It’s hard to imagine that video didn’t arrive as the internet first hit the scene. YouTube is something that we take for granted. There is more educational value within YouTube than in our national school system.
I don’t mean that to be a diss but as a matter of comparison. If you want to drill down in the weeds on a particular topic, YouTube is your first destination. I learned about WordPress and blogging software on YouTube the other day, and the experience was terrific.
All this is to say that video is vital to our overall society. Moving forward, the metaverse may become the new educational tool of choice, but that is far away. The metaverse still has a high cost to enter with equipment and internet speeds.
How to Create “Luck” with Money
Welcome back to the Passive Income from Creativity series (101, 102, 103), where your passion pays for your retirement. Today, we discuss the power of video for today and tomorrow. Let’s get this party started.
YouTube. The (video) elephant in the room is YouTube. All roads point to YouTube as the mecca of all online video. You can make a great livable wage from YouTube, while your older videos will serve as passive income.
But is YouTube really passive income? Yes and no. Once you complete and upload your video, you have separated yourself from the act of making money. You can now make money in your sleep.
However, once you completely stop making videos, your income stream will slowly fade away. The YouTube algorithm favors content producers that continually make content. The best case is to slow down over time. Maybe get to the point where you can create one video a week.
6 Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur
You can also turn YouTube into an automated business. You can hire some fresh talent to take over your channel by slowly getting in front of the camera. You can also have someone do all the editing. The most time-consuming part of making videos is editing and uploading your content. You will have much more time if you are only shooting the videos.
Some YouTubers also start a vlog (video blog) to showcase their lives outside YouTube. These videos are less time-consuming and more “raw” in aesthetics. Basically, it is a way to make free money from your phone camera.
Is YouTube over-saturated? No. Anyone who can create one video a day for two years will earn a following. Hopefully, your content is improving during this year as well. It takes 10,000 hours to become great at something and build an income stream.
I wrote 1,000+ words a day for the entirety of 2021, which helped me build a small following. I have 800+ Facebook group members and get roughly 25 visitors to my blog every day. I also have sold 250+ books on Amazon. These numbers aren’t bad for not advertising my products.
Almost every day, I find a new up-and-coming YouTuber. Within 3-4 months, their audience has doubled. If you stay consistent, engaged with the audience, and likable, you will gain an audience. Doing it every day is a habit most people can’t seem to achieve.
Good Debt vs. Bad Debt
Affiliate marketing. Outside of Google Ads, you can monetize your YouTube channel with affiliate marketing and sponsorships. You promote someone else’s product for a small commission with affiliate marketing.
A sponsorship is a full-on advertisement with a company. It can be one piece or an entire campaign. Sponsorships can be more lucrative but also more restrictive. You also need to stay true to your audience. Don’t sell something you don’t believe in—your word is bond.
Collectables. You can also add merchandise to your channel, including t-shirts, mugs, toys, etc. Sites like Redbubble allow you to link even more merch to your brand. I talk more about merch in the article “Sell Your Creativity for Passive Income.”
I think YouTubers can make even more money by collecting some great content and offering it via collectible Blurays. I always watch a YouTuber who does Pokemon battles as I am obsessed with his content brand.
Read These 10 Books BEFORE Starting a Business
If he offered me five hours of his best content in a fancy $40 Bluray package, I would buy it in a heartbeat. I want to support the channel and have something cool simultaneously. I think people underestimate how meaningful their content is to others.
I would be a Pokemon trainer and battle all day in my dream life. In real life, I am a US Marine with a wife, two kids, and a business. So watching him is like dreaming of what I could have been in another life. It is valuable to me, and I am willing to pay money to support his fantastic channel.
The book “Superfans” teaches us to give hyper fans the ability to buy unique collectibles. Not only do we feel special, love supporting their channel, but it helps them continue to make great content.
Beyond YouTube. YouTube can be a grind. You can make millions over time, but it will wear you down. You need to ensure that you live below your means, saving and investing in dividends. The more passive dividend income you create, the less YouTube you need to do over the years. I call this “buying your freedom.”
Let Dividends be Your Lighthouse During Retirement
Also, start pushing people towards ventures outside of YouTube. Google owns your audience on YouTube, so you will need to divert some of your audience to your website. You can offer behind-the-scenes content, deep dives, podcasts, and consulting.
You will want to build an email list, blog site, and maybe write some books. Eventually, YouTube will just be a portion of your income.
Online courses. Building an online course for a YouTuber show will be pretty easy because you create video products. Once you have a decent following (100,000+ subscribers), you can think about building a course.
Online courses can be very lucrative and have high-profit margins. You can even allow other content creators to affiliate market your course. Once you get your system going, that is where big money begins to come.
The future of video. I believe books and writing have the most extended tail of any content. Words always look the same, and a fantastic book cover always looks great. Video ages poorly.
However, with video, you make excellent money upfront, so you should end up better off than writers as long as you are investing.
With the metaverse on the horizon, I don’t know what the future of video holds. Will there be interactive videos? Can augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) work within the confines of a site like YouTube? These are things to start reading and learning.
Financial Security vs. Financial Freedom
The best course of action is to start right now. The skills you need now are still the skills you need tomorrow. Those skills are confidence, clear articulation, and consistency. No matter where video heads into the future, you will survive off of these traits.
Conclusion. Video is where the money is today. I know that video is way too time-consuming for me, so I prefer writing. Writing is the portable lifestyle that I have always dreamed of living. But, I also have an excellent military retirement check coming when I finish my service.
If you need an injection of cash, YouTube is the way to go. Learn how to create a never-ending stream of content, release content every day for two years, and remember that you must add value first.
There may be a steep learning curve for video; most people can’t overcome this barrier to entry. How bad do you want to be financially free? What is the motivating goal in your life that separates you from the other 97% of people who will never create something?
I am a massive fan of video, and you should be too. There has never been a learning tool as great as YouTube. However, it doesn’t negate education via reading—they work hand in hand. If you are up for the challenge, video is the way to go.
- PDF of the Month: Become CEO of Yourself 2 (Free 196-Page PDF)
- Free PDF Downloads: Download FREE PDF books here
- Financial Mindset: Become CEO of Yourself (book)
- Retirement Planning: Don’t Gamble with Retirement 5 (Free 431-Page PDF)
- Investing: How We Plan to Retire on Dividends 2 (165-Page Free PDF)
- Cryptocurrencies: The Magic of Cryptocurrencies (Free PDF)
- Real Estate: Financial Independence through Real Estate 2 (Free 123-Page PDF)
- Business: Retire Rich, Retire Comfortable with a Business 2 (Free 185-Page PDF)
- Everything!: The Biggest Book on Passive Income Ever! (book)(Web Edition)(Art Edition)
- I bought a Kindle Oasis: Check it out Amazon
- Read My Books for Free: Free Kindle Books Schedule
- Crypto Exchange: My Favorite Crypto Exchange VOYAGER (Join Voyager)
- Kindle Unlimited: I Why Finally Subscribed Kindle Unlimited (learn more)
- Book Reviews: 54 Takeaways from 54 Books (book)
- Want to Build Passive Income from Books and Affiliate Marketing? (Learn here)
- Writing: Can Grammarly Make You a Better Writer? (direct)
- My Favorite Chromebook: The Ultimate Chromebook (direct)
- Follow us: On our Facebook Page and Join our Facebook Group
- Amazon Author Page: Check out my author page on Amazon
- Monthly Dividend Planner: Check it out on Etsy
New Year’s Passive Income Resolution 2022: Article (Amazon Book)
New Year’s Passive Income Resolution 2022: Blank-Lined Notebook (Amazon)
Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
Leave a Reply