building faceless youtube channels and sharing what i learn in public
Joined October 2019
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ryanKay retweeted
This YouTube video with a client got 18 million views.
So f**k it… I’m gonna break down the entire strategy behind it.
This will be the most useful thing you read about youtube this week:
ryanKay retweeted
i took the advice you shared and made some specific changes to my latest upload before it went live
I changed a few things to do with the title and thumbnail, on how the video needs to appeal to an audience + leveraging a thumbnail style that has worked before.
thankyou 🙌
ryanKay retweeted
If you find writing scripts mentally exhausting…
It’s because your brain is trying to do too much at once.
The solution?
Separate macro and micro-tasks.
First, tackle the macro (idea, framing, structure).
Then, take on the micro (writing, retention optimizing).
ryanKay retweeted
YouTube creators who ignore building these 2 skills in 2024 won't get very far. 👇🏼
1.Hooks
If you can't hook people, you might as well give up now.
I'm just kidding, don't give up!
That's just what I call a “statement hook”. The idea is you say something a little shocking to get the viewer's attention.
They call this “spikey marketing” sometimes because it's like you give someone a little poke that causes them to react. It's not for everyone, but you’ll see it all over the internet now.
Learning how to write hooks, no matter what type you use, is a 10x task.
You can use them in your videos, shorts, social media, website copy, emails, and even your dating profiles.
By learning one skill, you level up in multiple areas of your channel and business, which is why it should be at the top of your list.
2. Story
In 1945, a B52 bomber flew straight into the side of the Empire State Building.
Sadly, 14 people died, but firemen managed to save Betty Lou Oliver.
They put her in the lift to get her safely to the ground, but the wires snapped, and it plummeted 75 floors to the ground!
Ok, right now I bet you’re thinking… “No way! Did she die…what happened to her?”
You probably also had a pretty vivid image of this situation unfolding in your mind as you read that..
This is why story is so powerful because you set something up that the viewers want to know the outcome of, which means they pay attention and stick around to the end for the outcome.
Learning storytelling, like hooks, is another 10x skill because you can use it in videos, shorts, emails, landing pages, and anywhere you want to keep people interested.
So, what happened to Betty?
I’ll tell you after the third point (muuuhahaahhah).
Only joking, there is no third point. :)
Betty set the Guinness World Record for the longest surviving elevator fall of all time.
The real question is… did she jump in the air just as it hit the floor?
ryanKay retweeted
My salary as an employee:
Year 1: $54K (Big 4 accounting)
Year 2: $60K (worked at startup)
Year 3: $80K (startup)
Year 4: $105K (software engineer)
Year 5: $115K (software engineer)
Then, I quit my job to build starterstory.com
My revenue as an owner:
Year 1: $0
Year 2: $12K
Year 3: $67K
Year 4: $186K
Year 5: $497K
Year 6: $752K
Year 7: $1.6M
Bet on yourself.
ryanKay retweeted
Navy SEALs use a tool called AARs.
After Action Reviews.
It’s a process for reviewing projects, missions, training exercises or any other event you want to reflect on.
I adopted AARs for my portfolio of companies years ago, and they’ve been incredibly helpful.
The key is 3
...perfect questions. Here’s how we do them:
Step 1: What Went Well
We begin every AAR by asking this question:
“What replicable new learning did we gain from what went well?”
In any post-mortem, our brains can naturally focus on what went wrong. However, it is critical to get clear on what went RIGHT so the good can be repeated.
—
Step 2: What Didn’t Go Well
After reviewing what went well and the successes we can repeat in the future, we move on to constructive criticism.
We frame the discussion with a similar question:
“What replicable new learning did we gain from what did not go well?”
Notice - the question isn’t asking what went wrong...specificially what is the new LESSON we can incorporate for the future.
—
Step 3: New Standards
Once we’ve dissected the lessons from what went well and what didn’t, we turn our focus to the future.
Combining the insights from the first two steps, we assess the following::
“Drawing upon questions 1 and 2, what changes can we make to our processes to systematically improve our consistent tactical excellence?”
This reinforces that the standard is excellence, clear process is how we get there, and askswhat improvements to our process move us ahead?
—
Process note - each participant should complete these questions in writing 24 hours in advance.
AAR sessions begin with reading all of the written feedback.
Then the meeting owner leads the discussion of each question.
–
That’s the AAR process at a high level.
1) What went well (to be repeated)
2) What lessons exist from what didn’t go well
3) How we’ll modify our processes going forward (with excellence as the standard)
Give it a shot.
—
If you enjoyed this post:
• Follow me @mattschnuck for more threads on EQ, entrepreneurship, and growth.
• Retweet to share how to use AARs on your team
ryanKay retweeted
I have some news...
My SaaS, Potion, has been acquired! 🎉🥳
I've been building @potion_so solo for the last 2 years.
Here's the story on how things went down!
...even the sale price. 🙃
ryanKay retweeted
Rule of thumb for YouTube empire builders:
A piece of work (editing, thumbnail etc.) that doesn't meet your vision 100%, is not necessarily worse in value to the viewer.
Value to viewer is subjective, and we're all biased in thinking our vision is more valuable than others'.
Some people value sound design more than others, so imperfect sound design is annoying. Yet to the viewer, it probably isn't. Same with video editing, animation movement, you name it.
Hence, if your vision is 90% met, it's probably not worth correcting the team's work. Since then you're assuming your vision is the only definition of quality.
And that's a sure way to create robot workers, instead of autonomous people who trust in themselves to execute.
ryanKay retweeted
The founder of Reddit went in to try to sell their company to Yahoo.
The exec’s looked down at the founder and said, “Reddit is nothing but a rounding error to us.”
Alexis Ohanian took that f you and turned it into fuel.
They wrote it on their HQ wall as a reminder. Guess who is still standing bigger today.
So years ago I wrote some of the things people said to me over the years… and I kept them:
“It’s not impossible… but for you it is.”
“Call me when it fails and you need a job again.”
“Oh a blog… how cute.”
“You worked at Goldman… oh as a secretary, I'm sure.”
Let ’em talk. People doing things, give people not doing things something to talk about.
ryanKay retweeted
"Content-Product Fit"
When a creator doesn't need to change their video at all in order to integrate a product
Creators who find this are building multi-million dollar brands off their content
Here are 3 examples 👇🏼👇🏾
ryanKay retweeted
YouTube isn't "killing off" your videos. When you add a new video, it competes with your others for non-infinite viewer attention, so this dip is natural. Take search ranking for your channel, for example. New videos mean the old one will move down in rank by definition. 1/2
ryanKay retweeted
TLDR; if you’re basic, you
won’t stand a chance
ryanKay retweeted
70K Views $770 in Ad Revenue.
Over $10 RPM
Long Form. 19 Minute Video.
You would need 70M Short form views to earn the same money.
This also got me affiliate sales and my own product sales.
And for those who only care about YouTube it also got me 1400 subscribers from a single video. A 2% conversion rate.
Don’t sleep on long form just because of Short Form FOMO…
ryanKay retweeted
The secret to writing great YouTube titles is psychology.
But most people don’t know how to use it to get people to stop scrolling and click their videos.
Here are 9 psychological hacks to write better YouTube titles: