"I guess they thought I was a real-life reporter, or something."

Things were looking down for Lionel Barnes in late 2018. He’d been let go from his information technology job in Plant City. A rocky relationship had ended. He was soon sleeping in his 20-year-old Mercedes with his teenage son, Cole.

He’d park in front of fast food restaurants in Tampa and use the free internet to apply for jobs.

Trying to figure out how to come up with some money, he remembered his old Google Adsense account. The platform allows YouTube video creators — something Barnes dabbled in with little success — to get paid. The more views of a video, and its corresponding ads, the more money.

“I had $38 in there, and you need at least $100 before YouTube will pay out,” Barnes said. “I thought, if I could just make another $62, I can get a whole $100.”

Read more at the Tamap Bay Times