🔥 Quick Intro
Daily short-form video sounds simple - until you try doing it every day for a year. In this episode, Leslie Samuel breaks down what actually happens when you commit to Shorts, Reels, and TikTok, and how AI and automation made consistency possible.

👉 Episode in a Nutshell
Leslie Samuel shares the results of a one-year daily short-form video experiment on his Interactive Biology channel. He explains why engagement mattered more than virality, how Shorts stabilized subscriber growth year-round, and why community exploded. Leslie also walks through how he uses AI and n8n automation to generate ideas, write scripts, batch record months of content, and remove editing and publishing bottlenecks without losing authenticity.

⏰ Timestamps
00:00 - Was the one-year short-form experiment worth it?
00:21 - Why Leslie started short-form after Pat Flynn’s success
01:50 - How long Leslie posted daily Shorts and what consistency looked like
02:38 - Views vs engagement - what actually mattered
03:23 - How short-form created real community for the first time
05:51 - Engagement signals and why they matter to algorithms
06:15 - Subscriber growth before and after short-form video
07:27 - Consistent growth during normally slow seasons
08:16 - New opportunities and interviews from daily Shorts
09:39 - Monetization realities of short-form video
10:33 - Why Leslie paused daily posting
12:09 - Editing as the biggest bottleneck in video marketing
14:14 - The “Truth or Trash” short-form format explained
15:01 - Using ChatGPT for ideas and scripting
16:27 - Automating idea generation with n8n
18:11 - Batch recording 30-90 videos at a time
19:31 - Teleprompters, AI scripts, and authenticity
22:26 - Training AI to sound like you
26:23 - Prompt refinement to hit a 95% voice match
27:31 - Live walkthrough of Leslie’s n8n idea generator
33:13 - n8n vs Zapier vs Make.com
36:35 - Turning automation into a new business
38:29 - Using AI for research, promotion, and growth
43:25 - Where AI and short-form video are heading next
45:25 - Final thoughts and where to find Leslie

💡 Key Takeaways
- Consistency beats virality for long-term growth
- Short-form video drives deeper engagement than long-form alone
- Daily Shorts stabilize subscriber growth year-round
- AI can handle ideas and scripting without killing authenticity
- Teleprompters work when scripts match natural speech
- Automation removes the biggest friction in content creation
- Batch recording is the key to sustainability

🔗 Resources
- https://iamlesliesamuel.com - Leslie’s content and automation services