Jay Clouse is a creator who specializes in discussing “Creator Science”, debunking algorithm myths, and helping you manage your personal brand more rationally and effectively.
His total income in 2022 was $338,000, equivalent to over 10 million TWD, relying entirely on content production revenue.
Interestingly, he is not a million-follower influencer. In 2022, he had 3K YouTube subscribers, 13K Twitter followers, 10K newsletter subscribers, and 33K Podcast listeners. His fan count is just over 10,000, making him a “micro-influencer.”
He stated that with these 10,000 fans, he created a total of 46 income sources, which can be divided into seven categories.
Here are his seven monetization channels.
Seven Monetization Channels
Seventh: Patronage
His patronage income was $223.83, accounting for less than 1% of total income.
Jay believes that when someone appreciates your content and buys you a coffee, it is truly a heartwarming thing.
However, he has stopped this income source in 2023.
The reason is that he believes simply producing good content and receiving goodwill and gratitude from people is far more valuable than monetizing a few hundred dollars.
Goodwill and gratitude gradually accumulate into “trust”, which is the most precious thing in the community era.
Sixth: Affiliates
His affiliate income was $20,500, accounting for 6% of total income.
By placing marketing links in your content, you earn a commission whenever a viewer clicks through and completes a transaction.
This is a common way to earn money on platforms like YouTube, blogs, and podcasts.
Jay specifically mentioned that he earned the most from several SaaS companies he collaborated with, such as ConvertKit (email service) and Circle (private community platform).
These software services typically operate on a subscription model, where users pay monthly, and you earn a commission each time until they cancel their subscription.
So how did he find these companies? By actively searching. He proactively contacted software companies he liked and asked if they had affiliate programs, negotiating partnerships directly.
Taiwan is far behind the U.S. in affiliate marketing, but this is still worth considering.
Fifth: Digital Products
His digital product income was $31,700, accounting for 9% of total income.
Digital products include: online courses, e-books, templates, workshop courses, etc., which is often referred to as “knowledge monetization”.
The biggest advantage of these products is that once created, they can be sold repeatedly with minimal marketing effort, making them a source of passive income.
Jay stated that as long as you invest time once, you can earn passively, which is his favorite income source.
Fourth: Royalties
His royalty income was $34,000, accounting for 10% of total income.
Royalty income is usually more common in music, design, graphics, photography, and publishing.
He earns royalties because he is a course creator for LinkedIn Learning. He has created seven courses for LinkedIn, so they pay him a significant amount in royalties each month.
Royalties can be considered the purest form of passive income.
Third: Services
His service income was $37,100, accounting for 11% of total income.
In simple terms, it means being a freelancer.
The content of freelance work varies from person to person and can include copywriting, graphic design, editing, coaching, consulting, etc.
The difference between managing a personal brand and regular freelancing is that you don’t have to compete on price like in typical freelance platforms or groups.
Usually, those who come to consult or seek your advice are already your fans! Therefore, their willingness to collaborate is higher, and there is no “money talks” attitude.
Since Jay Clouse’s theme is “how to be a smarter creator,” all the services he offers are one-on-one coaching and consulting, which are not cheap.
Building trust with fans allows you to transition from a “freelancer at the mercy of clients” to an “equal partner in collaboration.”
Second: Sponsorship
His sponsorship income was $52.8K, accounting for 15% of total income.
His sponsorships are mainly placed in “long content”, such as newsletters and podcasts, with a 50-50 ratio.
Jay believes that sponsors care most about ROI, which is how much money they can recover for every dollar they invest in you.
To maintain a healthy partnership, your goal is to ensure that sponsors can achieve a high ROI.
However, when the fan base is small, how can this be achieved?
Jay Clouse’s answer is: collaborate with high-priced products.
Instead of selling a $25 t-shirt, it’s better to find products priced in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Selling just one unit can equal several sales of low-priced items.
Another way to improve ROI is through content quality.
Each sponsored post serves as a case study for future brands; the better your performance, the higher your negotiation power for the next collaboration.
Focusing on “high-priced” products and “high-quality” content are the two key factors for Jay Clouse’s successful sponsorships.
First: Membership
This is his primary source of income.
His membership income is $161.1K, accounting for 48% of total income.
His exclusive membership community (essentially a paid Discord) provides a wealth of valuable content, workshops, online events, and community discussion forums.
This community is for more advanced creators and is not cheap, with annual fees of $1,499 and $2,499.
He also intentionally keeps the community small and beautiful, with a cap of no more than 200 people, so he can take care of each member and maintain community quality.
He believes that the benefit of building a community is that you can identify who your core fans are, become familiar with your core target audience, and help them achieve their goals, resulting in financial gains.
However, building a community requires a significant time investment and patience to “nurture” it. Compared to online courses or e-books that provide passive income after one-time effort, managing a community is entirely a form of active income.
If He Could Only Choose One Income Source, What Would It Be?
Jay Clouse is focusing on creating digital products (such as online courses, e-books, and workshop videos).
He stated that digital products have the advantages of low cost and high scalability, and if the course content hits the soft spot of fans and does not expire over time, the sales of the course will continue to grow as the fan base increases.
What If You Don’t Have a Fan Base Yet?
Jay Clouse believes that even if you currently have no fan base, it’s always possible to build a fan base while creating products.
A quick way to build a fan base is to actively search for communities related to your topic and become the most active participant in discussions.
Over time, people will notice your personal brand and become your followers.
My Opinion
The key to personal brand monetization is not quantity, but trust from fans.
Jay Clouse does not have a large fan base, but he has been publishing content since 2017 and continues to do so until 2022. His fans have been following him for several years, and the trust is very high.
The ability to establish high trust and generate significant revenue relies entirely on his continuous effort to produce “high-quality long content.”
Jay Clouse’s channel features interviews with many community experts (including the previous article’s Jenny Hoyos, the short video god, YouTube executives, and Harvard psychologists analyzing communities…), with content that is rich in marketing insights for online courses.
“Quality content”is the only iron rule in the community era.
Even if you are a “pure entertainment” comedian or vlogger, quality content still applies.
The legendary American comedian Steve Martin once said:
“No one ever remembers my advice because what I say is not what they want to hear.
They want to hear ‘how to find an agent, how to write a book…’ but my advice is always: “Be so good they can't ignore you.”
When someone starts to think, ‘How can I really become strong?’ people will naturally come to you.”