Influencer Invitation, Welcome Back Party
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Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isnât to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. Iâm not here to act as a definitive firsthand sourceâreaders should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). Iâm not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!-
I was granted admission to an influencer event learned how they actually make money. I might be doing everything right and wrong at the same time. No one talked to me, but it still changed how I see content forever.
Community > followers
Courses? Idk⌠Youtube it
Burnout is realâprotect your energy
IRS will find you - get a tax person
Topics Covered: Influencer Economy, Content Creators, Marketing, narrative, Tone, Style, Niche, Trial and Error, Consistency, Trends
This is an event Iâve tried to attend once⌠and the first time: DENIED!!! This time, I knew a girl connected, name-dropped⌠and âboomâ we in, baby. We in. We in. We in and we learning from people with millions and millions of followers: How do you monetize? As for me⌠a person with few followers and not a lot of monitization on this website, either⌠its a good event to attend. Iâm sure loving the ââŚâ today even more than events. Yes, itâs my first event in a long time. Weeks to be specific. Iâm welcoming myself bak, but not for long. I will take even more time off of attending events, after this event: to keep crunching numbers and abs (hopefully the latter even more). Letâs see what this event can teach us about moolah, baby!
Why Attend: Iâm ADHD⌠did you know ADHD (and neurodivergent people, like me, also HSP) have a hard time making money đ. We learned that at the event about Childrens Mental Health, remember!? :). I think itâs why I like investing so much. Itâs so easy to work with, makes sense, and then I can build on the side. Even so⌠I could be doing things smarter with my income - legit!!! And it will only make my life better⌠I realized this recently. So, itâs time to begin. Iâm nervous and excited to learn from professional influencers about how they MONETIZE THEIR AUDIENCES (which feels so rude to do). But, then again, I love investing in my favorite companies. I just need to figure out how to get money from people on this website in a way where everyone feels hyped. Like⌠my merch I love, but what more? What more!?!? (I feel like Ariel from the freakinâ lil mermaid over here and/or daft punkâs paul willims: I need something more.)
Overall Event Reviews: Venue (3/5), Food (2/5), Speaker Content (4/5), Networking (3.5/5), Likeliness to Return (5/5)
Photo Collage and Commentary:
Notes from the Event:
This is a fancy event for sure! The wardrobe hinted at it. So I dressed to impress 99% (the shoes could have been more extreme, but I went more casual).
Not suited for a laptop. So Iâll bring a notebook and write on it casually. Maybe type on my phone⌠but I brought my laptop so I could work on the transit there/back. Notes below!!
Last minute location - seemed okay for a laptop here - EUREKA!
Professionals in branding, marketing, social media management, marketing⌠lots of banks
The goal is to build more communities and have more events like this.
Okay so we have a moderator with two interviewed people.
One guy has almost 8 million subscribers while he plays games. He also does blogs, cooking, and other projects. When not doing that, he has interests like fashion, tech, basketball (and war??) idk what he said.
Now thereâs another YouTuber from Seattle who has custom keyboards. Almost 2 million subscribers. When not producing the videos he loves music - and he release a new song each month, and he also is interested in plants.
- I like how everyone has so many things tehyâre so into. Itâs so relatable.
Your starting story, share it:
To keep things short, started YouTube at 12yo. Back in 2011/2012⌠everyone has heard of (then he lists all these peopel Iâve never heard of hahaha)
He said all those people made him want to be a creator. Seeing those faces every day coming home from school in 3rd grade, I thought maybe one day I could be that person on the screen, sharing that experience.
My iPod touch was my first way of recording videos, then mobile gaming, then gaming in general (wonder if he likes GameStop)
He said he creates content and shares stories through music, gaming, and cooking
He always said to never put yourself in a bubble and try new things.
Heâs created a variety of content. So, yeah, he has a lot to share and wants to keep it short.
Next guy a lot of people clap for. Like he is famous.
He said he was about the same, about 12yo sharing creativity and existential dread with the world.
He made a channel, quit, made a channel, quit - then finally in the pandemic, he studied marketing in college but he was so bored. But then he got really into keyboards. It was super intersting to him. Sharing it with the world, and the world was resonating. Everyone else was at home being frustrated with their keyboards for not being that good. He took that as far as he possibly could. Now he makes videos about keyboards and shares it with the world. Not too much of a box, creating anything to create.
So, you both have music as an interest, plants, different channels for different things.
How did it come together? How do you figure out which thing is the thing?
Do you just create all these areas, one took off? Or did you decide one place to go all in? How did you not box yourself in? How did you navigate all these interests and find what the thing is?
Stuck with what took off.
When youâre young, you see graphs and number go up and you think, âyes! This is the gold mine.â
Minecraft at first wasnât a huge passion of mine, but seeing how others made content in that world inspired me to see what works.
See what works, then itâll become a game. Youtube will become a game more than Minecraft.
Really stick with what works and youâll get addicted to optimizing content and making the best content possible through Minecraft
Thatâs a great thing. Run with waht works. When youâre making videos, especially at the start, you want to do everything, most fun, most joy. Eventually one of those things works. You may hit your niche really well, your community you resonate with. Then he started making videos on discord for 1000 people. Then those were my biggest fans, biggest supporters.
Building around your niche and community is the best way to start.
How do you translate community into people who care and support you? Whatâs the difference between a lot of views and getting a loyal community?
The biggest thing is that you start with community, instead of views.
Build around groups of people⌠maybe a reddit, a discord community, a local meetup - that kind of thing.
As you grow, the community grows with you.
Recently even a lot of hiking creators have started making walking groups. A couple hundred people get together and go on a walk.
Building the community first is easier than building the community after.
Building community out of people who donât care about you is hard.
Starting with peopel who care about you builds so much more exponentially.
In the gaming niche, there are so many viewers, right?
Most gaming creators, itâs easy to blog up, get a lot of views⌠what sets you apart?
Everyone is unique, so what is unique about you that others can relate to as well?
Otherwise youâre just another gaming creator in the community.
Show your personality more
What twists can you add that make it you?
When people think about hide-and-seek in Minecraft they think about you within that. Your little quirks will pick up. People like this.
Going full time⌠how long did it take? What was the journey to get things to take off? At what point were you making money?
At the beginning, everyone else back then⌠it was a hobby cause it was hard to monetize content.
Partner used to not have a partner program. They used to have a thing where youâd have to go through etwros to get monetized
The thresholds to get monetized used to be harder.
It used to be more analytical.. just a numbers game.
For the longest time, he wasnât making a lot of money but his views were very high.
His videos were extremely short. Just like now, you wonât earn a lot of money with shorts. The watch time isnât too high.
It was like a 1-2 minute update.
I used to cover all the new features, cover everything ⌠and at that time I met someone doing it full-time. We had comparable views. I was getting 3-10m views per month.
But he was making way more money. 500k/year. I was like, hold on a second, Iâm making 30k. How is this possible?
-After that, after meeting him, I took a deep dive into waht I was doing wrong in order to optimize it and earn more money.- Money isnât the end goal but it helps you sustain yourself financially.
A lot of viewers are overseas (I was making mobile Minecraft content, in a subniche of a niche)
A lot of viewers were in the Philippines, India, CPM
Mine was very low⌠I was learning 50 cents per 1k views. But I could have been earning more if theyâd been in other locations.
So I optimized my channel, learned more of YouTube, and then was eventually ready for a viral moment. Seized it, knew exactly what to do next
WHAT WAS YOUR NEXT STEP WHEN YOU WENT VIRAL? My question - lol!!
He says his was super quick and he didnât know what to do from the start. He went from 2k to 300k in one year. IT can happen to you and really freak you out. Youâre making no money to suddenly you can pay your own rent. How? I just kept making videos. The partner program. That plays ads revenue. But itâs niche dependent. If you make videos on credit cards nad finance, you are rich. Videos on gaming, yikes! You need to look at alternative revenue sources.
Any moment you can be removed from platforms and they can remove you. Your entire income wiped. You are at hte whim of YouTube when they make updates. So diversify, never put all of your eggs in one basket or else youâll have existential dread every day.
6-7 YouTube channels (not only to split content into different niches)
Cause also he had 300k subscribers and then it disappeared from YouTube.
Dontâ be ad dependent
One guy had a copyright request for all of his videos, suddenly must all be taken down. Cause he did 8-bit remixes that ended up not being allowed.
0-100k was the hardest for him. Then once he got 100k he knew what he liked. Then at 400k he found a viral video idea, and as soon as he saw that video get traction (200k views in the first three days) then he wanted to make the same videos again and again. Then over 3-4 months, while in college, he got 1.5 M subscribers.
And his whole life heâd gotten A-⌠A⌠and then all the sudden he failed his first exam.
But then his parents were like, ânope - youâre going to stay in collegeâ
The speaker says, âwow! Congrats to finishing college, letâs go college, woo!â
His last big of college was during covid and he was really bored.
So he was putting 70+ hours each week into videos. Longform, shorts, everything.
It was really slow at first. 6 months he went from 1,000 - 2,000⌠but then from there, he found an idea that worked and heâd kinda perfected his technique at that point. He was having fun learning and making friends to tell him how to make better videos.
Then he started getting 50k, 300k, then 1M and it flywheeled out of control.
Any common advice in social media or talking about things that you donât agree with?
Do not buy a course!!
uh oh. iâm trying to make courses for kids though hahaha. omg. Letâs seeâŚ
Anything you can learn in a course you can learn from google. Save the money.
Agreed, all the skills Iâve learned through YouTube are from YouTube. How to edit a video, change a tire, tie a tieâŚ
A lot of people say consistency is key⌠but it has to be smarter, not harder.
Consistency doesnât equal success. You have to be strategic to an extent.
Sure you can post organic, personal content⌠but at the same time - if you have a random thumbnail, no one is going to click it.
You need to be strategic, not just posting content simply to post content.
Yeah 100%
Whatâs the most unsexy part of being a content creator?
Taxes
Yeah... that. Look into setting up an S-corp. Look into it, itâs essential. Taxes suck.
Taxes? I had a breakdown, not going to lie. My first year, having to take almost half of what I made, I was ready to cry.
Youâre never going to rest. Youâre running a business. If youâre the face of hte channel, if you canât be there, the content canât keep going
Bro, thatâs why Iâm here right now.
Be ready for hte late nights. You may like this type of lifestyle. You gotta be ready for it.
Yeah I like it
The other nonglamorous part is that. YOU are grinding, you donât get to turn your brain off and not worry about it.
Itâs the greatest strength and weakness⌠you only have freetime when you make the time and sacrifice in other places.
Sometimes you also lose track of what is work and what is life. That ties into financial management.
Sometimes you may give yourself leeway, considering things investments.
But your own selfish reasons⌠maybe you want a nice shiny new computer as an âinvestmentâ - no. You have to find a way to separate life and work, and how you manage your money.
How do you decide what parts to keep to just yourself in your blog⌠some time away from the camera, and what to share?
Some personal interests⌠retro video games and handhelds..I dont like sharing that with others.
I like to enjoy some things without having a camera in my face.
I like to enjoy vacations without having to vlog.
Maybe keep your relationship private.
Not every moment of personal life.
Just set boundaries, some things arenât worth posting. It may make great content but doesnât need to be posted.
Common things for creators who want to get started:
When trying to grow and get in reps, some people might overstrategize their content or make it more personal.
Broad concepts sometimes sacrifice authenticity. And how do you go about this? Do you act like a smaller channel with a niche audience? Or you just do all over the place and make the best videos possible?
This guys question confused me
He replied: we can go about this in different avenues. I watch a lot of content on YouTube cause I like to see how people in different niches have success.
There are content creators selling coffee, things that relate to their content. Branded cool things.
Selling things related to waht you talk about.
If you have an authentic audience, yourâe going to get a connected audience. They will consume and purchase things. Or you can focus on optimizing your content as much as possible. As many views as possible. YOuâll get merch sales and branded products, but youâre going to most likely rely on brand deals and ad revenue.
Thiis is the best time to start making content.
Like a year/year and a half ago they started promoting newer channels with less than 1k subscribers. What do you do with the opportunity given to you?
Lately the algorithm wants to push out other channels⌠what do you do with it after?
Itâs what you do with what youâre given.
If you want to grow fast, you are on a one-way ticket to burnout.
Itâs not too many hours, itâs lack of fulfillment. The number one ride ticket to lack of fulfillment is only making videos to get views.
It happens to creative friends, chasing numbers, perfecting algos⌠they suddenly quit -
They feel their videos have no meaning..
But if you love what youâre doing, bringing joy from this nonstop, itâs how you know you should do it.
How important is your setup, environment, and equiptment when youâre first getting started? And does it matter if youâre in the camera or not?
New creators get really caught up in gear. Itâs almost like a way of projecting insecurities into the content.
You feel you need a new mic cause you donât like your voice.
But you dont need high quality to succeed. It only matters if youâre going after the niche.
Faceless channels can succeed. So do what makes you feel comfortable. But donât focus on gear. It probably wonât make things much better
At the end of the day, itâs just about the content youâre making.
All that matters is what you make with what you have.
Many peopel make stuff off of their iPhones! All that matters is what you make and how you put it together, and tell the story.
Filming on your phone is easy and approachable. Gear isnât everything.
Sometimes higher quality gear doesnât make your content better if the substance isnât there.
How important is it to diversity across platforms?
HUGE - if you pigeonhole yourself into one platform, youâre at their whim.
If they get rid of something, youâre screwed.
Some niches donât work on some platforms. Sometimes itâs not good for every platform.
Different audiences have different interests.
YouTube people donât like to click on links, tiktok they do
Dontâ spread yourself too thin trying to learn too many platforms at once. It can get really overwhelming when youâre only one person. When youâre first starting off, you only have one brain. You want to make sure you know what youâre doing before you get too ahead of yourself.
Find a format that works for you. Youâll get yourself a gold mine.
Do you have any tools you love that help with reposting or video creation?
Look at gaming YouTube section and see the recent tabs. There youâll find the most popular video that are doing well, see trends.
Then he puts 2-3 concepts all in one video to differentiate himself.
He thinks itâs always good to try things that are new.
But look at what has worked in the past. Itâll likely do well, so put those concepts together and youâll do really good
He says: that is a really good idea and I might steal that idea!
Capcut is amazing. The auto enhance. Also devinchi resolve, better than premier (one crash deleting 50 hours of footage and life is over)
Doing research to understand trends. AS a creator, you keep track of the industry, exciting things⌠so what are you most excited about with the creative economy right now? Maybe many people arenât knowing much aboutâŚ
Events like this, with creators meeting in person.
Most people here didnât know there are other YouTubers and creators in Seattle. More peole getting tougher sharing community and having hte same job. We just all do it really differently.
Weâre not competition, weâre collaborating.
Community events are great. It can be isolating. As an introvert itâs nice to have events like this.
Nice to meet others with a similar mindset and know Iâm not alone.
How do you keep engagement up while exploring different styles?
How to explore other niches while maintaining what you have?
Itâs important to have systems in place and a format
Look at how others are doing things. Can you take others successes and ideas and reformat it for your content?
If it worked for another niche will it work for yours?
If itâs for NOT your audience, how do you make it for NOT your audience? Fitting a square peg into a circle hole⌠how do you capture the niche instead of forcing your niche into the other niche.
How important is niche?
It can help when youâre starting, and building the community around the niche.
But if youâre not community building, staying in a niche can hurt you.
Broadness is good when youâre not focused on community building.
Just think about what youâre most passionate about. Then go look on YouTube or see how others are making content on this.
You can see whatâs doing well.. then thereâs a higher chance you will be successful.
You will see others doing well with views. Then you can take their ideas and inspriatoin - then put a twist on it.
If youâre doing things not a lot of people know about, do you want to be the first person to take off.
Put it into your passion, itâll work.
Put it in the style of content you want to make and there is a high chance you will be successful.
From a viewers perspective, what is intersting? Crazy communities are evolving around fountain pens, handwriting⌠itâs more interesting than just videos about pens.
Amazing handwriting, cool pens. The videos look incredible.
How would you pitch and describe what you do in just a few words and sentences.
Ai in a creatorâs space.. a lot of it isnât helpful and can be distracting. I ask it things or ask it to check things, and it doesnât help me. I spend more time planning than creating. Though some creators get a lot of very good use out of Ai.
Whatâs your advice on taxes?
Itâs a good way to get audited early on. If you write everything off and go net-zero, that could get you audited really easily if ANY of the write-offs arenât good. You need to be relatively safe if youâre in it for the longterm.
As you grow bigger, it can be a red flag for the IRS.
These guys write off as much as they can. Te reason for, âthis is what I use for contentâ. Food, usually you canât write it off. Then heâll vlog his food. A big purchase - heâll take pics and post it online and then turn it into content. He writes off as much as he can. Itâs okay, he spoke to his accountant and they say thatâs alright.
Hire a tax lawyer.
EVENT OVER - leaving.
I left almost instantly with this new desire and excitement for networking.
I donât want to network here, but I want to make it a goal soon to meet as many peopel as possible, have business cards maybe even⌠and just start meeting everyone. Tell them what I do.
What am I doing? I wanna have 3-5 one-liners of what I do: âI teach kids about moneyâ, âI teach youth about aiâ, âIâm a bloggerâ - etc.
Some strategic ideas for how Iâm trying to present myself. What are some things Iâm trying to do with others, or let others know about and feel itâs approachable?
Iâd like to set myself up for networkign next time, and actively making like 100 contacts next time I go to an event. Many events like this hahaha. I think itâll be fun to try.
Also, todayâs event I attended with VERY selective hearing on that advice hahhaah. I just want to keep doing what Iâm doing in my way. .. yes, the advice was good, along the lines of, âwhat if youâre making content for not your audience.
This random guy on the train was amazing - heâs so funny. Heâs amazing.
This guy came on the train cheering, singing, dancing, amazing (though it made a few people uncomfortable, he was just like 12/10 happy and letting everyone know it, cheering on sometihng). I jsut was typing and workignâŚ. Then this dad and son gave him some cookies as he was getting off the train, the hapyp guy. And the dad/guy said, youâre saving my life if you eat these cookies, Iâm diabetic (just being dramatic-ish and overly nice). And the superhappy guy goes, âbittermelon!â Look into it, bitter melon. My sister started taking it and now she went down to the one below insulin. Whatever it is. Look into it. The guy said again, what is it? Heâs standing as the doors are closing: bitter melon. His son nods that he has it locked in. It was so sweet and wholesome. You know?
It was funny, cause you could hear that guy from a mile away before we got onto the train. You could hear him down the hall, up the stairs. He was so hyped. He was chanting and cheering while walking down the stairs. I think he was cheering for a sports team or something. Clapping and cheering. Shouting. Even some people down in the subway were frightened from the noise.
In my younger years Iâd have made eye contact with him, laughed, gived him a high-five and cheered along to find out what heâs talking about⌠but these days I feel my time is so tight (and you never know what crazy drugs he may be on), you just think to yourself, idk if I have the time to get all into that. But, from afar, I liked that wild energy. He just seemed happy and broken free.
Then it was cool the irony of how that guy said, warmly, âyouâre saving my life to take these cookies off of me, you made my dayâ - where his response was some possibly life saving advice!! He went from wack attack to 100% reality mode, ready to save a life. I love those kinds of people. Can snap from here to there and back again.
So, I want to embrace my style. I think my style is okay and worth preserving. As long as I can afford my future and a great future, Iâm happy with sticking to my ways. I donât want to sell out - but I do need to figure out how to build this even more. Right?
The event was cool⌠inspiring a bit, for sure! Some about the stuff they said, but also, like I said, that experience made me want to network more. So, Iâll do some thinking on this and figure out what thatâll look like soon!! Canât wait to report back haha. And if you look back at my very old blogs, youâll see Iâve been anti-network for like months/years. So, this was a strange thing to happen. Although, at this event, I think I literally spoke to no one. Hahaha Dressed up amazing, attended, TYPED!! (Amazing, cause it saves SO MUCH TIME) - and then boom, out. Inspired to be amazing next time even more. :) love it.
Bittermelon - btw - we should all look into it, right? Why not! At least learn about it :)
Event Reviews Further Elaborations:
Venue: 3/5 - the place was alright. They moved it to this location last minute and it was a place Iâd seen the outside of a few times. It would have been cool to be on a rooftop, too - but cold⌠my dress would have been so cold at that environment - ANDDDD probably i couldnât have used a laptop :)
Food: 2/5 - I was pretty sure they were advertising free drinks and food (for this free event, but still) and then I didnât see any. So, I arrived AND LEFT hungry. BUT I told myself before this, what am I going to do? Stay home and cook chicken and onions? No! Go to this event. But guess what I did after rushing home? You know it, girl! That C&O all night long. Chicken and onions for the win.
Speaker Content 3/5: - I feel like nothing but everything was said. I donât know what I expected, but I feel I didnât get enough from this event, but also I got plenty. It just felt like it was lots of ideas - but also these guys have been doing this for 10-15 years. So, idk. You know hahahah. They had good advice but it felt a bit informal but also useful? I mean, they threw this togehter really well with mics and a stage last minute!
Networking: 3.5/5 - it was all alcohol based networking, and just sit around chitchat. Not totally my style off-the-bat. But, there was over an hour set aside to mingle after and plenty of time before⌠so, seems you could accomplish that goal well here.
Likeliness to Return: 5/5 - yes, Iâd return to one of these events more ready to introduce myself. I just feel âalmost readyâ but not quite yet. I feel like this past week.five of time off has been really good for me to regroup on all things KT, brushing it out and trimming things back in. Figuring out what is going on here, you know? But I think weâre starting to find our form. Here at KT.c.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if thereâs no other reason to go. Letâs see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. đ
