$300 is all Shreven shares made in his first year on YouTube. Now he makes a full-time income as a YouTuber living in the most expensive city in the world. New York City boy! In this video, he tells us why he quit his six-figure job just to make pennies on YouTube. I was just like, this is the end. Turns out, it was a little motivation. I watched the Gary Vee video and he's like, This is exactly when you can live with four roommates in a basement and eat fucking fast food. Do you understand? Paired with a humbling move back into his parents' house. Moving back to my parents. We'll show you exactly how he was able to go from miserable office job to YouTuber with thousands of subscribers and six figures in revenue. I'm Pat Walls and this is Starter Story. All right, we're headed up to the content closet right now. Let's check it out. How's it going? Welcome Pat. Good to see you. Good to have you. Welcome to the content closet. Before you became a YouTuber, you were a software engineer and you had like a pretty big six-figure job, but you left it all. So yeah, tell me why you did that. You know, I did everything my parents had told me to do, which was, you know, study hard, go to college, get a good job. And then I came to the realization that like, all right, now I have 50 years of my life left. This is what I really want to be doing. But it was just the desire to chase something that kind of like internally, this internal voice is telling me, hey, you got to go chase after something that just doesn't make logical sense right now. Did anyone help you or how did you come to the decision to finally quit? How did that look? So funny story is I quit my job twice, technically. Once was the software engineering job. And then I kind of like did YouTube and kind of explored and then became a product manager. And then I quit that job too. There was no one else. Like I think all my friends were working regular jobs. They're enjoying it. They're doing wall financially. And I watched the Gary Vee video and he's like, if you just graduated college, like you need to chase your dreams. This is dreams we're talking about. We're talking about dreams. Like this is the time to be high risk. And I was like, he's still right. Like in five years, if I'm married and have kids, I was like, in five years, if I'm married and have kids, I won't be able to take a massive risk. Like you can't just quit your job because you have to pay for your mortgage or whatever else. Like you're supporting other people. So I was like, now's the time. Just take the risk. What's the worst thing that can happen? I can always go back into a software engineering job. And that's when I kind of like decided and then I just became like, okay, how do we go about it? And journaling, journaling, journaling, journaling. And then finally one day I was just like, this is the end. Putting your job for YouTube is a crazy move. How much do you have saved up? Do you have a backup plan at the time? So I had a lot of investments from software engineering. Luckily that I had put like in retirement account and then like other assets. And I was fortunate enough that those assets had grown immensely. So I had kind of like a asset I could pull from if I really needed an emergency. But in my bank account, I think I had like $5,000 or $10,000. But I felt comfortable because I had like those assets backing me. And I was like, if I really need more money, I'll sell stuff and I'll use that money. But I didn't really want to sell anything at the time. But you're able to make it off of $5,000, $10,000, at least in the beginning? Yes. So luckily YouTube was already making some money. I was making I think $2,000 to $3,000 a month. And I was like, as long as I can increase that revenue by focusing more on that, then I should be fine. So I really just focused on increasing that revenue. And I cut my personal cost as low as possible. And that's kind of how I lived. And for the most part that was helping me and I recently just started paying myself through the business. You said that you brought your personal expenses down to basically nothing. What did that look like? That was kind of like moving back into my parents. So no rents. They paid for food. I didn't have to pay for a car. So I had the lucky opportunity that I could lean on them. So that was kind of the big thing. I was like, all right, how can I go about using this as a way to kind of not have to spend too much money? Being a YouTuber for anyone else who wants to do YouTube full time, how much do you have to spend as a YouTuber? You don't have to spend any money and you have to spend all the money. I think it's all hard work and dedication. Like one thing I've really prided myself is trying to meet as many other creators as possible. And the big thing you learn from that is a lot of people don't want it. They say they want it. They're like, yeah, I want to do this. I want to do that or I have this dream. But no one wants it. If you're hungry enough, you could do it. That's the part that I've realized. So many people just say things, but they don't actually put in the work. If you put in the work day in, day out, there's nothing stopping you. How can you tell if someone really wants it? It's not about how they talk. It's about what they publish. Are they publishing consistently? Are they adapting and learning and growing? And are they asking questions? Like one thing I struggle with is asking for help. But I've realized that even people who, like I'm not a big creator, but people who might be like one step behind me, if they ask me for feedback, like, okay, that person is hungry. And then I'm like, okay, maybe I should be asking other people for feedback too. So that like shows that you want to learn and you want to get better. When you first got started, how much time were you spending creating videos? And like how many subscribers did you have in the early days? I was doing like, I think daily vlogs were the thing back then. So I was like, oh, I need to publish every single day. So I would record during the day, edit at night, and then publish the next morning. And I did a couple like 30 day, 90 day challenges. And I think I had like 100, maybe 200 subscribers at the time. How many videos were you putting out? What was your output like? I think it was once a week, twice a week. I still switch between that. I'm trying to do like, I did three months where I was like, we're doing twice a week. And then I scaled it back to once a week. But for the most part, I think twice a week, once a week, or twice a month are probably like the three best cadences for YouTube is what I've learned and noticed from most people. So how long did it take you to get to 1000 subscribers? Was that a big mark for you? I've heard this great quote. 100 subscribers is the hardest. 1000 is the next hardest. 10,000 is a little bit harder. 100,000 is a little easier. And then a million is even easier. And I think it's because of the snowball effect, right? I don't remember how long it took me to get to like 1000, but I remember it was like years, two years maybe, just posting content. And I wasn't really analyzing what was bringing in subscribers. I was just posting out of like, oh, this is fun. I like this. Let's just keep doing it. But it took like two, maybe three years. And how long did it take to make your first dollar through your videos? So before the 1000, 4000 hours limit that YouTube had, I was monetized. And I was making like $10 a month within the first year that I started YouTube. And then they created that cap and I was under the 1000 subscribers. So they cut off my money. And I think I made like $300 over a year. But that was the first like couple of dollars that came in and you couldn't get the money until you hit a hundred dollar threshold. So I was like, I would see it rise, rise, rise. And I was like, oh, I'm at $80. We need 20 more to get the cash. And how did you make that money? Was it just through YouTube AdSense? That first time? It was all YouTube AdSense. That's the first money. I know you make money through lots of different ways now. How did you find those? And what does that look like for you? I started to make videos that were kind of search based and like product reviews. And like one of them was like a fitness tracker band. And I was like, oh, they gave me like a referral link. You know, sometimes I say, oh, put your link in the app. Like, oh, you get one month free if you refer someone. So I was like, all right, let's do it. So I put that link in there and the video got some views. And then all of a sudden I had three years of membership. And I was like, what do I do? I do with this. And then it became 10 years of membership. And I was like, what do I do with this? So then the company reached out to me. They're like, hey, we have an affiliate program. It's invite only. Do you want to be in it? And I was like, of course, like, what am I going to do with 10 years of membership? So that was the first time they're like, okay, here's your link. Instead of getting a free month, which was like, I don't know, 30 bucks or something. We'll give you $50. And I was like, all right, that sounds better. Cash over like this thing that is not really like attainable. And that was the first time that I started to get like some amount of cash. And I was like, all right, let's replace that link. And then I was like, okay, so it looks like if I make a product review and people are searching the review and I provide value, and some people will decide not to buy it because of my video and some people will. And if I tell them to use my link, then I can make some money. So that helps support making more videos. Could you break down all the different ways that you make money as a YouTuber? I know affiliate marketing, YouTube AdSense, maybe do you have any brand deals? Could you break it all down for us? Yeah. Right now it's just affiliate marketing and YouTube AdSense. I'm starting to get into sponsorships that I don't really want to yet because I want to optimize for watch time. I don't know, it's like a fear that maybe if I put a sponsorship in, like views are going to drop. I think it's probably like 80, 20, 20% is YouTube AdSense, 80% is affiliate marketing. And then within that, there's two major companies that cover most of the AdSense, probably around 50% of that. And then the rest is like a whole bunch of other small companies. This is my bedroom, very tiny. New York City, boy. So living in New York City is obviously really expensive. How are you able to live in New York as a creator? You just have to give out an arm and a leg. I think part of it, I was lucky and fortunate enough to meet two other creators who were also chasing the same thing. And we're like, we figured out what we want to prioritize. And for me, it was like location. I want to be surrounded by other creators. And we know a lot of other creators who kind of live near this area. And then the second aspect was save as much money as possible. So we tried to find the cheapest place where all three of us could live in. And this was it. Like it provided bedrooms for all of us. It has a nice big living room so that way we can like have our desks and create content. It kind of got our basic needs met. So just cut costs as low as possible and get like your high priority items. Yeah. And that's it. And how much does this place cost for rent and the whole place in this room? We pay 4500 for three of us. So me and my roommate Tages, we pay 1600. And then Cole to our third roommate pays the rest. And do you eat out a lot or what? How do you save in money? I'm trying to cut that down. So actually one video I'm working on is how to make homemade meals in less than two minutes. And save money that way as well as like optimize time. So I have like a little smart oven thing that I use. And that helps me like cook most of my meals. Nice. And what are the other big expenses as a new NYC creator? What are the other than rent and food? What are you spending? Coffee. This place is so small. Like it's nice to just change your environment and go outside somewhere. So I like to go work at a coffee shop or meet people at a coffee shop. That's probably my biggest expense. And then gym. I love working out. So there was a time where I had two gym memberships, but now I don't. But like going to the gym or a sauna and cold plunge studio. Like that's another cost. So I would say health and wellness costs are pretty high. Anything you really want to do in New York City, it's like almost double the price sometimes. Yeah. I think that's a good segue to go check out a coffee shop. Right upstairs at coffee, coffee shop, cut the coffee shop. All right. So what's been your most like successful or viral video? On YouTube, it was definitely the I replaced my iPhone with an Apple Watch Ultra. I think it's around 1.56 million views right now. And what's the story behind it? So that's like been a video I've done a couple of times before. And the intention behind it was like, can I survive with just my Apple Watch? Like I'm always consuming social media on my phone. And I want to just like get rid of my phone. So I was like, can I do 24 hours just Apple Watch? And I've done it before and it did pretty well. And I was like, all right, the new Apple Watch is coming out. Let's launch this video at the same time that all the Apple Watch Ultra hype is happening. So as soon as I got the watch, I did the video literally the next day. And I tried to release it as fast as I could. Like I don't think the editing was great. It was just like, get it out now. Why do you think it went viral? Timing topic and just having previous data that like this style could potentially work. So I think there's a factor of those three things of like, I know this video has worked for me in the past, timing of Apple Watch Ultra. And then the topic, people love Apple Watches. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And how did it feel when you were getting like all those views? Was it crazy? I think I was like, oh, I really don't care. I was like, it's not about the views. Like yeah, having one viral video is cool, I guess. But like I want to have an engaged audience and engaged community. And if all those 1.5 million people watch the video and never come back, like what's the point? I want people to come back. I'd rather have consistently 100,000 views than one video that gets like 10 million views. So that's kind of my goal. You got a team working with you now. How do you find good editors and good filmers and good people to work with? I think it's network, either through other creator friends, I ask them, hey, do you know anyone who is available for work, going to different events and meeting people and then asking them. That's probably the biggest one. And then online, like Upwork is a good spot. It's hard to find good people. You really have to like go through like hundreds of people to finally find a good editor. That's kind of how I found my first one. It was cheap. I think they were like $7 to $10 an hour. Yeah. And if you outsource it to other countries, then you can save a ton of money that way. Yeah. All right. So, Shervin, what would be your advice for anyone that maybe is in a full-time job right now and wants to create content for a living or be a creator or just to get start creating? Start creating. I think take a day, one day a week, like your Sundays and dedicate that day to creating content and just start building momentum because that's the most important thing. If you're not consistently creating, then it's not worth quitting your job. You have to first build the momentum, build the habits of actually doing it. And you have to sacrifice like some of your social life. You have to sacrifice other things in your life, but I think it's important to just get the ball rolling. You're doing videos on tech and gadgets and fitness. How do you find ideas for videos? Yeah. It's just a lot of you searching on YouTube. Like I'll switch the topic. Like right now I'm doing a testosterone supplements video. And one thing is like I can search like the supplements called Tonkat Ali. So it's like I can search that. It's like, okay, these videos aren't doing that well. But if I do testosterone supplements, maybe that is doing well. But if I do a video about gaining muscle, like, oh, that's going to do extremely well. So yeah, the video might be about the same thing, but it's like, how do I frame it? And it's about researching and then, all right, what's kind of related to this? And then looking at other videos kind of related to that. And then just kind of going down a rabbit hole of a whole bunch of YouTube videos to finally figure out what's the best way to kind of frame this video. And then it's just chasing my curiosities. Like I'm a very curious person I like to think. So if I'm like, I want to learn about this, I must know like what happens if you do this? And that kind of becomes an idea. And then it becomes how do I package that idea? Yeah. Do you believe it's important to surround yourself with creators? I think anything you're trying to achieve, you must surround yourself with people who are also doing the same thing. You know, the five chimps theory, you become like the people you're surrounded by. So I'm a big believer in that. And that's why I'd surrounded myself with other creators. And then how did I go about finding them? It was just, I went to creator events. So like, I think I looked on meetup or random things like that. Once you move to a new city, it's just like, you're just searching online to find whatever you can. And then as soon as you meet one, then they start to invite you to other events. And it becomes like this snowball effect where once you have at least like five creator friends, like they know about other events and it becomes this kind of word of mouth thing. And it's just like going to these dinners, going to any kind of event that's based around creating content, you get to meet other people who are also doing the same thing. And it's kind of lonely, I would say. A lot of creators, like it's, there's not that many creators in the world, right? People who are actually serious about it. So when you do meet other people who are also in the space, like it's just like an instant bond because you know the challenges that they've been through. And you know, like this person's also hungry. Like they're not just like here to like, lollygag. I heard that you're trying to run a five minute mile. How's that going? I got injured, but I'm going to do it. I am, I want to do it. If you know a guy named Dr. Andrew Huberman, I just recently learned that he, his fastest time is a 457. So that's my new goal is I want to beat his time in the mile. I think it's like one thing is I'm getting older is like my body is, I've hit the age where my body's deteriorating every year. So I just want to see like, what am I physically capable of doing? And I also want to use that as a goal to build these long-term habits for longevity. I'm just staying healthy with my cardiovascular system. But I did get injured, but I'm slowly getting back into running. And I'm like, I need to take a safe approach. I'm not a 21 year old invincible man. Just about, you know, maybe this is not going to take longer than two months. Like it's going to take a year or two years, but chase after that goal. Yeah. And how close did you get? 526 is my fastest time so far. That's pretty good. Yeah. It's pretty good. Almost there. Almost there. Okay. Make sure to like and subscribe. Turn on your notifications. Don't ever put that in a YouTube video.
