55:03Think Media Podcast · Interview
What's Actually Working on Instagram in 2026
Brock Johnson — 15 million monthly views — breaks down the yapping format, Trial Reels sandbox, and the repost cadence that most creators ignore.
June 16thThe argument in one line.
Ben Azadi rebuilt a plateaued keto channel into the second-biggest health channel on YouTube by trading a narrow niche for broad-appeal, high-volume video testing, then turned that audience into $700,000 a month by negotiating deep, exclusive affiliate partnerships with three companies instead of running standard programs with dozens.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You run a YouTube channel that has plateaued after early growth and are considering a rebrand or a shift from a tight niche to broader topics.
- You promote other people's products as an affiliate and want a model beyond the standard 15-20% commission link.
- You're early in your creator journey and want a realistic view of how long it actually takes to build momentum.
- You want a concrete video-testing cadence for finding what content resonates instead of guessing.
SKIP IF…
- You're not in a content-adjacent business — the affiliate-negotiation tactics assume you already have real YouTube reach to leverage.
- You're looking for platform-specific algorithm tricks rather than packaging, testing, and business-model strategy.
The full version, fast.
Ben Azadi built KetoKamp into a keto authority through SEO-driven niche content, then hit a plateau. After five years he rebranded to his own name, broadened past keto into general health, and started chasing virality with a broad-appeal test: does this topic interest roughly 80% of people? He posts five videos a week specifically to generate performance data — some flop, some become his best performers, and he can't predict which in advance. The channel now nets 6-8 million views a month. The real money strategy, though, is on the business side: instead of standard 15-20% affiliate commissions across dozens of companies, his team negotiates 30-50% commissions plus a cut of Amazon sales with just three hand-picked partners, generating over $700,000 in gross sales in the last thirty days from YouTube alone. Book sales and $20-30K keynote fees round out the top three income sources, and a self-owned product line launches in September so he can finally own customer data and retargeting.
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00:41guestBen Azadi
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 10:25
01 · The virality epiphany
Cold open into Ben Azadi's origin story: a video on foods RFK Jr. was reportedly looking to ban, made in about four hours, hit the news cycle at the right moment and pulled over 4 million views. That result taught him 'trend surfing' — finding what's breaking (via a researcher on his team, TikTok/Instagram feeds, and YouTube's incognito homepage) and publishing before or better than competitors.
10:25 – 17:00
02 · Finding repeatable winners
His fasting-timeline video series (24hr/48hr/72hr/100hr breakdowns) became his top-performing content by riding a recurring public interest in extreme fasting. Posting five videos a week generates fast performance data: a dementia video he expected to crush flopped, while a teeth-whitening video he almost skipped passed 2 million views.
17:00 – 21:03
03 · How he builds a video
Process starts with the title/theme, then a personality-driven script (not robotic teleprompter reading), a short hook followed by immediate value delivery, and the VPM (value per minute) principle — keep the viewer's time-on-platform dense with new nuggets. He records fasted for energy and stops as soon as the promise of the title is delivered, without padding runtime.
21:03 – 28:16
04 · Advice to new creators
Compare yourself only to your own yesterday, not to an established creator's current chapter. Pick a topic you're genuinely passionate about, don't let missing gear hold you back (Ben recorded on a phone and tripod while his studio was being built), and put in the reps. Sean's 'suck, suck, suck, success' formula and watching your own footage back (even muted) are the improvement loop; a mid-roll ad for Think Media's ViralVideoCoach.com coaching program runs here.
28:16 – 50:25
05 · The pivot and the $700K strategy
Ben rebranded KetoCamp to Benazadi after five years of niche keto dominance, applying a broad-appeal test (does this interest ~80% of people) and framing it through the 'Sheehan's Wall' / 'meaningful specific vs. wandering generality' idea — niche first, broaden later. The core business-model reveal: instead of standard 15-20% affiliate deals across dozens of companies, his team negotiates 30-50% commissions plus a cut of the partner's Amazon sales with only three companies (an olive oil brand, a protein shake brand, a creatine brand), producing over $700,000 in gross sales from YouTube in the last thirty days. A self-owned supplement line launches in September to capture email and retargeting data directly. Income ranks: affiliate partnerships first, book sales second, $20-30K keynote fees third. His team also tallied over a million pounds of collective fat loss from two years of YouTube comments using ChatGPT.
50:25 – 53:37
06 · Final advice for plateaued creators
Every channel, including MrBeast's, goes through view declines tied to algorithm shifts or world events. The creators who keep posting through the dip land ahead of the ones who stop. Closes with a plug for Think Media's Las Vegas mastermind event.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- A creator can grow from 300,000 to over a million monthly views by systematically packaging content for virality rather than just SEO searchability.
- Standard affiliate commissions run 15-20% — Ben Azadi's team negotiates 30-50% plus a cut of Amazon sales by concentrating on three deep partnerships instead of forty shallow ones.
- A single trend-timed video (foods RFK Jr. proposed banning) took roughly four hours to make and generated over 4 million views by being first to a breaking topic.
- Testing five videos a week generates enough performance data to separate winners from duds within days instead of guessing for months.
- A dementia-prevention video Ben expected to crush underperformed, while a natural teeth-whitening video he almost skipped became one of his fastest-growing videos with over 2 million views.
- The broad-appeal filter for a viral topic is simple: does this interest roughly 80% of the population, not just a narrow segment.
- Rebranding from KetoCamp to Benazadi after five years of niche dominance opened interviews with guests outside health and pushed monthly views as high as 12 million.
- Losing some keynote invitations and subscribers was an accepted cost of broadening the channel beyond its original keto niche.
- Watching your own videos back — even muted, to judge only body language and expressions — is a repeatable way professional communicators improve on camera.
- Standard affiliate programs miss revenue: companies with weak checkout pages lose the sale to Amazon anyway, so the team now negotiates a cut of the partner's Amazon sales too.
- The team fed two years of YouTube comments into ChatGPT and calculated over one million pounds of collective fat loss attributed to the channel's content.
- Income ranks affiliate partnerships first, book sales second, and $20,000-30,000 keynote speaking fees third — with course sales no longer a priority.
- A brand-new 77-year-old creator with zero social following posted her first video and got 37,000 views, illustrating that YouTube still rewards a single well-packaged video over follower count.
- Every channel, including MrBeast's, goes through view declines tied to algorithm shifts or world events — creators who keep posting through the dip come out ahead of those who stop.
Broaden your appeal, then rebuild your affiliate deals from scratch.
WHAT TO LEARN
A plateaued channel broke through by testing high volume for data, broadening past its original niche once that niche was mastered, and replacing shallow affiliate links with a handful of deeply negotiated partnerships.
01The virality epiphany
- A single well-timed video tied to a breaking news moment can outperform months of steady output — being early or best on a trending topic matters more than polish.
- Tracking trends doesn't require a dedicated researcher: scanning TikTok/Instagram feeds and browsing YouTube's homepage in incognito mode surfaces what's breaking without algorithmic bias from your own watch history.
02Finding repeatable winners
- Publishing enough content to get real performance data beats guessing which topics will resonate; expected hits can flop and unlikely topics can become the biggest wins.
- A recurring, well-loved topic format (fasting timelines, in this case) can become a channel's most reliable performer once the creator finds the angle their audience responds to.
03How he builds a video
- Keeping a script personality-driven rather than robotically read, and cutting a video the moment it delivers its promise, protects watch-time density (value per minute).
- Starting with a short hook and moving straight into value — rather than a long buildup — matches how viewers actually decide whether to keep watching.
04Advice to new creators
- New creators should compare only to their own past output, choose a topic they're genuinely passionate about, and not let missing equipment delay starting.
- Watching your own footage back — including muted, to judge only body language — is a concrete, repeatable way to improve on camera over time.
05The pivot and the $700K strategy
- Rebranding after mastering a niche — not before — is what lets a creator broaden into wider topics without losing the audience discipline built in year one.
- The 'does this appeal to roughly 80% of people' test is a concrete filter for packaging a topic for broad reach instead of a narrow niche audience.
- Standard affiliate commissions leave money on the table; negotiating higher commission tiers plus a share of a partner's downstream sales (e.g., Amazon) with a small number of deep partners can outperform running dozens of shallow programs.
- Owning a product directly (versus only promoting others') is valuable because it captures customer email and enables retargeting that affiliate deals never allow.
06Final advice for plateaued creators
- Every channel experiences view declines tied to algorithm shifts or world events; consistently posting through those dips is what separates long-term creators from those who stop and fall behind.
Terms worth knowing.
- VPM (Value Per Minute)
- How much genuinely useful content a viewer gets per minute of watch time; low VPM causes viewers to bail before the video delivers its promised value.
- Trend surfing
- Spotting a breaking news story or viral topic early and publishing a video on it before competitors, timed to ride the spike in search and social interest.
- Broad appeal
- A packaging strategy that frames a topic so it interests a wide cross-section of viewers (roughly 80% of the population) rather than a narrow niche segment.
- Sheehan's Wall
- A concept (from Rory Vaden, named after Peter Sheehan) describing how spreading focus across too many things early prevents a creator or business from breaking through; niching down first is what lets you break the wall.
- Wandering generality vs. meaningful specific
- A Zig Ziglar framing: becoming known for one specific thing (meaningful specific) builds a breakthrough audience faster than trying to be broadly relevant from the start (wandering generality).
Things they pointed at.
33:19bookSheehan's Wall concept (Rory Vaden, named after Peter Sheehan)
36:53channelWine Library TV / Gary Vaynerchuk niche-then-broaden reference
Lines you could clip.
00:41
“One strategy that brought in almost $700,000 in gross sales in the last thirty days alone, and I haven't heard anybody talking about this.”
38:40
“On the last thirty days, just from YouTube, just from what we're doing here, we've been able to bring in over $700,000 in gross sales just from that.”
41:12
“We're looking at 30 to 50% in some cases commission on top of that, plus reoccurring subscribers... we want a piece of their Amazon sales too.”
37:01
“The riches are in the niches, and there's some truth to that, but not for your entire career... the riches are in the virality for me.”
34:49
“You don't wanna be a wandering generality, you wanna be a meaningful specific.”
21:24
“Every master was a disaster.”
13:23
“Does this topic appeal to 80% of the population? That's a crazy amount.”
45:46
“Over 1,000,000 pounds of fat loss from my YouTube videos, dude.”
Where the conversation goes.
00:00 – 10:25denseOrigin story and trend-surfing epiphany
10:25 – 17:00denseContent testing cadence and packaging patterns
17:00 – 21:03Scripting, VPM, and delivery style
21:03 – 28:16Advice for creators starting out
28:16 – 50:25denseBrand pivot, broad appeal, and the $700K affiliate model
50:25 – 53:37sparseClosing advice for plateaued creators
Word for word.
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00:00And once I started doing that consistently, Sean, the channel took off. Right? I went from 300 to 400,000 views a month, which I was getting on average
00:08to over a million. That's Benazotti, a New York Times bestselling author who's now running the second biggest channel in the entire health space on YouTube. But almost seven years ago when he started YouTube, he struggled for months just to get a few thousand subscribers.
00:21And then after experiencing some growth, he hit a plateau. He got stuck and had to reinvent his entire strategy. And in this episode of the Think Media Podcast, he's breaking all of the lessons down, including how he repositioned and rebranded his channel, his packaging strategy that started to make his videos go viral, and one strategy that brought in almost $700,000 in gross sales in the last thirty days alone, and I haven't heard anybody talking about this.
00:50So if you're just starting on YouTube and looking for some wisdom or you've been stuck and you're wanting to scale your views and income, this episode is for you. Let's dive in. So, Ben, what is the biggest thing about YouTube you believe right now that you didn't believe years ago?
01:07Well, I used to think YouTube
01:10was slow growth, and, uh, it can be, but it doesn't have to be slow growth. I really believe there are ways to maximize your reach even if you are a new channel.
01:22I see with my channel, we're not new, but I see some months that we've had where we've hit over a 100,000 subscribers, like, within thirty days. And the first thousand subscribers took me almost seven months when we launched your channel, but I don't think that's necessary. I don't think you have to have the slow growth.
01:38There are ways to figure out virality on YouTube that I didn't believe was possible before, Sean. When did that first hit you? Like, what happened or what video where that epiphany started to be revealed to you?
01:51It was a video I did about fifteen, sixteen months ago on foods that RFK junior was looking to ban.
01:59And what I didn't realize back then, we actually did this accidentally. It was during the perfect time where he was, you know, coming on board to the government, RFK junior.
02:08He was talking about MAHA, make America healthy again. There was a lot of buzz around it, and I I put this video out right before he came on board. And what I realized when this video went viral, it's our our biggest video yet.
02:18It has over 4,000,000 views since then. But what I realized is we picked the perfect time on a very important topic, and we released it at the right time. And we were ahead of everybody else that were releasing similar videos, so we got the views there, and we could do that with other videos and other trends.
02:33You you talk about this trends, uh, what is it? Trench surfing, I think you call it. So finding out what trends are happening out there and being one of the first people to do it, or even if you're not the first person being the best at it, the best video out there, I realized we could do this from other areas, and we don't have to wait six months, twelve months, or a year for the growth.
02:51We could get it in in a day as soon as the video comes out. Like, that video went off the day that it came out. How long did the video take you to make?
02:57You spotted it. You did some research, and then you you did you intentionally turn it around as quick as possible?
03:03I did because I knew I wanted it to be one of the first videos out there to your point. So, yes, I intentionally got it out as fast as possible. How long did it take?
03:10Well, I did some research on, uh, the foods he was looking to ban. I read some different articles, and I put the script together. Uh, that probably took me three hours of research and then an additional forty five minutes of recording.
03:22So let's say let's say four hours total time, and that was it. That was it. Okay.
03:28So, I mean, not, um, nothing. You know, not just ten minutes, not rushed.
03:33I think that speaks to the power of substance and quality, but also for the results. I mean, it it took you four hours to get 4,000,000 views.
03:43That's crazy. So the return on investment of time I'm curious since that, um, video came out, what do you do to try to see breaking news stories or relevant news stories for your niche? I have a person on my team that looks at different articles and and looks on chat, looks on CloudT, what's trending out there.
04:02I also keep an eye on it in terms of my social media feed. Now I don't spend a lot of time on social media personally, but I do look at videos that are doing really well that pop on my feed. And I'm like, okay.
04:11Is this something that I might wanna make a video about? Like, for example, I saw a video pop up on my TikTok feed the other day. Um, this viral video that had millions of views on TikTok about microplastics being found in testicles and the brain and in your day to day products and how they're hidden everywhere.
04:28And I knew a lot about this topic, but I never thought about recording a video until I saw this, uh, go viral. At least I saw the viral video on TikTok, and then that inspired me.
04:37Okay. I'm gonna record a YouTube video and go a little bit deeper on the microplastics, but also how to remove the microplastics, not just the problem, but actually the solution.
04:45So that's part of the research as well, but I do have somebody who's dedicated to actually looking at studies and articles and seeing what's popping out there. Um, so I'm blessed to be able to have that, but you don't need that for those who are wondering. You could be the the the person that I was with looking at the TikTok feed, looking at the Instagram feed, seeing what's popping out there.
05:03And then also one real quick, going on YouTube, uh, incognito mode. I'll go on youtube.com in incognito mode, and I'll see what's showing up on the homepage because that's what's doing well. YouTube is showing that to the masses.
05:14And if it's relevant to something I wanna record, I'll look into recording that video. And those are some good tactics. The YouTube incognito mode is fascinating because, yeah, again, then there's no algorithmic,
05:25um, chain you know, normally, we're seeing what the algorithm is suggesting us based on our watch history. But incognito is gonna show you even the concepts, even if it's not the exact news story, like the concepts or the formats or the titles that could inspire our next viral video idea.
05:40And then I would agree with that as well. I think, you know, a lot of people might doom scroll on social media and it doesn't lead to a positive benefit. But true social media consumption to pay attention to trends, if you condition your algorithm on Instagram or TikTok to be feeding you news, in your case, being in the health niche, um, then those are a place where lots of information breaks quickly.
06:04And YouTube, I'd almost say it breaks fast on YouTube too, but maybe it's not quite as fast. So it could give you a head start to be using TikTok, Facebook Reels, Instagram to get video ideas to make these kind of news and trending type of videos.
06:19Have you then since that time, what has been maybe one of the second most successful ones where you spotted a story and then how did you end up packaging it on YouTube to turn it around and what were the results? Fasting. So fasting.
06:31We I see a lot of articles come out on on intermittent fasting,
06:35like long fast. Sometimes there's articles about people that eat no food for twenty days, forty days, and those tend to go viral. And I love you know, Mishan, I love talking about fasting.
06:44I've been teaching it since 2014 and and practicing it myself. So anytime I could record a fasting video, I'm excite I'm excited to do that. But what I noticed is every time I recorded a fasting video, breaking down the timeline of what happens in your body.
06:57We're kinda talking about this with doctor Berg, but with fasting, water fasting, what happens inside of your body hour by hour when you go without food for twenty four hours and then thirty hour mark, forty eight hour mark, seventy two hour mark. So I did videos on hundred hour fast, seventy two hour fast, forty eight hour fast, and I was hopping on the trend.
07:14And those videos, all of those fasting timeline videos are my top performing videos. And, Sean, I love recording them. Fasting is one of my favorite topics to talk about.
07:23And I think that's part of the reason why they're so successful because I'm so animated and excited when I'm recording them. But that was the second one there, the fasting part.
07:31It's been one of those things that kinda come and go, the popularity of fasting. But when I see it pop up in these viral videos or these, uh, articles that come out, this guy fasted for twenty days, no food, and it goes viral,
07:42it inspires me to record another fasting video. I love that. Now you in just a second, I wanna ask you about one of the biggest turning points for your channel because you're not new to YouTube, but you definitely went through a season of a plateau.
07:54And I think there's a lot of creators that can relate with that, entrepreneurs, business owners that maybe at one point they were getting views or YouTube was giving them a certain amount of results. But now they're trying to reinvent themselves. They're trying to figure out what pivot is needed.
08:06And you've done that in such a major way. I mean, I think now you're like the second largest channel in your space, uh, you know, almost 7,000,000 views in the last thirty days.
08:15So I'm excited to get into this in just a second, but I did wanna give a shout out. The topic of this podcast is not, um, as much like health and your main expertise, but as we both well, as anyone who listens to Big Potty, uh, podcast knows and, you know, our friendship, health is an edge.
08:30If you wanna have your best energy, your best ideas, then tapping into things like fasting or or your diet, your exercise could be a big deal. So I do wanna just let people know you you're you're just dropping a brand new book.
08:42I think it's a relaunch. What's happening? I'll make sure to link that up in the description that can really help people feel better and as a result, get better results in all areas of their life.
08:51Yeah. Thank you, Sean. And as an entrepreneur, you know, you know how important it is to, uh, improve your health.
08:56I love seeing you transform your health with the biohacking. You were talking about your labs and you've transformed your health, and it's, uh, no coincidence that it's transforming your productivity.
09:05And that that is the case. You know, the bigger your goal, the bigger the mission, the more energy that is required, the more vitality you need to have, and it starts with your health. And it doesn't matter what your career is and what your channel is about.
09:17And, yes, I do have this book coming out. It's a relaunch of KetoFlex, uh, that came out in 2021.
09:22It's being relaunched. It's revised completely. Uh, my publisher, Hay House, picked it up, and I'm really proud of the book because it's a customized version of how to apply these tools that I talk about.
09:33Ketosis, fasting, even things like anti inflammatory elimination diets like the carnivore diet.
09:39We hear about fasting. We hear about ketosis. We hear about these biohacks, but how do you customize the approach so you could benefit?
09:45Because not everybody gets the same benefit, and I was tired of seeing people struggle doing the things that I was teaching in a general format because they failed to customize it to their unique needs. So in this book, I wrote out the customization of it. Here's how men do it.
10:00Here's how women do it. Here's how women with a menstrual menstrual cycle do it differently than women who are postmenopausal, and it shows you the game plan, and there's a beginner version and an advanced version.
10:09So there's biohacks in there. There's fasting tips in there. It's called KetoFlex, and it's coming out on July 21.
10:15Amazing. So we'll make sure that's in the description.
10:18And, uh, definitely, if you boost your health, you could boost your whole life business YouTube channel. But I wanna talk about the pivot.
10:25So there was a big turning point on your channel after being plateaued for a while. And the way you have articulated it is kind of shifting from niche content to viral content.
10:38Can you define those terms and how that what that process was like for you? Yeah. You know, I learned a lot about this from you, Sean.
10:45I learned a lot from about YouTube from you and Think Media, of course. And, uh, you know, I remember you talking about on stage at your event, uh, Grow With Video Live that there are essentially, like, two different types of content out there.
10:57There's the the content that's really SEO focused, searchable, and then there's that viral virality part. And, you know, you really helped me with the searchability of my content, especially in the keto space.
11:07Right? We were keto camp. We were dominating keto.
11:09We had all the search words and the and the and the SEO going on, and you really helped with that. And then I finally decided to go into more of the virality and open myself up and get out of the keto space. And I changed the name of my channel first and foremost from keto camp to Benazotti.
11:24So that separated that, number one. Number two, I started creating content that was outside of the space of just ketosis and fasting, and I started looking at topics that were more viral.
11:35Right? The microplastics things like liver, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance.
11:39These are things that I was not talking about before, maybe in sprinkles, but not a dedicated video. And once I started focusing on more viral content with the theme, like the title being such a great title and the thumbnail being such a great thumbnail and then me delivering that content with the value being at the front of that content, the thick of the the the thickness or that I should say, like, the the meat of the content being right at the beginning and holding that viewer on that video as long as possible.
12:06You always talk about TOP time on platform, like, what can I do to engage them right off the bat? What can I do to deliver the most massive tip in that video right off the bat and then keep them as long as possible?
12:19I started thinking about this more often and strategizing this, and this went into my scripts. This went into the iteration of the content. And once I started doing that consistently, Sean, the channel took off.
12:31Right? I went from 300 to 400,000 views a month, which I was getting on average to over a million. And then we went as high as over 12,000,000 views in a single thirty day span, and then now it fluctuates between 6,000,007 and sometimes 8,000,000, but way above what I was doing before when I got out of the niche of my topic, which was keto, and I opened it up to more broad topics when it came to health.
12:54Yeah. That's, uh, I wanna unpack some of these things. I think one of those terms,
12:58broad appeal is such an interesting term for really exploding your YouTube channel.
13:05I've heard the most viral channels, which I want every, especially business owner and entrepreneur to take this with a grain of salt because usually your intent if you're, you know, have a very specific offer, very specific product. But nevertheless, there's a lesson here.
13:20And some of the most viral channels actually ask themselves, does this topic appeal to 80% of the population?
13:27That's a crazy amount. And that's typically gonna be that means it doesn't just isolate men or women. It means that food or health oftentimes does.
13:36Like something that's broad enough appeal that, like, almost any human would be interested in clicking on this. Now, again, what's fascinating is is especially in the business space.
13:45You've heard maybe recently Alex from Ozi talk about when it comes to business results, his niche secondary channel that only talks about, like, very specific things actually drives more business to his company than his more viral channel. But this is also coming from somebody who does both.
14:01He's got broad appeal, brand, but also is getting those business results. What I want people to hear, and you can maybe expound on this, is we are always asking ourselves at Think Media, how can we make this as broad appeal as possible?
14:14We might still wanna call out something specific, but how can we package it? How can we title it to to push up the level of how broad appeal that it is?
14:24Is that kind of how you've been thinking in your strategy?
14:27That's exactly it. And, you know, it's it's really a matter of of testing a lot of videos. You know this, Sean.
14:32Not every video is gonna be a winner. Right? You talk about that.
14:35And if you don't put out enough content, it's gonna be hard to get that data. So we release five episode or five solo videos on my YouTube channel every week.
14:45It's a lot. It's a lot. However, it gets us so much data to see what are the winners, what are the average performers, and what are the duds.
14:54And we're constantly testing different themes and things we think that are mass appeal, and sometimes it is, and they crush. And then sometimes I think it's mass appeal, it's a complete dud. I'll give you an example.
15:03Like, there was a video recorded on, uh, dementia. Some of the latest research on dementia, how to prevent it, and in some ways, how to dramatically slow it down.
15:12It's a very important topic to me. And I I posted it on my channel. I'm like, this is gonna crush.
15:19And it totally underperformed, completely underperformed compared to our average. I'm like, okay.
15:23My audience doesn't really care about brain health. And then I saw a a I I thought of a video, another video on natural ways to whiten your teeth.
15:32I almost didn't record it because I thought, do I really wanna record this? Like, do people really think it's important? I guess they do.
15:37It's vanity. So let me just test it out. Right?
15:39Again, you do enough content. You could test things out. So I record this video on natural ways to whiten your teeth.
15:44I put it out there, and it was one of the fastest growing videos on the channel. It's got over 2,000,000 views now since we released it. Right?
15:51So my audience cares more about vanity things like teeth whitening versus, like, dementia. Right? But I wouldn't have known if I didn't test these things out.
15:59Sometimes you get duds, sometimes you get average performers, and sometimes you get these rock stars, but I put out enough content to test that and to get the results, the data back fast
16:08versus doing a video a week. I wouldn't know that data for a lot longer than what I'm doing now. I love that.
16:13And then you I heard you say, of course, the power of packaging. We've been talking about that, you know, you need to master packaging or get ignored this year on YouTube.
16:22That's the game. It is that topic, it's that title and that's and the thumbnail. But you know what I think it's under talked about is what you're saying is that next piece though, but packaging is not enough if the delivery, the script, or the outline isn't packed full of value.
16:37You You wanna keep time on platform? We we've been talking a lot about the term of VPM, is value per minute.
16:44How dense is the value per minute for the viewer that's watching? If I got to hang on your video for one, two, or three minutes before I get another epiphany or another nugget, then I might bail.
16:56I probably will. Right? Because there's other content out there.
16:58So I'm kinda curious as such a good teacher and educator, you know, you've turned your knowledge and your experience into a online business that's changing lives and that is incredibly lucrative.
17:10Um, how do you think about and how have you grown in creating like a world class piece
17:17of content itself? The way you teach, the way you think about structuring your teaching, the way you think about scripting your videos. Yeah.
17:23So it starts with the script. Right? Well, actually, starts with the the theme.
17:26Starts with me understanding what what is the title of this video. That's where it starts for me. And then it's the next step is the script of that.
17:32How do I deliver the mass the best value to deliver the promise of that title? And, um, you know, I see a lot of people in my health space that I'll speak to that that also I could tell they use scripts, and there's nothing wrong with that.
17:43I use scripts for my videos, but they're very robotic with the scripts. You know? Either they're reading a teleprompter or they're looking down and looking up, and and they're just kind of reading what's on the script.
17:54And I could tell it's it's robotic, and I can tell that it's not really helping as much as it is hurting them because their their views are going down. I see this with the research I'm doing. I I I go into it.
18:04I don't wanna be that type of person. I wanna bring my personality to it. Although it is scripted, I am bringing my personality.
18:10I'm adding in stories, funny stories.
18:12I'm bringing my personality to these videos. I want it to be entertaining. I want it to be personable so the audience relates to me, and I want it to be educational.
18:20So what I'm you know, what I used to do is I used to start the videos with this long hook and a buildup and then explain why I'm choosing these five tips. You know, I've changed that with a short hook and then going right into those tips and delivering massive value right away. You know?
18:38And and I've spoken about this before with you, Sean, when you interviewed me, and then I'll add some q and a at the end if I want. If I feel like I wanna add some questions, I'll add it to the end. But it's like right off the bat, massive value.
18:47They see the thumbnail. They see the title. Okay.
18:50They're interested. They're curious about what this is about. They wanna learn more.
18:54I don't want them to click on and then see me speak for a few seconds or even a few minutes and be like, oh, this is too long winded. There's no personalities, too robotic, and they go to the next video. Like you said, they're gonna do that.
19:05So I show up and I go into it like, how can I impact millions of people on this video? Like, I'm looking at at it like there's gonna be millions of people watching this video. How can I bring my personality?
19:14But here's the thing. You gotta be healthy and energized to do that. Right?
19:17If you're not healthy and you feel depleted because your diet is crap and you're not fasting or whatever it is, like, it's gonna be hard to do that. That's where the health piece comes into play here. So I have the energy to do that.
19:26I show up and I typically do it fasted because I feel better that way. And then I show up and I deliver like I'm on stage at a conference, and I don't extend the video just to make it longer.
19:36When it's over, it's over. And I and I and I deliver on the promise of the title, which is something that you've taught about taught to us before, Sean. I want like, you you're dropping obviously
19:47pro level, elite level YouTube advice, and you're a real authority.
19:52Second largest channel in your space, you know, six to seven, eight million views a month. But YouTube is still such a massive opportunity for new channels to start.
20:02We're seeing it happen every day. You know, you're one video away from a new channel growing. You lived in the era where we were chipping away at like search based videos and wanting to do hundreds of them to get traction and grow our channels.
20:15And, you know, recently we had, um, this woman, Sherry. She's 77 with zero social media following, just her phone, posted her first video ever on a brand new channel and got 37,000 views.
20:27That happened a couple months ago. So that's like right now on YouTube, you can start from scratch. A lot of people have been highlighting the fact that we're no longer in social media, we're in interest media.
20:38And so in a way, followers don't matter and of course, we still want subscribers, but it's like one individual video can blow up. I'm kinda curious though because now you've so honed your craft. You're speaking on stages, know, now you've packaged what you know into a book, you're teaching at this high level.
20:54And I think that some people might feel the gap is too big between I'm just starting though and I'm like not an expert and I'm not a pro communicator, how can I compete? What advice would you give to somebody who's early on in their journey in terms of what it might take to start and stick with and develop their skills, communication ability, their YouTube knowledge?
21:14For those that would come to you and say, hey, Ben, like, wanna start a channel. What would your first couple steps and advice for me to do that? Not just like tech like, tactically on how to set up the channel,
21:24but for me to develop as a communicator and someone that is conveying what I know or even developing what I know. First step is I would go on Think Media and look at the oldest video on there and watch Sean stumble his words talking about how he's not gonna be entertaining and he's not gonna be this x y z. Look how bad Sean was and look how great Sean is now.
21:42Right? Every master was a disaster. So don't compare your chapter one to Sean's chapter whatever or my chapter whatever.
21:50Like, you are in your own journey first and foremost. Only compare yourself to what you did yesterday.
21:55Right? You're only comparing yourself against you're only competing against yourself. So know that going into it.
21:59Number two, I I would find a topic or a channel that is something that lights you up.
22:06Don't start a channel on a topic because you think that's what people wanna hear or it's gonna go viral. That's not gonna last. If you're not passionate about it, you don't care about the topic, it's not gonna last.
22:16It's not gonna be something you do for a very long time. I love talking about health. Sean loves talking about YouTube and media and growth and mindset.
22:25If he didn't love it, he would not be here today. He would he would not have the longevity in his space, and I would not have the longevity in my space. So find something you love doing.
22:33Don't let and I hear Sean say this all the time. You've probably heard him say it before too. Don't let the fact that you don't have the fancy cameras and the professional mics get in the way.
22:42And and I'll share this, Sean. Like, I just moved into this house, and we built this beautiful studio. It's a dream of mine, and you know how you're a studio guy.
22:50You get it. Right? But when we moved in here, the studio is being built out for several months.
22:56So I had nowhere to record. So what did I do? I simply put my phone on a tripod.
23:01I sat on my couch. I sat at the kitchen table, and I thought, man, is this gonna hurt my views?
23:06No. I got the same amount of views with no fancy background, just a camera on a tripod, the same exact views.
23:14All the stuff behind us, it's for my enjoyment. It's not gonna really help my channel.
23:20It's it's for me, not for the channel growth. Right?
23:23So don't worry. Don't get held back about you not having a studio. Like, sit in your backyard.
23:27Just have good audio. Use your iPhone. That's all you need.
23:30The story you just shared about the woman, Sherry, that's a perfect example. Like, that was recently. Like, it YouTube yeah.
23:38There's a lot of people on there, but it doesn't mean it's too late. You haven't missed the boat. As a matter of fact, it's the perfect time.
23:44Right now is the perfect time to start. So find something you're passionate about. Don't get fixated on the equipment, and don't compare yourself against somebody else.
23:52The way to get better and become a great communicator to answer your question, you gotta put in the reps. You gotta put in the reps. And as hard as it is, watch those videos and see yourself on camera.
24:04It's awkward. It's weird, but watch yourself. Maybe maybe mute the video and then watch yourself with it being muted.
24:11Do you look like you have personality? Does it look like a good video? Like, do different things to look at it from different angles.
24:16And when you change your perspective on things, you start to notice different things. Okay. I could have done this with my facial expression, or I could have said it this way.
24:24It's weird to watch yourself and listen to yourself, but I think it is very important. I do that to this day with my speaking. I watch the video with my keynote coach.
24:32She looks at me, and we look at my facial we break things down because that's how I get better. So it's the repetition, but it's also looking at those reps from a lens of how could I improve and just going from there.
24:44That's what I would say, Sean. Man, that's, uh, those were some incredible tips you just listed off, and I love that one about actually watching your videos back.
24:52And I think I mean, having a mindset too because sometimes we can downward spiral into watching our videos back and it leading us to a negative place. But how would you encourage people to kind of hold it in grace where you can sort of like allow yourself room to grow and not be overly critical of yourself because our first videos are your worst videos.
25:09You know, the formula for success that I learned from you was four steps. sess is, uh, you told me that on one of our previous podcast together.
25:20Right? And it makes sense. And so it's like you go back, but also it's such a genius tip because it's what pro athletes do.
25:28They watch game tape. It's what pro teams, uh, sports teams do is they watch the game tape. Where did we fumble?
25:34Where did we make a mistake? What was, you know and so that review process is huge. How would you encourage individuals to hold the tension between being either too hard or too soft
25:45on themselves as they're wanting to grow? Yeah. That's true.
25:48Good point. It's either too hard or too soft there. So number one, if you're too soft on it, if you're not actually looking at it from that lens of how could I improve, maybe have somebody else watch it with you and get their constructive feedback, but have that conversation with them.
26:01Like, I'm looking for feedback that's gonna help me be a better communicator. I want you to see things that I might be missing and then you watch it with them. Now, if you're too hard on yourself, watch Sean's first video and get a good laugh and you know, I would go into it thinking, man, yeah, I might I might suck now.
26:16I might not be the greatest communicate communicator, but like it'll be so cool to be into this game now for one year, two year, five years and look back at that video as like an example like Sean does with this first video. Like, look at how I was and look how I am now and how it inspires so many people.
26:32She'll know that it's gonna inspire so many people when they see what you're going to achieve with how great of a communicator you're gonna be with the reps you take, and then you're gonna be able to show them how you were. Like Sean shows in that video, and I look at my old videos and it's so funny. But I looked at it back at it with pride.
26:49I'm so glad that I went through that, that I continue to stick with it. Like, stick with it. Sean just shared the formula that sucks, sucks, sucks, That is how it works, but you gotta make sure you're improving every single time.
27:00You're not perfect, but you're making that progress. You're getting a little bit better each time. So if that's not in you to see it from that lens, bring somebody in, a business partner or or your wife or husband to look at that video with you and then see what you could improve upon and then go from there.
27:16And just know that it's gonna be a video that you can inspire so many people with because you're gonna be so much better off in a year, two years, or however long you stick with it. So Ben just said something that I wanna pause on for a second. Getting outside
27:27eyes on your content is one of the fastest ways to improve. And that's literally what we do at viralvideocoach.com. When you go to that website, you're gonna have a chance to apply to work with our team, whether in a group setting or a one on one coaching environment where we give you specific feedback to your channel, your strategy, your business plan, and help you package videos that get views and drive results.
27:54And here's the part that I love. We have an outlier guarantee.
27:58If you don't hit 10 times your normal views multiple times within the program, we'll extend your coaching for free. So if you're tired of doing YouTube alone and ready to accelerate your results, just go to viralvideocoach.com.
28:13Fill out the application and we can't wait to talk to you soon. So I wanna talk about something that actually some individuals at the beginning of their journey think about and certainly those that plateau think about.
28:23And you mentioned it earlier, you changed the name of your channel. You really changed your brand.
28:30You evolved your brand. And as somebody who's been building your business, building a personal brand, building and developing your career as an author, speaker, content creator. Like, that's I think a question people have is when should I do that?
28:43And will that hurt my channel? Will I what happens if I leave behind a previous brand?
28:48And I'd love to hear the story of, you know, I remember KetoCamp, I think, is that what the channel started as?
28:55It was named KetoCamp from day one? It was. Yeah.
28:57So so when you even first started your channel and you thought about branding and name, and then how long did it go? And then why the change? And what were some of the decision making frameworks or, like, mental models you were using that you felt were necessary to to change your brand?
29:14Yeah. So I first of all, I had I had a challenge even calling it KetoCamp because I didn't want to niche down that much even before I started the channel.
29:21But then I decided to go with keto camp because I loved talking about keto. I could fit fasting into that conversation. I I I wanted to dominate that niche.
29:29So I went into it like, I'm gonna dominate this keto niche. So we we we called it keto camp and we started doing all the things we learned from you and Think Media. Right?
29:37These videos that we're ranking, and you search how to do keto without a gallbladder. We're, in the top five. How to do keto, uh, if you're a woman with a menstrual cycle, we're, like, top five.
29:44So we started ranking all these videos, and I became known as the keto guy. I would go to these events, and they would hear that the cute mister keto camp. You're the keto guy, and it was cool.
29:52It was great. Uh, but there was so much more that I had to teach that I that I wanted to teach.
29:58I love talking about things outside of keto and fasting. I love talking about mindset. I love talking about so many different topics.
30:04So, you know, we stuck with keto camp, though. 2018 all the way until 2023, so five years.
30:10And then at that point, I wanted to reach more people. I I wanted to get out of just being the keto guy. There were just so many keto videos I could record, and I was just was kind of getting a little burned out, which is keto, keto, keto.
30:21So for me, it was a personal preference to open up the variety of topics. I wanted to reach people. I wanted to go viral, not just keto viral, but health viral.
30:29So at that point, I decided, alright. The channel's gonna change. Should I call it, like, metabolic freedom, which is the name of my last book?
30:35Should I call it something related to metabolism? But I thought I don't really only talk about metabolism. I talk about mindset.
30:42I talk about Bob Proctor's work. I talk about all this, a lot of the authors that we read. So if I was the Metabolic Freedom Channel, there would be a disconnect there.
30:51So what if I call it Benazotti? Right? We see other big channels like Jay Shetty and other channels that are named after the person, then I could open it up to different topics.
31:00That means I could interview other people. I could interview Tony Robbins. I could interview Patrick Bet David.
31:04I could interview people that are not just in the health space because it's the Benazardi show now, not the KetoCamp podcast. So that was exciting to me, and that's when I made that transition.
31:14And now it's opened up a whole new world of new guests on my podcast and new topics to cover and things that I enjoy talking about. So for me, it made sense because I mastered that niche, I think.
31:26I did a really good job of of becoming that authority in there, and then there was so much more that I wanted to speak about. So it was kinda calling, tugging at my heartstrings, talk about different topics. And for me, I felt like I was ready, and that's what I did.
31:39But I but I also think it was great to to go into it as a niche. If you're wondering, should I go into it as a niche? That's a great a great avenue.
31:47I did that and it worked, and then I opened it up. I felt like the time was ready, and I opened it up after five years. So I think it's still a great approach the same way that I did it myself.
31:56So it was about five years of KetoKamp and then the pivot?
32:00Yes. And then do you think there's been any downsides,
32:05any confusion, or has it been all upside? Oh, there's always there's always some downside. Yeah.
32:09I mean, I'm sure people that were subscribed to my channel and wanted keto stuff, and then I start talking about other things. I'm sure some of them subscribe unsubscribe. Excuse me.
32:19Mhmm. You know, keto events that I used to speak at and do keynotes at, I started getting asked to less of those keynote events because I wasn't just the keto guy anymore. I was other.
32:30I was more than just that. So, yeah, there's always a downside to it, but I was okay with that.
32:35I was okay to, um, lose some of those subscribers. I was okay to not speak at certain keto events, to speak about things that I'm passionate about.
32:44And you know what? Because of that pivot, the channel took off.
32:48It absolutely took off. We would not be, as you said, number two in the health space for YouTube channels if we stuck with keto. There's only so many people you could reach.
32:56It's not the 80% you talked about earlier. It's now we're focused on the 80% plus. Before, maybe it was 20%, and we got to those 20% and I'm grateful for it, but it was time to go to the next level and that's what we did.
33:08I'm curious what you think about this because the evolution is
33:12inspiring. It's, uh, there I think there's a lot of lessons, But for listeners, I think it's important to know where you are on your journey. A friend of mine, Rory Vaden, teaches a concept called She Hands Wall.
33:24And it's this idea that, um, we look at individuals that are maybe have broken through the wall.
33:32And you might look at somebody like Dwayne The Rock Johnson. You're like, well, this guy does everything. He's like a rapper actor.
33:38He's got a tequila line. He's done wrestling. He's And doing all these things and he's succeeding at all of them.
33:43But what Sheehan's Wall would teach is that that's not what you do at the start. The problem is if you do too many things at the start, you bounce off the wall and you don't break through because when you have diluted focus, you get diluted results.
33:56So in order to break through the wall, you wanna become known for one thing. And it's interesting as you're now telling this story, you really are the perfect example in the sense that by niching down at the start, you became so known for keto and your brand grew for that.
34:13And the expansion isn't isn't a change. It wasn't like a pivot away from, you just went broader. And I think about, you know, even someone like a Gary Vee, someone thinks of him as a very much variety creator or even variety business person, but not realizing that he went so deep in wine library TV.
34:33A thousand episodes just about wine before zooming out into social media strategy, business strategy, and now like all kinds stuff.
34:42Like, developed a cartoon line and all of these things. So I think it's interesting. I'm curious your thoughts.
34:47The power of being Zig Ziglar said it like this, you don't wanna be a . You wanna be a .
34:55Because when you are in a busy world, you become known for one thing, you break through. But what that affords you the opportunity to do is what you're doing right now.
35:05Like, you've got the credibility, the authority, the momentum, and you have zoomed out, but but it wasn't the thing you did first. What's your take on that?
35:14I agree. 100%. I haven't heard of the Sheehan Sheehan's Wall is what you called it or or Reveta called it?
35:19It's named after the theory was Peter Sheehan, a friend of his, and so it doesn't have a lot of necessarily meaning that's just his last name. But the idea of like where you are and where you wanna get to, which is, you know, full time on YouTube or a 6 figure or 7 figure business or a number one New York Times bestseller.
35:34Things you've achieved like you've, you know, launched bestselling books and done all these different things. You broke through. Someone goes, wanna do what Ben did, but you wanna reverse engineer the process
35:44and there was steps to it. That's exactly right. Yeah.
35:46That that's where we get into trouble because we look at other people out there and they're giving advice like me. I'm giving advice. You're giving advice, but we're giving it.
35:53Sometimes we're giving it from where we currently are, but we're not thinking about the person who was me five, seven, eight years ago, and there's a different answer. There's a different coaching for that person versus the person who's I am now.
36:06Right? To your point. So I think it's still a great idea to go into your YouTube channel as a niche.
36:12I really do. That's what I did. It worked for me, and I opened it up later on.
36:16Because like you said, the wandering generality meaningful specific, that that that you become a meaningful specific. You dominate that space. And you also said something very important.
36:26I did not get away from keto. Okay. I still talk about keto.
36:30I talk I have this book coming out, keto flight. I'm still talking about keto. You're not getting away from that niche that you still love.
36:37I love talking about keto and fasting. I'm not away I'm not getting away from that. I'm just adding more to the conversation, and some people are not gonna like that.
36:46They just want keto stuff from me, and I'm okay with that. They it's okay if they unsubscribe. It's okay if they stop following me because I could reach so many more people talking about different topics, but I didn't start that way to Sean's point.
36:58I started very specific, very niche. And we've heard the phrase, the riches are in the niches, and there's some truth to that, but not for the entire your entire career.
37:07Like, I believe that, but I opened it up, and now the riches are not in the niches for me. The riches are in the virality for me, but I didn't start there. So the advice that I would give new channel, um, owners here, probably a good idea to start with a niche, dominate that, and there'll come a point where you wanna open it up.
37:22You're not getting away from the niche. You're just adding to the niche, that's exactly what I did. When you're talking about your results expanding,
37:28you you mean it still take a courageous move to pivot your brand. Changing typing in the new name of a YouTube channel always feels a little bit nerve racking.
37:36Like, what's you know, is it gonna mess with the algorithm? Like, what's happening? You know, it's been Keto Camp for so long.
37:41You changed the name. But but as far as business results, I'm curious.
37:46First of all, what is, like, your product suite? I know you have a lot going on, but if you were to put them in buckets, book sales, you have a membership site, what what are maybe what's your core offer? Give us a vision of what you're kind of the way you serve people with different products and programs.
37:59Yeah. Our number one is gonna be, um, affiliate affiliate products. Okay.
38:04But what we do, Sean, is a little bit different. Um, we we reach out to certain companies, uh, that have products that I use and and and would want to endorse.
38:15And, um, we negotiate higher terms for those affiliate deals. So it's not just a standard 15% commission or 20%.
38:22We're we're negotiating much higher commissions, CPAs, and commissions. And once we get that dialed in, then recording content that takes the viewer on YouTube to that solution of their product.
38:36So we're plugging it into our viral videos. And that is the number one driver of my business right now.
38:43It's been doing really, really well. Uh, to give you a number, Sean, uh, on the last thirty days, just from YouTube, just from what we're doing here, we've been able to bring in over $700,000 in gross sales just from that just just from the YouTube channel.
38:57That doesn't include AdSense. Doesn't include email. It doesn't include people joining the course just from that one strategy.
39:03And what we learned is that in the beginning when we started doing this, we wanted, like, 40 different companies to do this with. And then we we we realized we actually don't want 40.
39:14We want, like, five. And we wanna go deep with those five. So we took it from 40 to five.
39:20And now it's actually just three. We have three companies, olive oil company. It's a protein shake company and a creatine company.
39:29And we've been able to significantly increase their gross sales, and, of course, we get a commission, but that commission's based off of that deal that we've structured. So that's the biggest bucket for us is is that right there with with YouTube.
39:41And I don't see one other person in my space, in the health space, doing what we're doing with that. It's been a game changer for for my growth.
39:50Uh, I don't know if you want me to if you want me to stop and ask more to that before I lead to the other buckets, but that's the first strategy. Yeah. That's no.
39:57I mean, it's,
39:59uh, under talked about, I would say. And it's you know, people have heard of affiliate marketing, but I think what you're saying is an entirely different approach by building a deeper relationship, reaching out, kinda like a brand deal, but it's more of a partnership.
40:13Right? And so I'd also imagine what would be some of your frameworks there? You know, your integrity would be the foundation that you're looking for alliances with stuff you already love.
40:25And how does those How do those conversations come about? Email, do you try to have a meeting with the founder? Like, what is your way of developing those, um, alliances?
40:34So for me, thankfully, I'm in a place where I have a team that actively reaches out and sets the meetings that's not me. Now if if it was not the team, it would be me. I would be the person doing that.
40:43I'd I'd go to the website, um, and we show them our YouTube stats.
40:48Like, here's what an average video does. We get about 233,000 on average per video.
40:53That's on average.
40:54And, you know, here's what we can do What was your average again? Your average video.
40:58Two thirty three. That was twenty twenty five. This year, we haven't calculated, but 2025 is 233 k average video.
41:04Yeah. Yeah. Right.
41:05So we'll reach out and show them the stats and be like, but we don't want just like a standard affiliate account. We wanna we wanna special we wanna create something special where it's a win win situation.
41:14So we're my team is negotiating a special, um, not 15% commission, but we're looking at 30 to 50% in some cases commission on top of that reoccurring subscribers. And here's the thing, Sean. We learned about this the hard way, bro.
41:29We realized that we send a lot of people to buy these supplements, these products on Amazon.
41:37And we don't get any of that because people even though we have an exclusive 20% deal, my community gets, people still go to Amazon because it's quicker. They don't even convenient, and they don't even care about the discount.
41:50Mhmm. So when we started running when we started asking these companies, can you show us the data when this video came out? Can you show us your Amazon sales versus the day it came out?
41:58Spikes and spikes and spikes. And we realized we're not getting any of that.
42:03So we actually negotiated. We want a piece of that too. Right?
42:06So we look at these things, and now we're getting a piece of their Amazon sales, a reoccurring customer. So it's been such a machine. Right?
42:11It's been such a machine, but we were able to do that because of the YouTube growth. They see what we're doing. They wanna be a part of it, but we're very, very selective.
42:19We're not taking on these 40 companies. We're doing a handful. Now all this is gonna change, Sean, because we're actually developing my own product that we're launching in September.
42:28So we're actually gonna focus a 100% on my product because, Sean, I can't control I don't get their email when they buy from somebody else. I can't run retargeting ads. They're not even running retarget.
42:39There's so many things they're missing out with on that we're gonna do, and we're gonna own all that. So come September, no more promoting other companies.
42:46We're gonna promote my own product and control all the all the aspects of it. Have you announced what type of product that is? I haven't announced it yet.
42:53So I I can't say, but I I'll tell you this, and I'll send you some. Uh, it's a morning drink and evening drink, and there's something else that's stacked. It's only free SKUs.
43:00We're not gonna do anything more. Amazing. Okay.
43:03Excited for that. And, uh, it's that's an exciting you know? By the way, this is an idea
43:08I would encourage, you know, one, if you're an established creator, it's a genius way of thinking.
43:16But even if you're a newer creator, I think it's underrated to think about user generated content, establishing, you know, partnerships early on with how you can you know, basically, is business development, like forming alliances, having conversations.
43:31That's why it's priceless to get to events or to have conversations to build a personal brand. And and I would also imagine, like, what would you say have some companies said no, or have it just not worked out?
43:43Like, in terms of volume, you you wrote down some rules ahead of time, and one of your rules was, like, aggressive consistency. Do you think that some individuals maybe, like, we try once, and we just don't really strike the ground enough times when it comes to, you you know, developing these relationships.
43:58100%. Aggressive consistently. That's exactly what I wrote.
44:01That is important because not all of these partners that we've tried out have worked out. Sometimes videos did didn't perform the way I thought.
44:08And sometimes, here's another thing, Sean. This is more of an advanced tip, but if you're gonna, you know, create something similar to what I'm talking about here, you gotta look at their checkout page.
44:17And sometimes their checkout pages are awful, awful. And you're losing out on a ton of affiliate commission because of that.
44:26And we've had conversations with these companies and they were not willing to change their checkout page, so we stopped working with them. So that's one thing right there.
44:36Uh, and then there have been some situations where, um, they were they didn't wanna negotiate to our terms.
44:43Right? They were happy with the standard affiliate deal, 15% commission, 20% commission. So we we obviously didn't, um, partner with them.
44:51Right? So but we wouldn't have found that out if we weren't aggressively consistent and reaching out actively. We they've my team has had tons of meetings with companies.
44:59Not not all of them have been partners with us, but now we found the three, but we had to put in the work and be consistent to go through that. But it's just, you know, it's just so cool because YouTube is the number one generator of my income right now.
45:14But even more important than the income part. It's the number one generator of the impact that I'm able to make.
45:21What we did, Sean, you're gonna like this. My team, they did this.
45:25I didn't even think about surprised me with this. They downloaded all of the comments on my YouTube channel for the past two years, all the comments, and they put it into chat cheap with tea as an as a file, and they told ask chat to calculate, add up the total amount of weight loss from those comments.
45:43Wow. And it and it was over 1,000,000 pounds of fat loss from my YouTube videos, dude.
45:50That's crazy.
45:51And that's honestly and that's all that and that's that's like what
45:55has been shared because not not even everybody has told their story of the impact that you've made. That's right. That's right.
46:01And it's just I feel so good. Like, when I talk about that, I feel better talking about that than the 700 k because it's just so fulfilling. It's like a psychic it's a psychic reward versus a financial reward.
46:11The financial reward is fantastic. I love that, but this feels so good. A million pounds of fat loss, these are people that are they came across my YouTube video.
46:19It's just so cool. Like, so when you start putting content out there, I read a lot of the comments, good or bad. I read a lot of them because I wanna see the impact I'm making.
46:28And if somebody has a negative comment and they have a point to it, like, it's good feedback for me. I put my ego aside and I listen to the feedback and I'll respond and I'll make that necessary change. But I'm looking at my comments, Sean.
46:38I'm looking at the positive. I'm looking at the negative, and it's so fulfilling to me to see the positive comments.
46:43I just love it. YouTube is the number one platform that I see that versus all my other platforms. Man, it's so inspiring.
46:49And I do wanna make sure that we close the loop on,
46:53um, these other income streams though. So if you were to kind of rank them, we don't have to go into too much detail, but that's that's incredible that these kind of like advanced affiliate partnerships
47:03is your biggest and your number one. What would you say like number two, three, four? Because you got a lot of different things going on.
47:09Yeah. Number two is gonna be book sales, and YouTube is the biggest driver of those book sales by far, by the way, more than any other platform, any other, um, resource. So YouTube excuse me.
47:19Book sales are number two, which is nice. And number three number three is gonna be keynote speaking.
47:25Uh, it used to be my courses. I'm actually my courses are not not a priority for me, uh, anymore. It's actually, um, the partnerships, the book the book writing, and the book selling, and then the keynote speaking.
47:36And because of the YouTube growth primarily, I'm able to, you know, charge 20 k for a keynote in The US, 30 k outside of the The US.
47:46And I love doing the keynote speaking. You know what's really cool, Sean? When I do book signings at these keynotes, hundreds of people online, it's so cool to shake their hand and give them a signed book and meet them.
47:56And I ask a lot of them, like, how did you discover my work? How did you find out about my work? 90% of them, Sean, I watch you on YouTube.
48:05I listen to you on YouTube. I watch you on it's like YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. It's not Instagram.
48:09It's not TikTok. It's not other platforms, and it's just so cool to see the impact that that I'm making. And and then I'll cut another quick story.
48:16Um, now when I go to airports, I'm getting stopped by people saying, you're you're the you you're the health guy on YouTube.
48:24I follow you. It's like it's so cool to be recognized as that, and, uh, it's just that it didn't happen before. Right?
48:30So, anyways, it's it's it's it's the partnerships,
48:32the book sales, and then the keynote speaking. Those are the top three buckets in terms of income. Man, I love that.
48:37Well, I have one more question for you, but I do want you to do a full roll call, uh, to your stuff. And so, you know, we can definitely pick up the book as if we master our energy and our health, we're gonna be able to master every other area of our lives.
48:49You can talk a little bit more about that. And then shout out your channels. Anything else you wanna point people to?
48:53And then I got one final question for you. Yeah. Thank you, Sean.
48:56So the book is Keto Flex. Uh, if you go to ketoflexbook.com,
49:00giving away a few thousand dollars worth of free bonuses. If you wanna get it there, it's available on paperback, Kindle, and Audible, and Spotify.
49:07And I narrated the entire audio myself, and I added some coaching sessions that are only exclusive to the audio on there. So if you like to listen to audiobooks, go get it ketoflexbook.com.
49:17My main website is benazadi.com, which is also the name of my YouTube channel. If you go on YouTube and just type in Ben Azadi, you could see the content we're putting out there, which is five new episodes or solos every single week.
49:31And I love it. And so, of course, I have everything in the show notes.
49:34Ben, my final question for you is across the board, you know, some channels are up, some channels are down. Your numbers, you're breaking records.
49:42Um, but it's fascinating. We did a podcast recently and we were analyzing even mister beast, which he was obviously crushing it, but there was a season where 200 to 300,000,000 views was every single one of his videos. And now, you know, sometimes it might get fifty, sixty, 70, and, you know, with respect, his library grows over time.
50:01But it's a it's just like sometimes a 60% drop from his highs. Whether it's competition, whether it's, you know, changing viewer behavior, a lot of people kinda feel it right now, and it's something you've been through.
50:12They feel that maybe they hit a plateau. They need to reinvent. But content creation is exhausting.
50:18So sometimes it's I just feel like I would ask, what final encouragement or advice would you have for somebody that loves YouTube and they've been doing YouTube for a while, but they're feeling a little bit discouraged or they're looking at the numbers and they're wanting that spark to reinvent themselves even like you did, um, because you were in this exact spot, plateaued on your channel.
50:41What's some, like, final thoughts you would have for that individual? Yeah. Like you just said, every channel goes through it, including mister beast.
50:49Every channel goes through it. It's just the nature of YouTube, Sean.
50:53You know this. The algorithm, the world affairs, like when there's a war going on, when there's a new president, there's gonna be people that don't care about health or certain tech gear.
51:03Right? They care about what's happening in the world, so views are gonna go down on these channels. But if you could be that person who doesn't give up during those times Mhmm.
51:11Where other channels, they're seeing their views decline, you're seeing your views decline, but some people, they stop posting as much because they see that. But you know, you stick with it because you're so committed.
51:21When that goes away, the world affair, the YouTube algorithm, whatever changes, you're gonna be at the forefront ahead of those people who gave up because of whatever is happening in the world. So that's the way I see it. Like, we see the fluctuations too, up and down, but I never give up.
51:35And I'm always do, uh, experimenting with different topics and different themes because you never know which one will take off during that slump. You could still get a video to take off. Even during those slumps, you could still get a video go viral.
51:47Even with craziness in the world, you get a video to go viral. So experiment with different videos. Don't give up.
51:53And when that algorithm changes or whatever is happening, you'll be at the forefront ahead of people who gave up or stopped posting as much because of that dip that we all experience,
52:03uh, in the YouTube world. Hey. If everything that Ben just shared lit a fire in you, that's exactly why we created our two day Las Vegas YouTube mastermind.
52:13Imagine being in a room with myself, the Think Media coaches, and other serious creators and business owners getting specific feedback on your YouTube channel, on your titles, your thumbnails, as well as having hallway conversations that will change the trajectory of your business.
52:30And you know, personally, this is my favorite thing that we do at our company Think Media right now. Because number one, in person connections are priceless.
52:40There is just so much digital noise. There's so much AI slop on the Internet that getting in the room and getting real connections with real humans just is refreshing in today's world.
52:51But secondly, it's because it gets the best results for individuals. I think what's hard is it's hard to focus, and there's so much to do in the day to days in our business. But when you set aside two days, fly to Las Vegas, connect with our coaches, and, like, open up your analytics in the lobby.
53:08Do business breakthroughs on stage in the room. That's where the results happen.
53:13And then when you go to thinkmediamastermind.com, you can see just a few of the stories that happened from the think media mastermind. So I wanna invite you to the next one.
53:22You can go to thinkmediamastermind.com to apply. And until next time, my name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel.
53:32This is the Think Media Podcast, and I will catch you in a future episode.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The cold open drops straight into the payoff: a health creator who went from a few hundred thousand monthly views to over a million by changing how he packaged content — and, later in the episode, the specific affiliate structure that turned that audience into $700,000 in gross sales in thirty days.
How they asked for the click.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
AFFILIATECommission earned if you click.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
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