- Brittani Cunningham launched her travel-inspired candle enterprise and YouTube channel final 12 months.
- She’s offered practically $10,000 in candles and earns a whole bunch a month by means of internet affiliate marketing.
- Here is how she makes use of passive revenue streams on YouTube to spice up her revenue.
Brittani Cunningham was climbing her manner up within the movie and TV industries in 2020, working in shopper relations and recruiting on the units of reveals like “Energy,” “Jessica Jones,” and “Pose.” However when the pandemic left her job at a standstill, she pursued a brand new ardour: making travel-inspired candles and documenting her entrepreneurial journey on social media.
In March 2021, Cunningham launched her startup, Lit City Candles — the candle scents are primarily based off journeys Cunningham has taken around the globe, together with to Paris and Jamaica. Seven months later, she relaunched the model after tinkering with the manufacturing course of and began chronicling her experiences as an entrepreneur on her YouTube channel. As we speak, her neighborhood of 10,000 subscribers watches her weekly movies recapping occasions she attends or a day in her life as a small-business proprietor.
Cunningham has offered simply shy of $10,000 value of candles since her launch, a determine Insider verified with documentation. Past product gross sales, Cunningham usually earns a whole bunch of {dollars} a month, totaling hundreds a 12 months, by means of further revenue streams like Google’s AdSense promoting program, internet affiliate marketing, and partnership offers.
Cunningham instructed Insider in regards to the significance of constructing a YouTube neighborhood as a small-business proprietor. That is an as-told-to story that was edited for size and readability.
YouTube may help you construct connections with prospects and fellow enterprise house owners
Cunningham
Earlier than my candle enterprise, I used to be focused on journey and had a YouTube channel devoted to that a part of my life. Throughout quarantine, once I began making candles primarily based on locations I might visited, it made sense to fuse all of it collectively on-line.
The advantage of YouTube is the neighborhood that I’ve constructed round my model. It is helped improve model consciousness, share my story, and permit viewers to attach with each me and my merchandise. After I showcase the intricate elements of working Lit Metropolis Candles — like designing my themed packaging and getting ready for native pop-up retailers — viewers get to see how a lot effort I put into my enterprise. The encouraging feedback I obtain show to me that, even with a distinct segment enterprise, there may be an neighborhood and buyer base on the market.
An important factor I’ve realized from rising my channel is that you need to be actual and trustworthy as a result of folks can see in the event you’re not. That features being susceptible. If I am speaking a few pop-up occasion, and it did not go properly, I’ll say so. If I do not make any gross sales, I am going to inform my viewers and share what I realized and what I am going to do otherwise subsequent time.
This technique has helped folks join with me. And constructing that connection leads to not solely constructive feedback but in addition extra paying prospects, extra trustworthy suggestions, and extra real alternatives down the highway.
A web-based presence can result in lucrative connections
Screenshot, YouTube
Posting on-line has additionally helped me generate gross sales. For instance, a former coworker of mine discovered about my enterprise by coming throughout one among my movies. They ended up shopping for my first-ever bulk order, value practically $3,000. After I filmed a video in regards to the expertise and posted it, it carried out very well and introduced me much more gross sales.
YouTube additionally helps with public relations and outreach for my model. Due to my on-line presence, manufacturers and candle producers began reaching out to me for collaborations and sponsored partnerships.
YouTube provides entrepreneurs the chance to earn passive revenue
Other than paid partnerships, I make a number of different streams of passive revenue from YouTube. For instance, I earn cash by means of Google AdSense, or when Google advertisements present up on my movies. I additionally just lately began using affiliate links, the place I embody product hyperlinks within the description of my movies and earn cash if a follower purchases that merchandise. That manner, if I am speaking a few candle product that somebody decides to purchase, I get one thing out of that.
As a enterprise proprietor right now, you are going to must be on social media to market your corporation. So I counsel all entrepreneurs to make the most of the choice methods platforms may help assist you and your model.
On YouTube, I’ve a comparatively small variety of subscribers, however I will make chunk of cash off my channel with that small neighborhood that I constructed.
