I ghosted from social media for 1 year.

But today, I’m getting back into the game…

And I’m making a massive career pivot.

I want to share how this pivot will benefit you, and what you can expect from me going forward.

But first, let me share what I’ve been up to:

1) The best copywriter in the world told me to stop doing business.

In December, 2023, I met with a few marketers in a little Mexican beach town called Sayulita.

Dan Ferrari was one of them, and he might be the #1 copywriter in the game right now.

I told him about my next influencer partnership, and my strategy to scale it ‘to the moon.’ Within minutes, Dan shredded it to pieces. He told me to stop doing my own business for now, and go work in-house with the best marketers I could find. That way I could take my skills even further.

And when Dan talks, I listen…

2) I went full-time with an 8-figure portfolio company.

The Founder is a guy named Jonathan, and he runs The Hero Company.

He’s been a direct response marketer for 15+ years, and he has a top 1% team around him. They run multiple brands and offers in relationships, weight loss, and skincare.

He made me an offer to join the team, and I said yes without hesitation. This is why I disappeared from social media. It felt like I was getting paid to receive a Masters Degree in DR Marketing.

I took 96 pages of notes just based on the strategies and conversations we had every week about scaling offers.

But a few weeks ago, we decided to part ways. They wanted me to stay, and I wanted to stay too. They’re the best company I’ve ever worked with.

But I got inspired to start my own thing again for one reason…

3) I applied to work with Paddy Galloway.

Paddy is the top YouTube strategist in the game.

He was hired by Mr. Beast and even received a testimonial from him. He posted on X saying he was looking to hire a senior YouTube strategist.

I applied because I wanted to see if I had actual YouTube talent, or if my play button was just luck. Over 500 people applied, and only 5 made it to the final interview round. I was one of the final 5.

Paddy said I had the most unique profile out of everybody, because I had a marketing background. I wasn’t picked, but Paddy did say ‘you’d make a great partner.’

This experience led me to the biggest decision of my career…

4) I pivoted to go all-in on YouTube.

When I dropped out of college at 18 years old, the first thing I did was buy a camera, open a YouTube channel, and start posting videos.

After 5 years, I had 500 subscribers. It was demoralizing. That’s when I stopped YouTube and got into marketing. It’s been 10 years since I made that decision.

But this experience with Paddy reminded me of my passion for YouTube. I enjoy content and the creator economy more than I do marketing.

So what did I do next?

5) I started a YouTube growth agency.

Since I want to dedicate my life to content, videos, and YouTube, I decided to start a YouTube growth agency.

But I noticed a gap in the market. Most YouTube strategists don’t know marketing, and most marketers don’t know YouTube. I’m one of the few who knows both. That’s the sweet spot I’m positioning myself in.

So I started a company called One Billion Media. We’re a DFY service that helps info brands build and monetize massive audiences on YouTube. I’m bringing 10+ years of direct response marketing, copywriting, and strategy into the YouTube game.

But I realized I couldn’t do this alone…

6) I partnered with a Creative Director.

I frankly don’t know much about video production.

Which seems important if I’m producing videos for people. I threw ‘feelers’ into my network to see if anybody wanted to work with me. Nobody showed much enthusiasm except one guy, Timur Dyrdin.

Tim and I met on X in early 2023. He already had a video agency, and I liked what I saw. After a 2-hour call, we joined forces as Co-Founders. Timur isn’t just great at video and creative strategy, he’s also got skills and qualities I lack.

Plus he’s already teaching me tons and proving to be such an amazing guy to work with. I feel lucky that I found him.

Which bring us to our final point…

7) I’m going all-in on being a creator.

I’m not just a marketer. I’m an operator.

I’ve naturally become trained in both after 10+ years working with large info brands. That paired with my entrepreneurial spirit, I’m usually the guy ‘running the show.’

But this time, I’m letting Tim run the show. He’s going to be the operator, and it was a core part of his offer to me. This allows me to be more of a creator.

In fact, I want to be a creator and a marketing strategist more than I want to be an entrepreneur.

Which leads us to today…

In the last few weeks, Tim and I are already talking to:

YouTube channels between 100k-1.5m subscribers about managing their marketing…

7- & 8-figure info brands about diversifying their traffic onto YouTube…

Smaller creators about consulting to grow and monetize on YouTube…

And I’m going to share all of it with you.

My goal is to share the strategies we’re using for different partners, at different YouTube channel sizes, and at different revenue levels. This includes YouTube growth (strategy, ideation, packaging, scripting)…

Paired with direct response marketing (offers, copy, acquisition).

Or in other words…

How info brands can scale revenue with organic YouTube traffic.

That way, you can apply all of this for yourself.

And in typical Sam Ocean fashion…

I’m going to build One Billion Media in public.

I’ll be sharing the wins, the losses, and all the little mistakes to building our agency. Because believe me, there’s a lot of mistakes. We’ve already had our fair share of them along with some failures and rejections…

But that’s usually the fun stuff to read anyways… 🙂

If this sounds good? Then I’m excited to be back, and I can’t wait to connect with you.

Feel free to DM me what you’re working on, or even any question you might have with YouTube.

More than happy to chat and be as useful as I can during this next chapter in my career.

Thanks a billion,

Sam Ocean