[mwidell]

I run a channel with 85k subscribers and around 10k views per day. My monthly income breakdown is roughly this: - Youtube ads $900 - Affiliate links $2500 - Brand deals $3000 (equates to one sponsored video per month) - Patreon $350

Took me around 5 years of posting a video a week to get here. Now I finally make a living. Started working full time about a year ago. Before that 15-20h per week for years. I talked to some other youtubers, and I think my "path" to making a living from youtube, and my income breakdown, is pretty standard.

Key takeaway here is that youtube is a looong game. You will be unlikely to succeed unless you love making the videos so much, that you are happy to do it almost for free, consistently, for years. And the money is not in adsense, but in brand deals and affiliate links (which are often part of brand deals).

Here's my channel if anyone is curious: https://youtube.com/MicaelWidell

[dmuso]

How do you deal with “talking to the void” at the beginning? I speak publicly fairly regular and I get a lot of energy from people in the crowd. I’ve done some YouTube and converted that to podcast format. I can’t seem to get motivated to do it as I can’t see/interact with people. People I know in my niche community will tell me they watched my video or listened to the podcast, I think “oh that’s nice I guess” and I go back home to stare at a camera and I can’t seem to connect making a video with audience interaction. Is this a thing? How do you think I could deal with it?

[mwidell]

Yeah in the beginning it definitely felt extremely weird talking to a camera, with no other person in the room. I had trouble talking as naturally as I do to a live audience or even to a friend.

This was actually so hard for me in the beginning, that I avoided talking directly to the camera for a long time. Instead I recorded footage of me doing things and then did a voiceover track to put over that.

But it is mostly a matter of practice and becoming used to, and comfortable with, that situation.

After 1-2 years of weekly videos it didn’t feel weird anymore for me. And nowadays I can talk just as naturally to the camera as to a friend.

But yeah definitely a big hurdle for many people I have talked to as well.

I think what I nowadays do, without thinking about it, is I imagine the camera is a person in my core audience.

[petepete]

Hey Micael. I've been a subscriber for years, love your channel and all things macro photography in general.

Really wasn't expecting you to pop up on hn!

[mwidell]

Appreciate that :) In a previous life I was a programmer/CTO, so it's an old habit to visit HN.

[agumonkey]

Did you foresee a 5 year span before stable revenue (and indirectly, did you have to alter your ways/work to have better views and workflow) ? Also did you try other platforms ?

Kudos on the dedication :)

[mwidell]

When I started I studied some other channels in the photography niche. And I saw that you need around 100k subscribers to make a living. I also saw that most of the successful channels in this niche needed around 5-7 years to get there. So yeah this was very much expected.

But I’m not doing this for the money. I do it because it is the most fun project I have ever done. I would do it for free. If I go too long without posting a video I actually start feeling depressed. So for me it is therapy. But it is nice to earn a living from doing something you must do to be happy :) And also it feels nice when people ask what I work with, to mention something that actually earns me a living.

YouTube is pretty much the only viable platform if you make long form content and want to earn money doing so.

[agumonkey]

Heh interesting how you monitored the field before doing it.

I understand the feeling of doing something you love. Money is for bills, after that you need something else. I'm currently on a similar quest.

[naavis]

I went to check out your channel just to realize I was already subscribed. Well played!

[jeffwass]

Thanks for this Micael, very helpful info and your channel is pretty cool too!

Regarding the weekly video, are you saying you’d spend about 15-20 hours per week on that one video to get to the status you were at last year?

I’ve heard that regular releases are important for a channel to be picked up properly by “the algorithm”. Is this your experience, and is that a critical to keep up the cadence of one video per week?

I make music videos (basically myself playing keyboards) and have never really gotten a good long-term traction with “the algorithm” yet. Sometimes I get a burst of impressions for a few days with corresponding views and subscribes, but these come and go. I release ever few weeks, though some of my videos are shorts, or just a few mins long for a single song.

I think a weekly release would be a real challenge, but maybe that’s what is needed to get to the next step? For me the real time sink is all the time arranging and practicing to get to a point I’m confident to even film myself playing.

[mwidell]

I spend on average around 10 hours per video. (1h ideation, 4h filming, 5h editing+thumbnail). I make at least a video a week, often 2 videos. How much time you spend per video will be up to you. There are successful youtubers who spend just 8h per video, while other successful youtubers spend A LOT more.

I think of every video like a lottery ticket. I know a certain percentage of them will become "hits", ie. give me 100k+ views. And I know the more videos I make, the more of these hits I get. I also know that over time I will get better and better at my craft, and increase the likelyhood of any video to become successful. I never had a schedule, and I don't beat myself up if I don't post a particular week. I just keep working on my videos a little every day, and post the video as soon as it is done. It has resulted in 1-2 videos per week over time.

I know that it is probably best to keep a schedule with strict times, because then the audience will show up once they learn the schedule. But I am always too eager and can't bring myself to not post immediately, and it has worked okay for me :) Most important thing I think is that you don't take long breaks of several months. I think your audience cares about consistency, but not the algorithm.

[jeffwass]

Thanks for the reply, very helpful.

Well done for maintaining that publishing momentum. That's a good strategy it seems, spending a little time each day, but enough to maintain a weekly video at least.

Will give it a go and see if it helps. Cheers!

[waboremo]

I'm not 100% on youtube's algorithm, but I believe one of the points it hammers is that it's no longer about catering to the video but rather the viewer. So rather than think about weekly releases to play into the algorithm, it's generally better to focus on higher quality content that keeps people/your subs engaged throughout.

Schedules are important for fans, it's easier to grasp that they can check youtube at a certain day and see your new video over hoping they enable notifications. However if the schedule is far too much for you to handle, don't force a weekly schedule! There are plenty of channels doing great on a more spaced out release timing, but perhaps it's best to encourage some sort of schedule on yourself just to keep producing stuff.

As you said though you have to get to a point of feeling confident to even film yourself playing. That's your #1 over scheduling. Maybe livestreaming your practices could help with that, on the plus you would also have a bunch of livestreamed content you can edit down into future videos. Doesn't suit everyone and livestreaming is definitely its own challenge/realm, so it's just a suggestion! But I could see it being good for getting over that whole perfectionism angle we get ourselves into.

For music content specifically, it seems a lot of it revolves around the hopes of getting people aware of your content through fan stuff, and then pushing original stuff alongside it. So piano covers of video game music (for example) and then they also release original music; the former is easier to create/tag/practice, the latter establishes uniqueness amongst the sea of channels.

[jeffwass]

Thanks for the suggestions waboremo!

I never would have even thought to film myself practicing, I would have thought it would be way too boring for any of my subscribers to want to see.

Honestly I feel fairly camera shy, and in life I managed to roll a 3 in charisma :-) Luckily I don't need to speak in my actual published videos. But I'll give it a think and maybe try it out some time.

Yeah I mix it up w/ covers and originals. Every cover is in my own unique style, and has at least some bit of originality in it.

[waboremo]

Definitely think a lot of creatives feel the same, that practice is too boring or too raw but it's just a part of the process! Some love seeing that process, and it gives them another way to connect, others don't really care but even just seeing the process on the channel can demonstrate authenticity.

Lots of options even if you don't want to show your face or voice as well. Like short videos on how do play the chorus of (popular media here), with text/graphics on the video to help people.

Don't discount external platforms as part of the entire journey, they can feed into each other. Twitch-Patreon-Youtube combination is really common, TikTok/Insta Reels instead of Twitch is another. Best part of such video-based combinations is content reuse, you don't need to generate new content per platform, fantastic for stretching out periods between intense recording sessions. Then add in platform specific content (like opening up some rough draft originals to Tiktok duets, encouraging people to add their own lyrics), and you've got quite a substantial cycle in place without much serious effort due to all the reuse!

[themodelplumber]

Congratulations, that's awesome.

I'm curious, do you adjust or renegotiate your brand deals periodically based on anything like metrics, value of their new campaigns, etc.?

In general just curious about how those contacts work out for you. Not in the game but have worked around it a lot, away from YouTube.

[mwidell]

It is very hard to set a price. But when you are negotiating with brands you soon get a feel for what you are worth. And yeah I increase my rates over time if I grow the average views per video.

Typically the deals are only on a video-for-video basis, even if I had contracts lasting up to 5-6 months at most. So it is easy to ask for a new price when you negotiate the next deal.

[batmaniam]

Did companies reach out to you for brand deals, or did you actively reach out to them asking for sponsorship?

[mwidell]

Both. Lately I have started reaching out and it works pretty well!

[oblio]

How worried are you about copy cats ruining your business?

[mwidell]

Not at all. That's the beauty of being an influencer - it is really hard to copy what you do, including personality and all. Also, it takes years to build a following and a personal brand. Sometimes people upload copies of my videos, but youtube has a good system to notify me and take them down.