Thursday, February 19, 2015 Dealing with Burnout

Creating YouTube content has definitely become a kind of weird addiction for me. The giddy feeling I get watching my channel stats increase, constantly trying to out-do myself (or others), and never wanting to let viewers down gave me a unique kind of 'rush' which in turn may have contributed to me feeling burnt out lately.

I would definitely label myself as a workaholic. I love when I have something to accomplish whether that be going to work, clean, make YouTube videos, or write a blog post. When I don't have something to accomplish, I feel lost or as if I'm somehow wasting time. However, because of this desire to constantly do something, I often don't give myself any downtime to recharge my batteries thus resulting in some serious burnout.

My typical weekday is leaving for work at 7:30AM and getting home from work between 6:00PM and 11:30PM depending on my work event schedule. If I'm lucky enough to get home at a decent hour, I will walk Dexter, make dinner, and then start creating YouTube content for as long as I can before passing out. My weekends (until the summer at least) are also not always free. Usually I have to work at least 1 of the 2 days (if not both) and on the days I actually do have off, I often have to run errands or see family/friends. On top of my heavy work schedule and YouTube channel, I am also in the process of buying a house which involves A LOT of scheduling, signing contracts, and constant communication with an attorney, Realtor, and loan company.

Needless to say, I've been exhausting myself lately.

I just wanted to update you all on my life outside of YouTube & explain why I can't always put out consistent content. It's not that I'm lazy AT ALL, it's just that I don't always have the free time to do it. It sucks having to compete with other YouTubers who can make videos full-time when you're not able to...

Lately I haven't been feeling healthy at all...just tired and stressed. I need a few days just to pull myself back together & force myself to relax a bit. I'm hoping to upload again some time this weekend when I find time to record/edit, I hope you guys all understand!

How do you deal with burnout? Any tips you can give me?

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/francescarter/14104198231/in/photostream/

Monday, January 13, 2014 Why I YouTube: My First Year as a YouTuber

*This blog is not so much an extension of my YouTube channel but more so an extension of myself.*

Starting this blog I realize that the majority of my first readers will originate from the YouTube channel that I have poured all my time and energy into for the past year. It's because of this that I felt it was only fair to make the first post of my blog revolve around my YouTube experience so far. My hope is that this blog will eventually lead you to view me as not only a humorous gamer, but also as a creative individual who has way too many passions for one lifetime. It is where I will keep my thoughts, my advice, my interests, my personal experiences, and of course my YouTube adventures as well.

Why did you start a YouTube channel?

Many of you don't know this, but I've had the LaurenzSide YouTube channel since 2007. Back then, I put out a couple funny videos here and there that had no real point to them, as well as watched other YouTubers non-stop. I stopped uploading completely once I started college and the LaurenzSide channel became dormant for a very long time. Fast forward to the start of 2013 where I'd been working my first 9 to 5 office position and I started watching YouTubers again. Deciding that I needed a creative outlet from my job, I started back up my LaurenzSide channel but as a funny gaming channel.

Why did you choose the Gaming genre?
I actually came across PewDiePie one day while surfing YouTube and became obsessed. Before him I had never seen someone recording reactions to gameplay before and I thought it was fascinating. He eventually led me to find a whole community of YouTube gamers and I was hooked. However, I noticed that there weren't many funny girl gameplayers on YouTube and way more men in the YouTube gaming genre as a whole! Thus, LaurenzSide of Gaming was born and I've been trying to fill that gap ever since!

Why did you choose the username LaurenzSide?
When I first made the username in 2007, I somehow came up with the title "Lauren's Side of the Story" for my channel. However, when I went to make the username LaurensSide, I apparently thought the 2 "s" letters together looking odd and would be confusing to people. Thus, I changed the "s" to a "z" to differentiate between the two words and thus LaurenzSide was born!

What other YouTubers inspire you most?
PewDiePie was the first YouTuber to peak my interest in making gameplay videos so he is definitely still an inspiration. I'm also inspired by Philip Defranco, Markiplier, iHasCupquake, JennaMarbles, MelonieMac, and MittyMoxx.

Do people know about your channel IRL?
Only certain people who are close to me know about my YouTube channel. This only includes my immediate family, my boyfriend, and two of my close friends. I try very hard to keep it a secret from my coworkers, friends, and extended family as I'm nervous what they will think of it. Some people still don't understand the YouTube world so I'd rather keep my channel separate from my personal life as much as possible.

What is the biggest YT goal you hope to achieve?
Believe it or not, my goal for the first year of having a channel was to get at least 1,000 subscribers. Instead, I'll be hitting my one year mark with about 7,000 subscribers! I would've never thought I'd grow that quickly and hope to continue growing even more. If I had to give myself a biggest goal when it comes to my channel, I would say hitting 100,000 subscribers would be pretty incredible. Hopefully I can achieve it someday.

YouTube has become a huge part of my life this past year. When I wasn't making videos, I was thinking of ideas for videos or getting inspiration from other people's videos. It's crazy how much time and energy running your own YouTube channel is and only other YouTubers will truly understand the commitment. It has helped me gain so many useful skills as well like effective search engine optimization, collaboration, and eye-catching design elements. I'm extremely excited for what 2014 will bring my channel (and this blog) and I hope you will all continue tuning in!

If you're a YouTuber, what's your story? If you're a viewer, what else do you want to know about my YouTube experience?