Diego Liu
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Back in 2020, I desperately wanted to make enough money for myself so I could drop out of Dentistry. After trying out many things online (mainly action-fakes), I wrote this email to John Sonmez from Bulldog Mindset (I actually found out about MJ and his books through this interview John did with him):
Subject line: Get WAY more out of Bulldog Mindset YouTube Channel (Proposition)
Long story short, after making a video for fellow fastlaner @Private Witt (shoutout to you, mate!), I leveraged this first gig I'd done to propose to John that I'd like to insert some animatics in his videos to make them more engaging and hopefully boost the views (I saw that he had 250k+ subscribers and golden content but low average views and therefore wanted to solve his traffic problem).
He gladly accepted my offer, and a week later, I dropped out of Dentistry, moved out, and have started working for him full-time remotely since then (you can read my full 6-week crazy transformation story here (Insiders only)).
Some people did like these inserted animatics:
However, several months into it, we saw no major difference in the view count and decided to drop it and go back to normal editing.
Meanwhile, I also uploaded videos onto a second channel: Bulldog Mindset Clips.
At first, I took segments from the main channel and made cringy animatic videos out of them as well. Like this one:
Animating turned out pretty time-consuming, and since they were only 1-3 minutes long, the average watch time was low and unfavorable for the algorithm. So, 10 videos later, I dropped that too and pivoted the channel to JRE Clips-style, clipping out mainly interview segments and just slapping a click-baity title & thumbnail onto them:
If I didn't promote a clip on the community tab on the main channel, a typical clip would only get a couple hundred views. Even a promoted clip that got 1k+ views and had a very good click-through rate (over 10% in the first 24 hours) would eventually trail off.
The channel was growing pretty slowly as a whole, and I kept banging my head against the wall (sometimes literally).
Finally, in June of 2021, I found 3 instances where John talked about why you should stay single in your 20s and posted them as a 3-part series of clips:
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.1)
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.2)
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.3)
Then a lightbulb popped in my head:
"Hey, why don't I synthesize them into a single video?"
The turning point came after I made this video:
Although this video only got 3-400 views in the first 24 hours, I knew I was onto something.
I pivoted again and renamed the channel to "Bulldog Mindset Highlights." I continued making similar videos where I clipped out segments talking about a common theme and turned them into a single curated, higher-quality video with B-rolls and background music.
A typical highlight video would take me 40+ hours to make, but putting in that time and effort has paid off and made the channel gain consistent traction. The channel has only 5.1k subscribers as of the time I'm writing now, and a video I made a month ago already has 13k+ views and continues to grow:
The highlights channel got 90k views in the last 28 days, around one-third of what the main channel got (302k views) with only less than 2% of the number of subscribers. It's on a decent trajectory, and I believe it's only the beginning. By tweaking a few more things and implementing the right strategies, I see it's totally possible for the channel to surpass 1M views/month this year.
I want to use this thread to...
1. Document my execution process
2. Clarify my thoughts
3. Share what I've learned along the way & provide value to other fastlaners looking to get traffic from YouTube
4. Stay accountable
Also, a few notes and disclaimers:
1. Although now the highlights channel is more focused on mindset, Bulldog Mindset has some content related to the red pill, pickup, and dating. While I mostly agree with John's views on those topics, I'm only concerned with doing the best job on delivery & packaging and serving the audience the best videos they'd want to watch. So please don't make criticisms or comments on the content itself. Thank you.
2. This isn't exactly a fastlane business. However, since I get 50% of the ad revenue the channel makes, I see myself taking on a role of a linchpin/intrepreneur, figuring out how to maximize YouTube traffic for a business owner with some incentives & skin in the game, different from most freelancers & editors performing a designated task.
3. This violates the Commandment of Control. I'm totally aware that YouTube can change its terms & algorithms, take down/demonetize the channel, or get shut down any second. Nevertheless, I don't believe that's likely to happen anytime soon because YouTube gets 1 billion of watch hours every day and just gets bigger and bigger every year. Plus, I'm not making particularly controversial or graphic videos either.
It's a chance I'm willing to take since I need focus at this stage. Moreover, I know the skills I'll have learned in human psychology and making great content people want to consume can be applied onto other platforms.
4. John Sonmez has personally approved of me writing this thread and sharing the inside content production process.
Other than monetary incentives, I'm grateful that while in a JOB, as a 23-year-old who hasn't achieved much in life, with a successful boss/mentor having made all the content and done most of the heavy-lifting, I'm contributing to making a positive impact in other people's lives:
More posts coming soon.
Subject line: Get WAY more out of Bulldog Mindset YouTube Channel (Proposition)
Long story short, after making a video for fellow fastlaner @Private Witt (shoutout to you, mate!), I leveraged this first gig I'd done to propose to John that I'd like to insert some animatics in his videos to make them more engaging and hopefully boost the views (I saw that he had 250k+ subscribers and golden content but low average views and therefore wanted to solve his traffic problem).
He gladly accepted my offer, and a week later, I dropped out of Dentistry, moved out, and have started working for him full-time remotely since then (you can read my full 6-week crazy transformation story here (Insiders only)).
Some people did like these inserted animatics:
However, several months into it, we saw no major difference in the view count and decided to drop it and go back to normal editing.
Meanwhile, I also uploaded videos onto a second channel: Bulldog Mindset Clips.
At first, I took segments from the main channel and made cringy animatic videos out of them as well. Like this one:
Animating turned out pretty time-consuming, and since they were only 1-3 minutes long, the average watch time was low and unfavorable for the algorithm. So, 10 videos later, I dropped that too and pivoted the channel to JRE Clips-style, clipping out mainly interview segments and just slapping a click-baity title & thumbnail onto them:
If I didn't promote a clip on the community tab on the main channel, a typical clip would only get a couple hundred views. Even a promoted clip that got 1k+ views and had a very good click-through rate (over 10% in the first 24 hours) would eventually trail off.
The channel was growing pretty slowly as a whole, and I kept banging my head against the wall (sometimes literally).
Finally, in June of 2021, I found 3 instances where John talked about why you should stay single in your 20s and posted them as a 3-part series of clips:
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.1)
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.2)
Why You Should Stay Single in Your 20s (Pt.3)
Then a lightbulb popped in my head:
"Hey, why don't I synthesize them into a single video?"
The turning point came after I made this video:
Although this video only got 3-400 views in the first 24 hours, I knew I was onto something.
I pivoted again and renamed the channel to "Bulldog Mindset Highlights." I continued making similar videos where I clipped out segments talking about a common theme and turned them into a single curated, higher-quality video with B-rolls and background music.
A typical highlight video would take me 40+ hours to make, but putting in that time and effort has paid off and made the channel gain consistent traction. The channel has only 5.1k subscribers as of the time I'm writing now, and a video I made a month ago already has 13k+ views and continues to grow:
The highlights channel got 90k views in the last 28 days, around one-third of what the main channel got (302k views) with only less than 2% of the number of subscribers. It's on a decent trajectory, and I believe it's only the beginning. By tweaking a few more things and implementing the right strategies, I see it's totally possible for the channel to surpass 1M views/month this year.
I want to use this thread to...
1. Document my execution process
2. Clarify my thoughts
3. Share what I've learned along the way & provide value to other fastlaners looking to get traffic from YouTube
4. Stay accountable
Also, a few notes and disclaimers:
1. Although now the highlights channel is more focused on mindset, Bulldog Mindset has some content related to the red pill, pickup, and dating. While I mostly agree with John's views on those topics, I'm only concerned with doing the best job on delivery & packaging and serving the audience the best videos they'd want to watch. So please don't make criticisms or comments on the content itself. Thank you.
2. This isn't exactly a fastlane business. However, since I get 50% of the ad revenue the channel makes, I see myself taking on a role of a linchpin/intrepreneur, figuring out how to maximize YouTube traffic for a business owner with some incentives & skin in the game, different from most freelancers & editors performing a designated task.
3. This violates the Commandment of Control. I'm totally aware that YouTube can change its terms & algorithms, take down/demonetize the channel, or get shut down any second. Nevertheless, I don't believe that's likely to happen anytime soon because YouTube gets 1 billion of watch hours every day and just gets bigger and bigger every year. Plus, I'm not making particularly controversial or graphic videos either.
It's a chance I'm willing to take since I need focus at this stage. Moreover, I know the skills I'll have learned in human psychology and making great content people want to consume can be applied onto other platforms.
4. John Sonmez has personally approved of me writing this thread and sharing the inside content production process.
Other than monetary incentives, I'm grateful that while in a JOB, as a 23-year-old who hasn't achieved much in life, with a successful boss/mentor having made all the content and done most of the heavy-lifting, I'm contributing to making a positive impact in other people's lives:
More posts coming soon.
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