I don't think that content creator is a hard job. Controversial. Content creation can be as easy or as hard as you make it. Are you making, like, a decent income? I'm not trying to, like, MrBeastify.
I'm not a perfectionist with my content. Your goal for this year is to reach 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. And if I'm consistent on YouTube, I could give it a shot. I wanna do content creation forever.
And you didn't think TikTok was right for you. I thought it was the stupidest app, I'm gonna be completely honest. Clearly not the case. You've got 267,000 followers there.
I always feel very confused when people refer to me as a TikToker. Millions of views on those videos, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, millions of views. Welcome back to the Creator Spotlight podcast.
Today, we are speaking with Kofi Yeboah, a creator and self-described Swiss Army knife. He does it all: social media, video production, podcasting, writing.
And his, uh, focus is sports video games, and also sports and video games separately and more generally, which he covers both independently and as an engagement editor at Secret Base, which is a sports media company under the Vox umbrella.
Thank you for coming on. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, no, of course. Glad to be here. Um, before we get into some of the more technical details, I wanna know, like, how you became such a sports person.
'Cause I came, I be- I've become kind of a sports person just in the past couple years. We'll get into that in a second. Mm-hmm. But yeah, what, what's your, like...
How have you fallen into, like, sports being so much of your life? Well, I grew up an only child in North Carolina, and that was the main way, sports was the main way for me, uh, to be involved, I guess- Mm...
in terms of, like, meeting other people my age, especially, um- Like playing sports. Playing sports, for sure. Yeah. Um, because there weren't that many kids... There weren't any kids in our neighborhood, really.
Um, so it wasn't like a cul-de-sac kind of culture. It was more like a get signed up for this league, get signed up for this league, and, you know, I've just gravitated towards sports my entire life.
And then I realized that I wanted to work in sports when I was in seventh grade, and my parents, they were both engineers, so they don't really, they didn't really understand that realm, but they decided to, like, just help in any way possible.
So yeah, I've always seen myself working in sports in some capacity. I went to school for broadcast journalism with a track in sports at Maryland. And then
I didn't wanna do, um, I didn't wanna do play-by-play broadcasting anymore after my freshman year, so I decided to pivot into sports social media, see where that goes. And so it's been- Wait, real quick.
In, in that, in that program, is like, when you, the way you said that you didn't, you, you figured out you didn't wanna do play-by-play broadcasting, is that kind of like what that program would've been training you for?
It wasn't, it wasn't a specific track, um, in terms of a curriculum. The thing about the University of Maryland is that they're really good about encouraging you to take opportunities on campus.
It's more, um, there is a curriculum, but they also really, um, heavily in, like, they really heavily push that you should get as many opportunities and take as many swings as possible on campus.
So what I was able to do was join the campus radio station, and then also join the campus radio broadcast crew, um, my freshman year.
And I was able to call radio for baseball, radio for soccer, radio for basketball, and I realized how much work and effort gets put into all of that, and preparation as well.
And it's not like I was opposed to doing that, it's just that the job that I really wanted to do outside of...
Like, when I graduated college, I had to realize that there were so many different, there was so much competition for those jobs, and- I feel like there's only, like...
I mean, I'm probably wrong, but there's only, like, a few hundred of those jobs, right? Y- yeah, a few hundred of those jobs in terms of the jobs that I actually wanted to do.
And when you get to, um, looking at the grand scheme of it, the odds of even being considered for the job that you want are pretty low. So I decided to pivot away from that because I was okay.
I knew that I was, I was okay. I could do the job, but I, I was alongside someone else that was a- like, way better than me on one game, and I was just like, "Okay, this is not my avenue. It's not my destiny."
And the guy that I was alongside, he now does, uh, play-by-play baseball for, um, a Major League Baseball team on the radio. There you go. [laughs] Um, he found his calling, and I, I have found mine somewhere else, so.
Mm-hmm. What do you... Okay, describe your calling. Like, what is it... If y- you know, whatever, let's say at a party I'm like, "Well, what do you do? You're in sports media. What do you do?"
Like, how do you describe it to people? I describe it as sports and video games, and then sports video games, so that's how I kind of do it. Because I do talk about other video games.
I play other video games and whatnot. But my main focus is sports video games, but I also do sports, which is, I think, two different areas.
I don't think that anyone is gonna be like, "You do sports, and then you also do sports video games." I think those are two different, separate worlds- Mm-hmm... even though they have a lot of overlap.
So I kind of say that I work in that realm, whether it's talking about sports or sports video games, either on my YouTube channel or the Secret Base YouTube channel.
Um, and I just try to find stuff that I'm interested in and make other people interested in it. I think that that's my j- like, my job, and that's what I really love to do. I, I like that description.
That kind of describes how I try to approach this series, too. Like, find things I'm interested in and make other people interested in them. Like- Mm-hmm...
I don't know, try to communicate, like, what, why this thing is compelling, like, what you might not have noticed, et cetera.Um, do you think of yourself, in terms of, like, your medium-- I mean, like we said, you know, Swiss Army Knife, you do so many things.
What is-- Are you, like-- Do you think of yourself first and foremost as, like, being a long-form video or YouTube creator, a, like a, a writer in some way? Like, what do you-- what's your main medium that you think?
I think I would consider myself a long-form creator. I think I'm, I'm pretty new to the short-form realm, if I had to say so myself.
I always feel very confused when people, um, y- refer to me as a TikToker or something like that, because it's not that I, I don't-- It's not that I am like, "Oh, a TikToker." I'm not saying it like that.
I'm saying the fact that I feel like to be considered a TikToker, that would-- I think that would be, like, my first platform. Like, the first platform I got started on and then branched out in my content creation.
I feel like I've done a lot of long-form YouTube content creation, even though that TikTok was my, my... is my biggest platform.
I don't consider it-- I've considered YouTube to be where I got my start in terms of- Yeah... making this content. So I, I wanna say that I
do specialize in long-form, but I do appreciate the beauty of short-form, and I'm able to, um, intertwine both, honestly. Because I don't think it changes how I personally do have, do my workload, honestly. Yeah.
It's usually, like, I have these ideas. If, if it's one to three minutes, that's fine. If I can talk about it for twenty minutes, then that's fine in and of itself.
Um, I, I don't think that's ever, it's ever boxed my way of thinking. I mean, I don't feel myself, if I was a short-form creator, I, I wouldn't feel like, "Oh, this video's six minutes.
I'm just not gonna do the video idea at all." I think that with both realms, I'm able to do all of these ideas, and if it's, if the video is three minutes, it's fine. If it's thirty minutes, that's also fine too.
I'm just more excited about being able to do the idea in general. Yeah. It-- You're a communicator.
Um, you made a video, uh, like five, six days ago, I think, as we record this, um, called How a TikTok Ban Will Change Sports Media. A few things in there I want to... This is one of your-- I forget if...
It was either thirteen minutes or twenty minutes. I, I wish I'd written that down, but- [laughs]... it's, it was one of these longer ones. Um- Yeah... I, I really enjoyed it.
There's, like, a few things in there I wanna touch on. One, um, talking about, like, you know, you, you, you're a long-form creator, not a TikTok creator, r-or, you know, whatever that thinking is.
Um, you say in the video that you were skeptical about TikTok when you first tried it, I think four years ago.
You were s- You say you, um, you know, you come from long-form and journalism, and you didn't think TikTok was right for you, which again, clearly not the case.
You've got two hundred and sixty-seven thousand followers there, eleven point one million likes. You've done well there. I don't know. Thank you.
I-- W-w- The process of, like, getting over that first, like, "I don't know what I'm doing," or, like, "I don't know if this is for me," like, I'm sure it was kinda like you just made videos, and then you made more videos, and then you kept making videos.
But in as much as there was some kind of, like, mental getting over that hump of, like, "Is this... Eh, like, I don't know," like, what was that process? I think my process was, at the time, I was,
I was at Secret Base working on Fumble Dimension. So I think that when I first joined TikTok, I was more of a consumer, um, than an actual creator. I didn't-- I don't think I got...
I didn't get on TikTok to make more videos. I got on TikTok to understand the platform at first,
because from, at Secret Base at the time, there wasn't really a, there wasn't really an incentive or an, it wasn't really a focus on short-form video like there is now even. So I just got on and being like, "Okay."
And I didn't really see that much sports content personally on my For You page for a long time. So I kind of just, like, just sat there for a couple months, and then I started making videos.
It got more fun, and then I was like, "Actually, let me make this about sports," which I think is a, kind of a mistake for my page, but, um, in terms of the fact where it's like TikTok kind of operates and, like, you-- It, it...
TikTok, I think, is the hardest platform for you to actually change your niche. Mm. Um, it, it takes months and even years for TikTok to, um, change your niche.
I feel like- Well, I n- I noticed your recent videos haven't, you haven't hit really those heights that you have historically.
Like, the, it seems like those eleven point one million likes really are weighted a little bit more to, to your past on there.
I think it's weighted a lot towards the food stuff, um, in terms of all of that, and the thing is like, oh, I don't, I don't really make food content. So, um, so that's what I've thought about it. So I don't really
see, see that, that main page. I have a separate page for sports, which I, like, kinda wanna focus more on, because I think that it's just too much of a niche to switch over.
Also, the TikTok algorithm being more focused on, uh, search engine optimization kinda also, I feel like it's weird, because I make content that isn't- You're not optimizing-... often searched...
you're not making it for the algorithm. You're making what you wanna make- No... because it's what you wanna make. Exactly. I, I make, I make the kinda content where if someone stumbles upon it,
th- it'll be f- they'll be fine. Like, I, my example is that if I made a video about NBA 2K6 specifically, no one is really searching for that specific version of NBA 2K.
However, if it shows up on their feed, they're gonna be like, "Oh, okay. Yeah, this is what I'm inter-" That's what I kind of... That's why I make TikTok, like, that's what I make my content about and for.
And so I feel like with the creator search insights, it's like no one is searching for that at the time.
So i-it-it's always-- So I've kinda, like, steered away from-TikTok in terms of making, like, I'm not really, like, dependent on the creator fund.
Like, I'm not making that much money off of TikTok, um, in terms of the fact where it's like, yeah, I, I try- But how do you, how do you feel about the, the, you know...
I mean, you made this video about the, the ban, how TikTok will change sports media, then the ban lasts for 12 hours. How do you feel, like, in the wake of that kind of false ban? I, I feel, I- I feel...
It, it makes me really upset, honestly, because I feel like there are a l- there's a contingency that doesn't understand the content creator economy and how big something like this,
um, really affects the people that make the content. Like the hundreds of thousands of jobs- Right... people's incomes, yeah.
C- because TikTok has one of the best creator programs in terms of, like, how much money you can make for, like, short form content and stuff like that, right?
'Cause Instagram, e- like, even when I had the Reels bonus, right, it wasn't... Like, TikTok, there is l- TikTok was able to be able to fund creators full time. Like, people, like, people's full time jobs are at risk,
and it, it wasn't, I wasn't personally, I wasn't making enough money on TikTok to go full time on TikTok, but that doesn't mean that I want livelihoods to be messed with and businesses to be messed with in term- like, in terms of finding clientele and all of that stuff.
So it really, it really just, like, makes me upset because people go like, "Just go to insert platform here." I'm like, I don't think you guys really understand how much, um, how much people are able to...
And not even just, like, on the bigger scale. There are a lot of people that are like, "I was able to pay off my car.
I was able to pay off my student loans," where it's like, it's not their full time job, but it's a nice, like, side hustle thing where
they weren't on TikTok expecting to become this creator or whatnot, but they were able to
do something good for them financially and through the fact that those, a lot of people in their audience are watching them for free still. So I think it was just honestly the best of both worlds.
Hey, if you're enjoying this episode with Kofie, make sure you follow the podcast so you don't miss next week's episode. We release a new interview every Thursday. I appreciate your support.
Enjoy the rest of the episode. You do a video, like, once every week or couple weeks kinda? What's your kinda output there? I think for my channel I, yeah, I try to do once or twice a week. Mm-hmm.
Um, there will be times where if, it depends on the workflow at my main job, um, if I'm, like, really, really swamped, then I'm like, "Okay, then this goes, this definitely goes to second."
But, um, I think I've been able to do it that way because my videos on my channel are way lower lift- Yeah... than, uh, the videos on Secret Base. Like, Secret Base videos- You're doing some green screen.
You research of course, probably some script, and then you're, you're, you're in the green screen and you're, you're chatting on the mic and- Yeah...
it's not a ton of, like, I mean, they're edited, but it's not, like, heavily, oh, here's this animation, et cetera. Yeah. I, and I hire, and I, I have a, I work with an editor on my channel. Yeah. Shout out Hambo.
Correct? Shout out Hambo, yeah. Yeah. Shout out Hambo. Um,
he, h- he's been very, very helpful for the channel upkeep because that was one of, kinda one of my main things as well, is that it's like I wanna, like, you know, YouTube is, content creation's all about being consistent, and when you're not, when you're not at a point where you can disappear for months on end, it, you gotta be consistent, and he's been very helpful with that.
Um, but yeah, all of the videos on my channel are, as a, as I make this right now, I do not write for them. Mm-hmm. You're off the dome. Whereas...
Off, yeah, off the dome, but a- at the same time, I think I take enough takes for me, if I really wanna get my point across and really wanna explain, I'll just be like, "Okay, I'm just gonna say this one again," but then- Yeah...
I'm like, then that's the, the better thing. But yeah, Secret Base videos are way more script, like, way more scripted, way more, um, prepped for. Wait, we should... Okay, we should talk about your, your day job.
So what I know- Yeah... from your LinkedIn, you've been there for eight years, um, SB Nation/Secret Base- I have... which is crazy. Eight years, I've never been at a job for eight years. [laughs] That's for sure.
[laughs] Um, on LinkedIn, your job description says you're, you're in charge of Secret Base's social media footprint, which includes Twitter, TikTok, and Twitch, and your daily tasks...
[laughs] I'm just, it feels this is so job, such a resume vibe. Uh- [laughs]...
daily tasks include turning long form content into more digestible content for other platforms, which is a lot of work and hard to get right. Um, but a few questions here.
First one, what, what does a normal week in your, in your day job look like, and is that correct, my, my stolen description from your LinkedIn, or is it a little different? Uh, it, it's correct.
I think that it just switches from week to week, honestly, because at the same... Like, I, it, I, it takes from two of my jobs.
Like, I first got to SB Nation, Secret Base, I was a social media producer for two and a half years. Mm.
So I feel like I kind of wear two hats at Secret Base, where I am working on my own video projects, but at the same time, um, if stuff needs to be pushed out- Basically, yeah, I would love a hat.
I've watched a bunch of your videos. You got... [laughs] Anyways. Um,
um, but yeah, so definitely, you know, I, I get up, I make s- I wake, I wake up, I see if there's anything that needs to be pushed out, if there's anything that we've, uh, posted, right?
Because when Secret Base, when SB Nation video turned into Secret Base, I went to our, our then editor in chief and was like, "Hey, we should probably have our own accounts for these." Mm.
Because if not, then what was, like, I was like, what would be the point of the rebrand if, if we're just-And so I was like, I'll... I kind of stepped up and was like, "I'll run those accounts." Yeah.
Because I f- I was like, "Okay, I'll do them," because- Somebody's gotta... someone has to, and I have the experience from working in the past, and now, like, I'll just do them.
So yeah, that's what I've been kind of doing. And, uh, Secret Base has really been great at letting me experiment with stuff where, um, I,
I know that Secret Base's YouTube channel is very powerful and stuff, but I'm also kind of- Millions of views on most videos, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, millions of views, and it- there's a, there's...
We have a great team at Secret Base.
There's, I think, like 14 of us that work on the channel, and I think that my, my job, honestly, is that whenever there's a new platform or whatnot, I should, I should be like, "We should have a place on it" in terms- Boot it to the ground right away.
Mm-hmm. Whereas, like, when Blue Sky first launched, I was like, "Okay, Secret Base should probably have this."
Or, um, you know, where it's like, "Hey, should we put these, should we put these clips of our YouTube channel on TikTok?" Because we tell evergreen stories. Why not just post them everywhere- Mm...
every- everywhere we can? Because there's so many places to post short-form video. Um, we should... Like, th- there's no downside for us publishing our own content everywhere.
So that's kind of wa- what I handle on the day-to-day when I'm not working on my own video projects. All right. What's your process, in as much as there is, like, I don't know, a defined process. Maybe it's, like,
ways you think about it for, um, for converting, like, these long-form videos into... Repurposing, repurposing this long-form content into digestible content for the platforms, 'cause that's something
that I try, I do sometimes, and it's hard. I mean, with the podcast, my, I have an editor, shout out- Mm-hmm... Tom, uh, who- Shout out, Tom... he, he's listening to this [laughs] um, who, who does that.
But with my newsletter, right, it's like, it's like, oh, well how do I, like, translate this, like, long-form essay into, like, a couple snippets I put on Twitter or whatever? And it's hard.
Um, so I mean, as [laughs] somebody who's, this has been such a part of your work for, like, more than half a decade, [laughs] um, what are, what are some of the ways you make sure that it works?
I think my thing, my, my thought process for long-form is that, yes, I'm making one YouTube video, and I'm, but I'm talking about many different things, right? Mm-hmm.
So for Secret Base, when we talk about a story, we'll do, like, maybe a beef history, but th- when you, you can break it down and be like, "How many different stories are being told in this one video?"
And I kinda just chop it up that way, where it's like if this story can... And w- I tell,
um, the people that are making their videos on this, where it's like if there is a, what we call a, not a one-off, but if there is, like, a part of the video that can stand by itself- Yeah...
then give it a shot, honestly. Um, it, but it has to, I think for, it has to be a conclusion. There has to be, like, a start- A self-contained story. Yes. Like a s- like a little eddy in a stream, kind of.
Yeah, I think that's 1,000% that that's, like, how I kinda see it, where I'm like, "Oh, this could actually stand on its own." Mm. "Okay, let's just post it and see what happens." That makes a lot of sense.
I actually, I, like, uh, somebody shared a snippet of my newsletter once, or not once, like, last week, that was very much that, and I didn't really think about it in that way. Uh, but that makes a lot of sense.
So another thing, you tweeted pretty recently, it's a classic Simpsons screenshot where it's Bart playing three chess games at once in a public park, and he's just, like, this, this is, it's a screenshot, but in the actual video, he's just, like, rapidly moving between them, and I think he loses all the games, and it's just like, "What are you doing?"
Um, but your text for it was, "How it feels having to put your short-form content on four new platforms just in case." Um, which, you know, I think it on- it only got a few hundred likes. Very relatable.
Social media manager Twitter should have picked this up and run wild with it. Um, a question there is, like, like, are there any platforms that you just are, you know, they are, they are not on your radar right now?
You're like, "That's a waste of time." Um, yeah, what, uh [laughs] are, have you stopped playing any of these chess games? So, uh, so, so TikTok, they, they came up with Lemon8, right? Mm. Now, Lemon8, I guess, I, I,
it's like their photo for... I don't, I don't know. I've never used it, certainly. It's like, it's...
So it's like another, it's like their another app where you're able to actually transfer your TikTok followers onto it. Oh.
But the thing about Lemon8 is that I had been on Lemon8 for months before, and when I got on that app, that app was more for, like, fashion. It was more for recommendations.
It was more for, like, if you want tips or whatever. So when people started migrating over to Lemon8 in terms of, like, this ban or whatnot, Lemon8, Lemon8 does not have a sports category. Yeah.
So as someone that just- Note to man... really thrives in sports content, if there's no category for it, I honestly do not, I do not focus on it because- Mm... it's like, what is this, like...
And the thing is, is that, so I use a program called, um, have you heard of repurpose.io? Uh, actually, I have not. So repurpose.io is a website where you're able to, um, if you post on...
If, it's, it's like If This Then That, but for, like, platforms. So if I'm able to post a, if I'm able to post a reel on Instagram, I can post it to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn. I could save it to a Google Drive.
I could do all of these chain reactions. And so I, that's how I've been able to, like, keep up with, like, posting on all of these different platforms, by just making it easier for myself.
I'm a big fan of, like, automation, honestly. Yeah.
Where it's like, I, I think that one of the hardest things about being a content creator in terms of, like, I don't think that content creator is a hard job, but I think that there are-There are things that... Fair.
But I think that there are tough things in terms of the fact where, um, if you have this one video that's... If you have this one Short and you have to upload it to 10 different platforms separately- Yeah...
that can get very demotivating. That's such like a waste of your time if you're like- Exactly... actually just doing it all manually. Yeah. And I think that, um... Actually, I'll take this back.
Content creation can be as easy or as hard as you make it. Yes, I agree with that. I will say that. I agree with that. I'll say that. I, I don't, I...
Like, I think that the way that I do it personally is I really try to make a lot of things simple for myself, but I know that there's a lot of like really high quality, high edited, high color graded.
That, that stuff- You could spend- Yes... 20 hours writing every one of your videos, but- Yes... you, you do it off the dome and they still get thousands of views, so [laughs] it's working for you. Yeah.
I think that that... Yeah, I'll, I'll take that com- completely back. Yeah. I c- can't believe I just said that. But, um- [laughs] We're gonna clip just that. We're gonna clip- Yeah. Clip-... only you saying that.
[laughs] Um, but yeah. I think that there feels a constant need to be on all of these platforms, and c- like constant need to honestly feel like to be on them on the ground level, too. Yeah. Where, um...
And I think I learned that from Vine, because when Vine first launched, I thought it was the, I thought it was the stupidest app. I'm gonna be completely honest. I was like- Were we all so young?
I was, I was a se- junior, senior in high school. Yeah. And I was like, "Six second videos, what, what are we..." [laughs] Yeah.
So then I, and then I see that, you know, pe- a lot of people, a lot of Viners that got in on the ground level were able to make like very good careers out of that, be able to turn that into different platforms if they were, um, wary of different platforms, stuff like that.
So whenever there is a new platform, I, I will either I'll make an account in like, just so I can have my name. Um, you know, I think that that's very important. But- You've got the just @kofi on a few of these. Yes.
Um, I think that that's kind of been important just to like have, because I- you never know when a platform is like the perfect setup for you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And, um, so I, I've always learned from Vine where I'm like, even if the platform at, at face value sounds like it's not gonna be for you, you might as well- Well, TikTok is your-... give it a try... case in point.
And then TikTok I thought exactly where I was like- Wait, question... yeah. What's your, um, your favorite and least favorite platforms as a creator, one, and then if it's different as a consumer?
As a creator it's c- I think it's... I think both are YouTube. Mm-hmm. Honestly. Your favorite [laughs] and least favorite as a creator? Oh, no. I thought you meant favorite as a creator and consumer. Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah. No, no. Perfect. Perfect. So, so YouTube is favorite as both creator and consumer. What about least- Yes... favorite as creator and consumer? Uh, least favorite platform as a creator?
As a creator least favorite platform currently is probably Twitter, what it is now. So, or Tw- as consumer it's T- it's Twitter as it is now. Like as it is now- Yeah...
in terms of the fact where it's like- You've, you've had enough stake ads... uh, it's, it's that, and then it's the stake ads, and then it's the fact that, um, y- your, your videos are reaching...
Your tweets are not reaching your intended audience sometimes in terms of the fact where like before they added the for you stuff about Twitter, um, it felt like when something went viral, it, it was more organic,
where you'd be like, okay, you tweeted out, your followers would see it, interact with it, they follow you for a reason, bigger accounts would take it, whereas this, I, I could tweet out something and it has 100 likes.
I can go to sleep and wake up and it has 50,000 and I'm like, "Okay, where did you guys all come from?" Yeah. Because that never, it never really felt exponati- exponential. It felt more linear back in the day.
But now- Like one recent tweet that, where this happened for you is like I f- I, I don't remember what school it was. We'll say it was University of Oregon.
It wasn't, um, but it was this guy, in the original tweet it was a photo of him and then the text was like, "Coach says, um, that the team is gonna be more aggressive this year."
And you just quote tweeted it like, "I believe him." Yes. And I, I saw that organically. I was like, "This is funny, because the guy looks aggressive." [laughs] Yeah. That's... I don't know. But anyways, the- Yeah...
like that's a tweet where it happened with. And then, and then the... Yeah, exactly. Like the tweet w- it was like, okay, gradual, and then I go to sleep and I go look back and it's like at 35,000.
But again, I do have my notifications turned off on- You have to... all these platforms anyway. But, uh- I recommend that for everyone, by the way.
I've, I mean, I don't have big followings on the social platforms, but I, I turned off notifications for everything but like my phone calls and messages recently. That's the only way to live. Yeah.
I'll, I'll periodically check in every once in a while, like on a... I'll check in on like the YouTube comments of a Secret Base video. Mm-hmm.
I'll check in on that to see if I like made any mistakes or errors or whatnot, but other than that, um, I'm not gonna like be out here like reading everything. Yeah. Um... It would waste your time- Yeah...
and, and grind down your brain. Um, but the, the comments thing is actually a good point.
I'm always curious to ask people about their relationships with their audience, whether that's something where like, let's say on, on TikTok maybe you're engaging in the comments, or on YouTube you've got regular viewers who are, you know, always like s- writing things, whatever.
Do you have much of a relationship with, with your audience as such?
I think that I have a great relationship with my c- the, the community, and I think that, I think that kind of gets reflected by like the fact that I, I, I still enjoy making content this long into-My career Yeah In terms of the fact where it's like I love making what I do, but at the same time I'm not out- I'm not actively out here putting stuff into the world and receiving a lot of negative- Mm.
Mm-hmm... like comments in terms of just like... 'Cause I don't, but I don't like, I also don't- You're not really that type of a scene... I don't think that my content... Yeah. No, I don't, I don't do that.
You're like nerding out on like some old, like I watched, last night I watched your, uh, where you just go through every NBA team's logo history, and you're like, "I think this one sucks, or this one's good.
I like this one because this." It's, it's just kind of like very chill and like, it's like you're have- it's like we're having a conversation except I can't talk.
I stay away from talk, like I don't really s- try, I try to stay out of the, um, con- like con- like you know how there, there are channels that like talk, just thrive in the drama aspect and stuff like that.
And I'm just like- Yeah. That, that's the business model is to create controversy and, and to have opinions that they know people are gonna be like, "You're so..."
I mean, well case in point, I, uh, a newsletter in August, I interviewed somebody who writes a newsletter about women's soccer in, in the, in the States. Yeah. And I titled...
And, and it's funny too 'cause he, he's British, um, but he uses the word soccer.
So I titled the newsletter It's Soccer Not Football, and I got more replies to that email than maybe, to that newsletter, than maybe ever before of people being like, "It's, it's so- it's football you fucking moron," like et cetera, et cetera.
And it was effective, right? Yeah. I, I don't always do that, but I don't know. The controversy is a good business model sometimes. I think, yeah, it's a great, it's a great...
Like I think about that for titles, but I'm not trying to like mislead- Yeah... someone with a title. No. Or I'm not trying to like... I know, I know you, you, that you weren't saying that either.
You're trying to, you were just trying to like spark up friendly, like- It was a little, little bit of a nudge. A little bit of- Yeah. A little jab, you know? Yeah.
So okay, speaking of business models, let's, let's talk about money for a second. You don't have to disclose all your finances- Okay... but I'm always curious to get like, I don't know, some ballpark impressions.
Um, do you, you have a full-time job, but you do- Yes... spend a lot of time, um, working on, let's say, Ko-fi as creator work.
Uh, actually at first, how much time do you think you spend in a given week doing like your content and all the surrounding work? Hmm.
I think for my content on YouTube, I try to keep it as simple as possible in terms of the fact w- that I found a new, I've done a new editing proce- or do, uh, f- filming process- Mm...
where like, um, I start instead of just filming blank on a green screen, I started, um, putting the stuff I'm talking about behind me just in OBS- You can see it on screen... um, as I'm... Yeah. You can point to it.
So I've... Yeah.
So I've started doing that, so instead of like having to, instead of having me or my editor, um, try to find stuff that like fits that, but I just put it up there then, and then we- Do you make like a, like a predetermined slideshow or something?
Or are you like stop it, you're like typing up the thing, pulling it up, and then you're cutting out that part?
I, I, since I never know where my videos end up, I record and then I'll like pause the record, and then I'll pull it up, and then I'll do it again. Oh, interesting. And then I'll...
So I, I, that's how I kinda operate off, um, like in terms of that's... I, I think that I've found a great pocket, um, for my recent videos in terms of the fact where I film like that.
It's my process, but it's not at the point where, it's not at the point where like we're doing a lot. It, we're keeping it very simple. Um, you know, have, have the green screen. The green screen works wonders, honestly.
You know? And being able to send that over to the editor and it being like, "Hey, I, I don't need that many fancy transit- I don't need fancy transitions. I don't need like graphics-" Just clean it up. "... or whatnot."
Just, yeah, just, just clean it up, make it simple. Mm-hmm. Now, down the line, down the line if I have more of a budget to be able to change the process, I'm not opposed to it. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Wait.
Before I, before we get into there, so budget now, like are you, are you making a decent in- you're making enough to, to sustain an editor helping you out. Yeah.
Um, are you making like a decent income from across all this or like are you- On my own? Yeah. On my own I'm doing okay. Like I'm not like at the point where, um... I've always asked my audience,
um, I've said, "As long as I have my full-time job, I'm not going to like ask you to like sustain or match-" Pony up the- You know?... $10 Patreon fee, whatever.
I start, I have a Patreon, but I tell them that the Patreon is, the Patreon is just to like cover editing stuff. Yeah. It, I call it an editor fund- Mm... honestly. I like that.
Where it's like, um, right now the more that, the more that I can be able to set aside for like editors or whatnot, the more consistent the content will be. Mm.
Because I do not, all the con- Like my full-time job pay- pays me enough to where it's like that's, that's fine. Yeah.
But everything else is like, like the TikTok creator fund for me was like nice extra stuff to save or, you know, you know, stuff like that. And the Patreon is like nice extra stuff for like, hey, I...
'Cause sometimes I just, I, if, there's some time, there's, like last year there were some months where I'm like, "Okay, I can afford these videos edited. I wanna, maybe I have to scale back on editing," whatever. Um, so
but I think it's we're in, like the m- now we're, the videos are doing a little bit... It was kind of like an investment, honestly- Yeah. Yeah... to seeing like if these videos, um- If the other videos perform better...
see how these videos do. Mm-hmm. And so now like seeing that, hey, it works, it pays off, um-It's good. I think, like, last year for the first year, um, I was not breaking...
There were a couple of videos that I didn't break even on- Mm-hmm... for in terms of, like, editor funds and, like, how much that video made. But I think recently it's been, it's been better.
So it's like, "Oh, okay, now that these, these videos are paying for itself, then that, that's, like, fine." You know, I, I like that. Um, some- But, um, are the, the ways you're...
The, the ways that, um, they are paying for themselves, so you, you have creator fund, ad revenue share on, on YouTube, um, and then some brand deals. I know Elgato is a sponsor of yours. They're, they're in your bios.
Yes. Um, so is there anything else? It's, it's the brand deals, the revenue shares. Um, which, which, which one is more effective for you these days? Um, I think... Well, I have to re-talk with, um, Elgato- Yeah...
because it's the start of the new year. But the...
So the thing about the, the Homefield deal is that, um, I, for a long time, I just did the discount code thing with Homefield, because for a long time, um, four years ago, whatev, um, whatnot, a lot of people got furloughed from Espeon Nation Secret Base.
Oh. And, um, Homefield Apparel, they raised, like, $90,000 for all the people that got furloughed and stuff like that. So I went to the brand and I, um, I messaged, um, I messaged their, uh,
their president, and I said, "Hey, um, whatever you guys need promoted, I'll do it for free." You know? So for a long time I promoted a lot of stuff, just like, "Send me the gear, I'll promote it."
Um, so I didn't really take money off of that. It was more, like, a, just a good relationship. And then this year earlier, I was like, "Hey, do you guys want ad reads on the channel?" And then I had that as, like, a...
So no, so it's, I have... My, my rate changes a lot- Mm... but I always give them, like- That's the same... like, it's like the, "Hey, you guys, it's... Whatever you guys send, you know? It's fine."
And then I'll charge, like, a little bit here and there. Mm-hmm. Um, and stuff like that. So yeah. Well- Not all of my brand deals... Some of my brand deals are, like, I just really rock with the company, so. Yeah.
Which, I mean, I, ideally that's what it... I, I... It's easier when, when that's the case. Yeah. Let's say... So speaking of, like, if you had more budget, you were, you were sharing it in the earlier.
I wanted to ask, let's say suddenly you're given 50K and you have to spend it on Kofie Media. What would, what would you- Like, on a, like, on a video? On... Not necessarily on one video. Oh. You're...
Someone gives you 50K, it's like, you know- 50... that here's a no strings attached- Whoa... um, investment in your, in Kofie Media [laughs]. I don't... I keep calling it Kofie Media. Dear Lord.
If- I don't know if you have a name for it. But what would you do? I have to- What... Like, what would... How would you game that out? Is it like, is it like, "Oh, now I'm gonna produce this many more videos.
I'm gonna hire this person. I'm gonna buy this camera"? Like, you know, what, what would you do with that if you... Let's say you have six months to spend. I th- I think that I've, I've...
Dude, I, I have, I think I have enough cameras, honestly. [laughs] I have, I have enough, I have enough- I feel like four different microphones in, across some of your videos too. [laughs] Yeah.
So the El- the Elgato, the Elgato partnership has been great because- Mm... um, they just, they send me whatnot, you know? They send me the gear. So that kinda gets, like, taken care of often.
I think if I had 50K on, to spend on, like, my YouTube channel, I would take a, I would take a risk, and I would, I would focus on, like, traveling content, honestly. Mm. I'd just put it a lot towards travel.
So, like, it keeps, like, it still keeps, like, the video costs down in terms of, like, the editing and stuff, but I'm not trying to, like, Mr. Beast-ify edit and all that. I'm not... I don't...
That, that style of editing- Well, you just, like, you have some of these series, it's like short form where you, like, I, I...
It's, like, food with sports or whatever where, where you, like, go to a sports bar and, like- Yeah. Y- yeah. What's that one called? Friends in Sports Places. That's it. I think that that...
I think for that, if I had that budget, I would probably just, like, hire a friend in town and be like, "Hey, do you wanna just record it for me?" Like, I don't... I have, it...
I feel weird asking, like, friends to record content. 'Cause it's work. For me. You do it for work. Yeah, 'cause it's like I, uh...
It's, like, one of those things where it's like I wanna properly compensate you if this is- Yeah... the work that... So I, I've held off on that for now, where, like, I will wear, um...
I'll either bring my Osmo Pocket or my, uh, my, uh, what's it called? The Ray-Ban Metas. I'll wear those. Um, I wear both of, I bring both of those with me everywhere I go, honestly. Um, and
I think I would focus more on traveling content, where if, if I could go around and talk about stuff or talk to people, I, I think I would focus... I think that's where I wanna be in my, my life.
Either that or I would go travel to different video game stores and, like, retro video game stores and, like, just see what they have, honestly. There's a whole treasure- Yeah... trove of ideas that I have explored.
Do some kind of Criterion collection type, like, Criterion closet type things in video game stores. Absolutely. I think that that's kind of where I would go next in terms of things, 'cause I don't think that I need...
I'm not, I'm not someone that really... I'm not a perfectionist with my content, and I'm not really a production value person right now, um, in terms of I d- I don't need a drone, right?
I don't need special effects on my videos. I don't need all of that.
Um, I think it's more like- You could, like, really break the ground and, like, be at a live sports game and have a drone filming you reacting to the game in real time [laughs] and you're in the stands.I, I just like that, that also just doesn't- Yeah...
like, that, those kind of videos do not match my energy as- No... a creator- No [laughs]... either. So I, I know that. I know, I know those things about myself, and I think that that's really important that I know that.
Um, but yeah, I think the, the more and more I grow my own YouTube channel, I think the more and more risks I can take in terms of just, like, what if I did this? What if I did that?
And so that's what I'm really excited for, and it's one of the things that I'm, like, really... I've really been patient about. Mm-hmm.
Where it's not, like, um, you know, I set goals for myself, but the thing is, is that, um, YouTube, I, I wanna do content creation forever. Yeah. I think that- Wait, wait.
Real question here: do you, do you wanna do it independently? Is that, like, your goal? Or do you, like... 'Cause I- I've talked to various people.
Some people are, like, are independent, and they're, they're figuring it out, and they... It- they're stressed, but they love it. Some people I've talked to, um, it's like a thing they do on the side to, like...
Like, it may be a journalist who uses it to increase their profile and write about things they wanna do.
And I'm s- I'm thinking of one person I interviewed who she was making, like, 1,500 most months through subscriptions. Mm-hmm. And she's like, "That's...
I mean, it could, it could be higher, but, like, I don't need it to be my full-time thing." So my question to you is, like- Yep... do you see a world or, like, aspire to do just this and be fully independent?
Or do you kinda like the balance between being full-time and being part of a team, and then also doing- I-... your own thing? I love the balance, you know? I think that, um, you know, I, I've been at Seeker...
I've been at S- SB Nation for eight years, and I feel incredibly blessed in, especially in the sports media industry, to have a full-time job where I'm able to just have this much creative control. Mm-hmm.
Um, so I think that I... It's something that I do not take for granted, and it's something that I recognize where I like being a par- It's like, it's...
The thing is, like, I like how well-respected Seeker base is from a content standpoint and as a YouTube channel standpoint, and that's something that I never will... I, I...
As long as they'll have me, I would like to be there.
You know, it's one of those kinda things wh- you know, where I really have an attachment to the work that they've made and, like, the work that I've made, and that the- Yeah...
not the work, not just the work that I've made, but the other videos that are on the channel. It's really good. It's really fun to be a part of that.
I also like the fact that, um, I've been able to do my own thing as well, where some t- Mm-hmm... some videos I'll make where... There are videos I make where I'm like, "I don't think...
This is not, these are not Seeker base videos, honestly, in, in my opinion. These are more my, my videos of me just, like, talking and w- whatnot." And, you know, I think that that for... Like, I like that dynamic.
Um, if things change in the future, I th- then we will, like, adapt, you know? I, I'm not really a, I'm not really a non-adapter of, you know? So I- When you work in social media, you can't be.
[laughs] You can't, exactly. You literally can't. So it's one of those things where, you know, I... It's, I like where I am, honestly. It's like, it's my... Being able to work on a YouTube channel for five years and
be able to do my own thing as well, I think that being able to do my own thing has been really important, not just, not just, like, in terms of just having my own thing. Um, but it keeps me going. Yeah.
Honestly, I, I really- It's like a steam valve. Yeah, it's a steam valve because I think I have, I just have too many ideas, honestly, in terms of, like, I wanna talk about this, this, this, this, this, and this.
And I, I feel... But I... And I feel like if I was just, like, working on one thing for, like, one project and I wasn't allowed to do other, like, stuff like that, I think that then I would be more...
I'd be, like, I'd be frustrated, so. Yeah. It's been really great to be able to have the best of both worlds. And yeah, I, I, I absolutely love it. That's nice. Um, curveball question a little off topic. Yeah.
What's your least favorite sports league? I think, I think your favorite's the NBA, is kinda what I've picked up from- Least favorite-... your content... sports league? Yeah. In any- Um... any sport, any country.
I don't think I have one. I don't have a least favorite sport. Okay. I don't think I have a least favorite sport le- league because I, I am someone- You don't need to... that is also, is also... I'm ex- I...
I'm the s- I'm the type of person that watches the Olympics, but not for the main sports. Like, there, the, there are so many opportunities in the world that I get to watch handball. [laughs] Right? Yeah. You know?
So I'm, I'm one of those type of people where it's like I'll, I'll, I'll watch Olympics because I wanna watch archery- Yeah... at 4:00 in the morning.
So I don't really have a least favorite sports league in terms of, like... I'm not... And I'm not someone that's like, "Hey, uh, you're, we're watching" or, "You're watching this? Turn it off." Yeah. I'm not that person.
No. So. No. I sh- I should, I should've known. Um- Yeah... do you have a... The only sport I really watch r- r... Like I said earlier on, I've become, like, a big soccer, football watcher after the- Yeah...
2020- 2022 World Cup. Um, so I'll watch, like, um, the Premier League m- mainly. Yeah. Champions League. It's on right now. Actually, as soon as this ends, I'm gonna check- [laughs]...
check the score, see if Arse- Arse... I'm an Arsenal guy. We were, uh- Ah... you know, two minutes in, we went one-nil up against Dinamo Zagreb. I, I got on here at halftime, so, so we'll see if that holds. Oh, yeah.
Um, do you have a, do you have a soccer team, football team as well? Uh, Liverpool. Uh, Liverpool. Yeah. I kinda, I got that impression. I saw, like, some little snippet of, uh... in your content somewhere, so lucky you.
Great year. Great year- Yeah... you're having. [laughs] Um, anyways, uh, okay, yeah.
In your, in your TikTok ban YouTube video, you said that your goal for this year is to reach 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, which is, which is- Yes... a great goal. Um, are, are you...
Is there anything in particular where you're, like, adding to your process or something you're gonna try to do that?
Or is it kinda just stay the course and you're feeling confident?I think it's gonna just stay the course 'cause last year, last year when I started the year, I had, like, maybe, like, 15,000 and it got to 50- Mm-hmm...
plus, and I was like, "Oh, Jesus." [laughs] "I- okay." Okay. 'Cause when, 'cause that was, um, ki- Oh, wait. How long have you been doing it? How long you been doing the YouTube? So I've had this channel for
probably seven years, right? Yeah. Okay. So I made this channel because when I started at SB Nation, I was on social media, and I realized that I went to school for broadcast journalism.
I have these video skills, but I have nowhere to put it right now.
You know, I was like w- I was, at SB Nation I was doing, like, making graphics, I was making, um, I was tweeting out games, live tweeting out articles and stuff like that, but I was realizing, "I'm not e- I'm not really able to make my own videos right now."
And, um, I had, I was, as I was trying to be on the video team, I was like, "I really don't have any proof of concept right now-" [laughs] "... um, besides my, like, senior project, which is-" Yeah... what.
So I started a YouTube channel for a while, and i- it did a, it... Like, there are some videos that I'm like, "Oh, those are actually..."
Like, my, my most, one of my most popular videos on my channel is still, views-wise, is, like, a Jeopardy video. It's a deep dive on Ken Jennings- Yeah... um, that I made, like, five years ago. Um, or five...
No, not five. Evergreen content, baby. Five or six. Yeah. And I'm just like, "Oh, okay. Well..."
S- but then when I g- I joined, uh, Secret Base and the team, I stopped making YouTube videos seri- like, on my channel for, like, two or three y- years. It's, like, a long time between that. And then
as I was, like, I was sitting, like, last year, I would make a video here and there.
I would, I try, I did Twitch streaming for a while, um, but I, and I didn't do the Twitch streaming where I'm like, Twitch stream, turn it into a YouTube video. I didn't do all that. Yeah. Um,
I, so then I was like, "Let me actually stop, put the Twitch streaming aside, and then let's focus on making these, like, videos on the NBA or making whatever."
And the Pistons were really bad last year, which is, unfortunately, as a Pistons fan, um, that kind of, that kind of, like, spearheaded a lot of people coming to my channel and stuff, and I was like, "Oh, no."
I didn't, I didn't wanna be n- I didn't wanna be this, but- Wait, wait, wait. When you say a lot of people, were they Pistons, Pistons fans?
'Cause you- I think there are P- I think there are Pistons fans, but there i- there are some Pistons fans, but I think a lot of them, I thought a lot of it was mostly a bunch of people that, um, you know, when e- when a team is bad in the league, like, the team, like, the, the league doesn't, the league media doesn't really cover it that often.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. So I think that as someone that was watching all the games, um, it was just some place where, like, people can be like, "Oh, he's watching the games. He's right.
He's here to tell you, like, how bad it is." That makes a lot of sense. Well, it's like, like Arsenal, Liverpool. Yeah. I read The Athletic a lot. That's where I- Mm-hmm...
that's, like, a lot of my sports media consumption. It's like Arsenal, Liverpool, City, whatever, so much content. Yeah.
But you're, like, Southampton, even Crystal Palace, you're not getting as near as much the volume of- Yeah... um, of coverage day to day. You're gonna have, you're gonna have to go somewhere else for that. Um- Yeah...
like, you know. You're gonna have to get Kofi. [laughs] I know. Do it about Southampton. Kofi Media LLC. Yeah. [laughs] Look, I wouldn't be opposed.
Um, but yeah, I think that through that I was like, "Oh, I could, if I con- if I'm consistent on YouTube, you know, I could give it a shot," and it'll be different, it'd be different content than my Secret Base content.
But at the same time, I've always wanted to be, um, you know, I've always wanted to be a YouTuber, whether it's from, like, m- on Secret Base or with my own thing, and being able to do both is great.
Um, so no, I've been enjoying it. And the, the 100,000 thing is just, like, I didn't, I was like, "50,000 could happen," and I'm, like, very surprised by, like, how fast it was able to grow. Yeah.
Um, so I think 100,000 even, like, it's a lofty goal, and it's, like, double my, it's literally double my YouTube subscriber- Yeah... base. But- Well, but you more than doubled last year, so.
Yeah, I know, which is, which is, I, I, it always, it still shocks me, but, um, it, it's, I think it's a good goal to have, honestly. Yeah. Especially 'cause- Cool...
and I'm not in a, and I'm not in a rush because it's like, I, again, I say I wanna keep doing content creation for forever.
Like, I st- I wanna be, like, still 70 doing, like, vlogs of the retirement home that I'm in or something like that. Yeah. I don't know. But I feel like there's always gonna be something to create in my life. Yeah. So.
Deep dive, who was Mo Salah? [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, I would, I'd be da- I'd be doing that back in, like, f- like, 40 years from now. That'd be cool. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I think that's the perfect place to end it.
Um, if you're listening on YouTube or otherwise, go subscribe to Kofi so he can hit, uh, 100,000 subscribers. What would you like to plug? Um, you could follow the Secret Base YouTube channel, um, Secret Base.
You can follow my channel. It's Kofi, K-O-F-I. You can follow me on TikTok and Twitch, KofiY, K-O-F-I-E-W-H-Y. And then you can follow my Instagram, Kofi Yeboah, K-O-F-I-E Y-E-B-O-A-H. Hit him up. Yeah.
Thank you for coming on. This has been the Creator Spotlight podcast. I will see you next week.
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