On "Quitting" YouTube

If you start feeling burned out.... cut off an arm. Got it.

I relate so hard to what you said about not being able to review all three phones in front of you - I used to want to try and cover every single new thing that I could buy or that arrived with me. I felt like each was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I'd feel stupid to let pass me by But when your content becomes better, and the time required for every single part of the process goes up, not to mention your standards get higher, it becomes completely unfeasible and you have to pick and choose.  Here's to making more things just because we enjoy them!

Glad you put this up, Marques. 😊

I'm not a content creator by any means, but I cannot express how much this video has helped me come to understand what I'm feeling and why something needs to change. Thank you for all you do, and for all the greats who are putting themselves first!

Nearly 20 years doing this now, ive resisted having a cameraman/editor/ team etc as the thing that made youtube so good back in the day was it was normal people and there mates doing awesome stuff and i've always felt if i get a team of people behind the scenes i start to become a TV show or a manager so my work process today is the same as back in 2006 lol. Its put a limit on the amount of content but thats all. My only tip at present is KEEP ON DIGGING. Great vid Marques as usual.

Not growing is always an option. I want to keep things small.

Great video! Very well said. Having been on this platform now for 18 years - I totally feel every single word you said. I "left" YouTube as my full-time job almost six years ago now, and it was such a good decision for me. I don't have to focus on maintaining all 8 of my octopus tentacles, but instead can work with a larger team and just stick to my core competences and "heart." Loved all the disparate analogies here - you get it.

Oh man, everything you said hits so close to home 😪

What's weird is... even if you never cater to the algorithm, ignore pressure to post frequently, don't sell any merch, and avoid management headaches by never expanding to a team, continuing to make videos the same way you always have... you can experience burnout. I've heard.

Tom Scott did it best. He told us a year in advance what was going to happen and he followed through. He is an awesome person and I wish him the best.

I really needed this right now. I'm by no means a big creator, but the pressure still mounts at times. Thank you for putting this so eloquently and for the great insights.

Very well said. Even outside of Youtube, starting a business of any kind can be very difficult. Especially when it starts to grow and you begin the process of adding different levels of responsibility to your team in order to maintain it. This video definitely makes all of the sense in the world to me and it is very helpful. Thank you for it.

Didn’t think I’d be getting a MKBHD shout out for quitting YouTube 😂 great insights! For me I don’t feel burnt out but I do feel the need to stop the machine for a bit, slow down, learn, recalibrate and give myself time to figure out what the next phase is. Whether that’s coming back to YouTube but doing it differently or doing something completely different. It’s just very hard to do that figuring out while keeping the machine going. Anyways thanks man 🙏🏻

"You are making stuff. And that's the fun." You've kept focused on that and it's inspiring. Thanks for showing the way!

I think the trick is youtube creator jobs actually DO scale like regular jobs - what you're describing is very similar to how most small businesses scale (your job becomes more and more overhead and coordination). For example, it's not that different than trying to scale a plumbing business. The biggest difference seems to me that you still need to be the "star", which makes it hard to naturally transition into a management / owner role because you can't delegate that role easily. A lot of these "quitting youtube" videos seem to happen when creators reach the level of scale that they realize they need to delegate the star role, and that requires a conversation with fans to reassure them and try to keep them onboard through the transition (Linus Media Group seems like a great example of this).

I 100% agree. As a content creator in China for around 7 years now with over a million followers, I can tell you that making sure that you're still spending at least 60-70% of your time doing the part of content creation that you love, but also remembering that you can sometimes slow down to a walk, and speed up to a jog or run when it comes to the number of videos you're making is totally ok. It's not all or nothing for the entire time. It's your career, and you get to decide because burnout sucks! And the whole point of working for yourself is YOU get to make the rules.

Marques can you not scare us with a title like this

The octopus analogy is actually so accurate

I appreciate your honesty! As a fellow YouTuber who started a few months ago and focuses on hair tutorial videos, I totally relate to the part about "cutting some arms," which, for me, one of the arms I will like to cut off is the editing process. As I grow and evolve, seeking help with editing is something I'll likely explore. I've noticed many big creators expressing a desire to quit. In my view, pacing oneself can indeed help reduce burnout. I'm committed to keeping the creative process enjoyable – it should be fun, not a chore. Let's continue creating and enjoying the journey

He just woke up today and said "know what? I'm just gonna drop 15 minutes of insightful wisdom to my viewers today." And then he did.