Learn why a Youtube Channel is one of the best ways for Health Coaches and Nutrition Experts to grow their audiences

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Caitlin V went from being a sex researcher to a successful sex and relationship coach who helps men all over the world break free of the anxiety and fear that comes from not being able to perform in the bedroom.

Her success is partly in thanks to her YouTube channel, which has reached a whopping 170k subscribers and has made Caitlin as much as a half a million dollars in revenue.

In this conversation, Caitlin tells us what inspired her to start a YouTube channel as a sex and relationship coach, and her secrets for smashing success.

Show Notes:

2:02 - What inspired Caitlin to start sharing her message on YouTube

I started sharing my message on YouTube because I was invited to be a part of another YouTubers video. So a friend of a friend I was introduced to, we had a great chat at a networking event and he just so happened to have a YouTube channel. He had about a quarter million subscribers at that time and he said, "Oh, you're a sex coach. I talk to shy guys." His niche is shy guys, shy single guys. And he said, "Oh, I'd love to have you on to talk about squirting." Which is the Internet's favorite subject. I mean, that's a goldmine right there. So I really thought nothing of it, I thought, "Okay. Yeah, sure. Everybody wants to talk about that." He came over to my house, I filmed, it was very low key.

I never really expected that much to come of it, but the video went viral and gained like 6 million views in the first couple months that it was out. It was his largest success to date as a YouTuber.

I suddenly went from having like a video up on YouTube to needing a website, an email address, a channel, because there were thousands of people that were now looking to work with me. So it was very, very fortunate in the sense that I stepped my foot into the pool and then I found myself kind of drowning in it.

I don't think I would have started a YouTube channel if I hadn't seen how powerful right off the bat, even just appearing in one video truly was and how effective it was, how easily people connected to seeing you on video and then wanting to work with you one on one.

7:59 - What makes a truly great YouTube video

The subject needs to be interesting. But I think what a YouTube channel should really focus on is solving problems. Because as a coach, that's already, that's what we do. That's our gift. That's what we can do.

YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. And why do people turn to YouTube? They turn to YouTube because they have a problem.

I think the best thing that you can do in order to gain traction, especially early on in the genesis of your channel is to answer problems.

9:41 - How to craft YouTube videos that make people actually want to sign up for your coaching services

There's a sweet spot in video creation between illuminating the problem and letting them know how much it's really costing them to continue to ignore solving that problem, and then setting yourself up to be the answer.

It's great if people enjoyed your video from an entertainment perspective and if they got a lot of education out of it, but if they don't also see you as the answer to the problem, then you're going to get subscribers, you'll get likes, but you're not actually going to get customers.

12:04 - Why having a bunch of subscribers isn’t exactly the end goal

”It's very nice to have 170,000 subscribers. Don't get me wrong. I love that. I love that and I plan on continuing to attract more subscribers, but it doesn't matter at all because what actually matters is the number of people that want to work with me. So if I had 300 subscribers that every single person was chomping at the bit to be my one on one coaching client, that would be better than having 3000 like fair weather fans that are willing to watch a video, but will never actually invest in anything that I have to offer.”

12:38 - The one essential element to a successful YouTube channel

”YouTube is a repetition game. You have to be submitting a video every single week. That's kind of the best case scenario. And if you miss a week after you have some traction, you'll actually see your numbers go down. And I don't say that to scare you, I say that because it's very important that you know that before you get started. If you intend to be successful on YouTube, you have to commit to doing the work.

13:29 - How to attract subscribers that will eventually turn into clients

As coaches, we want to help everybody. But we can’t. And we shouldn’t.

I try to stay as specific to my niche as possible, which is men who suffer from lack of confidence, lack of know how, premature ejaculation, and early onset erectile dysfunction. That is my sweet spot. Those are the guys that found me, actually, I didn't set out on YouTube saying that's what was going to be my audience, but those are the people that found me and wanted to work with me. And so I continued to make more and more content that appeals to them and not just to them, but I also make content that is slightly polarizing.

And what I mean by that is that it's going to cause someone to have an opinion and move to one end of a spectrum.

If I make a video and everyone that watches that just goes like, "Yeah, that was nice." Then I have failed.

I need to make a video where a certain percentage of people go, "Oh, I did not like this woman. I am unsubscribing from her channel. I don't want to, I don't want any of this stuff in my life anymore." That's actually a good thing for me. I want people who are my people and my people they tend to be open-minded. That's my ideal client.

And so yes, I have put some videos out there that from a numbers perspective, damaged my channel, because I lost subscribers. People did not like that video. They gave it a thumbs down, but those videos almost always end up being the ones that attract the clients that I'm looking for. And so it's a longterm game and obviously there's some pros and cons that you have to weigh, especially early on as you're getting started.

16:08 - How Caitlin has maintained a thick skin and kept her confidence, even among criticism

When I started my YouTube channel, I really felt very identified with it. Like there was no distinction between the me that you're talking to and the me that you saw on YouTube, we were like collapsed as one thing. And so anything that anyone said mean about me, I was just so hurt.

And for a while, I just stopped reading the comments.

I highly recommend as a coach that you need to be working with your own coach. And my coach sort of pointed out to me reflected back to me how my ego could be so easily swayed by a nice thing that someone said or a mean thing that they said. So I had to develop a different relationship with YouTube where I wasn't so identified with the channel, which gave me a lot of a lot more freedom because then it was okay for me. It's okay for people to say hateful things because it's not about me.

18:22 - Why Caitlin is sometimes thankful for negative comments on her YouTube videos

Being familiar with the critiques and the criticism that people had in some ways has also helped me to develop a better videos and understand where people are hurting.

But I will say in the world of YouTube for the most part, any press is good press. So even if someone leaves a nasty comment, they left a comment, they hated you enough to leave a comment, be grateful.

They went out of their way to click the thumbs down. They had to at least generate enough energy and vitriol to click thumbs down.

There's a really great video short, if you search like Kat Williams, “Haters”, you can watch a little 30 second clip of his standup where he says essentially that haters are an indication that you're doing your job. A hater's job is to hate. And so don't try to stop them from doing their job. You keep doing your job and know that the more haters you attract in some ways, the better you're doing.

18:22 - Caitlin’s practical advice for starting a YouTube Channel

My biggest piece of advice is use your cell phone and the light from a window. You already have both. If you're listening to this right now, you have everything that you need to get YouTube channels started, that's it! Your camera, your smartphone has a better camera in it, than your laptop when you're doing a Zoom call, and it likely has a better camera in it than you're going to get for like $200 or $300.

You don't need any additional apps. You don't need any additional software. You can live stream directly from your phone. You can live stream on Facebook, YouTube, whatever you can do video from your phone so easily. So all you really need to get started there is you just face a window because natural sunlight is the most flattering light, and turn on your camera, turn it sideways to make it landscape.

21:31 - Caitlin’s favorite tech tool for filming high-quality videos

Get a microphone, you want to get a Lavalier microphone. You can find it on the internet for very, very cheap. Mine is like $60, but I recently saw one that's like $18, it's not expensive. People will forgive bad video, but they will not forgive that audio.

22:03 - Why perfection is the enemy of the beginner YouTuber

The other piece of advice that I really want to share is just create content. We get so stuck on making things perfect. If you go to my channel right now and you look at the first couple of videos I posted, they're awful, they're awful! Their lighting is bad. The sound is like... Everything about them is bad. And I never ever look back. I only ever look forward.

The only way to get better is to do it.

If you want to be a writer, you have to write, if you want to be YouTuber, you got to get on video. So don't wait until you have the perfect thing or that you know exactly what you want to say, or you got the message carved just for your audience. Just go mess it up, go F it up, go F it up again.

And again and again, and again, and guess what? You F it up a hundred times and then you'll really find something that sticks and your audience loves it.

If you liked this interview, be sure to check out Caitlin at caitlinvneal.com and head on over to her Free Content page, where you can start the journey to a better sex life today.

Further Reading:

Push the Damn Button! 4 Steps to Rocking Your Livestream (Whether it’s your 1st or 100th time)

How Entrepreneurs Can Stop and Recognize Limiting Beliefs in their Tracks - With Becky Mollenkamp

How this Nutritionist Teaches Clients How to Make Daily Decisions for Long Term Success - With Sandi Star

How to Practice Transformational Self Care for your Business and Self - with Kyla Maki

Getting Started, growing your business, youtube

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