Hot Kool-Aid, Malk, and the "Hero Asset"
Creator advice from my conversation with Julian Smith...
If you spent any time on YouTube in the early days of the platform, you’ll have seen this guy..
Julian Smith…
If you don’t recognize him, you just need to know that he had one of the top 100 Youtube channels for many years, mainly publishing comedy sketches and songs.
Back in March, I was scrolling through YouTube, and having basically forgotten about the dude, saw a recent upload from him. I clicked and then watched him explain the difficult situation that he has gone/is going through, which included a divorce, serious health issues for both him and a close family member, as well as losing some of his major clients due to budget issues.
What struck me was that he said “Instead of asking for donations, I want to make myself useful.” and continued to explain how he would be opening his schedule to one-on-one coaching calls for a fraction of what he would normally charge.
So, curious what he’d been up to all these years, I checked out his website and saw that he’d done jobs for some of the biggest brands and companies in the world doing video production, commercials, etc.. and also writing and directing content for popular YouTubers.
It seemed like he would be worth talking to, so I went ahead and booked a sixty minute call for $100. In the memo I said I would like an audit of my content, website and music but when it came time for the call I also had a bunch of questions about his creative process lined up as well.
Eventually, we hopped on a google meet and the call went great! Not only did I really enjoy talking with Julian, we had some good laughs and he left me with some great advice and food for thought.
Note* I’m writing this from memory so it might not be exactly what he said or thinks but just what I understood and remember from the conversation.
The “Hero Asset”
The first thing that he explained to me was how he advises his clients to approach their growth online.
“Think of your website like a brick and mortar store. You want to get bodies in there that will buy or consume your product or art”.
He went on to describe that the website and product is the bottom of a funnel. In the middle of the funnel is what he called the “Hero Asset” which are 8-12 minute long-form YouTube videos posted 2-3 times a week (optimally).
Then, those videos are cut into smaller videos for TikTok, Instagram and Youtube shorts. He said that ideally these would be mapped out beforehand and that they function like little digital billboards that draw people to your YouTube videos and then, after they get to know you, have the possibility of becoming a fan or customer.
In his opinion, this is the most viable strategy for an artist to grow online these days.
He had an interesting point, which was that social media is one of the only places that people are basically just waiting for you to put your content in front of their face.
I’d heard versions of this strategy before but, because I was considering making YouTube videos anyways, it seemed timely and I think I’m going to give it a go. 2-3 videos a week is too much for me right now but I plan on starting by posting every other week and then, depending on how it goes, ramping it up.
Media Diet
Next, I asked him about his media diet and wasn’t surprised to find out that he doesn’t personally use social media, doesn’t really watch movies, drives in silence, and only listens to podcasts occasionally.
If you’ve read any of my posts on focus you will know I aim to live this way as well and I think it’s actually pretty common among successful artists and entrepreneurs. I honestly don’t see how else you could really dial-in and focus on anything for an extended period of time.
Problems
The next thing he told me that stood out is..
“Whatever you do.. you ought to be solving a problem for someone, even if that problem is boredom.”
He went on to explain how our whole economy, and arguably our entire lives, are just a series of problems that we are trying to solve and if you can solve someone’s problem for them you’re on the right path. This concept can be used like a razor when deciding what to make, cut, keep, change etc..
Perceptive Authoritativeness.
After that I asked him what he thinks about my plan to center a lot of my content around how to navigate our rapidly changing world. I find this a massive challenge myself and have hypothesized that if others don’t have the same struggle now, they are going to very soon.
He said “It’s a great idea..BUT” and then told me about a concept that he coined called perceptive authoritativeness.
The idea is that if you plan on leading or teaching anyone anything, they need a reason to listen to you or a reason to trust you.
He said that oftentimes it just comes from competence in general, but depending on what type of issues you are tackling it may be difficult unless you can demonstrate that you’ve conquered or overcome those particular obstacles.
You can imagine how it would be hard to listen to a financial advisor who is poor.
A.I.
Near the end of the conversation, I took the opportunity to ask him about A.I.
I asked where he thinks it’s going, and how or if he is planning for it.
He then shared with me what he described as a hot take, which was that currently the barrier to entry for creators is too low and results in a landscape of highly saturated mediocre content that cheapens what we do as artists.
He seemed to think that with the rise of generative A.I. the barrier to entry for creators making a living from their art would rise again and only the truly special art would shine through and be viable to make a career off of.
I’m not sure if I agree but I definitely see his point and wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what ends up happening. On the other hand, I can see it going the opposite way and all these tools just making it easier for anyone to create something amazing with little-to-no skill thus saturating the market further and increasing competition even more.
Only time will tell.
All in all I’m super happy I took the opportunity to talk to Julian and pick his brain. He’s a nice dude and clearly very intelligent and skilled.
I already have some new videos in the works for my old podcast channel and if you want subscribe so you see when I publish something.. here you go! ^
As always, I’m happy to receive feedback, advice or to just have a conversation about any of the topics on this blog! Don’t hesitate to comment or reach out via social media
(@danny_suede on all platforms)