One common theme you may have noticed around here is this:
Make money on your own terms and in your own way. Help an audience, don’t rely 100% on anyone else, and also don’t rely solely on any external factors for your success.
There is no better way that I know for anyone looking to build a substantial income than by creating a professional brand around yourself.
YOU, INC.
You, Inc.: Running a business based on your personality and skillset
There are obviously a lot of ways to make money, but the one that is the most prevalent (and hidden) today is by making money online by operating a “You, Inc” as I like to call it.
Why hidden?
Because people are making money right in front of your face and you have no idea.
Look…
I’ve helped literally tens of thousands of people start blogs, create websites and build their online stores using my free tutorials on YouTube.
I also create in-depth blog posts covering everything you need to know to get started, honest and accurate review content to help you make correct purchase decisions as well as my in-depth paid courses.
I’m also a highly rated UX consultant
With 1000+ 5 star reviews on Fiverr 🤯(didn’t expect this when I started on Fiverr).
In short, I’m here to help build YOU online. We all have some level of knowledge, interest or skill that we can translate into the online space.
I create the “how to” content to help you start and scale a profitable online presence based around your personality, knowledge and skillset.
Let’s get started.
How to stop being a stupid content consumer and start being a smart content creator
Content is anything that entertains and informs people.
Blogs, videos, books, art, podcasts, television, movies, music, social media profiles etc.
You need to start creating a “top of the funnel” attention grabbing strategy.
That can be a YouTube channel, blog, x.com profile, Facebook page, Kindle books where you funnel people to an email list, podcast.
Whatever.
Pick your organic, attention grabbing strategy. For me, I’m a video first creator. It’s just a medium I’m good at and enjoy.
Take some time to figure this out for yourself what works best.
When you’re ready, let’s continue.
Rules for reading this:
- Turn off your phone so you stop checking the same 4 apps over and over.
- Close all the tabs on your browser.
- Focus and actually read this.
- Pay attention as though your future depends on it.
- Do not message me questions until you’ve read this multiple times.
Let’s get started…
#1 – Be ready to invest in yourself (both time & money)
This is #1 for a reason. Stop looking for shortcuts. Stop looking for free.
There is nothing wrong with being cautious on how you’re spending money.
But when you start refusing to spend the required money to create content (like not paying for a web host to launch a website, not buying a good camera for video work, not paying for an x.com premium account etc) you may as well stop right now.
You must be fully prepared to give your all and I do mean all. This business model of building a professional brand around you is all or nothing. There is no in-between.
Prepare to invest money in your You, Inc. and even more important than money you need to be prepared to invest the most important asset you have – your time.
Monetary cost to invest: About $4 per month to start your own website.
Hostinger
Recommended by WordPress, they are the best beginner friendly webhost for creating blogs, websites and online stores.
Great hosting & support, free domain name, free WHOIS protection and competitive pricing. I use them in all my tutorials.
Use coupon code WEBPRO at checkout for an added discount!
Cost of time to invest: It takes as long as it takes.
People hate that answer, but the reality is that it takes time to find your thing. You may try and fail, then have to spend time pivoting.
But if you want it bad enough, then it takes as long as it takes. Mentally, you should always be 100% focused on You Inc.
That means even if you’re physically doing another job your mind should be on You, Inc as that’s your #1 priority.
Thinking, planning, implementing.
Engagement and an audience after 6 months
#2 – Cut out everything (stuff and people) that isn’t helping you succeed
Get rid of everything that is holding you back because it’s how you’re going to gain everything.
This can be painful because – yes that may mean cutting off toxic relationships that don’t serve you.
But you need to throw it all out.
I quit my high paying corporate job at PWC to go teach English in Thailand, making $900 a month as a salary.
During my time as a broke English teacher is when I decided to get serious and build a sustainable online income so I could live abroad.
My choice was either go back to the US of A and get another corporate gig, or stay abroad and figure it out.
I decided to stay abroad and “figure it out.”
As such, I lived modestly for 5 years. I didn’t have the latest and greatest smart phone, I didn’t buy expensive clothes, I didn’t have a car either.
I just lived within my means of my $900 a month salary and the few hundred dollars I had coming in from the websites I had built.
I lived a minimalist lifestyle to get to where I wanted to be.
But now? I still live a minimalist lifestyle abroad, but I let myself live well – 5 star hotels, trips to Bali, expensive dinners, high quality gym membership.
I don’t stress over money the same way anymore.
So cut out everything that’s not serving you
The longer you put it off, it’s just that much longer until you can live well. But wait, I know you’ll say “hey I can live well from my job!”
Don’t make me laugh.
People with jobs never have free time to live well. All their free time is spent resting and recovering from work, catching up on Netflix and/or drinking to unwind.
Give it your all to get it all.
From this point on, everything in your life is all business.
Always be “on” because everything is content.
Start paying attention to everything and everyone. Watch people, learn from them, and build a list of “top of the funnel” content ideas to work on consistently.
Don’t view this as a sacrifice either
Cutting people and stuff out of your life is not a sacrifice, it’s the price you pay to bleed success.
“Sacrifice” means you get nothing in return, it’s not a sacrifice if it means you get to become wildly successful.
#3 – Pick the right name for your You, Inc. business
Branding is very important, in many instances the name of something can be more valuable than the actual product.
“Java Jacket” comes to mind for this. It’s that brown cardboard sleeve that goes over a paper coffee cup. Yea, that had to be invented and clearly the name “Java Jacket” is more valuable than the actual simple paper product.
So your actual personal name is a good name for your business but it may not necessarily the best name for a brand.
It really comes down to if you have a unique or cool name. David Utke is unique. Max Perzon is cool. Steve Smith – eh not so much.
Regardless…
⚡️You should always own your own name, even if you don’t use it (because someone else will)⚡️
Namecheap
Low prices on domain names, low renewal rates, free WHOIS protection and good support.
I use Namecheap for all my domains and use them in my tutorial videos.
Forget .net, .org and .me – you need the .com!
Domains are digital property. They are bought and sold the same way real estate is and web hosting you can consider as your “rent.”
The greatest domain names are already taken and out of reach now however.
If you truly can’t get the .com because your .com is too expensive or it’s not for sale then a .co (for branded websites) or .me (for your name) are acceptable alternatives.
Be aware, the best domain names will usually cost you, but your unique name might be available so get on it if it is.
TeachandGo.com cost me $500 (yea, who would register this? Someone did though), but EdgeofDavid.com and DavidUtke.com only cost me only $10 each.
You also need a website and you need a domain name, it isn’t an optional “nice to have” – it’s a must.
When picking your domain name, remember this: no dashes, no underscores and no numbers (impossible to remember: this-is-an-awful-domain123.com).
Make your name easy to read, easy to say and easy to remember.
If you have a boring name like Ryan Robinson, you can turn it into something more memorable like RyRob.com.
“EdgeofDavid.com” is also another good example of a branded, but personal domain name with some power to it.
⚡️Get a free domain when you buy hosting with Hostinger ⚡️
Get a dot-com and be done with it ( I suggest Namecheap or get a free domain with hosting at Hostinger – coupon code WEBPRO)
If you can’t afford $4-8 a month for web hosting (rent) then You, Inc. isn’t for you.
Instead you could try holding on the side of the highway that reads “Hungry, and Homeless, Please Help“.
Winners have $8 a month to invest in their business.
#4 – Choose a content platform to serve your audience
Choose a primary and a secondary platform to serve your audience and get organic search traffic.
Content platforms are things like starting a blog, YouTube channel, social media platform like x.com or Facebook. I would pick one primary platform and a secondary platform to get organic traffic.
I’m handsome, got a fantastic voice and am great on camera for whatever reason. I’m also a competent writer who’s skilled with writing in a fun and engaging way.
So YouTube and a blog are my mediums of choice.
If you excel at speaking and have the gift for gab you should start a podcast/YouTube channel. If you excel at speaking and you look good (handsome, or otherwise unique looking) you should do video content.
Regardless, get the work done!
You have to be consistent and get the work done week in and week out.
I curate a list of content ideas for both my YouTube channel and my blog over at edgeofdavid.com
Content creation is pretty easy once you have a style dialed in, but you still have to do the work. When I have something to say so I do the work required to:
A) Get my ideas into the world to help people and
B) succeed.
All I do is put the ideas in my head into your head, whatever way I can.
#5 – Email is How You Turn Content Into a Business
A blog, YouTube channel, or an X.com account are all your “top of the funnel.”
…so
You don’t just want the top of the dang funnel! At some point you actually need to sit your butt down and build out a proper sales funnel at some point.
There is no more powerful tool than email for this. It’s how you turn these platforms into a proper content marketing business.
Look,
Organic traffic from your primary and secondary platforms can be monetized in a lot of fun ways.
Affiliate offers, running display ads, sponsored content. But email is still king. It’s how you build trust and authority with an audience so you can help them with the right offers.
It’s also how to make money from running your own paid ads as well.
Sure you can pay to drive traffic directly to offers, but usually your best bet is to drive traffic to your email list and convert sales later on.
So focus on your “top of the funnel” traffic source first. Once you find a platform, message and style that resonates with your audience, then it’s time to tack on a sales funnel and products.
Convert Kit
My preferred email service provider of choice. Advanced funnels, clean user interface, great looking landing pages and an incredibly helpful tagging feature.
Grow your email list today. Email is how you turn a blog or YouTube channel into a business.
#6 Pick a theme and topic your content will revolve around
People want to box you in, so go with it.
Yes we’re all dynamic, interesting and complex – but for your You, Inc it should be about a broad general topic that allows people to conceptualize what you’re all about.
Like my blog at edgeofdavid.com is about:
Edge of David is a personal development website with articles on financial independence, expat travel, and personal growth strategies.
The broad theme for that brand is personal development with a secondary theme of travel – so anything I create there revolves around that.
My pro YouTube channel here at DavidUtke.com (I’m a video first creator, blog content second here) is about marketing and tutorial content.
You will have a main theme, but you will not be limited by only your one theme.
The three topics that make money because they get so much attention are health, wealth and relationships.
These are your “forever popular” topics, but you can (and should) branch out into anything that interests you as long as you can tie it back to your main theme.
Why not go niche exactly?
Niche can totally work, don’t get me wrong. But the risk you run is being unable to pivot. Like my online teaching website died a slow death because China banned online teaching so the interest in the topic all but dried up.
Instead you can start a broad topic and release hundreds or even thousands of niche pieces of content – and have it all revolving around one common theme.
Like my blog over at edgeofdavid.com – I have hundreds of niche websites in a way.
They’re called blog posts and Google doesn’t seem to really care if it’s a niche website or if it’s a niche article – I’m getting traffic and attention for a wide range of topics.
Good content will rank well!
#7 – Create content for yourself first, people second, robots third
This is probably controversial but create content for yourself first, then you create content for your audience second, and in a distant third you create content for robots (SEO: Search Engine Optimization).
Yes, you can use AI tools and create blog posts like “57 awesome Instagram fitness bios” – but that sort of content is not actually building an audience.
You’re just getting a flood of low quality one-and-done traffic for traffic’s sake. So on paper your metrics look good (scale your blog with AI!), but you’ll end up with a bunch of low quality traffic that’s not looking to buy or subscribe to anything.
You also won’t have an audience, audience meaning people are coming back to your site to see what YOU have to say or teach.
This is the same approach I take with video content.
Like my “Blogger.com vs Google Sites” video. I didn’t create this because of some keyword I found, I created it because I wanted to know the distinct differences.
That video gets consistent views and I’m able to funnel that attention to an affiliate offer for domain names at Namecheap.
Of course I do create content people are looking for, but again you create content for yourself first, people second, search engines last.
Create content for people and talk to people!
Don’t be an SEO nerd and write for Google bots because you will never develop a connection with an audience (and therefore you will never have an audience).
I pay attention to SEO to make sure I’m targeting a topic people like, but beyond that I write for people. I don’t worry about making sure “xyz” keyword appears 37 times on the page or that I need more H2 title tags.
I’m good writer and I simply write the best piece of content I can. This is what I do on my blog over at edgeofdavid.com and it’s why that blog continues to grind up in traffic despite all the Google updates.
With a blog or a YouTube channel, having an audience that likes and supports you is much more valuable than just ranking for a bunch of keywords.
This is what happened to my online teaching blog. It ranked for a bunch of “money” keywords (best xyz product for online teaching), made a good income for about two years, got traffic, but I didn’t have an audience with that brand.
I just had search traffic which was at the whim of an algorithm.
#8 Publish a lot – go go go!
When you start creating content you want to create it and release it fast.
This is your first year publishing strategy: create – publish – repeat.
After you have a real audience your publishing plan is: create – edit – refine – publish – promote – repeat.
Promote?
Yes, promote (after you have an audience to promote to). After you bleed your creativity, your fans want to find it and enjoy it, so you promote it to them via email and social media.
(Note: Email marketing like I mentioned is much more powerful than social media marketing. Much more! It’s how you turn content into a business.)
“But David! lol you said social media is a waste of time? I’m confused lol”
Stop and think.
You can’t promote anything until you have an audience. The only way you get an audience is by creating great content first.
I get these messages from idiots saying they’ll promote me on their website if I do an interview with them. When I look at their site it’s brand new and they have no followers and barely any content!
Get this into your head:
You are nothing and nobody at all for the first year. No one is going to give you an audience, you have to earn it.
You earn an audience from showing up with consistent effort day after day, getting better week over week and being useful.
Unless you happen to be very special you are creating in obscurity for the first year.
Don’t expect to make significant money for the first year
Be prepare to spend one year not making any money. This is the barrier to entry and you should be thankful it is this way.
Put in the time now so you can make withdrawals later.
If you put money into a savings account do you expect to make money overnight? No. Same with a content based business, it takes time for your investment to start producing.
You are investing in You, Inc so treat it like an investment. You, Inc. is not a money tree until you put in the work to make it a money tree.
If you want money tomorrow then get a job like the rest of the normal people. You won’t make money for a while so deal with it.
Finally, don’t ask me how long it takes to make money because that’s a losers question.
You’ll get paid when you’re worth it, when you start delivering results for people.
If you don’t provide value that people want then you won’t get paid – simple as that.
When people find you valuable is when they’ll prove it by giving you money. Until then, shut up and work! Find your thing
#9 Create valuable content
You have to create content others deem valuable. I know this seems obvious that you have to actually create content that helps people to reap the rewards of being a content creator, but you would be surprised.
I get emails all the time from professional planners asking me how to build an audience, get traffic and how monetize their hypothetical audience – while not actually creating anything.
Don’t worry about building an audience if you haven’t even created anything.
You have it all backwards: Get busy creating valuable content first and the audience will find you. Create nothing and obviously no one will find you.
Create great content and your audience will find you, it’s destiny. The people who need you will type something good into Google or YouTube that will lead them to you.
Change lives for the better
I don’t mean to be too dramatic, but if you aren’t creating content that changes lives then you don’t deserve to be paid and you won’t be paid.
All that “value” is, is just your content being a small piece of the puzzle to help someone improve their lives.
From people thanking me for my helpful tutorials, or people thanking me for my personal development blog and how it impacted their life, your content needs to be making the world a better place.
If you don’t have an audience after 6 months it’s because your content isn’t good enough.
You don’t need to be going viral or anything, but by 6 months you should have steady growth from search engines and most importantly of all, engagement.
Engagement means you have people interacting with you and your content. Comments, emails, DM’s. People and companies reaching out to you regularly and you’re experiencing subscriber growth.
People saying “I can’t believe this YouTube channel only has 4k subscribers!”
That’s the engagement you’re looking for, a growing audience of people who like, trust and support you.
When you start you’re creating in obscurity, but it should not stay like this forever. 6 months is when you should have a feel for if what you’re doing will work or not.
If not that means you need to quit and pivot to something else.
This is why I say it takes as long as it takes – you may not get it right the first time but keep going.
You have to be the best at what you do
With whatever topic and theme you choose to create content on, please, I beg you, don’t be a money chaser or an echo of a more popular creator.
You have to be the best at what you do in order to provide value to get paid.
Too many young people think that if they get a law degree or a degree in accounting that they will make money.
But,
Do you have any talent for law or accounting? You’re competing against other people who do have a talent, so if all you are is a mediocre lawyer or accountant you’re going to get fired.
Same applies to being a content creator, you got to be the best at what you do. Don’t copy, don’t be an echo of a more popular creator and don’t be a money chaser where you just create content on a topic you *think* can make money.
#10 – Never be satisfied
What got you here, won’t get you there.
You Inc is like a stock, it’s either trending up or down. In the red or green.
Never be satisfied, never coast, always be be looking for ways to grow, server your audience, make more money, be more useful.
When you got a good thing going, do the work to be worthy of that good thing you’re being blessed with.
Also remember, as good as it is right now, it’s going to get even better if you stay consistent.
Thanks for being here
I just wanted to end by saying that I hope you find this website, my YouTube tutorial channel and all products I create to be helpful.
I get it how frustrating and difficult it is to find your thing but you got this (if you want it bad enough).
I got my start in 2007 with a corporate career at PWC in Connecticut as an internal auditor while also being in the Air Force Reserve.
I eventually got sick of the corporate life and quit my job and went abroad to teach English in Thailand in 2011. My original plan was to do two years of ESL and then come back to the USA.
But…
I loved living abroad. But I didn’t like the low income and job insecurity of being a teacher. So I needed to get serious about building a sustainable income and that’s what I set out to do.
So I began learning web development and online marketing to become self employed and location independent.
After failing with my first 4 websites, I finally had success in the ESL, teaching abroad niche and my personal development blog.
Through trial and error, and a lot of mistakes I now runs my own “You Inc” business.
So thanks for reading,
If you have any questions or comments reach out to me and my team via the contact page.
Till next time.
Your man,
–David
PS: If you need your website reviewed, I offer a cost effective, highly rated service on Fiverr: