He Makes $125,000/year As A Niche YouTuber | Starter Story

June 29, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Shervin Shares left a six-figure software engineering job to become a full-time YouTuber, a move that earned him just $300 in his first year. Now he makes $125,000 a year living in New York City, the most expensive city in the world, by creating niche tech and fitness content. In this conversation with Pat Walls, he breaks down the specific decisions, tradeoffs, and operating principles that allowed him to go from a miserable office job to a sustainable creator income.

The Decision to Quit: Risk, Timing, and the Safety Net

Shervin quit his job twice. The first time was a software engineering role; after exploring YouTube, he took a product manager job, then quit that too. The final push came from a Gary Vaynerchuk video that argued recent graduates should take high risks because they don't yet have dependents. Shervin internalized that logic: "In five years if I'm married and have kids, I won't be able to take a massive risk." He calculated the worst case — he could always return to software engineering — and decided the window for risk was now.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:04) **From Six-Figure Engineer to Full-Time YouTuber** - Shervin quit his software engineering job to pursue YouTube, making only $300 in his first year
2 (02:05) **Why He Quit a Six-Figure Job** - The internal voice to chase something that didn't make logical sense, despite following the traditional path
3 (03:36) **Financial Runway and Cost-Cutting** - How he survived on minimal savings by slashing personal expenses
4 (04:59) **The Real Cost of Being a YouTuber** - "You don't have to spend any money and you have to spend all the money"
5 (06:04) **Early YouTube Strategy and Output** - Daily vlogs and 30/90-day challenges with only 100-200 subscribers
6 (09:10) **First Real Money: Affiliate Marketing Discovery** - How a fitness tracker review led to his primary revenue stream
7 (11:13) **Revenue Breakdown: 80% Affiliate, 20% AdSense** - Current income split and why he's avoiding sponsorships

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Pat Walls

Show Notes

He Makes $125,000/year As A Niche YouTuber

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This is the story of how Shervin Shares went from his miserable 6-figure job to becoming a full time YouTuber living in New York City.

Shervin’s Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ShervinShares

0:00 - Intro 0:59 - Shervin's Early Days 1:29 - How he made the decision to quit 2:34 - When is the right time to quit? 3:33 - Cutting down personal expenses 3:59 - How much is costs to do YouTube 4:30 - What is takes to be a YouTuber 5:00 - First starting on YouTube 5:22 - Best YouTube upload schedule 5:44 - How long did it take to get 1K subscribers? 6:20 - How long until you made $$$ from YouTube? 6:53 - Different ways to make money on YouTube 8:19 - His income streams 9:00 - Living in NYC as a creator 9:51 - Cost of living in NYC 11:00 - Coffee vibes 11:10 - Most viral video 11:58 - Viral formula 12:47 - Finding talent + hiring 13:24 - Advice for new creators 14:03 - How to find video ideas 14:58 - How to meet other creators 16:06 - Running a 5 minute mile 17:06 - Final words

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-------------- Keywords: tech business, bootstrap startup, digital products, software business, startup journey, business podcast

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