Creator Fundamentals

To be completely honest, this really doesn’t feel the way I expected it to.

Goals can be funny that way. The journey is often more thrilling than the destination.

Granted so many things have changed since I started this channel in 2017.

After hitting 50,000 after 2 short years, it took me another 6 years to get the other 50k.

Did YouTube change? Maybe a little, but this drastic shift in results was mostly my doing.

This little thing called Amazon Influencer Video caught my attention and I spent a couple years making videos for Amazon, creating a course so others could do the same, and collecting a few hundred thousand dollars in the process.

My attention on that opportunity has shifted now as well.

During these past 8 years my professional career also underwent major changes (YEP - I still maintain a full time career outside of content creation).

In 2022, the company I had worked for, for 9 years, informed me my position would be eliminated. Upon hearing the news I was actually a bit excited, and nervous of course, because I was going to become a “full time content creator” - queue the trumpets! 🎺 🎺

BUT the day after I received the news something amazing happened, perhaps more than amazing… Devine Intervention perhaps ✝️🙏

I received a call for an interview for a job I had been trying to get for 6 years. Life is funny sometimes. One door closes and another opens.

Over the past 3 years I have been establishing myself as a valued leader within that organization while also navigating the chaos that comes with it. I like to visualize it as herding cats 🐈 🐈‍⬛.

During all of this, my children have grown from ages 7 & 11 to 15 & 19. One is in high school and the other is in college.

My wife and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year 🤵‍♂️👰‍♀️💒. I could not imagine accomplishing any of this without her ❤️.

Since 2017 we have lost family members, and 5 family pets from our home, including our beautiful Bella just 2 days ago 😢. She was with us for the past 10 years and all of my YouTube journey to this point.

I guess the point of all of this is that social media followings and growth are really less about the destination and so much more about the journey.

Right now I am visualizing it as a long walk on the beach. When you get to the end of it, don’t forget all the footprints 👣 that got you there because each one has a story to tell and they are likely far more significant than the end of the beach 🏖️.

Maybe the COOLEST part of getting to 100,000 subscribers is that this is NOT the end, but a brand NEW BEGINNING!!

I am very excited to see what the next chapter brings.

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed along the way. The past 8 years have provided some amazing memories in the creator space and the future is full of opportunity.

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