your end goal, maybe someday, I don't think you'd be opposed to you know making an awesome living off YouTube, but like your main goal right now is using YouTube as a tool in your business for marketing.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I like what you're saying, it's kind of like a double-pronged marketing strategy because not only are you able to serve existing clients, um, you're also able to meet a lot of new clients and kind of nurture them and let them get to know you and what you talk about, which has then led to my whole point here is the way you measure success from YouTube is a little unique, I think.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just all about views and sessions, it's about how many leads am I getting for my business?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, am I able to sell digital products?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you have a really unique kind of business ecosystem you've put up all around YouTube.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: So would you kind of take us a little bit deeper into that?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like what is the goal for you right now with YouTube and your business?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And like what are those pieces you've put in place?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's funny because like to be honest, I feel like the major goal that would be really cool is to make more money from YouTube.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not saying like a big YouTuber where I'm vlogging.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't like that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to live a life where I have to carry a camera around and like my future kids are in there and make Andrew like perform Andrew would literally break up with me.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, absolutely not.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so, not a YouTuber like that, but a YouTuber in terms of like being an online business educator, I think, and just really being able to break the online business world and all of the different components easier for people.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that that's one of the big one of the big purposes, but also yeah, like selling my digital products and getting leads from clients, like that has all increased organically just from YouTube.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, so if I can keep that going, that's pretty cool.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what do you what do you like?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this is like a different way to ask that as well.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you like about being on YouTube?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what have been some of the maybe unexpected benefits or expected, but like what keeps you going on the platform?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: What keeps me going on the platform?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it allows me to share practical shit and give like recommendations on stuff.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like, so often in the online business space, like we're trying to figure out like what software do we use for this?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do we use this?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's so many SaaS products and just like softwares and tools.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: I just love testing them out and then teaching people how to use them, truly.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like if I could get paid to use a software and tell people about it, like if I can get sponsored by a product that I'm already using to be like a spokesperson for them, that's really fucking cool.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because you know what that allows me to do?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: It allows me to get paid by a bigger company that has a bigger budget, so then I can continue to offer digital products at a low price.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because essentially, if I Make most of my salary or like most of my income from bigger brands and bigger companies, then I don't need to make most of my income from offering done for you services all the time.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can offer more cost-effective options for people that are really just starting to like grow their business or like need recommendations and things like that.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's the piece that really drives me is like making online business and suggestions and recommendations and like marketing accessible for people.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's what really drives me.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: So if I can continue to make decent money from YouTube and get paid to grow this, that's a win for me.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then along the way, like I said, I'm making digital product sales.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm making, so for let's see, this month when we're recording this, it's currently October 18th.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so far this month, I've made$340 from YouTube already.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like only a little bit halfway through the month.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just from them putting ads on my content.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so last month I made$520 just from ads.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: The month before that, I made$420 just from ads.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so I had to take a look at some data because um I reached out to possibly get myself published in a big publication in terms of like YouTube.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't disclose what publication because I'm not even sure it's going to come out yet.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I had this conversation with a journalist yesterday, and she was like, Hey, can you send over like the qualitative data?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like what results have you seen?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why these numbers are really fresh in my head.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: But essentially, I'm making around on average$400 to$500 a month just from YouTube ads.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that's literally just for creating content and putting it on the platform.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then I've been making on average$250 monthly from digital product sales just from YouTube.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: So this does not include traffic from Google that drives people that way.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like in Google Analytics, it's like just from organic video, just from Google or just from YouTube.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then I get around two to four leads for consulting and for packages a month because I think what it is is like a lot of people see that the content that I share, that I'm an expert in what I talk about.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also very strategic in like when I'm walking through a tutorial, it's not just like a tutorial.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also saying, like, hey, when I work with clients on this, or one of my clients had this question about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm kind of like subconsciously letting the viewer know I work with clients around this.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's what's really helpful.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then I didn't realize this, but I just got a notification uh last week that I made$250 from like affiliate sales, in which I'm only talking about those products on YouTube videos.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if we add all of that up, it's like almost a thousand dollars a month, literally just from creating YouTube content.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing: so a lot of people like try to fight back and bite back about YouTube.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like it takes so long.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Creating content takes so long.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna be dead honest with you here.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: I spend four hours a month creating videos for YouTube.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Four hours.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: I will be transparent.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a video editor.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I found this girl on Upwork, she's amazing.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it I think I spend around$60 a video to get it edited.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're creating different kinds of video where you want like jump cuts and like all this different stuff, you probably are gonna have to pay more for editing.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: But since mine are tutorial based, it's not too much editing.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I think I can get away with that.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm creating tutorials on things that I already kind of know enough about.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't have to spend too much time researching in order to create them.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm only spending around four hours creating two videos a month.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another thing.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: In the beginning, when I first started YouTube, I thought that I had to create a new YouTube video every single week.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: That burned me out.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: But what the cadence that I found works really well for me is I create them bi-weekly.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I only create two YouTube videos a month.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm only spending around$120 to get those YouTube videos edited.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so my profit is what, like$400 a month just from YouTube AdSense, and then I'm making all of that extra money too.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the ROI is like stupid silly.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're getting paid to do something that other people are doing for free.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that piece of it is very enticing, right?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're getting paid to market your business in one way or another.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second piece is I I always find encouraging about your story.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: You're a no, I don't mean any offense by this, but you're um a small to medium-sized channel, would you say?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't, it's not like you need, I always had this impression that I just need like 10 million followers to like make any money on YouTube, but that's not the case with you.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, it's definitely been a slow burn.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But what's cool is like you are consistently month after month seeing that number grow.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And and then also seeing like the channels of income grow, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like at first it's just ads, then it's more leads.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's one thing I really love about YouTube is just how diverse the income comes in, the income streams.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not just that was one thing I didn't really have much awareness around.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you can grow your ads revenue, but you can also, like you've done, you've created a few digital products, if you will, that you can link real easy to, real easy buys for people.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then those people can then become clients, right?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're also getting leads and you're being smart about the content you're putting out, you're mentioning that you work with clients.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really important.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just get on YouTube and be aimless with it.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like there is a goal here, we're doing this all with purpose and intention.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but to me, the idea of getting paid, even if it is just the promise of getting paid or like that slow burn of like watching it grow every month to do my marketing is so incentivizing versus me just sitting here and creating silly reels and like not really, I don't know, I love that angle of it.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, that makes it more motivating.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but one part I um I'm curious about, you've mentioned a lot, like, and this is just me knowing you as well.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how much do you think YouTube played a role in you kind of discovering your zone of genius, which is you were put here to take really complicated things and make them very digestible and easy to understand?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have a gift for teaching, you have a gift for taking things like SEO that often are put in this kind of like foggy, you can't understand this unless you're a genius.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you you break it down and you make it down to earth.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we started this podcast was to kind of take higher level stuff and bring it down to earth.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, how much of um a role did YouTube play in like you helping your find your voice and like discover that you enjoy this stuff?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or did you just always know?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's a really good question.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: I never really thought about it like that.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that it did make it very clear to me that I do like creating tutorials, but I don't think that it was until recently, the bigger idea of like, you're good at teaching, you're good at educating.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: In my brain, they were in two separate buckets.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, I feel like for a while, because so many YouTube channels do focus on other things and don't do tutorials, and they kind of shit on people that do tutorials.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of used to beat myself up of like, well, I should do talking head videos because that's what everybody else does and that's what they're really successful at.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: But then I just couldn't get myself to really do them.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I might have a couple, like if it feels fun.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like me keeping with it and noticing how easy it is to create this stuff really did cement that like I am good at teaching people practical solutions and the feedback that I was getting.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I send my clients a YouTube video, like it's become a joke with some of my clients.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's like they ask me a question and they're like, you probably have a YouTube video for that.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can you send me the link?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or like, never mind, I'll just go check out your YouTube video.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, as I'm typing this, I literally know that you probably have one.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's like feedback like that and knowing that it's helpful for people, because otherwise, with YouTube, it's not like Instagram where people can like slide into my DMs and we can have a conversation.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of people don't leave comments.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they only leave mean comments, you know what I mean?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so if somebody finds something helpful, sometimes they're not leaving a good comment or they're not leaving any comment, you know what I mean?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that it definitely took some time, but I will say I think that being on YouTube and getting more comfortable, like having a camera on my face, has been really, really helpful for being a guest on podcasts for some reason.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like in my very first videos, my voice was shaky.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't confident in this stuff, but I feel like getting a little bit more confident, even just two percent more confident, allowed me to pitch podcasts.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then all of that allowed me to even play with the idea of hosting my own podcast.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that I would have thought that this was a possibility if maybe I didn't have my own YouTube channel and maybe if I didn't pitch myself to podcasts and things like that.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I will say that like I still start sweating before I record YouTube videos.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know that they're not live and I know that my video editor will edit them out, but it's like I still get nervous before I hit record.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been doing this for years.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's just it feels weird sometimes, just pretending that there's somebody that's gonna find a tutorial helpful.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not even having a conversation with them, but I have to talk like I'm like talking to somebody.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's fucking weird sometimes, and sometimes it's a lot easier to do it live where you can see facial reactions and you can get like automatic feedback.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that it 100% was helpful in like helping me narrow down what my zone of genius was, and it's like always been there, but I didn't always see it as an example of what my zone of genius was.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you just touched on something there about um lives, and so that brought up a new question.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've experimented around a bit.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few choices on YouTube these days, like we've talked about.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just the long form video.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: You've done a few lives.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think you maybe experimented with some shorts.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us a bit about like the difference between the three and how you've used them or what you're noticing?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so for YouTube shorts, I will say the only strategy that I've done is I've just kind of downloaded my Instagram reels and then repurposed them and uploaded them to YouTube as YouTube Shorts.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I've made a total of like five cents from views on YouTube Shorts.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I've uploaded like 15 of them or something like that.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't really make money from YouTube Shorts.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Some people do.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: I just I don't.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: And also I noticed that people are a lot more harsh in reactions to YouTube shorts.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: So my YouTube shorts are the videos that get like way more like thumbs down on YouTube, which is like really, really interesting to me because like my other videos, they they get like a few, you know what I mean?
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: But like it's nothing wild where it's like a YouTube short will be like 30% thumbs down, where it's like my normal YouTube video will be like 1% thumbs down.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really interesting.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: And then what I noticed about YouTube Live, I wanted to do it because I wanted a place to interview business owners to talk about more strategic things that we don't talk about on this podcast to really dive into frameworks and stuff like that.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, well, that aligns with my YouTube channel and I didn't want to start my own podcast or anything.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: And also, YouTube Lives feel like just a fun way to collaborate with new business owners.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like really easy for me to be like, wow, I think that you're a genius in let's say email marketing.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Can I interview you on my YouTube channel?
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so, like, it's just like an easy collaboration thing for me.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of why I wanted to play around with it and I wanted to get more comfortable going live in general by myself because, like I said, I still sweat when I record a YouTube video.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, hmm, how would I react if I went live for my YouTube channel?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it was kind of an experimentation.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_01: And what I found is that my AdSense revenue actually went down when I was doing a lot of YouTube lives, because I feel like my audience as of right now doesn't really watch YouTube lives like they watch just normal YouTube videos.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So since I've kind of taken the foot off the gas of YouTube Lives, my YouTube AdSense has gone up.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I think what that tells me is that I don't have to do weekly YouTube lives.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, what if I did once a month YouTube lives just because they felt fun for me?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: But the priority there isn't to make money from them.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's instead just a fun way to create content and collaborate with somebody.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like just doing that experiment allowed me to test and see like what does best on my YouTube channel.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then also like what do I value?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: And like what is the priority for these things?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's another check in your business of networking, you know, like meeting new people, making new connections.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: It goes beyond just clients and getting paid.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Again, like the I'm just like constantly blown away at like how many boxes YouTube can check by one activity, right?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's cool.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: I like now that there's the different, you can do a short, you can play around with lives, you can do the long form.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And for you, it's been this constant feedback of getting to know yourself and getting to know your audience more, which is incredibly valuable market research, right?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So um I like the idea of YouTube.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: The one question, you know, as you've been talking, you've mentioned the negative side of it a couple of times.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think that does hold people back.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: People can be brutal on YouTube, especially because it is a little bit more disconnected from a profile, say like on a Facebook or an Instagram where you have to comment and be yourself.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think YouTube, it's easier to be a bit more anonymous.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that can sometimes bring out the worst in people.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I always think you have a really good attitude about negative comments and reactions.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard you talk about it before.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Would you mind telling us about like your experience with that and kind of how you coach yourself through it?
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say like it's funny because that's what kept me from really like talking about my YouTube channel and like trying to promote it because I was horrified that the more people that saw it, the more shitty fucking comments I would get.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that is also, I think, why I get nervous creating a YouTube video because automatically in my brain is like, oh, wait a minute, this is gonna go out to a platform that has millions of people, and so you you have no control over who's going to see this.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing with like getting a shit ton of views on Instagram reels and TikToks.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like some of those comments can be pretty brutal.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think I played into an Instagram hater once or twice.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I've learned my lesson.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the the reaction for the one video was like, oh, well, like you didn't tell us that in order to use this tool that like you had to put in your credit card information and like that's really out of integrity, like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Something along those lines.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, listen, Donnie, you don't have to like use the tool, like use it or don't.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I wasn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes, is like what I responded to.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Mistake.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because do you think I'm about to change Donnie's mind about my integrity?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think Donnie really gives a shit about my integrity?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Well, next time you should probably take somebody's criticism instead of trying to get all snarky with your response and like blah blah blah.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, heated, man.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was like pacing around and I'm like bitching to Andrew about it.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: And like, and then we're laughing.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Mariah, who gives a fuck?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I give a fuck about Donnie right now.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Screw him.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put him into a corner.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't, you don't do this.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then I was just like, I'm not changing anybody's mind.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like that situation, and I don't know if his name is Donnie, but like in that situation, I learned my lesson to not respond to shitty comments like that.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so I honestly don't get too many shitty comments.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: I would say I'm starting to get a little bit more the more that I grow, but like I'm only at 6,000, like less than 7,000 subscribers right now.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm still not a big channel.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: And like I'm a I'm a tiny channel, to be honest.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like compared to other YouTube channels, I'm tiny.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's only going to get greater, but I'm getting better at being like it's not personal.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like this feedback is not personal.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: And most of the time, people's feedback will be like, oh, you took forever to get to the point.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, or and then somebody else's was like, video starts at one minute and 50 seconds.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: You're welcome.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to be like, ooh, one minute and 50 seconds for my intro.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: I know some YouTubers who have a 10-minute intro, bro.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just interesting when you start to think about it like that.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm spending my time creating free content on the web to help you solve a problem and you're gonna shit on me.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I also think, like me, if I find a YouTube video that I don't find helpful, or I'm just like, oh my God, this intro is forever long.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not in a place where I give a shit enough to comment and be like, wow, shitty intro.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just like, what kind of space is this person in to where like they have to do this?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not personal.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: They're not like, wow, Mariah, you're a piece of shit.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like some of them might, but like they're not.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're just bitching because like I'm not giving them the solution fast enough.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Or I had somebody comment on a tutorial and be like, wow, she really didn't tell us anything.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had 75 other comments saying, Wow, this is the most helpful video ever.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for creating this.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, so Janet's just being an asshole and she doesn't understand the web, and there's nothing that I can do to help her.
• 40:52
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• 41:00
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• 41:07
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• 41:15
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• 41:35
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• 41:40
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• 42:00
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• 42:08
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• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's take you back to the episode.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's really helpful A to talk about it.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like I will tell Andrew when I get a mean comment so we can talk about it because he's really my grounding place of like, who gives a fuck?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: And he or he'll get really angry for me.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then I see how ridiculous it is to get that angry.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: So then I just start laughing about it, and then I'm like, this is not personal.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's definitely taken some time in order to build this up.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that I'm going to get thousands of more really shitty comments, but I also have to remember that like there's way more good comments than there is bad comments.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's the truth.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I like what you're saying.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like the the skill is don't take it personal, right?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is nothing about you.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's everything about them.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for breaking that down for us.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think that like for me, honestly, is one of the bigger things that holds me back.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it holds most people back.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think like we've all heard the answers there, and we like know the right, you know, it's not about us, don't take it personally, but it's hard in practice.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I like like that you shared a real example of like, like for me, I can't people tell me don't take a personal all the time, but like you have to strengthen the muscle, dude.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: You have to like learn how to not take a personal.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just read something shitty that somebody says and then I'm not going to take this personal.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe some people have that naturally.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: I sure as fuck do not.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, it's taken me a while in order to strengthen this and just like build that muscle of resiliency and also having support in place to like.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when I am spiraling?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: I have friends to reach out to.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: I have Andrew to reach out to.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's important too.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I like that part of the story in particular because I feel like I have it in my head that all these people online, when they see the negative comments, I always hear that, oh, I just feel sad for them.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And like I know that they're not in a good place answers.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, it's nice to hear that, yeah, there's a reaction too.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Cause like I would still react.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's nice that like I could get better at not reacting, but like I would still react.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so like hearing you say, Yeah, I still react, I tell Andrew about it, or like I bring it up and talk with people about it.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's just uh encouraging.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: And what's interesting is that I'm starting to have a lot more people reach out.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, so sometimes when I get people reaching out, like leads from YouTube, they usually will slide and fill out my contact form.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: They won't fill out my project request form.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: So most of the time I'm like, hey, like, thank you so much for reaching out.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, please take the time to fill out this project request form.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the leads aren't a good fit and sometimes they are.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: But it's interesting.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yesterday I had somebody reach out and he was like, um, hey Mariah, I'm interested in like your expertise, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I sent him my project request form and his name is Mike, and like Mike didn't fill it out.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: And usually I have this boundary of like, I'm not hopping on a call with you if you can't take the time to fill out my project request form.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: I had a feeling about him though.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like he sent me over his URL and his URL, like his business looked very professional.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: And like sometimes that's kind of the issue is that other people, it's like, I don't know how serious you're taking this based on your website.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: But like his website, it seemed like his business was around a while, whatever.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, sent me another message.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, I tried to fill out the project request form on my mobile device, but it wasn't going through.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you could take a second just to call me, I would appreciate it.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Most of this is red flags, dude.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like most of this, I'm like, hell no, I ain't hopping on the call with you, Mike.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what the fuck do you want?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: But then I was like, you know what?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: I just have this gut feeling.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I ended up calling Mike and I was like, Hi, Mike, like, this is Mariah.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Oh my God, this is incredible.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: I watch all of your YouTube videos.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: I can't believe that you actually called me.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is so great.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: I swear I'm not just gonna like, you know, praise you this whole time.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: I actually do have a question and like I would love to pay for your consulting and stuff like that.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: I just can't believe, like, I've been a longtime fan of your channel and like I watch almost every single one of your videos, and I just really appreciate like your perspective and your approach.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, keep saying it, Mike.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if this entire phone call is like you telling me how great it is, like I appreciate that.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: But, anyways, his question ended up being like, he wants SEO support, but he's in those weird chokehold relationships with a web design agency, doesn't have control over his website, doesn't have control over this.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: And like the conversation, I think, was just really good.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I was able to give him advice to be like, hey, step number one is to like get control of your domain name, get control of this.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: But we were only on the call for like 15 minutes.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was able to like really give him personalized support and like to hear that feedback from somebody watching, like one of my YouTube channels, and being able to like give them feedback that could potentially change the success of his business online.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, oh my God, like he was like, Mariah, I you have no idea how much I appreciate this.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm going to reach out and like I'm gonna see what I can do, and then I'm definitely gonna follow up with you.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, even if he doesn't turn into a client, I kind of see it as like that's a good deed for the day that I was able to like share my wisdom with somebody that needs it.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because isn't that the whole point of me starting a YouTube channel?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: But I have to be careful because it's like I can't answer every single email and every single phone call that people reach out to.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like, I'm glad that I was curiously guided in this situation because I feel like my five minutes of suggestions were really helpful.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like you just you never know like who's watching your YouTube videos, and you can't judge the effects that they're going to have on people and in my case and their business by just the negative comments.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's important is to rethink about all the people you are helping and then and all the ways you're helping that you're not even aware of, because it really is like a ripple effect kind of thing where you have no idea what you did and how that could help them, and then potentially help their families, or they could help others.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think zooming out and remembering like this one little negative thing is just a drip and this big ocean of awesomeness and all these people I'm helping.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, go ahead.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just gonna say, like, you also like just that conversation.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm like the SEO person, like the website SEO person in his brain.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: I have no idea like who he's friends with or what conversations he's gonna have.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then in person, he could start in person referring me to other small business owners that he's around.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's what's cool about YouTube and about online business in general, is that you get to be connected with all the different people.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I just remembered this is exactly how I met Miranda.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Miranda's been on the podcast before, and like me and her are really good friends.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: We vox her almost every single day.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: She actually found me from that GA4 Google Analytics 4 video and reached out and was like, Hey, do you want to be on my podcast?
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love the way that you explain this stuff.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then we were having conversations, and now she's like one of my best friends that I've never even met before.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: I did not know that about Miranda.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's really cool and encouraging.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: So another box we can check is find new best friends on YouTube.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I like that example, and I want to highlight something.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is a bit of a tangent, but I think that people, you know, my age and less, so you and like younger were really hesitant to like get on the phone with people.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I like what the story you shared there.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of course, have boundaries.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: I am the first person to talk about having boundaries in your sales process and how you you need that to be efficient with your time.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: But allow there to be some flexibility and some wiggle room because genuinely there are people online that they don't get it, like they don't understand the forum, or maybe they tried and it didn't work, or like they're just phone people.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole generation of just phone people.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: And those people, a lot of times, they're they got money to invest, they're taking them so seriously.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: They can be really great clients that are really respectful of you and your time.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, if you've got that gut feeling or that intuition of like, hey, this may be a moment to like let a boundary slide here, I think that's fantastic.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have made so much money this year by just getting on a phone call with people.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to like highlight that.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think it's cool that you are building this YouTube channel and you're online and you have really strict systems and processes, but then even within that, we can have some flexibility and like room for grace and little offerings that we can give in our day, little acts of kindness that we can do.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is fun, and that connection piece is fun as well.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I feel like YouTube, what I'm taking away from this episode is the big downside of YouTube can be almost like it's an echo chamber, you're by yourself, you're not getting that like immediately direct connection that you would get maybe on like an Instagram.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: But aside from that, it's like a lot of wins, a lot of things in the pro column.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I'm sitting here, the last question I think maybe we can dive into is I I've certainly made my choice about this.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering if people in our audience are in a similar situation.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're considering I want to make more content, I want to be more visible, I want to refine my voice on a platform.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Should I do a podcast?
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Should I do a YouTube channel?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: You are someone that's got their feet in both.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who would you recommend go podcast?
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And who do you think is a YouTube is a great fit for?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's a really interesting question.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: What I've learned, let me preface this by what I've learned from doing YouTube lives is that you can start a video podcast on YouTube, and it might even be easier to do so because you don't have to worry about editing.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can kind of just like show up live and then publish it.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then once you're monetized, you can just click a couple buttons and now you're making money from it.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like you can absolutely host your video podcast on YouTube.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: I actually have um another business friend that I know that that's all her YouTube channel really is is just lives where she's just talking.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so I do think that if you wanted to start a podcast, but you didn't want to worry about like where do I host this content and what about editing and like all of that stuff.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that YouTube is an easier platform to dive into in terms of that.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of like a traditional YouTube channel versus a podcast, I like this podcast because it allows me to express my thoughts and to have conversations that maybe aren't related to keywords necessarily and allows me to have deep, transparent conversations.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: Also, I think our podcast is interesting because like we're not using it for lead gen for our businesses.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's more of just like expression and talking about things and having really good conversations.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like if you're into like having conversations with people and you just you want to talk, I think that a podcast is really great.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to teach, or if you want to screen share and show people things, or if you're talking about things that like you might have to share your screen and walk people through, or if you want to build video assets, then I think YouTube is great.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like YouTube is great in my business, the way that I have set it up.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube is really great for offering actionable, practical solutions and for building sustainable, findable resources that I can use for clients, that I can include in my digital products and all of that.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: But like it's very SEO or like website or like online business tactical focus.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a learning platform.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I see it.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_01: The content that I create on YouTube is like more to give people that content that they want to learn from.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't the case with all of them.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like Joe Rogan has a YouTube channel and it's literally just like his podcast.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: There is also YouTube channels that they use it literally just as a video podcast.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how I use it, but that's possible.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then the podcast is not learnable content.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's more just like thought-provoking and conversational.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like that would be the main difference.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense to me.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: So then it comes back to um what we're constantly chatting about on here is it's a process of self-evaluation for you for sustainability, right?
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel really lit up about reaching out to a bunch of people in your network and having really great conversations and going deep?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: But even in the podcast world, we've seen there's a lot of short little podcast episodes.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: The cool part about all of these platforms is really you have the tools to slice and dice it in so many different ways.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you want to show up?
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you love the lives and the interviews?
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you love the storytelling and the educating?
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: That to me is like um opening the lid a bit more for possibilities on like what I could do on the platform.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like with YouTube, do you want to be on video?
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't want to be on video, then like maybe start a podcast.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know that that's a huge thing for people.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I don't want to have to worry about getting ready or like getting camera ready, which also like you don't have to in order to have a YouTube channel.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_01: But if that's a thing, then maybe start with a podcast.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's different, like you were saying, there's different ways to kind of like chop this up and use it.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like if there's one thing that I've learned from all of this, from I've I feel like my hands are in so many different pockets, like in so many different buckets.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_01: And like what I've learned is like you get to do this any way that you want to.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I can create my YouTube channel and create the content that I want to create that feels beneficial for me, that feels fun for me.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm able to, I hammered out three YouTube videos in four hours the other day because I created a channel that supports the way that I want to show up and educate, that supports the way that I want to create my channel.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I also say, like, that's why I have really minimalistic video editing too on my YouTube videos.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to be Mr.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: Beast on YouTube.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to have a million jump cuts and like have highly edited videos.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to attract subscribers that are going to want that kind of content because that's not the kind of content that I want to create.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's cool that it's like you get to create the content that you want to create.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I have a friend that is starting a podcast on YouTube.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, she doesn't want to create YouTube shorts.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: She just wants to go live and then have her YouTube channel be like a podcast.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like you get to do this any way you want to.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like we have to remember that because even starting the podcast, me and you have had questions of like, well, should we have shorter episodes?
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Should we have longer episodes?
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what should our episodes be?
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: What do people say is like the best kind of content to create in this medium on this platform?
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, it's we're data people and like we're strategy people, and that's cool, but we have to pair that with like our zone of genius and like what kind of content we want to create.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because if it doesn't feel fun, if it doesn't feel easy, if it doesn't feel aligned for you, you are going to burn out, you are going to overwhelm yourself, and then you're going to resent creating content.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like allow yourself to explore different ways of doing this, and it doesn't have to look like anybody else's.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you think, you know, we've mentioned in this episode, Mariah has a video where she really dives into like the data on running behind the scenes of running a smaller YouTube channel.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll definitely link to that video in the show notes.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: But what other resources, you know, if people were kind of curious about dipping a toe into YouTube, what else do we have available?
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I did create a YouTube SEO starter kit that we can link to in the show notes.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you can use the code SEO love10 for$10 off.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's basically like everything that I've learned from creating a channel, from growing a channel, and like combining my SEO side.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've put it all into that starter kit.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's silly that I called it a starter kit because it's really like the ultimate guide to YouTube and like using SEO when I dive into like what I do after I publish a video.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_01: How do I SEO optimize a video?
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_01: How do I promote my videos?
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: How do I figure out what content to do?
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's literally everything in my brain that I have learned from creating a YouTube channel.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_01: I put it into that guide.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely download that if you're interested in it.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say that like when you're first starting out, YouTube feels for some reason, it feels extra chaotic.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like, okay, now I have to figure out my microphone.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have to get a camera, figure out my camera.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: Am I going to edit my videos?
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because now I have to figure out how to edit these.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or if I'm not going to edit them, how do I tell somebody the style that I want my videos to be edited in?
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_01: How do I find a video editor?
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: How do I figure out ideas?
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can I create videos weekly, bi-weekly?
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of videos am I going to create?
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then it also comes like, do I even have the confidence to show up and create this channel?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel horrified.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's how I was in the beginning.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I tell you, I feel like my higher self or like somebody else like pulled me and made me do this because like I feel like I created my YouTube channel kicking and screaming.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: But then there was also this internal thing that was like, no, you need to explore this.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just want to remind people like to start small, allow your first videos to fucking suck, dude.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_01: My first videos are garbage.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_01: They are like cringe worthy.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_01: But like, in order to get to a place where like I was able to find my style, in order to get to a place where I was able to figure out what is my my editing style, what kind of people do I want to attract?
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_01: I had to just do the damn thing.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: I had to stop sitting here and educating myself on it.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: I had to stop here and like stop strategizing it.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I just had to learn from fucking integrating it.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: But like allow the first videos to suck.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_01: Allow yourself to not know what you're doing.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: But like if every video you can just learn one more thing, like maybe the first video, you get your mic set up and like your audio sounds decent.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it does, it doesn't even have to sound great.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like in my first 40 videos, 50, 60 videos, my audio was like super tinny and I didn't even notice because I had no idea about audio stuff.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: People still watched them, people still thumbs up them, they still commented nice things on my videos.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like I just learned this stuff little by little instead of starting this channel to be like, I need to get monetized tomorrow.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: It took me a very long time to get monetized.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would also suggest like instead of your end goal being monetized, what if your end goal is like, can I just create resources for my clients or for my potential clients?
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can I just create videos that are like findable and searchable on my zone of expertise?
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_01: Can I create videos that feel like sustainable resources that I can use in different ways so you can get the most use out of them?
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that is way more motivating to be like, oh, well, I'm only creating videos to get monetized.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: And probably that's the correct motivation that's going to keep it sustainable and keep people coming back to you.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: Cause as we know, when we're focusing on only like, how do I buy a private island as fast as possible, that's not going to lead to anything um meaningful.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, thank you so much for letting me grill you about YouTube.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_00: I am um inspired by you.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was really courageous.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that being on YouTube gave you an opportunity to kind of face a lot of fears.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like almost like this.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna call it safe because it's certainly not safe, but it's been a platform for you to kind of show up and be seen and refine your voice and meet your people and figure out how you serve your people.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all of that is like that's the juice, right?
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the real stuff that nourishes us and keeps us going.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think it's encouraging that you've used the platform in that way, along with all the other good monetary stuff that's coming along with it.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, with that, I kind of want to end the episode on how we normally end, which is curiosity, right?
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I you helped me pull some threads together.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_00: Something that's really recently sparked my curiosity is the idea of voice and how voice sounds in portraying confidence.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I saw this weird uh YouTube or Instagram ad the other day about you and I talk a lot of time, like what is confidence?
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_00: How do we show up confident?
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times it's like about what you wear, or you're in power poses, or how you're standing.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing I had never really thought about is the sound and the voice.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_00: Really, to me, I'm judging confidence on how your voice is.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is your voice shaky?
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: What's the timbre?
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like, are you speaking from a place of conviction?
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_00: All that stuff goes a long way.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: You and I have been kind of interested in like sound and sound healing, which is a teaser for a later episode this season.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea of sound and how that plays a huge role in communicating confidence is really interesting to me.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to go down that rabbit hole a little bit more in hearing you talk about like, yes, of our first few podcast episodes, Mariah and I had shaky voices.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to go back and listen to those.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_00: Same with Oh my God, we were so nervous.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: We were like taking deep breaths before and after.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_01: We were like, oh my God, are we doing this?
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_00: Did we do this?
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let it be that.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, there's no other way to it, but through it, right?
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's a little bit of like, have grace with yourself, even when your voice shakes, still show up, still do the damn thing because you're still gonna help people, you're still gonna do some good, and you're taking a valuable step towards that place of speaking from a place of conviction and of groundedness.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that's such a lovely point to be in.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna continue this conversation about confidence through sound.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm particularly interested in that.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: But you tell me, Mariah, it can be related to this stuff or anything, what is sparking your curiosity lately?
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: You've kind of got a lot going on.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just wanted to add one thing that like I didn't realize until now.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_01: But like looking back, like I grew up on YouTube.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like I have like video proof of like me in the very beginning of my business, and like that's obviously very cringy, but also like really beautiful to watch that like she fucking took the chance, even though she was horrified.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and like that's really, really cool.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so I feel like worst case scenario, you create some videos and it becomes like an online journal entry.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_01: Even this, even the video that we're gonna link to in the in the show notes about like how much money YouTube was paying me when I had less than 5,000 subscribers.
• 1:05:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I kind of said I'm excited to share this video just for like an online diary entry of like how my channel is growing.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: And like, how can we just see this in terms of experimentation and play?
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if we can make some fucking money along the way, like that's cool because like everybody's out here creating short form videos for Instagram and for TikTok and whatever, and that shit's not searchable.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: You can't like you're not gonna send your client an Instagram reel and be like, hey, I talked about how to do this on this reel.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, you're probably going to write it all out in an email.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_01: But if you had a YouTube video, it can walk them through something or explain something to them.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like, that's why I love YouTube, is because like all of these videos just become little, little pockets of resources that I literally get to use in so many different ways.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_01: And they're allowing people to find me.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: They become assets, like you're creating assets for your business.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like a library of assets that are little like soldiers out there working for you while you sleep.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful and I'm getting paid money by YouTube to create little soldiers that bring people to my business.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like if you have been bit by the YouTube curiosity bug, allow yourself to explore this.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_01: And like if you guys have questions about this, definitely reach out to me, Mariah Magazine Seal.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let me know your thoughts about this.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: But back to your question of what am I curious about?
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was like a long-winded way to come back to this.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_01: What am I curious about?
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm curious about like the next phase of my business.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I've been like living in North Carolina on the mountain at the time of this recording.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is like my very last call before I pack up my office and we're gonna head up to Buffalo to kind of drop all of our furniture and our bed and everything off at my parents' house in their basement.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're driving back down to live in Tampa, Florida for a couple months.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_01: We signed like a three-month agreement for like a it's kind of like a long-term Airbnb.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so I feel like this year living on the mountain has been wildly nourishing.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've had so much space to really test and tweak and like in my life and in my business, it's been really healing for me.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been really nice to not have any social obligations.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like in with friends and family, I've always been the glue that holds everybody together.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then I was using that as like a fucking badge of honor that like I couldn't do what I wanted to do because I had to hold everybody else together and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like living on this mountain and literally just having me and Andrew, which it's funny because this was the very first place that we moved into together.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so we went from not living together and actually living an hour away from each other to then living literally in a place where it was just me and him and the raccoons and the squirrels.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_01: But it's been so good for our relationship.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's been so good for my business.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I've just had so much space to like create and play around and really get clear on like my zone of genius and just like what I want to do.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's been really good, but I feel like I'm in this, in this place now where like I'm ready to come out of hibernation.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm ready to kind of like explore what this next version is, which it's going to continue to be YouTube.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've realized like how much I truly not only enjoy creating YouTube videos, but how fucking easy they are because I've set myself up with a system that supports me.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I've already decided that like these are the videos that feel fun for me and doing them bi-weekly, like that all feels really supportive.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so then it's like, what do I want to add on top of that?
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_01: And like I'm really curious about exploring like speaking engagements and stuff like that.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be fun to be in an area that actually has fucking people because right now I it's the wild animals and the bears around here.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be nice to be in a place and start thinking about like what would it look like to maybe pitch myself to speak at a conference or like do a live panel and stuff like that.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so I feel like I'm just really curious about what this next phase is going to bring.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like right now I'm allowing the next two weeks to just be two weeks of like rest so things can settle.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like once once I'm in Tampa, once we're settled into like this long-term Airbnb, I feel like some some new ideas and some new confidence and some new clarity and direction is really gonna come through.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like I'm just curious about like where the fuck all of this is going and how I can continue to build on like the really strong foundation that I guess I didn't know I had until this year.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you're at a really fun time where you're like literally ending a chapter and starting a new one.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's been really fun to follow along with your journey.
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I am curious also about what's coming next for you.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for sharing that.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I had one more thought kind of download as you were sharing about um what you're curious, kind of like tying it back to YouTube.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, as you were talking, I kind of just pulled some pieces together about myself, you know, like what's held me back from YouTube.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Really, you know, I've kind of shared a few things, but like let's peel back the layers.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's there's a fear around not being an expert.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have ideas for topics, but I'm like, oh, who am I to talk about that?
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's already somebody on there to talk about that.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_00: There already some is somebody on there talking about it.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps they know more than me.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that I think holds me back.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I think I found the most encouraging about your story is it's not about knowing the most.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about getting on.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like if I I would have this idea that if I'm gonna do tutorials, I need to be the one on there that knows the most and has the 10 million years of experience.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what it is.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_00: What it is is you getting on there.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_00: For in your example was an awesome one, like being a young female that's talking about SEO, what a unique voice.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to say anything like necessarily new and mind-blowing.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_00: All you're doing is translating what you've learned into a way that you learned to make it work for you.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all it has to be.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that for me, that's my biggest takeaway from this episode is demystifying, like we talk about um the professional and the knowledge level that needs to show up on YouTube to actually like use it effectively in my business, if that makes any sense.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for sharing that story.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just found it wildly encouraging.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm glad that you said that because that is a really good reminder.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I need that reminder too.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've created over a hundred YouTube videos at this point.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I need that reminder too.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, what's really inspiring to me sometimes, like when I'm doing keyword research, I'll look to see who's already created a video on it, and I'll watch like two of the videos.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'll like buzz through them.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason, that's like inspiring to me.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, I could do this in my own way.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like they miss this, they miss that, they miss this.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not like their way is bad, they have their own audience, but my way is unique.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like my people want to know my perspective on this.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so if I'm not gonna share my perspective on this or like how I learned it, or how I explain it to clients, people are only gonna be left with the other options out there on YouTube, which might not be a good fit for them.
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like I hear all the time that it's like, wow, Mariah, you explain this in a way that I've never heard before.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_01: I also get people be like, I watched seven other videos.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank God I found yours because like you finally clicked some things into place for me that like nobody else has.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: That that's so motivating for me.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're leaving your people hanging.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you're not out there explaining this in the way that you've made it work for you, there's a whole gaggle of people out there that are sitting there in the dark.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, so that is so encouraging.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's like the ultimate motivator.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And think about it.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if me and you are going to YouTube and we're finding things, who are we gonna get along with the best?
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Who are we really going to like drive with the best?
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_01: People like us that think about it like us, that kind of correlate things and like their perspectives like us.
• 1:13:09
  SPEAKER_01: And like, it's not gonna be some big expert, some biochemist and some blah, blah, blah, but some advanced SEO person that's been in the corporate world.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just I never learned well from that style, that hierarchy style of like, you come to me, I am the expert.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned from like, yo, dude, this is the shit that I'm learning with my clients.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is the way that I would think about it.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And naturally, that's what my people see.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I naturally become the expert, not because I show up trying to be the expert, but because I just show up and then they see me in my authenticity and the fact that like this is also my zone of genius.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I naturally just become the expert, but I'm not trying to like be the expert.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Natural expert is like a really cool term.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and that is a beautiful process.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really powerful.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much for interviewing me on this.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like YouTube is something that I kind of geek out about, but there aren't really too many like business owner friends that I have that are really exploring YouTube, which, like, what the fuck are y'all waiting for?
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can get paid to literally market your business, especially if you like educating, if you like teaching, if you have digital products, yo, let YouTube like drive the soldiers over to your shit.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_01: You never know what's going to happen.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, like I just had an interview with a journalist for a pretty decently sized publication in the online space talking about my YouTube journey.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have less than 10,000 subscribers.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have anything wild.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have less than 7,000 at this point.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's nothing too crazy.
• 1:14:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_01: But that was a thing that I thought too of like, nope, I can't start making money, or I can't stop, or I can't start being, let's say, an expert in YouTube until I have 50,000 or 100,000 subscribers.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, that's just not the case.
• 1:15:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm seeing the fruit from the work at a much lower barrier and I'm getting paid to do it.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's the cool shit because it's allowing me to diversify my marketing, but also diversify my income.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_01: How fucking cool is that?
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to see what kind of opportunities come.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna keep chugging along on YouTube.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we'll do a follow-up episode next season or the season after that.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_01: But this was really fun.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys are interested in learning more about like my YouTube process and all of that, like I said, you can download the YouTube SEO starter kit.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna leave the link to that in the show notes below.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Use the code SEO love10 for$10 off of that.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then obviously connect with me on YouTube.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, subscribe to my channel, thumbs up all of my videos, like please, and thank you so much.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can head over to my YouTube channel at Mariah Magazine.video.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_01: It will redirect you right over there, or you can just search Mariah Magazine and I should pop up.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then, yeah, I think we're ready to close this episode down.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_01: So remember, you have the power to create whatever the fuck you want.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the nudge, ask questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you in the next episode.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this episode of the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate you so much for being here.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Truly, this podcast is such a joy for us to create.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you love the conversation or you're a fan of the podcast and you want to support us in creating new episodes, feel free to head over to curiouslyguided.com slash support to buy us a coffee.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not already, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite listening platform so you can stay in the loop with all of the episodes we've got coming your way.
• 1:16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And while you're heading over to subscribe, slide over to the review section and let us know what you thought about that episode.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Reviews go a long way in helping us reach more listeners, so even if it's just a quick one, it helps us all continue to grow together.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you in the next episode.