I was fired from my accounting job and had to give up my apartment and sleep on my friend's floor. Now, I make $500,000 a year as a YouTuber.

• Quentin Latham transitioned from an accountant to a YouTube content creator in 2011.
• He struggled in accounting, got fired, and decided to follow his passion for entertainment online.
• Latham now earns over $500,000 annually from YouTube and has plans to retire in radio.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Quentin Latham, a 40-year-old accountant turned YouTuber from Miami. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I run the YouTube entertainment news channel Funky Dineva, but I started my career as an accountant after graduating in 2005 with an economics degree.