We just hit our 10 year anniversary doing Youtube. After a decade of creating content on YouTube, K and I recently sat down to reflect on our journey. We wanted to share our experiences – both the challenges and triumphs – to help others who might be considering starting their own channel. Here’s what we’ve learned along the way.

10 Years on YouTube: Reflections, Regrets, and Why We’d Do It All Again

Part 1: The Regrets

The School Bully Effect

Let’s dive right into regrets.

Imagine inviting your childhood bully to follow you around and critique everything you do – that’s essentially what you’re doing when you put yourself out there on YouTube. The comments can be ruthless, from critiquing personal appearances to questioning every decision you make.

A few examples:

• Hateful comments about Aust’s mustache (who knew people could feel so strongly about a mustache?)
• Every time we do something new, people accuse us of “just doing it for views”
• When we had to euthanize our milk cow Ladybug, and we made a tribute video to her, people accused us of being dramatic so the video would make more money
• When we got camels to help with our baby’s health issues, commenters called it a publicity stunt
• When we spent a summer in Alaska, they said we weren’t tough enough, told us a grizzly bear would eat our kids, and to go back to the city where we belonged

One of our most painful experiences was dealing with cruel comments about one of our children who has a learning disability affecting their speech. The hurtful comments about our parenting and our child’s future hit particularly hard. It’s these moments that make you question everything.

K’s Biggest Regret: I have let the bully’s comments get to me. They are in my head, and they affect my decisions, the content we make, and they even mess with me at night trying to fall asleep. I know most people are good. I know our audience is mostly wonderful people, but the constant hateful comments have warped my view of the world.

Aust’s Perspective: My biggest regret revolves around the comments too. For years, I left negative comments up, even the really awful, mean ones. I did zero moderating on the comments section. I figured everyone had a right to express themselves.

It wasn’t until a conversation with Crystal from Flat Tire Farm (YT Channel) that I realized this practice was making our supportive community uncomfortable. She asked me a simple question: “Why do you leave those negative comments up there?”

Crystal shared a powerful analogy that finally made it click:

Imagine you’re an artist who’s worked for months on a series of paintings about Alaska – capturing its beauty, its dangers, and all the emotions it stirred in you. You open your art studio to the public, inviting them to see your work.

If someone came in and said, “You know, your choice of colors here – I would have gone with something different,” that could lead to an interesting discussion about technique and artistic choices.

But if someone stormed in saying, “This is garbage! That mountain doesn’t look right – you’re an idiot!” you wouldn’t hesitate to escort them out. No one would argue “But it’s free speech!” – it’s your private studio, and you have every right to maintain a respectful environment.

Crystal helped me realize that by leaving up toxic comments, I wasn’t just affecting myself – I was making it uncomfortable for our supportive community members who didn’t want to engage in the comments section for fear of attracting trolls.

Sometimes protecting your space isn’t just about you; it’s about protecting the community you’re trying to build.

Aust’s Biggest Regret: I didn’t control the trolls. Now I put them under the bridge where they belong.

Part 2: Lessons Learned

After creating over 1,000 videos for YouTube, we have some lessons that will help anyone trying to do YouTube themselves.

Lesson 1: Show, Don’t Tell

One of our most valuable lessons came from a Dutch viewer who was refreshingly frank with us. He pointed out that viewers don’t want to hear us talk about what we’re planning to do – they want to see us actually doing it. This advice transformed how we approach content creation. Now, instead of making videos announcing our plans for the off-grid homestead or upcoming projects, we wait until we’re actually doing something and then share it. The results speak for themselves.

Lesson 2: Find Your Network

When you’re starting out, it’s easy to view other creators as competition. I remember the first time I met John Suscovich from Farm Marketing Solutions – I looked at his subscriber count and view numbers with envy. But instead of staying competitors, we became collaborators. Now we have weekly calls where we discuss YouTube strategy, share ideas, and support each other. It is really helpful to have someone who understands the unique challenges of what you’re doing and can help you grow. Best of all, you may find you make a new lifelong friend! Having this kind of network has been invaluable to our success.

Lesson 3: Cultivate Your Intended Audience

Think of your channel like a garden – what you nurture is what will grow. We learned this lesson the hard way. If you make a video about a huge mistake and it gets 5,000 views while your regular content gets 100 views, it’s tempting to chase that success. But if you keep making “fail” content, you’ll become the next Fail Army… or in the homesteading space… “Fail Farmy”. Your viewers will only be there to watch things go wrong. Then when you try to share valuable content like “10 Best Ways to Grow Garlic,” they won’t be interested because they’re not there for that. It’s crucial to be intentional about the type of content you create because it directly shapes the audience you attract.

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Part 3: Would We Recommend It?

If you came up to us tomorrow and asked the question, “Hey, I have been thinking about starting a YouTube Channel, should I?” what would we say?

We each thought about this question hard. Initially, K and I had different perspectives.

K said “yes” with the caveat that you should just try it if you want to, but be smart about it.

I said “no” – not because it isn’t worthwhile, but because it’s important to understand the realities of YouTube as a career.

The Financial Reality

After seven years of full-time YouTube content creation (working 12-hour days, five days a week, plus weekend hours), we’ve earned an average of $30,000 per year from YouTube directly – that’s $206,000 total over seven years.

That works out to an hourly wage of about $10/hour. Not good.

So how have we survived off that for the last 7 years we have been full-time on YouTube?

We’ve made it work through multiple income streams, including our Pioneer program and farm income, plus growing much of our own food to reduce expenses.

The truth is, if you’re looking to make a comfortable living, there are easier paths.

So… Should You Do YouTube?

Well, after a little discussion, we kind of settled on the answer… Sure, if you want to try it, go for it, but be informed it isn’t a great way to make a living for most who try it.

That said, it can’t hurt to try if you make sure to be responsible, don’t spend a bunch of money to get started, don’t share too much personal info, and don’t let the bully’s comments get to you!

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Part 4: Would We Do It Again?

Finally, we asked each other the question, if we had a redo… if we could jump in a time machine and go back in time and tell our past selves… Do it, or don’t do it… Would we choose to do YouTube again, knowing everything we know now?

K: “Yes. I don’t believe in regrets (generally speaking, horrible accidents aside). I think life is learning, and so we’ve learned! We’ve learned over 10 years at the same time we’ve inspired people, we get emails, people telling us you changed my life…”

Aust: “That’s why I said yes. When we first considered this question, I thought my answer would be no. The financial returns haven’t matched the enormous time investment, and the emotional toll has been significant. But then I thought about the emails and messages we have received from people, thankful for Homesteady…”

Here are some of the messages we’ve received that touched our hearts:

• “I started using camel milk several weeks ago after hearing about it here… we have definitely seen the benefits for our daughter”
• “As a self-proclaimed indoorsy person that hates being outside, I know a lot of the reason I was able to make it to this point is because of the work that you do.”
• “I’m now the owner of a mid-size Jersey heifer because I watch your channel.”
• “Your videos gave me the confidence to give in and try …chickens.”

The most powerful email for me was this one:

“I just wanted to let you all know how much you all have helped me. More than the homesteading knowledge, I wanted to thank you all for the laughs, inspiration, and hope you’ve given me. I struggled a lot with depression in the past year or so. It got to dangerous levels. That’s when I stumbled on your podcast. I don’t know why, but learning about all these things I know nothing about gave me hope again. I started to look forward to the possibilities. I saw a sense of purpose for being able to work on my own land. It has helped me so much, so thank you so much.”

We’ve helped people start their own homesteads, inspired them during the pandemic, taught them about camel milk for their children’s health issues, and even helped some viewers through depression by giving them hope for a different kind of life. When we consider all the good we’ve done – both the impact we know about and the ripple effects we’ll never see – K and I can both confidently say yes, we would do it all again.

The opportunity to help others and build a community of like-minded individuals has made all the challenges worthwhile. After ten years and 300,000 subscribers, we wouldn’t change our decision to start this journey.

These messages, and countless others like them, remind us why we do this.

So, to everyone who has been part of the Homesteady journey over these past 10 years – thank you. From reaching 300,000 subscribers to sharing in our adventures with the camel train, listening to the early podcast days with accountant Mike, loving Ladybug alongside us, and being there through all the ups and downs – you’ve made this journey worthwhile.

Our very first podcast opened with the idea that we could make the world a little bit better, and we could do it together. Ten years later, that’s exactly what this community has done. You’ve turned our little homestead channel into a place where people find hope, learn new skills, and gain the confidence to chase their dreams.

For anyone thinking about starting their own channel – if your goal is to help people and make a positive impact, we say go for it. The world needs more voices sharing knowledge, spreading hope, and building community. We wouldn’t change our journey for anything, and we’re excited to see where the next decade takes us – together.

With gratitude, Aust & K