I recently read and reviewed The Lean Channel: YouTube for Entrepreneurs by Carey Martell.
His book is aimed at people who know nothing about YouTube, marketing, and video production, but want to make money using YouTube. To me this raises some interesting questions. Martell says that YouTubers are entertainers, “your job as an entertainer is to entertain other people, not yourself”. If an “entrepreneur” is the term to describe a YouTuber whose intentions are to make money as a business, what is a YouTuber that is a hobbyist but still makes money?
This is the core of my issues with the book’s ideology. I make money off of YouTube doing things that both amuse me, and things that I would be doing anyways. I like technology and experimenting with it, but videotaping that and some of my thoughts I am able to help people. If I only focus on the type of material I have done that reaches the largest audience, it wouldn’t take long till I neglect my original intents: entertaining myself.
Of course this is just one way of thinking. Below is my review of the book. Please use the comment section on YouTube to let me know your thoughts. You can always tweet me as well.