Summary

An ambitious entrepreneur shares their costly experience of investing $7500 in a YouTube automation program, ultimately realizing that such ventures are not suitable for everyone and that personal passion and financial stability are crucial for success.

Abstract

The author recounts a personal journey of investing heavily in a YouTube automation coaching program, aiming to create a profitable online business through faceless channels. Despite the initial appeal of outsourcing video production, the author faced significant financial loss without any return on investment. The narrative underscores the importance of personal suitability for such business models, the necessity of prior success and experience in video content production, and the availability of extra funds to sustain the venture. The author reflects on the lessons learned, emphasizing the value of sound judgment, experimentation, and the resilience to move forward despite setbacks.

Opinions

The author believes that ambition without proper checks can lead to substantial financial losses.
YouTube automation is seen as a viable business model for those who already have a successful channel and wish to scale up their operations.
The author admits that video content may not be the preferred medium for all content creators, despite its popularity and proven effectiveness.
The success of YouTube automation is thought to depend on having sufficient funds to outsource content creation consistently.
The author advises against taking on debt to fund a YouTube channel, especially when partnerships or other funding options are not viable.
Reflecting on their experience, the author values the lessons learned about making informed decisions and the importance of personal passion in content creation.
The author maintains an optimistic outlook on their future as a content creator, despite the significant financial setback.

Entrepreneurship

I Lost $7500 This Summer To Start A YouTube Channel. Hear My Story, So You Don't Repeat My Mistake.

I'm embarrassed to share this story, but it has to be told.

Ambition left unchecked can be very costly.

If Julius Caesar were alive, he'd tell you.

Or you can ask me. My ambition of building a profitable online business has led me to a painful and idiotic mistake that almost made me wish I was stabbed by an angry pack of Roman senators instead.

A few months ago, I got hooked on starting a YouTube channel. Specifically, the concept of faceless channels enchanted me.

Faceless channels are fantastic when you think about it.

They're great for camera-shy people.
They are not centered on just one personality. Therefore, if you decide to sell it, you can, because people don't have to know who's running the show.
They can be highly profitable.

Several people on Medium have documented their success with their faceless YouTube channels. I wish I were as smart as them.

Anybody with an internet connection can start a faceless channel for $0. Not me. I spent over $7500 creating mine.

How Did This Happen?

In June, I came across a YouTuber who succeeded in using a business model called YouTube automation.

Simply put, YouTube automation is the idea of outsourcing the video creation process to freelancers on places like Fiverr and Upwork. You, the channel owner, would act as a project manager supervising scriptwriters, voiceover artists, video editors, and anyone else with a role to play in making videos.

The idea of YouTube automation appealed to me so much that I spent little time thinking about signing on to the bandwagon. I decided to put up money for a YouTube automation coaching/consulting program.

The price tag? $7500 for a year of full support, including a monetized channel in 30 days.

I felt a stab in the chest as I wired thousands of dollars to his company, but I tried to steel myself. I told myself that this was going to work. That this was the break I needed.

Yet here I am, five months later, with $0 to back up my investment. My total spending is actually a little over $7500 because I also spent money on Fiverr to have people make a few videos for me. I didn't end up using any of those videos for various reasons.

I'm not blaming anybody. The idea of YouTube automation makes a lot of sense, and I'm still convinced it works. But there is a BIG caveat.

It only works for certain people.

Who Is YouTube Automation For?

1. People who already have some success with their channel.

YouTube automation is a great way to take things to the next level if you have a channel already making decent money.

Creating engaging videos is not easy. If you have been functioning as a one-person operation, you know how much work it takes to produce even just one video.

With YouTube automation, you can offload some of your work by handing it over to freelancers. All you have to do is reinvest whatever profits you've made on your channel.

But automation is probably not the best idea if you haven't made money like me.

2. People who are sure they want to produce video content.

Everybody says that video is THE best form of media. There's even data to back it up. That's all good, except maybe video is not your medium of choice as a content creator.

It took me months to realize that simple fact.

I'd rather be writing. I like writing because it drastically narrows the gap between ideation and creation. Videos, however, create many barriers to seeing my ideas come to fruition. There's just too much friction.

My channel is sitting idly on the internet with almost zero content because I don't have the time or motivation to pump content into it.

3. People who have extra funds.

The whole point of YouTube automation is to outsource as much as possible to freelancers. At least initially, I was prepared to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars each month to hire people online.

My situation has changed, though. I recently reduced my work hours to devote more time to building my online business. Between my income and my wife's, we still have enough to pay all our bills. So that's not an issue.

But I can't spend $500–$1000 per month to have people make videos for me. It's just not feasible.

To save my channel, I've considered the following options:

Take a personal loan to fund my channel until it becomes profitable.
Partner with people who can contribute something to the channel (i.e., video editing)

I went with neither option because

A. I don't want to take on debt.

B. The people I partnered with don't have enough time to help me produce videos consistently.

Where I'm Currently At

Because I spent so much money on my channel, it took me some time before I admitted to myself that I had made a big mistake.

But it is what it is. I fucked up.

Thankfully, I didn't borrow money to pay for my channel, but losing that much cash still hurts like hell.

On the bright side, I learned vital lessons about life and business that I will never forget.

I learned that there is no substitute for good judgment. There are a ton of great opportunities on the internet. But it doesn't mean every one of them is worth it. Anyone can fail at even the best opportunities if it's not for them.
Before flushing thousands of dollars down the toilet, I could have done more experimentation. I have another channel in addition to the one I was planning to automate. It would have been wiser if I had used my channel first to gauge whether YouTube was for me.

In any case, I'm no longer feeling resentful. Yes, I was frustrated. And yes, I wanted to kick myself in the head. But I'm moving on.

And despite what happened, I'm still optimistic about my future as a content creator. I messed up, but so have others like me early in their career.

Very rarely do content creators enter this game knowing what to do.

And that's OK because perfection is not the thing that sets good content creators apart. What makes content creators special is their ability to build in public, for better or worse.