Fernando Hurtado is a former NBC Telemundo journalist who walked away from a six-figure media career to build on YouTube from scratch. In this episode, Fernando breaks down how he got monetized in days, landed (and lost) brand deals early, priced himself wrong, and rebuilt with a repeatable system for publishing high-quality videos without burning out. We talk risk, leverage, time-boxing creative work, and what journalists actually need to know before betting on themselves.
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Watch Fernando’s AAPI Latino’s video
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Fernando Hurtado
YouTube
Twitter/X
Instagram
TikTok
LinkedIn
Francis Zierer
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
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Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Fernando Hurtado
01:06 The hardest part of full-time YouTube
04:40 How to land (and lose) brand deals
09:30 Transitioning from NBC to YouTube
16:02 Four reasons to become a YouTuber
21:00 Learning the business side of journalism
28:59 Diversify your revenue streams
30:41 Building a sustainable upload schedule — without burnout
35:09 Creating videos for the algorithm and the culture
40:48 Showing the journalistic process
43:27 Creating a video that inspires discussion
45:50 Successes from one year as a YouTuber
51:36 Advice for going all in on YouTube
