0:01 Becoming a full-time content creator is
0:04 about more than going viral or growing a
0:06 really large audience. It's about
0:09 understanding how to manage money. I've
0:10 been a full-time content creator for
0:12 over 7 years now, and in that time I've
0:13 collectively made over a million
0:15 dollars. And that's profit, not [music]
0:17 revenue. I don't have the biggest
0:19 audience ever. I just have a few simple
0:21 income streams, and work-life balance is
0:23 very important to me. You don't need to
0:25 be a massive influencer or hustle like
0:27 crazy in order to make good money from
0:28 [music] content creation. It's actually
0:30 more simple than that. It's just about
0:32 implementing a few key lessons that will
0:33 help you make the money that [music]
0:35 you're already earning as a creator go
0:38 further. Starting with lesson number
0:41 one, write-offs aren't free money.
0:42 People who talk about business stuff
0:44 love to talk about write-offs, and while
0:45 I'm sure you already know that
0:47 write-offs aren't just free money, so
0:49 that's a write-off. Do you even know
0:50 what a write-off is? You might still be
0:52 missing some of the implications of what
0:54 writing something off really means. To
0:57 be clear, a write-off or a business
0:59 expense is simply the cost of a purchase
1:01 [music] that you made for your business
1:03 being deducted from your overall
1:06 revenue, which lowers your profit. And
1:08 therefore, the money that you'll be
1:10 taxed on. But some people become so
1:12 obsessed with the idea of writing
1:14 something off for their business that
1:16 they'll change all of their plans and
1:19 financial strategy in order to do it
1:20 more. Okay, for example, when I first
1:22 started posting about wanting to buy a
1:23 new house and specifically [music]
1:25 looking for one that has studio space
1:27 where I can make my YouTube videos,
1:28 someone commented in response, "Don't
1:30 buy a bigger house, just rent a studio
1:32 because then your rent is 100% a
1:34 write-off." While that's technically
1:36 true, I think it's kind of missing the
1:39 point. First of all, I want to move to a
1:42 new house just personally, not only for
1:44 a business reason. And second, let's say
1:46 I spent $1,500 a month on a studio
1:49 rental. Yes, this would be a business
1:52 expense, and therefore would reduce my
1:54 business income and what I have to pay
1:56 tax on. But if I just took this money
1:58 and paid it to myself, that would
2:00 probably end up being roughly a thousand
2:02 dollars a month after the tax I pay on
2:04 it that I could have used to pay my
2:06 mortgage. And I'd be happier in a studio
2:08 in my own house anyway. Or a few years
2:11 back when I first got started, a fellow
2:13 freelancer in this co-working group I
2:15 was in gave me the advice when I was
2:17 complaining about my computer, "Just buy
2:19 a new MacBook, put it on your credit
2:21 card. When you get a new client in a few
2:22 months, you'll be able to pay it off."
2:24 First of all, I would never advise
2:26 buying something on a credit card that
2:29 you can't pay off this month. That
2:30 aside, if you need to buy a new
2:33 computer, then great. You should buy a
2:34 new computer. But, if I don't actually
2:37 need one, then that's like $2,000 that I
2:38 could have kept in my business [music]
2:41 and paid to myself. Yes, I would have to
2:44 pay personal income tax on that money
2:46 before I am allowed to just use it on
2:48 personal expenses, but I would be able
2:51 to use it to [music] like buy groceries,
2:53 pay my mortgage, or invest in my
2:56 retirement, stuff that I actually need,
2:59 unlike a random new MacBook. Ultimately,
3:01 the big draw of write-offs is that it's
3:03 money you can spend without having to
3:05 pay income tax on it. You've kept it in
3:07 your business, you haven't paid it to
3:09 yourself. And in fact, it reduces your
3:12 tax because it decreases your overall
3:15 profit, which is what you pay income tax
3:17 on. Obviously, this is a great benefit.
3:20 However, the key thing here is the word
3:22 business, okay? It needs to be stuff
3:24 that you're actually using for your
3:26 business. And sometimes, the money is
3:29 just better spent on things that you
3:31 personally need, like rent and groceries
3:33 and whatever. Just because something is
3:36 a business expense doesn't mean that you
3:38 shouldn't carefully consider it before
3:40 you spend the money. I know this can get
3:42 complicated for creators and influencers
3:45 in particular because truly, there are
3:48 so many things that could count as a
3:51 business expense or write-off, like even
3:53 new clothes and makeup, for example. I
3:55 swear, after every appointment, my hair
3:57 stylist used to ask me, "Oh, like, do
3:59 you want a receipt for this? Like, you
4:01 can count this as a write-off, right?"
4:04 And I think, honestly, there is an
4:06 argument that could be made for a
4:09 haircut for an influencer being a
4:12 write-off, especially if you're making
4:14 specific content about it. Uh but, for
4:16 the record, I did pay for that on my
4:18 personal credit card.
4:19 This is going to be a question for your
4:21 accountant at the end of the day,
4:22 because truthfully, when you're a
4:24 content creator, so much of your
4:25 lifestyle is intertwined with your
4:28 business that there is actually a lot of
4:31 stuff that you can justify as a business
4:33 expense. But, don't take my word for it. >> [music]
4:33 >> [music]
4:35 >> Talk to an accountant. Lesson number
4:38 two, you are not your business in a
4:40 financial sense. You are not your
4:41 business, and you need to separate
4:44 yourself from it financially. [music] It
4:46 stresses me the heck out when I hear
4:48 about content creators just taking their
4:51 brand deal or ad sets payments directly
4:53 into their personal bank account. We
4:54 need to get this sorted out. There are a
4:56 few stages to this, though, so let me
4:57 talk you through them. Okay, so the
4:59 first level is sole proprietorship. This
5:00 is what we call it in Canada, but I'm
5:02 sure there's an equivalent where you
5:03 live. In this type of business, your
5:06 business profit is the same thing as
5:09 your personal income. So, you simply pay
5:11 your personal income tax on whatever
5:13 your business profit was that year. This
5:14 is the best place to start, and I
5:16 personally stayed as a sole
5:17 proprietorship up until I was
5:21 consistently making more than 100k in
5:22 profit a year. This is kind of the
5:24 tipping point where the extra accountant
5:26 fees for filing your taxes as a
5:28 corporation and as yourself starts to
5:31 become worth it. Before this point, you
5:32 might as well stay a sole proprietor.
5:33 Even though your business is not a
5:35 separate legal entity from yourself at
5:37 this point, you still should separate
5:39 your finances for the sake of proper
5:41 bookkeeping. So, you're going to want to
5:42 open a separate bank account. You're
5:44 definitely going to want to track all of
5:45 your expenses, and with that, make sure
5:47 you're saving your receipts. [music]
5:49 It's easy to neglect these things when
5:51 you are just getting started, but it is
5:52 all best practice. And when you have
5:54 this all down, it'll make sure that you
5:57 are prepared to go to the next level,
5:59 which is a corporation or uh in the
6:02 states they call this an LLC. This is
6:04 true legal separation between you and
6:06 your business. Your business is one
6:09 entity that pays tax on the profit of
6:12 your business, and you as an individual
6:14 will pay your regular income tax. And
6:15 there are various ways that your
6:18 business can pay you as a person, but we
6:19 won't get into that in this video. I
6:21 talk about that in detail in this one if
6:22 you want to check it out. So, the
6:23 essentials of setting this up, you're
6:25 definitely going to need a business bank
6:27 account, and this is going to be under
6:29 your business's [music] name, not you
6:30 personally. And you might want to
6:32 consider getting a business credit card.
6:33 This way you can earn points on your
6:36 business expenses, build credit as your
6:38 corporation. And obviously, you don't
6:39 want to be running your business
6:40 expenses through your like personal
6:42 credit cards. The other really important
6:44 thing about this is it gives you legal
6:46 protection. So, if your business gets
6:49 sued, for example, your personal assets
6:51 like your retirement savings or your
6:53 home won't be at stake. The only thing
6:55 your business can get sued for is assets
6:57 your business owns. I know this might
6:59 all sound overwhelming, but you don't
7:01 have to do it all at once. If you're
7:02 just getting started, you could open up
7:04 a separate bank account at the bank
7:06 where you already [music] bank
7:08 personally, like the same way you might
7:09 open up like an additional savings
7:11 account for a specific trip or home
7:13 renovation. So, it can still be under
7:14 your personal name [music] when you
7:16 first get started, important to be
7:18 separate, so then you can put all of
7:20 your creator earnings into that account,
7:22 and any expenses can come out of it.
7:25 That way you at least have a clear paper
7:27 trail of all of the money flowing
7:29 through your creator business. And as
7:31 your business grows, you can make a more
7:33 separate system for yourself. Lesson
7:36 number three, don't depend on social
7:38 media alone to make money. While social
7:40 media platforms are the way that we
7:42 connect with and grow our audiences, you
7:44 can't depend on these platforms alone to
7:46 actually make you a living. AdSense or
7:49 creator fund payouts are just not going
7:50 to cut it. You're going to want to
7:52 diversify your income streams, and
7:54 building yourself a website is a great
7:56 place to start. So, thanks to Hostinger
7:57 for sponsoring this segment of the
7:59 video. Your website is like your online
8:01 home as a content creator. You actually
8:03 own it, so you're not at the whims of
8:05 the algorithm. It helps you be seen as
8:07 credible and professional, especially by
8:09 brands who might want to work with you
8:11 or by your audience and potential
8:12 customers. Speaking of customers, with a
8:15 Hostinger website, you can sell digital
8:18 products, like a course or templates, or
8:20 physical products, including
8:21 print-on-demand merch. You don't need to
8:23 know how to code to make a website.
8:25 Hostinger has a really intuitive
8:27 drag-and-drop interface, plus a ton of
8:29 designer templates to choose from. And
8:30 as your business grows and gets more
8:32 advanced, you can make use of their
8:34 built-in SEO, analytics, AB testing, [music]
8:35 [music]
8:37 and email marketing tools. There's so
8:38 much in there. And what I think is super
8:40 helpful for creators is with your
8:41 Hostinger website, you also get a
8:44 dedicated link in bio site with your
8:46 plans. You've got everything you need
8:48 with one subscription. So, what you're
8:49 going to want to do is go to the link in
8:51 my description and select [music] the
8:53 business plan for 48 months. That's
8:55 going to be the best deal. And I think
8:56 [music] Hostinger has some of the best
8:57 features for creators who want to
8:59 monetize because they've got 0%
9:00 transaction fees, so you can keep all
9:02 the profit from your digital and
9:04 physical products, and built-in email
9:05 marketing tools so you can reach your
9:07 clients more consistently. You can
9:08 search for the domain name you want, and
9:10 if you're starting an e-commerce site, I
9:12 would recommend grabbing the dot shop
9:14 domain name. Finally, make sure you add
9:17 my coupon code Katie to get 10% off your
9:19 entire order. As a creator, you want to
9:20 build a sustainable business that's
9:22 going to continue earning you a living
9:25 in the long term, and building a website
9:26 with Hostinger is a great place to
9:29 start. Lesson number four, your rates
9:31 should be value-based, not time-based.
9:32 [music] Your brand deal rates should be
9:34 based on the value of your content and
9:36 not on the time that it takes you to
9:38 create it. As someone who went from
9:41 having a job with an hourly wage to
9:44 freelancing, I was really comfortable
9:47 with quoting a client based on how long
9:49 a project would take me. That's how I
9:50 used to do it as a freelance
9:52 videographer, and eventually I did
9:54 switch to project-based [music] pricing,
9:56 but before that, when I started getting
9:58 my first brand deals, that's also how I
10:01 would come up with quotes for my brand
10:03 deals, which is crazy to think about
10:05 now. Basically, I thought about how long
10:07 it would take me to make the sponsored
10:10 content that I would add into my videos,
10:11 and then I would charge the brand
10:14 accordingly. But the thing is, your time
10:15 is not actually what brands are paying
10:18 for. They are paying for access to your
10:20 audience, your good reputation, the
10:22 strength of your recommendation, and
10:24 your sway with your audience. All of
10:26 these things are otherwise known as your
10:28 influence. So, chances are if you are
10:32 basing your rates on an hourly wage, you
10:34 are drastically undercharging yourself
10:36 as a creator. So, how much should you
10:38 charge? Well, it's very difficult for me
10:40 to even give you estimates because brand
10:42 deal rates vary drastically [music]
10:44 depending on the niche you're in, the
10:46 demographics of your audience, and the
10:48 brand who's looking to work with you.
10:50 For example, tech and business-adjacent
10:53 channels like my own tend to get higher
10:55 brand deal rates than channels that are
10:58 in the lifestyle or like gaming niches,
11:00 for example. When you have a highly
11:03 specific audience, especially one that
11:05 has money to spend, advertisers will pay
11:07 a lot to reach [music] them. If your
11:10 audience is more general, then your
11:12 rates will reflect that. I can attest to
11:15 this personally because I noticed a huge
11:17 difference in brands who reach out and
11:19 what they're willing to pay depending on
11:21 how highly focused their product is. So,
11:23 if a brand that is specifically trying
11:26 to reach content [music] creators or
11:28 like social media managers or online
11:30 business owners, if they reach out, then
11:32 they're willing to meet my rates because
11:34 they know that I have that very specific
11:38 audience. But, when brands like VPNs or
11:40 like meal subscription boxes, like the
11:42 more generic ones, reach out to me, they
11:45 are willing to pay me like 10% of what
11:46 those other brands are willing to pay.
11:48 And that's cuz when your product is
11:50 general, you're just looking to reach a
11:53 high volume of people, not a specific
11:55 subset of people. And so, their rates
11:56 are going to reflect that. Recently,
11:58 Alex, an Instagram friend of mine,
12:01 pulled her audience, which happens to be
12:03 a lot of creators as well, and asked
12:05 them about what their follower count was
12:07 and how much they charged for a
12:09 sponsored reel. So, you can see the
12:11 range that she shared on screen here to
12:14 get a sense of what people of different
12:15 audience sizes are charging. But, even
12:17 in this video, she notes that there was
12:20 a huge range here. So, I think this is
12:22 pretty interesting, but ultimately, it's
12:23 just a quick sampling. If you're
12:24 interested in creator stuff, though,
12:25 you'll probably also like Alex's
12:27 content, so you should check her out on
12:28 Instagram. But, I've said it before, and
12:30 I'll say it again, the best way to find
12:33 the correct rates for you is just to
12:35 start negotiating with brands. Put a
12:37 number out there, see what the response
12:39 is, and over time, you'll figure out
12:41 what rate you can charge. Lesson number
12:44 five, lifestyle inflation is a wealth
12:46 killer. So, lifestyle inflation is when
12:49 your income increases, but your expenses
12:51 increase in tandem with it. Basically,
12:53 you start making a bit more money, and
12:55 then you think to yourself, "I can spend
12:57 more now, right?" In my opinion, the key
13:00 to feeling rich is the gap between these
13:04 two lines growing. So, avoiding
13:06 lifestyle inflation would look like
13:09 this. This is what I aim for. You can
13:12 see the gap has grown. Our expense line
13:14 here has not stayed flat. I'm not saying
13:15 that you can never increase your
13:17 lifestyle expenses, that you can't allow
13:19 yourself nice things. But, as much as
13:21 you can, if you can maintain the same
13:23 lifestyle that you had before your
13:26 income increased, this is the key to
13:28 building wealth. Because you can use the
13:33 money in this gap to save or invest or
13:35 to pay off debt. I really [music] think
13:37 that this is the recipe for financial
13:39 freedom and early retirement, which I'm
13:40 going to talk more about in just a
13:43 second. But all along this has been my
13:45 strategy. Keep the lifestyle as close to
13:47 the same as possible, increase the
13:50 income, and then use this money for
13:52 strategic purposes. I think content
13:54 creators and influencers in particular
13:56 are very susceptible to this for three
13:59 reasons. For one, your income tends to
14:01 grow slowly. Compared to say for
14:03 example, if you had a salaried job and
14:05 you got a big raise, it would happen all
14:07 at once. Like one paycheck is normal,
14:09 the next all of a sudden a lot higher.
14:11 That allows you to kind of like be more
14:13 conscious of it, think about it, and
14:15 plan for it, and maybe decide that like
14:17 hey, a certain chunk of my paychecks now
14:19 I'm going to put towards retirement
14:21 savings or debt payoff. There's such an
14:23 obvious milestone to kind of trigger
14:24 that thought process for you. But for
14:27 creators, it tends to more climb little
14:29 by little month by month as you slowly
14:31 grow your audience. Your AdSense payouts
14:33 start getting bigger. Brands are
14:34 starting to pay you more for brand
14:37 deals. It can really creep up on you.
14:40 Hence the idea of lifestyle creep. And
14:41 so it's just really easy to start
14:43 spending a little bit more money every
14:45 month and not really think about the
14:46 fact that you're doing it. The second
14:47 big reason why a lot of creators get
14:49 into this is because we are so
14:52 chronically online and we all know that
14:55 social media is terrible for comparison.
14:56 So as creators, we spend a lot of time
14:58 looking at what other creators are doing
15:00 and we can let that like seep into our
15:03 brains and convince us that we also need
15:05 to have fancier clothes, nicer looking
15:07 skin, a better car, a better house. In a
15:08 way that like if you just spent a little
15:10 less time on the internet, you might not
15:12 be so influenced to feel that way. And I
15:14 think the third reason is when you're a
15:16 creator, there's this kind of pressure
15:19 to have an aspirational lifestyle or to
15:21 make yourself appear successful. This is
15:24 especially true if you're in a niche
15:26 that like talks about business or even
15:29 certain like luxury lifestyle niches. I
15:31 feel like there's just this pressure to
15:34 [music] really prove your expertise or
15:36 like your value through your like
15:38 material goods. I honestly feel this a
15:41 lot and I have actively tried to fight
15:42 against it, but there is this voice in
15:44 the back of my head that's like, "Why
15:46 would anybody listen to your advice,
15:48 Katie? You live in a 500 square foot
15:50 apartment and drive a 10-year-old car
15:51 that's rusting out at the bottom." And
15:54 while those things are true, I also have
15:56 the freedom to travel as much as I want.
15:57 I shipped my camper van to Europe and I
15:59 keep it over there so that I can spend
16:00 months at a time traveling. I've got a
16:02 healthy retirement savings and I saved
16:05 up enough for a down payment on my dream
16:06 home without having to sell my condo
16:08 first, and that's all from content
16:11 creator earnings and strategic financial
16:12 planning. But all of those things are
16:15 more hidden than like fancy cars or
16:17 designer handbags, and social media
16:19 loves ostentatious [music] displays of
16:21 wealth. So, I think there can be a
16:23 pressure to perform that, but if you can
16:26 deprogram that from your brain and
16:29 actively avoid lifestyle inflation,
16:31 that's going to be your [music] best
16:33 strategy for building wealth as your
16:35 income increases as a content creator.
16:39 Lesson number six, stop saving and start
16:40 investing. [music]
16:41 Before I explain this point, I just want
16:44 to illustrate why it's so crucial. Last
16:46 year, I decided to slow down a bit on
16:48 [music] brand deals and work in general
16:50 in the second half of the year when I
16:52 went on a four-month-long trip to
16:54 Europe. I knew that my income would
16:56 decrease [music] because of that cuz I
16:59 was doing less work. I basically worked
17:02 like half time for a third of the year.
17:04 You can see here that my revenue from my
17:05 overall income streams went down a
17:09 little bit from 2024 to 2025. However, I
17:11 actually ended up having a higher profit
17:13 last year compared to the year before,
17:16 and that was because of investments and
17:18 lowering [music] my expenses. This is
17:21 what I mean when I say investment income
17:24 is truly the only form of passive
17:26 income. [music] All I had to do was put
17:29 money in an account and get my financial
17:31 advisor to allocate it appropriately and
17:34 I earned money for just chilling in my
17:36 van in Europe. As you start making more
17:39 money from content creation, instead of
17:42 setting it aside in a savings account, I
17:43 really want to encourage you to consider
17:45 investing [music] it. I know it can feel
17:48 scary, especially if you're risk averse
17:50 like me, but trust me, if you don't do
17:52 it, any money that you leave sitting in
17:54 a checking or savings account is
17:57 actively losing its value at the rate of
17:58 inflation. So, if you're nervous, you
18:00 might want to start by looking into high
18:02 yield savings accounts. These are
18:03 accounts that will typically give you a
18:06 relatively small interest rate of
18:09 return, but [music] they are very safe.
18:10 You know that you're not going to lose
18:12 value with your money in there. You
18:13 could also look at investing into ETFs,
18:15 [music] which is basically like a big
18:18 basket of stocks and bonds, which is
18:20 also quite low risk because it's like a
18:22 bunch from a ton of different companies.
18:24 While it's still low risk as far as
18:25 investments go, you're going to get a
18:28 better rate of return than with an HYSA.
18:30 [music] What I would not suggest doing
18:34 is investing in individual stocks, like,
18:37 you know, Apple for example. That is so
18:39 risky and like guys, we are content
18:42 creators, not day traders. So, you don't
18:44 have to do all of that to invest. It can
18:46 be a lot simpler than that. And
18:47 especially if you're young and you have
18:50 a long time horizon, like, you got to
18:51 get that money into investments, okay?
18:53 Don't let it languish in your checking
18:55 account. I really want to emphasize this
18:58 because it's proof that you don't always
19:00 need to hustle more, get more brand
19:02 deals, do more work. I feel like
19:04 especially when you're just getting
19:06 started and you're in this growth mode,
19:08 it feels like the line is always going
19:10 to go up. And while that can feel great,
19:13 it's also okay to reach a maintenance
19:15 mode. I'm going to be honest, since
19:18 2024, I have somewhat plateaued. Like,
19:21 2025 is quite similar. 2026 is shaping
19:23 up to be the same. It's not the huge
19:26 jump that I had from 2021 to 2022. And
19:28 I'm fine [music] with that. As time goes
19:31 on, I will make more interest off my
19:32 investments cuz it just keeps
19:35 compounding. And I don't have [music] to
19:37 grind as hard as I did back then
19:39 because, trust me, like, I [music] was
19:41 working like crazy to make this jump. If
19:43 you are in the early stages, like, at
19:44 this point on the graph, and you feel
19:46 like it's going to be a grind forever,
19:48 you you can make it that if you want. I
19:49 mean, like, I'm not the highest earning
19:51 YouTuber ever. You could go off the
19:53 charts further than me. But, if you feel
19:55 satisfied with what you're making,
19:57 you're also allowed to step off the gas
20:00 a little bit and make strategic choices.
20:02 So, even when your revenue goes down a
20:04 little bit, your profit can still go up,
20:06 and you don't have to push yourself so
20:07 hard. And ultimately, that's why
20:09 investing is so important.
20:11 >> Ultimately, I work with a financial
20:13 advisor that I trust, and that's
20:15 probably my biggest piece of advice for
20:17 you on that front because they can help
20:19 guide you through this with your own
20:21 specific situation in mind. Content
20:23 creation is the ultimate mix of business
20:25 and art. You need to be creative if
20:27 you're going to come up with good ideas
20:29 and create content that people actually
20:31 want to watch, but you also need
20:32 business skills if you're going to turn
20:35 this into a career that actually earns
20:37 you a living. Most people tend to
20:39 naturally excel in one [music] or the
20:41 other, but generally not both. So, if
20:43 you're a creative person here watching
20:44 because you want to develop the business
20:46 skills to make this into a career for
20:48 yourself, I just want to encourage you
20:49 and let you know that you've already got
20:52 like the hardest part to find of that
20:53 formula. I personally think business
20:56 skills are a lot easier to learn than
20:57 creativity. And look, you're in the
20:59 right place because I have got a lot of
21:01 videos where I've broken down my income
21:03 and my business model over the years.
21:04 So, you might want to watch this one
21:06 next if you want to learn more. In it, I
21:07 talk more about the difference [music]
21:09 between sole proprietorships,
21:10 corporations, how to pay yourself, all
21:12 of that good stuff. And make sure to
21:13 check out Hostinger if you want to build
21:15 your [music] own website. As always,
21:16 thank you so much for watching. I hope
21:18 you're having adventures and following
21:19 your dreams, and I'll catch you in the
