The Unspeakable Journey: Building a YouTube Empire From Zero  ## Metadata - Author: [[TubeTalk: Your YouTube How-To Guide]] - Full Title: The Unspeakable Journey: Building a YouTube Empire From Zero - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/b6f64004-162c-4025-b99a-5a2d77589875 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Shy Middle School Start** - Nathan started his YouTube Minecraft channel in middle school out of passion despite being shy. - He made over 143 videos the first year, editing everything himself for years before hiring help. Transcript: Nathan So back in 2012 in october of 2012 i started my first youtube channel um i a Minecraft channel. So at the time, I was either in seventh grade or eighth grade in middle school. And I saw a bunch of other people making content on YouTube. I loved YouTube as a platform. Obviously, YouTube back in 2012 was way different compared to what it is now. Know, there was no shorts. I don't even think there was live streaming. There was not very much to the platform. A lot of people just posted content. I don't know if you remember the old days where you could like customize your entire YouTube page. Like you could make graphics all down the side of it. Travis Almost like MySpace. Yeah. Nathan That's the era of YouTube that I started in. But yeah, I saw a bunch of other creators. I saw people like Markiplier and PewDiePie and a lot of other gamers. I used to watch them when I was a kid. And I just kind of thought to myself, you know what? Why don't I try to make my own YouTube videos? Like, you know, so I mowed a bunch of lawns. I helped my dad do a bunch of chores. I ended up working to buy like a laptop um and a microphone to kind of start like my first couple videos were you at that point because you were still pretty young were you embarrassed to Upload oh yes you were yeah i mean middle school is kind of rough i guess so one of the things that i always like to talk about on like my social channels is just like how shy I was when I started YouTube. I was a very shy kid in school. Like, like I remember when the teacher would call my name, I would get like shivers down my spine. I'd get very nervous. I'd get clammy hands. I was just a really shy kid. So I would always think to myself, like, how is a shy kid like me going to start a YouTube channel? Like I, and I kind of just like, I kind of just like the idea of making videos so much that my fear of being shy kind of just was over here. Jenn And I was like trying to do something over here if that makes sense no that does make total sense did you feel shy when you first started recording oh yes was it just totally fine by yourself Nathan Yeah i mean you can go back on like so we have multiple we have like six different youtube channels but if you go to the channel called unspeakable reacts um you can go you can go to some see Some of my first videos my intros are so... The first intro I ever did on YouTube, I was basically just doing an intro, and I was like, hey guys, this is one of my first videos on YouTube, blah, blah, blah. And I told people to like the video. And I was like, if you guys like the video, that would be cool. ([Time 0:02:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/55b1acfd-6307-4603-8358-d5ed28fdb6d8)) - **High School Grind Story** - In high school, Nathan faced some teasing but gained respect after his YouTube success. - He balanced school, cross country, and late-night content creation, often sacrificing typical teenage activities. Transcript: Travis Did they watch your content? Like what was, what was that like? Nathan Um, I would say when my YouTube channel was small, a lot of people would, I don't want to say make fun of me, but they would just kind of like joke around and be like, Oh look, it's the Minecraft Kid or Oh look, it's the YouTuber boy or whatever. High school. Jenn Yeah. Nathan I was never really bullied but like people would just say like weird stuff and i was just like whatever um but then once i got towards the end of high school and they saw that i was making Like serious money um and i had like almost a million subscribers people just started to respect me a little bit more because they were like oh wow this kid actually did something like He's actually like going to go do something crazy or whatever. And of course, I was never really like I always kept my circle very, very tight because I didn't have very many friends in high school. But also, I was so busy that I didn't have time for friends because I went to school like I would literally go to school. I would get home. I would record. I would edit. I would film videos till midnight, one, two o'clock in the morning, and then wake up the next day at six because I ran cross country. So cross country practice started at like 630 and then I would run across country, then go to school all day. I used my summers and my weekends to bulk up as much content as I could. So like on the weekends, I wasn't going to parties with friends. I wasn't, you know, going to the water park with all my friends or any of that stuff. I was just filming videos just because I just saw such a big opportunity. And my channel started to grow a lot. And I was like, I have to hop on this opportunity. This is so, so cool. And about three years into making content, I started to figure out, I was like, this is what I want to do for a job. This is what I want to do for my future. It took me about three years to realize that three years of making YouTube videos. And then once I, once I saw that around the middle of high school, I mean, I just went, I just went all in. I was very, very close to dropping out of high school as well. Um, not because, not because of school, but just because like I wanted to drop out so I could just make more YouTube videos. Um, but I didn't, I stayed in school. I finished, I graduated, I did all that. Um, so. It's ([Time 0:09:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d15bc06c-873b-4455-9a51-bbd01602406e)) - **Separate Work and Home** - Separate your living space from your workspace to maintain mental clarity. - Avoid letting your home turn into a content production factory to improve focus and well-being. Transcript: Nathan And work in the same space. Like I lived in a house and I filmed in the house and I worked in the house and like, and now I separated those things. So that really helped a lot. I know a lot of I know a lot of people can't do that, but. Jenn No, but that's great. There's there's something there that people can implement in their life in like a smaller way. And maybe that means like you're only creating and working on YouTube in your office. And when you leave, you're not doing it sitting on your couch. You're not doing it sitting in bed. You're not letting consuming space in the rest of you know your living quarters i think that's something that someone can definitely take away as advice especially i know it can be a Difficult thing for some of us all of us to separate ourselves from turning youtube off yeah and so that's that's really that's a really good tip yeah yeah because like when you start Nathan Being a youtuber or a creator like you're probably going to start in your house or in your apartment and then over time as you grow this channel like your apartment or your house just slowly Becomes like a little office pumping out content like a factory and then you're like whoa what happened to my house like where's my livable space? And like, and like my rooms upstairs started to turn into storage for props and like organization systems and all these things. And I was like, oh, okay. And then like one house that I had, we had like a little movie theater room and I loved going up there to just hang out. And I was like, I need this space for storage now for props and videos. You know, so now it turned into a little film set and all these things. So separating those things really helped a lot for me. It just gave my headspace a lot more, I guess, clarity. Let's talk ([Time 0:16:53](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1af1ec1c-474e-48e1-876f-b87d4a3e61d6)) - **Master One Channel First** - Focus on growing one successful YouTube channel before starting another. - Avoid spreading yourself thin with similar content across multiple channels too early. Transcript: Nathan I did that for six years until I had a million subscribers. And then I scaled it all the way up to four or five million subscribers. And then I was like, okay, let's do a second YouTube channel. So because it just takes so much effort and focus to make something successful. And one of my biggest, I mean, this is a big problem that a lot of people have that are very ambitious and they're very excited to start new things, is like, you just want to start new things. And like new things are not going to solve the problem. What's going to solve the problem is focusing, putting all your focus, all your efforts into the thing that's important and growing that. Because also, if the first YouTube channel didn't grow, why do you think the second one's not going to grow? It's not like a luck thing. It's like you don't know how to do it. You're not good enough yet. Keep focusing on the first YouTube channel and get that successful first. And you don't have to hit 5 million subscribers to start a second YouTube channel, right? Like, I'm just giving my example ([Time 0:21:11](https://share.snipd.com/snip/2db108d9-359a-4661-a2a6-438a561b5f95)) - **Second Channel's Explosive Growth** - Nathan's second channel hit 1 million subscribers in under 20 days due to momentum. - His third channel became the biggest, started only after 10 million subs on the first. Transcript: Nathan Grow compared to the first insanely fast the second channel hit a million subscribers in like under 20 days oh my gosh but it's because i had so much momentum i had so many fans i had so many People like excited and then my third channel i mean it it took off even faster too i think we hit like three million subscribers in like a couple months insane it was worth it it was worth The wait yeah but we had a ton of people ready for it right like i had 5 million subscribers on one channel and then i pushed them to another channel and i still had the main channel too right And then i uploaded uh and then i did a third channel every single channel had a different purpose a different type of content um the third channel is called the unspeakable channel. And today that's actually our biggest channel. So that's our channel with the big videos, the vlogs. That's where, you know, we hunt tornadoes. We build Lego houses. We do all the crazy stuff. That's actually, that's my biggest channel today. But that's actually my third YouTube channel. But I also didn't start that channel till i had almost 10 million subscribers on my first youtube channel and a lot ([Time 0:23:20](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b6928d08-8250-47d2-a058-ec4c936fce15)) - **Idea-Driven Thumbnails** - Prioritize video ideas first; good ideas lead to better thumbnails. - Use the 'three element formula' for thumbnails: no more than three elements to avoid clutter and boost clicks. Transcript: Nathan The star and then follow up the packaging just highlighting what you're actually doing yeah so i can explain maybe this helps i can explain the way we operate here like how do we actually Make a youtube video um and it's obviously different for us because we have a very big team but everyone plays a role and i think it's super important like no matter what size creator you Are. But the first thing we do is we start with the brainstorming process of a video. And that's something that my team does. But it's something that I am very, very involved in. And what we're looking for is we're looking for a really, really good video idea, a really good video title. And once we have that, we will then go into a brainstorming process of what is the purpose of this video, right? We're specifically focusing on purpose. Because when someone clicks on the video, like let's say you have a video called, like one of our biggest videos of last year was I hunted a tornado. It was insane. But the idea of that video is crazy, right? Really good idea. Very simple idea, but very crazy idea. But when you go into the video, what's the purpose of the video? Why are people going to watch till the end of the video? That's what you have to figure out next. That's what we focus on. And then after that, we begin to script out the video. Now, obviously, every video is different. Some videos require a lot of scripting. Some videos require no scripting. Like a perfect example is the tornado video that I just mentioned. That video had zero scripting because we had no idea what to expect. Like, we've never been tornado chasing before. So we tried to write a little bit of an outline of what we think is going to happen. But most of the creative for that video was actually on the road in a van as we were filming. So that's one of those videos that were a little more difficult to produce. But after we get the script done, we all sit together as a team and we figure out, okay, how are we going to film this? Uh, what do we need to order? What do we need to set up? Um, where do we need to go? Some of our videos have multiple locations, so we might be going to multiple places. Um, so then calling these places, getting everything scheduled, um, and then we go film it. Um, so usually filming one of our videos takes anywhere from one to three days I would say we've had some videos that have taken up to two weeks to film but I would say the average is one to Three days and then after that we take all the footage handed over to our editing team and our editors begin to chop at it we have on our main channel we have three editors that focus just On that one channel. It usually takes them about one to two weeks to edit a video. And then I will sit down. We have our creative director that will sit down with them and basically hammer out all the things that happen throughout the video. Because if you think about it, when an editor gets a project, the editor was not there when the video was being filmed So sometimes the editor needs an outline or, you know, he needs some High level thoughts of what happened. So that's what our creative director does. So they sit together, they hash all that out, the editing team gets to work. And then I come in on the final, I would say three versions of the video, the final three versions of the video. I watch all of them. I give a bunch of notes. We will review it, figure out how to improve it, how to make it better. And then we post it. And then you have the thumbnail process as well. But thumbnails are pretty easy, to be honest. We don't overcomplicate them. They're very simple. We keep our thumbnails very simple. My, my, my biggest tip for thumbnails is called the three element formula. Uh, basically you have to understand, uh, each element within one second and you have three elements. If you have more than three elements, your thumbnails probably overcrowded. It's probably too confusing. Um, and people are going to swipe right past it. Um, that's one of the biggest things I've learned about thumbnails and I've been doing that for the past six years and everything's ([Time 0:38:23](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ff5d193e-2850-4bf7-baaf-a72ee4ed352a)) - **Behind-the-Scenes Video Process** - Video production involves brainstorming ideas, defining purpose, scripting, filming, and multi-stage editing. - Nathan personally reviews final edits before publishing, highlighting a team-driven but hands-on process. Transcript: Nathan Our biggest videos of last year was I hunted a tornado. It was insane. But the idea of that video is crazy, right? Really good idea. Very simple idea, but very crazy idea. But when you go into the video, what's the purpose of the video? Why are people going to watch till the end of the video? That's what you have to figure out next. That's what we focus on. And then after that, we begin to script out the video. Now, obviously, every video is different. Some videos require a lot of scripting. Some videos require no scripting. Like a perfect example is the tornado video that I just mentioned. That video had zero scripting because we had no idea what to expect. Like, we've never been tornado chasing before. So we tried to write a little bit of an outline of what we think is going to happen. But most of the creative for that video was actually on the road in a van as we were filming. So that's one of those videos that were a little more difficult to produce. But after we get the script done, we all sit together as a team and we figure out, okay, how are we going to film this? Uh, what do we need to order? What do we need to set up? Um, where do we need to go? Some of our videos have multiple locations, so we might be going to multiple places. Um, so then calling these places, getting everything scheduled, um, and then we go film it. Um, so usually filming one of our videos takes anywhere from one to three days I would say we've had some videos that have taken up to two weeks to film but I would say the average is one to Three days and then after that we take all the footage handed over to our editing team and our editors begin to chop at it we have on our main channel we have three editors that focus just On that one channel. It usually takes them about one to two weeks to edit a video. And then I will sit down. We have our creative director that will sit down with them and basically hammer out all the things that happen throughout the video. Because if you think about it, when an editor gets a project, the editor was not there when the video was being filmed So sometimes the editor needs an outline or, you know, he needs some High level thoughts of what happened. So that's what our creative director does. So they sit together, they hash all that out, the editing team gets to work. And then I come in on the final, I would say three versions of the video, the final three versions of the video. I watch all of them. I give a bunch of notes. We will review it, figure out how to improve it, how to make it better. And then we post it. ([Time 0:39:22](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e9370d93-d2c9-4437-9a61-5cb80b65f7d2)) - **Start Small, Build Creatively** - When starting fresh with no budget, create 100 videos for $0 using your time, creativity, and what you have access to. - Focus on niches you know; use free tools like Cap Cut; build up gradually from small investments. Transcript: Travis Your first couple of videos about? And like, how are you producing? Like, what is your strategy for like the first three months? Just give like a strategy of, it doesn't matter what the niche is. I want you to like do a niche you don't currently do. And tell me what that channel would be like and how you would do it. Nathan Oh, and people don't know who you are. Jenn Right here. Please give us a full channel strategy right now. People don't know who you are. On the spot. No pressure. Nathan So you said I can't pick a niche I've already done? Travis I mean, maybe you've done almost everything. Pick something that's reasonable. Pick something that's reasonable. Jenn What would you want to do if you were living another life? What would you want to do on YouTube? Nathan If I was living another life, I think I'd still do what I'm doing, to be honest. That's not bad. But um so okay so i have a limited budget right so the one thing i need to figure out is i need to figure out how can i create a hundred videos for zero dollars um and and basically how can i do That with only my effort and my time and my creativity? Because obviously I only have $100 and I could blow $100 on one video just like that. So the first thing I need to figure out is, well, the first thing I would ask myself is what do I have access to, right? Do I have a computer? Do I have a phone? If I have a computer, great. I have an editing software. If I have a computer, I can also film video games. If I have a phone, there's a lot of stuff I can do with a phone. And then I would ask myself, what are my skill sets and what are my interests? So what am I good at and what am I interested in? When I was a kid, I was interested in video games and I was really good at video games because I was a nerd. I played video games all the time. But the great thing about video games is you can have one computer and one video game and you can make a thousand videos on that video game, right? That's what I do with Minecraft. I only bought Minecraft once. Well, I bought it a couple of times because I had multiple accounts, but I only had, I only bought Minecraft once and I've made over 4,000 Minecraft videos. That's insane. Jenn Are you playing a game today? What would your gaming channel be today? Nathan Well, I would probably focus on Fortnite. I think Fortnite's a really good game. I would probably focus on a lot of indie games, smaller games. I think there's a lot of games out there that can just pick up a lot of traction really fast. Um, like among us, for example, now among us now is a huge game, but when it, when it first started, it was very small, like a little indie game. Um, but that's what I would do. I would focus on, I mean, if you're not a gamer, you know, there's a lot of ways, there's a lot of ways could do it. Like I have a friend, for example, he started, um, he started a car channel, um, where he basically reviews cars. Cars are very expensive, right? And he's reviewing not just cheap cars. He's reviewing Lamborghinis, Ferraris, like very, very expensive cars. So what he did is he started his channel by doing car news, right? So he would sit in his room and he would have a little background and he would basically just be like, hey guys, this is the new Ferrari that just came out. And then he would list all the specs and he would tell you why it's cool. And he did hundreds of these videos and he started to pick up a little bit of traction. And then what he did is he started getting involved in the car community. So he went out to car shows and car events and he started to ask car owners, hey, can I review your car? Hey, can I film a little video on your car? And now he's working with brands like Mercedes and like he just did a trip to Europe and BMW gave him a car to drive around Europe and he reviewed the car and all these cool things. But he started it just in his bedroom just by doing car news. And doing car news is completely free. He didn't have access to any of the cars. He just would report news about, hey, Audi came out with this. McLaren came out with this. Ferrari came out with this. And, you know, he would also talk about drivers, like, here's what happened to this Formula One driver last week and all these different things. So think of a way that you can create 100 videos for $0. I guarantee you there is a way you can do it, even in the tech space. Like, you can start a tech channel and you can just do news, right? I started my Minecraft channel. Obviously I had to buy a computer, you know, cause I had to play the video game. I had to buy a microphone, but that stuff is very inexpensive these days. It really is like you can buy a good computer, a good microphone for probably around 400 bucks, like to get, to get started. And then editing softwares are free cap cut is free um you know there's there's so many free tools out there that you can just download and use um there's really in my opinion there's really No excuses um i think i think if if struggling to create content on a budget, you're just not being creative enough. There's ways to get it done. And as you scale and as you sign some brand deals and start making some ad revenue, then you can start buying. I mean, that's what I did, right? I started signing some brand deals, started making some ad revenue, and then I bought a better computer. And then I bought a better this. And then I bought another computer because I used one computer for scripting and ([Time 0:43:04](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3a244359-0e36-4fe9-860d-16977952e6a6)) - **Quality Means Audience Fit** - Video quality means meeting audience expectations, not just production polish. - Some of the most viewed videos are low quality in production but high in entertainment or idea quality. Transcript: Nathan People. Like there's no script. There's no, you know, now the guy's really funny. He's very entertaining, but they're not really quality, you know? So you have to figure out what quality means for your audience, not for your videos. And the only way you figure that out is by posting a bunch of videos, figuring out how to get good, and then finding the audience, attracting them, and then slowly just adapting and evolving Through that process. Because like have people like Kaisenet where his videos aren't really quality. They are entertaining, but they're not quality. But then you have creators like Marquez, like MKBHD. His videos are very quality. Some of the highest quality tech reviews on the internet. But the reason he does that is because his audience cares about that. They want to see a high quality tech review of a beautiful phone that just came out. And people are trying to decide if they want to spend $1,200 on the new iPhone and they want to see a very beautiful video laying out all the features, right? So quality connects to your audience. It doesn't connect to your videos. A lot of people think it connects to your videos, but it doesn't. I was just going to say anytime we've tried to make a higher quality video, it doesn't, no one cares about it. No one cares about it. They want to, they want a more quality idea. At ([Time 0:50:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/31b3141f-2760-495c-b7df-4d34d76fdb23))