YouTuber Brianna Stanko Reveals How Her Multi-Million Dollar Business Was Stolen From Her: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 330
“I think you should always stay authentic to yourself and always talk about things you truly believe in.”
Be sure to check out my Free 2022 YouTube Goals Workbook! Inside you’ll find you’ll find an exercise that I do with my clients and in my Bootcamp that will help you stick with and achieve your goals on YouTube. The journaling and reflection exercises in the workbook have three different components that we’re going to focus on: money, lifestyle, and mindset, and will help align your life goals with your YouTube goals to help create the 2022 that YOU want.
Brianna Stanko is a beauty content creator and founder of Skin Truth. With over 10 years experience in the medical grade skincare field, Brianna is passionate about skincare and sharing skincare tips, anti-aging advice, product reviews and treatments as well as makeup reviews and advice with her subscribers. I have been a fan of Brianna’s FOREVER and I was so excited to have her on the podcast!
Brianna got started on YouTube way back in 2012, and back then, there were hardly any skincare channels. Everyone was just talking about makeup. But Brianna was passionate about skincare and had a medical-grade skincare business of her own. While she loves makeup, Brianna believes that good skincare should come first. After watching a lot of beauty YouTubers, she thought to herself, “I can do that!” She realized that she could make a YouTube channel where she could share her knowledge and experience with skincare, and bring people skincare information that gave real results. For Brianna, it wasn’t just about selling or reviewing products that may not even work for her viewers, she wanted to equip people with real knowledge so that they could make informed decisions on their own. Her channel quickly became an outlet for all her “girly”interests, because as a mom to two boys, she was pretty outnumbered in her home. YouTube gave her a connection to beauty and a way to talk with other women about beauty. Brianna sees her videos as if she were talking to her girlfriends about beauty.
When she first started her channel, it wasn’t all that successful, and even now, like most people with YouTube channels, Brianna experiences slow growth periods, but it’s all about consistently creating content and doing it for YOU. You’re going to attract the people who want to follow you and who will be loyal to you. She was the only person at the time talking about medical-grade skincare. Though her YouTube had a bit of a slow start, her website traffic picked up rather quickly. That is, of course, before it all came crashing down.
“It’s best to put out videos that are authentic to you, and you’re gonna draw people who are loyal to you at the same time.”
Brianna’s Business is Stolen From Her
Brianna’s original skincare business, Premier Look, was one that she started with her now ex-husband. She started it because she was passionate about it, and it enabled her to work from home as a mom. But about 3 years ago, she got divorced and that’s where it all went crazy. During her divorce, Brianna’s ex-husband stole the company, sold it to himself and his friends, and shut her out completely. Brianna was left with no money, no income, no child support, nothing! He tried to take everything away from her that he could. After two years of expensive litigation, Brianna won her case and a judge awarded her the company back. It was like having a piece of herself back, and she was over the moon excited to have triumphed. She had literally clawed her way back to it over a period of two years, but when she busted open the books, it was in shambles. Her ex had run the business she was so passionate about into the ground. The name was tarnished. It was truly beyond saving. So Brianna was left with no other choice but to start over… from scratch.
Starting Over
Brianna went from having a multi-million dollar business to having to start over from nothing. There were some days where she couldn’t get out of bed. She was so drained from the long, difficult process of getting her company back only to have it completely ruined. This was a hard time for Brianna and she wasn’t creating a lot of YouTube videos during this time. But in hindsight, Brianna truly believes that everything happens for a reason, and now she is grateful for the experience because of the lessons it taught her and how it shaped her. Brianna rebuilt her brand: Skin Truth, and made a YouTube video about how she lost everything and had to rebuild. She wanted to motivate and inspire other women, especially those who have gone through a difficult divorce. She was at her lowest of low, not knowing how she was going to support her kids, but she got through it, and if she could, anyone could.
Authenticity and Passion
One word that kept coming up throughout my interview with Brianna was “passionate,” and I feel like that is a word that Brianna embodies 100% on her channel. She is so passionate about skincare and it shows. One of the biggest mistakes Brianna sees in Youtube creators is that they don’t stay authentic to themselves, and may go down the path of hunting down a paycheck for a product they may not actually believe in. Brianna is herself on her channel, and what she loves most is connecting with other women and having an outlet to talk about the girly things that excite her. She really does feel like she’s just hanging out with friends and chatting!
Final Thoughts
Brianna’s comeback story is so inspiring. She is proof that no matter what hardships you go through and no matter how hopeless things may seem, you can get through it. And I love that YouTube has given Brianna a platform to share that personal and vulnerable story with other women, and a community that she can share her passion with. Brianna is grateful for it all, the good times and bad. She gets to have a business that she loves so much, and she gets to teach people how to have the best skin of their life. She’s authentic and creates without expectations. She makes videos because she loves something and loves to talk about it. Her advice? Just do it and have fun. Don’t be scared! Get on that YouTube channel and talk about whatever it is that lights you up. Just be you and hang out like you were with your friends.
“I want to motivate and inspire other women.”
Mentioned in the Episode:
PLEASE WATCH! The Truth About Premier Look & Huge Announcement!
Connect with Brianna:
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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.
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- 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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