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The Amazon Influencer Program: Is It Still Profitable in 2025? Kathleen Kobel Interview
00:36:05
Dusty chats with Amazon expert Kathleen Kobel about turning Amazon Influencer content into a full-time career in 2025. They dive into tips for getting started, finding winning products, balancing content quality, and building long-term income as a...
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- [00:00]
A
So I usually ask people, what is your goal? Do you want to make an extra thousand dollars a month or do you want to make $10,000 a month and be able to leave your job? And that really starts with that gives us a good indicator of the strategy that we can move forward with. If somebody wants to quit their job, then we say buy the tool, Go full force.
- [00:21]
B
Welcome to this week's episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast where I sit down with a wonderful creator each and every week and I break down their success on YouTube. We talk about their processes, the different tools they use, deep dives into their failures, and so much more. We have no sponsors on this podcast. We're just brought to you by everything that we have to offer here at Porter Media. I offer one on one coaching for YouTube creators. If you're looking to take your channel to the next step, definitely check that out. As well as our Creators Corner Group, you get an exclusive podcast episode every week.
- [00:53]
A
Please.
- [00:53]
B
Plus access to our Discord server monthly Mastermind calls hosted by me on Zoom. Five bucks. That's it. It's called the Creators Corner Group and it is a wonderful set of people over there who are willing to help anyone and everyone who are willing to put a little time and effort. And then lastly, we have a newsletter called the Entrepreneur's Minute and that is just a behind the scenes look of what I'm doing in my business. It's free. I'm not pitching or selling you anything. It's just a way to connect with me, see what I'm doing in my business. So if you're trying to grow a brand, a business, YouTube channel, whatever it may be, the Entrepreneur's Minute is a great weekly, not spammy email newsletter that I think can be a good companion piece for you. So with all that said, let's go ahead and jump into this week's conversation. Hello everyone and welcome to this week's conversation on the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. I am joined today by Kathleen Coble and Kathleen is an expert in E Commerce and the Amazon Influencer program. We've done a few shows on the Amazon Influencer program before, but we've never had Kathleen on. And I think you're going to hear in this episode not only how she's found success with affiliate marketing, being a creator and growing a brand, but she's also helped other people do the same thing. She's helped and launch and grow over a thousand brands on Amazon for multi million dollar companies and now teaches entrepreneurs and content creators how to build profitable, sustainable income Streams. Kathleen, how are you doing today?
- [02:17]
A
I'm doing great, Dusty, how are you? Really?
- [02:20]
B
I'm excited about this conversation and so I'm just going to dive right into it. Let the audience know a little bit about your origin story. How did you get started as a creator and within the Amazon Influencer program? How did this whole thing start?
- [02:35]
A
So it goes back to about 15 years ago to start when I first started selling on Amazon, I was very interested in how to make money online, some side hustles, and I was working for an entrepreneur at the time. And when I heard about how to sell on Amazon, my first sale on Amazon was my grad school textbooks. And so I thought, let's experiment here. This was all the way back when Amazon only sold books. So that's how long I've been selling things on the platform. But fast forward, I ended up starting the Amazon sales channel for this business I was working for after a few years, had my first child and time became much more valuable. So I ended up leaving the company I was working for, going out on my own. That's where I was able to help over a thousand different brands launch their products on Amazon. From the knowledge that I had attained from my job, I took that, created an Amazon marketing agency which did very well up until I was getting a little burned out. It was a great business and I still help Amazon sellers to this day. But I was looking for a business model that would give me some more of my time back and not necessarily be trading dollars for hours. And so one day I was working on a client's product page and I see this video and it's somebody that I don't know talking about my client's product and it's the Amazon product page. So I was very intrigued and I did a little more digging and that's when I discovered the Amazon Influencer program and their on site commission. I've been Amazon Influencer since before that. This was about four years ago. And I looked more into it and realized that Amazon was now offering people the opportunity to be able to upload content directly to Amazon. Which if you know anything about affiliate marketing, right. The hard part about affiliate marketing is the marketing part. You have to have the people, you have to be able to market the products to your audience. But with the Amazon Influencer program, I found a way to create content and not necessarily need that marketing piece. So I used my Amazon selling skills to really find some of the best products that would convert the highest and earn me the most commission. And so I really dove into that after being pretty successful in the first few months, it was fun. It turned into some semi passive income for me and now I do it full time and I teach others how to do the same.
- [04:55]
B
I love that. Now I'm just going to go ahead and open with the heavy hitters. This is the question that I get the most from creators. Is the Amazon influencer program in 2025 still profitable? Because many people hear about the algorithm changes and I've dabbled with the influencer program. I've made probably a few thousand dollars over the years just putting out probably, I don't know, 15 or 16 videos. Just I wanted to have experience with what the back end looked like so I could talk about it and discuss it with the guests that I would have on the show. And so is it still profitable? Is it still something that can bring money and at least a side hustle or a side business for an entrepreneur and creator?
- [05:34]
A
Most definitely. I think there's a lot of chatter online saying how different the program is today in 2025 than it was when it launched, and I completely agree with that. However, it is still a very profitable venture, especially if you know the strategy to do it the right way and you are able to pivot with Amazon's changes because they are always changing, they're always updating things. But the flip side of that is that they are also always creating these new opportunities for us. So what worked four years ago doesn't necessarily work today, but the program still very much works today and it's only growing.
- [06:13]
B
So what does work today in 2025? Can we just start from the top? Let's start from the most simplistic version of what this is. And for those of you who don't know, I'm not going to go into the explanation of what the Amazon Influencer program is. Kathleen already has done a really good job of that. You've basically are allowed to record your own videos about a product and then that video shows up, you hope, on the carousel video feed below that product. Now, with that said, let's just start from there. What, what is working now and what are you teaching your clients and people that you're working with?
- [06:47]
A
For sure. So really, in a nutshell, what's working is product research. You have to create videos for products that are already selling well on Amazon without them being too saturated by other influencer. On top of that, you have to have a video that is short, sweet, right to the point, and really focuses on the product and it needs to be pretty high quality. Doesn't have to be YouTube quality. Right? Because people want to see that you're a real person. It doesn't need to be overly produced, but you need to get to the main points of the product as opposed to, hey, my name's Kathleen and I'm an influencer. No one on Amazon cares. They want to see the product, they want to see it up close and they want to know your feedback and hopefully answer any questions, questions they have in their mind while they're deciding whether or not to buy this product. Those are really the two biggest things. Product selection and then your video to convert.
- [07:43]
B
Okay, I have a few more kind of follow up questions from that and I'm certainly going to Talk about the YouTube side of things and the integration of what you've seen from people on YouTube, coming from YouTube to Amazon influencer and vice versa. But you said it needs to be quick and to the point. Doesn't need to be over edited or overly polished because that kind of looks like a paid review. Right. Which is something that I've heard before on this podcast. So it needs to be something that makes you look like a normal reviewer on Amazon, which is great for you, the creator. It makes it a little easier and a little less time intensive, which is fantastic. So with that being the case, are we talking landscape video or vertical video?
- [08:18]
A
So I prefer landscape video. You can do it either way. I've done landscape from the beginning, partly because that is the way that brands upload videos to Amazon. So when you see the actual videos from the sellers and from the brands, those are primarily landscape. The other reason, and you mentioned YouTube, is because then I'm able to repurpose my Amazon videos over to YouTube and then they are not shorts. Right now shorts are up to 3 minutes. I have 12 minute videos that are landscape horizontal that were great for my YouTube channel, for repurposing as well.
- [08:53]
B
So as far as what you do, you have a YouTube channel that's called just Kathleen Coble and you do a bunch of live streams which seem to be very popular, where you talk about product selection, you talk about different things going on within the Amazon Influencer program and on your banner you say Amazon Influencer success starts here. So the live streaming is a big part of what you're doing over on YouTube. Now do you have a, a different channel where you post your product reviews? Is that something that's completely separate than this kind of brand type YouTube channel?
- [09:28]
A
Yes, most definitely. So the channel you're referring to is where I teach other people how to do this, how to be successful with the Amazon Influencer program. But I have a completely separate channel. It's called Smart Business mom and that's the that my Amazon storefront is under as well. And so that is the channel that I am taking all of my Amazon content and uploading to that channel so that I can start making off site commissions. I've got Amazon affiliate links in every one of the descriptions of my videos, but it also opens the doors for brands to find me. And I've been approached by lots of different brands who have seen my smart business mom YouTube channel wanting to partner with me.
- [10:08]
B
So let's talk about that for a minute. What types of people should start putting videos on the influencer program? If someone's listening to this. Now, one of the things that I've thought of is that we all have all of this stuff around our house and the majority of it is probably on Amazon. And you mentioned something that's very important. When I coach creators, I talk with them about finding a video topic that is highly searched, yet much lower competition. And so that's exactly what you said about finding Amazon products that are selling well but have very few maybe creator videos on it. Do you have tools that do that for you? Are there little tricks of the trade to where you can find products that fall in that category?
- [10:53]
A
Yes, I use a tool called Fluencer Fruit, which I've been using since it was launched a few years back. And what it does is it not only gives me information about the estimated sales data from Amazon. So now this really validates how many sales are coming in every day, every month, but it scores every single product page with an opportunity from 0 to 100 based on the criteria that we look for as Amazon influencers. Whether there's a brand video in the upper carousel, the sales, how many other influencers are already on that product listing page, the category and things like that. So that tool saves me so much time and makes me so much money because. Because it helps me find those products that I already know are going to be winners before I even create the content for it.
- [11:43]
B
I'll definitely link to that. But I do want to ask a follow up to that question and that is if I just want to get started and I want to make the most use of my time, what are the things that I need to be looking for on an Amazon product page? Let's say I have 10 products in my house that I could do videos on or whatever. And I go to Amazon and I look and I see there's 15 videos in the carousel. Down below, there's a brand video. What are the things or red flags or maybe go buttons that you're looking for when you go to an Amazon product page that would make you say, oh, that's the one. That's one of the ones I would like to do a video for.
- [12:19]
A
Yes. So I am more so looking for green flags. I think with the red flags was probably all the influencer videos. But at the same time, Amazon is constantly letting new content get to the top of the upper carousel to test it. So don't let that be a deterrent, even if you see 15 influencer videos on there. But what I'm looking for is estimated sales data. So you don't need a tool to do this anymore because Amazon has on every single product page the estimated sales volume. Whether it's 50 plus units sold this month or 5,000 plus units sold this month. That at least gives you an indicator of the estimated sales and whether the product is selling well or not.
- [13:00]
B
Is that on the product page?
- [13:02]
A
Yes, it is. It's going to be right underneath the star rating. Again, it's an estimate. Right. But it still gives you some sort of data. So I'm looking for that. And the other thing I'm looking for, besides how many influencer videos are, is the actual star rating, which is different than our Amazon influencer videos. This is between one and five stars and we want to make sure that at least I want to make sure I'm only creating content for products that are four stars and above because anything under four stars not only is going to be hurt in Amazon search algorithm because Amazon wants to showcase products that have better reviews, but. But it's more likely to be more of a dud product and maybe get returned more and might not be a great product for you to spend your time creating a video for.
- [13:50]
B
Awesome. Thank you so much for answering that question. Now, one of the things that you really focus on is not just how to make money on the Amazon Influencer program, but also how to turn it into a sustainable business. And you help creators figure out what their niche should be and the different strategies and things of that nature. Can you talk about the different steps or things that you walk through with a creator when trying to help them navigate the murky waters of the Amazon Influencer program and being a creator and how to balance it all?
- [14:20]
A
Yeah. So I usually ask people, you know what, what is your goal? Do you want to make an extra thousand dollars a month or do you wanna make $10,000 a month and be able to leave your job. That gives us a good indicator of the strategy that we can move forward with. If somebody wants to quit their job, then we say buy the tool, go full force. But if somebody's just dabbling and I always rec as a side hustle, don't leave your job for the Amazon Influencer program by any means. But there's so many ways that you can start with low or very minimal risk, such as look through your order history. What have you already purchased on Amazon? Don't go out and spend a thousand dollars on products. Go look to see what you can create content for that you already have around your house. So it really depends on people's end goal, but either way there is a strategy for anyone who wants to all.
- [15:13]
B
Right guys, I interrupt the podcast episode this week to tell you about a new thing that I have to offer all creators. I'm doing channel audits. Now. They're 15 minute recorded videos that I provide to you. You purchase the order and I go to your channel and I do an audit. I watch a couple videos, I look at your channel homepage, your description. So if you're looking for a channel review, there will be a link in the show notes. It's very inexpensive and it could get you started or may lead into something, whether it be YouTube coaching or the line figuring out something that you never would have seen yourself. So if you're looking for another set of eyes on your YouTube channel for a very good price, go check that out now. It'll be under the channel review section in the show notes. I can normally pump them out within 48 hours, so go check that out if you haven't already. Now back to the episode. A bit of a technical question. I know when I've done my few videos that I've put out there, some of them I did custom thumbnails, some of them I did not. I know that's very specific, but what are your opinions on on that?
- [16:17]
A
I think it really depends. If the carousel on a product page is very saturated and there's a lot of videos there to choose from. I do recommend doing a thumbnail that will draw people's eye to your video. But also people are looking at the title too, right? So there are some thumbnails that I specifically avoid because they're very clickbaity. My personal preference is to showcase the product. And so I'm not doing a whole lot of text with thumbnails. I am showcasing the product as big as I can can and then putting a Nice description for the title. I don't create custom thumbnails for every single one of my videos. I know a lot of people that do. The problem is that we don't have data from Amazon to know if it works. We don't know if it increases our click through rate. We just don't know for some of the big ticket items that are saturated. I'll create a thumbnail, but not necessarily for my 10 or 20 products that I'm just hoping to make my money back on.
- [17:16]
B
For the YouTube creator side of me which loves data and analytics, the Amazon Influencer program lacks in all of those areas like you just mentioned. So that drove me crazy. I wanted to compare. Hey, here is a custom thumbnail I did and here's one where I just threw up a picture of the product. What was my impressions and click through rate of when people were on the product page. I think it would help Amazon and the creators if they would do that, but that's neither here nor there. So with that being said, I would say maybe experiment with both now, now if there is someone who is in that stage, you've just. You know what, I'm going to go through my order history. This is a side hustle for me. I am a YouTube creator. I need to make a little extra change to buy the gear that I need to grow my YouTube channel, whatever it may be. Listening to this, what is the process like of getting approved and then once you get approved, what would be your suggestion as far as the first few videos or getting started with your creator page and things of that nature?
- [18:12]
A
Nature, yeah. Yes. So I recommend anyone who's interested in starting just go and apply. Because the good news is that you can apply to be in the Amazon Influencer program a million times. There is no cap at how many times you can apply. In fact, I coach my creators to apply every day once they get to a certain point with their social media channels. So I would encourage you to just go apply. Pick your top social channel that has the most engagement. Followers is not as or subscribers are not as important as engagement. Amazon wants to see that your audience is engaging with your content no matter what platform you're on. But also the lowest barrier to entry as far as which social channel to choose has been TikTok and consistently has been TikTok. Over the last couple years I've had creators who start a brand new TikTok post two to three videos a day for seven to 10 days and applying every day after that seven day mark. They are getting in within one, two or three days. So it's not a really large barrier to entry, especially if you start with a platform like TikTok. And so that would be my best recommendation. Even if you're not on TikTok, go start a new one. If none of your social channels get approved right away and then once you get in your first three videos, you just have to be very careful. What I would recommend is you pick three very safe products that you already have in your home and that you use and love and buy safe, no claims whatsoever. Do things that are very boring, do kitchen utensils, do pillows or bedding or anything where you don't have to make any sort of claim whatsoever because that seems to be the reason why Amazon disapproves some of these first three videos. So that would be my best recommendation to get in use. TIP. TikTok, if your social channels aren't getting you in right away. But then when your first three videos come up, pick things that you already have. Be very careful in what you say. And once you get those first three approved, then you could be much more liberal and really go for the strategies to earn.
- [20:20]
B
For those listening to this, if you know you already have a YouTube channel, use that because that's proof of concept. And if you already have a YouTube channel, even you may not think it's substantial numbers wise sometimes. The Amazon influencer program I know I applied and within the same day or the next morning, I was already accepted. Now, as far as just the overall, I guess you would say, strategy for the influencer program, is it more of a quantity game as far as uploading videos, what are your thoughts there? Because I was just looking at the back end of my creators hub, which is where you can look at your videos on the influencer program as you were talking. And I have a total of 23 videos on there. I know that's not many at all. And the last one I uploaded was back in 2022. Is it more of a quantity game of what is your strategy of do you try to do one video a day? Do you have a certain benchmark that you want to get to in a month? What would you recommend? Because really it's like YouTube, right? You may upload a hundred videos, but three of them may be, I call them diamonds. Three of them may be diamonds that really pump in the influencer program it would be revenue. With YouTube it could be building a brand or growing in subscribers or view count. What are your thoughts on this?
- [21:29]
A
That and quantity is important for sure, because every video you upload gives you that opportunity to earn. But I will also say that time is very valuable too. So if you have the time to create three videos a day, or 50 or 100 videos every month, you most definitely should be doing that. Now. If you don't, there are strategies where it's best to upload. Quality over quantity. I have less than a thousand videos and I earn more than some people I know that have 3,000 videos or 5,000 videos. And it's because I've done the product research and I know how to create videos that convert. So it really depends. But I would say do as many videos as you can, but you also want to be strategic about it. I there was another creator who was teaching this that said do videos on everything you have from Amazon, everything from your bedding to your toilet paper. And I challenge that strategy because as an Amazon customer, are you really going to watch a video of somebody talking about toilet paper? Probably not, because you already know what toilet paper you want to buy, right? So you're not going to take the time. So being strategic about it is also really important. Yes, you can create videos for anything and everything, but if you want to work smarter and save some time and not have to work so hard, then definitely quality over quantity wins as far as earning goes.
- [22:53]
B
Yeah, I'm looking at your Amazon Influencer shop here and you do have about, like you said, a thousand videos on there. Most of them are horizontal type videos and only there's a few of them that have custom thumbnails, but not all of them do. As far as, are you just doing these with your phone? Are you having like your. For the ones that you can't hold your phone, Are you putting it on a tripod or having someone in your family film it for you? Or what's your kind of workflow like when you're working on a video and from start to finish, as far as, like when you know what product you're going to try to film all the way to uploading it to the influencer program. What is your kind of time to completion?
- [23:27]
A
Yeah, it really depends on the product. If it's just a straight look at this product and I'm demonstrating it, it can be much quicker than say putting together an assembly video and having to do more editing. But no, I use my phone. I do have a really nice camera that I use for my YouTube videos, but I actually use my phone for probably 95% of my Amazon influencer videos. So when I record, usually I will talk. Sometimes I will do a VOICEOVER LATER I do have a virtual assistant that helps me with some of the editing, the more complicated videos. But for some of those that I'm just recording, talking and uploading, I use my phone, I just talk as I'm recording and then everything on my phone gets backed up to a cloud and so then I'm able to do my. I like doing editing on desktop. I'm old school, a little bit like that. And so I will do just very slight editing if I set any ums or if I need to take any pieces out of there. And then really, once the simple editing is done, I upload it right to my Amazon storefront. I know I'm probably oversimplifying a little bit. It doesn't have to be that complicated. When I create my YouTube videos, it's much more complicated. I have my microphone and lots more editing. So it really can be that simple for just filming from your phone, quick editing and then uploading.
- [24:42]
B
Yeah. A lot of yours are like where you have your phone capturing what you're doing or the product and then you'll do a voiceover after the fact. Would you recommend if you have a really nice iPhone, to do more capturing of the product, product and what the product is doing as opposed to doing like what you and I are doing right now where the camera's looking right at us? Because I don't really know. I do see some Amazon influencers that do these talking head style videos like this, but then I see some that are like putting out hundreds a month and they're just capturing really quick videos of said product. So what are your thoughts about that?
- [25:14]
A
I base it on the product. If it's a product that's say a hundred dollars or more, I will always make sure to have my face in it just to give the video more credibility. So people see who is behind the camera because they're going to be taking a little bit more time to decide if they want to buy that item because it is a higher price point. Whereas if I'm filming, say a $20 product, I'm just behind the camera showcasing the product because I really don't think the Amazon customer really cares who I am. They're listening to what I'm saying, but at the end of the day, they want to see the product, they want to see how it works and they want to know if it's going to work for what they want. And so, so me saying who I am and why I bought it almost doesn't even really matter.
- [26:02]
B
All right, let's talk about the money side of things. If someone would like to do this for a side hustle, let's say like myself, I like to make a little extra. You said this. An extra thousand dollars. I think that's doable, right? I think that it's very doable. What point should I start making money to? To where I should feel encouraged and at what point, like I know it really is dependent on the product and the price of the. What is realistic as far as. Before we start talking about what you're making, let's talk about the realistic side of someone starting or trying to make an extra thousand dollars.
- [26:36]
A
Sure. One thing I love about this program is that once you get those first three videos unlocked for on site commission, they could be earning money for you two days later, three days later, once you get your first sale and then Amazon ships out that particular product. It's very encouraging and it's the reason why I really pivoted to this as my main business because I was able to see that return on my investment so quickly. We log into our Amazon reporting every single day and I'm able to see how much money I earned yesterday, basically the next day. So it's very encouraging to be able to see that you're making money every day once you get enough videos up to be able to do that. And really, of course you're going to start small, but the more you upload content, the more you're going to learn about what works, the more money ideally you're going to make if you have the right products that you've created for and every single one of those videos is a potential little mini income stream for you and you really get what you put into it. However, like I said before, you can really be strategic about it and scale this to as much money as you want to make.
- [27:46]
B
As someone Kathleen, who has been doing technology tutorials on YouTube for almost 15 years now, my channel is just a search based channel where I do technology tutorials and I'm a big fan of Evergreen and Long Tail content. You mentioned that that you could start making money from these videos on the influencer program within the first few days. What are the long tail potential of of these videos? Because I go to my little Amazon influencer manage page here and these are four or five year old videos and I made like 20 bucks this month. I haven't uploaded in almost four years. So I would assume if I had say 500 videos out there, there's a possibility I could be making a few hundred bucks bucks four years after I'VE uploaded these videos. I would assume this is the beauty of it, right?
- [28:34]
A
Yes, yes, most definitely. That's why. Yes. One more reason why I love it is because you can pick it up and put it down and pick it up and put it down and you could still be earning every single day that you're not creating content and you're not uploading new content. Because the way that the opportunity is structured is that if you find one of those winning product listing pages and your video content converts, it could be there for 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 years and be earning for you that whole time. Very similar to YouTube.
- [29:04]
B
Yeah, I love that. That just, that just makes me excited. Makes me want to get back into it myself just to, to tinker around with it. As an entrepreneur, I'm always looking for little things like this. Now let's talk about you and your ability to make money. It says in one of the podcasts that you were on before you're making $10,000 plus from the in from what you're doing as a creator. Let's talk about strictly just the Amazon Influencer side. Eight hundred to a thousand videos. You also have pictures, photos on there. You do live streams. But as far as, let's break it down in kind of time segments in a month, let's just say last month. Like what would you make from the Amazon Influencer program?
- [29:42]
A
I think part of it is dependent on the month, right? But then also how much content you're uploading. So like last month I made about 5,000 just from on site, but six months ago I made 12,000. But I will say last month was my kids were wrapping up school. I didn't upload as much content. I wasn't as active as I was say in that six months ago when I made the 12. So it's, it's really dependent on. And then we have Prime Day is coming up in July. July is always a big month. Actually July is always my top earning month. You would think November, December, but it's always July, right. So I made 5,000 last month in July. My goal is to make at least 10 because of Prime Day and all the promotions that I have planned for that. And that's just on site, right? That doesn' count for off site. That doesn't count for the brand deals that I'm making that I'm getting paid for, that I'm getting free samples for. And I think you talked, we touched in the beginning on can you still make money with the Amazon influencer program in 2025? The answer is, yes. It's just different than four years ago when I was making 15,000amonth with just on site commission, not doing anything else. Now we have to pivot our strategy and do other things like uploading to YouTube and partnering with brands. But the income potential is definitely still there.
- [31:05]
B
It just starts with the Rolodex of videos on Amazon. As an influencer, you see what you can do and what you can make from those. And like anything, it ebbs and flows. So what other outlets have you gone to now as far as for you to make money? Because now you have a master class teaching other people how to do this. You also have the YouTube channels. I assume you're on other outlets as well. So how do you supplement and make money outside of the influencer program, yet still revolving around. Around it?
- [31:34]
A
Yeah, So I teach people how to be successful with the Amazon Influencer program. I have a membership and so anybody that joins, I teach them, I give them all my top strategies. We meet every month. There's lots of support and community there. But that's another one of my income streams that I've set up from my experience of being an Amazon seller and Amazon influencer, I'm able to monetize it by helping other creators earn money as well. We get great feedback from other people. People. But on top of that, I have the YouTube channel where I'm teaching people how to do this. I also recommend software such as Fluencer Fruit. Right. And they have an affiliate program. So I earn money from recommending that software and demonstrating in some of my YouTube videos how I utilize that. And then the brand deals as well. I think that one of my best outcomes from repurposing my Amazon content onto YouTube is like I said earlier, those brands finding me and saying, hey, we saw your content. Do you want a partner? We'll send you this free, free stuff. We'll pay you this much money to create videos for our products because we love your videos so much.
- [32:40]
B
And some of that can come from Amazon. Right? Like people can see you on your creator page on Amazon. And another gentleman I had on a couple years ago talking about this, he would say that these companies would approach him directly from Amazon and say, hey, we see you make these great videos, we'd like you to make one for our product. And either they give you the free product, which is great, or they pay you to do it right, they'll pay you a lump sum. Is that that correct?
- [33:02]
A
Yes, yes, exactly. And you can negotiate either way. There's so much opportunity. There's Also, third party platforms including Amazon has one called Creator Connections where you can get really strategic about your videos and the brands you want to partner with and earn additional commissions. We're usually 1 to 4% when we're earning commissions from Amazon, but with Creator Connections you can earn 10%, 20%, sometimes 30% extra. So again, just being strategic and staying within the Amazon ecosystem to start, but then utilizing your content and your strategy to branch out in order to earn more money.
- [33:39]
B
Awesome. As we close out this interview, Kathleen, what advice would you give creators listening to this who are looking for another source of revenue to supplement before they get maybe even monetized on YouTube or TikTok shop or Instagram or wherever they're trying to make their money as a creator? What would be your final parting words?
- [33:57]
A
I would say just go for it. Don't get discouraged if you don't get in right away when you apply because it's not that hard. And there are lots of other creators out there that are willing to help you. For example, we have a group where we're trying to get people in and people go and post their Tik Tok and their YouTube and we all go and comment and engage and just know that it's okay to ask for help. There are communities of people that want to help and support you. But also this is such a fun opportunity that if this interests you at all, I recommend you just go for it because there are resources that will help you make sure that it's still fun for you, but also help you earn money too.
- [34:39]
B
I love that. Kathleen, congratulations on your success. Thank you so much for all your advice for my listeners because I have so many questions flood in about this and about ways to make money. So really do appreciate it. I'll have all of Kathleen's links, including her masterclass, her website, her YouTube channels, and all of her socials in the show notes of this week's episode. So go check that out if you haven't already. Kathleen, thanks again for joining us.
- [35:03]
A
Thanks so much for having me, Dusty.
- [35:05]
B
And that's a wrap on this week's session of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. Thanks for sticking around for this conversation. Don't forget there's a few different ways you can connect with us. I offer one on one YouTube coaching. We have a Mastermind group that gets the ability to rub elbows with other creators all throughout the week. Mastermind calls Exclusive podcast recordings five to ten bucks. Check that out as well. And then now we're offering channel audits. If you're looking for a inexpensive way to get another set of eyes on your YouTube channel. I record video reviews and audits of your channel. You'll see a link in the show notes called Channel Reviews. Check that out. It's a new thing that we're offering. And we're also working on our new cohort. That's something that's going to be coming. And if you're looking to be a part of a cohort, which is a weekly mastermind, or hour and a half call with other creators, I'm working on getting that out the door as well. Don't forget to subscribe to our email newsletter to be notified when that goes live. Thank you all for everything that you do, all the listens, all the downloads, all the positive reviews. And you know what, any feedback. And with that said, we'll see you next week.