AP 1206: How Do I Grow and Monetize My YouTube Channel?

AP 1206: How Do I Grow and Monetize My YouTube Channel?

Pat Flynn: What's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to episode 1,206 of AskPat 2.0. You're about to listen to a coaching call between myself and an entrepreneur, just like you. And today we're talking with Kim who runs gentlybeing.com, and the YouTube channel of the same name. Again, that's Gently Being. And she creates these really cool spiritual type of videos that have to do with the season that we're in. As she says, "It's renewal through seasonal, spiritful living." She creates these videos about things like the winter solstice, and they're meditation videos, or they're full moon type of things. And it's really awesome. It was nothing that I really even knew about. And she's building this really cool audience there. She has over a thousand subscribers, and she's in the middle of trying to understand, okay, well, what can she do to scale that up and do even better?

Pat Flynn: We go through a number of different ideas, and also, well, how do we bring people from YouTube over to a place where we might be able to monetize? How might we be able to do that? Kim also is very much not wanting to really get in front of the camera as much, per se, versus, creating really good videos.

Pat Flynn: She's run events before, but at those events, even she's not even really seen or even known, but she creates these experiences. And we talk about, well, how do we take that of what you like in the in-person things that you do, and then do that online? Because you actually don't have to put your face on camera. And we go through a number of different examples. I share a number of different YouTube channels that are doing very well in a similar way. So we'll talk about it. Here she is, Kim from Gently Being.

Pat Flynn: Hey, Kim. Welcome to AskPat 2.0. Thanks for joining us today.

Kim: Thanks so much for having me.

Pat Flynn: Why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Kim: I'm starting to run a business called Gently Being. It started about three years ago with in-person events. I would teach introduction to mindfulness courses in-person, and then also hold full moon and new moon ritual events, and some other things that fall under that category umbrella. And very much it was based on the events, and the geographical location I was in. And then, once COVID hit, all that had to stop, of course, and I decided that I would move to more of an online space.

Kim: I decided to go onto YouTube. But when I moved to YouTube, the people who were taking the courses and going to the events, they didn't follow me online, which is totally understandable. Because I think there's just so much online, but also, I noticed when I was on YouTube that YouTube is very much, the more specific you are, the better. And there's a lot of people who already cover what I was doing, where it was just that general overview, and it's just a very different audience. And then, when I was really looking at the analytics a bit more, I realized that also a lot of it isn't your subscribers always watching you. A lot of the views tend to be like new people who come and go.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, most people, actually.

Kim: Yeah, so I liked doing it, but I realized it's not sustainable for generating any income, which I'd like to be able to do again. And I tend to be a private person. So I'm not very good at sharing a lot of myself. I more just share information, and I think maybe that holds me back from maybe keeping people watching.

Pat Flynn: Sure. I can understand that. I am an introvert by nature. And if you go back into my archive from my Pat Flynn YouTube channel, you'll see that the first several videos, I don't even show my face on camera. And my voice is very timid, and I'm just very scared. This is why I love blogging, because I could type it out, and edit, and nobody will ever see me, right? But you said you've done these in-person things before. What makes you feel also comfortable about these in-person things?

Kim: They were more about creating a space for people. It wasn't really about me. So for the introduction to mindfulness courses ... I lived in two small towns, so it was being able to bring some of that to people in those areas, without them having to go to the bigger city.

Kim: For me, it would be Toronto would be the closest. And it was more creating a space where people could share. So I'd give information, and then they would be able to share. And then, the other events that I would do, it was very much about creating an experience. So one of the last things I did was a winter solstice event where I created this indoor spiral labyrinth.

Kim: People signed up for a period, and they would get to walk through it, to do a walking meditation. So it's not really me, it was more about creating a space for people, and online is different, right? Because they're looking at you.

Pat Flynn: In what way?

Kim: Well, they're looking at you more. Like with the winter solstice one, for example, I had the lights very low. The labyrinth itself was lit up by solar power and battery powered candles. And me and my honey bunny, we were in the back, and we did some sound meditations, but you couldn't even really see us.

Pat Flynn: So you love creating these environments and these experiences for people to go through, and YouTube it's like ... Well, it's just a 2D online interface, and it's just people watching you talk about something, right?

Kim: Yeah. And I find that with YouTube, or at least for myself, I tend to be very concise. I just want to give them the information quick. Because I want to respect people's time on YouTube, and I know they want it quick. I don't like to drag out the answer too much. For gaining watch hours, it makes it really difficult.

Pat Flynn: Right. There's the algorithm, right? And it's the watch time leads to more viewership, and more of YouTube supporting you. I think that in the realm of that conversation, I would just say create videos that you love to create, that you think people would enjoy, and just let YouTube do what it's going to do, right?

Pat Flynn: And I know that, yes, there's the algorithm. And, of course, there are some things you should do, like have a really good title and thumbnail and all those kinds of things so you can get the clicks. But I think that what's really cool, is on YouTube you don't necessarily have to do what everybody else is doing. You can create your own thing. There's a person, honestly, I don't even know his name, but he has millions of subscribers and he's at Daily Dose of Internet.

Pat Flynn: And I don't know if you've ever seen those videos, but they're basically just compilation videos of popular videos that are traveling around the internet every day. He puts them together into one spot and he starts every video the same. He says, "This is your daily dose of internet," And then it's ... He just has a voiceover on some of them. "This cat was really hungry," and it's this cat looking cute," and there's millions of views on these things.

Pat Flynn: It's ridiculous. And the videos are very short, they're two or three minutes in length. And what's really cool about this is it's not about him. He is the person putting these things together. I hear his voice every once in a while, every once in a while, he'll say, "Hey, I really ... I caught this sunset outside my window and it was beautiful. I just wanted to share it with you. I hope you have a great day."

Pat Flynn: And it's like, "Oh, that was really nice. That was really cool." But I've never seen him. I have no idea what he looks like. I don't even know his name, and he's provided all this value for us, to basically have a moment of escape from the busyness of the real world, and just have a laugh, or look at something cute. And so in that way, he's creating an experience for us in the way that he wanted to do it, in the way that he's comfortable doing it. I think it's very obvious that he just doesn't want to be known, or be seen on camera, and maybe is similar to you in that way. So the challenge would be, well, how might you create an experiential YouTube video that maybe doesn't focus on you, but focuses on what you want to do for the viewer?

Pat Flynn: And yes, some people are going to see it and be like, "This isn't for me, but that's what we want. Right?" Because we want YouTube to send it to people who it is for. It also makes me consider, especially around the holiday times, I'm getting a lot of things on my feed from people just creating these videos that are just, it's just music and fire.

Pat Flynn: It's just a yule log scene, right? And then that's creating an amazing experience for me and my family at home. And, of course, those videos are five hours in length, right? Because maybe there's videos like that you could create? Could you make your own version of a maze in the format of a YouTube video that just gets people to escape and just be, and gently be, if you will, while watching.

Pat Flynn: And just maybe it's on in the background, maybe there's some music that you could purchase that's royalty free that helps add to the ambiance. There are so many channels doing so many different things. How would it feel if you didn't have to actually even be on video, but still have a growing YouTube channel?

Kim: Having a growing YouTube channel would be exciting.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. There is revenue opportunity there, right?

Kim: Yeah. I guess I, in some ways, was hoping at some point to be able to put out things that people would be able to purchase. Because I know with YouTube, it's not good to rely on it as a revenue. It fluctuates and-

Pat Flynn: It's finicky, yeah.

Kim: Yeah, and I think it's nice, because then you think of it as it's a treat if it happens, and that's nice. And before I knew what I was creating for people, and I started to see that they liked it. And now, it's different types of videos do well on the channel. And I was ... I guess I was naughty, because I have an email list, but I never promote it ever on the YouTube channel.

Pat Flynn: That's naughty. I'm just kidding.

Kim: Now I don't know what people ... Because I didn't know how to craft anything for people because I wasn't ... I wanted to make sure what I create for them, they want. I don't want to fill any of their spaces unnecessarily, if that makes sense. Some people really like ... I have meditations and then I'm not on the camera at all. And some people really like those.

Pat Flynn: I see one of your top videos is a meditation. Your Samhain meditation video from one month ago.

Kim: Yes-

Pat Flynn: That was only a month ago, and it has 3,000 views already?

Kim: It just took off, that one. But then, some other meditations don't. It's very ... Has to be timed right. Because I very much share videos that have to do with rituals and spiritual celebrations according to the time. And then some of the moon ones do well.

Pat Flynn: Right, why would a person watch a full moon video when it's not a full moon, right?

Kim: Yes, Yeah.

Pat Flynn: That kind of thing. New Year's Eve, I'm not going to be watching that in June, right? And I think that's okay. Seasonality is huge. I think that, that's absolutely something that you could take advantage of. And imagine just this giant library of stuff. I don't know if you have playlists specifically for things? Maybe there's a super full moon playlist? There's a New Year's playlist, and some of these other things, so that a person could literally hit play, and then just continue to run. But it's all about that season of the year right now. And in looking at your channel, yeah, you have some of that. Again, maybe bringing up top on your YouTube homepage, which I'm on right now, and having, because it's a new year, all your New Year stuff is highlighted in the top playlist.

Kim: Yes, that makes a lot of sense. I never thought of that.

Pat Flynn: Right, because people might find you from one of those videos. You created one of the ones that is doing well right now from four days ago, How to Celebrate the Winter Solstice 2021. Very relevant right now, right? That is getting the most views out of any video from the last couple weeks. Let's make that the feature video on your channel and let's lead into a playlist that has other videos of the same type if there are any. And it seems like there are, so that's a huge opportunity that you have that a lot of other YouTube creators maybe don't. Is how, like you said, how relevant it is right now.

Pat Flynn: And the cool thing is, now there's a reason to subscribe, because they know that you're always going to be providing something for the time of the year and the things that are happening. I think that you could do really, really well. First of all, you've gotten over 1,000 subs and you've probably unlocked monetization at this point, which is-

Kim: Close.

Pat Flynn: ... really cool.

Kim: It's those watch hours.

Pat Flynn: Watch hours, yeah. You're almost there. You're almost there, so that's great. But at the same time, especially once you start to build this rhythm of these kinds of videos, there are ways to bring people from the video to a free audio meditation that is off of YouTube, that they can take with them in the car, for example. There are other products that you might be able to offer about these specific seasons, a Shopify store with some of this stuff I can imagine being very beneficial.

Pat Flynn: I know that there are creators who do similar things, not in your space, but who, again, they're not necessarily the center of it all, it's the content, but then they have this additional merch and other things that allow them to connect to that thing even more, and even showcase what they're into, right, to others.

Pat Flynn: That's why people buy merch, but also to get more of what it is that they're already getting. Even communities and things like that could happen. I don't know if you ... There's opportunities for you to go live and do things like events with your members, and allow them to then support you with a membership fee every month, or a super chat sometimes happens in a live stream. So there's a lot of opportunity here for sure. I think it's a very ... As I often say, the riches are in the niches. And I absolutely love, love this. I think just some advice here while I'm on your YouTube channel. On the top it says, Gently Being. New videos Wednesday and Sunday. I love that you're being consistent. That is so important. You've already seen the benefits of that.

Pat Flynn: If you could, in one sentence, tell everybody who lands on this page like what is this about, what do they get, what is this, or what does this offer. Having that on there can help a person stick even more. Your titles and thumbnails are actually pretty good. It's relatable to what it is that's happening right now. And like you said, some of the videos that are doing really well, don't even have you on it. And, that's cool, lean into what's working. I think more meditations is what I would do next, if I were you. That one that you did recently that I just mentioned ... Where did that go? That Samhain meditation, what is that by the way, is that a particular-

Kim: Samhain is ... It's more the pagan festival of Halloween, so it's at the same time, in October, I think in some ways, October worked well for me because I did this, I called it the All Hollows' Eve Advent. So I did a video every day. You know you get that momentum ... Little bit of momentum on YouTube and then when you create that thing, you get those people who were watching it and then YouTube helps push it.

Pat Flynn: For sure, absolutely. That is great. This is a really great start. I would just continue to lean into it. What is the big worry? What is the big thing that I can help you get out of this conversation today beyond the little nitpicky things that I'm getting into now, which is good. That means things are pretty good if I'm getting nitpicky at this point, but how can I best serve you?

Kim: I guess, I know that it was, for me at least, it was best to just focus on YouTube at first, because I found YouTube has a bit of a learning curve, and so I didn't use anything else. I barely used Instagram anyways, but I was like, "I'm going to just focus on YouTube to try to understand how to make thumbnails and things like that." And I'm just wondering if there's something else I should be utilizing to start growing that audience that wants to click your videos, that wants to be a part of that seasonal spiritual community.

Pat Flynn: I don't know if this is going to scare you when I say it, but TikTok could be a really amazing platform for you. It has a similar algorithm where they just happen to know who else likes these kinds of videos based on all this data they have about us, right? YouTube has that about us as well. And it's much more shorter form video. I've come across a lot of voiceover type of videos. For example, full moon's coming, right, and you can say, "Hey there's a Full moon coming on this date, and in order to help you center your energy," or however you frame your videos, "I'm going to give you one tip for this," or, "I'm going to play some music that's going to help you calm down." It's just like on YouTube. Any one of those videos could just go ... right?

Pat Flynn: And then one day it just explodes. And the cool thing is when that happens, then it's a signal for you to, "Okay, do more of those videos. Those are doing really good." And that becomes then a signal to people who come across multiple of your videos to go, "Oh, you should subscribe to this person, because they actually are giving you things that you like."

Pat Flynn: And then those places will then find more people like them. And it has this cool thing. And since you're already doing video, that's great. The actual tool TikTok, as far as creation, is so easy to use. And the learning curve isn't very high. Just use hashtags, and just stay consistent, and you could probably repurpose videos that you already have for vertical.

Kim: Okay. Yeah.

Pat Flynn: If you feel like you're ready for, "I've," quote, unquote, "mastered YouTube," or nobody's mastering YouTube, but, "I've done my work there to learn about it as much as I can right now. And I'm excited about trying something new." I think you're there. For a period of time experiment with that, and see what happens. As far as the monetization part of it, TikTok is not necessarily going to pay you for those things, but it is, again, brand awareness and bringing people back to a central home, and you have gentlybeing.com I believe, right? Where you want to bring people back to and you could offer more things.

Kim: Yeah. I'm redoing that, because I was not very happy with my homepage, because I think I was floundering so much that my message just, it's not clear. And then again, I didn't even ... I never mentioned those things in the YouTube videos, I guess I'm not very good at like asking people to go to another spot and-

Pat Flynn: Well, the truth is, on YouTube you don't want to do that all the time. That's actually the best practice is to keep people on YouTube. But in speaking with a really, really prominent business person slash YouTuber, Derral Eves, who has helped people like Mr. Beast and all these other millions of subscriber type people, keeping people on YouTube is exactly what you want to do.

Pat Flynn: However, every once in a while it's totally okay to drive people from your YouTube videos to something else that is also valuable. And this is why even Mr. Beast, for example, he points people to a charity page, or a merch shop, or something like that. But he doesn't do it in every single video. It's maybe once a month he mentions it, and that allows people to in between when they find you, to fall in love with the brand, to stay there on YouTube and watch more.

Pat Flynn: And then, eventually they'll come across one of these videos that has that ask to go elsewhere. I think just strategically, you don't have to have it on a repeat in every video. Mention every once in a while, even organically, even in the middle of a video is okay sometimes. Just because that's where people are actually still watching, and especially if it's before a reveal, or before a hook, or before the thing that they actually came to watch, then that's okay.

Pat Flynn: But it's just going to take practice. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying and experimenting and then seeing what happens. And I just love when I meet new YouTubers in interesting spaces that I can see there's an opportunity there, and I feel that for you as well.

Kim: Yeah, what you said about making this seasonal playlist, I'm like, "Of course," I've watched all those YouTube advice channels and everything, and failed.

Pat Flynn: No, it's like owning a home. You could always rearrange. You could always add more and there's always more to fix. It's just never going to end. But the low hanging fruit, I think in this case, would be to create those playlists so that when people find you for the seasonal things that are happening right now, they'll see the other seasonal things that are relevant right now as well. What's coming up for you after the new year? What's the next like seasonal thing that you're going to be creating videos about?

Kim: I'm actually just trying to decide what my January focus will be. Because right now during this season I've been creating a video each day sharing folk tales and things like that, that have to do with the December holiday season.

Pat Flynn: Oh, cool. Yeah, I like that.

Kim: But the thing is, when I do that, it's like you're so wrapped up that I have to really sit down and plan out for January and February. February has candle mass, but that's just a one day thing. I think one of the things I run into sometimes is that I don't share just one spiritual approach. While I had a Samhain meditation, I take inspiration and try to share information for various things. So I also may have ... Like for this month it's winter solstice, but I also have stuff that deals with Christmas.

Kim: It's not one or the other, for individuals who are more spiritually eclectic, I suppose in a way. Not in a way. That's because I think a lot of us, our backgrounds now, there are a blend of different things. They're not just the one thing.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, I agree.

Kim: And maybe that gets in the way sometimes, because they're like, "Oh, I just wanted that."

Pat Flynn: Right, this is where, again, I would focus less on the number of subscribers, because a person is not necessarily going to want to watch every single video, but they'll find what they need there. And this is why playlists are really important. And again, most views coming from people outside of your subscriber base, knowing that they're finding you and seeing you for the first time based on something they're searching for, or something that was recommended or suggested to them, that becomes really empowering.

Pat Flynn: Because it's like, "I can help that person who's brand new based on what they want right now. And that doesn't have to matter that I've also talked about this thing that probably they don't even care about two months ago." Right? And that's the focus. The focus would be how to get better at getting your videos recommended and also suggested, versus ... And search, obviously, but not percentage of subscribers watching. I don't even pay attention to that, because it's usually less than 20%.

Kim: I know. I was very thankful that there's ... I watch Nick Nimmin and Roberto Blake, and I was like, "They provide good information for you to understand those things. Because at first, if you look on your own, you're like ... "

Pat Flynn: Yeah, like, "Nobody likes my videos. Even the people who follow me don't watch my videos." No, that's YouTube doing what YouTube does, and they know that your subscribers probably have so many other videos that they want to watch as well, and they're going to feed them to them. And your videos will be fed to other people who are subscribed to other things. And so, it's cool in that way.

Pat Flynn: But I think that, again, focusing on those events that are happening, that are in real time and getting maybe even ahead on those. I don't know if Valentine's day matters or not to your particular spirit, but that's the time of year where everybody's looking for stuff, and there could be some really cool love related, relational related things that might be able to happen around that time of year.

Pat Flynn: And there could be some things related to any holiday. Maybe there's a ... Something related to the Winter Olympics. This is something that I'm trying to do a little bit more about. Taking things that are like in pop culture happening, and somehow relating it to my work so that when that just rise, and search, and tide, of all the things about that thing comes out ... Like with Squid Game, how many channels are talking about that show from South Korea right now, and how much have they benefited from that?

Pat Flynn: Because that just was this wave, and it could be really fun and challenging to see how you might be able to do that. I'm not saying create a Squid Game meditation. I'm just saying to use that principle with things that make sense for you and your audience moving forward. Yeah, just some thoughts.

Kim: No, that's very helpful. And congratulations by the way on your 100,000.

Pat Flynn: Thank you.

Kim: That is such a ... Amazing.

Pat Flynn: That's crazy.

Kim: So good.

Pat Flynn: That is so crazy. I feel very blessed that just the Pokemon space itself has inherent reasons for people to stay watching your videos. Like, "Here's a pack. What's inside? Let's see." For watch time, it's perfect. Because you're going to cut halfway through. You're going to stick around to the end, and that obviously is helpful. But yeah, I feel like you know what you're doing. I feel like you understand YouTube, and I can't say that about a lot of YouTubers that I know, so yeah. Great job. I'm encouraged, and I'm excited to see where this goes from here. One more time. Can you tell people where to go and find the YouTube channel, and find you?

Kim: Youtube.com/gentlybeing. And gentlybeing.com.

Pat Flynn: I love it. Thank you, Kim. This was a pleasure.

Kim: Thank you so much.

Pat Flynn: All right. I hope you enjoyed that coaching call with Kim. You can check her out again on YouTube, Gently Being. Currently now with 1,200 subscribers, or 1.2K, which is awesome. And she's on her way. She's creating these really great videos, and she's niched down, which I really love.

Pat Flynn: And hopefully you can tell I was excited to see what happens next. So hopefully we'll be able to check back in with Kim in the future. To make sure you don't miss that episode and more, make sure you hit subscribe, and I appreciate you for listening all the way through, and I look forward to serving you next week.

Pat Flynn: Because we have a lot of great stuff coming your way, and I look forward to serving you then. So until then, take care, peace out and as always, team Flynn for the win. Cheers. Thanks for listening to AskPat at askpat.com. I'm your host, Pat Flynn. Our senior producer is Sara Jane Hess. Our series producer is David Grabowski, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. Sound editing by Duncan Brown. AskPat is a production of SPI Media. We'll catch you in the next session.