We all spend a lot of our lives watching other people. No, not in a weird way (I speak for myself only), but watching the lives of streamers, vloggers and YouTubers does take up a substantial proportion of many people’s day. Taking the time to observe others playing video games is oddly therapeutic and can strangely be more fascinating than playing the games yourself. Yet streamers face the difficult challenge of balancing work/school and social lives with streaming to their fans. This can be difficult to most, especially for streamers who aren’t able to make a living from this. We’ve come up with 5 tips on how to balance your streaming with your regular life- this may be needed for many of you Twitchers or YouTubers!
1) Prioritise
When you have so much on, it’s difficult to prioritise one task over another, they all seem so important when you’re mega busy. But if you’re balancing streaming and part time work, it’s important to look at what’s best for you. For example if you’re feeling tired and need a break, having a getaway from streaming can be better than putting your part time job or social life on the line. We get it, streaming is a vital part of a Twitcher/YouTuber’s day and most streamers feel like they have a duty to broadcast to their fans each day. However, as important as this is, taking a break from another job can lead to bad consequences for you and your employer- even disconnecting from your social life can have mentally negative impacts.
We’re not saying to stop streaming all together if you need a break, but choose the vital tasks such as part time work, enjoying your social life, paying bills, fixing that leaky pipe etc over streaming.
2) Look after your voice
A streamer’s most significant asset is their voice. Streaming video games requires you to continuously talk and keep the audience entertained through the broadcast. Many viewers tune in each day to listen to their favourite Twitcher talk about their life, new games, tips on gaming etc and watching the game-play itself is sometimes merely a side thought. No voice = no stream basically, so you need to treat your voice in the same way any actor, musician or presenter would. Obviously Vocalzone pastilles are extremely beneficial for overworked voices (available in 3 different flavours 👀), but plenty of rest, water and a *fairly* healthy diet can be just as important. For more tips on keeping your voice in top working condition, check out our article on Voice Tips For Online Streamers.
3) Have an active online presence
Being a streamer, you may already have a fairly substantial following on social media- but if you don’t, you’ll need to get this looked into. Not from your local doctor, no. Building up your social channels can not only have the benefits of; your content reaching a larger audience, it’s easier to connect with fellow streamers etc, but this bigger following allows YOU to communicate with your viewers.
Going to be late home from work? Will the stream be a bit later this evening? Letting your followers know is the most obvious thing to do, but having a strong online presence across Youtube/Twitch, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc can get your message to your viewers quickly. There’s nothing more annoying, to a dedicate viewer, than an unreliable streamer. At the end of the day, the viewers happiness is key and if they rarely hear from you, it’s unlikely they’ll be too keen to tune in on your Fortnite wins every other night.
4) Stick to a schedule
It’s unlikely that you’ll have free reign in picking your working hours (oh how we all wish we could), but you can choose when to stream and when to complete other tasks in the day. Creating a planner for the day/week can keep you organised and motivated to get the hard work done, this way it’s easier to balance two exhausting activities such as streaming and part time work. Following a schedule may at first make you feel like you’re back in the classroom, but having a guide of what to do/when to do it can keep you focused on the tasks ahead- therefore making the day flow smoothly. We also promise that the prospect of streaming is a much better thought than double Maths!
5) Be careful of what you do/say online
Now obviously this tip can be applied to almost any job (or any person for that matter), but streaming online can often put you in your comfort zone- leading you to be relaxed and less aware of what you’re saying. Your content is being streamed live to tens or thousands of people, many of those have a screen capture system. What you say in the moment doesn’t just stay in the moment, it isn’t like you’re just talking to your friends.
One bad word or anecdote (if you’re like me you’ll have plenty of them..) can paint you as a villain in the public eye. If this catches up to you and word gets spread around about what you’ve said/done, this can have awful repercussions on your day job. Many social public figures have been sacked or reprimanded due to what they say online- voicing your opinion is not always the best idea if this opinion will cause a stir with many!
