Timothy P Livingston Home Tours

Timothy and Jennifer Livingston, Founders

Traveling across the US

Timothy setting up to shoot a video at a model home event.

2023

How the Livingstons created an online community passionate about model homes

Timothy and Jennifer Livingston run a YouTube channel and website showcasing model homes.

Taking meaningful steps to launch a full-time business

In 2019, Timothy P. Livingston was looking for his next chapter. “I had just finished eight years of service in the army and wanted to do something different,” he recalls. “I couldn’t picture myself going back to a desk job and wanted to work for myself.”

So, he bought 2 mobile homes for $1,000 a piece and documented how he and his wife Jennifer refurbished them. “That was the start of our YouTube channel,” Timothy says. The channel and website, Timothy P. Livingston Home Tours, is a space where the Livingstons tour model homes and share news, information, and tips about modular, manufactured, and even tiny residences with their growing online community.

After their mobile home do-over, they began contacting local mobile home dealerships to see if they could tour and showcase the inventory they had. “A few dealers invited us in and that totally launched our business into all different types of homes,” Timothy shares.

Though passionate about the project, with a newborn at home, the Livingstons took measured steps when thinking about turning Timothy P. Livingston Home Tours into a full-time business. As members of the YouTube Partner Program they started earning ad revenue from their videos and they implemented Google AdSense on their website to earn money from display ads. “We set a revenue goal that if we reached $10,000 a month in earnings consistently, Jennifer would feel comfortable enough to step back into part-time work,” says Timothy.

“It was scary but exciting, to be able to work for ourselves and do what we want to do,” Jennifer recalls. Timothy credits Jennifer with giving their family the stability they needed as the business grew.

Growing Timothy P. Livingston Tours with an ad-based revenue model

Craving the freedom to have more flexible lives, they continued to work towards more substantial revenue goals before taking the full-time plunge. When they began doubling and tripling their income, they knew it was time.

“Our numbers went from $10,000 to $16,000 to $30,000 - once we hit those ad revenue milestones, we thought - what’s our limit, how high can we go with it?” Timothy explains. “We both work on this full time now and we’ve created a lifestyle where we can make money wherever we go.”

Their YouTube channel now has over 131,000 subscribers and ad revenue is up 206% year-over-year. Their website continues to grow, with over 182,000 page views in the last month, a 136% increase month-over-month. And their ad revenue keeps growing, “currently, ad revenue from the website and YouTube channel account for 91% of our total revenue,” Timothy shares.

With their business growing, the kind of content they produce has continued to evolve. Towards the end of 2022, Timothy and Jennifer asked their audience what content they wanted to see more of - 60% indicated a preference for site-built homes.

“Then our views skyrocketed,” Timothy recalls. “We built a lot of traction with that and it became very popular.”

“Once we hit those ad revenue milestones, we thought - what’s our limit, how high can we go with it? We have a lifestyle now where we can make money wherever we go.”

One of Timothy and Jennifer's most popular home tour YouTube videos. Their videos have garnered nearly eighteen million views in the last year.

Timothy teaching a class on creating content.

Diversifying the future of Timothy P. Livingston Homes

Timothy and Jennifer’s audience skews both old and young. Though preferences for the styles of homes differ, both demographics have a common goal: finding more affordable homes.

“A lot of people come back just because they enjoy seeing different homes,” Timothy says. “But we do have a core group of people who have watched us from the beginning.”

Their digital presence has also created offline opportunities - the Livingstons put together a workshop for a Texas-based company that builds mobile, tiny, and modular homes. “That was really fun,” Timothy recalls. “We got to teach 50 people or so in small classes how we film and make content.”

As they cultivate their audience, the Livingstons are setting new goals, wanting to diversify their income stream and expand the website to better serve readers.

They’re also gearing up for a major life change: selling their house and traveling across the country for the next year, staying in one state per month. So far, plans include Wyoming, Washington, California, and Colorado.

“We are so excited to travel, there’s no real time frame and it’s like an endless vacation,” Timothy says.

About the Publisher

Timothy and Jennifer here! We own and operate timothyplivingston.com along with a youtube channel that focuses on touring homes across the United States and sharing them with our community so they can find that perfect home.

Our goal is to build a community that is interested in purchasing homes with the long term view of having a dedicated audience for when we ultimately set out to showcase our own homes in the form of our own spec home builds or future short term rental properties. We want to build the advertising engine that will drive sales in the future.

When we aren’t working on our business, we enjoy spending time with our 3 boys or traveling and exploring new places. We are also big goat cheese nerds and never pass up a pleasantly curated charcuterie board!

Timothy P Livingston and his wife Jennifer