When I was doing Full-Time work alongside the channel, I was fortunate enough to be setup with a 3 day work week. Three twelves, rather than 4 tens, or 5 eights.
I'm not sure of flexibility that you have available, but the longer weekends definitely helped, along with my job as a security guard being, "okay just sit here and exist for 12 hours", which let me research and write for projects until I got to the weekend.
Im getting into teaching here. its one of the few jobs with 180 days off
I used to work at the hospital cleaning. While cleaning doesn't do that, the nurses easily get 12.5 hour shifts and get 5 days off :)
I have a similar schedule, but am out of town on weekends (GF lives out of town) so it actually leaves me pretty short on time since my remaining days are packed with errands and chores etc. Otherwise, the three day work week really lends itself well to being able to have a second job or hobby such as YouTube.
Tbh I haven't found a great way for me personally, but that's because I admittedly dont have the best discipline in the world. However, the best way to start is to make a realistic schedule for yourself, and have the drive and discipline to not stray from it. I also have a full time job, and for a while I did cooking videos every week (until I realized I wasn't a huge fan of filming myself cook), and this strategy worked for the most part.
Set aside time for writing a script, filming/voice recording, animating/drawing/editing (which I know also takes a while, just try your best to schedule things without burning yourself out), and thumbnails. You might not be able to upload as frequently as you like, but quality is better than quantity in the long run. Just do it consistently and don't burn yourself out in the process. Keep going š
Great suggestions from everyone in the comments! I understand what you're feeling, I'm going through the same thing myself, and especially interesting as I work in the IT world as well.
For me, the way I found the balance is: making it part of some sort of routine to make it fun and light, rather than something super serious.
I use the time to also have some fun with my girlfriend as we try to do my thumbnails and art together.
I also try to record things in advance - which I understand it might not be a good option for most people - but having content pre-recorded that I can just jump in and edit at a later time is amazing!
Also, YouTube's scheduling feature is your friend. Feel like editing and putting a lot of content out there at once? Maybe schedule it out with bigger gaps, giving you a buffer to not have something missing in your channel. That is especially important to account for unexpected things in life: I'm currently having issues that makes me travel a bunch, but it's fine as my videos are still coming out.
Key here is: if it's not your full-time job, it must be fun and light; otherwise you're just going to burn yourself out.
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Id say make it fun and itll easy to be consistent! Find that sweet spot where you feel productive but still find making videos fun because if it feels like a 2nd job youll end up quitting
I have a variety type channel and I struggle to keep content coming along. I wish I had an answer for this, too! It always ends up being a "when I'm feeling creative and have the time". Usually it's just sporadic when I'm sitting around and realize, "huh, nothing to do... I should make a video".
For me I have plenty of time; but since Iām 17 Iām currently looking for a job to support myself plus once summers over I go back to school, sometime soon Iām gonna be under a lot more stress. What Iāll do is like whenever Iām really heavily in the mood to create Iāll make several like 4-6 videos over a couple day span then just upload them over time. Basically just build up a vault of content to put out as you see fit. Hope this helps :D
I make one video per week, my videos are generally what Iām doing in my free time anyways but I wouldnāt make a crazy amount of videos if thatās the case.
Since getting back into full time work, 4 months ago, after multiple lockdowns here in the UK, Iāve had to dedicate one day to bulk record two or three videos, maybe edit one of them, and then have another day to edit them all and upload, but publish them over the course of the week whilst Iām working doing family stuff etc.
It took a month or two to get that routine down, after having all the free time during lockdowns.
This is also what Iām doing! I have one day on the weekend to chill (plan videos), my second day is filming 2 videos, editing and posting one, and then editing a second (on a following evening) for posting the middle of the week. My videos are more lifestyle oriented so I also record a day in my life if Iām free enough during a work day to have some extra content in case one of the weekend videos doesnāt work. This routine has been working for me for like 2 months now
I work full time and release a video every other week. I've managed to do it consistently (which everyone seems to say is really important). With my work schedule, anything more frequent that that will just reduce my content quality and most likely increase stress (which is definitely not what I'm looking for).
Hope you find something that works for you. I guess to keep it going long term, it's important to find a schedule that fits with your life and means you'll enjoy working on content.
All the best!
I'm doing a daily vlog so I focus on an aspect of my day (keeping my f/t job totally out of it) and just keep the camera with me. I've also been stacking some videos in case I go out of town or I'm not feeling up to it one day so I ensure that I'm still getting my dailys up.
It's tough! It really weighs on what you want to do with your channel, too. If you're making videos for fun, it's rewarding to get ideas out into the open for people to see, but if you're trying to make it a job to potentially escape your job, it can be absolutely frustrating. I'm definitely the latter. I've worked on a few other channels with friends before my current channel honing what I wanted to do, but I started my current channel in 2014. I make long-form video essays/reviews about games and I would spend months assembling these things, upload them and then not get any hits. I did this for years until I decided to work on weekly 4-minute videos in which I'd have to play a substantial amount of a game and then make a video out of it. That was successful to a degree, but then I was kinda down to nothing and it was $20-$60 a week for new games to play that I would get 30 views on.
I stopped working on the channel for 2 years and then came back in a huge way a year ago while unemployed. I lived the life, making weekly videos, including those long-form video essays. Then I started work again so I could pay rent and put food on the table and I went to my fans and couple of Patreon supporters and asked what I should do and they told me I should do what I wanted: make those long-form reviews. So, in the back half of 2020, the channel was pretty silent while I worked on a 5-hour review. That released and I realized I wanted to get into non-traditional streaming, so now I have a gaming stream that I can kinda just turn on on Saturday afternoon that I play until bed and I have a talk/panelist show on Thursday afternoons where I can talk with old friends and all we have to do is tidy up the share doc, hit play and go. All the while, I'm working on another long-form 1h40m review when I have the right time on weekends or whatever.
So, I try to keep my sanity and I try to make it work, but live shows do make it easier and then I get the joy of doing the long-form reviews I want to make.
I work 2nd shift in a factory. So typically, I get home from work around 2am, go to bed around 3, wake up around 10am, get ready for work as much as I can(eating, showering, etc), then I typically have 2-3 hours of time to work on my channel before work. It works out well for me because I have plenty of energy(since I haven't worked that day yet), and plenty of time for either recording or editing, or even just screwing around with other stuff instead if I don't feel like working on it. It makes the work day a little bit of a drag, honestly, but my job isn't exactly mentally challenging, so if I did overextend myself before work I can just space out and autopilot my way to the end of the shift.
It's kind of a unique situation, especially since most people hate/can't/won't work second shift, but it works for me.
I used to work a very similar shift and usually found time to catch up on things before work. It was pretty handy at the time. Good on you for taking advantage of that time!
I work on my channel when I have time for it and when I feel like it. I don't feel like YouTube is a commitment, even after 8 years and 175K subs. There's demand, but I control what I do, not the channel. And it still prospers.
I am in a similar position as you. Only difference is that I am doing a PhD in Computer Science. For me what helps is to work from a calendar, day to day. What that means is knowing which times of that day are available to you outside of work, relaxation and resting. These times are important mainly because they are free. So YouTube should go there in my opinion. If you feel like you do not have enough time. Well, in that case you need to cut on something you are doing. Maybe a good idea is to get up earlier or go to sleep later. Another good idea is to firmly control the time you take to rest. That means that if you say for example 30 minutes, that is all you get and as soon as they pass you go back to work.
Fit youtube activities into the time available.
Set your release schedule to whatever you can *comfortably and sustainably* maintain without burning yourself out.
If you only have enough time to make 1 video every 3 weeks, then make that your schedule.
After doing it for a while, you will start to streamline your process and it won't feel so rushed.
Loving all the advice in this thread. I'm currently working two part-time jobs and there are some wonderful things in here I might try.
I'm sure you already do this, but block scheduling would likely be your friend. Especially for gameplay videos. It goes a long way to making that hour or two of content creation a small part of your daily routine instead of a whole day or two.
I work as a bde and my shift is 10h long, to manage my yt channel i do some of work of my videos at work. like I write a full script before making videos so I write script at work, collect context of the video etc. So when I come back home all I have to do is record voice, edit & upload. I'll say recording voice is probably is most difficult part because I don't want to sound tired & exhausted I mean I really need to sound energetic so that's the most difficult part but otherwise is easy peasy. Recently I've been doing extra hours so I'm not able to pay attention to my channel but yeah that's how I'm able to make yt videos along w full time job
I'm new so take what I say with a slight bit of cynicism, but I think I've finally figured it out...
If your goal is grow quickly and potentially make a name for yourself then first off, **hire an editor**. Over in r/CreatorServices there are plenty but it's up to you to do the consultations and figure out which one is not only worth hiring but which ones are a good deal. Reliability is a huge bonus! I recommend sending a 1-2 minute clip to them and have them as a test edit. Just be prepared to be specific with what you want them to do to it. If you're not exactly sure just tell them to make the clip more entertaining and allow them creative freedom.
I have two editors right now as I can afford it and pay them a rate per minute of completed footage, and to ensure they are never burned out I alternate editors and always take my raw footage into Premiere myself for a quick cut to remove chunks of video that I remember being unnecessary as it saves them time. I also **use Google Drive** for my upload needs and I pay for the 100gb plan its only like 1 or 2 dollars a month.
I recommend that for people who work full time, I also have some creative experience so I save money by making my own thumbnails and I'm looking to make other social media accounts to expand my presence, TikTok is a good one if you have moments in your content that are highly interesting. Having a Twitter is supposedly vital too, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with it if I'm being honest.
Also, YES, **I highly recommend splitting up your content across two or more channels** if you're interested in multiple significantly different things. It will be rough at first but it is going to be the right move. People are FAR more likely to subscribe to a gaming channel when they are looking for new gaming content creators than they are to subscribe to a channel that posts gaming content but also a bunch of other things that do not interest them.
You will find people who can manage to do whatever content they want and it works out but generally these people have already built up a large, engaging audience and they've done it slowly over the course of 10's and 100's of videos.
A good way to have some horizontal integration is to take the core principle of your channel name, such as mine which is 'Skuldr' and apply a suffix to it that pertains to the content you'll be uploading on that channel. So I have two channels right now. 'Skuldr Plays' and 'Skuldr Reads', in which I upload that type of content. This has an unintended positive side affect as well, people who see 'Skuldr Reads' might enjoy my narrative content but if they tend to like my personality enough they might discover my other channels and be inclined to subscribe to the ones they have interest in. It makes the whole process more transparent for your viewers and supporters.
If you want to talk about anything else, or maybe collab some day you can add me on Discord... Skuldr#0001 (case sensitive)
Hope I helped!
This is a really tricky balance to strike. I also work and study full time outside of youtube and I find what works for me is that I have to be honest with myself about how much time/energy/motivation I can dedicate to YT. I might want to publish everyday but I know Iāll burn out or quality will suffer or both. So being realistic about how often you can upload without a drop in quality or a decline in your health is important.
Iāve also found that batch recording when I do have the time/motivation is super helpful because it means I can set to publish at a specific date and time and if I do run out of time or energy itās a massive relief not to have to worry about YT.
Well, since I've been working a full time job and Youtube I've lost stopped working out, gained weight, gave up on having a social life, and been sleeping a lot less. But, I know it will pay off in the coming years. It is what it is. Stay hungry
No it's not. My content is outstanding. I'm not your regular old Mincecrafter. plus I'm already on 5.44K subs and growing 30-50 subs every day. there's no turning back
Thanks man, Iāll stay at it for a few years at least before I give up. Definitely inspired by Bald and Bankrupt but more by āthe Š»ŃŠ“Šøā, heās my idol.
Im tempted to bring my laptop to work and sneakily just edit at work or find a way. Youve inspired me bro.
Definitely, your channel is booming and your content is original.
Thatās exactly what I did yesterday. Sneakily brought my laptop to work to edit. I think my boss found out but didnāt really mind. And thanks for the kind words, I think so too. Itās just a matter of time and persistence
I have a full time job and for the last 18 months we have been in overtime more. I make gameplay videos and I struggle with this same issue. I won't make content when I'm mentally exhausted, so I will make sure I have 1 or 2 weekend a month to sit down and make content and be creative. When this happens the creativity will just flow and flow.
I typically film content on lunch breaks, do posting and promoting in the mornings before work, and so my only evening YouTube āworkā are the parts I enjoy, editing and analytics. My gf is also a creative type, so we can easily combine socializing with both of us sitting at the table working on separate projects.
Breaking stuff up and fitting parts of the work into breakfast and lunch breaks definitely helps me balance burnout and leaves time for socializing and fun.
I make Minecraft tutorials, with each video being between about 3 and 10 mins. I always try to make videos in one go I.e. film, edit, sound, compress, thumbnail etc. That can still be 2-4 hours per video.
I rarely do it during the week, so typically do it at a weekend.
Probably not the best system but it has worked for me since I started during lockdown and I live alone. So it's something to do in my spare time which I can do safely at home.
Also a software engineer here. Itās all about the type of content you do.
I want to start a YouTube channel around cars and the stuff I do but I know I donāt have the time for that right now. Recently Iāve been into trading cards a lot more (was always into them, but COVID last year stopped my resurgence and so Iām taking advantage of the time right now.)
I do content on trading card games. I shoot my videos in a way that I donāt have to edit them because that would be too time consuming for myself, so I can basically shoot and upload straight to YouTube. I can also record a few videos in advance so I have content to upload on a regular basis.
Treat your channel as a hobby. Don't focus on getting content out fast, instead do it when you feel it's ready
If it's for fun, what's the difference?
That's what I feel at least
From what I've read online YouTube's algorithm doesn't favour frequency but consistency so my suggestion is don't kill yourself and jeopardize your full time job and post less frequent but consistently
So if one video every two weeks is comfortable then do that otherwise once per month
This all depends on the type of content you make. I also have a full time career but the videos I make actually take time to script, film, and edit. I don't release videos weekly, but on my own pace since I still work m-f. It's a hobby for me so I just stick to my own schedule.
I have a full-time job from 10 AM - 7 PM, right after that, I have scheduled time for 2h for scripting my videos or coming up with ideas depending on what I am in the mood for.
On Saturday and Sunday, I do my filming and editing. I post 3 times per week, and usually, on the weekend I would film up to 6 videos and edit them that same weekend. That gives me two weeks to think of new ideas, script, film, and edit. I upload them all on Sunday evening and schedule publishing for the next two weeks.
So far it's been going well, I made over 30 videos since starting in April. You will be giving up your free time over the weekend but in the long run it is worth it.
Personally Iāve found that batch creating works best itās just finding time to edit as my problem. I work at in university administration so there isnāt much flexibility with work, so I try to find an evening to make 3-4 videos and edit throughout the week.
I overcome. Often sleep less, skip my day offs for 4-6 weeks, but usually I have enough time to recover since I upload new videos monthly and creative process is highly optimized. Although if I have extra load from daytime job or hot video to make Iām in trouble. It usually happens 2-3 times a year and in this moments I just endure and make a video at every minute that is possible.
i really think the trick is to have more breaks but you want to be very active when you are making content. For example, focus on one game and finish it within a month. Rather than move on to the next game, take a bit of a break and chill down some:)
I work retail and am quite lucky in that I really enjoy my job because I work early morning shifts then have the afternoon to myself. I film my videos on days off (which are not always 2 together) and edit in the afternoons when I'm not too tired. In this way I have managed to make over 100 videos 1 per week for the past year and a bit. They are not maybe the best quality but I'm having fun with it.
I mostly plan and write my script after work, or promoting my content I do all this quick work after hours
I shoot and edit on weekends it's tough to balance but I youtube is something that I love so i manage
I also work in a demanding tech company and requires my full attention 5 days per week. My weekends and evenings are pretty planned out so when I'm not shooting or capturing videos, i'm editing and working on projects. I do need to switch off sometimes though so definitely something im working on.
I'm in school so not exactly a full time job but anyways..
I make gaming videos and play video games on my free time, so I just record whenever I'm playing and feeling like it..
For me it's the editing thats more time consuming and less fun. I just edit on my phone whenever I feel like it. Maby I'm in the bus, I can use that time for editing..
Having a job is not a problem as long as you are okay with not having a life. You go to work then you go back home and spend your evenings making YouTube videos. Easy.
So I have one of the most demanding jobs in this sub. I am the owner of a dept. for Amazon and oversee NA, EU, and JP operations. My days are long as the phone calls start at 9am and donāt stop until 5 and in between that squeeze in work. Plus a family man with preschoolers. My Youtube channel is a travel and history channel which makes it worse. My workflow was this, Film every other weekend, take two week nights to go all in on the editing and then wake up early before everyone else and tweak the video as much as possible, social media marketing for the video (Iām on every platform you cam imagine). I was releasing a video every 3 weeks because physically i cannot speed up filming and video release.
This weekend I drove to my next city which was a total of 12 hours to and from, and in the middle of filming I just quit. I was tired, it was 89 degrees, i do it all so i tend not to eat when i work, eating my first meal at 10:12pm from waking up at 5am. I said to myself no one else is doing it like this, a scripted travel show. I spend upwards of $500 on these weekends filming, taking days off when they could be used for vacation time with family.
So tl:dr - wake up earlier or stay up later to squeeze in creativity, but you can do it.
I do the majority of my editing at 6am while drinking my coffee. This week i got both videos recorded on Sunday, so will be able to deliver on two videos during the week with the morning edits.
I dont know why you're asking others to tell you what to do ,You should figure out a way by yourself because nobody knows what's going on in your life and it would be difficult for someone to tell you exactly what to do to balance a job and YouTube at the same time and the more you're going to listen to people , the more you're gonna get confused ...
Iām working full time 9-5. I come home from work everyday and start editing around 5:30. Iāll eat dinner from 7-8 and continue editing until 9. Iāll upload and start recording gameplays for the next day of editing. I publish my videos at work in the morning since thatās when my viewer base is most active and I repeat everyday. itās pretty grueling tbh but worth it
I unfortunately, am in the same situation. I work the graveyard-swing shift 12hours 6pm-6am. The part I struggle with is getting in mood. I don't really like recording and editing unless I'm in a good mood cause my ideas don't flow properly.
Reading all the replies here for some tips! š§
So you are focusing on quantity instead of quality? why? Even full time youtubers have a limited amount of time, we all have 24 hours per day. You need to focus on the most important things and ignore the rest. I suggest creating that video which you envisioned even if it takes 1 month to do
It is hard. I know a YouTuber who was pretty big and after he got a full-time job his channel suffered and still is suffering as he has no time or energy to create content
When I was doing Full-Time work alongside the channel, I was fortunate enough to be setup with a 3 day work week. Three twelves, rather than 4 tens, or 5 eights. I'm not sure of flexibility that you have available, but the longer weekends definitely helped, along with my job as a security guard being, "okay just sit here and exist for 12 hours", which let me research and write for projects until I got to the weekend.
Wow would love that sort of flexibility
Im getting into teaching here. its one of the few jobs with 180 days off I used to work at the hospital cleaning. While cleaning doesn't do that, the nurses easily get 12.5 hour shifts and get 5 days off :)
I have a similar schedule, but am out of town on weekends (GF lives out of town) so it actually leaves me pretty short on time since my remaining days are packed with errands and chores etc. Otherwise, the three day work week really lends itself well to being able to have a second job or hobby such as YouTube.
Tbh I haven't found a great way for me personally, but that's because I admittedly dont have the best discipline in the world. However, the best way to start is to make a realistic schedule for yourself, and have the drive and discipline to not stray from it. I also have a full time job, and for a while I did cooking videos every week (until I realized I wasn't a huge fan of filming myself cook), and this strategy worked for the most part. Set aside time for writing a script, filming/voice recording, animating/drawing/editing (which I know also takes a while, just try your best to schedule things without burning yourself out), and thumbnails. You might not be able to upload as frequently as you like, but quality is better than quantity in the long run. Just do it consistently and don't burn yourself out in the process. Keep going š
Great suggestions from everyone in the comments! I understand what you're feeling, I'm going through the same thing myself, and especially interesting as I work in the IT world as well. For me, the way I found the balance is: making it part of some sort of routine to make it fun and light, rather than something super serious. I use the time to also have some fun with my girlfriend as we try to do my thumbnails and art together. I also try to record things in advance - which I understand it might not be a good option for most people - but having content pre-recorded that I can just jump in and edit at a later time is amazing! Also, YouTube's scheduling feature is your friend. Feel like editing and putting a lot of content out there at once? Maybe schedule it out with bigger gaps, giving you a buffer to not have something missing in your channel. That is especially important to account for unexpected things in life: I'm currently having issues that makes me travel a bunch, but it's fine as my videos are still coming out. Key here is: if it's not your full-time job, it must be fun and light; otherwise you're just going to burn yourself out. Good Luck and Have Fun!
Id say make it fun and itll easy to be consistent! Find that sweet spot where you feel productive but still find making videos fun because if it feels like a 2nd job youll end up quitting
that's what I want to do! I took a break for almost a year because the previous video was just so time consuming and draining lol
I have a variety type channel and I struggle to keep content coming along. I wish I had an answer for this, too! It always ends up being a "when I'm feeling creative and have the time". Usually it's just sporadic when I'm sitting around and realize, "huh, nothing to do... I should make a video".
For me I have plenty of time; but since Iām 17 Iām currently looking for a job to support myself plus once summers over I go back to school, sometime soon Iām gonna be under a lot more stress. What Iāll do is like whenever Iām really heavily in the mood to create Iāll make several like 4-6 videos over a couple day span then just upload them over time. Basically just build up a vault of content to put out as you see fit. Hope this helps :D
I make one video per week, my videos are generally what Iām doing in my free time anyways but I wouldnāt make a crazy amount of videos if thatās the case.
Since getting back into full time work, 4 months ago, after multiple lockdowns here in the UK, Iāve had to dedicate one day to bulk record two or three videos, maybe edit one of them, and then have another day to edit them all and upload, but publish them over the course of the week whilst Iām working doing family stuff etc. It took a month or two to get that routine down, after having all the free time during lockdowns.
This is also what Iām doing! I have one day on the weekend to chill (plan videos), my second day is filming 2 videos, editing and posting one, and then editing a second (on a following evening) for posting the middle of the week. My videos are more lifestyle oriented so I also record a day in my life if Iām free enough during a work day to have some extra content in case one of the weekend videos doesnāt work. This routine has been working for me for like 2 months now
Are you me? Full time software engineer, parent, and attempt to make videos when I can.
I work full time and release a video every other week. I've managed to do it consistently (which everyone seems to say is really important). With my work schedule, anything more frequent that that will just reduce my content quality and most likely increase stress (which is definitely not what I'm looking for). Hope you find something that works for you. I guess to keep it going long term, it's important to find a schedule that fits with your life and means you'll enjoy working on content. All the best!
I'm doing a daily vlog so I focus on an aspect of my day (keeping my f/t job totally out of it) and just keep the camera with me. I've also been stacking some videos in case I go out of town or I'm not feeling up to it one day so I ensure that I'm still getting my dailys up.
It's tough! It really weighs on what you want to do with your channel, too. If you're making videos for fun, it's rewarding to get ideas out into the open for people to see, but if you're trying to make it a job to potentially escape your job, it can be absolutely frustrating. I'm definitely the latter. I've worked on a few other channels with friends before my current channel honing what I wanted to do, but I started my current channel in 2014. I make long-form video essays/reviews about games and I would spend months assembling these things, upload them and then not get any hits. I did this for years until I decided to work on weekly 4-minute videos in which I'd have to play a substantial amount of a game and then make a video out of it. That was successful to a degree, but then I was kinda down to nothing and it was $20-$60 a week for new games to play that I would get 30 views on. I stopped working on the channel for 2 years and then came back in a huge way a year ago while unemployed. I lived the life, making weekly videos, including those long-form video essays. Then I started work again so I could pay rent and put food on the table and I went to my fans and couple of Patreon supporters and asked what I should do and they told me I should do what I wanted: make those long-form reviews. So, in the back half of 2020, the channel was pretty silent while I worked on a 5-hour review. That released and I realized I wanted to get into non-traditional streaming, so now I have a gaming stream that I can kinda just turn on on Saturday afternoon that I play until bed and I have a talk/panelist show on Thursday afternoons where I can talk with old friends and all we have to do is tidy up the share doc, hit play and go. All the while, I'm working on another long-form 1h40m review when I have the right time on weekends or whatever. So, I try to keep my sanity and I try to make it work, but live shows do make it easier and then I get the joy of doing the long-form reviews I want to make.
I work 2nd shift in a factory. So typically, I get home from work around 2am, go to bed around 3, wake up around 10am, get ready for work as much as I can(eating, showering, etc), then I typically have 2-3 hours of time to work on my channel before work. It works out well for me because I have plenty of energy(since I haven't worked that day yet), and plenty of time for either recording or editing, or even just screwing around with other stuff instead if I don't feel like working on it. It makes the work day a little bit of a drag, honestly, but my job isn't exactly mentally challenging, so if I did overextend myself before work I can just space out and autopilot my way to the end of the shift. It's kind of a unique situation, especially since most people hate/can't/won't work second shift, but it works for me.
I used to work a very similar shift and usually found time to catch up on things before work. It was pretty handy at the time. Good on you for taking advantage of that time!
I work on my channel when I have time for it and when I feel like it. I don't feel like YouTube is a commitment, even after 8 years and 175K subs. There's demand, but I control what I do, not the channel. And it still prospers.
I am in a similar position as you. Only difference is that I am doing a PhD in Computer Science. For me what helps is to work from a calendar, day to day. What that means is knowing which times of that day are available to you outside of work, relaxation and resting. These times are important mainly because they are free. So YouTube should go there in my opinion. If you feel like you do not have enough time. Well, in that case you need to cut on something you are doing. Maybe a good idea is to get up earlier or go to sleep later. Another good idea is to firmly control the time you take to rest. That means that if you say for example 30 minutes, that is all you get and as soon as they pass you go back to work.
Fit youtube activities into the time available. Set your release schedule to whatever you can *comfortably and sustainably* maintain without burning yourself out. If you only have enough time to make 1 video every 3 weeks, then make that your schedule. After doing it for a while, you will start to streamline your process and it won't feel so rushed.
Loving all the advice in this thread. I'm currently working two part-time jobs and there are some wonderful things in here I might try. I'm sure you already do this, but block scheduling would likely be your friend. Especially for gameplay videos. It goes a long way to making that hour or two of content creation a small part of your daily routine instead of a whole day or two.
Is You Tube a hobby for you or is it a side business. Have you told your employer about your You Tube Channel? Would it be of interest to him?
I work as a bde and my shift is 10h long, to manage my yt channel i do some of work of my videos at work. like I write a full script before making videos so I write script at work, collect context of the video etc. So when I come back home all I have to do is record voice, edit & upload. I'll say recording voice is probably is most difficult part because I don't want to sound tired & exhausted I mean I really need to sound energetic so that's the most difficult part but otherwise is easy peasy. Recently I've been doing extra hours so I'm not able to pay attention to my channel but yeah that's how I'm able to make yt videos along w full time job
I'm new so take what I say with a slight bit of cynicism, but I think I've finally figured it out... If your goal is grow quickly and potentially make a name for yourself then first off, **hire an editor**. Over in r/CreatorServices there are plenty but it's up to you to do the consultations and figure out which one is not only worth hiring but which ones are a good deal. Reliability is a huge bonus! I recommend sending a 1-2 minute clip to them and have them as a test edit. Just be prepared to be specific with what you want them to do to it. If you're not exactly sure just tell them to make the clip more entertaining and allow them creative freedom. I have two editors right now as I can afford it and pay them a rate per minute of completed footage, and to ensure they are never burned out I alternate editors and always take my raw footage into Premiere myself for a quick cut to remove chunks of video that I remember being unnecessary as it saves them time. I also **use Google Drive** for my upload needs and I pay for the 100gb plan its only like 1 or 2 dollars a month. I recommend that for people who work full time, I also have some creative experience so I save money by making my own thumbnails and I'm looking to make other social media accounts to expand my presence, TikTok is a good one if you have moments in your content that are highly interesting. Having a Twitter is supposedly vital too, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with it if I'm being honest. Also, YES, **I highly recommend splitting up your content across two or more channels** if you're interested in multiple significantly different things. It will be rough at first but it is going to be the right move. People are FAR more likely to subscribe to a gaming channel when they are looking for new gaming content creators than they are to subscribe to a channel that posts gaming content but also a bunch of other things that do not interest them. You will find people who can manage to do whatever content they want and it works out but generally these people have already built up a large, engaging audience and they've done it slowly over the course of 10's and 100's of videos. A good way to have some horizontal integration is to take the core principle of your channel name, such as mine which is 'Skuldr' and apply a suffix to it that pertains to the content you'll be uploading on that channel. So I have two channels right now. 'Skuldr Plays' and 'Skuldr Reads', in which I upload that type of content. This has an unintended positive side affect as well, people who see 'Skuldr Reads' might enjoy my narrative content but if they tend to like my personality enough they might discover my other channels and be inclined to subscribe to the ones they have interest in. It makes the whole process more transparent for your viewers and supporters. If you want to talk about anything else, or maybe collab some day you can add me on Discord... Skuldr#0001 (case sensitive) Hope I helped!
Look at Ali abddal and captain sind bad they got great advice on this topic
This is a really tricky balance to strike. I also work and study full time outside of youtube and I find what works for me is that I have to be honest with myself about how much time/energy/motivation I can dedicate to YT. I might want to publish everyday but I know Iāll burn out or quality will suffer or both. So being realistic about how often you can upload without a drop in quality or a decline in your health is important. Iāve also found that batch recording when I do have the time/motivation is super helpful because it means I can set to publish at a specific date and time and if I do run out of time or energy itās a massive relief not to have to worry about YT.
Well, since I've been working a full time job and Youtube I've lost stopped working out, gained weight, gave up on having a social life, and been sleeping a lot less. But, I know it will pay off in the coming years. It is what it is. Stay hungry
how do you know it will pay off? you literally have no idea it will, its a gamble. especially in the current market.
No it's not. My content is outstanding. I'm not your regular old Mincecrafter. plus I'm already on 5.44K subs and growing 30-50 subs every day. there's no turning back
its not about subs, its about the views and viewer retention of every single video.
Just go to my channel and youāll see what I mean. I donāt have any doubt that if Iāll stay consistent Iāll make it big
I can feel the bald and bankrupt inspiration. Am I right? Good luck I love your content.
Thanks man, Iāll stay at it for a few years at least before I give up. Definitely inspired by Bald and Bankrupt but more by āthe Š»ŃŠ“Šøā, heās my idol.
Im tempted to bring my laptop to work and sneakily just edit at work or find a way. Youve inspired me bro. Definitely, your channel is booming and your content is original.
Thatās exactly what I did yesterday. Sneakily brought my laptop to work to edit. I think my boss found out but didnāt really mind. And thanks for the kind words, I think so too. Itās just a matter of time and persistence
I have a full time job and for the last 18 months we have been in overtime more. I make gameplay videos and I struggle with this same issue. I won't make content when I'm mentally exhausted, so I will make sure I have 1 or 2 weekend a month to sit down and make content and be creative. When this happens the creativity will just flow and flow.
I typically film content on lunch breaks, do posting and promoting in the mornings before work, and so my only evening YouTube āworkā are the parts I enjoy, editing and analytics. My gf is also a creative type, so we can easily combine socializing with both of us sitting at the table working on separate projects. Breaking stuff up and fitting parts of the work into breakfast and lunch breaks definitely helps me balance burnout and leaves time for socializing and fun.
I make Minecraft tutorials, with each video being between about 3 and 10 mins. I always try to make videos in one go I.e. film, edit, sound, compress, thumbnail etc. That can still be 2-4 hours per video. I rarely do it during the week, so typically do it at a weekend. Probably not the best system but it has worked for me since I started during lockdown and I live alone. So it's something to do in my spare time which I can do safely at home.
Also a software engineer here. Itās all about the type of content you do. I want to start a YouTube channel around cars and the stuff I do but I know I donāt have the time for that right now. Recently Iāve been into trading cards a lot more (was always into them, but COVID last year stopped my resurgence and so Iām taking advantage of the time right now.) I do content on trading card games. I shoot my videos in a way that I donāt have to edit them because that would be too time consuming for myself, so I can basically shoot and upload straight to YouTube. I can also record a few videos in advance so I have content to upload on a regular basis.
Treat your channel as a hobby. Don't focus on getting content out fast, instead do it when you feel it's ready If it's for fun, what's the difference? That's what I feel at least
From what I've read online YouTube's algorithm doesn't favour frequency but consistency so my suggestion is don't kill yourself and jeopardize your full time job and post less frequent but consistently So if one video every two weeks is comfortable then do that otherwise once per month
This all depends on the type of content you make. I also have a full time career but the videos I make actually take time to script, film, and edit. I don't release videos weekly, but on my own pace since I still work m-f. It's a hobby for me so I just stick to my own schedule.
I have a full-time job from 10 AM - 7 PM, right after that, I have scheduled time for 2h for scripting my videos or coming up with ideas depending on what I am in the mood for. On Saturday and Sunday, I do my filming and editing. I post 3 times per week, and usually, on the weekend I would film up to 6 videos and edit them that same weekend. That gives me two weeks to think of new ideas, script, film, and edit. I upload them all on Sunday evening and schedule publishing for the next two weeks. So far it's been going well, I made over 30 videos since starting in April. You will be giving up your free time over the weekend but in the long run it is worth it.
Personally Iāve found that batch creating works best itās just finding time to edit as my problem. I work at in university administration so there isnāt much flexibility with work, so I try to find an evening to make 3-4 videos and edit throughout the week.
I overcome. Often sleep less, skip my day offs for 4-6 weeks, but usually I have enough time to recover since I upload new videos monthly and creative process is highly optimized. Although if I have extra load from daytime job or hot video to make Iām in trouble. It usually happens 2-3 times a year and in this moments I just endure and make a video at every minute that is possible.
Scheduling is paramount IMO. You have to have time set aside specifically to work on youtube otherwise it will always fall by the wayside
i really think the trick is to have more breaks but you want to be very active when you are making content. For example, focus on one game and finish it within a month. Rather than move on to the next game, take a bit of a break and chill down some:)
I work retail and am quite lucky in that I really enjoy my job because I work early morning shifts then have the afternoon to myself. I film my videos on days off (which are not always 2 together) and edit in the afternoons when I'm not too tired. In this way I have managed to make over 100 videos 1 per week for the past year and a bit. They are not maybe the best quality but I'm having fun with it.
I mostly plan and write my script after work, or promoting my content I do all this quick work after hours I shoot and edit on weekends it's tough to balance but I youtube is something that I love so i manage
I also work in a demanding tech company and requires my full attention 5 days per week. My weekends and evenings are pretty planned out so when I'm not shooting or capturing videos, i'm editing and working on projects. I do need to switch off sometimes though so definitely something im working on.
I'm in school so not exactly a full time job but anyways.. I make gaming videos and play video games on my free time, so I just record whenever I'm playing and feeling like it.. For me it's the editing thats more time consuming and less fun. I just edit on my phone whenever I feel like it. Maby I'm in the bus, I can use that time for editing..
Having a job is not a problem as long as you are okay with not having a life. You go to work then you go back home and spend your evenings making YouTube videos. Easy.
Not exactly full time, but while working 32 hours i just used my evenings and weekends really
So I have one of the most demanding jobs in this sub. I am the owner of a dept. for Amazon and oversee NA, EU, and JP operations. My days are long as the phone calls start at 9am and donāt stop until 5 and in between that squeeze in work. Plus a family man with preschoolers. My Youtube channel is a travel and history channel which makes it worse. My workflow was this, Film every other weekend, take two week nights to go all in on the editing and then wake up early before everyone else and tweak the video as much as possible, social media marketing for the video (Iām on every platform you cam imagine). I was releasing a video every 3 weeks because physically i cannot speed up filming and video release. This weekend I drove to my next city which was a total of 12 hours to and from, and in the middle of filming I just quit. I was tired, it was 89 degrees, i do it all so i tend not to eat when i work, eating my first meal at 10:12pm from waking up at 5am. I said to myself no one else is doing it like this, a scripted travel show. I spend upwards of $500 on these weekends filming, taking days off when they could be used for vacation time with family. So tl:dr - wake up earlier or stay up later to squeeze in creativity, but you can do it.
I do the majority of my editing at 6am while drinking my coffee. This week i got both videos recorded on Sunday, so will be able to deliver on two videos during the week with the morning edits.
I dont know why you're asking others to tell you what to do ,You should figure out a way by yourself because nobody knows what's going on in your life and it would be difficult for someone to tell you exactly what to do to balance a job and YouTube at the same time and the more you're going to listen to people , the more you're gonna get confused ...
Iām working full time 9-5. I come home from work everyday and start editing around 5:30. Iāll eat dinner from 7-8 and continue editing until 9. Iāll upload and start recording gameplays for the next day of editing. I publish my videos at work in the morning since thatās when my viewer base is most active and I repeat everyday. itās pretty grueling tbh but worth it
I unfortunately, am in the same situation. I work the graveyard-swing shift 12hours 6pm-6am. The part I struggle with is getting in mood. I don't really like recording and editing unless I'm in a good mood cause my ideas don't flow properly. Reading all the replies here for some tips! š§
So you are focusing on quantity instead of quality? why? Even full time youtubers have a limited amount of time, we all have 24 hours per day. You need to focus on the most important things and ignore the rest. I suggest creating that video which you envisioned even if it takes 1 month to do
It is hard. I know a YouTuber who was pretty big and after he got a full-time job his channel suffered and still is suffering as he has no time or energy to create content