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Please Let Me Monetize My Hobbies
- tpoacher 3y agoDefine "monetize". OP seems to imply that monetize equals "create an elaborate business plan that consumes your life. But "monetize" could be as simple as adding a donate button to your website. As long as you don't have unreasonable expectations about living off a donate button, it costs you nothing to add one, most people don't think of doing it, and it may surprise you that many people often actually appreciate you giving them the opportunity to show their appreciation in a useful way.
- jmkr 3y agoSomberness and relevance aside, I can feel the disappointment in it, the writing is beautiful and a work of poetry. Also I like how there is a counter on the github site.
- djha-skin 3y agoA story and cautionary tale of what happened to YouTube, and indeed all extant social media platforms that have been around for a while.
- mikrl 3y agoI’m sure there is a trade-off here: - going hard on monetization will train you in how to… well, monetize and run a business - just enjoying yourself is the most sustainable way to build things quickly and strike upon your magnum opus The ideal is to have something fantastic you can live off. The extremes are both “poor sap grinding away at mediocrity” but one poor sap is happier than the other.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- cammikebrown 3y agoSounds like this was written by someone who already has plenty of money. Lots of creative types are great at what they do and would like to make a living at it, only to discover that they’re way underpaid compared to STEM.
- samtho 3y agoI heard from n Planet Money story that 1 in 4 gen-z-ers want to be an influencer because they want to receive free products or play videos games and get paid. Which is great but the thing they don’t realize is they would be running a business and everything, including the parts they think is the main focus of the business, becomes second to actually maintaining the business. Not trying to be disparaging to Gen-Z, that’s just an example of a mental trap we fall into. We tend to underestimate the time and effort of the things we don’t want to do and overestimate the time we will spend and then resulting enjoyment of the thing that we fine the most pleasurable. This is why certain hobbies of mine will stay “pure” hobbies for me. The moment I start doing it for money and I’m the one doing business opts too, it becomes so much less fun, which was the point of me getting into that hobby.
- candiddevmike 3y agoGen Z seems more anti-work than most generations, and I really hope that pushes them to be less apathetic than Gen X/Millenials with regards to worker's rights, reduced work weeks, universal healthcare, and possibly even UBI.
- mmvora 3y agoAs a Gen Z I can vouch for this statement. There are so many times where I just look at what alot of my peers spend their time doing and I think I'm so out of place...Where is the work ethic?? the desire to improve. However I can also say that there are always some good apples in the midst of the bad ones and that we aren't all that bad!
- swivelmaster 3y agoI think you may have missed the point of the comment you’re replying to.
- mmvora 3y agoTo be honest alot of my reply was directed at the first part of it, but to answer the second part....unfortunately I don't think you'll see that 'apathy' towards issues that the Gen X / Millenials were fighting for. If anything, my generation finds new ways to get hurt about things that actually make us stronger as working career driven individuals. People want remote work, but also benefits, but competitive pay, and the list goes on
- bsnnkv 3y ago> Please, let me turn my relaxing gaming sessions into high-pressure performances with commentary. Who wouldn’t enjoy transforming a leisurely pastime into a taxing job, complete with an audience to please? I have recently started uploading videos of myself revisiting two of my favourite games of all time to YouTube.[1] I have found the experience to be a lot fun, still relaxing, and not at all stressful, high-pressure or taxing. In fact, it's been a great experience to finally express my thoughts about these games and the themes they cover out loud. I'll probably continue recording and uploading the games that I play, I am interested in watching back my first playthroughs of games in the future, watching back my reactions when my mind was blown by a plot twist, a new boss, or a new mechanic. I really wish I had done this the first time I played games like Elden Ring or Zelda: BOTW. Maybe my wife, my children and grandchildren will watch these videos of one of the most childlike sides of me when I'm long gone. Perhaps more relevant to the tone of the post, I am starting to feel this way about programming. Programming is perhaps my most creative hobby, and as more and more time passes I feel similar feelings towards writing code to massively enrich execs and investors, working on codebases for products I couldn't care less about. [1]: Sekiro and Cloudpunk (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeai3-do-9O4MNy9_xjO6mg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeai3-do-9O4MNy9_xjO6mg)
- fallingmeat 3y agogoogle “overjustification”
- swighton 3y agoI've found the opposite of this sentiment to be true, at least in my case as youtube engineer / maker. If you can find a way to monetize your hobby it is: 1. A great motivator to actually finish projects 2. A good way to justify / fund more costly projects 3. A great source of joy if people enjoy what you make I've been careful to not undermine my key sources of joy in making things (learning, doing hard things, making quality things) by keeping monetization at a lower priority to those things. In my opinion if you can find a way to monetize without undermining what you truly enjoy, you can thread the needle between job / hobby and I'd highly recommend it!
- winrid 3y agoFinish?? :) I've been trying to "finish" fastcomments for three years. People keep asking for more :)
- CarVac 3y agoIt's absolutely possible to keep the pressure off while earning money from a hobby.
- stickfigure 3y agoWhat on earth? You're still free to enjoy your hobbies as you see fit. Just because someone out there makes a hustle out of it doesn't mean you have to.
- barbariangrunge 3y agoI designed games for fun for most of my life. Now that I design games as part of my day job, it’s sort of lost its joy a little. In my free time now, I’m writing (Eg, a substack about writing) or doing other things, and generally avoiding designing games I’m writing, but I’d rather avoid becoming a full time writer because of that dynamic I think it’s better to let your hobbies continue to be hobbies
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- yieldcrv 3y agoI monetize my hobbies for the tax deductions Just a tiny bit of revenue like 5 years after lets you take tax deductions for consumptive spending related to things you’re interested in More accurately it shields you from adverse outcomes in the future audit, since you can report whatever you want its more about winning an audit if you get picked Might as well form an LLC for every niche you spend money on, damn near everything is tax deductible Not tax advice, consider everything here apocryphal, YMMV
- reaperman 3y agoMy understanding is that it’s only deductible against the relevant earnings. So if I can avoid paying taxes on $10 of YouTube earnings by claiming my gaming PC as an expense and getting a non-refundable $500 tax credit……I’ve still only saved $2 on my taxes by adjusting that $10 of earnings down to $0.
- yieldcrv 3y agoIf the expense exceeds your business income, you may have a net loss for your business, which could potentially be used to offset other taxable income on your tax return. as always it depends on the deduction and business and other things, but also the exception makes the rule. as in, once you find the exception, only do that.
- lagniappe 3y agothis article made me appreciate how great it is to be a programmer; it's the best toy where the limit is time and imagination and the cost is so close to zero, we are very fortunate.
- Jasper_ 3y ago[flagged]
- rigor 3y ago[flagged]
- bdw5204 3y agoThere's nothing whatsoever wrong with monetizing hobbies. What's wrong is when you change how you approach your hobbies to appeal to the people paying you money. Following a content upload schedule and unironically begging your audience to like, comment and subscribe to your content are prime examples of ways to come off as a phony.
- bbbbzzz1 3y agoIt being a business, even if it makes $2/mo, can be part of the hobby. Reading about taxes and small businesses is fun for me. It being commercially successful is not a concern for me. That would be the difference between a hobby and a job for me
- phendrenad2 3y agoI don't get it