- Hey, guys. Welcome to 2023.
Another year has gone by,
and I have to admit, I felt a bit down about my performance
on YouTube this past year.
I made less videos, was less consistent,
but when I prepared for this video
and gathered all the facts,
I actually realized that it was still a success.
Last year when I made this sort of recap video
I had just moved into this apartment here in Melbourne.
The office has come a long way since then,
and I will show you soon,
but it's still not finished but it's coming.
Anyway, last year I was surprised
that I hadn't made any money with a channel
'cause it hadn't reached the threshold
to be monetized on YouTube yet.
I've finally got there at the end of August, 2022.
So I've been earning money from YouTube ads
for about four months now.
I won't let you wait until the end of the video
to find out how much money I made.
So here it is.
Here's what I earned with my channel in 2022.
It was $419,29,
which is about seven times the amount compared to 2021.
So a huge increase.
Well, now that we've got that out of the way,
keep watching if you wanna know
what my income sources were,
how much I made from each of those income sources
and what I learned about being monetized
as a small YouTuber.
Okay, let's do a quick rapid fire round with some stats
so you know where I'm at on my YouTube journey.
In 2022, I posted 24 videos, five of those were shorts,
compared to 2021 when I posted 47 videos,
nine of those were shorts.
And this is why I was down
because I posted only half the amount of videos in 2022.
Life just got in the way too many times.
My videos still generated 102,700 views in 2022.
And that one really struck me
because it's almost double the amount of views
that I had by the end of 2021
even though I posted half the amount of videos.
And I thought that was pretty encouraging.
And thanks so much to you
for watching and supporting the channel.
I cannot say enough how much I appreciate it.
I had a couple of successful tech related videos
that keep bringing in views 'till this day,
which is pretty cool.
And when it comes to subscribers
I had 1,551 subscribers at the end of 2022
compared to 832 at the end of 2021.
And it's pretty much the same amount
of new subscribers that I gained in both years.
Now, let's talk about earnings.
I already told you that I got monetized
at the end of August 2022.
So now every month YouTube pays me money via AdSense
which is the income from the advertising playing before
and during my videos.
With this, I now have basically two income streams
when it comes to the channel:
Google AdSense and affiliate sales.
Just a reminder, affiliate sales
is when people buy products you recommend by using the links
that you put in your video description.
The buyer pays the same amount
but I get a little commission
as I was the one pointing you towards that product.
Amazon Associates is the only affiliate platform I use
and that was the only thing that made me money
in the previous year, in 2021,
which was $50,20.
So let's look what I've made in 2022.
So from Amazon Affiliates
I've made $221,71.
86% of those came from the US store,
9% from Australia and 5% from the UK.
And YouTube AdSense, that amount is $197,58.
And the first day I earned money there was August 29th
and I think it was 99 cents made that day.
So that brings us to the grand total of $419,29,
which is about 615 Australian dollars,
and you know that's pretty cool.
Last year I didn't have any earnings from YouTube AdSense,
only from Amazon Affiliates.
And the affiliate income has now more than quadruplet.
I don't have any sponsorships yet
or no payed product or anything.
It's still early stages
even though it's been two years
of somewhat posting consistently.
So you can definitely see
that YouTube is not a get rich quick scheme,
and there's a lot of work you need to put in
at the start of your journey
before you start reaping the rewards.
And that can be quite draining as a small YouTuber
because the money you do generate
is not really enough to pay for anything yet.
But what it shows is the huge potential
it has as my audience grows,
and that really excites me.
I mean, think about it, if I stay on this trajectory
where my income increases seven times year on year
I'd be earning roughly 3,300 in 2023
and almost 27,000 in 2024
and in 2025, that would be $215,000, USD.
I mean not to get ahead of myself, but one can dream.
For that to work though,
I'd really need to take it more seriously
as there have been some missed opportunities in 2022.
And that's not because I didn't care.
The channel is really, really important to me
and I'd love to share more and make more videos,
but the reality is that my life and my job
just too often get in the way,
which makes things really difficult.
When I got monetized,
I thought it would really motivate me to double down
on making videos, but it didn't,
and my circumstances didn't magically change overnight,
so I'm still facing the same struggles
as a part-time YouTuber.
I heard before that people hustle hard
until they reach 1K
and then it all falls apart and they quit
because, you know, growth might still be slow after that
as it is for me,
but I don't wanna be that person.
I wanna focus on making great videos that people enjoy
and that provide some kind of value to you guys
whether you are a creator,
or an expert or just wanna live your best life.
One thing I definitely know is
that I couldn't do this without you,
so thanks so much for showing up
when I'm posting a new video
even though they are sometimes few and far between
but just know that I'm always working on something.
So for 2023, I wanna be more consistent again,
maybe higher support here and there
to be able to stick to a more regular upload schedule.
And I wanna be more intentional with my niche
or who I'm making videos for,
'cause I think if I had done that,
I might be a little further ahead now.
I'm not changing my content though,
I just need to get the message clearer
and not have it so all over the place.
So that's my goal for 2023:
more videos, create with intention
and I wanna make a YouTube friend here in Melbourne.
I'd really love to hang out with people,
doing the same thing,
and getting excited about the same stuff
and, you know, making things together
which I think could be really fun.
If you're watching this and you're in Melbourne,
leave a comment.
So I guess your main takeaway
from this should be don't quit your day job
with one and a half thousand subscribers.
Just don't.
But in all seriousness, just keep going,
keep working, keep creating
and keep having fun and the rest will come.
It may take a few months or even years
but at least you know you're building something
for yourself and not for someone else.
I hope you enjoyed this video and feel inspired
to start your own channel
or start working on your next video.
Don't feel discouraged by how long it's taken me
to get monetized or to get to this fairly small amount.
I've seen other YouTubers grow
from 0 to 40K or 80K in a year.
And while that's definitely not super common,
it is possible and it can be a motivation
to be really intentional with your videos
and to know exactly who your audience is
because the algorithm will love you for it.
If you're like me,
figuring out what you want to make videos about
while you're making them,
it may take a little longer
depending on how different one video is from the other
but you will still get there as long as you stick to it,
at least that's what I'm manifesting.
If you wanna know my journey from 0 to 1000 subscribers,
check out the video up here.
Let me know if you wanna know anything else
about my YouTube journey
or if you have questions around how to get started,
put them in the comments below.
Like the video if you enjoyed it, would really mean a lot.
And I hope I'll see you here again soon.
So subscribe and hit the bell to stick around.
And thanks so much for watching, and happy New Year.
Let's make it count.
Take care.