How A Nigerian YouTuber Made His First $52K Using TikTok
- How A Nigerian YouTuber Made His First $52K Using TikTok
- Nigeria’s history
- Mikey’s Method
- Results
- Hidden Caveats
- Lessons
- Tools Used
Mikey Again is a content creator who’s documenting his journey to making $1 million. He has over 62.3K subscribers with just 18 videos on his YouTube channel. However, it’s his TikTok videos that first caught my attention. In this break-down, we’re going to explore Mikey’s growing “micro-empire,” starting with his TikTok and YouTube accounts.
Nigeria’s history
Nigeria has a rich economic history that has helped shape the country into what it is today. The country has abundant natural resources, including oil, which has been a major driver of its economy. However, it wasn't until the 2000s that Nigeria began to experience sustained economic growth, thanks in part to reforms aimed at reducing corruption and increasing foreign investment. This growth has led to increased access to the internet and technology, which has helped fuel the rise of content creators (like Mikey Again). As the country's economy continues to grow, it's likely that we'll see even more Nigerian content creators making a name for themselves on global platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
Mikey’s Method
So what’s the gist of the main video shared at the beginning of this article? Well, in it, Mikey shares his experience of making $50,000 in sales and $25,000 in profit with a toy car through drop-shipping.
He found his winning product (specific toy cars) by scrolling through TikTok and searching for relevant hashtags. He chose the product because it was new, had few competitors, and received positive feedback from his mentors.
He followed a viral video format (see Vision Drift) of showcasing the product and performing drifts with the car. He posted multiple videos, with the fourth one gaining significant views. He only then created a Shopify website and started generating sales.
He replicated another drop-shipper's successful video format and saw increased sales. He shares information on private suppliers and provides affiliate links. He experimented with different viral video formats like contrast videos and question/response videos.
As competition increased, his sales slowed down, but he still made a significant profit of nearly $25,000.
Results
Below are some snapshots of Mikey’s results across TikTok and Youtube:
Hidden Caveats
- Mikey had mentors. Based on his videos, it looks like he had access to a group of mentors, who helped him validate his findings as he was researching. One of those mentors includes Michael Bernstein (above). He helped Mikey “blow up” after a year of struggling to get any traction.
- He did not setup a TikTok business account first. He waited until he hit 1,000 followers on TikTok, which allowed him to then add a website link to his account. He also used a service called TravSIM, which allowed him to setup a US TikTok account without being based in the US.
- People have been using a similar strategy as Mikey (to go from $0 - $100K in 2 weeks). But making that sustainable is not easy (and he mentions this).
Lessons
- The hustle: This guy did not wait for everything to be perfect. Here’s what I noticed he did to validate before making anything “official”:
- Launched his account with no profile picture
- Studied other successful posts before publishing his video (but not forever — 24 hours of actual research, waited 6 days for the product, and filmed for a bit thereafter)
- Once you find a viral format, stick with it and copy it over and over again.
- How he analyzed his niche:
- Looked at successful videos in the car niche (e.g., drifting cars, opening hooks)
- This alone got him to $5K in sales.
- He bought products from other competitors doing the exact same thing he was. Nice.
- Uses his video to openly share affiliate links (increases revenue, nice).
- Used the line “Relax, I got you” around 5:36. I’ve seen this line used a few times on other TikTok videos too.
- Viral format: Contrast Videos. Later on, he used a viral format called Contrast Videos, where you start with a boring worse version of your product. Then you transition to your version to show how much better it is.
- Find 3-5 viral frameworks that work for you. Cycle and repeat them over and over again.
- The more time goes on, the harder it is to go “viral.” In June, he only had around ~$2K in sales.
- Launched his account with no profile picture
- Published his video only after studying other successful posts (but not forever — 24 hours of actual research, waited 6 days for the product, and filmed for a bit thereafter)
Tools Used
Below is a list of the key tools he used:
