What makes this useful: A sourced EarnThread field guide written for creators turning attention into an owned business.
There are 12 main ways creators make money in 2026, but only about half of them work before you have a large audience. Platform payouts, creator funds and most sponsorships scale with views, so they pay little at small sizes. Services, digital products, paid workshops, niche affiliate links and small memberships scale with trust, so a few hundred engaged followers can be enough. Below is each income stream, what it takes to qualify, what the published numbers say, and which to start with.
Key takeaways
- Platform payouts such as YouTube ad revenue and TikTok's Creator Rewards need large audiences before they pay anything meaningful.
- Services, digital products, workshops, niche affiliate links and small memberships can work with a few hundred engaged followers.
- Brand deals do reach small creators, but the median payment for creators under 10,000 followers in one 2025–26 dataset was $134 per deliverable.
- Kajabi's 2024 report found two-thirds of creators relied on one income source, while the most successful averaged five or more.
- Start with one offer people buy directly from you, then stack platform and sponsorship income on top.
The 12 ways creators make money, at a glance
| # | Income stream | Who pays | Works under 10k followers? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ad revenue share | Platform | Rarely: thresholds come first |
| 2 | Creator funds and view bonuses | Platform | Rarely: follower and view minimums |
| 3 | Live-stream gifts and subscriptions | Viewers via platform | Sometimes, with a loyal core |
| 4 | Brand deals | Brands | Yes, at small fees |
| 5 | Affiliate links | Brands | Yes, in a buying niche |
| 6 | UGC (content for brands' own channels) | Brands | Yes: follower count matters less |
| 7 | Tips and fan memberships | Fans | Yes, with a few superfans |
| 8 | Paid newsletter | Readers | Yes, in a useful niche |
| 9 | Paid community or membership | Members | Yes, once you have a list |
| 10 | Digital products | Buyers | Yes: the best first product for many |
| 11 | Coaching, consulting and services | Clients | Yes: often the fastest first income |
| 12 | Workshops, courses and speaking | Buyers and organisations | Yes, after a few service clients |
The pattern matters more than the list. Most creators start with the first four and stay dependent on them. Kajabi's State of Creators '24 report (opens in a new tab), a survey of 2,000 creators, found 66% made most of their 2022 income from one source, brand deals, and 96% earned under $100,000 a year.
Platform money: ads, creator funds and live streams (1–3)
1. Ad revenue share. YouTube is the clearest example. To join the full YouTube Partner Program you need 1,000 subscribers plus either 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days (opens in a new tab). From 1 February 2027, new applicants will need 8,000 qualified watch hours or 20 million qualified Shorts views (opens in a new tab) instead. Once in, long-form creators get 55% of net ad revenue (opens in a new tab) from their watch-page videos and Shorts creators keep 45% of their allocated revenue (opens in a new tab). The share is generous; the entry bar is what keeps it out of reach for small channels.
2. Creator funds and view bonuses. TikTok's Creator Rewards Program is the main one. TikTok's Creator Academy (opens in a new tab) says it requires 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in the past 30 days, counts only videos over one minute, and is open in only eight countries (Ireland isn't one). Influencer Marketing Hub's TikTok pay guide (opens in a new tab) (third-party, updated October 2026) estimates it pays roughly $0.40–$1.00 per 1,000 qualified views. At that rate, 100,000 qualified views a month is in the region of $40–$100.
3. Live-stream gifts and subscriptions. In Epidemic Sound's 2025 survey of 3,000 UK and US creators (opens in a new tab), live streaming had the highest share (32%) in its income-mix breakdown, ahead of ad revenue (29%). Gifts and channel subscriptions can work with a small but loyal audience, because a handful of regulars pays more than a crowd of passers-by.
Brand-paid money: sponsorships, affiliates and UGC (4–6)
4. Brand deals. Small creators do get paid, but modestly. Across 1,527 completed deliverables on its marketplace in 2025–26, OpenSponsorship's pricing analysis (opens in a new tab) found a median of $134 per deliverable for creators under 10,000 followers and $150 for 10,000–50,000. Brand-deal income is also under pressure: Kajabi's State of Creator Commerce report (opens in a new tab) (1,717 respondents, published April 2025) found brand-deal revenue down 52% year on year among its respondents.
5. Affiliate links. Commission rates depend on the programme. On Amazon's US Associates fee schedule (opens in a new tab), rates run from 0% to 10% by category, and most physical-goods categories sit between 1% and 4.5%; 10% applies only to luxury beauty and Amazon Explore. Software programmes pay more: Kit's affiliate programme (opens in a new tab) pays 50% of what a referred customer pays in their first 12 months. Affiliate is common: the Visa 2025 Creator Report (opens in a new tab) found 78% of creators surveyed use it.
6. UGC (user-generated content for brands). Here a brand pays you to make videos it posts on its own accounts or uses in ads. Your follower count matters less because you aren't selling your audience, only your ability to make content that converts. It suits creators who are good on camera but still small. Get usage rights, length of use and ad spend limits in writing.
Fan-paid money: tips, newsletters and memberships (7–9)
7. Tips and fan memberships. Platforms such as Patreon make this easy to start; Patreon charges 10% of the income you earn (opens in a new tab), plus payment processing and payout fees. If you're weighing that against running your own, our guide to choosing a creator platform on cost and switching walks through the trade-offs.
8. Paid newsletter. Paid writing has grown into a real market: Substack announced 5 million paid subscriptions (opens in a new tab) in March 2025 (subscriptions, not unique people). A paid newsletter suits creators whose value is analysis, curation or expertise, and it works at small sizes because a few hundred paying readers is a real income.
9. Paid community or membership. A membership sells ongoing access: a community, monthly sessions, a resource library. In Kajabi's 2025 creator commerce report, creators with communities generated 50% more revenue than those without (vendor survey of its own audience). Keep the promise small and deliverable; then build the habit of showing up for members before adding more features.
Your own offers: products, services and teaching (10–12)
10. Digital products. Templates, guides, presets, planners and short courses. In the same Kajabi report, digital download sales grew 20% year on year among respondents. A low-priced product needs no minimum audience, only a clear problem it solves. Start with our simple first-product selector.
11. Coaching, consulting and services. The Visa 2025 Creator Report (opens in a new tab), a survey of more than 1,000 creators across five countries, found 77% promote their own services. Services are often the fastest first income because one client at a fair price can outearn months of ad revenue. The 2023 ICF Global Coaching Study (opens in a new tab) put the average fee for a one-hour coaching session in 2022 at $244 globally.
12. Workshops, courses and speaking. Teaching what you already do for clients, to a group. Kat Norton ("Miss Excel"), who left her consulting job in February 2021, has said course sales make up 95% of her income (opens in a new tab), with individual courses priced from $44 to $397, alongside corporate Excel trainings and speaking. Those are self-reported sales figures, not profit. A live paid workshop is a lower-risk first step.
Which ways creators make money at small sizes
The streams that work early share three traits: the buyer pays you directly, the price is high relative to your audience size, and you don't need a platform's permission to start.
| Start here (under 1,000 followers) | Add next (1,000–10,000) | Expect later (10,000+) |
|---|---|---|
| A service or coaching offer | A digital product built from client questions | Ad revenue share |
| One niche affiliate link you already use | Small brand deals and UGC | Creator funds |
| A free lead magnet to grow your list | A paid workshop or small membership | Larger sponsorships |
Linktree's Creator Report (opens in a new tab) shows how long platform-only income takes: in its survey of 9,576 users (run in 2021), 46% of full-time creators and 68% of part-time creators made under $1,000 a year, and 59% of creators with under 12 months' experience hadn't made any money yet.
Stack them: why top earners have several streams
Single-stream creators are exposed. Kajabi's 2024 report, as summarised by Net Influencer (opens in a new tab), found the most successful creators average five or more income streams, and those earning over $150,000 tend to have seven. Kajabi's August 2025 figures, also reported by Net Influencer (opens in a new tab), describe the average six-figure earner on its platform as having 1,000–10,000 followers, about 4,000 email subscribers and 309 paying customers.
The order that works for most small creators is a ladder: a free lead magnet, a low-priced product, then a service or membership at a higher price.
EarnThread puts those steps in one place: a mobile-first storefront for downloads, bookings for coaching calls, memberships and lead magnets, with payments straight into your own Stripe account and attribution that shows which post made each sale. The Launch plan is $0 a month with a 5% fee per sale; Growth is $19 a month with 1%; Scale is $49 a month with 0%. Compare the plans or start free.
Common mistakes when choosing income streams
Most small creators don't fail for lack of options. They pick streams that don't fit their size or spread themselves across too many at once.
- Waiting for platform thresholds. Spending a year chasing 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours before selling anything means a year of no income. You can sell a service or product on day one.
- Starting five streams at once. The top earners in Kajabi's data have five or more streams, but they added them over time. Get one to steady sales before adding the next.
- Pricing for volume you don't have. A $5 product needs thousands of buyers to matter. With a small audience, a higher price for a specific outcome works better.
- Building on one platform's audience. Followers belong to the platform. Without an email list, a change in reach or a closed programme can cut your income overnight. Our piece on building an owned audience with a lead magnet explains what to keep.
- Forgetting fees. Every platform and payment provider takes a share. Compare the real amount you keep, not the headline price.
A useful test for any new stream: who pays, how much per sale, how many sales you'd need for it to matter, and whether you keep the customer's contact details. If you can't answer all four, it isn't ready to be a priority.
Where to start this month
Platform payouts are a bonus that arrives after scale, not a plan to get there. Pick one offer your audience can buy directly from you this month, either a service slot or a small digital product, and put it on a page you own alongside a free lead magnet. Then let views, sponsorships and affiliate income stack on top of an income you already control.
Frequently asked questions
How do small creators make money?
Mostly from income that doesn't depend on reach: coaching or services, digital products such as templates, paid workshops, a small membership, and a few affiliate links for products they use. Brand deals also reach small creators, usually at modest fees. Platform ad revenue and creator funds generally require thresholds such as YouTube's 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.
How do creators make money on TikTok?
TikTok's Creator Rewards Program pays for qualified views on videos over one minute, but TikTok requires 10,000 followers and 100,000 views in 30 days, and the programme isn't open in Ireland. Influencer Marketing Hub estimates it pays $0.40–$1.00 per 1,000 qualified views. Most small TikTok creators earn more by sending viewers to their own products, services or brand partnerships.
How do creators make money on YouTube?
Through the YouTube Partner Program once they reach 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days (8,000 hours or 20 million views for new applicants from 1 February 2027). Long-form creators then receive 55% of net ad revenue from their videos, and Shorts creators keep 45% of allocated revenue. Many also sell products, services and sponsorships alongside.
What is the easiest way for a creator to start earning?
For most small creators, a service is fastest: one coaching session or done-for-you project can be sold to your existing followers this week, with no platform threshold to meet. A simple digital product built from the questions you're asked most often is a close second, and both work best on a page you own.