Before You Decide to Start YouTube Automation
You should know the unfiltered truth. Lately, I’ve noticed hundreds of gurus talking about all the money that you’ll make if you start on YouTube automation, but none of them are warning you about the challenges and reality that you’ll face.
The truth is that YouTube automation can be wildly profitable or a complete waste of time if you’re not aware of the risks that I’ll be sharing with you today.
The Reality of YouTube Automation
With all the recent hype about YouTube automation, I searched YouTube for a video that talks about the reality and the negative side of this business model, but I couldn’t find anything. So I decided to create this blog and share my own story to help you avoid some of the same dead ends that I found.
What is YouTube Automation?
See, when YouTube first started, most channels were attached to a person—meaning there was a real human live in the videos. But one day, some lazy genius decided to try posting a video without ever getting in front of the camera. Instead, this lazy mastermind recorded his voiceover from the comfort of his underwear and edited in some stock footage. That resulted in millions of views, and Boom! YouTube automation was born.
My Experience with YouTube Automation
Now you need to understand what happened to me so you can avoid making the same mistakes. When I first heard about YouTube automation, it really caught my attention. I obviously love YouTube, and the word automation just sounds so easy and simple.
I kept seeing videos about channels that were getting millions of easy views and making thousands of dollars, where the owners were buying Lambos and all this crazy stuff. So, I decided to test it out for myself by creating my own YouTube automation channel.
Mistakes I Made with YouTube Automation
The first thing that I did was make a list of YouTube channel ideas, and 3 days later, I had my channel idea—which was a mistake, by the way, but we’ll get to that later. My plan was simple: I decided to make a compilation channel for the most viral memes on the internet.
I chose that because I thought it’d be super easy to make videos, and I’d obviously get a ton of views relatively easily. So I spent a few hours editing that first video, hoping it would go viral, and I would start making money.A week went by, and it got about 50 views. So, I went back to the drawing board. I found more viral clips that were all about a similar topic, made sure the editing was super on point, and posted the video. Another week went by, and I got about 7,000 views. Then I got my big break—the video went viral and got 100,000 views. I thought I was on my way to buy my first Lambo, just like all the gurus promised. But boy, was I wrong. Everything seemed on track—my channel reached 4,000 hours and I had 1,000 subs within a month, so I applied for monetization. This is where I hit my first dead end. As it turns out, compilation channels are super hard to monetize, since you’re basically repurposing content from other people. Unless you transform the content, then it violates YouTube monetization guidelines. So even though my channel had grown to about 30,000 subscribers and over 12 million views, it was pretty much useless since I couldn’t monetize it. Luckily, though, I was still able to sell the channel to some dude in Russia for like 3,000 bucks.
The Lesson I Learned
I was more determined than ever since I knew that I had just gotten a bunch of views, but this time, I was going to take the process way more seriously.
One of the main takeaways that I learned was that I needed to choose a niche topic for my YouTube automation channel that would have a high CPM. CPM is the cost that advertisers pay to be in front of your audience.
After listening to all the gurus who told me that the best CPM niches were channels that talk about stuff like finance, real estate, and money, I decided to start a channel about wealth and personal finance.
How I Implemented Automation
I went online to hire freelancers to edit the videos and design the thumbnails. Then I decided to use AI to script and narrate the videos since it was cheaper than having to pay someone.
I spent a few days researching some of the most successful channels in our niche, and I decided that the best topic for our first video would be “Five Signs That You’re Doing Well Financially.”
Then I just simply went over to ChatGPT and asked it to write a 6-minute YouTube script about the five signs that you might be doing well financially, and just like that, within about 30 seconds, I had a script.
I remember thinking to myself, “Damn, this is starting to feel like automation.”
Why My Second Channel Failed
This channel failed for two reasons:
First, I wasn’t doing anything to build a brand. Even though that first video got some views and had good information, the viewing experience felt soulless. Think about it—the robotic AI voice, the cheap editing. I didn’t give the viewer any reason to come back or be excited about discovering my channel.
Second, I just didn’t invest enough time or money into this channel. In my opinion, the word “YouTube automation” is totally misleading because it makes this process sound so simple and easy. But the truth is, it’s anything but that.
YouTube is competitive, and if you want to stand out, then you need to have quality information, quality production, and a loyal following. To achieve that, you need to spend time coming up with amazing video topics, catchy scripts, and edits that retain viewers. Unless you’ve already mastered all those skills, you need to spend money on a quality editor and a good thumbnail designer.
YouTube Automation Is Not Really Automated
Ultimately, it’s totally up to you to make the channel successful or not. Believe it or not, I’m actually so glad that these failures happened to me because I learned so much from them. Basically, I got a master’s degree in what not to do on YouTube. Both my wins and losses have helped me in making the right decisions, launching this channel, and helped me get crazy results like hitting 50,000 subscribers in 3 months and making over $10,000 from AdSense and even more from YouTube partnership opportunities.
Key Takeaways for YouTube Success
So, look, if you haven’t gotten the point by now, the term “YouTube automation” was pretty much created by gurus as a way to make the business model sound easier than it actually is. The truth is that it’s anything but easy.
If I was to rename it based on reality, I would probably call it YouTube management because it’s a much more accurate description. No matter what, YouTube is a marathon and not a sprint.
Niche is everything: You need to pick a topic that people are interested in now and that more people will continue to grow an interest in over the foreseeable future.
Like any business model, you need to spend money to make money on YouTube. Investing in things like knowledge and mentorship that will give you an edge, a really good editor, and quality thumbnails are going to help you get results faster than if you try to go at it alone.
Find the best talent: If you can find people who are capable of turning your vision into a reality, please make sure you keep them around.
Don’t have false expectations: If you listen to all the gurus, then you’re probably going to end up like me and start shopping for a Lamborghini before you post your first video. Sure, you can make some crazy money on YouTube pretty quickly when you do it right, but it always takes effort and isn’t guaranteed right away. Expectations are just resentments and disappointments waiting to happen, and that applies to everything in life—not just YouTube.
The Bottom Line
The days of starting a channel that just uploads rain sounds and makes hundreds of thousands of dollars are over. That easy, low-hanging fruit has become way too saturated.
If you actually want to break through on YouTube, then you need to remember these four things:
- Niche is everything
- Like any business model, you need to spend money to make money
- Find the best talent
- Don’t have false expectations
So, look, if you haven’t gotten the point by now, the term “YouTube automation” was pretty much created by gurus as a way to make the business model sound easier than it actually is. The truth is that it’s anything but easy.
If I was to rename it based on reality, I would probably call it YouTube management because it’s a much more accurate description. No matter what, YouTube is a marathon and not a sprint.
Conclusion
My goal with this blog was to help you see the reality of YouTube automation so that you can make an educated decision before deciding to go spend a bunch of time and money on something that you aren’t fully committed to.
Just so you guys know, some people in the industry have literally reached out to me and told me that I shouldn’t be sharing this kind of information for free.
But don’t worry—I’m going to continue to level with you guys and give you the unfiltered truth that they don’t want you to know.