YouTube Changed My Life

When I started my YouTube channel a couple of months ago it was because I could no longer work due to COVID. In my mind, I was sure that if I talked about things I was passionate about (True Crime), it wouldn’t be work for me.

I was dead wrong.

YouTubers dedicate an insane amount of time on their videos- true crime and history/current event channels even more so. We do hours upon hours of research to then start the tedious process of making the best video we can. Then, we worry about thumbnails, end cards and the like. For a newbie, I was blindsided. To make matters even more complicated, I wanted to stay “faceless”.

I currently sit at 388 subscribers and the minimum needed to make any money is 1000. You also need 4,000 watch hours. I have 90. I’ve created an Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all to promote my channel. I made a podcast version on Anchor. Yet I still sit at 388.

I get SEO reps reaching out daily to “promote” my channel. After trying that once and getting scammed, I feel overly cautious about trusting anyone claiming to increase my rankings.

I have found myself constantly immersed in murder, mystery and cold cases. Every minute of every day is spent researching — whether it’s crime research or how to be successful online research.

I went into this with the idea that anything I enjoyed would be easy. While I still enjoy it, it’s far from easy. My family feels ignored and my friends.. well, who am I kidding? A nerd like me hasn’t had friends in years. But, I find myself questioning if I’m even good at this. Is it worth it?

I still don’t know. I think I may have jumped in too soon without the proper preparation. I have decided to put my channel on pause for now. I will continue to write because, well, I can’t live without writing. I will also continue to immerse myself in True Crime and all things mysterious. Rest assured I will tell you about it. But as for recording and making videos, I just don’t have the time right now without some sort of compensation, as hard as that is to cope with. I feel that I have failed another venture, just not by my choice.

All I can do is hope to make it back and restart my channel- it is still up and will remain that way until I am able to return. There is one final farewell video I will link below.

If you want to be a YouTuber, a creator, I just want you to know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s hard work. YouTube will take away views, subs and comments if they think they are ‘suspicious’, whatever that even means.

But at the end of the day, if you’re passionate, do your thing. People will eventually be able to see that passion and you will reach success for yourself. Make sure you set up enough time to create your videos along with whatever research or preparation comes with it. Don’t underestimate that process. I look forward to doing it again once I can afford to. If you can build a real and true audience that engages with your content, you’ve made it. It can be very lucrative and rewarding if you stick with it.

As always, thanks for reading! You can find me on YouTube at:

My last video for now:

Instagram & Twitter:

Facebook:

And finally, here is my Patreon if you’d like to see me back sooner or feel the need to help my family during this time - we currently don’t have an income and have been searching for work. If not, that’s ok too, it has been a wild year and most families are in the same boat we are.

I didn’t go into this post with the intent of making it sound like a pity party and hope it doesn’t come off that way. I just want anyone interested in going down the social media route what to expect. I hope I’ve achieved that.