You can’t get famous online if you have a life

Well, it’s finally happened… I’ve missed multiple days in a row of updating my “daily” blog.  I knew it was bound to happen at some point.  They say that 95% of all blogs fail, and the main reason is because the writers run out of steam.  The most successful blogs are updated multiple times a week so I set out to do one a day.  But life can get in the way and because I run my own business and am currently in between assistants, that’s exactly what life has done to me this week.

And now I’ve dropped to #79 most subscribed Comedian in Canada of all time on YouTube.   That’s two places lower than I was when I put up my last video.  And really, it’s to be expected when you aren’t uploading anything new.

So what does it all mean? That becoming famous online is like a job, and it requires the same amount of time and commitment that a job requires.  Just without the pay, until you make it big.  Think about it – it takes me about an hour for each blog post when you count the time for the writing/reviewing/editing, finding/altering/adding a photo, making the links/font changes, etc (anyone who writes a blog knows what I’m talking about).  Then it takes time to market it online.  And that’s an important part of it – you don’t get discovered by just putting something up and then sitting back and waiting for it to get traffic or go viral on it’s own.  And then if you want to make a video, that can take hours – even my last video, which was quite simple, still took a couple hours when it was all said and done after setting up, doing a couple takes, editing & adding text, and uploading it.  So just there is easily half of a regular shift at a job (or a full shift at a part-time job!).

What’s my point? I have a life, and a very full one at that, with a business that lately has required about 12 hours of my time each day, so I’m having trouble keeping up with what it takes to really get to the level I want to be at with my online endeavours.  It’s frustrating… and it’s keeping me from getting to where I know I could be if I had the time to put in to it.  I wish I could spend hours every day to work on this “career”, but right now I just don’t have the time while I also run my other business, which is the one that keeps me fed with a roof over my head.

And just look at the top YouTubers.  Most of them do this for a living.  They don’t have other jobs on the side so they can devote their full days to coming up with and creating YouTube videos, and doing BlogTV shows, and updating their blog and twitter/facebook, and all that kind of stuff.  It all takes a huge amount of time and when you’re like me and not getting paid for it (I’m still waiting to actually get a cheque from any revenue I’ve made as a YouTube partner) then it’s an uphill battle… that gets more steep the further you fall behind.

What do you think? Do you know of anyone who’s had some good success online with just doing it as an occasional hobby on the side?  Do you think the amount of time and effort required to get famous online is worth it considering the low odds of actually achieving it anyway?  What kind of successes have you had with keeping a blog going and regularly uploading videos?

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YouTube Comment of the Day:

BillSara111 has made a comment on Father Lover (Mother Lover spoof):

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