Patreon response to the sponsored content and my way forward from here

I'm sitting here at work in my bunker underneath DC, clicking away at these maps. I've been at work since 6 PM eastern, and I'll be back tomorrow for my 7th straight round of night shifts. I don't hate my job, but I am straight up not having a good time.

I have fun on Discord, YouTube, and Patreon in ways that I cannot find with traditional employment. My goal for a while has been to be a full-time YouTuber, and that means determining ways to fund my ambitions. 

YouTube revenue is fickle and varies very widely from month to month. Trading can go in either direction, and although I consider myself skilled, we know that no one is bigger than the market. My dividends and pension from the Army give me a nice foundation, but they aren't enough. Patreon has been my rock. 

These streams of revenue have pushed me close to that line where I can quit my day job and contribute to this community full time, but I am still short. When a sponsor came to me and asked how much it would cost for me to make a video featuring their content, I told them more than a month's worth of YouTube revenue. They said yes without hesitation. I should have asked for more.

Nonetheless, the extra $1,500 sponsorship pushed me right across that line. I'd have enough revenue from my various streams with one $1,500 (or more) sponsorship per month. And once I go full time, I can be certain those other streams would become more lucrative as well.

Because of that, I tell you now there will be more sponsored content in the future. I'm not going to let a handful of YouTube commenters convince me that it's better to keep working night shifts in a government basement than it is to create occasional sponsored content.

I really didn't think making a sponsored video was that big of a deal to begin with, but apparently I was wrong.

But I also don't want to lose the trust of this community. So I want to share my thoughts here with the team I really care about, and my plans on how I can do better next time. 

1) First, thanks for not being dicks about me making a video in which the second half was sponsored. I was concerned that my 400 subscriber loss would translate into loss of patrons, but the only feedback I got from you guys was words of encouragement to continue doing what I had to do, or reasonable suggestions on how to do better next time. The only people really lashing out were those who I had never heard from before and I'm sure never added value to this community anyway.

2) I see now that the primary issue with the sponsored video is that I gave the impression that the entire video was not my own thoughts. In reality, the video was my own information up until the disclaimer. I thought it would be beneficial to tack on sponsored content related to the main theme of the video. From the sponsor's point of view, maybe that is the case. But the viewer wants clear delineation of which content is mine, and which content is sponsored. For future sponsorships, I plan on making sure the sponsored content is not related to the main content of the video unless I am personally endorsing the product. Advertising a BS crypto miner at the end of a video on lithium investing would have been a better idea because it leaves no room for confusion on what’s what.

3) Some of my viewers are not as mature as I gave them credit for. I have to keep in mind that some people will literally take money out of their own accounts to buy the first penny stock they see a YouTuber talk about, even if that YouTuber isn't actually recommending they buy. There is no issue with investing in sponsored content, even a penny stock with no revenue, provided someone does their own DD and believes the investment is good. But I have to remind myself that I have a lot of unsophisticated viewers who have no trading experience, and they will dump their accounts into a penny stock as soon as I say the ticker. High-risk sponsorships require more warning than I provided.

4) If the sponsor will allow, I plan to make videos as normal, completing the entire content as though it were not sponsored (other than YouTube putting the "contains paid endorsement" on the top left of the opening). After the video is complete and I am at the end screen, I will announce very specifically that I am about to do a commercial, and those that are not interested in advertisements will not be missing anything if they leave at that point. I believe that will adequately separate my sponsored and non-sponsored content in the most transparent way possible.

5) Where it makes sense, I'll steal some methods from the real professional YouTubers and emplace sponsored content within the video, but only if I can personally stand by the product and the method in #4 is not suitable.

6) I'll seek more non-invasive ways of integrating sponsors, like using their music. A sponsor already contacted me about $100/song as long as I link them in the description. 

This is already a longer post than I thought it would be, so I'll wrap this up. Again, thanks for sticking with me through some growing pains. On the other end of this, I think the benefits of me becoming full-time will more than offset the annoyance of an occasional sponsored video, especially once I get my Kung Fu in order.

Good luck to us in the market during the coming week.