Sean Cannell sits down with speaker and author Jon Acuff to break down the framework he uses to open, structure, and close every talk, book, and video, plus the camera-confidence and humor rules that go with it.
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Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Great communication follows one repeatable pattern: open with a line that makes people lean in, build trust by mixing failure with success, and judge any joke by whether half the room gets it in under ten seconds.
Who This Is For
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READ IF YOU ARE…
You create YouTube videos, podcasts, or give talks and want a repeatable framework for opening, structuring, and closing your content.
You're self-conscious on camera and want concrete, low-stakes ways to build confidence before you have an audience watching.
You want to use humor or references in your content but aren't sure how to judge whether a joke will land.
You're trying to research an audience you don't have yet, or want a sharper way to study the audience you do have.
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You're looking for YouTube algorithm or SEO tactics. This is a communication-craft conversation, not a platform-growth one.
You want a structured step-by-step tutorial. This is a loosely organized interview that jumps between topics.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
Sean Cannell interviews speaker and author Jon Acuff about the craft of communication across stages, cameras, and books. Acuff says most communicators fail by treating it as performance instead of service, and shares the framework behind every talk and book: an opening line built to surprise the brain's pattern-matching, a problem the audience can't say no to, personal stakes, and alternating story-and-action beats. He covers building trust by mixing wins with failure, researching an audience you don't have yet by mining competitors' comments with AI, making camera practice low-stakes, and a '50-10' rule for when a joke is safe to use.
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Sean replays the episode's best line as a teaser, introduces Jon Acuff's credentials, and opens the show with a subscribe ask.
01:34 – 03:56
02 · The #1 speaking mistake, and the best opening line ever
Acuff says most speakers center themselves instead of the audience, then recounts a stage opening line that withheld one key detail to pull the room in.
03:56 – 06:49
03 · Crafting a lean-in line that surprises Broca
Acuff explains the brain's Broca filter and why an opening line has to break the audience's pattern-matching instead of confirming it.
06:49 – 09:33
04 · Treat communication like a craft, and serve the audience first
Citing Dorothy Parker's 'wild mind, disciplined eye,' Acuff argues creators should curate ideas constantly and always ask what a win looks like for the viewer, not the creator.
09:33 – 12:39
05 · Building trust: the 3A formula, bragging, and sharing failure
Sean raises Think Media's 3A formula (attention, authority, agenda); Acuff explains that sharing failure, not just wins, is what actually builds trust, illustrated with a story about his wife calling out a post.
12:39 – 16:01
06 · Relatability beats perfection: Taylor Swift, customization, and the Speakers Intensive
Acuff uses Taylor Swift as the model for staying relatable at scale, explains finding the universal human angle before customizing to a specific room, and previews his Speakers Intensive event and the client questions he asks to build content.
16:01 – 18:30
07 · Borrow an audience: market research before you have one
Acuff describes his 'borrow an audience' technique: pulling comments from established channels in your niche into an AI tool to surface patterns in what viewers want.
18:30 – 22:16
08 · Camera confidence: make it easy, repeat it, stay invisible
Acuff's advice for building on-camera confidence: lower the stakes (a teleprompter still counts), build a private practice space the way comedians use open mics, and use the 'gift of invisibility' before you have an audience watching.
22:16 – 27:40
09 · Humor rules: be funny like you are at a dinner party, and the 50-10 rule
Acuff explains that different personalities can all win on camera, that humor only works when it matches who you already are, and introduces the 50-10 rule for deciding whether a joke or reference is safe to use, with a Dr. Dre stage story as the example.
27:40 – 29:44
10 · Two biggest regrets, his event, and three book recommendations
Acuff names his two biggest regrets after 25 years in the game, plugs his Speakers Intensive event, and gives three rapid-fire book recommendations for communicators.
29:44 – 32:14
11 · Shoot-day power-ups: interview your wins, plan your mindset
Acuff's closing advice: review your best-performing past videos to find out why they worked, and plan your mindset for a shoot day with the same deliberateness as lighting or location.
32:14 – 33:17
12 · CTA and outro
Sean pitches a free YouTube strategy call at ViralVideoCoach.com and closes the episode.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
Most speakers think communication is performance, but it's actually an act of service to the audience.
Great opening lines withhold one key detail so the room leans in to fill the gap themselves.
Your brain's Broca region filters new information into old mental buckets, so an opening line has to surprise it before the audience tunes out.
A book sells better when its core question is one nobody can honestly answer no to, like 'Is it ever hard for you to finish things you start?'
Sharing a failure establishes more trust than only sharing wins, because nobody's life is actually 30 years straight of wins.
The clearest sign a message was too soft is when almost nobody reacts to it. A wave of angry replies to one otherwise-positive post can mean the point landed.
Relatability and authority aren't opposites. Admitting a recent failure builds both at once.
The fastest way to understand an audience you don't have yet is to copy competitors' comments into an AI tool and ask it to surface the patterns.
Using a teleprompter on your first few videos still counts as practicing on camera. There's no rule that says the hardest version has to come first.
Comedians get $5 open-mic nights to bomb in private. Creators have to build their own version of that low-stakes practice space.
Nobody watches you before you have an audience, so the early, unwatched period is the safest time to make every mistake.
Deadpan, low-charisma delivery can still win millions of views if the information is clear and dense enough.
Humor only works when it matches the personality you already have at a dinner party. A borrowed joke reads like a costume.
The 50-10 rule for using a joke or reference: say it if roughly half the room will get it and it costs less than 10 seconds.
Looking back at your three best-performing videos and asking why they worked is faster market research than guessing at a new idea.
Mindset isn't an afterthought. Great thoughts produce great actions, and great actions produce great results, so plan what you'll think before a shoot day the same way you plan lighting.
Takeaway
Every great talk follows the same hidden structure
COMMUNICATION CRAFT
A professional speaker breaks down the exact framework behind every strong opening line, trust-building story, and well-placed joke, on stage, on camera, or in a book.
02The #1 speaking mistake, and the best opening line ever
Treat communication as a service to the listener, not a performance of yourself, or you'll lose the room no matter how polished you are.
The strongest opening lines withhold one specific detail (who, what, how) so the audience leans in to fill the gap themselves.
03Crafting a lean-in line that surprises Broca
Your brain's Broca region files new information into familiar buckets to save energy, so a generic opening gets sorted and ignored before it lands.
Write your first line as a question or statement built specifically to break the pattern-match, not just to introduce the topic.
04Treat communication like a craft, and serve the audience first
Creativity is a wild mind plus a disciplined eye: collect ideas from everywhere, then find the connection nobody else has made.
Before creating anything, ask what a 'win' looks like for the person consuming it, not what you want to say.
Content that's brilliant but ignores the audience stays unseen; content that cares about people but has nothing to say stays small. You need both.
05Building trust: the 3A formula, bragging, and sharing failure
The 3A formula for opening any video: get attention, establish authority, set the agenda, in that order.
Share a recent failure early, not just your wins. Nobody's life is actually decades of unbroken success, and the audience knows it.
A message that gets almost no reaction probably wasn't bold enough. A wave of strong reactions is a sign the point actually landed.
06Relatability beats perfection: Taylor Swift, customization, and the Speakers Intensive
Authority and relatability aren't competing goals. Showing a recent failure builds both trust and connection in the same line.
Even a hugely successful public figure can stay relatable by describing universal feelings specifically enough that strangers feel personally understood.
Find the universal human angle first, then customize the specific references and jokes to the room you're actually in.
07Borrow an audience: market research before you have one
Ask easy, specific questions like 'how do you describe this at a dinner party?' instead of vague ones. Vague questions get rehearsed, generic answers.
If you don't have an audience yet, copy comments from ten channels in your target niche into an AI tool and ask it to surface the patterns.
Market research doesn't require your own audience. It requires finding someone else's and studying what they already respond to.
08Camera confidence: make it easy, repeat it, stay invisible
Using a teleprompter or script on your first videos still counts as practice. Don't invent a harder rule for yourself out of fear.
Build your own low-stakes practice space, the way comedians use five-dollar open mics, before you perform the material for real.
Early in any platform, almost nobody is watching. Use that invisibility deliberately to make mistakes while they're cheap.
09Humor rules: be funny like you are at a dinner party, and the 50-10 rule
Different personalities can all win on camera. Dry, deadpan delivery with dense information can out-perform high-energy charisma.
Only use the type of humor you already use at a dinner party. A borrowed joke reads like wearing someone else's blazer.
Use the 50-10 rule for any joke or reference: say it if roughly half the room will get it and it takes under 10 seconds.
10Two biggest regrets, his event, and three book recommendations
After 25 years in the game, the two named regrets were spending too little time on an email list and on YouTube specifically.
Recommended reading for communicators: Stand Like Lincoln, Speak Like Churchill by James Hume; Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; and War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
11Shoot-day power-ups: interview your wins, plan your mindset
Before a new video, review your three best-performing past videos and ask specifically why each one worked.
Plan your mindset for a shoot day the same way you'd plan lighting or location, since great thoughts produce great actions and great actions produce great results.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Broca
The part of the brain that filters new information into familiar mental categories so the brain conserves energy. A strong opening line has to break past this filter or the audience mentally files the content as something it's already seen.
Lean-in line
An opening line for a talk, book, video, or podcast, written specifically to make the audience lean in, usually a question or statement that creates intrigue.
Undeniable problem
A question framing a piece of content that the audience can't honestly answer 'no' to, used to guarantee immediate relevance before the content delivers its solution.
Story, action, story, action
A content structure that alternates between telling a story and giving the audience a concrete action they can take from it, so every idea has a clear next step.
3A formula
A video-opening framework covering three beats in order: get attention, establish authority, and set the agenda.
Borrow an audience
A market research technique for creators without their own audience yet: pull comments from established channels in the same niche and analyze them, for example with an AI tool, for patterns in what viewers want.
50-10 rule
A rule for deciding whether to use a joke or reference: use it if roughly 50% of the audience will understand it and delivering it costs less than 10 seconds.
Resources
Things they pointed at.
07:17channelAll It Takes Is a Goal (Jon Acuff's podcast)
07:50bookQuitter (book by Jon Acuff)
08:03bookStuff Christians Like (book by Jon Acuff)
“It is a gift to be invisible at first. I want you to make as many of your mistakes as possible when no one's watching.”
universal permission to be bad before you're good; strong standalone hook→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
01:35
“They think it's an act of performance and it's really an act of service.”
tight reframe of the #1 speaking mistake→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
05:33
“You've got to surprise Broca.”
memorable neuroscience hook with a built-in curiosity gap→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
06:14
“I want your phone blowing up, not mine.”
sharp one-liner on a client-first service mindset→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
12:20
“You're not hitting it hard enough in the paint if only a thousand people were bothered by what you said.”
counterintuitive take on criticism as a positive signal→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
17:39
“Borrow an audience.”
two-word framework name, easy to caption and clip→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
23:03
“Be the type of funny you are at a dinner party.”
clear, repeatable rule for using humor on camera→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
24:03
“If 50% of the room gets the joke and it takes less than 10 seconds, say the joke.”
named, numeric rule that's easy to remember and reuse→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
30:52
“Great thoughts turn into great actions. Great actions turn into great results.”
simple three-part mindset chain, quotable on its own→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
Topic Map
Where the conversation goes.
00:00 – 06:49denseOpening lines and hooks
06:49 – 12:39denseContent framework and audience-first mindset
12:39 – 16:01denseTrust, relatability, and customization
16:01 – 18:30steadyAudience research without an audience
18:30 – 22:16denseCamera confidence and practice
22:16 – 27:40denseHumor rules and personality
27:40 – 29:44steadyBooks, regrets, and event plug
29:44 – 32:14steadyShoot-day mindset power-ups
32:14 – 33:17sparseCTA and outro
The Script
Word for word.
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It is a gift to be invisible at first. I want you to make as many of your mistakes as possible when no one's watching. Whether you're making a YouTube video, recording a podcast, trying to sell an idea, or speaking on stage, great communication changes everything.
And mastering it won't just increase your watch time, it'll increase your income. My guest today is John Acuff. He's a New York Times bestselling author who's generated more than $10 million as a professional speaker.
And today he's pulling back the curtain on the communication secrets he's learned from nearly two decades and more than 500 keynotes. So if you put that in a YouTube framework, sitting down and going, the person watching this, what's a win for them? And understanding I'm trying to not only create content, I'm trying to serve this person so that they come back again.
And when you apply these communication principles to your next social media post or your next YouTube video, you're gonna see more views, more income, and more impact from your content. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Fake Media Podcast.
My name is Sean Cannell, and our mission here is to bring you unfiltered tips and strategies. for building a profitable YouTube channel and using video marketing to get more leads and clients for your business. And so to make sure you never miss an episode, make sure that you're subscribed to the channel.
We have an incredible community here, but I was looking at our stats and apparently 70 % of the people that watch the podcast are not subscribed. So hit the subscribe button and let's dive into our featured conversation with John. John, when it comes to speakers and communicators, what's the biggest mistake that you see individuals make?
They think it's an act of performance and it's really an act of service. They put the focus on themselves versus the audience. What's the worst or best opening line that you've ever heard on stage or from a YouTube video?
Oh, I heard somebody say, I wanted to give him back. And it was so perfect because they didn't tell you who the him was. So everybody kind of leaned in to go, husband, child, dog.
It was so brief, but so packed with intrigue. Great opening line. Yeah.
Hooks are so powerful. And how do you think about those opening lines? There's actually an underground rap artist that says, it's dilated peoples, and they say, I like to start every verse with something to quote.
The devil you know is better than the devil you don't. And I always remember that thinking about, I don't even know what that means, actually. But it's got me intrigued.
What's the storyline here? And of course, any individual that's communicating, whether in song, the opening of a vertical video, a YouTube video, or like you do all the time on stage, that like first line is such a big deal. How do you think about crafting that opening line and hook?
Well, I think about it as a lean in line. I want the audience to lean in. So I always tell people like, what can I say?
Whether it's a question, a statement that makes everybody lean in. And then also, breaks kind of their focus from what they've been doing.
So like they've watched a lot of other stuff or they've heard a lot of other speakers. There's this thing that this guy, Roy Williams says, he wrote advertising books. You've probably read some of them.
He says, you've got to surprise Broca. So we have this part of our brain called Broca. And Broca's job is to filter out new information into old buckets so that your brain doesn't waste calories.
So as soon as you see a video, you see a video about somebody renovating a house, you immediately go, oh, this is like that other... couple i've already seen this type of video oh this is related broca is on the job so you have to with your opening line surprise broca so when i craft an opening line i'm thinking about how am i going to get beyond this filter that they have that's trying to bucket me into every other thing they've seen so we're going to get into your frameworks and some of your secrets but really i mean In your career, you recently did a two -day event and these things are filling up of how you've generated over eight figures, over $10 million as a speaker in your career.
And just rapid fire, you're about to go on the road. Where are you hitting? How many cities and how many days?
Yeah. So Sunday, I'm in Houston. Monday is Vegas.
Tuesday is Phoenix. Thursday is Kansas City. Friday is Bozeman, Montana.
And then the week after that is Scotland, Miami. So yeah, it's just go, go, go, go, go, go, go. But it has been a process.
And it's my favorite thing to do is to help people skip years of that journey because there's some really smart things you can do. I always say like, Sean, you're this way. You're a time machine.
for YouTube. Meaning you've been to the future other people want to get to. And if they'll ask, you'll tell them how.
So people that are ahead of you are time machines. So I try to be a time machine for people and go, here's how to skip three years. Here's how to skip...
six months if you ask the right question in the right way of the right client. So it's a fun chance to share stuff. Yeah.
And our listeners may or may not have a desire to speak on stage, but mastering the communication principles will absolutely help them get more views, get more subscribers, be more influential, and ultimately change more lives. So what do you think are the fundamental elements? of why you're so in demand?
What about your talks, the words you say, the jokes you use? What are those building blocks that we can take from no matter what environment we are speaking in? Well, yeah.
I mean, you've already used the word a couple of times, craft. I think that... If you want to be a successful communicator, you have to treat it like a craft.
You have to be deliberate about it. You have to be curious about it. You have to collect ideas.
The best definition of creativity I've ever heard is Dorothy Parker said, creativity is a wild mind and a disciplined eye. Wild means you collect a bunch of different topics from a bunch of different places. Another video you saw, a question your kid asked you, a news report, and then...
discipline means you see the connection between them in a fresh way nobody else has. So you have to be a curator of a lot of ideas, especially in our culture. So I think there's that element.
And then the thing that's helped me probably the most is really super serving the people that I'm there for. So one of the things I say to event planners all the time is, I want your phone blowing up, not mine. I get to be there an hour, you're there all year.
How do I make you win? What does a win look like for you? So if you put that in a YouTube framework, sitting down and going, the person watching this, what's a win for them?
What's a home run for them? And understanding I'm trying to not only create content, I'm trying to serve this person so that they come back again and again and again and again. They buy everything I have.
They come to every event I do. I'm thinking about that person. So if you can create killer content, there's some people that create killer content, but never connect with an audience because they never think about the audience.
Their content's phenomenal, but they never care about the person. There's some people that really care about people, but the audience stays small because there's nothing for them to feed on when they get there. So if you can kind of keep both of those things deliberate, man, you can change the world.
Do you have a framework that you use? Like you have a podcast called All It Takes is a Goal. And if you sit down and you record an episode, is there like buckets you plug stuff into?
And is that different than if you're going to do a talk on stage? No, I mean, my framework for both books and speeches is roughly the same, meaning I open with a lean in line. I have it, you know, like I open with a really powerful, interesting line.
So like my book Quitter, the opening line was something like. when you take your shirt off in a bathroom, make sure the hook is strong enough to hold it. And you go, this is a business book.
Why are you taking your shirt off in the bathroom? I wrote a book called Stuff Christians Like. The opening line is, if you buy this book, God will make you rich.
And that makes you go, wait, what? And so whether it's a speech or a book or a video or a podcast, an opening line. And then my type of content, I use an undeniable problem.
I want everything I create to ask you a question you can't say no to. The books of mine that have sold the most are when I asked a question you couldn't say no to. So the book Finish.
Is it ever hard for you to finish things you start? Nobody goes, no, actually, I finish everything. I'm 100 % for 100%.
Everybody has soundtracks. Soundtracks have sold the most of any books I've written. The question is, do you ever struggle with overthinking?
Nobody goes, no, I think the right amount of thoughts. And they're all positive. I only think compliments about myself.
I never beat myself up. So I try to have communication that has an undeniable problem. And then I try to say, here's why I'm passionate too.
I like to have skin in the game of the problems I solve. So not every creator does. I do.
I like to be personally involved in the conversation. And then I try to establish why you should trust my solution to the problem. Like, why should I listen?
There's a million videos I could watch. There's a million podcasts. Why am I going to trust this guy?
Who is it? Why should I go along on this journey? And then I try to present a solution and I use a simple formula called story, action, story, action, story, action.
Meaning I tell a story and then I give you the action you can do. I try to answer the questions, Sean. Great, but what can I do with this on a Tuesday?
Great, but what can I do with this on a Tuesday? If you go to an event and somebody tells you a story about how they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro backwards and you go, great, I'm an accountant. What do I do with this on a...
You didn't translate it. What do I do with this on a Tuesday? I think at least my types of videos, because they're not all based on entertainment.
If you're just doing strictly entertainment, it's different. But problem solving videos, I'm trying to answer that question. What does that viewer do with this on a Tuesday?
How do they put it into practice and play? Because that'll answer their question and they'll come back with another question later for another video. So one of the things you said in there, I want to establish trust.
And, you know, one of the frameworks we teach for how to open videos, we call it the 3A formula, get attention, establish your authority and set the agenda. And that there is one, if we can get their attention with an opening line or those first few lines to the next question might be, OK, but now why should I listen to you?
Why should I trust you? I'm curious, what do you do to do that? Do you on when you're communicating brag?
and how do you you know how do you actually tell about because and you know we have to we want to share our vulnerabilities but we also want to share our wins is there other ways that you get people invested in the authority because i've heard it said we're living in a trust recession and that um there's also so much information out there and if all i wanted was information i can ask chat gpt but if i want to listen to your podcast or watch your video or choose your talk out of a multi -stage event then There's got to be something different.
Is that what you're talking about when you talk kind of about trust and establishing authority to get the listener invested? Yeah. And also to be relatable.
That's the other thing. At least in a public speaking world, so many people only tell their wins. They show up with 30 years of just wins.
And that's not true. Nobody's life is 30 years of wins. And so I opened a lot of at the beginning with like, here's the thing I tried and I failed at it.
And like, I like, here's the thing my wife, like my wife said to me recently, um, we have a pretty amazing life. I wish you could admit that and enjoy it too. And then she said, hey, we've been grinding for 20 years.
I don't want to grind for another 10. What's the plan going forward? Because I just hit 50.
And it's like, okay. So I'll share that. And I know there'll be other people in the audience that had a similar conversation.
And they're not expecting me to be honest and to go, man, my wife called me out the other day. And she was right. Like she was, dude, the other day I did a post about how many one -star reviews I've received.
So I've received 1 ,072 one -star reviews. And the whole point of the post was a million books sold. That means 998 ,000, blah, blah, blah.
It didn't do me a one -star review. I told my wife that and she goes, I think that's a bad sign. I was like, what?
What are you talking about? She goes. You're not hitting it hard enough in the paint if only a thousand people were bothered by what you said.
I think you need to go harder with your message and be more upfront and braver. And I was like, oh, she's right. So when I'll share, when I mean authority, I'm also establishing relatability.
So that people, that's the trust. That's where people go, oh, okay. The greatest example of this in the world is Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift is amazing at relatability. She's a billionaire. She hasn't been like her audience in 15 years.
But I guarantee when I talk to Taylor Swift fans, they go, if she and I knew each other, we'd be pretty good friends. We're similar to each other. We'd have coffee.
And so I try to establish relatability. as I establish trust. So they're not exclusive to me.
They work really well together. When you bring up that Taylor Swift example, is there something you've studied or you've noticed that she does specifically that we could learn from? Well, yeah.
I mean, it's in the songwriting. She's really good at recognizing, okay, what does loneliness feel like? Here's what loneliness feels like, even at my stage.
So when people say to me, you're speaking to six different audiences and six different days and one of them is an automotive shop and one of them is Land O 'Lakes and one of them is a nonprofit, how do you do that? I talk to the human. I find human things and I talk to the human and then I customize to the piece of content.
So when you do a video, you're trying to talk to the human. Big wide net. Big wide net.
But then customize the message when you've got a specific audience you're trying to serve. So when I spoke to Certified Angus Beef the other day, one of their phrases is that they're the protein of celebration. That's what they call steak.
And so I did a joke from stage that I said... It's true that you're the protein of celebration. I've never had a friend say, John, congratulations on that big win.
I want to take you out for a tuna. I would love to buy you a tuna dinner. That's not what we say.
We say... And then I did a joke about they've had protein for 50 years and Doritos is now in their game. Because Doritos has a protein version.
And you're like, bro, what? And so I'll never tell those jokes again unless I do another cattle event. But so I'm speaking to every human, but I'm also finding ways to turn the customization.
knob. And I think that's what great communicators do. So you are doing an event.
You've done multiple and we'll link it in the description too. because this it's a, it's an incredible inspirational headline. And I can't imagine the value 500 keynotes.
You've done 18 years of secrets, one transformational day for people that want to become better communicators and then also better writers. I want to focus in on the speakers intensive and you've shared some of this, but there's a couple of big ideas and I'm just hoping to get some of those secrets here. For the first time ever, you're opening up these playbooks and there's the content, the sales, the speech, and the business.
Is there anything else on that content? Your formulas for developing a signature talk, finding your niche, or crafting content that really engages individuals? Well, yeah.
So I'll share the questions I ask every client. So part of creating great content is asking great questions. My definition of empathy is read less minds, ask more questions.
Read less minds, ask more... So I'm not guessing. So even my framework for here's the best questions to ask a client.
So a really simple question is... When the people that are in the audience are at a dinner party, how do they describe what they do to their friends? Because if you ask, what do you do?
You get the answer that's on a mug. It's a bunch of nouns. It's we do cross -country synergistic logistics.
But if you say you're at a dinner party, how do you describe what you do? Then you get real. Or if you say a question like, okay, describe to me a home run in the past or a flop in the past.
And they'll instantly... You're trying to ask questions that are easy to answer that give you real... information.
So all too often, we rush toward creating the content without even understanding who we're creating it for and understanding what they really need. And so even just going, I've done this for all these years. I've asked thousands of CEOs questions.
These are the questions that get the best answers that give you the best leg up to create the best content. I didn't guess that protein was a big thing for Certified Angus Beef. I took great notes when I talked to them.
And then I put that with my voice into it. So that's the kind of thing that like even just asking the right question opens up so many things. Yeah.
And so for also the content creator, that's a step that maybe even most listeners right now, like how much audience research are you doing? How in tune are you getting with the listener? Do you know who the listener is, the viewer is?
And I think we've said the creator who understands the viewer best wins, which is incredibly hard to do. And I've been doing this 20 years. And I'm asking that question like a beginner today.
I'm always like, who's listening? And how can we get data and feedback? And as you grow, it could be actual surveys.
We ask community tab. We ask people to comment on this episode. And now you can comment on Spotify, by the way, if you're listening on audio and try to then figure out who are the individuals.
But am I hearing you correctly? It's like question number one is actually, who am I talking to before you even start preparing your talk? Yeah, 100%.
And again, let's break it down to YouTube. I love to do this exercise I call borrow an audience. Borrow an audience.
So meaning if I were you and I was trying to grow a certain type of channel, I would go find the 10 people that have the type of channel I want. And I would copy and paste a bunch of their comments into Claude. And I would say, show me the patterns about what people are excited about.
Show me the patterns about what they didn't like about this video. I don't need an audience to do. my own research.
Because I could very easily hear this and go, man, I'd love to know who my audience was, but I don't have an audience yet. No problem. Borrow one.
I see people do that to me all the time on LinkedIn. So this event we do, stage and page, I'll sometimes say on LinkedIn, hey, I'd love to answer any questions you have about speaking and writing. And I'll get 200 questions and I'll see speaking coaches in there.
commenting and paying attention. And I have no problem with that. I'm like, way to go.
Because you don't have 60 ,000 followers on LinkedIn. I do. Feel free to jump in this and learn.
So if I was a YouTuber, I wouldn't wait until I had an audience to understand the audience. I would go find the audiences I wanted. And again, I'd plug it into cloud and go, hey, show me patterns I'm not seeing.
Show me the most common complaints about these types of videos. Show me where people ask for something else on this video. Or I really wish you showed...
this angle or whether we wish you answered this question and you'll get so much market research without even having your own audience yet. That's genius. Now, one of the other pillars is the speech itself.
What would your tips be for delivery? I think for a lot of individuals, there's probably two big groups, maybe three listening. Some are, they're already content pros.
So they want, it's where the best get better. You know, they're listening to the podcast. There's some kind of in the middle where there's probably a lot of growing opportunity.
And then there's some at the beginning that are like, I'm scared to get on camera. How do I actually build my camera confidence? And this idea of actual delivery.
In your case, you're helping people on stage, stage presence, but camera presence is a whole nother thing. And there's a lot of overlap. So what would some of your frameworks be there or your advice?
Well, I mean, the thing I would say is one, make it as easy as possible on yourself right out of the gate. Don't add pressure to something that's already hard. It's hard to be on camera.
So like I would have no problem if you said, hey, the first couple of times I do this, I'm going to have a teller prompter running and I'm going to kind of have some words to follow. That counts, by the way. The problem is when we're afraid of something, we often add a bunch of other rules.
And we go, no, it doesn't count unless I'm in public. I got to go do man on the street. I'm afraid of being on camera and I'm afraid of people.
I'll go do the hardest thing first. No, like give yourself, again, that gets back to like doing something that's small. So for me, I would make it as easy as possible right out of the gate.
I would give myself the benefit of repetition. You know, Sean, when I have a huge speech, like say I'm going to speak to global leaders. Thank you.
I go practice that talk at other places first for free. I find smaller audience. Because the problem is for most communicators, they don't have a comedy club.
Comedians have $5 new material Mondays where you go, you pay five bucks. The person has notes and is crossing stuff out and going, oh, that bombed. They have spaces to work out their stuff.
So you have to create your own space as a content creator to go, where am I working out my stuff? Where am I? And then in those moments where it's not good, I remind myself that I've got the gift of invention.
invisibility. It is a gift to be invisible at first. I want you to make as many of your mistakes as possible when no one's watching.
That is a gift. So when I was a blogger and no one was reading my blog, I would remind myself of like, now I can really try a lot of stuff right now. I'm going to keep doing this.
It's going to be harder when I have an audience, but right now I can really try this. So that kind of make it easy, find ways to practice it, and then also give yourself that gift of invisibility to know. I am going to get better and I'm fine getting better in a small audience.
What would you say to those with different personalities? Yeah, I've been a big encourager of individuals because YouTube has already proven that people of different shapes, sizes, and personality types can win. People that are stoic and dry, but deliver just crisp and clear information.
I think of this channel, I think it's called Clear Value Tax. And Brian on that channel, he reads off a piece of paper and he delivers incredible information in eight to 12 minutes and is getting millions of views. So he's not as charismatic.
He sometimes has some super dry humor in there. but it's not like an over -the -top personality. I think people want to play to their strengths.
How do you coach someone to figure out their unique style and amplify that? Because maybe they do need to turn it on a little bit more. And then also you do teach about adding humor, but I have heard mixed advice on that, that if you can't pull it off, you might not want to go for that.
If it's an inside joke, will the whole audience understand it or will you lose some of the audience? And so there might be some rules for humor. Yeah, there's a ton of rules for it.
And it's the same about your personality. So I always tell people when it comes to humor, the mistake they make, you just described. The mistake they make is they see a YouTube video that says, always be funny on stage.
And they try to be that type of funny. And they learn a joke and it feels like they're wearing their dad's blazer at the eighth grade dance. It doesn't fit.
So what I always say is be the type of funny you are at a dinner party. If you are dry and sarcastic at a dinner party. do that in your videos.
If you are slapstick and over the top, do that in your videos. If you're observational, do that in your videos. Because what that means is you've been practicing for years.
If you think about video that way, the problem with video, in my opinion, is people think they have to become somebody else. And I got feedback. I had a great social media person, Kate, tell me, you get so performative when you get on camera.
We were having a great conversation. It was natural. It was flowing.
And then I turned on the camera and you're like, hey gang, today's weather in San Diego is so sunny. And I became this different person. And so I always try to draw people back to who they are so that they feel comfortable.
But as far as humor goes, I do think it always adds value. I don't think you need to be hilarious. I never tell somebody you can be hilarious.
I always tell them you could be funnier. And as far as... I'll just give you a...
very tactical thing that you just said about like, what if people don't get the joke? My rule is 50 -10, 50 -10. If 50 % of the room gets the joke and it takes less than 10 seconds, say the joke.
So an example for me, I tell this story about Bose in one of my talks, the stereo company, when I worked for them. Um, we had a huge headstart in luxury headphones, but then consumers started to want colors and shapes and designs. They started to raise their hand and say, Hey, we want other colors.
And we ignored that. All we cared about was sound quality. And then I say to the audience, do you know who listened to that?
Do you know who came up with other colors? And everybody goes, Dr. Dre beats.
And I go, right. Dr. Dre ate our lunch at a multi -billion dollar industry.
And then I pause and I go, we broke the number one rule in electronics. We forgot about Dre. And the room loses it.
Not everybody, but enough people that it's worth it. That took me less than 10 seconds. I didn't leave anybody behind.
And the people that didn't get it get told by their friend. Their friend goes, bro, that's an Eminem song. We're at an engineering conference.
He just said, forgot about Dre. And it's worth it. So if 50 % of the audience will get it and it costs 10 seconds or less, use that joke.
That's powerful. And it's interesting too, because... Are you a millennial, elder millennial?
No, dude, I'm Gen X. I'm smack. I'm 50, bro.
I don't know what that means, but I think it's like pre -boomer. It's terrible. Because I think, but I mean, I was, you know, I got the joke, grew up with, you know, Dr.
Dre, Eminem. And so it's, that is interesting. Even at a professional's conference, I think your math would be right.
That's probably over 50%. Oh, yeah. If it hits like that.
So it's kind of interesting too, when you know your audience on YouTube, like. I think as a communicator myself, this is the same for illustrations. You sometimes say like, you know, as you know, or you reference some movie, well, do they know?
So is the 50 -10 maybe similar for the case studies and illustrations you use? Or it's unique and it makes you look unique. I have no problem with you finding something obscure and bringing it up.
That's a whole different thing as well. Like, hey, that makes you the authority of a researcher. Like, hey, you probably haven't heard about this study of Frisian horses in Germany.
It's going to blow your mind. I don't need them to get that. But I think for the right joke, 50 -10.
really does. And then the other thing is you can play with your age. That's the other thing.
I'll use young references that young audiences will get because I'll know there'll be cringe coming out of me. I have no problem being like, man, six, seven, right? Or saying things that I know they're like, dude, you have very gray hair.
Who told you these things? And so you can... you can kind of mix it up that way, but it's still me going enough of the audience will get this, that they'll feel served in this joke.
Okay. So I got two more questions for you, but if people want to check out, you know, if they actually want to check out this event, I'll link it up in the show notes. And if there's anything else, you know, to follow you, get more resources from you, you know, for the content creator and the online business owner that wants to grow their brand with content.
What is your value proposition to them? You serve all kinds of audiences, but why should they follow you and what value can you offer? Well, I mean, I think at this point, I started my first blog in 2001.
So I went 25 years into the game and I took a blog and turned it into speaking and speaking into writing and publishing.
All of a sudden, I'm like an elder statesman in this game. And there's things I've done well. There's some things I've bombed.
If you said to me two mistakes I made, I would say I wish I'd spent more time on my email list and on YouTube. Two mistakes. If I could go back and tell the me 10 years ago something, I would say like, hey, hey, hey, I know you feel a little uncomfortable with the technology of YouTube.
Don't sleep on it. It's a search engine. It's not just like...
And so I think they'd like my content. Because I share a lot about the journey and I've got a lot of scars that I would rather you not get. So if anybody's like, oh, I want to try out, come do that event.
It's just johnacoff .com slash stage. Amazing. Two rapid fire questions.
Love them. One, of course, you've got incredible books and we've recommended those. And we also, by the way, we'll link up some other episodes that we've done with John.
And we're kind of filming a series right here, like a mini series.
I'm curious when it comes to speaking, there's these books out there like Talk Like Ted or these different types of books like that. Is there any books that you love for those that want to improve as a communicator in any of the various dimensions? Yeah, my favorite one is Stand Like Lincoln, Speak Like Churchill.
And I might be getting those reversed. It might be Stand Like Churchill, Speak Like Lincoln. It's by, I think, James Hume, H -U -M -E.
That was one that really opened my eyes to kind of the tactical side of it where I thought, oh, like this is how – and then I think the best book on – one of the best books on communication for me is Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I think if you're a YouTuber, if you're a writer, if you're anybody who has to create any sort of content, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is the one that I love the most.
And the last one. I like to ask people this question, what's the book you've given away more than any other? And the one I've given away more than any other, other than my own, because I'm very generous, obviously, is War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
That's one of those books I come back to again and again and again. And he's a film guy. He's created feature films.
So he's right in this space. War of Art is great. So lastly, if everyone listening...
If you're a subscriber to the Think Media podcast, you better have a shoot day on your calendar coming up soon. Everybody listening is gonna do a live stream. They're gonna film a video.
They're gonna film a video podcast. They're gonna create some new content in the next one to two weeks. What one or two things, as many as that come to you, could you think about to think about, man, next time I sit down to film or next time I prepare my notes, I could do this to power up.
that engagement in the video to hold the viewer's retention longer? Like what are those power -ups from a $10 million speaker like yourself? Yeah.
So, I mean, I would find your last three videos that did the best and try to see why did they do the best and go, you know, kind of go interview those, if you will. Like, oh, this one I felt really natural in or, oh, this one I asked a great question at the end or, oh, this is a parenting topic. I never talk about parenting, but man, my audience lit up when I talked about parenting.
I'd go interview some home runs. I think we tend to leave our successes in the past and I think we need to bring them forward. So that's the first thing I'd say.
The second thing is. I would go in with what I call soundtracks, kind of these repetitive thought loops that get me really encouraged. I would go in.
Most people forget how powerful their mindset is. And so for me, when I have a shoot day or I have an event coming up, I don't leave my mindset to chance because the way mindset works is simple.
Great thoughts turn into great actions. Great actions turn into great results. So if you want a great shoot day, which everybody wants, start with some great thoughts.
So what are you going to be thinking deliberately when you walk in there in the same way that you would plan anything else? The lighting, the location, the content, whatever. Plan the thoughts so that when you step into that shoot day, your mind isn't off on its own telling you a negative story that's not helpful.
Your mind is locked in and going, remember. We're shooting this because we love this. We love this.
We love YouTube. We can't imagine doing anything else. Like this is a privilege.
This isn't a have to do. This is a get to do. Whatever it is the thing that sets you on the right path.
So there's no doubt about it. Increasing your skills as a communicator will absolutely increase the income in your business. And if you've been listening to this episode and been thinking, I need to get better at communicating in my videos so that I can actually turn that attention into business results, then I want to invite you to book a call at viralvideos .com.
viralvideocoach .com. This is a free high value YouTube strategy session that happens on Zoom. So if you're a business owner, an expert or a serious creator that wants to dial in your YouTube strategy and improve your messaging and the scripting of your videos, then go to viralvideocoach .com or scan the QR code on screen.
By the end of the call, you'll have a clear plan on what to fix. what to focus on and what to do next. And if it makes sense for us to work together and help you get to your goals faster, we can talk about that.
So all you gotta do is go to viralvideocoach .com or click the link in the show notes or scan the QR code on screen and lock in your spot. We have a genuine capacity limit on these free strategy calls and they are limited. So make sure to go to viralvideocoach .com or scan the QR code on screen or click the link in the show notes to grab your spot.
And if you got. value out of today's episode. I'd love to hear from you.
You can always comment on the YouTube video or on Spotify. If you've been listening on Apple Podcasts and you haven't left a review, but you've been lurking over there for quite some time, is today the day? Maybe give us a star rating.
Maybe give us a few sentences about your experience and your feedback on the Think Media Podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel, and I cannot wait to connect with you in a future episode.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The video promises a quick-hit list, but what actually unfolds is a loose, wide-ranging conversation between Sean Cannell and speaker Jon Acuff about the mechanics behind every strong opening line, every trustworthy story, and every joke that lands.
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.
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A single-host teaching episode breaks down a seven-part framework for turning a YouTube channel into a community people belong to, not just content they watch.
A five-month sprint built on intentional cadence, a Shorts-driven subscriber push, and a click-stay-continue watch-hour system, aimed at 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours before the threshold jumps to 8,000.
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.
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