This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Side hustle school friends, community, what's up? Welcome back. This is Chris Guillebeau starting a new week here, episode 2,459. Let's talk about a camping YouTuber who earns affiliate income. In fact, you're gonna hear from him.
His name is Brian. He is from Western Colorado, I believe. And we're gonna hear from Brian about his YouTube videos that show off gear and tips. This turns into a regular income stream as viewers make purchases. Of course, side hustle school is all about making money.
It's not just about a hobby. It's often about taking a hobby or a passion or a skill and finding a way to monetize it, okay? Because I want you to be able to do that, right? I want you to be able to have more than one source of income, even if you love your job, even if you never plan to quit your job. It's still great to have economic security.
And that's what a side hustle can do for you. So this is a segment known as your first $1,000. We're all about how somebody made that first $1,000, how they got started. Because once you can do that, it's so much easier to go to $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, and more. And the case studies are intended to be proxies or representations of what you can do.
Whether you're interested in YouTube or camping or not, there's something out there. There is a skill, a topic, a resource, and a platform that you can use to create a project for yourself. And maybe you've already done that, but you're trying to figure out what's next. Well, hopefully that can help as well. So let's hear from Brian.
He's gonna tell us about his YouTube camping experiment and what he's learned so far. I'll be back at the end with a quick wrap up. But first, Brian. [Music]
Ever since I was a kid, camping trips have been the highlight of my summers. I just never thought I'd turn that love for the great outdoors into a working side hustle.
Yet here I am with my YouTube channel on camping and gear reviews, having just crossed the $1,000 mark in affiliate income. Once I started learning about video content, this idea was a no-brainer for me. I already loved camping and had a ton of gear. One day, after a trip, I decided to film a quick review of my new camping stove on my smartphone. I edited it using iMovie and uploaded it to YouTube.
I didn't expect that much, but to my surprise, it gained a couple thousand views in the first month. But here's where the business aspect kicks in. I realized pretty quickly that views weren't going to be enough. I needed to monetize my channel. After some research, I signed up for affiliate programs related to outdoors and camping gear.
Amazon's affiliate program was my first choice, followed by specialized outdoor retailers like REI and Backcountry. Then I went back to my first video and edited the description to include affiliate links to the camping stove I had reviewed. Next, I produced a top five camping essentials video where I could plug in multiple affiliate links. I made sure to provide genuine value in my videos, offering tips, tricks, and detailed reviews so that people would trust my recommendations and click through. The trickiest part was SEO.
To drive organic traffic, I started by researching what potential viewers might be searching for. Terms like best camping stove, how to set up a tent, or camping essentials. I used these keywords not just in my video titles, but also in the description, and even as part of the video content to improve searchability. What really accelerated my earnings though, was diving into analytics. YouTube provides a goldmine of data.
I noticed that my top five camping essentials video was getting the most click throughs. That led me to focus on creating more listicle type content, offering multiple opportunities for viewers to click on affiliate links. After about six months of consistent effort, learning SEO, refining my content, and diving into analytics, I had my first $1,000 from affiliate income. My biggest lesson learned, always, always pay attention to what the data is telling you. Your viewers will tell you what they like.
It's up to you to pivot, refine, and deliver. For anyone looking to dive into this venture, affiliate marketing is a numbers game. The more high quality targeted traffic you can drive, the more you learn. Don't underestimate the power of SEO and analytics. And above all, be patient.
Building a channel takes time. But if you're providing genuine value, your audience will find you. I'm glad I started. And I'm excited about what comes next. [Music]
All right, I'm back.
Thanks so much to Brian for telling us about his first $1,000 listeners. I hope you found it encouraging. If you have a question, if you have an update about your hustle, if you're starting a YouTube channel or some other project, whatever it is, I would love to know about it. Perhaps we can feature it to our global audience of amazing people. sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Come out and see me on Book Tour. I'm kind of winding down, but I still got a few dates. Today's show notes at sidehustleschool.com/2459. And of course, the podcast is definitely not winding down. We have continued throughout the past month, I think six weeks now of Book Tour and different events I've been doing around the world or at least around North America, hopefully to get international soon.
And it's gonna continue seven days a week, completely free. Wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Chris Guillebeau. And you're listening to SidestleSchool. [Music]
From The Onward Project.
