Going Pro? with imposter syndrome on the brain

Hello,  My name is Shep. I have been debating going pro-part time with some youtube and maybe twitch stuff.  I am currently writing my second campaign which I Want to run but it isn't from the "the book" and therefore comes with insane risk (or not maybe).  Now My current players would pretty much take a bullet for me and are happy to pay for it.  So my plan is go with trying to get semi viral with clips and then get make some cheesy on brand videos adverts and I trying to get stuff on through Starnow to get abit ofa " rep" ( never went to film school, f**king business school some how?) Now my big worries are that. I can get away with a poor free game with my friends because they know how hard i am trying and have been there for the epic awesome chat about for years stuff.  I mean i had to kick a toxic player, cut back on the game due to health issues and all kind of BS.  But I'm getting fitter and planning a campaign that is roll20 friendly not just satifying to me.  But really the issue is this if you haven't noticed I am SUPER DYSLEXIC and like a lot of players have been around people with various ailments of the mind body and soul.  I have like many players/DM a pretty good over IQ/EQ/brains/insight but truth be told I'm a slower reader,learner and my working memory is in the 45 percentile(which is bad).  Now really a 4 hour game is really a 6 hour game if your putting in the work so 5 players for £ 15 x5 = £75 Plus an hour of my time to ask out of game stuff. Which is basically is now £75 / 7 per game. Whichis no 10.71 per hour which is £1.21 over minimum wage.  However charing 20 per player is 100 per day which is a full days wage basically. its £14.29   So for a living would make me very happy and if I got to the place were I coudl live on twitch/youtube which is doable with a bit of luck.  Is this a realistic idea because its the difference between a hobby that i'm guility monetizing or being an entertainer.  Also if anyone wants to colloborate I could use a writting partner I'm not a good writer but i'm in the 99.9% for abstract problem solving and just go over fibromyalgia so my imagination is like over 9000 and then some. (memes, i'm old) Anyway thought I would put my ideas out here and see what people are into? Much love Shep

If you're running for free with your group and they are willing to pay, that's a good start. Start small and try it out. Don't worry about the per-hour returns. You'll never make enough DMing to make up for all the prep time even buying modules unless you run them dozens of times. Run one campaign, see how it goes and add more from there. Think of it as getting paid TO play D&D not FOR running D&D and the money part fades. As far as going viral, give up on that day one. There are hundreds of D&D channels and streamers. Post your shit and see what people like but accept that most people aren't going to care about your games if they aren't in them. I've been posting my games for years (like 2000 videos on youtube and most don't break triple digits and I think I've only had one break 1000 views.

Okay. From the business side of things. If you're saying 100 a day is enough, you need only run 1 session every day at that 20 price point to make that happen. I know people who run two on many days, so it can be done. Those would be long days through as it's 10 hours of just playing never mind prep. Now if you spend the rest of you day doing prep and editing stuff for streams and ads, you could make money there as well, but that's hard to do, so my main focus would be on what seems the more solid revenue stream, the games. As long as you think you're good with 100 a day and are cool losing that income every day you choose to take off, you're golden. There are loads of players out there that will pay for a good game and it sounds like you can run a good game. If you want to spend money getting modules or whatever, budget that in and possibly that's what you spend whatever extra money you get from streams and what not on.