This past week, Japanese YouTube heavyweight Hikakin appeared on NHK's long-running business show "The Professionals" ("Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi") where he discussed the "new job" of being a YouTube content creator.

YouTubing is a growing field that has attracted many in the English-language community, who are often referred to as "J-vloggers." The majority of them are non-Japanese who film everyday life in Japan in a raw blog-on-video style that defined the website a decade ago, but more than a few have managed to turn YouTubing into a career thanks to branding tie-ups.

Navigating this new terrain of media can prove challenging to beginners, though, particularly when you're trying to figure out how much you're worth. There are agencies that will help, but how do you know if they're not just taking the bulk of what should be going into your bank account?