TL;DR: I’ve created a YouTube channel to gather an audience and sell online courses in the 3D printing niche. Started 4 months ago, got monetized last week. A few days before I launched my course about 3D modeling and already managed to sell 4 at $97 so far (EDIT: Up to 7 already). So today is finally the day where I can report actual success after many months of reading, learning and trying different things.
A bit about myself: I’m Sascha, a 36 year old software developer from Germany. First read Unscripted in December 2020. After reading @Valier's thread a few weeks ago for the first time I’m pretty sure it was his video directing me here back then. Took me three years to go full circle after MJ linked it in an email, thanks for that!
At first I dipped my toes by doing freelancing IT work and joining the @Fox Legends program. Even though I haven’t sold a single website to this day (that’s on me!) I learned a lot about sales. I also built a free website for a friend who was able to make the jump from employee to business woman with her own employees thanks in part to the website (her customers often praise the website). So I at least had proof that Donald Miller’s “Marketing made simple” structure works, which I applied to her page. A very good book I can’t recommend enough.
I also developed an electronic product. A computer controlled cat laser toy with 100% random movement and timer. I did all the paperwork necessary to sell it here in Germany but that process alone took half a year in waiting time only to discover I made a mistake in the application. Meanwhile I already started my YouTube channel. After evaluating the risk/reward ratio, thinking about warranty claims and everything, I decided that trying to sell the product is not worth more of my time. But I will probably show it on my channel in the future. Maybe there are manufacturers out there interested in the design.
But why did I start YouTube in the first place? Somewhere here on the forum I read about the book “How to get paid for what you know” by Graham Cochrane. In there he describes in great detail how you can build knowledge based products like online courses and sell them by building an audience on YouTube. Not spending a single dime on ads. As I usually do I bought the audiobook version and I vividly remember listening to it one night being so overwhelmed by how easy everything sounds and that I’m 100% sure this is doable for me. It took me a few weeks to plan out which niche would be the best. I have a very broad skillset and was looking for something where I can truly stand out.
When I realized how many friends are asking me for 3D printing advice it finally clicked. This is the topic people need to learn more about, where I could shine and that still has a lot of potential (growth) left. So I went ahead, made a YouTube channel and recorded my first video. It didn’t gain much traction, but a few people were watching already. Binge watching tutorials about editing, storytelling and so on was in order. For my third video I told a personal story with a rather provocative title (I thought 3D printing is for useless figurines…) which gained a few thousand viewers already.
I gained a few subscribers and went on to make more videos while outlining the plan for my course. I also created a lead magnet to collect email addresses from viewers. I literally wrote half of it waiting at the doctor's office being sick. The book said email marketing is the way to go and who am I to judge at this point? I didn’t have a finished product but I might as well gather some potential customers to market to.
Growth was slow and steady, every new video gained a few thousand views from there on. One even reached over 15k last year. Using a teleprompter was a real game changer for me and especially my views. Subscribers were growing, getting monetized at 1000 subs and 4000 watch hours was something I didn’t want to miss out on (which Graham completely neglects, that’s where I totally disagree with him). Although the main goal was and still is selling courses.
I took a month off over the holidays to film and edit my course as well as writing all the sales copy. On January 21st I finally had everything in place. I got my course with 66 video lessons online, an email prepared to launch it and a new video for YouTube where I promoted a free preview of the first chapter. I wrote the email in a style I learned from Ian Stanley, I wrote it in the perspective of “YOUR 3D PRINTER”. Sent it out, scheduled the video for the same evening and went to bed.
Last time I checked I had around 700 subscribers and 2500 watch hours, so quite a few left until monetization. I woke up to a few thousand views on the video already and three people had bought my course! Only one from the email though, two were from the video (I had a discount code in place and my email list is still small enough to know people by name). So I made $250 net sales overnight! Needless to say I was pretty stoked. I didn’t expect the first sales to come in so quickly.
And there was another thing, YouTube picked up my video and it spread like wildfire, at least from my small perspective. I gained 10k views in the first 24h, going to 18k in 36h after launch. Fun fact: It was about the most basic topic in the niche, probably talked about a million times on YouTube already. Three days after the launch I handed in my application for YouTubes partner program. Less than 24h later I was monetized. Since then I’ve been also gaining ad revenue. Only 6-12 dollars a day currently but it’s real fast lane money. Although it lacks the C in CENTS but as far as I’m concerned it’s free bonus money.
As of today I’m engaging as much with my audience as possible. I did that in the past for free on Reddit and now I’m just as happy doing it while earning money. Graham preaches “giving” as a sales strategy and so does Gary Vaynerchuk in "The thank you economy". So far it works out fine. Just yesterday I answered a few lengthy emails from a viewer about a project he wants to build. I gave him a lot of tips and pitched my course twice. He was so happy with my answers he went ahead and bought my course the same night.
So far no other sales from the video but I only had time to lay out my email “nurturing campaign” last weekend. Let’s see if that works out as well as the rest of the marketing strategies I took from the book.
Key takeaways:
Thanks to everyone on here writing so much helpful stuff! And special thanks to @RightyTighty who took the time to discuss my plans with me. And of course to everyone elso on @Subsonic's meetup calls giving out great advice.
Feel free to ask me anything if you like.
Cheers
Sascha
P.S.: @Gepi Grahams approach works, I can highly recommend it!
A bit about myself: I’m Sascha, a 36 year old software developer from Germany. First read Unscripted in December 2020. After reading @Valier's thread a few weeks ago for the first time I’m pretty sure it was his video directing me here back then. Took me three years to go full circle after MJ linked it in an email, thanks for that!
At first I dipped my toes by doing freelancing IT work and joining the @Fox Legends program. Even though I haven’t sold a single website to this day (that’s on me!) I learned a lot about sales. I also built a free website for a friend who was able to make the jump from employee to business woman with her own employees thanks in part to the website (her customers often praise the website). So I at least had proof that Donald Miller’s “Marketing made simple” structure works, which I applied to her page. A very good book I can’t recommend enough.
I also developed an electronic product. A computer controlled cat laser toy with 100% random movement and timer. I did all the paperwork necessary to sell it here in Germany but that process alone took half a year in waiting time only to discover I made a mistake in the application. Meanwhile I already started my YouTube channel. After evaluating the risk/reward ratio, thinking about warranty claims and everything, I decided that trying to sell the product is not worth more of my time. But I will probably show it on my channel in the future. Maybe there are manufacturers out there interested in the design.
But why did I start YouTube in the first place? Somewhere here on the forum I read about the book “How to get paid for what you know” by Graham Cochrane. In there he describes in great detail how you can build knowledge based products like online courses and sell them by building an audience on YouTube. Not spending a single dime on ads. As I usually do I bought the audiobook version and I vividly remember listening to it one night being so overwhelmed by how easy everything sounds and that I’m 100% sure this is doable for me. It took me a few weeks to plan out which niche would be the best. I have a very broad skillset and was looking for something where I can truly stand out.
When I realized how many friends are asking me for 3D printing advice it finally clicked. This is the topic people need to learn more about, where I could shine and that still has a lot of potential (growth) left. So I went ahead, made a YouTube channel and recorded my first video. It didn’t gain much traction, but a few people were watching already. Binge watching tutorials about editing, storytelling and so on was in order. For my third video I told a personal story with a rather provocative title (I thought 3D printing is for useless figurines…) which gained a few thousand viewers already.
I gained a few subscribers and went on to make more videos while outlining the plan for my course. I also created a lead magnet to collect email addresses from viewers. I literally wrote half of it waiting at the doctor's office being sick. The book said email marketing is the way to go and who am I to judge at this point? I didn’t have a finished product but I might as well gather some potential customers to market to.
Growth was slow and steady, every new video gained a few thousand views from there on. One even reached over 15k last year. Using a teleprompter was a real game changer for me and especially my views. Subscribers were growing, getting monetized at 1000 subs and 4000 watch hours was something I didn’t want to miss out on (which Graham completely neglects, that’s where I totally disagree with him). Although the main goal was and still is selling courses.
I took a month off over the holidays to film and edit my course as well as writing all the sales copy. On January 21st I finally had everything in place. I got my course with 66 video lessons online, an email prepared to launch it and a new video for YouTube where I promoted a free preview of the first chapter. I wrote the email in a style I learned from Ian Stanley, I wrote it in the perspective of “YOUR 3D PRINTER”. Sent it out, scheduled the video for the same evening and went to bed.
Last time I checked I had around 700 subscribers and 2500 watch hours, so quite a few left until monetization. I woke up to a few thousand views on the video already and three people had bought my course! Only one from the email though, two were from the video (I had a discount code in place and my email list is still small enough to know people by name). So I made $250 net sales overnight! Needless to say I was pretty stoked. I didn’t expect the first sales to come in so quickly.
And there was another thing, YouTube picked up my video and it spread like wildfire, at least from my small perspective. I gained 10k views in the first 24h, going to 18k in 36h after launch. Fun fact: It was about the most basic topic in the niche, probably talked about a million times on YouTube already. Three days after the launch I handed in my application for YouTubes partner program. Less than 24h later I was monetized. Since then I’ve been also gaining ad revenue. Only 6-12 dollars a day currently but it’s real fast lane money. Although it lacks the C in CENTS but as far as I’m concerned it’s free bonus money.
As of today I’m engaging as much with my audience as possible. I did that in the past for free on Reddit and now I’m just as happy doing it while earning money. Graham preaches “giving” as a sales strategy and so does Gary Vaynerchuk in "The thank you economy". So far it works out fine. Just yesterday I answered a few lengthy emails from a viewer about a project he wants to build. I gave him a lot of tips and pitched my course twice. He was so happy with my answers he went ahead and bought my course the same night.
So far no other sales from the video but I only had time to lay out my email “nurturing campaign” last weekend. Let’s see if that works out as well as the rest of the marketing strategies I took from the book.
Key takeaways:
- People will buy an information based product even if all the information is available for free
- I’d say the flood of information makes it even easier to sell something comprehensive
- You don’t need to spend a dime on ads
- It’s very much possible to grow on YouTube in a rather short timeframe
- Don’t be afraid to be yourself, engage with your audience and they will grow to like you
- I make sure to put at least one silly joke I find hilarious in every video
Thanks to everyone on here writing so much helpful stuff! And special thanks to @RightyTighty who took the time to discuss my plans with me. And of course to everyone elso on @Subsonic's meetup calls giving out great advice.
Feel free to ask me anything if you like.
Cheers
Sascha
P.S.: @Gepi Grahams approach works, I can highly recommend it!
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