Youtube is the new Fastlane

[PeteLife]

With so many stories of people making millions on Youtube, I figured I would share this.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/driven/bullied-to-bank--bethany-mota-s-youtube-empire-133655143.html

"Now with her own clothing line at retailer Aeropostale, Bethany’s rising stardom goes far beyond her “MACBARBIE07” -- a YouTube channel that's generating an estimated $40,000 per month and has garnered over 300 million views since she launched it."

"Today, nearly five years after MACBARBIE07’s debut, Bethany has more than 5.5 million channel subscribers and 2.4 million fans on Instagram. That’s more than Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan combined."

edit: @bensonj - With a following this huge and engaged, I think it would be great to get her to do a video on your product.

 

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[Bigguns50]

That's a great story but I wonder if it's the whole story. I'd be interested in the business end of it.
I mean...she did one video and it just took off from there ? She must have hired consultants, advertisers, etc.

 

[PeteLife]

she did one video and it just took off from there ? She must have hired consultants, advertisers, etc

It's Youtube, sometimes one video is all it takes. I doubt a 14 year old girl was busy hiring consultants and advertisers back in 09. But you have to think of her market... a bunch of tween girls. A targeted audience like this can be build over the years thru word of mouth (young girls talk ALOT) and offering relatable and consistent content. At this age, these girls are going through that stage of life where fashion and "looks" are now the most important thing in their life. Macbarbie07 simply put a face on that NEED for these girls. BRILLIANT!

It's really not that unbelieveable as you make it out to be. She is just one of many doing it big on YouTube.

 

[Prince Silk]

Some people are making a lot of money sharing advertising revenue on YouTube. Great in the short term but maybe not sustainable as advertising models change, tastes move on etc.

This guy is coining it in off the back of Minecraft mania.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-26327661

 

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[PeteLife]

Some people are making a lot of money sharing advertising revenue on YouTube. Great in the short term but maybe not sustainable as advertising models change, tastes move on etc.

I have to disagree. Ad models will always change no matter what platform you are using, even the great Google (who owns Youtube btw) is known for its ever so often erratic changes. But that does not mean that online businesses are not sustainable. It's either you sink or swim when these inevitable changes happen.

But i look at this as more than just an ad revenue business, With 5 million subscribers, thats 5 million people willing to buy whatever it is you bring to market. Let that sink in for a second.
Forget about ad revenue, and look at your subscribers as an EMAIL LIST ON STEROIDS!!!

You think Aeropostale would have made a deal with her if she had 10 subscribers??? Nope, but they know the value of her followers.

Very sustainable if you ask me!

 

[bensonj]

edit: @bensonj - With a following this huge and engaged, I think it would be great to get her to do a video on your product.

Thanks @PeteLife - taking a look now!

 

[bensonj]

I mean...she did one video and it just took off from there ? She must have hired consultants, advertisers, etc.

According to the video she started in 09 - made one then two and continued…this is what young girls long for - I know my g-daughter @ 12 does…her name Mota and adding vator and making this her line - uplifting words on clothing for young girls..wow - this is awesome.

I agree @PeteLife this is sustainable…the google rev pales in comparison to what she has built and is building! Aeropostale is very popular and with interest from JC Penny and Forever21 - and she is only 18!! If she stays grounded -there is no limit.

 

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[Bigguns50]

I know my g-daughter @ 12 does…her name Mota

Very cool....another fastlaner !

 

[bgalakazam]

If only I was a girl... Youtube and Twitch will be goldmines...

 

[DennisD]

Great stuff @PeteLife
The model is absolutely sustainable and repeatable.
If you guys haven't seen my post on online video entertainment check it out here:
www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/online-entertainment-now-is-the-time.51640/

And it's not just "Youtube" but really "New Media" in general.
I've had my eye on this since this time 2007.
The entire entertainment landscape is being democratized simultaneously.

The Kindle is shaking independent publishing
Talk Radio is being replaced by podcasts,
Music is being populated with independent artists doing itunes launches, spotify, pandora
Television is being replaced by Hulu, Netflix, Youtube
From board games to videogames, it's all changing.

I'm super excited

 

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[smarty]

and then one guy from google adsense team can ban her in just 1 click.

 

[Magik]

and then one guy from google adsense team can ban her in just 1 click.

Exactly. YouTube and Google have the control, and can ban you at anytime, thus killing your business. I know of a guy who is in the dating niche. He had tons of videos on YouTube that generated a lot of traffic for his site. For some reason, YouTube banned him and he lost 70% of his traffic overnight. He somehow got back on there, but I think he is still building back up to where he was. YouTube is fine, as long as it doesn't represent a large chunk of your business. It should represent 50%, 70%, or <gulp> 100% of your biz. Too dangerous.

Imagine spending years making videos and building up your following, only to get banned for some bullshit reason (and it usually is a bs reason)?

 

[DennisD]

thus killing your busines

That's a lot of assuming you're doing.

YT acts more like her PARTNER than her boss
All her videos are monetized, which means YT makes money off of her.
They don't kill viale and popular revenue streams like that.
She's an asset, the same way artists are assets to recording labels or actors are assets to studios.

She has YT right where she needs them for continued success.
If YT can kill your biz in 1 click you're doing it wrong.

Additionally, we don't know if she has a mailing list, how many visits she gets to her private website. We shouldn't assume her business is volatile just because in one way it relies on another business. To me that's like saying Amazon's a bad business model because it relies on 3rd party delivery companies.

 

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[Tommy92l]

The thing with youtube is that it the reputation it carries to some is that - it's really easy, you're only making videos.

While you may not be going through trademarks/copywriting, ect, ect. You still need to work your a$$ off to deliver, entertain, and be better than others.

And I thought fastlane was self employed, so technically this wouldn't be fastlane since you're working for google?

 

[Magik]

The thing with youtube is that it the reputation it carries to some is that - it's really easy, you're only making videos.

While you may not be going through trademarks/copywriting, ect, ect. You still need to work your a$$ off to deliver, entertain, and be better than others.

And I thought fastlane was self employed, so technically this wouldn't be fastlane since you're working for google?

You're a partner with YouTube, you don't work for them per se. It violates what MJ calls The Commandment of Control and also has low entry barriers. You can still get rich from it (and many people have) because you have other factors in place. You can scale, you can fulfill a need, and it is somewhat divorced from your time after you have many videos. I think YouTube is a great strategy, I just wouldn't want it to account for the majority of my business.

 

[Magik]

That's a lot of assuming you're doing.

YT acts more like her PARTNER than her boss
All her videos are monetized, which means YT makes money off of her.
They don't kill viale and popular revenue streams like that.
She's an asset, the same way artists are assets to recording labels or actors are assets to studios.

She has YT right where she needs them for continued success.
If YT can kill your biz in 1 click you're doing it wrong.

Additionally, we don't know if she has a mailing list, how many visits she gets to her private website. We shouldn't assume her business is volatile just because in one way it relies on another business. To me that's like saying Amazon's a bad business model because it relies on 3rd party delivery companies.

I'm generalizing, I'm not assuming anything about anyone's particular situation. I'm just saying that gate keepers can do what they want, whenever they want, and it's out of our control. YouTube, Adsense, eBay - have all killed revenue streams for people. MJ has a story where he got banned from Adsense on this forum and it took him 2-3 months to get re-approved.

Sure, the odds are great that YouTube won't mess with the majority, but the risk is still there, and new people entering into this world need to be aware of it.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

MJ has a story where he got banned from Adsense on this forum and it took him 2-3 months to get re-approved.

It actually was about 2 weeks.

2.4 million fans on Instagram.

Imagine spending years making videos and building up your following, only to get banned for some bullshit reason (and it usually is a bs reason)?

This is true, however she is now so big that she has "somewhat" eliminated the control issue by creating her own brand. Her HUGE network of TY, IG and Twitter followers is where the value is. The value is in the LIST and the following, albeit, those lists seem to be primarily controlled by 3rd parties.

Also, Excellence absolves Entry.

 

[Tommy92l]

It doesn't have low entry barriers

 

[Magik]

The value is in the LIST and the following, albeit, those lists seem to be primarily controlled by 3rd parties. Also, Excellence absolves Entry.

Excellent points. I have thought about these things a lot in the self-publishing world. While the barriers are low, how many people can write an excellent book? Not many. How many writers build a list? Not many.

So, we can say that the lower the barriers to entry, the better your product has to be.

The other point is that if you maintain your own list, and something happens outside of your control, one email could fix much of it, since you own the list. If, for some odd reason, a writer gets removed from Amazon, if they've been maintaining a list, they aren't hurt near as much as the person who didn't maintain a list. YouTube is really no different.

 

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[Tommy92l]

The good thing about YouTube is that money whores / money chasers fail almost 95% of the time. They upload constantly sure, but none of it has quality and it's all shit. So even if people do think that YouTube is where the easy money is at, boy are they wrong.

 

[Magik]

It doesn't have low entry barriers

The barriers are low to put up videos because (at least in theory) anyone could do it, but the barriers are high to make quality content. However, someone like my mom would have no idea how to put up a video on YouTube. So, in a way, there are many barriers, and the more you overcome, the better you will do.

The other factor is that if you remain process driven, you have just jumped over a high barrier, because most people are event driven and would give up before the magic happens.

Uploading Content (technology barrier, the easiest to overcome)
Creating Quality Content (excellence barrier, overcome through process and repetition)
Staying On Task (consistency barrier, the ability to not lose focus)
Building A Following (marketing barrier, somewhat related to all the barriers)
Persistence (process driven barrier, keeps you from giving up before the magic happens)

The people who don't make it usually fail at least one of these, usually multiples.

 

[Tommy92l]

They say they don't upload anymore because they don't get views, but the reality is. They don't get views because they don't upload! LOL

 

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[DennisD]

The other factor is that if you remain process driven, you have just jumped over a high barrier, because most people are event driven and would give up before the magic happens.
Uploading Content (technology barrier, the easiest to overcome)
Creating Quality Content (excellence barrier, overcome through process and repetition)
Staying On Task (consistency barrier, the ability to not lose focus)
Building A Following (marketing barrier, somewhat related to all the barriers)
Persistence (process driven barrier, keeps you from giving up before the magic happens)

I once had a client who invested ALL their savings into making a video.
If they "didn't make it big" from this video, it was all over.

They spent THOUSANDS of bucks on costumes, on my and my crew, on equipment,, on a set.
They made ONE video that was OKAY.
But when the first one didn't "make it big" they quit, took down teh video (after only 1 week) and disappeared.

People forget about the huge barrier to entry that creating video #2 is.

 

[Trivium iz rC]

Awesome article thanks for the post, while having your own youtube channel is awesome & making big $$. Don't forget the partnership networks (Full Screen, Machinima, Maker Studio) <--That's what i'm interested in.

 

[Kevin Miller]

.. It violates what MJ calls The Commandment of Control and also has low entry barriers. ...

Just to share a VERY PAINFUL experience with Youtube. I did build a Youtube Channel for 2 years with famous models in association with a company the models were working for. Even I did NOT violate any rules of Youtube at all and was in contact with the company who held the rights of the models I got shut down after 2 years (!) because I constantly got "community strikes" from people who kept reporting my videos for NO REASONS other than that they were either competitors or other people who simply did not like the content.

PUFF - the whole work was gone. Really.

I am still now building a new YouTube channel for another project - but... YouTube is in control, not you.
I consider most social media strategies dangerous. I have gotten shut down countless Twitter accounts,
Facebook accounts, Tumblr accounts - you name it. All those social media networks are always in full control.

I think you can only use them to supply traffic to your own social media flavored styled sites and do not build
your business based solely on one of those platforms.

 

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[smartman]

I would appreciate the living hell out of an AMA from someone making money posting videos to youtube.

 

[RHL]

I would appreciate the living hell out of an AMA from someone making money posting videos to youtube.

What do you want to know?

 

[smartman]

I would really like to know how monetization happens with videos, how you get set up with adsense and youtube, etc. i've googled this maybe a thousand times, and honestly i feel like i've gotten nothing but conflicting information. I am the last person on earth to ask questions without doing the research first, so i feel relatively stupid even asking. ha.

 

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[Magik]

Just to share a VERY PAINFUL experience with Youtube. I did build a Youtube Channel for 2 years with famous models in association with a company the models were working for. Even I did NOT violate any rules of Youtube at all and was in contact with the company who held the rights of the models I got shut down after 2 years (!) because I constantly got "community strikes" from people who kept reporting my videos for NO REASONS other than that they were either competitors or other people who simply did not like the content.

PUFF - the whole work was gone. Really.

I am still now building a new YouTube channel for another project - but... YouTube is in control, not you.
I consider most social media strategies dangerous. I have gotten shut down countless Twitter accounts,
Facebook accounts, Tumblr accounts - you name it. All those social media networks are always in full control.

I think you can only use them to supply traffic to your own social media flavored styled sites and do not build
your business based solely on one of those platforms.

Yep. I read a story about a guy on eBay who got banned because he got a few too many negative feedbacks. I'd say there was probably something off regarding his customer service, but he was not scamming people, and he did try to correct his errors. This was during a phase when eBay was very ban happy with it's sellers (they slacked off some due to all the backlash they received). His entire business was gone. He didn't have an external site, he had no email list, he was all in on eBay, and they killed his business. This is an extreme example, but it can happen.

The most dangerous on YouTube seem to be anything involving females (models, pick-up videos), anything that violates copyrights in any way (music and film related seem to be the most common), anything that could be considered a scam (affiliate marketing, dieting/weight loss, MLM). If you have a legitimate brand and don't violate copyrights or have anything weird like nudity, animal cruelty, or have anything illegal, you're probably fine, but you should still exercise caution.

As mentioned earlier, the control variable can be tilted in your favor if you are driving traffic to an external site and building a list that you maintain. Also, by using many forms of social media to drive your brand, instead of one. I will definitely be using YouTube, but I will also be using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others to drive traffic to MY SITE (which is self hosted) and will be building an email LIST (which I maintain).

 

[RHL]

I lay it out pretty extensively on my INSIDERS's progress thread. I plan to make one for outsiders relaying some of the same information in the near future, I'm just getting my butt kicked by a bunch of things at once.

Basically how it works:

Create Adsense

enter bank account with Adsense

Wait for challenge deposit to be approved

Create YT Channel

Monetize Channel by Linking to Adsense

Wait 48 hours-2 weeks

When monitization is approved, post video

Wait 48 hours to see if your content is erroneously challenged by YT as copyrighted and your monitization suspended

Begin promoting video

Protip: Never post something that belongs to other people (music, lyrics, clips of movies, etc.) on a channel you've monetized. Your ad revenue will be diverted to whatever media conglomerate owns the content and your other videos will not be able to be monetized.