u/Accomplished-Comb335

Hi everyone,

I've now officially graduated from small youtuber to medium size after reaching 100,000 subscribers, so I was hoping to chime in here and share my thoughts and something I've learned overtime.

Firstly, YouTube is hard. It isn't easy for 99.9% of us. Getting to this point has taken me almost two years of consistency.

It took me an entire year of 100+ hour work weeks (I'm doing YouTube on top of working a 60 hour per week job) to hit 1k subscribers, then by year two, I crossed the 100k sub mark.

The reason why the vast majority of new youtubers fail is because it always takes more work and effort than originally thought. Most people start out thinking they can just upload whatever they feel like for that day and if they are consistent they will be able to do it full time in a few months.

That just isn't the case. More often then not, it takes literal years of seeing no views and no likes before you really start getting somewhere. It takes time to learn the platform, SEO, great editing, how to speak on camera, etc.

I see too many posts here, and on the newtubers subreddit, where people are complaining about not getting a ton of views or subscribers after a week or month of work. Again, it takes significantly longer than that on average to see success.

Also, you don't have to enjoy every little process of being a YouTuber to be a successful YouTuber. I have over 100k subs, and I hate filming. I like the editing part, but the vast majority of the time im filming or doing other things, which is the one part i hate.

But, I like seeing big view numbers, I like editing, and I like money. In order to do the part I enjoy, I have to get through the part I don't enjoy.

I think there is a huge disconnect between what people think YouTube is, and what it truly is in reality.

YouTube is simply a platform in which you are starting a media business, similar to how shopify is a business platform where you start an ecommerce business.

running a business is not always sunshine and rainbows. It's going to suck a lot of the time. It's going to be hard, and when you are starting from scratch, it takes a very long time to build + scale a brand and a loyal fanbase.

I hate when people say "im starting YouTube to follow my passion", but what exactly is your passion? is it video editing? Filming? Playing video games?

Because on YouTube, any one of those things is just a small piece of the pie. Sure, you'll edit videos, but only maybe 20% of the time. the rest of the time you'll be researching, writing scripts, conducting competitor analysis, looking for outliers, designing thumbnails, doing keyword research, etc.

If you only ever want to do one thing, and you can't bring yourself to do more, then you should focus on getting a job in that thing you want to specialize in. If you only like video editing, maybe just focus on that and edit videos for other YouTubers.

You might not enjoy doing all of those things, but it has to get done to run a successful channel. If I only "followed my passion" I would only ever upload videos I care to make, whenever I want to make them, and not put any real effort into anything else other than the video editing.

If I did that, the channel would not be successful.

EDIT: This is not meant to hate on anyone who is doing YouTube as a hobby. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and you can have a ton of fun just doing it that way.

This post is more so meant for those who are looking to do YouTube as a career. It is not a get rich quick scheme.

Hi everyone,

I've now officially graduated from small youtuber to medium size after reaching 100,000 subscribers, so I was hoping to chime in here and share my thoughts and something I've learned overtime.

Firstly, YouTube is hard. It isn't easy for 99.9% of us. Getting to this point has taken me almost two years of consistency.

It took me an entire year of 100+ hour work weeks (I'm doing YouTube on top of working a 60 hour per week job) to hit 1k subscribers, then by year two, I crossed the 100k sub mark.

The reason why the vast majority of new youtubers fail is because it always takes more work and effort than originally thought. Most people start out thinking they can just upload whatever they feel like for that day and if they are consistent they will be able to do it full time in a few months.

That just isn't the case. More often then not, it takes literal years of seeing no views and no likes before you really start getting somewhere. It takes time to learn the platform, SEO, great editing, how to speak on camera, etc.

Also, you don't have to enjoy every little process of being a YouTuber to be a successful YouTuber. I have over 100k subs, and I hate filming. I like the editing part, but the vast majority of the time im filming or doing other things, which is the one part i hate.

But, I like seeing big view numbers, I like editing, and I like money. In order to do the part I enjoy, I have to get through the part I don't enjoy.

I think there is a huge disconnect between what people think YouTube is, and what it truly is in reality.

YouTube is simply a platform in which you are starting a media business, similar to how shopify is a business platform where you start an ecommerce business.

running a business is not always sunshine and rainbows. It's going to suck a lot of the time. It's going to be hard, and when you are starting from scratch, it takes a very long time to build + scale a brand and a loyal fanbase.

I hate when people say "im starting YouTube to follow my passion", but what exactly is your passion? is it video editing? Filming? Playing video games?

Because on YouTube, any one of those things is just a small piece of the pie. Sure, you'll edit videos, but only maybe 20% of the time. the rest of the time you'll be researching, writing scripts, conducting competitor analysis, looking for outliers, designing thumbnails, doing keyword research, etc.

If you only ever want to do one thing, and you can't bring yourself to do more, then you should focus on getting a job in that thing you want to specialize in. If you only like video editing, maybe just focus on that and edit videos for other YouTubers.

You might not enjoy doing all of those things, but it has to get done to run a successful channel. If I only "followed my passion" I would only ever upload videos I care to make, whenever I want to make them, and not put any real effort into anything else other than the video editing.

If I did that, the channel would not be successful.

Hi everyone,

I've been searching for a good solo game for awhile.

I want something with good character building, some kind of campaign/narrative, combat, etc.

I'm a huge gloomhaven fan, but I'm currently playing through all the games with a group and would like to have something I can play solo.

The only downside to BOTSE I've heard is the barrier to entry is pretty big, it might take some time to actually learn the game and how to play which is the only thing putting me off from pulling the trigger.

Is it worth the time investment and the money investment?