Transcription
If you're thinking about starting a YouTube channel, this video is literally going to save you years of your life. And I don't want to give you the same advice that you've heard a million times about just being consistent or posting every day, cuz that's actually terrible advice.
Look, I've got this channel monetized in 30 days, and the channel's now bringing me more than six figures. But here's the thing, 97% of YouTube channels don't make money. And if you're following that generic advice that everyone gives, you're basically going to join that statistic.
But in this video, I'm going to show you exactly what I would do if I had to start over from zero today. And I'm going to show you this one approach that's working better than anything right now. And it's actually the opposite of what most creators are doing.
Now, this is not going to be one of those feel-good motivational videos where everything sounds easy because it's not. But if you stick with me, you're going to learn the actual steps to properly grow your channel and make your first $10,000 a month, even with a small audience.
Now, the first step is deciding whether to go broad or go niche with your channel. And honestly, I used to get confused by this as well, cuz you'll see a lot of creators sometimes they go broad, sometimes they go niche. But here's what I actually found out. It actually doesn't matter if you go broad or niche. Cuz what actually matters is that all your content is made for the same person. And so, as long as you're always talking to one specific type of person, it doesn't really matter if you go broad or niche.
And I'm going to prove this to you. So, if you look at this channel, Rory Ohama, she's got more than a million subscribers. I'm a big fan, by the way. If you look at her channel, she makes videos about ADHD, how to start a YouTube channel, how to focus. It seems like she's covering many different topics and all over the place, right? But she's got a successful channel. And then you have someone like Nisha here who's just talking about one thing, which is personal finance. Very focused on this topic, and she's crushing it, too.
Now, here's the key with Ruri. Yes, she talks about all different topics, but they're all made for the same person. Someone who maybe has ADHD and wants to build something online and maybe struggling with focus, right? And all of her content helps that one specific person. And with Nisha here, she's talking about one specific person as well, someone who wants to learn about money and building wealth. So instead of being confused, am I too broad? Am I too narrow? Just ask yourself, who exactly am I trying to help? And then you want to make content that helps that person with whatever that they're struggling with.
Now, I think that one of the easiest ways to come up with video topics is to think about yourself a couple years ago. What were you dealing with? You know, what did you wish someone would teach you? So, that version of yourself is actually your audience.
Here's the next thing that I got to tell you. And this is probably going to sound like we're always talking about money, but if you're starting a YouTube channel to make money, you have to run it like a business from day one. Not after you have 10k subscribers or 100k subscribers, but from day one. And I know everybody says follow your passion and the money will follow. But here's what really happens when you follow that advice.
So I remember back then when I started YouTube about 7 years ago, I made content about whatever I felt like making, whatever is interesting to me, right? What I'm having for breakfast. Sometimes I just talk about cycling. Sometimes just random ideas that popped into my head. And I see so many creators do this as well. basically focusing everything on them, the creator. And I learned this the hard way. People don't actually care about you. They care about themselves. They're watching your videos to see if you can solve their problems. Cuz you want to ask, what problems can your videos solve for them, right? Because once you begin to solve problems for your audience, you can now build products, can build services that can help people solve that problem even better. And without this, you don't have a business, but you have a hobby.
Now, look, if you're running YouTube as a hobby, that's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But if your ultimate goal is to actually make money from your YouTube channel, this is what you need to think about. So instead of asking what am I passionate about, you want to ask what problems can I solve that people actually pay for? And once I realized this, I looked at other creators in my niche to see what products, what services are they selling, right? And I made a plan for myself for what I was going to offer. And fast forward, when I started this channel, when I had only 5K subscribers, I made $30,000 in a single month selling a $97 digital product. So when you start planning in advance like this, you will have a clear road map and a goal in mind. So you're not just creating videos blindly without any direction, but every piece of content you make is working towards something.
Now, here's what you're probably thinking. What am I supposed to sell? You know, I don't have anything. So here's the thing. You don't need to have something ready right now. You just need to plan and understand what you're going to build. To give you some ideas, you basically have three main options.
So first, digital services. So, this is probably one of the easiest places to start. It's basically doing work for other people online. So, if you're good at social media, for example, you could probably make content about social media tips and then you want to offer to manage accounts for other local businesses. Or maybe if you're good with writing, you make content about writing and then offer copywriting services. So, basically, you want to create videos to show what you know and then you want to offer a service to do it for other people.
Second, you got digital products. So these are things like courses, ebooks, templates, guides. And the beauty of digital products is that you create them once and you can sell them infinitely, right? You don't need to manually fulfill every order that comes in.
Now, the third one is the hybrid approach. So you can combine both your services and products to make even more money. So, I have a $300 course that teaches my systems, but I also offer one-on-one coaching for those people who want personal help, the same knowledge, but some people want to learn on their own, and other people want me to work directly with them.
Now, here's what's really encouraging about all this. You don't need a million subscribers to make six figures on YouTube. And there's this concept by Kevin Kelly called a 1,000 true fans. So, the idea is simple. You only need a 1,000 people who will buy anything that you create. So, in order to make a 100K a year, you just need a thousand people who really trust you and they spend $100 with you in a year and you'll be making six figures.
Now, you might be thinking, I don't feel like I'm an expert in anything. Can I still do this? Now, before I do that, I want to introduce you to today's sponsor, Gling AI. So, Gling is an AI tool that automatically edits my videos. Saves me hours of editing work. So, whenever I film myself, there will be a lot of mistakes. Maybe I pronounce a word or I have tons of pauses and sometime I just say things that didn't come out right and editing all this used to take forever. But then I discovered this tool and it automatically handles all of this for me. And let me show you how this works. So after I finish filming, I simply drag my video file into Gling and I select what I want to be cleaned up, right? Maybe pauses, filler words, mistakes, whatever it is. And within seconds, the AI cleans up my videos. And my favorite feature about Glink is that when I repeat a sentence multiple times, Glink actually recognizes this pattern and keeps only the best take. And another feature that I love is the ability to edit on the transcript itself. So I think this is a lot easier than editing on the timeline. So I just highlight it, cross it out, and it's completely removed from my video. They even have this feature now where you can use AI to change your background. This is perfect if you're filming with a plain background. The AI will add some elements on either side to make the room more interesting. And you can even adjust the pacing of your entire video with this simple slider here. So if you want faster cuts, more energy, you can adjust it all here. So this is an easy recommendation for me cuz I use this tool every single week for my videos and it saved me literally hours of editing time that I can now spend on research and creating better content for you guys. Now, Gling AI is about 10 bucks a month, which is honestly a great price for the time it saves. But if you use my link to sign up and enter the code Jason, you'll get an extra 10% off any of their plans. Thanks again, Glai, for sponsoring this video.
All right, so back to the video. What if you're not an expert in anything? Can I still be successful on YouTube? I think that's a valid question. And you know, I was talking about this with my friends last weekend and we found that, you know, people are actually getting tired of gurus and overnight success stories. Instead, they want to follow someone who's still learning and still growing, right? Someone more like them. So instead of pretending that we know everything, why not show people your journey? Share your failures. Talk about what you're struggling with, right? Be honest about where you are right now. And I know this sounds counterintuitive. Why would people follow someone who's not already successful, right? But here's what I've noticed. People actually don't want to follow someone who is unreachable, right? It's very hard to relate. They want to follow someone who's maybe 6 months ahead of them working on something similar. So when you're creating your next video, instead of saying, "I made a million dollars last year. Here's how you can do." You want to say something like, "Hey, I'm trying to hit my first 10K a month. Here's what I'm testing this week." You see the difference? People connect with that, right? They can see themselves in your story. And when you do hit that 10K a month, your audience will feel like they're part of the journey. And I think that's how you build a loyal audience. So share everything when you make your first thousand or when your videos flopped or when you launch your first product cuz people love seeing behind the scenes because it feels real and it feels relatable.
All right, so the next point here is saturated niches. Now, here's something that always prevents people from starting in the first place. They look at their niche and they think, "Okay, this is too crowded. There's so many creators already. It's so saturated. Everyone is already talking about this, right? And why would anyone listen to me? I have zero subscribers." Yes, I get it. I felt that way, too. But here's the thing that you got to understand. You don't need to find that secret niche that nobody knows about. But actually, if a niche is saturated, that's actually a good sign because it means that there's real demand. It's just proof that people actually want to watch those videos. So you just need to bring your own perspective and your own personal stories to those topics.
Now I'm going to give you example here. If you notice on YouTube, there are literally thousands of creators talking about the topic of productivity. You know, we got Ali Abdal who has millions of subscribers talking about this topic. But there are also other creators like Matt Diabella here with Shu Omi and tons of other creators who also build successful channels in the same exact space talking about the same exact thing. But why does this work? Because each of them brings their own perspective to this topic of productivity. Right now, some people might love Ali's approach, but other people might connect more with a smaller creator like Shu Omi here. Maybe because of the way he speaks, maybe of the things that he went through. Cuz when you start sharing your thoughts process, your unique perspectives, your examples, right? People start to understand how you think. And when you do that, they will form a connection with you as a person, not just to your content, right? And here's the thing, your personal story is actually your biggest advantage. Like nobody else has been through exactly what you've been through or screwed up the same way as you have. And that's what makes you different from everyone else. And you know, here's something interesting that's happening right now. As more AI generated channels pop up everywhere, you know, I think channels with a real person behind them will have a huge advantage.
Now, how to make your first 10K. So, here's exactly what I would do if I was starting over today to make my first $10,000. But here's a trick, though. You don't want to focus on the $10,000 first, but you want to focus on making your first thousand. Yes, I know $1,000 is not life-changing money, but it's proof that you can actually monetize your videos. And you know, I remember making my first $1,000 online. It was such an incredible feeling knowing that I could actually make something out of thin air. And it's just validation that keeps you going, right? So, here's how you get to that first $1,000.
First, I would pick a problem that people are already paying to solve. Not just any problem, but look for painful problems that people need solve right now. So remember, you don't want to focus on things that are nice to have, but you want to focus on things that are actually causing people to stress or costing them money.
Now, once you find that, I would probably create 10 pieces of content around that problem. But here's the key. I wouldn't try to solve the problem completely in my content. So, I would probably give 90% of the solution for free and make it clear that the other 10% is what they need help with.
Now, after creating those 10 videos, you want to think about creating your first product. Maybe it's a $200 course or a $500 done with you program. Nothing fancy, but just something that solve that last 10%. And then I would casually mention that product in every piece of the content moving forward. Not in an aggressive way, but you can frame it as if you want help implementing this, I have a thing that can help you.
Now, here's the thing. Selling products is just one way to make money. Cuz if you're in the right niche, you can also start getting brand sponsorship deals. You know, one of those times when I say, "Thanks for sponsoring this video." That can pay you thousands of dollars if you have the right audience and if you're in the right niche. So, let's say if you get paid 2K for one brand, which is being very conservative here, and maybe you do one video a week, so four videos a month, that's already $8,000 from sponsors, which means that you just need to make $2,000 from selling products. And I haven't even mentioned the AdSense revenue from those videos and also affiliate commissions. So, at the end of the day, you're going to make money from three, four different ways with the same piece of content. That's why if you're in the right niche, you talk about the right topics, solve the right problems. 10K a month is actually not such a far away dream.
Now, I've been working with creators in my own community. And it's been incredible seeing results that people are getting. Like Phil here, he's just got 10 videos into his channel and he's already got his first brand deal. And we just got someone who just got monetized and another member who went from 300 400 views on his videos and now hitting 20,000 views in 24 hours. So if you want to be around other creators who are crushing it and getting results, come join us in this community and if you do decide to join, send me a DM and I'll personally help you get started.
Now, here's what nobody tells you about growing on YouTube. You're going to hit what I call the dip. And this is where 90% of creators actually give up. So what is the dip? So, it's that period where you're putting tons of work, but you're seeing almost zero results. Maybe your videos are not getting views, growth is slow, and it feels like you're getting nowhere. It's basically this gap between when you start working hard and when you start seeing the results or the payoff.
Now, look, I know I keep mentioning that this channel got monetized in 30 days, and it might seem like everything was easy for me, but what most people don't know is that this is not my first channel. So, I've uploaded hundreds of videos on my previous channels and most of them completely failed. So, I went through this exact same dip that you're about to face. And James Clear actually talks about this in Atomic Habits. He calls this the value of disappointment, which is this brutal space between when you start putting all this work and when you actually see results. So, maybe you're filming for hours, you're editing until 2:00 a.m. writing scripts, and it feels like nobody's actually watching your videos. But here's actually what's happening during that dip that you can't see. You're getting better. Your content is improving. You're finding your own voice. And all those failed videos from my previous channels, they actually taught me what works and what doesn't. And you know, I've seen this pattern so many times. Creators will struggle for months in the dip. And then one video hits 100K views and suddenly everything changes. The algorithm starts pushing their older content and subscribers start to flow in, right? And brand deals start coming.
Now, the solution that a lot of people give is post more videos, be consistent. I think that's not going to work cuz if you just post videos without a strategy, that means you're just posting one bad video after another. You got to have a system for growing your channel. So, I want to show you this method that I use on my channel to kind of almost guarantee results. So, this is a strategy I use to get my channel monetized with just four videos. Now, I made a whole video breaking down this method step by step, and it's actually a peak into what I teach in my creator academy. So, if you want to see exactly how this works, click here and I'll see you guys.