Youtube sponsorships? What do I need to know and how can I get ready for the day?

My youtube journey is a lot of fun!  I can get quite far with the equipment I bought for photography, but eventually, I'm going to need to upgrade.  Probably about a year from now so long as I don't drop anything.  

To that end, my goal is to have my youtube pay for itself.   One way to do that is to find video sponsors.

But no one is going to do that until I can get my videos up to a certain quality and talk more on camera.  

I've been slowly working on talking more, but the plan is to try some fake sponsorship segments in my videos.  I don't know if it will work, but if I make it entertaining enough, I might manage to get it done.  This would be for videos made this winter.

Anyway, this thread is to explore the journey where I learn more about youtube sponsors, how it works, and maybe in a year, get one of my very own.  

I want to start by saying, I have strict ideas about what kind of sponsor I would accept.  It seems silly to set the rules now when I have no one interested in giving me money, but I also have a very specific idea of my goals for my youtube adventure and I do know that the only reason a sponsor wants to give you money is that people listen to what you have to say.  

That creates a weird sense of responsibility.  

So, I'm going to take a page out of the Sean Tucker playbook and set the ground rules for myself.

1. If I already use and like the product, then I'm good with this.
2. If I am already considering using the product, then it's worth investigating further before accepting the deal.

Next to think about... designing fake sponsorship plugs that amuse me.

I hit another milestone this week.  three thousand subscribers.  I should be happier.  I am happy.  But it also reminds me that I suck at turning this youtube thing into a viable income.



My videos are pretty regular for views.  
- tutorials and fibre folk-focused videos get about 300 views the first few days and then settle in for slow and steady increase.
- more homesteading-focused project videos like my cloak series seem to get about 900 views the first few days, then increase in spurts but a lot more than the tutorial ones.  

This is kind of good because I like making the latter better.

The thing is, even with more views and more videos, my income from youtube is half what it was about a year ago.  I can't rely on ad income alone anymore.  


I'm still small potatoes but I feel like this year I need to look into sponsorship options.

(affiliates are another option to start looking at, but I've been burnt badly with these in the past.  Permies digital market is about the only affiliate system that has managed to pay me money whereas the other systems - including amazon - glitch out and loose all my data a week or so before I meet the threshold - so that's something I'll look at elsewhere and later).


Things like a video I have half finished would be awesome for something like skillshare or another online learning platform... but how do I say "hey skillshare, I'm cheap, wanna sponsor me?"  They usually go through an agency for small youtubers, but I can't figure out which.

Or a video I am planning for the fall where I make a thing.  Then I could add a bit about how hard it was to make my own, but guess what, this company makes even better ones.  I have two companies in mind, but how would I get them to listen to me?  Where do I even start?  Why does my imposter syndrome say I'm too tiny to be worth bothering with?  Is it right?

anyway, these are my thoughts.  Putting them out there in case I missed some simple solution and am making this more complicated than it needs to be.