If you’ve walked around downtown Lexington, you might have seen a sticker with a QR code sending you to the “Lexington-Based Youtuber.” This code is a link to Sam Reid’s YouTube channel, where he posts videos such as “Does Australia Have BETTER Fast Food Than The US?” and “I Ate Nothing But Taco Bell For 30 Days To Improve My Health.”
These stickers are not only around Lexington.
“I’ve put those stickers pretty much anywhere I’ve traveled.” said Reid. “There are a few around town in Lexington, other places in Virginia where the name Lexington might ring a bell.”
With 201 videos, Reid’s been working as a full-time YouTuber since 2021.
He explained how the channel started in 2010 because “during the pandemic, I was really looking for a creative outlet.”
Reid now posts videos regularly and has over 205K subscribers. Surprisingly, many of these subscribers are not a result of the QR code stickers, instead from viewers finding his videos on the YouTube homepage.
Reid stated that most of his views are a result of the algorithm.
“You… have to consider… what will do well and what viewers will want to click on, and then how does [it] match with your interests,” said Reid. “I’ve kind of developed this framework of combining something familiar with something unexpected.”
Among stickers, Reid also has used Instagram to promote his channel. Due to his 205k subscribers, he’s eligible for sponsorships which promotes his channel and boosts his video revenue.
He described how he has “a list of kind of dream brands that I’d like to work with.” “I think that would include Nike or Gatorade, because I think that working with them on YouTube would offer a sense of legitimacy to the content that I’m making,” said Reid.
No matter what Reid posts, he strives for it to be original and beneficial.
He explained that “YouTube can have this culture of copying what other people are doing. I just want to be really careful that I’m offering something of value.”
Even though Reid’s stickers didn’t work as well as he initially intended, he’s been able to commit to YouTube as a full-time job while being able to travel to places like Hawaii and Australia.
When discussing the advantages of his channel, Reid “felt like just these experiences that I never would have gotten to have otherwise. And so that was definitely a highlight for me,” said Reid. “I feel really grateful to be able to make YouTube videos for a job, and I think that when people see that or hear that, they could think that it’s a lot of goofing off, which there is some of that, for sure. But running a YouTube channel also involves being an entrepreneur and running your own small business.”
For people who also focus on growing their YouTube channel, Reid suggests that “focusing on subscribers will ultimately be frustrating, I think. And so the more that you can focus on the actual content and the videos early on, the more that you are going to improve what the quality of what you’re doing, the more you’re going to enjoy and be proud of the finished product.”
Even if Reid’s promotional stickers didn’t work as well as he thought, he’s glad to be able to commit to YouTube as his full-time job.
