How to Earn Money as a Small YouTuber

Kelly Cletheroe
6 min readFeb 2, 2021

Creating content on YouTube is now more common than ever, but that doesn’t mean that YOU can’t earn a slice of the pie too.

(image from Canva)

15 years ago, the thought of uploading regular content to YouTube was not only uncommon, but also downright embarrassing in the eyes of many. Flash forward to the chaotic year of 2021, and people all over the world are trying their hand at becoming YouTubers. For the creativity, for the fame, for the money.

However, just as many can quickly become discouraged. Climbing the heights on a platform like YouTube isn’t as simple as publishing a video and waiting for thousands of fans to appear overnight. Earning a steady income from it is even more challenging.

Can small YouTubers earn money? Or are the financial gains of sharing one’s thoughts, knowledge or lifestyle online reserved for those with a vast following? The old disappointing phrase “don’t quit the day job” springs to mind…but earning money on YouTube is very much still viable for smaller creators.

At the moment I have ~6,500 subscribers on YouTube. I still very much consider creating video content a side hustle. However, it’s still helping to move those little numbers in the bank account in the direction I prefer them to move.

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Kelly Cletheroe

Words about food and life online. From the writer and baker behind maverickbaking.com.