I cashed out my (entire) life savings to go all in on YouTube.

This week I moved every dollar I’ve saved over the last 5 years out of Vanguard.

The index funds…

The $7,000 inheritance from grandma I put into my Roth IRA…

Overall, it’s just under twenty grand.

Which (by my back of the napkin math) will buy me about 1 year at this run rate.

And I’m using it to go all in on YouTube.

For context, I’m not going in cold.

I’ve been making YouTube videos for about 9 years.

But it’s never been consistent. You know the drill…

Starting channels, posting for a while, and quietly letting them die.

I DID keep up the habit about four years ago where I posted every week for a year.

But this is the first time I’m taking it seriously, and apparently that costs exactly one retirement account.

I can hear you saying, “Kia, how tf are you living off $20K for a year?”

Great question.

I’ve been nomadic for the last 8 and a half years, so I’ve found a few good spots to post up and build from where rent doesn’t cost $5,000 (the median in NYC).

Here’s a pic from Medellín, one of my favorite places to call home.

So how’d we got here?

Last month I got fired. I was a creative strategist at a lead gen company spending millions a month on ads.

I could have gone and found another job.

True. And the real is I’ll probably pick up some client work along the way for spending money.

But I asked myself the question I’d been avoiding for a while:

What if I just…tried?

And I mean really tried.

Learned how to play the YouTube game.

The thumbnails, titles, hooks, outlier theory, etc.

The REAL game of the platform, with nothing held back?

And listen, I know how this sounds.

Every finance guy on the internet just felt a disturbance in the force.

My grandma’s good financial sense reached out from the grave.

But I think I’ve got a shot at making this work.

So, some context.

I’m not telling anyone to do this.

I’m 35, I don’t have kids, and I’ve earned my own income online for eight years.

My floor is lower than most people’s, and I know how to find clients if I need them.

This is a bet I can afford to lose, and that’s the only reason I’m making it.

I hate gambling (I like my money too much) but the ONE bet I’m willing to make, is on me.

Always.

So what AM I actually building?

I’m figuring it out. That’s the real.

But right now, the offer looks like a group coaching program for skilled creatives

Cause I’m passionate about helping people live intentionally.

And while Andrew Tate took the whole “escape the matrix” thing a little too far a part of me still believes in that.

And the best way that I’ve found to empower people to have more options in their life is to have more income.

Especially creatives, because we are chronically terrible at selling our services and therefore underpaid.

I used to work in high-ticket sales. I sent hundreds of proposals and closed dozens of clients, and I think that puts me in a unique position to help this type of person.

So the YouTube channel and this newsletter, will both be for one kind of person: someone with real skills and a salaried job who wants their own income.

A designer, a copywriter, an editor, a marketer.

Someone who’s good at the work but has never sold it on their own.

That’s who I was for a long time.

A songwriter and music producer, substitute teaching at 26.

Turned down by Whole Foods at 27.

Then one decision (buying a one-way ticket to a small city in northern Thailand with a little less than a grand) put me around people who built their own income.

Everything changed from there.

And as crazy as it sounds, I felt like I was born again.

Like my life STARTED at that point.

So that’s the working thesis of this newsletter moving forward.

Own your income, so you get more say over how and where you work.

(Spoiler alert: this offer will continue to change as the channel does. This is all a WIP).

But every week I’ll write about what I’m building, what’s working, what isn’t, and the stories behind it.

Including this one.

If the year works, you’ll watch it work.

If it doesn’t, you’ll watch that too, and I’ll share the journey candidly.

One year.

Starting now.

This week’s question: what would YOU try if you knew you had exactly one year to do it?

P.S. I know it’s been a minute. If this isn’t for you anymore, no hard feelings, there’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom. But if you want to follow along, I’d love to have you here.

P.P.S. Here’s one of my latest videos on the channel if you want to check it out: Your Offer Is Too Vague. Watch Me Fix It.