Mom of 3 Makes $300k/year from YouTube with ClutterBug: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 195
“Be consistent. If you love talking about something, the opportunities will come.”
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We’ve seen a lot of diversity on this podcast. I love talking to successful YouTubers because there are just so many ways to build successful and profitable channels. This season we’ve seen someone take up to 2 days to film 1 video, this week we’re finding out what it looks like on the other end of the spectrum. Mom, YouTuber and CEO Cassandra aka ClutterBug shares how she raises 3 kids, plus runs a successful channel of over 400k subscribers and makes $300k a year in all her businesses while doing everything in her power to not make anything feel like work!
Cassandra’s overnight success was 11 years in the making. She started on YouTube in 2008. Monetizing was the furthest thing from her mind, she was just excited to share her organizing videos. But over the next 4 years, her channel hit 100k subscribers and she flipped the AdSense switch and money started coming in. So much money that she closed down her home daycare business she started to earn an income as a stay home mom. On the high on being able to do what she loved and get paid for it at the same time, her channel was unfortunately abruptly shut down. All that income and the earning power she built up in her videos for 4 years vanished overnight.
“I treat my channel like a business, but I’m loving it like a hobby.”
In the moment it was devastating to start over from scratch, but eventually, she’d see that it was the best thing to ever happen to her because it allowed her to build her brand Clutterbug. She was able to work smarter, and in 2 years she was back to earning what she was before, long before hitting the 100k subscriber mark again.
Now she’s able to be fully present with her family after school and work when she feels driven and motivated. It’s not about the money for her, but for the fun and growth that she derives from what she does, even if that means leaving money on the table. In this episode, she shares all her income streams and how she has built them up to generate over $300k a year for her with zero employees, how she’s able to monetize her channel with doing sponsored videos or brand deals, how her first book deal came together and how she gets all her books to hit the bestseller lists in an organic way, her strategy for YouTube growth without being yucky, clickbaity or feeling like work, how she built an accredited and affordable certification program for organizers and so much more. Enjoy!
“I offer really good free content so people think – Wow, this free thing is actually good, the paid thing must be even better!”
4 Key Interview Takeaways
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Things can change at any moment as we’ve seen so many times on YouTube, Google and Facebook. We need to keep ourselves, our brands and businesses safe by not having our entire audience on only one platform. Find a way to get them onto a platform that you own and control, like an email list. Learn the lessons from Cassandra, when her 100k subscriber channel vanished, she was left with nothing and had to start again from 0.
- Develop self-awareness. Cassandra is very in tune with how she feels and she builds her business and channel around that. She isn’t going to push herself to create content if she’s feeling overstressed and pressured because she knows the best videos she makes are done when she feels inspired and energized. Are you like that? Or are you pressing the gas on all times to grow as fast as possible? Develop self-awareness to know when burnout is coming or which piece of content you’re creating doesn’t resonate.
- Create multiple streams of income. Cassandra chose to get off the YouTube race of constantly needing to put out content on a consistent schedule so as to bring in consistent ad revenue. She did it by creating multiple revenue streams that stemmed from her already growing audience on YouTube. She started an online certification program, an e-commerce store and has several affiliate offers in her descriptions. That way she doesn’t have to do any brand deals and she isn’t fully dependent on YouTube paying her for views.
- Don’t be pushy. The style that Cassandra uses to sell her products is very interesting. She isn’t pushy, she doesn’t constantly tell people to go buy her stuff. As a matter of fact, she rarely talks about her paid products. She mentions the free ones and the people who’re interested can grab the paid ones. We often think of sales as being this greedy, pushy, sleazy guy, when sales is really about serving and helping people who have a problem. If people love what you’re putting out, and they know you can help them, they will rush to buy your offers if they’re interested. No need to try forcing them.
Mentioned in this Episode
Cassandra’s Certified Organizational Specialist™ Online Course: Become An Organizing Expert
Cassandra’s Books
Connect with Cassandra
Resources
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FREE GUIDES:
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
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**Disclaimers: all opinions are my own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in the description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the podcast at no extra cost.
