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So my last video didn't do 
particularly well, but I'm kind 

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of OK with it. 
I knew this video was not going 

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to be at the top half of my 
videos and I published it 

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clearly knowing that and I feel 
OK with where the where the 

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video is now by running. 
A simple exercise of just 

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answering 5 questions takes less
than 5 minutes and I just wanted

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to share that with you. 
Here's my pre mortem video list.

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So what even is a pre mortem? 
If you worked in a team, in a 

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startup or anything like that, 
you might have heard the term 

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post mortem after a launch in 
particular, if something went 

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wrong, the team might come 
together and do a post mortem, 

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analyse what went wrong, what 
were the mistakes, what was 

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overlooked to understand the 
problem and hopefully fix it for

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the future. 
But I kind of just turned this 

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on its head, asking myself these
questions before the video goes 

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live and to be curious about 
what the video will do, see how 

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it resonates, and give me 
crucial insights if this video 

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even belongs on my channel or 
not. 

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It's a simple mindset shift away
from fear and negativity towards

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curiosity and open mindedness 
and finding clarity. 

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So the first question is this 
clearly for solo craters in the 

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messy middle, that is the 
audience group that I chose for 

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the channel for right now. 
And obviously you substitute 

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whatever target audience you 
want to have. 

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Is this video clearly for Blank?
That is how you can write that 

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down. 
And answering this base layer 

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question is very frequently 
overlooked even for myself. 

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And even understanding who your 
audience is takes time. 

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But knowing who you want to 
attract and answering this 

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question with a strong yes or no
gives you a clear indicator if 

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this video belongs on your 
channel or not. 

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Or maybe it is an experiment and
you do something on purpose 

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differently. 
And so that already gives you a 

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very, very strong insight to 
where this video will land on 

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the spectrum between 1:00 and 
10:00. 

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And then the next question is, 
does this connect to other 

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videos on the channel? 
I think as creators, we often 

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tend to look at one video at a 
time. 

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That is what we're focused on. 
That's what we're producing. 

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That's where all our headspace 
goes. 

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The next video without thinking 
about the whole back catalog 

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that we have on the channel. 
That's one unique advantage of 

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YouTube of building this library
of content that is way more 

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Evergreen than swipe content. 
And so if you start thinking 

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about your channel as a show, as
a library, as something that 

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people come back to over and 
over again, it becomes much more

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cohesive and you start building 
a much, much stronger audience. 

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I'm sure you've experienced that
before, where you discover a 

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video and soon you go through 
the whole list of videos they 

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published before because it 
gives you the same sensation, 

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that same feeling, and you just 
want a little bit more of it. 

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And once you start making videos
that connect to others, you 

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really start building a much 
stronger brand, a much stronger 

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affinity to what you do, and a 
much clearer picture of what 

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your content stands for, what 
your channel means to people. 

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And so having this question in 
there makes it so obvious what 

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the title should be. 
Maybe there's maybe something 

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similar there that connects to 
it or which video they should 

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link to, which video should 
reference all those things. 

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And it's just like gives me a 
good perspective of is this a 

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one off experiment? 
Is this something new? 

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Am I trying something here? 
Or is this a continuation of a 

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series? 
Right? 

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Question three. 
Does this appeal to core casual 

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new viewers? 
That's a concept I borrowed from

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Patti Galloway. 
He talks about this, I think, on

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every podcast that he goes on. 
But the idea is that you have a 

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core group of people that watch 
your content no matter what. 

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You have casual viewers who 
might watch a video here and 

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there. 
They might be interested in the 

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topic, but they're not like die 
hard fans. 

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And then you have new viewers 
that have never heard of you, 

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never seen. 
You might not even care about 

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the topic, but somehow they see 
the video and they click on it. 

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Hopefully. 
So does this packaging, does the

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video appeal to all three layers
of these people? 

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And how does it speak to them? 
That is such a great filter for 

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designing packaging and also 
choosing which one to put out 

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there because I often end up 
with way too many options for 

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titles and thumbnails. 
And like asking myself this 

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question is really good. 
And like, OK, this is where 

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we're going to start. 
And if things go wrong, which 

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we'll talk about in the next 
step, we might choose one of 

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these options. 
And again, thinking about this 

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holistically in the whole 
channel perspective just builds 

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a much stronger relationship 
between you and the audience. 

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This next question is where I've
been scarily accurate in 

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predicting where a video will 
land. 

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How will this video perform? 
What is going to be the outcome?

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And I mean, I have, I believe, 
over 50 videos on the channel. 

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So I guess I have a good grasp, 
but I've spent a lot of time in 

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the metrics dashboard recently. 
And so I know what a top 

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performer is for me and what an 
underperformer is in terms of 

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raw numbers. 
And so the last couple of years 

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since I've been doing that, I've
been like, yeah, this is going 

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to be 3 out of 10 and sure 
thing, it was a three out of 10.

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And so that's been quite an 
interesting experience that not 

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every video has to be a banger. 
Not every video is going to be 

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like a mass appeal video that 
gets clicked immediately. 

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But maybe it's a longer tail 
video or it is a very specific 

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search based video that is 
important for the channel, but 

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it's not going to blow up 
immediately. 

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Something like that. 
And looking at the raw numbers 

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is one way of measuring success,
obviously. 

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But the other half of this 
question is what is the outcome 

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of this? 
I think is very often completely

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overlooked and just happened 
serendipitously. 

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But every video release, every 
piece of content you put out 

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there has the ability to open 
doors to make something possible

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that wasn't possible before. 
Maybe you connect with a new 

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guest. 
Maybe a brand partner sees this 

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video and wants to work with 
you. 

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Maybe you get invited to an 
event because of this video. 

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Maybe you just connect with 
somebody who becomes an 

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amplifier to your channel and 
shares your video, your channel 

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in their newsletter, for 
example. 

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All these things are outcomes 
from publishing something that 

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you cannot measure in raw 
numbers and that you might not 

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even hear about until way, way 
down the line. 

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So I think thinking about these 
two things in combination is 

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very interesting. 
Where will this land in raw 

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numbers and what impact do I 
want this video to have? 

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Because it also can mean not 
just like what doors does it 

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open for you, but what impact 
will it have for the viewer? 

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And that again informs A 
packaging choice, right? 

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By knowing what transformation 
it can have for the viewer, you 

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can much clearer choose a title 
and thumbnail. 

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And the last question is my 
favorite one. 

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For what reason might this video
still fail? 

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Because despite your best 
efforts, despite pouring your 

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heart and soul into this, this 
could still fail. 

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This could still tank. 
This could still completely 

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underperform and not connect 
with the people that you want to

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connect with. 
Maybe it's a holiday and your 

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core group of people is they're 
just all out and about and not 

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watching YouTube. 
That is very, very possible. 

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Maybe there is some big trend or
hype cycle going on that is more

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important, that is more urgent 
than the video you just put out.

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Maybe there's 1000 reasons why a
video might still fail despite 

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being it really good and being 
for a specific group of people. 

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And writing just a few lines 
there for each video about why 

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it might still fail has been 
really the reason for me that 

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I've been much more relaxed at 
looking at YouTube Studio. 

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Just like what I do is one part,
but there's a whole outside 

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world that I have no influence 
over that affects how the video 

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performs, what impact it has, 
where it lands on the later 

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board. 
And so these are my 5 questions 

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that I ask now before every 
release. 

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And I was really shocked how 
accurate I was in predicting 

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where videos will land and how 
much it helped me in feeling 

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more content with what I put out
instead of spiraling downward. 

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When something doesn't go 
according to plan, I know what 

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to do. 
Or it is exactly where I 

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expected to be, or I'm really 
excited because it over performs

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where I thought it would be. 
So it removes the surprises 

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because I already went through 
all of the possibilities in my 

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head, making it much clearer, 
making it much simpler and 

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taking away the stress. 
I'm not confronted with a 

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unknown situation. 
I've already thought through all

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the options before and can react
calmly according to what it 

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actually says on the dashboard. 
So I hope you going to try this 

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for yourself, at least for one 
video. 

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But make it part of your 
routine. 

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Put it in your notion. 
You pull a journal, your Miller 

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note, wherever you plan content 
and before you hit publish next 

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time, ask yourself these 
questions, go through them one 

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by one and just take a minute 
each to like give a thoughtful 

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answer to that. 
Take away the fear and be led by

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curiosity. 
And really, if you do, let me 

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know in the comments down below 
how it changed your approach to 

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making videos, how you felt 
about it, and if you've been 

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able to predict where your video
will land. 

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OK, that's it from me this week.
Thanks for watching. 

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And if you have any questions 
that you want answers, drop them

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00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:19,400
down below. 
Shoot me at the end on any 

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social. 
Let's keep this creator support 

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chat going and I'll see you next
time.