. >> reporter: carol meeks has a youtube cooking channel for nomads on a tight budget. >> some people00 a month. so i mean, we're not going to be having salmon and crab legs. you can do a lot of things for a dollar a serving if you know how to shop. and if you're creative in how you're cooking. i'm planning on becoming the anthony bourdain of van life. okay? >> reporter: but how many itinerants can support themselves on youtube earnings, like bob wells? >> for most people it's not realistic. the idea of making thousands, very few do that. >> reporter: consider steve turtle's youtube take. i was somewhere around 150 a month. and then in march, it sort of fell apart. there was just not a lot going on. >> reporter: turtle stopped live streaming when covid hit. he's back at it, but hasn't reached youtube's pay threshold. >> i don't think i'm going to try to survive off of youtube. >> reporter: but if you, like bob wells, manage to go viral, pardon the expression... you make 75 grand a year from youtube? that's what i read anyway. >> i make an amazing amount of money from youtube >> report