From Health Struggles to YouTube Success with Diana Gladney

You're listening to digital creator with me, your host, Dylan Schmidt, and I just wanted to give you a quick update. I've never actually done an update like this on this show that I can remember. This feels like those YouTube videos where the thumbnail would be of me, like, holding my head and I'd be like, is this the end? And it's just like a clickbait thumbnail. But the reality is there's nothing extreme going on here. Let me explain. I've been feeling this need like I do every so often with this show, digital creator, that it needs a little bit of a refresh lately. And I'm starting an additional new podcast about modern fatherhood with my friend, Jacob Espinosa, which I'll link to in the episode description. But this podcast is not going anywhere. Digital creator is not going anywhere. I am, however, going to do a little bit of a refresh. And I was contemplating, you know, during this kind of refresh process, do I just kind of put the podcast on pause and take a short little hiatus while I focus on that? Or do I just continue releasing episodes from previous conversations and recordings and interviews and things that I've already got folders upon folders of? And I was like, you know what? Yeah. That makes the most sense. Why pause a great thing? So that's what you'll be hearing of moving forward on digital creator. I am going to be making a second season of digital creator. But in the meantime, what you'll be hearing between now and then is still new episodes every week, but they'll be repurposed, or reformatted conversations from previous recordings. I'm hand selecting all of these because I know that they'll be valuable and I'll pick relevant topics. And if there's something you enjoy hearing more about, please let me know. As always, I'm super grateful that you listen to digital creator. And let's dive into today's episode. My guest today is Diana Gladney. And Diana Gladney is a video expert. Thank you so much for being here. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for bringing me on. SEO wise, you were crushing it. Okay. I'm looking up like, some things that I'm like, okay, Diana doesn't even really do this thing. And I'll look it up. And then it's just like, let me show you my settings for this. And I'm like, woah, woah, woah, like, you're like, you are everywhere. How long have you been doing this? Actually, since we're at the end of the year, so this will close out my, I guess, 5th year and then, like, next year be 2022, hit again to 6 years of making video content. How did you get into making video content? It seems rather skewered in a way. Yeah. For sure. Like, I'm, super introverted. Like, I'm not one of those people that when the selfie state came out, everybody was like, man, I gotta get I'm like, no, you all are stupid. That looks ugly. Like, it's ridiculous. And here I am, like, so this is the best selfie stick that you need to get. It's like, so so I got started really just because of my coach because, like, my whole everything was just like, that's not me. That's not, you know, who I am and stuff that I'm interested in. But it was at the point, like I had honestly struggled with endometriosis. I didn't know it at the time when 16 months was like incredible pain and wind up going into emergency surgery. Well, coming out of that surgery, that just was a completely different person, like, because, you know, you kind of get get the scares and they wake up and waving papers in your hand, like, hey, we almost lost you because x this and this and that or whatever. And here's the issues. And by the way, you're going to have a lifelong debilitating disease, so good luck with that. You know, it's like so, you wake up very different, you go to work very different. And so I decided to get really serious about, you know, figuring out and uncovering what my purpose was and getting to work on that, that led me into hiring my 1st business coach. And the first thing coming out of his mouth, like first call is like, okay, so we need to get started in video and you need to start doing these, like, we're gonna get you done with 30. And I'm like, what? Do who? What? How many? And so Had you done video before? Oh, heck no. No. I wasn't. No. Cycling, like, the same 6, 7 photos on Facebook, like, you know, for new profile picture from 2 years ago. New profile picture. Like, posting about? What were you saying? I was it. Like, I was, like, on there on Facebook, like everybody else, on YouTube to just, like, enjoy it. So I had never even, like, searched a query around making money with it, starting a business there. Like, I didn't I get I understood, like, people had businesses online and, like, people were making money with stuff, but I didn't have any clue of what I do now or, like, none of that was a thing for me. I just was like everybody else consuming. Wow. And how did you find your business coach? YouTube. YouTube? Oh, wow. So you were just like creating? So I got started, like, listening to podcasts a lot. And so I was like, okay, somebody has to already have figured this out. Right? And I get books are important, but books cannot keep up, like physical written books cannot keep up with the speed of digital technology. Both have their place. But if I wanted the most recent whatever content, then I needed a podcast. And so that led me into a search that, I came across. Like I had heard and understood barely, like, the concept of passive income, and it led me to Pat Flynn. And Pat Flynn talked about who his coaches were, and I listening to that podcast. And then they start talking about other people let me like Ray Edwards, Cliff Ravenscraft, and you know, Michael Stelzner. So I started listening to these guys. And I'm like, okay, well, all of this sounds great, but you got to do some level of selling and stuff. So I went to YouTube and searched, like, how to get better at, like, selling because I knew that would always be an aspect of it. And I always felt uncomfortable, just couldn't do it. And put in that YouTube query, my coach came up and not only did he come up, he came up with like 100 and 100 of videos that he had done. And I just started consuming his content like crazy to the point I felt really connected with him and finally reached out and then eventually hired him. That's so interesting you say that, like, in 2010, 2011, I went through a breakup, found a mentor that I didn't even know I was looking for on Twitter. And he was just posting so many tweets, just like relationship stuff that really helped me. And I just was binging his content for months months. And I didn't know that at that time that, like, then I was going to hire him. And then it was just going to change my life and this trajectory of my entire life from some tweets, right? Like, this was pre Instagram. And it really just it literally changed my whole life. And, hearing you say that about finding your business coach and then binging the content really, I think speaks to like the volume at like the importance level. Yeah, we're like a sample size of 2. But it sounds like we both had our lives changed by consume binge consuming someone's helpful content online. Is that right? I can absolutely say that because same same like you mentioned earlier. It's like where whatever question you have or wherever you're you're at, I wanna be there also, and I also wanna have that answer. Now, I'm out because we'll actually do like audits of the channel and look through what is missing. What are questions that we're still getting or people are still asking, but we don't have a dedicated resource around? And when I went to my coach on YouTube, it wasn't anything about his subscriber numbers. It wasn't anything about him, like, being live all the time. Like none of that honestly mattered to me. I just wanted to go and get my questions answered and I literally could add 2. At the time, I still was using the iPad. So just like because of the the storage, I could load up my iPad. I could load up my phone with whatever questions in the right order that I thought that I would need them and just continuously listen. And he just kept having the answer. So I'm like, you already are helping me. I like, I don't see anybody else filling this need the way that you are already are, so let me just go ahead and work with you. Got it. And when you see, like, the the beginning of what you were doing, were you like, because I don't know. Like, I mean, what's what's I guess, let me ask. What's your favorite, like, social media these days? Like, where are you spending your time? It still would be YouTube. Yeah. It still would be YouTube. Not because I make, like, video content or whatever, but it's it's same rules apply. Questions, things that I have, whatever kind of query, I can put it in YouTube and get something that this is going to tickle my fancy for at least like an hour or so content. So it's definitely YouTube. Yeah, that's cool. And when you were like, kind of building your way up when you were building your your brand in the beginning, where you what were you focused on? Because, like, your content, like, from the audience perspective spans, like, helpful educational, like, more like mindset approach, like you really cover multiple bases. And how did you like do that when you were first starting out? It's about today in the sense, like, helping entrepreneurs simplify video creation. None of that was like the focus. When I first got started, like honestly, my thing was really refining my message and getting it to a point that I felt uber comfortable like with where I was, but I wasn't at the time. So I wanted to I knew at least how to help entrepreneurs start, their business from scratch to the point of, like, from a state side, federal side, or whatever, some of the personal development that you would need, you know, to get some of the grit to get going and, like, start pursuing it. That led me into, it's like the more you speak your message, the more it comes out. And so that led me into, like, was obviously doing the video challenge that my coach had me doing. Okay. Well, I finished the first 30. It took me instead of, like, maybe 2 months or something like that. It took me, like, almost, like, 4 or 5. So it took me a long time to finish those 30 videos. So once I got done, I was so proud with what I had done and how and I also was looking at how bad they suck, not from, I guess, content perspective, but just getting to the point, editing and all the stuff. So I just kept doing that. Well, I hit up on a frustration around like, I want my videos to look like x, y, z person's videos, but they have this camera that I don't understand. And And let me see if I can find information about this stuff so I can get back to doing what I want to do. Once I did 1 or 2 videos around, like, the video stuff, just like, hey, if anybody else is like me and you've been struggling to figure out X, Y, and Z problem, here's the solution that I found is the easiest way I found to do it versus what everybody else says. Those videos did way better than any other videos I had did, and the audience wind up responding to that as well. So I wind up transitioning because my audience was like, we like that stuff better. We like how you explained that better. Like, you got a handle around that. So that's what I led with. And so that stuff still carries on. Obviously, personal development will carry you wherever you go because it helps you build and grow as a person. So that's how the brand kind of morphed and and changed over time. That's awesome. That's awesome. So you, when you were, it was kind of like what pivoted was sharing the issues that you found solutions to, and then just sharing them with your community being like, hey, this is this is what I ran into. And this is the solution. And more focused on the solution rather than problems, I guess. Yep. That's so cool. And before you did the video challenge, were you doing like, so you weren't doing any video editing or anything like that? Nothing. I knew you just had a desire to I didn't honestly, I just wanted my stuff to look better. Like, that was the thing. I got better at video, kinda like on accident because my goal was never to become an authority in, like, the video space. Like, it had nothing to do with video, honestly. My thing was about me making my stuff look better and just literally me trying to be better. And so when I started searching for answers and stuff, I was just like, okay, now let me implement this in my next, very next video. So I bought bought the camera. I think it arrived like November 2016 or something like that. And so that that, November, got the camera and then I'm like, okay, day 1, let's make a video. I don't care if it how it looks, but let's start that process of being better. So that was literally my only goal was to, like, get my stuff, my my audio, my video, my lighting, it sound and look better. Nice. Yeah. Question for you. I mean, yeah, of course, question for you. I got more questions than we would have time for. But, someone would be listening to this. And then I know because like, I would hear it in my head too. And like, they go, Okay, cool. I am great for you. Like you started 5 years ago. You know, you were able to make all that content. But basically 5 years in the internet world is like 50 years in a way because of how fast things move. And now if I start now, it's going to be it's already more saturated. There's not enough, you know, there's not enough room for me to pop up as a creator. You know, talking about the specific thing I want to talk about. What would you say to someone who's thinking that 5 years is just enough for me to get my baby booties on. Like, it sounds like and it looks like and I get it. And I'm I'm definitely grateful for everything that has, you know, happened in the brand and and, you know, all the opportunities and and such. But the thing is, it's like you don't know who needs you right now. You you have may have some idea, but you really don't know and understand because you don't see the names and you don't have the faces. I literally still have people that uncover me for the very first time today, and it was maybe based off of the last video that I just did and not the video that was 5 year 5 5 years ago. And so, honestly, if you really only think about it, the the videos that tend to do best are, like, a year or 2 old as far as relevancy to the sometimes like the targeted audience. They'll find the older videos a little bit later, but more more or less is the newer stuff that you're putting out. So 5 years, 1 to 2 years is still gonna pass anyway and there still may not be an adequate answer to people's questions that you may be that answer to and not everybody vibes with with the same folks. You know, there's some people that put out content or they make videos about a certain thing and people have to subject themselves to listening to them and learning from them because there are no other options. There's no such thing as like saturation in the market because everybody has their own group of people that they're designed to serve. But if you're too afraid to get started, then first we've got to deal with and handle that fear. But secondly, understanding this is not true. YouTube is just the teenager that you barely, you know, want to leave at home by themselves. What you know, saying if you have it a night out, they're not old enough, not mature enough to really, you know, do anything massively like they like you would think. So if you put it into perspective like that, honestly, it's like you still have plenty of time. 5, 10 years are still going to pass anyway. But where are you going to be and what are you going to be committed to when those 5 years come? I had no idea that this is where things were going to go, but you at least got to sign up for the long run and just know that you're assigned to help certain people and they are suffering because you are too afraid to show up because you think you haven't done any research. You have no analytical data, no empirical data to go off of that. You're just going off of your feelings and feelings aren't facts. So how often do you live stream? It's been once a week. I'm changing that now, a little bit. But even, like, with other stuff that I'm doing, I'm usually some form of a livestream multiple times per week. But for my dedicated show on Fridays, it's on Fridays, once a week. And, how long is a livestream? So we've been trying for the longest time to get, like, to, like, 1 or 2 hours. But we have, like, what we call these 5 hour energy livestreams. We're literally for 5 hours straight nonstop, even 3 hours sometimes. I'm just literally answering question after question after question. So No way. It varies. But, we've been trying to get, like, to 1 or 2 hours, but, like, it's crazy. So those 5 hour energy live streams is like, it's usually on accident. It's never a planned thing. They literally just want to keep discussing or commenting or asking question about different things. And it's just you on the I mean, of course, and then so it's you go live. And then you maybe have like some type of starter agenda. Is that right? Sometimes sometimes sometimes you just freestyle. Yes. Sometimes it's not about me having any prepared talk per se. It's not like I'm going to teach this first and then you can ask questions about what I taught unless I have really have a dedicated topic, then I'll spend like maybe the first 20 minutes doing nothing but that. Maybe it's slides associated or something like that. But if it's a couple points, I'll address those couple points. But because you'll you can schedule that in advance, maybe you've been making regular videos about it. Now it's time to like open the door for conversation around it. They're ready to go. So, you know, sometimes it's just like AMA or Q and A, which is AMA ask me anything. And it's just like, okay, y'all have questions. And sometimes, it's just literally about whatever they have questions about sitting and just answering questions. I love it. I love it. And do you do a podcast as well or not currently? Yeah. Yeah. I do want to. Video simplified podcast released every Monday. Yes. That's awesome. And then you're active. And then I see you on Instagram. But on the other platforms, you're doing it. I would imagine as well. I feel like you're just omnipresent. So we have our main main places, which is YouTube is our headquarters, if you will. We're on TikTok, and we post there or I post there. And then we have, Instagram, and then, now really introducing getting deeper into LinkedIn. So it's other stuff, like, you will have, like, Snapchat. You may have whatever other kind of platforms. But where my people are, I want to be there also in a way and delivering content that's contextualized to that platform. What is the best program to use for editing videos when you have zero understanding of editing videos? So two schools of thoughts on this. The first one is you can start with something simple, like a Wondershare Filmora that is not the Filmora Pro, but the Wondershare Filmora basic video editing programs on is available for Windows machines as well as for Mac. I started there. Actually, I didn't start there. I started with another company, but I'm not going to say the name. But I would say Wondershare for more because it can help get you into the right mindset and give you just enough high enough ceiling that you can start to have the lower thirds effects, have the title screens and things like that. But the other thing, the other school's thought around that is, I say go with where you intend to stay to an to an extent. So if like, if you think Final Cut Pro is going to be your thing or you think Premiere is going to be your thing, like maybe try those also and just like find your teacher that is using that, that you want to learn from because the learning curve is still going to be the same even if you have 1, 2, 3, 4 years on Filmora, you know, elements that you want to add to your video, but you still won't know the program. So that learning curve essentially can become the same. But if you really just want to get started, I'd say Wondershare Filmora though, is a good place to start so you can wrap your mind around the elements of editing, really start to get better at it. Then when you feel like you're being restrained, now go choose between like your Premiere or your Final Cut Pro. I use Final Cut Pro 10 and then make that transition. Yes. Love it. I love it. I've been getting more acclimated with Final Cut Pro over the years and like a premiere to me is like, the text is so tiny. I'm like, I mean, it just, oh, man, like, it's just, I'm like Final Cut Pro. I saw good. Would you say this, Zach, or I saw explanation the other day is like, Premiere is great if like video editing is your job, and you're doing this for multiple clients, and you need like, certain types of workflows. And Final Cut Pro is more for the person that is shooting, editing and publishing the piece and you like want a little bit more of a simplified user friendly experience. I don't know. I saw that in a Reddit thread. I'm just, like, regurgitating it. But Yeah. It's like I my thing is, like, I feel like it's different kinds of of people and like in how you learn best. When I came from Wondershare for more, it's like, okay, these are the things that I wanna do. And I wind up researching because I'm like, okay. Is this, like, just the knockoff program, like, where it's available? And some people use, but it's not the thing to know, like, or do. So what I found was, like, Griffin Hammond, who's an an incredible, filmmaker and creator, if you if anybody likes Sriracha, the sauce, he did. Too much of it. Way too much of it. All my food. Yeah. Yeah. I can't do spicy. I tried it. It tastes great. But the spice, I just I can't handle it. Oh, that's a sickening level amount of time. You would be repulsed. Everybody, like, loves Sriracha. Okay. Well, he went and did and found, like, the creators of Sriracha and did a story around it. And I've just, like, watched his work, even, like, the presidential elections and stuff like that. He'll be on with the news stations and stuff like that and actually handling the edit editing for that and produced a short film that went on to do very well just around the Sriracha film. Okay, well, the one that was like, you talked about, like, their whole process. I think I saw that on on my it was like the process of where they're at, like the factory would have anything to do with the winds blowing the thing about the I don't recall, but I'd know they did go, like, to the factory and stuff. But I mean, the thing is, like, I watched his work. And so the whole point initially was, like, go judge if Final Cut Pro is good enough. Like or am I going to learn something only to have to switch again? And I was so ingrained into what he was doing. I'm like, you know what? A good edit doesn't need all of the hoopla or whatever. Not that you can't add it and not that it's not impossible or, you know, easily done in Final Cut because it is, but it just showed me like there's more to editing than just all the lower thirds and effects that I think at the time that I needed, but it's not, you know. And so you learn again the element of a good video and your vibe and your style and stuff. And there's not been anything that I wanted to do really in Final Cut Pro that I just couldn't do, you know, so it's possible. So that was my thing on it. Nice. Last community question. So not feeling like I have a big effect on people because I'm a solo creator and I don't have a co host. I feel like both you and I are also this person. Because you don't have a co host, right? Yeah. So don't have a big effect on people because I'm a solo creator and I don't have a co host. What would you say to that? I would say the the bigger problem has nothing to do with the cohost and it's more of a mindset issue. Because if you think you need somebody else to validate the worth of the what you what you're gonna say or teach or talk about, or if you feel like you're too boring, that's your opinion of yourself. And again, feelings aren't facts. So what data do you have that suggests that that's right other than a feeling? And most people start off in obscurity. Obscurity is always going to be people's biggest problem. But what have you also done to become known? Just like you keep saying like, well, I was searching for this and of course, I saw you come up with like, yeah, work that making sure that for those relevant pieces that make sense to my target audience, you're going to find me. There's going to be content on the channel around it. I don't need somebody else to validate the what I'm doing or to make it worthy to show up. And so that's what I would say to that person is like, probably do some personal development and really looking at the value that you bring. Not that, you know, demands that someone else is putting on you, but you have worth and value already. As as you are today is already good enough. You don't need another person to validate that. Now it's fine if you want another person, but your feelings in this area are not true to what the reality is. Dang, I could like I could listen to you talk all day. I don't want to take too much of your time. Last thing, and this is open ended question or close ended. Open close. I copy rethinking everything. But that's feelings over facts. What's just one piece of advice you would like a new video creator to know? I would have to say, if you're just getting started, stay keep the main thing the main thing. A lot of times, the biggest distractions or the biggest limitations that people experience are only based on them. It has honestly nothing to do with the external influences or issues that are actually happening because you haven't done enough work to actually be impacted by those things that are happening. Right? And so somebody could be saying, well, I can't get my driver's license because, you know, the tire sales have gone up. That has nothing to do with you borrowing your sister's car to go take the test. It has zero things to do with it. Like, nothing in your environment suggests that you can't do this. And a lot of times people just has to check their mental state for what they're doing. Your capacity is that you're at right now. Like you, the best that you know, the very best teaching, the best courses that you've paid for, the best videos that you've watched, the best your parents or guardians have done for you, the best of everything, even your best thinking has gotten you to where you are now. You now need better external influences from other people, mentors and coaches that actually know what the hell they are doing to actually bring you to another level. So getting started is honestly all on you because you just have to have the desire to want more and to serve a core audience of people that honestly need you in whatever area. But if you don't find value in it enough to do it, they'll never seek you, they'll never find you, and they'll always be left wanting without knowing what that solution was because you didn't show up. So I would really focus on like the mental barriers that you're you think you're going to experience may not even be true. It may not even be a problem for you. But if you don't keep the main thing, the main thing, all distractions are always going to be equal. They'll always you from pursuing what you need to pursue.