The 2 things you need to make money on YouTube through ad-revenue are 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of views.
If you’re in it for the short run, the work it takes might not seem worth it.
You might even feel like you don’t want to use your best work on a small audience, especially when you aren’t even earning anything from it. Of course some get lucky with a viral video but that’s not the case for the majority.
However, if you have a long term plan then whilst you are in the process of reaching those 2 milestones you’ll dedicate yourself by creating and putting out good content.
Then, once you start making money from YouTube, that good content can continue.
You don’t need to wait for a big audience to start putting out good work, start as you mean to go on.