From Useless Robots to 2.9M Subscribers: Simone Giertz
Her robots were built to fail. When sponsors walked, fans paid her directly, and a Kickstarter raised $593K. Simone Giertz now has 2.86M subscribers.
Updates, featured creators, athletes, and more from the Yaff team.
Her robots were built to fail. When sponsors walked, fans paid her directly, and a Kickstarter raised $593K. Simone Giertz now has 2.86M subscribers.
He taught English in Bangkok to pay the bills, then a Thai food ebook let him go full time. Today Mark Wiens has 12M YouTube subscribers.
He ran a car detailing business for nearly 18 years, then started filming at 40 with a GoPro. Today Peter Santenello has 4.31M YouTube subscribers.
A Leeds Castle porter moved to rural Japan to teach English in 2012 and started filming. Today Abroad in Japan has 3.29M YouTube subscribers.
An Oxford graduate quit a London media job in 2017 to vlog from Pakistan. Today she hosts a Nat Geo show and has 1.93M YouTube subscribers.
A preschool teacher and a printing-company owner left Nashville for one year of travel. Ten years and 100+ countries later: 4.55M subscribers.
Sonny Side flunked out of three colleges, moved to Asia with about $2,000 and built Best Ever Food Review Show to 12.2M subscribers. How he got there.
Christian LeBlanc quit an accounting job, flew one-way to Thailand with a GoPro and built Lost LeBlanc to 2.29M subscribers. How he did it and got paid.
Yes Theory began as 30 challenges in 30 days in Montreal with 1,500 subscribers. How Seek Discomfort grew to 10M subscribers and a fan-funded brand.
Drew Binsky taught English in Seoul, quit in 2015 to travel full time and visited all 197 countries. How a gifted camera became a 7.5M-subscriber channel.
Riley saved for 8 years on oil rigs to buy a yacht he couldn't sail. Elayna picked up his unused camera. Viewer support turned it into a 2M-subscriber channel.
John Plant mowed lawns and built huts in the bush as a hobby. His silent Primitive Technology videos grew to 11M subscribers, backed by fans on Patreon.
Mark Rober spent nine years as a NASA engineer, posted a Halloween costume video in 2011, and built an 84.3M-subscriber channel and a subscription business.
Colin Furze left school at 16 to be a plumber, filmed his backyard inventions for fun, and built a 13.3 million-subscriber YouTube channel. Here's how.
Luke Bosworth fills the gap between YouTube uploads with behind-the-scenes clips, extra interviews, trip photo dumps and reflections on Yaff. 99 items since July 2025 — 65 photo dumps, 29 videos, 5 posts — across three USD memberships.
Jack Whitaker is in one of the rarest positions in the creator economy: he was born into an audience. The question - and it's one you sense him working through in his content - is what to do with it that feels genuinely his own?
Most drone brands make gear for land. SwellPro makes gear for the water, and their affiliate program is one of the few in the marine and adventure space that genuinely rewards both the creator and the buyer.
Mat Armstrong's own YouTube channel description says it all: "just a regular guy winging it as i go along." At 7 million subscribers, that line is either the most genuine thing on the platform, or the most brilliant piece of personal branding - probably both!
Most travel insurance affiliate programs treat creators as an afterthought. SafetyWing built their Ambassador Program from the ground up with creators in mind — and the commission structure is one of the most genuinely rewarding in the travel space.
Alex Hall has Olympic gold & 11 X Games medals yet his YouTube description reads: Please help us get to 30K and SUBSCRIBE :) That gap is exactly what makes MAGMA worth knowing about
If you're a content creator in the health and wellness space, you will know that most supplement brands will hand out a discount code to anyone with a pulse and a social media account. Seed does the opposite.
At Yaff we appreciate content creators who are living their dreams and taking us along of the ride. Today we're profiling the up and coming YouTube channel Tourist to Local!
If you post travel content without a clear way to monetize it, or you're already the friend who plans everyone's trips, Mindtrip gives your knowledge a price tag — with zero barrier to entry.
If you’ve noticed your reach dropping on social media, you’re not imagining it. Algorithms are changing, and creators are losing control.
Here's a fun sports channel to watch - if you’re into golf I'm sure you're subscribed already!