[shabgzer]

While I appreciate her being so open about the financial side, one has to wonder:

> If we roll with the average Adsense income, here’s the bottom line: $14k going out. $4k coming in. Net loss, month over month: TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. That’s a lot to sink into a channel that is barely moving book sales and not getting me a TV deal. Simply put, it’s completely unsustainable from a business perspective.

Why carry on doing that for so long?

[stuart78]

I don't know her or her content, but the theme that comes up over and over in that post is the elusive 'big deal' from a streamer or network. I get the impression that she thought this production approach would lend itself to that kind of transition. Her background seems more 'traditional media' than 'DIY native', and I would guess that framed her perception of what a production looked like.

In contrast, somebody like Maangchi took the opposite approach. Her earliest videos are still up and you can see the truly homemade approach. Granted, she was in early and it is surely massively more competitive now.

[chriscjcj]

Or why not start with a more modest production budget? It takes longer to shoot, but with the right equipment, you can shoot this stuff yourself. Watch one of Mend It Mark's videos (1). He does the whole thing all by himself and it looks absolutely fantastic. Then, if you get a couple million subscribers, hire some people and go big time. Because you can afford to.

(1) https://www.youtube.com/@MendItMark/videos

[reassess_blind]

Agreed. She approached it backwards. A YouTube channel doesn’t have to be like a VC startup where you lose money until you hopefully make it back later. Just start small, DIY and then hire help later if it’s making money.

[earnesti]

It was mentioned later in the text. Sponsorship deals. Overall it was about break-evwn, for whatever reason she didn't include sponsors in the financials.

[jsnell]

> Why carry on doing that for so long?

They weren't actually losing money. If you read further, it turns out that the channel was profitable thanks to video sponsorships.

[reassess_blind]

Right, but a penny saved is a penny earned and this could’ve been profitable if she hadn’t set the production quality bar so high (food stylist?) from the jump.

[levocardia]

>Why carry on doing that for so long?

Because her publisher told her to! "It's important for authors to have a social media presence!" "You can't have unprofessional videos, viewers won't like that!" ...and other falsehoods.

[whoitwas]

Agreed. Why not make videos within budget instead?

[readthenotes1]

Not only why did she continue losing $10k/month, but how? That's a lot of money to sink in

[shabgzer]

I suspect it's from the staff she hired