- Quentin Latham went from being an accountant to being a YouTube content creator in 2011.
- He struggled in his accounting job, was laid off, and decided to pursue his passion for online entertainment.
- Latham now makes more than $500,000 a year from YouTube and plans to retire from radio.
This essay is based on a conversation with Quentin Latham, a 40-year-old accountant and YouTuber from Miami, and has been edited for length and clarity.
I run the entertainment news channel Funky Dineva on YouTube, but after graduating with a degree in Economics in 2005, I started my career as an accountant.
I was promoted to a leadership role as a senior accountant and stayed in that position until 2011. Early on, I realised I didn’t like it.
Now, as a YouTuber, I made over $500,000 last year just from content creation, and I have no intention of going back to accounting.
I always imagined myself as a corporate go-getter.
I always wanted a big corner apartment, I wanted to win an award at work, I wanted to attend formal events, etc.
When I started working, the idea of doing this job for the rest of my working life started eating away at me. I am a creative person, so the routine and constraints of accounting were painful and unbearable.
My boss noticed that I was unhappy and underperforming, so I was fired in February 2011.
With only unemployment benefits and no significant savings, I could no longer afford my apartment and began to lower my standard of living. A fellow college classmate was kind enough to let me sleep on his floor until I got my things sorted.
I had a YouTube channel that I decided to get serious about.
I decided that going forward, I wanted to do something authentic for me: entertainment. I was already spending hours on social media obsessed with reality TV and what was going on in the celebrity world, so I knew I could create content around that.
I started my YouTube channel in December 2010, but didn’t treat it as a job until I quit my accounting job. I created content about topics like the Montgomery Riverside Brigade and Kanye West’s run for president. People seemed to love it, and my subscribers started to grow.
Six months after I started focusing on YouTube, I was contacted by Mona Scott-Young and VH1 to appear on the first Love & Hip Hop Atlanta reunion show. I interviewed the cast backstage and the content was used as digital assets on the brand’s website. The response was amazing and my following continued to grow.
I currently have 432,000 subscribers on YouTube. Most of my income comes from views of my videos and live streams. I post 5-9 videos and work about 10-15 hours a week.
Exceeded accounting profit within one year
After a year on YouTube, my income was over $70,000 – the same amount I was making in my previous accounting job – I rented my own apartment and regained full independence.
Initially, I knew nothing about financial planning for business owners or the resources available, such as business credit. I hired a CPA to help me structure my business and file my taxes. I was shocked to see that my 2017 tax return showed that I made $230,000 and was still feeling relatively broke.
I realized I was spending money as fast as it was coming in and that I needed to pull myself together and start saving and investing. I got everything back on track. I made $523,000 last year.
YouTube has no barriers to entry
It doesn’t cost anything to experiment with YouTube, and you don’t even need a camera. I just used my iPhone or iPad for the first few years.
As a podcast or show creator, your main focus should be to produce great content in your field. To hone your skills, we encourage you to join local community-based organizations that offer support to content creators.
You can also hire interns. College students are always looking for relevant experience to add to their resumes, so you can reach out to your local university’s mass communication or marketing department, or you can find someone virtually by searching on LinkedIn or Upwork.
When all else fails, Google will be your ally.
One of the mistakes I made when starting my business was only creating ephemeral content.
I used to produce videos on topics like Cardi B filing for divorce from Offset and then annulling the divorce. I was caught in a vicious cycle of having to provide content quickly and continuously, as opposed to others who were doing evergreen content. With evergreen content, the information is always fresh for the person consuming it. I’ve since learned to create both.
The immediate plan is to expand into the product space, and the company has also recently begun plans to open a content production studio where other creators can access audio and video equipment to bring their ideas to life.
Long term, I plan to stay current and keep honing my skills so that I’ll be well-equipped no matter what direction entertainment and pop culture coverage takes. My dream is to retire from radio because I can work in radio until I’m 90, as long as my voice isn’t too hoarse.
