Transition from Animated Content to Personal Coaching

The transition from animated content to personal coaching revitalized his connection with the audience and improved business outcomes.

### Transitioning from Bas Zeus: Embracing a New Era in Dating Content
* 🎥 Thank you for sticking around for nearly **8 years** since the launch of the Zeus content, as we look forward to **continued growth** in the new year.
* 💰 Despite reaching a peak of **$4,000 in monthly AdSense revenue**, the high production costs of an animated channel made it challenging to **sustain the business effectively**.
* 📉 With the rise of the **red pill movement** and the popularity of **short-form content** on platforms like TikTok and Reels, the long-form animated format of Zeus became **less appealing**.
* 🤝 I launched a coaching program in March 2022, which allowed me to **develop personal relationships with clients** and provide **tailored advice**, marking a **significant shift** from the animated content.
* 📈 The coaching program thrived, and I realized that the **animated format was incongruent** with the more personal coaching approach I wanted to take, leading to the decision to **retire the Bas Zeus brand**.
* 🚀 As I prepare for an ambitious new YouTube challenge, I’m excited to create **more engaging and actionable content** that resonates with viewers, moving away from the limitations of animation.
* 📅 In the past year, short-form content has driven significant growth, contributing to **50% of our revenue**, showcasing the shift in audience preferences.
* 🌟 With upcoming content that promises to be **innovative and unlike anything seen before** on YouTube, I am eager to provide **real value and actionable advice** for those seeking improvement in their dating lives.

All right, so why I quit Bas Zeus. Why did I retire the Bas Zeus animation, the name, everything. I've been meaning to make this video for months, so I figured I would just say [__] it, turn on the camera, and tell you directly exactly what's been happening with the channel and the business as a whole, and why there was such a drastic change. I know for a lot of people, I've gotten lots of comments, people will said, Oh, you fell off, he's running out of ideas, he doesn't know what to do anymore with the channel. It's not really what happened. It was not a decision that I made overnight or something that was done, you know, in the heat of the moment. It was something that just over time became more and more obvious and apparent to me, and I kind of figured I would just explain why. So, the Bas Zeus channel started in 2016, July 3rd, 2016, I believe is the first day, the first video that was ever uploaded on the channel, and from since July 2016 all the way

till about, I would say, the early stages of 2022, we posted probably close to 400 long-form YouTube videos. Because again, this is before, you know, 2016, all the way up until 2019-2020, is when TikTok started getting popular. Short-form content was not a thing; it was not popular. And in that 6 or 7-year period, from 2016 to 2022, there were 3 or 400 full long-form videos that went up on the channel. The channel grew really fast from the start, and it was definitely by design because when the idea for Bas Zeus was born, and you know, I was brainstorming and coming up with it, and we were creating it, it was really a very intentional idea in that we knew that dating content on YouTube was something that wasn't really good, especially back in the day. I'm talking really back in the day, even pre-2016. The best dating advice videos you could get was like a cheesy, corny Expert Village video teaching you how to kiss.

or how to talk to a girl, and it was these two actors, and they were like 2 or 3 minutes long, and it was the most generic advice you've ever heard of. Dating content on YouTube fell into two camps: there were guys who would cover men's lifestyle or grooming or fashion, and every once in a while, they'd make a video about dating, and it would just be kind of very generic stuff like just be confident or get a better haircut, etc., which is not bad advice, but it's not very actionable, and it's not going to make a massive make-or-break change for the guy. They're important things, but it's not really practical. Say this, do this, here's what you need to do, here's how to think about male-female psychology, here's how to approach the girl, etc. On the other hand, you had pickup artists, pickup artists who had their own culture with all of their own jargon and terms. The problem with pickup content and dating content at that time from the pickup artists in that

Community is that not only number one. It was mostly weirdos and creepy people who really didn't have any social skills. I remember when I would try and watch YouTube videos as a normal guy. I'm like, well, these guys are [__] weirdos. Of course, they need to do all of this extra [__] and play all of these games, so it was never really appealing to me. And then, of course, the generic lifestyle content from lifestyle influencers wasn't really useful either, so there was a gap in the market. And because of that gap, I felt it made sense to make content that addressed this content for a guy who's normal, who just wants actionable, to-the-point dating advice. That's no [__] because the other thing with these pickup artist channels was that they would make these like 30 or 40-minute long videos that was just, you had a really high barrier to enter if you're a normal guy and you just want to learn how to have better relationships with women, how to flirt better, how to talk to

women. This wasn't really the best type of content for you because it's like these guys are all weird. They're wearing weird outfits. They're telling me to say all of these lines and memorize all of this [ __ ]. It's like I don't know what I'm doing, and I think that's why dating as a whole, as a genre, never really did super well on YouTube prior to 2016. So, the idea for B St was to make not only entertaining, short, actionable, and to-the-point videos. I mean, if you watch the first few videos on Zeus, they were all like 2, 3, 4 minutes long. They were not long at all, and that was by design. We wanted to make punchy, entertaining, low barrier to entry. Literally, any guy off the street could watch the video, he could learn something, and he can go out and execute on what he learned right then and there in that video. And we wanted it to be funny, and because that was the idea for it, it made sense to

make the content animated because when the content was animated. Not only was it another way to separate ourselves from all of the other guys just talking to the camera and, you know, giving content like this. It was also really a way to be more entertaining and to also make the content about the content so that people would focus on the ideas rather than who was saying it, which is a big thing that we won't get into for now. But a lot of times, people won't take the advice on its own merit if they feel like, Oh, well, this guy is like jacked, or This guy isn't, you know, super good-looking, or, you know, whatever. So, the reason I give all this context as to how dating was and what content on YouTube was like at that time is really just to say that the channel blew up really quickly. Within 6 months, the channel hit its first 100K subscribers. I think it was 6 or 7 months. We had 100K subscribers, which is crazy. It was really big growth at that

time it was something that was honestly really amazing. But some of the downsides of growing super fast is that when you have a large audience, you tend to lose sort of the intimate personal touch that you have with the audience and the viewers and the people who are watching what you put out. And since the channel blew up so quickly, and you know, we hit 100K in 6 months, a million subscribers only two years after starting, which is insane growth. The channel was always on this huge upward trajectory that was probably pretty unsustainable for a channel like that. But not only that, the other thing to consider was that when you have hundreds of thousands of views, honestly millions of views every single month, and millions or tens of thousands of comments all the time, you start to view and interact with your audience as just numbers on a screen. And although people will send you messages and send you comments about how your advice helped them, your content changed their life, etc., and it

feels really good. You kind of get develop Banner blindness; you become a little numb to it because you're not you don't know these people. This is just comments and words on a screen. So, around March of 2022, I decided that I wanted to redevelop that Personal Touch and that personal relationship with the audience. And the reason for it was because when I first started making dating content on YouTube, it was really because dating was something that I was always it was always a topic that I was interested in. Ever since I was [ __ ] 14, 15 years old, me and my friends would go to the mall and approach girls. It was like every single Saturday, we would have one of our parents drive us to the mall. We'd go and approach girls, and it was like the most fun thing. And that experience in that Journey was something that was super impactful, and it shaped a lot of my life, my ability to talk to people, my ability to feel comfortable and confident in social situations. It helped me in so many aspects, and

Honestly, it's made me a ton of money just because those social skills, the ability to maintain relationships, is really what business is all about at the end of the day. So, you know, when I was in high school, I would always help my friends with dating advice when they were talking to girls. I was kind of like the guy that my friends would come to to help with dating and to see the advice that I would give them and for them to be able to observe that transformation. Especially, there's a couple of my friends in high school that I really helped out. That transformation is what made me obsessed with it because I knew how much of an impact that transformation had on me, and it was just a ton of fun to go through that process and to watch other people go through that process over and over again. So, I decided, you know, I never really tried a coaching program. The business model for basus was interesting because first we did sponsor F. First, we thought, Okay, we'll just

make money as YouTubers off AdSense, but by the time the channel blew up, the 2017 adpocalypse happened. So, by the time we were getting any views where it would have been meaningful to make money from the ad from the views on the channel, it really wasn't anything at the end of the day. At the end of the day, I think the most we ever made from AdSense was like four grand in a month, which obviously is not a small amount of money, but it's an animated channel. I think we had three or four animators at the peak, and the channel is animated; it's high production value compared to just picking up a camera and editing. An animator's capability is rarer, so it costs more money. So, it was barely even enough to—I don't even think 4K a month was anywhere close to covering the expenses to run the channel at the time. So, we knew we had to monetize a

different way. So, we started monetizing through sponsorships for a while, and the sponsorship model was great because it allowed me to basically share brands that I thought were awesome and to share cool products with you guys in a way that made sense with the channel. But over time, the sponsorship model became a bit of a treadmill, and what I noticed is that the problem with the sponsorship model is that you only get paid once per video. So, let's just say a brand pays you $1,000 to promote them in their video. Well, you make $1,000 off that video, but then if you want to get paid again, you need to make another video, which is like you can see how it quickly becomes a hamster wheel. And I didn't really want to repeat myself a bunch in content. I always wanted the content to feel authentic, and when you have to make a sponsored video because that's the way you're making money, you have to keep making content regardless because you get you make a video once, you get

paid once, that's it. So, I transitioned to the course model, and we started selling our first courses in 2019, which was amazing. The course model for a business like this and a channel like this, where you're making educational content, is the best because people come to the channel because they want to learn something. There's some sort of educational value that they're getting. So, when you put together a course, it's really just a focused, targeted series of videos and standard operating procedures, checklists, etc. You bring them through an entire process to develop that skill that you've been educating them on, and you get to control your own refund policy, which is great. You can control the entire experience that your customers get, which is not something that you can say when you work with sponsors. So, I liked having that extra element of control, and I also felt like it just made sense to sell more of what the audience was coming to us for. So, the course model was great, and the benefit of that was I didn't need to

make as many videos in order to make the channel profitable, in order to pay the editors, employees, etc. So, that model was amazing because if I post a video promoting my course once, I make money from that forever because the links to that course are there forever, and every single person who watches that video can go and buy that course. And you make something once. Obviously, we update the courses regularly to make sure that they're great, but that was something that I thought was great. And we did that model for two and a half, almost three years. But once 2022 rolled around, I was missing... I felt like I was missing that personal connection that I had with dating and that style of content, and really the whole reason that I started doing YouTube dating content to begin with. So, I decided that I wanted to launch a coaching program. It was something that I had never done before, but I did like how the courses would get guys epic testimonials. They would get guys epic results. We had a few small little communities attached to the

courses that guys would join, and it was fun to interact with guys in that way. So, I wanted to launch a coaching program so that I could interact and see and be a really intimate element of these transformations. So, I launched the coaching program back in March of 2022, and immediately it did extremely well. Not only did it do extremely well, but it was amazing. It was so much fun. I developed amazing relationships with all of the clients and the guys who would come through and get epic results. I'm personal in real-life friends with some of the clients that I've worked with inside of the coaching program now. And really, the benefit of this program was that I was able to help people in a way that I hadn't helped them in years, and it finally allowed me to develop that personal touch with the audience again. So, all of that to say, the coaching program was great, but the problem is Zeus is a [__] cartoon at the end of

the at the end of the day, right, it's animated. When people would interview to join the course, or when people would interview to join the coaching, rather, and they wanted to learn more about it, and when they got in, it's like, Okay, I've been watching Zeus this whole time. I had never really been in the content at that point. I was only in the content sent maybe four or five videos max, maximum on the channel. So, you know, when it came time for me for people to get coached by me, they were excited, and it was great, but it created a problem in that people would show up and be like, Okay, so like, am I going to get coached by Zeus, or like, how does that work? Zeus is a cartoon. It just was really incongruent with the new direction of the channel and how we were choosing to monetize it. The other thing was, is that I had made three or four hundred videos in that period of time in the same exact way, in that same animated format, and although the animated format

is a lot of fun, and you can be really creative with it. The problem is that it is inherently limiting. A big thing that a lot of my private clients inside of my coaching program would want to come to me for is they would want help with their in-person approaching. They were like, Hey, bro, like, uh, because the coaching program is something that we cover a lot in, right? We cover not only do we cover dating apps. I literally personally build your dating app profiles for you. I build your Instagram profile for you. I help you get a photo shoot. Literally, we do all of the heavy lifting of your profiles for you. And then we also show you exactly how to go out and approach women in person. And as guys came in through the program and they developed that personal relationship with me, and the coaching was obviously done entirely by me, Zeus is, like I said, Zeus is a [__] cartoon. It became more and more incongruent to promote the coaching program and to make that the centerpiece of what the

channel was doing because truthfully, if someone wants to be coached, they want to be coached by a person. It doesn't make a lot of sense when you're watching a cartoon and then you're going to go and get coached. Sometimes, I've done some in-person coaching over the last year as well. It doesn't make sense that you're going to get coached by someone every single week. They're going to know all of the intimate details of your life, your dating life, etc., and it's a cartoon. So, that incongruence made it that Zeus was just limiting the potential of the business and the content. And like I said, I felt I had gotten to a point where I had said everything I needed to say in that format, as the cartoon, as Zeus, and that it was time for a more mature and sophisticated approach and take on dating. The other thing that happened was that the red pill movement became a lot more popular, and I saw this starting to gain some traction in 2019.

um, but the pill movement became popular, so people wanted to hear about dating in a different light. Obviously, I'm not super in alignment with red pill content, so it didn't make sense to try and make content that regard. It would have just been inauthentic and, truthfully, I think counterproductive and really harmful for a lot of guys who are trying to get real results in their dating life. So, the red pill became more popular, so the format that you know I was doing with Zeus became less popular. People started watching more short-form content on TikTok, Reels, etc., Shorts. So, long-form just wasn't as popular. You'll notice a lot of people post on YouTube L nowadays because most people watch short-form, and it's easier to make short-form content. The other thing is that the short-form channels completely blew the [__] up for us. Once I did the transition from Zeus to me, because if you're going to get coached by me, you should probably be watching me in the content you should

get a sense of who the person is that you want to get coached by. Um, when I started making the shorts content, it blew up and it grew significantly. So, that's why this channel, I haven't really posted on it much in the last couple of months, because most of my focus has been on the coaching program, scaling that up, and really focused on short-form content. Because that's, I mean, in the last year alone, we've gained almost a million followers on short-form platforms, which is insane growth. Like, it's insane the amount of growth that you can get with shorts. So, that's why the YouTube channel is kind of taking a backseat, because it's easier for me to come up with content on shorts, because they're only a minute long, 30 seconds long. But I still felt like I wasn't sure of the format and the way I wanted to address videos in long form on YouTube, and I didn't want to force anything. And luckily, you know, the business, I know a lot of PE, I see comments like, Oh, Zeus.

you fell off. Oh, he's running out of ideas. He doesn't know what to do. Bring Zeus back. Full disclosure, at least from a revenue perspective, this is the best year the business has had ever, by a long shot, by a very significant amount. Even though our YouTube channel, you could say, is less active and we get less views on the YouTube channel than ever. In fact, you know, the year before this, the year before when Zeus was getting more views than we were getting now, the channel was actually making the business as a whole was making less money. And truthfully, I would be making even more money if I was just posting on YouTube long form all the time. But ultimately, I'm glad that short form has become a big part of the business. I mean, 50% of our revenue now comes from short form platforms alone, which is awesome. But it also gave me the time and space to think about what is the new direction I want to take the channel in and all of the new potential directions that I was most interested.

and excited about, and what I thought would be most valuable to the viewers and the people who would come through the coaching program. None of it was in alignment with animated cartoon videos anymore, so that's why ultimately I made the decision to get rid of it. And right now, I am gearing up. I think 10 days from now, it'll probably be about two weeks from now until you see it. About 10 days from now, I will be embarking on the biggest heroic Mission YouTube challenge that I've ever done. This is the longest I've gone without posting on YouTube. I haven't posted on YouTube in two months on the main Channel, I guess a month now almost, but for the entire five, six years that I was making YouTube videos as Zeus with the Zeus animations, I didn't go. The longest I had ever gone without making a video was 2 weeks, and that was a long time. So, this has been my biggest layoff from YouTube, but for good reason because this is going to be the most I've ever posted coming up in the New

Year, it's going to be the most I've ever posted on YouTube. I'm doing an insane challenge. Um, but it also is exciting because now that I've officially retired the Bas suus St and got rid of the animation, there's so much more freedom and creativity that I can do with the content that's ultimately going to make for better videos, going to make for better results for the guys watching the videos, and it's going to honestly just be way more fun for you, the viewer, and for myself making the content. Um, like I mentioned, a big thing that I've worked on with clients over the last couple of years is iners approaching, right? A lot of clients that I work with live in cities. They get access to, they get lot access to lots of women that they get to encounter and see on a day-to-day basis. So, that's a big thing we've worked on, and that's why I've made more and more content around that. And obviously, an animated cartoon is going to go out and approach girls, so that clearly

doesn't make any sense, but ultimately all that to say, I know this is a super long video. I'm excited that I can finally do everything that I need to do to provide the most value for you guys, to provide the most value and generate the most value for the business, and really give back. So, I'm excited for the new year. This is going to be the most I've ever posted on YouTube, ever, by far. The challenge and the content that's coming out is truly insane and unlike anything anyone has ever done on YouTube before. So, I'm very excited. If you are interested in the coaching, obviously, I talked about it a lot. You can check the first link in the description. We're doing a discount for the new year. And you can also check my brand new course where I show you how to approach girls in person. The reason I was able to make that course is because now that I'm filming all the content in person, you can see it in action. So, if you're interested in any of that, but that's it.

Thank you for making it to the end of this update video. I appreciate those of you guys who are still sticking around almost 8 years later from when we first started making the Zeus content, and I'm excited to keep growing with you guys into the new year.

Why I Quit Based Zeus

Benjamin Seda

Transitioning from Dating Content to Coaching

The creator observed that YouTube's dating content was often generic and not actionable, with two main camps: lifestyle gurus and pickup artists.

The pickup artist model was profitable but lacked personal connection, leading the creator to launch a coaching program for more impactful results.

After a two-month break from posting, the creator is gearing up for their biggest YouTube challenge yet, aiming to make the most impactful content.

B St aimed to create short, entertaining, and actionable dating advice videos, contrasting with the awkward content prevalent on YouTube before 2016.

The coaching program offered personalized support for in-person approaching and profile building, leading to a stronger relationship with clients.

Despite a less active YouTube channel, the business has seen significant revenue growth, with 50% now coming from short-form platforms, allowing for new creative directions.

The Impact of Animated Content on YouTube Success

Animating content helped differentiate the channel and make it more entertaining, focusing on ideas rather than the presenter.

The channel experienced rapid growth, reaching 100K subscribers within 6-7 months and posting around 400 long-form videos by early 2022.

The creator is now excited to offer more content and coaching in the new year, with a unique approach to dating advice and a new course on in-person girl approaches.

The Impact of Social Skills on Business Success

Social skills and relationship maintenance are crucial for business success, as demonstrated by the author's experience in high school helping friends with dating advice.

The author's coaching program and rapid growth on YouTube have allowed for more creative and impactful content.

However, the fast-paced growth has led to a loss of personal connection with the audience and a tendency to view them as just numbers on a screen.

Transitioning from Sponsorships to Coaching

The channel initially monetized through sponsorships, but this model became unsustainable and repetitive.

In March 2022, a coaching program was launched, leading to meaningful client relationships and personal transformations.

The cartoon character's incongruence with the coaching model limited the business's potential, prompting a shift towards a more mature approach to dating content.

Transitioning to a Course Model for Business

The speaker transitioned to selling courses in 2019, finding it to be the best model for an educational content channel.

The course format allowed for a focused series of videos and control over the customer experience.

However, the animated format created a disconnect with the audience, leading the speaker to seek a more personal relationship with them by 2022.

Transitioning from Bas Zeus: A Personal Journey

The creator's focus shifted from the YouTube channel to a coaching program and short-form content, leading to significant growth in followers.

They noticed a gap in the market for actionable dating advice for normal guys, which inspired their content creation.

The decision to retire the Bas Zeus brand was gradual and not made impulsively, with the channel's journey starting in July 2016.

The Zeus channel struggled to make significant money from AdSense, with a peak of $4,000 a month, which barely covered the high production costs of animation.

The rise of the red pill movement and short-form content on platforms like TikTok and Reels led to a decline in the popularity of long-form content.

The transition from Zeus to personal coaching content helped to regain traction and engage with the audience more effectively.