From uni side hustle to full-time career with 920k Subscribers
Last week, I sat down for drinks with Joel, one of our country’s most successful YouTubers. His niche is unboxing Sonic the Hedgehog merch, but plot twist: he’s not even a fan of the franchise. For him, it’s just another job. And he’s not afraid to get his hustle on, too. He’s sold his silver 100k subscriber play-button and just returned from a gap year working at Maccas, which he described as “the best year of my life”. He also predicted the future when he named his channel, AngrySonic (a conjunction of Angry Birds and Sonic the Hedgehog) years before Sega’s acquisition of Rovio. As he approaches a million subscribers, he reflects on his career, gives us a glimpse into his lifestyle and gives some tips so you too, can spark your influencer side hustle.
How would you describe yourself in one word?
Unusual
What colour are you feeling today?
Turquoise (spoken between sips of a cocktail of that colour)
What was the piece of media you consumed? A TV show, movie, game or album?
Better Call Saul. Breaking Bad is my favourite show of all time.
Favourite restaurant?
Goode Brothers New Lynn. I’m a regular, and they even once made a special blue Sonic cocktail for me!
How long have you been watching YouTube?
Since high school, when I was about 17. I was hooked for quite a while, but once I started making them, I lost interest. It doesn’t achieve much.
When did you start uploading YouTube videos?
I was at Uni at the time, in my last year. I was 22, around 2017. I was majoring in Electronic Engineering.
How would you describe the type of content you make?
Simple unboxing videos, for the most part.
When did YouTube turn from a hobby to a side hustle? And when did it turn from a side hustle to a career?
At first, I ran a random drawing channel, which eventually made $100 a month after a few years. But my channel suddenly took off to $1000 a month the instant I randomly decided to try drawing Sonic characters.
The whole thing was an accident; I had no plan whatsoever. After the Sonic videos did so well, I decided to become a YouTuber full-time. My channel has grown pretty consistently since then, although it slowed down around Covid, but it’s been picking up again recently.
Do you ever get recognised in public by people around Auckland?
I have never been recognised for being a YouTuber in public, but local people know who I am because I’ve mentioned it in conversation. Some people nickname me “Sonic”. Ahahaha.
I don’t feel I’m famous enough, plus it’s not about the subs; it’s the views. You can have a million subs but be a dead channel. It doesn’t help that I don’t show my face in 99% of my videos.
What does an average’ day in the life’ look like for you?
Pretty much all I do is wake up and have coffee; if I have new merch, I might do one unboxing video, then go out and about in my free time. My routine at the moment isn’t consistent, but I used to have heaps of packages coming in each day. When painting custom things, I might work 5 hours a day. Max.
I like the unboxing lifestyle; I feel it suits me. But it can also be lonely as I work on my channel alone.
What’s your favourite piece of Sonic Merch?
The Classic Sonic Funko Pops for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles.
What’s a piece of Sonic merch you thought was really overpriced or just dumb?
The First 4 Figures giant-sized statues. I ended up with 10 of them at one point and wasted all a grand each. I don’t keep my Sonic merch and sell it off on TradeMe or eBay. But they were really hard to sell, and even then, I’d only make $100 back. They’re so pointless, but some would light up, which was cool, I guess.
Last time I spoke with you, you mentioned that you’re not a Sonic fan, which is surprising given your channel’s focus. Does that impact your work life?
It felt like I was living a lie or being someone I wasn’t. But it’s also very interesting and exciting pretending to be someone you’re not. You can see both sides, in and outside the fandom. A double life.
“I’m not even a Sonic fan. I can’t believe I wake up and I’m that guy.”
In my mind, I couldn’t have imagined any of this would have happened. I feel I’m the last person that would end up in this situation. Being the quiet kid in class and becoming a big celebrity. The universe has a way of surprising you, and anything is possible, for sure.
Even so, do you have a favourite Sonic character and favourite game?
I was never much of a gamer, so I don’t have a favourite game. And my favourite Sonic character is Sonic.exe. If I wasn’t the Sonic guy, I might be narrating CreepyPastas. Ahahaha.
Off the top of your head, who are some fellow YouTubers you respect?
Nikocado Avocado; he’s just a funny person. BrentTV, too, he does just SpongeBob stuff, like I just do Sonic stuff. Those are two I look up to for inspiration.
What is your favourite YouTube video that you’ve made if you have one?
A compilation of all the Sonic popsicles I made. It’s my most viewed video, with 30 million. It’s my favourite because of the hard work I put into it. I edited it as a rapid montage, which I think worked well for the “TikTok” short attention span.
I also later sold the popsicles to people all over the world, like Brazil and America. I resell everything in my videos, always at a loss, but it is what it is.
What would you say if you had a time machine and could tell your younger self one thing?
I would say don’t waste your money and reinvest it into YouTube. If I had been better with my money, I could have made better content.
What do you think about the current state of YouTube?
It’s the same as before, but there’s a lot of censorship. If you make stuff for kids, you can lose as much as 90% of the revenue you should be making because they don’t get targeted ads. Although my videos are watched by all ages, thankfully.
What’s something you’re looking forward to in the future?
Hitting one million subscribers is my main goal. My current side hustle is fixing Maccas’s ice cream and frozen Coke machines. After that, I want to try voice acting or start my own business, even if it doesn’t make money. A pop-up Sonic merch store would be really fun.
What are some common misconceptions people have about the lifestyle of Influencers/YouTubers?
It’s not as easy as you think. People often go on about ‘stupid’ influencers like Logan Paul, who can make rubbish videos and make thousands. But they don’t think about all the years of hard work it took to grow your channel to that point where you can easily post a video like that. YouTube has costs, not just profits. Mr Beast is making millions, but he’s paying millions. Someone might be making big money, but they’re spending big, too.
Another downside is the negative comments. No matter how perfect you try to be on the internet, they’re gonna pick you apart and hold it against you.
If someone wants to become a YouTuber like you, what habits should they foster for success?
The keyword is consistency.
In the earlier stages, you want to try lots of different things, but once you find that one thing that gets views, stick to it.
The only way to succeed is to try your hardest, but if you don’t enjoy the process, there’s no point in doing it all; if you’re failing, at least you’re having fun. You have to really want it.
What’s something much harder about being a YouTuber than people realise?
All your eggs are in one basket. If your topic dies off, you’re kinda screwed. You’re relying on one platform to pay your rent, and you could lose everything if you get your account terminated. There’s a lot of risk. Plus, you have to wait a month to get paid. You just exist every month, wondering if it will all disappear one day. I sense that my time is up on YouTube sometimes.
What’s actually much easier about being a YouTuber than people think?
People don’t realise most of the revenue comes from the old videos, not new ones. You can make up to $100 an hour for doing nothing. I’ve made many videos that took me less than an hour to edit and film, cost $100 for the toy, but have made me over $5000 over the years.
There’s always a lot of discourse on “algorithms” and Social Media. What’s your take?
For the most part, you’re stuck with the topic your channel focuses on. For me, that is Sonic. Even when I try to branch out, the videos on other topics flop. The algorithm feels random and targeted at the same time.
It used to be so easy; I could upload whatever and get views, but now it’s a struggle. It feels like your success is out of your control.
What has been your experience shifting between social media platforms?
I tried TikTik once and got 30,000 followers before I deleted it. The difference is you get instant views, but I just tried it to fuel my YouTube channel, which didn’t work out.
Did you need to invest money to become an influencer?
You don’t need an expensive camera or editing software. As time goes by, you can, but it isn’t needed.
How does being a Kiwi factor into being a YouTuber?
All the comments saying my accent is funny. Ahahaha. There’s not many New Zealand YouTubers, so there’s not much competition. There’s plenty of space for more Kiwi channels 🙂
Lastly, is there anything you want to plug or shout out to our readers?
Subscribe to my channel: AngrySonic! Help get me to a million subscribers!!