This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Have you heard of e-sports? e-sports is a billion dollar industry with something like 500 million fans who follow teams. They attend tournaments. They discuss the latest gossip online. They're very passionate about it.
As for the teams themselves, they take training seriously. They're often practicing their e-sport for 10 plus hours a day in between eating ramen noodles and endorsing energy drink brands. Oh, and yes, when I say e-sports, that does in fact mean video games. It is a real thing. As mentioned, there's a lot of money in it.
Today's caller wants a piece of the Starcraft action. Or we could say the League of Legends action or the Overwatch action or the Rogue company. Well, there's just a whole lot of games in e-sports. You don't need to know the technicalities. You don't need to know what they all are.
We're just talking about the big picture here. How can somebody break into this market as a commentator? That's what he wants to do. He wants to be an analyst or a commentator. We're gonna hear his specific question.
And then we'll see what we can do for him. That's coming up after this message from our sponsor, e-sports, let's talk about it. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Kevin. And I've been listening to the show since the beginning of this year. I like to become a commentator for e-sports like League of Legends and Overwatch.
As you probably know, millions of people play these games every day and there's a whole system of teams, ranking and tournaments where life commentary is offered for those watching in person or online. I guess this is technically more of a job, more than an independent business, but it's a pretty new one. So I'm approaching it like an entrepreneurial venture. How can I break into this field? I'm thinking the pandemic presents some advantages since travel is limited and more and more people are interested in following e-sports.
Thanks and looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this. Doesn't Kevin have just like a great sports announcer voice? I think this is a perfect crossover for e-sports. Anyway, Kevin, thank you for calling in. I did think about this a bit and also did a little bit of research on e-sports commentary slash analysis.
And my hunch was correct. And by the way, we're gonna delve into this not from the approach of that specific industry so much as how can this kind of question or this problem be applied in different ways, which includes this industry, okay? So most e-sports commentators, from what I could tell, they don't come from a traditional journalist background. Even though this is a huge industry, there is a lot of professionalization to it. So they likely have some of the same skills that a traditional journalist would have.
But what's most valuable here is your platform and your reputation in the community. So I think Kevin is really spot on here in thinking, let me approach this like an entrepreneurial venture as opposed to, how can I get a job? Even if you do end up getting a job for one of these companies that runs the tournaments, that's not the main question. It's not how can I get one of those companies to notice me? It's how can I become an authority in this space now?
How can I become an analyst of my own? And bloggers and bloggers, anyone else using new media, they're the ones that are building up platform, which they can then apply and leverage in different ways, such as for tournaments, such as in this commentary world. So if you have the audience, if you have the audience, you'll be able to do a lot of things. Without the audience, you'll always be a bit behind. So I think most important here is to chase the audience, not the endorsement, chase the fans, not the companies.
What stories are interesting in this industry? Can you cover certain teams, certain games, certain trends? And for anyone else out there who's interested in this idea, not the specific industry, but the concept, that's the answer, chase the audience, not the endorsement. Because that audience and the authority, those are linked and that's the foundation for everything else that comes next. But it definitely is an interesting field, having said all that.
So I'm curious to know what happens. I'll be following e-sports as well. e-sports, cryptocurrency, we got a whole new world, stuff going on out there. So many cool things these days that are just permeating different parts of life in a way that was not imaginable, I think, even a generation ago. So I will avoid going down nostalgia lane for the moment at least, and just say, yes, there are definitely opportunities, build your platform, build your authority, focus on the fans, the audience, whoever those people are, and let that lead you to everything else.
Thank you so much, Kevin. Thank you so much to the listeners. You're amazing, you're awesome. Let me know what's on your mind, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Be sure you're subscribed wherever you get your podcasts.
We got a new episode every day. Try to respect your time. I always try to give you something that's helpful and interesting. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
