Image Courtesy of @DigiBott on Instagram

So for those who are not in the YouTube Creation realm, they offer an opportunity to become a YouTube Partner.  Basically it means they will make you a partner with YouTube and they will monetize your channel and will give you a cut of the money they make on Ads from your channel.  As of writing this now, it takes: 1,000 Subscribers and 4,000 Hours of Watch Time.  It takes just 500 Subscribers and 3,000 Hours of Watch Time to be able to share merchandise on your channel, and do Super Thanks and Super Chats when you go live on your YouTube Channel.  The Hours of Watch Time is calculated in a 365 day cycle.

In February of 2027, just 173ish days away from this current blogpost being public; while the latter tier is still the same to get  Adsense, which is the money earned via Ads on the channel.  It will officially jump to over 8,000 Hours of Watch Time.  It also doubled from a whooping 10,000,000 Engaged Views from Short form Content to over 20,000,000 Engaged Views.  Engaged Views are described as what the YouTube Platform says that are watching Shorts for longer than just a couple seconds.  The Shorts is also calculated in 90 days of 3 months essentially.

What this means for my channel is I've got a longer climb to make.  I'm sitting at just 31 Subscribers and a total Watch Time of just 128 hours and 50 minutes in the last 365 days on my channel.  I'm not super into Shorts personally but I am currently working with it.  I can't end up getting Ad Revenue from Shorts unless I keep those Engaged Views up under the new terms of monetization.

Yet, I have this website.  I have some fans on my YouTube and I did share about it not as vocally prior to this now.  I have an option to just make donations if you decide to donate to me and my channel and what I do, both on here and on YouTube and other Social Media sites like Facebook and Instagram.  I have set up this website to get ready for when I can have merchandise on my channel right under the video.  I also started YouTube because I am passionate about the Enneagram.

I know that I've got a long way ahead of me for online aspects at least.  I also am in a world of real life change happening outside the internet.   From searching at living at a new place, working just one job, overnights at a major retail chain, versus for the longest time working multiple jobs.  I am chosing to make my second job my social media activity and the videos on YouTube until I at least no longer work overnights so I can find a balance between sleep schedules. 

My initial goal this year, during the summer specifically, was working towards monetization on YouTube; and prior to the news on changing the plans I now have to work longer at it.  My reasoning is that the overnight job was closing up around Juneteenth and I had only that seasonal job lined up.  I planned on working as much as I could as a YouTuber outside of the seasonal job and I knew that would hold me over until the end of the Calendar year if I played my cards right and the YouTube channel could reasonably give me some money from my Catalogue if I got into the program.  Life had other plans, if you check out this link, it'll give you the whole backstory to my change of plans. 

I'm not deterred as I still will make content, I just had a Reality Check on what the Monetization Goals and for my channel means.  I'd need to keep  the 4k Watch Hours post being monetized to stay with the Partnership program.  But I also know that most YouTubers don't earn money alone from their ad revenue, they have merch they sell, sponsorships and brand affiliates that bring in money for the Creator.  That being said, supporting just via Donation with this page would be stellar if you want to.  Donations can help keep me going like financially.  I can put the donations back into the channel growth via Gear or Technology, the costumes I use in the videos like during the Holidays or Skits, or even new Enneagram Books for the Channel.