5 Small BUT Mighty YouTube Channels Making 5 Figures A Month
Chapters11
The video showcases five small, high-earning YouTube channels and explains different monetization methods, while inviting viewers to a free live workshop and an AI giveaway to help them succeed on YouTube.
Five small YouTube channels pull five figures monthly, proving niche, format, and audience trust can beat big subscriber counts.
Summary
Shane Hummus highlights five “small but mighty” YouTube channels cashing in with five figures a month, sometimes much more. He emphasizes that multiple monetization paths exist beyond ad revenue, from sponsorships to product offers and niche expertise. The examples span retirement-focused content, science education, and more, showing that simplicity and consistency can outperform flashy production. Shane notes that channels like Retirement Survival publish with minimal editing and basic visuals yet generate substantial income, challenging the assumption that high production value is mandatory. He also explains that older creators are being favored by YouTube’s algorithm in 2026, a trend he’s observed with his clients and his own family experiment. Throughout, he teases a free live Zoom workshop and an AI tool (Niche Validator) to help viewers identify profitable niches and accelerate growth. He previews more details about Think Science, The Unretired with RJ, and other examples, underscoring that a disciplined system can turn modest channels into seven-figure businesses over time. The video blends practical examples with motivational guidance, encouraging consistent posting, niche clarity, and a willingness to experiment. Shane invites viewers to sign up for the free training, participate in a Q&A, and potentially work with his team to scale their channels. Each example reinforces the core message: you don’t need to be massive to monetize effectively on YouTube—you need strategy, consistency, and the right niche.
Key Takeaways
- An older-audience strategy can outperform expectations: Retirement Survival earns 13–40K/month with simple, non-edited videos.
- Niche-first approach paired with a consistent posting cadence can yield rapid growth, as shown by The Unretired with RJ’s early month performance.
- A hybrid personal-brand method (faceless avatars plus recognizableElements) can scale a channel to seven figures, as illustrated by Wiz of Ecom/Mooboo’s path.
- YouTube’s 2026 climate favors older creators, making monetization more accessible for non-traditional YouTube entrants.
- Shane’s system is presented as a repeatable framework; viewers are invited to a free live workshop and to try an AI tool to validate niches.
Who Is This For?
Aspiring YouTubers and small creators who want to monetize quickly without high-end production, plus business owners seeking to leverage YouTube for leads and sales.
Notable Quotes
"“One, hopefully this inspires and motivates you to start your own YouTube channel or keep going on YouTube if you've been stalling.”"
—Opening motivation and purpose of the video.
"“This system is different than what anybody else teaches.”"
—Shane pitches his unique method and value proposition.
"“YouTube is heavily pushing older creators.”"
—Key insight about the algorithm trend benefiting older creators.
"“If you want to learn the system, this process, it's relatively simple. I'm going to be teaching it live this week.”"
—Promotion of the free live workshop and system introduction.
"“We're also giving away an AI that we've been working extremely hard on.”"
—Teasing the Niche Validator tool and giveaway.
Questions This Video Answers
- How can an older creator start earning five figures a month on YouTube in 2026?
- What is the Niche Validator and how can it help choose a profitable YouTube niche?
- Can a faceless YouTube channel really reach seven figures, and how does the hybrid personal brand work?
- Why are smaller YouTube channels able to monetize effectively without high production value?
- What to expect from Shane Hummus's free live workshop on making money from YouTube in 2026?
YouTube monetizationOlder creators on YouTubeNiche ValidatorFaceless YouTube channelsHybrid personal brandYouTube live workshopShane Hummus strategyRetirement SurvivalThe Unretired with RJThink Science
Full Transcript
All right, so in this video, I'm going to talk about five small but mighty YouTube channels that are making at least five figures a month. Some of them are making a heck of a lot more than that. And I'm going to try to show you a bunch of different examples of YouTube channels that make money in different ways as well. And there's just two things I want you to know. One, hopefully this inspires and motivates you to start your own YouTube channel or keep going on YouTube if you've been stalling. But a disclaimer, which is number two, is that most YouTube channels fail.
Just like any other business out there, most businesses fail. And so you can definitely learn from the successes and I highly recommend that you do. But with that being said, to help you avoid failure, I actually have a free live training, a free live workshop that I'm going to be doing on Zoom this week and you can check it out down in the description and the pinned comment below. So go ahead, sign up to that free live workshop by clicking that link in the description and the pinned comment below. I'll be going over all the things you should do, all the things you shouldn't do, and a simple step-by-step plan to actually get results on YouTube.
This system is different than what anybody else teaches. Nobody else teaches YouTube like I do. And it's why we've been able to literally get hundreds of people results. And the Zoom workshop is completely free. And then afterwards, I'm going to have an after-hours Q&A session where you can ask me literally any questions you want. And if all of that wasn't enough, we're also giving away an AI that we've been working extremely hard on. I've personally put tens of hours into this in the last week to make this AI as good as possible and we're giving it away completely free.
And this is going to help you take your YouTube game to the next level. And we're only giving it away this week. So do not miss out on that. Click the link in the description and the pinned comment below. And let's jump into it right now with number one on the list. And that is going to be Retirement Survival. Now, this channel is so low-key that they don't even have a profile picture. The profile picture is just an R, which is pretty funny considering the fact that they're making about 13 to 40,000 a month. Now, their most popular video was posted about four weeks ago.
It's called How Much YouTube Paid My Small Channel in 2025. They posted some other really big videos, too, like Harsh Realities of Turning 72, Retired and Broke, What Retirees Regret Buying the Most, etc. 5,500 subs and I made $1,200. But this channel really only started posting about six months ago and they're already having insane amounts of success. Now, the coolest thing about this channel is his videos are dead simple, right? They're just He doesn't even have a thumbnail on his videos. The titles are quite simple. And the videos themselves look like they were recorded on a phone, maybe one that's a few years old even.
And there are no edits. It's just him talking off the cuff, which is pretty incredible. And he is making 13 to 40,000 a month with this month with this channel. Now, obviously this gentleman's on the older side and you might be thinking, "Well, Shane, this is the exception. It's much harder for older people to grow on YouTube." And actually right now in 2026, it is significantly easier for older people to grow on YouTube. And I know this because I have many clients that are in that older demographic. Additionally, I know that if he's monetizing correctly, he could be making way more money with this channel.
All right, quick break. I'm hanging out with my brother Zach right now. He's not a tech guy at all and he made $214 in a single day on YouTube. And I just wanted to let you know that this week we are hosting a free live one-time workshop. So one thing that people struggle with the most is finding their niche and that is why we actually created an AI called the Niche Validator that's going to help you find your niche or help you dial in your niche if you already have one. And we're going to be giving away this Niche Validator this week at a live workshop.
And it's called How to Finally Make Money from youtube.com in 2026. And it's happening on April 14th, 2026. So make sure you mark that down. If you're struggling to find your niche or you don't want to commit months or even years to a niche that ends up not being profitable, then this is for you. So click the link in the description and the pinned comment below. And once you register, hit add to calendar so it shows up on your Google, Apple, or Outlook calendar. And if for whatever reason you're watching this in the future, still check the link in the description and the pinned comment below cuz we may be doing another live workshop in the future and it'll tell you when.
Now, you'll also be able to ask me questions live, so I look forward to meeting you. And you'll also get an update on how this guy is doing on YouTube as well. So see you this week and back to your regularly scheduled programming. One of my clients is The Unretired with RJ. He started posting about five months ago or so. Immediately he had a video take off in the first month or so. But what if you've got a few hundred thousand dollars sitting in a Roth IRA? And around the second month of his channel, he made $28,000 in a single month.
And his content is relatively basic. There's nothing crazy fancy or flashy about it. And you might be thinking, "How did he make that much money when he didn't get that many views?" Well, the way he did is because the views he did get are worth a lot more. And that's why it's so much easier to grow as an older person on YouTube, both from a money perspective as well as a views perspective. YouTube is heavily pushing older creators. Now, whether this is like the algorithm like something in the algorithm pushing older creators or whether this is just, you know, people are tired of younger creators and they want to see more older creators or any number of other things, I don't know, but YouTube is heavily pushing older creators.
It is so much easier for my older clients to get results and their content can be relatively basic and still do really well. And I am so confident that my system works that I did something that I've never seen anybody else do. I took an older person in my family, my brother Zach, who's 50 years old, and I gave him my system and his very first video, literally the first video he posted on May 26th, blew up, got nearly a million views, and 1 month after posting his first video, he was already making $214 a day.
I've never seen anybody else do that, but I did it and he's making great money from this YouTube channel and he's actually planning on selling his business and he's going to go full-time into YouTube. So if you want to learn the system, this process, it's relatively simple. I'm going to be teaching it live this week. Click the link in the description and the pinned comment below. It'll literally be me on a Zoom call teaching you. And then I'm going to take a Q&A and answer any question you have afterwards. So click that link in the description and the pinned comment below and I look forward to seeing you there.
All right, next small channel is going to be Think Science. Now, this is a pretty small channel, relatively new channel as well. 76,000 subs and they're making about 7,000 to 21,000 a month. Now, the science niche is really, really hot right now. There's something about the science niche that's really making just everything pop off. And I think one of the reasons is it kind of bridges entertainment and education. Now, education content almost always pays significantly higher than entertainment content, but entertainment content usually gets way more views than education content. But science content, especially if you do it in the right way where you make it interesting and entertaining, actually does both.
Melanin absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation. And that's why they make about 7 to 21,000 a month with a even with a tiny channel like this. Now, there's some other channels that are much bigger that are making a lot more money than that. And yeah, this is a great niche, entertaining but also educational, and this channel's crushing it. I mean, this channel is literally only 2 months old, which is nuts. But this video right here they uploaded 1 month ago got 3.5 million views and made $17,000 on its own. So yeah, this channel's crushing it. Science niche is also crushing it as well.
If you are going to do a faceless channel, I highly recommend that you use some sort of avatar that represents you. And an example of that is one of my client's channels, Wiz of Ecom. Used to be called Wiz of Ecom. Now it's Mooboo Wiz of Ecom. And he basically started off with this avatar, right? Basically had this avatar of himself. It wasn't moving or anything like that. But he had this avatar that represented him and he was able to actually scale this channel and his personal brand, which was all anonymous, all faceless, just have the avatar, to a seven-figure business.
And then of course he did eventually decide to do a face reveal. Hello, hello everybody. My name is Mooboo. And he was able to scale it to a multiple seven-figure business. So as long as you do it that way, you have the avatar and then you follow what I like to call the hybrid personal brand method, which again, I'm going to teach you exactly how to do that at this week during our live training. So click the link in the to sign up for that exclusive live training. We're only going to be doing this exact one this time, so definitely don't miss out on it.
Then you can definitely go into the faceless route. But I typically don't recommend doing it like this because to be completely honest with you, people do not feel a connection to you. They don't feel like they know, like, and trust you. Whereas if you use an avatar, there is a little bit of that connection there and it also creates a lot of curiosity about who you are. And so people can still sort of get to know you and feel a connection to you even though it's an avatar. Now, for most of you, you're going to watch my videos, you're going to enjoy my free live trainings and free workshops, which I put a ton of effort into both of those, the videos and the live trainings, and that's it.
We're never going to end up working together. I'm going to give you way more value than you give me and that is completely fine. I always like to give at least 10 times more value than I receive. And that's probably 99% of you. But for the 1% or maybe 0.1% of you that want that red carpet experience, that want to be hand-held, that want somebody to basically carry them across the finish line as much as possible when it comes to growing and making money on YouTube, go ahead and book a call in the description and the pinned comment below.
Now, let me tell you the people that this is for just to be very clear. This is for a business owners who want to get more leads from YouTube. This is for YouTubers that are getting views but they're struggling to monetize. This is for YouTubers that are crushing it but they want to crush it even more. And it's for people who want to treat YouTube like a business. People who want to treat YouTube like an absolute professional. And they want to start now and they're willing to work hard. So if you are not on that list, then do not book a call.
We only accept about 18% of people who book calls. But if you do fit all those criteria and you're very serious about growing and making money on YouTube, then book a call and you'll get an opportunity to potentially work directly with myself and my team. On this call, we'll figure out where you are right now, where you want to be, we'll make a plan to get there, and we'll see if we're a good fit to work together or not. People often discover their niche on this call. So, it's a super valuable call whether or not we end up working together.
So, check that out in the description. It also might be in the about section on my channel as well if it's not in the description. But, if you really want to work with me, you'll be able to find it. And if you want to check out an example of somebody who did work with me and was able to get amazing results, check out this video right here.
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