Should You Make The Jump Into Full-Time Streaming?
From the outside, the life of a full-time streamer sounds glorious.
You wake up, turn on the computer, and play video games (all day) to hundreds of paying audience members. No boss, no bedtimes.
But if you peel back the sheets, you realize that the beautiful body you expected to see can sometimes be an unsightly, foul-smelling ogre gazing back at you.
And when most streamers think about making the leap into full-time streaming, they fail to even consider that possibility. They go in unprepared, not realizing that the ogre is ready to eat them up at a moment’s notice.
You don’t want to make that mistake.
So how can you ensure that you’re ready to take on the challenge of full-time streaming?
Simple (not really).
Before you take the leap, you need to ask yourself a few questions:
What are my expenses?
This one’s simple.
If you don’t know how much money you spend on a day-to-day basis, you aren’t going to know if the money you make from streaming can support your life.
That’s where a full expense analysis can come in handy.
To start, there are two types of expenses that you need to worry about:
- Constant expenses, and
- Variable expenses
Constant expenses are those bills that you know will cost the same every time you pay for them. Things like the rent and insurance all fall into this category.
Then, you’ve got your variable expenses. These are (you guessed it) expenses that are different every time you pay them. For instance, your electric and gas bills, health bills, and phone bills (if you don’t have an unlimited plan) are all variable expenses.
Now, to conduct a full-expense analysis, here’s what I want you to do:
1. Brainstorm your expenses.
Take about 20 minutes to think of every expense that you pay monthly. The more things you write down here, the better.
What’s your rent? Do you go to the movies every weekend? Do you eat at restaurants 3 times a week? Do you religiously take the “Dino Tour” at the American Museum of Natural History like me?
Write ’em all down.
2. Sort your expenses by “Constant” and “Variable”.
Mark 2 columns, one for constant and one for variable, at the top of a new piece of paper. Then go back and start sorting your expenses into the two columns.
(p.s. if you’re unsure what price to write for your variable expenses, go with the highest amount you’ve ever paid for that expense to be safe.)
Once they’re organized, add them all up at the bottom of your paper.
3. Calculate your streaming income.
I recommend taking a 3 to 6 month average of every income-stream you’re currently generating from Twitch (donations, subscribers, sponsorships) to account for the ebb-and-flow of the numbers.
(Also, if you have any passive income streams in place, you can add them into the mix as well.)
Sum those up and throw them onto the same paper as your expenses.
Now, sit back and observe the two numbers. What do you notice? Are your expenses higher than your streaming income?
If so, you’ve got a bit of a predicament on your hands. You either cut back on your expenses, or you starve!
In all seriousness, if you find that you still can’t survive even with massive expense cutbacks, it’s best to grow your streaming income a bit more before making the leap.
But what if your streaming income is larger than your expenses? Is it time to celebrate?
Not just yet.
Though it may seem as if you’re in the clear, you still need to account for potential cutbacks in your streaming income.
Remember: streaming doesn’t equal salary. You don’t want to make the leap only to find yourself unable to pay the bills because of a slow month in donations.
So, to account for those low-income streaming months, lop 10%-15% off your total streaming income.
Are you still surviving?
Good. But we still aren’t finished with your expenses (sobs). I’ll come back to that in a minute.
But for the time being, ask yourself:
Am I prepared for self-employment?
When you have a good job, life is easy.
You’ve got a steady income you can rely on each month. You can budget your expenses and paychecks down a T. You know exactly how much you’re able to save each month so you can plan for the retirement home checks (FeelsBadMan).
But with full time streaming — better named “self-employment” — you don’t have any of that s**t.
Subscribers and donations are in constant flux. Your sponsorships are sure to come and go. And for some streamers, this can generate a massive amount of anxiety.
So before you take the leap into self-employment, sit down and ask yourself:
“Am I ready to take on the challenge of income insecurity?”
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not claiming you’ll be at the brink of bankruptcy for your entire streaming life. All I’m saying is that you’re going to have ups and downs. And without the proper mental fortitude to tough those out, you might find your face firmly planted into the cement sooner than you think.
…oh, and one more thing before we move on.
You’re going to have to pay self-employment taxes!
*shudders*
I don’t know where you live. That’d be creepy. But for the purposes of this article, I’ll assume you’re in America.
So if you’re an American generating $30,000 a year from streaming, and you’re single (aka forever alone), then you’re going to have to pay approximately $4,239 smacks in self-employment taxes every year. That’s no ordinary chunk of change.
And to keep the math simple, that roughly equals another 14% of your streaming income. Remember that 15% we sliced off your income in the last section?
Now chop off another 14%.
Are you still surviving?
Am I growing?
Imagine for a moment that you recently landed an awesome job at an awesome company for an entry level dream position. Awesome.
During your interview, you were promised a plethora of advancement opportunities through the company if you worked hard and provided good results. Great! So, for 2 years straight, you work your tail off doing menial, unimportant tasks for the sake of securing a promotion.
But the promotion doesn’t come.
And when you look around, it seems as if all your co-workers are advancing, yet you’re still stuck cleaning the stables. Why?
You decide to ask your supervisors for a promotion. But when you do, they give you some half-assed reply about the ricing price levels of the economy, they blabber on about something called a Phillip’s Curve, and then they send you back to your desk. It’s a miserable failure.
So you wait 6 months and ask again.
“No Bueno.”
Another 6 months.
“Nice try pal!”
Finally, you think, “to hell with this place”, and quit.
I’m sure you’re wondering right about now,
“What the hell does that have to do with streaming?”
Well, more than you’d think.
You see, some streamers go directly into full-time streaming without even considering if their stream is growing enough to support the transition. They jump at the opportunity, even if it means counting pennies to pay the bills at the end of each month.
But if you don’t know whether your stream has any potential for growth, you’re going to end up like that sad man/woman in our example. Stuck at your job, working tirelessly for scraps, with no opportunity for advancement until you’re forced to quit and never return.
You wouldn’t want to end up there.
So ask yourself:
“Is my stream growing at a rate that can sustain me through the ups-and-downs of full-time streaming?”
If it’s not, then you’ve got to figure out why, and soon. There are countless reasons why your stream might be stuck in the mud — too many to list in this article. But from my experience, you can fix almost anything with time.
Don’t give up hope.
In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out this article from Bacon Donut entitled, “The Problem Might Be You”. You’ll thank me (and Bacon) later.
https://medium.com/bacondonuttv/the-problem-might-be-you-d84d3a4bb306
And finally, for the most important question of all:
Am I confident?
When asked by one of his fans whether they should finally start their own business, despite all their fears and doubts, legendary entrepreneur and wine-fanatic Gary Vaynerchuk replied:
“If you’re still asking yourself the question, then you aren’t ready.”
The life of a full-time streamer shares striking similarities to that of the struggling entrepreneur.
You’re stepping into the chaos. You’re alone, you’re scared, and the whole world seems to be watching you. The spotlight has never shown brighter.
That means the opportunities for failure are at an all-time high.
And without relentless confidence — backed by data and strategy — in yourself and in your goals, you may not have the mental fortitude to last through the ups-and-downs of your journey.
In other words, the will to reach your goals must be so strong that the thought of living any longer without achieving them is almost unthinkable.
Feeling hesitant when approaching the idea is normal. That’s your brain’s defense mechanism towards uncertain situations kicking in.
But if you constantly doubt your ability to achieve your goals, you need to find out why.
· What exactly are you afraid of most?
· Where along the line of actions needed to reach your goals are you least confident?
· What steps can you take to cut that lack of confidence, or better yet, smother it all together?
Once you find out why, you should do everything in your power to fix it.
You got this.
Holy MOLY.
You got through this whole damn article. Pat yourself on the back.
By now, I hope that you have a KILLER idea of what the life of a full-time streamer entails, and whether you’re ready to make the leap.
The decision will probably be one of the scariest in your life (we can’t all have the blessing of infinite stream growth like Dr. Disrespect).
But if you’re ready to make the leap, it’s time to charge full speed ahead.
In the words of an ancient Chinese proverb:
“Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be only afraid of standing still.”
