How this 29-calendar year-old turned his facet hustle into a $1.5 million enterprise

In 2014, I was refreshing out of university and thought I had my lifestyle all planned out: Go to professional medical college, get a 6-figure work as a medical doctor, and make my mothers and fathers proud.

None of that labored out. I understood I hated blood and needles, and bought rejected from more than 15 healthcare educational institutions. My mom and dad weren’t so content.

From 2014 to 2019, I took on tutoring side hustles, did some modeling gigs, started a drop shipping and delivery business, and even labored as a actual estate agent. But almost nothing was consistent in earning me a steady earnings stream.

Soon after several business makes an attempt, I lastly located some thing that worked: Submitting economical suggestions on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In 2021, my written content development small business introduced in $1.5 million in earnings — and my mother stopped sending me task listings.

How I crafted a $1.5 million-for each-yr company

In 2021, Chang’s organization brought in $1.5 million in gross earnings.

Image: Charlie Chang

My very first several videos obtained all-around a dozen views each, 50 % of which ended up from my mother. I was even now earning most of my dollars through odd positions and aspect hustles.

But in April 2020, about a month right after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, I discovered a spike in desire all-around stimulus-similar material. That month, I posted 20 YouTube videos about the stimulus and aid endeavours. One of my films went viral — earning me $10,078 in advert revenue and 30,300 subscribers.

In Might, I posted 19 videos and produced $15,791 in advertisement revenue. And in June, I landed my initial sponsorship offer with Foundr, an online schooling organization they paid me $250 to develop one TikTok put up.

I continued to experiment with distinctive kinds of video information to see what was most effective in rising my viewers and attracting curiosity from models.

By November, following securing a further partnership deal and achieving around 200,000 subscribers, I resolved to start my very first on the net course teaching persons how to commence their personal prosperous YouTube channels.

In 2021, I additional affiliate advertising and marketing to my profits streams. I designed $86,000 in January, then scaled to an typical of $150,000 per month in 2021.

How to make a number of revenue streams

These days, I have around 650,000 YouTube followers. So far this 12 months, I have manufactured about $197,700 for every thirty day period by means of five revenue streams — a number of of which develop passive income. At 1 level, I manufactured $245,000 in a thirty day period.

What I adore about the business enterprise I have constructed is that I can pick when and exactly where to operate. Some times I’ll operate zero hrs, and other times I’ll set in 12 several hours. On average, I function 35 hours for each week.

Here is how I designed each individual of my money streams:

1. Affiliate marketing and advertising: 40% of every month earnings

With affiliate advertising, I gain commission for advertising and marketing an additional brand’s item or companies. I submit affiliate links in the descriptions of my YouTube movies and on my web site, then get compensated each individual time another person is directed to a brand’s product web page or helps make a obtain.

To make passive income by way of affiliate promoting, you will need to consist of hyperlinks on specific articles in a market that folks are exploring for. This can lead to clicks for months, even long following you have posted. For example, I backlink to captions based mostly on well-known look for conditions, which I find utilizing the Google Traits software.

I get most of my affiliate discounts by partnership management platforms like Effects Radius, Partnerstack and Share-A-Sale. Creators with any viewers size can use these web sites to locate and be a part of affiliate url plans.

2. Model sponsorships: 25% of monthly cash flow

With model sponsorships, firms fundamentally fork out me to mention them in one of my movies or on my web site.

Makes normally access out to me by means of the email address on my YouTube profile, but I also perform with agencies like Spacestation to safe additional sponsorships.

Discovering a area of interest helped me increase a loyal and genuine viewers, which has been crucial to my good results. I answered Covid-relevant finance queries that no just one else was addressing. Then I took the concepts with the optimum viewers engagement and ran with them.

“What I love about the company I have created is that the revenue I make isn’t really straight tied to my time,” suggests Chang. “I can pick when and in which I want to work.”

Locate your have specialized niche by inquiring: What is a specific issue that I can fix with my story and exceptional awareness? Fully grasp the ins-and-outs of your audience, like their age, area and general passions. For the duration of the negotiation process, remind brand names why that audience is precious to them.

3. YouTube ads: 25% of month-to-month money

I make a further quarter of my profits from YouTube Adsense adverts that appear in advance of or in the course of my YouTube video clips.

To be a part of this software, you will have to have at minimum 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of view time in the very last 12 months. At the time you are portion of the program, it truly is significant to article consistently and generate films dependent on what your viewers responds very well to.

4. Online course product sales: <5% of monthly income

My “6-Figure YouTube Academy” and “Personal Brand Masterclass” courses are both hosted on Kajabi. These courses took months of planning, research, filming and editing.

For YouTube Academy, I outlined what I was going to teach in each video using Notion, an online workspace organization tool, then created slides to play during each video on Keynote. It took me a week to film more than a hundred videos, which I edited myself using Final Cut Pro X.

From there, I organized my videos on Kajabi and started to market the course on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. I don’t spend any money on advertisement.

5. Coaching: <5% of monthly income

I meet with clients one-on-one to consult on how to make their businesses more successful. This is a great way to connect with my audience and get to know them on an individual level.

My coaching sessions are done via Zoom, which allows me to meet with anyone from anywhere across the world. I charge $500 per 60-minute session.

Recently, I started building StartupWise, a resource platform for new businesses and entrepreneurs. I’m also working on a company called Side Hustle Mastery, and its complementary newsletter called Hustle Club.

Charlie Chang is a content creator and serial entrepreneur whose mission is to educate people on personal finance and entrepreneurship. He is a UCLA graduate and founder of StartupWise. Follow him on Instagram and YouTube.

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