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Tell us about Yes Theory. How did you come up with this idea?
Matt Dajer: At Yes Theory we believe that life can be as authentic and fulfilling as you wish so long as youāre willing to seek discomfort. We create content (videos, newsletters, live experiences) around getting out of your comfort zone and saying yes to new experiences and what your heart truly desires.
Three of my friends and I started Yes Theory 3 years ago. We had just graduated university and noticed that we were slipping into comfortable routines (wake up, work, hang out on the same couch with the same friends, sleep, repeat). So we decided to shake things upā¦for a whole month, weād do something that made us uncomfortable every day and then make a video about our experiences.
That month was so life-changing that there was no way this wasnāt going to be our lifeās mission.
How did you promote your company in the early days?
Matt Dajer: Weād often upload a video at 8 pm. Once it was up we would go to every single relevant blog and media outlet and from 8 to 2 in the morning, weād email every single writer, blogger, influencer we could find to get them to talk about our video.
Within 19 days of starting our project, one of our videos got picked up by 20+ blogs, it hit 100,000 views within 24 hours and we were featured in Montrealās #1 news outlet.
Realizing this worked, we repeated that strategy over and over. It was what got us our first glimpse of attention.
How have you been able to grow your business? Go specific.
Matt Dajer: Ā Trial and error + persistence + self belief (your WHY) = success
Thatās the formula we live by.
Every single piece of content we put out is a minimum viable product in some shape or form. Although we could be labeled as a YouTube channel, we donāt see ourselves as that. We study how the worldās greatest companies operate ā through tinkering, taking big risks, creating a quality repeatable product ā and emulate those strategies.
What are some secrets to virality/sales in your most successful platform?
Matt Dajer: Ā Tell a great story.
If you donāt know how to tell a great story, learn how to tell a great story. Thereās a formula.
This isnāt a new concept. Itās how our species has remembered and passed on information since our inception.
We evolved through storytelling so if you want to make something viralā¦hit at the core principles of the Heroās Journey: a clear objective in the beginning with an uncertainty of success, a hesitation and then a leap into the unknown, the obstacles and stumbling blocks along the way, persistence, a success, another failure, and ultimate success.
The formula is malleable but the idea remains the sameā¦people relate to the fear and uncertaintyā¦they see themselves overcoming those moments of anxietyā¦to a point where the reward in the story is equivalent to the reward the audience feels.
Teach us something we donāt know about?
Matt Dajer: Stop buying followers and likes. If youāre doing it right, theyāll come to you.
Nowadays, itās so easy to fake an audience. People think perception is everything. What a lot of these āinfluencersā and brands who buy followers and likes donāt understand is that everyone else can see right through it. People nowadays are smart and can spot that somethingās off when a social media account has 10 million followers and 10,000 likes. The numbers donāt add up.
Instead of taking the shortcut of buying your following, learn how to engage your audience (communicate with them, tell stories, reward them, be interested in their interests), learn how to collaborate with other influencers and brands who have engaged audience, come up with marketing ideas thatāll bring an excited audience to you.
Having 10 million followers doesnāt equate to success if theyāre not 1. Real people 2. Actually engaged.
Having 1,000 true fans is way more beneficial to your success.
What do you think you do better than most people? How does Matt Dajer do it?
Matt Dajer: We pride ourselves on the originality of our ideas and the structure of our storytelling.
People can tell when you invest a lot of time in coming up with a good idea and even more time executing on and putting that idea together.
The only simple answer to how we do it is tireless hours of brainstorming, producing, filming, and editing. No simple solution there other than hard work.
What are some of the best books youāve ever read?
Matt Dajer: Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson ; Born To Run by Chris McDougall ; Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday ; Start With Why by Simon Sinek ; Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon ; Denial of Death by Ernest Becker ; Antifragile by Nassim Taleb ; Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg ; Willpower by Roy Baumeister ; Sapiens by Yuval Harari
Where is the future of content?
Matt Dajer: Itās not YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Itās email.
The Lindy Effect states that the life expectancy of a platform, business or product is double to its current age. So if YouTubeās been in business for 12 years, itās likely to live another 12 years.
Hence why email is the biggest tree with the fattest of tree trunks. The first email was sent in 1971, nearly 50 years ago. By the time Iām 76, itāll likely still be around.
So Iām focused on getting emails.
Where do you see yourself and Yes Theory in a couple years? Whatās your dream?
Matt Dajer: The goal is to positively influence 1 billion lives by spreading our message of love over fear and seeking discomfort to 1 billion+ people across the planet.
Itās hard to measure, but I think weāll know once itās happened because the world wonāt be the same.
Editorās Note:Ā Matt Dajer is going to change the word. Donāt miss out: ā join the community:Ā https://www.yestheory.com/
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