Evan Carmichael tells Adrienne Stortz her cooking channel should build on values, not just recipes. He uses the example "I have no interest in becoming a serial killer" to show how stories transcend their subject. His "Believe" brand works for non-entrepreneurs because the message underneath is universal.
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I have no interest in becoming a serial killer. So I'm a big believer that your message should transcend your genre, that as an entrepreneur, as a creative, what you stand for as a human being, the positive impact that you're trying to make in the world should transcend the topic and the industry that you're in. So I'm part of a YouTube mastermind group that was created by Tim Schmoyer where every week we get together and And it's a bunch of creators who've made YouTube their full-time business, and we're trying to help each other out and give each other guidance on how to get better. And every week we kind of take turns going around the table. And so yesterday, one of the members that I love dearly, Adrienne Stortz from xoxocooks, was on talking about her YouTube channel. And she has a cooking channel that shows people how to make different recipes. And what I've been challenging her on, not quite from the beginning, but pretty early on, was I want to see her stand for something. I want to see her have a positive message. She's so creative, she's done so many great things, she has a great heart, she wants to contribute back, and you see it in bits and pieces on the channel. But understanding that she's never going to be the best cook, and she's never going to have the best, you know, recipes and compete with the Martha Stewarts and whoever the, you know, those big people are. But for her, it's much more the message, like what does she stand for, and bringing that to every video so so that when people watch it, they feel inspired. And she's playing with a few different ideas and trying to figure out, you know, what that message is and how to incorporate it into her cooking videos. And I mentioned to her yesterday on the chat that I watch the videos because of you, because you're in this group, because I want to support you, because I want to see your videos do well, because I want to, you know, watch them and just try to help out a friend. But otherwise, you know, I'm not into cooking. I wouldn't watch your videos if I didn't know you and was trying to help you out. But I want to. Like, I want you to create something that I would want to watch even if I had no interest in the subject matter because the message is so strong. And so she was thinking about it and responded, well, I don't know if I want to reach non-cooks, people who don't care about the food, people don't want to know about the recipe. I don't know if that's my target audience. I don't know if I should be trying to address those people. And that's when this, I have no interest in being a serial killer, came up because I use Hollywood as an example. Where what we are as YouTubers and as entrepreneurs is we should be storytellers, right? We are trying to move people to take action through a story. And there's gotta be movies that you've walked out of where you felt inspired or you felt angry or you felt happy or you felt sad, and that had a ripple effect somewhere else in your life. And so I use the example of when I watch a Hollywood movie, I have no interest in becoming a serial killer, but I can watch a movie and feel inspired or feel angry or feel happy or feel sad and then go out and make a change in my life. Where I will watch movies and have no interest in becoming a football player or a basketball player or, you know, a tech titan or any of the different movies that you watch. I will never be that person. I have no interest in becoming that person. I don't want to go out and race a horse, even though I love watching Seabiscuit, but I can learn from the movie to apply lessons to myself. And the best storytellers do that. And as YouTubers, that's part of our job. We should be able to reach an audience wider than what the subject matter is that we're teaching because the message that we stand for is so powerful. And so I look at my channel and there's a lot of non-entrepreneurs who watch my channel. At the start I thought, why would a non-entrepreneur watch my channel? All I talk about is entrepreneurship. But the message of Believe has transcended entrepreneurship where people watch the videos and they get inspired to go have an impact on their life and their job and their family even though they have zero interest in wanting to become an entrepreneur. And I want this for you. And so when I brought that line up that I have no interest in becoming a serial killer in the call, then the other members of the group started freaking out and Jason Urgo from SocialBlade.com decided that he would make this nice picture that he threw up in the chat that everybody was kind of laughing at on our Facebook fan page. I thought it was funny. Jason, props to you for your on-the-fly Photoshop skills. But I think it's also a great lesson that I wanted to make this video on for you guys thinking that you only serve a target audience. And yes, that is your core base, but hopefully you have a message that can transcend that core base to be able to reach and impact everybody if you can figure that out. Then you're onto something that can really have a big impact in this world. So I'm curious for you guys, what is the message that you have that transcends your genre, your topic? What's the powerful thing that you are all about? Leave it in the comments below and I will join in the discussion. I also wanna give a quick shout out to Sam Patil. Sam, thank you so much for buying a copy of my book, really means a lot to me. If you guys watching, if you want a chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to buy a copy of the book. It's really good, I promise. And email in your receipt so we can keep track and send you the bonuses. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and I'll see you soon.
