How much revenue am I actually generating from YouTube?
Well, I made a video not too long ago called How I Became a YouTube Millionaire, and you
had a lot of questions.
I figured it'd be easier to break it down by revenue stream, and income stream, and
how I actually turn YouTube into a real business, and it's not just for people with a big subscriber
base.
A lot of what I'm going to tell you today applies to when you're just starting out,
and the easiest way to start generating income as a brand new creator.
Let's do this.
This is perhaps one of the most searched questions on YouTube, how to make money online.
How do you make money on YouTube?
How do you YouTubers make money?
Those are all things that I know you're searching for regularly, so let's break it down by income
stream.
The first thing that I want to talk about is AdSense, which I don't talk about a lot,
because truthfully, I've never really said that building a business came down to AdSense.
AdSense, for me, was just kind of a bonus income stream, but I'm going to actually show
you the numbers, so you can visually see what I mean when I say that.
I wanted to show you what I've generated, as far as revenue in the last month, just
from AdSense.
This is incredible to me, because what a time to be alive, that we can actually get paid
to create content.
It's pretty amazing.
So, in the last 28 days, I've generated over $2,000 for my YouTube channel, which is great.
I do want to preface that I'm sharing a bunch of different revenue streams in this video,
along with the numbers, and the revenue I've been able to generate in the last month.
This is incredible.
I am forever grateful that this is even a possibility, but the rest of the revenue streams,
I think, will be eye-opening to you.
You can see, compared to AdSense, what am I able to bring in off of YouTube, and outside
of YouTube, using YouTube as a revenue generator for all these income streams.
So, last 28 days, $2,000.
Video by video is also super interesting.
This video right here has generated about $400 since it was posted.
This video is one of my most recent viral videos, it's generated $1,200, which is crazy,
since I posted it in March, and one of my top earning videos, this is where it gets
interesting.
One of my top earning videos of all time, generated $2,500 since it was posted four
years ago.
This is where it's kind of interesting to look at the numbers, and see the opportunities,
because $2,500 is amazing, but if I was solely relying on AdSense for the last four years,
I wouldn't be really able to scrape by.
If this one video is my top revenue generator in over four years, it was generating $2,500.
So, that's where I want you to really take a look at the numbers with AdSense.
You're relying on YouTube, you're relying on the algorithm to ensure that you're getting
enough views, and you're making enough revenue to build a business.
Whereas, if you take a look at the rest of the revenue streams we're going to discuss
today, you can have AdSense, which is awesome, but then you can also have other ways to build
a business off of YouTube.
We're going to get into the numbers, the revenue amounts, and the different ways that you can
use YouTube, to really build a business, and create a bunch of different revenue streams,
outside of just AdSense.
I think it's really important to be transparent about this, because YouTube is an amazing
way to build a business.
I am living proof of it.
I also wanted to share this, because I often will harp on the fact that I don't rely on
AdSense, and I don't rely on certain income streams that I know a lot of other people
do, and I've really built my business off of YouTube.
But, having said that, I think it's really interesting to break down those exact numbers
and steps, so you can see how much each revenue stream is bringing in for me on a monthly
basis.
Let's dive into the numbers.
The Second Revenue Stream is affiliate marketing.
Again, this is not something I've ever really put a lot of thought into, or a lot of effort
into, but over the years, as my subscriber base grew, and as I started working with more
products and programs, there are certain things that I really believe in, and I stand behind.
So, I figured if I'm talking about them, I should probably be an ambassador for them,
and be making some money off of them.
Last month, for affiliate marketing alone, I was able to generate close to $4,000, $3,944
to be exact.
That's coming from sources like products that I endorse, or brands that I've decided to
be an ambassador for, where I get a commission from every sale that I share.
If I have affiliate links in a video on YouTube, I'll put them in the description box, and
then if people want to buy those products or services that I mention, that I recommend,
then I will get a small cut, or a small percentage of that sale.
So, it does accumulate, but if I was just starting my channel, this is probably the
first way that you can really start to monetize outside of AdSense.
Now, of course I have a big following on YouTube, so it's easier to generate that kind of revenue,
because I do have enough traffic, but even if you're making five bucks from affiliate
marketing, that's five bucks that you wouldn't have otherwise, and it really does start to
snowball after a while.
So, affiliate marketing's a really interesting aspect and avenue to look into, when you first
want to start generating revenue on YouTube, and you don't have products or services of
your own yet.
The next thing is physical products, so driving people to an eCommerce store, and there's
lots of amazing examples of this.
There's so many YouTubers out there who have merch that they sell.
One example is actually one of our clients, is Mike Quist.
He has Stone Coat Countertops, which is an amazing company, and they sell stone coat
... No, they sell epoxy paint products, and they've turned it into a multimillion dollar
business off of their YouTube channel, and I'm so proud of them.
There's also examples in the beauty community.
A lot of beauty YouTubers will create their own makeup line, and that's their own physical
product.
Now, this does take time.
It's a little harder to build this kind of a business, that's why it's easier to start
with something where you're actually other people's products, or endorsing other people's
products, as I mentioned earlier.
For me, this does not really bring in a lot of revenue at all.
Last month, for our physical products, and our eCommerce store, because we really don't
promote it at all ... I think we generated about $500, which is still good.
That's great, but it's not the biggest revenue source in our business.
The next thing is brand deals.
Brand deals are really interesting, because I actually don't see them as a great way to
build a sustainable business.
They're amazing for getting quick hits of, sometimes, a lot of cash, depending on the
size of your channel, but you're always waiting around, so you're not in control.
You're not really being your own boss, because you're dictated by other people, and other
brands, who are telling you how they want you to present their products, or their services.
So, any brand deals I've ever done, have had to be completely aligned, and have to be with
services, or products, or whatever, that I'm completely a believer in.
I really don't do them very often.
I will say that I just recently did a big brand deal, and for the amount of work that
we put into it as a team, truthfully, it took us so much more time, and so much more effort,
and really distracted us from building the business based off our own products and services,
that it wasn't exactly the most ideal experience, in full transparency.
So, brand deals are tricky.
Brand deals really are something where you have to kind of wait for the opportunity,
to get paid through something like that, so it's definitely not a main driver of revenue
in my business either.
Now, the final thing is what drives the most revenue in our business, and this is digital
products.
We started with our program, YouTube For Bosses, and just through YouTube last month, we were
able to generate over six figures in revenue for the business.
So obviously, our own products and services, because we have YouTube For Bosses, and then
we have the Authority Accelerator, which is a consulting program as well.
So much of our traffic and our leads come from YouTube, and that's where we've really
been able to build a business off of YouTube.
As you can see, in comparison to the other revenue streams, it is a crazy difference
when you start making your own products and services, and really focusing on selling those,
and the great thing about it is that you actually own them.
Here's the thing with YouTube, that I don't feel like enough people talk about.
I like to call it an evergreen sales machine, because truly, each video works for you, for
the long run.
So, I have videos that are bringing in revenue for me all day, every day, with people buying
my products, or choosing to use my affiliate link, and those videos are working, without
me having to do anything.
They just live on YouTube, and I'm bringing in traffic all the time, because my videos
are ranked, and people are seeing them when they're searching for specific topics.
That's really the power of it, and it does take time.
This is not an overnight success, or an overnight quick hit of cash.
That's not really how I do things, and I really don't believe it's the most sustainable way
to build a real business that's actually going to work.
So, if you're looking for this quick hit, I'm not your girl, and I just don't think
it's realistic, but you can start generating revenue today, by implementing some of these
ideas, and diversifying outside of just having AdSense.
What I mean by diversifying, is meaning I have all these different ways of bringing
in income through YouTube, and you can do the exact same thing.
Maybe you don't have a digital product yet, but you can start selling your services in
some way, shape, or form, in a one-on-one capacity, which is a great place to start,
so you can hone your craft and turn it into a package product, which then you can scale,
and grow in the same way that I have.
It does take time.
It does take building a loyal audience.
I didn't sell anything for the first year I was on YouTube, because I wanted to just
add value to my audience, to make sure that we had this relationship where, when I did
have something to sell, they were going to be super bought in.
So, I built my email list.
I did all of the things that I'm telling you to do all the time, created valuable content
for a target audience, and built my email list, and built my own audience, that I could
then eventually pitched to.
You can tell I get really passionate about this, because I know it's possible.
Four years ago, if someone told me that I'd build a million dollar business, multimillion
dollar business, off of YouTube, I would've thought they were insane.
So, if I can do it, you can do it.
I hope this was helpful in helping you figure out a few new ways to bring in more revenue,
and more money from YouTube.
If you liked this video, make sure you give it a like below, and let me know in the comments
what your biggest takeaway was, and don't forget to do what we do.
Take a screenshot, share it on Instagram, and let me know what you think, and thank
you so much for our comment of the week.
I read all my comments and I'm so grateful.
I know you could be doing so many other things, so thank you, thank you, thank you, for choosing
to be here.
I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway was from this video, so let me know, whether
it's on Instagram, or in the comments below, and if you have more video ideas for me, or
have an idea that popped up as you were watching this, put it in the comments, so I can make
sure that we get to that video as well.
Thank you guys.
Hit the subscribe button, and the bell, to be notified every single time I post a new
video, which is every single week, and I'll see you in the next one.