REVEALED: How To Make Money Online in 2023

I’ll say it flat out: if you watch this entire video and take action, you will make money online in 2023. Not “might.” Will. That is the guarantee Alston puts on this three-step process, and it is not a hollow claim. He spent years grinding through quick fixes, shortcuts, and copy-paste schemes before landing on the framework he teaches here. Every person making real money online right now, whether they run a fitness channel or a Reddit entertainment show, is following these same three steps whether they know it or not.

The goal of this post is not to hype you. It is to give you a clear, repeatable system you can start on today. You do not need money. You do not need an audience. You do not need years of experience. What you need is to stop letting those excuses block you, and to work the process: identify a problem, identify solutions that pay you, and create content. That is it. Everything below unpacks each step with real examples from the video so you know exactly what to do next.

What You’ll Walk Out With

The exact three-step framework Alston uses to make money online, explained with real YouTube channel examples
How to find problems people are already paying to solve, using free tools like Google Trends
The five categories of solutions that actually pay you (affiliate products, digital products, physical products, YouTube Partner Program, and memberships)
Why setting a $10/day target first protects you from the trap that kills most beginners
Real examples from channels like Gravity Transformation, Pleasant Green, and r/Space showing the framework in action
The honest math on what “guarantee” actually means here and what it does not mean
A direct path to finding the right online income method for your skills and situation at finder.platformproof.com

Why Most People Fail Before They Start

Alston is not shy about the mistakes he made early on. He tried every quick fix and shortcut method out there. He looked for the fast lane and found that it cost him more time, energy, and effort than simply doing the work the right way from the beginning. If that sounds familiar, it is because nearly everyone who starts trying to make money online goes through the same loop. They find a method that promises $1,000 in the first two weeks, they fall short of that number, and they quit.

The problem is not the effort. The problem is the target. A year before you found this video, you were making zero dollars online. If you start making ten dollars per day through an online business, that is progress. That is real. Setting a thousand-dollar-in-two-weeks target is unfair to yourself and statistically unlikely for anyone starting from scratch. The three-step process below is not about getting rich overnight. It is about building something real by starting with wins you can actually hit.

Step One: Identify a Problem

Every online business starts with a problem. Not your problem. Other people’s problems. The internet exists because billions of people have questions, frustrations, goals, and needs they are trying to satisfy. Your job in step one is simply to spot one of those problems and decide you are going to help solve it.

Problems are not hard to find. Alston walks through several places you can look right now. The first is Google Trends at trends.google.com. Type anything in there and you will see what people are searching for. During the recording of the video he pointed out Thanksgiving searches and World Cup searches spiking in real time. When people ask questions online at scale, that is a problem waiting for a solution. That is your opportunity.

Another easy research tool is Amazon. Every product category on Amazon exists because a problem was big enough to build a market around. Browse any department and you are looking at a list of problems people paid money to solve. The fitness equipment section? A problem. The home organization section? A problem. The cooking gadgets section? A problem. You do not need to sell any of those products. You just need to understand what problem each category represents.

You can also simply look at your favorite YouTube channels or scroll TikTok’s For You page. Every video you see there is a creator who identified a problem and decided to build content around solving it. One channel Alston highlights creates content about concrete and construction. Another makes videos about a video game releasing in nine months. Another entertains people who want an escape. All three are solving problems. The concrete channel solves the problem of needing to learn a trade. The gaming channel solves the problem of wanting information before a launch. The entertainment channel solves the problem of boredom.

The problem does not have to be narrow or ultra-specific. It just has to be real. Four billion people have access to the internet. Eight billion people exist on this planet. No matter how niche your chosen problem feels, there are enough people who share it that you can build a real audience around it. The only mistake at this stage is overthinking it. Pick something and move to step two.

Step Two: Identify Solutions That Pay You

Once you have a problem, you need to connect it to money. That is what step two is about. A solution that does not pay you is a hobby, not a business. Alston is clear on this: the solution is what gives you money. And there are several well-established categories of solutions that work.

Affiliate products are one of the most accessible options. You recommend someone else’s product or service, a viewer clicks your link, they buy something, and you earn a commission. No inventory, no customer service, no product creation. Alston points to Dominique Baptist as an example. Dominique creates content about Go High Level, a software platform, and makes money as an affiliate for it. His problem: people want to know how to use Go High Level to run their business. His solution: content that teaches them, with an affiliate link that pays him when they sign up.

Digital products are another strong option. An ebook, a course, a template, a guide, a swipe file. These take time to create once and can sell indefinitely. The margins are high because there is no physical manufacturing or shipping cost. If you are deep into a particular subject, you probably already know enough to write a guide that someone earlier on that path would pay for.

Physical products work too. The city planner channel Alston references, the one focused on NFL stadiums, could sell a printed guide or a photo book about every stadium. That is a physical product tied directly to the problem (people want rich information about NFL venues) and the audience already built around that content.

The YouTube Partner Program pays creators for ad revenue once they hit the required subscriber and watch-time thresholds. It is slower to unlock than affiliate income but adds up meaningfully once a channel has real volume. Alston mentions the r/Space channel as an example. This channel reads Reddit stories out loud because most people do not want to read long Reddit threads. The solution is the entertainment, and the payment mechanism is the YouTube Partner Program running ads against that content.

Memberships round out the list. Patreon and similar platforms let your audience pay a recurring monthly fee for exclusive content, early access, or direct access to you. If you build a dedicated following around a specific problem, a small percentage of them will pay for a deeper relationship with you and your content.

The important thing at this stage is to write down every solution that fits your chosen problem. You do not have to pursue all of them at once. But knowing what is available lets you plan how your audience will eventually turn into income. The solution stack matters more than most beginners realize because it determines how your business scales.

Not sure which income method fits your skills?

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Step Three: Create Content

Content is the vehicle. That is how Alston frames it, and it is the right frame. Content gets you in front of the people who have the problem you identified. Without content, you have a business plan with no distribution. With content, you have a channel that attracts buyers, subscribers, and members automatically.

The content does not have to be complex. It just has to answer the questions your target audience is already asking. Alston points to the lackluster channel, which creates videos about knowing your rights. The content is direct and educational. Their solution is merchandise. Their content pulls in the audience that finds the topic relevant, and a percentage of that audience buys. Simple chain. Problem to solution to content.

He also highlights Pleasant Green, a channel dedicated to exposing scam opportunities. The audience for that channel is made up of people tired of being scammed. That is the problem. The content shows real scams and breaks them down. The solutions that pay Pleasant Green are brand deals, merchandise, sponsorships, and the YouTube Partner Program. The content does all the heavy lifting of building trust before any money changes hands.

And then there is the r/Space style channel, where a single person simply reads Reddit posts aloud. The production quality is minimal. The editing is straightforward. But it solves a real problem: people want to enjoy Reddit content without reading walls of text. That channel earns through the YouTube Partner Program. Someone figured out a problem, a solution that pays, and a simple content format. That is the whole system.

The key requirement for content at this stage is that it matches what your target audience actually wants to know. Not what you find interesting. Not what you wish they wanted. What they are already searching for. Once you understand that, everything else is execution. How often can you publish? What format suits your skills? Video, written articles, short-form clips? All of it works. What matters is that you start and that you stay consistent.

The Three Steps in Action: Real Channel Examples

To make the framework concrete, here is how several channels Alston walks through in the video map directly onto the three steps.

Gravity Transformation identified the problem of people wanting to get in shape scientifically. They make videos comparing light versus heavy weights, testing different workout protocols. Their solution set includes fitness affiliate products like specific barbells or gym equipment. The content gets millions of views from people who are actively searching for workout answers. Problem, solutions, content.

City Planner Plays identified the problem of people wanting deep information about NFL stadiums. The content is stadium reviews and analysis. The solution that could pay here includes affiliate deals with Booking.com for fans who want to visit those stadiums, or an ebook covering all thirty-two venues. Problem, solutions, content.

Pleasant Green identified the problem of people being targeted by scams and wanting to understand how those scams work. The content exposes the scams in detail. The solutions are sponsorships, merchandise, and the YouTube Partner Program. Problem, solutions, content.

r/Space-style Reddit reading channels identified the problem of people wanting to enjoy Reddit content passively. The content is someone reading the posts. The solution is YouTube Partner Program ad revenue. Problem, solutions, content.

Honest Drawbacks: What This Guarantee Does and Does Not Mean

Alston makes the guarantee clearly but also qualifies it clearly. He says you will make money if you implement the three steps. He does not say you will quit your job. He does not say it will happen in a week. Whether you reach the point where this replaces full-time income depends on two things: how good you get at creating content, and how consistent and persistent you are at creating content.

That honesty matters. A lot of people hear “I guarantee you can make money online” and picture a scenario where a few hours of work pays off in weeks. That is not what this is. The three-step process works, but it works over time and with volume. Your tenth video will almost certainly outperform your first. Your fiftieth will likely outperform your tenth. The people making serious money online are not following a shortcut. They are following a system, consistently, over months and years.

The practical implication is this: aim for small wins first. If you are making zero dollars online today, aim for ten dollars a day. Not a thousand. Not ten thousand. Ten. That target is achievable, it builds momentum, and it proves the system works before you invest more deeply into it. Once you hit ten a day, you have real evidence that your content is connecting with your problem-solution fit. Then you scale.

A Simple Starter Checklist

Open Google Trends and search three topics you know something about. Note which one has the most consistent search interest.
Go to Amazon and browse the product category that matches your chosen topic. What problems are those products solving?
Write down every solution category that fits your problem: affiliate, digital product, physical product, YouTube ad revenue, membership.
Pick one content platform: YouTube, TikTok, a blog, or a newsletter. You only need one to start.
Publish your first piece of content answering the most common question your target audience has. Do not wait for it to be perfect.
Commit to publishing consistently for 90 days before evaluating results. Consistency is what separates people who make money online from people who tried and quit.

Find Your X

The hardest part of this framework is picking your problem in the first place. Once that choice is made, the rest follows a clear path. If you are stuck on which direction to take, the Platform Proof Finder can help you figure out which online income model fits your skills, schedule, and starting point. Visit finder.platformproof.com and answer a few short questions. You will get a concrete starting point, not a generic list of options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need money to start this three-step process?

No. Every tool Alston references in the video is free. Google Trends is free. YouTube and TikTok are free to publish on. Amazon browsing costs nothing. The only investment at the beginning is your time. Paid tools and ads can accelerate growth later, but they are not required to start.

Do I need an existing audience to make money online?

No. Alston explicitly names “I need a major audience” as one of the excuses that keeps people stuck. Every channel he mentions as an example started at zero. The audience is built through the content you create in step three. You get the audience by solving the problem repeatedly and in public. The audience follows the solutions, not the other way around.

How long before I make my first dollar online with this method?

That depends heavily on your chosen problem, your solution category, and how fast you create content. Affiliate income can start relatively quickly if you drive traffic to a relevant product early. YouTube Partner Program income requires hitting thresholds that usually take several months of consistent uploads. There is no fixed timeline, but the fastest way to get to your first dollar is to pick a path and publish.

What if I pick the wrong problem?

You will know within a few months of consistent content creation whether a problem has a real audience. If your content gets no traction after 30 to 50 pieces, the problem may be too narrow or poorly framed. The good news is that the skills you build (content creation, research, understanding your audience) transfer to any problem you pivot to. Starting is more valuable than picking perfectly.

Which solution type should I start with as a beginner?

Affiliate products are the most common starting point for beginners because there is no upfront creation cost. You simply find a product that solves your chosen problem, join that product’s affiliate program, and include your link in your content. As your traffic grows, you can layer in digital products or memberships for higher margins.

Is content creation the only way to make money with this framework?

Content creation is what Alston focuses on because it is the distribution method he teaches and uses. That said, the underlying logic applies to other distribution channels too: email newsletters, podcasts, paid communities. The three steps still apply. The content format is what changes based on your strengths and the platform you choose.

Why does Alston recommend targeting $10 per day first instead of a bigger number?

Because most people who set a $1,000 target in the first two weeks quit when they miss it. The ten-dollar target is achievable, it proves the system works, and it gives you real feedback about whether your problem-solution-content combination is connecting. Success builds momentum. Setting an unrealistic early target destroys it before you have a chance to build anything.

Does this work in 2024 and beyond, or is it specifically for 2023?

The three-step framework does not expire. Identify a problem, identify solutions that pay you, create content. That system worked before 2023 and it works after 2023. The platforms change, the tools update, and specific tactics evolve. But people will always have problems, solutions will always have a market, and content will always be a way to connect the two. The fundamentals here are durable.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “REVEALED: How To Make Money Online in 2023,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/kvWkwq9a_bY
Google Trends, trends.google.com
Amazon product categories referenced in video, amazon.com
Gravity Transformation channel, YouTube
Pleasant Green channel, YouTube
Dominique Baptist / Go High Level affiliate example referenced in video