YouTube has been an increasingly popular medium and phenomenon for the last several years, ranging from those who have those who post covers of songs for fun to those who have Diamond Play Buttons for hitting 10 Million subscribers. There are two types of YouTube users: creators and subscribers. Creators create content for their subscribers, usually starting with videos and expanding into websites, blogs, and other social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, etc). Subscribers are those without channels who enjoy watching creators’ content and hit the “subscribe” button and the notification bell so they know whenever their favorite YouTubers post. But is YouTube a profitable career? Is it a successful endeavor? Can you quit your day job (or make this an after-school career) and be a full-time YouTuber?

In reality, the answer is actually yes or no. The keywords for YouTube success are time, effort, equipment, and content. As a subscriber, while you may not realize the full extent of what went into that five-minute challenge video you just enjoyed, it’s a lot more complex and time-consuming than most creators make it look. Before anyone can get into having a YouTube channel, the number one item you need is a camera. It can be expensive or really easy; you could use an expensive camera from Amazon or you could just use your phone. Quality on a good camera will obviously be better, but many “famous” YouTubers do actually use their phones.

Next up is content. What are you going to put into your video? What materials will you need? Whether you’re making DIY tutorials, baking cupcakes on camera, teaching people how to paint a fun design on their nails, doing a silly challenge with a friend, or reviewing products for a company, every video needs content and materials. After you’ve decided what you’re filming, now you need a place to film, good lighting, and a quiet place to work. Some use natural lighting and some invest in bright studio lights that really add a professional touch to the video. You may also need a background, a table, a place to sit, or even just a section of your house where the TV isn’t blaring or siblings aren’t busy with homework, or “job” work.

So, now that you’ve filmed the best video of all-time, now comes the really fun part: editing. This can take all from ten minutes to ten hours, depending on how much great an amount of editing you have to do. There are many, many video editing software/program options such as Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Lightworks, Adobe, and more. First, you have to decide whether you’re okay with using a mediocre free program, which can do the job for you in most cases, or an expensive package or subscription for a better program with more options and tools. You can decide which program is best based on your needs. Will your video be a simple vlog or do you want to make it entertaining with overlay text and sound effects?

Now that all that hard work is done, whether it took you one day or one week, you have to upload your video, create a thumbnail, fill in the description box, add end screen elements and cards, and finally, your video is available to the world. Extra steps you can do are promoting on social media and/or creating a blog post to coincide with your video.

So what is all of this hard work worth? What do your favorite YouTube stars get out of posting their content on the Internet? The first way of money-making through YouTube once you hit 1,000 subscribers is monetization and ad-based profit. Ever see ads on videos? Those little ads that run either before or at certain points through the video are earning the YouTuber money through analytics. The next steps, once your channel gains a bigger following and becomes recognized by companies and brands, are “products sent for free for honest review,” “products sent for paid review,” and ads/sponsored videos.

Being a YouTuber can be a really fun, exciting, and potentially profitable career or side-career. Whether you want this to be your full-time career or just a fun hobby on the side, making videos you enjoy and building up an audience can be a great experience and good way to possibly make money. It all depends on your effort, creativity, and quality. If you’re really invested in your channel and have a good time creating content you enjoy, you’ll have a good time no matter what.

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