5 Reasons Why I Started Streaming On Twitch

Streaming on Twitch has been an amazing experience over the past year. On the Jacob_McG channel, I would stream programming, graphic artwork, and the occasional game. I would frequently watch streams when I get home from school or even relaxing on a weekend. But then, I thought I would give this a try. I had a dinky laptop that could barely handle a browser based game in low detail. I didn't have a fantastic webcam or microphone. Nope. Not even a green screen. But it was fun. I managed to host 20 viewers on my journey of learning to program in my first stream. Even though I am still a very small streamer, I still have had the same troubles and joys that large streamers get to experience. So this is why I started and kept streaming:

Encouraging Viewers

Almost every stream, someone tells me how encouraging and inspirational I am. I don't try to be, I just act positive. I guess its not as common these days. You'll be surprised how many people will watch streamers to procrastinate homework, or just to runaway from their problems. I've even had people come to my stream to not watch my content, but to vent about their day. It feels amazing to know that at the end of the day, you helped someone and made their life better. Its made me act and feel better when off-cam now too. When I go out shopping, I keep that mindset of "how can I make someone else's day better". Typically even just looking up and smiling/saying "hello" when walking by someone can impact their day.

Though I realize I am not a celebrity or even a popular streamer, I create an influence to anyone who even meets me for one second. If they come into my stream and see me being happy, they too will be happier than before. Keep smiling everyone :)

Starting a Passive Income Stream

I've never really held a full-time job except for a short 3 month internship with a large engineering company. I am dependent on my wife financially as a stay-at-home father. When my 3-month old son (Elijah) is sleeping I take advantage of it by learning and streaming. By slowly building a name for myself/branding/obtaining followers, I'm reaching the point where I can make a dollar or two from streaming. But this is not a fast process.

I spend hours a day writing blog posts/updating my website/networking/streaming/writing reddit posts/a lot more. Passive income streams require a lot of initial labor, for reduced effort in the long run. Yes, I would still need to be active and stream, but there would be less marketing involved once word-of-mouth spreads. Passive income really should be called 'delayed income'.

Work From Home as Stay At Home Father

As I said, my wife is the bread-winner, but that doesn't mean I am not trying to do what I can to do my share. Streaming started off as a hobby for me. It was fun, but never did I think I could profit from it. But, growing up I always dreamed of starting my own business. I would examine other businesses and think how wrong they are doing things, or what I would change if I was the CEO. Though working to expand my 'streaming career' is time consuming, challenging, and different, its the most enjoyable task I've done in my life.

I've searched a lot since becoming a stay-at-home father of jobs I can do from the comfort of my own home (not to mention with a child running around). Of course, there are the classic surveys, and customer service support, but that really doesn't get you far. I have the ability to start/pause/stop networking, streaming, and blogging at any point in time. Its something that can be done during nap time, or even during play time.

Accountability In Self-Teaching

Most streamers on Twitch/YouTube are gamers. I belong to a niche group of game developers and programmers. But even more so, I am just a beginner learner. If you view Twitch right now, you may find 250 viewers across all of programming, and nearly a million viewers in games. That's not much of a market. Not only do I stream for the happiness of others, the thrill of the business, and the income opportunity, but I am doing what I would be doing anyway if I wasn't streaming. That's programming.

I enjoy sitting down and solving logical problems in code. I intend on starting coursework in computer science soon, but I want a head start in this field before I get there. Streaming gives me encouragement to make sure I code everyday. The people who tune in daily keep me accountable. When I don't show up on stream, or I stream something else, they make sure to point out and reprove me.

Making Friendships

Streaming has introduced me to people who I never would have met if I didn't stream. There have been people who stuck with me and encouraged me through the most difficult programming problems that made me want to quit. Sometimes I would find myself in despair and wanted to drop everything, but they would keep me going. Though I'll probably never do a meet and greet because my viewer base is so small, these are people who I would consider friends.