Antonio Centeno comes across as an unassuming American dressed plainly in jeans and a polo shirt. Although a frequent visitor of Ukraine, he is for 300,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel a guru in men’s fashion and a successful moneymaker through social media.
This July, the 39-year-old video blogger came to Ukraine to baptize his third child that his Ukrainian wife delivered and to whom he’s been married since 2004. He first visited Ukraine in 2000, but moved back to the U.S. in 2007 to start a clothing business.
He never could find clothing in Ukraine that could fit, so he found a tailor, who made him several garments. They fit him so well that upon his return to the U.S. he found a skilled tailor and opened a clothing business.
After some time the business shut down, but Centeno decided to continue educating men on style, fashion and clothing. In 2012 he started a Youtube channel called “Real Men Real Style.”
It has a total of more than 20 million views, with over 90 percent coming from English-speaking countries like the U.S., U.K., Australia and India. He earns more than $30,000 yearly from the online advertisements alone that run through his videos.
“My numbers are relatively small. I personally know a Youtuber, who has double my subscribers and his profit from Youtube reaches as high as $90,000 per year,” Centeno said.
Advertising on Youtube is a small part of Centeno’s revenue stream. He also sells video courses on his website www.realmenrealstyle.com that range from around $100 to $3,000 per course depending on the content and the length of subscription. Centeno charges companies that want him to talk about their products in his videos up to $5,000. Companies like online retail giant Amazon place links to their products on Centeno’s videos and a percentage from sales made by clicking on those specific links goes to him too.
“I don’t own my channel, Youtube owns it. So it is just a way to build up my brand,” Centeno said. “What I love about it is that I could quit filming today and would still continue getting money for the rest of my life.”
Apart from clothing and style tips, Centeno also shares personal productivity and business tips on his channel.
Ukraine is mentioned in many videos as well. “I travel here about twice a year since my wife is from Ukraine. People are very nice here and everyone seems to be working so hard,” Centeno said.
According to Centeno, Ukrainians underestimate the value of Youtube and, if used right, it can be a profitable online business without even building up an actual company.
Centeno suggests creating a channel in the Ukrainian language instead of in Russian or English since there are already so many channels in other languages and hardly any exclusively in Ukrainian.
“What you need to do is just start filming, identify a problem you are solving and create content with added value. It can be an educating or entertaining one,” Centeno said.
A good example of entertainment content, according to Centeno, could be about an elderly Ukrainian lady, a so-called babushka, who starts mocking the young generation’s fashion and behavior.
Comparing Americans to Ukrainians, Conteno said his countrymen are overconfident. If they decide to do something, they start doing it. Ukrainians think they have to go to school, get a higher education, find a job, and make other achievements before they actually launch an endeavor.
In reality, most successful Youtube video bloggers with millions of subscribers started with no experience at all, according to Centeno.
Kyiv Post staff writer BozhenaSheremeta can be reached at [email protected]. The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by AVentures Capital, Ciklum, FISON and SoftServe .
