← The Think Media Podcast
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- [00:00]
Sean Cannell
Hey, before we jump into the show, I wanted to give you a heads up that my free YouTube strategy class is available right now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com on the class, I reveal the one YouTube strategy we use at Think Media to generate over 330,000 views every single day. So if you're new to YouTube, this will help you start right and avoid mistakes. And if you're a YouTube pro, this training will help you multiply your your growth. This class is 100% free and you can watch it now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com now let's jump into today's show. $55,000 from one affiliate program.
- [00:43]
Jaclyn
One of the things I was looking for when it came to affiliate products is that looking for one of those higher ticket items where I could earn a really good commission, I found a company and quickly became someone who did very, very well with their program because I started to rank videos.
- [00:58]
Sean Cannell
That's the power of RA videos. It truly is passive income work based.
- [01:03]
Jaclyn
On time, not by accomplishment. And it'll force you to start making choices.
- [01:10]
Sean Cannell
Explain kind of what your thinking was in regards to this idea of a YouTube funnel. Yeah, so I don't think anybody talks about this really. So our guest today earned over $55,000 from one affiliate program using a unique strategy that I haven't heard anywhere else. And in today's episode of the Think Media podcast, she's going to be breaking down the exact YouTube video funnel for how she was able to earn money on the side while working a factory job, balancing family life and growing her channel over multiple years, and then eventually being able to go full time. She's also going to be sharing some practicals about finances like paying down debt and being strategic if you yourself have the ambition of doing YouTube part time or full time. And her tips and the lessons she's learned along the way and really the 1% better method that has helped her constantly improve her videos, build her channel while just using her smartphone to create content. My guest today, Jacqueline, has a channel called the Wild Floridian. And its goal is to help Florida gardeners and people with sickness, similar climates find the joy of growing food and flowers in the Sunshine State. Jaclyn, welcome to the podcast.
- [02:36]
Jaclyn
Hi, Sean. Hi, everybody.
- [02:38]
Sean Cannell
So I'm so excited to have you on the show today. And I want to just have kind of like some quick tips right at the start before we unpack your story a little bit later. But before we pressed record, we added up how much money you've earned from one affiliate program, and it's over $55,000. Can you tell this story as far as what is this product? Like, how did you find it, and how does it tie into your channel?
- [03:04]
Jaclyn
Yeah, absolutely. So for me, when it comes to gardening, one of the things I was looking for when it came to affiliate products is that looking for one of those higher ticket items where I could earn a really good commission. Because I don't know about you, but. Well, maybe you, but I don't really like selling. It's like, not the thing I want to be doing all the time. I want to talk about flowers and vegetables. So I was looking for something that I thought would be really useful to my Florida community, something that might go beyond my Florida community that would be interested for, like, people no matter where they live. And then I was looking for that higher ticket item, and when I kind of did like a breakdown analysis, it really came down to raised garden beds. And for me, this kind of fit multiple needs in my philosophy, which was because I'm the wild Floridian, I do like to garden a little wild. And one of my tips for my gardeners is because I did a bunch of it in my front yard in a suburban neighborhood was like, sometimes you need to put your crazy in a box, and sometimes that box is a raised garden bed. So it tied in really, really well. The other thing was I really focused on something that was unique about me versus a lot of gardeners and homesteaders, which is I have that factory background. And one of the things that's unique about that is I have a lot of experience dealing with materials and very corrosive and really difficult to work in situations that just really break them down. So as I started to look into metal garden beds, which I knew for me would be the right choice, I found a company that not only had some really great features that I knew I would be able to advocate well for. For my Floridians that I thought would be really a benefit for them to have if they were going to go down the raised garden bed route. In addition, I looked into their whole commission structure, and they were one of the ones that was willing to pay a really nice commission for you as a creator doing all this work for them, because that's what you're doing right when you're marketing. So I signed up for their program and quickly became someone who did very, very well with their program because I started to rank videos. And then more recently, I started to think through kind of the whole journey that everyone goes through when they think through Buying a raised garden bed. So where do they start before they go and they decide on metal and then once they decide on metal, how do they go about picking a brand to look at? And so that has been what I've been working on over the last couple of years.
- [05:24]
Sean Cannell
I love this and I want our listeners to maybe they're new to some of these concepts. There's, there's some nuances in here. Let's first hit kind of just even how this works if someone's new to affiliate marketing. So you, what was the website that you ended up finding? What's the brand name?
- [05:40]
Jaclyn
So the brand I work with is Vijayga. And what's interesting about it, I suspected it, they finally would confirm it to me and now they confirm it on their website. Is unlike a lot of the raised bed metal bed companies is they're actually the manufacturer. And that was one of the things because I come from manufacturing. I know what co packers, if you're not familiar with co packers, basically they make stuff for other people. I had a really big suspicion that a bunch of the metal bed companies were just the label and not the actual makers. And Vijaya was the one that I knew from looking at their stuff. I'm like, I'm pretty sure they're actually the one making this stuff. And so I really got excited about the idea of working, you know, being a factory girl, working with the factory people.
- [06:19]
Sean Cannell
That's so cool. So, so they basically supply white label other brands that slap their name on it, but they're kind of the original, they're the source.
- [06:27]
Jaclyn
Yeah. So they've been doing it for a long time and only in the last few years they decided just to do more direct sale instead of just doing the white label.
- [06:35]
Sean Cannell
So again you find a very, you find a specific brand, a specific website, you scroll to the bottom of the page and usually this is where listeners could find. It says, you know, affiliate program or associates program or influencer program. And then commission is the percentage amount if someone clicks your custom link after watching one of your YouTube videos. It's the percentage amount that you earn. And I think I looked it up, I think it starts at maybe 10 and then depending on performance can go as high as 20% of the sale. Am I in the ballpark there?
- [07:06]
Jaclyn
Yeah, they have a performance based one which is one of the other things I really liked because there's a lot of brands like it doesn't matter how much you sell like that, you're just going to get this small amount of commission and if you do it really strategically. And like you get videos that are ranking for search terms, like you're sending a lot of volume their way. And so I liked the fact that they were willing to recognize that. And I think the other benefit, and this is why as a benefit to deal with the manufacturer is because those other companies that are just putting their label on it, right, they're already having to take a hit on their profit margin because they didn't make it. So now that they were direct selling, they have more available funds to allow for them to pay out to creators. So that allows them, they're hands down the highest payer that I can find for metal beds.
- [07:52]
Sean Cannell
So that's one of the tips we talk about all the time is if you can find higher commission structures, you can earn more. Because it's like if you make 1% off of a $10 product on Amazon, that's like 10 cents. But if you make 20% off of a few hundred dollars in raised garden beds, I mean 20% on $500 I think is a hundred dollars. So that's some significant money. If you've got YouTube videos that are out there that are, people are watching, they love that, what information they're learning, they're finding a product, okay. So you find a, you find a brand, you audit kind of their commission structure. You also find it's a product that you yourself love and can endorse and get behind. And then you mentioned you rank videos for somebody that's new to that concept. Like what's the mindset behind why as opposed to just making a video and talking about it. What is a ranked video in your mind and how does that connect to this?
- [08:48]
Jaclyn
Yeah. So I think one of the other things for me just back on that commission structure and I'll tie into this is that because my channel is just about Florida gardening, I'm never going to be the channel that like has millions and millions of views for typical videos because I'm only talking to Floridians. So in general, I'm not in the volume game. So whenever I'm going to go do something, it's got to be a quality, quality, higher paying product. So whether it's my own product or an affiliate, like I'm not going to be selling millions of things. So I can't just be in the pennies game. I have to be in the like, we're talking 10, $20 each time. So from that standpoint I needed to think through. So when it comes to ranking. So now back to the ranking videos. So because there's only going to be so many Floridians who are interested in buying a metal garden bed. In order to rank, I had to think through, like, who's going to be interested in buying a raised garden bed, whether they're in Florida or not. And I'm basically trying to hit those. When you go to your, like, YouTube search, right, they're typing in raised garden bed or metal garden bed. And these are the words that they're looking for. How do I get the video that shows up first to help them in their journey of their choices that they're going to make? So the first ones I started to do was just for the brand Vijayga, and that's actually one of the first ones I started to rank is because most people when they do affiliates, they just do the unboxing. Like, I opened it, it looks great. And I move on. And because I was so focused on materials, one of the first ones that started to do really well, which was not, which was the two years ago when I really started to pick up commission, is I did the one year review because a lot of people want to know, right? This is not a cheap thing to buy, right? They're spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars and there's commission, there's purchases that come in that are over $1,000. So they want to know, like, is this thing going to last? And so for that, that was kind of one of the first ways I kind of made myself different than the other people who just did unboxings is I did the one year review. And I also took advantage using questions from my first video to try to clarify things for everybody on things that they were still wondering about, like, does it bulge? Does it bend? Does it rust? Does it get hot? Because I live in Florida, right? So. So I tried to come back around and answer questions. And there was another thing I did that was also really distinct in that video is I, in the original video, asked people based on what I showed them how it compared to some of the other big metal brands without putting them down. I was like, hey, what do you guys think? Is this similar? The same, different? So I had a lot of comments telling me what people thought was the same, but also they thought the Vijaya brand was better at. And so then in that one year of video, I was able to share those. So it wasn't just like me telling you to buy Vijaya, it was also my community giving their thoughts on it too. So it made it a really strong video to be able to help people in their Purchase decision.
- [11:25]
Sean Cannell
There's so many points to recap here and I want, I mean there's tactics in how that you've gotten views, how you went full time, talking about how you balance it with other life and family. We're going to unpack a lot in the in this podcast, but I do want to kind of recap some things for listeners. So the big strategy here is Jaclyn's Made over $55,000 from Vijayga, this one raised garden bed website in affiliate commissions over the last few years from making strategic videos. She found this program, she signed up, she made strategic videos, specifically ranked videos, which would be a video you post today that keeps getting views for weeks, months and years to come. But it's also not so so simple. I think one of the things you're hitting on too is intent. When someone is searching for certain videos, they actually are looking to make a purchase. And so one of the reasons people struggle with affiliate marketing is maybe they just put affiliate links in their vlog, but people are watching the vlog just for entertainment or some other piece of information as opposed to like, no, I'm trying to make a buying decision, find a raised garden bed that is going to last. And then even the different, you know, you're treating this like a professional. You're not just dabbling in this. And the fact you created a video that was a one year later, I just can imagine how much buyer confidence that gives. It's not just an unboxing. So even the types of videos you do and the amount of work and patience you put in, this didn't happen overnight. But $55,000 is crazy and I do want to keep it moving. But if you are listening to this, Jaclyn is been a part of our video ranking Academy program for years and we do have a free class if you want to like learn more. Like what is all this affiliate stuff and all of that? You can watch the class on demand after this podcast if you go to thinkmasterclass.com or we'll link that in the show notes and break down more of this affiliate stuff ranking stuff. But I'm also curious about the patient side because when you what would you say from like first finding them to first posting videos, how long did it take to start seeing any revenue, let alone the significant revenue the first unboxing?
- [13:33]
Jaclyn
I think it, I mean we got a couple sales initially but it took months before we started to really see anything significant. Which didn't surprise me because I think again kind of positioning that first video a Lot of people are unboxing and they're like, you have to buy this. This is the best thing ever. And I didn' I said, hey, I'm trying this because I backstory I had bought another brand of beds that were metal and within 18 months they were absolutely falling apart from rust. So basically it was me saying to my community, like, I'm trying a different brand. I'm not happy with a brand that I had not done affiliate with. It just was like Amazon. I said, but I'm trying this other one. Everything I look at online and in the manuals looks good. So I have confidence that this could be good. But I don't know, I'm not sure. So I didn't position myself as like, I have blessed this product. So that was the first step. Which also like imagine you're just watching that for the first time. I'm not like being like, yeah, spend $1,000. So you're going to walk away from that first video being like. But it helped make that one year review better because I offered, I kept it very open to like, hey, maybe another brand's better. Maybe I should be trying that. And that's how I was able to start getting details from people about like, they didn't like the liners or they were seeing problems with like screws with other brands and all sorts of other stuff because they're like, ah, don't try this brand, I've already tried this. Or some people said, yeah, I've done Vijaya. I've had them for a year, they're great, you should be good. And I'm like, okay, great. So there was like, definitely a long game. And I knew that one of the things I was interested in was like, where's the one year review? Where's the five year review? People have like, that it's one thing for a company to be like, it lasts 20 years. Okay, prove it. Show me that. Like, show me it's worked.
- [15:16]
Sean Cannell
Are you gonna do. What's your next one? Will your next one be two years or are you gonna do a. Have you done one yet?
- [15:21]
Jaclyn
Two years last year. Yeah. It didn't perform as well because I think most people hit the one year and they're like, great. But yeah, my plan is to do a five year one because I think that's really important for people because in theory they should last 20 years. And what's really important, and this is like kind of the whole like own what's different about you? So I live in an environment that is very rough on Metal, it's hot. You know, metal rusts when there's a lot of moisture and there's a lot of salt, which Florida has lots of. So we have lots of salts in our air from the ocean and we have lots of water all the time. So if it's. We're going to have rust, like, it, it happens very fast here. And so for me, like, I'm like, hey, is it going to last five years? Like, I want to know that it's going to last five years. Because also to me, and I think this is important if you're going to do affiliate is like, you need to protect your community. So at the end of the day, like, if it comes out that all these beds rusted, like, I would be 100. Like, hey guys, don't buy it anymore. Because I want to make sure my community, like, I'm earning the trust that I've, you know, like, I'm maintaining that trust with them because if it, if I mean, and I think they would understand it. Like, I only know what I know, but if I know there's a problem, like, I'm going to be sounding the alarms to say, like, hey, it's not a good choice anymore. We have information that's new and different and you want to make sure you have that trust. Because if people feel like you're just selling so you can get money for them, that's not really a great relationship. Right?
- [16:45]
Sean Cannell
Well, you just dropped multiple bombs that I think are some of the coolest things that I'm hearing. You know, unfortunately, the YouTube industry, the online marketing industry can get a really bad name because in some cases people are on just quick cash. They're going for a cash grab. They're just trying to make money. And like, you know, at Think Media, we're trying to have entirely different values. One that you're. The fact you said, like, you need to protect your community, like affiliate marketing done ethically is creating a win, win, win. So like, of course a win for ultimately the end user that's gonna get a product, a raised garden bed that works for them doesn't rust. They love it. It's gonna create a win for the brand. Cause they made a sale. And that small business, you know, is growing. But then you as well, you' you're supporting your family. And so the mentality of like caring about your brand. And I would hope Think Media podcast listeners, I totally understand, like, we're anxiously wanting to go full time as soon as we can or grow our businesses, but just having that long game Mentality, that was another word I loved you that you use. And focusing on the trust you're building, that's really all you have. I mean you might be able to make money this week or this month, but if it's at the expense of trust, then you are eroding the long term opportunity of your brand. One of our core values that think media is built to last. And so we try to. Every decision, we make decisions through that framework and that core value of are we building to last or are we making short term decisions and then own.
- [18:17]
Jaclyn
What's different about you, Sean, is that I think kind of in that vein you have to show that you're doing that. So I had videos with that other brand of. Even though it was like an Amazon affiliate, when I realized it was a problem, I actually did a 18 month review of that product with its name, worked on ranking that video. It doesn't. And then what I did is I went back through all my videos and I removed the affiliate link because I didn't want people buying that bed. And that's kind of the thing is like people could see that like you have to show them that you're willing to take the hit for them because it's more important that you are giving them the information or pointing them towards stuff that you trust. And when you find out. That's why I said, like when you find out that maybe there's a problem because sometimes you just don't know. What you don't know is that you are making the action. So I, I did make a ranking video for the other brand that basically said, don't buy this, this is a bad idea. And let me show you exactly why.
- [19:09]
Sean Cannell
Well, I just want to acknowledge you, Jaclyn too. That, that's, that is actually like the extra mile of your ethics and your integrity. Because I think what some, some do is at the bottom of the pyramid of integrity would be like they promote products that are actually bad and they're being deceptive. I think what most do though is they just go silent. Like what they do instead. Like, and this happens. There's a lot of, especially in like crypto or the personal finance youtubers and stuff. Sometimes they're like, okay, maybe they promoted something that was sketchy but they just stop talking about it. But maybe they leave the links in their old videos. You know, they leave stuff up. But I just want to really acknowledge your character to then say, no, actually I want to be vocal because the effort of you making a video to say, hey, actually these beds aren't good. They will rust will be the anti sale. You're protecting people but you're not going to make any money. You don't want to because you don't want to sell the thing that's going to rust. But anyways that's just very powerful. But I think it speaks to not only where you are now but just where you're going to be in the future. I was talking to Elliot on our team in our slack DMS about just some of the people that you know, create content and sell courses and whatnot and he was sort of shocked by the way one person was doing it. And I said yeah, you know, at least as much as possible. I think media we're trying to do things differently and we want, because we want to be the big, the big idea was like I want to be here in five to 10 years, I want to be here longer than that, I want to be here in 25 years. And so even if short term you make less or have a short term pain, the trust longevity of your brand is going to be connected to making these hard decisions. So that's really powerful decision that you made. So as we keep going I am curious that this idea of affiliate marketing in a specific niche for creators listening, maybe business owners, they want to earn extra streams of income but they might not be in gardening. How might they go about finding similar high paying affiliate opportunities in their niche? What steps would you recommend they do?
- [21:11]
Jaclyn
Well first, and I think this is going to become important when you go to sell because like I said I'm not someone who likes to sell is first I like to look at what do I use. Because the easiest thing to sell is the thing that you're just like at the grocery store or talking to your neighbor or talking to someone and being like oh you have that problem. Oh you should get fill in the blank. So thinking through like what kind of things you use and then put focus on like so make a list of that and then focus on like what are the higher ticket items. Especially because in the beginning we all are typically not volume channels. We're not going to have like millions and millions and millions of views coming through or millions and millions of people clicking to buy. So it's those higher ticket items because you don't have to sell a lot to start really making some money. Like you can make 10 sales and all of a sudden boom like it's hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars. So I think through it that way first and then second, what companies do you trust with those higher ticket items would be my next question. And then do they have an affiliate now if you're not sure or you're not brand loyal, but then the next thing is like, you want to go and check and do some research, like, is anyone else affiliated with them? Slash, are there reviews out there that maybe are making you question? Because I think it's both sides, like you want to look at for the good stuff. Like, oh, they have a greater commission. But like, also is there some stuff out there that maybe it's putting a stink on it? Like, maybe I don't want to associate me with that because that's one of the things I found interesting. Not necessarily with affiliate, but in other aspects Talking to fellow YouTubers is that how many people are willing to sign up their brand themselves and like put a stamp of approval on something when it's like, but like, what if they're. What if it's not good? Like, what if it's bad? Like, what if there's people who aren't like trying to do the right things? Like, you've just like told your whole community it's great and you've like aligned your brand with it at the end of the day. So I think that's the other things to think about is research, research, research. See what you can find out there, good, bad or ugly.
- [23:08]
Sean Cannell
Not just it's like a little mini masterclass. What do you personally use? Make a list of that and then are there any higher ticket items on the list? Two, three. What companies do you trust already? Four or three, I don't know. And then do they have an affiliate program? And you can always Google, like the tips would be search the brand name and the word affiliate program, or the brand name the word associate program or the brand name and referral program. There could be different things. And then do your research. Yeah. Are there other YouTube videos of people already promoting this product? You can kind of see gauge interest that way. Are there other reviews out there? And find some opportunities in your niche. You know, one of the channels I want to start and I've got plenty to do, so I'm not really doing this. Like, what do I use? I'm personally obsessed with just kind of biohacking stuff and high performance to try to make it and be peak energy for being a dad and being a CEO and being a content creator. And so I'm into stuff like red light panels and someday I'm already looking as I clean out my garage to get like a infrared sauna and things like that. These Things are not cheap. And so I always, I'm thinking about a YouTube channel related to that. Now, you know, many listening might not relate, but it's like, do you have an expensive hobby? Do you have something you like to ski, you like to golf? You know, being an affiliate for some of these golf clubs, like, you know, that driver, a couple hundred dollars, thousands depending on. It's interesting. And you know, those become higher ticket items and people might want to see a review, a comparison. So that could lead to a strategy for your channel. Now today you've got a couple different income streams. What percentage of YouTube income comes from affiliate marketing at large? From all different types of programs you're a part of. And then what are your other income streams? And roughly how does the pie breakdown?
- [24:58]
Jaclyn
So my major, three major kind of streams is YouTube, AdSense, not in order. I'll give you the percentage in a second. So YouTube, AdSense, affiliate and then personal product. And last year it was about 45% was coming from my own products and then about 30% was affiliate and then the rest was YouTube and then some other this and that. I'll call it the Bits and bobs.
- [25:26]
Sean Cannell
So maybe 25% ish Adsense and other. No, that would have been the way. The wrong math.
- [25:34]
Jaclyn
Yeah. I'll give you the numbers. 45% personal product, 30% affiliate, 26% YouTube and then the different. Anything that's not in those three numbers is just other things.
- [25:46]
Sean Cannell
Got it. And that's. And so affiliate marketing, very significant and more so than others. And I think because again, you figure out how to rank videos plus a higher ticket affiliate program. But let's, let's keep it going.
- [25:59]
Jaclyn
Like I would also say it's the lowest effort one because I only put out a couple videos a year, maybe two or three videos a year related to it. So I don't typically call to action to that link. It's really only through videos I'm trying to rank as part of like the full big picture of how people think through raised garden beds. That's basically it. And then everything else is much more effort.
- [26:25]
Sean Cannell
Yes. And that's the power of ranked videos. It truly is passive income, meaning videos you've made months ago or years ago are still being found and watched. So by low effort, effort couldn't really be lower. Like as far as like today's effort is like zero and tomorrow's effort because of work you did yesterday, that's bringing in passive income, Correct?
- [26:45]
Jaclyn
Yes.
- [26:46]
Sean Cannell
Now you've brought up a subject that, you know, we actually recently just had a YouTube mastermind in Las Vegas. About 65 people just got back from that event. It was really cool and it was interesting. We were talking a little bit about this concept of YouTube funnels. I don't think anybody talks about this really. And kind of the idea that like well one, funnels are typically like, okay, you're somewhere on the web like YouTube and then you send somebody to a landing page and there's something free that you give them. And then eventually maybe you offer them a product that you have. You have products like Gardening Planner and some other things. Some people have online courses. But a YouTube funnel is kind of this idea of like a journey of videos on YouTube itself itself. And this is also tied into deeper education around raised garden beds. Can you explain like kind of how you thought through this and what this idea is? It's very unique and in the YouTube education space it's pro. It's rare for people to maybe hear something they've never heard before. And I'm thinking that our listeners probably is like never heard this before. Like it's pretty cool to have, you know, this kind of at least concept that I think can help us all think bigger, think different and maybe really tap into an opportunity for us personally on the Think Media podcast. So explain kind of what your thinking was in regards to this idea of a YouTube funnel.
- [28:08]
Jaclyn
Yeah, so the idea was, is that you know, you start, you usually when people talk about sales funnels, right, you have someone with some sort of problem and you have something to sell to them that's going to help solve that problem. And then there's the kind of the journey. You guys aren't familiar with funnels. And then there's the journey of slowly helping them understand the problem, the solutions to the problem and then why your specific product can solve the problem and meets all the solution needs. So I kind of took that idea is like, okay, there's people out there who are just, they've got raised, they're just thinking about raised garden beds. So I started to reverse from like, okay, so if someone is about to buy this Vijaya bed, what's the video they probably watched before they landed on the website? And then what's the video before that and then the video before that. And I basically outlined a multi year funnel where I'm continuing to slowly add videos that make their way from. I have a problem. So the first step is. So the final steps is basically I know I want to buy Vijaya, but I don't know, like should I like they're more looking for confirmation that they should hit that buy button. But before that, they for some reason thought metal beds. So that's the next step up. It's like, Vijaya is the answer to this is a good metal bed. So before that, they're trying to figure out, like, what do I need to look for in metal beds? Which was the video I ranked last year, which was kind of the best tips about metal beds, where it wasn't about the brand. It was really just like, here are all the features you should be looking for, no matter what brand you're looking for. And then at the end, it's like, hey, if you want the bed that, like, meets all of these and you don't have to, like, spend a bunch of time doing research, here's the brand I would suggest. Go watch that video. Or you can just go straight to the link. But then before that, which is a video I just recently released, they didn't even know if they wanted metal. They see people with wood beds, they see people with concrete beds, they see people with metal beds. And, like, why should or shouldn't you buy those things? And so that's the more recent one I did, which is I did a material comparison, which is the pros and cons of each material. And so it's just slowly stepping them through based on that journey. And I have more that are kind of either in the same step or actually further out that would continue that idea. And every step of the way, like, that's one of the things I'm really proud of with the material video is like, I set it up that it doesn't matter which material they end up with. At the end of the day, I'm just trying to help people figure out what's best because I'm really passionate. I really excited about. I'm an engineer by background, so I get excited talking people through kind of what they should be thinking through. Because a lot of people will tell you in the gardening world, like, wood's the best, but for Floridians, it's not. And I know a lot of Floridians get very frustrated because they buy wood beds, which is where my. Right. My kind of experience is, because we have termites. We have termites so bad. Those things are gone in about a year. But in other locations, woods can be a really good choice. So I was really proud of, like, trying to give that very balanced view to kind of help people think through. And then at the end of the video, it's kind of like, hey, if metal Ended up being the choice, like the thing you think is going to work best for you. Kind of going through this whole story now go check out this video that's going to help you pick metal. Go figure out the things you need for metal. And so it's all about building trust. And at the end of the day, most people who are watching these videos will not click my link to go buy a bed. But it's going to help a lot of people and maybe one day they'll see something else that I'm doing and they like it or maybe they won't. Most of them won't and that's okay. But what makes me feel good is like I've helped people on that journey make better choices so they don't end up with beds that like rusted or wasted a bunch of time on wood that's going to rot here or whatever it's going to end up being. So that's kind of how I think through it.
- [31:51]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, I love that. And that is we, we were talking about the five levels of awareness and that's kind of what you're at our event recently and that's sort of what you're talking about as well. Like where are they at? Do they already know a product name related to their that they're researching? Maybe two different raised garden bread brand names. Are they back just really early? They're generally unaware of the types of metals and everything. And creating videos at every stage of the five levels of awareness can actually expand the opportunity. And then leading people on YouTube itself through this journey. And like you said, you know, the thing with affiliate marketing is of course a lot of people will maybe watch a video and not end up. They still might purchase a product but they don't click your link. But how many poor people, how many people will ultimately over the years and you're getting AdSense, you're sending them on a journey and it's also tracking all the way back to that purpose driven vision of actually helping people. Like you're able to do this full time, make a living, scale your income up a little bit but like truly help and serve people and improve people's lives in the process. So it's such a cool thing that we get to do as creators. When did you reach monetization? Do you remember when that happened? And take us back to where you were, what you were doing in like your day to day life. And maybe let's go a little bit further back. When did this channel start for you?
- [33:15]
Jaclyn
Started September 2019 is when I started officially.
- [33:20]
Sean Cannell
So in September 2019, you start. What was your life circumstances and how did you figure out you're starting a channel from scratch? What's happening in your life? Family? And how'd you find the time to get started? And what did that look like?
- [33:34]
Jaclyn
So 2019, and I tell this to people I used to work with because people thought like, because I didn't talk about the fact that I had a YouTube channel for years there. So it just seemed like it came out of nowhere. And they're like, oh. So in 2019, early 2019, something happened at work where I had thought I was going to work for the company for the rest of my life until I retired. And then I was just, just like, I don't want to do this anymore. And so thus became a six month exploratory exercise of what do you want to do? If it's not this, then what? And I eventually. So my best friend actually, fun fact, I said this to my husband. He didn't even know this. I was like, the way I got my job at the factory was actually because I made, helped make movies in college. And it was basically project management. So a lot of people didn't know that about me, that that's how I actually got an engineering job. So I basically thought, I really want to help people, help Florida's wildlife and its ecosystems, but from their garden and because that's the most like, attainable way. And a lot of people in Florida weren't born here, so they don't really know that, like, there's a lot of decisions they're making that are probably having a negative impact on the, on our ecosystem. And they're not meaning to do anything wrong. It's just, they just don't know what they don't know. So that's kind of where it started. I joined VRA January 2020 because I basically, I had been following along with Think videos and I was like, so I, I'm one of those people, you might be one of these people out there. You pick up things and then you drop them. So I was like, hey, you gotta like consistently do this before you put out money for like a course or a community or anything. So after I'd done it from September to January, I was like, okay. I looked at my husband, I'm like, are we in? He's like, we're in. And so this was like the beginning of the plan. At the same time, I'm working full time in the factory. January 2020, you remember March 2020, everything shuts down. I work in a food factory, so I'm an essential worker. So there was no, like I get to hang out and watch like I guess, what was it, Tiger King or. I heard lots of stuff, but like my job was to get as much food out the door for you guys because all the shelves were cleared. And so there were lots of panic calls from lots of executives about like, how can we get more out the door? And of course like people are being quarantined, but not really in my department actually. We were really good about staying clean and safe. So we, we put out a lot of food for you guys, so you're welcome. But at the same time, I'm releasing like two videos a week. Like a crazy person. And then I got monetized. I think it was almost about a year to the day was about when I got monetized. It was like late September. And then I started to make like, you know, all that Adsense, you making like 10 bucks, 20 bucks in the beginning. I will say one of the surprising things that I learned is gardening can have a pretty good RPM compared to like a lot of other niches. Like sometimes I have like low end finance channel type rpm which was kind of a surprise. So I mostly worked on AdSense in the beginning and then fast forward, I joined inner circle, I think like a year or two later, which was for OGs who've been around. That's what preceded VRA Elite. It was the elite version back then and now elites, the thing that I'm in now. So but that whole time, for the first three years of YouTube, I was working full time in the factory. So I worked a minimum 10 hours a day, lots of weekends, holidays, took lots of calls in the middle of the night, 36 hour breakdowns, super fun times. So that's what I used to do. And then I'd run home and I try to film something and I edit and get it out the door.
- [37:08]
Sean Cannell
Man, your story is so inspiring. And I think what I love is like, it's kind of like no excuses, like you figured it out, you were hustling. I want to, I want to go to two videos a week. And then in some of our previous conversations, you're working full time in a factory, you're still pumping out two videos a week. I also like the idea that like once you'd invested in this for a while, I know that for some when they think about maybe they've been listening to the podcast, they've been on the fence about video ranking academy, like and they haven't posted a video. Many people love jumping in because they have guidance from day one. But for others that maybe you've been. You've already under your belt is 1, 2, 3, 4 months of being on YouTube. Like, I love that you and your husband talked like, hey, okay, this is happening. Like, we are committed to this. So now this investment into the channel is just doubling down on something like, you know, we're already doing. So you, you know, are posting consistently for four months. You joined video ranking academy, but you're posted two videos a week. Take me through the day to day. I know that. Also take me back to, like, maybe listening in your car and learning on your phone while also raising your kids. Like, like, what does a day look like to actually get two videos out a week? And then also, are people overthinking the videos? Like, how, you know, the very. The production value of you making these videos with your smartphone? What did that all look like?
- [38:29]
Jaclyn
Yeah, so one. So I, at the time, so I worked about 10 hours a day. That was like just a normal day. There were many days longer, but most days were just like 10. But I had about an hour commute to work. So I used to just like put on my courses and I would just listen or I'd listen to whatever video you guys had put out that week as I kind of went in and then went out. So that would be part one. I shot very simple videos. I still shoot pretty simple videos. There's some fanciness happening out there. And bless all of you who do that. I'm not that lady. I'm just running around with my little phone. And so one for y'all, I today, full time. I still just use my phone. I just use imovie. No fanciness. I'm not doing anything crazy at that time. So I took advantage of the car rides for sure. For those who don't work in like, high hustle type factories, like, I didn't have lunch break. Like, if I ate lunch, that was like a good day. But, like, let alone, like, I'm gonna sit down and do anything that's related to this. So once I hit work, which a lot of people who've met me over the years are like, why do you release your videos at 6:45am Friday? And I was like, because that's when I hit the parking lot and I could confirm it was live right before I walked in the gate. And then I wouldn't look at it again until, you know, 5:00 in the evening. So that's. I Did that and then editing in the beginning. I think the first year and a half, maybe two years, I edited on my phone and that the reason I could do that was like my kids were little. My kids are still little, but they were really little. So I could sit on the couch with them. We'd watch, you know, bluey play keepy uppie for the 700th time. So you know like I got all the main points of what's happening. So at the same time I'm on my phone just like making all my little edits and making stuff happen and you might think like. And I think that at the time like just getting stuff out there was really good because I started to learn what people were looking for, what they needed. Vidiq can point you in directions when you're super niche down like I am, it can point you so far. And then I need to hear from people like what's going on? So I could start getting, I started sharing my stuff into certain Facebook groups, very small Facebook groups, and getting feedback from people about like what they were looking for, what they still have questions on. But at that time I still ranked videos. My top video even today actually came from like April 2020 because it ranked for search and it still gets, you know, hundreds of views every single day. So I did that. I did two videos a week and I did two videos a week pretty much up until last year. And then I did a lot of data analysis and then I pulled back to one a week. One public video week. I'll clarify. I have a members video that comes out every week, but just one public video. But in the beginning just getting stuff out was like just one, reminding myself how to edit two, you know, just all the things you just, there's, there's so many details. You just have to practice. And by just having stuff and just going through it just I. That's what I did at the time, just getting stuff out. And honestly it out in a crazy way, like you might think it would stress me out more. It actually took away a lot of stress for me because I was someone who liked to do creative stuff. And being an engineer, once I started my full time job like the whole creative, anything artistic really stopped. So it was kind of a way I got to do some creative stuff. And two, interestingly at that time some of the feedback I was getting from boss people, it was very countered what was happening on YouTube. So like I got a feedback that like, you know, you can't communicate well to people. And I was like, really? There's 10,000 people who would disagree with you. They didn't know that. But I would think it in my head. So I would just not, I would be like, you know what, it's fine. I don't, I'm not getting fired over anything. Maybe I won't get a promotion, but who cares? Like I'm still doing fine. Everything's fine. I have a path to like get out of doing the factory stuff. So it's okay.
- [42:26]
Sean Cannell
So I love these insights. Like you turned your car into a YouTube university.
- [42:30]
Jaclyn
Yeah.
- [42:31]
Sean Cannell
For anybody that is, you know, commuting, it's like you have a university on wheels and you can, I'm sure a lot of individuals, they are already listening to podcasts, they're listening to this podcast right now in their car. But, but being intentional. And when you invested in this program, video ranking academy, you know, you're going through that. You're watching other think media videos but just like always learning. And I again, I want to acknowledge your character. 10 hour days is crazy. Plus the commute. And yet you're still filming. I am curious if you needed daylight and you were working during the day, were you filming videos on days that you didn't work?
- [43:11]
Jaclyn
So, so one I batch recorded.
- [43:14]
Sean Cannell
Okay.
- [43:15]
Jaclyn
So I was very big into making video series. So this whole funnel idea we talked about wasn't was like the evolution of something I used to do which was I used to come up with video series where because then I could sit down and write multiple videos and then because they were all related topic wise, then I would go shoot a lot of videos all at once. And then it didn't matter that, you know, the pasteurizer broke down and I didn't get home to like nine at night because I could just work on editing and I would always have. And that's one of the reasons I used to be very like, I was one of those YouTubers who always had buffer because it was like sometimes stuff's going really wrong at the factory and I can't be like, hey boss, you know, I'm going to go do my YouTube stuff because nobody even knew about it. So I was big into buffers, big into batching, big into series of videos that all connected to each other. So like a simple one, if you guys are in kind of in more of the gardening hobby space is I would take a project and I would break it up across multiple videos. So one would be like planning it, one would be shopping for it, one would be implementing it and then another one might be like coming back a few weeks later to see how the plants look. So that might be like four videos, but it's really like one project essentially. And I just broke it apart and came up with good titles and hooks and outros to connect it all so people would be interested. So that was one way I kind of got around all the factory stuff. Because, yeah, factory, It's. It's minimum 10 hours. But then, like, I'd have weekend coverage, so I'd be on site 20 hours over the weekend, easy, maybe 24. So you just, you know, you're working Thanksgiving or Christmas. Christmas. I mean, it's just like. So you can see why I wanted to leave, because it wasn't really good having kids and this, like, all that happening at the same time.
- [44:55]
Sean Cannell
That's. I mean, I want listeners to hear, this is possible. Like, this is possible for you. This is figureoutable. And Jaclyn is such a great example of figuring it out, of making it work. You might feel like your schedule is impossible. Jacqueline certainly sounded that way. But yet whether that's figuring out batching videos, doing video series, clustering topics, editing on the couch, keeping your edits simple while your kids are watching bluey, learning while in the car, maximizing your time, and then having a strong vision. Because I think also having a vision that, man, I'm in a factory job that sometimes is 10 hours a day, 20 hours on the weekend. I got to work holidays. You know, I need to do that today to support my family. But I've got a vision for tomorrow, for being able to write my own schedule and be my own boss and do this on my own terms. It didn't happen overnight for you, but it happened over a few years. And how does it feel now? So, like, when you look back and reflect over, like, the grit and the hustle and the patience and the investment, you've invested in your education, you've invested this time, you've got, you know, all of this under, how does it feel in terms of. And I just love your story. I mean, it's really all of the stories of. At least in our think media world, where we're not preaching get rich quick. We're definitely not preaching like, you know, some magic YouTube keyword that all of a sudden, you know, it's just. That's a unicorn story that doesn't exist. Like, you just post a video and all of a sudden you're a millionaire. Like, the Internet is just so overhyped a lot of times. But yet this is also real. Brick by brick, discipline, diligence, Focus. How does it feel now when you reflect over the journey? And what would you say personally, those things that kept you going, like what's happening in your mindset to just get up every day and push through the hard times and the times you want to quit?
- [46:54]
Jaclyn
For me, well, I have a bad habit of not quitting things no matter how bad they are.
- [47:00]
Sean Cannell
It might be a good habit, but like that's sometimes.
- [47:03]
Jaclyn
Yeah, sometimes it's not. But for me it wasn't. I think. One, Give yourself grace so like I typically did two videos a week. But if, when you thinking about it as I'm doing this, like I'm going to be doing this for 10, 20, 30 years, you know, if stuff was really blowing up at the factory or both. My oldest son's special needs, my other son had some. Both of them had pretty big medical needs when they're younger. Like my younger one got hospitalized multiple times. Like sometimes I just did one video a week and I took my. What would have been two weeks and I just laid it out for one week. And so one, Give me your grace. Because it's like it's the long game. So like what's missing? One upload over three years. It's nothing. Right? The other thing with you thinking about like it being long run is like you prep for a video. I know I've had this conversation myself and I have to tell myself these conversations is like, man, I thought this video was going to be so good. I prepped so well. And then like you shoot and I don't know, like there's something in your head and it doesn't come out the way you think. Well, you just make it again six months from now, a year from now. It's fine. I've remade the same idea of videos over and over again. So, like it's okay. Like maybe you just end up having. But you've already done the research and you kind of already thought through it and now. So that's okay. And then the other piece was, is I saw it as my road out. So it wasn't like a burden, I guess, as much as it was like the thing. So it's like if I had to pull back on slowing down, it was okay because like it might take longer to get out of the factory, but it's not the end of like the road. So just okay, so you need to pull back a little bit and then maybe you'll push next week. So that's for me. I'm though I'm, I'm a. I'm an overachiever, hustle hustle kind of person. It's taken me more to learn to balance as a bigger thing. Make sure I'm spending enough time with the boys and make sure like I'm getting their stuff done. Like actually now being home with them more like I've been used to being the person who goes, goes, goes, goes. Right. I get to the factory at work all day, I'm taking calls on the way home or I'm sitting, standing, pacing in the garden on the phone with different, my maintenance leader and stuff like that. So making sure, like I'm making sure that they're meeting, going to their different occupational therapies and stuff like that. Making sure that like that's really, really, really important. And if I need to p. Even now on a video when it is my full time income, it's like, yeah, but you've got a long term strategy. And like I literally said to my husband the other day, I'm like, I gotta miss this video cause I gotta work on this other thing and I gotta get the boys to this, you know, eating therapy thing. But you know what, at the end of the day, what is it right now in Adsense, it's like maybe a hundred bucks right now that I'm gonna miss. But it's okay, cause I'm gonna get this done. It's gonna give me some space to work on something else that will probably bring in more revenue long term. So it's okay. I think that's the thing is the longer you go, it's kind of like a 401k right? Like it's like accumulating.
- [49:58]
Sean Cannell
Yes.
- [49:58]
Jaclyn
So like it's like building and building. So like you missing a video two years down the road and three years down the road when you've built it, that it's like it's not the end of the world. Or you know, if you're having like you need a break, like just go on vacation, it's okay. You just tell your community like, hey, I'm going on vacation. Maybe don't because you don't want people to know. But like it's okay. You can just say like you're gonna miss an upload. People are okay with it.
- [50:20]
Sean Cannell
So you made a statement. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I have two more questions for you and.
- [50:27]
Jaclyn
Oh, I wrote that down. Oh yeah, I do say that a lot.
- [50:30]
Sean Cannell
Well, and I'm excited for you to explain this because as we land the plane with a couple more I think powerful questions and I really want people to hear your answer to the last one. But, you know, when it comes to the YouTube journey, especially as you're growing, sometimes we're all guilty of this. We're listening to the podcast right now. We look around and maybe there's somebody else in our same niche or somebody else in our same niche. I want to give love to everybody in the comments who say I say it wrong, I'll say it the American way and the right way. Niche. Globally, it is niche. And in comparison, we're hustling and then somebody pops up and they have a crazy viral video. Or we're hustling and somebody new pops up and they get 10 times or 20 times of views as us. And we kind of even analyze their content and we're like, I mean, you know, we're trying to be self aware, but we're like, my content's better. Or like, you know, like what? Why are they getting the views? You say always the bridesmaid, never the bride. And you also mentioned kind of like the tortoise in the hair. Explain that, like how, how you feel and what that quote means.
- [51:31]
Jaclyn
I mean, I've been around for a minute. I don't, you know, like, you talk about viral for me and then there's just people. You're like, they started the channel three months ago, they put out a video and bam, 80,000 views. And they're exactly in my niche. Like, it's different. When it was like, oh, they're in gardening and it's a little different, but like they're a Florida gardening channel. And then like 80,000 views and it's like a few months in or a year in, and I'm like, dang, what the. And I've had it happen over and over and over and over and over again that, yeah, I will turn to my husband. I'm like, I'll pull. I'll be showing him on my phone like, what happened? What the. So I oftentimes can't watch those videos because I'll get two in my head. So I'll make him watch it. I'll be like, hey, tell me. And then, you know, being a loving husband, he'll tell me all the reasons that their video isn't good. And then I'm always like, but can you watch and tell me what they did? Well, because like, clearly they got views, so there's something they're doing right. Thank you for trying to, you know, like, be the loving husband and protect my self esteem because I'm all sad now because. But I will Say, having been around the logical side. So I'm gonna take my emotional, always the bridesmaid side and put over here is a lot of those channels that did that four years ago, they're not here anymore.
- [52:41]
Sean Cannell
There you go. They're divorced. I mean, I'm hiv. Like, they're so hard. They're. And that's. Anyways, back to you.
- [52:50]
Jaclyn
Most of them aren't here. Some are, some will last a couple of years. I talked to one of my other YouTuber friends who's in Florida gardening too. And one of the things, and I've heard it from some of my friends from elite is like one of the things that from the outside, sometimes you need people to tell you from the outside what you do well. And what I've been told I do well is I am like the tortoise. I am very consistent with my views. Like, you go to my channel and I'm like, bat and the same number all the time. Like I'm doing base hits all day. I don't hit it out of the park, but I do base hits all day and I'm getting home runs. And that's kind of my strength is I very consistent. Consistent. I have a lot of return viewers. I build a lot of community and loyalty. I'm very big on building that. But I don't necessarily. And there's certain things. I even had a conversation with one of my friend youtubers last week and she said you could, you could, you could do some stuff to like agitate things more and you get more views. And I'm like, yeah, but that's so counter to me because what I used to do in the factory, my part of my job for a few of the years was I would be put in like the most contentious departments where there's like workplace violence, possible active shooters, sexual assaults and all sorts. And my job was always to like calm the waters. So me agitating things is like, no, I'm not doing it. But I mean that's the one thing from like the 20,000 foot views I'm very consistently, methodically growing. I am the tortoise just kind of plodding along, getting bigger each year. It's never really sexy looking, but it keeps happening. And so I just keep going.
- [54:19]
Sean Cannell
But I'll look at you now and I think these are such great, I mean they're, these are like ultimate values, like run your own race. It's. I, I also think like, you know, the grass is greener. We look at somebody else's channel, maybe we see their Views we see. Oh, man, they started later than me and we can get into that, but you just never know what's happening behind the scenes. And then you also let, let, let things play out. You never know if that's going to be sustainable. Where are they going to be in three, three or six months or 12 months? And, and that's not. You're not praying for somebody else's downfall. But like, it's. I've seen that over the long haul that it's like, well, you know, we'll see. Let's let. Time will tell. Your race, your pace, run your own race, patience, long game. Newcomers will come on the scene, they'll come and go. But if you're, I think about all of this, it kind of ties up. The podcast is like this farmer mentality versus the hunter mentality. And sometimes as a hunter, we do need to like go kill and eat tonight because we have to feed our family and that's why we work a day job, because we know we work, we get paid. But YouTube and building an online brand that lasts. You don't want to have a hunter mentality because you want to have a farming mentality. I'm planting seeds, I'm watering them, and then I'm being patient. And sometimes it feels like it's so slow, like I'm staring and trying to watch the grass grow. But over time, and you've proved that out, so you're getting to hear, listeners are getting to hear a narrative and a real story that you've lived in your life of what a YouTube career can look like over years of patience, of diligence, and really of like not having any viral videos, quote, unquote viral. But you mentioned a term, VFM viral for me, just like beating your previous best. And people can't see underneath the surface. They might look at your subscriber count, your view count, and they might be like, oh, man, that's not. She must not have much, you know, enough money to live on. But most people only are focusing on views where you've got this deeper business. And I actually did say we were landing the plane. I do want to close the loop. You've productized what you know and you've actually created two products that on the video version of the podcast, you can hold up. You started with one, now there's two. Explain these products and actually what it was like. These are beautiful too. And this actually, I hope, inspires vision. Digital products are awesome. It's a good way to get started. But you've gone like Full circle into creating these, like, beautiful resources that you're now able to, like, offer to your audience, explain what you've packaged, what you know and how that ties into your channel. And this is the, like, almost 50% of your revenue. This is like, kind of the. Basically the core of your online business.
- [57:04]
Jaclyn
Yeah, yeah. And it goes back to that whole, like, what's your community? Who are you serving? Because, I mean, I remember early on not from. Not from the VRA family, but from other people. People. People be like, you're only going to be doing Florida gardening. Like, you're not going to do other things. And, like, now I'm the number one channel for Florida gardening. Like, when you just type in Florida Gardening, you will see my video first and probably 4th and 10th and 12th and 15th, because that's all I do is I talk to Floridians. And when it came to figuring out a product, it was really solving at that time, like, what wasn't really being solved for people, which was what to plant and when to plant it, which for Florida is. Is. And that's where, like, knowing your community is that I recognize that Florida was a very different climate. Most people weren't born here. I could pull up census data to show all that fun stuff. And so I needed to help them. And then on the. And so one of the logical things is to have some tool to tell you what to plant and when to plant it. But I am a planner, girly. Like, forget gardening. I just love planners in general. Like, I like plan. Like, I have happy planners and bujo planners. If you're in the planner world, you know, like, all these little terms. So, like, of course I'm gonna make a planner that's pretty and that you can, like, write in, and it'll tell you what to plant. And it's Florida specific. It's not for everybody. It is just for Florida, and it solves the problems for Florida. And I get lots of good feed. I get lots of comments unsolicited on videos. People were like, oh, my God, I didn't realize how much was in there. Like, I didn't realize, like, how much planning space you gave me and how much detail you're gonna give me for, you know, so. And then I have people now who are like, I live in Arizona. Is there an Arizona version or Georgia version? And I'm like, I mean, I don't. I don't know of anyone who's making it. I tell you, if I did. And so this answered what to plant and when to plant. It and the book came from a lot of people saying, like, I love all your content, but, like, is there a place that kind of summarizes the main ideas? Because Florida is so different gardening wise. So it's kind of like, why is Florida different from the way I should understand it? And that's where the book came in. Is it really was supposed to help. And it's the Beginner's guide to Florida gardening is really supposed to help people with like, the very fundamental concepts around our. Our environment, our wildlife, our ecosystems, and how it applies to their gardening. And it breaks it down a very specific way. And so then they kind of pair really nicely together because this helps you understand why things are happening the way they are in Florida. But this just keeps you on track to be like, hey, you know, most gardening channels right now are just planting their first seeds for lettuce. And I'm like, forget lettuce. Forget even tomatoes at this point. Like, we're on to like loofahs and stuff like that. So it'll help them understand why am I saying all the crazy things I say. So, yeah. And what happened was, is like I did a lot of pricing and that's when the bundle came up. It was in late 2023 is when I started offering the bundles because I realized if. If I from a pricing structure, it could increase my profit margins on the book. So you can get the book through Amazon, but if I offer it with a planner, Instead of making $2 on this book, I now make 750 on the book by combining it with this. And then I make the same high profit margin on the planner too. And then that allows me to work in a factory.
- [60:20]
Sean Cannell
So how much is the planner?
- [60:22]
Jaclyn
The planner is 39.
- [60:28]
Sean Cannell
And then the book is an upsell.
- [60:30]
Jaclyn
Is 10 plus shipping. So it's combined with shipping, it's around.
- [60:34]
Sean Cannell
54, 55 for them if they get the bundle.
- [60:37]
Jaclyn
If they get the bundle, which most people get the bundle. That was the interesting thing. I just put it together because I was like, hey, this would be an idea. I didn't even mention it. We just threw it on the page and we started selling way more bundles. Like it's not even 50, 50 planner bundle. It's way over.
- [60:52]
Sean Cannell
And then we. What's the. Do you know your margin off of that? So by the time you're. You're printing everything and getting it all shipped out?
- [61:02]
Jaclyn
Yes. So you talking about for the planner or for.
- [61:05]
Sean Cannell
Well, maybe the whole bundle once shipping's paid or 54 collected, but then there's the cost of shipping and the cost of printing.
- [61:12]
Jaclyn
About $20 profit. $22 profit.
- [61:15]
Sean Cannell
Got it. So. So you've really built out. And then how is your book on CreateSpace through Amazon? Basically, like anybody you can. You could also upload it on Amazon.
- [61:27]
Jaclyn
Yeah, so, yeah, so they're both made through KDP Publishing, so they can both be bought on Amazon. The difference is that the planner is at a much higher price on Amazon. So I still make the same profit margin on the book, but by buying it through me, you get it at discount because they take a lot in the royalty side.
- [61:52]
Sean Cannell
Like, a lot that actually, I mean, that's just across the board. No matter what the product is. If you go direct to the website, it would seem like they can give you, because Amazon is not taking their cut when you cut Amazon out, you know. But Amazon is a big marketplace, so the idea that you could have it in both places is also nice because if any sales come in, and then also, you know, we continue to unpack more nuggets. You actually were able to get that beautiful book. You could hold it up again. You. One of our partners, a friend of mine, Chandler Bolt, has a company called Self Publishing School. And so you work with them to get that book done. Right. Like, how did. How was that experience?
- [62:30]
Jaclyn
Oh, my coach, Brett, he was great. He was great. I liked. And I like that elite now kind of has a very similar system. It was great because, I mean, like, I think we had, like, a little free thing where we did, like, a brainstorm dump. But, like, what I really liked is, so Brett was my coach, and he would really spend the time following. It's like their model of, like, what are you trying to accomplish? And it's very similar stuff that what we do in the vra, like, the niche finder and stuff like that. Like, who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to solve for them? And all that kind of stuff. So making sure it was really. But I loved how they would have writing sessions, writing rooms. So, like, you would show up, like, Wednesday morning, you turn on your cameras, you tell everybody. Everybody tells each other what they're going to write, like, what they're going to work on. Like, I'm going to work on chapter two, going to get 500 words on whatever, and then we all turn our cameras off, and there's just, like, meditative music, and we would just. But their method of, like, how to work through a book for me worked really well because I knocked this thing out, like, super fast. I don't even remember. I think I joined probably in the spring. It came out August of 2023. So it was like six to nine months. I think the whole process. Maybe it was. Maybe I started in January, but it was about six to nine months and I had a published book.
- [63:49]
Sean Cannell
Man, that's so cool. So a couple resources I want Think Media podcasts to know about is I'll put in the show notes. I actually have a couple videos to maybe help you decide reasons to write a book and how to make it happen. That's a free video series on the podcast or audio series. I'll link that up in the show notes. And then also, if you want to learn a little bit more about what Jaclyn did, if you go to startyourbook live, there's an on demand class from self publishing school about some really tactical things of how to write and publish your book in 90 days. So that URL is start your book. That'll be in the show notes and then a couple other resources earlier on, too. If you wanted to learn a little bit more about ranking videos and affiliate marketing, we have a free class on demand at think media@thinkmasterclass.com that'll all be in the show notes. A few extra episodes, a few extra resources. And Jaclyn, you've added just massive value today. I want you to give a full roll call of people want to check your channel out, which I think they should. Good students study success leaves clues. And you're. You've been very successful and your channel's very also unique and I think inspiring. I want, if you're not driving or able, you know, able to actually check out Jacqueline's channel. I mean, I think you could see, like, videos don't have to be complex. She's still filming on her phone. You look at, like, kind of the overall content of her channel like it's an inspiration to see what you've done and also how financially successful it's been, speaking to the impact and income. So where can people follow you? We'll make sure that these links are in the show notes.
- [65:27]
Jaclyn
I'm 100% YouTube, so you can find me. You can just go to YouTube and you can just type in Florida gardening. I am usually 99 point actually for the last 18 months. I'll say it. Let me celebrate myself.
- [65:40]
Sean Cannell
You're like, yeah, gardening. I just own the whole space, you know?
- [65:44]
Jaclyn
Yeah, no, I mean, like, you just type in Florida gardening and you'll see lots of my videos. But channel name is Wild Floridian. Yeah, so I'm here to help support my, my Floridians find the joy of gardening down here in the subtropics, growing food and flowers.
- [65:58]
Sean Cannell
Yes. Okay, final question. What's your best advice for someone with a full time job who wants to build a profitable YouTube channel without burning out?
- [66:07]
Jaclyn
Without burning out. Work based on time, not by accomplishment. So your time is limited. So you will basically say, this is the time I have to edit and that's what I get. So I get an hour to edit. That's what I get. And it'll force you to start making choices because we could always make it better, we could always make it more something. But forcing yourself to just have time blocks to just. This is what I'm going to do. I have a half hour to film or I have 30 minutes to prep. And that's all I got because that's what I got for the week. That way you can do your job and keep showing up for your job. You can keep showing up for your family. You still have time to sleep and relax sometimes you can do that and then, you know, but then you start getting stuff done. So I have an hour. This is my list. I'm going to get as far as I can on my list and that is what it is. That would be my best way to say to just get started and then just get out of your head, get out of your own way. Because that, that's the time killer is overthinking things. You just gotta, I, I do it. Even to this day, I turn on a timer. I'm like, you got 90 minutes, go. That's what you got. You gotta get it done.
- [67:17]
Sean Cannell
Jaclyn, so grateful for you and Think Media Podcast wherever you listen or watch. Can you means the world to us. If you like, rate, review and share the podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. And I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.