He got monetized in 1 month, in just 9 videos.

That's probably the quickest I've seen anyone get monetized.

His name is Tristen.

He'll make more in 2 days from AdSense than I'll do this entire month.

And I couldn't be happier for him.

You might be asking...

Is he some kind of YouTube savant? No

Does he at least know what he's doing? He'll say no, but more-so than most.

Does he make great videos? Actually yes, he's wonderful on camera, knows his subject and edits like a pro.

But there's a lot more to it.

Tristen makes educational AI content, and all things AI are blowing up right now.

There's nothing wrong with being on the right side of a trend, it's as clear as day.

BUT his 0 → 22k Subs in 1 month success wasn't exactly an accident, or from picking the right niche…

We engineered this.

When Tristen and I first started working together, he was making cool AI videos about random AI use cases that were mostly bespoke (things he created for himself).

• An AI agent to order Chipotle? ✅
• An AI agent to build a custom learning curriculum? ✅
• An AI agent to increase revenue in his gum-ball machine side hustle? Also ✅

They were cool and fun, but I suspected they wouldn't have broad appeal or be simple to package.

We struggled to find our footing with these videos.

So we started to study the field and examine what videos were performing well in the broader AI niche.

And what we found was that Claude by Anthropic was, shall we say, having a moment. 😎

In fact, we're still in the middle of an epic 4-month wave of new Anthropic releases shipping at break-neck speed.

Between new AI models, refreshed applications, brand new features and capabilities and giving the US Military the middle finger 🖕, Claude somehow overtook ChatGPT as the number 1 AI tool in the App Store.

AI Twitter and YouTube still cannot shut up about Claude, and vidIQ's keyword research tool proves it.

When a keyword you know a lot about has 7 million monthly searches, you make a video on it, and it doesn't matter if the competition is high.

You take a shot.

Here's what we knew:

• Tristen's avatar wasn't technical
• Tristen also works a full-time job that has him traveling which meant limited time (15-30 minute deep dives were out of the question).

So we leaned into beginner friendly content to help people get just a little taste of the topic without a huge time commitment.

He kept the video short, and hit the highlights without jargon or overload.

Then modeled a thumbnail concept he liked ⬇️

I like Tristen's better, but that top video got 3.1 million views so it gets a pass.

And for the title, 2 click triggers: "getting ahead" and "ease of understanding".

Killer combo.

His video has over 600k views in 2 weeks. 🚀

And still getting 2000 views per hour. 🤯

The appetite for beginner friendly AI content is insatiable, but competition is also fierce.

And this is where his time constraint actually became an asset.

Most AI videos are 15-30 minutes.

Some are 4 hours. 😳

And yes those can work if you're catering to students or highly technical folks looking to get into the weeds.

But Tristen is talking to middle aged folks, busy professionals who don't have time to study AI like some nerds I know (🙋← hi, it's me…. yup that's my hand up).

So it worked, very very well.

His follow video up on Claude Design also broke 100k views in 8 days.

So what's the moral of the story?

#1 Being in a great niche certainly helps, but it doesn't mean you're automatically successful.

• You still have to make great videos.

#2 (This is the big one) Spend more time in pre-production:

• Study the field
• Notice what's working
• Notice what's trending
• Model proven packaging

In Tristen's case, it yielded 4 orders of magnitude worth of views in return.

If 4 doesn't sound big enough, try imaging a grain of sand compared to a 3-story building.

This is what 60 views compared to 600,000 views looks like in physical form.

(aka the crazy exponential side of YouTube that breaks our brains)

#3 Look for gaps in your niche to fill in order to stand out:

• Are creators in your niche overly "hypey"? Make more calming video
• Are videos in your niche super short? Make longer ones

You might unearth demand that seemed invisible before.

Future legend in the making, Tristen is no doubt. I'm lucky to know him.
​
But tell me about your pre-production process. How do you research, validate, and decide on which video to make next? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Talk soon,
Ty

P.S. Whenever you're ready, here's 3 ways I can help you go further, faster on YouTube

1. Binge everything I've learned about creating content and starting a creator business for free on YouTube.
2. I've personally helped 20+ creators in my mentorship program, most of whom stick with it and blow past 1k subs and start earning from YouTube. I can help you do the same if you're serious.
3. If you need an hour of support, I can dig in and help you get unstuck.

110 16th St Ste 1460, Denver, CO 80202
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