I have no idea what the fuck you kids on are these days but $54k per year is not "life changing money". It's slightly better than $25 per hour, but then Uncle Sam or The Queen or whoever else is gonna come along and take their pound of flesh knocking that down to probably $35k-$40k take-home at best. Then this nigga still has to pay for his own health insurance on top of it and with the rising cost of *literally everything* right now, $25/hr, while not being bad at all for a young guy, it's certainly not Easy-Street™.
Also glad some noted the taxes, and tax rate. That 56K is a lot less than it first appears when the federal, state, and local governments take there cut. Zoomers in this thread think employment is a boss giving you a chest of money all upfront (it isnt).
$54k is above average pay for a full-time job in a lot of places, although they are all outside of the cities. Many of these places also have better tax laws, so you don't lose as much as you would in one of the coastal states. It's also worth noting that $54k/year would be the worst case scenario. The deal was $4500/month or 20% of ad revenue, whichever is higher. So, he could potentially earn significantly more than that and it allows his pay to scale with performance. It's also possible that he would receive health insurance depending on the arrangement. It's possible that Sam has some kind of health insurance plan setup for his business.
Plus for anyone who has never done any audio-visual work in their life it might not seem like a lot of work, but The New Pill dude does more than just post clips, he makes little animations and spends a ton of time sourcing good clips and making his uploads have a particular flow to them that obviously takes some time to craft.
Oh no, he has to actually work hard for the money?
How horrific. I'm sure Lil' Shitpost has many weary 72 hour weeks ahead grinding out each 10 minute video. On a more serious note, of course audio-visual work is not easy, but the relative value of labor for someone who does that kind of work is on the lower side. There are a lot of people out there now who know how to use After Effects, Blender, etc. and it's not realistic to expect massive wealth out of a video editing position unless you are either truly exceptionally good and/or your client is exceptionally rich.
We also have no idea what, if any, additional stipulations or quotas Sam may have had about the arrangement behind the scenes that could have made it just not worth it for The New Pill. Also how tf do any of us know what TNP does with the rest of their time? For all we know they could be a legitimate professional and only doing the TNP shit on the side as a passion project. Getting paid to do it runs up a whole other host of issues like having their private name publicly tied to Sam as an employee with plenty of tax records that could have a detrimental effect on their personal and professional life. Again, we don't know. All I DO know for sure, is that $54k isn't bad for a young guy or someone in a shit position on the verge of poverty, but it absolutely isn't "an offer that can't be refused".
That's true. Life phase is a very important factor. Based on the way TNP phrased his regretful sounding community post though, I'm guessing that he is a young guy who could have used the opportunity. If you are in the middle of your career and especially if you have dependents then this would obviously be a bad fit. If you're a guy in your early to mid 20's just starting out, as most of Sam's current fan base probably is, there won't be many opportunities out there that are better.
A 1099 job with no health insurance, PTO, 401k. worker's comp. It's only worth it if you gets 20 hour or less work weeks.
You're making a lot of assumptions there. Even if that is the nature of the job, it seems like work that could be done in addition to something that provides the missing benefits.
As some have mentioned health insurance and other benefits are important to note (401k, student loan debt programs, and etc). Would TNP have been full time, part time, or a freelancer? These all change the calculation. Would he have been payed by performance or was that 4,500 going to be standard.
The offer was $4500/month or 20% of ad revenue, so $4500 would be the bottom. Those are some very important questions to ask.
Working for internet celebrities is one of the most fickle careers out there, job security is important especially with this current economy. It would be unwise to put your livelyhood in the hands of an internet celebrity who has a multi million dollar trust fund to lean on. A business owner who sees himself more as an "artist" and can afford to fail is more prone to fail. Hyde's world doesnt end if everything goes under, for many other businesses owners this is not the case. If TNP becomes Hyde's wagie and Sam's internet career dies months later he is screwed. Now any business/career can go under quickly, but some things go first. E-celebs, celebs, restaurants, entertainment, and other unnecessary purchases are the first to be cut. As things move forward we are going to see the e-celebs lose more and more money, collectively, as people spend more on household items (and gas).
Great points. If I were in a situation like this, I would not plan on doing it for a long time, but it could be a good way to earn money for a year or so if you're stuck in a shitty job or unemployed anyway. An even better approach would be to invest some time in diversifying income sources to be more prepared for the inevitability of losing the gig one way or another. People really shouldn't assume any job will be around forever. I know people who had 20 year careers at one company only to be unceremoniously laid off at the first sign of trouble and then had to settle for something much less nice because they were older and have kids to take care of.
