I went from a 39hr p/w Corporate job to a 84hr p/w YouTube life!

Just a quick insight into the YouTuber life..

At the height of my Corporate finance career we were clocking up 70+ hrs a week as a Senior auditor covering our European and Indian facilities.  Travel was fun but it got too much so I stepped "down" to a UK office based accountant position.  

As the years went on and my finance passion dwindled, I managed to get my hours down closer to 39hr/pw as I valued time more than anything else.  I was making YouTube videos for the first few years along side my day job so i'd work on editing videos before work, on my lunch break and evenings.

When I decided to "retire" on my 44th birthday (last year) and go full steam ahead with YouTube I thought, this will be so nice.  I will get time to do more running and cycling and even sleep.

Just over a year later I can confirm i'm working more hours now than my old Corporate travel job haha.  6am alarm every day, straight on the laptop and start answering the emails, messages and YT comments.  I aim to make 2 YT videos each week which take 2-3 days each excluding testing the lenses.  Some days I teach or do work for clients (zoom calls, photoshoots and sometimes weddings) and then I try to do some blog posts, post to social media and upload to Patreon.  I've not had chance to develop any film for a while.

I eat as I type/ work so I calculated 6am-10pm each day less 3hrs for exercise/ faffing, that's 84hrs a week (excluding days I'm on overseas trips).  I rarely do photoshoots for "fun" now, I wait and meet models during workshops.  As i'm always doing photography related stuff (videos, blogs, editing, teaching etc) so I feel i'm still doing photography which keeps me happy.

So YouTube life is great fun but you need to enjoy what you do.  If I can streamline my editing to give me 1 free day a week that will allow me to create more new content.  I have lots of ideas in my head but the days go by in a flash!

If you dream of being a YouTuber, go for it but expect to put in some long hours.  As soon as you ease off everything grinds to a halt really fast!

OK back to YT editing!

Matt

P.S. I'm not complaining.  Thanks to YouTube I was in the US and Europe during the last few months, traveling for free and meeting some fantastic people.  Work hard play hard I guess!