This video explains why I rely on viewer monetization, such as people upvoting my posts or watching reels to earn money.
I've explained how due to chronic illness, content creation, freelance work is flexible, allows me time to take off for flares, I can pick a flow that works best for me, etc. Last year, a guy harassed me for this reason. Perhaps they thought I put all my faith into these platforms when I was too small to branch out. I tried the Amazon Associate program (affiliate program) but couldn't draw in the 3 sales and lost count after about 10 accounts. They will close your account if you don't make 3 sales within 6 months.
I doubt brands would be interested in me due to my account size. If people have to buy the product for me to be paid. If people can't afford to subscribe to your Patreon or any subscription-based platform where your viewers can join for exclusive content, they can watch a video for free. You can upvote these posts for free. Relying only on upvotes is playing with fire. The price of HIVE can change. Hivewatchers accused me of vote farming with 0 proof the suspicious accounts that voted my posts were mine. Hive can go down. before I was only on Steemit. Then they had a hard fork adding bandwidth to prevent spam, most accounts couldn't post for 3 days.
It's not saying people HAVE to support me because I'm chronically ill and can't work a 9-5. This is to explain; for those who thought I chose not to branch out in case I faced an earning drop on here, then I'll be covered. I tried branching out and none of the methods I had in mind worked because my following was too small. I have 5k on Facebook, my reach just sucks.
Relying only on YouTube ads (I'm not monetized yet) is risky because you can lose your monetization at no fault of your own. Platforms rely on AI to flag potential violations and your account can get hit. You saw how quickly hive watchers accused me of cheating. Didn't reach out and communicate BEFORE assuming, didn't care to leave a comment after voting my posts to zero or anything. With HW accusing people of cheating simply because they are small bloggers, the platform is just as bad as Facebook or Twitter unless there are better protocols in place.