Chapter 13: Being Consistent (And Being Smart About It)

'Be consistent'.

This is a pair of words that you may of heard in the form of advice from more established streamers.

And compared to the horrid 'advice' of playing bait games and only what's popular, which I've already explained the redundancy of? This is advice from your big brothers and sisters in the streaming community worth listening to.

Its a no brainer that as a small channel with hopes to become more established, you want to give your audience a reliable output of your content, and of course adhering to a routine of daily/weekly content is necessary for that.

You want to stream enough to gain and grow an audience which can't be done effectively if your broadcasts are sporadic with random streams at random times with your viewers never knowing when you'll be live.

So putting together a schedule with specific days of the week (and possibly a time) as well as announcing when you're going live on social media will improve your chances of maintaining viewers.

And if something comes up that you can't help which may derail your streaming pursuits (as with myself, PC issues and health problems that at times have kept me from streaming as often as as I wanted) then those who truly support you will understand and be there when you come back.

Your wife having a baby? Death in the family? A surgery? Moving into a new house? Your physical and mental health just needing a recharge? Life happens, and it can be a very fickle mistress on what it plans for us.

Just make sure that just as you would let your fans know when you go live, to let them know that life is currently putting a wall up that you're gonna need time to climb over.

And just as I had said in my chapter about taking care of your health? If you have people bail on you because you couldn't be live when they wanted due to life happening? Well those are people you don't need to have as a happening in your life.

However, those potential setbacks of positive and negative context as well as other events are a different story than you just not streaming because you just didn't want to.

I'm not referring to you feeling depressed or something else mentally deliberating, and thus not up for it. That's understandable. Take a day or two away and try again when you feel better.

But if you make a constant habit of thinking 'eh, they'll be there when I decide to come back. I don't have to stream today' then you may want to reconsider if streaming is for you in the first place.

Just as a garden can't grow if you aren't committed to watering the flowers, you can't grow as a streamer if you aren't committed to your content.

But that's just a thin spread of icing on this cake of consistency with more layers beneath. I mainly wanted to speak a bit more on some things in this guide to go along with the helpful advice you may of heard from your more prominent peers.

Because while they speak on being consistent? Its not just about a daily grind.

Its about your time on the clock by the hour and also finding that place between overtime and slacking off.

So, what do I mean by 'time on the clock'? Multiple things, namely using that time on the clock wisely to present yourself accordingly.

Firstly, while off subject from this section's main point, its important to reflect on the fact that as we take time out of our day to stream with many of us striving to one day make a career out of it, which while fun with all the potential to have good benefits as long as you work hard at it? You also are putting your qualities both good and bad out there for the world to see.

So you have to try your best to have an air of professionalism with your viewers and fellow streamers, which isn't always easy and I can say from experience given I've had conflict with other streamers and I tend to be very outspoken on social media when it comes to things that tend to negatively impact the streaming community as a whole.

I know it may hurt my growth, but my view has always been that I'd rather have a lesser amount of people in my life who are real and appreciate me and my honesty versus having many people who back me because I walked to the beat of their drum. The latter is them supporting me for them and what they want me to be, not myself.

That, and I feel in the long run that the negative things I've spoken out on the occurrence of that may be a cause for a streaming site going down hill? If I joined in on such practices or said nothing at all then I may as well of helped start the avalanche myself.

So I'd rather bring awareness to it than contribute, which is what someone who truly wants the best for a streaming site should do. Show concern.

Still, even if you aren't partnered, on the way to it you're more or less an intern under a constant review even when you haven't submitted a partnership app yet or have been reached out to yet.

No one wants a worker who spit's in the customers food and harasses the other employees without reason.

The other meaning to time on the clock? Simply the amount of time you're live and thus at 'work'.

A example of negativity that I've mentioned previously is the type of streamers who start a pursuit of broadcasting with the mindset of just playing popular games and watching the follows come in, sending them on the fast track to streamer stardom.

This is where not just how you present yourself, but also how much time you spend live can be a make or break.

As stated, when some of these individuals (quickly) find out its not that simple? They end their streams sometimes within an hour if that and then on occasion go around harassing other streamers, because they feel like they were stealing their viewers.

And that of course leads to them only harming their channel more because it gets them banned, reported, and assuming they don't lose their channel from being reported? The more people they harass? The more people will talk of them negatively which gives an increasingly worse reputation on the site.

Again, there are streamers who do things I despise, but while I may speak out in a general sense on Twitter about those who see their viewers only as a means to an end and who take shortcuts to get somewhere while claiming they worked hard? I don't go into a streamer's channel and start attacking them, because no one wins in such a situation.

Translation? Every streamer at some point is going to have both people they don't like and who don't like them, but the best thing you can do is worry about your own channel instead of going by their channel worrying about what they are doing while stalking them and trying to troll them.

Again, looking at it as a job? While its understandable to speak out on someone who is affecting the company as a whole with bad behavior? You can't be a reliable worker if you're too busy constantly looking over a cubicle to see what another employee is doing that affects no one else.

They sold five products while you sold none? It doesn't mean they are stealing customers from you. It means you need to keep grinding and keep getting better.

So unless they've tried to harass you or whatever they do could be detrimental to the company? What a streamer does is their own business and thus things such as their follow counts, partnership pursuits, active viewership, etc? Its none of your business.

Truth? One of the key things aside from a bad attitude stealing a streamer's viewers, is time, or lack of time moreover. Which brings me to the other (main) point of being 'on the clock'.

Though such an attitude would give decent minded viewers pause on supporting such a streamer anyway? Viewers can't find someone who isn't live long enough to be found in the first place.

Such outlooks of jealousy aside? 30 mins or so live? Yea, maybe if you're a well established channel doing an irl stream at Burger King or something then you can get away with doing that or 30 mins of gaming/whatever else, because your name is known enough to where you have the following for it.

But just starting out? Hourly schedule consistency is more important than daily and weekly schedule consistency and to be frank guys? Just a few minutes ain't gonna cut it.

Now speaking kindly to those of you who have gotten discouraged after streaming 15 to 30 minutes, maybe even longer with no one at all showing up, but haven't actually blamed others for it, instead wondering what they are doing wrong?

Give it time, more time.

Yea, dead streams SUCK and they can kick your confidence in the teeth brutally. This is why I spent so much time talking about it and discouragement before.

But extended amounts of time enduring dead streams while being live for someone to notice you even if not right away? That's better than very short streams that you pulled the plug on before a pulse could be found.

Even if you feel your stream is on life support, it may not be easy to look at and it gives a load of dead air that's hard to effectively stream through, but you have to keep hope that it'll show life.

Constant times that no one is in your chat? I've said it before and I'll say it again. It isn't a showing of you being a bad streamer or someone else being a better streamer. It just means you haven't been found yet and a plus to such is that it gives you more time to understand the aspects of streaming and positive community growth compared to the type who starts streaming, manages to get partnered within 2 months (which happened a good bit on Mixer) through short cuts and 'bait gaming', but has a toxic attitude and a rude viewerbase because they grew too quickly to learn quality values as a streamer. Assuming they would've cared about said quality values even if they grew slowly and gained more experience.

Now for the types who cut their streams quick due to the chat being empty before going around taking it out on other streamers because they didn't get noticed right away?

Since we're passed that frosting on the cake I mentioned? To say in a way that isn't sugarcoated?

Get over yourselves.

No one owes you anything and if you set an extremely high view of yourself that others don't see because it's just an entitled mindset? That's on you.

You're on a site with thousands of other streamers and viewers, and if you have gone live with a delusion that everyone would just flock to you instantly after getting a few victory royales and spamming another streamer's chat /your stream title with 'F4F/follow my stream for W's'?

Thinking that you wouldn't have to bust your ass to gain ground?

You're going about it wrong.

You aren't the next Ninja, Dr. Disrespect, or Shroud. No one is.

You for better or worse are the only you, and its your call what you do with that.

But a good start? Be humble, have some respect for your viewers and fellow streamers and understand that they aren't taking your viewers away.

You want the benefits of streaming? Sit down for those hours as brutal as they may be with no one showing up, and work for them.

And if no one shows up after 3+ hours? Don't go to another channel and start dropping the n word/saying they suck or go on a misogynistic tirade on how 'titty streamers' are stealing your viewers.

1. Again, while some female streamers do indeed use their assets to their advantage? Not all of them do. Some simply have a bit of cleavage because covering up would be uncomfortable if they are endowed and they shouldn't have to cover up. Sadly due to those throwing the boob streamer tag around and the amount of thirsty dudes who treat every streaming site like Chaterbate? It's all they can do to protect themselves from such even though a lot of times even covering up doesn't stop it.

2. Twitch has an exceptionally large viewerbase and thus every single person on the site is NOT in the chat of those female streamer's (or any streamer period) that you're bashing, which of course only backs up the fact that they aren't stealing views from you.

Take time to self reflect, sleep on it, then get back on it the next day. And do so until you start making improvement.

Show people why they should give you a chance and make them feel like they made the right choice in doing so. Because no matter how consistent you are? No decent minded viewer is going to support you.

Yea, I'm being harsh, seemingly uncaring even, but it bothers me how common an occurrence it is for streamers to focus on trying to break other channels instead of finding their own faults and working on fixing them.

Moving on.

Regardless of your status as a livestreamer, be it your first few days or being at it for a few years as a partnered streamer with thousands of follows, hundreds of subs, and by all accounts? The dream made reality of being able to pay bills every month with your sub revenue and royalties from sponsorships, it never stops being important to find a weekly balance in a consistent schedule so that you don't stream too little to where you can't maintain an audience (as already addressed).

But you also don't want to stream too much to where you physically and mentally wear yourself down.

I know, I said above to stream for hours each day and put in the time.

And I also said to sleep on it, which is for both taking time on how to improve, as well as simply letting your body and mind mend themselves.

My very first few weeks of streaming I was constantly doing 9 to 12 hour streams multiple days a week.

And up to recently? Six days a week staring at flashing images and bright colors for hours on end for months and months, and I would only take one day off to dedicate to rest usually once a week.

This also included the time spent working on my overlays, trying to plan what to stream, working out, and at times making highlight videos.

I admit, I was miserable, stressed, had no free time much at all to game off stream or watch all the anime/shows/movies I had backlogged, and worst of all, it eventually led to me feeling sick as I had also stated in my section about health.

So I ended up streaming less every week.

I made changes to my schedule some time ago to where I'll stream four days a week with a multiplayer stream on Saturdays at a minimum of 3 hours.

And if I feel somewhat close to finishing a game? I'll stretch the stream out to try and complete it so that the next time I play, it won't result in just a one or two hour long session.

The days off from streaming? They give me a far more lenient window of time to work on my highlight montages that I upload to YouTube (though I have a backlog of finished videos I still need to post) as well as work on my guides for you guys occasionally, network, and have more free time to do casual gaming and catch up on those shows and movies I've missed.

In all, I have a consistent weekly schedule that allows me enough time to stream weekly while no longer having to worry about wearing myself down with either rushing to do my other projects before I go live, or denying myself sleep after a stream to focus on those projects with the added stress of streaming almost everyday nonstop.

I've felt happier and less stressed out since making these changes and its made streaming feel much more fun for me because I have a decent balance between everything that still gives me plenty of time weekly to put my work in live while not being too much time to where I burn myself out.

Before? My monthly time live would add up to about 96 to 100+ hours at times, but even if I'm streaming just 16 days a month (four days each week compared to six which added up to 24 days a month before), if I stream 4 hours each of those 16 days? That's still 64 hours collectively.

Obviously, this all is subjective to how much energy you have to spare as well as time and your ability to manage it and other tasks in your day to day life. Not everyone does highlights of their streams on the side (Though I definitely recommend it) while lots of people simply have other obligations that limit their stream time.

They may have work or have school, so they are even more limited on time than myself, or they have more time to stream because they either are very good with time management or they simply don't have much else they occupy their time with aside from streaming.

Point is, know your limits and don't push them. If you can handle the mental and physical multitasking of streaming 5 hours 6 days a week on top of having a job/college? Then go for it.

But if for whatever reason you can only stream two days a week for a few hours each day? Work with what you can.

Some may say two days a week isn't enough and in regards to if you eventually want to go for Twitch partnership? You'd have to step it up to hit those requirements for it.

But for now? As long as you're doing your best to be consistent? At least you are there those two days showing your viewers that you do take it seriously even if the time you can be live is limited.

And if your situation can improve and you can stream longer and more often? Then hey! That's even better. Just don't take on more than you can and listen to your body and mind when they show signs that you need to rest.

Consistency when combined with one's other ongoing endeavors in life can make things a bit tricky in regards to streaming as much as you want at times.

But figuring out a means to balance everything for hourly, daily, and weekly consistency within reason for the benefit of your health of body and mind, as well as the benefit of your viewers knowing they'll get to watch you to at least some capacity?

It can improve your chances of growth loads more compared to not only not being consistent, but blaming others because of a lack of growth which again, is not because they were stealing your viewers, but because you weren't putting in the time and work in a clockwork manner, and instead went live and expected people to instantly give you their time.

You want your viewers/other streamers to give you their time and respect?

Give them yours also, while also giving yourself time to recover when and if needed.