You're not early anymore

I've changed my mind about something. (Not Henry Cavill, he's still the best Superman.)

For years I told people the window on YouTube was wide open and there's room for everyone. Well... I don't believe that anymore, at least not in the way I used to. The changes over the last six months have been big enough to set a warning light off across the whole industry.

First off, AI has made content free to produce, so every feed now carries hundreds of times more than it did two years ago, while the attention span to watch it all hasn't grown.

At the same time, the people who started in 2024 have 2 years of compounding behind them, and they've taught the overlord algo gods (the audience) who they are, what they believe, and who to serve it to. Their back catalogue works while they sleep and their audience trusts them by default.

What used to take 18 months now takes 3 years or more. The first 6 months are quieter than they've ever been, and the runway before anything looks like it's working has roughly tripled. The audience is burnt the f**k out on manipulation content, so earning trust is harder than it's ever been... not impossible, if it's done right and it's real.

I've seen people abandon channels at month 11 because 100 views felt humiliating, or because they weren't monetised yet, when 100 of the right people is a room most of them couldn't fill in real life. I watch them judge themselves on subscriber counts, on a competitor a decade ahead, on a number they invented on a Tuesday out their arse with nothing underneath it. The metric was never real but the quitting... very real.

The ones who make it aren't more gifted. They've got the Mark Dowdle relentlessness the overlords require, and they stayed past the point where the numbers stopped making sense and go one more.

Can you still win then, with all this doom and gloom? 1000% yes. The people breaking through right now mostly started this year with nothing, they just knew what to aim at. I get dozens of emails a week from people wanting help with brand and YouTube, and I just don't have the bandwidth to help everyone like Mother Bo Teresa, which is why myself and my good friend Drew are opening The Engine Room.

It's a small magnificent room, launching September, for people who want to own their category instead of watching somebody else take it. It's the frameworks we use with private clients who win big.

Every month you wait, the gap widens and it's turning into the Grand Canyon. Very soon a million dollars wont buy you a place infront of an audience that trusts you. Btw, I'm watching people stop their ad budgets because YT gives them so much more in terms of conversion.

Every category ends up with one person who owns it. In some that's already settled, although they can absolutely be unseated by levelling up. In most it's being decided right now, while the people who should be publishing wait for a better moment or think it’s a phase.

There isn't a better moment coming and this is the last stretch where starting still works. Blink and it'll be gone. Start, and it might be the best move you ever make.

PS - Waitlist's at https://engineroommembers.com. Small on purpose, and it won't be for everyone.