How to Make Money on YouTube from Day 1 (Without Ads, Subs or Sponsorships)

Speaker: Many people think they need to build an audience first to make money on YouTube, but that's actually not the only way. You can make money from the beginning, even with less than thousand subs and views. And you can do this without relying on YouTube AdSense, sponsorships, neither affiliates. I know many of you are getting very skeptical, but bear with me because it's actually really simple.

I've been making videos for 9 years now, and after studying YouTube monetization for years, I've realized actually something big. There are actually two completely different approaches to making money on YouTube. And I call them the creator approach and the entrepreneur approach. And one of them lets you start making money from day one.

Now, I'm not saying that one is better than the other. It actually like really depends on where you are right now. And I'm really not here to sell you some empty dream because not everyone can use this strategy right away. But if you can, it can be a gamecher.

Because like when I started using this exact strategy, I actually made over 120K working with just 23 high ticket clients in a few months. And you might be thinking that, yeah, but that only worked because you already had an audience. That's what I actually thought too. But then one of my coaching students, Felix, generated over $8,000 with less than,000 views and just 692 subscribers.

So how his basically thing is AI and instead of trying to make viral videos about AI, we identified together specific pain points of people who would benefit from his AI coach service and his video was definitely not optimized for YouTube algorithm. I mean it was like an hour-ong video and it definitely wasn't for everyone but it was perfect for his audience. And it's not only my like students.

For example, let's talk about Thomas Frank. when he actually switched to the strategy, his income doubled and he now makes over 100k per month from a channel one/tenth the size of his original one. Or August Bradley at around like 10k subscribers, he used the exact strategy and generated like $1 million in revenue. And that is crazy, but it's not a coincidence.

You know, this is actually a proof that subscriber count isn't what matters most. And today, I'll show you exactly how to choose the right approach for you and also how to implement it step by step. If you want to apply this to your own channel, I got a free step-by-step guide in the description below. So, check it out.

Before we dive in, you need to understand that there are two completely approaches that I mentioned, right? Two different ways to make money on YouTube. And both approaches work, but they just serve different purposes and timelines. So, who should choose which path and why?

The main difference comes down to timing and your starting point. Like if you already have an experience and can teach something, the entrepreneur approach will help you monetize faster. But if you're still exploring or developing your skills, the creator approach gives you time to find your place and your unique voice.

Let's talk about the creator approach first. Okay, this is what I did when I first started and it's what most people on YouTube try to do. That's a very common way. The creator approach means basically building an audience first, right? you know, gaining subscribers, making videos, you create content you love and you think that's going to work and you learn what your viewers need and then you develop products based on those needs.

Like for example, when I started my channel, I focused on building my audience first instead of like creating a product and selling it right away. And I was talking about the things I was passionate about. And along the way, I made a video about my struggles with ADHD. And that video went viral and it did really well.

And after that video, I discovered that many of my viewers had similar challenges about ADHD. And I created a ADHD notion template. I hadn't really planned to create ADHD notion template when I first started my channel, but by understanding what my audience needed, I created a solution that made over 50K in revenue and I didn't even promote it that much. And the thing about creator approach is that it definitely works, you know, like for example, my channel, but it's a longer path to making money.

You might get there eventually, but it takes time. Most people quit and you're basically hoping your audience will want whatever you decide to sell later. That's the issue.

So, now let's talk about the entrepreneur approach. This is like what I wish I would known when I first started. And this approach is instead of in building an audience first and figuring out money later, you start with the end in mind. You already have a specific problem you solve, a service you provide or maybe product you sell. And then you know you first work on that product and YouTube just becomes your platform to reach the right people who need your solution.

Almost like YouTube is just for promoting instead of making money from YouTube. So it might sound complicated. So let me give you an example.

Okay. Let's say you are a math tutor who helps like high school students pass maybe some exams. So instead of making videos for everyone, you know, maybe to all high school students or what it's like to be a teacher, etc., etc., you start with the problems the potential clients you have. So who are your potential clients? Maybe the high school students who are preparing for these exams or maybe the parents of these students.

So you think about which of them can I sell something or provide a service to that they will find valuable. So let's say we picked the students, right? Every video you create needs to focus on specific problems these students commonly struggle with. Maybe they're struggling with a problem or maybe they are struggling with a topic of the math you're teaching and that's one of the common topics that people are having hard time to understand.

So maybe you can make videos about it or you can make videos about how to prepare for exams specifically for math and how to manage stress and how to manage maybe health for high school students who are preparing for the specific exam you're talking about. And the thing is that you're not trying to appeal to everyone. You're speaking directly to your potential clients and that's why you can make money from the beginning if you use this approach because everyone that sees your video is a potential client and they might be looking for exactly what you offer.

A real life example would be Thomas Frank. He initially sold like notion templates on his main channel when he basically saw demand for notion, right? But then he created a dedicated channel just for notion. every single video solved a specific problem Notion users has. Not any other apps, just Notion. And he makes right now like over 100K per month from a very niche channel that only talks about Notion.

And I remember that he said that in a one podcast that he never hit like 100K with his main channel with where he had like millions of subscribers basically. So why did this work so well for Thomas Frank? Because first of all, every video attracted people actively looking for either notion solutions, looking for something related with notion, right? So every single person that watched his video wasn't a random viewer, but a potential client.

So let me show you exactly how the entrepreneur approach works because most people get this completely like backfort. They, you know, usually obsess over editing fancy thumbnails or getting the perfect camera and gear. But the truth is that most valuable thing you can bring to YouTube isn't like technical perfection. It's solving real problems for real people.

Because think about like this, you know, when you're in pain, like do you care if your doctor has a fancy office? No. Like I wouldn't care. I would only care whether they can fix something about me. And YouTube works exactly the same way.

So there are two ways to start. Okay. First way is that you start with a specific problem you are qualified to solve. For example, if you are a personal trainer maybe who helps like busy professionals lose weight, that's your starting point. Every video becomes a way for you to reach to these very busy individuals who wants to get fit. And the second way is that you start with the people you want to serve.

You're maybe passionate about people interested in fitness who are over 50. So you would study their specific needs like maybe safe exercise routines, dietary changes, aging bodies, managing chronic conditions, family, these kind of things. Then you would choose which challenges you are best equipped to help them overcome. So both paths can work.

You can start with the problem you will solve or you can start with the people that you want to help with. Both of them can work. But the most important part where people miss is that you need clear alignment between your expertise and your audience's needs. One of the biggest mistakes I see people picking is a unique channel niche without asking are people are actually searching for this? Is there a demand? Because if there's a no demand, being unique like doesn't mean anything.

You know, when I work with my students, my coaching students, we spend actually a lot of time getting this foundation right because it's the most important part you need to spend time on. So, I created a detailed guide that helps you identify your perfect niche and validate your idea before making your first video. It's free. It's in the description below.

The important note is that if you haven't solved a problem yourself yet, don't offer products or services around it. That's just not ethical in my opinion. There's so many people promising to get a result that they have never achieved in their life. You know, I see a lot of people DMing me about, for example, Instagram growth. I'll get you to 100K, 200k followers or something and I look at their followers and it's like 50 like first do it on your own and get credibility.

Okay. So what you can do, you can instead document your journey solving that issue and it can also like build you credibility over time and will set you apart from people selling solutions that they haven't achieved personally. So please document your journey.

Once you know your target audience and the problem you'll solve, the next step is creating helpful content, right? But one of the mistakes that I've also done at the beginning was making random videos and hoping just something sticks and goes viral magically. So instead, I want to share the framework that I use with my students, which we call the day one strategy.

And here's how it works. If I lost everything I've achieved and only had my framework left, what would I do from day one to day 30 to get my results back? So, for example, if you are a real estate agent, maybe you're helping like first-time home buyers, you wouldn't start with like the 10 facts about real estate video, you know? Instead, you would make maybe a video like how to get approved for a mortgage when you're self-employed.

Something like that. Because the second video idea is a specific challenge that many potential home buyers are actively searching for help with, right? Or let's say if you are a fitness trainer, you know, maybe you're helping like busy professionals, you wouldn't start with like 10 best workout tips or something like that. You would create videos maybe like how to get fit even with a busy full-time job because that's probably what your audience is actively looking for.

So, how can you turn this framework into an actual videos? I want you to write down everything your ideal client needs to know to get their desired results like every step of the journey, every problem that they will face, every question that they will have. For example, our fitness trainer example, like this might include maybe meal prep for busy working people or quick hotel room workouts if they're flying quite often or how to stay consistent when working late and with a packed schedule.

And each of these challenges that they have can become a video idea. And it works because it make you think like your audience, right? Like we need to think what are they typing into YouTube search at like 2:00 a.m. when are they struggling? Those becomes your video ideas and topics.

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. The strategy sounds great, but there's so much to figure out when starting a YouTube channel, because there are. And you might be thinking, I'm not sure I can handle all the technical aspects while focusing on creating valuable content, which is an issue I also face.

And when I did a survey in my community about their biggest struggles with content creation, editing videos consistently came up as one of the most challenging parts like again and again. Because finding a good editor is not only difficult, but it can also get expensive very quickly, especially when you're just starting out and trying to figure out like your style and what kind of videos you want to create.

So that's why I want to recommend a tool that can save you from painful and endless editing sessions, which is Glink AI. What makes it different from other editing tools is that it was specifically designed for YouTubers. So let me show you how it works.

After, let's say you filmed a video, you just upload the raw footage, the glink. And what it does is that it automatically transcribes everything and then analyzes the content to remove those awkward silences and fillers words like um a and also the bad takes. First of all, this alone like helps you a lot of editing time and especially if you're not used to like talking to camera, this is a game changer.

And after that, you can edit by using the video timeline like traditional editors, or you can use one of my favorite features, which is the AI textbased trimmer. This lets you edit your video by simply selecting the text to remove. And it makes the process like so much faster because you're just basically reading it.

And Glink also automatically adds captions to your videos and the automatic zoom features like zoom in and zoom out to make the video more engaging without you needing to do anything. And when you're finished editing, you can either download your video directly or export it to other editing softwares like Final Cut Pro, Dainci Resolve or Adobe Premiere if you need to do more advanced editing or you want to collaborate with maybe others.

Glink also provides your captions in SRT format which means you can directly upload them to YouTube. So if you're tired about editing, just give a Glink try the link in description below. Thank you Gling for supporting this channel and partnering up.

Now let's get back to the strategy. Entrepreneur approach is not just about like creating helpful content in waiting for someone to purchase your products. Even though a lot of people think that way. I used to think that way too. And I made a huge mistake at the beginning.

I put all of my baskets in the YouTube algorithm basket. Okay? Very bad move because YouTube changes its algorithm all the time. Your videos can get like half views overnight. We need to do something different. We need to own our relationship with our audience.

And here's what I mean. Let's say like someone finds your video because they have a specific problem, right? That moment is the most important moment actually in terms of our business. Because they're basically raising their hand and saying like, "I need help." But if they just watch and leave, what will happen? We will be basically hoping YouTube magically shows them our next video.

And that's like building our house on rented land. It's all smart. This is why you and also I absolutely need to collect emails because it's not some optional extra. Okay, it's essential when you have someone's email. No algorithm can get between you.

Let's look at like Thomas Frank's channel. He has very great videos, right? But the real thing that he does is that with every video he offers a free template. If you want it, you drop your email and you get the template and it almost gets your email. Simple, right?

Now, if YouTube decided we're not showing Thomas videos anymore, I don't know, we don't like Thomas or something, he can still reach thousands of people directly with their email. And I actually started to do the exact same thing. Every video of mine now offers valuable free stuff.

And not only it helps like my audience to take action, but it also secures my reach. And once you have built your email list, now this is the most important part. Okay, I'm saying this so many times in this video. I don't know why, but most creators like immediately jump to selling a generic course, you know, because I used to also think if people like my free content, they will pay for more detailed information.

I no, that's a big mistake. I actually like spent 30k on YouTube courses before I figured this out. And here's what I discovered. There is a massive difference between random information and valuable curated knowledge. Because the internet is full of advice.

Sure, you can learn a lot of things, but much of it is either contradictory, outdated, or just plain wrong because it's not controlled. And what people really value is that highquality information that's filtered and corrected, organized in a logical sequence rather than just like packing random things together and making a course and tailored to their specific situation and most importantly paired with implementation support.

So for example, let's think about fitness, okay? Watching workout videos teach us proper form for free on YouTube, right? But it doesn't fix your form when you're at the gym. It's on you to correct your form and figure out a specific workout routine for your specific body and your needs.

And this part like the implementation part like realizing it actually changed a lot of things for me because in my like coaching community, creator coaching studio for example, I provide like first of all information you can't easily find online. Even though people say like oh there's everything online, you can learn it. No, you can't learn everything because I teach my exact method which is not online.

So, no, that's first of all wrong. And second of all, it's filtered, organized, and saves you countless hours of trial and error because I've done it and I'm just filtering it for you. But it doesn't stop there because most courses stop here.

But I also help you to implement that. I personally listen to your goals, visions, and I also help it apply it to your specific niche and content by talking with me like personally. Basically I talk with our community members like directly and I don't have like a team member to chat with them so that I can ensure they can implement what they learn.

So instead of like just selling more information which is the thing that I thought it would work we need to give them the implementation because that's what most people want right and there is a huge gap in my opinion in the market like if you would look into any of courses even if it's about YouTube growth if it's about fitness or anything most people are just selling more information but they're not selling the implementation.

So if you just even start implementing this you will start seeing the difference but the one issue with this method is that while like making problems solving videos are great for attracting your like potential customers, there is a one challenge in a problem that took me like a years to figure out. Like think about it.

When someone let's say like watches your how to take better Instagram pictures video and you solve their problem of like how to take pictures, you know, they don't know how to take pictures. What happens next? They follow for your advice and they learn maybe how to take better pictures and they maybe buy my your filters and templates you mentioned or maybe your photography course and then they're like thanks and then they're gone.

Why would they come back? You already fixed their specific problem especially if your videos are valuable and your course is enough to implement it. And YouTube hates this, right? Because we're basically taking them out of the platform and they're not coming back.

So YouTube wants to make the viewers stay as long as they can. So what do we need to do? First of all, nobody cares about our life story when people first discover us. Most people are looking for value. How can we deliver value if they don't know us? We need to solve their issue, right?

So we got to make like straight to the point videos to build our credibility. But there is a one shift that I need you to do and that is once you start growing, this is important. Once you start growing, okay, you got to like implement some personal stories, not just like a random ones, but the relevant experiences for the video that you're creating, maybe the struggles you overcome, how you overcome them, how you relate to the audience, and how it made you feel back then, etc., etc., etc., but don't make the storytelling like the majority of the video.

It becomes boring in my opinion. Our main focus is still the solving the problem. And when I first of all like started actually implementing a little bit of my storytelling, a little bit of my like experiences and the struggles I had, people actually started remembering my advice better because stories give the context, right? And they actually start coming back for more videos, not specifically maybe not only for the solutions, but because they like my specific take on things because I know what you're going through and you know that I relate to you and I know how frustrating it feels.

For example, not to see growth on YouTube or not to be able to monetize because I went through that with four or five failed channels and for years and I completely get how you feel and that's the important differentiator that we need to have.

If you want to learn more about how to grow on YouTube and make money from it. I actually have a free 7-day email newsletter and I'll teach you the most important lessons I've learned and also the strategies I wish I would know. Oh my god, someone has gone crazy. It's in the description below and it's free.

So, don't forget to check it out. And if you like this video, I'm sure you will like this video where I talk about my exact framework that I used to go from zero to 100K subscribers in just 3 months. See you soon.