Hey guys, today we are going to talk with Austin Null, who
recently went full time on YouTube, about everything
you've learned and experienced since that.
That's coming up.
Hey guys, this is Austin Null.
Austin, good to see you.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
So tell us your story about your channel,
at youtube.com/thenivenulls, and then how you got to the point
where you decided, it's time to go full time.
Well, we started making videos in March 2010.
And a little over four years we've been doing it now.
And it was a pretty slow process at first.
I think after the first two years,
we had like 4,000 subscribers.
And then it started to jump a lot once we had kids.
So if you want to be successful on the internet,
makes some babies.
Keep real busy, and that's all you need.
Keep busy all day.
We had our first daughter, Adrianna,
and our channel started to grow.
And then I also would try to look and see, OK
why do certain videos perform well?
What do people say they like about the videos?
And I would try to tailor them, and make our blogs better.
And try to make them stand out a little bit.
We had her.
That was two years ago.
And now we have another one.
And now we're at about 130,000.
Awesome.
Now you're just picking up subscribers like crazy.
It's that bell curve.
I feel like you do hit a point, where you notice that you're
going like this, and then you go like that,
and it just doesn't stop.
You just keep going.
Sometimes you'll have big jumps, but then you
just keep going steady.
Yeah, I've noticed for our fanbase,
it's been like this, this, this, for a couple years.
And then-- Now I'm like, oh cool.
Yeah, yeah.
And also, it's very important that you understand
the exact trajectory that your hand makes while doing it.
Otherwise, you won't pull it off.
Yeah.
So how did you know when it was ready to make that plunge?
To take that risk, to quit your day job, and to go to YouTube?
Well, for me personally, it was because I was making more money
than what my job was paying me.
So it was pretty easy to tell for me.
But no, a big part of it was, we started
picking up more viewers.
But also, I started reaching out to brands,
and setting up-- a lot of brands, they'll work with you.
If they want to work with you, they'll
work with you on quarterly bases.
So I would set up deals in advance, knowing,
hey I know for at least this quarter,
we're going to have this amount of income.
And so it's an easy way to understand, and think
about it from a business perspective,
OK I'm not relying on AdSense.
I don't want to do that.
So make sure you get enough deals, and set it all up.
And that's how I did it at least.
So that's really important.
I think there's a lot of YouTube people
who want to go full time.
They're just doing this as a hobby now,
but looking to go full time.
How much of the business strategy
do you need beyond AdSense to really make it work?
AdSense is like 35%, 40% of our income.
So we rely on brand deals.
That's how we're able to survive.
And I think it's important to make
sure your strategic and unique in how you reach out to those
brands.
We get a lot of deals through agencies
that are providing deals for Youtubers.
But also, some of our bigger deals that we're working on
are just Tweet brands, and they Tweeted me back.
And then we started talking, and then there you go.
So if you find creative ways, and you
can utilize your audience too.
I've used my audience to-- hey, you guys,
we're always working with this brand.
Why don't you Tweet them?
And then they all Tweet them.
And then that brand's like, who are these people?
What's going on?
So you know, just be creative.
Don't be spammy, but be creative.
And find a cool way to make yourself known.
I think that's really important guys.
Because I know a lot of creators think, all I have to do
is hang out with my family all day, and make videos.
And it's such an easy, laid back, relaxed life.
There's actually a lot that goes on behind the scenes that
actually makes it sustainable long-term.
Same is true for me.
You have to have a business model.
My family doesn't make most of our money off of AdSense.
It's nice-- kind of icing on the cake.
But you definitely need to think bigger
than that, how you monetize your audience.
Yeah, unless you're Shay Carl, getting like 40 million views
a month, you're not going to live on AdSense.
So how many views do you need every month approximately?
I know it fluctuates a lot.
But a really rough estimate, to go full time--
let's say full time is $60,000 a year.
How much is that a month?
$5,000ish a month.
How many views-- I know this is totally rough.
Guys, don't bank on this.
Just a really rough estimate.
AdSense alone to get $5,000 a month?
Is that what you said, $5,000?
Just off of AdSense.
Just to get $5,000 a month.
You probably need about 2 million views, I would say.
here's The thing about views, guys,
is that it's so complicated.
We make family videos.
So our CPM is really high.
If we made really inappropriate comedy videos,
I could get 2 million views, and make
as much as I get from a million views of family videos.
So CPMs are a big factor.
But yeah, I would say roughly, if you
want to get about that much, 2 million a month.
But the thing I always tell people-- people ask,
I want to go full time.
Well, what is that to you?
Is it $5,000 a month, or is it $2,000 a month?
Or are you in college?
Whatever it is.
So I always say, figure out what works best for you,
and then you can go from there.
How did you adjust from being a full time employee,
or going to work every day, in the car, beating traffic, all
that stuff, and then next day you're just
staying at home chilling?
How did that adjustment-- how did that go for you?
It's honestly really weird.
I'm still getting used to it.
We've been doing it for like six months now,
and I'm still getting used to it.
And that's one thing that I think
people-- they don't understand.
They're like, oh you're at home, just laying around,
doing nothing.
But to me, I was somewhat doing that a little bit.
But then, at the same time, I'm like, I don't want to do this.
I want to be busy.
So recently, I used to always edit at night,
to schedule for the next day, to be really prepared.
But now I'm like, my job is to do YouTube.
I'm going to get up in the morning,
and I'm going to get it done before noon.
So I give myself a deadline.
And then in the afternoon, I'm going to do a bunch of emails,
and work on deals, and catch up on comments, and Tweets.
So I try to prioritize now, and make
things work in a nine to five kind of schedule.
And then enjoy the rest of my time.
A lot of people I know look at full time youtubers,
and they think their job is just so easy.
And there certainly are some pros to it.
And I want to hear from you, what
are the pros and cons of being full time?
Some that you were expecting, that
were unexpected, surprising to you.
Is it really a bed of roses, or is it something more than that?
I think if you do it right, and take advantage of it,
it is a bed of roses.
I can't argue.
I get to be around my family all the time.
We can go travel, and still make money.
So it is great.
But also, you have to-- it's kind of a pro,
because I get to just Tweet all day, or whatever.
But then at the same time, it's a con, because then I'm like,
oh, I have a family, and I need to actually interact, and not
be on Twitter all day.
So you have to try and find a way
to balance the online life, and real life.
There is a lot of pressure also to just be like, OK,
we're going up.
I don't want to go down.
You've got to always stay fresh, and be on top of it.
That's one of the things.
We've been full time for about a year now.
And one of the things that was unexpected for me
was how much pressure I felt.
If I was just living by myself, in a dorm-- not a dorm--
but maybe an apartment, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
But because I have four kids to provide for, and a wife--
my wife stays at home, so our family's at home all together.
I'm like, if I don't kill it this month,
next month we're going to be hungry.
You know?
So I felt a tremendous amount of pressure
that, when I was an employee, that pressure wasn't there,
because I was, to be honest, relying on someone else who was
feeling that pressure to provide for me.
You're relying on someone else.
How can people find your channel?
Check it out?
You can find us on youtube.com/thenivenulls,
making videos of my home life with two kids.
And we just act like fools on the internet for you,
just for you.
[INAUDIBLE] I'll put a link in the description below.
You can check them out there, as well.
Thank you for hanging out with us.
If you're new here to video creators,
love to have you subscribe.
Every week we do videos like this,
just give you guys YouTube tips, ideas, suggestions, and things.
And then we also do some Q&A with you guys on Thursdays.
And then on Tuesdays, is YouTube news,
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That's like every four minutes, basically.
So subscribe.
I do all this because I really believe that a lot of you guys
have messages that can really change lives, and make
this world a better place.
Kind of like what Austin's doing,
spreading messages about family, and relationships, and things.
And so I really want to help you guys to do that too.
So subscribe, and I will see you guys again tomorrow.
Bye.