Joy & Austin 34: Baby Three

[Cam]

55 minutes ago, JDuggs said:

I know absolutely nothing about social media/social influencer income. It all seems so ludicrous to me that it’s how some people earn a living. Anyway, I compared the Forsyths last seven YouTube videos to the Stewarts. The Forsyths ranged in # of views from 54K to 186K with an average of 125K. The Stewarts ranged from 87K to 163K with an average of 118K. So to me, these are very comparable numbers. The Stewarts make it seem like their YouTube income is a big income stream for them, so I would assume it’s the same for the Forsyths. I think Joy is making some decent money doing this, but she’s doing it on her own. Austin doesn’t seem to help her at all and he definitely doesn’t help with the content being more engaging. This is probably a lot of my own bias against Austin, but I don’t think he likes the idea of Joy making money and somewhat resents her for it. I think he wants to be the only breadwinner so all financial decisions are solely his. I think without Joy’s income, the family will have a lot less extras, but Austin will still get to take his buddy trips to Alaska, etc. I’m sure Austin is fine with Joy and the kids wearing thrift store clothes and leading a very simple life. I think what’s important to Austin is dinner on the table, a clean house and a non-chaotic household. 

I could definitely see this scenario. Austin kind of clips Joy’s wings by not being supportive of her social influencing gig. It feels passive-aggressive of him, sabotaging her independence with his grumpy on-camera attitude. She could also be receiving messages like “money isn’t everything” “make do with what you have” and “your kids come first” to make her feel guilty about even wanting to earn money. At least, I believe it could be part of the reason she’s stepping away. But if she found herself more concerned about filming life’s moments instead of being in the moment, that would cause her to make changes, too. 

My husband is a good guy, but I can look back on earlier years of our marriage and see how he manipulated me into taking on traditional gender roles that he didn’t place much value on. Once when he was laid off, I went back to work. I was all pleased with myself to help our family this way but he had a very difficult time of it. It sunk my heart to realize I had that kind of husband. His loudest praise for me comes when I bake or cook something delicious (acceptable female achievements). When I make great financial decisions or come up with terrific home remodeling solutions (often considered more manly traits), crickets. These days I do call him out on this, but for years I wasn’t even aware it was happening.

 

Edited June 30 by Cam

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

I think Carlin and Evan have more sponsorships. I can't remember if Joy has ever done a sponsorship. Plus I think youtube ties in nicely with Carlin's boutique. "free" advertising and adding to the general hype. Hey if you show up for our sale - maybe you get a shout out on our video! They sell themselves as actual personalities to take selfies with and buy merch from (they sell "Stew Crew" shirts at a minimum). 

I think if Austin is a driving force behind Joy "leaving" youtube (she's not for those of you who didn't watch the video) - it's fair. He clearly has never been into his life being public. I wouldn't want to be followed around at home and have my significant other telling everybody about our vacations and showing my kids. It seems like he works all day long - so he comes home and there she is getting content. Yuck. I'd be super grumpy in every video too. He honestly seems way nicer about it than I would be. I'd  be like, " fine film shit, don't show the inside of the house, don't show our kids, and don't show me or my voice. otherwise I'm going to start saying FUCK OFF every few seconds until you stop"

If the kids have a right to privacy so does Austin. I don't think that says he's sabotaging her. Austin seems to want a basic home life, vacations in a RV, and just be with his family. He doesn't seem like somebody who needs other people to watch him, validate him, or whatever.  He gets a lot of flack for being "grumpy" but I tell ya - I guess you guys would rip me to shreds. I'm super grumpy, especially after work. But I don't think that inherently makes me a nasty person/manipulative spouse, etc.

As for Joy herself...

I honestly don't think Joy has that much content. She doesn't seem to be into decorating, shopping, clothes, "activities" (like going to events, festivals, tourist spots), stupid trends (like buying the same food at the person in front of you at fast food), she isn't talking about homeschooling, no make up tutorials. When she does do some specific thing to create something to be filmed it seems half assed (for filming). Stuff that would be cool if you just did it with kids but not really worth filming (I'm thinking of her ninja course).

She doesn't have an exciting, engaging personality - She seems fins as a person - but there are youtubers I watch that I just enjoy their personality but I don't care anything about the specific content(Safiya Nygaard comes to mind).

I'd have loved to see some more footage of her travels to the national parks, RV travels - but most of those videos are not about the parks/places but about making basic food, setting up/taking down the rv, family members who were there.  That's the stuff you cut out and focus on the WOW shots, not the other way around.

Making money off youtube you need to be thinking how can my content be monetized. Not only sponsorships. But the audience you draw in. Number of views doesn't tell you whether her viewers click through on any of the ads on her channel. Since she has no particular focus, she's not drawing in any specific audience, so the  ads are probably all over the place. Meanwhile, Evan and Carlin probably have a certain influencer friendly audience who are more likely to be into buying stuff online and more likely to engage with the ads on youtube. Carlin does a hair or make up tutorial, ads come on for make up, people who are watching a make up tutorial are more likely to click the make up ads, for example. Do a room make over, people like the rug or the art on the wall, ad comes up for art or rugs, you click on it....Joy's content isn't good for this.

So I would expect that even if they have similar views, Carlin's channel makes more money. Plus, Carlin and Evan have gotten really good at pulling videos out of their asses. Joy doesn't seem to know what to do, doesn't have a "main point" to her videos, just sort of "here's what we're doing today" over and over again. 

I think Carlin and Evan get up and say to themselves "We need a good video, what can we do to get content?? What's trending? What haven't we done for awhile?" and plan accordingly. They also seem to plan out their videos in advance so they know that an upcoming trip will be good for a few videos and then need to have some other videos up til then. 

 

[eljayem]

On 7/1/2024 at 11:24 AM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I think if Austin is a driving force behind Joy "leaving" youtube (she's not for those of you who didn't watch the video) - it's fair. He clearly has never been into his life being public. I wouldn't want to be followed around at home and have my significant other telling everybody about our vacations and showing my kids. It seems like he works all day long - so he comes home and there she is getting content.

I honestly don't think Joy has that much content.

Joy doesn't seem to know what to do, doesn't have a "main point" to her videos, just sort of "here's what we're doing today" over and over again.

 

100% agree with this. Because of the family TV show Joy has a permanent constant audience she can tap into, make any video throw it up there and she will get views. It's hard to ignore. If she didn't have that would she do youtube at all? If Carlin her BFF wasn't throwing herself into youtube and being an influencer would she have continued for so long? Maybe Joy is following Jessa's example and only doing occasional videos, maybe for a nice cash bump that can help with expenses or maybe as a way to record family memories etc.

I think given Austin's attitude, the only way for Joy to succeed at being a regular growing youtuber/influencer is to make it about something she's passionate about and wants to share with world and can do it with or without her husband's involvement. So he can dip in and out as he likes without feeling like he's been roped into doing something he doesn't like anyway. There's a few gardening/cooking youtubers I watch that follow this method. The focus is not on their kids or family life but they are there in the background occasionally and I'm aware of them but that's not the reason I watch.

[Mrs. Kravitz]

On 6/30/2024 at 7:24 PM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I think if Austin is a driving force behind Joy "leaving" youtube (she's not for those of you who didn't watch the video) - it's fair. He clearly has never been into his life being public. I wouldn't want to be followed around at home and have my significant other telling everybody about our vacations and showing my kids. It seems like he works all day long - so he comes home and there she is getting content. Yuck. I'd be super grumpy in every video too. He honestly seems way nicer about it than I would be. I'd  be like, " fine film shit, don't show the inside of the house, don't show our kids, and don't show me or my voice. otherwise I'm going to start saying FUCK OFF every few seconds until you stop"

I'm definitely with you on that one. I don't mind being in my cousin's occasional Snapchat* that goes out to her maybe 30 friends from high school / college, but to feel like the purpose of my home life and vacations is to create content for the public? No thank you.

* My phone autocorrected this to "smallpox," which I found very funny. 

[Bassett Lady]

1 minute ago, Mrs. Kravitz said:

* My phone autocorrected this to "smallpox

What is a little smallpox between friends 🤪

 

My mother in law sends some crazy messages because autocorrect seems to have it in for her. As a former teacher, you would think she would proofread her texts, but no. She uses voice to text and then sends it off without a second glance. 
 

Her most recent missive was meant to address financial assets and instead she discussed asses. 

[SassyPants]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:16 AM, Bassett Lady said:

What is a little smallpox between friends 🤪

 

My mother in law sends some crazy messages because autocorrect seems to have it in for her. As a former teacher, you would think she would proofread her texts, but no. She uses voice to text and then sends it off without a second glance. 
 

Her most recent missive was meant to address financial assets and instead she discussed asses. 

I never thought that I had poor annunciation skills, but man I can not do voice to text at all. I’m a Californian and have zero regional language accents-drawls etc..

[GreenBeans]

I really hope all these second generation Duggar and Bates influencers are putting some/most of that money away while it lasts and investing it. Most of them don’t have a real education, so they will end up with no career path once again if and when this influencer business dries up.

On 7/1/2024 at 1:24 AM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I wouldn't want to be followed around at home and have my significant other telling everybody about our vacations and showing my kids. It seems like he works all day long - so he comes home and there she is getting content. Yuck. I'd be super grumpy in every video too.

I completely agree. I don’t know how much they make from influencing, but making your family life public and, even worse, making every family outing a performance for the camera, is a huge price to pay! I don’t usually take too many family photos or videos. Sometimes I feel like I should be taking more, or I should capture this moment (not to share on social media to the world, just for us to remember), but keeping my phone out and pointed at my son just makes everything less genuine and more posed. You start thinking about light and angles and people walking by in the background instead of just enjoying the moment. I can’t imagine the stress of having to film and produce content ALL THE DAMN TIME!

[Kiki03910]

15 hours ago, GreenBeans said:

I really hope all these second generation Duggar and Bates influencers are putting some/most of that money away while it lasts and investing it. Most of them don’t have a real education, so they will end up with no career path once again if and when this influencer business dries up.

I completely agree. I don’t know how much they make from influencing, but making your family life public and, even worse, making every family outing a performance for the camera, is a huge price to pay! I don’t usually take too many family photos or videos. Sometimes I feel like I should be taking more, or I should capture this moment (not to share on social media to the world, just for us to remember), but keeping my phone out and pointed at my son just makes everything less genuine and more posed. You start thinking about light and angles and people walking by in the background instead of just enjoying the moment. I can’t imagine the stress of having to film and produce content ALL THE DAMN TIME!

Saaaaaame. I might take a cursory picture or 2 of the ocean, say, but mostly I just want to have the experience, not document it. Then again, no one wants to see my laughing, burping, irreverent self.

[LillyP]

I can see her decision to cut back as probably a couple different things.

Maybe when she started she enjoyed sharing little bits of their life once a week. Now she's a few kids deep, and just feels like too much of her time is going to getting little clips and editing. As a self employed SAHM, it's not for the faint at heart. 

As for Austin, if he's not on board, it wouldn't surprise me if he just associates it with negativity based on Joy's whole life growing up in front of the camera. For her, it's normal. She probably didn't think twice about it, especially seeing so many of her siblings doing social media. But Austin wasn't raised with a film crew around constantly, and sometimes it just takes that other person who is more removed from the situation to make you think "hmmmm maybe this isn't a cycle I should continue with my own family". 

Also, I think it's just very possible that Austin's personality is not one who loves social media. My husband has a facebook, that he scrolls occasionally but posts one time per year - to say thank you to people who wish him happy birthday. 🤣 The man isn't into video games, electronics, doesn't listen to podcasts, and could care less about social media. If I told him I wanted to start family vlogging and be an influencer he'd probably not really be on board too. 

[Cupcake79]

It looks like Joy and Austin are selling their house: https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/joy-duggar-austin-forsyth-selling-arkansas-home/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEpxCVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHea9qPj2-CDX6pYnEq7b82VrIGK6mmcVLgVYxHL8lKxxqP_s13e5uTZ_qw_aem_KoAfrFDyL4ZfqjHKjxwvpw 

[justpassingthru]

Eh, give or take a few

[CarrotCake]

On 8/14/2024 at 7:47 PM, justpassingthru said:

Eh, give or take a few

Apparently only the girls count, which is also nice for a change

[dawn9476]

On 8/14/2024 at 1:11 PM, Cupcake79 said:

It looks like Joy and Austin are selling their house: https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/joy-duggar-austin-forsyth-selling-arkansas-home/?fbclid=IwY2xjawEpxCVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHea9qPj2-CDX6pYnEq7b82VrIGK6mmcVLgVYxHL8lKxxqP_s13e5uTZ_qw_aem_KoAfrFDyL4ZfqjHKjxwvpw 

Someone mentioned this in the comments of another on Reddit. I guess there is a pending offer. And I am not really surprised. In her last vlog, she did say that she and & Austin were probably moving in the next year.

[Cupcake79]

What is a pending offer? (I’m not a native English speaker and not American).

[OHFL2009]

42 minutes ago, Cupcake79 said:

What is a pending offer? (I’m not a native English speaker and not American).

When someone decides they want to buy a house that is for sale, they make an offer to the owner. If the owner accepts the offer, both parties sign a contract agreeing to the price, but the contract is dependent on additional factors, and becomes a "pending offer" until those conditions are met. These conditions are things like an inspection to make sure there are no issues with the house, final approval from the bank who is underwriting the buyer's mortgage, the buyer completing the sale of their previous home, etc. 

I don't know what the market is like in Arkansas currently, but where I live, it's generally about 30-45 days or so from the acceptance of the pending offer to final closing, but can vary depending things like the buyer agreeing not to do an inspection or a cash offer that doesn't require an appraisal or approval from a lender. The majority of pending offers here end up closing the sale, but it's not uncommon for an offer to fall through. Some people will continue to accept back-up offers in case the first offer falls through. 

So someone has made Joy and Austin an offer on their house, and they have agreed to sell it, but they haven't actually signed the paperwork/exchanged money to finalize the sale yet.

Edited August 22 by OHFL2009

[dawn9476]

I know there were posts on Reddit about Joy and Austin living in their RV, but they are not. Joy posted a few stories from her house earlier. They were actually on a big family trip with Austin's side for 10 days in CO. They left right after Jana's wedding and got to CO sometime the next day. Says she will post pictures from it. Also has pictures from Jana's wedding that she's going to post.

Edited August 27 by dawn9476

[AussieKrissy]

On 8/28/2024 at 6:26 AM, dawn9476 said:

I know there were posts on Reddit about Joy and Austin living in their RV, but they are not. Joy posted a few stories from her house earlier. They were actually on a big family trip with Austin's side for 10 days in CO. They left right after Jana's wedding and got to CO sometime the next day. Says she will post pictures from it. Also has pictures from Jana's wedding that she's going to post.

I did post the Jana wedding photos from Joy in the Jana thread.