Why one creator’s titles work everywhere from YouTube to LinkedIn.Photo by Nubelson Fernandes on UnsplashI was watching a Starter Story interview by Pat Walls when a line caught my attention.The guest was Charlie Chang, an introverted creator who runs six YouTube channels. He said his operation typically brings in $200k to $250k a month, with a recent best month close to $300k.That maps to roughly 2.4 million dollars a year. He also mentioned he is 31. I am the same age and an occasional introvert too, which is probably why I was instantly hooked.What stuck with me was though, and made me stay through the entire video, was neither his income nor his age and personality.It was his simple method for crafting titles that people cannot ignore. He stacks three triggers in almost every headline: Relatability, Curiosity, and Wow.It sounds almost too simple. Once you notice it, you‘ll begin seeing it in almost all viral content.One of his most popular videos used this exact stack: “My 10 Sources of Income at 28 (6 Figure Entrepreneur).” He is 31 now, but at the time, the age was part of the hook.“28” makes it relatable. You immediately compare yourself to him.“(Six-Figure Entrepreneur)” sparks curiosity. What does that actually mean?“10 sources of income” is the wow detail. Ten sources is unusual enough to make you pause.Each trigger lines up with how attention works, which is why the combination is so reliable. Let’s explore each of them a little deeper.RelatabilityWhy does an age tag change everything? It tells the brain, This person could be me.Psychologists call this social identity theory.In the 1970s, Henri Tajfel and John Turner showed that people are more engaged when the storyteller feels like part of their group.That is why Charlie, including his age, worked so well. It instantly made his video feel like advice from a peer, not a guru.That is also why headlines like “How I Paid Off 40K of Debt at 26” spread so easily. If you are anywhere near that age or problem set, you lean in.It works outside of YouTube, too. You might have ever come across titles like:“The mistakes I made in my first year as a founder.”“How I landed a FAANG/MAANG job without a CS degree.”And so on…If your last five headlines read like generic advice, add a human anchor. A number, a life stage, or even a label like “first-time” turns a headline from background noise into a mirror.CuriosityGreat titles whisper a secret and then stop mid-sentence. That tension is curiosity.Psychologist George Loewenstein described this as the information gap theory.Curiosity appears when there is space between what we know and what we want to know. Our brains do not like unfinished stories. It feels like an itch that begs to be scratched.That is why the parentheses in Charlie’s title work.You know he is a six-figure entrepreneur, but six figures how? The only way to close the loop is to click.Marketers have been playing this game forever.Newspapers teased with lines like “Mayor’s Secret Deal Revealed — Page 4.” Online media turned it into a template with “You Won’t Believe What Happened When…”Even today’s B2B marketers use subject lines like “The One Mistake That Tanked Our Funnel.”Done poorly, this becomes cheap clickbait. Done well, it makes your content magnetic. The difference is simple: you have to pay it off.The Wow FactorSome details do more than inform. They jolt.“10 sources of income” is a jolt because most people juggle one or two revenue streams, not ten. Our brains pay extra attention to unusual scale and specific numbers.Marketing research backs this up. Studies on click-through rates consistently show that headlines with numbers outperform vague statements.Specific digits feel like proof.So when Charlie drops “10 income sources,” it is not just impressive. It taps into a well-documented bias toward concrete detail.You see this everywhere:“I tried 30 side hustles in 30 days.”“5 mistakes that cost me 100,000 dollars as a founder.”“How we grew from 0 to 10,000 users in 90 days.”Wow does not require exaggeration. It requires specificity you can stand behind.So, How Can You Use This In You Work?The magic is not in using one trigger. It is in stacking all three. That is what separates a headline that does okay from one that takes off.Revisit Charlie’s title:“My 10 Sources of Income at 28 (Six-Figure Entrepreneur).”Relatable: the age anchors the story.Curious: the parenthetical teases status without explaining it.Wow: the unusually high number promises a list worth scanning.Here is a quick contrast.Flat: “Lessons from my startup journey.”Stacked: “7 mistakes I made in my first year as a founder (that cost me 42,000 dollars).”One is vague. The other feels personal, teases a story, and drops a specific, painful number. Which one would you click?Charlie also reminded me that titles are not only about virality.He balances virality with searchable, evergreen topics.Think videos like “how to invest in stocks” that people look for every day. The title stack gets the click. The evergreen topic gives the piece a long shelf life.Beyond YouTube: Where This Works TooAnywhere attention is scarce, these triggers help.Blogs and MediumFlat: “Tips for growing a startup.”Stacked: “How I grew my startup to 10,000 users at 25 (after three failed launches).”Email subject lines“5 mistakes I made running ads at 29 (that wasted 12,000 dollars).”LinkedIn“The 3 words that took my cold email replies from 2 percent to 45 percent.”Landing pagesFlat: “Sign up for our free course.”Stacked: “Join 4,200 creators who doubled their audience in 30 days (without paid ads).”A Few Starter Patterns You Can Adapt“How I [achieved result] at [age or role].”“The [number] [things or results] that [surprising outcome].”“What I learned in my first [milestone] (that nobody warned me about).”Do not follow them mechanically. Twist, combine, or break them. The best hooks often come from bending the rules just enough.Closing and ChallengeAt first glance, “Relatability, Curiosity, Wow” feels like a tidy framework that belongs on a sticky note, but it works, most of the time.That introverted creator in the interview is not running six channels because of luck.He learned, consciously or not, how to speak to the psychology of attention.I am 31 too, actually 32,..May 1993(?).., which is probably one of the biggest reasons why I felt compelled to listen to what he had to say.Here is your challenge.Pull up your last five headlines or subject lines. Ask three questions.Did you give people a mirror?Did you leave them itching for closure?Did you offer a detail worth talking about?If the answer is no, rewrite one of them using this lens and see what changes.In a world where most people hit publish and hope, the ones who stack these triggers stand a higher chance of getting views and moving their content and businesses forward.What an Introverted YouTuber Making $2.4M/Year Taught Me About Writing Titles People Can’t Ignore was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.