Is YouTube Your Business?
Some YouTubers start making videos because they have an idea or ideas they want to share. Once they start recording and exploring their niche, they begin to feel empowered to do more. It could take the creator months or even years of building a following or honing in on their video-editing skills, but the time comes when some creators decided they can offer their followers more than just informative and fun content.
Once a creator decides to expand their ideas and talents, they begin dipping their toes into creative partnerships, creating items to sell, or doing more with their growing platform. The YouTuber is now in the business territory. Especially if money is being made from YouTube and other outlets used by the creator. There are a few things you, as a creator, need to keep in mind when exploring this territory:
Decide if you are one entity.
Will your channel, your Etsy shop, and all your creative endeavors be under one umbrella? Will they be separate? How will that business plan look? Is all money made going into one account or multiple? Will you have employees? How will your day-to-day business look?
Make it official or not?
Will it be beneficial for you to have an LLC or another legal business entity for tax purposes? For status purposes? Will you build a more professional following if you have a legit business? Decide if your shop will excel with just a website and an idea, or if, down the line, a legal business will benefit.
Did you create your business or did YouTube?
Is this something that happened after you grew a following on your channel? Or did you start a channel after some successes from your business? How can your channel benefit your business? Or how can your business benefit your channel? There are no wrong answers, just things to think about regarding your business model.
Why do you want to expand?
Did you do a tutorial on your channel, and now you believe you could sell hundreds of those projects? Are you starting from scratch with everything and just growing a following as you go? Why do you want to do more? Are you passionate about your business idea? Review why you want to expand your business, is it for more money? Is it because you have more to offer your audience? Has your likes and dislikes changed?
Have a backup plan.
Just in case one thing doesn’t dish out as you expected, have another plan. The other plan could be to not have a shop in addition to your channel or not to collaborate with another business while building your own brand. This doesn’t mean give up; it means knowing your reality just in case something goes wrong. Having your own business is hard! There is no clear path to what happens next; it is better to keep yourself covered.
Whether you are starting everything at once or you have a solid plan because of something you’ve been doing, know that your ideas are valid and there is no harm in trying. If it doesn’t go as planned, then move on to the next big idea. Or you can just keep your channel as your business. Sure it’s YouTube, but you are the creator and executor of your content, and to me, that seems like any business paradigm I’ve ever come across.
