In partnership with
Hey friends,
Before I dive into this week’s newsletter, a quick PSA:
I’ve gotten your emails. A lot of them! Thank you so much, and so sorry I can’t reply to all of you.. My automation fully broke! We are working on fixing this as we speak, and I am so sorry for the ‘‘are you still interested’’ spam. It won’t happen again once this is figured out. Expect it to resolve somewhere this week. Apologies again.
That being said, let’s dive into what I think you should hear this week.
Replace your first 4 hires with AI. Free workshop on April 8th.
Most early-stage founders can't afford their first four hires. Sales, marketing, dev, and support alone can run hundreds of thousands in salaries.
On April 8th, AI thought leader Heather Murray shows pre-seed and seed founders how to build all four functions using AI tools. Live, with demos, for free.
Register today and get a free AI tech stack worth $5K+ including Claude, AWS credits, Make, and 90% off HubSpot.
Many people have come to me over the years for YouTube guidance. From literal Shark Tank cast members to young adults chasing their dreams of becoming the next Mr. Beast.
And at its core, they all ask the same thing, but dressed up differently:
‘‘How do I grow my YouTube audience faster?’’
And my answer is different for everyone. Not because my opinion changes by the day, but because it does change per person.
Not everyone should look to accelerate their growth on YouTube. And I know that sounds a lot less exciting than what most YouTube gurus foaming at the mouth to sell you something tell you. But it is true, and I’ve battletested this many times over the years.
The best example I can give you that is not directly tied to YouTube is the following:
Imagine you want to become an NBA athlete. You are a fifteen-year-old average point guard on your high school team, and on a random Tuesday, you get a call.
The Dallas Mavericks want you. Today. In their starting lineup.
How big is the chance that you aren’t ready for this opportunity, and you’ll fail? Pretty big, right? A fifteen-year-old guarding a 6’8 giant adult. It’s almost funny to think about.
Now, this opportunity came because you hired an agent to help you go pro. This agent just got you the opportunity before you were ready to capitalize on it.
The same applies to building a sustainable career on YouTube. I’ve said no to many requests over the years from people who want to spend their hard-earned money working with me. Not because I don’t like working with them or am allergic to money, but because I knew they weren’t ready to succeed yet.
YouTube is a war of attrition in many ways. Thousands of aspiring YouTubers give up their dream of becoming creators every day. Not because they don’t have it in them, but because they simply can’t stand losing another day.
And that is why my answer varies depending on the person in front of me. To the fifteen-year-old, I’d say:
‘‘First, fall in love with the process. Make thirty videos. Experience what it is to create, listen to signals YouTube data gives you, and make very sure this is something you are willing to fail at, a lot. Then, once you have capitalized on data more than once and have built any form of momentum, come back to me.’’
I can give anyone a video idea or even a structured strategy that increases their chances of growing faster by a factor of 10. But if someone isn’t ready to receive that yet, I’ll just end up hurting them more than helping.
Sometimes the question is not how you should grow your channel faster. Sometimes the question is, do I still see myself making these types of videos in three years?
The Shark Tank cast member has years of business experience under their belt. They understand to a much higher degree what they are getting themselves into because they’ve lived a ‘‘pro’’ life in other verticals. I feel way less hesitant working with them, although they might still be beginners when it comes to YouTube.
Let me know if this example made sense to you.
If you feel like you need to master the basics before working with someone like me, I've got you.
My self-paced course is still up for grabs, and my aim is to help as many beginner YouTubers as possible go from 0 to 1 without spending tens of hours on course material or even hundreds of dollars.
If you feel like you are still in a similar phase as that aspiring NBA athlete, you can find it here:
Hope to see you next week again, friend.
Leroy