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The Think Media Podcast
389: How to Earn $44K from a Single YouTube Video (Strategy Explained)
00:48:01
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- [00:00]
Sean Cannell
Hey, before we jump into today's episode, I've got a question for you. Is your YouTube channel failing to bring in consistent leads and sales? If you'd say yes, then we are hosting an event that's probably perfect for you. I want to personally invite you to join me and the Think Media team this February in Las Vegas for an exclusive in person YouTube growth mastermind. Seats are limited, so make sure to secure your ticket today@thinkmedia media mastermind.com and over an intensive day and a half, I'll show you my proven strategies for creating videos that attract the right audience, generate real revenue and drive more sales. You'll craft your next winning video, learn the latest strategies for leveraging AI and attracting high quality leads, all without the complex funnels or expensive ads that can be so frustrating. Since we keep this Mastermind small and intimate spots are extremely limited and and filling up fast. So secure your spot for February 21st through the 22nd, 2025 and you can apply for this event at thinkmediamastermind.com before the seats are gone. Now, as of recording this, we're looking for about 10 more people, so grab your seat now. All right, let's jump into the podcast. Is it possible to make money from old content on your channel? Our guest earned $44,000 from a single YouTube video last year that wasn' new content. And in today's episode of the Think Media podcast, we're also going to be covering how to earn more money from your video, specifically the RPM and how to earn three to four times higher than the average rates. And she's going to be breaking down exactly how and also going through her simple content strategy that has earned over $500,000 in four years. And she did all of this while working full time as a nurse without any fancy or extra fancy gear. Plus, we'll talk a little bit about the essential mindset shifts for successful creators. Sometimes whether it's negative comments, what other people may think, all of that can sometimes hold us back. And we will break through today on the podcast now. Our guest, Jen is a healthcare consultant by day and a YouTube powerhouse by night who turned her passion for helping working moms into a channel with over 138,000 subscribers. Her practical cooking and lifestyle content has generated over a half a million dollars in just four years, all while maintaining her full time career. From viral videos earning $44,000 in ad revenue to building a thriving community of working parents, Jen proves that with the right strategy, you can build a YouTube business alongside any career. Jen, welcome to the show.
- [02:52]
Jen Chapin
Thanks for having me.
- [02:53]
Sean Cannell
So I want to go right up to. To what everybody wants to know, and that's the $44,000 video strategy. So you posted a video that wasn't new content, earned that much money from a single video. Can you break down what the strategy was, what you did, and explain this?
- [03:12]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of just as surprised as you are, or as anyone is. It was sort of an experiment, and it was kind of born out of me needing to get out a video and not really having a lot of time to film new content. And I had seen some other channels in my same sort of niche or Space on YouTube making these compilation videos, right. So you take kind of one section of your cooking. In my case it was budget meals. And I went back through all of my old content because I thought to myself, well, I've been doing YouTube for a long time. I have a lot of videos on my channel. And I think that a lot of times as creators, we think, well, if, if we posted a video two years ago, people have already seen that. But that's not true. Right, because you always have new people coming to your channel. And so what I was able to do is take a bunch of my old videos, kind of edit them, and chop them up into one big mega compilation of budget cooking. Right. Which was really big last year and the year before due to grocery prices and inflation and all of that. And, you know, kind of the common advice that a lot of people will give on YouTube is don't make your videos too long. Well, this video was almost three hours long, and so I had no idea how it was going to be received. And it ended up just taking off. And so, you know, really, it was. It was kind of out of necessity, but I also wanted to try something new that I hadn't tried before.
- [04:41]
Sean Cannell
So were these. Did you change the edits at all? So, so to break it down, you. You went into your library, you looked at all different videos you had done related to budget cooking. Did you. You threw them back into the timeline of a video editor. Do you edit your own videos?
- [04:56]
Jen Chapin
I did at that time, yes.
- [04:58]
Sean Cannell
And so what, what software were you using?
- [05:02]
Jen Chapin
I use PowerDirector.
- [05:04]
Sean Cannell
Okay, so you take your old YouTube videos, put em all in PowerDirector. Did you just leave em or did you edit it up a little bit?
- [05:10]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, I edited up a little bit because a lot of those previous videos that I had done were sponsored videos. So I wanted to kind of take the sponsored portion out. And I also kind of listene to see if there was anything that didn't really make sense. So I wouldn't say it was a huge amount of editing because obviously the content itself is already done. It's just kind of piecing it all together.
- [05:33]
Sean Cannell
Okay, so minimal edit. Did you shoot any new content?
- [05:36]
Jen Chapin
I think I shot an intro and an outro and the sponsored portion of the video, but that was it.
- [05:43]
Sean Cannell
Nice. So the strategy for listeners is thinking about this idea of using compilations. We also have sometimes called these content marathons. We're launching a bunch of new ones right now because it's kind of logical. And I did the same. I shot new intros, new outros, new transitions. But there's a lot of times so much gold in our library that we can tap into and go a little bit deeper here. This singular video earned $44,000. Like why do you think that is? And that's such a extraordinary amount of money from a singular video. Three hours is probably helpful because of multiple ad spots, but if you look behind the scenes, what are some of the things you're seeing?
- [06:23]
Jen Chapin
Well, I think first of all it was me kind of taking advantage of a current trend, right? Or like what is a current problem that people are looking to solve on YouTube? They're looking for cheap meals and inexpensive ideas that they can use to feed their family. And so I think that the topic itself was able to kind of launch it into the algorithm. Now another thing I want to say is that it didn't take off right away, right? I think it took me a little over a year to reach a million views on that video, but it was slow and steady. And the great thing about that is that even now when I look in my YouTube analytics, I'm still, I mean, even last month I earned 800 bucks from that video, you know, something I posted a long time ago. And so I think also like you said, having the length of the video being longer allows YouTube to place all of those different ad spots in it. And then two, just having advertiser friendly content that is applicable to an audience such as mine, which are primarily 25 to 65 year old women, they're the spenders in the house. They're the ones that advertisers want to advertise to. And so my content in general is very advertiser friendly. But I think particularly, particularly for that video, the demographics and the subject and everything just kind of lined up perfectly.
- [07:48]
Sean Cannell
That's a great transition into this next question about RPM and how much individual videos earn. You mentioned in our like pre survey that you're getting three to four time higher RPMs than average. But before we even get that deep, can you break it down simply for listeners that are like, okay, what kind of insider language are we talking about here? What does RPM mean? So what is your understanding of exactly how would you explain RPM to somebody who's brand new to YouTube?
- [08:21]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, so RPM is revenue per mil, I think M I L L E, which is per thousand views. So basically it's how much advertisers are paying per 1,000 views that you receive on your YouTube channel. And there's other things that go into that in terms of watch time. But you know, my. And when you say, it's funny because Sean, when you say, oh, you're getting three to four times the average rpm, I'm like, I don't even really realize what the average RPM is. Like I've heard of $10 being average. I don't know that my RPM has ever been that low. I looked for 2024 and my RPM for the year 2024 was $27, which I understand is a bit higher, but I think that's just due to, like I mentioned before, having advertiser friendly content. I really don't post controversial things, which I guess in the end might hurt me a little, a little bit because I may not be getting that kind of clickbaity stuff that others are getting. You know, if you make content that is, I don't want to say family friendly, but you know what I mean when I say that it's kind of universal to a large group of people. You're not saying anything offensive. You have good retention in your videos. People, you know, tend to watch till the end. Then in my experience I've been able to kind of achieve those higher RPMs.
- [09:48]
Sean Cannell
Man, that's incredible. And I think this is a good thing for listeners to be considering. You know, I looked at, I looked it up in Gemini, the AI that is owned by Google and YouTube and it's all the same company. They say that the average RPM in the US is around $2 to $5 per a thousand views. When you said 10, I was like, no, that's not average. 10 is really high. 10 is super good. If you're at 27. That's extraordinary. And I, I think that's a great strategy. Yes, when family friendly might sound like it could be such sanitized content, but it just means accessible to any audience. If you, if you layer on stuff like profanity or violence or controversial topics, it's just going to limit how many, how much advertisers want to advertise in your videos. It is. You nailed it though, I think also when you spoke to like an age demographic and the spenders, because I think one of the best ways to think about RPM is simply that advertisers want to get front of somebody who actually has the purchasing power and interest to spend money on their product. And so it's understandable too, why RPMs are higher in the United States than maybe in a developing country that wouldn't have the same buying power, or there's not even the shipping of that product, the infrastructure to get the product to the person. And so if, if somebody was after luxury goods or baby boomers were after financial products for investments, that's an entirely different audience in terms of the advertiser's perspective. And so that's really incredible that you're getting that. And, and then so if you break that down compared to what you're also just saying, not only do you have higher rpm, but if you also then do a longer video and you marry those two things together three hours long. Now, when you, when you put ads on that compilation, do you just let YouTube do it? Do you just check the box that says let YouTube place the ads, or do you go in and actually manually.
- [11:41]
Jen Chapin
Place ads on something like that on that particular video? I just let YouTube do it and I do double check it before I make the video live. And when I went in there and looked at the timeline of the ads that YouTube had placed, it was like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. You know, all throughout the timeline I saw there was a bunch of ads and I'm like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to leave it at that. And obviously it looks a little different because it's a three hour video kind of squashed into this little timeline. But yeah, I just let them do it for that particular video.
- [12:09]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, that's a great point. And, and so you said a million views, but even on a million views, it's a little over a million.
- [12:15]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, I think it's 1.1 now.
- [12:17]
Sean Cannell
Or yeah, $44,000 is an insane amount of money for most channels. Like again, a $2 RPM would be 2 million or 2,000. It would be $2,000 on a million viewed video. So to make $44,000 on a million viewed video speaks to also how high the RPM is plus the length, plus the volume of ads. So, man, we came out fast on this episode of the Think Video podcast thinking about some ways so if you're listening, think about how could you improve maybe the length of your content, Maybe the target audience of your content doesn't even mean you need to change your niche. But who are you speaking to? Are you speaking to maybe an older audience that has credit card in hand potentially and actually has buying power? And if your content is not for them, that's also maybe why you're earning less. And it could influence your future strategy in terms of how much you make in ad revenue. And definitely try out the compilation strategy. Well, take us through your content planning process while working full time. To this day you're still working full time.
- [13:18]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, and I sort of feel like a unicorn in the YouTube space because I feel like everyone is wanting to get to that point where they can quit their job, you know, and I financially, you know, I've been making enough on YouTube now that I probably could have quit my job years ago, but I really have no interest in doing that. My career is really fulfilling to me and I worked really hard for my education and I get a lot of, I just, I mean I get a lot of my fulfillment, a lot of fulfillment out of my job. And so it's something that's really important to me to keep. Also, I do like the structure of having a regular paycheck. I like a 401k, I like health insurance, you know, all of those things that come with a, with a traditional job. But yeah, I mean, it is difficult, right, to find time for content creation in sort of these fringe hours that you have, especially when you're, when you're working a full time job. You know, I want to say one thing that helps me is that my kids are older now, so I have a 15 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. You know, could I have done this when they were babies and toddlers? You know, scale the YouTube channel while working full time when I had a two year old and a baby at home, probably not, right? Also fair to mention is that I have a husband and we share pretty equally in the children's responsibilities. So I don't want to give the impression that I'm superwoman and I can do things that other people can't. But it is a matter of just deciding that you're going to succeed and then planning your time around that.
- [14:54]
Sean Cannell
This episode is brought to you by streamyard. Streamyard is our go to platform here at Think Media for live streaming to Facebook and YouTube and for recording our video podcast. It has an incredibly easy to use interface for built in branding transitions, text Lower thirds and seamlessly bringing on guests. And they just added an awesome new feature called Local Recording. This allows you to take the quality to another level by separating out your audio and video from your guests, giving you more control over your content for later use. This feature is perfect for video and podcast creators. And so to get a special deal on Streamyard right now and to see all the features that are included, just go to stream withthink.com. that is streamwiththink.com man, it's an encouraging word. You know what's interesting is another video ranking academy student that was just on the podcast wanted to keep Becky park on Poshmark. Wanted to keep require job. Even though like YouTube actually her. Her job kind of became a side hustle and YouTube was kind of like the main thing. But what I love about that is while, you know, never want to even YouTube takes a ton of hard work, patience, there is no guarantees that. I love what you're saying. It's just possible, I think that's so possible to maintain your full time job. Love a full time job, have some stability there, retirement there, but to also build this out on the side. Seasons of life, younger kids maybe a little bit harder, but depending on your seasons of life, this is figureoutable. And really I just want to encourage listeners like embrace their brace your season, you know, a little bit at a time. And there's no. While your results are extraordinary, half a million dollars. I just am so passionate about this like extra 5, 10, 15, $25,000 a year type of YouTube channel for a lot of people. And it's possible. And I want to go a little bit deeper because specifically then though, how do you do it? Like if you've got your working schedule, when do you film? Do you, do you, do you have daylight to film? Do you need lights? Like just if you kind of break us into like your routine?
- [17:09]
Jen Chapin
Yeah. So typically most of I, I mean I. So you mentioned in the beginning I'm a nurse by background, but I don't work a traditional patient care job anymore. So I work more on the consulting side. So I do have kind of quote normal hours, you know, 8 to 4, Monday through Friday. So that does help in terms of having a block of time on the weekends to film. And so I also one thing I want to encourage people to do and this is dependent on your niche. But if you can do it, your life is your content, right? So you are, you are the content, right? And so a lot of times what I would normally be doing anyway, which is going grocery shopping or cooking dinner for my family. That's something I normally be doing anyway, but I'm just filming it. Right. And so a lot of times I don't even have to set aside extra time. Obviously there's times when I do kind of more involved videos and have to plan things out. But you don't have to do that, you know. And people are looking for connection and relatability. They're looking to see the real you. They don't want a polished newscaster version of you. They want you and all your authenticity. And I think that by blocking time off, even if you do have a full time job, it's possible, you know, after your kids go to bed now. Doesn't mean that you're never gonna have downtime. Yeah, you're probably not gonna have a lot of downtime. You're gonna be working a lot. But for me that was okay. I, you know, and you mentioned also just having. Even if someone can make an extra two grand a month on YouTube. Right. That's really powerful. And I, my reason why or kind of my, you know, my motivation behind it is that I want to fully fund my kids college education. Education is really important to me. I want to make sure that they kind of have that start in life. So being able to do that for them and then being able to take that extra money and do things like travel, take more trips, you know, do things like that. So that's kind of my motivation behind it. I do try to plan my content out, but I'm also a huge procrastinator. So sometimes it's like best laid plans, you know. But I'm. I'm lucky in that I've been been able to build a really incredible audience of people who a lot of them will watch anything I post. Not all of them right, but, but a lot of people I've built that relationship with over the years. And so kind of whatever I feel led to make a video about, they are interested in it.
- [19:44]
Sean Cannell
That's really inspiring and I love your vision of tying it back to a why like the motivation to fund the kids college education, freedom for your family to travel. I'm curious about two aspects of this though. How long did it take you to get comfortable? Yes, you're already going to go grocery shopping. Yes, you're already going to be cooking for your family. But there's some listeners right now that are wanting to start their channel. They've been planning and thinking about starting their channel for a while. Well, they've gotten a few videos out but it's so much brain fatigue to be like, if I'm cooking, oh, I gotta set the camera up. Oh, did I do it right? And if they're cooking, if that was their niche, oh, no, now I burnt it. Cause I'm trying to think about cooking, but I'm learning this whole new skill set. It's like a different part of my brain and how am I acting on camera? And I'm trying to focus on the. And then the same thing at grocery store. I'm filming in public how people are like looking at me. You know, Jen said it was so easy and I get it. But like I'm trying to so, so speak to like that learning curve because I, I agree with you especially eventually, like you are the content. So if you could just turn the camera on and deliver the hook in the middle and the outro. But what's like the learning curve to kind of get comfortable with filming in that day to day life? And what did that, how did you develop that back when you were starting?
- [21:05]
Jen Chapin
Yeah. So I would say that in the beginning, voiceovers are your friend. You can set up a camera and do something in your kitchen, meal prep, cook a meal, whatever you want to do. And then, you know, if you don't want to get too fancy, you know, speed up the footage a little bit, chop it up and then do a voiceover over it. And in fact, if I go back and look at some of my earliest videos, that's all they were. In fact, one of my first videos that hit over a million views, I never showed my face on camera. It was a meal prep video. And I just set the camera up and I cooked. And then when I put it in my editing software, I took the sound off and I talked over it and I added a little bit of music. And that video also, you know, hit over a million views. And so it doesn't need to be fancy. I think like you said, a lot of people get intimidated with all of the gear and the fancy setups and the lights and the this and the that. And I always try to tell people, you know, I bought a Canon G7X Mark II for $500 and I made over half a million dollars with it. So, you know, if you could do that, anything's possible. And same with going out in public. You know, you can get your B roll and then do a voiceover over it. Because I will admit it was a transition for me. Also, I would say it wasn't until just the last maybe year or so that I was even comfortable going into A store and filming in public. And I still am very conscious. I don't. I don't want people to notice me. I'm not one of those people that's holding my camera out, you know, and shouting in the middle of Walmart. But, yeah, I mean, you kind of have to find what works for you. And once your comfort level goes up, you can kind of change your content around that. If you want to get on camera.
- [22:54]
Sean Cannell
More, that's really great advice. In fact, that's probably one of the best strategies I've ever heard. Doing voiceovers at the start, or even now. Voiceovers are your friend because, like, rather than thinking you're gonna also, like, narrate some great video while you're in the kitchen, just so listeners understand your goal is to just get the shots. Now that you have the shots, you're showing yourself cooking, you're showing the ingredients, you're showing the eggs being broken, you're showing. And then you throw that all into a timeline. And now you actually have a chance to take a breath, be focused. And you're also, you know, kids might be asleep, it might be dark, you're trying to be quiet, but you're sitting in your office now, you're kind of in a different zone as you're going to put the video together. And in doing so, it's such a great format. I mean, you got a million views off of that format, and so I love that idea. And I also want to talk about editing. You mentioned that you edited the compilation last year, but it's something different now. Did you eventually delegate editing or are you still editing?
- [23:57]
Jen Chapin
So I actually just last month hired an editing service, so I'm kind of dipping my toe back into that. There have been times during my YouTube career that I have worked with an editor consistently. There was a time period of about two years that I worked pretty much. You know, I was publishing a lot of content, like three to four videos a week. And so I had a dedicated editor that was helping me with that. It did become a little bit cost prohibitive, and so I stepped away from that. I don't know. I got to say, the editing thing is really something that I am struggling with right now in terms of, like, I know I can do it myself, but I could be so much more prolific with my content if I didn't. And so that's why I'm, you know, hired a service and I'm going more back towards that. But I. I really feel strongly that when you're first starting out on YouTube, I don't. I don't. I don't know how you feel, but I personally feel like you should learn to edit your own videos. I think it gives you so much more appreciation for the process and it really, I don't know, I mean, it can be really enjoyable, right? So I still enjoy editing my own videos. I just don't know if it's the best use of my time right now.
- [25:17]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, that's some great advice. And I think people probably breathed a breath, breath of fresh air hearing you to say you're struggling. I mean, you're so successful and yet this is hard. And the seasons you're juggling things, it takes work. Some people probably think, I wish I could afford an editor. But also even that's hard because then it's working with them and it didn't work out and then you feel like you wasted some money maybe. And so that could be a challenge. So then you pick it back up and so thanks for sharing about just that. It's not just all smooth and unicorns and rainbows all the time. You know, sometimes there's challenges and I would agree with you. The big idea around if you are just starting and you learn to edit your own videos kind of makes me feel like even an entrepreneur. I've heard advice from different mentors, I've had that, like, while you don't, there's no way you could ever master every single thing in a business. It's nice if you've done it a little, which a lot of people do when they're starting. Like, maybe your gift is not accounting and finances, but at least you've done it a little. Maybe your gift is not ultimately email marketing if your online business grows, but at least you understand open rates and you understand and then same thing. Maybe eventually you're going to delegate editing, but if you've never done it, you know, it makes it easier to hire later, easier to understand, easier to know what you're looking for. And then for the storyteller, AKA the content creator, editing itself is kind of its art form. I think it helps you reinforce even how you communicate. I know listening to myself, I'm like, wow. I say I'm a lot. Oh, wow, okay. And so by editing my content, I also, I think improved as a communicator. And I think there's something about embracing the lessons that every season teaches us. It doesn't have to be that way forever, but when you're wearing all of the hats, there's a lot of learning that can come from those various Seasons. Would you agree with that?
- [27:15]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I actually give that advice when I'm at work too, and I'm teaching kind of how to present and public speaking and facilitation. I tell people, I say, record your presentation and listen back to it. You're going to learn more doing that and you can be critical of yourself and you might cringe a little bit, but in the end, like you said, it's going to make you a better communicator.
- [27:38]
Sean Cannell
So I actually do want to go back to the beginning of your story. Early on when you got monetized, some mindset shifts talking about even negative comments and sometimes, you know, dealing with criticism and how you've done that. But before we get there, one of the things you have done is you've made it a priority and you've been intentional about building an email list. And you also have a freebie strategy. Let's go high level. Why, as a very successful content creator as well, did you make it a priority to build an email list? A lot of creators think about, okay, I want to get monetized, I want to get views. Why did you build an email list? When did you start it, what software and how did you even figure that out? And then we'll talk about the free freebie strategy.
- [28:29]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, so I want to say I started kind of the email list building, maybe it was in around 2019. And I started with Mailchimp, which I did not enjoy. It was very confusing to me. And once I got to a certain point where I was getting more and more subscribers, they you get more subscribers on your email list and they charge you more. And so at that point I started looking into other options in terms of platforms because I knew at one point or at some point I wanted to do digital products and online courses and have a website and all that. So I ended up going with Kajabi, which I've been with them for several years now. I was able to release a course a couple years ago and kind of host that on their platform along with my website where I can post recipes and then I can have my email list integrated there as well, which I find it all super user friendly. But in terms of building an email list, I think it's really important to have diversity in terms of where your audience is. And personally, I've seen a couple of, I wouldn't say necessarily friends, but acquaintances in the YouTube space that have gotten their channel taken down with no warning for whatever reason whether whether it's a false copyright strike or someone hacks your channel or something. And so if your channel is. You wake up one day and it's gone for whatever reason, how are you going to get in touch with your viewers? Are they following you on Instagram or you know, do you have an email list, things like that. And so that's kind of where I came from it, you know, the angle that I came from it at. And then I also just wanted a way to be able to deliver free value to my viewers in terms of printed recipes. So a lot of times when people are watching a cooking video, what's the number one question they have? Where can I find these recipes? Where can I print these recipes? And so I knew that was a way to be able to kind of formalize that process in terms of like, okay, subscribe to my email list and I'll give you this, this free printable.
- [30:34]
Sean Cannell
I love the vision, very strategy, very intentional to build like a online business that's more holistic. We have used kajabi for years as well. And it's really nice to have the all in one. And that was actually my same trajectory. A lot of people start with mailchimp cause a good free way to start. You start building it. But then as you start looking down the road and you start looking at things like, oh yeah, if I am going to have a website and if I do want digital products and I do want. How did you decide for your niche what digital product to create and how was that experience?
- [31:04]
Jen Chapin
I ended up creating a meal planning course, which I think it was about two years ago now that I did that. And I knew that I wanted something that was low ticket. So I want to say I sold it for like $29. Is it my best work? No. But did it force me to kind of get out there and do something different and sell a product that was mine instead of working with a sponsor to sell their product? Yes. You know, and I want to do more of that in the future. And I think it's just like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it. And so it was, it was kind of again, a little, a little bit of an experiment for me. But then I also wanted the ability for my viewers to get more content from me that wasn't just on my YouTube channel. Right. So that meal prep or meal planning course I created was all separate from my YouTube channel. It's all different new content. And so I kind of have a lot of ideas swirling around in my, in my head about digital products and courses and memberships. And all of that. But, you know, there's only so much time in the day to make those come to come to fruition.
- [32:12]
Sean Cannell
And to be clear, your freebie strategy, you mentioned it, but this is because you have recipes. The way that people can get the printable recipes is by joining your email list. Did I get that right?
- [32:24]
Jen Chapin
Correct? Yeah. I just set up a super simple landing page. They put their email list in and boom, it takes them to a page where they can just download the PDF of all of the recipes. Yep.
- [32:36]
Sean Cannell
That's awesome. So it's so cool to think through how it ties into and supports your content. Is supplemental a different way of consuming it? And in doing so, it also then helps you diversify your audience and then speak a little bit to like description box optimization, like, just how thoughtful. I think that sometimes a mistake we can make is not making it explicitly clear the steps people can make to get to our page or get the thing or sometimes even worse is we try to do that. But when I'm doing channel reviews in like our communities and stuff, sometimes I'll click on links and I'll be like, this is a dead link. Or it goes. And you think some people, like, I'm not sure why my email list isn't growing. You're like, well, there's no link to it. And when I click the link, you thought there was to it. The link doesn't work. I mean, that might be thing one to fix. So this stuff can be overwhelming. But if you think through that process of transitioning and actually a lot of our listeners do want to get leads and they want to build an email list and they may just think that people are going to magically get there, but there might be some steps. How do you think about in terms of like articulating in your video and helping people make it all the way on to being subscribed?
- [33:39]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, I mean, I think. And if you're just listening, you're not seeing me. But right now I'm holding up a cookbook, you know, a printable cookbook. And if you can show this in your video and show kind of how you're using it, like, oh, this is the recipe. You know, people are like, oh, I want that. You know, I want that because some people do. Like myself personally, I'm an elder millennial who loves stuff on paper. Right. Even if you don't like stuff on paper, you can still put the PDF on your iPad and use it there. So I think if people see you using the freebie in your video, you Just direct them. You know, go down to the description box, click on that link, you know, the call to action. I think, and I think it depends a lot on your audience, but I feel like most of my viewers now are sort of familiar with the description box. I say a lot in my content. Hey, you know, I'm using this knife. I love it. I got it on Amazon. I'm going to link it in the description box below. So, you know, I say that a lot in my videos because if I don't, people will ask me in my comments for the links. I need the link for this. I need the link for this. And so not only is it a way to, you know, build your email list, make affiliate income, but it's also just better. It's a better experience for your viewers. Right, because when people see you using things and they don't have that, they want to get that. And the easier and more seamless you can make that for them, this the better off it is for everyone.
- [35:12]
Sean Cannell
Such great advice. And the front half of this podcast has been packed with a lot of tactics that could take us to the next level, even some more advanced stuff. But I do want to now take it back in kind of this final section for when you were starting and lessons we could learn early on. Maybe we've already been doing this for years, but we're not monetized yet, or we're still having some challenges. If we go back to the beginning, you reached monetization in nine months while working full time. What were some of maybe the early challenges and also the key decisions that accelerated your growth?
- [35:49]
Jen Chapin
So I think the first thing to remember is, or when I think about back to kind of those early days, I never started off wanting to even make a thousand dollars on YouTube. I really had no idea of how the monetization system worked. I mean, I knew that you could make money on YouTube. Did I even dream that I would be able to do that? Not really. I mean, I thought in the beginning I thought, if I can make an extra $800 a month and pay for my family's groceries, how awesome would that be? Because it's like I have a hobby, and I'm getting paid for my hobby, and it's paying for my family's groceries. You know, I was thinking, like, really small. And so when I started, it was really just out of passion. And that's what I always tell people, is that if you're going to do YouTube, you're going to work probably for a while for free. And so you better Be liking what you're doing. Don't go into a niche that you don't like or aren't passionate about just because you think it has a high, a high RPM or something like that, right? It'd be like if I knew that, oh, well, finance has, you know, pays a lot. And so no, I'm not passionate about finance, right. I don't want to teach people about finance. I don't want to relate to people about finance. And so I think choosing something that you're passionate about and also just experimenting, right? Especially take those, take that time in the early days of your channel and try different things. You know, you don't have to be laser focus niche down right away. What, what really helped my channel is just experimenting with different kind of buckets within the home cooking space, right? So I started posting meal prep videos and those just took off, right? And so once I figured out kind of what was working and what people wanted to watch, then I doubled down on that content, right? Then I think, oh, people want to watch meal prepping. I'm doing a meal prepping video every week, you know, and so every week people know they're going to come back and they're going to get that meal prep video. Oh, people really like Costco hauls. Okay, I can do one of those a month, you know. And so I think just kind of experimenting with different things and then also really knowing what the trends are. At the time when I was first starting out, the keto diet was like huge. It was keto low carb was everywhere and I was kind of doing it here and there. And so I started posting keto videos and those started taking off. So I think it's a combination of just experimenting, knowing what your audience wants to watch, and then also kind of what are the trendy topics that are, that are being searched right now on YouTube.
- [38:19]
Sean Cannell
Some really powerful insights we can all apply. And one of the things you also mentioned was a shift, a mindset shift related to negative comments. What was your experience with that? Was it unexpected? Worse than you expected? And I know this a lot of listeners. I think there's many fears that hold us back from maybe pressing record in the first place. We might be thinking about somebody we went from high school with that bullied us, and that's probably not thinking about us, but like, what are they going to think? What are people in my hometown going to think? What's my family going to think? Am I going to be criticized for this thing or that other thing?
- [38:58]
Jen Chapin
You know, at the end of the day. Anyone that's interacting with your video, whether they're leaving a positive or a negative comment, that means they watched at least part of the video. You know, they're putting views and money in your pocket. What's the thing you always say about going to the bank?
- [39:11]
Sean Cannell
I see how we see them in the comments, but I never see him at the bank.
- [39:16]
Jen Chapin
Yeah. And I think, too, just being able to understand that if that person was standing right here in front of you or you were sitting at a table with them having coffee, they would never say these things to you. Right. The reason why some people say these things is because they can do it without any repercussions. They're an avatar, they're a username behind a screen. And that's all. That's all it is. Right. They're not your friend, they're not your family, they're not your teacher, they're not your spouse. They're not anything to you. Right. And so opinions. I was probably going to say an inappropriate quote, but. Inappropriate quote, but I won't say it, but. But everyone has an opinion. Right. And that doesn't mean it's right. But I think, you know, some of those in. Some people really will get to your insecurities. I actually ended up getting braces a couple of years ago because so many people commented on how my teeth were crooked. Right. And so, I mean, I guess at the end of the day, I took my extra money that I made from YouTube and went to the orthodontist and.
- [40:22]
Sean Cannell
The haters paid for your braces.
- [40:26]
Jen Chapin
I guess. And I don't want to make it sound like it's all negative. Right. Because the negativity can be really loud. But when you step back and objectively look at it and I think about how many comments am I getting every day that are so positive. Thank you for your content. Thank you for being relatable. Thank you for being there. You know, I just had a lady tell me the other day that, you know, she had a really hard time in her life, and my videos are what helped get her through it. You know, that kind of stuff. That's what matters, right? Not like the very vocal 1% that's critiquing you on whatever. Look at your, like, ratio. You know, it's probably 98%. And so I think it's a combination of just being true to yourself, knowing that you can't take those things personally because those people don't personally know you, and then just looking at it objectively, there's a lot More positive than negative.
- [41:19]
Sean Cannell
That's all really encouraging. And I mean, I know sometimes comments still get to me, it gets better, but like, they still get to me. It's kind of like, you know, hazard pay, I suppose. Like different jobs have different things that just come with the territory and the sheer nature of putting something out on the Internet, trying to not take it personally. Because you're exactly right, they don't know you personally. I actually heard one person say, if they can't text you the criticism, then ignore it.
- [41:51]
Jen Chapin
Ooh, I love that. That's great advice.
- [41:54]
Sean Cannell
It's really good. Yeah, it's like, I mean, we should be open to constructive criticism, especially if we're doing something that's harmful. And like, so anyone who speaks the truth and love to us is, that's so powerful. But for them to actually have the context to know us, that's who we should be listening to. People are just zooming by on a snapshot. And to your point, we might see the haters in the comments, but we never see them at the bank. Like, sometimes just the sheer nature of your content's being consumed is a positive thing. And the way that ad revenue works, you know, just helps move everything forward. A couple final questions here. I'm curious what the biggest impact of this success has been on your family, but even how you, you've transformed. Personally, I think a lot about the fact that like Silver Play Button, over a hundred thousand subscribers, half a million dollars earned, plus like there's those achievements and accolades which are incredible. I also think about, you can't do YouTube at the level you've done it without experiencing some personal transformation. Like, we really kind of have to become new people in the process. And I'm just wondering what that experience has been like and how it feels now as you reflect on your journey of the impact on your family and on you personally.
- [43:09]
Jen Chapin
Yeah, that's such a good question. Sometimes I just think to myself, I run a business, I have a business, I'm a CEO of a business, right? And so that in and of itself is just wild to me because like I told you when I first started, I thought, oh, if I can pay for my groceries, that's fine. But to run a multiple six figure business is. It's mind blowing, right? And I've learned so much about, not just about online business, but about taxes and payroll and, you know, all of that stuff that you really don't want to learn about, but you kind of have to out of necessity. And I think just overall it has really done A lot for my confidence to do something and do it successfully. And I have to remind myself not to compare myself to other people because sure, there's a lot of YouTubers who are way more successful, successful than I am. You know, I was just thinking the other day, well, I'm never going to get to a million subscribers. But then I thought, so what if I do and what if I don't? Like, I can be happy in this current moment with what I have. And you know, I think so. Yeah, I think, I think owning a business increasing my confidence. And then also I'm just really proud of the community that I've been able to kind of cultivate with my viewers. I really value authenticity and so I don't ever sugarcoat anything. Like you were mentioning earlier about burning something in the kitchen. I show all that because that's gonna happen. Right. And at the end of the day, people just want to, to know you and relate to you and learn something useful in the process.
- [44:55]
Sean Cannell
It's such powerful stuff. I have one final question for you, but before I ask that, shout your stuff out. If people want to connect with you, check out your channel, anything you want to promote. And I want to make sure everything's in the show notes for you and for the listeners. But yeah, where can people follow with you, connect with you?
- [45:10]
Jen Chapin
Yeah. So you can just search my name, Jen Chapin. C H A P I n on YouTube. Funny story, there's actually another Jen Chapin who is Harry Chapin who is a singer, his daughter. That's not me. That's not me. I don't, I don't sing on YouTube. But if you search my name, you'll find my channel and lots of cooking videos. If you are wanting to figure out how to get dinner on the table for your family in a way that is accessible and easy and a lot of times budget friendly, check out my channel. You can also find me on Instagram. My handle over there is just en Chapin. And then also in the show notes, there's going to be a, a link to download a free e cookbook. So it's called the one hour freezer fix. And basically I share with you how to take a list of a shopping list of grocery ingredients and you can prep five hour or five meals for your family in one hour and it's only around $65. So you're going to have dinner for your family for the week for under 100 bucks. And your kids are going to like the recipes too.
- [46:17]
Sean Cannell
So man, what a valuable resource as a newer dad of a two year old and a four year old. I'm excited to check, check that out. And thank you for adding so much value on the podcast today. This final question is if you were going to tell somebody who's watching this, who's working full time but they're thinking they can't do this or they're just thinking about self doubt and a little bit overwhelmed, what would be some of your final maybe inspirational insights and maybe some action steps that you would encourage them to take?
- [46:48]
Jen Chapin
I think it's really important to think not about what you can't do, but think about what you can do. Right. And a lot of times when you have a full time job, you have to be really productive in those pockets of time that you have. So whether that's the two hours after your kids go to bed or an hour before they get up in the morning or even on the weekends when you have a longer block of time. When I think about my schedule, I think of all of that time that I'm not working as opportunity, right? So either it's an opportunity to spend time with my family, an opportunity to further my business business and an opportunity to, you know, maybe have some self care time. That's kind of how I look at it. And if you are persistent enough and you are consistent enough and you want it bad enough, you will, you will find time to do it even if it's in those small pockets of time.
- [47:42]
Sean Cannell
Jen, thank you so much for adding value and Think Media podcast community. Thank you for listening today. If you got value, smash, like and rate, share, review, subscribe wherever you watch or listen to the Think Media podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel and I'll connect with you in a future episode.