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Silicon Valley GirlHow he makes $1.2M a year on Youtube without showing his face - Jake Tran
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Meet Jake Tran and the Faceless Channel Model
Marina introduces Jake Tran, who runs multiple faceless YouTube channels covering political power, big business, true crime and scams. She explains why she wanted to learn how his company works and how it could apply to her own business.
- •Jake covers American issues such as school food, corporate scams and the dark side of big business
- •Marina met Jake in 2021 and he was the first faceless-channel creator she knew
- •She wants to see how a faceless channel could serve her language-learning company
- •The conversation also covers how Jake handles criticism
Why Jake Moved from On-Camera to Faceless
Jake says he has run his channel for three or four years. He began as a personal-brand on-camera channel and ran out of things to say, so he switched to research-based content that never runs out of ideas. He also recalls his early taekwondo channel and his admiration for Linus Tech Tips.
- •Personal-brand channels run out of material because a creator has only lived so much
- •On-camera YouTubers often burn out or fade after three to five years
- •Research-based or invented storylines remove the video-idea bottleneck
- •His first channel was a cringy high-school taekwondo channel he deleted
- •He once wanted a Linus Tech Tips-style big studio but now sees it as a headache
Blue Ocean Strategy and Finding a Unique Niche
Jake says the book Blue Ocean Strategy changed his life. He applied its keep, remove and change approach to YouTube niches, blending personal finance, video essays and B-roll channels. A video on the business of banking was the first step toward his current darker topics.
- •Blue Ocean Strategy shows how to carve out an uncontested space in a crowded industry
- •The wine brand example: compare industry factors, then keep, remove or change them
- •Jake combined elements of the personal finance, video essay and B-roll niches
- •A niche of your own means viewers have only you to go to
- •His fractional reserve banking video took off despite a scheduling mistake
Handling Criticism Over Brand Deals
Marina raises the criticism Jake received over brand deals, including the Coffeezilla controversy. Jake says it felt bad and overwhelming as other YouTubers piled on, and that he now vets sponsors much more carefully.
- •Longtime subscribers noted a drop in quality tied to Jake's reduced involvement
- •Jake was criticized for advertising questionable companies
- •He says criticizing others is the easiest route to fame and smaller creators joined in
- •The team now vets brand deals more thoroughly
Topic Sources and Meeting Advisor Arvid Ali
Jake says video topics come from his network of unusual people, including guests. He explains how his advisor Arvid Ali first contacted him by email as a fan.
- •Topics come from a network built through his videos and from guests
- •Arvid Ali appeared in the celebrity video and is Jake's advisor
- •Arvid reached out as Jake's channel was blowing up
- •He was associated with Jordan Belfort and advises ultra-rich people
The McDonald's Lesson: Building a System
Jake describes working 10-12 hour days making one video a week and earning around 200-250K a year. Arvid told him to build a system like McDonald's that produces videos while maintaining quality, and Jake resisted at first before agreeing.
- •Each video took five to six days, about 50 hours, and Jake did everything himself
- •He was earning a doctor's salary from AdSense and sponsors
- •McDonald's succeeds through its system, not a better burger
- •Arvid said the artist mindset leads to burnout and caps income
- •Jake swallowed his pride and began outsourcing bit by bit
Delegating Production Step by Step
Jake explains how he outsourced the audio editing, video editing, thumbnails and research in small increments. He trained writers from scratch because no YouTube scriptwriter industry exists, and he built a team spread across the world.
- •He started with an audio editor, then a video editor trained on a 30-second clip
- •Editing scope grew gradually as quality held up
- •Relying on one jack-of-all-trades makes a business fragile
- •Writers from blog or SEO backgrounds must be trained to write video scripts
- •His team is located wherever the best people are
- •Jake declined to share production costs, but says every video is profitable
Choosing Ideas and Staying Involved as Master Chef
Jake says intuition and repeatable series, like the Rich People Depressed series, guide which ideas get made. Editors are now largely autonomous on B-roll, while Jake still watches the final video and focuses on ideas and quality control.
- •Intuition about what will go viral builds over time
- •Successful series make it easier to find aligned topics
- •Editors know the style and choose B-roll mostly on their own
- •Jake still reviews each final video, likening his role to a master chef
Multiple Channels: Evil Food Supply and More
Jake describes his other channels: the main Jake Tran channel with 1.8 million subscribers, Evil Food Supply, and a third channel, How To Get Away With It. He applied the same gap-finding strategy to each and says the system is repeatable.
- •Evil Food Supply is a documentary channel on the food system that is growing fast
- •He found a gap for a premium documentary channel in the health and nutrition niche
- •A voiceover actor narrates the new channels
- •The third channel's first two videos got 555,000 and 253,000 views
- •Multiple channels reduce risk and allow more daily posting
Main Channel Role, Shorts, and Future Channels
Jake says his main channel is the center of everything and where he experiments with new ideas. He stopped focusing on Shorts after his views crashed around February, preferring long-form video, and plans two or three more channels in 2024.
- •The main channel is used for experimenting with video ideas
- •His Shorts views crashed around February 1st
- •Marina saw the same drop, which she thinks started in December
- •He prefers to focus on long-form videos he is good at
- •He plans two or three more channels in 2024
Monetization: Sponsors, AdSense and Memberships
Jake ranks sponsors first, AdSense second and YouTube memberships third. Members pay five dollars a month for a private monthly documentary on controversial topics.
- •Sponsors are the top income source, followed by AdSense
- •Memberships cost $5 a month and include a private documentary each month
- •Examples include Jeffrey Epstein and MKUltra
- •The membership videos are promoted by announcing the topics
- •Marina says it is the first time a YouTuber has called memberships a top income source
Advice: Find a Strong Enough Why
Jake tells aspiring faceless creators that nothing he does is impossible, and that those who succeed have a strong enough why. He cites growing up poor, wanting to support his parents and proving doubters wrong. Marina closes by explaining her own plan to start test-prep channels.
- •Making videos is far from impossible
- •Most people fail because they lack a strong enough reason
- •A strong why helps you work out the granular details
- •Jake's why was growing up poor, helping his parents and proving doubters wrong
- •Marina is starting channels for TOEFL, GMAT and similar tests
Arvid Ali on Transitioning Face-Based YouTubers
Marina asks Arvid how a creator whose channels are built on their face can automate. Arvid recommends taking it one step at a time: remove yourself from backend work first, then reduce on-camera time, then embed other people on some channels.
- •Start with the backend, including research, scriptwriting and editing
- •Aim to just show up with research and format provided
- •Acting classes help big YouTubers focus on tonality and entertainment
- •Next adjust videos to use voiceover or other speakers
- •The energy drain comes from everything surrounding filming, not just being on camera
Cost of Production and Hiring Internationally
Arvid sets a rule that total expenses never exceed 50% of revenue and describes hiring cheap, trainable people internationally. He says a good video can cost a few hundred dollars, and recommends testing several candidates on small tasks.
- •Expenses should not exceed 50% of revenue
- •Hourly rates of $7-8 are a lot for workers in places like Indonesia or Bangladesh
- •South Africa is good for research and scripts, and Eastern Europe for thumbnails
- •Good videos can cost a few hundred dollars, maybe $1,000 at most
- •Test about five people per role and give them small samples like the first 30 to 60 seconds
Publisher timestamps
- 0:00Meet Jake Tran
- 1:39How long has he been doing his channels?Read this chapter
- 3:55How it all beganRead this chapter
- 4:36The book that changed his life.
- 7:33Criticism of his content. What was his reaction to that?Read this chapter
- 8:52How does he select topics for videos?
- 9:19Meeting Arvid Ali
- 11:08I need to find a way to create a system that creates the videos for meRead this chapter
- 12:20How does he work with the team?
- 17:12Does he have any other channels?Read this chapter
- 19:00Risks of having multiple channelsRead this chapter
- 20:53Top sources monetizing channels
- 22:00The advice to people who are starting YouTube channelRead this chapter
- 24:07I decided to jump on a call with Arvid to ask him all the questionsRead this chapter
- 28:09What's the ballpark figure for like producing one video if we find people internationally?
