All Successful Influencers Have One Thing in Common

The following is adapted from YouTube Secrets.

If you look at all the successful influencers on YouTube, they all have one thing in a common: a team. Whether it’s a personal assistant, a cameraman, a talent manager, or a full-on production studio, their team supports them in building their YouTube channel, especially when they have other priorities like speaking or coaching.

If you want to create a successful YouTube channel, you need to start thinking about building a team, especially if you have a day job, a family, or are going to school.

As we’ll share in this article, you don’t need the budget to hire a full production staff starting out. Your hires can be much cheaper and closer to home.

From there, you can grow your team as the success of your channel grows.

Be Intentional with Who You Bring Aboard

One of the biggest mistakes creators make is not communicating a compelling and unifying vision with those closest to them. Have you shared your vision for building your influence online with family and friends and given them practical ways to support you?

Initially, building a team is not about hiring people.

It's about enlisting people already in your sphere of influence.

Unless you possess the resources to hire a team, your first hires must be practical and low cost. What are the tasks the people in your life could help you accomplish?

Could your spouse serve as your business manager and personal assistant? Perhaps there’s a kid in the neighborhood you could pay $10 to mow your yard so you can spend that time working on your YouTube channel. Maybe there’s friends at your workplace or church you could bring on as an intern to help you with video editing.

When it comes to enlisting support, be open to new and creative opportunities.

Find the Help You Need Online

Once you’re a bit further along, it’s time to consider outsourcing services like graphic design or closed-captioning. Closed-captioning, or subtitling, your videos makes them viewable to a wider audience around the world and ensures they rank in YouTube searches. If you tried to closed-caption your own videos, it would take a long time, so we recommend using services like Rev.com, which costs only a dollar a minute.

Need some graphic design updates for your YouTube thumbnails, cover images, or social media images? Fiverr.com has services as low as $5 per job for all of your graphic design needs. You can even hire a virtual assistant on a site like Upwork.com.

You don’t have to hire someone for an insane amount of time. Hire help for just five hours a week, delegating tasks you aren’t good at or don’t enjoy.

Where in your life can you buy yourself more time to focus on what's most important? First, list the priorities for your channel, whether that's filming, editing, optimization, distribution, engagement, sustaining cash flow, branding, email, general inquiries, customer service, or managing a team.

Second, list the tasks that you tend to procrastinate in doing. Now, compare the two lists and note which tasks appear on both of them. Look at the tasks that are ranked the highest. That’s where you need to start your outsourcing.

A common misconception is that outsourcing is too expensive. In fact, outsourcing can save you money. If your normal hourly rate in your professional life is $20 an hour, and it takes you two hours to edit a video, then it costs you $40 to edit a single video.

If you hire an editor who will work for $15 an hour, assuming they can also edit the same video in two hours, then you’ve saved yourself $5 an hour.

Cultivate Other Support Systems

When we talk about teams, we’re not just referring to the people who work directly to help you produce content. We also believe in having a winning circle of friends and mentors who help encourage you along the way.

After interviewing many video influencers, as well as associating with many successful entrepreneurs, we’ve noticed that they are all intentional about surrounding themselves with a world-class circle of geniuses. They want people around them who think big, challenge them, and give advice throughout the various stages of growth.

You should do the same.

When it comes to surrounding yourself with mentors, there are three levels to consider.

First, you have access to mentors through content like books, podcasts, videos, and other educational resources that inspire, inform, and encourage you.

Second, you can attend conferences and industry events, surrounding yourself with like-minded people and expert speakers who will help you level up in every area.

We make it a priority to attend multiple conferences in our industry every year. We don’t do this simply to create content at those events, but also to meet people and learn.

Third, you can invest in coaching. This might be as simple as a one-hour Skype call with an industry expert, or you can go much deeper with a full-blown program.

The bottom line is, you must be highly intentional about surrounding yourself with a support system for every level of your journey toward success.

For more advice on building a team, you can find YouTube Secrets on Amazon.

Sean Cannell and Benji Travis are the authors of YouTube Secrets. Video marketing strategist Sean Cannell has helped clients generate over $5 million in revenue. He built his YouTube business into a multiple-six-figure success story in less than a year. Benji Travis has garnered more than one billion video views on YouTube channels he’s helped to start and grow. Through his multiple businesses, working with hundreds of brand sponsors, he earns a seven-figure income, while also raising almost $2 million for charity. Together, their Video Influencers platform was included on Forbes’s “Top 20 Must-Watch YouTube Channels” list, alongside Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk.