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Welcome to the YouTube Creators

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Hub podcast, where we help you

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conquer the internet one video at

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a time. We cover everything from

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how to start a YouTube channel

0:10

to how to make a video

0:12

go viral. And now, here's your

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host, the one and only Dusty

0:16

Porter. Hello everyone and welcome to

0:18

episode 426 of the YouTube Creator

0:20

Sub podcast. We got another great

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interview for you today with a

0:24

wonderful creator. But before we get

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there, we'd like to remind you

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the fine folks over at 2 buddy.

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Use our link and you get a

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me. I offer one-on-one YouTube coaching. And

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it's probably one of my favorite things

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that I do every week is working

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with creators. And the majority of my

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clients I've been working with now for

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months, if not years. If you're interested

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in that, check the link down below.

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subscribe to the podcast. That way every

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time we go live, 6 a.m. Eastern

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Standard Time with a new interview every

1:32

single week. Hello everyone and welcome to

1:34

this week's conversation on the YouTube

1:36

creators hub podcast dusty here as

1:38

always joined by Alexa Saranoya I

1:41

actually said it I'm proud of

1:43

myself as a former architect and

1:45

designer she transformed her focus to

1:47

inspiring others over 40 to pursue

1:49

their dreams on YouTube through her

1:51

journey she guides and empowers people

1:53

to share their passions build their

1:55

channels and make a meaningful impact

1:58

online no matter where they are

2:00

in life. Her channel, which is just

2:02

her name, you can find it. I'll

2:04

link it down below. And if you

2:06

want to follow along as you listen

2:08

to our interview, has just over 20,000

2:10

subscribers, but get this. She's only uploaded

2:12

130 videos. So her channel has really

2:14

grown quickly over time. So that's what

2:16

we'll talk about today, as well as

2:18

her being able to make a really

2:20

good living doing this, utilizing YouTube as

2:22

a central catalyst for that. Alexa, how

2:24

are you doing today? I'm great. doing

2:26

really well. All right, so give me

2:28

the origin story of the YouTube channel.

2:30

How did it start? What kind of

2:32

led you to that? And just tell

2:35

us how that happened. Okay, yeah, so

2:37

I started my YouTube channel. I lost

2:39

my job in January for I was

2:41

an adjunct professor at a college in

2:43

the US and I work remotely. I

2:45

live in Finland and I was teaching

2:47

in the US and I lost that

2:49

job due to a foreign or a

2:51

policy change that didn't allow foreign contractors

2:53

anymore and I'm technically a foreign contractor

2:55

even though I'm American. So after working

2:57

there for 13 years I was let

2:59

go in a moment's notice and so

3:01

I had three children to feed and

3:03

no job. very abruptly and I live

3:05

in a foreign country so I don't

3:07

speak the language here and so I

3:09

was just like okay now what and

3:11

I don't want to be in that

3:14

position ever again so I was like

3:16

I'm gonna turn to YouTube and I'm

3:18

gonna try to make a better financial

3:20

future for myself and my family and

3:22

so I did that I hopped on

3:24

it took me a while I hopped

3:26

on YouTube in May of this year

3:28

actually at the anime and then the

3:30

rest is history I jumped on and

3:32

changed everything it was awesome ride and

3:34

now I'm here. It seems to really

3:36

take off. What was the moment when

3:38

you thought to yourself, okay, maybe I

3:40

have something here? Maybe this can actually

3:42

do what I want it to do.

3:44

Maybe it can support my family. It

3:46

can be something more than a hobby.

3:48

Yeah, I would say, it wasn't really

3:50

a, maybe this can. It was like,

3:52

I'm all in, there's no other option.

3:55

So it really had to work, to

3:57

be honest. But the first video I

3:59

posted, I had. channel before like five

4:01

years ago that had been laying dormant

4:03

and the first video I posted got

4:05

700 subscribers and was quite a good

4:07

video so it was just like one

4:09

of the happened to be a trending

4:11

video and then after that it was

4:13

less less of a growth and then

4:15

had another training video and then it

4:17

shot up and once I was my

4:19

aim was to get monetized but once

4:21

I got monetized I realized there were

4:23

so many other revenue streams to go

4:25

after so it really became like this

4:27

really interesting trajectory into like financial abundance

4:29

through very different means like very different

4:31

avenues which was really awesome so it

4:33

became clear I would say once I

4:36

got monetized the potential that you could

4:38

make money on YouTube and all the

4:40

different ways. What do people come to

4:42

your channel for? What is your channel

4:44

about? If you were to give the

4:46

cheat sheet or if you're sending stuff

4:48

out what would you say your channel's

4:50

about? My channel helps new Youtopers to

4:52

grow on YouTube over 40. So I'm

4:54

over 40, I'm 45, so I'm helping

4:56

Gen X and above basically. Gen X,

4:58

baby boomers beyond. to grow on YouTube.

5:00

And I myself was growing at the

5:02

same time. So I was actually treating

5:04

my channel as like a knowledge reporter.

5:06

So I was taking courses on YouTube

5:08

from like Sean Cannell and other gurus

5:10

and masters in YouTube. And then I

5:12

was sharing what I was learning on

5:15

my channel and also like providing proof

5:17

that it was working at the same

5:19

time. So it was like inspirational and

5:21

also educational because I'm a teacher by

5:23

nature. So it's easy for me to

5:25

distill information in simple terms to people.

5:27

Do you feel that nicheing down to

5:29

specific demo of, okay, not am I,

5:31

only am I just talking about YouTube

5:33

and how to grow a channel and

5:35

a community, but I'm also targeting a

5:37

specific age bracket as well. Do you

5:39

believe that has impacted or affected the

5:41

growth rate of the channel? Definitely. I'm

5:43

a big supporter of nicheing down for

5:45

sure. And I definitely think that the

5:47

40 plus genics big boom. etc. are

5:49

really clocking to YouTube right now and

5:51

so I think that it would just

5:53

happen to be really good timing for

5:56

it and also I do believe that

5:58

as a midlifer, you have so much

6:00

experience that you could bring to YouTube.

6:02

So I think that it almost gives

6:04

us like a leg up when we

6:06

start our YouTube channel because we have

6:08

so much experience to share with people.

6:10

So I think that it's almost a

6:12

little easier to even start a YouTube

6:14

channel because you do have something you

6:16

have been proficient in for a decade

6:18

or over a decade by the time

6:20

you reach midlife. Yeah. But I do

6:22

think the niche helped a lot. What

6:24

did you make sure that you did?

6:26

present the channel and video packaging being

6:28

the thumbnail, the title and description to

6:30

let the potential viewer know that's what

6:32

you're about. Just for example, I had

6:35

a guy on a few months back

6:37

and he was targeting pilots or people

6:39

who were aspiring to become pilots, but

6:41

over 50, right? Where he retired from

6:43

his normal job. He always aspired to

6:45

be a pilot. People think it's way

6:47

expensive. People think that you have to

6:49

be really young to do it. And

6:51

he's breaking all those barriers and he's

6:53

really targeting a specific niche. So he

6:55

did specific things in his thumbnails, specific

6:57

things in his titles. How are you

6:59

doing these things to make sure that

7:01

the videos are presented to that appropriate

7:03

audience? I think I put in the

7:05

titles usually like 405060 plus. I always

7:07

put that in the beginning and every

7:09

video I said I helped New Youtbers

7:11

grow on YouTube or I said I

7:13

helped Gen X New Youtbers grow on

7:16

YouTube so I always was saying it

7:18

in my when I was speaking and

7:20

I also I don't know I yeah

7:22

that's basically all I did I didn't

7:24

really I didn't do much more beyond

7:26

that. And I kept it really simple.

7:28

I was unknown as like the Scrappy

7:30

YouTuber, so I like get it done

7:32

no matter what. I have three small

7:34

children, and one was only in daycare

7:36

like three hours a day. It was

7:38

just like all in, and I think

7:40

that, yeah, I don't know if I

7:42

answered your question, but I didn't really

7:44

have any kind of strategy for that.

7:46

It just happened. I think people found

7:48

me because of what I was speaking

7:50

about. And of course, your words then

7:52

turn into a transcript, which then turns

7:55

into SEO, so all of this stuff.

7:57

So I think I was just always

7:59

constantly speaking about Gen X and the

8:01

opportunities we have on YouTube and all

8:03

of these things. When I answered a

8:05

question, yeah, it absolutely did. When you

8:07

had those successful videos in the beginning,

8:09

did you lean into that type of

8:11

programming or that type of video where

8:13

you're like, okay, that's what works? and

8:15

you had a model at that point

8:17

of knowing that, oh, this is what's

8:19

working and this is what's seeing some

8:21

success on the channel, did you double

8:23

down on that and not create the

8:25

same video, obviously, but the same types

8:27

of videos. Do you think that helped

8:29

you? So I did three videos a

8:31

week and I tried to do one

8:33

trending video every week. So one of

8:36

the trending videos would be like my

8:38

journey to monetization or get on YouTube

8:40

over 40 or start a channel or

8:42

something like that. So I did try

8:44

to do a trending video every week.

8:46

But then the other two videos of

8:48

the week were more of like behind

8:50

the scenes what was going on with

8:52

trying to build a content creator business

8:54

online and then the other one was

8:56

tutorial based. So I had three pillars

8:58

of focus. Yeah. And you leaned into

9:00

that. I just, when I look at

9:02

your channel, I see videos that have

9:04

done well, like how I made $37,000

9:06

in just one weekend, new YouTube over

9:08

40, and then the other video is

9:10

I made $72,000 in two weekends on

9:12

YouTube, so you can use that style

9:14

of video, and that's what I want

9:17

to emphasize as people listening that when

9:19

you find something that works for your

9:21

channel. A lot oftentimes people don't go

9:23

back to the well. They don't double-dip

9:25

or they don't double down on that

9:27

type of programming. So it's interesting to

9:29

see what you did. Did you discover

9:31

something when you created those titles like

9:33

that of, hey, I made 37 grand

9:35

in one weekend, new YouTube or over

9:37

40? That video has almost 120,000 views

9:39

in just under a month. What did

9:41

you learn about your channel when you

9:43

made those types of videos of videos?

9:45

I knew they would pop off just

9:47

because of the title. It's a very

9:49

kind of clickbatey title, but I was

9:51

actually delivering value on the quickbate. But

9:53

I don't know, it's just, I guess

9:56

you just know, which, I mean, you

9:58

can't say what's going to pop off,

10:00

but there are certain titles that will

10:02

definitely grow your channel, and then there's

10:04

certain titles that you use more for

10:06

value for providing value to your subscribers.

10:08

For me, they get the least retention.

10:10

I think people watch like maybe 11%

10:12

of those videos and I get like

10:14

hundreds of subscribers But then the ones

10:16

where I actually provide value like the

10:18

tutorials that retention is like over 50

10:20

or 60% And it's it's more for

10:22

my subscribers So I think that you

10:24

have different strategies for what you're posting

10:26

in different ways if that makes sense,

10:28

but I want to follow up on

10:30

that just a bit I agree with

10:32

you in that I talked to a

10:34

guy yesterday on a coaching call where

10:37

we were looking at his most popular

10:39

video and he goes, Dusty, I don't

10:41

understand it, just the watch time is

10:43

awful, it's got like 400, how many,

10:45

these got tons of views, and it's

10:47

an outlier on his channel, and we

10:49

were just looking at the videos that

10:51

were making him the most money through

10:53

the partner program or through clientele, and

10:55

it was always the videos that had

10:57

less views, but had the increased watch

10:59

time. So I think that. understanding your

11:01

analytics and that's leading to my next

11:03

question. What analytics matter to you? What

11:05

things do you look at and you

11:07

say to yourself as a creator, oh,

11:09

this one, okay, I gotta figure out

11:11

what I did here because this really

11:13

stood out. Yeah. It's funny you say

11:16

that because I'm not really an analytics

11:18

person. I follow, like I have been

11:20

following my channel week by week and

11:22

listing all the analytics for my viewers

11:24

and my subscribers and I track it,

11:26

but I do think impressions is really

11:28

important. Click through rate I try to

11:30

have around 6% average view duration I

11:32

would love or percentage I would love

11:34

it to be near 50% but like

11:36

I said with different strategies you have

11:38

different things happening. like the trending videos

11:40

are going to have less average view

11:42

percentage and but yeah I usually just

11:44

look at average duration impressions and of

11:46

course watch time and views are always

11:48

important too but yeah I would say

11:50

those are the metrics I really watch

11:52

now. How do you three young kids

11:54

you don't have 40 hours to put

11:57

into this thing how do you manage

11:59

your time as a creator? Those are

12:01

the things that I love talking about

12:03

because that's the real life. things that

12:05

people deal with that are trying to

12:07

grow a YouTube channel. So can you

12:09

give some advice on how you manage

12:11

your time and still have enough time

12:13

in the week to grow a channel?

12:15

Yeah, now I have put my daughter

12:17

in day-care full-time so I have eight-hour

12:19

days now which is really nice. It

12:21

still doesn't feel like enough time though.

12:23

But before I was just like like

12:25

I said I was all or nothing

12:27

it was like this was the only

12:29

option for me And I also found

12:31

that doing YouTube was like a very

12:33

creative outlet for me because before I

12:36

got onto YouTube I was very depressed

12:38

like I had lost My connection to

12:40

the states with my I had that

12:42

job for over a decade and it

12:44

was just it was like something became

12:46

disconnected from me all of my colleagues

12:48

everything was just so separated and I

12:50

don't live in the US anymore so

12:52

I don't really have that sense of

12:54

community With YouTube, I was just like,

12:56

when I started to realize there was

12:58

such a strong community on YouTube, it

13:00

really motivated me to get it done.

13:02

And the way I got it done

13:04

was, I would, like, if my children

13:06

were having breakfast, I would run upstairs

13:08

and record something real fast. Or if

13:10

they were, if I could bribe them,

13:12

I would bribe them. It's going to

13:14

be donuts and ice cream day, whatever

13:17

I could do or if I could

13:19

say watch your little sister and you

13:21

guys will get a surprise if you're

13:23

good. Like I just found those moments

13:25

and everything was it might have been

13:27

very piecemeal and that's why I say

13:29

I'm like a scrappy youtuber because I

13:31

just get it done but it would

13:33

be like maybe in the morning I

13:35

wrote down an idea with a few

13:37

bullet points and then when they were

13:39

having snack time or nap time, then

13:41

I would go up and record and

13:43

I would go up and record that.

13:45

let my kids be in the videos.

13:47

I didn't re-record them. I was just

13:49

like, there's gonna be a little bobblehead

13:51

right here, and it's gonna keep going.

13:53

I'm not gonna let it stop me.

13:55

So that was, I think, my mentality.

13:58

Like, I didn't let anything stop me.

14:00

I recognized that everyone, that I recognized

14:02

too that the people I would want

14:04

to follow my channel would be authentic

14:06

enough to understand that I was a

14:08

mother trying to do this, and they

14:10

wouldn't be offended if my child was

14:12

in the child was in the video.

14:14

I don't know. I know there is

14:16

a certain level of professionality, but it's

14:18

also, I was just, I was determined

14:20

to get it done. And I bet

14:22

that really resonated with your target audience

14:24

though, because the age that they are,

14:26

they probably have kids as well or

14:28

have had kids and understand the struggle.

14:30

And to them, it probably resonated in

14:32

a way that might have even helped

14:34

your channel, knowing that... This is a

14:37

grinding mom who's trying to be a

14:39

creator and she's trying to do this

14:41

thing and obviously the people watching your

14:43

channel, they want to do something creative

14:45

as well. And so that probably really

14:47

helped your channel knowing that you're doing

14:49

this with all this other outside things

14:51

going on to follow that question up.

14:53

What are your systems like your YouTube

14:55

systems as far as like the tools

14:57

that you use? Do you edit yourself?

14:59

Do you hire out? Give us the

15:01

full process of kind of from start

15:03

to finish of when you do a

15:05

video what that looks like. Okay. For

15:07

me, it was basically I think of

15:09

what I want to. talk about. I

15:11

write a few notes down and then

15:13

I sit in front of my camera.

15:15

And actually I don't even have a

15:18

camera yet. I use my laptop, my

15:20

MacBook, so I'm totally scrappy that way.

15:22

I am getting a camera soon though

15:24

now. But yeah, I use my laptop,

15:26

I just sit in front of it.

15:28

Through I-movie, I record myself on the

15:30

screen, and then I would... After that,

15:32

I would just edit it whenever I

15:34

have time and add in B-roll if

15:36

I could. My Mac books really old

15:38

so it doesn't always let me add

15:40

in B-roll. So I would just add

15:42

in what I could. Usually in the

15:44

first two minutes of the video, I

15:46

would have lots of B-roll and then

15:48

the rest would have none. And then

15:50

I would post it later that day.

15:52

So I usually, when I was doing

15:54

this, I was posting Monday, Tuesday, so

15:57

I just... I created posted everything each

15:59

day the video I was planning on

16:01

doing and to say what systems do

16:03

I have I didn't have any systems

16:05

in place I just had deadlines so

16:07

that was really my driving factor like

16:09

I'm getting a video out Monday Tuesday

16:11

Wednesday no matter what so if that

16:13

meant I had to stay up till

16:15

two in the morning to get that

16:17

Monday video out I was staying up

16:19

till two in the morning and that

16:21

was just no option for me. Do

16:23

you think the consistency? of having a

16:25

schedule and sticking to that schedule of

16:27

doing three videos a week, every week,

16:29

do you think that was part of

16:31

the success of hey, sometimes you have

16:33

to... Work really hard stay up really

16:35

late. I tell creators all the time

16:38

consistency is almost 80 85% of the

16:40

game if you're really wanting to stay

16:42

in this so many people like let's

16:44

use podcasting so many people start podcast

16:46

How many podcasts have you gone to

16:48

go to their podcast page get episode

16:50

12 and they quit right because they

16:52

they don't get past that peak that

16:54

point of kind of no return and

16:56

I want to ask you as a

16:58

creator on YouTube. How important do you

17:00

think the consistency is? Very important. 100%

17:02

important. It's yeah, it's everything I feel

17:04

definitely. That's all I have to say.

17:06

It's like the most important thing and

17:08

providing value and knowing your target audience.

17:10

I would say those are the top

17:12

things and of course being authentic. Did

17:14

it help? Did it help? Did it

17:17

help you of having those deadlines of

17:19

knowing that you set a goal for

17:21

yourself of always doing three videos a

17:23

week? Did it help you personally of

17:25

knowing that it's give you an actionable

17:27

thing to do? Yeah, it definitely did.

17:29

And it also, if I had had

17:31

more time in my day, I wouldn't

17:33

have done it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I

17:35

probably would have spread them out. But

17:37

the fact that I had a family,

17:39

I had kids, the beginning of the

17:41

week was the only time I had

17:43

energy. And then as the week was

17:45

the only time I had energy. And

17:47

then as the week goes on, I

17:49

get more tired. And everyone has sports

17:51

and activities and everything. And it gets

17:53

busier and busier and busier. I know

17:55

I have to get it. just yeah

17:58

the all or nothing the actually losing

18:00

my job not having money that was

18:02

all so many driving factors for this

18:04

to succeed I think I think because

18:06

I had tried it five years ago

18:08

and I didn't have that sense of

18:10

urgency and so I didn't stick with

18:12

it like I was pregnant when I

18:14

was trying to make videos and I

18:16

was like planning to keep going but

18:18

then once I had my child I

18:20

just got busy and distracted so I

18:22

let it drop off but I think

18:24

Had we needed money or something, maybe

18:26

I would have stuck with it. I

18:28

would never encourage a creator starting on

18:30

you to have that mentality of all

18:32

or nothing just because I feel like

18:34

it gives so much pressure to the

18:36

person creating. And that's what I wanted

18:39

to ask you about. Having that mentality

18:41

of knowing that, hey, it felt like

18:43

you challenged yourself of... I'm going to

18:45

do this regardless. There's nothing that's going

18:47

to get in my way. So whereas

18:49

I would give the advice to people,

18:51

hey, stay in your job, obviously you

18:53

had no choice on that side of

18:55

things, right? But I would always encourage

18:57

people, stay in your job, don't quit

18:59

your job right now, grow the channel,

19:01

during the nights, hustle, and do that

19:03

kind of thing. What do you think

19:05

that did to you? with the growth

19:07

of the channel because the channel is

19:09

only six months old. You're already almost

19:11

21,000 subscribers. So you're doing these things

19:13

the right way. But what do you

19:15

think that did for you as a

19:18

creator to motivate you? Yeah, now that

19:20

you say like how it's all or

19:22

nothing, another thought popped into my head,

19:24

it was it was all or nothing,

19:26

but it never felt like pressure to

19:28

me. It almost was more like, This

19:30

will work. Maybe that's more of what

19:32

it was like. This is going to

19:34

work if I put in the work.

19:36

Like if I work, it will work.

19:38

That is my main thing. And so

19:40

it didn't feel like pressure. It felt

19:42

more like fun. It was like, when

19:44

will it happen? Because I knew it

19:46

happened for so many other people in

19:48

my age group. that I was like,

19:50

why wouldn't it happen for me if

19:52

I put in the work and I

19:54

show up and consistent? So. The difference

19:56

for what you've done and you've seen

19:59

the success you've seen in the people

20:01

who quit or what we call pod

20:03

fade in the podcasting community, whatever you

20:05

want to call it, is that you've

20:07

gotten through the dull drums. and you're

20:09

able to accept the failures of videos

20:11

right where a video doesn't do well

20:13

your analytics aren't showing as good for

20:15

the past 48 hours or you're opening

20:17

that studio app and you're all the

20:19

time figuring it out how do you

20:21

personally as a creator who's growing right

20:23

now how do you deal with those

20:25

things of having a week that the

20:27

views are down or a recent upload

20:29

that's way less views or retention than

20:31

the one previous how do you deal

20:33

with those things Yeah, I don't know.

20:35

I must be like an anomaly because

20:38

it really doesn't bother me. I think

20:40

I just I have been tracking my

20:42

progress the whole time. So I have

20:44

like 25 weeks of stats and I

20:46

see all the time. It's just so

20:48

cyclical. It's like it goes up. You

20:50

have a big viral video, then it

20:52

drops off for the next five weeks,

20:54

then it goes back up again when

20:56

you hit another viral video, then it

20:58

goes off for five weeks. I just

21:00

see like this like this like this

21:02

cycle. And also, it's also a learning

21:04

process. So if that video, and also

21:06

here's actually something too, a lot of

21:08

videos that I even post videos I

21:10

know that aren't going to do well

21:12

because they provide value to my subscribers.

21:14

Like always when I post a tutorial

21:16

video, I know it's not going to

21:19

do well, but it does a lot

21:21

for helping people that are trying to

21:23

grow their channel. So it actually does

21:25

help people and it actually allows me

21:27

to be more of the authority, it

21:29

allows me to help people learn how

21:31

to grow their channel. I think that

21:33

it's like the numbers don't bother me

21:35

is my point. I don't know why

21:37

but they just don't and it's something

21:39

like you just told me I don't

21:41

know how many views you said one

21:43

of my videos has I didn't even

21:45

know that to be honest like I

21:47

look at it like I always look

21:49

at it weekly I never look at

21:51

it for the lifetime so I never

21:53

actually see that one video has or

21:55

a hundred and seventy thousand views because

21:58

that just doesn't bother bother If I'm

22:00

reaching people and my channel is growing,

22:02

I'm happy. If I'm making money, I'm

22:04

happy. If I'm having consulting calls, I'm

22:06

happy. So yeah, I'm probably the worst

22:08

person to ask that because it really

22:10

doesn't bother me. I know I think you're the

22:12

best person to ask that because that mentality,

22:14

that superpower, and I think I have a

22:16

bit of that too, where Yes, in the past

22:18

the numbers have affected me, but I feel

22:20

like I've gotten to a point now to

22:23

where I can look at them from a

22:25

top-down view and see where the ebbs and

22:27

flows are and know that they are going

22:29

to be ups and downs and just keep

22:31

grinding, keep uploading, going on to the next

22:33

video, having that next video mentality, which is

22:35

what a lot of creators don't have because

22:37

they get stuck in the mindset of, oh

22:40

no, I'm not growing, or oh no, people

22:42

want something... yesterday. They want it now. They

22:44

want instant gratification and they're just not going

22:46

to get it. And so that's just where

22:48

I'm out with that. You mentioned that you

22:50

tracked your stuff weekly. Do you do this

22:52

on a spreadsheet or what's your process

22:55

of tracking? Yeah, I used a spreadsheet

22:57

or what's your process of tracking? Yeah,

22:59

I used a spreadsheet. I used a

23:01

spreadsheet. I used a spreadsheet. I used

23:03

a spreadsheet. I used a spreadsheet. I

23:05

used a spreadsheet. I used to. I

23:07

used to read impressions. I want to

23:10

look at. And I also I share

23:12

that with like the reason I do

23:14

it is for my subscribers because every

23:16

week I share everything behind the scenes

23:18

I share everything I make everything that's

23:20

going out of the company revenue and

23:22

expenses and all the stats on my

23:24

YouTube channel I just share everything so

23:26

that it helps people to grow and

23:28

get a realistic vision of how one

23:30

person is growing because I remember when

23:32

I wanted to grow my YouTube channel

23:34

I was trying to find like how

23:36

much do people make monthly on YouTube

23:38

from YouTube ads or from affiliate marketing

23:40

or whatever it is. So I just really

23:42

want to provide all that information as transparently

23:44

as possible to be like, this is what

23:46

I'm making. It might not be what you

23:48

might wake or someone else might make more

23:50

or less, but it's one person's journey that

23:52

I want to at least give them access to.

23:55

Speaking of revenue, let's move into

23:57

the monetization conversation. People probably heard

23:59

me. Talk about a video that you

24:01

did where you said you made 37,000 in

24:03

just one weekend, new YouTube or over 40.

24:06

So I want to ask you, can you

24:08

break down just your monetization buckets, how you're

24:10

making money from the YouTube channel, and then

24:12

give us on average what you might make

24:15

in a normal month? Yeah, okay. So I

24:17

have only been making money since July. I

24:19

started in May and of July is when

24:21

I got on the YouTube partners program. I

24:23

think I made like 300. dollars in ads

24:26

for that. But I have, what I do

24:28

is I have, I'm in the YouTube partners

24:30

program, so I have monetization from ads, then

24:32

I have a coaching, so I coach and

24:35

I do one-offs, and that I charge $200

24:37

for 50 minutes for an hour basically, and

24:39

then I also have a high ticket coaching

24:41

program that is six months long, and that

24:43

I charge almost 4,000 for, so 3,800 for

24:46

that. And then what else? Then I have

24:48

affiliate marketing too, which I make like a

24:50

whopping 20 bucks a month on. Then I

24:52

have, what else? I have an e-book I

24:55

wrote that makes 10 bucks a month. So

24:57

that's all the revenue streams that I have.

24:59

You would say your coaching and consulting is

25:01

probably the main lump sum of where you're

25:04

making your money right now. Yeah. Okay. And

25:06

how are you promoting those services? Is it

25:08

obviously the normal ways would be in the

25:10

description, calls to action during the video, what

25:12

are you doing? What are you doing? Yeah

25:15

with the high ticket item I actually did

25:17

a whole process like I did a launch

25:19

and that's why it was those two weekends

25:21

like those two videos like the 37 and

25:24

then the 72,000 or whatever I did a

25:26

launch and I had people apply to the

25:28

program and then I went to the applications

25:30

and then I sent them all individual loom

25:32

messages and then I met with them and

25:35

I told them about the program and then

25:37

they that either chose to come or not

25:39

to come onto the program. So that's how

25:41

I did that one. And then the coaching

25:44

one, I don't really mention it in my

25:46

videos very often. Every once in a while

25:48

I might say, hey, if you're feeling overwhelmed

25:50

with this information, I have a link in

25:52

the description below, we can work one-on-one, coaching

25:55

calls, hop on a call with me. But

25:57

really, people were asking me. for services. Like,

25:59

I started coaching on YouTube because people asked

26:01

me in the comments, will you coach me?

26:04

So that was really lovely, actually, to have

26:06

it work out that way. Because I don't

26:08

know if I would have, I definitely wouldn't

26:10

have thought of coaching on YouTube as a

26:13

new YouTube to help other YouTube because I

26:15

had only been doing it like two months

26:17

when people started asking me for coaching. So

26:19

it was just like, I don't know. It

26:21

was just interesting how it was interesting how

26:24

it all evolved. on average in a month.

26:26

It changes. I was making on average, I

26:28

think it was like 500 a month in

26:30

the beginning, and then just this last month,

26:33

I think I got a message that I

26:35

was, can I just check? Sure, absolutely. I'm

26:37

just curious, people like to know like view

26:39

counts and how much you might make with

26:41

ad revenue. I think selling big ticket items

26:44

like what you're doing is really interesting because

26:46

you only have to sell a few. in

26:48

order for it to be worked your while,

26:50

right? If you're selling something for four grand

26:53

or you're selling something for, I have a

26:55

client that I'm working with that their lowest

26:57

item is like 15 or 20,000 dollars because

26:59

of just the industry that they're in, they

27:02

only need to do a few, right? Finding

27:04

that out is important. So let's see. So

27:06

for November, is 517 euros. Sure, so that's

27:08

going to average. And how many views do

27:10

you get? Do you know, I guess you

27:13

would know weekly, but what is your view

27:15

average per month or per week on your

27:17

channel right now currently as you're growing? Right

27:19

now it says 110,000 views. 110,000 views, right.

27:22

So that's the, you can get a view

27:24

that the watch hours are important, especially when

27:26

it comes to monetization. You can have four

27:28

videos doing really well that are really long

27:30

videos that are people watching for a long

27:33

videos that have people watching, more money than

27:35

those kind of shorter videos. I've got examples

27:37

of that on my channel as well. What's

27:39

next for you? You're six months in. Now

27:42

you're getting to the next six months. What's

27:44

next for the channel? What are you looking

27:46

to do? What do you want to optimize?

27:48

Yeah, I just hired an editor, so that

27:51

was a big step. And I feel like

27:53

every time you do something new, it's like

27:55

these all these hurdles you have to get

27:57

over and learn. To be honest, I just

27:59

want to sit with this for a second.

28:02

Everyone keeps asking what's coming next, what's coming

28:04

next? I do have a course that I'm

28:06

planning to release, but right now it's just

28:08

like been such a whirlwind of getting everyone

28:11

into this program that I have, and now

28:13

they're all in this program, so I just

28:15

want to like... Learn the ropes with that.

28:17

Do you know what I mean? Get comfortable

28:19

with teaching this program and then the next

28:22

time it will be easier and the next

28:24

time an easier and easier and then I

28:26

think I could start to layer on more

28:28

things. So I think right now I'm just

28:31

doing fun things like collaborations like this or

28:33

working with other YouTubeers or I have my

28:35

school community so that keeps me very busy.

28:37

I think I might do a paid membership

28:39

eventually on school. Right now I have a

28:42

free membership, but again I don't have the

28:44

bandwidth just yet to do all of these

28:46

things. So I want to build at a

28:48

sustainable pace. So that's my plan. Keep with

28:51

what I'm doing right now and not add

28:53

too many more variables in right now until

28:55

I feel comfortable with this and then move

28:57

on to something else. Absolutely warnings. Absolutely. What

29:00

is the, what was the process like hiring

29:02

the editor for you? How did that, is

29:04

it a lot of back and forth? Yeah,

29:06

where did you go to find them and

29:08

how much, if you don't mind, how much

29:11

would you be paying them on average per

29:13

video? Yeah, so I get emails like every

29:15

day. I get like probably 10 emails a

29:17

day for video editors, thumbnail editors, like all

29:20

these different people. And so I messaged a

29:22

few that emailed me and I had some

29:24

people, like I gave a standard video to

29:26

everyone that I was trying to find an

29:28

editor if I just gave them all the

29:31

same video and said, edit like a first.

29:33

a minute of this video or something like

29:35

that to give me an idea of your

29:37

style. And I was doing budget shopping for

29:40

sure. I was like, I don't want to

29:42

spend more than 50 bucks. I was being

29:44

very cheap. And yeah, so you get what

29:46

you pay for with that. I did interview

29:49

a gentleman who was charging 200 for 15

29:51

minutes videos. And I just, I wasn't willing

29:53

to go there yet because this is so

29:55

new. And although I'm sure it would be

29:57

a high ROI to go with someone that's

30:00

higher, but I just wasn't ready because I

30:02

want to make sure that this income is

30:04

consistent before I start to really pay an

30:06

editor that's very expensive. So I went with

30:09

a lower budget editor and I found one

30:11

after going through five different people. He's awesome.

30:13

He's out of India and he's so response

30:15

so quickly. I can get him a video

30:17

in the morning. He gets it to me

30:20

in the evening. It's very... But my videos

30:22

are very minimal edited, so the process was

30:24

I went to Upwork and Fiber. To be

30:26

honest, I found more people on Upwork than

30:29

Fiber that were... Sure. What I was looking

30:31

for. But yeah, the process really wasn't that

30:33

fun, to be honest. Yeah, when you... There's

30:35

so many things involved, and you have to

30:38

get through that initial hurdle of working with

30:40

them going back and forth until you get

30:42

what you want in return. You think it's

30:44

going to be a hands-off process? You're like,

30:46

oh, I'm hiring, it's going to be hands-off.

30:49

I get to release this one aspect to

30:51

the business or the channel, and that's true

30:53

eventually. but it takes a while to get

30:55

there. Sometimes it can take longer than others,

30:58

depending on who you get to work with

31:00

you. So finding the right person, knowing where

31:02

to look, and knowing the budget that you

31:04

have is very important. And you normally get

31:06

what you pay for. You're exactly right. So

31:09

that's awesome. Alexa, this has been an amazing

31:11

conversation. Congratulations on your quick success. Very few

31:13

people. have this quick of success on YouTube.

31:15

I'm not sure if you know that or

31:18

not. It's a very rare where people, it's

31:20

more of a slow grind. And I know

31:22

you may feel like, oh, it's been slow

31:24

for me, but really, 20K subscribers and just

31:26

under over six months is a really quick

31:29

kind of chart. So would that be in

31:31

the case? What do you think has attributed

31:33

to that quick growth? If you were to

31:35

look at your channel and you could say

31:38

to yourself, here's what I've done well. Here's

31:40

what I've done not so well. What would

31:42

you say? These were the couple things that

31:44

have attributed to that quick success. I would

31:47

say being 100% transparent and authentic. Like I

31:49

have nothing to hide. I show everything. I

31:51

say what I'm struggling. something. I teach everything

31:53

I learn. So I'm paying a lot of

31:55

money to different courses and if I learn

31:58

something really awesome I share it right away

32:00

with my subscribers. I don't hide anything. I

32:02

don't believe in like a scarcity mindset. I

32:04

don't believe in like keeping my cards close

32:07

to my chest. I just I reveal everything

32:09

and I know people are like but if

32:11

you give them everything then why would they

32:13

ever buy anything from you and I find

32:15

the absolute opposite to be true. If you

32:18

give everything away. There's going to be the

32:20

people that take that and go and run

32:22

with it. That's great. But those are the

32:24

people that are going to do that anyway.

32:27

They're like self-starter, they're going to do whatever

32:29

they need to do on their own. But

32:31

then there's always going to be the people

32:33

that need a look, that want more handheld,

32:36

they want more attention, specialized attention, they want

32:38

someone to work directly with them, no matter

32:40

how much information you give them, they're still

32:42

going to come to you. I'm growing my

32:44

channel, this is what I'm learning, hope it

32:47

helps you, this is what's working for me.

32:49

And I truly want to help people to

32:51

live their passion, because I believe, like my

32:53

strong wife for this, is I want to

32:56

make the world a better place for my

32:58

children, and I really believe that if people

33:00

are doing a job they love, they show

33:02

up for life happier, and they treat people

33:04

better, and they treat people better, and they

33:07

treat people better, and they treat people better,

33:09

and they treat people better, and they treat

33:11

people better, and they treat people better, and

33:13

they treat people better, creative outlet. It's exciting.

33:16

And of course, I'm like the coolest mom

33:18

because I'm a YouTubers. That's exactly right. Yes.

33:20

Yes. My oldest daughter. thinks it's the coolest

33:22

thing that I'm on YouTube and she comes

33:25

in my office and sees the cameras and

33:27

the microphones and she can tell her friends.

33:29

My videos are not the kind of videos

33:31

they watch obviously. So when she finds out

33:33

that I do instructional videos, she's that's cool

33:36

dad that you're a YouTubeer, but it'd be

33:38

really cool if you did these vlogs and

33:40

we had these nice big houses, the things

33:42

that they watch. That's awesome. Alexa, thank you

33:45

so much for joining me for joining me

33:47

today. It's been an excellent conversation. and I'd

33:49

love love to have

33:51

you on in a year

33:53

or so when you're

33:56

at a hundred thousand

33:58

subscribers and you even

34:00

have more to share

34:02

with us. with us. to

34:05

follow your journey. journey and

34:07

And you can check out

34:09

all of her links in the show

34:11

notes down below down we'll talk to

34:13

you next time. you Thanks so much. so much.

34:15

everyone. And thank you for listening to

34:17

this week's episode of episode of the YouTube Creators Hub

34:19

podcast. I I really do appreciate it. Don't

34:22

forget you can subscribe to the show

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34:38

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34:41

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34:43

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34:45

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34:47

we'll see you next week. week.