The Retirement Newsletter: YouTube and Photos — hobby or side-hustle?
Issue Number: -84 — could you boost your pension income with YouTube and photos?
Welcome
Welcome to issue number -84.
First, a big hello to my new subscribers.
I have picked up more subscribers in the last week than in the previous three months. No idea why. It must be due to my two recent ‘happy’ newsletters on getting my affairs in order and planning my funeral. Anyway, welcome, and please don’t forget to invite your friends.
This week, I will look at whether you can turn the hobbies of photography and shootings videos into a side-hustle and make some money.
Spoiler alert — from personal experience, you can’t.
Well, you can, but it is not easy.
Some background (and a disclaimer)
I have had a YouTube channel since 2012 and have been selling photos online since 2017. And that is ten years of YouTube and five years of selling photos.
So, how much have I made?
YouTube
My YouTube channel is not one of those popular entertainment channels. My channel is for students that need help with scientific calculations and methods. I started the channel in 2012 because where I worked didn’t have a good way of streaming videos to students.
My early videos were, well, awful. But, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, my videos have improved. In 2020, I had to record my teaching as videos and stream them from university servers. And so my students weren’t bored or shocked by my poor video skills; I took some courses on how to make videos. My video-making skills have improved thanks to the courses and recording about 100 hours of teaching videos.
After ten years on YouTube, my total earnings are £0.00 or $0.00. Well, zero, in any currency.
How come?
Well, I have never met the YouTube threshold to make money.
To make money on YouTube, you need 1,000 subscribers (I have 590 — and it has taken ten years to get that 590) and 4,000 watched hours (I have 2,000). If all goes to plan, I will monetise the channel in 2032.
It’s not all bad. Over 7,300 hours have been watched on my channel, and I have received over 260,000 views. My top video has 53,000 views. I also have received some lovely comments and thanks from students.
As I said, my channel is more about helping students and not entertainment or making money. My target audience, students, don’t tend to subscribe to channels like mine, so I doubt I will ever make any money with the channel. But, I will keep making the videos as I enjoy the process.
Selling Photos
I have been selling photos online since 2017, and in the last five years, I have made $85.41 (approx. £68) from 160 downloads. My portfolio contains 734 images. My top-earning photo is at the top of this newsletter and has made $16 (approx. £12). I haven’t added any photos to the site since about 2019.
I am sure I could do more with selling photos online, but I am not that interested.
Disclaimer
The disclaimer — when it comes to making money through videos on YouTube or selling photos online, I have done both, and I am not very good at making money with either!
Photography and videos — hobby or side-hustle?
I must confess to being a photoholic. I love photos. I like looking at photos and taking (or, as is now said, ‘making’) photographs.
The photo library on my computer contains around 60,000 images I have taken in the last 22 years. Roughly 2,700 photos a year, so about seven photos per day. And that is not all my photos. I have photos that pre-date 2000. Also, the images in my library do not include the bulk of the photos I take on my ‘big’ camera. The photo library contains photos from my phone.
Videos are a different story. I only tend to shoot videos for teaching and online courses. I rarely shoot videos of ‘events’.
So, for me, taking photos is a hobby. Although I have made some money selling photos, I also use my pictures in this newsletter and blog posts.
Making videos I do as part of my job, so I do get paid, but I don’t get paid to produce the videos.
So, is it possible to turn an interest in producing videos and taking photos into a side-hustle? Despite what I have written above about my experiences, it is. And a lot of people online have managed to do so.
Making money with photos and videos
With videos and photos, it all comes down to finding your niche.
If you can find a photo or video niche based on another hobby or interest, you could grow a following on YouTube and make some money; it is worth a try. You might also be able to sell your photos online.
Alternatively, for videos, some photo selling sites allow you to sell videos as B roll. (B roll are shots that tell the story but don’t contain the person speaking. For example, a voice-over could be talking about trees and using B roll footage of the different trees they are talking about.) So, it is possible to make money from videos and not be on YouTube.
Finally, you could use your photographic and video-making skills to produce and sell online courses, and I will say more about that in a later newsletter.
Below are some links to sites that you might want to look at if you are thinking of making money through your interest in videos or photos.
Good luck!
If you sell photos online or have a YouTube channel, please share your experience and a link to your work in the comments.
Useful links
Some useful video and photo sites:
Video
Photo and video selling sites
Next week
Next week, Issue -83 will be a special birthday issue celebrating one year of The Retirement Newsletter. I can’t believe that the newsletter has been going a year.
See you next week!
Thanks
Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please don't hesitate to share it with your friends or on social media using the buttons below.
If you would like to say 'thanks' for the newsletter, why not buy me a cup of tea?
Until next time,
Nick
PS, If you have something you would like to contribute to the newsletter — a story, advice, anything — please get in touch.