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How To Make Money On YouTube While You Sleep

2025-11-04 · Short · Ali · recording, 2:31 · watch on YouTube

Topic: YouTube, writing online and creators · mode: Answering questions

Asked how to come up with hit video ideas that make money while you sleep, Ali says his best-performing ideas come from questions people ask him at his live events and workshops, which beat his own curse of knowledge, rather than from copying what already does well.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The question: hit video ideas that make money while you sleep

  • ★★ Ali says Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts pay tiny amounts compared with the AdSense money from a proper long-form YouTube video once a channel is monetised. — 00:00:00 · YouTube AdSense, Instagram, TikTok

00:00:29 — Ideas from conversations with the audience versus copying hit videos

  • ★★ Ali hosts live events in Hong Kong and online workshops for his courses; he loses money on the live events and runs them mainly to get close to his target audience. — 00:00:29 · Hong Kong
  • ★★★ Because the curse of knowledge keeps him from seeing what a beginner needs to know, Ali gets his best video ideas from conversations where people ask him questions and reveal misconceptions; those videos often do best. — 00:01:05
  • ★★ Ali says copying the title and thumbnail of a hit video in your space is a game you can play, but he prefers making videos that answer people's questions, which is why he does his question-answering series on Instagram. — 00:02:04 · Instagram

Threads in this video

  • refine · How do you come up with ideas for content? — Because the curse of knowledge keeps him from seeing what a beginner needs to know, Ali gets his best video ideas from conversations where people ask him questions and reveal misconceptions; those videos often do best. (00:01:05)
  • refine · How do creators make money from YouTube? — Ali says Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts pay tiny amounts compared with the AdSense money from a proper long-form YouTube video once a channel is monetised. (00:00:00)

Mentioned

Central: curse of knowledge · YouTube AdSense

Also: Hong Kong · Instagram · Spotter Studio · TikTok · viral replication · YouTube Shorts

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