The Full Story of Colin and Samir
Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal
Navigating YouTube's Creative Landscape
This chapter explores the early obstacles encountered by new YouTube creators, emphasizing the crucial need to understand their audience and market dynamics. It highlights the delicate balance between artistic intent and commercial success, urging creators to align their values with audience engagement. Through personal experiences and insights, they discuss the significance of focus and discipline in building a sustainable creative career.
For a lot of people, the creator economy can seem like a bit of a mystery. You might be wondering how to start creating online, or how to scale a side hobby into a monetisable business. And with trends and platforms and algorithms changing all the time, it can be really hard to keep up, let alone know what your next steps could be to make the most of your potential. Today I’m joined by Colin and Samir, the podcasting duo and Youtube experts who have spent over ten years helping creators navigate the creator economy. They got their start building a small online network for college lacrosse, before their business was built and they then pivoted into helping creators make the most of the online space. Their main channel has over 1 million subscribers, and they have interviewed some of the world’s biggest YouTubers like MKBHD and MrBeast. They also have a side channel called Creator Support, where they answer questions from audience members to help them scale their creator businesses. In this episode we’re going to talk about everything they've learned in 12 years on YouTube, how to build a long-lasting creative business, and the future of the creator economy. Enjoy!
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(00:00) Colin and Samir
(01:16) How did you get to becoming thought leaders in the creator economy?
(03:17) To what extent would you recommend being a creator as a career? Pros and cons
(06:58) How much money were you making in the early days and how much do you make now?
(10:41) Starting a job for passion vs. money
(26:21) A roadmap to success in the creator economy in 2023
(31:07) Advice for a music YouTuber
(40:51) To what extent passion is prerequisite for success in the creator economy?
(47:43) What are the commonalities you see among the creators who managed to make it professionally vs. the ones who treat it as a hobby?
(59:07) The fear setting exercise
(01:02:28) What is it like to be a duo of co-founders?
(01:10:19) Would you ever start a couple’s channel with your respective partners?
(01:15:16) Filming with no commercial intent
(01:21:10) Productivity guilt
(01:24:36) Finding the format
(01:30:46) Format FOMO
(01:33:19) Experimenting with formats
(01:40:54) To what extent would you recommend starting a podcast to someone who’s new to the creator world?
(01:49:23) The story behind publish press
(02:04:24) The “Daily Productivity” newsletter
(02:09:24) Is going viral a bad thing?
(02:12:59) “Brand is more important than reach in the long term”
(02:19:07) Long form vs. short form while building a new channel
(02:22:16) If you won the lottery, what would change about the way you’re spending your time?
(02:24:13) How long should you spend building and creating content before thinking about monetisation?
(02:27:52) What are you working on up until the end of the year?
(02:29:29) Final pieces of wisdom
🔗 CONNECT WITH COLIN & SAMIR
🎥 YouTube Channel
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📸 Instagram
💻 Website
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🎙 ABOUT THE PODCAST
Deep Dive is the podcast that delves into the minds of entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people to uncover the philosophies, strategies and tools that help us live happier, healthier and more productive lives.
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