A year and a half ago, I got serious about my YouTube channel. I posted once a week consistently, every single week. And three months ago, I finally got monetization status. Whooooop!

Basically, this means YouTube is now paying me for the videos I make. 

Nope — still not an influencer. No brands pay me to talk about their skinny tea (P.S. — that stuff is bullshit anyways) or their new skincare line. That money is coming straight from YouTube itself. 

If you want to know what it took to get there and how you can grow your own YouTube channel, stick around! I’m sharing what it was like to get to this point, my top five revenue-generating videos, and lessons I’ve learned along the way that you can potentially apply to your own YouTube channel. 

YouTube is a long game 

Unlike other social media platforms like TikTok, if you want to see success on YouTube, you’ve gotta be willing to be in it for the long haul. 

I wasn’t on TikTok long before I got 1,000 followers — and fast. Like 4 days fast. And now, I’ve got nearly 34.1K followers. And I’ve only been there since March. But I’ve been on YouTube for over a year and a half, and I have just a little over 9.36K followers. 

If you want to go viral, don’t get on YouTube. Because the chances of that happening are slim. I’m not trying to burst your bubble,I just want you to know that YouTube is a totally different ball game than TikTok or even Instagram. 

It’s long-form video content instead of short, so people will be looking to make a deeper connection with the person making the videos (i.e. building a trust factor with them). Would you want to watch a total stranger’s long-ass video every day multiple times a day? Probs not. But you watch hundreds of one-minute videos from them every day. 

That’s the difference between YouTube and TikTok. 

But it only takes one video to change everything

If you aren’t super familiar with YouTube yet, they have their own algorithm to keep people on their platform longer. Once you watch one video, they’ll recommend another similar one, and after that, another one. And so on and so on. 

If you play your cards right (or have a good strategy in place) those videos will be yours. 

YouTube is pretty cool because as long as you do what the algorithm wants, they’ll make sure you get the screen time your videos deserve. Unlike other platforms, where even if you follow the algorithm, you still may not be seen. It’s a lot more random than YouTube. 

And it takes just ONE video to change everything — but not in the way you’re thinking. 

Remember earlier how I said I got 1,000 followers on TikTok in just a few days? That’s called virality. 

But again, that’s not the way it works on YouTube. Here’s what I mean…

It comes down to knowing your audience

Because of the YouTube algorithm, people are likely to binge your videos specifically. And they may find some great content inside. And want more of it. So they hit subscribe. And then head over to your website, download an opt-in, and get added to your email list. Over time, they’re like “Hey, I wanna work with this person. They seem like just the thing I’ve been looking for.”

And then BAM! You’ve got a new client. 

But to get there, you have to know your audience and what they want to see. This is where niching becomes so important — and it’s definitely not something you glaze over in the process of creating said content.

My top-performing videos 

YouTube isn’t my sole source of income. I’m not a content creator and I’m not an influencer. But the extra money that does hit my bank account sure is nice…and it’s really just an added bonus on top of the traffic it drives to my current lineup of offers. That’s the reason I’m there after all. 

But some videos have done better than others. Take a look at the stats below!

17 Digital Product Ideas for Your Business in 2022

THIS is How I Built a 6 Figure D-Commerce Shop (How to make money online)

25 Digital Download Product Ideas That You Can CREATE AND SELL

How to Make Money Online with ZERO followers

I Made $2,000 a Day! THIS Digital Product Marketing Strategy WORKS

How my content strategy helped me earn $28K in 7 months

Just like with YouTube, success in your biz doesn’t happen overnight. No matter what you keep seeing online about business being easy and simple, there are still a lot of hours of hard work (and maybe even some tears???) that go into it. 

That being said, there are things you can do to speed up the process. And a lot of that lies in your content strategy. 

If you want to see how loads of careful planning, tuning into my audience, and creating great content grew my digital product shop from $0 to $28K in just seven months, check out the video below!