By Chuck Bentley

Yahoo Parents featured the story of an immigrant couple that moved to the US from the Philippines and turned their passion for home movies into a lucrative career—earning more than $1 million from their YouTube channel. But that is not the biggest surprise. Their home movies are best known for videos of their kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Who would have ever thought that could earn you a million dollars from home!

The channel, which averages more than 3 million views a day, features their three children, 5-year-old Hulyan, 3-year-old Maya, and 5-month-old Marxlen. The majority of the videos—which are often more than 15 minutes long—feature the kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine or Monster toys.

Mark and Rhea, who go by the YouTube username “ilovemaything,” are the parents behind the popular YouTube channel Hulyan Maya. In fact, “popular” may be an understatement: According to Tubefilter, which posts weekly charts of the most-viewed YouTube channels, the Hulyan Maya channel was the 42nd most-viewed U.S. channel last week. With more than 26 million views in just seven days, it fell just below the channel for NBC’s The Voice.

I watched a few minutes of some of their most popular videos and could not figure it out. Watching their children play with Thomas the Tank Engine did not interest me for one minute. Then I realized that I am not the target audience. Parents tune in for their children to watch! Essentially, it is a site that is safe for parents to let their own children enjoy.

Do you wonder if your idea will earn money? Follow your passion, start small, and test and refine it as you learn and grow. You will be surprised at how God can provide for you, even with an idea as simple as filming your children playing with toys.

Originally posted 4/2/2015.