45:19Nolan Molt · Listicle
How to Actually Grow Your Business on YouTube in 2027
A YouTube growth coach breaks down five mistakes business owners make chasing views, then sells the five-step system he says fixes them.
October 7thThe argument in one line.
You don't need credentials or finished results to grow on YouTube, you need to document the attempt itself, whether that's vlogging the journey, posting episodic progress updates, or sharing what you learn as you go.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A new creator with no viral credential yet (no $10M in sales, no ex-FAANG job title) who still wants a real growth strategy.
- Someone sitting on an unstarted project (a diet, a business, an app, a skill) who keeps delaying their channel until they have a result to show.
- A creator already posting tutorials with no track record and wondering why the advice isn't landing.
SKIP IF…
- You already have a proven result or credential and just need title and thumbnail help, not a positioning strategy.
- You want a single viral hack rather than a content format you commit to across multiple videos.
The full version, fast.
Most high-performing YouTube titles ("I made $10M selling digital products," "ex-Google recruiter") only work because the creator already earned that credential, which locks everyone else out of copying the format. Nolan Molt argues you don't need the result first: you need to document the attempt. He names three formats that work without any proof of success: vlogging a journey as it happens (a 19-year-old building a second coffee shop), posting episodic progress updates ("building an app to $10K/month, episode four"), and sharing what you learn the moment you learn it (a camera test video, a cleaning hack, a lighting trick). Publicly committing to a goal also makes you roughly twice as likely to hit it, which doubles as a reason to start filming before you're any good.
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00:00 – 01:13
01 · The credibility trap
Viral titles promise results most creators haven't earned yet ($10M in digital products, an ex-Google recruiter title). A caller who wanted a money-making channel without ever having sold anything exposes the real problem.
01:13 – 01:38
02 · Three moves instead of faking expertise
You don't have to pretend to be an expert. Three content formats let you build an audience before you have results to show.
01:38 – 02:35
03 · Document your journey
Vlogging a venture as it unfolds, like a 19-year-old building a second coffee shop, builds a following around the journey itself rather than advice.
02:35 – 04:28
04 · Post progress updates
Episodic series ("building an app to $10K/month") and personal challenges (posting 7 or 14 days straight) turn "here's what's working and what's not" into a format people follow for the behind-the-scenes look.
04:28 – 04:58
05 · Say the goal out loud
Publicly stating a goal makes you roughly twice as likely to hit it, which doubles as the reason to start documenting before you've achieved anything.
04:58 – 05:54
06 · A 5-year documentation channel pays off
A channel that opened with "our quest begins, can we lose 200 pounds" five years ago turned its 60-day weight-loss update into its best-performing video, after years of just documenting and updating.
05:54 – 08:36
07 · Share what you learn as you go
Practical discoveries, like how to clean an air fryer, are shareable the moment you learn them. Nolan's own early camera tests and gear tests show the same pattern before he had any production skill to teach.
08:36 – 09:39
08 · One lane, run weekly
This doesn't have to be the whole channel, just one recurring series updating on the journey, plus a pointer to Nolan's free YouTube course for business owners.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- Viral YouTube titles like "$10M selling digital products" or "ex-Google recruiter" only work because the creator actually has that credential, which locks most people out of copying the format.
- You don't need finished results to earn an audience, you only need to be willing to document the process in public.
- Vlogging a venture as it happens, like a 19-year-old building a second coffee shop, builds a following around the journey rather than around advice.
- Episodic "building to $X/month" series let viewers follow progress instead of waiting for an expert to hand down a finished method.
- A personal challenge format, like posting seven videos in seven days, generates stronger comment engagement than a polished tutorial because people want the behind-the-scenes view.
- Publicly stating a goal makes you roughly twice as likely to achieve it, which doubles as a built-in reason to start a documentation channel.
- A channel that posted "I'm starting the carnivore diet. Our quest begins." five years ago turned its 60-day weight-loss update into its best-performing video.
- The strongest update videos often come from creators who refused to teach a method until they had already proven it on themselves.
- Learning something as mundane as cleaning an air fryer is still shareable content if viewers keep asking the same practical question.
- A camera test video with zero teaching intent earned 150,000 views, proving an audience will watch you work before you're any good at it.
- Early gear-test and audio-test videos that just show off raw footage, not advice, can outperform tutorials from a creator with no track record.
- Tutorials only started working for this creator once there was a demonstrated result behind them, like color grading learned from years of posted test footage.
- A single ongoing documentation series, posted on a fixed weekly cadence, can run alongside a creator's main content instead of replacing the whole channel.
Document before you're qualified to teach.
WHAT TO LEARN
You don't need a result or a credential to earn an audience on YouTube, you need to be willing to document the attempt, in one of three specific formats, before you have anything to prove.
01The credibility trap
- Titles that promise huge, specific results only work because the creator already has that result; copying the title without the credential is a dead end.
02Three moves instead of faking expertise
- If you haven't achieved the thing yet, ask which content format fits: vlogging the journey, posting progress updates, or sharing what you learn as you go.
03Document your journey
- Vlogging a venture as it happens builds a following around the process itself, not around advice you're not yet qualified to give.
04Post progress updates
- Episodic update videos ("here's what's working, here's what's not") invite comments and behind-the-scenes curiosity in a way a single polished tutorial doesn't.
- A short personal challenge, like posting daily for a fixed stretch, is a low-cost way to test the update-video format before committing to it long-term.
05Say the goal out loud
- Say your goal out loud publicly before you start; it roughly doubles your odds of hitting it and gives you a built-in reason to film.
06A 5-year documentation channel pays off
- A documentation channel compounds: years of small updates can produce the single video that finally breaks out, so don't judge the format by its first few posts.
07Share what you learn as you go
- Share practical discoveries the moment you make them, not after you've mastered the whole subject; the discovery itself is the content.
- Raw, unpolished footage with no teaching intent can outperform a tutorial from someone with no track record, because people will watch you work before they'll trust your advice.
- Tutorials become credible once there's a demonstrated result behind them; until then, lead with documentation instead of instruction.
08One lane, run weekly
- A documentation series doesn't need to take over your whole channel, one recurring weekly segment is enough to build the compounding effect.
Things they pointed at.
02:06channelTommy Oswald (cafe vlog channel)
02:35channelJoma (app-building progress series)
04:08channelCarnivore Quest (5-year diet documentation channel)
Lines you could clip.
01:20
“You don't have to pretend to be an expert.”
04:33
“If you publicly say your goals to other people, you're twice as likely to achieve that goal.”
08:10
“Once you learn the thing, then you can teach it.”
Word for word.
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So YouTube videos like this are bound to just get a ton of views because there's not a lot of people who've made $10 million selling digital products by the age of 22. Or one of my students, Farah, she's able to use ex -Google recruiter in her titles because she actually is an ex -Google recruiter. The thing is with these examples, it's like you have to have done something incredible and outstanding or have had amazing experience, credible experience.
in order to have titles like this and so it's like what about all the other people who haven't done something uh crazy yet all the normal people out there well i actually i remember i was on a call with somebody and this guy was telling me he wanted to start this youtube channel uh helping people make money and i was like well And he was talking about like different side hustles and different video ideas for how to make 10K a month or whatever it was.
And I said, you know, tell me about like some of the side hustles that you've done or because I think he was talking about like selling digital products or something. So I was like, tell me about the digital products you've sold. And he was like, well, I haven't yet.
And I'm like, but you want to teach people how to do it? And he was like, yes. I was like, and he's like, well, maybe I can make some money with the YouTube channel.
And I'm just like. I never ended up working with that guy, but the, but here's what I wish I could tell him. And that'll tell you now, because you don't have to pretend to be an expert.
You, there's actually three things that you can do if you haven't achieved anything crazy yet. And maybe if you're looking at other YouTubers out there that have insane, let me go back to this, uh, that maybe have insane. just credibility or results.
And you're like, how do I even compete? I'm going to show you how you can compete. And I'm gonna show you how you can actually, uh, stand out in your niche and be more relatable and people will still want to watch you.
So the very first one, the thing that you could do is you could just vlog slash document your journey. And it's like this guy right here, he's done it a lot on shorts on short form, but he also has some videos long form. If we look at his oldest, he's talking about running his cafe that he just started as a 19 year old and starting a brand new cafe at 19 years old from scratch.
And I think his most popular video, or at least his most recent one, he's talking about opening a second venue and he's literally just documenting his journey rather than telling you, here's how you should run your cafe or anything like that. He's simply building a following of other people who love coffee, maybe want to start their own coffee shop.
And maybe there's advice in there, but he's just documenting the journey. Here's another one. I think it's this one right here is I'm building an app to $10 ,000 a month.
So this actually would fall more into my second option, which is to do updates or progress videos. And so here it's like an episodic series. He's on episode four and he's getting a ton of views, not by saying, Hey, I'm the expert.
He's just saying. I'm going to build it. My goal is to build an app that makes $10 ,000 a month.
And here's episode one. People are interested in the journey and not everyone wants to hear like some expert say, here's exactly how you should do it. Sometimes it's just more enjoyable and more insightful to see how are you doing?
And I actually, on my YouTube channel, I have, I have some videos where I've been talking about, like, uh, I posted for seven days, seven videos in seven days. Here's what happened. Cause I'm not doing a daily YouTube.
channel journey right now. And then I did one and it also performed pretty well too. It was like, I posted 14 videos in 14 days.
These are just update videos of like, here's what I'm doing and here's what's working. Here's what's not working. And the comments are great on that.
Like, cause people really want to know, uh, behind the scenes look, uh, from, from that perspective of someone in the thick of it. Now, the third one that you can do is. When, and then I'm going to share a few more examples here.
Actually, let me share his channel first before I get to the third one. Um, this guy, I just found really cool because he started his YouTube channel starting the carnivore diet five years ago. His first video is like, I'm starting the carnivore diet.
Our quest begins. Can we lose 200 pounds? He set forth this journey.
And by the way, if you want to do something like this, uh, I forgot there was a, I think there was some study done. And all I remember, Is that if you publicly say your goals so that like.
uh, yeah, in public to other people, you're like twice as likely to achieve that goal. So I thought that was kind of cool. Uh, so there, there's a good reason for you to start your YouTube channel and document your journey.
But what he's done, he's done a little bit of the first two and then he's actually done the third one. So I'll get to the third one here in a second. But what he's done is he's done like the update video.
Hey, here's where it is. And then he did some vlogs, like just documenting the journey. Um, Yeah, documenting the journey.
And then there was one that was very interesting that got a ton of views. I mean, this one kind of falls into number three. So let me pass on that.
I think if I go to his most popular, it probably is under that. So let's go there. Right here.
How I lost 50 pounds in 60 days. So this is another update video, but it's a great title. And it's a 60 -day update video from that first video he posted on his channel.
And so... vlog your day, talk about what's happening, document things that are happening, how you're cooking your food, all that kind of stuff, document stuff, but then also do updates on the journey. If you don't have anything yet, you're like, I don't want to tell people how to lose weight.
We'll lose the weight and then document the journey. And then he can tell people, here's how I did it, which is super, super powerful. Now, the third one, and I'm gonna share a few examples here on different channels is when you learn something, just share it.
Like when you actually learn, uh, what's going to happen is you're going to have an unlock from your, from doing the thing, whatever it is you're doing, whether you're starting investing or you're starting a business or you're starting a diet or whatever it is, you're going to learn stuff and then you can just share what's actually working.
So even, um, even where was it? There's one where he was cleaning his air fryer and it's like, he probably. Got really good at cleaning his air fryer because he was using it all the time to cook food.
And he made a video on that because people kept asking the question. And so as you like learn things, you can just talk about it. And even for me, like on my YouTube channel, this is what I did.
Like when I first was getting into video, this was back in 2013. I got 150 ,000 views on this video. This is my sister right here.
And because I got a camera and I wasn't teaching people like, hey, here's how to make your video look good. A lot of people on YouTube, you have to be this expert. but I literally just like took my camera out for the first time, shot some video, posted the video.
And I would do a lot of videos where it was like, it was just a, it was literally a camera test. It was a video test. This one was like an audio test.
I actually had one.
Like a lot of these are me just trying out filmmaking gear. Uh, this one specifically like audio test road video mic pro, I just was testing out new gear and like that video got 15 ,000 views on 2016. This one got 87 ,000 views because I took out my Canon and I just went and shot video and I wasn't telling people what to do.
I was just showing off my work. So sometimes just documenting your work is, uh, is a really good idea. And so I did a little bit of that as well back in my day.
And then, and then Point on number three, once you learn stuff, you can talk about it. So I think eventually like what I would do is I ended up getting people wanted to know like what my color grading tutorials, um, people want to know like, how do you color grade?
Cause they liked how the cinematic test footage looked. And so then I was like, here's what I do to make the colors look really good. That video got 24 ,000 views.
I did like, um, here's another like test video, 195 ,000 views, but just me. documenting not pretending to be an expert but just showing my work and so um there was one specific one right here like here was a cinematic lighting setup that i made with like a shower curtain and this like super cheap light and i'll just it didn't get that many views 1500 but the thing is like once you learn the thing then you can teach it but like in in my this was years later after this was me after doing video for a few years and starting to learn lighting and stuff This was 10 years ago.
And it's like I would have made this video 15 years ago when I was just learning video because it wouldn't have looked very good. I was going to teach people how to light their stuff. But eventually I learned how to make it look good.
And then I would just teach people young Nolan right there. And anyways, there's a reason these videos are private. They're embarrassing.
But I think if anything, my encouragement to you is this document. and record you going on this journey and talk about it. And that doesn't have to be your entire channel.
Like for me, that's just like one kind of series that I'm doing in this daily series where like once a week I just share, here's the update on my YouTube channel, on my business, here's what's working. So I'll have a video on the screen you can click on and you can check that out. And also there is a free YouTube course that is for business owners.
In the description, you can click the link, join the free school community, and I'll see you over there. Peace out, everybody.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
A caller once told Nolan Molt he wanted to start a YouTube channel teaching side hustles. Nolan asked what he'd actually sold. The guy hadn't sold anything yet. That gap, between wanting the credibility of an expert and not having earned it, is what this video is built to close.
Named ideas worth stealing.
01:13list
Three ways to build an audience before you have results
- Document your journey
- Post progress/update videos
- Share what you learn as you go
Nolan's answer to creators who haven't achieved anything "crazy" yet: pick one of three formats that don't require a finished result to be worth watching.
Steal forany creator-education or personal-brand channel with no proof of results yet
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
09:33product
“there is a free YouTube course that is for business owners... in the description, you can click the link, join the free school community”
Soft close after the lesson, pointed at a free community rather than a hard sales pitch.
Visual structure at a glance.
