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Budgeting Tips for Influencers and Content Creators
By rencamo Content creation can be an amazing job but it’s also a business and your livelihood. It pays the bills. So, of course you want to make sure you can keep on doing that. Our budgeting tips for influencers and content creators, can provide great ways to save money while doing what you love. 💙
In this StreamerSquare article, we’ll be talking about tips for budgeting financial expectations! So you can save money while shopping, planning and goal setting your future success!
Content Creator Budgeting Tips #1: YNAB – You Need a Budget Breakdown
As a content creator, you can earn through a variety of ways. Some content creators might use sites such as Ko-fi, Pateron, Fanhouse or OnlyFans, to add on additional forms of revenue. This can be a great way to bolster your income if you aren’t doing so already!
If you’re looking to monetize on Twitch or YouTube and don’t know where to start, check out our Complete Guide to Monetizing Your Stream. It’s also a good idea to Diversify your Content and income to multiple sources.
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Regardless of the sites you’re using for a bit of side cash or as a full/part time job, you’ll want to track it all. There are lots of ways to organize your finances when making money as an influencer and content creator that will make your life so much easier.
Financial Management doesn’t have to be stressful if you give yourself the right tools for success. ✅
Budget Trackers for Good Budgeting:
- Create a financial planning spreadsheet 📈 in Google Sheets or Excel.
- Utilize separate financial accounts 💳 when handling personal vs. business finances.
- Create a financial calendar 📅 to track days when you get paid from gigs, or have to pay bills. For extra organization, color code these to determine personal vs. business finances.
Check out this awesome FREE budget tracker template from PlayWithMaeTV to get you started! To see what kind of questions you should ask when creating these resources, check out some FAQ about content creation income below!
FAQ Budgeting Tips for Influencers and Content Creators
How much money does streaming make?
You can determine your approximate income by tracking your average number of subscribers each month! Each basic Tier 1 sub earns $2.50 USD and you can cash out at a $50 threshold.
How much time are you investing into streaming?
This number is gonna vary for full time streamers versus casual streamers, and that’s okay! But, you do want to be able to consider other aspects of your life such as non-streaming related work, spending time with friends and family off stream and anything else that isn’t part of your content creation.
How much does it cost to stream?
This number depends on the cost of games and cost of equipment. Creators who make smart spending decisions shouldn’t spend too much per stream. You can do this by elongating the life of your content. Play challenge runs, speedruns, achievement hunt, etc. to keep the content flowing without breaking bank.
How much does it cost to live as a content creator?
Your rent, groceries and utilities are all important aspects to consider when you’re streaming for any kind of income reason. Try to monitor living costs vs streaming/content costs as separately as possible to see how much you’re spending on your job compared to what you need to live.
How can you budget as a content creator?
By adding all these numbers together to your budget charts, you’re able to take a closer look at goals to set for yourself and to better tune what’s needed for you to financially grow with content creation. Compare earnings vs. spendings and try to work within the means you have available.
Content Creator Budgeting Tips #2: Spending Wisely
Figuring out which category your content fits into financially, is incredibly important for budgeting purposes. The easiest question to ask yourself is: does your content cost you anything to stream? 💵
If you’re buying brand new titles on day one in order to stream your playthrough as soon as possible, this is you. That’s ok, new content is fun and exciting – here’s some things to consider though:
What are some potential expenditures for influencers?
– Initial game purchase cost – can be increased if you’re a ‘series’ gamer who likes to play each installment of a franchise.
– DLC costs or expansion packs
– In-game cosmetic packs
– Season passes or event fees
– Deluxe or Special Editions with extra perks or collectables
More and more games now come packed with additional, usually paid, content. You’ll need to determine how much that new title is and how much you’ll need to earn to cover the cost of entry.
Case Study: Breaking Even As a Content Creator or Influencer
Return on Investment Study
With most new titles ranging from $60-$70 USD for the “Standard” edition, let’s look at the match of how you would regain what you spent.
- On Twitch you would need 24-28 subscribers at $2.50 USD per sub.
- Youtube pays on average $18 per 1,000 views. You would need +4,000 views.
- Donations or Tips to cover the cost of the game – or receiving a code or physical copy as a gift through websites like Throne.
One way to determine if the newest titles are good for your streams can be checked with the analytics page of your platform. With analytics tools, you can see how many people tuned in, how many chatters were active, and how financially successful those streams were.
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Content Creator Budgeting Tips #3: Savings, Services & Sponsorships
Between frequent Steam sales, bundle sites like Humble Bundle, and services such as the Xbox Game Pass, there are tons of options to find new games to stream without causing a considerable dent to your wallet.
1. With Humble Bundle, you’ll be able to pick up packs of games from all sorts of genres.
Prices range here, but you’ll frequently see packaged deals featuring 6-8 games for around $20.
2. With Steam sales, you’ll frequently find games at a heavy discount.
This can mean picking up massive titles such as Assassin’s Creed or Dead by Daylight at a massive saving. You’ll also want to check out Amazon, the PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo stores for even more opportunities to save big.
3. Try a sub-based game service to try new things at a low cost.
Another great option is to look at system services – such as the Xbox Game Pass – to offer you tons of titles on day one, all for a relatively small monthly fee. This can mean getting to play brand new titles without having a huge financial gate to cross to get to them.
4. Consider trying to apply for sponsorships or game testing.
Last, but certainly not least, is the option to try to connect with companies to try to earn your way towards sponsorships! With sponsorships, you have the chance to get games for no cost, but can also include physical and digital goodie bags, the chance to play the game early and maybe even additional codes to share with your community!
5. Get The Scoop on FREE Game Code Opportunities with StreamerSquare!
The Opportunities page provides access to game code request applications and free game code callouts when available. Our monthly Newsletter also always includes a section for game codes just for you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rencamo, Senior Writer
Ren is a non-binary and queer writer from the beautiful state of California. Their interests include human sexuality, game and film design, social justice and sex worker rights. You can typically find them grinding out achievements from their Steam library, writing fan fiction or re-watching Studio Ghibli movies.
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