Hey man!

In the past few days, I had some amazing calls again with like-minded YouTube people. People are truly obsessed with YouTube as a platform and the opportunities it offers.

From legends in the YouTube Automation space like Wanner to channel director of the Sidemen Tim:

People who truly want more out of life are leveraging YouTube to do so. Not even so much for the money but more for the freedom it gives.

And doing these calls with likeminded friends gave me inspiration, as I still think a lot of beginners struggle with this:

Who should you trust advising you on YouTube?

Listen, there would probably be people out there telling you I shouldn’t advise anyone, and I think my credentials currently start speaking for themself.

I blew up channels with one video on multiple occasions and helped clients triple their subscriber counts and get their first play button in just a few months.

And you know the craziest part?

Come a bit closer..

I don’t know everything either.

Crazy right?

Yeah.

I said it.

I also have 9/10 uploads with clients.

I am also wrong sometimes about a gut feeling.

But you see, being a great consultant is not always about being right.

It’s about offering a client a different perspective on a problem.

About helping them craft a long-term vision and helping them stick to it, also when times are rough.

About being a sounding board.

I am saying this because trouble is brewing in YouTube Strategy Land, and innocent beginner creators are falling victim to it.

So, let’s dive into how to avoid falling victim to a guru yourself.

How to spot the problem cases

There are signs you can find in certain ‘‘gurus’’ that you should definitely see as a red flag, especially if they don’t change over time.

The reason why I am saying that in the last part is because there is some nuance. You see, a lot of people we humans look up to today in pop culture, movies, music, YouTube, whatever, faked it till they made it.

We look down on it collectively, but sometimes people need to puff their chest to get their shot at success, and I understand that fully because I had to do that before.

I remember when I still owned my video production agency I had a dream client I wanted to land.

We had 15 people full-time in our office, and we needed to scale faster.

There was a client that I was 100% certain we could elevate their content on YouTube and Instagram.

But, they weren’t interested in working yet because we were a boutique agency, and they trusted the big boys only.

At the same time our talks with them transpired, we also produced a social media show for DisneyXD.

It wasn’t even done yet, and I couldn’t really talk about it yet, but I used that case as a selling point to land that client.

It was risky because we weren’t even sure if we could share that we were working on the show, and if it would even see the light of day.

But I wanted that client.

And it worked. We got the client and transformed their social content and results. Everyone was happy.

But, I had to take a calculated risk and sell ourselves based on a project that wasn’t even finalized yet. I had to fake it to make it.

And sometimes, that’s fine. But you need to be very confident that you can back up your claims. Otherwise, you’ll crash and burn fast.

That brings us to red flag number one.

YouTube gurus who never really share client results with names and graphs that can be verified.

You see, many of these lower-tier YouTube strategists fill their feeds with general advice to show some type of expertise and hope to gain clients that way.

That’s fine at first, but when you follow someone for six months and do not see any changes in tactics, that’s a big red flag.

Why?

Well, because nine out of ten times, it simply means that they haven’t done anything meaningful for any client ever since then. 🤓

Why wouldn’t they share it and make their expertise look even stronger? Exactly!

This person just can’t seem to either land clients or produce results. Both are not great signs.

(Apart from the odd NDA case, I also have NDAs with some of my higher-profile clients, but that isn’t standard with smaller creators at all)

I do not like publicly posting about my clients either, but every now and then, I must ensure people know I can’t be lumped in with the people I am writing about today, LOL!

And that brings us to our last big red flag. 🚩

They say they understand YouTube at the highest possible level

The problem is that some of the people who do say this are actually pretty knowledgeable about YouTube.

But, there is an issue brewing under the surface that can be lethal.

Let me explain this with an example that I think fits:

I recently started kickboxing and MMA again after years of neglecting my health. And it is rough. I feel like I am dying multiple times throughout the training, but I do feel progress and love it.

My trainer is a competitive fighter who competes in kickboxing, MMA, and BJJ. He’s an absolute beast.

One thing he says every training when I am laying on the floor, gasping for air, apologizing because I fucked up a combination?

I also don’t know everything about this art form, but I do know you have potential and should be less hard on yourself. I have been doing this all my life, and I still get humbled every week.

And that is a trait I’ve seen in every self-made successful multi-millionaire in my network as well.

They don’t pretend to know everything about something.

And it tends to be that the people who say this are not the most successful at what they do by a landslide.

You see, a strategist or creator saying they understand YouTube on the highest possible level means they are saying they have cracked the code on human psychology, marketing, video production, business, and market timing.

See how this is problematic?

No one, I repeat, no one in the world has all of this ‘‘solved.’’

It’s simply impossible.

Sure, some people have successfully branded themselves on social media like this, but oddly enough, I never see them share results from their "knowledge" every week, let alone once a month. I mean verifiable results.

Even creators who run successful channels have big blind spots because they operate in a certain niche and know little about YouTube as a platform or human psychology outside of their direct niche.

Or YouTube automation experts who can churn out profitable low-effort channels every day but can’t figure out for their life how to get a high-quality channel off the ground.

No one has it all figured out.

The ones who say they do lie through their teeth and are blinded by their own arrogance.

A strategist, coach, or consultant who isn’t scared to say that they can’t guarantee anything but will do everything they can to get you results tend to be the ones who are most successful in all metrics.

Let me know your thoughts, and share this newsletter with someone who needs to hear it.

That’s it for this week; we will talk again next week!

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