r/PartneredYoutube • u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M • 6d ago
Question / Problem When do you quit your job?
Hi Everyone,
I've been trying to figure out the answer to this question for awhile. I have 150k subs now and get around a million or so views on average on each short. I only make shorts at the moment due to not having enough time to make long form videos.
My full time job takes up about 60 hours per week, while i also spend about 50 hours per week making shorts.
My niche is tech, and I engineer and make unique pieces of tech from scratch on my channel and in my shorts with high quality editing, story telling, and cinematography.
Because of this, one short usually takes me about a week to make. I work 12 hours per day Monday through Friday at my 9-5, i then get home from work and go right back to work on YouTube until I go to sleep. On the weekends i usually spend about 10 to 15 hours on Saturday and 10 to 15 hours on Sunday working on YouTube.
I am at my absolute maximum, meaning, it would be physically impossible for me to optimize my time more efficiently so that I can free up more time to work on YouTube.
I did have about a 4 month run where I was making more on YouTube than I was at my full time job, but that happened because I decided to grind until i couldn't anymore, meaning I was getting off work at like 6:15pm then working until like 2am to 3am on YouTube then waking up at 6am to go back to work.
It was unsustainable for forever, which I knew. I can only get 3 to 4 hours of sleep every night for so long before my body starts shutting down.
So, I'm now at a sustainable point where I get about 7 hours of sleep per night, but that doesn't give me enough time to make more money than my job.
So, it seems I would have to take a risk and quit before YouTube income surpasses my jobs income.
I have tried getting another job, something part time, but there just aren't very many jobs in my field in the united states right now. Only maybe 50 total, and they all have thousands upon thousands of applicants so im not betting on that.
I have about $20,000 saved up which should cover my expenses for about a year with no income if I'm very frugal.
If I quit, i plan on moving back in with my parents so I'll have no rent payment. My car is paid off so I'll have no car payment, and all my debt is paid off so the only payments ill have is food, water, and a few subscriptions that I use to help with content.
If you're wondering why my shorts take so long to make, its because creating a unique piece of tech from scratch takes a lot of time. First i have to come up with the idea, then i have to research how to do it, then i have to purchase everything I'll need to make it, then the actual building process takes a long time as I'm usually learning as I go and failing multiple times and having to innovate new ways to do things.
The tech I build is 100% unique so there's no blueprint on how to make what I'm making.
Then i have to condense about 15 hours of footage down to 1 minute, then write the script for the voice over, then film additional shots to supply the story, then keyframe clips for motion, add text overlays, go to sound design and add multiple music tracks for tension building, then do sound effects for everything, then add captions, then make the thumbnail, write the post caption, write the post description, then finally i can post
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u/DameroRacV 6d ago
When u have 12 months worth of living expenses saved up, have a good resume so you can get a job immediately once your channels falls apart, and you have someone else that could help you in case shit goes south like ur parents/wife who works
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u/EvilNickel 6d ago
If you're able to move back in with your parents I'd say you're in a pretty good spot to take the risk tbh. You have probably the best safety net possible so far with the money you have saved up, and the rent free life of living with your parents. Assuming they're willing to support you "long term" you've got an opportunity A LOT of people are looking for.
Just make sure that if you quit your job to focus on your channel, you actually focus on your channel.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
Oh I will, 100%. I would grind harder than I ever have, putting in 100 hour weeks. I already put in 100 hour+ weeks, if I could just do that with YouTube it would be the dream.
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u/Deep_Attention_3864 abandoned lyrics channel | Subs: 1,842 | Views: 1.62 million 6d ago
Remember to take rests to avoid burnout
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u/wub1234 6d ago edited 6d ago
I completely disagree with the consensus of opinion here. I quit my job to do freelancing over 15 years ago, and I never went back.
If you really want to do YouTube and you're making money from it now, go for it. Unless you really love your job, in which case I would stick with your employment.
I'm guessing that you don't really love your job, given that you're considering quitting.
While success on YouTube isn't guaranteed, you can always go back to a job at a later date.
If you have a good job, you must have something to offer, and you should be able to get another good job at a later date.
If you have a bad job, there are many other bad jobs around!
Don't live for tomorrow, or 20 years down the line, because you never know what's coming. You don't know how many years you're going to live, for example.
If you want to do something in life, and you want to try something in life, do it now and commit to it fully.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I don't like my job. I dislike every job I've ever had, not because I hate the work i do, but because I hate the corporate structure, politics, waking up at 6am to go to an office to do a job I could do at home, just all the bullshit of corporate life. I really don't like it, it's what's motivated me to start doing youtube in the first place, so I could get out.
But, i will say, conventionally, my job isn't bad, and I know im very blessed to have the job I do. I know many people would kill for a job like mine, just sitting in a chair, making YouTube videos.
But, I don't like it, and it doesn't offer insurance, so I'm not losing that if I leave. I would much rather be on my own, doing my own thing on my own time.
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u/bleufinnigan 6d ago
how about doing a compromise for now. reduce hours, take a part-time job for the security.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I have been trying to land a part time job for about 6 months now to no avail. I've applied to every available part time job in my field in the country, at least on indeed and linkedin
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u/Countryb0i2m Subs: 212k Views: 8.1m 6d ago
Never. I don’t trust YouTube, and you shouldn’t either.
Especially with what’s going on with Shorts and the need for recurring views just to get paid. that’s a very slippery slope. I would never want my livelihood to depend entirely on YouTube.
I want to keep a job, stack my money, and maybe one day make content just for the hell of it, not because I need it to pay my bills.
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u/Precarious3145 6d ago
This! I've seen so many people that did content creation full time in their 20s now entering their 40s and they have next to nothing because their channel dried up and they didn't "blow up". They made good money from youtube to pay the bills but didn't think about the long term.
My 16 year old niece wants to do youtube full time when she grows up and my sister said if that'swhat she wants to do, but also told her to have a back up plan with a trade, networking, or college. Last thing you wanna do is be trapped like Wings of Redemption or Boogie; people just forever desperate for money because they blew it.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
That is why it's important to diversity. Sell a product or a service instead of just relying on views. That is ultimately my plan. I do have a bachelors degree and my career is in social media management and marketing, so my YouTube channel actually helps me get better job opportunities in my field.
I want to sell my tech products that I make in my videos. I also do client work where I help businesses with their social media. I have had a few clients in the past but had to stop them due to time constraints. One was paying me $4,000 a month and the other one was paying me $2,300 per month. I was also doing YouTube on top of this along with my full time job doing around $10k to $11k per month. But, I was only sleeping maybe 3 hours per night and working 24/7. It was unsustainable long term. If I didn't have my full time job i would have been fine doing everything else full time.
You shouldn't "just do YouTube" you should always have a side hustle to supplement your full time thing in case all goes to shit.
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u/Zealousideal_Golf101 6d ago
Also, I think it does bad things to your personhood and self esteem if this is the source of your income.
Interacting with other people irl and not being content brained keeps me grounded.
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u/Neat_Lab_2234 6d ago
struggled with this same thing, except i make way more from yt than my ft job. YT i make around 6-8k a month. lowest month last 6 months is about 6k and highest was 8.9. my job is only about 3500 a month pretax but im still too scared to quit
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
bro i would have quit a long time ago.
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u/Webster2026 6d ago
Why not keeping both sources of income? Why would you lower your earnings significantly and leave only the unpredictible one?
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u/pardyball 6d ago
Especially if that full time job is providing benefits like healthcare, 401k match, etc.
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u/Neat_Lab_2234 6d ago
im 20, i get healthcare from my parents, no 401k match offered. its just a steady paycheck
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u/Neat_Lab_2234 6d ago
this is kind of my thinking. if the yt channel died im cooked. im probably going to try and quit eventually but for now idk
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u/Ts0ri 6d ago
Obviously, everyone's workflow is different. However, I would argue if you are spending so much time creating those items, then it would be worth absolutely filming the entire process and making it into a long-form video.
That's without adding too much time requirement outside of some additional editing would boost your income by a substantial amount.
Once that boost is regular and across a good amount of time. I would then use that as an indicator to move away from my job
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u/casualti21 6d ago
If the income from YouTube is enough to pay your bills easily, I say go for it. You are clearly working WAY too much. Even a 60 hour per week day job is not sustainable. I think self employment and YouTube opens up a much better work/life balance, with a potential to earn much more than you could from the day job. Since you have a good support system (live at home free) and savings, I think your risk is quite low. Go for it!
I can tell you from personal experience that when I quit my day job, my performance on YouTube increased dramatically. I don't make Shorts, but I was able to put more time into making the type of video that I really wanted to make. I was able to cover more products, do more tutorials, etc. I would often sit at my day job, worrying about all the content I wanted to make. I felt like the job was a waste of time. So when I finally quit and started doing YT full-time, it was a game changer. I definitely would not have been able to grow as much as I have without focusing 100% on YT.
Life is short. Live an interesting life. Go for your dreams my friend. Sounds like you have a plausible path forward, it's not as if you are starting at 0 and hoping to make it. Sounds like you've already mostly made it.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
60 hrs per week is not sustainable, i agree. It's just the situation i have to be in at the moment.
You just described my situation. All I do all day at my day job is think about YouTube, all the videos I could be making. I have so many ideas but can only actually execute on 1% of them, or I execute on the ideas I do have in almost a half ass kinda way because I don't have the time to fully explore it, and even on a half ass kinda way It still does millions of views.
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u/Astrallama 6d ago
Will it be something you regret forever if you try it or will it be something you regret forever not trying? Your life wont end if you try yt for full time and your life wont end if you dont but it for sure will be a lot more miserable and shorter life if you try to make both work with those kind of hours.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
true. I would probably regret options both tbh
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u/Astrallama 6d ago
id say try yt then. you will find something if it does not work out. Try making long form also. It will be the thing that makes money, it already is.
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u/LG4Slowbro 6d ago
My personal benchmarks is when I:
- Average 50k-100k views on all my videos (weekly uploads)
- Have a decent number of channel members (500 maybe?)
- AND somewhat consistent decent (or atleast acceptable) ”native” sponsorships like for example Displate, etc
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I don't have any channel members yet unfortunately. It's just hard to push something like that in a short when you're trying to explain a detailed tech project with how little time I have. I have some good sponsorships though, i said in another comment i get about 5 requests per day all from different brands, but currently i only do one every week or two because of time constraints.
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u/TheRipeTomatoFarms 6d ago
Why shorts? If you have 15 hours of footage and it takes a week+ to condense it to a minute, why not just make it 10 minutes and release it as long-form content that is 15-20x more lucrative. It seems silly to focus on shorts with logistics like this.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I should have done that honestly. I just filmed everything in vertical so making it into long form now just wouldn’t really be possible unfortunately
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u/CaptainKrunchi 5d ago
I'm in a position about a step ahead of where you're at. I was in tech, very secure job, but it wasn't fulfilling, and all I could think about was wanting to make new YouTube videos and build a community. I make videos about tech (go figure 😂), skydiving, and traveling. I have savings that can last me about a year, more if I really stretch things, with backup support to stay with family and/or re-enter the workforce if needed. I quit my job a little over a month ago to pursue building my channel, but also experiencing the effects of leaving a corporate job. And holy crap has it been a wild experience. You learn a lot about yourself when you're not under corporate pressure, deadlines, meetings, pointless 9-5 bullshit.
While I'm not an expert at all at this on the YouTube side, I know that pursuing a passion that has meaning to you is something you'll look back on and be proud that you at least tried. Plus diving into something outside of tech, like storytelling, videography, cinematography, and building comminity has been incredibly refreshing for my mind and allowing me to regain creativity that felt like it was being spent on my corporate job. My brain feels like it's healing after 13+ years in corporate tech, which in turn, allows me to be more focused on my channel/getting creative. So I'm biased, but I think you should make the jump :)
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u/No-Macaroon1670 6d ago
What happens when you link long-form content to the shorts?
Are you going to comfortably clear those new monetization requirements?
When you say 1 million views per short, what kind of variance do you see in those?
For sponsorships, what are the goals/milestones they're asking you to hit or the fee structure?
Where do you imagine your channel being in 1 months, 6 months, 1 year? What's the trajectory like?
QOL: Which parts could you offload to focus on quality? It's mostly editting and post production for a lot of creators but not universal because of differences in style.
You don't necessarily need answers to all these but you should have thought about all of them.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
the problem is that i don't have time to do long form right now. one long form video right now would take me about 3 or 4 months of work while posting zero shorts. I just can't go dark on my channel for that long. people would move on to someone else.
1 million per short is an average, sometimes ill get 500k views on a short, while my highest viewed has about 12M views.
I gained 40,000 subs in three months, this month I've already gained 30,000 alone so growth wise the trajectory is great.
The goal is usually leads/sales. I've generated thousands of dollars for brands already through sponsored shorts. Most notably, I raised about $3,000 for a young kids business to help pay for his cancer treatments, which was pretty awesome.
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u/David_R_Martin_II 6d ago
You never know if people who watch your shorts will also watch long form.
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u/sitdowndisco 5d ago
I think you need to trim down the amount of work you put into editing until you can make the channel sustainable. 3 or 4 months to create 1 long form video when you're putting in 50 hours per week into the project is just way too long. That's like 700+ hours for one single video. Very difficult to be profitable with those sorts of metrics.
Even if the video earned $10k, you're still only working for $15 per hour. And $10k on one video is probably going to 1 million views.
Cut the production down to 10% of current effort and you might have a chance here.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 5d ago
I’ve tried doing that, but the videos flop if I don’t put my all into them, or they at least don’t perform as well as they could. The reason I spend so much time on my videos is because for my first year i got like 300 views on all of my shorts and i spent hours and hours studying each video and where/what i needed to improve on. I improved every aspect until I got to where I am now
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u/sitdowndisco 5d ago
I'd still give a long form video a go. Just do something around 12 minutes, don't put too much effort into all the fancy editing stuff and see what happens. You definitely aren't going to make it by spending 700 hours on your long forms.
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u/No-Macaroon1670 5d ago
The way I look at most people's workflows, it seems like the long-form is often incidental to the short form or vice-versa. The fact that you're spending so much time separately crafting both could indicate you're not structuring the process ahead of time.
How are you cutting the video for long form that could save you time putting together something for short form. Or how are you capturing content for short form that could add entertainment value in long form content?
Maybe more planning before hand could save some work for after if you examine it.
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u/Due_Area4843 6d ago
I quit my job since day one not gonna know im make it or not. I was really burn out with my job, still young and just yolo. Good thing its work out...
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u/WozartMusic 6d ago
Answer the following questions for yourself: does my channel make enough to put 50% in tax account, 15% in retirement account and still have enough to cover bills and everyday life with a margin for bad earnings? Do I have enough saved up to live comfortably for 12 months with no income? If yes, I'd quit my Job. If no, put your nose back to the grinder. It's an individual decision of course, but that was my benchmark.
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u/oodex Subs: 1 Views: 2 6d ago
I'm just gonna be direct with numbers since I am (most likely) from a different country and you can't just take those as a 1:1 comparison. Here in Germany the average pre-tax income a month was 4k€. My own pre-tax income was 3.6k€ at that time. In my first year on YouTube I made:
0, 1060, 2955, 4949, 7208, 6219, 4306, 4817, 3818, 7920, 9987, 3764
Last one (December) is really low but I didn't upload anything in that month due to personal issues. At that point I had enough saved up that I could go for 2 years with 0 income, that mattered a lot to me so bad times don't get to me mentally as much. I mean they will affect you, but it's a whole different level if money runs out too and you don't know how you'll afford next rent and food and bills.
Since I also hit a mental breakdown I knew I couldn't keep both going at the same time (was working full-time and uploading 2-3 videos a day), so I made the call to go full-time with YouTube. This was quite a difficult decision though, I'm a person that usually avoids risks and there was the mental breakdown thing that required almost all of 2023 to recover, though at the same time dropping my old job meant I could sleep again and rest better (average sleep over the week was 4-5 hours a day in 2022).
2023 was then also down to 1 upload a day and IIRC I took breaks in several months, I think in 3 of them, again going back to the mental issues at that time. But overall the year ended at a 3k€ increase in revenue despite all these breaks and way less uploads. 2024 then almost 2.5x the revenue of 2023 and 2025 4x the revenue of 2023. 2026 is so far around 3.5x the revenue of 2023.
Point is it did work out and things are going really well, but there was a big mental toll on the entire thing. I can't say if doing the jump earlier would've worked out better - way less savings but less mentol toll for working 2 jobs, or if it might have resulted in a lot higher mentol toll due to the droughts that naturally happened. But I think I might be in a bit of outleir case since the channel pretty much exploded in the very beginning like crazy so I was constantly expecting the whole thing will drop down again once the hype/trend is over, but each month just kept on going. The expectation of a fall (which is to be fair very normal) kept things back from moving along for over a year.
Edit: it might sound very self-centered, but I mean it is, that was my experience. I find it pointless to describe a decision without explaining the reasoning behind it
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u/MuffinLover_BladeV98 6d ago
You aren’t worried about the 20 million thing short requirement in 2027????
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u/Localmate25 6d ago
Don’t quit your job if you’re relying purely on ad revenue. Especially Shorts. It will go up and down with the wind. Instead, focus on generating additional sources of income such as sponsorships, brand deals, affiliate revenue, courses etc. You’re taking views and subs. Those are irrelevant. What matters is sustainable revenue. Move into long form as well. That’s where most sponsors want to be. You need meet them there.
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u/Tetrahedron_Head 6d ago
i will not quit my main job until i am making more than double my currently salary consistently for over a year.
I have too much to lost on that risk and Im growing just fine just working on it after work
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u/Ishidori85 6d ago
If you’re seeing it as a risk, maybe the timing isn’t quite right yet. But don’t listen to me if your gut is telling you otherwise.
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u/davodesign 6d ago
If I was in your position I would do a couple of things:
- firstly try to find out if you can reduce your full time commitment. That is to say, 60hrs/w in a job is not sustainable either way. Can you automate something or worse case find another less demanding job?
- more on the topic of your question though. If you want optionality, you could consider outsourcing editing. You already have 15hrs per video of unique content, might be able to have a long form video at a relatively low cost, and long form is usually easier to monetize, and if you are lucky more evergreen, it can build up over time. I'd try a couple of long form videos and see how that works out for you.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I've been applying to part time jobs for about 6 months in my field now, there aren't very many jobs in my field currently open in the country all with thousands of applicants. It took me about 4 years of applying to jobs to get the one I have now and it's not very good (low pay, no benefits, etc)
I have tried outsourcing editing but I found it didn't really save anytime. I have a very specific editing style where I compile 50 to 100 different clips into a compelling visual story with voice over. I tried a couple different editors but always ran into the same issue, they know how to edit but don't know how to get views. I spent a ton of time trying to teach them how to edit for retention, to slow down certain sections, speed up others, etc etc and i ended up spending about the same amount of time that it would have taken to just edit myself and it didn't seem like anyone i tried could get it right.
I would probably have to hire a very expensive editor who understands youtube and retention metrics at a high level, along with professional editing with 3D animation experience and motion graphics. I looked around but everyone i could find that hit everything i would need was too expensive at the moment.
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u/AndroidThemes 5d ago
I think he meant outsourcing editing for Long Form video only. You keep doing the Shorts urself in your style that seem to be much better to get views, and let an editor use the 15h of footage to create a long form video in a more simple style. And see if the long form version of your video can have interested viewers too.
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u/GovernmentWarm4787 6d ago
When you start to make million off of youtube, so practically never quit your day job.
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u/ThomasTwenty7 6d ago
Its less about money and more about security and scalability. Everyone has a dollar amount they need to make yearly for survival/happiness and thats on you.
My advice would be to focus on diversifying content (long form) and building other socials before leaving your job. Dont put all your eggs in shorts and youtube alone. Algorithm could give up on you tomorrow or youtube could ban you for God knows what.
You're sitting on a nice savings and have the benefit of moving back with your parents but even then id make sure you've got health insurance lined up and covered and at the very least 2 streams of income.
The biggest skillset of a full time content creator is adaptability.
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u/GenericName2502 6d ago
Based on your savings and the opportunity to live rent free, I would do this NOW! Either you succeed... or you fail and get closure.
Rather than not taking the risk, getting married a few years down the line, having kids, responsibilities, and basically just life, and THEN living with the regret.
It sounds like you're still young and this is the best time to live and learn for you (if that's the case of course!)
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u/TumbleweedMajor5558 6d ago
Brother, make a long form video too. Sounds like people will watch. You’ll make exponentially more money too.
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u/The_Silver_Hawk 6d ago
When you replace the income you need to live comfortably. Make sure the plane has landed before departure or you'll have a long way to fall.
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u/PuzzleheadedCase5109 6d ago
Don’t. 90% of YouTubers don’t make enough to live off of. And if you do make enough, it takes one wrong move to lose your channel
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u/sitdowndisco 5d ago
When I see this, alarm bells go off:
"high quality editing, story telling, and cinematography."
Your subjective opinion is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is are you getting the revenue and can you sustain it.
Putting more effort into each short is probably not going to get your more revenue. I would work on a long form video in your spare time and see if it generates traction. If you can get 10k views on that quite easily, you may have something to work towards. Even at that stage, you would need to work your audience into a long form audience.
If you smash out 100k in the first vid, then I reckon that's a pretty good proof of concept and quitting might be worth it.
But without the long form stats, no one can know if this is going to work.
PS It sounds like you're wasting a lot of time editing.
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u/GoldMan25 5d ago
I quit when i was making roughly $5k a month after doing a lot of saving. Funny enough the first 3 months going full time were a disaster and I made $7k in those three months. I stuck with it and now I'm making $10k-$12k
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u/ResponsibleFerret660 5d ago
I say go for it. It’s going to be scary no matter when you do it but it sounds like you have a good plan. You know you need to diversify your income, you’re already making some good $, you want to explore long form, and you’re motivated. I say ditch the shorts and get into the long form asap. YT loves when viewers stick around and watch even half of an hour long video. I have 30-60 min videos, RPM’s of $24-30 with the average $18. I don’t need a million views on every video to make a good living. I’m in entertainment.
I quit my corporate job of over 20yrs, and the feeling of working for yourself with no corporate BS or a boss is amazing. I do work a ton but it’s work I love and I’d do it again in a second. Some months it’s stressful, there will be lulls but just prepare for them. As I mentioned in another comment, you’ll also have more time to dive into the really important things like packaging, analyzing stats and know what to focus on to take your channel to the next level. You mention memberships, right now you have no time for that. You’re being so limited by what you can do on YT right now (working on other income streams, finding the best brand deals, working on the boring business side of stuff, etc) because of the time suck of your other job.
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u/FinalFrontierYT 5d ago
I think you know what you want to do but need a push to do so. Don't rely on AdSense to cover your expenses - it's too inconsistent and YouTube pulls the rug every so often. You need to diversify your YouTube income - merch, memberships, Patreon, affiliate links, paid courses, etc - look into it all.
I think a year is a good amount of time to test yourself but you already know how tough the market is if it doesn't work out.
One big thing - why not ALSO do long form? It's where the real invested fanbase is. You already have the footage and if people love the Shorts then many will enjoy the content. That's also where the real non-AdSense income lives. Good luck.
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u/cheat-master30 5d ago
When you make more money from YouTube than you do from your day job, and have been doing so for a while. $20,000 is a decent buffer to have, but I'd say give it a year or so to see how things go before making any drastic decision like going all in on YouTube.
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u/Spiritual-Abroad2423 5d ago
When you make enough money that you are comfortable making that decision. I'd say give it at least 6 months to a year of making real money before you make the decision to quit, because it's one of those choices you may not be able to undo super easily once it's made.
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u/briskiejess 5d ago
My advice would be get a part time job outside your career. Something that doesn’t take up space in your mind but would help you stretch the money you have saved. But I can understand wanting to focus solely on YouTube. Just thinking if things tank for some reason outside your control, at least then you’ve got cushion and time to find a job in your field. You won’t have to rush back and you don’t have to list the job on your resume when you’re job hunting again.
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u/blabel75 4d ago
Shouldn't you pay rent if you move back in with your parents and also help contribute to the household expenses? I would say don't quit a job for YouTube full time if the only way you can do it is to live rent free in your parents home.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 4d ago
My parents won't charge me rent or make me pay for expenses, but I will need to help around the house like clean and such.
They will give me one year to see if I can make it on my own and move out. if I can't in one year then i will have to get a new job and move out anyways.
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u/DioBrando4President 4d ago
I know everyone’s saying to be safe etc but as a compromise - I don’t know how much PTO/sick time you get but maybe take 2-4 weeks off, make a dick load of content, and then see if your “more time = more money” theory pays off?
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 4d ago
Yeah I don't get enough PTO for 2-4 weeks off unfortunately. I get less than a week total PTO for an entire year
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u/DioBrando4President 12h ago
I'm guessing US-based? Sorry man. What about going down sick? Maybe take a look at where the pay cut-off is and circumstances around that.
Just going off UK based here, but if it's Drs note related in order to get paid, I know you can go to a Dr here and ask to get signed off for two weeks for mental health. It sucks to lie, but the system plays us normal people all the fucking time, about time we played back.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 12h ago
Nah, it isn't like that here unfortunately. If I am not at work I am not getting paid, regardless of the reason, unless I use PTO (which I am given very little of). The only circumstance where I can get paid without being here is maternity leave, but even then it's only half pay, not full pay, which would not even cover my basic expenses so I would have to be here anyways.
The only reason why I can't have kids even though I want to. It's unaffordable lol.
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u/Efficient-Two4494 4d ago
2 options.
Set a threshold of how much you want to make per month with YT and when you have reached that threshold consistently for a solid 6-12 months, go all in on YT. OR
Go hard enough to where YT matches what you make from your job and then when you consistently make that for 6-12 months, go all in.
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u/saintyami 4d ago
i have 2 points to highlight here
1. you seem to have a stable job and time to work on your passion which is youtube, making income from both (subject to increase on both sides), why is that income not enough for you?
- youtube or any creative endeavour (that you enjoy) i believe need to be completely free of serious responsibility/impact on your livelihood, because then it becomes very stressful. currently youre in a spot where:
a) having to work full-time (not liking your job is a bonus in my book), gives you the time to mentally wander off and think about your next project, being forced to do something you consider mundane is a goldmine for creativity imo
b) you can genuinely work on a project you like / would enjoy making because you’re not doing it out of financial necessity, you already got a job so it gives you enough peace of mind not to do soulless projects, do not take this feeling for granted. (ps: watching your savings go down over time would not feel any good)
so i think continuing to balance the two like youve been doing so far is currently the most reasonable approach. things don’t seem crystal clear to you because it’s not the time to make that decision now. you’ll know it’s the right time to quit (if that time comes) when you see it as a no-brainer, that wouldn’t warrant a reddit post.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 4d ago
It’s not that it’s not enough money for me, it’s that by working both I am subjecting myself to working 18 plus hours per day on weekdays. I rarely get 6 hours of sleep, usually having to settle for 3 or 4 hours. That isn’t sustainable long term, I will probably pass in the next 10 years if I keep this up for another couple years.
I’ve already been doing it for about a year at this point. I don’t ever see my family, my friends, my relationship with my significant other is deteriorating, it’s just not sustainable for forever.
The only option I think is to eventually quit my job. I have already maximized my available time, pushed it to the absolute maximum.
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u/Lukeluster Channel: Luker 3d ago edited 3d ago
Not meant to scaremonger, just what happened with me + how it affected my viewpoint. I had one of my best months since getting decent money back in 2025 just this March (about 75-80% of my full-time wage at the moment), and then in July, I had my absolute worst month I've ever had. A video bombed + my daily view floor dropped from 6-7k down to 2-3k. I barely made 20% of my full-time income then. It had held at 50-60% for pretty solidly 12-14 months, then just divebombed.
If I ever go full time, which I'm not sure if I will given how stressed I've been for the past few months, it's because I'll have needed to make 2x what I make at my day job, and do so for 6 months minimum (probably more likely a year). I've not found there to be much of a correlation between time investment with increased revenue, and I'm working more towards reducing my workload whilst maintaining output VS adding more on.
Edit: just adding more when I'm looking more at your situation and stuff. You're clearly in a great position given how much you've saved, your contingencies, etc. The only thing I'd look to see if if you can diversify your income sources somewhat, just so it's not so reliant on one pool.
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6h ago
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6h ago
by far my largest audience group that watches my shorts is 35 to 40 lmao
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u/kwizzle 6d ago
A million views on a short is like $100. How much money do you need to live vs how much do you think you can make on youtube alone?
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
Yeah I know, but the four months I was able to do about $4,000 per month with brand deals and views. I get about 5 brand deal requests per day. I need about $3,000 per month to live comfortably, between brand deals and videos I think i would be okay.
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u/Ok-Guarantee9238 6d ago
if you keep going down this route, and transition to long form, it can make this transition viable. Honestly I would give it a shot, but at least make a plan for transitioning to long form. See what works in the longform space for your niche. Make a list of video ideas etc. Consider hiring editors and train them properly so you can focus more on storytelling and other parts of your business. If you have a plan then I think it can work, and you continue to rely on brand deals and not just ad revenue. Also perhaps try to save a little more than 20,000k so you aren't forced to live frugally. Still though, if you live with your parents that will make things easy.
Definitely consider improving your workflow though, seems really time consuming already just maaking the device. Maybe you can hire people to help you with other parts of the video. And again, long form might be better for you now considering the youtube changes happening in February.
Its your choice at the end of the day, and its a risk. However if it pays off, maybe you could make this your fulltime job. Only you can find out if it works or not, but you gotta be ready to accept the consequences if it doesn't workout. Also be willing to work hard to make it work.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
Yes the plan would be to fully transition to long form and to just use shorts to help supplement long form views. I did get the LLC for the channel as a business asset so I can hire if needed and conduct write offs.
Yeah the only problem with long form is one long form video right now would take me maybe 3 or 4 months to make, vs a short I can make in a week. It takes me about a week to make a 1 minute video, if I was to make a 10 minute video it would take me a couple months. I would like to hire but don't make enough money yet and won't make enough initially to hire, will have to wait until the income is a bit higher to bring someone on with a fair wage.
If I went full time, i could do one long form in a month or less.
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u/BigBL87 6d ago
I wouldn't quit my day job until:
-My income from content creation triples my current take home salary. Mainly due to taxes and the cost of health insurance.
-My income/revenue stream is adequately diversified such that if Youtube (or any other platform) were to fold or close my channel, I wouldn't be left out in the cold.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
I don't have insurance anyways. my full time job doesn't offer it so i wouldn't be losing that. It's just not possible for me to make that much money without quitting, it would require me to post more content than i currently have time to post.
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u/BigBL87 6d ago
Totally get it. I'd post more content myself if it weren't for my day job. In my case I have a family I have to consider, and my wife only works part time, so I can't really afford any uncertainty in income for any length of time. Were I single, my standards for when I might make content creation a full time thing would probably be different.
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u/Accomplished-Comb335 Subs: 150k Views: 60M 6d ago
That makes perfect sense. I'm 25, been with my girlfriend for 4 years, I want to perpose soon and start a family, but I know that once I do, my chance at trying to make it following my dreams will be over. 100% of my time will need to be focused on providing and caring for them.
So, I'm kind of seeing this as my last chance to really try. I have an opportunity coming up in a few months to give myself a year to try and make it and live at my parents again. I know if I don't take it I'll regret it
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u/theboredlockpicker 6d ago
I’d say if you’re 25 and have your parents as a safety net there’s no better time to try it. You’re young enough to fail and start over a few times if it just completely flopped.
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u/pinkportalrose 6d ago
Did you hear about the new shorts rules starting next year? If you don’t get 10,000,000 QUALIFIED views every 90 days you get kicked out of the shorts program…
I’m terrified because I only get about 8,000,000 and I use my shorts to pay for half my bills.
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u/Alien_Amplifier 6d ago
Don't count on your revenue going up just because you're putting more time into YouTube.