How To Level Up
Building an Audience Is Kind of Like Playing a Video Game
This is part five of a series of extended posts updating my no-longer-available YouTube Book. For the first installment, click here.
At this stage in the story, we’ve been making Hilah Cooking videos for 18 months, had lauched our first digital product and were finally seeing some success.
We were on the verge of unlocking the next level.
We had just passed 4,000 subscribers. (This was a much bigger deal in 2012 than it is today.) We had just published our 100th video. We had successfully launched a digital product that continued to sell well. Our website traffic had tripled, and subscriptions to our email newsletter had exploded.
These numbers might not blow your mind — but we were incredibly proud of them in 2012. We started at ground zero — with little more than a second-hand camera, an ancient iMac, and a used shower curtain.
We had no idea what we were doing. But we had pulled it off.
As we entered this second phase, we were proud of what we had accomplished creatively and of the audience that had grown around the project. These were not empty numbers generated by Spam or paid traffic. We had a very loyal, highly engaged audience that actively watched the show, responded to what we were doing, tried out the recipes, and even sent us photos to prove it.
We had successfully started something new, and it was working. But some of the initial creative excitement had worn off. We were in a new phase, and it was time to recalibrate and take different things seriously.
Be Prepared To Spend Some Time “Leveling Up”
The early days of launching any project—whether it’s a series, a website, or even a blog—can be frustrating. The numbers are small, and it feels like you’ll never have a good audience for your work.
This early stage reminds me of a videogame where you have to wander around and explore a new world, fight monsters to build XP, and gather gold to forge weapons, so that your character gets powerful enough to do the cool stuff. You may be doing great work, but you’re not seeing the reward because the foundation just isn’t there yet.
Then, finally, you are strong enough to beat the “boss,” and a whole new level unlocks.
It Gets Easier
Just like with a video game, once you have a certain foundation built, it gets easier.
On level 2, your wins start to stack up. Soon after we published our 100th video, we started getting featured in bigger publications and on bigger websites. We also won several significant awards, including YouTube Next Chef, where the prize was a bunch of production gear and a six-week training program.
This program filled in a lot of gaps in our knowledge about both YouTube itself and professional video production. We also got the opportunity to meet a bunch of other YouTubers who were also making cooking videos. We became friends with many of them, shared tips, collaborated, and promoted each other’s work. Perhaps most importantly, it broadened our idea of what was possible and what true success might look like.
Hilah was invited to moderate a panel at VidCon, where we connected with some of our Next Chef pals in person.
Soon after, we were offered the first of several deals to produce shows for other companies.
None of this would have been possible in the first few months of our project. But once we were in year two, the opportunities came quickly.
Before people will take a risk on you, you need to have a proven track record. The only way to establish that reputation is to keep creating, publishing, and promoting. Make your work good as possible, and DON’T STOP.
Assess What’s Working and Crank It Up
As we entered phase two, we took a long hard look at everything we were doing and analyzed what was giving us the highest ROI.
One of the most significant decisions we made, was that we were definitely going to turn this into a full-time job for both of us. Until that point, doing it for fun had been enough. But it was time to get serious. We prioritized this and all of our decisions were guided by what would make the company more successful.
Yes, we were thinking about it as an actual business - not just a show.
We Went All-In On YouTube
We had been throwing a lot of stuff against the wall and seeing what would stick. One example is that we uploaded to multiple platforms - not just YouTube. (At the time, I was convinced that blip.tv would be even bigger than YouTube.😂) We were now finally in the Partner program but hadn’t even turned on ads. We didn’t think it would be enough money to make it worth annoying our audience. But our Partner rep convinced us to turn them on during the YouTube Next Chef training. We went for it.
Since we already had a big library of videos, we suddenly had a new revenue stream. Ka-Ching!
Now, we wanted to focus all our energy on getting our audience to watch our videos on YouTube, so we ditched all the other platforms and focused on YouTube.
Until this point, I had not prioritized production quality. I was limited by money, time, and equipment. But now I had a box full of YouTube-approved gear. We had been using camcorders, and I didn’t even know how to use a DLSR for video, yet. So, I learned everything I could and got serious about making the videos as technically good as possible. Slowly, the videos got brighter, sharper, and more colorful. We even got a professional wireless Lavalier mic to improve the audio (and stop fumbling around with the annoying wired mic we started with). I was finally starting to feel really proud of how the videos looked and sounded.
Next, we doubled the number of videos we published. We even started a Q&A vlog, which meant we sometimes launched three videos a week.
All of our numbers increased: views, watch time, retention, subscribers… and revenue.
We Prioritized E-Mail
We had just witnessed the power of email marketing when we launched the Learn To Cook e-book. I had always known email was important on an intellectual level, but now we had first-hand experience, and I felt it viscerally.
Hilah took the email newsletter and ran with it. She’s a great writer and a fast one. The newsletter expanded during this time and added a very valuable layer to the project. People found us through the YouTube channel, but the people who subscribed to the newsletter took the relationship to a deeper level. They were much more invested.
Not only was the newsletter a great place to answer readers' questions, share recipes, and crack jokes, but it was also a natural place to sell more e-books. We didn’t have to hard-sell anything; she just mentioned the book organically, and the virtual cash register kept ringing.
Most importantly, the readers loved it.
We Created More Products
The first e-book was an ongoing success, so we made more. But instead of another epic project, we made a series of smaller books. Initially, we focused on PDFs, but we received many requests for Kindle versions. We learned how to make ePubs and published them on Amazon.
Not only did they sell even better on Amazon, this became an additional place to build our audience. We provided easy links in the books for people to see the how-to videos. We also asked people to sign up for e-mail updates. The Kindle books became a list-builder.
Sales on Amazon were so good that we updated Learn To Cook and published the second edition as a physical book. It’s still available.
Although I’ve written a lot about audience size and increasing numbers here, it’s important to remember that numbers are not a completely accurate gauge of how successful your project is. It’s easy (and cheap) to artificially inflate video views and traffic numbers. If you are an independent creator, don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to the big players in your field.
If your audience is growing, you will feel it. If you cultivate a real community, you will know it deep down.
So lean into it, and:
Keep producing content.
Always strive to improve the quality.
Consistently release work on a regular schedule.
Spend time and energy cultivating a real community.
Become allies (rather than adversaries) with other Creators.
Listen and communicate with the people who love your work.
Stay focused on the long-term goal - rather than short-term wins.
When we unlocked “level two” with Hilah Cooking, I suddenly had a whole new vision of what was possible on YouTube and with small, focused digital businesses. I knew it was going to be an even bigger success. I knew we would be going full-time soon. And I knew our lives had been changed significantly - for the better.
Hilah was able to quit her day job and go full-time. I was still clocking in Monday through Friday at my desk job and was looking for a way to accelerate my exit. I also wanted to see if I could replicate the framework and build another successful YouTube channel in a different niche.
That’s when I thought about my friend Adriene. We hadn’t worked together on anything since The Spider Babies fell apart. Back then, she worked at a vegan ice cream store, picking up occasional acting gigs and teaching a small donation-based yoga class in the lobby of a theater in Austin.
I decided to reach out and see if she’d be interested in starting a YouTube channel.
Until next time, keep creating,
Chris
PS: Next week, I’ll send a very brief Thanksgiving e-mail, and then we’ll get into what you’ve all been waiting for: the creation of Yoga With Adriene.
Loving this story of your and Hilah’s journey and your integrity along the way.