How This YouTuber Built a $1.9M/Year Business (FULL GUIDE)

What if your business could generate over 1.9 million in a single year just from your online presence? And what if this was easier than it sounds? Meet Graham Stephan, the finance coach, YouTuber and entrepreneur who earned exactly that in ad revenue in 2020 alone. Over the last seven years, Graham has perfected a formula that allowed him to create videos so engaging that he can't help but go viral almost every single time. And these videos make Graham more money than his actual job as a luxury realtor.

The best year in real estate.

I think I had made 500 grand, but at time I was scaling back on real estate because as the YouTube income was going up, I made a million dollars on YouTube.

Okay, as YouTube income went up, I.

Just got pickier with clients.

But here's the best part. You don't need to wait that long or build a massive team to see similar results. Because I'll show you how to do it in 1/10 of the time. In this video, I'll use my 18 years of social media expertise to break down Graham's simple four part system that led to over 1 billion views, a feature in Forbes, and an extra $3 million over time. By the end of this breakdown, you'll have the tools to apply the same strategy and scale your brand to impressive heights. But here's the first thing that you need to know. There's a mistake that almost everyone makes when they start posting. Because the advice online says that this is the path to success on social media. But following this advice is the reason that most creators and entrepreneurs end up with almost no views. And Graham would have made this same mistake if it wasn't for a creator who changed his life when with one message and put him on the path to make over $3 million on YouTube alone. You see, most people think being successful on social media or making a significant amount of money on YouTube means to niche down and target a very specific audience. But that's just simply not true. When you niche down, this is what will probably happen. You'll spend months creating videos and covering complex topics only to become frustrated because your content is not getting the views that you had hoped for. This is why you should follow the approach that Graham Stephan stumbled upon at the beginning of his career.

I found a channel, his name was Rob Daum and he made a video about what he did for a living to afford a Lamborghini Diablo. And I found that video so inspirational because here's a guy in his late 20s who bought a $200,000, even back then, $150,000 Lamborghini.

Oh, yeah.

And he said, well, you know, I started off out of high school, I started doing, like, computer repairs and I built a computer business and I saved up money and then I bought a Lamborghini D. And he was so upfront about what he did to afford the car, what his payment was, how much he makes. I was like, this is so inspirational. I think there's a huge market for people like that. And I messaged him and I told him, 2012, 2013. And he responded back to me and I told him on Facebook, there's a huge market for this. If you went into this, I think you could be huge. You could be like a Tony Robbins. Because I found it so inspirational for, like, an entrepreneur. And that stuff didn't exist on YouTube. And he responded back to me, and.

Just the fact that he replied back.

Was like life changing.

This interaction made Graham realize exactly what he needed to make his channel go viral years later. Now, I'll show you what this is with an example. Now, imagine that you stumble upon two videos. The first is called Financing versus paying cash for a Car, which is the best strategy. And the second is called How I Bought a Tesla for $78 a month. Now, which one are you more likely to click on? The second one. Right, because it's a story that you can follow regardless of your financial knowledge. But even better, it piques your curiosity with an absurd premise. Now, driving a Tesla, which is generally viewed as a luxury car at a shockingly low cost, even if you don't buy the car right now, you're more likely to click and watch this video to find out how Graham did something so unbelievable. And this is why. The first step is to use the generalist principle. The general's principle is taking your niche topic and framing it in a way that speaks to a general audience. That way, your video can capture the widespread attention that you need to go viral. Which is exactly what happened to Graham when he made a video about how he bought a Tesla for $78 a month, which generated over 8.6 million views. But I know you might be wondering, why does this work so well? To explain this, let's imagine we have two stores on the same street. They are the same size and look pretty much the same. The only difference is what they sell. The first one is a specialty shop. It sells highly specific items like antique typewriters or rare collectible coins. The second one is a general store. It offers a diverse selection of products, from books and toys to kitchen gadgets and clothing. Which store do you think is likely to attract more customers? The general store. Right. It appeals to a larger audience because it provides something for everyone. But you're probably thinking, if I go too broad, won't I just attract people who aren't interested in buying my products? Well, actually, no. And let me explain why. When you increase the number of people who see your content, you also increase the number of potential buyers. Now, let's say that you get an average of 10,000 views a video, and of that, 70% of the people watching those videos are your core target market. This means you can get 7,000 potential customers. But if you had a million people watching and only 10% are your core target customers, then you'll have 100,000 potential customers. But now you might wonder, how do I frame my video so that it attracts more viewers? First, start by listening to the most common problems your audience faces. You can find these by reviewing online discussions, Google trends and forums, or by thinking back on your own experiences. Next, think of a solution to the problem that any person would be curious to watch. The trick here is to think of a remarkable way to solve that problem. Can you do it really fast? Or is there a way that's so easy that it's almost unbelievable? Or can you do it for really low cost? Then simplify your solutions and create content that even beginners can understand. Imagine that you're explaining it to someone completely unfamiliar with the subject. Ask yourself, how would I explain this topic to a 5 year old, a 10 year old, or even to my mom? Lastly, use relatable examples. Share stories that people can connect with and make your audience feel as if they can achieve the same success that you're showing them. If you watch Graham's video, How I Bought a Tesla for 78 doll a month, you'll see that those are the exact steps that he followed to get over 8.6 million views. Graham knows that one of his audience's main problems is being able to afford things that they truly want. So he made a video just about that. Then he found a curious way to solve the problem. Getting a Tesla for only $78 per month, an amount of money so unbelievable, even someone who doesn't want to buy a car would be curious to know how exactly he did it. Next, Graham wrote the video in a way that's easy to understand. And lastly, he framed the video around a story, starting from when he bought the car and ending after he applied all the steps to get the Tesla for just $78 a month. But if you paid attention to this video's title, you might have noticed one small detail which is essential to make any video go viral. Let's take a look at the title again. What makes you want to watch the video? Well, that's easy. It's the implicit promise that you'll be able to afford a Tesla. This is why step two is to promise value to the viewer. Value is the core to every video, and Graham knows that.

I felt like I had a purpose and value that if I could make a positive difference on someone's life, I, I felt like that gave me purpose and to be able to see someone saying like, okay, I got my first property or I got a duplex and now I'm living for free and I got, you know, XYZ and I could save up money. I think that, like, that impact is so incredible because I know how that felt to me with when I like got a response from Rob Dom, like, that was huge to me and I was like, if I could give that back to somebody and like respond to their comment, just imagine the effect that that might have if you do that like a thousand times.

But promising value is trickier than it seems as it involves more than just a good title on YouTube. You also have to create standout thumbnails because this makes your promise of value even stronger. The best way to understand why that is is to think of your YouTube thumbnails and titles like a storefront window display. Think about it. When you're walking down a street, what makes you stop and take a closer look at a store? It's not just the store itself, it's the display in the window. A stor with a cluttered or dull display won't draw much attention, but a store with an eye catching, well organized display will make you stop and take a closer look and maybe even buy a product. But how do you create an eye catching display? Or in this case, a title and a thumbnail combo? Well, you just need to hit the three Cs that make people click on your video. The first C is contrast. Imagine a storefront window with a vibrant, colorful display of products against a plain background. This is how contrast in your thumbnails works. It makes your content pop and grab attention. This is why Graham's thumbnails use strong contrast most of the time with big, bold and colorful numbers that pop against the background. Now the second C is clarity. When you look at a storefront display, you'll want to understand immediately what the store has to offer. A display with clear, organized items will make it easy for you to see what what the store is all about. Similarly, your thumbnail should clearly convey the benefit of watching your video. This is where the title comes into play as well. Titles provide additional information which make it even clearer what your video will teach you. Again, we can see that Graham's titles and thumbnails are crystal clear. How to buy your first rental property. Step by step makes it obvious what you'll learn by the end of the video. Lastly, the third C is curiosity. Now picture a storefront window that not only showcases products clearly, but also includes an intriguing sign like Exclusive sale today only. This creates curiosity and makes you want to enter the store to learn more. Similarly, your thumbnails and titles should hint at something exciting or valuable to spark the viewer's curiosity and make them click. Now, Graham's titles and thumbnails hint at something that you don't know but you're dying to find out. For example, a video like Meet the Homeless man who Bought a Bugatti makes you think, what's the secret? Well, how did he do it? That burning question makes you click. By applying these principles, you ensure that your thumbnails and titles attract attention, clearly communicate your message, and generate curiosity. Now, this seems like a lot, but there is a simple process to come up with thumbnails and titles for your videos. First, analyze the thumbnails of successful videos and try to model them. Ask yourself, why do they stand out? How do they create curiosity? And then adapt them to your idea. For example, for this video, I modeled the thumbnail after these videos and came up with my own version. Now, if you click this video and it was a different thumbnail, I'll tell you a secret later. The next step is to simplify your titles. Make sure that they're clear and concise and focus on the benefit. For example, this video is titled how to make $11,257 a day. It's plain and simple. You know what you'll learn once you watch it. But again, you might have clicked on another title. Which is why the next step is to test your titles and thumbnails weekly. Graham does this for every single one of his videos.

We'll alter the title thumbnail for that day because I've noticed days where the market's down, the videos do better than days when the market's up. It's crazy how much of like a day by day thing it is.

So experiment with different thumbnails and titles to see which ones perform better. Different elements will affect performance, but the one thing that I've consistently seen bring in more views for videos and is establishing credibility. For example, Graham establishes himself as a trustworthy guide by stating what he's done, like in this video, how I bought a Tesla for $78 a month. He also does that by visually displaying sports cars in his thumbnails or showing a rich setup in his videos. But if you're not rich yet, don't worry. You can get the same effect by talking about someone else. Just like Graham does in this video. Meet the $250 million man. Now, building a viral strategy like this can be confusing, but it doesn't have to be. My team and I have worked with several professionals, from financial experts to doctors, and help them get millions of views. Just like Dr. Aaron Nance, a hand surgeon who after working with us, went from 0 to 200,000 followers in just two weeks and got eight videos with over 1 million views. So if you want to scale your social media like Dr. Aaron Nance, then you can book a call with my team by using the link in the description. But here's the problem that you might face after this step. Promising value is important, but it won't make your video go viral if the video is actually bad. Now, there's one thing that's guaranteed to make the watching experience enjoyable for viewers. Let's watch a few clips from Graham's video so you can see what I mean.

I just bought the $35,000 Tesla Model 3. And just like any 28 year old millennial would do, I ordered it online without ever having seen it and without ever having driven one before. Here's what happened. However, it should come as no surprise that the $35,000 Model 3 is not really a $35,000 Model 3. My just for fun, spec car with very few options came to a whopping $40,000 classic bait and switch, am I right? Well, kind of. This means that my total out of pocket cost to buy a brand new Tesla Model 3 was $4,437 and $0.01, which included sales tax, the license fee and registration. That was it. And now with that out of the way, I couldn't help but wonder, could they actually fulfill their promised delivery time of two weeks? So now it's officially one week after placing the order with absolutely zero update whatsoever from Tesla.

So how are you feeling right now? Probably frustrated and wanting to know what happens after each one of these sections. I stopped on purpose to create this effect, but this is an example of the feeling that you get when you use step three of Graham's process, the Jenga effect. You see, the Jenga effect is all about building layers of tension and curiosity. Now, just like in a game of Jenga, where each block that you remove creates a suspenseful moment, effective content creation involves stacking elements of suspense anticipation. This approach works because people are naturally drawn to suspense. It's like when you watch a movie and the plot keeps thickening. Every twist and turn makes you want to stick around for the resolution. Now, here's how to apply tension to your content creation to increase viewer retention. First, identify your video's main and secondary goals. These are the elements that you can use to create anticipation. For example, Graham's main goal is to buy a Tesla for $78 a month. Everything that he does makes you question if and how he'll achieve that. Creating anticipation. But he also introduces secondary goals to keep us engaged before he reveals the main payoff, like choosing additional features for the car and waiting for it to arrive. Second, segment your content. Break your video into sections, each building on the previous one. Graham's video is divided into clear segments. Buying the car, waiting for it to arrive, and breaking down how to save money with the car. Finally, use partial resolutions. Offer small insights throughout your video to keep viewers engaged, but save the biggest payoff for the end. In Graham's video, the small resolutions are things like the color he chooses for the car and how long it takes to arrive, while the big payoff is the exact breakdown on how to get a Tesla for $78 a month. But even if your video uses the Jenga effect with perfection, there's one thing that can kill your video's performance. A big reason videos go viral is people sharing and watching until the end. This is why this next step is so important. Let's watch another clip to see it in action. I want you to take note of any information that surprises you.

So remember, like I said, my total out of pocket cost to buy this car in the first year is $5,867.01 plus. On top of that, like I said, I'm saving $4,926 on my taxes, which means that when you reduce that from the total amount and you divide that over a year, it's effectively like I'm buying a brand new Tesla Model 3 for the out of pocket cost of $78.39 per month.

I want you to pay attention to what you're feeling right now because this is the key to true virality. Here's why. Imagine you're lost in a maze and you have two maps. The first map shows you only the main pathways and exits, while the second map includes detailed notes about hidden shortcuts and obstacles. At first, using the basic map seems to guide you through the maze, but you keep hitting dead ends or having to backtrack. It feels frustrating and slow. Then you switch to the detailed map. Suddenly you can see the shortcuts and avoid obstacles. The new map reveals a more efficient route that you hadn't seen before. The maze is no longer just a confusing labyrinth. It's a series of clear paths. That is why Step four is to create Perspective Shift this change in maps is like a perspective shift because just as the detailed map changes how you navigate the maze, a perspective shift can transform how viewers approach the challenge that they're facing right now on YouTube. This shift might involve showing a completely new way to solve a problem or an idea that goes against what most people believe. In Graham's video, he changes viewers perspective by showing you that you can get thousands of dollars back from taxes by following simple steps. Since the general public believes the government is more interested in taking your money than anything else, this is a different perspective that is prone to making people feel awe. This makes it more likely that they'll share the video with friends, which also helps performance. But how do you actually put this into practice? If you worked long enough doing something, you probably get the same questions over, over and over. Or maybe you know the wrong assumptions people make about your specific craft. Sit down and try and remember all the times people assume something wrong about your services or anytime they were surprised by something that you explained. Then make a list. You can also use the Internet or ChatGPT for this specific step. For example, if you're a coach who specializes in helping people create a profitable business, you can just search business myths on Google or any social media platform to help you come up with ideas easier. Then you can create videos that actively challenge the ideas you hear often and then blow people's minds. Once you do that, going viral and making money out of that will be your everyday reality. Because after you apply these steps, Graham was able to make over $3 million in ad revenue alone. But I must be honest, YouTube's ad revenue is not the only method that you should use to make money. A smart business person always redirects the attention they get online to their business. And there's a simple way to do just that. A small business that we coach put this into practice and got 800,000 followers and over 100 million views in just six months. But then they used this attention to double their prices and sell more than they ever did before. I break down how they did this in another video. So if you want to get the same results for your business, watch this next video.