This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
All right, all right. New episode today. My name's Chris Guillebeau, Side Hustle School here. Today's caller from Korea wants to make a YouTube channel all about makeup. Now this is a very hot topic.
If you know YouTube, if you know TikTok, if you know teenagers, if you know Korea, a lot of reasons why this is so popular. But some creators who are doing makeup tutorials and fashion and beauty topics, anything in that industry, broadly speaking, some creators are earning a lot of money from some very large subscriber bases. It has really, really taken off. Unfortunately, this isn't the topic I'm gonna jump into myself right away. The makeup part, at least.
I'm not gonna become a TikTok or YouTube makeup artist. But based on the successes of some of those other creators I mentioned, I bet we can help Hajun out. That's our caller today. We'll hear her question after this short message. [Music]
Hi, this is Hajun and I have a question.
Korea has been generating tons of money thanks to beauty businesses. Even the government gives a tax break for those with makeup companies. Teenagers are always eager to invest in makeup. So what can I do about my beauty vlog? How can I make money from it?
Is it worth investing my time in cosmetics? This is a serious question if you're a teenager like me with all the beauty products you love and want to share with others. I'm actually very surprised to learn how one can monetize a beauty channel on YouTube and I would like to jump in. - Awesome, Hajun, I love it. Thanks for calling in.
I really believe that you should make what people want to watch as long as it's something that you also enjoy and sounds like you've found a perfect fit. This topic really is huge. Out of the 8 billion people in the world, I think probably half of them are watching makeup, beauty, fashion, something related to that on TikTok and YouTube, maybe not quite that many, but it is very popular. I'm always amazed. So let's give you a three step plan.
First step is pretty simple. The other two is where all the work is. So step one is to create a new YouTube channel, right? First things first, choose a name, get it set up. That won't take you very long, especially if you know what you want to call it.
And now the real work begins, okay? So step two is to set up your content flow. So most YouTubers that are making consistent videos, they have some idea of when the videos are gonna come out, what subjects they're going to cover. So think about that. What are you gonna post and when?
Outline your first three videos, let's say. Make a list of potential topics. You wanna always have ideas to go to when it's time to make a video or if you're working in advance. And then also makeup tutorials for teens are gonna be different from makeup tutorials for adults. They follow a different flow, they have different looks.
The way you speak to your audience is also different. So just focus on speaking to a friend, like focus on speaking to a single person, not a large group. Just imagine you're talking to a friend, hey, here's how you do this, or here's what I learned, or here's something that I'm working on. And then really consistency here is key. Volume is important.
You gotta crank this out, you gotta have a lot of videos, a lot of interesting, engaging content coming out on a pretty regular basis. So as I said, it's a lot of work, but that's basically step two. Step three is to create your monetization plan. Start thinking about how you're gonna make money. And now here, especially with building a YouTube brand or on TikTok or Instagram, building a following around a topic like this, I think it's much more important to pursue followers and subscribers.
Like if you're gonna chase something, chase the subscribers, don't chase the money, because agencies will come to you when you have enough followers. And then you can monetize by selling sponsored videos or posts, that's one of the most common ways people are doing that in this field. You can also create products or a membership site where you talk privately to supporters. There's all kinds of options there, but I would caution you against trying all of it at once. Most important is starting that channel, establishing the content flow, as well as perhaps reaching out to other creators for possible features.
Build the audience first. Audience is everything. If you have the audience, you can get to step three much easier. Hijun, thank you again for calling in. I love the question.
Listeners, if you have a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions, let me know what you're working on. We'll continue to feature them every week, along with updates from listeners as they launch their projects. Thanks so much for tuning in today. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
