Written by: Dylan Shepard

Dylan Shepard is a Junior Marketing student and Men’s gymnast at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

The rise of YouTube throughout the 2010’s has called many people into a life of content creation. The vast opportunities brought through YouTube have taken people away from regular 9-5 jobs and into the risk of creating videos. There are so many ways to get into YouTube, whether sports, gaming, art, music, cooking, travel, etc. The sectors of YouTube are never-ending and are the reason why people want to take on this lifestyle. It always sounds great at the start, but there are more challenges involved with YouTube than some creators make it seem.

There are five reasons why Youtubers end up quitting and Mark Wolters covers these reasons. This blog will dive into all five of the reasons and I will apply common examples that will compare to many young people getting involved in content creation. The reasons have nothing to do with a lack of creativity but lie more in the ever-changing algorithms and comments from haters and doubters of the legitimacy of a YouTube career.

This blog will not be to discourage young people from getting into YouTube, but instead it will serve as a warning for what to look out for when navigating the difficulties of content creation. Students in Marketing and Entrepreneurship will benefit from these reasons and can be applied for anyone managing a channel. I will break down each reason in detail and provide context for Mark Wolter’s explanation of everything.

Reason 1: Putting in a lot of effort for minimal results

A common theme seen on YouTube is creators putting hours of work into a video that they took a lot of pride in and seeing very low amounts of views and engagement. It can be very disheartening, and it often does not make a lot of sense. What makes it even more frustrating is when a video that took very low time and effort gets millions of views almost immediately. This creates a sense of confusion and lack of purpose to the creator that can lead to thoughts of Quitting. This happens very often and there are a few reasons why this can happen.

Current trends and timing of post on certain videos can be reasons for why some videos don’t get traction. Even if the video is super well put together and it fits the audience that subscribes to your channel, the video can still flop. This is again very discouraging, and it makes it hard to predict when to post some content. Should you just stick to short funny videos that fit current trends hoping to go viral? I say no. The key to long-term success, which Mark mentions in the video is consistently putting in the effort. Overtime viewers and subscribers will appreciate this, and the views will begin to stack.

An example of how this method has turned into success is Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast has consistently put out content that is high effort and takes time to make. He doesn’t post daily hoping for the videos to blow up, instead he spends weeks and even months on videos that end up doing very well because he has established himself this way. So, for the new channels out there, don’t get discouraged when videos that take time don’t do well right away. Instead, keep the consistency and put out quality content. The path to success will be worth the journey that it takes. There are little to no shortcuts when it comes to being successful. Be patient and trust the process that it takes.

Reason 2: The online haters

The internet is filled with millions of people whose only goal is to put out negativity on creator’s work. Whether it’s to “rage bait”, or for attention, or just to make themselves feel better. It is nonstop and no matter how good your content is, there is always going to be at least one hater. Sometimes it’s not even about the content itself, but they will personally attack the way you look, the way you sound, and even your status.

The hate comments hurt because they make you feel like you aren’t doing your best work. Putting many hours into a video and then getting a comment saying the video sucked is demoralizing. The key is to just ignore any comments that are meant to be harmful. Just remember that many of these comments come from random jobless people sitting in their parents’ basement with nothing better to do. Hate comments are not a reflection of your work, but instead it reflects how judgmental people can be for absolutely no reason.

In the video, Mark talks about focusing on the good comments instead of the hateful ones. This is super important for not letting harmful things discourage you. If you look at the many people who love your work, especially if they outnumber the hate comments, this means you are doing something right. You just have to accept that there will always be hate there, but as long as you have people supporting you then those don’t matter.

Reason 3: Brand deals with little to no return

It is tempting when first starting out on YouTube to want to take brand deals to prove your worth as a creator. Often times these Brand deals will give very little money if any at all, for many hours of work. Mark gave the example of brands wanting him to produce multiple videos on multiple platforms all for just a free cheap product. The work is not worth the reward in this case, and it can be frustrating feeling the need to take these deals in order to make you feel like a bigger channel.

As a student athlete I can relate to this heavily with the current NIL space. Many small brands and companies will reach out offering free products or even a little bit of money, but then they will want 2-3 Instagram reels and 3-5 story posts all for a small brand product. The other unfortunate part about it is that if they do pay you, they won’t pay until all of the content is filmed and uploaded. All that work for a 5-dollar protein bar free and maybe 50 dollars. It is just not worth the time as an athlete without a huge following. It only becomes worth it for NIL or YouTube sponsors if you are a big-time creator that can get brand deals worth thousands of dollars.

The best way to combat this problem is to honestly just stay away from these bad deals. You will lose out on time and money to make the videos with such little return. The best thing to do is continue building up your channel until you can earn a sponsor worth real money. Often times the bigger your channel and brand deals, the less videos and posts you will have to make because you are dealing with a much more established company. Also, your viewers don’t want to see you repetitively posting about the same product over and over again.

Reason 4: The Algorithm

YouTube is changing their algorithm all the time in order to predict what people want to watch and to push out content they want people to see. This can be terrible for some channels that were doing great with a particular algorithm. This change can cause creators to lose the majority of their views in some cases and can make it really hard to continue making content. If someone has YouTube as their main income, this can be devastating and understandably make someone quit making videos.

To combat this, it is best to study new trends and algorithm changes. If one type of video stops working because of algorithm changes, then figure out what will work by diving into other content. Also, keeping up on other social media platforms can help this issue. If YouTube isn’t working out, then maybe you could get Instagram popping and bring some of those people over to the YouTube channel.

Trend Following will also be important, if you are making content that was trending 3 years ago and just isn’t popular anymore, then your views will start to dwindle. Try to freshen up content by mixing in some popular things with your regular content to try and boost views on all videos. Don’t be discouraged by the changing algorithms, instead find away to combat these changes and continue to grow your channel. Sometimes all it takes is one big video to get you back to a normal view count again.

Reason 5: People don’t consider YouTube a real job

One of the worst things to hear from someone else as a content creator that works extremely hard is that YouTube is not a real job. After hours spent traveling, filming, editing, marketing, networking, and much more, it is devastating to hear this. Sometimes even if you are making a legitimate amount of money from making videos, people will still tell you that it is not a real job. Often just because it’s not an office job and because you don’t have a boss or any formal structure.

People only see the finished product. They don’t see the 10 hours of filming that get cut down to the 30-minute highlights. There are so many different factors that come to play when making a video. If you don’t edit or personally film your content, then that just means that you are in charge of employing other people which has it’s own complications as well. Just because your work may be at home or on the go, it doesn’t mean that it is illegitimate. The hours spent are just as valuable because you are bringing entertainment to others. Even if its not educational content, it still serves a purpose as entertainment and it is no different than the tv or movie industry.

The most important thing to remember is that people will never understand it until they have tried it for themselves. As long as you are content with yourself and the videos you are making then that is all that matters. Keep trusting in the process and you will be able to make money and be successful. If anyone hates on your dream, then just ignore it because you know how much work you put into it.

Conclusion

Even though I only covered the five reasons that mark covered in the video, there are probably other reasons for why people quit YouTube as well. This isn’t to say that you should quit YouTube, but it’s to say that there are reasons to quit many different things in life. Ultimately it is about following your passion and blocking out the noise from people that don’t know your experiences.

There are always going to be haters, there are always going to be people that don’t think YouTube can be a career. But you notice a lot of those haters start to fade when you build up a massive following and are making tons of money from it. So, no matter how big or small your channel is, keep doing research and keep doing what you can to grow your content. There are going to be times when views or bad, or your subscriber count is stagnant, or you aren’t receiving brand deals. This is when it’s most important to learn and find ways to grow.

Don’t quit when it gets hard, instead learn from the hardships and use it as motivation to reach your goals. You don’t want to look back at when you quit and have a feeling of regret that you wish you would have kept going. Maybe YouTube can become your fulltime job if you keep up with it. Keep grinding and never let your creativity stop flowing. The work will pay off in the end!