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Huge fan of your videos. What are the chances of quitting your day job and working on side projects/youtube videos full time, like StuffMadeHere?

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I really liked owning my own business (MRI-compatible computer peripherals 2006-2011), and I'll very likely start another unrelated small business in the future. I also like to do YouTube videos as a hobby or at least Patreon-supported hobby, and not depend on them for main income, because I think it changes the character of the videos. If I depended on videos, I'd probably also start thumbnail optimization, A/B testing, YouTube face, sensationalistic titles, growth hacking, and all the stuff that I don't like as a viewer, but genuinely works to make more money. Patreon support has been a huge help in this regard.

Please, please don’t quit your day job. So much of what I enjoy about your work is that it’s ready when it’s ready, doesn’t come in a specific schedule and avoids so much of the needy attention grabbing that the professionals do.

Probably the most useful part of keeping YouTube as a side gig is that you are less likely to fall into the algorithm treadmill that encourages all creators to burn themselves out to enrich Google.

Your content is wonderful very impressive. Dumb question, but do you consider yourself a citizen scientist, or engineer, or maker or whatever, or do you dislike labels?

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