This article came out a day late. I have good excuses. I had finals last week and my birthday was last week. Tutoring helped earn me some side income but ate up a lot of my time. I had a board meeting that took up an entire night. All true, but I should have gotten the article out on time. I needed a better schedule.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a big deal if it happens once. The issue comes if it happens over and over again. Your viewers expect you to be on a schedule and there’s a good chance some of them watch you because your stream time matches their free time. So how do you keep yourself on a schedule as a streamer? Let’s look in to some of the best practices. This won’t be directly dollars and cents related to your finances but it will help you grow your stream which will impact your finances. If you’re earning any money from streaming you’re running and business and you should act like it! If you’re still waiting to make that first dollar, starting these tips today will make you all the more prepared once you are earning some income.
Scheduling
First, actually set a schedule! While this might not be the most groundbreaking advice it’s surprising how many streamers haven’t followed it. You have those panels on Twitch for a reason. Even if you’re only setting a rough schedule you can really increase your regular viewers if you help them predict when you’ll be live. If your schedule fluctuates you could put limited hours and then have “bonus” streams for those times when you’re unexpectedly free. Since one of the best ways to grow your stream is to stream consistently you’ll be helping yourself out with a schedule. For instance, I stream each day starting at 2:30 so I clear my calendar from 2:30-4. That means that I need to buckle down and do the majority of my writing and planning work in the morning.
Systems
Second, create systems that help you be available during your scheduled stream times. Do you normally find yourself late because you worked on other projects? Find something you can break off to do at a different time or split across days. I find that if I make myself write articles over the course of two days I not only have more time available to stream but I also have better ideas on how I can tackle different topics. If I have a dedicated time in which to tackle a task I give it more focus and I’m less likely to get distracted. My ideal system would include reviewing my content calendar for what I’m writing, outlining and researching the article on Monday, writing half on Tuesday, half on Wednesday, editing Thursday, and being done Friday. That way I know it’s done ahead of time and I can enjoy my weekend.
Examine Your Morning
Start a morning routine! It helps to have a set list of things you do each morning to get you successfully up and running. While not everyone gets energized by the same things some of the items that can help are exercise, eating a meal, coffee (shocker, I know), meditation, and reading. Find out what works for you and actually budget time to do it! It also is extremely helpful to have a set time when you wake up. Even if your stream schedule has you going to bed at a late hour you still should set a time to get up. That’s not to say that you should deny yourself sleep, but you should find a reasonable time and focus on getting up each day at that time.
This is one that I’m terrible at and I’m working on. I find it too easy to wake up in the morning and get sucked in to Reddit or YouTube or Twitch. To combat that I’ve started switching my computer over to my work login (with Leechblock running strong!) each night so that in the morning I’m in work mode. So far so good, and in general I think it’s important to find these small tricks which can really improve your focus and productivity.
Buffer Times
Don’t forget to add in buffer time. Do you think your morning routine will take you two hours? Budget two and a half. That way, if you find yourself running over because your estimate was off or something came up you still have some time before you need to be streaming. As I mentioned, I have a 2:30 start time so I make it a point to have my scheduled tasks end at 2. One issue with this method is that if you’re good at estimating time you’ll find yourself with a lot of unscheduled time that might derail you. It might help to have a list of small tasks that you need to do which you can fit in during those times.
Reminders
Do you just forget that you said you’d start streaming at 2PM? Set up a reminder on your phone that’ll pop up an hour or so beforehand so you can start transitioning over. I use my personal Google calendar to give me my popup reminders but you should use whatever works best for you. I’ve had several times where I found myself immersed in my work and had that popup remind me that I committed to streaming at a specific time. My regular viewers know to expect me and when I’m late I’ll get messages through Twitch asking if plans had changed.
Leverage other people to help you keep on track! This could be your mods or audience, if you’re large enough to have a dedicated group or someone like a friend or family member. This could be as simple as telling them your schedule and asking them to help keep you to it. If you’ve got some mods, give them a way to contact you outside of your streaming platform to remind you in case you’re missing your scheduled time. Life happens. If you do need to change a normal stream time, you should let people know! They’ll appreciate the heads up. You should be on Twitter and potentially have a Facebook group, plus you can post notifications on your channel. Similarly, if you and your mods can contact each other via email/phone let them know so they can make the necessary changes.
Content Calendar
Set up a regular content calendar. This is another one that I’m not great at yet! If you have a set time when you’ll be doing your stream you should also have a set agenda of what you’ll be doing on that stream. For instance, Day[9] adds some variety to his stream by streaming different games on 3 days of the week. You might not be a variety streamer so that might not be your thing, but you could include time for sub games or games with viewers. Even if you just stream one kind of thing, like outside the box Hearthstone decks, it can help to set out ahead of time which one you’ll be doing. It helps to plan this out as far in advance as you can but if you’re just starting out try to plan out your month.
So how do Day[9]’s viewers know what to expect? His Discord channel has a bot command that will provide you the schedule and the time until his next stream. His Twitch panels include his stream time. The Day[9] website provides the schedule. If you’re interested in knowing what he’s doing, that information is available. That way, he can be a variety streamer and keep the folks who are only interested in Hearthstone.
Listen to Your Internal Clock
Figure out your internal clock. When do you need to sleep? When are you at your most engaging and entertaining? Are there times when would you be better at working on solo tasks? Use this to help schedule your day. If you know that you’re always ready for a nap right after lunch don’t use that time to stream! Pick the time where you’re the most energetic and engaging because that will drive the most people to follow you. If you know your normal sleep schedule that can help you set wakeup times and stream times. If there’s a time of day where you find yourself extremely focused or not in the mood for being particularly social, pick that time to do your business planning. That way, it will be less of a chore to do the things you need to do and you will be more likely to succeed.
Review your next day’s schedule the night before. If you’re a night owl and have a late stream, review your schedule in the morning. If you make sure to review what you’ve planned to do you’re a lot less likely to fail at doing it. I know most of my mornings that get derailed get derailed because I started off on something fun or entertaining right away and then I’m suddenly out of time to accomplish all of the things I need to do! This does mean that you need to have at least a rough schedule for what you’re planning to do the next day, though if you’re creating that content calendar this should be a breeze.
Take Breaks!
Take breaks when you need to! This could be a break entirely from streaming, a break during your stream, or a break from the kind of content you’ve been producing. If you really just need to take some time for yourself and not be producing something, go for it. That’s called a vacation and even streamers get vacations. Yes, you’re living a great life where you get to work from home and play video games but that doesn’t mean that you’re a machine! Similarly, make sure to take regular breaks during your stream. You could use regular times (2 hours in) or do it based on triggers. For instance, DolphinChemist streams Faster Than Light and takes a short break each time he reaches the flagship. That’s a great way to mentally prepare himself for the tough fight and to get some rest in.
You should also plan to take breaks in the kind of content that you’re doing. This variety will help keep you on schedule. If you’ve built up a good base of followers, invite them in to one of your games. You might just need to try out another game, go do it! If you’re normally someone who does speedruns or tries for obscure achievements, try to do something wildly different in the game that’s not as objective based. You will appreciate the variety and be surprised at how big of an impact taking that break has on your mood and performance.
Conclusion
It’s hard to consistently produce good content. It’s even harder to do if you’re not on a regular schedule that is built to help you consistently produce good content. Take the time to plan what you’re going to stream, when you’re going to stream it, and apply systems and people to help you stay on track. Don’t neglect yourself or you’ll find that even if you’re totally willing your body might not cooperate. This could mean making a strong morning routine, making sure you’re taking enough breaks, or setting your schedule to match your internal clock.
While at first blush this doesn’t look directly applicable to your finances, think through the consequences of enacting some of these ideas. You’ll stream consistently, which will help grow your audience. You’ll be in a better mood, which will help grow your audience. The clock is your ally and you will finish your other tasks, freeing up your mind to stream. That will help grow your audience! You are a sole proprietor, the head of a small business. You need that head to be healthy and clear or else you’re really hampering your business’ potential.
Do you have any questions on what we’ve covered today? Any feedback? Any topics you’d like us to dive in to? Let us know in the comments!
