A few years ago Michael Buckley was just a guy with a job. In his spare time he hosted a show on the local cable TV public access channel. Like most public access shows the audience was less than massive and the pay–well, there was no pay. And then, in one of those lucky chances, his cousin decided to post some bits from his shows on YouTube.
Michael Buckley doesn’t go to the office any more. He’s quit that job. Nowadays he’s a big YouTube star and making pretty good money doing it! The New York Times places his yearly YouTube take north of $100,000. All this for an enterprise broadcast from his second bedroom in front of a piece of green cloth. Impressive.
What the Buck is the most popular entertainment show on YouTube with over 430,000 subscribers, 150 million views. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on The Hills.
So, does Michael Buckley know how to make the secret sauce and can he give the recipe to you? YouTube and Michael seem to think so because they’ve had him create “The Secrets to Michael Buckley’s Success,” a 27 minute lecture on how he did it. It’s pretty good and he’s very entertaining. He answers the top-10 questions sent by other YouTube users.
Photo by YouTube.