The argument in one line.
Small creators are outperforming larger channels by building AI agent workflows that replicate a full content team for under a hundred dollars a month, and pairing each video to a single tool, a single outcome, and a clear time investment the audience can evaluate before clicking.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A solo creator or small team spending hours on content tasks that could be delegated to an AI workflow.
- Someone already using ChatGPT or Claude in chat mode but not yet running scheduled or agentic automations.
- A niche educator on YouTube looking for a repeatable title format with high click-through predictability.
- Anyone overwhelmed by AI tool choices who wants a practitioner to name the stack they actually pay for each month.
SKIP IF…
- You are looking for a technical setup guide, this is a conversational interview not a step-by-step walkthrough.
- You already manage a content team and have no interest in AI as a staffing replacement.
The full version, fast.
AI agents are making full content teams optional for small creators, but only if you treat them as teammates with defined roles rather than chat windows to consult. The interview maps a concrete workflow: Claude Cowork handles research, scheduling, and brand deal evaluation; Submagic polishes vertical video; Higgsville covers image and AI video generation; Poppy AI mines competitor outliers for scripting playbooks. The actionable conclusion is a three-element YouTube title formula, one tool + one outcome + one time investment, that eliminates audience uncertainty and has proven repeatable across different niches.
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Create a free account →Who's talking.
00:46guestNicky Saunders
00:00hostSean Cannell
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 01:25
01 · Cold open + Nicky intro
Sean teases the AI separation thesis; Nicky is introduced as social media and AI expert who helped Eric Thomas grow from 300K to 2M+ followers.
01:25 – 07:15
02 · Claude Cowork, the AI teammate stack
Nicky breaks down Claude Cowork as an agent: research teammate, ideator, brand deal evaluator. Pricing $20 base, $100 max. How it differs from ChatGPT.
07:15 – 12:30
03 · The human layer AI cannot replace
Personal perspective and lived experience are what make AI-generated content stand out. How to bake your POV into prompts so each output is uniquely yours.
12:30 – 16:20
04 · 3-step social post workflow
Step 1: set up research (Claude Cowork, 30 minutes). Step 2: pick the idea and format yourself. Step 3: go to the right creative tool.
16:20 – 22:10
05 · Creative tools, video and image
ChatGPT Image 2.0 for graphics; Submagic for phone-recorded reels; Opus Clip for long-form repurposing; Agent Opus for faceless AI video with Seed Dance 2.0.
22:10 – 31:05
06 · Canva, Higgsville, and cutting tool fatigue
AI integration in Canva magic layer. Higgsville as one-subscription solution for image and video generation. The FOMO problem and how to narrow the stack.
31:05 – 36:00
07 · The full weekly stack
Nicky names her 7 essential weekly tools: Claude, Notion AI, Poppy AI, Higgsville, Submagic, Opus Clip, Heigen.
36:00 – 40:50
08 · The title formula that actually works
One tool + one outcome + time investment = the formula behind Nicky best-performing videos. Why list-format titles are dead.
40:50 – 46:41
09 · Breakout video autopsy
135K views: Why introverts make the best content creators. Identity pairing, compilation repurposing model, content pillar from a breakout.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- A full content team function can now be replicated by AI agent workflows costing between $20 and $100 per month.
- Personal perspective is the only genuine moat left because anyone can run the same research workflow and get the same raw output.
- Claude Cowork is an agent, not a chat tool: it controls your computer and browser and executes tasks without you staying in the loop.
- ChatGPT flatters you; Claude pushes back. That distinction matters when you are in strategy mode rather than brainstorm mode.
- The three-element title formula (one tool, one outcome, one time) outperforms list-format titles because it eliminates decision paralysis before the click.
- AI tool fatigue is a real audience phenomenon. Viewers want one thing they can act on today, not a menu of five alternatives.
- After a breakout video, build a content pillar around the identity it tapped, not previous formats.
- Repurposing podcast clips around a single theme can be your primary content strategy, not a secondary squeeze play.
- The most effective AI prompts do not feed data. They ask questions that surface your personal experience and force your unique perspective.
- Ten minutes a day building one Claude Cowork workflow compounds into a full content operation over time.
- Claude skills let you train brand voice and formulas once, then invoke them with a single command rather than re-prompting every session.
- Nicky pays for the $100 Claude plan and has never hit the token ceiling. The $20 plan moves faster than expected when running real workflows.
Build an AI org chart, not a chat habit.
WHAT TO LEARN
The gap between a one-person channel and a fully-staffed content operation is now a $100/month subscription and a willingness to define roles before reaching for tools.
02Claude Cowork the AI teammate stack
- Treat every repeating content task as a role then assign each role to a specific AI workflow rather than a general chat session.
- Claude pushes back; ChatGPT flatters. Use whichever matches the mode you are in.
03The human layer AI cannot replace
- Personal perspective is the only output AI cannot replicate; bake it into prompts by having the model ask you questions that surface your experience.
05Creative tools video and image
- Match the tool to the asset type: Submagic for phone-recorded vertical video, Opus Clip for long-form repurposing, Agent Opus for fully faceless AI video with your own voice.
08The title formula that actually works
- The three-element title formula (one tool, one outcome, one time investment) works because it eliminates the audience decision about whether to click.
- List-format content has collapsed because audiences are fatigued by choices; specificity and a single action are now the highest-CTR content structure.
09Breakout video autopsy
- After a video breaks out, study the identity it tapped rather than the format it used, because that identity is a new content pillar.
- Repurposing existing clips around a single theme is not a recycling tactic; it can outperform original content because it surfaces ideas the audience already responded to.
Terms worth knowing.
- Claude Cowork
- An Anthropic product built on Claude Code that gives a non-technical user AI agent capabilities through plain conversation rather than terminal commands, with control of your browser and computer.
- Agentic flow
- A mode of AI use where conversations are automatically executed as real tasks such as sending emails, updating Notion, or transcribing files, rather than staying as text output in a chat window.
- Claude skills
- Saved instruction sets inside Claude Cowork that encode your brand voice, formulas, or workflows so you can invoke them with a short command instead of re-explaining them each session.
- Submagic
- A video editing tool designed for phone-recorded vertical content that auto-generates captions, adds premium B-roll, and applies zoom effects without manual editing.
- Opus Clip
- A tool that ingests a long-form video or podcast recording and automatically identifies and exports the highest-retention short clips.
- Agent Opus
- An AI video generation product that pairs a creator audio with AI-generated video footage, enabling faceless content with a personal voice.
- Higgsville
- An all-in-one AI creative studio that bundles image generation and video generation under a single subscription to reduce tool fatigue.
- Poppy AI
- A creator-focused research tool that ingests competitor YouTube channels, surfaces top-performing outlier videos, and generates scripting playbooks matched to your voice.
- Heigen
- An AI avatar platform whose Avatar Shots feature generates a full cinematic scene with consistent character appearance from a single prompt.
- Seed Dance 2.0
- A high-realism AI video generation model capable of producing cinematically consistent footage from a text or audio prompt.
Things they pointed at.
30:20toolHiggsville
32:50toolPoppy AI
35:00toolHeigen
Lines you could clip.
04:44
“This is your teammate. I don't even call it an agent. This is now your teammate, your employee.”
19:00
“Don't give me a video where I have to do so much. Give me one thing I can open up right now, do right now.”
37:03
“One tool. One outcome. And how long did it take.”
12:37
“I go to Claude in strategy mode. But I get my energy from Chat in the morning.”
46:00
“Sometimes we don't always have to create the new... find the common theme.”
43:13
“There is a yearning for creator identity.”
Where the conversation goes.
01:25 – 07:15denseClaude Cowork setup and pricing
07:15 – 12:30densePersonal perspective as the AI moat
12:30 – 16:20denseSocial media post workflow (3 steps)
16:20 – 22:10denseShort-form video tools
22:10 – 31:05steadyDesign and image tools
31:05 – 36:00steadyFull weekly AI tool stack
36:00 – 40:50denseYouTube title formula
40:50 – 46:41denseBreakout video analysis and identity strategy
Word for word.
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00:00This is your teammate. What is my org chart? Where do I stand?
00:04Where are all these things? And then what can AI take over? I have a research teammate.
00:09I have a ideator teammate. I have a brand deal teammate. How much does that cost?
00:14$20. It has a skill that you don't have to always say it over and over again. So it's like, I just need a thumbnail.
00:20Boom. If somebody could only use one tool to start, what would it be and why?
00:26The truth is this, AI is separating winners and losers. But the problem is everyone's talking about AI at a fluffy level or a lot of overwhelm with all these different tools. Very few people are sharing actual tactics on how to apply this today to get more views, to get more subscribers, and to do specific things like build thumbnails that look good or write scripts that hold audience retention or even generate complete AI videos.
00:52Today, we have Nikki Saunders back on the podcast who is a social media and AI expert. Not only is she followed by hundreds of thousands of people, she's helped influencers like Eric Thomas grow his platform from 300,000 to over 2,000,000 followers in under two years.
01:09So wherever you're at, she's gonna help you get more awareness, attention, and followers on your content. So lock in for this episode of the Think Media Podcast.
01:19Nikki, I wanna ask you though. What's the most underrated AI workflow creators are sleeping on right now?
01:25It's the Claude Cowork. I think a lot of people don't understand, first off, that Claude is amazing suite in itself because you can go from, let me just have a conversation to let me schedule out everything that we just talked about to then let me build different workflows.
01:42But with co work, you can get your videos transcribed, then create different content from that where it's like real script, extra YouTube scripts, thumbnail ideas, everything.
01:55But everything is just a matter of scheduling it out where so many people are just stuck on the, like, the chat. Like, let me just talk it out, and I have so many different chats.
02:05It's like, let's turn that into an actual plan, schedule it out, and so this is where we start getting into the agentic flow. So I think people are sleeping on co work and getting that alright.
02:18How do I create a research agent? Okay. Let me find all the blogs that I look up.
02:23Let me go all the creators that I look up and tell coworker, hey. Every single day, see what they're posting. Give me a summary of it.
02:32Put it to my Notion, put it to my notes app that I have. Okay. There's your research agent.
02:36Okay. Let's talk about the ideator. Now that I have that research, how do I create new ideas for my YouTube channel, for my social media ones?
02:46Now you have the research. Now you have the ideas. Cool.
02:50Taking the ideas,
02:51then turning it into content. And that's just just the workflow that a lot of creators are sleeping on. If we take a step back, what exactly is Claude Cowork for somebody that's overwhelmed with all the different AI tools out there?
03:04Yeah. So very simple.
03:06Claude had Claude Code, which is super intimidating for most people. They said, okay.
03:11I got you. We're gonna make Cowork, which is going to be super user friendly where it has control of your computer, and it has control of your web browser.
03:21So everything that you would do from organizing folders to reading documents to booking a trip from a very simple standpoint, you can now do that with co work instead and just having a conversation.
03:35Hey. I'm thinking about, uh, my new YouTube idea.
03:39My I'm thinking about a new mastermind idea. Can you do all the research for me and then send it send an email to my team? And it does that.
03:50So without being intimidated with the terminal and all the coding and all that stuff, This is just a straight conversation
03:58to execution. And so Claude Cowork is an AI agent? Mhmm.
04:03What is an AI agent?
04:05It goes very simple. My conversations are now being executed.
04:12So where most of us were stuck in chat, hey. Here's all the ideas, and we have so much content and so many different ideas stuck in our chats.
04:22Now it goes from here's the the chat to here's the actual content.
04:29Here's the actual tangible thing. Here's the actual emails being sent. Here's my brand deals now being, uh, read, evaluated, and actually followed up in a matter of a couple of seconds.
04:42So this is your teammate. I I don't even call it ages. Like, this is now your teammate, your employee that is like, okay.
04:50I have a research teammate. I have a ideator teammate. I have a brand deal teammate.
04:56I have a, uh, follow-up teammate. Everything that you would need in your team, that's what cohort does.
05:04How much does that cost? $20. So you can use Cowork for just $20?
05:09Yeah. The $20 a month. And then you run up to data usage, though, to you pay more if you run up?
05:15So, of course, the the biggest thing that everybody's talking about is the limitations and, like, the rates. Like, we're so used to ChatGPT, we could do anything. Yeah.
05:23And now that a lot of people have switched to Claude, it's like, now that we're actually getting into the systems, that takes a little bit more tokens. And so it's like, yeah.
05:33The $20 doesn't move as much as you used to on Chedgy. So what do do? Can you add more?
05:37Yeah. You can add more. They have a max plan where you could pay the 100 or the 201.
05:41I think I I pay the $100 one, and I never really struggle with token use or anything. So with the one plan,
05:49you can pay more to use not just Claude, which Claude is an alternative to ChatGPT, but Claude Cowork Yep. Which allows you to essentially have a digital teammate that could be actually sending emails for you Yep.
06:05Actually doing real tasks that could be done on a computer on the EBT Internet. Because, like, my my workflows go from
06:12I have a live show on Monday, so it does my run of show. So it does the research plus does all the segments and tells me this like, it's there for you.
06:20It's an automated task. Yeah. No.
06:22I wake up, and it already is in my Notion, and it's it's done. Right? It'll do it'll look for new YouTube, uh, interviews that I've done, and it'll transcribe it and turn it into content.
06:37So it's always scanning every YouTube podcast stuff that I may be on, and that's like a daily thing or a weekly thing, however I wanna put it. And then I also have one where it turns all the transcriptions into tweets and threads.
06:54So now I have the written content turned into Substack post, have the written content. And so everything that I would need from what I call, like, a content engine and a content team, that's what Cowork would would do for me, and I just make that and they have projects and all of that.
07:10Do you think that AI is overrated or underrated
07:14by most people?
07:16I think it depends on the who. Right?
07:19Like, I think in the masses, I think it's still very underrated. Right? Because we've seen too many studies where not everybody's using it.
07:26Now everybody's comfortable. There's still a lot of fear. Um, but I think I I'll say marketers kill everything.
07:34So in the marketing world and the content world, it's super overrated. Right?
07:40Um, when it's not gonna replace anybody, it's not like, it's still such a gray area.
07:48And when you really break down what is being created, it still needs humans to tweak it. Like, when we see what is being written and what is the ideas, it's like, okay.
07:59That's cool. That's a great start. But let me add what I normally add, and that's what's gonna make it stand out because we're seeing a lot of ChatGPT flyers now.
08:09We're seeing a lot of, uh, AI thumbnails that all look the same. Right?
08:15And it's because we're we're seeing these recycled prompts and all of that. And so everybody with the good thing is it it removes the bottleneck.
08:24It removes the barriers of, like, you can't do this no more. The problem is is that now it really forces us to continue to level up our creativity. Now we have the foundation, but how do we make this thumbnail look better?
08:38How do we make this copy sound more authentic to us? And that still takes that, like, that human
08:45touch point. We're here at Social Media Marketing World. You're speaking on an AI workflow all the way through to do a social media post.
08:54Yeah. Like an Instagram post. It could be a vertical video.
08:56Yeah. This could, of course, also apply to YouTube community tab or YouTube shorts. Yeah.
09:01So break that down. What you're teaching here, though Mhmm. Is from the tool stack Yep.
09:06As well as the workflow. Yep. What is that?
09:08What's the first step? So the first step is who is doing your research?
09:12Right? I think For what? For for your content.
09:15So whether you're on YouTube, whether you're on Instagram, whatever, how are we seeing what's happening in the world in your niche?
09:23K. Right? And so Good information coming to you
09:27about your industry that could be turned into content. Yes. Right?
09:31Or Or spotting trends or outliers or other people that are going viral or anything. Or you could do from the journal standpoint. I'm always big on that where
09:40how is your personal experiences? How is your your audio notes? How is the journal notes that you're doing?
09:47How are we turning that into content as well? Mhmm. Because that goes that's where in this AI world, that's what's gonna stand out, your experience.
09:55Right? Of course, everybody could talk about what's, uh, the updates, the news, and everything like that. But what is your personal experience, and how is that being translated in this AI world is what's gonna help.
10:08So I think a balance of having the research, but having the balance of expert, uh, expertise and experience
10:16also translated into content is what's also needs to be in the workflow. Yeah. Before we blow past that, I think you just shared probably one of the most important tips for modern content, and that is anybody at this point can set up these AI workflows.
10:29So what is your unique point of view? What's your unique perspective?
10:34What is your hot take? What is your maybe contrarian take? Because if you're gonna be different at all, it can't just be the facts because those are at the fingertips of everybody Of everybody.
10:45Research. But your unique perspective and your point of view and your experience attached to that, which I suppose you could include in the workflow. Yeah.
10:52Because you could AI could get to know you. You could base you could clone yourself with AI. It starts understanding your flavor, maybe your things.
10:58It could be maybe a part of prompting you. Yeah. But if that but that's that's the important part with the prompting where, let's say, a new update comes in.
11:07But if in your prompt, you have it to ask questions
11:10that will trigger your perspective. That is what's more to make that stand out, where most people will do, okay, new Opus 4.7 came out, and this is what it does.
11:23Cool. And they may get generic. This is what it does for content creators.
11:26This is what it does for small business. Cool. But how does it apply in your life?
11:33Because your audience is looking for your life because they relate to you. Yeah. So having that prompt, having that workflow to where, here's a new thing.
11:42Let's ask you three questions that is going to trigger that perspective where is, what is your initial thought on it? What how do you see it in your workflow?
11:51How do you see it that is gonna add value to your audience? Those three things is then going to formulate different ideas, different content that is only unique to you.
12:02That's not going to be done in any other workflow. Like, Jason isn't going to have that same answer in his workflow if he doesn't have those particular questions.
12:12So we're talking about how to get a social media post from concept all the way to completion Yep. Faster with AI tools. Yep.
12:20It's a cool step one to even mention, like, the strategy itself, the idea itself, the research itself. So step one is is set up your research, and you're saying Claude Cowork.
12:31Yes. And and how did how long did it take you to set up your research teammate?
12:36Probably thirty minutes.
12:38Interesting. And when you're first for those that feel a little bit intimidating, for as little as $20 a month, you've never exceeded the $100 worth of credits Yeah.
12:47With these digital teammates. But if the first time ever opening up Claude code for somebody, how much time would you recommend Claude co work the first time somebody opening up to maybe get familiar with it, to not be too intimidated by it, and maybe to build their first automated
13:02I only I always say ten minutes a day. Okay. To be honest, because, of course, as humans, we may get really geeked down.
13:09We'll do, like, twenty, thirty. Right? But in ten minutes, I can start a conversation and say, hey.
13:15You have access to my computer. Give me recommendations on what I should do with co work.
13:22And start there, see what it is. You can stop right there. It'll tell you all of that, and you can say, okay.
13:28Let's do the first one. And it'll do that, and you're done for the day. Come back to it.
13:33Be like, okay. How do we do number two? And how does number one like, what is the results of number one?
13:39Did I like that? What is the tweaks? Because the best part isn't accepting the first answer that Claude gives, ChatGBT gives, whatever.
13:49It's the tweaks that we make. I kinda like that, but this sounds more like me. Yeah.
13:55Right? And the biggest, uh, the biggest, I'll say, advantage that most people will have in co in co work is what are the skills that you're creating.
14:07So Claude co work has this thing called skills where it can understand your brand voice. It can understand your formulas. It can understand your frameworks if you train it.
14:17So each teammate has a skill.
14:22So if you go, okay. I have a thumbnail framework. Right?
14:27And anytime that I need a new thumbnail, I'm going to Claude Cowork, and they're going to create the prompt for me. Exactly.
14:36Not necessarily create the thumbnail, but it's going to ideate the idea, give it based off of, okay, on my channel.
14:45My channel is good for high contrast, warm colors, bold text only up to three. And because you are training Claude Cowork with this, it has a skill that you don't have to always say it over and over again.
14:58So it's like, I just need a thumbnail. Boom. Here's your whole formula in in one spot.
15:03So the more that you're creating these different skills, and that's probably going to take the most time, is what are my workflows? That's probably one of the we should've just started.
15:15What are my workflows? Not what tool or anything. If I have a team, what is my org chart?
15:24Where do I stand? Where are all these things? And then what can AI take over?
15:28Mhmm. And what is a human that just needs to press this button? So we've helped thousands of people go full time on YouTube here at Think Media.
15:36And one of the things we discovered from analyzing their channels is that there's five stages of YouTube success. So our team got together and we actually created a free resource.
15:46You can check it out at mycreatorquiz.com. And what it does is it will walk you through a series of questions that will get you fierce clarity on where you're at on YouTube right now, what's holding you back, and what you need to do next to unlock that next level of views and subscribers.
16:05So it only takes about three minutes. It's entirely free. Just go to mycreatorquiz.com or click the link in the show notes.
16:11Alright. Let's dive back into the podcast. Now okay.
16:15Let me figure out the tools to make this work.
16:19Because each person, my whole goal is the people that are on my team, I want them to have about, like, ten, fifteen, 20, like, AI agents under them, right, or AI workflows, however you wanna go about it.
16:33But they need to understand what are their roles and responsibilities, but also, like, what are the procedures that we do on a regular basis?
16:42Yep. Then I'm giving that all to coworker. Alright.
16:45What can be created? Or look at this folder. What can be recreated?
16:50And that that's why I say ten minutes a day of doing that, you'll have 17,000,000 different workflows, and you just be like, oh, I need my morning brief.
17:00And it does that. Okay. So I I wanna work through this whole thing Go.
17:04Of the graphics. But as we're on this journey in step one really being the research Yep. You're using Claude Cowork.
17:12Uh, small side quest before we continue to build out a full social media post. Why Claude over ChadGBT?
17:18So I've and this is me personally. Right? Um, I felt that Claude continues to update while Chad just is in love with being number one.
17:30Okay. So ChatGBT was burnt in our head as AI equals ChatGBT.
17:37That was our first, like, introduction to it. But as it started to go on and more and more tools started to happen, Chad GBT just kinda stayed there and went different side quests with at a browser and, uh, the Sora and all of that and got distracted with what they were known for.
17:59And so Claude got really good at that one thing. Right? Now Chad is coming back.
18:06I will say that. I'm not Yeah. Stating that this by the time this may come out, Chad be like, hey.
18:13I got 17 different, uh, updates, and we're back. Right. But for right now, the only thing that ChatGPT is extremely good at, again, is images.
18:24They just did a recent one where images had beat Google, which had the crown for a minute.
18:30But the chat still it's it seems too encouraging sometimes, and I need I need a real teammate.
18:38I need to, like, hey. Here's my idea. Okay.
18:41That's good. However,
18:43have you thought about this? And that Claude does that very well. Yeah.
18:46Chat, the problem almost, like, once you get it down a line of thinking, it will just, like, agree with you and reinforce that line of thinking. All day. And and and it's very flattering.
18:56Yes. It just flatters me. And it makes me feel very good.
18:58Blazes you up. Listen.
19:00I love talking to Chad in the morning. Okay? Get I need that energy.
19:04Tell me I'm doing good. Tell me I look great. All of that.
19:07Tell me all my ideas are great so I could start. Yeah. But then once I get into that strategy mode, I'm going to Claude real quick.
19:14But I get my ideas from chat. Interesting. Okay.
19:17So
19:17the process you're taking people through here Yeah. Is blank page to created social media post.
19:25Yep. Research tool set up so that the research is coming to you or
19:30research step. What's the next step? Now we pick the idea.
19:34Right? Because what the research did was give you a whole plethora of different ideas for you.
19:40You pick the idea. Don't let AI pick the idea. You still have to pick that.
19:45Yes.
19:46The one that you think will hit. Does in your research, like, at this stage, when we talk about idea and format, would won't you be picking both?
19:55I'm picking both. You're pick the idea, and it's gonna be a carousel. Pick the idea.
19:58It's gonna be a vertical video. Yeah.
20:00So and I still go I go off of data and feelings.
20:06Yeah. Right? Um, data because, I mean, I we're still playing the platform game.
20:11So I still need to know what the platform is going to push. So what I will have is, hey. When we're doing the research, when we're doing the ideation phase, let's assess what will probably the platform push more.
20:25Right? What are people searching? What are people engaging with?
20:29Right? But then I'm gonna look at it and be like, I don't talk about that. I'm not really I don't feel comfortable with that.
20:35Okay. Let's go there. What are the different for okay.
20:39We have carousels. We have single polls. We have a reel.
20:43We have long form video. I can create YouTube. I could do a substack.
20:48I'll at least pick out of all the ones that I'm doing. I'll probably pick two two instant content formats.
20:56So that may be a reel and a thread, or that may be a YouTube video and a substack. Like, I'm always trying to make the most out of one idea in order for it people to see it, but also read it for two different types of audience.
21:15Yeah. And if you're, like, if you're gonna outline or script a YouTube video, that content that even intellectual property and thought can be turned into a sub stat.
21:23Mhmm. So long form video and long form written post
21:28align well together. Yeah. Because with the with how I have it, the long form video is going to be solely value of, like, this is how you do it, the educational side.
21:39The substack may be more of a reflection of why I did that, of, like, how it really, like, affected me in my workflow. I was building this, and this is the obstacle that I got. But what I'm teaching on YouTube is how to get over the obstacle.
21:54So that's that's how I look at it. Okay. So step one, we're doing research.
21:57Step two is now pick your idea. Pick your format. What's step three?
22:00Step three is now the creative side. So now we're figuring out which tool to do what.
22:07So if let's say, I'm doing a we got the idea.
22:12This is a really good tweet. Right? But I wanna make it into an image.
22:18So now I'm going into ChatGPT image two point o that that is killing the game right now, or I may And how do you get that? Your normal ChatGPT?
22:27A lot of people listening are spending $20 a month on ChatGPT. Yep. And the image generate I mean, I used to go to Dolly, but I feel like I don't have to leave my chat thread.
22:37Yeah. You don't. You don't.
22:38It's just all right there. Right. So,
22:40um, image two point o is right in the in the chat. You don't have to go anywhere else, and you can just and what's great about it now because they have it in thinking mode where you don't have to be this prompt master. You can go, okay.
22:55Get a picture of me with the brown hat, but now I want, like, a a blue hoodie, and it'll change it in the in the palm trees, and it instantly change it. Whereas before, you had to be like, location in California, outside, low, like, golden like, you don't have to be that detailed with GGBT no more.
23:17It literally says, okay. Here's the text that I want. Here's the image.
23:21This is what I need, and it will create it. Now granted, I I'm still big on tweak it.
23:27Right? The first image is is gonna look great, and if you're okay with it, cool. If you are that good at a one shot prompt, praise god.
23:35Uh, but I'm not. So I'm good at two or three more times a little bit of a tweak. Yeah.
23:41One thing I will say, if you are using your own likeness, after the third time, you have to reupload the picture of yourself because then it starts, like, manipulating on you. Yeah.
23:52Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
23:53Yeah. You you an instant way of fixing that is, like, reupload it. Don't continue to have it because it's gonna continue to mess up your face and your body, and it's you you're just gonna hate ChatGPT on that.
24:04Yeah. So reupload and I I believe that's with any type of AI image model.
24:09After a couple of tweaks, it's going to do that. Just reupload it. Interesting.
24:13So, um, are there any other tools you're gonna mention for this design phase in your talk?
24:21So so because it sounds like just ChatGPT, or would you No.
24:25So it from there to Canva next or Photoshop?
24:28That's the thing. Like, it depends on so in my talk, I go from if we're talking about reels, right, the that's where we're going.
24:38If you wanna go straight camera to like, you to camera Yep.
24:44Cool. You're probably gonna wanna pick, like, Submagic. Right?
24:48Submagic is going to allow you to be yourself, talk to camera, but it's going to add captions. It can add b roll to you and not like the corny b roll.
24:58Like Yeah. It's gonna actually have, like, some premium b roll that you have. It has the zoom in, zoom out.
25:04It understands that, like, every
25:06probably three seconds, it needs some type of distraction. Ease out to hold retention. Yes.
25:13And so what you're also describing here is, again, we're talking like a social media post, but this could be a YouTube short. Yes. From research to picking the topic and what you mentioned if we're recording a reel or just a vertical video.
25:24Yes. Smartphone would be good enough. We set things up.
25:27Audio, video, lighting, stabilization, whatever. Hit record. Capture that content with the file from your phone, you're saying upload it into Submagic.
25:36Absolutely.
25:37And now it's gonna get captions and even b roll. Yeah. And And it does a first pass for you?
25:44Yes. It just kinda it knows what you're saying. It's listening to the transcript.
25:47Yep. And, I mean and and I think a competitor, like you said, uh, pre pre filming this podcast,
25:53Opus clip is similar to Subpedition, but different. Opus Opus clip is similar, but what it's really good is if you already have your YouTube video,
26:03your podcast already recorded, that's what you give Opus clips. You give it the full length. It chops it into clips.
26:08Absolutely. Submagic, are you saying it's better for It's better for the forty five second video on your phone and then polishing that video, getting it ready for social.
26:17Yes.
26:18Perfect. It it
26:20they're great, but they're opposite. Right? So and so for your workflow from scratch, I have no idea what to post today.
26:27I'm doing my research. I'm picking my my format Mhmm.
26:31As well as my one idea. Yep. I filmed that on my phone.
26:34I put it in Submagic. If we're going video Yep. I could put it in ChatGPT if I wanna generate some images.
26:39And then what are your favorite design softwares, and are you using the AI expanded abilities of these softwares? So Canva added AI, Adobe added AI. Uh, you know, what does that mean?
26:49Every every everybody has
26:51for for one, everybody has AI. Two, um, I like the whole, like, whether it's ChatGPT or whether it's Claude, however your preference is, I like how it it is connected to Canva.
27:05Right? Uh, because you can then these softwares integrate?
27:10Right. So, like, if you take the idea that you have and you go, okay. I need a quote.
27:16Right? I need a carousel. I need some type of graphic in some way, shape, or form.
27:21It can either, one, create it inside of there, right, or take it to Canva directly, and you can manipulate it and customize it a little bit more. But, also, what's good with Canva is now they have this, like, magic layer that you know how with when you generate a image, it's hard to edit.
27:41It'll just completely mess it up. But with Canva, it now, uh, allows you to customize certain parts of each of the layer.
27:50So, like, let's say you don't like the color of your hat, but, uh, cat and tie, but everything else was fine. You could change that in Canva, and that's all done through Claude.
28:03That's all done through ChatGPT. I I like that workflow there. But one of the things I will say that we didn't cover is faceless content.
28:12Right? Uh, agent Opus. I we mentioned Opus a little bit, but agent Opus Yeah.
28:21That's something that will allow you to stand out. One one, because it doesn't have you don't have to be in front of the camera, but your voice can still be very primary.
28:32Meaning, it can take audio from your clips. Right?
28:36Let's say you did the, like, a front facing video or a clip of yours, but you don't you don't like it. Like, you just don't want that style. It will make it into a whole AI video.
28:47Meaning, it'll generate video from scratch that will pair with your audio.
28:53Yes. And it's good. It's you pick the style.
28:56They have seed dance two point o, which is now the latest and greatest. That's where we've been seeing the Brad Pitt Brad Pitt, uh, fight scenes and all of that.
29:08Now they have that. So now it's starting to look a little bit more realistic to what you want in your vision.
29:15So faceless content is going to take a whole new level if that's part of your workflow. That's crazy. Yeah.
29:21We
29:22right now, we're in Anaheim together. Last week, our team was in Vegas Yeah.
29:27For NAB show. We talked to OpusClip a long time. Agent Opus is crazy.
29:31Yes. Yes. Yeah.
29:33Think Media Podcast, definitely something worth checking out. We'll put a link. You might know OpusClip for clipping, but this is AI video generation.
29:40There's different players in that, but that's gonna be a major one. And they're cooking up some big things. Alright.
29:47You're sharing a lot of value. And I actually do wanna talk about some very interesting YouTube strategies that you have. You've had a couple breakout videos and some things we could get to, but a little bit more on tools.
29:56Yeah. If somebody could only use one tool to start, what would it be and why?
30:02Higgsville. Really? Yes.
30:04What is Higgsville and why do you recommend it? Higgsville AI,
30:08uh, is an all in one, like, creative studio.
30:14So all the latest, everything that we've been saying as far as, like, c dance and ChatGBT image two point o, Nano Banana, that's all inside of Higgs Field.
30:25So my biggest fear is that people catch FOMO when they hear this this episode, and they're going to subscribe to everything that's okay.
30:34Yeah. Chat, Claude, this, that.
30:37No. No. No.
30:37It's like, okay. Let's reduce that. Higgs Field has everything in one subscription, so your image and your video is taken care of.
30:47Now you just have to worry about, like, the Claude or ChattyPT side of things. But the creative side where we're creating the thumbnails, where we're creating the the AI b roll, where we're creating maybe even just faceless content with AI, That's all inside of Higgsville.
31:05So to clarify, though, would you say that that actually would be if you could only pick one AI tool, would it actually be Claude first? And then if you were expanding into video, it would be Higgsville?
31:15I would say okay. Yeah. If you put it that way, yes.
31:17I would say Claude. Yeah. Um, because, I said cancel your ChadGPT subscription or your Claude subscription, you would cancel ChadGPT if you had to narrow down?
31:26Oh, that's so
31:28I have I have attachment issues. So so, like, I in this season in this season, I would cancel ChattyBT, stick with Claude, and then from a visual creative side, I would get, uh, Hicksville.
31:45Yes.
31:46In general, there is AI tools fatigue.
31:52Yes.
31:52And people are burned out on AI tools. Mhmm. What do you think matters most?
31:57I mean, the ones you've listed, assuming in the modern era, we're gonna have a tech stack.
32:02Any digital entrepreneur has a tech stack, meaning at some point, they'd have Kajabi Yep. Their email CRM.
32:08And in today's world, like, these tools are becoming very real productivity essentials.
32:13Yes.
32:14So at the end of the day, is there any others that you think, like, actually matter? Like, they're just so worth it.
32:21Like, you happily pay every month on your credit card for that AI tool. I mean, I
32:26think it just depends on the where you're at. Right?
32:30Like, for me, Poppy AI is essential for me. Right?
32:34Um, what is that? Poppy AI, I call it kind of, like, the plug and play canvas for creators. Meaning, how we look at Claude, and we could do a lot with Claude, but it takes a lot of time after a while.
32:49Where with Poppy AI, if I wanna look at different outlier videos and then learn from that get the playbook and then have my own playbook of what scripts I need, what titles and thumbnails I may need, what hooks I may need.
33:05I'm going to Poppy because I'm able to take my competitors and thought leaders, put them in a board, get say, and only the it already, uh, it already takes care of the top videos.
33:19Right? Now I could pick as many as I want, but it gets their top outlier ones. And then I train AI into my voice and say, hey.
33:29Based off what they're doing, what is my gap? And create me a new, uh, script outline.
33:36Give me the formula of how my hooks are supposed to be, how's the body supposed to be, and how's the call to action supposed to be based off these top performing videos. For me to do that in Claude and ChatGPT, I would have to transcribe all of these things.
33:51That's a whole another tool that I would have to use. Upload it. Hopefully, have the right prompt.
33:57It takes too much time. So Poppy AI saves me time. And then once that workflow is done kinda like an agent because it goes and does this for you, does it whenever you push the button?
34:05No. It does it when you push the button. So you so you push the button, but it's preprogrammed.
34:10You don't have to pull the transcripts. It will go analyze. You put in a YouTube link of your competitor.
34:15You could do YouTube link. You could do
34:17a website. You can upload videos there. You could upload audio.
34:22It it's taking all types of So it's kind of like an agent, but it's not an agent. Exactly. That's interesting.
34:29Uh, so how many tools can you rattle off the top of your head that are part of your personal tech stack, AI or not, that you use at least once every seven days in your business?
34:42Claude, Notion with Notion AI, which is a sleeper.
34:49Poppy AI, Higgs Field, Submagic, Opus clip, Heigen.
34:57What's Heigen compared to Higgs Field? So Heigen is solely for AI avatars. Okay.
35:03Right? And the thing that they have an advantage of right now is from your likeness, they get it completely together.
35:13So those cinematic videos that you see, uh, people do of their own likeness, that probably takes them about, I would say, a good ten, fifteen renders where Haejin has this thing called avatar shots that will take you one prompt to you having a whole cinematic video.
35:34I had one where Making all the clips consistent so you look consistent across Absolutely. I had one where I was on stage. Cops came in.
35:43I looked like I was scared. I ran into a car. I called somebody, and this was but it looked exactly like me.
35:51Yeah. Whereas Whereas if I was to do that in Higgsville, it would take me forever because it's just different renders for all these different shots.
36:00Interesting. So quite a few tools, and you're you're doing this full time Yep. Obviously.
36:05Yep. What is interesting, and this is I wanna pivot to a YouTube strategy that applies to everybody listening Now to they can personalize it, but it's something you figured out.
36:14Yep. Now what we're talking about here is a little bit meta meta. I don't mean the company meta.
36:18I mean that you're an AI expert. Your YouTube channel covers a lot of AI tools. Mhmm.
36:22And one of the things that people have been burnt out on is, you know, go back twelve or twenty four months, and we loved clicking on videos of, like, 30 must know AI tools. Yeah.
36:31I feel like those videos are dead now because we're just all exhausted, and we're like, okay. I don't need a huge list. Yeah.
36:38And so then we were talking about you're like, yeah. You definitely saw that pivot, and you created a formula.
36:44Mhmm.
36:45And I think this is so powerful, the concept for the listener by, like, having formulas.
36:51Yeah. Now break down the formula because it's, like, three elements, and I think what I wanna encourage listeners to do is to create their own formulas.
36:58Yeah. So one thing that I've noticed was that the best performing
37:03videos that I was getting was one tool, one outcome, and how long did it take.
37:10Right?
37:11Because I want podcast listeners to think about that. That's a repeatable process, which is amazing. Insert tool Higgs field.
37:19Mhmm. Insert problem it solves, which could be, like, quickly AI video generation Mhmm.
37:27Simply, maybe something more specific. And then in ten minutes Yep. Or in less than and so it also could be you might have to really work the words, but it could still be pretty concise.
37:36Yes.
37:38Like I get them all down into less than 70 characters. Ten minute hack
37:43or, you know, 10 like, write a job resume with ChadGBT in ten minutes.
37:48Yep. Three elements incredibly powerful, and those started doing better. It makes sense too because we're giving and and and so I love this because it's like pain point.
37:58Speed Yeah. Which is the most valuable thing in today's world is like, you know, obviously, results, speed, we're all busy.
38:04And then, obviously, a searchable tool or a tool someone's looking for, which is pairs perfectly for your channel. But you wanna expand on the strategy at all? Yeah.
38:11No. Because what I've realized is, one,
38:14like you said, we're just fatigued of so many. Like, don't don't give me a video where I have to do so much. Yeah.
38:23Give me one one thing I can open up right now, do right now. I know the transformation that I'm going to get, and I know how much time I have to allot for this. So it made it very easy to click on because I know exactly what I'm getting.
38:38Where before it was, you know, five tools that can help you create AI videos, and then you're still not knowing which one to to pick. Yeah.
38:48Because now it's a preference thing, but what do you like? I came to your channel because I need you to guide me on which one to pick.
38:56So now I'm like, okay. Even though all these things came out, we're only picking one.
39:04What is the pain point that our audience has the most with? Okay. How to create viral videos?
39:09Okay. Cool. How to create, um, brand assets?
39:13Okay. Cool. Like, whatever your the they need the most.
39:17And the time doesn't even matter per se as far as, like, a form a a specific formula. It's just that they know, okay.
39:26This is a quick bite, or is this a masterclass for me? Like, if this is gonna be over fifteen minutes, I've got my pen pad.
39:34I know I have to stay locked in. I got it on the TV. We're ready.
39:38If you're saying this is five minutes, oh, I can watch this on my phone. I could do this real quick. It just helps the audience, like, know what to expect and easy.
39:46Super powerful. And, again, I'm not suggesting that,
39:50you know, everyone's doing reviews of products or even software, but I do think what are your video formats, title templates.
39:59Yep. But insinuate, it it and I feel like it's needed. It almost feels like the net the in and out strategy, meaning in today's world, there's, like, too much choice.
40:07Yes. AI tools, there's too much choice. But almost in every industry, what's powerful about the in and out menu is it's so simple.
40:14Mhmm. And it eliminates choice. There's some off menu items, but, like, how with with all of the overwhelm, what is, like, maybe a simple clickable, repeatable highly clickable, repeatable because now you really, there'd be unlimited videos for you to make.
40:28Yeah. It's actually unlimited. Yeah.
40:29Pain point plus amount of time plus tool. Yeah. You can make videos for the rest.
40:33I mean, was just actually true for everybody listening. The world is actually expansive and so is YouTube, but that's exciting. Well, in just a second, I actually want to land the plane on some of the YouTube strategy.
40:42You had a breakout video. I think there's some lessons from it. Yep.
40:44We'll get to that in a second. But I do want you to shout yourself out first. If people wanna follow you, connect with you, give a roll call to what you're up to, we'll put that in the show notes.
40:54Yeah. Nikki Saunders on on YouTube. This is Nikki's everywhere else.
40:59Find the find me there. Love me there, and you'll find you could go into my links. I'm not gonna go into that.
41:05Just get to know the channel, learn it, and then we'll go talk about the next steps. So
41:12check all that out in the show notes. You had a breakout video Yeah. Just four months ago.
41:17It got a 135,000 views. Mhmm.
41:19The title is why introverts make the best content creators, parentheses, nobody talks about this.
41:26Yeah. The video was nine minutes. It broke out.
41:30What I find fascinating is, and I'm curious, why do you think that video broke out on your channel that normally talks about tech and tools? Yeah.
41:38So
41:40the opposite of what people think of content creation. Right? So, of course, with my channel, I do attract a lot of content creators or people who wanna create content.
41:50Um, they just use the AI tools to do that. But the this cast of, like, to create good videos, you need to be an extrovert.
41:59You need to be out there. You need to be on camera all the time ready to go where I talked about it in a different way, where this is a world of introverts because the camera is just you and the camera.
42:13There's no crowd. There's no anything. You're actually alone.
42:16Yeah. Right. And so saying it in a different perspective made a lot of my audience felt seen and heard to where it's like, hold on.
42:25That you're speaking to me now. And then also what was cool about that video, it wasn't my typical, like, straight to camera talking and then b roll. It was a compilation of other podcasts, finding a specific theme, and then putting it all together.
42:43So we found all the podcast clips that we talked about introverts and put it together so it just told a a really dope story. That's fascinating.
42:52Yeah. And it it was one of those, like, okay. Uh, we don't know what I think it was around the holidays too.
42:59It was like, oh, we don't know what else to do. Let's find just a common theme, and it worked out really well.
43:04We didn't even think it was gonna go that crazy, but there is a yearning for creator identity.
43:10Yes. And so that's why that did great. I like that word, and I think that it's very smart of individuals that made it this long in the podcast.
43:19This one strategy could change the channel tapping into identities. Mhmm. And that's a double identity because an introvert is an identity.
43:27Yep. And so is content creator. So you paired them.
43:30Yep. You know, working mom. Mom's an identity.
43:35Right? So pairing these identities.
43:38And it it would seem almost like a contrast or like, wait.
43:42Those things like you said, nobody talks about this. The assumption is that if you're introverted, you might not be a content creator. Mhmm.
43:49So you're stepping into that. It's fascinating that you also pulled clips and ended up getting a 135,000 views, essentially repurposing content.
43:58Yes. Wow. That's a little underrated.
44:00Yes. Right? Because sometimes we think of repurposing as maybe, like, squeezing a little bit of extra juice.
44:05Mm-mm. That's, like, the main juice. Mhmm.
44:07Anything else you learned from that video? Or more macro on the identities concept of how creators of different channels could tap into that.
44:19I I think
44:20one thing that that really stood out for me with that video was once that did well, it's the the follow-up of how else can we make sure that audience is still being seen.
44:35Right? Um, because we could get very quick to going right back to what was working before. But we looked at it as like, okay.
44:43Cool. You came. You saw that.
44:46Cool. Now let's show you examples of other creators who are introverted.
44:52Now you you saw that you can create it. Let me now show you different examples. So we showed, like, a mister b's.
44:58So you did in this video, or you did full videos? One. It was the it was the follow-up kind of thing.
45:03And understanding that now when we have a breakout video, it's going to attract an like, a deeper depth of audience, the same kind of audience, but, like, like, a specific group, and how are we now adding that as part of our content pillars?
45:21Yeah. Like, it's clearly introverts is something that resonates as an extension of your message, so it was something you'd hit more. Yeah.
45:27So that that was something that that
45:30made us think a little bit different with our strategy. But the ease of whenever you, don't know what to create, find the common theme.
45:43That was that was a eye opener for us of, like sometimes we don't always have to create the new to find a new idea, find a new idea, create okay. Let's turn on the camera. It's let's look back.
45:56Let's find is there a common theme? Is there okay. In maybe on your lives, did you talk about a specific tool in five different ways?
46:07That could be its own video. In, uh, an interview that you did, like, two interviews, you can put it back to back, and it gives two different perspectives on one topic.
46:18Uh, I think repurposing content,
46:22uh, with themes doesn't get talked about a lot. Powerful stuff. Nikki Saunders, Think Media Podcast.
46:27If you got value today, like, rate, share, review wherever you watch or listen. And my name is Sean Cannell. You're guide to building a profitable YouTube channel.
46:35I cannot wait to connect with you in a future episode of the Think Media Podcast. Until then, keep crushing it, and we will talk soon.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The title promises an upset, but the mechanism is surprisingly unglamorous: a $20-a-month subscription, a thirty-minute setup session, and a shift in how you think about your content operation.
How they asked for the click.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
