In this video I am going to share with you
some of the biggest changes we have ever made,
but in order for us to do that we do need
to leave YouTube behind.
Sort of.
Now, obviously, we would never leave YouTube
behind completely, YouTube has been really,
really good for us.
We just hit 200,000 subscribers, and our most
popular video is about to hit its 3 millionth
view.
We don’t really want to change anything
as far as what we are doing with YouTube.
We are going to continue to make the same
content on the same schedule, if you had never
seen this video, you wouldn’t even know
that we had made a radical change.
What we are doing is we want to make a lot
of new, different types of content, particularly
content where we are engaging with you on
a much deeper level.
What we realized is that YouTube is not the
perfect platform for that.
So we are going to be switching that new content
over to Patreon.
Now, if you are familiar with a lot of different
YouTube channels you have probably heard of
Patreon.
If you have you can go checkout our Patreon
campaign right now, it is on patreon.com/yotricks.
We have a link right below, you can click
that.
Make sure that you come back because I am
going to let you in on a lot of the reasons
on why we think this is the right move, and
some of the things we are going to be attempting
to do through that, and even some of the changes
that you can be a part of moving forward.
So, to get started, what is Patreon?
Basically, what Patreon is it is a way for
content creators to get support from people
who view and enjoy our videos, to get support
from the directly.
This is super, super important for anybody
who releases the majority of their content
on YouTube, and that is partly because YouTube
is so good at what they do.
I know that sounds kind of ironic, so follow
me here.
We release a lot of our content on a lot of
different platforms.
We release it on Facebook, on Instagram, on
our website and on our app.
And we also release it on YouTube.
And YouTube makes up about 90-95% of the total
views.
That is good, because it has allowed our content
to reach so many more people, but it is also
a little bit scary because, every now and
then, usually about once or twice a year,
YouTube updates its algorithm, and that changes
how they decide what to show people in their
subscriber feed, and what to show in the sidebar
where they recommend videos while you are
watching another piece of content.
I have heard all of these horror stories,
and you probably have too, about these algorithms
going into effect and channels just being
completely destroyed, they lose half their
viewers overnight because now their stuff
is not ranking the way that it used to.
So what a lot of creators have done that are
kind of like us, who have a really small team
that are trying to create the best content
in the space they are in, what they have done
is turn to Patreon.
That way they can get a base level of support
that will help them to weather the storm when
YouTube makes an algorithm change, that way
they can figure out how to fix their content
and get it setup in a way that YouTube actually
likes and will show people so they can carry
on without missing a beat.
Now we have already done this a couple of
times on our YouTube channel, and you can
see this if you look at our earliest content
compared our newest content, and if you compare
them, they are radically different.
But, when we made our early content we were
making it exactly the way YouTube recommended,
and now we are making our content the way
we think YouTube is recommending, and you
can see that is how big a shift has taken
place as far as what YouTube is looking for.
We have no idea what Youtube is going to go
next, what they are going to do next.
But we do know that they are such an important
part of what we do, that if they decide to
do something that will take away part of our
viewership it is going to make it very difficult
for us to continue to make the same amount
of videos and videos of the same quality that
we currently do.
So, again, if we can get a base line of support
on Patreon, that will allow us to continue
to do this without the fear of changes that
YouTube will inevitably make.
Now, that is only part of the story.
I think the more exciting part, is how we
are going to be able to use Patreon to be
able to engage then a deeper level all of
you.
So one of the simpler things we are doing,
something a lot of you guys have been asking
for a lot.
What we are going to do is allow people who
are patrons at a certain level, they are going
to be able to submit tricks to us.
We will watch all of those tricks, and we
will maybe take 4 every month, and then we
will allow the rest of the patrons to vote
on which of the 4 they like the best.
One of use will then learn the trick.
We will figure out how to teach it, and we
will actually teach it on our YouTube channel,
and we will mention your name and let people
know, yea, this person made up this awesome
trick and this is what it looks like.
You know, we will do our thing.
That is something that we haven’t been able
to do before, but Patreon makes that really,
really easy.
Another thing that we are going to do is we
are going to try to grow what we do in a lot
of ways that we have not done before.
So, you guys know that we have partnered with
YoYoFactory to make yoyos, and also Sengoku,
and also we have worked with Duncan to make
the Ultraweight, but we have never gone ahead
to make a yoyo on our own.
What we are thinking is that on Patreon, once
we have gotten to a certain level of support,
we will go ahead and do that, but we will
bring you with us the entire way.
Since we have never done this before you will
get the inside story of what it is like to
make your first yoyo.
So, we will show the CAD designs as we are
making them.
We will show you what we are not sure about,
and then as we talk to the manufacturers and
get prototypes back, you will see those.
We will give you guys opportunities to give
us input along the way so that you have a
hand in shaping what these yoyos become.
We just think it sounds super fun, and you
can see that it is very different than what
we do on our YouTube channel.
On our YouTube channel you only see it once
it is done and perfected and clean and refined.
That is what we like to do on our YouTube
channel.
This will be almost the opposite.
You will see everything as it is in process,
and you will be with us all along the way.
Another thing that we have never done before,
that we want to expirament with, is we have
never sponsored a player.
We think it would be super fun, once we get
to a certain level of support, to find a player
who is really interested in sharing their
life with you.
As we sponsor them and kind of go through
all the different phases of sponsorship, you
can kind of see their journey all along the
way.
We are going to want to make a yoyo with them
a well so you can see, how is it different
working with a player trying to figure out
what kind of yoyo to make?
How can you take their vision and bring it
to life?
They are going to be competing, and so we
have a couple of guys on our team that are
really good at competing and understand how
it works, so we are going to try to teach
them them how to win contests.
Then they will go and compete.
Will they win?
We don’t know, we have never done this.
I don’t know, we just think that this kind
of engagement is, it is something that we
have really wanted to do for a long time.
On a personal note, something that I have
always wanted was to have a core group of
people that I could go to and run video ideas
by.
For example, on our more detail heavy videos
like the Regen video we just did.
It would be really nice to know that we have
a group of people who know are really committed
and enjoy what we do.
Maybe I could run some ideas by you before
actually filming the video.
Hey, we are going to cover this and this,
are we missing anything?
Do you guys have trouble with this trick that
we have not covered yet?
That we we could actually find out before
we make the video how to make it as good as
possible.
We have so many more minds working on it,
the content can just turn out that much better.
These are just some of the ideas.
We have so many more, and as the support goes
up, we will be able to continue to explore
more and more ideas.
Like I said, we are just getting started with
this, so we are eager for you guys to give
us your feedback as you are taking part in
it so we know the best ways to move forward
so that we can give you exactly what you are
looking for.We don’t just want to give you
a benifit in terms of more content, we also
want to make it a little more practical, so
when we make a yoyo obviously you will get
a discount on that product, and you will get
access to it first, because you actually helped
make it.
Even on a monthly basis, at certain levels
we will be giving you coupons that are either
10% off, or 20% off one item from our store.
If you are the type of person who is frequently
buying yoyos, like if you buy even one budget
metal yoyo a month, it actually going to be
maybe even cost effective for you to back
us on Patreon, because in the long run you
may actually save money.
We are trying to find as many ways as we can
to make this work, because we think this is
a really good opportunity for use to have
a deeper level of engagement, and produce
a lot of different kinds of content, that
we haven’t been able to do before, and in
a way that is more engaged with you guys and
your interest in what we are doing.
So again, if you want to check that out, we
would really appreciate it.
It is patreon.com/yotricks, and like I said,
we just couldn’t be more excited for the
potential for what this has, and we are really
excited to be working with you on this moving
forward.
