In this episode of The 2pt5 innovator podcast my guest is Danny Black, a musician and Youtube creator in Australia.
We are talking about his approach to his music and Youtube channels, about branding for creators and especially about introducing humor in everything he does to entertain his audience.
Enjoy the show!
“I like to look at this whole Youtube venture as my video game. So I, you know, I played the Xbox games and stuff like that when I was in college. You know, just spending hours and upon hours with my friends and you know, you, you level up and all that stuff and that’s kind of what Youtube has become. It’s like how All right, this is my game, this is my challenge. How do I level up to the next subscriber milestone?“
Danny Black
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Connect & find out more about Danny Black
Mentioned in the episode & additional
- Use GoPro as a webcam video
- Nauty Buoys music video
- Casey Neistat’s 1st studio
- Danny Black: desk tour video
- Danny Black Music on Youtube
- MrBlackReviews.com
- Unbox Therapy on Youtube
- Youtube Uncut channel
And now what?
Check out Danny’s Youtube gear review and his music channel.
Newsletter
Transcript
This automatic transcript was created by podcasttranscribe.com – it is for easy reference only and not an accurate text of the conversation.
Danny Black: I like to look at this whole youtube venture as my video game. So I, you know, I played the Xbox games and stuff like that when I was in college. You know, just spending hours and upon hours with my friends and you know, you, you level up and all that stuff and that’s kind of what youtube has become. It’s like how All right, this is my game, this is my challenge. How do I level up to the next subscriber milestone? How do I level up to getting more people to watch my videos? Um you know, is like learning how to make the proper Youtube thumbnails and titles to get the clicks and that’s kind of what drives it. It’s just that, okay, what’s going to happen tomorrow? Who knows? Uh video can have a million views overnight. You never know like that kind of stuff. So it’s it’s a little bit of like, yeah, I just, it’s my video game. I spend time doing that instead of playing video games now. Mhm.
Klaus Reichert: Okay. So it’s kind of the thing to get to our next level and you can, you can define the level yourself in a way.
Danny Black: Yeah, I mean, you, you can track your progress. It’s just very it’s very interesting, you know, to kind of figure out, it’s like a puzzle. It’s like you’re piecing it together and you’re seeing it finally come into view and you’re like, just, and you’re getting better and better and faster at it because you kind of know what pieces to look for. So yeah, it’s a it’s a game mm hmm. Welcome
Klaus Reichert: To the 2.5 conversations connecting innovators. My name is Klaus. I’m an innovation coach in Baden Wurttemberg in the southwest of Germany innovators and creators from around the globe help each other by sharing highs and lows the motivation and creative passions as well as their favorite methods, tools and ideas. The name of the podcast comes from the 2.5% innovators from Rogers, diffusion of innovation theory. Find more details all the episodes and transcripts at the 2.5.net, enjoy the show. Mm hmm. In this episode of the 2.5 innovative podcast, my guest is the Danny Black. He’s a musician, a youtuber reviewing cool gear that comes his way. He’s an American living in Australia. I like him because he adds humor to everything he does. He’s a smart and funny guy and does, especially his YouTube channel different from the rest. My name is Klaus. This is the Denny black and this is the 2.5 innovative podcast. Hello Danny! Good morning, good evening.
Danny Black: Hey close. Thanks for having me on whatever time it is where you are.
Klaus Reichert: This is ah, this always trips me off. It’s evening in Australia and morning in Germany right
Danny Black: now. Yeah.
Klaus Reichert: And we just had a funny thing, it showed that people in Australia stand the other way around. Right.
Danny Black: Yeah, we’re upside down. We’re holding on,
Klaus Reichert: assume window was a bit mixed up. So okay, thank you for making me smile when learning about new cameras and gear and stuff and this is how I discovered you on, on the internet, on Youtube Danny. So that’s also something that I’d like to talk about with you. But first of all, your musician, right? This is what’s inside you or what’s your main purpose? Your main thing?
Danny Black: Yes. I’ve been Playing music professionally for about 12 years starting out on cruise ships. And basically I kind of like lied my way on the ships. I knew how to play music before that, but I was never really like a singer and guitar player like that and I was like, I can do it. I’m sure I can. And I got on and you play five hours a day, six days a week. So you, you get to learn pretty quickly how to, how to do it.
Klaus Reichert: Okay. Sounds like a tough gig playing on a cruise ship.
Danny Black: Actually, no, it’s, it’s amazing. It’s a lot of fun. Just an easy life. No worries. You just got to show up, play your music and uh, you know, a lot of times get free drinks and that’s, that’s how it works.
Klaus Reichert: Okay. You, you have documented some of that on your Youtube.
Danny Black: Yes. On my Youtube channel. Yeah, you can check that out.
Klaus Reichert: Well we’ll put the link in the show notes in the description and by the way, I like the way you say that on your youtube videos and I can’t repeat that because I’m just not as funny as you are. But you have found a very special way to to make people aware of these things that are. So we’ll put all these links in the show notes. Let’s put it that way.
Danny Black: No, no, I appreciate it. Honestly, I don’t usually get that kind of feedback. So that’s that’s really comforting to hear. I I do appreciate that
Klaus Reichert: we need to talk about the musician thing and I’d like to do that. But first of all, I found out about you because I’m researching a lot about microphones and, and, and cameras to get good quality, a good quality podcast. And what what made me aware of you was, I think you had a video about using a GoPro as a webcam and that was not the usual thing at the time. And so I thought, well that’s a smart guy. He discovered something and he’s talking about something that nobody else is doing in a way that was also entertaining.
Danny Black: Yeah. That was a very fun video to make. Yeah. And I find it um it’s a it’s a good thing when you use, when you’re talking about a product and like the feature of the product and you use it throughout, like the video for instance, I was using that as a webcam. I didn’t really want to shoot on, like a higher quality camera and then be like by the way, this is what the webcam looks like and it’s gonna look like crap compared, you know? But when you’re always on that medium, it looks really cool. Same with mics, when I’m doing a microphone review, I like to be using that microphone throughout the whole video, otherwise it’s just a bit weird going from a really, like, high quality microphone to something that might be like a $30.01 that you’re reviewing. And it’s like, it makes it sound worse when it’s probably a really good microphone, you just, you know, you don’t want to have the direct comparison I guess.
Klaus Reichert: So you’d like to keep things real. Also,
Danny Black: I like to keep them real. Yeah, for sure,
Klaus Reichert: and that’s fascinating to see that, that there’s, this makes you say you are very real, you have a very relaxed style. Um and and it’s humorous. Um you say, I like to review things that come my way, which is kind of a tongue in cheek invitation to send you stuff.
Danny Black: Yeah, you got that, yep, yep. And you know, to be careful what you wish for in that because I’ll get things, I get so many things sometimes. Uh it became overwhelming for a little bit, it was just like piling up and I try to at least do one review a day and I couldn’t even keep up with all of that. So I had to like, you know, tell people like if it was something that’s probably not going to do good for my channel, I’m like, no, maybe not that, but yeah, this one, this for the listeners, this one came today, they watched a, a recent gimbal review I did, and they were like, our gimbels better than that. So they sent me this one and this thing is a beast, it’s called Scorpio. See, I haven’t even used it yet, just got it today, so, I’m excited to try that one. That
Klaus Reichert: gives me a reason to produce this podcast before you do the video.
Danny Black: Oh, it’s gonna be a while, like, see that’s the thing is I have so many products to get to, and also you want to Sprinkle in those videos that are going to do well for your channel, like in my case, you know, go pro tips or something like that, so it can’t just be all product you want to kind of Sprinkle in a few things that are going to, you know, keep the channel going.
Klaus Reichert: I see, and I think that’s a kind of a very special thing to get an understanding of what the audience likes and does it help you to be a musician to be a good youtube. But also,
Danny Black: you know what, I actually think that does help as far as when I’m putting the music underneath the videos, Like, I try to use a lot of just bass and drum, but you can kind of get good timing for when the clips change, Um, and then also like there’s times where I’ll actually speed ramp down at the end just to kind of hold it out a little bit and then I’ll bring it back in. Um, and I, you know, I think anyone that appreciates music can do that as well and not just be a good musician. So, um, yeah, that’s, that’s definitely helps though,
Klaus Reichert: but it’s also probably something that is in your mind that you’re thinking about your audience, which you have to do all the time if you do, if you’re a live musician, right? But as a Youtuber, you don’t have that direct feedback.
Danny Black: Yeah, I feel like I’m having a therapy session, like I, I never even thought about these things. So it’s kind of nice. You’re, you’re, you’re getting me to think about the way that I do things.
Klaus Reichert: Well, thank you. I’m an innovation coach. I have to do these things.
Danny Black: Oh, there you
Klaus Reichert: go.
Danny Black: Of course.
Klaus Reichert: Okay. Your slogan on, on facebook is, is I’m here to entertain and I discovered that we’re doing research on you and I think that’s a very good thing to do, a very good goal to have. I’m here to entertain because if you can do so many things with that slogan or with that motto, you can do the musician thing, You can do the, youtube thing, you might do even something else, right? Because everything that you do is about entertaining others.
Danny Black: Yeah, and I, you know, I think that, that’s what social media should be, you know, a way to entertain and inform in a way, but it’s just like, it shouldn’t be a place to complain, should be a place to entertain, you know, that way. That’s why people are looking, you know, so that’s, that’s kind of my motto when it comes to social media.
Klaus Reichert: And I’ve seen very weird things. Uh, for example, the naughty boys, I just discovered and the naughty is the nautical thing. But as you play with words
Danny Black: and boys, like, like buoys, like it was a little trio is putting together for, because the cruise ships are coming back to Australia and we’re gonna be doing like a trio gig. And, and um, I also have a duo gig. Uh, we’re kind of work shopping the name and we’re gonna be, I think we’re working with the, the orchestra because we kind of, we look like dorks, but the music is really cool and we’re going to, uh, to America to play a country music festival of all things. So that’s going to be a hoot and a half.
Klaus Reichert: Okay, let’s go back to that musician thing. So you’re an american, you’re living in Australia, but you’re sort of going around all the time
Danny Black: in
Klaus Reichert: a way. You do the videos to show that on your, youtube channel where you also review some gear and where you sort of have different dimensions. Let’s put it that way, you also have the music channel on Youtube. And it’s really fascinating to see the development of this. Let’s, if you go back like, uh, just two or three years, you started seriously reviewing the gear. But before that, you, you show all these Youtube things. You, you have, you were trying to do a vlog for awhile and so on. So, so there’s, you were experimenting with the medium, I think.
Danny Black: Yeah. Well because my life back when I started youtube was a lot of traveling and I thought it was first of all a good way to, you know, kind of show my family back home what I was up to and all the cool things that are happening out in Australia or wherever I’m traveling. So it was, it was kind of a travel vlog and uh, you know, when traveling kind of stopped for a couple of years, I was just like, well, let me just review some products and then it’s, I learned really quickly that when you niche down your channels grow so much more. So not so much on facebook or instagram. Those are kind of just, I’m not, I don’t really pushes hard on on those just because I don’t see a good return on the investment if you will. But youtube especially like when, as soon as I started, um, just nipping down, I, you know, Doubled my subscriber count. I went from like 9000 two, Uh, like 20,000 very quickly. So that’s that’s something that you have to do, like when people ask me like what, you know what should my channel be about? And I’m like what do you want it to be about? And they’re like well I wanted to be about cooking and tattoos and I’m like no, if you say and you’re probably not going to grow, you got to pick one or the other. I mean you can obviously have a little bit of influence but you gotta keep keep that, keep niche down if you want to grow,
Klaus Reichert: you sort of found that niche for you in a in an experimental way and.
Danny Black: Yes. Yeah.
Klaus Reichert: Okay and you show a lot of your music also which which seems fun. I mean I’d like to be there once in a life concept. Unfortunately the U. S. And cruise ships in Australia a bit far away from Germany so any plans to come like to europe?
Danny Black: Uh No plans. Um I have been out that way. I did a mediterranean cruise ship actually and that was that was a fun time but I’d like to come out there but I’m also doing a lot of live streams coming up as well. Um So like music streams where if you put headphones on it’ll sound like you’re there and uh you know that’ll be a good way to connect to it and uh and then you can request songs and stuff too. So
Klaus Reichert: I watched part of that Naughty Boys concert online and it was fun, right? And it
Danny Black: was a bit over the top, I will give you that. It was a bit like, you know, the green screen work was supposed to be kind of shoddy just because obviously we’re not trying to say we’re on a cruise ship, but we wanted to make it look like it was a bit silly. Um, but yeah, it’ll get more fun.
Klaus Reichert: Yeah, we’ll provide a link to that in the, in the show notes. And because it was funny, it was humorous, it was something different. It was not just music and it kind of shows a sense of humor that doesn’t take himself yourself too serious. And I think that shows also with your Youtube videos, you’re not preaching the best of GoPro or whatever. You’re sort of finding cool ways to use all these things and, and have a different angle on, on things and, and I like that a lot because it’s not just the normal GoPro standard you Youtube video.
Danny Black: Yeah, Well, you know, it’s funny about a lot of these products is I feel like they’re just relying on Youtube to be their guide. So like they don’t come out with any, you know, any manuals on how to use it or or things like that. But everyone has to kind of get it and discover it. And I will say that’s one of my favorite things about being a tech reviewer on Youtube is, you know, if I got a GoPro before that I would just probably play with a few settings and then just never try anything else. But when you’re trying to get in there and see what each thing does and you make a video about it to show other people, you learn really quickly how to use it inside and out. And that goes with all the products that I review, It’s like you’re not just trying one thing and going, oh, that’s cool, you actually, oh, what does that? Oh, it does that, Oh wow, cool. And then you think of all these creative ways that you can use it and then show people how to use it as well.
Klaus Reichert: Okay, if you’re curious, you will go into the depth of these menus and if you’re creative, you do all these extra videos, right? And that’s what you do.
Danny Black: That’s right. Yeah, exactly,
Klaus Reichert: and and that’s not what what everybody does, and that’s, that’s very refreshing also. So you’re experimenting a lot with that and you can see that on the videos if you sort of look back every 10th video, you see differences in the way, for example, you do the intro, it’s getting more more professional dairy, say
Danny Black: it’s, it’s getting more nailed down. It’s yeah, when you kind of find that groove and especially like I said, you have a lot of videos review it’s like, uh, you know, you try, you try to change it up every now and then, but when some of my favorite Youtubers that I watch, like, it’s, it’s nice when they, you know, when they have the same lines a lot. It’s like, it kind of sticks with you and you don’t want them to change those lines. So I’m trying to create that kind of branding.
Klaus Reichert: It’s also a fun way to do this. The, the normal things that you have to do as the Youtubers, right? You have to sort of tell people to like and subscribe and whatever. And what what I’m asking myself is, people haven’t people understood that they’re supposed to do all these things yet. Um, but, but it’s, the way you do. It is, it’s very refreshing. It’s relaxing. Uh, you make it funny in a way you do, you add some, some effects. And so, so, so I kind of, I like that and I, the first time I saw you showing your name tag with a swipe on your chest. I really like
Danny Black: that. Well,
Klaus Reichert: stuff like that, but, but then you have your working on these things, you’re improving on that in parallel to doing all your musician things. Um, you had a, do you play all the time. Cruise ships are coming back. So at some point of time you probably will be playing on cruise ships again.
Danny Black: Yeah, I got some already booked. It’s, it’s tricky, um, the, to be honest with you, financially speaking, youtube is done so well. Um where I’m actually almost doubling what I’m making as a musician on Youtube and so I would like to almost phase out the music a little bit more, so I have a little bit more time uh to do other things, but um, I just never say no to the gigs, I’m always like, our future Danny is going to be mad about that, but I don’t know, you know, he’ll deal with that and then future Danny has to play that gig and he’s like, ah, you know, some gigs are great, some gigs aren’t, so you just kind of uh you know, you don’t need to take them all, but I do, so, and yes, it’s, it’s really cool to see it grow and I’m actually looking into actually moving from room to an actual like office space that kind of looks like the, I would say it’s like the Casey Neistat office of Brisbane here. Um it’s gonna be really cool. So I’m looking into that, uh expanding a little bit, you know, you kind of outgrow a room. Um but I was whatever, wherever I go, I’m gonna still make it look like this, you know, like I’m in a home reviewing, I don’t want it to be like, hey, look, I’m in this big studio thing and I’m so cool.
Klaus Reichert: I’m a production company right now with 10 people and stuff like that.
Danny Black: Yeah, exactly,
Klaus Reichert: I kind of, I like the vibe that your studio, your room has right now with, and it shows a multifaceted personality with instruments, with a skateboard, with pictures and stuff like that. It’s not overcrowded, but it it has has that um a gig kind of vibe, I think with the stage kind of vibe also.
Danny Black: Yeah, I think when you, the video you stumbled upon, I used to have like a brick wallpaper um and I love that brick wallpaper look, but it was starting to like, kind of get disconnected a little bit. Like it was coming unglued and I was just like, oh, you know what, let’s try something different, and I was just like, let’s just go uh paint it and all that. But just so you know, probably in about two hours, I have a new video coming on that’s actually my desk tour, like everything that I have uh from my monitors and camera and lights and speakers and everything that’s on my desk and my desk. So that video is actually going to be coming up. So it’s already out by now from when the podcast is released. But I think you’ll enjoy seeing that.
Klaus Reichert: We’ll add a link in the show notes.
Danny Black: That’s your, that’s your tagline.
Klaus Reichert: No, no, no, I didn’t find anything yet. Right? It’s uh I probably should do all these things. It’s just too much to to do all these details with the two podcasts and the job and, and stuff like that. I try to enjoy the conversation as much as possible and then do it as well as possible for the listeners. Okay, so, so that sounds like fun. You are working on your product, let’s put it that way. That’s kind of also working on yourself in a way and, and it’s also going back and forth between music between between the Danube tubing thing. Is there anything else that you do? Like, like another type of hobby or profession or something?
Danny Black: Definitely got into like the electric skateboard writing. Um that’s always a lot of fun just to go out and, and uh you know, get with other people and go for like rides and uh stop and have some coffee and, and chats. Um I think, I mean definitely, I haven’t really developed any new hobbies. Uh literally this has been taking up so much time, but you know, I have a wife and a dog and you know, got to um do some, you know, family quality time every now and then and uh we have a house. So it’s, it’s like another thing you have to kind of like look after and uh you know it all, it’s like I’m an adult now, when did that happen?
Klaus Reichert: When did that happen? How old are you by the way?
Danny Black: I actually will be The Big 40, at the end of the year, I’m turning 40 years old Geezer.
Klaus Reichert: My God, life is ending.
Danny Black: I know. Wait, how old are you
Klaus Reichert: over 50.
Danny Black: Alright,
Klaus Reichert: well, you
Danny Black: know that you’re giving me some hope right now. There we go.
Klaus Reichert: Thank you.
Danny Black: Okay,
Klaus Reichert: so, so you’re an adult now, but
Danny Black: I can very
Klaus Reichert: Well, yeah, I can very well relate to that. I think I had something similar when I didn’t feel adult, adult, adult adult, like until 40. That’s good. That’s bad. I don’t know. And it might be that it shows that there’s a sort of a sheltered life also.
Danny Black: Yeah. You know, I think I like the boomer, like our parents, basically, they didn’t want to grow up. So they kept us being Children and so we never really grew up, you know? And so that’s why it’s like, oh, well I’m getting gray hair and my beard, you know what? Maybe I’m an adult now, I don’t know. You know? So I think, I think that’s literally what happened.
Klaus Reichert: It sounds like a good explanation. Just blame it on the parents and no problem. Okay, how did you end up in Australia? You’re an american.
Danny Black: I know. So I was working on a cruise ship in Australia and my wife now, she was working on the same cruise ship and she was actually living next door to me and we just hit it off and um, yeah, we traveled the states together and we’re going to do more cruise ships in Australia. And so we’re like, well, let’s just move to Australia and you know, so we lived together in Australia. Uh, I mean, ever since really, we didn’t know what, you know, we’re kind of open to any kind of travel or plans um for living other places, but just Brisbane is pretty cool. I like it out here.
Klaus Reichert: Never been, there have met lots of Australians and I kind of like that laid back vibe that many people have and it’s probably part of being so far away from everybody else
Danny Black: there is that, but I also think it’s, you know, it’s a warmer climate up here at least. So usually people in like the warmer climates are a little bit more laid back because it’s too hot to, you know, to, to run run amok or something like that.
Klaus Reichert: So you’re the musician, you have sort of, the Youtube thing um where you review gear and that developed over time and it’s sort of getting into a mix. Do you have any plans like to sort of mix that even further, like sing reviews or something
Danny Black: like that? Uh No, I, I, yeah, I just, I actually only made a music channel. Uh, so it’s Danny black music and um that’s kind of where I was, I was like, you know what, let’s keep it separated. Like I said, when you niche down it, it really works. So, um, every now and then I’ll post something on it, just like, hey, if you want to come over and listen to some music over here. Um, but like after, after things kind of picked back up, you know, the bars were opening actually here, it wasn’t shut down very much. Um, so I’ve been really busy with gigs a lot of months. I’m playing five gigs a week. Um and then, so, so when you start doing these kind of videos, you’re like not really wanting to play any music, you’re just like, all right, I’ve done that a lot now, let me do something else, you know? So, um, but I think also, you know, I’m getting, I’m getting older as we’ve established my thoughts of like being a famous musician have fleet it a long time ago, so I’m not really trying to push myself as some kind of a famous musician. I
Klaus Reichert: see what you mean, but you’re sort of trying to control your own fate as a musician, I think. You don’t give up, you don’t, you do your thing, you always develop, you start new things like the orchestra or the notes
Danny Black: it came from because they were a duo, like a duo orchestra and they were like an orchestra,
Klaus Reichert: the threat, right? It could be with an apostrophe or something like the door orchestra. Put
Danny Black: the little dots over the O and it’s like, it looks like a like an IKEA furniture,
Klaus Reichert: right? You used lots of like german or some european languages, but um have you recently secured the web, the web domain?
Danny Black: Uh No, actually, so somebody that’s, you know, that’s that’s the thing that sucks nowadays, as you think of like an idea or like a brand and you have to search at first you’re like, hey, I got a great Name, Orchestra and then you look at it and it’s like, all right, there’s a band called The Orchestra but They don’t play any music anymore and every if they post a video on YouTube, it’s 10 views. So how serious are they about the orchestra? You know what I mean? Like? But yeah, I’ve done that like for a long time where you just, you think of an idea and then you’re like, let me look it up, nope, It’s taken. Yeah.
Klaus Reichert: And it’s kind of frustrating in a way because you’re so into that name or into that whatever it took you so long also to decide. And I know I know that a lot from from other projects, but still, um it’s it’s sort of, the website is kind of the home of your online creative uh endeavors. It’s kind of important to have um let’s go back to to that. I mean, you are, you are, you’re sort of the internet allows us to to be to have a global brand to a global audience in a way potentially everybody on the Earth could watch your videos, right?
Danny Black: Yeah.
Klaus Reichert: Not everybody does, but that’s not a problem, I think. And but still you have to live with that? There’s other Danny blacks in the
Danny Black: world? So there’s a lot of them actually,
Klaus Reichert: right. It’s the same with Klaus right here, there’s a lot of them. That’s why I say I’m dr Klaus right, because there is less than than that on the world. Um but that’s something, how how do you do stuff like that? You are one person you have so in a way, limited capacities and resources, it’s not like Disney who can buy up brands and and and so on. What is your, your reasoning behind your naming and or for example your channel or or your your facebook or maybe a domain name and stuff like that. How do you approach that?
Danny Black: Oh yeah. Well the first thing was like Danny black dot com, some realtor had it and I was like, hey, like are you doing anything with this? And they’re like, yeah, like, okay, so never mind. Uh then I actually went and you introduced me as the Danny Black, which is funny because that was kind of my first brand of name was the Danny black dot com and
Klaus Reichert: which doesn’t, it’s not online anymore.
Danny Black: No, it’s not online anymore. But then it went to um where is Danny Black because as I was being a travel blogger, um I thought it was easier to, because it was gonna be like Danny black vlogs or even with the Danny black people get confused like what do I type the um and so I was like where’s Danny Black is easier to just say hey go to where is Danny black dot com? And then um now it’s actually being developed, it’s called Mr Black reviews dot com. And Danny Black refused was actually taken funny enough so we play on that, there’s like a Simpsons reference in there, it’s like Mr Black and that’s kind of where I where I took that and so it’s kind of cool yeah it’s being developed and I think one of the things that’s going to help that grow is I’m going to be doing this whole GoPro guide where people can click on it and they can see you know exactly I you know I never considered this but there’s so many people buying their first GoPro right now that I have no idea where to start. And people like someone that I’ve known from before they got theirs and I was like ask me any questions I want to know because I want to know what new people are wanting to make, wanting to learn and what they’re going to be searching for and um that’s why I started bringing back like tips for beginners on GoPro and because I was like for me it’s like you know how to get the SD card out now? That’s easy, I know that but somebody literally had that question like do I how do I pull it out? So you gotta push it in first. So it’s just, it’s, it’s funny stuff like that, you know, sorry, that was kind of off topic, I guess from the website and domains. But yeah,
Klaus Reichert: not a problem because it shows, I mean we’re talking this is an innovator slash creator innovation podcast, right? So we’re talking awesome about the ways you get to your ideas that you find out what’s, what’s important to, to the people that are using it. Uh, and it’s, it’s, it’s one of these important things to talk to your audience to your customers, potential customers, maybe have one or two or 10 around you that help you develop new things very closely. So that’s right on the point. Thanks. So thank you for
Danny Black: that
Klaus Reichert: because that’s the point, right? As an expert, you don’t know about the things that the non experts normally have troubles with.
Danny Black: Yeah, exactly. And I think that that’s what happens to a lot of tech reviewers. They, for one, they get jaded by the tech, so they go, oh, this is like just the same cameras last time, but just a little bit better. And it’s like, to me, I want to be like, it’s a little bit better. I didn’t even think that these things could get better. You know what I mean? Like that’s, that’s everything and you have, then you understand like there’s revolutionary updates and then there’s evolutionary updates where it’s like it evolves from the iphone one to the iphone 13 that’s a huge difference. But when you’re going from each one you get little minor differences and um I think that yeah, you don’t, you don’t want to be jaded by the tech,
Klaus Reichert: But I know what you mean. And Bill Gates said it’s some probably years ago he said nothing changes in a year but everything changes in 10 years.
Danny Black: Yeah, that’s that’s exactly, that’s exactly it.
Klaus Reichert: And I also understand what you mean. I followed another podcast that did the reviewing review of gear and stuff And he became very, very jaded and I think that’s a good word because and he kind of lost track of of what was normal. But that also transported him in in the way of like 15 million followers on YouTube and talking to Tim Cook and stuff like that directly. And and that’s also that there’s a place for that but it wasn’t interesting for me anymore.
Danny Black: Yeah. Wait which Youtuber would that be?
Klaus Reichert: I wouldn’t want to say it
Danny Black: on. I feel like you’re talking about Unbox therapy. But
Klaus Reichert: no, but I also like Unbox therapy and I’m not sure if I like the progression they had but I understand that these things happen
Danny Black: but they don’t have to happen. I think that that’s the thing is you have to keep yourself from getting to that point and just kind of refresh your brain and and uh you know, I keep thinking about the new people that that are getting this camera and they, you know, they didn’t have all these other cameras to choose from. They got this one, you know, go with that,
Klaus Reichert: right? And there’s a new version. Oh no, I can’t spend another €500 on on another camera yet again, for example, and stuff like that, That is just a normal standard life. Okay, understand. So, but let’s go back to the branding thing um because I think branding is very, very important for innovation and it’s very, very important for being recognized, right? So that’s not nothing new here, but it’s very difficult to do if you are like a small company, if you are a single creator, do you have like any any tips that help you? Or that might help others in the branding section? Any learnings?
Danny Black: My biggest tips, my biggest tips are well for one niche down that’s huge. But um just make videos, upload them, don’t think too hard about it. Like there’s people that come up with all these ideas for videos but never get done, never do them because they’re just thinking about how to make it perfect, make the videos, you know, you can always make a video again if you want to, but you learn and grow so much more after you’ve experienced it. Like if you look back in the earlier tech reviews, it’s a lot different than what you see now, like where even the sound is better. Uh you know, you just get a more understanding about what people want to see your more succinct and that’s, that’s an important thing to me. People get bored. It’s a Tiktok generation now where they swipe after like, you know, 15 seconds. So get to the point of the, of the video that you’re making like the thumbnail and the, and the title about, you know, if it’s about, hey, um, look at these D GI microphones, they sound amazing. And then the first part of it is, you know, five minutes of you going to walmart to buy them. Like that’s not what people clicked on the video for and you just want to get to that point and people will enjoy that. They’ll, they’ll appreciate that because their time is valuable.
Klaus Reichert: So we have made the biggest mistake of all. We have been talking for like 40 minutes so far and uh, and people will probably won’t be listening to us anymore Because they are used to two minutes shorts.
Danny Black: That’s right. Well no podcasts are different because you know, people go for long drives, They have, they sit in traffic jams and they want to hear voices and if comforts them to hear people that they like to hear. Um, talking about, Things that they like to, to listen to you. So I think that that’s a different, a different thing altogether, podcasts are really cool and by the way, I have a kind of a podcast channel where it used to be a podcast now, it’s more of a live stream where we just go live. Um and we call it youtube uncut. So it’s like um just the conversations like we’re having right now, but um we talk about being Youtubers. Um there’s more people, other Youtubers that are on there as well. They do live streams and talk about different things. I’ll be on uh doing a watch party for the new D. G. I. Release tonight and this morning, whatever time for you, I don’t know. And yeah, so if you want to check that out, that’s always fun just to have, you know, chat in the live stream and stuff like that.
Klaus Reichert: That could be my surprise link in the show.
Danny Black: Surprise links. I love those.
Klaus Reichert: Sorry, I need to quote you all the
Danny Black: time. That’s all right. I like, I like the surprise links uh aspect of it and I actually never thought anybody would ever click on them and some people would be like, hey, I saw you used my video for the surprise link and I’m like, oh that’s you clicked on it. Amazing. So
Klaus Reichert: what happens when I saw that? I was again hooked because it’s, it’s part of what, what I see with your videos developing over over time. The surprise link thing and and it’s so nice. It’s so it’s generous in a way, but it also makes you as you as a listener as a uh, um, Youtube audience curious, Right? And it’s a nice way to do you think these things, So, so that’s, I like that a lot. Um, you were just saying that you have to do lots of videos, care about quality, but don’t over quality the thing, right? Because you have to sort of launch it and then do better next time, for example.
Danny Black: Yeah. And there’s some huge Youtubers out there and, you know, their production quality is subpar, you know, like, which is fine. That’s, that’s their thing. So yeah, you don’t, don’t think, oh, this has gotta be Hollywood, you know, it’s just gotta be Youtube,
Klaus Reichert: but see what I think, what, what drives you to keep on doing these things because first of all your creative type, right, you do music gigs all the time. Um, there, there might, there might be something in you that is sort of a non music type, non creative type that is sort of very mythological and, and does things, right? Um, but also it’s sometimes it’s hard to do these things and push out a new video every week or every other day or stuff like that. What keeps you going?
Danny Black: I like to look at this whole youtube venture as my video game. So I, you know, I played the xbox games and stuff like that when I was in college, you know, just spending hours and upon hours with my friends and, you know, you, you level up and all that stuff and that’s kind of what youtube has become. It’s like how All right, this is my game, this is my challenge. How do I level up to the next subscriber milestone? How do I level up to getting more people to watch my videos? Um, you know, is like learning how to make the proper youtube thumbnails and titles to get the clicks and that’s kind of what drives it. It’s just that, okay, what’s going to happen tomorrow? Who knows? Uh, video can have a million views overnight, You never know, like that kind of stuff. So it’s, it’s a little bit of like, yeah, I just, it’s my video game, I spend time doing that instead of playing video games now.
Klaus Reichert: Okay, So it’s kind of the thing to get to the next level and you can you can define the level yourself in a way.
Danny Black: Yeah, I mean, you you can track your progress, it’s just very, it’s very interesting, you know, to kind of figure out, it’s like a puzzle. It’s like you’re, you’re piecing it together and you’re seeing it finally come into view and you’re like, just, and you’re getting better and better and faster at it because you kind of know what pieces to look for. So, yeah, it’s a, it’s a game
Klaus Reichert: interesting. I never had that perspective, but I can, yeah, I need to think about that, okay, great Danny, you have, you have lots to do today. You were talking about your other Youtube channel, for example, that you were doing something tonight, which is which will do a link in the show notes.
Danny Black: Link in the show
Klaus Reichert: notes. Right. We’ll have a transcription of our conversation on, on on the web page for the, for the podcast. And I’m very thankful that you have taken the time for this conversation because it was fun for me.
Danny Black: Thank
Klaus Reichert: you for that. And it’s it’s it’s something that, that will help others. I think maybe not even not only Youtubers, because I think that’s a good example of what you’re doing for other people that have a very close or need a close relation to their customers.
Danny Black: Well, that’s the idea entertained to
Klaus Reichert: Yes. So thank you very much for taking the time. Good luck with with the, the next getting to the next levels on your Youtube game.
Danny Black: That’s right. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Klaus Reichert: Thank you for listening to the 2.5 conversations connecting innovators. You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. A transcript of this episode. And additional information is also available. The link is in the show notes, my name is Klaus. I’m an innovation coach in Barton wittenberg in the southwest of Germany. This is the 2.5. Mm hmm. Mhm
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