The core theme is building a sustainable content system focused on trust and value for a specific audience, rather than chasing virality, especially for high-ticket offers.
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This always pisses some people off. A
lot of times, optimizing your content
for going viral is actually completely
useless for your business. I built a
content system that generated over 2.8
billion views, 11 million plus
followers. But the most important stat
that I want to share is the 650,000
leads that we generated in just 2 and
1/2 years. In this video, I'm going to
help you build a content system just
like the top 1%. Now, the first thing
that I want to immediately flag and
qualify is saying that there is a lot of
nuance to this viral verse trust
conversation and debate. Just for the
sake of time, I'm going to make the
assumption that you have a high ticket
offer that you're selling to a very
specific and fairly narrow group of
people. Okay? It's not like you have a
probiotic soda that you're selling or uh
an anti-aging cream, right? For those
kinds of brands, going viral is a lot
more effective. It's actually kind of a
biggie that you really want. But if you
are selling a high ticket offer to a
very narrow group, well, I think it's
probably the case that maybe going viral
is not as useful as some of your local
gurus on Instagram will have you
believe. So, what I want to do is I want
to break down what optimizing for going
viral typically looks like, like how it
actually goes based on my 17 years of
experience. Now, I'm not saying this is
always the case. There are obviously
outliers. And this is to be clear when
it goes well, when you do it really,
really good. When you optimize for going
viral, you start getting more views, a
lot more views, and you start gaining a
lot more followers, which is wonderful.
You're seeing everything move up and to
the right on all the social platforms.
But here's what actually happens when
you do this. When you optimize for
virality, inherently you have to make
content that is wider. Okay? And
typically what this ends up doing is
diluting the message. Think of it like a
shot of whiskey versus a whiskey and
coke. Going viral and optimizing for
virality is like having a whiskey and
coke when you really want the foolproof
whiskey that burns as it goes down.
Right? That's what you are looking for.
Okay? And so in doing this, what you end
up doing is you create wide content that
is vanilla and attracts followers and
viewers off of that content. But what
are they wanting more of? That same [ __ ]
that you brought them in with. It's not
like they're coming in from some really
wide vanilla piece of content and all of
a sudden being like, "Yes, I would love
a very deep breakdown on how I can
conduct my marketing funnel from
Instagram to my email and then convert
on the back end." like they don't give a
[ __ ] about that [ __ ] And so what I have
seen and I have been a part of a team
where the creator wanted to do this.
Okay? And what happens is originally
you're building and optimizing your
audience around solving problems for
them. Taking the painful problems that
they deal with and helping them solve
them. But over time as you go wider, you
no longer serve their need. So what do
they stop doing? Consuming your content.
So, what you're doing is you're bringing
in all these people that are not
interested in the high ticket niche
offer that you have and they're coming
in, but they don't care to buy. They
have no interest in it. Meanwhile, the
people that were buying from you are now
tuning you out because your content no
longer serves them. So, as views and
followers are going up to the right,
guess what sales are doing? Straight
down. It suddenly becomes so clear. You
end up alienating the people that
actually want to buy from you. How dumb,
right? Yet, you are considering doing
this. I've considered doing this. Many
creators that I love and respect and
admire and look up to have considered or
have done this in a season. You don't
have to make that mistake. I'm sharing
the mistake with you right now so you
don't have to go down that road and
learn this lesson the painful way.
Because what I will tell you is it is
extremely painful to wake up one day and
realize the people that were buying from
you no longer give a [ __ ] about what
you're putting out. because what you're
putting out does not serve them. It's
kind of like how I tend to gain weight.
One day I wake up, I'm like, "Oh [ __ ] I
put on 20 pounds." Right? I wasn't
paying attention. I was just going
living my life, doing things, and being
busy. And then one day I'm like, "Oh,
fuck." It's the same in this instance.
You don't realize it as it's happening
until one day your ideal customer, maybe
somebody that you know and previously
had a relationship with or still do,
they tell you something like, "I used to
consume your content. I loved it. I
haven't watched a single video in the
last six months because none of it has
helped me. None of it has been helping
me solve the problems and the painful
problems that I have within my business
or whatever use case you're making
content around. Right? Maybe you were
helping people lose weight and keep
track of their calories and, you know,
get at least 15,000 steps a day,
whatever. And suddenly you're starting
to make videos where you're comparing
candy bars. That's no longer serving
your customers need. And so what's going
to happen is they're going to start to
tune out your content. Now on the other
hand, if you optimize for building
trust, I believe that is going to
provide insane results for your
business. Why is that going to provide
insane results? Well, I think in order
to answer that question, we have to
define what trust is. And I have a very
simple definition that I think will be
very useful for you. I believe that
trust is how much you believe that
someone or something will meet your
expectations in the future based on how
they have behaved in the past. If I go
out to start my Harley-Davidson, okay, I
flip the switch on and then I start it.
If all of a sudden tomorrow I go out
there and I press the ignition button
and it
and it doesn't start, it just peters and
it just dies. Do you believe that the
next day when I go out there, if I do
nothing different that I am going to
trust that it's going to start a little
bit less? Okay, that I believe is a very
simple version of how trust works. So
then how do you optimize your content
around building trust rather than going
viral? Well, I think it's actually very
simple. Do you need to identify what the
painful problems are that you are
solving for your ideal customer? What is
your unique solution to that painful
problem? How do you go about solving it
differently than others? I'm not saying
make [ __ ] up, but just look at what do
you do a little differently than some of
your competitors? And then the third
thing, you need to set expectations of
what the painful problem is that we're
going to solve in this video. The next
step is you need to make it easy for
them to take the actions to go from here
to here. What do they need to do in
order to get the outcome they desire to
solve the problem that they're looking
to solve? And if you do that and repeat
over and over, I believe that your
audience is going to have a strong
belief that you will meet or even exceed
expectations in the future. This is a
beautiful thing. Why? Because it means
that they're going to continue to
believe that you will deliver. And if
they believe that you're going to
continue to deliver, when you suddenly
make them aware of an offer that you
have, the likelihood that they believe
you'll deliver on that offer goes up.
So, the likelihood that they actually
convert goes up. And the reason why they
believe that is because they trust
they're going to get more out of what
you provide in your offer than what they
invest. Why? Because that's what's been
happening for the last 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 12 months, however long you've been
making content. Those actions on repeat
builds that pattern of trust in your
audience. It's incredible what this can
do. And so it takes this like wildly
confusing thing of like how do I build
trust and makes it very simple. These
are the very basic actions that you need
to take in order to increase this trust
with your audience. Now something you'll
hear a lot of people talking about is
who should you be listening to in future
ideation on your content, right? Do you
go to the comment section as your
source? Do you go to your customers?
Which one do I do? Well, it's going to
depend on what your offer is. If your
offer is a mass market, not niche
offering and it's low ticket, well then
yeah, you can look at the comment
section as inspiration. Why? Because you
have more people in the comment section
that are reflective of what your buyer
looks like, acts like, and who they are.
On the flip side, if you're like me and
you have a high ticket offering, well,
maybe the comment section isn't going to
be the best place for you to optimize
off of because maybe those are people
who are consuming your content, engaging
with it. They're awesome. I love them,
but they're not the type that is going
to actually end up buying my offering,
right? My one-on-one service or even
potentially joining one of our group
offering. Whatever group you want more
of, that's what you should optimize for.
If you want more followers, cool. Listen
to your followers. Make the content
they're asking you for. But if you want
more customers, what are your customers
asking for? I want to be clear. I care
about what you, the audience, is saying
in the comment section. That's I don't
want that to get misunderstood. But what
I want to share with you is that the
majority of my content that I put out,
the customers that we end up working
with, they don't, this is not a rule,
it's an observation. Often times they
don't comment publicly on the content.
They will DM, they'll text, they'll
email privately. And so I'm looking at
those conversations and what are those
people finding useful? What are their
follow-up questions that they want more
in-depth information on? This is how I'm
optimizing my content and it's how if
you have a high ticket offer, it's how I
recommend you optimize yours. This is
the source that you want to go to, your
customers, not necessarily your
followers. But the thing is is you're
never going to get to the point of
reaching your ideal customer because
it's not like the first video you put
out, boom, all of a sudden thousands of
people are seeing it. That's not what
usually happens. You have to go through
the painful period of doing this for a
while with very little results. And the
only reason that you're going to stick
with it is if you build a system and a
foundation that is actually sustainable.
Not trying to copy what your favorite
content creator is doing. not trying to
replicate what the guru on your
Instagram feed is telling you you need
to do by being on every single platform
all at once, posting 10 to 20 times a
day. That's ludicrous. I mean, there's a
crazy stat that up to 73% of people who
start making content quit within their
first year. Within their first year, all
the investment that you made, all of the
uncomfy feelings that you went through
and and being public and everything was
for nothing. And so you're watching this
video because you want to build
something that will last. So let's build
a foundation and a content strategy that
will do the same. So what does it mean
to build a sustainable system and
foundation? It means that your content
strategy needs to fit within the
constraints of your business, your life,
and your experience level. Now, I don't
want to sound like I'm like one of those
woo woo people. I'm saying you have
realities based on the business life and
experience that you have. You might only
have one or two hours a week that you
can dedicate to content. Another person
watching this video might have up to 10
hours a week that they can dedicate.
Everybody has different constraints on
their time and bandwidth, right? Like
energy bandwidth, mental bandwidth, not
just the time. You need to reverse
engineer what your work, your life, and
the experience level that you have. And
by that, I mean like how much content
have you filmed on camera? You're gonna
want to build a system that eases you
into it. I didn't start off this year
making content, putting out a video
every single week on YouTube. That would
have been [ __ ] absurd for me. I was
not used to being on camera. I had to
ease my way into it. Okay? And so that's
what I mean by creating a sustainable
system and foundation to work from.
You'll get way greater returns doing
20-minute walks every day for the rest
of your life than six months of Ronnie
Coleman working out. It's the same with
your content strategy. If you post a low
volume but consistently for many years,
you're going to beat the creator that
tried to sprint hard for a year and then
burned out and gave up after 12 months.
And and honestly, this is what kind of
separates you, the business owner, from
the average creator. You have a business
that you are running. And so, your
content strategy and system needs to
complement what your business looks like
and what your day-to-day in the business
looks like, not some round hole that
we're trying to jam a square peg into. I
can't tell you how many different
systems I've had to design based on the
entrepreneur. I've worked with
entrepreneurs who are incredibly busy
and they literally have like at most 60
seconds a week where they can actually
dedicate time to making specific content
for the platform. The rest of their
content is purely documented. It's just
somebody following them around and
filming them. I've also worked with
individuals who allocate up to 12 to 18
hours a week for filming where they'll
sit down for a full 12-h hour session on
a Friday and film all [ __ ] day.
There's all kinds of versions of this
across the spectrum here, but it doesn't
matter what others are doing. You need
to look at what your day-to-day looks
like and then build the system from
there. So, some questions that I would
encourage you to answer in the workbook.
And just a reminder, if you haven't
downloaded it, download the workbook.
There's a link in the description down
below. All you got to do is click the
link, enter your email, check your
email. We sent you the workbook. You can
download it and go through all of these
exercises along with me. And this
exercise has some questions that I want
you to answer. They're going to be like
prompts. They're basically going to help
you develop and understand what does my
actual capacity for content look like?
How many hours a week do you actually
have for content? Or what parts of the
content creation process bring you
energy? What [clears throat] parts drain
you? What time of day are you most on?
Where is your brain the sharpest? Or
where do you communicate the best? I
know for me, I am the sharpest and the
best in the morning. In the morning is
where I am primed. That's where I am my
best. Okay? And so, we try to orient as
much as we can. Today, we've been
filming all day, but we do our best to
orient our film sessions to when I have
the best energy and when I communicate
and verbally process the best. Make sure
that you go through the worksheet,
answer these questions. It's not
anything complex, but it's something
that I guarantee you have not sat down
and done. And so by putting this
together, you are able to then build
your content system, reverse engineering
the amount of time that you have
available rather than trying to keep up
this unsustainable thing that you know
is just a ticking time bomb for you to
give up at any point. Now, the next
thing that we needed to do after that
we've understood like, okay, we have
these foundations on how we're going to
do content, we need to choose our
medium. And this is really, really
simple. There's four different mediums
or ways of making content. There's
video, audio, written, and graphic
content. And instead of picking the
medium that all of your favorite content
creators are doing, or the medium that
everybody online is talking about, pick
the one that is most natural for you. If
you're already writing stuff, if you're
really into the written word, well, then
I would argue maybe the best way for you
to start is with Substack rather than
trying to do long form YouTube videos.
Especially if the idea of being on
camera makes you like shudder, I
wouldn't push you into doing that. I
want you to work your way up to doing
that. On the flip side, if you want to
communicate verbally, but the idea of
being on camera is scary, audio is going
to be a great method for you. No matter
what it is, I want you to pick how are
you going to communicate your ideas and
thoughts and who you are as a human most
authentically. That's the medium that
we're going to go with. Now the clear
and obvious reality here is video is the
best as in you can get the most out of
video. When you film a video you can
then clip a short, you can take the
audio and make it a podcast. You can
take the transcript and write LinkedIn
posts, emails, whatever, right?
Substacks. You are able to pull so much
from video. But again, if that's not
what you [ __ ] with, if that terrifies
you, then you're probably not going to
stick with it. or realistically, you're
probably not going to ever start in the
first place. And so I would tell you,
pick something that you can get momentum
on and allow the momentum to guide you
into the next medium that you choose.
And now once we have our medium, we need
to pick our platform. Oh my god, this is
where I think so many people go wrong
and they misunderstand a lot of messages
that people share online. Everybody
talks about dominating all the
platforms, being everywhere all at once,
being omniresent. And here's the
reality. That is a terrible strategy for
you. You are not Gary Vee. You're not
Gary Vaynerchuk. You're not Cody
Sanchez. Okay? Trying to be everywhere
all at once will cause you more harm
than good. At this stage, you will make
diluted [ __ ] content. I can tell you
with absolute certainty. Rather than
trying to focus on all of them, I think
you want to focus on a very select few.
Like let's say for example, I all of a
sudden tell my girlfriend I'm going to
take up this new hobby of rock climbing.
And all of a sudden, the first time that
I'm going to go rock climbing, I decide
to do the scramble up K2. Now, if you
don't know what K2 is, it's a extreme
mountain that is very difficult to
summit. Um, many people have
unfortunately passed actually in trying
to do it. I'm using an extreme example
here, but that's what a lot of you think
you can do with your content strategy.
You think that you can get into climbing
and suddenly climb one of the most
complex mountains in the [ __ ] world.
You think that you can start making
content and
make content at the volume and cadence
that the best creators in the world that
have been doing this for years that have
teams of 10, 20, 30 people behind them
are doing. And that is ludicrous. And
so, if you're starting off solo just as
yourself, what I want you to do is pick
one primary platform and one secondary
platform. Let's use the example of
YouTube and Instagram. Okay? What you're
going to do is you're going to make
pillar content for your primary
platform. Okay? That's YouTube. That's
the main dish that you are making. A
long form direct to camera video like
this. That could be an example of the
content that you're making as your
primary platform pillar content. And so
this is an example of my pillar content.
It's a long form piece of content that
I'm then going to use this pillar
content from my primary platform in
order to create content for my secondary
platform. In this example, Instagram,
which means you might just take the
direct to camera long- form YouTube
video and you might cut or clip moments
for Instagram reels. Or you might get a
little crazy and saucy and you mine a
moment that you really love, you want to
rewrap it as a carousel for Instagram.
That would be another way of utilizing
this process. See, your primary
platform, that's the one that gets the
energy and the innovation. Your
secondary platform gets repurposed
content. It's not that you don't care
about it, but it's that you're not
putting any of your energy towards
innovation on that platform. You're
reserving that for the primary. Now, if
you're starting out or restarting and
you have a team, I expect more of you.
What I want you to do is I want you to
pick three primary platforms. That's
what we did when we set out to build my
personal brand. And let's use me as an
example. We picked YouTube, Instagram,
and LinkedIn. Okay? And you're going to
follow a very similar flow to the solo
creator. You're going to make pillar
content for one of the primary
platforms. That's what this is. This is
the pillar content on our primary
platform. Then what you're going to do
is you're going to use the pillar
content to inform platform native
content that you create for the two
other platforms. I kind of hinted at
this for the solo creator. This could
look like taking a moment that you clip
and post as an Instagram reel. A moment
from the YouTube long form Instagram
reel. But another version of this is you
find the moment and then you rewrap it
contextual to the platform you're
posting it on. So maybe what that looks
like is you mine a moment from your long
form and instead of just clipping it and
posting that to LinkedIn as a short
vertical video, maybe you take that
moment and you do a written post with
it. You recontextualize the rapper in
order to perform best given what that
platform wants natively. Not every
platform prefers the same kind of
content, not the same style, not the
same way of communicating. There's many
nuances to this. And so this is how you
can behave in a dynamic where you have
three primary platforms. One thing that
I want to call out here is you need to
apply the eye of Sauron approach. I
believe this is the most sustainable way
to actually drive innovation on your
three primary platforms but not all at
once. And that's the key. In Lord of the
Rings, there's you know the eye of
Sauron and he's moving around and
focusing on one area at a time trying to
find the ring. Well, what we are trying
to do is find innovation. And so what we
are going to do is we are going to focus
on one of the three primary platforms at
once. All of the focus there. Everything
else goes on maintenance mode. And so
that's what we've been doing in the
first year of building my personal
brand. We have had the eye on YouTube,
Instagram, and LinkedIn have been on
maintenance mode. What does that mean?
That means that we're still posting on
all three, but YouTube is the only
platform right now that we're putting
our time, attention, and money towards
innovation. The other platforms, we're
making content that we know works in
formats that we know work. They're not
doing exceptionally well. Sometimes we
have a breakout, but we're not
optimizing for that. YouTube is our main
focus right now. And then once we get to
a point where we feel like YouTube is
really dialed, we will turn the eye to
Instagram or to LinkedIn and then we'll
move on to the next one. So you just get
to here's the key. Once you go through
all three, don't stop there. Turn your
eye back to the first one. Let's say you
go YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn. By the
time you get to LinkedIn and get some
innovation over there, you're going to
need to innovate on YouTube because your
audience has probably gotten fatigued.
The preferences of the audience on the
platform are constantly evolving and
that's why your eye needs to constantly
be shifting. Hey, you're here because
you're investing all of this time,
money, and effort to build your personal
brand and you're not seeing any results.
You might be seeing your views going up,
but often times sales aren't matching.
It reminds me of one of the clients that
we worked with this year. Highle media
team, absolute gangsters, yet they hit a
plateau. See, from a views and
subscribers perspective, they were
growing like crazy. But from a business
perspective, all of this new attention
was not converting into leads. It's
because they thought they were making
educational content when in reality they
were making entertainment content. So,
we walked them through our principles
and tactics of how to make educational
content, not entertainment. Their
previous average per video was 4 to
5,000 leads. This video got over 20,000
leads. And even though they weren't
optimizing for this, that video ended up
being their number three video of the
entire year with over a million views.
This is why we created Rson Select.
Click the link in the description below
if you want more information. Now, let's
get back to the video. Now, what
platforms do you pick? Like, how do you
know which ones to go with, right? Like,
how did I determine YouTube, Instagram,
LinkedIn? Here's the first question.
What medium did you pick? If you picked
video, well, what platforms prefer video
the most? If you picked written, for
example, what platforms do really well
with written? I'm gonna say if you chose
written, YouTube might not be the best
strategy for right now. Substack,
LinkedIn, maybe Facebook. These are
platforms that might better serve you
and the medium that you have picked.
Now, the other thing that you can ask
is, where does my ideal customer spend
the most time? And the natural follow-up
question that immediately comes is,
well, how do I figure that out? You just
ask. Okay? You ask around. It's not that
complicated. Whenever you go to a new
city and you're trying to find your
favorite organic market that serves non-GMO,
non-GMO,
you know, healthy [ __ ] you find
somebody who looks like they only eat
granola bars and go on hikes all day and
you ask them. Find somebody who looks
like or acts like or seems like your
ideal customer and ask them where
they're hanging out and go from there.
It's not that complicated. If you are
complicating it, I'm gonna call you out
right now. You are using it as a form of
procrastination and that's some
[ __ ] Just pick a [ __ ] platform
and start. You can always evolve and
iterate from there. You can change what
platforms you do 5 months or 5 days into
this thing. Don't debate. Pick a
platform and let's start posting. Now,
make sure that in this section you
didn't just listen to me share this.
There's actually an exercise in the
workbook that you should have
downloaded. If you haven't, click the
link in the description, enter your
email. We're going to email it to you.
Go to your email, grab the workbook, and
go through the exercise of determining
your platforms. Okay? For the solo
creator, you have an exercise. For the
creator with a team, you have an
exercise. Fill that information in. Now,
even if you are being the most
disciplined Dan out there and you
[laughter] have done a great job of only
picking, if you're a solo creator, one
primary and one secondary platform, or
if you have a team, three primary
platforms that you're going to focus on,
great job. That's amazing. You can still
[ __ ] it up by having an incorrect
cadence, a cadence that you cannot
sustain. Okay? So, just because you're
disciplined on the platforms that you
choose doesn't mean that you have a
winning formula. You need to also be
disciplined on the cadence that you
choose. If you choose an output that
matches your favorite creator with a
team of 30, you are doomed. As cliche
and [ __ ] ridiculously repetitive as
this sounds, because you've heard so
many people say this in so many
different ways, it truly is a marathon,
not a sprint. You can always increase
the volume of content that you post, but
what I have found is creators have a
very tough time stepping back the
volume. very easy to increase, but once
you set an expectation with your
audience, a lot of creators struggle to
walk that back. And so I encourage you
start with something that feels very
realistic now and increase over time.
And in the true sense of this being a
marathon, not a sprint, a great example
of what a sprint looks like on an
extreme level is think of all those
creators in the last, you know, three or
four years that have had their 15
minutes of fame. They went wildly viral
and then they disappeared. how much did
they actually get from that sprint?
Sure, there's a few individuals who were
able to take it and run with it, but I
would uh beg you to find somebody who
had that 15 minutes two years ago and is
still consistently showing up [laughter]
for their audience and is relevant in
any sort of way. I'm sure there's
examples uh and anomalies, but by and
large it ends up being a very short
sprint that is short-lived. If you don't
stick with this for a long time, no
matter how big you get, if it's for a
short period of time, there's not
actually that much value longterm for
you in it. You want to build a system
that allows you to keep reaping the
benefits of building a strong personal
brand and putting out content that
compounds in interest year after year,
not some 15minute moment in the
spotlight. Now, for you who may still be
on the climb of your career, and if
you're watching this, you're probably
that type of person. You you've never
reached your destination, so you're
always climbing. And one thing that I
will note from experience both for
myself and a lot of people that I have
worked for in the past, [ __ ] is going to
get bigger. If you're doing this
correctly and it's working, things are
only going to get crazier. Make sure to
build a system that is sustainable now
so that your future self thanks you.
What I will tell you is when we started
when I released my first how to build a
personal brand course back in April 2025
to now we're filming this December 2025.
My capacity has changed significantly. I
had a whole lot more time dedicated
towards content at the beginning of this
journey than I do right now. But lucky
for us, we didn't build an output
cadence that was optimized around the
time that I had then. We built it in a
way that was optimized around the time
that I was going to have in the future.
I probably had the capacity at the
beginning to do a weekly YouTube video.
But if we would have done that six
months, well actually probably like four
months into putting content out on
YouTube, we wouldn't have been able to
sustain that because I got way too busy
running the actual business. And the
whole reason why we're building this
personal brand is to support the
business. And so all of a sudden, if you
don't do this correctly, you get to this
weird place where your personal brand
and your business are like at odds and
competing with each other when really
they should be complimentary. So if
you're wondering, well, okay, this is
all nice and dandy, but how much should
I [ __ ] post, Caleb? Well, here's what
I would say. I'm not going to give you
an exact amount because you are
different from everybody else seeing
this right now. Start with a cadence
that feels doable. If I say, "I want you
to make a video uh twice a week on
YouTube." Does that sound doable? Are
you like, "Woof, that sounds like a
push." If it sounds like a push, don't
do it. What about weekly? What about
bi-weekly? What about monthly,
quarterly, yearly? Right? Like, you can
chunk up as much as you want. Here's the
key. It has far less to do with what you
start out with and far more to do with
the frequency at which you increase that
cadence. So as long as you know that
you're going to increase the volume
every two weeks, every month, every
quarter, every year, whatever, then you
are set. So even if in the first year of
making content, you only put out one
YouTube video a month, you know, in year
two, you could increase that volume if
you wanted and that wouldn't be a
problem because we are doing a marathon,
not a sprint. And I've got two
frameworks that will really help you in
accomplishing this. First one is the
accordion method and the second one is
the 702010 framework. I recommend using
the accordion method to figure out what
the [ __ ] your audience wants more of
from you. And I recommend utilizing the
702010 framework to help improve the
performance and longevity of your
content. The accordion method works just
like an accordion. You are expanding and
contracting, right? You are going to
expand the accordion when you are making
more content in the beginning. Okay? So
in the beginning you should have your
accordion fully expanded. This is your
high volume content so that you can
learn what your audience wants more of
aka what they call quality. So you're
using quantity
to inform what your audience says is
quality. And then once you have that
information on what your audience says
is quality, you're going to contract it
and not make higher quality content per
se because I believe that quality is not
something that you determine, but your
audience does. But what you're going to
do is you're going to put the same
amount of effort you were putting into
the expanded amount of volume and put
that same effort into less pieces of
content, increasing the odds that your
audience labels it as quality. And this
is a neverending cycle because the
moment that you think you know what your
audience likes and you contract and you
start making more of that, soon you'll
get to a point where your audience is no
longer resonating or responding to that
content the same way they were
previously. Which means we will have to
expand the accordion again to do more
volume to get more data and more
information on what our audience is
calling quality. Now, real quick, how do
you determine when your audience is
calling something quality? Well, if
you've never posted a single thing on
Instagram, let's start with your first
12 posts. If you do 12 posts over the
course of, let's say, four weeks, that's
three posts a week. At the end of that
month, you're going to notice that some
posts did better than others. And in the
beginning, you don't have much you can
go off of. So, I know this is shocking.
coming from me, but you're going to look
at the views. Okay, look at the views,
likes, and comments. What content got
more of those metrics, okay? That is
probably a very good indicator that you
should make more of that because your
audience clearly liked that more than
the other content you made. You want to
continue the expansion until you feel
like you have enough information and
certainty that you know, okay, cool.
Every time that I share, like for me,
like something that Trevor and I have
figured out very clearly on my Instagram
is when I share the brand journey
framework, it seems to work really well.
It does really well on Instagram
specifically. We expanded the accordion
enough to get that information and then
we can contract it and make more content
specifically around that through
Instagram reels, carousels, etc. The
next one is the 702010 framework. It is
extremely simple and wildly useful.
Consistent theme with me. I like things
that are simple and useful. 70% of the
content that you make should be [ __ ]
that you know works from the accordion
method, right? You expanded the
accordion. You got information on what
works. 70% of what you're doing should
be that [ __ ] You should know that this
is going to work. I'm not saying, you
know, it's going to be like uh, you
know, 10x multiplier, as in do 10x your
normal performing content. I'm not
saying it's going to go crazy, but it's
70% should be content that you know is
going to at least perform at benchmark,
if not higher. The next 20% should be
iterations of that 70%. It's still the
content that you know that works, but
you're doing slight tweaks to either the
hook, the setting, the delivery, the
packaging. You're changing one little
variable to try to improve the
performance of what is already working
to get better results. The last 10%,
this is where you are most likely to
[ __ ] up. They hear me say this and they
get excited about the 10%. But in
reality, once you start building a brand
and having content that works and you
have kind of a baseline performance, you
have a high likelihood of falling victim
to the trap of needing to always hit
your benchmark performance and you start
to get scared of trying anything new
that may or may not perform as well as
your standard. This is where people go
wrong. You need that 10%. You need those
big swings in order to figure out what
the next thing is. A lot of people who
make content for more than a year
experience audience fatigue. And what
99.9% of creators do is they get to the
point where their audience is fatigued
on their current style of content and
then they go into scramble mode. They
are suddenly met with the challenging
difficult process of needing to figure
out what does my audience want from me
now when it is needed. If you implement
the 10% in the 702010 framework, what
you actually end up doing is you find
the next version of your content before
your audience tells you they want it.
Thus, you never go into a point where
you're panicking and trying to figure
out what do we do? Suddenly, our content
isn't resonating. We got to figure this
out ASAP. No, you're going to be the
intentional, thoughtful creator who
actually ends up building a system where
you're always trying to put your content
out of business. You're trying to find
the next style, next format, next
version of content that you're going to
make that your audience isn't fatigued
over currently. The crazy thing is is
eventually they will. And that's why you
always want to be prioritizing that 10%.
Now, it's 10%. So, just to be clear, the
majority of your content should not be
these big swings that you have no idea
whether or not they're going to work or
not. You should have some predictability
in your content, and then 10% of it
should be big, big swings. Cool. So, we
have some clarity on how we're going to
make content and how we're going to
operate and all these things, but the
big question is, how do we come up with
ideas? How do you know what to make?
Right? I'm sure you've heard the classic
guru advice, which is something to the
effect of list out your top 10 favorite
creators in your niche. Then, what you
want to do is identify their top 10
videos on YouTube. Then, what you're
going to do is you're going to take the
transcripts from those videos. you're
going to put them into Claude,
Perplexity, ChatgBT, whatever AI tool
you use, and reconfigure the script for
you. [sighs]
It might be the the the little push that
gets you over the barrier of entry of
creating content. And if that's the
case, I'm not here to judge you. I'm not
trying to make you feel bad. But very
quickly, I encourage you to change how
you do this, okay? I am not the guy to
teach you how to rip off other people's
ideas and make them your own. That's not
me. To be fair, it is a strategy that
works as far as generating views and
impressions. But if you're here, you
want to learn how to build a brand
around optimizing for trust, which means
we need to start with the pain that our
customers feel. And so, like I said
earlier in this video, what you need to
do is start with your customers in mind
and the pain that they are feeling. What
problems do they have that you solve?
What are they afraid of? What pisses
them off and makes them frustrated? What
are they doing wrong? Maybe they think
they're doing it right, but what are
they actually doing wrong? Once you have
that painful problem, like we talked
about earlier, you need to take your
unique solution and pair it together. I
like to call this a beautiful gift that
you're giving your audience. Their
painful problem plus your unique
solution equals gift for your audience.
Now this gift gets multiplied by your
credibility. Okay, ideally contextual
credibility. What do I mean by
contextual credibility? Well, for
example, some videos I will give my
credibility as a general credibility
statement, which is something the effect
of I've been scaling personal brands for
17 years to over 30 million followers.
That is a general credibility statement.
Sometimes, however, we will use a
contextual credibility statement
specifically for the video. So, for
example, if we're making a video on
building a media team, I might reference
as my credibility statement building a
media team from 0 to 18 full-time
members while increasing content
performance quarter over quarter rather
than my general 17 years to 30 million
followers credibility statement. It's
contextual to the topic that we're
talking about which increases the odds
that your audience is going to believe
what you are about to say because you
have proven yourself worthy not in the
general space but in the very specific
space in which you are about to speak
to. And so in your workbook again if you
haven't downloaded it click that [ __ ]
link in the description. What are you
doing here? We want to be taking action.
Click the link enter your email. Go to
your email. Grab the workbook and let's
work on this together. What you're going
to notice is in the workbook there's an
formula that's listed out or laid out
for you to be able to look at and
follow. The formula goes as follows. So
the problem that your customer faces
plus your unique solution times the
contextual credibility that you have and
a proven rapper. That is what determines
the success of your content. If
somebody's making a video on how to
start your personal brand and their
credibility is that they've built five
different brands to 5,000 followers
each, that's great. That's impressive.
That's not easy to do, right? I'm I'm
not belittling it. But you're going to
take that information differently than
somebody who has scaled personal brands
to over 30 million followers. Or another
example, someone who has built personal
brands and had millions of followers,
but they've only been doing it for the
last 5 years versus somebody who has
gotten the same amount of total
followers, but they've been doing it for
17 years. And I I know this is sounding
like I'm trying to put myself into this
like wonderful corner. Just roll with me
here. Hear it through a humble tone. You
might hear that person differently
because not only have they gotten a
great result, they've done it through
many different seasons and scenarios.
And so you are more likely to believe
that they're not sharing what worked in
one scenario. They're sharing principles
that you can apply into your specific
scenario. The credibility that you have
is a huge multiplier that determines the
success of your content. Make sure that
the credibility that you're providing in
the piece of content is contextual to
what you're speaking to. The more
contextual it is, the more your audience
will believe what you are about to say.
Now, the exercise that I want you to do
is you're going to list out 10 to 15
painful problems that your ideal
customer faces. Then, for each problem,
you're going to attach your unique
solution to it. For each problem plus
solution, you need to write out what is
your credibility or the contextual
credibility that you are going to share.
Or if this is a video that lends itself
to your general credibility statement,
label it as such. In your workbook, you
can fill this out. you can actually
identify your problems that you solve,
what your unique solution is, and what
the credibility statement is going to be
that you're going to share in that piece
of content. This becomes wildly
effective. Now, the 2.0 version is maybe
you actually identify these things, the
painful problem and the unique solution,
and maybe you write two or three
different versions of what the
contextual credibility is going to be.
Why? Because you're not just going to
make one video about this problem.
You're going to make multiple videos
over the next couple of years about this
painful problem. And so you may want
different versions of a contextual
credibility statement to give for those
individual videos. Now, what I want to
focus on is your delivery. How you
communicate these ideas that we just
worked on coming up with. Right?
Delivery is one of the three levers that
I talk about in helping you stand out.
You have your contrarian belief, your
delivery, and your wrapping paper. I
believe contrarian belief is the
strongest lever you can pull. But I
actually believe that the second
strongest one you can pull is not your
wrapping paper, not the packaging, not
the formats. It's actually your
delivery. It's how you communicate the
information and ideas that you have in a
different way potentially than other
people in your space. I think a lot of
people mess up their delivery because
they think they need to be like this
like content version of themselves. And
I understand that that thinking, right?
Like I understand that there's a lot of
people out there that talked about how
you need to be really animated. You
know, there's the classic old statement
that I remember on old productions that
I used to do telling talent, you know,
whatever you would normally do, turn up
times 10 because it it shows up
differently on camera, whatever.
Essentially, what a lot of the industry
has done is created this perception that
you need to create this alter ego for
your content. Now, if that's your
stickick and that's the brand that
you're creating and you're intentionally
creating this alter ego, by all means,
you do you. But what I recommend is that
your delivery should actually be the
most authentic version of who you
actually are as a human. Delivery is not
about becoming someone else or building
this caricature version of yourself.
Delivery is actually about removing all
the things that keep you and are
stopping you from being fully you.
Delivery isn't this performance or
performative act. And this is where you
can go wrong. You start trying to
perform. You start acting right. You do
things that feel unnatural and not true
to who you are. You start trying to
match energy. This is a big one. You
start trying to match energy of your
favorite creator and you actually just
become like a an off-brand version of
them. You burn out because you've built
a character, not a personal brand. See,
I'm not asking you to perform. I don't
want you to act. I don't want you to
pretend and become somebody that you are
not. I want you to talk the way that you
talk. If you're an extremely calm
individual and that's how you
communicate in real life, be calm in
your content. If you're more intense in
the way that you teach, be intense. If
you're naturally dry and witty, I love
those kinds of people. Bring the dryness
and the witty humor into your content.
It should be a natural reflection of how
you operate and communicate and deliver
information in your everyday life. See,
it's far less about being some
charismatic character on camera, and
it's far more about actually
understanding the points that you're
trying to communicate to your audience.
The better that you understand what
you're trying to say, the better the
delivery becomes. It's not about being
this crazy, charismatic character. It's
about actually understanding what the
[ __ ] are you trying to communicate so
that you can communicate in a way that
they understand. Something that I've
noticed that you might be struggling
with is communicating your points of
view. And sometimes I think this comes
down to communication styles, uh,
experience, confidence, all those
things. But I've also come to realize
that a lot of the times, and it's kind
of embarrassing for for us to admit, but
a lot of the times, the reason why we're
having a tough time communicating
something is maybe we don't fully
understand the point that we're actually
trying to communicate. Now, this might
get a bit heady, um, so I don't want to
get bogged down on it, but I want to
give you something that can be very
useful helping you communicate your
ideas when you're starting off with your
personal brand and trying to get up and
running. Here's how I think about it.
You should be able to explain a concept
to three different people in three
completely different and unique
scenarios. If you are able to do this, I
believe you are at the point where you
understand the concept enough to be able
to communicate it in your content in a
way that your audience is going to
actually understand. And so even if
you're the most dry, sarcastic, monotone
individual, if you understand what
you're communicating and you're
communicating something useful, your
audience is going to [ __ ] with it. You
will build a following. It might not be
the biggest following in the world, but
it's going to be a following of
individuals who trust you deeply. You
don't have to be the most charismatic.
You just need to be the most useful. If
you optimize your personal brand around
usefulness rather than charisma, you
will build a strong personal brand. If
you optimize around charisma over
usefulness, you will build a vanitybased
brand. So the biggest thing that I want
you to take away from this section is
that you don't need to get better at
your delivery. You need to remove
everything that restricts you or makes
you feel unlike yourself when you are
making content. And one way that I've
gone about doing this for myself is
actually implementing game tape reviews.
It's like a quarterback Monday morning
reviewing the game tape footage of how
they performed on Sunday. I like to look
at my content and see what is it that
I'm communicating that was clear and
what are the areas that are not clear.
Trevor and I have been talking about
this a lot lately where I go on podcast
and I'll watch how I answer a question
to see how quickly am I able to
communicate the important points without
going down some crazy rabbit hole. I'm a
verbal processor and so sometimes I can
take a little bit longer than I need to
to communicate a point. And so something
I'm trying to implement with Game Tape
Reviews is every time that I find that
I'm taking a little too long on the
spot, I'll pause the video and figure
out how could I answer this question
more clearly and more concisely. Now
that we understand how we're going to
approach our delivery, trying to remove
all the things that make us feel like we
are not ourselves and not show up as we
are, we want to move on to the third
lever to pull on standing out. The first
two, like I said, are contrarian belief
and delivery, like we just spoke about.
The next one is your wrapping paper.
Okay, this is the third lever that you
can pull on to stand out in your space
or your niche. Something that I hear so
many times is like, man, this was such a
good piece of content. Why did it get no
views? Nobody watched it. I think a lot
of times, not always, cuz some of y'all
are creating some [ __ ] but most of
you are making really good content. And
it's not necessarily that the content
isn't good, it's that it doesn't have a
good wrapping paper or wrapper around it
to make it attractive to the audience
you're trying to reach. Cuz here's the
way that this actually works. When you
make content on YouTube, for example,
sure you have competitors within your
niche or space, but the way that
consumption works is you're not
competing with just your competitors.
You're competing with everybody making
content on YouTube. I'm competing on
your YouTube homepage with whatever
other channels you're subscribed to
along with Mr. beast and a creator
you've never heard of and 10 other
creators that you love and admire and
have watched a ton of videos from. Your
rapping is the only competitive
advantage you have before somebody
clicks. The contrarian belief and the
delivery that we talk about, those are
only able to be shared and communicated
and engaged with after they click. Your
wrapping paper is what causes them to
click so they can find out what your
contrarian belief is. so they can
experience your delivery. So, the way
that you wrap your content determines
how likely or unlikely someone is to
actually consume it. Aka, it's really
[ __ ] important. It's so important.
It's why it's one of the three levers
that you can pull on in order to stand
out. Your packaging, right? So, on
YouTube, this is your title and
thumbnail. It's also your hook. It's
also the format in which you're making
the content. What do I mean by format?
Well, you have like a direct to camera
video here. Uh, we have our in the wild
cinematic videos which on our channel
are if you're struggling with making
content, please watch this. Or if you're
struggling in your creative career,
watch this video. There are two videos
that are wildly different format, right?
And so that is how you can think of your
wrapping paper. It's either your
packaging, your hook, or your format.
It's how you're wrapping the concept or
concepts that you're sharing in the
content. Back to what we were talking
about earlier, how you're taking the
painful problem your customer faces,
your unique solution, that's the gift.
You need to wrap the gift in a way that
your ideal viewer is going to want to
rip open, aka click on. Now, the
exercise that we're going to walk
through in your workbook, again, if you
haven't downloaded it, download it.
Click the link in the description down
below. You're going to build a wrapping
paper library. Okay? I like to think of
this as I really love Christmas time.
I'm obsessed with it. I love Christmas
wrapping paper. I have all different
kinds. If I'm giving them multiple
gifts, each of them should be a unique
wrapper. Okay? And so my vision for my
future is one day I have a home where
there's an entire room [laughter]
dedicated towards wrapping paper. I know
that's absurd, but this is how I like to
think about it. You want to create a
room where you walk in and there's all
these different wrapping paper options
that you can choose from. You know those
screenshots that you take when you're
scrolling through Instagram or you see a
title thumbnail that you like on
YouTube? You take the screenshot and it
just goes off into nowhere in your photo
or your photo album and you never see it
again. Well, this is something where you
can actually house that inspiration and
utilize it in the future. No longer are
those screenshots just going to live on
your phone. They're actually going to be
utilized for the work you're doing. If
we're thinking about just the lens of
the packaging, right, the title,
thumbnail for a YouTube video, for
example, if you're making a YouTube
video, you've already filmed it, you're
in the edit, and you're trying to figure
out how are we going to package it. What
I have found, and what a lot of my
friends in the industry have found, is
when you need packaging, that is when it
is hardest to find. And so what you want
to do is you want to develop this in an
evergreen sense so that when you have a
video that you are wanting to package,
you go into your wrapping paper library
and you see what wrapping paper best
fits this video or this gift that I am
giving my audience. What I recommend you
do is you want to have a habit weekly,
bi-weekly, monthly, whatever cadence you
want. You want a habit of searching and
shopping for wrapping paper. And the two
best sources that I will recommend when
it comes to YouTube are oneof10.com and
YouTube itself. You want to set up a one
of 10 account. And I recommend that on a
weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis, you
scroll one of 10. And literally, you're
not searching for anything specific. You
are generally scrolling until something
catches your attention. And when it
catches your attention, you need to
screenshot that and add it to your
wrapping paper library. You can do this
in, you know, Google Docs, in notion, in
whatever project management tool you
use. Wherever you are going to actually
access this and use it on a recurring
basis, that's where you want to store
this inspiration. That's the room that
you want to house all your wrapping
paper in. To be clear, when I say you're
scrolling one of 10 and looking for
things that stand out, I'm talking
things that stand out that it's like,
oh, you clearly immediately know, oh,
this would be a perfect video for me.
But also, I want you to screenshot the
absurd [ __ ] the [ __ ] that you're like,
I don't know how I could ever turn this
into a video of mine or or package a
video of mine with this. You would be
surprised if you were able to see our
wrapping paper library. There are some
wild uh videos in there or packaging
options in there that are absolutely
absurd. There are some crazy things in
there, but I guarantee at some point
over the next 2 years, we're going to
use I'd say probably a good 50 60% of
what we have in there. This becomes
wildly useful and you'll be surprised.
One example that I will share is I
remember we were scrolling through and
we came across a video. It was like
something to the effect of how I attract
10 out of 10 girls every single day.
Trevor called it out and was like, "Wow,
this is a great idea." I'm [laughter]
just kidding.
We were looking and we were like, "Oh,
wow. It caught both of our attention."
And then we were like, "Okay, let's
screenshot it, put it in. I don't know
how we would use this, but maybe one day
we can figure it out." A couple weeks
later, we were talking with one of our
clients. All of a sudden, I realized I
was like, "Holy [ __ ] what we just
discussed with them, we could turn into
a video on how we attract 10 out of 10
clients every single day, week, or
month, whatever." cadence. There's an
example where an absurd piece of
packaging that on the surface would
never make sense for us suddenly made
sense when we had the right problem and
solution combination to meet that
wrapping paper. So develop your wrapping
paper library ideally with some
diversity having all kinds of crazy
different ideas in there. And then the
next thing that you're going to do after
you've built that wrapping paper library
is you're going to wrap the gift.
Remember that beautiful gift that you
developed earlier? You're going to take
that combination, the painful problem
and unique solution, and you scroll
through your library to see what
wrapping paper best wraps this gift.
This is not just for YouTube, by the
way. I have a friend who he has been and
logged into LinkedIn every single day, I
think, for probably at least the last 5
years, if not longer. He has a photo
album on his phone where he has, I think
at this point, it's over five or 600
screenshots of top performing posts on
LinkedIn. What he'll do is he'll put
together his concept, his problem plus
solution, and then he looks at all of
these screenshots of the way various
LinkedIn posts that performed really
well have been formatted. What was the
structure? What was the hook? How could
I reorient this for my problem solution
combination? And then he writes it in
that context. You can also do this for
Instagram, for Tik Tok, for Pinterest,
for Snapchat, for LinkedIn, for any
platform you can imagine. You can
develop your wrapping paper library
because, like I said at the top, you
want to share your contrarian belief and
you want people to experience your
delivery, but they're only going to know
what your contrarian belief is and
experience your delivery if they
actually click on the video or engage
with the post. And they only do that if
you have an appealing rapper that makes
them want to tear it open. If you're
trying to optimize for the short form
platforms, they have a beautiful feature
called save. I'm not recommending that
you just hit the general save button cuz
that is basically like taking a
screenshot and having it drop into your
photo album and never seeing it again.
We've all done that. I do it a million
times to this day. What you do want to
do is you can actually on a lot of these
platforms, Instagram for sure, you can
actually create different folders that
you save posts in. And so I would
recommend you create an inspiration
folder that you can save specific pieces
of content that you really like. And the
cool thing about Instagram is you can
really get that variety or really get
that diversity that I was encouraging
you to do because you can save reals,
you can save carousels, or you can save
singular posts. And so you can develop
this beautiful diverse library of what
good content on Instagram looks like. So
that when you're trying to figure out
how to share your gift, the problem, and
solution with your audience, you can
look at several or potentially hundreds
of different versions of what a top
performing post contextualized for that
platform looks like. Now, in looking at
these, you know, outliers and looking at
packaging from other creators or an
Instagram reel or a Tik Tok or a YouTube
short that somebody made that you really
admire that you're saving for
inspiration for later. Look outside of
your space and niche. Look at creators
that are in completely different worlds.
What's working for them? And then how
can you borrow that from a first
principal way of thinking? What are the
the elements that would work for my
message, my gift, the painful problem
plus unique solution? What could I take
from a gardening YouTube channel that
would work in wrapping my ideas in my
lane? I believe this is the way that you
can stand out even more. The problem
that we are facing right now in all
these different spaces and niches is
everybody's copying each other in their
own space and niche. So you all look the
same. If you want to not look the same, don't do what everybody else is doing,
don't do what everybody else is doing, right? It seems obvious, but you are not
right? It seems obvious, but you are not doing this right now with your own
doing this right now with your own content or the people you admire aren't
content or the people you admire aren't even doing this. And so if you just look
even doing this. And so if you just look into other niches and spaces, I think
into other niches and spaces, I think you'll be blown away at how much your
you'll be blown away at how much your content stands out from your
content stands out from your competitors. You might be sharing
competitors. You might be sharing similar subject matter, similar advice
similar subject matter, similar advice even. You might not have some strong
even. You might not have some strong contrarian belief even. You might not be
contrarian belief even. You might not be at that point yet. But if you are
at that point yet. But if you are borrowing your wrapping paper from other
borrowing your wrapping paper from other industries, this will help you do things
industries, this will help you do things fundamentally different than all the
fundamentally different than all the other creators that are looking like
other creators that are looking like each other within your niche or space. I
each other within your niche or space. I don't know who needs to hear this, but
don't know who needs to hear this, but that thing I'm talking about,
that thing I'm talking about, educational content, it's really hard to
educational content, it's really hard to learn. See, everybody online is teaching
learn. See, everybody online is teaching you entertainmentbased tactics and
you entertainmentbased tactics and principles. And that's why we created
principles. And that's why we created Rollston Select. We designed it
Rollston Select. We designed it specifically to be the one place that
specifically to be the one place that you go to learn how to do
you go to learn how to do pre-production, production,
pre-production, production, post-production, and platform strategy
post-production, and platform strategy through the lens of educational content.
through the lens of educational content. If you want to learn more, click the
If you want to learn more, click the link in the description. Let's get back
link in the description. Let's get back to the video. Now, a big debate that
to the video. Now, a big debate that you're going to see online around
you're going to see online around content strategy is, do you make deep
content strategy is, do you make deep content or do you make wide content? And
content or do you make wide content? And here's the reality. It's not one or the
here's the reality. It's not one or the other. See, so many people online are
other. See, so many people online are telling you to lean into just one of
telling you to lean into just one of these. [ __ ] that. That's some [ __ ]
these. [ __ ] that. That's some [ __ ] It's It's like anything in life. There's
It's It's like anything in life. There's nuance to it. You need a strong ratio of
nuance to it. You need a strong ratio of both and you need to inject something
both and you need to inject something that's missing from this conversation,
that's missing from this conversation, which is a personal element. We are
which is a personal element. We are after all building a personal brand,
after all building a personal brand, aren't we? And so you want to make sure
aren't we? And so you want to make sure that it's not just deep and wide, it's
that it's not just deep and wide, it's deep, wide, and personal. And I have a
deep, wide, and personal. And I have a ratio that I roughly loosely follow and
ratio that I roughly loosely follow and recommend that you follow as well. You
recommend that you follow as well. You should be able to give or take 10 points
should be able to give or take 10 points roughly on this. 75% of the content I
roughly on this. 75% of the content I believe should be deep content. Solving
believe should be deep content. Solving deep problems for your ideal customer.
deep problems for your ideal customer. 20% is nichewide content. Now, I'm going
20% is nichewide content. Now, I'm going to explain what nichewide means here in
to explain what nichewide means here in a second. And the remaining 5% is
a second. And the remaining 5% is personal. Now again, just a reminder
personal. Now again, just a reminder before we break this down and go into
before we break this down and go into what the deep or the niche wide and what
what the deep or the niche wide and what the personal content looks like. This is
the personal content looks like. This is a very rough ratio to follow. It is not
a very rough ratio to follow. It is not a rule. Please do not be one of those
a rule. Please do not be one of those people that takes this wildly too
people that takes this wildly too literally. You need to eb and flow this
literally. You need to eb and flow this and adjust it based on you and it's
and adjust it based on you and it's going to look different monthtomonth.
going to look different monthtomonth. But if you roughly loosely follow 7525,
But if you roughly loosely follow 7525, you will be in a really good spot. Now
you will be in a really good spot. Now the 75% deep content, this is your
the 75% deep content, this is your educational content. This is the main
educational content. This is the main source of the value from your personal
source of the value from your personal brand. These are the frameworks. These
brand. These are the frameworks. These are the painful problems that are
are the painful problems that are solved, right? These are the tactical
solved, right? These are the tactical nuggets that you're giving. These are
nuggets that you're giving. These are the belief shifts or the point of view
the belief shifts or the point of view that you have on your industry, niche,
that you have on your industry, niche, or space. This is the content that is
or space. This is the content that is going to establish the most trust in
going to establish the most trust in your ability to get results
your ability to get results and it will reinforce your credibility.
and it will reinforce your credibility. This is also the content that I believe
This is also the content that I believe is going to get you the most customers,
is going to get you the most customers, the most highpaying customers because
the most highpaying customers because this is the content that increases the
this is the content that increases the odds they believe that you can actually
odds they believe that you can actually help them solve the problem they are
help them solve the problem they are wanting to solve. 20% of the content
wanting to solve. 20% of the content being nichwide. This is what I like to
being nichwide. This is what I like to think of as broad within your niche.
think of as broad within your niche. These are the subtopics that serve your
These are the subtopics that serve your ideal customer still, but they also
ideal customer still, but they also serve a broader base of viewers. An
serve a broader base of viewers. An example of what nichewide content could
example of what nichewide content could look like if you're making content
look like if you're making content helping business owners leverage the
helping business owners leverage the relationships that they already have to
relationships that they already have to create new business rather than trying
create new business rather than trying to go out and acquire new customers. A
to go out and acquire new customers. A version of nichewide content within this
version of nichewide content within this example that you could make is helping
example that you could make is helping people reconnect with old friends or
people reconnect with old friends or colleagues in general, right? Not just
colleagues in general, right? Not just within the context of business. This is
within the context of business. This is still useful for your ideal customer and
still useful for your ideal customer and the main audience that you are trying to
the main audience that you are trying to build, but it also serves a broader
build, but it also serves a broader audience and increases the odds that
audience and increases the odds that your content will show up to new people.
your content will show up to new people. But here's the key. Unlike making
But here's the key. Unlike making general random wide content, you're
general random wide content, you're still attracting people that are
still attracting people that are interested in the general topic that you
interested in the general topic that you are talking about. This increases the
are talking about. This increases the odds that the average person that comes
odds that the average person that comes in will have interest in your offer.
in will have interest in your offer. They're not just a random person that
They're not just a random person that has no relation to the offer that you're
has no relation to the offer that you're actually providing, right? It's somebody
actually providing, right? It's somebody that's still going to be at least
that's still going to be at least adjacent to the offer that you have and
adjacent to the offer that you have and potentially through nurturing them
potentially through nurturing them through your content may get to a point
through your content may get to a point where they do become interested in
where they do become interested in purchasing the offer that you make
purchasing the offer that you make available to them. Think of this like
available to them. Think of this like your side dishes, okay? your nichewide
your side dishes, okay? your nichewide content, that's the side dish. The deep
content, that's the side dish. The deep content, that's 75%. That is your main
content, that's 75%. That is your main dish. Okay? And the nichewide content is
dish. Okay? And the nichewide content is the sauteed spinach. It's the garlic
the sauteed spinach. It's the garlic mashed potatoes. It's your side dishes.
mashed potatoes. It's your side dishes. And the other thing that you want to
And the other thing that you want to definitely not miss out on is the 5%
definitely not miss out on is the 5% personal content. Okay? Again, you are
personal content. Okay? Again, you are building a personal brand. I'm not
building a personal brand. I'm not saying do that influencer [ __ ] that you
saying do that influencer [ __ ] that you probably are thinking of immediately.
probably are thinking of immediately. I'm not saying make content where it's
I'm not saying make content where it's like look at my lifestyle. Look at how
like look at my lifestyle. Look at how awesome I am. What this is is sharing
awesome I am. What this is is sharing you the human in that personal brand.
you the human in that personal brand. And I believe that this is what helps
And I believe that this is what helps you stand out from the crowd because
you stand out from the crowd because these are the only things that are truly
these are the only things that are truly unique to you. more than likely the
unique to you. more than likely the subject matter that you've decided to
subject matter that you've decided to speak to, there's other people that are
speak to, there's other people that are talking about it. And if we're being
talking about it. And if we're being honest with ourselves, there are
honest with ourselves, there are probably other people that are teaching
probably other people that are teaching similar principles and even potentially,
similar principles and even potentially, crazy enough, similar contrarian takes.
crazy enough, similar contrarian takes. There probably are. But what they
There probably are. But what they definitely cannot replicate is the
definitely cannot replicate is the unique combination of all of your
unique combination of all of your interests and preferences and hobbies
interests and preferences and hobbies and passions that make up you. the
and passions that make up you. the unique human that you are. Okay. So, for
unique human that you are. Okay. So, for me, what I constantly try to inject as
me, what I constantly try to inject as much as I can into my content and my
much as I can into my content and my brand is my love for Harley-Davidson and
brand is my love for Harley-Davidson and the three Harleys that I have and obsess
the three Harleys that I have and obsess over. My love for metal, right, and all
over. My love for metal, right, and all the different subg genres, the black
the different subg genres, the black metal, the hardcore, the metal core. I
metal, the hardcore, the metal core. I like it all. My roots in the fitness
like it all. My roots in the fitness industry. I try to share that a lot.
industry. I try to share that a lot. It's the combination of all of these
It's the combination of all of these things that create the lens that you
things that create the lens that you view my personal branding advice and
view my personal branding advice and information and content through that
information and content through that makes me unique compared to the next
makes me unique compared to the next person that you see off on the right
person that you see off on the right side of your screen here that is also
side of your screen here that is also talking about a similar subject matter.
talking about a similar subject matter. Knowing that your deep content, the 75%
Knowing that your deep content, the 75% is your steak and the nichewide content,
is your steak and the nichewide content, the 20% are your side dishes, you can
the 20% are your side dishes, you can almost think about your personal content
almost think about your personal content like it's the dessert. A quick note here
like it's the dessert. A quick note here is the 5% personal doesn't mean that 5%
is the 5% personal doesn't mean that 5% of your content should be a singular
of your content should be a singular video or Substack article around your
video or Substack article around your personal passion. I believe that the 5%
personal passion. I believe that the 5% should be sprinkled in to the other
should be sprinkled in to the other content. You haven't seen me make a
content. You haven't seen me make a video in depth on my Harley-Davidson
video in depth on my Harley-Davidson Roadk special build out, right? Going
Roadk special build out, right? Going into detail on that. But what you have
into detail on that. But what you have seen if you've watched some of my
seen if you've watched some of my content is you've seen that bike. You've
content is you've seen that bike. You've seen one of my other bikes. I'm
seen one of my other bikes. I'm injecting it. I'm wearing a
injecting it. I'm wearing a Harley-Davidson hat right now for God's
Harley-Davidson hat right now for God's sake. And so I'm not saying that you
sake. And so I'm not saying that you need to make specific content around
need to make specific content around your hobbies, passions, interests, but I
your hobbies, passions, interests, but I do recommend you inject those into both
do recommend you inject those into both the deep content and your nichewide
the deep content and your nichewide content. It gives your audience more at
content. It gives your audience more at bats to connect with you. I wasn't
bats to connect with you. I wasn't planning on sharing this, but it's
planning on sharing this, but it's really important. The more of the
really important. The more of the interests and individual unique things
interests and individual unique things that make you unique and and wildly you,
that make you unique and and wildly you, the more chances to connect with you.
the more chances to connect with you. our relationships in our personal life,
our relationships in our personal life, in our work life, the closer the
in our work life, the closer the relationship on the relationship sphere
relationship on the relationship sphere or circle, the closer they get to you,
or circle, the closer they get to you, more than likely you have more than one
more than likely you have more than one interest in common, right? That's
interest in common, right? That's typically an indicator of the closeness
typically an indicator of the closeness of your relationship. And so, if you're
of your relationship. And so, if you're wanting to develop a close relationship
wanting to develop a close relationship with your audience, you want to identify
with your audience, you want to identify more interests that you have in common
more interests that you have in common with them. But if you never share those
with them. But if you never share those interests, you never inject that into
interests, you never inject that into your content, how are they going to know
your content, how are they going to know what they can connect with you on other
what they can connect with you on other than the core thing you talk about? It's
than the core thing you talk about? It's really important to focus on the 75%,
really important to focus on the 75%, the deep content, that is where you're
the deep content, that is where you're going to get the greatest returns. The
going to get the greatest returns. The nichewide content, that's how you're
nichewide content, that's how you're going to start to develop a more
going to start to develop a more well-rounded brand and bring more people
well-rounded brand and bring more people in and increase the odds that you can
in and increase the odds that you can reach a newer audience. But the thing
reach a newer audience. But the thing that is going to make you actually stand
that is going to make you actually stand out is the 5% that is personal in your
out is the 5% that is personal in your personal brand. Now, let's talk about
personal brand. Now, let's talk about structuring your content because we now
structuring your content because we now know what we're going to be making, but
know what we're going to be making, but we need to figure out how we're going to
we need to figure out how we're going to go through it in a sequential order to
go through it in a sequential order to make it easiest for our audience to
make it easiest for our audience to actually not only consume all the way
actually not only consume all the way through, but learn and take action on
through, but learn and take action on what we are saying. There is a ton of
what we are saying. There is a ton of [ __ ] out there on content nerds talking
[ __ ] out there on content nerds talking about how to keep people watching your
about how to keep people watching your content. And this is affectionately
content. And this is affectionately referred to as the art of retention.
referred to as the art of retention. These retention editing hacks, I'd say
These retention editing hacks, I'd say I'm going to make a bold statement here.
I'm going to make a bold statement here. 98% of them come from the lens of
98% of them come from the lens of entertainment content, not educational.
entertainment content, not educational. They have this method where it's like
They have this method where it's like every, you know, 13 seconds or whatever,
every, you know, 13 seconds or whatever, you need to make sure that there's a
you need to make sure that there's a graphic or a scene change or some new
graphic or a scene change or some new element on screen that might be
element on screen that might be effective for entertainment content. Uh,
effective for entertainment content. Uh, I know I hate watching it personally,
I know I hate watching it personally, but there's a lot of people that like
but there's a lot of people that like that. I get that. But if you're truly
that. I get that. But if you're truly making educational content, your actual
making educational content, your actual goal is for the audience to take action
goal is for the audience to take action on what you say. But if you're
on what you say. But if you're constantly having all these graphics
constantly having all these graphics that distract from the actual message,
that distract from the actual message, you're inhibiting your audience's
you're inhibiting your audience's ability to be educated and you're
ability to be educated and you're actually just making entertainment
actually just making entertainment content. I personally believe that
content. I personally believe that within the world of educational content,
within the world of educational content, the greatest retention hack in the world
the greatest retention hack in the world without competition is your audience
without competition is your audience learning. The way that we like to
learning. The way that we like to structure our intros is actually fairly
structure our intros is actually fairly different than what a lot of people talk
different than what a lot of people talk about. You've heard a lot of people talk
about. You've heard a lot of people talk about proof, promise, plan, and I think
about proof, promise, plan, and I think that is an incredible framework. We have
that is an incredible framework. We have created our own framework for how we
created our own framework for how we structure our intros to our videos and
structure our intros to our videos and it's called the four C's framework. I I
it's called the four C's framework. I I like the letter C. What can I say? The
like the letter C. What can I say? The four C's are call out, credibility,
four C's are call out, credibility, compass, and the fourth one, which I've
compass, and the fourth one, which I've not really heard anyone mention, which
not really heard anyone mention, which is core learning. If we believe the
is core learning. If we believe the greatest retention hack in educational
greatest retention hack in educational content is the audience learning, then
content is the audience learning, then why would we not try to get to the first
why would we not try to get to the first learning as quick as possible in the
learning as quick as possible in the video? And so, we have now wrapped this
video? And so, we have now wrapped this into how we conduct our intro. Now, real
into how we conduct our intro. Now, real quick, the four C's applies to your
quick, the four C's applies to your wrapping and your intro. We have a call
wrapping and your intro. We have a call out first. The call out can be in your
out first. The call out can be in your intro, but the call out can also be
intro, but the call out can also be addressed in your packaging, in the
addressed in your packaging, in the wrapping of your video, aka on YouTube,
wrapping of your video, aka on YouTube, your title and thumbnail. You might not
your title and thumbnail. You might not need to do a call out in the actual
need to do a call out in the actual script of your intro because your title
script of your intro because your title and thumbnail already take care of that.
and thumbnail already take care of that. The call out basically is addressing who
The call out basically is addressing who the [ __ ] is this video for? The
the [ __ ] is this video for? The credibility, as we've talked about, is
credibility, as we've talked about, is why would somebody listen to you on this
why would somebody listen to you on this specific subject matter? Sure, you might
specific subject matter? Sure, you might be successful in general, but are you
be successful in general, but are you successful within this subject matter
successful within this subject matter that we're addressing in this piece of
that we're addressing in this piece of content? The compass, give them the
content? The compass, give them the overview of how we're going to get from
overview of how we're going to get from the problem they are currently facing to
the problem they are currently facing to the solution that they are seeking. What
the solution that they are seeking. What is the road map or the compass that is
is the road map or the compass that is going to guide us along this journey?
going to guide us along this journey? You're previewing what you're going to
You're previewing what you're going to hit in the video. And I believe the most
hit in the video. And I believe the most important one, the core learning, you
important one, the core learning, you want to start off the video as quick as
want to start off the video as quick as possible, getting to a valuable, useful
possible, getting to a valuable, useful nugget. Now, I'm not saying you want to
nugget. Now, I'm not saying you want to create or take the most important,
create or take the most important, biggest learning that you're going to
biggest learning that you're going to share in the video and share it up
share in the video and share it up front. That I'm not saying is the best
front. That I'm not saying is the best thing. But you have this thing that a
thing. But you have this thing that a lot of people have been preaching for
lot of people have been preaching for years now, which is bury the value. It's
years now, which is bury the value. It's like put the the value and the learning
like put the the value and the learning deeper in the video so that people stay
deeper in the video so that people stay longer to get it. And
longer to get it. And I think that did work for a long time,
I think that did work for a long time, but we are at a point now where there is
but we are at a point now where there is just way too much content out there
just way too much content out there being produced that people don't have
being produced that people don't have the patience to wait. And that's why I
the patience to wait. And that's why I believe you need to get them to a
believe you need to get them to a learning as quick as possible. Why?
learning as quick as possible. Why? Well, if I learn something in the
Well, if I learn something in the opening 60 seconds of a video, my belief
opening 60 seconds of a video, my belief that I'm going to continue learning
that I'm going to continue learning throughout the video increases. If I see
throughout the video increases. If I see even a 20-minute video, in that opening
even a 20-minute video, in that opening 60 seconds, if I learn, I'm assuming
60 seconds, if I learn, I'm assuming that's not the only learning I'm going
that's not the only learning I'm going to get and the rest is going to be
to get and the rest is going to be [ __ ] I'm assuming I'm going to
[ __ ] I'm assuming I'm going to continue learning. That's an assumption
continue learning. That's an assumption that I'm making based on previous
that I'm making based on previous behaviors in other pieces of content
behaviors in other pieces of content that I've consumed. So, you need to
that I've consumed. So, you need to optimize your introduction in your
optimize your introduction in your content, whether it's video or written.
content, whether it's video or written. A lot of people talk about time to
A lot of people talk about time to value. You want to deliver value as
value. You want to deliver value as quick as possible for the person that's
quick as possible for the person that's paying for your service. Well, think of
paying for your service. Well, think of it the same way with your video. You
it the same way with your video. You want to give them value and usefulness
want to give them value and usefulness as quick as possible. People's attention
as quick as possible. People's attention spans, it's not even their attention
spans, it's not even their attention span, actually, it's their level of
span, actually, it's their level of patience. They're less willing to wait
patience. They're less willing to wait for value from you because they know
for value from you because they know there's another creator that they could
there's another creator that they could get it from quicker. Now, from your
get it from quicker. Now, from your intro, you then have the rest of the
intro, you then have the rest of the structure of your content. I could
structure of your content. I could probably make an entire course just on
probably make an entire course just on this alone. definitely could talk at
this alone. definitely could talk at least for an hour or two just on how you
least for an hour or two just on how you structure your video, but for the sake
structure your video, but for the sake of time, I want to give you something
of time, I want to give you something valuable that will be a great starting
valuable that will be a great starting point for you that you can begin to
point for you that you can begin to adapt and evolve for yourself. And I
adapt and evolve for yourself. And I recommend that you follow loosely a
recommend that you follow loosely a structure like this. You have your
structure like this. You have your introduction, then you give context on
introduction, then you give context on what you're about to speak to. You share
what you're about to speak to. You share a principle, a story about that
a principle, a story about that principle, the tactic or the action that
principle, the tactic or the action that your audience needs to take, and then an
your audience needs to take, and then an example of what it looks like to either
example of what it looks like to either do that correctly or incorrectly or both
do that correctly or incorrectly or both if you're feeling crazy. And then after
if you're feeling crazy. And then after that, you link to the next video. It's
that, you link to the next video. It's that simple. You can get wildly robust
that simple. You can get wildly robust and complex. I have an entire YouTube
and complex. I have an entire YouTube course framework that I share with
course framework that I share with people in Rston Select that is like
people in Rston Select that is like absolutely insane and very deep and
absolutely insane and very deep and robust. It's many pages long. But this
robust. It's many pages long. But this will give you a very very good starting
will give you a very very good starting point to get you rolling on creating
point to get you rolling on creating this content. Rather than you sitting
this content. Rather than you sitting there looking at a blank page being
there looking at a blank page being like, "What the hell do I do? How do I
like, "What the hell do I do? How do I craft this?" Use this framework to help
craft this?" Use this framework to help you get started on making your YouTube
you get started on making your YouTube content. Now, I'd like to talk about how
content. Now, I'd like to talk about how to go about repurposing your content.
to go about repurposing your content. And most business owners when they hear
And most business owners when they hear repurposing, they think that that means
repurposing, they think that that means just reposting the same clip everywhere.
just reposting the same clip everywhere. And that's one part of it. I guess
And that's one part of it. I guess that's a version of repurposing for
that's a version of repurposing for sure, but that's not the waterfall
sure, but that's not the waterfall method. The waterfall method is about
method. The waterfall method is about taking one really good moment from your
taking one really good moment from your pillar piece of content and getting as
pillar piece of content and getting as much as possible out of it. This looks
much as possible out of it. This looks like one long form piece of content
like one long form piece of content leading to many platform native pieces
leading to many platform native pieces of content, potentially many off of one
of content, potentially many off of one specific moment. This is not copy and
specific moment. This is not copy and paste. This is not post the same short
paste. This is not post the same short everywhere, even though that's what we
everywhere, even though that's what we are currently doing right now. We're
are currently doing right now. We're working on getting towards this point.
working on getting towards this point. This is platform native repackaging.
This is platform native repackaging. Maybe you've heard me actually say in
Maybe you've heard me actually say in podcast, which is you want to take your
podcast, which is you want to take your long form, mine it for moments,
long form, mine it for moments, repackage those moments in the way that
repackage those moments in the way that the platform prefers. So now I want to
the platform prefers. So now I want to walk you through how we actually use the
walk you through how we actually use the waterfall method in our content. We
waterfall method in our content. We create one long form piece of YouTube
create one long form piece of YouTube content. Right now our cadence is once a
content. Right now our cadence is once a month. We will go through and watch it
month. We will go through and watch it back to mine for the golden moments.
back to mine for the golden moments. Now, these are moments where I'm giving
Now, these are moments where I'm giving an aha or we're watching it, we're like,
an aha or we're watching it, we're like, damn, that that was a good that was a
damn, that that was a good that was a banger line, right? It's a belief
banger line, right? It's a belief breaker. It's an oh [ __ ] moment. It's
breaker. It's an oh [ __ ] moment. It's it's something where you're sharing a
it's something where you're sharing a story or a tactic that can change the
story or a tactic that can change the belief of the viewer or give them the
belief of the viewer or give them the exact steps that they need to take in
exact steps that they need to take in order to get the outcome they are
order to get the outcome they are looking for. These are the moments that
looking for. These are the moments that get clipped. Not like some random
get clipped. Not like some random moment, not random timestamps or
moment, not random timestamps or arbitrary timestamps. Actually, useful
arbitrary timestamps. Actually, useful moments. Something that you may have
moments. Something that you may have experienced before is if you hire a uh a
experienced before is if you hire a uh a less than ideal editor, they'll go
less than ideal editor, they'll go through your long form content and
through your long form content and they'll pull 30 clips from it. They'll
they'll pull 30 clips from it. They'll get you a lot of volume, but half to
get you a lot of volume, but half to twothirds of those clips are not useful
twothirds of those clips are not useful in any way. They don't exist or they
in any way. They don't exist or they don't work. sorry, on their own. They're
don't work. sorry, on their own. They're not self-contained. They need the
not self-contained. They need the context of the moment that they exist
context of the moment that they exist within. And so what you're looking for
within. And so what you're looking for is self-contained clips. Clips and
is self-contained clips. Clips and moments that don't need the context of
moments that don't need the context of the surrounding conversation in order to
the surrounding conversation in order to make sense. And then number three, what
make sense. And then number three, what you're going to do is you're going to
you're going to do is you're going to take those moments, those mind moments
take those moments, those mind moments that you have, and you're going to turn
that you have, and you're going to turn them into platform native content.
them into platform native content. That's what we are trying to do more and
That's what we are trying to do more and more. Sometimes what we'll do is we will
more. Sometimes what we'll do is we will due to bandwidth we'll clip a moment and
due to bandwidth we'll clip a moment and then we'll post that short that clip to
then we'll post that short that clip to all the different platforms. Sometimes
all the different platforms. Sometimes what we'll do is we'll identify damn
what we'll do is we'll identify damn this was a really good moment from a
this was a really good moment from a podcast for example where I go back and
podcast for example where I go back and forth with the host and maybe what we're
forth with the host and maybe what we're going to do is take that concept and
going to do is take that concept and turn it into a written LinkedIn post or
turn it into a written LinkedIn post or maybe we'll turn it into a newsletter
maybe we'll turn it into a newsletter that we send to people on our email
that we send to people on our email list. And so what you're looking at is
list. And so what you're looking at is taking a golden moment and then figuring
taking a golden moment and then figuring out how do I correctly wrap it using the
out how do I correctly wrap it using the wrapping paper. What format should I
wrapping paper. What format should I wrap this idea in in order for it to
wrap this idea in in order for it to best serve my audience on the platform
best serve my audience on the platform that I am sharing it to? All of those
that I am sharing it to? All of those moments are communicating the same
moments are communicating the same message, right? It's the same source
message, right? It's the same source material, but you're using a different
material, but you're using a different rapper to share it with your audience.
rapper to share it with your audience. And again, this is something that you're
And again, this is something that you're going to need to work your way up to. We
going to need to work your way up to. We are almost a year into building out my
are almost a year into building out my personal brand and posting content
personal brand and posting content publicly. And we're not at the point of
publicly. And we're not at the point of consistently doing this to the level
consistently doing this to the level that we want. It's Trevor and then half
that we want. It's Trevor and then half me. Not even half, like maybe like a
me. Not even half, like maybe like a quarter or a fifth me devoted to the
quarter or a fifth me devoted to the content and the rest I'm I'm running the
content and the rest I'm I'm running the business. And so as we expand our team,
business. And so as we expand our team, you'll start to see more and more of the
you'll start to see more and more of the content that we're posting on all three
content that we're posting on all three of our primary platforms start to look
of our primary platforms start to look more and more contextual and native to
more and more contextual and native to the platform we're distributing on. This
the platform we're distributing on. This is something that you can work your way
is something that you can work your way up to. you don't have to tackle from the
up to. you don't have to tackle from the very beginning, but I wanted to share it
very beginning, but I wanted to share it with you because I think it's something
with you because I think it's something that you want to start building towards
that you want to start building towards rather than 2, 3 years, four years down
rather than 2, 3 years, four years down the road figuring out this is a new
the road figuring out this is a new operation that you have to completely
operation that you have to completely steer a massive ship. Let's course
steer a massive ship. Let's course correct while we're still a little
correct while we're still a little speedboat and it's easy to correct and
speedboat and it's easy to correct and adjust how we're operating. All of this
adjust how we're operating. All of this incredible work to understand what kind
incredible work to understand what kind of content we're going to make, how
of content we're going to make, how we're coming up with ideas, all of this
we're coming up with ideas, all of this amazing work has been done. You've been
amazing work has been done. You've been going through your workbook cuz you
going through your workbook cuz you downloaded that earlier, right? And
downloaded that earlier, right? And you've been filling out the exercises
you've been filling out the exercises and we have gotten a lot of clarity. We
and we have gotten a lot of clarity. We really understand what we're going to be
really understand what we're going to be doing. A pretty obvious question that
doing. A pretty obvious question that you're going to be asking is what are
you're going to be asking is what are the first couple of videos that I make?
the first couple of videos that I make? And so what I want to share with you is
And so what I want to share with you is the first three videos that I recommend
the first three videos that I recommend you make. Now, there's a million
you make. Now, there's a million different versions of your first three.
different versions of your first three. I'm mainly sharing what my first three
I'm mainly sharing what my first three were and how you can go about doing this
were and how you can go about doing this for yourself, your own version of it. So
for yourself, your own version of it. So to be clear, this is not the end- all
to be clear, this is not the end- all beall. I'm more just adapting what I did
beall. I'm more just adapting what I did and sharing it with you because I think
and sharing it with you because I think it was very useful and successful for
it was very useful and successful for us. So, the first video that I recommend
us. So, the first video that I recommend you make is an introduction video. This
you make is an introduction video. This is where you're sharing your story
is where you're sharing your story paired with lessons that your audience
paired with lessons that your audience can use immediately. To be very clear,
can use immediately. To be very clear, what this video is not, it's not a brag
what this video is not, it's not a brag reel. It's not a resume dump. What this
reel. It's not a resume dump. What this video is is it's three to five key
video is is it's three to five key moments over your career or life that
moments over your career or life that were pivotal moments. And each one is
were pivotal moments. And each one is paired with a lesson that your audience
paired with a lesson that your audience can immediately benefit from. This is
can immediately benefit from. This is what makes the video valuable. It's not
what makes the video valuable. It's not just sharing what you have done and
just sharing what you have done and giving the credibility that they can
giving the credibility that they can view your brand through from then on.
view your brand through from then on. It's also providing them useful value in
It's also providing them useful value in the form of lessons that you have
the form of lessons that you have learned along the way, both from doing
learned along the way, both from doing things correctly and incorrectly. This
things correctly and incorrectly. This is exactly how I built my intro video.
is exactly how I built my intro video. It was every season or big seasons of my
It was every season or big seasons of my career along with one lesson that you
career along with one lesson that you could take away. It was not every single
could take away. It was not every single job that I've had and every little tiny
job that I've had and every little tiny thing that's happened. It's the biggest
thing that's happened. It's the biggest moments in my career that were pivotal
moments in my career that were pivotal turning points that I also had a very
turning points that I also had a very strong lesson associated with. That's
strong lesson associated with. That's what I recommend you build. Now, as far
what I recommend you build. Now, as far as what the flow of this video looks
as what the flow of this video looks like, well, I think you can start with
like, well, I think you can start with why are you making content now? Why are
why are you making content now? Why are you building your personal brand? What
you building your personal brand? What is the purpose behind this? And why now?
is the purpose behind this? And why now? Okay, that's how I started mine. That
Okay, that's how I started mine. That sets the frame. Then what you want to do
sets the frame. Then what you want to do is you want to share three to five key
is you want to share three to five key moments from your career and life.
moments from your career and life. Again, they're not random moments. It's
Again, they're not random moments. It's not like you're doing, you know, a full
not like you're doing, you know, a full biography or anything like that. These
biography or anything like that. These are three to five turning points in your
are three to five turning points in your career or life that shaped how you think
career or life that shaped how you think and what you believe. And then you're
and what you believe. And then you're going to pair each of those moments with
going to pair each of those moments with one clear lesson, a takeaway that your
one clear lesson, a takeaway that your audience can act on. This is what most
audience can act on. This is what most people miss. People don't want to just
people miss. People don't want to just hear about the awesome [ __ ] you've done.
hear about the awesome [ __ ] you've done. They want to hear about what you learned
They want to hear about what you learned in doing the awesome [ __ ] and how it can
in doing the awesome [ __ ] and how it can benefit them. So pair each of these
benefit them. So pair each of these moments with a clear and valuable lesson
moments with a clear and valuable lesson for your audience. See, ultimately you
for your audience. See, ultimately you need to connect it back to the viewer.
need to connect it back to the viewer. The video is about you, but it is for
The video is about you, but it is for your audience. So each lesson needs to
your audience. So each lesson needs to speak to their pain, their goals, the
speak to their pain, their goals, the stage that they are at, the confusion
stage that they are at, the confusion that they are experiencing, and the
that they are experiencing, and the clarity that they are looking for.
clarity that they are looking for. Finally, you need to close with what
Finally, you need to close with what they can expect from you going forward.
they can expect from you going forward. What I try to do is share what I am
What I try to do is share what I am trying to embark on, which is this crazy
trying to embark on, which is this crazy wild journey of building my personal
wild journey of building my personal brand. And you want to set the stage for
brand. And you want to set the stage for the kind of content that they can
the kind of content that they can expect, who it is for, what you do to
expect, who it is for, what you do to help, and maybe potentially you can
help, and maybe potentially you can start to inject a contrarian belief into
start to inject a contrarian belief into this introduction video so that people
this introduction video so that people can start to know what you stand for.
can start to know what you stand for. This is kind of setting the trajectory
This is kind of setting the trajectory or the frame for the relationship that
or the frame for the relationship that you're going to have with your audience
you're going to have with your audience in future content. Now, video number two
in future content. Now, video number two is a positioning deep dive. This is
is a positioning deep dive. This is where you teach the subject that you
where you teach the subject that you want to be known for through the lens of
want to be known for through the lens of that contrarian belief. My version of
that contrarian belief. My version of this was psychotic. It was a 6-h hour
this was psychotic. It was a 6-h hour and 22minute course that we put out for
and 22minute course that we put out for free on YouTube. This was a really
free on YouTube. This was a really strong and very deep positioning video.
strong and very deep positioning video. I'm not saying that you need to do that,
I'm not saying that you need to do that, but I'm also not saying that it should
but I'm also not saying that it should be like a a quick little tips and tricks
be like a a quick little tips and tricks educational video. It's not a highlevel
educational video. It's not a highlevel overview of your industry or of your
overview of your industry or of your space. And it's definitely not something
space. And it's definitely not something that's trendy or broad. None of the
that's trendy or broad. None of the shallow end [ __ ] We want to go into the
shallow end [ __ ] We want to go into the deep end of the pool here. And so what
deep end of the pool here. And so what this video is is it should be a very
this video is is it should be a very deep useful breakdown of the core
deep useful breakdown of the core subject that you want to be known for.
subject that you want to be known for. Mine was how to build a personal brand.
Mine was how to build a personal brand. That's what I want to be known for. And
That's what I want to be known for. And so my positioning deep video was that
so my positioning deep video was that and it needs to be taught through the
and it needs to be taught through the lens of your contrarian belief. This
lens of your contrarian belief. This video what it communicates to your
video what it communicates to your audience is here's how I see this space
audience is here's how I see this space differently and why it matters to you
differently and why it matters to you and then how you can utilize how I view
and then how you can utilize how I view it differently to benefit you in
it differently to benefit you in accomplishing the outcome you desire.
accomplishing the outcome you desire. That is the entire point. That is what
That is the entire point. That is what my 6 and 1 half hour course was. Now
my 6 and 1 half hour course was. Now again, it does not need to be that long.
again, it does not need to be that long. Just make sure that you make it wildly
Just make sure that you make it wildly useful. It can be 30 minutes. It can be
useful. It can be 30 minutes. It can be 45, 60, 2 hours, whatever duration you
45, 60, 2 hours, whatever duration you want. I will say I would recommend
want. I will say I would recommend making it at least 25 minutes. And once
making it at least 25 minutes. And once you start creeping into this like 10 to
you start creeping into this like 10 to 15 minute masterclass world, it just
15 minute masterclass world, it just becomes almost laughable. Like it's not
becomes almost laughable. Like it's not truly that indepth. A 10 to 15 minute
truly that indepth. A 10 to 15 minute video is not going to do what we are
video is not going to do what we are trying to accomplish with this deep
trying to accomplish with this deep positioning video. Now the flow that you
positioning video. Now the flow that you can take in this video is one I
can take in this video is one I recommend start or at least in the
recommend start or at least in the opening you know section start with your
opening you know section start with your contrarian belief. Get this out of the
contrarian belief. Get this out of the way get this communicated to your
way get this communicated to your audience so they view the rest of the
audience so they view the rest of the video through that lens. The next thing
video through that lens. The next thing is is you should probably define the
is is you should probably define the subject that you want to be known for.
subject that you want to be known for. In my course, I very quickly define what
In my course, I very quickly define what branding and brand is because that's
branding and brand is because that's something that I really want to be known
something that I really want to be known for. It's also a wildly different
for. It's also a wildly different definition of those two terms than the
definition of those two terms than the majority of what the industry says. What
majority of what the industry says. What this does is it creates instant clarity
this does is it creates instant clarity for your audience. Then what you want to
for your audience. Then what you want to do is you want to teach the core belief
do is you want to teach the core belief through a few key breakthroughs. Okay?
through a few key breakthroughs. Okay? Not 20 surface level points, just three
Not 20 surface level points, just three to five big useful mindset shifting
to five big useful mindset shifting ideas. Looking at my course, it's six
ideas. Looking at my course, it's six and a half hours, but there's four core
and a half hours, but there's four core subjects that I speak to. Brand,
subjects that I speak to. Brand, content, team, and monetization. I
content, team, and monetization. I suggest three to five big things that
suggest three to five big things that you tackle within the core subject
you tackle within the core subject matter that you're addressing. A prompt
matter that you're addressing. A prompt that may help you is what are the few
that may help you is what are the few ideas that if I would have gotten them
ideas that if I would have gotten them earlier in my life, earlier in my
earlier in my life, earlier in my career, would have changed everything
career, would have changed everything for me. Once you have figured out what
for me. Once you have figured out what those are, teach those. That's what's
those are, teach those. That's what's going to make everything easier for your
going to make everything easier for your audience to get to the desired outcome
audience to get to the desired outcome where you're currently at faster than
where you're currently at faster than you ever did. And then you need to make
you ever did. And then you need to make it easier for the viewer to take action.
it easier for the viewer to take action. Again, this is where trust happens. If
Again, this is where trust happens. If you make it easier for them to take
you make it easier for them to take action on what you say and they get the
action on what you say and they get the outcome they want. If you do that
outcome they want. If you do that consistently, they're going to start to
consistently, they're going to start to associate you with them achieving their
associate you with them achieving their desired outcomes. What a beautiful brand
desired outcomes. What a beautiful brand to build. And then you want to close by
to build. And then you want to close by setting your point of view as their new
setting your point of view as their new lens. This needs to change their belief.
lens. This needs to change their belief. Okay? You want them moving forward after
Okay? You want them moving forward after this video to view everything that they
this video to view everything that they do through this new lens. You are
do through this new lens. You are building the foundation
building the foundation for all the future videos that come. As
for all the future videos that come. As long as you maintain a high value per
long as you maintain a high value per minute, the more in-depth you go, the
minute, the more in-depth you go, the more material source material you have
more material source material you have to help you and your team with future
to help you and your team with future ideiation of content. One of the big
ideiation of content. One of the big reasons why I did a six and a half hour
reasons why I did a six and a half hour course as my second [ __ ] video ever
course as my second [ __ ] video ever on YouTube within building this personal
on YouTube within building this personal brand was so that Trevor would have a
brand was so that Trevor would have a lot of source material to help him
lot of source material to help him ideulate on future content ideas. And
ideulate on future content ideas. And then the third video that I recommend
then the third video that I recommend you make is an experimental video. This
you make is an experimental video. This needs to be completely an experiment
needs to be completely an experiment trying something wildly different to
trying something wildly different to discover what you enjoy making and what
discover what you enjoy making and what your audience enjoys viewing. The
your audience enjoys viewing. The purpose of this video is a creative
purpose of this video is a creative experiment. you are trying something
experiment. you are trying something wildly different as far as the style,
wildly different as far as the style, the format, and the approach that you
the format, and the approach that you take. Even potentially the way that you
take. Even potentially the way that you show up in your delivery might be a
show up in your delivery might be a little bit different. This exists to
little bit different. This exists to help you answer two extremely important
help you answer two extremely important questions. What do I enjoy making? And
questions. What do I enjoy making? And what does my audience want more of? See,
what does my audience want more of? See, if you're going to stick with this whole
if you're going to stick with this whole making content thing, you're going to be
making content thing, you're going to be doing it for years, you should probably
doing it for years, you should probably enjoy the formats that you make. Why not
enjoy the formats that you make. Why not try to find multiple formats that you
try to find multiple formats that you actually enjoy making? So, the flow of
actually enjoy making? So, the flow of your experiment video could be as
your experiment video could be as follows. Pick a format that you've been
follows. Pick a format that you've been curious to try. Here are a couple of
curious to try. Here are a couple of options. A vlog, a rant, a voiceover
options. A vlog, a rant, a voiceover with B-roll, a scripted piece, a highly
with B-roll, a scripted piece, a highly produced creative video, a simple
produced creative video, a simple talking head with a twist, a day in the
talking head with a twist, a day in the life with an educational tie-in, a
life with an educational tie-in, a walkthrough or a demo, a storybased
walkthrough or a demo, a storybased video. It doesn't really matter what
video. It doesn't really matter what format you choose. It's more what one
format you choose. It's more what one are you most curious about you trying.
are you most curious about you trying. Then the next thing is you need to make
Then the next thing is you need to make sure that it is completely different
sure that it is completely different from the first two videos. It should
from the first two videos. It should almost feel in my opinion like a
almost feel in my opinion like a completely different YouTube channel.
completely different YouTube channel. Your average YouTube guru will tell you
Your average YouTube guru will tell you you need to pick a topic and a format
you need to pick a topic and a format and consistently do that over and over
and consistently do that over and over so your audience knows what to expect
so your audience knows what to expect from you. And sure, that is probably the
from you. And sure, that is probably the best way to get the most amount of
best way to get the most amount of subscribers and views on YouTube. But
subscribers and views on YouTube. But that's also a big reason why a lot of
that's also a big reason why a lot of YouTubers burn out really quickly. And
YouTubers burn out really quickly. And so what we're building here, like we've
so what we're building here, like we've talked about, is a sustainable system
talked about, is a sustainable system that you can actually stick with. The
that you can actually stick with. The next thing that you're going to do is
next thing that you're going to do is you need to anchor it to one useful
you need to anchor it to one useful idea. So my experimental video that I
idea. So my experimental video that I did, the third video that we put out on
did, the third video that we put out on YouTube, it's called, if you struggle
YouTube, it's called, if you struggle with making content, please watch this.
with making content, please watch this. The whole concept is me talking through
The whole concept is me talking through the mindset shifts that I had to go
the mindset shifts that I had to go through in order to go from being the
through in order to go from being the guy behind the camera to being the
guy behind the camera to being the character in front of the camera. And
character in front of the camera. And what we chose to do is a 100% scripted
what we chose to do is a 100% scripted video where I am delivering scripted
video where I am delivering scripted written out lines over the course of a
written out lines over the course of a motorcycle ride throughout Las Vegas,
motorcycle ride throughout Las Vegas, Nevada. This was quite the experiment to
Nevada. This was quite the experiment to be honest with you. I was just curious
be honest with you. I was just curious if I had the chops to be able to do a
if I had the chops to be able to do a video like that. And so again, the
video like that. And so again, the format was new, but the value was
format was new, but the value was consistent with the value that we were
consistent with the value that we were delivering in the previous two videos.
delivering in the previous two videos. It wasn't an entertainment video that we
It wasn't an entertainment video that we were making. Though I will say I I think
were making. Though I will say I I think based on the comments, a lot of people
based on the comments, a lot of people would say it was more of an entertaining
would say it was more of an entertaining video than our previous educational
video than our previous educational content. But still the purpose for the
content. But still the purpose for the viewer was to educate them on what
viewer was to educate them on what shifts I was making in order to be
shifts I was making in order to be somebody in front of the camera. Cuz
somebody in front of the camera. Cuz turns out you and a lot of other people
turns out you and a lot of other people have moments where you struggle with
have moments where you struggle with being in front of the camera. Good news.
being in front of the camera. Good news. Me too. It's a crazy thing. And so
Me too. It's a crazy thing. And so that's how I conducted that experiment.
that's how I conducted that experiment. What you want to do next is after you're
What you want to do next is after you're done making the video, take note of how
done making the video, take note of how it felt making it. Did you enjoy it?
it felt making it. Did you enjoy it? Like a big thing for Trevor and I was
Like a big thing for Trevor and I was during the course of filming that video,
during the course of filming that video, there was a couple of, you know,
there was a couple of, you know, stressful moments or whatever. We're in
stressful moments or whatever. We're in public in a gas station trying to film a
public in a gas station trying to film a scene and not piss off the gas uh
scene and not piss off the gas uh station attendee and the customers that
station attendee and the customers that are in there. But the amount of times
are in there. But the amount of times that we would both turn to each other
that we would both turn to each other and be like, "Man, this is so much fun.
and be like, "Man, this is so much fun. We're having a blast." Right? We did
We're having a blast." Right? We did another video like this, like the first
another video like this, like the first experimental video in London, and it was
experimental video in London, and it was so much fun. And so what we learned is
so much fun. And so what we learned is like, okay, we walked away with it. Like
like, okay, we walked away with it. Like even if the audience doesn't really
even if the audience doesn't really resonate with this, we really enjoyed
resonate with this, we really enjoyed making it. So we're going to continue to
making it. So we're going to continue to make these kinds of videos because we
make these kinds of videos because we enjoy it. By increasing the amount of
enjoy it. By increasing the amount of content that we make that we like, we
content that we make that we like, we increase the odds that we stick with it.
increase the odds that we stick with it. The next thing that you want to do is in
The next thing that you want to do is in addition to paying attention to how you
addition to paying attention to how you resonated with it, look at how your
resonated with it, look at how your audience resonated. Here is the key.
audience resonated. Here is the key. What you just heard me say is even if
What you just heard me say is even if the audience didn't [ __ ] with it, we
the audience didn't [ __ ] with it, we would continue to do it. And now I'm
would continue to do it. And now I'm saying pay attention to how the audience
saying pay attention to how the audience responds. Seems contradictory, right?
responds. Seems contradictory, right? No. Here's the reality. If the audience
No. Here's the reality. If the audience wouldn't have responded well, if you
wouldn't have responded well, if you didn't care about that video and didn't
didn't care about that video and didn't show interest in it, but we really liked
show interest in it, but we really liked it, we would still continue to do it,
it, we would still continue to do it, just at a very low frequency, just
just at a very low frequency, just enough to make sure that we are enjoying
enough to make sure that we are enjoying making content, but not so much that we,
making content, but not so much that we, you know, bore the audience. However,
you know, bore the audience. However, what ended up happening is you and a lot
what ended up happening is you and a lot of other people that were watching it
of other people that were watching it were like, "Hey, we'd like to see more
were like, "Hey, we'd like to see more videos like this." So now we know that
videos like this." So now we know that we like making it and the audience likes
we like making it and the audience likes watching it. So we're going to do more
watching it. So we're going to do more of those videos. So within I think it
of those videos. So within I think it was 7 months later, we released another
was 7 months later, we released another video in that style. And probably 6
video in that style. And probably 6 months later from that, we'll probably
months later from that, we'll probably release another one in a similar style
release another one in a similar style because again, we enjoy it and so does
because again, we enjoy it and so does the audience. And there's your first
the audience. And there's your first three videos. You now have no excuse to
three videos. You now have no excuse to not get started on YouTube. You have to
not get started on YouTube. You have to take action. I have removed every bit of
take action. I have removed every bit of excuses that you have. So, stop
excuses that you have. So, stop procrastinating. Stop waiting for some
procrastinating. Stop waiting for some perfect idea and get started on the
perfect idea and get started on the first video, your introduction video.
first video, your introduction video. Now that you know how to make content
Now that you know how to make content and what content you're going to make,
and what content you're going to make, click here for the next
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