- Chris R.
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- Published: May 29, 2018
- November 12, 2020
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“MoolahNinjas main goal is to help our readers improve their financial lives. We partner with other companies that share that same vision. Some of these links in this post may be from our partners. This is how we make money.”
Technical and creative way to make money at MoolahNinjas.com
It might be just some 20-something guy sitting around his bedroom in a robe talking about everything and nothing. Every once in a while, he may stop talking to answer posts popping up on the chat immediately to the right of the video. This is YouNow. A site where you simply livestream your life.
There are also videos with a little more content, such as an artist filming while he/she draws, and all while the viewers can watch and ask questions about the technique the person is using. This applies to both sketching, painting, artisan art, and music with guides for various instruments and techniques. It’s a great way to make money while freelancing too!
However, most people you meet on YouNow offer little else but a tiny peek into their life along with some commentary.
However, why would you want to share your life with others that way? Let the world look in on you, while you drive your car, eat breakfast, or something else again? Perhaps you just enjoy sharing your life with others. On the other hand, perhaps you’re in it for the perks that are sometimes part of the deal.
If a lot of people choose to follow your regular video sessions, you can actually make money on YouNow.
It’s not YouTube
The first thing you might notice is that it’s not the same as making money with YouTube videos. Actually, your video will never be seen again.
On YouNow, you livestream. No editing or retakes, you just set up the camera and start streaming.
At the same time, you won’t find advertising on YouNow. This is a huge plus for the viewers, but for the YouTubers, income from ads are essential for their earnings. So, how do you earn money with YouNow?
You get tips. Your entire income on YouNow depends on tips, and you are not allowed to asked for them or otherwise encourage them.
The site has chosen to bypass the advertising model in order to focus more on the streamers.
Viewers earn digital coins when access YouNow to watch videos. They can use these coins to buy bars they can pass on to the streamers as tips. YouNow takes about 30% of the tips before sharing them with streamers as ”real” cash.
How much can you earn on YouNow?
There are actually people who live strictly on tips they receive on YouNow. Tayser Abuhamdeh, for example, who is a former stock employee, earns as much as a thousand dollars for 45 minutes of streaming. It’s quite possible to get rich while doing this! Another streamer dropped his job as a university teacher with an annual salary of 73,000 dollars, when he realized that his earnings from YouNow could replace that salary.
As you may guess, it requires quite a few followers and a lot of screen time to make that much money. Abuhamdeh, who earns three times his former income on YouNow has 135,000 followers and sometimes streams for hours.
Another way to make money on your YouNow is by parlaying your success into something bigger.
The New York Times predicts that movies more and more will employ actors with debuts on various social media.
The duo ’Benny and Rafi Fine’ got their own TV show after their success on YouTube.
More and more TV commercials are now utilizing various home videos.
Regardless how you feel about him, you probably forgot that Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube.
Although so far, YouTube has been the main breeding ground for various stars, it’s not at all unthinkable that YouNow may soon contribute its share.
An indirect way of making money through YouNow is creating your own merchandise and wearing/displaying it during your streams. Your fans could then buy those through your online store. A couple of good resources to keep in mind if you want to go this route are:
- Setting up your own blog/website through WordPress and using its plug-ins Elementor or WooCommerce to set up a store
- Using BigCommerce as another resource to build your own store
- Just creating and selling your products such as t-shirts directly through a site like Printful
- Making your own products through whatever way you want and dropshipping it via Spocket
How you get started
Create a free profile on YouNow, download the app, and you’re ready to stream.
In order to make money, however, you have to become a YouNow Partner. This requires you to:
- stream at least twice a week
- have an average of 500 viewers
Follow the rules:
- Don’t hurt yourself or others
- Keep your clothes on
- No hate speech or bullying
- Never share your contact information
- Never ask for tips
- Respect copyrights
- Don’t mimic other users
Will YouNow last?
If you have plans of becoming an internet star and making boatloads of money, you might want to get started now.
In June, viewers used between 1.5 and 2 million dollars on sharing digital tips, of which the site kept the 30%. Nevertheless, you find quite a few skeptics as well, who believe the model is not sustainable in the long run.
Some skeptics predict that at some point, YouNow will be forced to change over to the advertising model along the lines of YouTube. If this happens, you will still have the option of making money of advertising revenue.
If the site continues with the current model and the viewers stop giving tips at some point, the site would probably close within a few years.
So make your money now, and do what most other YouNow streamers do – keep your YouTube account, just in case.
