Treat Your Content Like a Business, Not a Blog

0:00We go back to the early YouTube days on the latest channel. I think 2020 in that closet. We both launched YouTube channels around the same time and we were talking about this. You you completely smoked me. >> Yeah, [laughter] it was insane. John is you know, obviously pretty good at media and but and was like the the his channel was like just following his interests like Silicon Valley history. The the execution was like by all means amazing. Like got to like half a million subscribers.

0:27>> I treated it like a blog and you treated it like a business. >> Yeah, yeah. And it was like but it was a much smaller TAM and like when you compare the two channels and like your strategy the execution >> [laughter] >> Yeah, it was just like me and like I had one remote editor for years and I was like not monetizing, not really thinking about it as a business. But I'm interested to know on day one of of that YouTube channel cuz I know you've done media stuff before but like the the the current media business, what was the team like? What was the strategy? How much time were you putting into it cuz I know you would exited some businesses. You had some space to breathe but how serious were and then what was the evolution of that?

1:05>> I'll walk you through as fast as I can. So uh the first thing was I found any media editor like an agency and they're like three YouTube videos a week is what we do and I was like all right then that's what I'll do. And so I just web cammed like and I had a little suitcase that would open up so I could travel cuz Layla and I were traveling for the year to sail. Um and so that's what I did. Wherever we were I was like open up and then cuz at that time I didn't have really any works. I had all these thoughts that I was like I'm just going to get them I'm going to dump them all out. And so that's basically what the YouTube strategy 1.0 was. Um I had somebody cold reach out like legit to do right as short started. They were like I'll do everything. You already have YouTube stuff. I'm just going to clip it. Just give me permission. And I was like oh cool.

1:47>> And so that's what you accidentally started clipping. >> 100% and so that was like we were really early on shorts. >> So good. >> And then as soon as he did a pretty good job he's like you know know, I actually recorded you doing these they'd do even better." And I was like, "Fine, but I only want to do one day a quarter." And he was like, "Fine." So, he'd fly out for one day and we'd do 100 shorts in one sitting. 100%. I'll just do 100. And that that kind of style of filming and recording is pretty much how I still kind of rock that way, which is like I want I prefer a marathon day. Like I'd rather just start at, you know, 6:00 and then just rock until every ounce of juice is gone and then it's like, "Great. We'll do it again in a week or whatever."

2:19>> Yeah, we're sort of like that. It's marathon every day. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, yeah. I mean, what are my >> What is this? >> is like what goes into a 2-hour YouTube video cuz you'll do these like masterclasses 2 hours and I'm like, "That is insane." And then I'm like, "I do 3 hours every day." So, like now it's become more possible, but I imagine that there's lots of stuff. >> for the 3 hours was kind of like just going until we got tired. >> Yeah. >> Like by 3 hours we're usually like, "Okay, like probably need to go to the bathroom. Probably want to eat some food."

2:45>> Yeah. And And this show is much less structured, but when you're when you're thinking about like the portfolio, like you the volume is just incredibly important to everything in media these days. You agree with that? >> Oh, 100%. >> Where Where do >> Volume negates luck all day. Volume negates luck. >> Volume >> Violence is the answer. Yeah, that's like on our wall at HQ. Yeah. >> What formats are you most excited about for 2026, 2027? >> Live interactive. >> Okay. >> Separate and together. >> Okay.

3:11>> So, just going live like with the audience Twitch style, YouTube live style. >> was the book launch strategy, right? Was that your first taste? You've done a lot before. >> lives before, but that was obviously intentional. And then and then interactive, which is not like sure there's chat interactive, but like how do I bring the audience in so that we can talk? That's where you see the first it was Cash Cows, now it's Skyler Fail, which is the show we just launched. And we're doing we're doubling down really hard on that because if you think in a world of AI, it's like what are the things that can't be faked? It's people you like I want stakes. So, for example, like if Mr. Beast store videos, if it was not a real $5 million or not a real Lamborghini, the stakes disappear. Now, to be fair, there's for sure other like a fictional story, the whole thing we know is fake and we're fine with it and the story is the story and AI will crush that. But, people still want stakes. Like right now, chess is more popular than it's ever been, but like humans haven't been able to beat computers for a long time. And so, there definitely be some areas where we want the drama, we want the stakes, and so I don't think that's going to change at all. If you like this video and you're a business owner who wants to break through your current revenue ceiling, I distilled every lesson from scaling 10 businesses past 10 million and three businesses past 100 million into a completely free scaling road map that I've used here from zero to one, zero to 10, and zero to 100 plus. And so, you can click here and you can check it out.

4:24Again, absolutely free and since you're a business owner, I appreciate you and enjoy.