I Make $300,000/Month with 50 YouTube Channels

My name is Charlie. I'm 33 years old and

I make YouTube videos for a living. So,

I actually got started back in 2008. I

had a YouTube channel that was dedicated

to music covers. I'd play instruments

like piano and guitar and I'd have

people like my sister sing. And that's

basically how I got started in the

YouTube space. I did that for a bunch of

years all throughout high school and

college. And back in 2017 2018, that's

when I started shifting my content

towards personal finance and business. A

lot of you guys watching might have seen

my main channel, which is the current

channel you're watching. But over the

last few years, we built this whole

media business that runs about 50

different channels. We have channels in

a ton of different niches. So, for

example, business, business information,

website building, ecom, SAS, we have a

couple music channels, course reviews,

go high level, VPNs, recruiting, crypto,

insurance, personal finance. You also

have a ton of different channels in

other languages. Yeah, it's really all

over the place. So, this is a question I

get all the time. It's how much money do

you actually make as a YouTuber? And I

will say my business is quite different

than most YouTubers businesses. Most

YouTubers have one or two channels. They

focus on one type of content. For me, we

do content on a bunch of different

things, but I'd say that the glue, like

the thing that all these channels have

in common is that they're all

educational. They all teach things. And

so, yeah, I don't really make much like

viral entertainment content. I know my

strengths and that's more towards

actually teaching people things. In

terms of numbers, the media company does

about $300,000 per month on average.

Some months can dip to maybe the

mid200s, some months into the high30s.

So, there definitely is a bit of range

and it can get a little bit scary at

times. Yeah, overall I'm pretty happy

with the growth of the company. I

started making seven figures back in I

think 2021. We stay at around $1.5

million a year for a couple years and

then slowly we've been growing the

company, adding new channels, and then

finding new income sources. So in terms

of how the income is broken down, I'd

say 80% of it is through affiliate

marketing. This is basically when we

have links in our description and if

people use those links, we make a small

commission. About 10% is from ad

revenue. Then we have like another 8%

from brand deals. We don't do these that

often. And then maybe 2% from other

miscellaneous revenue sources such as

core sales and stuff like that. So yeah,

it's heavily affiliate marketing based.

This is basically what I consider my

specialty with YouTube and it really

pairs well with the educational tutorial

style video. I think a lot of other

creators, they rely heavily on brand

deals and AdSense. For me, I don't

really like doing that since that can

vary a ton. I really prefer

performance-based where we're not

getting a flat fee for a video, but we

only make money when the video actually

converts to sales for a particular

company. So, it's basically a win-win.

And then what I found is that the income

cap for a lot of these videos is way way

higher than if I were to have done a

brand deal. Yes, sometimes we'll make a

video and not make much money or

anything at all, but sometimes a single

video can make hundreds of thousands of

dollars. Essentially, I never want to

know exactly how much a video is going

to make. That's been the formula for me.

And I know it is a little bit risky.

It's a little bit more scary, but I

think that's why we've been able to

monetize so well. So, going back to my

childhood, I always sort of knew I

wanted to become an entrepreneur. I had

a lemonade stand. I sold candy in

school. I bought and resold stuff

online, but eventually my parents wanted

me to become a doctor. I went through

the whole like premed route. Didn't get

into med school. Tried a bunch of

different things and finally decided I

was going to work for myself. Since

then, I've done pretty much every single

side hustle you can think of.

Photography, video, tutoring. I was a

tutor for many years in LA. I started a

marketing company. I started a clothing

brand. And basically, the list goes on.

I always had a passion for personal

finance since I grew up in such a frugal

household. And that really got me

excited to make money, invest money,

grow my money. So essentially, I paired

that with my love for video and

photography. I started actually just

posting content online. I started doing

Instagram and Tik Tok and gradually I

shifted to more long- form content on

YouTube. Today my media company has over

50 people. We have a combination of

project managers, of thumbnail editors,

video editors. I have my COO. We have a

ton of YouTube hosts that help host some

of these channels. We have a website

team, an AI person, and I know I'm

missing some people, but yeah, the

team's really grown over the years.

Almost all of my team is overseas. And

I've always wanted a remote business

like this that didn't really have an

office that people had to come to. I

love being able to work from home. And

so, yeah, our whole team is async. We

don't have that many meetings. And most

of our communication is run on Slack.

So, for anyone that wants to make a

YouTube channel and start making money,

here is my advice. Try not to get into

it just because you want to make money.

Yes, you can absolutely make money with

YouTube, but that should not be your

primary goal at the start. When I

started my channel, I had zero idea that

I could actually make money from it. I

simply wanted to create videos because I

was passionate about it. I was

passionate about the topics I was

talking about. And so, yeah, the first,

you know, 50 videos didn't make any

money. After I started building a base

and building some viewership, that's

when I started getting into monetization

and all that stuff. Another big tip I

have is don't try to just make viral

videos. Playing the algorithm game is

really, really difficult. I think most

people are not going to be able to, you

know, create a hugely viral channel that

gets millions of views on every single

video. For me, I knew that that was not

my strong suit and I'd do a lot better

just teaching things that I was

passionate about. So, if there's

anything that you really like that you

are an expert at, that you love

teaching, maybe consider starting a

channel about that. There's a lot of

money in the educational YouTube space,

and there are so many different ways

that you can actually monetize your

channel. So, of course, there's AdSense,

there's going to be brand deals, there's

affiliate marketing, and then probably

the best way for most people to monetize

their channel is by selling their own

product or service. Using that YouTube

channel as a lead genen source, a way to

generate leads for their own business. I

have channels with just a few thousand

subscribers that make more money than a

lot of these other channels out there

with hundreds of thousands or even

millions of subscribers. It's really all

about the type of viewer, the type of

content, and also what you pair that

content with, right? Probably a service

or some type of business. So, the best

niches in terms of the AdSense revenue

where you can make, I'd say, $50 to $200

per thousand views are going to be

personal finance, right? maybe

insurance, SAS, different types of

softwares, business formation, anything

relating to business services,

e-commerce is a big one. Uh, so drop

shipping, Amazon FBA, all that type of

stuff. Credits, VPNs, website building,

technology self-improvement that's

just a list I can think of right now,

but there are a ton of highpaying niches

out there. So, basically how the

business works is we have a big team of

YouTube hosts. They're mostly based in

the US. And we pay these people a flat

fee to basically script and film our

videos. Once they film, they'll upload

the footage to our team of editors. And

basically, I have a team of project

managers that help to run a bunch of

these channels. They're going to

coordinate with the video editors, the

thumbnails, all those uh contractors to

get that video created, made, revisions,

all that stuff, and finally posted onto

the YouTube channel. A lot of these

channels also have their own channels in

different languages. So basically what

we do is we have a team of people in

different countries like France,

Indonesia Philippines Russia Germany

and these people are basically going to

go through all these videos. They're

going to translate them and they're

going to do a manual voice over. After

that they'll edit the native language

into the actual video with like captions

and subtitles and stuff like that.

they're going to manage the whole

channel, like the the new titles, the

new description, the new thumbnail, all

that stuff. And so, I find that this is

the cleanest way to actually have these

language channels and be able to reach a

more international audience. Yes,

YouTube's dub feature is okay. It's

really not that good if you compare it

to an actual voice over. And so, for me

to keep the quality high and to actually

have it sound like a real person, I'm

actually paying people to do these

voiceovers uh manually. So, we use a ton

of different tools within the company,

but I'd say some of the more standout

ones are going to be High Level. High

Level is how we run the backend and

funnels and stuff for a lot of our

different projects. Frame.io is a tool

that we use to actually store a lot of

these video files. We can make revision

comments on that and I love the software

so much. ClickUp is how we do all of our

content calendars. So, for every single

channel that we have, we have a separate

ClickUp calendar. We built out tons and

tons of automations that basically

streamline the whole video production

process from idea to actual posting. Of

course, we use tools like TubeBuddy and

Vid IQ. Those are really important for a

lot of YouTubers to have. Slack is where

most of our communications are. We also

do some communication within WhatsApp.

Notion is where we basically plan out

and script a lot of our courses. I use

chat a lot to help with, you know,

script ideation, helping create

outlines. And yeah, every one of you

guys watching this should always have a

chat GPT like app open on your computer

and use it multiple times per day. So

the way that I find affiliate offers is

through a bunch of different affiliate

networks. So Impact Radius, Awin,

Partners Stack, these are some of the

more popular uh affiliate networks out

there. You simply join it and you can

see a bunch of different brands and

companies all in one place. A lot of the

affiliates that I work with, I have a

personal relationship with them. So,

this is very important because you're

likely going to get much higher

affiliate rates and you also get a lot

of support from them since if you win,

they also win, right? So, I've spent the

last few years really building my

network. I attend networking events like

affiliate summit and yeah, I work with

hundreds of different affiliates and

basically the 8020 rule applies here,

right? 80% of my revenue are going to be

from 20% of my affiliates. The way that

you figure out which affiliates work for

your channel is by simply creating a lot

of content, seeing what works, and then

simply tweaking. Now, let's talk about

omniresence. I think this is a concept

that not a lot of people are able to do

in the content creation space. But

essentially, what this means is you need

to be everywhere, right? If you're

creating content, there is so much you

can do with that one piece of content to

basically repurpose for other platforms.

You can repurpose content for Instagram,

Tik Tok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, even

there's YouTube Shorts. And yeah, if

you're not on all these platforms,

you're limiting the reach of your

content. And so essentially, I've built

out systems that help me put out and

repurpose a lot of this content on all

these different platforms. There's

literally no way I'd be able to do all

this myself. I only have 24 hours in the

day. And so, yeah, the team building has

been extremely important. Learning how

to actually hire and delegate people has

been one of the biggest things I've

learned over the last five years. My

first hire was a video editor. After

that, I got a personal assistant here

who's now worked up to become my COO, my

chief operating officer. From there on,

I built up a team of project managers

and video editors and thumbnail people,

all from overseas. I'd say about a third

to half of my team is currently in

Indonesia. That's one of my favorite

countries to hire in. And interestingly

enough, that's why I also started my

overseas recruiting company called

Paired. That sister company has helped

me hire some of the most amazing team

members that I could ever ask for. I

have another channel, Charlie Talks

Business, where I really go into depth

on some of the team structures. So,

yeah, if you want to watch that video,

I'll link it down below. So, for my

typical schedule, I basically wake up at

around 6:00 a.m. Usually, I'll do a

little morning routine, probably hit the

gym. A lot of times, I'll go out to

breakfast with my girlfriend or

something like that, and I get the day

started with work. My work schedule

varies a lot. No single day is going to

be the same. Some days I'm filming

videos, some days I'm just doing a lot

of planning. Some days I'm in meetings.

And yeah, I really enjoy the freedom as

well as the fact that no day is the

same. I think the time freedom, the

location freedom is one of my favorite

parts of doing business for myself. I've

never really liked having a boss. I

really didn't like being told what to do

or having to come to an office to work.

See, that's probably one of my favorite

parts about entrepreneurship. That's

basically why I've designed my business

the way I have. Now, in terms of how I

actually manage the team, because yes, a

lot of stuff is going on every single

day. We're also balancing a lot of

different projects and things and so it

can definitely get pretty crazy. So, I

have a CEO dashboard. It's basically a

Google sheet that my team prepares for

me. And by looking at that sheet, I can

see all of the different KPIs. I can see

all the output for the different

channels, the number of videos going

out, and I can get a really good idea of

what's happening in the business on a

day-to-day basis. We also have most of

our team do end of day reports. So often

I'll review those at the start of each

month. I also set KPIs for the team. So

these are numbers that we want to hit,

not in terms of revenue, but in terms of

actual output. I'm a big believer that

you should actually just measure output

rather than revenue because revenue,

there's a ton of different factors that

can influence it. Whereas output is a

very concrete thing that we actually are

in pretty much 100% control of. Most of

the direct communication I do is with my

COO. He's going to communicate most of

that information to our team of project

managers and then the project managers

are going to communicate that stuff with

all the other contractors. It's really

streamlined and it's really what allows

us to basically create a new channel and

have it going with new content in just a

couple weeks. We're always starting new

channels, trying new things, and

actually a lot of these channels will

fail and just never make money. But a

huge concept I live by is doing volume,

doing something consistently to find the

actual winner. I know most of the things

are not going to be worth it in the end,

but I need to do them to actually

identify the winners. I think that's a

mindset that a lot more people should

have in their life. This makes it so

that you don't fear failure. It allows

you to fail a lot and realize that that

is actually just part of the process.

So, in terms of how I reinvest back into

the business, I'd say most of it is

actually into the team, right? Building

the team, finding new people, and with

that comes a pretty big payroll. We also

invest a lot into equipment, so a lot of

filming equipment. I rent out big spaces

to have studios. Yeah, content's

interesting because you can always have

better and better gear, but that's not

what I recommend for most people

starting out. It's really cool because

you can get started building a YouTube

channel with just your phone. iPhones

are great nowadays and the picture

quality is definitely good enough for

most channels. Yeah, I'm a huge believer

of reinvesting company money back into

the team, growing the team as well as

paying for services that help us make

more money. So, where do I see the next

5 to 10 years of content creation? So,

in my opinion, AI is getting really,

really good. It's getting scarily good

and it's definitely going to affect the

content economy. I do think that

platforms such as YouTube are really

going to have to start throttling AI

content. It's just going to get too easy

to create content and there's just going

to be like billions of hours of content

made every single day to the point where

it's going to be very hard to actually

find good genuine content. If you can

still make genuine content in 2026 and

beyond, that's going to give you a huge

advantage because most people are going

to go the easy route and just create a

bunch of content that's like super AI.

And so if your content can actually be

good, be made from an actual person, and

have a story or something to actually

connect with the viewer, that's going to

give you a huge advantage. Content tools

are going to get better and better. So

pretty much anyone's not going to have

an excuse for saying, "Oh, I don't have

time to edit. I don't have time to do

this." A lot of these things are going

to get outsourced with a lot of these

tools, and it's going to lower the moat

for content creation a ton. There's

definitely going to be more competition

over the next 5 to 10 years. There's no

doubt about that. But I think it's going

to be extremely easy to stand out if you

are genuine with your content. The

easiest way to find video ideas is by

just browsing your home screen. So, I'll

probably spend maybe 30 to 60 minutes

per week just going through my homepage

on YouTube, seeing what videos pop up in

the algorithm, and taking inspiration

from those videos. Obviously, a lot of

my content is also searchbased. So, I'll

search up a very general term, look at

what videos are ranking for that term,

and basically put those on my content

calendar. My counterintuitive advice

would just be to not chase views. Only

chase views from qualified people. So

yeah, if your goal is to make money with

YouTube, don't try and create content

that gets a lot of general views from

everyone. The more specific, the more

narrow your audience is, the more money

making ability there is. And you do that

basically through affiliate marketing or

having your own product that relates to

that content. For example, on my

recruiting channel, 200 views there

could make more revenue than a video on

a general channel with 10 million views.

And the reason for this is because 200

qualified views could turn into one or

two actual paying clients. And if a

client is paying at least a few

thousand, you can quickly see how the

math maths. So, I'd say that the reason

why my videos tend to do pretty well is

because I'm good at explaining things in

a somewhat concise way. I had a lot of

years of experience actually tutoring

kids. And I think that really helped me

be able to take more complex topics and

be able to simplify it for people.

That's what makes my videos a bit more

easy to understand in my opinion. If you

want to make educational videos, you

need to explain concepts clearly. And

one rule I go by is if an eighth grader

does not understand the content, then

it's too complex, right? That's why you

need to dumb everything down a little

bit because it makes it easier for

literally everyone to understand.

Another reason why I am successful with

my videos is because I am very

consistent. A lot of people will make

content for one or two months, they

don't see the results that they want to

see, and then they just stop doing it.

You need to be consistent in anything

you do. This doesn't relate just to

YouTube. It relates to any business you

start. And so, yeah, you need to be

really patient with the results, but you

need to be impatient with the actual

action. The action of filming, the

action of actually putting out output.

How much money did I start with? So, I

was lucky because I had already started

making money with video and photography.

So, I had a camera. At that time, I was

probably using a camera that was maybe

$2,000. My lens was maybe a few hundred

bucks. But at the same time, I was doing

short form and I was just doing that

with my phone. Content creation is one

of those skills where even if you don't

do it for the rest of your life, simply

trying to do content and learning

content makes you a better marketer and

this is going to help you for the rest

of your life. It truly is one of the

most important skills that I think

everyone should learn. Now, I don't want

you guys to watch this video and think,

"Oh, I just need to start doing a

YouTube channel so that I can make money

like Charlie." These concepts, they

apply to basically any type of business.

And as an entrepreneur that's done many

different things, I know that you can

make money in millions of different

ways. The reason why I've done YouTube

well is because I'm obsessed with

YouTube. I've been watching YouTube for

almost two decades now. I watch it when

I eat. I watch it in my free time. and I

really prefer it over Netflix and some

of the other streaming channels. Pairing

that with my love for the actual topics

that I talk about, that's why this works

well for me. It might not work well for

you, but I guarantee you there's

something out there that works extremely

well for your skills and your passions.

It just might take some time for you to

actually figure out what that was. And

along that route, there's going to be

failures. There's going to be times

where you really question yourself and

your path, but you just need to get

through that path to find the goal at

the end of the road. So, if I were to

start today, this is exactly what I

would do. I'd pick one topic that I was

passionate about. I'd make 50 to 100

different long- form videos about that

topic. After that, I would create some

type of product or service that relates

to that topic. This could be a course.

This could be a software. This could be

a service. And then I'd always have some

type of call to action in my videos to

my service or product or company. If you

do that, I think you'll have the highest

chances of seeing some type of success

with YouTube. And it is a very like

simple concept, a very simple formula.

Yeah, it's a little bit boring. It's not

as crazy as going out there and making

Mr. Beast type videos, but that's

basically how you build a business that

has marketing built in, right, with

YouTube. That also greatly increases the

amount of money you can make with your

YouTube channel. So, that's it for this

video. I know this is a little bit

different than what most of my videos

are on this channel, but I really wanted

to make this video because I think a lot

of you are interested in YouTube. You

might want to become a YouTuber

yourself. And I think some of the things

I shared in this video will really help

you out. This is basically the type of

video that I wish I could have seen when

I started. So hopefully you guys got

some value from it. Anyways, I really

appreciate your time. Thank you so much

for watching. Make sure to hit that like

button, subscribe, and yeah, I'll see

you in the next video. Peace.