Finding Your Niche & Sticking to a Schedule
Interview with Twitch Streamer & Designer WolvesAtMyDoor
WolvesAtMyDoor, aka Jay, is a Twitch streamer and clothing designer. I recently had the chance to interview him on my podcast.
Before streaming on Twitch or designing clothes, Jay worked as a graphic designer for a publishing company, creating designs for book covers. It was through graphic design that he also found his first success online.
Jay created fan art for YouTubers and streamers that he watched. One of those YouTubers, BdoubleO, saw his work and was impressed. He ended up hiring Jay to create the thumbnails for his videos.
When I asked Jay whether a graphic designer should work for free to get their foot in the door, he had a unique answer.
“You either do something for full price, or you do it for free. Never do it for cheap.”
If you decide to charge a price, be confident in it. If you decide to do it for free, you will still gain valuable experience and exposure. Just don’t do it for cheap because if you do something for cheap, then that’s your price.
In Jay’s case, he offered to work for BdoubleO for free, but the YouTuber insisted that he be paid for his work.
After working with him for a time, BdoubleO encouraged Jay to start streaming on his own. He decided to try it.
Due to the exposure gained from working with BdoubleO, Jay’s first stream was not a typical Twitch streamer’s experience. He had a viewership of over 50 during the stream. After his first stream, Jay was quickly hooked and began streaming regularly while still working his full time job at the publishing company.
Jay feels that he was more productive streaming when he had a full time job.
“There wasn’t even a question; I got home, and I streamed.”
When the entire unit of the publishing company that he worked at was laid off, Jay decided that it was a sign and began streaming full time. However, the freedom that came with working for himself caused Jay to temporarily lose the consistent schedule he once maintained.
However, with the new year, Jay decided to start a new schedule and stick to it. In addition to having a set time where he streams each day, he also plans on having a main game to play consistently.
One of the most unique aspects of Jay’s community is his extremely tight community that have followed him over the years. There have been multiple couples who have met through his stream, and one of them has even gotten married.
Jay believes that the distinct closeness in his community is because he represents a niche group on Twitch, one that’s very stylistic and also focused on video games.
The style Jay’s talking about stems from his background in design and comes through in many different aspects of his stream. For instance, he develops very unique, animated overlays for his stream and changes them regularly. Not only does he develop special overlays for himself, he has also worked with other streamers such as Northernlion on rebranding and design.
“It almost symbolizes a certain time in the stream.”
Also, he has developed a clothing line for the members of the community that is not your typical streamer merchandise. Instead of creating clothes that simply pimp the channel’s logo, Jay works on creating unique designs that aren’t necessarily related to the stream and just look cool more than anything.
“It’s been a huge part of my stream and something I am super passionate about.”
For the same reason that he constantly changes his overlays, Jay never reprints any of his clothes.
“Always pushing forward, never dialing back.”
It is in this way that Jay has created a unique space for himself on Twitch and looks to continue pushing forward with a new schedule for the new year.
