A couple of years ago, I built a YouTube funnel around a $147 course.

No ads, no launches, no webinars… Just YouTube videos like I always do, while the funnel quietly did its thing in the background.

It made $27k the first year. Then it kept going and crossed $50k.

Still on autopilot…

And then I turned it off.

It sounds wackadoodle. I know!! WHO DOES THAT?!

But here’s the thing I couldn’t ignore:

My heart was pulling toward something bigger, and I’d learned enough from my business coach to know that just making sales isn’t the goal… a business you love showing up for *is the goal*.

Soooo… I stopped looking at what everyone else was doing in their business and started asking myself how I want to show up in my business, day in and day out.

And I went all in on Video Brand Academy, the membership.

Last year, I ended up working fewer hours, while making more money (even without the autopilot YouTube funnel!), but it’s not about the money.

I know, I know… could I BE any more cliche… LOL

Yes, business is about making money, obviously. But building a business you love showing up for every day, with clients and students you care about?

See what I mean about it not being “about the money” ?? It’s so much more than that.

That whole way of thinking? Straight from James Wedmore. He’s been my business coach for years, and it’s the kind of thing that sounds obvious until you’re the one staring at a money machine deciding whether to “follow your heart” and unplug it… to allow space for what I really want to build.

I say all this because James is about to kick off The Business Breakthrough Experience, a free virtual event that he only does once a year.

I do it every year. Yes, even though I have his paid stuff and higher-level programs, I still go through the free event because it’s better than most courses I’ve paid actual money for.

👉 Save your seat here → https://videobrand.link/bbe

It’s free… You literally just need to show up.

VIDEO: I Shut Down a $50k YouTube Funnel – here’s why

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.

The YouTube Funnel That Generated $50K

The funnel centered around a course called 30 Days to a Thriving YouTube Channel.

It was a traditional online course.

Students could work through the lessons at their own pace.

There were no live coaching calls.

No community component.

No ongoing support.

Just a straightforward self-study program designed to help creators build and grow their YouTube channels.

At the time, I started asking myself a simple question.

If YouTube consistently brings me views…

And YouTube consistently helps me grow my email list…

Why shouldn’t YouTube consistently generate sales too?

That question led me to create what I now call a Backstage YouTube Funnel.

The strategy worked incredibly well.

In fact, I still teach this exact YouTube Funnel framework inside Video Brand Academy today because the system itself continues to be effective.

How the Backstage YouTube Funnel Works

One reason this YouTube Funnel performed so well is because it was built around how people naturally use YouTube.

Rather than forcing viewers into a traditional marketing funnel, it extended the experience they were already having on the platform.

The Billboard Video

A Billboard Video is a featured video that sits at the top of your YouTube channel.

It might be your channel trailer, it might be a featured video, or it might be the first video in a playlist.

The important part is that it stays visible and consistently points viewers toward a specific next step.

Think of it like a billboard on a busy highway.

It remains visible day after day.

Behind the scenes, it continues doing its job.

Most importantly, it speaks directly to a particular type of viewer.

Not your general audience.

Not every subscriber.

A future customer.

For me, that customer was someone who either wanted to start a YouTube channel or already had a channel that wasn’t producing results.

The Billboard Video then connected to the second piece of the YouTube Funnel.

The Backstage Bonus Video Strategy

Instead of offering a PDF checklist or downloadable guide, I used what I call a Backstage Bonus Video.

This became the lead magnet inside the YouTube Funnel.

The bonus video was approximately 20 to 25 minutes long and delivered real training pulled directly from my expertise.

What made it different was that it followed the structure of a successful long-form YouTube video.

It wasn’t a webinar, a live training, or a sales presentation disguised as education.

Instead, it delivered genuinely valuable content that naturally led to an invitation to join the course.

This approach works particularly well for:

Long-form YouTube creators
Video podcasters
Educational channels
Tutorial creators
Business owners using YouTube for lead generation

As a result, viewers experience a seamless transition from YouTube content into deeper learning.

Because the journey feels natural, the sales process feels natural too.

That’s exactly how this YouTube Funnel generated more than $50,000 without requiring constant promotion.

There Was Nothing Wrong With the Course

This is the part that surprises most people.

I didn’t shut the funnel down because it stopped working, I didn’t shut it down because the course became outdated, and I didn’t shut it down because YouTube changed.

The strategies inside 30 Days to a Thriving YouTube Channel still work.

Many of those foundational concepts are the same strategies I continue teaching today inside Video Brand Academy and the Fast Way to 1K Bootcamp.

The real issue was something else entirely.

Over time, I started feeling pulled toward something bigger.

When Your Products Start Competing With Each Other

As Video Brand Academy grew, I found myself managing two offers that increasingly overlapped.

One was a course about building a YouTube channel.

The other was a membership focused on building a YouTube channel.

And eventually I had to ask myself:

What’s the difference?

Why would someone choose one over the other?

The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became that I wasn’t just creating confusion for my audience.

I was also creating confusion for myself.

Constantly, I found myself trying to separate the two offers in my mind.

My energy was split, my attention was divided, and my vision was scattered.

Eventually, I realized that if I wanted to build something extraordinary, I needed to choose.

The Business Question That Changed Everything

For years, I approached business the way many entrepreneurs do.

I focused on revenue goals.

Growth targets.

Launch numbers.

Conversion rates.

Eventually, though, I started asking a different question.

Instead of asking:

“What revenue do I want?”

I started asking:

“What business do I want to build?”

That one question changed everything.

Because when I looked honestly at my future, the answer wasn’t another course.

The answer was Video Brand Academy.

Why I Chose the Membership

Video Brand Academy gave me something the course never could.

Connection.

Conversations.

Community.

Relationships.

Inside the Video Brand Academy, I get to work directly with people.

Every breakthrough becomes something I can witness firsthand.

Questions come up, and I get to answer them.

Their growth becomes something I can actively support.

Watching YouTube channels evolve is incredibly rewarding.

Helping members build personal brands that create ripple effects throughout their businesses and lives is even more meaningful.

That experience energizes me.

Unlike a product sitting on a shelf, the membership feels alive.

There’s a collaborative element to it.

The environment stays dynamic and engaging.

Most of all, it’s fun.

And that mattered more to me than continuing to optimize a funnel that was already working.

The Journey Wasn’t Instant

Looking back, it’s easy to see the growth.

None of this happened overnight, though.

In 2018, I attended Business by Design Live with James Wedmore.

I sat in the very back of the room.

At the time, my business barely felt like a business.

My YouTube channel existed.

People watched my videos.

My kids thought it was cool.

But it wasn’t generating significant income.

I was looking for answers.

I was looking for the secret formula.

After that event, I turned my YouTube course into a membership.

I created an offer, I hosted a webinar, and I calculated that I needed thirty members.

I got nine.

At the time, it felt like failure.

But I kept going.

I continued learning, experimenting, and implementing, and I worked through Business by Design.

I studied Irresistible Offers.

And then I completed Sales Page by Design, including all sixteen sections.

I also worked through Million Dollar Messaging.

Slowly, things started to change.

Growth Happened When I Stopped Chasing Everyone Else

One of the biggest lessons from this entire experience was realizing I didn’t need to build my business exactly like everyone else.

For a long time, I watched what other entrepreneurs were doing.

I studied their launches.

Their offers, their revenue reports, and their strategies.

While there is value in learning from others, there comes a point where you have to decide what kind of business you want to wake up and run every day.

For me, that meant choosing simplicity.

It meant choosing YouTube, it meant choosing community, it meant choosing a membership model that aligned with how I wanted to work.

As a result, I eventually grew Video Brand Academy from 27 members to more than 150 members.

I worked fewer hours.

I made more money.

Most importantly, I enjoyed the business more than ever.

Courses vs Memberships

To be clear, this isn’t an argument against courses.

Courses can be incredible business models.

Memberships aren’t automatically better.

In fact, memberships are often much harder than they appear.

They require consistency.

Community management.

Ongoing value creation.

Long-term commitment.

Whenever someone asks whether they should start a membership, my first response is usually:

“Are you sure?”

That’s because memberships require a very different mindset.

For me, however, the membership model aligned perfectly with how I wanted to show up in my business.

That’s why shutting down the YouTube Funnel ultimately made sense.

Not because the funnel was broken.

But because my vision had evolved.

The Real Lesson Behind This $50K YouTube Funnel

Walking away from a profitable YouTube Funnel might sound irrational.

From the outside, it might even sound like a mistake.

But I’ve learned that building a successful business isn’t just about doing what’s profitable.

It’s about doing what’s aligned.

The Backstage YouTube Funnel worked.

The strategy still works.

In fact, I fully expect to build another one in the future.

At that moment, however, the bigger opportunity wasn’t optimizing a course funnel.

The bigger opportunity was going all in on Video Brand Academy.

And that decision changed everything.

Conclusion

The biggest takeaway from this story isn’t that you should shut down your offers, abandon your courses, or replace everything with a membership.

The lesson is much simpler than that.

Build the business you actually want to run.

The YouTube Funnel generated more than $50,000 because it was built on a solid strategy.

But the growth that followed happened because I finally got clear on the vision behind the strategy.

I stopped asking what would make the most money.

Instead, I started asking what would create the most impact.

Once I made that shift, every decision became easier.

If you’re building a YouTube channel, creating digital products, growing a personal brand, or trying to figure out your next step, don’t just ask what works.

Ask what aligns with the business you truly want to build.

Because sometimes the best opportunities aren’t the ones that make the most money today.

They’re the ones that help you build something even bigger tomorrow.

If you have an online business with a course, program, or any other kind of offer, and you’re not currently generating consistent sales on autopilot, I’d like to introduce you to the hands-off YouTube funnel that has made me over $20k on a $147 course! That way, you too can make consistent sales of your offer, with the beauty and simplicity of organic, evergreen traffic from YouTube! Start here with my free “AIT Method” training.