I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
YouTube secrets from an 8-year insider
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Hey Reader, As a former YouTube and Instagram employee, Jon Youshaei has some unique insights around growing on the platform. You may remember Jon from an episode of my podcast where he shared how to get 100,000 YouTube subscribers fast. I’ve invited Jon to take over my newsletter this week to share some frameworks you might find useful for making better videos. Hey, I’m Jon Youshaei and I spent 8 years working inside YouTube and Instagram. After interviewing MrBeast, Will Smith, Marques Brownlee, and more, I wanted to share a few tips to improve the most important part of your videos. I’m talking about the intro. The hook. The opening lines. The first seconds of your video. Because you know what I’ve noticed? Too many great videos are killed by boring intros. The good news is, it doesn’t take much to improve your intro, and I have 5 intro templates below you can use right now: 1. The Contrarian Hook
2. The “Liar Liar” Hook
3. The Surprise Hook
4. The FOMO Hook
5. The “Illegal” Hook
While these templates work great, you’re not limited to those five options. You can always make your own intro. Here’s how… When writing your intros, just remember to make it RAINY: The RAINY Framework
Try this out on your next video, and let me know how it goes. If you’d like to see some more examples of how to write intros with the RAINY framework, along with my 100 Viral Video Ideas playbook and Confident on Camera Masterclass, check out my free YouTube Hack Pack. It’s everything I learned during my 8 years working at YouTube and Instagram to now becoming a creator. Best, P.S. PODCASTHow AI Can Grow Your Business in 2025Today I’m joined by Jay Singh, AI expert and founder of Casper Studios, to explore how AI is transforming both product creation and internal workflows for creators and businesses alike. We dive deep into the future of personalized software, unlocking AI use cases for creators, and building tools with platforms like Cursor, MindStudio, and Replit. You’ll learn about:
Watch or listen to episode » KIT FEATURESubject line magic at your fingertipsDid you know with Kit you can craft the perfect subject line with just one click? Our AI subject line tool helps you find winning phrases and run A/B tests to boost your open rates. Available on all paid plans—and creators on free plans get five tries on us. Try generating email subjects in your account. Don’t have an account yet? ARTICLEHigh AgencyIf you haven't seen it yet, this essay by George Mack is incredible. High agency is the most valuable personality trait you could ever have, and this article breaks it down in such a detailed, specific manner. I want everyone in my life to read this. Side note: Now I’m thinking even more about how to raise high-agency kids. Have a great week! —Nathan |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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Hey [FIRST NAME GOES HERE], Great essays are a missing part of the web. Thought leaders used to publish thoughtful written pieces more often, but I see fewer and fewer of them, and it makes me sad. Some of it has gone to YouTube in the form of video essays. Others are hidden away in private newsletter issues that aren’t shared publicly. But I want to make the case for why I think you—yes, you specifically—should write and publish more essays. Why you should write essays As you build your...