MyGaming caught up with Brett Stelmaszek (UFDisciple), a South African YouTuber and gaming hardware reviewer, to learn how to make money from your YouTube channel.

Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Brett Stelmaszek, and I’m an American living in South Africa with my wife and two children. Since moving to South Africa, I began growing my YouTube channel as a hobby.
My YouTube channel is mainly centered around technology, specifically computer hardware. I’ve been focusing on reviews for now, but also hope to expand my type of content soon. I'm a full-time YouTuber, or do you have a regular day job?
Neither really.
My main job is homeschooling my children while my wife and I work with a local church in various ministry endeavors, and then YouTube mainly comes after-hours between 9PM-2AM.

What are the specs of your current gaming setup/workstation?

It fluctuates based on what I’m reviewing, but when I have no review items:
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K
MB: MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon
RAM: 8GB Trident Z DDR4-3466 (2x4GB)
GPU: PowerColor R7 370

Do you earn income from your YouTube channel?

I have monetization turned on for my channel, but I’ve earned less monthly than the electricity costs to run my PC for one day.

How can people earn an income from creating YouTube content?

The primary way is through AdSense, which is based on ads displaying on your videos, but the amount you earn per video varies widely. The industry standard is roughly $1 per 1,000 views, but I’m making significantly below that mark.
Other ways to monetize involve bringing on companies as sponsors for your channel or getting an Amazon Associates account in which Amazon pays you a 4-6% cut of what people buy when using your affiliate link. (I believe Loot has a similar program here in SA.)
Most of it depends on how many people you reach through your videos. However, if your reach is small, but your depth within that community is excellent, companies should value that more than raw subscription numbers. Samantha Wright wrote a great article on this on Social Media Today.

How long do you spend per day on your YouTube channel?

It varies widely on the day and what else I have going on in my life, but I try to set that 9PM-2AM block aside 3-4 times per week to develop my channel.
I strive to put out 2 videos per week.

Do you have any advice for South Africans interested in creating YouTube content?

I have several thoughts on this:
1) Growth takes consistent effort.
Consistent content that is improving is the “key” to generating subscribers. Just because something doesn’t show results initially doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.
2) Do something you’re passionate about, but there’s also an opportunity in the market.
If you have something unique to offer that differentiates you from the current market, you’ll have a much better time entering.
3) Just make content.
Whether you’re highly familiar with being on-camera or your smartphone has the worst video production quality in the world, making content is better than not.
Just going for it allows you to develop the skills you need to produce better content.
4) Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.
Don’t try to be something that you’re not. And while the question is for people interested in creating YouTube content, part of being honest is maybe realizing that you won’t succeed at YouTube.
It would be better for you to leverage your strengths on a written blog, Snapchat, Instagram, or some other social platform.

Where can people check out your videos, reviews, etc.?

Website
I appreciate the opportunity to promote myself, but if I can, I’d also like to mention a few other South African YouTubers.
RobLol has been putting out quality videos every day for the past year and changed, and I really respect his work ethic and genuine nature.
There’s also TheGarethWoods, who has recently attempted to make YouTube a central part of his life. I value how he’s consistently created high-quality content and his honesty and vulnerability through it all.
And lastly, I’d like to suggest my main “competitor,” EvetechTV. I firmly believe that competition is good for the market and the people, and if my competition is succeeding, then I need to work harder to make sure I outdo them.
The South African YouTube community deserves high-quality content creators; competition is a good way for that to happen.