505: From YouTube Exec to Full-Time Creator: How Chanel Tyler Turned Content Creation Into 5-Figure Passive Income
Side Hustle Pro
Nicaila Matthews Okome | Side Hustle Pro Media
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week in the guest chair is Chanel Tyler, a strategist, creator, and self-described “contentpreneur” who has worked across investment banking, luxury marketing, and YouTube before stepping fully into entrepreneurship.
Chanel built her reputation online by sharing trusted product recommendations and insights from her background in beauty marketing. But after years of consulting with a creator commerce platform that generated over 80% of her income, everything changed when the company suddenly shut down.
In this episode, Chanel opens up about what it really looks like to rebuild after losing the majority of your income overnight. She shares how she pivoted by diversifying her platforms, leaning deeper into affiliate marketing, launching new creator education programs, and embracing the vulnerability of sharing her personal story — including her journey with hearing loss.
If you’ve ever worried about relying on a single income stream or wondered how creators actually make money online, Chanel breaks down the strategy behind building a sustainable creator business.
In this episode, Chanel shares:
- How she built a creator business by combining corporate strategy, content creation, and affiliate marketing
- What happened when the platform responsible for 80% of her income shut down overnight and how she rebuilt
- Why diversification across platforms, income streams, and partnerships is essential for creators and entrepreneurs
- How affiliate marketing works and how creators can use performance data to negotiate higher-paying brand deals
Highlights Include
00:00 – Introduction
02:10 – Chanel’s career path from investment banking to luxury beauty marketing
05:10 – Building an audience through skincare and product recommendations
09:00 – Landing a role at YouTube working with top creators
15:00 – Saving a year of income before leaving corporate
19:00 – The moment she lost 80% of her income overnight
24:30 – Why diversification is critical for creators and entrepreneurs
27:00 – Building content series that grow an audience
32:00 – Affiliate marketing vs. brand partnerships explained
37:00 – Sharing her journey with hearing loss and disability
40:00 – How statement earrings became part of her empowerment story
43:00 – Affiliate income strategies for creators
Links Mentioned in This Episode
• Check out the Networth and Chill Podcast;Creator Economy & Brand Deals with Victoria Paris
• ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/home/creators
• MagicLinks: https://www.magiclinks.com/creators
• BrandCycle: https://brandcycle.com/
• LTK: https://company.shopltk.com/en/creator
• Nordstrom Affiliate Program: https://www.nordstromcreators.com/
Check out Chanel’s Creator Profit Lab’s interest form & course registration
Save the Date: Start the Podcast That Builds Your Exit Plan (Friday, March 20)
Watch & Listen
Watch this episode on YouTube and listen on all podcast platforms:
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/side-hustle-pro/id1126021323
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/13qDj08lBR4ymzGhXIKy8t
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sidehustlepro
Announcements
If you’re ready to build a podcast that becomes your exit plan from your 9-to-5, sign up for my next live class: Start the Podcast That Builds Your Exit Plan
Save your seat here.
Social Media
Instagram: @thecreatorprofitlab
Instagram: @buymechanel
Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro
#SideHustlePro
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I have watched people where corporate America has become their identity and then they lose their job and they don't know who they are. |
| 0:08.1 | And that is a devastating thing to go through. And that's why I always recommend you. |
| 0:13.9 | Everybody have something else on the side. Don't let what you do define who you are. |
| 0:19.6 | You're listening to Side Hustle Pro, the podcast that teaches you to build and grow your |
| 0:25.0 | side hustle from passion project to profitable business. |
| 0:28.7 | And I'm your host, Nikaela Matthews Okome. |
| 0:31.3 | So let's get started. |
| 0:36.7 | Hey, friends. Hey, welcome, welcome back to the show. |
| 0:39.1 | It's Nikaela here. |
| 0:40.2 | And today in the guest chair, I have Chanel Tyler, better known as Buy Me Chanel. |
| 0:45.1 | Chanel has built an incredible career at the intersection of tech, beauty, and the creator economy. |
| 0:51.0 | She is a Spelman alum with an MBA from Columbia Business School who went on to hold |
| 0:55.2 | leadership roles at companies like Estee Lauder and YouTube, where she helped shape how beauty |
| 1:00.0 | and lifestyle creators grow and monetize on the platform. But while Chanel was building her career |
| 1:04.9 | inside corporate, she was also building something on the side, a certified side hustle pro. |
| 1:09.7 | And she was creating content |
| 1:11.4 | and experimenting with affiliate marketing in a way that eventually grew into a meaningful income |
| 1:16.4 | stream for her. So what does she do? Over time, that side hustle evolved into something bigger, |
| 1:22.6 | leading Chanel to step away from corporate and fully bet on herself as a creator and entrepreneur. |
| 1:27.9 | Along the way, she's also been navigating something deeply personal. |
| 1:32.1 | Chanel lives with progressive hearing loss, an invisible disability that has shaped how she shows up, |
| 1:37.8 | advocates for herself, and ultimately how she built her brand. |
... |
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