How Smart Creators Are Making Money 💰

Learn how to bring in income beyond ad revenue as a creator

Author

Phillip DeRenzo
November 07, 2022

Hey there. It's a new week. A fresh start. AND a perfect opportunity to talk about how creators can make some extra money!

Now, let's get into it! 👇

How Smart Creators Are Making Money 💰

Everybody knows that ad revenue is one way to make money as a creator. On YouTube you have Adsense. On TikTok you have the Creator Fund. Instagram even has the Reels Play Bonus.

Ads before, during, and after your videos are a great way to monetize your content. BUT for the smartest creators, this is a small portion of their income. Let's discuss some other ways creators are getting paid.

In-person events. Hop off the web and bring your audience to you. In-person events can be extremely lucrative. Just look at celebrity boxing matches - Logan and Jake Paul reportedly made $40M in 2021 from boxing matches alone.

Now, I know we can't all be the Paul brothers, but that doesn't mean you can't hold in-person events. You could set up a live show for hundreds or thousands if you're a comedian, podcaster, or other type of entertainer. You could do an in-person Q&A or workshop with 50 fans. The event could be a 10 person weekend retreat.

So, how do you go about setting up an in-person event?

First, check to see if you have a large number of viewers in any particular area. YouTube Studio makes this easy under the "Audience" tab... ⤵️

If you have a large number of viewers in any particular area, that's where your demand is highest. Reach out to venues (depending on the type of event), use a service like Eventbrite to organize the event, and communicate with your audience to gauge interest.

Physical products (not merch). Think about MrBeast and Feastables.

Instead of trying to compete with thousands of creators selling branded merch, think about what products your viewers are already buying. Is there any way you can provide that for them?

If you're a creator in the Parenting niche, you could sell a daily parenting journal. If you're a Food/Cooking creator, you could come out with your own line of measuring cups.

The most important thing is that the people who already watch your content already buy the physical product. Because if you provide value to them on a regular basis, why wouldn't they want to support you?

Digital products (not a course). Digital products are money printers for creators. There's much lower overhead costs than physical products, so creators can get up to 90% profit margins on products sold. This means if you sell a $10 product, you receive $9 profit.

We've all seen creators selling courses and these can definitely make some good money. But again - so much competition. So what can you sell?

A creator on Twitter with over 200K followers, Easlo, makes over $100K per year selling Notion templates. A tech and lifestyle YouTuber, Oliur, makes over $100K per year selling phone wallpapers, Notion templates, and LUTs for video editing. Here's one of his videos from 2021 showing about 3.5 months of sales... ⤵️

Gumroad is a great place to start selling digital products for free. Think about your viewers and any digital products that might make their lives easier.

Affiliate commissions. Affiliate marketing is a great way to start making money even before you're monetized on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Here's how affiliate marketing works - you sign up to be an affiliate for a company and get a commission every time you refer someone to buy their product or service.

Something a lot of people don't know - at the bottom of most company websites, you'll see a link to sign up to become an affiliate. Take Grammarly for example... ⤵️

A ton of software companies are starting to provide lifetime affiliate payments, which means that if you refer a customer, you get paid monthly for as long as they stay a customer.

Over time, those affiliate commissions will add up!

This segment of today's Viral Post was inspired by Paddy Galloway's recent tweet about non-obvious ways creators make money. Go show him some love! ❤️

A $20 Million Creator Fund?! 🤯

What happened? Misfits Gaming Group, an esports and entertainment company, launched a $20 million creator fund “aimed at providing creators and influencers with the resources and infrastructure to easily implement projects that are innovative, creative, ambitious, and sustainable,” it says.

Who is the fund for? All creators. Apparently, they're looking for all types of creators - small, big, YouTubers, TikTokers, bloggers, whatever. Their main goal is to help creators bring their projects to life.

How can you apply for the fund? Applications for the fund will be accepted on a rolling basis here.

Quick Clicks 💻

Creator Advice Of The Day 📝

Lots of great advice in this thread! 👇

Hit reply and let us know what you thought of today's Viral Post.