We all dream of being able to make a living out of doing what we love, but it’s much easier said than done. Reach Gaming however, have made that happen.
Reach Gaming started off merely as a way for Mr. Reach to gather a following to tag along on the voyage of his love for gaming; seven years later though and it has turned into something that RJay and himself are able to make a living off of, with the YouTube channel currently sitting on about 19 300 subscribers.
For many, this might seem a little average, but here in South Africa, it’s kind of a big deal. So we decided to get in contact with them to get the inside scoop on their journey.
This will be a two-part interview, with Part 1 focusing on Reach Gaming, who they are, and how they grew to over 19 000 followers, and Part 2 focusing on some tips and tricks provided by Reach Gaming to assist newbie YouTubers on their path.
Full Interview Below:
Q: What did you do before starting YouTube and what would you be doing if you weren’t in this industry?
Mr. Reach: I used to be a vehicle mechanic working for my father. I didn’t really like it, I was basically only doing it because it was the only thing I had a future in. I wasn’t really good at it and if anything, I would still be doing that today. We would have been a lot worse off if we didn’t have YouTube.
Rjay: I used to work in distribution with my father, my father was the driver. If I didn’t have YouTube, I would probably still be at home looking after my mom. So it’s not really much that we have but at least the money that we got from working with these small businesses; it really wasn’t much at all, but we started off from there.
Q: What made you decide to start YouTube and was it originally your plan to make a career out of it?
Mr. Reach: At the beginning, the main goal of my channel was to get a following. I wanted to bring an audience along on my journeys when I play games and that’s basically what it was, but then it turned out to be such a different thing, so many times it changed, the feelings of having a YouTube channel would change for what I actually wanted from it. It’s definitely changed over the years and it’s still changing as it goes. I mean we’re not really big YouTubers but we have made a success out of it. I didn’t really want it to become a career but it did and I’m glad it did because I discovered something that I enjoy a lot more than I ever would have thought.
Q: Roughly how long did it take before you were able to start earning from the channel and at what point were you able to make it your full-time job?
Mr. Reach: Let’s say officially 2014 is when I started the channel. It took a very long time to get monetized on YouTube and back then when I started doing YouTube, there were no restrictions on when you can make money, back then as soon as I had a channel I was making money from day one, but it took me a very long time to get approved of it. But nowadays on YouTube, you have this thing where you need 1000 subscribers and a certain amount of watch time and this and that.
I remember YouTube actually had to send me mail with a code on it and I had to put this in an AdSense account to start making money and that’s what took long. So I would say around August 2017, that was about the time when things started taking off, we had our first pay-check which was R1000 back then, which was a big deal to us.
Q: Is it as easy as everyone thinks to be a full-time YouTuber and what were your original expectations of this career path when you just started? How much time do you put into the content creation?
Mr. Reach: YouTube was definitely not a breeze. It was complicated, there were so many things that went wrong and I can’t tell you how many times you actually want to give up. I actually have given up on YouTube plenty of times, nothing wrong with that; but I always came back to it because I always had love for it. It’s frustrating because videos that you will spend two hours on making and then it just doesn’t work out, or your editing software would just break for no reason. It’s not easy, it takes your all to get it going but in the end, it’s worth it.
As for our time, our real life time, there’s not a lot of it. We spend a lot of our time doing content; yes, we can be flexible, we can relax more but the less you make, the less you’re going to make on YouTube. YouTube also has this thing where if you take a break for too long, it will just destroy you. You really have to sit and work constantly on YouTube, you cannot take breaks because the algorithm just doesn’t like it.
As for my expectations, I thought it was going to be a lot more fun…it is fun, but there are some harsh moments that I just wish weren’t there, but I think what makes up for it is the viewers, the likes that we get, the donations and the people we meet.
Another thing is we try and do multiple games on the platform, but the problem is that you kind of get stuck to an individual audience for a specific game, depending on if you’re a variety content creator, it’s actually a lot harder to do.
Whereas if you stick to one game it’s a lot easier because the algorithm starts liking you and starts recommending you to people who like that game. So we mainly do 7 Days to Die and if we do something else then YouTube kind of destroys us a bit.
Q: Favourite and least favourite part about this path?
Mr. Reach & RJay combined: The favourite part which RJay and I agree on here, is getting to meet new people. We have a Discord channel with the community so we’re getting to meet our viewers and they get to express their views and opinions on what we do and getting to build a relationship with them…and of course the revenue that we make from YouTube as well.
The revenue really is a plus side but, it’s actually good for your mental health as well. I mean before this, my (Mr. Reach) mental health wasn’t great, then YouTube came and it really changed the way I thought of the world and I learned new things and it’s just great. It lets us connect to the people on the other side of the world.
But the least favourite thing? I actually had to talk to Rjay for a second about it, like, what is the least favourite thing?
The least favourite part is having to be consistent with content that you have to release every day. Of course, we take weekend breaks, we need the breaks, but if we are on holiday then we still need to fill in with our holiday videos that we need to produce while away, so we still need to be consistent with videos on our breaks.
I even have a friend, he’s not South African, and he took a break for a long time because of circumstances. At the time he had about 20 000 subscribers and it even hit his channel hard.
Q: What would you say is the toughest part about being a YouTuber?
Mr. Reach: The toughest part about being a content creator is actually…to tell people what you do for a living.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone somewhere and they’ve asked me “what do you do for a living?” and I’m just like “hmmm, what do I do? I can’t say YouTuber; it just sounds so unprofessional.” So I would say that’s the toughest part but there are quite a few things.
Keeping your private life private, like your real name and all that stuff. Especially when Rjay and I are talking on a live stream, we constantly have to remember not to say each other’s real names. Yes, some of our audience do know our real names, you can’t hide it forever, but it’s something that I try to stay away from.
I’ve had guys stalk me, it wasn’t necessarily from YouTube but it was from my past when I used to run gaming communities and stuff, and I would just have people stalk me, get my phone number, call my father, that sort of thing. So I would say that and I think RJay agrees as well. I think that keeping your real-life separate is important but at the same time, you’re trying to be transparent with your community.
Q: Any specific future plans for Reach Gaming (elaborate) or just taking it as it comes?
Mr. Reach: Most of the time we just see where it takes us but I do have a long term plan. I eventually want to have Reach Gaming as something much bigger, I think that YouTube is a great way to make money and it’s a great way to help people in need. If I can, in the future, I would like to do a lot more. We have done a charity before but I don’t ever really mention it because it’s not something that I do for publicity, I just like to do it. We helped some animals and it was great and I would like to do more for multiple things, people, animals, environment, or whatever it’s going to be. So yeah, I’m looking at a big charity sort of thing in the future.
Also just growing, I want to have my own office one day. You know, with a big Reach Gaming billboard, I think that would be actually pretty cool.
I do have a much bigger dream as well, I actually want to start my own gaming company, make games and whatnot, but I can’t make games so I’ll have to hire people to do that, but those are my dreams.
Rjay just likes to see where it takes us, that’s her vision.
Q: Do you feel that South Africa has been a good support base for your growth or has a lot of your fan-base come from overseas?
Mr. Reach: The short answer is no, not really. There’s been a lot of really good South Africans who’ve really supported our channel and we’ve posted a couple of times on big gaming groups like ZA Gaming Alliance and you get a huge response and you get a lot of support from those guys, but they don’t hang around for long and I’m not sure why, but South Africa just has not been a really good place for our channel, I mean I think our views from SA alone is like 1% of the channels viewership.
Most of our views come from the United States and other parts of the world.
All I can say is that if you are South African, you need to show more support in terms of watching the stuff longer and subscribing and just helping out other south Africans because it is a true thing, you just got to keep it up.
Q: Fun Fact about each of you?
Mr. Reach: I am not social, I don’t like being around people much and it’s not really my type of scene. It’s pretty odd to say that because I have a channel with 19 000 subscribers. I’m just very antisocial and I like camping because that’s like an antisocial thing you do. You go far away from everybody else, no cell phone and you’re sitting, camping, and cooking marshmallows, that’s something I enjoy doing, being outdoors.
Rjay: I’m into collecting anything retro, old consoles, old tv games, Nintendo consoles, anything that is old. I have a handful of consoles that I own today and I’ve been in love with the consoles since. Going into computer gaming, it’s been a rough ride. *Mr. Reach in the background* “What’s your favourite retro game Rjay???” …Sonic the Hedgehog… “Sonic the Hedgehog, there you go.”
Q: Any words of encouragement for newbies wanting to build their channel into something or even just as a side-line hobby?
Mr. Reach: It’s important to not let South Africa bring you down. That’s like the biggest thing that I think a lot of people will have a problem with. South Africa can be bad at times and it can bring people’s encouragement down, but I can assure you from my experience on doing YouTube, it’s not related to a specific country. The algorithm works worldwide and just because you’re in SA doesn’t mean you’re not going to do well. YouTube can be a really hard place for everybody around the world.
You can do it. It’s going to take time but please, never give up because that is the thing that will bring you down.
Use YouTube as well, use it to find ideas and inspiration – don’t steal peoples’ ideas because they will hate that, be original as Rjay is shouting in the distance – be original as best you can.
Don’t give up guys, it’s well worth it in the end. If we can all do something good to make our country great, this is it.
Reach Gaming Interview :
Reach Gaming has a cool little website with everything from their merch shop to a tab for both Mr. Reach’s and RJay’s pc specs. There’s even a mini-game tab for a spot of fun, including a short quiz to see how well you really know each of them. (PS, I didn’t do too shabby on this apparently)
Keep an eye out for Part 2 from Reach Gaming for tips, tricks, and the nitty-gritty on making a success as a newbie-tuber.
Be sure to follow Reach Gaming on all of their socials:
- YouTube: Reach Gaming
- Facebook: Reach Gaming
- Discord: https://bit.ly/2XAwQPp
- Twitter: @mrreachgaming / @R_Jay007
- Steam Community: https://bit.ly/2WaNvsc
- Website: https://reachgaming.co.za/