Summary
I learned that starting a YouTube channel can really boost a business. This guy, Bobby, went from small jobs to big ones by making simple videos.
At first, Bobby struggled to find good clients. He tried using services like Home Advisor but found the leads weren't the best. He wanted clients who valued his expertise.
He realized he needed to market himself better and when he started posting short videos, things changed. People were interested in the process he showed.
The key to Bobby's YouTube success was consistency. Even though he wanted to quit sometimes, he kept putting out videos and slowly started gaining traction.
A big takeaway is not knowing which videos would pop off. Some videos just did really well for reasons he couldn't always predict, but they began to drastically improve his reach.
The first major breakthrough came when a client from another state contacted Bobby because they saw his video. This expanded his business beyond just local work.
Bobby had to find a balance when out-of-state clients increased; he couldn't fly everywhere. So, he developed a system using Zoom and Universal plans.
He came up with four types of videos that his audience loved: metaphorical movies, big design concepts, showing designs live, and client success stories.
It's important to just chat in videos like you're talking to a friend. Forget about the big audience and focus on that one person to help ease nerves.
Bobby found managing time was essential. He needed help with video editing and thumbnails to focus more on designing landscapes and engaging with clients.
By leveraging YouTube, Bobby's business reached seven figures in revenue. Around 30% of his local business comes directly from YouTube leads.
He shared a neat trick: using hashtags to target a local audience. It helps the algorithm suggest your videos to people in your area looking for services like yours.
- Success with YouTube needs a good strategy, and even the most local business can attract a global audience, which can lead back to local growth.
Video
How To Take Action
I suggest starting a YouTube channel to showcase your expertise, even if you're just using your phone. Begin by making short videos about what you do, like Bobby did. He showed his landscaping process, which caught people's interest.
Being consistent is key. Upload videos regularly, even if you feel like giving up. Sometimes, you won't know which video will do well, but keeping at it helps more people find you.
Keep your videos simple and talk as if you're chatting with a friend. This helps ease nerves and makes you relatable. Focusing on one viewer at a time can make it less intimidating.
Bobby found that using an old-school trick, like local hashtags, can really help attract local clients. It's cheap and can help get noticed by people in your area.
If you reach a point where things get busy, consider getting help with editing, so you can focus on the parts of the business you enjoy most. You don't need a big team; a contractor or part-time helper can lighten the load.
Creating four types of content can keep things interesting, like metaphorical stories or live design sessions, maybe even client success stories.
Remember, the magic lies in showing your genuine self and maintaining a friendly tone. Your excitement will shine through, and potential clients will notice. Over time, these efforts can expand your reach and grow your business beyond your local area.
Quotes by Author
"I started with Flyers knocking on doors but now we can hit into seven figures no problem and that's because of YouTube"
"Any video you ever make is going to work way better if you're actually connecting with your audience"
"The real trick is just talking like you're talking to a friend over coffee just having a conversation"
"It's a balancing act I think what makes this manageable is getting help as soon as you can"
"In other words with the right approach even the most local of businesses can find a global audience"
Full Transcript
this guy went from feeding off the scraps left by his local competitors to making seven figures a year working remotely with his dream clients all across the country his secret simple short YouTube videos I started with Flyers knocking on doors but now we can hit into seven figures no problem and that's because of YouTube and the leads that it brings this week I sat down with Bobby krur to figure out how he was able to use YouTube to take his small local service was business National what kinds of videos he focused on to help him expand the way he did how long it took him to start seeing results and he's even going to reveal the old school trick that nobody really talks about that he uses to get a ton of local views on his videos scoring him some big money projects but before all the YouTube success Bobby was running a small lawn maintenance business in St Louis and it wasn't easy so Bobby what was it like finding clients in those early pre-youtube days man I don't even want to go back there I think I I was definitely struggling and I was doing what most contractors do where you rely on you know your home advisors or your Angie's List and you get a lot of tire kicker not very good leads not the kind that you want to get into because you haven't established yourself you haven't established that brand that expert knowledge that you possess that you want to get out in front of the right clientele and so what you do is you burn up a lot of cash and you make a lot of mistakes and Bobby started noticing just how much competition he had for the projects that he actually wanted I remember cut somebody's grass one day and they had another company there installing their patios and doing the retaining wall and I'm like this is what I want to do and this is the niche that I want to be in and so I shifted at that point and definitely started to go more into the design and The Hardscape realm you really have to Market yourself in a way where this is what I want to do and you keep persisting and you keep refining your message eventually you realize okay this is the Avatar that I really want to go after how can I get more of those in front of me and I think that's where YouTube really started to come in but he didn't really know that at the time he actually started off a bit smaller what I did is I simply took my phone out and I would record different segments and I would throw it up on Facebook a little on Instagram like not knowing at all what I was doing but I noticed that people really enjoyed seeing that process I went on YouTube to learn things and I really enjoyed it and it just clicked I I just maybe I woke up one day with a clear head and I was like I want to put something out there and I want to give it a go and I did so he took the plunge and started a YouTube channel but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows at first you know Bobby had no clue what kind of videos to make some days he wanted to throw in the towel and just go back to mowing lawns and I wanted to quit a ton but then something happened that kept him going within a couple weeks I was starting to get some results like hearing I saw you on YouTube or get an email that oh I saw this on YouTube it wasn't much at first but those small wins they were about to transform into something much much bigger you get lucky and you make one or two videos that pop off you don't know which ones are going to be you don't know why a lot of times I still don't know why some of my videos do well and some don't so even though he didn't really have a process yet his channel wasn't just crawling anymore it did start to snowball more views led to more subscribers which led to even more views and clients it was like a domino effect but in the best way possible first local clients started pouring in all saying the same thing I found you on YouTube but these weren't just any clients they were different from the leads he used to get these guys were ready to hire eager to hear his design ideas and interested in taking on those larger projects it was like YouTube had pre-sold them on Bobby's expertise before he ever even met them but working with local clients was just the beginning right what happened next I I remember one particular client they were out of Augusta Georgia they had watched the channel and I got a call on like a Friday night and they said they wanted me to design their yard and that was one of the first real bigger opportunities like a master plan kind of thing where where you tackle an entire space and I was taken back by like oh wow I had no idea people in Georgia were were watching I actually flew out there and I did a design and we ended up kind of doing the project too the point is is it opened up opportunities for people in different states to come to me who maybe didn't have a landscape designer or a company that they trusted or that they liked in their town and it really sparked from that that one client gave me a lot of confidence and I realized wow I could create an online business in a way by being a landscaper and I thought that was so crazy just like that Bobby's business went from local to long distance and it wasn't a one-off either more and more out ofst State clients started reaching out but that led to a new problem he was living the dream but he felt pulled in too many directions I realized this isn't sustainable at all I can't be flying all over the country my wife is pregnant with our first uh this isn't going to happen so um I had to develop a system in a process where we walk through Zoom I put together plans that anybody can do whether you're a diyer or you want to find your favorite local landscaper or contractor they're plans that are Universal and they make sense it's become streamlined in a way where I'm able to grow and scale this kind of business versus being tied down to flying out to a place and run projects here in the St Louis area I already had this install business but now I have this design business as well I get to design all over still it's cool B's YouTube success wasn't just luck he had cracked the code on what his audience really wanted to see over time he identified four types of videos that consistently performed well so I have a couple different buckets that I like to call them a different style videos I do right now what they are is movies is what I call one I'm a big movie buff and so what I try to do metaphorically is bring in a movie scenario so that people understand like I did The Karate kid and your landscape designer is your Mr Miyagi and then I have like a big design concept L where I show lots of cool Pinterest things and projects and I really hone in on a design technique through those images to teach you something then I have something called uh like showing designs I record my screen doing a certain type of design and then I bring you all over the country with three different examples and while I'm firing out tips on what's going on that Design's going off in the background so you're watching the design get created at the time and then the final one is almost like a client success story a testimonial it's kind of that buttery b-roll beautiful showing the whole project and then breaking it down but coming up with those four content buckets was only half the battle any video you ever make is going to work way better if you're actually connecting with your audience right honestly you seem like such a natural in front of the camera and that's not easy for most people so what tip tis do you have for anyone dealing with nerves and you know just wanting to come across as likable and genuine the real trick is just talking like you're talking to a friend over coffee just having a conversation don't think about all the people watching don't try and reach a million people if you realize that I just want to talk to my buddy Joe or Kirk or whatever that's going to make it easier talking to the camera for sure and on camera skills are just one of those things where practice kind of makes perfect it's a pretty weird skill when you think about it and no one's born with it you just have to be okay with being a little awkward in the beginning as you get more and more comfortable like you're talking to a friend so as his channel grew Bobby faced a new challenge time management so he was spending hours editing videos on top of running his business and being present for his family you've heard it a mil times if you watch any kind of how to grow your YouTube channel is you've really got to look at this as a business and go all in I get that and that's true but I don't know if that's realistic life happens and things get busy and when you start doing a good job with YouTube you get more leads right so it's going to take your time away to doing more designing for me or running more projects or appointments so it's a balancing act I think what makes this manageable is getting help as soon as you can get an editor I do a lot of editing still myself but I also kind of have some people that I can lean on a little bit to get help someone for thumbnails how do you do all this well if you don't have a bunch of employees that rely on you for hours and money and you do it more like a contractor model I think that that is is a really cool way to do business they don't all have to be on staff essentially I got one employee for my business it's me this move let Bobby scale up his video production without sacrificing quality or burning out you know he could pour all of his energy into creating really great Landscapes and connecting with his audience while his editor was over here polishing the videos Perfection but now let's talk numbers because Bobby's YouTube success translated into some pretty serious business growth okay so if we're getting into some numbers I'll throw out some numbers here I will tell you that my Google AdSense Revenue based on watch time is not very much that's not a big part of it what's big is the leads that come through for people that I can help with designs so if we're talking some numbers as far as design Revenue I can definitely hit six figures with that no problem and then if they are local those lead to projects and that's where the real money in our business comes so as far as project Revenue it depends on the year of course but we can hit into seven figures no problem and that's because of YouTube and the leads that it brings so does all your business come in through YouTube YouTube is the Hub I don't spend money on Facebook I don't put stuff on Instagram I have a spreadsheet where I get my leads and it's amazing how many are YouTube YouTube YouTube design clients I would say it's at least 50 to 60 projects I bet you it's in that 30% range and that's just what he can directly attribute to YouTube viewers most of the rest are actually referrals from previous clients he got from you guessed it YouTube but the fact that at least 30% of Bobby's local business comes from YouTube it's pretty crazy considering that most people just write off YouTube as a nonviable strategy for local businesses the thinking goes you know people will be watching my channel pretty much from everywhere and only a small percentage of them will be local enough to be able to work with me but babby actually has an ace up his sleeve to pack his audience with more people in his local St Louis Market it's kind of old school but it's working you can throw out a hashtag there so that it drops St Louis and the algorithm is very smart and it's going to find people in your Market that are looking for a landscape designer or how to make my backyard look cool or whatever and it's going to suggest you in front of those people you do the heavy lifting up front it's going to produce leads in other words with the right approach even the most local of businesses can find a global audience and sometimes that Global audience can lead right back to your own backyard you just need the right Playbook to make it happen and do I have you covered there so just click right here to save your seat in my brand new free Master Class where I'm going to show you how to attract unlimited clients right from YouTube whether you're a local business that wants to go broader or a service business who can already work with people anywhere these are the five secrets to make it happen so click right here and we can get started right now
