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Imagine starting a YouTube channel that eventually becomes your full-time job.
The perks of such a lifestyle, especially in a world where the 9-to-5 work structure is king, are endless. You no longer have bosses telling you what to do. You get to make videos that entertain thousands of subscribers. Even the ability to create your work schedule is wildly freeing.
All of this sounds like a far-fetched dream, but it doesn’t have to be. YouTube can be a full-time job. In fact, thousands of creators are living the fantasy as I type.
Read More: 6 Signs It's Time to Make YouTube Your Full-Time Job
According to researchers at Oxford Economics, YouTube supported 394,000 full-time jobs in 2020. These jobs belong to creators, in some percentage, who used their channels to launch careers.
In this episode of TubeTalk, we chat with Vyyyper, a tech creator, about how to make YouTube your full-time job. He shares all the tips and tricks he learned to grow a channel, network, and as of now, join vidIQ as executive producer.
Want to build a career on YouTube? Here are five skills to master along the way.
Burnout is a real thing on YouTube. Have you ever seen channels doing daily upload challenges, such as "vlogmas?" While you can get tons of views uploading every day in December (or any month), that’s a recipe for disaster. You might have to take a lengthy vacation from YouTube just to recover.
Vyyyper says new creators need concrete goals before committing to an upload schedule. Once you know your objectives on YouTube – gaining subscribers, increasing views, building a community – you can devise a plan to achieve those goals.
“Me, I knew I wanted to grow my main YouTube channel,” Vyyyper says. “So I know I need to put out content consistently on the channel, but I don’t want to burn myself out putting out that content, either…. It’s all about putting things into perspective and making sure you lay out a strategy you can actually execute.”
Most creators know they need to brand their YouTube channels. But what about the rest of your social media? Does every profile have to be YouTube-centric, or can you separate parts of your identity?
If you want to collect a full-time income from YouTube, you might have to make some sacrifices.
Read More: 3 Ways to Grow Your YouTube Business
“I always tell people that if you’re trying to build a personal brand, you want it to be consistent everywhere,” Vyyyper says. “So I’m Vyyyper literally everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram.”
When your branding is consistent, people can easily find you across social media. Most creators struggle with getting their channels discovered, so this is an excellent way to overcome that challenge.
Recruiters, bosses, and even co-workers in a traditional job will tell you networking is the key to success. It’s no different on YouTube. It truly helps to find a community of creators you have things in common with. That makes it easier to share video ideas, collaborate, and learn the latest news in your niche.
So how do you expand your network on YouTube? There are plenty of options, but Vyyyper says Clubhouse, the social audio app, is one of the best.
“Clubhouse gives you access to people you would not normally have access to,” he says. “One night, I was on a Clubhouse stage with MrBeast – someone I would never have access to talk to on another platform.”
Read More: How to Network on Clubhouse as a YouTube Creator
Here’s why you should choose Clubhouse over other platforms:
We’ll let you in on a secret. You don’t need hundreds of thousands of subscribers to build a YouTube career. After all, Vyyyper has just over 6,000 subscribers on his tech channel and landed a job at vidIQ. So what do creators actually need to go full-time?
They need relationships, of course. But not just any kind. To attract everything that comes with a full-time income, you should be genuine and generous, giving more to your network than you take. That’s how Vyyyper became Clubhouse-famous. He gave YouTube advice away without asking for anything in return, effectively growing his network.
“I have put in the work," he says. "I have a body of work to show for it. So I think it’s because of that as well, that [creators] are willing to give me their time because they know I’m a serious content creator.”
As you network, remember to:
And while you’re at it, here’s a fun video from Vyyyper about Clubhouse networking etiquette, which conveniently mirrors in-person etiquette.
As our co-host Dan mentioned, some creators focus on YouTube metrics instead of the people behind those numbers. Don’t make that mistake!
Do you know how many skills it takes to run a YouTube channel?
You have to be an expert on:
Creators don’t have all these skills before starting a channel. They learn them incrementally. But it takes courage to try something new on YouTube over and over again. You will have to step outside of your comfort zone to make it happen.
Read More: 7 Beliefs You Need to Have to Grow a YouTube Channel
“You have to be willing to adapt to the changes to stay relevant on YouTube as a content creator,” Vyyyper says. “You have to be willing to experiment and do things that you have not done before. It’s hard. It’s not easy. But the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Repetition is a big thing. Just take baby steps.”
So, yes. You can become a full-time YouTuber by learning the skills in this post.
Lydia Sweatt is a writer, bookworm, and bass guitar enthusiast. When she goes outside, a bicycle goes with her.
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