He Built his Business w/ YouTube (with a full-time job + family)
What if you could grow a business with YouTube… even with a full-time job and a family?
So, Tyler is a longtime client of mine.
I always enjoy chatting with him because he’s always trying something new and different to incorporate into his business through everything he’s also doing on YouTube.
Not to mention, he also has a demanding full-time job and a family, and yet he’s been able to grow his business using YouTube!!
In this episode, I chat with Tyler Beck of Tech & Espresso about how he grew his CAD and 3D printing channel, launched digital courses, and used email marketing to connect with his audience.
We dig into the real-life challenges of content creation, staying consistent, and the surprising power of email in building a business.
Tyler’s story is packed with practical tips and relatable moments!
VIDEO: He Built his Business w/ YouTube (with a full-time job + family)
Some product links in this post are affiliate links, and I will be compensated when you purchase by clicking our links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Tyler Didn't Set Out to Build a YouTube Business
Tyler's background is in mechanical engineering, but he also fell into professional teaching.
He started teaching engineers how to use CAD software, specifically SolidWorks, and eventually decided he wanted to create his own digital course.
That first course didn't exactly take off.
He sold one copy for around $14.
Then Tyler took a job with one of the big CAD companies as a technical marketer. Part of his job involved creating videos, and that's when he started his YouTube channel.
The channel wasn't originally designed to become a business.
It was more of a personal brand builder connected to his day job.
He was already creating content for the company, and they liked the idea of their employees developing their own YouTube channels and creating content around the tools they worked with.
For Tyler, it was a way to develop his skills and show his manager what he could do.
He didn't expect it to turn into much, and he just thought it would be fun.
Then something interesting happened.
People started watching.
The First 1,000 Subscribers Felt “Herculean”
Tyler described getting his first 1,000 subscribers as feeling “Herculean.”
It took about six months.
That early journey went from seven views to 300 views to 1,000 views, and eventually the channel continued growing.
But his YouTube journey wasn't perfectly consistent.
At one point, Tyler changed jobs and took almost a year away from the channel.
He was learning new technology, moving, spending time with his family, and trying to figure out what he actually wanted to do with YouTube.
Even when he wasn't creating videos, though, the channel wouldn't quite leave him alone.
It had always been a dream.
He also genuinely enjoyed the process.
There was something satisfying about making a video, uploading it, and putting it out into the world.
That little itch kept coming back.
Eventually, Tyler realized he needed to give YouTube a fair shot.
The Skills He Learned From YouTube Helped His Career, Too
Here's one of my favorite parts of Tyler's story because it's something we don't talk about enough when we talk about YouTube for business.
YouTube didn't immediately replace his full-time income.
But the skills he developed through YouTube became valuable in his career.
Tyler said the YouTube skills he's developed have come up in every job interview he's had.
His employers would discover that he knew how to create videos, had millions of views, and could explain technical concepts through content.
Suddenly, those skills became an unexpected bonus.
As a sales engineer, Tyler spends a lot of time demonstrating products and presenting.
Being comfortable talking to a camera helped him become more comfortable presenting professionally, too.
That's something worth remembering if you're building a YouTube channel on the side.
The return on your investment isn't always going to show up as YouTube revenue right away.
You may also be developing communication, presentation, teaching, storytelling, and content creation skills that can benefit other areas of your life and career.
The Course That Took a Year to Finally Publish
Tyler eventually returned to the idea of creating his own course.
By that point, he'd been working on YouTube for years and had learned a tremendous amount from creating all those videos.
He also already knew how to teach the subject.
He had taught the material thousands of times to professionals.
So he built the course.
It was done.
And then he waited.
For a year.
The problem wasn't that he didn't know what he was doing.
Don’t estimate; track it.
Record the time spent filming, re-recording, editing, writing captions, and uploading.
Also, pay attention to how long you stay on Instagram after opening the app to publish your post.
Once you have the numbers, compare the total with the time you spend creating long-form videos.
Sometimes the Last 1% Is the Hardest
During our conversation, Tyler brought up The War of Art, a book I had recommended to him.
The book talks about the idea of “resistance,” which Tyler connected with the experience of knowing you need to finish something while finding a hundred other things you'd rather do instead.
Suddenly, doing the dishes feels very important.
Working on something else feels productive.
Anything seems easier than finishing the thing that's sitting right in front of you.
Tyler said he'd experienced that repeatedly.
He could create 95% of a course in a weekend and then spend another three weeks working on the final 5%.
Eventually, he started asking himself:
What would the brave version of me say?
The answer was simple.
Publish it and figure it out afterward.
That's what he finally did.
His First Course Launch Was Small, and That's Exactly What He Needed
Instead of waiting for a massive launch, Tyler emailed the few people on his list.
He offered the course for $90 and invited people to go through it with him live over Zoom.
The goal was to get feedback.
And that feedback turned out to be incredibly useful.
Someone pointed out a confusing lesson.
Someone else noticed that an important exercise didn't have clear instructions.
Tyler fixed those things and ran another round.
The second round went much more smoothly.
People got through the material, found it useful, and said they would recommend it.
That experience gave Tyler something more valuable than a perfect first launch.
It gave him proof that the course could work.
And it also left him wondering:
Why did I wait so long to publish this?
That's a question a lot of creators and business owners probably need to ask themselves.
What Does Tyler Actually Talk About on YouTube?
Today, Tyler's channel is called Tech and Espresso, and his niche is CAD and 3D printing.
His audience includes a lot of older hobbyists who picked up 3D printing for fun.
Some are retired and now have time to invent things they've always wanted to build.
Some are making toys for their grandchildren.
Others simply want to learn how to use the software and make something with their 3D printer.
It's a very specific audience.
And Tyler has found that there is value in creating content that helps them solve very specific problems.
His videos are often screen recordings of CAD software with Tyler on camera, explaining what he's doing.
They don't need to be enormous productions.
Sometimes the goal is simply:
Here's something you need to know to make something today.
That approach also gives Tyler a practical way to keep creating while working a full-time job.
His Content Strategy: Build a Library
One of Tyler's current goals is to build a comprehensive library of useful content.
He's been working through the software one piece at a time, covering individual buttons, features, and concepts.
That might not sound like the most exciting YouTube strategy when you look at one video by itself.
But Tyler sees the bigger picture.
Over time, he's creating a resource library for his community.
He even mentioned that the software's own help menu doesn't always explain certain things clearly, which creates an opportunity for his videos to fill those gaps.
There's something really practical about this approach to YouTube for business.
You don't have to make every video a massive project.
You can create useful content consistently and allow the collection of videos to become more valuable over time.
One viewer even told Tyler that they have their coffee and learn a new little thing from him every day.
That's a pretty great example of what happens when useful content becomes part of someone's routine.
The Storytelling Framework That Improved His Videos
Even though Tyler's content is technical, he doesn't want his videos to feel like someone reading a manual.
A couple of years ago, he took a scriptwriting course, and one of his biggest takeaways was:
Setup. Tension. Payoff.
Instead of simply saying:
“Here's a button that can save you time.”
He tries to create a reason for the viewer to care.
Have you run into this problem?
Have you wasted time dealing with it?
Here's what usually happens.
And there's actually a solution.
Let's look at it.
That structure makes technical information easier to follow because there's a reason for the viewer to keep watching.
Tyler also tries to incorporate personal stories whenever he can.
For example, he might talk about trying to build something, having it fail, getting teased by his son, and then coming back with a second version that works.
Suddenly, the video isn't just about software.
There's a story, there's a little tension, and there's a payoff.
And there's a human being behind the information.
Tyler Uses AI to Speed Up His Content Workflow
Tyler has also added several AI tools to his workflow. ChatGPT plays a major role, and he has created custom GPTs that understand his voice and preferences. For quick research, he turns to Perplexity, while Claude is his preferred tool for back-and-forth conversations and brainstorming, even though its writing style isn’t his favorite.
For heavier research, he uses Manus.
One example he shared was taking transcripts from competitors' videos and using Manus to identify insights and information that could help him build on what others had already created.
The important thing isn't that Tyler uses every AI tool available.
It's that he's using technology to reduce the amount of time it takes to research and create content while still bringing his own expertise and perspective into the final product.
Why Tyler Stopped Outsourcing Most of His Video Editing
Tyler had an editor for several years.
Eventually, though, he started questioning whether outsourcing made sense for some of his simpler videos.
He was paying around $30 to $50 for an edit on videos that could be around 10 minutes long.
If one of those videos received around 3,000 views, he found himself doing the math and wondering whether spending another $40 or $50 on the edit was worthwhile.
That created friction.
Instead of making it easier to publish, outsourcing sometimes made him resist finishing the video.
Then he discovered Descript.
For his simpler screen-recording videos, he can now do most of the editing in under 10 minutes.
His videos tend to contain a lot of gaps, breaks, and flubs, so being able to edit through the transcript makes a huge difference for him.
He hasn't abandoned outsourcing completely.
For larger projects with more footage and B-roll, such as the kind of complex 3D-printing project he's hoping to create more of, he can see the value in hiring an editor.
But for the straightforward videos he wants to produce regularly, doing the edit himself has created less friction.
That's an important distinction.
The question isn't necessarily whether you should always edit your own videos or always hire someone.
It's about understanding which workflow makes it easier for you to actually publish.
Email Is Where Tyler's Business Really Takes Off
This might be the biggest lesson from Tyler's experience with YouTube for business.
YouTube is a major source of email subscribers for him.
But email is where he sees the biggest impact on revenue.
For years, Tyler collected email addresses but didn't really do much with the list.
The automations were confusing.
Writing emails felt difficult.
He wasn't sure what to send.
Eventually, he invested in learning email marketing and found a system that worked better for him.
Now he sends a daily email.
Those emails might include:
- A different way to think about design
- A story from his week
- A technical tip
- A mention of a new YouTube video
- A lesson he's learned along the way
The emails ultimately point people toward his courses.
And Tyler said that's where he's seen the biggest growth in revenue.
How His YouTube-to-Email Funnel Works
The basic journey is surprisingly simple.
Someone discovers Tyler through YouTube.
He mentions a relevant free resource.
The viewer opts in to receive it.
That person joins his email list through Kit.
From there, they receive his welcome sequence and begin hearing about his products.
Some people are ready to buy quickly.
Others need much more time.
Tyler described it as having customers who might buy after one email and others who might need a thousand emails before they're ready.
That's an important distinction.
YouTube doesn't necessarily have to be the place where someone buys.
It can be the place where someone discovers you, learns from you, decides they trust you, and eventually joins your email list.
Then your email can continue the relationship.
Tyler Creates Simple Freebies From His YouTube Content
Tyler has also found a relatively simple way to create lead magnets.
When a video lends itself to a free resource, he'll take the transcript from Descript and put it into ChatGPT.
From there, he can turn the information into a formatted cheat sheet.
He puts the resource behind an opt-in form, and people can exchange their email address for it.
He has created a whole collection of these smaller cheat sheets.
His best-performing freebie is a library containing all of them.
Interestingly, Tyler has noticed that some individual freebies perform better than the larger library.
That suggests something useful for anyone building YouTube for business:
The most useful lead magnet isn't necessarily the biggest one.
Sometimes a very specific resource that solves one immediate problem is exactly what someone needs to take the next step.
Your Free YouTube Content Isn't Necessarily Competing With Your Course
Tyler initially worried that his YouTube videos would cannibalize his courses.
If he taught something for free on YouTube, why would anyone pay for a course covering the same subject?
Over time, he discovered that people still wanted the course.
His flagship course isn't designed to give students hundreds of hours of content.
Instead, Tyler wants it to be focused on the outcome.
His goal is to help someone become “dangerous” with the tool in a day.
That means keeping the material condensed, including exercises, and providing things like office hours.
Meanwhile, his YouTube channel can continue serving as a library of additional resources.
That creates a useful distinction.
The free YouTube content can help someone learn individual things.
The paid course can give them a more organized path toward a specific outcome.
Tyler has even had people tell him that they bought the course because his free YouTube content had already helped them so much.
That's a powerful example of how YouTube for business can build trust before someone ever becomes a customer.
YouTube Doesn't Have to Take Over Your Life
Tyler has tried different approaches to staying consistent.
He likes batching ideas and roughing out some videos for the week, but he doesn't necessarily like filming everything in one giant batch.
For some of his lighter videos, the entire process can take about an hour.
He might research and prepare for around 30 minutes, record the video, edit it, and publish it the next day.
That's something he can fit into a normal workday.
His approach isn't necessarily about creating fewer videos.
It's about matching the size of the video to the amount of time and energy he actually has.
Some days, that means making a simple tutorial.
Other projects require more planning and carry more risk.
He's Trying to Make Room for Bigger Projects, Too
Tyler knows that he has another type of content he wants to create.
He wants to take on bigger, more complex projects that stretch his skills.
He used the example of building something huge, like a giant Death Star out of Legos, and documenting the process.
That kind of project is very different from creating a quick tutorial about a CAD feature. It requires more planning, a stronger delivery, and greater attention to detail because there are also more opportunities for things to go wrong.
Tyler recognizes that those bigger projects could be meaningful and inspiring for his audience, but he also knows that he can get in his own way because they feel riskier.
So part of his goal is to do both.
Keep making the simple, useful videos that build his library while also creating space for bigger projects that challenge him.
That's a pretty healthy way to think about a YouTube channel.
Not every video has to serve the exact same purpose.
His Family Has Become Part of the Journey
One of the things I especially enjoyed about this conversation was hearing how Tyler's family has become part of his YouTube journey.
His son loves the 3D printer.
His daughter is interested in video and has helped him with scripts.
She's also become what Tyler jokingly calls his “troll bouncer.”
When negative comments come in, she helps filter them.
Beyond the funny moments, Tyler is also intentional about sharing his journey with his children.
He talks with them about handling unkind comments online, dealing with challenges, and continuing to show up even when something feels difficult.
He also shares how he learned skills that didn’t come naturally, such as writing emails.
Through these conversations, Tyler helps his children understand that struggling with something doesn’t mean they’re failing.
Sometimes it simply means you're learning.
That may end up being one of the most meaningful parts of everything he's building.
His kids aren't just watching the channel grow.
They're watching their dad build something from scratch while continuing to work, learn, experiment, and show up.
What Tyler Learned About Building a Business With YouTube
Tyler's business didn't happen overnight.
He spent years creating videos before the business really started producing significant revenue.
His first good year brought in $37,000.
Considering how far he had come from selling one $14 course, that number meant a lot.
Then there was the moment when his business came close to paying his mortgage every month.
Tyler said he cried when that happened.
Not because everything had suddenly become easy.
He still had a full-time job to help pay the family's bills.
The moment mattered because it proved something he wasn't sure would ever happen.
The years of work had finally produced a result that felt significant.
And that's something he keeps coming back to when the journey gets difficult.
The Return on Your YouTube Investment Isn't Always Immediate
Tyler shared a valuable perspective for anyone building something on the side. Some work may not produce an obvious payoff right away. Videos might receive only a few views, projects can take longer than expected, and certain skills may need to be learned from scratch.
His advice is to pay attention to the other benefits you gain along the way.
You may be helping your community, becoming a better presenter, or learning how to write effective emails.
The experience could also build valuable career skills and give you more confidence when communicating your ideas.
For Tyler, thinking about those different forms of return helped him continue investing in the business when the financial return wasn't there yet.
He compared it to other skills that take a long time to develop, whether that's martial arts, basketball, engineering school, or learning a new ability.
You don't always see the payoff after the first few hours.
Sometimes you have to keep practicing long enough for the results to catch up with the work.
And What If You Don't Actually Like YouTube?
Tyler also raised an important question.
What if you hate making YouTube videos?
He mentioned following a blogger who tried YouTube, built a decent channel, and ultimately realized that he hated making videos and being on camera.
That person loved writing.
So he went back to writing.
And Tyler's conclusion was pretty simple.
That's okay.
YouTube doesn't have to be the answer for everyone.
If creating videos consistently drains you and another form of content energizes you, that matters.
For Tyler, creating videos has continued to pull him toward it.
Even when the work takes energy, there's something about the process that keeps him coming back.
That distinction is important.
Building a business doesn't mean forcing yourself to do the thing everyone else says you should be doing.
It means finding the way you can continue showing up and serving your audience.
Tyler's Biggest Business Lesson: Don't Ignore Email
If there's one thing Tyler wishes he'd understood earlier, it's the importance of email.
He collected emails for a long time without really doing anything with them.
Today, email is one of the most important parts of his business.
YouTube videos attract people to his list, while free resources give them a reason to subscribe.
A welcome sequence introduces subscribers to his offers, and regular emails strengthen the relationship.
Over time, those emails help turn subscribers into course customers.
What's interesting is that Tyler doesn't just see email as a sales mechanism.
He's found that it's created a deeper connection with his audience.
People reply to his emails and tell him how something he wrote helped them.
Someone might be stuck on a project, and an email gives them the encouragement to take the next step.
Another person might tell him that a technical tip solved a problem.
He's even had people tell him that they think he's a gifted writer and ask if he has a book.
For Tyler, that personal connection has been one of the biggest surprises of building his business.
Start With the Skills You Already Have
When I asked Tyler what someone with a full-time job, a family, and a useful skill could actually do over the next 30 days, his answer came back to something simple.
Start with the skill you already have.
If you've developed something professionally that you can teach or share with other people, you already have a starting point.
You don't necessarily need to quit your job.
You don't need to have everything figured out.
And you don't need to know exactly where the business will end up.
Tyler's advice was to believe, invest, and grow.
That doesn't mean expecting immediate results.
It means recognizing that the work you're doing now may create value in ways you can't see yet.
For Tyler, the YouTube channel eventually became more than a side project.
It became a source of customers, an email list growth engine, a place to build community, a way to develop professional skills, and a business of its own.
Conclusion:
Tyler’s story is a great reminder that YouTube for business doesn’t have to start with a huge audience, a full-time creator schedule, or a perfectly mapped-out business model.
Tyler started with a skill he already had, then added videos, an audience, an email list, free resources, and eventually paid courses. All while working a full-time job and raising a family.
It wasn’t always easy. Some courses didn’t sell. Some videos underperformed. And sometimes, he questioned whether all the time he was putting into YouTube was worth it.
But he kept learning, experimenting, and creating.
That’s the part of his story I think is worth remembering.
You don’t have to build everything at once. Start with what you know. Create useful content. Let YouTube introduce people to your expertise, then give them a way to stay connected through your email list.
Your business might change as you go, and that’s okay. YouTube may open doors you didn’t expect.
So if you’re building a business while working a full-time job or taking care of a family, give yourself permission to start small.
Keep showing up long enough to see where it leads.
And every once in a while, ask yourself:
What would the brave version of me do next?
Then hit publish.
Related: Consistent Sales of Your Online Course with YouTube
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