When I was starting my business and growing my channel, I quickly felt overwhelmed with how much work there was to do: email, shooting, editing, publishing, social engagement, creating products, writing sales pages, and more. I was reluctant to hire a virtual assistant because of the money and the time it would cost. But after I did it, I wished I had done it sooner. I made some initial mistakes at first, but was then able to start working on my business again instead of being stuck working in the business. Today we talk about some of my mistakes and how I find and train people today for my team in a way that enables us to move forward and take new ground as a business. And we'll do that by talking with my most recent hire, Katlyn, who is now my executive assistant. CREATOR SPOTLIGHT:  Check out Matthew Ferrell's channel, "Undecided," here: https://www.youtube.com/undecidedmf BOOK A YOUTUBE CONSULTATION: If you'd like us to sit down, look at your channel, and provide next steps for how you can move forward, schedule a consultation here: https://videocreators.com/consulting POWER TIP: You can now see which videos are growing your audience on the Audience tab in YouTube Analytics. This can help you understand your new audience growth. More info here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9314416 LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators JOIN THE POD SQUAD AFTER-PARTY IN VOLLEY: We love answering questions, hearing your feedback, and discussing each podcast episode with you and hundreds of other creators in our video chat Volley space. Join us here: https://videocreators.com/podsquad

Asking for subscribers in order to grow your subscriber count is such a common practice in the world of YouTube. But, what if this practice is actually hurting your channel? Let's talk about that. CREATOR SPOTLIGHT:  Mike Greiner - The Democratic Activist Mike's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Democraticactivist Join our YouTube coaching program, Video Labs to grow your channel like Mike did: https://videocreators.com/video-labs Primal Branding book by Patrick Hanlon: https://amzn.to/3wfIA94 (affiliate) POWER TIP: From Creator Hooks: "Talking about why something is NOT working is a lot more interesting than talking about something that does work. [Example:] Give 10 reasons for why a popular tool or technique isn’t working for your audience." Signup for the Creator Hooks newsletter here: https://go.creatorhooks.com/signup JOIN THE POD SQUAD AFTER-PARTY IN VOLLEY: We love answering questions, hearing your feedback, and discussing each podcast episode with you and hundreds of other creators in our video chat Volley space. Join us here: https://videocreators.com/podsquad LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

If you're growing your YouTube Channel to grow your business, THIS is the episode for you. Tara Simon has 800,000 subscribers and in this episode, we talk about how she got there and how she now brings 90% of her business in through her YouTube Channel. Enjoy the episode! Tara's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Tarasimonstudios/ VIDEO LABS: Work with us for 8 weeks to grow your channel in our coaching program! Learn how the YouTube algorithm works, how to leverage it for more views from the home page, suggested videos, and search results. We'll also show you how to make videos that perform better on YouTube and how to use your analytics to spot further opportunities for growth. Register here: https://videocreators.com/video-labs/ LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

Getting good content out regularly often comes down to one thing: ditching perfectionism to focus on human connection. Let's get real and talk about that. CHAPTERS 0:00 | Who we are at Video Creators 0:49 | Welcome to the podcast! 1:55 | Team catchup 6:20 | Creator Spotlight 23:28 | How to take your channel to the next level 24:40 | How to avoid “analysis paralysis” 28:24 | The two different work styles 35:08 | A message for perfectionists 38:53 | Why raw content works better 41:00 | The importance of making your viewer feel something 44:48 | Every video doesn’t need to be the best video ever 47:45 | Power Tip ⚡️ CREATOR SPOTLIGHT Mike Carter - Mike's Office Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/c/MikesOffice If you're looking for the same educational and community-oriented environment  to take your channel to the next level, check out Video Labs: https://videocreators.com/video-labs POWER TIP YouTube is optimizing more for podcasts. If you're struggling to keep up with all of the engaging editing, podcasts can be more lax, so if you've been thinking about starting a podcast anyways or are looking for a more lax version of content, you might consider doing podcasting on YouTube:  Uploading a podcast to YouTube - https://castos.com/upload-a-podcast-to-youtube/ Should you upload your podcast to YouTube? - https://youtu.be/ikf3JCUgrz0

While we love most of the updates YouTube is rolling out lately, some of them have us scratching our heads while others just downright annoy us. Either way, the updates help us understand the direction YouTube is taking as a platform and what their goals are so we can make better videos that align with their goals and see better performance than they otherwise would. Today four of the YouTube strategists on the Video Creators team sat down and reacted to many of the updates YouTube has announced and started rolling out while we also discuss what it means for us as creators who are growing our audiences here. CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: Check out Hannah's channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/WifeWithoutKids VIDEO LABS: Work with us for 8 weeks to grow your channel in our coaching program! Learn how the YouTube algorithm works, how to leverage it for more views from the home page, suggested videos, and search results. We'll also show you how to make videos that perform better on YouTube and how to use your analytics to spot further opportunities for growth. Register here: https://videocreators.com/video-labs/ UPDATES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 1. Picture-in-Picture: https://gizmodo.com/youtube-releases-picture-in-picture-mode-on-ios-1848778408 2. Google Multisearch: https://blog.google/products/search/multisearch/ 3. A.I. content is spam: https://thenextweb.com/news/google-says-it-classifies-ai-generated-content-as-spam 4. New way to create and watch YouTube Shorts: https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/159877972/new-ways-to-create-and-watch-shorts?hl=en 5. Add a subtitle editor to your channel: https://www.peggyktc.com/2020/01/add-youtube-manager-editor-data-viewer.html 6. New search insights for your audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkC3jaflww 7. Set channel guidelines: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/11895180?hl=en 8. No more option to sort oldest to newest: https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/04/08/youtube-creator-insider-search-filters-timed-reactions/ 9. Timed comments, and now timed reactions: https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/03/30/youtube-timed-reactions-comments-test/ POWER TIP: I use keyboard shortcuts all the time on YouTube to quickly navigate videos. Here's the full list of them: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7631406?hl=en LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

As the creator economy continues to grow, so do brand deals. But brand deals are different today than they were 5 years ago. How have they changed? What do brands look for now that's different than what they were looking for 5 years ago? Has the opportunity for creators to make money with brand deals grown with time or declined because of more competition? Today D'Laina and I talk with Jonathan Katz, a YouTube lawyer in this industry who sees a lot of these deals coming across his desk all the time. He shares his perspective on how the state of brand deals on YouTube has evolved over the past 5 years to what it looks like now for us today. CONNECT WITH JONATHAN KATZ: Website: https://jskatz.com  Email: jonathan@jskatz.com LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

Brand deals and sponsorships are a great way to make money for your channel, even if you already have a business around it of your own products and services. When you're not in the middle of launching your own next course or promotion, you can leverage the down time to do brand deals, make more money, and introduce your audience to products that are useful for them. Today I talk with Justin Moore about his experience in working with brands. He shares his process for reaching out to brands, pricing, and making money with sponsorships on YouTube, Instagram, and even TikTok. 14 BRAND DEAL SECRETS: Enroll in the newest course in the Video Creators Academy for FREE! Justin and I collaborated on it to create a course that dives into the 14 biggest topics surrounding profitable brand deals and sponsorships for your YouTube channel: https://videocreators.com/vc-academy/ JUSTIN'S EMAIL NEWSLETTER: Sign up to get brand deal opportunties sent to your Inbox! https://creatorwizard.com/join BRAND DEAL WIZARD COURSE: Check out Justin's 4 week cohort experience for better leveraging brand deals for your YouTube channel: https://branddealwizard.com/ LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

We all know that enticing titles are critical for the success of a YouTube video, but do we know what principles to follow that actually lead to more clickable titles? Today we interview Jake Thomas of Creator Hooks who breaks down why certain titles work, why others don't, and the three principles we need to consider when crafting our own video titles. CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: Check out Neil's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/RealTerrainHobbies YOUTUBE CONSULTING: Schedule a one hour YouTube channel consultation with us! We'll look at your channel ahead of time, prepare notes, and come ready to give you the next steps you need to take to unlock growth on your channel. Book your session here: https://videocreators.com/consulting REGISTER FOR CREATOR HOOKS: Sign up to get Jake's weekly email newsletter where he breaks down titles and thumbnails that are working on YouTube today: https://go.creatorhooks.com/signup LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

Hello, Creator! We're coming at you with a new podcast episode today. I recently got to go to the Social Media Marketing World conference and hang out with a creator friend of mine - Brian G. Johnson! Brian also teaches creators how to grow their YouTube channels and businesses online and it was great to get to connect with him. I asked Brian a little bit about his growth process because the strategies that get you to 10,000 subscribers aren't the same strategies that get you to 100,000.  Here's what Brian had to say. VIDEO LABS: We'd love to coach you through our advanced YouTube growth training! It's like having a YouTube strategist in your pocket! Register for Video Labs here: https://videocreators.com/video-labs/ VOLLEY FOR CREATORS: Join me and several hundred other creators in the, "Volley for Creators," space here and let's talk! https://hi.volley.app/land?tk=9xhm23nEKPiMXMW3ZsSRks-tk LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators

There's a few big differences between YouTube channels and businesses that reach 100k subscribers and annual revenue and those who reach a million subscribers an annual revenue. Today we'll dive into one of those growth factors and discuss what it means for us practically as creators. Reply to this video and join hundreds of other creators in the, "Volley for Creators," space on Volley! https://hi.volley.app/land?tk=uMkm0PsNeAXxMbTtHLK3wD-tk CHAPTERS 0:00 Branded Intro 0:49 Topic intro 7:11 Topic starts 18:25 Topic wrap-up YOUTUBE CONSULTING: Book a 1 hour call YouTube channel consultation with us: https://videocreators.com/consulting LEAVE A VOICE MESSAGE: Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? Leave a voice message for us and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. https://www.speakpipe.com/videocreators