Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: ↑Wed Dec 20, 2023 7:18 pm

Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 11:20 am The Youtube experiment.

I’d long considered making Youtube videos might be an enjoyable and potentially easy way to make a living while traveling, but after a couple of months actually doing it, I’ve realized it’s not for me. Here’s why.

I started making YouTube videos seriously on the 4/10/23 with 72 subscribers and 300 watch hours, being monetized two months later after reaching the required minimum 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours. The average time for Youtube monetization takes between 18-24 months so I was pleased to have reached this important milestone in a relatively short period of time.

The channel continued to grow with several of the 37 videos reaching almost 40, 000 views and many of them reaching almost 10,000 views or more. Along with the ongoing steady rise in subscribers, these numbers were encouraging suggesting reasonable growth was occurring and everything was heading in the right direction. So why stop if the channel is off to a good start?

Making, editing, and uploading YouTube videos, writing descriptions, designing thumbnails, attending to comments, emails, and managing the whole YouTube process is time consuming, with the amount of effort involved completely altering life and the travel experience. I was seemingly at work most of the time, or at the very least thinking about it, which removed the sense of freedom traveling once offered - YouTube began to dictate my days from what time I woke up to where I would go.

Generating money from Youtube to support the travel lifestyle was actually happening with $AUS200 made in the last 28days, that without a video having been uploaded in almost two weeks. With consistent uploads every two or three days (and the accompanying workload associated with it) I believe within another 6 months or so the channel might have been self-sustaining for life on the road - but for me, it wouldn’t have been worth it.

I’ll make videos occasionally to maintain the channel’s monetization status as I guess you never know what the future might bring, but from where I stand right now, the Youtube experiment is over. I won't miss making ridiculous faces.