Have you ever watched a viral YouTube video and thought to yourself, “I could make that”?

Well, the YouTube gods have spoken! If you have dreams of becoming a YouTube sensation (or if you’re just looking for a side gig for some extra cash), YouTube is about to make it much easier for you.

YouTube recently announced a series of new developments for their website. The big takeaway? They want to make it easier for you to monetize your content on YouTube.

Here’s what they have in store:

• A mobile app to make it easier for creators to produce content for their YouTube channels.
• A new feature that will allow direct-to-creator fan funding intended to increase monetization opportunities.
• A community captions project intended that will translate YouTube captions in order to help YouTube creators reach a broader audience.
• The ability to monetize mash-up videos and covers.
• A new royalty-free sound effects section in their Audio Library to facilitate in the making of mash-up videos.

In recent months, YouTube has also launched The Creator Academy, an invaluable resource for anyone interested in getting a YouTube channel started, as well as the opportunity for YouTube creators to share in the revenue of eligible cover song videos.

What does this mean for freelancers? A few things.

First, it’s one more opportunity for people to make money outside of the 9-5. Whether you become a bonafide YouTube star or not, it’s another potential revenue stream.

Next, and more importantly, it gives freelancers another opportunity to connect with one another on a platform that we’re all familiar with. Based on all of the great feedback that we’ve received from our members on the Google+ Hangouts that we’ve recently hosted with successful freelancers, we know that freelancers can learn from one another.

How many times have you watched a video tutorial on YouTube to help you learn a skill that you needed for the completion of a project? Just as you’ve benefitted from others’ videos, independent workers throughout the world could be benefitting from your YouTube videos. Helping your fellow freelancers while making a little on the side? Sounds good to us.

Freelancers, have you ever considered YouTube content creation as a second or primary source of income? Have you ever used it to connect with other freelancers? We’d love to hear what you think!

Check out the full YouTube update announcement video below: