From Uber Driver In Lagos To Global Documentary Creator

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We talk with Tayo about turning a borrowed Uber car and a basic phone into the start of a YouTube career built on travel documentaries, storytelling, and zero excuses. We break down the mindset, the strategy, and the business moves behind content that travels the world and still delivers real value to viewers. 
• starting from Lagos with limited gear and building momentum anyway 
• developing a hustle mindset from Nigeria’s everyday realities 
• learning filming, editing, and drones from YouTube then funding the channel with paid client work 
• pushing past fear of uploading and staying consistent long enough to learn 
• finding the intersection of what we love and what viewers value 
• shifting from casual vlogs to evergreen documentary storytelling 
• building a repeatable production process with research, scripting, filming, and multi-draft edits 
• thinking through travel risk and why “anything for content” has limits 
• monetising through AdSense, brand sponsorships, digital products, and building startups 
• actionable creator advice: pick three interests, double down on what works, study what already wins, make discoverable videos 

Transcript

Anything For Content

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Actually they have a car. Somebody else gave me a car to be a driver for them and then I drove for them and I took 20% of whatever I made at the end of the day. And then the phone um that they gave me, which was meant to be for Uber, I started to use that to you know take pictures and you know make videos. That's kind of like how I started. If you're going to the most dangerous place and you're going at night, that's the worst time to go anywhere that is dangerous. But I was just like the only live ones. As long as it makes a good video, I was like, okay, let me go there.

From Lagos Uber Driver To Creator

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that's willing to go all the way around the world to bring you the best content possible. I'm Travis, like always, and I'm here with an incredibly special guest, someone I'm super, super excited to talk to. Tayo, all the way from where are you at now? Because you're a worldwide traveler, you're all over the place. But where tell the people where you are.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Um, I'm from Nigeria originally, but I'm currently in Nairobi, Kenya at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Wow, that's incredible. We're gonna talk about your worldwide adventures, your channel, and everything. But if you're new here, we're here to help you grow your YouTube channel. We do that a couple different ways. Sometimes we answer your questions through emails, but today we're talking to a creator who's done some things and has a no excuse accepted policy, I believe, personally, and we're gonna talk about that because so many people I hear from have excuses as to why they can't grow. I feel like you are the content creator that can say I had everything against me and I still made it. Let's talk about your background. Before YouTube, where were you? Where did you live?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

What were you doing? Before YouTube, I was living in Lagos, Nigeria. I was an Uber driver, driving the streets of Lagos, picking people up, dropping people off. Before I eventually now started making YouTube videos. So yeah, I was literally just driving. I was an Uber driver back then.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

You were you were just a normal guy, just a guy uh trying to make it make ends meet, uh, an Uber driver, which by the way, anyone out there who has a car can pretty much do. So you were the common man, you made it, you started from from like really nothing in Nigeria, which is a really important thing here, because in Nigeria, like you have you don't necessarily have all the a lot of the same things that people in like America would have to start off with. It's probably not easy to come out come over with like a computer or a really high-end smartphone or something like that. Talk to us about your day-to-day life, what that was like, what what did you have at that point? And what does the the common person in Nigeria have if they wanted to be a YouTube creator? Like, does everyone have a phone? Does everyone have a computer? Like, what's common?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Um, so so most people have phones nowadays, but not everybody would have access to like buying a camera, like a Sony camera or anything like that. So most people would even most of the population actually, even an iPhone is not something it's more for like a lot people who have a lot more money because iPhones are expensive. So most people will probably maybe use like a techno or like uh just all those other smaller phones who are like that much um cheaper. So my life then was more of like I didn't have a phone. Um, I think it was from making from being an Uber driver. I actually didn't have a car, so I signed up as a partner and somebody else gave me a car. What? That's crazy. Somebody else gave me a car to be a driver for them, and then I drove for them and I took 20% of whatever I made at the end of the day. So that's kind of like how I started. And then the phone um that they gave me, which was meant to be for Uber, I started to use that to you know take pictures and you know make videos. That's kind of like how I started before I eventually now started to transition to filming videos for people, learning how to make videos better on YouTube, and eventually becoming a YouTuber.

Hustle Mentality And Nigeria Realities

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I mean, for me, I I hear that story, and I think, first of all, I want to dig into more of that because that's incredible. Every time someone uh you know messages me, leaves a comment, and says, I mean, I just wish I could do it, but I can't do it. I think you got people like you that had every excuse to not be able to do it. Every excuse, don't have a car, somehow got to be an Uber driver. That doesn't even make sense to me. Like you literally don't have a car and you're an Uber driver, don't have a phone, but figured out a way. You was this kind of this almost like a hustle mentality. Was that something you've always had growing up? Were you like a guy who just wanted to scrap for anything that you wanted? Or did you learn and did you grow up into that?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

That's that's something I've always had growing up, and I think that's also something a lot of Nigerians have, because Nigerians generally were growing up in a system where everything you have to find it, you have to make it for yourself. So, for example, in Nigeria, Nigeria is a country where you dig your own borehole to get your water, you buy a generator to get electricity. Like there's electricity, but it's never consistent. So you have to get like a backup power generator. Like in America, if the light goes off, like I'm sure there's gonna be like it's like it's like there's gonna be chaos. It's not gonna work. But in Nigeria, in Nigeria, the light goes off every other day. So we are used to it. So we've we have to find an alternative. So for me growing up, um, right from when I was uh in primary two, I I used to use my money that they used to give me, like my parents used to give me for like uh school for like the week. I used to buy like packets of sweets and sell it to people. And I think for me, from trying that out and selling to people in primary two and learning how to use money to make money, I realized that you know, in life, you you need to figure out how to use what you have to get more of what you want. And from there, that hustle mentality has just always been there, where it's like, okay, figure out how to like there's no excuses. Um, if if you can figure out a way to maybe you know make something out of nothing, you have to just figure out how you're gonna go go about it and maneuver it because nobody's gonna give you anything. So that's kind of like the mentality I've always had, and that's kind of like the mentality I also took into uh you know making YouTube videos. Started um from Uber taking pictures from pictures, started to make videos for people because at the beginning um YouTube wasn't making any money because I didn't even know what I was doing on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

What made you upload to YouTube and at first? Were you inspired by something, or was there something you knew you wanted to do? Like, how did you even get to that point?

Learning Video Skills To Self-Fund

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So, how I got to that point was more of me, I started with taking pictures with the phone I had as a noble driver. I was just taking pictures of buildings around Lagos because I was driving around a lot. So Uber made me kind of like get to know more of my city. I would say if you wanted to know more about the city, or you wanted to know around the city, just become a noble driver because that's the best way you get to know the city. So I started to go to places I would never have gone to without being a noble driver, and I started to see buildings, take pictures. I started to also pick people up, drop them off at places that I didn't even know existed. So from there, I was like, you know, I was watching a lot of videos online during my free time, like on YouTube. I was watching a lot of Peter McKinnon, Casey Neistat, and I was like, hmm, these guys are really, you know, they are doing this cool stuff in New York, in Canada. And I'm like, oh, this is cool, but nobody is doing that for Lagos, Nigeria. So I was like, hmm, what if what if I could first of all learn how to make videos better and then start to document that? But I wasn't making money then when I even started making videos about places in Lagos. So what I did was I was like, this skill I've kind of like tried to learn about you know how to make videos, how to film, how to fly a drone, how to do all of that. I learned all of that from YouTube, from watching people like Peter McKinnon. And then from there I started to make videos for people, like weddings, um, documentaries, birthdays, and then I made money off of that and then started to use that money to fund my YouTube journey. So I started to look at those guys, I was like, hmm, these guys are making videos about where they live. Kiss Neistar lives in New York, he was making videos about that. Um Peter McKimon, Peter McKinnon was living in Canada, he was making videos about that. So I was like, why can't I make videos about Lagos? So I started to make videos about Lagos, and that's kind of like how we started. And I used the money I was making from filming for people to fund that.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I think what you it's so cool to hear this because you talked about early on um, you know, taking what you have and then making it into what you want, and then you literally just explained to us how you did it, and that you you've not only you don't just say so. Some people give advice and they've never lived the advice. You're literally telling the story of how you live this advice and how you've done this and uh and got to the next level. So, okay, so you're uploading you, you you found a way to make videos for people who wanted it, got paid for that, and then started to use that not only the experience, which is really good, right? Of how to make videos and stuff, uh, but then also being able to use, I'm sure, some of that money to buy some of your equipment, your phone, or whatever. Talk to us a little bit about the first year or so, if you can remember, this is like eight years ago, on YouTube. What was that experience like? What did you learn? What kind of things did you think were going to happen when you first uploaded? Like, did you think when you first uploaded you were gonna get a bunch of views? Because some people think that.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Um, I think for me, I was I was actually scared. Um, in terms of like, I was like, hmm. I was like, I was like, how people, you know, it's like I'm putting myself out there to the whole world. Because I I had that fear of like, you know, when you put your video on YouTube, anybody anywhere can see it. Like your maids from schools can see it. So I was actually very nervous about that. Like, oh, people be like, oh, what's this guy doing? Why is he making videos? Yeah, but I think for me, what put what kept pushing me was just the love for making videos. It was just more of like, I was more of like, hmm, this thing is interesting to me. This is one of the first times in my life I'm actually doing something and I'm excited about it. I was always excited about making the next video, even though it was crappy, the camera was not nice at all. I I was just barely, I didn't even know how to talk to the camera. Like, I look at myself today and I'm like, oh, I'm talking to the camera free. But back then, I was just tutoring when I was talking to the camera. So I think for me at that point in time it was just more of like a discovery process. I was like, I was enjoying what I was doing, and I was like, the enjoyment and the the you know, the learning was more important to me, and I was more excited about it than the fear of what people would think about me. So I just kept on trying to show up as much as I could, you know, make videos about random stuff. I made so many types of videos and I wasn't getting views. I didn't even have the mindset that people could make money from it. I knew I used to see like big YouTubers like Kiss Neistard and all these other guys. I used to see them in the US, you know, like doing cool stuff. But I didn't know that this was gonna become something that I could actually live off of. For me, it was just more of like, okay, I was just gonna keep making videos for people because I knew how that worked. Whereas like I can make a video for somebody, they could pay me like$100,$200. But when it came to YouTube, it wasn't monetized then. So I was just like, okay, let me just make this place my creative outlet where whenever I think about something interesting that I feel excited about, I can make a video about it and make something here. And that's kind of like how it started. I never imagined myself getting to where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I was just- Oh, I mean, where you're at now is insane. It's literally insane. We'll talk about that in a minute. We'll talk about that in a minute because I was watching a couple videos around. I definitely want to talk about some of them. Very interesting videos. Um, so at what point, you know, you're uploading for a while, probably in the first year or so, like you said, just as kind of a creative outlet, did things start to pick up a little bit where you're like, wait a minute, this actually could be something, not just a creative outlet, but maybe a future. How long did that take? And what was kind of your your experience through that?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Um, I think I started to upload, I think I uploaded my first video, I think maybe in 2018 or 2017. I'm not really sure, but I wasn't consistent then. I was just posting maybe once every two months, three months. And I think it it was, but when I was posting, what I noticed was which kept me going was people were watching the videos. And as they were watching the videos, they were commenting. Some people were commenting, like the first videos didn't get views. First videos were like guessing 1,000 views, 500 views, 2,000. That was my average. And then once in a while, and I get a video that would do 10,000. That was even the first video I got. I was like, oh, 10,000. Wow, 10,000. I was so surprised, like 10,000 people. That's a lot of people. That was a that was a viral video to me back then. 10,000 views. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I think gradually, as I you know, kept on um, you know, posting those videos, I saw people resonating with it. At least even some videos I would get 10 comments. I'll be like, oh, 10 people really took their time to comment on this stuff. And then from there, I I think it when when I when it was 2019, I was now like, hmm, what if I could actually go, I could actually take this more seriously? Because I think around that period I had maybe like 10,000 or maybe like 8,000 to 10,000 subscribers. I can't remember. Because people had already started to subscribe from 2017 to 2019. So I was like, let me go hard on this. So it was August 2019. I was like, what if I could just go all in on this? So I had already saved up some money for making videos, and I was like, okay, let me go all in on this. And that's when I started to make more videos for YouTube 2019, August, and that's when it started to. I started to make at least a video every other week. Every week I was making a video, every week. So in the month, I'll make at least four videos. So from there I started to learn faster what worked, what was not working, and I started to just see that okay, the more I put into the platform, the more the platform um gave back to me. I think my first proper viral video after the 10,000 was a video that did 50k, and back then 50k was like 50 million to me. Yeah, like whoa, whoa, I'm famous, I did it.

Fear Of Uploading Then Consistency

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I accomplished it, it's over. I'm I'm on the man. So, okay, so that happens. When that when that video takes off, do you have the impression that like you figured it out now? Because I think I found the video, there's a video here where how to upload uh high quality videos on Instagram as 57,000. I think that might be it. But then right after that, right before that, are two videos with less than a thousand views. When the 57,000 video came out, did you think I figured it out? I'm a genius now. And then all of a sudden things I mean, not everything goes.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

No, no, for me it was like it was like uh it was like a fluke. It was like, because I didn't I didn't know at making videos, so it's like, why did this one do well? Why didn't the other ones do well? I didn't know I I I couldn't understand it because now I know why. But back then I didn't have an understanding of YouTube, so I didn't know why one would do well, why would this other one do well? So for me it was like it was just like luck. So I was like, okay. Then I made the next video, then the video got like went back to 1000. So I was like, hmm, okay. I don't I don't have it figured out yet. So I was just like, let me just keep trying. Let me keep trying and I'll keep learning.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

What was the thing that what was the light switch uh that went off that was like, now I think I understand why these videos, some of these videos, do better than others. What was the realization? How did you come to it, and uh how have you kind of uh grown from that?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Um I think it was multiple things. I think one it was one of the things I learned much early on was more of like for YouTube, you're not making videos for yourself. Like you have to find uh an intersection between what you love as a person and what people want to see. So you have to find a way to give value to people. So that's kind of like what I learned. I think that was the major realization because back then I was just making like okay, oh, you know, I want to cook this this um um this cake or something. I'll just oh, let's make a video about it. Oh, I'm going here, let's make a video about it. Oh, let's make a vlog about what my day is like, but then I realized that nobody cares about that. Nobody cares about that. So I was like, okay, then I realized the videos that were doing well once in a while were the videos where there was some sort of value for people, so that's why people were watching it and I saw the comments. People were like, Oh, you know, I learned something, or okay, this showed me something I didn't know before, it gave me a different perspective, and that's kind of like how I realized that okay, for you to keep making videos, you need to one obviously enjoy the video you're making, so you need to find what you love doing, and then you also now need to find, which is also actually much more important, what people actually value, and then find an intersection between those two. So that's when I started to now figure out like, okay, this is what works on YouTube, and I started to make more of that.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I think um, and that's super important. It's definitely about the person viewing more so than the creator. Obviously, the creator needs to feel fulfilled, so it's genuine, right? That is definitely important. But if you want to get people to watch it, you have to make it interesting to them. Um, so let's say here it was a couple years later. I see you did you had a couple pop-off about like uh concerts and stuff you were at, but you finally started to figure out things started connecting, things start vibing, things start going, starting to get more views and subscribers. Um, when do things change from like this is kind of a cool thing I'm doing, I do feel like a YouTuber, but I don't feel like big, to okay, this is actually gonna be a business for me, it's gonna be a career for me, like this is a different level. It's not just oh, I'm a YouTuber, I can figure things out. This is okay, this is a real deal. Like, I have to not just double down, but like triple down. This is my thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Um, I would say it's multiple instances because one, after COVID, I didn't make any money on YouTube. I didn't not I didn't make any money, I didn't receive any money from YouTube till after COVID. Even though I had yeah, even though I started making some money from um from end of like 2019, it was till 2020, um, December. That's when I actually received my first paycheck. And the reason why, the reason why was because in Nigeria, you know, when you're trying to verify your address on YouTube back then, you need the AdSense pin and you need to send it to an address, but then our postal service was very like was kind of like all over the place. So I never got my PIN. So it was it was till 2020 I now got my PIN, and then the the first money came in, but we but which was actually I think it was like sixteen thousand dollars or something then. Yeah, because over all that time, yeah, the entire like whole now that's a lot of money where you live, right? That that's like oh my god, I'm getting I'm rich. Yes, that was a lot of money. So that was I now all the money because back then I was just funding the YouTube from just now, I was putting in money into the platform by spending money to go and make videos from the from the money I made from making videos for people. So that was kind of like my first big payouts, and then I use that money to now invest back and buy like cameras, buy like you know, gear. And I was like, ah, if this thing can make me$16,000, even though$16,000 in a year is like very tiny money when you think about it at the end of the day, because that's like you're making like$1,000 every month or something, or$1,200. But for me, then it was like getting all that money in bulk at that point in time. I was like, hmm. So I use that money, I was like, if I could invest this money back into this and I could go harder and deeper, that means I can actually you know make more money. Maybe I could instead of 16,000, maybe I can make 30k or 40k. And 40k might not look like a lot, but if you're if you know how to manage your money and in your and I'm somebody I'm very frugal, I'm very frugal when it comes to this. I don't just buy like random stuff. So I was like, I can actually make this work. And then I started to watch a lot more YouTube. I started to see how much creators in the US were making. I was like, oh wow, okay. Maybe I might not be able to make that much because it's the US, but maybe I can make a fraction of that. So I I went deeper into it. So that those were kind of like the realizations when I got my first paycheck from YouTube, and I was like, oh wow, this thing actually does make money.

Make Videos People Actually Value

SPEAKER_01 19:11

So at some point, you had to go from making content there at home to to where you are now, which is international. So you're you're you fly all over the place. But what was the first place you went to and how did you finance that? And what was that like? Were you scared? Because it's a big, it's a big risk, right? Like you're finally going to do something, traveling, going somewhere. Like there's a lot of things going there. Tell me about that entire experience.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

So it's so interesting because the first country I ever traveled to from Niger, I don't know if you can guess, but I think you probably know because you you have my YouTube channel, was Russia. Yeah, I went to Russia, yeah. Which is weird. Like, what was that about? Why did you pick Russia? That's wild. So that was during the World Cup. During the World Cup, which just like the World Cup happened this year, um, they they make it easier for you to get the visas to anywhere. So I got the visa easily to Russia, and for me, my friends were also going to Russia because they're they are football fans. I I don't even watch football. But then I saw the opportunity, I was like, if all my friends are going, that means um they are um it's gonna be easier for me because now I don't need to sort out accommodation because they had more money than I did back then. And I was like, okay, if they're sorting out the accommodation, all I just need to find is like my money for like the the the plane tickets, and that's kind of like what I did. And I saved up for that, and I got I got plane ticket money and I traveled and I got and I went there and I spent a month in Russia, and during that period, um I was able to make more videos and just get to understand what you know like a first world country is like and just like how things happen there and just be able to move around and express myself and make videos and all. And I think it was from there, I was like, hmm, okay, I was able to do this, and I what if I could make more travel videos? And I enjoyed the process of actually doing that, and I think that was kind of like how the travel thing started, where it was like, okay, I could actually travel to more countries and make videos. I didn't know I was gonna fund it, but I think my first trip outside was more of like my friends being there, made it much easier for me because one, I wasn't I was around people, um, I wasn't thinking about a lot of things, like even when I didn't have money to be able to buy food, like they're my friends, they're gonna cook food anyway, and I'm gonna eat from their food. So, so that made it cheaper for me to go on my first trip. So that's kind of like so.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

When you went, did you have a strategy of what you were gonna shoot? Obviously, I mean no game, but like you didn't know, you were just like, I need to go, this is a great opportunity. I'm just gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

I didn't know what I was gonna shoot. I didn't know what I was gonna see there, but I but what I knew was that it was a new experience. And for me at that point in time, I knew that YouTube for me was more of like experiencing something and then documenting it. And figuring out a way to share that with my audience and figuring out a way that you can give value to them because many people many of my people they've never been to Russia before. So if I went to Russia and I shared my experience as somebody who is going to Russia for the first time, I could take them on that journey and make it seem like they are also going to Russia with me. If I'm eating something that I've never eaten before, I could show them this is what they eat in Russia. This is how they live in Russia. So that's kind of like how I my mindset around going to Russia was more like, I'm going for this experience for the first time. And I, if I could document it, then maybe people would like to watch it too.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

So after that, um, you must have had a lot of learnings from that trip. I can only imagine, just for like the travel part alone. What are some of the things you learned between that trip and some of your other trips as far as like content creation and stuff? Because there's a lot to it. It's not just, I mean, the travel itself can be a bit of a hassle, right? But then now you've got to try to film things, you've got to schedule things. If you fly somewhere far away, the time zones are weird, like the money is weird. Maybe, maybe your speech, maybe the language that you're going to, they don't even speak English. Like, what were all the things you kind of learned and how do you fix those like now?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

I think the the major thing I learned was that after going to Russia, which was a country where they don't like they they speak Russian. Like I went to like a country, the first country I went to was a country where they don't speak English. They speak English sometimes, but it's like their main language is Russian. And you know how Russians are, they love their language, it's Russian, they will speak Russia, they will not speak English. Yeah, yeah. So for me, doing being able to go there and able to survive and figure out myself and get on the trains, because even the trains, the the bus stops or where the train stops are in Russian. So I had to understand where I was going to in Russian to be able to go from place to place. So I think being able to do that just made me understand that if I could do Russia, then I could do anywhere in the world. Because there's no barriers. Because the major barrier for travel or trying to experience anywhere is language. If you can't really speak to people, that means it's going to be hard for you to communicate, it's going to be hard for you to even put somebody on a video, it's going to be hard for you to even understand what is happening. So I think that was the main one. And I think the second one was also more of like saying that, oh, there's a lot out there in the world that I haven't seen and that a lot of people haven't seen that they would love to see. Like the world is such a big and massive place. Like it just opened my mind to the fact that wow, like, man, there's so many things happening in the world. Like while I'm here, there's so many things happening. And the world is also very beautiful. And people are also, people are also, I think the third one was people are people are more positive than negative. People are much nicer. You are you are you're you're more likely to meet if you see 10 people, you're most likely to have like eight people who are good people and out of the 10 and than than than negative. Because most times, you know, the media and everything just makes the world seem like, oh, it's just like this very place where everything is just you know doom and gloom and war and all of that, and people are just out to get you. But then going there and saying, like, I'm I'm a black um guy in Russia, and I had people be nice to me. So I was like, hmm, okay, the world is not as people kind of like say it is. People are nice usually, most places.

Monetization Ads Brands And Products

SPEAKER_01 25:22

I I think that's a really cool thing to share too. And and you do that with all of your videos. And you know, in looking over your timeline and looking over your videos, uh, one of the things is again, I I still love the fact that literally every single thing that could be against you was against you. It really was for you to get there, is such a remarkable feat. But a lot of people who when I talk to I you deserve it. A lot of content creators either want to be like a vlogger or a gamer or a streamer or a travel uh YouTuber. Like there's so many people want to be able to do travel, and this it's kind of expensive, and it's all these things and you figured it out. Very expensive again. It's very expensive, and it's something that you figured out how to do, which is great. But you're not a travel vlogger per se. When I watch your videos, they feel like almost documentaries. They're like very polished, they're very like well scripted, they're very well put together. This isn't just you getting on a plane, recording something, and going, I'll go have line show me, record that. These are highly polished videos. When did you go from what you used to do to what you're doing now? And what was that process like?

SPEAKER_00 26:24

When I started to make videos, it was more of like I just wanted to show you what I was doing, where I was at, and it was just like I'm taking you through my day. That was kind of like it when I when I first started. But as I started to develop and you know and grow and just learn more and watch more videos on YouTube, I I more or less lean more into storytelling. And I realized that what I actually love was more of like telling a story. And for me, one of the best ways to tell a story, which I learned over time from like just literally the internet, was you know, documenting stuff in a way where it's like it's like you're creating like a movie, it's like you're it's like you're you're taking people along on the story, but you're also giving them information. So I went back to that mindset of like, okay, why am I showing people my deal? Why would they care about my deal? Like, for example, I'm in Nairobi, Kenya, and if I just if I just went around with the camera and I'm like, oh, you know, I'm in this apartment and I ate this for lunch, why do people care? And then I realized that one, um, it's much better if I could figure out how to tell a full story about about this place, about these people, about something. It's much richer. And apart from that, it also does well, it's more evergreen. Because 10 years from now, if people came back to watch a video I made, which was more of a documentary rather than my day, they would get a lot more value from that video rather than them just watching me going about my day. So that's kind of like the transition that happened. It was just more of like, how can I give more value to the audience? And for me, giving more value to the audience was you know, spending more time in terms of telling the story, in terms of doing more research, in terms of scripting, in terms of just being able to capture shots better, so that that way you can give people like a final piece of like I call it like a piece of art, and you give it to them and they're able to learn from it, they'll also be able to entertain by it, and it just makes them feel like okay, they were actually they actually have a better understanding of the world than before.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Let's talk about what it's like to put one of these videos together. I want you to walk me through from the ideation all the way through the upload. What does that look like? How long does each part take? Do you have people that help you? Uh, like just tell me the entire process. I want to know how these videos are made.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

It's a lot, it's a lot. I'll give you an example of like currently I'm in Kenya and I filmed the video, I'm filmed the documentary on Kenya. Before coming to Kenya, um it took like like a week or week and a half of like prep just just preparing what the story, what am I trying to tell about Kenya? And then when I got to Kenya, I spent seven days filming. So we filmed every day, like every single day, morning till night, morning till night, morning till night, different locations, different. We traveled across the country and then we filmed that. Now it's gonna take at least three weeks to edit that video from multiple drafts, one draft two, draft three, before we eventually get the final piece that we now publish. And then in terms of my team, I have a team of like seven people working with me. Um, I have a producer, I have two long form editors, I have one short form editor, I have a writer, and I have a thumbnail designer, and then I have myself who is like the you know the host and the person behind everything. So we're like seven. Um and that's kind of like that's kind of like the theme behind the videos now. Um and that's kind of like how we go about it. So each video takes about a month, at least a month to make one week of filming, at least, one week of filming, and maybe three weeks of editing, and sometimes one week of prep. And then and then in terms of the ideas, how the ideas come about, sometimes it might just be like maybe I find an interesting story that I feel like this should be interesting to capture. Like there was a video I saw online, it was about the coldest city in the world, in Russia, actually, and I was like, hmm, that would that would be interesting. What like what would that be like? And and that and Siberia, which coldest city in the world is located in a city called Yakutia, which is located in Siberia, which is like at the extreme end of Russia, and Russia is massive, so it's like you're almost um on the opposite side of Alaska from the Russian side. That's the farthest I've traveled, by the way. That's the farthest I've traveled, like in terms of from where I was at. So for me, it's just like looking sometimes, it might just be like watching YouTube and seeing like an interesting idea online, and I'm like, hmm, this is actually interesting or an interesting story. Sometimes it might just be like, oh, you know, like I've never been to this place before, I would like to go there. Some it might be like, like, for example, Kenya, I've been to Kenya before, but I've just the last time I was here was like 2019. So I was like, okay, what if I go back again and I'm able to document Kenya based on everything I know now, based on how I make videos now. So it's it's multiple things. Sometimes it might be a friend who says, Oh, Tyra, I think you should go and check out this country. I think you should go to Mexico. Oh, this is happening in Mexico. I think you should go to Brazil. And I'm like, okay, maybe I'll maybe I'll go.

Travel Documentaries Russia To Kenya

SPEAKER_01 31:36

So when you came to Kenya, you knew like where you wanted to go and what you wanted to film, or were you just kind of doing it and seeing what happens?

SPEAKER_00 31:45

No, when I came to Kenya, so now that I'm now that I'm where I'm at now, my videos kind of like have a format in a way. In every video I make, especially, so I have different types of videos. Some videos are specific stories, so like the coldest city in the world is a specific story, it's a story about a city, which is the coldest city in the world. Um, some videos are travel documentaries, which are I'm going to Brazil and I want to capture Brazil in a way that anybody who has never been to Brazil before, if they watch this video, they'll have a full understanding of Brazil from my lens. Um, so those are kind of like the two categories my videos fall in. And the Kenya video is more of like how can I capture Kenya in a way where you know I'm able to capture the food, the culture, the way of life, people, the way people live, the real estate, the vibe, the night life. So all of that, I always add it into one video. And like maybe like the tourism, like where's the best things to see, things to do. But I'll add it in a way where it's like it's just you can watch it from beginning to end and get a full understanding of the country, things to do, places to go, even understanding the economic, the economics of the country, understanding how whether if you wanted to move to this country, what that would look like for you, just basically. So that's kind of like the format. So I I have that format in my head, but I knew that when I come to Kenya, I'll just pick all these different elements and put them together into one video.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

So you went there and you just you had general ideas, but you're allowing the experience to speak for itself. Yes, exactly. I love that. That's incredible. It's also risky because what if you get there, nothing happens?

SPEAKER_00 33:23

It's very risky. It's very risky. And that's that's the problem with documentaries because you're not, it's not like scripted, you're basically just going out with your camera to a specific location, and then anything that happens happens. Like everything that happens in my video, nothing is like if I'm if I'm filming a video and somebody just randomly comes in and I just meet somebody and I talk to the person. I've never met that person in my life before. That's the first time I'm meeting that person. So it's which makes it interesting, but it also makes it risky. It also makes it very stressful because you don't know what you're going to capture when you go out there with the camera. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

But I I love that that makes it interesting to watch, of course. Um, let's talk a little bit about a specific episode that I watched. And what drew me to it is I actually just recently interviewed uh Tommy G, who does very similar things. He goes in very dangerous places. You went to a very dangerous place in the Dominican Republic. Now, I have to ask, first of all, when you got now that I know part of how you do these, did you even know you were going to do that when you went there? Did you know you were gonna go to the date one of the most dangerous places? No, no. Oh my god. But that's like the crux of the video now. Like that's what the video became. And as I was watching it, I was like nervous for you because you're going to this really weird place and you have to like make a deal with like the Don of the City to be able to walk around safely. Like the guy who took you there, he's all blurred out, and he's like, and you ask him, Is it safe to go? He's like, No, it's not like what was going through your mind? That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

So, so I think for me, when I go to like some like farther places, I usually have the mindset, like the Dominican Republic video was more of like, Oh, I want to go to Dominican Republic and make a video about Dominican Republic. After making that video, I'm still in the Dominican Republic, so I'm like, hmm, what else can I film here? And then randomly, I have a friend who is also a YouTuber, and it's like, and then while we went out to lunch, he was with some other guy who apparently that guy grew up in like this danger, most dangerous place in Dominican Republic, and then we're just talking, and it was like, Oh, you can take me there, and I was like, hmm, okay. I was and I in my head, I was like, Okay, I can make another video from that, and that's kind of like how I went.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Did you ever second guess yourself? Was there a moment where you're like, this is not a good idea?

SPEAKER_00 35:39

Yeah, many times because I was like, and you know, the worst part about that video was I went at night, so yeah, so that's like if you're going to the most dangerous place and you're going at night, that's the worst time to go anywhere that is dangerous because you can't even see anything. So, yeah, but I was just like, Okay, like, well, you know, you you only live once. Anything for content, like I always say, anything for content, I was like, as long as many good video, I was like, okay, let me go there. And then I went, I was nervous, and as I went there and I met the guys, and gradually, as I spent more time with them, and I got to talk to them, and I realized that okay, they wanted me, they were excited that I was here, and they also wanted to be on camera, they wanted to film. I was like, okay, they are not gonna harm me. But then I was like, hmm, what if a fight breaks out or there's like a tough war or something happens? Because anything can happen. But I was like, okay, well, let me just go. And at the end of the day, I thankfully, um, I think another thing was like, okay, I prayed. I was like, okay, God guide me. And then I went. And then I went and I came out. I was like, okay, cool. But the interesting thing is these days, I think as I've gotten much kind of like older, these days, I'm less willing to just do stuff um just for views or just for like I'm more focused on like figuring out how to tell like a much more you know, like positive story, or like much more, much more cleaner stuff. Because when I was making those videos, sometimes you know you have to blow out a lot of stuff. YouTube can strike your videos, stuff like so. I was like, let me just focus on the on the on just the good stuff. So that's why which you've done a lot.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

You've done a bunch of like uh luxury home stuff and hanging out with millionaires and stuff, which is really interesting. Is that some of your more favorite stuff, or uh is there other things you really like to do?

SPEAKER_00 37:28

So I'm uh I see myself as somebody who is a business person. I love businesses, I love to know how, not just from business, I love to know how things work. If somebody is able to build a business or be able to create a product, and people are able to buy that product, and you know, it becomes this big multi-million dollar stuff. I'm always I always want to know how they did it, did it. And I believe that's also something that is also valuable to a lot of people. Everybody wants to know how to make money or how to get rich or how to. So if I'm able to get that access and I'm able to share that with people, then that's good. That's that's value to them. But I would say, I would say things I actually like. I love um real estate, I love understanding how businesses work, I love traveling. So for me, with YouTube, it was just more of like bringing those three different things together and then making videos about them. At the moment, now what I do is mostly like documentaries, but in those documentaries, I add elements of all those things. Like, you know, if I if I'm Kenya now, in the middle of my video, I could talk to an entrepreneur who has a company, and while I'm going to explore the culture, talking about the food, I just put everything into one video. So that's kind of like what I do now. So for me, my most favorite stuffs are actually like um I'll say my favorite most favorite videos are the ones where I get to travel and discover places. Uh um, I also love the ones where I get to meet people and learn about how they build their businesses. So I'll say it's a mix of multiple things, just a mix of all of them.

Risky Shoots And Creator Playbook

SPEAKER_01 39:03

I'm glad that you talked about businesses because your channel is a business, has to be, right? Otherwise, you can't do the cool things if it doesn't get paid for in some way. Uh, how do you monetize your channel in what ways? You don't have to tell us exact numbers, but like percentages of things and what different ways are you making sure that you continue to have money coming in?

SPEAKER_00 39:19

Um, the main, the major way um when I started was just more of AdSense. And gradually it has now shifted to more of like uh brands, working with brands, uh, you know, brand sponsorships, 60 second integrations in the middle of the videos. Uh, but now within the past two years, it has become more of me selling products. So I have a YouTube creator academy that I built, and then we trained over like 5,000 people. So it was more of like, okay, this knowledge I've had, how can I bring this knowledge to a lot of people, especially people who look like me, who are from Africa. Because a lot of the, you know, there's a lot of people selling courses online and stuff, but a lot of them are actually coming from the West, from America and the rest. And you know, they might they are not going to talk about the challenges, or they are not going to be able to understand the challenges a Nigerian, somebody who grew up in Lagos had, or somebody who grew up in South Africa had, or Kenya had. So for me, it was more of like, you know, helping to train people on how to do that. So I would say those those are the three, those are the three major ways. But now this year, I've now moved into the fourth one, which is building products, uh, building startups, building like companies off my YouTube channel. So kind of like what Mr. Beast is doing with like free stables and you know these other companies is doing. I'm moving more into like the product side of things, more like building companies. So we created a one of the products we created was a link in bio service called Linkies. It's kind of like Linkin Bio, but it's like it's like more focused on like the African creators, and it has a lot more features. It's more like Stan Stor. Basically, you pay a single fee a year, a month, and then you you don't we don't charge you any other thing. You make all the money you make off selling your products and all. So I'm moving more into like that that side of things now. But when I started, it was first AdSense. As I grew, it became um it became um brand sponsorships, and then within the last two years, it has become products, which is like uh digital products. But now I'm moving into like building stuff that can stand on their own without even my platform and just using my brand name to help push it.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

That's so smart. I love that. I love that. So looking at your entire career of all the things that you've gone through, you've done for a small creator or upcoming creator, what are the things that you've learned that um that would maybe help them along the way? In other words, things that maybe they can make mistakes on, but you're trying to help them from doing that, because we've all made mistakes as creators, and the things that they need to know moving forward. Because one of the things that will happen to most creators is they'll burn out because they'll just be doing something that maybe doesn't fulfill them. So talk a little bit about the biggest things that content creators now should know uh to continue forward for success.

Links Comments And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_00 42:03

I would say one of the first things you should know if you're if you're if you're a content creator, one of the first things you should know and you should focus on is one so one of the problems a lot of people even have, first of all, is even figuring out what kind of videos they want to make. And most people it's it's a whole hassle because even myself, I struggled with that. I didn't know what I wanted to make, so I was just making random videos here and there. But I would say one of the first things you should do is pick out three, and I say three because three is like the kind of like the perfect number for me based on what I've seen. Pick out three things you have interest in, and then make videos about those three things, make as many videos about them as possible, and then one of them will eventually pop off. Once it pops off, double down on what pops off. I made that mistake when something popped off on my channel, which was real estate videos. I didn't double down on it. I just I saw it's like, oh, it popped off. Then I went back to making like random tutorials and all. But if I had doubled down on it, I would have gotten much faster to where I was at. So that's one. Like, once you see that it's working, double down. Like, don't don't waste that opportunity. Double down. If you make one video about something and it does well, make another video that is similar to that thing. Because that means people actually want to get want to see that kind of video from you. The second one is also to fall in love with making videos. I'll say this is kind of like the one where you just have to fall in love with making videos. You fall in love with making videos, you're it will be so easy for you to make videos. It's like, you know, when we're younger and uh parents will be like, oh, don't go out and don't play out, don't play outside in the rain, or don't go and play football, or don't play basketball, don't walk around on the street. You still go out and do those things, even if they they they they you know they are they are they chastise you or they're like, oh no, they are gonna punish you, they scold you for it. You still go out and do it anyway because you love doing those things. So I'll say fall in love with it. Because once you fall in love with making content, it's much easier for you to keep doing it, even when things are hard, even when you're not making. Money, even when, like you know, maybe like yeah, like once obstacles come your way, you still make videos. Um, the third one is you can actually like you don't need to reinvent the wheel. One of the easiest ways to kind of like go on YouTube is just going to YouTube and looking at the space that you are actually trying to make videos in and looking at what is working. You know, back then when I started, I always wanted to make something. I was like, I'll look up to you, I was like, no, I don't want to make you know, everybody has made this video, I don't want to make that. I want to make my own very unique special video that is one of one. Yeah, that is just that that that that is just a waste of time. Just go online. Even the even the biggest creators, Mr. Beast, many of these guys they they do the same thing. Like if they've done a video and it does well, or they see an idea that has done really well, like there was a video Mr. Beast made that was a replica of one of that video that has done like 160 something million views in the past. It made something similar to that and it did well. And I've done that too, and I've seen it do well. The the code S City video I did was because I saw that a lot of who were doing that video and it was doing well, and then I made the video and it has become my most watched video, it has almost 10 million views. Um, so you don't need to reinvent the wheel, just if you like cooking, go to cooking section on YouTube, look for the kind of videos that are making in the cooking section that are going viral and figure out how to make your own version. You don't need to copy the exact same thing, but make your own version of it. So, those are some of the things. Okay, another one too is also to make discoverable content. Don't just make what you like to make. What do people want? What's what's gonna give them value? What kind of video do people want to watch? And how can you make you know a video that is gonna be a discoverable video? For example, a discoverable video is a video about New York, maybe like um 24 hours in New York or something like that. Because New York alone is a search term. Every millions of searches every day are searching for New York. But if you make a video about, you know, maybe you are like living on Jersey Street, somewhere, somewhere in nobody really cares about that because nobody's gonna search for that. But people are gonna search for New York, people are gonna search for London, people are gonna search for LA. So if you are in LA, figure out how to make a video about LA. If you are in Chicago, figure out how to make a video about Chicago. If you are in Nigeria, figure out how to make a video about Nigeria. Many of the views I got over the years was making videos specifically about popular places in Lagos, popular places in Nigeria, and I always made sure to put Nigeria in the title to make sure that people were gonna find it. So those are some of the those are some of the ones that just come to my head in terms of like what I feel like are actionable steps that a lot of creators who are starting out can actually make.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

I think that's incredible. And the experience you've had and you've shared with us, uh, I think it's really gonna change some people's lives. So if you want to see more of Tayo's stuff, he's got incredible content. I'll leave a link in the description below. If you're listening to the audio podcast, there will be links in the show notes. I want to thank you for your time. You're a busy guy, and um, maybe we'll do this again because I feel like we got through some of it, but you have so much more to tell. And I I just enjoyed all of it.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

I I have so much, like literally when it comes to content on YouTube, I can sit down and talk about YouTube and content for like the for like 24 hours. If you allow me. Absolutely. I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

So if y'all want to see him back, leave me a comment. Let me know that you think that he's the greatest guest ever. And we'll see if we can get him back. Anyone else? I got something great for you to watch. Just watch this video right here, and we'll see y'all in the next one.