What's Next? Season 11 Finale!

It's the Season 11 finale! After not only a season, but an entire year of some pretty intense self reflection both creatively and professionally, I wanted to share some of what I've learned along with some goals and ideas for the coming year.

🎙This week's  mic:
•SE X1-A
https://geni.us/LRLD3Z4 (Amazon)

•The X1-A was running through the Rodecaster Pro II with on the Broadcaster preset.

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S11E10 | Series Episode 164

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Podcast Artwork by Kevin Ramirez
Original theme music written by Patrick Boberg and performed by Mike Alvarez

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Hello and welcome. My name is Tom. This is the Enthusiasm Project Season 11, Episode 10. That's right, my friends. This is the end, the season finale of season 11. Finally, it's the finale. Yay! So I do want to apologize right off the bat. I have a cold that just will not go away. Uh, it's why there was no episode last week. It's one of the reasons there was no episode last week, and it just won't go away. And I decided I'm just gonna power through and do my best to record a podcast episode. So uh I really hope that my nasaliness does not affect anything. I did record an episode with COVID last year, so I don't think this will sound as funky as that did. But if you notice a little bit of nasliness or anything, that's definitely me and my cold, and I just didn't want to wait however many more days. At this point, I don't think it's ever gonna go away. So that's what we're recording today, and I wanted to make sure you're aware of that because I am using some brand new gear, and I don't want you to think if something sounds weird, that it's the gear, it's just me. I am recording into the ROECaster Pro 2, as usual. I'm actually using a different preset. I'm using the broadcaster preset because the microphone that I'm using is one that I literally just unboxed 30 minutes ago. It is the SE X1A, which is a very interesting combination of letters to include next to each other. This is the first time I've ever used an SE branded microphone. The X1A was recommended to me as a microphone that sounds amazing. And in the case of the person who recommended it, they said that it replaced their SM7B, and I think it was a ProCast, some other higher-end microphones because they really loved how this microphone sounded on their voice. And some cool things about this microphone, maybe one of the coolest is that it has an MSRP of $89. So it's a very affordable microphone. It's super well built. I did a uh, you know, my unboxing. Actually, you don't know that. I'm also recording a video about this microphone, kind of like I did with the podcast workflow a few weeks ago. So I recorded uh the start of the video before doing this episode where I unboxed it and did some initial tests and what I thought of the sound and everything. And in that, I was immediately blown away by the build quality, especially for $89. You know, it's you don't really always expect things to be super well built unless you're buying like an SM58 or 57 or something. But otherwise, it can be kind of hit or miss. This is a very nicely built microphone, and it's beautiful. I have a red one because that's kind of what pushed me over the edge. It was recommended to me, and then I saw there was a red option, and I was like, yep, I'm definitely gonna be getting that red microphone because it looks sweet, and I don't have like just a straight up red microphone. So it's shiny, glossy red, nice metal body. It does have a low pass or high pass filter. I always get those mixed up, and it also has a negative 20 decibel pad. So if you're using it for instruments, which are super loud, you could flip that switch and it will just turn the input gain way, way down so that way you don't get any, you know, crazy clipping or anything. The downsides to the microphone that I found so far are that it is uh very susceptible to plosives. So what I'm actually going to do right now after we do some little sound tests here is put on a pop filter so we don't have to worry about that while we do this episode. And it's also really susceptible to handling noise. If I touch the microphone, you'll hear that. But also, if I hit my desk, you kind of hear that like it's really transferring the sound of me hitting the desk to the microphone in a way that I've not had to deal with with any other microphones ever. So it's very prone to handling noise. Maybe something like the Lewitt LC240 would be similar, but they have shock mounts. This does not come with a shock mount, and it has sort of a strange shape and a strange mount. So I don't know, I'd have to buy like a proprietary shock mount or something. That's really my only gripe. The plosive thing, kind of a gripe. The the handling noise and no immediately accessible shock mount has been kind of a hurdle. But um, you've been listening to me on the X1A with the broadcaster preset. If I turn that off, this is what the microphone sounds like straight out of the box. Uh, very kind of flat, neutral, almost a little bit boxy. And I do in the video I'm making, I do a comparison with the Rode NT1, and they sound very different with no effects and no processing. The NT1 sounds so much better, but as soon as I turn on the processing, like I did just right now, they almost sound exactly the same. So it really is a good example of how important processing is when it comes to microphones. That's something that's a big lesson I've learned this year is microphone processing. And I am going to put right now, there we go. We have the uh pop filter or the windscreen from my LCT240 Pro fits right on here. I think it did change the sound a little bit. If I take that off, we now have a little more of that high end, and I put this on, and it sort of just takes it down a little bit. In a way, I actually really like the way that this sounds. So I wanted to kind of play around with some more budget options. I'm also going to be doing something similar soon before the next podcast season, so I'm not gonna wait that long, with the MXL 990, which is another very affordable condenser microphone, because I love being able to recommend these more budget-friendly options, especially if they're they're decent. There's there's sometimes you can get stuff that's like 40 bucks, 50 bucks, or even less, and it can be decent, but you're gonna you kind of never know. SE and MXL are both brands that I would trust to be a little more consistent and a little more, you know. If I buy a microphone and it's built well and it sounds good, and you buy it, you should have the same experience I did. Sometimes it can be very hit or miss with more of those budget options. So with the gear wrap-up out of the way, now I want to dive into what we're talking about in this episode, which um I kind of wanted to do, I guess I would call it like a cherry-picking episode. Not only is it the end of the season, but I'm also recording this in the month of December. If you're listening to this in the future, hello. And, you know, it's the end of the year. I recently also had a birthday. It's been a crazy year, so it's also a time for just kind of reflection and thinking back on stuff. So I wanted to share some of the stuff that I've been thinking about and reflecting on, and so maybe some of the things I've learned, the lessons I've learned along the way, in hopes that not only is it maybe a little bit interesting, but hopefully it's also helpful in either knowing that somebody else also feels the way that you feel and thinks about things the way that you think about them, and that maybe you can, you know, maybe there's some nuggets of wisdom to cherry pick and take away there. That would be that would be my ultimate goal. So that's kind of what I wanted to to start with today. And the first thing I wanted to go over is actually very exciting and doesn't really involve me that much, but is super cool and something that has been really inspiring and motivating, and that is my good buddy Peter Lindgren. At the time you're watching this, maybe you've heard about it. He launched an actual physical product last week, which is very exciting, and it's something that he's been working on for a year and a half, and it's something that I've been watching him work on since day one. And it has been so cool. Uh, basically, what it is is uh Peter travels a lot and does a lot of vlogging and videography and photography and stuff, and anybody who travels with cameras or uses cameras knows that dealing with your batteries and your memory cards can be a hassle. And so Peter wanted to like sort of figure out a way to be more efficient with that. He's like, I've seen it firsthand, you know, that he is absolutely obsessed with efficiency and maximizing efficiency and everything and any kind of setup. And I know for me, when I travel with my camera and I have my batteries, trying to remember which ones are charged and which ones aren't charged is usually kind of messy. You know, it starts out very organized, but then I usually end up doing something like, okay, this pocket of my camera bag is for dead batteries, this one's for my camera. I have a little holder, it's a little, it's the nomadic like Peter McKinnon battery organizer that just holds batteries. So charged batteries goes in there, dead batteries go in another pocket, or sometimes it's like, you know, I've seen systems where it's like you put a sticker on the bottom of the battery, and when the sticker is up in your battery holder, that means the battery is dead, and it's like it's so hard to remember. Wait, does up mean it's dead, or does up mean it's charged, or you forget to do something, and then you end up grabbing a dead battery? It's like it's such a a system that is prone to problems, and it doesn't work that well. There have been cool ways of like organizing and working with batteries for other things like drones and power tools and action cameras, but for straight up, you know, mirrorless DSLR cinema cameras, there's never really been anything that's that great. And so about a year and a half ago, Peter bought a 3D printer, and I have 3D printers and I like them a lot. So I was kind of talking to him as he was getting it up and running, and then he started trying to teach himself Tinkercad, and he wanted to make just a battery holder, like a little battery organizer holder thing. So I was helping him sort of figure out how to like measure for Sony batteries. He was even seeing if he could make one for like Canon batteries, and he sent he sent me over a file to print out, and I've had this little blue plastic 3D printed battery holder all that time. Then it's it's been really fun. And then he kept going and was like, okay, what if out instead of two batteries, could I make it hold three or four batteries? He kind of decided like three batteries is sort of an optimal size because four it starts to get big and weird, and yeah, three is a good size. And then he had this cool little organizer, which is something you know he could print for himself. He can send the file to friends, you could even put the file up for download or heck, even sell the file if you wanted. I know, like, you know, there's lots of channels like Caleb Pike, it's been making all kinds of really cool camera accessory products that are 3D printed, and then you he just you puts them up for sale, the files, and you can you can buy them and then print it yourself and have have a camera thing. That's really cool. But I saw the whole thing as Peter wanted to take it further and start doing things that kind of were beyond his ability to design and manufacture at home, which was can we make this more useful? So instead of just holding your batteries, could it also charge your batteries? So you plug in three batteries, you plug one cable into this thing, and now it will charge all of them at once, which also means even when it's not charging, you can push a button and then see the charge level of each battery. So, you know, like DJI kind of has this in their drone. If you have like a multi-charger for the drone batteries, it's sort of similar. There's even like I have an aftermarket GoPro battery case that's sort of similar. You put batteries in there, and it's nice because you can see the charge level of each battery. There's no more weird janky sticker system or anything like that. And so that's really helpful right there. But then because Peter is Peter, he wanted to take things even further and try to figure out okay, can I put memory card slots in here? Not as a card reader, but just as a memory card holder. So you don't have to take a battery case and a memory card case, you can take one thing. So he then figured out how to put slots for SD cards, slots for CF Express cards, three of each for those, and then two slots for micro SD cards. Because when you're traveling, if you have action cameras or drones, or you know, even in my case, like a podcast recorder mixer, use a lot of micro SD cards, and now it can hold, so it can hold a total of eight memory, no, six, yeah, eight memory cards and three batteries, charge the battery simultaneously. And if you have batteries, I know I sound like a commercial, but heck yeah, I do want you to buy this thing. And if if you have all your batteries, or if you have a battery in it, it's better if you have all your batteries in it, you can then also use it as a power bank. So you can use your camera batteries to then power and charge other devices. Super cool, super utilitarian. It can replace your battery holder, your camera charger, your memory card case, and potentially even a power bank, depending on what your setup is. And it's great and it's crazy. Like he literally, because he doesn't have the crazy social anxiety that I have, he even approached a company last year of like, here's my idea, this is what I want to do, and then they helped with the design and manufacture. I think he had to put up quite a bit of money as an investment. So it's it's really not one of those things where you see a product come out and it's something that's already been around for a long time, and then someone just slaps their name or their logo on it. It's like, yeah, here's my thing. It's like, no, this is his idea that he essentially like contracted a company to help manufacture and produce. Peter got to design the packaging for it. There's even a QR code on the front that goes to his website. It is so cool. And they finally announced it and started, uh, I think shipping them out, or at least shipping it out to retailers last week. And it's like it's something you can buy either directly from you know Peter's website or the company's website or from like BH or something. My hope is that one day I'll be able to walk into like a Best Buy and just see it. Because if I saw something that a friend of mine made for sale in like a you know, a national retail, that would just be so cool. So that's the the tri charge, is what he called it. And it's awesome. I have mine sitting right over there. It's the way that I charge all my camera batteries, even at home. Obviously, it seems like it's geared more towards travel, but like now I only need one cable to charge three batteries instead of I was using you know one outlet per charger this whole time up until now, and now I can have one little cable. Basically, it freed up a lot of outlets in my studio here, and I can be more efficient with it. And then if I need to go somewhere, I just grab that whole thing, throw it in my bag, and I'm done. Because I prioritize a USB cable anyway, so I don't need to even bring an extra one, just the tri charge, which doesn't take up really any more space than just the regular battery holder that I was using before. But the reason I'm telling you this is because not just to like promote a product or anything, it's just the experience of watching this happen from start to finish, and it has not been an easy thing. Like I know you might see it in the store and be like, oh, it's a battery charger thing. Yeah, that's a cool idea. I've seen a lot of people go, like, oh yeah, it's kind of like the thing for DJI drones, or it's kind of like what power tools have, and it's almost dismissive, and it's like, wow, I've I've seen this person invest so many hours over the past 18 months into this thing, and so much money, and so much just time and energy and thought to finally like launch it and make it available is huge. And it's in a way, I've I've been telling him like you you invented a thing because it didn't exist. There were kind of versions of things sort of like this around, but nothing that actually does this and is actually this useful. And the reason it can be so useful is because it came from someone who was dealing with the pain and the frustration of this like you know, friction in their workflow for so many years that then they went to solve the problem. And because, you know, they're actually using this stuff, they're probably not the only one that has that problem. So it seems like other people are very excited about it as well because it can solve the problem for them. And that has been it's been genuinely like whether or not you're trying to make a product or anything, it's just been an inspiring and motivating thing to see something go from literally just like, what could I print with a 3D printer? To here is, you know, uh a launch of a product that could potentially lead to more products. Hopefully, it'll be a great source of revenue and income for Peter and his family, beyond YouTube and that sort of thing. And it's like that is I don't know, it's just awesome. And it's also it's one of those things that's so simple. And I kind of mentioned people being dismissive. I've really only pretty much heard good things about it, but there have been a few people that are sort of dismissive, like, oh yeah, it's kind of like what the drones do. It's like it kind of is what the drone charges do, but it's a little more, it's a little different, especially with the memory card stuff. And there hasn't been anything like this for cameras, so it's like I don't care that a drone does this, it doesn't solve my problem of dragging all this stuff and having all this inefficiency with my camera setup, not my drone setup. It almost reminds me of when people talk about bands like Green Day or the Ramones or something, where they're like, oh yeah, their songs are just three chords, like you could just, you know, anyone could write that. And it's like, yeah, okay. But they didn't. Nobody else did, you know, like they're the ones that did it. It doesn't matter how simple it is, they are the ones that had that idea and put it together, and that's why it's valuable. It's not the level of complexity that makes it valuable, it's the fact that they even had the idea in the first place that makes it valuable. And so it's like, I don't know, I don't know where to go from there. I kind of just wanted to tell you about this thing because I'm so excited for for Peter, and I've just seen this journey, and it's it's been kind of motivating in terms of looking at YouTube and the creative, you know, the creative space and a creative career in a more than just week-to-week video, week-to-week podcast thing, but what you know, what other options and ideas and things are there out there that kind of go beyond that a little bit. And that's kind of what I mentioned earlier is you know, the end of the year is always a good time for reflection. I just had a birthday last week, which birthdays to me are always a great time for reflection as well, to kind of think about you know, what's happening, where you're going, all that sort of stuff. And this year has been a really weird year, but for Heather and I specifically, a big thing we've both sort of stumbled into is really trying to understand ourselves as much as possible. So, you know, like I've always known, I kind of mentioned this in a past episode, but I've always known, like, okay, I tend to be a little bit anxious, I tend to work best in these situations, I like or dislike these sorts of environments, whatever it might be. And sometimes you can feel an impulse to change that or feel like you need to change, but something that we've kind of been discovering is just the importance of understanding that. It's not that you need to change something. You see somebody else doing something differently from how you would do it, and you're like, oh, I must be doing it wrong and they must be doing it right. So I have to change how I am or feel bad about the way that I feel or the way I approach something because it's not how somebody else does something, when that's not the case at all. Just understanding what works for you and what doesn't work for you. And then when it comes time to actually, if you do want to make changes to the way that you do things or or you know, to your personality or something, not just saying, I don't like this, I want to change it, but understanding where that behavior comes from, like understanding digging really deep to the core, which you might need, you know, a professional to assist you with, digging deep to the core of where these things come from can help it be a lot easier to decide if it's something that you want to work to change or something that you you're happy to just accept. But I don't think just changing for the sake of, you know, I think someone else is doing it better or whatever. I don't think that's the way to go. And Heather and I have just been sort of like down that rabbit hole for so much this year. And so with all of that, all of that in mind, all of that reflection, all of that, you know, trying to be more kind and accepting and understanding of yourself, looking forward to the next year. There are I do have a few like goals for 2024, which is a little bit vague, but it's not like so much, you know, I wanted I've seen people put put their lists of like, I'm gonna do two newsletters every week, five shorts, six not six videos, two videos, a podcast, and it's like that sounds like a recipe for burnout by you know mid-January. Like, let's not let's not be so ambitious that we set ourselves up for failure. I'm just kind of thinking about okay, after doing this full time for almost three years, in March it will be three years, where do I want to go from here? And what I've always said is I like this so much, I just kind of want to keep doing this the way that it is, which is true. But how do I do that? Like, how do you make that sustainable? And and I've never, I've honestly never had like a year-specific goal checklist. Like some people will make a list at the beginning of the year. I want to whatever it is, achieve this thing, do this thing, whatever it might be. I've never really had that. But I kind of do think that sort of having a little a little checklist uh of whatever it might be to come back to could be really helpful. And so that's something that I do want to try going into the new year. Not that it's something set in stone. So if I say like upload a video every Thursday, life happens. If there's a Thursday in 2024 that I can't upload a video, I don't want to beat myself up with that or about that. If I decide that I want to take a little more time to work on something to make it, you know, because it needs more time, I don't want to feel bad about that. If I decide that I want to upload a bunch more videos and just Thursdays, I also don't want to feel bad. I don't want to, you know, get so stuck in this list of goals or whatever that I then can't see anything else. It almost reminds me when I um used to teach students interviews when we were doing like short documentary projects and teaching students how to do interviews and things. A big thing that I Always had to talk about was letting the conversation happen naturally. And so I would have my students prepare for their interviews by coming up, you know, doing research, coming up with questions that aren't yes or no questions, because no interview is great when it's like, you did this really amazing thing. Was it awesome? And the person just goes, Yes. You know, learning how to ask how questions, why questions, questions that lead uh per lead someone to explain a little bit more is very important. But something I noticed would happen is my students would go into interviews sometimes, and they would they would like be so stuck to their list. Sorry, I keep bumping the microphone cable. They they would be so stuck to their list that they would almost then let these amazing moments pass them by. Like a a non-real example, a hypothetical example would be, you know, like, oh, you've been a teacher at this school for a long time. Why did you start teaching here? And then the person says, Oh, well, you know, my wife and I were on, we were outlaws running from the FBI after robbing all of these banks. But the reason we had to rob the banks was because our house was for closed on, because we couldn't afford to pay the bills because we were abducted by aliens and lost, you know, a decade of our lives, and it was really hard to get back on track after that. And so kind of turning to, you know, a life of crime was the only way to go. But now we really want to get, you know, we really want to get on the straight and narrow again. The person would give some crazy, you know, interesting answer that raises a whole bunch of other questions, and then the student would just look at the next question on their list and go, Okay, what subject do you teach here? And it's like, wait, wait, wait. I know your next question is what it is, but they just said a whole bunch of really interesting stuff that would probably be a bunch of really fun threads to pull at and see where they go. And so knowing when to put your preordained questions to the side and sort of follow the conversation and then come back to the questions when and if you need them. That kind of reminds me of you know, year-specific goals. Like there's a whole year coming up ahead. Here are the things that I want to do. Cool. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what March is going to bring. I don't know what this, you know, the whole year can bring all kinds of new and unexpected things, both positive and negative. And if all I'm doing is sort of sitting here with this checklist, it's one of those things where it's like, now I'm potentially missing really amazing stuff and really cool chances for growth and experiences and fun and just cool stuff because I'm so into my checklist. But at the same time, not having any direction, at least for me, I have found lets me almost get too stuck in the weeds. And it's that thing where like you can't see the forest for the trees because you're just, you know, you're you're so you kind of lose perspective on how big or important anything is or isn't. And so I definitely want to have these goals here. I don't necessarily want to share all of them on the podcast because I I almost don't want there to be a public record of them. I kind of want them to be my thing. And maybe at the end of next year I can go and share what they are. But there are a few things that I want to work towards that I am happy to share. A lot of them have to do with the channel and YouTube, of course. Uh, tis the season for more monetization issues. So uh a few weeks back, a few episodes back, I talked about YouTube's invalid traffic bug that was, you know, killing revenue for my channel and a lot of other channels as well. And also the weird sort of connections of where that may or may not have come from. Fortunately, that started to get fixed around October, November, and it seemed like monetization was getting back on track uh through those busier times of year, which is great. Unfortunately, it sort of seems like just not just for me, but for a lot of people, the problem is back and monetization is dropping again. So that is what it is. Uh, I've learned there's nothing you can do about it. It's great when things are going well, and when things don't go well, there's nothing you can do about it. But it is a really, really good reminder to not put all the eggs in one basket. You know, it's it's a reminder of how unreliable YouTube ad revenue is, which is unfortunate. Like, you know, that's what I talked about in a previous episode. If YouTube prioritized making their platform a more stable place for people to build careers on, whether it's a full-time or a part-time career, I think that would be in everybody's best interest. But there are still, you know, some stumbling blocks in the way of that actually happening, this being one of them. So what that means is, you know, what what that means for me as someone who wants to be able to keep doing what I'm doing as long as possible, is to figure out more ways to make it sustainable. And fortunately, there I've already spent several years building up, you know, different things, but now it's almost like you have a garden filled with all these plants. Are there certain plants that you want to, you know, give a little more TLC to than others? So a big thing I think that happens on YouTube is when when your ad revenue disappears and all that kind of starts going away, people jump on the sponsorship train because it's like, okay, if YouTube's not going to pay me, but this company over here wants to give me some money to do something, I will just do that. And I totally get it because then you can, you know, instead of going like, will or will I not get $2,000 from YouTube, I don't know, just do a $3,000 brand deal and then you're done. And it's like you get zero dollars from YouTube and things will be even, or you'll even be a little bit ahead. So I understand the necessity of that. It just really sucks. Like brand deals oftentimes are so very few brands know how to do it right. So a thing I'm gonna be doing in the upcoming year is continuing to be extremely selective with sponsors. And, you know, I've only done, I think the only sponsored things I did this whole year were with NANLIT and Sennheiser, both of which are great companies that I would totally do stuff with again because they're awesome. Um, and you know, in the past I've done stuff with like Artlist and uh who else actually sponsored stuff? Yeah, I mean that's a very select group of things that have actually like given me money for videos where in the video I say this video is sponsored by blah blah blah. Um it's a pretty small group. That's that's essentially like the number of companies that I trust to work with because they when they sponsor stuff, they want to enable what I do, they want to sponsor what I do. They don't want to just have me be a place to play a commercial, essentially. And that I think that's a big problem that a lot of creators have and a lot of companies, a mistake a lot of companies make is it's like, oh, here's a channel with X number of subscribers, X number of viewership. And if we just give them a thing to say, it's gonna be like we bought a commercial on a network with this many, you know, this this type of ratings or whatever. And the best sponsorships come when companies let people do what they do best. Like they enable you to do what you do, and then somewhere along the way, you can show the product, the service, whatever it might be, and how it how you use it, how you believe in it. Of course, that means you as the creator have to actually believe in or use the thing. It can't be something that you've never touched or used before. That doesn't work, that gets into the whole, you know, world of ethics and things. But like the NAN Lite video that I did earlier this year, they were releasing some new lights, and of course, their initial idea is like, hey, we have some new lights, you want to do a sponsored video about them. You would be telling people about the new lights. And I was like, I don't really want to do that because that's just the home shopping network. Like, I don't I would I would rather do a review on my own, even if I like the lights, even if I talk about all the features, at least it's not a sponsored thing because that just then feels like a commercial. So I pitched them on the idea of doing um a tutorial, a tutorial about color temperature because they were doing some bicolor lights, and I was like, hey, a lot of people are really confused about color temperature, what is daylight, what is tungsten, can you mix the two? When should you use the two? I'd love to make a video that explains that, and I can use these lights in the video to explain the concept. And they were totally all over that idea, and I think that that was a great way to go because the video itself is useful no matter what lights you're using. You don't have to use those specific lights, but they're still all over the video. And because it is a sponsored video, there is a segment in the middle where I talk about those specifically, where I'm just like, hey, this video is sponsored by Nanlight. For this demonstration, I've been using these lights here. You know, this is what they do, and this is why I like them, that kind of thing. Very, very simple, and it fit in really well with the content. But the video itself is filled with useful information, no matter what. You know, you could go to Home Depot, buy just a regular light bulb or whatever, and it and the things would still apply in the video. And it might not, you know, it's not gonna ever go to the trending page or anything, but that is a helpful video that now it's almost a year old and it's still helpful. It's still getting views, it's still getting comments, it's it's a resource because people are always going to be confused about color temperature and video lighting. And so that video is going to serve its purpose so much longer than just like, we need you to make a sponsored video about this product that's releasing this week, and then we all totally forget about it next week. I never liked that, you know. And another one that I did this year, also at the beginning of the year, was the Sennheiser Profile USB microphone. That was a sponsored video from Sennheiser, which was great. Um, because they were the they let me announce the microphone. Like no one else even knew. I was like the first one to even say that it existed, which was really cool. And I think Sennheiser like undersold the profile a lot. I'm glad they did. I'm glad they didn't do the like the the it's gonna change your whole world and it's the most amazing thing ever strategy because I think we're all a little tired of that. I like that they were like, ah, it's a USB microphone. That's pretty good, and then it turns out it's really good, you know, and it's really affordable. I was very happy with that. I like that, and they were totally cool with like, you know, me just doing, they were like, just make a Tom video about this microphone, and it's sponsored. And then I had the idea of, okay, cool. Instead of just giving me a paycheck to make this video, what if we also then donated some microphones? And so I worked with Sennheiser to find uh several three educational programs, kind of like the one I used ones I used to teach at, one in California, one in Illinois, one in Scotland, and also just individuals, just people all over the world who just kind of needed some help with their audio gear. And then we worked to send over all kinds of you know audio gear to them, mainly Sennheiser profile microphones. But in the case of some of the school programs, Sennheiser like took a much more personal approach and was like, okay, do you also need headphones? Do you need boom arms? Do you need you know fewer USB microphones and more of this other thing here? And so that sponsored video, which still let me be creative, let me talk about something that I really like, also then ended up benefiting a whole bunch of other people, which made me feel so much more comfortable when I had to say that like this video is sponsored by Sennheiser, because it didn't feel it wasn't just like watch me get a paycheck right now. It was like we're doing something really cool here. And for Sennheiser, that's amazing publicity. Like, hey, look, we're donating microphones to schools and people all over the world. That's pretty cool. Like, haven't really seen a lot of other companies do that kind of thing with sponsorship. So that was definitely one of those win-win-win situations. Unfortunately, it's hard to find companies that want to do that stuff. And, you know, it takes a long time to build those relationships, but when you do, it really pays off for everybody. So that's I kind of want to stay the course. That might mean, you know, nothing is sponsored in 2024 or very few very selective things. I've also been much more selective with accepting free products lately. I've always had the whole, you know, ethics statement thing of a free product does not mean I'll make a video about it. And the companies that I've worked with who I have accepted stuff in the past have never had an issue with that. Nobody, I've never had them reach out and harass me for making a video. For not making a video, I should say. Um, but I know lots of people who have, even with some of the same companies, they will send a product. If the person doesn't make a video, you know, almost right away, they then start reaching out and like, you know, when can we expect a video? When should there be a video? And I think the reason that happens is because everyone was not on the same page before the person received the product. And so going back to my old ethics statement that we talk about all the time, that really helps everyone be on the same page. And it's not, you know, a legal document or anything, but it means that, like, look, this is how I'm approaching it. This is what you want. Are we on the same page before anything gets packed into any box or whatever and sent anywhere? If so, great. If not, that's totally fine too. But it really has, I've never I've literally never had that problem with any company, and I know like everyone else I know has had that problem. So I can say that it has absolutely made a difference there. But even if a company sends something for free, and I'm not, you know, not responsible for making a video on it, but I choose to make a video on it, there is sort of that thing of like obviously I have to tell you or whoever's watching the video that the thing was given to me for free. And I have found that in the past year or so to become a bigger and bigger hurdle to get over because a lot of people, especially if they don't do YouTube, you know, full time, don't really understand the difference between like a product was given to me for free versus a sponsorship. There can kind of be a gray area. Getting a free product is not a sponsorship, and it can be included in a sponsorship sometimes, but it does not mean you are a sponsored video, but you did receive a thing of value to make the video. So then you check the, you know, includes paid promotion button on YouTube, which then puts weird ideas in people's minds. And I've kind of gotten to the point where it's like, if it if this is something that I could or would just buy on my own, I'm just not gonna accept it for free because it's so much easier to just not have to deal with any of that or think about any of that. There's other stuff that I just can't afford to buy every version of. Like I the only thing I've accepted for free in the past like five months, maybe, has been uh the Theos wireless microphone system from um from Deity. And of course, I've worked with Deity in the past, so we're on the same page with everything, and I know I'm kind of bummed almost like that means I'm gonna have to, you know, do the disclaimer in the video, which is like I hope that doesn't hurt people's perception of the video. Oh, I guess I did sorry, I lied. I did get the uh Rhodes Signature Series microphone as well when that came out. That was one that they sent as well. Um but the the Theos there might there might be one or two other things, but I've been trying very hard to like not take things for free unless I have a specific need. The Theos is very expensive, like it is a thousand dollars, and I'm curious about it. I'm not curious enough to spend a thousand dollars on it. And the reason I'm curious is because this year I've been using the Sennheiser EWDP, which is a UHF professional type um wireless system. And I really I really love that. Like when I worked with Sennheiser and I got my sponsorship with them earlier this year, I was in I got the EWDP too, um, which was great. So that was like it was like, you pay me and I will get this microphone thing. Thank you. Um and it has been so fantastic and I love it. And the reason I wanted that was because I wanted something more reliable than like the the 2.4 gigahertz, like the Rode Wireless Goes or or the DJI system or whatever, because those are great, but they're so prone to interference that I find them to be a bit unreliable. And even if they have built-in recording, which is very cool that most of them do offer that now, that doesn't help you if you're doing something live where you're not going to edit it or you don't have the chance to edit it, the built-in recording then doesn't save the day. So I wanted to try a UHF system. The new Sennheiser is amazing, but then Deity came out with theirs, which is in some ways, it you know has higher specs. It has two receivers for one transmitter. That's pretty cool, and it does have built-in recording on the transmitters as well, which I haven't seen any of the other UHF systems that have that. And so I wanted to do a video on 2.4 gigahertz versus UHF, and I was gonna use my Sennheiser for that. But I do feel like I'm a little bit ignorant with the Sennheiser EWDP being the only system that I've used in the past, you know. I I use the Sennheiser G2, G3, and G4s at the schools that I taught at, but it's been several years. You know, the G4, we had like a couple G4s. So those are pretty, those are older UHF wireless systems. And I just feel like if I'm talking about how strong UHF is compared to 2.4 gigahertz, but I really only have one frame of modern reference that that almost feels like I'm now speaking from a place of ignorance. So having a another system with different features and different capabilities from a competing brand will help me to better understand this subject matter that that I'm trying to dive into. And then will also allow me to make more informed opinions when it's like, well, wait, is there a difference between the Sennheiser and the deity? Which one should I get? And you know, answer those kinds of questions that come up a lot. And that's a thing when it comes to free products too, is like, will this help me answer questions that I know a lot of people who watch my channel have? If so, then it's probably worth it for that. And those people, the people who want the answer to the questions, are the people who understand, they don't judge they don't judge negatively when it's like, oh, this company sent me this thing and you know, that's how it is. They don't judge you negatively for that. Those are the people who are on your side, they're rooting for you, they're not assuming negative intent or anything like that. They just are like, hey, I like you, I like what you do, I want to hear your thoughts on this thing. I don't care where you got it from, I just want to hear your thoughts on it. And that makes my life a lot easier when people have that kind of rational approach, but not everybody has that rational approach. It's also uh been something that's been why why I've been sort of rediscovering an interest in more budget-friendly options, like the microphone I'm using right now, because yeah, I can spend when someone says, Hey, check out this microphone, it's 90 bucks, I can go, okay, sweet. It seems like it gets good reviews. I'm curious about it. I can totally buy the $90 microphone. And if I like it, then it's just this winning microphone that I get to have in my collection. If it's something I don't think I'm gonna use that often, it's probably something that I could easily find a home for someone else who wants it or needs it or could use it. And that kind of works really well and doesn't make me go bankrupt. So that's that's really nice. But that also means though being selective with those sponsorships. Unfortunately, my bank will not let me pay the mortgage with free equipment that's sent to me. Like, hey, do you want a road signature series NT1 instead of the mortgage this month? They say no. I don't know why. So, in terms of building up income and revenue, if I'm not, you know, taking sponsorships and ad revenue is going down, the biggest thing that I want to focus on building in the coming year is Patreon and YouTube channel memberships. And I've talked about that before. I'm really happy with how it's growing, but I want it to grow more. And I I honestly, it's me. I am the one in the way, I am the bottleneck, and it's because I'm really bad at quote unquote selling, I just have a hard time. You know, at the end of the videos, I very like cheekily say, like, hey, speaking of things that are awesome, thanks to everyone who helps support this video for Patreon and YouTube channel memberships. But it's like someone has to stick around to the very, very end of the video to even know that that exists. That's not me going like, hey, if you want to support what I do, join Patreon, join YouTube channel memberships. It really helps a lot. I think I do think the perks are pretty good. I would like to add some more and make them, you know, but if adding perks only works, hey, that rhymes, if they are sustainable, if it's something that I can do, that I can, you know, actually do and not just go like, oh, I can do all this amazing stuff, and then it never happens. That sucks. And there's plenty of people who are like, we don't want any perks, we just want to support what you do. I know that's how I feel when I support people sometimes on Patreon and stuff. It's like, yeah, I just like what you do. I don't, like, I kind of don't want anything, I don't want any emails, I don't want any extra stuff. But other times it's like, oh, I I want to support what you do, and I do want access to the the cool stuff that you offer. So I struggle with selling things, and I I know that I just definitely need to get out of my own way and get a little bit better at that. Unfortunately, I think that's easier said than done, and I don't know I don't know, I don't know how to get better at that, but I will I want to try in the new year because growing those things would really I mean that would just help so much where it's like I don't even need to think about sponsorship stuff. I don't need to, you know, worry about receiving anything for free because there's the that feels like the other than just being independently wealthy somehow, which I have not yet figured out how to do, uh, that seems like the best way to have like independent creativity. Because it's that whole thing of many hands make light work, where you know, I mentioned this in a previous episode too. If you if you work with a sponsor or you're relying on YouTube ad revenue or something, and then that sponsor drops out, or your ad revenue drops for whatever reason, you're done. All the eggs were in that basket, and that's it. With Things like Patreon and YouTube channel memberships, when you grow them to, you know, to a sustainable size where it's actually like paying some bills and helping support you, it's probably not just one person. Maybe you have people at a higher tier or higher level or whatever, but it's it's a lot of people, hopefully just paying a little bit. So that way it's it's not a burden to them, but it's a huge benefit to you. And then what that means is if somebody needs to leave, it doesn't, you know, if a sponsor leaves, that can wreck your month. If one person leaves a channel membership for whatever reason, it's fine. And then somebody else joins, or two people join, you know, like it all kind of balances out, and no one source is feeling all the pressure of it, and it leads to then the kind of like the best type of independent creativity and freedom and fulfillment and that sort of thing. But of course, and there are things that I would like to add to that. Um actually, yeah, just stay tuned for the new year. If you're if you're involved in those things, sign up for the mailing list, you'll get notified on that. I have a few fun things that I'm gonna add there. But on top of that, also I've got my courses, which I really love because I really like teaching. Like teaching is great. Uh, and the courses let me do that, and you know, it's more traditionally transactional. I don't have something like the try-charge like Peter does, but you know, someone pays for a course, that money also obviously helps support me, but then they're getting a very clear thing in return. It's not a physical product, but they're getting, you know, resources and knowledge and information in a course. And I really tried hard in all three of my courses to make them as good as possible. And they've all had updates since they were published. The podcaster playbook, um, not that when this past summer, I did like a whole version 2.0 update on it where even if I didn't like everything, I kind of George Lucas and like remastered everything. I added new lessons, I changed things around. So, you know, podcasting changes a lot. So after a year or so, the course needed to be refreshed a little bit. I still need to add in more specific stuff about YouTube podcasting now that that is a thing, but it YouTube kind of still needs to work out some bugs, so I don't really want to like I don't want to add that until that is just a little bit more stable and worked out. And then Rough Cut to Final Cut, my Final Cut Pro course is designed to have continuous updates. So rather than having to refresh the whole thing regularly, unless Final Cut totally changes its interface or something, just keep adding to it, which is awesome because it's like if it just makes the course even more valuable as time goes on. And one thing I did recently, which was so such a journey, um, was I I wanted to put a full big project, so I put my Canon XL1 video that I did uh at the end of summer, all of that raw footage and that project library I made available, which I know is just like, oh, it sounds cool. It is hundreds of gigabytes of footage, and getting that being in a situation where I have the worst internet ever, it's like a step up from dial-up, was quite a process to get that up and running where people could actually have access to that stuff. And I know it might be a pain for other people that download and stuff, but things like that are really cool, and you know, and adding small little tutorial lessons and things, you know, that sort of nature are are pretty awesome. I do, I don't know that I want to make another course, although I kind of do. I just I don't know exactly what it would be yet. But one thing that I've been mulling over is the idea of potentially doing a live class. I don't know how to else to describe it. Not really something that would just go on forever because then it's like, you know, that can be a problem when you you make those kinds of commitments and then life happens, but something maybe doing almost like terms, you know, like here's a six-week, here's a six-week weekly class about whatever topic. Um, and that can be kind of cool because I definitely miss teaching in person. Uh, I'm laughing because just this morning I donated uh uh some of my old, which is funny that I already have old hockey gear, but some of my old hockey gear to um to someone at our local rink. Basically, like when I started playing goalie, I got some used stuff and then I bought some things that ended up not fitting me very well. And then when I decided I wanted to stick with the position, I, you know, I upgraded to better gear and stuff that fit me and protected me specifically better. But then I've had this other stuff sitting around. I met someone who just the reason we met is because uh they happened to be maybe a bigger Aquabats fan than I am, which blew my mind. Um and their daughter, their teenage daughter was wanting to learn to play goalie, which I think is super cool. Goalie gear is super expensive, so I was like, Oh, okay, yeah, I have a little bit of extra stuff, like some pads and a bag and some protective things or whatever. Um so you know, that there's a there's a pickup game this morning. I was like, let's meet before the game. I can, you know, see if she likes the pads and the things, and if so, then just take them. And that was super fun. I've been looking forward to that like all week because I like I like being able to just help someone out like that. And you know, hockey gear is very expensive and it's very confusing. So just being able to sort of check some of those bigger items off of their to buy list was really nice, but also I was like so excited to be able to explain it's so confusing. Like, how do you put on goalie pads? It's not as simple as you might think. How do you what order do you put your chest protector and the pants and like all the stuff? So I was like, I was just so I had the same feeling. This is where I know like I'm getting desperate to teach something live. I had the same feeling I used to have when I came up with like an amazing lesson that I was so excited to teach, and then the night before, the afternoon before, I'd be like, Oh, I cannot wait for that, you know, first period tomorrow and we can like dive into this thing. And it's like, I mean, that's the best way to approach teaching when you're like, I cannot wait to share with you guys this thing that I'm so excited about. And that's also kind of the ethos that that propels the YouTube channel forward, but it's very different when you know it's it's it's live, interactive, or in person. And the reason I'm laughing is because I did that, and there was somebody else getting ready kind of next to us. So we, you know, got ready, she went and skated, did amazing, and was like an incredible goalie. And then somebody else who was getting ready on the bench was like, Oh, are you a teacher? And I was like, Oh, I used to be. And she was like, Yeah, you kind of have that teacher personality going. I was like, Yeah, it was 11 years. Uh, and that made me laugh just because it's like, I don't think I can escape that. And that's a cool thing, you know. Like, that's if we want to talk about figuring out who you are and what your values are and your personality and what to embrace and whatever, I think that's something that clearly, you know, if I'm like itching to teach so badly that I'm like going out of my way to just like show someone gear at the hockey rink, you know, maybe maybe I could put that energy in in a more focused place too, as well. Or just I'll just be a hockey coach, even though I don't know how to play very well myself. Um, so anyway, some sort of live thing I think would be cool, but finding a way, especially remotely, would be finding a way to make sure that there's a concrete outcome in a remote situation like that would be important because I don't want people to just like, yeah, I have to sign into like a Zoom meeting and then we sort of sit there and I don't know what's happening. Like I want people to show up, I would want people to show up to the thing, get a lot out of it, know whatever they need to do in the meet in the time in between, and then come back with results and come back with progress and then move on to the next. So I haven't figured that out, but that's something I've been like tossing around for a couple of years now, and I feel like it might be time to make something happen there. And then as far as the YouTube channel goes, uh as my crazy experiments this year have have taught me, I really like my regular upload schedule. So I'm back on my regular upload schedule. Uh, you know, unless something crazy happens, I think that's the lesson I learned is don't punish myself if if you had to miss a week. You know, that's okay. I'm kind of glad I broke that streak because when I had the you know six years streak of never missing a week, part of me is like, well, I just want to keep going, so I don't I want to go to ten years and never miss a week. But I I went, you know, there were weeks in there, a couple weeks where I didn't upload anything this year. Uh so I broke that streak, and that maybe maybe was for the best. Um, but I I also want to make more stuff, so maybe I want to do what I used to do and have you know videos scheduled for Thursdays in advance because I just that works great for me, clearly, mentally and emotionally, and it all just works better for me. But I also I've had this itch to make more, and when I started doing YouTube full time, a big thing that I wanted to avoid was like, oh, you're doing it full time, that means you're gonna make three videos a week now or four. It's like I didn't want to fall into that trap of like more, more, more, and then I just get burnt out and frustrated and exhausted. But I definitely have an itch to make a lot more now. Um and I want things to be helpful. So a big thing I've been trying to focus on is like well, I have my normal videos, which seem to be 15 to 20-ish, sometimes 30 minutes long, but I kind of like the the idea of shorter, really to the point tutorials. I have a playlist on my channel called two TWO tutorials, because they're like around two minutes long, two minutes long. Things that are kind of like that, that are just like how to do X, and the whole thing is just this is how you do it. But not only having it be valuable, not only having it be clear and easy to understand, but still somehow have personality. I don't want to just pump out a bunch of videos that are like, you know, instruction manuals, like go to file and click edit, like whatever, you know. I don't want to do that. I want to to try to find a way to be very clear, very succinct, very valuable and informative, but also still feel like one of my videos, just not 20 minutes long. You know, I think adding in a lot of that would be good for me, would be good for anyone who watches the channel, and would be good for the channel, of course, uh, because that's that's kind of important as well. Um, and then I guess the last little bit of things coming up is podcast stuff. So this is uh the last episode of this season of the podcast, and I'll take a break. Season 12 is scheduled to kick off in February, uh, which is kind of what I've always done. I always wrap up a season in December, take January to kind of like that's my longest break of the year when it comes to podcasting, and then jump back in in February. My big debate now, though, is whether or not to do a video version for season 12, because now that YouTube has a form of podcasting that really is up and running, it feels like that's what I was waiting for, right? Is to do that. And so I'm 90% sure that I will be incorporating a video version that's not behind a paywall, that's just you know, like many podcasts. Say, if you want audio, you go to these things. If you go to YouTube, you can get the video version of it. Um, but having it be a little more cohesive, figuring out how to play with the RSS feed a little bit more and all that is gonna be important. But that YouTube support is there. The 10% reason why I'm not a hundred percent sure, I guess that makes sense. 60% of the time it works every time, is just because a thing that I've been overlooking, because people have said, like, oh, you have your setup, you have eCam, you have a prompter, you have a roadcaster, like you just turn on the camera and hit record, you can just do the whole podcast there. You don't, and I know that I have that workflow. I have Stream Deck, I can press one button to play the intro, I can record the same way I'm recording right now, one button to play the outro, and it's done. And then I've got a video file and an audio file ready to go. The thing that that I kind of overlooked, and I think a lot of people overlook, is the what it's like for you, the experience for you as the creator when you do video versus audio. As someone who does a lot of video projects, it's a lot of work. You're setting up cameras, you're setting up lights, even in a situation where everything is pretty stable, like just it takes me a chunk of time to get all that stuff up and running every time I want to film something. And then it takes me a lot more time to get me up and running in a way that looks like semi-presentable on camera. And I know there's lots of people who are gonna be like, oh, just show up and whatever, you know, you you can you don't have to, you know, have like nice hair and be dressed nice or whatever. Not that I'm doing anything fancy, but like I try to look presentable on camera, which as the the older I get takes more time. The fact that these are things that are gonna live, you know, online for the foreseeable future. You know, I don't want to just roll out of bed and turn on a camera and film that because I don't want I just don't want to do that. And the thing with audio podcasting is a lot of times I feel like I can more easily focus on my idea. I can show up in my office, I could be even in pajamas, I could be, you know, I could have something like a nice cold Coke Zero or a snack or something nearby. And I feel like I can physically be significantly more comfortable and less distracted because I'm not worried about cameras, I'm not worried about getting ready for cameras or anything like that, and just sort of record the idea. And so that audio only workflow, that audio only workflow has had so many benefits for me over the years, but at the same time, January will be the five-year anniversary of this podcast, which is pretty cool. And you know, I've dabbled in video with it in the past, but I feel like it just kind of is time. I guess 2024, video for podcasting. It's almost like how in 2017, 2018, I had some videos where it was like, yeah, you probably don't need 4K, 1080 is more than enough. Whereas now I'm like, yeah, if you're gonna buy a new camera, get a 4K camera. Like, don't get a 1080 workflow for the most part right now, unless you really know why you're doing a 1080 workflow, 4K is more the way to go. And I feel like video podcasting is kind of the same thing. It was something that's like, yeah, you could, you could not. Now I feel like it's something that's not only more expected, but probably even better for your podcast. I mean, having the reach of YouTube, like let's face it, is just better if you want to grow a podcast than any of the other podcast directories, as much as I love their kind of like more independent spirit. It just that is what it is. So we'll see. I'm fairly certain there will be an audio version, but I also need to figure out some some more stuff on the YouTube side of things, and then I think this is not a promise, but I think I might have a pretty awesome podcast-related announcement for you near the beginning of the year, and that's maybe as far as I'll go with that. It could end up being nothing, so don't hold me to that, but I I think it's gonna be something, and I'm very excited for what it is, and I'm very excited to tell you about it. So I hope I get to tell you about it. With that being said, I think we're about to bring this season in for a landing. If you do want to say anything, share anything in the break, you can always send an email to Tom at Enthusiasm Project.com or just go to HiMyname is Tom.com and click the little link to leave a voice message if you want to do it that way. Uh, feel free anytime anytime, not even just during a break, but especially why we won't hear you won't hear from me. I guess we won't hear from each other. But while the podcast is on a break for several weeks now into the new year, if you have something you want to share, feel free to drop it there. And it's always fun to be able to kick off new seasons with, you know, messages and thoughts and things from everyone who listens. And I really, really do, you know, it's the end of the year, it's all the holidays. Not only is it time for reflection, but it's also a time to appreciate what you have. And I really appreciate all the support that I've been given for this podcast over the years. It's something that I couldn't believe anyone would want to listen to when I started it. So the fact that all these episodes later, all these seasons later, all these changes later, you're still here, ready to listen to it. It really does mean the world to me. And as much as it's talking about, like, you know, I want to grow Patreon and all that kind of stuff, I really hope you know that at the core of it, like that's practical day-to-day stuff. At the core, the fact that anyone would want to spend their time, their most valuable resource, watching or listening to something that I make. They want to spend their time consuming a thing that I made is unreal. And it does mean a lot to me. And I I do take that almost as like a serious responsibility. And I hope you know that, and I hope you know how much I appreciate it. So, whatever you do or do not celebrate, I hope you have the best ones ever. And I just hope you have a safe, happy, healthy, fun break in between seasons. Can't wait for what's to come in season 12. And thanks for listening. I'll see you next time. I messed, you know what? I'm I'm ending the season on an error. I uh I muted the outro music there. So, okay. Have a safe, happy, healthy rest of your week, and I will see you next time. There it is.