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A
Well, when I got monetized after the thousand subscriber mark, I remember I made my first check and I think it was like $12. And I remember showing it to my wife and she was like, that's great, $12, right. Cause I was working a corporate job and I was just doing it spare time. I have two kids, right. So I was busy there and I just kept putting time into it. On the weekends I would upload a couple videos a week and then the money started to grow a little bit.
B
Hello everyone. Welcome to the conversation on this week's Creators Hub episode. I am so excited today to be by Clint. Clint started the tool review zone YouTube channel around six years ago and now he does this as a full time career. If you go take a look at the tool review zone YouTube channel, right now it's got almost 400,000 subscribers, almost a couple hundred videos away from 2,000 videos uploaded. And Clint has an amazing community that he's built over there. Clint, how you doing today?
A
Yeah, brother, how you doing? Dusty? Appreciate the invite, Doing really well.
B
Looking forward to chatting with you about the channel and kind of what you've done to find this kind of success. So six years ago, take me back to six years ago when you decided to kind of start this venture. What, what, how did that process go and what's the origin story of the Tool Review Zone channel?
A
Well, I started the Tool Review Zone channel by accident. Believe it or not. I didn't even have a name on the channel. I never set out to be a YouTube creator, which was really weird. What happened was I used to review products on Amazon and Home Depot and I was like a top five reviewer on Amazon. I just liked it. And the Home Depot, I was like a top 10 reviewer. And I just seen my numbers climbing and every time someone would give me a like on one of my reviews, it would raise me in the ranks. I wanted that number one spot because I'm like that, right? So I found out that there was a link system that on the Home Depot I could put a YouTube link on the Home Depot review page. And I noticed when I did that I would get more thumbs up. So I started making these very small short clips of the tool that I would buy and I would say, hey, I think this is pretty cool. Here's a shot of it. And I would upload that YouTube link. Well, the YouTube channel started getting views and it started snowballing. So I was like, oh, this is kind of cool. So I started doing more and more and more and next thing I know I started getting subscribers and I hit that 1000 subscriber mark and I got monetized over there. And I was like, you can make a little bit of money on this channel. So that's where it started. I did not set out to be a YouTuber or a content creator. I started out just wanting to get that number one spot reviewer on Amazon and Home Depot.
B
And were you. Did you know anything about the Amazon influencer program where you could make money from when you did the videos?
A
I don't think they had that when I started. I. I'm part of that now. It's not great. I'll just be honest with you. I mean, you could make a little bit of money, but their commission's really low. But no, I was just buying my own stuff, right? My own tools, my drills, whatever I bought on Amazon, and I would just review it because I wanted to become that number one reviewer. It was almost like a goal, right? I thought it was pretty cool. And then next thing you know, Home Depot sort of took notice of my reviews and they gave me a top contributor and they invited me to what was called the Seeds program. And the Seeds program, in case a lot of people don't know, in the tool community, because that's what we do, right? Tool reviews. That's the name of the channel. Tool reviews on. They invited me to this program called Seeds and Seeds, you would get to pick five different tools every month, and they would send them to you. And whether you like them or not, you just did a review on them and then you uploaded it to this portal. And that's really where the channel started to grow. And then I was purchasing tools and bringing them to the channel and trying to get as much content out there that I could, you know, to get the exposure on the channel.
B
What was the moment, Clint, when you realized or thought to yourself, okay, there may be something to this. Like, this may be more than just me interested in making videos and you have a passion for tools. Like what?
A
What.
B
Can you remember that moment of thinking, okay, there could be something to this?
A
Well, when I got monetized after the thousand subscriber mark, I remember I made my first check and I think it was like $12. And I remember showing it to my wife, and she was like, that's great, $12, right? Because I was working a corporate job and I was just doing it spare time. I have two kids, right? So I was busy there. And I just kept putting time into it. On the weekends, I would upload a couple of videos A week. And then the mind started to grow a little bit, right? I started making a hundred dollars and $1,000 a month, right? I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. And I remember telling my wife, we were out in the pool one time and I was, I was right here with my salary, I was making a six figure salary. I was a health and safety manager. And I said if I could put full time effort into YouTube, you know, the monetization, I could probably make a little bit more than what I'm doing at my full time job, which I hated by the way. And she told me, she said, why don't you give it six months, think about it. And then my man brain, I said, well, she just told me to go ahead and do it, right? So I went to work the next day and I remember saying to myself, if one person says anything, just kind of off the cuff, I'm out of here. I've never done this before. But I really, I was over the corporate life, I was just done with it. And somebody come up and said, good morning Clint. I said, that's it. And I left. And I did full time YouTube for five years, four years now, and I can never look back. This is what I love doing.
B
So explain, Obviously you do tool reviews, but looking at your channel now, at your more recent videos, you know, you talk about everything from new mowers, headphones, small tools, big tools, toolboxes, explain the premise of the channel and kind of if you were to explain to someone the different buckets of content that you produce on the Tool Review Zone channel, what would those be?
A
So I'm pretty niche down over here. You had a guest on that, pretty much said it perfectly, is if you're a burger joint, stick to burgers, don't be making Mexican food because your viewers want to see what they're expecting to see on the channel. And that's what we do here. So with the headphones, they're DeWalt headphones. So pretty much every major brand, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi, you know, a lot of these big brands I bring to the channel because that's what a lot of people are using. But I, what I don't do, and I used to do a lot of the woodworking stuff, it just doesn't get views on the Tool Review Zone. People want to see the tools that I'm using. So for example, like this right here, I'm not plugging anything, right? I'm not making any money on. But this is a DeWalt charger that I'm charging my phone with right now. It's an electronic. People like stuff like that. But that's basically all I do on the channel right now is just tool reviews or anything that's related to the tool companies that make those tools.
B
So you mentioned niching down and you mentioned trying out woodworking stuff, knowing that you're. You're the tool guy or one of the tool guys on YouTube. Because I've done a little bit of research and you're one of the top channels in the space. How important do you think it is that you are tailoring all of your content, whatever bucket it's in towards that audience? Because you have niched down to just tool people. What do you think the premise, do you think that is as important as US YouTube educators and other creators say that it is?
A
Well, yeah, to an extent. I mean, the tool channels, I don't think people really talk about this. It's not an easy niche to be in. Right. 95% of my audience are male. So right there, half the population gone, not watching my videos. Right. And then on top of that, if I have a subscriber that's only a dewalt fan, well, they don't want to watch the Milwaukee videos and vice versa. Right. So it's, it's almost to the point that YouTube makes you niche down so much. And I've tried. I've done charity videos where I've given away tools, you know, to, to the Boy Scouts of America. I think it was like $5,000 worth. They wouldn't push the video out. I did tool tip Tuesday for a long time. Some people really loved it. They just would not push the videos out. You know, it was always just the reviews that YouTube seemed to want. So it just niched you down to the point where it's like I didn't have a choice. Right. Anything I did outside of that, they would just kill the videos.
B
Yeah. It's funny, there's tribalism in almost anything that you do. Right. Whether you're covering video games, sports, tools, there's going to be that kind of division there. I also see that you've experimented with vertical video and it seems that you, you know, do upload short form content. What is your strategy? Because you do have a TikTok. You are on Instagram. Can you talk about your content distribution strategy and how it has evolved over time?
A
Well, I've seen a couple of your other interviews talking to some people about the short form and some people really like them. Some people are confused I'll be honest with you, and I'm a very open book. I hate them. I hate short form content. The only reason I do is because I feel that YouTube makes me do it right. YouTube, when they change your algorithm or when they're pushing something new, if you don't play by the rules, then it seems like they punish the channel. I'm just being honest with you. That's how I feel about it. I feel that the shorts, the only reason I put up the shorts is to please the YouTube algorithm and I don't do a lot of it, but I've noticed in my own content that when I post a short, I'm getting a subscriber from a short that only wants to see shorts. So YouTube, when I put a new long form video out, which that's what I like to make, I like to make the long form. The subscribers from the short videos don't care about that long form. So when they test that a hundred audience, right, and then they go to a thousand, it's hurting my algorithm. At least that's the way it seems to me. So I'm not a fan.
B
I wish there was a different they, they have made improvements from when I used to complain about shorts all the time. The way they do the shelving now where they put em on a different shelf, they used to have em all kind of comboated together. I wish there were some certain things like, you know, you can really dive down into figuring out where your subscribers come from. But you're right. Having these people subscribe from a short and all they're doing is swiping on their phone. That's how they consume their content. Whereas some people want long like me, the way I consume content is completely different than the way my wife consumes content. I prefer much more longer form. I listen to YouTube videos almost like people did podcasts back in the day. So I think we have to figure out like what is our audience and how are they consuming? And you're right, there are some people who are consuming that vertical video and so meeting them where they are, it's almost a necessity. And I think being creative and learning about that is important. Now let's talk about search results and community. You obviously have a community built around the tool reviews that you do. But we've already talked about how some people could be into one thing and not another. That's fine. But with that being the case, how much emphasis are you putting on search and what tools do you use and things do you think about to make sure that Your videos are optimized for search. And then what I like to call Evergreen, where if someone's searching for a Ryobi tool, yours comes up a year or two from now.
A
It's. It's an interesting question. Everything, and this is just my opinion, what I've seen on my own channel. It seems like everything has changed so much when it comes to search. It used to be that I would put in Ryobi drill model number 89532, and I would put it out and it would get views. But now it's, oh, this, this Ryobi drill is great, except for this one thing, you know, or this will change the game. So I got to a point where, you know, I've been doing this for a while, that I got a little burned out and I stopped really caring about the story. I just put it out there and I said, if people want to watch it, they'll watch it. And I know that's a lot of how a lot of people answer this question, but it's true. I mean, you get to a point sometimes where you just don't want to play the SEO game anymore, you know? So I put out a thumbnail that I think looks pretty cool, and I put out a title that I think might get somebody to watch the video. But it. But if YouTube doesn't want to push it, I mean, I'm the type of channel that I do very well in November and December because on products, so January, February, sometimes March, doesn't matter what I title my video. I'm just being honest with you. You're not going to push that video because the market's not there. People already spent all of their money in November and December of the previous year. So this is a really slow time for me. So I just put out content that I like. I don't focus on SEO as much. Every once in a while, I'll use a ChatGPT or Gemini. I use them both to help with the thumbnails a little bit, to spice them up a little bit. And then I will use them for sometimes title ideas. That's. That's really about it.
B
And as far as the packaging goes with the thumbnails, I've kind of seen how yours have evolved over time. I like the style that you use, very minimal text. You kind of let the image do the speaking, you know, speaking for you. What if thing. What are some things that you've learned along the way as far as packaging goes that you're implementing now?
A
Sometimes it seems to be if you give the person the answer of what is inside the video, they won't click on it. So if I say, you know, this, the wall charging station, this is good, watch this video. People aren't going to click on that. So sometimes I have to keep this a mystery. I'll say this new DeWalt tool is nothing like they've ever made before. Right. People don't know what this is by looking at it. People get curious. So that's, that's the way it seems to be. YouTube wants it. You have to keep the audience guessing of what that tool is to get. To get them to click on it. You have to keep it mysterious a little bit. It's not like it used to be where you just put out, I can say at ryobi model number 8952 and it will be an evergreen video. Everything has to be very Mr. Beasty. That's what I call it.
B
Yeah, it's interesting. You did a video eight days ago. It said Ryobi sent me a strange box. I wasn't allowed to open it until now. And there the thumbnail is you with like caution tape with this box with these like really cool locks on it. And the video did really well. It's almost got 50k views within a week. And, and so that it's, it's kind of the exactly of an example of, of what you are, are saying. I think there are certain channels that can get away with search based stuff. My channel is a tech tutorial channel. And so it's kind of an anomaly in regards to that. You know, I get you know, anywhere from 60 to a hundred thousand views, you know, every day, you know, but just because of the, the search based nature of my channel. So there, there are different kind of segments of YouTube. But you are right as a whole it does seem that it's that it' channel like you are. Let's talk about monetization. Now obviously you've left a six figure job to do this full time. So we can just assume that you're doing at least as well as you did with your day job because your wife probably would not like it if you were not. And so if that is the case, let's talk about the different buckets and avenues of revenue and how you're making money. So go ahead and from the top down give me every which way that you make money from the channel and all your creative stuff that you do.
A
All right, so first off I'll talk about the things I don't do. I don't Accept money for products that I do not believe in. A lot of people have mid roll ads and stuff. I have none of those. If you're familiar with YouTube, at least in on my channel, I don't get the best of the best one. I don't get like Pepsi reaching out to me, you know, or Mountain Dew. I get a third party knockoff or something else and they're willing to pay. But I will never put anything on my channel that I would not use myself, number one. So I don't, I don't do those type of deals. So there's a big portion of money I'm missing out on. But my subscriber base is more important than that. What I do do pretty good on is, you know, YouTube ad revenue on a tool channel. Because we're products. We're talking about Home Depot, we're talking about Lowe's, menards all the tool brands. The ad revenue is better than a lot of other channels, right? So when you talk products, your ad revenue pays more if you're, if your viewers don't realize, depending on what niche you're in, you might get a higher ad revenue. Right? So like insurance used to be like the top adding or top video, right. Or top making video, the top king video. So everybody was doing insurance videos even though they had no idea about insurance. Right. Tool channels and tech channels usually do pretty good because now Christmas time rolls around, people are putting ads out for their earbuds or their tools or Lowe's is putting ad into the YouTube system. Right? So ad revenue from, from YouTube is my main bulk. I don't sell courses, I can't do that. I'm a tool review channel. Right. The other main income is the affiliate program. And a lot of people might still not know about this. Is that on YouTube shopping affiliate, you get a little shopping bag on the bottom of your videos and you can tag products. And what's nice about this is that anytime somebody buys either through affiliate link or that little shopping bag, the creator gets a commission. It doesn't charge the viewer any more money to buy through that. But depending on the store, you might get a 5% commission up to a 20% commission. Lowe's was offering a 40% commission around Christmas time, which is insanity. So anything I sold through that, I got a 40% commission, which was fantastic. Now other, other brands might do a 2%, a 4%. That's why I say like Amazon's very low. I think they're like 2%, right. But it does help a little bit. So it Comes down to. Long story short, it comes down to ad revenue and affiliate sales for me.
B
If you're loving this conversation and would like to take your YouTube channel to the next level, check out all of the services that we provide creators down below in the show notes. We have everything from a creator's group where you get exclusive podcast recordings, mastermind calls where you can rub elbows with other creators. I do channel reviews, I do one on one coaching with creators every single week. So if you're looking to take your channel to the next level, take a look in the show notes if there's something that might fit your current needs. Now back to the show and the affiliate sales. Do you only do the YouTube shopping links or are you also putting them in the description and the pinned comment?
A
I was putting them in the description. I still do. It seems to me, like I said this opinion only. It seems to me that YouTube really wants you to use that shopping cart. If I put an Amazon link in my description, which I have to because there's no affiliate program for YouTube and Amazon, right. They don't like each other, I don't think. It seems to me if I put a link into my description and it leads them away from YouTube, it hurts the video. Because now people are jumping off of YouTube to go to Amazon and YouTube's like, I don't like that. I want you to stay on YouTube and consume more YouTube. So that's why I'm very hesitant to put links in my description if I don't have to.
B
And what is your strategy as far as off platform content? Because you do Instagram. TikTok. Those were the two that you sent over to me pre interview. What are your thoughts about off platform and how, how does that play a role in your business model?
A
It doesn't really play a role like Instagram. I'm not monetized over there. Facebook, I just started out with that. I sort of like Facebook. I stayed away from it, but it seems to be that you get some pretty good views over there. Like they want creators coming over there. So I started building that up there, TikTok. I got like 135,000 followers over there. But it's really hard. I don't know what's going on with TikTok. I hear a lot of people complaining that it's just really hard to get any views over there now. So I'm not making money over there. So what I basically do is I like to be able to have a portfolio. Portfolio, right. So if, if some, if a brand reaches out to me, say, hey, we really want to work with you. It's not just YouTube. It's not all of my eggs in one basket. So I'll trickle down short videos that I crop out of my main videos on YouTube and put them on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook just to say, hey, I have those. So if you're interested in working with me, I also also have these channels, but YouTube is my main platform.
B
And if you were starting YouTube today, what would you do differently? And maybe the answer to that is, is nothing. But, but knowing what you know now, what, what would you do if you were starting a channel today?
A
That's a great question. Um, so I would definitely do something different. When I first started, I had no idea how YouTube worked. I actually had a YouTube channel. When YouTube first started was a guitar channel as a music channel. But I didn't really put that much effort and time into it. But with this channel here, when I got the ball rolling, I, I didn't push it hard enough to get the, the snowball bigger, downhill. And what I mean by that is I, I would, I was working full time, so I would post a video, a week or two videos, maybe a week. And I had my wife and kids, so I was, you know, trying to take time away from them to do that. But what it seems like on YouTube is once you get that ball rolling, you have to push that snowball as hard as you can. I, when that fire was hot, I should have just been putting video out after video after video after video. And I think what happened was after a while, when you're a new creator, I think in my opinion YouTube pushes you a little bit. Once you get some trust into the algorithm, once you gain some authority, whatever niche you're talking about, YouTube will start pushing you. If you don't strike when the iron is hot, you could potentially not grow as fast as you could. And I think I wish I would have push a little bit harder when I was really starting to grow.
B
Knowing that and exactly what you just said. What is next for you as a creator for the channel? Do you have things that you're going to experiment with? Are you just going to lean into the things that you know are doing well? And you mentioned that your channel is very seasonal. And so during these kind of slower times, does this allow you, like you said, you're creating content that you love. It allows you to experiment and do things that you might could find kind of fall into a slot of what the content you want to be going forward?
A
Yeah, you know, they say you're supposed to change the way you make videos every eight or 16 months. I've heard that, you know, you're supposed to reinvent yourself and sometimes that's hard. You know, I enjoy tools. I've been around tools my whole life. I've used tools my whole life. You know, I've been in the trades before I went to college. You know, I love tools. Right. I don't know. And that's the scary part about being a YouTuber. Sometimes you don't know, you go online and you try to listen to the gurus and stuff, and sometimes that doesn't always help you. So will I try new things? Yeah, absolutely. You always have to try something different. Whether it's, you know, I go to trade shows, I don't do as much as I used to, but maybe go to trade shows again and start bringing that. Maybe start doing a little bit more live streaming, which I don't usually do that. I like the editing process. I like filming. I like being able to add my skits or whatever I do. But I do have to expand out a little bit, I think. And I think that's good for anybody that's looking to get into a YouTube channel. If you feel like it's getting stale, which I do, sometimes you got to change it up. So that's probably what I'll start doing. I'll probably start going out into the field a little bit more.
B
Do you do all of this yourself or do you outsource any parts of it?
A
I outsource nothing. It's a full time job here, you know, I edit, I record it, I do my own audio, I color grade my own stuff. Sometimes it doesn't look the best, you know what I mean? Sometimes I'm in a rush, you know, sometimes I'm trying different lighting, you know, but yeah, I wish I had an editor. Sometimes I think about it, I wish I had a cameraman. Because sometimes when I do go to those trade shows, it's. It's hard interviewing people and then holding a camera, making sure you get the shots and, you know, color correcting everything, It's. It's tough. But I do it all myself.
B
Being that is the case. I've watched a handful of your videos before we hit record today, and I've seen the progression of where you've come from for when you started your channel till now, and it's immense. I mean, you, you've. You're completely different. Creator, what would you say about the on camera stuff? What have you learned There. As far as how you present yourself, the little jokes that you add in, what are some things you've learned that have helped you and you think would be attributed to your success?
A
When I first started doing this, I never put my. My face on camera because I was working a corporate job, and if I said something accidentally, I didn't want to get in trouble. You know, I didn't want my employee sitting there saying, oh, you know, he's a YouTube guy, or whatever. So I never put myself on camera. And when I, when I did, it was so weird. It was so foreign speaking into a camera. And I was very stiff. I had trouble breathing, like I was hyperventilating at the same time. And I would always try to do everything in one shot, right? And then it got to a point where it just became normal. I'm more comfortable talking in front of a camera now. You know, Even though it was so weird and so foreign to me, I. I talk into a camera. No issue. And that's one thing that a lot of people don't realize. Like, you know, the first time you hear your voice on tape, it's like, oh, your voice sounds weird, you know, but now I can't tell the difference. I hear my voice all day. I see myself on camera all day. I'm editing my face all day. I'm re. Watching my stuff all day. I'm. I'm tired of myself, Dusty, you know, but, yeah, I would say just be yourself.
B
You do get tired of hearing yourself at times. Especially, like, for me, I record multiple podcasts every week, YouTube videos, email, you know, so there's things where you're just like, you know, which is why I love bringing on guests like yourself, because you get a. You get a different perspective of, of, of things. As we get close to the end of the interview, I want to ask you, as you know, there's all types of creators listening to this. What would be some of your parting words that you would leave to them? Because there we are, living in a world where a lot of creators that I talk to are borderline getting close to burning out, or they're thinking about quitting or whatever it may be, or they're. They're right under that thresh getting monetized. What would your parting words be to those creators listening not specifically in those situations, but just creators as a whole?
A
I'll leave you a couple. Number one is don't listen to the haters, because there's a lot of them out there. You gotta have a thick skin to do this right? So don't listen to that. Don't put out anything that other people want you to put out. Put out what you're passionate about. If you're doing videos and a niche about something you don't care about or you don't know about, the viewers are going to know that, and they're going to see right through you. And you're not going to. You're not going to go anywhere. So do what you love. And the third thing that I would say, and I think this is pretty important, get a friend. And what I mean by that is, you know, a lot of times when YouTubers start out or content creators start out, they sort of rise together, right? So a new channel, pluck up here. One will pluck up here and then a couple more. And if you don't have somebody that is experiencing what you're experiencing, that's. There's a reason why actors hang out with actors, right? Musicians hang out with musicians because they can relate. If somebody, you know, they're a nurse and they have a bad day, there's other nurses there to, I guess, talk them through the bad day and their experiences and how they got through it. YouTube is a very lonely career, Right. At least it is for me because I don't have a staff or a crew, right? So if I have an issue, who do I talk to? I can't go to my neighbor. How many YouTubers do I know? How many do you know to do this full time? Right? So when you're coming up and you're deciding to start a channel, reach out to other creators. Not to necessarily even do collabs or whatever, but make a friend. I have a friend. We've been friends four years. We. We've met doing this. He's in the same niche as me, and we bounce ideas off each other. When he has a bad day or if he gets left a really nasty comment, he calls me and it's like, oh, how do I deal with this? And I do the same with him. So I would say make a friend. It will help you in some tough situations and some dark moments, believe me, because YouTube is not all. It's not all easy all the time.
B
Yeah, it's. It's one of the reasons why I started our creators corner community here kind of around this podcast is because giving people a place to rub elbows and, and hang out and communicate with other creators. Because you're right, it can be lonely and it can get frustrating at times, but when you have that relief of being able to understand that there's others struggling like you are with the same things it does. It does lift you up and it does make it more relevant. It's like, oh, yeah, there's other people doing this that are struggling with the same things I am. It's not just me.
A
Yeah. You know, when the algorithm punishes sometimes, I mean, they change algorithm algorithms all the time. So, you know, you start thinking to yourself, man, like, what am I doing wrong? What? You know, people don't like me anymore or whatever. And then you find out, hey, listen, your buddy's going through the exact same thing.
B
Well, Clint, thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast today. Again, Clint's YouTube channel is called the Tool Review Zone. I will link to it and his other links, as always, in the show notes below. But Clint, you have a good day and thanks again for joining us.
A
Thanks, Betsy. Appreciate you.
B
And that's a wrap on this week's episode of the Creators Hub podcast. Don't forget, if you're looking to take your YouTube game to the next level, check out all of the services in the show notes that we provide to you. Everything from a channel review and audit service, a mastermind group, one on one coaching, as well as just the links that are mentioned throughout these conversations each and every week. Also, if you would subscribe to the show, wherever and however you listen or watch this podcast, subscribe that way every Friday when we go live with a new episode. You will be notified. And if you'd like to keep up with me, there's two ways that you can do that. You can check out my other podcasts that I'll link in the show Notes down below as well as our email newsletter where thousands of creators and entrepreneurs are on that list. And every single Friday, I send out a very brief, under 5 minute read for an email newsletter where I talk about things going on in my business, personal life resources, things that I'm reading, things that I believe can help you take your life and your business to the next level. So with that said, we'll talk to you guys next week.
He Left a 6-Figure Job for YouTube… Here’s What Happened
February 20, 2026
Host: Dusty Porter
Guest: Clint, Creator of Tool Review Zone
This engaging episode spotlights Clint, creator of the Tool Review Zone YouTube channel, who left a lucrative six-figure corporate job to pursue content creation full time. Dusty and Clint explore Clint’s unconventional route into YouTube, his strategies for building and sustaining a successful niche channel, the challenges and rewards of creator life, and practical insights on monetization, content pivots, platform changes, and enduring burnout. The conversation is packed with candid advice for both aspiring and established creators.
"I started the Tool Review Zone channel by accident... I never set out to be a YouTube creator."
"I made my first check and I think it was like $12. And I remember showing it to my wife and she was like, that's great, $12, right?"
"I said if I could put full-time effort into YouTube... I could probably make a little bit more than what I'm doing at my full-time job, which I hated by the way."
"If you're a burger joint, stick to burgers, don't be making Mexican food because your viewers want to see what they're expecting to see."
"I'll be honest with you... I hate them. I hate short form content. The only reason I do is because I feel that YouTube makes me do it."
"Everything has to be very Mr. Beasty. That's what I call it."
"I’ll say this new DeWalt tool is nothing like they’ve ever made before. People don’t know what this is by looking at it. People get curious."
Video: "Ryobi sent me a strange box..." with caution tape and locks; performed very well.
"Ad revenue from YouTube is my main bulk... Tool channels and tech channels usually do pretty good because now Christmas time rolls around, people are putting ads out."
"If a brand reaches out to me... I have those. So if you're interested in working with me, I also have these channels, but YouTube is my main platform."
"Once you get that ball rolling, you have to push that snowball as hard as you can.... If you don't strike when the iron is hot, you could potentially not grow as fast."
"I outsource nothing. It's a full-time job here, you know, I edit, I record it, I do my own audio, I color grade my own stuff."
"When I first started doing this, I never put my face on camera... When I did, it was so weird. It was so foreign speaking into a camera."
"YouTube is a very lonely career, right. At least it is for me because I don't have a staff or a crew... If I have an issue, who do I talk to?... Reach out to other creators. Not to necessarily even do collabs or whatever, but make a friend."
First YouTube payout:
"I made my first check and I think it was like $12. And I remember showing it to my wife and she was like, that's great, $12, right?"
(Clint, 04:04)
Niche down advice:
"If you're a burger joint, stick to burgers, don't be making Mexican food because your viewers want to see what they're expecting to see."
(Clint, 05:54)
Short-form frustration:
"I hate short form content. The only reason I do is because I feel that YouTube makes me do it."
(Clint, 08:44)
Packaging wisdom:
"You have to keep the audience guessing of what that tool is to get them to click on it. You have to keep it mysterious a little bit."
(Clint, 13:03)
Monetization priorities:
"I will never put anything on my channel that I would not use myself, number one. So I don't, I don't do those type of deals. So there's a big portion of money I'm missing out on. But my subscriber base is more important than that."
(Clint, 15:14)
On creative loneliness:
"YouTube is a very lonely career, right. At least it is for me because I don't have a staff or a crew... So when you're coming up and you're deciding to start a channel, reach out to other creators."
(Clint, 26:26)
This episode is a must-listen for creators navigating career transitions, niche strategy, and the evolving YouTube ecosystem—offering both inspiration and tactical know-how for building a sustainable creator business.