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In 2014, I was fresh out of college and considered I experienced my life all planned out: Go to medical faculty, get a six-figure position as a doctor, and make my mothers and fathers happy.
None of that worked out. I realized I hated blood and needles, and acquired rejected from a lot more than 15 health-related colleges. My mom and dad were not so content.
From 2014 to 2019, I took on tutoring facet hustles, did some modeling gigs, started off a fall delivery business enterprise, and even labored as a actual estate agent. But very little was consistent in earning me a steady revenue stream.
Immediately after a number of business attempts, I eventually discovered one thing that labored: Posting money tips on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In 2021, my material generation business introduced in $1.5 million in profits — and my mom stopped sending me occupation listings.
How I developed a $1.5 million-for each-yr organization
I experienced been putting up on YouTube due to the fact 2006, but the content material was random and inconsistent. So I determined to adhere with the topic that excited me the most: income.
Growing up in a painfully frugal family, I was usually interested in coming up with techniques to be smarter about earning, preserving and investing. In 2018, I designed a new YouTube channel dedicated to economic guidance. I posted nearly each individual day, as nicely as on Instagram and TikTok.
In 2021, Chang’s business brought in $1.5 million in gross earnings.
Picture: Charlie Chang
My very first handful of films gained about a dozen views just about every, half of which were from my mom. I was nonetheless earning most of my dollars by way of odd positions and side hustles.
But in April 2020, about a thirty day period immediately after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, I recognized a spike in interest all around stimulus-similar information. That month, I posted 20 YouTube movies about the stimulus and relief attempts. One of my movies went viral — earning me $10,078 in advertisement income and 30,300 subscribers.
In May possibly, I posted 19 video clips and manufactured $15,791 in advert earnings. And in June, I landed my very first sponsorship deal with Foundr, an on-line schooling firm they paid out me $250 to develop a person TikTok post.
I ongoing to experiment with diverse forms of video articles to see what was most efficient in expanding my viewers and attracting interest from models.
By November, right after securing a different partnership deal and achieving about 200,000 subscribers, I determined to launch my 1st on-line class training folks how to start out their very own effective YouTube channels.
In 2021, I additional affiliate marketing and advertising to my profits streams. I manufactured $86,000 in January, then scaled to an typical of $150,000 for each thirty day period in 2021.
How to develop multiple income streams
Right now, I have above 650,000 YouTube followers. So much this year, I have created about $197,700 for each month by means of five cash flow streams — quite a few of which develop passive income. At just one place, I made $245,000 in a month.
What I adore about the organization I’ve crafted is that I can decide on when and where to do the job. Some days I’ll operate zero hrs, and other days I am going to put in 12 several hours. On ordinary, I do the job 35 hrs for every 7 days.
Here’s how I designed every of my earnings streams:
1. Affiliate marketing: 40% of month-to-month earnings
With affiliate internet marketing, I receive fee for promoting another brand’s solution or products and services. I write-up affiliate inbound links in the descriptions of my YouTube video clips and on my internet site, then get paid just about every time somebody is directed to a brand’s product webpage or will make a acquire.
To make passive revenue by means of affiliate internet marketing, you need to have to include things like back links on focused content material in a area of interest that persons are exploring for. This can guide to clicks for months, even lengthy after you’ve posted. For illustration, I link to captions centered on preferred research phrases, which I come across using the Google Trends software.
I get most of my affiliate bargains by way of partnership administration platforms like Impact Radius, Partnerstack and Share-A-Sale. Creators with any audience sizing can use these internet websites to discover and be a part of affiliate backlink courses.
2. Model sponsorships: 25% of month-to-month revenue
With model sponsorships, companies effectively pay back me to mention them in a single of my video clips or on my internet site.
Models normally reach out to me by means of the email tackle on my YouTube profile, but I also perform with companies like Spacestation to protected extra sponsorships.
Finding a specialized niche helped me develop a faithful and genuine audience, which has been important to my good results. I answered Covid-linked finance queries that no 1 else was addressing. Then I took the ideas with the highest audience engagement and ran with them.
“What I love about the small business I’ve created is that the cash I make just isn’t instantly tied to my time,” suggests Chang. “I can choose when and wherever I want to work.”
Find your own niche by asking: What is a distinct issue that I can clear up with my story and exceptional expertise? Recognize the ins-and-outs of your viewers, like their age, spot and basic interests. During the negotiation approach, remind models why that audience is useful to them.
3. YouTube ads: 25% of every month earnings
I make another quarter of my profits from YouTube Adsense adverts that seem in advance of or all through my YouTube movies.
To join this plan, you will have to have at the very least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 several hours of check out time in the final 12 months. As soon as you might be portion of the application, it is really essential to put up continuously and develop movies based mostly on what your audience responds perfectly to.
4. Online course profits: <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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