How to Monetize YouTube & Build a Profitable Brand with John the Video Guy 🎥💰

Have you ever wondered how YouTubers actually make money? Today, I’m sitting down with John the Video Guy, a freelance video editor and YouTube creator, who left his 9-to-5 job to build a successful online business. In this episode, John Vlach is breaking down the different ways to monetize a YouTube channel—from AdSense and sponsorships to selling digital products and using YouTube to fuel your business. 🚀

If you’ve ever thought about starting a YouTube channel—or just want to understand how creators get paid—this episode is packed with practical tips and insider knowledge to help you get started.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✅ How John Vlach transitioned from a full-time job to running his own business
✅ The multiple ways you can monetize a YouTube channel (beyond just ad revenue!)
✅ Why niching down is key to making more money
✅ The biggest mistakes new YouTubers make (and what John wishes he knew earlier)
✅ How to turn your YouTube channel into a business asset that works for you

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Resources & Links:

🎬 Grab John’s Free YouTube Channel Planning Worksheet → JohnTheVideoGuy.com
📺 Watch John's YouTube Tutorials → YouTube: John the Video Guy
📲 Follow John on Instagram → @JohnTheVideoGuy

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Connect With Me:

💸 Join the Manifestation & Money Community → www.manifestationplayground.ca
🎙 Follow the Podcast on Instagram → @manifestationandmoneypodcast
📩 Let’s Connect! → www.4leaflifestyle.com

If you loved this episode, please take a moment to ⭐ rate & review ⭐ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Your support helps spread the message of financial freedom and manifestation. ✨💰

Episode Transcript

Jenni (00:01):
Okay, fun. There's so many questions I have around this because you kind of embody that whole you get to work from home doing the stuff you're doing, right?
So I managed our whole creative services department, led the graphic design and video editing teams, , creating. , different graphics and videos for events and different, , clients. So I kind of left the reason why I left, I want to say it was like the next step in my career, , as a manager in that role, I felt like I maxed out kind of everything that I could do in that role.
is when you reach 1, 000 subscribers on YouTube and 4, 000 hours of watch time within the last calendar year on your YouTube videos, you can apply to be part of this partner program where you get to collect 50 percent of the ad revenue that advertisers display on your videos. , all the videos that you go and you see before a YouTube video, , you can collect the ad sense or the ad revenue that those brands are paying as part of your own revenue.
Yeah. So that's fascinating. So yes, we see the commercials come up and you can pay YouTube, . To have that. experience where you don't have commercials come up, so 50 percent that's pretty decent. Now I have no idea when you're talking about 50 percent like how much is somebody paying to have their commercial place there?
And, , that's spread across a bunch of different YouTube channels, a bunch of different videos. And when it comes to The revenue I collect, I basically collect about 50 percent of that. It's called the RPM essentially I collect a part of that based on the. The amount of views that my videos get. , say my channel does a hundred thousand views per month, which it typically does, it fluctuates around that volume. If an advertiser pays maybe 20 per thousand views, then you can do the math and be like, okay, I make around 50 percent of that, , my channel gets a hundred thousand views and you can estimate based on that, how much you can make now, I will say that.
So the more specific and the actual. Advertisement placement, depending on your video topic, , you'll see more revenue for me and my channel. I see a lot of stock music, stock footage companies advertise on my channel because they know my audience is video editors. So they're going to pay more to be in those ad slots because , it's essentially targeted advertising, , because video editors are watching that they're more likely to click on that advertisement.

John (00:07):
I would say when it comes to ad revenue, probably the most successful, , channels and successful brands are based on SaaS or like software related, , content. , because , that's the biggest thing is , since it's a digital video and people click on the link below, they're going to go and sign up for that trial.

Jenni (00:08):
Now I'm going to ask you a bit of a personal question here because you've been experienced in this. And I know people are like, Oh, I'll start up a YouTube channel, right? That sounds like a really great idea. How long did it take you or generally does it take someone to get money starting to come in from creating YouTube channel with the intention that you're going to monetize it?
, so it's a lot more significant than when you first Become monetized you think you're going to make money right away You'll make some money but not a lot, And it really comes with your channel growth over time and the advertisers we talked about before
You know do , but I I took the other approach where I stayed at my job. I started my YouTube channel I grew it and it grew to a point where I felt comfortable where I could supplement that with freelance video editing work , and that's gonna be different for everyone, , everyone makes different amounts of money Everyone has different expenses But for me, I wanted to grow my channel get to a point where I felt comfortable enough leaving my job before I did that Because here's the thing you don't know If your channel will become monetized or successful or not, , you could try for several years and months and , it might not grow, but if you, I will say, if you never give up and you just always adapt your content, you will probably find growth or success in one way or another.

John (00:11):
Yeah, so there's a few things I sell. When it comes to physical merchandise, there is a merch store that's linked to my YouTube channel. And this is another benefit of becoming part of the YouTube Partner Program, is that You not only collect the AdSense revenue, , from the ads being displayed on your videos, but you can also link a merchandise store.
Where there's a house or a warehouse that, , automatically when an order comes in, it's fulfilled and it's sent to them. And all I have to do is just update the website, the design, and make sure, , that's all working. , and that's essentially the merchandise side. There are digital products that I sell as well, and that's primarily through my Patreon.
And I'll link it down below. That's how a lot of things can get promoted on your YouTube videos. If you're starting out on YouTube and you're wondering, How do I, , connect or push people to, , go and see other things? It's, you mention it in the video and you say it's down in the link below and then people that are interested will go and check that out.
I will also add, you know, even if you're a business or you have a service, that's another way that you can, , monetize a YouTube channel, essentially, because even like I'm a video editor and sometimes people watch my, , content and videos and Reach out to me, , wondering if I can edit their videos.
I think the biggest, I would say the biggest regret in YouTube, I think this kind of, and this can affect monetizing in general, is, I think, when I first started out on YouTube, I was creating a lot of search based content. And that's a good way to grow on the channels, because, after all, YouTube is a search engine, so when you search for things, you can really find, , exactly what you're looking for in any problem, really.
And a lot of the times, like if I add humor to my videos or I be myself, I'd be more, , spontaneous in my videos. A lot of people connect more with that. , so being yourself, being funny, being humorous, , those are good ways to engage your audience, I would say. And it makes people not only see the content, but also stick.
You're trying to, , uphold some kind of, , image or reputation, and the more I, as the episodes go on, the more I am able just to step into being myself, being more relaxed. Sure, I might make some flubs sometimes. Sure, I might swear sometimes, where at first I was like, oh no, I better not do that, what will people think, right?

Jenni (00:18):
Yeah. What do you think is your biggest piece of advice for somebody, especially that person who is sitting at their job that just doesn't feel fulfilling anymore? What would be a piece of advice you have for them to make that pivot from the job world out to doing something that they want to do?
And that might not be the same for everyone, because you might not like your job, but it might be tolerable. So what I would recommend is just saying, , maybe if you have a few spare hours, try to find something that you enjoy. See if you like it. If it's too much, then it's too much. , but at the end of the day, , we only have so much time.

John (00:20):
Sure. So if people are interested, you can reach out to me at JohnTheVideoGuy. com. If you are interested in starting your own YouTube channel, I do have a free worksheet. , that's very valuable if you're trying to create a YouTube channel from scratch, kind of like strategies, things to think through your channel, especially when it comes to monetization.