Lessons from Creators with 1M followers

Want to level up? Open this. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   For years I thought that since I sell a course, then I must be a part of the online coaching industry. Because of that, I exclusively only followed other coaches, and joined a number of programs taught by coaches. This was a misdiagnosis that kept me stuck and made me feel unaligned… Sure it was cool to figure out how to coach and how to scale a coaching program… But in each program I joined, I realized that no one ever shared the same passion as I did when it came to creating content and scaling a personal brand. It wasn’t until this year where I retraced my origin and realized that the only reason I even have this business is because I started as a Creator first. Since fully embracing the Creator side of me... I made the intentional shift to start networking with other Creators (even outside the coaching space) so I could absorb all the best practices and apply it to my own space. Here’s a pic of me over the weekend with [Hafu Go]( (986k YT subs), [Aylex Thunder]( (3.4M TikTok Subs), and Ricky aka [Prince of Travel]( (80K YT subs): In this week’s email, I want to break down my top lessons and observations from speaking to successful creators outside of my own niche. Let’s go!  ⚡️ Lesson #1: Look at other people’s videos and make yours better. Aylex has 3.4M on Tiktok and 848K on YouTube. He recently started a Badminton channel just 5 months ago and it’s already got 40,000 subscribers and 24.5M views. I asked: "What’s your secret sauce to growing your channel that fast?" He replied: "If you look at all the Badminton videos that are on YouTube… they kind of suck. Bad quality, not a lot of value, not very engaging." I simply made my videos better." Bottom line: Study the videos that exist within your niche, and ask yourself how you can make your videos better to steal market share quickly. Remember: Just because there’s a high volume of videos that already exist within a niche, doesn’t necessarily mean that those videos are good. Create videos that are better than what the current supply is. Then you’ll be able to steal demand. PS: If you’re interested in more YouTip tips, I just released a video about 10 outdated tips you should stop following if you want to grow a YouTube channel. [You can watch it here.](  ⚡️ Lesson #2: Winning on TikTok is all about niching and repeating. I told my new friend Hafu that I went to a conference one time and heard someone talk about how they grew to 1M followers on TikTok. My biggest conclusion from that talk was that the person themselves didn’t even know how they grew on TikTok, which made me feel that TikTok was a mixed bag and unpredictable. So I asked Hafu, who has repeated viral videos on his account this question: "Is there actually a blueprint to winning on TikTok?" To which he replied: Yes. Here’s the breakdown of what he said: - In the beginning you won’t know what sticks so you’ll be experimenting a lot. - Once something takes off, you will want to niche down and keep creating similar videos. - When TikTok has identified what works on your account, it will keep pushing those videos to a wider audience. This sounds simple, but let me paint the picture on how serious some TikTokers take this: Hafu has a friend who has a huge TikTok account. I believe it's in the multiple millions. Whenever a video does extremely well, his friend will study that video frame by frame: - What sound did he use? - How many seconds was that video? - What was shown in each frame? He will try to recreate a similar video following those specs, and almost every single time if he recreates a similar video to the one that went viral, that video will also take off too. Even if you study [Hafu’s TikTok]( , you can see that he consistently doubles down on similar concepts and each video that follows that concept has lots of views (example would be his 1-inch punch videos). This blueprint also explains why when TikTokers repost their most viral content months later, it still performs well and sometimes performs even better than the original viral video. Now, you may HATE this strategy, because many of us don’t want to be "pigeon holed". At the same time, if this is something that those with millions of views are doing, then it’s something worth considering the next time you think about your TikTok content strategy. ⚡️ Lesson #3: Grass is always greener on the other side. One thing I appreciated speaking to this group of Creators was the entertainment value they had in their videos. Hafu and Aylex often create skits. Ricky from The Prince of Travel will often incorporate cool broll from his travels, and embed some storytelling in his videos. Something I’ve been desiring to do with my own videos was incorporate more story telling and create an entertaining yet educational experience... ...Instead of just sitting on my ass and spewing out tips for the entire 15-30 minutes. So I started talking about this desire to the group, until Aylex stopped me and said: "Honestly, I wish I could just sit on my ass and talk instead of spending hours scripting and filming!" This is when I dug deeper in some of their workflows. For Hafu, scripting a single video can take 8 hours. His videos have a huge story telling component. Each frame is intentional, and needs to be written in advance so they know exactly what they need to film for his skits. Filming alone will take half the day or more with his videographer, where they go to a dedicated location. None of this is bad. In fact, it’s inspiring. At the same time, I learned that if I wanted to upgrade my content to the same way they’ve done it, I likely would need to remove a lot from my plate from the business side in order to make space for it. Remember: Every Creator has something they wish they had. Instead of constantly comparing and thinking everyone must have it easier or better than you, be appreciative of what you’ve created so far. If you’ve found a workflow or business model that works for you and gives you flow and peace, you’ve already won. ⚡️ Lesson #4 Growing at a rapid pace requires being obsessed with your craft. I recently watched an interview Graham Stephen did with Mr. Beast, [you can watch it here]( - it’s quite good: If there’s anything I’ve learned from Creators who managed to get close to or surpass 1,000,000 subscribers is they are absolutely obsessed with perfecting their craft. In fact, I heard at Vid Summit, Mr. Beast does 100 thumbnail options and A/B tests all of them. He also will make his editors scrap an entire video and redo it if it’s not up to his standard. Do I think it’s extreme? Yes. At the same time, it’s paid off considering he has over 100M subscribers. Even speaking with Hafu, who will be hitting 1 million subscribers likely in a couple days, he is totally obsessed with studying content. He knows almost every big YouTuber because he doesn’t just watch their videos... He studies them. If you’re reading this, regardless if content is your thing or not… If you want record breaking results, you have to be obsessed with what you do. This is why it’s important that you find something you genuinely like and find fun. For me, I really like learning about content. I like being on video. I also like business. Being a YouTuber and Entrepreneur, although it has it’s challenges sometimes... Overall, it’s not hard for me to do. And when it DOES become hard... I can bounce back easily because I won’t give up easily. This is because I genuinely like what I do and I enjoy the problems I solve. It’s not a chore for me to learn about content creation. It’s not a chore for me to read books about leadership. It’s not a chore for me to write a long ass newsletter like this. For a long time, I really did not like what I did because I thought I only belonged within the confines of the "coaching industry". The problem was, I wasn’t obsessive about learning the latest coaching techniques... Nor was I excited about learning how to launch my own coaching certification... Or how to scale a group coaching program by training a bunch of other coaches. But the moment I switched gears and saw myself as a Creator… Everything clicked. I moved faster. I was happier. I got better results. Bottom line: Getting industry leading results requires being obsessed with your craft. And being obsessed with your craft becomes effortless when you genuinely like what you do. {NAME}, Let me know what your favourite part of this week’s newsletter is by screenshotting it and sharing on your stories. Tag me [@vanessalau.co]( so I can repost! One of the coolest things about meeting other Creators was also stepping into my power. A handful of creators have reached out to me wanting to monetize their content by selling info products: Courses, group coaching, masterminds, etc. While another handful of info based business have reached out to me wanting help with building their content machines. That’s why I’m super excited to open applications to my Creator Supercharged mastermind next month. It's exclusively for Creators selling Courses, Consulting, or Coaching who want to: ✅ Build a Content Machine ✅ Get More Customers, and ✅ Grow an Authentic Industry Leading Brand. Applications open next month and we’ll only be taking on a limited amount of clients who want to work with me on a more intimate and higher level. [Click here to sign up]( for the waitlist to be notified when the Supercharged Mastermind opens! As always, I appreciate you getting to the bottom of this email, and I cannot wait to write you again next week. If anything I wrote has given you a shift in perspective, then I’ve done my job. With gratitude, Vanessa  [Click here]( to unsubscribe if you do not want to receive further emails about the 'Confessions of a Content Creator to CEO' newsletter  Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Vanessa Lau International Inc., PO BOX 27371 Garden City PO, Richmond, British Columbia V6Y0E9, Canada