0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to this

0:02

week's conversation on the YouTube Creators

0:04

Hub podcast. My name is Dusty

0:06

Porter, the host of the show.

0:08

As always, I am joined today

0:11

by Larissa. Larissa runs the YouTube

0:13

channel beekeeping made simple. So she

0:15

took a leap and moved across

0:17

the country to become a beekeeper,

0:20

learning from the ground up. Her journey

0:22

from losing her first hives

0:24

to running a successful apiary

0:26

in Hawaii and teaching beekeeping

0:28

classes has led her to

0:30

find beekeeping made simple, which

0:32

is her YouTube channel and

0:34

business, and her goal with

0:37

it is to help others learn how

0:39

to keep bees the simple, sustainable

0:41

way. Larissa, how are you doing? I'm

0:43

doing great. We've had a couple

0:45

of mishaps trying to get this

0:48

interview scheduled, but you know what?

0:50

We are here now and I

0:52

cannot wait to dive into your

0:54

YouTube channel. What inspired you to

0:56

start the YouTube channel? Give us

0:58

the origin story of, okay, you

1:00

moved across the country, then now

1:02

you've moved back, but give us

1:04

the origin story of how beekeeping

1:06

made simple started. When I

1:08

first started keeping bees in Hawaii...

1:10

started working for two apiaries.

1:12

One was a beekeeper and one

1:15

had a beekeeping museum and they

1:17

wanted me to do beekeeping tours.

1:19

And I was talking to people

1:22

about opening up a beehai, showing

1:24

them the Queen to all the

1:27

tourists that come to Hawaii. And

1:29

I got really bored with the

1:31

basics of. honey bees and I wanted

1:33

to learn more and so I started

1:35

a podcast at first just as a

1:37

way to record and talk about the

1:40

things I was learning about bees

1:42

because my husband he's not a

1:44

beekeeper listens but I didn't want

1:46

to bore him with the specifics

1:48

all the time so I started a podcast

1:51

and then I started giving beekeeping

1:53

classes to people that wanted to

1:55

learn how to keep bees in

1:58

Hawaii because they're really wasn't anyone

2:00

doing it on the west side

2:02

of that island. And then when

2:04

I had my son, I started

2:07

putting the classes on wine because

2:09

I couldn't do the in-person classes

2:11

anymore. And that's when I realized

2:14

that the podcast wasn't a great

2:16

way to. show people how to

2:18

keep bees. It was a great

2:21

way to talk about bee biology

2:23

and stuff. But once I wanted

2:25

to start teaching people online how

2:27

to keep bees, YouTube, and that

2:30

class with the videos, was really

2:32

the best way to show people

2:34

what I was doing. What was

2:37

the most... You two really just

2:39

started getting the exposure. It was

2:41

a really great way to get

2:44

exposure for my course. What was

2:46

the moment that you realized that

2:48

YouTube was more than a hobby

2:50

or it was moving towards something

2:53

that could really be a big

2:55

cog in your business? Probably about

2:57

a year in, I filmed a

3:00

video that was terrible. It was

3:02

terrible shooting, it was raining out

3:04

and cloudy. I finally finished editing

3:07

it and put it on YouTube

3:09

and I had given up on...

3:12

I was using YouTube more as

3:14

a way to advertise. I was

3:16

paying for a Google, paying Google

3:18

to advertise on other people's YouTube

3:21

channels to get people on my

3:23

course. But when I put this

3:25

one video up, I forgot about

3:27

it because I had had a

3:29

baby and was busy with that.

3:31

And when I finally went back

3:33

to YouTube like four months later,

3:35

I saw that I in Maine,

3:37

a couple thousand dollars off of

3:39

this video. And I was like,

3:41

oh. Maybe there is something to

3:43

it. I'm just not making the

3:45

right videos and it can actually

3:47

be a little bit more than

3:49

just generating leads to my online

3:51

class. So what was the pivot

3:53

that you made after you stumbled

3:56

on that video? came back, what

3:58

were the things that you put

4:00

into play when you realized, okay,

4:02

I want to take this serious,

4:04

I want to use my videos

4:06

as a lead gen for my

4:08

courses and my website, I did

4:10

some research prior to this interview,

4:12

and whenever you search for beekeeping

4:14

on YouTube, you're always in the

4:16

top list of videos that come

4:18

up, so you've obviously done something

4:20

right. What would you say were

4:22

the pivots or the things that

4:24

you did to make sure to

4:26

set yourself and your channel up

4:28

for success? One, even if I

4:31

was too busy to make a

4:33

video and go out to the

4:35

bee yard and do that, I

4:37

at least went live just to

4:39

continue making that channel there and

4:41

to continue giving people help that

4:43

have been supporting my channel so

4:45

they didn't think I just fell

4:47

off the face of the earth.

4:49

The other thing I did was

4:51

I realized that I couldn't just

4:53

make... But beekeeping was a very

4:55

niche field and that was enough.

4:57

If I was just in this

4:59

topic, I didn't want to get

5:01

any more specific than that because

5:03

how many people are really researching

5:05

beekeeping in comparison to like cooking

5:08

and how to lose weight and

5:10

how to run a business, those

5:12

really popular topics. But then I

5:14

realized that if I focused even

5:16

more on... the beginner beekeeper and

5:18

the basic, these like basic principles.

5:20

This video was what I wanted,

5:22

I wished I had seen when

5:24

I was getting started. I was

5:26

so confused, I read so many

5:28

books, took a class, but I

5:30

still was just very confused about

5:32

these basic principles. And once I

5:34

figured them out so that I

5:36

could keep my personal bee highs

5:38

alive, I made videos that was

5:40

just like. When you open a

5:43

be a hive, this is what

5:45

you're looking at. And this is

5:47

why they do this. And there's

5:49

only two different kinds of things

5:51

you're going to see here. It's

5:53

going to be this or this.

5:55

And just like breaking it down

5:57

to like real. simple terms as

5:59

opposed to say a lot of

6:01

beekeepers aren't trying to talk to

6:03

the beginners they're talking to the

6:05

side liners that people with 50

6:07

hives and they're using all these

6:09

terms that people don't know and

6:11

you're left with more questions than

6:13

when you started and so then

6:15

my bowl became instead of people

6:18

having to do five more You

6:20

look at five more videos to

6:22

answer their question. I want to

6:24

fully answer a question so that

6:26

they can actually be like, okay,

6:28

now I know what to do.

6:30

You mention live streaming. You stream

6:32

the first Friday of every month

6:34

and you've stayed consistent with that

6:36

and it's really helped you form

6:38

and build the trust in the

6:40

community around the beekeeping community. What

6:42

would you say? What role would

6:44

you say that live streaming? has

6:46

played in the growth of the

6:48

channel and just you as a

6:50

creator, the streaming aspect of things.

6:52

Where does that fit in? I'm

6:55

thinking about the live streaming a

6:57

little bit differently now and considering

6:59

doing it a little bit more

7:01

often, I really put my snow

7:03

out there to sound like an

7:05

idiot sometimes, honestly, with the live

7:07

streams. which I don't really see

7:09

the other beekeepers doing. Other people

7:11

will say, give me your questions

7:13

and I will address them in

7:15

the live stream. And I just

7:17

sit there and exhausted from taking

7:19

care of a three-year-old and a

7:21

five-year-old and I'm like, okay, give

7:23

me your questions. What can we

7:25

talk about? And they just throw

7:27

them at me, like, while I'm

7:30

there. And so I think I've

7:32

gotten a lot of support from...

7:34

some of the more advanced beekeepers

7:36

and people that have been doing

7:38

it a while too, and they

7:40

join in on the chats, even

7:42

if they're not learning much as

7:44

like an additional person to offer

7:46

their help and support and what

7:48

they've been doing. And so I

7:50

think just putting myself out there

7:52

and just saying, okay, what can

7:54

we talk about in addition to

7:56

this one topic I've prepared? Everyone

7:58

just works together. offering their experience,

8:00

which I really love. And would

8:02

you just say the live streaming

8:05

has really fostered the community aspect

8:07

of kind of your channel and

8:09

the content you're creating because you

8:11

are able to spend long amounts

8:13

of time with these people and

8:15

they're asking questions and they're bouncing

8:17

ideas off of each other. So

8:19

as far as a community building

8:21

aspect of YouTube, would you say

8:23

streaming is one of the key

8:25

ways that you and others could

8:27

do that? Yeah, I definitely am

8:29

hoping to figure out ways to

8:31

encourage that even more. Like once

8:33

the stream is over, how can

8:35

we encourage people to take that

8:37

step to be a mentor for

8:39

other beekeepers or to connect people?

8:42

A lot of my students will

8:44

sign on. I do a private

8:46

live chat. with the people that

8:48

are members of my channel and

8:50

my students, and it's commercial free,

8:52

and then I do the live

8:54

chat for everybody on the first

8:56

Friday of the month. And so

8:58

they're both really great ways for

9:00

the community to get to know

9:02

each other, but since I offer

9:04

mentoring through my online program, it's

9:06

a good way for me to

9:08

get to know my students and

9:10

for us to talk through problems

9:12

and for people to learn from

9:14

other people's problems. That is something

9:17

I've been thinking about is like

9:19

how to encourage even more community

9:21

amongst people which is the trouble

9:23

with all of these online things

9:25

is that you don't you don't

9:27

have that physical community and how

9:29

do you keep it going. And

9:31

you're fostering, you've been mentioning the

9:33

membership site and you obviously had

9:35

the YouTube ad revenue and we're

9:37

gonna be talking about how you

9:39

monetize here in a few minutes.

9:41

I'm really interested to hear the

9:43

different ways that you've been able

9:45

to leverage this YouTube community other

9:47

than just building the brand around

9:49

beekeeping and what you're doing, but

9:51

you're building a brand around you

9:54

and the services that you offer.

9:56

Can you give us a full

9:58

walkthrough of the creative process of?

10:00

one of your videos from idea

10:02

to upload? What does that look like

10:04

for you? I've been spending a

10:06

lot more time just sketching things out.

10:08

I try to sketch out at least.

10:11

I've shifted a little bit. I

10:13

now acknowledge that you really need

10:15

people to click on your thumbnail

10:17

or else. What's the point of

10:19

that video? It doesn't matter how

10:22

good the video is. That video

10:24

that did really well that made

10:26

me pivot in my channel. That

10:28

video took months, it took three

10:31

months before people started to watch

10:33

it. And YouTube started to recommend

10:35

it. And it was a very

10:37

slow process. So now I spend

10:40

a while sketching out my thumbnails

10:42

before I even make the video

10:44

and the outline. And I always

10:47

try to think about what tips

10:49

I try to. Because I'm an

10:52

educational video. So what I have,

10:54

I think, to keep people watching

10:56

is I keep trying to add

10:58

in tips. On top of what

11:00

I'm teaching, don't do this. Or

11:02

you could save time by doing

11:04

this. Or try this gadget or

11:06

something. So once I'm done, I'm

11:09

done my outline and sketching my

11:11

thumbnails and work on my different titles.

11:13

I'll just go through it and

11:15

think about what tips I can

11:17

add in and I go through

11:19

it again. readdress like what

11:21

is the real question I'm trying to

11:23

answer with this video and my actually

11:25

answering it and then I go back

11:27

to the intro and try to figure

11:29

out whether the intro is going to

11:31

lose people in the first minute or

11:33

not. And then the filming process is

11:35

a real pain in the butt to

11:37

be honest. I don't know if you've

11:39

tried to film a video outside in

11:42

the rain with a veil over your

11:44

face, but it's a real, it's hard.

11:46

Right now, it's wintertime, we just moved

11:48

back to Pennsylvania in August. It's not

11:51

so bad. I have a light, I

11:53

filming inside, but outside, the filming is

11:55

a real pain in the butt. I

11:57

went to college for graphic design. I

12:00

was a graphic designer full-time for 10

12:02

plus years before even starting the channel.

12:04

So I use the Adobe products because

12:06

that's what I have on my computer.

12:09

I try to add in as much

12:11

like B-roll and text to follow up

12:13

what I'm talking about in Premier Pro.

12:15

And I spend a lot more time

12:17

than I should editing my videos, that's

12:20

for sure. It's definitely something that's the

12:22

goal of mine for this year. cut

12:24

back on that. Either cut back or

12:26

maybe hire someone to take care of

12:29

it for you. That's something that I've

12:31

been considering and a lot of my

12:33

things in my business is I've made

12:35

a list of things that I love

12:37

doing. I'm passionate about doing and the

12:40

content creation, the ideation, those kind of

12:42

things, but the things that I really

12:44

dislike. There's some really mundane things that

12:46

I could take away and I wouldn't

12:49

have to worry about them. I could

12:51

offload those and that's something that I'm

12:53

considering myself. Now you mentioned thumbnails and

12:55

you mentioned that there's no reason... to

12:57

even make a video if people don't

13:00

click on the thumbnail. So what are

13:02

some things that you've learned along the

13:04

way about thumbnails? Because as I look

13:06

at your channel as we're talking and

13:09

before this interview, I've seen the evolution

13:11

of your channel and the different thumbnail

13:13

styles that you've used. So give us

13:15

the things that you've learned along the

13:17

way that have helped you to make

13:20

sure people do click and that you're

13:22

not just uploading to the void. I

13:25

have been adding a lot more

13:27

photos of myself on my channel.

13:29

For better or worse, some people

13:31

might not want to learn from

13:33

me just by looking at my

13:35

face. I've done that too. I'm

13:37

like, I don't like to look

13:39

at that person. I don't want

13:41

to click on that video. Bekeeping

13:43

is a hobby for people that

13:45

a lot of people are retired

13:47

by the time they get into

13:49

beekeeping. Some people don't want to

13:51

learn from someone younger than them.

13:53

But for the people that have

13:55

watched my videos and like my

13:57

style, I still put my photo

13:59

on there so that they... can

14:01

easily recognize, oh this is one

14:03

of Lewis's videos. I haven't noticed

14:05

that those videos do better than

14:07

non videos that don't have my

14:09

face on them, but that is

14:11

something that I've just chosen to

14:13

do to help my followers click

14:15

on them. Definitely nice pictures. I

14:17

finally got a really nice camera.

14:20

for video and still photos and

14:22

hippies are hard to take pictures

14:24

of. They don't stand still. So

14:26

I take in a lot of

14:28

pictures and if you can get

14:30

a really nice photo in there,

14:32

especially a photo that just like

14:34

shows what's going on, or at

14:36

least has a beehive on there,

14:38

so that when someone's looking at

14:40

it and it's this big. It's

14:42

like easily recognizable. I spend a

14:44

lot of time on the thumbnail

14:46

because it's just, yeah, it's so

14:48

crucial. It is. Do you do

14:50

your thumbnails before you start working

14:52

on the videos or do you

14:54

do it after? I do it

14:56

after. A lot of times I

14:58

forget to take a picture of

15:00

myself. So then I'm taking a

15:02

still frame from the video and

15:04

putting it in there, comb my

15:06

hair so that it looks nice

15:08

for you to. Yeah, it's funny.

15:10

I've evolved how I do thumbnails

15:12

and when I coach clients and

15:14

that's obviously a hot topic and

15:16

one of the things that people

15:18

hate oftentimes is taking pictures of

15:20

themselves and editing for hours like

15:22

images and videos of themselves and

15:24

always tell people if you have

15:26

a problem listening to your own

15:28

voice or you can't look at

15:31

your own face there's still times

15:33

where I just I'm like man

15:35

I'm tired of looking at myself

15:37

I'm tired of hearing myself especially

15:39

when you're working in podcasting like

15:41

what I do but understanding that

15:43

you gotta grow to love it

15:45

and grow to try to optimize

15:47

and the things that you're offering

15:49

so it's funny to hear you.

15:51

tell stories about fixing your hair

15:53

and trying to get the images

15:55

of that. Now let's talk about

15:57

monoties. and how you make money.

15:59

You've got a great wonderful website

16:01

that you have a course, you

16:03

have consulting in some classes that

16:05

you do, you have some apparel.

16:07

So break down how you make

16:09

money and how YouTube plays a

16:11

role in all of that. Most

16:13

of my sales is from the

16:15

course. I, especially once I changed

16:17

it from a flat fee to

16:19

giving people the option to pay

16:21

a monthly fee. That's really increased

16:23

sales quite a bit. And YouTube

16:25

advertising, it's nice, but it's definitely

16:27

not paying the bills. It's just

16:29

helps assist in the apparel also.

16:31

Those things are all just like

16:33

small additions to it. What I'm

16:35

working on next really is a

16:37

sponsorship I add one, be keeping

16:39

supply company, contact me about sponsoring

16:42

my live streams. And so now

16:44

that's the next. route for me

16:46

is really getting more sponsorships. I'm

16:48

trying to not chase the ad

16:50

revenue in YouTube. I feel like

16:52

that's going to be a bad

16:54

route. If anything, I'm going to

16:56

offer more advanced courses for people

16:58

that have already signed up for

17:00

my course. They want to continue

17:02

to support me. But the ad

17:04

revenue is I'm making like... I

17:06

think last month was like eight

17:08

something eight hundred and something a

17:10

month and it's helpful but how

17:12

much do you make on the

17:14

course a month? That's about thirty

17:16

five hundred. Okay and would you

17:18

say that a lot of the

17:20

people who are purchasing your course

17:22

are consuming your free content on

17:24

YouTube first and then that's what

17:26

you're using as a lead gin

17:28

to get people into the course?

17:30

Because when people sign up for

17:32

the course there's a little survey

17:34

in the beginning or I ask

17:36

them their experience with bees and

17:38

what they really want to learn

17:40

about and how they found out

17:42

about the course and a lot

17:44

of the people say that they

17:46

found out about it through YouTube

17:48

and that's really Like when I'm

17:51

making a video, sometimes I'll make

17:53

a video that I think is

17:55

just a popular topic, but most

17:57

of the time I'm like, is

17:59

this going to get the attention

18:01

of somebody that wants to take

18:03

a beekeeping class and is serious

18:05

about learning beekeeping? Because if they're

18:07

not, and they just are curious

18:09

how bees make honey. That's okay

18:11

sometimes, but that's not really what

18:13

I should be focusing my time

18:15

on. Because I am not doing,

18:17

this is not a full-time job

18:19

for me right now. This is

18:21

a part-time, I am spending one

18:23

to three days a week, sometimes

18:25

half days, on this. One of

18:27

my kids are full-time in school,

18:29

then maybe it can be a

18:31

full-time profession, and I can focus

18:33

more on YouTube sale, like making

18:35

money from YouTube. But at the

18:37

moment... The online course is really

18:39

what works best for me. Let's

18:41

talk about that for a minute.

18:43

You mentioned not doing this full-time.

18:45

A lot of my listeners are

18:47

not full-time creators. They're people who

18:49

are aspiring to be or they'd

18:51

love to be, but right now

18:53

they're people who are doing it

18:55

as a hobby or a side

18:57

hustle or whatever you want to

18:59

call it. With that being the

19:02

case, how do you manage your

19:04

time as a creator as a

19:06

creator as a creator? How are

19:08

you able to manage your time?

19:10

And obviously, I know you could

19:12

answer it by saying, I really

19:14

don't. I think we all probably

19:16

could answer it that way. But

19:18

what are some tactics that you

19:20

put in place? What are some

19:22

tactics that you put in place

19:24

to some guardrails to where you

19:26

can manage your time as a

19:28

creator? At the moment, my husband

19:30

is not working full time. So

19:32

that is helpful. We are taking,

19:34

he a self-employed as well. And

19:36

we just moved across the country.

19:38

We have made a schedule. with

19:40

each other when he is in

19:42

another area of the house with

19:44

the children and the door is

19:46

shut and I am working. Mommy

19:48

is working and that means leave

19:50

mommy alone. I do a lot

19:52

of work in the evenings to

19:54

be honest that's when I have

19:56

preferred to do it before I

19:58

used to wake up. early and

20:00

do it before everyone woke up

20:02

in the morning and that was

20:04

my time. I really just am

20:06

trying to carve out a consistent

20:08

time that I am making myself

20:10

that everybody else knows what I

20:13

found to be the worst. I

20:15

at the very least know what

20:17

not to do. What not to

20:19

do is to try to squeeze

20:21

little bits and pieces of trying

20:23

to get work done when I'm

20:25

with my kids because that only

20:27

leads the mom guilt. The best

20:29

thing is to just find time

20:31

when I'm not going to feel

20:33

guilty or the kids aren't going

20:35

to be like destroying something because

20:37

I'm not paying attention. Yeah it's

20:39

really hard especially when you're not

20:41

able to say this is my

20:43

full-time job where you have to

20:45

say okay I have to divide

20:47

and conquer and especially when you

20:49

have kids like you do and

20:51

I do it's extremely difficult and

20:53

so it's nice to hear people

20:55

that you can resonate with. If

20:57

there was one thing that you

20:59

wish you would have known sooner,

21:01

about YouTube and content creation. What

21:03

would that one thing be? Really

21:05

getting people to click on your

21:07

video is more important than everything

21:09

else that I'm making in the

21:11

video. I focus so much on

21:13

the content in my video and

21:15

then really think about the process.

21:17

the process of having a title

21:19

for the video that's something someone

21:22

searching for in Google so that

21:24

Google says, hey, why don't you

21:26

check out this YouTube video? And

21:28

a thumbnail that makes someone look

21:30

at it and want to click

21:32

on it, and those first minute

21:34

or two before someone just switches

21:36

to the next video, I focus

21:38

so much on every other part

21:40

of the video, then those first

21:42

30 seconds. And those 30 seconds

21:44

are so much more important than

21:46

the next 15 minutes. So I

21:48

wish I had just thought about

21:50

that. It seemed so simple, but

21:52

it wasn't until I was listening

21:54

to this audio book about YouTube

21:56

that I was like, which I

21:58

was doing while cooking dinner. Like

22:00

the typical multitasking while being a

22:02

parent, listening to YouTube audio books

22:04

while driving my kids to school

22:06

and stuff. And then I was

22:08

like, oh, yeah, that makes so

22:10

much sense. Why didn't I ever

22:12

do that? Yeah, that's awesome. What's

22:14

next for the channel? What are

22:16

you working on? You mentioned, maybe

22:18

some more courses, but as far

22:20

as the YouTube channel itself goes,

22:22

are there anything for the short

22:24

and long-term future that you're working

22:26

on right now? Yeah, this year's

22:28

a little scary for me, because

22:30

I started keeping bees in Philadelphia

22:33

for two years. They died both

22:35

years, so I went to Hawaii

22:37

for an internship and ended up

22:39

staying there for 11 years. And

22:41

now that I'm back in Pennsylvania,

22:43

I am going to be keeping

22:45

bees for the first time in

22:47

this climate zone again. And everybody

22:49

says that beekeeping is harder when

22:51

it's cold. And I've always say

22:53

it's hard in Hawaii too. It's

22:55

not cold, but... When insects never

22:57

have a frost all those pests

22:59

that kill the bees Never have

23:01

a frost and die either and

23:03

so beekeeping in Hawaii can be

23:05

incredibly difficult But now is the

23:07

test can I actually keep bees

23:09

in this cold climate will they

23:11

survival winter? I have told people

23:13

that I can do. And so

23:15

there's that a lot of people

23:17

have now say, now that you

23:19

were in my climate zone, I

23:21

signed up for your class, or

23:23

now I'm tuning in more because

23:25

I can ask you more questions.

23:27

And I was always a fear

23:29

of mine was that people wouldn't

23:31

listen to me because I was

23:33

in Hawaii. And how many people

23:35

are in this tropical climate like

23:37

me? that can learn from me.

23:39

Now this year in addition to

23:41

just it being winter time I

23:44

started a series called The Bee

23:46

Keepers Diary and that's in addition

23:48

to just the step-by-step how-to explanations

23:50

of videos this is just me

23:52

opening up hives and checking the

23:54

bees and seeing what's going on

23:56

with my hives and all the

23:58

problems that come up just this

24:00

last week my husband told me

24:02

thought he saw a bear scat

24:04

in the backyard, which is not

24:06

good for bees. Bears will destroy

24:08

hives and they will go past

24:10

an electric fence. This is like

24:12

the kind of stuff that I'm

24:14

talking about in the diary and

24:16

I've never done that. I've always

24:18

just heavily edited my videos and

24:20

cut out all of the slow

24:22

stuff, but I am now showing

24:24

this opposite extreme for the people

24:27

that want to see. All of those

24:29

steps in between that people cut

24:31

out and all the mistakes and

24:33

things that can be perfect. You

24:35

mentioned with your process of

24:37

video editing, you mentioned watching

24:40

the first minute and making

24:42

sure that people aren't going

24:44

to fall off. We know and people

24:46

listening to this know how important it

24:48

is as a creator to capture the

24:50

attention of the viewer right off the

24:52

bat really quickly. So what are ways

24:54

that... I could imagine being a beekeeper

24:57

and you could show some kind of

24:59

just crazy thing happen or something with

25:01

the bees or whatever it may be,

25:03

but how are you capturing the attention

25:05

of the viewer early on and how

25:07

was that evolved over time with you learning

25:09

about hey I really need to make sure

25:12

that I get these people's attention early

25:14

on in the video. I have played

25:16

around with showing things that are going

25:18

to happen in the video in the

25:20

very beginning as a little bit of

25:22

a teaser. I stopped doing that though

25:25

I wasn't a... didn't think it was

25:27

really in with the way my videos

25:29

were. Mostly I just tried

25:31

to cut to the jays. The

25:33

intro should not be more

25:35

than like 30 seconds or

25:38

a minute and let's get

25:40

to it. Let's get to why you're

25:42

here and really the intro

25:44

should be small if almost

25:47

existing at all. I used

25:49

to even... give people my

25:51

experience. I had that

25:53

typical imposter syndrome which maybe

25:55

it's also something about people

25:58

when you're in your 20s or 30s

26:00

that you wonder is someone that's twice my

26:02

age going to want to listen to me

26:04

who am I or don't I need 2,000

26:07

hives not 25 hives and so I used

26:09

to start my videos with like I've been

26:11

beekeeping for 10 years and I worked for

26:13

a commercial AB area for seven and I'm

26:16

like okay that's enough of this I don't

26:18

need to say this in every single video

26:20

maybe some people care but I think they

26:22

care more about the reason why they clicked

26:25

on the video and getting the answer to

26:27

their question. I love the realness in that

26:29

answer because I completely resonate with that. I

26:31

go back and watch my old intros even

26:34

a year or two ago and I say

26:36

to myself, why did I even mention that?

26:38

What am I doing? And it's something that

26:40

I'm actually assessing with this podcast that this

26:43

show's been going on now for almost 14

26:45

years and I've been doing interviews and have

26:47

done almost 500 interviews. and I listen to

26:50

some of the old episodes and I just

26:52

say to myself it's time to evolve it's

26:54

time to take that intro and cut it

26:56

down and figure out ways to really capture

26:59

people's attention early on so I really love

27:01

the realness in your answer there. All right

27:03

guys I really have enjoyed talking to Larissa

27:05

this has been a great conversation. It's one

27:08

of my favorite things about the show is

27:10

that I can go one week and talk

27:12

to a business professional and the next week

27:14

I'm talking to a beekeeper and it's the

27:17

beauty of YouTube is that it's a platform

27:19

for everyone and we can just find our

27:21

own little niches our own little spaces on

27:23

the platform so Larissa thank you so much

27:26

if you want to see what she has

27:28

going on again it's at beekeeping made simple.com

27:30

a YouTube it's just beekeeping made simple as

27:32

her YouTube channel she's got a great community

27:35

over there and Larissa thank you so much

27:37

for joining us for joining me.