Erika Kullberg now has more than two million subscribers to YouTube and above 21 million followers across her social media accounts — but five years ago, she started with zero subscribers, like all new YouTube creators.
Kullberg makes personal finance videos for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, with content focused on helping people achieve who they are he owed it and sharing personal finance anecdotes from her life, like why she OFF TO a $250,000 job in corporate law.
She says that for all the platforms she posts on, she does MOST money from YouTube.
Kullberg has earned more than $353,000 from YouTube in the past five years, not including brand endorsements and tax money.
Credit: Erika Kullberg
It took her about three months of posting one YouTube video a week to get her first thousands of subscribers and qualify for monetization. This is very quick: For reference, the data on Vidic channel shows that it takes about 15.5 months on average for YouTubers to make money.
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Kullberg shared the secrets behind the rapid growth of her YouTube channel in an interview with The entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur: Was there a mindset or anything you did strategically to help your channel stand out and monetize?
Kullberg: When I first started YouTube, I committed to posting one video a week for a year, no matter what. Because what I see a lot of times about YouTube is people put out five videos and then they get so discouraged that they're not magically at a thousand subscribers after five videos that they just give up. So 52 videos. That was a big mental thing.
Another thing I did was study and analyze YouTube channels before launching my own channels. I understood the importance of getting the right image and the right title. It should also be a subject that you are very passionate about.
It took me three months to reach a thousand subscribers and that was after posting one video a week. For each video, I spent 15 to 20 hours.
How does one find a YouTube niche that can grow rapidly? Are there any research tools or tactics you'd recommend while they're out in the field?
For niche, I'd say don't base your content on what has the potential to grow rapidly. Base it on what you are passionate about. I think a good metric to understand how big the potential market is, looking at how big the biggest people are in that country… that will give you a rough idea of how big the area is.
And then if you're thinking specifically about how to build money through YouTube, how to use it to supplement your current income or eventually replace your income, I would also think about how profitable that niche could be , not just on YouTube. advertising revenue, which is one way to make money, but also in other ways. Can you become an affiliate marketer?
If you are a gardening channel then you can promote gardening supplies and maybe earn a commission from it. This is affiliate marketing. So thinking two steps ahead what is the potential for me to not only grow this channel and get subscribers but also make money.
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The YouTube search bar is your best tool. There are paid tools that YouTubers use. Three paid tools that come to mind are TubeBuddy, VidIQ and then ViewStats.com.
What kind of preparation did you do before posting your first video?
I analyzed what other videos were doing. One of the exercises I would recommend everyone do is to go find people who are talking about the same thing you want to talk to.
List them and then go to their YouTube videos and sort by popular videos. This starts to give you an idea of what kind of viral topics there are in your videos.
At the point where you are now, how do you ensure that your channel continues to grow?
For me, I think naturally if you keep putting out content, it will keep growing. It may not always grow at the same rate. Like, for example, in the personal finance space, if you want to get more views, you need to talk about things that are trending and stay on top of trending topics.
But I've moved in a different direction with my channel, so I create content that I'm interested in talking about.
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How do you balance YouTube and other ventures, like your legal tech startup Plug and Law?
Once you start making money for YouTube, you can figure out what you're uniquely positioned to do and then what you can hire.
So when I first started YouTube, I was practicing as a full-time attorney and doing YouTube as my side hobby for 20 hours a week, tops.
Credit: Erika Kullberg
I edited the first video myself and it took me 20 hours to learn how to edit. And then another 10 hours to edit that video. So I hired an editor.
As I started to earn some income from YouTube, I was able to hire different parts of it. So I was able to hire a person who designs miniatures. I learned how to hire and delegate tasks. I have a lot of people on my team now that help me, but it didn't start out that way.
You have worked in corporate law. What advice do you have for someone considering a career change?
Make sure you have enough money to do it. If you're thinking of quitting or changing your career or quitting to become an entrepreneur, start saving.
If you can start exploring your side hobby on the weekends, hopefully this side hobby, once it starts generating regular income, can become your main thing and you can quit your job.
Do you ever regret leaving that corporate life behind?
I have never regretted leaving the corporate world behind.
I became a lawyer because I wanted to help people and I wanted to make a difference. But being a corporate lawyer didn't fulfill that for me, and I didn't like having my time dictated and controlled by a boss. I feel very, very lucky and never regret taking the plunge to be here. Leave the corporate life and fancy salary behind.
Credit: Erika Kullberg
Do you have any other tips for entrepreneurs who want to start and grow a YouTube channel?
I would say be clear on your mission, understand the monetization path, understand that the results will not be quick, it will probably take you twice as long to reach any number of subscribers that you expect, and so be patient and understand that it is a lot of work.
To give context, I forget the exact numbers, but it took me three months to get to a thousand subscribers, another three months to get to 2,000, and then in one month, between months five and six, I went from 2,000 to 52,000. subscribers, approximately and made 20,000 dollars that month from YouTube.
This was a combination of YouTube, advertising revenue, affiliates and sponsorships. So you are just one video away from changing the trajectory of your future. Be patient and don't give up.
This interview has been cut and edited for clarity.