For me, niching down really helped because bef it, it gave me direction,
and then I think my audience, I, it just felt like my audience.
Also had a kind of an idea of what I was making.
Instead of one day I would do a, I do a tool review.
The next day I was making a, a kind of, a high end is a strong word,
but a kind of a nicer indoor desk.
And then I was making a TV console table, and then I was making a table saw, you
know, jig or accessory for the workshop.
So, uh, in the analytics, I saw my views go up, which was nice.
I think it gave me some direction in terms of what.
I was going to make videos on.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the
YouTube Creators Hub podcast.
For each and every Friday, I sit down with a wonderful content creator
and I chat with them about their channel, the mistakes they've made,
and just get an overall scope of what their life is like as a creator.
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Probably some of the best money you'll spend as a creator,
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And with that said, we'll go ahead and jump into this week's conversation.
Hello everyone and welcome to the conversation portion of this week's
episode of the Creator's Hub Show.
As always, I'm joined today by a wonderful content creator, Thomas Kovich.
I don't think I butchered that.
Too bad.
I had to practice off air before I hit record.
But lemme tell you a bit about.
Thomas, so Thomas runs the Thomas custom woodworks YouTube channel as
of recording of this episode today.
161,000 subscribers, just over 260 videos uploaded, and a crazy big and involved
community over on that channel where he talks about woodworking tips on a budget.
And I, I'm just so excited when Thomas reached out to me, I just realized
instantly, I, I didn't even have to think about it when I went to his channel.
I said, I wanna know.
What he's done to grow this channel, and he's been a creator for about
five years, and it's part of his online woodworking business.
He sells digital plans.
He has a digital course coming out in February, affiliate revenue
plus obviously the ad revenue.
And so Thomas has a really good thing going and I'm really excited about
featuring it here today on the podcast.
So Thomas, how you doing today?
I'm doing well.
How are you?
Dusty?
Doing fantastic.
I'm just really intrigued by your business model, your channel as a
whole, and so let's just dive into it.
First open question as always, what's the origin story?
Take me back five years ago, what made you start a YouTube channel
and how did that process go?
Yeah, so me and my wife had just bought a house in 2019 and the house, uh, needed to
be furnished and, uh, famous last words.
I said, I can build that, but I had, I had no prior experience.
And so, you know, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole, uh, did some
research online, looked up everything, and I, uh, I, it was at the time I was
teaching, I was a full-time PE teacher.
And Summer had, had just started, you know, around the time that
I was, uh, you know, thinking about getting into woodworking.
And so I thought, you know, I have a little bit more time on my hands.
I'm gonna start getting a few tools.
We had just bought the house, and in the house it had a third car
bay, but it was, it was two cars wide and then one side was two cars.
So it actually, I, I have three walls in my.
Garage workshop.
It's 198 square foot shop.
And so I had the space, we needed the furniture, and I started building
some very, uh, you know, rudimentary beginner type furniture that my wife,
bless her heart, said that she really liked and let having the house.
And since then my skills have grown.
I've gotten some more tools and, uh, it has been a very.
Exciting creative endeavor that I have gotten myself into.
Uh, it's just nice, you know, you, you go online, it's tough to find,
you know, the perfect nightstand, the perfect size, the perfect.
And so the nice thing about, or.
The perfect coffee table.
So the nice thing about woodworking, you can build the exact dimensions, the
exact style, the exact color, the exact wood that you want, which is really nice.
So it's just a creative, a great creative outlet.
And I started my YouTube channel around the same time, I believe
in 2020, and it was just sort of a, Hey, here's what I'm doing.
Kind of learn with me kind of a deal.
And, uh, it has grown into, uh, a, a niche that is more workshop furniture.
I still, you know, build the stuff for my house and build the stuff
for, for friends and family, but it is a lot of workshop furniture,
workshop jigs, setting up a workshop.
It's more workshop focused, and that's what all the plans that I
sell are, uh, are all, you know, workshop furniture to help you build
a workshop you can really be proud of.
So, wait a minute.
You had no experience in woodworking before the channel and kind of
you starting this venture of your wife, letting you make some of
this kind of mismatch furniture.
Th this was something that was a new venture for you alongside
YouTube being a new venture, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Th this was a new venture.
I tell on the website that my, my upcoming courses on, in my bio, I
actually say, you know, right out of college, I didn't even know.
You know, what button to press on a drill to make it going forward and reverse.
You know, that was maybe 15 years ago.
And so, yeah, I had embarrassingly no knowledge, uh, long time ago.
And then I sort of, you know, as I got a little older outta college,
I got a little bit more experience, but nothing in the woodworking realm
in terms of like building furniture and making things outta wood.
But yeah.
And then before, this is really actually my second YouTube channel.
I haven't really, I don't really tell a lot of people.
I had a. Had a, I've been a personal trainer for about
13 years and I still do that.
That's about 20% of my total income.
But I had a fitness YouTube channel, which I don't think is any longer on YouTube,
but I had, I must have had, you know, I had less than a hundred subscribers.
This is sort of something I did for fun.
This is really my.
First YouTube channel that I believe it started in 2020
that I really did my research.
I'm still learning, obviously I'm still making a lot of mistakes, but this
is, I'm really trying to, to, um, do this YouTube channel, uh, uh, right.
So I had, you know, a tiny bit of experience with the YouTube, not much.
And then, yeah, basically no experience woodworking prior to
buying the house and, and starting, right, you know, 20 19, 20 20.
Are you a full-time entrepreneur now as far as doing the personal training
and then the woodworking stuff?
Is that, I mean, I assume, are you no longer a PE teacher is what I'm asking?
Correct.
Yeah.
So when the woodworking business started growing, maybe two years
ago, I stopped being a PE teacher.
We had just had our first child and, you know, when I was teaching
and then personal training and then doing a little woodworking.
And so I would basically, long story short, I, I'd go to work before my, uh.
At the time we had just the one daughter.
Now we have two.
But at the time we had the one, I'd go to work, my daughter was still asleep.
I would come home from work, uh, teaching and personal training.
My daughter was put to bed and I thought, well, that's not gonna work.
I wanna, you know, I wanna, uh, see my child.
So I. Luckily, the woodworking business is growing, which I do
from home in my garage workshop.
And so I stopped being a PE teacher.
So now I still do the personal training.
That's about 20% of my total income.
And then, you know, 80% of my, my total income is the woodworking business,
which is the, the YouTube plans, Amazon affiliate, kind of all the
things which I'm sure I'll go into.
But yeah, I'm no longer a full-time junior, high PE teacher.
What was the.
Moment that you realized that this was something that you could do full-time
and it wasn't something that you just were going to do as a hobby or something
that you were gonna do just part-time?
Well, it wasn't, when I saw my first AdSense check, I'll tell you that I
am not one of the AdSense creators that sort of, I know they're,
they're out there absolutely, but I am not the one that makes the
majority of their income from sense.
It's a, it's a fairly small piece of the pie.
So I really started.
When the plan sales, which is the majority of my woodworking income selling, uh,
digital plans on how to build workshop furniture, when that started growing and
taking off a little bit, I thought this could be a thing where I, where I can
be home more and work on the woodworking business and it can, you know, more than
replace the PE teacher income and I can.
Do this almost full time, which was, which was nice because I started
with selling physical products.
When I started woodworking, I thought, Hey, you know, I'm making cutting
boards, uh, you know, charcuterie boards, serving trays, things like that.
So I started with that and in the first three months of, of selling
those items, I had, uh, two.
Sales total, which was not great when you have a family, which, uh, which
taught me my first lesson in kind of the woodworking, YouTube, uh, uh, business
area, which was listen to your audience.
A lot of my YouTube audience and other social media audiences, other woodworkers.
So when I was promoting my, my products and they were not doing well,
I started, I took a step back and I thought, why are these not doing well?
And I concluded a lot of my audiences, other woodworkers who could make the
stuff I was making, the cutting boards, the serving trays, all the little, little
stuff that I was doing furniture, I was trying to promote some, some furniture.
And so then I started.
Thinking, huh?
What should I do?
And I, I was just thinking about it for a while and, and while I was thinking
about it, I was making workshop furniture for my, for my workshop, and I would
get these messages, comments, emails.
They, people would ask me if I had plans for this furniture and I would say no.
And I would even tell them like other people who sold plans.
And I did this for a couple months.
And then finally I thought Thomas, it just clicked.
I thought maybe you should make plans.
People ask you for plans instead of saying, no, maybe you make the plans.
And so I started making plans and that started growing.
And then, uh, started growing enough where I could, uh, I could, uh, turn this
into a, a large part of my, my business.
So the moment that you realize that the audience was built on more woodworkers
and not necessarily people who were interested in watching someone do
woodworking, and you niched down to that target demographic, what were
the changes that you saw as far as analytics wise and everything in between?
Yeah, I saw a lot on my YouTube channel where before I was
kind of all over the place.
It, it was really helpful because, at least for me, I, I don't wanna speak
for everyone because I know people have different successes in different
areas, but for me, niching down really helped because it, it gave me direction.
And then I think my audience, I, it just felt like my audience and.
Also had a kind of an idea of what I was making.
Instead of one day I would do a, I do a tool review.
The next day I was making a, a kind of, a high end is a strong word,
but a kind of a nicer indoor desk.
And then I was making a TV console table, and then I was making a table saw, you
know, jig or accessory for the workshop.
So, uh, in the analytics, I saw my views go up, which was nice.
I think it gave me some direction in terms of what.
I was going to make videos on where kind of, it was just an open
slate, kind of a, a clean slate.
Before it was, you know, it was a, a blank canvas and I had no direction.
Where now I was like, okay, my niche is workshop, the workshop,
furniture, maybe tools in the workshop, uh, furniture, jigs,
things that help you with your tools.
Kind of anything that will help you as a woodworker, but also help your workshop.
And so that really helped.
And I could see that in my, my audience, you know, my, my pe my audience
was, was watching the videos longer.
They weren't kicking out as fast.
They were, my views were going up.
They were more consistent.
That was a big one.
You know, I think before when I was making, I would make one on
a, uh, I made one on a folding work, uh, a video on a folding
workbench, which did well, and then.
You know, I had another video that didn't have anything to do with the workshop,
and then the views were back down.
So I, the views were more consistent, which, which really helped.
So for me, niching down really was a, a bonus in terms of my channel.
And I think the audience felt it.
I heard the, I've heard the, uh, people talk about, it's like going to
a restaurant, you know, if you go to a burger place and you like their burgers,
but then one day you go in and they have, you know, burritos, you know.
They might not come back if you just never know what's what they're gonna have.
Kinda like, well it's all food, right?
Burritos and burgers.
Yeah.
But people wanna know and exactly what they're getting.
And I kind of like that frame of thought.
And I think that's really helped me, you know, when they come into my
channel, it's not gonna be somebody renovating a, you know, a loft in
their house and then another time it's gonna be building a workbench and then
another time they're sculpting up.
Project outta wood, it's all working with wood, but I think for my channel
it's helped to, to niche down a little more on, uh, on the workshop as a whole.
Yeah, I I, I love that.
And it, it really to me.
It's about, that's when you can lean into, okay, now that I know who I'm
speaking to, you have no qualms about, well, what kind of videos am I creating?
What videos do I put on my idea list?
You, you don't have to worry about all that.
It really eliminates a lot of that resistance, uh, that a lot
of creators deal with, of honestly one of the main things creators
have the hardest time with.
And I work with creators every week, almost every day.
And I, in the days that I don't work with them, I'm interviewing
them like I am today with you.
Is figuring out who their, who their audience is, because they'll
just throw a whole bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
And that never works on YouTube and it's not going to work going forward.
Now I have to ask you this, Thomas.
I look at your channel and I see that you have it posted a YouTube
short in about three months.
So I wanna ask you about that format of content You are getting averaging
30 to a hundred thousand views.
Some upwards of half a million views.
What made you decide to lean in more on long form?
Is it more of a time thing?
If you had time, would you do short form?
Give me your opinion on short form and hang what it has done for your channel.
Yeah, I think the short form is actually great for, for starting, uh, a channel.
For me at least, what I saw with the short form and how I view it now, we'll
start with how I, how I used it before.
I was having a lot of trouble getting subscribers.
That sort of was taking the longest I get, you know, I have some videos pop off
and do well and then I would have trouble getting that subscriber number to come.
And so I found shorts was really helpful with getting subscribers.
I was able to grow my subscriber base a lot with shorts
'cause there's a, a little.
I found it a little easier to get views and I could crank out more of
'em because they were shorter videos.
Now, I also know that subscribers don't really matter a ton in
the grand scheme of things.
It's more about views.
The brands want to see a high view count.
You know, you get more eyeballs on your products when you have higher view count.
Having a high subscriber base does not necessarily mean you'll get high views,
and so you'll get more AdSense with views.
You know, the subscriber doesn't really help.
Except, I will say, my thinking is, let's say a brand at just, they, they have,
they're looking at a lot of channels.
Maybe they, a brand doesn't have a ton of time.
They just have time to look at a few metrics.
I think having a channel with a higher subscriber rate base could potentially
help put a, uh, you know, a feeling in that brand's mind of confidence.
That they wanna work with you, if that, if that subscriber number is
higher, let's say they're thinking between, oh, this person has a similar
amount of views as this person, but this, uh, you know, person A has a
hundred thousand subscribers, person B has, you know, 4,000 subscribers,
uh, might as well go with person a with a hundred thousand subscribers.
So the, the shorts help me get the subscribers.
The reason I don't do a ton now is I just don't know if it.
Messes with my long form views.
If it helps my long form views, if it hurts it, I know sort of
the end game with the audience I want to grow is more longer form.
I feel like maybe those people are, have a higher chance of buying my
products, of being a bigger, you know, for lack of a better term, fan of
the channel, more connected with me.
I have a better chance of building more community.
With the, the longer form viewers, which, which I really
love the community on YouTube.
So I've actually created a second channel.
I'm still posting a fair amount of shorts on Thomas custom woodwork shorts.
It's a very creative name, and so I, I do post shorts on that channel
because I have these short form videos.
Uh uh, I post a lot on Instagram, TikTok.
Because again, I do have some, some products that I sell and, and it's
quicker to make these shorter videos.
So, and I enjoy creating the shorter videos, so I don't want to stop
doing that as part of the marketing.
Yes.
But even the community on Instagram is great.
So I do still make short, uh, content, vertical content, 30 to 60 seconds.
I just now put those on a second YouTube channel.
Yeah.
The reason why I ask is because I'm doing somewhat of an experiment.
Well, it started as an experiment, but I made a decision when we had the
triplets that I was going to start a family channel, and I wasn't gonna do
long form because I didn't have the time I was gonna open up, you know, a TikTok.
A YouTube channel, but I was gonna do vertical video and I'm about 30 to 40
days in and across all the platforms.
I think I'm at around like 70,000 followers already, and we're talking 12
to 15 million views across all my videos.
And so I'm learning how to tell stories in a different format, but I've realized
that vertical video and short form content is not made for all different types
of channels like my tutorial channel.
I've tinkered with some stuff and, and things of the nature and, and I'm
gonna do some down the road 'cause I do think there's benefits to a certain
degree, but that channel really thrives with long form video, educational
style commentary by myself as I'm showcasing stuff on the screencast.
So really learning and it's kind of helped me sharpen my skillset of
becoming a storyteller and learning how to edit short form, and I'm
having a whole lot of fun with it.
And so I'm gonna be able to report back here on the podcast, so it's
good to hear you say that and kind of how, how you've diversified
and you've kind of segmented it.
You're putting your short form here, where it lives and
where you think it can thrive.
And then you're really leaning into where the bread is buttered on the main
channel, which is the long form content.
Now let's talk about the strategy of the channel design.
When I go to your channel, it's super clean.
There's not much fluff.
The packaging is super simple, yet super intuitive of knowing
what the video is about.
Can you talk about how you've settled on a thumbnail and title styling
as far as the channel now, and kind of how it's evolved over time?
Yeah.
So I mean, podcasts like this has really helped other podcasts
doing some research online.
But I, I've settled into a style that is very simple in terms of a thumbnail.
There is one thing kind of going on, and I try to put in a little curiosity
with a thumbnail in the title.
So they, they, I don't wanna make it so curious that they
have no idea what's going on.
I did that a little bit.
I, I didn't find that it, that it worked as well.
I, you know.
I want them to have some idea of what's going on instead of a, you know, a
thumbnail of just my workshop and then a title that says, don't do this.
You know, I, for my, for my style, I like a little more in terms of what's going on.
And so my thumbnail very simple.
Let's say I did one a video that did well a little while ago on drawer slides.
It was, the thumbnail was of me pulling out a drawer very
close up so they could see.
It's a drawer.
There's something going on with building drawers, with an arrow
pointing at where the slide is.
The wooden drawer slide, which the video was kind of about saving money, not buying
metal drawer slides, but you couldn't really see the wooden drawer slides.
Just an arrow pointing to that area of the drawer opening.
And then I think the title was something like, you know, stop buying drawer slides.
And so I'd like to have a sense of curiosity without
making it so much curiosity.
They have no idea what it is.
So.
Even though there is some curiosity in that video, for example, they
can see it's about a drawer.
They can see it's about a drawer slide 'cause that was in the title,
but there's still some curiosity.
Why should I not buy drawer slides?
Are drawer slides bad?
Are they too expensive?
I mean, it was, I don't know if that was the exact title, but
it was something around that.
So that's sort of the style that I've settled into.
And I like the idea of having some sort of similarity and cohesiveness
in the thumbnails, especially the thumbnails titles are good too,
but especially the thumbnails.
I heard this a little while ago.
You know, it's kind of nice if somebody looks at a thumbnail and thinks,
oh, that's Thomas custom woodworks.
I don't know if that happens.
Uh, but I like the idea of that.
If somebody sees immediately, oh, I like his videos.
That I can just tell that's one of his thumbnails.
Let me click on that instead of another one.
That's sort of the idea behind it as well.
I also like to have, you know, the lighting pretty, uh, pretty good.
So simple to the point.
One thing going on in the thumbnail, I. And then, uh, a descriptor in the
title and thumbnail with some curiosity.
I can't give everything away.
I mean, just from a psychology standpoint, it's just if they already have the answer
when looking at the thumbnail and title, there just won't be, even if it could
be really useful, they may not click.
On the video.
So that is, again, I'm still a very much work in progress with my channel, but that
is my ideas in terms of the packaging.
Interrupt the show just briefly to tell you about two different things.
First is our YouTube channel review service.
For $50, you get access to myself and my opinions on your channel.
I record a Screencast video telling you where I believe you should be
putting your time as a creator.
And then lastly, we do offer the mastermind group.
I record an exclusive podcast episode for those folks over there every Friday.
You also get access to our mastermind calls, our creator
led calls, our creator forums.
It is probably the best money you can spend in the creator space.
With that said, let's go ahead and get back to the interview.
Are you using any AI tools to help you along the way, or are you just
kind of winging it as far as not using the latest and greatest?
Yeah, I am not using as much as other people and that I probably should,
I do have it, I usually have it for some, some idea generation of titles.
Um, you know, I'll have, usually I'll tell 'em what the, what the video's about,
uh, or what I think it's gonna be about.
I try and create my title and thumbnail before I start filming the video, so
there can be some cohesiveness there.
But, uh, I will have it, gimme some ideas, sort of quick ideas, and then,
uh, I'll sort of pick one or two that I like and I'll tweak it myself and I'll
say, gimme some more ideas like this.
So I don't use any AI in terms of creating the thumbnail.
I use some ai just chat GPT at the moment.
For idea generation, sometimes for the video, but mainly for the titles in
terms of just getting ideas flowing.
For my business, I use AI for a, for the title generation for YouTube,
but in a business in general, a lot of writing and outline tasks for the
course that I am coming out with, I use it a lot for creating the outline.
Took it takes a long time to prompt it and then I tweak it.
So it still takes, it's not like it takes zero minutes, but when I use it
to write things or create outlines or create rough drafts of things, it just
take for writing tasks for myself.
It, you know, it might take the, the task from an hour down to 20 minutes.
And so that's a real time saver.
So, so that's sort of where I'm using AI at the moment.
And you mentioned that you do a lot of the thumbnail.
The packaging before you record.
So do you have a running list of ideas?
I mean, I would assume it's endless, right?
Because you could make all the, the things and that you could
think of with woodworking.
So how does that process work?
Does it go from ideation, from a list of ideas?
And then once you have, you know, set on a topic or a title of a video, it
moves over to the next phase, which then is you designing the thumbnail.
How does that process work?
It's like you've looked at my Google Doc.
Yeah.
So I, I have a whole list of ideas, ton of ideas, but it's important for
me to have to, to make sure those I I, that that, uh, document is fluid.
So I have ideas I think will work, and I have a ton of 'em.
And every time I think of an idea, I put it on the list, but I, it has to
be fluid because if I make a video.
I think I had one video idea about drawer slides, and so then I made the video.
It did really well.
Well, I can't just keep doing the list of ideas that I had.
I created some more ideas that were different, of course,
but also about drawer slides.
Similarly, I had a folding workbench video Do well, saves a
lot of space folding workbench.
And so, oh, that video did well.
I keep the list fluid.
Let me come up with some ideas of maybe space saving furniture,
folding workshop furniture.
But yeah, so I come up with some ideas.
I think we'll do well on my channel when I, when I pick an
idea to do for my next video.
Then it moves over to the title generation where I have to
come up with the title first.
Because that will affect my hook and my intro.
The hook first five seconds, maybe intro first 20, 25 seconds.
'cause that will affect the hook because I don't want a title.
The thing for me, the tough part.
If as I make, if I make a video, I'm done with the video and then
I try and choose the title later.
I want the title to be intriguing enough to click.
But if I make a really intriguing title, but I have not said
anything about that title in the video or the hook or the intro.
Then that could be a little clickbait.
People might, I could lose trust.
So I come up with the idea.
Then I come up with the title so that I can incorporate what's in
the ti, and then I come up with a thumbnail kind of together.
They're kind of a matching pair.
So idea, then title and thumbnail.
And then once I have the title, then I can create the video of the idea,
which includes the hook and the intro.
Which I gotta make sure to reference the title because when someone clicks on the
video with the title and thumbnail, I need to make sure they, um, I can't remember
the term, you know it obviously, but you know, it's like confirm the click, maybe.
So when they click on the title and the video, they need to make
sure they're in the right spot.
So then my intro kind of reinforces what the title and thumbnail say.
And then in the voiceover, I also make sure that it's, you know, it has to do
with the, with the title and thumbnail, the, the voiceover that I put in when I'm
done filming the video and editing it.
So it all kind of works together.
But yeah, for me, idea first, then title, then thumbnail.
Uh, video with, with the hook and the, uh, intro and the voiceover.
A lot of that is similar to my Notion workflow.
It's just you're doing it within your Google Docs, so it's, it's
really cool to hear kind of the comparisons of what you're doing now.
I'm on your website right now, and one of the main sources of your income
are these plans that you're selling.
So people watch your videos, which then lead them to your website, which
is just thomas custom woodworks.com.
And you have a page where you're selling a number of plans.
You've got a bunch of them on your website, which is amazing.
So let's talk about monetization.
Tell me the different buckets because, you know, listening to
this podcast, I love talking.
Uh, honestly, I get more excited when I hear someone tell me the different
avenues that they're making money, as opposed to like, oh, you know, I
mean, I've had people come on this podcast and say, they're making, you
know, $50,000 a month, that's great, but man, where are you making it from?
Like, where are these different sources of revenue coming from?
So maybe break down that for us, for you and your business,
and give us a percentage of what those may be for, for your income.
Yeah.
And, and these, these percentages are gonna be really exact just
because I, I just kind of, uh, made a spreadsheet and figured out exactly,
you know, the, what I did last year in terms of income, uh, 2025.
And so, um, I'll break down the buckets and the percentages, absolutely.
And, and some, as you'll see, are much higher than others.
Uh.
I'll go from kind lowest to highest.
So lowest is Amazon affiliates.
So I will, you know, I'll put an affiliate link of a product or.
A tool or an accessory in my YouTube videos and other places.
And then if somebody buys that product from the link, then they,
I get a, a very small percentage.
So of my woodworking income, that's the smallest at 3%.
Now, my whole income, again, I mentioned it's about 20% of my whole income is
the personal training, but I'll just go over the woodworking, YouTube kind
of woodworking business income here.
So Amazon.
Amazon affiliates is 3%.
Then I get some money from TikTok and, uh, Facebook.
Uh, they pay a little bit in terms of just natively on the platform.
So, uh, about 6% of my income is from TikTok and Meta, and then the
next highest is YouTube AdSense.
So I do get some money from just Google pays me based on the views.
So AdSense for me is 9%.
So this is a fairly small percentage of my, of my woodworking income.
You know, I'd, it's, I would love for that to be higher, but that's just the reality.
9%. Then brand deals is my, is my second highest, uh, at 11%.
So sometimes brands will reach out to me.
And they'll wanna have me do a, uh, 60 or 92nd ad read in one of my
videos, or use a tool in a video.
I, of course, I only, I only, um, if the product is, is woodworking
related, you know, I don't take anything that I wouldn't use in my
shop because that's my business.
Um, but yeah, it has to be, you know, a, a good product or service.
But brand deals, that's at 11% and then the highest percentage.
My income is my plans at 71%, which is the majority.
It's the most.
And so, you know, when I, when I did this, um.
Two years ago, it was kind of similar where I was kind of nervous.
I think in 2024 the plans were about 60% and I was kind of nervous.
I thought, oh, all my eggs in one basket.
And then I, although I still think it's good to have different streams of streams
of income, I was reading this book and, and this the, the author was saying.
That it's okay to have one stream that is much higher and it's
almost, you almost wanna focus on that more like that is working.
So put your focus on what is working and increase that.
Instead of putting all your focus on maybe the other buckets that aren't working
and then you neglect what is working and then the highest percentage goes down.
Now I've, I've accepted that that is okay.
And I've actually been focusing a lot this past year a lot on the, on the
plans to really keep what is working I want, I wanna make sure it keeps working.
So plans on my website is, you know, on how to build workshop furniture
is the majority of my income at 71%.
So I love that you're, there is an old saying, and I don't, I don't
wanna misquote what the saying is, but it's basically lean in,
like you said, to what's working and eliminate everything else.
Normally I believe the, the, the quote is like 90% of your work or 90%
of your income comes from 5% of the work is something along those lines.
It was Jim Rome who said it.
Zig Ziglar might have said it back in the day, but basically what
creators and entrepreneurs do is.
That would be like me ignoring this podcast.
This podcast is a good percentage of my income from auxiliary, from
YouTube coaching and the creator program and things of that nature.
So why would I be tinkering around with other stuff?
That doesn't mean you don't experiment, so how do you balance trying new things like
you're doing with this course coming out in February and still leaning into what
you know is the bread and butter of the income generating, which is your plans?
Yeah.
So one thing that I have been really trying to do in my business, and I
just keep telling myself this, and it is, uh, it sounds simple, but believe
me, it's, it was hard for me to grasp this for a while is in my business
if, uh, I, I'll try something and then if it works, I keep doing that thing.
I do more of that thing if it doesn't work.
I stopped doing that thing and I, I try something else.
So that is really, it sounds simple, but it's really helped me out where sometimes
I think we can get into a, a mode where it's like, something's not working, let
me just try and fix it and let me try and put all my time and effort into it.
And I don't know how, you know, you do need to give things time, but I
think it can be, it can be tricky to, to focus on things that aren't quite
working and, and you don't see them, you know, working out on the future.
Another thing where to put my time.
I, I'll go back to the listen to your audience.
So, you know, people are like, I get, you know, sales is one thing.
That's something my audience telling me that they like my plans.
YouTube, you know, the people will ask for plans and so my audience
in the comments, I'll get emails.
I try and listen to what my audience is saying, you, they're liking the plans.
I'll do more of those.
And now, you know, and, and listening to your audience, it might mean
reading the comments, getting direct messages, getting emails, views.
What are they saying?
What do they want?
Sometimes that can, the comment can be, can be rude, but, but even
the rude comments, you can, you can get some information from 'em.
I like to use the example, you know, someone said to me how
my, my audio was like, horrible.
And they were like, it was like a pretty rude comment about how like,
you know, I should stop making videos that it gets so horrible.
And it's like, yeah, that is rude.
But it's also good info that my.
My audio is not good, so I should try and fix that.
So listening to your audience, which is what, why I'm focusing
so much on this course.
The course is how to use the seven most common power tools in woodworking.
It's a full video course on how to use the seven most common woodworking tools.
You can build whatever you want and how I came up with this course idea.
Because I was listening to my audience were people that would
buy my plans or people in my, my YouTube comments or I'd get emails.
They would in some way inform me that they were a beginner with using tools.
Maybe they don't have a ton of tools.
They just got some tools.
They're still learning.
They don't know everything about using tools.
Uh, they would say, oh, you know, can I do, I'm not
comfortable with the table saw.
Is there any way to build this without using the table saw?
So the reason I'm focusing on this full course is because I was, I was
listening to what my audience wants.
So that's sort of.
Yeah, with the sales and views and some of those metrics, I is what I choose to focus
on, but also listening to my audience really helps me decide what to focus on.
Last quick thing, I thought I. A couple years ago, I thought
I, I should start a Patreon.
Everyone's starting a Patreon, not one person in my, you know,
at the time, maybe three, four years of YouTube and social media.
Not one person that ever asked me to start a Patreon or wanted
to support me in that way, but I thought, oh, I should start a Patreon.
I started it.
The most I had at one time was like.
Three paid patrons.
And so, oh, okay.
My audience did not ask for this.
Maybe I, and I gave it a while.
Like I gave it like eight or nine months, and so maybe I should not have started it.
So, you know, I just say it helps me focus, uh, you know,
listening to my audience.
I love that.
I think a lot of it is looking what other people in your niche are doing, like what
are other, you know, trades, channels doing and some are leaning more towards
courses, some for, you know, selling plans and products, like what you're doing.
And that's just when I was looking at my creator business, I was not
offering coaching and I had so many people just requesting it and I kept
trying all these different things and I was swinging and missing.
But when I offered coaching and a mastermind group, those two things
really stuck out and people really took to them and I. Kick myself knowing
that I could have made a lot more money if I would just have done it sooner.
And so listen to your audience because they can tell you
what they wanna buy from you.
I mean, you're the authority.
And so they can kind of tell you, you know, where they would like to invest
in, in your business and help you out.
So as we approach the end of this conversation, Thomas,
this has been fantastic.
You are so knowledgeable and it it, you're the epitome of why I love doing
this podcast and why I love YouTube and the creator business in as a whole.
Because five years ago.
You weren't even woodworking.
And now 2026, you have a tax return sitting right next to you
as we're talking, where YouTube is directly influencing your family's
life for the better financially, and just overall your wellbeing.
So as creators are listening to this right now, what would your parting words
be to them, whether they're starting or growing or trying to monetize a channel?
What would your words of advice be to those people?
That's a great question.
I'm glad you asked.
One thing I'll say, even with people saying, oh, the, his product is the
biggest source of, of his income.
Well, the reason it is a larger part of ManCom is because of YouTube.
I mean, YouTube, obviously, each video provides, I try to provide him into value
on a standalone video, but it is a great tool to get the word out that I have.
These products and services.
But what I would love, what I wish somebody would've told me when I started a
YouTube channel, I wish somebody would've sat me down and said, Thomas, you will
not get any views at the beginning.
You know?
And I, that would've actually really helped because, and you know, there,
there are some that get views.
Right at the beginning, but most do not get like any views.
And I didn't get any views at the beginning and I thought I was going to
get views at the beginning, which I'll tell you why that hurt me in a second.
I see these videos.
This person made this table saw accessory, and they got a hundred thousand views.
I have an idea for a table saw accessory, and I think my video's pretty good.
And it gets maybe a hundred views or less.
And I was just confused and, and, uh, disappointed when, uh, because the
views that you see when you open up your YouTube homepage, it's mostly
videos with a high number of views.
And so I wish somebody, so I would like to say if you're starting a
YouTube channel or at the beginning.
Just be prepared that you won't get any views.
'cause what happened to me is I was expecting a lot of views.
I didn't get them.
And after four or five videos, these videos take a long time for me,
especially at the beginning, I was so disappointed 'cause I thought I
was gonna get views and I wasn't.
But I took a break.
I took a break for like four or five months.
'cause I was like, why, why am I putting this effort?
Nobody's watching.
Then I did a little more research, a little more digging, and then I
discovered that, oh, it's normal to not give views at the beginning.
So I wish I would've got that four or five months back, but
I'm glad that I learned it.
And then now looking at like first last time I looked at my first video ever,
now it has like over 30,000 views.
It's actually pretty dang good, at least from my channel.
The other thing that, the last thing that I will say.
That I wish I would've known at the beginning or people, people starting
out or been doing this a while.
I thought when I started and at the beginning of YouTube and even before
I started my channel, I thought that the YouTubers, the creators, just got
paid with AdSense and brand deals.
I was like, those are the buckets.
That's how they make their money.
When in reality, if, if you watch most.
YouTube videos.
Most creators that you enjoy, you will notice that they
their own product or service.
I mean, you do it on this podcast 'cause you're helping so many creators.
I do it on my YouTube channel 'cause I have products that I really think
will help people in their workshop.
Most people get, most of the YouTubers, they're a big part of, I would say maybe
even the biggest part of their income.
A lot of 'em is their own product or service.
So just keep that on.
I would tell people keep that on the back of your mind.
You know, as you're going along, you're making some money with AdSense.
Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe you're doing some brand deals or you're, you're excited
to maybe get some in the future.
Have that.
Thought in your head of is there a product or service that could
really help my, my audience?
And you know, that's really what, what helped me in terms of my income, but
just, just helping a lot of people.
And I think that the common misconception is that the amount of people you have
to have willing to give you money has to be an astronomical amount when
we think of ad revenue, which is why putting all your eggs in one basket is
really frowned upon and I discourage it.
All the time because yes, ad revenue fluctuates.
Some months it's great.
Others, it's not so great.
But if you have a few hundred people willing to give you 25,
50 bucks a month or whatever it may be, you can do the math.
That's real good money.
And so going ahead and targeting your audience, like we talked about
at the top of the show, figuring out who you're speaking with and
then figuring out what problem they have and how you can solve it.
That, that's really it.
It's really boils down to that.
And I tell you, the past 45 minutes have absolutely flown by.
Uh, so I'm gonna have all of Thomas's links in the show notes as I always do.
Again, it's Thomas custom woodworks on YouTube.
I encourage you to go to his website, which is just thomas custom woodworks.com.
Go to the tab that says plans and just look at what he's selling and all
of these YouTube videos where people are watching every time he uploads.
It's a potential thousands of sales.
Not just that day, but for months and years down the line, which
is the cool thing about YouTube.
So Thomas, thank you again for giving us your time today and I really
appreciate you coming on the show.
Absolutely.
Dusty, if I could mention one last thing about the course, if
you wouldn't mind, super quick, just where people could find it.
Is that okay?
Yes, absolutely.
Um, I'll keep this really brief, but I, I really, this is a, I'm really excited
about this 'cause I think it could help a lot of people, you know, really learn
and build and create anything they want with, with power tools for woodworking.
Um, the course is called Master Your Power Tools.
It's actually on a separate website.
It's Thomas Woodworking.
Enrollment is going to be in mid-February 2026, and it's gonna be just for 10 days.
And so go over there, get on the wait list because since en enrollment is is
pretty short amount of time, I want people to wanna make sure people don't miss it.
And then, um, the next open enrollment, the next time I'll, I'll open it
won't be for several months, so Thomas woodworking academy com.
Get on the wait list.
I have some cool freebies over there to help you get started, but
um, I'm really excited for that course coming out in mid-February.
That's awesome.
I'll also link that down below.
Thomas, thank you again for your time.
Thank you, dusty.
And that is a wrap on this week's episode.
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