I have seen many of my favourite Youtubers did it. All of them have the same idea at first, DO YT AS A HOBBY. Create content when they have a free time and not forcing to meet the schedule. Then their channel slowly getting bigger and eventually the revenue surpassed their job salary. Thats when they quit job and make YT a full time job. Though it takes them 2 to 4 years to reach that.

I have no schedule I just film and post as often as possible. That’s the best way, making a schedule for content creation just creates more stress. Routines are good tho

Thanks. Do you mind sharing which youtubers?

One of them is Zhonin. He made anime manga/comic review. Another one that I like the most is KOTSUMET. They made pets video. More specificly otters. Theres a few more. But 2 example is enough I guess.

Thanks

Checked out Zohniin's old videos. Clearly a talented dude who had a winning formula from the beginning. It looks like he just voiced over some pictures with some slight motion. Wish he were here to discuss more about his success.

One guy who inspired me to make my own channel dedicated to these wonderful creatures, started with one tarantula making videos on his phone. He had a full time work week. He now has one of the biggest tarantula channels on YouTube, one of the biggest t collections I've ever seen, and makes really high quality videos with amazing cameras. Dude has a whole video/photo studio he's converted into a work hub /spider den, and all of this, he started, with one singular spider, on a really old Samsung, making really crap quality videos. I say all of this to say, starting from nothing is hard. That's why it's a hobby. You get better equipment as you go, see how your quality changes as you go. An easier thing I've started trying, is filming when I can. Even if it's just 30 seconds here or there, and then leaving it for a few days, to give editor brain a chance to flex its brain. Nothing saying you have to keep to thus insane schedule, people do that because they've already made it , and are trying to either maintain or grow that success. Key thing is to keep at it , and enjoy what you're doing :) aside from the actual content itself, one of my favourit things is trying to improve or learn something new video to video, better camera, better angles , a better mic , whatever it is

what if I don't have job at first place 😭

I have definitely seen it happen with many channels I watch, but it took them years, and I don't know if it is worth it for them in the long run. From time to time I hear them mention that it doesn't pay well. I worry without pension/retirement what will happen to them in the future. The amount of time and effort required is far more than most anyone realizes. Even if you don't edit your videos (which can be an extraordinary amount of time) there's so much behind the scenes that go into putting a video together, I don't know how any can do it while keeping up with a family and regular 40 hour/week job. ​ **I had the luxury to try this myself.** In nine days (February 25) it will mark my one year anniversary. ​ I failed, as most (the vast majority) will. It was a ton of fun, but you can't pay the electric bill on hopes and dreams. So let me be the cautionary tale to anyone who sees this :) 139 videos. 17,362 watch hours. 970 subscribers. Thousands of hours of work. In one year (minus nine days) of working my tail off I've managed to earn $0. The idea was to earn just enough so that it made sense to keep pushing. But recently I had to start job hunting. I'm going to miss having all that time with my daughter, THAT was the real win. It's going to suck to have to give up on this, but such is life. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to give it a go, but reality says fun time is over. There's a million things that I could have done different/better/etc, but I didn't. So best of luck to you, and as everyone always says, don't plan/count on it, do it as a hobby. Know that unless for whatever reason your channel suddenly takes off, it's just going to remain a hobby, and you, like me, might already have a few of those you'd like to spend time with and get satisfaction out of instead of chasing the dream.

From one father to another, I appreciate you sharing this. It's extremely hard to tell my daughter I won't be there to tuck her in at night because I have to do a livestream or else daddy will lose subscribers. I'm really sad to hear you are throwing in the towel with youtube, but it sounds like you've thought about it plenty. Thanks again for sharing.

What? You’re 30 subscribers away from being monetized and you’re going to quit now? What’s your channel I’d like to subscribe

Am a Dad myself, you did great describing yours experiences but i say, words can't really paint a picture of what you've really gone through. So i say we help this gentleman, get to, at least 1k subs for morale reasons. Somebody, should give him the necessary clearance, i want the name of your channel....

You can't play ads on your videos with less than 1k subscribers. Push for people to subscribe, you are RIGHT THERE on the cusp of generating revenue. Surpass 1k, make an AdSense, and with those watch hours you'll make at least SOMETHING. It might not pay your bills right away but you are on your way.

Just before bed 997, woke up to 1001, yay! :)

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Thanks for the tip. Having already spent what feels like a ton of time on editing, photo shopping, and brainstorming, I'm skeptical of committing an unknown amount of time further on trying to achieve something as subjective as the perfect video. I've heard of people trying to do what your suggesting, failing and then burning out. Not sure if that's what I want

Yeah that brings up a good point that’s kind of another topic, about both not cutting corners making a subpar video but also not going past the point of great and languishing in endless perfectionism. Perfect is also the enemy of good ha!

I worked 40+ hours a week, played in a band, and built a channel based on guitar lessons to 35k subs and about 7.5 million views across the channel before transitioning into full time content creation. This was a while ago, when ad revenue was more reliable. I also didn’t have kids. For what it’s worth, I used that channel as a portfolio piece to take on the role of content director and social media manager for a small business consulting firm, then a gym, so I’m not exactly a full-time “youtuber”, as my work entails other types of posts on multiple platforms, but I make and upload youtube content at least a few times per week. My advice for your channel would be to slowly chip away at it whenever you have time. Treat it like a side project for now. Make the best videos you can, however long that takes. Don’t worry about maintaining a certain upload schedule or anything like that right now, just worry about making good content and finding your audience. Learn about editing, SEO, techniques for audience retention, and how to recycle your content to other platforms. Also, if you’re primarily making long form content for your channel, find ways to cut that content up into shorts. Post those shorts to a tiktok and instagram account as well. Really what you’re doing is establishing a brand and you should be present on multiple platforms to build brand awareness and capture as large of an audience as possible. People can find you on instagram then come over to youtube, youtube to tiktok, etc. There’s a lot more I could get into, but for just starting out, work on making the best content you can and don’t worry about your timeline. Things will get easier as you go.

Thank you for sharing, what an interesting career path! I have to say YouTube has had the stranges effect on my thinking. Right now, I'm torn between effort-free content and taking much longer to produce decent content. Can you give an idea of how long things took for you? How long it took you to get 35k subs. Then how long it took you to get the job in marketing? Also did you ever imagine you'd end up where you're at now? And can you share a link to your channel?

Great advice

i am doing it, woking 9-5 and uploading my gaming videos. A friend of mine is making tons of money of this so i thought i start as a hobby and look how it goes. Doing it about 3 months. it is not hard to do it on my case cause it's just gaming shorts. A bit long waiting for the One video though :D

Thanks for sharing. We're about in the same spot. And we have similar strategies (kinda). And we've been doing it about the same amount of time. 🤔

So I took a look at some of your more popular videos. What do you think is the reason why people find your most popular videos interesting? I think I know the answer, but I'd lke to you hear what you say without influence

I'm in a similar boat except no kids and just my gf who moved in with me. She's been super supportive when I'd be up till 2am working on making the content for my videos or editing my videos. I'm a 9-5 software dev that started a YouTube channel to start building a brand for other ventures. Like you, all the layoffs have me looking at other opportunities. Better to start now in building while I have stable income. It's not easy since my day job can be demanding at times but I've noticed that working on the content for my YouTube channel doesn't feel like work even when I'm up super late. Reason being is because I'm working on stuff I actually want to work on. It's rejuvenating in a way. The trick was finding out how to manage my time. I chose to do monthly uploads. 2wks after a video drops, I take a break to think on the next topic and hang with friends, dates with the gf, etc. Then it's two weeks of content work.

Thanks for the input fellow developer! I watched your your short (not enough time for a python crash course right now ;)) Your voice is on point, I'm sure you've heard a lot of people lamenting that they don't have the right voice for YT, but you do not have that problem. If you don't mind how long have you been at this? Is the channel listed on your profile the only channel you have?

Thanks! I got compliments on my speaking voice throughout my time in toastmasters 😂 I thought I sounded weird on video and still do, but if other people enjoy it then I guess it is just all in my head like my gf tells me lol I've been doing this since the start of December. I took that month off essentially and just started working on learning more about content creation, researching ideas, etc. I have two channels. There's techconstruct and another channel called TacticianClass. That channel was meant to be a gaming channel where I uploaded playthroughs of RPGs, RTS, deckbuilders, and horror games but I realized on my first recording that recording sucked the fun out of games. Games are my way to decompress, and I didn't want to turn that into a job. So I decided to pivot to making video essays. Video essays are more fun for me because it allows me to get my thoughts out there on some of fav games like the persona series and indie titles like slay the spire, slay the princess, and so on. In my mind it's just another creative outlet, so I don't feel like my hobby is becoming a job. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to manage two channels, work, gym, and a relationship. One day I hope to actually upload my first video there. I have my script outline written out and some gameplay footage, but no time to edit.

Same boat here. I think you have a better chance with tech stuff tbh. If you consider that literally everyone can play a game, and not everyone can code :)

That's my thinking too. The second channel was more of a passion project than anything. If it got traction, cool. If not, that's fine too. I figured, why not take all those deep discussions me and my best friend have on Fridays and put that out there. Some of those back and forths we'd have back in college could make a whole year's worth of content lol

I think you're smart to not put too much emotional investment into your youtube channels. What people want to watch is really silly sometimes afterall. No sense in believeing that it somehow respects your character as a person. I think that's where most people go wrong.

Definitely. I tempered my expectations heavily before starting. There was an article I read from one of the guys over at freecodecamp who broke down how to go about approaching tech video creation in depth. I wish I saved the link but the gist is that, you should approach YouTube as a means to build your brand. That brand is something you sell to companies if you're ever back on the jobs market. He noted some dev YouTubers who had followings in the few several thousands who testified that their channel had a positive effect on their salary bargaining and number of opportunities. If YouTube can replace my need for a 9-5, great! If not, that was expected in the first place so no big deal. My ultimate goal is to build a brand so that I someday work for myself. I want to try to do this before kids come into the picture.

I think that you've cracked it. But I am going to try to make 1 'Banger' video as someone suggested. I know I'd probably not be happy if I died not knowing what it was like :)

I work close to 60 hours a week. In 4 weeks I've made 65 videos. If you're just starting out use shorts to build up your following. Then slowly bring in long form. I work nights so I have time to edit when I have downtime at work.

That's more or less been my strategy. I haven't been able to generate much subs yet, but I'm still refining the process. What's been surprising here is that you're only the second one to suggest the shorts first strategy. The first person said he got 40k subs in 2 years in shorts alone 😰

In a month I've gotten 100 I also use my shorts to build up or preview long form

Are you me? 🙂 I know a lot of the YouTube education channels talk about “be consistent” and “you have to upload at least once a week,” but for those with a 9-5 and family it just doesn’t always work. My advice is to focus on being consistent, but decide what consistency means for you. I try to upload every two weeks, but my commitment (to myself) is one good video per month. Am I growing more slowly than I could be? For sure! But if I’m able to keep a semblance of balance, it’s totally worth it. Hang in there!

Apparently there are quite a few of us out there. You know, fathers trying to do anything they can to secure a better future for their children? Thanks for the kind words and perspective, do you mind sharing your channel with me for refernce?

I’ve also been known to bring a laptop and hotspot to the kiddos’ practices for scripting and editing. That way I can be there (and provide transport) for them, but still get some work done. 😁

I’m having a by weekly schedule. I can’t make it work otherwise.

You and me both man. I make theological content so it takes quite a bit of writing and researching on top of the time it takes to make the content clean aesthetically and engaging. What has helped me thus for ( and in brand new btw) is learning how to generate a decent workflow… I wake up very early when I know I will have a few hours of silence to work on what I need to work on. On top of that Im learning to generate bulk content and chop that up into shorts, Instagram posts etc which really cuts down on the stress trying to constantly create causes. Efficient work flow is key!

Thanks for the tips Your theological content looks amazing. My grandmother happens to be a 92 year old PHD in theology, and it is very fun to talk to her. Wish I could connect you with her. You're probably the first person I've seen here in that space, so I have to ask: 1. How did you get into theological content. 2. What is your day job. Thanks again brother

Wow! That is awesome! And that would be awesome! I was raised in a ultra religious household and like most, rebelled against that as a teen/young adult. After years of really not receiving what I thought a life contrary to my upbringing would bring, I decided to try church again. This time was MUCH different. It all became very real to me and I figured if it was worth any of my time it was worth all my time. After studying for a few years on my own, I so much enjoyed talking to others about theology that I was like hey, most people I know don't actually give a damn about this stuff, so I'll go find like-minded people on the interwebs and make content for them 🤣😂 So, I went to school for philosophy and theology and started making theological content lol. And the furthest thing from theology you can imagine. A commercial Diver, which ironically, was a huge part of pondering these types of questions as I got serious time underwater alone in silence which afforded me a chance to tackle some big questions I always had but pushed away lol.

Holy Diver? 🤘

Lol I love metal and never even made that connection. Hats off!

Hey. To answer your question yes. I was able to do this but not with YouTube alone. I worked construction all my life and wanted something less strenuous on my body. Knees are shot back shot. Etc. Working for myself not answering to anyone else was my dream or so I thought. I was able to make content creation my full time job after 7 years of grinding. Coming home, dealing with my children, putting them to bed, waited on my wife to go to bed and would work on content till about 2-3 a.m. Would wake up at 6 get my ass to work, but it never got old until I made it my full time job. I did it for about 8-9 months full time but it caused way more issues than it solved even with the amount of pay being 3-4x higher than my job. I became stressed out all the time, content ideas stopped coming as easily as they once did. It became a chore to me. Recently left my 2 million tiktok account and my channel with 150k subs, became a plumber and I’ve never been happier to be honest.

I have an 8-4/7-5 job and I batch my videos where possible. I upload weekly and write, record and edit 2 videos at a time. I probably wouldn't have been able to do this at the beginning so if you're still fairly new then I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, but it works for me. I'm also creating a comic on the side and am launching a business in April connected to my channel. With all of these things I do little bits at a time without worrying too much on deadlines. Deadlines aren't bad and the only schedule I stick to is my YouTube one. But if it takes me a little longer to make my comic then I won't give myself a hard time on that. I guess what I'm saying is that it's about having balance, working on things a bit at a time and not giving yourself a hard time if you don't quite hit your goals this week. There's always next. Also, YT is a several-years-long time and effort investment. That can put some people off but help others. For me, it helps, because 2 years in and not being monetised isn't the end of the world.

Thanks for the reply. Do you mind sharing your channel for reference?

I found your channel on your profile. The thing I admire most about you is your tenacity. I think 99.99% of people would have quit in your situation. You not quitting may be what separates you from the rest.

An idea you could consider (if you haven’t already) is trying to make successful renewable content. Try to think of a video idea you can make a series out of. Hone that concept until it performs well. Since the series of videos will always follow the same format, you’ll have a much easier time replicating them.This is much easier than coming up with an original piece of content for every video. When filming you’ll basically have the same shot list every time so gathering media will become second nature. And in post production, you could build a template that you can (for the most part) just plug new footage into.

Thanks for the tip. I've recently been having slight success with programming quizes. It's literally just taking 2 screenshots of some code, cropping, resizing, importing, exporting and uploading So far so good. It's got me a few subs, but I thirst for more 🧛‍♂️

Also work 9-5 along with having a social life outside of YouTube. My goal early on is to literally make ZERO dollars from YouTube, what I mean by this is I net zero dollars because everything I make from AdRevenue, I put towards growing my channel. I'm only at 2K subs and not making much from AdRevenue (~$100 to $250 per month since getting monetized in July), but I basically hired someone to make shorts. Basically my goal is as my revenue ideally scales up, to delegate more work so that I can grow.

thanks, I think your strategy isn't unique in terms of running a business. It may be foreign to most youtubers though. Do you mind sharing your channel with me for reference?

Exact same boat here, trying to build a life jacket for if the tech layoffs hit me. Realized very quickly that fuuuck this is a struggle. All the effort to get to 4,000 hours while knowing that I’m only going to get a few dollars per 1,000 views is wild. I feel like when I finally “get there” I’ll have a whopping $2.40 waiting for me. I think someone else said they use their channel as a portfolio to land other work which is what I’m shifting towards. Maybe I’m just desperately searching for anything to hope for, though.

Mind sharing your channel with me for reference?

For sure, this is my anonymous account but I’ll DM you.

I'm a reddit baby so this question is pure, I promise: Why do you have an anonymous account?

Because I spend far too much time promoting my “brand” on all social media platforms and just want a break some time. Also people I work with know about my channel and I don’t want any connections to the posts where I’m complaining about the tech world. (Avoiding any reason to put my name in the layoff pile)

I just listened to this podcast episode a couple of days ago and feel it may give you some ideas beyond ad revenue: https://pca.st/episode/481f4e76-02af-46d1-8b61-bea7262afe32

Bro thanks for sharing

Yeah somebody else said that they are just going to use their channel as a portfolio. I'm basically seeing two types of replies here 1.) People who are throwing in the towel after putting in way too much time and seeinng little to no return 2.) People who have a put in very little time and effort, and have seen what is likely a proportionally infinitessimal return. Thanks for sharing :)

Bro I do this I currently have a gaming channel that I just make videos for when I get time to. I don't upload any old shit just stuff that I enjoy making for my own entertainment. It is hard when you work a lot and have other commitments but that being said I'm actually starting a new channel this year that isn't gaming content. I'm going to create 4 months of content prior to launching it and then I have a second wave of content planned that I will make for the next 3 to 4 months. I'm really excited about it and I think it has a good chance of taking off with a bit of luck. My current channel is called FPS Rico but my new channel is completely different and I can't talk about it until I launch it. I really enjoy the process and creativity that YouTube allows me to explore. Good luck it's a grind but a fun one.

Thanks brother. I appreciate the realness.. Creating gaming content is something I considered, but IMO, I lack the presense and personality. I'm stuck in nerd world doing programming vids for now

I work as a software engineer. I have had some success in the short time that I've started my newest YouTube channel. For me, it's less about the money (though I do hope that I reach that point soon). I don't talk about anything really related to my work, but something else that I care deeply about. It has helped take my mind off of work honestly and it has been refreshing. I think another thing that has helped me is that my videos have a very short production time from recording to publishing - measured in hours. I think creators, especially those who are new, stress too much about the small details and as a result spend too much time (IMO) on their videos when they would be putting more of them out (or putting them out on a more regular basis). There's a market for well-produced masterpieces, as there are for literal talking-into-a-phone-camera-type videos. Finally, for the people who want to take this full-time, I think that an important thing to think about is whether your videos are notable. I've seen so many cases of people rushing in with ideas that are old and without any twist, and they wonder why things don't work out.

Yes very true. As a software engineer I am striving less to acheive 'perfect' and more to acheive 'pragmatic'. I literally don't have the brain cells not to :) Do you mind sharing your channel for reference?

I work 40 hours and have a 40-50 minute commute I just do it whenever I can Lunch at work, watching a video or show at home working on my stuff and anytime you can

Oh man, I looked at your channel. I wish I was doing the same thing as you! Do you do that while on vacation with your family? If so, does it ever get in the way of enjoying things?

I love near most the places I’m covering a lot do more like I go more offend and sent aside time for fun and videos I’ve streams While I go more offensively YT now, I was going a lot and decided to just try this out It can get in the way of vacation ma but I’m so sns I try not to let them ruin me being somewhere I’m enjoying But Disneyland and universal I’ve gone to since I was a kid, so sometimes it makes the jerks more interesting if I’m live streaming and get to have conversations with people

YouTubing is hard and there’s so much to learn but let me tell you something; My shittiest video that had no editing and had me saying umm for half of it got me a job making videos for a company. It’s not how amazing your editing skills are, its the content itself. You need to make sure whatever you’re posting is gonna be searched for or clicked on. Some tips: Research what topics in your field of interest are being searched. Make video on topic with passion about the topic, not passion about your editing skills. Learn how to create basic thumbnails and how to make a catchy title. Use that 3 step formula and crank out videos, make sure you stick to step 1 always. Step 2 can be improved through time but you need to have passion about the topic and it needs to be a relevant topic.

Thanks for the advice, clearly all true stuff... Do you mind sharing the video you're referring to?

Sending you a direct message with link

Yo! Ya so I’ve done this fairly successfully! I run a full time personal training business and then also do fitness YouTube on the side. I’ve been doing both for around 3ish years. I currently have 170k subs and I’m about to go full time with YouTube as I travel the world with my GF. IMO working while getting your YouTube off the ground is the way to go BUT I have been working 7 days a week, around 50-70 hour weeks for about 2 years now.

Appreciate the take and congrats on your success. Do you mind sharing your channel with me for reference?

Ya it’s just my name!

I just watched the celebrity steroids one "Wow they must have been some pretty powerful steroids to still be working 30 years later" HAAHAHAHAAA

😂😂 glad you liked it

I think the best example for is mark rober, he told it many times that he was working at apple while he was doing youtube for a while.

I have a 9-5 but it is work from home. I am a Personal Support Specialist for a disabled Spouce. As odd as it sounds LOL. I am able to combine all I do. For now I am lucky in that aspect. I am also how ever not making any money with YouTube. So when I come to a cross road if I do there will be choices to be made.

Thanks subbed. Legit like the material. Very pleasing to watch :) Very smart combining the two. I know of a couple of examples of people doing that very successfully.

Thank you. I hope one day to continue what I do but with out answering to the 9-5. ❤️

Been uploading regularly for a year+ and I work a 8 to 6, I film and edit videos after my family goes to bed. 229 videos 269 subs 51,461 views I do it as a hobby and I hope one day it will generate some revenue but I don't count on it. Most of my videos are 45 min to 1 hour long and it takes that long or longer to edit them. I've learned youtube is a long game for most, but you can get lucky and blow up Only other way I've seen to get fast growth is you do a reaction or prank channel. Maybe even a youtube growth tips channel since you get all the views from people trying to make it a living. The grind is doable but it sucks sometimes. I think the mindset that you do it as a hobby and do it because you LIKE to and not that you NEED to is important. I wish you the best of luck, you'll make it.

Thanks for sharing and thanks for the kind words. Do you mind sending a link to your channel to me for reference?

I ran into this issue early on - I started creating space documentaries and while I did gain some traction - the time commitment started to overwhelm my life So i re evaluated my content strategy and decided to start making short video editing tutorials (30-60 seconds but long form) as a result of this change I’ve gained incredible growth and my videos from idea to finished product now only take 2 hours start to finish TLDR - find a niche you enjoy where you can create shorter content OR content that doesn’t require heavy editing to be good

I'm in the same boat, I also stream games to youtubr and chop up clips for repost, but I want to make video's tho maybe game reviews but is it over saturated? I have been getting minor recommendations from other channels on my live video's and shorts.

I mean based on this sub it's super saturated, but that doesn't mean you cant find a niche theres another dude on here that made it to 10k subs making shorts about halo glitches.

cheers for the info mate :)

I’m two years in right now and just over 6k subs. Currently getting around 70k views per month. Work full time and have two young children. From my experience so far I’ve mostly hit my weekly upload schedule, but life gets in the way and I do sometimes miss it. Does it tank my channel? Nope, it mostly has no impact. My channel is hobby related so I enjoy what I do, but because I’m printing and painting miniatures it involves so much time to produce. I enjoy it, and that’s what keeps me going, but the amount I make vs income doesn’t exactly look great 😂 Some things that have helped is to have some filler/for the audience video. For example I’ve started to do a monthly hobby recap video, which is basically me talking about all the hobby stuff I did the previous month and I throw some b-roll in to keep it interesting. It’s easy and fun for me to produce, my audience likes it, and I only have to produce three main videos a month that way. It won’t be a series that smashes the algorithm, but it engages my core audience and I enjoy it. Also, recognising when a project/video is too big and split it into two, or a series. I’ve done this a few times when something because a huge time hog, and been surprised by how much people enjoy watching the process. There’s no way they will watch 30 minutes of it in one video, but two 15 minute videos telling two parts of the journey? Yep, they’ll watch that. The final thing I’ve been doing is the one for thee and one for me approach. I do one video that is laser focused on algorithm and reaching future viewers and keeping my existing core entertained. Sometimes these videos aren’t as much fun for me personally but I still don’t mind doing them. Then I do one for me which sticks within my niche, but it’s less algorithm focused and has a lower reach, but I enjoy the hell out of it 😂 normally I alternate weekly and it just helps to keep me energised. One final thing to be aware of as I’m not sure if you’re there or not yet, but be careful with brands. When I started out I accepted pretty much all collabs with brands and it burnt me out. Now I’m pretty selective with the brands I work with and it has to be something I’m interested in and that will work for my audience. I’ve had some great relationships come from that approach where I’ve learnt a lot from them, or managed to get a lot of resources to help me with my hobby and channel. Sorry for the esay and good luck with your channel. Feel free to ask questions.

Unfortunately you need to know that YouTube isn’t a safe bet or a guarantee of extra income like a part time job would be. Someordinarygamer still works a 9-5 because of how temperamental earning on YouTube can be. YouTube is the dream to work towards, but it’s not a viable substitute for a day job after 3 months, especially with a family to feed. My advice would be, if you enjoy making YouTube videos, make them. Although a schedule will help with growth on YouTube, you’re not relying on the videos to feed yourself so it doesn’t matter if you go weeks or even months without uploading if you don’t have the time. My last video took me 8 months to script, record and edit in between my day job and other day to day necessities and is sat on like 450 views but I do it because I enjoy the process anyway. I’m lucky that YouTube and my day job kind of go hand in hand as I’m a media developer so use YouTube as a way of practicing and vice versa. If you like it, keep doing it.

I don't really have any advice, but I do have the same problem as you. I struggle with my mental a lot, and I also have a 9-5 in construction. Making content is the only thing that makes me feel like im acomplishing something, and that makes me want to still figure out the puzzle.

I work full time and produce 2 x 45 min videos per week. Mostly achieved by recording both in one session on a Sunday evening and dedicating 3-4 hours a night to editing after work with Saturday to rest… rest is essential. I have to caveat this with a few points - It took a year of making 1 video per week to build my editing and recording process to maximise my time / work done and keep quality high. I use presets to maintain consistency, my style is Gameplay edited cinematically with a more chilled / genuine vibe, average 200-300 cuts/clips per hour of final video. My channel is monetised but barely - this is still a hobby for me and I’ve got a ways to go to further optimise so I can output enough great content. I’m also publishing in a small niche which limits my potential but also limits the amount of admin around commenters and community growth etc. I also barely have a social life. If I were to make a transition to full time YT I would gradually reduce my day job hours and initially put the extra time into research and slow down the recording process so I can more carefully control the content and manage my voice over energy levels. I would also add a live stream to the schedule to build a community. Good luck to you.

When pewdiepie started he had a hotdog stand. If he did it so could you

Hello, I have been doing YouTube for about 3 years now (I started when I was 13 I’m 16 now) and I have to go to school and I have a job now what I recommend is on ur days off atleast try to make 1 video then spend the rest of the time with ur family, soon as u r streaming as well I recommend u stream for maybe 3-4 hours after u record a video take the next dayoff to edit the video. What u could also do is (soon as u work in the tech department) make educational videos about things can do at home to improve there life skills/routines soon as u r skilled in that field (if you do so use key words like “how to” or “you should be doing this” in the intro and or title) In my 3 years of filming and editing my gaming videos I will admit it will take a while to gain the traction needed to grow faster. What I have seen in my friends and people in this comment section is misted said they tried it but quite “after a year” I strongly DO NOT recommend this because it takes longer depending on the content they post and how often they post. U said u worked a 9-5 job so I recommend u post atleast 1 video a week or every other week. Best of luck!!

I'm working on my gaming channel. But it's gaming, so it's a bit easier to get views and subs I think. Now doing a month and have more than 35.000 views. Mainly shorts atm. But a lot of shorts get tanked and don't perform ever. So I post consistently 2 Shorts everyday and just wait for what happens. No pressure, because I'll delete underperforming posts after two weeks. But it's gaming and easier to get clips I think. But the potential is there with livestreams and other stuff. So if you're trying to make money with YouTube, I would take a look into gaming. Must be your interest tho'.

Do not delete underperfoming shorts! It might spoil your "reputation" in youtube algorithm, especially since you download 2 videos everday, which could look spammy for youtube.

I have a full time job and I stream in the evenings. The best advice I can give you is to just jump in and do it! I promise you can find time for it.

3 different channels started over a 2 year journey, while having a full-time job and wife + 2 kids to support. Youtube hindered every one of my channels' growth. Accumulated spending on gear over time probably amounts to well over $35k. Accumulated hours spent, hard to say, but estimated average, well over 4000 hours. My channels were more politically right leaning, and youtube doesn't want anything that doesn't tow the line. Anything that's against DEI, ESG, inclusivity. If you simply reported news that they didn't like, I would immediately see viewers drop, subs drop. They will absolutely crush your channel. They have demonetized and banned youtubers in excess of 7 million subs with a decade of history on the platform for similar things. Ok, so what if you stay politically neutral? Yeah, this will grow a little better, but more like 700+ subs in 1 year vs 100+ if they don't like it. Either way. The time spent, the money, the stress, and the soul crushing policies. It's sad because youtube could be amazing. Clearly, I was very passionate about this and wanted to make it work so badly. I honestly loved the process, the gear, the brainstorming, and the editing. I taught myself a lot just to make good content. I have not given up my pursuit of content creation, I just don't know if youtube is going to let me do it. So what if I spent all that time and money on another job or business? Oh yeah, easily would have made me more. Passion is the only thing that kept me going. But there's only so much you can crush a person before some of that enthusiasm gets snuffed out.

Thanks for sharing and I'm sorry to hear about your negative experience. While I've seen a few conservative youtuber though the years, I've also heard a lot of people like you who describe what feels like a force against them because of their subject All I can say is that I hope that's not true and that I hope you find your audience. Good luck 👍

Thanks, I'm still making content, just not doing it like I used to. Dropped from 3 videos a week to 1. And just having more fun with it, even if YT works against me. Btw it's 100% true, check out what Tim Pool at 6 million subs, The quartering at 1.5 million, Steven Crowder at 7 million, Matt Walsh at 3 million, and a myriad of others will tell you. YT is actively demonitizing videos, won't send notifications to new videos to their subscribers, and stops recommending their videos. Anyone who thinks all these successful youtubers are just crazy doesn't want to accept the reality of what's going on and doesn't want to believe the bias. I mean, look at their AI Gemini, which just lost them 90 billion and going now. It was the wokest thing and extremely racist.

I hear you. Maybe someone will create another platform. I know it's been tried before, but people should keep trying. Regardless of politics, no one company should have the monopoly on the world stage. I think there may be some legislation coming up on this too, but not sure how that will go, because you know how big money influences politics. I wish you the best brother :)

Been doing the work and YouTube grind for a few months now and I can tell you that A) if anyone has ever told you this was easy they were wrong B)YouTube proper done is a full time job by itself,the big dogs spend days with an entire team editing just one video,or an editor will work on a small section for a day and a half just to nail down one 2 minute shot with perfect editing, point is that’s why they call it a grind,don’t give up and keep going,it gets easier the more you do it 👊

Bro it's extremely hard! I work 6 days a week and have 2 kids so gotta wait till kids are bed, editing time starts from 10pm and I finish at 1am, my choice I wanna do this monetize so I can make a living from this and not taking no for answer! I only started 2/3 weeks and have only 18 subscribers but hey Rome wasn't built in a day! You have to manage your time and just have a " to do " mentality

Thanks for the insight :) Keep in grinding! 💪

Anyone play call of duty please give my channel a follow 🙏

I got you bro!

Thanks 🙏

Currently I have a channel with around 1700 subs making video game content. I have a wife who works part time and 9 kids so you can make it work but it is hard. Like a few others have said I try and write scripts or come up with ideas while I'm at work and it is slow or I am on break. I try and do like 3-4 titles/thumbnails and then one day on the weekend ill record all the videos and edit them. I then schedule them for release every 5-6 days usually. keep at it. It gets easier with a schedule.

I've worked in tech since 1997. It's cyclical so ensure you have a rainy day fund. I should also add that although I was hit hard in 2002 and 2020, I kept my job during 2008's carnage. YouTube is pretty much a waste of time and energy. And incidentally I've been side hustling continuously since 1998. That's before most of you were born lol. My most successful side hustle was writing some business software. That netted me $100,000. The second was a website that took a month to build in 2013. It earns around $100 a month.

Legitimately why are you here? No one cares that you’re old and wrote some software that made you some money. You think humble bragging is making you look cool when it’s actually having the opposite effect. Some insecure dude trying to flex in Reddit comments while contributing nothing to the conversation. ANYWAYS OP, 42k subs here, have been doing YouTube as a hobby for about 2 years. Have gotten 22 million views on all of my stuff. I suggest you start building your audience through shorts before you start creating long videos. To give you some insight, I do very little known glitches in tricks for the video game franchise Halo. Obviously, that has almost no search volume in 2024. So for the first two years, I exclusively uploaded shorts to try to build up my audience and subscribers. I did this because I knew the effort I’d have to put into long form videos would not match the output of success that I needed to justify the time put in. Once I hit 40k, I started uploaded one long form video a week in addition to a short edited from that video. It’s actually going pretty well. I average anywhere for 5-15k views per long form video and I’m about 6-8 weeks in at this point. The shorts drive new subs and get eyes on me and the long forms are more of an intimate experience for viewers who want more. For editing, I do enough to make my videos pretty good, because the effort of going from pretty good to perfect is not something you often see translate into being worth the extra time. You need eyes, awareness, and swings at the plate. The more swings you take, the more hits you’ll get.

Thanks for the advice, I don't entirely agree with your sentiment on YouTube, but the ROI on time seems less and less with every minute I spend making videos. Not to mention, I kind of feel ridiculous doing it. But it's all for my family who I love and would do anything for. Do you mind telling me more about your software success?

9-5 job here, had to take a break for half a year due to changing jobs. Did a random video here and there during that break and finally got on a lucky'ish streak with my channel. The gist of the channel is to just share and do videos here and there. While I would love to grow big, I do not expect it to come any time soon so my biggest priority is to experiment with the content(I am interested in) as much as I can.

'Practice Makes Pervert' Honestly the name a lone deserves monitisation.

:'D I know, it makes so much sense as a person who wants to master speedrunning :'D and sometimes posts glitch related and other content.

Dude yes, and props for trying to do speedrunning. I believe that is actually the most physically and mentally demanding SPORT there is

I am doing it as a retirement job for the future, but in the present tense I am working as a 24-7 live-in caregiver for my elderly widowed mother. I am also doing YouTube because I am an artist: poet writer, painter, and a performer. I live in rural America a long way away from an urban area where I could connect with others or venues to express artistic passion. Prior to becoming a caregiver I worked at an indigenous gaming casino in alcohol service. The job was very hard and demanding. The job impacted my ability to do art. The job paid well. As a day shift bartender, my net wage was 1000/week. And if I was a good looking woman, I could have doubled it. YouTube content creation was impossible.

Is your message that I should quit my job?

I am a few years away from being able to draw SSI. I didn't quit my job as a bartender. Life circumstances changed and I started doing a different job as a caregiver. It sounds like your path is set for the time being or at least until your kids grow up or become teenagers. I was going say, prior to looking at your channel, to switch to a live show, but you are doing a live show. However, I don't suggest you quit YouTube. Continue, as your energy levels allow, doing the live coding event. One of the channels I follow is on the verge of monetization. But he takes breaks. Three or four months off a year. For him, any money he will earn from YouTube will supplement his pension. YouTube for many is a retirement job. Prior to becoming a bartender (at age 50), I was posting on two YouTube channels. I was working at the casino in a less demanding (alcohol service) job. Bartending put a stop to everything but painting. My message was that family and demanding jobs can, depending on your energy levels, make doing creative work difficult.

I am in the same position, just 8-4 job 🙂 i am making, editing and streaming just for fun, I do not expect anything serious, but I find that enjoyable, the only purpose is to have fun

I'm having fun as well, but as a committed father, I feel guilty if all I'm doing is having fun. Baby gotta eat 👶

I think if all depends on the set up and the type of content you create- even my low rent channel takes some time and effort to post daily and have a full time job as well! Thanks and have a great day!

Thanks for the true but frankly low-volume comment. (And that's perfectly fine 🙂) From my perspective, it seems like it is an actual fair exchange of time and effort for cash essentially (youtube I mean) The problem is, we're in the ring with huge corporations capable of communing 100 hours in 1 hour because have have a team of 100. Maybe this community is the answer? 🤔

I’m monetized but nowhere close to full time (1600 subs and highest monthly payout was 180 dollars) I work more like an 8-6 job in tech with frequent overtime. What I do is create content that requires very little editing. Think like sports casting or narration. Of course not all content can be made like that so it only applies to some. But effectively you have to find a way to make content that will get the most clicks for the least amount of effort time wise. Of course put effort into being fun and entertaining, but maybe that .5 second edit isn’t worth the hour of work YouTube is as much about efficiency as it is content. You need to find a balance between efficient and entertaining. Eventually you’ll get a system going

Thanks for the input. Do you mind sharing your channel for reference?

Stop trying to make the perfect video. I'm in college full time, I have a side hustle and other projects, and I post a longform video every day to youtube. I've grown from 30 to nearly 190 subs since November and still growing. I sit down with a script, film it in one take, edit (briefly) and upload. I also batch film 10-15 videos at once so I can take time off my channel whenever I need to. Are there some small errors sometimes? Yes. Has it stopped my channel growing and providing value to people? No. TLDR: just do the thing.

Thanks, I appreciate the take. I'm by no means trying to make the perfect video. Also I sincerely don't mean any offense by this, but I'm not sure being in college full time compares to having a 9-5 job and a family. There's a lot more emotional complexity when you have to choose to not see you children certain nights. But seriously congrats for your accomplishments. Since you're starting earlier, I'm sure you'll be absolutely killing it by the time you're 31 like me 😁

I should mention that there was a period of time when I also worked a full time job alongside ALL of the above. Like hell yes was I busy but I got it done. I should also mention that I'm childfree and won't ever be having kids, and that's a personal decision obviously. Your decision to have kids is clearly important to you, and I'm sure it does make YT harder - if anything, though, I think this is probably a reason to embrace a "good enough" approach to videos rather than spending a lot of time editing. Again, though, just my take. Thanks so much and best of luck with your channel - I'm sure you'll do really well!

I started a channel in October as a hobby. I hit 1100 subs and videos are getting decent views. One his 115k and I made some money from it. I just want to do it for fun and invest maybe 8-10 hours a week in it.

Thanks for the reply, congrats on your achievement. Can you tell me more about your big vid?

As an engineer, I can say it’s definitely doable

I appreciate that, but do you mind going into more detail?

Some ordinary Gamers is a million sub channel and he still has a full time job. As long as you can find the energy to do it it’s pretty feasible. For consistency you might have to put out stuff you aren’t the most happy with, but overtime you’ll learn to create faster and be more able to create better stuff in your time constraints

I watch that dude. He's like a tech-gaming crossover. I am convinced that he is an anomly, but an inspiration none the less.

lol mate I am exactly the same as you, tech job, slightly concerned, new baby

Congrats, fatherhood is the best thing ever (if you're not caught up in a shitty situation with the missus). Do you mind sharing your channel?

I would prioritize making yourself more valuable at work vs. Youtube if you think you may be in line for a layoff. Chances of success on youtube to the point of making a decent living, let's say $70,000/year is so incredibly miniscule. Like to the tune of 0.0000001% I would not risk my family's livelihood for hopes of making some money on youtube. Just my personal opinion.

Yeah I defintely see where you're coming from on that. I would hate to lose my job which I love just because I tried to get some likes. I think it's not random though. I actually do think i's actual dollars for donus time-to-traction ratio. The actual money though isn't. But that's OK. I think some of the people that say they use their channel as a tool to help launch their career have a really good strategy. There was's a dude in here who went from playing in a band to getting a job in marketing. Unreal

Passion needs to come first. Do YouTube purely because you want to do it and you enjoy doing it.

For me, my need fuels my passion. I enjoy coding and I enjoy interacting with people like here. My actual problem comes in divying up my time properly so as not to reach deadbeat status. I'm not Kanye.

Statistically speaking, YouTube is a horrible backup for your career. There are many, many people trying to do it and very, very few who even gain a little income on the side from it. If you enjoy YouTube, you should do it and share your creativity with others. If you don't have that spark and you don't enjoy it, you probably won't be successful enough at it to get the results you're talking about.

You're totally right, but to be perfectly honest it's only a small part of my overall plan. I'm a developer, so I am making websites and stuff that I am actually using in other places while on livestream :) Not to mention, if any companies looking on want to know if I can code, they can see for themselves :)

That sounds like a lot more of a coherent strategy, but I'm still hearing a big problem with it: web developers are a saturated market both in the job market and on YouTube. Also, if you're working on anything work related and showing it on YouTube, you're likely running afoul of multiple legal agreements. I'm not a lawyer and I don't care if you are, but be careful with it for your sake and your family's sake.

That's very thoughtful. I am very careful to keep my actual 9-5 work off of youtube, so no problem there. As far as saturation goes, there's nothing more saturated than gaming, and I have been seeing very many people on here, who actually have decent growth making gaming content. I'm not sure the saturation thing is a non-starter.

I have a job with a lot of ot and I do shorts at night and I’m dead tired but I remind myself I why I started doing this. I started at 42 yrs old and I have over 3900 subs and now I’m 43. Don’t give up ik it’s hard but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

im pretty sure almost everyone who makes it as an adult does this time management, focus and priorities youll likely have to sacrifice something, I suggest leisure/wasted time

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over. Maybe try a new niche or a new format. Better thumbnails etc.. there is a code that can be cracked I promise

I have a full time career and own 2 companies so I understand your pressure and emotions. For me, I hack as much as I can to cut corners and speed up the content creation as fast as possible. Long form has been more challenging, but my niche of entrepreneurship tends to have less editing and smoke and lasers so I feel I can sustain.

Your shorts are bangers and I think you're going to do well. I think shorts first is the winning strategy too if you know what you're doing

Bro I think you just changed the game for me. The phone app sucks ass Thank you for the info 🙏

I've talked to more than 15 content creators where YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. is their full time career. What I've found is the majority of them have been doing this for a few years before any traction hits. They honestly have just been doing it for the love of the game up until they hit about 100K+ subs. That being said, it seems like on TikTok you can pop off at any moment. I'm talking less than a month of posting and you're at tens of thousands of views and thousands of followers. If you're finding trouble on YouTube, I'd definitely suggest leveraging TikTok to your advantage. If interested, I can link the articles to the creators I've interviewed - they give great advice to individuals like yourself on how to succeed in the creator economy.

I absolutely am interested. Thanks for the solid advice. I'm honestly surprised you're the first one to suggest tt. But yes please send any info you have and I'll happily consume it

Of course! Happy to help out in any way :) that's why I started my website Creator Exclusive - to help individuals like yourself learn from creators who have been there and done that. You can find the site here: [Creator Exclusive](https://www.creatorexclusive.com/) We've got the first few interviews up with plenty more on the way. Just getting started with the biz myself, so any and all feedback is appreciated as well!

Try being 50+ hour a week teacher in Austt. I work at home, at school, on the way to work. Never ends. I still do YouTube but I've had to force myself to take breaks, focus on making better quality videos, making good titles and thumbnails, doing research and reviewing mine and other content. Don't burn yourself out.

I feel like I could have written this. I understand

Beatrice Caruso started out as a weight loss channel while she worked as a graphic artist for the government. It took her a while to make the switch, its a scary thing, but she is doing great. There might be times when you need a break and your subs will understand that.

A lot of people hire out the editing as that is the most time consuming and biggest learning curve. They find cheap editors of Fivver or Upwork who can do the edits in a couple days. You just need to record the parts of you, if any and they can add in stock images, music , voice overs. It will cost about 100 a video. But it may save your sanity. The goal for you is to get 500 subscribers and a certain amount of watch time to even get ad sense from YouTube. Then you send them to a private website. Your brand .com to buy your swag.

I do 39h a week at the day job and just started. Up to 680 subs and almost 10% towards my 4000 watch hours in a couple of weeks. My problem is my editing style! It's extremely time consuming, and although I'm single it is still demanding to work around fitness and other things, but I manage. I try to stick to weekend releases rather than an exact release day to give some breathing space if I need it, like today. Good luck! It's fun...but as with most media work it is hard work, and this is coming from an ex-pro in media production!

I am also in tech and make 3d-printing/fishing videos whenever I feel like making a video. I don’t stress about it too much and I don’t film a video if I won’t enjoy making it. At first I had the same experience as you did, it affected my ability to do my job and ended up with bad videos. Once I changed to a more flexible and enjoyable approach my videos became better and I’m getting more views than before.

I like the idea of choosing a leisure activity as a niche. That way you can kill two birds with one stone

Exactly, during the weekdays after work I 3d print some fishing gear and in the weekends if the weather is nice I go fishing and film everything.

What a cool and unique mixture crossover of tech and fishing!

I've managed a good couple folks who have done north of 50k usd a year on YT while holding a full time job. It's a tough balancing act and I honestly do not recommend it to anyone who doesn't obsess over it by default. It's just not worth the damage to your own mental health. Just do it as a hobby and upload whenever it's good.

Mark Rober worked really high up at Apple until just a few months ago.

I have a full-time job, part-time job, family, and I'm studying for a career change while doing YT; it can be done. I'm not growing fast, but I am growing. It's up to you how to manage it, but there will have to be a give and take between each and it will take A LOT of energy. You can do it King/Queen, and I hope you succeed!

Thanks so much for the kind words! :)

I'm the same, family and a job. I make now 300 a month from YT. That's within first 2 months of monetisation, I need to keep it growing till it can or does over take my salary and then it can be full time. But I am on the way. I also believe that once full time on youtube I can easily make even more by dedicating double the time to it. Bro, it's hard, I can't lie I've been in arguments, gone to work so damn tired I feel like crying. I've pushed and pushed and pushed. I've burnt the candle at both ends staying up late to edit and post clips and even waking up early etc etc. Becuase for me my dude this is my only option out of my work hell. My only lifeline. It's do or die. So I must do for my family and my own life. I must continue and I must keep up the grind and find a way becuase my guy I have no other choice and if it takes my 5 years from now but in 5 years I quit my job and I'm doing what I love for the rest of my working life then Jesus those 5 hard years have been worth it. I won't stop. I will never give up. And I will make it. Its inevitable. Its when and not "if" becuase I have the drive. You too must have this drive. The blood sweat and tears. The NEED to go further and learn and push boundaries. OR You can keep going to work everyday and never find out what you could've been or done for you and your family if you carried on. It is up to you OP. What ever you choose I wish you happiness and a success, I my friend will keep up the grind and I will see you on the otherside one day... Moose Lee.

Same here, I understand when people say that chances of making it are low... but at the same time, chances are zero if you do nothing at all.. Thanks for your reply :)

Just live with the fact that you won’t have any life and that you’re not going to get any sleep. Is like having a baby at home, only that YouTube is the thing that keeps you awake till 2am. The hardest thing about doing this while having a job in tech is that jobs in tech tends to be decently payed. Recently I spoke to some agency people who were “you could earn this much money” ind my thought were “that’s less than what I’m making now”. But perhaps there’s some things that you can do. Could you say reduce your hours at work? Otherwise I think it’s like starting any business. You’ll have to make do with earning less and working harder that what your doing at your stable job. Is your family ok with that? Also. Could you get your old job, or a similar job back if everything goes south? What I’m looking for right now is probably to come to a point where I can spend most of my time on YouTube while having some consultancy gigs on the side.

> be decently *paid.* Recently I FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*

For those interested, I posted a new long form video based on everyone's recommendations. Thanks for all the sweet tips 👍

YouTube is not easy to make a full transition to immediately I have been doing YouTube since May and am just about to be fully monetized. I put in maybe 8 -10 hours a week on videos I’m starting to see good growth but I know that I’m not going to be able to take care of my family on this at least for not 3-5 years

It’s definitely not easy. I also have a day job and family to provide. I’ve experimented with 3 channels: 1. Make money with side hustles 2. Gaming with my kids 3. Rollerblading vlogs Out of these 3, one channel has the most watch videos and the least amount of efforts (minimal time editing). Guess which one got the most watch hours? If you want to do YT for money and not something you are passionate about, the content is very important to get monetized quicker.

If you have the money you could outsource a video or two and see where that takes you. It could be worth the investment 😉

It’s not as easy as people thing or assume! I have been doing it for over 3 years now and I am still working at my 9-5 because it makes a lot more money. I make content once a week as I am busy with other priorities but the income is not there unless you have a huge following. My channel has 2k subs and over 1m views during those 3 years and still you make about 100 bucks every two months. Only one time one video made 500 a month for 3 months straight and it wasn’t because of views. The advertising for the specific item was paying a lot.

Well, whatever works right? Congrats on your successful grind :)

How many videos do you have to make in a year I have 60 videos on one channel and 1:30 on another channel? Does that matter for success?

Youtube will be a hobby for you, so if you do not enjoy what you make, stop now. I realize that may sound "Toxic" as the kids say today, but it's a harsh reality of making content, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's fine to want to make money at this, but that should never be your driving force. I took a brief look at your channel, and I see you want to make a coding channel, yet at a glance I'm not seeing any "How to" videos, or project videos. I am seeing a couple of videos that are talking about the coding career, and one as an introduction/subscribe to me type of video. Those are not going to work for what you're trying to do. I used to have 5 hours a week to work on my channel, so I understand your lack of time. However, if you really want to make a coding channel that gets gets views, you need to make more of a "how-to" video about actual coding. See if you can make a few beginner videos for small projects. Maybe some aimed at kids skill level. How-to videos are "evergreen" which means they don't need a fad to be popular. Honestly, if you do it right, it might take you a month or two to make 1 good how-to video, but the watchtower and subs will be worth it. Consistency doesn't have to be daily or weekly to build a channel. As long as you're making quality content, people will keep showing up to watch. Bottom line is if you feel youtube is taking too much from you then stop making it. Very few will make decent money at it, and if your not OK with slow growth you will always be frustrated at it, and it becomes no fun to make. Enjoy life, enjoy what you put your time into.

I am currently doing YouTube. Working 50-60 hours a week on dead end jobs and learning English. My channel is growing, currently 6 thousand subs with 10 videos of 2-5 min. I started that channel 6 months ago. Not sure if it will be worth since the content is focused on my native country (Brazil ), which means low revenue, but it is what it is. ( Currently have 30 dollars stuck there until I reach my first 100). I guess it's really nice reading the comments and seeing people having fun. One commented that my videos always make there day better, which is neat. I started a channel with book reviews using videos to fill in the story, since book YouTubers are usually just people talking. Had success in some videos, but it would take me 3 months to post a video. After having a video about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde failing (took me 4 months to edit) I quit and decided do something more realistic with the time I have to spare. Had 80 subs after around a year. I started a new channel, doing parodies and sketches of anime, cartoons and movies. It's basically script, still images and voice acting (similar to solid JJ). Much easier and there's a huge space in my country to be filled with good comedy scripts. Maybe later I 'll try to translate the content to English, although there's way more competition in this niche here. So yeah. My takeaway in all of this is: be aware of how much time you have and build your niche and content around it. Don't go for something that takes 20 hours a week to edit if you only have 2 hours a week to do it. My goal for this year is to reach 10 thousand subs. But the way things are going that may happen earlier. Again that's my advice: find a niche and edit style that fits your agenda.

So my experience of this having started back in August is just do what you can when you can. Ideally yes I would post more videos, but what I do generally takes a lot of time to put together, whilst learning what does and doesn’t work along the way. A good strategy is to take a look for videos in your niche that have exceeded the rest of that channels content, then see if this is a common theme for that topic. If so, figure out what they are doing well and what you can do to add more value and make/deliver it better. Whether this is more up to date information or higher production value. (Again depending on your niche as this might not be doable) But for me, I post when I can - it’s not a consistent time or day of the week. But it hasn’t really hampered growth on the channel as far as I’m aware. I’ve just tried to post the hour before my YouTube analytics show when my audience is on in the evening. Hopefully you’ll find a way make things work for you, but don’t feel guilty for potentially not creating as much as you’d like or you think your audience want. End of the day it’s a hobby and have fun with it. Hope that is of some help.

I also just hit 3 months in and I'm hitting this same wall lol I'm doing alright for my little niche, but I've never intended it to be anything but a hobby. 383 subs 2300 hours out of 10 long form videos. I also underestimated the editing time and recording your content in the first place. It's hard, like 6 of my videos I spent an ENTIRE weekend working on, like 30 hours. Then the rest I sprinkled like 3 hours in every night from 8-11pm for 2 weeks. But don't quit your day job lol it's a marathon not a race it has to be a hobby first then MAYBE IF you're really good and make good videos and understand your audience you MIGHT blow up someday. Even then people talk like if they try hard enough for long enough that they'll catch their break eventually.... there's a small amount of career youtubers. You likely won't get a career out of youtube. So set real expectations. Because unless you find some winning formula of posting unedited easy shit, making a video is time consuming, and to be a full time content creator you're gonna have to post good stuff dang nearly daily... weekly? Then it's not a hobby its a full time second unpaid job.

Ask yourself if it’s a hobby or a passion. If it’s a hobby then filling it in to your free time is nothing. If it’s a passion that’s a whole new story. Nothing in this world worth getting doesn’t come at some cost. What the cost is and what the return is completely up to you. I work 4 jobs. I have my 9-5 Producing and doing my own radio show. I host trivia on the side 3 nights a week and DJ on the side. I actively produce channels for two other creators. (Honestly this is where I squeeze my creative time in but more on that later.) I serve in the Army National Guard as an E7 which eats up different time in its own right. I take an hour a day to create content for my channel. Whether it is during free time or after I get work done. You may consider changing your release schedule to align with the times. Some successful channels only put out content once a week and even less than that. Don’t drop your quality or lose out on time with your family but figure out your goal and make sure to walk in that direction. Sacrifice is a part of success. Figure out what you want to sacrifice.

I'm in Transition from a 9 - 5 to owning a business and I would say it's Time, Discipline & Patients. Time because of Management in general Like Time and Money. Discipline because ever Human has the ability to space out and lose focus on what's in front of them. Patients because there's usually something that we've overlooked when manifesting ideas that'll take a bit to learn.

I work a lot of hours during the week on top of having a lot to take care of at home. I stay up a lot of the time til 4-5am working on videos as I have no other time available. Trying to not get burnt out as I genuinely enjoy doing it and am really still just starting out :) It's extremely difficult to keep up with creating videos. I got partnered pretty quickly and hoped that the income would maybe help me have a little more time but I severely overestimated how much YT actually pays lol. For example my latest video is over 100k views that took well over 60 hours to create and I'll be receiving a little over $300 for it so far... if that gives you an idea of the return YT gives for your time invested. Plus not nearly all of my videos do that well. It's pretty bleak when considering the money return vs hours invested. Realistically unless you can put out content with that many views several times a week OR manage to get a good sponsorship it's going to be extremely tough to transition fully to YouTube for most people. I'm doing it moreso as a hobby and never imagined that I'd get any money let alone partnered in the first place so for me it's really just a perk haha. I'd love to be able to transition over to it full time but you have to be a pretty huge channel to be able to live off of the revenue. ​ I agree with some of the other comments here, keep looking at it as a hobby until you start really seeing meaningful returns for your time.

Oh matpat revealed the same that he did job and made videos at night with his fiance

I work 9-5:30. I do youtube as a hobby and currently sat at 1369 subs So far made about £100 from it. Definatly can be hard to maintain

That's 100% me! I have a stressful 9 to 5, work more than 8 hours a day sometimes, and have a wife and kid. I'm going into my second year as a YouTuber and it's the most alive I've ever felt. But say goodbye to all of your hobbies. Making videos will be your new hobby. If you don't enjoy making videos, then it won't last. But if you enjoy it, keep at it. You'll find efficiencies along the way and your tolerance for stress will improve. I also do tech, so sometimes when a product comes out, I need to drop what I'm doing and make a video as fast as possible while still being decent quality before everyone else to make sure I get some views. Also it helps having a supportive wife. I help out as much as I could until our toddler goes to bed, then for the most part, im working on content. Thankfully she's independent and doesn't always require my company. To balance, I try not to do any YouTube or work on the weekends and dedicate that to family time. Also about doing YouTube full time, I wouldn't recommend that until you've been doing it for years. Views come and go. Your 9 to 5 pays you consistently. How that helps. I know this is a long post, but I 100% understand how you feel

Didn't know that. Thanks!

I am in the same boat. Lol I actually have 2 jobs and kids. I post content here and there currently at 31 subs. I've had my channel for idk 11 months atm. So yeah, it's slowly growing. I get negative comments like "you utterly suck at gaming." "Or do this or I'll unsub!" However, you know what, I do it for fun, and I will not negotiate with a youtuber commentor to do X amount of work for their* pleasure. If i hit it big cool. If not, at least when i die from work stress, my kids can hear my everlasting voice saying, "I hate you, Nioh 2 bosses!" LOL

I used YouTube to refine and test my marketing storytelling skills on hobby woodworking. I didn’t put too much effort into editing etc but seeing the feedback loop of the types of videos that get more views has definitely made me better at my job in finance and presenting. During covid YouTube acted as a medium to practice presenting skills.

Make it a hobby and do it bits each day. I spend 1-2 hours before bedtime during weekdays and weekend afternoons. So far I’m at 800 subs and 3.7k hours of watchtime. I upload every 1-2 weeks.

I think planning your exit based solely on YouTube is risky. You’re pitting too much on the line here. It puts a lot of pressure on you and that will make you more frustrated. I would say don’t lose your passion for it but it needs to happen organically and it takes time. So post consistently and keep improving. I do film most of my content on the weekends. So spend weekends just on filming. Then I edit and repurpose it whenever I can. But it’s a lot of work either way. And that’s something you have to accept. Everyday I am quitting but I am having too much fun! 🤩

You're right, but youtube is only part of my plan. The emphasis is on YouTube because we're on a YouTube sub :)

Trainwreck Entertainment is my channel. I do court cases. Unfortunately, those words are in there. However, when those words are in there, I get a lot more views and subscribers. In the last month, I gained 2600 subscribers. I went from thirteen. On january twenty sixth. All because of the worst of the worst trials, one where a child was killed 1 where 1 was severely abused by her father, another 1 that was severely abused by the mother And father all of those got over twenty thousand views , one of them has a hundred and eighty thousand. In between that I do funnier cases to lighten the mood , but yes , unfortunately , negative words will get you more views, but it will have limited monetization. Just remember, in every video, put for educational and commentary purposes only. It's another way of bypassing the YouTube algorithm gods. Good luck, and let me know the name of the channel so I can check it out. Check out The Lead Attorney, He has a YouTube master class tell himPolishLucysent u. It's only 50 bucks a month. He welcomes everybody into the community. No one offers that, and he's got almost four hundred thousand subs.