Are you dreaming of making money with your YouTube channel? You don’t need to have a massive amount of subscribers to start making money.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to make money on YouTube with less than 1,000 subscribers. From leveraging YouTube’s monetization program to creating your products, this guide will teach you the step-by-step process for becoming a successful YouTube creator and the best ways to get more subscribers and how to make money with ads, affiliate links, and sponsorships.

Plus, you’ll learn how to maximize your earnings by creating products and services to sell to your audience. With this guide, you’ll have all the information you need to start making money on YouTube with less than 1,000 subscribers.

Related: 3 Ways to Make Money on YouTube Without Adsense

1. Making Money With Sponsorships

As you make money with YouTube, you’ll eventually want to diversify your income streams even more. One way to do this is with sponsorships.

Sponsorships allow you to get paid to promote a product or service on your channel. To make money with sponsorships, you’ll need a sizable following.

Work with businesses that are interested in getting more exposure. Reach out to brands that you like and recommend their products.

Let them know that you’re willing to promote their products on your channel in exchange for a percentage of the profit.

Sign up with a service, like Famebound, that makes it easier to connect with brands. Famebound lets you create a portfolio of brands that you’re interested in working with and matches you with potential sponsors. Find brands on your wish list and reach out to them to offer a sponsorship deal.

2. Making Money With Affiliate Links

As you make money with YouTube, you’ll eventually want to diversify your income streams. One way to do this is with affiliate links.

These links allow you to make money from sales that you refer to other businesses. When someone clicks on your link and buys a product, you’ll get a percentage of the sale. You can use affiliate links to refer to products like e-books, courses, or other digital products. You can also use affiliate links to refer to physical products.

To make money with affiliate links, you’ll need to sign up with a few affiliate networks. Seriously Simple is one of the most popular affiliate networks. Find affiliate networks in your niche and sign up with as many as possible.

Once you have your affiliate links, you can start using them in your videos. Make sure to be upfront about the money you make, and don’t recommend products that you don’t truly believe in. Be honest with your viewers, and they’ll be more likely to trust you.

3. Sell courses

Are you knowledgeable in yoga, the piano or something unique that you are passionate about? You should consider creating a course!

Courses are a fantastic way to share and sell your knowledge online. Sure, there may be an upfront investment as far as producing the content for the course, but after it is complete, you often don’t have to worry about updating it for months or even years.

After looking over dozens of small YouTube channels that offer courses, I noticed most of them were priced between $20 – $497. As far as places to host your course, you can check out creator-friendly platforms such as:

Cons:

  • Courses are often low-ticket, so you might need dozens or hundreds of to earn a good income on the side.
  • Courses are very time-consuming to put together.

Pros:

  • Once your course is complete, all you have to do is sell it.
  • It allows you to make money without having to worry about customer support.
  • It gives you the freedom to charge between $20 all the way up to $497 and more.

4. Maximizing Your Earnings by Creating Products and Services

As you make money with YouTube, you might notice that some months are more profitable than others. This might be due to seasonal trends, or it might be that you’re not maximizing your earnings.

One way to maximize your earnings is by creating products and services to sell to your audience. Do you make videos about cooking? Create a recipe book to sell on your channel.

Do you make videos about fitness? Create workout plans to sell on your channel. The more products and services you offer, the more consistent your earnings will be.

Use a membership model on your channel. Give your subscribers exclusive content that no one else can see and charge a monthly fee.

Doing this will create a consistent revenue stream that you can rely on. Membership models are great because they ensure that your subscribers are invested in your channel. They’ll be more likely to buy your products and recommend you to their friends.

5. Sell subscriptions

Want to build something small, meaningful, and cost-friendly for your viewers? Create a service and sell it for a subscription. Some of the most common subscriptions people offer are:

There are no rules as to what you can put a subscription on. As long as you can provide value, people will happily purchase from you!

Cons:

Pros:

When it comes to making money on YouTube, people think you need to get millions of views a month. Though that is partially true, it is also possible to make money on the platform by strategically funneling your traffic off the platform to your own unique upsells. And the best part is that it can be done with less than 1,000 subscribers. What’s holding you back from making money on YouTube?