Becoming a content creator

[Big Head Tech]

Greetings all!

 

So a few years ago while I was in college, I made a few dozen videos around PC's and PC building.  Back then, I was building/selling 3-5 PC's a month locally.  As life got busier I stopped uploading to YouTube.  Now I have a career in the wireless industry and they are paying for my masters degree in IT.  I have a pretty extensive hardware background as I benchmarked some 200+ builds over the years.  I absolutely love PC's, PC parts, building and helping others.  Eventually I want to transition out of sales and into something I enjoy more.  I don't believe I can quit my day job and make YouTube videos by no means.  But I have made a little bit from YouTube back when I did it.  

 

A few things about me:

I have capital behind me for some investment

I can easily dedicate a few hours a day at doing this

I am engaged, no kids and I own my own house (mortgage)

My most popular videos were how-to-install parts (for a friend but they got popular)

 

So here are some questions I have

What is a basic video recorder that can capture in 1080p that WON'T break the bank

If I want to stream to Twitch, what kind of capture card should I do?

What kind of license do I need?  Do I need an EIN/Tax ID, sales tax license

Ideally I would do an LLC, any other suggestions such as an S-Corp?

What are some area's around tech that I could focus on?

 

My initial thoughts would be building PC's, How to's, benchmarking and some live streaming.  I have the capital to purchase parts and I would sell to negate the cost afterwards.  The market is definitely saturated, but I love Tech and would love to make this part of my life!

[mad dudy]

get a 1080p webcam, i think logitech has a nice one.

[mechtech]

You have a few different fields worth of questions in there, I will try to answer some. I am not familiar with lower end 1080p webcams for video content creation, but I have been told many basic models do the job..

For streaming on Twitch, I chose to have a secondary PC with mid-range GPU handle it. It seems to be the go to solution vs. capture cards, but others might be able to chime in a bit more on this.

For registering against not registering, this really depends on your current income, and how much income your new business will make.

I highly suggest you speak to your accountant, explain what your plans are, and even without any possible income projections, the accountant should be able to advise you to register an LLC or operate as self-employed to start.

Accountants and lawyers are also the only ones well placed to properly advise you on what registrations you need to file for your state, and business operations.

Registering a business will have varied effects on how your income tax is reported. Since this is a side hustle, and you plan to keep your day job, eventually it is much better to keep the two split. Once you start making a good chunk of money with your online content, it's most certainly time to register and treat it as a separate entity.

Tax numbers are usually used to get tax refunds on purchases made for your business. Say you buy computer parts for a build, you can get the tax refunded in most cases since you're an operating business. I can't give you more direct advice since I'm in Canada, and tax systems can vary greatly.

[Big Head Tech]

So I sat down with my fiance and decided we are going to do it right.  We are taking some money saved up (not all of it), and invest it into equipment, projects, marketing,  Camcorders, web cam, lighying.  We are signing up with Amazon, already have a YT partnership, signing up for Twitch, reaching out to some friends who do marketing, investing a ton of time in social media marketing.  We aren't quitting our jobs, but she will take over full time the back end work and I got a guy who will help us with video editing for cash under the table until we are established.  I told him that if we grow to need him more than 10 hours a week, I will put him on the books next year as a full time gig.

 

Our thoughts are to follow the kind of path Linus did.  I have no expectation of getting his kind of success, but the goal would be to eventually make this our income/career with maybe employment of others.  But to give you an idea, in 2013, I made just off of side PC work, about $8,000 net profit.  Now don't get me wrong, that is about 9% of our gross income, but we are hoping to turn maybe 10-15k this year net, and maybe 25-30k next year (enough for her to quit her job and focus on it), then invest into a full time employee since our editing skills well lack quite a bit.

 

We expect this to be a side business for several years as we grow and expand.  I will tie it back to my PC repair business, but the hope is 3-4 years from now I can downsize my job and get my fiance working for us full time.  Luckily I have enough accounting background (degree lol) and have some support outside to help us out.  I spoke to a few other content creators and they gave me some great pointers.  Since I have cash to invest into expansion and marketing, to use multiple channels.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I think it'll be more beneficial for you to make videos about networking since you're in the wireless industry. The computer hardware side of the Tech YouTube space is extremely saturated and the likelihood of you being noticed is slim to none. You have insider knowledge that people like Austin Evans, Marques Brownlee, JayzTwoCents, and even Linus to some degree, don't have. That's an asset that really could set you apart from every one else.

[Big Head Tech]

5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I think it'll be more beneficial for you to make videos about networking since you're in the wireless industry. The computer hardware side of the Tech YouTube space is extremely saturated and the likelihood of you being noticed is slim to none. You have insider knowledge that people like Austin Evans, Marques Brownlee, JayzTwoCents, and even Linus to some degree, don't have. That's an asset that really could set you apart from every one else.

I plan to start on a on where I made a lot of my views, how-to videos and PC budgeting.  I have to be careful because my company I work for many not be happy about me talking about the industry.  I don't think PC hardware is sustainable forever and neither did Linus.  The goal is to invest in marketing, take what has been successful, grow the company and adjust/plan for new avenues down the road.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

3 minutes ago, Snaeb said:

I plan to start on a on where I made a lot of my views, how-to videos and PC budgeting.  I have to be careful because my company I work for many not be happy about me talking about the industry.  I don't think PC hardware is sustainable forever and neither did Linus.  The goal is to invest in marketing, take what has been successful, grow the company and adjust/plan for new avenues down the road.

Well of course you have to be careful not to expose any company secrets and information. But, doing videos on how to troubleshoot home network problems all while explaining things in detail is something that YouTube doesn't have. Even explaining how things like data transmission over the network works is something that would be awesome. You get the drift.

 

General networking knowledge that'll be beneficial for the average joe and aspiring people who want to work in that field.

[Big Head Tech]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Well of course you have to be careful not to expose any company secrets and information. But, doing detailed videos on how to troubleshoot home network problems all while explaining things in detail is something that YouTube doesn't have. Even explaining how things like data transmission works is something that would be awesome. You get the drift.

Definitely,  I work for a Wireless Carrier not necessarily Networking.  The only issue is my YouTube channel kinda specifies PC stuff and I have a few hundred subs already, so I'd rather not branch off THIS early.  But more how-to's could be very useful and insightful.