In 2023, Salary Transparent Street made over $1 million in revenue. 🤯

We made $1,043,740 to be exact – more than double what we made in 2022. Best of all? Our business grew while we got to do what we love: share the importance of salary transparency with the world. 

For some context: There are some important things to note about the ways content creators make money…

• Unlike people with salaried roles, content creators have uncapped earning potential. As business owners, the more we work, the more money we make. 
• We have business expenses, so our paychecks are not our revenue. Our take-home pay is a fraction of our gross revenue. 
• Because there are many different ways to make and spend money as a creator, creators’ earnings can vary a ton (even on the same platforms with the same audience size).

In the spirit of transparency, we’re sharing exactly 1) how we got to $1 million, and 2) where it all goes. Let’s break it down →

How We Made $1 Million

1. Brand Partnerships

Brand partnerships are sponsored content – AKA when a brand we love pays us to make content. You’ll know it when you see it. This content must be labeled as a “paid partnership” or have #ad or #partner in the caption of our videos.

The deets: At a total of $1,012,329, brand partnerships made up 96% of Salary Transparent Street’s 2023 revenue. For full transparency of what we charge for partnerships, the market rate for videos on Salary Transparent Street’s channels is between $10,000 and $15,000. We prioritize long-term partnerships, which means that we work with the same partners for a set number of deliverables each month — and at our rate, that adds up quickly.

2. Ad Revenue

We get payouts from the platforms we publish content on including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. These platforms serve ads alongside our content, like when YouTube plays ads before and during videos, and they pay creators like us for bringing eyeballs to their ads. While each platform pays creators differently, their payouts are all correlated to views. So just by watching our content, you helped grow our business! 💚

The deets: Ad revenue made up 3% of our total revenue, which comes out to $30,265. We don’t take it for granted either. That’s more than half of the average US salary. 

3. Miscellaneous

Merch sales, speaking engagements, and social media consulting made up the remaining 1% of our revenue.

Where the Money Goes (Our Expenses)

1. Our Salaries

This year, I took home $125,000 as a full-time CEO, while our incredible part-time cameraman (and my husband!) James took home $65,000. 

2. Paying Contractors and Part-Time Workers

We worked with a social media manager, assistant, accountant, lawyer, and blog writer this year. In total, outsourcing this work cost us $361,058.
 

3. Website Expenses

We work with an awesome website development team to keep our website up and running (with amazing resources like our salary database). That cost us $215,770.

4. Marketing Expenses

This year, we did a full brand redesign, built a media kit, and worked with an agency to produce our newsletter. This cost $132,158.

5. Travel Expenses

In 2023, we traveled to 20 different states and Canada to spread transparency! Plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars added up to $37,039.

6. General Expenses and Operations

From platform subscriptions to insurance to film equipment, we spent $27,022 to keep everything operating smoothly behind the scenes.

What It Means to Us

Earning $1M is cool and all (okay, I admit it—it’s insane). However, at the end of the day, our biggest accomplishments in 2023 weren’t tied to a number at all.

In that same year, we testified in support of Washington, DC’s Pay Range Act (which passed and is going into effect in June 2024!), spoke with multiple state representatives about pay transparency laws and free speech legislation, gave back to our community through cash giveaways, and so much more.

In 2024, we hope to double our revenue again (that’d be wild, right?). More importantly, we want to share more valuable content and increase our charitable pool. I have a pretty good feeling we’ll reach our goals and then some – and it’s all thanks to your support. 💚

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