In this episode of Creators Uncut, Spencer sits down with Lane Kawaoka — real estate investor, founder of The Wealth Elevator, and long-time podcaster — to break down the real differences between YouTube and podcasting. Lane shares why discoverability on YouTube is unmatched, why most podcasts struggle to grow, and why creators should think differently before starting a video podcast. We dig into the truth about YouTube “podcasts,” whether they’re worth producing, how platforms treat content differently, and why leaning into format-specific content beats lazy omni-channel uploads. Lane also explains why he split his YouTube content into two separate channels, how he structures ideas, and why quality matters more than consistency in 2025.
Check out Lane Kawaoka’s channel on YouTube: / @TheWealthElevator
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Transcript
Lane: Unless you’re freaking Joe Rogan, nobody cares to see your, you know, your very high quality 4k videos of a bunch of nobodies.
Spencer: I just wonder if like the YouTube algorithm treats YouTube podcasts different.
Lane: I don’t think I would be starting one today. To be quite honest, doing a bunch of garbage out there does more harm to your channel than good.
Spencer: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Creators Uncut. Super excited for another episode today. Today, our guest is Lane Kawaoka from the Wealth Elevator. Lane, thanks for being on the show.
Lane: Yeah, thanks for having me. Aloha, everybody.
Spencer: So are you located in Hawaii? Is that what you said? Aloha.
Lane: Yeah, yeah, I live here in Hawaii. You know, we’ll get into the story, but I invest all over America. So I subscribe to the whole invests where the numbers make sense, but where you want.
Spencer: Gotcha. Yeah, that’s awesome. Cool. So like we do with all of our episodes, we want to get to know you a little bit. And then also about your YouTube channel. So yeah, I guess go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Lane: Yeah, today I run a syndication, a partner syndication company and private equity company. We’ve done over $2 billion of past deals, but it wasn’t always like that. I started as an engineer out of college, saved up to buy my money to buy a house to live in because that’s where all brainwashed to do. The 401k and buy a house to live in. I eventually got off that track when I started to rent out my property. And that was kind of where I got this taste of investing. Now that was back in 2009. And in 2000 and a few years later, 2011, 12, I bought a duplex in Seattle and then saved up more money. And I eventually bought 11 rental properties in Alabama or Birmingham, Atlanta, Indianapolis. And then from there on started to buy apartments and started to build an influence on podcasts is how I eventually is how I initially got started. And then as you guys know, like, you know, you have the Omni channel these days.
So, you know, podcasts turn into YouTubes. And I think most people, you know, find me through reading my book, The Wealth Elevator. And I think, you know, a lot of my clients are more, more higher net worth accredited investors. And, you know, typically with that comes age, right? Because it takes a while to save up that much money. So most of my folks are in their 40s and 50s and beyond.
Spencer: Yeah, gotcha. Well, that’s that’s an interesting journey. I could probably talk about, you know, investments in housing market and all of that stuff quite a bit. I always joke that I wish I would have bought a house instead of being in eighth grade, right?
When like the crash happened in 2008. Yeah, that’s awesome. So you started a podcast, I guess, typically we ask people how they started their YouTube channel. But how did you decide to start a podcast? Did someone like influence you or was it kind of a trending at the time? Or I guess how did you get started with that?
Lane: Yeah, I mean, by that time I already had 11 rental properties. And just prior to that, you know, for years, my friends had always asked me, you know, how do you buy nasal crappy rental properties?
Is this what they said? And, you know, I tell them and then their eyes would glaze over and they want to change the subject on me. And, you know, I thought it was easy, right? You know, you go in, you find a good market and then you start looking at properties and you put into the analyzer.
You know, a lot of this stuff is, you know, we give her free on our website, the analyzer and like the process. But apparently, you know, I don’t have that many friends or it’s not a huge subset of the population out there. So I, for a while there, I was kind of muted in a way. And I, you know, kept to myself this investing side. And so I think I needed like an outlet to kind of just, you know, all this stuff was kind of going out of my head. And at that time I was, I was still in my late 20s, early 30s.
So I wasn’t, you know, having kids yet. But I wanted, part of it was kind of just to capture the audio files for something in the future for somebody else to learn. Or at least, you know, the listener, right? So that’s where the initial idea came from. And I just started to, you know, 2016 just started to, you know, didn’t really have a format, didn’t really have a style back then, but it was, I would just kind of talk about different topics and put my spin to it. And it got traction. And maybe not the first six months a year, but you know, eventually build up a bit of a following.
And maybe it was because back then it was very much a follow my journeys, right? Here are the things that tend to mess up my rental property. Here’s how I dealt with these HVAC issues, et cetera. Gotcha.
Spencer: That totally makes sense. So from your podcast, you now have YouTube channels. So was it just like a natural progression in sharing your insights to create that YouTube channel or was it a different story with creating your YouTube channel?
Lane: Yeah. I mean, initially it was just out of laziness, right? Like, because we record these podcasts and zoom and, you know, you’ve got this, this MP4 file that goes along with the MP3. And, you know, I was like, well, I got to put it up on, you know, YouTube.
Right. Back then, 2016 to 2021, most people found their podcasts or consumed podcasts through Apple iTunes. In that time too, you had Google Play come up and Spotify. But I think recently, like maybe 2022 or something like that, most people consume podcasts through the YouTube platform. So I caught on this, you know, much earlier than that. So, you know, I was already putting the video files up there because I had the damn things too. And that was kind of, I think, where it’s initially started.
But, you know, as the years went, I think the audience and the YouTube side, they’re not really looking for talking head boring podcasts formats too at the same time. Yeah.
Spencer: Yeah. There’s definitely an audience for every type of content out there. So.
Lane: No, there’s a couple of trains of thought, right? Like with a very low level of effort, you can omnichannel, you can take the content you do with the podcast, long form and make turn into shorter forms, even shorts on TikTok and YouTube shorts and Instagram reels. That’s obviously not a huge amount of resources or effort to do that. But the other train of thought is like create content specifically for one platform. You know, and that may mean horizontal, vertical versus vertical video. And then the image quality is, you know, certain platforms, they appreciate more raw footage, more others are more professional, high quality.
And then also the topic matter differs a lot. But then, you know, I was always kind of doing this on my own, right? Like I didn’t, I always thought, you know, maybe my ego told me that the message, the, you know, here I’m teaching people how to invest. And I’m like, well, screw it. If I’m put it out there, I’m not going to tailor it to how they want to view it on that platform, right?
So, yeah. But, you know, that’s another thought out there is like, you know, create content specifically for people on that platform or certain platform skew different ages, right? Like the Lincoln platform is older, a little more professional. Facebook is a little older crowd to your grandmas and your grandpas, your gen-exers, Instagram is a little younger, you know, but, you know, there’s a lot of, you know, turnover too, and overlap. The things are changing. And, you know, if most people are on more than one social media platform too. Yeah.
Spencer: So, like you said, you make content for the platform. So, when you kind of started adding stuff to YouTube, did you change your podcast show at all or have you evolved over time to kind of fit the different platforms out there? Yeah.
Lane: I mean, I was lazy, like I said. So, whatever the podcast, I just slapped up upon on YouTube. Initially. Yeah. I started to realize that certain formats, like when I like to do webinars, because I like to get into the real nitty gritty and sometimes like to show like financial statements or P &Ls, rent rolls, things like that, you know, more so than, you know, telling a story with a PowerPoint, right?
That’s the basic stuff. But certain things line up to be better more of a webinar, you know. So, you know, in fact, one of my, my big lead magnets I give away is this 12 hour masterclass where I just do death by PowerPoint for 12 hours.
Oh, wow. It seems like a lot, but like, you know, if you’re going to invest big money, you got to educate yourself, right? And that’s when you’re not going to get it from a dozen 60 second clips.
Heavens know that’s not going to happen. So at least for my audience and my topic matter, you know, doing the webinar format really made a lot of sense. And that’s the perfect place for that is your horizontal format in YouTube. But and a lot of times, you know, you’ll be, I’ll be talking in, I will be referring to an image or pointing on something literally on the screen and that will not carry over into podcast form. So I definitely have to be careful in that. I’m not perfect with that. Yeah. Yeah.
Spencer: That, that brings to mind a question that I had when I first kind of met you and learned about your show and how you are now doing YouTube. Do you see yourself becoming like a full-time YouTuber? Because there’s different benefits to it versus like the podcast platform or are you going to continue doing both for kind of forever?
Lane: I think I’ll do both. I don’t, I don’t, I honestly don’t feel my audiences on YouTube. I mean, they are, but there’s also this concept of, are they on a platform to learn or for leisure relaxation? And I think a lot of times for YouTube, unless you’re diving in into one of my webinars, you’re typically on the platform for leisure. And therefore it’s not the best place for me to spend a lot of time and energy on. Um, although I have to upload it somewhere, but I think that’s where like the podcast, you can kind of tell a story, but you know, the thing with podcasts is there’s a lot of podcasts out there and it’s a lot of freaking hours to go through. And for my clientele who are extremely busy, you know, most of these guys will make multiple six figures at their day job and they have families.
They don’t have time to go through 500 hours, you know, of podcasts. Right? Like, yeah. So essentially the way I look at it, like these are like sort of just lead magnets or, you know, essentially help people find us. I, you know, eventually I tell people like, look, my best stuff is my book. Read the book.
Spencer: Yeah. So another question that I had, you know, I’m, I’m fairly familiar with YouTube as I work with YouTubers for my regular job, but not as familiar on the podcast side. What would you say, and I don’t know if there’s a correct answer for this, but what would you say is like the main difference between like a video podcast versus just a regular YouTube video? Is there a difference between those or are they essentially the same thing? Yeah.
Lane: I mean, just so that we’re talking about the same thing here, like I think by you meaning a video podcast, it’s kind of like Joe Rogan, right? They’re just guys sitting down. There’s talking, but it’s not like when I think of a YouTube video, I think talking ahead with, you know, pop up images, V-roll and maybe some graphics out to the side. Or maybe more of a theatric kind of movie style.
That’s obviously a more of a YouTube made for YouTube type of format. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like I think a lot of, there’s a lot of strategies that people talk about that only apply to the best people out there. You’re Alex Hermoses, you’re Joe Rogan. You know, name comes up all the time that, you know, if you’re more of a micro influencer, which I am for a very small set of accredited investors out there, three guys talking around a podcast, Mike, just isn’t going to cut it.
Right. And also, I think, I think that was a fad that maybe burnt out in 2023 or 2022 where people, they kind of jumped on that bandwagon because a bunch of internet marketers told them to do that. And they saw this high production, very polished YouTube where, you know, you have cut screens and when one person’s talking, it changes, camera changes the angle.
But, you know, I think what we’ve seen is unless you’re freaking Joe Rogan, nobody cares to see your, you know, your very high quality 4k videos of, you know, no bunch of nobodies talking. Yeah. You know, it’s almost, it’s not worth the effort. Maybe I think at one point people are like, well, if these guys can, you know, purchase and set up a 4k camera and all this cool equipment and be able to pay somebody for that, they must be legit. Right. So maybe branding, you know, branding kind of falls into it a little bit. But I think at the end of the day, content is what is king.
You know, you can have, you know, junk video. You still need good audio quality, of course, because that’s not too tough. But if you have a good message or new original ideas and able to well articulate them, then that’s going to reign supreme on the podcast side. Now, I think YouTube, I think it’s a little bit more of like a blend of gamesmanship with the thumbnail, you know, getting recognized and then also like some of the other theatrics that may be on screen to your B-roll and A-roll. And then obviously, you know, it helps to be pretty too on YouTube.
Spencer: Yeah. Yeah. It was just something that I’ve kind of, I’ve actually discussed it with my wife, Julie, who, who did a bunch of podcasts at an ad agency. And it’s interesting because, you know, you kind of mentioned how YouTube videos typically have like the images and graphics that pop up with the talking head. And podcasts usually don’t have that, but there’s nothing holding back people from doing that to podcasts. It would just be a lot more work because they’re longer videos.
And so I just wonder if like the YouTube algorithm treats YouTube podcasts different than, than regular YouTube videos. I don’t know. It’s just, it’s just something to think about. So. Yeah.
Lane: The only thing I can say, and I don’t, it’s probably just a one-off data point, but at one time I, I was putting like a little fun B-roll in it, you know, when I make a little joke or, you know, I would say like, you know, I still own my crappy old car, right? And I have a picture of it. I don’t know why I would do that, right? It’s bored. But like, you know, I think that’s that I had an investor say, you know what, I was actually, I saw that and I cracked up and it made my day.
And I’m like, what kind of a day? Not actually watches the video portion. It’s a freaking podcast.
You know, like, you know, and then he, his rebuttal is like, well, what kind of not edits that in to somewhere that nobody’s going to watch it, but I watched it, you know, like. That’s true.
Spencer: That’s true. There’s definitely people who do watch the video podcast. So it’s, it’s just something to think about.
Lane: I mean, people watch everything, right? Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Spencer: Yeah. So I’m curious, is there, is there a feature on podcast platforms that you wish that YouTube would adopt or they are all the features pretty much the same?
Lane: I think the opposite way around, I think the podcast is in the Stone Age. Discovery. That makes sense. The reason why I kind of migrated over to the YouTube camp is because of discoverability. With podcasts, if you search a certain term and you’re not going to find anybody other than the big influencers out there, and even then your search term isn’t even going to correlate.
It’s weird, right? It’s horrible search mechanism on podcasts. But yeah, I think, I mean, that’s where YouTube is so fascinating. I mean, no wonder it’s, I think the number one consumed media out there.
Spencer: Yeah, I think, you know, you kind of mentioned towards the beginning of the episode that podcasts are starting. I can’t remember what you said, actually, but it was something along the lines of like in 2022, YouTube was, YouTube podcasts were more popular than like the other podcast platforms.
And I think it was because of the discoverability, you know, it’s so much easier to find new content out there on YouTube versus like podcast platforms. Now, I personally am not a podcaster, like I don’t constantly listen to podcasts, kind of ironic because we make this podcast. But, you know, I’m curious, how did you, I guess, grow your podcast then without that discoverability? Did you just like share it by word of mouth or how did you grow that?
Lane: See, I don’t freaking know, right? And it’s so hard. It’s like, I mean, you know, I think people would share it amongst their friends, right? And, you know, it would spread that way. But it is, you know, they always say podcasts grow very slow and linearly, where you’re not going to get big pops or go viral like YouTube. That makes sense.
Spencer: Yeah, I kind of hope that the podcast platforms, you know, adopt more discoverability features so more podcasts can be discovered.
Lane: So, yeah, I mean, I think you know, AI is creating more, more slop in podcast world. You hear of a lot of scripted or AI generated podcasts these days.
Speaker 3: Oh, that’s probably not actually have not heard of here. But I, you know, I mean, the only reason why I do it quite honestly is I’ve been doing it so long and enjoy it too. But it’s because I already have kind of a track record on there. You know, you’ve got over 500 reviews and already have this traction where I don’t think I would be starting one today to be quite honest. If not for that.
Spencer: Yeah, it’s definitely a saturated market. I feel like everybody and their dog has a podcast. But that kind of leads into my next question. You mentioned how you’ve been doing it for so long. Have you been doing it as like a one man band this whole time? Or do you have people that kind of support you and help produce the show?
Lane: Yeah, I mean, at one time, I mean, when I first started the first several years, I did everything, the editing, all the odds and arms that stuff, I’d manually do it in audacity.
And then for a while there, I would hire some people to do it for me. I kind of took my eye off the ball. And I think that’s kind of where maybe I had to come back in and reign in the content a little bit because a lot of the things we do, I mean, I’m not allowed to give financial advice, which is silly, right?
Apparently, I don’t have a certified financial planner licensed to sell my marketable securities. So I can’t talk about this. So we always have to kind of filter certain things out. So we remain compliant and cognizant of, hey, don’t be a dummy and just listen to what I’m saying. Every situation is different, guys.
Don’t be a dummy. I’m pretty cognizant of that side. So I’ve kind of remained pretty involved in things. Another thing is like recently, I don’t know if this is the right way to do it, but with my podcast and YouTube, I’ve kind of pulled back on content quite a bit. Before I would do like a weekly podcast and I do it bi-weekly.
I mean, because I think as a podcaster, I listen to podcasts and a lot of podcasts out there, I’m like, this guy just had to freaking put something out this week. This sucks. I wish he wouldn’t have wasted it in my time because he just mailed it this week. And maybe I shouldn’t put those expectations on my own self, I guess. But I was like, if something’s not good or I don’t, I might also not do anything.
So I kind of brought down the barrier to do one bi-weekly, to keep the quality higher was my thought. And then also, my topic matter, like we talked about passive investing. We try and keep things simple as passive as possible. So after a while, there’s around a stuff to talk about, right? Kind of half joking. Yeah. Yeah.
Spencer: I think that’s something that’s important to keep in mind as like for YouTubers, you know, I think YouTube favors videos that it can tell that there’s a lot of work put into it. I think in our last episode, we talked to a creator who he doesn’t have a set schedule. He just, he makes his content and then whenever it’s ready, he publishes it then.
And the YouTube algorithm kind of recognizes that because his audience sees that he’s putting in a lot of work into each individual video rather than like that one guy you mentioned who just slapped something up that one week and it didn’t sound that great. Yeah.
Lane: So that’s definitely something to keep in mind. The advice has kind of changed over the years, right? Like, I mean, on the opposite side of that camp, you know, they were saying, well, do one Monday, Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or, you know, same time every week and just throw something out there.
I definitely think that after 2022 is what it is. Like just throwing a bunch of garbage out there does more harm to your channel than good. Yeah. But at the same time, from a purpose of, you know, people need practice and need reps to get good at something, maybe just for that reason, you do that strategy. But, you know, I think it’s a lot less work to put out slop out there and just focus on, you know, I think what I’m trying to do these days is just do at least one quality video a week of something that I like and my audience likes that isn’t necessarily a good podcast material. Like, some details I’ll make if you listen to it, you know, these, I’m talking talking head videos where I’m going through a topic that’s great for YouTube, but it’s kind of feels disjointed in podcast form.
Yeah. Because you don’t have the online graphics and you miss the tonality and the facial expressions of the speaker in podcast land. And sometimes like the talking head videos, they just run a little bit too inorganic or not, not, they just run too smooth in a way that’s not seems artificial when you put it into a podcast format. Yeah.
Spencer: Yeah. So that that kind of leads me to the my next question is, you know, how do you come up with your ideas for your videos? Is it from like your podcast that you then take like smaller segments and create those videos? Or do you like keep your YouTube videos completely separate from your podcast?
Lane: Yeah, I try to keep it separate unless I’m like, I do a podcast and like, Oh, this would be good to put or vice versa. I think what I tried, I mean, I have frequently calls with new investors all the time, multiple times a week. And I just use that as a sort of random sampling of questions people are asking out there. Sometimes I, you know, I’ll take notes and I’ll use that as inspiration for a video in a or an or a podcast. But that’s, that’s how that’s one method. The other method is like, there are certain foundational things like, you know, so I ran my book through AI and I said, well, give me the major the top 20 or 30 topics, you know, and, you know, I have it on my back burner to do individual videos and podcasts on all of them.
Probably will never get to them all, right? But that’s another source. But yeah, I kind of blend that between what are like important topics that I think are unique to myself. Like for example, why not?
Why would you want to do it for 1k? Right? You’re going to have to pay more taxes later on.
It’s just deferring. You know, I have this big argument that takes 12 minutes to go through. Like those are the things that I think makes, you know, my message unique and out there. Is that necessarily what people want to hear? Maybe not. Maybe they just want to hear me rant and rave about a 50 year mortgage thing. To me, it’s a waste of time. But that’s what people want to hear. Right? So there’s a blend between things that you want to talk about that you’re passionate about and things that externally people think they’re important to you have to balance.
Spencer: Yeah, that is a fine line. I think if every creator knew the perfect boundaries of that line, then everyone would be super successful. But yeah, it’s definitely difficult to balance that. So I guess more in the nitty gritty details of like your process, I guess like what kind of programs do you use to edit and publish and, you know, help script writing and all of that kind of stuff?
Lane: Yeah, I guess like the procedure is, I mean, I started with the idea and then the unique twist. And, you know, I always try to insert real experiences through it because of the Google experience.
I forget what the acronym is like eat or something like that. But, you know, I have a world of knowledge. Like everything in my book is things I’ve actually done. Right? Like I’ve gone through the first, second, third, four plus of the wealth elevator.
Right? I am an accredited investor. I have done these large deals. I just have to sit down and think what the heck are the experience shares behind that. So I mean, one tip I’ll do is like, I’ll kind of write, do see outline what I’m going to be talking about on the topic. And then I’ll run through AI and be like, Hey, in capital letters, put a big, big line in there, say, Lane, put a freaking story in here or give us an example and anecdote.
So, you know, I think the AI does a good job of like identifying where those places are at. I obviously have to come through and interject with that, the actual story, right? Or maybe even if it’s a joke that’s appropriate, I don’t know. But that’s, that’s where kind of like I finish out the outline. And I’m not a big script writing guy. I think it comes across as interganic or maybe I’m just not skillful with that, that skill of reading somebody else’s word and adopting it.
Like it’s my own core belief. But what I do is I take this like when I used to be a construction supervisor, giving the morning briefing, I would always write down three or four things, maybe one or two words. And it just triggers me to kind of go. And that’s, I think a skill that I’ve kind of harnessed over the years. So I’m able to just talk off the hip on that. And then, you know, there might be a little bit more too much, might be a little bit wordy, might be a little talking circles a little bit, but post production, I can kind of clean that up. And then yeah, that’s the process. Gotcha.
Spencer: Thanks for sharing that. I think that’s really helpful to our listeners because I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but every creator’s process is so different. And it’s interesting to kind of hear the little details that help your process.
So thanks for sharing that. I want to move into our last couple of questions that we ask all of our guests. And these are more, I guess, on the advice side of things. So throughout your, I guess, podcast and YouTube journey, has there been a mistake that you’ve learned from that you think would be beneficial to our listeners?
Lane: You know, I tell a hydro coach for this because I was conflicted myself into thinking like, which way I should go with this. But you know, for people who do podcasts, they say an idea, which I ultimately do today is like, I put the podcast form of it in a separate YouTube channel separate from the talking head videos and webinars. Okay. So you have two channels?
Yeah. Because I mean, the thought was, I forget the exact verbage that the coach used, but they’re like, people who come to your channel are this type of person. Are they the same person who wants to watch talking head boring podcast? Probably not. So put one two separate channels. That makes sense. Gotcha.
Spencer: So that’s, that’s what you would recommend is like, think about what your audience is.
Lane: That’s what I do. I don’t know if that’s true though, because it’s like, I don’t know. I mean, the other, the contradictory thing is like, well, if somebody’s interested in a podcast, well, I got all this other short form content, six to eight minute long talking head videos on it too. So gotcha.
Spencer: Cool. Well, the last question kind of goes along with that question. And it’s about myth busting. Is there any myths about YouTube? And I guess because you’re a podcast or any myths about podcasts that you think should be busted?
Lane: You know, I think, I think people should stop making podcasts because then I’ll make minds more popular. Right.
Speaker 3: I mean, there’s a lot of noise.
Lane: But I think podcasts, and I maybe partially, this is YouTube too, but like, don’t do a YouTube or podcast because you think you’re going to get found from it. That is an extremely small subset of the people out there. That’s like, you know, me and professional athletes, like I’m a furthest thing from it. And for somebody who think that they’re going to find notoriety on these platforms at this stage in the game, at this saturation point in the marketplace, it’s not going to happen.
So if you don’t like doing, you don’t enjoy doing it, you don’t love it, then don’t even start because you’re going to suck anyway, because if you’re not, love something, you’re going to be bad at it more than likely. But from that specifically, I’m talking about discoverability. Nobody’s going to really find you from this stuff in reality unless you’re lucky, unless you’re unique and unusual, which everybody thinks they are, of course. But I think what’s cool about these platforms is if you’re able to generate some type of audience, some other way, you know, getting those eyes on you, the discoverability somewhere else, these platforms can be great for nurturing that relationship.
Right? Like if I happen to be at a conference or meet somebody organically, imagine that, right? Or maybe organically face to face. And I were to share the link to my YouTube channel or podcast. I think that is typically the path that is mostly used and effective for this stuff. Yeah.
Spencer: That is well said. Thanks for sharing that. I do want to add a little caveat to that. I do think people can get discovered, but I don’t think it’s a overnight they’ll get discovered. I think it takes a long time at this stage in the game. Maybe like 10 or 12 years ago when YouTube was still young, you know, you could get discovered really quickly.
But now you have to put in a lot of work, a lot of effort, and you have to do it for a long time in order to be discovered. But yeah.
Lane: Good clarification. Yeah, I definitely agree with that. Yeah.
Spencer: So your YouTube channel is Wealth Elevator and that’s also your podcast, right?
Lane: I think the podcast is the Wealth Elevator podcast. Just going to do it. Yeah. Or Google play on that one or Spotify. Gotcha.
Spencer: If our followers want to follow you anywhere else, is there another place that they should go?
Lane: Yeah. I mean, if you guys are interested in real estate investing as a passive investor, especially if you’re a credit investor, you know, what I would recommend is checking out my book on Amazon. That’s going to be, like I said, the quickest path to kind of absorbing a base level of this type of knowledge base.
If you purchase a copy, email us at team at thewealthelevator.com and we’ll hook you up with a free audiobook version and PDF. And yeah, thanks for having me Spencer. Good conversations.
Spencer: Yeah, thanks for being on the show. You had some really great insights and thanks to our listeners and followers for checking out this episode. Make sure to like and subscribe for more. And if you need help with any video content, feel free to check us out at http://www.creatorluxe.com and we’ll see you in the next one.
EPISODE RECAP
Podcast Recap: Why Most Podcasts Fail on YouTube (with Lane Kawaoka)
In this episode of Creators Uncut, Spencer sits down with Lane Kawaoka, founder of The Wealth Elevator, to unpack the realities of podcasts, YouTube, and content creation in an increasingly saturated landscape. With nearly a decade of experience running a successful investing podcast and YouTube presence, Lane shares candid insights on what actually works — and what most creators get wrong.
Lane’s Background: From Engineer to Investor
Lane began his career as an engineer, following the traditional path of saving money, contributing to a 401(k), and buying a primary residence. His mindset shifted after turning his first home into a rental property in 2009, sparking a deeper interest in real estate investing.
Over time, Lane scaled from owning single-family rentals to multifamily apartment investments across the U.S. Today, he runs a private equity and syndication company with over $2 billion in past real estate deals, serving primarily accredited investors.
Why Lane Started a Podcast
The podcast began as a personal outlet. After repeatedly explaining real estate investing to friends — often losing them midway through the conversation — Lane realized his passion for the topic wasn’t widely shared in his immediate circle.
Rather than keeping that knowledge bottled up, he launched a podcast in 2016 to document his experiences, share lessons learned, and create a long-term educational resource. Early episodes were informal and unstructured, focusing on real-world investing mistakes, wins, and lessons.
The Natural Shift to YouTube
Lane’s move to YouTube wasn’t strategic at first — it was practical. Since podcast recordings already included video files, uploading them to YouTube felt like an easy way to repurpose content.
As consumption habits shifted, Lane noticed YouTube becoming a primary destination for podcast listeners due to one key advantage: discoverability. Unlike traditional podcast platforms, YouTube allows content to be found through search and recommendations.
That said, Lane emphasizes that not all content belongs everywhere.
Podcasts vs. YouTube Videos: They’re Not the Same
A major theme of the conversation is the distinction between:
- Video podcasts (long-form, conversational, minimal editing)
- YouTube-native videos (structured, visual, edited with B‑roll and graphics)
Lane argues that highly produced podcast sets only work for massive personalities like Joe Rogan. For most creators, investing heavily in 4K cameras and cinematic setups doesn’t move the needle.
“Unless you’re Joe Rogan, nobody cares to watch high‑quality 4K videos of a bunch of nobodies talking.”
For smaller creators, content quality and clarity of message matter far more than production polish.
Platform-Specific Content Matters
Lane outlines two competing content strategies:
- Omnichannel repurposing — turning podcasts into clips, shorts, and uploads across platforms.
- Platform-native creation — tailoring content specifically for YouTube, podcasts, LinkedIn, or short‑form platforms.
While omnichannel content is efficient, Lane believes certain topics — especially educational or technical ones — perform better in formats like webinars or long-form YouTube videos where visuals matter.
Why Lane Doesn’t Chase YouTube Growth
Despite having a YouTube presence, Lane doesn’t view YouTube as his primary platform for conversion. His audience consists of high‑income professionals who are short on time and often consume content with intention rather than for entertainment.
For that reason, Lane sees podcasts and YouTube as relationship builders, not growth hacks. His most valuable content, in his view, lives in his book, The Wealth Elevator.
Publishing Less, But Better
One of the most practical takeaways from the episode is Lane’s shift away from rigid publishing schedules. After years of weekly episodes, he intentionally moved to a bi‑weekly cadence to protect quality.
Lane believes the era of “just posting to stay consistent” is over:
“Throwing a bunch of garbage out there does more harm to your channel than good.”
Creators still need reps to improve, but audiences — and algorithms — increasingly reward thoughtful, intentional content.
How Lane Comes Up With Content Ideas
Lane’s ideas come from three main sources:
- Investor conversations — real questions from real people
- Foundational topics from his book
- Personal conviction — ideas he believes strongly in, even if they aren’t trendy
He balances audience interest with personal passion, acknowledging that creators must walk a fine line between what people want and what actually matters.
Lane’s Content Creation Process
Rather than scripting word-for-word, Lane works from loose outlines and bullet points. He uses AI to:
- Identify gaps where stories or examples are needed
- Strengthen structure
- Improve clarity
However, all anecdotes and insights come from lived experience — something Lane believes is essential for trust and credibility.
A Key Lesson for Creators
Lane’s biggest advice?
Don’t start a podcast or YouTube channel expecting to be discovered.
In today’s saturated market, organic discovery is rare and slow. These platforms work best as:
- Trust builders
- Relationship nurturers
- Long‑term brand assets
If you don’t genuinely enjoy creating content, Lane believes you’re better off not starting at all.
Where to Find Lane
- Podcast & YouTube: The Wealth Elevator
- Book: The Wealth Elevator (Amazon)
Lane encourages readers interested in passive real estate investing to start with the book, which serves as the foundation for everything he teaches.
This episode of Creators Uncut offers a refreshingly honest look at content creation beyond growth hacks — focusing instead on sustainability, clarity, and long‑term value.
