YouTube Millionaires: How Nichole Jacklyne Went From Summer Job To Slime Empire

Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each creator has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments here.

This week’s installment of YouTube Millionaires is brought to you by SuperBam, the premiere rights management company for creators. 

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When Nichole Jacklyne decided to give up her longtime summer job to focus on her YouTube channel, she worried she’d be lonely.

A major extrovert, she’d spent six years thriving on interacting with thousands of people as a games supervisor at Michigan’s largest theme park. Forgoing that position meant trading the park’s whirlwind of activity and the constant company of her coworkers and customers for…an empty room and a camera. It was a daunting idea, but Jacklyne was halfway through her college career and starting to think about what she’d do after she graduated from journalism school.

Jacklyne had started her channel three years earlier, in 2013, while working as a model. Her first videos focused on fashion and beauty, but the more she explored fellow creators’ content, the more she branched out. She eventually transitioned to life hack and DIY videos, which led her to YouTube’s craft corner and to the niche that made her a full-time creator: slime.

Slime became her primary content in 2016, the year she left the park. That summer alone, her added time investment took her subscriber count from 100,000 to 300,000, she says. By the next summer, her growing platform and enthusiasm for slime had convinced her to grow from creator to entrepreneur. In 2017, she launched Slime by Jacklyne, a digital storefront where she sells premade slimes plus individual slime-making materials. It’s also the hub for her merch, offering Nichole Jacklyne-branded products like swimsuits, phone cases, bean bag chairs, and jewelry.

These days, Jacklyne is far from lonely. Her YouTube channel has over million subscribers, and her Instagram account, where she advertises her slime shop, has 373,000. Running her own company and producing multiple videos per week keeps her more than a little busy–but that’s just how she likes it.

Check out our chat with her below.

Tubefilter: How does it feel to hit one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?

Nichole Jacklyne: It truly feels so surreal. Hitting one million is one of those milestones every YouTube creator dreams of, but for me personally, never anticipated actually reaching. I just want to thank my fans for believing in me and supporting me over the years.

Tubefilter: Tell us a little about you! Where are you from? What did you do in ye olde days before YouTube?

NJ: I’m from Whitehall, a super small town in western Michigan. I started YouTube in 2013, when I was a junior in high school. Before YouTube became my full-time job in 2016, I had spent the previous six summers working at Michigan’s Adventure as a games supervisor. Then, when YouTube became a real option for a job, I ended up spending my first summer in six years working for myself while finishing out college.

Tubefilter: What made you decide to start a YouTube channel? How did you get into making slime videos for YouTube?

NJ: I started a YouTube channel because I’ve always had a deep love for creating. I recently found some old home videos of me vlogging before vlogging was a popular way of creating, which of course made everything make sense. I started out on YouTube making fashion and beauty videos, which led me to life hacks and DIYs, and ultimately led me to slime. I do believe that my channel is an evolving channel. I haven’t stayed in one niche since the beginning, and I doubt I will stay in the same one forever. I do think I will always have some element of slime in my channel.

Tubefilter: Speaking of slime, you have your own company–Slime by Nichole Jacklyne. When and how did you launch it? What was the toughest thing about getting it off the ground?

NJ: I started my own side hustle in 2017, and it was definitely a rough start. I went to college for multimedia journalism, and my background is in content creation and video production. I truly had no previous training in owning a business. My family is filled with nurses and cops and jobs similar to that, so I really didn’t have anyone to turn to for advice. I educated myself through YouTube videos, a lot of research, and using online tools like Skillshare.

The toughest thing was identifying myself as a serious slime maker. I am a YouTube creator first, and I joined this Instagram slime world by launching my account, @slimebynicholejacklyne. Most people who create slime don’t have YouTube channels and simply operate through Instagram, so it was hard to be fully accepted into the community. I think ultimately I just had to realize that my angle in all of this is different. I just had to learn to take pride in that.

Tubefilter: How do you split your time between all your commitments? Do you have set hours for filming, set hours for working on your business…?

NJ: Honestly, there really isn’t a balance with everything I do in a day. I truly am pulled in 80 directions every single day. Whether it is directing my assistant in packaging orders or gathering supplies for a video or a slime, I have a hard time dedicating certain days to doing certain things, because sometimes I just have to go with the flow of whatever the day brings me. That definitely is something I’ve learned. There will never be a perfect balance; it’s always going to be different and hard to balance. I’m starting to film week in my life videos as a self-employed entrepenuer to go on my main channel because I think it’s interesting to see all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into the production of YouTube videos, but also my slime shop.

Tubefilter: There is of course tons of slime content on YouTube. How have you made your videos stand out in the crowd?

NJ: I’ve always taken a lot of pride in keeping my image and personality in my videos. If you look at a lot of slime creators, most of them don’t have a face on their channel. There’s nothing wrong with that, but for my own personal journey, that is just not something I wanted to do. I wanted to keep myself on camera for many reasons, but ultimately I can’t get the message that I want to get across through a voiceover. That’s just not who I am–I’m a very outspoken person, and being on camera really communicates the message I’m trying to spread.

My personality has translated into many of my most popular YouTube videos. Some of my most popular videos are my shopping for slime supplies vlogs that I film at Target and Walmart. Another one of my popular videos is a video trend I actually created a few years ago where I show the process of restocking my slime shop. I posted my first restock with me on my second channel, Nichole Jacklyne Vlogs, but for the last two years, I’ve been posting them on my main channel.

Tubefilter: How long does the average video take you to make, from conception to posting? How do you come up with new video ideas? Do you ever take suggestions from subscribers?

NJ: The average video from conception to posting can take around eight to 10 hours.

I’ll come up with new video ideas in various ways. It really depends on a lot of different aspects like the time of year, what is popular on my channel at the moment, and ultimately, I usually try to stay in my main channel content categories. I definitely ask my subscribers for suggestions on videos, since they are the ones that are watching and subscribing.

Tubefilter: When did you start noticing your audience really picking up? Was there one specific video that attracted a lot of attention? How are you growing your audience?

NJ: I feel like I’ve noticed my channel grow in waves over the last seven years. At the beginning, back in 2015, I noticed my morning routine videos starting to do really well and gain traction. Then, a few years later, I noticed my life hack videos doing well. Then, in 2017, I noticed my slime videos really taking off. There really wasn’t one specific video, but my consistency was a huge player in my overall growth. I’m still growing my audience by listening to what my subscribers want from me. I think it’s easy to fall into a zone where you only post what makes you happy, but ultimately it should be a balance between what your subscribers want and what makes you happy. I’m thankful that I have two channels, so I can post the more out-there, not-really-slime-related videos on that channel instead.

Tubefilter: Are you working on formulating new products for Slime by Nichole Jacklyne? Do you plan to expand into any new products?

NJ: Every week, I formulate new products and release different types of slime on my site slimebyjacklyne.com. However, I have around 10 to 15 classic Nichole Jacklyne slimes that I have been creating now for almost three years. These always sell the best, regardless of how many times I restock them.

As far as working on larger products within my slime business, I’m working on a much larger-scale project at the moment that I am very excited about. I don’t want to give it all away here, but it’s definitely going to be something that is more accessible to every consumer.

Tubefilter: What’s your favorite part of making content for YouTube?

NJ: My favorite part about making content for YouTube is the endless opportunities I can create for my channel and for my business overall. I love the freedom of being my own boss. However, I really enjoy the honor of being a part of so many people’s lives and being able to talk to them about real stuff. Given my channel is about slime, I do have a podcast called Nichole Jacklyne Podcast where I talk more about my personal life and just get more real and raw with my audience.

Tubefilter: What’s next for you and your channel? Any plans looking to the future?

NJ: I’m definitely planning on creating content for as long as people want to watch. I really do enjoy it and I hope I get to do this for a very long time. Like I mentioned previously, I am working on larger projects right now. I’m taking this time to work on more long-term ventures outside of just my YouTube channel.

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You can add yourself to the ranks of Jacklyne’s more-than-a-million YouTube subscribers here.

SuperBam is the global leader in digital rights management, helping content owners reclaim their rights, boost their revenue and grow their audience. As a YouTube Enterprise Partner, SuperBam is the perfect all-in-one rights management solution for creators and content owners of all types. For more info, visit SuperBam.com.