B (4:37)

So that's how it started when you took that course. And in the early phases of three, four years ago, when you started the channel, can you remember back what were the biggest hurdles or the biggest kind of maybe roadblocks as far as early on when you were obviously a creator, you were doing the blogging and you had other social outlets. But as far as YouTube goes, do you remember kind of what some of the early struggles were?

A (5:03)

Yes. So it was, for me personally, it wasn't really worrying about what people think. I'm just. That's not something I tend to worry about. It was editing, of all things, editing video. I had done some different things for Instagram where I tried to make some, like, longer videos and edit. And I was like, oh, this whole editing thing is just a lot. I like the creative part of making videos. But then it takes, you know, you see a two minute little video, but it took me an hour. Takes so long. It just took so long. And so that's what held me back. I didn't want to put the time into editing videos, even though I liked creating them and I loved the final product.

B (5:42)

Yeah, the editing process, if you're not passionate about it or if it's not kind of cathartic for you, like for me, when I get into an editing groove, it is a bit kind of meditative for me where I'm just kind of moving things around and I'm kind of in my zone and. But I have talked to a lot of creators who say that that is the number one thing that is the roadblock for them. So being that it was editing, what did you do? I mean, did you. Have you outsourced it since then? Do you still do it? How have you kind of gotten past that?

A (6:13)

Yeah, so I, like I said I had. I actually have a couple of friends who do YouTube. And so, you know, I had talked to them. I knew it was possible to outsource that and hire an editor. And so that's what I thought. And as soon as I can, I'm going to hire an editor. And I was in a really good position. I had worked my butt off in nursing through Covid. Like I was working in critical care situations and really crazy hours because there were a lot of opportunities for really good pay and we wanted to pay off debt. So when I started my YouTube channel, like we just came out of this crazy season where we paid off all of our debt and I was just feeling like this is great. I get to do this YouTube channel. I don't have to do it. I'm not like, trying to make money. This just gets to be fun for me. So I thought, if I may, if I'm able to make a little bit of money off of this channel, I can take every penny of what I make and reinvest it and make it easier and more enjoyable for myself. So I knew that I wanted to hire an editor as soon as I could, and I did. However, I think I had her edit and she was great. I had her edit maybe one or two videos for me before I realized I could not use an editor and I would always have to edit my own videos. And the reason is, is because of the kind of content I make is lifestyle content where I just set the camera up and like drag it around behind me as I'm going about my day and my children and husband are home, are in and out of the house. And so there's so much of our personal life that is kind of accidentally caught on camera. So before I would submit the raw footage to my editor for her to edit, I would actually have to comb through all of it and make sure there wasn't any sensitive content. Like maybe the toddler ran out of the bathroom undressed or something, you know what I mean? So I just can't turn that. I can't in good faith, like, turn that content over to somebody knowing it could potentially get out. I know that might sound weird, but I was like, wait, I'm going to forever have to comb through my content and pre edit before I submit to be edited. And so there was that. It was a privacy issue. And so I've always edited my own. Edited my own videos since then. I've just kind of maybe like built up calluses to it. Like when you lift weights, like you do this hard thing and you just get used to it or whatever. But then also the creative vision when I'm filming, I have a vision of what this video is going to look like in the story it's going to tell. But if you just looked at the raw footage, you'd be like, my goodness, what is that mess? And so, like her, even with my notes, trying to put my story together just was really tough.

B (8:40)

And what tools do you use to edit? Like, what are. What are your kind of your tools of the trade?

A (8:45)

This is so embarrassing. What is the. Is it. I. What's the.

B (8:49)

Just imovie.

A (8:50)

Imovie.

B (8:52)

Yeah. So, no, I. I asked that question because a channel like yours that has grown such a big following. I mean, you're almost at 160,000 subscribers now. You're not even at 300 long form videos, which means that you're well ahead of the curve. You know, you're able to film it yourself with five kids and a husband in and out all day and then you're able to just throw it on your Mac and use a already built in tool to do the editing. So the, it's interesting, you know, not with just easy tools like that, but with artificial intelligence and things that are coming down the pipeline. How easy it is now. The barrier to entry is not there. The only barrier that, that, that I always tell creators is really just what you can think of like your creative mind. And it's interesting that you mentioned that. I do not envy you doing lifestyle content for the past maybe two and a half, three weeks. My wife and I had decided when we, you know, if the triplets got here healthy, we were going to document some of the things that happen being a triplet parent, you know, because it is a unique situation. And so we launched our own little personal TikTok, which is kind of where my, my platform of choice because I wanted to be able to talk about it better and with more knowledge here on the podcast. And it took off. I mean it's really taken off and we've almost gotten almost 2,000 followers now in a couple of weeks we just like six or seven videos, tons of comments, tons of interaction. But what I, what I say all that to say it's so hard because my family, I protect them so much. I only want a certain amount of things out there. And so, you know, the triplets taking their first bath, it was hilarious. But obviously I'm not going to post that, right, because you have to really juggle and decide what you're going to put out there and what you're not. So I just wanted to say I don't envy you and I do understand why you would have to do the editing yourself. Now. You started this channel and you started to see growth. When do you remember the point in time where you said to yourself, okay, there might be something to this, like this YouTube channel, might be something that I can, can be a major cog in my creative business.

A (10:52)

Yeah, this is another funny story. So I, I knew that there was a lot of potential because I have friends, personal friends in my life who do this and make, you know, they do really well. So I knew it can be done. But I did this thing for maybe six months. I was consistently posting When I started out, two videos a week. Now, at the beginning, my strategy was to post more evergreen content, like how to do things. It wasn't lifestyle, it was actually evergreen. Hoping that I would hit and go viral with something, you know what I mean, and kind of like get that initial following. Because I know you probably know this, but even though I already had a following on my blog and on Instagram, those audiences don't always carry over. When you start a new platform, people make the mistake of thinking, oh, well, I've got 50,000 followers on Instagram, so if I start a YouTube channel, I'll have 50,000 followers on YouTube. That's not true. I had about 40,000 followers on Instagram when I started YouTube and messages all the time begging me to do this YouTube channel. And I probably had about 200 subscribers when I shared I was going to do the YouTube channel. So the carryover just isn't that great in the beginning. So anyway, I was able to hit the qualifications for monetization pretty quickly, doing two short evergreen videos a week. And then I realized that, you know, I maybe I, I got to maybe having like 5,000 subscribers. And I thought, pretty good engagement. And I was making like 50 cents a month on YouTube. I'm like, okay, I got monetized and I'm putting all of this work in. I'm doing all of this editing, which I don't enjoy, and I'm making 50 cents or a dollar. This is crazy. I'm done. Because I have personal rule that I have to enjoy what I'm doing creatively or I don't do it. I mean, there might be moments where I don't enjoy it, but over the long term, I can't continually do something I don't enjoy if it's not paying off. So I just quit. I just quit. And I think it like six months went by and we were in Florida, we were on vacation. I got an email saying from Google Adsense saying you need to update your direct deposit information because you have. I think it was like $5,000. Whoa. Something. Something insane waiting to, you know, you, you need to be paid. We need to pay you. And I'm like, whoa, what? This not me. This can't be me. Did they mean 50? So I logged in and then sure enough, there was that huge payment sitting there. And I was like, I gotta check my channel. Well, unbeknownst to me, my channel had blown up because of a video I did on how to make your own laundry detergent for, you know, like, I don't know, 7 cents a load or something crazy like that. It's true. That's. That's how you do it. But yeah, it had blown up and I had no idea. And so then I was like, oh, it works. So then I just.

B (13:35)

That is hopped back in. That's so neat. I love stories like that because that's almost identical to my story. You know, 15, 16 years ago, I did a tutorial video showing people across the country how to use some software. Forgot about my channel and then got the same email you got about monetization and a little different. I didn't have a big check, but they were like, hey, you can make money from this. And I was like, wait a minute, there must be something to this. And so it's, it kind of does align with your story. I'm so thankful and I'm glad that happened to you because now I do want to ask you this though. That video now has 1.8 million views. You did it three years ago, but you have other videos like one you did three months ago about, you know, preparing for digital ID and things to come. How to fix sourdough starter, how to make a sourdough starter. You're still doing or still have some of these evergreen type videos. How do you balance the vlog style lifestyle content with the how to and educational stuff? How do you kind of combine the two and still get good interaction and community building?

A (14:37)

Wish I had a really good strategic answer for you right now. Nothing I actually nothing I've done in the last almost two years has been super strategic. I kind of had this big run where that thing happened when we were in Florida. I got the email, realized my channel had blown up, came home, was like ready to go and I just had an instinct to start creating lifestyle content because up until then, up until I quit my channel, I only created evergreen how to videos. But I was like, you know what for it and do some vlogs and they, they blew up. They did so great. But then when I had my fifth baby, everything changed for me. It was just, it's been a different experience. He's almost two but he has been such a terrible sleeper, the poor guy, that I've been sleep Depri tribe for almost two years. So my, I have pulled way back. All of my social medias are dead. I the only thing I do is one YouTube video a week. I don't do an email list. I do nothing right now besides one video a week. And it's been great that I designed this business to be able to do that because I built everything in such a way that if I had something happen with my family, I could just pull back. So in the last two years, it really is just like month to month. I kind of think, okay, what do I have going on that I could, I think is valuable and I just throw something out there. It hasn't been stupid, super strategic, but I'm starting to sleep a little bit and so the brain cells are coming back and I feel ideas coming and so we'll get there. But I'm thinking about doing more, maybe, you know, doing, doing more evergreen content again on some of these, some of these bigger issues.

B (16:09)

I interrupt the conversation just for a few seconds to tell you about two things. Number one is our YouTube channel review service. With the channel reviews, I record a screencast video recapping where I think you should be spending the time and how you can be improving your YouTube channel. And then the second thing I want to mention is our community group, it's called the Creators Corner. I release exclusive podcast episodes on that feed as well as a monthly Mastermind call that I host. And we're doing other creator led Mastermind calls throughout the month as well. It's, I believe it's one of the best bangs for your buck in the creator space. So with that said, back to the show. Now you mentioned that you are so thankful that you built your business kind of and structured it in a way to where if something were to happen like a two year sleep deprivation or having triplets or whatever, it may be right that you have tailored your business in a way to where it's prepared to kind of sustain itself, itself. What did you do and what did you put in place to get your channel in that spot?

A (17:06)

So having come to peace with the fact that I would always edit my own videos, that was a big thing because I on my own, if nobody else can film, edit and upload a long form video every week and I can do that, that's pretty manageable. One video. I've been doing it long enough now to where I'm pretty. I'm really good at editing actually and I've gotten really fast at it. It's nothing. It's not nearly as painful as it was. So I know that I can always do that one video a week. Everything else, I guess I just didn't get attached to it. At one point before I had baby number five, I had a team of like 10 to 12 people doing everything from cutting my videos into shorts and reels. I had somebody running my email List, somebody managing my Pinterest, everything. I mean I had everything hired out but I, I wasn't attached to it. I just knew I, I didn't put anybody on payroll. So that was a big thing that I did. Everything was just kind of like freelance or VA where I would just do on a monthly basis so that I didn't get myself locked into feeling like this person is relying on, completely relying on me to support their family. Cuz I would feel so guilty if I pulled back in that situation. So I, I just did that essentially. And then yeah, I tried to not get attached to the income as it was climbing and climbing and saying if all of this went away, I have to remember that it would be okay. So. Yes, but, but you know, it hasn't gone away because I actually have my blog as well that's monetized and then I have, I do a lot of affiliate stuff where I've got old Instagram highlights that are really valuable resources to people that they still go to and then use my codes and all that. And I've got ebooks out there floating in the ether. So I have different streams of income, you know, that just come in every month no matter what I do.

B (18:52)

Let's talk about that diversification of income streams and talk about kind of how you're monetizing your business. So you mentioned the blog steal still your other socials and then on YouTube blog, what are ways that you are monetizing and are able to bring in money? And then after you answer that, maybe give the audience an estimation of in the past three months what might be an average month for you and your creative business.

A (19:15)

So with YouTube, I'm, I'm monetized through YouTube so I get paid through ads on YouTube. But then I also take on a sponsor for each video. So I actually have an agent that I work with and she lines up a sponsor for me for each video. We've been with my agent for almost two years, so I almost never have to say no to a sponsor. She knows what I like, what I use, who I will work with and who I won't. So it's very easy at this point for me that is great source of income. So Those are through YouTube, two sources of income, just the YouTube ads and the sponsors and then also affiliates. I, you know, we'll share pertinent affiliate links in the descriptions of my YouTube videos. I don't have any digital products at the time. There are a lot of things I could and should probably do. I just don't. But Then on my blog, I am monetized through mediavine. So that's an ad network. And yeah, that's. It's like almost like its own little business. So I have Hopewell Heights, that's like the umbrella. But then I have Hopewell Heights blog, lights, YouTube channel to where if one of those things went away, the other thing would be more or less okay. Although Since Google owns YouTube, I do think it lends me credibility as a creator having both. I think Google might favor that. I'm just guessing.

B (20:27)

Yes.

A (20:27)

But on my blog, that's the only way that it's monetized. I don't do. I don't really do sponsored posts or anything. It's just through the ad network. So I just create recipes, post them on my blog and push them out. Yeah. And then get paid through the ad network. And then affiliates I have. Right. Mainly just Instagram. I have a Facebook page that I had somebody running for me. I don't know what's going on over there though. I don't have TikTok. I know I should, but the only way that would ever happen is if somebody did it for me. Um, so it's really just. I have just Instagram. I used to, like I said, have somebody cut my videos into shorts to push out on YouTube and then reels for Instagram. I don't do any of that right now. I just don't have the time and energy. So. But there, I still, still bring in income, steady income from those affiliates because over the years I have consistently shared valuable content and I've also been very open about the fact that my family comes first. And I just tell my audience, like, if you don't see me for a while, just assume I'm okay and I'm taking care of my family and they need me more. And then I'll be back and then maybe I'll be gone for a while and then I'll be back. And they seem to be cool with that. So.

B (21:36)

Yeah. And I think that transparency is probably what kind of gains you a lot of your following. Right. Is that them knowing that, hey, they have families too. They completely get it and understand it and kind of makes you more of a real human as opposed to someone that they watch through their screens or whatever it may be. Now, as far as those incomes kind of tallied together, what, what is a, a normal month look like for you, money wise, as far as income? What are you able to do? Maybe you can break it down and tell us, you know, what one of those sponsors averages on a YouTube video and kind of break it down that way.

A (22:08)

Yeah. So when I'm like going full force ahead, so when I've got a team and we're pushing things out in every direction and I'm really, and I'm sleeping and able to do all this and like 25,000amonth total and when I'm pulled back then it's more like 12 to 15,000amonth. And so that's, that's the variance. So right now I'm definitely pulled back and so that's what it is. But when I'm gunning, when I got all the creative energy, then it goes a lot more. And I have somebody working with me right now to update my blog. So I anticipate that income going up. So that's what it is. As far as sponsors, you know, I, I, I, the highest sponsor offer that I've had I think was $5,000 for one video for a 60 second ad read, but that it didn't align with me. So I turned it down and I actually in its place took an $800 sponsorship because that aligned with me and that just, I, I think you can like, I, I have a problem with my facial expressions. Like I couldn't do it if I didn't like the product. You would see it in my face, it'd be so awkward. So I just can't do it. But yeah, it can be like anywhere in between that, like a thousand or more. For me, I don't really care what the number is. I care how much I like the company and how much I use it in my home. And if it's, I'm going to pick the sponsor that I use all the time. So like this year, Birch Living is sponsoring one video a month. I have a Birch Living mattress in almost every room in my home. Like daily we are sleeping on our Birch Living mattresses. So that's a sponsor I feel great about.

B (23:45)

It's a lot easier when you are, you know, utilizing and enjoy the products and that's, that's a realm that I hope I get to experience as far as the lifestyle and family style content. I've already had many companies reach out to me in the early phases of where I am, just kind of documenting some of the fun stuff that the babies in my family are doing. And I can see that you have to be pretty picky and really look at your choices because it will come through in the video. It'll come through the screen. If like you said, your facial expressions, if you don't like It, I watch so many videos where the same things are advertised over and over again and I'm like, you don't have that kind of website. That's not the service you use. I've been to your website. Or you probably don't take this pill that you're. Whatever it may be. And so I think that yes, you can make more money, but balancing, hey, these are things that I actually use. And you care about your audience. I think the goodwill that you earn over time, which is what I've seen with this podcast, ends up really benefiting you more than making the money in the short term. So I do completely agree with you there. In 2026, where we are right now, in the creator's economy being like it is now, what would you say are the two or three most important things if you're wanting to grow an audience on YouTube right right now?

A (25:02)

Ooh, okay, well, I'll be a real person. That's actually an advantage. I just created a video on this, like, can you still make money in 2026? Online people are so worried about AI, but behind the scenes, I can tell you, and you probably know this too, platforms are actually favoring real people. They want to push content from real people. Ad networks won't even work. They won't work with like an AI creator. So if you're a real person, you, there you go, you have a huge advantage. So don't, don't let AI stop. You are saying it's all over. They're black pilled on this. But no, this is a great time to be a creative human being. That's number one, be yourself, don't worry about AI. Number two, I think we're, we're done with, you know, people. Authenticity, that's like such an overused term. It's, it is more important now than ever. I think we've been doing the Internet thing for like 20 years now where people are just always online. We're getting just really good at detecting people are not genuine. Like really, really good. Can detect it pretty much instantly. So make sure that whatever you do is something you, you genuinely care about and are passionate about and can show up authentically all the time. That's number two. Number three, boundaries. Set boundaries. Oh my goodness, I see so many. I think this is especially maybe for women and moms. They see that there is opportunity online, especially like as an influencer, which I'm not crazy about that word, but that is what it is and they will do anything to make it. And so they take authenticity to a Level of having no boundaries on what they share and they're overexposing their children and their husband. And this is what I would say, be cautious, because there are actually laws in some countries that restrict the kind of content you can share about your children and other people. And I, I could see that coming. And not, maybe not in 2026, but I would just be really cautious with what you share about your, your kids and your family, which I know that sounds rich coming from a lifestyle vlogger, but when I'm editing, I, I am pretty careful not to try to show anything that would violate their. Really violate their privacy or something, because I, I do see legally, potentially in the future that that could be a thing. So create your brand around something that you can kind of be the center of. Don't use somebody else as a crutch to build your business.

B (27:33)

How important is the interacting with the community? Because you are building a community around your brand and these people are following your family and they're watching these videos and they're learning from you about homesteading and parenting and the things of that nature. How important is it that you are interacting with these people, whether it be in the comments section or wherever it may be? How have you kind of fostered a community of, you know, open arms and. Because I did look at your community and obviously right now, as you mentioned, you're kind of held back a little bit just because of what's going on with you personally. But in general, as a whole, how have you handled the back and forth with your community as far as nurturing that?

A (28:16)

I do my own comment sections, so that is something that a lot of creators hire out the comments section because a lot of times you'll get the same questions over and over again. So if somebody's asking you the same question about a recipe or something, it would be really easy to hire somebody to give them that quality answer over and over again. Make sure everybody gets a reply. But I do my own comment sections because I can get a little spicy in my videos and then people have spicy replies and I can handle it. I know some people, that's actually what stops them from creating content, is the comments section. It can't handle it. And a great way to deal with that is just hire it out. There's nothing wrong with hiring it out, but I do my own and I think it, I think it pays off. I like talking to people in my comment sections. Sometimes I'll have a video scheduled and I always try to get on right when my video goes Live and then be in the comment section. But sometimes things go crazy. The baby's crying, whatever, and I can't right away. And I'm always like, oh, man, I wish I could respond right away. I don't have a Facebook group or any other kind of community at the time just because I know that I don't have it in me to moderate. And I know, especially with women, we can get spicy, we can get passionate. Things can get heated, especially when you talk about motherhood. I just. I just can't moderate something like that right now. But maybe in the future, however, you know, I'll pop over on Instagram and I. I do have a lot of overlap now between the two communities. And over there, people get to see, like, a really unfiltered side of me, like, I'll just share, like, absolutely wild things. And people like, oh, my goodness, I didn't know you were like this. And so they either stay, they leave, or they stay. And they're like, now we're great friends. Because they're like, you shared this crazy thing that I always also know about or think. And then. So I guess being I'm not scared to get controversial, that's one way I've grown community is you can actually find your people by not shying away from whatever's in your niche that other people won't talk about. So even if it's like, things on YouTube that people don't want to touch, they don't want to talk about, talk about it, and then you're going to connect to people that are going to trust you.

B (30:12)

So, yeah, it's funny, when we posted a couple of videos when the babies got home, my wife, I told her, I said, do not go to the comment section. I said, It's 99% are going to be positive, but there's going to be that 1% that is going. That are going to eat you and me alive. Especially when you put kids and parenting on the Internet, everyone has an opinion and their opinion is best. And. And so she did go and read the comments, and there was just one out of probably a thousand plus that was negative. And I told her, I said, if you can't handle that, we better stop now. I said, because that is, you got to kind of get a thick skin. But I do understand controversy and a little bit of going outside the box of what people are willing to speak on on YouTube is a way to gain attention and get that interaction flowing. So I do love that. Now, when it comes to packaging and your thumbnails and your titles and the design and brand of your channel. How have you handled that do all that too?

A (31:09)

I just, I. Not that there's not somebody out there who could do a better job. I'm sure there is. I just haven't met him yet. Like, because they. They need to reach out to me because I'm too busy to go search for them. I did try to hire thumbnails out once and it just wasn't what I had in mind for video titles. I do use TubeBuddy to get some keywords in there, but with vlogging and lifestyle, you can kind of get away with not always having to hit keywords. Whereas with evergreen content, that is more important. But I do use that. I do use tubebuddy and it works pretty well. I do my own thumbnails on Canva. For now. I'm totally open to somebody reaching out and saying they're awesome at thumbnails and doing that for me though.

B (31:51)

Yeah. Have you. Have you seen it shift from when you started even three years ago as far as what works thumbnail wise? And just because I. I've seen it shift even the past year where things that worked maybe a year ago don't work now. Have you seen the changes?

A (32:05)

Yeah, for sure. I mean, when I started my channel, we were still coming off of that Covid drift of people being online all the time because they're home, they're just in their house. And so I think Internet usage in general was maybe a lot higher, especially with the homemaking niche. A lot of ladies who maybe always had wanted to have more time to do that kind of stuff, now they do because they have to be home all the time. So I just felt like it was so easy right when I got started and I could just put anything up and it would like homemaking my title or my thumbnail would just be me loaf of bread and say homemaking routines and it would go crazy. Now I have to think a little bit harder about that. I think saturation has to do with that. A lot of ladies have started homemaking and homesteading channels and there's so much out there like that. So who knows where I'll be in a couple of years. I might pivot eventually. I don't know. We'll see.

B (33:02)

And the final question I want to ask you is this. As the creators listen to this podcast, what would be your final parting words to them? Whether it be encouragement or advice as they're looking to either start, grow, or monetize their YouTube channel?

A (33:21)

My. I think my advice would be to diversify your income. If you want to earn income, then diversify. So pick one platform, really learn the ins and outs of how that platform works, what it takes to be successful. Get yourself the skills you need to be successful on that platform. Get in a groove, then jump to the next. Get the next one going, get the next one going. That's how you diverge. Because things can be going great on a platform until they don't, until things change on that platform and then all of a sudden you're not pushed in the algorithm anymore. Your views go down, maybe your income goes down, but if you're diversified, then you're not going to take that hit quite as hard. And I, I even think it's good to, if you want to do this as a business, diversify offline as well. So I can tell you like my income, we take it and we buy cattle. And that's probably not something that people would think that of doing, like, as a YouTube business. But that's a way that we diversify. So whatever your options are in your real life to, to be thinking of, how can I take this online thing and diversify it into some physical material investment as well? I, I think that's a long term vision to have.

B (34:36)

Yeah, I could not agree more with that. And I'm going to kind of leave this with those parting words again, if you want to check out what Steph has going on, I'm going to link her YouTube channel as well as her Instagram and food blog, all in the show notes. Steph, you have been an amazing guest here on the podcast and we're so thankful that you're willing to give us your time and we'll talk to you later. And that's a wrap on this week's episode of the Creator's Hub podcast. I had such a great time chatting with Steph, such a great story that she has getting her to where she is now. Don't forget to check out all of our services down below. We have our mastermind group. We have our YouTube channel reviews. I offer one on one YouTube coaching. We have our email newsletter and then we also have the running list of links and tools and resources mentioned here on the podcast. All of those links will be in the show notes. Don't forget to check all of that out and we'll see you guys next week.