I’ve been there: Feeling overwhelmed, alone, and uninspired. Thankfully, we can help with that. Recently at Vidsummit, I got the opportunity to sit down with Rob Wilson, Ingrid, and Sam and we had a very open conversation about what if feels like to be a YouTube creator and how having a coach can help you to work through roadblocks and feel confident in what you’re doing.

Are Coaches Necessary?

Think about professional sport professionals and singers. They are all at the top of their field, yet they all have coaches. Having someone on the outside looking in and giving you an objective prospective is a vital part of getting you the results you want.

But besides that, having someone come alongside you in the emotional rollercoaster of YouTube might be even more valuable for your longterm success. Having another human beside you to validate you, bounce ideas off of, and celebrate with you is such a vital thing for a creator. Don’t get me wrong. ChatGPT and AI is great, but without the human element you are really missing out on the biggest support that you need. You need someone who can understand you and help you develop a vision for 3 months and 6 months out. You need someone to see your blind spots and help you develop the skills you need to reach your goals.

Emotion on YouTube

AI has come a long way, but it lacks the emotional connection that you can only get from another human. Emotion has been a key driver on YouTube for years. Back when YouTube first started, keywords made a huge impact. But YouTube learned really quickly that they couldn’t rely on the information people were inputting to find the best video to surface. So about 10 years ago, they made a switch to rely on viewer signals like watch time, retention, viewer satisfaction, etc, to make the decision of what video gets surfaced first. The content that elicites these positive viewer signals is what gets pushed out to more people. This is how the focus turned to emotional connections through storytelling and primal branding and eliciting emotion from your viewer. This is why we are always saying, “Optimize for people, not robots.” Do do this well, you really need another person helping you, not a robot.

What Makes a Good Coach

But not every human is qualified to be a good coach, right? A good coach needs to have a vision for the channel as well as a vision for how to get to that goal. Yet, this coach needs to be flexible and take into account where the energy level is for the creator. A good coach needs to have a high level of empathy, listening and communication skills and hold hold the creator accountable. Also, the ability to take a complex issue and explain it in a way that makes sense is a huge asset.

What is not necessary is for your coach to have more subscribers than you. I get it. It’s logical to think, if I’ve been “more successful” then them, what can they teach me?? But really, it’s less about your coach having more subs than you, but more about if they know the right questions to ask. Do they know how to poke at the right things in the right way at the right time to get you the results that you want? Do they have all the skills I mentioned above? You could have a billion subs and lack all the elements it takes to help others succeed. The two really aren’t as related as you may think.

Being Coachable

Another key part of coaching is to be coachable yourself. You can get the best possible coach that money can buy, but if you just want a yes man who is going to tell you that you don’t need to change anything and just blame the algorithm, then you won’t find success. Many creators are in a place of “subconscious incompetence.” They are not aware of the blind spots of why they aren’t growing. The question becomes, once they are made aware of these things, how do they react? Do they see their faults and accept the help gratefully or do they shut down and deny the facts because change is uncomfortable? How do you react? That is a question each one of us has to answer for ourselves to decide if we are are ready to be coached.

If you think you want this for yourself, ​we can help!​ Availability is pretty sparse, but hop on our waiting list and let us help you reach more people and change more lives.

Power Tip

YouTube just updated the mobile experience to really polish up the viewing experience. One of these updates is the lock screen feature. This will allow you to lock the screen and not worry about you or your child accidentally clicking out of the video. Another feature they added is that if you hold to the right side of the screen, you can watch a video in double speed.

Another update is that on mobile they created a new tab called “you” which combines your library and account page together to make it a little more streamlined. So whether you’re watching more of mobile or a desktop, YouTube wants your experience to be enjoyable.

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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