You guys want a little behind the scenes honesty? Its going to sound a bit like complaining, I promise it isnt. But I want to give you a look behind the vale. Here’s the honest truth. Read on…
I gotta’ tell you this is the hardest I have ever worked on YouTube in my 12 years of making content. To release 5 videos a week MINIMUM means constantly grinding with every free moment I can find. I love it, but I have found something rather disheartening that is a bit of a smack to the face.
Looking at my analytics I can see a estimation of how much money my videos have earned over the last month and I can get a very rough idea how much of a paycheck I may see at the end of the month. Unfortunately, I am watching that number drop, and drop, and drop. Where we are down about 25% of our previous payments. The only reason I decided to quit my main home job as an artist was because of my desperation to be a youtuber, and also, because there were a few videos that got some really high viewership, which means higher paychecks. I barely even touch what I used to make as an artist, but I either have to be completely a youtuber, or completely an artist, and my passion for YouTube completely passes my desire to continue being an artist. I’ve tried mixing both and it doesn’t work. There is no way for me to keep up with the flow of work and video creation at the same time.
Behind the camera I have been talking with my wife and telling her I knew this was coming, and the future of this channel is on the line if I cant find a way to make these videos get more attention. Trying to get more money via monetization requires videos to actually “win the lotto” as I like to say. They need views, they need to go viral, they need interest. Considering YouTubers make roughly $5 for every 1000 views (VERY ROUGHLY) you may get a rough guestimation of what I make on my average more popular videos that get 200 views on average.
When I look at my content I see something very obvious. My vlogs, podcasts, generic videos, get maybe 20-50 views max, for the life that they are on the internet, they may grow to 100 +/- but it stops there. My gameplay videos, maybe about the same if not less. My VR videos on a good day on average between 200 – 4000 views. My music videos 20-80 but can grow upwards of 20,000 views in a few months depending on the topic, (BUT I TRULY HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I AM DOING WITH MUSIC! So inspiration is required to make those and its harder to make constant content on music when I am truly a beginner). Same possible counts with my tech reviews depending on the tech I review.
Any business needs money to survive, and unfortunately though I am working literally 3 or 4 times harder than I have in the past with youtube, the viewership isn’t there. YET? I remind myself that every video I make is an investment in my future as I have watched many videos go from next to no views to 10,000 + views in a few months. Like any studio making a movie, you gamble, spend your money, make your movie, and hope it makes you multi-millions in the box office. That’s what I do every day. I buy product I hope gets interest, buy games I hope get interest, and when I can, pay editors to help me keep up with the flow. It isn’t always successful, and watching the analytics are painful, much like the stock market.
If you are one of those amazing people wondering how you can help, the answer is incredibly simple. We need HYPE, videos go viral because people put HYPE behind it, when they love it, they share it. If you like one of our videos, share it. Hit the like button, and leave a comment. This tells YouTube to share it out further across the YouTube network. It is as simple as that. Its free and only takes a second. If you are willing to put your money down, buy a t-shirt, buy a membership for $2 a month for early access of all of our videos, or $4 a month to see behind the scenes and gameplay of other fun games I enjoy playing behind the scenes if I find a free moment. Or shop through my links when you buy anything on Amazon. Even if you click on one of my links, and then go find the product you are looking for, because you went to amazon through my link, believe it or not, I get paid for even if your buying diapers… Even though I dont have a link for it. As long as you shop on amazon by going through my link first, I get payment for it.
I promise I am cranking as hard as I can to get out content. Success comes with hard hard hard work, and I am SO willing to do that. No time to breathe, and when I do, I feel the guilt of not cramming. Even on this little break I will be taking for a few short days I am still taking a camera with me I intend to review while we are away, I am still grinding, even when I am supposed to be on a break.
Keep supporting us, success comes in numbers. Your support and push for this channel drives it forward, every new view and subscriber is so incredibly important for the future of this channel and my abilities to keep it running. I DREAM of taking this all the way. I want that so incredibly badly. But we have such a long way to go, and saying that we are running out of time financially, is truly a reality. My ability to invest in this is running out if I cant turn this tide.
I expect most of this to fall on deaf ears, but just needed a small moment of honesty behind the scenes here. I AM INCREDIBLY HAPPY with the growth I see every day! This is truly amazing! But behind the scenes past the joy of seeing the movement forward, I am striving to make this channel look successful, and look like I am making a killing and doing a huge move up to success, because apparently that is the way to get more views. Literally the Instagram filter. But the truth is, this is paycheck to paycheck. Thinly. While still trying to enjoy the life of getting to do what I do.
I love you guys so much and thank you so much for your support in every form. You rock, so hard. Please dont see this moment of honesty as complaining or sadness. Just seeing the reality ahead, and ready to kick its butt. But I need help, and I am looking squarely at you, because if you have read this this far. You are invested in this channel too. That to me is HUGE, and I deeply appreciate it.
Do me a favor and hit the like button on this post if you see it, it would be awesome to see people reading this.
1st Tim 4:12
Tim