The Hidden Opportunity in Tutorial Channels (Thomas Frank Interview)

Summary

Thomas Frank discusses his decision to abandon his successful 2 million subscriber YouTube channel to create a new channel focused solely on teaching productivity software Notion. He explains how this singular focus helped the new channel quickly gain traction. Topics covered include optimizing videos for browsing versus search traffic, relying too heavily on outside platforms, prioritizing teaching over production value for tutorials, embracing impermanence when new software updates invalidate old tutorial videos, using analytics to find content gaps, and determining if first-mover advantage matters when choosing a niche software to cover.

Takeaways

• 😊 Thomas abandoned his 2M sub channel to focus solely on Notion
• 👌 Creating a niche destination channel leads to clearer perception
• 📈 Long-tail tutorial videos bring in views over time
• 🔀 Generalized productivity videos need more convincing upfront
• 🚀 Relying on platforms has risks but provides fuel for growth
• 🌊 Accept constant change when covering changing tech platforms
• 🎥 Production quality depends on video purpose and viewer intent
• 💡 Make what you’re interested in first rather than strategy
• 📚 Think in content pillars when building a tutorial channel
• 🚪 Bring in wider audiences with broadly useful niche content

Q & A

Why did Thomas originally create the Thomas Frank Explains channel?

He wanted to create a destination that people would immediately associate with learning how to use the productivity software Notion. By separating the Notion tutorials from his main channel, he hoped to establish a clearer brand identity.

What misconception did Thomas have about the Thomas Frank Explains channel initially?

He assumed the channel would get most of its traffic from search, but it turns out browse features and suggested videos drive more traffic than search.

How does Thomas view reliance on software platforms like Notion for his business?

He sees it as a necessary evil and rocket fuel for the business. There are risks, but the rapid growth enabled by platforms like Notion outweigh those risks in his view.

How does Thomas decide what topics to cover in his videos?

He focuses mainly on what he finds interesting personally. He also looks at search analytics to identify knowledge gaps he could fill. Balancing personal interest with meeting audience needs is his main consideration.

How does video production differ between the channels?

The Thomas Frank Explains videos focus on clarity over high production value. The main channel videos are more cinematic with unique branding per video suited to the topic.

How does Thomas deal with changes to Notion's interface over time?

He takes a philosophical view of impermanence. Tech and interfaces change constantly, so he has accepted the need to update old videos as part of producing tech tutorials.

What are the content pillars that structure the Thomas Frank Explains channel?

Fundamentals, build tutorials, feature releases, common mistakes/tips, and wider interest topics that introduce people to Notion.

What made Thomas' AI voice notes video successful?

Originally focused just on Notion, feedback made him recognize it would appeal to anyone wanting automated voice transcripts. Removing Notion from the branding widened the video's appeal.

Does Thomas think you need to be first to cover a software tool on YouTube?

No, he thinks that as long as a tool has a growing audience you can find an subset of that audience interested in your particular style and topics.

What's the main advice Thomas would give someone starting a tutorials channel?

Don't worry about strategy early on, just create content about what interests you and be consistent in publishing videos.

Outlines

00:00

😁 Why Thomas Frank stopped creating on his 2M subscriber channel

Thomas Frank gave up his successful 2 million subscriber YouTube channel to create the TF Explains channel focused solely on teaching Notion. He wanted to build a destination known as the place to learn Notion and have a focused perception. The main channel was for more general productivity content.

05:01

🤔 Tutorial strategy: browse vs search views

Thomas explains the different strategy for tutorials on TF Explains vs generalized productivity videos on his main channel. TF Explains prioritizes long-tail evergreen tutorials not reliant on initial views, while the main channel videos focused more on early sponsor-driven views and conversions.

10:02

💰 Notion's symbiotic relationship with TF Explains

Thomas discusses the symbiotic relationship between Notion's growth and passionate user base constantly creating/sharing content, and channels like TF Explains focused on Notion tutorials and templates. However, other niche tools like Coda can also enable financial success.

15:04

🚀 Balancing platform risk and reward

Platform risk is a tradeoff for the rapid growth enabled by building on top of an existing platform. Entrepreneurs must continually evaluate threats and opportunities to decide on diversification vs full commitment. The goal is to maximize risk for outsized rewards.

20:05

🎥 Prioritizing clarity over fidelity for tutorials

TF Explains prioritized clear, good-looking tutorials over high production value because the goal was knowledge transfer. Easy thumbnail templates, consistent assets and formatting created an effective video "textbook" to learn Notion.

25:07

💡 Advice for starting a tutorials channel

The key advice for starting a tutorials channel is to not worry about strategy, just create content you're interested in and consistently add to your video library around specific tools or topics. Content pillars and replay value build authority.

30:08

😎 Using AI and broader topics to attract viewers

A video on taking AI-powered voice notes attracted views beyond just Notion users by focusing on the broader appeal of hands-free notes. This demonstrates using interest in popular topics to bring in viewers and introduce them to new tools.

Keywords

💡YouTube strategy

The overall approach and plan for creating YouTube content and growing an audience on the platform. The video discusses how Thomas adjusted his YouTube strategy over time, originally focusing just on Notion tutorials then expanding into broader productivity topics to support his new startup.

💡notion

A popular productivity and note-taking app that Thomas has built his recent YouTube presence around by teaching others how to use it. Notion's passionate user base creates strong symbiotic value for tutorial creators like Thomas.

💡startup

Thomas recently launched a startup called Flylighter building web clipping and knowledge management tools. His YouTube strategy now balances Notion tutorials with supporting his new startup's growth.

💡platform risk

The potential business risk tied to relying on another technology platform like YouTube or Notion. Thomas notes this dependence is often necessary for rapid growth, requiring constant evaluation.

💡production value

The technical quality and aesthetic appeal of a video, including factors like resolution, editing, visuals etc. Thomas invests heavily in this for his mainstream videos but less so for focused Notion tutorials.

💡tutorial channel

A YouTube channel focusing on step-by-step educational videos around using a specific tool or skill. The video covers best practices and tradeoffs for this format.

💡Evergreen content

YouTube videos and other content optimized to retain relevance and value over long periods of time. For tech tutorials, Thomas notes accepting impermanence and updating often is key.

💡search vs. browse

Two main discovery modes for YouTube content - search where users directly seek specific info, and browse where the algorithm recommends content. Thomas originally underestimated browse traffic for his niche Notion content.

💡notion API

Notion's developer API allows building custom integrations with the tool. Thomas created niche tutorials on this, catering to his passion despite lower viewership.

💡content pillars

Distinct categories of content that together support a YouTube channel's goals. Thomas structures his Notion channel across fundamentals, tutorials, feature updates and more.

Highlights

I wanted to create a destination that people immediately thought of as the go-to place to learn notion

I wanted to have this experience where people find a video they click over to the channel and they realize like I want to learn notion and this is the place for it

We have more traffic from browse features and suggested than we do from search

On the main channel I don't really feel like there's a specific library I'm building it almost feels like I'm constructing a textbook on Thomas Frank explains

Notion is in this very enviable position where it has a very passionate user base that is constantly talking about it constantly creating free content about it

Your job as an entrepreneur is to constantly survey the landscape to constantly sort of do that SWOT analysis on your business

Don't worry about the strategy just make what you're interested in and put it up on YouTube

I wanted to make software tutorials so good-looking that people are like why would he put this much effort into it this is stupid

On Thomas Frank explains I know who I'm serving I'm serving people who want to learn notion so there are things that just need to be in the online video textbook

I bring that story up because that is the mindset that I have tried to adopt when it comes to making content about tech there is no such thing as permanence

Despite my online veneer of business business strategy mogul or whatever people want to call me my primary driver for what I make is what I'm interested in

Don't worry too much about the individual results because again you're if you're creating an entire channel that is a tutorial channel you're creating a library of content

I wanted to have the best looking software tutorials ever made I want to make software tutorials so good-looking that people are like why would he put this much effort into it this is stupid

If you're creating an entire channel that is a tutorial channel for either a specific tool or a specific purpose you're creating a library of content and you can always remake videos

If there is a growing audience for something and you're passionate about it and you're building skill in that area that's a good spot to be in regardless of whether or not they're other players

Transcripts

two years ago Thomas Frank made the

seemingly crazy decision to abandon his

2 million subscriber YouTube channel

that he spent a decade of his life

building to make software tutorials I

wanted to create a destination that

people immediately thought of as the

go-to place to learn notion I want to

make software tutorials so good-looking

that people are like why would he put

this much effort into it this is stupid

his decision paid off big time the

Thomas Frank explains channel has grown

to 220,000 subscribers done over 10

million views and doubled his Vue just

by teaching people how to use the

productivity and notetaking software

notion in this episode you'll learn how

to design the perfect viewer experience

I wanted to have this experience where

people find a video they click over to

the channel and they realize like I want

to learn notion and this is the place

for it how to think about browse views

versus search views I naively thought

that TF explains was going to be a

search only channel that turned out to

be wrong actually we have more traffic

from browse features and suggested than

we do from search the pros and cons of

Rel rying on outside platforms for

Success you're never going to get to

space by riding a bicycle you Bill

yourself and what every person starting

a tutorial Channel needs to do don't

worry about the strategy just make what

you're interested in and put it up on

YouTube it's Been probably a year more

than a year since we first recorded on

the Channel I want to hear how you're

thinking about your YouTube strategy

generally right now I'm going to leave

it that open and ambiguous I have to

give some context because my YouTube

strategy is being informed by a bigger

strategy and that is that we are

launching a new startup we are calling

it Fly lighter and it is starting out as

the best Web Clipper for notion but

eventually will be just the best idea

capture and knowledge capture tool that

you've ever seen that also lets you take

things uh from the web or from your head

and get them into whatever app you're

using instead of it being an app where

you browse that data so that makes my

strategy change quite a bit because for

the past year couple of years years I've

been almost entirely focused on teach

notion sell notion templates be like the

king of that n well now we're kind of

taking the next logical step in building

a tool that serves those users but then

we also have to build brand affinity and

awareness for the tool itself so rather

than just relying on notion content to

do that I'm launching my main Channel

again and I don't just want to make

productivity content again but I realize

that there is a very strong strategic

reason to create productivity content

there's still stuff I want to teach

around that so we're going to be doing

some more productivity videos uh that

may not just feature an oce as the app I

talk about and then uh I think I also

want to you know give myself permission

to talk about some of the things that I

am interested in and have developed

skills in over the past couple of years

on the channel like building my no code

skills even my coding skills uh talking

a bit about Business and

Entrepreneurship and I think people like

Ali abdall have sort of demonstrated

that once you've built up that Affinity

around your own personal brand the

audience is interested in the things

that you are doing as well it was kind

of like a refreshingly simple goal to

have in the past of just like I want to

become the recognized personality and

expert for this growing tool that isn't

mine now things are more difficult

because we're trying to balance that

with Al also building up our own startup

and and building brand Affinity around

that I was jealous of the Simplicity of

that goal I was like man what's what's

my thing I just want to do the one thing

I thought I thought it was great I feel

like there's grasses greener syndrome

with that no matter who you are no

matter where you are because I feel

jealousy around that with our mutual

friend Justin Welsh who basically has

his singular thing uh being Sol

preneurship I'm over here with like well

I've got my singular thing it's notion

but boy that thing over there is like

singular but also applies to a lot of

different things whereas like mine is a

specific tool and I have to convince

people they want to like learn about

formulas in that tool so there's you

know strengths and weaknesses no matter

what Niche you're in no matter what sort

of balance you have with uh regard to

Broad versus narrow Focus uh so it's

funny to hear you say like you have

experienced that kind of the same

jealousy because I feel it with Justin

help us understand why you split in the

first place why create Thomas Frank

explains versus produce the notion

content on the main Channel The Main

Idea here is I wanted to create a

destination that people immediately

thought of as the go-to place to learn

notion for me it wasn't necessarily

about how is the algorithm going to see

this content because we've probably

talked about this in the show before the

algorithm doesn't

necessarily uh penalize your entire your

entire channel for having variety

content it'll just sort of push out the

content that people want to see to those

people and then the rest of it might

just not get pushed out but it was more

a perception play more than anything

else I wanted to have this experience

where people find a video they click

over to the channel and they realize

like I want to learn ocean and this is

the place for it and if it's on the main

Channel mixed in with a bunch of General

productivity content it's not going to

sell that perception quite as fast it's

not going to set that first impression

the other thing was on the flip side the

main channel was supposed to be

productivity tips life advice personal

finance like all that more General stuff

so if I have a video that's like here's

how to change your URL Handler for an

ocean link and then put it into a

shortcut like nobody cares about that

it's super Niche so uh again it's just

like it's all semantics it's all on me

at the end of the day but I thought it

was going to be the best strategic

decision for building the perception

when you create CH uh videos on the main

Channel versus Thomas Frank explains are

you thinking about the way views will

happen differently because I would think

that on Thomas Frank explains we're

doing a lot of tutorials is the strategy

for a tutorial video the same as the

strategy for a more generalized

productivity video on the main Channel I

don't think so

and I have to speak from my experience

here more than my plans for the future

because the main Channel's goals are

going to be different going forward but

for the past six seven years uh I've had

sponsorships on the main channel so

there was very much a we want to see

good conversions within the first 30

days Thomas sort of like pressure

hanging over my head so there was very

much like we want to see uh good

performance views wise in the early days

of the video on TI explains originally I

did not care about the views at all in

fact uh I naively thought that TF

explains was going to be a search only

Channel and it would never get any sort

of organic promotion in the homepage or

the browse features uh that turned out

to be wrong actually we have more

traffic from browse features and

suggested them we do from search but

those videos are very very longtail I've

seen multiple times videos that start

out as like a 10 out of 10 eventually

become one of the higher performing

videos on the channel I think our notion

databases tutorial was like that it was

a 10 out of 10 for the first week or two

and now it's like maybe sixth or seventh

from the top it has nearly 300,000 views

which is great for the notion Niche so

yeah it's more just like I'm going to

put out an evergreen piece of content or

as Evergreen as it can be with a a tech

app that changes a lot and I'm just

going to let it do its thing it's just

another it's like another piece of the

library that forms the channel whereas

on the main Channel I don't really feel

like there's like a like a specific

Library I'm building it almost feels

like I'm constructing a textbook on

Thomas Frank explains and on the

longtail videos on Thomas Frank explains

does that longtail come from search or

is that just YouTube getting better at

recommending to specific viewers who it

thinks the time is right for them to

learn this thing uh actually don't think

I've checked about the longtail

specifically uh split what I do know

about the algorithm is it will

continually try new audience out new

audience segments out over time even as

the video becomes older and older and

that's why you will often and see random

spikes in your videos sometimes months

and months after the fact a lot of

creators are like where the heck did

that come from sometimes it was just

like the algorithm finally found the

right pocket for this video because

you've had some very very specific

videos you know I think about your your

fairly recent video about how I use AI

to take perfect notes without typing uh

over 600,000 views on a long tutorial

that seems like a very specific thing

that somebody would want to do and it's

just really awesome that this level of

like I know that started for you as just

this curiosity can I do this for me that

you spent like what days on maybe weeks

on getting to work oh not not days or

weeks

months that video I mean and I just

published a new one uh that's

unfortunately not doing as well in fact

maybe we could talk about why I shot

myself in the foot with the newest video

but I spent like an additional three

months working like nights and weekends

often full day sometimes uh making a

much better version of that workflow

that's like very plug andplay it takes

the setup time from like half an hour

down to five minutes for the user it's

much easier so I'm thinking like oh it's

GNA be another viral hit no it's it's

not doing nearly as well uh and I think

part of the reason is maybe it's the the

AI hype is down died a little bit but uh

I think I really shot myself in the foot

by being like hey there's a full guide

that I wrote for all three versions of

this workflow Google Drive one drive

Dropbox and uh I've noticed the the

watch time on that video is really low

so I think it's people going oh the

written guide is even easier than the

video let me just click on that and

leave the video interesting so like

there's almost like this hm maybe I

should have waited until the end to tell

people there was a written guide and

just had them sit through the tutorial

yeah do you see do you see that in the

retention curve uh yeah definitely it's

like the most clear-cut case between

between like serving the audience is a

bad thing for retention in this video's

case and I almost wonder if it like if

it lit Lally worked out better to be a

kind of pain in the butt tutorial the

first time after a quick break we talk

about how big of a role the software

itself plays in your Channel's success

so stick around we'll be right

back this video is sponsored by notion

the most essential tool in my business I

know that's a bold statement but it's

absolutely true all of my notes projects

tasks experiments and research for this

channel is done right inside notion if

you're not using notion yet I encourage

you to give it a try their person plan

is free and it's one of the best free

products on the market recently they

rolled out notion calendar which is a

productivity nerds dream come true it

brings your docs notes and project dates

into your calendar you can search and

connect notion docs directly to events

so everything lives in the same place

and you have all the contexts that you

need if you're a Google Calendar user

like me and you get nervous about making

a big switch it actually integrates with

Google Calendar so you can try it out

risk-free before making a full

commitment now I'm actually on a paid

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is like having a conversation with your

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just visit the link in the description

I'm thinking about the role of the

platform you choose how how big of a

role do you think notion being the tool

that you chose played in this Channel's

success a big rule I think I would

describe this as a symbiotic

relationship part of why notion is so

successful and continues to grow uh to

grow is kind of like that Ikea effect it

gives people this basically Set of Legos

to play with and that makes people

really proud of what they build and they

want to go share it so notion is in this

very enviable position where it has a

very passionate user base that is

constantly talking about it constantly

creating free content about it uh and

then they've they've developed this even

more enviable position where creators

have realized uh as in my case you can

literally sell what you've created so

that now further incentivizes people

like me and other notion creators to

constantly talk about notion not just

our product prodcts but also their

product in general because that helps to

build up our audiences I think if I had

picked a tool that was sort of on the

decline in terms of user base maybe this

is unfair but I'll just pick ASA out of

the air um I don't know if Asa has quite

that cultural interest right now I don't

know if it's growing in quite the same

way uh especially from a large

user-based perspective so I'm not sure

that I would have been able to grow to

the same same levels however uh as I'm

thinking about this I do want to bring

up a Counterpoint and that is another

Channel called the Koda guy now I think

Koda is not in the same boat as AAA it's

a newer app it does have a growing user

base it is much more Niche does not have

quite the same following as notion so

when you go look at the Koda gu's

channel it's not quite as big he doesn't

usually break 10K views on a video but

he's on track to make like half a

million dollars this year in Revenue wow

and I think a lot of what he's doing is

like Consulting helping companies build

up their internal Koda docs so instead

of selling like a $50 template it might

be like a $5,000 Consulting session or

something like that I'm not quite sure

but yeah he has found similar financial

success in covering a tool that doesn't

have sort of like the same media

attention as notion in like Venture

Capital investing there's this this idea

of platform risk like is the thing that

you're building on top of another thing

so there are potential existential rings

to your risk to your thing based on that

thing do you think about platform risk

or should somebody watching this who's

thinking about making their own

tutorials Channel How should they think

about platform risk I do think about it

a lot actually just yesterday notion had

downtime and I was just like well yeah

this is annoying cuz our products don't

work and people are buying our products

and can't use them and we have to email

them be like hey try again later it's

you know not really us to a degree I

think there's a lot of platform risk

even if you're not covering one tool

like I have platform risk on YouTube I

think if that went away I don't know how

much I'd be able to leverage Twitter to

get the same results I kind of think

about this like a rocket ship so like if

you want to get to space you need a a

lot of fuel a lot of thrust a lot of

power and that means you have to rely on

the work of a lot of other people and

then you get up there and eventually

have to jettison Parts the rocket you're

never going to get to space by riding a

bicycle that you built yourself I love

that so yeah I guess like the philosophy

here is like platform risk is a

necessary evil but it also often

functions as like rocket fuel for a

business and so your job as an

entrepreneur is to constantly survey the

landscape to constantly sort of do that

like SWAT analysis on your business

strengths weaknesses opportunities and

uh threats and and and decide you know

kind of on a momentto moment basis like

how much platform risk is acceptable

right now should I be diversifying or

should I be totally buckling down I

think there was like an Alex Heros tweet

a while ago this was like this is stuck

in my head a lot he said you don't get

rich by diversifying you stay Rich by

diversifying you typically get rich by

striking it out of the park on one

really big thing so a lot of

opportunities we have these days are

building one really big thing on top of

another platform and it's just part of

the risk that you uh take on as an

entrepreneur you know that's what we do

we take risks right I've always had this

I think is probably an irrational fear

of creating videos around a tool or even

even if just part of the video features

a tool because I worry that even changes

in the UI of just how it looks will

frustrate me to know someday like the

thing that is shown in that video is no

longer the way things look that has to

have happened so many times in the

course of doing uh notion tutorials

what's your relationship to uh platform

changes that uh you know relate to

videos that you've made in the past I'm

going to tell a philosophical story to

hit to kick this one off when I was a a

college student uh one year these

Buddhist monks came to our college and

they set up a gigantic Round Table in

our big Memorial Union area they spent

an entire week very carefully pouring

this like finely colored sand to create

what's called a Mandola it's this

beautiful piece of sand art that takes

them five full days eight hours a day

just pouring sand to

create and so they make this and then

when it's done they do a little ceremony

and they sweep it

away and it's basically an exercise in

appreciating the ephemerality of life I

bring that story up because that is the

mindset that I have tried to adopt when

it comes to making content about tech

there is no such thing as permanence uh

and I think on the internet we can

convince ourselves that if we pick the

right Niche we do get permanence and we

can create this Evergreen content that's

just never going to go away uh but the

fact is even if you pick something that

is like if you're talking about stoic

philosophy right I can go talk about

Marcus aelius all day long and then next

year Ryan holiday is going to make a

better video and mine's out moded and I

need to go make a new video because the

meta shifted so there's there's just no

such thing as uh permanence and I have

accepted that as somebody who makes

content about notion eventually I'm

going to have to completely re-shoot

notion fundamentals I'm going to have to

completely re-shoot my uh tutorials for

my products and I just Embrace that it

kind of sucks like it does get

frustrating sometimes especially when

it's like a small change but it's

important but you know that's just sort

of the trade-off that I accept for

getting to create content every day

about a tool that I'm a huge nerd about

how do you vet what you create videos

around then because I imagine like

you're doing so much stuff all the time

how do you decide like what is too

specific and nerdy is there a too

specific in nerdy is that actually a pro

so I will say despite my online veneer

of business business strategy Mogul or

whatever people want to call me my

primary driver for what I make is what

I'm interested in this can often lead to

me making a two-hour video about the

notion API it can lead to me making like

spending three months programming

something and then releasing a video

where I accidentally killed the watch

time but beyond that there is some

strategy and I think it is especially

clear for Thomas Frank explains I know

who I'm serving I'm serving people who

want to learn notion so there are things

that just need to be in the online video

textbook that is that channel there

needs to be a video on the API there

needs to be a video on um database

features there needs to be a video on on

just building pages and linking all that

kind of stuff in many cases you can

literally just go into your YouTube

analytics and see what your viewers are

searching for they have that research

tab in analytics and you can see where

your content gaps are on the main

Channel you have this cinematic

aesthetic uh in the videos in the

thumbnails on Thomas Frank explains

these aren't cinematic videos it's not

the word I would use for them how do you

think about

production like Fidelity b-roll all

these different things that you probably

spend a lot more time thinking about on

the main Channel than you do in Thomas

Frank explains yeah so Thomas Frank

explains had a very very strong Mission

from the get-go and I think that really

helped me to get clear on what needed to

be prioritized and what didn't if people

are coming to a video with the intent of

learning how to build a task manager

notion they probably don't need 120

frame per second slowmo b-roll of me

drinking coffee in it they just need a

good-look video that primarily sounds

good and makes very clear what needs to

be accomplished and what they're going

to get at the the end of it that sort of

led me to making the decision early on

that a lot of TF explains was going to

be very templated I'm going to stand in

front of my camera 60 frames per second

make a bunch of facial expressions and

get a folder of thumbnail poses I can

use forever I'm going to use the same

color background for every thumbnail uh

I have the same bundle of assets every

thumbnail is going to have the notion

logo in it that's just it's just what it

is and that made thumbnail creation way

way easier for Fidelity I did have this

sort of egocentric but I think sort of

strategic goal of I want to have the

best looking software tutorials ever

made I want to make software tutorials

so goodlooking that people are like why

would he put this much effort into it

this is stupid so that's why I'm sitting

in like a th000 SQ foot studio with all

this stuff around me it's just like I I

I wanted to do that just to see if I

could do it but also I think it's going

to make people talk and then beyond that

it's just like make sure that everything

is clear I have a lot of uh uiux graphic

design experience from over the years

that helped me figure out like how much

should we Zoom the screen in when should

we actually do a full zoom in should we

highlight the mouse show the keystrokes

all that kind of stuff uh on the main

Channel there was never a super specific

mission right like it started as this is

the college infogeek Channel I'm going

to teach people how to be awesome at

college and there's a lot to that grades

Career Fairs extracurriculars everything

relationships and then that morphed into

well now I'm older I guess I'm teaching

the same kind of tactics and techniques

but to people who are not in a defined

four-year period of their life so now

it's even more General every video is

helpful but every video is almost like a

standalone project so that sort of

brought the focus down from Channel

level to video level and made me focus a

lot more on the artistic elements of

each video and making it like a unique

work but we also have more defined goals

as far as the business goes I still have

things I want to do on Tiff explains I

want to build fly lighter I have like a

startup to to Market so we're probably

going to see less like Mountain Lake

videos and a little bit more of that

let's create a show format so we can uh

better highlight the lessons we're

trying to teach instead of focusing on

slick b-roll and cool animations and

stuff yeah I highlight that because I

think it's an opportunity for people a

lot of times when I talk to aspiring

YouTubers they get really caught up in

production and Aesthetics and all these

features that make something look and

sound really really great but when you

when you're focused when the when the

goal of the video is actually knowledge

transfer and uh comprehension you know

it seems like that set of considerations

is secondary to accomplishing the goal

which is really good knowledge capture

which I or knowledge transfer which I

think is a a really helpful starting

point for folks who are really

interested in doing tutorials or doing

uh in-depth breakdowns on something very

specific Yeah the more specific you go

uh I would say the less work you have to

do to sort of like convince a viewer to

click convince a viewer to sit down and

keep watching it's not to say there's

nothing you can do but if somebody's

like I really want to manage my tasks in

notion I don't know how to build a task

manager and then my video pops up it's

like Master Class how to build a task

manager in notion from scratch I don't

have to do a lot of work to convince

that viewer to click the video they

already want that I just presented them

exactly what they want and from there I

just need to show them how to build it

whereas if it's like we're going to do a

video on uh you know how to get out of a

rut or or like how how to get up a

creative red or something like that um

that is almost a I don't know if it's

like too broad but it's much broader

then I need to use specific software

tool to get specific result so making it

almost like a let's sit down and watch

this as my lunchtime video versus

anything else I could choose uh that

comes more into play for people who

watching this and they're like okay I

have tools I like I have things that I'm

interested in I think I might want to

play around with doing a tutorials

Channel anything else we haven't covered

that you think they should think about

or be aware of if they're going to do uh

uh a tutorials channel the main thing I

would say is most people listening to

this probably aren't yet creating

content or they're not doing it

consistently so don't worry about the

strategy just make what you're

interested in and put it up on on

YouTube and also don't worry too much

about the individual results because

again you're if you're creating an

entire channel that is a tutorial

channel for either a specific tool or a

specific purpose like say graphic design

or ux you're creating a library of

content and you can always remake videos

and if you make a video then your

ability to remake it in the future and

make it 10,000 times better is going to

be there because you've gotten the first

rep in beyond that uh I think a lot

about content pillars on Thomas Frank

explains so I have like the fundamentals

pillar which is like somebody wants to

learn how to use notion so that's all

the notion fundamentals videos from the

basics of creating Pages all the way up

through databases then I have like the

build guides and tutorials pillar that's

like the task manager tutorial the

tutorial on building a habit tracker

personal portfolio website on notion

those are typically I think if you take

outliers out those are typically the

most successful videos on the channel

long term because they actually Teach an

outcome that people want whereas the

fundamental is like here's how to use

the tool it's almost like a um you know

here like here's how to speak French

versus here's how to like actually go to

France and and have a great life there

that kind of thing I also have like the

feature releases so this is a big thing

notion is very communicative with their

ambassadors about new releases so we all

make content about those new releases as

if they're Tech videos those videos do

really well in the short term tend to

pet her off after a month or so which is

totally fine um but they are a great way

to bring in new interest to the channel

and sort of solidify your channel as a

destination to do information about the

tool when new features release and then

I have like your typical like 10

mistakes people make when they start

using notion or 10 ways to make notion

faster like your kind of popcorn content

that would be like the fourth U pillar I

would say I love that I love the idea of

I want this to be the destination for

people to learn this content because I

think if you have that goal in mind even

if you don't see the results and

analytics that you hope to early on you

can ask yourself intellectually is this

serving that goal because I think in the

beginning probably especially on a

channel like this where maybe

recommended won't be as fast to hit if

you're doing a very specific tutorial

you need to have a long-term View and

really be willing to invest the time to

creating the videos hopefully one of

them hits but if you're hitting that

goal of is this making this the best

channel on this topic I think you can

know you are doing the right things

before you may see results hey if you're

publishing content but you aren't really

making any money doing it then I've got

something for you check out my free

professional Creator crash course in

just a few days I'll teach you how to

earn a living as a professional Creator

just to click the link in the

description oh and I I will say there's

one more pillar I didn't think about

this but with the AI voice video that

came out a few months ago that video

went through multiple rounds of feedback

with my friends and colleagues over at

nebula we have like a whole feedback

channel in our Slack which is probably

the best thing we we offer originally my

idea with that video was to call it like

how I take notes with my voice in notion

with chat GPT or something like that we

went through a bunch of different

thumbnail revisions for that idea and

then my agent Dave Pops in the chat and

just says one thing would this be useful

for people who don't use

notion and I'm like well yeah because

you get to just talk to your phone

record a voice note and it becomes

perfect transcript in summary it just

happens to be using notion as the

notetaking tool but yeah I guess a lot

of people would like that even if they

weren't using notion so we pivoted I

didn't put notion in the packaging at

all thumbnails just perfect notes no

typing me holding up my phone with a

note behind it and then the title is how

I take notes or how I use uh AI to take

notes with my voice without typing or

something like that but no no mention of

notion that's the video that now has

600,000 views I think it's top three or

four on the channel and that sort of

acts as a wider net that is cast that

brings in a bunch of people interested

in this certain out come and then

introduces notion as the tool to help

them solve that problem and get that

outcome uh and I remember noticing that

zapier was very good at this type of

marketing with their SEO strategy so for

people who don't know zapier is

automation tool like a no code

automation tool where you can sort of

connect apis together so like uh I got a

new Google forms submission and now it

sends me an email that's what you can do

with zpp here all of their content is

like the best email apps in 2021 or the

best to-do apps in 2021 or um you know

here's how to manage your calendar like

very very broad because they're going to

get a certain percentage of people who

are interested in those broader topics

who also are going to be like well I

really want to connect my Google

Calendar up to my notion for some reason

oh I can use zaap here to do that so

there is a sort of like fifth developing

pillar on TF explains of creating these

sorts of videos like the AI voice notes

video that bring in people who may not

might not even use notion or even know

about it yet but then we'll be

introduced to the tool

in the video about this really cool

broader thing that they're interested in

so smart especially if someone's

choosing a relatively new tool that may

not have name recognition yet which I

think is a good last question if I'm

thinking about the strategy of creating

a channel around a tool do you think

that I need to be concerned about uh

first mover advantage or is it better to

choose a tool that already has some

momentum uh that's a good question I

don't know if it matters I'm kind of

doing both I would say with notion I was

not first mover um maybe I was one of

the first big YouTubers to create like a

mainstream video on it on the main

Channel but in terms of like building TF

explains August Bradley already had a

ton of content Marie pulin already had a

ton of content uh red Gregory already

had some content I was definitely not

the first player uh but the cool thing

is like notion has a growing audience so

there's a growing subset of that

audience who wants to hear from someone

like me and likes my style uh there's

also subsets of the audience that want

to hear about the topics and subtopics

I've chosen to cover that maybe August

Bradley or Marie pulin didn't really

cover already I'm not sure that they had

like how to build a simple task manager

on their channels so I did that and my

video did really well uh they have other

videos that talk about other things and

their videos did really well for that so

I don't think it matters too much if

there is a growing audience for

something and you're passionate about it

and you're building skill in that area

that's a good good spot to be in

regardless of whether or not they're

other players to learn how you can

Master the YouTube algorithm like Thomas

check out this other interview I did

with him where we talk about how he

built his first channel to 2 million

subscribers