Using YouTube to help others

My family were immigrants from Canada. Our first family business was running a convenience store. Working in the store as a teenager motivated me to pursue a career that focused on serving people and improving their well-being. Most students who want to be a doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, health care professional or any other professional go into their field wanting to do one main thing: help people. However, when we’re faced with that daunting educational debt, I’m certain most students who dreamed of providing selfless service to others become discouraged as to how to provide free service to their patients.

There are ways to supplement salaries and paychecks to provide funds to help people. I explored social media venues that can help me do just that. Since its inception, YouTube has grown to be the go-to resource for video tutorials, music, comedy and even movie streaming. It’s allowed people to make a living as video producers through its monetization process. In utilizing YouTube, I’ve created a channel that features me playing the piano. My channel is comprised of piano tutorials that I filmed. I plan on expanding my channel to other types of videos in the future to have more variety.

In the monetization process, YouTube sends checks when the amounts are more than $100. These are for advertisements played before each video. So far, I have had a total of 70,000 views for all my videos. This equated to $15, which isn’t much. However, as I plan to make more tutorials and recruit other people to get involved in making videos, this channel could see big potential.

By having a sustainable income outside of dentistry, it would enable me to serve others at a greater capacity. My hope is to make the ultimate YouTube channel that can create profits that I can use to give back to those in need. YouTube can be that platform to springboard monetary profits to help support dental services to others.

It is not hard to start a YouTube channel. If you have hobbies and talents, a camera, and some time, you can create viral videos that will enable you to make money to support future ventures in free service to the communities you serve. A journey of treating a thousand people begins with a single view.

If you are interested in helping me build a viral YouTube channel, visit my YouTube channel.

~Jacob Kim, Case Western ’16