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Work Less, Earn More is the podcast that explores how to get the most out of every hour you work. Gillian Perkins brings more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and educator to help you design a business that's not only flexible and fulfilling, but highly profitable. She shares strategies that are working in her own business to save time and maximize profits. She also features interviews with successful business owners on how they’re achieving big things in their businesses with crazy-little time investment. Share Work Less, Earn More with an overworked entrepreneur you know who could use a change of pace!
[0:00] I am willing to bet good money that at some point in the past,
[0:04] and maybe even pretty recently, you have considered starting a YouTube channel. And maybe you did, maybe you didn't. But if this is still something that you're debating, if it's still something that's on the table, I would like to argue, yes, you should start a YouTube channel. In fact, I think at this point, everyone should start a YouTube channel. I mean, it's 2026. It is easier than ever to start a YouTube channel. You legit can do it with just your phone at this point. We used to say like, start with your phone because it's the easiest, you know, don't let buying a camera get in your way. Your phone is probably your best option now. It has a great microphone. It does great in low light. You can even move around with it and it has incredible stabilization.
[0:52] There's just really no reason to not get started with your phone. You can also edit videos. You can upload them to YouTube more easily than ever. So why not? And there are so many benefits. I'm going to talk in this video about these reasons why I truly think everyone should start a YouTube channel. So if it's something you've been considering, keep on listening. But before we get into that, I do have to give a little bit of clarification here. I am not talking about some hypothetical universe where literally everyone actually follows this advice so that literally everyone has a YouTube channel. I don't know what that world would be like. And so I'm not arguing in favor
[1:33] or against that reality because there's literally no chance that that happens. So I'm just telling you that you, whoever you are, I do think that you should start a YouTube channel. And here's why.
[1:45] [intro bumper]
We became entrepreneurs because more than anything, we want freedom. We want to be in control of our own schedule, income, and life. But unfortunately, that isn't always the reality of being a business owner. I'm Gillian Perkins, and I'm on a mission to take back entrepreneurship for what it's supposed to be.
In every episode, I'll share with you how to get the most out of every hour you work so that you can work less and earn more. Let's get to it.
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[2:22] First of all, let's say you're a professional of some sort. you're a doctor, you're a lawyer, you're an accountant, whatever your profession is, you can advance your career with YouTube more than just about anything else you could do. And while there might be some other things you could do that could advance your career more than a YouTube channel, none of them are going to be as cheap and easy and fun as having a YouTube channel. And I dare say, few of them would give you as many different opportunities as YouTube does. And I want you to know that this really does apply to you regardless of what your profession is. I mean, as one outlier sort of example, you've even got Lauren the mortician who has a YouTube channel and has greatly advanced her career and built her own brand as a mortician of all things. So whatever it is you do, you absolutely can use YouTube to make a name for yourself and to attract more clients so that you can charge higher rates or so you can keep your rates the same but just be booked out all the time. It can also be your pathway to getting book deals or starting a podcast if you want to and having the podcast be an instant success. It certainly can be a way to easily grow your email list. So whatever right now you're trying to achieve with your career, I'm willing to bet that YouTube would help you get there faster.
[3:46] But what about those of you who are not professionals, which, of course, is most of us? Maybe you don't have a college degree. Maybe you are a blue-collar worker.
[3:54] Can YouTube still help you? Well, again, I would say yes. I really do think that YouTube can be your ticket out of blue-collar. It can be your ticket out of the rat race. You could use it alongside your blue-collar job. Bring whatever your blue-collar expertise is to a YouTube channel, for sure. But you also can talk about anything you would like to talk about. You know, just make a channel about a topic that you are passionate about. And this can be a new business that you're starting. It can be a personal brand that you're building. And then you can decide if you want to keep working your blue-collar job or if you want to quit that job and go full-time with YouTube. But it's going to give you, again, more opportunities than just about anything else. And one of the things that's so cool about YouTube is that you can get started with YouTube with no experience, with no credentials. You don't have to prove anything. You don't have to do any sort of training or anything like that. You can make a YouTube channel right now about anything that you are excited or interested in or that you are knowledgeable about. You can have a YouTube channel in which you position yourself as the student. You're learning alongside your audience. and that can be just as successful
[5:09] as a channel where you position yourself as the expert. And so what are some of these benefits that starting a YouTube channel can give you?
[5:17] Now, I've already touched a little bit on some of these benefits that YouTube can give you, but let me enumerate a few more. First of all, we've got straight up income. As your channel grows, you can earn money directly from YouTube.
[5:30] Generally, you're looking at around $10 for every thousand views you get. Now, that might not sound like very much at first, especially if you're thinking, well, you know, maybe I'll only be able to grow this channel to, you know, getting 5,000 views or so on each new video that I post. But here's the thing. You're not just getting the money from the new videos that you post each week. You're also getting paid for all the views across all the videos you've posted in the past every single month. So let's take that channel, for example, that gets 5,000 views on each new video that it posts.
[6:03] Well, what's happening in the background is the videos that they posted in the past, they're still getting views. And so that channel is probably getting at least around 100,000 views per month. So that right there, that's $1,000 a month just from posting one video a week. And that's only if your new uploads get about 5,000 views apiece. And let me just tell you, my personal experience was when I started my channel, I really didn't think it was going to grow or it was going to take off, basically because I didn't feel like I was cool enough. But what I ended up learning was that if you consistently make good quality videos and you bring interesting or helpful information to the table, you present it well, it really doesn't matter how charismatic you are. You can build a successful channel that gets thousands and thousands of views on every video you post and it can turn into a full-time career as a creator for you. And it doesn't just stop with the income you can earn directly from YouTube. You also get so many opportunities from having a YouTube channel.
[7:08] Opportunities like I mentioned earlier, like maybe getting a book deal or getting a promotion or a new job or a new client. But there's also the opportunity that always comes with YouTube, which is the opportunity to earn more money on YouTube. Not directly from YouTube, but from working with brands or from creating and selling your own products. And those are opportunities that of course can come from other places other than YouTube but I do find that YouTube is one of the just the most effective ways to build your personal brand YouTube's algorithm is incredible for growing your audience for you all you really need to do is show up each week with a good quality video on an interesting topic and YouTube will do all the marketing work for you to grow your brand and grow your business if that's what you want to do But that's not all. It doesn't just stop with the income and the opportunities that come from starting a YouTube channel. You also are going to find that you create a big impact on the world. Chances are you've got some things that you would really like to share with people, maybe some ways that you would like to change the world. And YouTube is an incredible way to get your message out there and to share your ideas with people around the world. In fact, I really think you can't beat YouTube for that.
[8:26] And then the last big benefit of YouTube, the last thing that you can get out of starting a channel and why I think you really should is that it's just fun. I mean, I've got a lot of hobbies. I always am having different interests and I love creating things, but YouTube, it's a really fun one. There's so much creative opportunity with planning and filming and editing your videos. And I love that at the end of the process, you have like such a nice finished piece of work that which you can be really proud of.
[8:57] So I find it a very enjoyable hobby as well.
[9:00] So I've talked about why I think professionals should start YouTube channels because it can really help them to advance their careers and why those of us who maybe aren't professionals or who at least don't have college degrees should start YouTube channels because it is an incredible career on its own. We can build our personal brands. We can build businesses. What about people who aren't income earners? Maybe you're a stay-at-home mom. Should you start a YouTube channel? Well, this is where I do think there's this little caveat, this little asterisk. The answer is maybe. Okay. If you want any of those benefits, those results that I was just talking about from YouTube, if you want to contribute to your family's income or put money away for retirement, YouTube is a great way to do that. If you want some opportunities, maybe you want a book deal, even if it's not about the money for you, you know, maybe you've got that message you want to get out and they're in the world, or you have a story in your heart that you want to share, right? YouTube is a great way to get those opportunities. Or maybe it's all about the message. Maybe you have something you want to share, some way you want to change the world.
[10:06] YouTube is an incredible way to do that. And finally, you know, maybe you just are looking for a fun hobby that's going to have some of these benefits. Again, YouTube is for you. But I do think that there is at least one small category of people who probably shouldn't start a YouTube channel.
[10:24] And that is if you right now are really focused on something else and YouTube isn't going to directly help you with that, especially if you're a mom or a dad and you are especially stay at home mom or dad and you are just zoned in on being the best mom or dad you can be. Your focus is your kids. Your ministry is the case. You don't really care about impacting the world aside from through your kids and you don't need to contribute financially to your family. In that case, YouTube is probably not for you. it's not going to probably help you achieve your goal of being the best parent you could be better than many
[11:01] other things that you could do. So I just want to be clear about that, that while I would say almost everyone should start a YouTube channel, there are, of course, some circumstances, some situations, some roles that you might be in that might make it so that YouTube is not actually the best move for you, at least not right now.
[11:20] There's one other category of people who I would say actually maybe don't start a YouTube channel. And that is if you try it and you don't like it, you know, if you try it and you find that actually you really dislike talking to a camera, you find it so uncomfortable or just not fun in some way. In that case, you have to kind of weigh the pros and the cons, like everything you could get from building a YouTube channel, but also like your personal enjoyment of it.
[11:47] If it's making you unhappy, don't do it. Please don't do it. So when it all comes down to it, should you start a YouTube channel? Well, if you have a goal that would be well supported by YouTube, whether that goal is making money or that goal is having an impact or that goal is something else like writing and publishing a book, if that goal would be served by a YouTube channel, and I think there is a high chance that it would be, then you should start a YouTube channel. Even if your goal isn't to be a YouTuber or to be a full-time creator.
[12:20] YouTube can help you get to so many other goals. Now, I don't think I could finish this video up without talking about AI because you might be thinking, that makes a lot of sense, Gillian, but what about AI? AI video is already here. It's taking over. Will my real videos that I'm making in my kitchen actually matter or am I just going to be replaced by AI? My honest opinion is, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen a few years down the road, but I do know.
[12:51] You can start a YouTube channel literally today. And today, it's not too late to get your foot in the door and start establishing yourself as an authentic voice, an authentic creator, real human, right? Which is what people want to hear from. I don't know about you, but personally, as I'm scrolling through content, as I'm watching a video, if I realize that something I'm watching is AI, and there are certainly tells, I'm immediately not interested. I'm immediately moving on because I want to hear from real humans. I care about what real humans think and feel and about their experience and the stories they have to tell. And I know a lot of other people feel similarly.
[13:33] And right now I know that there is still the opportunity to start a YouTube channel and establish yourself as a real human and you can build that on into the future. But I think having this foundation right now is so important because this ship might sail. Even a year from today when a new channel starts, I don't know if we'll be able to tell if this is a real human or if it's just an AI personality. But right now, we still can tell because AI isn't quite good enough yet.
[14:03] You know, we still are noticing when something has been created by AI. So please, if anything I said to you in this video made sense as a reason why you should start a YouTube channel, you are YouTube curious, then jump in now before it is too late. Now, if you are curious what actually goes into YouTube, what it actually takes to make videos like this.
[14:25] It's not that hard, but I would love to show you how it's done. So what I'm going to do is next week, and I've never done this before, so I don't know exactly how it's going to go. But next week, I'm going to be filming my next YouTube videos. And I'm going to be live on Zoom while I'm doing that. So if you want to come hang out with me, see what Gillian Perkins' video production looks like behind the scenes. And heads up, it's nothing fancy. You can see exactly what goes into it. And I'll also do a Q&A on the video topic afterwards. Then check the description down below for the link to just like sign up to get that Zoom link. And I will email it over to you so you can come hang out with me next week. There's also going to be down there the list of the different video topics that I'm going to be recording. So whether you care about the live aspect and seeing behind the scenes and whatnot or not, you can get to watch those videos well ahead of time because those videos will be published over the next couple months here on this channel. So if you just want a sneak peek, you could come hang out for that reason as well. Check the description down below and sign up to join me for those live recording sessions that are happening next week.
[15:39] [outro bumper] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of work less earn more. Here's what I want you to do next. Take a screenshot of this episode you're listening to right now and share it out on your Instagram stories. And when you do, make sure you tag me at Gillian Z Perkins so I can see you're listening. Sharing on stories is going to help more people find this podcast so they too can learn how to build their business in a way that allows them to work less and earn more. And if you really love the show, head over to Apple Podcasts right now and leave Work Less, Earn More a review to give it a boost and help even more people find it. Okay, let's wrap this up. I'm Gillian Perkins, and until next week, stay focused and take action.
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