Max Reisinger Interview

Max Reisinger is a YouTube with about half a million subscribers. Max Reisinger's YouTube channel. He also runs several businesses.

Why did you decide to be a YouTuber?

I decided to be a YouTuber, because I wanted to share moments from my life, and I wanted to document moments in my life, mainly because I didn't just want to look back on just photos alone. I'd always been interested in the format, but moving to France was finally the moment in my life where it kind of was the kick in the ass, I suppose.

What's the most rewarding part of doing this?

It's connected me with many incredible people from around the world who've opened up and also shared similar stories and points of relatability. So I'd say YouTube as a tool to connect with other people has been a really surprising but beautiful thing to come out of it.

What would you say are the challenges of being a YouTuber, and are there any downsides?

Setting boundaries has been difficult, because I'm sharing my own life, and I'm telling stories that is documenting my life growing up. And with the internet, it's difficult to determine where the boundaries lie in terms of what I should share, how much I should share, and then even just the enjoyment of my own life, in terms of, what do I film? How do I turn off that part of my mind that says I should film everything? So, I'd say that's a downside. It's difficult to not think about, because everything is a story in my own life. So, I've kind of created a character out of myself, which can be difficult at times.

Do you optimize your video so they get more hits? And if so, how do you do this?

I try not to. I try to make the content as authentic to the story I wanted to tell as possible, but it is difficult creating content within the system that can be optimized, and that there are certain rules to the algorithm of things to do and things not to do. But I do my best to make sure that the story has meaning first, before I try to optimize anything.

When out and about, do you randomly think that this may be a good clip, or do you have the ability to turn those thoughts completely off?

Unfortunately, I cannot turn them off. So, that is definitely one of the other downsides. I'm constantly thinking about framing things or certain scenes and moments. And I’d say part of that is beautiful, because I think I appreciate life, and I see in a unique way because of that. I think I appreciate the little moments and details, but sometimes I just want to shut it off.

What percentage of what you feel makes it into the videos?

Probably I'd say 5%, but I will say that there are scenes, they may be like 50% of what I film, but they just get cut down. So, there's like DNA and like half of what I film, but a lot of it does get cut down. But I'd say within that 1% of my whole life ends up being filmed and is on film. So, I think there's a bit of a misconception that I'm filming my whole life, and I’m not, but I'm choosing specific stories that line up in a way that makes it seem like someone is watching my life. So, it's a very small percentage at the end of the day.

Which YouTubers inspire you?

I'd say a lot of my friends like Ryan Ng, AX Natalie, wholesomesimon. I think their vulnerability within their storytelling is something that really pushes me. So, I'd say it's a lot of the people that I'm creating alongside, but also people like Tanner Lewis, Wicked Stew, Cameron Clayton, Aaron Clemens, smaller creators as well, who are really innovating and pushing me to New Wave. So, a lot of people in the YouTube New Wave community really inspire me.

How often do you get recognized?

It really depends, but this week, for example, I got recognized twice in one day, but then two weeks before I didn't get recognized at all. So, it's very random, but sometimes it will happen in periods of time after I posted a video. But yeah, not not very often, but when it does, like freaks me out a little bit, and I'm like, “who else is watching me?”

Do you get requests from people in real life asking to be in videos?

I do not. I think in real life people are sometimes scared to ask about YouTube. Sometimes I think it's not that it's an uncomfortable topic, but I think people sometimes don't want to acknowledge it. It almost feels like the elephant in the room sometimes, which is interesting. Not what I expected, I suppose.

In a general sense, what would a YouTuber with half a million subs get from ad revenue and sponsorships?

You can definitely make a healthy six figures for sure, depending on how often you're posting, but definitely into the six figures, if you're posting consistently.

You're in college, so what percentage of college students are using Chat GPT to do their work?

I'm seeing a lot more students start to use it in class. I can see behind their their laptops to the people sitting in front of me. I don't know exactly the percentage, but I think it's growing day in and day out, but maybe 20%? Who knows; probably maybe it will even be close to half one day, probably soon enough. But, a lot

Are college students worried that their future jobs will be taken over by AI?

Definitely. I think there's a lot of fear that people will just be outsourced. A lot of my friends feel that, and even with the safe jobs like coding or something. I think even those jobs feel jeopardized now to what they've described to me. Even just in general, like as a human being, I think it's caused a lot of people around me and even myself to introspect on what value I can provide to society. If it can't be a machine, like what is it, you know? But yeah, I think there's definitely a lot of fear. And even I feel it, even in the space of creation with things like, I think, not even Midjourney, but there's some new platforms that come out that create videos and movies and can create stories, and I think I didn't expect it to creep up so fast. So, I think there's a lot of AI anxiety for sure.

Why did you decide to go to college as opposed to focusing more on YouTube?

I wanted to give it a fair shot, a fair chance, just to see what the experience would be like. I wanted to be open minded to it. And while YouTube is great, and it can be a career, I do think that education is equally as important, and they both can still be done as well. So, I wanted to see if I could balance both and to really see what college would be like, if it was the right place for me. But I really value higher education. My mom's a professor, so I've grown up surrounded by that. So, I thought, “why not?” There's not much to lose by at least trying.

What do you think of the term influencers?

I think it has a negative connotation when everyone says, or when someone says “Oh, you're an influencer?” I'm like, “No, don't don't box me in.” Even YouTuber I think has a negative connotation now, which I do hope to change. But I think creator is a more generally accepted term that I think has less of a negative connotation, and even artist as well, but I think influencer feels very, very money driven and just like capitalistic I suppose and not about this. There's not a large focus on meaning and sharing stories. It's more of like, “Oh, hey, there's someone who has an audience that we can sell products through.” And I think that's dehumanizing, and I do worry that it can be a bit dehumanizing, that word.

Do you have plans for after you finish college?

Well, I'm currently on top of YouTube and school. I’m running three other businesses. One is more of a project perspective to my clothing brand, but two others, Circle Park, which is a creative agency, and then Creator Camp, which is a community based company and events company right now. I hope to continue running those and growing those alongside my YouTube channel. But if anything, I hope these businesses will be larger than my YouTube channel, and that will be a larger source of revenue and income so that I don't have to rely on YouTube full time, because I want YouTube to be a space of creation that's pure, and I want to create fearlessly and not be cautious in terms of being worried about brand revenue or getting sponsorships. So, in theory, hopefully YouTube won't be a job; it'll just be a space to create.

What would you say to people who want to do YouTube but are camera shy?

I have a lot of friends who expressed that they want to start a channel, and that they don't because of fear, or judged and uncertainty, and I felt all the same things. You know, you don't even have to show your face on camera if you don't want to, but if that is something that people want to strive towards and work towards, the advice that I give my friends is just start filming themselves and get used to that, and they don't have to publish anything if they don't want to. They can keep all the videos unlisted; there is no pressure to share them with the world. If anything, it's nice to create things for yourself, and when you get comfortable with it, then you can share it with the world if you choose to, but both both are good.

Is YouTube a viable and realistic career for people? Or does it come down to only 2% of people making a living from it?

I think naturally it's difficult to create a career out of YouTube. I think it's just how like nature selects. It maybe does end up just being one or two percent, but I don't think that's a negative thing. I think that's with like most careers, professional athletes, artists, musicians, actors, all that, but I do think YouTube, I hope it can be more of a tool for self expression, self discovery. I hope that more kids my age use it as a way to tell stories about their own life, to process their own life and experiences and events and things they're trying to figure out. For me, it's been like journaling on steroids. So, aside from the monetary aspects of it, I think it's really helped me figure out who I am, who I want to be, what's important to me, and it's took me on this incredible journey. But do you think it is also very difficult to make a living out of it, and I don't think - it's not that people aren't cut out for it, but there's a lot more stress that comes to it that I think really weighs on people and what it actually feels like in the day to day is not as magical as I thought it would feel. It's not that I wouldn't wish it upon anyone, but I would say like a stable income as well is a lot sexier now than I thought it would be.

Where can people follow you?

They can follow me by typing my name, Max Reisinger, into Google on YouTube. I’m posting on LinkedIn now, sharing more of the business side there. I’m on Instagram as well, a little bit of Twitter here and there, and, yeah, mainly YouTube is where people can follow along.

Max Reisinger's YouTube channel