Joshua Mayo — Earning from Ads, Sponsorships, and Affiliate Income on Side Hustle Videos
After his first channel failed, he focused on finance and side hustle videos and expanded his YouTube revenue streams through affiliate links in descriptions and brand sponsorships.
Joshua Mayo earned more than $500,000 in affiliate commissions alone in 2023 through his YouTube channel covering personal finance and side hustles. Money also came in from video ads and brand sponsorships. Back when he first considered sponsorships, he feared that putting ads in his videos would drive viewers away.
After the First Channel Failed, Turning to Finance Videos
He first entered YouTube in 2017, making vlogs, comedy, and other content. His first channel failed to gather 1,000 subscribers and was discontinued within a year. In February 2021, after seeing the growth of finance YouTubers like Graham Stephan, he changed subjects. From April, he posted finance videos regularly, and in 2022 he quit freelance web development to focus on YouTube.
The Topics Viewers Seek and the Scenes They Remember
On the new channel, he again had to find topics that worked. According to Ed Lawrence of Film Booth, who interviewed him, Mayo discovered that viewers were more drawn to videos about ways to make money than to videos explaining ETFs. After that, he focused on side hustles and ways to increase income. When planning his next videos, he also used the approach of finding content that had already performed well and improving its explanation and structure.
When introducing side hustles, Mayo used short stories to show the situation. He then presented screens explaining earnings and posts from people actually looking for that service. In a video Lawrence reviewed, a Facebook group screen showing demand also appears. The structure let viewers follow along even if they were hearing the side hustle's name for the first time—what the work is and who needs it.
At the beginning of the video, there was a scene of lighting a candle with a match. Ed Lawrence saw this and suggested blowing the candle out at the end of the video, and Mayo adopted it in later videos. A single small gesture connected the beginning and the end. In videos explaining money and side hustles, a staging choice emerged that made viewers remember Mayo.
Ad revenue also grew quickly. Monthly ad revenue rose from $6,046.85 in January 2022 to $55,459.35 in October. Over the same period, RPM—revenue per 1,000 views—increased from about $8 to $29. At the time of a Business Insider interview that November, the channel had 269,000 subscribers.
The $10,000 He Pitched for His First Sponsorship
In late 2021 and early 2022, as the channel grew, he relied on YouTube ad revenue. Then in early 2022, Wealthfront proposed his first sponsorship and asked for his ad rate. Mayo looked for a way to calculate it based on the channel's average views and arrived at about $1,500 for a 60-second integration.
He pitched $10,000, far higher than that figure. He figured that if he was turned down, he could ask about their budget and renegotiate. The final deal was $5,000 each for two videos, for a total of $10,000. From his first sponsorship, he landed a deal far above the rate he had calculated.
Income also accumulated in the video descriptions. Affiliate links placed in multiple videos brought in commissions, and he stressed that he had to directly guide viewers in the video to click the links. Rather than expecting viewers to find the description on their own, he tells them where to go. He also advised linking the camera equipment and software he uses as affiliate links.
Using AI for Planning and Expanding Revenue Streams
He also received help from AI in the production process. In May 2024, he told Epidemic Sound that he used it to find ideas, research materials, or structure thoughts that came to mind into a video. He added his own ideas to the material obtained that way and completed the script and video. He explained that he uses AI in the planning and research stages to preserve his own tone and personality.
By June 2024, subscribers had grown to 809,000. He produced an average of one video per week and said 95% of published videos had sponsorships. He collaborated with Wealthfront, Audible, Epidemic Sound, Printify and others, working with multiple brands over the long term. At the time, he self-reported that the channel's monthly income was about $100,000 or more.