From Uber Driver in Lagos to Global Documentary Creator  🔗 **Source:** [From Uber Driver in Lagos to Global Documentary Creator](https://share.snipd.com/episode/a2f7630b-617b-477c-a6c2-3ee424014541) ## Highlights - **Started YouTube From An Uber Partner Phone** - Tayo started creating by using an Uber partner phone and a car he didn’t own while driving for someone else and keeping 20% of fares. - He used the same Uber phone to take photos around Lagos, which led him to make videos and film for paying clients to fund YouTube. Transcript: Tayo I actually didn't have a car. So I signed up as a partner and somebody else gave me a car. What? That's crazy. Somebody else gave me a car to be a driver for them. And then I drove for them and I took 20% of whatever I made at the end of the day. So that's kind of like how I started. And then the phone that they gave me, which was meant to be for Uber, I started to use that to, you know, take pictures and, you know, make videos. ([Time 0:02:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ed6000df-bf63-435e-aca6-5f9c1d1ad02c)) - **Make Videos At The Intersection Of Passion And Value** - YouTube success needs the intersection of what you love and what viewers value rather than making content only for yourself. - Tayo noticed his best-performing videos taught viewers or showed perspectives they lacked, so he shifted to delivering clear value while enjoying the topic. Transcript: Tayo Think it was multiple things. I think one, it was one of the things I learned much earlier on was more of like, for YouTube, you're not making videos for yourself. Like, have to find uh an intersection between what you love as a person and what people want to see so you have to find a way to give value to people so that's kind of like what i let i think That was the major realization because back then i was just making like okay oh you know i want to cook this this um um this cake or something i'll just oh let me make a video about it oh i'm Going here let me make a video about it. Oh, let me make a vlog about what my day is like. But then I realized that nobody cares about that. Nobody cares about that. So I was like, okay. Then I realized the videos that were doing well once in a while were the videos where there was some sort of value for people. ([Time 0:14:31](https://share.snipd.com/snip/02779219-2689-41af-9ad9-15026c786391)) - **First International Trip Was Russia During The World Cup** - Tayo’s first international trip was to Russia for the World Cup, funded by saving for flights while friends covered accommodation. - The trip showed him how travel content could teach his audience about unfamiliar places and inspired more travel documentaries. Transcript: Tayo It's so interesting because the first country i ever traveled to from nigeria i don't know if you can guess but i think you probably know because you you have my youtube channel. It was Russia. Yeah. I went to Russia. I saw that. Travis Yeah. Tayo Which is weird. Like, what was that about? Why did you pick Russia? That's wild. So that was during the World Cup. During the World Cup, which just like the World Cup happened this year, they make it easier for you to get the visas to anywhere. So I got the visa easily to Russia. And for me, my friends were also to russia because they are football fans i don't even watch football but then i saw the opportunity i was like if all my friends are going that means um yeah It's going to be easier for me because now i don't need to sort out accommodation because they had more money than i i did back then and i was like okay if they're sorting out the accommodation All I just need to find is like my money for like the the the plane tickets and that's kind of like what I did and I saved up for that and I got I got plane ticket money and I traveled and I got And I went there and I spent a month in Russia and during that period um I was able to make more videos and just get to understand what, you know, like a first world country is like and just Like how things happen there and just be able to move around and express myself and make videos and all. And I think it was from there, I was like, hmm, okay, I was able to do this. What if I could make more travel videos? And I enjoyed the process of actually doing that. ([Time 0:19:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/125082b9-cb03-49cf-8d7e-da1280bfbbd1)) - **Crossing Language Barriers Is The Key Travel Skill** - Language and navigation are the biggest practical travel barriers; learning to navigate Russian signage proved to Tayo he could film anywhere. - Surviving non-English environments increased his confidence that global documentary work was possible. Transcript: Tayo I learned was that after going to russia which was a country where they don't like they speak russian like i went to like a country the first country i ran to was a country where they don't Speak english they speak english sometimes but it's like their main language is russian like you know how russians are they love their language is russian they will speak russian they Will not speak english yeah yeah so for me doing being able to go there and able to survive and figure out myself and get on the trains because even the trains the the the bus stops or where The train stops are in russian so i had to understand where i was going to in russian to be able to go from place to place so i think being able to do that just made me understand that if i could Do russia then i could do anywhere in the world because there's no barriers because the major barrier for travel or trying to experience anywhere is language if you can't really speak To people that means it's going to be hard for you to communicate. It's going to be hard for you to even put somebody on a video. It's going to be hard for you to even understand what is happening. So I think that was the main one. ([Time 0:23:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d2e9d5a7-d336-44da-a784-8dbba2b6681e)) - **Documentaries Create Evergreen Value Over Casual Vlogs** - Documentary storytelling makes content evergreen and more valuable than casual vlogs because it teaches and entertains with researched narratives. - Tayo shifted from daily vlogs to scripted, researched films capturing culture, economy, food, and people for lasting value. Transcript: Tayo I started to make videos it was more of like i just wanted to show you what i was doing where i was at and it was just like i'm taking you through my day that was kind of like it's when i when i First started but as i started to develop and you know and grow and just learn more and watch more videos on youtube i i more or less lean more into storytelling. And I realized that what I actually love was more of like telling a story. And for me, one of the best ways to tell a story, which I learned over time from like just literally the internet, was, you know, documenting stuff in a way where it's like, it's like you're Creating like a movie it's like it's like you're taking people along on the story but you're also giving them information so i went back to that mindset of like okay why am i showing people My deal why would they care if i might be like for example i'm in nairobi kenya and if i just i just went around with the camera and i'm like oh you know i'm in this apartment and i ate this for Lunch why do people care and then i realized that one um it's much better if i could figure out how to tell a full story about about this place about these people about something it's much Richer and apart from that it also does well it's more evergreen because 10 years from now if people came back to watch a video i made which was more of a documentary rather than my day they Would get a lot more value from that video rather than them just watching me going about my day so that's kind of like the transition that happened it was just more of like how can i give More value to the audience and for me giving more value to the audience was, you know, spending more time in terms of telling the story, in terms of doing more research, in terms of scripting, In terms of just being able to capture shots better. So that that way you can give people like a final piece of like, I call it like a piece of art and you give it to them and they're able to learn from it. They also be able to entertain by it. ([Time 0:26:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/cf871c4c-46b6-4984-84d7-5c8d09134c4e)) - **Plan Documentaries As Month Long Productions** - Treat documentaries as month-long productions: one week prep, at least one week filming, and ~three weeks of multi-draft editing. - Tayo runs a seven-person team (producer, editors, writer, thumbnail designer) to deliver polished travel documentaries. Transcript: Tayo A lot. It's a lot. I'll give you an example of, like, currently, I'm in Kenya, and I filmed the video. I filmed the documentary on Kenya. Before coming to Kenya, it took like a week or a week and a half of prep, just preparing what story what am i trying to tell about kenya and then when i go to kenya i spent seven days filming So we filmed every day like every single day morning to night morning to night money to night different locations different we traveled across the country and then we filmed that now It's going to take at least three weeks to edit that video from multiple draft one draft two draft three before we eventually get the final piece that we now publish and then in terms of My team i have a team of like seven people working with me um i have a producer i have two long form editors i have one shot from editor I have a writer and I have a thumbnail designer. And then I have myself who is like the host and the person behind everything. So we're like seven. And that's kind of like the team behind the videos now. ([Time 0:28:47](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a5ea3313-5951-4dae-a08b-536c6b1dd56a)) - **Went To A Dangerous Neighborhood In Dominican Republic At Night** - The Dominican Republic video turned dangerous when a friend offered to take Tayo into one of the country's most dangerous neighborhoods at night. - He felt nervous, prayed, spent time with locals who welcomed filming, and returned safely, later choosing to avoid reckless risks for views. Transcript: Tayo So I think for me, when I go to like some like farther places, I usually have the mindset, like the Dominican Republic video was more of like, Oh, I want to go to Dominican Republic and make A video about Dominican Republic. After making that video, I'm still in Dominican Republic. So I'm like, hmm, what else can I film here? And then randomly, I have a friend who is also a YouTuber. And he's like, and then while we went out to lunch, he was with some other guy who apparently that guy grew up in like this most dangerous place in Dominican Republic. And then we're just talking and i was like oh you can take me there and i was like okay and i in my head i was like okay i can make another video from that and that's kind of like how i went did Travis You ever second guess yourself was there a moment you're like this is not a good idea yeah many times because i was like and you know the worst part about that video was I went at night. Tayo So that's like, if you're going to the most dangerous place and you're going at night, that's the worst time to go anywhere that is dangerous. Because you can't even see anything. But I was just like, okay, well, you only live once. Travis Anything for content, like I always say. Tayo Anything for content. ([Time 0:34:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/90b0bdc5-2358-4fc4-b39e-8ccadcf9b9c4)) - **Layer Revenue Streams From Ads To Products** - Diversify monetization: start with AdSense, add brand sponsorships, sell digital products, then build independent products or startups. - Tayo moved from AdSense to courses (YouTube Creator Academy), brand deals, and created Linkies, a link-in-bio product for African creators. Transcript: Tayo The main, the major way when I started was just more of AdSense. And gradually it has now shifted to more of like uh brands working with brands uh you know brand sponsorships 60 second integrations in the middle of videos uh but now within the past Two years it has become more of me selling products so i have a youtube creator academy that i built and then we trained over like 5 000 people so it was more of like okay this knowledge i've Had how can i bring this knowledge to a lot of people especially people who look like me who are from africa because a lot of the you know there's a lot of people selling courses online and Stuff but a lot of them are actually coming from the west from america and the rest and you know they are not going to talk about the challenges or they're not going to be able to understand The challenges in nigerian somebody who grew up in lagos had or somebody grew up in south africa had or kenya had so for me it was more of like you know helping to train people on how to do That so i would say those those are the three those are the three major ways but this year, I've now moved into the fourth one, which is building products, building startups, building Like companies off my YouTube channel. So kind of like what Mr. Beast is doing with like fish tables and, you know, this other companies is doing. I'm moving more into like the product side of things, more like building companies. ([Time 0:39:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/073b01ce-81c0-4a41-b2ea-ad914d99743b)) - **Pick Three Interests And Double Down On Winners** - Pick three interests, make many videos about them, then double down on the one that gains traction. - Tayo warns he missed faster growth by not doubling down on early real estate videos that performed well on his channel. Transcript: Tayo Would say one of the first things you should know if you're a content creator, one of the first things you should know and you should focus on is one of the problems a lot of people even have, First of all, is even figuring out what kind of videos they want to make. And most people, it's a whole hassle because even myself, I've struggled with that. I didn't know what I wanted to make so i was making random videos here and there but i would say one of the first things you do is pick out three and i i say three because three is like the kind Of like the perfect number for me based on what i've seen make out three things you have interesting and then make videos about those three things make as many videos about them as possible And then one of them will eventually pop off once it pops off double down on what pops off i made that mistake when something popped off on my channel which was real estate videos i didn't Double down on it i just i saw it like oh it popped off then i went back to making like random tutorials and all but if i double down on it i would have gotten much faster to where i was at so that's One like once you see that it's working double down like don't don't waste that opportunity double that if you make one video about something and it does well make another video that Is similar to that thing because that means people actually want to get want to see that kind of video from you the second one is also to fall in love with making videos i'll say this is kind Of like the one where you just have to fall in love with making videos. If you fall in love with making videos, it will be so easy for you to make videos. It's like, you know, when we're younger and our parents will be like, oh, don't go out and don't play outside in the rain or don't go and play football or don't play basketball. Don't walk around on the street. You still go out and do those things, even if they, you know, they chastise you or they're like, oh, no, they are going to punish you. They scold you for it. You still go out and do it anyway because you love doing those things. So I'll say fall in love with you because once you fall in love with making content, it's much easier for you to keep doing it, even when things are hard, even when you're not making money, Even when like, you know, maybe like, yeah, when obstacles come your way you still make videos um the third one is you can actually like you don't need to reinvent the wheel one of the easiest Ways to kind of like go on youtube is just going to youtube and looking at the space that you are actually trying to make videos in and looking at what is working. You know, back then when I started, I always wanted to make something. I was like, I'll look over to you. I was like, no, I don't want to make, you know, everybody has made this video. I don't want to make that. I want to make my own very unique special video that is one of one. That is just a waste of time. Just go online. The even the biggest creators mr beast many of these guys they do the same thing like if they've done a video and it does well or they see an idea that has done really well like there was a Video mr beast made that was a replica of one of that video that has done like 160 something million views in the past it made something similar to that and it did well and i've done that Too and I've seen it do well. The coldest city video I did was because I saw that a lot of who were doing that video and it was doing well. And then I made the video and it has become my most watched video. It has almost 10 million views. So you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just if you like cooking, go to cooking section on YouTube. Look for the kind of videos that I'm in the cooking section that are going viral and figure out how to make your own version. You don't need to copy the exact same thing, but make your own version of it. ([Time 0:42:03](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6a18a827-cd57-4d0f-9417-4688948038ad)) - **Copy Proven Formats And Localize Titles For Discovery** - Don't reinvent the wheel: study what already works in your niche and adapt it to your voice. - Tayo cites copying formats (like coldest city videos) and making localized versions (e.g., Nigeria in the title) to drive discoverable views. Transcript: Tayo You know, back then when I started, I always wanted to make something. I was like, I'll look over to you. I was like, no, I don't want to make, you know, everybody has made this video. I don't want to make that. I want to make my own very unique special video that is one of one. That is just a waste of time. Just go online. The even the biggest creators mr beast many of these guys they do the same thing like if they've done a video and it does well or they see an idea that has done really well like there was a Video mr beast made that was a replica of one of that video that has done like 160 something million views in the past it made something similar to that and it did well and i've done that Too and I've seen it do well. The coldest city video I did was because I saw that a lot of who were doing that video and it was doing well. And then I made the video and it has become my most watched video. It has almost 10 million views. So you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just if you like cooking, go to cooking section on YouTube. Look for the kind of videos that I'm in the cooking section that are going viral and figure out how to make your own version. You don't need to copy the exact same thing, but make your own version of it. So those are some of the things. Okay, another one too is also to make discoverable content. ([Time 0:44:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/92f377c2-a3e7-4b01-94a7-773202e7bfbe))