This past week was tough. Various events kept knocking me off track. I made promises to clients, I had to deliver a new course to my community, and I have 2 YouTube videos to record. And I have to be a good dad and husband to my family. And its ALL important: I need happy clients, happy community members and more YouTube videos to grow my business. And why are we doing all this if we can't be present with our family? That means I have very little time for mistakes, or distractions. But things kept going wrong none the less. - An upset client called my product "ridiculous" - While recording videos for my community I kept making mistakes - I had to re-record hours worth of videos - I realized TWO of the videos used the wrong mic (they sounded terrible) - I was days behind and I still hadn't even started my YouTube videos With a growing TODO list, and less time to do it, there were moments where it was hard to do ANYTHING. I was frozen. All I could imagine was all the people I was about to upset, or let down. These are the times where you have to calm down, regroup, put your head down, and stick to your plan. For me the best method is simple. A quick drive to a local Airport where I can watch a few planes take off and land. AND a good old fashion note book to map out next steps. I mapped out all the things I still needed to get done, in order, so I could focus. One at a time, instead of them all flashing before my eyes all at once. I mapped out what I could do for my upset client, and presented the next steps to resolve the issue. I mapped out what was going wrong with my videos, and how I could use that to produce better videos. I found an AI tool to help me fix the audio issues from recording on the wrong mic. I decided on the 2 YouTube videos I'd record. And then I drove back home and attacked each item one by one. As I sit here right now, I launched the course (on time) and have only 1 more YouTube video to record. I sent the first YT video to my editor an hour or so ago.

After doing the automated faceless videos with Leonardo AI I wanted to try out the new Lumalabs AI model with MidJourney images. I attached the original image + the video generated by Lumalabs. Here was the prompt I gave it, "animate the cars driving on the los Angeles freeway and also animate the clouds to slowly move around" Super cool results!

YouTube has become my favorite platform because it seems to provide the best business results. TikTok is #2. Having a growing YouTube channels gives you a lot of credibility in the marketplace. The other reason I like YouTube is that it's pretty predictable. I can get a sense of when a video will do well or not, and it comes down to this ONE thing. I made a good video. But what does good really mean? For me at least, It means I'm giving my best stuff away. You know that stuff you're holding back for once they buy your program? that's the video you need to make for YouTube. When I throw something together last minute without thinking, just to meet my weekly commitment/goal. The video suffers. Or even if I give good information but it's fairly generic or easily found on another channel, the video suffers. I meet Youtube that scratch their head on why they aren't growing, but when you look at the videos it's quite clear. It's pretty generic advice, nothing special. And we all start there so it's fine, but getting clear on how you're really different from everyone else will really help your channel. When I spend 2-3 hours planning and a couple hours recording. I can make my videos perform like this out of the gate (see screenshot). I've also noticed the 30minute+ videos do really well. A view on YouTube is very powerful, it comes with more credibility because it's hard to get, and YouTube will keep pushing that video for a long time. Most other platforms you get a little bump for a day then your post dies. I've also found that the Thumbnails are a really important part of the video (I know people say that but take it very seriously). You need to convey the value of the video or curiosity very quickly so that people click on it. Sometimes only YOU will be able to come up with that concept because it requires knowledge of what you know and of your audience. Don't just pass of the thumbnail to a graphic artist and assume because it "looks good" that it will go well. I'm no designer but I can often out perform their thumbnails.