So, it seems like my employment may come to an end and I see opportunity. Initially, I thought this is at least one year too early based on my original plan, but heck - would love your feedback. PS: I am 52, divorced (with the matching outgoing spousal support payment), have a 14 year old teenager and a dog both living with me 100%).
Original Plan
Back in late August 2020 I started a new Youtube channel in an area with good potential. I am professionally engaged in this field and have a lot of expertise to offer. I decided to do a LEAN approach for a MVP test. The niche has a few players with several hundred of thousands of subscribers, each player with a slight twist and my idea/area of expertise fits right in. So, I started making videos, minor growth, a few subscribers here and there. As with all things YT, you need some patience. I am now approaching 35-ish videos and growth is now in the 10-15 new subscribers per day consistently. My business model plan is a) monetize on YT (Adsense), b) use the paid community feature/Patreon for subscription income, c) offer free workshops and convert to paid workshops once established and value is shown, d) 1:1 coaching, e) write books, and f) offer free training videos with paid add-ons, g) Do the typical video sponsoring on the channel, h) partner with some complimentary 3rd party services in a supporting area/industry, i) there are even some affiliate marketing options available. I could add paid speaker gigs to the mix down the road. Based on current numbers I was looking at some time next year to convert from employment to go all in.
Updated Plan
My employer is acquired and my share equity will vest fully later this summer/fall when the acquisition is completed. After taxes I expect to have about $60K net profit from the equity + I assume a ~4 month severance + 5 weeks of vacation pay-out. This should last me about a year to 16-months if I would not reduce my cost of living. I am accounting for extra taxes. My current cost of living is about $6K per month (High cost area of living, mortgage, spousal support from divorce, etc.). I do have additional savings to add another 6-12 months. So, I am considering to go all in with YT and the related ideas for monetization.
On paper this sounds do-able, but of course I am wondering if this business plan is sound and solid?! It is an evergreen niche on YT and competitor videos go between 30K and 200K views over time. My competitors mostly make money from YT Adsense and fee-based add-on products related to their channel. Current feedback and interaction from my subscribers is very promising. People seem to love the content, interact with the videos (likes, comments, sharing). I have 22+ years of experience in this specific field of expertise and before I run out of content ideas the death valley would be filled with water all the way to top.
Is this solid? Please chime in.
But am I looking at monetization of this audience in the right way? I am not planning to do all of them in parallel. First I am focusing on reaching monetization level for YT itself. Build up a larger audience, offer free content, build up trust and reputation. I do expect $50/month/per 1000 subscribers (I run a small channel in a different area and that is what I am seeing there - I am using this number extremely conservative). Then add the workshops (2-hour workshops for for $99 - $199 per person - probably limiting it to 8-10 attendees in the beginning) and tweak it from the learnings. The next offer recordings of the workshops with some additional premium content in the paid community/Patreon and so on.
Original Plan
Back in late August 2020 I started a new Youtube channel in an area with good potential. I am professionally engaged in this field and have a lot of expertise to offer. I decided to do a LEAN approach for a MVP test. The niche has a few players with several hundred of thousands of subscribers, each player with a slight twist and my idea/area of expertise fits right in. So, I started making videos, minor growth, a few subscribers here and there. As with all things YT, you need some patience. I am now approaching 35-ish videos and growth is now in the 10-15 new subscribers per day consistently. My business model plan is a) monetize on YT (Adsense), b) use the paid community feature/Patreon for subscription income, c) offer free workshops and convert to paid workshops once established and value is shown, d) 1:1 coaching, e) write books, and f) offer free training videos with paid add-ons, g) Do the typical video sponsoring on the channel, h) partner with some complimentary 3rd party services in a supporting area/industry, i) there are even some affiliate marketing options available. I could add paid speaker gigs to the mix down the road. Based on current numbers I was looking at some time next year to convert from employment to go all in.
Updated Plan
My employer is acquired and my share equity will vest fully later this summer/fall when the acquisition is completed. After taxes I expect to have about $60K net profit from the equity + I assume a ~4 month severance + 5 weeks of vacation pay-out. This should last me about a year to 16-months if I would not reduce my cost of living. I am accounting for extra taxes. My current cost of living is about $6K per month (High cost area of living, mortgage, spousal support from divorce, etc.). I do have additional savings to add another 6-12 months. So, I am considering to go all in with YT and the related ideas for monetization.
On paper this sounds do-able, but of course I am wondering if this business plan is sound and solid?! It is an evergreen niche on YT and competitor videos go between 30K and 200K views over time. My competitors mostly make money from YT Adsense and fee-based add-on products related to their channel. Current feedback and interaction from my subscribers is very promising. People seem to love the content, interact with the videos (likes, comments, sharing). I have 22+ years of experience in this specific field of expertise and before I run out of content ideas the death valley would be filled with water all the way to top.
Is this solid? Please chime in.
But am I looking at monetization of this audience in the right way? I am not planning to do all of them in parallel. First I am focusing on reaching monetization level for YT itself. Build up a larger audience, offer free content, build up trust and reputation. I do expect $50/month/per 1000 subscribers (I run a small channel in a different area and that is what I am seeing there - I am using this number extremely conservative). Then add the workshops (2-hour workshops for for $99 - $199 per person - probably limiting it to 8-10 attendees in the beginning) and tweak it from the learnings. The next offer recordings of the workshops with some additional premium content in the paid community/Patreon and so on.
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