How I Started Earning Revenue on TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon
How I Started Earning Revenue on TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon
“When the pandemic hit” is a phrase that’s been uttered a billion times in 2020 and 2021. I’m sorry but I’m going to say it again to start this story. When the pandemic hit I was driving for Uber and Lyft. I was saving up money to buy a projector that I could use to help me perform my multimedia comedy show at open mics in Los Angeles.
My schtick is me presenting my funniest online trolling to audiences. It’s like a slide show and a stand up comedy presentation in one. So I felt like I needed the projector to get to as many Los Angeles open mics and shows as I could so I could get myself out there, get booked, and maybe get seen by somebody.
But when the world shut down that plan was halted. I had bought a green screen a few months before and planned on making videos for TikTok. The videos I would make would be the same thing I was doing on stages with my multimedia show. So when we all had to stay inside I decided it was finally time to make those videos for TikTok.
After a handful of videos that got seen by basically nobody, and someone even commenting “Serious question, why did you post this?” I felt like it was probably going to result in another failure or dead end attempt at getting myself seen online. Then one video did well.
It was a video of me responding to someone who was complaining to Target about the new bathroom policy that allows people to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity. The person said that Target’s new policy was dangerous because “pedophiles could enter these areas.” So I made a Facebook page called “Pedophiles” and responded to the person, saying “We’re going to enter these areas regardless of the bathroom policy.”
I had been doing this joke at comedy shows and it had always done well. It did well on TikTok too and became my first viral video. After that did well I made videos for all of my other greatest hits that I’d been working on over the years at comedy shows and festivals. Several more of them went viral, and before I knew it I had a real following.
There were some videos that I couldn’t fit into the under a minute limit on TikTok. For example, my friends and I used to sue each other to get on court TV. The court show pays whoever wins and it doesn’t go on anybody’s record. So we would make up cases and split the money. When I made a video about our adventures on court TV for TikTok, I could only post up to 1 minute. So my followers commented “Where can I watch the full episodes of these court shows?”
I let them know that the full episodes of the court shows were on my YouTube channel. This helped me gain a YouTube following that I did not have before. I went from about 100 or so subscribers to enough subscribers to be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program, which is 4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers. 4,000 public watch hours seems daunting but if any of your videos are longer than, say, 5 to 10 minutes, it can add up really quickly if one or two of those videos gets viewed. In my case, the court TV show episodes pushed me over the top to be able to start earning income.
After a while, TikTok came out with the Creator Fund for creators who have at least 10,000 followers. The creator fund doesn’t really pay as much as YouTub, but it’s still something. If I have a good month I can make four figures, and on slow months it still helps to have a couple hundred dollars or even a hundred bucks at the end of each month.
Before the pandemic, I was working and going to shows after work. Sitting at home gave me more time to make content. I had a following on Facebook already, but it helped me cultivate a newer, more engaged following than before. I made a Facebook group for my content. My group is called Hope This Helps. I already had a Facebook page called Hope This Helps, which has 100,000+ followers, but it had plateaued over the years and not seen significant growth.
Facebook sort of shifted to wanting everybody to join groups instead of pages, so I felt like I should try to get people to join my Facebook group. So for every post I made in my Facebook group, I shared it with my Facebook page. This helped drive traffic from my page to my group. The group started from scratch and today it has about 23,000 members. Although those numbers aren’t as astronomic as like, millions and millions of people, those people in the Facebook group have been some of my most loyal and consistent supporters ever.
I used my Facebook following to build my Patreon. For those who don’t know, Patreon is a app/website that allows you to turn yourself into a subscription service. For example, for fans of mine who want to see behind the scenes stuff, or bonus content, or have live hangout sessions with me or watch movies together, they can sign up for anywhere from $1 a month to $25 a month. Patreon takes about 11% and I get the rest.
The first day I announced my new Patreon I didn’t think anyone would sign up, but a few people did. Then, for every piece of content that I shared publicly, I put my Patreon link in the post so people could see it. If a piece of content did well, I would usually see more people signing up for my Patreon. That’s how I grew it from scratch to around 300 subscribers today. That monthly income has helped me tremendously.
About a year and half ago, I had zero income. Now with TikTok, YouTube, and Patreon combined, I get paid to do what I love.
www.facebook.com/groups/hopethishelps
www.facebook.com/ihopethishelps