“From Zero to Millions: How One Viral Video Transformed a YouTuber’s Life Overnight!”

Have you ever found yourself lounging on your couch, snacks in hand, mindlessly scrolling through YouTube, thinking, “Hey, maybe I could be the next big star on this platform”? You’re not alone! Many of us have toyed with this idea—some of us even while half-distracted by cat videos. One person who’s completely turned this dream into a reality is Ali Abdaal. A former doctor turned content creator, Ali kicked off his YouTube journey back in 2017. Fast forward to today, and he’s racked up over 6.13 million subscribers with his engaging productivity and finance videos. But hold your applause—his rise to success wasn’t a stroll in the park. It took him a whopping 85 videos and a solid nine months before he saw his first penny. So, what kept him going? Ali’s story is a testament to what it means to “play the long game”—a narrative filled with persistence, lessons learned, and some pretty jaw-dropping revenue numbers. Buckle up, because the next part of this tale dives deep into the highs and lows of YouTube stardom! LEARN MORE

I think most of us have debated the idea of starting a YouTube channel at one point or another after seeing how much people can make on the platform.

And no one exemplifies that more than content creator Ali Abdaal.

The former doctor started sharing productivity and finance videos on the video-sharing website in 2017 and is now on 6.13 million subscribers.

Former doctor Ali Abdaal started making YouTube videos in 2017, and is now on 6.13 million subscribers (YouTube/Ali Abdaal)

But the success hasn’t come without ‘playing the long game’, the YouTuber says.

He didn’t earn a penny until ‘roughly 85 videos and nine months in’.

“If I’d quit 84 videos in, the last five years would have never happened,” he said in a video from 2022.

In the clip, he then went on to reveal just how much money he made after racking up almost 9.8 million views with his most-watched video.

Titled, ‘9 Passive Income Ideas’, the clip is now on 13 million views and it’s about how he ‘makes $27k (£22k) per week’.

Well, back in 2022, that video alone earned him an estimated revenue of $191,258.16 (£154,787.20).

“There’s two points that I want to make from this video,” he said.

The YouTuber has done very well for himself (YouTube/Ali Abdaal)

“The first one is that we can kind of treat these sorts of YouTube videos as digital assets.

“They are investments. An investment is something that puts money in our pocket, and so the fact that I’ve put the time and the effort into making this video, and sticking it on YouTube, means that this video is generating money, it’s generating passive income, it is making me money even when I’m sleeping, which is kind of the definition of an investment.”

The YouTuber explained: “Now, when we think of investment, we often think of things like real estate or crypto and stuff.

“But like right now, my crypto has lost me a lot of money and real estate investments i’ve made in properties and stuff have generated way less than $191,258.”

His second most popular video ‘How to Invest for Beginners’ got around 5.2 million views as of July 2022 and earned him $87,200.08 (£70,571.92).

Initially, it underperformed, ranking among his worst in the first few weeks. This experience taught him not to stress over factors beyond his control, a lesson he applied to both YouTube and life in general.

“It’s one of the highest performing videos on the channel and the lesson I’ve learned from this is to not worry about things that are outside of my control,” he said.