How I Run 3 Channels in 5 Hours a Week transcript

I currently have three separate channels that bring me in more than I used to make at my full-time job every single month. Now, if you look at my views, it's going to look like I make almost nothing, but that's because I don't monetize the conventional way. So, in this video, I thought I would break down why I have three channels instead of just one cuz I get asked that quite a lot. And then how I monetize them and then hopefully you can just rip off some ideas from me to either make your own channel or make a second channel if that's something that you're interested in doing.

So, thought I start off here with my main channel. This is Gabe Bolt. I started posting on here over seven years ago now and I have made about 500 something long- form videos on this channel. The estimation from Vid IQ is that it makes $15,000 a month. I'll show you my back end here so you can see, but that is not accurate. And pretty much with this channel, I started off talking about budgeting. I started talking about finance, stuff like that.

And then I started doing book reviews. I even ran a podcast on here for a while. So, I didn't really know what I was doing exactly when I started. But now, more recently, we've had a lot more success, averaging over 100,000 views per video, and it's really kind of dialed in and changed quite significantly. And so, this is just to say that when I created this channel, I did not create it the way I would create a channel now.

I have this whole like six figure run through that I do whenever I'm making or researching a new channel to make sure that it has the potential to make six figures a year. And now, even if I was to start anything else, it would have to have the potential to make six figures a month in order for me to start this. Not saying it has to happen, but if it's literally impossible for that to happen, I don't want to start it.

But regardless, this channel right here makes the least amount of money per view. And the reason for that is because it does not have a great product attached to it. I'm going to break down some different products that I've tried on here and how I monetize it. But for instance, minimalism is one of my top keywords. Another minimalism video. We're not buying your crap. This buy nothing rebellion series that I'm doing, which is really talk about anti-consumerism.

It's also frugal living is a big key word. So when you're talking about don't buy anything frugal living, don't buy anything anti-consumerism. It's hard to sell things, right? So it's hard to have a good product, I could make one, but it's also just I don't love teaching personal finance in a way that I could charge a lot for it, if that makes sense. So it's just not something I've really done. I did make a financial minimalism course on here a while ago, and that did I think it made like $12,000 maybe four years ago, and then I just shut it down cuz it was the first product I'd ever made and I just wasn't proud of it.

So even though it was monetarily successful, I just wasn't I didn't think it was there as enough and I like felt guilty because I had never sold anything before. It was like this whole thing. Anyways, so that's that. So right now the the way we monetized this one is through this school community right here. So we have this 1% club which is like building a life by design, not by default. So it's pretty much accountability weekly and monthly challenges.

And just so you can see on here, this makes about $7,000 a month MR after 3 months, which is pretty solid for this. And I'm just continuing to try to grow and scale this. So, that's one way. It also makes money with AdSense. We'll look at the YouTube studio here. So, like last month it made about $13,000 in AdSense, which is good, but ultimately like I have editors. I have a bit of a team. So, it's not like all profit with this.

There's taxes. Then I have sponsorships is the main way this one makes money because I do get a lot of views on this channel. So, this one's probably the per view. It's by far the least. However, it still does make a very good amount of money, which is super blessed to be able. So, that's the back end of that. Now, why did I start a second channel instead of keeping things on here? Well, a couple years ago, I had these like how to grow on YouTube.

Let me just type in Gabe Bolt YouTube. I was making like some content about how to grow on YouTube, and a lot of the videos weren't doing well. This one did actually do pretty well, but a lot of the videos I was doing at the time on my channel were not doing great. I was talking about how to grow on YouTube cuz I had this 5-hour YouTuber product cuz a lot of people were interested, but it was like 5% of my audience maybe was interested in how to grow on YouTube.

So, every time I posted a video on that main channel, it would flop. it would be a 10 out of 10 and then every once in a while one of them would pick up but it was like really like save money don't buy things right how to grow on YouTube it was just like two separate niches right so I started a second channel called Gay Bolt the process to kind of separate this out cuz I had this stuff that I was interested in I have these like ideas of investing into my business I did a vlog a week in the life this is one of my favorite videos I've ever done another vlog and I realized I didn't like doing vlogs so I started to do like some behind thes scenes YouTube stuff and some of those started to click and do well and I started to like doing those.

So, I kind of narrowed in to like, let me just teach how to grow on YouTube on this channel. And so, that has turned into this. This is exactly just for entrepreneurs and people who want to grow on YouTube. That's all this is. It's also built in a way where I can just like sit down and talk. There's not a lot of editing. It's just raw value giving. There's no like big scheme. I don't script anything. There's no hooks written out.

This is just off the dome. me being open and honest and vulnerable as successful YouTuber who's done it in multiple spaces, you know, kind of sharing how I've done that. So, this is kind of where this channel has gone. And now this is just monetized through some sponsors, but the main thing that it does is I do year-long coaching for people where I break down the exact systems that have helped me run my other channel, helped me run this channel successfully, helped me run another channel successfully.

Have helped like 4 or 500 other people go through our program and it helps a lot of the people who actually do it. And so that is the only way I monetize this is by just sharing as much expertise as I can for free through videos like this. And then if people want me to get on like weekly calls with them. Uh we have like small group coaching calls and I'll get on weekly calls and I'll review people's channels. I'll share things that I don't normally share on here and then I would, you know, review their titles and thumbnails.

We have my strategists in there. We have other full-time successful creators who are doing, you know, high six figures a year who are also coaches in there. So that is through the 5-hour YouTuber. So, if you're interested in that, it's currently closed, but we open it up like a few spots a month. So, if you're interested, you can join the wait list down below. But that is the main way I monetize this one. And that makes the content different.

So, another thing that you'll notice is the content is going to be different on each platform. These ones are more, you know, documentary style, not documentary, but it's like kind of personal brand, but also documentary, also sharing things, little tips, stuff like that, but it's very professional and kind of polished feeling. Whereas this one, it's much more chill and like lower effort, more realistic type of content just because of how I monetize it.

And then also like what makes this sustainable for me? And so if you're thinking about like when do I start a second channel, it would generally be when the first channel is so easy that you're getting bored, then you start a second channel. So if you're a month ahead and you're just like, I have other stuff I want to talk about, but I just know it's going to be a 10 out of 10 on my channel. It's going to tank. Then you start a second channel.

I've talked to a lot of people who like, oh, should I start two channels at the same time when they're just starting? No, you're going to fail every single time. Like I've seen so many people try that. All of them get burned out and quit one of the channels. So I wouldn't do that. Another one that I have is this one right here. Gibbolt 2.0. It's got 1500 subscribers. But you can see, look at this. 1500 subs. The last video I posted 2 months ago, 36,000 views.

And then these ones did terrible. But this one 250,000 views. Terrible. 80,000 views. Crazy. So I've got a lot of good videos on this one. 300,000. So, I have a lot of success on this channel, but I'm sick of talking about saunas and cold lunges. Realistically, I did realize that this has 22 videos. So, I I'm averaging about $2,000 per video at this point, which is kind of crazy. That's over the course of 2 years, but not like immediately.

So, this one does really well monetizing, and that is because of the high ticket affiliate product. So, pretty much the reason why this one makes money is these are like $1,500 products or $500 products or something. And so, before somebody buys them, they want to go on YouTube and check, have a real person tell them if it's good or not. and then I'm going to be like, "Yes, this is great. I really like it. Here's the pros and the cons.

If you want to buy it, use my link, get 10% off or something." And then I would get 10% of that. So, that's how I make money on this. And again, it's generated, I think, over $50,000 at this point. I haven't tracked in a while. And then there's also like maybe 20,000 in free products as well. So, like my dad and my brother and my friends, multiple friends, everybody I know like gets a free sauna in cold punch if they want it and whatever cuz I I get a lot of them.

And this was started from zero. Like the first video here was pretty much I just saw that this sauna and cold plunge review video was doing well on YouTube. And I reached out to them on Instagram and I was like, "Hey, could I get a sauna box?" And they're like, "No, but what we do do is if we send you one and you film it, we'll post it on our Instagram that's like UGC and then they'll do that in exchange for the sauna box." And I was like, "Cool.

Yeah, I'll do that." And they they've done that with hundreds of people. That's what a lot of brands do on like Instagram and stuff. So I did that. But then I also took it and I made a brand new channel. Just like came up with this idea in like a day. Made a brand new channel. made this video in about two hours. It's six minutes long. Just a screenshot for the thumbnail. And this video has made I think close to five to $7,000 just from this video.

First video, brand new channel. And it was able to do well cuz of the search volume. It's not like didn't go viral, but everybody who watches this is thinking about buying one. And so that's why a lot of these do well is these are very high value views. And so that is the other thing you're like going viral doesn't really help. That's why the main channel does the worst out of all of them, like money per view, is because every single person here is thinking about buying something.

If I get a 100 views, I have a good chance of making $50 relative. Really good chance. As it goes more and more viral, the quality goes less and less, right? You want people searching for whatever because they're more intent on solving their problem as opposed to when it gets fed to them, they're less intent on solving that problem. And so the main channel, even though it gets 100,000 views, the amount of clicks that I get would maybe be equal like an affiliate on that channel.

If I like did eight tips that save me money and one of the tips was high yield savings accounts or whatever, which is another affiliate I use on that channel. But let's just say for round numbers, I might get 200 clicks on that affiliate link if I just like briefly mention it or something. As opposed to here with 5,000 views, I'm probably realistically going to get 500 clicks or something like that. The click to view ratio is incredibly higher and that's how you make money on YouTube.

You don't make money from like AdSense is okay, sponsorship is okay, but mostly you make real money when people take action based on your videos. When people check out the link in the description, they sign up for something down below, they buy their affiliate, they buy your product, whatever it is, that's when you're going to make actual money. And so that's why going viral is not better. Again, make the most money per view, I'm pretty sure, on this channel than any other channel.

And then second and third, if you want to see me break down exactly how I make money in like an hourong format. I have a free live workshop coming up. You can check it out. Link down below. I teach that live, answer Q&A at the end, and it's really like broken down step by step how to kind of achieve some of these more in detail. But if we just look at my analytics here in lifetime of this channel, I have made $700 in AdSense.

And again, I've made over $50,000 from this channel. So if you're relying on AdSense, you're trying to get monetized, you're trying to, you know, anything like that, it's literally stupid. Like, it is the dumbest thing ever to try to get monetized in order to make money. I made tens of thousands of dollars before I got monetized because I had a way to make money. And so unless you're trying to go viral and that's going to be your monetization strategy, you're just passing up free money by doing that.

It depends on the type of channel that you want to make. But just as an example, this video right here, most recent video, 150,000 views, great. Made $700. I paid 300 something to my editor. I have other expenses and stuff. Even if I was averaging 150,000 views per video or 100,000 views per video, I couldn't even make a living and support myself at 100,000 views for videos. That is the dumbest thing ever to try to land on AdSense to try to get monetized.

It doesn't make any sense. You need to have a product. You need to have affiliates. You need to have some type of funnel set up to make money from YouTube. And that is how my um hang show that we'll have to blur some stuff here. But I have just one affiliate that I do on my second channel and like Facebook that makes more than my AdSense. And I like hardly do anything. So like AdSense is always always always my lowest way I make money.

And if it is not, my channel is set up wrong. I should make more in affiliates, personal product, and sponsorships than I do in AdSense. If I am not doing all of those, then my channel is set up wrong. That is just how it is. Even like, if we go back to this Gaybolt 2.0 channel, this channel with 1500 subscribers, because I've sold over half a million dollars worth of Sonos and Cold Plunges, but because of that, I was able to get uh one of these brands, I won't mention the brand, to pay me $1,500 per video plus 15% commission in order to post monthly videos on here.

So, with this channel that wasn't monetized at the time, like a thousand subscribers, I could have, you know, been making a full-time income extremely easily if I didn't just want to focus on my other channels more and I got burned out with this one. So, if you're thinking about starting another channel, make sure it has a way to make money. Make sure that you have the bandworth for it, you have editors in place, cuz otherwise it's eventually going to burn out.

Make sure it's something you want to talk about. For years, I kind of ran this channel here as a test cuz I don't want to talk about it forever. But some of the other ones, like I love making these videos right here. Like this is really fun to me. I like making my main channel videos, but this one really wasn't it for me. However, it did do well. So, just make sure that you have the potential to make six figures. You enjoy what you're talking about and you have systems in place on how to run those.

And the general systems are going to be you can't script everything or you have to have help scripting. You have to have a a way to come up with good ideas consistently that are proven and going to work. You have to have a monetization system set up so that even if you're only averaging a few hundred views per video, you can make decent money. And then again, you need like editors generally. You know, I could do this all myself, but I like to work a couple hours a day, not like 8 hours a day.

So, that would be a lot to edit all these myself. But regardless, that's what I do on this. Again, all the systems that I use to run a profitable YouTube channel in five hours a week, breaking those down live in a workshop I have coming up. So, check those out. And if you have any questions, let me know. I want to do like a Q&A answering video coming up soon. I'll see you.