Why I Don't Do YouTube Full-Time

Summary

In this candid video, Richard from the Plane Bagel channel shares his experience of attending his first event as a YouTuber and addresses the question of why he still maintains a full-time job despite the channel's success. He discusses his passion for finance, the unique position of his job, the freedom from relying solely on YouTube income, and the synergy between his professional experience and content creation. Richard also reflects on the potential future of his channel and his commitment to continue innovating and providing valuable content.

Takeaways

• 😀 Richard, the host of the Plane Bagel YouTube channel, attended his first event as a YouTuber hosted by Blossom, an investing social media app in Toronto.
• 🎥 Richard usually creates videos during his lunch breaks, evenings, and occasionally on weekends, balancing his full-time job with his YouTube channel.
• 🌟 Despite the channel's growth, Richard maintains a full-time job as a registered portfolio manager in Ontario, which he enjoys and finds fulfilling.
• 🏆 Richard's day job provides him with a unique opportunity to work in finance, a field he is passionate about, and offers him a rare hybrid position involving both research and client management.
• 🤔 Richard is unsure if he wants to post more content than he currently does, as he treats YouTube as a hobby and is concerned that full-time content creation might be draining.
• 💰 Richard does not rely on YouTube income, which allows him to focus on content areas of interest without the stress of financial instability.
• 🚀 The volatility of YouTube AdSense income is a concern for Richard, who appreciates not having to worry about his monthly expenses if the channel's revenue declines.
• 🤷‍♂️ Richard is uncertain about the future of the YouTube Finance niche and does not want to risk his stable career for an uncertain online presence.
• 🛠 Richard believes his full-time job enhances his YouTube channel by providing him with new insights, resources, and a deeper understanding of financial topics.
• 🔍 Richard's work experience and professional development contribute to the quality of his YouTube content, creating a synergy between his job and his channel.
• 🔄 Richard has adapted to managing both his job and YouTube by becoming more efficient with video editing and considering hiring an editor to focus on content value.

Q & A

What was the reason behind Richard making this video?

Richard made this video to address a topic that often comes up around his channel, especially after attending his first event as a YouTuber and being asked why he still has a full-time job.

What event did Richard attend in June?

Richard attended a social event hosted by Blossom, an investing social media app, in Toronto where Canadian and US finance creators were present.

What is Richard's full-time job besides running his YouTube channel?

Richard works full-time as a registered portfolio manager in Ontario, doing both portfolio management and investment research for a local Ottawa money manager.

How does Richard manage to create content for his YouTube channel while working full-time?

Richard sustains his YouTube channel by creating content during lunch breaks, late evenings, and occasionally on weekends.

Why does Richard enjoy his day job in finance?

Richard enjoys his day job because he is passionate about finance, gets to work in an area that interests him, and finds fulfillment in helping people with their finances.

What is one of the main reasons Richard has not gone full-time with his YouTube channel?

One main reason is that Richard genuinely likes his day job and does not feel the need to rely solely on YouTube for income or content creation.

How does Richard's full-time job benefit his YouTube channel?

Richard's job provides him with access to tools, resources, and experienced colleagues that can enhance his understanding of financial concepts, which in turn improves the quality of his YouTube content.

What is Richard's view on the volatility of YouTube AdSense income?

Richard acknowledges the volatility of YouTube AdSense income, noting that it can fluctuate greatly from month to month, which is why he prefers not to rely on it as his sole source of income.

Why does Richard think having a full-time job might help the longevity of his YouTube channel?

Richard believes that having a full-time job in finance allows him to stay current and knowledgeable in the field, which can contribute to the sustainability and quality of his YouTube content over time.

What changes has Richard made to his video editing style to save time?

Richard has refined his editing style to be more basic and less time-consuming, focusing more on the information rather than animations, which allows him to be more efficient with his video production.

What is Richard's plan for the future regarding his YouTube channel and full-time job?

While Richard plans to continue growing his YouTube channel and trying new things, he does not intend to give up his full-time job, acknowledging the synergies between his professional and online work.

Outlines

00:00

🎉 Attending the First YouTube Event

In this paragraph, Richard introduces the video's theme, which is his experience attending his first event as a YouTuber. He explains that despite the growth of his channel, he has not actively participated in events due to various reasons, including location and personal choice. However, he was invited to a social event in Toronto hosted by Blossom, an investing social media app, where he met other creators and viewers. Richard shares his enjoyment of the event and his conversation with Adrian from 'Canadian in a T-shirt', which prompts him to address why he still maintains a full-time job alongside his YouTube presence.

05:02

🛠 Balancing Full-Time Job with YouTube Passion

Richard discusses his full-time job as a registered portfolio manager and investment researcher in Ontario, which he enjoys due to his passion for finance. He has managed to sustain his YouTube channel alongside his job by creating content during breaks and weekends. Richard acknowledges that the growth of his channel could potentially allow him to work full-time as a YouTuber, but he outlines several reasons for not doing so yet. He emphasizes the importance of his job, his enjoyment of not being solely reliant on YouTube for income, and the uncertainty of the platform's future in the finance niche.

10:02

🤔 Contemplating the Future of Content Creation

In this paragraph, Richard reflects on his content creation process and the potential of growing his channel. He admits to treating YouTube as a hobby and enjoys the process of making videos, but he questions whether he would want to make it his main job due to concerns about burnout and the draining nature of full-time content creation. Richard also touches on the volatility of YouTube AdSense income and how not relying on it allows him to focus on topics of interest rather than financial necessity. He expresses uncertainty about the longevity of the 'YouTube Finance' trend and how it might affect his channel's growth in the future.

🔄 Adapting and Innovating with YouTube

Richard concludes by discussing his approach to managing both his full-time job and YouTube channel. He believes that his professional experience in finance enhances the quality of his YouTube content and vice versa, creating a synergy between the two. Despite his current commitment to both, Richard is open to trying new things and growing his channel, such as hiring an editor to improve efficiency. He expresses gratitude for his audience's support and emphasizes his intention to continue innovating and providing valuable content.

Keywords

💡YouTuber

A YouTuber is a person who produces and publishes videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube. In the script, Richard mentions his experience as a YouTuber and attending his first event as a representative of his channel, 'The Plain Bagel.' This term is central to understanding Richard's dual roles as a finance professional and content creator.

💡Finance

Finance refers to the management, creation, and study of money and investments. Richard's channel, 'The Plain Bagel,' focuses on finance-related content, and his day job also involves working in finance as a portfolio manager. His passion for finance is a key reason he continues to work in the field despite his success on YouTube.

💡Portfolio Manager

A portfolio manager is a person responsible for making investment decisions and managing investment portfolios on behalf of clients. Richard works full-time as a portfolio manager in Ontario, which involves both portfolio management and investment research. This role provides him with a stable career and professional insights that enrich his YouTube content.

💡Content Creation

Content creation involves producing and publishing various forms of content, such as videos, blogs, and articles. Richard creates finance-related videos for his YouTube channel, which he views as both a hobby and a supplementary activity to his full-time job. His approach to content creation is driven by passion rather than financial necessity.

💡Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance refers to maintaining a healthy balance between professional responsibilities and personal life. Richard values his work-life balance, which is facilitated by his supportive employer and his ability to manage both his full-time job and YouTube channel without burnout. This balance is crucial for his sustained productivity and well-being.

💡Creator Burnout

Creator burnout is a state of physical and mental exhaustion experienced by content creators due to the demands of continuously producing content. Richard acknowledges the risk of creator burnout and believes that maintaining YouTube as a hobby helps him avoid this. This consideration influences his decision not to pursue YouTube full-time.

💡AdSense

AdSense is a program run by Google that allows website and video creators to earn money by displaying ads on their content. Richard mentions the volatility of YouTube AdSense revenue, highlighting the financial unpredictability faced by full-time content creators. This instability is one reason he prefers to keep his full-time job.

💡Sponsorships

Sponsorships involve content creators promoting products or services in exchange for compensation. Richard discusses how his financial independence from YouTube allows him to be selective about sponsorships, ensuring they align with his values and interests. This autonomy contributes to the integrity and authenticity of his content.

💡Professional Development

Professional development refers to the continuous improvement of skills and knowledge in one's career. Richard's job as a portfolio manager provides him with ongoing professional development opportunities, which enhance his expertise and inform his YouTube content. This synergy between his job and channel benefits both his professional and online presence.

💡Synergy

Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Richard experiences synergy between his full-time job and YouTube channel, as both involve finance. His work informs his content creation, and his content creation reinforces his professional knowledge, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

Highlights

Richard discusses attending his first event as a YouTuber, hosted by Blossom, an investing social media app.

He admits not making much effort to attend events due to the size of his channel and lack of nearby opportunities in Canada.

Richard meets other creators and viewers in person, emphasizing the social aspect of his first event.

A conversation with Adrian from Canadian in a T-shirt inspires the video topic about maintaining a full-time job alongside YouTube.

Richard works full-time as a registered portfolio manager, combining portfolio management and investment research.

The YouTube channel has been sustained during lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends for the past seven years.

Despite the channel's growth, Richard could potentially do YouTube full-time but chooses not to for various reasons.

Richard enjoys his day job and finds fulfillment in helping people with their finances.

He values the unique hybrid position in finance that allows him to do research and work with clients.

Richard does not feel the need to post more content than he currently does on YouTube.

He treats YouTube as a hobby and enjoys the process of making videos, which doesn't feel like work.

Not relying on YouTube income allows Richard to focus on content of interest rather than financial necessity.

Richard is uncertain about the future of the YouTube Finance niche and the sustainability of its growth.

His full-time job contributes to the channel by providing fresh insights and resources for content creation.

Richard has streamlined his video editing process to focus on content quality over production value.

He plans to continue growing the channel and trying new things, including potentially hiring an editor.

Richard expresses gratitude for the support of his audience and the experience of having an online following.

Transcripts

hey everyone it's Richard you're

watching the plane Bagel a bit of a

different video today I had a gap in my

scheduling and I'm just getting over a

cold uh so I figured i' i' fill the

space with a bit of an easier kind of

one-off type video If there's no

interest in it no worries we'll see you

in two weeks time uh but I want to touch

on a topic that often comes up around

the channel and that was sort of

recently relevant uh because in June I

went to my first event as a YouTuber

I've gone to a lot of uh fin events and

conferences uh for my day job but this

was kind of the first thing I've ever

gone to because I have the YouTube plain

bagel Channel it might sound shocking

given the size of the channel but I just

admittedly haven't made much of an

effort to uh get out of the house and

there's not a whole lot of stuff nearby

in Canada but recently I was invited to

a social event hosted by Blossom which

is a investing social media app uh in

Toronto and there were going to be a

bunch of Canadian Finance creators as

well as uh some us creators attending uh

so I decided to make the trip down and

go to my first event as an ambassador of

the channel and it was a really fun

event I got to speak to a bunch of other

creators in the space uh meet some

viewers in person and I didn't get any

uh nice photos but I'll I'll throw up

whatever I have and while I was there I

spoke to Adrian from Canadian in a

t-shirt who runs a solid Canadian

focused personal finance channel here on

YouTube and also a really nice guy in

person and he asked me why I still have

a full-time job and I gave him an answer

but I figured I would make a video out

of it because it's something that does

often come up given the uh size of the

channel so thanks Adrien for the easy

video topic now for those unfamiliar in

addition to YouTube I actually work

full-time as a registered portfolio

manager in Ontario uh for a local Ottawa

money manager uh where I do both

portfolio management and investment

research and for the past seven years

while working at this company I've been

sustaining the YouTube channel on

basically lunch breaks lunch breaks some

late evenings when I need to and uh the

occasional weekend and because of how

much the channel is growing I'm at a

point where if I wanted to I could do

this full-time it's it's a really

privileged position to be in and I could

even maybe make more money than I

currently do if I were to say pump out

more videos or just go full Finance

personality MK this for everything it's

worth and uh

sell an ebook or something but there are

a few reasons why I haven't yet done so

and outside of just generally sharing

the information I'd be genuinely

interested in people's opinion on this

uh because I have my own perception of

things and these points but I'd be

curious especially if you were a

longtime viewer or someone who watches a

lot of other Finance content what your

thoughts on these points are so today

we're going to go over the four top

reasons Richard still has a boss now the

first point here is going to sound

really cheesy I acknowledge that uh but

I

actually like my day job I am a big

Finance nerd the reason I started doing

the channel in part was because I wanted

to do more and speak more about Finance

beyond what I was already doing in a

full-time Finance job so I have a job

that lets me work in an area that I'm

passionate about I do both company

research on the analysis side as well as

client facing portfolio management I

know a lot of people don't look at the

finance industry fondly uh but I get a

lot of fulfillment out of helping people

with their finances and sitting down and

sorting things out and I would hope that

the channel does help with that to an

extent especially given the the broad

reach but there's something more

tangible about uh working with someone

individually and it's not really

something I I'd want to do outside of

the professional capacity uh for reasons

I've kind of touched on before and I

recognize that I have a really unique

opportunity with YouTube uh but I also

have a pretty rare type of job in the

finance space uh not only is it again a

sort of hybrid position where I get to

do research in addition to working with

clients uh but the employer has been

incredibly respectful and helpful with

the channel very supportive good work

life balance I also uh have the

opportunity to even do YouTube alongside

this one of the reasons we don't have a

lot of professionals on YouTube posting

videos is that a lot of companies just

won't let their employees do so because

of the liability risk of of kind of

having this side operation so given all

that I'm not really Keen to give uh that

up so easily so that's the first point

is I like my day job and I have a pretty

rare type of job in the space uh the

second point is that I don't know that I

want to post any more content than I

already do I don't know if i' would want

this to be my main job it's hard to say

without uh trying it and knowing what

the experience is like but posting one

video every two weeks really feels like

about as much as I I care to make and

really the only reason I've been able to

do YouTube In addition to a full-time

job is because I've always kind of

weirdly treated it as a hobby I've

always really enjoyed doing video

editing um and in University I had a

teaching role uh which showed me that I

really enjoyed doing that kind of stuff

so I really enjoyed making content for

YouTube yes I spend a lot of my free

time uh making videos uh but I enjoy the

process so it doesn't feel like work if

I were to do it full-time however I

think it would be a lot more draining I

don't know if I have it in me to be a

full-time Creator even in the space of

Finance now am I open to doing more

YouTube stuff and events of course would

I box Patrick Bole at the next Creator

Clash absolutely but Creator burnout is

real and I know this is finance we're

not making the most artsy Productions

out here but I'm very fortunate where if

I don't have the energy to make a video

or discuss a given topic I don't have to

and I have a really good balance with my

full-time job uh where I have the energy

to make these videos videos on the side

and then way touches on the third point

which is that because I don't have to

rely on YouTube income I'm allowed to

focus a lot more on the areas that I

want to focus on out of interest rather

than needing to make sure that I'm

always making money with YouTube because

YouTube AdSense is incredibly volatile

some months you make more than you ever

expected and you're on top of the world

other months the amount begins to

dwindle and you wonder if you made a

mistake and if this is the end of

everything you've ever built on the

platform uh so needless to say it it

jumps around a and it's nice that when

that happens I don't have to stress

really um you know obviously I want to

see the channel do well and I like money

but I'm able to set very clear

boundaries around what I want to do and

what I don't want to do uh because I

don't have to worry about my monthly

expenses not being covered if the

channel doesn't do well and to be clear

this isn't to suggest that you can't be

a full-time Creator and find a good

balance with these things and likewise

to suggest that I'm not motivated by

money I still do sponsorships on the

channel but it's really nice not feeling

a need to play the algorithm or uh take

on a shady agreement or sponsorship or

just sell stuff that I don't care to

sell and as sort of subo to that I don't

know how long the YouTube Finance gravy

train is going to keep running I join

the space at a near Flawless point in

time not by any active choice of my own

uh but just because a few years after I

started posting videos uh we had Bitcoin

come into prominence and other

cryptocurrencies uh nfts the pandemic

the lockdowns and The Surge of interest

and content on retail investing GameStop

in the mem stock rally and all these

events brought a lot of interest that

didn't exist before into the niche of

finance and investing and I don't know

if the space is always going to keep

growing if in a few years from now it's

going to be bigger or smaller from where

it is today so kind of on a risk

standpoint it's nice again having a a

solid kind of career given the

uncertainty about where Finance YouTube

goes from here finally the last Point as

to why I have a full-time job in

addition to uh doing YouTube is that I

genuinely think it helps the channel

I've been working in finance for nearly

a decade I went to school for it um I

did my CFA and cfp

designations I'm still learning

something new every day in my job I get

to work with people who have been in the

industry for decades themselves uh who

in most cases are more experienced and

better educated than myself I also have

access to tools and resources that I

might not otherwise be able to access

and I get to spend a lot of my workday

researching topics that uh can later

translate into helping the channel

either directly or indirectly uh whether

it just be improving my understanding of

financial Concepts and economic Concepts

as a whole uh or it something that

actually translates into a later script

for a video or a point to talk about uh

such as with for example Silicon Valley

Bank uh when that institution collapsed

I had to look into it for work because

it mattered to what we were doing and it

later translated into a video so I know

the term Synergy gets overused in

business but there's a pretty good one

between what I do for my day job and

what I do for YouTube because they're

the same topic I do Finance for my day

job and then as an extension of that I

post videos on Finance on YouTube so in

a way my job does help with content

generation and I would hope uh helps

with the quality of content given that I

can bounce ideas off of co-workers and

if I've done a deep dive into a topic

for work it gives me that better

understanding for making a video and

just overall like I said it's it's a lot

of synergies so those are the four

reasons why I currently do both that's

not to say that will always be the case

uh my priorities might change in the

future they changed quite a bit when I

had my two boys and you know there might

be a point where I don't have the energy

to do both and I focus on one versus the

other but over time I have been able to

manage the two in part because outside

of getting more efficient with my

channel I have really cut back a lot of

the work I put into editing videos you

might know that I used to animate a lot

in my videos and that was before I had

kids and before I I had a a PM rooll at

my company uh but you might notice my

editing style is is very uh refined

these days very basic uh which saves me

a lot of time in putting these videos

together and gives me more time to focus

on what I think matters which is the

information but with all that being said

I still have a drive to grow the channel

and and try different things to bring

new projects to the Forefront to box

Patrick Bo and just try new projects and

and things with the channel and over

time it's always just been a getting

more efficient with making these videos

and the next big thing is going to be

probably hiring an editor uh since I do

most of my videos by myself I know you

guys love my editing style and and the

flare I bring uh but it's it's about

focusing on on what I can add the most

value with so despite everything I've

said and and despite the intent to

continue working a full-time job uh this

is not to say that I'm done with YouTube

or uh content with just riding the wave

as it is I'm incredibly fortunate to

have this type of following and my goal

is to continue to um innovate whatever

that means for YouTube uh to try new

things and uh bring more hopefully

informative content to the Forefront

anyway that's a video and as mentioned

at the beginning I'd love to hear your

thoughts on any of it especially if you

are a long-term viewer who has has maybe

seen the change of content over time uh

what your views are on it maybe you're

of the mindset that you miss the crappy

Little Richard animations or you like

the planer style whatever it be uh would

really be interested to hear in your

feedback and given the nature of the

topic I do want to take the opportunity

to say thanks for watching and for

supporting the channel and I hope this

doesn't give the impression that I take

this for granted uh because I don't this

has been an incredible experience to be

able to have any sort of following

online let alone the size we've had for

the channel so thank you uh for sticking

around if if you've been with the

channel for a while and for even just

joining me today so we'll leave the

video there like I mentioned let me know

your thoughts we'll see you in the next

one