I'm Quitting YouTube, too.

Summary

The video discusses the phenomenon of YouTubers quitting or retiring early, questioning the viability of YouTube as a career path. The speaker shares their decision to quit and the reasons behind it, including the lack of growth and the changing algorithm that fails to support creators. They also touch on the challenges of being a YouTuber, such as the difficulty in monetizing content and the all-consuming nature of the job. The speaker suggests that the concept of financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) might not be as appealing as it seems, as it can lead to a loss of status and purpose. They end by contemplating the future of YouTube as a career and the need to redefine the business model for success.

Takeaways

• 🚫 YouTube Career Sustainability: The speaker questions the viability of YouTube as a sustainable career path due to many content creators quitting or retiring early.
• 🌐 Niche Saturation and Exodus: The tech influencer space, once bustling with creators, has seen a significant decrease in participation, with the speaker being one of the last few remaining.
• 🏁 Two Approaches to Leaving YouTube: Creators can either quit gracefully or opt to burn out their channel with low-value content and excessive monetization strategies.
• 📉 Algorithm Changes Impact: The YouTube algorithm's changes have led to stagnation or decline in growth for channels, affecting creators' motivation and perceived value of their work.
• 💸 Monetization and Business Value: YouTube channels, unlike traditional startups, often have no equity to sell or transfer, leading to wealth destruction when creators decide to quit.
• 🛑 Dreams vs. Reality: The realization that YouTube channels may not reach their full potential or replace traditional media leads to a loss of dreams and motivation for creators.
• 🔄 Changing Content Landscape: The shift in YouTube's focus from long-form content to shorts and podcasts reflects a broader change in consumer preferences and creator monetization challenges.
• 💼 Labor Economy Reflection: The difficulty in hiring and managing a team for YouTube channels mirrors the broader labor economy's challenges with finding dedicated and hardworking employees.
• 🏠 Isolation and Creativity: The isolation of YouTube work and the stagnation in video technology innovation contribute to creators' struggles with maintaining creativity and engagement.
• 💭 The FIRE Movement Critique: The speaker critiques the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement, suggesting that continuous productivity and engagement with society may be more fulfilling than early retirement.
• 🔄 Potential YouTuber Return: The speaker speculates that some creators may return to YouTube after experiencing the boredom of early retirement and realizing the value of their work.

Q & A

Why are many YouTubers quitting or retiring early?

Many YouTubers are quitting or retiring early due to the perceived inability of the platform to sustain a YouTuber as a viable career path. The lack of growth and stagnation of channels, despite hard work, leads to a decrease in motivation and a realization that the potential of their venture has been reached, with dreams of turning their channels into nationwide successes like TV shows not being realized.

What are the two ways the speaker mentions to quit YouTube?

The two ways mentioned to quit YouTube are: 1) Exiting gracefully by creating high-quality content and bowing out on a high note, and 2) Burning the channel to the ground by producing low-value content, clickbait headlines, and excessive sponsored products and advertisements to squeeze the last bit of value out of the channel.

What is the main issue with the YouTube algorithm according to the speaker?

The main issue with the YouTube algorithm, as per the speaker, is that it has failed to support creators by capping out the growth of their channels. This has led to a situation where creators put in more work but see their views and progress decline, leading to a lack of potential for their businesses.

Why does the speaker believe that the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement might not work for some YouTubers?

The speaker believes the FIRE movement might not work for some YouTubers because the idea of completely withdrawing from productive work and society into a life of comfort can be boring and lead to a loss of status and power. They argue that to engage with the world, one needs to do interesting things, and merely having wealth without contributing to society might not be fulfilling.

What is the speaker's view on the future of YouTube as a career path?

The speaker views YouTube as a challenging and interesting problem space and a new career path that is still being defined. They suggest that it might evolve into a lifestyle entrepreneurship path valued for creativity, freedom, flexibility, and doing meaningful work, but it requires a significant time commitment and a variety of high-level skills.

What technological change has the speaker noticed in the field of video production?

The speaker has noticed a stagnation in innovation and technology related to video production. They mention that achieving high-quality audio and video is no longer a challenge, and the quality is uniform across creators, which used to be a distinguishing factor but is no longer the case.

How does the speaker describe the working conditions of a YouTuber?

The speaker describes the working conditions of a YouTuber as self-isolation, often working alone in their apartment, talking into a camera, and editing videos by themselves for hours. This can lead to a lack of social interaction and a feeling of being trapped in a solitary environment.

What are the speaker's thoughts on the potential return of retired YouTubers?

The speaker believes that some retired YouTubers might return after taking a break and realizing that retirement might be more boring than they imagined. They suggest that the lifestyle of constant leisure might not be as fulfilling as they initially thought.

What is the speaker's advice for those considering quitting YouTube?

The speaker advises not to take the decision to quit YouTube too seriously and to consider it as an interesting hobby. They suggest that if one is stressed about the platform and considering burning out, they should reevaluate their approach and expectations.

How does the speaker describe the state of the labor economy as reflected in the YouTube business model?

The speaker reflects that the state of the labor economy is such that it's difficult to find good help, as people are unwilling to work hard. This is seen in the reluctance of YouTubers to hire teams, as they feel they would not receive a sufficient return on their investment in terms of effort and dedication from their employees.

What are the key features of the Keyron Q5 Max keyboard mentioned in the script?

The Keyron Q5 Max keyboard features a full-size layout with a numpad, a compact 96% design, double gasket sound acoustic design, custom Gadon Jupiter banana switches, double-shot PBD keycaps, a 100Hz wireless mode for low latency gaming, Bluetooth and wired connectivity, RGB backlighting, and an all-aluminum casing.

Outlines

00:00

🚫 The Decline of YouTube Careers

The paragraph discusses the phenomenon of YouTubers quitting or retiring early, questioning the viability of YouTube as a career path. It highlights the mass exodus of content creators, especially in the coding and software engineering niche, and the speaker's own decision to quit. The reasons behind this trend include the algorithm changes that have capped growth and monetization, leading to a lack of business equity and the realization that YouTube channels do not reach their full potential. The creator also talks about their chosen method of quitting, which involves producing low-value content and exploiting the channel for remaining value.

05:00

🤔 The Challenges of Content Creation

This paragraph delves into the challenges faced by YouTubers, such as the shift in the algorithm favoring short formats like 'shorts' and podcasts, which are difficult to monetize and may not be suitable for all creators. It also touches on the labor economy and the difficulty of hiring quality help, as well as the working conditions of YouTubers, which often involve isolation and long hours. The speaker criticizes the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early), suggesting that it may not be sustainable or fulfilling in the long term, and speculates that some YouTubers may return after realizing that retirement is not as satisfying as they had imagined.

10:01

🎹 Unboxing the Keychron Q5 Max Keyboard

The speaker transitions from discussing YouTube and its challenges to reviewing the Keychron Q5 Max mechanical keyboard. They describe the full-size layout, its features, and how it balances compactness with functionality, especially for those who work with numbers. The keyboard's design, sound quality, and performance are highlighted, including its double gasket sound design, custom Jupiter banana switches, double-shot PBT keycaps, and wireless connectivity. The speaker concludes by positioning the keyboard as a refined piece of metal art, suitable for connoisseurs, and provides a link for those interested in purchasing it.

Keywords

💡YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can upload, share, and view videos. In the context of the video, it is the primary medium through which the speaker operates as a content creator, facing challenges and contemplations about the sustainability of a YouTube career.

💡Retiring early

Retiring early refers to the act of leaving one's profession or job before the conventional retirement age. In the video, the speaker discusses their decision to retire from YouTube early, reflecting on the reasons behind such a choice and its implications.

💡Algorithm

An algorithm, in the context of digital platforms like YouTube, refers to the set of rules or processes that determine how content is ranked, recommended, or displayed to users. The speaker suggests that changes in YouTube's algorithm may have negatively impacted content creators' growth and views.

💡Content creation

Content creation involves the production of various forms of content, such as videos, articles, or podcasts, for online platforms. The speaker discusses the challenges and the evolving landscape of content creation on YouTube, including the shift towards shorter formats like 'shorts'.

💡Monetization

Monetization refers to the process of generating revenue from a platform or content. In the video, the speaker addresses the challenges of monetizing a YouTube channel, especially as the platform's algorithm changes and the nature of content consumption shifts.

💡Creator burnout

Creator burnout describes the state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that content creators may experience due to the demands of their work. The speaker reflects on the high level of skills required for content creation and the all-consuming nature of the job, which can lead to burnout.

💡Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE)

FIRE is a movement that encourages individuals to save and invest aggressively to achieve financial independence and retire early. The speaker critiques this concept, suggesting that it may not be as fulfilling or viable as it seems, especially for content creators who are used to being productive and engaged with their work.

💡Creator economy

The creator economy refers to the ecosystem of independent content creators who earn a living through platforms like YouTube. The speaker discusses the challenges of the creator economy, including the difficulty of scaling a YouTube channel and the lack of a well-defined business model.

💡Lifestyle entrepreneur

A lifestyle entrepreneur is an individual who creates a business or income source that aligns with their desired lifestyle, often prioritizing freedom, flexibility, and doing meaningful work over traditional corporate structures. The speaker suggests this as a potential path for those who are not interested in traditional employment or management roles.

💡Keyboard sponsorship

Keyboard sponsorship refers to the practice of promoting a product, in this case, a keyboard, in exchange for some form of compensation. The speaker discusses the challenges of monetizing content on YouTube and uses the example of a sponsored keyboard to illustrate one of the methods content creators might use to generate income.

💡Creator community

The creator community refers to the group of content creators who share similar interests, niches, or experiences. The speaker reflects on the changes in the coding and tech influencer community on YouTube, noting the departure of many creators and their own decision to leave the platform.

Highlights

YouTubers are quitting or retiring early, questioning the viability of YouTube as a career path.

Many YouTubers in the coding and software engineering niche have quit, with the speaker being one of the last few remaining.

The speaker has already quit YouTube and is sharing their experience and thoughts on why creators are leaving.

There are two ways to quit YouTube: gracefully or by burning the channel with low-value content and excessive monetization.

YouTube businesses built over years have zero equity, leading to massive wealth destruction when creators quit.

The YouTube algorithm change has capped the growth of channels, leading to a decline in views despite increased effort.

The potential of YouTube channels to replace TV shows and become nationwide ventures has not been reached.

YouTube's shift to promoting short formats like Shorts and Podcasts is challenging for creators to monetize.

The labor economy reflects the difficulty of hiring good help, with many preferring to burn out their businesses rather than manage unproductive employees.

YouTube working conditions often involve self-isolation and long hours of solitary work, leading to stagnation in creativity and innovation.

The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement is questioned as a viable lifestyle for ex-YouTubers.

The concept of retiring and doing nothing may not be as appealing as initially thought, leading some YouTubers to return.

YouTube as a career path is still undefined, with successful creators like MrBeast and Linus Tech Tips building corporate-like teams.

The lifestyle entrepreneur path is an alternative to traditional employment, focusing on creativity, freedom, and meaningful work.

The Keychron Q5 Max mechanical keyboard is introduced as a high-quality tool for productivity and gaming.

The YouTube platform presents a unique challenge for creators, requiring a redefinition of business models and career paths.

Transcripts

all right so this is not going to be

like a normal video but something is

wrong with YouTube I'm sure you've

noticed by now with so many other

YouTubers announcing they're quitting or

retiring early as if this platform is

unable to sustain a YouTuber is this

actually a viable career path even or is

it just a dead end with so many people

dropping out like flies and I'm sure

you've noed as well a lot of people in

my Niche the coding software engineering

Tech influencer space you know in 2019

2020 there were a lot of us out there it

was a pretty good time we even had a bit

of a community going on and I think they

all quit basically I'm like one of the

last few remaining out here and so with

all that now it is it's finally my turn

to quit YouTube that's right now I've

already quit YouTube actually I

announced I was retiring a few months

back and I wanted to explain how that's

been going why I've been having such a

difficult time quitting YouTube actually

why things don't work and what I would

suggest people try doing instead and you

know I would start by saying that there

are two ways to go about quitting

YouTube one is you can can gracefully

just bow yourself out on a high you know

exit gracefully and then there's the

second way the way I've opted which is

to just burn this channel to the ground

with low value content clickbait

headlines sponsored products everywhere

advertising and a power grab to just

milk this channel for whatever it's got

left and so really now we're just having

some fun out there you know make some

travel Vlogs chill check out some cool

tech gadgets occasionally like sponsored

products this keyboard I'll talk about

it in a moment you know one of the trou

Parts about being a YouTuber though is

that a lot of these businesses that

people have been building over the past

5 10 years there's absolutely zero

Equity built up it's not like a normal

startup where after putting in 5 to 10

years of building it out you can sell it

as a business to some invest or somebody

else to take over it's just massive

wealth destruction as the value of the

business evaporates to essentially zero

and maybe somebody else should be able

to take over the business if they want

like I would love to take over some of

these large YouTubers businesses and

just you know like burn their channels

to the ground with a few product

placements and advertisements you know

like milk it for whatever I can but a

lot of people are saying no these

businesses cannot be sold not at a good

value and they rather just leave it

stagnant there decaying all right so

here's my take why are YouTubers

dropping like flies arguably first of

all something must have changed with the

algorithm last year people were putting

in the same amount of work if not even

more work and then they saw their

progress their growth actually not going

up anymore in fact the more work they

put in they would see their views

continuing to CLI and it was like

pushing a Boer up a hill and it was this

infinite Hill and the payoff just didn't

seem worth it anymore when you think

about it given say $5 CPM if you have a

100,000 view video which is a lot

actually that's about

$500 right for 100k view video just on

Ence it's really not enough to make a

living out of this but really the thing

is once your channel stops growing and

it's just stagnating or even starting to

go down it's not really Venture anymore

it's like you've seen the maximum

potential of that Venture that you

thought maybe it could become like a

whole TV show or something like you had

all these dreams and you were going to

invest in the business and then you saw

oh wait this is this is the max that it

can get to and it's just a job at that

point a lot of dreams die you realize

this is not going to become some

Nationwide talk show like the Oprah

Winfrey show or the late night talk show

Jay Leno show rather the potential's

been reached and you can even measure

your hourly wage which is not going to

be great and it becomes quite difficult

to justify continued further investment

or putting in the late night and

weekends because it's more like running

a restaurant with cap seeding capacity

where the algorithm doesn't seem to give

you more customers no matter how hard

you work or how tasty you make your food

and I would note two things about this

number one is that arguably the YouTube

algorithm has failed or the YouTube

platform has failed its creators in

being able to support them the

businesses got capped out and people did

not see further potential in their

businesses like what happened to YouTube

replacing TV talk shows a lot of these

channels did not reach anywhere near

full Market potential and I think it is

a issue with growth because people will

not just walk away from a channel if

it's continuing to grow if this gu the

limit is like well they want to see what

they can become and so on the one hand

there's been this Grand Vision of

YouTube replacing daytime TV making

Nationwide stars of his creators and

then on the other hand it's like a no

man's land where you've got a bunch of

junky YouTubers who lack any type of

societal status or respect everybody's

out there making fun of them and they're

stuck in this long hour side job it sure

there may be some flexibility but

typically the balance is such that

they're not making enough to really hire

a team and yet the time commitment is

all consuming and it requires you having

a bunch of different high level skills

you know like video editing camera

production sure maybe it can replace

your day job for a while but then the

promotions stop coming and then you

start getting the Motions where the

harder you work the less pay you get

after a while simply because the

algorithm is changing and the

prioritizing what used to be the long

video essay format which I think is kind

of dying recently in favor of shorts and

podcasts and that's partly because this

is what the algorithm's trying to

promote these days YouTube's been going

heavy on shorts because it's a great

format actually for Millennials and

people who have short attention ADHD

spans but it's a pretty difficult format

for creators to monetize so maybe it's a

game really viable only for teenagers

who are willing to put in a ton of work

for low pay and then the podcast maybe

it's just a disruption to traditional

YouTube because podcast maybe just have

better higher quality more genuine

authentic content from sometimes really

great guests it's like how can a

YouTuber who's just staring at their

belly button compete with that and the

fact that people don't want to hire

anybody they rather just burn their

businesses to the ground I think

reflects the state of the labor economy

where it's just so difficult to get good

help these days because nobody wants to

work so it's like you can hire somebody

for 100K per year payt them out of your

own pocket and they're still not going

to put in the work for you they're not

going to appreciate that they're going

to demand more and they're going to have

all of these arguments with you all the

time and they're going to put in like 5

hours per day or less and just slack off

on you at that rate you don't even want

to be a boss or manage people like this

you rather just give up on the business

and then to make matters worse when you

look at the working conditions of a

YouTuber it tends to be self-isolation

in their own Apartments talking into a

black hole of a camera editing videos

for hours by themselves and another

change I've noticed as far as creativity

goes is that there's been a lot of

stagnating innovation and camera audio

video technology where there's really no

challenge anymore it's it's not hard to

get good video quality or audio quality

everybody's quality is about the same

these days it used to be something that

set people apart they would get the best

cameras the best microphones and it was

a very interesting topic of debate and

you would see like who's investing the

most in their cameras it's all the same

stuff nowadays now here's the thing I

think a lot of these YouTubers are going

to be back actually because this whole

retirement thing this fire plan I don't

think it actually works so this

financial Independence retire early

movement this idea that you would would

just stop being productive that you

could withdraw from society into your

own cave and just live out this life of

comfort by yourself playing video games

and reading books there seems to be some

fundamental flaw with that I'm still

trying to figure it out but in that

process not only is it quite boring and

you lose a lot of status you don't need

the world and the world no longer needs

you either and you become powerless in

the world in that way even if you have

some wealth even if you have some money

nobody really wants to get to know you

nobody wants to talk to you you can't

just show somebody your bank balance and

say say hey come talk to me and so what

happens is if you want to engage with

the world you have to do interesting

things you can't just print out your

bank account balance statement and say

look I made some money and a prior job I

had as a YouTuber I I don't do anything

these days I just play video games now

uh why don't I come to your podcast and

talk about the video games I'm like

nobody wants to talk with you you've got

no status it's not interesting it's not

attractive you become quite a boring

person who's just walking around with

their bank statement balance showing it

to everybody and this ability to just

sit around and do nothing playing video

games is arguably an ability you've had

since birth and really quite frankly

anybody can already do this if you don't

want to work just go move out to the

middle of nowhere go move to Kansas

somewhere and you you you can do this

you can live this life if you want but

the reason most people go out and

struggle is they want a reason to go

live in a High Cost of Living City and

in order to live in some of these cities

like La New York somewhere nice you

would typically want at least some

reason that justifies why you're out

there paying those High rents and simply

sitting around playing video games being

retired or reading books and gardening

may not be sufficient reason even if you

can pay the rents even if you can afford

it it doesn't make much sense it never

feels good to be burning money at some

point you would optimize your lifestyle

and probably move to a lower cost of

living place unless you had a reason to

be in that High Cost of Living nice city

and so it occurred to me that this whole

entire concept of fire may not really

work it may not be a thing even though

it sounds like common sense to me and

like I had always I mean of course right

fire you that's what we're all working

towards for some people it's just not

even a consideration look at people like

Elon Musk Mark Zuckerberg Steve Jobs

those people they just worked the whole

entire time they never even thought

about retirement early and maybe they're

on to something there and so I have a

feeling some of these YouTubers are

going to be back after a while after

they take their little vacation do a

travel break they may find that

retirement is a little bit more boring

than they imagined it to be and as for

everybody still hustling out here I

would say it's a pretty interesting

problem space actually because YouTube

is such a new career path actually you

can consider how does this really play

out how do you scale it how do you build

this out what's the business model

behind it is their business model it's

not well defined at all some people seem

to have achieved some level of success

when you take a look at people like Mr

Beast or Lina's Tech tips they build

this massive team they make it very

corporate they hire people they become

managers for many people though they

don't want to become people managers and

boss around lazy people who don't seem

to really want to work in this type of

economy and so then there may be this

other routes like a lifestyle

entrepreneur it's not like a

full-fledged corporate entrepreneur

where you're there working at 9 to-5 job

managing people it's not a employee life

it's more like this other different path

we don't even have a good name for it

Hustler or grifter perhaps although

maybe in the future everybody's going to

want to walk this path it's a path still

being defined and it's going to be

defined by values like creativity

Freedom flexibility doing work that you

love or find meaningful and enjoying

that Journey that is life and speaking

of joying life we have to talk about our

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this whole YouTube thing it is a

challenge and whenever I'm looking for a

challenge it's a good one to think about

and it can be an interesting hobby if

you're getting yourself worked up over

this and stressing out and thinking

about quitting and burning out maybe

just don't take it so seriously chill

people probably don't care about you as

much as you imagine with that see you in

the next one thanks