SPI 414: The Podcast Interviewer Authority Strategy that Led to a Six-Figure Business, with Erika Vieira

SPI 414: The Podcast Interviewer Authority Strategy that Led to a Six-Figure Business, with Erika Vieira

Pat Flynn:
So to set this up, I want you to imagine with me, that you start a brand new podcast and you start this podcast about something that you are very interested in and very curious about. You may not know all the things about it, you might not have all the connections, you might not even be an expert on this thing, but you just started because it’s something that you like or you enjoy or that you’re curious about. So, let’s say you do this and you start to collect interviews. And through those interviews you start to get downloads, you start to get listeners who are asking for more. You also start to build relationships with people in that industry who then start to talk about you, who start to share you with their friends who also want to be on your show. And then you have your audience really loving what you’re doing. And they start sending you thank you notes, they start sending you emails saying, “Oh, can you help me do this? Can you help me do that?”

Pat:
Again, even though you’re not necessarily an expert on that topic. And then all of a sudden, you create a program to help those people because through the dozens of interviews you’ve done, you’ve actually gained a lot of knowledge through that. You have a lot of connections through your new Rolodex that has been created. That’s your contact list of all these new friends that you’ve created in this space. You go to an event, you become a celebrity at the event because you’re the person who’s happened to step up and start interviewing all these people. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Erika Vieira, host of the YouTube Power Hour Podcast.

Pat:
You can also find her at erikavieira.net. She started a little podcast just kind of on the side on top of her nine to five, because she was very curious about the world of YouTube, specifically successful female YouTubers. And she just started interviewing them. And lo and behold, now she has a six figure business and a collection of all these amazing relationships with these other female YouTubers who are now name dropping her on their channel and thus growing her audience and her authority as well. And we have her in the studio today to talk shop, so that you can learn how to do this too. So, sit back because this is going to be sweet.

Announcer:
Welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast, where it’s all about working hard now. So, you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host. Go ahead, ask him how awesome his voiceover guy is, Pat:.

Pat:
Yo, yo, what’s up everybody? Thanks so much for joining me today on the Smart Passive Income Podcast. You’re listening to session 414. My name is Pat Flynn here to help you make more money, save more time and help more people too. And Erika Vieira found a way to do it through the world of podcasting in a brilliant case study from start to where she’s at now. We’re going to take her and take you through the whole thing so that you know exactly how this was done. It wasn’t all a pretty picture all the way through. She actually stopped in the middle a little bit and she’ll talk about why. She also has two kids and is just doing amazing things, balancing all this as well. And then at the end I just kind of ask her, because she has all these connections to these amazing YouTubers and she’s a very knowledgeable person in the space of YouTube as well.

Pat:
I’ll just say, “Hey, what’s working on YouTube today?” And she answers in probably the the best way that I needed to hear, because I have been doing a lot of things on YouTube recently and she said exactly what I needed to hear and I know that you’re going to enjoy hearing that as well. It’s the best advice I’ve heard so far about YouTube. So, make sure you stick around to the end to hear that. But without further ado, here she is. Erika Vieira. Erika, welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast. Thanks so much for being here today.

Erika Viera:
I am so excited to be here Pat, you have no idea. I’ve been listening to your podcast for years. And you’re definitely one of my inspirations for starting my business. So, I wanted to thank you so much for that. And it’s such an honor to be here.

Pat:
Oh, thank you. I’m honored to have you on. You are a longtime podcaster as well, and actually that’s what kick started this almost surprise, accidental if you want to call it, business. And I’m really excited because I love podcasting as you know. And I love the crazy cool, interesting, new unexpected opportunities that it can create for people. So, I want you to talk about, number one, starting with wanting to start a podcast and just take us through the journey of what happened after doing that. I hope this gets everybody excited. And then I’m going to unpack sort of just more about, how did this all happen? Because really it’s truly an amazing story. So, let’s start with your podcast and then what that did for you.

Erika:
Yes. So, I was an avid podcast listener. You’re definitely one of the podcast that I first listened to. I remember listening to your podcast on my drives. I had a job in sales in [inaudible 00:04:42], so I was in LA traffic listening to podcasts like yours, John Lee Dumas, just so many different business related health-related podcasts. So, I was a podcast junkie. And I also had some experience doing red carpet reporting. I worked with actually another podcast network, but I did more red carpet reporting and celebrity interviews for them. It’s called AfterBuzz and Maria Menounos she’s an entertainment reporter. So, I did some entertainment reporting and I always really enjoyed interviewing people. And as part of that entertainment reporting, I was actually asked to go to VidCon, which is here in Orange County, which is a big YouTube convention. This was years ago too.

Erika:
Prior to that I was like, “Oh, YouTube.” Yeah, whatever. But you don’t realize it until you’re at one of those conferences and conventions. They’re like, “Oh my God, these YouTubers are just insanely popular.” People were more excited about them than they were when I interviewed Usher on the red carpet. It was insane. At this point must have been at least five years ago. So, I was like, “Wow, this is a big deal and I don’t really feel like a lot of people are talking about it.” So, I personally also enjoyed watching YouTube videos, beauty specifically. And I just came up with this idea of I am fascinated by these people’s lives, the girl next door, boy next door, whatever. And they just decided to start a YouTube channel and now they’re basically celebrities, and how interesting that must be and what that must be behind the scenes. What that must mean to go from literally girl next door to a superstar.

Erika:
And so I came up with this idea to host a podcast because it just as an extension, as something fun to do. Like I said, I was working the corporate, I actually worked in commercial real estate for a while, and I just wanted an outlet, something fun to do. And I had that experience doing red carpet reporting. I was always doing some kind of a side hustle. You’re probably thinking like, “Wait, you’re doing red carpet and you’re working.” So, I had a full time job but I was doing the red carpet reporting, and I said, “You know what? I’m going to do my own thing. I want to interview people who I want to interview.” And that’s why I came up with the podcast. I called it at the time Beauty and the Vlog Podcast. It’s now the YouTube Power Hour Podcast. And I sent out a bunch of cold emails to people I admired on YouTube and wanted to talk to. And surprisingly people responded and said, “Sure.” I’m like, “Oh my gosh! Okay, let’s do it.” And then that’s how my podcast was born.

Pat:
That’s really neat. I love how you just saw and noticed this sort of popular thing that was happening in the YouTube space. And I remember five years ago when VidCon was happening, people would just in droves go to see their favorite YouTuber. And I went to VidCon two years ago and I saw the exact same thing, it’s still happening today.

Erika:
Oh, yeah.

Pat:
So, you were sort of early on in featuring these YouTubers as celebrities. So, I think that was very smart of you to pay attention and notice that. And to turn that into a podcast is great. I think a lot of people who may be sitting and listening and asking themselves, “Oh, what can I do with myself with time and I want to start something but I don’t know what.” You had this interest, you had this curiosity, and starting a podcast is great. How simple was it for you to get one up and just kind of get into the rhythm of conducting your show? What was that show like? How often was it coming out?

Erika:
So, I remember hearing something saying that when you first launch a podcast, you want to have a bunch of episodes ready to go. So, I had this ambitious goal of doing two interviews a week, which I pre-recorded I think about 20 before I launched.

Pat:
Nice.

Erika:
And this was before kids, mind you. So, when I had more time to do stuff like that, I just batch record. And actually I still do that to this day. When I record my podcast, I literally do five interviews a day.

Pat:
You batch process.

Erika:
Totally, I’m a huge batch advocate. So, I batched about twenty, and for the first six weeks I uploaded twice a week and then after that I did weekly. But it wasn’t too difficult, but I would say the most difficult thing is aligning people’s schedules and people canceling last minute and like, “Oh, can I do it this time or that time?” That was probably the most juggling. But in regards to just actually doing it and getting lips in and recording it, I learned GarageBand and did all that good stuff. And I am not a tech person at all. Today I have someone who does all that for me. Thank God. But I was doing it. And so I was like, “Yeah.” It was great. I had so much fun.

Pat:
That’s really cool. What about the growth of the show when you first started within those first six weeks, what were the numbers like? You were starting from scratch, how did the growth… What does it look like early on?

Erika:
Yeah. That’s actually a really good question. I That was four and a half years ago. I don’t even remember what the numbers were. They probably weren’t that great. They were probably, I don’t know. I honestly don’t remember-

Pat:
So, it didn’t skyrocket off the top?

Erika:
No. To this day, my podcast has never just skyrocketed. It’s always been a very consistent… Even in my opinion, I don’t want to say slow growth, but it’s… And I realize it’s a very niche… It’s women YouTubers, but I also believe that when you’re niche like that, you don’t have to have a huge audience to make money.

Pat:
Very true.

Erika:
But it never just skyrocketed. I definitely saw bumps when I was on other podcasts. I was asked to be on a while ago, The Influencer Podcast with Julie Solomon, and she has a really big audience. And another YouTuber who I had on my podcast, she started podcasting when she had me. So, I saw some growth when I was on other podcasts, but it was very, very just, consistent, slow growth. I would say. I never got hit with like a boom. And the other thing I want to point out too is that I really, really encourage… And they don’t always do this, they don’t.

Erika:
But I really encourage my guests because they all have significant followings on YouTube to share the episode. So, that was a big thing for me. And I would see some bumps when certain YouTubers were so generous and sharing the interview with their audience. Some of them would even create videos and be like, “You have to see this podcast I did.” So, I had some amazing people early on who were really so excited about it that they shared it with their audience. And I definitely saw some bump from there also.

Pat:
I think that’s a huge lesson. I think it’s always great and you should ask everybody, but not expect everybody to do it and not be too forceful. But it just takes one or two to really make things happen for you. And I think that’s really great. I want to get into your head a little bit again early on because we have a lot of early on podcasters listening to this as well, or people who are about to start a podcast. What kept you going? You’ve remained consistent for four years and there’s a point at which I know business started to happen and I want to get into that eventually, but early days, what kept you going? Were there any moments where you were like, “Oh, this is a drag now.”

Erika:
Yeah. And I quit. I did quit for six months.

Pat:
Oh, you did?

Erika:
Yes. So, I’ll tell you what happened.

Pat:
Tell me that story.

Erika:
So, essentially because I was doing it as a hobby, I was genuinely passionate and excited about it. So, money didn’t play a factor. I did have some sponsors early on, but it wasn’t anything-

Pat:
You didn’t need to turn it into a business, you’d say.

Erika:
No. And I wasn’t really intending to at the time, I thought maybe there is a chance that I would get some more sponsors or something like that. But it was really for the love of what I was doing. I genuinely enjoyed and loved interviewing people and learning their stories. But there was a point where I was like, “Okay, now what?” And that happened, I would say it was after I gave birth to my first daughter. And I know you have kids, and a lot of times you know sometimes when you go through these experiences of having children, it really does put things into perspective and makes you think about things. So, I did quit the podcast when I had my first daughter. And I basically gave myself a six-month maternity leave. I told my audience I was taking a maternity leave. I thought maybe I was going to be gone for a month, but then that turned to two months then three months.

Erika:
I was so preoccupied with the baby and it was our first child and I was getting no sleep and we’re having issues with breastfeeding. It was like everything under the sun. I was like, “I can’t even imagine doing anything other than taking care of this baby at this point.” But then there was a point… I was constantly getting people reaching out, “When are you coming back, when you’re coming back?” And I was like, “Oh, I really love it, but I need to figure out…” That’s when I started thinking, “Oh, I need to do something with this.” I need to do something beyond this, I want to be able to help people more than what the podcast is currently helping people with, because I was getting people asking me questions all the time about YouTube. All the time. And I’d gladly answer them, I enjoyed answering them. Through this process of interviewing YouTubers, I learned so much about YouTube. So, I think-

Pat:
You didn’t even have a YouTube channel yet, right? Yourself.

Erika:
No. So when I first started the podcast, I did do some video podcasting and I did some episodes with video. So, at that point I did start my channel for the purpose of the podcast, but I did quit that that same time when I quit the podcast. I quit the uploading onto YouTube too because I was over creating content at that moment.

Pat:
Right. You just became an authority essentially by interviewing these other people and obviously picked up a lot of great information along the way and now just your audience who has fallen in love with you is now asking you for YouTube advice.

Erika:
Yes.

Pat:
Wow!

Erika:
What was interesting is, not only that, but my guests that I had on the show, they would also ask me for advice. And you know how this goes when you have an interview sometimes you end up talking afterwards off the record and that would happen to me. I would talk sometimes if I didn’t have a busy schedule that day. Sometimes I’d have 30 minutes, sometimes even an hour. Sometimes I really click and a lot of these people I’m still very, very, very good friends with to this day. A lot of them would ask me for advice, because granted I wasn’t on YouTube and I knew YouTube through these interviews, but I also had a business background. I was in commercial real estate. I had actually a licensed apparel, clothing line. I sold clothing at the Lakers, Kings, at the Staples Center, here at universities. I studied acting as well.

Erika:
So, I have all these different elements of my life that contributed to actually really understanding the marketing and the screen presence of what’s required to be successful on YouTube. I didn’t even anticipate it; I didn’t know it. Obviously something was drawing me to this and maybe that was it I don’t know you. People always ask me, why YouTube? You weren’t even onto YouTube. I found it fascinating. I really, really did and I think it was my business brain, but also kind of that performance side of me was also very attracted to this. So…

Pat:
Yeah, that’s really interesting. And I think that a huge lesson there for everybody is you can become the authority by just immersing yourself within a space and becoming the essentially host of a show just like Erika did. And I think that we’ve seen this with people like John Lee Dumas and with how transparent I am about certain things. I took the same approach when it came to my food trucker website where I positioned myself not as the expert, but as somebody doing the research to find all the food trucks, to learn all the information. And now I get emails from people saying, “Pat, I’m starting my food truck tell me what to do.” It’s just by putting yourself out there, it’s amazing. So, it’s almost making me wonder: if I was starting from scratch today, what niche would I select and just who could I interview to just gain some notoriety there?

Pat:
I think that’d be a pretty cool strategy to just take that approach and something fun to experiment with maybe in the future. But I want to get into a little bit of when the business started kicking in. So, you’ve been getting people to fall in love with you, they are listening to your show, they missed you when you left, but then now you’re back and you’re building connections with these amazing influencers, befriending them and getting shared. When did this turn into a business for you? How did this turn into a business?

Erika:
So, after I came back, I decided I was just going to do the podcast; I wasn’t going to do a video podcast anymore. I was like, “I’m just going to do the audio.” It was easier. So I came back, I recorded more episodes, and then it seemed like that interest was just growing of people wanting help with their YouTube. People would just email me, “Hey, I have this channel, can you check it out?” And I’m like, “Sure” and I would and I’d give them advice and I’d get DMs. And then I got so many people asking me that, I’m like, “Okay,” I’m spending a lot of time doing this and then I thought, “You know what? Maybe I’ll just throw it out there and I’ll just see if anybody wants to have some coaching or whatever.”

Erika:
So, I just mentioned it in a couple episodes, and I got some emails and then I did some coaching very, very inexpensively. It was just barely asking them for any money, it was more like so I could get that experience of coaching people. And I also knew I had a lot of confidence in my abilities to be able to give advice on YouTube. I had this understanding of the YouTube platform, and I also had this understanding of marketing and personal branding and also camera presence. So, I was always very confident in my abilities to do that. So, it was just a matter of, “Do I want to?” And so I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do it, this will be fun.” And then I worked one-on-one with some people and then a few of those people, their channels really took off—really took off. One of them even has over 600,000 subscribers today.

Pat:
Woah.

Erika:
A year and a half later. And then other people started growing and so they were coming back and be like, “Oh my God! You’re really… This is amazing, you’re really good at it.”

Pat:
You know your stuff.

Erika:
Yeah. And so then they started to tell people, and more people started to reach out. So, this is actually where you came into play because a lot of this was happening and then I got pregnant again, with my second daughter and then I was still doing the podcast, and kind of casually helping people here and there. And then I was at a point now where I was like, “Okay, I want to really do something with this.” Yes, I’m affecting people lives with the podcast, but I saw to the extent how I could truly impact somebody’s life through the coaching advice that I gave. Life changing. One of those people literally moved from the UK to the U.S. And is now one of the number one YouTube creators in her niche along with several other people that started businesses because of their YouTube channel, all from my help.

Erika:
So, I realized, “Oh my God! I can really have an impact.” I remember thinking like, “Okay, how am I going to do this? How am I going to really do this?” And it wasn’t until I just had my second daughter and I remember to the day what I was doing. I would listen to one of your podcasts, Pat, and it was a podcast, I don’t even remember who the guest was. But he said something or you said something to the effect of anybody can start a business with 2000 email subscribers. Because I didn’t even have… I had kind of an email list, but not… No, I don’t even think I had an email list. I didn’t have an email list. I have no email list at this point.

Erika:
So, mind you, I’ve had a podcast for a few years and I had no email list. And so I’m like, “Ah, I should really do that. I should really start an email list.” So I was like, “Okay. What I’m going to do is I’m going to start an email list, I’m going to get 2000 and what I will do is I’m going to email all those people and say, I want to do…” I had this vision of doing this YouTube bootcamp, where it wasn’t just me doing one-on-one, it was me doing these group coaching sessions and doing a course and the other women in the community getting to know each other and all that. So, I wanted to do a YouTube bootcamp. I came up with this idea after listening to your episode. I’m like, “Okay, this is my plan.” In that episode when you said, “All you need is 2000 email subscribers to start an online business,” that’s what I needed to hear for me to move direction in some way.

Pat:
Nice.

Erika:
Because this idea of starting a course, I kind of had in the back of my mind as bootcamp idea, but it just seemed like I’ll get to it, I’ll get to it another time, I’m pregnant, I’m nauseous, I’m having… It was always another time, another time, I’ll just keep uploading podcast episodes. So, it was that interview where it clicked. I’m like, “Okay, that’s it. I’ll just focus on that.” And then at that point when I have 2000 I’ll figure out what to do. And so I did that. I created a opt-in and it was a really sexy opt-in. I remember on the interview the guy said, “You got to create something that is really, really… Just your people really want.” So, I spent some time creating one that I knew my audience would love and I got people subscribed and then I got about 2,000 email subscribers. So, at that point I was like, “Okay, I’m going to do this bootcamp.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it.

Erika:
I didn’t even know at that point if anybody was going to enroll. Actually I did know—that’s not true. I knew people were going to enroll. I just didn’t know how many. I knew I’ll get some, because I’ve always had people saying help me, help me. So, I did it. I announced it on my podcast, I sent out email blasts and I said, “Okay, if anybody wants to do this, enroll. I’m closing enrollment in two days.” I sent out a bunch of emails, I mentioned it on my podcast and that was what I now know as a beta. I didn’t know what that was at the time, but now I know that’s a beta launch. And I think there were 70 people that enrolled and it was my first… Yeah. I think it was a $30,000, 30 or $35,000. I’m not the best with numbers, but 30, $35,000 launch and I was like, “Whoa!”

Pat:
That’s amazing.

Erika:
Yeah.

Pat:
What was going through your head when you saw that come in and happen?

Erika:
Part of me was really excited, a part of me… I wasn’t totally surprised because I didn’t know that this was such a need for my audience. At the time I was kind of, “Okay, this seems right to me.” It wasn’t like, “Oh my God! I’m shocked.” But it was definitely a little bit more than I expected, especially monetary wise. I didn’t even think that number. But I was thinking, I would have some people enrolled but that many was like, “Whoa, that’s great. That’s awesome.” But it seemed right to me because people seemed excited.

Pat:
By the way, everybody that episode that I’m guessing Erika listened to was episode 263 with Clay Collins about laddering up.

Erika:
Yes. Yeah. Clay, that’s his name. Yes, yes. I remember that name. It was definitely, that was it. Yeah.

Pat:
That is really cool. Fun story quick behind that particular episode, that was rerecorded because we recorded one time, it was not good. We both felt it. We said we can do better. So, we did. And that episode has become the most popular episode of SPI. Wasn’t that year, but it’s the one that had the most downloads within the first month. I think within the first month they had a quarter million downloads, which was by far a record. And so glad to see it’s still helping people, which is amazing.

Pat:
And that’s the other truth about podcasting. It’s evergreen. It can continually help people over time. And I love that you’ve turned your podcast into this passion. You listened to your audience, they were telling you essentially what they wanted. And without knowing all the steps up front, you just did it. I think that speaks so highly to the kind of successful entrepreneurs that are out there today. They’re just doing it and seeing what works and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it doesn’t matter. You’re taking action and you definitely took action there. So, you-

Erika:
Messy action. Yeah.

Pat:
So, you have these students now, you’re working with them. What happens next?

Erika:
So, this was kind of… Like you said, you’re taking action. I had no idea what I was doing. What I did know, like I said, I had a lot of confidence with my ability to help women with their YouTube channels, my ability to help them see in themselves what they can do on YouTube, how they can shine on YouTube. I had that ability, I knew I had the ability and I had confidence in that. But I was experimenting in regards to how am I going to create this course? So, I just did group coaching sessions every single week, and I did offer one-on-one sessions with different people and I did create some workbooks and things like that. So, out of that I had some amazing success stories and that was everything for me is having these testimonials.

Erika:
I had women that came out of there saying this was life changing. I had business owners, one in particular who joined the bootcamp and she really understood the importance of YouTube, but also being really good on camera. Right after the bootcamp she ended up getting the opportunity to be on QVC to share her brand. And she’s like, “I never would have had that kind of camera presence if it wasn’t for your bootcamp.” I had somebody else who skyrocketed to 100,000 subscribers. I had other people who skyrocketed to 20,000, 50,000. I had some incredible testimonials. And all of them were like, “Yes, I’ll create a video for you, I’ll do an audio for you.” So, from there, now I had something, I was like, “Okay, now I can create a course.” So, after that… And keep in mind when I did this beta launch, I had a two month old at home plus a not even two year old at home.

Erika:
So, it was just me kind of doing things during nap time. A lot of nights, I don’t recommend this for the health reasons, but I would be up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning because that’s when I could get it done. And after that I was like, “Okay, I can put a course together.” So, I basically spent a little while, probably longer than I should have, putting a course together. And then I launched for a second time and that was an $80,000 launch. But I did all the promotions through my podcasts. I have never to this day used ads.

Pat:
Wow!, If that’s not enough to convince you to start a podcast, if you haven’t already, what are you doing? But a lot of… By the way, this is how many years in the making?

Erika:
Well, that’s the thing too, is that I spent… And I don’t necessarily recommend that for everybody, but that was just my circumstances at the time. I spent a few years building an audience and so I haven’t had to do ads. And I did another launch after that $80,000 launch, which was actually a six figure launch after that. So, I’m at the point now where I’m like, “Okay, maybe I’ll start using ads,” so I can scale and get to that next level. But all of this has been and I’ve done launches in between that, that were more kind of smaller coaching type ones as well. All through my podcasts. I’m so grateful for the day I decided to start this podcast. I never anticipated that I would be doing what I’m doing today. Never in a million years, never.

Pat:
That’s really amazing. And I always talk about the opportunities that can happen when you start your show. I think another smart thing that I want to point out really quick is that, you did the coaching, like you said. And you even said it yourself, to get a little bit of that experience. And I’m sure, and—correct me if I’m wrong Erika—after coaching those women and getting those success stories, did that not pump you up even more just to kind of figure out how else you can help them?

Erika:
Yeah. Really, those success stories validated what I already thought about myself, which is that I have the knowledge and experience to be able to… That I know this, that I know the stuff, that I know it really well. So, it validated my feeling and it just further pumped me up. I felt like if I get out those people, who else can I help? Who else is missing out on this experience? That I know that they need, I know that they would benefit and I know could change their life.

Pat:
Did you read Will It Fly?

Erika:
No.

Pat:
It’s okay if you didn’t.

Erika:
I didn’t, I’m sorry.

Pat:
Because you basically did everything that I teach in that book anyway.

Erika:
Oh, okay.

Pat:
So, for those of you who’ve read that book, you’ll know you want to have conversations with your customers and you want to get little micro experiments in place so that you can prove not just that there’s a market there, which you did, but you prove to yourself that you are qualified to teach these people through just getting one or two people a result. And that’s basically what Will It Fly? in my course, Smart From Scratch does. It helps you get that one result that lets you know that you can do this. Because the number one thing that’s holding people back is, “I don’t know if I can do this.” But guess what? Once you know you can, everything changes, and you were able to do that on your own. So, congrats and just kudos to you on that. Tell me what life is like now for you. I know you got the kids still and everything’s going… How are things different now?

Erika:
Yeah. So, now it really is about how can… Where do I go from here? I’ve had six figure launches. I’ve helped hundreds of women so far and it’s like I just want to take this further. I want to explore other options in regards to getting myself out there. The program out there, my system out there. I have my Zero to Influence system that I teach all these women and that have impacted their lives. Truly, I get emotional when I think about the lives that I’ve been able to impact. And it’s not just about the money. It’s not. It can’t be. Not when you’re doing something day in and day out for hours and hours. For me, it really boils down to changing these women’s lives for the better. I know I teach YouTube, but for so many of the women that come to me, either they already have a business and they want more exposure for their business or they’re wanting to make YouTube their business and they want to quit their job. They’re not happy.

Erika:
I literally just got a DM yesterday saying, “Erika, I’m on track to quit my job this year. Thank you so much. I could never have done it without you. I hit my goal of…” I don’t know how many subscribers it was. And she’s like, “I hit my goal, I’m going to do it and I have to thank you.” And I get these messages from my bootcampers, from my students and it’s everything. It’s everything to me. And I just want to be able to impact more women, get myself out there more. Life is good. I’m a mom and I have two very young children and it’s still juggling out. I’m still learning how to balance things. I’m still trying to create systems with my team and it’s a lot of messy action. It’s a lot.

Erika:
Especially it’s like, right now I am recording this when my daughters are napping, I’m literally sitting on the floor of my bedroom because my other daughter’s in my office. That’s where she naps. So, it’s just a lot of messy action, but at the root of it, it’s just my passion of helping women and wanting to help them and change your life. And that’s where I always come from. I’ve made mistakes here and there and it’s not always perfect, but that’s ultimately my vision and I’m just trying to do what I can to get there.

Pat:
That’s great. Well, thank you so much for being real and being honest about that. I think messy action is a really good term that I think a lot of us can relate to, but it’s action nonetheless. And I think that’s the key. It would behoove me not to ask you a little bit about YouTube and YouTube strategies if you don’t mind me digging into it that, just for a little bit here to finish off, because I’ve been diving into YouTube a lot recently. I know a lot of my audience has a YouTube channel or is thinking about that too. Obviously if you’re thinking about a podcast and a YouTube channel from scratch, I would pick one and go with it, whichever one you think is best. But-

Erika:
Good advice Pat. That’s one of the things I always say that, is pick one platform, know it really, really well.

Pat:
Yes.

Erika:
Don’t be doing a bunch of different platforms. And yeah.

Pat:
Thank you for supporting me on that one.

Erika:
I do. I 100% do.

Pat:
So, if you choose to go into YouTube at one point, for right now or at least here in 2020, what seems to be working for people? How do you grow your channel?

Erika:
So, I know that many of the people listening are business owners, right?

Pat:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Many. Yes.

Erika:
Online business owners. So, the number one thing that you really want to think about, is YouTube is not just about informing people. You have to entertain people while also giving information. The YouTube creator or the YouTube entrepreneur—whatever you want to call yourself—that is able to marry both information and entertainment, they’re the ones that go far. It’s not just about coming onboard and be like, “Okay, I’m going to do keyword research. Okay, I’m going to do a video about that. Okay, I’m going to talk about this.” Yeah, you could do so much with that, but if you want to be a YouTube influencer, which is my goal for my students. My goal is to have them all get a silver play button, which is 100,000 subscribers. Right? You didn’t get so far. Yes, you could do informational videos, but if you really want to be an influencer on YouTube, you have to marry both entertainment and information. That’s the first thing I would say. I don’t know if you have any questions about that because I could go-

Pat:
I was just going to add some color commentary on that, because I’ve never heard anybody just straight up say that, but I think we all kind of know that. Right?

Erika:
Yup.

Pat:
So, it’s really cool for you to just come right on out of the gate saying that, because I found that to be true too. I’ve for the last nine years since I started my YouTube channel, 10 years now. Actually, 2009 I started my YouTube channel. For the first 10 years, I was giving information and it was the best information and it helped a lot of people that got found on search and it did a lot of great things, but I found that ever since I’ve switched to trying to be entertaining, which means just leaning into who I am a little bit more by adding a lot of fun elements, by adding a lot of pattern interrupts so that it keeps the person watching, I can see the future of my YouTube channel being much bigger, much more grand and honestly much more just fun to produce and be a part of as well. And I’m feeling that now too. And I wish somebody just told me, “Hey, make sure just at least your videos are somewhat entertaining too.”

Erika:
Yeah. That’s the difference between being a YouTuber versus a person that uploads YouTube videos.

Pat:
That’s who I was. That’s who I was.

Erika:
Exactly.

Pat:
I was never a YouTuber, not to say I want to be a full time YouTuber, I just want my-

Erika:
You got a lot going on Pat.

Pat:
I got a lot going on. I’d rather be known as a podcaster than a YouTuber, but the YouTube game is fun and there’s a lot of opportunities there too, especially if the algorithms are in your favor today.

Erika:
You said something too, “Everyone kind of knows that.” And it’s true. I think instinctively everyone knows that, but a lot of people don’t realize that they have to do it also if they’re going to be on YouTube. I’ll get so many people coming to me and be like, “Erika, why are aren’t I growing blah blah?” I’m like, “Because your videos are boring.” They’re boring. It’s information, but they’re boring. And let’s look at Sally over there and Susie over there and Hannah over there who’s talking about the same stuff. In fact, they’re not giving nearly as much information, but their videos are way more interesting and way more entertaining. And if you want to make an impact on YouTube, like I know that you want to do, you’ve got to dial it up, you have to bring your 100%, you’ve got to bring your A game every single time you’re in front of the camera.

Erika:
And that goes with what you mentioned too. Editing elements. Pattern interrupts and music. Just all these different things that I’m sure we can go on and on about, but you have to understand that if people want information, if they wanted just information, there are millions of blogs out there, there’s tons of podcasts out there. We’re on information overload. People come to YouTube because they want to be entertained and learn something at the same time. They want to see it. They want to see it visually. They don’t want to just look at a talking head for 20 minutes.

Erika:
Having said that, some people can get away with that and you have to kind of know yourself. If you’re that kind of person that can sit in front of a camera for 20 minutes and people can’t keep their eyes off of you, then you have a talent and you should go with that. But most of the people that come to me that are business owners, they’ve got amazing talents, but that might not be one of them. So, we have to now create entertainment in various different ways. And once you start learning how to do it, you realize like you said, “Ah, okay, I get it now.”

Pat:
Right. And it doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have to be yourself or be this-

Erika:
No. You have to be your self.

Pat:
… exaggerated mouth always open like a crazy person.

Erika:
Exactly. That’s why I say you want to know yourself, because you want to be the best version of yourself. I always say that when I-

Pat:
The most entertaining version of yourself.

Erika:
Most entertaining, but some people don’t know what that means. Like, “What does that mean? Am I going to be dancing around?” It’s truly the best version of yourself. The person that is super… Think about why you got into this in the first place. That passion, that magnetism. Because I have what’s called OCET, on camera energy transfer. That’s what I teach my people. I say you have to have on camera energy transfer because the only way somebody is going to relate to you, want to watch you, want to keep watching you is if they’re feeling that emotion through the camera. And if you’re just sharing information and there’s no passion behind it, next they’re moving on to someone who does have that.

Pat:
Dang, that was good. Thank you Erika. Thank you. I’m just reflecting on my videos now, which is why I’m having this long pause. I apologize to everybody. Anyway, Erika we could talk about YouTube strategies and we’ll have to do that at some point in the future and collab at some point, but I just appreciate you coming on and for being just this amazing energy that’s here. You have on camera energy transfer and on podcast energy transfer too.

Erika:
Thank you.

Pat:
So, I appreciate you. Where can people go to learn more from you?

Erika:
Yeah. If you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Oh, I’m inspired, I have questions.” I’m on Instagram all the time DM me there. I love chatting with people. That’s maybe a little too much, but I just love it. So, you can go over to Instagram @beautyandthevlog, V-L-O-G. DM me, “Hey, I heard you on Pat’s blah blah,” and we’ll chat. And my podcast is the YouTube Power Hour Podcast. Yes, I feature a lot of women on the podcast and it’s kind of geared towards women, but I have male listeners and they tell me, “Hey, this is the best kept secret for men out there, they don’t know you have such good information.” I’m like, “Yeah.” So, I know we have a lot of male listeners here. So, definitely don’t be shy come on over to the YouTube Power Hour Podcast and you can find me there. Or my website, erikavieira.net.

Pat:
Awesome Erika. You’re amazing. Thanks so much for coming on. I recommend everybody check out all those resources. We’ll put them in the show notes for you, but Erika take care, keep helping loads of people because it’s just inspiring. Thank you so much.

Erika:
Well, Pat thank you so much. This has been an honor. Thank you.

Pat:
All right. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Erika. Again, you can find her at the YouTube Power Hour Podcast and you can find her on YouTube now as well, and of course erikavieira.net. And just as you could tell, just a ton of knowledge, a ton of energy and I just loved every moment of that interview. So, thank you for listening all the way through. I appreciate you. If you want to get the links in the resources/show notes for this episode, just head on over to smartpassiveincome.com/session414. One more time, smartpassiveincome.com/session414 and as always, thanks for listening. I appreciate you. Hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already, we got a lot of great content coming your way. I see the list of upcoming sessions right ahead of me and you’re not going to want to miss it. So again, hit that subscribe button. And as always, #teamFlynnforthewin.

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