From $200 a Month to 32 Million Views  🔗 **Source:** [From $200 a Month to 32 Million Views](https://share.snipd.com/episode/b7c6972e-c105-465b-a530-d7dfd1b688a3) ## Highlights - **Starting YouTube With $1,000 And A $200 Job** - Colin moved to China with about $1,000 in the bank and a 10-hour-per-week English teaching job that paid roughly $200/month with free lunch. - He lived in shared housing on a four-month contract, used online teaching to top up income, and planned the move as a short-term launchpad for YouTube. Transcript: Colin Traveling until I got a job teaching. So I already had a job lined up in China. Before that, I was just working odd jobs, dead on jobs, in my opinion, before I had this grand idea to move abroad and start this YouTube channel. Travis That's a big step, like leaving home. I assume you have family and friends that you were like, listen, I'm literally leaving the country, starting a new life. Colin Tell us about what that was like. It was pretty actually i just was able to sign up for apply for a job get my things in order and uh we just left i had i had like a thousand in the bank at the time so not much for travel at all um My first job i was only working like 10 hours a week so i was like that's perfect to start YouTube because I get to dedicate the rest of my other part of the week to just focusing on YouTube And whatnot so uh yeah uh I wasn't even making much at that job too it was like $200 a month how do you live on that I mean how what were the financials of like the first couple of months of you Travis Move for this job but you also want to do the youtube thing which isn't paying much at the time like how did you live housing was uh given to us so we were on like a four month contract so i would Colin Go we'd go live in this house with like a lot of bedrooms i had a lot of other people so we're all new so we all supported each other so that was great as well so yeah and on top of that we'd get Lunch every day. But even then I had to support myself by teaching English online just to get through. But I knew if I just did four months and get my foot in the door, get some experience, I would be able to apply for better jobs in bigger cities. ([Time 0:02:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c5b0bdcc-a233-4a43-9a78-11262dabdfa0)) - **Make 20 To 30 Videos Before Deciding A Niche** - Do publish early and often even without a tight niche; Colin recommends making 20–30 videos to see your channel's direction. - He used early experimentation (vlogs, phone reviews) to learn format and find what audiences responded to. Transcript: Colin 20 or so videos i was just throwing stuff out there because like you said i had no direction i just wanted to show my experience moving to china because to me that's crazy you know especially Back then that wasn't really as big as it is now um so i would just do things that excited me you know we'd go to like this mountain I'd vlog about that you know a typical travel vlog and then About like 20 20 to 30 videos in I was started to see the direction of my channel and I think that's very important is because you shouldn't you shouldn't not do something because you're Not confident enough to do it just do it and then by the time you get 20 30 videos in you'll start to see the improvements and uh where your channel is directed if you look back at some of those Travis First couple of videos uh what kind of mistakes if any were you making in the videos was it uh i mean sometimes when i talk to creators are like well my intro was terrible or my audio was terrible Or something like that if you were to look back at some of those first ones what do you think are some of the mistakes you were making? ([Time 0:04:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/96c42c7d-15ec-42e9-be9f-f3ef4183521f)) - **Prioritize Audio And Longer Watchable Videos** - Do prioritize clear audio mixing over visual quality; Colin says music levels and audio balance matter more than camera specs. - He shifted from short 5–7 minute vlogs to 20–40+ minute episodes to increase viewer commitment and perceived value. Transcript: Colin Video? Well, I would say video length because I was only uploading like five, seven minute vlogs here and there. But back then that was normal, right? Yeah. So if I want to apply that to today, I tend to upload longer videos, 20 minutes plus 40 minutes plus. Because I feel like the audience gets more of the value out of that just in one sitting rather than just watching five minutes and moving on it's more of a commitment for the audience to Do so as far as mistakes maybe music my music was too loud and some montages so like leveling off the music audio super important more important than the actual video quality itself big Tip there 10 years ago ([Time 0:05:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/69a08914-ab1d-4424-a345-3c5f86033003)) - **Fake Market Video Sparked The Channel** - Colin's breakthrough came from a 'fake market' video in Shanghai that outperformed his earlier travel vlogs and led him to focus the channel on market bargaining. - Repeating the fake market concept across cities turned product novelty into a repeatable format that scaled views. Transcript: Colin That's a good question because it was very distinct. My brother had came to visit me. So I went tohai to meet him in a different city and we're just like hmm what kind of stuff should we make here you know like uh so i looked top 10 things to do in shanghai sorry it was my friend My brother came later but we still did the same thing top 10 things to do in shanghai and there was a fake market and i'm like fake market like and i thought it'd be like in a sketchy back alley. But it was like this proper mall where it was just fine to go buy these fake Jordans or whatever. So that was my biggest video at the time. But I kept on doing random vlogs. But then my brother came a few months later, filmed some more videos with him at the fake markets because he needed shoes and whatnot and although every time i did a fake market it was just Like the best performing video best performing video so it got to a point where i'm just like all right i can take this two directions i can keep doing the random vlogs or i can just focus On the fake mark videos fake market videos and see how that grows my channel. And yeah, one day I was like, all right, let's do it. Just stick with the fake markets because I enjoy doing it. ([Time 0:08:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d785fcbb-447d-416f-82f1-ef0bbf5343d1)) - **Negotiation Is The Real Hook** - Colin realized the core hook wasn't the fake products but the bargaining interactions and first-person negotiation drama. - The channel's most-viewed video features a seller yelling at him, showing interaction beats the product for audience engagement. Transcript: Colin And that's when I really started thinking like, OK, it's mostly it's mostly now just the interaction because people are it's first person point of view. People can put themselves in my shoes right around. I started going full-time that's when i realized like the interaction because the biggest video i have that popped off this lady was yelling at me at the beginning and now that's at like 32 million views or something were you of the mindset like to even because for me like sometimes i'm watching some videos and i almost feel bad for the seller but i also understand that Travis Like they're charging more anyway right like i get it but there's this moment of like awkwardness did you ever feel that when you're like filming this you're like oh i gotta try to get Even a little bit less out of them and i mean it obviously makes for great content but yeah in the moment it doesn't feel weird i mean now it probably doesn't but did it at first yeah at first Colin It did it's something i had to like practice you know just by going in and interacting and and a lot of the practice it would just be like oh i don't want to buy that or i that's too much for Me i just start walking away and then they come down on the price so that was just like the easiest way to go about it at first to get used to it um but yeah nowadays it's i know they're trying To get much more out ([Time 0:10:52](https://share.snipd.com/snip/64e848cd-ea34-4a3d-9905-e44a68f1027a)) - **Overshoot Interactions To Protect Pacing** - Do overshoot footage when you can't control outcomes so you have options for pacing and retention. - Colin records extra bargaining interactions that may not all make the cut to ensure enough engaging moments for the edit. Transcript: Colin The end of the day just the more interactions i have you know the more i have to choose from right uh so like so now i always overshoot i always have extra bargains that won't fit the video Just for like lengthwise or whatever like you know pacing and format so i always overshoot now uh there's been times in the past where it's like i could use like five more minutes you know I could get like you know but yeah so and like you said it's i don't control the situation. ([Time 0:17:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0821dadb-fbbe-4e6f-b3f2-38f9bf95b522)) - **Edits Can Take 30 To 100 Hours Plus Subtitles** - Editing can be enormous: Colin's edits range from 30–100 hours, plus 7–10 hours of subtitling for long videos. - A 1 hour 20 minute 'movie' style edit required ~100 hours, highlighting heavy postproduction for long-form travel content. Transcript: Colin Anywhere from, I've had anywhere from like 30, 40 hours all the way up to like 100 hours. Travis Oh my gosh. Colin Yeah, but the 100 hours video is for like an actual hour and 20 minute long video so like a movie yeah yeah because i get done oh sorry i get done with the video edit and then subtitling takes Another seven to ten hours so it's like i'm double at you know it's like yeah ([Time 0:19:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/db404611-8c80-4df6-a1b4-23b244587532)) - **Designing A Channel For TV Viewership** - Optimizing for TV changes shooting and pacing: Colin films 4K 50/60fps, slows pacing, minimizes jump cuts and music to attract TV viewers. - Videos aimed at TV get 50–80% of watch time from TV devices, boosting long-form watch metrics. Transcript: Colin People are on their phones, but they'll just keep it on, you know, just to have it in the background. So, so it was a mix of that, the ideas and wanting more TV time, I guess you could say. Travis I think you're one of, you're one of first people I've talked to that have acknowledged, I mean, I always talk to creators and we talk about TV because it's growing. It is getting bigger. But that started a channel with TV in mind from the beginning. That is awesome. Awesome. Has it worked out in that way as far as like devices and stuff? Colin Yeah. So I would say the only two bombs on that channel, meaning they didn't do as well as I thought they would. One was a short, shorter video, so I can understand why that didn't get pushed to the TV. But yeah, the only two bombs just didn't get it majority TV. So if I can get like 50 to 80 percent TV, then all these videos that have done well, in my opinion, on my channel, we're all 50 to 80% TV time. Wow, that's high. Travis 80% television watchers is crazy. ([Time 0:22:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/4918fb4b-510b-47a9-be03-6e27d8df87a2)) - **Travel Is A Backdrop Not The Product** - Travel is a vehicle for a repeatable idea rather than the main product: Colin treats travel locations as backdrops for bargaining content that attracts a US/UK/Canada audience. - This approach avoids the 'local trap' where content only appeals to the country filmed in. Transcript: Colin The same. So United States, Canada, UK in that order, or maybe United States, UK, Canada, but either way it's dominated. It's us dominated, uh, 30, 40% maybe. Yeah. Travis That's kind of hard sometimes when you're uploading from another country. I've noticed that a lot of, creators are having problems where the country that they upload in is typically their top viewership. And it's not necessarily what they want, especially if they're in like a country that doesn't have like high RPMs. So I think maybe it's because of the way that you're approaching each video and the way that you're packaging it. And it's obviously a foreigner's perspective of that country rather than being like a native person in that country which might only get viewership there does that seem true to you Colin Oh yeah uh in our in our little creator network you know the other you youtube travelers i talked to uh we we call that the trap so if you go to say like the philippines you can go really quickly You can. Filipino content is heavily so popular. But Americans' first time trying this, Americans' first time trying that, that does extremely well. But as soon as you leave, since your viewership was mostly people from that country, they don't care anymore. So the way I kind of look at my main channel is travel doesn't even come first. ([Time 0:27:46](https://share.snipd.com/snip/65b0d325-f378-4084-ad69-7b894981148b)) - **Giving Away Market Hauls To Avoid Clutter** - Colin doesn't keep most market purchases and gives away items to locals, hotel staff, or friends to avoid accumulating things. - He once gave away a Louis V leather bag with watches and shoes after leaving Indonesia because he simply needed to offload gear. Transcript: Colin So, yeah, when I first started doing it, it was for things that, like, I wanted or I thought was cool, you know. Now it's just more on request of what people want to see or maybe if I spot something unique that I haven't seen before. But, yeah, I can't travel with it all. So now I just give it out to random people like if I know somebody in the area I'll be like hey I got all this stuff you can literally come over and just grab anything for free I don't care I Don't need it I just need it gone you know um sometimes I'll try to give it to hotel staff and they're they have no idea why I'm doing this. Like when I just left Indonesia a few months ago, I gave away like a Louis V leather bag with like watches and shoes inside it because it's like, I just need this gun, you know? But that doesn't mean I don't keep some stuff. ([Time 0:30:33](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e7c67519-1c44-4c94-bff8-2b7b9bc4a9bd)) - **Low Cost Base Makes Intermittent Uploading Viable** - Lower living costs in many Asian cities let Colin treat YouTube as a sustainable full-time job despite intermittent uploads. - He cites $400–$500 rents in tier-three Chinese cities and months with $2,000–$2,500 total expenses including travel. Transcript: Colin For you that's a huge yeah definitely 100 that's a huge uh thing is because like i i stay mostly in asia so like you can get a three-bedroom apartment in china for like in a high rise for like I don't know 500 a month 400 a month whoa oh that's crazy good yeah yeah oh yeah so when my second city that i moved to with my friend while i was teaching english um we found a six bedroom two-story Apartment for 500 a month oh my god i think i might need to know it was way too many rooms we did not need because they just sat and collected dust but also that brings into consideration The city too as well. So that was at the time called, it's classified as a tier three city in China. Still a big city, 11 million people. But if you go to like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, then the prices will be more Western for sure. ([Time 0:31:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3473e845-9b87-44f7-81d2-2183d2f60c2c)) - **Schedule One Longform Upload Per Month** - Do aim for a sustainable cadence: Colin's ideal is one main-channel long-form upload and one TV-optimized upload every 3–5 weeks, plus shorts and VR fills. - He balances long prep/edit times by spacing uploads to maintain evergreen watch time. Transcript: Colin So as you've mentioned earlier, I haven't uploaded on the main channel as consistently as i used to one in part is figuring out the second channel wanting to get that off the ground but Now it's now because i haven't uploaded for a couple months uh my ideal my ideal upload schedule would be like three to every three to five weeks so like a month uh once a month for the main Channel once a month for the second channel and then you know fill my time in between that with shorts and also i have a vr channel too that's ([Time 0:35:48](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9c61ddf1-959f-4d04-8b0b-991b4eafce41)) - **Start Now And Be Authentically Yourself** - Do be authentic because audiences detect when you're playing a role; Colin says authenticity attracts the right viewers. - He also advises starting immediately because early uploads build a library that clarifies your channel's shape over time. Transcript: Travis If you had to tell someone who's just starting their YouTube channel today that they need to be aware of going into making YouTube, maybe something to keep in mind. Colin I think this might be a simple, obvious one, but I think it's very often overlooked. And especially for new creators it's being your authentic self even if you think that might feel cringe um unless you're unless you're like a sketch comic or something uh play people Can see if you're playing something else that you're really not and I truly believe that there is an audience out there for everybody because people will relate to you. Like there are, how many different arch types of personalities in the world do we have? You know what I'm saying? Like people will relate to you. They, they just need to find you or YouTube needs to find that audience to, you know, to show them whatever. Um, might be obvious, but that's like probably the biggest thing and then uh like i mentioned earlier if you don't know how to start just start because nobody's gonna unless you get lucky Nobody's really gonna watch your first few videos anyway but once you start to have a library of content like i said 10 20 30 40 50 videos out then you can really see the shape of your channel And then you can adjust from there. ([Time 0:38:15](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9582b58f-059e-4d95-b9d3-310dd79e1e9c))