Dan Martell - How to Actually Make Money Online This Year

00:00:00.080 right now you're either in one of two buckets you don't have a personal brand yet or you do but it's

00:00:06.080 just not making nearly as much money as it should so i'm going to help you fix both i've personally

00:00:11.200 built a brand over 10 million followers across all platforms and it's got me some cool stuff

00:00:15.920 like getting paid 100k for a single keynote get on some of the top podcasts in the world generate

00:00:21.280 over 100 million of revenue for my companies and most importantly the thing i'm most proud of is

00:00:25.200 the chance to help millions of people build a business they don't grow to hate and i want that

00:00:29.200 for you too so today i'm going to walk you through the five steps of building a personal brand that

00:00:33.760 brings every opportunity you've ever dreamed of into your life but first we need to understand

00:00:39.280 what we're building in the first place step one understand what we're building what is a brand

00:00:45.600 think about it like this a brand is nothing more than association you have an object and you have

00:00:51.280 association you have nike and you have athletes you have ferrari and you have luxury a personal brand

00:00:58.400 adds a person into it so what do people think about when they hear your name if you think of

00:01:03.360 elon musk you probably think space you probably think rich you probably think controversial you

00:01:08.480 probably think x or twitter if you think mr beast you probably think youtube most subscribers big

00:01:14.640 smile high energy just think about it what's the topics that you want to be associated with

00:01:20.560 when you think of people who do you want to be associated with when you think of products or

00:01:24.960 or hobbies, what do you wanna be associated with?

00:01:28.240 So for me, it's blue shirt, it's AI, it's time,

00:01:32.860 it's the things that I talk about.

00:01:34.840 The old model was essentially

00:01:36.800 you build a monetization engine first

00:01:38.980 and then you build an audience.

00:01:40.560 You figure out what you wanna sell

00:01:41.900 and then you go create ads.

00:01:43.660 That's gone, that's not the world we live in.

00:01:45.800 The new model is you build audience,

00:01:47.880 you build community, you build attention

00:01:50.200 and then you monetize only if you build trust.

00:01:53.440 The audience is the asset, it's the new oil.

00:01:56.940 That's why we're seeing this like proliferation

00:01:59.060 of people doubling down and going pro

00:02:00.860 on their personal brand,

00:02:02.040 because the benefit of a personal brand is massive.

00:02:04.940 Back in the day, it used to be who you know,

00:02:07.260 and today it's who knows you.

00:02:09.160 You being talked about in a room

00:02:10.760 that you're not even in there

00:02:11.880 because you created content to help people,

00:02:13.780 that's incredible.

00:02:14.900 Mr. Beast was offered a billion dollars

00:02:16.860 for his YouTube channel like five years ago.

00:02:18.980 Kylie Jenner used her social media 1.00

00:02:21.420 to build a makeup brand that sold for $600 million.

00:02:25.200 When I look at the crazy things in my life,

00:02:27.240 speaking at Tony Robbins,

00:02:28.800 meeting my idols like John Maxwell,

00:02:30.980 doing the top podcasts like Modern Wisdom, Lewis Howes,

00:02:34.160 all of these came on the backside of building a brand.

00:02:36.920 And brand is nothing more than the feeling

00:02:39.120 and association somebody has when they hear your name.

00:02:41.500 So don't just build a business, build a brand.

00:02:44.340 If you wanna be a millionaire, you can build a business.

00:02:46.340 If you wanna be a billionaire, you gotta build a brand.

00:02:48.980 So now we understand the concept of a personal brand,

00:02:51.920 but how do we actually build one?

00:02:53.960 Step two, stop talking to everyone.

00:02:57.360 Okay, my friend Jen said it best the other day.

00:02:59.300 She said, if you don't have a controversial take

00:03:02.160 or an unpopular opinion when you speak,

00:03:05.320 then you're not repelling the people you don't want

00:03:07.500 and you're not attracting the people you do want.

00:03:09.720 Think about it.

00:03:10.560 If you try to talk to everyone,

00:03:11.980 you just end up talking to no one.

00:03:13.620 You sound like vanilla.

00:03:15.520 There's no spice to your communication.

00:03:18.060 And it's not about like jumping out there

00:03:20.080 and screaming at the crowd or freaking out

00:03:22.620 or being Mr. Funny Pants.

00:03:24.100 It's literally having an opinion.

00:03:26.560 It's about being you.

00:03:28.200 And if you're quiet and you're chill

00:03:30.700 and you just wanna sit there and bake goods

00:03:32.960 and record yourself doing that, do it.

00:03:36.160 But if you wanna like bring the energy

00:03:38.460 and show your lifestyle and be a streamer

00:03:41.100 like some of these people, like I show speed,

00:03:43.320 isn't it crazy that that is some of the attention you can get?

00:03:46.080 But again, association and brand.

00:03:47.580 So the whole point is to talk to a specific person.

00:03:50.740 What are their opinions on life?

00:03:52.180 What do they wanna learn about?

00:03:53.720 That is your ideal audience.

00:03:55.440 And if you're trying to make money at some point,

00:03:58.120 then you should speak to people that have the problem

00:04:01.100 that you can help them with.

00:04:02.580 So if you wanna figure out what you can share

00:04:05.680 to really connect with an audience that you wanna attract,

00:04:08.600 you have to ask yourself these three questions.

00:04:10.860 The first one is,

00:04:12.160 what's the toughest thing

00:04:13.420 you've ever gone through in your life?

00:04:15.480 Because if you can share that,

00:04:17.100 I will tell you, the most powerful thing you have

00:04:20.340 is the most challenging thing you've gone through.

00:04:22.960 Your job is to help people avoid that pain.

00:04:25.340 That is why people communicate.

00:04:27.340 The bigger the monster, the bigger the hero.

00:04:29.580 Don't shy away from that.

00:04:31.520 The second is what's wrong with the world

00:04:34.000 and how do you wanna fix it?

00:04:36.000 Where's the problem, how do you see it,

00:04:38.380 and what do you think the fix is?

00:04:39.820 My buddy Ronnie says it best.

00:04:41.420 What's a specific, observable, and nuanced challenge

00:04:44.900 that this specific customer has around this problem,

00:04:48.020 and you talk to that, your audience will feel

00:04:50.360 like you've got a hidden camera in their office.

00:04:52.940 And number three, what do you like talking about?

00:04:55.740 When I think about the perfect mix,

00:04:57.600 it's what does the market wanna hear,

00:04:59.440 because there's an audience,

00:05:00.620 and then what do I love to talk about?

00:05:02.660 I just happen to love to talk about AI

00:05:04.580 because I'm a technology guy.

00:05:06.140 I love to talk about buying back your time,

00:05:08.040 and people show up, 2.6 million people on YouTube.

00:05:11.140 That's crazy to me, but it showed up

00:05:13.340 because I chose to talk about the things

00:05:15.260 that I love to talk about.

00:05:16.560 So if you take those three questions,

00:05:18.640 the answers to those should hint as to who you wanna help,

00:05:22.960 how you wanna help them, the things you wanna create,

00:05:25.460 the content you wanna help them with, right?

00:05:27.300 So write down this one sentence.

00:05:29.460 I help, insert type of person, who is a specific person,

00:05:33.300 do, get the desired outcome, what do you help them do,

00:05:36.660 without, the pain is whatever their challenge with right now

00:05:39.820 trying to do the thing.

00:05:41.180 The worst thing's ever happened to you is your mess.

00:05:43.920 And oftentimes your mess

00:05:45.240 is the most powerful message you have.

00:05:47.100 Pain in your world is the perfect teacher.

00:05:49.800 And if you don't share that emotion,

00:05:51.660 you can't get people to take motion, right?

00:05:53.740 No emotion, no motion.

00:05:54.820 If you want people to sign up, you want people to follow,

00:05:56.740 you want people to lean in and leave a comment,

00:05:58.680 they gotta feel you.

00:06:00.220 If they think you're just talking to everybody

00:06:02.200 and you're very vanilla and you're plain,

00:06:04.100 don't be upset if you've got no engagement.

00:06:06.280 Now, for those who might already have a brand,

00:06:08.660 but you're struggling to create good content,

00:06:10.940 I have a gift for you.

00:06:11.920 I have a full content playbook that covers everything.

00:06:14.860 I'm talking how to build your brand voice,

00:06:17.040 the frameworks to make your content go viral.

00:06:19.280 If you want it, just find me on Instagram

00:06:21.100 and DM me the words YouTube content and I'll send it over.

00:06:24.180 Okay, we've built the plan to how to find your audience,

00:06:27.440 who you wanna serve.

00:06:28.340 But the next question is,

00:06:29.820 what's the first real step to building?

00:06:32.540 Step number three, don't think.

00:06:35.000 Turn off the frontal lo.

00:06:36.400 Because sometimes we convince ourselves

00:06:38.380 out of doing something.

00:06:39.700 Just post.

00:06:41.560 Here's the deal.

00:06:42.460 You'll never feel ready, so just start. 0.98

00:06:44.800 First hundred posts will suck.

00:06:46.680 Accept it, just learn it. 0.77

00:06:47.760 I actually consider it the first hundred throwaways.

00:06:49.700 Why don't you just run as fast as you can

00:06:52.260 to video, post, video, post, and just ask yourself,

00:06:54.800 what can I improve each time?

00:06:56.100 Slow it down, speed it up, be clear.

00:06:59.280 Is there a call to action?

00:07:00.740 Do I make this about them or do I make it for me?

00:07:03.160 It's all about the reps, the reps, the reps.

00:07:06.160 I sucked at being on camera when I first started.

00:07:08.700 You see Dan today, but you didn't see Dan 11 years ago.

00:07:12.520 That was nervous.

00:07:13.800 I couldn't talk to the camera.

00:07:15.440 I got red in the face,

00:07:17.160 but I just knew that if I could learn how to communicate

00:07:20.160 in front of a camera and not make it a big deal,

00:07:22.280 not because there's a recording little red bleeping thing,

00:07:24.940 it's just show up and talk,

00:07:27.020 that over time I would get better.

00:07:28.460 And I got to a place where I can shoot any video, one take.

00:07:32.380 I know I can stop and think a little bit and that's okay.

00:07:34.700 I can breathe and just keep going.

00:07:37.780 and the actions compound.

00:07:39.520 Zig Ziglar said it best.

00:07:41.080 He says, you don't have to be great to start,

00:07:43.020 but you do have to start to be great.

00:07:45.400 So here's what we need to do today.

00:07:47.300 Number one, pick a platform, one platform.

00:07:49.900 If you're asking for my suggestion,

00:07:51.720 go all in on Instagram, publish twice a day on a reel,

00:07:55.220 and just start and post, start and post, start and post.

00:07:57.580 Don't worry about your feed.

00:07:58.900 Second thing, we have to decide on a posting schedule.

00:08:01.560 As I mentioned, if you're asking me,

00:08:02.840 what does a pro do?

00:08:03.960 Twice a day.

00:08:04.900 But if you could just do one a day,

00:08:06.860 Oh my gosh, that would be beautiful.

00:08:08.540 But all you have to do is pick a schedule

00:08:10.340 that makes you slightly uncomfortable,

00:08:12.680 that feels like a bit of a stretch,

00:08:14.360 and just make sure that you're consistent

00:08:16.440 for a long period of time.

00:08:18.140 I like to think in years, not in months, not in weeks.

00:08:21.920 The third, now pull out your phone.

00:08:24.180 Hit record right now, do it while you're watching this,

00:08:26.700 and just start yapping.

00:08:27.860 Being like, man, I'm watching a video.

00:08:29.260 Dan just said I gotta hit record and publish this thing,

00:08:31.540 and I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying,

00:08:33.200 but that's okay, he said just shoot.

00:08:34.960 Now I'm gonna post it,

00:08:36.180 And if you feel compelled by this video,

00:08:37.900 you should shoot a video and post it too.

00:08:39.780 So now the trick is just publish.

00:08:41.520 That's 80% of the problem, just publish.

00:08:43.540 Fourth is learn, study the content.

00:08:46.420 What worked in the past, hit it again.

00:08:49.180 What didn't, stop doing that.

00:08:50.820 Go find out what other people are doing, learn from them.

00:08:53.420 Look at what my videos are doing, learn from me.

00:08:55.920 So here's where I'm gonna go next level

00:08:58.600 and I'm gonna challenge you. 1.00

00:08:59.980 My friend Jen does it every day. 0.99

00:09:02.060 She did it for four years straight. 0.90

00:09:03.980 I'm gonna challenge you to go live.

00:09:05.580 And I want you to go live on whatever platform you want.

00:09:07.520 It could be Facebook or Instagram or TikTok for 30 days.

00:09:10.480 I want you to turn your phone on, hit live and just talk.

00:09:13.460 The cool part is that you can delete the live

00:09:15.120 as soon as you're done, okay?

00:09:15.960 But record yourself on your phone,

00:09:18.000 talking to the people, sharing an idea.

00:09:21.140 You never know what's gonna work.

00:09:23.520 You just have to commit to the time.

00:09:25.720 So for the next 30 days, go live every day,

00:09:28.580 talk to your audience, even if there's two people there

00:09:31.320 and just practice, practice, practice.

00:09:34.320 So now you understand the personal brand side.

00:09:36.580 You know how to find your ideal audience

00:09:38.420 and you've started posting, right?

00:09:40.700 Right?

00:09:41.860 Yeah, that's awesome, cool.

00:09:43.700 Posting isn't enough.

00:09:45.280 This next part is where a lot of people screw up everything.

00:09:48.440 Step number four, don't be a sellout.

00:09:51.660 A lot of people will post

00:09:53.820 and then they get a little bit of views

00:09:55.740 and they wanna squeeze every penny out of their community.

00:09:58.620 Okay, that's being a sellout.

00:10:00.180 That's being somebody that's like NASCAR.

00:10:02.160 You're just like trying to monetize the

00:10:04.020 out of everything you've ever done.

00:10:05.360 I see people do this, they're selling stuff

00:10:07.600 that they don't even use themselves.

00:10:09.280 They prioritize making money

00:10:11.340 over building the trust with the audience.

00:10:13.400 Then once you lose that trust with the people,

00:10:15.980 nobody's gonna pay you to get in front of them.

00:10:18.100 If you have the trust, people will literally line up

00:10:21.660 begging you to pay you to get in front of them.

00:10:24.820 My inbox is full of companies

00:10:27.360 that wanna pay me to promote them.

00:10:29.000 Guess what, not doing it.

00:10:30.420 For me, it's not what I do.

00:10:32.600 Trust is the currency that you're trading

00:10:35.140 when you build an audience.

00:10:36.340 Think Apple, what Apple has in the market is the world trust.

00:10:39.340 And because of that, it's a trillion dollar company.

00:10:41.420 When people honor you with a follow

00:10:44.080 or your content shows up in their feed,

00:10:46.320 the best thing you could do is honor that trust.

00:10:48.820 Show up and give.

00:10:50.240 Don't try to monetize too quick.

00:10:51.940 Don't try to sell stuff too quick.

00:10:53.500 Honestly, just keep giving.

00:10:55.900 A guy I know asked me, he's like,

00:10:57.040 hey man, I know a way that I can monetize

00:10:58.720 my audience even more.

00:11:00.480 And I'm like, bro, do you understand the whole point

00:11:03.100 of leaving money on the table

00:11:04.680 is to leave the money on the table?

00:11:06.000 If you're the person that sells something

00:11:08.160 to every potential audience,

00:11:09.940 every time you talk or open your mouth or post a video,

00:11:12.520 that you're just trying to sell something,

00:11:13.960 I'm just curious how long you can go giving and giving

00:11:17.420 and giving and giving without ever asking for anything.

00:11:20.760 So here are three rules to not be a sellout, okay?

00:11:23.520 One, reply to at least five comments every single post.

00:11:27.060 You, in there.

00:11:27.900 Somebody comments, reply, reply.

00:11:29.760 Do anything, support them, add value, answer their questions,

00:11:33.580 but always reply to the comments.

00:11:35.180 Don't think you're too cool to reply to comments.

00:11:37.880 Two, reply to every single DM.

00:11:40.060 If somebody follows you and they send you a direct message,

00:11:42.000 always say something.

00:11:43.420 I appreciate you saying hi.

00:11:44.920 The person who showed me the way for this is Gary V.

00:11:48.040 Gary has replied to every DM, every email, every SMS.

00:11:51.560 Honestly, I don't know when he sleeps.

00:11:53.060 He's been doing this for years.

00:11:54.260 He might not be able to still do this,

00:11:55.960 but if he could, he would.

00:11:57.620 And I've just always tried to honor that.

00:11:59.300 Third, give 10 times more free value

00:12:02.740 than you ever asked for.

00:12:04.480 I dare you to give away your best stuff.

00:12:06.940 The thing that you get paid the most money

00:12:08.960 to do for somebody, unpack how you do that

00:12:11.660 and give it away, give it away, give it away.

00:12:13.480 My whole philosophy around content is to die empty.

00:12:16.660 I sit in my office and I go do things

00:12:18.640 that make me tens of millions of dollars.

00:12:20.460 Then I come in here and I go, okay, let's unpack it.

00:12:23.260 Let's show it just like this video

00:12:24.840 and every other video on my channel.

00:12:26.620 I want to die empty.

00:12:28.760 I have no reason to keep it inside.

00:12:30.620 I give it all to everybody that wants it.

00:12:33.260 The whole playbook's there.

00:12:34.520 Everything I've ever done, I don't hold back.

00:12:36.860 I don't gatekeep.

00:12:37.800 If you do this every day,

00:12:39.640 you will build an audience that actually trusts you.

00:12:42.520 They show up to support you.

00:12:44.240 If you have a book come out, they will buy it.

00:12:46.040 It'll become a bestseller

00:12:47.140 because you've poured into them for years

00:12:49.860 without ever asking for anything.

00:12:51.740 Now, everything we've done so far

00:12:53.500 will help you build an audience that literally trusts you

00:12:56.680 and will start to beg you to take their money

00:12:58.620 because they trust you to solve problems.

00:13:01.020 But only then do you get to this next step.

00:13:03.660 Step number five, monetize.

00:13:06.140 The cool part is you don't need millions of followers

00:13:09.120 to make money.

00:13:10.460 Many people in my life that I've taught this to

00:13:13.700 can monetize with less than 10,000 followers.

00:13:16.100 My buddy, Mike Brown had 7,800, I think, when he came to me.

00:13:19.360 And I showed him the simple strategy

00:13:21.860 of just messaging the new followers, talking to them.

00:13:25.520 In the first year, he did a million in revenue

00:13:27.940 off of his Instagram alone.

00:13:29.780 He doesn't have a massive audience, but he talked to them.

00:13:33.300 See, the importance is knowing the ways to make money

00:13:36.060 from your brand and not coming across as a sellout.

00:13:38.900 Monetizing the best way is essentially just solving

00:13:41.660 a bigger problem some of your audience has

00:13:44.660 for people who already trust you.

00:13:46.560 Have you ever just followed somebody

00:13:48.000 and they just, every time they talk, they just drop bombs

00:13:50.300 and they're just like so helpful and you buy their book

00:13:52.300 or you read their blog post or their newsletter,

00:13:54.180 and you're like, oh my gosh, I have a problem today

00:13:56.560 that I know he would have an answer for.

00:13:58.360 I really wish he had a product or a place or a workshop

00:14:01.480 or a seminar or something that I could go spend time

00:14:04.240 to get clarity around my problem.

00:14:06.340 Those are the best scenarios.

00:14:07.860 I created content for almost a decade

00:14:10.300 before I ever sold my first book.

00:14:12.420 And when it launched in 2023,

00:14:14.540 it sold 20,000 copies in his first two weeks,

00:14:17.180 becoming a number two behind Atomic Habits,

00:14:19.660 Wall Street Journal bestselling book.

00:14:21.560 It only sold because of the trust I built.

00:14:24.080 Almost a decade of content.

00:14:25.940 the value I poured into my audience

00:14:28.560 without ever asking for anything.

00:14:30.120 I always prioritize trust first.

00:14:32.620 I think it like this, okay?

00:14:34.520 You give away your information as much as you can,

00:14:37.640 your best stuff, and then people pay you for implementation.

00:14:41.200 And there's only three ways to make money

00:14:43.180 from your personal brand.

00:14:44.340 The first one is ad revenue, okay?

00:14:46.020 The platform pays you for views.

00:14:47.860 Like YouTube, for example, and now it's a slow build

00:14:50.920 and it's unreliable, but over time,

00:14:52.860 the YouTube revenue can cover the cost of your production,

00:14:55.740 your editors, your videos.

00:14:57.000 It's a wild thing to watch.

00:14:58.380 And that's just ad dollars that come in

00:15:00.760 because when you publish on a platform,

00:15:02.420 they need to make money to cover their costs.

00:15:04.140 And then all of a sudden, if you do it for long enough

00:15:06.080 and it grows, you can make a lot of money from it.

00:15:07.920 You essentially get a portion of the ads that people spend

00:15:10.800 to run ads on top of your videos.

00:15:12.980 Two is brand deals.

00:15:14.480 And this is where most people make their money,

00:15:17.000 where they get paid by a brand to create content,

00:15:19.980 to collaborate.

00:15:20.820 Now it can be wild money, it can be good money,

00:15:23.920 but you do need to align with the right partners, okay?

00:15:26.580 Most creators do this. 0.99

00:15:28.300 The ones that suck at it align with shitty partners 0.99

00:15:31.080 and they're willing to sell their soul for anybody's money. 0.99

00:15:33.360 And the third, and it's one of my favorite,

00:15:35.240 is you own the product or service

00:15:37.400 that you talk about in your content.

00:15:39.480 It's got the highest upside

00:15:40.740 because one, you built the product,

00:15:42.700 you're aligned with the product,

00:15:44.160 you know how the product's gonna get delivered,

00:15:46.240 the audience trusts you,

00:15:47.820 and it's something that you can invest in

00:15:49.800 over and over and over again.

00:15:52.160 Think about Mr. Beast with Feastables.

00:15:54.100 You think about, you know, Ryan Trahan with Joyride,

00:15:57.020 Nelk Boys and Happy Dad or Logan and Prime.

00:15:59.360 And there's a ton of them. 1.00

00:16:00.840 Now that is an advanced move

00:16:02.280 and most content creators are not business operators.

00:16:05.260 So that one's tougher to do.

00:16:06.580 All I would say is pick one.

00:16:08.240 If it's ads or brand deals or your own products,

00:16:11.540 but go hard, go all in.

00:16:14.220 Choose one strategy to monetize,

00:16:16.220 build the trust with your audience,

00:16:17.720 introduce that,

00:16:18.840 and don't try to build them all at once.

00:16:20.960 master one and win. Now, those are the five steps to build a brand, to build trust, to monetize.

00:16:28.080 That's it. See, most people will watch this and they won't do anything with it, but not you.

00:16:32.860 You're here because you're like, you know what? I resonate with this and I know that I need to

00:16:38.100 grow my business. I got to create content. I got to build my personal brand. I have to do it in a

00:16:41.580 way that gets the right ideal customers and builds trust. So I need you to make a commitment below

00:16:47.000 and let me know, are you gonna go live

00:16:48.960 for 30 days in a row?

00:16:50.140 Not a lot of people are gonna do it.

00:16:51.780 But if you are, type the comment 30 below and let me know.

00:16:55.760 Pick the platform, is it Facebook, Instagram, or other?

00:16:58.000 Maybe even X.

00:16:59.240 Go live for 30 days, practice talking to the camera,

00:17:02.680 practice talking to your audience,

00:17:04.080 practice creating value, and comment below and let me know.

00:17:07.400 Now, don't forget, if you want my exact content playbook

00:17:10.140 to help you create viral content,

00:17:11.860 just find me on Instagram, Dan Martell,

00:17:14.020 and DM me the word YouTube content, and I'll send it over.

00:17:16.820 Now, if you wanna learn how I build a company

00:17:19.180 from zero to one million,

00:17:20.760 just click here and I'll see you on the other side.

Dan Martell - May 11, 2026

How to Actually Make Money Online This Year

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