2018–2019 Early Attempts
Youtube organic
Started making personal finance YouTube videos in 2018, but by his own admission the first videos were 'super bad' — low production quality and no clear SEO or title strategy. Posted sporadically without a systematic approach.
→ Minimal growth; no significant revenue for ~2 years
2020 Breakout Moment
YouTube AdSense
Earned $750 in a single day from AdSense — used this as a signal to double down on YouTube full-time. Began studying YouTube monetization, SEO, and content strategy intensively and started posting nearly every day.
→ $750 in one day from AdSense; 500–1,000 new subscribers/day
2020 Growth Phase
YouTube evergreen
Focused on evergreen, search-driven video topics (e.g., 'how to invest in stocks') that capture ongoing YouTube search demand rather than only chasing viral trends. This drove consistent, compounding views over time.
→ $10,000–$20,000/month in AdSense
MRR $15k
Early Growth – Thumbnail/Title Optimization
Youtube ctr optimization
Developed a repeatable title formula: relatable age + large income number + curiosity gap (e.g., 'My 10 sources of income at 28 — $X/year'). Combined with strong thumbnails to maximize click-through rate and watch time.
→ Videos reaching millions of views; one of his most popular videos uses this exact formula
Growth – Trend Pivoting
Youtube trending topics
Opportunistically pivoted content topics to match trending searches — crypto content during the crypto boom, stocks content during the stock market boom, side hustle content during the side hustle trend — while still keeping videos evergreen enough to rank long-term.
→ Sustained channel growth across multiple trend cycles
Scaling – Affiliate Marketing Layer
Youtube affiliate marketing
Layered affiliate marketing onto existing video content, making it the primary revenue stream. Finance-adjacent affiliate offers (brokerages, financial products, etc.) embedded naturally into videos already getting high search traffic.
→ Affiliate marketing = ~50–55% of total revenue (~$100–$137K/month at peak)
Scaling – Brand Sponsorships
Youtube brand sponsorships
Added direct brand sponsorship deals on top of AdSense and affiliate revenue, targeting finance and business-adjacent brands given the channel's audience demographics.
→ Brand sponsorships = ~20–25% of total revenue (~$40–$62K/month)
Scaling – Team & Channel Expansion
Overseas talent hiring
Built a 26-person team using overseas talent sourced via Upwork, Fiverr, and later his own staffing company (Paired). Kept team costs to $20–25K/month. Expanded from 1 channel to 6+ channels, spreading content across niches.
→ 6 active YouTube channels; ~$200–300K/month revenue at $20–25K/month team cost
MRR $200k Users 1.1M users
Scaling – Short Form Content Repurposing
Short form video repurposing
Used AI tools (Submagic, Descript, Opus) to cut long-form YouTube videos into short-form content automatically, dramatically increasing content output without proportional cost increases.
→ Increased total content volume and platform reach without adding significant headcount