From: gregisenberg
YouTube has become a powerful platform for content creators to generate significant income, often using ad revenue to subsidize other business ventures [00:00:39]. This new business model is changing the dynamic of how businesses function [00:00:50].
The Power of Owned Media and Audience Building
Having an owned media channel like a YouTube channel allows creators to attract people interested in their specific topics, enabling them to create and sell products and services directly to their audience [00:00:00]. This provides “rails” on which creators can put whatever they want, making it a professional-level game for content creators [00:00:28]. Younger generations are reportedly “printing money on YouTube” and using this income to build productized services and SaaS companies [00:00:39].
The ability to generate deep trust in a one-to-many format creates inbound opportunities [00:44:14]. This audience building provides leverage, allowing anyone globally with good ideas to share them regularly at scale and get paid [00:44:42].
Why YouTube is Dominating the Creator Space
YouTube is increasingly owning the creator space due to its built-in monetization and high RPMs (Revenue Per Mille), allowing creators to earn decent money from their content [00:36:23] [00:36:48]. Over time, creators from other platforms like TikTok and Instagram often migrate to YouTube because of its strong monetization capabilities [00:36:37]. YouTube is winning in podcasting because long-form videos can include multiple mid-roll ads, acting as a “printer” once scaled [00:44:53].
YouTube has become a dominant social media platform, owning long-form content, podcasting, short-form content, and monetization [00:38:24] [00:38:30]. This strong position offers significant tailwinds for anyone looking to build a presence there [00:38:34].
Direct Monetization: Ad Revenue and Beyond
For example, one YouTube channel generated an estimated 13,000 a month for the ability to have a YouTube channel due to its power in attracting interested people and enabling product/service sales [00:43:46].
Strategies for Content Optimization
Leveraging Thumbnails and Titles
Success on YouTube is often attributed to effective titles and thumbnails, which act as a prayer for viewership [00:38:44]. A potential startup idea involves creating a library of YouTube thumbnails and titles with attached performance data (impressions, views) [00:39:41] [00:39:53]. This tool could also include:
- Probability analysis: Indicating the likelihood of a title generating more traffic based on search volume [00:39:14].
- Keyword bidding: Using tools like VidIQ for data and keyword insights [00:39:27].
- Time-based trends: Recognizing that thumbnail and title combinations have a “shelf life” due to audience fatigue, requiring constant cycling of new designs [00:40:19].
- AI augmentation: Software that can assist in finding and creating these variations, acting as a co-pilot for graphic designers [00:41:16].
Automation and AI Tools for Content Creation
AI tools can be used to generate initial designs, providing “good enough” results that can be refined [02:27:00].
- AI graphic design: A potential software solution that takes a brand style guide (colors, logos, fonts) and generates various marketing assets like podcast thumbnails or email headers [02:27:00]. This functions like a co-pilot, generating variations quickly that can then be refined [02:34:00].
- Content repurposing: Tools like Swell AI offer content repurposing powered by AI [01:03:00]. This can help overcome the “grind” of content creation by automating processes and putting people behind operations [00:20:25].
- Video captioning: A tool or Canva app for automatic video captioning using a large whisper model, with font styles and variations like karaoke [00:50:11].
Building a Media Company Around Your Business
The concept of “owned media” means having your own channels (like YouTube or podcasts) to distribute content, allowing a company to go from zero to one quickly and be cash-flow positive [00:19:59]. This enables founders to act as media companies themselves, creating a new business model [00:00:50].
Service Business Models Based on Content Creation
- Done-for-you LinkedIn video service: An agency that interviews founders, creates scripts, and manages video clipping and scheduling for LinkedIn. This capitalizes on LinkedIn’s new “for you page” feed and the demand for personal branding among founders [00:07:01]. This service can generate inbound leads for companies and help founders build a personal brand with free reach [00:07:57]. Prices could range from 5-8,000/month for additional lead magnets and design help [01:12:00].
- Newsletter creation service: Similar to the video service, this involves interviewing founders and transforming transcripts into newsletters, with strategies to grow the subscriber list by scraping emails from social media followers (Twitter, LinkedIn) and setting up automation for new connections [02:54:00]. This helps founders build an “owned distribution channel” (email list), reducing dependence on single platforms [03:07:00].
- Content creation for VC firms: An opportunity to sell content creation services (videos, thumbnails, titles) to VC firms as a value-add for their portfolio companies, or to help the VCs themselves build an audience for deal flow [00:45:50] [00:48:00]. VCs are often interested in becoming famous and using platforms to attract the best founders [00:46:32] [00:48:21].
Riding Trends and Leveraging Existing Platforms
A core strategy for bootstrapping a business is to identify larger trends and attach your business to them, rather than trying to educate the market [01:07:00] [01:10:00]. This means selling what people already want to buy [01:13:00].
- AI Automation consulting: Capitalizing on the rising search volume for “AI automation,” this involves offering consulting services or productized services to SMBs to help them implement automation using tools like Make.com, Zapier, and ChatGPT APIs [01:16:36]. This offers significant cost savings and can be distributed through paid ads on relevant keywords, tutorials, and a YouTube channel [01:17:51] [01:42:00].
- “QuickBooks for X” niche accounting software: Inspired by “Finaloop” (QuickBooks for e-commerce), this idea involves niching down accounting software/services for specific industries (e.g., real estate, agencies, non-profits, Airbnb entrepreneurs) [01:47:00]. The strategy is to identify underserved niches by researching QuickBooks extensions and avoiding highly competitive areas [01:58:00].
- Cheap flights newsletter: Resurrecting the “Scott’s Cheap Flights” model (now “Going.com”) by aggregating cheap flight deals from Google Flights alerts into targeted newsletters for major metros [02:51:00]. This can be low-code, using Zapier, and monetized through subscriptions and affiliate kickbacks from airlines [02:54:00] [03:00:00]. This model can be scaled globally and expanded to include local news for stickiness [03:32:00] [03:51:00].
The Importance of Authenticity and Niche
Being authentic and talking about what you genuinely want to discuss, even if perceived as too niche, can be highly impactful [01:51:00]. It’s about attracting the “right followers” rather than just a large number [01:13:30]. Un-gatekeeping knowledge and sharing insights openly can build a following and reputation, leading to inbound opportunities [01:13:03] [01:13:57].
Even with a small, niche audience (e.g., 10,000 listeners in supply chain management), if that audience has high buying power, it can lead to a great living and significant influence [01:14:55]. Podcasts, in this context, can serve as powerful sales tools, generating inbound volume for companies [01:15:55].