As engineers, we spend years honing our technical skills and solving complex problems.

But what if you could take those skills beyond your day job and turn them into a profitable online business?

In this day and age, many engineers are leveraging platforms like YouTube to not only share their expertise but also build personal brands, diversify their income, and create opportunities for professional growth.

Whether you’re looking for a side hustle, aiming to share your knowledge with a wider audience, or dreaming of eventually transitioning to a full-time business, YouTube is a powerful tool to help you achieve your financial goals.

As an engineer myself who’s benefitted from YouTube, I want to share what I’ve learned and I’ll share with you five proven ways you, too, can use YouTube to diversify your income, make more money, and reach your financial goals.

(BTW, if you are interested in getting started with your online business, and need help finding clarity, finding your niche, establishing a content strategy, or accountability, I offer a limited number of coaching sessions. Book a 1:1 video call here. Limited spots available.)

YouTube is NOT Just for Cat Videos Anymore

You may have already noticed, but long are the days when YouTube was a platform where cat videos were shared for entertainment.

Nowadays, YouTube is the go-to place for education as well.

Second to Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine, which means people go there to find solutions to their problems.

YouTube = Entertainment, Education, and everything in between.

As a result of the new wave, there are many engineers who started creating content on YouTube, and who use it as a business.

Let me say it again: they use YouTube as a business.

Here are some of the ones I’ve seen, and who are doing well with YouTube (of course, including yours truly :))

There are many others, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Now hear me out:

Each of these engineers uses YouTube in a different way; to entertain, educate, or both (edutainment).

You’ll notice the way we all create videos is different, for various audiences, and we all make content based on our background, interests, and strengths.

But the bottom line is this:

We are leveraging the tremendous opportunity YouTube has to offer.

And guess what? I don’t want you to be left behind.

So let’s go over a few steps to help you get started with YouTube today and make your first $1,000.

Let’s get it!

5 Keys to Start Making Money Online with YouTube: Make Your First $1,000

Step 1: Finding Your Niche on YouTube as an Engineer

When it comes to posting content online, many people (including myself) struggle with “finding their niche.”

I am part of this group of entrepreneurs on Facebook and many of them struggle with identifying how they want to help people.

I won’t get too much into this but the reasons for this lack of clarity include:

  • Having too many interests
  • Fear of missing out
  • Impostor syndrome
  • Not knowing themselves well enough
  • Shiny object syndrome

I don’t judge. I’ve been there plenty of times, so I can relate.

But the truth is this step is KEY because it will determine whether or not you are able to monetize your content fast and start making money as soon as possible with your YouTube channel.

If you start sharing videos about gaming, good luck.

I don’t want you to waste your time.

This is why I want to share with you a couple of niches and angles you can consider, so you can find your unique angle and start today:

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s the best way you can help people?
  • What do you feel most confident teaching others?
  • What are you interested in?
  • What topics can you NOT shut up about?
  • What do you have in your Search history, what do you research all the time?
  • What type of videos do you watch a lot of?
  • What problems have you solved that others will find helpful? What challenges did you overcome?

For example, when I first started sharing content on YouTube, I started with career advice because that’s what I had experience in and felt very confident talking about it.

Later I transitioned to personal finance content for the same reasons.

Now, I’m talking about online business and helping engineers start profitable online businesses because that’s what I like and am interested in, and have experience in.

And I can’t shut up about it 🙂

So lean into your experience and interests.

Here are a few proven niches on YouTube where you can leverage your unique angle, experience, and interests:

  • Engineering tool reviews: CAD software reviews, tech products, tutorials, etc.
  • Career development and advice: Helping people break into your industry, resumes, cover letters, salary negotiations
  • Wealth: Helping people increase their income online, budgeting, saving, investing for beginners, credit repair, credit cards, real estate
  • Health; social and career confidence, mental health
  • Relationships: Getting over a break up, divorce, widow, dating, saving marriages, etc.

To keep things simple, anything in the niches of wealth, health, and relationships is a good bet. They are evergreen, people always need help, and if you can share a unique and helpful angle that will save people time, avoid pain, and reach their goals faster, you are GOLD.

Now, as an engineer, you probably already have a little voice deep down telling you what you need to do; you already have inclinations of what you want to talk about.

So my advice to you is to lean into that. Even if it’s not engineering related.

Give yourself permission to expand beyond your “engineering personality.”

If you are still not sure, you can simply start posting content, making videos based on your interests, see what sticks, and then double down.

You can pivot later, so don’t think that the niche you choose will be forever.

2. Types of content to create

Once you choose your niche and your angle, now it’s time to start being strategic about the content you post, so you can start attracting the audience you seek.

The content I made to attract my audience (which had the purchasing power to hire my services) consisted of videos that solved a problem for them.

This piece of content right here is not meant to go viral. It’s meant to attract the audience I want to help and associate myself with.

A good way to start attracting your audience and the people you can help is looking into the problems they are facing.

What are the problems your audience is facing? What burning questions do they have?

This includes:

  • How-to guides, educating my audience to help them stay informed, and knowledgeable to solve problems on their own
  • Product reviews, explaining a product in detail, so my audience could make a decision
  • Comparison videos, comparing different products they could use, so they could know which is best for their goals

Based on our niche and your goal, you probably will only focus on How-To Guides and informational videos, helping your audience solve a problem they are facing.

A good tool that can help you do keyword research, get content ideas, so you can make videos that can actually get views is VidIQ (check it out here).

And that’s when the next part of this process comes handy.

Let’s get it.

3. Top YouTube Monetization Methods for Engineers

On YouTube, there are multiple ways to make your first $1,000.

Personally, I made my first $1,000 offering online coaching services to engineering professionals.

I made money with my YouTube channel when it had only about 200 subscribers.

Here are the ways I’ve found that can help you monetize your YouTube channel the fastest, starting from day 0:

a) Offering Online Coaching/Consulting Services:

If you are familiar with YouTube, you may think the only way to make money is through AdSense, but actually I’ve come to learn that coaching and consulting are one of the fastest ways to monetize a YouTube channel.

Essentially, you help people who are already in need to solve a problem; you post content they are searching, you tell them they can talk to you 1:1, and then they can pay a fee to talk to you.

It’s a very simple process.

  • $100/hour, you need 10 clients to make your first $1,000.
  • $250/hour, you need 4 clients
  • $500/hour, you need only 2

Online coaching can be very profitable depending on how you position yourself, and the type of challenge you are solving for people, and how much purchasing power your target audience has.

If you are selling high-ticket, premium coaching services to college students, you’ll have a hard time getting clients.

However, if you are helping independent contractors write, bid, and win Government contracts, that can be very lucrative.

If you want to learn more about this, check out how I helped this engineer craft an online coaching offer (and also my experience as an online coach and how I got my first client).

b) Affiliate Marketing:

Affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to get to your first $1,000 on YouTube fast. Since affiliate marketing entails you promoting businesses’ products and services, you can review and talk about stuff you already use.

Here are some examples of YouTube channels who are crushing it with this business model:

Whether it’s banking services, tech products, business products, credit cards, software, you name it; you can talk about it, promote it to others, and then get a cut if people decide to use your link.

This is also exactly what I did in 2024. Check out how I made $25K online while working full time and raising a family 🙂

c) Selling Online Courses

A lot of people hate those who sell courses. Who knows, maybe you do as well, but here’s the truth:

Online courses make money. Course creators make money. And the online education industry is only projected to grow. So why not take advantage of it?

Certainly, I’ve sold online courses in the past and I got to help people. You can, too!

Think about something you have to offer, what is a challenge you overcame?

  • Can you help people get into your industry? Cyber security? Project Management? Construction? Tech?
  • Can you help someone pass any technical tests or certifications like the FE, PE, PMP, or others?
  • Can you help someone learn to code?
  • How about teaching someone how to flip a house?

It doesn’t all have to be engineering related.

These are ideas to get your juices flowing, so you can identify what you can teach others, and how you can take them from point A to point B.

If you want to learn how to build a successful and profitable online course, let me know and contact me here on IG and I will put you in contact with one of the leading Online Course Creation coaches out there, Sunny Lennarduzi.

d) AdSense (Getting Paid for Massive Views)

In order to make money with YouTube AdSense, you have to have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch-hours.

If you are like me when I was a beginner on YouTube, it could take you a long time to get there.

I know, it took me a year and a half.

But that’s OK because the second time I opened another faceless channel, it took me only two weeks.

Getting to your first $1,000 with AdSense can take you months in the beginning, and you need massive views.

In other words, you have to be good at making content that people love to watch, but once you crack the code, it’s very scalable and simple.

You make the videos, post them, and get paid. That’s it.

However, it can be volatile, inconsistent, and frustrating sometimes because you are purely relying on the YouTube algorithm.

e) Misc: Sponsorships, Communities, and Memberships

I put all of these options here in one bucket because they are somewhat outside of your control, and you need an established channel and/or volume.

  • With sponsorships, you depend on businesses to pay for your content, and when you are a small channel, you need to abide by their rules. Companies won’t sponsor your channel until you have a proven track record and align with their products.
  • With communities, you need to invest a lot of time building, attracting the community, getting them to pay to become members of your community, then you need to engage them. Unless you have a clear niche and target audience, people won’t just give you money to be part of your YouTube community. If your goal is to build a community and change people to be part of it, the best one is Skool.
  • With memberships, you need good channel engagement, volume, and good will of the people to pay for your content.

I’m not saying they don’t work, but they are a different beast.

Not my personal preference, but hey, it’s up to you. All I wanted to do is make you make you aware of your options.

4. Avoid These Mistakes While Starting Your Engineering YouTube Channel

When I first started my YouTube channel, I made a ton of mistakes. Here are some that I hope you avoid, so you can succeed faster:

  • Overthinking: In the pursuit of “making the right decision” right from the start, you may freeze due to thinking too much. This is when action matters most, especially in the beginning. Remember execution breeds clarity. Take action
  • Making purposeless videos: I used to make videos “just for the hell of it” and without research. The result? The video got no views, and made no money. When you use YouTube as a business, especially as a busy professional, you want to make each video count. Make sure you do proper keyword research and know how the video will be beneficial for your business
  • Lack of focus: This is one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs and it’s a constant battle. One thing I learned from Alex Hormozi is focus is a skill, and you can absolutely dominate your mind. Put your blinders on, remember your why, and you will be able to bear any obstacle.
  • Listening to too many people: Oh boy, this one hits home. You may be listening to nine podcasts, reading 10 books, watching 100 YouTube videos a week, and they all contradict themselves and your brain will end up collapsing. Having been in this situation, I’ll tell you this: choose one or two people who you admire, who want to be like, and forget everyone else.
  • Spending too much money on gear: One of the biggest misconceptions I used to have was I needed expensive equipment to make videos. The truth is, all you need is a professional, clean environment at home (free or buy a green screen, $30), good lighting ($20), and a good mic ($100), and a phone to record. You don’t need anything else to get started. That’s my whole setup!

At the end of the day, just remember that regardless of the mistakes you may or may not end up making, pick yourself back up, and keep going.

Every meaningful goal worth pursuing will be difficult to achieve, but the bigger the struggle, the sweeter the victory.

5. Time commitment: How long does it take?

If YouTube sounds like a good idea, but you are afraid of the time commitment (because obviously you have a job and at times also a family), let me share with you a summary of how I personally approach it, and how long it takes me.

Here is what it takes to make a YouTube video and how long it takes me PER VIDEO:

  • Keyword research and title (About 30 minutes for each video). Finding the right idea can take time
  • Pre-production: Research, preparing the presentation/blog post (About 2 hours)
  • Filming: Actually sitting down making the video. About 20-30 minutes
  • Editing: My editing is very basic, so it takes me about 2 hours to cut the fluff and add pictures on the screen (AKA B-roll).
  • Thumbnail Creation: My thumbnails are also basic and use thumbnails that worked in the past. Takes me about 30 minutes
  • Uploading video: Adding descriptions, adding links, chapters, tags, etc. Takes me about 20 minutes

An approximate total of six hours per video +/- one hour.

This is not uncommon. When I bought a YouTube course a couple of years ago, the coach also said it took him about 4-5 hours from beginning to end.

It may seem daunting, but the more practice you have, the fastest this will be.

Not to mention, as you gain experience and gather data, your video production will be quicker because you will have a better idea of what content to make and how to make it.

You can also hire editors, scriptwriters, and/or thumbnail designers from Fiverr, which can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes you.

Bottom Line

I believe everyone should have a YouTube channel; not only can it help you build something you own and control, if you do it well, it can also bring you professional growth opportunities.

If you are hesitant, try it out. Make a few videos, learn the process, start building connections, and see how you like it, and if you want to streamline the process of choosing your niche, making videos, and using YouTube as a business, you can Book a 1:1 coaching session now and take the first step toward building your profitable YouTube channel.

If you have any questions, let’s connect! Reach out to me on IG 🙂

Until next time and to your success,

Alex.