Retirement is closer than I thought... It's time to change

Meta EposVox
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Obligatory Linus meme “I’ve been thinking of retiring.”

In case you missed it, I’ve been poking at moving away from the whole “Stream Professor” role for a very long time. A combination of critical burnout, the “scene” moving away from anything I care about, problems being solved (and thus gear being boring), and the drive to be more creative in the first place - the review units piling up and my own personal projects getting pushed aside constantly just drains my life.

I really challenged myself this month. I sat out with the goal of making as much as I could during the month of April - and it’s not done yet! - with the goal of trying to reconnect with what it feels like to make without the influence of analytics, comments, algorithms, the things other people make. It’s been glorious so far - but after a few weeks of productivity high, the little gear coverage things just really don’t seem like they matter anymore. I’m still loving making things this way - but I’m also gaining some clarity that much of my burnout simply came from that push to keep making stuff I don’t care about anymore.

Indie content creation used to be a problem to solve. Gatekeeping to bust, knowledge to spread, hacky ways to use budget gear to look and sound better than it does. Granular configs to squeeze the best quality out of limited bandwidth.

But all of those problems have been solved. It’s all just boring now. There’s virtually zero friction between having an idea and making it into video or streams or podcasts or whatever - and you don’t need some guy telling you how anymore. (And if you do, there’s plenty of guides already there at the ready.)

There’s still some gear that’s exciting or game changing - and that gear is still worth covering - but by-and-large, I just don’t see the point anymore. I took my role as a reviewer and educator seriously, but I didn’t exactly plan on being stuck here so long. I got into video to be creative.

I’ve obviously already been making changes over the past few years to accommodate this: I launched a portfolio site to host my photography, I’ve shifted focus to self-hosting my videos on these forums, I’ve been writing for my tech, gaming, and food blogs a lot more, I’ve started shifting niches on EposVox already, I launched Final Draft for more experimental stuff, and I’ve done amazing work on lost saves and our Dual Comm Podcasts there.

But I think it’s time to really cut off the more basic gear coverage on main. I keep feeling a since of FOMO - I was the guy who covered these things for a long time - but I would rather do the thing than be the guy, and it’s time to live up to that.

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WHAT CRAZY TIMING:

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Disclaimer: I am not a person who gets in front of a camera or creates content for people to watch, read, or listen to. The perspective I have on work is likely very different from your own and others.

My short take: As long as you’ve got a way to support yourself, your family, and save for the future, you should be allowed to have the career you want. If that means pivoting to a whole new paradigm in content, go for it.

For myself. I feel very fortunate to have the job I have. I’m valued by the managers and supervisors above me. The people in my team are incredibly talented and not a source of problems. The pay is respectable, benefits good, and paid time off for holidays or other reason are better than you will find anywhere. But my job does not define who I am. I am able to have a clear separation between my job and my life outside my job. Leaving the office for the day means not looking at email or chat until the next morning (unless the emergency channel goes off). Removing that title from my email signature doesn’t devalue or change who I am as a person, husband, father, friend.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t overlap between work and non-work life. From sheer curiosity, things I learn in one space are used in the other. But my hobbies aren’t work. They’re my hobbies and I’m able to enjoy them without thinking how they relate to work. Vice versa, things I’ve learned from work have been beneficial in my personal life, especially with gaining confidience to DIY more than a few things in my house and family’s.

Whenever I see those “I’m retiring” videos, like the recent one from The Gaming Historian, or someone says they’re cutting back from releasing content so frequently, my first reaction is always, “Congrats. Do what makes you happy.” My second (internal) reaction is usually, “How does that work financially?” For myself, I’m way to risk adverse to get into content creation and rely on the payout from YouTube, sponsors, patrons, etc. That’s why I have my normal job with stuff like health insurance. But I’m saving as hard as I can so I make my own “I’m retiring” style statement. It won’t be in my 30s like a bunch of the burned out YouTubers, but should be years before Medicare and Social Security kick in.

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Meanwhile many of us (at least the not super famous ones) have zero retirement plan yet for actual retirement, heh.

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The truth is, most of us already see a massive decline in revenue as it is. Both from the burnout itself leading to less frequent/lower-effort posting and from YouTube shifts to both pay less on ads despite beating out every other streaming service for revenue and due to de-prioritizing the kind of content we make leading to lower performance.

Why keep working harder at something paying less and less when it’s not fulfilling?