The modern world has become completely digital and everything is happening online. This digital world has also given a great impetus to businesses all around the globe.

YouTube is a major part of this digital world, with over 2 billion active users every month. With over 95% of the global Internet population on YouTube, it makes for a great platform for entertainment and work. Using YouTube for one’s business either means building a business entirely on YouTube through starting a channel to upload videos on one’s interests, ideas and talent or using YouTube to develop one’s business for attracting new customers for an already existing business. Some people may think: is it too late now to start a business on YouTube? Well, the answer is no! YouTube is expected to grow even more and the scope to scale seems to increase day after day. With 5 billion videos watched per day on YouTube and about 500 videos uploaded per minute on YouTube across the world, there’s no stopping you and YouTube.

The first alternative is building a business entirely on YouTube through a YouTube channel. This happens to be completely free of any cost. All you need is an email address to start a channel on YouTube and start posting your videos. 

You can opt to become:

• A vlogger
• A web series creator
• An e-commerce marketer
• A blog content promoter
• A speciality website promoter
• A YouTube Partner
• A product tester
• A product demonstrator
• A product reviewer
• A videographer
• An animator,
• Musician, artist, comedian, magician, dancer, makeup artist and the list goes on! 

The creator must be careful about creating videos on popular topics so that the videos show up in the ‘suggested videos’ section on YouTube. Creating as many videos as possible can be another key for growing a business on YouTube. But again, the quality of videos should not be compromised to hold on to the loyal audience to the channel. Creators must also have a schedule for posting videos that could vary from posting a video in a day to posting a video in a week. Creators must also be clear about the audience they are targeting for their videos and create videos accordingly.

Many YouTubers have made their way to success using this platform as a stepping stone. As of December 2020, these are the top 5 earners, according to Forbes:

1. Ryan Kaji, who earned a revenue of $29 million that year with around 42 million subscribers.
2. MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who earned a revenue of $24 million that year with around 48 million subscribers.
3. Dude Perfect, who earned a revenue of $23 million that year with around 58 million subscribers
4. Rhett and Link, who earned a revenue of $20 million that year with around 42 million subscribers.
5. Markiplier (Mark Fischbach), who earned a revenue of $19.5 million annually with around 28 million subscribers.

PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg), who has around 110 million subscribers, as of October 2021,  started his YouTube channel with zero investment in a college room and is now considered to be one of the most successful YouTubers. CarryMinati (Ajey Nagar) has about 32 million subscribers, as of October 2021, with comedic skits and reactions.

How to get paid by YouTube:

The first step is to enable the monetization option in your YouTube account settings. You, then, have an option to either join the YouTube Partners Program or have your videos listed on YouTube Premium. You don’t always need to have millions of subscribers to earn from YouTube. YouTube channels can be monetized even if they don’t have millions of subscribers. Your earning potential isn’t determined solely by the number of subscribers and views you have, but also by the level of engagement you generate, the niche you cater to and the revenue channels you explore. But that doesn’t mean subscriber count doesn’t matter. 

Also, there are other ways to make money out of YouTube, these are as follows;

• Become a YouTube Partner and earn money from ads.
• Sell products or merchandise.
• Crowdfund your next creative project.
• Let your audience support your work through “fan funding.”
• License your content to the media.
• Work with brands as an influencer or affiliate.

The other alternative is using YouTube to develop your business for attracting new customers for your already-existing business: Small entrepreneurs can also use YouTube to attract new customers. The key here is not only to promote their products by advertising but to also make videos in such a way that people are convinced to buy the product you intend to promote over other existing products in the market and giving your product an upper hand over your competitors by explaining the pros of your product and winning over your competitors. 

This process of carrying out business requires patience and, therefore, don’t get discouraged when your first few videos yield very few or nothing, as the growth rate starts off slow for almost all creators, but once things start to pick up you will be amazed at how much you can help build your business through videos; all for free- thanks to the YouTube platform.