Tag Archives: Money

Begging for Money? Subs? Does it work?

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We all know someone who has begged for subscribers or money or whatever have you in the streaming world. To the viral clips that get a lot of attention of streamers calling out their viewers for not saving 5 dollars to subscribe and financially support their channels. Does it work, Maybe. But I know for sure that the attention these clips get these particular channels is actually insane. To the retweets and comments on them is worth it? Today we talk about if begging for money from your viewers or anyone in general works.

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I also want to state that these are my opinions and some of this may sound blunt and insensitive. I am sorry if that is the case however I will not be changing my opinion on this in order to please the people who may be offended by this.

Let’s begin with the “boo hoo” stories. This is where you hear of someone losing their job, or quitting and having no money for rent and things. I have also seen this in streamers who have the desire to go full time without having the means to. Instead of being financially stable before they take the plunge into streaming full time as a profession, they quit their decently paying job in hopes that their community will now fund them. I have no sympathy for people like this. Why? Because they were unprepared by what they set out to do. If you want to take streaming seriously and if you want to do it full time you sure as hell should make sure that you are able to do it full time before even if that means saving money for months to ensure that your “Giving this a Go” is also having the ability to pay your bills and not rely on a community to do so. What is worse or at least in my opinion (Again) Is when you see a streamer attempting the full time aspect of streaming and suddenly you see them with brand new colored hair, new makeup and manicures, but they continue to complain that their bills aren’t being paid. This doesn’t even make sense and if their community is anything like me, I do not want to support someone ESPECIALLY if they are begging for money for bills and using it on luxuries.

Let’s officially talk about those viral videos for money. We know if you actually use twitter remotely related to your streaming that chances are you are able to see all of the different clips of bigger and popular streamers getting essentially “angry” at their community for not giving them money. They may have a sub goal, they may have bills or something they need money for and they are “upset” that they aren’t being consistently subbed to. Why did I use quotes there? Because, Some of these people I THINK make these clips or comments because they know they will end up on a live stream fails list or viral on twitter and it will pull in more people to their streams. Sure, a lot of trolls will also end up going there. That is for sure true. However there is probably a lot of people who may be also going there to “help out” as well too.

Being direct with how you approach your community and your financial goals could really be how you categories the above with viral clips. You are honest and upfront with goals like “I need x amount of money for x bill by such and such date”. Sometimes communities like the direct approach and how honest a streamer is with them. Other ways streamers have set up goals but are super vague with a mini goal in the background of their streams or incorporated in to their overlays as well. Which can equally be effective if they aren’t talking about it but they do see that it and help out when they can.

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Continuously talking about money on stream is probably one of the biggest no-nos you can do though. When you talk about money on stream all the time whether you are broke or have a lot of it you really aren’t making your viewers feel like they are part of the community. You know xQc? He is one of the biggest streamers in the world who probably makes tens of thousands of dollars a month, Do you ever hear him talk about money on stream? Not really. Because it really isn’t anyone’s business and if he was to do that do you think he would be as successful as he is if he did? If you make your viewers seem like the only thing you are interested in is their money they will not want to stick around. This also goes for showing interest in people who subscribe or donate a lot and as soon as they don’t you don’t show much love to them. When I was back working and kid free I too would donate to a few folks. Sure it was great when it was payday and they were excited to see you getting into harmless bit wars with people, But as soon as that money is gone suddenly it is all changed and you barely get a Hi out of the streamer anymore. It certainly does not make me want to stick around when the only interest the streamer had in me was whether or not I could financially support them.

Lastly, how about we stop making streamers who do talk about their financial goals look like aliens? Talking about goals is healthy and a great way to to fill in your community on your aspirations. Whether it is to buy and upgrade your equipment for streaming or you simply would like to buy a new game or toy for your kids. Letting them know your goals and that financial support is an option. Just make sure that your viewers also know that like financial support there is also ways to support that aren’t financial as well too!

My Previous Jobs

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It may come as no surprise but I really havent not had that many jobs in my lifetime. Besides the odd one like shoveling snow or raking leaves of babysitting when I was younger. An official job where I was on a pay roll I really have only ever had 3 of those in my life. Well, three types of them anyways!

My very first official job was at Burger King. It was your typical job for a teenager. I worked after school starting anywhere from 4 or 5pm until 9pm to closing time. Though weekends I would work til close since it was a lot of hours in one shift. I worked an average of part-time hours and when I had holidays and things I typically volunteered for those as well too. Because why not right? Looking back I think it was a great job fir a teenager. I was never interested in a job at Tim Hortons or a coffee shop or a “regular” restaurant. This fast food worked. It was relatively easy to pick up and it wasnt very demanding mentally or physically. I started in the back making the foods and then I worked my way to cashier and drive thru. Not to mention the store I worked gave employees 50% off when you worked and whenever your family went in you got a 25% discount too. Funny enough, for working at fast food, I was my skinnest in highschool working at burger king then I was later in life not working fast food. I will say now I feel a bit tainted, I very rarely eat at Burger king. Food prob is the same, but eating so much as a teen I think of it as a very very rare treat now!

My second job that I got was at a gas station. This was super convient since it was right across the street from my community college housing. I was pumped to get this job as I had quit my burger king job. When I moved to college which was 45 minutes away I had the ability to switch burger kings so I was working at a new one. This one was across town though which was quite the cab ride in a town with no busses. Not to mention they also had been really harsh with shifts for me knowing I was in school. For example, I was susposed to work a 11-2pm, 3 hour shift. They were calling me at 10am telling me I was late (I wasnt and showed them once I seen the schedule which I was right) And then I was off for 2 hours, and I worked 4-7pm. Two split shifts on a Sunday where I obviously didn’t drive so I was taking a cab there and back which why would I spend money on a cab to go back home for a few minutes and what not. That did not make any sense. I left that job and was hoping I could get one at this gas station and I did. It worked out great and despite working til 10pm often since I was in school all day, it was a convenient place to make money especially since I could see the building from my dorm room as well. My second year in college I had moved home because my ex and I had wasted money and I was able to transfer to a different gas station. It was on a major bus route so I was able to travel on my own most times even though my parents did pick me up and drop me off when they could help. Especially when I was working a closing shift at 10pm by myself. That way I wasn’t there alone for long and I had someone to could get me instead of waiting for the bus at night. I quit this job because the boss was a bit of a jerk. I did really well with the secret shoppers, in fact I had won 2 secret shoppers previously. Then apparently I had failed 2 suddenly which I wanted to see the paperwork for and he wouldn’t give me. I was at this time doing a work placement for college and was essentially going to school, doing this placement nearly 40 hours a week, and then picking up weekends and evenings I wasn’t doing placement at the gas station. He offered me to quit or be fired. I quit for how it would look on my resume if they were to be called for future jobs also.

After this I continued placement in a group home for at risk teens, there is no pay for placement for school. Afterwards when I had graduated though I had briefly worked at a hotel in Halifax. The Westin to be exact. I only worked here for a month however it was a very physically high demanding job. It probably was the most demanding job physically that I had ever done up til this point. I would take the bus and get up about 530am and be out the door by 6am to work for about 730am or 8am. I would work right til 330-4pm and would bus back home. If it was a morning on the weekend though, my parents would typically drive me due to buses being not the greatest on weekend mornings and not connecting very well at all.

My last official job and probably the one I will go into more detail in a future blog was being Support Worker for people who have intellectual and physical disabilities. This job was inspired to me by a family friend, (more like a sister and our old babysitter) which motivated me to check it out. When I went to college I had originally taken the Human Services route with a concentration in Child and Youth. I loved it. However getting your foot in the door for those organizations you need to have some experience and working with disabled adults was similar and you needed basically the same credentials. I loved this job. It was shocking to my parents and family friends since I was a pretty rough teenager and this job was helping people. It was one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs I think I will ever have to do. Going back to that will be near impossible until my boyfriend and I are dont having a children and they are in school because that type of work is shift work.

And now I am a stay at home!

What are some jobs that you have had growing up?
Did you hate them or love them?

Let me know in the comments, I am curious which you enjoyed!

-StaySeeJ

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Financial Goals For 2021 And How To Get Them

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Before I even begin, I am going to be completely honest with you. I am scared poop-less in hopes that this works. Thinking about becoming financially independent by doing it online is actually insane to think about. Since moving to Quebec I would say this is one of the things that has scared me the most when it comes to moving was losing my financial independence.

Streaming will probably be the easiest for me to make some sort of income with since I already make some money per month. Ideally I would like to get the threshold of 100$ per month so that I can consistently get paid through streaming however I am going to start with a slightly lower one. For streams you are able to put in a subscriber goal for the month. I am going to do 25 sub points which is not far off of what I have now which is approx 19 subscriber points. If I can hit this I think it will approx give me 40$ per month. I also am going to add a bits (Twitch currency) or monetary goal of about 10$. This should bring me up to 50$ per month with a pay out every 2 or so. I know that I will be able to keep this going and hopefully raise it up with the content I am going to be putting out as well too. I know it is achievable and I hope that by sharing these little widgets of sorts to my stream overlays that my community will see that I have new goals and that would be to become financially independent. I think this could help as I begin to grow my brand so people can see the direction that I would like to be taking with this.

Fiverr is something I am scared to try but I think I could be able to do great things with it. I have an idea for a specific type of poem I would like to offer to make for people. I think this could be a great avenue for a source of income. I know very little about the site though and I know they do take a commission but I think it could be a start. I have to really sit down and think of what I would charge for someone who would like to hire me for a “gig” and what not. Look at the types of people and if anyone is offering something similar either. All of these things I think will be more towards the end of the year goal financially. I think if I work with what I do know now then I can get things going and add as I go. I do think it could be extremely useful though since I do love poetry and it could be another creative outlet for me to create and make a few bucks that would be even better!

Art Work is something that I have a challenge with. It inst so much about me trying to create pieces for sale, it is more or less about me trying to reach people who would like to buy these pieces. A big part for me will be to use my Art Instagram and my Art twitter accounts a lot more when putting pieces up for sale as well as here on the blog. I think it could be a great way to bring in potential customers when I have finished a piece as well too. For me to predict the type of money I could make form this I really have no answer. I will say though that if I was able to make even 50$ per month on this that would be key. I also have to figure out shipping costs and to begin with I would probably only be selling pieces to Canada and United States since it may be challenging and costly to send pieces to Europe currently. I would like to expand but how to get there is just a bit of a mystery to me. I know it obviously can be done it is just making the point of putting it forward!

Patreon I think is something I could do quite well but geared towards different crafts or items hand made per month. Like say a card of the month where I design a card and send it to you for 5$ or something. And the next set would be a bit more include other things as well. The hardest part of this would be similar to the Fiverr problem which is sitting down and weighing in the cost of materials and seeing how I go from there. How much does it cost to send and how much does it cost for materials. I think if I was to sit down and plan this out it could be a solid choice if people showed interest in this per month as well too.

Tutoring is something I would like to attempt to start to do since I am living in a french province and I could be teaching English. However this is something I would need to put out a post on Kijiji or something like that. I don’t even know what I would charge per hour but I think I could also do this which could be useful in making a few bucks. Even if I charged say 15$ per hour of teaching and speaking English, and I had 3 students per week, that is nearly 45$ per week of income that I could be making as well too! I may have to put out feelers for this on websites to start the year and see where we go from there!

Blogging would be something that could be seemingly simple for me since I already do this. I have thought since I have purchased the personal blogger package (You know since I’m taking this way more serious than last year) that I can add that feature in. I haven’t really researched it before but I would do something along the lines of a few blogs per month being uncensored. I think it could be really neat but I am not even thinking about that until i have some decent growth on my followers here. Maybe when I start to have 250 followers and things will I start to consider that. It wont be very expensive only a few dollars per month if that is how you bill things and see where we go from there!

Ill update this in about 6 months with a new post about how my financial stability and independence is coming along. No point in updating this every month since there are things I wont be implementing!

Are you a stay at home parent? Do you have an income by working at home?

Let me know in the comments below! Maybe you have a different way I haven’t thought of before!

-StaySeeJ

Sponsorships

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Sponsorships are great, they are part of a lot of streamers and creators lives. Whether they be a tech company, food or drink products and whatever else. Finding the right sponsorship for you and one that you enjoy or use regularly is insanely challenging at times. Not to mention you have to have some type of community for a company to even begin to be interested in sponsoring you! If you have a few friends and not a whole lot of people behind you than it can be tricky to even get looked at. However if you have a great presence over social medias it may be a bit easier since you will have a much larger reach!

Looking for a sponsorship can be a headache if you aren’t sure what you should be looking for. I think the biggest difficulty that someone can have is finding a) the right company for YOU and b) making sure you have enough reach in order to make this sponsorship successful! I myself have an alright reach on Twitter however it really is hit or miss. I don’t want to go for a sponsorship if I am unsure if I am able to really pull my own weight so to speak with a product. I want to make sure that I can be a good fit for the company and they are able to have new customers through me.

I think this almost goes without saying but I will say it anyways. If you are NOT using a product DO NOT GET A SPONSORSHIP. Nothing is more strange then seeing someone promote a product or company that they are obviously making money with and they are not even using the product. This pop, I love Coca-cola. I would even prefer it over Pepsi. However, for example, Pepsi offers me a sponsorship and for whatever reason I take it. Whether it is good money, free things, etc. But I continue to drink Coca-cola the rival of the company that I am sponsored with (Which most times is in a contract that you NOT do) and then I screw myself over and the company by not really enjoying the product. Not to mention, From a viewer standpoint it looks extremely strange if they see and know I am a Coke fan if all of sudden I am now pushing Pepsi at them. Not to mention if you have said some not so nice things about the opposite company it looks equally suspicious. Within streaming people joke about being a “Sell out”, You know playing games you normally wouldn’t for a buck or what not. This is like the ULTIMATE sell out when you are sponsored by a product that you have trash talked and not liked.

Making money or something out of is always something you want to ask yourself. Is it worth it? We all know if you remotely use twitter and are in the streaming world the particular “Grip” for controllers that seem to sponsor everyone and their dog. What are the people promoting the product REALLY getting out of this? Not a whole lot. I checked out their stats and it couldn’t be much lower. If you are going to get a sponsor and promote their product make sure it is worth your time and energy as well as your reach. For example: We all see Elgato out there with sending their people products. You can tell when they have the #Ad (More on that later) in their tweets or social posts. Whether it be a new larger stream deck or even a new light. Do they get paid by this? Maybe if they have an affiliate link that they are able to direct their viewers to when purchasing the products. But they do receive the free products. Which I am also sure there is a certain amount of posts every so often in a contract that they promote such product!

And finally #Ad. We all have seen this in promotion tweets and if you do happen to get a sponsor or something YOU MUST DO THIS. Besides all the ethical things happening you want to be as transparent ass possible with your community and audience that this is a paid/etc promotion and you are not simply doing this out of the goodness in your own heart. You probably have even seen a few people with paid sponsorships get in trouble with their communities by NOT putting the #Ad in their posts as well too. It is extremely important to be transparent with this to your viewers or it can again, Come off a bit scummy. Not to mention, If you are getting paid to promote something and you are making it look like you are just enjoying the product it can take away from your credibility as an influencer and could even effect your future with companies! Which is never a good thing to have happen.

So as you can see, Having a sponsorship is great! Just make sure you are actually getting something out of it and you aren’t doing it for the “sake of doing it”. Don’t promote something that you have no intention of using yourself. And if at all possible, Before you get a sponsorship especially for food and drink, TRY IT OUT! If the company is not willing to send you samples of this for you to test out before you sign up, chances are they are not confident in their product and you may want to think again before taking this opportunity. It would look pretty silly if GFuel gave sponsorships to people without being willing to send samples along the way right? Look at the people who post the new flavors to try out with their #Ad! This is not only a way for them to get a bit of a perk but a great way to make the general public aware of their latest product! As for me, I will be waiting for a Tim Horton’s or a Candy sponsorship to arrive!

-StaySeeJ08