I need to be honest with you from the start.
Yes, I make money from content creation. Real money. But when I say I “retired early,” I mean something different than what you probably think.
I’m not lounging on a beach doing nothing. I work 2 to 3 hours most days. I still stress about algorithms. And the path to get here? Nothing like the overnight success stories you see online.
Let me show you what actually happened and what it really takes.
My Current Income Breakdown (The Real Numbers)
Here’s where my money comes from each month:
- Rental properties: Around $8,000 per month (from three properties I bought in 2023)
- YouTube ad revenue: Between $8,000 and $20,000 per month (it fluctuates)
- Affiliate marketing: $30,000 to $50,000 per month now (it wasn’t always this high)
- Digital products: $50,000 to $100,000 per month (courses and templates)
Some months, I hit $178,000 total. Other months, it’s closer to $96,000. That adds up to roughly $1.3 million per year.
But here’s what those numbers don’t show:
- Taxes take about $400,000 per year.
- Business expenses run $10,000 to $15,000 monthly.
- Rental property costs eat up 40% of that $8,000.
My actual take-home? Closer to $700,000 to $800,000 per year. Still amazing. But it’s not $1.3 million.
Now here’s the reality check: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025), the median content creator salary is $66,320 per year. Most creators earn between $52,819 and $81,265 annually.
That’s what helped me set realistic expectations early on. I wasn’t aiming for millions in year one. I was aiming for a decent living first.
The Three Failed Businesses Before My Success
Before anything worked, I lost about $10,000 over two years.
- Dropshipping? Lost $3,000 on inventory and failed Facebook ads.
- Stock trading? Another $2,000 gone, learning I’m not smarter than the market.
- Amazon FBA? $5,000 on products that sat in warehouses collecting storage fees.
Every success story has failures behind it. Mine just happened before the cameras started rolling. I don’t share this to discourage you. I share it because it’s real.
How I Got Started With Just My iPhone
I was making $2,500 per month at my job. After expenses, I saved maybe $500.
I did the math. To save $1 million at that rate would take 167 years. I’d be dead before I retired.
That reality hit hard.
Content creation made sense because I could start with just my iPhone. No special skills needed. I chose personal finance because I was passionate about it, and people pay real money to solve money problems.
But I wasn’t some genius. I still doom scroll TikTok until 1 AM. I eat unhealthy food more than I should. I’m not a productivity expert with cold showers and extreme discipline.
Year One: Making $4.87 Per Hour
- Months 1-3: Made $0. My videos got 47 views, then 83, then 124.
- Months 4-6: Earned my first $127 from YouTube ads. It felt like winning the lottery.
- Months 7-9: Added affiliate links. Made about $400 over three months total.
- Months 10-12: Hit $1,200 in one month from a semi-viral video with 250,000 views.
Total year one income: About $3,800.
I worked roughly 15 hours per week creating content. That’s 780 hours total for the year.
My hourly rate? About $4.87. Less than minimum wage.
But that one viral video showed me it could work. I just needed to figure out how to repeat it.
The Turning Point: Stop Being Original
This changed everything for me.
I stopped trying to be original and creative. I studied what already worked.
I found 10 creators in my niche with 50,000 to 500,000 followers. I identified their top 10 performing videos. I looked for patterns in topics, titles, and hooks.
Then I recreated those videos with my own story and perspective.
One competitor had a video with 3 million views about building an emergency fund. I made my version about how I saved my first $10,000.
It got 1.6 million views. That single video changed my entire trajectory.
I wasn’t copying. I was learning from what the market already proved it wanted. Then I added my unique experience and angle.
Year Two: From $3,800 to $45,000
This is when things started working.
My income jumped from $3,800 in year one to about $45,000 in year two.
YouTube ad revenue brought $1,500 to $3,000 monthly. Affiliate marketing added $1,000 to $2,500. My first digital product (a simple budget template sold for $19) made $8,000 that year.
I still had my day job. Content was my side hustle. But I could see the path now.
The key insight: I didn’t need millions of followers. Just a focused audience that trusted me.
I posted 2-3 videos per week consistently. I studied my analytics. I doubled down on what worked.
My Affiliate Marketing Strategy That Works
Everyone talks about affiliate marketing like it’s easy passive income. Here’s what actually works:
- Pick products you actually use. I promoted budgeting apps and investment platforms I personally used. My audience could tell when I was authentic versus when I was just chasing commissions.
- Focus on high-ticket items. A $25 commission is nice. A $500 commission changes your income. I focused on financial products with bigger payouts.
- Create comparison content. My “Best Budgeting Apps of 2023” video made more in affiliate commissions than any single product review. People want options, not just one recommendation.
- Build an email list from day one. When I promoted something to my email list of 3,000 people, about 900 would open it. About 90 would click. About 9 would buy.
At a $100 average commission, that’s $900 per email. But it took me 18 months to build a list of 3,000 people.
How I Created Digital Products That Sell
My first digital product was a budget template in Google Sheets. It took me about 8 hours to create. I sold it for $19. Made about $8,000 that first year.
Year two, I created a course called “How to Save $10,000 in One Year.” Priced it at $97. Made about $35,000 from it.
Here’s what I learned:
- Start small. Don’t create a massive course as your first product. Test the market with something simple first.
- Solve a specific problem. “How to budget” is too broad. “How to save $1,000 in 30 days” is specific and actionable.
- Price based on value, not time. My template took 8 hours to create, but it saves people dozens of hours and helps them save thousands. That’s worth $19.
- Pre-sell to prove demand. I sold 50 copies of my course before I fully created it. That proved people wanted it and funded the creation process.
The Rental Property Reality Check
People see “$8,000 per month from rental properties” and think it’s pure profit sitting in my bank account.
Here’s the real breakdown on one property:
- Monthly rent collected: $2,200
- Mortgage payment: $1,100
- Property taxes: $300
- Insurance: $150
- Property management: $220
- Maintenance reserve: $200
- Actual monthly profit: $230
That’s $2,760 per year in actual cash flow. Not $26,400.
The three properties together net me about $8,000 monthly, but require about $170,000 in down payments.
Where did I get $170,000? From two years of content creation income that I saved aggressively instead of spending on cars or fancy stuff.
And “passive” rental income? I still spend about 5 hours per month dealing with property management issues.
What “Retired” Actually Means for Me
I said I “retired” at 23. That’s technically true. I don’t work for anyone else. I control my schedule.
But here’s my typical day:
- Morning: Check analytics and respond to important emails (45 minutes)
- Midday: Create content – filming, editing, or writing (60-90 minutes)
- Afternoon: Usually free, but sometimes podcast interviews or team calls
- Evening: Maybe review investments or real estate stuff (30 minutes)
Total work time: 2 to 3 hours most days. Sometimes 4 hours if I’m launching something new.
That’s not retirement in the traditional sense. It’s self-employment with a lot of freedom.
I can take Tuesday off to go hiking. I can travel for a month and work from anywhere. I can sleep until 9 AM without asking permission.
But I didn’t retire from work. I retired from working for someone else.
The $10,000 Per Month Milestone That Changed Everything
This is the number that actually changed my life. Not $100,000 per month. Not $1.3 million per year.
Just $10,000 per month consistently.
I hit it in month 14 of year two. That was my “I’m going to be okay” moment.
Here’s what it took to reach that number:
- YouTube ad revenue: $3,000 per month (needed about 750,000 monthly views)
- Affiliate commissions: $4,000 per month (from about 30,000 monthly visitors)
- Digital products: $3,000 per month (selling 30-40 copies of my $97 course)
That’s roughly 810,000 total views and visitors per month. It sounds like a lot. But when you post consistently for 18 months, it compounds.
At $10,000 per month, I could pay my bills comfortably, save for the future, handle emergencies, and live without constant financial stress.
More money came later. But $10,000 monthly gave me freedom.
The Mistakes That Almost Killed My Business
- Trying to be on every platform at once. I tried YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn simultaneously. Burned out in 6 weeks. When I focused just on YouTube, growth accelerated.
- Waiting for perfection. My first 20 videos were terrible. Bad lighting, awkward delivery, boring content. But I learned from each one. Waiting until I was “ready” would have kept me stuck forever.
- Ignoring email lists. I waited 8 months to start building an email list. When I finally did, my income tripled. Email subscribers are the only audience you truly own.
- Not tracking expenses properly. I spent about $15,000 in year two on equipment, software, and ads without proper tracking. Tax time was a nightmare.
- Believing the passive income myth. Rental properties need management. Affiliate marketing needs content. Digital products need marketing. Nothing is truly passive.
Your Action Plan: The Next 12 Months
Want to try this? Here’s your realistic roadmap:
Next 7 days:
- Choose one platform and one niche
- Study 10 successful creators in that space
- Post your first piece of content (it will be bad, post it anyway)
Next 90 days:
- Post 2-3 times weekly (24-36 total posts)
- Start an email list using free tools
- Sign up for 3 affiliate programs in your niche
- Try to make your first $100
Next 12 months:
- Create 150+ pieces of content total
- Launch your first small digital product
- Build an email list of 500+ people
- Reach $500 to $2,000 monthly income
Nothing fancy. Just consistent work over time.
Will you hit $10,000 per month in year one? Probably not. I didn’t.
Can you build something that eventually replaces your job income? Maybe. If you stick with it and don’t quit when things get hard.