In 2014, I was clean out of higher education and considered I experienced my lifetime all planned out: Go to health-related school, get a six-determine career as a doctor, and make my mom and dad happy.
None of that worked out. I realized I hated blood and needles, and got rejected from a lot more than 15 health care faculties. My mom and dad were not so happy.
From 2014 to 2019, I took on tutoring side hustles, did some modeling gigs, started off a drop shipping and delivery enterprise, and even labored as a true estate agent. But very little was reliable in earning me a steady money stream.
After a number of enterprise tries, I ultimately found some thing that worked: Publishing monetary assistance on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In 2021, my information development small business brought in $1.5 million in income — and my mother stopped sending me work listings.
How I built a $1.5 million-for each-12 months enterprise
I had been putting up on YouTube considering the fact that 2006, but the written content was random and inconsistent. So I made a decision to adhere with the topic that psyched me the most: income.
Developing up in a painfully frugal family members, I was normally fascinated in coming up with methods to be smarter about earning, preserving and investing. In 2018, I established a new YouTube channel committed to monetary guidance. I posted practically each individual working day, as nicely as on Instagram and TikTok.
In 2021, Chang’s business enterprise introduced in $1.5 million in gross earnings.
Photograph: Charlie Chang
My 1st couple films gained close to a dozen views each individual, 50 percent of which had been from my mother. I was nonetheless earning most of my income by odd jobs and facet hustles.
But in April 2020, about a thirty day period following Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, I seen a spike in curiosity around stimulus-linked material. That thirty day period, I posted 20 YouTube movies about the stimulus and aid initiatives. One of my video clips went viral — earning me $10,078 in advert income and 30,300 subscribers.
In May, I posted 19 films and created $15,791 in advertisement income. And in June, I landed my 1st sponsorship deal with Foundr, an online education and learning company they compensated me $250 to develop one TikTok submit.
I ongoing to experiment with different sorts of online video content to see what was most successful in increasing my viewers and attracting desire from brand names.
By November, immediately after securing a different partnership offer and achieving around 200,000 subscribers, I determined to start my to start with on the web course teaching folks how to start off their own prosperous YouTube channels.
In 2021, I included affiliate internet marketing to my money streams. I created $86,000 in January, then scaled to an average of $150,000 for each thirty day period in 2021.
How to make many profits streams
Today, I have above 650,000 YouTube followers. So considerably this year, I’ve produced about $197,700 for each month by using 5 money streams — numerous of which create passive cash flow. At one particular position, I built $245,000 in a thirty day period.
What I like about the business enterprise I’ve developed is that I can pick out when and where by to do the job. Some days I’ll operate zero several hours, and other days I’ll set in 12 hours. On ordinary, I function 35 several hours per 7 days.
This is how I crafted every single of my cash flow streams:
1. Affiliate promoting: 40% of month-to-month cash flow
With affiliate marketing, I receive commission for endorsing a further brand’s product or products and services. I article affiliate backlinks in the descriptions of my YouTube films and on my web site, then get paid each individual time a person is directed to a brand’s product or service web site or can make a buy.
To make passive money through affiliate marketing and advertising, you want to consist of backlinks on focused written content in a area of interest that people are searching for. This can lead to clicks for months, even extended following you’ve got posted. For example, I hyperlink to captions centered on well-liked search terms, which I locate applying the Google Traits software.
I get most of my affiliate deals via partnership management platforms like Effect Radius, Partnerstack and Share-A-Sale. Creators with any viewers measurement can use these internet websites to uncover and sign up for affiliate connection plans.
2. Brand sponsorships: 25% of every month revenue
With model sponsorships, businesses effectively spend me to point out them in one of my video clips or on my website.
Brand names generally arrive at out to me by using the e mail handle on my YouTube profile, but I also function with organizations like Spacestation to safe extra sponsorships.
Discovering a niche served me develop a loyal and reliable audience, which has been essential to my good results. I answered Covid-linked finance issues that no 1 else was addressing. Then I took the ideas with the highest audience engagement and ran with them.
“What I enjoy about the business enterprise I have built is that the revenue I make is just not immediately tied to my time,” suggests Chang. “I can opt for when and wherever I want to get the job done.”
Discover your have niche by asking: What is a distinct difficulty that I can clear up with my tale and exclusive expertise? Comprehend the ins-and-outs of your audience, like their age, spot and basic pursuits. Through the negotiation procedure, remind models why that audience is worthwhile to them.
3. YouTube advertisements: 25% of monthly cash flow
I make another quarter of my money from YouTube Adsense adverts that show up prior to or through my YouTube video clips.
To sign up for this system, you will have to have at minimum 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hrs of check out time in the previous 12 months. When you might be portion of the software, it truly is significant to write-up consistently and develop video clips based mostly on what your viewers responds effectively to.
4. On the web course product sales: <5% of monthly income
My “6-Figure YouTube Academy” and “Personal Brand Masterclass” courses are both hosted on Kajabi. These courses took months of planning, research, filming and editing.
For YouTube Academy, I outlined what I was going to teach in each video using Notion, an online workspace organization tool, then created slides to play during each video on Keynote. It took me a week to film more than a hundred videos, which I edited myself using Final Cut Pro X.
From there, I organized my videos on Kajabi and started to market the course on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. I don’t spend any money on advertisement.
5. Coaching: <5% of monthly income
I meet with clients one-on-one to consult on how to make their businesses more successful. This is a great way to connect with my audience and get to know them on an individual level.
My coaching sessions are done via Zoom, which allows me to meet with anyone from anywhere across the world. I charge $500 per 60-minute session.
Recently, I started building StartupWise, a resource platform for new businesses and entrepreneurs. I’m also working on a company called Side Hustle Mastery, and its complementary newsletter called Hustle Club.
Charlie Chang is a content creator and serial entrepreneur whose mission is to educate people on personal finance and entrepreneurship. He is a UCLA graduate and founder of StartupWise. Follow him on Instagram and YouTube.
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