---
title: 'How to Actually Make Money Online This Year'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUdNG82hnyA'
video_id: 'oUdNG82hnyA'
date: 2026-08-06
duration_sec: 1043
---

# How to Actually Make Money Online This Year

> Source: [How to Actually Make Money Online This Year](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUdNG82hnyA)

## Summary

Dan Martell shares a five-step framework for building a personal brand that generates real income and opportunities. He emphasizes that trust is the foundation of any successful online business, and that the key is to give value first, then monetize.

### Key Points

- **Understanding Personal Brand** [00:02] — Brand is nothing more than association. A personal brand adds a person to that association. Example: Elon Musk → space, money, X.
- **Stop Talking to Everyone** [02:52] — To find your niche, ask three questions: toughest experience, what's wrong with the world, what you love talking about. Your pain is your message.
- **Just Start Posting** [06:29] — Just start posting. Pick one platform, publish twice a day, schedule that slightly stretches you. First 100 posts will suck—accept it. Study and improve.
- **Don't Be a Sellout** [09:41] — Three rules: reply to comments, always respond to DMs, give 10x more free value than you ask for. Build trust before monetizing.
- **Monetize Through Trust** [13:01] — Three ways to monetize: ad revenue, brand deals, own product/service. Pick one and go all in. Example: Mike Brown made $1M with 7,800 followers.
- **Conclusion & Challenge** [16:23] — Challenge: go live for 30 days straight. Practice creating value even if only two people watch.

## Transcript

buckets. You don't have a personal brand yet, or you do, but it's just not making you nearly as much money as it should. So, I'm going to help you fix both. I've personally built a brand over 10 million followers across all platforms, and it's
got me some cool stuff, like getting paid 100K for a single keynote, get on some of the top podcasts in the world, generate over 100 million of revenue for thing I'm most proud of is the chance to help millions of people build a business
for you, too. So, today, I'm going to walk you through the five steps to building a personal brand that brings every opportunity you've ever dreamed of into your life. But first, we need to understand what we're building in the
first place. Step one, understand what we're building. What is a brand? Think about it like this. A brand is nothing more than association. You have an object, and you have association. You have Nike, and you
have athletes. You have Ferrari, and you have luxury. A personal brand adds a person into it. So, what do people think about when they hear your name? If you think of Elon Musk, you probably think space, you probably think rich, you
probably think X or Twitter. If you think Mr. Beast, you probably think YouTube, most subscribers, big smile, high energy. Just think about it. What's the topics that you want to be associated with? When you think of
with? When you think of products or hobbies, what do you want to be associated with? So, for me, it's blue shirt, it's AI, it's time. It's the
things that I talk about. The old model was essentially you build a monetization engine first, and then you build an audience. You figure out what you want That's gone. That's not the world we
live in. The new model is you build audience, you build community, you build attention, and then you monetize only if you build trust. The audience is the asset. It's the new oil. That's why we're seeing this like proliferation of
their personal brand because the benefit of a personal brand is massive. Back in the day, it used to be who you know, and today it's who knows you. You being even in there because you created content that helped people, that's
incredible. Mr. Beast was offered a billion dollars for his YouTube channel like five years ago. Kylie Jenner used her social media to build a makeup brand that sold for $600 million. When I look at the crazy things in my life, speaking
at Tony Robbins, meeting my idols like John Maxwell, doing the top podcasts like Modern Wisdom, Lewis Howes, all of these came on the backside of building a brand. And brand is nothing more than the feeling and association somebody has
when they hear your name. So, don't just build a business, build a brand. If you a business. If you want to be a billionaire, you got to build a brand. So, now we understand the concept of a personal brand, but how do we actually
build one? Step two. Stop talking to everyone. other day. She said, "If you don't have a controversial take or an unpopular opinion when you speak, then you're not repelling the people you don't want and
want." Think about it. If you try to talk to everyone, you just end up talking to no one. You sound like vanilla. There's no spice to your jumping out there and screaming at the crowd or freaking out or being Mr. Funny
Pants. It's literally having an opinion. It's about being you. And if you're quiet and you're you're chill and you just want to sit there and bake goods and record yourself doing that, do it. But if you want to like bring the
energy and show your lifestyle and be a streamer like some of these people like IShowSpeed, isn't it crazy that that is some of the attention you can get? But whole point is to talk to a specific
person. What are their opinions on life? What do they want to learn about? That is your ideal audience. And if you're trying to make money at some point, then you should speak to people that have the problem that you can help them with. So,
if you want to figure out what you can share to really connect with an audience ask yourself these three questions. The first one is, "What's the toughest thing you've ever gone through in your life?"
Cuz if you can share that, I will tell you, the most powerful thing you have is the most challenging thing you've gone through. Your job is to help people avoid that pain. That is why people communicate. The bigger the monster, the
bigger the hero. Don't shy away from that. The second is, "What's wrong with the world and how do you want to fix it? Where is the problem? How do you see it buddy Ronnie says it best, "What's a specific, observable, and nuanced
challenge that this specific customer has around this problem?" And you talk to that, your audience will feel like you've got a hidden camera in their office. And number three, "What do you like talking about?" When I think about
the perfect mix, it's what is the market want to hear cuz there's an audience, and then what do I love to talk about? I just happen to love to talk about AI because I'm a technology guy. I love to talk about buying back your time. And
people show up. 2.6 million people on YouTube. That's crazy to me. But it showed up because I chose to talk about the things that I love to talk about. So, if you take those three questions, the answers to those should hint as to
help them, the things you want to create, the content you want to help them with, right? So, write down this one sentence. I help, insert type of person, who is a specific person, do, get the desired outcome, what do you
help them do, without the pain is whatever they're challenged with right now trying to do the thing. The worst thing's ever happened to you is your mess, and often times your mess is the most powerful message you have. Pain in
your world is the perfect teacher. And if you don't share that emotion, you can't get people to take motion, right? No emotion, no motion. If you want follow, you want people to lean in, leave a comment, they got to feel you.
everybody and you're very vanilla and you're plain, don't be upset if you've might already have a brand, but you're struggling to create good content, I have a gift for you. I have a full content playbook that covers everything.
I'm talking how to build your brand voice, the frameworks to make your find me on Instagram and DM me the words YouTube content and I'll send it over. find your audience, who you want to serve, but the next question is, what's
the first real step to building? Step number three, don't think. Turn off the convince ourselves out of doing something. Just post. Here's the deal.
You'll never feel ready, so just start. First 100 posts will suck. Accept it. the first 100 throwaways. Why don't you just run as fast as you can to video, post, video, post, and just ask yourself, what can I improve each time?
Slow it down, speed it up, be clear, is there a call to action? Do I make this about them or do I make it for me? It's all about the reps, the reps, the reps. I sucked at being on camera when I first started. You see Dan today, but you
didn't see Dan 11 years ago. I was nervous, I couldn't talk to the camera, I got red in the face, but I just knew that if I could learn how to communicate deal, not because there's a recording little red bleeping thing, just show up
and talk, that over time I would get better. And I got to a place where I can shoot any video, one take. I know I can stop and think a little bit and that's okay. I can breathe. And just keep going. And the actions
compound. Zig Ziglar said it best. He says, "You don't have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great." So, here's what we need to do today. Number one, pick a platform. One platform. If you're asking for my
suggestion, go all in on Instagram. Publish twice a day on a reel, and just and post. Don't worry about your feed. Second thing, we have to decide on a you're asking me what does a pro do? Twice a day. But, if you could just do
one a day, oh my gosh, that would be beautiful. But, all you have to do is pick a schedule that makes you slightly uncomfortable. That feels like a bit of a stretch. And just make sure that you're a consistent for a long period of
time. I like to think in years, not in months, not in weeks. The third, now pull out your phone. Hit record right now. Do while you're watching this. And I'm watching a video. Dan just said I got to hit record and publish this
supposed to be saying, but that's okay. He said just shoot. Now, I'm going to this video, you should shoot a video and post it, too." So, now the trick is, just publish. That's 80% of the problem. Just publish. Fourth is learn. Study the
content. What worked in the past, hit it again. What didn't, stop doing that. Go find out what other people are doing. Learn from them. Look at what my videos are doing. Learn from me. So, here's where I'm going to go next level, and
I'm going to challenge you. My friend Jen does it every day. She did it for 4 years straight. I'm going to challenge you to go live. And I want you to go could be Facebook or Instagram or TikTok for 30 days. I want you to turn your
cool part is is that you can delete the live as soon as you're done. Okay, but record yourself on your phone, talking to the people, sharing an idea. You never know what's going to work. You just have to commit to the time. So, for
talk to your audience, even if there's two people there, and just practice, practice, practice. So, now you understand the personal brand side. You know how to find your ideal audience and you've started posting, right? Right?
Yeah, that's awesome. Cool. Posting isn't enough. This next part is where a lot of people screw up everything. Step number four, don't be a sellout. A lot of people will post and then they get a little bit of views and they want
to squeeze every penny out of their community, okay? That's being a sellout. NASCAR. You're just like trying to monetize the out of everything you've ever done. I see people do this. They're selling stuff that they don't
even use themselves. They prioritize making money over building the trust with the audience. Then, once you lose that trust with the people, nobody's going to pay you to get in front of them. If you have the trust, people will
literally line up begging you to pay you to get in front of them. My inbox is full of companies that want to pay me to promote them. Guess what? Not doing it. For me, it's not what I do. Trust is the currency that you're trading when you
Apple has in the market is the world's trust and because of that it's a trillion-dollar company. When people honor you with a follow or your content shows up in their feed, the best thing you could do is honor that trust. Show
up and give. Don't try to monetize too quick. Don't try to sell stuff too quick. Honestly, just keep giving. A guy I know asked me, he's like, "Hey man, I know a way that I can monetize my audience even more." And I'm like, "Bro,
do you understand the whole point of leaving money on the table is to leave person that sells something to every potential audience, every time you talk you're just trying to sell something? I'm just curious how long you can go
giving and giving and giving and giving without ever asking for anything?" So, here are three rules to not be a sellout, okay? One, reply to at least five comments every single post. You, in there. Somebody comments, reply. Reply.
Do anything. Support them. Add value. Answer their questions, but always reply to the comments. Don't think you're too cool to reply to comments. Two, follows you and they send you a direct message, always say something. I
appreciate you saying hi. The person who showed me the way for this is Gary V. Gary has replied to every DM, every email, every SMS. Honestly, I don't know years. He might not be able to still do that, but if he could, he would. And
I've just always tried to honor that. Third, give 10 times more free value than you ever ask for. I dare you to give away your best stuff. The thing that you get paid the most money to do for somebody, unpack how you do that and
give it away, give it away, give it away. My whole philosophy around content is to die empty. I sit in my office and I go do things that make me tens of millions of dollars, then I come in here and I go, "Okay, let's unpack it. Let's
show it." Just like this video and every other video on my channel. I want to die empty. I have no reason to keep it inside. I give it all to everybody that wants it. The whole playbooks there. Everything I've ever done. I don't hold
back. I don't gatekeep. If you do this every day, you will build an audience that actually trusts you. They show up to support you. If you have a book come out, they will buy it. You'll become a best-seller because you've poured into
them for years without ever asking for anything. Now, everything we've done so far will help you build an audience that literally trusts you and will start to beg you to take their money because they trust you to solve problems. But only
then do you get to this next step. Step number five, monetize. The cool part is is you don't need millions of followers to make money. Many people in my life that I've taught this to can monetize with less than
10,000 followers. My buddy Mike Brown had 7,800, I think, when he came to me and I showed him the simple strategy of just messaging the new followers, talking to them. In the first year, he did a million in revenue off of his
Instagram alone. He doesn't have a massive audience, but he talked to them. See, the importance is knowing the ways to make money from your brand and not coming across as a sellout. Monetizing the best way is essentially just solving
a bigger problem some of your audience has for people who already trust you. they just every time they talk they just drop bombs and they're just like so helpful and you buy their book or you read their blog post or their newsletter
problem today that I know he would have an answer for. I really wish he had a product or a place or a workshop or a seminar or something that I could go spend time to get clarity around my problem." Those are the best scenarios.
I created content for almost a decade before I ever sold my first book. And when it launched in 2023, it sold 20,000 copies in its first 2 weeks becoming a number two behind Atomic Habits Wall Street Journal best-selling book. It
only sold because of the trust I built. Almost a decade of content. The value I poured into my audience without ever asking for anything. I always prioritized trust first. I think of it like this, okay?
You give away your information as much as you can, your best stuff, and then people pay you for implementation. And there's only three ways to make money is ad revenue, okay? The platform pays you for views. Like YouTube, for
example. And now, it's a slow build and it's unreliable, but over time the YouTube revenue can cover the cost of your production, your editors, your videos. It's a wild thing to watch. And that's just ad dollars that come in
they need to make money to cover their costs and then all of a sudden, if you can make a lot of money from it. You essentially get a portion of the ads that people spend to run ads on top of your videos. Two is brand deals. And
this is where most people make their money, where they get paid by a brand to create content, to collaborate. Now, it can be wild money. It can be good money, but you do need to align with the right partners, okay? Most creators do this.
shitty partners, and they're willing to sell their soul for anybody's money. And the third, and it's one of my favorite, is you own the product or service that you talk about in your content. It's got the highest upside because one, you
built the product, you're aligned with the product, you know how the product's trusts you, and it's something that you can invest in over and over and over again. Think about Mr. Beast with Feastables. You think about, you know,
Ryan Trahan with Joyride. Nelk Boys and Happy Dad or Logan and Prime, and there's a ton of them. Now, that is an advanced move, and most content creators are not business operators, so that one's tougher to do. All I would say is
pick one. If it's ads or brand deals or your own products, but go hard. Go all in. Choose one strategy to monetize, build the trust with your audience, introduce that, and don't try to build them all at once. Master one and win.
Now, those are the five steps to build a brand, to build trust, to monetize. this, and they won't do anything with it, but not you. You're here because you're like, you know what? I resonate with this, and I know that I need to
content, I got to build my personal brand, I have to do it in a way that gets the right ideal customers, and builds trust. below, and let me know, are you going to go live for 30 days in a row? Not a lot
of people are going to do it. But if you are, type the comment 30 below, and let Facebook, Instagram, or other? Maybe even X. Go live for 30 days. Practice to your audience, practice creating value, and comment below, and let me
know. Now, don't forget, if you want my exact content playbook to help you create viral content, just find me on Instagram, Dan Martell, and DM me the word YouTube content, and I'll send it over. Now, if you want to learn how I
just click here and I'll see you on the other side.