If there’s one life lesson streaming should teach you, it’s the value of patience. Growth of a stream is not something that’s going to happen overnight, or in a week, or in a month. I see so many streamers get into streaming expecting people to show up on Day 1, and their stream to blow up instantly. They’ll stream for a week or two with huge excitement, but when they see little to no growth, they give up and stop streaming. They start to look for reasons on what went wrong, and give up on the dream of growing their stream. Today, I want to talk to you about how important it is to have the right mindset and why good things come to those who wait.
Comparing Yourself to Others
Another major problem that I see streamers do often is to compare their streams to others. “Streamer X gets way more viewers than me and he plays the same exact game, it’s not fair.” Stop. This is the wrong mindset to have when you get into streaming. Yes, we all want growth for our streams, but questioning and complaining why someone gets more views than you is the wrong way to go about it! Not only does this not improve your stream or attract viewers in any way, it worsens your stream and pushes viewers away.
This isn’t just a problem with streams that are small, this happens at all levels of streaming. I sometimes feel like people forget why they got into streaming. Streaming is about fun and enjoying a game with a group of people. Sure everyone wants to grow, but complaining will never get you anywhere. If you feel like others are gaining growth faster than you, find out why! Are they better at certain aspects of streaming than you? Are they more engaging as a streamer? Streaming is a constant learning process. I love going into streams and learning from them.
I remember when I was perusing streams on the Front Page and I stumbled upon Brotatoe’s stream (twitch.tv/brotatoe.) At the time, I was using a really bad microphone for my stream and the sound quality was not up to par. When I came into Brotatoe’s stream, his microphone quality was amazing. It made me stay around and check out his stream. Within hours I made the decision to upgrade my microphone set up and improve my stream. When you go into new streams for the first time, go in with the mindset that you can learn something, not “WHY DOES THIS STREAMER GET MORE VIEWERS THAN ME!”
Another major problem that I see streamers do often is to compare their streams to others. “Streamer X gets way more viewers than me and he plays the same exact game, it’s not fair.” Stop. This is the wrong mindset to have when you get into streaming. Yes, we all want growth for our streams, but questioning and complaining why someone gets more views than you is the wrong way to go about it! Not only does this not improve your stream or attract viewers in any way, it worsens your stream and pushes viewers away.
This isn’t just a problem with streams that are small, this happens at all levels of streaming. I sometimes feel like people forget why they got into streaming. Streaming is about fun and enjoying a game with a group of people. Sure everyone wants to grow, but complaining will never get you anywhere. If you feel like others are gaining growth faster than you, find out why! Are they better at certain aspects of streaming than you? Are they more engaging as a streamer? Streaming is a constant learning process. I love going into streams and learning from them.
I remember when I was perusing streams on the Front Page and I stumbled upon Brotatoe’s stream (twitch.tv/brotatoe.) At the time, I was using a really bad microphone for my stream and the sound quality was not up to par. When I came into Brotatoe’s stream, his microphone quality was amazing. It made me stay around and check out his stream. Within hours I made the decision to upgrade my microphone set up and improve my stream. When you go into new streams for the first time, go in with the mindset that you can learn something, not “WHY DOES THIS STREAMER GET MORE VIEWERS THAN ME!”
The Viewer Count Problem
Let’s be honest, that little number that pops up under your stream when you go live can be really distracting. Never seeing it go up can be super disheartening, and it’s even worse when you notice it go down. I’m going to give some sound advice if you’re just starting out. Don’t look at that number! You can go back and check after the stream how your numbers were, but initially don’t worry about that number. There are many factors that cause that number to go up and down are many, and a lot of them have nothing to do with what you’re doing on stream. You’ve got a lot of things to focus on when you’re streaming and knowing how many people that watch your stream is only going to distract you from what you should be focusing on: creating a stream that people want to watch.
As your stream grows, I think taking a peek at the number every now then is definitely OK. Just be careful to not get obsessive over that number. I’ve definitely had my days streaming where I stressed about why X game was not generating X amount of viewers, to the point where I stopped streaming. Don’t do this! If you’re stressing about your stream, there’s a good chance your viewers will able to notice. If you’re having fun and focusing on the cast, your viewers will too.
Let’s be honest, that little number that pops up under your stream when you go live can be really distracting. Never seeing it go up can be super disheartening, and it’s even worse when you notice it go down. I’m going to give some sound advice if you’re just starting out. Don’t look at that number! You can go back and check after the stream how your numbers were, but initially don’t worry about that number. There are many factors that cause that number to go up and down are many, and a lot of them have nothing to do with what you’re doing on stream. You’ve got a lot of things to focus on when you’re streaming and knowing how many people that watch your stream is only going to distract you from what you should be focusing on: creating a stream that people want to watch.
As your stream grows, I think taking a peek at the number every now then is definitely OK. Just be careful to not get obsessive over that number. I’ve definitely had my days streaming where I stressed about why X game was not generating X amount of viewers, to the point where I stopped streaming. Don’t do this! If you’re stressing about your stream, there’s a good chance your viewers will able to notice. If you’re having fun and focusing on the cast, your viewers will too.
Just Keep Streaming!
My main advice to those who are upset about their stream growth is this: Just stream. It’s that easy. You need to look at every time you stream as an opportunity to get better. You can read every article on the internet and watch every how-to video about streaming, but until you do it more and more, you won’t make much progress. Every time you push that broadcast button, you’re creating an opportunity for someone to find your stream and love every minute of being there. The more time you put into streaming, the more you’re going to get out of it. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but if you’re patient, success will come.
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
My main advice to those who are upset about their stream growth is this: Just stream. It’s that easy. You need to look at every time you stream as an opportunity to get better. You can read every article on the internet and watch every how-to video about streaming, but until you do it more and more, you won’t make much progress. Every time you push that broadcast button, you’re creating an opportunity for someone to find your stream and love every minute of being there. The more time you put into streaming, the more you’re going to get out of it. It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but if you’re patient, success will come.
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
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