big chrispy

@Ed_FacelessYT Lets go! I know you’ll go far brother

I was making $10k/month designing thumbnails for YouTubers, but last month I quit. Let me explain. I spent 4 years as a full-time thumbnail designer. Made 1000+ thumbnails, helped creators pull 500M+ views on their channels and generate MILLIONS of dollars. And if you're reading this post I'm sure you've clicked on one of my thumbnails before. If you were already following me, you may know me as "Ezekiel", a nickname I chose for myself afraid of being embarrassed using my real name when I started making thumbnails for $5 each. But that helped me learn how YouTube actually works from the inside. So, 2 years ago I started asking myself the obvious question: "Why am I doing this for everyone else?" It took me years to build skin in the game, so I finally decided to start my own channel. January 2024, started my first faceless channel. Surprisingly enough, I managed to earn $15k in 6 months while still making thumbnails full time. But then, it failed. I was paying more to make the videos than I was earning from them. I didn't stop there. I was spending all the money I was earning just to create new channels. So I started a few more and failed again. And again. Then one clicked. October 2024, I had my 2nd ever monetized channel. Built it for a year, made $70k from it, and sold it 2 months ago for another $70k. All while still making thumbnails for my clients. But last month I quit thumbnails completely and went all in. After selling my best channel I had nothing running. I was making $10k consistent monthly income with an easy and flexible job. 3 years ago I was earning $1,000 per month and I was happy with that. I could've kept my thumbnail business and still start other channels on the side. But I didn't want that. I wanted to go all in. So I did. 20th January 2026 -> started 4 new faceless channels Two of them failed. But the other 2 made $13k combined in February. I know these are rookie numbers compared to most YouTube guys on X. But I'm not pretending to be someone important here. I'm just a kid who started making thumbnails for $5 four years ago, and I'm just now getting my head above the water. My goal is to start at least 20 more channels by the summer and I'm sharing my entire journey here in real time. I'm far from being an expert on this. But I believe that you only have to be 10% better than your peers to be able to teach them something, rather than being an expert who can't even remember what it's like to be at the start anymore. So if you wanna watch me build to $50k/mo by the end of 2026, follow me.

@LeroyterBraak Great work

It’s truly crazy what the right strategist for the right channel can do. They tried for years to grow their channel to become meaningful enough to be a part of their business. After less than six months together, we are smashing it. YouTube is a game I’ll probably play in some capacity until I’m (hopefully) 80. Can’t wait to be the number one YouTube strategist above 75 years old. Just have to keep doing what I’m doing now 😁

It’s kind of insane seeing packaging I led — with @EzekielDesign on creative and Steven + the team on execution — turn into a trend. Genuinely so cool though, because it ultimately means more visibility for small businesses everywhere. A few reasons this thumbnail works: It passes the “hit play” test. You immediately want to see what happens next and how the owner reacts. Strong David vs. Goliath energy (1 vs many). Is he overwhelmed? Is he alone? Grateful or stressed? Does he even have enough food? So many questions pop up instantly. The red vs. blue contrast reinforces that tension. Strategic text usage — not just repeating the title. It clarifies that this is the owner, not just an employee. The entire payoff hinges on the owner’s reaction. The video doesn’t work if the owner isn’t there. The title reinforces a before-and-after transformation and clearly implies it’s a restaurant in need. This is also a great example of pulling inspiration from an outlier outside your niche ⤵️ This idea was actually inspired by Beluga's "Sending 1,000,000 People to Videos with O Views" I thought about what a physical real word example of this might look like. You can find Inspiration for videos in any niche you just need to figure out what made it work and how you can translate to your niche. Lastly, I want to give a shoutout to another creator who actually did this idea first but I had NO IDEA. Their video came up on my recommended feed after we dropped and I was shocked to see this idea executed over a year ago. So huge shoutout to Santea!

The Kickback YouTube Channel is looking for a thumbnail editor! Drop your portfolio link below ⬇️ Or check out the YT jobs listing here: ytjobs.co/job/35124 #editors #thumbnails #YouTube #Designer

We're hiring a Long Form Editor - Kickback! Apply here: ytjobs.co/job/31656?r=86… #ytjobs #VideoEditor

We’ve moved from the Mr Beastification of YouTube to the Attack of the Ryan Trahan Clones

If using AI to generate ideas becomes the meta, original ideas from your head become a leverage point against the field

Most value i’ve gotten from a YT video all year. Lotta free game here

Invest in a high quality thumbnail designer.. After you've figured out ideation, the ROI on having someone else create your thumbs is insane. If I could do it all over again i'd have @EzekielDesign take over way sooner as my thumb skills were trash 😂 460K Views > 1.3M Views

@ZiadTheEditor He cooked!

Intro from my latest project for Kickback 🎬 couldn’t have made this one hit like it does without producer @big__chrispy 🙌 Full video up now on YouTube 👇 youtu.be/p0KIj4Mm3rA?si…