How to Use YouTube to Generate Passive Income

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Ready to make income just from content creation? Unlike Instagram, where your content lives for a day and then fades into the background immediately, YouTube allows content creators to make money based off views alone. Learn how to generative your own passive income using YouTube in this episode with LaShonda Brown.

LaShonda Brown is a Corporate Film Producer turned YouTuber. With over a decade of experience producing videos for hundreds of businesses internationally, LaShonda empowers entrepreneurs to embrace video and generate passive income to achieve debt freedom.

Website // Instagram // YouTube // Free YouTube Guide

The episode:

Hi everyone, and welcome to the Badass Business Squad podcast. I am really excited because today I have my friend LaShonda Brown. I met LaShonda through some of actually the other guests that have been on the podcast, Akua Konadu, Kayla Hollatz, we all know each other originally through the Rising Tide Society. So thank you so much LaShonda for coming on, I'm really excited to have you here.

Lashonda Brown: I'm excited to be here, thanks for having me.

Katrina Widener: This is an episode I'm also really excited about, because LaShonda is going to be talking to us about YouTube. Which like, I don't use YouTube for my business, so I'm even selfishly going to be getting some like good tips from here as well. But LaShonda before we jump into talking about YouTube, do you maybe want to introduce yourself and tell everyone who you are and what you do?

Lashonda Brown: Yeah. So my primary profession is a corporate film producer, and it's really interesting because for the past 10 years, I've been creating TV commercials and things for national parks and all sorts of incredible videos. But I never thought that I could talk about it on social media because they felt very commercial and corporate. Recently, Instagram made an announcement that said, "Hey, we're not just a photo sharing app anymore. You may want to invest in learning about video." And I took that as a green light to lean into what I do.

So I have been running a YouTube channel since 2015. So I'm like, you know what I think now is the time, you've been in business 10 years, why not begin the transition into not only being a full-time YouTuber, but also an educator for entrepreneurs looking to leverage video to grow their businesses.

Katrina Widener: This is why I'm so excited to have you on here today because you are an expert at all things YouTube. Do you want to quickly also tell people what your YouTube channel is, and the type of videos you have there in case they're curious after the podcast episode?

Lashonda Brown: Yes, definitely go like and subscribe, as the people say. But the name of my channel is Bootstrap Biz Advice, and I teach people how to grow a biz without breaking the bank. And for me, it's an opportunity to be that business mentor that I always wanted. I really want it to take away the stigma of bootstrapping your business, we all had to do it in the beginning. And so I try to equip people to DIY with tutorials and how-to-videos. Occasionally I'll just speak to the camera and I'll share strategies that I'm implementing now so that they can learn from me.

So a recent video was about how I increased my client bookings with reducing stress. I just try to be honest about my journey, and so I think it's really awesome because it's allowed me to build a community of thousands of entrepreneurs all across the world who really don't want to go into debt growing a business. And so I think that one thing brings us all together that you know you're not going to hear me say, "Max out a credit card for a course to grow your business." I'm going to say, "Hey, let's start small. Let's grow together. And eventually you'll outgrow me."

Katrina Widener: Okay, you guys can't see me, but I'm over here just like, "Yes! Yay!" Like this is stuff that is so important, especially for entrepreneurs who are starting out but also for senior entrepreneurs, experienced entrepreneurs, because there's so much to learn. And yet the rhetoric is always just like, "Well, if you really want it, you'll invest in it." There is a lot of amazing information out there that's free, right? Your YouTube course, so many podcasts episodes out there, there's a ton of free content and you can really utilize it to help grow your business without going into debt, which is amazing.

I know that we're talking about YouTube today and specifically we're talking about generating passive income on YouTube, which I think everybody hears "passive income" and they're like, "What? I want to learn how to do that. Passive income sounds great." So when we're talking about passive income on YouTube, what does that really mean? What does that look like?

Lashonda Brown: So YouTube is a really special social media platform because from the beginning they came up with the idea of paying their creators to create content on the platform. Instagram is getting there, they just made a recent announcement that they're going to invest a ton of money into this, but essentially when you joined the YouTube partner program you generate revenue because companies pay to put ads on your content. So in order for you to be a part of that, you have to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months. And so there is a timeframe where you won't be getting paid, but the reality is, it gives you an opportunity to really get in your groove, to grow your audience, to figure out how you can best serve them. And so when that happens, you will start to generate money if you enable that feature, and then they literally deposit it into your bank account. So every month I see Google on my bank statement simply because I created valuable content, not only to my audience, but valuable to the advertisers, and they want to compensate me for it.

So that's the bare minimum. There are some folks who only do that. But if you do have a channel with over 1,000 and 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months, you can literally get paid to create. And I think there's something so beautiful about the journey of creating content to market your business also generating an income for you. And that's what I've always been interested in. I'm like," Wow, I can generate leads and get paid to do that? That's incredible." And so that's kind of where my interests with the platform started. Just the reality that they cared enough about their creators to pay them for their free information. I thought that that was really unique and I wanted to lean into that.

Katrina Widener: There are so many things out of what you just said that I want to call out and like point attention to which is brilliant. But first of all, the value of YouTube actually valuing its creators. That's huge. I talk a lot about alignment and energy exchange and making sure even the platform that you're using is valuing you, and your education, and your information, what content you're putting out there for your audiences -- that's an amazing energy exchange. That's also even more inspiring to want to work with YouTube.

This is content that's pulling double duty. It's working for you in two different ways. It's generating this passive income, but it's also really surveying your audience and their needs, allowing them to get valuable content from you. So that you, as an entrepreneur, if you ever were going to get hired by someone they're already like, "Okay, I know this girl knows her stuff. I know that she is super, super informed and educated and knowledgeable about the topics that she's speaking on. I feel confident coming and hiring her as well." So it's a beautiful thing is what I'm trying to say.

Lashonda Brown: Well, and what I love about it is it feels so transparent. I have a love, hate relationship with Instagram, where I feel like it's so curated and it's so strategic. On YouTube, it's so much more about serving your audience, because if you don't serve them, they won't watch. They'll give you a thumbs down. Instagram will only show you who loves you, not who doesn't like your content. On YouTube, you see both. And so it encourages you to give value. It encourages you to respond to the comments on the posts.

So I feel like YouTube is way more of a community building tool and a way to build relationships, versus Instagram feels very much like a one-sided relationship. People are just putting content out there and hoping that someone sees it and decides to buy from them. Occasionally they'll talk to them in the DMs or the comments, but the majority of the content is a one-way conversation. Even with YouTube, having YouTube live before Instagram, you could go live and literally talk to your audience as you were creating content and even when that broadcast was over, you could run ads on that video. To me, it's so, so beautiful, and it feels very natural versus some of these other platforms, I feel like it's encouraging people to be artificial. And so I just liked that I can be myself on YouTube.

Katrina Widener: That is something that I feel like is so important for entrepreneurs to hear too, because when we're thinking about Instagram and we're showing up on social media, there's always this imposter syndrome and this fear of "I don't want to be judged," or I'm comparing myself to the other people on social media and their lives look so amazing and beautiful, and like you said, curated. It's really wanting to be like, "I want to be me. I want to be who I am and be organic, and be natural, and speak to people the way that I speak to people, and not have to play these games." So to have a platform that allows you that space, it's amazing, and it's so rare I feel like in social media these days to be able to have that accessible.

I know that there are probably a lot of people at this point in time who are like, "Okay, you guys have sold me. I'm ready to try YouTube, but this is also terrifying. And there's so many things I don't know about YouTube, and oh my gosh, I have to put my face on camera. It's going to live there forever!" What pieces of advice would you give to someone who's looking to start a YouTube channel and looking to get this passive income and even just this really authentic interactions with their audience?

Lashonda Brown: Well, I think one of the most common objections to starting a YouTube channel is that they're camera shy. "I don't want to show my face. I'm uncomfortable with it. Like I just, I just don't want to do it." A lot of people would be surprised to know that my channel for the first few years, I never showed my face. My background is theater. I have two theater degrees, and yet I felt uncomfortable showing my face. So literally my videos were me talking and a screen recording of me teaching people how to do various things, whether it be a Canva tutorial, a Squarespace tutorial, or a Flodesk tutorial. I didn't start showing my face until maybe two years ago. So for four years, I was generating passive income with no one even realizing what I look like. There is so much leeway on this platform if you're willing to be creative in other areas. Our editor for our production company, he actually stepped out and became a full-time YouTuber, has 350,000 subscribers, has very rarely shown his face. He's a video essay channel.

And so there's so many channels out there that make good money and have very large followings without showing their face. However, you have to lean on other areas to make the video engaging if you're not going to have that face to face interaction with your audience. And so what I did is I posted a reel on Instagram a while back. And people on their own decided to ask all these questions about YouTube. And so I took those questions and I created a 16 page e-book that talks people through if you're trying to approach YouTube, not as an entertainment channel, but to use it to generate passive income, there is a method to the madness and here's the beginning of that journey.

At some point I do want to educate people further. I don't know what that looks like, whether it's a course, or a program, or one-on-one, but I think if nothing else, there's so much information on YouTube from other YouTubers that have made it about what it took for them to get there. That maybe even before you start to create, just start to consume YouTube information from the YouTubers.

People talk about how long it took them to get monetized, things they would do differently, what equipment they're using, how they edit their videos. YouTube actually rewards YouTube content about YouTube. So by default, you can find that information. People are very transparent, sometimes even showing you the numbers and showing you how much they're making. So I would just say that there's so much misinformation out there about what it takes to do YouTube well. Start with just researching, start by asking people who are actively using YouTube, "If you could do it again, what would you change?" And I'm sure they'll tell you, because there's no reason for you to have to walk through those mistakes when someone else has already went before you and done it.

Katrina Widener: I think that people can oftentimes get a little tripped up when they think about doing video in general. Like we were even saying earlier, there's so much free information out there that people can really take in and absorb and learn on their own. It makes it that much more accessible and achievable for someone who might back away from it initially.

I have a follow-up question, I know you are incredibly multi-talented. But also when I think of you, I oftentimes think of you as an educator, right? Like you have all this information on Canva, on YouTube, on Flodesk to provide people. But what about someone who's a coach like me, or a product business owner, but they're interested in starting a YouTube channel. Do you have any ideas of how they might utilize that? I know I'm springing this question on you.

Lashonda Brown: No, I love it. And I think honestly, a beautiful way to treat YouTube is use YouTube as your think tank and the beginning of your content creation strategy. So say for instance, if I was going to do a video about "Five reasons you should start a YouTube channel." That would probably perform well, because people look on YouTube for videos about YouTube. So from an SEO standpoint, that would perform well. If I just talk on camera and I give people five reasons why this is a good idea, those five reasons could also be five Instagram posts. It could be a single carousel post. It could be the topic of an Instagram live broadcast. It could be a Facebook post. It could be a blog post. It could be a podcast episode. So my thing is, if you start out your content creation strategy with YouTube in mind, that gives you an evergreen piece of content that's out there driving traffic to your website. And it also gives you an opportunity to think through the content that you need to create for your audience. If you've done it on Instagram and it performed well, doing that same information as a video is now a new piece of content. Because now they not only get to see what you mean and read what you mean, but they get to connect with you as you say it.

So for so many people, if they're interested in YouTube, they've already been content creating somewhere else. Whether they're a contributing writer for a newspaper, or they've got their own blog, or a podcast, or other social media platforms. Look at what resonated with people on other platforms and just do it in a video format, because what's so amazing about YouTube is your content will continue making money for you as long as you leave it on the platform. I have videos that are three years old, still making me money, but I have Instagram posts that are three years old that no one could care less about. And so the longevity of your content is insane, because YouTube isn't just a social media platform. It's the second largest search engine and it's owned by Google.

So you're not only generating leads for your business, you're not only improving the SEO of your website, you're not only generating passive income, but you're connecting with your audience in a way that doesn't exist on any other platform. And so for people who look at YouTube and say, "I'm not a filmmaker, I'm overwhelmed." You have the ability to create the environment that you want to thrive in. So if you want something simplistic, keep it simple. You don't have to make a movie in order to make a video for YouTube. And so we've gotta separate the two worlds. And what I tell people is just start to create, because over time you're going to get better naturally, because you're going to want to keep improving on the finished product.

So, okay. Maybe the next video you try to do better lighting, the video after that better audio, the video after that maybe you start to learn how to do graphics. But the truth is as a long as you have something that moves, even if you're not on camera, it's a video and it can help you make money for your business.

Katrina Widener: There are so many incredibly smart things that you just said there that I also want to call out, like batching your content. We talk about batching your content so often in terms of utilizing the same content across many platforms. And it makes so much sense that like, why couldn't YouTube just be one more of those platforms? You have an idea for a YouTube video that can also be an Instagram post. Why couldn't an Instagram post also be a YouTube video? Breaking it down so that people can view YouTube as something that's just one more way to make money. One more way to actually have their content be evergreen, and to live out there, and really get eyes on it regularly. So many people spend hours talking about social media, and talking about Instagram in particular. When really it's that evergreen content, that's going to be so much more powerful and impactful for your audiences. So I love everything about what you just said.

Lashonda Brown: YouTube for me has just revolutionized my approach to marketing because it has allowed me to lead with service. I don't have to lead with sales on YouTube. That's my favorite. It's my favorite.

Katrina Widener: That, oh, that just feels so nice and warm and fuzzy for me. Really quickly before we end, the only other thing that I could think of that might make people hold back when it comes to YouTube is, "Oh, it's going to take me so much time. It's going to be so much of my time to batch these, or to make all this content."

Do you have anything to reply to someone who might be afraid that it's going to be such a time killer for them?

Lashonda Brown: Yeah, there's a couple of different approaches. Number one, you don't have to do everything. So even websites like Fiverr have people who will edit your YouTube videos. So if you truly just want to shoot your videos, and have someone else create the completed product, you can outsource that and you don't have to spend a ton of money to do it. So that's definitely one side of the coin.

But the other side is just keep it simple. It does not have to be complicated. If the content is quality, the production value doesn't have to be insane. And so really focus on quality content. You could literally sit in your chair, look at the camera, start talking. When you finish talking, hit stop and call it a day. So don't let that fear of, "Oh, I'm not a filmmaker. I'm not trained in all the software. I don't have a fancy camera and I don't have this, and I don't have that." Do not approach content creation from a place of scarcity. You have exactly what you need to serve your audience. You do it on other platforms and you can do it on YouTube.

Katrina Widener: Thank you so much, that is amazing. Before we go, I was hoping that you could share with people where they can find you on social media, on YouTube, and if there's anything you'd like to share with them.

Lashonda Brown: Yeah, so the two places that I like to hang out on are obviously YouTube at Bootstrap Biz Advice and on Instagram @lashondambrown. So if you go to www.lashondabrown.com, that's my hub online for everything. I have a free 16 page e-book that's going to walk you through YouTube passive income strategy. So if you really are interested and going beyond just the concept, and you really want to take action and do it, that is a great place for you to start.

Katrina Widener: Thank you so much for coming on here LaShonda. You have me now being like, "Ooh, how can I utilize YouTube?" Which I guess is the whole goal, so...

Lashonda Brown: That's the point! Maybe if I can convert one person, I've done my job.

Katrina Widener: Well, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Lashonda Brown: No problem.