This 31-year-old went 'all in' on YouTube--now he makes $6 million a year

[Celerity]

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/09/how-graham-stephan-makes-6-million-dollars-a-year-from-youtube.html



Walking into Graham Stephan’s Las Vegas home, the first thing you see is a massive 310-gallon aquarium in the entryway. Equipped with color-changing lights and filled with coral reef and brightly colored fish, the YouTube star’s prized possession is impossible to miss. He describes the $45,000 he’s spent on the aquarium, filtration system and marine life as “purely an expense,” but has zero qualms about pouring his money into it. “The level of enjoyment I get from the aquarium is just unparalleled to any other experience that I would be able to buy,” the 31-year-old says. “This for me is the tank I would have set up as a kid when I was 12 if I had whatever I wanted.”

The aquarium is emblematic of the seismic changes that have occurred in his life since he was first profiled for CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series in November 2019. Back then, Stephan was still working in real estate part-time and filmed videos for his popular YouTube channel in his 700-square-foot Los Angeles duplex. His brand now encompasses five YouTube channels and a podcast, and his workload has gotten so intense that he hired not one, but two employees — one of whom lives with him full-time. His duplex has been replaced by a $1.4 million, 3,900-square-foot home 20 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip that he shares with his girlfriend, Macy.

After breaking the $1 million annual income threshold in 2019 and making $5.1 million in 2020, Stephan is on pace to earn $6 million in 2021 after expenses, with $3 million coming from YouTube ad revenue and the rest coming from sponsorships and affiliates, as well as selling courses on the online platform Teachable. He achieved this growth by quitting his real estate career to focus on YouTube full-time, spurred in part by early coronavirus lockdowns that kept him at home making videos. “That was the point for me where I was like: ‘I want to go all in on YouTube,’” he tells CNBC Make It. Stephan’s life is now fully centered around content creation, and he’s finally allowing himself to enjoy his success.

Making the move from Los Angeles to Las Vegas

When Covid-19 lockdowns began in mid-2020 and forced Stephan to stay in his relatively small Los Angeles home full-time, “it really made me re-evaluate where I wanted to be and where I wanted to work,” he says. He decided to move to Las Vegas after visiting a close friend who had just bought a house in the development where Stephan currently lives. His friend mentioned that the house being built next door was for sale, and Stephan decided to seize the opportunity. He closed on the property in summer 2020, and moved in last December.

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[jimfields33]

1. Moneys there to be made. Takes some innovative ideas.

Clearly he has done that.

[wnylib]

2. I can understand making money from sales

on You Tube, but how does the sponsorship thing work to bring money in for him? He gets so many viewers that sponsors want to pay him to be connected with his videos?