Ever wanted to start a successful Youtube channel for your business, but you’ve been unsure where on earth to start?

Or perhaps you haven’t even considered Youtube, but when I tell you that it’s the second BIGGEST search engine after Google [aka a huge opportunity for getting your business searched by new eyeballs] you start paying a little more attention?

Either way, this episode is for you!

In episode 31 of The Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot podcast, I interview Louise Henry of Solopreneur Sidekick. Louise has committed to producing two episodes a week on Youtube to market her business online and as someone in the trenches, she was the PERFECT person to speak to about how to get started!

So, let’s dive in!

Listen On: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

In this episode, we chat about:

• How to get started (and why starting SIMPLY is best!);
• How frequently you need to creating videos;
• Which tools can assist you in getting your content optimised and ranked;
• Which tools to use when you are getting started;
• The importance of great sound when you are starting out;
• An easy workflow for video creation;
• How to promote the content on your Youtube Channel to get as much mileage from it as possible.
• How to manage the creation of content in the productive way possible.
• What’s it’s like to live in and run an online business from Bali

And more!

• HG Logitech c920 webcam
• ATR USB Microphone
• Quicktime
• iMovie
• Tools:
  • Keywords Everywhere

Transcript

STEVIE:  Hello, hello and welcome to Episode 31 of The Lifestyle Business Sweet Spot Podcast. Today we are talking all about YouTube. And YouTube is one of those platforms that I think has so much potential. It is owned by Google, it is the second biggest search engine in the world. And if you want to get into video, it is such a great platform to get on board with. 

Unlike platforms Facebook and Instagram where the lifespan of a post is maybe one or two days with YouTube because it is a search engine. If you optimize your videos for search and do all the right things you can have your video is basically delivering you traffic and leads and all of that good stuff for a really really long time. I don’t use YouTube in my business. So for this particular episode, I wanted to bring someone who does and that person is Louise Henry. Louise is an amazing person. 

But besides that, she owns Solopreneur Sidekick, which is basically a business that teaches other businesses how to use tech. She makes tech simple, which trust me is quite a fate. Now in this particular episode, we go through everything to do with YouTube, how to get started on the types of tools that Louise uses, what she recommends in terms of getting traffic to your YouTube channel, and pretty much everything that you could possibly want to know if it’s a platform that you’re considering. 

We also go through her life in Bali, where she lives in works and how she came to become an entrepreneur as well. And I particularly like that part of the episode. So, guys, I’m going to go and stop talking. Now. Let’s get straight into the episode. If you enjoy it, please do leave me a rating and a review on iTunes. It is as always very much appreciated. Okay guys, let’s dive in. 

Hi Louise. Welcome to the podcast.

LOUISE: Hi, Stevie, thank you so much for having me.

STEVIE: I am so excited to have you on. Louise has her own business, which he runs in Bali. And look, as far as I’m concerned. That is an absolute goal. So for everyone listening, I guess let’s start with what your business is and what you do.

LOUISE: Yeah, for sure. So my business is Solopreneur Sidekick. And I help online entrepreneurs master the tech side of their business so that they can work smarter, faster and take their online business to the next level. I work specifically with people that feel they suck at the tech,

STEVIE: Everyone feels like they are.

LOUISE: Which isn’t most people. So I help them out. And I break all the tech stuff down into really simple, easy to follow steps and try and make it as easy as possible because it doesn’t have to be scary. 

STEVIE: Yeah. And I think that’s just a much-needed thing. Because I feel literally everyone that I speak to that is in business, whether online or offline. That is the number one struggle and it seems so scary and overwhelming. You don’t know where to start. So yeah, love that. How did you start working, how did you get started working online? I know that there are a lot of people that aspire to do it. And I know even me kind of a year and a half ago, it was something that I dreamt of doing but had no idea where to even start. So what were you doing beforehand? How did you get started? And yeah, tell us a bit about that. 

LOUISE: Yeah, for sure. So I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. So right after university, I’m not even gonna go for a nine to five. I’m just gonna start now. 

STEVIE: Oh, my God.crazy.

LOUISE: I know, it’s just crazy. I really don’t know why I kind of like what I do.

STEVIE: I got five, five years three uni and then another two-year course. And then five years in the wrong career before I even realized.

LOUISE: Amazing, my dad’s an entrepreneur, and, I was just always, given that type of material, I remember reading books when I was 16 by Richard Branson, so it always sounded so appealing to me.

STEVIE: Yeah, and it’s a freedom thing. Isn’t it? Like-kind of doing things on your own terms? 

LOUISE: Exactly. It’s just, building a life that you want. And, yeah, as you said, on your own terms, and I just love the freedom that comes with it. And so yeah, but when I first started, I thought that you needed a totally new idea. So I went into product-based business. And because I was starting it right out of university, of course, I had no money, so I had to DIY all of the tech stuff. So I had to build my own website and figure out email marketing. I had no idea what MailChimp was, I was so lost,

STEVIE: Complete newbie.

LOUISE: So I had to figure all that out. And so I did all that for that business. And even though that business didn’t work out, and I decided to move on from it. By the end, I realized I had all these skills that I could build a business around. So that’s when I started Solopreneur Sidekick.

STEVIE: That’s so awesome. Tonight, so many people that I have interviewed actually on this very podcast that has a similar story, they talk about how they didn’t go to you need to learn what they learned they kind of learned it by doing it. And that’s kind of how they got to the point where I didn’t know and I feel that’s the way to go. Because I feel if you’re super interested in something, and you’re obsessed with learning about it, and you getting in there and doing it that’s so much better than going and doing, some random course all kind of learning about the theory and not actually getting in there and doing it.

LOUISE: Exactly, and I think you just learned so much better by doing and it’s just way more practical, what you’ll learn when you have to figure it all out and implement it all at the same time.

STEVIE: Yeah, totally. Yeah. So how did you come to be living and working in Bali? And tell us a little bit about I guess what that’s like,

LOUISE: For sure. So I always say that I’m now living the life that I would see in Facebook ads a few years ago and be like, 

STEVIE: You totally are it is gold seriously. 

LOUISE: I thought it was a total lie. Oh, these people there’s no way they’re actually doing that. Yeah, there are people that are, just living a different type of life. I’m especially from Canada. So it is quite different, different for me. But the way that it was that it happened was that I found love. I met my fiance who Yeah, right. So it’s really love that made that happen. So I went there, and I met him and I, my eyes were just completely open to the fact that there were all these young people, young entrepreneurs who had decided to live in Bali, and there were co-working spaces and nice cafes everywhere. And I was, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. This is perfect. And exactly the type of lifestyle that I wanted to live. He was like, I’ll move to Toronto. No, no, no.

STEVIE: Live in Bali. 

LOUISE: That’s so funny. 

STEVIE: Everyone listening I actually saw Louise and I had never met before, but we caught up for coffee when I was in Bali last time and figured out that I actually know Louise’s now fiance because he used to manage a bar that when I was younger, we used to go over to Bali and kind of hang out at so it is a small world even kind of cost. 

And it’s so interesting, you say that you kind of went over and you saw that there were all these people kind of living this life because I took my partner Jules over in March and when we caught up for coffee kind of finish. And we went somewhere else. And he was so this digital know nothing like what do they do? Just work on your computer in a different country? Yes, it isn’t that just sounds like an absolute dream. It’s really funny.

LOUISE: He was exposed to it. Yeah, 

STEVIE: He was googling digital nomad and the whole deal. And do you think I could do something like that? 

LOUISE: Teach plumbing. I’m convinced that everyone can do something. 

STEVIE: Yes, an online course for teaching plumbing, or he’s obsessed to in Hawaiian outbreeding. So something like that. Exactly

So let’s get into the reason for this podcast episode, which is YouTube. And I know that you’ve kind of just kind of recently gotten right into YouTube, and you’re doing such a fabulous job. So it’s the reason why I wanted to have you on the podcast because I feel it’s one of those platforms, a lot of people at the moment this sole focus is on Facebook and Instagram. 

And  I get why the attention is there. And there’s a lot of people using it. But YouTube is so powerful. It’s the second biggest search engine on the internet after Google. I think it’s oriented by Google, and there is so much opportunity that people don’t get. So I guess, tell us a bit about why you decided to focus on YouTube. And, yeah, that’s so powerful.

LOUISE: Yeah, for sure. So I totally agree with you, everyone is focused on Instagram and Facebook, and I get that, but I think there’s so much opportunity on YouTube. And for me, what I was looking for something that if I was going to put the effort in, it was going to be something that would work for me for years to come.

STEVIE: Yeah, 

LOUISE: And something that would enable me to develop a stronger connection with my audience faster. And so I went on YouTube. First of all, I found myself on YouTube all the time. I just really love the people that I was finding on there. But there’s still so much opportunity. And the same few people on these topics. Oh, I could get on this too. And yeah, and since I am all about productivity and saving time were all so busy enterpreneurs we need to make the most of what were doing.

So I loved the fact that YouTube was SEO based. So if you post a video, that’s going to work for you, because people are going to be searching that and can be in can be found that way. And it’s never going to disappear. Whereas I put on effort on Instagram, and  I take a nice photo, and it takes me forever to read a caption. So I’m putting a caption, and then it disappears down your feed. So I didn’t really like the idea of putting all my effort into that platform. So I went with YouTube and stuff.

STEVIE: Yeah, and I honestly, I could not agree more and the fact that with Facebook and Instagram, there’s one little newsfeed everyone is competing for attention. And it’s gone within 24 to 48 hours. But if you optimize your video the right way, and we’ll get into that in a sec, literally a video that you put up now could be driving more and more traffic over the years back to your site. So it kind of longevity is forever and it kind of gets better over time potentially doesn’t it.

LOUISE: Exactly no absolutely.

STEVIE: Where do you start? So when you decided, Okay, cool. I’m going to set up a YouTube channel, I’m going to do this. What was the first thing that you do? Because a lot of people, I think, are so overwhelmed that they just don’t even start?

LOUISE: Yeah, yeah, I think everyone is overwhelmed. And that’s totally normal. And you think, you think that you need to have all this super pro equipment, and have it all perfect at the beginning. And I think that’s absolutely not the case. So I kind of always had this gut feeling that I should be doing YouTube. But that went on for a year.

STEVIE: Thinking about it.

LOUISE: It’s always in the back of my mind, but I could never bring myself to do it. So then I decided, okay, I’m going to make this happen, I’m going to actually commit to it. So that was love, biggest thing is yes, have to decide, it’s really hard at first because it’s so abnormal to what you’re doing already. And you really kind of step into the role of content creator. And consistency is huge. So you have to do that. 

And so if you’re just getting started, you have to plan it out, you have to decide, okay, what’s the frequency of videos that you’re going to do? What is your channel going to be all about? How does it all linked together? What topics could you cover? And I think, I think to figure out what is easiest for you to do. It’s all about just getting started making easy for yourself and getting used to the process of producing videos. 

STEVIE: So when you decided to start, I guess in terms of frequency, what sort of frequency number one would you suggest? And what are you committing to at the moment?

LOUISE:I think once a week to start is awesome. I decided to go twice a week. Yeah, I definitely think you need weekly consistency. It doesn’t have to be twice,  you can do once a week to start. But I did decide to go with two just be as I think the platform is so great. And I did want to build my following on there faster.

STEVIE: And then so what’s the style of content that you’re putting on there?

LOUISE: So I decided that since I was just getting started, and you’ll hear a lot of people recommend this as well, is that you need to focus on content that people are actually searching for. 

STEVIE: Such a good point. 

LOUISE: Yeah, I think when we when we first get started, we look at the big YouTubers and they because they have already put in the time and effort to build their audience. They can post a day at the mall, and people will watch it. But people are not actively searching for that. So how to really, what people are going on and actually typing in, and there are a few tools that you can use to actually find this information, which is awesome. 

STEVIE: Yeah. 

LOUISE: So yeah, so the first one is tube buddy. And the second is it’s a keyword Chrome extension. It’s called keywords everywhere. And yeah, using the two of those, it’s really cool. So tube buddy, first, they have a thing called tag Explorer. And basically, you type in topics that you’re thinking about using and it’s going to give you a ranking, it will literally tell you whether it’s bad or whether it’s good,really good. 

STEVIE: Oh nice I love that. 

LOUISE: I know. Yeah, it’s just so helpful. It gives you a score out of 100. 

STEVIE: Yep. And it’s not based on the competitiveness of the time, or the search volume or a combination of both 

LOUISE: Exactly. So it’s a combination of both, which I love. So it’s telling you ones, okay, there’s pretty good search volume, and it’s not too competitive. So you actually have a chance of ranking core video. 

STEVIE:Love that. 

LOUISE:Yeah, and then the keywords everywhere. If you just, if you once you install it, and you type into Google or YouTube, it will come up on the side and tell you how many searches that keyword is getting per month.

STEVIE: Awesome. That is amazing. I am going to get it ASAP.

LOUISE: So I learned that from this awesome girl on YouTube. Her name is Sonny Leonard Uzi. And she covers all things YouTube, so yeah, definitely check out her video about optimizing and ranking your videos, because that’s where I learned those.

STEVIE: Amazing. 

LOUISE: And once I started using them, it’s just so awesome. I use them for every video.

STEVIE: Yeah, that’s really cool. So I know that the question you probably get asked all the time because I get asked this with podcasting. What equipment do you use to produce your videos? And how do you go about producing your videos? 

And I asked that because literally the number one question I get with podcasting is what microphone to use? I don’t know if that’s the most important question, because I feel the contents more important and that sort of thing. But I know that it’s what people want to know. So Yeah. Tell us how to get started and what sort of equipment to you.

LOUISE: Yeah, for sure. Okay, so yeah, back to what I was saying. Make it easy on yourself. It is a challenge. At first, it gets way easier, but just keep it as simple as possible. So I literally when I started, I just used my iPhone. And you’d be surprised. 

iPhones are so good now so you can get your HD camera and the sound is great. And the sound sound is definitely the most important thing. When it comes to video, if your sound is good, people will listen to what you have to say. 

Yeah, so that’s how I started and but you gotta be careful when you’re using your iPhone, film during the day and use the light to your advantage you can just use natural light, but have it so you are actually facing the light. That’s the general selfie tip of (inaudible)

STEVIE: That right very lucky. It’s kind of I don’t feel he needs to be told that you like Doc, really kind of shadow a video is no good. But even when I go on YouTube, if I’m typing I don’t know how to whatever, a random thing, so many really cool quality doc videos come up. Guys, what are you doing?

LOUISE: Yeah, yeah. And it can be super simple. You just use your iPhone, literally just that plus natural light. And that’s a great start. So that’s what I used at the beginning. And then I upgraded a little bit. So now I actually just really keep it simple. Keep it simple, because again, I wanted it to be efficient. Yeah, 

STEVIE: So the quality of your video is amazing. I look at them. And I think that really professional, they look really polished. So yeah, whatever you’re about to say in terms of what you use, everyone should listen up, because you can get really professional-looking videos with what Louise is about to recommend.

LOUISE: Awesome. Thanks. And yeah, so it’s super simple, really affordable as well. And just really easy in terms of workflow and it is fast. So now I use my webcam. So I have an HD Logitech C920webcam. 

STEVIE: I will link in the show notes again.

LOUISE: Yeah. So I just put that on the top of my laptop. And then I have a proper microphone as well, which I think was only $80. So yeah, we’ll link to that as well to an audio technician USB mic. Yeah, use that. And then I literally just face my computer while sitting on my desk, and I film using QuickTime, which is free on your Mac. Cool. So I film using that. And the reason that saves me so much time is because then all the files are just already on my computer. 

STEVIE: Yeah. 

LOUISE: And then I can literally drag them into I movie which again, is free. 

STEVIE: Wow I use I movie I have no idea what I’m doing so it’s good to know, I can keep on that?

LOUISE: Yes, well, I did. Okay, I have to admit, though, that I have recently outsourced the editing. Yeah, and so they use Premiere Pro which is definitely the way more advanced software but I movie is great. And honestly, you can do a lot with it. I have a tutorial on my channel, so you guys can check that out and start with that. 

So but what I found is that I just make tiny tweaks as I keep going. So as I know now, okay, I’m actually taking YouTube Seriously, this is actually, my marketing channel. So I’m choosing to do so I’m just making tiny tweaks as I go. Okay, moving to Premier Pro and outsourcing, editing, that was a tweak. And I also just made my background exactly how I want it. 

STEVIE:  Yeah, 

LOUISE: Those are just small things that will happen over time. And you don’t have to have all of that at the beginning. What’s most important is that you’re just actually posting,

STEVIE: I love that. I say this all the time, I actually wrote a blog post about it, the most important thing is just to start I was like you with the podcasting. I thought about it for a year and just didn’t do it. And then once I started, I started really basic. 

And then I’ve upgraded different things. And now it’s kind of my main marketing channel. And I recommend everyone have one main marketing channel. It’s a matter of Yeah, just kind of making little tweaks I’m updating my podcast artwork, and blah, blah, blah. So I love that.

LOUISE: Exactly, exactly. That’s awesome.

STEVIE: Once we’ve got kind of the setup, we’re all kind of sorted, we’re ready to go. How do you actually get noticed on YouTube? Because you obviously can stop posting, but you want your content to be seen. And I think a lot of people are afraid of crickets. What do you recommend around that?

LOUISE: Okay, for sure. So definitely start with the keyword research that we already chatted about. Start with that. And then there are a few things that you can do. So you obviously have an audience of some sort. And with YouTube, the most important is the 24 hours after your video goes live. Right? I’m sure that everyone already has something. So whether that’s your Instagram audience, your Facebook or your email list, right? 

And so you want to use all of those. So as soon as my video goes live, then I’m sharing it everywhere. I’m emailing it out to my list. And then pro tip, what I do after that is I then turn it into a blog post. So I want to get the most out of this content. I want to make sure I can drive as many views to it as possible. So I then turn it into a blog post, I embed my YouTube video. And then I put it depends on how technical it is. Because sometimes it’s just absolutely impossible to do the transcription.

STEVIE: I say, how do you make it a blog post? Yeah, right.

LOUISE: Yeah, but most of the time, I can put the instructions down below. And so that helps or SEO as well. And then I use Pinterest in order to drive traffic to my videos. Because all of our Yeah, because when you are first starting, you probably will get low views. And that’s absolutely fine. 

That’s normal, you can leverage all of these different audience points, and a tool like Pinterest, which is so so great for driving traffic, you can actually use that to drive traffic to your videos. So what I’ll do is I have multiple pins that go to the blog post, and then I actually create pins and direct them straight to YouTube as well. 

STEVIE: Cool. I love that. So it’s kind of cross-promoting on a different channel to drive us back to YouTube. 

LOUISE: Exactly. Yeah, 

STEVIE: That’s awesome. And then I was actually So I’ve actually just gotten into following and watching Amy Schmittauer. And I had to say her last name, but she’s a dean, I have a kind of a YouTube blogger. Yes. 

So she’s amazing, but she was talking about and one thing that she does to get more views on her YouTube is she asks questions in the comments to get people to engage on the video. And then apparently, the more engagement that you have, the more the video kind of gets shown to people on YouTube. So I thought that was pretty cool as well.

LOUISE: Yeah, for sure. I mean,  YouTube is definitely something that is algorithm-based. So it’s awesome. So if you know that can use that to your advantage. The first 24 hours are important. And you can ask people Oh, that’s a good point, actually. So in your video, you need to actually tell them okay, if you liked this video, hit subscribe all they say

STEVIE: Yeah, I guess if you don’t ask you’ll never get people to do it. Will you

LOUISE: Exactly so on all my videos as soon as I post I go down into the comments and I try and start a conversation so whatever it will be about I like to ask my audience something that they would hopefully be interested in answering into the conversation and in the comments which I know will help boost the video as well.

STEVIE: Yeah, that’s really cool. Love that. So let’s go I guess into and I know that you’ve got some videos on your YouTube around this. So anyone that wants to kind of more information definitely go out and check out Louise’s YouTube channel, but you are the productivity queen. So what is because content creation can be bloody time-consuming? What is your process around content creation? Do you batch your videos together? How do you do it to make it not take up your entire life when you’re posting twice a week?

LOUISE: So true that it could easily take up that much time? For sure. So okay, so a few things that I do I definitely batch I think batching is awesome. Just when you’re doing you can get in a flow and you’re doing the same thing. All in a row is awesome. And plus, I’m really lazy and I don’t like doing my hair and makeup. So I like to do batching.

STEVIE: That’s why I podcast.

LOUISE: Yeah, I don’t look great right now.

STEVIE: It’s funny. Yeah, batching is basically if anyone that doesn’t know the term, it’s basically creating a whole heap of content together at once. And I said the benefit of that is that you’re in the mindset to be doing it all at once, rather than stopping and starting what you are doing and having to set up and then pack up and kind of doing it one at a time? Hey,

LOUISE: Well, exactly you’re going to save so much time, just as you said, with the setup time. And, yeah, it really just, it also makes it seem a lot less overwhelming. Imagine if you had to film every single week, I think that would get quite tiring. 

So instead, I know you can stack it the same time every month, and just kind of get them all done. And then either,  schedule different editing times or hand off that part to somebody else. 

STEVIE: Yeah, that’s awesome. 

LOUISE:But

STEVIE: I love that. Um, and I think the other benefit of the kind of planning ahead and batching as well is, I know, I find with podcasting, I don’t know if it’s the same with YouTube and kind of the content that you create on there. But if you have a plan for the next eight weeks, what you can kind of do is you can almost kind of let people know about content that’s coming up. And that sort of leads potentially to more listens and more views if people know, kind of what’s coming up in the next videos. Yeah, so that’s just another.

LOUISE: No, that’s, that’s such a good tip. And that’s actually the part that I’m working on now.

STEVIE:I am I haven’t actually done it yet. 

LOUISE:Yeah, it’s the process, of the YouTube part and getting YouTube. That’s all good. And now I’m working on the social media part because I’m okay, there’s so much more that we could be doing around that and driving more traffic.

STEVIE: Yeah. But I think that’s the benefit of really going on YouTube, the benefit of that is that you start and you start to refine what you’re doing on the channel. And then you really kind of go all-in on having your other social media channels support your main marketing channels. 

So I just think it’s really smart. Instead of spreading yourself across four or five that you kind of doing okay, using YouTube is your main home as your core and then kind of looking for opportunities to promote what you’re doing on other channels if that makes sense. 

LOUISE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, exactly. I think just picking one, choosing that one channel that you’re going to prioritize and care about the most. And then all the rest are just, helping that main channel. Works done. 

STEVIE: So just before we wrap up, I was just kind of thinking, is there any final tips that you have for anyone that’s looking to get started, after listening to this podcast, if they came to kind of go all in,

LOUISE: Just go for it. And he said, just start, it is one of those things that you can put off, and you can be intimidated by. But it’s really, it can be a lot of fun, and it will grow your business so so much that it is really worth it to do it. I think when doing it, just be consistent. So if you can just do one a week right now, that is awesome. 

That’s great. It’s really hard to grow channel when you’re not building up that consistency and that trust with the people that are subscribing to you. Just decide on that schedule, do as much as you can ahead of time. And just know that, as we said you’re going to tweak it and you’re going to stack on things as you progress. But just focus on keeping it simple at first and just putting content out there, 

STEVIE: Which is exactly what you’re doing. And I love that. So that’s awesome. And I know that a lot of people are going to want to go and check out your YouTube channel now and also what you do so you let people how they can contact you.

LOUISE: Yeah, so you can find me everywhere online at Solopreneur Sidekick. So my youtube channel is Solopreneur Sidekick. And my website is solopreneursidekick.com. And that’s SOLOPRENEURSIDEKICK.COM.

STEVIE: Thank you so much, Louise. That’s amazing. 

LOUISE: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I love your podcast and I love what you’re doing.

STEVIE: Thank love.

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