Building A YouTube Channel

My YouTube Story So Far...

I have been thinking about building a YouTube Channel for my company CIBN for probably 5 years. Then Google bought YouTube. That made up my mind. Google is the largest search engine in the world and YouTube is the second largest. Google bought YouTube, and that is just more proof that they love videos. It is well known that they love fresh content, so videos will be the next big thing.

Before we started our YouTube channel Francois Alphonse, my beloved who is a videographer and I did a lot of research. We could see YouTube had made huge strides at the end of 2018 to make their platform more desirable. One can actually edit videos right in the channel now. We watched dozens of videos on how to build a channel. We followed some big players to see what they were doing. We read books, and we subscribed to some gurus. We could see that some local people were making money from having ads on their pages after only 18 months. We could also see that most people were doing nothing with video and that would create a huge opportunity for those who did something.

Our plan was to launch our CIBN TV YouTube Channel and get 100 subscribers as fast as possible so we could customize our URL. The CIBN has a few thousand people on an email list so a few email announcements got us up to 100 in no time. Step 1 accomplished.

The second 100 came over time. People found us, they liked us. We shared videos, it was not that difficult. We would really like 1000 though, and that does take a concerted effort. So we are still working on that.

Why YouTube Is Better Than Facebook

If you have put in the effort to make a YouTube Channel, you have to take the time to also populate it with more content. There are lots of good reasons to do so, including improvements to your business bottom line. The fact is, on Facebook or LinkedIn you can now do live videos, and you can post videos you made there as well. However, people don't watch long videos on those channels. They don't go to Facebook to watch videos; they go to YouTube and they watch videos there for hours. I was not the only one who figured this out. Social Media Examiner had a huge following of over 300,000 on Facebook and in the Spring of 2019 made an announcement they were moving all video to YouTube even though they only had 20,000 followers there. Why? People watched the whole video and they bought things. That was not happening on Facebook. Not that they are looking for my approval, but I totally agree.

We have not made much money in our B2B business from Facebook. Occasionally if we can get someone to sign up for the email send outs from one of the Facebook Groups we get a member but that only accounts for about 3% of our marketing return. LinkedIn still gets the highest at over 80% of the return but we can see YouTube is coming in as a player. All we need is the 4 Cs of marketing that I am always going on about: Content, Connections, Consistency, and Call-To-Action.

By the time we had a mere 200 followers on YouTube we were exceeding our Facebook returns, and I have over 15,000 followers on all of our Facebook groups and pages.

How To Get Weekly Video Content

That pesky second C is Content. That is important. One must have content and it must be consistent on YouTube to get any traction. You can do it yourself, but generally that will look like crap, even if you think it doesn't, and it won't be consistent. It also is going to take your valuable time as a business owner to get it done.

I use Francois at Exposure Video. He has a great plan to do 4 videos a month for only $1000 a month. He makes sure they all have a phone number and website and a call to action. He also posts them to your YouTube Channel and keeps the channel updated. Then even if I do get creative I can add more, but at least the basics are covered. It is a great deal! Now we put out new videos each week, usually on Monday and that really helps keep new people subscribing. Every month now we are getting a few calls because of the videos, so it is bringing in a solid return on our efforts.

What Is The Point Of Having A YouTube Channel? 

Of course we want more business. That is the main reason we have a YouTube Channel, but there are lots of other reasons:

• Our company The CIBN is getting found more.
• Our online offerings and masterminds are getting found more.
• My personal name Kerry George is getting found more.
• Our members are liking the extra material. It is a value add for them.
• We feature our Members and our Sponsors on this channel giving them more reach and exposure.
• The sales team is liking the videos, because it is making their job easier.
• I am repeating myself way less often because now we have a video that describes all of the things that I had to keep saying over and over for our team, our members, and our prospects. That is worth it all by itself. If one is trying to build processes into their business, I don't know how you will do it without creating videos.
• When we reach 1000 subscribers we should be able to monetize the whole thing by allowing YouTube to sell ads on our channel. In no time it will pay us back all of our investment of time and money.

Don't Wait To Start A YouTube Channel

Seriously, don't wait. Right now, many of your competitors are having a video made. Most however, do not have a YouTube Channel to post their videos. If they do, they have only created a graveyard where they parked their one or two projects. It is empty. Remember those Cs. That is how you get any marketing to work. Your competitor is not making ongoing content, posting consistently, to a growing number of connections, while using a call-to-action. The sooner you do, the sooner you steal the market!

Here are a few different kinds of videos that Exposure Video has done for me. We have had a lot of fun doing this and using different tools, but best of all, it has been profitable.

Some Video Examples

This video was filmed in front of a green screen. Sometimes I have him put a very nice lead in on the front of these or use nice music. This one however, was created with the intent of educating the network and/or our sales team to be able to network properly at a large event, so I had him not use so many bells and whistles. It gets it done and it is nice and simple.

This video is done with a drawing tool. It is mesmerizing. Even my 3 year old grandson is captivated for the whole thing.

This is called a Promotional Video. It is short and sweet. It runs nicely on Facebook as well when people are scrolling and don't want the sound on.

There are lots more on our YouTube Channel. Please Subscribe while you are there and ring that bell thing so you get notifications when our new videos go live.

Salesperson Wanted - Just Like Me - Kerry George

Salesperson Wanted - Duplicating Kerry George

Have you ever been told in business, you should just duplicate yourself? If you are someone who gets stuff done, then that is a great idea! If you are not that person, probably not a good idea. I remember years ago when I was building a network marketing business, my upline said "What would happen in your business if you had 12 people just like you?" Most would have to admit - NOTHING. I was not one of them then, and I am not one of them now.

I get sh!$ done. Lots of it. If I could duplicate myself, it would be so cool. I work 12 hour days on a short day. I can do marketing (that works). I am a speaker (that people seem to enjoy - that, or they are good at lying about it). I run an organization and I am good with people. I am kind of multi-talented. I am thinking, I am not finding 12 of me. So I am going to settle for just finding 12 sales people. Maybe we will stick to just one thing I can do, and see if I can get any duplication there.

I tried running ads that said "Shark With A Heart Wanted!" Nobody answered that. People just don't get me. Then I tried "Relationship Managers Wanted," and changed nothing in the description but that got me some real candidates.

Now I have been thinking of running an ad like this, but I feel it needs work. What do you think? These are the traits like me (Kerry George) that I need.

Salesperson Must Have:

• A winning personality. You read that right. Not a whining personality. That is not the same. People should like you, when they meet you. They should be okay with spending an hour with you without thinking about dousing themselves with gasoline and lighting themselves on fire to escape.
• The ability to talk, but not talk too much. You know what I mean right? You should be able to explain our services when it is time, but not monopolize the conversations and make it all about you. Interupters need not apply.
• Listeners with two ears. Yes, and they should know where to find their ears and have them turned on at all times. Listening for when business owners have needs. Listening for who needs what service so they can bring members collaborative relationships. Listening to the answers to the questions they ask and not just good waiting skills so they can blurt out what they were thinking about while they were supposed to be listening.
• Care for others. Yes. I want salespeople who actually care about entrepreneurs and business owners. I am hoping for those who want to build relationships and not burn bridges. It is a bad idea to return to current clients and say bad crap about your personal stuff, our stuff or any stuff. The right candidate should actually care about their customers, themselves, their family, and even us the organization of The CIBN. That would be really awesome.
• The willingness to eat and drink. They should like to drink water, coffee or tea, wine, beer or juice. They should enjoy eating food. We eat a lot of food at The CIBN. My business coach Rael Kalley says I feed more people than the food bank, so they should definitely like to eat.
• A desire to make lots of money, but not an overwhelming love of money that drives them to rape, pillage and plunder in the name of profit. No Vikings please. Just honest, hard-working folk, with good work-ethic. Farmers would be nice...
• A smart phone and fingers to dial with. They should love to dial and make it a habit every day to call at least 20 people who actually answer the phone. Leaving phone messages is a cop out and ineffective at best.
• Social media experience. We use a lot of internet tools and marketing so if one has a Facebook account and a LinkedIn account and knows where the "ON" button is on their laptop, this is good. I can work with this.
• The ability and heart to have fun. Our catch phrase is "Happy Capitalism!" No sour pusses please. You should be happy, and your face should show it. I crack myself up, and you should be enjoyable too. I am non-negotiable on that point.

For those of you reading this who think that I am full of myself, I wish to inform you, I simply know what I am good at. I also know that I am bad at many things. To preserve my self-confidence I have left those things out. Be assured, the list is significant.

For those who know me, you will get the humour of duplicating me - Kerry George. I am sure that you can think of some ways you would like to be duplicated too, and if you are honest, probably a few ways you are sure that would not be a good idea...

Oh and if you know someone who qualifies for the above have them call or text me immediately. I want to meet them. 403-397-1909 Even if they don't join my team, I think we will end up being long-term friends!

Using A Mastermind

Using A Mastermind 

When we first got started building The Canadian Imperial Business Network we wanted to help business owners, but really we did not know much about what they needed. We needed help as much as anyone. The Masterminds that we started back then we asked other people to lead because it would have been the blind leading the blind to ask us for any strategy. Every couple of weeks we would get together with people smarter than us and piece by piece we began to build an empire.

We worked on marketing, sales, structure, processes and more. Every time we met we would try to add just one more thing to our business. We couldn't do it all, but if we could do ONE THING maybe it would make a difference. Guess what? It did!

In those early days we made great friends and some of them had big plans too. Velda Paynter who owned Velda's Grower Direct was preparing to sell her business. She learned a lot in our mastermind group and was able to apply marketing and processes that yielded her a big return when she sold her business. It was remarkable to watch it all come together.

Today the masterminds are growing and we are gathering more and more members who are eager to see change in their businesses.

A mastermind is different than a referral meeting. Nobody is looking for a referral. They are there working "on" their business, and not "in" it. They are collaborating and building strategies. In a weekly referral club a member can get a good lead that will feed them for a month. In a mastermind they can create a process that saves them $20,000 a year or have an idea that makes them $80,000 a year. It is a masterful, life-changing experience every time.

We have 2 live ones every month and now online ones for those who can't attend them live. The sky is the limit.

As for me, I will still apply one idea from each time, and one brick at a time increase my empire.

I Go Out Walking

Francois and I love to go out walking most days, as long as it is not pouring rain. I must say though that right after a rain a walk smells delicious. It is late spring and almost summer so the Alberta Wild Roses are out. It was amazing to walk around a bend in the path a few mornings ago and be hit with the incredible floral scents. Lilacs are out in full bloom right now too.

Consistency is the new habit that I am building. It is a powerful habit. Doing something every day, day after day builds new pathways in the brain. Rael Kalley my habits coach has me working on creating this exercise habit over my 100 Days Of Fire. At first I hated it, but now I am actually looking forward to it. It seems to be working. I have gone for a walk at 10:00 PM to make sure it happened, so I must be committed to it.

The parks in Calgary are fabulous. There are so many great pathways to take. Lately we have been to Edworthy Park, Bowness Park, Bakers Park, Nose Hill Park and all of the other parks attached to it. I think though one of my favorites has been the park out at Cochrane. There is a path in the backwoods there that will give you quite the work out. I would not recommend going in the rain because you may slide ride off the trail but it is a very cool walk in the park. There are also these awesome stairs that you can climb to get right up to the big cowboy sculpture.

Each day that I go out walking I consider it a miracle. I really did not like to exercise in any way only a few short months ago. It took saying an affirmation, "I love to exercise," 6 times a day for four months before I was even ready to try it. Now that we do it every day we don't like to miss it at all, and I am still saying "I love to exercise." I am now starting to mean it when I say it. Learning to Lie To Myself has been a useful tool.

The journey of weight-loss is continuing one step at a time. Each day that I go out I get a little closer to my goal and the scale is showing it as well.

How is your journey coming? Tell us about it below and be sure to sign up for updates from my blog at the top right hand corner of the page.

Fitting In Jeans

There is nothing more exciting that pulling an old pair of jeans out of a drawer or a box in the back of your closet and putting them on to find that they fit!

Yay! I had to do a little happy dance and sing a skinny song!

Losing weight sometimes seems like a tedious uphill battle. You have to take a moment and enjoy the milestones.

I had these jeans that I have thought of giving away 100 times because I was too big for them. You know that sinking feeling that you have when you see them there again in the lonely rejected pile of clothing that you feel you will never enjoy again. That's the pile that you try to avoid. It is in the dresser drawer that you never open; or you only open when you can't find the one missing sock and then you remember, "Oh ya, that is the drawer full of stuff that makes me feel bad."

So the other day I was thinking that I really needed something different to wear. I was especially thinking it should be jeans, but I only have 2 pair of jeans and one of them is looking kind of sloppy and the other pair was dirty. Why are my jeans sloppy? Because I lost weight! I just had not drawn the conclusion that a pair of old jeans might fit. So I opened the drawer and stood there and went, "hmmmmm.... I wonder..."

It is such a satisfying feeling when you put those jeans on and they actually fit. Wow! It is like a chorus of angels all sing your name and the heavens open up, and the light shines down on you, and you hear God say, "This is my child, and I am well pleased with her."

Okay, well I was the only one who heard the angels. Still, I am pretty happy about fitting into those jeans.

I just made sure that I did not go looking through any other boxes yet, but I didn't want to lose my happy buzz. That day is coming though. Those boxes are destined for future glory.

"I am coming for you, my precious..."

Being Too Busy

Calgary View Nose Hill Park

There is nothing worse for creating new habits than being too busy.

Life is busy, isn't it?

All that being busy gets in the way of change. We have our routines and those routines are how we manage. Change means we have to disrupt the routines.

My routines prior to making these changes on May 1st were all BAD. Yep. No nice way to say it.

I got up as late as I could. I tried to squeeze the last few seconds of sleep out of my night and that caused pressure on my overall performance, but that was my habit. I was protective of that rest and would argue I needed my beauty sleep. Even though there was absolutely no evidence to support that it was somehow making me more beautiful, and perhaps there was even evidence to the contrary.

I would stagger down to the kitchen and let the dog out and then with my eyes half open I would feel my way around the kitchen and get a coffee into my miserable self. I would stand at the counter feeling gross and try to stir myself up to face the day.

The day then got very busy.

I would go up to my computer and try to get as much done as possible in an hour, get everything packed into my briefcase and rush out for the appointments, the training classes I would teach, or the schedule that I had set for myself. I was very busy. That amount of busyness was keeping me from reaching any health related goals. My days were going from one appointment to another. No time for exercise and no time for thinking about what to eat.

I didn't eat breakfast which kept my body in starvation mode. Then I was so hungry I would eat a heavy lunch that fed my soul. On cold days I wanted something hot so in the restaurants I was ordering the burger and fries with gravy and Reuben sandwiches . I smothered everything with cheese and sour cream. I didn't order salad because it was cold. Ew... cold...

I did not take the stairs. I did not like exercise.

When I finished up my appointments I went home and right back to the computer to do more work. My ass was getting bigger and bigger. Sometimes I was having trouble fitting into a chair in a restaurant. I did not like that feeling, but habit was keeping me there.

Working with my habits coach Rael Kalley has opened up my eyes. I realize now, I am my own worse enemy. I have this big gang in my head that has sprayed my thoughts with ugly graffiti and as soon as I try to clean it off or repaint they show up with bats and swear at me. They try to take back their territory. I have to fight for it every day. One of their tactics is to remind me just how busy I am. I have no time for exercise.

Whispering Walkway
Nose Hill Park

Since I started the 100 day program I am no longer responding to those gangsters. I am making time for exercise every day. We have been visiting the parks all across the city and taking pictures and videos of our experiences. We go for a walk either early in the morning, or in the evening, and we have been fitting it into our busy lifestyle with more ease than I thought possible. I am actually really enjoying the exercise. I would not have believed that was possible.

Following a plan for what I eat is also easier than I realized. It just requires some pre-planning. Once you get into the habit of buying fruit a couple times a week, it is not hard to juice each morning. Once you buy a few bags of meal replacement protein powder from Arbonne you have something around for those times when you are too busy to make good choices. Making a new plan priority is not hard once you have made it priority. The difficulty is in our mind before we get started. Once we get started it gets easier.

What are you too busy doing? What do you do now to overcome it?

Tell us about your changes, and subscribe to hear more about my journey at the top in the right hand corner.

Proper Fruit Consumption

There is a lot of controversy about fruit. Some people say that it is very good for you. Others will say that it is full of sugar content and that it is bad for people with diabetes and that we should all watch our fruit intake.

Fit For Life talks a lot about proper fruit consumption. Until I read this book and started applying it I had no idea that fruit could be eaten in a way that is not good for the body. For example if fruit is cooked obviously it changes the chemical composition of the fruit. Cooking fruit makes it very high in sugar calories. That makes sense because we all know if we sit around and eat apple pie or cherry cobbler all day it's going to definitely add some pounds to the waistline. I had not given it much thought before reading that book but having canned fruit in a little cup, would be the same as eating it in a pie. It is cooked. I grew up on home made jams, and we put fruit into all kinds of food that we cooked. It is sweet and delicious. In my early years I never thought about it.

Orange juice that you get out of a can, or even in a carton, or a jar, from the fridge at the grocery store is concentrated. That's a big fancy word that means cooked. When any kind of fruit has been cooked it turns into a sugary acid.

When Health experts tell people with diabetes that they should not be eating fruit, they would be correct if they were talking about fruit that is cooked. It is actually pretty nasty. When you think of a food that will spike your blood sugar level, that one is pretty guaranteed. What if they ate it raw though? Is it the same? The calories are similar when you compare concentrated orange juice to fresh squeezed orange juice, but what if it is not just about calories? The Canada Food guide does not distinguish any difference in cooked or raw fruit so I thought they must be the same. Now though I believe they are not the same because of what I experience in my own body when I consume them.

An interesting thing that fit for Life brought to my attention is what happens to a fruit that is eaten raw, but then has other food added into the stomach at the same time with it. This is something I had never heard any health experts say, but by experimenting in my own body I would definitely agree there is something to be said for this. Fit For Life tells us that if we eat fruit by itself but the fruit remains alkaline, and that alkaline is basically good for us. That lines up to other things that I have read that suggests that too much acid for instance in the system is a contributing environment in our body for diseases such as cancer. I think most experts would agree that alkaline is preferable.

How do we prove that it stays alkaline in the body when it is eaten raw? I am not a scientist, so I don't have a test I could run. I could however do an experiment in my own body. I could test how I feel after I consume these things on separate occasions. I could even log the results in a journal and see long term if there is any difference in anything that is measurable.

We have been trained to eat all kinds of things with fruit. My father told me for years that fresh squeezed orange juice, or any kind of orange juice would give him an immediate heartburn. That would suggest acid. So I had him do a little test. He knew that if he drink orange juice as he normally did, quickly followed by coffee and with breakfast that he would have heartburn. So I asked him to try it with only orange juice that is fresh-squeezed, and to have nothing else for at least an hour and see what that did to him. The result was he had no heartburn. In fact he realized afterwards that he could enjoy fruit by itself on an empty stomach first thing in the morning without any painful side effects. He could even drink grapefruit juice that was fresh squeezed. He also noted that if he ate anything else within 45 minutes of putting that fruit of his mouth that he would then be sick immediately. He definitely could not drink concentrated orange juice and concentrated grapefruit juice was even worse.

You've been eating fruit all your life. Try this. One morning eat fruit the way you've always eaten it. Put your bananas on top of your cereal, take your vitamins and meds with your oranges, have fruit inside of a protein shake, or put strawberries on your waffles with whipped cream. After you eat these things go sit on the couch quietly and think about how you feel. What does your stomach feel like? How is your energy level? Is there any gurgling going on? Could you go outside right now and go for a brisk walk?

Tomorrow morning have only fruit. Don't cook your fruit, don't add sugar to it. Don't drink coffee with it. Don't have toast with it. Don't take vitamins or medication at the same time. Just have fruit. Raw fruit. You can squeeze oranges for real fruit juice if you want. You can eat pieces of watermelon, or handfuls of grapes. After you have eaten your fill go sit on the couch. And think about how you feel. Does your stomach hurt? What is your energy level like? Could you go outside and go for a brisk walk or a run right now.

There is one side effect eating fruit, and you might find it to be a little inconvenient but it is very healthy for you. You're going to have to go to the bathroom more. You are also going to be hungry faster. That's not really a problem though, just take a mandarin orange or a banana with you. They travel real well.

I find weight loss to be very easy if I eat fruit all morning. It gives me lots of energy, and my mind is very sharp. I don't even feel like I need coffee.

In the past when I took off a lot of weight, I kept it off for 10 years, and I hardly did any exercise. The one thing though that I did do continuously, is that I ate a lot of fruit in the morning that was raw, and I didn't eat anything else. I ran on 4 to 6 hours a night sleep when I did that. I didn't seem to need any more sleep. I just naturally woke up after 6 hours.

I have recently gone back to doing this, and the weight is coming off. I feel great. I would encourage you to try it out. Tell us how you feel?

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