Anti-YouTube Strategy Advice: Stop Being A YOUTUBER!

Standard YouTube advice is going to burn you out as a business owner. And worse yet, if you're following typical YouTuber advice from somebody teaching people how to become popular YouTubers or influencers, you're not gonna make any money for your courses, for your coaching program, for your digital products. In fact, if you're watching me live or if you're catching the replay, I wanna know what is the offer that you are selling that you wanna use YouTube to sell more of. I predominantly help coaches. I also help course creators. I work with some membership owners, subscription services as well, but I wanna walk you through why this YouTuber advice will not work for you as a business owner who wants to sell your offer. So if you've been following me the last couple of weeks, this is another part of the Build Your Big— no, this is another part of the Rich and Recommended series where I've been showing you exactly how to get rich in money, time, and fun here in 2026 while also getting recommended by AI, YouTube, and more word of mouth. I've already talked about my plan for hitting $1 million this year using just YouTube as my primary source of content creation. I also talked about how I am doing that as well in a about 25-hour work week. I showed you how my clients are making $152,000 by just posting 16 videos. And I also walked you through why YouTube is the one platform that you have got to be on as a business owner with the rise of AI, because YouTube content is the only content that AI is recommending. So if you've got questions, feel free to drop them in the chat. I do wanna open this up to specific questions that you have about your YouTube strategy or about your offer. So, um, again, share your offer, that you wanna sell on YouTube in the chat. I do have the windows open today, it's very nice, but it's also very windy. So hello curtains, we're gonna have fun with that today. Now before I share with you, there goes the door getting slammed. Now before I share with you why as a YouTube strategist I'm about to tell you to not be a YouTuber, I wanna remind you tomorrow is the Build Your Big Reputation virtual conference. So everything that I've shared the last couple weeks on my channel all comes together tomorrow in a full day live with me. So we're gonna do live coaching, we're gonna build your YouTube strategy together, we're gonna find your topics, your plan, and map out your first videos. The ticket is just $27, so you will want to go get your ticket right now at trenalittle.com/rep. It is $27. If you can't be there live, you will get the replays for 7 days to watch, We're gonna have plenty of Q&As so you can get your questions asked about your offer for your YouTube channel for your business. Okay, so let's jump into why a typical YouTube strategy won't work for you. Here's the thing, there are two completely different ways to use YouTube and almost everyone is following the wrong way if you're a business owner. So most strategies, and I've gone to YouTube conference after YouTube conference, I have worked with YouTubers. I've worked with people building channels of 100,000 subscribers, 1 million subscribers, and their strategy is built for more views, trending topics, clickbait, massive— not massive upload schedules, so to speak, but like overly— I'm trying to say this the right way, but produced content, right? They're playing the algorithm. They're trying to go viral and they are obsessing over more subscribers, more views, right? And when you focus on that strategy, being a YouTuber is a full-time job and it's exhausting. And if you're a business owner, that's already your full-time job. You don't need a strategy that's a second full-time job on top of it. And so that's why, first of all, it's not gonna work for you because you don't have time to follow the YouTube strategy with the time you have. And you don't have to as a business owner because if you follow this YouTube strategy for more views, more subscribers, it's gonna actually build you an audience full of people that will never buy from you. And if you are a coach trying to book clients, if you're a course creator trying to sell your courses, that makes YouTube an absolute waste of your time. Instagram's already a waste of time, so why would you waste your time on something else, right? But for a business owner strategy, you need to be building content videos here on YouTube for your ready-to-buy viewers. These are more specific video topics. These are more intentional video sequences because you don't even need tens of thousands of views to make tens of thousands of dollars in your business. Because if you just get 20 of the right people to your video and 10 of them decide to book a one-on-one with you and you sell a $1,000 one-on-one, that's $10,000 from 20 views. And my client, Belle, is a testament of this. I will, there's a link to the video that I did with her. Or she did 16 videos and made $152,000, and none of these videos got over 150 views, and she had less than 200 subscribers. So I'm telling you, this works. My channel has never been large either, and I've continued to grow my business year in and year out being on YouTube with a small YouTube channel built to drive me ready-to-buy viewers. I'm not just there to attract anybody, so. As I said, I know this because I've lived on both sides. When I was trying to be a YouTuber, so there was a few years ago where I got into my head that I needed the silver play button to look like I was it, like I had made it, right? And so I fell into the YouTuber tropes. I started creating very basic beginner-level videos. I started to create viral-level videos. And I got views. Some of those videos had half a million views on them, but it killed my sales because my audience— and when you think about it, think about your audience, the person that's about ready to pay to work with you. If you're a coach, you know your packages are at least $1,000 or more. Somebody who's going to be willing to spend $1,000 on working with you isn't going to be searching basic level questions. So when I was creating videos like how to put a watermark on your YouTube channel or how to get your first 1,000 subscribers, that wasn't attracting the audience that was going to work with me in the YouTube coaching experience. They needed to see how YouTube was aligned with their business and they were searching more advanced topics about using content to generate leads and sales. Let me know if you're watching if this is making sense. Go ahead and type yes if it is, even if you're catching the replay. Go ahead and type yes if this makes sense. And so what YouTubers teach you, or what people who help YouTubers grow, they teach you to come up with the topic that most people are going to view. But for business owners, when you try to be someone for everyone, you end up being no one for everyone. And your most valuable viewer is not going to be searching those beginner-level topics, okay? So I want you to understand that that's why we don't follow advice for like YouTube growth from YouTubers because our goal isn't the most views and the most subscribers. Our goal is quality of views to send to our offers because that's how you're gonna make money. We're not even relying on YouTube AdSense because that is basically pennies compared to what you could make selling your coaching program, booking clients, selling your courses, all right? So, I've already told you why you don't need more subscribers to make this money, because my client Belle, as I mentioned, I'll reference those videos I have linked below, she had less than 200 subscribers and made $152,000 over the course of 16 videos. And this video has got less than 200 views. Um, you also don't need to post multiple times a week here on YouTube. If you can create one good video and then use it in content in your business. So this is what a lot of people don't realize is YouTube becomes my starting point for my content snowball. So I create a YouTube video that talks to my ready-to-buy viewer, talks about the pain points that they are having right before they decide they wanna work with me, and then I turn that YouTube video into 3 emails and I send those emails out to my list over the course of the week. Yeah, I send 3 emails and, Not only do my YouTube videos sell, but then those emails sell. Those emails build trust, and by getting in their inboxes, they're getting used to learning from me. They're getting used to sensing my vibe, what it's like. I'm building that trust not only in video but in email. Then you could, if you wanted to, turn those into carousel posts if you wanna be on Instagram, but I don't even do Instagram. Last year I decided I was just doing YouTube content and email, and we had the best business year to date in 2025, focusing on just one weekly YouTube video and turning that content into email content to stay front of mind in my audience. So you only need to post one video a week. The other belief that a lot of people think is you need to make beginner content to grow your channel. And I've touched on this a little bit, but I want you, and I use this reference a lot, I want you to think about in the States, us here, we have Thanksgiving. And if you go to a big Thanksgiving event, there's always a kids table, right? And when you're at the kids table, all you dream about is getting to the adult table. And those at the adult table are not wanting to go to the kids table. They done their time, they're at the adult table. And so when you think about beginner level content, that's the kids table, right? Now the kids table will aspire to be that more advanced content at the adults table, right? But the adult table, that more advanced advanced viewer is never gonna be looking for beginner-level content, and that advanced-level viewer is the one that has the money to invest in you, the one that has the actual problems that your offer solves, and so if you aren't creating content for her specifically, you're not going to make sales because she is not gonna go to that beginner-level content, okay? Does that make sense, the difference between, and in my program, I call it Beginner Bettys, and expert Esther. And the type of content that you're creating for these two types of people is very different, but it makes a huge change in how much money you make in your business. Because if you're just making beginner-level content, you're not gonna attract people that have the money to invest in your offer, all right? The other belief, so this is belief 4, is that you need to go viral to make money. Or yeah, to make money from YouTube. And going viral will get you the wrong audience because generally viral videos are more basic level content. And we just talked about why basic level content, basic how-to videos, basic tutorials aren't gonna drive you people that are willing to spend $500 with you, $1,000 with you, $5,000. I had a client have her best ever launch selling a $3,000 program straight from her YouTube videos. Because when you focus on that more advanced person, there's not a lot of saturation in that topic, right? In that more advanced, everybody can do beginner-level content. Beginner-level content is saturated. You wanna rise to the cream of the crop, right? You wanna be the cream of the crop. You wanna be that person that shows up for that specific problem that person has before they whip their credit card out and decide you're the person to solve their problem. So while you may create videos that only get 50 views, 200 views, that is quality viewers versus quantity. Quality will convert, just like I said with Belle, right? Less than 200 subscribers, less than 100 views on her videos, all right? And then finally, I want you to stop thinking of YouTube as just another content platform. And I just had this question come up. And somebody asked, I just want to post my podcast on YouTube. No, just posting podcast content on YouTube isn't going to do you any good because it's not built for YouTube. People come to YouTube with a specific viewing experience. And I, and I try to use this example, although Pinterest isn't as popular as it used to be, but if you just took like a Pinterest optimized image and threw it on Instagram, It wouldn't work because Pinterest images are different than Instagram images, right? And so you can't just think of YouTube as another platform I'm gonna repurpose to. If you want YouTube to work for you, you have to build a YouTube strategy first with your content. Otherwise, you're gonna be wasting your time. I wouldn't even post your podcast on YouTube if you didn't research that topic first, if you didn't come up with a title and thumbnail first for YouTube. 'cause otherwise it's wasting your time. It's not gonna do anything for you. The other thing I want you to realize with YouTube and why YouTube should be your first, why every piece of content you create should start with a YouTube-first strategy, it's 'cause I said this last week, but YouTube is the only platform where AI goes to find answers. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, they are pulling answers from people from YouTube. They're recommending specific creators, they're recommending specific views. If you go back to last Thursday's video, I will link it below. I do a demo, I research specific topics, specific problems in ChatGPT and show you my clients show up in their niche. So you need to be thinking about how are you preparing your business for AI? Have you prepared your business for AI? Have you prepared your content and your reach for AI? And YouTube is the only platform that's going to allow you to do that. Okay, so if you're not supposed to be a YouTuber, what are you supposed to do? You've got to create videos for your ready-to-buy viewer, not beginners, not everyone, one specific person who has the problem your offer solves and is actively searching that solution. Second, you've got to organize those videos into a playlist funnel. It is a series. It's basically a viewer's journey or a buyer's journey. So when somebody finds one video, they're more likely to binge multiple videos because what happens when somebody watches multiple videos from you? Trust increases. They start to decide, do they like you? Because who are people going to buy from? People that they like. The one thing that YouTube does as video is it makes you a human. And if you aren't creating video content in 2026, it is going to be incredibly hard for you to build any type of audience that is going to trust to trust you. And so you need to be building these playlist funnels in a series where people binge multiple videos from you to trust you, to like your style of teaching, to realize you're speaking specifically to them. So by the time they're done binging a couple videos, they're ready to buy. And that is why my clients are able to sell multi-thousand dollar programs straight from YouTube without even a sales call, because they're building that trust through videos on YouTube. And then the third thing is you let YouTube and AI do the distribution for you. Listen, you don't need to be on multiple platforms. I'm not. Why would you? It's so freaking hard. You don't need to dance on Reels and point and do all that garbage. If you create strategic content once a week on a YouTube channel, it's going to work for you for years. That dancing reel, done in a day if you are lucky. And what kind of trust are you building with a dancing reel or a pointing reel or a B-roll reel? What kind of trust are you building when somebody can just watch you for 30 seconds and doesn't even get a sense of who you are? Whereas YouTube, somebody can sit down, binge watch a couple videos, 10 minutes long, be with you 30 to 40 minutes while you're out living your life because you already made the YouTube videos. So they could be watching you for 30, 40 minutes, videos from last year, and realize this is the exact person I want to learn from. Boom, I'm gonna buy from her. Where do I find where to work with her, right? So this is the importance of building a YouTube strategy, and I'm going to tell you exactly how to do that at the Build Your Big Reputation virtual conference tomorrow. So if you've not got your ticket, if you know that you want to focus on YouTube to future-proof from AI, to stop wasting your time on content that does absolutely nothing for you, 2 days from now, get your ticket for the Build Your Big Reputation. The link is trenalittle.com/rep. I also have it linked below. We're having a full day together. It's from 11:00 AM Eastern to 3:00 PM Eastern. There are replays if you can't make it live, but I'm telling you to be there live because I'm gonna be answering your questions. We're gonna be doing an entire live coaching session as well. So you can submit your coaching questions in advance. And this is how you're going to understand how you're gonna build your first playlist funnel for YouTube. So that by the time you're posting video 4 or 5, you're seeing either your email list grow, your client inquiries increase, or you're starting to see sales into your offer. That is what this is all about. It's just $27 to join me. If you already have your ticket, go ahead and say, "I'm in already," because when you approach YouTube like a business owner, that's how you can start working just 25 hours a week, creating one piece of content every single week, that works for years. Okay, now I want to see if you've got any, any questions. I did see Shan Beach says, that makes so much sense. I also wanted to see Lorena. Hello, Lorena is a client of mine. I was searching for someone who teaches YouTube the way you do for years. Everyone teaches gets lots of views and become famous, but I wanted to reach the right people. Absolutely. I teach you how to reach the right people. I've asked this before. Oh no, where are we going? We want— I've lost you. We want to create content. I think it's this guy. Oh man, there we are. You want to create videos that generate sales. Right? Not views. Because you can tell me in the chat, what is more important to you, sales or views? For me and my clients, which are coaches, which are course creators, they are there to get sales. Yes, sand beach. Okay, listen, you guys, I've been testing out this livestream thing. This hasn't been my thing for a while, but you can see the technical difficulties as we do this. I am gonna actually be teaching my clients in May how I used YouTube as a live lead generator. So we've been using YouTube as a live lead generator and I'm gonna be sharing all my results to my clients in May. So this is the first time that I've been doing live in a very long time. It was very strategic and then I'm gonna break down the strategy that I did, how it worked, what worked, and how my clients can implement a live strategy as well on YouTube in May. If you're interested in more about my coaching program, we're going to be talking more about it on Thursday. So make sure you're subscribed for Thursday's livestream because I'm going to be sharing with you something about my program that is brand new for 2026. Um, and I can't wait to share that with you. But in the meantime, make sure you guys have a ticket for tomorrow, um, at trenalittle.com/rep. We're going to wrap this series for today. If you've got questions, leave it in the chat. I will be circling back to the replay. Thank you guys so much for being here. Today, and I cannot wait to spend the day with you tomorrow if you are going to be at the Build Your Big Reputation virtual conference. Thank you everyone. Have a good day.