Looking At Other Creators Outliers Was Huge | Whitney Bonds

Summary

YouTube Creators Hub Podcast Summary Episode: "Looking At Other Creators Outliers Was Huge | Whitney Bonds" Host: Dusty Porter
Release Date: May 9, 2025

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Introduction of the Guest: Whitney Bonds

In this episode of the YouTube Creators Hub, host Dusty Porter welcomes Whitney Bonds, a successful YouTuber with 160,000 subscribers. Whitney specializes in guiding aspiring entrepreneurs on launching and growing online businesses, with a strong emphasis on YouTube strategies, affiliate marketing, and content creation. Her clear, step-by-step guidance has made her a trusted name in building sustainable income from home.

Whitney's YouTube Journey

Whitney shares her origin story, highlighting her transition from blogging to YouTube.

Whitney Bonds [03:27]:
"I started my whole online journey with a blog... I followed the process of those bloggers making $100,000 a month. I made $5,000 my first year blogging and then over $200,000 the next year."

Despite initial success, Whitney faced a significant setback when Pinterest changed its algorithm, drastically reducing her blog traffic. This uncertainty prompted her to seek alternative income streams, leading her to YouTube.

Whitney Bonds [04:52]:
"I was terrified of being in front of the camera... But when I interviewed Nate O' Brien and learned he made over $30,000 in January from ads, I thought, 'Where's my camera?'"

Determined not to return to her nine-to-five job, Whitney overcame her anxiety and launched her YouTube channel, which has since seen continuous growth.

Overcoming Camera Fears

Whitney discusses her strategies for becoming comfortable on camera, emphasizing the importance of staying on point to maintain viewer retention.

Whitney Bonds [06:43]:
"I bought a teleprompter. I write my scripts word for word as I talk, so I can read and stay on task without memorizing."

Using a teleprompter allowed Whitney to deliver content smoothly and confidently, transforming her on-camera presence.

Whitney Bonds [08:12]:
"I can read word for word while looking into the camera, making it so much easier and allowing me to record efficiently."

Content Strategy: Leveraging Outliers

A pivotal strategy Whitney employs is analyzing outlier videos—those that perform exceptionally well—and adapting their successful elements to her content.

Whitney Bonds [15:07]:
"I look at outliers—videos that have done really well—and analyze why they performed. Is it the title? The thumbnail?"

This approach involves studying successful videos across various niches and reimagining their strategies for her own channel.

Whitney Bonds [14:36]:
"I look at outliers from other industries and adapt their winning titles and thumbnails to fit my content. For example, I used Charlie Chang's 'Genius Ways' approach for my Canva video."

Thumbnail and Packaging Strategy

Whitney emphasizes the significance of thumbnails and titles in attracting viewers. She meticulously researches what works by observing successful creators and replicates effective designs with her unique twist.

Whitney Bonds [12:56]:
"I look at outliers of other industries and adapt their thumbnail and title strategies to make my videos stand out."

An example she provides is her video titled "8 Genius Ways to Make Money with Canva," inspired by a successful title from another creator, which has garnered 66,000 views in just 13 days—a 7.6x outlier for her channel.

Monetization: Affiliate Marketing and Brand Deals

Whitney's primary income source is affiliate marketing, which brings in approximately $20,000 a month. Additionally, she has recently started securing brand sponsorships that are beginning to surpass her affiliate earnings.

Whitney Bonds [20:42]:
"I make most of my money with affiliate marketing, around $20,000 a month. Now, brand deals are starting to supersede my affiliate income."

She maintains a balance between monetization and providing genuine value, ensuring that her promotions are trustworthy and beneficial to her audience.

Whitney Bonds [24:30]:
"I balance monetization by ensuring whatever I'm promoting genuinely helps someone. Integrity will take me further in the long run."

Community Building

Building a trust-based community is central to Whitney's strategy. She fosters trust by being transparent about her earnings, sharing real success stories, and providing actionable advice.

Whitney Bonds [19:17]:
"Trust is everything. I show what I've done, I'm transparent about my earnings, and I share real success stories to build trust with my audience."

This approach not only encourages repeat viewership but also drives affiliate link clicks and strengthens her brand.

Dealing with Challenges and Maintaining Motivation

Whitney candidly discusses the emotional challenges of content creation, especially when videos underperform.

Whitney Bonds [27:59]:
"When a video doesn't do well, I question my abilities. But I remind myself that not every video will pop off and need to stay focused on what works."

Her strategy involves returning to proven content themes and continuously testing new ideas while maintaining her integrity.

Trends Shaping the Future of YouTube

Whitney observes a shift towards more authentic and less edited content, making it easier for new creators to start channels without heavy investments in equipment or editing.

Whitney Bonds [30:30]:
"People want real, authentic content without the need for fancy equipment or extensive editing. It's making it easier for anyone to start a YouTube channel."

She believes this trend fosters a more genuine connection between creators and their audiences.

Diversifying Platforms

While YouTube remains her primary focus, Whitney is exploring other platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn to expand her reach and diversify her income sources.

Whitney Bonds [31:55]:
"Long term, I plan to expand into LinkedIn and Twitter to reach a broader audience and continue diversifying my income."

She also expresses interest in developing her own products to further solidify her brand.

Email Newsletter Strategies

Whitney leverages her email newsletter to maintain engagement with her audience, achieving a 50% open rate by providing valuable, consistent content.

Whitney Bonds [34:53]:
"I send one email a week with valuable content and personal touches, which has built a community that looks forward to my emails."

Combining her writing skills with tools like ChatGPT, she ensures her newsletters are both authentic and polished.

Final Advice for Aspiring Creators

As the episode concludes, Whitney imparts valuable advice to aspiring YouTubers:

Whitney Bonds [36:32]:
"Everything is with intention. Learn what's working for others, put your own spin on it, and always create with purpose."

She emphasizes the importance of strategic content creation and maintaining authenticity to achieve long-term success on YouTube.

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Key Takeaways:

• Diversification: Avoid relying solely on one platform or income stream.
• Authenticity: Build trust by being transparent and genuine in your content.
• Strategic Research: Analyze and adapt successful strategies from various niches.
• Consistency: Maintain a regular posting schedule while balancing personal life to prevent burnout.
• Community Building: Foster a loyal audience through trust and valuable interactions.
• Adaptability: Stay open to evolving trends and be willing to pivot when necessary.

Notable Quotes:

• Whitney Bonds [03:27]: "I followed their strategy to a T... Over the next year, I made over $200,000. That was life-changing."
• Whitney Bonds [06:43]: "I bought a teleprompter, which allowed me to stay on task and deliver my message effectively."
• Whitney Bonds [15:07]: "I look at outliers—videos that have done really well—and analyze why they performed."
• Whitney Bonds [24:30]: "I ensure whatever I'm promoting genuinely helps someone. Integrity will take me further in the long run."
• Whitney Bonds [36:32]: "Create with intention. Learn what's working for others, add your own spin, and always have a purpose."

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For more insights and resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes.

Transcript

[Whitney Bonds]

It works really well with my favor. So that's what I still like to try different things, but if I want a winning formula, that's it right there. Look at winning outliers. When I say outliers too are these are videos that have done really well for them that typically have not. Like if you look at their views, they'll see these breakout videos where you'd be like, oh, that did really well. And you ask yourself why? Is it the title? Is it the thumbnail?

[Dusty]

Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. Dusty here. As always, I really would like to say thank you to all of you who have been listening the past few weeks. The show is really growing and it's because of people like you. If you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe to the show wherever and however you listen to your podcasts. That way, every Friday when we release a new interview, you are notified through your feed. Also, we're brought to you today by everything that we have to offer creators. First thing is I offer one to one YouTube coaching. I work with many creators all throughout the week, have been working with some of them for years now, and I'd love to be that for you. So if you're looking to take your YouTube channel to the next level and you'd like to start working with someone, definitely check out my links in the show, notes of this episode and others as well as for five bucks a month you get access to our Creators Corner Mastermind group. It's access to our Discord server where you can chat and rub elbows with other creators. We do a once a month Zoom call, which is our Mastermind calls that I host. We either do deep dives into someone's channel or we cover a specific topic. And then I also release exclusive podcast episodes that are just monologues about different strategies and topics about being an entrepreneur, growing a YouTube channel, and just the overall creator economy. All of that is exclusive to you for five bucks. Definitely check that out if you haven't already. And then lastly, we have our Entrepreneurs Minute email newsletter. It's absolutely free, it releases every Friday and it's basically a behind the scenes look of what it takes to be a entrepreneur, run a business, grow a YouTube channel, launch, and grow a podcast. So if you're looking for tips, tricks, resources, just different thoughts that I have going on. Definitely check that out if you haven't already. And with all that said, let's jump into this week's conversation. Hello everyone and welcome to the Conversation portion of the show this week. I am joined today by Whitney Bonds. She is just Whitney bonds over on YouTube. She is a creator of a thriving YouTube channel right now with over 150,000 subscribers. I believe that is actually a little bit delayed because right now she has 160,000 subscribers. So you're actually doing much better than even your bio says. Where she teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to launch and grow successful online businesses, starting with YouTube. At the core, she's known for her clear, step by step guidance. And Whitney helps her audience master YouTube strategy, affiliate marketing, content creation, and much, much more. All with the goal of building sustainable income for from home. Whitney, how you doing today?

[Whitney Bonds]

I'm doing so great. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Dusty]

I'm happy to have you. So let's go ahead and just jump right in. Let's not need time. So the YouTube channel, as we mentioned, up to 160K subscribers. You're just now over the 200 videos uploaded. Mark, in terms of like myself, who's a YouTube coach and I'm in this stuff every day. Only 200 videos to get to 160,000 subscribers. You're obviously doing something right. So let's back up for a minute. What's the origin story of the YouTube channel? How did this whole thing start?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, so I started my whole online journey with a blog and it started doing really well. I had no idea. I wasn't a great writer or anything, but I follow this concept. Find someone who's doing something that you want to do and is doing well and then use their strategy and make it your own. So I found out these bloggers were making $100,000 a month with their blog and I only needed 2,000. So I said, okay, let me follow their strategy. So I did. I followed their strategy to a T. I, I only made $5,000 my first year blogging and then the very next year I made over $200,000. And that was life changing for my family and I. So a part of that process of learning how to blog, I followed the process of those bloggers making $100,000 a month. Long story short, I had to learn SEO, which stands for search engine optimization. It was completely Greek to me. I did not want to learn that, but I knew that's what I had to do to get to where I wanted to be, so I learned it. So long story short, I was doing well with my blog. But then Pinterest was one of my main traffic drivers to getting traffic to my blog and they changed their algorithm, and I lost all my traffic. I was getting over 100,000 page views per month to my blog, and it went down to nothing. And then I was left with only Google as my source of traffic to my blog. And I didn't feel comfortable because what if Google changed their algorithm like Pinterest? I'd have nothing. And so I was looking for another outlet that could bring traffic to my blog. That was the intention that I was looking for. And why then thought maybe a YouTube channel. But I said I would never start a YouTube channel because I was terrified of being in front of the camera. I had such anxiety about just being on camera, speaking in public. And then I said I would never start a YouTube channel until I interviewed Nate O' Brien on my blog, and he's a YouTuber. And one of the questions I asked him was, nate, how much do you make? And when he told me he made over $30,000 in just the month of January just from ads, I was like, where's my camera? Because I was not going to allow my fear anymore. Keep me where I may have to go, back to my nine to five. And that was like, not gonna happen. So I did what I had to do. I got over my fears, and I just got started. And that's the only reason I started a YouTube channel, is because I was inspired by Nate O' Brien. And I'm like, if he can do it, I can do it. And I wanted just to make sure that I had another sustainable income source than just my blog, because if Google, which it did, they changed their algorithm and I lost all my traffic. So thank God I started a YouTube channel, because it's been all the way up ever since I started my YouTube channel. So that's the backstory.

[Dusty]

Yeah, a lot of takeaways there. Number one, I always tell people, don't ever put all your eggs in one basket, because if you do, you're going to be in trouble. Especially in online business. It's why I all the time preach. Diversify. Diversify your income streams. Very important. I want to take you back to that moment when you realize that, okay, where's my camera? I want to start this thing.

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah.

[Dusty]

What did you do internally? Get yourself past the fear of putting yourself on camera. Because one of the things that I do when I prepare for my guests is I go back and I watch a bunch of their new videos, and then I go back and I watch their oldest videos. You just seem so comfortable now in your newer uploads. And then when I Went to watch your first uploads, you could tell, like the rest of us, you're learning. I don't even sound like myself in my first videos. How did you get past that?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, so. So I'm particular in what I want to say, and so I want to make. I can drift a lot. That was a problem for me. Like, I can go off course when I'm trying to talk about. And I. And with YouTube, retention is so important and just staying on top and getting right to the point. So I had to eliminate that challenge of myself, or whatever you would call it. I wasn't good at staying on task, so I had to eliminate. I had to figure out what could fix it. So I bought a teleprompter. And that really changed everything for me when I learned that I could just read what I'm saying. And to this day, I still use a teleprompter. I literally write my scripts out word for word, but I say it. I write like I talk. So when I'm reading, I'm just talking, but I'm staying on task. I know exactly what I'm gonna say. That I don't have to practice before I do a video. I can literally just write my script, come down when I think it's okay, come down, record, and it takes me less than 30 minutes. And I do it once a week. And now I've got it down to a science. So it's coming up. When I found out that I could have a trans. A teleprompter, that changed the whole game for me. And that gave me the confidence to say, I don't have to think about what to say. I can just read and just say whatever I wrote down that I need to say. So that was really a game changer for me. And the more I did it, at first, I'm just, like, standing there, like, reading. Then I realized I had to move around, like, act like I'm not reading. And I think that was really a big confidence builder that I don't have to memorize what I have to say or try to act like an expert. I could just read. And that changed the game for me.

[Dusty]

Yeah. The past few guests I've have on the. Have had on the show have mentioned teleprompters as part of their revealing strategy of feeling more comfortable and feeling like they have that safety blanket of. And they make teleprompters now. Like, right now, I'm looking at my really nice camera that I have set up with all my lights around and everything, and they make teleprompters. And I assume yours is similar. That basically looks as if you're looking into the camera.

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, like, I can show you really quickly. This is mine right here. And then I'll have my phone and I'm just like reading word for word. It's like a mirror and I just read it and it's attached to my camera here. So it's awesome looking at the camera and. Yeah, just. So that makes it so much easier for me. And that's the reason I can do this at such a fast rate of just coming down, recording for 30 minutes and I'm done.

[Dusty]

What was the moment with the YouTube channel where you thought to yourself, okay, this might be something serious? Like, I think I might have stumbled upon something that can really be the next kind of season for my business. What was that moment for you, honestly.

[Whitney Bonds]

Is when I started, because I just have this me too mentality. Like, if that happened for Nate, it can happen for me. I talk about personal finance. He talked about personal finance. I had a little different spin. I had like, kind of the moms and stuff like that. So I knew it going in, I wasn't going to go into anything that I didn't think was going to happen.

[Dusty]

And.

[Whitney Bonds]

And going in from day one, I always say I became the person that already had the plaque before I had it. And they say, one video a week. One video a week. I did learn how to find topics that people are interested in. So I learned how to find topics that people are interested in, and I did videos on that. Does every video blow up? No. But if I do the research and I do what I found to work, it works. I still like to test things out and do stuff. And then when I do, like a video I posted recently, it didn't really pop off because I was trying to do something new. So I'm going back to say, all right, that's not a good strategy. So I just like to test a lot. Even though when I do what I know works, it always works really well. But I still just it. The creator in me still likes to try things outside of the box. But really the. When I got started, I was all in. There wasn't a plan B. So I just said, this has got to work, and it worked. And I said the same thing with my blog. I think with having that, that no other option is a motivator. And it just keeps me focused. I don't have another choice. This was it for me. So that's kind of. I was just all in from day one.

[Dusty]

I love that. What was your biggest or one of your biggest breakthrough videos and why do you think it worked?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, so one of the things I had got an editor and one day we were talking about, like, how can we get over this peak? Because I started my YouTube channel about blogging because I had a successful blog. So I thought it was just fun, fitting to share how I make money blogging and. But this is around 2020 people are not interested in blogging anymore, and I want the plaque. So I'm like, I'm just stuck at a certain amount. I'm only getting so many thousands of views, but I want to get over that hump. But subject matter is so important if that's what your goal is. You don't have to get a lot of views to make a lot of money. But my goal was just I want the plaque and that kind of thing. So I had to figure out what's my topic. I need to change what I talk about and. And what I talk about has to be a bra appealing, something that a lot of people are interested in. So I had to change what I was thinking, talking about and what I talked about. My blog was making money. So that was an easy transition to say if I want the views and the plaque and things like that, I have to change what I want to talk about. So everything really changed when I changed my subject matter to personal finance. And my blog, my YouTube channel really blew up after I started talking about ways to make money, because it's just things that a lot more people are interested in.

[Dusty]

So it was more of a kind of a net. The net got wider and your audience, your potential avatar or the person you were trying to reach really got wider and you were reaching more people once you transitioned from. And we've really seen this, blogs still work. There's still a few blogs that I cover and a few blogs that I follow myself, and they're working, but it's not what it was in the early 2010s and things like that, where blogs were really blowing up. And you mentioned Pinterest and how they changed their algorithm. There's been a lot of things happen like that, and the world's really moved to video, and now we're getting into the world of AI and so there's a lot of different things coming. And so I appreciate you sharing that kind of introspective journey of what you learned and making that pivot in your YouTube channel. That was going to be a question that I asked you later. And so I'M glad that you shared it there. Speaking of research and SEO, what is your strategy on thumbnails and packaging? How do you do it? Give us the full breakdown of your workflow when it comes to thumbnail design.

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, I love this question because I. So I am just a big proponent of just learning what works. So what I do, though, is I take. I look at outliers of other industries, not my own. Because if I do a video with the same thumbnail that everyone has done my. That I'm up for the topic that I'm targeting, and I can't stand out. They, like, already saw that next. But if I find things that are working in other niches, I can literally just take that and that same idea. That's a working idea, and then put it to my. Put it to my own channel. So I'm gonna give you an example. Charlie Chang is a personal finance YouTuber, and he did a video about. It was like, 11 genius ways to make money with Chad GPT or from home. Make money from home. That video did really well for him. And so I said, I want to do a video about how to make money on Canva. I had no idea what to. I never know what to title my stuff. So I look at what's working for other people. So I said, okay, that was a working title, Genius Ways to make money. And then his was with ChatGPT. So I was thinking, okay, how can I make this for mine? So I only had eight ways that you can make money with Canva. So I said, eight Genius Ways to make Money with Canva. That was a working title that I had to just put my own spin to. And then I had a good thumbnail that was like, Get Rich with Canva. And this was another Charlie Cheng's thumbnail that he had used for a different video topic. Totally different topic. And so it was a working. It worked for him. So I'm saying that could work for me. So I did a little different spin to it, but I did what was working. I put it for the video target that I was working on. And that video is doing really right now.

[Dusty]

And.

[Whitney Bonds]

And I know it's because I did my research by looking at what was working and putting my own spin to it. And every time I do that, it works really well in my favor. So that's what I still like to try different things. But if I want a winning formula, that's it right there. Look at outliers of winning. Outliers. When I say outliers too, are these are videos that have done really well for them that typically have not. Like, if you look at their views, they're kind of like breakout videos. So then you'll have to see these breakout videos where you'd be like, oh, that did really well.

[Dusty]

And.

[Whitney Bonds]

And you ask yourself why is it the title? Is it the thumbnail? It's usually those two things or the intro or it's usually the two things. So yeah, that's what I look for. And that's like my strategy when I'm ever I'm trying to do a new YouTube video.

[Dusty]

It's amazing you just said that. It's one of the strategies that I help implement for my clients in my coaching business is when they hire me, I say, okay, let's look at outliers. And they're like, what's an outlier? And so we go and we look and it's basically videos that over perform for the creators. If you use a tool like Vidiq, they actually give you a, a, a thing underneath the video thumbnail and title that says like 10x or some of them even have a hundredx, which is a super big outlier. And I'm looking at that one now for your channel 8 Genius Ways to Make Money with Canva. You uploaded that 13 days ago. It's at 66,000 views, 91 views per hour on average right now. And that's a 7.6x outlier for even your channel, which is fantastic. You're. That video is really performing well for you and you've just walked us through the whole process. You can tell you're a creator because not only did you give us the actual answer to my question, but you gave me an examp which is so helpful for people listening and watching this podcast later. So I really appreciate you doing that now. There are tools out there like one of ten.com spotter studio. I mentioned Vidiq. How do you do your research? Do you just go to YouTube and search for a niche or something that you know that you've looked at before or that you're relevant or how do you do that?

[Whitney Bonds]

Great question. The YouTube homepage is like my go to. I feel like this is such an underrated way, but it's a great way to just. I constantly am looking at my YouTube homepage and seeing what they're feeding me and I'm finding new creators all the time I've never seen before. And I can see with Vidiq what are some breakout videos that are happening for them. So one thing I do is, oh, that who is this person? So I would just go to their page, go to their videos and then I'll look and then I'll go to popular because I'll see because I'm always interested what a popular what I don't know what people are interested in. I let the views tell me so I go to their popular and then I see what kind of videos have done well for them to tell me what are people interested in? I have no idea. I let the research tell me so I let the views tell me what people are interested in and then I say would I want to do a video on that? If so I just screenshot a lot of these things and then I'll just put it in like a Google Doc of just working titles or video ideas that I can do. So when it comes to doing a video I can just go to that little bank that I've created and and just come up with ideas that are working and then look at the thumbnail and title and just rework them for my own self.

[Dusty]

That's fantastic. Next question. How often do you post and how do you balance consistency and burnout?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, great question. I post once a week and I want to get to the point so bad. I keep saying this. I want to batch, I want to be able to accommodate like at least one week, do a couple of videos but that's easier than it sounds and it's like I just my. The system that I have right now is on Monday I find out what I'm going to do a video on and then Tuesday I actually write my script out and then Wednesday I record and send it off to my editor and then I'm done for the week. See those extra days I could that I have free now I could be working towards my another video sooner but I just, I'm a stay at home mom of three so I still want to enjoy my life. So to me this is the work part. Once I do that and it doesn't take me much time especially if you do this as on a continuous basis. It does not take as much time especially if you're doing a listicle video where you just are doing videos that you've already done before but you're putting them into a list. It doesn't take much time to do those types of videos. But that's currently my process. I work like three days a week, five to 10 hours because I don't work full time days because I'm a mom and I still do other things in my business but YouTube is my primary Income source. But this is like my schedule per week pretty much.

[Dusty]

Can you talk a little bit about community building outside and inside of YouTube? What are you doing to foster a community that trusts you, that will click on your affiliate links, that will come back and watch your videos over and over again? What part does the community play in the brand that you're building from your YouTube channel?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, it's huge. One of the things that. So I make the most of my money with affiliate marketing. And the only way that I can make money with affiliate marketing is by building trust. So in my videos, I'm always not just saying do this. I'm showing why. Or I'm typically showing a success story of someone who has done something. And then I show them the process that they went through. So any tools or things that they've done to get to that point, that gives them a belief that if the whole me too mentality, if they can do that and that's what they went through, then I can do it too. And then they need to know how. So they go to my description or my comment section, they'll click on the link to get to that, a result that they're looking for. So I think just trust is everything showing what I've done. I'm very transparent about what I do and how much I make. And then the roadblocks too. I think people really want real. And if you can do that's why people like me and come back to my channel is because they're like, oh, I know she's not just giving some fluff. She's got some actual ways and backed up by data or other success stories that I can trust her because of these reasons.

[Dusty]

Speaking of the trust that leads to monetization, let's go ahead and transition now into how you make money. So let's start the conversation with your monetization buckets is what I like to call them. You mentioned that it's primarily affiliate revenue. And then you obviously have YouTube ad revenue. So break it down for us. What does the income stream kind of model look like for you currently?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, so it's funny because I make most of my money with affiliate marketing, which is usually around like $20,000 a month with just affiliate marketing. And sometimes it's more depending on how well video does with ad revenue. Like this month I've made. I haven't made this month much in a while, but this month I'm making over like 90 $100. And that is as typically, I usually run like 5 to 6,000, but I've been having some videos do really well. So I. This month is like nine, $100 and then this. I can't believe it because I typically don't like sponsorships and I normally don't do them, but they are about to supersede how much I'm making right now from some brand deals that I'm just like securing right now. And I. While I think that's good, I also. Brand deals don't last forever. So I want to continue to make sure that I have something in place that is going to continuously make me money. But brand deals right now is actually superseding my income right now for some deals that are. We're working to make them, putting them in the contract and everything. So it's nothing set yet, but we've had meetings that I'm just like. I am like, my mind is blown by the amount that brands will pay for you to talk about their products. And you get affiliate opportunities out of this stuff. So I'm just amazed at all this stuff.

[Dusty]

So let's get a little deeper with that. Let's just go ahead and put a magnifying glass on the affiliate stuff because I haven't talked to affiliate very much in the past few months. So break it down for us, like a specific video. Let's just say the Canva video per se, the one we've been talking about. Eight genius ways to make money with canva.

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah.

[Dusty]

How are you making money from that video? Will you talk about the affiliate process and explain it in depth to the audience?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, so that one, honestly, I am not making much money at all with affiliates for that one because I have a brand sponsorship in that one. So I. There was. That was more of a video, I should say. I'm making some money because I. In the first, the very first way that I talk about you can make money that video is through printables and I don't go very in depth in it, which is a smart hack because I have a longer form video that goes into how to make money with printables. So I'm also directing people to that video. And that video is the one that has affiliate opportunity in there. And it's one of the ones that make me like, money, like almost every day. And sometimes it's $74 from just that one affiliate opportunity. So that is one of the ways that I'm making money through affiliate marketing, that video. But I have a sponsorship in that video too, that I'm making really good money on based off the views for that. So I thought this video would do really well and it's gonna pay me really well from this brand that I promoted in that video. And ad revenue was another way that I was saying, okay, I could probably make good money with ads on this video. I know I'm gonna promote the sponsor in this video and I can take people to my other video about printables to make money with affiliate commissions. Everything else is really just good value free information. And I do that on purpose sometimes because I don't want people thinking I'm just trying to sell them something every single time. So I don't want the video being full of affiliate links because it just looks like I'm just trying to say these things to make money. So there's a strategy to it and there's just. Yeah, there's a strategy to it. You don't want to just everything's by this so you can learn how to make money, like everything you do not. And that's why I think too my audience likes me and trusts me because it's not always about making money. It's also about building trust and long term relationships. Well, when I do have something that they want to pay for that they'll actually trust that it's something good and they don't mind it from being for someone like me.

[Dusty]

How do you balance that? How do you balance providing good factual information that is beneficial and going to be helpful to the viewer and, and also knowing that deep down you're trying to stay afloat and make money from these videos? How are you balancing that?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, it's a great question because I, and I was sad. I lose a lot of money too, because I'm also being ethical. I look at a lot of other YouTubers talking about some stuff I'm like, that does not make money or that's not real. And I know deep down they're only doing that to make money. And so I just know that my integrity will take me longer or further in the long run than even right now. The way I balance it is I always ask myself, does this really help someone? And that even makes me speak and be more true and honest with it. I balance it by making sure whatever I'm promoting is something that's real and it's not just trying to make money from it, because if I can, you can see through those people. And I know, I see through these YouTubers and I know I don't believe anything that they say because I know they're just trying to promote something and make money from it. Not really thinking about, does this really help the people person? I think that's what separates me from other people. And sometimes you lose some dollars because of it. But I think in the long run, it's worth it.

[Dusty]

Yeah, I feel like the video, the types of videos that you do, I see come across my home feed quite frequently. And there. There are people that I've clicked into the video thinking, we've all seen eight ways to make money with chat, GPT or Gemini or Canva or whatever. But a lot of times I'll get two minutes into those videos and just start thinking to myself, man, this is. It's off. It's like they're marketing something through their packaging that when I get into the video, there's not much depth there. And with your videos, when I was watching them, the thing that I thought stood apart for your videos is that you'll actually give examples. Like, you'll talk about actual humans that have made money via the tactics that you're talking about. And I think that doing ways, doing strategies like that will really help the audience really begin to love you and trust you, and that's why you're doing so well with affiliates and brand deals in things such as that. So I really love to hear you say that because it is something that I feel like some people get tired of seeing these types of videos, but yours have a little bit of real world proof in them, which I think is awesome.

[Whitney Bonds]

Thank you.

[Dusty]

What's been the hardest part for you of being a creator that most people don't see?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, the hardest part is not jumping on these trends. I like the thing now is eight lazy ways to make money online. They're saying like $10,000 a month. And like, I know if I did a video on that, it would do good. Like, I did a video on that before and it was like, really? I don't want to say lazy, but I don't. I just. Some of the clickbait is just. I just. I see that I could totally make a lot of money with these videos and then. But I'm like, I just. You really cannot be lazy and make that much money. And. And I could probably do a spin to instead. I know you watch this because you want to be lazy, but these are actual true, honest ways. You got to do a little bit of work. I could do a video like that, but when I see some of the videos and the titles, it just makes me cringe. And I see them doing so well, but I'm just like, they're not true. So that's I feel like those. That's a hard part for me. I want to do viral things. I want to do videos that a lot of people are doing it on. But if I just feel like it's just not honest, I just don't. I don't do it. I feel like there's that battle of I can make more money, but I also like, am I being honest? So it's just like that whole battle is like, it's real. Sometimes it is.

[Dusty]

And speaking of battle and internal battles, how do you push forward and stay motivated when a video doesn't do well or growth stalls, or you're like, okay, I'm used to making X number of dollars the past three months, but this month, the average or the projections are slightly lower. How do you stay motivated and keep pushing forward?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, that's a great question, because I'm telling you, it's like a video doesn't do well. And I'm like, do I know anything? And my business is crumbling now. It's just like, the feelings of this one video not performing well. And I'm just like, do I know anything? And the answers, I just. It's the. It's like such a mind battle. You have to say, no, Whitney. You know, you're doing well. So every video is not gonna pop off, but it just keep going. And then. So that's this week for me. Like, this video that I did, I thought it could do well, and it's not performing like I wanted it to. And then I'm like. I'm saying, okay, I just need to go back to what works. Making money, online, side hustles. I feel like sometimes YouTube can put you in a box, and, you know, the videos that you know do well will probably do well. And sometimes, because this is my channel, I want to venture out a little bit. But sometimes when I venture out a little bit, it doesn't give me the results that I want to see. So I think that's okay too, I feel like. But I also have to remind myself that the video didn't do well because this is not my typical flow. This is not what I normally do. And when that happens, I just have to say, go back to what you know is working. So if I want to do well on YouTube, I know it's working. I should stick to what's working and continue to test stuff out. But just know if you test it out, it may not do well. And prepare yourself for that. I never prepare myself for a video not doing well. So when it doesn't do well, I just be like, do I know anything? And then I go through this whole battle again. Yes, you do. It's just, it's a whole thing with entrepreneurship. I tell you, it's something else.

[Dusty]

It's one of the hardest parts because I was dealing with a coaching client last month whose channel got basically it's like actors or child actors who get casted when they're younger and they can't ever get out of that specific role. If they're known to be the villain in video in movies, it's going to be hard for them to branch out. There are some actors who transcend that. But as a YouTuber, YouTube can really put you in a box. And as a creator, sometimes you want to go outside the box, you want to talk about other stuff. When I think that there's going to be a place for that in the future and I think that YouTube is going to do a better job going forward, it may take a couple of years of being able to allow creators to diversify. Like on my channel where I talk about YouTube entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, building an online business, faith and family. The last two, faith and family I really can't talk about on the channel because YouTube will penalize me and it won't do as well as the stuff that I'm known for. And so I want a YouTube where we can talk about the broader topics in our channel and I think that we'll get that. Speaking of YouTube, can you talk about the trends that you see as a creator that you think are going to shape the future of YouTube?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, I feel like this is the best time ever to see start a YouTube channel there. So since I'm always on the YouTube homepage is looking at what's happening when I see these thumbnails and these new creators, it's just like talking head, no camera, no there's no fancy equipment. The way YouTube going is going that I see is people want real and they just want to see what are people doing that's real that they can like learn from. They want to see result driven content that these people are saying how I made $15,000 copy me or something like that. And they're just showing a screenshot of like their dashboard, something like that, and that's their thumbnail. I'm like, how is this doing so well? But this is the way I see YouTube going. Is this more authentic, real, not the whole glamorous thing that we think we need. The editing has gone down. You don't need that much editing at all. Like it's just like blowing my mind how things are changing and making it so much easier for people who want to start a YouTube channel to. To start a YouTube channel now. And that's why this is the time if ever to start a YouTube channel. Cause you don't need all the editing, not every five seconds do you need something to, to take people's attention or keep their attention in any way. So I just feel like the time now is just to be. Show what's working for you and share that because people are interested in what's working.

[Dusty]

Are there any other platforms or formats that you're experimenting with right now as far as outside of YouTube?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, I've so I've tried to. I shouldn't say try because try means that I'm being consistent. But so Instagram was something that I've been dabbling with, but I'm like, it's work. And so I was working on that. Then I was gonna get into LinkedIn, but then I asked myself what's making me money? Let me focus in on that. And then maybe when I can start actually batching content, I'll. It'll free me up to have some time to actually focus up a little bit on these other platforms. Because I. One of the things that I do love talking about is business. And so LinkedIn would be a great place because they don't have many creators on LinkedIn talking about this stuff. LinkedIn, Twitter or X and Instagram. It's just those are the platforms I know are probably not going away anywhere anytime soon. And I always think about how can I diversify myself. So though that's the plan long term is to get be more in that area and I want to continue to write. Like I enjoy writing now. Like I didn't like to write before, but that's like something that I want to do, become a better writer and so tweeting and things like that. I look at Alex Hormozi and all the people who are doing what I want to do. That's like the platforms that they're on and that's something that he does himself still to this day. So I just feel like that's something that I definitely want to do more of, but I want to focus more on YouTube, batch some stuff where I have the freedom to do and time to do other things. But those are the things that I probably will end up doing and having more of a high ticket offer and things like that. Get into my own products because I've been promoting other people's products for so long. Now it's time to have my own product and have something of my own. So that's another thing that I'm looking into.

[Dusty]

It's funny you mentioned that about writing. It's. It's become a new passion of mine of trying to. Trying to be a better writer. Yes, I. The email newsletter that I have, it's not very big right now. It's. It's probably got, I don't know like 7 or 8,000 email people who I'm connected with.

[Whitney Bonds]

7 or 8,000.

[Dusty]

But it's something that I just started growing at the end of last year. I had one that was over like 60,000 subscribers. But it wasn't the people that I wanted to reach. It was. They're all, I call them dead contacts because they're people who subscribe to other stuff that I was doing dec a decade ago. And so I wanted to reset and start over. And I'm getting so many responses from that small base of people to these emails that I'm writing. And it's one of the most enjoyable things that I'm doing. And I want to say I think people are thinking that with AI and Chat GPT and Claude that people are going to lose their ability to write. And I've found it to be the opposite because I'm enjoying the writing aspect of it. But I'm using Claude in Chat GPT to help me and to proofread it and to make it more condensed and to take my ideas and thoughts and the things that I'm writing and just make them look a little slicker or a little better from the outside looking in. So I don't think that it's going to eliminate now there are going to be people who just put everything through AI, get it to vomit out AI slop, which is what I call it. And it's. They're going to do well with it. But I want to actually be authentic and be a writer myself. And what are your thoughts on that?

[Whitney Bonds]

I think it's. I love that because. Especially because I don't gotta tell you, this hack that I use for my email, I have a 50% open rate which is pretty good. And I use the same subject line for every one of my emails and it's just your must read clips for the week and I've trained them, I've always, I always just give out good value in my content and I've trained them to open my emails because they're gonna enjoy it. And I put a little personal touch about what I worked on that week I send one email a week and I'll just say, hey, peeps. And I'll give them an example of what I want, what I learned through that week. And then I always post a YouTube video that I'm posting that week, and then maybe a little tip of the week or something like that. And that's done really well for me. And so I love my newsletter too. I love writing to my newsletter, and I have that built a community of people who, like, are looking forward to my emails. So I think that's so huge. And just I love what you said about becoming a better writer because I just think that's a great skill to learn. And I use ChatGPT too, but I use them where I'll literally write everything and then I'll tell them how to make it better or make this. I'm like, tell them what I'm trying to do, and then I'll say, make it flow better or something. However, whatever my intention is, I'll tell them what it is and then I'll copy and paste everything I already wrote. So it's all my words. They're just making it sound a little bit better. I think we're at a huge advantage because we can write and it will always look good because at the end of the day, you can, like, filter it through ChatGPT or Claude.

[Dusty]

Yes, absolutely. I love that. I'm glad that you and I agree on that premise. As we close out today, I want to ask you more of a bigger picture question. What final message would you give to aspiring YouTubers and creators and entrepreneurs listening to this podcast?

[Whitney Bonds]

Yeah, my. Everything is with intention. You don't just create a video because you have a great idea. You use intention and say, okay, what's working? Why would someone watch this and ask yourself every single time, would I want to watch this? Would this make me curious enough to click right now? You want to always stay curious and asking yourself, as your own avatar, is this something that I will watch even throughout your entire video? Am I looking at my phone while I'm supposed to be reviewing my video? What's making me not want to watch it? You need to train yourself to be able to look at what's working and then put it, to put your own spin to it. So that's my biggest advice, is just to learn what's working for other people and not just post things, but do everything with intention. And that's how you're going to get far on YouTube.

[Dusty]

Wow, that is great. Whitney, thank you so much for joining us today. You have been an excellent guest and congratulations. Like I said, off air on your success. I will have links to everything in the show notes. Notes. So Whitney's YouTube channel, her Instagram, as well as her YouTube affiliate, Bootcamp, which is something that we didn't talk about, but if you're looking to get into affiliate marketing, I highly encourage you to go check that out. All of those links and more will be in the show notes. And Whitney, we appreciate it and we'll talk to you next time.

[Whitney Bonds]

Thank you.

[Dusty]

And that's it for this week's episode of the YouTube Creators Hub show. Every Friday we release these interviews. So if you haven't already subscribe to the show, whether you listen via Spotify, Apple Podcast or some other RSS feedback, we would really appreciate it. Don't forget, if you're looking into working with someone around your YouTube channel, I do offer one to one YouTube coaching. All of those links are down below. And I promise you, the best money you'll spend in the creator economy today is the five bucks that get you access to our Creators Corner group. You get access to our Discord server With over 300 people talking about YouTube all throughout the week, as well as our monthly Mastermind calls, exclusive podcasts from me, and much, much more. So check that out if you haven't already, and we'll see you guys next week.