How I Grew from 0 to 100K Subscribers in 4 Months (My Exact Strategy)

0:00 In my first year of YouTube, I followed the expert advice. Post weekly, pick a niche, use keywords. But my channel at the end was absolutely nowhere. And looking back, I realized that I was making seven mistakes that nearly killed my channel. And it might be killing yours, too. But once I fixed them, everything changed. I went from zero to 100,000 subscribers in just 4 months. But let's start with the first mistake. Mistake number one, not giving the algorithm what it wants. Last year, I called the director of product at YouTube. Now, we used to work together at Uber. So, I thought she will tell me the secrets of how can I crack the algorithm? And right into the call, I said, "Hey, look, I think I'm shadowbanned. I've been posting every week. My videos are good, but I'm just

0:47 not getting anywhere. Like, like should I start a new channel?" And she looked at me, she's like, "Dude, like you don't need a new channel. you're not shadowbanned. Just start posting things that people click on and that they keep watching. And I was like, wait, that's it? That's your secret advice. At first, I was pissed, right? I thought she was holding back her secrets. But later, I realized this is the secret. The success on YouTube comes down to two things. One, do people click on your video? That's usually your title and your thumbnail. Study what is out there and then hire a professional thumbnail designer. Second, do people keep watching? And the number one way to keep people watching is to tell stories. Stories create curiosity. They build a

1:33 connection. They keep people hooked. Once I focus on those two things, my channel exploded. But I guess the next mistake is probably the most common one I see for small creators. Mistake number two, talking about small ideas. Now, early on, I made videos about small tactical things like here are three exercises to tell better stories or here are the five elements of a great story. Now, not bad topics, but too small to go viral. If you want your videos to blow up, you need a big bold tangible idea. Like the kind of ideas that make someone stop scrolling and say, "I think I need this." Now, let me show you the difference. Instead of saying one way to

2:19 boost views, say how I got a million views with one simple change. Or instead of saying here are three books for entrepreneurs, try to say three books that made my first 100,000. Now, do you see the shift? One is a tip, the other one is a transformation. The bigger your idea, the bigger your reach. Mistake number three, solving a nice to have. A few weeks ago, a friend asked me if I could help him grow his channel, and I said, "Yeah, cool. obviously what's your channel about and he said well I want to help people become more trustworthy and asked okay but that's cool but what is the problem that you're solving for he paused and he said well that people are not trustworthy enough and I told him dude no one is on YouTube

3:04 at 2 in the morning thinking h how do I become more trustworthy that's not a pain point it's a nice to have if you want to grow your channel solve real problems problems s that people feel in their gut. They're like, "Ah, why don't people listen to me? How do I speak with more confidence? Why are my videos getting no views?" Those are pain points. If your video is not addressing that core pain point or frustration, your videos will go nowhere. Mistake number four, trying to be too original. Well, that one cost me so much time. I tried to reinvent the wheel every single time. New title, new concept, new hook, but most of it, it just flopped. Then I realized smart creators, they don't start from scratch. They reverse

3:51 engineer what already works. And what I do now is I study some of the top performing videos. I then drop those transcripts into chat GBT and then try to find patterns in their hooks, in their intros, everywhere. I then use that proven structure to help me shape my message. Now, the core message of my video still stays 100% original, but now it's just packed in a way that really grabs attention. But the next mistake is probably the most common one I see amongst creators. Mistake number five, talking instead of showing. When I first got into storytelling, I watched hundreds of videos on YouTube on the topic. But do you know what I noticed? They talked about storytelling, but none of them told a story or gave an example.

4:38 And I was like, what the f, right? How can you talk about storytelling but not share a single story? And I realized that this isn't just a storytelling problem. It's a general creator problem. People talk about the things, but they don't show the things in action. For example, in one of my most viral videos, I didn't just explain storytelling. Instead, I shared a short story of John Krasinski, how he tells a story. And that video got 1.5 million views. So I guess whatever your niche is, try to bring it to life. For example, you are a car mechanic, well then show how you clean the engine. If you are a fitness instructor, well then just don't talk about it, but demonstrate the exercise. Or I guess if you're an interior designer, show us how you rearrange the

5:25 furniture. Show, don't just tell. But the next mistake is actually the one that nearly killed my channel. Mistake number six, trying to game the system. Back in my early days, I posted for about six months, but growth was really nowhere. I had I think like a hundred subscribers, nothing. And you know, like I'm impatient. I wanted this fast track. So, I found this guy on Upwork and he had like 200 completed jobs, 100% fivestar reviews. Like, he seemed super legit. And he said, "Well, yeah, I can give you 200 real subscribers every week." And when I heard this, I cool, right? I want 200 real subscribers every week. And yeah, I was just desperate. And so I said yes. One month later, I had 800 new subs. I was like, hell yeah,

6:13 that stuff works. But then I checked some of the subscribers and it was like Cooking with Nathia, The Gaming Hub, Makeup Toronto, and I was like, dude, this is not my target audience. Obviously, that had nothing to do with my niche of storytelling. But here's the problem. The moment I published a video, well, YouTube showed that to my subscribers first. Obviously, they had zero interest in my videos on storytelling because, well, they cared about videos on cooking or gaming. And that told YouTube, well, this is not good stuff. Let's stop promoting it. It took me months to recover from that. So, please don't try to game the system. Mistake number seven, not batching my content. In my first year, YouTube took over my life. Like I would script on

6:59 Monday, then I'd record on Tuesday, then I edit on Wednesday. One week took me full three days and then it got like 200 views and I thought, dang, like that is a terrible return on investment. I'm a business guy. Today I also post one highquality video per week. But what changed? Today I spend 3 hours on this per week. 3 hours on my entire content creation. So what do I do differently? First, I spend about two hours per week writing one script. I then take that script and discuss it with my coach, Jacob, and that's pretty much it for that week. I do nothing more than that. But then after 8 weeks, once I have then eight solid scripts, well, then I just record all of them in one day in this

7:46 studio. One camera setup, one deep focus day, and eight videos done. I then take all those videos and I give them to my editor. Now, that's how you stay consistent without burning out. Look, those seven mistakes nearly killed my channel. But once I fixed them, everything changed. But still, my biggest unlock, storytelling. Storytelling has helped me more than anything else boost my retention, go viral, and grow my business at the end. But I know storytelling can sometimes feel pretty overwhelming when you're just starting off. If you want some tips on how to become a magnetic storyteller, check out this next video where I share my favorite storytelling techniques. See you there. [Music]