ASLU 117: Surprising Success with a Small YouTube Channel

Editor’s Note: Some links in this article may be affiliate links. Full disclosure is located at the end of the article.

This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Illustrations

As a full time working creative, travel writer, videographer and YouTuber, Ayngelina Brogan of Bacon is Magic shares how she has used her small YouTube channel of just over 10 thousand subscribers to build an engaged community and double her overall income.

One of the biggest myths in the world of business is that you can’t earn revenue when you’re “small”. Finding your people, drawing them to you with good storytelling and interesting information and keeping their attention will always pay off!

This Episode Is For…

This is a great episode for creatives who:

  • are unsure of the power of video

  • are looking to build a highly engaged community around their work

  • dismiss YouTube because they're too small to earn revenue

  • dismiss YouTube because they’re too old! (Ayngelina is 45)

  • think the only option for monetizing YouTube is ad revenue (there are other ways!)

  • needs a paradigm shift when it comes to selling their work!

If you just want the links to the resources mentioned in this episode, scroll down to the bottom.

Listen To the Episode

Here’s a link to this week’s episode. You can also listen via the player below or on your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more). Just search for And She Looked Up!

how does your work make a difference?

in this episode we discuss:

  • how Ayngelina, as a travel writer, navigated a pandemic where she couldn’t travel!

  • taking the gift of time and making the most of it to learn and practice

  • how you can be a 45 year old new YouTuber who grows an audience

  • how people connect more with story than they do with a perfect visual experience

  • video (and any new skill) requires practice, practice, practice - and how Ayngelina made that happen

  • how she learned to be intentional with her filming to make it easier

  • why it was important to her to learn how to edit on her own before she progressed to hiring an editor

  • finding good editing help and how to work with them as a partner

  • what you need to qualify for YouTube ads

  • how being able to ad video to her written work and tourism partnerships has enabled her to double her income

  • how Patreon and YouTube Super Chat or Super Thanks have helped her grow her community engagement (and earn her income)

  • launching merch to further increase your revenue

  • the importance of asking your community for their opinions

  • how having an engaged community is SO rewarding

  • the importance of pitching yourself and your work to others who might want to pay you!

  • seeing how your work can make a difference in the lives of others

  • the importance of knowing your numbers and what they mean and why we need to take vanity metrics with a grain of salt (like subscriber counts)

  • when you’re smaller, you have freedom to make mistakes and try again the next day

  • the business side of YouTube and some of Ayngelina’s favourite resources

Mentioned In This Episode:

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Support the Podcast

Wondering how you can support the podcast? Here are some great ways you can support the podcast!

We’re On YouTube!

You can now listen to the podcast on YouTube! We’re in the process of uploading our entire archive onto YouTube, one episode a day, so you can listen there. Once we’re caught up, new episodes will be uploaded every Friday!

Podcast EpisodeMelissa Hartfielcreative enterpreneurshp, S4Comment