§ 01 · The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Sky Tan opens with a triple-stacked flex: 90K followers, 17 days, and $70K cash collected in the same window. Then he reframes the entire content-strategy conversation around a single thesis — every creator has one format that puts them in pole position, and the job is to find it, borrow it, and run it on volume before anyone catches up.
What the video promised.
stated at 01:15“By the end, you'll have a road map on exactly how to find yours.”delivered at 19:05
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:46
01 · Cold open: the 90K / $70K claim
Numbers + revenue graphic + format-theory promise.
00:46 – 01:33
02 · Three case studies
orenmeetsworld (green-screen packaging), Diary of a CEO (podcast trailers), Ashton Hall (Saratoga water hook). One format each.
01:33 – 03:00
03 · Stop copying inside your niche
First-mover's advantage is the load-bearing skill. Look outside, combine with personal angle.
03:00 – 04:54
04 · The Adelman Aspires steal
Sky shows the source format (labeled doomscroll reactions), the variation he layered on (content-strategist label + arrow + view count), and what he chose NOT to copy (sped-up audio).
04:54 – 05:48
05 · Step 1: list your skill set
Write down every activity you do — market research, scripting, calls, doomscrolling. Not just the flashy stuff.
05:48 – 07:26
06 · Step 2: pair each activity with a visual
Every task on the list has an on-camera visual. Sky picked doomscrolling because he already does it — 45-degree phone shot, read jargon off Apple Notes between pauses.
07:26 – 09:14
07 · Step 3: structure for repeatability
Same visual + same script pattern every time. Viewer recognition compounds. He could script 15 videos in an hour because the template was locked.
09:14 – 10:03
08 · Step 4: the 3-hook stack
Visual hook + verbal hook + text hook, all firing in the first second. Walkthrough across his most viral videos — same content-strategist label, same arrow, same view count overlay.
10:03 – 11:40
09 · Niche-specific format examples
Dog trainer = breeds-of-dogs format. Lawyer = react to viral accident clips. Fitness = 'what I eat in a day' is the same pattern.
11:40 – 12:50
10 · Saturate before competitors copy
Once 3-4 videos hit, scripted/recorded/edited 6 videos a day. By the time competitors copy, his face was already attached to the format.
12:50 – 14:10
11 · Evolve the execution, keep the core
Audience appetite gets satiated. React to what your avatar actually watches (Brian Johnson, Alana, Hormozi). Volume > predicting the perfect video.
14:10 – 16:50
12 · Failed views are data, not failure
Most founders quit after 300 views. That's where the discipline gap is.
16:50 – 19:05
13 · The 2x baseline test
Post 4 videos in the same format. Average them. If 2x your previous baseline, the format has legs. If not, adjust execution or kill it.
19:05 – 21:20
14 · Week 2 result and recap
100K views/video average by week 2, $70K collected. Two signals to look for: views keep growing past day one + acceleration of growth is faster than baseline.
21:20 – 23:44
15 · CTA: book a call with Clipcut
Free audit on a call. Next-video pitch for his $1M content strategy build-out.
Visual structure at a glance.
Named ideas worth stealing.
04:54list
The 4-Step Format Build
- List every skill/activity in your niche (not just the flashy ones)
- Pair each activity with a visual that demonstrates it on camera
- Structure visual + script the same way every time (repeatability builds recognition)
- Script three hooks: visual + verbal + text — all firing in the first second
The pre-production checklist Sky used to lock his format before filming a single second.
Steal forJoe should run this on Killing Excuses, Sip Ship Sell, and Mod Producer before shipping more episodes — one locked template per show.
08:58model
The 3-Hook Stack
- Visual hook — what the viewer sees in the first frame
- Verbal hook — first words out of your mouth
- Text/read hook — caption or text animation on screen
All three must pull in the same direction inside the first one second. The brain pattern-matches against thousands of past videos and categorizes 'waste of time' vs 'dopamine' in that window.
Steal forJoe's $6 Stack videos — every cold open should hit visual + verbal + text in the first frame, not at the 3-second mark.
16:50concept
The 2x Baseline Test
Post 4 videos in the same format, average the view counts, compare to your pre-format baseline. If the average is at least 2x the baseline, the format has legs — double down. If not, adjust execution or drop it.
Steal forJoe's batch tests for any new short-form series. Stop killing formats after 1-2 videos.
04:00concept
Cross-Niche Format Borrowing
Copying inside your niche makes you a late mover. Copying from outside your niche and layering on your domain twist makes you a first mover. The structural primitive (react + label + viewcount) is portable; the content layer is what you uniquely contribute.
Steal forJoe could port 'what I eat in a day' to 'what I ship in a day' for solo founders, or port Adelman's react-and-label to react-and-label SaaS landing pages.
Lines you could clip.
00:08
“I gained 90,000 Instagram followers in seventeen days without running ads, doing a collab post, or getting lucky off the back of a trending audio.”
02:45
“Once they all saw a big fraction in their format, guess what they did? They doubled.”
03:37
“Once you're copying someone inside your own niche, you're already too late.”
09:20
“When all three are pulling in the same direction, the first three seconds do more work than the rest of the video combined.”
14:40
“Stealing a single viral idea and running a repeatable format are two completely different things.”
15:50
“They see posts with low views as failure, but that's really just data.”
How they spent the runtime.
Hook length46s
Info densityhigh
Filler8%
Things they pointed at.
01:00channelThe Diary of a CEO podcast
01:12channelAshton Hall (Saratoga water hook)
12:20channelBrian Johnson
12:20channelAlex Hormozi
23:00linkBuild out a million dollar content strategy in under twenty minutes (next video)
How they asked for the click.
23:00link
“If you're a business owner or founder who's serious about making organic content that actually works for your business, the application is below. Get on a call with me and my team, and we'll audit your brand live on the call.”
Soft pitch positioned as a free audit, not a sale. Followed immediately by a next-video CTA ('watch this where I build a million dollar content strategy in under 20 minutes') so even non-bookers stay in the funnel.
Word for word.
HOOKopening / re-engagementCTAthe pitchmetaphoranalogy
00:00HOOKI gained 90,000 Instagram followers in seventeen days without running ads, doing a collab post, or getting lucky off the back of a trending audio, which is pretty awesome. But what's more awesome is that my business collected 70 k in cash in that same time span. And I did this by posting the same type of video over and over and over again, going completely against 99% of the content advice that you see online. You see, developed a theory about content two years ago, and it's helped me take people like pack leader and dogs to averaging over a million views of video, as well as got Lucy and Briehan their first million view videos and the first six videos of working with us. And our theory is that every single creator, regardless of niche, has a specific content formats that puts them in the best position to dominate their category compared to all the other competitors. Right? So in this video, we're gonna go over the exact process that I used to find my winning format and become one of the fastest growing creators in the personal writing niche. And by the end, you'll have a road map on exactly how to find yours. So I want you to think of every business creator or creator in general that you look up to. So they all became household names on social media off the back of a few formats. Form Meets World became the number one marketing page on Instagram by dominating the green screen format and talking about product packaging trends. The diary of a CEO podcast pioneered podcast trailers and used that to soar into top 10 in Spotify podcast charts. And in recent memory, we had Ashton Hall become the fastest growing page on Instagram by dunking his face in Saratoga water in every hook. Here's what they all had in common. Once they all saw a bid fraction in their format, guess what they did? , and that's honestly the issue I currently see and want to eliminate amongst all entrepreneurs. The average business owner hires a junior strategist and asks them to build out a content strategy with 30 ideas and formats. Or even worse, they ask AI, give me 30 different content ideas I can post this month, completely ignoring the data that's right in front of them. Every successful creator didn't have their first video of a new format blown instantly. Instead, they gave multiple attempts at a content style they were confident in before they threw it out or doubled down. And that's exactly how I reframe my view of content to gain 90 k in seventeen days and how you should be looking at content moving forward. But that leaves you with the question, how do I actually find my winning format? Now almost everyone answers it the wrong way. I don't blame them because that is what most advice out there tells them to do. Open Instagram, find whoever's getting the most views in your niche, and just try to copy them. But what they don't realize is once you're copying someone inside your own niche, you're already too late. That format works for them because they were the first to market, that's what we call the , which is one of the most important skills when it comes to content, being able to spot trends and patterns that are eventually gonna blow on social media. But the real answer to becoming a first mover in developing your format is by looking outside of your niche, combining what you find with your unique insights, skills, and personality. Those three creators I just listed, and myself included, all did this to develop the formats that we're known for today. Right? Yes. There are a few legacy formats that are always gonna work. Content head videos, reaction videos, before after transformations. Those will never die. But it's a combination of legacy and who you're uniquely positioned to be that creates winning formats within a niche. So me personally, I dreamtroll every day as a problem or process to come up with content ideas. Right? Every single time I find a outlier video on Instagram, I ask myself, why? What made me stop? Why did this look different? What was the pattern and hook? Why was the hook good? What was structure of the video that actually made it work? And so that's always a lot of content to click in my head. And one day, I came across a creator in a completely different niche, and they were nothing to do with content or marketing. And they were running this reaction format that was absolutely ripping. And what I did was take a variation of something that was already proven in another niche and apply it for myself. I combined this with the fact that doomscrolling for content is already part of my process anyways, so I basically just vocalized
03:12what was already going on inside my head. And the reason why this clicked for me was this was already a part of something I was doing. Right? It just took somebody else to show that that format would work, and for me to say, I can put my own expertise and twist on this and make it work for my niche. And I would argue it's actually an even better fit because this actually allows you to build your authority and isn't just entertaining. So the creator that took inspiration for the format for was Ademand Inspire. You can take a look. He's been just absolutely ripping for the last few months. Right?
03:36He's averaging consistently a million views of video, basically. And all he's doing is just labeling it. And so I was thinking, if I'm already labeling a bunch of the stuff that I'm already seeing within the videos, why can't I just use this format that's currently working really well for him? Take the exact same thing, same postures, you know, same position, same kind of, like, editing style. Um, I added a few things to my format, which is, like, content strategist, and then I'll have the arrow, and I will also have, like, the view count for the video because that's what mattered to my audience, like, view count. Now the one thing I didn't do was I sped up the videos. The reason for that was because I use a lot of jargon in my content, so I just felt like that might be a little bit too much. But, yeah, like, you can see he was just absolutely ripping for the longest time. And this was his winning format. Right? Like, he just crushes. And so I was like so all I did was simply, uh, take inspiration from this format, rip it, go from there. Right? Now if I just took it and ripped it one for one, and instead of trying to label jargon or work that actually helped my audience and just made it entertaining, it wouldn't have worked whatsoever. You still need the ability to understand what to take and what not to take and how to actually add a twist. But the point is I didn't really invent anything new. I was just taking what already worked, putting a twist on it, using my brain to understand how I can apply this demonstration so I can still create authority for my personal brand, and then we'll rock from there. That process is the exact same regardless of the niche you operate in. You find a format that's already proven somewhere else. You bring it to your niche before anyone does, and you go. Now that seems easy enough, but there are actually four steps that prevent you from wasting hundreds of posts
04:58using the wrong format. Starting with what you do when you get the idea. Now once I had it, didn't just start filming. Right? I built the format out before I even recorded a single second. This is the most important step that most people skip. They have an idea and immediately start shooting, but they have no idea how the video should actually develop. If you skip the build, you'll film 10 videos, get inconsistent results, and have the structure just wouldn't work, you have no idea what to adjust because you never locked down the format to begin with. So I wanna walk you through the four steps I actually use, and it all starts with step one. List out everything in your skill set slash niche that you do for yourself or your customers. Write down every skill, every activity, every part of your process of this. So for me, that's the research, the scripting, the client calls, the doomscrolling of ideas, the editing feedback, everything, not just the flashy stuff. So for me, I'm a content strategist. And so for my clients, I've do market research, understand the avatar, create a brand and positioning so they can slot them in the gap in the market, come with content ideas, doomscroll content for research, script out videos, give editing feedback to my editors, operate a team. So these are all the things that I do. And the reason why I picked doomscrolling for ideas are one of biggest relatable pain points for my niche, is coming with ideas. Right? Coming with hooks, that's also another one. Those two are two of the biggest kind of concerns when it comes to social media. And so I use that format to target that really big pain in a new and freshened way, and it just ripped. Okay. Now step two, ask yourself what visuals you can pair with each activity. So for every item on the list, ask what it would look like on camera. So most people never think about this because they're so focused on what they're going to say that they're forgetting the viewer is watching something the entire time. Right? When I'm writing hooks, I'm at a laptop typing. When I'm doing b roll, I'm behind the camera. When I'm ideating, I'm on my phone scrolling. Every activity that you do from the list that you just made has a visual attached to it. You have to notice it. So for me, was really simple. Already knew that this format ripped, and I I'm already on my phone scrolling the entire time. I just had to position myself 45 degrees, hold my phone out, start scrolling. And you actually don't even know this, but you don't actually need to film yourself doing the actual thing. I literally wrote down the script, a k a, the jargon and the words that would say, had it in my Apple notes, and I just read it off it, wait five seconds, read off of it, wait five seconds, read off of it, wait five seconds. My editor just cut it up. I actually wasn't watching this video the entire time, but the visual needs to match the activity. So it demonstrates expertise. It showcases what you're actually doing for your customers. And then step three, you wanna structure so it's repeatable. A format only becomes a format when the visual and the script follow the same pattern every single time. Right? The viewer starts to recognize it. They know what to expect, and that recognition is what builds you falling over time instead of just random spiky views. And so, like, I get this all the time. Like, I've jumped on so many calls. Inevitably, someone in that call will be like, oh, hey. That's the stop start guy. Oh or oh, hey. That's the hook breakdown guy. I'm like, I didn't really intend to have that association,
07:26but it's benefiting the personal brand. But that small association is benefiting the personal brand long term. It's getting more need more clients. And so for me, the consistent structure I follow every single time is at play. And then after that, whenever I have a meaningful comment I wanna make, just make it. And knowing that this structure worked for me every single time allowed me to just script out five, ten, 15 videos in the span of, like, an hour. Whereas it would take someone an hour to script out one script. So not only is it, but it was also building a ton of authority while getting a ton of views. And then lastly, step four, we script out all three hooks. So every single video needs three hooks working at the same time. The visual hook, which is what the viewer sees in the first frame, the verbal hook, which is the first words come out of your mouth. And then lastly, the red hook, which is the caption or text animation that appears on the screen. When all three are , the first three seconds do more work than the rest of the video combined. And it's really important that these three appear all within the first one second because the visuals that you have, what you say, and the and the text that they see, they'll understand through the patterns of the thousands of the videos that they've watched previously. They they'll they'll subconsciously categorize the video. They'll categorize it either as a video that was a waste of the time, or they'll categorize it as a video that was a good use of time. They got dopamine from it. They got value from it. And so within that first frame, it's really important that you're actually showing those three hooks. And so I'll literally walk you through one of the videos and the visual hooks, verbal hooks, and text hook that I use within that video. So if you just go to any one of my videos. Right? Let's let's say we're using this tracks NYC video. The visual hook is pretty straightforward. Tracks already has a visual hook within his video, and so I just need to borrow that for the reaction video. So I just show that right away, and this is a really important part. I wanna show the view count here because that's what my viewers care about. This also shows I'm a creative strategist, and I'm talking about social media and views. And then now at the bottom, we have my text So my text hook, it's a billion views content strategist. Here, I was just trying to test whether or not a billion views made a difference, but content strategist is the most important thing because that gives me authority within the video itself.
09:14Arrow pointed to me, and there's no verbal hook here because I want the reaction video to play, but in a lot of instances, this is just, like, the first line of your script. And you can see that I did the exact same thing across all my most viral videos. Right? This one had 2.2 mil and exact same thing, content strategist. Visual hook was Kenny, and then there's me reacting to it. Shelby,
09:34same thing. Brian Johnson, same thing. There's also Jeff Nippert,
09:42same thing here. Label, video on top right hand corner, view count, same thing. And this first step process will look completely different depending on who you are and what your niche was. If I was a dog trainer, for example, I would look at all the different types of breeds of dogs that I'm training on a daily basis and ask myself, hey. Can I do a format on how I train certain breeds of dogs? If I was a lawyer, one of the things I would be doing is I would probably also be doomscrolling a lot of times, and I'll probably have a reaction
10:03like a viral motorcycle accident video and be like, oh my god. Instantly, this guy can make a million bucks like that by doing this, this, and this. Right? That could be a format. If we look at the fitness or nutritional niche, that's exactly what they did as well. They literally have a format called what I eat in a day. And the whole point here is that you can create your own format by just understanding the things that you do on a daily basis. After my first few videos blew up, a lot of people tried to copy the reaction format, and almost none of them got the same results because I planned for it. The number one reason that most formats die out is because they're easy to replicate because everyone will post the exact same type of video within a week. The content game isn't what it used to be. It quite literally is the Wild West out there. Right? Post some other stuff and not really worry about other people copying because your competitors were still trying to figure out how to set up their ring light. But the game is completely different right now. Every business owner understands they need to be posting, so they definitely have equipment. So even worse for you, they have a team or a claw bot that scans Instagram twenty four seven looking for condom to copy. Once the first video blew up, spent the next couple days and recorded and edited six videos a day. So how do I beat this? Right? Once the first three or four videos blew up, I knew I had a winning format on my hands. So I spent the next couple days and recorded, scripted, edited six videos a day of the same format. So by the time a competitor had the bright idea to copy my video, it was already too late because I already saturated the market with hundreds of my own videos on my main feed and my trial reel feed. So I had first mover's advantage, and now the format is attached to my face. And every single time someone else's copies, it just gives me more social proof. That's what's amazing. Another issue that people who try to copy me ran into was that most of them had the same execution and adjusted zero things. Right? Same energy, same structure, same everything. Video after radio with no change. So the thing is, formats have to evolve as you get market feedback. The core stays consistent, but I have to keep adjusting the execution based on what the data is telling you. So there's actually a real situation where as soon as I posted a video, a few days later, I would notice literally make the exact same video of the exact same video. So that wasn't, like, super smart. And the reason was because we were all in the same niche, that audience appetite for that specific video was already satiated. They didn't need to see that video anymore. They wanna see the next thing. They wanted to see new jargon coming out. They wanna see breakdowns of different types of videos. They wanna see other format. So what I did was I asked myself, who would my avatar actually watch? Right? So the names came down to Brian Johnson, Elana Brain,
12:04HOOKCTAAlex Tremozi. And I knew that even though they enjoyed business, they usually would have a bunch of supporting hobbies or other niches that they were into, and I took advantage of that. And the biggest thing for me was rather than trying to predict the perfect video to react to, I just took a ton of videos and outcompeted everyone by just doing more volume. Because the more volume I did, the more feedback I would get. I would know what types of videos would track certain followers and what types of videos would be high converting. All of that to say that stealing a single viral idea and running a repeatable format are two completely different things. Running a repeatable format is what's gonna actually allow you to scale your personal brand. Trying to steal viral ideas will only allow you to get a spike here and there. So let's say you've done everything right. You found a format from another niche. You built it out properly. You're not copying anyone inside your own space, and so you start posting. Right? And the views come in lower than you expected, and you start second guessing it. This is where most founders go wrong. They see posts with low views as failure, but that's actually really just data. That's really how I've looked at it, and that's probably the biggest thing that I've learned as a content strategist. And look. I get it. Right? When you post something and it gets 300 views, the last thing you wanna do is post more of the same format. But that's actually the discipline that separates the people who actually find the format from people who stay stuck. From true business owners and personal brands to the wanna be entrepreneurs and personal brands. Right? Test I use with every client at Clipcut is to post four videos in the same format, calculate your average view count across those four, and that average is twice your baseline, aka the average you were getting before. That format has legs, and you keep going. If it's not hitting the two x, you then need to adjust execution, or this just isn't for your format. Either way, you now have actual information to work. By week two of my run, I was averaging a 100,000 views per video, and I collected 70 k. That's what happens when the test confirms your format and you just keep running it. And before this, I was literally just averaging 15,000, maybe 10,000 views per video. I knew this was my format on the second or third video because I noticed two things. The duration of the growth of the views, it didn't just stop after one day. It kept growing after days and weeks. Number two, the acceleration of growth. It grew much faster than the content I had before. Now I wouldn't have been able to do this without first going through all of the failed videos that I've done before because all that is just data for me to consume and actually understand content at a deeper level. So look. I've run this process across countless accounts, across most niches that you can think of, and the result is always the same. Right? Founders who find their format, win. And founders who keep chasing random ideas, stay stuck. So if you're a business owner or founder who's serious about making organic content that actually works for your business, the application is below. Get on a call with me and my team, and we'll audit your brand live on the call. And we'll see if we can actually help you find your win format. And if you'd to see me do it live, watch this video where I build out a million dollar content strategy in under twenty minutes. See you there.
§ · For Joe
Steal the format. Then own it on volume.
Format-first playbook
One borrowed format, executed with the 3-hook stack and saturated at 6 posts a day, beats 30 fresh ideas every single time.
- Pick ONE format from a niche unrelated to yours. Identify the load-bearing structural primitive (the part that does the work), not the surface aesthetic.
- Layer your domain twist on top — keep the structure, change the content. Sky kept the labeled-react primitive, changed jargon-labels for one-word vibe-labels.
- Before filming, lock all 4 steps: skill list -> visual pairing -> repeatable structure -> 3-hook stack. No filming until the template is on paper.
- Hit visual + verbal + text hooks in the FIRST frame. Not the first 3 seconds. The first frame.
- Run the 2x baseline test: 4 posts in the same format, average the views. 2x baseline = double down. Under = adjust execution or kill.
- When the format hits, flood the zone. 6 posts a day for a week so competitors can't catch up before your face owns the format.
- Low views are data, not failure. The discipline gap is everything — keep shipping the same format past your own discomfort.
