Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I usually ask people, what is your goal?
Do you wanna make an extrathousand dollars a month or do
you wanna make $10,000 a monthand be able to leave your job?
And that really starts with that.
That gives us a good indicator of thestrategy that we can move forward with.
If somebody wants to quit theirjob, then we say, buy the tool.
Go full force.
(00:21):
Welcome to this week's episode ofthe YouTube Creator Hub podcast,
where I sit down with a wonderfulcreator each and every week.
I break down their success on YouTube.
We talk about their processes, thedifferent tools they use, deep dives
into their failures, and so much more.
We have no sponsors on this podcast.
We're just brought to you byeverything that we have to
offer here at Porter Media.
(00:41):
I offer one-on-one coachingfor YouTube creators.
If you're looking to take your channel tothe next step, definitely check that out.
As well as our Creator's Corner group.
You get an exclusivepodcast episode every week.
Plus access to our Discord server.
Monthly Mastermind calls hostedby me on Zoom, five bucks.
That's it.
It's called the Creator's Group.
Creator's Corner Group.
And it is a wonderful set of peopleover there who are willing to help
(01:03):
anyone and everyone who are willingto put a little time and effort in.
And then lastly, we have a newslettercalled The Entrepreneurs Minute, and
that is just a behind the scenes lookof what I'm doing in my business.
It's free.
I'm not pitching or selling you anything.
It's just a way to connect with me,see what I'm doing in my business.
So if you're trying to grow a brand,a business, a YouTube channel,
whatever it may be, the Entrepreneur'sMinute is a great weekly not spammy
(01:28):
email newsletter that I think canbe a good companion piece for you.
So with all that said, let's go aheadand jump into this week's conversation.
Hello everyone, and welcome tothis week's conversation on the
YouTube Creator's Hub podcast.
I am joined today by Kathleen.
Cobel and Kathleen is anexpert in e-commerce and the
Amazon influencer program.
We've done a few shows on theAmazon influencer program before,
(01:51):
but we've never had Kathleen on.
And I think you're gonna hear inthis episode not only how she's found
success with affiliate marketingand being a creator and growing
a brand, but she's also helped.
Other people do the same thing.
She's helped in launch and growover a thousand brands on Amazon
for multimillion dollar companies,and now teaches entrepreneurs
(02:11):
and content creators how to buildprofitable, sustainable income streams.
Kathleen, how are you doing today?
I'm doing great, dusty, how are you?
Really?
I'm excited about this conversation andso I'm just gonna dive right into it.
Let the audience know a littlebit about your origin story.
How did you get started as a creator andwithin the Amazon Influencer program?
(02:33):
How did this whole thing start?
Sure.
So it goes back to about15 years ago to start.
When I first started selling on Amazon, Iwas very interested in how to make money
online, some side hustles, and I wasworking for an entrepreneur at the time.
And when I heard about, how to sell onAmazon, I actually, my first sale on
(02:53):
Amazon was my grad school textbooks.
And so I thought, let's experiment here.
This was all the way back when Amazon.
Only sold books.
So that's how long I've beenselling things on the platform.
But fast forward, I ended up starting theAmazon Sales channel for this business.
I was working for, after a few years,had my first child and time became
(03:14):
much more valuable, so I ended up.
Leaving the company I was workingfor, going out on my own and was
able, that's where I was able tohelp over a thousand different brands
launch their products on Amazon.
From the knowledge that I hadattained from my job, I took that
created a, an Amazon marketingagency, which did very well.
Up until, I was gettinga little burned out.
(03:34):
It was a great business and Istill help Amazon sellers to
this day, but I was looking for.
A business model that would give mesome more of my time back and not
necessarily be trading dollars for hours.
And so one day I was working on aclient's product page and I see this
video and it's somebody that I don'tknow talking about my client's product,
(03:55):
and it's on the Amazon product page.
So I was very intrigued and I did alittle more digging and that's when
I discovered the Amazon influencerprogram and their onsite commission.
I've been Amazon influencersince, before that.
This was about four years ago.
And I looked more into it and realizedthat Amazon was now offering people the
opportunity to be able to upload contentdirectly to Amazon, which, if you know
(04:19):
anything about affiliate marketing, right?
The hard part about affiliatemarketing is the marketing part.
You have to have the people,you have to be able to market,
the products to your audience.
But with the onsite, with theAmazon influencer program, I
found a way to create content.
And not necessarily needthat marketing piece.
So I used my Amazon selling skillsto really find some of the best
(04:42):
products that would convert the highestand earn me the most commission.
And so I really dove into that after beingpretty successful in the first few months.
It was fun.
It turned into some semi-passive incomefor me and now I do it full-time and
I teach others how to do the same.
I love that.
Now I'm just gonna go ahead andopen with the heavy hitters.
(05:03):
This is the question that I get themost from creators is the Amazon
influencer program in 2025 stillprofitable because many people hear
about the algorithm changes and I'vedabbled with the influencer program.
I've made probably a few thousanddollars over the years just putting out.
Probably, I don't know, 15 or 16 videos,just I wanted to have experience with
(05:24):
what the backend looked like so I couldtalk about it and discuss it with the
guests that I would have on the show.
And so is it still profitable?
Is it still something that can bringmoney and at least a side hustle or a side
business for an entrepreneur and creator?
Most definitely.
I think there's a lot of chatter onlinesaying how different the program is today
in 2025 than it was when it launched.
(05:47):
And I completely agree with that.
However, it is still a very profitableventure, especially if you know the
strategy to do it the right way and youare able to pivot with Amazon's changes.
'cause they are always changing things.
They're always updating things.
But the flip side of that is that.
They're also always creatingthese new opportunities for us.
(06:09):
So what worked four years agodoesn't necessarily work today,
but the program still very muchworks today and it's only growing.
So what does work today in 2025?
Can we just start from the top?
Let's start from the most simsimplistic version of what this is.
And for those of you who don't know,I'm not gonna go into the explanation of
(06:30):
what the Amazon influencer program is.
Kathleen already have has donea really good job of that.
You basically are allowed to recordyour own videos about a product,
and then that video shows up.
You hope on the carouselvideo feed below that product.
Now, with that said let'sjust start from there.
What, what is working now and whatare you teaching your clients and
(06:51):
people that you're working with?
For sure.
So really in a nutshell, what'sworking is product research.
You have to create videos forproducts that are already selling
well on Amazon without them beingtoo saturated by other influencers.
On top of that, you have to havea video that is short sweet.
(07:12):
To the point and really focuseson the product and it needs to be.
Pretty high quality.
It doesn't have to beYouTube quality, right?
Because people wanna seethat you're a real person.
It doesn't need to be overly produced,but you need to get to the main points
of the product as opposed to, Hey, myname's Kathleen and I'm an influencer.
No one on Amazon cares.
(07:33):
They wanna see the product, theywanna see it up close, and they wanna
know your feedback and hopefullyanswer any questions they have in
their mind while they're decidingwhether or not to buy this product.
Those are really the two.
Biggest things, product selection,and then your video to convert.
Okay.
I have a few more kind of followup questions from that, and I'm
certainly gonna talk about the YouTubeside of things and the integration
(07:53):
of what you've seen from peopleon YouTube coming from YouTube to
Amazon influencer and vice versa.
But you said it needs tobe quick and to the point.
Doesn't need to be over.
Edited or overly polished because thatkind of looks like a paid review, right?
Which is something that I'veheard before on this podcast.
So it needs to be something that makesyou look like a normal reviewer on Amazon
which is great for you, the creator.
(08:14):
It makes it a little easier and a littleless time intensive, which is fantastic.
So with that being the case, are wetalking landscape video or vertical video?
So I prefer landscape video.
You can do it either way.
I've done landscape from the beginning,partly because that is the way that
brands upload videos to Amazon.
(08:34):
So when you see the actual videosfrom the sellers and from the brands,
those are primarily landscape.
The other reason, and you mentionedYouTube, is because then I'm able to
repurpose my Amazon videos over to YouTubeand then they are not shorts right now.
Shorts are up to three minutes.
I have one, two minute videosthat are landscape horizontal,
that were great for my YouTubechannel for repurposing as well.
(08:58):
So as far as what you do, you havea YouTube channel that's called Just
Kathleen Cobel, and you do a bunch of livestreams, which seem to be very popular
where you talk about product selection.
You talk about, different things goingon within the, Amazon influencer program.
And on your banner you say Amazoninfluencer success starts here.
So the live streaming is a big partof what you are doing over on YouTube.
(09:22):
Now, do you have.
A different channel where youpost your product reviews.
Is that something that's completelyseparate than this kind of brand?
Type YouTube channel.
Yes, most definitely.
So the channel you're referring tois where I teach other people how
to do this, how to be successfulwith the Amazon influencer program.
(09:42):
But I have a completely separate channel.
It's called Smart Business Mom,and that's the brand that my
Amazon storefront is under as well.
And so that is the channel thatI am taking all of my Amazon
content and uploading to thatchannel so that I can start.
Making offsite commissions.
I've got Amazon affiliate linksin every one of the descriptions
of my videos, but it also opensthe doors for brands to find me.
(10:06):
And I've been approached by lots ofdifferent brands who have seen my
smart business mom YouTube channelat wanting to partner with me.
So let's talk about that for a minute.
What types of people should.
Start putting videos on the influencerprogram if someone's listening to
this now, one of the things that I'vethought of is that we all have all of
(10:26):
the stuff around our house, and themajority of it is probably on Amazon.
And you mentioned somethingthat's very important.
When I coach creators, I talkwith them about finding a video
topic that is highly searched.
Yet much lower competition.
And so that's exactly what you saidabout finding Amazon products that
(10:46):
are selling well, but have veryfew maybe creator videos on it.
Do you have tools that do that for you?
Are there little tricks of thetrade to where you can find
products that fall in that category?
Yes, I use a tool called FluentFruit, which I've been using since
it was launched a few years back.
And what it does is it not only givesme information about the estimated
(11:11):
sales data from Amazon, so now thisreally validates, how many sales are
coming in every day, every month.
But it scores every single.
Product page with an opportunity fromzero to 100 based on the criteria that
we look for as Amazon influencers.
Whether there's a video, a brandvideo in the upper carousel, the
(11:31):
sales, how many other influencers arealready on that product listing page,
the category, and things like that.
So that tool saves me so muchtime and makes me so much
money because it helps me.
Find those products that I alreadyknow are gonna be winners before
I even create the content for it.
I'll definitely link to that, but I dowanna ask a follow up to that question,
(11:53):
and that is if I just want to get started.
And I want to make themost use of my time.
What are the things that I need to belooking for on an Amazon product page?
Let's say I have 10 products in my h,in my, house that I could do videos on
or whatever, and I go to Amazon and Ilook and I see there's 15 videos in the
carousel down below there's a brand video.
(12:15):
What are the things or red flags, ormaybe go buttons that you're looking
for when you go to an Amazon productpage that would make you say, oh.
That's the one, that's one of theones I would like to do a video for.
Yes.
Yes.
So I am more so looking for green flags.
I think the, with the red flags, it'sprobably all the influencer videos, but
at the same time, Amazon is constantlyletting new content get to the top
(12:39):
of the upper carousel to test it.
So don't let that be a deterrent.
Even if you see 15influencer videos on there.
But what I'm looking foris estimated sales data.
So you don't need a tool to dothis anymore because Amazon has
on every single product page, theestimated sales volume, whether it's
50 plus units sold this month, or5,000 plus units sold this month.
(13:02):
That at least gives you an indicatorof the estimated sales and whether
the product is selling well or not.
If you don't see that and whereexactly, where do you find that?
Is that on the product page?
Yes it is.
Okay.
Yep.
Okay.
It's gonna be rightunderneath the star rating.
Again, it's an estimate, right?
But it still gives you some sort of data.
So I'm looking for that.
And the other thing I'm looking for,besides how many influencer videos are, is
(13:25):
the actual star rating, which is differentthan our Amazon influencer videos.
This is, the betweenone and five stars and.
We wanna make sure that at least, I wannamake sure I'm only creating content for
products that are four stars and above.
'cause anything under four stars notonly is gonna be, hurt in Amazon's search
(13:46):
algorithm because Amazon wants to showcaseproducts that have better reviews, but
it's more likely to be more of a dudproduct and maybe get returned more and
might not be a great product for you tospend your time creating a video for.
Awesome.
Thank you so much foranswering that question.
Now, one of the things that youreally focus on is not just how to
(14:06):
make money on the Amazon influencerprogram, but also how to turn
it into a sustainable business.
And you help creators.
Figure out what their niche shouldbe and the different strategies
and things of that nature.
Can you talk about the differentsteps or things that you walk through
with a creator when trying to helpthem navigate the murky waters of the
(14:27):
Amazon influencer program and beinga creator and how to balance it all?
Yes.
So I usually ask people,what is your goal?
Do you wanna make an extrathousand dollars a month or do
you wanna make $10,000 a monthand be able to leave your job?
And that really starts with the,that gives us a good indicator
of the strategy that we can move.
(14:47):
Forward with, if somebody wants to quittheir job, then we say buy the tool.
Go full force.
But if somebody's just dabbling,and I always recommend,
start this as a side hustle.
Don't leave your job for the Amazoninfluencer program by any means.
But there's so many ways thatyou can start with low or
very minimal risk, such as.
Look through your order history.
(15:08):
What have you already purchased on Amazon?
Don't go out and spend athousand dollars on products.
Go look to see what you can createcontent for that you have already, that
you already have around your house.
So it really depends on people's end goal.
But either way there is astrategy for anyone who wants to.
To do this.
Alright guys, I interrupt the podcastepisode this week to tell you about a new
(15:31):
thing that I have to offer all creators.
I'm doing channel audits now.
They're 15 minute recordedvideos that I provide to you.
You purchase the order and I goto your channel and I do an audit.
Of your channel.
I watch a couple videos.
I look at your channelhomepage, your description.
So if you're looking for a channel review,there will be a link in the show notes.
(15:53):
It's very inexpensive and it could getyou started or may lead into something,
whether it be YouTube coaching or downthe line, figuring out something that
you never would have seen yourself.
So if you're looking for another set ofeyes on your YouTube channel for a very.
Good price.
Go check that out.
Now.
It'll be under the channelreview section in the show notes.
(16:13):
I can normally pump them outwithin 48 hours, so go check
that out if you haven't already.
Now back to the episode.
A bit of a technical question.
I know when I've done my few videos thatI've put out there, some of them I did
custom thumbnails, some of them I did not.
I know that's very specific, butwhat are your opinions on that?
I think it really depends if thecarousel on a product page is
(16:37):
very saturated and there's a lotof videos there to choose from.
I do recommend doing a thumbnail thatwill draw people's eye to your video.
But also people are lookingat the title too, right?
So there, there are some thumbnailsthat I specifically avoid because
they're very click Beatty.
My, my personal preferenceis to showcase the product.
(16:59):
And so I'm not doing a wholelot of text with thumbnails.
I'm showcasing the product asbig as I can and then putting a
nice description for the title.
I don't create custom thumbnailsfor every single one of my videos.
I know a lot of people that do.
The problem is that we don'thave data from Amazon to know.
If it works, we don't know if itincreases our click-through rate.
(17:21):
We just don't know.
For some of the big ticket itemsthat are saturated, I'll create a
thumbnail, but not necessarily formy, 10 or $20 products that I'm just
hoping to make my money back on.
For the YouTube creator side of me,which loves data and analytics, the
Amazon influencer program lacks in allof those areas, like you just mentioned.
(17:43):
So that drove me crazy.
I wanted to compare, Hey,here is a custom thumbnail.
I did, and here's one where I justthrew up a picture of the product.
What would've, what was my impressionsand click through rate of when
people were on the product page.
I think that.
It would help Amazon and thecreators if they would do that,
but that's neither here nor there.
So with that being said, I wouldsay maybe experiment with both.
(18:03):
Now, if there is someone who is inthat stage of just you know what, I'm
gonna go through my order history.
This is a side hustle for me.
I am a YouTube creator.
I need to make a little extra changeto buy the gear that I need to
grow my YouTube channel, whateverit may be, listening to this.
What is the process like of gettingapproved and then once you get
approved, what would be your suggestionas far as the first few videos or
(18:28):
getting started with your creatorpage and things of that nature?
I. Yes.
So I recommend anyone who'sinterested in starting just go and
apply, because the good news is thatyou can apply to be in the Amazon
influencer program a million times.
There is no cap at howmany times you can apply.
In fact, I coach my creators to applyevery day once they get to a certain
(18:50):
point with their social media channel.
So I would encourage you to just go apply.
Pick your top social channelthat has the most engagement.
Followers is not as, or subscribersare not as important as engagement.
Amazon wants to see that your audienceis engaging with your content no
matter what platform you're on.
But also the lowest barrier to entry asfar as which social channel to choose
(19:14):
has been TikTok and consistently hasbeen TikTok over the last couple years.
I've had creators whostart a brand new TikTok.
Post two to three videos a day for sevento 10 days and applying every day after
that seven day mark, they are gettingin within one, two, or three days.
So it's not a really large barrierto entry, especially if you start
(19:37):
with a platform like TikTok.
And so that would bemy best recommendation.
Even if you're not onTikTok, go start a new one.
If none of your social channelsget approved right away.
And then once you get inyour first three videos.
You just have to be very careful.
What I would recommend is you pick threevery safe products that you already have
(19:58):
in your home and that you use in love.
And by safe no claims whatsoever.
So don't do supplements where you say,oh, I, you can't even say, oh, I feel
better, or, this helped me do something.
Do things that are very boring.
Do kitchen utensils, do.
Pillows or bedding or anythingwhere you don't have to make
any sort of claim whatsoever.
(20:19):
'cause that seems to be the thing,the reason why Amazon disapproves
some of these first three videos.
So that would be my bestrecommendation to get in.
Use TikTok if it's, if yoursocial channels aren't getting
you in right away, but then whenyour first three videos come up.
Pick things that you already have.
Don't even do the productresearch for your first three.
(20:39):
Be very careful in what you say, and onceyou get those first three approved, then
you could be but much more liberal andreally go for the strategies to earn.
I. For those.
Listening to this, if you know youalready have a YouTube channel, use that.
Because that's proof of concept.
And if you already have a, a YouTubechannel even you may not think it's
substantial numbers wise sometimesthe Amazon influencer program I know
(21:00):
I applied within the same day or thenext morning I was already accepted.
Now as far as just the overall, I guessyou would say strategy for the influencer
program, is it more of a quantity?
Game as far as uploading videos,what are your thoughts there?
Because I was just looking at thebackend of my creator's hub, which is
(21:20):
where you can look at your videos on theinfluencer program as you were talking,
and I have a total of 23 videos on there.
I know that's not many at all, and thelast one I uploaded was back in 2022.
Is it more of a quantity gameof what is your strategy of, do
you try to do one video a day?
Do you have a certain benchmarkthat you want to get to in a month?
What would you recommend?
(21:42):
Because really it's like YouTube, right?
You may upload a hundred videos, but threeof them may be, I call them diamonds.
Three of them may be diamonds thatreally pump in the influencer program.
It would be revenue with YouTube,it could be building a brand or
growing in subscribers or view count.
What are your thoughts on that?
One of my favorite questions that I getwhen people are asking me like, how to
be successful with this, how many videosdo I have to earn X number of dollars?
(22:06):
And, quantity is important forsure because every video you upload
gives you that opportunity to earn.
But I will also say that,time is very valuable too.
So if you have the time to create,three videos a day, or 50 or a
hundred videos every month, you mostdefinitely should be doing that.
Now, if you don't, there are strategieswhere it's best to upload, quality.
(22:32):
Over quantity.
I have less than a thousand videos andI earn more than some people I know
that have 3000 videos or 5,000 videos.
And it's because I've done theproduct research and I know how
to create videos that convert.
So it really depends.
But I would say.
Do as many videos as you can, butyou also wanna be strategic about it.
(22:53):
I, there was another creator whowas teaching this that said, do
videos on everything you havefrom Amazon, everything from your
bedding to your toilet paper.
And I challenge that strategy because.
As an Amazon customer, are youreally gonna watch a video of
somebody talking about toilet paper?
Probably not.
'cause you already know whattoilet paper you wanna buy, right?
So you're not gonna take the time.
(23:14):
So being strategic about itis also really important.
Yes, you can create videos for anythingand everything, but if you wanna, work
smarter and save some time and not haveto work so hard, then definitely quality
over quantity wins as far as earning goes.
I'm looking at your Amazon influencershop here, and you do have about, like
you said, a thousand videos on there.
(23:35):
Most of them are, horizontal type videosand only, there's a few of them that have
custom thumbnails, but not all of them do.
As far as, are you justdoing these with your phone?
Are you having like your, for theones that you can't hold your phone,
are you putting it on a tripodor having someone in your phone?
Family film it for you?
Or what's your kind of workflow likewhen you're working on a video and
from start to finish as far as likewhen you know what product you're gonna
(23:58):
try to film all the way to uploadingit to the influencer program, what
is your kind of time to completion?
Yeah.
It really depends on the product.
If it's just a straight, look atthis product and I'm demonstrating
it, it can be much quicker than,say, putting together an assembly
video and having to do more editing.
But no I use my phone.
I do have a really nice camerathat I use for my YouTube videos.
(24:19):
But I actually use my phone forthe most, for probably 95% of
my Amazon influencer videos.
So when I record, usually I will talk,sometimes I will do a voiceover later.
I do have a virtual assistant thathelps me with some of the editing
of the more complicated videos.
But for some of those that I'm just,recording, talking and uploading.
(24:39):
I use my phone, I just talk as I'mrecording, and then everything on
my phone gets backed up to a cloud.
And so then I'm able to do my,I like doing editing on desktop.
I'm old school, a little bit like that.
And so I will do just, very slightediting if I set any ums or if I need
to take any, pieces out of there.
And then really, once the simpleediting is done, I upload it
(25:02):
right to my Amazon storefront.
I know I'm probablyoversimplifying a little bit.
It, it doesn't have tobe that complicated.
Whereas, when I create my YouTubevideos, it's much more complicated.
I have my microphone.
Yes, I have my nice,and lots more editing.
So it really can be that simplefor just filming from your phone,
quick editing, and then uploading.
Yeah.
A lot of yours are like where youhave your phone capturing what
(25:24):
you're doing or the product and thenyou'll do a voiceover after the fact.
That seems one of the ways to do it.
Would you recommend, if you have areally nice iPhone to do more capturing
of the product and what the productis doing as opposed to doing like what
you and I are doing right now wherethe camera's looking right at us?
Because I don't really know.
I do see some Amazon influencers thatdo these talking HeadStyle videos like
(25:46):
this, but then I see some that are like.
Putting out hundreds a month andthey're just capturing really
quick videos of the said product.
So what are your thoughts about that?
I base it on the product.
If it's a product that's say, a hundreddollars or more, I will always make sure
to have my face in it, just to give thevideo more credibility, so people can
(26:07):
see who is behind the camera becausethey're going to be taking a little
bit more time to decide if they wanna.
Buy that item because itis a higher price point.
Whereas if I'm filming, say, a $20product, I'm just behind the camera
showcasing the product becauseI really don't think the Amazon
customer really cares who I am.
(26:27):
They're listening to what I'm saying.
But at the end of the day, they wannasee the product, they wanna see how
it works, and they wanna know if it'sgoing to work for what they want.
And so me saying who I amand why I bought it, almost.
Doesn't even really matter.
Alright, let's talk aboutthe money side of things.
If someone would like to do this fora side hustle let's say like myself,
(26:50):
I'd to make a little extra, yousaid this an extra thousand dollars.
I think that's doable, right?
I think that it's very doable.
What?
Point should I start making money?
To, to where I should feel encouraged andat what point, like I know it really is
dependent on the product and the priceof the product, but what is realistic
as far as, before we start talking aboutwhat you're making, let's talk about the
(27:13):
realistic side of someone starting ortrying to make an extra thousand dollars.
Sure.
One thing I love about this program isthat once you get those first three videos
unlocked for onsite commission, theycould be earning money for you two days
later, three days later, once you get yourfirst sale, and then Amazon ships out.
I. That particular product.
It's very encouraging and it's the reasonwhy I really pivoted to this as my main
(27:38):
business because I was able to see thatreturn on my investment so quickly.
We log into our Amazon reportingevery single day, and I'm able
to see how much money I earnedyesterday, basically the next day.
So it's very encouraging to be able tosee that you're making money every day.
Once you get enough videos,up to be able to do that.
(27:59):
And really, of course you're gonnastart small, but the more you
upload content, the more you'regonna learn about what works.
The more, more ideally you're goingto make, if you have the right
products that you've created for.
And every single one of thosevideos is a potential little.
Mini income stream for you.
And you really get what you put into it.
(28:19):
However, like I said before, you canreally be strategic about it and scale
this to, as much money as you wanna make.
As someone, Kathleen, who hasbeen doing technology tutorials on
YouTube for almost 15 years now.
I've been, my channel is just asearch based channel where I do
technology tutorials and I'm a big fanof evergreen and long tail content.
(28:43):
You mentioned that you could start makingmoney from these videos on the influencer
program within the first few days.
What are the long tail?
Potential of, of these videosbecause I go to my little Amazon
influencer manage page here, andthese are four or 5-year-old videos
and I made like 20 bucks this month.
(29:03):
I haven't uploaded in almost four years.
So I would assume if I had say, 500videos out there, there's a possibility I
could be making a few hundred bucks fouryears after I've uploaded these videos.
I would assume this isthe beauty of it, right?
Yes, most definitely.
That's why, yes.
One more reason why I love it is because,you can pick it up and put it down and
(29:23):
pick it up and put it down, and you couldstill be earning every single day that
you're not creating content and you'renot uploading new new content because.
The way that the opportunity isstructured is that if you find one of
those winning product listing pagesand your video converts it could be
there for 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 years andbe earning for you that whole time.
(29:44):
Very similar, to YouTube.
I. Yeah, I love that.
That just makes me excited.
It makes me want to get back into itmyself, just to, to tinker around with it.
As an entrepreneur, I'm alwayslooking for little things like this.
Now let's talk about you andyour ability to make money.
It says in one of the podcaststhat you were on before.
You're making $10,000 plus from the in,from what you're doing as a creator.
(30:06):
Let's talk about strictly just theAmazon influencer side of things.
You have 800 to a thousand videos.
You also have pictures, photos on there.
You do live streams.
But as far as, let's break it down inkind of time segments in a month let's
just say last month, like what would youmake from the Amazon influencer program?
I think part of it isdependent on the month, right?
(30:27):
But then also how muchcontent you're uploading.
So like last month I made about5,000 just from onsite, but
six months ago I made 12,000.
But I will say, last month wasmy kids were wrapping up school.
I didn't upload as much content.
I wasn't as active as I was say inthat six months ago when I made the 12.
(30:48):
So it's.
It's really dependent on, and then, wehave, prime Day is coming up in July.
July is always a big month.
Actually, July is always my top earningmonth, you would think November, December.
But it's always July, right?
So I made 5,000 last month and in July.
My goal is to make at least 10 becauseof Prime Day and all the promotions
(31:10):
that I have planned for that.
And that's just onsite, right?
That doesn't count for offsite, thatdoesn't count for the brand deals that
I'm making, that I'm getting paid for,that I'm getting free samples for.
And I think, you talked we touchedin the beginning on, can you
still make money with the Amazoninfluencer program in 2025?
The answer is yes.
It's just.
(31:31):
Different than four years ago, when I wasmaking 15,000 a month with just onsite
commission not doing anything else.
Now we have to pivot our strategyand do other things like uploading
YouTube and partnering with brands.
But the income potentialis definitely still there.
It just starts with the.
The Rolodex of videos onAmazon as an influencer.
(31:53):
You see what you can do andwhat you can make from those.
And like anything, it ebbs and flows.
So what other outlets have you gone tonow as far as for you to make money?
Because now you have a masterclassteaching other people how to do this.
You also have the YouTube channels, Iassume you're on other outlets as well.
So how do you supplement and makemoney outside of the influencer
(32:15):
program yet still revolving around it?
Yeah, so I teach people howto be successful with the
Amazon Influencer Program.
I have a membership and so anybodythat joins, I teach them, I
give them all my top strategies.
We meet, every month.
There's, lots of supportand community there.
But that's another one of my incomestreams that I've set up from
(32:35):
my experience of being an Amazonseller, an Amazon influencer, I'm
able to monetize it by helpingother creators earn money as well.
And, we get great feedbackfrom other people.
But on top of that I havethe YouTube channel where I'm
teaching people how to do this.
I also recommend softwaresuch as flu fruit, right?
And they have an affiliateprogram, so I earn money from
(32:57):
recommending that software and I.
Demonstrating in some of myYouTube videos, how I utilize that.
And then the brand deals as well.
I think that one, one of my bestoutcomes from my, repurposing my Amazon
content onto YouTube is, like I saidearlier, those brands finding me and
saying, Hey, we saw your content.
Do you wanna partner?
(33:17):
We'll send you this free stuff.
We'll pay you this much money tocreate videos, for our products.
'cause we love your videos so much.
And some of that cancome from Amazon, right?
Like people can see you onyour creator page on Amazon.
And another gentleman I had on a coupleyears ago talking about this, he would
say that these companies would approachhim directly from Amazon and say, Hey,
we see you make these great videos.
(33:39):
We'd like you to make one for our product.
And either they give you the free product,which is great, or they pay you to do
it right, they'll pay you a lump sum.
Is that correct?
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
And you can negotiate either way.
There's pe there, there's.
There's just so much opportunity.
There's also third party platforms,including Amazon has one called
Creator Connections, where you canget really strategic about your videos
(34:01):
and the brands you wanna partnerwith and earn additional commissions.
We're usually one to 4% when we'reearning commissions from Amazon, but.
With creator connections, you canearn 10%, 20%, sometimes 30% extra.
So again, just being strategic and,staying within the Amazon ecosystem
to start, but then utilizing the yourcontent and your strategy to branch
(34:24):
out in order to earn more money.
Awesome.
As we close out this interview,Kathleen, what advice would you
give creators listening to this whoare looking for another source of
revenue to supplement before they getmaybe even monetized on YouTube or
TikTok shop or Instagram or whereverthey're trying to make their money?
As a creator, what would beyour final parting words?
(34:44):
I would say just go for it.
Don't get discouraged if youdon't get in right away when you
apply because it's not that hard.
And there are lots of other creatorsout there that are willing to help you.
For example, we have a group wherewe're trying to get people in and
people go post their TikTok and theirYouTube and we all go and comment
(35:05):
and engage and just know that.
It's okay to ask for help.
There are communities of peoplethat wanna help and support you, but
also this is such a fun opportunitythat if this interests you at all, I
recommend you just go for it becausethere are resources that will help
you make sure that it's still fun foryou, but also help you earn money too.
(35:26):
I love that.
Kathleen, congratulations on your success.
Thank you so much for all youradvice for my listeners, because
I have so many questions flood inabout this and about ways to make
money, so really do appreciate it.
I'll have all of Kathleen's links,including her masterclass, her
website, her YouTube channels,and all of her socials in the
show notes of this week's episode.
(35:47):
So go check that outif you haven't already.
Kathleen, thanks again for joining us.
Thanks so much for having me, dusty.
And that's a wrap on this week's sessionof the YouTube Creators Hub podcast.
Thanks for sticking aroundfor this conversation.
Don't forget, there's a few differentways you can connect with us.
I offer one-on-one YouTube coaching.
We have a mastermind group that getsyou the ability to rub elbows with
other creators all throughout the week.
Mastermind calls exclusive podcastrecordings, five to 10 bucks, check.
(36:10):
That out as well.
And then now we areoffering channel audits.
If you're looking for a inexpensiveway to get another set of eyes on
your YouTube channel, I record videoreviews and audits of your channel.
You'll see a link in the shownotes called Channel reviews.
Check that out.
It's a new thing that we're offering andwe're also working on our new cohort.
That's something that's gonna be coming.
(36:30):
And if you're looking to be a part of acohort, which is a weekly mastermind or
hour and a half, call with other creators.
I'm working on gettingthat out the door as well.
Don't forget to subscribe toour email newsletter to be
notified when that goes live.
Thank you all for everything that you do.
All the listens, all the downloads,all the positive reviews, and
you know what, any feedback.
And with that said,we'll see you next week.