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#36: Midlife Dreams Achieved: A YouTuber Success Story

with Adrian Salisbury
August 3, 2023 | 63 Minutes

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On "Inside-Out Career Design" this week, hosts Nicola Vetter & Peter Axtell speak with Adrian Salisbury

Adrian persevered in pursuit of his desire for freedom and to be of service to others. He proves that starting a YouTube channel is not only possible in midlife but profitable and fun.

If you think that you are too old to start a YouTube channel or it’s too late to pursue your dreams, this conversation will definitely change your perspective.

Prepare to be inspired and remember, your dreams are valid in midlife and beyond!

So, get ready, sit back, and enjoy the ride of this YouTuber success story, where midlife dreams truly come to life! 

In our conversation, we talk about…

  • how a strong work ethic coupled with an unshakeable spiritual belief helped him persevere through some dark times on the way to success,
  • the back story of what it means to be an entrepreneur, the highs, lows, and plateaus,
  • how a chance advertisement on Facebook came at just the right time with the help he needed,
  • why it’s wise to stick with teachers you trust and not chase the next shiny object,
  • why it’s important to listen to messages coming from your intuition,
  • and the timeless lesson to be of service to people and not chase a quick buck if you want to be successful for the long term.

About Adrian Salisbury

Adrian is best known for helping online coaches and content creators look and feel professional on video through his program ‘IMPACT'.

He also runs the hugely popular Ecamm Live Academy and YouTube Academy as live cohort-based courses’ twice a year. 

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Connect with Nicola & Peter

Books, resources, and people mentioned in this episode

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Any topics you’d like us to cover or guests you’d like to hear? Let us know at [email protected]

About the Inside-Out Career Design Podcast

This podcast is obsessed with answering a single question: Is it possible to create an authentic, meaningful, and fulfilling life you love while building a successful and rewarding career?

Join Nicola Vetter and Peter Axtell, co-founders of the WhatsNext.com Career Insights platform and creators of the groundbreaking MotivationFinder assessment, as they follow their obsession with answering this question by sharing their insights, discoveries, and life lessons and talking with career experts, leaders, spiritual guides, psychologists, data scientists, coaches -- anyone and everyone who might hold a strategy or answer to the age-old questions of “what’s next for me?” and “what should I do with my life?”

They seek to transform suffering into joy for millions of people stuck and confused in their lives and careers.

Get ready to be inspired, motivated, and above all, to connect deeply with who you are and what you are meant to do with the time you’ve been given.

Transcript

Adrian Salisbury  00:00

Something in me just knew that this was right and I'm going this is what lights me up. This is what I want to do.

 

Nicola Vetter  00:06

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Inside-Out Career Design podcast. My name is Nicola Vetter, and I'm here with my co-host, and her husband Peter Axtell, and our guest today is Adrian Salisbury. Adrian is best known for helping online coaches and content creators look and feel professional on video through his program impact. He also runs the hugely popular ECAMM live Academy and YouTube Academy, as live cohort-based courses twice a year.

 

Peter Axtell  00:46

Both of which we've been part of, and they have helped us set up our podcast on YouTube, the way you see it today. So everybody who's just listened to this podcast, go check it out on YouTube and see both of our professional setups.

 

Nicola Vetter  01:02

We were truly excited to have Adrian on to also learn about another unknown side of him. And in our conversation, we talk about how a strong work ethic coupled with an unshakable spiritual belief helped him persevere through some dark times on the way to success, the backstory of what it means to be an entrepreneur, the highs, lows and plateaus. How a chance advertisement on Facebook, came at just the right time with the help you need it. Why it's wise to stick with teachers you trust, and not chase the next shiny object. Why it's important to listen to messages coming from your intuition, and the timeless lesson to be of service to people and not chase a quick buck, if you want to be successful for the long term. And now it's time to listen and learn from Adrian. Welcome, Adrian, we are happy to have the opportunity to dive into a different world with you today, the world of a successful YouTube entrepreneur. And it's going to be a bit different as we want to know who that person Adrian is what makes you you, even though you've been on YouTube with your own channel for 10 years now, with over 500 videos, we could not find a single interview, shining a light on the person behind the scenes behind the teaching.

 

Adrian Salisbury  02:56

Yeah.

 

Peter Axtell  02:57

I have a question and I don't know if you've ever been asked this, Adrian. What was it like growing up with a father who was a minister?

 

Adrian Salisbury  03:05

I actually grew up with a very strong work ethic. My dad was not only so he was a lay pastor, if you like, in the church he was in he's an elder there. He would be preaching. You know, probably every other weekend. He's preaching somewhere. But he was also running a business. He had a landscaping business, he worked really hard in that I saw a role model who was getting up at seven in the morning, working into the evening, six days a week, you know very much. If you want success, if you want to make it you've got to work hard at it. So yeah, a great role model really.

 

Peter Axtell  03:43

Oh, that's fascinating. So what lessons did your parents teach you that you think are still with you today? We talked about the work ethic, anything else?

 

Adrian Salisbury  03:52

Absolutely. In the business, you know, I was in an office, my dad, my mom, myself and another lady in the office there. It really helped me when I came to set up my own business when I left there, too, I mind was a mini version of that in terms of how the, the, you know, we did the invoicing, we sorted out the accounts, we dealt with customers, you know, everything that I learned from him, I can remember I remember the milkman coming in into the business when you know, Easter, I used to come in every morning and drop the milk off there. And this little office that we had with you know, as I say it was about 30 Min. That used to be there in the mornings and then they would head off out to their sites around the city and then come back in at night. And I remember the milkman coming in and just going there's just a lovely vibe, a lovely energy in this place. You know, it always seems nice when I come here and happy and I think there was that, you know, I grew up about around positive people really and customers always came first. That kind of Yeah, for sure. That's been in Random me and seeing that as I've been working alongside them, and living alongside them, obviously as well.

 

Peter Axtell  05:06

So now I know why your reputation is so strong about you being a really nice, honest, ethical person, we're going to talk about what a great teacher you are later. So that modeling sounds like came from there. Because this actually shows up in your business today actually, shows up on camera. That's amazing.

 

Nicola Vetter  05:31

Absolutely.

 

Adrian Salisbury  05:32

My mum's actually the one, you know, I, my mum has always had this lovely, friendly personality. She knows everybody, everybody. You know, she's a great friend to everybody. My dad was the hard worker. And yes, while he was still had that same kind of personality, he was the businessman and mum sat alongside very much during the accounts and things and helping them out in the business. But the personality really has come from a mum. I've sort of taken hopefully some of the business skills that I've learned from my dad as well. I've never been asked about my parents before, that's definitely the first here.

 

Nicola Vetter  06:08

I don't know what Peter was thinking...

 

Peter Axtell  06:13

This is where we go...

 

Nicola Vetter  06:15

...to start this interview off like that.

 

Peter Axtell  06:17

We go where we go.

 

Nicola Vetter  06:18

Adrian, you told us in our pre-call that you've had some dark nights of the soul, like most people in our audience as well. And we call them the what's next moments. So I'd like you to share what were you going through? And what led up to those moments in your life?

 

Adrian Salisbury  06:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, as we've been talking about my parents and working in a business with them, let me kind of start there because that was probably one of the biggest of those moments. I, I'd started out I left school and went and did a management program in a store electrical store and did very well in that was enjoying it was a manager in a shop in, I was the youngest in the area in the region at the time. But I'd come to a point I was, I was ready for a change. My parents were in this landscaping business, they tried to sell it a buyout deal that went bad, it caused a huge amount of stress from my parents. And I had an opportunity to take a redundancy, voluntary redundancy at my work. And I thought I could do this, and I can go and help my parents in the business and really to come in and help them with the sales with the front-end things. I was never overly keen on getting my hands dirty in the garden. But you know, it needed it needed the machine needed feeding. So I was very happy to do some of the front end things be the face of the business to new customers. And so this was all good. I worked with them for about seven years. And then my dad kind of dropped this bombshell that I should have been thinking of that he was thinking of retiring. You know, I mentioned earlier, he wanted to retire so he could do more in the ministry at the church. And I was to take over this business, and I was about 29 at the time. And I just had this horrible feeling of this isn't what I want to do. Didn't feel equipped for it. You know, the guys that are out on site knew the job inside out, and I'm the boss's son, you know, it always felt like that, and the higher in the fire. And I just thought I don't want to do this, with the thought of me running this without my dad being there. Just sent me into a very dark place. Thankfully, my dad was incredible. And said to me, Look, you know, I almost felt guilty for putting me in this. In this corner. Really. There wasn't anything else I could go off and do that would have suited from here. And he said to me, Well, what do you want to do? You know, we'll help you. We'll support you however you want. And we just recently had a website built. I really enjoyed the process. I kind of worked alongside the developer that was doing the thing. And so I said to my dad, I'd really like to build websites for people and start that as a business. Bringing in my photography as well. I knew I could use that and do some work with that. And he was incredible. He said to me, you know, will you stay on on a full-time salary? I was married supporting my daughter as well at the time. You know, you stay on will still pay you and you can kind of go off and do this. What training do you need, and I went and did a webmaster course. Few days a week. I couldn't have done it without him. And I look back at so many points along my journey where you know, because my dad had worked hard because he had been successful in a business. He was able to put money in our bank account support me helped me financially. I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for those points. So, for me leaning very much on that there, I don't know what I'd have done if he'd have said no, you know, that's up to you, you go in sorted out if you don't want to stay in the business, I don't know what I did, then I probably would have gone back to working in a shop or something like that. So yeah, I really thank my dad for that and went on and did this business with websites, we did virtual tours, 360-degree virtual tours, like you're seeing hotels and things was a big one for me. And photography. And the photography really, was the work that seemed to be coming through regularly. So that became the main thing I was doing. Yeah, but it was always a month to month, you know, that kind of, we're just about paid off the bills, you know, let's go again and chasing down that was never in a position where we were like, we do I mean, we've got a pension assigned to us. And that was actually when I first had this taste of the online world, was while I'm out driving around to sites all the time, I actually came across Pat Flynn, I feel I owe everything to Pat Flynn. With his smart, Smart Passive Income Podcast. I'm trying to think how many episodes it would have been in, but I went right back to the start. And while I'm driving around, I'm just learning all this going. I want some of this, you know, this sounds really exciting. And, and back then I'm thinking, Well, if that brings in some money on the side, maybe that can go towards a pension while I'm out doing this. But again, I hit another point really where I thought, I'm driving around like this, and I'm thinking photography is a young man's game that you know, this is that, what am I going to do when I get to 5560? No one's gonna want me coming around doing photography for them that you know, these young, trendy guys are doing all this. So again, that kind of panic of, okay, maybe maybe I could pursue this. And this could actually be the thing I do, rather than seeing it just as a little side. But yeah, it's tough, isn't it? When you when you kind of hit these points and go...What do I do?

 

Nicola Vetter  12:11

Yes, we actually hit a point like that as well, at the very beginning. When we met, we were making WHY films, purpose films for people and for companies and we had to lug, I don't know, nine bags of film equipment to Germany from the US.

 

Peter Axtell  12:37

On the plane.

 

Nicola Vetter  12:39

And so I could really relate to what you said, when you're getting older this is heavy stuff.

 

Adrian Salisbury  12:45

Yeah.

 

Peter Axtell  12:45

Yeah. And you know, it's interesting. One of the questions I was going to ask you, so you've never been used to having a steady paycheck, you never worked for British Telecom or something, here's my paycheck, because that's just not how you've been built.

 

Adrian Salisbury  13:05

I did that first job was a salary while I was with my parents. That was a salary. But me going on my own. Yeah, that was pretty scary from the get go really. It's exciting when all of a sudden you see a, you know, 10,000 pound job and you think, oh, that's all coming to me. I'm not just getting my wage, you know, I get all of this extra and. But I've never enjoyed the selling side of it and showing up turning up to clients and doing quotes and then sitting waiting, going, Ah, hope I get this job and

 

Peter Axtell  13:39

What kept you persevering you think?

 

Adrian Salisbury  13:43

Knowing that I had to do it. You know, I've got a wife and kids and yeah, and it was a lot of hard work. I'd be quite often working weekends. I actually, where are we? My daughter would have was she now 26. So perhaps she was probably about one or even younger. I can remember the first time going to the doctor with IBS, irritable bowel. And I remember him looking and there's nothing wrong with me checking all this out. And he's put it down to stress was asking what I what do I do to unwind? What's my hobby, and I kind of laughed and when I got away from kids, you know, I don't have time for a hobby. Kidding. I've got to work and yeah, to be honest, most of that time and not to say that, you know, we had nice holidays and things and it was we weren't poor by any you know, but it's it was always that pressure. It was always there of trying to pay the bills and yeah, never like I mean, that's true for everybody, isn't it but it's a real tension and a real drive. You've got to be out there you've got to be getting these jobs in We've got bills to pay at the end of the month.

 

Nicola Vetter  15:02

See, and this is actually the main question we are seeking to answer on this podcast. Is it possible to find an authentic, meaningful and fulfilling life you love while building a successful and rewarding career? And so I'm really curious, you touched on it before, just now with Pat Flynn and the online world and Smart Passive Income. How have you navigated those two parts? Finding meaning and paying the bills? Because this is the next phase in your life that's coming up now.

 

Adrian Salisbury  15:37

Yeah. It is. And this is the exciting, this is the happy face. Well, there's a face before the happy face.

 

Nicola Vetter  15:46

Start where you want.

 

Adrian Salisbury  15:48

So yeah, I'd been a photographer then since but 2002 I'd been trying things on the line, I'm listening to pat and others that are telling me about these different things, ways that you can do websites or blogs and you know, talk about stuff, people come along, and you can advertise all different ways affiliate work. Photography was my thing. I love to help people with photography, I would be if I was walking around, you know, if we're on holiday, and I can see somebody awkwardly holding their camera, I everything in me wanted to go up to them and go, can I just help him with that? You know, because it's really I think I've always had this natural ability to teach things, always helping my parents with something on their phone that they don't understand. Or, you know, my mom would always go, I just get what you say, you know that I've been talking to this IT person. I don't want to clear what he was saying. But you seem to say it in a really clear way. And so I think these little things are in my mind that are going okay, I can teach. So I used to help people. I started doing some Saturday workshops with friends and family that used to come and say, you know, can you help me out with this camera and we do a day's training of getting started with a SLR camera. Then I shifted so we were 2017. I said to Rach, where are we to wait, it was 2017? Yeah. I said, it's always quiet for us in the winter, you know, December, January, nobody wants us in doing the photography. So I said, right, I want to carve January out, I want to build this photography course, I'd already been doing a Facebook group. That was like attracting photographers, we did monthly challenges. It was totally free. And I thought, right, I've got an audience here. I'm going to build this course. And I'm going to sell it and we're going to be going so I took that January off built this course out. Kickstarter actually was the idea I was I didn't know anything about online courses, really. But I thought, Okay, I'll do a Kickstarter thing. I'll get people to buy in early and, and I went back to this group that I've been working that I've been doing the photography with. And one guy actually said, message me when cuz I said, right, I've got this course if you want to join, it's going to be 20 pounds a month to come in or any message mean, he went? Why did you just go weird on us? Why? Why? Why have you asked us to pay for this? Now, you know, we've been we've been doing this. This is stuff I can get on YouTube for free. It crushed me. I was like, it's not gonna work. How are you supposed to sell this course. I've got no idea where to go. That's when I spotted James Wedmore. With business by design that came up. I think that must have been about the April of that year that I spotted him doing this advert that I came across on Facebook. And he's talking about this, you create an online course you launch it. And then crickets, he says, you know, there's nothing and what are you supposed to do. And then he goes on to the that's obviously the sell of it really is joint business by design, and we can help you get this course out and sell it.

 

Peter Axtell  18:55

What you said is I think it's a good lesson for people to know. You gave stuff away for free thought it was going to be Bob's your uncle and they say, hey, I've got it for free, now I don't want to pay for it. And then what you did is you went and got skillful training. You went and picked somebody because we are James Wedmore people, fans as well. And you actually picked a reputable person who could teach you how to do this properly. Rather than I'll just figure out look at all the YouTube videos and I'll get this thing and I'll try and piece it together. I mean, we know enough about James now of course that somebody who can teach that skillfully. And if you follow all the instructions, then it can work. And I think many people just say I'll just try this and flounder around and you're going to fail because there was so much to this. And the other thing I wanted to say is you have this natural love and this natural talent what people would call the zone of genius, I just love to teach, Give me that camera, here, let me let me show you how to fix the stuff on here. I'm sure you didn't do it that way. I'm sure Adrian, you were very polite and nice about it. But inside you this natural talent that you have is so beautiful to hear. Because that's you.

 

Adrian Salisbury  20:25

I think that's important is just gonna say, you know, if you're coming at this going, right, I can make money doing this, give me give me a topic, and I'll talk about it because my goal is making money. But I think if you naturally come at this going, I want to serve I want to help people, I want to see them succeed in photography, and you know, make for I'd love them to be taking great family photos, or whatever it is. The money follows, you know, if you're, if you're doing this for the right reasons, really. And I think that would be encouraging for, for people to know, you know, don't try to go chase down a topic or a niche that isn't particularly relevant or fitting, it's, it wants to be something that you're passionate about, and you can really, you know, happily show up and do this stuff for free. You know, it's a bonus that you get paid for it. That's the sort of, if you can come at it like that. That's powerful.

 

Nicola Vetter  21:15

And again, if I have my dates right about you, then you started with your YouTube channel 10 years ago, and then in 2017, so that would be after having served for free on the YouTube channel for four to five years, that's when you started asking for money.

 

Adrian Salisbury  21:41

Yeah, so we were putting we're putting tutorials and things up, I would take a camera, for instance, and I would do little videos on how to set the focus, how to adjust the ISO, how to do the shutter speed. And I would do like a little mini-series, and they actually still get views today, I get people message me going, Oh, thank you for that. And I think this is like an eight-year-old, 10-year-old camera, but it's still relevant because somebody passes it down, or they get it out and think I'm gonna take some photos of the grandkids now, how do I do this? So YouTube's fantastic for that. And we'll get to that.

 

Nicola Vetter  22:17

The principles often stay the same, right?  Yes, yeah. Within this timeframe. And so you obviously love to teach, it shows through every pore of your being. And you are a wonderful teacher. And we know that firsthand, because we've taken your courses. And you know, we owe you a depth of gratitude, as you taught us so much about YouTube and ECAMM. And we'll put all those links in the show notes. I want to know, was teaching always a passion of yours? Or did you discover that gift later?

 

Adrian Salisbury  23:02

Yeah, I think it was more discovering it as a I don't think I ever I enjoyed helping people. I think I probably just defined it as that. I'm a nice guy, if I can help you. I will. Don't know that I really saw it as if he just said you've got a real natural talent for teaching. I probably would have had to think about it, and then maybe process and go okay, yeah, that does make sense. But yeah, I think you know, to me, it wasn't so much teaching people I guess in my mind, it was, I'm just helping somebody with something that I can do.

 

Peter Axtell  23:38

Before we move on, for anyone who's listening to this about doing what you love, and maybe doing a YouTube channel, which we'll talk about later. A key thing to know what you said, it's not enough to just say, Hey, I just love to do this. And I love to help people and all that, if you had not taken James Wedmore's course to figure out what are all the nuts and bolts actually make something beyond what you love to do in a dream to make that into reality. I think that's why most people fail.

 

Adrian Salisbury  24:10

Yeah, for sure. And it's very, I mean, this was kind of my next point is leading nicely on actually to this was a big decision for us to invest in James Wedmore. I, yes, I'd been watching, as I say listening to podcasts and things but for me, I'm a photographer, I want to do this online thing. A lot of my friends, family are going, who makes money doing that, you know, that's crazy. wasn't getting any support from anyone around me. So the idea of investing, I think it would have been about $2,000 at the time to join business by design. I'm looking at this thing. I'm thinking my wife Rachel is not going to go for this you know, I'm trying to say to I want to invest in this thing that we've made no money out of yet. But something in me just knew that this was right. And I'm going, this is what lights me up, this is what I want to do. And here's a guy that is promising, you know, he's going to be able to help me do this. So I actually said to Rach could we can I take out can we take out a loan when she trusts me to take out a loan 10,000 pounds, so that I could buy business by design, and switch off from the photography business for three months. So you know, not worry about income coming in, that's all sorted, I just want to get down here and get clear on this one. And she agreed to it. And I think the next day was cut close day, I'm out in the morning, I was walking in the dark, having a bit of a prayer walk, you know, my faith is important to me, and I just didn't live that space to get out. And I got this ping on my phone, my mom's text me, check your bank account. And I looked at my bank account, they put 10,000 pounds into exactly what I've just been saying the night before to my wife. I call my mum up and said, What is this? And she said, Well, dad's not here at the minute, but he will tell you. He's been up the last couple of nights and is really felt troubled. And he said he, and he told me later himself, I really felt God was telling me to support you and put these 10,000 pounds into your bank. And I just sobbed. You know, that was it was for me such a. And I realized that's not it. Not everybody can take this and apply it. But for me, it was just a massive green light and a confirmation that where I'm going, I really want to do this. I just felt a real art to the prayer for me to say yeah, there you go. This is this is the path you should be going down. So that was a that was a huge point for me.

 

Nicola Vetter  27:07

So, Adrian, how long did it take you then? You said you wanted to allocate three months?

 

Adrian Salisbury  27:15

Yeah.

 

Nicola Vetter  27:15

And the money? Yeah. How long did it take you then till you made a first dime on that business?

 

Adrian Salisbury  27:26

Yeah, well, maybe in May. I got inside of business by design started consuming all the content. As you know, the experience is all very exciting. I was ready to put this photography course online. And as I was doing lives and talking in the group, people were reaching out to me and saying, How can you look so good on video? Why do you stand out and look so sharp? I mean, it's become more normal now. But you know, back then most people were just done a poor webcam and hadn't really thought of connecting cameras and things up. And so I said, Okay, I've got a community here of entrepreneurs that are all trying to get their businesses going. One key thing is that they all need to be looking good on video. So I created my impact. Pro video academies it was called then we've just recently rebranded it as impact. And so I built this course out, I didn't, I didn't correctly do it. I know James teaches to kind of sell it before you make it. I wanted to make this thing first. Maybe that's partly procrastinating. But I built this little course out for teaching video. And I launched it. And we actually did. I think we probably had about 10 people come and join in this first month of opening it up and fantastic. I was getting some great videos back. Testimonials hearing back from people. I like to say I stuck to it. And I did what I was told. And you know, the thing sort of took off from there. Sadly, I kind of panicked a bit. And although people were buying, I was doing webinars, sometimes I'm doing webinars one after another and no one's showing up or nobody's buying and partly because I was in this business by design group where everyone's posting in all these great successes. And I'm there my audience very much. So again, unique for me, I'm trying to attract these guys, I want to give them off this perception that I'm being successful. And I didn't want to be saying to them, actually I've just done a whole load of launches and no one's buying because I didn't want them going well I don't want to buy it if nobody else has. This is going on in my so I kind of shrunk back a bit I ended up going back and picking up a lot of the photography work and things that I knew I could do and we're just really dabble in and out of this on weekends. So yeah, I I was in that, you know one foot in although I'd paid for this one We'd more than I got up to about 50 customers over maybe 18 months, we had about 50 customers come in and through, but it wasn't enough. And I kept getting pulled back into the photography that I knew we'd put decent money into the bank. Yeah, it's been a journey.

 

Nicola Vetter  30:18

I want to point out one more thing, you said, you wanted to help the entrepreneurs so they can look good on camera, sound good, and all of that. This is actually important for everyone, especially also for people that are trying to find a new job.

 

Adrian Salisbury  30:41

Yeah.

 

Nicola Vetter  30:42

Because if they only knew, I mean, we hear a lot, if they only knew how bad they look and sound when they have an interview on Zoom. It's insane. And if they want to stand out, and just knew some of the things that you are teaching, we're teaching some of that in our program as well. But if they just knew, then it could make such a big difference. You are doing great work not only for entrepreneurs actually.

 

Adrian Salisbury  31:19

Yep, absolutely. It's always hard to define really, you know, we've I did a speaking event, virtually into the group of lawyers in Toronto, earlier in the year, you know? Yeah, you're absolutely right. These are guys that if when they're meeting in person, they turn up in these very expensive suits. That image is very important. But they're stuck on a webcam going, you know, how do I how do I look better than this? And so we did this great presentation into them. It was well received, and really just saying how you can set up you know, we're both doing this from home. I assume you are I certainly am, you know, this kind of setup can absolutely be done. And you can give this very professional look in a fairly simple way. And that's always been my passion is breaking down this barrier. I hate to hear people saying, I've got this camera, but I just use my phone because it's better. And I think no, that's terrible. Let's get that camera out. Let's work out how to use it.

 

Nicola Vetter  32:24

And that leads me actually to another point. COVID doo doo doo doo doo. Because I think that was quite another what's next moment for you as well, correct?

 

Adrian Salisbury  32:35

Yeah. Well, we Yeah. So pre COVID to the year running up. 2019 was probably my Yeah, the preparation was again for me. I won't go into it. I'll take too long getting round all this. But I had another God moment really, that really confirmed for me that God was blessing. What we were doing through 2019 was me that was when I did my first YouTube Academy. We call it a YouTube summer camp and expected this to be an online course. But actually, we had such fun people enjoyed this. We did it as a cohort experience. So you, you come through it over two weeks, and I drip out training and then we practice it and I'm getting on daily lives, as you know. And we ran this in that summer, it's the first time I did anything like it. My pro video ran very different. And then I'd been through this the first half of the year working with ECAMM helping them out. We were looking at creating videos for them. They wanted some content for their customers. I'd said again, just had this kind of gut feeling. I didn't just want to get paid for recording 40 videos for them. I wanted to own this product. And they could send people to it. And then so they're training their customers without it costing them anything. And I was getting marketing coming in from them and I got on so well with the guys at ECAMM and still do. They're lovely people. And we've just created this great partnership. So 2019 I ran in the summer this YouTube Academy in August, which is when Katie had only just come on board e cam. You know Katie, the marketing director over there. We did our first ECAMM Academy. It was a big success. We went into 2020 and I actually so I January of 2020. I run my second ECAMM Academy, I went out to San Diego to Social Media Marketing World with ECAMM to be on their booth there. And it was when we came back from that the flight back was when everything was locking down and that was pretty much that weekend. They were the last flights that were going around at the start of 2020. And we it gave me an opportunity really to close off my photography, business, all of that work stop. Nobody wanted me coming out to do that made that very easy decision. Because right here in front of me was, you know, we used to run this ECAMM Academy. So for those that don't know, ECAMM live is the software that's being used here that allows you to do live streaming. And all of a sudden, ECAMM inundated with all these customers that from churches that need to suddenly livestream their churches or businesses that have got to get online musicians that want to be able to do gigs on YouTube, how on earth they do it, how do they hook cameras up? We were just getting, we had a waitlist to get in. We were stopping it at 200 people. We did one of our academies. And before we got to the end of it, that waitlist was about 300 people in it. And ECAMM was saying to me, can we run this again, and we were literally back-to-back doing these academies. I think we probably did six that that first year. So all of my friends, you know, walk in the dog and meet people across the street, because we're not allowed to talk and they're at home doing some decorating and locked in. And we've never been busier. And we were just COVID for us was just this wave that we were riding ECAMM led on to YouTube, you know, folk that had been through EECOM, we're then saying, right, let's get you going on YouTube. So that led people into that. And the pro video Academy, everyone that's in those two wanted to get better on camera. So our business exploded. And I think a lot of people that have seen us through that season, assume it had been like that for years. And here we are in this successful business. What you've just heard is the rails story that not a lot of people know about is actually we're only a few years, literally 2019 We're still struggling there. In fact, that was December 2018. When Rachel had said to me when we get to the end of this year, can we say this isn't working? You know, can we make this the deadline at the end of the year? If this hasn't worked? Can we just scrap it and go back to the photography? So I was It's that new, really, although yes, I've been here and I've been trying to do this. I really empathize with everybody that's trying to get a business and online thing going on online course and struggling to sell it and get it out. We were in the right place at the right time. And what a blessing it was not only for us, but for those that were needing it as well. You had so many people coming back saying, Wow, I don't know what I'd have done. If we hadn't come through your training.

 

Peter Axtell  37:41

I do want to circle back to, because I think it's important, wherever you want to call messages come from, spirituality, we don't care where it comes from. So there was some message that you heard because there was a hole here, where it was really an all is lost moment. Everything looks completely black. And then you got some kind of a message again. I think people need to hear that if you'd be so kind.

 

Adrian Salisbury  38:10

Okay, yeah, I'm just conscious. I feel like I'm doing a lot of talking. But I guess that's

 

Peter Axtell  38:16

that's the point. This is about you. It's about you, Adrian, it's all about you.

 

Adrian Salisbury  38:21

I want to ask you, that. Yeah, that's right. I'm not used to. Okay, so I just touched on it there. End of 2018 was really this point of hadn't suddenly come, you know, month by month rates is there and looking after the house, looking after the accounts really is keeps telling, you know, I've got my head down work. And she's the one saying this isn't working. We actually we got to the end of Rach and said to me, can we say, you know, come the end of this year if this doesn't work? Can we just accept that this is a bit of a dream. It's not going to happen and bless her. She was my biggest supporter. So I'm not I don't want to hear that. Rachel was negative with this. She was just being real, you know, bills aren't getting paid while I'm playing over here with this online course. So that was my goal that the end of December, and I'll never forget it. We were sitting there. We had a visiting preacher come to our church, we've got a big church, there would be about 1500 people in the auditorium twice on a Sunday morning. We happen to be about three rows back in the center because I like to be in you know, involved in the front there. And this this speaker, she didn't know me I'd never spoken to her before. We just got a packing up at the end. And there she was, she'd come off the stage come straight down to me. And she said, I was I had to come to you. I didn't want to lose you in the crowd. He said, God's told me to tell you that he's got your business and he's going to bless you If there was more than this, but that was all I heard, and he's gonna bless you through partnerships, and I just sobbed because we were days away from me walking away from this. Again, here I am with the most you know, other than God standing in front of me and going, Look, I'm going to help you this is going to work stick at it. I couldn't have had anything clearer than that, for me to go. God's put this on a heart on a mind to come to you must have been looking at me and how to work to be able to say to me, she didn't get to anybody else. I haven't heard already doing that before. But it was awesome. And then. So as I say, then 2019 Knowing that I'm building up, I'm preparing, we then created our YouTube Academy in our ECAMM Academy. And it absolutely came true. Really the Partnerships has been very much through ECAMM. They've been so huge to the growth of this business. Yeah, so yeah, that's my…

 

Peter Axtell  41:03

People need to hear that there's no guarantee that it's gonna work. But we also believe that there are messages that come from other than your logical, thinking mind that there are places they come from, other places, those messages, we believe are really worth listening to. Because we think that is wisdom, who knows how it works? Doesn't matter how it works. Because you know, being an entrepreneur is no easy thing. And in fact, it's far harder than people would imagine.

 

Adrian Salisbury  41:34

It is.

 

Peter Axtell  41:35

Yeah, yeah. So go ahead.

 

Adrian Salisbury  41:40

No, I think you're right. And I think whatever I've always had, so because of that, really, it's and I think I've always had that gut feeling of this is what I'm gonna do, you know, this is gonna work. And although I couldn't quite see it, there was just a determination that and a tenacity really, that I want to do this, you know, and I'm telling my friends, this is what I'm going to do. And although they were week by week, so how's it going, you know, if you've got any customers yet. I was just like, this is gonna work, you know, I'm going to prove you all wrong. And I think, again, that the, you got to get in this. And I think that was I, part of me is pleased that it wasn't an instant success, because I'm able to relate a lot better to people now that is struggling getting going. You know, I've got customers that that I'm talking to in my academies saying, Look, I've, you know, I've had this thing for a couple of years, and I haven't actually made any money out of it yet. And because they're sort of float in between the day job and trying to do this hustle on the side. And I can kind of relate to those things now. So while I didn't like it at the time, I think it's made me more relevant to people in to be able to help them I don't regret it now. Now, we're where we are. But it's not at the time. And I absolutely feel for anybody that is in there that is really struggling right now want to do this thing, or really feel called to this or this is what lights me up. You know, this, if this is a gauge, I think, you know, when you say to people, well, if money wasn't an object, what would you spend your time do you know, would you do this would, you know isn't actually something that is a real passion that you would enjoy doing? And genuinely it is for me? You know, I? If if I won the lottery and had millions in the bank, I would absolutely still do this, you know, would just take the pressure off of not having to ask people to pay for it.

 

Nicola Vetter  43:42

You're too much of a nice guy it seems.

 

Adrian Salisbury  43:46

Purpose, isn't it? It's what lights you up really? And yes. Yeah.

 

Nicola Vetter  43:52

Adrian, so you just touched on it. You mentioned a few words like tenacity, what does it take, in your view, to really pull this through? When you think of the life of an entrepreneur, what does it take?

 

Adrian Salisbury  44:13

Yeah. It does take that real kind of knowing or desire to be able to go just to that determination that this is what I'm going to do. Not having other options, or not having so many options available to you that, oh, I'll try it and it'd be nice to do but actually to really go no, this is this is it. This is part of my identity. It's what I want to do. I want to serve I want to help, and I want to get out here. What I didn't have and felt that I really struggled with was kind of community peers that I could work with. There was some in that Ecamm community that certainly you know we were from the UK Hey, we'd created our own little Facebook group over here for a BBD. UK type thing. And we got on really well. But again, we were all we were all struggling at the time. You know, there wasn't anyone really who was that bit further ahead that I could go right. I want to talk to you, who was just a little bit further along in the journey, but not so far ahead. That it felt a bit unreachable. And I think that's what I'm partly that's what I'm trying to create very much in my Kajabi Academy is, is really trying and within our, you know, the BBD calls and things we're doing, I want to be that person who's a few years ahead really encourage, you know, the, where I can see you coming up a lot you know, well, I can see customers that are coming up. I'm hearing it and I'm going Yep, been there, I know exactly what's going through your mind and what you need to do to get through this stage and just having some accountability that you can say, right, okay, in the next month, what are you going to do in the next three months? What are you going to do? What are your goals? Let's, let's really focus on that and, and go for it. And it's lonely? It's, you know, we all want this. What is it, they say, I'm trying to get it right, if I say, we kind of do. We work seven days a week to have this, you know, this lifestyle, it's meant to be two days a week kind of thing. We're all trying to be these entrepreneurs, we're chasing down this dream where we can do our four-hour work weeks, and actually, it's a lot of hard work, you really getting in here. The Hustle, you've got to be prepared to stick the hours in and do the work. And I know James and others very much say, you know, it's about building team. And yeah, you got to most people starting out, you've just got to get in there and do every job and make this thing happen and just know that it's going to get easier, and it does, for sure.

 

Nicola Vetter  46:56

And that's where I want to just dig in a little deeper, because I know that there are entrepreneurs in our audience, and most likely also those who want to become entrepreneurs, who are just starting out from scratch. So what are the most important lessons as we are reaching the hour here, what are the most important lessons that you've learned? And what tips do you have for someone who's just starting out?

 

Adrian Salisbury  47:26

Yeah, I would, and probably different to what others will tell you. As you can see, I'm all about serving. And you know, I'm a big believer in putting stuff out for free, there's a lot of others who would say, you know, and I've been told by plenty give way too much away, people aren't gonna buy because you're giving it all away on YouTube and things. I think what's important starting out and where I see people go wrong, it's not necessarily about the product that you've got, it's that you haven't got an audience there. And I would really encourage people to try and build up an audience first. And for me, that has been very much around YouTube. For others, it might be on LinkedIn, it might be on Instagram, you might do a podcast, it might be a blog, you know, building up a following really and getting an audience of people that actually you can then go back to and say, you know, when we hear these stories of these overnight successes, we all know that that's not a real thing. But what you don't see is that these people typically have been serving, working away giving a lot of free stuff away in the background, maybe in person contacts have been working with or speaking. So when actually they go, I'm going to create a course, there's 1000s of people that are going Yeah, about time. So I would definitely encourage anybody that you know, rather than going and building a course, trying to sell it, if you can build up this Community First, know that there's an audience there that actually want what you're going to do and test it give a lot away for free. And people will you know, there's ways of doing it, we do what we call lead magnet. So if you are watching a video and we recommend a download at the end, well then you're giving your email address at that point. And then once you're on an email list, we can very softly introduce other things to you and mention a webinar or something like that. So yeah, that would be my take on this is I don't think you can give too much away really. I think people will always there's that reciprocity that someone goes it's about time you asked me to pay for something, you know, I've heard so much from you, it becomes such an easy sell by the time you get to that.

 

Peter Axtell  49:43

You know, people are asking right now, how long do you think it takes? I know that you can't be specific, but I'm sure people are asking this question. How long would I have to keep giving stuff away to build an audience? What's your thoughts about how long it takes?

 

Adrian Salisbury  50:00

I don't know that there's a definite answer to that I think in, in different for instance, if you know, right now you decided you were going to, you know, is there something that's, you know, like we've been talking about COVID, you know, people needing to get online and do these things. There's a, there's a definite need there. You know, there's people that want to be able to pay for things, if you're going to say, right, well, I'm going to show people how to do a, how to use their iPhone and look good on camera or something. It wouldn't take long to build up an audience doing something like that. Depending on how you do it, and what that, you know, if you were getting into podcasting, for instance, then you, you started going after some big players, and you thought, right, we want to get these people on our show, so that we get in front of their audiences, you know, it can scale quick, how much energy you put into it, how skillful you are at doing that, really, but I think putting content out, you're, certainly when I taught YouTube, you got to be in it for the long run. Those YouTube videos are still relevant years later. It's not like a Facebook ad or something that as soon as you stop, it disappears. And, again, there's a lot of skill in that making sure you're putting the right thumbnails, the right titles and things that are actually getting seen by people. There's a lot of folks that we've encouraged to do YouTube channels that have said, just doesn't work for me. And when I look at their channel, I say, Yeah, but how is anyone ever going to find that video with that title? And so this, I would, in reality, I think he would struggle to do this in a year. If I'm being brutally honest.

 

Peter Axtell  51:39

Yeah. So a lot of people, you know, a lot of people like the idea of starting a YouTube channel. And since we consider you the go to person about YouTube, tell us what it takes to start your YouTube channel and your thoughts about it.

 

Adrian Salisbury  51:58

It's very simple, really, you know, it's free to set up a YouTube channel, you could set one up in a day, or you can set it up in a few hours, to be honest, the challenge is getting the right videos. And so you know, an audience you know, you know, so me, for instance, talking to folk who, yeah, let's look at my kind of impact my, I'm helping people do video, do the kind of thing that you're doing here. I have to get in, I'm not just gonna go making videos, how to look better on, what I could do on how to look better on camera. That's probably not what somebody's searching for what I've realized, and this is really what we're, you know, the heart of what we do in our YouTube Academy is getting down to what a file look at you, you know, what are you searching for? What kind of things are you going to Google for? And it's more likely to be that you're wanting to know about a microphone or a camera? Or you're struggling with lighting, or you're getting this echo? As I'm really trying to get in the mind of my customer? What is it they're actually going to Google and typing in? You know, if you were a dog trainer, didn't know why that came to my mind. What if I make a video on you know, five ways to train your dog is too broad. If somebody's going, my dog barks every time I leave the house. That's a video title. You know, what do I do kind of thing? Or? How do I get my dog to sit? How do I get my dog to listen to me? What? So for me, it's all about those How to videos and review videos. They're the two main videos that I encourage people to do, and really try and get as, as narrow as you can. So if you're, if you're already working with customers, talk to them. You know, what, what were your pains? What was it you were really struggling with? What were the kinds of things that you were going to Google typing in trying to get an answer for? So reviews are a big one. You know, somebody talks about, oh, you should be using this camera. Oh, well, let me go and have a look at it. And that will be a classic of where you'd go to YouTube. If I can get in front of somebody. We had a customer last week, two weeks ago who said to me I was kind of joking going. I'm surprised you caught me. I don't normally go for these things. But he said I went onto YouTube because I'd got the microphone that I've done a review on here the Sure MV7. He said, I've watched your video. I saw a link in there to impact training. He said I went and had a look at it. And he said Here I am as a customer inside. So that's a classic of you know, I'm trying to serve. That's a need. He's struggling. He's got this new microphone. He can't get it to sound good. finds my video that sets it up. He thinks I'm amazing. And then he's looking around he's actually coming for me going, what else do you do? You know if I can get looking like that, you know, I'm signing up.

 

Peter Axtell  54:58

And this is exactly why we would say that people who are even thinking about starting a YouTube channel should really go to Adrian Salisbury's YouTube Academy, because there's a big difference between people who know a lot about a lot of stuff. And a person who knows how to teach. And Adrian's a master teacher, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. And you've got I think, 100,000 people on your YouTube channel now?

 

Adrian Salisbury  55:31

Yeah, almost 130,000. On a YouTube channel. Well, that's for a reason, because you're such a brilliant teacher. So is there anything, Adrian, this was such a blast, is there anything that we didn't touch on that you really want our audience to know? Oh, yeah, let me try and think of so that good to end on. I would encourage No, I'm not saying this to come into my academy, I really would encourage people to start on YouTube, I think it's the best platform, you need to build an audience. And I'd say that, you know, if you're wanting to, for instance, you want to do podcast, and I do think there's a lot of value and power in a podcast, you're getting a you know, we do a lot there's a lot of talk about shorts, tick tock things like this, that it's just that quick little soundbite you when someone's sitting, listening to an hour's conversation with you, on a regular basis, when they're looking forward to your podcast coming out, they're really building a connection with you. And it's the same on these videos, when I'm showing up when I'm doing a tutorial on YouTube. I'm, I'm serving, I'm helping somebody where there are they're then going off and watching other videos. I would start there. You know, really have a go at this. And what is it that you can help and serve people with? And it doesn't have to, you know, I'm obviously promoting looking great on camera. For example, I had to fix a sink in the house. I went onto YouTube because I was stuck on this bit that wouldn't go together. There's this guy kind of holding his phone showing, you know, well, yeah, I'll show you how to do this. And he's sort of doing this, you know, it was awful. But I got my answer. I subscribed because I thought Thank you, and I'll have a look down and see what else you can help me fix around the house. So it doesn't have to be flash it. I think it makes a big impression. If you can't, if you're teaching more business and things rather than, you know, you don't want to certainly want to be showing up trying to teach people how to do a second seven figure business on a really dodgy webcam, it just there's a disconnect. It doesn't look authentic. But yeah, I would encourage people, you know, go for it. If you kind of really feel that this is what I want to do. There's no cost involved in YouTube, setting up a channel, there's no kind of fees for it, start making some videos, put them out there, study them, which ones are getting hits, which are steady your competitors, you know, okay, I thought I was doing a video on microphones. Let's have a look. What are the ones that are really doing well? And what is it about their videos. And maybe at that point, you start going okay, these will look professional, I need to up my game a bit here. But yeah, do that, you know, really do that research before you go off trying to invest in a platform like Kajabi or something where you're then paying out that you can easily start paying a lot of money quick, you don't even need a website or anything like that to get started doing YouTube. Get some followers, if you can put some we talk about clustering around it. So we might do a set of videos around equipment. And there is a central lead magnet that says this is our equipment list. This one of our most popular ways that people get onto our email list is they watch the videos that we're talking about. We say Right? Well, this microphone here that we're setting up today is part of our equipment list, you can download that for free as a link in the description. You know, that's when you start to then build this up, you start to get a few 100 people on an email list that you go well, I know, they're all interested in what I'm talking about. And then at that point, you know, I'd much rather someone would come to me for help or, you know, be in that position with we recommend business by design. As you heard in my journey, it's been so instrumental for me, I think the world of James can't thank him enough for what he's done for us. And so I'm then able to say to my customers, look, he's helped me and I want him to help you. But I would much rather somebody came to that point not going well. I've got this idea. Yes, it's doable. But you're already paid a lot of money out at that point, you're then paying for other things. When someone comes and says, Well, I've got 1000 people on YouTube that are that had been interested in what I've been talking about. That's exciting. And then you can get right come out there. Let's try and monetize this now.

 

Peter Axtell  59:55

And I would say go and get education. Actually we did, when we started our YouTube channel, we signed up for your education. I think get some education and save you months and months and months of time and energy and everything. Go and get an education. Yeah.

 

Adrian Salisbury  1:00:16

But the only thing I would add to that is, I know a lot of people who go from cause to cause to cause that you know, that someone says, oh, you should be in this program. So I'm gonna go and sign up for that one now. And they become cost junkies, that just going around learning all the information, and never actually selling and never actually putting it into action. So one of the things that I don't know if it was James, or Pat, it was one of these guys that I remember saying years ago, find your guru and kind of stick to him turn all the other noise off, because you can end up listening to five people's podcasts, other people's blogs, and they're all saying slightly different things. And you just end up in this spin, really, you're not actually doing anything. And I did exactly that. And I shut off a lot of these others. And I went, right, James is who I've invested in, I'm gonna start listening to all these other podcasts. It doesn't have to be the right person. It's not to say one person is the right one. But actually, if you can stay focused on and just listen to one, one advisor. So yeah, I absolutely agree with getting education. But don't stay in that, oh, I'm going to I should be doing my business. But I've just got a really good book, I want to go read over that somebody recommended to me.

 

Peter Axtell  1:01:30

I'm so glad you clarified that point for me. You're absolutely right.

 

Nicola Vetter  1:01:35

I just wanted to say the same thing because we are also huge fans of Seth Godin, who always says, ship, ship, ship, it's better than overthink stuff. And so if you can just get your feet dirty, dip in the water, and then know what it's like. And then know, I need the education. All right, Adrian, this was a blast. Thank you so much. And am curious to see what your audience says who will now have a little glimpse into your life.

 

Adrian Salisbury  1:02:11

That's right. Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah.

 

Peter Axtell  1:02:15

Thank you.

 

Adrian Salisbury  1:02:15

How did you get it out of me?

 

Peter Axtell  1:02:18

That's what we do.

 

Adrian Salisbury  1:02:21

That's been excellent. Thank you so much. Really enjoyed that.

 

Peter Axtell  1:02:23

Great. Thank you, Adrian.

 

Nicola Vetter  1:02:25

Thank you.

 

Adrian Salisbury  1:02:26

Thank you.

 

Peter Axtell  1:02:27

We hope you enjoyed this conversation. If you did, could you do us a favor and hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. It will help the channel grow and get more amazing guests like Adrian. To learn more about Adrian head to whatsnext.com/36, where we share links and more. Again, that's whatsnext.com/36.

 

Nicola Vetter  1:02:55

Thanks for joining us today. And please share this episode with someone you care about, someone who can use some inspiration about next steps in their lives. And if you are trying to figure out what's next for you. Join us for one of our live online workshops where we teach how to successfully reinvent your career in midlife. To save your spot in our next workshop go to whatsnext.com/workshops. We'll see you there, or for another episode here.