Chris Zissis builds automated YouTube channels for investors to generate passive income.
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Guest Resource
Chris’ Instagram – Touch base with Chris on Instagram – Grow your brand, grow your business, and grow your YouTube channel for FREE!
3 Value Bombs
1) You have a controversial moment that you can leverage to get more attention.
2) It is essential to get engagement from your audience; it does not matter who is behind the camera – your content is all that matters.
3) Always look at the risks and opportunities. Assess and as yourself, what if it does work and what if it doesn’t? There is so much opportunity out there.
Sponsors
Roll by ADP: The first chat-based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups! Visit GetRoll.com/fire to get your first 3 months free!
HubSpot: Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and making things easy is how you’ll win. Learn more about how HubSpot can help your business grow better at HubSpot.com.
ZipRecruiter: Outstanding talent is crucial for a successful business. And if you’re hiring, you can find talent for any role at ZipRecruiter. Try it for free today at ZipRecruiter.com/fire!
Show Notes
**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.
Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Make Millions on YouTube without Showing Your Face with Chris Zissis
[1:01]- Chris shares something he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.
- He believes everyone has a controversial moment they can leverage to get more attention.
[2:22] – How realistic is it to make passive income from YouTube?
- You can make passive income from YouTube by getting time and attention and being able to execute things.
- You can make a lot of money from YouTube. It will take a little time, experience, and attention.
[3:19] – Chris shares a story about one of his clients, who is already making passive income from YouTube.
- One of his clients loves to play golf, and he helped him to start a YouTube channel.
- After a few months, the channel started earning.
- It is essential to get engagement from your audience; it does not matter who is behind the camera – your content is all that matters.
[4:42] – Why would a content creator choose this opportunity over others?
- Chris didn’t have a warm welcome from some audiences when he started doing YouTube.
- He decided to create content that did not require him to be behind the camera at all times.
- Content creators choose this opportunity over others because of the ultimate passive income that you can get from YouTube.
[7:09] – How much can a channel make on the high and low end?
- High end:
- You can get $50-$60K per month from ads, sponsorship, and affiliations.
- Some tracks get $100-$200K per month, but sustaining that is challenging.
- Channels with technology content that frequently post several 8 to 10-minute videos daily and weekly earn more.
- Low end:
- $2-$5K per month
[9:58] – A timeout to thank our sponsors!
- Roll by ADP: The first chat-based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups! Visit GetRoll.com/fire to get your first 3 months free!
- ZipRecruiter: Outstanding talent is crucial for a successful business. And if you’re hiring, you can find talent for any role at ZipRecruiter. Try it for free today at ZipRecruiter.com/fire!
- HubSpot: Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and making things easy is how you’ll win. Learn more about how HubSpot can help your business grow better at HubSpot.com.
[12:41] – Isn’t it overcrowded, or is there still an opportunity?
- Saturation only comes down to the inability to execute a specific task.
- Most people use saturation as an excuse not to perform.
- With YouTube, saturation gives you an advantage because you can see a suggested tab on the side of the screen, wherein you can have potential views from other similar videos.
- Be in the position and have a proper strategy to grow your channel
[14:44] – Chris shares a story about another channel he helped grow
- A client came to him with a content idea in an overcrowded market; the client pursued it anyway
- A farming niche.
- The channel is now making decent revenue every month.
[15:33] – Why not just keep this secret to yourself and not do it for others?
- The biggest thing for Chris is the ability to grow his network, speak with more people, and help others in any way that he can.
- Inspiring and helping others earn a decent amount of money can change lives.
[17:45] – Chris’ parting piece of guidance.
- Always look at the risks and opportunities. Assess and ask yourself, what if it does work and what if it doesn’t? There is so much opportunity out there.
- Chris’ Instagram – Touch base with Chris on Instagram – Grow your brand, grow your business, and grow your YouTube channel for FREE!
[21:59] – Thank you to our sponsors!
- Roll by ADP: The first chat-based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups! Visit GetRoll.com/fire to get your first 3 months free!
- HubSpot: Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and making things easy is how you’ll win. Learn more about how HubSpot can help your business grow better at HubSpot.com.
- ZipRecruiter: Outstanding talent is crucial for a successful business. And if you’re hiring, you can find talent for any role at ZipRecruiter. Try it for free today at ZipRecruiter.com/fire!
Transcript
0 (2s):
Lights that spark Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs On Fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like Salesmen. Today, we'll be talking about how to make millions on YouTube without showing your face to drop these value bombs. I brought to Chris Zissis in the EOFire studios. Chris builds automated YouTube channels for investors to generate passive income. And today foundation we'll talk about that passive income. We'll talk about why a content creator would choose this opportunity over others, real numbers, like the high and the low end saturation and so much more. When we get back from thanking our sponsors. Let's get real, let's talk. Roll by ADP.
0 (47s):
The first chat based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups. It makes running payroll as easy as sending a text visit, getroll.com/fire to get your first three months free. Business made simple hosted by Donald Miller takes the mystery out of growing your business. Recent episodes, like how to attract and retain top talent and how to make more money with your current products are straight fire. Listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts. Chris say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.
1 (1m 26s):
Yo, yo, find nation appreciate being here and thank you, John, for having me look, I think the biggest thing for me that I definitely learned over the last few years about being successful that most people won't agree with is just stirring the pot. Like there has to be some type of controversial, you know, moment where you say something or do something that isn't bad in a way, but it's just controversial in your certain beliefs. Even just saying a statement like this, where you got to, you know, Russell, some people not the right way. And you know, you use that as leverage, as productively as possible to be able to get yourself in front of more people, get more eyeballs, get more attention.
0 (2m 0s):
I actually love that. I like to say, love me or hate me because there's no money in the middle. And if you're not polarizing on some levels, Fire Nation, if you're not contradictory on some levels, then you're probably not going to stand out. You're probably going to blend in and that murky, murky, saturated, loud middle, nobody wants to be there and say, we're talking about making millions on YouTube without showing your face. Now I've made millions from podcasting without showing my face. So I can definitely say it's as possible on the podcasting side of things, but I want to talk basics with you right now, Chris, how realistic is it to make passive income from YouTube?
1 (2m 47s):
I'm going to be a bit biased because that's what I focus on and that's what I do. But I mean, look at the end of the day, it just comes down to time and attention and the ability to execute on certain things. So being able to make money on YouTube, one thing, but really being able to make decent money life-changing money and money that can really, you know, help family, help friends and help yourself. It does take a little bit more time. It does take more experience and attention, but is it possible? Absolutely. And myself and many of my clients and many other people that I know, you know, in a position where they are making life-changing money from YouTube, whether it be just a few thousand dollars a month to pay rent, or whether it be 20 grand a month, plus from, you know, these what we call faceless YouTube channels.
0 (3m 27s):
Now let's maybe give an example of that. Like one of your customers, one of your clients, somebody that, you know, you don't have to be specific, no names needed, but who's somebody who you're like, wow, that's a really cool example of somebody who is currently making passive income from YouTube.
1 (3m 43s):
Yeah. So to give you an idea of one of my clients is really heavy in golf. He loves it. He goes golfing every week. His buddies play golf, you know, he's just got a true, real passion for golf. And we were having a chat over dinner one night and he was just telling me about, you know, how this whole PGA tour stuff. I'm not sure if anyone listening is familiar, but there's all this Saudi Arabia and this new league that's coming up in the Gulf world is trying to take market share back from the PGA. And essentially he was just telling me all about it and I could see how into it, he was getting. And I said, why don't we start a YouTube channel over it? And I mean, yeah, within the first couple of months, you know, the channel is already making five grand a month. So in that sort of situation, we're talking about the PGA and all the new things that are happening with the players and, you know, the, the, the state of the world or the side of the golf world.
1 (4m 27s):
So that's one example I can think of top of head that happened relatively recently. And obviously not everything is going to blow up as quickly. Although when you hit a, hit a nail on a head and you hit that, you know, that feeling or that moment where you know, that that topic is something that people want to watch and they're engaged about. And, and they have that desire to watch and engage with that content. Then people don't care who's behind the camera or who is there. If there is anyone at all, they just want to see the content that therefore, and that's where this documentary style video creation really comes in and smashes it out of the park for those types of topics.
0 (4m 60s):
Now let's answer the question of why, why would a content creator choose this opportunity over others?
1 (5m 7s):
Well, I mean, I can't obviously speak for most, most people, but I can speak from my experience, which is typically going to be what most people have seen or felt before. When I first started YouTube, I was in front of the camera talking, you know, teaching people how to lose weight, look good and feel good, et cetera. And the comments just hit me really hard. You know, it was a bunch of losers online messaging me saying that I was fat, that I was ugly, that I couldn't do anything that, you know, I didn't look good behind the camera, et cetera. And after a while that hit me. So I decided there's gotta be a better way. And long story short, I came across this particular model and that allowed me to still be able to create content, still exercise my creative muscle, still make money at the same time, but then ultimately create content that I'm excited about as well.
1 (5m 50s):
You know, if there's topics that I really want to talk about or that I really want to, I really want to pursue, I don't have to be behind the camera every single time. I want to talk about something that might be Elon Musk related, or maybe somebody that's crypto related or maybe something that's golf related. You know, I'm not going to be the face behind those three channels. And this just allows someone, especially me and my position at the time, the ability to step back, not have to get the criticism of you're too ugly. You're too fat, whatever it is, and really focus on these other niches that you otherwise would be sort of frowned upon. If you're doing, you know, space to golf, to soccer, to, you know, NBA or whatever it might be. You're trying to do too many things. Whereas in this case, nobody knows who runs what, and you can just express that, that muscle in any way that you see fit.
0 (6m 34s):
So that's one let's come up with another one. What's a, another reason why a content creator would choose this opportunity over all those other opportunities that are out there.
1 (6m 44s):
Ultimately the passive income opportunity from YouTube as well. That's a big one that comes from me too, that, you know, you can make some decent money from YouTube when you do it properly and a few thousand dollars a month, you know, something that could change someone's life or pay for their rent, but the ability to be able to do that with just hiring a team or having a team, doing it for you, puts you in a position that you don't have to worry about spending hours upon hours upon hours of content creation and spending a week or on a weekend, or spending time away from family. This could be completely handled to someone else and they just manage it for you.
0 (7m 15s):
So here at Entrepreneurs On Fire, we're big on transparency. We're big on authenticity and really getting behind the numbers, opening the kimono, so to speak. So let's talk real numbers. How much can a channel make both on the high end and the low ends and let's use specific examples on both sides of that.
1 (7m 34s):
Yeah, so it obviously varies just depending on the content that is being created. I've got some clients that are making on the high end, 40 grand a month, 50 grand a month from the YouTube channel in general. So that's talking about the ad revenue that comes in from just ad sense and then things like sponsorships, brand deals and affiliates that can sort of creep that channel up to 50 K 60 K plus that's on the high end. Now I have seen channels that do make a hundred K a month, 200 K a month. Is that possible? Yes. Is it sustainable? In my opinion, with this type of model, it's not just due to the fact of the amount of content that needs to be produced and just, I guess, to a point where the wheelhouse at that point is, is such on fire. That it's, it almost burns you out because you can't maintain that steady of growth.
1 (8m 16s):
So a hundred K plus definitely doable. I've had a couple of channels do it. Ideally what happens with clients, you know, looking at 50, 60 K on the high end and then most clients anywhere between two to five K and the low end, that's a monthly revenue that comes in from the channel.
0 (8m 30s):
Let's have a specific example on both sides of things. Again, we don't have to talk even the niche unless you can kind of mention that that would be helpful on some levels, not even the person's name. Of course wouldn't have to mention their actual channel, but what does that look like? Like what are these people doing on the high end? Like on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis, like the quantity of videos, what sector are they in? And then the exact same thing for the low end?
1 (8m 51s):
Yeah. So, I mean, I don't mind talking numbers and the niches and stuff. So one of the nieces was a technician. So we're talking about, you know, Tesla, Elon Musk talking about, you know, space X, all that sort of stuff. And a lot of those types of niches do really well as I'm sure you and most listeners are familiar with CPM. So your cost per thousand in the YouTube world of how many people watch out of those thousand views, that's how much you get paid per that thousand. So in this case technology and those other niches, there are a lot higher in terms of their earnings per thousand. So these particular channel was posting about five times a day. So, you know, we're talking about every three to four hours and then that we're posting every single day for five times a day. So, you know, you're talking about 30 plus videos every single week and did talk in five minute, eight minute, 10 minute long videos.
1 (9m 38s):
And that's obviously quite time intensive and it's really intense to get those videos out and uploaded and scheduled and, and quality controlled as well. So, you know, there's, there's a, there's a balancing scale there. So that was in the technique, the low end from top of minds, one of the recent ones that come to mind would be something like the, like a, like an athletics type channel to talking about, you know, track and field or gymnastics or anything like that. You still get a lot of viewers that watch it. And you also have viral potential videos of, of broad topics that a lot of people could watch. But typically speaking on the low end, you're looking at around two to sort of 5k a month on something like that as well.
0 (10m 14s):
So far in Asia, we're going to talk saturation. We're going to talk some personal questions. When we get back from thanking our sponsors. Roll by ADP is the first chat-based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups. It makes doing payroll ridiculously easy. How easy put it this way? It's as easy as pulling up a podcast on your phone roll takes on payroll tasks for you like automatically filing your payroll taxes as a small business owner, you're expected to do it all, but now you don't have to. You're a small business owner, not an accountant. So if you have a payroll question, just fire off a text and receive roles, 24/7 live support, and step-by-step guidance role knows that are only so many minutes in the day.
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0 (11m 38s):
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0 (12m 19s):
Again, that's ziprecruiter.com/F I R E. ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire this year feels like the official return of conferences and in-person events. And I'm very excited to be speaking live onstage at this year's Inbound 2022 events in Boston, Inbound 2022 is happening in person and online September 6th through the 9th. And Kate and I would love to see you there this year. The in-person experience will include festival style stages, including the podcast age what's next stage. In the main stage, aside from hosting a live interview on the podcast stage for Entrepreneurs On Fire, I'm fired up about the connections and inspiration. That'll be all around us at this year's event.
0 (13m 1s):
If you can't join us in Boston this year, there are several other pass options available like the startup pass, which is your free ticket to the spotlight talents, prices are increasing, and there are only a limited number of VIP tickets available. So be sure to check out Inbound 2022 today Inbound 2022 was built by you powered by HubSpot. Learn more, or get your tickets now at Inbound.com. So Chris we're back. And as I kinda mentioned before the break, I mean, man, it can be a crowded market when there's money to be made people flood in, it can get saturated, it can get crowded. I mean, there's the whole supply and demand thing. Isn't it overcrowded to get into one of these spaces and get these type of results?
0 (13m 45s):
Or is there still opportunity out there?
1 (13m 47s):
Yeah, that's a great question. You know, a lot of people ask about saturation and ultimately for me, saturation only comes down to the inability to execute on a certain task. So a lot of people use saturation as an excuse to not go into do something I'm not going to do that particular niche or that particular video or that particular job or that role or that business, whatever it is because it's saturated. Now, there is obviously a reason in some cases to not go into it, if it is saturated, but with YouTube saturation actually helps us because on the side of the screen, we've got the suggested tab that allows us to get views from other videos that are very similar. So again, saturation to me is just the inability to execute on a particular goal or strategy. Now, my strategy, I feel like over the last five years, I've nailed down to a point where it's like, I want more competition because the more competition proves how much better my videos are than everybody else's.
1 (14m 36s):
And it means that when these videos start popping up and they start trying to take my market share, and then the audience sees my videos, they're going to click on it. And now all these other little videos that are popping up, they're just pushing more traffic towards my videos. So I actually welcome the competition because I know nobody has the processes in place like I do with my team to ensure the quality and the results that we currently get. So like I said, competition for me is just the lack of an ability to execute. But there is obviously a point where, you know, if you've got 50,000 channels talking about the Johnny Depp and Amber heard thing, then obviously not every single channel is going to blow up, but that's just where you need to be in a position to have the proper strategy, the thumbnails, the good quality videos, et cetera, all the analytics that YouTube look at to be able to really grow that video or that channel even in a crowded market, because you know, a lot of people would say podcasting is, is overcrowded and saturated in the business niche, but I'm sure there's still new business podcasts popping up every day.
1 (15m 29s):
And, and they're still getting some form of results, whether it be massive or whether it just be minuscule, they're still getting some type of, you know, ball moving.
0 (15m 36s):
Let's talk about maybe a specific example where you saw somebody come into what you thought was a really crowded markets. And you're like, man, they might have a challenge ahead of them. Of course it's possible, like you mentioned, but there's a challenge there. What did they do to get that initial traction?
1 (15m 52s):
Yeah. So, I mean, I, haven't had a niche where someone comes to me and says like, you know, let's go into this. And I say, well, that's overcrowded. I have had an issue. Someone comes to me and I say, I don't think that's going to work. And it completely proved me wrong. That was in the farming niche, you know, talking about like tractors and animals and farm farm lands. I didn't think anyone would care to, to watch that or even make those videos, but the client was insistent. So I was just like, all right, screw it. Let's do it. And now that channel is making like five grand a month. So that, that completely blew my mind from something that I was not expecting. So now being, you know, a pretty decent earner
0 (16m 22s):
Now, this is where we kind of get to a personal question. I mean, what's working so well for you once the quote-unquote kind of secret gets out, then everybody starts doing it. And now it's not quite such an advantage anymore, so to speak. So why not just keep this information, this secret to yourself? Why do you do it for others?
1 (16m 41s):
I thought about that, you know, many times before, and for me, the biggest thing is just the ability to be able to network, grow my network, speak with more people and help in any way that I can. From a point of view that obviously it's going to build my brand and it's going to get people to come into my ecosystem. Obviously there's a, there's a selfish reason and goal behind it, ultimately too. Although the ability just to be able to help people in terms of making an extra thousand $2,003,000 a month at the end of the day, a lot of there's a lot of this money that comes in from a lot of people that can really change their life and that can really help pay for whether it be college debt or whether it be schooling for kids. You know, there's so many different things that just by being selfless in the way that I can give out the information, I can even maybe inspire or motivate a couple of people just to get started.
1 (17m 29s):
And then a couple of things that they do might change their life. To me, that's more exciting and that's more beneficial than me making an extra 10 grand, 20 grand, 50 grand a month. Ultimately, you know, as I'm sure yourself and many viewers would know when you get to a point where your, your bank account keeps stacking, it's like, what do I do with this now? It's just nothing else that I can buy or do, or, or entertain myself with that is going to put me in a position to make me feel better. So it's ultimately helping others in a selfish way that they come in and pay attention to my staff moving forward, but also to in a selfless way that they can change their life with a simple couple of videos or this YouTube method, for example, and just making a few extra thousand dollars that I know can change their life is worth more to me than a hundred thousand dollars a month in my bank account.
0 (18m 16s):
Wow. Powerful stuff, Fire Nation. I really wish and hope that all of you listening get to that at some point where it's like done it have Crested the peak I'm at the top of the mountain. Now, how do I give back? So Chris let's end with a bang. My man, take the microphone, take a step back. Think about everything we've talked about here today. I mean, we talked about how realistic it is to make passive income. Why would a content creator choose this real numbers you gave us both high and low and examples, which is super cool, what to do with saturation. The personal question, what is the one thing you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from every conversation that we had?
1 (18m 52s):
So, I mean, the biggest thing is obviously not letting the opportunity in any case, whether it be YouTube, whether it be any other opportunity that you think about right now, for me, the biggest thing is always looking at the risk with an opportunity and then assessing what happens if this does work, what doesn't, if this doesn't work, you know, what's the bad case situation. Now, if my good case situation outweighs my bad case situation, well then I'm always going to pursue that opportunity. Again, doesn't have to be this, but anything in general, it's just a good rule of thumb that I've always lived by. And that's how, you know, I was able to get majority of my channels up to a point where they make 10, 20 grand a month and where a lot of my YouTube channels now making over a hundred thousand dollars a month on a bad month from just taking the opportunity and taking that risk and obviously working my ass off to be able to achieve a certain level, but to be able to consistently grow and learn and just take that risk when needed.
1 (19m 42s):
I feel like that's just such a massive thing that people are too scared or, you know, they're just in a, in a fearful place. They might have more to lose than others, which is understandable, but there's still just so much opportunity out there that I think a lot of people that just got their blinders on and they're just, they're either too scared or they're just not looking around. And I feel like that's just a, a big, unfortunate situation because you know, we're in the 21st century, there's so much opportunity. It's, it's insane,
0 (20m 6s):
Chris, I'm impressed. I'm sure many of my listeners are impressed. How can they connect with you? Give us any way you want us to do just that any call to action you might have for our listeners. And then we'll say goodbye.
1 (20m 18s):
Yeah, man, absolutely obviously appreciate your time. I appreciate everyone listening and your time as well. If you want to reach out, ask me any questions, learn how to grow your YouTube channel, or even just ask any questions about what I've spoken about. Just send me a message on Instagram. It's is it S Chris C H R I S and then last name Zissis, Z I S S I S all for those of you in America. It's Z I S S I S. And you can just send me a message. We can, we can touch base and, and chop up the shelf and see what we can do, but ultimately, you know, the content I'm out at the moment and everything I want to give back is just from a point of view of how can I give the little tidbits, all the information and the direction that people can learn from it can ultimately grow their brand, grow their business, grow their YouTube channel without having to pay thousands of dollars to all of these course creators and people out there.
1 (21m 5s):
So I've got a lot of content that I'm giving out for free, just because I want to see people win, see people succeed, and then ultimately hopefully do business with them down the road,
0 (21m 12s):
Chop up the shop Fire Nation, because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with CZ or CZed and JLD today. So keep up the heat and head over to EOFire.com type Chris in the search bar in his show on this page will pop up with everything we've talked about here today. Chris, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge value with Fire Nation today, for that we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation today's value bomb content was brought to you by Chris and Fire Nation. Successful entrepreneurs are great at three things, productivity, discipline focus. That's why I created the mastery journal so that you can master productivity, discipline, and focus in a hundred days.
0 (21m 53s):
And we're talking step-by-step. So visit the mastery journal.com and I'll catch you there, or I'll catch you on the flip side. Let's get real, let's talk. Roll by ADP. The first chat-based mobile payroll app designed for small businesses and startups. It makes running payroll as easy as sending a text visit, getroll.com/fire to get your first three months free. Business made simple hosted by Donald Miller, takes the mystery out of growing your business. Recent episodes, like how to attract and retain top talent and how to make more money with your current products are straight fire. Listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts.
Killer Resources!
1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!
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3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!