Marina Mogilko – YouTube Channel From Idea to First Revenue

start a channel: choose a topic for your channel according to your interests and work on your channel art

publish the first few videos and optimize them for the YouTube algorithm

create a content plan for 10+ videos (this is about three months worth of content if you publish once a week)

choose necessary equipment depending on your budget and goals

get clear instructions on how to script your videos to increase watch time and audience retention

download my PDF instructions and checklists for a video editor and a channel manager to help you delegate things

understand how the algorithm works and what kinds of videos it promotes

learn to create evergreen videos that will generate views and income for years, even if you stop posting

learn to clickbait a little to speed up growth

find out how to monetize small channels

learn the legal aspects of working on YouTube

I published my first YouTube video in December 2014. At that time, I was applying for a master’s degree at a university in the United States and felt like I was the only Russian person in the world who was doing it. I really wanted to start sharing what I was going through to get to know people who were also doing the same

I made my first video right after passing GMAT. Then I made the second video, then the third one. In April 2015, we moved to Silicon Valley, and I began to film everything: how we rented an apartment, how we bought a retired police interceptor as our first American car! I started documenting my life

It took a while for the channel views to really take off, but I was able to start monetizing by consulting and tutoring my subscribers (I charged around $20 for 30 minutes)

Now I run three YouTube channels in two languages (Marina Mogilko, Linguamarina, Silicon Valley Girl) with more than 5 million subscribers combined

By combining various sources of income, I am able to gross around $80,000 – $100,000 per month (Google AdSense, paid partnerships, product sales, affiliate programs). That doesn’t include taxes and expenses (I have a team now to help me with everything), but this means I only spend 5-7 hours a week to run all of my channels!

YouTube is like your reputation: you earn it first, and then the reputation, or algorithm in the case of YouTube, works for you. I believe that you need to post at least once a week for a year to find your niche and gain your first subscribers. It isn’t about just posting new videos. It’s about working with analytics, experimenting and interacting with your first viewers. It’s a process of finding your inner voice.

It sounds like hard work, but YouTube is actually one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life

I created a community of like-minded people around myself — now I always have someone to talk to

My videos help to change people’s lives — my subscribers constantly approach me on the street and thank me for the motivation and information I give them (people get accepted to universities around the world, speak English better, and start their blogs — after watching my videos!)

I do what I love – talk to a camera, learn and share information

It’s an almost passive source of income (YouTube pays me for what I am willing to do for free), and if I use a proactive approach (working with advertisers, launching products), I am able to make 5x what YouTube pays me through Google AdSense

Beginner YouTubers who are serious about starting

You understand that almost everything that happens in the world right now happens on social media to some extent. You were afraid to start because you were afraid of what other people would think, or you were just waiting because you wanted to have the perfect moment; but in the end, you realized you should have started earlier. And now you’re finally ready to start catching up with your goals.

Your result after the course: you’ll have started a channel, have a clear understanding of how to grow it, and scripts for the next few months of content.

Instagram influencers

You are tired of constantly investing in advertising, seeing how the number of followers only decreases after each post. You wish the content you created ‘lived’ longer than 24 hours. You want predictable organic growth and “evergreen” content — the kind of content you create once, but people watch it for years.

Your result after the course: you’ll have started a channel on the topic of your expertise, have a clear understanding of how to grow it, and scripts for the next few months of content. You’ll gain an understanding of how to repurpose content from YouTube on other social media and how to diversify your presence to increase reach and not be dependent on just one platform.

Experts and tutors

You understand that you have accumulated knowledge in your field and want to share it with thousands of people. At the same time, you want your channel to become a source of customers for you. You understand that a YouTube channel is a great lead generator for your business and a source of ideas for developing your product

Your result after the course: you’ll have started a channel on the topic of your expertise, have a clear understanding of how to grow it, and scripts for the next few months of content. You’ll gain an understanding of how to build your team around your channel and make it top of the funnel for your products. We’ll know what types of videos to produce depending on the type of your product and its price point.

YouTubers who are stuck

You have a channel, there are several videos published there, but you abandoned it because the growth was slow and you didn’t know what to do. And now you don’t know whether to create a new channel or continue working on the old one. And you also want to start delegating things like editing. However, you think that a video editor will not be able to edit the way you do it.

Your result after the course: you’ll have started a channel on the topic of your expertise, have a clear understanding of how to grow it, and scripts for the next few months of content. You will have checklists and instructions that will help you delegate things you don’t enjoy doing yourself.

You expect a magic pill from me. You are looking for something like three topics that will bring you the first 1000 – 10,000 – 100,000 subscribers with a 100% guarantee. There is no such thing as a guarantee in the creative world. Magic pills don’t exist in real life. In real life, you need a combination of knowledge and hard work to achieve success. I will give you specific and practical knowledge, and a clear understanding of what to do next

You think success will come after 3-5 videos. This happens but in very rare cases (these cases usually get a lot of attention, so it seems that every channel takes off quickly. This is not the case. Sometimes a YouTuber starts and abandons several channels and then he/she finds the one that takes off)

You are not ready to start making videos for your channel during the course.

My team and I created the course to give you a clear understanding of what to do with your channel next, what content the algorithm promotes, and how to monetize it. If you are ready to create content regularly, listen to the feedback from your subscribers, experiment, and apply knowledge from this course — I really want you to join! If you are not ready to work on your channel and want to start it only to become popular right away, it is probably better to look for other ways of doing it. In this case, my course will not be able to help.