The Biggest Opportunity for Video Creators This Year (And How to Win)

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YOUTUBE 📚 THE READING LIFE 📚 PATREON

📚 Hey! Time to win.

YouTube is seeing a massive rush of creators going ALL-IN this year, but it’s not too late for you and I. Not by a long shot.

There’s sooo much opportunity on that platform right now, and when you consider that 90% of people on platforms like LinkedIn don’t even post anything, you’ve gotta wonder what that percentage look like on YouTube…

My guess is that it’s even less.

Now, I got my numbers here from ChatGPT, but it’s likely only 1-5% of users on YouTube ACTUALLY post videos! The rest is just made up of consumers of videos. Eyeballs for the advertisers. That’s 95% of people on YouTube, whereas the AD MONEY is flowing to the other 5%.

I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell intend to stay a member of that 5%.

Of course, that’s because it makes sense for me business-wise, and I actually ENJOY creating videos. I’m not saying EVERYONE has to become a YouTuber.

But if it makes sense for you in the SLIGHTEST…

Then NOW is the time!

To help my latest video perform better, I started split-testing my thumbnails, which means to test them against each other (automatically, via YouTube) and see which one gets the highest clicks.

If you want to get serious about YouTube this year, you NEED to start getting serious about thumbnail design, split-testing, coming up with viral hooks/titles, and all the major drivers of YouTube video success.

Here’s what my current split test looks like:

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Now, over the next few days, the YouTube algorithm will test these three versions against each other and eventually pick a winner. That will be the version of the thumbnail that’s shown going forward, and it’ll be the BEST-PERFORMING one too.

All the major channels are doing this (same with title changes, although as of right now you can’t do that automatically within YouTube yet), and it’s one of their secret weapons.

I’ll be sharing everything I’m learning about YouTube with you guys, but the critical importance of topics + titles + thumbnails is something I’ll be hammering on REPEATEDLY.

Everything depends on earning that click.

The video in question is actually a pretty cool one (if I may say so myself) about NFL star AJ Brown and how he made this one particular book FAMOUS - practically overnight - simply by being seen reading it on the sidelines during a recent game.

Here’s the video:

NFL Star AJ Brown (Finally) Made This Book FAMOUS

If you want my personal help to add between $1-5K/month in monthly recurring revenue to your business, and grow your audience and authority by leaps and bounds at the same time, The Competitive Advantage community is exactly where you need to be. Join here.

1. Launch, by Jeff Walker

2. The Strange Library, by Haruki Murakami

3. The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett

4. Do the Hard Things First, by Scott Allan

Within My Direct Control:

Publish 14 Reading Life Issues | 11 Newsletters Left

Publish 12 New Course Videos | 12 Videos Left

Publish 15 YouTube Videos | 10 Videos Left

Publish 150 Medium Articles | 148 Articles Left

Completely Update Instagram Profile | In Progress

Completely Update YouTube Channel | In Progress

Update 30 Patreon Book Notes | 20 Book Notes Left

Not Within My Direct Control:

Get Monetized on YouTube | 3,447 Watch Hours Left (13.8% Complete)

Negotiate 12 Newsletter Partnerships | 12 Partnerships Left

Organize 12 Instagram Collaborations | 11 Collaborations Left

Reach 120,000 Instagram Followers | 4,263 Followers Left

Reach 25,000 Threads Followers | 2,000 Followers Left

Reach 9,000 Twitter Followers | 1,070 Followers Left

Reach 2,200 Medium Followers | 157 Followers Left

Reach 1,400 Facebook Followers | 95 Followers Left

Reach 2,000 LinkedIn Followers | 898 Followers Left

Reach 5,000 YouTube Subscribers | 3,347 Subscribers Left

Reach 10,000 Reading Life Subscribers | 4,999 Subscribers Left

Reach 1,000 Competitive Advantage Subscribers | 321 Subscribers Left

Reach 50 Competitive Advantage Members | 4 Members Left

Reach 50 Patreon Supporters | 12 Supporters Left

Note: I’ll update follower counts once per week, since it’s such a waste of time to go through all of them every single night. Also, Threads annoyingly doesn’t give exact numbers. Oh well.

Publish 3 Reading Life Issues | 3 Newsletters Left

Publish 3 New Course Videos | 3 Videos Left

Publish 4 YouTube Videos | 3 Videos Left

Publish 30 Medium Articles | 30 Articles Left

Upload New VSL for Skool Community | Editing Now

Update 10 Patreon Book Notes | 10 Book Notes Left

Note: “Week Three” Runs From January 15th-21st

Woke Up: 11:00AM

Sleep Quality: 95%

Pages Read: 95

Workout: Rest Day

Work Completed:

Posted 1x on Instagram

Posted 3x on Twitter

Posted 3x on Threads

Posted 2x on LinkedIn

Posted 2x on Facebook

Published 1 YouTube Video

Worked on Current Author Campaigns

Worked on Feel-Good Productivity Breakdown

Hosted Bi-Weekly Coaching Call within The Competitive Advantage

Managed Paid Competitive Advantage Community

Completely Organized My Workflow for Tomorrow

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I reached 5,000 newsletter subscribers today! Not on this one, but my other one, The Reading Life. MASSIVE win, and I feel GREAT! Been riding high all day.

The latest YouTube video is a lot better production-wise than my others, and I’m finally kinda hitting my stride there too. Looking forward to lots of growth there this year.

Lots to do tomorrow, of course, but I’m up for it!

But hey, it’s 3:23AM here right now and I’m going to bed!

All the best,

Matt Karamazov

P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are three more ways I can help you:

1. Work with me personally to scale your business past $5K per month and experience the intoxicating freedom of finally being in control of both your time and your income. High-performers only.

2. Become a Premium Member of The Reading Life and enjoy unlimited access to 150+ Premium Book Breakdowns, my complete notes from 1,300+ books, exclusive discounts, monthly donations made on your behalf to an incredible literacy charity, and more!

3. Join The Competitive Advantage, my private business mastermind for creators looking to add at least$1,000/month to their revenue and save at least 20+ hours of productive time each and every week.