Being a YouTuber is not a waste of time; it's a valuable endeavor that develops numerous skills and can be a beneficial hobby, provided it's approached with realistic expectations, consistent effort, and a focus on audience engagement.
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Hey, it's me again. Um, just thought
about making a quick video. I don't
know. Just had this random motivation
spike. So, you know, why not? You know,
just some fun stuff for you all to enjoy
for Christmas. I guess it's my present
to y'all. But anyways, I just wanted to
talk about something. Uh, and what
better thing to talk about than just
YouTube itself. And I'm sure there's
people watching that would probably like
to stream and make videos to get other
people engaged in their content, you
know. Uh just just the the usual like
childhood aspirations, which of course
was one of mine, but you know, as we can
see, uh it's been it's been a while. And
what do I have? What a thousand subs?
You know, I mean, don't make fun of me,
please. Okay, but I just want to mention
the question being, is being a YouTuber
a waste of time? But before I actually
answer this, I I do want to establish
like the actual fundamentals of doing
YouTube, which there's some several like
crucial steps. First of all, like you're
going to want to have a lot of time,
preferably. And if if you don't have
time, I mean, that's that's still okay
cuz like I was making videos when I had
a job, and I I feel like the videos I
made there were actually pretty good,
too. In fact, some of the best videos I
made were actually when I had a job.
Sometimes like you can just get
motivation from anything. So, I mean,
time is important, but you don't have to
have a lot of it. But having a lot of it
definitely helps. But with the time, you
also want to put in just all the effort.
Not all the effort, but if you just
halfass a video, it's it's going to the
performance is going to be reflective of
it for the most part. I mean, if you
upload like memes or something, like
it'll get views, but at what at what
cost? Are people actually going to know
you for you or are they even going to
know you at all? I don't think they're
going to know you if they watch a meme
and subscribe. I don't think they're
going to know you as the guy who posted
that meme. I I don't really think so.
So, if you're if you're just consciously
putting in effort and trying to improve
yourself, I don't see how your videos
aren't going to get views over time,
just more and more, little by little.
It's a slow process. Very slow process.
So, you just have to have time and take
the time to make videos better and
better. just put more effort into it,
you know. And then another thing, so if
you're actually trying to improve, then
you should also be researching other
people who are in your niche. And what
that means is, for example, if you're a
Minecraft YouTuber, which is a terrible
niche to be in if you're starting, cuz
goodness, there's there's hundreds and
thousands of Minecraft YouTubers. I
mean, what am I doing? Oh my Oh my.
Anyways, so you're going to be looking
up people who are doing what you're
doing. And if you're not doing it better
than they are, then what exactly is
going to stand out with you? Unless you
change something up and do something
that like only you do, like something
original, like you add a twist or you
just have a unique persona or something,
like people are not going to know you as
the person doing that niche if there's
plenty of other people doing that niche.
So, you got to be competitive. So re
research the people that you're going
against in that field and do what
they're doing but better or do what
they're doing and add your own unique
like iconic twist to it that people will
will remember you so then they can be
like oh what was that guy doing the the
Minecraft mod but with the the funny
thing with it as well. I don't know. I'm
just making stuff up. With that mindset
people are going to remember you better
I guess. And of course you want to be
personable especially with streaming
too. So, if you want to be a streamer,
you need to get people to come back. And
this means if someone is chatting, you
don't ignore them, but you actually
greet them and maybe ask follow-up
questions. You know, it's just very
important to be polite. I've actually
seen countless examples of people just
giving just no attention whatsoever to
their chats. And then like one guy I
even raided and he muted everybody cuz
we raided him. Like that's free
engagement. He just boosted his channel
and yet he just he he gets annoyed by
that. I mean, to each their own, but
like what's the point in streaming and
having no commentary if you're just
going to like just avoid any
interaction? Like, what's the point of
even doing anything on YouTube if you're
not even trying? Like, surely that makes
sense. You want to be personable, which
means just getting people to come back
by being nice. Basically making friends
with everybody. If you view everybody
who watches as a friend, they will treat
you like a friend and they will come
back to see how you're doing. Literally,
it's that easy. It's that simple. Just
don't expect it to work. Like, you're
not going to get a thousand people on
your first day to come back. You might
get like one person or two people to
come back the next stream. But those
people are always very loyal if you
treat them like close friends. They will
come back like every stream. Trust me, I
I have viewers who still come back after
years. Like, it's actually crazy. So,
just trust me on this one. you. This is
literally like the most important thing
is just do something or be somebody that
people want to come back to, if that
makes sense. So, another thing is you
want to just do what people want to see
and then transfer over to what you
specifically want. So, like if people
have like a high demand to watch, I
don't know, Minecraft 100 day content,
then maybe you could think since people
like to watch these videos, I'm going to
make it but make it my way first. So
then you have your 100 day videos that
people will be searching for and then
they'll stumble upon yours so they'll be
interested and then over time as they as
they see all that then you want to
transfer and then you have this little
audience that likes you for you and not
for just the 100 days. Some of them will
only like the 100 days but the best
audience that you could possibly have is
the people that will like you for you
and will watch whatever you post. I mean
within reason. I mean, don't expect to
post the most irrelevant thing ever and
then have everybody come back. Like,
that's unrealistic. Just keep it keep
things realistic and at least a little
relevant. And then I also want to go
over some unrealistic expectations. So,
people definitely expect YouTube to be
easy and everything to just like the
subs to just stack up quickly, which
just doesn't happen unless you get this
like lucky spark or something just
magical happens. You win the YouTube
lottery. Like a lot of larger YouTubers
agree that it's just a lot of luck, too.
Like if you're not getting raided or
shouted out by larger people, there's a
chance you're not going to get huge
crowds coming to you. But with all the
steps I've already said, it will
definitely kind of maximize those
chances. Just higher chance of getting
lucky. You're not going to have 100%
chance of getting lucky, obviously. But,
you know, when you do get lucky, if you
actually have good content, people will
actually stay than if you get lucky and
have like just videos that people don't
remember at all. So obviously you
understand that when you finally do get
lucky, you will actually have good stuff
that people will finally come back to
instead of just some crappy 30-cond
video with no commentary. I don't know,
just making fun of my old self cuz, you
know, just the worst videos of all time.
Okay? So just don't have unreal
expectations. Expect it to be slow and
expect to get a few really good viewers.
And then the more you do it, the more
essentially the more you'll get like the
more viewers you will get. When you have
more viewers, you kind of have to learn
how to manage more. Especially on like
stream streams, videos is like you just
post a video, have a lot of people watch
it. But like streams, you got to manage
a lot of people, but you want to be as
friendly as possible and respond to
comments, especially on live streams.
Wouldn't hurt to respond to comments,
too. I mean, community engagement makes
people want to continue giving community
engagement. I mean, it's that simple.
Then, I guess one thing that kind of
demotivates people, I guess myself
included, is is the monetization
requirements, which is just the ability
to run ads. I think it's actually
different depending what country you
live in, but in the US it's like you
need 4,000 watch hours on your videos in
the last year, which means it has to be
4,000 hours in the span of 365 days
exactly. Or at least 4,000. Not exactly.
Obviously, not like you can't have only
4,000. That would be stupid. Like at
least 4,000 I mean. But like streaming
helps for sure. Longer videos basically.
This is watch time equals money. The
longer your videos, the longer your
streams. You'll get more watch time,
which will just increase your chances of
actually getting monetized, which is
obviously kind of nice. You know,
getting paid for making videos and stuff
is just a little better than doing it
for fun, maybe. Or maybe ruins the fun
for some people. Just don't don't have
that mindset. Just do it. And then when
you get monetized, wow, nothing changes.
you're still having fun doing it, but
now you get paid for it. I mean, that's
a good mindset, I guess. Um, just it's
always important. Stay determined. Have
patience in it. Keep trying. If
something isn't working, there's always
the option to try something else. After
all, you can literally upload as much as
you want. Anything you want. I mean, if
it's bad, it's going to get taken down.
Obviously, don't be uploading bad stuff.
It's that simple, okay? But like, just
keep throwing stuff at the wall until
something sticks and gets a little
better performance and everything else.
Boom, you've got something. Now work
with that. Make that better and then
boom. It's really simple. It's really
just a matter of trial and error. Just
do it. You can't do the same thing 600
times. Like you can't upload a like
Skywars video 600 times and expect to
just blow up magically. No, that's just
time. Like it took 600 videos to get
views. I'm not giving like a specific
example. I'm just making that up. But
like if you do the same thing and they
all do bad, obviously you're not going
to grow. But if you're changing things
up, trying to see what does better and
then doing the thing that does better,
obviously it's going to do do well. Then
something super important too is just
having like an iconic element to what
you do. So for me, it's I think we all
know it's the spatula. I mean, people
don't really see me as the guy with a
spatula. I mean, obviously not, but
that's kind of what I wanted. But if you
can just carry on a legacy and just kind
of bring that I don't I don't want to be
offensive like you know Technoblade his
he always just had these like sayings
like he never dies and stuff like it's
all so iconic to him like if you hear it
you just know it's Technoblade. It's
just that was something he was super
good at is just having this like iconic
phrases and personality. If you can just
stand out and have like a confidently
iconic demeanor to you, then people will
remember you as the guy who did whatever
you did. It's just it's really all that
is. You just you can't be like morally
wrong or anything like you have to just
don't do anything that affects people in
any bad way. Like just be like be funny,
be just articulate. I don't know.
Whatever you're good at, if it's
something that can benefit people, I
mean, people will will know you. So, I
guess at the end of the day, to answer
the actual question of is being a
YouTuber a waste of time, I would say
it's definitely not. I mean, it's not. I
mean, let's be real. Like, in the time
that you spend grinding YouTube, you
learn so much stuff like managing a an
entire like you could call it a
business. I mean, you got videos, you
got streams, you got shorts, you got
thumbnails, you got editing. It's it's
basically a business. I mean that it's
almost business management. I I would
call it that. It's very similar. Like
I've I've tried some stuff and I got to
say doing YouTube is very similar if you
actually like take analytics kind of
seriously, which I don't have a problem
with that. People say like don't look at
analytics, bro. If you want your videos
to get better, you're going to be
studying those analytics. I'm sorry.
Just don't don't let it take over like
everything. Don't stress out over it.
Just glance at analytics and make sure
everything's everything's all geeked up.
I don't know. uh YouTube you you know
develops your like artistic and critical
thinking and just a lot of things that
will help you in other things too you
know as I said video editing thumbnail
making just knowing how to script or
write or plan a video it's a lot of
skills that could literally be used for
other stuff too I don't know examples
like I don't know just other videos
other platforms literally just art a lot
of stuff but yeah um just it's not a
waste of time at all unless you do it
for years and years and do nothing else
all day and then you don't kind of get
anywhere with it, then I would suggest
maybe that's not for you. But like as a
hobby, YouTube is not a waste of time at
all. It's a completely beneficial hobby.
Not like crucial, but like doing it is
not a negative thing at all. So if
you're like, I'm not going to do YouTube
cuz it's just a waste of time. If that's
your mindset, but you want to do
YouTube, but you're afraid because it's
going to waste time, but then you have
not much other stuff going, I I say just
do it. Just try. And by try, I mean just
do it for a while. I mean, see if you
can do it after a little while. Don't
upload one video like, "Oh, it got five
views. I can't do this anymore." Bro,
it's one video. YouTube sometimes
doesn't even recommend stuff until you
have like 2 weeks worth of videos. So,
just upload daily first. do like simple
daily videos and boom, YouTube starts to
recognize that you actually have a
channel with videos and then boom, then
you can start to space it more once
YouTube starts getting impressions and
then make things better quality. And I
guess the rest is history. I mean, I
have 1,000 subscribers and this is kind
of everything I know. And I just I hope
I kind of let you guys in on some nice
info. I know it's kind of beginner stuff
only. I haven't uploaded in a while, but
I hope this could help somebody. But
yeah, that's really it. Yeah, just to
say, yeah, it is not a waste of time.
It's a good thing to do. And, you know,
thanks for listening. I'm glad to have
made a video that might impact hopefully
somebody at least at least just impact
your thoughts. Not your actions, but if
your if your actions are influenced,
then boom. That's just awesome. Yeah.
Thanks again. And that's it. Um, I will
see you someday. I don't know. Subscribe.
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