We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carolyn Reyes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Carolyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

For the first 5 years on YouTube it was a hobby, and it paid like a hobby. I was winging it, and I thought successful YouTube businesses were created by one lucky viral video. I kept thinking I was just one video away. Eventually, I stumbled upon YouTube strategist Derral Eves, the only strategist I know that YouTube themselves actually hire for consults. Derral is behind largely successful channels such as Mr. Beast, Rebuild Rescue, Hope Scope, and more. I took his 2 month course, learned that there is actually an ongoing, incredibly in-depth strategy behind content based businesses. For the first time in 6 years on YouTube, my channel started to grow – 4x in views that were plateau’d for 3 years. Since finishing the course, my engagement and business growth doubles each year.

If you want to be a black belt in Judo, you don’t watch YouTube videos and just wing it. You find the best Judo school and go there multiple times a week for the next decade. YouTube is no different. It’s an incredibly in-depth process of research, execution, analyzing and adjusting to make it long term success.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I create videos about motorcycles on YouTube. My very first video I was driving in my car, talking about how I purchased my first motorcycle. It started as way to keep me accountable to sticking to a very challenging new sport, and also just because I wanted to talk about it so badly, but didn’t know anyone who rode. It then moved to be a search-based, research channel, reviewing products and other motorcycles in the niche. I am now focused on creating more episodic, documentary style videos featuring road trips and other highly skilled riders in the industry,

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I really never invested my own personal money into my business – whatever I made on it, was where my budget came from. My main income stream for 6 years has been YouTube adsense, and just this year, brand deals is now a big part of that as well. I reached out to 11 brands to sponsor my cross country series and 8 said yes – wish I had done that sooner!

The more my business income grows, the more my budget for the videos grow. As a creative, making the best videos I can make is more important to me than filling my own personal bank account or material things. I have turned off my own salary many times over so that I could afford to hire help, fund a road trip, and more.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

100% Derral Eves. He is the ultimate black belt for YouTube. He took my channel from a struggling job to a business where I can pay myself, others, and make that much better videos.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.doodleonamotorcycle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doodleonamotorcycle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoodleOnAMotorcycle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/doodleonamotorcycle