Devon Canup reveals his most profitable faceless YouTube channels
Summary
TLDRIn this interview, Devon addresses skepticism about his claim of earning over $1.5 million with faceless YouTube channels. He shares insights into the challenges of revealing his channels publicly due to past demonetization and the competitive nature of the industry. Devon discusses the importance of niche selection, content sourcing, and the role of creativity in YouTube success. He emphasizes the value of long-format content for revenue and provides tips on avoiding common mistakes, such as rushing the ideation process or not emulating successful strategies granularly. The conversation offers a candid look into the world of faceless YouTube channels and the strategies behind their profitability.
Takeaways
- 😀 Devon made over $1.5 million with faceless YouTube channels, which sparked skepticism and criticism from some viewers.
- 🔍 Devon addressed the criticism by showing actual channels making six figures per year, but did not disclose specific channel names to protect them from potential malicious actions.
- 🚫 In the past, Devon's channels faced demonetization by YouTube due to grey-area content, leading to a significant drop in income.
- 🤫 The anonymity of faceless channels helps Devon avoid revealing his business operations publicly and protects the channels from being targeted.
- 📈 Devon's revenue example shows one channel made over $650,000 and another with 188 million views in a year made about $108,000.
- 🎯 Success in YouTube niches can vary greatly and depends on factors like audience trust and the type of content being produced.
- 🛑 Devon emphasized the importance of sourcing content legally to avoid copyright issues, which can lead to channel shutdowns.
- 💡 To avoid copyright strikes, Devon suggested studying successful channels in the niche, understanding the content sources, and applying best practices for transformative use.
- 📚 The production workflow involves separate roles for sourcing footage, writing scripts, and editing, with tools like Trello for project management.
- 🌐 Devon hires editors from different regions due to cost efficiency, but this requires careful quality control to ensure cultural relevance in the content.
- 🔑 The key to success in creating faceless YouTube channels is long-term commitment, learning from successful examples, and adapting strategies over time.
Q & A
How much money did Devon claim to have made with his faceless YouTube channels?
-Devon claimed to have made over $1.5 million with his faceless YouTube channels.
Why was Devon initially hesitant to show his faceless YouTube channels publicly?
-Devon was hesitant because in the past, when he became well-known for running faceless channels, he faced an influx of competitors and his channels were demonetized, causing a significant drop in his income.
What was the impact of Devon's viral video on his faceless YouTube channels?
-The viral video led to a rapid increase in competitors within his niche and eventually resulted in his channels being demonetized, drastically reducing his monthly earnings.
How did Devon address the skepticism from people who doubted his success with faceless YouTube channels?
-Devon addressed the skepticism by showing actual revenue numbers from his YouTube channels, proving that they are indeed making six figures per year.
What is the typical revenue pattern for a successful YouTube channel according to Devon's experience?
-According to Devon, a typical successful YouTube channel follows the 80/20 rule, where 20% of the videos make 80% of the revenue.
How does Devon source footage for his YouTube channels without running into copyright issues?
-Devon hires people to find clips and ensures they are resourceful in sourcing content that doesn't violate copyright laws. He emphasizes the importance of using content strategically and being aware of the content's ownership.
What is Devon's strategy for dealing with potential copyright claims on his YouTube channels?
-Devon adopts a long-term perspective, acknowledging that channels may get taken down but can be easily replaced. He focuses on creating new channels rather than worrying about individual channel losses.
What are some best practices Devon suggests for avoiding copyright issues when sourcing content for YouTube?
-Devon suggests studying the biggest channels in the niche to understand where they get their clips, using overlays or color grading to transform the content, and ensuring the content is transformative rather than just reposting others' work.
How does Devon structure the production workflow for his YouTube channels?
-Devon structures the workflow by having separate roles for sourcing footage, writing scripts, and editing. He uses project management tools like Trello and Google Docs to manage the process and ensure quality control.
What is Devon's approach to hiring editors for his YouTube channels?
-Devon hires editors from locations where there is a cost advantage, such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He ensures they are good at their job by conducting rigorous interviews and testing their skills through a trial period with a reduced rate.
What advice does Devon give to people starting out with faceless YouTube channels regarding the idea selection process?
-Devon advises spending a significant amount of time studying content within a niche to understand the market opportunities. He emphasizes the importance of finding a niche and content format that feels right for the individual, rather than jumping into a trend that doesn't align with their interests or values.
Outlines
🤔 Addressing Skepticism on YouTube Success
The speaker, Devon, returns to address skepticism about his claim of earning over $1.5 million from faceless YouTube channels. He explains his initial openness about his channels and the backlash that led to increased competition and demonetization. Devon shares his revenue figures to prove his success and discusses the challenges of revealing too much information online due to potential malicious intent. He emphasizes the importance of anonymity in protecting his business interests.
📈 Navigating the Dynamics of YouTube Niches
Devon delves into the intricacies of different YouTube niches, explaining how some, like history, have established brands that are hard to compete with, while others may be more open. He discusses the concept of 'crossing the chasm' in business, where early adopters and skeptics create a gap between the pioneers of a niche and the mass audience. Devon also touches on the 80/20 rule in channel revenue, where a small percentage of videos generate the majority of income.
🛠️ Sourcing Content Safely for YouTube Channels
The speaker outlines the process of sourcing content for YouTube channels without falling into legal issues. He emphasizes the importance of hiring resourceful people to find clips and the challenges of ensuring that sourced content does not lead to copyright strikes. Devon discusses the unpredictability of YouTube's copyright ID system and shares best practices for avoiding copyright issues, such as using content from established media companies and modifying clips to avoid detection.
💻 The Workflow Behind Creating YouTube Content
Devon describes the production workflow for creating YouTube content, including sourcing footage, writing scripts, and editing. He explains the division of labor among different roles and the importance of using project management tools like Trello for organization. The speaker also discusses the process of quality control to ensure cultural relevance and accuracy in the content, especially when working with editors from different cultural backgrounds.
🌐 Finding and Testing Skilled YouTube Editors
The speaker shares his strategy for finding and testing editors for YouTube content. He discusses the use of platforms like Upwork and the importance of conducting rigorous interviews to find reliable and skilled editors. Devon also explains the policy of paying half-rate for the initial videos to ensure the quality of the editor's work before committing to a full partnership.
💡 The Role of Creativity in YouTube Success
Devon challenges the notion that creativity is essential for YouTube success. He argues that success comes from identifying and replicating successful formats rather than coming up with original ideas. The speaker suggests that the creativity lies in the execution of a concept within a proven format, and that the best YouTubers are those who can effectively plug trends into these formats.
🚀 Key Factors in Successful Faceless YouTube Channels
The speaker identifies the key factors that differentiate successful faceless YouTube channels from those that fail. He emphasizes the importance of playing the long game, having a large addressable market, and being adaptable. Devon also discusses the mindset of successful creators, who are open to learning and not hindered by ego or the need for short-term results.
🧐 The Broad Appeal of Faceless YouTube Channels
Devon discusses the wide range of people involved in creating faceless YouTube channels, from individuals with physical limitations to older professionals looking for retirement options. He highlights the accessibility of YouTube as a platform that allows anyone, regardless of background or social skills, to create and monetize content.
📱 The Impact of YouTube Shorts on Channel Growth
The speaker considers the role of YouTube Shorts in channel growth, concluding that while Shorts can drive traffic, long-format content is more lucrative due to its ability to generate platform time. Devon suggests that Shorts are best used to build brand recognition rather than revenue, and that the real money lies in creating content that keeps viewers on the platform for longer periods.
❗️ Common Mistakes in Creating YouTube Content
Devon outlines the top mistakes made by new YouTube creators, including rushing the ideation process, emulating poor success, and not going granular enough in studying what makes successful videos work. He advises creators to spend time understanding the market, focus on what works, and reverse engineer successful videos to create their own content.
🔍 The Importance of Granular Success Analysis
The speaker emphasizes the need for detailed analysis of successful videos, including understanding the nuances of titles, thumbnails, intros, and content structure. Devon suggests that creators should aim to emulate the top-performing videos and consider what elements are missing in their own content compared to successful ones.
📘 How to Get Started with Faceless YouTube Channels
In conclusion, Devon offers advice for those interested in starting faceless YouTube channels, suggesting they follow him on social media and subscribe to his newsletter for guidance. He reiterates the importance of learning from successful channels and finding the right niche and approach for one's own content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Faceless YouTube Channels
💡Revenue
💡Demonetization
💡Niche
💡Content Ideation
💡Resourcefulness
💡Copyright
💡Transformative Content
💡Ego
💡Consistency
💡YouTube Shorts
Highlights
Devon addresses criticism and skepticism about his claim of earning over $1.5 million with faceless YouTube channels.
He explains his initial reluctance to share his channels publicly due to past experiences with rapid competition and demonetization.
Devon shares actual revenue figures from his channels, one having made over $650,000 and another with $108,000 in a year.
The importance of niche selection and understanding the market's trust dynamics is discussed.
Devon talks about the challenges of content sourcing and copyright issues, emphasizing the need for resourceful employees.
He mentions the use of various techniques to avoid copyright strikes, such as video overlays and changing color grading.
The interview covers the production workflow, from sourcing footage to scripting and editing.
Devon discusses finding and vetting editors, including using platforms like Upwork and conducting rigorous interviews.
The concept of 'transformative content' is introduced as a strategy to avoid copyright claims on YouTube.
The interviewee emphasizes the importance of long-format content for generating revenue over short-form content like YouTube Shorts.
Devon shares his view on the distinction between playing the 'Fame game' versus the 'Wealth game' on YouTube.
The interview delves into the mindset required for success, highlighting the pitfalls of short-term thinking and ego.
Devon discusses the diversity of people creating faceless channels, from young creators to older individuals looking for retirement options.
The interviewee provides advice on avoiding common mistakes, such as rushing the ideation process and not emulating successful strategies.
The importance of granular analysis of successful videos is stressed, including studying thumbnails, intros, and content structure.
Devon concludes with an offer to help those interested in creating faceless YouTube channels through his social media and newsletter.
Transcripts
so a few months back I interviewed Devon
on how he made over $1.5 million with
faceless YouTube channels there were a
lot of comments like ninjas here that
thought he was lying and full of crap so
I brought him back on to address the
criticism and pull back the curtain and
show his actual channels that are making
six figures per year so let's do it
Devon dude pump for round two of this so
like I showed opening up this video some
of the comments were uh we have some
doubters in the room so to speak so let
to kind of reiterate some of these uh
someone said not sharing his channel
should be reported for lying something
doesn't add up extraordinary claims but
doesn't show proof like when when people
say stuff like this uh first off like
why why are you hesitant to to show like
these faceless YouTube channels that are
making a ton of money back in the day
you know I this isn't my necessarily
first go around with uh publicity and
having a bunch of people know that I run
faceless channels back in the day I was
very uh I was very open about it
and I you know people saw the channels
that I had and I had a video that went
viral that got a few hundred thousand
views of me talking about it and then
overnight I think we went from having
like 20 competitors in the niche that I
knew very personally like I talked with
all of them and stuff to where we had I
think we were getting like a 100 a day
after this interview kind of like after
this content went out there and so it
went from and back in the day too I was
kind of doing a little bit more gray
area content like we figured out how to
like make a soft make all the videos and
we were just making way too much money
for how old I was at the time but uh it
got to a point where it got so big and
everyone knew about it that I don't know
maybe someone at YouTube or something
heard about it and they basically like
made it so people couldn't do those
channels anymore and they demonetized
all of them and so I went from making
like $70,000 a month down to like $3,000
a month and so I share with people what
channels I do I'm just not like hey
here's my YouTube channel this is the
exact Channel that I made $600,000 to
$600,000 on out to like 100,000 people
just anonymously just because I don't
know like some people could send like
you know I have a good personality I
believe in like Karma do good to others
so you can receive good to yourself but
uh you never know so what someone's
intentions are they could have like
10,000 people go like report the video
and then crush and kill the channel too
you know people like people could have
malicious intents and stuff so I have no
idea so I just I you know I don't the
reason why I do faceless YouTube
channels is so I don't have to have
people know what I what my business is
all the time um you know I have some
channels that I'm a little bit more
vocal about if you want to go on my
website you can go actually it doesn't
take that much work to go find them I'll
will say that if you want to know what
channels I run it'll take you 20 seconds
to go find out what I do I just don't I
don't uh I don't I don't just publicly
try to say it out to like 50,000 100,000
people this is what I do can you share
any of the revenue stuff for any of the
channels yeah so this is one channel
right here I just have it zoomed in on
the revenue at least just you know you
guys can see what's going on and over
the revenue tab you can see we started
this thing around like I think July of
2020 uh and then now it's made over like
just about
$650,000 so far off of this channel um
and then here's another channel it's
done almost 188 million views just this
year and you can see this year it's done
about $108,000 and this is one we kind
of
started we started up mainly in kind of
like November last year October November
so
between those two uh it looked like the
the first one it took a lot longer to
kind of get up and running if we kind of
look at that that kind of view chart or
even the revenue chart uh is that pretty
typical is it is it kind of like hit or
miss on kind of how fast one of these
gets takes off or is there is it more
formulaic or what it depends on the
niche and like the industry that the
channel is in so those two channels
actually I showed you both the the
travel one is kind of a little bit of
the same as well uh yeah the second one
I showed you the thing is is there
certain demographics there certain
people that are very like not trusting
of the information in certain nches like
if you think about
it for let's say like an industry like
history you know it's like there's a lot
of garbage out there and it takes a
little bit for people to catch on and be
like Oh yeah this is the brand and if
you like understand kind of the
different types of markets if you've
ever read the book or heard the book
crossing the chasm I forget who it's by
but it's like a classic Business book
where there's always like the there's
the Pioneers in the there's the Pioneers
for the the industry there's the first
movers and then there's this huge Chasm
you have to cross that is the mass
audiences which is like the early
adopters and then you have the Skeptics
on the back half of it and so some
niches the early
adopters are kind of hard to like tap
into for like kind of more just like old
school you know know like for if you're
in like the history Niche you know
there's a History Channel they've been
around for years people just trust them
with their history knowledge and going
and listening to those like the people
that get into that market there's just a
lot of trust in the brands that are
there and it's just like they're not
very like oh I want to watch other stuff
people are comfortable with watching
their type of content that's in front of
them and so certain niches that are a
little bit more like just you know aged
I would say uh they take a little bit
longer to get into so you know like some
of my niches that were're in like
history space travel uh even Tech
techology Sometimes some of those
they're just like very uh Evergreen and
so they take a little bit to kind of get
that like that fire started but once the
fire is going it's a very slow burn like
people are watching the videos for like
the second Channel I showed you we
haven't had a
single uh video get over like 20,000
views in the last three
months but the channel still makes like
$15,000 a month 95% of the revenue is
from videos that are like older than
like 6 months on that Channel and so do
do does a channel typically fall into
the 8020 role where 20% of the videos
make 80% of the
revenue yeah yeah yeah I would say so
yeah you can definitely apply paro's
principle to it so kind of you mentioned
Like A History Channel uh meaning
YouTube channel and that brought up one
of the the questions that someone left
on YouTube was like how do you Source
footage for this stuff right so if you
have a a channel and it's about history
right you obviously you have seems like
maybe two options you can either uh
animate what's the thing about history
or you can show footage from the event
in history which obviously we're not
there filming the [ __ ] so we got to get
it from somewhere and we don't want to
get these channels are meant to be
business assets and make money not get
taken down for copyright strikes and
stuff like that so like how do you
Source this footage so that you don't
fall into any of these like legal issues
I have no idea I really don't cuz the
way that I do it is I just hire people
to go find the clips and if they can't
go find the clips then I just go find
somebody else it's just it's their it's
their job application I guess to work
for me is in order to work for me you
have to go find the stuff and if you
can't find it then you're obviously not
going to be a very uh what's the word
that I'm looking for like a
very resourceful person yeah yeah you're
just not resourceful I want resourceful
people working with me you know it's one
of my company values or one of my values
is that I work with resourceful people I
don't like to work with people people
have to tell them exactly what to do all
the time so and I don't like to
micromanage people so the way that I do
it is I just tell people to go find it
so now I know not everybody has that
luxury
or how do you prevent those how do you
prevent those people from uh like
sourcing clips and using them in your
videos that end up getting your channel
taken down for some type of copyright
issues so that's the thing about YouTube
is every Niche is different I mean
there's like some rough rules that'll
apply to
everything but depending on the niche
and the type of cont content that you're
getting from people is variable that's
why I'm just like I don't know you just
like I I don't care about individual
channels I just I just play The
Five-Year long-term game uh if a channel
like I put it up and it gets taken down
it's okay we just set up another one
it's the internet you don't have to go
build a building it's just a YouTube
channel it's all like it's all like we
have to go hire a bunch of contractors
and stuff it's like you literally just
go create a new channel you have a new
channel like immediately but if you got
if you got this channel that's making
30,000 bucks a month like you'd be kind
of upset if that channel gets taken down
right uh I used to but now I don't
really care because it's happened a
bunch you know it' be frustrating but
it's just part of the game at this point
is the perspective of the mindset that I
have I really don't give a [ __ ] about
the 30 grand a month you
know sounds like it sounds like with
with what you guys do it's kind of
inherent that you're going to run into
these issues right at least that's what
I'm getting from your reply you know
it's like it it would suck yeah but it's
not the end of the world world I just
know that it's just like dude it's the
internet you just throw up another
Channel or something I've had I've made
$70,000 in a month of the next month I
was making two grand a month I've had it
like rise and falls and collapses the
thing I had to learn was like how do I
do better next time okay but the answer
the question like how do you what's the
rough guidelines here you know there's
like rumors I don't know if there's an
exact science like where they're like oh
you did six seconds of this clip and
it's not 5 Seconds they broke the rules
you know here's the copyright claim you
know you're copyrighted because you did
6 seconds not 5 Seconds of somebody clip
there's really
no uh strong format but I can give you
best practices like there's not like a
here's the guidelines of like copyright
and how to exactly avoid it it's not an
exact science it's just like here's some
rough guidelines so a few things that
you can do um I guess how you find the
content you can use anything on the
Internet it's just you have to be
strategic with how you use the content
and you also have to ask yourself who
owns the content who's the creator of
this content is it an individual is it
some random social media Tik Tok thing
cuz that matters or is it like a you
know the NFL or is it a does that matter
if it's a individual versus like the NFL
content that you just rip from Tik Tok
or Instagram or just random creators
that just throw like videos out on the
social
medias those people you want to like be
those are very high-risk content to use
because you never know it could be like
eight months down the road they're not
in the copyright ID system they see that
video they're like wow that video got 3
million views that's my content you know
like I don't like that yeah cuz at at
vidsummit uh I was chatting I don't if
you know these guys I was chatting with
the owner and the CMO of B viral and B
viral they own like 52 million pieces of
content uh in their library and most of
them are these they basically buy rights
of all these like little videos that go
viral on the internet they basically buy
the rights to those yeah and they
license them out to people and they have
he was telling me they have software
where literally they automatically can
tell if you're using their content in
your stuff and they can send you out
uh basically letters that say Hey don't
use our content anymore please take this
thing down so it sounds like stuff like
that is where this risk comes in that
you're yeah versus if it's like a media
company you know like they probably
already just have their stuff uploaded
into the system if you upload the video
and you use their clip the system will
know immediately it'll notify them and
then they probably even system meaning
like YouTube like in the video upload
process yeah they have like a copyright
I don't know what it's called copyright
ID system or something where it's just
like when you upload the video that has
a copyrighted video from like if I took
it from History Channel and I put it on
my thing if they already have that thing
loaded into the system the system will
know immediately and it'll say hey you
got a copyright claim there's this clip
at this time stamp at this exact spot oh
it tells you like exactly what it is
yeah so that's why it's less risk as in
like you'll know immediately it's not
like eight months down the road like
someone sees that use their video and
they're like pissed off you know instead
this it's just it's already in the
system they're already like pretty
established they know um and then
there's there's some like weird
occasions like I know like Japanese like
anime uh recap channels are like a big
thing or even just using like uh movies
that are like from India or like these
random countries and then doing like
Recaps like that's a big Trend them like
there's certain anime companies or like
certain companies that like if you even
like you they know that you use their
name to like make money they'll just
like try to tear your channel
down so it's very dependent on the niche
it's very dependent and what I always
recommend best practices is to go find
the big biggest channels in the niche
and if they're uploading videos
consistently and they're obviously you
know like they're not doing it for free
and like obviously there's like probably
a business behind going on behind the
scenes study the way that try to figure
out where they're getting their clips
and then how they do it some like best
practices you can do is you can do like
you know there's companies like uh like
software is like production crate where
you can buy like overlays over over your
video where you can like add a little
like you know where it looks like the
snow's falling or it's like an old film
kind of look uh you can also change the
color grading of it you can even
increase like the speed or slow down the
speed of an audio by like
0.1% where it's not even noticeable to
like the ear but it's like enough to
where the copyright ID you can't notice
it I see people you'll see people where
they put like a video in a TV on on
screen instead of it being the entire
thing but they'll put it on over like as
a TV you can also like mirror the video
as well so it's just like anything to
kind of like trip up this like ID system
that uh that you can't really tell now
obviously you shouldn't do like a whole
30 minute video of just someone else's
clip what YouTube is looking for
explicitly
is uh like being adding to the content
not using other people's content as your
content but using it as substance like
transformative yeah transformative is
the word yeah so looking for they're
looking for transformative content not
just purely you know just ripping other
people's content so as long as you're
more moving towards the size of
transformative any sort of copyright
claims they're just little fixes and you
just tell the editor and if like
whoever's editing your videos and then
you know if they keep hitting if they
keep running that issue then it's like
just bu normal business you got to be
like hey we got to probably find
somebody else if this is a constant
bottleneck so you've got this Source
footage right somebody's finding that
Source footage for you right then you
also have someone that's writing a scpt
for the video and you have someone
that's editing it is that person that's
sourcing the footage is that person the
script writer as well or is this like a
separate role like where does that fit
in I'm trying to think about like the
production workflow yeah so for the
production
workflow we've tested all the different
ways I found it best that you can keep
it out of like the editor to go find the
content the
better uh We've even hired people that
are purely just like a sourcing person
or like a like a basic video editor
that's more of a sorcerer and then we
have an editor that like adds the music
adds creates the animations makes things
look prettier and stuff and it makes it
a lot more enjoyable of a Content um so
you can also have like we'll also have
like our script writers we have them
just like as when you're writing a
college or a high school essay where you
just cite your sources we just have them
site the sources and then like kind of
attach the images or like the the videos
that they're getting for reference on
these things is that happening in like a
Google dock or something yeah yeah so
like a lot of what we use is just for
the workflow specifically we just you
can use any project management tool we
just use Trello cuz it's anything that
has like a can band view I think is the
best cuz then you can just see the
stages of all the processes like
visually I'm more of a visual guy but uh
yeah so he'll we'll just use Google Docs
and then they'll uh they'll write out
the script and then I'll have like one
of my managers qca and they'll just like
uh like highlight and comment on the
parts that they want fixed or if things
don't flow well and stuff like that and
and then and then yeah so then usually
we'll have them try to sort like Source
like 10 different places that they found
their content so like cite different
like 10 different sources and have the
videos and images so then the editor can
just go through to those places exactly
where the content was and then find it
cuz a lot of times the editor these like
what we do is we hire editors that are
out of like the Middle East like from
like uh Pakistan India like Egypt
Eastern Europe uh type of you know
people cuz they're a lot more affordable
but they have like the right they have a
really good brain for like the
editing and a lot of times they don't
really understand American culture
so you know we'll have things where
we'll be like show talking about let's
say like Miami and they'll be showing
like Booker Ron or something or they'll
be shown like Tampa you know and so a
lot of times we'll have like you know it
needs a good amount of QC of like the
the the manager the script writer kind
of adding that input as well kind of
assisting a bit but yeah yeah
how how do you um so one of the things
on here a couple of the questions were
how do you find editors that will
because one of the things we talked
about in the other interview was like
Netflix like quality um so how do you
find editors that are like really good
for a really cheap rate obviously you
just said like geographically where
they're located but H how do you like
how do you make sure they're good like
how do you test their skills when you're
bringing them on board I mean it's the
best thing is like how to understand the
stuff is the best is just the more data
sets the better you know I just did like
a a position I was hiring for my team
and I did like 12 different like group
interviews and on each group interview I
had six people so I however however many
people I interviewed over all those
interviews and after all that I picked
two people out of all of that and I knew
that they were the best just because of
the like just the numbers so the best
way that I learned it is just interview
every like I mean if you want the like
real answer that's like not the lazy
just like how do I make like passive
income with no work answer cuz I hate
that [ __ ] the real answer is just you do
the [ __ ] work you just go interview a
ton of people and what you do how I find
these people is I did 250 job posts on
upwork we've hired over 150 people and
then now we have it down to our best
kind of like 15 people or so 20 people
that we're working with and so we've
just done a lot of rep so a lot of times
I just you know with people that we work
with I just like here's all the people
that we worked with that we just don't
have a project for them right now or um
I'm also like here's the exact job post
that I have just throw these up and do
them every once a week or so but the
main thing is just interview a ton of
people you want to find uh people that
are like Fast turnaround times you know
they're consistent you don't ask them to
do some work and then they say yeah I'll
do it by Friday and it's done by like
you know like two Fridays from then so
it's just kind of like finding the right
people so how we find them is like upw
work and just being very rigorous with
like the the the interviewing process I
are you having them edit anything for
you before you're hiring them yeah so
then the trick that we do right now is
just because people aren't always who
they say they are this is like a very
genuine thing I'm not trying to get like
it's it's such a big thing we've tried
to
hire so many people and it turns out
they have like fake portfolios or like
you know they just they'll grab other
people's stuff throw it in a Google
folder and send it to you and say it's
theirs and then as soon as you get them
to do work you're like where's the
person that edited this stuff at because
you're obviously not that person yeah
yeah I like upwork for the sense that
the thing I don't like about upwork is
they take like 10% but the thing I do
like about it is they have a middleman
type of thing to where you can fund a
contract but the freelancer doesn't get
the money until you say contract has
been fulfilled on their R yeah es they
know the money is there because the
thing about most Freelancers is they do
a project they put 20 hours into it and
then they don't get paid cuz the guy's
like you know like they're like oh
actually we can't afford you or
something you know like that's their
nightmare so you got to think of it like
Freelancers is kind of a nightmare being
the freelancer sometimes and sometimes
there's scams too there's so many scams
on all these platforms on the freelancer
perspective um and then so I like upward
CU it like it funds the contract you
don't release it until they like have
satisfied your request and then another
trick that we do is just because we've
been burned so many times I don't know
probably 50 times it's just it's just a
numbers game as the way we play it but
is we just tell them not everybody who
said we just tell them this is our
policy like not everybody is who they
say they are and so for the first video
or maybe even sometimes the first three
videos we're going to pay you at a half
rate of what your normal rate is just so
that way you know you're getting paid
but at the same time you know we're not
we're not sure who you you are if you
are who you say you are and we just want
to like be certain that this is the case
because we want to have a long lasting
relationship we don't want to just have
an editor for like two videos we want to
have an editor for the next like three
years and consistent work and also other
opportunities that we're going to be
able to give you and so that's kind of
that's how we mitigate that aspect of it
yeah makes total sense we we'll normally
uh we'll tell somebody like if they have
a desired rate they want to get paid
we'll say cool for the first three
months we're but we're going to work at
this rate yeah and then if you like
prove yourself to be like good and an
asset then we'll get to that rate after
three months yeah yeah that's cool uh
looking at some of these other questions
on here so someone said um I disagree
with that he said great video lots of
gold nuggets we'll start with the
Positive however I disagree with Devin
with this phrase you don't have to be
creative in YouTube so what what's your
what's your kind of uh comeback to that
where someone's like essentially what
they're saying is no no no you do have
to be creative on
YouTube what do you think about that uh
I mean for that guys explicitly I would
say uh uh I'd love to see that you know
I'd love to see your YouTube channels
and I'd love for you to show me you know
how how you're able to make you know 30
or 50 or $100,000 a month with your
YouTube channels and I'd love to for you
to shoot me over the analytics with you
tell me that you don't have to be
creative you look at someone like Mr
Beast that guy's like the most
uncreative person ever the only
creativity comes from after the decision
the one decision he makes is the video
idea which the idea that he comes up
with is super freaking unoriginal all of
his if you look at his channel and I I
think I said this in the last interview
I can't remember you look at his Channel
all the videos are the same you can even
look at it now all the videos are the
same the creativity comes from how do we
make this idea
happen so I will say you have to do you
have to be creative in like how do you
make the idea happen but when it comes
to an
idea creativity thrives from constraints
the best poets use constraints for their
poem you know there's a there's like the
different types of poems I'm not some
expert on this but let's say there's
like a Sonet and you have to have so
many parables and so many lines for it
to be a sonuna I think whatever I'm not
an expert let's just say it's 15 lines
and eight Parables per line or something
like I said um you know and the best
poets are the best at that type of
poetry that's the format that is there
the creativity isn't in the like the
format is very cut and dry this is how
you write a poem this is how to do it no
creativity whatsoever this is exactly
how to write this type of poem same with
YouTube there's no creativity in coming
up with ideas like other than how do you
fill in the blanks with this and there's
a market that wants to watch this so
once you figure out what the formats are
and what people want to watch takes no
creativity whatsoever it's a very like
emotionless decision-making process and
it's just like it's very black and white
what you need to produce and what you
don't need to produce and then the
creativity I will say yes there is
creativity but the creativity comes from
okay this format Works what are some
other things that we can plug into this
format that it's a complet completely
original idea that hasn't been done
before and good artists create great
artists steal so the greatest people on
YouTube what they do is they just find
the Trends on YouTube and plug them into
the formats mhm no creativity whatsoever
the creativity I guess is just you just
did MX plus bals y you know with the
formula and you just look like a
creative genius and then the production
it's the same exact thing they talk
about you know why is the sky blue
you're talking about why trees are
green you they they talk about this in
this video that's proven that got 5
million views okay we talk about this
that's about this topic over here in
this in this exact kind of like
aspect so you know I imagine a lot of
people kind of in the faceless YouTube
game right I'm sure you know a bunch of
the other people that are crushing it at
this and you probably worked with a lot
of people and know a lot of people also
that haven't made this happen that have
tried and failed like what do you think
what's the biggest differentiator
between someone that succeeds going down
this path of of creating faceless
YouTube channels that make decent money
and those that don't I mean most people
they give up too
soon so I'm not gonna talk about those
what is what is realistic expectations
yeah I think most people give up to soon
you know they do three ideas in a like
they do three videos and then they pivot
they do another five videos they're like
oh I Tred and then they pivot so I'm not
going to talk about those people cuz
obviously they have like deeper like
mental psychological issues that they
have to kind of overcome that's just
like a consistency thing you know so
let's not let's not talk about those
people um you know let's talk about the
people that are like 30 you know like
shooting like shooting for the long game
of this that are you know doing I mean I
guess that's the main problem that
people have is just they they play so
shortsighted for me I didn't make like
three grand a month for like a year and
a half and then after after a year and a
half I was making $3,000 a month I made
400 videos at that
point and then I started a new channel
and I started making $3,000 a day
because I had I now I did all the work I
had all the skill sets I knew how
YouTube worked all I needed was a better
vehicle like it's like Warren Buffett
says not about how hard you roll a boat
but it's about the stream that you're on
I just needed a better stream I was in
just my Tam was so low my total
adjustable Market there was only like so
many people in that market but I had the
skill sets I was like one of the top
like five in the niche but the biggest
person in the niche had like 20,000
subscribers that I was in which was you
know like a real estate Niche so it's
was like I can only become so big unless
I wanted to build a business on the back
end where I was telling a bunch of stuff
which is just a lot of work not to say
that you can't do it it's just you're
building a business on top of a
distribution thing um so what I did was
I switched over to a different Market
which was doing fa's channels for back
in the day was these like ask Reddit
videos where we'd take Reddit posts and
we'd have like a voice like a a robot
read the the videos and in two
weeks it I hit like 1.4 million views in
a day and I got uh you know was making
like three four five grand a day with
that channel and so the main thing I
think is just most people are playing
such a short game they're like I need
this to
work
and they're so much like they have to
have a result in the short term also
people have huge egos where they're just
like I know everything the people that
have like that like I know everything
mindset are very like shutting
themselves out for the information I
can't tell you the amount of times I've
like people had like a $30,000 a month
opportunity in front of them I tell them
exactly what to do and they do like one
of the five things I tell them to do or
you know they take two weeks to
implement the thing that I told them to
do when for me like my time to like App
application is you know sometimes
minutes like there's a like I built a
business the other day in like 2 hours
like we already had the domain the
website the logo everything already
built and we already had some like leads
and and and some potential you know
prospects for this like side business
that I built so it was just like my lead
to my my idea at the time was like you
know a few hours for building a business
other people they would take like a
whole month to be able to do that thing
do you see like is anything changing in
your strategy as like more people become
aware of faceless channels like is like
the saturation quote unquote of more
people doing this type of content like
does that impact your strategy moving
forward in in any type of way for me my
strategy is
just I'm just playing the long game I
know that if I do these run these the
best the channels that are doing like
million dollars a year consistently are
all like channels that are older than
five years unless there are some crazy
genius that came in with like a specific
strategy but 90% of the channels that
are like doing continuous $100,000
months are channels that have like been
doing this for like longer than five
years have been doing in the market for
a while so I'm just playing that game at
this point where I know that the rise
and Falls of channels you know I don't
as long as we're getting videos out and
the the company is able to like cover
its own expenses I really don't care
that much that's my strategy and that I
just you know we're constantly like
reworking things every like every few
months every six months or so kind of
making sure that the the ship's heading
the right direction but for I guess the
the average person getting into this is
yeah I think everybody's about to get
like in going to be in like a financial
Whirlwind I think with maybe the economy
and stuff and trying to figure out what
the hell they're going to do with their
life and I think you know the people
that are getting in now learning these
skill sets of how to generate an income
by themselves and how to make money
online are the people that are you know
that are be going to be when it's in a
position of necessity rather than just
of um just of like wanting for the
situation they're going to be better set
for success I think you know I think
there's going to be a lot of change in
the economy in the next few years of
like you know it's it's kind of crazy
you could be like 16 making $300,000 a
month just playing Minecraft with your
friends these days you know there's like
there's some disrup there's some
disruptions I guess in like finances and
the market and like what money is and
you know like everybody like after coid
they could work from home and so now
everybody's gotten a taste of like being
able to spend more time with their
family and their kids and being able to
do the things that they want so I think
but at the same time there's going to be
always a bunch of people that are
very you know there's always going to be
the people that are like lazy you know
and that are just trying to figure out
what it's going to be to just get by I
guess you know so I think there lot
people go ahead do you have uh people
that you know building faceless channels
that are like also like you know
40-year-old like mid-level managers and
like corporate and this is like their
side thing that they're doing or is it
always just like young 19y olds like
what is it what do you see in kind of
like the faceless landscape of people
actually building these channels
everybody honestly at this point because
it's such a like you can be anybody and
it doesn't matter you know you don't
have to have any sort of social skills
really I mean obviously to work with
people you have to get better at that
but um you know I've talked from like
guy that has like you know bless his
heart and it's sad but you know he's
like paralyzed and you know he's like
not able to really have any he's not
able to get majority of jobs and he's
able to like have like the amount of
excitement and passion he's able get out
of being able to do something for the
World by making a faceless YouTube
channel is just like so amazing to him
and he's just like eating this stuff up
and he's just super excited because he's
able to provide value to the marketplace
when otherwise 90 you know there's like
would otherwise be no option for him so
we see stuff from that to we're getting
a lot of people that are you know in
their 40s 50s where they're starting to
think about retirement and they're
starting to kind of look at the
landscape and they're like this doesn't
really make a whole lot of sense um you
know there's definitely people that are
10 20 years into their career career
that are just like I have like literally
seen the transformation of this company
and all I got was some slight pay raises
and some slight bumps so I it's
definitely yeah all over the map for
sure yeah does YouTube Shorts play any
part in these faceless Channel growth or
no I think that YouTube shorts is
like like the you got to think uh like
as ra Ray Delio talks about first
principles the thing that makes you
money on
YouTube
is like what they want is platform time
and so if you're able to create the most
amount of platform time then obviously
they want to give you as much
advertising eyeballs as possible and as
much ad dollars as possible and they
want to reward you for it because you're
getting people onto the platform Stu so
first principles it's just like how long
can you get people to stay on the
platform short form content all it takes
is like you're just it's a freaking
mixed bag of stuff and all it takes is
one content to rub you the wrong way off
the platform versus if your content is
like a is a safe bet it's like 10
minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes long or
you got like 50 videos that are 10
minutes long that are like all for like
a specific audience um they would love
to reward you and pay you a ton of money
I see a lot of shorts creators where
they're getting 100 million views and
they're making less than the channel
that's getting like 2 million views with
long format videos so you have to be
like a virality just like expert and
being able to execute for you to make
any sort of like actual Revenue off of
it so the main thing is like long format
content is where the money's at so if
you're just trying to make money long
format content if you want to have
people know who you are and play the the
Fame game like as Nal RAV talks about
there's like the Fame game and the
wealth game people play most people are
idiots most people are idiots and they
play The Fame game like Will Smith talks
about when he was famous he was he was
broke when he first like had his first
success and he had to go sit on a bus
and everyone was making fun of him
because he was like they were like oh
you're the Fresh Prince or whatever but
he was broke and had to ride the public
transportation most of these people
they're just trying to become famous and
then they become famous and they realize
like there's no money in that like
there's so many people with like 3
million subscribers they make like two
grand a month because they're famous but
the YouTube isn't rewarding them because
it's like they're not creating loads of
like platform time and so if you want to
make money then you need to do long
format content all that shorts does of
short form content that's really good at
is just getting you more eyeballs to the
brand if you don't have a brand that's
really worth anything in the first place
it's just eyeballs for the sake of
eyeballs which doesn't doesn't
equivalent to like sending your kids off
to college or you know being able to buy
a nice house or to be able to go travel
the world it just means that people know
who you are other than that that's it
interesting what's the what would you
say is the number one or maybe top two
like biggest mistakes people make when
they're like just starting out so like
let's say like they're not that person
that takes you know two months to go
from idea to execution they're like
somebody that's getting on it running
and it's going to be committed to it but
what's the top two mistakes you see
people make once they're like hit the
ground running what are they doing wrong
that you would say no no no no do this
instead yeah the main thing is the idea
the idea is like all the money on
YouTube like I told about my story where
I started like I did YouTube for a year
and a half got to three grand a month I
literally just changed my just into a
different Niche I didn't become a better
person skill set wise I just learned how
to edit those types of
videos and I was making three grand a
day so you have to ask yourself like
what I always recommend for people to do
is just go spend like you know 100 hours
studying content through the lens of
like I'm about to make a channel and
once you've done that 100 hours and you
see all the opportunities on the
marketplace and you just like just put
in the work you're going to find what's
going to work best for you I think some
people find like a Soo idea and they
jump on it because they feel obligated
to make money on YouTube instead of just
like finding what's for them and they
jump into it and then they're talking
about like serial killers or something
like that and having to talk about
bodies getting chopped up in the video
or something and they're like that
doesn't make me feel
good and doesn't matter how hard they
work they just feel shitty inside making
these videos and it's going to be really
hard for you to make 30 grand a month if
you feel gross about making the content
that you're making or you're not
interested in it not to say you have to
be some person like not to say that I'm
a huge fan of my channel
I was just interested enough in it that
I felt good about putting it out there
and then on top of that I you know like
me learning a bunch of random
information about these industries was
kind of cool you know I was like oh this
is cool I I'm not going to go out of my
way to go find this stuff but I'm
naturally just becoming a higher value
person of like by creating this content
so most people I think they just like
they Rush the ideation process they just
like oh everybody's doing this so I'm
going to go do this instead of finding
what's for them cuz you know I went to
we both went to vid Summit let me ask
you Ryan how many people did you run
into that you were blown away that that
that's how they made money on YouTube
like what were some of like the weird
ways that you heard people were making
money on YouTube there I mean there's
there's all kind of stuff there were
people that had uh physical product
brands on the back end of stuff there
were like what like what like what weird
industry barbecue stuff like cook
grilling yeah yeah so barbecue I talked
to one dude he had a he was a scrap guy
he would just record him like he would
just be doing like junk and scrap and he
loved that [ __ ] yeah you know yeah I met
another guy that his was uh documenting
Route 66 so like the famous road that
goes through the US uh and he just like
films stuff about Route 66 and like he
moneti I think he was making like uh I
think it was like 20 grand a month or
something like that through that yeah
yeah he probably didn't even have to be
a face creator for with something like
that you probably could just like look
at like Google Maps and then try to like
you know try to tell the tales of sign
the tell the tales and stuff like that
but yeah there's like you know there's
people that like did like every day in
World War II where they documented like
they said exactly what happened on every
single day um it's just the thing is
there's so many ways of making money on
YouTube and so just because you see
there's an opportunity to make
money you know it may not be for you
just like with YouTube there's you know
like in the like I I went and found the
I did a like I did research the other
day and I found I wanted to just show
people what like the opportunity of
YouTube so I found in the span of like
10 hours 15 hours I went and found 200
channels that were making over six
figures uh that were in this faceless
Niche and I think inside of there there
was like 40 different niches and so
there's just so many different ways of
making money on YouTube you just need to
find the one that's right for you it's
okay if it takes like an extra week to
come up with the idea just be just to
find what you feel like is that perfect
fit for yourself now obviously I don't
want people to have like analysis
paralysis you should have a rough
combination of just maybe like maybe
I'll try like maybe I'll go three
channels deep maybe the first channel
I'll do it just to learn the second
Channel I'm going to take those
principles and apply it and then the
third Channel you know like by then
you'll have a bunch of knowledge and
you'll know how things work and if you
just view that you'll have to set up and
start over a few channels and at the end
of that you're making 30 grand a month
you know that's the thing people are
like oh that's work at the end of this
you're making 30 grand a month and your
life has changed for the rest of your
life so if you just do the work and it's
like maybe it's 1,000 hours on the other
side of that you're making 30 grand a
month what other like world industry can
you do that you can't do that in like
most in any corporate worlds you know or
anything like that um so the main thing
is just I would say the main aspect of
it all is the
idea and then from there the other
aspect I see people getting hung up is
they don't go too granular with like why
people are liking the other videos
or I think this I'll give you three the
second part is is more so like uh
they're emulating like poor success so
like there'll be a channel they'll have
like 100 videos on it they'll have three
that get over a million views let's say
and then they'll have like another 97
videos that have like less than like
100,000 views let's say just for the
sake of the example they'll look at all
of the channel as a whole and study
everything and try to recreate
everything instead of just picking the
three things that were their most viral
videos and emulating that for
me I'd rather emulate a 5 million view
video then like 100,000 view video cuz
if I only do 10% of that success of
100,000 view video is only 10,000 views
which is only $50 versus if like that I
would make on ad Revenue versus if I
made a 5 million view video and I got
10% of that I would get 500,000 views
which you know that would be like $2,500
in Revenue that I make from that so like
you want to emulate success and then the
third thing is just they don't go very
granular in studying success as well so
you know first of all it's not they
don't find a niche that's good in the
market or for them and then second it's
like they're studying the just all
videos instead of just the upper echelon
of success and EM emulating upper
echelon of success and then third is
they're not going crazy granular with
the like why what makes that video a
good video you know there's like the
title the thumbnail like what font color
they use in the thumbnail what type of
font do they use in the thumbnail what
type of image do they use in the in the
thumbnail what type of image you know
there's like Charlie monger's like
inverse thinking inverse problem solving
which is like what are not only what are
they doing but what are they not doing
that you're trying that you're
doing and so what are the things they're
not doing in their thumbnail what are
the things they're not doing in their
title and then the same thing for the
intro the first 30 seconds of the video
what are they doing in the intro what
are they not doing in the
intro and then for the subjects of the
rest of the video what are they doing
inside of that and then and then you
have to go really granular what music
are they playing you know when do they
entertain a certain subject you know
when do they talk about stuff how do
they go about doing it you know I I have
this saying and it might for me I don't
care if it Rubes people the wrong way
it's just if you're not getting cease
and toist letters you're not going
you're not doing business well
enough yeah there there's a very similar
saying right in in marketing where it's
like uh if you're not getting somebody
to like hate on your brand every day
you're not marketing hard enough yeah
yeah yeah that aspect of it too you
should be reverse engineering what
worked for other people as if you just
got hired by their company to make their
next video and they just lost all their
production team and make that next video
obviously you're not going to remake an
old video right you're going to make
whatever that next video is you have to
like go make that next video for them
that should be the video that you upload
onto your
channel that's an interesting way to
think about
it seems like a good way yeah and I
think I just people don't go granular
enough with like it they're just you
know they're like they're skipping over
things and like some some audiences like
especially like in natural health health
sciences and stuff like that
people aren't trying to go watch those
videos to be necessarily entertained
they're just looking for the secret
formula that's going to change their
life right so it's not like they're in
there to like have like a dopamine like
crazy type of experience they just want
an answer for their problem or a
solution to their problem so if you have
a solution to their problem your video
is going to do extremely well and
so it's not about the editing they have
the poorest editing quality videos ever
you could hire some dude from Pakistan
pay him $30 have the same quality but
for them it's just about what is the
idea and what are they talking about
inside of there and I've had people go
try to get into that n those niches and
they try to remake the content like and
try to like do Mr Beast Style with like
you know how to you know how to like
what are some solutions for colon cancer
or something like that you know and the
thing is is nobody wants that it's like
the demographic watching these things is
like 40 to 80 they don't they're not
watching Mr Beast videos you have to you
need to figure out what is already
working in that market and then be that
market and become the person that's that
and then the things that you can do
better are just little things you know
instead of like showing a picture of
this you could have just shown a picture
of this instead and it would have been a
better representation of how to see
things and so I think most people they
try to like either recreate the wheel or
they don't go too granular in modeling
emulating the success yeah that's cool
dude so I think you you shared a ton of
value here today uh if somebody's
interested in getting into the faceless
YouTube game and is is there a way that
you help people do that yeah just follow
me on social media if you just look me
up if this is on YouTube or whatever
plat I'm on I'm just look me up on all
platforms you'll get into my stuff
somehow and get EMA like I have like a
newsletter and stuff like that so yeah
cool dude yeah well it was uh fantastic
to chat with you again uh and tackle
some of these questions and haters that
uh that we had in the comments of the
last video and I appreciate you coming
on here again dude
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How to make money on YouTube without filming videos by yourself (feat. @NateOBrien)
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I tried Faceless YouTube Automation for 200 days
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30 Best Faceless Channel Ideas for YouTube Automation (HOW TO START NOW)
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PORQUE OS CANAIS DARK ESTÃO SENDO DESMONETIZADOS NO YOUTUBE
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Meet the 15y/o who Solved YouTube Shorts
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How to Make Money on YouTube With Faceless AI Channels
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