I Used This YouTube Strategy To Hit 18K Subs (+ Finance Breakdown)
- This is my personal process that got me to 18K subscribers on YouTube. It's not the only way to get there—it's just what I did.
- What no "guru" will tell you: there are many roads to success, not just theirs. So get what you can out of this video and discard whatever doesn't apply to you.
- No gatekeeping. I'll show you everything.
How much money does 18K subs make you?
Because of YouTube, I now have:
- A community that generates me >$35K/m
- Ad traffic that generates me $2K/m, w another ~$800/m from affiliates
- A warm lead gen funnel that generates interested, lucrative leads. ~10 per month. This is where the real money potential is—package sizes vary from $6K → $25K
- Most of these leads are businesses that make >$200K/m, some are 8-figures. Example offers: operate a fleet of companies for a mid 8-figure private equity portfolio (w ownership). Partner with an 8-figure consultancy. Retainer offers for a half dozen 7-figure businesses
Additional benefits
- Much more impact
- Warm friendships with many ambitious high earners
- A much more enjoyable work day (people come to me instead of the other way around)
- Feeling like I've found my "calling"—the thing that I was meant to do
Timeline
- Started 1SecondCopy—content writing agency—2021.
- Began selling automation services as a business early 2023. Biggest month $72K.
- Most were cold leads. Can be lucrative, but cold leads are hard!
- Curious whether I could get warm leads.
- Began making videos on YouTube February 2024.
From there…
Initial videos were whatever I decided to pick that day—no theme, no direction, no thinking. Just recording.
Goal was to build massive momentum and let my volume smooth out any day-to-day quality issues.
My kit
- Sony a6300 mirrorless with a Sigma 16mm F1.8.
- Various microphones: Anker bluetooth lav mic (muddled), Fifine A6T afterwards (too lip smacky), Samson Q2U (current)
- OBS studio for recording.
- Canva for thumbnails.
- I bought the 16mm Sigma lens despite it making me look weird specifically because it was more convenient and would lead to less friction. I could attach it directly to my desk and just work. This is in line with the general theme: minimize friction, get started, let volume iron out the rest.
Exact YouTube/recording workflow
Initially I had no plan. No workflow. Just record and talk.
Now I have a (purposefully minimal) content calendar. I source ideas from comments using GPT-4.
- Scrape YouTube comments
- Feed into GPT-4 with a prompt like "extract the questions and video suggestions"
- Add to a Sheet
- Manually filter for ideas that I think are doable in ~1hr and are possible w technologies I use daily
I then pick an idea. I run it through in my head before I record to make sure it's possible. If there's something I'm not sure of I test it. Then I start recording and go until the end.
Exact Premiere Pro/posting workflow
I have a Premiere Pro template with intro music and outro music. I found this significantly improves engagement.
While editing, if I make a minor mistake I leave it. If I make a major mistake (like spend 15 minutes calling the wrong API, which happened to me the other week lol) I cut it out.
I don't care about seeming "perfect". I prioritize output.
During exporting, I create a Canva thumbnail. This takes ~2 minutes. I record 30 seconds of me making funny faces at the camera and take a screenshot, then paste that into Canva and apply preset effects.
I have a set base of keywords that I pulled from some other random YouTuber that posted about Make.com. Then I add another 100 characters or so myself specific to this video. I mark the clip as "English", go through the monetization steps, and then click "Publish". I don't take YouTube's recommended advice to leave it as "Unlisted" until they're done checking it, doesn't matter to me if a video isn't monetized.
Roadmap
If I could do this all over again from scratch, here are the steps I'd follow:
- Identify what I'd consider "impressive" about myself. List these as bullet points. Could be in the context of business (like me), athletics, relationships, etc.
- Using those bullet points, I'd brainstorm 7 things I could confidently talk about—i.e topics that I'm an authority on.
- Create low-friction recording setup. Make it as easy as possible to start and finish.
- For the next 7 days, I'd record longform ad-lib videos and post. I wouldn't batch a bunch ahead of time—I'd do one every day. The repeated daily actions will form a habit and improve my video creation skills much faster than "cramming".
- Make note of which videos performed better than average. What were the titles like? The topics? The things I did during the clip that differed? I'd then repeat #2 using that topic as inspiration.
- I'd record another 7 videos → identify highest performers → rinse and repeat.
- I'd respond to every comment until it's logistically infeasible. I'd grow relationships with my audience. And i'd definitely never "gatekeep"—people are tired of bullshit marketing. I'd just be myself and eventually I'd find people I resonate with while keeping my daily time commitment low and reasonable.
- After the first month, I'd then spend a few hours optimizing my profile (images, thumbnails, assets, copy, etc). But I wouldn't worry about this before.
Why would this work?
- YouTube disproportionately rewards long-form content.
- YouTube (+ life in general) disproportionately rewards daily consistency.
- 7 days is a short feedback loop—you learn what works quickly and discard what doesn't.
- Most YouTube channels fall into a local maxima because they get one clip that works. If you constantly evolve your content you'll never suffer this.
You can do this yourself (or w a small team)
- I managed this entirely myself
- I still don't have any editors or help
- It takes me ~1hr/day because I built simple SOPs and leverage them
- It only took 60 days for my life to completely change. You can probably do it in less
If this interests you, start now! Tomorrow isn't guaranteed.
Good luck ❤️
