Sunday Open Mike: Xander's Summer Job

So my son Alexander, a.k.a. Xander, got bitten in the katushka by a typical post-teenager bonehead move not long ago. He had a job all neatly lined up to deliver pizzas this summer. Problem was, he'd forgotten to pay a $10 ticket some time back, and the great State of Wisconsin eventually suspended his driver's license.

That got his attention, and he quickly paid the fine and got his license reinstated. Unfortunately, the pizza chain he planned to work for doesn't allow anyone to drive for them who has ever had their license suspended for any reason. So there went that. Very frustrating for him.

Apart from that, there's basically only one option for a 3-month full-time job in our area: fast food, for minimum wage.

So Xander got a bright idea.

Over the previous two years he's posted 11 videos to YouTube. Much to his surprise, one of the first ones, a little video about making a tiny motorcycle from cigarette lighter parts, has gotten almost 57,000 views, and he's earned a nice tidy little clump of cash from it.

So he pitched an idea to me. Would I allow him to spend his summer making videos instead of working?

The equation is as follows. A minimum-wage job would earn $290 a week before deductions. Minus deductions (not counting the taxes he'd get back) and times 11 weeks, the amount he could expect to earn flipping burgers full time for the whole summer would be about $2,900.

He fully expects to make less than that from his videos this summer. The interesting part of the calculation is that the videos will continue to make money into the future, even after he's back at school.

So he figured if he can make somewhere between 30 and 60 new videos during the summer, his income from the YouTube channel by May 2015 would exceed the amount he would have made selling his time for the summer months. And they wouldn't suddenly stop earning money in May 2015, either.

Plus there are the synergistic elements of a YouTube channel to take into account. He has 442 subscribers now, but each new video brings in a few dozen more subscribers. And each new video increases the views on the older ones.

He's been studying and learning a lot about promotion and how to get views and links, too. (Maybe even spending more time on that than on the videos themselves.) And the other day he landed his first affiliation—to Audible.com, the purveyor of spoken-word books owned by Amazon. He gets paid whenever one of his viewers downloads a free sample spoken-word book. That's me boy.

The videos are mostly short how-tos. Here's the latest:

This was posted two days ago. It's just a little over a minute and a half, versus a leisurely 12:40 for the LighterCycle video of two years ago.

A video called "Never Lose Keys Again" is my favorite. Very simple idea, but clever. And even shorter than the one above. And now I know where all my refrigerator magnets have been going.

Two more things are happening. He studied some successful YouTubers and copied the speed and "patter" of their deliveries so he could mimic what seems to work best. Here's an example that kinda surprised me—I didn't really know he could talk that fast. And his production values are getting better bit by bit, as he learns more about it. The old LighterCycle video is crude—a single-position continuous shot made with his cellphone. Now he's got a Panasonic V550 camcorder and he has the use of a swell carbon-fiber Gitzo tripod borrowed from a certain superannuated and mentally decrepit paternal progenitor.

I'll admit that I bought the Panasonic camcorder, and that I have an ulterior motive—sometime before the summer is over I'm hoping Xander's YouTube channel will feature just a few videos about things like pool, coffee, and cameras, and not necessarily in that order.

Should be an interesting summer for him. And if it doesn't work as planned, well, what better time to experiment with entrepreneurship than when you're 21 and home from college for the summer? It beats toiling at McDonald's.

Mike

"Open Mike" is the weekly Op-Ed page of TOP, written by Yr. Hmbl. Ed. and frequently off-topic. It appears only, but not always, on Sundays.

ADDENDUM: Several people have noted that working at McDonald's would have given Xander some work experience and some experience working with others. I thought I should mention that he already has some of that. His senior year in high school he worked as a waiter at a sushi restaurant, and then after graduation he worked full time for a year and a half before starting college. His longest job was changing oil at a Valvoline 60 hours a week. He also unloaded trucks at Target in the middle of the night and, as a temp, put in a stint at a factory job (Wisconsin Coil).

I didn't push him to go to college—I just waited until (or if) the motivation would come from him. My only condition was that he either had to work full time or go to school, one or the other. He got himself into UW Oshkosh (where his girlfriend goes—he found out about it through visiting her there) and will start his fourth semester there in the Fall. —Mike

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Charles: "One gets paid for YouTube videos? Who knew? Good for him."

Mike replies: Sure, with all those annoying little ads that pop up at the bottom. He gets a certain amount for views of the video, and more if someone clicks on the ad. Google "Google AdSense" if you'd like more of an explanation.

I haven't seen verification of this, but according to articles I've read, Dane Boe of "The Annoying Orange" earned $288,000 from his entire "channel" (i.e., all his videos) in 2012, and Army vet Marquese Scott earned more than $100,000 for the famous "Pumped Up Kicks | Dubstep" video alone. (Note the number of views those videos have gotten, though.)

Bill Tyler: "As a dad myself, I really like Xander's plan, provided you and he can afford the risk that it might pay less than you estimate. (Of course, it might also pay more.) It's perfectly respectable to work making and serving fast food. But you learn nothing beyond how to perform in a dead-end job. The video project, on the other hand, is both money-earning and valuable learning in an area that presumably Xander is interested in pursuing in future. Sounds like a win all around to me."

Mike replies: If it doesn't pay off there's a further option—working while he's in school. His girlfriend works for Target and just switches stores depending on whether she's in school or at home. He could do something like that during the year if he needs to.

Comments

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I hope you'll be free, and feel like, filling us in on how it goes. I'm fascinated by the monetization approaches available these days and like to hear real stories.

[Robert Roaldi]

The worst-case scenario is that he doesn't make $2900. In the grand scheme of life, that's chicken sh*t. Wish I had that much sense at that age.

And those arbitrary license suspension rules are beyond stupid. He should make a video about making home-made pizza. It's cheaper and better tasting than ordering delivery.

[Dan Daniel]

Here's a book he should read between checking his view count-
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451654979/?tag=saloncom08-20

The initial blurb on Amazon is pretty bad, but if your son searches around for some interviews and discussions with Lanier, he might get curious. It sounds as if youtube is already working the micro-payment angle (I know nothing about how anyone anywhere ever makes money on the internet, including Google or a site like TOP).

[Mark O]

Mike that seems like a great investment in the future. I have tried to get my son interested in such stuff to no avail. Good luck to him.

[Dennis]

Just curious. What's the basis for income? I watch a lot of YouTube and don't pay anything to do it.

[Advertising--for Xander, AdSense, and now his one affiliation. --Mike]

[David Miller]

My compliments to Xander. As a classically trained actor and sometime narrator, I am impressed with the clarity and welcoming tone of his narration. (Damn, three years at the National Theatre School of Canada, and for what………………?)

[darr]

Good luck to Xander. When my son was in college, he worked for a grocery store one summer and then mooched-off his parents after that because he decided to help run the ROTC Silver Wings program, which I actually was proud of him for. I think in the end it worked out because he graduated, is an officer, and continues to help run volunteer programs in his spare time. It is funny sometimes how things turn out.

[Kalli]

I'm obviously not the only one who didn't realize that it's so easy to monetize YouTube videos. Well, not to actually monetize them, of course, but to set it up so that you possibly, just maybe, might earn something off them.

Lately I've been complaining about how stuff that should be published as text, possibly with some pictures for illustrations, often seems to end up in videos instead. Videos I've no patience for watching and could get the needed info in a fraction of the time if it was presented as text I could skim through.

And to prevent any misunderstanding I want to say that this is in no way meant as criticism of Xander or his video. I actually found it fun and he made the video format work well.

[Oskar Ojala]

Being young is the time to try different things; he doesn't have a family to feed or a mortgage to pay and the learning opportunities in a fast food job are limited indeed. So go for the video, not a big deal if it doesn't work since the payoff from the fast food job isn't all that great.

PS. Now I'm waiting when we will see the first TOP video journal or review ;-)

[MikeR]

My reaction mirrors the first featured comment --- you can earn money this way? Who knew?

Keep us posted. I want to learn how.

[Michael Matthews]

Hey -- he's really good at this. Encourage it.

[Duncan]

Sounds like a worthwhile experiment. Of course if Xander decides he needs something like a Panasonic GH4, well, the economics might not work out so well.

[Bahi]

I'm impressed – the kid is good!

[Ray Hunter]

Sounds like the entrepreneurial fruit has fallen close to the tree in the Johnson household.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Am I the only one wondering about the sheer, utter stupidity of the two examples you posted that generated more than 150 millions views and hundreds of thousands of dollars!?

[Possibly not, but a lot of people like it and that's all you need. I think Marquese Scott is amazing. It's folk art. --Mike]

[Benjamin Marks]

Interesting data point Mike. More and more of the people I know are making their own work -- I mean they are self-employed and self-directed. It is both liberating and terrifying if you are used to functioning in a larger organization -- and as you know, it is hard to take a day off when you are the boss and the staff.

Early this year I taught a course at a local college in renewable energy development. There was a palpable sense of anxiety among the students about where they were going to fit into the economy and who would give them a job when they graduated. My advice to them was to make their own work -- that all of their experience up until that point had been asking various gatekeepers for permission to move to the next rung of an educational ladder with no clearly defined end-point. In response to the looks of puzzlement I got, my I told them that the happiest people I knew were those for whom work and play were the same thing. Unfortunately, there is little at a liberal arts college to force that match-up between work and play. The professors are, by and large, professional academics and only a tiny percentage of their students will follow in their footsteps. As a result, while they are undeniably expert in their areas of study, their main professional qualification is getting and keeping jobs at an educational institution -- something that bears little resemblance, except in the fundamentals of hard work and integrity, to the professional problems their students will face out in the world.

Congratulations (as a parent) for having both the courage and the commitment to help your son understand early that he will be paid for what he knows and can do. It can be habit-forming.

[Benjamin Marks]

[Edit] - I don't want what I have posted above to be read as saying that a liberal arts education has no value. On the contrary, I passionately believe that it does. But there is a mis-match between what it provides and any specific career path, unless you already know while you are a student that you want to do something with a fairly well-defined professional trajectory (doctor, lawyer, investment banker etc.). What I was trying to convey is that it would be valuable for a kid who _isn't_ on one of those paths to start the journey that your son will start this summer. I predict that your providing him a low-risk way to experiment in this will have a lot of upside. Well, prediction is a dangerous business; let us say I hope for it.

[Miserere]

I worked at Burger King when I was 18 and at McDonald's at some point in my early 20's; this was in Europe, where I feel minimum wage was higher than here in the US because I made what felt like more than $2,900.

At Burger King I had a pretty bad boss. He wasn't a bad guy, he just wasn't very good at managing us or the store. Food stealing by employees was rampant. I learnt how to get by doing minimal work and not care for my superior.

At McDonald's, however, I had a great boss. He didn't f**k around and wasn't overly nice, but he ran the place like a well-oiled machine. Nobody stole food because we were allowed to eat as much as we wanted as long as a) It was during our break, and b) we wrote it all down on. The result? Happy, well-fed workers, and a happy boss who's food accounting books always added up.

This boss had many other unorthodox techniques and I learnt a lot from him (I would often chat to him after work asking him why he did this or that). I have since taken a few management courses and manage people myself, and I have to say that most of what I know about management (that actually works) I learnt from my boss at McDonald's that Summer.

Not that Xander's plan isn't a good one; just sayin' that you never know when a minimum wage job is going to be more than a job.

[Stephen S. Mack]

Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

With best regards.

Stephen

[David Dyer-Bennet]

For most instructional purposes, I choose YouTube as my last choice -- I'm mostly looking up non-trivial stuff, and videos tend towards introductory, and I have to actually watch them in real-time to find out whether they contain the information I actually want (I can scan text pretty fast, plus the search has already taken the text into account when it suggests that URL). Then, every now and then, I look on YouTube as my first choice because it's some craft skill thing I need to see happen to understand. Or because it's about video editing and most of the good people teaching about that do it in video :-).

It's interesting, as somebody who watches YouTube videos pretty much every day, that I've never heard of any of the high-end big money makers you mention.

If my videos get better and more common I'll really have to think about turning on monetization -- so I can be depressed about how little I get. Amazon Associate was like that for years, back in the good old days before they cut off everybody in Minnesota.

[John Krill]

I wonder how many new subscribers he has after this post has been up a couple of days. He got me after I saw the WiFi trick. Haven't tried it yet but I bet it will work just fine.

[kirk]

Best of luck to Xander. My own kid Ben just graduated from high school and has no summer job lined up. I have just forwarded him the link to this blog. Smart dad. Good dad! Thanks Mike.

[psu]

This guy

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-lHJZR3Gqxm24_Vd_AJ5Yw

Has 27,000,000 subscribers. He makes odd videos related to video games. Among other things.

I think you get a kickback from the advertising revenues on the pages.

[Richard]

Fantastic! Great idea. I subscribed and have liked a few vids of his already. You're a good father Mike.

[Thanks, but I don't get any credit. It was all his idea. I'm just supporting it is all. --Mike]

[The Lazy Aussie]

How to clean a stiff focus lever on a minolta autocord would get him a solid 1 view from me.

[Tony Roberts]

Now that's what I call a dad. Kudos!

[James Sinks]

I never thought I would see the day when your tripod got regular use, Mike.

[Roger Bradbury]

Xander's videos are far better than most of the instructional ones I have seen; they have good technical quality, are organised and to the point. I'm impressed. The pizza chain has lost out, here.

[Dennis Ng]

Subscribe and share his youtube on my facebook page with a comment as below:

"I basically read his father web site every day (theonlinephotographer) and now his son is thinking about not do a summer job of flapping mac/delivery pizza but try to do youtube video to earn some summer holiday money. I cannot be sure how he can do that but to support his move, I subscribe and like his video. Hope he can try. Cf you tube posting vs flipping pizza, I think youtube is a bit more useful. Good luck."

Cheers!

[Tim McGowan]

In so far as video is on it's way to over taking still photography, I say go for it.
If nothing else then for the educational & exposure values.
I'd be interested in having Xander share some of his knowledge on TOP.

[Richard K]

Great idea, good luck with it.

In case Xander's not heard of him, can I suggest he take a look at Marques Brownlee as a good example of great product reviews and someone "doing it right"! (He's only 20 as well!!).

[Tom Kwas]

Have to say, that Miserere had a very nice story, and an example of what can happen when you're working with the right people at a young age: i.e., you learn not only what a great and efficient boss is, but how not to be a bad boss!

I don't know Xander at all, so no commenting on his skills and abilities, and I certainly wasn't working a dead end job in my teens (I was working in a studio!), and don't know if I would have survived doing it; but as a senior manager in a lot of companies, I can tell you that a lot of times, "young, self employed, go-getter", translates into "can't work with others or inside structure"...so...just saying...

I once hired a guy with a pretty good portfolio BECAUSE he worked at McDonald's all during college...

[Craig A. Lee]

Part of the purpose of summer jobs like that is getting the work experience. The experience itself could prove to be invaluable, especially as it was his idea and an area that holds his interest.

One thing that the fast food job won't teach is having a vision and the ambition to follow it through. This opportunity might.

Plus, it shows the apple didn't fall far from the tree. He's following his dad's example of being an internet entrepreneur.

Good job guys! And best of luck!

[Xf]

I like the chapstick how-to.

Weird "3x" coincidence (things you've never heard or thought about suddenly appear to you, with focus, in groups of three): my mom told some story about her mom being allowed to go alone to an amusement park as a child with some "mad money" to get her back home again, a phrase I'd never known; then soon after I hear someone talk about how they had they had to dip into their "mad money" to fix their car; and now I see Xander's project for keeping a small stash of emergency money. New term to me, apparently from way back, according to some dictionary sites. I then Google it more to learn that some annoying yahoo on CNBC named his show after the term, and so I bet that old phrase will lose its original meaning.

The Net giveth, and the Net taketh away.

[Crabby Umbo]

Hey Xf...

...my Mom had "Mad Money" too, it came from the idea that if you went out on a date with someone, and you got "mad" at them (or whatever), you weren't stranded without a ride or any way to get back home. My Mom grew up (dating age anyway) on the Chicago North Shore, so it had to be enough for the EL, or a cab, and to get your coat out of hock at a club (The Arregon Ballroom!), if you went storming out...

[toto]

He seems to have found kipkay, the king of this type of video, imho. If not, it's worth a look.

[Christer]

Not that I want to suggest that Xander should deliver pizzas, but shouldn't he have taken tip into consideration in his budget. Or aren't pizza delivery guys/girls(?) tipped in the US? Hm, long time not been there; and never do I order pizzas either.

Back on topic: Xander's videos very good, short, snappy and to the point. No time lost watching them.

[Yvonne]

Wow, nice. You have a smart kid there. Great idea and I hope he'll make money through the summer and all year.

[Steve Jacob]

I say good for Xander. He will learn a lot by trying out this stuff, from making video shorts to marketing and self promotion. College will provide good formal training, and both may end up paying dividends.

Seems like he already listened to some advice from his superannuated and mentally astute paternal progenitor, including the necessity of good editing. I hate Youtube videos full of pauses, waffle and sloppy English. Xander's were precise, tight and very intelligible.

Good job, Xander. Can't fault the logic either. All you learn in Burger King is that you never want to do a day job.

[Rob L]

Having a 7 and 3 year olds, I'm not here yet, but this is an awesome response to a problem - and yes, being young and having a support net is a great time to take a chance. As an aside - reading about you raising Xander has been great notes for me - he's an amazing son, but you're also an amazing dad.

[laura majerus]

Tell Xander that I suggest he add a "subscribe" link inside his videos. Go to YouTube and search on "how to add a subscribe link." I assume he's already found the Creators and Partners help links at the bottom of the YT page.

Laura

[Hi Laura, He says there is a Subscribe link in the videos, but it's the old style type of link. He's been meaning to switch it over to the new type. Maybe your comment will provide the impetus he needs to get it done. --Mike]

[Steve Rosenbach]

I Liked... I Subscribed!

Congratulations to Xander for his entrepreneurial spirit and to you for some damn fine parenting!

[Dean Johnston]

Yikes! What adds? I can't see any. Maybe it's because I'm in Japan and have the language set to UK English, or something? I was all set to click everything in sight.