The Coin Geek - How to GROW a YouTube Coin Channel w/Ben
Alright, folks. We have today Ben the Coin Geek from the Ben the Coin Geek YouTube channel. Is that the actual name of your YouTube channel, or did I get it wrong?
Speaker 2:Channel's actually just the Coin Geek. Although, I was trying to get on to there's another platform called Rumble that someone I think I had to put Ben the Coin Geek. I'm not actually uploaded any videos there yet, but anyway, long story. The Coin Geek is the name of the YouTube channel, but usually all my intros say Ben the Coin Geek, and that's also, I think, okay.
Speaker 1:Okay. We can talk a little bit about how you came up with that name, but so just a little bit of intro. So Ben runs a very, very successful YouTube channel. Of those of my channel that know I'm just kind of getting into this and just getting started. I'm trying to do a little bit of a podcast format, trying to create content, add value to all my collectors and the viewers out there, teach people about the coin market specifically.
Speaker 1:It's one of the major topics I really enjoy is coin the the coin market specifically. And Ben also runs a shop in Tucson, Arizona. So, Ben, just give us a short little summary of, of, you know, your background in numismatics, how you got into coin collecting and this, in this coin business and what you do today in terms of, you know, content as well as your business.
Speaker 2:Coin collecting started when I was 10, and I was at a there's a little swap shop next to our house. So that's like on weekends, the guy would open these barn doors, and he had just, like, stuff. Right? Think antiques roadshow kind of thing. And he had a little wooden chest, and it had a bunch of foreign coins in it, and I was hooked.
Speaker 2:I was hooked. And then I started you know, my dad was nice enough to take me to several coin shops around town when he had time. And then, you know, in high no. In college, I actually started working at Old Pueblo Coin that I own now in 1997. Founder, Rob Mr.
Speaker 2:Coinman, he had said, you know, it's time for for him to retire, and I ended up buying the business from him. And that's that's like the the short version.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I've been in old Pebble Coin because I used to live in Phoenix actually. Lived there for two years and I drove down to Tucson. I've stopped into old Pebble Coin exchange, pretty neat little coin shop. I will say a lot of traffic through there.
Speaker 1:Remember, I came there one time. Do you guys do, like, monthly raffle? Not raffles?
Speaker 2:No. We have the board every we have the bid boards every weekend. Every Yeah. I mean, there's obviously we're we're close between Christmas and New Year's. There's Thanksgiving weekend, but for the most part, probably 49 Saturdays out of the month, there's a out of the year, there's a there's a bid board going on.
Speaker 2:So we got coffee and donuts on Saturdays.
Speaker 1:Oh, coffee and donuts. Okay. Might make it worth it.
Speaker 2:And a board up there.
Speaker 1:And it's worth it. Yeah. So for people that don't know what a bid board is, can you explain just a little bit about how this operates, what what it does? Are there deals, opportunities? What exactly is a bid board?
Speaker 2:So a bid board is basically a silent auction. It is like the coin dealer's universe version of pre eBay, where we take a little card and you put a coin on you know, staple it in flip. You put the description and the grade and the catalog value and what the opening bid is, and people are assigned a bidder's number, and so they can bid on it. You know, it's as far as what it does, you know, for me, it gets people engaged interested in the hobby. It has we'll have a variety of things from tokens and metals to paper money, US world coins, just a wide array of things.
Speaker 2:And so it's it's really a fun way to introduce people to the hobby. And of course, like I said, on Saturdays when the boards come down, we put all new boards up. We have coffee and donuts. It's a little bit like a church fellowship, the sacrilegious way to put that. But it's a great way to meet other collectors.
Speaker 1:Do you guys sing any hymns together or no?
Speaker 2:Well, I'd probably be mostly singing Irish drinking songs, but I just I don't I'm trying to think you know, trust me. I've I've had plenty of times when I wanted to very much so do Weird Al coin related stuff, but, like, I just don't have that talent. I'm good at some things, and that's just that's not there. But it's a it's a good time, and it's actually great for the collector community. Most of the local shops have some version of that even if it's only one or two boards.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What's been the most interesting or most valuable coin that you've seen on a bid board? So the
Speaker 2:bid boards oh, man. So we we don't put real expensive coins up there, generally speaking. You know, you'll see lots of stuff that's gonna be in that kind of, you know, $5 to $75 range.
Speaker 1:Makes sense. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And and so just for exposure because it's just kinda opening out there kinda thing. Yeah. But but definitely, I've seen guys cherry pick boards with some good stuff. If the guys who are looking for varieties like micro s's or micro o's and things like that, I don't think I've ever seen anyone, like, cherry pick a 55 double die or something, but I've definitely seen some guys get some fines on bid boards.
Speaker 2:So it could probably still happen. Just depends on who you've got running your bid board and how much experience they have with coins.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's a it's a it's an interesting aspect. You don't think of, you know, a silent auction taking place or that there'd be that much interest, but there is. I mean, the reality is a lot of business that happens online nowadays, and, you know, they have something like that. It's obviously probably, obviously harkening back to kind of an older era, but people I'm sure still love it.
Speaker 1:They're still walking in to take a look and see if they can possibly, you know, cherry pick something, you know, on the bid board. And it obviously creates a lot of traffic within the store, which is great. What are what are some of the day to day challenges of running a a coin shop, a physical coin shop, you know, with so much happening online?
Speaker 2:Yeah. What is it like? It's difficult. I mean, it's stressful. And of course, at the same time, it's fun.
Speaker 2:I I relate it to, like, parenting. You know, there is there are things about it that are very difficult. You get to you get the opportunity to deal with the federal government, the state government, the city government, the county government, and all of their tendrils, and that's just such a glorious opportunity. And then you've got your employees and stuff, so which is you know, we have awesome people here, which is what makes the place great. It's always what's made the place great.
Speaker 2:You know? And at the same time, though, there's just so many moving parts. And to the end of your statement talking about the the new the new market, that's been one of the hardest transitions as we've gone from, you know, a shop that was very much just local to a shop that is selling a lot of stuff on our website and trying to figure out how to do this, you know, social media stuff and and be engaged in an entirely new way, basically.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. What is the general vibe like within the shop? Who typically, you know, walks in the door? Do you guys specialize in anything, or you just kind of do a little bit of everything?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, we're kinda old school, you know, what you'd call a general generalist kinda shop.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So if people come in, of course, we're gonna have a little bullion area because, you know, people are still doing bullion. And then Yeah. But we have trays of Ross stuff out, you know, in US and world and paper money. And so it's a very traditional vibe. It will have, like, some supplies in the corner kind of thing.
Speaker 2:You can still buy the old old school, you know, folders that you can push coins into if you, you know Oh, wow. Beginner. We have a quarter box. In the so in the middle of the store, we've got this big, you know, wood box that people can dig through, and it's mostly for full of world coins, and they can buy coins for for a quarter. And that's just kind of a fun fun thing.
Speaker 2:And hopefully, the vibe is just friendly and an enjoyable thing. It's like we have people that come in and they just say, This is my favorite place to come. You know? And it's just, you know, offering people water. Sometimes we have some extra food laying around.
Speaker 2:Besides donuts on Saturdays, maybe food is partially a theme.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And just for folks out there, when we say raw coins versus not raw, what raw means is coins that have not been encapsulated by one of the grading services. So there Ben's pull pulling up some capsulated coins. So a raw coin would be something that's not in a in an encapsulated holder. Typically, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'd have to say, I mean, some people really like their coins to still be I know specifically world coin collectors prefer raw coins.
Speaker 2:Well, especially ancient Ancient. They're they're fastidious about having coins not in holders, and they'll break them out of the holders and stuff. Yeah. I've had some of them not happy with me that I have slabbed ancients and let go. I think it's good for the hobby.
Speaker 2:I just think, you know, for that market anyways. It's just it's so inviting for people to be able to have, you know, to have a coin in a holder that they don't they love the coin, but they don't know what it is. Then here's everything you need to need to know is right here, and you can do more research beyond that. I find that to be the benefit of certified ancients.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. One of the things that was surprising to me when I went over to Europe was going through coin shows.
Speaker 1:Everything were was was raw. Everything were were not in holders. It kinda gave me a little bit of an advantage, I think, in buying coins that I wanted them to be in holders. I was looking for slapped coins because there weren't many of them and there wasn't a lot of demand for the ones that there that there were. So I was able to find some some good coins that, you know, purchased well because they weren't the way that the typical person wanted them to to be, which was to be free or raw, from the holder.
Speaker 1:But anyway, we'll talk a little bit about your YouTube channel because you have a very successful YouTube channel. I think it's something around 40,000 subscribers.
Speaker 2:Is that right? Thirty thirty one thousand, I think, as of 31,000. Like 1,000. But that's okay. I mean, I I've always inflated my height by a little bit too, so it's okay.
Speaker 1:We'll round up. I mean, you you can round thirty one up to forty. That's that's I think that's doable. How did you do it? So that's the key.
Speaker 1:I would love to know, and I'm sure people would be interested. You know, how did you grow to over, you know, 31,000 followers on YouTube? Was there any particular strategies, key moments, particular videos that really kind of set you off, you know, on the that trajectory?
Speaker 2:You know, I wish there was something glamorous about it, but it's like, you know, it would be kind of silly of me to say just dumb luck because that's not true either. There's something in between those two things of, like, just hard work and dumb luck. But, I joke about the algorithm because actually we've always fancied ourself the anti YouTube YouTube channel. I actually think it'd be very easy for us to get to 100,000 or more viewers if we were going to play by YouTube's rules, and so we've kind of done it despite the fact that the algorithm has not been in our favor. We've really had great loyal followers that are nice enough to always kind of leave a comment and help out with the algorithm as best they can.
Speaker 2:The I think what attracts people to our channel is that we are not clickbait and that we are authentic. I think authenticity always wins the day. If you want to sell out just to make money, you can. It's that I find that to be pretty easy. Know lots of guys that have you know, they'll have 300,000 followers, but they'll post videos and they'll three or 4,000, 5,000 views because they did something gimmicky to start their channel or something like that.
Speaker 2:But for us so what happened is we started during COVID, and we had a little bit extra time on our hands and started making content. And the feedback was extremely positive. So and we just had lots of guys saying, of course, at that time, listen. I'm bored out of my mind. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Like, we need some more content like this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's the combination of authenticity, and then it's, it's I think approachability, and I think it's experience, right? So for me, I've been trained in this in a way already because I've been working the front counter of a coin shop for two and a half decades, and so it's very natural for me to just talk about coins explain things to people and educate. And I think that's a lot of what you get. So even when we're looking at coins, I'm generally not just like, wow. We got a 65.
Speaker 2:We made money and it's more like, okay. Can I distinguish for the audience, for the viewers, why this is a five versus a four or this got a four versus a five? And, of course, with the grading companies, it's its own thing. But outside of grading also, I I try to be historical.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I mean, when we're looking at stuff, for me, I'm always just bringing in the things that I find curious. And, you know, anytime you look at a coin, it's an opportunity to look at history, to hold history, to think about how does this connect with something else. And I think there's a lot of people that connect collect coins for different reasons. But the historical aspect, I find one that's pretty compelling for most people. It's why people enjoy the Roadshow or Pawn Stars or things like And so that's something that I think resonates.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. And when I've gotten started, specifically with Instagram, which is what really took off for me, I started thinking about, well, how do I start creating some value for these folks? Because it wasn't just going to you know, I could post coins.
Speaker 1:I could say, here's some pictures, and it's gonna you know, coin is a thousand bucks or something. But if I started creating some content where I'm actually offering something of value, a lesson, something that they would be interested in, like, why did this coin not get a CAC sticker? Let's take a look at it and analyze it a little I found that content does really, really well. And it was surprising because, you know, what you hear when you look into, well, how do you grow your channels? Is you hear about these kind of clickbaity things about an engaging title and a, you know, a title card or a thumbnail that that makes it look like, you know, like you're just like you just discovered, you know, you're gonna discover something amazing here during this during this podcast.
Speaker 1:And that things need to be short and they need to be punchy and there needs to be quick quick clips. But when I created long form content that actually was substantial, there was substance to it. We were gonna go over a particular coin and we were gonna talk about what made this a 65 or, or why this coin did not sticker or some other aspect about it or about the history of it or why these two coins are, they were made on the same dies, but this one's more proof like than what this one is. These, these particular videos ended up doing really, really well because people actually gained some value, you know, from it. And I think there's a lot of other point to that.
Speaker 1:Makes that makes a lot of sense. But so when you're growing your channel, was there a point, that it kind of really blew up? Or did it kinda stay level for a while?
Speaker 2:It's been just like a constant A steady. It's like we're just putting enough content out there to Chinese torture people to death, right, with coin content. It's because we actually put out videos basically every day,
Speaker 1:which Yeah. I've noticed that.
Speaker 2:Mean, we've got videos going up six days a week, and then we actually have a member area where I put out extra content once in a while. I usually put a little like, I call it the weekend roundup. I'll put just a video out weekly for for that group. And then when I'm on the road, usually, I'll make some extra video content for the people who are members of the of, you know, the environmental. I have two different levels.
Speaker 2:I need to work on this. This is stuff that you start and then you don't tend to like a garden, but but one's called the environmental damage gang, and so that's kind of out of a fun play on thing. So but, anyways, as far as the growth of the channel goes, that's that's been just a long, slow, steady process. And I think to what you're talking about with creating content and understanding marketplaces, if someone just wants to write a book to be famous or wants to be famous, Instagram famous, that's all. If that's your goal, you're already, I think, off base with doing something that's valuable.
Speaker 2:And if you if you focus on the actual content that's gonna be relative relevant, then it's gonna reward you in other ways. Right? And so Mhmm. For me, I had no ideas or plan going into this. It was like, I'm just gonna keep creating content.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know? And then one day you get a call from, like, a John Albany's about something, and I'm like, what you know, so if you wanna talk about, like, blow up moments, I didn't have any blow up moments on the channel, but for me personally, John Albany's has never I've never met John Albany's. Right? And then just this is probably a couple years ago when there was something that I had posted and, like, he called the shop, and I was like, oh, this is strange for me. Right?
Speaker 2:And for those who don't know, he's he's kind of big into the grating world. He's created this crazy stippering.
Speaker 1:That's an understatement. That's an understatement.
Speaker 2:Big deal. But, anyways but you also like, if you've ever talked to him, you realize that I think that he has a perspective much like I do or like you do, which is, like, he's not trying to be famous at anything that he's doing. Yeah. He's just he has he's very mission driven. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So and and so for me, I've tried to keep in mind that the goal isn't to get views. The goal is to to you know, I'm I'm a I'm a coin ambassador. I want the hobby succeed. I don't need it to, like, grow by leaps and bounds. So but at the same time, I wanted to, at a minimum, maintain, but I wanna leave it better than I found it like that.
Speaker 2:Sure. I think that's
Speaker 1:Yeah. Go ahead. I was super curious. What did John call you about a couple years ago? What was the topic?
Speaker 2:Oh, man.
Speaker 1:So for those that don't know, I think it's safe to say he started CAC.
Speaker 2:Right. Right. So and here's here's one of his this is actually a sample slab. And now Tucson Coin Show.
Speaker 1:CAC started its own grading company.
Speaker 2:They were known for the stickering, but before that, he was involved with PCGS and I think NGC. I think at the time he was calling about something I had commented on in a video about how they do things, and it was I think he was calling to clarify a couple things. Okay. And it's just kind of interesting, some of the different things that have happened over the years since then. Because for me, even though you can find people that have X, the viewership that we have, we're in the marketplace and have our pulse on the market.
Speaker 2:People who watch our content are actual coin collectors. Right? So whereas someone who's watching clickbait stuff, they may be doom scrolling and just like, oh, this is what what is this guy talking about? Whereas people who watch our content generally are people who actually are the type of people that you'll run into at the fun show or Baltimore or the Central State show or your local club. And I think that that has a lot more value to it than having hundreds of thousands of subscribers does.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I wanted to ask you a little bit about the tie between YouTube and the business. Have you found any you know, have you found at all that your YouTube is actually driving real business for you, like new customers or for the shop or online sales or anything from the YouTube?
Speaker 2:Yeah, very much so. I mean, the end of the day, that's been a real great benefit. We did very little actual internet sales. I mean, we used eBay, which is different, But before COVID and before YouTube, our our Internet sales were very small, and now we have a very regular stream of stuff selling off our website. And so it definitely has had that effect.
Speaker 2:It's it's like lots of things in life. You know? If you were only aiming for that result, you may not have gotten it. But because you're aiming for something different, it has side effects that are greater. Right?
Speaker 2:And there's accumulation effect to all that. But, yeah, we've definitely seen it's it's much, much easier for us to sell stuff off our website than it was before the channel became more popular.
Speaker 1:Yeah. As you find a lot of these folks that are reaching out or that are you know, I don't know how much you connect with your customers, but are they just are they advanced collectors or a lot of total beginners? Do you think your channel is kind of getting people into the hobby?
Speaker 2:We get everything. One of my favorite stories is when a guy called up and he was asking about when the spot price of silver changes, does it change the price of a denarius? Now think about that. So what it was was this guy came from he was only a stacker. So, like, if you go on YouTube and you search for silver, you're gonna get promoted all the silver stackers channels.
Speaker 2:Every video is gonna have 30,000 to 75,000 views. You were a good coin channel is gonna get 3,000 to 5,000 views, you know, and if it's really good, it'll get more. Right? But Yeah. Here's a guy who was a soldier.
Speaker 1:Like a 100 views.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Here's a guy who's got a he was a silver stacker. He found our channel, and he got interested in ancient coins. And to me, that's like a happy day. Right?
Speaker 2:So he was asking to him what was an obvious question like, well, how does this work? I don't know how this works. And so that's to me is just really cool. So but we get very beginner collectors. We get the awesome crossover from guys who are stackers that are finding the coin industry cool, and we have advanced collectors.
Speaker 2:Did a live stream once with a guy out of Colorado from his place, and the funniest thing is the next day, he was like he was shocked at the people that he has as clients that reached out to him and said, you were on Ben's show. It was a it's really another little moment of, okay. Type of people that are watching the content, not only are they the beginners, but it's also guys that are buying, you know, 4 figure, 5 figure type coins. Yeah. So we have a really nice broad reach.
Speaker 2:What I found also is that appeal to coin collecting is not just mathematical or economically based. Right? So in other words, guys that collect $10,000 coins, they'll look at a cool $100 coin still just as much as a guy who can't afford a $100 coin wants to look at a $10,000 coin. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not just like, oh, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna look at that stuff. It's there's a whole lot of crossover there that people enjoy a broad spectrum of stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. I can see that. Just to clarify, when we say stackers, so the stacker community is gonna be mainly people who like to buy bullion, and they like to stack or put away American Eagles or Maple Leafs or whatever their, you know, coin du jour is. And they put it away in yeah.
Speaker 1:They we call it stacking. Often, just like even how I got into coins, Boolean, stacking Boolean is a gateway into numismatics. Was going to ask Yeah. You if you've Go ahead. Go ahead.
Speaker 1:I was just going to ask you back on the topic of of, you know, you being, famous or or whatever. Do you get recognized at shows?
Speaker 2:Yes. Yes. And it well, it's funny, though, because I like to tell people it's you know, they're like, you're YouTube famous. I say, well, no. I'm coin YouTube famous, which is very different than, like, normal YouTube famous.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's it's very flattering and humbling. Right? Like, to go someplace and people wanna take a picture with you. And I was like, I mean, hi.
Speaker 2:I'm Ben. Nice to meet you. Sure. Like, that's
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Sure. For me, that's easy because that's just I think the biggest compliment we get is that, you know, when I meet people in person and their response is that you're the same guy that we see. Yeah. So I've I do get recognized when I don't know that I've really been, like, just recognized out in public, but at coin shows, certainly, you know, I went to Utah a few weeks ago. Any and this is the hard thing about social media and communication.
Speaker 2:Right? So I send it out on my Instagram, on my YouTube, and we have an email. And still, you'll go somewhere and people who know you and you think are like like a customer or a fan or follower or whatever, they'll be like, oh, I didn't know you're gonna be here. How else can I unless I should I just call everybody on? Like, I'm gonna call you specifically and say, hey.
Speaker 2:I'm coming to your town.
Speaker 1:Well, you got my number now, you could text me. Let me know.
Speaker 2:That's right. You know?
Speaker 1:That's right. Be somewhere. That's funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I know. But it so that is it is a real thing. It is a different it's a it's very unusual, and my family laughs about it, which is good.
Speaker 1:Nice. Where do you we'll we'll wrap up here in a couple in just a couple minutes. Yeah. Sweet. So where do you see your channel going over the next few years?
Speaker 1:Is there anything any new formats, content, ideas you have that you're thinking about exploring?
Speaker 2:So your lead in question was about, you know, running a coin shop. And so one of the things that's been harder for me is we've had a lot of transitions and just trying to get things hammered down because there's, like, however you wanna divide a coin shop up, whatever, 10 or 20 areas of of different work and stuff, you know, all of those areas got a little bit busier at the same time, and pretty soon you're, like, holding more than you can. And and that has, I think, probably slowed me down from being able to concentrate on the content creation that I would like to do. Mhmm. But I I also have more ideas than I have than there's time in the day.
Speaker 2:Right? So, like, ideation's a thing. I'm just like, oh, what about this? What about this? Thankfully, the engineer is here to stop me from just going off the deep end when I wanna post stuff.
Speaker 2:He's like, tap the brakes. But I really enjoy interviews. I wanna try to create a little bit more historical content, and I do have plans to have a separate YouTube channel that's not coin related just because there's so much out there that's so interesting, and it would just be a variety channel. Like, I would be tagline was gonna be like, we talk about everything but coins here. You know?
Speaker 2:It's like so everything else. But coin content creation, I I hope to be able to do more interview style stuff and something a little bit historical style stuff. That's kind of a goal of mine.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, I'd love to have you on again in the future, you know, just to get your take from a as a coin shop owner, your take on the market, your take on what you're seeing kinda taking place, what kind of coins are walking into your shop, you know, at different at different times of the year, at different periods, so we can have you back again and talk more about your perspective on things. I'm excited to see where, where else your channel goes. And, you know, for viewers out there, if you've watched this far and you have, particular, you know, subjects and things that you'd love to hear from Ben again about, you know, them in the comments below. It really helps out the channel, and it gives us some ideas as well as well of what kind of interesting things you might wanna, you know, hear about.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, Ben, thank you so much for doing this. Really appreciate it. And just for guest folks who don't know where where can they find you? I'm assuming everybody knows.
Speaker 2:But Yeah. I mean, obviously, on YouTube, it's, you know, the coin geek. I have an Instagram that is the coin geek. The shop itself is called Old Pueblo Coin that might be getting cut off here. It's not Pueblo, Colorado.
Speaker 2:We're in Tucson, Arizona. Old Pueblo Coin. We have oldpueblocoin.com. Also, tucsoncoinshow.com. So we have an annual show in Tucson, which I think is gonna grow into something that's kind of different and nice.
Speaker 2:I like to tell people it is Scottsdale nice at a Tucson price. And for any of you who are Arizonans, you'll understand the reference. Everyone else, you just have to imagine it. An old Pueblo coin and we also have old Pueblo coin on on Instagram. So, you know, it's hard because there's, like, 10,000 social media things.
Speaker 2:I feel basically like a NASCAR driver. I should be like, you know, I like to thank my you know, and you name all this stuff, and then you get to Sure.
Speaker 1:Say what
Speaker 2:you wanna say. So Yeah. That's good. No. I appreciate you having me on here for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'll definitely try to list as many of your your socials in the description of this of this episode so people know where to find you. And, yeah. Alright, man. Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:It's been thirty minutes. Love to do this again and it's been wonderful. Appreciate it so much. Thanks, Kevin. Alright.
Speaker 1:I'll see
Speaker 2:you. Thank you.
