YOUTUBE

[EdBwoy]

Hello y'all, I'm posting this to ask a favor.

Some of you might have seen the videos I post on youtube. I enjoy it, and I started the whole thing because I was offering long-distance help to my brother... then I would face problems I couldn't find in video form. Realizing a lot of people were visual learners, I kept it up.

At some point, I decided to monetize my channel. I figured if people were going to see ads anyway, I might as well pocket some change. It was pretty late in the game and I promise I have no illusions of quitting my job to upload clickbait videos any time soon.

Recently, youtube made some changes. To summarize, they will kick smaller youtube channels out of making money unless they have 4,000 hours of view time in the past year or 1,000 subscribers.
I checked and in the past year I barely cracked the time requirement. My subscriber count has grown like a population of bunnies lately, but I'm only a little over 250 as of this posting.

This is where I need your help. Honestly, I like making some money from my hobbies. Again, the money I made doesn't even come close to the time input to recording and retaking videos and editing them to provide short, concise and relevant youtube content. (No funny jokes about my editing skills please, thanks. Lol)
In fact, my biggest plan was that I would gather enough money to buy a decent DSLR camera to record better videos. In this day and age, I have been wrangling my Samsung galaxy s4 and that is getting old. Fine communication device, but I have missed out on some opportunities where I wished I had better.

This is where I need your help. Please subscribe to my youtube channel, below. I promise I won't force any political or religious opinions down your throat; just automotive content. Heck, even then I always uncheck the box that sends notifications to my subscribers so it's pretty unintrusive.
https://www.youtube.com/user/EdBwoy

Any other youtube creators, post your channel link and I shall return the favor.

Sincerely,
Just a po' boy

[jtversky]

subscribed!

[EdBwoy]

Thank you very much jtversky! Much appreciated.

[EdBwoy]

With the Feb 20 deadline they had set fast approaching, I am falling a little short on the subscriber count still.
However, I realize if I make this target clawing and clammering, then they are just going to make the goalposts smaller and move them further away and I'll miss the next target.
That's not the way to live, for me.

At this moment, I am not working based off motivation to make youtube money. I recently found a deal on a decent Nikon D3300 and while I figure out how to work it, I will retrain my focus on the main reason I got on youtube and the forums - I like to teach and share.
If/when I find a better platform to move my 100+ public videos, then I'll take them down from youtube due to principle. I toyed around with the idea of a personal website.

[Frog]

Done

[Larz]

I'm not sure how many subscribers / views you need to get a check form YouTube, but I reckon it is a huge number. Best of luck with this - it is just a matter of time.
BTW, I already subscribed long ago and i truly find your channel quite interesting!
A note to inspire:
A dear friend of the mom of my lovely misses started a cooking channel a few years back. Like you, she has a vast amount of experience in the field she decided to post about. In just a few years, even with the competition of all the other cookery channels, she now has 3 MIL subscribers, publishes her own cook books, and makes a bloody fortune doing what she loves. Laura in the Kitchen is a huge hit.
Here's to that happening to you as well !

[Malbec 56 Beast]

Subscribed

Thanks brother

[macgiver]

mac here , you got it man . I think we all appreciate your experience , interesting "slant" on things automotive - things INFINITI Decent quality VIDs and you want to improve ! Yeh ,I just subscribed Glen T. 2/19/2018

[EdBwoy]

Thanks to all here, and all those others who subscribed.

Larz, is the official name Laura in the kit-chen? (Seems like the SPAM filter got you, lol. Not sure why it doesn't like that word). If that is indeed the channel, oh my!

Mac, thanks. The goal has always been to help people not spend an arm or a leg on maintaining their cars. The format is simple:
This is the problem
These are the tools
This is my attempt to fix it
Does it work, could you do it better?

[EdBwoy]

Larz, to answer your question on youtube monies: their current criteria is that:
1. You've had 4,000 hours of view time in the past year.
2. Also have 1,000 subscribers

For the major channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, it is not difficult to achieve these targets. Smaller channels with niche content (for example dedicated to the Infiniti M platform or the handful of people who repair their own Jaguars ) might have good watch time, but again achieving the 2nd target actually hinges on the people who watch your videos to be registered with youtube and actually subscribe to you.


Let me get real now
I have made about $490 from youtube in my lifetime of monetized videos although I think I've only withdrawn approx $350 of it. In a good month I spend that in fuel alone, so I wanted to be clear I wasn't too intent on chasing youtube money.
Psychologists have explanations why we get so much joy and satisfaction from rewards that are relatively small.


There are things I could do to grow bigger - be more active on social media, pump out more content, invest more in the production quality etc... most of which I currently don't have time for. I don't want to dilute the quality of my content, but more importantly family duties beckon. I can always re-record and re-edit videos but I don't think you get many go-arounds to be a good father.

Furthermore, I was reading on Google forums, and apparently last year there was a similar campaign that kicked smaller channels out of making money or using cretain features. Somehow that one never affected me, but I know as soon as I build my 6 foot ladder to scale their 6 foot wall, they are going to build it up to 8 feet; and the cycle continues. This stuff will consume you if you're not careful.

For someone in their late 20s, I have managed to eschew too much social media and remain functional with only Facebook and to an extent youtube. These companies have smart, well-paid people whose one job is to ensure that you spend as much time on their platforms. Here is a link to some interesting discussions I heard recently

That's why I decided if my channel one day grows again to where youtube thinks I'm eligible to make money, well and good. Otherwise, no fuss. I don't NEED the money and will keep making the videos I enjoy sharing whether I have the arbitrary number of subscribers needed or not.

[Big_Tone]

Subscribed

[armybrat]

Done. Thanks for all you do, and best of luck in your endeavors!

[Larz]

Hi Ed
Let's try posting a video form her channel and see if that will get you to her site.