I joined YouTube in 2007 and started posting content on there in 2008.  At the time the partner program didn't exist where you could get a revenue share from the advertising.  People started building sizable followings but the only people making anything were people indirectly pushing traffic from YouTube to their own website or selling apparel that went along with what they were doing.  

That is the way I was approaching the platform.  I was using it to sell Track & Field related stuff.  I got a little more creative and was doing some comedy related stuff on there.  The audience wasn't big enough and I got really burnt out putting in a ton of work and then seeing other people get a ton of views off things that didn't take near as much work.  They weren't making any money but I was still upset about it.  Going throught that experience has actually helped me keep a more level head on Steemit.  This isn't my first rodeo.  

The Frustration

South Park even did a episode about the people who were YouTube famous and making fun of the fact that there was no monitization for their Internet fame at the time.  

We could all see what was happening.  The clear path was that YouTube / Internet video was going to kill the television star just like the television star killed the radio star.  

The question was how not to go broke trying to build a huge Internet following.  

The ones that seemed to build large followings seemed to have help along the way or a blatant disregard for profitablity for several years.  Some were being subsidized by their parents or loved ones and others were helped along by YouTube themselves.  If you remember Fred he was given that username and was propelled into the limelight.  Fred can't be considered destitute.  He made out really well on his YouTube experience.  His clothes were in Hot Topic and he was in several movies.  He ultimately sold his YouTube channel for big bucks.  

At the time I noticed a lot of jealousy toward Fred from a lot of other YouTubers.  He was the first to reach 1,000,000 subscribers.  The partner program still wasn't in place yet for the masses.  I kept applying in 2009 and 2010 but got rejected.  I was so pissed off.  It wasn't until around late 2011 to early 2012 when I was able to get into the YouTube Partner program.  

Before that happened YouTube really lost a lot of great content creators in my mind.  One of my favorite YouTubers ended up basically quitting.  It was mainly circumstancial.  He lived in Southern California and had a family so there were so many presures on him to spend his time on something that would make him money.  His name was "Nicky Nik." The movie he made was called "We Gotta Get Buscemi."  

I met him in 2010 out in Los Angeles at a film festival showing he entered.  He was basically saying how him and everyone else trying to do what he was doing was broke as a joke.  He has 24,000 subscribers at the time which was quite a bit.  

Through all the YouTube purges and years of not posting he now has 16,000 subscribers.  It was sad to not see him continue to make content but the reality was he couldn't pay the bills doing that.  I saw a lot of others quit YouTube for years.  What was once their hobby of making content became extremely hard work for little to no pay.  

Another YouTuber I really liked at the time was ForFun808.  Aron or "Aron with one A" as he would say had a great following and was making his videos out in Hawaii.  He became extremely frustrated with YouTube and took some time off.  When he came back his videos weren't getting near the views they used to when he would first upload and also there were issues where his videos would get blocked from monitization.  This would happen to me around the time he quit as well.  It was for no reason which was really frustrating.  It still continues to happen once in awhile.  Litterally I will just be talking to the camera and it will not let me monitize it.  

Aron got so frustrated with his he deleted his YouTube account and dissapeared.  His following was strong enough that some of his fans actually uploaded some of his old videos which is where I got this screenshot.  He became another destitute YouTube casualty.  

Expected YouTube Payouts

A lot of you who have been following my blog know that I make money on YouTube.  Some from Adsense payouts and a larger chunk off of affiliate programs.  Most of the affiliate links are deployed under YouTube videos and in annotations on YouTube. Here is a screenshot from one of my business accounts from a few months ago showing some of the payouts.  

 I have studied Adsense payouts in a lot of depth and for all practical purposes most channels will equate to $1 / 1000 views.  The good thing is that can work for you 24/7 365 for years.  You have a long duration life cycle with YouTube.  I have one channel that pays out $2 / 1000 views but is pretty niche.  

You have to pick and chose your battles on YouTube.  

I never blogged about mining crypto until getting on Steemit because I knew it would be a waste of my time for the most part.  It is too niche and geeky at this point.  I was seeing the amount of views that Bits Be Trippin' was getting and knew that I couldn't spend the time to do the level of production they were doing.  They payouts just wouldn't be worth it unless you were getting all free equipment and were getting to keep the ad revenue and the coins you mined.  Once GPU mining ended up unprofitable for anyone with power cost over $0.03 / kwh even they stopped making videos.  It was the right choice not to make videos for that.  

Prank / Comedy Channels:  $0.70 / 1000 views if you are lucky.

Makeup Tutorial Channels: $0.90 - $1.10 / 1000 views

Fitness Channels: $0.80 / 1000 views

Toy Unboxing Channels: $1.30 / 1000 views (This works best if you already have a kid who you are getting the toys for already.)

Electronics Drop Test Channels: $1.50 / 1000 views.  (You almost need to be getting free electronics or you will lose money.)

The point is to actually turn a profit on your channel you almost have to have low expenses and if it is product oriented you almost have to be reviewing stuff you got for free.  If you are building a channel with a low payout you have to do it in magnitude.  

Like the prank / comedy channels for instance.  To really make it you have to get past 1,000,000 subscribers and consistently be getting over 500,0000 views to be profitable.  To build to that level is going to take several years of not being profitable.  Can you survive that long?  

Chasing The Dream

Becoming a YouTube Star has been very elusive for a lot of people and now the stories about the YouTube millionaires have hit the news outlets so the same psychological effect is happening that happens with professional athletes, movie celebrities, and musicians.  Everyone likes the idea of being in those positions but the majority of people trying to make it are starving.  

I'm not trying to be negative about the situation I'm just trying to be real.  Most of the guys in minor league baseball are broke as jokes.  They are professionals but often have to have other income sources in the off season or they are subsidized partially by family.  Samething with actors and artist.  Very few really make it.  It is like trying to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  

Being Real But Not Negative

I personally think that platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram...etc are awesome in a lot of ways.  I'm not trying to totally trash them but for certain things I'm not going to put my time into them.  Just like earlier when I said I never did video blogs before about my crypto currency mining experience.  It wasn't worth my time to do it just on YouTube.  With Steemit I was able to earn a little bit talking about my experience.  It was worth it on this platform.  

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from building a big following on any particular platform but you have to be realistic when you go into it or you are going to get extremely frustrated.  The hobby you love could turn into something you hate because you get burnt out trying to gain a following for the content you are posting about it.  It is a very real problem.  

Picking and chosing your battles in my mind is a very important thing to consider.  I haven't blogged much about sports or fitness on  Steemit because personally I don't think it will do that well at this time.  

Testing The Waters

If you aren't sure if you will be well recieved or that your topic won't be popular you can do a small sample and also collect data from other content creators who are doing the same thing.  This has saved me a huge amount of time.  I have had several YouTube channels where I have done all the branding for and everything and produced 4 or 5 solid videos to see what the reaction is and to see what the Adsense payout would be.  When it wasn't going to be worth my time I walked away from it.  It isn't really quiting it was just a business decision to not spend my time there. Same thing on Steemit.  Most people honestly aren't even going to read this far into the post.  They are going to scroll down and see that there has been a lot of effort put into the post and upvote it to get the curation rewards.  They are going to do very minimal scanning of the major points.  That is the interesting thing on this platform.  It is almost like you only need 20% engagement.  They are going to hit the major points and bounce out but at this given time that doesn't hurt you like it hurts you if someone bounces off your YouTube video in the first 5 seconds.  

How This Applies To Steemit

When I talk to people who are really into different YouTubers now and up on all the drama going on often times they don't know about the YouTubers back in 2008, 2009, 2010....etc.  Steemit is rapidly changing right now and some of these situations we are worried about right now won't matter or won't even be something the next waves of users even know or care about.  

Take Bitcoin as an example.  It is funny to me to see the new wave of Bitcoin / Crypto enthusiast saying the same stuff that people were saying back in 2013 when I got in. I was all excited about Bitcoin thinking it could go to $5,000 or $10,000 in a years time.  Little did I realize that the people who got in around 2011 were all pulling out.  Now I'm seeing people who got into crypto a year ago saying Bitcoin could go to $5,000 by the end of the year.  It is possible but it just kind of makes me laugh because they weren't around the last time all this stuff was being said.  

People are going to quit Steemit just like great content creators quit YouTube.  This isn't being negative about Steemit.  It is just a fact.  I have seen it before.  

Again this isn't negative toward Steemit but it is likely to get worse before it gets better.  At least the preception that it is worse.  I am very mentally prepared for STEEM to drop to $0.05 - $0.10.  I'm going to keep posting and assessing the situation.  Some will quit all together and some will stay and post less frequently.  It might not drop that low but I am prepared.  Those price levels will likely mentally crush a lot of good content creators.  

At that point it will be hard for anyone to be a true "full-time Steemian."  This was the way it was on YouTube for a long time.  The people who can eak through financially and make it past the rough times will have a chance at big gains when the next wave happens.  There will be a fresh set of super excited people who jump on board.

Final Advice

• Many who wanted to become YouTube famous couldn't financially justify being unprofitable for a maybe scenario. 
• Even with the price of STEEM being lower your potential payout here is way better than on YouTube for the same level of work.
• Pick and chose your battles but test different content on any platform you are looking to build a following on.  
• Timing is everything on these platforms.  Unfortunately for some of the destitute YouTubers they ended up quitting before their following had real world value.  
• The Internet Stars will continue to kill the TV Stars just like the TV Stars killed the Radio Stars.  There is no stopping this.  Next year there will be more people on YouTube than there are this year.  It is just a simple fact.  
• Build for the future without starving and going broke!  Platforms like Steemit are allowing this to be possible.  

Thank you for viewing my blog.  I also do consulting for marketing and branding across different platforms if you have any questions.  Please consider following me @brianphobos