Why Some Successful YouTubers Are Keeping Their Day Jobs

Published in

Octoly Magazine

3 min readApr 24, 2019

Most people assume that when an influencer hits a certain level of success they dedicate their full-time resources to YouTube. Well, that isn’t necessarily true. Some influencers are deciding to keep their traditional 9–5 jobs in addition to their YouTube channel. It may seem crazy — as we all know, running a successful Youtube channel is time-consuming — but these influencers have a reason for the choice they made. Here’s why some YouTubers are choosing to keep their office jobs.

They like it

Cristine Rotenberg, the creator of Simply Nailogical, has 7 million subscribers and makes somewhere between six figures and several million dollars annually from her channel. But she isn’t quitting her job at Statistics Canada — a government agency that produces statistics to help better understand Canada’s population, resources, economy, society, and culture anytime soon. Rotenberg likes her job — it makes her happy and right now she finds that she is able to balance her beloved 9–5 job with her channel.

YouTube may not be sustainable long-term

Many successful YouTubers are very young. In fact, some YouTubers are still teenagers! Making a six-figure salary from Youtube is a fantastic accomplishment and one any person should be proud of. However, young YouTubers still have decades left where they will need to sustain themselves. The social media landscape moves very quickly. Who’s to say what social channels will be around in 20–30 years? Many YouTubers who have kept their current jobs made the decision because it felt like a safer bet in the long term.

YouTube Ad revenues fluctuate

One thing YouTubers always talk about is how unpredictable ad revenues are from YouTube videos. The money you get from videos can vary so much that it can be a very undependable form of revenue. However, a 9–5 paycheck is always a little more dependable which is why some YouTubers are opting to keep their office job.

Taxes can be daunting

As a Youtuber, if you make over a certain amount of money via your ad revenue then you will need to file taxes. Unlike a W-2 employee, taxes are not taken out of your ad wages. You need to figure that out yourself and then pay the government what you owe. This is a huge headache for many 1099 employees. Additionally, you can use the revenue you make from your W-2 job to help pay for your out of pocket taxes you’ll owe being a 1099 employee.

YouTube isn’t totally fulfilling

Youtube is an amazing creative outlet for creators. They are able to express themselves in a fun way and meet new people doing what they love. However, a full-time job may fulfill a more analytical part of a creators’ personality. This might be something that they can’t accomplish making YouTube videos so keeping their 9–5 jobs makes sense for them.

If you because a successful creator would you quit your full-time job or keep it? Let us know in the comments below!

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