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- [00:00]
A
The economy is shifting fast. If you're an entrepreneur or creator serious about scaling with YouTube, this is your moment. October 2nd and 3rd in Las Vegas, we're hosting the Think Media Mastermind. It's exclusive, it's application only, and spots are almost gone. Apply now atthink media mastermind.com Most people think that YouTube is about going viral or adsense revenue, but they're missing the bigger opportunity.
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B
I do no marketing. I have no team. I do no editing. It's just all these other income streams that come off of YouTube are much bigger.
- [00:34]
A
If you're building a channel, a business, or a brand, and you're only thinking about views and subscribers, you're likely leaving thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars on the table. There's a new wave of opportunity happening right now in online business, and if you know how to position yourself, even with a small, focused channel, you can tap into some serious income. My guest today is Michael Zuber, founder of One Rental at A Time, a YouTube channel today that has over 7 70,000 subscribers, 22 million views, and a business powered by 17 different income streams. But he didn't start there. He's going to be breaking down the entire playbook of how he started from zero and built one income stream at a time. So here's what's coming up. You're going to learn the 17 different ways that Michael makes money from one YouTube channel, how the creator economy is changing and what it means for your monetization strategy, the biggest shifts in social media and audience behavior that you need to know, and. And much more if you want to build real wealth through content and not just likes and views. This episode will give you the blueprint. Michael Zuber, welcome back to the show.
- [01:40]
B
Hey, Sean, how you doing?
- [01:41]
A
I'm doing well. So here's my question for you. What was the first dollar that you ever made on YouTube and what year was that?
- [01:48]
B
So the first dollar on YouTube came after producing content for over a year on YouTube. So it would become the second year.
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A
Okay, so you produce content. How many uploads in that first year?
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B
A thousand.
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A
A thousand different uploads?
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B
Yes.
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A
So break that down. Like, are you editing all these videos or how'd you get to a thousand uploads?
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B
Yeah. So what I thought you had to do in the beginning of YouTube, my vision was to create eight minute, eight to 12 minute videos. I thought that was the answer. Back in 2018, I did that by doing a daily financial news show interviewing millionaires. But when I interviewed them for an hour, we wouldn't do one hour long podcast, like it's popular today. We would do three, sometimes four videos in that hour. And I would post like, I would post at 7:30, 9, 11, 1, 3, 5 7, every day, seven days a week.
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A
And the point is, you would just get on with like zoom at the time, press record on zoom, talk for a little while, turn it off and upload that file.
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B
Correct.
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A
So it's a myth, thinking if they're listening to this, that it's got to be super complex. You gotta have all this editing, all this technology.
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B
I haven't edited a video in eight years.
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A
You still don't edit video.
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B
Do not.
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A
And so now there's different niches. And every single person listening to this regardless can learn from these 17 income streams we're gonna talk about. But this worked well for education, news, financial, real estate. That's your channel. Like if you're telling people what it is you do, explain it.
- [03:09]
B
Yeah, I would say what I do is I talk about building wealth all the way from understanding what your disposable income or discretionary income is. Different asset types. Sometimes we talk stocks, crypto, but I'm mainly real estate. That's my background. But I've been able to adopt other folks. One of my week millionaires is Taylor from Life Goal investments. He's a 12 year Wall street veteran. Another guy talked to Dan on Sunday's stocks. So again, the whole vision for the channel is wealth building. So I've accumulated friends, only one person I knew before starting it. And we talk every week now.
- [03:42]
A
Okay, so let's go through these 17 income streams and lock in for this whole episode because these will be. We'll get nuances on each one. Each one. Now, the first one is YouTube ad revenue. I'm curious about your lessons, what you've seen, but I have all your numbers. And thank you for being so generous to share these. You started in 2018. In 2019, you made $1,571 from the YouTube Partner Program.
- [04:06]
B
Yep, taken right off my tax return.
- [04:08]
A
Taking right off your tax return. So that's 2019. Then it was 2020 was 14,0002-0213-8000-2022, 78,000. 2023 went down to 43,000 and then last year 40,000. That's just YouTube ad revenue. One of 17 income streams. What have you learned about being a part of the YouTube Partner Program?
- [04:30]
B
There's a couple of things I've learned. One is as a creator, you go through seasons, right? Sometimes you feel like you're a favorite of the YouTube algorithm. You're getting a lot of new views. Sometimes you feel like you're in the dark. As a creator, you never know when that's coming, when the sun's in your face or at your back. You just got to keep going. And you know, my best month ever was just over $10,000. That was back during that 78k year. But I haven't had a year. I haven't had a month over 4200 in 14 months. Sure, right. So you just got to keep going.
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A
And so I think also YouTube ad revenue views can fluctuate seasons can fluctuate viewership, and then different channels pay different amounts per 1000 views. Personal finance and wealth building and real estate pays really well. Mine tech is also pays well. It's probably a little bit lower. It's kind of in the middle. If you do entertainment type of content, that's usually on the low end. And it also depends on who your audience is. So YouTube's going to pay you more, more typically to reach people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, because they have more spending power.
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B
Correct.
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A
And if it's a Gen Z audience, it's going to pay a little bit less. But the first income stream is YouTube ad revenue. And it's going to take time to get your first a ,thousand subscribers plus 4,000 hours of watch time. But once you do, you can sign up for the partner program and they'll start paying you for views.
- [05:46]
B
Yeah. And what I would tell folks is what you're about to see in these 17 different distinct incomes is it's all YouTube. I do no marketing, I have no team, I do no editing. Everything for me starts there. And YouTube now is probably, I don't know if you rank them first to last. Probably near the bottom.
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A
Yes. Okay.
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B
His income comes in, which is interesting. Right. Because everybody's chasing to your opening AdSense. AdSense is like other than books, it's like the lowest on my. And that's. I have. And I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't have a team, no advice. It's just all these other income streams that come off of YouTube are much bigger.
- [06:22]
A
Yes. Okay. So number one is YouTube ad revenue now. Number two is book sales. So when did you write your book? One rental at a time.
- [06:30]
B
So I wrote one rental at a time during that first year as I was creating content. I do think if you're going to be a content creator on YouTube, you should have something that could be monetized other than Adsense. I think the Easiest thing to do is write a book. Right. You could do courses, you could do other things. But I think it's nice to put in the description. Oh, by the way, if you like what you're seeing, you know, here's an Amazon link to One Rental at a time or 15 conversations with real Estate Millionaires. I think a content creator should be thinking about what's that next step? Because when somebody trusts you and that's what we're doing on, that's what I look at YouTube as is a trust building machine. I think we are in a trust recession. I think there's a lot of people out there that are slimy and, you know, going after the glitz and glam and if I just keep showing up, or if you love whatever it is, Star wars or classic cars or whatever it is, you just keep showing up, people are going to start to trust you and they want to. Want to know one more thing? I think a book at 1499, which is what one rental at a time is, is an easy add on. And if you publish it on Amazon, you know, you can make roughly seven bucks a book.
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A
Yeah. And so. And that's print on demand. Correct. Amazon's handling the shipping, the distribution. And so you self published.
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B
Yes.
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A
And so you did a self published book. It's called One Rental at a Time. And then you could sell the physical book and the E book. And this started in early 2019. In 2019 you made $6289 from the book.
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B
Correct.
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A
Then the next year, 18,000. The next year 24,000. In 2022 you made $31,000. Almost 32. And then 2023, 28,000. And so every year, this is compounding. What's crazy is you totaled it up here. And by the way, I'm so impressed by how good you are at tracking numbers as a financial guy. Makes sense. And so your book has earned $132,026 and counting.
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B
Physical copies.
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A
The physical copy.
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B
Because audio, there's another one that's the.
- [08:25]
A
Second stream we'll get to. We'll get to later. So that's so powerful. And these first two speak to the compound effect. And we're only two income streams in. Okay, so then number three is educational courses or online courses. So how many courses do you have? Or do you just have one course?
- [08:42]
B
So in the beginning I just had one course. It was called how to Get Started One Rental at a Time. And again, I don't know what I'm doing. I get lots of Advice. People were saying thousands of dollars. I sold it for 99 bucks the first year.
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A
Okay.
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B
And then 199. And then I think now it's 299. I did spin off a couple of other courses. How many do I have now? I think I have eight, maybe nine. They're like little $51 because I'm just trying to solve unique needs. But the main course, where 90% of the revenue is, it's called how to get started One Rental at a Time.
- [09:09]
A
So what listeners will understand here though is this is definitely speaking to online educators, expert industry teaching. Something that you're, you're going at your, your YouTube channel and then the adjacent strategy is like you're helping people solve a problem.
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B
And the beauty of it, Sean, is again, I didn't know I was going to. I had no plan. It was all audience driven. Why did I create the course? Because everybody asked these questions, right. If you actually have the course and go through it, it's all audience generated questions that became the course.
- [09:40]
A
And I think this, this brings up like another question that is, you know, well, what do I make my YouTube channel even about? And then, you know, could I ever create an online course? And I think it is important to maybe look into what is at the intersection of your passion, your proficiency, and then also what could be profitable. And for you, you'd been doing this thing of buying one rental at a time.
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B
Yep.
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A
And so you were teaching out of life experience. And that then is naturally manifesting as you are launching the channel to educate individuals on that audience driven. They start asking questions. So you package in, in a course starts at a hundred bucks. In 2019, you make $15,000 and $60,000 one year, almost 200,000 two years in a row, bottom line, your course has generated $537,000 so far. That is wild. From online courses. And that is the third income stream. Which brings us to number four, which is your audiobook. So you sat down and wrote a book. Then did you record your own voice?
- [10:45]
B
I didn't. I tried to. I don't read well. Okay. I'm not certainly out loud. I don't read well.
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A
Did you hire a voice? I did.
- [10:51]
B
So I actually there was a two step process to this. So I went out first and hired someone and that turned out to what they call a computer voice. Okay, right. That if you actually, or an og, you heard the computer voice. And that was most of the negative feedback. But again, part of my audience, it.
- [11:04]
A
Was a real person, but it sounded like a Computer.
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B
Yeah, it sounded like a computer.
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A
Oh, wow.
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B
Yeah, it was wild. It wasn't done well. But again, I paid for it. I didn't want to repay because, again, it was like five grand to have somebody do that. And then I actually had a friend of mine, one of my millionaires that comes back each week say that he wanted to record it for me. So it was recorded a second time in his voice. Dion did that for me.
- [11:22]
A
And that's what's on Audible right now.
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B
Correct. If you don't download it now, it's Dion's voice.
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A
And so in 2020, you made almost five grand just from Audible.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And that over the years, now has been $37,000 from audiobook revenue.
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B
Correct.
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A
And you know what's interesting too here is the power of YouTube is YouTube becomes this engine where, when I think about. Because I'm a fan of your show, your show being the daily financial News, which is six days a week, five.
- [11:49]
B
Days a week, 7:30am, which is five.
- [11:51]
A
Days a week, 7: 30am where you're just covering the daily financial news and 10, 15, 18 minutes. And maybe it comes up. But oftentimes these are just links in your description.
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B
Yeah, I don't. I don't.
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A
Yeah, you don't promote it.
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B
Don't promote it. No marketing, no ads.
- [12:09]
A
But by you putting out free value, because actually this episode is so transparent and so, like, raw, that also just might sound. I know you're. You're mission driven. Your impact first. We're talking so specifically about money that, you know, it could just seem like, man, you just must be selling 24, 7. You're not. You're adding value, you're helping people. You're adding free content out there. But you have created assets that people can discover and go deeper with you. Or sometimes they might be an answer to a question.
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B
Correct.
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A
I was like, hey, do you have more on that? You're like, actually, yeah, I did write a book.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Yeah. So, okay, number four is audible, number five. And we're going to get very tactical here now, because this is called referral or affiliate income. And affiliate marketing, if you're new to it, is where you sign up at a website that sells something online. They allow you to have a custom link. You could put that link in the description, tell people, hey, if you want to go check out this product or service, if they click it, then that custom link tracks that it's you who sent the person, and then you get a commission. So you could be an Amazon affiliate, which let's. This Our number's gonna get messed up here. But we do get to 17 streams because you put a lot of things under just referral and affiliate income. Because you have these different opportunities, we're gonna break them all down. But Amazon Affiliates is one. And so that's how I originally made six figures. I was doing tech gear reviews specifically about cameras, lights. Cause my background was video. And so I do a camera review. Be like, hey, if you want to check it out, link in the description. And I would make 4%. So let's say it was a thousand dollar camera. I would make $40 if someone purchased that camera. Pretty cool. And so for you, we're going to go through these. But when I say, when it says 2020, you made $8,150 in affiliate income from what in 2020?
- [13:54]
B
In 2020, that would probably just be the Amazon, just the basic program, links to books, all of that. Because I would make 2 to 4% just off links in my videos.
- [14:02]
A
And that might have been your book or like other people's books.
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B
Yeah, because I would review other books when I read them.
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A
And yeah, you might have been like, yeah, I read this recent book. And so you could link to a book. And so, so if you're listening to this too, anything you do, because there's affiliate programs for Dick's Sporting Goods, Bass Pro shop, skincare, makeup, SaaS, products, CRMs that you use for business, all kinds of different things. But what you've done is on your kind of balance sheet, your, you know, cash balance, income statement. Income statement.
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B
There you go.
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A
How does Sean run a company? As a CEO, he's made it pretty far. He doesn't know what an income statement is. And so ultimately you've grouped the total income of this. So in 2024, you made $62,000. And that's the, that's the things I'm about to break down.
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B
Correct.
- [14:49]
A
Okay, so just affiliate marketing. Last year, 2024 made $62,000. Here's some other income streams. Number one. Hey, let me ask you something. Do you have a real plan to grow on YouTube and actually stick with it? Whether you're just getting started, restarting after a break, or trying to turn views into income, we've created something brand new to help. It's called YouTube Jumpstart, a free three day online event designed to help you grow, get views, and even start earning before 1,000 subscribers. Every single day, you will learn something powerful and you'll be challenged to take action. So you're not just watching more content. You're building real momentum. This is for people who are done thinking about YouTube and ready to get serious and do something about it. You'll get practical strategies, new AI tools, and behind the scenes growth tactics that we've never shared publicly before. And most of all, you won't be doing this alone. You'll be a part of a real community that will support you, challenge you, and hold you accountable to your YouTube goals and dreams. So if you're tired of just talking to ChatGPT about your channel, not making any meaningful progress and ready to get real results, then go to tubejumpstart.com to grab your spot for this free event or just click the link in the show notes. And I need you to know this is a live event with super limited replays and once they come down, they're going to be gone forever. So don't wait. This might be the exact push that you've been needing. So go to tubejumpstart.com to secure your spot today. All right, let's jump back into the episode. You work with this company called Convoy, which is a lender for people that want to buy houses.
- [16:29]
B
Correct.
- [16:30]
A
Is that commercial or is that investor facing?
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B
Both.
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A
Okay, so. So like, just like any of the loan companies across America, how did you get this relationship?
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B
So again, a lot of people reach out to me because they know that I have a community one rental at a time. And the founders, Jonathan and Dustin, reached out to me. I say yes to a lot of people for one interview, which we did. It went well and I felt good about that relationship. I used them and then we struck up a conversation. So at Convoy, for example, they pay me $1,000 a month just to be on my channel. So I talk to them Thursdays, 9am, every Thursday, 9am and I guarantee nothing. They just get 30 minute slot four days a month. And then, so that thousand dollars comes in and then on top of that, if somebody reaches out to them, because I give access to Dustin and Jonathan, the founders. If you don't use me, you just end up in a queue with, you know, 500 other people. Right. I'm giving you access to the CEO and the President. If you go to them via me, I make a fee on that as well.
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A
So actually this is referral and affiliate income. I would call this like you've built a media company and people can almost like come on your platform.
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B
Yep, only if I use them. That's, that's the wrinkle.
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A
And that's, I think, a very integrous way to do it. You're not just shilling it to anybody that I don't need that money. Yeah. But it's, it's relationship based. But I, you know, I know some others, we have mutual friends. There are some people who do paid podcasts.
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B
Sure.
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A
Some of their guests are paying to come on their podcast. Now listeners might be like, I don't know how I feel about that, but I think that, I think the key way to do it right is they still have to be, they pass the wisdom test that you, you know, believe in them. It's something. But like there's a win win there. And I know some individuals who charge as much as I think like $16,000 to get, I'm sure be on their podcast. So you know, it's not just affiliate income that's actually saying like could someone, you know, purchase a spot or like a, in a way it's like a brand deal, but it's different. It's a partnership, a dedicated brand spot. So again our numbers are going to break down, I promise you. We get to 17 in the episode. But that's, that's one, that's convoy. Now there's another one. That's Velocity. That's another lender.
- [18:40]
B
Correct.
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A
And then Matt the mortgage guy is another lender.
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B
Correct.
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A
And so these are spots.
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B
Yep.
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A
They're all doing the same model.
- [18:46]
B
Yep. So Velocity is 9:30 on Thursdays. Matt the mortgage guy's Wednesday at 10.
- [18:52]
A
And the big idea here too is you have one YouTube channel where you're uploading a volume of content. You've developed an audience that looks to you on this like wealth building financial topic. But what's actually kind of crazy is you could look at Dave Ramsey, over a thousand employees, multiple shows with multiple channels, multiple editors. You could look at Daily Wire or something like this. Again, kind of like valuetainment. But you actually are now running a media company with multiple spots by yourself.
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B
Yeah. No team.
- [19:21]
A
You're a one man show and streamyard and you've got these times and slots. This is the world we're living in. Think Media podcast. Like we're living in a world where you can make an at home media company very simply by yourself.
- [19:36]
B
No, there's no question. And again if you were, if you are, if I was really going after this, you know, these, these dollars I'm showing throwing around could be a lot bigger. Yeah, right.
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A
I'm scale this.
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B
I have no idea what I'm doing. And these numbers still happen. It's kind of wild.
- [19:49]
A
Right before the podcast you were Also talking about, I, so when's your next cruise? And you're like. And I was like, you're a lifestyle entrepreneur. You work really hard and I respect that because you love what you do. I'm similar. I wouldn't want to do really anything else than the thing I love. But then I also have the tension. Our team just took Sabbath week. We just shut, our whole team gets paid, we shut the whole thing down for a week in addition to all the other time. And, and you're taking, you and your wife are going on three cruises a year. Trips.
- [20:15]
B
You're traveling. Just got back from Hawaii and yeah.
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A
You have to do the Alaska cruise. And Kyle, you know, producer Kyle's here and he goes, you know, you ever been. You're like, this is our four going.
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B
It's true.
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A
So you kind of have built this. You've got the hustle, but also the lifestyle. And you're running a media company but around something that's sustainable, that is super healthy. Like it's really cool.
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B
Yeah, it's, it's three hours, five days a week.
- [20:37]
A
Okay, so three hours, five days a week is how you run your media company.
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B
15 hours.
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A
So let's finish out these affiliate incomes. Then you also have HEM Lane, which is property management. Steadily. A property manager.
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B
No, insurance.
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A
Steadily is insurance.
- [20:50]
B
Correct.
- [20:51]
A
And so now these are all video spots. Weekly.
- [20:54]
B
Yes, weekly. All right. So steadily is a little bit different. So we tried to do the same thing and they were, they're very, they're growing very quickly and I just couldn't get, they wouldn't show up. And I felt bad because again, you're paying for that slot, which I think was Tuesday at 9:30.
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A
You're like, I'll collect the money. But I felt better than I'm collecting the money.
- [21:13]
B
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't feel good sending the invoice because I, it's a. I don't need the thousand dollars, but I'm still going to do it because that's what we signed.
- [21:19]
A
Right, right.
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B
And I said, you know what, you want to do something different? So I have this show which you watch the Daily Financial News. And I said, you know what, let's try a 90 day sponsorship. I've never done this. So if you go to my daily Financial News show, it's the only video I have. In the upper right corner is their logo.
- [21:33]
A
Yes, okay.
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B
Steadily. And they pay me 2000amonth to be up there.
- [21:38]
A
Okay.
- [21:39]
B
And then if people click on the link in the description, I also.
- [21:42]
A
So these are yeah, these are paid spots plus commissions. Yeah, way. This is way more. It's not really just affiliate marketing. This really, I think of this as like biz development. This is creator economy, media company, business development.
- [21:55]
B
Yeah. The reason this happened this way, again, I don't know if it's right. I don't know. Other people do it differently. I never asked. Opinion is I wanted to be paid some base rate for my time each month, which again, I'm giving them 30 minutes a week. So I want to make a guaranteed number and then.
- [22:11]
A
And then be paid on performance.
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B
That's exactly what I want.
- [22:13]
A
Yeah, makes sense. Very logical. And then so then there's also small business loan and you get like a 25% commission. And then there's also Resi Club newsletter, which is a paid financial newsletter. But what is the deal there?
- [22:26]
B
So they run ads on my. On my newsletter and I make half of that.
- [22:31]
A
Okay, so. So then you also have a newsletter, which by the way, I'll hit Zuba letter. So you have the Zuber letter, which. And another point, I'll list it as a number and from here out I'm not going to number the numbers, but that's another one. So doing a newsletter, many creator, economy, YouTube channels, at some point, launch a newsletter and newsletters. So there's some paid newsletters or just the fact that the newsletter can have sponsors in it. Your own stuff for other people.
- [22:59]
B
Correct.
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A
So in that case, your newsletter monetizes because Rezi sponsors it.
- [23:05]
B
Yeah, Or Resi sells ads and I.
- [23:07]
A
Make a 50% commission even for even other people.
- [23:10]
B
Correct.
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A
And they just handle that and they.
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B
Help me write it.
- [23:13]
A
So Resy helps you write the letter and sponsors it. And then also they're kind of. Yeah, so it's kind of a partnership. Yep, is the accurate word. So this whole category we have kind of referral here. Partnership, affiliate income. And in summary, there was the six different types of, you know, companies you're doing stuff with. There's the newsletter and also Amazon affiliates. That takes us to our next income stream, which is live events.
- [23:43]
B
Yeah, live events are really interesting because they look really impressive, top line. But as you know, throwing on events, there's a lot to them. The first year I lost money. The second year we made a little bit. But yeah, live events. And again I look at.
- [23:57]
A
Are these numbers profit or.
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B
That's. That's total.
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A
That's revenue.
- [24:00]
B
That's revenue.
- [24:00]
A
Got it. So in 2023, you did. You did six figures. You did $101,000. Yeah, but like you Said they're very cost intense. And you lost money.
- [24:09]
B
I lost money. That was a celebration. That was 50,000 sub celebration. I knew I was going to lose money going in. Actually lost less than I thought. But yeah, I lost money.
- [24:18]
A
Which. Which is an interesting thought here because I would argue too, I mean, clearly in isolation, you lost money. But as people, if they're even just loosely calculating the math, you didn't lose money in your business.
- [24:29]
B
Oh, not at all.
- [24:29]
A
Not even close. So even the investment into in person experience, community depth.
- [24:35]
B
I would do it again twice on Sunday because again, when you really think about what we're doing here is we're building a community. And it, I mean, people say it all the time. It now feels like a family reunion.
- [24:45]
A
Yeah, it does absolutely feel that way. That is the vibe and what you've been building. So then in addition, you also have launched a community platform, AKA membership program on school, spelled with a K. And you started that in 2024 and that has earned $41,000.
- [25:06]
B
It will be my largest producer in 25.
- [25:09]
A
Amazing. And so this is reoccurring revenue.
- [25:11]
B
Yep.
- [25:12]
A
MMR monthly. MRR monthly reoccurring revenue, as you would call it. Because you've got members paying like what, 20 bucks a month.
- [25:19]
B
20 bucks a month.
- [25:20]
A
And then you're adding additional premium content. You've scheduled other people in there.
- [25:25]
B
Correct.
- [25:26]
A
Okay. And then the next one is Spotify.
- [25:29]
B
Well, let's talk about school again, because again, I think, I think one of the things that content creators need to know is you need to evolve. Right. If you're, look, you have the numbers in front of you. There was a lot. There was a long time where online courses were 70 or 60, 70% of the total income. Those have really fallen off. And I think they've fallen off because people want community now.
- [25:48]
A
Yeah.
- [25:48]
B
And I tried to do that with a private Facebook group, but I was. I have, I have, I still have it. It's like 3,000 members in there, but I can't communicate with everybody.
- [25:56]
A
Yes.
- [25:56]
B
And that's what, that's what drove me batshit crazy, is I couldn't. I couldn't communicate. A very important thing to everyone.
- [26:04]
A
Yep.
- [26:04]
B
And at that point, it broke the model. I went to school, I started from scratch, and now it's, you know, 454 members and growing nearly every day. Yeah, that's the thing. I think I'll be known for going on. And again, my. I'm no longer the biggest contributor. I spend maybe two hours a week kind of.
- [26:22]
A
Do people volunteer Their time that contribute.
- [26:24]
B
Do we have eight people running accountability groups that I never show up to?
- [26:28]
A
Wow.
- [26:28]
B
That's just the community. Right? We got ladies of all rat out of state investing. You know, it's just, it's just.
- [26:33]
A
That's cool.
- [26:34]
B
Yeah. It's just eight people, you know, taking an hour of their time or in 90 minutes to run their own groups.
- [26:39]
A
I think people want, they do. Looking for community. They're looking. Yeah. And so for you to throw the party around. People that want to get into real estate investing, house hacking, ada, wealth building.
- [26:49]
B
Gen Z. Right. The latest one that just. I was so happy Cody Davis did Saturday because now I have an accountability group seven days a week.
- [26:56]
A
Yeah.
- [26:56]
B
So he's Gen Z. He's 25 years old, man.
- [26:58]
A
That's cool. And so, you know, I noticed that too. That was a pivot we had to make. We still have and are known most for our online course.
- [27:05]
B
I'm sure.
- [27:05]
A
But I would argue it's not an online course anymore. It is, it's in circle similar to school. It is community driven. We got a whole faculty, we got AI tools.
- [27:15]
B
Awesome.
- [27:16]
A
We, we, you know, at times when it launches, it has a cohort. And so you're right. Things are evolving and people really want.
- [27:25]
B
And that's the. Again, I say this with people watching this. Focus on the community.
- [27:31]
A
Yeah.
- [27:31]
B
Look for the depth. And again, you don't have to be crazy. I mean, I've seen some school communities, $99 a month, thousand dollars, whatever it is. Mine's 20 bucks. It's 67 pennies a day.
- [27:42]
A
Yeah, it's crazy.
- [27:42]
B
Yeah.
- [27:43]
A
Especially for like wealth building, real estate advice. So. Okay, so that. So membership program, school for you, community platform.
- [27:51]
B
That's six figures a year now.
- [27:53]
A
Okay. Because I have your 2024 numbers at 41,000. But you're saying it's going to be six figures in 2025. Amazing. And so then the next one was a surprise to you and it was the fact that you also cut up your. You just upload simple videos, no editing to YouTube, but you extract the audio.
- [28:08]
B
Correct.
- [28:09]
A
And you distribute it as a podcast.
- [28:10]
B
Yeah. So we've been posting To Spotify since 2019, I think you're saying we said.
- [28:16]
A
You'Re just by yourself. Do you have like one.
- [28:17]
B
So one. One. So somebody does my thumbnails now.
- [28:19]
A
Okay.
- [28:20]
B
And they also strip the video and post to Spotify.
- [28:22]
A
Like one virtual assistant.
- [28:24]
B
Yeah, it's 2,000 bucks.
- [28:26]
A
Got it.
- [28:26]
B
You know, so he's in Mexico, but yeah, he's been doing my stuff for three or four years. So there is a $2,000 a month fee that I pay for thumbnail in full transparency.
- [28:35]
A
You're the one man I create media company with one virtual assistant.
- [28:41]
B
He probably works, I'm guessing halftime.
- [28:43]
A
But yeah, okay, I got you. And so. And thus there's a system for that. You do like the daily financial news. It hits audio, but Spotify pays you 600 bucks.
- [28:52]
B
Yeah. Out of nowhere. I didn't know it showed up. I didn't even know what was happening.
- [28:56]
A
So there's distribution across multi platform. You then have another income stream which I'll plant a flag here. I don't know how we're going to do time codes and chapters in this episode on the YouTube version, but I think that'll be the best place to see each distinct 17 individual thing because the next one is the newsletter. So it was mentioned earlier, but it really more than referral or affiliate income. You launched a newsletter.
- [29:19]
B
Correct.
- [29:19]
A
You launched it leveraged because Rezi helps write it.
- [29:22]
B
Correct.
- [29:23]
A
And they're handling like the ads and whatnot. And then you get a percentage of that but off of your brand and off of your IP because they're also what's happening in the news. But you have the daily financial news. All your experts.
- [29:32]
B
Yeah. Typically what they're doing is they're finding the most viewed video from the week before and we're writing an article on that.
- [29:38]
A
Got it. So you've. That's in a way too. That's a partnership. JV Partnership, collaboration. Partnership. Where it's levered because they're helping you write it. But it just becomes really a passive income stream.
- [29:50]
B
Yeah, it's passive.
- [29:51]
A
Do you know how much that that. Because I don't that. I mean if you were.
- [29:53]
B
It's not on there. I think last year we did $15,000. This year we'll probably do double that.
- [29:58]
A
That's an interesting creator economy thought because I think number one, we can't underestimate the fact that we're not being cavalier about all these income streams. Like look at this is Get Rich Quick. Not at all.
- [30:10]
B
This is.
- [30:10]
A
You've put in the work.
- [30:12]
B
Let's talk about why I did it.
- [30:13]
A
Yeah, right.
- [30:13]
B
Because again, a newsletter didn't come around till 2024.
- [30:16]
A
Okay.
- [30:17]
B
Or I guess late 2023. What year are we at? No, so 24. And it basically one of the creators in our. In our world basically lost his channel. Right. He got hacked or whatever and he's like, you know, if you don't have the email Addresses. You're screwed.
- [30:29]
A
Yes.
- [30:29]
B
Right. So again, I was like, all right, I got to do a newsletter. I have a download off my website. Website. So I've collected. Even before the newsletter, I think I had 7,000 names and emails. Done nothing with it. Yeah, Right. So talking with Lance, he's the. He's the founder and CEO of Resi Club, and he's like, hey, I think we can do something with that. And then we partnered up, and now it's probably got 14 or 15,000 names. And he takes care of selling the ads and all of that. I just make a little piece.
- [30:56]
A
Yeah, I got that. And so what I want people to hear as well, though, what is. This is the kind of episode that's mind blowing. We're talking about 17 income streams. But. And haters and critics will be like, you know, oh, this isn't possible. Or you're just like, selling a dream. No, like, this is super possible. Like, this is like practical, real numbers.
- [31:16]
B
It's also eight years. Right.
- [31:18]
A
And that's what I'm getting at. It's like. But this is not. We're not saying this is get rich quick or like online. You know, you're just drinking margaritas, but you're not working. And not only that, you also, there's. There's legacy behind the whole thing. Like, if you're the type of person who's learning, investing in mastery, you've grown. I want to recommend the previous episode we did of why people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s should start a YouTube channel. I'll link that up in the show. Notes. Like, is you've got life experience. You had built real depth in one rental at a time. Idea of. Of hacking your way into. Originally, four rentals wasn't like four rentals.
- [31:54]
B
That's all I wanted.
- [31:55]
A
Four rentals was freedom. While you had your day job, you were working on that. And so whatever you've been doing in your life, you started to think about how you can move that onto YouTube, serve people. You were willing to put in the time and sacrifice for four years before six figures.
- [32:09]
B
Correct.
- [32:09]
A
But what I want people to hear is as your network grows, as you go to events, as you shake hands, as you serve, as you build a good reputation, as you're honest, you and Lance develop a relationship. How long did you know each other?
- [32:22]
B
So Lance was a part of the channel while he was editor at fortune, probably for 18 months before he went on his own, before Resi Club was even a thing.
- [32:29]
A
You just never know what's going to happen. In the creator of Fortune.
- [32:31]
B
I never thought, I mean, think about this, right? I'm doing this for a long time and Lance Lambert, probably the most well known real estate writer, I get introduced to him, we do one show, it goes really well. I ask him if he's comfortable coming back, you know, weekly. I think we agreed it twice a month. Then fast forward a year, we probably do 40 episodes and maybe it's a year and a half. He goes, mike, I got something to tell you. I'm like, okay, cool, what's going on? He goes, I'm going to quit Fortune and start this thing. I'm like, I'm already looking at you like you're the man now you're going to go do this entrepreneur thing. How can I help you? Yeah, and you know, just, just being a good person.
- [33:05]
A
And then I. At my point is you didn't even see that coming. But, but because of what you built, you were able to print a new income stream that generated $15,000 because of YouTube.
- [33:16]
B
I wanted this to be very clear. Yeah, everything I do is YouTube it. If I stop posting on YouTube, all of those disappear. Yes, all of them.
- [33:25]
A
But also if you didn't have a conversation with Lance, he's doing the heavy lifting. You start a whole newsletter, then like $15,000 would not even exist.
- [33:34]
B
Correct.
- [33:35]
A
But it just appeared out of thin air, you know, like absolutely. Like that. Even just that statement said felt a little Internet sketch. But I'm like, but that's. But no, like Goldman Sachs said, the creator economy is going to double between now and 2027, no doubt from a $250 billion TAM total addressable market to have a trillion dollar industry. It's because of the leverage of YouTube.
- [33:55]
B
Correct.
- [33:55]
A
Is because of being able to go one to many with content and builds trust.
- [34:00]
B
You have to build trust. And YouTube is the only platform that does that. You don't do it in 62nd. Dancing monkeys.
- [34:06]
A
That's good. And what I want people to hear though too is like a lot of times I think people overestimate how much that can happen in year one and they really sprint in year one and burn out. The accolades are really there for those that are still going at year four, year eight, 10 years plus. And the compound effect of the network that you build, the trust that you build and over time then you add on something else. You didn't start a live event. You did not do all of these. Day one, not even close. No, this is now, today. How many years you been doing this?
- [34:35]
B
Eight years.
- [34:37]
A
So at eight Years into this, you have quite the sophisticated and optimized independent media company that you're running by yourself.
- [34:46]
B
Correct.
- [34:47]
A
With one guy helping from Mexico thumbnails and loading podcasts. Okay, so then we also have another one. And you touched on this earlier, but I would like to say this is number 17. And I did the math there for sure is 17 is a sponsorship that in this case is in the upper right hand corner of the Daily Financial News. And is that what you said was earlier?
- [35:09]
B
That was steadily. Yeah.
- [35:10]
A
So now steadily did that and they just resigned?
- [35:12]
B
Yeah, they did. They just again, this is something I didn't even know was a thing I didn't know is a thing. So steadily again, this steadily. The story is they. I tried to make them fit like the other ones. Come on, this time. 30 minutes, we're going to do a show. They showed up like 25% of the time. I felt like I was taking advantage of them. I'm like, this isn't working. Let's stop. You know, I don't want to. I don't want to. I'll use that 30 minutes elsewhere. And then I said to them, what if, what if I took your logo and I put it on a show that gets the most views? Because if you look at all my interviews, they average between a thousand and three thousand views. But the daily financial news could go from 4,500 to ten grand. Right. Which for me is a big number. And I said, what if I put you on there every day I do one. So like, if I'm traveling doesn't count. But if every day I'm in the office and I do one, if I put your thumbnail up there and then I close with their landlord insurance, go get a quote, blah, blah, blah, you know, would you be willing to pay for that? And they said yes. So I don't know if it's a good number or not, but they pay me two grand a month to be in my upper right corner.
- [36:10]
A
Yeah.
- [36:11]
B
And we did it for 90 days and then they just re up for the rest of the year, which I think is wild. I didn't even know you could do that.
- [36:17]
A
Yeah. And you continue to be surprised listeners. Mine is probably racing right now because it's like, geez, you guys really did get to 17 income streams, which I actually have some final takeaways and questions are probably some of the most important things we're going to talk about in this episode. As we land the plane, I want to hit a couple things. You said your adsense dropped though, at one point by 50%. But your overall income went up. What's the core mindset shift behind that?
- [36:44]
B
Again, what I would tell somebody on this, it's not AdSense. YouTube is your what? I look at YouTube as is how I build trust. And it is the only thing that I do. That's me. Everything I do on YouTube is me. It's the trust vehicle. I only worry about YouTube and all this other stuff happens by accident. No ads, no marketing, none of this stuff. It's just being a good person and consistent. So realize that YouTube is everything and nothing, if that makes sense. It's everything from the content, but it's nothing from the income stream. Yeah, the ads are not the same.
- [37:17]
A
It's everything from distribution.
- [37:19]
B
It's distribution. It's loyalty. It's again, one YouTube video suddenly now goes to podcast. I made more on podcasts one day than I did YouTube. I didn't know they could do that. Yeah, right. It just showed up.
- [37:31]
A
That's crazy. Okay, so then if someone's listening to this Right now, with 1,000 subscribers or less, where should they start thinking about income?
- [37:40]
B
So again, I think as you went through this, I mean, if they were to look at the years, I think year one is about honing your craft on YouTube. Finding the audience, finding your avatar, you know, finding five friends to help you do that. Because it all starts there. And then I think just step one is like, what's your thing? For me, it was a book. That's all I would worry about. It's not, how do I go from 0 to 17 income streams? I didn't go 0 to 17. Right. I went from 0 to 1, you know, 1 to 2, 2 to 3. And, you know, it may look crazy now, but I got eight years. And, you know, I wasn't a slouch to start with this. So again, it's. It doesn't. You don't do eight income streams. Day one, make it all about YouTube.
- [38:17]
A
I think that anybody that wants to start YouTube needs to know that your income is directly correlated to the amount of buy buttons you have on your website.
- [38:24]
B
There you go.
- [38:25]
A
And what 99% of creators are missing is they don't have any buy buttons.
- [38:28]
B
You got to think about that. You got to have that first one.
- [38:30]
A
And what we're discovering here is it doesn't have to be your website.
- [38:34]
B
Correct.
- [38:34]
A
It could be Amazon.com absolutely is there is a buy button, and someone can enter their credit card and purchase something. And like you said on Amazon, on that transaction, on a physical book, you're going to make $7, 7 bucks. So there is a high value way that somebody can go click a button, enter their credit card and give you $7.
- [38:53]
B
Yeah. And again, to your earlier point, I never mention it.
- [38:56]
A
Yes.
- [38:56]
B
Right. I think I've done, I don't know, 16,000 videos and I think I mentioned my book like a hundred times. They just, they just see it in the link.
- [39:03]
A
But. Yeah, but they, but you've built this. You've. Consistent content is the engine, but you found it a way to, to connect.
- [39:08]
B
That, build trust again. I really think that's important. YouTube is everything and nothing. It's everything from the building of the trust, the relationships, the consistency, and then everything else spins off, spits off of that.
- [39:20]
A
You started your channel at 45 years old. What's something you understand now that you wish you knew back then?
- [39:26]
B
Oh, my goodness. I wish I would have learned earlier the importance of title, thumbnail hook. I mean, that's think Media 101, right. I beat my head against the wall again. If you go back and watch my first 2000 videos, I never even asked for help. I just did. I'm comfortable doing the work. It wasn't until you reached out to me that you started coaching me and helping me improve. I would tell people that, yeah, you got to think title, thumbnail hook.
- [39:58]
A
Well, I've saved my most important question for the end, but before we get there, I want to give you a chance. If people want to connect with you, follow you and learn about what you're doing, where can they follow you? And we'll make sure to link this up in the show notes.
- [40:08]
B
I've done one thing right in all of this and everything I do is one rental at a time.
- [40:11]
A
Amazing. So one rental at a time is the YouTube channel. And we'll make sure to link up everything Michael Zuber in the description. And then also, here's the final question. You've done all this, but how many viral videos have you had?
- [40:26]
B
0. 0.
- [40:30]
A
So would you agree that you don't need to go viral, but you need to go consistent?
- [40:34]
B
I think, I actually think going viral is a detriment because typically what happens when you go viral is you start to get to other communities and you never know what may come from that. And you could actually, you know.
- [40:45]
A
Well, tell me this story, because you did actually say recently you were seeing that a lot of YouTube channels get viewers that are mostly not subscribed. Yes, 75%, 80% of viewers are not subscribed. And you were Talking to famous YouTuber and your numbers were more like 50%.
- [41:01]
B
Of people were subscribed, meaning 75% are.
- [41:04]
A
Subscribed, which is the flip of like everybody I know. But what that means is you're reaching a core, die hard audience, but you weren't really reaching new people.
- [41:12]
B
Correct.
- [41:12]
A
So what was the pivot? This YouTube expert told you?
- [41:14]
B
Yeah. So again, he, he basically said, you're not doing it right. You need to grow. And so I went, I went negative for six weeks.
- [41:23]
A
His advice was you have to find.
- [41:25]
B
The new audience you've got.
- [41:27]
A
His advice to get the new audience was to go.
- [41:30]
B
You got to do something different and basically go negative.
- [41:32]
A
And to go negative, what does that mean?
- [41:34]
B
So you know, when real estate and finance, you can talk about housing crash, you can put housing crash in your title. And that was something I rarely did going up unless I had like a real thing. But maybe once every hundred videos. But I did it, you know, probably 90% of the time it said housing crash for about a six week period. And it worked. I got 110,000 more views. I probably got five or six hundred more subscribers than normal. I made an extra thousand dollars and I hated it because that new audience were people I didn't want. They were quitters and whiners and complainers and people that wanted the world to burn down. I do not want to deal with those people. I want to deal with people who are hopeful, who know it takes work, who believe it's possible. And that's my core community. So what I realized after six weeks is I am very happy with 75% of my viewers being subscribers. Perfect. I'm okay not going viral because I don't want the other circle. I don't want those people. I don't want to be around them. They're toxic.
- [42:40]
A
So to recap this, I think the insight was this individual was like, hey, if you want to get more views, go negative. Meaning create negative content. It could be fear based content, clickbait, crisis crash. We all know that stuff spreads on YouTube. Y and his advice worked?
- [42:58]
B
Absolutely.
- [42:58]
A
But the advice led to your comment section going from a community that was like, we're not looking, we're looking at the bright side. We're going to solve every problem. We're a hopeful community to just complainers people. So not all views are equal. And you made a little bit more money and you got some more views, but you already had the business model dialed. So that is such a poignant piece of wisdom. I love that this is at the end of the show of Just thinking about being thoughtful about. What is it you want to build?
- [43:27]
B
Yeah. And just to tie this all together, that new 110,000 views, my guess is 99% of those people would not monetize on anything else.
- [43:36]
A
Totally.
- [43:37]
B
Because they're not going to buy a book. They're not going to do this. They're just whining and complaining. So I don't want that. Adsense. I would go away from me. Never come over.
- [43:45]
A
Yeah. That is a very interesting insight. And I mean, to each his own. We. We might have different values and different beliefs and somebody watching this. It's true that, like, what if it bleeds? It leads.
- [43:58]
B
Correct.
- [43:58]
A
So if you have a news channel, maybe that's the game you're in as far as how you're going to make your money. But I think as a good questions that become almost philosophical questions. What is it you want to build?
- [44:09]
B
I know, I know. There's a creator in Vegas who has a community of over 560,000 subs. I think it might be 600,000 now who doesn't like his community so much he actually outsources the content creation and he gives up 50% of the revenue because he just can't deal with it anymore.
- [44:24]
A
Interesting. And so what kind of life do you want? What kind of impact do you want.
- [44:28]
B
To make Toxic man.
- [44:29]
A
Yeah. What kind of. And those are deep questions, which I would recommend if you made it this far and you didn't see part one or listen to part one of my conversation with Michael Zuber. We go really deep into starting a YouTube channel in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, and a lot of tactics maybe you're seeing. Okay, we talked all about the money side. What's really cool is clearly you've got that side dialed. But we talked about the difference between chasing.
- [44:54]
B
I don't even know if I have it dialed. That's why. That's why I come to guys like you.
- [44:57]
A
No, I think listeners though, they might be like, dog did the math, bro. You're doing all right on an annual basis, like there's a. Yeah, there's no complaints. And so, but. But like, that's not the main thing that drives you. It's purpose, it's impact. And so definitely listen to part one of my conversation with Michael Zuber. I'll link that up in the show notes. Michael, thank you for coming on the show again and Think Media podcast. If you got value today, one of the things that you could do is if you're on the YouTube version, hit like and leave us a comment like what did you like best? Which income stream are you starting with? Now you might be listening on audio and in that case maybe it's leaving a review on Apple and listen. Some of you have been listening to the podcast for six months, 12 months, multiple years, and you listen on audio but you've never left a review of review on Apple. How dare you. Today's the day. Can you take three minutes to just hit the star rating and leave a few thoughts? It's on your phone. You could open it up right now. You're between sets at the gym, have some electrolytes and leave us a couple sentences if you're new here. Hey, no pressure, you know, hang around and see if you actually are getting value Spotify rate review and listen. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. Thanks so much for being a part of the journey here at the Think Media Podcast.