in this interview we talk about how to
make money even as a beginning youtuber
how you can actually create more content
with less work and how taxes can save
you money right now what's up
influencers I'm here with Derek Howe
thank you so much for being here hi
Benjamin with Ellify talent agency used to
be a youtuber and now supporting
youtubers in this new venture and I just
met you and a lot of very valuable
things that you can add to a creators
business could you tell us a little bit
about yourself and what you do at
Ellify talent agency absolutely
so I handle the production side and the
programming strategy for youtubers that
we manage yeah but we do 360 management
so as your business grows as do the
people around you I mentioned to you a
little bit earlier if you have a bakery
and you're selling cupcakes at a certain
point you're gonna be selling too many
cupcakes to be able to sell them
yourself you need to hire another person
to make cupcakes that is where we come
in and we're working directly with
youtubers to provide that consultation
and support to help grow their business
not just on YouTube though but on all
social platforms and as a website as an
app trying to get their content on
Amazon and Netflix etc totally and you
know for me typically I don't want just
managers on this channel like being
interviewed but because you were a
youtuber right can you tell us a little
bit about how you got your start on
YouTube and how you moved into this
space of supporting other creators in
their business so I started off making
YouTube videos with my friend who's
known as Peter Chao okay on YouTube yep
and we started a channel called the
Chao nation together and it did very
well for a couple years and then he
decided let's cut this and I'm like I
really like this type of content at the
time I was working as a camera assistant
in the film industry I had gone to a
film school previously and I love the
digital space younger generation versus
traditional media yep started my own
channel got into the gaming side of
things and then kind of branched out
into real life skits and at
vice videos and from there I grew to
about 200,000 subscribers right so two
channels channels one about a hundred
and twenty thousand the other which is
really thousand substantial especially
for those days when you first started
this so like it's hard to say like back
then I would probably consider that
about a million subscribers because
that's like 2009 2010 the very early
days we first start getting in I
remember the goal was to get to a
hundred thousand right and that's
roughly button yeah that was like super
epic so that I just want to explain that
to give a little context about what that
means at that year you know much much
different year at the time when I first
started YouTube there was no Adsense
program and there was there was one MCN
machinima and if you wanted to create
video game content and make money you
had to sign with machinima I want a 6040
contract at the time and of course all
those contracts became null and void
because they were forever contract
eventually YouTube my own career I
wanted to branch off into the business I
really loved the business aspect I've
been a bit of an entrepreneur my entire
life and I really liked the business
aspect so I decided to go work at a
local MCN building and managing their
YouTube channels where I was able to
help scale their YouTube channels
exponentially absolutely and you know
one of the things I learned from talking
to you is you've been able to to do it
multiple times right that's a big deal
like you do it once you know like some
people can get lucky you do it twice you
know good for you but like when you're
doing it three or four times for
multiple people right that's a big deal
so number one thing is you know
obviously a lot of people want to become
youtubers so they can live this
lifestyle of time freedom right I'll be
able to do what they want when they want
on but it takes money right obvious
absolute and on this channel one of our
things is income right can you talk
about some of the income opportunities
or monetization strategies beyond
Adsense and just sponsorships that
you've been able to not only help other
people do but like in your business help
your clients do so there's a number of
ways
and you've obviously talked to Sean yeah
it does affiliate marketing very very
well with Amazon and I think that is a
huge thing that's only going to be
exponentially growing in the coming
years as places like Amazon look to
influencers they just released a beta
program specifically for influencers to
create their own stores because they see
the power that these influencers have
and those types of programs can they can
nullify your entire ad adsense entirely
especially with the ad pocalypse
happening right now I think it was one a
terrible thing that happened but to you
is also an amazing thing that happened
because it really opened the eyes to a
lot of creators that they need to
diversify their revenue and they can't
just rely on YouTube itself and I think
that's really helping other people
branch out yeah and to help them earn
revenue and different sources that they
weren't looking at before and it's kind
of helped them give that little push
yeah and what are a couple other ways
that you know or especially for new
youtubers you know like it's it's hard
to get enough views they have enough
adsense revenue right or to be able to
you know get sponsorships right away
what are some ways people can monetize
obviously after lots of hard work and
establishing your channel to be able to
make money better than those options so
one of the things that I did when I was
working previously at the MCN was the
way we scaled up was hiring writers and
hiring editors if you're a smaller
channel and you feel you are a great
writer you are a great editor but maybe
you're not getting the types of views
that it's going to be able to give you
that tipping point of being full time
reach out to those larger channels and
say this is my writing resume this is my
editing I can edit videos for you at a
probably a reduced rate compared to the
actual film industry where editors
charge insane amounts of money per hour
them and then one you're building a
relationship with a larger YouTube
channel early secondly you're creating
content that is in your actual yeah
stream yeah and you're making more money
exactly and the way I put it is number
one
you're basically planting the seeds for
future collaborations right if you're
really good at writing or you're really
good at production people want to
continue working with you in the sec
thing you said about being in the
industry you know rather than just
getting a job at some nine-to-five
you're staying within the industry and
continuing to learn what it takes to
become a youtuber eventually that is I
mean great very simple advice but like
really productive and effective the
other thing I want to talk about is
something a lot of creators don't think
about but it's absolutely necessary
especially as you get more successful
which is taxes entities right
considering your channel as a business
even though I know that it can be taboo
anything oh I want to make money well
absolutely we have to make a living
right and in the process of doing that
and you know whether it's Adsense
sponsorships affiliates and all these
other options you need to be structuring
yourself in a way to not only protect
yourself but also to do business in the
way that's gonna be the most effective
for your time and effort can we talk
about that a little bit one thing I
really want to make a point is the the
taboo-Ness of one selling out or like
becoming like a business entity and I
think it's completely backwards because
if you take a look at the grand scheme
of things and the YouTube channels over
the years
the only people that are still making
content to this day that started years
and years ago are people that took it
seriously as a business so if you were a
fan watching a particular channel
they're not taking it seriously as a
business now you will not be probably
watching their content in a couple years
now because for every creator there's a
hundred other creators that are just
they've got the effort and they're
looking to put it into it how they want
if you're adding value to someone's life
there's nothing wrong with monetizing
some way whether it's asking them to buy
your product or support you through
things like patreon or whatever it is
the point is I I'm with you they're like
don't don't be afraid of it actually
embracing know that that's going to help
you continue being a better creator to
put out more content but yeah again
going to like taxes and entities and by
the way we're not CPAs okay we're not
tax specialists no but we have
experience now
with our own business while also helping
other people's business
so with taxes in general there's two
different tax brackets a little bit
different in Canada were I live compare
the United States and I'm not gonna
pretend the tax so I know the states but
if you're filing personal taxes and
maybe you're working like a regular
nine-to-five job you can probably
utilize something like HR block to do
your taxes because it's very very simple
however when you're a YouTube channel
you were a business you are able to
write off a portion of your rent you can
write off your internet you can write
off your home insurance now you can
write off all of the equipment that you
purchase if you're actually just a
creator with your face on camera you can
even take a look at writing things off
as simple as a haircut
yeah similar to an actor and actress
would write off things that because
they're on camera they need to look a
certain way now similar with a youtuber
you need to look a certain way
especially with someone like a beauty
vlogger you have to have a certain
haircut you I go like you can't expect
to be giving like beauty advice and all
of a sudden a terrible haircut and the
point here is people in Hollywood are
doing it right like if you're in the
entertainment industry there's certain
expenses to create that content so
YouTube you as a youtuber also need to
be considering what does it take for me
to create content of course make sure
you visit your local CPA talk to a tax
specialist I'll be of course because
we're not like certified but we have
experience doing this again it's just
thinking about this because at the end
of the day one thing I always tell
people is a dollar saved is a dollar
earned right so if you can save in your
taxes that's going right into your bank
account potentially and that's gonna
help you continue building your channel
to get you to full time sooner one thing
especially that I see that's very common
in the YouTube industry around tax
season which is like just happen they
forget to save money for taxes when
you're making money off of youtube you
are not paying taxes on that revenue so
you need to make sure that you're
actually putting away a portion of the
money that you make away because at the
end of the year tax season is going to
come and you're going to
to pay a certain amount now if you're
smart about it and you're saving
receipts obviously that amount can can
go lower and if you incorporate as a
business you can have a smaller tax
bracket but you need to make sure that
you're putting money away because all of
a sudden oh hey I own I owe $20,000 or
we call Canada Revenue Agency in the
United is IRS yes I know taxes are
not as sexy as like search engine
optimization or building a brand or even
like making money but it's absolutely
one of the number-one challenges that
epic very successful youtubers have I've
literally heard this problem since like
2009 so this is not something that Derek
is you know uniquely saying it is
something that's a real problem so we're
gonna go into the lightning round which
Derek had no idea about Yeah sorry I'm going to
ask you a couple of fun questions just a
change up the Bible a little bit first
celeb crush Oh Baby Spice from the spice
oh oh good one a cat or dog dog coffee
or tea black coffee yeah that's my
favorite too with a little bit of honey
what's your favorite documentary or
movie documentary I'm gonna go with one
of the ones that I've watched recently
it's something jiro I dream of Jiro
I dream of Jiro sushi movie if you love sushi
watch it epic it's gonna make you want
to go Tokyo what advice would you give a
young person or older person about
starting on YouTube if they're brand new
to this platform number one piece of
advice I usually always give is do
something that you enjoy because at the
end of the day the reason why I got into
this business is because I had a passion
for movies and television and that's why
I went to film school to get into that
industry because I'm like if I'm gonna
work the majority of my life I want to
do something that I'm passionate about
I'm gonna have fun doing yeah so
whatever your content is try and have
fun with it and make it something that
you do enjoy because at the end of the
day the people that make it are the ones
that are passionate
and are gonna be putting in that extra
effort and if you're not having fun
you're probably not going to put that
extra effort into it absolutely and the
last question I want to ask you just in
general because I feel like you bring a
lot of value to our viewers is about
scaling yourself as a content creator
and to put that into simple English
right for the same amount of effort
getting more productivity right getting
more results and it's hard to do it as a
youtuber especially when you're first
starting right I as a youtuber my wife
as a youtuber we had to do everything
right you have to think about what
you're gonna talk about scripted you
have to film it you have to edit it you
put it out right but it's really
powerful
considering how to scale your business
up and potentially getting a team can
you talk real quickly about not only how
people can start thinking about it even
at the beginning and as they get more
established especially for youtubers or
already doing it full-time how
this is really powerful for your
business so one thing I wanna mention
about how I was able to scale the
channels that I was working with is it
all became out of necessity
yeah and it's because there was a need
and it happened in August a few years
ago okay because there was a music
festival that I go to every single year
yeah it's a week-long and I was working
with four fellow employees yeah that all
needed a week and a half off yeah in
that same month yeah we're like we can't
create this content we need to figure
out a way to create content more
efficiently yes and through that to get
a break you tubers okay I'm a daily
vlogger it's good having a week-long
break it's much needed so through that
we're able to look at okay what does it
take to create a video right now I'm
writing a video I'm then voicing the
video and then I'm editing the video but
my passion is more about the strategy
and voicing the content I'm not a very
good writer I'm not a very good editor
yeah we can we can outsource that to
fellow youtubers who like I mentioned
like they're looking to get over that
hump to make it full-time there's a lot
of people that have great writing
abilities and great editing abilities
and they would love to work with your
channel it's just a matter of finding
that and one of the things we did
because it was a video game channel at
the time was a website called Game
Journal
Dot com were you just post and say hey
we're looking for writers all of a
sudden we had a hundred applications for
people that were looking to write
content yeah and then in terms of
editors we just reached out to people
that we saw had great editing content
but they weren't I could tell like
you're not making enough gym full-time
but I want to help you get to that yeah
I mean yeah I was able to convert I
think close to like eight people from
you know having a part-time job doing
whatever into now I'm doing YouTube
full-time absolutely free I'm doing
content on my own channel but now I'm
also doing writing and editing for
another channel yeah now you're now your
whole business it's on YouTube and to
bring it all together it's like what are
the things that you're most passionate
about you should definitely keep doing
what are the things that you
procrastinate outright oh that that
absolutely needs to get done but
somebody else could probably do better
for you so if you can pay $10 $15 $20 an
hour to make $100 is absolutely worth
and that's what we're talking about one
and it comes to scaling so thank you so
much Derek I really appreciate you so
much funnier is there anything you want
to leave with people maybe tell people
where they could find you like your
social handles sure you can find me on
Twitter
@DerekHowe and we'll put the links down
below so thank you again and you guys
all as always here on video influencers
helping you build your influence income
and impact with online videos talk to
you guys later