After she started making her own clothes as a teenager, Janelle Duff set-up Rosery Apparel to sell her designs. She initially used YouTube to promote the new business, but soon realised she could use her videos to inspire others to make more sustainable fashion choices too. Today, Rosery Apparel is a one-stop-shop for all information and skills needed to DIY clothes. By breaking down each tutorial into simple and easy steps for beginners, she’s leading the charge towards a generation of eco-friendly fashionistas. Janelle also uses her channel to drive attention for her full-range of patterns and sewing kits.
Through YouTube I’ve been able to create a community of like-minded people and I’m able to sew for a living (a literal dream!). I’ve also been able to start designing and selling some of my own sewing patterns for my audience… which has opened up a whole new business opportunity.
What started as a lockdown hobby, became the launchpad for 16-year-old Sunny Beatson’s sweet commercial success story. The keen viewer of doughnut recipe videos spent lockdown perfecting his own dough and launched BeaDoughs from his Mum’s kitchen in Burnie. Using educational business tutorials on YouTube, it took only two months for the business to grow into a seven-person team, baking more than 600 doughnuts a day in their commercial kitchen and delivering to local supermarkets, restaurants and stores across Tasmania. Today, Sunny still turns to YouTube every day to better connect with customers, grow sales and inspire new recipes.
YouTube has helped me realise that you can achieve anything your mind can conceive, by being able to learn and connect with other ambitious and successful individuals.
After buying his first 3D printer, Leo Bailey watched YouTube tutorials to teach himself how to make a range of different products. But when he saw a call-out for health-care supplies during COVID-19, the 13-year-old turned his attention towards making essential PPE supplies for hospitals across the state. During the pandemic, Leo made more than 100 masks for health staff and touchless ‘button pushers’ for local residents to use in public spaces to avoid directly touching surfaces. He also created a fidget toy for his sister with special needs, which he now sells to help people with everything from focus and concentration, to anxiety and addiction.
My goal for making the PPE during COVID-19 was to help people and feel like I was making a difference. I am now making fidget toys, which I sell on my Instagram and Facebook pages and in stores.
Hobart creator Mimi Purcell’s YouTube revenue has helped her pursue illustration and content creation full time through her YouTube channel @MimimooIllustration. Alongside the revenue she receives from ads on her channel and YouTube Premium subscriptions, she also uses Shopping to sell illustrated merchandise, books and digital art brushes. Mimi also has an Etsy store and sees a high volume of traffic from YouTube resulting in sales, which she attributes to the trust and connection that she has with her YouTube community.
Being a YouTube creator as an artist lets you build out an alternative revenue stream.
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