Busy Blooming's Tess Barclay maps YouTube's five creator "departments," makes the case for strategic talking to camera, and takes a rapid-fire Q&A on scripting, titles, niching, and getting over on-camera cringe, all with February 2027's doubled monetization bar looming.
Posted
1 weeks ago
Duration
Format
Talking Head
educational
Views
14.2K
442 likes
57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
YouTube's Partner Program requirements are doubling to 1,000 subscribers and 8,000 watch hours by February 2027, and the fastest way to hit them is picking one creator "department," one mission, and one audience instead of spreading across formats.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
You have an active YouTube channel under 1,000 subscribers or 8,000 watch hours and need a plan before the February 2027 threshold change.
You're deciding between TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as a primary platform and want a real case for picking one.
You already post consistently but feel scattered across topics or formats and want a framework for narrowing down.
You're nervous about being on camera and want a concrete way to move past on-camera embarrassment.
SKIP IF…
You're building a high-production, stunt-driven channel in the MrBeast mold; this is about the lower-lift "strategic talking" format, not big-budget production.
You already have a mature monetization and brand-deal pipeline in place.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
YouTube is doubling its Partner Program requirements to 1,000 subscribers and 8,000 watch hours by February 2027, and the fastest way to get there is to pick one of five creator "departments" (traditional YouTuber, podcaster, lifestyle vlogger, commentary, or strategic talking) and commit to one mission, one audience, and one topic instead of spreading across formats. The creator argues strategic talking to camera is currently the strongest department for monetization, that YouTube rewards a single video a week tested on click-through rate rather than posting schedule, and that titles now need to give away an opinion or outcome rather than describe format. She also covers script-free bullet-point filming, a three-part description template, and treating on-camera embarrassment as an unavoidable early stage that fades with repetition, not confidence.
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States that YPP requirements are doubling to 1,000 subscribers + 8,000 watch hours by Feb 2027 and launches a "Let's Get Monetized" video/Instagram series to help viewers hit it.
04:10 – 06:44
02 · Skillshare sponsor read
Sponsored segment for a Skillshare class on using Claude for content brainstorming, scripting, and brand-voice training; also flags MKBHD's YouTube-growth class.
06:44 – 10:53
03 · The 5 departments of YouTube creators
Breaks creators into five archetypes: YouTubers (MrBeast), podcasters (Giggly Squad), lifestyle vloggers (Molly-Mae), commentary (D'Angelo Wallace), and strategic talking (her own lane), and argues strategic talking is the strongest for 2026 monetization.
10:53 – 13:22
04 · Should you be on YouTube more than TikTok?
Says there are "no shoulds" in social media, but personally would drop TikTok for a newcomer, calling it volatile and For-You-Page-driven rather than follower-driven, versus YouTube as the most stable, highest-growing platform.
13:22 – 16:52
05 · Do you need to script your videos?
Explains her shift from full scripts to high-level bullet points, and warns AI-scripted lines are easy for viewers to spot, so AI should organize a brain-dump, not write the final script.
16:52 – 17:39
06 · YouTube description box template
Gives a three-part description formula: a caption-style hook up top, three broad-bucket hashtags, and SEO-friendly timestamps that surface directly in YouTube search.
17:39 – 20:11
07 · The thumbnail and title formula for 2026
Recommends A/B testing three distinct thumbnail styles via YouTube's built-in split test, and says titles now need to give away an opinion or a specific outcome rather than describe the video's format.
20:11 – 21:29
08 · How much should you post?
One well-made video a week is framed as enough; YouTube tests each video individually on click-through rate, so posting-day consistency doesn't matter the way old advice claimed.
21:29 – 23:18
09 · Is YouTube more lucrative than TikTok or Instagram?
Says yes, citing 1,600 CAD earned from AdSense plus one sponsor slot on a 75,000-view, 8,500-watch-hour video, and argues niche audiences make sponsors pay more per view than generic mass-reach channels.
23:18 – 24:14
10 · Do you have to niche down?
Says yes, ties it to YouTube killing its general trending page in favor of niche communities, and says title/description should signal the topic clearly so YouTube can route the video.
24:14 – 29:00
11 · How do you build a personal brand on YouTube?
Describes cutting all personal-life content to double down on one strategic-talking format, then a later shift from an "authority" tone to an unfiltered, walk-alongside-you tone that built more trust and more clients.
29:00 – 33:06
12 · How do you post sustainably and stay relevant?
Advises staying cohesive on mission and topic while letting the delivery style evolve, watching click-through rate as an honest signal, and folding in current events for new angles.
33:06 – 38:18
13 · Creating for the algorithm vs. for yourself
Frames it as alternating "business mode" (videos chosen because they'll perform) and "alignment mode" (videos chosen because they feel true to her), rather than a strict one-for-you-one-for-me split.
38:18 – 40:27
14 · Getting over on-camera embarrassment
Calls posting a "humiliation ritual" and "cringe mountain," says confidence isn't a prerequisite for starting, and that the discomfort fades with repeated exposure, not with feeling ready first.
40:27 – 42:52
15 · Building community, not just an audience, and sign-off
Recommends explicitly describing your audience back to itself and building recurring inside jokes, then closes by pointing viewers to the Instagram companion series and the paid Busy Blooming HQ community ($15).
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
YouTube's Partner Program is doubling its watch-hour bar to 8,000 hours (on top of the existing 1,000 subscribers) by February 2027.
More people watched YouTube than Netflix in 2025, and more people listen to podcasts on YouTube than on Spotify and Apple Podcasts combined.
36% of US viewers watch YouTube on their TV, and that share keeps growing every year.
YouTube tests every video individually on click-through rate rather than judging a channel by its posting schedule, so a missed week doesn't hurt reach.
One sponsored, cohesive-audience video with 75,000 views and 8,500 watch hours generated 1,600 CAD in AdSense revenue alone.
A tightly niched audience of 10,000 real target-customers can be worth more to a sponsor than 200,000 generic views where only a fraction match the sponsor's buyer.
Titles that give away a specific opinion or outcome, like a stated raise amount, now outperform generic listicle titles like "10 mistakes I made."
A YouTube description should open with a caption-style hook, include three broad-bucket hashtags, and list timestamps, because timestamp text is indexed and can surface directly in YouTube search.
AI-written scripts and titles are recognizable to viewers within seconds, even when they can't say exactly why.
Posting one well-made video a week is framed as enough to grow, since YouTube evaluates each video on its own click-through and retention, not consistency of day or time.
YouTube removed its general trending page because niche communities perform better in a personalized feed, reinforcing the case for picking one clear topic.
Dropping an "expert authority" tone for an unfiltered, alongside-the-audience tone is credited with building more trust and more paying clients, not less.
Confidence is framed as a result of repeated posting, not a prerequisite for starting to post.
Explicitly describing your audience back to itself, and building small recurring inside jokes over time, is offered as the concrete mechanism for turning viewers into a community.
Takeaway
One Lane, One Audience, One Shelf
YOUTUBE STRATEGY
Monetization comes less from posting more and more from picking one creator department, one audience, and one mission, then treating confidence and polish as things trial and error builds over time.
01Intro: YouTube's 2027 monetization deadline
YouTube's Partner Program is doubling its watch-hour requirement to 8,000 hours (on top of the existing 1,000-subscriber bar) by February 2027, so channels short of that need a plan now, not later.
YouTube tracks video performance per video, not per posting schedule, which is why steady weekly output matters more than hitting a specific day or time.
03The 5 departments of YouTube creators
YouTube supports at least five distinct creator formats: traditional YouTuber, podcaster, lifestyle vlogger, commentary, and strategic talking, and picking one clarifies what "good" content even looks like for a given channel.
Strategic talking (sitting down and talking through advice, opinions, or a personal journey) is presented as the strongest format for monetization in 2026, though creators can blend two departments if they stay intentional about it.
A channel works best as one cohesive "library": one mission, one target audience, many topics, each video functioning as a book added to the same shelf.
04Should you be on YouTube more than TikTok?
There's no universal "should" in platform choice; some creators genuinely thrive on TikTok, and pretending otherwise ignores real data.
TikTok distribution runs through an anonymous For You Page rather than existing followers, which makes it harder to build the loyal, inner-circle audience that Instagram and YouTube reward.
YouTube is treated as the most stable, highest-growing platform right now, partly because it's the only major platform that doesn't require active scrolling to consume.
05Do you need to script your videos?
Scripting is a personal-fit decision, not a best practice: heavy talkers can work from bullet points, while people who need structure should keep writing full scripts.
AI can help organize a voice-note brain-dump into a script, but writing final lines with AI risks sounding like AI, which viewers can spot within seconds.
06YouTube description box template
A YouTube description should open with a caption-style hook line, similar to how an Instagram caption reels a reader in before the fold.
Timestamps are treated as an SEO surface, not just navigation; YouTube shows timestamp text directly in search results, so timestamp wording should match how a viewer would actually search.
Three broad-bucket hashtags (content creation, self-help, motherhood, etc.) round out the description as a simple, low-effort SEO habit.
07The thumbnail and title formula for 2026
YouTube's built-in A/B testing feature can compare different thumbnail and title versions on the same video and report which wins on click-through rate.
Titles that give away a specific opinion or outcome now outperform titles that just describe a video's format or topic list.
Smaller creators copying a huge creator's vague, minimal-effort titles usually underperform, because that creator's brand recognition is doing the work the title isn't.
08How much should you post?
One well-produced video a week is framed as a sufficient cadence, since YouTube evaluates each video independently on click-through rate rather than punishing inconsistent posting days.
Posting two or three times a week is "ideal" but not necessary; one solid video a week over five months is enough to hit 20 videos and a real shot at the new monetization bar.
09Is YouTube more lucrative than TikTok or Instagram?
A single sponsored, cohesive-audience video (75,000 views, 8,500 watch hours) generated 1,600 CAD in AdSense alone, illustrating how directly watch hours translate to ad revenue.
A tightly niched audience can be worth more to sponsors than a much larger, generic one, because a bigger share of a niche audience matches what the sponsor is actually selling.
10Do you have to niche down?
YouTube removed its general trending page specifically because niche communities perform better in a personalized feed, reinforcing that a tightly defined topic helps the algorithm route a video.
Niching down applies to both topic and target audience; the title and description should make it obvious who a video is for so YouTube can route it to the right niche audience.
11How do you build a personal brand on YouTube?
A deliberate shift away from vlogging personal-life details and toward one consistent strategic-talking format is credited as the turning point that accelerated growth.
Dropping an "expert authority" tone in favor of an unfiltered, alongside-you tone, admitting uncertainty and struggle, built more trust and more paying clients than projecting total confidence did.
Personal branding is defined as personally connecting on a human level with an audience, not necessarily disclosing personal-life details.
12How do you post sustainably and stay relevant?
Staying cohesive on mission and topic while letting the delivery style evolve is presented as more sustainable than either freezing a format forever or chasing every trend.
Click-through rate is treated as an honest, numeric signal of audience interest; a string of low-performing videos on one topic is read as real disinterest, not bad luck.
Tying a recurring topic to current events is offered as a low-effort way to keep generating fresh angles without abandoning the core topic.
13Creating for the algorithm vs. for yourself
Rather than a strict one-for-the-algorithm/one-for-yourself split, working in seasons, a stretch of performance-driven videos followed by a stretch of passion-driven videos, is offered as a way to balance growth and burnout.
A video that would clearly perform well isn't automatically worth making if it doesn't serve the channel's actual audience or mission.
14Getting over on-camera embarrassment
Feeling embarrassed about posting is treated as a near-universal, temporary stage ("cringe mountain"), not a permanent barrier or a sign the content is bad.
Confidence is reframed as a result of repeated action, not a prerequisite for starting; the advice is to post while still feeling embarrassed rather than waiting to feel ready.
15Building community, not just an audience, and sign-off
Explicitly describing your audience back to itself early on (naming who's watching and why) is offered as a concrete way to make viewers feel like part of something, which builds community rather than just view counts.
Building small recurring inside jokes and callbacks over time gives a channel's audience shared references that function like community glue.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
The eligibility tier that unlocks ad-revenue sharing on YouTube. As of February 2027 it requires 1,000 subscribers and 8,000 watch hours in the trailing year.
Watch hours
The total cumulative time viewers spend watching a channel's videos, used as one of YouTube's core thresholds for both partner eligibility and algorithmic reach.
Click-through rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who see a video's thumbnail and title and actually click it. YouTube uses it to decide how widely to distribute a video.
A/B testing (titles/thumbnails)
A built-in YouTube feature that shows different thumbnail or title versions to different viewers and reports which version gets the best click-through rate.
Niching down
Narrowing a channel to one clear topic, mission, and target audience so every video reinforces the same audience and the same search terms.
AdSense
YouTube's automated ad-revenue program, which pays creators based on ad impressions and watch time on their monetized videos.
blunt, high-energy summary of the whole video's stakes, lands in the first 7 seconds→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
08:04
“It's like this big library, and every time that you make a video, you're adding a book to the shelf.”
vivid, standalone metaphor for channel cohesion→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
09:31
“It is truly a humiliation ritual.”
stark one-line reframe of the platform's grind→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
10:44
“Social media has no shoulds.”
quotable rule-breaking one-liner that reframes all the advice around it→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
26:32
“The less I try to have authority, the more authority I guess it actually built.”
counterintuitive personal-branding claim that stands alone with no setup→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
38:47
“Cringe is a hallway between where you are and where you want to go.”
vivid metaphor for embarrassment as a stage, not a stop sign→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
39:47
“Confidence is not a requirement for action.”
tight, quotable rule that resolves the whole embarrassment question in six words→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
17px
metaphor
Okay, it is time to get monetized before February of 2027 because YouTube is coming for our necks and they decided to change and double, not just change, double the requirements to be a part of the YouTube Partner Program to make ads sense. Now, you not only need 1 ,000 subscribers, which is the same it's always been, but now you need eight.
a thousand watch hours to get monetized. So it's going to be okay. We're going to figure it out and we're going to do it together because of course you're in social media's office, you're busy blooming.
This is a safe space, but also I'm on a mission. So what I've decided to do to help all of us here at the office get monetized and get in the partner program before February, 2027 is I'm going to do a series call. This is what I'm going to call it.
Okay. Just stick with me. But you know, that song, like let's get physical where it's like, let's Let's get physical.
You know that song? We're going to call it Let's Get Monetized. Like, let's get monetized.
Like, do you know what I'm saying? That's what we're going to do. So we're going to do a series called Let's Get Monetized.
And I'm going to do it over here on YouTube in this video today, like this episode. But then also over my Instagram. I'm going to do a series, the same thing, complimentary called Let's Get Monetized.
And I'm going to do a bunch of like 60 second breakdown videos about YouTube, growing on YouTube. And then I already have a playlist on here. It's good stuff.
It's good stuff if I do say so myself. There is a playlist on this channel called Let's Get Monetized. I think there's four videos on there.
There's two of them, or actually I think three, that are like long, between 30 minutes to 50 minutes, deep dives into like my YouTube Bible, I called it, of everything I learned on YouTube before hitting 100K. So this video will go in there, but there's already four videos on here, like deep diving into everything I know about YouTube.
And I'm really excited. So this video today is gonna be an addition to the Let's Get Monetized era. We're gonna be in the office.
And then also, of course, in HQ, I'm gonna - do, I have YouTube templates in there. I'm actually going to do some auditing over in HQ over the next little bit of time.
I'm going to do some auditing for your thumbnails, titles, and stuff. So over here at the office, the theme. It's an emergency era we're in of let's get monetized.
So I'm really excited. So I think without further ado, we have so much work to do today. Like there's so much to discuss.
I'm on my second cough, if you can already tell. And let's just clock in and let's get monetized. Okay.
So when it comes to growing on YouTube, the way that we approach it now as creators is so different than even a few years ago. The algorithm's different. Their monetization just changed.
But also we are living in the age of... AI and specifically Claude. Luckily, today's video is sponsored by Skillshare.
And you guys, there is a Skillshare class called Claude AI, your assistant for content creation and creative ideation. And because it can be so overwhelming just to see all the different tidbits all over social media, it is so nice to sit down with a real person who breaks down exactly how to use Claude for brainstorming your videos, scripting your videos, creating content that actually sounds like you, not like Claude wrote it.
My favorite part, of course, as you can probably guess, is how in the class you learn how to create your custom brand themes and really train Claude on your brand. You're basically training Claude on your own creative workflow. It also teaches you how to properly brainstorm with Claude because sometimes you can just be like brain dumping, but it's not effective.
And this class actually gives you like step by step how to properly do all of this. Skillshare is genuinely the best place to learn a new skill or pick up a new hobby. So if you're looking to reconnect with your creativity and maybe maybe avoid the brain rot of doom scrolling.
Skillshare is where humans come to learn from other humans. And the first 500 people to use my link in the description will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare. So you can take this class for free during your free trial.
They have so many other amazing classes specifically on YouTube. Like we talked to it before, MKBHD's amazing class on YouTube will also really help you grow. Thank you so much to Skillshare for sponsoring today's episode and let's get into it.
I wanted to give a little bit of my state on YouTube. now because it has changed quite a bit. And one thing I feel like nobody says when it comes to YouTube advice or how to grow is that if you think about YouTube, like think of the YouTube platform, like an office, obviously we're gonna use that metaphor, let's just say there are so many different roles, departments, you could say of what you could do on YouTube.
So I've broken them down into five roles, five departments of the categories of type of person and creator you can be on YouTube, which I think will really help the content zoomies, which you always talk about over here of just feeling like. all over the place with what you want to do.
So, okay, here's the first category, the first department, the first role. There's the YouTubers. Okay.
Like I would not call myself a YouTuber, but there's the YouTubers. This is Mr. Beast.
This is when you see a video that's like flying to Japan and back in one day, I'm going to try every single type of sushi. Like those are the YouTubers, which we know and love. Okay.
That's one type of category can be the traditional YouTuber. Second type is that there's the podcasters or the podcasting department where think of like Giggly Squad, where they literally are just sharing their podcast on YouTube. It's a traditional podcast.
They have an intro. They're not trying to do SEO. They're not having a YouTube growth strategy.
They're just posting their podcast on YouTube. Then there's the lifestyle vloggers. This is Molly Mae.
This is Jenna Hong. This is Week in My Life, Day in My Life. It's a vlog style channel about your life.
life. Then there's the commentary. There's the Swiftologist.
There's Cody Code, D 'Angelo Wallace. There's like those types of creators where you react to videos or you have commentary on pop culture, like reacting those types of videos. There's commentary.
And then the last department, which is personally my favorite and the one I feel like I'm in is the strategic talking department. You have creators like Lynette Atkins, Danae's one of my favorite, Katie Steckley.
Like you have strategic talking videos where you're not vlogging your life. You're not doing a podcast necessarily, but you're sitting down and talking to the camera about something, whether it's your advice, your strategy, your hot take, something you've learned. And there's different styles.
Like sometimes you have B -roll over top. Sometimes you're just sitting like super casual. and an iPhone talking, your thumbnail is like nothing on it, but you're strategically sitting down and talking to the camera about one cohesive topic.
This, in my opinion, in the 2026 world of YouTube, this is the best apartment, the best role to be in to get monetized on YouTube, which is what we're talking about. I think this is the best way to grow is to be in this realm. Sure.
I think you actually can mix a lot of these together. Like I would say I'm a mix between the podcasters and the strategic talking, which. I have a whole video on this, you guys.
But I think you can definitely mix some of those roles, some of those departments together. Like maybe you do a vlog here and there, like whatever. But strategic talking, being in that era of social, like that style, that department in the YouTube office, I think is the best.
Because what is working on YouTube is what I have said for a while, which is what I think, is that a YouTube channel is like a cohesive collection. It's a library. You have one mission for one target audience.
You might have different topics. Like maybe your mission is to help people grow on social media. So maybe you'll talk a little bit about your strategy, maybe your monetization, or maybe how much money you're making or brand deals, like whatever.
Maybe there's different topics. Maybe your mission is to help new moms feel confident in like their first time being a mom. So then you have different topics.
You talk about your emotional and mental health journey, products you like, outfits for your kids. Like do you know what I mean? But it's all one mission.
one target audience, and it's cohesive. It's like this big library, and every time that you make a video, you're adding a book to the shelf. It's all cohesive, and ideally, it's all evergreen.
It's all bingeable. There's nothing that's so specific on time. There's this stat that says 36 % of viewers in the US watch YouTube on their TV, and it's getting more and more and more every year.
As we know, we talk about this all the time, the statistic that last year in 2025, more people watch YouTube than Netflix. Also, more people listen to podcasts on YouTube than Spotify and Apple combined. Like YouTube is kind of like taking over.
But because of all that, what that means for us, we're getting monetized, is that longer videos are kind of in right now. It's the videos that's maybe like 20 minutes, 30 minutes, even like a little bit longer. And the dream, like the holy trinity of YouTube right now, what I would do, I would pick a mission, a target audience and think about, okay, I'm going to build my corner of YouTube, my life.
I vary of YouTube. I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna do talking videos, whether it's about like your tips, your advice, your journey. It doesn't have to be educational.
Like you don't have to give advice and tips. Your opinions, your hot takes, your journey, something you've learned, like whatever it is, I would do that. Think about your corner, your audience, your mission.
And then when it comes to the style of videos, we're gonna talk about that in the Q &A now. But that is what takes trial and error. And I have so many videos in this series, like in the playlist on this.
But the thing with YouTube is it, It is truly a humiliation ritual. It is like the amount of flops you have to get through on YouTube.
And the thing with YouTube is the flops take time. Like you really dedicate time and energy and strategy into something absolutely flopping on like TikTok, Instagram, where you can just push out 25 ,000 videos in one day. not on YouTube.
Like it takes a minute. So one thing I have really learned over the years, which I've already said before in the other videos, but it is truly so much trial and error and more than any other platform. But once you nail down the topics you love to talk about, the mission you love to help people with, and your mission could literally be like relating and connecting.
And once you nail down the style. It's peaceful. It truly, truly is.
Then the thing with YouTube is obviously people need to click on your video. It's not just that they watch it, but not like they're just served it like on Instagram and TikTok. They actually have to decide to click it.
So then you have the thumbnail and title, which is the battle that never ends is titles and thumbnails. After years of doing this every single week, I'm trying something new with the title and thumbnail because it is always, always changing. But that's a little bit of my state on YouTube, state of YouTube right now with the strategy.
kind of lean into. Now let's get into questions. Cause we need, we have so much to talk about.
Okay. Let's get into the questions. We have so many, like we have so many, so much to unpack today.
So question number one, should I choose YouTube over TikTok? Social media has no shoulds. There's really nothing you ever should or shouldn't do because what anyone tells you to do, someone will be doing the opposite and it's working for them because some people are thriving on TikTok, their content's popping off, they're making lots of money.
And then some Some people, I would say majority, hate TikTok and their content flops and they just like are not thriving. So just an overall rule, I feel like for social, there's no rules.
No one can tell you what you should or shouldn't do because it's all, there's nothing, there's no have tos. That being said, if I was you and I was getting, starting out on social, wanting to like make money from social media, I would. take TikTok, throw it off my balcony and like never touch it because I feel like TikTok is so volatile.
It's also just different. Like the user behavior on TikTok is, it's very top of funnel for my marketing, other marketing girls out there. It's very...
high level, your content doesn't really go to your followers, it goes to the for you page. And so it can be very negative and very heavy. But then also, it's hard to build not impossible, but it's harder to build this like inner circle group chat kind of content that I would say easier on Instagram and YouTube, because I find mainly on YouTube, but also on Instagram, in stories and stuff like your content goes to your followers.
But on TikTok, it can just be a little bit dicey and a little bit tricky. personally do right now is I film content obviously for YouTube and then I film content for Instagram I just repost to TikTok I'll repost maybe a trailer for an episode I'll repost a reel but again that strategy it's like not how you have to do anything.
It's just, that's what I do because I feel like the best ROI of my time. And like, let's say long -term and five years from now, I would still want to be doing this podcast and still want to be YouTube. I wouldn't want to be on TikTok, but if you want to be like, you know what I mean?
Just like. whatever you want. But I would say yes, YouTube is like the future of social media.
It's the best place to be. It's the most stable platform. It's the highest growing platform.
It's really also I could go on and on about this. But I feel like short form content is going to get so much fatigue. Everyone like AI is taking it over.
People want to be off their phones. We all know how bad scrolling is for you. YouTube is the only social media platform where you don't scroll.
You can like have it on the background. So yes, to answer your question. That's what I would do.
Okay, I got a lot of questions about scripting. Do I script my videos?
Should you script your videos? This is one of those things also that everyone is so different. I personally, I'll show you, let me just show you what is on my phone right now that I'm looking at.
I'll put a screenshot up, but I, how I script my videos is I just have two segments of the show of the main topic, a couple of bullet points, and then that's it. If you go back and watch the YouTube video, that's the first one in the Let's Get Monetized series. It's like my deep, deep dive on YouTube.
This was a couple of years ago. I used to script my videos. So what I used to do, I believe, is I would take a voice note, like I would brain dump everything I want to say in a voice note, brain dump everything, either that or in a Google document.
And then I would organize it from there, either into like 10 ways or five mistakes or like I would usually have some sort of numbered list. for my structure of my videos. So rather than this video is kind of just more, you know, there's specific segments and topics.
Instead of that, what I used to do is I would have done 10 ways to grow on YouTube and I would do it that way. Now, because I've done it for so many years, I find that the best approach to filming videos for me is to have big high level bullet points, but then make sure I'm rested and like. and feeling like very good to film and in HQ a while ago we were talking about how or was it on HQ maybe it was on YouTube someone was talking about cycle syncing or filming if like literally that also is amazing but I think again this is a very personal thing if you are a big talker and you find it easy to just like talk through bullet points or if you're somebody who scripts and you need that script in front of you then like do that.
Again, it just takes trial and error. One thing I will say with scripting, okay? Because I know like earlier with Skillshare, we're talking about Claude with scripting.
I think scripting with Claude can be good, but like we said, you don't want it to sound like Claude. There are some times, I don't know if you guys relate to this or not just Claude, but just AI. I don't know if you guys relate to this, but sometimes you will click on somebody's video and you're like, this is Claude talking.
Clot is a personal brand and you can literally tell that somebody is like literally word for word talking like an AI. And same with tiles and thumbnails. You can clock in two seconds that somebody has used AI to write their title.
So I do think that using AI actually is very helpful for YouTube. Like we already talked about earlier in the sponsorship, but it's good for like research. So you do have like a big, long voice note and you're like brain dumping.
It can help you organize all of that. But I'd be. so careful about making it sound like AI because it's not cute.
And that content, we're in such a bubble right now that's going to burst where we don't really know yet. People are getting more away with using AI content or content written by AI, but that's not going to be the case for much longer. So just find your own voice.
You don't need AI to speak for you. Just use it as a tool to help you be more creative. You know?
Okay, got a lot of questions about the description and like what to put in your description. Honestly, speaking of using AI, just copy paste our description in this video, download the transcript of your video. Throw into Claude and say, hey, here is my transcript of my YouTube video.
Here's an example format of a description. Can you write me a description like this? Or just like use our format below.
I love the format of our description, but in terms of using it to grow, the big things you want in there are three hashtags. That's what I always throw in. Make them kind of, you know, big buckets like content creation, self -help, mindset, like what, you know, motherhood.
And then of course you have to have timestamps. Like timestamps are literally make or break when it comes. retention, SEO.
I don't even, I think a lot of people don't know this, but your timestamps come up in search. So say my timestamp here was using AI, LOL, like whatever. Or if my timestamp was how to use AI to grow on YouTube.
that would come up in search if someone typed into the search bar. So when you're doing your timestamps, make sure that they are SEO friendly, like something someone would type. Three hashtags.
And then at the very, very top of your YouTube video, I would do some sort of description. Think of it like an Instagram caption of it is kind of another hook of, you know, what we're gonna talk about today. But those are kind of like the three things you really need.
Okay, next question. How do you find titles and thumbnails that work? I got so many questions on that, which is something I have talked about a lot in the other videos.
But when it comes to titles and thumbnails, It is truly like so much trial and error. And even to this day, like I said, every single week, we're trying something new with a title and a thumbnail.
Here's the thing, is YouTube has a feature where you can A, B test your titles and thumbnails, where you can literally test different ones and see which one gets the biggest click -through rate. So what I would do and how I would start this is I would have three completely different thumbnail styles. Like try a plain screenshot, try one with text, try one with a photo on it, like try different styles.
Maybe you wanna have like stock photos behind you, like whatever it is. take a look around, go on Pinterest. Pinterest has really good YouTube thumbnail and spell, like go on there, try out a bunch of different styles and see the style you're on and it's clicking on the most.
When it comes to titles, my biggest piece of advice is adding an opinion. This is what people do wrong, which this is something I'm repeating again, but I think this is what used to work is people would be like three ways to grow on YouTube and that would be their title. It's like three ways, but what's stronger now is having an opinion.
So saying, You're not growing on YouTube because you're treating it like it's 2015. Like that's an opinion or a hot take in the title.
You're not gatekeeping the value of the video. Another thing is like, you know, 10 mistakes I made working at my nine to five job or something. Like you're not saying what one of them is or saying what your opinion is, but what would be stronger is saying I changed how I speak in meetings and got a $50 ,000 raise.
Like, you know what I mean? Like you're giving away one of the tips, the opinions, the something in the title. title.
I think what's hard is that when it comes to growing on YouTube, there's so many creators that are so big, right? Like you think of like Molly Mae or the Giggly Spot Podcast, and you look at their vlog titles, Molly Mae, for example, and it's just like weak vlog with a heart. But she can do that because she's Molly Mae.
She's a millions and millions of followers. But I find that smaller creators sometimes adopt the same strategy because they're like, oh, well, it works. The best way to grow is even if you're doing vlogs, doing like, you know, instead of saying, we're kicking my life in Toronto, saying, a nine to five work week where I was crashing out about a recent breakup.
Like there's something in the title that you think or said in the video. Do you know what I'm saying? You're not like describing the style of the video.
You're describing a takeaway. You're giving away a takeaway or like an interesting moment of the video in the title. Does that make any sense?
I don't know, but that's what I think works. I'm excited for HQ because we're going to like. We're going to deep dive on some of our titles and thumbnails.
Okay, is it about quality or quantity of content on YouTube? That is such a good question. Quality.
I think a good standard is one video a week. It doesn't have to be the same time every week. It doesn't have to be on the same day.
It does not matter. YouTube will test your videos individually. There's this old rule that people said of you have to post Tuesdays at 7 a .m.
And if you miss a week, the algorithm is confused. It's not. YouTube tests your videos individually.
The reason you get views on YouTube is click -through rate. If people are clicking on them and then watching it. So it doesn't really matter about having the same time the same day of the week.
But I think a good rule of thumb is one video a week. I mean, yeah, if you can do good quality videos two times a week or three times a week, is that ideal? Definitely.
But listen, we're at Busy Blooming and we're busy here. We have a lot going on. It's like one time a week.
It's peaceful. It's good. You're adding it to your collection.
We got five months until... YouTube is going to change monetization. Five months, one video a week, 20 videos.
You got 20 videos. Would YouTube be the most lucrative to work with versus Instagram or TikTok? Yeah, I would say so.
I think YouTube, when it comes to brand deals, I have a, this is a good measurement. I have a similar following on YouTube and TikTok. TikTok have a hundred.
50 ,000 or something. And then YouTube, we have like 110 ,000, I think. So when it comes to brand deals, YouTube, even on Instagram as well, we like aren't really on Instagram too much.
Maybe you have 60 ,000 on Instagram. YouTube is where we make the most money. It is like this podcast is my biggest income stream by far.
The way we structure our brand deals is we do one sponsor per video. plus you get AdSense on top. And in terms of like how much money you make from AdSense, I put a screenshot up here, a Claude video, because I was trying to show like how much 8 ,000 watch hours actually is.
Okay, so we did this Claude video. It has 75 ,000 views, 8 ,500 watch hours, and we made 1 ,600 Canadian from it, which is like... amazing.
And that video also had a sponsor in there as well. We have four sponsor slots a month because there's one episode a week and then the AdSense on top. I love YouTube sponsorships.
It's my favorite platform by far because they're the easiest to do because the way we structure them, I know is different than other people, but we always put a sponsor right at the beginning of the video. It's about a two minute read and I think because this is what I'm saying, what's so nice about having cohesion with your channel is sponsors know that everybody who listens to this podcast is a content creator, an influencer, a social media manager, a podcaster.
So even let's say a video gets 10 ,000 views, those are 10 ,000. content creators. And like maybe somebody else would get 200 ,000 views, but those within that 200 ,000 views, if they're more of a generic, you know, whatever kind of creator, there might only be 10 ,000 influencers in that audience, if that makes sense.
So I think that's also why it is so nice to have like such a specific target audience because brands like love that. It's really, really important on YouTube to have a specific topic. There's another question I got of like, do you have to niche down or do you have to pick a topic?
I would say yes. I would say you should niche down really clearly who you talk to. And then also like really do have the, it's the platform where it's the most important, in my opinion, to have cohesion of your topics.
I know I'm such a broken record, but I think because back in, I think it was 20. was it last summer or maybe the summer before, YouTube got rid of their trending page because they knew that, you know, there's so many niche communities on YouTube. And so they didn't want to have one big trending page because they know different things can be trending in different topics.
And so that's why it's so important to have like a specific topic that you really do talk about. And then also like put it on the title so YouTube knows where to... where to put it.
Same with those hashtags and stuff too. So to answer your question, yes, I would say it's the most lucrative. And then second, I would say is Instagram.
Somebody so kindly said, social media is changing so much lately. My question is, how should we approach this as a personal brand? Your show Busy Blooming is honestly so perfect for this new era.
You've combined your personal brand with Busy Blooming so seamlessly. How can we do that as well? I really want to be a character that the audience follows along with through the world I've built.
That is so nice. Okay. You know what?
I feel like personal brands get a little bit muddy of like what that actually is. Because I made a huge conscious shift a couple of years ago where I decided I was going to stop sharing my life, completely stop sharing my life on social media.
I wasn't going to show my family, my husband, talk about my wedding, show my apartment when I moved, like talk about like. literally anything. And I decided instead, I'm going to really, really focus in because my content used to be a bit of half and half.
It was kind of half work week in my life as a content creator. And then I would talk a lot of personal stuff when I was getting married, my apartment tour, whatever. And then half of it was like this style.
And I cut the other half and that's where everything really started growing. And it's funny because I feel like this comment is saying that I have such a strong personal brand, but I never share my life anymore.
And personal brand, really what it is, is you are just connecting on a personal level with your audience. I also made a shift about a year ago where I decided that I felt like I had kind of, maybe this was two years ago, I had kind of become like not myself on camera. I was kind of in this like authority, right?
Like if you're somebody who I did coaching a couple of years ago, you're like a coach, you're supposed to be an expert, you're supposed to know everything. I was kind of talking down to my audience. Like if you go watch videos from like 2024, they're a little spooky.
I'm like being a little bit intense. I'm like, you need to like raise the bar with your content or something because that's what I thought being like an expert in authority is. And then a couple of, maybe like a year ago, I made a switch where I'm like, I'm going to be like, rather than talking down to you, guys are like, here's what you should do.
Talk with you and be on this journey with you because I am. And sure, I've worked in social media for like, you know, marketing for 10 plus years, done all this like professional experience. But that doesn't mean that I don't spiral and crash out and struggle and like have no feel like I have no idea what I'm doing because.
You and I are doing the same thing. Like you and I are both content creators and both like trying to grow our social media. And so many people who watch Busy Blooming have way bigger audiences.
So many people I coached had millions of followers. And so it was interesting where I saw that the less I try to have authority, the more authority I guess it actually built because I feel like I was trying and I still do try. we've been getting really open recently, but to just be more unfiltered about not my personal life, but my personal human experience on the topics that I talk about, because it's not very fun for me to come on here and be like, here's exactly how you're going to grow on YouTube.
I know everything. Everything's perfect. Like that's really not true.
And even when I would, you know, there's so many social media coaches and people talk about how to grow on social media. When I meet them in person, We're all like, what are we doing?
Like, it's just, it's social media. It changes every single week. So no one knows everything.
And I think when it comes to personal branding, trying to have that perspective of you don't have to talk about personal life, but you can share your human experience of what you're going through. And it won't discredit your authority, I think, in the way you think it might. Even if I don't do this anymore, but when I was getting coaching clients.
I was so scared to say like, you know, I've been like spiraling about this thing. But when I started saying that, I grew more clients because people were like, oh my God, I so related to what you said. So personal branding is just personally connecting as a human on like a human level with the people you're talking to.
And it's funny, I think too, I have the advantage in a way because I've met so many people who watch the show either through HQ or like 600 plus coaching sessions or just like out in Toronto and events like. I'm in such a lucky spot because my audience is also influencers and content creators. So usually we're all at events together and stuff.
And so I think also I literally know who I'm talking to and how similar we are. And like, we're just all like similar ages and do the same thing. So anyways, I think that also helps, but that has.
helped me learn that lesson that I just shared, which hopefully is helpful, but it was so kind. Thank you. Somebody said, I've been doing YouTube now for a year and I feel like I'm finally at a place where I'm starting to see some success.
How do you view sustainability on social media with YouTube and how do you stay relevant when literally the definition of social media is to adapt and change with it? That is my Everest. Don't change what you talk about.
evolve the how and I have evolved this show and this YouTube channel a million times as we talked about last week of like so many ideas and so many different formats and so many things and there's two pieces right because there is a like deeper emotional side of social where and entrepreneurship and all of this is that Just because something is successful doesn't mean that it's in alignment.
And those are like two different things usually. They're so nice when they're the same. But it's really, really important with content creation to be somewhat aligned.
And what I mean by that is you're in a flow of like you like what you're talking about. It feels good. It doesn't feel like resistance.
There is such a specific feeling with content creation, specifically YouTube, I would say, when you are talking about something. Or like you have a style of video that you talk about, whether it's a topic, the style, whatever it is. And there is like resistance.
Like it's hard. I remember a couple of years ago when I would do YouTube videos. Oh my God, the psychosis I would go into to try to film a video.
I would refilm them so many times, tweak the script. I would sit down and just trying so hard to speak properly and say the right thing and like whatever. What that just showed me is that you're so out of alignment.
You need to just refresh a little bit of how you're talking to be more with you and like where you're at right now. Also, though, there's always this like weight on you of, but I want to get clicks and views. So just because I like talking in a certain way doesn't always mean that works.
And so I think a good. practice is to stay cohesive if you can with your mission, your topics, what you talk about, but don't be afraid to evolve the how. I have talked about social media and content creation for years.
How I've talked about it has changed so many times over the years to really adapt to what's working. Like for example, I found that a couple of years ago when I was doing those like 10 ways to grow, it was getting a little old.
And so I found, okay, people want a little bit more unfiltered, a little more casual. Like you kind of just got to go with the theme of what's working, which luckily you're here at Missy Blooming and we'll always keep you on the pulse. But I would say test around the styles a little bit.
And also like another way to never worry about running out of ideas is to somehow bring in like current events to your topic. Like you talked about beauty. There's always new like trending topics of like launches or controversies or, you know, events or whatever, try to bring those in every so often because that can help to just come up with ideas, but then also like stay.
relevant. But I think how you know what people want to see is first of all, ask them. Like I ask you all the time in our YouTube posts.
Also, I do this with everything that we do is I get a lot of feedback on what are we hating? What are we liking? Also, but you can see it.
You can see the numbers don't lie on YouTube. YouTube, I would say is probably one of the most honest platforms of views of summer Fridays. Like we tried something that people didn't want that.
Some people did. but most people didn't because the views were low. So that's also like a good barometer.
If the click -through rate's really low, like people probably don't like the topic. I noticed for me, I love talking about like AI influencers. I just feel like it's the craziest concept to me is AI influencers.
I've done three videos on them, three really low views. Like no one cares about AI influencers. I tried talking about it on TikTok, no one wanted it.
The numbers is one piece to see like, okay, what are people liking and not liking? What are they not clicking on? But then also ask your audience is a really good one too.
If you feel like maybe your audience is a little bit too small to get like comments, do some polls, but then also just try stuff. Like just keep trying new things and then you'll get more data. Okay.
How do you keep creating and pushing through low views and balancing creating content for the algorithm versus what you want to create? Maybe you don't want to talk about those specific topics all the time, but you've so on a video, you know, we'll get pushed out. See, this is such like, so.
we're talking about and like such a good question. It's that balance right between what do I want to do and then what's working. So this is what I would say is there's a little bit of another way to think about this which maybe again will be like a little woo woo sounding but you can create content for your ego or for your like soul I feel like and your ego is creating content that you know does really well.
For example, if I did a video that's like, you know, how to go from zero to a million followers in six months, I know that would do well. The thing is, I, that's not, you don't want that video. Well, maybe some of you do, but you don't have zero followers.
So just because that video would do well for my ego and I'd feel really good and I would, you know, whatever, that's not like deep down what I want to talk about. I want to talk about, you know, content therapy or let's get you monetized and stuff like this. But I think there's a, there's an in -between where You can either, this is what I did in 2024.
I think, I don't know. I broke down my whole like. YouTube trajectory in the video in the Let's Monetize series.
But in 2024, I thought, okay, I need some serious growth. I need to grow on YouTube. So for one year, basically, I posted a ton of videos that I wasn't necessarily obsessed with, but they did quite well.
And every single time I would do a video, I would add a lot of context of reintroducing who I am, why I'm like, have all this experience or whatever. And I would do videos like how to grow from zero, three month content strategy, all of that kind of high level stuff that isn't really going to the same people, but that's what I wanted.
I wanted videos that were for people who had never really seen me before that I knew would get a bunch of reach, but. Over time, after about a year of doing that, I started kind of getting into being more of a podcast style because I knew people knew me. So that's like one way you could think about it is like, okay, I'm going to just go through like a season of time, which is probably right now to get monetized, of picking videos that maybe you aren't like.
so passionate about but you know will do well and there's always a contrast because there's so much like so many so much duality with with content creation because that's one truth of like you know sometimes you just got to think this is a business this is not my creative outlet I'm just gonna like do the videos but then there's another piece of you that's like I'm also a person and I want to enjoy this and I want to feel aligned and I want to like really love what I'm doing.
So sometimes it's either a trade -off between a season of time where like I'm in business mode and I'm just going to do things that do really well. And then sometimes you probably get burnt out of that. And then you're like, I want to do some more videos that are more like aligned to me.
I know some people have the strategy of like one for you, one for me. I personally don't really like that because I just like. It's a bunch of random stuff.
But all I'm saying is like, I totally relate to what you're saying. And what I have done is I have picked a season of time where I'm like, this is business mode. These are videos that are going to do really well and I'm not obsessed with them, but you know what?
They're really helpful and they're fine. Then you go through a season of time where you're like, okay, I'm going to take a little bit of hidden views, but I want to be known for this style of video and these topics instead. Same mission, same topics, but the way I'm going to talk with them is a little bit different.
maybe won't do as well. So it's really finding that balance in terms of topics. Then there's another layer to this, which is like the styles because I think it'd be so fun today to like get on the microphone and have a really cute little, like I have this picture in my head of this really cute Busy Blooming Podcast intro where it's like me and I'm going to social media's office and like, it's just so cute.
I'm in the city and like, whatever, have a little jazz music. And then I'm like, hi guys, welcome back to the Busy Blooming Podcast. I was at a wedding this weekend.
I had a million tequila shots. I'm like on my fourth coffee today. Like, you know, whatever.
But no one wants to click on a video that is about how to get money. on YouTube. And then I'm talking about taking tequila shots at a wedding.
And there's like a jazz intro, unless you know me, then like, that's the giggly squad. That's these bigger podcasts. But if you're in a growth phase, and or if you're trying to simultaneously grow a YouTube channel and a podcast, you have to pick what works over what you want.
Because at the end of the day, it is a business and it's not always a creative expression. And just because I think that'd be really fine. I'm I cut all that because I'm like, it's fine, but it doesn't work as well as this intro I just did does.
Or I would think it's so fun to do like just a really, you know, whatever style thumbnail, but I know that doesn't work as well. And the reason I know that is because of trial and error over and over and over again, failing over and over and over again to know what doesn't work. I don't know if that was actually just made everything so much worse, but that's what I would say.
Like pick, pick between the topics and then also like just cut the stuff that doesn't work in the style. Okay. I've been wanting to be on YouTube for a very long time, but I fear being judged, showing my real self because people know I will definitely come across my video at any given moment.
How do I not care showing personality or being in front of the camera because it's new to me and I've never done it and I feel weird? What I want you to do is... go onto YouTube and type in video of the solar system, like the size of the universe and the size of the solar system.
And I want you to watch one of those videos that like zooms out and shows the world and then how big all the planets are around us and then like just getting farther and farther away. Firstly, that's like step one, because like literally we're on, as everyone says, a floating rock. And then also we're all going to die one day.
So like, and even the people who think your videos are weird are also going to go with it with us. So like that's one piece, but also cringe is a hallway between where you are and where you want to go, where you are right now. And when you're in your most successful, it is a mountain.
You have to climb cringe mountain. It is. It's embarrassing posting on YouTube.
Your coworkers find your YouTube. It's embarrassing. It is like, we all know that story of me when I was in corporate and in a corporate meeting at the big four and someone was like, oh my God, we were all watching your YouTube videos in our office.
And I wanted to go home and crawl under a blanket. Like it is so embarrassing, but. It's not embarrassing anymore.
And you just, it's like truly a ritual, like it's a hazing as content creators you have to go through to be embarrassed. I could tell you to not care what people think. I really care what people think.
I do. Like who doesn't? We all do.
But after time, I swear it goes away. It so does. And you just have to do it and feel embarrassed.
Confidence is not a requirement for action. Do it and not feel confident. Do it and feel cringe because eventually I promise you won't.
You won't. It's gonna take a minute, but you eventually won't. Okay, tips for growing a community rather than audience.
I feel like I try to create engagement, but it gets ignored. Okay, I feel like when it comes to community, We have a very tight community here at Busy Blooming.
And a couple of things that I've done is I describe, I don't do this anymore, but when I was trying to build my community, I described my audience a lot. I don't do this now, but even if you go back, maybe go back to like 2024, watch one of my videos. I'm like.
Welcome to Busy Blooming. Like this is everybody who's watched this video is a content creator and a podcaster and is a whatever. That really helps like at the beginning to build up your audience because people feel like they're a part of something they're missing out.
So describe your audience a little bit. Also refer back to things like that you. talked about.
Like sometimes have some inside jokes. Like, you know, we have inside jokes. We have Claude back there.
And I think have a couple little things that you can like refer back to. They probably will just happen naturally. And like over time, have some inside jokes that you can like refer to over and over again, and then talk about your audience, describe them as you're growing.
Cause that really helps. Okay. I think those are all the questions we're going to do today.
And this is not the end because here on my Instagram HQ on YouTube. Like we will be talking about let's get monetized.
It's going to, we need like a little theme song, but anyways. That is going to be it for today's video. A big Q &A and another addition to our playlist on here called Let's Get Monetized.
If you want to learn more about YouTube and like all this stuff again, head over to my Instagram because I'm going to do a series over there. Now you can do series on Instagram, which is gorgeous. So I'm going to be over there.
Also, join Visible Living HQ. It's the digital office of social. And we just refreshed things a little bit starting September 1st.
Go check it out. I'm going to bring back audits every so often in the office. So this is obviously going to be YouTube month where we're going to do, I want to do thumbnail and title audits on YouTube.
So come join the office. We have a group chat. We do Monday meetings.
We do Friday content ideas. Like it's just so fun over there. So anyways, go check out BizBloomingHQ.
It's $15 and you also get access to like everything that's in there. There's YouTube thumbnail templates in there. So anyways, I hope you're doing well.
Happy Monday. There's no content therapy today because I feel like this is kind of long and I don't know. We'll do content therapy probably next week, but I hope you're doing well and I'll see you next week.
Okay. Bye.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Before YouTube's Partner Program requirements double in February 2027, Tess Barclay opens with the stakes bluntly stated, "YouTube is coming for our necks," then spends the next 43 minutes making the case that the fastest path to monetization isn't more content, it's picking one lane.
A five-way taxonomy of YouTube creator styles used to help viewers pick a lane instead of feeling scattered across formats.
Steal forany creator picking a channel format, or auditing why their content feels unfocused
08:33list
The Holy Trinity of YouTube
Mission
Target audience
Corner/niche topic
Her framework for channel cohesion: pick one mission, one audience, and treat every video as a book added to that one library.
Steal forauditing whether a channel's videos actually belong together
16:52list
The YouTube description formula
Hook-style caption up top
Three broad-bucket hashtags
SEO-friendly timestamps
A three-part template for structuring a YouTube description for both viewer clarity and search.
Steal forany YouTube channel's description box
33:16concept
Business mode vs. alignment mode
Instead of a strict "one video for the algorithm, one for me" split, work in seasons: a stretch of videos chosen because they'll perform, followed by a stretch chosen because they feel true to you.
Steal foravoiding burnout while still growing a channel
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
02:45product
“today's video is sponsored by Skillshare... the first 500 people to use my link in the description will receive a one month free trial of Skillshare”
Placed near the top as a deliberate ~2-minute read; her stated house style is one sponsor per video, always positioned early rather than mid-roll, and tied thematically to the video's own Claude/AI discussion so it reads as content rather than an interruption.
Add Modern Creator as a preferred source and Google shows you more of our breakdowns in Search, Top Stories, and AI Overviews. It only changes what you see, and you can undo it in your Google settings anytime.
Add to Preferred SourcesOpens your Google source preferences with us pre-loaded. Tick the box and you're done.
A weekly social-media talk show argues that Claude-made carousels are quietly training viewers to distrust short-form content, and pushing creators back toward long-form, personality-driven shows.
Sean Cannell interviews Ben Azadi on how a niche keto channel became the second-biggest health channel on YouTube — and the under-talked-about affiliate structure now generating $700K a month.
Mike and Matty argue that fast monetization has nothing to do with how many videos you post — it comes from the credibility you built long before you hit record.
Noah Anderson on posting through years of zero views, picturing one viewer instead of a crowd, and why his most vulnerable videos outperformed his most impressive ones.
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