I kill about half of the YouTube videos my clients bring to me.
These aren't random ideas they pulled out of thin air. My clients are following the exact process I teach them. They're doing the work. And still, half of their video ideas are dead before they ever hit record.
So if you're planning a video right now, go ahead and flip a coin. Heads, it's worth filming. Tails, it's not. Those are roughly your odds.
That's not meant to scare you. It's meant to save you. Because the time you spend filming, editing, re-recording, and doing your hair and makeup is precious. And most coaches are spending all of that time on videos that never had a chance.
In this post, I'm walking you through the three checks I use to decide whether a video deserves to exist. Then I'm going to run those same three checks on two of my own YouTube videos that flopped. Yes, my own. I don't always get it right, and you're about to watch me fail my own test.
Most YouTube Videos Die Before the Camera Turns On
When coaches send me their YouTube channel before we ever work together, I usually have to tell them something pretty hard.
About 80% of the videos they spent time creating probably should have never been made.
Not because the delivery was bad. Not because the editing was off. Not because the background wasn't cute enough or the lighting was weird.
It's because the idea itself, the actual video topic, was never going to reach a buyer.
That video failed during the planning phase. It failed while they were brainstorming with ChatGPT or scribbling in a notebook. Long before the ring light went on.
And almost everybody has this process backwards. Hours and hours go into filming, editing, retakes, and getting camera ready. Almost no time goes into the one decision that controls all of it.
Does this video even deserve to exist?
That's the question. And here's exactly how I answer it.
Check #1: Can You Tell Who It's For and What They'll Get From the Title Alone?
The first thing I look at is the title. And I ask two very specific questions about it.
Can I tell exactly what I'm going to walk away with after watching this video?
And who is this video calling in?
If I can't answer both of those from the title alone, the video is already in trouble.
Why a Vague Title Kills Your Video
Let's say a client brings me a video titled "How to Be More Productive in Your Evening."
That title tells me nothing.
What am I going to get out of this video? What's going to be different for me after I watch it? And who is this even for? Parents trying to survive the bedtime routine? High school kids? College students? Someone who has struggled to fall asleep for years?
It could be for anybody. Which means it's for nobody.
Here's the thing. Your viewer is scrolling YouTube with a problem in her head. She's looking for a video that feels like it was made for her specifically. If she can't read your title and instantly know "this is for me, and this is what I'll get," she keeps scrolling.
Nobody clicks. And that's the moment the video dies.
Not when it gets low views. When it gets a vague title.
Check #2: Does Your Video Have a Clear Job?
The second check is the one most coaches skip entirely.
Every single video needs a job.
If you're a business owner, whether you're a coach, a course creator, a one-on-one service provider, or you sell VIP days, your videos are not there to fill up your channel. Each one has a role to play in moving someone closer to saying yes to working with you or buying from you.
So before anything gets filmed, I need to know what that job is.
The Jobs a Video Can Actually Do
Maybe the video's job is to shift a belief. There's something your buyer has to believe before she'll ever say yes to your offer, and this video changes her mind about it.
Maybe the job is to build trust. She needs to feel like her investment will be safe with you, and this video shows her why.
Maybe the job is to show her it's not her fault things aren't working. She's not broken. She's just been taught the wrong things, and here's the right way to do it.
Maybe the job is proof. Here's what I've done with people just like you.
Or maybe the job is to show the full transformation she could get from working with you, buying your course, or booking your VIP day.
Every one of those is a real job. Every one of them moves a buyer forward. And if I can't tell which one your video is doing, that video isn't ready.
Content for Content's Sake Turns You Into a Creator
When a video doesn't have a job, it's not strategy. It's content for content's sake.
And random content is exactly what gets coaches views without sales.
That's the trap. You can absolutely get views on random videos. People might even like them. But views on videos with no job don't add up to clients. They add up to a channel that looks busy and a bank account that doesn't move.
That's how you accidentally become a content creator instead of a business owner. And I'm guessing you didn't start your business so you could become a YouTuber.
Check #3: Does Your Thumbnail Show Her Problem?
The third check is the thumbnail.
The question here is simple. How are you visually representing the problem your viewer is having? The same problem your title promises to solve.
Your Title and Thumbnail Are a Team
Your title and your thumbnail work together. They're a team, not two people saying the same thing.
The title names what she gets from the video.
The thumbnail is a mirror. It reflects her problem right back at her.
When she sees her problem in the thumbnail and the solution in the title, that's the click. That's the "wait, this is me" moment.
Now, if your thumbnail is just your face with a few of the same words from your title slapped on it, you wasted the single biggest piece of real estate you get on YouTube. That little rectangle is your best shot at winning the right viewer. Repeating your title doesn't use it. Showing her problem does.
Why Even My Own Clients Fail These Checks
So if my clients are following my exact process, why am I still killing half their ideas?
One reason, over and over again.
They're afraid to be specific.
So many business owners are scared that if they get too specific, nobody will watch. They think narrowing down means shrinking their audience. So they go broad to play it safe.
And it's exactly backwards.
The broader you go, the less likely the viewer who's ready to buy a solution to her problem will ever find your video. Being vague doesn't protect you. It hides you.
Here's why specific wins every time.
Specific Is What Stops the Right Person From Scrolling
When your title and thumbnail are specific, the right person scrolling through YouTube stops. She sees herself. She clicks.
That's the whole game. Not getting everyone to click. Getting the right person to click.
Specific Tells the YouTube Algorithm Who You're For
Specificity also gives the YouTube algorithm real information about who your video is for.
When you're vague, the algorithm doesn't understand you either. So it does the only thing it can. It throws your video out like spaghetti at the wall and hopes something sticks.
Which means it takes you even longer to reach the right people, because YouTube has no idea who the right people are.
Broad Topics Put You in a Fight You Can't Win
And here's the third reason. When you go broad, you're jumping into a pool that's already overcrowded.
If you're a new channel or a small channel, you're not going to win in those broad categories. The channels already getting thousands of views with tens of thousands of subscribers have established trust with YouTube. They will beat you out every single time.
Going broad isn't playing it safe. It's signing up for a fight you can't win.
Going specific is how a small channel gets found by the exact person who's ready to buy.
Watch Me Fail My Own Test
Okay. Time to be honest.
I'm going to run these three checks on my own videos, and you're going to watch me fail. Because I'm not perfect, and I don't get it right 100% of the time. That's okay.
In the last three months, I got this wrong twice.
I posted two client stories. I truly thought they'd do really well. They flopped. They're the lowest viewed videos on my channel from the last 90 days.
And looking back at them now, running them through these three checks, it's so obvious why.
I approached both videos as the client's story instead of what was in it for the person watching.
Flop #1: 300,000 Views and One Sale a Month
The first video was about a client who was getting about 300,000 views a month. And he was making about one sale a month.
One.
So he changed his strategy to the way I teach the Playlist Funnel. He stopped chasing views. And he got eight sales in 18 days after he started posting this way.
It was a great story. It was proof that you don't need a lot of views to make sales. And it was proof that more views doesn't automatically mean more sales.
But then I look at how I packaged it.
I framed it as his story. So the viewer scrolled right past it, because she had no reason to click. Why would she care about my client? She doesn't know him.
What that video needed to be about was proof aimed at her. Proof that chasing 50,000 views will not get you a sale. That's a belief shift I have to make with so many people, because my audience is constantly getting hit over the head with the same message. More views. More subscribers. Go viral. That's the secret to sales.
It's not. And that video could have proven it.
The video's job was a belief shift. My title gave it the job of a biography.
Flop #2: The Client Who Didn't Post for a Year
The second video was about a client who hadn't posted on YouTube in over a year. And her channel was still making her money.
The point was to show you that you can post on YouTube, take a break, and still have evergreen content bringing you new people, new traffic, and new sales. Even without posting. Which is the complete opposite of what happens on Instagram.
But again, I titled it as her story.
What the viewer needed was a title built around the question she's already asking herself. Something like "Is YouTube worth more of your time than Instagram?" or "Here's what actually happens when you stop posting on YouTube vs. Instagram."
Same story. Same video. It just needed to be re-angled in the hook. And suddenly there's something to grab the attention of a business owner who's deciding where to spend the limited time she has to market her business.
What Was Missing: What's in It for Her?
Client stories are great. Testimonials are amazing. I'm not telling you to stop sharing them.
I'm telling you nobody clicks on them unless you let her know what's in it for her.
Let's be real. We're all a little selfish when we're scrolling. Very "what are you going to do for me?" energy. That's not a character flaw. That's just how people decide what to watch.
So your proof needs to be packaged as her answer, not your highlight reel.
What a Video That Passes All Three Checks Looks Like
Now for the flip side. Proof that this process works.
One of my best performing videos in the last 90 days was about how coaches will get clients in 2027 without posting every day.
Before I moved forward with that video, it passed all three checks.
It called out coaches by name, so the right person knows it's for her. It pressed on the exact pain she's living, which is getting clients. And it took the second pain, the daily posting treadmill, right off the table. All in the title alone.
That video had a job. It had a person. It had a promise. And it had all three before I ever did my hair and makeup to record it.
That's the difference between a video that deserves your precious production time and the two client stories I should have killed or re-angled.
Not the editing. Not the background. Not how many times I re-recorded the intro.
The decision I made before I ever hit record.
Run Your Next YouTube Video Idea Through the Three Checks
Once you start looking at your videos this way, you won't be able to unsee it. Fair warning.
So here's what I want you to do.
First, look back at your channel. Find a video you can now see needs a new angle. Then write down the old title and the new title you'd give it. Seeing the before and after side by side is where this really clicks.
Then take the next video you're planning and run it through all three checks.
Can a stranger tell from the title exactly who this is for and what they'll get?
Does the video have one specific job in moving her closer to buying?
Does the thumbnail show her problem?
If you can't answer yes to all three, don't film it yet. Fix it first. That one decision will save you more time than any editing shortcut ever will.
