How to Make Money on YouTube (Even With 100 Subscribers)

My name is Seth Kniep, Kniep’n it real. I grew my last YouTube channel to 260,000 subscribers. This generated over $100,000 a month consistently. 

And a lot of happy clients…

What I give you today is not from the department of theory but the product of over 20,000 hours (literally) building a course business, cultivating leads from YouTube. 

🔥 1. Forget numbers of views. Find buyers. 

• YouTube is exploding. 694,000+ hours watched per minute. 

• But most creators are broke. 

• Why? They are fixated on vanity metrics. It’s called “vanity” because these metrics are vain–they hold no weight–specifically in dollars. 

Even though I grew my last YouTube channel to 260,0000 subscribers, it was not the volume of subscribers that made me money, but the kind of subscribers. 

That means you need to aim for value-per-viewer not number of viewers. 

Let’s say you own a brick and mortar retail store. And you tell me, “Hey, Seth, 100 buyers came into our store today.” 

Now if you sell $1,000 watches, that’s amazing. You might have cleared $100,000 in a day.

But if you are a dollar store, you might have cleared one hundred bucks. 

Notice what did NOT change in each scenario: the number of store visitors. The difference was the value each store visitor brought. 

And the value of someone shopping a $1,000-per-watch-store is going to be 100s of times higher than the average Dollar Tree shopper. 

Some viewers will never buy a single thing from you. So do this: Create content that attracts buyers. 

🎯 2. Create Content for One Person

Ask yourself three questions before ever hitting “record”:

• Who am I helping?

• What pain are they feeling right now?

• How do I move them from struggle to solution?

This isn’t niche picking–it’s way better. It’s audience targeting with surgical clarity. 

Let’s say you have a passion to train dogs. And you want to be paid to help people train their dogs. 

Every single time you run into a problem training dogs and find a solution, get in front of your camera, hit record, and film the struggle and how you solved it. 

Because guess what: I guarantee you that if it was a problem for you, it’s a problem for thousands of other people. That is why the very best course sellers create content out of their struggles and solutions. 

If you do this consistently, it will teach YouTube to send your content to people hungry for your kind of content. 

The algorithm starts working for you instead of against you

Do not make the mistake of doing random topics. One day it’s about dog training. The next video is about our vacation to Bali. Nothing will confuse and kill your algorithm faster. 

📦 3. Build your Offer First

• Monetization should be baked in before your first video.

• This means you need to create a digital product, service, or program around the transformation you deliver.

• And then every video you make becomes a pathway to that outcome. 

Today, I know of no lower overhead, faster-to-market product, that impacts lives powerfully while making you amazing money more than creating a digital course. 

If you want me to send you content on how to do that every single day, go here and I will hook you up. 

 💌4. Bring your followers into your email list 

You don’t own your YouTube channel. But you do own your email list.

As long as your followers are on YouTube, YouTube has complete control. 

So every time you make a video, invite your viewers to receive a free resource. 

They go to a simple landing page, they opt in to receive that free resource, and now you can provide them with content over email. 

For example, in almost every video I invite my viewers to join my email list, Craftsmen Spark, where I send them daily emails to help them build their digital course business.

This is not a bait and switch or some trick. Give them GREAT content. As Charlie Munger said: “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.” 

Subscribers don’t owe you jack. But if you serve them well, they will appreciate the free content you offer.  

Over time, that email list becomes your most valuable monetization asset. 

🌡️ 5. Adjust your pitch like a thermostat

There are three temperature levels for any audience: cold, warm, and hot. 

Each audience type needs to receive a different kind of offer. 

What if your audience is cold? 

→ A blueprint. A cheat sheet. Anything of highly practical value that will help them accomplish some important task. 

For example, if your channel teaches people how to train their dog, then give them The 15 Minute Blueprint: Train your dog 15 minutes a day with zero previous experience. Or The Training Video Library: Basic Commands Made Easy. 

You receive their name and email. They receive your free lead magnet. Everyone is happy. 

What if your audience is warm? 

Then offer them a free training like a mini course. This is a bigger value but will also take longer to consume. But the longer they consume your material, the more likely they will eventually buy your product. 

What if your audience is hot? 

Then offer them your product, such as your Dog Training Course. 

📹 The 7-Piece Growth Stack

Instead of random uploads, build your content library intentionally:

1. Pain-Specific Conversion Video. Ex. How to get your dog to stop barking at every possible sound

2. Broad Awareness Hook. Ex. Why dog training makes owning a dog easy and fun

3. Educational Nurture Video. Ex. How to understand your dog and what motivates him/her

4. Direct Buyer Targeting. You’re not educating or building awareness. you’re directly addressing urgent problems and offering solutions your product solves. Ex. Proud owner of a new puppy? Train him early and right with the Dog Training Skool or What My Clients Learned After 30 Days of Training With Me or How to Know If You’re Ready to Train Your Dog Without a Pro.

5. Personal Insight or Framework Video. This is where you share your unique insight or methodology on a topic. Often it goes against mainstream wisdom. Ex. Why I Stopped Using Treats for Training. My Verbal Commands for Dog Training Were Wrong — Here’s What I Learned or The Behavior Reset System I Use for Aggressive Dogs.

6. Viral Topic to Expand Reach. I hate the word “viral.” Because no one can control what goes viral. But you can increase your chances to go viral. But the goal is not virality but expanded reach. Ex. I Tried to Train My Dog in 24 Hours. Or Top 5 Things You’re Accidentally Teaching Your Dog. Or I Tried the Worst Dog Training Advice on the Internet.

7. Final Nurture/Education Video. These work best with warm leads, people who already trust you and love your content but are not yet convinced that your program is what they want to invest in. Ex. What Dog Training Really Looks Like Week by Week or 3 Common Dog Owner Mistakes (and What to Do Instead) or Client Q&A: What It's Like to Train With Me. These videos do not hard sell. Instead they reassure, clarify, and empower. 

Do you know what the coolest part is? 

You get to change lives. Real. Life. Change. 

You can’t put a price tag on that.