Why I'm Getting a Job After 7 Years: Exploring Remote Work Opportunities
After seven years, Paul Yu is seeking stable employment beyond his YouTube income. He is 35 years old and his last formal job was in a call center in 2018. His current YouTube AdSense earnings are very low, ranging from $28-$40 per month. Initial job ideas like working at a gym front desk or as a grocery clerk were ruled out due to a chronic left wrist injury. He explored work-from-home options, specifically becoming an online conversational partner for language learning platforms like Italki and Preply. Being a native Korean and English speaker, he sees potential in these roles, despite Italki being fully booked for popular languages and Preply taking a significant cut. Another consideration is writing video essays for larger YouTubers, which offers a higher per-project income. Paul aims for a net monthly income of $500-$1000 from these part-time gigs, preferring to avoid selling products or sponsorships on his YouTube channel.
Introduction and Background [0:00]
- Paul is 35 years old and has not had a consistent "job-job" for seven years.
- His last part-time job was in 2018, working at a call center for a telecommunications company, typically 25-30 hours per week.
- He holds an electrical engineering degree from his undergraduate studies.
- Since 2018, his work has included:
- Tutoring high school math.
- A one-day job on Canadian Election Day, leading a team to ensure smooth polling.
Reasons for Seeking a New Job [0:59]
- Paul is considering seeking a more steady income.
- He notes a decline in his YouTube AdSense revenue, which has been stagnant for several months.
- His current monthly AdSense earnings are approximately $28-$40, equating to roughly $1 a day or less.
Initial Job Considerations and Challenges [1:26]
- Paul initially considered two types of manual labor jobs:
- Gym Front Desk: Involves lifting heavy bags of towels and putting away weights.
- Grocery Clerk: Involves stocking shelves and carrying large items.
- Both options were rejected due to a chronic left wrist injury.
- His left wrist has been injured for over a year and carrying heavy items would exacerbate the pain, requiring more money for treatment.
Exploring Remote Language Tutoring [2:45]
- His mother suggested finding work-from-home opportunities.
- Paul used an AI chatbot to explore suitable options based on his situation.
- One suggestion was becoming a conversational partner on online language platforms.
- He is a native Korean speaker and also fluent in English, having grown up in Korea.
- Advantages of this type of work:
- Flexible schedule that he can adjust to his liking.
- No need to leave the house, eliminating travel concerns like snowstorms.
- His friend had a positive experience as a French conversational partner on Preply while unemployed, enjoying friendly chats and learning new things from students.
- Challenges with specific platforms:
- Italki: Fully booked for popular languages, including Korean, Russian, Italian, French, and German, making it impossible to apply as a community tutor currently.
- Preply: Takes a larger cut of earnings, including all of the first lesson's pay, meaning the first hour with a new student is essentially free.
- Goal for this type of income: Approximately $500-$1000 net per month.
Considering Video Essay Writing [7:00]
- The AI also suggested reaching out to bigger YouTubers to write video essays for them.
- Potential earnings for a video essay range from $150 to $400.
- This would allow him to leverage his existing skills and passion for creating video essays for his own channel.
- He would need to write about three or four essays per month to meet his income goals.
Conclusion and Future Outlook [10:44]
- Paul emphasizes his dislike for YouTube business models that involve selling things or coaching others on how to become YouTubers.
- He finds such activities "icky" and prefers to make videos he enjoys.
- He would potentially consider sponsorships only if the offer was significantly good, purely for the money.
- YouTube AdSense revenue is not a substantial source of income for him, with his video essays receiving only a couple thousand views (or even just 700) compared to his typical 100 views for impromptu videos.
- He plans to pursue remote work, like language tutoring on Preply, and potentially writing video essays to earn part-time income and bridge the financial gap while continuing his passion projects.