DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My husband has got the idea that his new YouTube channel is going to make him a millionaire in, like, a year. He does reviews of cars and gives tips on maintaining both new and older models. He genuinely knows his sh#t, but so do a ton of other people out there.
So far he gets a few hundred views when he first drops a new video, and has just over 1000 subscribers. He’s been at it for six months and that result isn’t exactly viral.
He wants to become a YouTube Partner, but his numbers are not there yet. I can see how over time, he might make a little money eventually. But he is banking on what he makes to be the downpayment and monthly mortgage payments for a house for us, and he means something in the mini-mansion range.
I want to support him in his dream, but he gets his hopes up so high, I fear he just isn’t looking at the realities of the chances of living off YouTube. He talks about giving up his job to be able to put more time into his channel. That’s where I drew the line.
We fought for two days over it, until he finally said okay, he will keep on working. But it was like I was chaining him to his desk.
Was I wrong to keep him working for sure money instead of chasing “maybe” money? I feel guilty a little bit, like I am crushing his dream. --- HITTING IT BIG ON YOUTUBE
DEAR HITTING IT BIG ON YOUTUBE: I’m with you on this one. A little quick research revealed the expected peak run for even fairly successful YouTubers is 3-5 years, which isn’t long enough to pay off the mortgage on a mini-mansion, unless he really hits it big fast and keeps the channel’s momentum going.
While it sounds like your husband’s channel is still in its early stages, unless there’s enough money to pay the bills coming in on a regular basis, to me the more logical strategy is for him to continue to add to his channel’s content and subscriber/viewer base during his non-work hours.
In time, it’s not at all impossible he’ll make a significant income off his efforts and his expertise, but until that’s the case, I’d advise he sticks with the day job.