The Big Milestone!

Today, I'm interviewing Tom all about his journey as a YouTube creator BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD OF HIM! 😭😍

🟣 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!
JUST CREATE MORE!

🟣 CONNECT WITH HEATHER —
My Vlog Channel: http://www.youtube.com/heatherjustcreate
My Tutorial Channel: http://www.youtube.com/heatherramirez
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/heatherjustc...
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hetjustcreate
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/heatherjustcr...
Website: http://www.heatherjustcreate.com

🟣 CONNECT WITH TOM —
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/tombuck 
Instagram: @sodarntom

🟣 CONNECT WITH HEATHER —
My Vlog Channel: http://www.youtube.com/heatherjustcreate
My Tutorial Channel: http://www.youtube.com/heatherramirez
My Gaming Channel: http://www.youtube.com/heatherjustplay
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/heatherjustcreate
Website: http://www.heatherjustcreate.com

🟣 CONNECT WITH TOM —
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/tombuck
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sodarntom

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hello and welcome. My name is Tom.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

And I'm Heather.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

And you're sitting at the Couples Table.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

The Couples Table is a live stream podcast here on this channel. Join us for better or worse.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

For richer or poorer.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

And in sickness and in health.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

And in clickbait and not clickbait, as long as we both.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

I don't know why I just got so my brain just short circuited there for a second.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Happens to me on the regular, so that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Anyway, we are here. Yay! Yay! Hello, everybody. Shout out to all of the peeps. Parker Jennings, Mr. Camera Junkie, Paul Duncan, Jay Poetics, hey hey, homesick Mac, Bailey Cat, Michael H, Spiral Lab, Curiosity Network Podcast, Drew, Bailey. We were Leo. Hello, hello, hello. Ashton Crypto's in the house. Peter.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

All the main characters are here.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Monica Escobedo. Hello, everybody. Thanks for tuning in. Very exciting to see you all. So um I mentioned just during the pre-show, there is. I don't want to say the word clickbait because it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

It's not, I think it's really effective, honestly. I'm not, I'm not saying it in a negative way at all.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Sorry, there's so much like gap between us.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

This is just such a big chip.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Get closer to me, babe.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

This turn doesn't move, it just falls back into like the little like wheel spot.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Okay. So today's stream is called Tom Hit the Big Milestone. And I know that the milestone that everyone is thinking is the 100k subscribers. That has not happened yet officially. It just hasn't happened yet, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

But 900 hours on Animal Crossing New Horizons. I mean, that's actually.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

We really wanted to say that.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

No, that's not what we were talking about.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

No, uh, it's that Tom yesterday, yesterday it was Tom's five-year anniversary of his very first YouTube upload.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

And and to me, the thing that I I wanted to dedicate a whole episode to is being consistent and active at YouTube for five years straight is something that you are in total control of, yeah, and is something that is super hard to do because it's so much easier to give up. And YouTube is hard for everybody. So I just think that like it really is a testament that you know you you didn't have the the slumps that I do where I just kind of stop uploading for a little bit. You have been consistently uploading some of the things. But the German mean has been just easy and like, but I mean like that that's what I'm saying is like you've you've been.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I can proudly say not a week has gone by in the past five years where I didn't upload a video.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

That's insane.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

And sometimes more, because there was like the 30-day challenge, and sometimes there's two videos a week, but at least one video per week every week for five years.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

That's my Tom.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

So that's what we're gonna talk about today. Uh today what we're gonna talk about is just is the journey. Uh I I what we want to do, what we always want to do on the couples table is is like share practical share our experience as content creators.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

When it comes to the journey, it's very important to don't stop believing.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Oh my goodness. Okay, so hello, hello, hello. Hey, Mike, a versus uh something we hit 10,000 feet or something. Tom hit a big milestone.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

But but V is a pretty big one too.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Five years a big deal. Um hi Daddy Toxic69. Ola from Finland. Consistency is worth celebrating. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, because it's that that that's what I've noticed when we were talking about this earlier. I was like, yeah, there's there's been so many times over the years where I'll connect with different YouTube creators, and we're kind of like, I feel like we're buddies in a way, even if we've never met, and then we're like, you know, hey, channel's going, and they just kind of disappear. And so many times I feel like, oh, like what's wrong? Something went wrong, and I realize nothing's actually wrong. They just kind of stopped and moved on to something else, and that's the thing that I've seen the most is the when it comes to growth or what or whatever it might be, is just people stop. And I know that makes sense. I'm so guilty, like, but I mean like people stop you know forever, but that's that's the thing it it it almost in a weird way is like a lonely feeling because you're like, oh, like it feels like playing Animal Crossing New Horizons in 2020, everyone was doing it in 2022. I'm like, hey, still checking in on my island over here, and everyone's like, so still doing it, huh?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Okay, hey, Ona Coffee, Sean Park, Paul Greenwood in the house, Derek. Uh everyone's congratulating you on five years.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

I really like Paul's channel icon. The shapes. Paul's Paul Greenwood. Well, I like Paul Duncan too. I'm not Duncan on Duncan here, but Paul Greenwood, like the shapes and stuff, it just like really is popping out right now.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

Jay Poetic says, I've been uploading every week for three months straight. I can't imagine five years. That's insane. And I watched the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

I didn't realize it though. Like that was the thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

It wasn't until looking back, I was like, well, I've had my official upload schedule for the Ron Richard said that he tuned in just in time for a terrible journey joke.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Well, it wasn't the wrong time to turn in.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Hey Pierre. Hey Aubrey, Richard. So so what's the air like from up on the mountain? Up here on the very hi Monsan Media. Uh Peter TC Tom prepared with some stats. Five years, 132 lights, two RCPs, 1200 miles of XLR cables. That's like really funny. 1200 miles. Like, how many miles do you have?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I actually I just use the same crappy ones, except finally, finally, finally Alan from SoundSpeed sent me um one of his custom-made XLR cables. Like he handmakes XLR cables. Oh, that's right. And it's so good. I didn't know, I didn't know it even has my name on it. Like he put a whole thing on it. Um, so it has no issues, it's like impervious to interference. And he even told me, which like sounds like a big flex, and it kind of is, but it's also true. He was like, Don't use this on any mic reviews because it's so good. Oh wow, really? It's going to make the mic sound better. Like if a mic is prone to interference or signal noise or whatever, and use this cable, people will get the mic, use a regular cable, and they'll be like, Why doesn't it sound like what I heard on your thing? So it's like, don't use it on a mic where you need to review it. It's like, wow, that's a huge flex, but it's really cool. So when you're using it in regular production stuff, that that doesn't matter, it's like amazing. Otherwise, all my cables are just really cheap Amazon ones that tend to break.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Okay, so here's what we're gonna do. Today is basically QA. Uh, but I have questions of my own. So that's where we're gonna start. And if you have any questions, and and you know, we're gonna focus it on uh Todd's journey as a YouTube creator.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yay.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

Let me see what I think would be the most helpful. Um, can you paint the picture of a time when you were really frustrated, wanted to give up, started questioning. Like it, like I tried everything, and I I don't know why this isn't working. Like, do you remember a moment in the past five years where like you were this close to giving up? What was that moment like? You know, describe it to us.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Not not giving up, but definitely times where things aren't working. But what is not working wasn't like, oh, like growth isn't working, like that can be frustrating, but so much of it is just beyond my control. Like you can do all the things, make good videos, make good thumbnails, and like literally, some of our most popular videos are the ones that took the least amount of time to make or have the crappiest thumbnails. Like, there's so many exceptions to every rule. There's best practices, but that's not gonna guarantee anything. Um, but there were times the time that really stands out is spring, early summer of 2018.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

So it was a year, a year into it. Um, I had been doing everything consistently for a year, and I started getting really sick, like repeatedly. Oh, that's right. Yeah. I was getting uh physically sick often, which was very strange. And so immediately because I'm working and work is stressful, I was like, my working, it's my job. It's work is so stressful, and it was, and it absolutely was. And YouTube is this fun thing that should not be stressful because I love it and it's fun, and it kind of took me months before I realized oh, a big source of my stress is actually YouTube and the pressure I'm putting on myself to at the time I was trying to upload a video every Tuesday, and the time the pressure to make a video every Tuesday, and you know, on top of work, so that meant like basically all of my weekends, all my free time are meant making videos, and there was just no downtime at all.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

And it's like I I remember during this time that you didn't think it was YouTube for the longest time.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

I didn't want I did not want to believe that it was.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Yeah, because it's the fun thing. Like, this is the fun thing after work. This is you do YouTube by choice, like no one is forcing you to do it. Yeah, uh, but you were getting can I'm just gonna say the word once.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

You're sorry, yeah, it's fine.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

He was getting migraines, and we've talked we've talked about it on the couple's table. But when Tom gets a migraine, he's out for two days, like, can't look at light, thrown up, KO'd like bed, just can't like sensory overload non-functional completely, yeah, for at least at least a day and a half. And it was I remember when we first started dating, I was so excited because he had never had a migraine for like when I came into his life, all this. And then it was like around this time, you would just it was it was it happened on a live stream.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um, you put one on a live stream.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

Yeah, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

On a live stream against your time. Um so and they're all stress-related. Stress is a huge trigger for me. So, and there's positive stress and negative stress. We've talked about this on here before. So, um, so what I realized was okay, it is YouTube. I like this this thing of me uploading every Tuesday is arbitrary. There's no reason for me to do that. You know, the channel was growing, but it's not like it was growing like exponentially. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna stop that. I'm just gonna make videos when I want to make videos, upload them when I want to upload them, and I'll be done.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

I remember this revelation, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

I have a video about it, I made a whole video about it.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

This is a big deal because Tom is a deadline kind of guy. And for you to just be like, I'll just do it whenever I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah, I'm gonna make YouTube work for me. It's not my full-time job, is what I was saying at the time. And um, and that relieved a ton of pressure. And then, which is funny, I still never missed a week. It just wasn't on Tuesdays. But even though I wasn't consciously pushing myself to go like you can't go seven days without a video, it just throughout the course of a week, I would get an idea and make a video, and then it was just kind of whenever the video was done, I would upload it. Like as soon as it was done exporting, it would go out. So that maybe that's Sunday night, Tuesday morning, Friday night, maybe it's Sunday and Monday, like whenever it was. Uh, it there's no consistency to that. And in terms of channel performance, I didn't notice it actually had any effect at all.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Um, but it made me feel bad or good, no difference.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

No difference. So that's life-changing for you. Life-changing for me. Um, so I did that for another year. And so, well, uh so to answer your question, that was what that was the time.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

So it wasn't it wasn't that like, oh, I've tried everything, it was the stress of trying to meet your own deadline.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Something is wrong, something's not working. It was the stress of like this thing of balancing YouTube with a full-time job isn't isn't sustainable for me. Yeah. And and that fixed it. Yeah, and I I didn't want to give, well, I couldn't give up my job, and I didn't want to give up.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

How did you at what point or what made you decide to go from I'll just upload whenever I'm done, to every Thursday at 5 15 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

It was a year later, June of 2019. I remember it specifically.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Um is real weird with dates. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Um well, because the reason was because that's when the school year ended, and so it was summer break, and I had extra time, and I was like, you know what, I could make a couple of extra videos because I have more time. And the thing that was still stressing me out, I kind of was aware that YouTube could be stressful, and I was picking up on like this is I'm starting to feel that pressure now that it's been another year and I haven't missed a week. Now I do kind of have a pressure to make a video, but I don't want to have to feel that. So that's when I thought, you know what? If I had a couple of videos and scheduled one, I think I did this by accident. I think it just made an extra video once and was like, oh, instead of putting two videos out on the same day, I'll just schedule it for a few years later. And I was like, Yeah, like that was cool.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

It's a weird feeling to like make a video, upload it, and then not have it go out. It's so weird.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

It's really weird, it's very dissatisfying at first.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah, because it's like you finish working on this thing and no one sees it.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah, um, that took a long time to get over. So it was that where I realized like I should do this more. And then I took some extra time, made some extra videos to stay like three or four ahead, and then I've been doing that ever since. We we talked about that like a hundred times on here, but um, that just really helps. So when things go crazy, or I am sick, or we need to go out of town, or I just want to break. It can take one, and nothing, the wheels don't come off at all. Um, and that has been life-changing and sustainable because it's been three years.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Uh Action Cryptos, are we getting real today? I don't know. Uh Daddy Toxic, I dig how your clothing and her mic match.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

It's all on purpose.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Okay, can we talk about how my hair is not purple enough right now?

SPEAKER_01 14:14

This is like she thinks her hair is black, but I still think there's black dude.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

I can show you pictures.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

What is I know, I know it's been look at this color right here, though. Look, my shirt disappears when I go behind you because it's like hair or shirt.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Oh, I'm gonna show you pictures. No, I know you have like bright purple hair, but uh also Bailey had uh his first cup of coffee, technically a mocha. Mocha is my favorite cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

It is really good. I'm not a coffee guy, but every time I have six.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Every time we go to like a coffee place, I always get a mocha.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

That's good. I like coffee-flavored stuff.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

Uh, let's see. Action crypto says I haven't uploaded in a month because of stress, migraine, concussion. I'm just getting done with feeling better to get at it again.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, I'm sorry. I hope you keep feeling better. That really sucks.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

Um, I had to remind myself, I run a channel, it does run me.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Well, you always say, like, make the platform work for you. Yeah, you don't work for YouTube, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Because if you work for YouTube, you're basically like you are working for YouTube, they're benefiting by putting ads on your content, and you are not getting any employee benefits or HR protection or whatever. So you gotta draw the boundaries.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

If you defend me, that is HR protection.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

Oh my gosh. I don't think anyone else got that.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Because Heather Ramirez.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

But now that YouTube is your life, does that put more pressure on you?

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Um, so that's a great question, actually. Uh no, but it did. Uh, last year when I that the transition year. I remember last summer specifically, uh, I was like, you know, this is my full-time thing. I know I said when I went full-time I didn't want to like, now I can make five videos a week and go crazy because that's not what I want to do. I was like, you know, there's no reason not to do like two, maybe even three videos a week. And I tried doing it all last summer and it made no difference to the channel overall, but it exhausted me, and I was like, oh. I shouldn't. I'm not saying that doesn't work for everyone. For me, it was like, I mean, it made sense. Like I uploaded twice as many videos, so I got twice as many views. Okay. Yeah, but like it didn't unlock some magical thing where you know, oh, because you're uploading this often, now we're gonna promote your channel in this way. It didn't, it didn't do anything like that. And then I felt I was starting to feel like the more I tried, the more things weren't working. And so I realized that even though it was my full-time thing and the context shifted for me, it was nothing has shifted for the people who watched the videos, they didn't even know that. So just keep doing the thing that made them want to be there in the first place. And and that was important.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

It's just amazing like how much it's mindset, like it's all it's like the whole almost all of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah, it's just mindset.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Like nothing changes, absolutely nothing changes. No, I'm sure, you know, we can say, okay, you probably got you know some microphone or a camera that made a big difference, but really like you can level up your skills, of course.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

That's what half my channel is based on.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

But like so, this comment made me laugh. Um, homesick Mac. Can Heather make a video on flipping the pen? Can you do that with a drumstick? We talked about this.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

I can twirl the drumstick, but I can't do the pen thing you do.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Well, now you gotta show that off.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

You should you gotta show I don't have a drumstick here, but you got a pen right there.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

No, I've been doing it this whole time.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Oh. I don't think I can do it with a pen.

SPEAKER_03 17:27

Action crypto says, in what ways has Heather made content creation more difficult for you, Tom?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Oh where to um I don't I that's not that's a very interesting question, and I'm gonna try to think honestly. I don't I mean, legitimately, I don't think there is one. I do think that I had to learn.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Yeah, there is a tricky part though.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

The er the part early on was getting again mindset, getting in my own head, because not only you know was she seeing me make she's like seeing the process, which it can be uncomfortable and someone else watches what you do. Like, you don't like it when I hear you recording videos even now. I mean I've gotten you've gotten a lot more comfortable with it.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

I've gotten comfortable, but I mean, just a few months ago I had to go tell Tom to go work on something in the garage, so he couldn't.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

Yeah, or you'll come in and be like put on your headphones or something. Yeah, even though all I hear is like I know, but I just um yeah, so there's things like that. Uh the other thing I guess that would have been difficult was because you've been doing YouTube longer than me, and you're someone I looked up to, and you helped push me to get started. Um, to really sort of like want to live up to expectations, feel like I wanted to impress you with it, like putting pressure, unneeded pressure on myself because of those things.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Because obviously I wasn't no, you weren't doing it, yeah. But yeah, that it's like super awesome, obviously, like living with someone who's doing the same thing, but also it is tricky when it's like I mean, we just had this discussion, what last week, where I came up with my creator creed, I came up with this whole new thing with my tutorial channel, and then I was like, okay, I'm gonna just get to copy what Tom's doing. I'm gonna upload every Thursday, 5 15 a.m. I'm gonna like copy the branding, copy the channel banner, and all this and this and this and this. And then like I just like died before I even got started. And I the reason was like I like now, there was this new, it's like there was this new boss that was like, you have to do it that way when you don't all this pressure from yourself. Yeah, and I was like, I I've never the six year, the six going on seven years that I've been doing YouTube, you know, who's never been consistent with every intention of trying to be, is this one right here. So why is that gonna change now?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

And like, you know, you have to do what works for you because there's things like um I was working on a video about using two cameras to film, and I was talking about a reason I like to use two cameras when I film is because I like to try and cover up my jump cuts, even though there's nothing wrong with jump cuts, especially on YouTube. But about a year ago, I was like, you know what? I just want to try to have as few jump cuts as possible. That's not a rule. There's no boss telling me to do that. It was something I wanted to try to do, that I like the way that it looks, and it sort of forced me to get a little more creative with how I edit things, how I piece things together. Um, and that was a really fun challenge because that's what worked for me. And so, like, I think it is fun to if you wanted to say, okay, I'm gonna try to do this workflow or do this here and see if it if it works for you, but if it totally doesn't work, there's no reason to like keep choking it to life.

SPEAKER_03 20:39

Yeah. Okay, let me let's catch up with comments and then I'll I have other questions. Um Rhon is saying my skin is totally luminescent.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Luminescent! Luminescent.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Um it is, it looks like now I have to I have to I look quite translucent, but we need to find this now.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Can you uh Mr. Camera Junkie, there is coffee-flavored coffee. I've heard about that. Uh my very first job was in a coffee shop, actually. I'm well, my very first job was at a TV station. But that was unpaid. I started as an unpaid intern. My first paid job was at a coffee shop while I was also interning at the TV station. You worked two jobs as a student, as a junior in high school. This is Tom Buck for you, right here. And then I bought a dedicated person. I bought my whole world Fender Telecaster with my first paycheck from my coffee shop job, uh, which was fun. Tom looks good too, of course. Thank you. Leo says I really start batch recording content for Instagram instead of creating something new every day. Yeah, so I mean, Leo, your stuff is so good, and part of what you part of your magic is how different everything can look, even though you're in like the same space. So, what I've been trying to do is when I have everything set up for something, like you know, hey, I've got three cameras set up with an overhead shot. Are is there more than one video I can make that? Has this that needs this setup and I should take advantage of that. Okay. That's been helpful.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Are you ready? Just uh just cause that's purple.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And the wall is also not purple. It all went to your hair.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Like how that's purple. And that's I miss that.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Can we just appreciate the wall though?

SPEAKER_03 22:23

The whole background situation.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

The leveling up of the background situation.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

I know, but because we when we painted this, we painted it gray. Look at this.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

You painted it twice. Look at that. The gray actually does not look bad. And you can you can flood it with different colored lights, which is cool. The problem with the gray was we didn't get a super matte gray, and you can see in that picture it's kind of shiny. And that I never liked the way that looks.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

And so this is a very neither here nor there. Um J Poetics. How hard was it to build a community in the beginning stages on YouTube? That's a very good question.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

That is a great question. Um I think like I don't for me, it wasn't intentional. Like I was happy once I hit a point.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

Well, actually, here, this question's kind of related.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Was it well, let me just get my thought out real quick. Get your thought out. Um I think it was Monica. Someone posted in our Just Create More yesterday that they hit 36 subs.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Oh, I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

And I remember I remember specifically hitting 36 because that was a big deal. Because I was like, I hadn't told anyone in my real life other than Heather that I had a YouTube channel. And I was like, I definitely know find the coming out post. I was like, I definitely know I haven't had actually, I don't know, 36 people. So these are people who found the channel and wanted more of it, which is really cool. Um and then you start to know, like, there are people early on, even if it's just one person who kind of like shows up and leaves a comment on every video and stuff, and that that was really cool. And just kind of nurturing that and paying attention to that, and then it just sort of it really just comes down to if someone's giving you their time, because that's really what they're giving you when they're interacting with something you've made, like it takes the videos are free, sure, but they're giving you their time to watch them, and if they're gonna take even more time to share something, especially if it's positive, about that. I think it's important as much as you can to like uh what's the thing, reciprocate that. And that is hugely helpful because people don't feel like they're just saying something to no one, they're watching something they like, they're saying something, and then they're getting a two-way street from the person who made it, and that makes it a really cool thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Oh, I want to find your uh your post when you announced to your world about the YouTube channel because I just think it's oh, also while a smile public music performance, music performance.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Uh okay, yeah. Brian May from Okay, so Spyro Lab. Can you remind us what your growth was year to year over five years?

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yes, so uh yes, started channel, uploaded first video in July of 2017, hit 100 subscribers in January of 2018, hit a thousand in June of 2018, so one year to get to a thousand. June of 2019 was 5,000 because I remember I made a post about that because I was like, 5,000 is crazy. Um January of 2020 was 10,000, which I was like, I can't fathom this number. Um January 20. And then 2020 was a pretty big growth year. So I think 2020 was the one. I think by the end of 2020 it was at 45. And by March of 2021, when I left my job, it was 65,000.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Um making myself sick scrolling through the timeline here.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Now it's what, July of 2022 and almost 100.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

What was the date that you did this?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Oh, I don't remember. You don't remember. It was years ago.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

It must have been 2017, though.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Wait, it would have been after that.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

2017? Oh, 2018.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Oh, that's 2018. It would have been before that.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Yeah, so we're still going.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

I was going through my whole Facebook feed because I actually used to.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

I was scared because I haven't gone on Facebook since my birthday, and people sent me really nice messages, but I just haven't been on Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

That's really funny. Uh Monica, have you ever run out of ideas? And how did you get over that? Where do you know ideas? Yes. I have a running notes document that I just throw ideas in and I put them in different categories. So here's ideas for videos related to audio, streaming, cameras, whatever. Um, and so usually if I'm on like writer's block, I can go pick an idea, but sometimes I go through those and like I don't want like none of them. It's like when you open the pantry and there's food in there, but you're like, there's nothing to eat. Nothing sounds good. Um and it's really hard. So then that's the perfect analogy. I try to pay attention to um questions that I've been either questions I've been getting, like, man, I've answered the same comment about something five times now, or um, I try to just be aware of a thing that I'm seeing, like a trend that's popping up in the space that I'm interested in. You know, like wow, it seems like a lot of people are wondering how to, I don't know, do something with their stream deck and use it for more than just streaming stuff. Okay, maybe we can make a video about that, even though I think my video about that was Lewis's idea. But anyway, um, that's kind of what I have done personally. Found it. Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Okay, uh, let's see. Well, so this was a question. Tom uh Ono Coffee says, Tom, did you target identify an audience to focus on? So many YouTube girls talk about that. That was what I wanted to ask you, is is niche.

SPEAKER_04 27:43

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Oh, because I'm not sure if everyone knows this. Um, but you didn't set out to do YouTube being like the audio video photo person. No, no, or audio video is what it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

No, I was weird. I I didn't want to like start out and I'm just gonna make a channel all about me. Um, so that was like my first video is how to get your drone license because I was like, okay, it's me explaining something and filling in gaps that I found when I was trying to learn how to do something.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

It's very cute, by the way. Please go to Tom's channel and watch his first video because it is so this is this is Tom pre-YouTube, but it's so teacher Tom. Like it's it's this is like Tom teaching you stuff. Yeah, it's very cute.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

And then there was like experimenting, and then like there were more a lot of like vloggy things which are more me focused, but that was more of like a practice, like figuring out how to make a YouTube video more than like I want to make this video to grow. Um so niche. As far as niche, the camera photo thing was so busy that I was like, I don't I can't be a camera channel.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

Um but you started out like did you even know what you were were going to make videos?

SPEAKER_01 28:57

I just well it wasn't what I intended it to be. And never my original idea never happened. What do you mean? My original idea, so yeah, you can see my channel starting date is June of 2017, but I didn't upload a video for several weeks. The reason for that, because I had had an idea for a blog back in 2010 called The Enthusiasm Project, and the whole idea was predicated on we're all gonna die because life is really short, and it really sucks if you don't spend that time doing something you're excited about. And so I wanted to just whether it was for work or for fun, I wanted to like do these little profiles of people who I thought were doing really cool stuff. Like um I have friends who are artists, friends who had their own businesses. Uh, I know the people who run a company that makes like really cool uh uh guitar and camera straps out of old car material. It was like, oh, like just showcasing what these people do. Right. I asked you when we met.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

He asked me to officially be a 2010.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

It was gonna be a blog, and then I sat on that for seven years, and then it made more sense of like, oh, I could do a YouTube thing where it's like little documentary style things like profile pieces. Um, and so I finally got the idea of like, yeah, I'm gonna do this. So I put a whole list of people together, like 20 people, um, and I had a whole thing of like initial email, response, date schedule, like the whole little door spreadsheet thing.

unknown 30:27

Stop.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Um, and I I created the channel, I was like, it's happening. I sent out all the stuff, and then immediately, even though people were some people were interested in doing it, it was like, oh, this is a scheduling nightmare.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Because yeah, it's hard, it's hard when you're all dependent on someone else's schedule.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

It's hard. Um, it also then very quickly would be depending on me traveling because I you have to go there. You're gonna run out of local people really quickly. And I was like, this sucks. I'm gonna make one video every two or three months, probably. And that's that's when I realized like I could do that, you know, in the future, but if all I have to do is count on myself, I can make a video today. Like, I don't if I'm the like barrier to entry or whatever, I I can if I'm the weakest link, then yeah, of course. And so that was why like I never wanted to even be in front of the camera on the channel. Um that was that was the original idea.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Uh Michael H says, how did being consistent on YouTube affect your podcast recording schedule?

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Yeah, that's the cool the it up. The interesting question about that is because I have not wanted to sacrifice YouTube consistency, I have had to realize that I need to sacrifice something, and so I've learned to sacrifice podcast consistency. So there are sometimes weeks where I don't upload one. It just and sometimes it's literally just because I don't feel like it, and there's no other reason. Um, but I also break it into seasons. So I was I was doing 21 episode seasons, which I did that for five seasons, which is a lot of episodes.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

You're so consistent.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Um this guy 21 episodes, though, is 21 weeks. That's a lot of work. And so uh earlier this year I went down to 10 episode seasons, which is way more manageable. Um, and then taking a break in between those to kind of like breathe, gather my thoughts, and then it let it switch from being a thing I have to do to being a thing I'm really excited to do. And once it feels like that again, then I'm like, yeah, okay, ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 32:31

Yeah. Leo, what's one skill you wish you had learned sooner? Doesn't necessarily have to be related to filmmaking, but just one thing that helped you grow as a creator or just as a person in general?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

That is a really good question. Um I guess I still want to take an improv class, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Oh, I do too. There just like aren't any where we live.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Yeah, but I think that would really help with like delivery.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

And just yeah, that would be amazing. Um I think to kind of go off of that, I remember specifically, I think it was the 10,000 milestone video where I started telling jokes.

SPEAKER_04 33:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

So I went that whole time. I went from 2017 to 2020.

SPEAKER_03 33:11

I mean, they're now we need to watch a like a 2018 video.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

I I have because I linked to them in current videos, you know, and they're they're very good videos, but they're very dry. It's just like in Final Cut Pro, you can create a preset by clicking on file and this over here. It's just tells you what you need to know and nothing else, uh, which is not ineffective. Um, but I remember so the reason I did that was because that is just who I am. So the videos where I wasn't doing that, I was actively holding back. And as a teacher, being like telling the jokes and kind of like going off script a little bit is one of the best things that helped me like connect with students and to build relationships and stuff. And I it I'm sad that it took so long for me to realize it's the same thing online, like the same things that help me connect with I mean, uh a room of teenagers who most of whom don't even want to be there or didn't choose to be there, and trying to win them over, that's a really hard audience. Yeah, so compared to YouTube where someone actually even chose to click on the video, you're already at an advantage, yeah. And so I was like, you know what? I'm gonna like be okay with like letting a little more personality show up. Um, and I wish I had done that sooner, not in a distracting way. Like, I don't want to do the thing where the video is supposed to be about something and like it kind of is after 11 minutes has passed. Like I want the You don't want to be like obnoxious about the purpose of the video is the is the focus, but you know the delivery could be it can just be a little a little different and a little more, especially with stuff like audio video, because it's so easily intimidating to people. And so if you're kind of making jokes or being a little self-deprecating or whatever, it makes it less scary because it's like, oh yeah, okay, this stuff is it's Yeah, because the the audio video people already know how to do it, so they're not watching your videos, but the people that you're talking to, like I mean it depends on what the video is about, but just that that it doesn't really sound like a skill, but the skill of being able to incorporate your personality um while still focusing on the actual topic. And some people have you know like really over-the-top personalities or really like mellow ones. The thing that helped me get over it was Film Riot, who's one of like the earliest YouTube channels that I ever started watching. Um, Ryan, who was the main host of Film Riot, talks really fast. And he always has, but in their early ones, I remember there was a period of time where he was like, People have been telling me that I talk too fast and I need to slow it down. There's like several episodes where he's trying to talk really slow and it's weird. It like doesn't work and finally got to a point where he was like, I know I talk really fast, it is how I talk, I am sorry. And he's then they've been doing that for 10 years. Um, and that's like really I like I happen to just randomly stumble across that video again around this time, and I was like, Yeah, people don't like that and they're mad about that, but that's also what makes it enjoyable for him. I like it because I can like he kind of talks how I talk, so it makes sense to me, and I just sort of realized, like, oh, if I put my own personality, yeah, it's gonna turn some people away, but it's also going to connect with other people more, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

Yeah, uh, let's see. Okay, so if you are just tuning in, um, the big milestone that Tom hit is uh yesterday was the five-year anniversary of his very first upload on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 36:43

Yes, the 100k is around the corner, but he hasn't hit that yet. But um he will probably do a members only just create more uh live stream to celebrate. So if you want to check that out, then go join just create more or sign up for Tom's membership. Um, and we're just basically doing a QA all about Tom's five years on YouTube. So yeah, because that's the cool thing, is like number milestones, you don't have a lot of control over like yeah, there are people who are creating on YouTube for 10 years and don't hit 100k. You know, it's just there's only so much you can control with that.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

But you have control over not giving up, you have control over trying to get better with your skill set, and that's I'm very proud of you. I'm proud of you too, because you've also been doing it a year longer.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

Yes, but also I stop a lot, so it's fine. I mean, I'm proud of me too, but I uh I just I've been witness to the whole thing, all the ups and downs, and I'm trying to think of like you know the the reality of it, and and I want to try to convey that as much as possible to to to other content creators because it it just hasn't been easy.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

It's I know it's easy to look at it now and be like, Tom, you've got such a process, and well, I mean, that's how it is with I was talking with one of my friends, like an online friend, who has a channel that's an online friend.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Let's distinguish on the World Wide Web.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Well, I don't know, you know, like whatever. Okay. Um someone who I've never met in real life, but we talk a lot online.

SPEAKER_04 38:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Who has a YouTube channel that's rapidly approaching one million. Um, and he sent me a thing that was like, wow, you're so close to 100k, that's awesome. Um, and I was like, Yeah, it feels so close, but so far, because it's it feels like it's just been like it's just like right, but can't go there. Um, and he was like, Yeah, that's how I feel about a million. And I remember I was like, you know, from my point of view, when I look at your channel and it's growing, I think like, yeah, of course, he's gonna hit a million, no problem. Like he's got easy peasy, like he has it all figured out. But obviously, from your point of view, it's the same.

SPEAKER_04 38:52

That's not how it feels.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

And so that's how it's like, oh, and I remember thinking, I remember thinking any channel with over 10,000, like I shouldn't even talk to that person because like we're not allowed to be in like the same room. I remember when we went to the no small creator meetup in 2018. I think there were a couple people at like 17 or 20k, and I was like, Oh, I I can't go over it to them. Which was just me, it wasn't them. Yeah, but I thought, like, wow, the things that you're dealing with are so different. The the the process is so, and it's not, it really isn't at all. Um, and I remember even like when I started out because you had your channel, and then like James and Mark had their channel all prior to me, and you guys had like four or five thousand subscribers and all this stuff, and I remember thinking like those are real YouTube channels. Like, I can't pitch, I can't chime in with you know my idea or my little whatever, because it's not like I don't know, it's all very self-imposed.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

See, see what we talked about mindset, a lot of it is in your head, all mindset, yeah. Uh Ian says, where do you see YouTube andor podcast content creation in the next three to five years?

SPEAKER_01 39:57

That is a really good question.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

Um, we also have a ton of questions, so you're gonna have to okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Podcasts, uh, as much as I like kind of wish it wasn't true because the workflow is a nightmare, video podcasting can't be overlooked. Like, I really want to add a new thing to my course that's that addresses at least the basics of video podcasting. Um, content creation, obviously, short form is huge right now, but I kind of this is just me based on nothing, so do not make any like decisions based on this. I think short form is gonna burn out um at a certain point. Um if not if not burnout's probably not, it's not going away, but it I think it's gonna kind of like even out again where it's like long form's not going anywhere, short form's the hot new thing, eventually everything kind of like reaches equilibrium. Yeah, yeah. I do think TikTok will not be around for that long though.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Um she says she loves your video style.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Uh Monica says, probably off topic, but talking about J Cuts. I got a comment from a viewer that suffers from epilepsy, and J cuts some transitions might trigger episodes. Anybody here has experience on that?

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I can imagine transitions because some of them are like flashy, glitchy. J-cuts, though, unless it's well, I can't say, I don't know the person. Because the J cut, it's just a cut, so unless there's multiple really quickly cutting from like, yeah, a black background to a white background or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

It that that would be really noticeable. But if I was just editing my video earlier where it's just the same shot here, plenty of jump cuts, because I don't I kept saying like for some reason. I cut those out. Um, but I I don't uh I don't think it's noticeable.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Well, because the the J cut would be where the the audio from the next clip comes in earlier. Oh shoot, that's right. It's not just a jump cut. So the thing that I'm thinking is if the person is being affected by like hearing a new audio, like hearing a new audio thing and then seeing a visual thing, but I don't know enough. I haven't heard that before.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Um Hey Jared, out in the wild with Jonah Caes. Greetings. Greeting from Turkey.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

What? You were you were here last week. Now you're in Turkey. Boy, that's making me hungry.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

World according to Briggs. It took me forever to get to 100 subs and it's snowballs.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Oh, 100. Oh my god. That's like the most impossible.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Call me Cubby. Hi guys, that's Tom. Caleb's here. Um, how many subs did you have when you came?

SPEAKER_01 42:16

100. That was a good one.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Let's talk about that coming out. Yeah, so it was we we talk about this because it's it was a post I have it right here. Oh lord, you don't have to read the whole August 21st, 2017. And I'm not gonna lie, when I saw this, I call it the coming out because Tom had had a YouTube channel for oh, I guess it was only two months.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

You know what this is? I can tell you exactly the mindset behind this because I I thought I didn't come out until 100, but this is not that, this is like 20. Um, this is right after we met for the first time. Because we met on uh what August 18th, and then you left on the 19th, and this is August 21st. So what it was was I was hiding everything, you showed up and you boosted my confidence, and like, no, this is something you should do, it is valid, it is whatever. And then I I did not want to tell anyone in my real life that I had a YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

You were so embarrassed, like not even it's not embarrassed, but it was like you were so I I was looking at Tom with like the same the same way I do now. Like you have so much to share. You're you're you can make such a a difference, and and like we have this tool that'll help you connect with other people that are just as excited as you are about this thing. Why are why are you choosing to like hide yourself? Yeah, like I don't understand. But we're also very different. So I um I didn't I had no apologies. I was just like, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

My what I wanted to do was wait for a hundred because I didn't want to tell people about it and then make it seem like they like I was asking them to subscribe and support because I was like, please don't. I wanted it to be. I figure like once I have a hundred and then people find out about it, it'll be a thing that already like exists, is up and running, it's legit, um, like with or without you. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

So okay, I'm just gonna read a little bit of this. Oh lord. This is so adorable. Did you link your YouTube channel?

SPEAKER_01 44:19

I don't know. I'm not good at the the marketing. You want to talk about skills in the YouTube channel?

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Okay, so here, here, here this is Tom, August 21st, 2017. I feel compared to share something with you, but I don't know exactly why. It's because you met me.

SPEAKER_04 44:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

Maybe because it's the last day of summer, and this has been without a doubt the greatest summer of my entire life. Or maybe it's because I start I stared at the eclipse for too long. That's right. There was an eclipse.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

I melted my little like thing.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Either way, I'll try to condense this as much as possible. So read on or don't. It's your choice. I'm not your mother. It's such a Tom thing to say. After a lifetime of feeling like a loser reject outsider, but managing to put my head down year after year to do the work and be a doormat to get where I wanted to be, and still being told things like I'm on the spectrum or unable to make meaningful connections or that I'm focusing energy on the wrong priorities. I hit my breaking point earlier this year. And what I learned was simple. At rock bottom, you have two options get up or don't. It took the first 20 or so years of my life. I think I'm gonna cry. I'm crying. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

My writing is so good. I love EGR. You don't have to keep reading my Facebook post from five years ago.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Okay. It took the first 20 or so years of my life on this planet to learn that every person has the power to shape his or home her own life, and it took more than another decade to finally put that into action. For a few concrete examples, here's a quick rundown of my past 60 days.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

There's a lot here, so it was a really cool summer.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

I still earned your drone certification, you crashed your drone, you built a television studio, uh, made more friends from places and backgrounds than I could have ever imagined, created more original independent work than I ever had before, formed the beginnings of a band, finally learned how to play the 116th notes on the hi-hat, booked a trip to the other side of the planet, Iceland, and became a better teacher, friend, and human, gotten in the best physical shape of my life, learned that my thoughts and ideas can have value, wrote three courses that became UC approved and have the potential to genuinely affect positive change, learned how to write an electric skateboard. Oh, yeah, started to become comfortable with my thoughts and ideas with the world, with sharing my thoughts and ideas with the world. This isn't a conclusive or magical list, but it is a collection of things I've spent a long time thinking of as being for other people.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:52

I don't say any of this to boast. Some of it isn't that impressive, and I don't pretend to assume that there aren't also more dark times ahead. I say this simply based on this idea. Do what you can't.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yeah. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

So for I don't know why I thought this was your coming out post about YouTube. You didn't even mention it.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

It wasn't my YouTube. Because I did do it at 100. That was my like, um Okay, now I gotta find the YouTube one. That was my like if you go, I won't do what you tell me post.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

So this is this is the guy, okay. That gives you a picture of the person who finally was like, I'm gonna make my YouTube channel. I'm gonna make my YouTube video and like, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

This one it wasn't the post, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:35

Okay, you find the post. I'm gonna catch up with comments. Woo! All right. Uh Daniel Shayler. Daniel. I have to jump on a business call in a couple minutes, but really wanted to pass quickly, congratulate Tom from the Matterhorn Country. Well done and massively deserved.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Thank you, Daniel. I'm always jealous of wherever you're at, whatever you're gonna have.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Drew, people that always show up and typically leave a comment or two. Tom, Art Media Bailey.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

I found a post that just says, Hey, you guys, and it's a picture of the McRib being back at the McDonald's.

SPEAKER_03 48:03

Uh let's see. Ron remembers the 5,000 announcements, so I guess I must have subbed before.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

It's a long time.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Actually, yeah. If you remember when you subscribed, I guess you must have already been okay. You guys are doing all this already. But I'm curious as to like when you found Tom. Uh Derek says thoughts on establishing a channel identity before starting when you have several ideas for content that maybe link but could be seen as unfocused.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

I would say like do the do the best you can to create your channel identity, but just don't be married to any of it. Like, know that it it's it's like the the so many people will and so many TV shows will start a pilot episode where it's like we have our whole universe figured out in the first episode, and it's like, no, by season three, it's all different. So many people will start a channel where they're like, this is how every video is, this is what my podcast is, and it always evolves, and that's completely how it should be. So just do the best, start with what you can, and just be comfortable with the idea that you're gonna find things and evolve it over time.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

James and Mark says the Tom I initially subscribed to has definitely evolved to the Tom I see today. There's definitely like a it I mean, like the passion was always there, but just personally, I mean, that post says it all. It's like wow. I'm like so happy for you.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

Thank you. I can't find it.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

You know, okay, so after so a thousand after a year, five thousand after two, and then ten K at 2.5. Something to strive for as I'm at 5k now and at three years. It's it's I mean But also like I'm at six years and at 11,000.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

And then there are people who started six months ago and are 200,000, 300,000. Like everybody's journey is very, very different.

SPEAKER_03 49:47

With numbers.

SPEAKER_01 49:48

Oh, here it is. February 23rd, 2018.

SPEAKER_03 49:51

Okay, that's like almost a year. Well, no.

SPEAKER_01 49:53

Oh, it's a really short, it's a really short post, actually. It has a bunch of hashtags on it. Cute hashtag makers.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

That's adorable. Oh, there's nothing really like No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

I think you're like merging those two separate posts. Because this just says seven months ago I grabbed my camera and start a YouTube channel called the Enthusiasm Project, so they get back into the habit of creating more original work. Since then, I've made nearly a hundred videos, most of which I'm proud of. I'm asking you to do me a favor, taking a few minutes. Oh, I actually asked people to check it out.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Did you plug your link there?

SPEAKER_01 50:27

You know what? That's because you told me to do that. Because you were like, you shouldn't be like, oh, I'm doing this thing. You should be like, no, you freaking That's right.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

Yeah. Why wouldn't you be proud of what you're making?

SPEAKER_01 50:36

That's that's a you influence right there. You're talking about who's an influencer.

SPEAKER_03 50:44

Oh boy. I mean, yeah. Anyway, so let's see. Tom is very close as uh followers. He answers with great care.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

I try.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

Hi, my name is Tom, and in this video, I'll give you the resources you need to take and pass FAA part 107 test.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

Yes, with echoey audio.

SPEAKER_03 50:59

Um, it's cute.

SPEAKER_01 51:01

I was very happy though, because I think I have three different graphics that pop up on screen throughout the course of that video.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

Kayler says, talk about our first YouTube videos. My first video involved me in front of a window with a phone wearing a suit. I don't know why before.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Was it all backlit like because the window was so bright?

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Oh boy. Uh let's see. Oh here. Out of five years, are there some videos that you completely regret or videos that you would say are the best?

SPEAKER_01 51:27

Um, there's none I really there's none I regret.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

I mean, does any of them stand out? If you had to like think of one video from the last five years, does something stand out?

SPEAKER_01 51:34

I mean, I well it's funny, yes. So the ones that stand out, I I remember my Iceland video really stands out. My video about making a scale.

SPEAKER_03 51:41

The Iceland video is still one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

My video about making a scale water tower. Our Switzerland videos really none of those have to do with the normal stuff on my channel.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

It's all the vlogs.

SPEAKER_01 51:51

Well, because those are our personal, but it's funny because going back and watching a lot of those, like I wish I could make them after I decided to like put more personality into the videos because they're they they don't have it. Um but I really like the videos and I'm proud of those.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

Ron says, I gotta say, I think the best move in recent times was changing the name of the channel from the enthusiasm project to your name.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

You know, recent times, that was like two years ago already.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

I know.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_03 52:17

Um wait, how many subscribers did you have? 25,000?

SPEAKER_01 52:19

25k, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:21

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Because I was really scared, but I was like, well, if I'm gonna ever change the channel name, waiting until it gets bigger, especially one thing, if you go past 100k and change your channel name at all, including like capitalizing a letter or something, you lose all of your verifications and have to re-restart them all.

SPEAKER_03 52:40

Uh, how long is your break between podcast seasons? Kevin is asking.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

Usually it's a month. Uh you usually it's a month. After this current season, I'm thinking of doing uh an extendo break. Yeah. Um usually a month.

SPEAKER_03 52:53

Uh Action Crypto, how many subs did you lose when you let your personal light shine through?

SPEAKER_01 52:58

I mean, I'm sure there were some. There's some every time you publish a video, you lose subscribers, but you know, you gain more than you lose, right?

SPEAKER_03 53:05

And those are people who are there for the personality.

SPEAKER_01 53:09

Yeah, the people who leave because you're sharing who you are are probably the people who shouldn't, and I don't even mean that in a bad way, but like shouldn't be there because it's not for them. Yeah. And that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 53:18

Yeah. Uh Monica says, those of us who can't tell us jokes are doomed.

SPEAKER_01 53:22

No, it's like because some people think like there are people I watch who the their personality, like their version of jokes, is being just really laid back and really mellowed.

SPEAKER_03 53:31

How did Peter Limit Lingren become your best friend?

SPEAKER_01 53:34

Um, I remember I was a fan of his, and then we would comment on each other's videos. And I remember one day I showed you, this was prior to changing the channel name, Peter made a video that was like my favorite YouTube channels, and he talked about my channel, but he didn't know my name. He was like, uh, the the guy's Tom or Tim or something. Yeah. Um, and then we started just like how did we uh we started messaging each other somehow on Instagram or something, maybe. And then during the pandemic, when everyone was isolated, like early mid 2020, um, and Peter was even more isolated because he's all the way in there the planet from like most other people who are doing YouTube. Uh, he was like, Hey, you want to like jump on a FaceTime or something so we can hang out?

SPEAKER_03 54:14

And then we just became both Tom and Peter hit it off instantly. Like then it was just every day you guys were FaceTiming stripes contact. Yeah, like it's it's crazy how much they talk. It's I mean, it's cute. I'm really it's really nice.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

It's hard to make friends as an adult. It totally is, yeah. No matter where they are on the planet, it's nice to be able to make a friend.

SPEAKER_03 54:34

Uh Monsin Media, can you talk about your first revenue streams of income besides YouTube as and why you chose those companies and what were your early experiences like?

SPEAKER_01 54:41

Yeah, so choosing companies is a very new thing. Um, because I didn't do any actual sponsored stuff. I did one sponsored video in late 2019 with Epidemic Sound, and then I didn't do any others until last summer um with Artlist, which I've done several, and I've done a gear focused one too. That's it. Um, but the first thing that actually generated revenue before AdSense was affiliate stuff through Amazon, and I didn't want I was very like, I'm not gonna do affiliate links because then I made a lens review video that did pretty well, and even though the channel had like 500 subscribers, 600 subscribers, I made a review on a lens that cost a thousand dollars. And in the first week, I had five people say thanks, I bought this lens because of your review. And I was like, wait, that's five people bought a thousand dollar lens because of this. And it's like, if I had put just there's already a link in the description to like you, here's the lens. If I had just used a different link, it wouldn't have changed anything for them, but I would have made hundreds of dollars potentially at that point, depending on the percentage. Uh seems dumb not to do that, and it was dumb not to do that, so yeah. Affiliate stuff was good for me.

SPEAKER_03 55:54

Uh Indies here says congrats.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

I love Kevin's like ratio reminder. 57, only 26. What's up with that?

SPEAKER_03 56:02

Uh oh, if you had a magic wand to increase your sub count, would you? And if so, how high?

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Um, no. I mean, like I don't yeah, I don't think I would.

SPEAKER_00 56:16

What?

SPEAKER_03 56:17

I was I was gonna say like 10 million. No, I was gonna say like stop. Like get to 100 and now like we're cool because now it's like you know, no, I can say like organic more.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

So here's what I will say is reaching more people is great, but it there is a benefit to like slower, moderate, consistent growth because the people who are joining the people you're reaching are more of the right people for you. Um, a lot of times, and a lot of people I've known who've had the crazy exponential growth where they, you know, hundreds of thousands in a couple weeks or something. A lot of times it's really hard because there's a whole brand new audience, there's people who don't know them there, the expectations are different, and then that huge rush of people, if they don't immediately connect with things and they don't watch any more of it, which then ends up hurting the person's channel more. Um, so it's like it seems cool when you know I've seen stuff where it's like Mr. Beast is gonna get this brand new YouTuber to a million subscribers or something. It's like that's a nightmare. Um, it's much better to just kind of do your thing and grow at the rate at which you grow.

SPEAKER_03 57:24

Uh there's space for everyone here on YouTube and look at where you're look at where you're at now, Tom. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 57:31

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Cute. Ken says, five years and not missing a single week is very impressive. Congratulations, Tom, after 25 years of content creating. I actually had short or longer pauses from time to time in those 25 years.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

Yeah, Ken, I found Ken has an amazing photography blog that goes back years and is really good.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

Um YouTube shorts suck, pure confirmation, no depth, no thinking.

SPEAKER_01 57:53

I mean, it depends on the person. I don't enjoy creating them most of the time, but some people are brilliant at it.

SPEAKER_03 58:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:01

Um you know, I think what's I think with that, it's important to understand what you like both as a creator and a consumer or viewer. Like, and not to feel like, well, shorts are popular, so I have to consume this.

SPEAKER_03 58:13

Like, Odo Coffee says two years in, I still bit uh a little bit self-conscious when I tell people I make YouTube videos. Five years in, still self-conscious.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

What a nightmare question.

SPEAKER_03 58:22

Still, he he look at him. Yeah, start sweating. Yeah, that's what If I I'm like waiting for the chance for someone to ask me what I do. Because I I'm I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

I'm happy to talk about YouTube stuff, and it depends on the person. Some people are more like some people are just the kind of person that you would want to talk about that with more.

SPEAKER_03 58:44

Um, sorry, I didn't mean to click on it.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

No, no, no, I forgot what I was gonna say. It's okay. Uh oh, we're we're behind, so we should catch up anyway. From a Facebook post, no less.

SPEAKER_03 58:59

I know. Geez. Hey, Zen. Live streaming help. Uh Tom, are you saying it's easier to admit you're a Donnie Osman fan rather than a YouTube creator? That is a very good question. Who is that?

SPEAKER_01 59:10

Like Donnie and Marie. They they have their show, I forget what what casino it was in Vegas. They have their pictures on it for a decade on the whole side of the building.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

Okay, postcolour, do what you can't. Um, that needs to be on a shirt. That is. I didn't make that up. Yeah, that's Casey Nyset's tagline.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Because Casey was the the thing that like watch that video.

SPEAKER_03 59:30

Go to Casey's show. Go watch that video. That's so you can't. It's just like if you are a creator and you need like what we're doing is like so awesome, go watch that video.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

If you need the push to feel like, no, I could do this and it doesn't have to be perfect.

SPEAKER_02 59:44

It's such a good video.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

Um yeah, start with what you can. Big yeah, so many TV shows like are just weird shells of what they would become shells.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

Are we vlogging our desert trip? It is going to be hot, yo. So we'll see. Um, it has been super fun to watch the growth and cheer you on. Congratulations. Um Rambling Vlogger, channel identity. There is another Rambling Vlogger I've discovered. He's US and I'm UK. I've got the YouTube, Twitter, and Insta name officially and bought the domain. Thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

Um, I don't think. Well, it's it's really funny. So the band Blink182 There's another Tom Buck. Yeah, there is. There, well, there's a few, but there's one, there's Tom Buck.com is a voiceover guy actor guy. Thank God. Because a lot of the other Tom Bucks that pop up in the news are weird. And like one of them is like went to jail for like financial fraud or something, and there's like there's it's just weird. Oh, there was once, I should tell you this, when I was out of high school and I was working at the video store, which is a thing that used to exist. I remember when people came in to sign up for accounts, we'd have to take their driver's license and their credit card and type in all the info. And this guy came in and he was he was like, uh, hey, can I create an account? I was like, Yeah, sure. I took his thing and I was typing in his thing, and his license said Thomas Buck. And I was like, I was like, Did I put my ID up here? And I was like, Your name is Tom Buck. And he was like, Yeah, I was like, my name is Tom Buck.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:09

That's so weird.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

It turns out we had different middle names, but his middle name was my grandpa's middle name, who was also named Tom Tom Buck. So he had the exact same name as my grandpa. Um, and I was like, Wow, it's so cool, it's so so interesting. Um, and then he immediately went back into the the adult movie section and turned out to be kind of a weirdo. I was like, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:29

No judgment.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

I mean, you do what you gotta do. It was 2004, I get it, but like do you though? That okay, that's not what made him a weirdo. It just you have repeat customers, and you're just like, you know what? Just not super comfortable around this person, actually. Those kind of things.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:47

Like okay, so what you have thoughts on channel identity. I I don't think you should worry.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

I don't think you should worry. That's my thought. That's my ultimate thought. I don't think you should worry.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:56

Um I don't think you should worry.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

There's there's room for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

Yeah, and I know the name's gonna be like the only time I would worry is if the other name is like trademarked.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Yeah, if they've already done it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

You should definitely not encroach.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:13

Don't create the Verizon YouTube channel. Yeah, don't do that. Um because the chances are both of you I don't think both of you are gonna be creating content in five years. So is it gonna be you or him?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:26

Yeah, or her or or them. Uh Monica says we all need a Heather in our creator live. That's true. I got you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

I got you guys. All right. That's what this show is for.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

100% true. I it's fun to see the direct influence like That's so cute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

Adorbs. Uh let's see.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Thank you, killer of demons 669.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:49

Uh Tombach 2 is the best.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. I mean, didn't forget about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:59

Try to catch up a little bit. Um how was your creative experience during the pandemic?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:04

For me, it was great because I got to stay inside and play with gear, which is what I would normally do all the time, but I'd feel guilty for not going outside and doing stuff. So um for me it was like, no, now I have I'm being told to do the stuff I already wanted to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:18

Uh Pierre says, What is your ratio between your creative work, scenario shooting, and administrative work, affiliate management, accounting, mail? That is a very good question.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

Yeah, it it's that's actually been a problem lately. It's tipping too much towards the non-creative stuff, and I need and the there's no real need for that. So I'm trying to actively tip it more towards the creative side of things. Um it's probably I want to say it is 50-50 right now because you're out, you're it's probably like currently closer to 50-50, but it was getting like 60-40, but more admins, 70-30 maybe, and I want to tip it back and like the opposite of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:55

Yeah. Um wow, it's crazy. I want to be on YouTube for 13 years. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:03

Yeah, my very first YouTube video was uploaded in 2007 on like some personal channel. Basically, it's a Google Drive thing. I need to send a link to a friend that I recorded some music stuff for.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:13

Tom, I sent a few people to your channel, but it seems like the live count isn't refreshing.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

What are you at right now? The uh yeah, like YouTube only shows the um well, thank you, though. Actually, we're at 99865. So 135.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:30

9985. Oh, okay. Yeah, so it's sometime this weekend. We'll schedule uh possibly tomorrow, but probably. Well, let's just call it Saturday. We'll do a live stream. Yeah, and we could we could we'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Um, let's see. Boop boop.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:49

Ah, Phillips here and says, I agree on slow and steady. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:52

Yes. James says, Do you think creating, making videos helps you enjoy teaching in the last few years? If so, how and why?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

Yes. I I'm not sure if you mean like while I was teaching, if it helped me enjoy it more. It's funny because starting the YouTube channel was a way to get like away from my job, but it ended up helping me be better at my job. And my job, communicating, explaining stuff, helped me to be better at YouTube, so they both were connected. Yeah. Um, and then since leaving teaching, YouTube has been a great outlet for like I really want to explain something right now to Stephanie, and now I can do that how I want.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:27

Tech Audit TV, Flamingo Hotel. That's what I thought. That's what I thought too. But I was on the side, right? Like wallpaper.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:33

It's still called the flamingo. Everything's changing now. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

It is, yeah. It's like the it's like one of the last things.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

The flamingo's like the pinkish one, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:40

It's right outside when you walk.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

The blink. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:44

Um, Donnie is not Harris with a new contract. He lives about three miles from my house. Wow. Um, I imagine that dude in the video store really appreciated personal interaction with a clerk who's definitely going to represent.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:56

I hope he's doing well. I mean, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:59

Oh, that sucks. What's sad is all the vids from 2013 and back are all gone. That sucks. Um, how do you feel joining an agency could impact your reach?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

I would never do it personally. I've only heard horror stories about it. Um, because it's also like the thing about reach on YouTube is it is the biggest thing is the YouTube algorithm, love it or hate it. And there is no magic thing that that another like agency is gonna be like, we're gonna lock you into the secrets, and then like they push a button and now your channel explodes. They just take your ad revenue.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:29

But the one thing I will say though is that the business side of being a full-time creator is very, very, very complicated. I mean, Tom just said 70-30. Like sometimes it takes a lot of time, and I 100% get that that is something people would want to outsource. Like the whole thing, take the whole thing, and like in exchange, I you take a cut of what I make from YouTube. That makes sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:55

Like agencies, uh, but I do know a number of people who have managers which kind of do so that instead of they'll just be like, hey, this company wants to do a sponsorship. Do you want to do it? Yes, okay. And the manager knows your terms, and the manager says, Okay, you now have a what here's a squarespace spot. Uh, it needs to be 60 seconds, hit these points, you're done. Um, money in the bank account, and then they take a cut or whatever. Um, I haven't done that, I'm not interested in doing that, but I I know other people who it's been an absolute like lifesaver because it takes so much off of their shoulders.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:27

Um, I wish I had look I had YouTubers local to meet to hang out and talk shop from time to time. 100%. Totally. I know we got really lucky.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

Yeah, we got lucky. The in-person, you can do it online and it's great.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:39

But well in Long Beach, actually, it was easy.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:42

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:43

It was really easy because it's like super next to LA.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:46

Um where we're at, it's not easy.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:48

Yeah, no, there's like two people, and it's us.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:52

There's other people, yeah. There are like uh there's a shocking number of massive YouTubers here who have like second homes, like people with millions and millions.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:59

Yeah, like they're never gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:00

But they're also in the like the like lifestyle niche, and it's like I I don't think we're gonna have yeah, future Tom Buck merch. Uh what were we talking about? Something. I I I would love to I I don't have like a t-shirt idea or something, but I would love to do something practical. Like we talk about windscreens, mic windscreen would be fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

Did we?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

We did at one point doing like custom windscreen.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:26

No, no, was it?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:27

I a thing I would like, but I need like a company to work with would be like a boom arm, where it's it's like all the stuff, you know, all the thing where I could make smash all the ones I want together into like the perfect boom arm where you're like, oh man, the person who made this like actually uses these things. That's what I would want. But that's like not merch, that's a different thing altogether.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:53

Uh let's see. What um here we go. Did you ever think about making videos on other subjects? Guitars, bass, drums?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Yeah, uh, I mean, if you go back to the older videos, like you can see there's a hodgepodge, a lot of 3D printing videos and stuff, and then currently that's what my like second channel is for. Half the videos there are just bass related right now. And one about airplanes.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:18

Um, don't you guys live out in sandy shores? Where's that?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:25

Wait, I don't know if I the name is familiar, but I don't know if you're talking about like the crazy salt and sea area. No, we live in the Coachella Valley, so a little more, a little more in the realms of civilization.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:38

Um, I'm only two and a half hours away from you guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:41

That's super close.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:43

That's pretty much like if you're in LA. I'm two hours away from everything in Southern California. That's where we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:49

Um I love Peter t-shirt as a merch.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:52

Yeah, just I love Peter. My merch is just about somebody else.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:59

Boom mic arm that works well. Take my money. Oh, yeah, boom arm. Mine is exactly like yours, a bunch of little adapters shunk together.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:07

Yeah, stuff where it's like, okay, you don't have to finagle adapters, the things turn the way you want them to turn.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:14

Yeah, like oh, there we go. Call Paflin.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:17

That's true. Oh my god. I remember connections. Reading reading and watching their journey with the switch pod, which seems like such a simple device. Like the different iterations it had to go through, getting the manufacturing process.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:32

Right here, I wrote What is this?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:37

Something singing niche? Niche summarizing. Niche summer thing. Man, I can't read my own writing. I don't know. It's cryptic.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:51

Surpassing thing?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:53

I don't know. Josh is here. Josh is gotta. Hey Josh.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:55

Hey Josh, I haven't talked in a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:57

Road road starting any day now.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:59

Okay, let me try to think of I know we're running over, but let's like close it up with um what is okay. So we read we got a little glimpse of you two time. Okay, I have two questions.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:29

What's the thing that you're most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:33

I mean do what is something you didn't expect?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

Uh okay, most proud of is doing it, like doing the thing. Sitting around and waiting for so many years to want to do it and then thinking I couldn't do it. It's for someone else to do other than doing the thing. Yeah, always so many things. I was just thinking about that this morning. So many things felt like for so long they were just four other people, and they're not. And YouTube, that's the thing that YouTube has taught me. The other question was, What are you most proud of? I think that or the thing I've learned the most about is um, what did you not expect? Or like maybe it's that that YouTube has taught me there's so many things in the world that you think maybe you maybe you don't, but I thought were four other people, and they're not. Even stuff like what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:23

So here's a really good example. Even something like, you know, growing up, my family was pretty modest. Very rarely, if ever, would we do something like not only go out to eat, but like order dessert at a restaurant. And so if we were out to eat somewhere, like Denny's or whatever, and I saw another table getting their dessert, it's like, wow, that looks so cool. Um, we don't do that. Like, that's not for me. I don't get to do that kind of a thing. Or um, I even remember stuff like trying to do anything athletic as a kid. Um, because you have to learn to be athletic, turns out. Uh, and it was a weird thing, like a combination of both family and just like friends and peers, where if I tried to do something physical or athletic and I wasn't immediately amazing, which is shocking, I never was. It was like the ridicule and the humiliation was so huge that it was like, oh, I'll never do that. So that means the people who are really good at it are just naturally good at it. So someone who's going to be athletic or strong or whatever, that's not me. I don't, I can't do that. Um, and that kind of thing, well, I mean, it it would literally be I I can't uh like anything, like going places. Like there's just so many experiences, so many things that I just felt like they're not that's not for me, that's what other people do. I'm not in a position to be able to do that. Um, and YouTube was one of those. I would watch people, I'd be like, God, that looks so much fun to like make videos and set up a camera and stuff. Um, but that's for other people because if I do that, I'm going to be told that that's stupid. I'm going to be asked why I'm wasting my time doing it. I'm going to be criticized for who's going to want to watch you, what makes you think you should be in front of a camera. Um, even stuff like honestly, like so many of I have really good friends who I love uh to this day, and they're few and far between because most of the most of what I was surrounded with was just the people who happened to be geographically near me when I grew up, and a lot of them kind of sucked. And then so it's like, well, this is it. Like this my experience is you're just around people who are mean to you a lot, and that's the way that it is. And then even somebody like you and like James and Mark, like your whole circle would have been people like if we went to school, it's fun that we always go, like, if we went to school, we've made friends. Honestly, if we actually went to school, I would have thought they look like they're having a lot of fun. I can't, I don't go over there. Like, I'm not somebody who gets to go over there and do those things. I don't go to the dances, I don't go to the I I don't get to be a part of that kind of stuff because it's not for me. Um and YouTube was one of those things, and then it was like wanting to do it, and then really like hitting low points, and then also binging Casey Neistat videos, where it was like, I think, because he, even though we have very different lives, he's very much unapologetic about doing things his way, and his vlogs, his daily vlogs showed, like, I'm gonna do this thing my way, how I want, and it's gonna be unconventional, and but I'm gonna be happy and have a lot of fun doing it. And I was like, you could just do that. And then so that was the push of like this thing. Like, I've been wanting to start something, whether it was a blog or a YouTube channel or whatever, for years. And like now I should just do the thing, and I'm gonna start it. And then, because of starting that, that was then why I was like, Well, I started this channel. I maybe I could learn how to fly a drone, maybe I could book a trip to a place I've always wanted to go, even though no one else ever wanted to go there. Maybe I I could uh, you know, buy an electric skateboard. Maybe I could when I see somebody who seems really cool and is doing something that I think is really neat. Maybe I could actually like send them a message and reach out to them.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:10

Like And then we got married. And then we got married.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

Like the only it was a mindset thing, but it was also an experience thing because my it was a mindset. Like I'm sure at any point in time, right? Sure, in high school, I probably could have found the people that I thought like I couldn't go over to that group over there.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:26

And you could have just I probably could have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:28

I maybe I didn't have the social skills to like to actually navigate that, but they could have been very, very nice. Um, but so much of my experience really was people telling me, no, this isn't for you, no, you don't belong here, no, you are bad at this, no, you shouldn't do this, no, your idea is stupid. Like, that was literally not in my head, that was the experience. Right. And the thing about YouTube is you're not limited to your geographic location, right? And that's the magic of it. Is because you can do the thing that it seems like everyone around you is calling you an idiot for or whatever, and then you realize you connect with someone like me who's like, How come you're this like sheltered wallflower?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:09

Like, you should be front and center. I I I remember meeting Tom for the first time. I was like, This is like one of the coolest guys I've ever met. And he doesn't think so, and it's so confusing to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:20

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:20

Um because I have met way more uncool people who thought they were way cooler than like no.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:28

Um, yeah, so the the YouTube was that thing, which is why, as frustrating as comments and analytics and algorithms and stuff, we've talked about, like, we were able to meet, and that like personal empowerment that this platform for free life-changing provides is something that I I can't ever, ever like overemphasize or give too much appreciation to, and that has been the most empowering thing. Where then it was like it made me better at my job, it made me like more comfortable around people, it made me like it just made me better in like every way, and so that was that's my answer to whatever the question was that you had asked.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:11

That was such a great way to end it. I love you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:16

I love you too.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:18

I'm very proud of you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:19

Thank you. I appreciate all the endless support because it's I think you're number one fan since I met you.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:25

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:25

I think your subscriber's I think your subscriber number two because I was number one, but you're number two.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:31

Oh man. All right. Uh let's see. I prefer pork over chicken, adobo. God, I'm drooling just thinking about adobo. I have I've been vegetarian for like a year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:42

Is that like Adobo Photoshop?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:48

Uh Sandy Shores is a fictional town in GT5.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:51

Yes, okay, because this was the thing when Peter was here.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:55

Oh, he wanted to go see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:56

Well, no, no, no. The big mountain in Sandy Shores is because it's the mountain with the Palm Springs tramway. If you're pointing at it, it's over there. It's like it's like 40 miles that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:06

It's not like near.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:08

Um, you can see it from here, but that's the big mountain in GTA 5. And so when Peter was here, I was like, Did you ever see GTA 5? That's the mountain. He was like, I've been at the top of that.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:17

Ron says, Tell us about post-YouTube Tom when he assumes his final form.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:21

I don't know. Um, host a game show or something.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:24

Hey Peter Gregg, can I come over next weekend? Answer exactly like a teacher would.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:28

I would be like, Oh man, that's like that's so nice. It's really we're just so, we're just, you know. I love, I love, what would I say if a kid actually asked? Actually, I would be honest. When I was my like high school kids, when I started teaching high school, Facebook was still popular. And so kids would be like, Can I add you on Facebook? And I would always go, like, I don't add, I don't add current students. So the day you graduate, I'll add you, knowing that they would never remember. And they never did.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:51

Um I'll add students.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:53

I mean, every once in a while.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:54

As soon as they graduated, they were like, Mr. Mires, I want to add you.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:58

At that time, I taught a lot of freshmen, so it was like, okay, in four years, if you're still into Facebook, which they weren't.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:06

Uh bye, Daddy Toxic. Adios.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:08

I just like to be in here. You also sent me like the nicest messages ever, which is so funny because the it's just not what I expected, but I appreciate it. Oh, Steve Jobs, yes. I I show that video, that specific video to my students with the do what you can't video. Like on the first day of school.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:28

That's how my juniors and seniors. If you were a new student, Tom's classroom, well, junior or senior, I wouldn't. Going through like orientation, like orientation math class, English class, all the classes, then you go into Tom's room and then he starts playing YouTube videos. It's like, oh, this is gonna be the function.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:43

But it shows the the power, because that's what Steve Jobs said. He's like, uh, the everything you know is made by people who were, I think he says no smarter than you, but it's like they didn't have access to anything you don't have. Like all the constructs, everything like you can poke at it, you can change it, you can tweak it a little bit. Like you don't have to just live within this pre-existing thing that somebody else made necessarily.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:09

Um, let's see. You gave me fantastic advice before I really really started. You simply you said simply start. I'll remember that forever.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:19

Awesome. I'm glad. I'm really proud of what you've done. But that's also like speaking from experience. Like, this is the only regret is not starting sooner.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:25

Derek says, Tom, watching your videos has impacted on my own pursuits and also allowed me to have valid input to the college I work at with music and media. All success to you another is more than well deserved. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:37

That's really great. I'm happy.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:39

Um I love the discussion about where we're all located. One day I still look if I ever could have a superpower. I don't even know why people like why is this even up for debate? It's teleportation.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:53

Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:54

Like everyone's like flying. Why would you fly if you could teleport?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:59

Like you could get a pilot's license. You can't get a teleport license.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:04

Uh let's see. Five people you hang around most is who you become.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:09

I've heard that too. Which is why also like there's a lot of common advice for hanging around people who are above where you're at. I could just make door stops and I can call them buck stops.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:21

Dude, who uses door stops?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:23

When I was a teacher, I did everything. Oh, you did. I had to go, and you know what doesn't provide them? Freaking schools, so I had to go to the house. Oh, Tom.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:30

A lot of us were outsiders. It feels good to tell you that you made it, buddy. And the out-of-reach people are working at 7-Eleven and sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:37

I mean, some of them, in my case, from where I came from, some of them are dead from drugs, but some of them are also just totally fine normal people that I was projecting onto and they did nothing wrong ever. Um, so it's a combination.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:50

Uh, people near you suck were not naked.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:53

It's hard before the internet, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:56

Aww, another thing, Tommy, you've been such an encouragement to me for playing guitar. I think I suck, but you've got to get it. Oh my god. Okay, first of all, Aubrey, you are Heather the video. I was like, this is amazing. You uh it's just like such an Aubrey. Both of you guys. You guys always think you're not as good as you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:12

Yeah, Aubrey, so now I know how you feel. Because Aubrey sent me a video of her playing the guitar, just like I haven't played in a long time, and I'm I'm playing it.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:19

Sounded amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:20

Not only did it sound amazing, but you were like, you were like talking and doing stuff. You you were like playing and strumming, doing like a combination of the stuff. Yeah, like pointing and finger stuff. And then you were like, you were like going in time and then going over here and being like, yeah, I got this thing over here, and like this over here, and like you weren't missing a single note. I was like, I don't think she realizes what she's doing right now and how good and how how good it is and how difficult it is to do. So give you give yourself credit for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:45

Action crypto's asking, hey Tom, can we hang out next weekend? Oh man, buddy.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:51

I never called a student buddy in my life. I don't know why. I think that would be frowned upon.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:55

Uh Chris and Perry's so happy for this great milestone, authenticity and kindness is contagious. I share your channel with everyone I know. Oh, yeah, that's what we were supposed to do today. I totally forgot. My original uh share my channel with everyone you know. No, my original um topic for today was to talk about Tom's like life motto, which is work hard, be kind, have fun. And I don't even know why you came up with that. I think it was like with okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:21

Well, are are we talking about that right now or is that a different topic?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:25

But you said the word kindness, Chris, and it made me think of work hard, be kind, have fun, and um but then I was like, oh, we should talk about your five-year anniversary because that's you know, and then we were topical. Yeah, I want a standalone clip of that at the end. That was amazing. Uh, YouTube personal empowerment story, so inspiring. Flying is fun, and uh and I use door shops. Uh it's fine to feel like an outsider with those we were focused to we're forced to spend time with, but a pleasure to be an insider with other creators on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:57

Yeah, it's just it's cool. I think my third YouTube, no, my third vlog video is called You Belong, and it kind of it was a thing. I haven't watched it in years, so it might be like terrible and cheesy, but I remember being very proud of it because I was like, there's no it's just text on screen with music, and it's adorable.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:16

See, I mean, so like that the Tom who like felt like he was a total loser and didn't belong anywhere. When you go into his YouTube channel, watch those first couple vlogs, realizing that this is someone who's trying to break out of his shell. Like, I knew that when I met him because I I was like, why is this guy so like like it was so bad that you couldn't even eat in front of me? It was weird. Like you were weirdly, like very shy.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:44

Oh, there are reasons.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:45

Yeah, there are reasons, and then like to that's why if you watch his first videos, like, I am there, every comment, like, oh my god, this is so cool, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:54

I was always excited to post them because I knew I'd get a comment from you.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:57

It's like I gotta post this video. Cute. Uh Robert says it's been fun listening to you guys this evening. Heather, didn't he make it from a quote from an author and then abbreviated it because it's the original quote was too long?

SPEAKER_01 1:26:07

Uh no, the work hard be kind of fun thing was from when Conan O'Brien was leaving his the Tonight show after the six months and he gave his goodbye speech. It's on YouTube, look it up, it's great. Um, he talks about a thing I've always admired is that even though Conan has like crazy sarcastic humor and like pretends sometimes to be like mean or whatever, he's had a decades-long reputation as being a genuinely nice, kind person. During like the writer's strike, he paid for his whole staff to like keep getting paid just out of his own pocket and stuff and keep things like he's done all kinds of stuff over the years that speak to being genuine and nice. And despite um being in the situation he was in, his message was like, Um, I think he said, like, if you if you work really hard and you're really nice to people, amazing things can happen. I was like, that's like uh that's really good advice. Like, um, and so working with students, I I liked that advice, but I I found personally that it was easy if you just work hard and you have like a strong work ethic, not like hustle, hustle culture, whatever, but you're just like, I have a goal, I'm gonna accomplish my goal, I'm gonna put in the effort, I'm gonna put in the time, which is a very important thing to do, and you're nice to people. Who's gonna argue with that combination? So it's like I would always encourage my students to do those two things. It's like that's a winning combo, but I learned that it also does potentially set you up to be a doormat because when someone is really nice and a hard worker, they often get taken advantage of. Yeah, everyone's by people who aren't as nice. And uh, and so the have fun part I think is really important because it's such a good gauge of if you're doing those first two things, like working really hard and being nice to people, and you're still having fun while you're doing it, that probably means like everything's in alignment. Um, if you're not having fun, that means something's off.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:54

And so, and that was that was the perfect way to end this.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:57

Yeah, so that was the thing I made it up for my senior students. When they would graduate and like their end of the year thing, I would always be like, These are like my three pieces of advice to take. If you don't remember anything else from my class, just remember this. And I probably probably forgot it.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:10

So cute. Well, I'm super proud of you. Um, I just did the podcast episode of Work Hard, Be Kind, Have Fun, Just Crypt in Sacramento. Oh, yeah. When you were teaching, I think I'm mixing different parts of the episode. That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:22

Oh, yeah, that that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:24

Hard be kind, have fun, just creep more.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:26

That was what the because that's my yeah, that those are our two slogans. And originally we were gonna I was going to a conf a teacher conference in Sacramento, and originally we were both gonna go and do a presentation, and then I forget what the reason, but you couldn't go. Um, and so it was just me, but the presentation title was both of our slogans.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:42

Because that's cute.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:44

Anyway, congrats on five years.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:47

Thank you for being so kind and fun and hardworking and supportive and wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:54

Uh I just I hope you I know I know you don't want to like, you know, I know you're afraid of live streams and like making sense of attention and everything. I know you don't, but I I want you to know that like your work is undeniable, like it's all there, you know. So like everyone can just look can everyone can literally look that you have not missed a week since you started five years ago, which is insane to me. And I I think not a lot of people can say that, you know? So I think that if August 2017 Tom could meet you now, yeah. That I mean, I think he'd be very excited. I think he'd be your number one fan.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:41

I I think he'd be pretty happy and pretty like what you're married to that girl you don't work at the school.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:47

What?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:50

Also, why aren't you still in the best shape of your life? But stop. I worked really hard.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:56

All right, guys. So thanks for tuning in. Quick question before the episode ends. Did you have Vegemite after the taste test?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:02

Yeah, I I haven't had it in a bit, but I I totally did. Like I was like, oh, I just want more of this, and then just ate it while watching Hing of the Hill and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:10

All right. Thanks uh everyone for all your videos.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:13

Yeah, thank you very, very much. It's been awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:15

We'll do a we'll do like the official 100K live stream for members only.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:21

Yeah. If I get the guts, maybe it'd be a public one, but I'm scared.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:25

I don't think it's gonna.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:26

I'm a scared boy.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:27

It's nothing against you. You gotta do this your YouTube channel, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:30

I feel I feel much better after seeing this. And it there's a weird thing, so I'll just put this out there of I don't want to, I feel weird doing a big public thing that's like, look at me, I do do but look at me, my hundred thousand subscribers, and I'm super cool now because I hit this milestone.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:48

Yeah, he doesn't want to come off that.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:50

No, but I I am realizing through like our stream here, like and I do this too when channels I like are growing or people are doing something. I'm always refreshing, I'm always sending the messages. I'm excited for them.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:02

We share in the feeling of the accomplishment.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:05

There is a fun thing of like a shared. So I don't know. Maybe I need to reevaluate that a little bit, but we'll see. We'll talk. We can talk and talk offline. Take it off pod.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:15

Uh oh, Kevin's here. Hey, Kevin.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:18

Oh, I was like, Widg, Kevin. Basic filmmaker, Kevin. Thanks, Kevin. Congrats on all you've been wildly consistent. Kevin made a comeback and he's just been like a video today, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:29

Uh Chris says, regarding his character, Tom is the same since the beginning of his YouTube journey.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:34

Just more gray hair.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:37

I love how awkward Tom gets about receiving compliments. It exemplifies what good, kind-hearted, and using human being you are. No hard feelings about not wanting to hang.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:44

I like compliments.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:46

I just get no, you get hella awkward.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:50

I know. I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:51

It's okay. It's okay. That's good. All right. All right, bye, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:57

Audio. Oh, it's time to clear the table. Thank you for being here. Hope you have a safe, happy, healthy, fun rest of your week.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:02

We'll probably see you this weekend again, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:04

Yay, we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:06

Bye, everybody. Where is my outro? Here we go.