YouTube is undeniably a reliable media house that keeps and supplies video content that is relevant to the consumer’s interests. Our generation consists of people who have abandoned traditional TV or are in the process of doing so. And where are they going? Youtube!

Here are some bytes for you. Every single day, over five billion YouTube videos are devoured around the world.

On the supply side, more than 300 hours of HD quality videos are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds, contributing to a supermassive collection of more than 1.3 billion videos!

The reach and power of this network cannot be underestimated, with many artists, celebrities, and comedians have launched their careers through simple YouTube videos.

I know someone’s mind is already ringing with questions on how to tap into this huge platform and make some coins.

And Yes! Such a platform where such a large number of people spend so much time presents numerous opportunities to make money! In fact, YouTube has now become a booming business in the last few years.

How to make money on YouTube

Making legit money online is not a get-rich-quick affair. Bringing it home, making money on YouTube requires hard work and patience like every other good business.

Its however important to mention that for people who are willing to put in the time and effort, the payoff can be quite huge!

Most people make money on YouTube through advertisements placed on their channels.

Just the same way you would be paid to place advertisements for products and brands on your TV channel.

But the great advantage is that Youtube provides a platform for you to produce and broadcast any kind of content you want to share with the world. In other words, you are both the producer and the broadcaster.

In return, Youtube retains a share of the income that your ‘programs’ or videos make from advertising. Your duty is to create the video content for your audience, while YouTube gives you the platform to air the content and serve advertisements on your channel.

Many Kenyans have asked me severally the amount of money YouTube pays. Based on statistics from various YouTubers in Kenya, 1000 views pay approximately Ksh.100. The amount can go as high as Ksh.200 per 1,000 views depending on the source of traffic and number of clicks.

I have seen many people misleading others in regards to YouTube earnings in Kenya. Unless you get hundreds of thousands of views, it’s hard to generate decent income – YouTube is not a gold mine for the lazy publishers. Those getting over 1 million views are the ones earning good money. For 1 million views, you will earn more than Ksh.200,000.

Below is the estimated income you will earn from YouTube in Kenya based on views:

1,000 views – Ksh.100

10,000 views – Ksh.1,000

20,000 views – Ksh.2,500

50,000 views – Ksh.7,000

100,000 views – Ksh15,000

200,000 views – Ksh.30,000

500,000 views – Ksh.70,000

1 million views – Ksh.150,000

2 million views – Ksh.300,000

The money earned from YouTube depends on the number of subscribers, number of videos and how frequent you post them —and of course views. Someone can post one video which gets 1 million views and it earns Ksh.400,000. Another one will post 10 videos which will get 100,000 views in total and generates less than Ksh.15,000 from the videos. The quality of videos matters a lot too.

To start earning from YouTube, first, post good videos that will get over 4,000 watch hours and at least 1,000 subscribers. After 12 months, apply to monetize with AdSense.

I suggest that you choose a topic that has many viewers. The most profitable topics include Entertainment, Sports, health, fitness, Real Estate, Travel &Tourism, Recipe/cooking, and music.

Is my Youtube Channel eligible?

For a Youtube channel to be eligible to be served with advertisements, the channel viewers must have watched 4,000 hours (240,000 minutes) of the channel videos in the last 12 months.

What this means is that your channel must have released sufficient content and that the video content must have been watched for a minimum of 4,000 hours.

What this means is that if your channel has 200 videos 4 minutes each, then it’s expected that on average every video is watched at least 300 times to give a total of 4,000 watch hours.

Of course, there are other considerations. For instance, if a user does a search on YouTube and then watches a series of videos with yours being the first – every video watched in that series (whether from your channel or not), will be factored into the session watch-time for that content.

At this point, it is important to mention that the number one ranking factor for YouTube is “Watch Time.”

Creating content that keeps the viewer hooked all the way through is the most important factor in that video’s success on Youtube.

YouTube easily falls in love with videos that increase watch time on the site. We will discuss methods of boosting the watch time for your videos later.

Of course the more the content the better, although quality cannot be ignored if your channel is to attract and retain a loyal audience.

Your channel also must have at least 1,000 subscribers to be eligible to make money from advertising. This is not such a huge mountain to climb.

Promoting your channel and asking your audience to subscribe would give you more than 1,000 subscribers in a couple of weeks.

Building an engaged audience

Of course, the first thing you need to do on YouTube, just like any other platform, is to connect with an audience that loves your content.

This gives you an opportunity to make money while doing what you love. For instance, if you are into comedy, you need to create and share video content that excites, entertains and keeps your fans coming back for more.

If you’re a newbie on YouTube, you may want to first learn how to create good content that viewers watch consistently, and try out strategies to first grow your audience in order to maximize your opportunity to make money.

As a matter of fact, people don`t buy what they need. They only buy what they want. The only time people buy what they need is when they need and want such a thing. Need alone never motivates people to buy.

You must be able to identify what people need and want or what people want. If you`re offering what people need and want, you will have a prosperous business.

If you are offering what people want (even if they dont need it), you will still have a successful business, but dont ever go to the market with what people need and dont want. People dont buy what they need. They only buy what they want.

Let me explain.

Our needs are things useful or good for us. Our wants are things we want to buy or use.Sometimes we dont know what is good for us, so we dont care about paying for it and some other times we want what is not good for us and we are willing to pay for it.

Let`s take this practical example.

Motivational books (books on human relationship, leadership, finance, business etc.) are very good for us and every African youth needs to read at least two of such books every month, but do they want such books?

Will you sell much of these books if you advertise to them?

You know the answer.

But think about this

Hip-hop music is full of nonsense, nudity and useless songs. We don`t need such songs, yet our youths want them, so the hip-hop (demon-possessed) singers are making much money.

The above example should show you something.

Dont sell things that people need or dont want. The best thing you can sell are things people need and want.

When we started forming WhatsApp groups to educate people about profitable business idea in Kenya, our primary target was the African youths between the ages of 18 and 30 and to be frank, these are the people who need our message and business ideas and advice articles the most.

These are the people who are just becoming adults and people within their first decade in adulthood.

These are the people who, though they have certificates, they are jobless or are not earning enough money.

Most people in this age bracket are young, strong and singles, so they have much power to change whatever they want to change about their lives.

But guess something?

Most people within this age bracket don`t want to hear that there are no jobs.

Somehow they want to believe there are many good jobs waiting out there for them.

These people don`t want you to tell them that they can be business owners, if truly they want to be rich.

Though these people need our message and business ideas and advice articles, they dont want it. Its too bitter for their taste.

We tried for some years and even wasted money along the line, so as to get our message across to the people in this age bracket, but we failed and wasted our time and money.

We had to change our strategy.

Its painful but thats what we did. We now target people who are between the ages of 27 and 50.

If you are between 18 and 22 and I tell you, “Hey, jobs are scarce. The era of good jobs is gone. Be an entrepreneur”, you are likely to see me as a mad man.

But if you are 30 and I tell you the same thing, even if you will think I am too extreme in my assumption, you will agree with me 70% because you have probably finished school, searched for jobs many months or got an underpaid job, so I can have a chance to prove myself to you.

I want to hope you are getting my teaching here?

We, as entrepreneurs have to understand that people don`t buy what they need. They only buy what they want, so the best thing for us to sell is that thing people need and want.

While selling things that people want but don`t need can make you rich, some of such things are usually not good and may be sinful.

Take for instance people dont need cigarette but they want it. They dont need alcohol or bhang, yet they want them and are willing to pay much for them.

Should you then sell such things?

No.

Instead, sell something that people need and want.

How do you know what people need and will be willing to buy?

Research who you are about to sell to. Who are they? What do they know? How do they think? Where do they work or play? What are their values, interests and passion?

If you know people, you can predict what they will be willing to pay for.

Don`t just sell what people need. Sell what they need and want to buy.

That`s how to make much money in the business world.

Construction sites are on the rise in Kenya, both in towns and the suburbs. Starting a construction equipment leasing business is a profitable venture that can fetch you high profits.

Among the equipment you need are a concrete vibrator, mixer, and a concrete hoist machine.

With many people constructing houses, the demand for these types of equipment is high in the market. If you are thinking of starting a construction equipment leasing business, this is what you need to know.

Carry out a Feasibility Study

Before purchasing the equipment so that you can get started with the business, it is important that you first study the market. This will help you to determine the viability of the business and also identify a good business location. Talk to people in the construction industry and get to understand the equipment that are in demand.

Write Construction Equipment Leasing Business Plan

A business plan is a road map for any business. If you have done a feasibility study, it is easy to write a business plan. The business plan should state the equipment you need, their prices, their demand, market segmentation, business strengths and risks.

A business plan will help you to maneuver in the business and overcome business risks. It will also help you to project business revenues and determine if the business is profitable before venturing into it. You can hire an expert to guide you write a business plan.

Acquire Business Licenses and Permits

You need to acquire business licenses to operate a legal business in Kenya. You can obtain business licenses from the county government offices or the county council offices. The cost of business licenses varies with the type of business and County. For a construction equipment leasing business, the price ranges between Ksh.5,000 and Ksh.10,000.

You may also need to insure your business equipment. When you lease this equipment, you have limited control over how it is used. As such, they are likely to get damaged more often. Also, your business equipment is at risk of getting stolen. You can insure them against theft.

Cost of Starting Construction Equipment for Hire Business

The cost of starting the construction equipment for a leasing business depends on the size of your business and the type of equipment you want to lease. As rule of thumb, it is best to start small and grow your business over time.

To start a small venture, you need at least a concrete mixer and a vibrator which will cost you Ksh.250,000 and from there you can grow your business gradually.

Items for Starting Construction Equipment Leasing Business

To start construction equipment for hire business, the items you need depend on the size of your business. These are some of the equipment you need and their prices in Kenya.

*A concrete mixer (400 liters) – Ksh.180,000

*Concrete vibrator with shaft (Honda) – Ksh.60,000

*Concrete hoist machine – Ksh.400,000

*Trappers – Ksh.100,000

*Wheelbarrows (5 in number) – Ksh.25,000

Is Construction Equipment for Hire Business Profitable?

Yes. There are a high number of Kenyans constructing houses both commercial and residential. This creates a demand for construction equipment. The following are construction equipment hire rates in Kenya.

*A concrete mixer (400 liters) – Ksh.4,000 per day

*Concrete vibrator – Ksh.1,500 per day

*Concrete hoist machine – Ksh.4,000 per day

*Trappers – Ksh.100 each for 21 days

*Wheelbarrow – Ksh.100 per day

If you have all this equipment, your daily revenues are at least Ksh.9,000. If you are located in areas with lots of construction activities, you can be leasing your equipment for at least 20 days a month.

Essentially, it means you will be making roughly Ksh.180,000 in a month. If you deduct your expenses, you will be left with roughly Ksh.100,000.

Where to Buy Construction Equipment in Kenya

There are many shops that sell equipment in Kenya. You can visit the Industrial area in Nairobi and you will find many retailers selling them. To get better service, it is better you buy new equipment for longer service. You will also get a warranty so that you can get a free repair in case of a breakdown within the warranty period.

How to Market Construction Equipment Business

One of the best ways to get customers is through working with people in the construction industry.

For instance, reach out to constructors and masons and let them know that you lease such equipment. Agree with them how much you can pay them a commission for every successful referral.

This is a great way to get your business off the ground when it is new. Build a name in the industry and with time, you will not need customer referrals to get jobs.

Final Word

The good thing about this business is that you don’t have to be involved in its day-to-day running.

That means you can continue doing what you do best even as you leave this business to run in the background (provided there’s good marketing involved).

Best of all, there is room for growth. The construction sector is a multi-billion venture and the future looks bright.

So don’t hesitate, if you feel this is the kind of business that would resonate with your needs and passion, go ahead and give it a try.

Is entrepreneurship a solution to the massive unemployment challenge in the country? Some would argue that young people should rely on their own hustles to make a living due to the huge gap between available jobs and the number of qualified people.

However, other people are of the view that entrepreneurship is a tough game that has its own obstacles such as raising capital, acquiring licenses and the huge rate of entrepreneurship ventures that have failed.

This was an interesting conversation I had with Joyce Wagaki, an entrepreneur who started from scratch and is slowly building her brand in African inspired fashion.

If you had told her 5 years ago that she would be a successful entrepreneur, Joyce would have laughed that idea off as impossible.

How could she be an entrepreneur yet she was a Journalism and Media Studies graduate, with an amazing voice and a ‘bright future’ in the media industry?

“Before I graduated, I got a 3 month internship at a leading media house. We did a voice test and my voice set me apart from the other interns landing me reporting duties both on radio and on the lunch hour T.V bulletin. I knew then that my goal in life was to be a news reporter and eventually become a news anchor.” Joyce said.

After finally graduating from media school, Joyce was positive it wouldn’t be long before she got a job. She prepared her C.V and her Cover letter and started applying for reporting jobs in the media.

She didn’t get any positive responses immediately but she kept applying, kept working on her C.V and following up on the jobs she had applied for.

About 3 years after her graduation with no success in getting employment, Joyce’s sister who was accommodating her in Nairobi got another opportunity in China leaving Joyce to fend for herself while sending her money from time to time for her upkeep.

Seeing her job applications for news reporter/news anchor were not bearing any fruits, she went an extra mile and sent her C.V with voice recordings of herself hoping this would set her apart.

Unfortunately no station picked her and this left Joyce frustrated and disappointed.

“I knew I couldn’t go back home because I did not want to burden my parents. Even though my sister supported me, I still needed my independence.”

One day, Joyce’s sister saw some handbags in China which had unique prints. Amazingly, the bags were so cheap. She reached out to Joyce and asked her if she would be interested in selling the bags in Kenya.

“At first I was reluctant because I had never thought of being an entrepreneur. However, my sister convinced me to give it a try since one of my strengths was the ability to convince people.”

Joyce’s sister sent the first batch of 20 bags and 20 ear rings. True to her word, the bags had a unique design and print compared to the bags in the market then.

“I knew that my livelihood depended on the sale of those bags and ear rings so I did everything I could to sell them. I started by selling to my close friends and church mates.

I also went to town daily with a backpack stashed with some bags and walked office by office selling the bags. Sometimes, I didn’t make any sales, I had to deal with some clients who were so rude but that did not deter me.”

However, this whole time, her mind was still set in the media. She sold bags during the day and in the evening, she did her recordings and kept applying for jobs.

“Impressively, I managed to sell all the 20 bags and ear rings and made a profit of Ksh.30,000. My sister had bought and shipped the bags and ear rings at only Ksh.10,000 in China. Since the bags were unique, I sold them at Ksh.800 and Ksh.1000 per bag and the ear rings at Ksh.250.”

This experience made Joyce rethink her initial decision of being employed full time in the media to actually taking entrepreneurship more seriously.

Her sister kept sending her bags from China and with time, she expanded her collection to leather bags which were more official compared to the printed ones.

She even opened a face book page, (Bags and Leather) to take advantage of the online market.

Joyce sold the bags for a while and the returns were great, she was able to pay her bills but due to unavoidable circumstances, the bags business was not sustainable.

“I had to think on my feet since I couldn’t keep running an unsustainable business and I still had financial obligations. I thought of going back to applying for jobs but considering how far I had come, this wasn’t an option for me.” Joyce said.

One day Joyce had gone to Eastleigh to meet up a friend. However, as is the typical Kenyan style, her friend kept her waiting for over an hour.

“I was so frustrated when my friend eventually never showed up and called to cancel our meeting. Instead of wasting my day, I decided to take a walk around Eastleigh and window shop because Eastleigh was popular for getting quality items at affordable prices.”

As she was window shopping, Joyce met some ladies selling deras. At the time, she didn’t even know what deras were and deras were still a new concept in Nairobi.

“I got curious and asked the lady to tell me more about deras, how much they cost, how they are made, e.t.c. She sold me a material for Ksh.300 then directed me to a tailor who sew the dera for me at only 50 shillings and in a few minutes, the dera was ready.”

Joyce was so impressed with the end result that she wore the dera to church the next Sunday. Being a lover of taking photos, she took a photo of herself wearing the dera and posted it on facebook that Sunday evening.

“When I woke up the next day, I was surprised to get a lot of requests from my comment section and inbox from people who loved the dera and wanted one for themselves.

I was so shocked by the numerous requests but I also saw this as a great business opportunity. Also most people perceived Eastleigh to be unsafe and I took advantage of that by being the middle person between the traders and my clients.”

However, Joyce still hadn’t figured out how she would run the dera business since she needed people’s sizes thus each dera needed to be custom made. So she asked people to send her their measurements and design preferences and she would ensure they get their deras delivered to them at a fee.

That was when Joyce opened Gaki Collections, a face book page that she used to sell deras.

“With time, one of my clients asked me if she could get African sandals to wear with her dera. At that time, I had no idea where I would get African sandals but one lesson entrepreneurship had taught me was, You do not tell a client No, Just say Yes and figure it out later.”

That is exactly how Joyce started the Gaki collection sandal line which consists of custom made sandals tailored to a client’s needs.

All a client needs to do is send details of their shoe size, what color and design they would like their sandals to have and Joyce makes sure she gets the sandals made and delivered anywhere in the country.

Since my business was purely online, I knew there was more to social media and in order for my business and brand to grow, I needed to pick up social media and digital marketing skills.

“That is when the She Goes Digital program came along. Through the program, I learnt how to boost my page, make use of online ads and figure out details such as what time my audience is active online.

I made use of the skills I gained through the program and by the end of 2017, I had shipped my goods to Ghana, Liberia and U.S.A and I got even more clients online.”

Final Word

Our take-away from this interview is that we are all gifted in many ways. However, we need to have the heart to explore.

You don’t need to close up your mind to employment as the only source of income, open up your mind to more possibilities.

So what’s your excuse? Get up, identify opportunities around you and make a difference.

If there is any term or concept any business owner (or potential business owner) should understand deeply, then, thats marketing.

Marketing is the blood of any business (or any organization or association) because its through marketing any business, organization, or even political party convinces the general public (customers) to patronize its offers or embrace its ideology.

So, what is marketing?

Marketing is the process of identifying consumers needs, creating products/services to meet those needs and communicating effectively with the target market in order to sell the products or services at a profit.

The above definition is by no means academic. I expressed it above in a simple term, so as to let my fellow African entrepreneurs understand what marketing is.

If you need a “formal” definition of marketing, then, here you have some of them:

“Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”… The Chartered Institute of Marketing

“Marketing is communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or service” Wikipedia

Without wasting more time on definitions, permit me to explain in simple language what marketing is.

Whenever anyone gets a business idea, he/she will have to do three important things.

First, identify the kind of people who may fall in love with his/her product or service. This step is very important because there is no product/service that can get everybody excited… some people will not just love what you are selling or doing.

Second, create such product/service in the exact way as your target market will love it.

Third, promote your product/service to your market whether through advertising, word-of-mouth or sample giving.

Now let me emphasis that many experts try to define marketing by excluding the first two steps (i.e., Wikipedia above). I will not want to agree this is right. The reason is because if you fail to identify your target market, how will you know what kind of product, package, distribution, etc. that will be appropriate for them?

If you dont know this, how will you create your product or service in such a way your customers will admire.

In fact, there is no way you can effectively advertise or promote your idea if you dont have a deep understanding of who you are promoting to.

Promotion that will succeed in South Africa may fail in Kenya… thats the reason why I am of the opinion that marketing starts even before a product or service gets to the market.

Listen to what the management guru, Peter Drucker has to say, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him/her and sells itself”

Now you see, the first process in your marketing effort is to identify and understand (very deeply) who your customers are. If this stage is carried out with all diligence, the other two steps (creating product/service and promoting it) will be lot easier.

Let me also share with you what marketing genius, Seth Godin has to say about marketing…

“Marketing is a contest for peoples attention”

Whenever you walk out and see billboards, whenever you sit down and watch television, whenever you pick up a newspaper to read, you will find a whole lot of advertising. These advertising are from companies, organizations, political parties, etc.

What are they doing?

Contesting for your attention. Thats marketing.

Since your product/service is going to a market where there are tens (or hundreds) other similar products/services, getting people attention is very important.

There was the old adage that if you are selling something good, you can open your shop in a far place and people will find you.

Maybe in the 15 century. Not now.

In today`s market place where 50 (or more) businesses/companies may be competing in a market, you cannot just start a business and hope it succeeds.

You cannot just start selling a product or rendering a service and expect sales. You have to work it out. You have to be tactical. You have to understand and apply good marketing strategies.

Marketing is important because it increases your sales.

A little change in your advert can increase your sales by 200%.

I have learned a single tip from a friend (just on a phone conversation) that increased the value of my business by more than 100%.

I have read a marketing book that increased the value of my sales and earnings by more than 300%.

That`s the power of marketing, when done correctly.

Sometimes back I was somewhere and noticed there was a sales man marketing his herbal product.

Without thinking twice, I paid a close attention to how he was pitching his product.

Before you knew it, I had pulled out my phone and started jotting down some notes.

Yea, I turned that into a classroom.

I was jotting down his strategies.

For instance, I noticed that he told many stories that were related to the benefits of his product.

I as well noticed that he (tactically) used those stories as testimonials for his product.

I also noticed that he spoke few good things about his business/company (to build credibility).

Other things I noticed about this smart sales man was that he gave discounts (humans love discounts) and he tried to place some “scarcity strategy” somewhere along his pitch.

All the above and few other things are what I learned from the street sales man.

I wish you saw the way I was jotting the notes as though I was in a classroom.

But you see, it was a classroom.

Funny enough, this guy was so good at selling that I later had to buy his product.

Listen.

Selling skills are the most important skills in the realm of business.

You can never be rich, until you learn how to sell.

You don’t have to sell on the street. You may sell using other advanced medium (like the internet) but if you don’t master how to sell, you may never make it in business.

What is the way out?

You can sell the way you were sold.

We all buy stuffs every day from multi-billion companies to street sales guys.

We “fall” for sales pitches every day.

But you see, most of us don’t know how to sell.

Why can’t you pay attention to how you were sold?

Pay attention to what makes you “fall in love” with your favourite brands.

Think deep!

Why do you like Safaricom than Airtel?

Why do you like Coke and not Pepsi?

Why did you buy that wrist watch or handbag the other day (even though you didn’t need it)

It might be because you were pitched by a great sales man.

What am I saying here?

Pay a close attention to your emotions and how they lead to your buying decisions.

If you truly love to succeed in business, you have to be attentive to how you were sold.

The strategies that sold you could be used by you to sell your own products.

I think Africans have no reason to be poor.