How A Commentary Creator Hit 190K Subscribers In Nine Months With Simple Videos

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We break down how Wonny grows a long-form YouTube channel to nearly 190,000 subscribers in nine months without using Shorts, relying on simple packaging and a niche most creators ignore. We talk through the messy early stage, the real monetization differences between short videos and long videos, and the habits that make his uploads bingeable. 
• Wonny’s first channel in high school, what blew up, and why he lost passion 
• why short videos can struggle for AdSense and sponsorship integration 
• choosing a sustainable niche with low English competition by covering Chinese and East Asian trends 
• consistency through the first months of low views and the “10 video mark” breakout 
• the weekly workflow: research, notes, recording, editing, and thumbnails as a one-person team 
• using an iPhone and basic lighting, focusing on storytelling over gear 
• audience demographics in the US, Canada, and UK and what that can mean for CPM 
• thinking about long-term sustainability, diversification, and potential IRL content 
• handling failed experiments, pivots, and the mental side of competition 
• specific improvements that move the needle: pacing and sounding more natural on camera 

Transcript

No Shorts, Huge Results

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Uh Wani is doing not shorts, and I think this is really important to say this. Long form content. He's at about 36 videos, almost 190,000 subscribers in like nine months with no shorts. It's mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

I got like what like 10 views for the first like month. You really have to enjoy it, kinda do it for the love of the game. Probably around the 10 video mark is when one of my videos blew up. And surprisingly, that was my first video that I uploaded. I realized that like nobody was talking about it. You know, there's a lot of crazy things that go on over there. What if I did something similar for the side of China and kind of put my own personality and takes into it?

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that helps you min your max. I'm Travis, and I'm here to help you grow your YouTube channel. And I can't wait to introduce you to someone super special here on the platform. My guest today, Wani. How are you doing, Wani?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I'm doing great. Thank you so much, Travis, for having me on. I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to speak, you know, my mind and my whole journey with YouTube and just what's been going on so far.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

I am super excited for y'all to learn about this creator because he's doing something that I know a lot of you want to do, but we'll get into that in a minute. If you're new here, we're here to help you grow your YouTube channel a lot of different ways. Sometimes we answer your questions on email. Sometimes we interview people like Wani and we tell them and have them tell you how they've grown their YouTube channel. So if you're listening to the audio podcast, there will be information in the show notes. If you're listening to the YouTube channel, it will be in the description. All the links you need will be there. So without any further ado, let's get into this thing. Wani, first of all, um, you're doing something on YouTube that wish most people wish they could do. You have very simple thumbnails, you have very simple topic ideas, but you're crushing it. Like the views are insane for a brand new channel. And just for the analytics people out there, uh Wani is doing not shorts, and I think this is really important to say this not shorts, long-form content. He's at about 36 videos, almost 190,000 subscribers in like nine months with no shorts. It's mind-blowing the success you've had. So, first of all, congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Thank you so much, Chalis.

Wani’s First Channel And Burnout

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And we're gonna break all that down, but before that, who was Wani before the first upload? What were you doing? Uh, who were you?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

So, you know, a funny story. Um, I actually have another YouTube channel that I started back in high school. Oh. And that channel was mainly focused on gaming, specifically the game called Osu, which is a rhythm game. And that channel is still up, and it's called Yoko. Y-O-K-O-E. And it is much different from what I do now because you know, back in the COVID era, um this game really popped off. Like it was like a miracle. It's just a simple rhythm game that was free to play, and I would just make like these very short videos that are like a minute long or less than a minute long, and it would just be like I guess you could call them like short form content, but I didn't post it in shorts, I posted it on like regular, like YouTube long form, and um it blew up. Like I reached a hundred and sixty-five thousand subscribers on that channel during high school, and that's where I I always wanted to be like a YouTuber ever since I was a kid, right? That's like all the kids' dreams, even nowadays, and that was like really like the canon event for me, I guess. Because after I uploaded, my most popular video on that channel has 17 million views, and it was less than a minute long, and it was just basically like me playing the game and just like kind of like like doing some random funny um like idea with this. So, like for my most viewed video, like in the game, you're supposed to spin with the mouse, and instead of using the mouse, I use like an actual drill, like an actual drill, and like our people loved it, and like that was a time when it was COVID too, so everybody was at home, no one was going outside, no one was touching grass, right? And it blew up, and ever since then, um, that was before Wani, and that was like my last upload on that channel was around like two years ago, and I kind of just slowly started losing passion for it at the same time. Um, like the numbers were doing amazing, um, but it was so niche to a point where I had to it was so hard to innovate from such a simple rhythm game, and the content I was making was basically very short, it was like a minute long. Every video, I almost uploaded like almost every day or every other day, and essentially they were like shit posts videos, and um I did build a big following from that though. So like people really liked the way I kind of just made fun of how to play the game and stuff and like my unique ways, but um yeah, I lost passion for it and I stopped uploading a lot, and my last upload was two years ago, which really like made me realize like what why I just like threw that out there, you know, because like I always wanted to make content since I was a kid, and that was like a big opportunity, especially like in high school, you know, like like like a lot of my friends thought I was like so cool for for you know like being like a YouTuber, right? Yeah, and um yeah, I ever since I like just stopped uploading on that channel, I had like a s uh a moment, probably like a year or so where I was just so like confused in life and didn't know what to do. I was still going to school, um about to go to college, right? And I was just so confused of what to do. I and I'm sure like most people relate as well, you really just don't know. And even till now, I mean, I still don't really know. And I think that's also the fun of it because I thought you know it was over, you know. I I you know that channel kind of died, I guess, and I was like, it's over, I gotta move on to something else. But then, you know, my passion was still there for making content, which is why after trying so many things, so I tried short form content, I tried skits, I tried gaming videos, I had a mindset to not give up. And because of that, I was able to uh end up with Wani. We could go more deeper into like this content.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

We'll talk about that in a minute. Yeah, I'm I'm yeah, I know I'm gapping a lot. No, no, that's good. That's what a podcast

AdSense Reality With Short Videos

SPEAKER_00 6:35

is for. Um, but I do want to ask, so you're in high school and everything, um, and this channel's popping off, but it's and this is really important. So it's short form, but not shorts, and it's gaming content. So the CBMs are probably not amazing. Can you how much money were you making on that channel despite the fact that it was kind of blowing up?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I made all my money from AdSense alone on that channel. So I mean, sponsors don't really you can't really integrate a sponsor for like a one-minute video, right? Most you would get affiliate links or like doing affiliate partnerships, which I did get some for like some cool keyboard companies, um, some cool mouse companies as well. Um, but it was all from AdSense, and I think in total, wait, can I say the total I made from whatever you want, absolutely? Yeah, yeah. So the total amount I made from that channel alone was around 30k.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Okay, that's before taxes.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, I do uh I get taxed, uh, so I'm from Canada, so I get taxed already when AdSense pays out the money. Oh, okay. Yeah, so I can see on AdSense that it taxes me um before I get paid, right? Gotcha. Okay. And then so 30k. Um, and if I looking at it now, that is pretty low considering the views I had. Which makes sense because I mean every video was like less than eight minutes, right? It was like a minute to two minutes long. Yeah. Barely two minutes, but that's the total amount I made from that channel alone, which has right now over a hundred, I think over like a hundred fifty maybe it over fifty million views in total.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Well, that's I mean, as a high school student though, you don't really have a lot of overheads, that's still pretty good money. That's not bad, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was yo, it was huge. I was like, oh my god, I don't even need to like work my part-time job at the time. I was like, uh, I was working at like a grocery store, um, like cutting like the deli meats and stuff, just as like as like a part-time job with like some of my friends, and I was like, wow, this is like huge, you know, this like on top is making more than my part-time job at like Walmart. That's amazing. Like, yeah, I can retire now.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Yeah, that'll be a shortest retirement, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah. So let's talk a little bit about Wani. Um, so you have

Building An English Channel On China Trends

SPEAKER_00 8:55

two years off, took a little bit of a break for various reasons, and I think any content creator has done it for any length of time has done the same thing. I've done it myself. Um, what happened where you started uploading on Wani? And what was the concept? Like, how did you come up with this concept? For by the way, for those who don't understand what Wani is, maybe you should real quick just explain what the Wani channel is and then talk to me about that first kind of upload.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, so for Wani, I essentially just like it's a commentary channel, so I cover a variety of topics and like I put my own humor to it. Um, like crazy trends from mainly China. So I focus a lot on Asia specifically and the crazy trends, the crazy scandal, celebrity scandals, controversies that are going around in China and just all of you know East Asia, and just bringing all of that, you know, that tea, that gossip to the Western audience. Yeah, and it's um it's something that I realized that nobody has, you know, really done like so far to get really too deep into it, uh, especially on like the the China side, you know, because everyone's the trend right now is like you know, you're in a very Chinese time of your life and like all that, you know. Yeah. So yeah, it's basically just commentary content and um, you know, covering variety of Chinese topics and um mainly that, yeah. It's uh and I try to have fun with it, you know. I sometimes I make fun of it, sometimes I'm on a neutral standpoint, and it's just you know, it's really good gossip, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

So what what made you even go into this niche? It's a very interesting niche, and I I think one of the things that's important to understand about what Wani's doing is he found a niche that doesn't have a lot of competition. Uh certainly not in the format in which he's doing it. My assumption would be if there are channels like this, A, they're gonna be mostly in China, and B, they're probably not gonna be in English. So this now becomes almost a super niche in a weird way, um, where there's very few people doing it, but maybe a massive audience. So, how did you come up with the idea for this niche? And what was like what how did you come up with the first video idea as well?

SPEAKER_01 10:57

I first realized that um I wanted to do something that was sustainable and something I enjoyed, which I learned a lot from my old YouTube channel, which was you know the complete opposite of that. It's impossible to really branch off of uh a channel where you don't show your face and you don't even talk.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

So I decided to go with talking to a camera. And this was like a big thing for me because like I would say I'm an introvert. Um, especially well, I would say I'm an introvert unless I'm with like people I'm close to. So talking to a camera was uh scary at first, I guess, even in my room. Yeah, and slowly but surely I got used to it and I started to enjoy it because I was just speaking my mind, no filters, no nothing. And ever since then, like I really enjoyed just covering topics and doing storytelling in general, and um yeah, so the the way I found this niche, I would say, is I realized that you know, so I'm Chinese myself and I have apps such as Doyin, which is like Chinese TikTok, as well as like other Chinese social media apps, and I I found out that you know there's a lot of crazy things that go on over there. So I'm so one day I was just like, you know, what if I just covered, you know, this crazy scandal that happened in China or this crazy story or maybe this crazy trend that's going on. And I realized that like nobody was talking about it because it's such a like it's it's such a specific niche because I re I found some I found like many, many creators talk about, you know, talk about these things, but mainly in the Western side of things, like maybe on TikTok or on YouTube cont like YouTube controversies or drama. So I was like, you know, knowing that I'm Chinese and I understand Chinese and I can speak it, what if I did something similar but for the side of China and kind of put my own personality and takes into it and condense it into a digestible format? Because um, like I know I watched a lot of storytelling YouTubers that um have like like podcasts, I guess, like storytelling podcasts, and I'm just like what if I could just condense this into like you know a 15 or 20 minute video and just kind of you know give people like the whole story in just that little package, right? Rather than having to listen to a whole hour like podcast. So that's where I kind of branched off of. And um yeah, it's uh it's been great. It's like covering all these topics is huge, and I never get bored of it because it's just so interesting and it's so funny, and some of it is just so dystopian in

Staying Consistent Through Low Views

SPEAKER_01 13:55

general.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

So you uploaded that first video, and what happened? Did anything happen right away, or did you upload a couple videos in a row, or did it did it take a while? What happened?

SPEAKER_01 14:03

I uploaded the first video, and uh well, like usual, you can't expect a lot. Um, I got like what like 10 views for the first like month, and I realized um no matter like you have to enjoy what you're doing because that first video I put like a lot of effort into it. Like it took me about a week and a half, um, like constant grinding to make like the best video out there, and when I uploaded it, you know, you don't really see the results, and that's the thing with YouTube is that you really have to enjoy it and kind of do it for the love of the game and not expect results, otherwise you're just gonna find yourself giving up, right? And after that first video, I still, you know, I still believed in myself and I still felt like there's so much I could do, right? And it was just so fun like covering these topics, and of course I hoped that you know I would make it to where you know more people watch me and like I would gain more subscribers. So yeah, at the time I was uploading consistently uh every single week, and till now I've been consistent on every single week. So at first, uh I think I uploaded around uh probably around the 10 video mark is when one of my videos blew up. And surprisingly, that was my first video that I uploaded. Interesting, yeah. So that got around 15,000 views uh for my first video, and I was I was at less than 10,000 subscribers at that time, and I was like, wow, that's crazy, you know. So, you know, there I I maybe I'm doing something right, and um, from the beginning, I already told myself that I'm not gonna expect anything from this. I kind of think of it as a way to as a side gig, side hobby, where I make videos, I also get better at being in front of a camera and you know, talking to people, like I guess presenting and uh just being like a good public speaker, except you know, you're just in your room with nobody, right? Yeah, right. So I always thought of it as something that I could level myself up or improve myself, even without results coming back in. And I kept that going for weeks on weeks. The first video blew up, and you know, ever since that, I mean I just kept going. Um, I kept finding some really interesting topics to talk about, and I slowly improved as well. Um, after every video, I would at least try to find something to improve on. And even till now, I always find something to try to improve on in the next video and the next video. And you know, maybe it's subjective, right? It depends on like you know, it could be what your how your editing is, but I just try to improve something to really connect with the fans more and try to do better than the last video.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So how I mean, obviously looking back at your your content now, all the videos have really a lot of views, like a lot of views, including your first couple. So was it when you had these like videos that got like a million or half a million views that those start to backfeed into your older um content, or was it over time? How did that work?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Yeah, so the first like 10 videos had like barely even 10,000 views. I mean, they were all like like very they all had very low views. Yeah, and because of the videos that blew up recently, as well as like the videos that have been blowing up, they all the audience actually went to watch my other videos. So that's why you see my like first five or ten videos have like like over a hundred thousand views, yeah. And um before it wasn't like that though, before it was still like very, very low. Um but that just you know shows me that people are binging things, right? They're binging the content, and I read the comments too, and people are enjoying it. It's like they're binging a show, essentially, of all like the crazy trends and gossip I talk

Research, Scripting, Filming, Editing Solo

SPEAKER_01 18:12

about.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Was there any strategy behind specifically what you were gonna do a video about? Because how long do these videos generally take you to shoot and edit and everything?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

So usually it takes me like the entire week. Um so right after I upload it is I start instantly thinking and working on the next video for next week.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

So, how what's that process like? Because obviously, if you only have one swing a week, you have to be a little bit more uh picky about what you're gonna choose to talk about. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

So when it comes to finding the idea, I just a lot of times I go on like Chinese articles or I doom scroll on like Chinese TikTok and like different social Chinese social media sites, and I kind of just browse around like everywhere, and I'm pretty familiar with I mean tick to Chinese TikTok and TikTok are very similar. So I would find you know trends that are going on there and I would kind of think in a way where so what is you know trendy in the western side of things that has kind of exaggerated that trend in China because there's a lot of uh trends that get exaggerated, I would say, and a lot of you know many different things. So and mainly the topics I cover now is um yeah, trends, like very dystopian trends, as well as like different controversies when it comes to influencers and celebrities. But once I eventually find that idea by like doing a lot of researching on like um articles and going through Chinese social media, I will write the video idea down on like a notepad. And at the time, um I want to make sure that I have enough to speak about for that idea and it's interesting enough, so I would do even more research uh when the time comes. So like once I upload this week's video and once I start working on next week's, I would go back to my notepad of ideas and I would do more research on that idea that um that I noted down. And let's say um it doesn't have you know, it wasn't the best kind of idea. I just I just scrap it. Um let's say it was a great idea and there's so much to talk about, it goes really deep. I take that idea and I essentially, you know, do more research on it, and I write a couple of notes down uh on a piece of on like my laptop and I essentially just speak to the camera about this topic that I'm talking about. And I think a majority of it is the research because I have to know the timeline of events of what I'm talking about, or some um like from like beginning to end, and I kind of structure my video on like my notes of what to say in the beginning and what to cover here, kind of around middle of the video is where things you know get serious, and um at the very end it kind of concludes if we're talking about like a story or like a controversy.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

So it's storytelling in and it's finest, right? Like did you ever take uh any classes in that, or do you were you always good at storytelling? Because that's really important.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Oh yeah, I am not good at storytelling. You know, I mean the first time I talked to a camera with my face on it was literally the WANE channel. Wow. And I wanted to kind of you know improve my just public speaking because you know I don't I'm really bad at like I guess public speaking at the time, and I'm a very introverted person. So it really brought let me bring myself out there and like put myself out there into an audience. And it kind of just, you know, I kind of learned on the while I was uploading, so I learned on the way, like on the go. And um Um yeah, so after like you know researching the topic and recording, usually recording takes me about an hour or so. I try to make some funny jokes here and there as well, like during the recording of the video. And um I actually just record with my iPhone. So it's uh nice. I don't really have any professional gear. I only recently got like a lighting setup on Amazon. Yeah. So um the i the iPhone camera has been doing well for me, and I don't plan to really switch, and it's on like an iPhone tripod as well, like that I got off Amazon. So the gear is like you can honestly start anywhere. Like if you have a phone, then you can get so far, you really don't need anything professional unless like you are like doing something that on honest unless like you're really focused on something specific, like filmmaking. But um yeah, uh even like my lighting was so bad in my first couple of videos, I didn't even know how to adjust the exposure and everything. But um, yeah, so once I record, I take around four days to edit the video. So I do everything myself. I research, I write notes, I record, I edit, and I make the thumbnails all myself. So everything is a one-man team, and I think that's what makes it authentic, and that's also what allows me to put something that out there that I'm proud of.

Audience, CPM, And Going Full Time

SPEAKER_00 23:30

So talk to me about what your audience looks like now. So again, you're talking about um Chinese culture, and China, I and correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't really have unfettered access to YouTube. Like I think you have to use VPNs and stuff. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Or yeah, um, so I uh I don't really go on YouTube for when I um like research the ideas. You have to go on sites like Doyin or Billy Billy.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Right. So I guess my point is um there's not necessarily a big Chinese audience you would get on YouTube from China. So I'm curious what your actual audience is. Is it like Canada, America? Like where are you seeing your largest audience from?

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Mainly it's America, Canada, and the UK. I would say interesting. Yeah, that's what the demographics look like.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

So your CPMs must be pretty decent then because most of your videos are over eight minutes. Um I would imagine I don't know what I don't know what like the commentary space CPMs are. Um is this something that uh can sustain you full-time pretty easily, or do you need to do a lot more work?

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Uh I think it's sustainable as long as I keep improving and keep pushing myself. Um right now I would say it is pretty sustainable as like a full-time job, but the thing with YouTube is things can go south anytime, right? Yeah. Um and there's only a certain you have to make it to a certain point where you become like you make it to the big leagues in order to really sustain it, right? Right. It's um it's something that is the threshold that I'm trying to cross and something I want to make a full-time thing for myself as like a career. I think that's the biggest and hardest thing for most YouTubers, is not that first stepping stone of oh, like blowing up, but also making it sustainable as long to like as a long-term career. I think that's the biggest threshold to pass.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Absolutely. And what's cool about uh talking to you now, because I might be interested in talking to you like a year from now, is you aren't a year into this. Now, of course, you had another channel, but that channel was so super niche that really you were just playing games and uploading. This you're having to be more creative and understanding more about YouTube. What are some of the things you've learned in the first nine months of uploading on this new channel?

SPEAKER_01 25:39

So, I mean, I learned a lot. So, first I learned that you can make it a lot more sustainable when you make long-form content. Um, AdSense pays much better. Um, and many brands also reach out to you. I also learned that there's a lot of um, I would say, ways that you can expand your content and ways to improve things. It's not just following a single structure like every day. There's always room for improvement, and there's always room to diversify your content rather than to just focus on one thing. And I think that's how you really sustain um uh being a YouTuber as a career is not just you know completely focusing on the content, but also diversifying.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Yeah, that part's important. I'm glad you said that word because when I talk to other creators, especially ones that are super established, um, you know, the ones that have been around, like I've talked to a couple of creators recently that have been on the platform for over 10 years, and they've had to change kind of their their content strategy over the course of the years because you're not gonna have the same viewers today as you do three years from now. They're gonna be, they're gonna change, you have to evolve, and all that sort of thing. How do you see this channel evolving? Like, what's the what makes sense for you when you look at this? Maybe you haven't even had a chance to really think about it in the future, but if you think about it now, what does this channel look like in a year or two?

SPEAKER_01 27:04

This niche that I've dived into is very unique and it's also very powerful. And I want to keep improving on the way I edit, the way I present a video, as well as the topics I cover. So I plan on essentially diversifying the topics while still keeping it to like a unique standpoint,

Future Plans For IRL And Bigger Stories

SPEAKER_01 27:30

like not really like um just like copying other people. But I also have thought about you know doing something that is related to IRL content, so videos where I film myself um doing crazy things, uh not like vlogs, but um if you know like Ryan Trahan or like YouTubers similar like him, that is like a point I want to reach where I can do that kind of content and also people watch it essentially. Um that is like I would say a big goal for me to hit because those are full production, like full team production uh videos, uh a lot of work into them as well. And I feel like I could do so much with the Asia and Chinese side of things, right? And you know, maybe I you know go to China and start making videos, right? Or I um I I do some like crazy investigation videos. Um, so that like IRL, like real life kind of side of content of things is something I really want to eventually do. Um at the same time still keeping my authenticity of like making my storytelling videos and trans. I kind of want to do both. Um and so far, I am kind of just seeing how things go and still focusing on the videos I'm currently making, but I want to really establish my personality and just um my brand in general out there to a point where I can do those kind of videos where I'm exploring things or like, you know, I don't know, random ideas like visiting um like one star or abandoned restaurants in China or something, you know. That would be like so cool to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

It's funny, there's a guy I just recently came across that does that. He'll go to like one-star restaurants and stuff, and uh and abandon not abandoned places, but like places that you wouldn't necessarily go. Um, and he's I think he's Asian American, and I think he lives in California. I forget what his name is. And it's a it's a fascinating channel and edited very easily, very simply. There's nothing like super high-end about any of it, but the storytelling and the way he talks and his subject matter is really uh really interesting. It seems like you have a uh kind of a knack for that. Is that something you'd want to do on this channel, or would you want to start a new channel for that?

SPEAKER_01 30:09

I would want to do that on this channel and see how it goes. Kind of just experiment with it. I don't think it would hurt the channel too much if I just randomly posted some a video like that. As long as uh it's true to myself, it's to my standard and my quality. I think it would be like really cool to do something. I know what creator you're talking about, I think. I forgot his name as well. But um I would love to do something like that, but you know, on the Asia side of things.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

I mean, I I want to I want to get this guy. I'm gonna try to see if I can find him on my uh page because I want to shout him out. Um I think he's super interesting. I see I saw him go to like a really low-rated restaurant or something, or or not or empty restaurants. I think he went to a bunch of empty restaurants to see if they were any good, and most of them were good. And it was just a really cool thing because in the comment section, because he's you know, his videos blow up, it was cool to see some of the restaurant owners uh seeing the channel going, oh, this is great, you know, you know, they were struggling, but he loved the food. So now all of a sudden people are showing up and like, which is a great thing. I love positive content on YouTube. Um is that something that you'd be interested in? Um there's not a lot of like, quote, positive YouTube. I don't know if that's even a thing, um, where there's there there's so much negativity out there. Um, not to say that what you're covering is all negative, it's not. Some of it's just straight up funny. Um something like that. But what is your passion in general when you're when you're making content? Is it about being the voice of something that's happening and kind of giving your your feedback? Or would you rather be like the center of what's happening to make these things uh happen?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Um personally, I want to be like the center of things. So I want to, that's why I'm in front of the camera and I'm not commentating with like no face cam or over like uh a video. I want to really put myself out there, but at the same time have fun with it. And I think that's so important is that you you want to think of things like as like a long-term career, but you also want to enjoy what you do. And I want to get to a point where you know I can do those crazy videos where I, you know, am having fun with what I do, and also I'm also being real like rewarded as well, so I can you know sustain it like as a future. And I think that's um I think that's really where you find like success in life, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

So the chat I found the channel, it's Dylan uh Juan. I'm I don't know exactly how it's pronounced his last name. It's H U Y N H. Uh definitely go check him out. He goes around and like he's right now, he said I tried unknown burger chains, and he's getting tons of views, just doing some very simple stuff. Yeah, he's he's really very talented. And that, I mean, it could definitely be you. Like the thing about um when I ever explain uh when I used to do a lot of YouTube coaching with channels, um, you'll talk to creators and they'll say something like, Oh, well, they're doing this and they're getting tons of views. But the reality is they didn't see what they were doing before what they're currently doing. So for example, Mr. Beast was a gaming channel, right? Like he was doing gaming, he was doing Minecraft. Um, but he's not doing that. Well, I guess he does have his own gaming channel too. But the point is once you get a large audience behind you, you can try that pivot. And then if it works, now you have a new audience along with your existing audience and makes things work. But it's not always that way, and not everything succeeds. It seems like right now you've had a lot of success with the first channel, which you know was when COVID in a magical time as far as like content creation goes, and then this one kind of taking off. Have you had any like times where things just didn't work, or is

Failures, Pivots, And Competition Pressure

SPEAKER_00 33:30

just everything working for you so far?

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Oh yeah. I mean, I did a lot before I started Wani. Um so I had actually another channel where I've like did Roblox content.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Um, and I uploaded like probably like around 220 videos or so. Wow. Um, and it didn't really do well until like the last couple videos I started uploading. Wow. Um, yeah, one of the videos popped off, and I got to a point where like I was just I just realized I wasn't really enjoying making Roblox content. Like even if there was a lot of like success or um viewership with it, I wasn't really enjoying it either. So um I kind of just pivoted off of that and just didn't do that. And then something else I tried was uh making skits, um, where like like making shorts and like funny skits here and there. Um and uh I realized I I was kind of just like putting, you know, I wasn't being myself essentially, and I wasn't really having fun with it either. So that I didn't enjoy that either. So I was like, what do I enjoy? Right, but that's the thing, you have to keep trying and you have to explore, right? You have to experiment, and especially like someone in my age, around my 20s, I think is the most important time where you really try everything because you have so much time to fail, and you have like so many opportunities, right? So, well, these skits didn't work, and um, I pivoted off to it was Wani, yeah. After the after trying those that uh it didn't really work. I tried those for about like the skits and like playing Roblox, uh, was like tried about about a year, yeah, a whole year. And yeah, so I got to a point, I just didn't really enjoy it. So going to WANE, I realized that you know I actually do enjoy it, and uh, I didn't realize that I enjoyed making this kind of content until maybe five videos in or so. I'm like, wait, this is actually pretty interesting. There's so much I can do with it as well, and I'm not kind of following a trend or a wave, I'm kind of innovating, like I'm not just like copying somebody else that's been doing something, right? Um, and it just felt so refreshing to do something that I wasn't copying, right? Yeah, I it felt very authentic to myself, and I'm so glad it paid off.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Um if you're listening and you're interested in uh uh Roblox content, ironically, I'll be talking to Creecraft next week. I I don't know when this goes live, when that episode will be, but if you're listening to this in the future, there might be an episode already on the channel for Creecraft if you're into that. Um, so make sure you hit subscribe so you don't miss that. So there is a very good likelihood that someone uh will find your channel soon and go, that's an opportunity for me because he's in a very successful niche. There's not a lot of competition. Now it's my turn to jump in. What are you besides just trying to be authentic because that's that's one thing, but like what are you trying to what are you going to do when you start seeing more competition? It's almost there's almost impossible for you not to eventually have more competition in this niche just because you're doing so well, someone else is gonna see it very soon, if not already, and try to compete with you.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Yeah, and I think it's very important that you improve yourself in a way where you're always innovating. So you it's it's not as simple as just like, oh, um I'm doing something different. It's also you have to kind of I guess in order I feel like yeah, authenticity, but also you really have to like know why you're doing what you're doing, and like figure out, you know, why like what's the reason for it, right? And I think once you figure that out is when you start making content that is much different from others, and when there is competition that starts to arise, I think that you of course you have to be innovative and you know talk make videos that are much different and kind of like be unique in your own way. But I think it's very important that you stay true to yourself and don't let that catch up to you like mentally, because at the end of the day, you you need to know like why you are doing what you're doing, and when it comes to like competition, yeah, you really have to be innovative, you really have to be unique as well, and that is the first stepping stone. But to be able to like sustain that long term, you just want to be you know happy with what you're putting out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Yeah, and it's important because obviously uh you'll be judged against it. So uh to wrap this up, I just I'm really curious as to the the thought process moving forward. Like you have to have a sustainable thing which is working right now. And I I don't see this kind of slowing down anytime soon. As a matter of fact, quite frankly, you maybe could even press out another one or two videos a month and do even more. Um, is there a thought behind trying to get as many videos out before you have a lot of competition, or are you just kind of enjoying the process and you're not as worried about it because you want to eventually pivot anyway?

SPEAKER_01 39:06

I am kind of just enjoying the process, you know. Um I'm also thinking about the future, and that's very important, of course. But I'm kind of just enjoying the moment as it is, and at the same time, um I do want to reach to a point where I can, you know, either pivot and make something that even like even bigger, or keep improving what I'm doing right now and make it to a point where it's so good to where it's um like a full-time career, like storytelling and covering these things because I think it's so fun to just you know cover these unlimited amounts of topics, right? You can't really run out of ideas with this one, and that's what I thought of when I started. That's smart. Yeah, there it's almost impossible to really run out of ideas because you know things happen every day, right? And um eventually, um currently I don't know what the channel is gonna look like maybe a year or two from now, but I think time will tell, and depending on how I do, I could either you know make it big from storytelling and being that person who you know uh covers these crazy topics from China or uh just Asia in general or just any topics in general, right? It doesn't really have to be um uh in Asia, right? And um, or I could be doing some like you know crazy IRL content. Uh it's it's honestly I'm just living in the moment right now, and um what's working is is what I'm gonna focus on, and I'm just gonna keep improving, like just non-stop. And I don't want to slow down anytime as well. But if there comes to a point where I have to pivot, then I'll make sure I do it right and I'll make sure I put my all into it, and I'll make sure I really you know enjoy what I do.

Specific Improvements And Final Advice

SPEAKER_00 41:10

A lot of people will mention that you try to get 1% better every every time and try to improve your videos, but it's very rare that you'll hear a very specific thing. So I'm gonna ask you a very specific question. What recently, specifically have you improved in your videos to make them better?

SPEAKER_01 41:27

So I've recently improved the pacing of my videos and also how natural it feels. So I kind of put myself out there even more, and I don't edit out certain things I say um and kind of just make it feel more natural and like I'm talking to someone rather than I'm covering something. Yeah. So I think that puts my personality out there a lot more and it deepens the connection with the viewers, right? And just overall improving the pacing and really putting myself out there even more. So yeah, like talk, like yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

That's good. I mean, listen, I I like that your the pacing is a thing that is important. And recently we did an uh interview with um uh Dan, the producer from Pocket Monster, where he talked about storytelling for the Pocket Monster channel, which is really a masterclass in storytelling. If again, hit the subscribe button if you haven't already seen that episode, it's incredible. Um, but I really want to thank you, Wani, for coming through and and really just sharing. I'm super interested to talk to you in a couple months to see where you are. I mean, this for me, like if you can keep it up and keep it going, 100% you'd be at a million subscriber channel. I've I've talked to a lot of people, I've seen a lot of channels of different sizes. This definitely feels like one of those things. If you can keep it going, uh, it shouldn't take you too long. So make sure if you want to see some of Wani's work, there'll be a link in the description below for the YouTube channel. If you listen to the audio podcast, that'll take you over to the YouTube channel and the YouTube video itself where you can watch Wani in person. You can see him on screen, talking all the things, uh, being personal, using his face, because that's the thing that's gonna help uh really uh diversify his content. Actually, uh it's more of a brand play, too. It's people want to connect with you, and you can do faceless channels, but there's only one Wani. And if you get to see Wani and he smiles at you, then of course you'll want to subscribe. So, Wani, thank you so much for joining us. And if you're watching a view the YouTube video, there's a video right here you can watch. We'll see y'all in the next. Thank you so much, Travis. Anytime.