Where To Go From Here? [S4E20]

In terms of analytics, this has been the worst month in recent memory for my YouTube channel. So this week let's talk about when you should use your analytics to make decisions about changing your content vs when to ignore it and stay the course. 

Truthfully, this ended up being a really helpful "therapy session" for me and I hope that you can glena some useful concepts from it too!

🎙Ready to start your own podcast? Check out The Podcaster Playbook, a step-by-step DIY course to help you launch your show: https://podcasterplaybook.com

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
🎯Support the Show
https://patreon.com/tombuck
https://buymeacoffee.com/tombuck
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
📲 Connect!
•Send a voice message to be included in a future episode!tom@enthusiasmproject.com
•My Podcast with Peter Lindgren:  https://peterandtom.buzzsprout.com
•The Couple’s Table (with Heather):  https://couplestable.buzzsprout.com

YouTube: www.youtube.com/tombuck
Twitter & IG: @sodarntom
Main Site: www.himynameistom.com
S4E20 | Series Episode 83

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hello and welcome. My name is Tom. This is the Enthusiasm Project season four, episode 20. And today we're going to dive into more things to do with the creative process, which is fun. We haven't had just sort of, you know, I would call this maybe more of a traditional, an old school episode. And we haven't had one in a while because it's been such a crazy season. So thought that'd be sort of fun to dive into. And uh, if you're listening to this when it's released, that's going to be the last day of May, May 31st. And I'm recording this on May 30th, so it's the end of the month. May has been a very weird month in terms of like business stuff and YouTube stuff and all that. So uh I really wanted to dive into that and explain that because I think it it will help me understand it to do that, and I also think it will be helpful to you to hear that stuff as well. And a couple things before we dive into that. So the first thing I was thinking of how to approach this, and as I sit here with a microphone in front of my face, also staring into a camera, talking about my own experience and then putting it online for people to listen to, it's hard not to feel a little narcissistic about that. And uh that's always something that I've struggled with with these things, but I I've managed to get over that for the most part. However, when it comes to something like this, I just want to make it clear before we jump into it that um the reason when I talk about these things, even though I'm saying, you know, this is my experience and what I'm going through and I think this and blah, blah, blah, it's really not to put myself at like the center of the universe. It's much more about like speaking from my experience. There is a selfish component because by going through this stuff in this format for an audience, it actually does help me process it. So that is the selfish part. It's kind of like, you know, the best way to learn something is to teach it. And so the best way to sort of figure out these things is to try and communicate them to somebody else. And uh I don't have a therapist at the moment, so that's you, you who is listening to this. That's your role now. Thank you. You can send me the bill, but don't actually send me the bill. And uh so that's helpful for me to go through and just kind of figure out how I am actually feeling about things and and developing these own my own opinions. But also, and and probably more importantly, I do think and I hope at least that these things that I that I'm working on and figuring out and developing thoughts about can be relatable and helpful to you. Since I know that a lot of the people, if not the vast majority of people who listen to this podcast are also creators themselves, whether it's podcasts or YouTube or something else or a combination of things, most people who listen to the show are creating something themselves. And so probably finding themselves working through similar things or trying to figure out how you feel about something. And, you know, sometimes just hearing somebody else's experience and perspective can be super helpful and relatable, even if you disagree with something. So even if I say how I feel about something and you're like, no, Tom, I totally disagree with that, that that can be a good thing too, because then that can solidify in your mind why you're disagreeing with those things and why you feel that way. So just kind of wanted to put that disclaimer out there first. It's not uh, it's not just to indulge like raging narcissism, but it does help me process stuff and I hope that it is relatable along the way. And I appreciate all the the really kind messages and comments and stuff that I get sent throughout the week. Uh, because it's the closest thing to kind of making this show a two-way street uh is to get those messages and to, you know, it's really cool to sort of continue some of these discussions in that way. So I appreciate that, and that's what helps me to think that these are helpful conversations to have. So that's that's kind of what we're gonna go into today. Before diving into that, though, specifically, if you're liking or not liking how I'm sounding, hopefully you are liking it. I wanted to talk a little bit about the microphone I'm using right now, which is a very unusual one. If you're watching the video version of this, it's a very uh different looking microphone. And this is the Neat Microphones Worker B, which is uh not a microphone that I was familiar with at all. It's a condenser microphone, it's a pretty budget-friendly mic, it's under $100 usually. I was able to get this for $90, you know, brand new, and that seems to be the typical price. And it's I I'm never used it. This is the first thing I've used it on. It got delivered last night. I tested it out a little bit, did some sound checks. I am running it through the Rodcaster on the um the NT1 condenser setting because I actually like that, but that really the only thing that the NT1 setting does is um add a DSer a little bit, which is helpful. So otherwise, I mean here, let me turn that off even. Uh so this is with the audio processing, and now this is without the audio processing, so it's a pretty it's a pretty minor um difference. So without it, and then with it, which I just I do like the way that this sounds, I've got the gain set to 18 and the channel faders right about halfway. So this is a condenser mic that needs phantom power, and once you've got that power, it's got plenty of gain. Um, it's a really like cool microphone. I'm totally gonna do a video about this. Uh, you know, not sponsored. I we'll talk about that in a second. I I paid for this myself, I bought the whole thing. It's not even a new microphone, these have been out for a while, uh, but it's so interesting to me, and it's a really it's a very cool microphone. Depending on your style, you might love it or hate it. It has a very unique uh appearance, it's blue and black. They really leaned into the B the B theme. Um, and it comes in a yellow and black shock mount, but it's really, really well built. It's like all metal, it's super high quality. The shock mount is awesome. Um, I can even in the shock mount turn it to face me in a comfortable way using the boom arm that it's on. So I I really like that. It comes with a little pop filter, which I am using right now. If I get close to it, you can hear the proximity effect. The pop filter's okay, it's still like it still will let plosives happen. Um, but it's it's still pretty good. It comes in, and I know this isn't actually this will be relevant. It comes in this giant like plastic honeycomb grid thing, and like the packing materials are amazing. I'm gonna talk about that in the video because uh for a $90 microphone, it's like you get it's like the most premium microphone delivery experience that I've ever had. Um, and like all the the documentation is like super thorough. It's really interesting. And and here's why I was interested in this microphone. I'm thinking later at some point of doing a bigger video about um the blue Yeti. So if you're if you're watching this, I have a blue yeti sitting right here. Very, very popular microphone, probably a very familiar-looking microphone. Um, these these are still incredibly popular USB microphones. And earlier in like the YouTube slash streaming times, you know, maybe like 10 years ago and stuff, these just started to become ubiquitous. As soon as people wanted to level up their audio quality, these are about $100 to $120. They come with their own stand, they're super well built, they have all these different pickup patterns, they can do a lot. Um, they just sort of started popping up all over the place. And they come in different styles and different colors, but they're cool microphones, I think. However, a couple of things happened, which Heather and I noticed because Heather has used a blue Yeti for years. Like that was one of her big purchases. Her first big purchases after she like dove into doing her YouTube channel was her Yeti. And so and she still uses it to this day for a lot of stuff. And there's been so many times over the years where she'll do something like a podcast or a voiceover, and I always ask, like, what microphone were you using when I was working and leaving home during the day, I would come back and I'd think, like, maybe she went into my office and grabbed a microphone to use, and she'd be like, I use the Yeti. She has a voice that sounds good on like every microphone, luckily. Um, but it's like she's always gotten great results for it. However, we've noticed that online, especially in some like communities and groups that we're a part of, there's like hatred for the Yeti. And I kind of understand it it is sometimes seen as like the starter thing that a lot of people just jump into, not really understanding what else they could do with $100. Um, it is the thing that became ubiquitous, so it's like it has that sort of when something becomes really popular, it just sort of has can have that stigma attached to it. But I am still like it's a good mic for a good price. Uh, why would you like who I don't I don't know, I've never understood the hate that the blue Yeti gets. And in one of the, I don't remember exactly, but in one of the communities that that we're a part of, Heather asked, like she she did a post where she was just like, hey, why, you know, why do people dislike the Yeti? Or she replied to someone, and a lot of people did kind of say that stuff, like, well, it's super, it's sort of the default choice that a lot of people get. It might not be the best thing for what they actually need, the best thing for their money. They don't know what they're, you know, it's just sort of uh an ill-informed purchase. Um, some people, which this is probably has a little more weight to it, said it's a microphone that tries to do a lot of different things. It has all these different pickup patterns, and you know, it it'd be better if people got a microphone that's more dedicated towards one thing because it'll perform a little better. And then, of course, online you see people using it incorrectly all the time. You see people pointing it directly at them and talking into the top of it instead of talking into the front of it, even though all the instructions that come with it say point the blue logo towards you and speak towards that, but you still see people like talking into the top of it, which makes the sound really bad. Uh, but that's not the microphone's problem. It's a great mic. Like, I I like the Yeti. In one of those threads, though, somebody said something that I hadn't heard before, that I hadn't heard, yeah, grammatically, I think that makes sense. And it was that blue, the company, was sold in a couple years ago, and now even though you can still buy the blue Yeti and it looks the same and it's the same price, it's not actually the same microphone. They're using different, cheaper, lower quality components. That was very interesting to me. I could be speaking totally incorrectly here, so forgive me, I haven't done it. I actually want to make a video about this. To do that, I need to do a lot more research, and I haven't done all that research yet. So, very preliminarily, what I have found is that in 2017 or 2018, Blue was purchased by Logitech. And you know, Logitech though makes like they make good webcams, keyboards, mice, and stuff. Like, no problem there. Maybe they're not an audio first company. So instead of dealing with all that engineering, they're just like, hey, if we can get these parts produced cheaper somewhere else, use that. I don't know. My Yeti that I have here and the one that Heather uses are all older, they were pre-Logitech. And so one of the things I want to do in that video is buy a new one, like a current Yeti, and compare them and see like how is the build quality, how is the sound quality, how do they compare, and that could that could at least like that would make sense if if people are saying it's not that the Yeti is bad, it's that the newer ones are not the same as the older ones, and okay, cool. Now I now I kind of get it. I will say though, little asterisk there. I've known people who have bought new Yetis recently, and like I had students that bought them, and they sounded they still sounded great to me, so it wasn't a side-by-side comparison. We'll see. Anyway, I don't know if this was connected to the buyout or before, but some of the founders and the engineers of Blue, which has made you know microphones and equipment for a long time, left to start their own company, which is called Neat, and they're the ones that make the worker bee, there's a king bee, there's a whole bunch of bee-themed microphones, uh, which I was very excited to find because with a company name like Neat and the word B be being used everywhere, I was like, this video will write itself. Like the puns all take care of themselves, even the title is this like an unbelievable neat microphone or something, an unbelievably neat micro. It's all there, you know. I just have to like polish it up, but I don't have to dig too hard to pull that stuff out. So that was exciting for me as a content creator because it makes my life easier. But I found that interesting, and the microphone itself, you know, like I mentioned, the design and especially for the price and the the you know, the packaging and stuff for under $100 is like kind of mind-blowing. Now, I don't know this for sure, but I've kind of heard that the company's not like doing super well financially. And part of the one of the reasons I heard theorize was because it was so engineering heavy, people were focused on the product and the the delivery and the customer experience, so they weren't focused on the business side of things. And it, you know, maybe this should be a bit more expensive maybe it should be more expensive for what it is. Uh I don't know. I that's all stuff I need to look into. But anyway, that's the microphone I'm using right now. I just got it. I'm very excited about it. I keep also thinking of Jared from the Hive podcast because with the honeycomb pattern here and the yellow and black. I don't know if if you're listening or watching this, Jared, I don't know if this is your style of microphone, but uh I feel like it's very on brand and you should you should have one. Uh anyway, I'm gonna put that giant box down. If you don't like strange styled microphones, this might not be for be for you. See how easy it is to do that. Um, but if you do like unusual looking things or stuff that at least isn't just the normal, the norm, um, this could totally be the mic for you, especially obviously most importantly, if you like how it sounds. And I think that this sounds great. Um, you know, I'm hoping, I'm hoping. I also, when I upload the audio version to Buzz Sprout, I just have them do magic mastering, which should make everything just sound a little better no matter what. So yeah. Uh, but anyway, I'll be working on a video about this. And that type that that now we can transition back to the topic of today's show because that's a good example. So I actually I had seen these microphones, I didn't know much about them, and I saw a Twitter post from the company. It just popped up in my feed, and they were like, Should we bring back the King Bee? Which is like their bigger version of this microphone. I was like, what the heck is that? And a bunch of people were replying, like, yes, oh my gosh, yes. I was like, wow, people seem really excited about this. And I looked into it and was like, oh, like a bunch of their models are discontinued or hard to find, but this one, the worker bee, is still very readily available. And so and it was affordable, so I thought that's cool, it's interesting, it's a condenser. I don't have a lot of experience, so I can put it up against the road NT1, see how it stands up there. And it's especially in that under $100 price range, it could be a really cool option, you know, like for people who want to step into the world of XLR mics, especially because it is a condenser microphone. Um, you don't need something like a cloud lifter or signal booster. You just need an interface that has phantom power, which is basically every interface, and then you'll have plenty of gain, um plenty of signal, and you could it could be a cool choice, it could be a really viable option. It's even cheaper than the pod mic, so interesting, right? Um and that's one of those things, too, especially like I said, it seems neat, works well, it's affordable. Um, even the name and everything, like the the pun slash jogey part of the video kind of writes itself. Uh, cool, definitely want to make that video. So sometimes things like that happen where I'm like, cool, this will be great. I'll have fun doing it. It'll be interesting and helpful, and I think people will like it. That's sort of all of those Venn diagram, you know, the circles, they all overlap, and it's it's the perfect meeting of everything. The reason I bring that up now, and we can transition over, is because this month, the month of May 2021, so far has been pretty much analytically the worst month for my YouTube channel in recent memory. Maybe ever. Um, it's sort of hard to say because there were definitely months where all the numbers, and again, speaking specifically on analytics, not the intangible like creative satisfaction and community development and that stuff, but just speaking analytically, revenue numbers, that stuff. Um there there were months, obviously lots of months where numbers were much lower, but the channel was also much smaller. So it's hard for me to make that direct comparison, but what I can say is that everything has been going down. And I've talked about this a couple times before. So revenue's down, views are down, um, subscribers are down, like everything is down and and has been continuously going down. Um and it's it's to the point where at almost 70,000 subscribers, the channel's performing pretty much where it was at about 40,000. But things had been going up and and and staying at a higher point pretty consistently, and normally, normally I wouldn't even really care about this that much because I I know that overall, you know, you're gonna have highs, you're gonna have lows, but if you scale out and you stand back, if the upward trend, if the overall trend is upward, that's all that's all you're really looking for. It's not it's not that you constantly have to be breaking every record every day, every month, or anything like that. Just overall, like are things moving in a positive direction? If so, yay. That's kind of what you're looking for. The reason I'm paying more attention to this is because you know, I'm two months out from leaving my job. And so the numbers mean something a little different. Um now, in no way does this mean that I regret leaving my job, or because also, speaking of those intangible things, I'm like happier and healthier than I've been in a long time after leaving my job. I there's so many other things that money can, and still, even with the channel not performing as well, it's still bringing in more money than I was making at my job. So still good, good news overall, but frustrating, you know, to see things going down because I feel like I'm still working really hard. I'm still trying to not only um produce work at the same level of quality, but also, you know, get a little bit better each time and constantly improve things. And an area where stuff has been frustrating is because I do have more time to focus on my stuff, I've been trying to sort of do new things, you know, like these video versions of podcasts for channel members and Patreons and stuff like that. And um, if you if you are on Patreon or you are a channel member, it doesn't say specifically like every week you get this or whatever. It just says like you get uh behind the scenes videos, video versions of podcasts when available, members only live streams. And the goal, like my goal was that at least once a month something gets posted for people who want to support through those those avenues. But for the past couple months, I've been able to do multiple things a week, which has been awesome. And I've been having a lot of fun doing it. So, regardless of what the like the uh if it's like helping revenue or anything, um, I'm still doing it because it's really fun. But I thought, like, hey, if people think they're only getting one thing a month and now they're getting, you know, a video podcast every week, we're doing a couple live streams, there's community posts, there's all this stuff, that's even better. You're getting more than you you thought you were getting if you wanted to. And with channel memberships, which I launched like recently, um, it those have been actually really like pretty successful. The downside of that is that YouTube takes a huge chunk of that revenue. Patreon, which I had up for a long time and I just never advertise, it seems like the more effort I put into it and by posting and sharing this stuff, the worse it does. Like people leave, which is disheartening. And I think what it is is that since my Patreon's been around for a long time, there might have been people who signed up years ago, even when the channel was under a different name. And you can leave channel memberships or Patreon at any time, like it's totally fine. Um, but I think there's people who signed up a long time ago, forgot about it, and I wasn't active on it, and then now that I've been active on it again, they're getting emails and stuff like Tom Buck posted a thing, and they're like, Who is that? Oh, geez, I'm still paying for this. Let me not pay for that anymore. Which is again fine. For me, though, it's like, oh, look at me, I'm giving extra and I'm doing more, and I'm putting more effort into this, and it's doing worse. And look, I'm gonna try. Really hard to make a good video, and it's performing worse. And my channel is like going down. Like it's not going down, it's just the growth is slower, revenue is down, and not just even on YouTube, but even on like Amazon stuff is down like 30% this month. Now, the weirder thing, which again, a reason that I wanted to share this, I don't have like a large scientific sample to work with, but in my little group of like creator friends, and some people do it full-time, some people do it part-time. Pretty much everybody, except for like one or two people, um, have said that their numbers are also down and they feel basically the exact same way, which makes me feel great. Not because they're not doing well, but because it at least seems like, okay, it's not just me, it's it's a thing that's it's something else. It's something that has nothing to do with me. Um, and that could be, you know, any number of things. It's getting to be like summertime in the northern hemisphere. So maybe people are going outside more. COVID restrictions are lifting, so maybe people are like, hey, I want to get away from YouTube and like go do something else, or I need to go back to work and not work from home, so I don't have the time, or whatever. Um, you know, whatever it might be, there's a lot of different variables as to why lots of people's numbers could be down. It's also seasonal stuff. Um, you know, I haven't only been doing this for four years, but I know you know, the end of the year, the holiday season, numbers pretty much always go up. Um, and there's other times throughout the year, maybe it's now that numbers are going down. Um, and maybe it is, and it could just be me and my little group. Like, I don't know. I really don't know. Um, and I you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure that stuff out. So, what it brings up though is the idea of when do you need to like reevaluate what you're doing? I guess maybe you should oftentimes reevaluate what you're doing, but when do you need to actually do something differently or or make a change? And that that's kind of been where I've been floating around this month. Because another thing that happened this month, which I talked about on the couples table a little bit, but I can go into more detail here, is that uh negative comments. So even though all the numbers are down, like it makes sense for people whose channels have a big boost, like they they suddenly pop and go crazy, that they would get an influx of negative comments because they're probably also getting an influx of positive comments, the channel's being pushed out to people who aren't familiar with it and all that stuff. Whereas that's not what's happening to me. Like, the like the channel's growing more slowly now than it has in the past six or seven months, um, and views are lower than they've been in the past six or seven months, but the number of negative comments that I've gotten this month alone in May is greater than the number of negative comments I've gotten the rest of the time combined, which is weird and annoying. Uh, and you know, you want to say, like, oh, it doesn't bother me and negative stuff. And I should still point out too the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of comments that I get and feedback that I get are positive. So, you know, more like hardly getting any to getting like kind of a few, it, you know, I just want to point that out. Like, most is still positive, but it's crazy. It's like it's to the point now where I kind of instead of going like, cool, I'm gonna check in with comments and like talk to people about stuff and answer questions and things. It's like I kind of go in and go, like, okay, I'm gonna do comments. First, I need to skim through and like get rid of all the weird mean stuff. And even the the dumb things where it's just somebody's like, you're ugly, like F you, um, which I know has nothing to do with me. It's just someone who thinks they're being edgy and funny by like posting mean stuff on random people's channels. Uh, those, you know, I'm pretty good about like just delete, don't even think about it, block the person, whatever. But even though I think I'm good at not letting that bother me, even though I don't spend a lot of time on it, I do think that emotionally or psychologically, I think it like it does just at least like pick a little bit at like whatever my happiness level is for that day, I think that it just kind of it just like poop moves it down just a little bit. Even if I don't really realize it, I think that it does. And that's something to be aware of. And it's hard not to because if somebody just says something negative to you, even if you know it's wrong or you know it's out of context or you know it has nothing to do with you, it's hard not to think like, well, it still sucks to have someone say something mean to you, you you know? And so though those have been there, but the ones that really get to me, and maybe I brought this on myself in a way, it is the ones where people are being like hyper-critical, and they're not being critical of an idea. Like, I don't care if I do a review on a microphone, I talk about a microphone, and somebody else shows up and says, I don't like the way that sounds. I have found that for $90 you could get this other one that sounds better. I have no problem with that. Like that, you are adding to the conversation. You know, you're you're providing a different viewpoint, that's fine. If I do something in a review that's incorrect, I guess, I don't sure. Like, point out, like, hey, you you mentioned this, but you forgot to talk about that. Cool. Like, I'm all for more information being added to the discussion. That's not bad. And there's totally like diplomatic ways. It's where we're talking about the idea, the concept, the topic. You're not talking about me and me being dumb and a jerk and a liar and all this kind of stuff, which is kind of where things have been going. And that's where it gets so weird, is the reason I say I brought it on myself is because I've done a handful of videos lately where I feature something that I got for free. And I have, and you probably know, if you've listened to a while, you know the eternal struggle of the ethics statement and sponsored content. And should you or should you not take something for free? And is something, is anything actually free, and and all this stuff. Um, but for example, a recent video I did was about the Rode NT1 condenser microphone and mentioned it earlier. Rode sent me that microphone for free. They sent that microphone with zero obligation of me making a video. They had no, like, I didn't even know they were sending it actually. What happened was somewhere on Twitter, I don't remember the exact post, but it was something like somebody had asked me an opinion about a condenser microphone or something about a condenser microphone. And I replied and said, um I was really interested in getting a condenser microphone, but I had never used one. And so I couldn't like answer their question. That was kind of it. Uh a few days after that, I got an email from UPS that said like package delivery tomorrow. And I was like, what the heck did I order and totally forget about? And it said package coming from road microphones. And I was like, Did I order anything from Rode? Like, I don't think I randomly ordered something and forgot about it. And it said the package weighed 11 pounds. So I was thinking, what the heck did I buy that is 11 pounds from Rode that I completely forgot about? Uh and then the next day a giant box showed up with big old Rode logo on the side, and it had the NT1 inside. It had a sweet backpack for the Rodecaster Pro, like a custom Rodecaster backpack. It had a video mic NTG, and it had a hat, a road hat and a bunch of stickers. I was like, what is I was so confused. I was like, what is all of this? Like, what happened? And so I reached out to Rhodes social media because I didn't know. I was like, I got this, it's really cool. Like, thank you, but I don't know why I got it. And then they put me in touch with the person who sent it. And literally, they were just like, We saw you say you didn't have a condenser microphone, so we wanted to set you up. Um, you know, this backpack, I guess, is a very limited edition like carrying case that they made for the Rodcaster. Um, so they're like, we wanted to give that to you because you've been so like, you know, such a big part of the Rodcaster community, and just a couple other things to help out and have fun with. That was literally it. I was like, wow, this is super cool. And it was great because I literally had the NT1 in my like wish list online, and I was thinking, like, okay, as soon as you know I get paid again or next month, and it's I pay myself, but monthly, like when I pay myself again, um, yeah, I'm gonna set money aside and we'll get the the NT1 and test that out. And that'll be my condenser microphone because it's seems like a good mic, it's pretty fairly priced, and it and it gets really good reviews, and that'll be a good um, a good entry point for me into the world of condenser mics. Not just, I mean, I I had like the newer NW 800, which is like a it's not a great microphone. Uh the NW700, surprisingly, surprisingly capable. Uh 800 though, nah. Anyway, uh, but that that's why I was like, so I had those which were like condenser mics, but my first like real condenser microphone. Um, so it was really cool when this thing that I had set aside that I was planning to spend money on just showed up for free. And there was no, there's like no contract, no agreement, no anything. Like I could have literally never told anyone that that happened. It was just a gift that they sent. But of course, I used the microphone. I really like the microphone, made a video about the microphone in the video. Definitely made sure to say they sent it to me for free. Definitely made sure to click the this includes, you know, paid promotions or whatever, because I did get something of value that's included in that video. Definitely made sure in the description to say exactly what happened. And you better believe there's still a ton of people who are trying to like expose me in that video as lying about this relationship with Rhode, which is I think that specifically gets to me because if you know me, you know how hard I have worked on like the ethics statement and saying no to everything and trying to be as transparent as possible about all this stuff and feeling weird about taking anything for free, and trying to like work through that because sometimes it is practical. Like, for example, if you saw my video about the Holly Land Mars, the wireless HDMI transmitter receiver thing, that's something that I received for free. It was super clear about that in the video. That was something where I initially said no several times, and then I got more and more curious about it, but it's kind of expensive. It's like six or seven hundred dollars. So I was not curious enough to spend the money on it because I don't have six or seven hundred dollars to just spend on a random thing to see how it is, you know. And so that's why I was like, okay. I did the same thing. Here's the ethics statement, here's this. They they kept asking, like, do you please let us send you one? Please let us send you one. And finally, I was like, okay, um, if you want to send me one, you know, here's the ethics statement. We all agreed on that. Um, you can send it. But what I always just say is basically like you're sending it into a black hole. Just because you sent it doesn't mean I'm gonna make a video, doesn't mean you're gonna hear about it, doesn't mean I'm gonna post about it. Um, you know, heck, I could just send it sell it on eBay and earn a profit, like whatever. Um and just to be super clear, there are no expectations. Um, but if they send something and I think it's cool and it finds a place in my workflow, then I'm sorry about the dogs barking, then I will be sure to use it. The Holly Land Mars is awesome. And if you watch that video, you know that it like exceeded all expectations and everything. And I apologize for the dogs, I'm sorry. And uh the crazy thing about it is I got it, I used it for months, and then I made the video about it. And it was just like this thing is really cool, it is still expensive, however, I do think that if you have that specific need, if it fits a spot in your workflow, then it can definitely make a huge difference. Like if I were still teaching, where we were covering all kinds of events and doing all these crazy live streams, I would order like four or five sets of those. Because it's you know, it would be money, like career tech ed money that's set aside for this stuff. It's not like I'm paying for it out of my pocket, and it would be so useful. Like after we ran cables everywhere all the time, to just do this wirelessly. Oh my gosh, and reliably, it would be amazing. Um, so there's that kind of stuff. Like a lot of people uh they work with like their churches or their businesses or whatever, where they need to put equipment setups together that they're not paying out of pocket for, but they need it to be good. So that was kind of a case of like, here's something that's really good. It's a little too expensive for me to just randomly purchase and try, but I'm really curious about it and I want to provide my feedback on it. And so accepting the free thing did enable something that just wouldn't have been possible otherwise. And you know, I I had been getting lots of questions about it. Like, have you used the Holly Land? Have you used this? And I just kept saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And now I can actually speak to it. Same thing kind of goes with like the Zoom P8, the roadcaster competitor. People were always asking, like, are you gonna review that? Are you gonna do this? Are you gonna talk about this? What are your thoughts on that? And I had never used it, but I don't need it. So in that case, I actively, instead of reaching out to Zoom, I reached out to Sweetwater and said, Hey, can I have a re review unit? Like, I've never asked for anything like that, but this just seemed like it was such a top request. I was like, would it be possible to get one to review? Sweetwater said no problem, but then they said it's actually easier for us if you don't send it back. Um, so you can keep it and give it away if you want. And so that's why I was like, that's perfect. I'm getting this for free. I'm not keeping it though, I'm giving it away because I don't need it. Um, and I'm not even getting it from the company that made it, I'm getting it from a distributor. So that that kind of thing worked well. Like the Hollyland Mars I kept, and it's I'm pointing off screen if you're watching the video version, because it lives on my desk every day. I use it all the time. Like it's constantly in use. It's awesome. Um, so it's definitely a part of my workflow. So when it comes to free stuff, you know, there there's this weird, like that's kind of I still say no to almost everything. And I've had some bad experiences uh recently. I had an experience. Oh boy. Um the long and short of it is free product. It was almost the same situation as the Holly Land, where approached repeatedly by a company, say no repeatedly to that company. Uh people start asking questions outside of this about that product. I look into it, I think it's interesting, it's a little too expensive for me to buy just a tryout. Company keeps asking, finally, have the ethics statement discussion, have the expectations discussion. They send out the product. Um, I used it and made a video about it because it was it was interesting. It's not something that fit into my workflow, but it was interesting. Um, the video was it was it definitely had critical points, but it was still largely positive, and basically was ended up being like um these are the negatives, these are the positives. Um if you have a specific workflow, the positives could far outweigh the negatives. But if you don't have that workflow, the negatives will outweigh it. It was kind of like that thing, like you might be willing to deal with some of the problems because of the benefits that it could bring to you in certain situations. That was basically a largely positive review. Um, then the company reached out and they were very friendly, but it was it was like they really wanted to troubleshoot why why I was seeing issues. And we did kind of troubleshoot and we narrowed it down to like some of the equipment I'm using, which is very popular, you know, like I don't use weird little niche things for the most part. I use like regular the stuff that a lot of people use. So it was kind of like, oh, if you're using this, then you need this other little thing that you can order online for really cheap and it fixes this problem. And so I did that and I was working on it. It was it was actually resolving some of the issues, and then the the thing itself, the device broke, like it it the battery was defective and you know, like expanded and and died and didn't hold a charge and bricked it, and I just ended up recycling the thing for safety because it was they wanted to like explode. Uh and I told them this. And they they had been asking, like, well, can you do a follow-up video? Like now that there's a solution, can you do a follow-up video? And normally, as soon as somebody requests a video, I immediately say, Oh no, I'll never make that video. Like, sorry. Uh, but in this case, I thought it was interesting. It did kind of it was a simple solution to a problem. So I was actually planning to make a follow-up video, and then the thing broke. Um, and I told them, I said, This is what happened. This was the defect. Like, definitely like let your engineering team know. I don't think this isn't a common problem that I've heard of with this product. So I think I just got a defective one. But I was like, I'm kind of done. You know, don't they offered to like send another one? I was like, please don't at this point. Like, I've sort of just had enough. And then it got into a whole thing of like, well, if you're not gonna do a follow-up video, can you take the original video down and blah, blah, blah? And it just went into a whole thing where even though they were being very friendly and very polite, I was just like, this is like client work. Like, you're not paying me. We have no agreement for anything. This was just supposed to be for fun. And now I'm spending so much time on this video that it's like, or on this thing that I shouldn't be like, there's no reason I should be spending the time on this thing. And, you know, the video itself, it's not like it was getting a million views where where clearly it's like, oh my gosh, you said something negative about a product, and now all these people it's like I can see the analytics. My influence ain't that great, like not having that much of an impact on the overall stuff. And it was just so frustrating that finally I just had to go, okay, please just stop. Like, I don't I that's cut ties. I don't want to be involved with this anymore because this is like it's it's like a nightmare client situation where they just keep asking for revisions and changes and they're super needy. Except it's not even that, like, this is on my channel, there's no agreement to do anything, and I'm not getting paid at all. So, like, it's none of the benefits of a client thing. Anyway, uh, the reason I bring that up is because also there have been times when it comes to free stuff where uh it just didn't work out. Like recently, there was a company, a well, I'm trying to like not be specific, um, but there was a well-known company who sent a product that I was very excited about because I was excited to see this well-known company enter a very competitive space. And I was and they offered like it was my first time interacting with them. They were super great about everything, ethics statement, the whole deal. And I was so excited for this thing. They sent me it. I got ready to use it, and it was bad. It was like really bad. Um, it was un I would consider it unusable in my case, especially because I have other versions that are great and the same price. So I was like, What can I do? I was really disappointed, and so I talked to them very honestly, and I was like, this is my experience, like I cannot feature this. I can't, it wasn't like I was supposed to, it was the same thing of like I can make a video or not, but I was telling them, like, I will not be making a video about this. This is why, like, here's all my feedback. Um, especially in to do with like your product sits here at this price point, these other competing products are at this price point, and they do all these different things like so much better. Um, in this case, it was kind of a more premium company, so I was even explaining like people expect higher prices and higher quality from your company. Like, don't try to be the low-end bargain bin deal. Like, people would be happy to spend more to get your traditional quality. Anyway, um, and and you know, they were like that. Was an awkward conversation to have, but they were very cool and very understanding about that. Um, there's been other times, uh like Polar Pro, this is a great example. Um, they're great, they've supported my channel since like I had just a few hundred subscribers. They sent me like a bunch of filters that were like really expensive, you know, like $200 a piece. Um, again, there's like, here's some filters, have fun with them. Maybe make a video if you want to, or not. Um, and so I did, and then eventually they sent me these things. I don't know, a couple years ago, they they came out with these lens caps or like rubber lens caps that are really big and durable, and they sent that to me. No expectation to make a video, but I just it just did not fit into my workflow at all. And I was I was like, um, I spent weeks trying to figure out like, okay, one, it's not that exciting to make a video about a lens cap in the first place, and two, these don't fit. I I I don't have a use for these, even though they they do everything they say they're supposed to do. Um, and finally I just had to email them and go, like, I have been racking my brain, but I know I'm not supposed to make a video, I don't have to make a video, but I haven't I just can't use these. And they they were, of course, were like, yeah, no problem, no worries. Um, and that was it. And then I ended up actually taking them to school and using them on the cameras there, and they were great, uh. Because they were they held up to the abuse of high school students very, very well. So they ended up getting used to just my personal workflow. Didn't have a need for them. So the point is, say all that. Um just to go like even when something is like, I got this for free, there's so much like work and communication and thought that goes into that. Um, and most times I'll just say no to everything. So by the time I say yes to something for free, by the time I use it to the point where I decide that I actually do want to make a video about it, and then I make the video, and then I edit the video and upload the video, I've thought about it a little bit. And I'm always super clear about stuff being, you know, if it's provided or whatever, which is why then when these comments come in, I know it's like 48 minutes later or something, we're coming back to the original, the original topic here, but it's why, especially on this road NT1 video, I've gotten so many people who are who are like it's like they're trying to expose something that's not there to expose. And the closest thing I can think is it's like the little, I'll be a little insulting here, I guess. It's like the little hamster in their brain started running on the wheel and like it sparked an idea, but then like the hamster took a nap or died, and like it didn't keep going into a full critical thought. It just sort of like I had an almost idea that kind of is like sort of plausible, and I'm just gonna stop there. And what I mean by that is like uh a number of people are really like weird about the thing being for free, and they're like, it's not for free. You said this video is not sponsored, but you have affiliate links. That's a sponsored video. No, it's not. Uh, there's uh disclaimers for the affiliate links. If I'm talking about a product, I need to put the link for people. Like I've talked about that before. If I'm gonna put a link, why wouldn't it be an affiliate link? It's sorry. It's it's very, very like I didn't make the video, oh, just so I could get that sweet potential affiliate revenue. It's like you just it's what you do, you know. You make a link, make an affiliate link. It helps, it doesn't hurt anybody. Um and but that doesn't that apparently proves that you know the video is is actually sponsored, even though I said it's not sponsored, which is it's not. Um there's also people who are saying there was one person who said like you're in bed together with Road uh because you're willing to like use your influence, and this is not really a gift, it's a business exchange, and blah blah blah. It's like road literally didn't even tell me they were sending this, like it just showed up at my door, and I could have never mentioned it. How is that like a scheme? If if I could have never said anything about it, how is that a scheme? Like I know Road, yes, they want to be, you know, I guess they like me enough to want to be supportive, and they're not dumb. They know that like if we send Tom a microphone and he really likes it, there's a chance he'll make a video about it, or it will at least show up in a video. Uh, and that's probably a good thing. So I know, you know, yeah, there's probably some strategy. I'm speculating, but I could have also literally gotten that package and done just sold all the stuff on eBay and never mentioned it to anybody, and that would have been fine. So I don't know. There's that, and then there's been a few people who were like, Oh, you said you didn't even know they were sending it to you. How'd they get your address? It's like, I've ordered stuff from Rode before, they have a database. Like, you can what? Like, have you it's the internet, dude? Like huh? Like I just again, almost critical thought, but just like missing the mark, and it's very annoying. And the the part that normally I normally when something makes me feel crummy in my own YouTube channel, I just delete it and get rid of it. But these things here where people think they're almost trying to make points, I got very self-conscious of deleting because what I really didn't want then was if that happened to multiple people or the same person, you know, posted the same stupid comment repeatedly and I deleted it, that then it becomes a thing of Tom says he's not sponsored, but anytime you try to point out what could be a contradiction, uh, he deletes it. That looks shady. Um, and so instead it's like, well, I will respond to you, but I'm not even really responding to you. I'm putting a response so that way other people will see it if they if they look for it. If they come through the comment section, they see you bring up this point, and then they see me responding to it, they can read that, and then they can uh make their own conclusions from that. But at least that way it doesn't seem like I'm trying to censor anything that that comes up about this topic. It's really frustrating though, especially when you know on my end how like it's a sensitive issue, I guess you could say. Um, and that kind of stuff, like that's where it's it's not just the stupid like F you comments that you can more easily delete, but it's stuff where you're like, you're you're questioning my integrity, you're you know, people will say I'm disappointed in you for you know doing this, getting a free thing, like it's it's weird. Um and it's just been more of that, and and across different videos, and a lot of stuff too, where it's like you know, a lot of it there's been a tonal shift where even though the most of my cont comments seem to be towards me, like Tom, do you use blah blah blah? A lot of these negative ones are like about me, meaning like this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Did you see when he did this? It's it's like, and I guess that's because it's a comment section and you're you're having a discussion with the people there, but it's on like it's a weird thing when it's like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He said this F 2.8 lens is fast, he doesn't know what a fast lens is. And and then stuff like that, like, where it's like, don't listen to this guy, he's giving bad information. He's it's it's that kind of stuff has been popping up, which is I don't like it. You know, I know there's nothing you can do about it, and it's par for the course, but I am telling you, person who is listening to this podcast, um, that I don't like that, and that sucks, and that hurts my feelings, and it can make me feel bad, and it can also then like get into my head when I go to make something else, and I'm you know, oh my god, like how is this going to appear when uh, you know, what if I did get a thing for free? What oh my every time I say something positive about a product, it automatically means that now it's like a a scam of some kind or or whatever. Like the that stuff is annoying, and you don't want to just block out engaging with your community because, like I said, still the vast majority, super majority of comments are positive or at least relevant to the topic. Um, even if they're critical, they're critical in terms of the subject matter, not me as like a person, uh, which is great. And I think that it's so important to cultivate that community and to grow with that and and that kind of stuff. But to do that, you just gotta kind of wade through this stuff. That's always been the case. I just don't know why it's been so bad this month. It has been annoying. I have now vented that. Do with it what you will. Uh, but you know, it goes into like, okay, what are uh like the other thing here? So so with the channel, the numbers not being good, but the channel, like I'm so proud of the videos, I'm still having a ton of fun. Ultimately, like there's enough revenue being generated, and there's stuff like the course came out this month, so that you know, this number could be down, but course was up. Um so I still looked at it and was like, I'm really happy with what I'm doing. I don't think I actually want to make a change, I think I just want to keep going and just assume that this is one of those dips, and then after the dip, there will be a a rise again, you know. And overall, when we zoom out, it's still a an overall upward trend. And just hope that that's the case. Um, because I don't really want to want to change stuff. I did do a community poll um on YouTube a while ago, which was this was more of like looking at my list of video ideas. I kind of have them broken down into segments, like here's video-related videos, audio-related stuff, streaming related stuff, you know, that kind of thing. And the list is really long, and they're all things I want to do. Like, I'm excited about all of them, but you know, if the majority of people who are watching my channel want a microphone review and then I talk about video lights, maybe like I could reframe something or focus on something different, or like the order that I make videos could be different, you know, whatever. Um, so I did a poll and it was super helpful. Like, tons of people voted in it, which was great. So it by the way, if you're an online person and you run a poll like on YouTube community or Twitter, whatever, it's a great way to get feedback because polls are so easy for people to vote in that you'll get you'll get a lot more responses from a poll than you will just by asking a question. But in that poll, um, a lot of people also left comments that were like, I just want anything. All these are great. I wish there were an all the above option, which made me feel like, hey, okay, uh, I'm on the right track. Like it reminds me of when I was a teacher, and you know, I'd kind of be feeling like my classes were feeling a certain way about something or struggling with something. And sometimes I would just stop and go, like, okay, just to check in, like, how are you guys doing with this? How are you handling this? And then they would tell me, and it would be nice when the things they told me were the things I was suspecting, because then it was like, great, I am in tune with where everybody's at. And this was kind of that like, here's the stuff I want to make. What does the audience want to see? Audience wants to see the stuff I wanted to make. Cool. Um, it wasn't like, I wish you would make these videos again. You haven't done this in forever, or anything like that. It was like, more of this, more of this, all of these. Cool. Um, so that tells me, like, just keep doing what you're doing. And the numbers, you know, and like I said, there have been highs and lows in the past. It just hasn't had the same weight of like, you know, being my full-time job. Uh, and so this is a good learning experience of going through that as a primary source of income overall. So that that's kind of, I guess, the the main reason I wanted to share that and go through. Um, because sometimes, you know, if I would never want to tell someone to like live by their analytics and do that, but if you notice those are all down and you're feeling bummed out and stuff isn't working, there could be that could be a time where maybe you do want to make a pivot or you do want to make a change, not just to like chase the views and the numbers, but if you've been thinking like, hmm, I wish I could talk about this thing or make videos about this, and then whatever you're currently doing isn't doing well, that could be a good chance to now like, well, let's pivot over here and and do that. Um, or it could be a chance to kind of do what I just did, and you evaluate everything, and then you think, okay, numbers are down, but overall community is happy. Overall, I'm happy with what I'm doing, so stay the course. Cool, even though numbers are down, stay the course, hope that that fixes itself and irons itself out, and then we'll just keep going from there. Um, so that's kind of that. I did also this past week, I did my second sponsored video ever, which was terrible. It was actually very fun, but also terrifying. Um, I did a sponsored video in the fall of 2019, and now I did one in the spring of 2021. So there we go. Uh, but it was with Artlist, and it was funny because they they asked to do an official sponsored video last summer, I think in August, July or August of last year, 2020. And I that was they were the first people after I did my ethics statement. They were the first ones that I kind of like ran through that thing with, and they were cool with everything. They loved it, they were like, Yeah, no problem. Um, basically, they were just like, we like what you do, we trust you not to do anything terrible and associate our brand with it. Um, and we just want to support you. That was pretty much the approach. And I still said no because I was so uncomfortable with like how to do a sponsored thing. But I told myself, okay, if they reach out again, say yes. And they did. Um earlier this month, they reached out and said, like, hey, we'd love to do an art grid sponsorship, which is their uh stock footage video service. And I was like, you know, art grid is great, I just don't use it that much because I don't use stock footage um in my workflow. Not that there's not a place for it, I don't use it. And I did say I was proactive and I said, but I'd be open to an art list sponsorship because you know, I've been using Art List for years. And they were like, that's great. Um and they basically just said, like, let us know what your rates are and what you want to do. And so I pitched several different ideas. And I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing with this stuff. So I was like, okay. Um, I talked to a few friends to kind of see, like, hey, with a channel my size, what would be fair rates? Um, and then I was like, okay, 60 seconds, I could do a 60-second integration where I spend a minute talking about art list on on a video. I could do a full-on video, like whatever. Um, and the rates are different between them. And then I kind of pitched some ideas for future videos that I'm planning to work on. Like, hey, if you want to do any of this, and they were they basically said, Oh, we'll do two things. Uh, we'd love to do a 60-second integration this month in May, and we'd love to do a bigger one next month in June. Um, which basically just next month in June, I'm planning to make a video. If you've been watching the video version and you notice the slider, the camera going back and forth. Um, I'm using the Shark Slider Nano, which was sent to me for free. Um, but previously I've been using the Edelcrone slider one, which I paid for, including the head one and the remote and all these like accessories. Um, and this motorized slider is amazing. And the Edelcrone I liked. And prior to that, I had a manual slider, and so I wanted to do a video that wasn't just a versus video, but it kind of like really contextualizes sliders in like the independent creator workflow. So, not just what they can bring to you to your production value, but how they have evolved as a tool over like the past 10 years and my own experience with it, which I think will be interesting, and I think will also contextualize why I like this one so much, because you'll see like you'll really understand the problems it solves. It's not just random features, but it's like, oh my gosh, yes, it's the next step. Um, and I wanted to do that in a just sort of as a creative exercise, I've noticed that because YouTube, you know, you don't want to waste anybody's time, so when I look at my video files, it's full of me talking for the if it's a 16-minute video, it's me talking unbroken for 16 minutes. And that's fine. Like there's nothing wrong with that. But if you watch like I I guess if you watch more like documentary style stuff, or even like a Philip Bloom video, like a review, there's a little more uh breathing room. You know, there's narration, like like Philip Bloom, for example, will make a point or say something, and then like music will come up and show you an example of what he's talking about, or he'll make a point and music will come up, and then you kind of sit with the point for a while and think about it, and then he comes in with the next point. And you notice that in documentary work too, like the narrator says some things, and then there's sort of like sound and music, and the narrator comes, they're not talking the whole time. It's just a different way of approaching stuff, but I've been wanting to try that more, and so I had an idea, I was like, oh, this like longer, more like um not story-driven, but this exploratory style video would be a great chance to do that. Music's gonna be a key part of that, so I need to find a bunch of music. Like, I had already gone to Artlist and found like all the songs. I was found like 30 songs to try out in this video, but a very like the music will drive like when one section ends and one section begins, not just in the background, but really be a like a storytelling device in this video. And so I kind of explained that video idea and I was like, that would be more of a full, like that that video is gonna be a lot of work to produce. Um, and so that would be a more expensive thing. Like, yeah, we'll do that in June, cool. Great. Um and and so I at that point I had overcome my hurdle of like, okay, we'll do a sponsored thing. It's artless. Like, I, you know, I did tell them too. I was like, in a 60-second thing, like, I'll talk about the main points of why Artlist is great, but which they didn't even tell me what I had to say. Like, I could just say whatever I wanted. Um, but I was like, the thing too, though, is it was the first money I actually invested in in my YouTube channel before I even made a video. I bought my subscription. That was my way of telling myself I was taking this seriously, was I'm investing money in it. So Artlist specifically holds a very special place in my heart and and has played a very special role in this creator journey. Um, and I was like, I can talk about that a little bit, which I think is a unique angle versus just reading, you know, specs. And they love that idea. It's cool, do that. Um, then of course, that that's literally it. They didn't get to see the video or anything. And the video that they're sponsoring was actually already done. It was a Final Cut Pro editing video about audio and how to sync your audio to your videos, so it was kind of related to music. Um, and I was like, Yeah, I'm not making any new videos this month, but I have that one that's coming out at the end of the month. And they're like, Oh, could we sponsor that one? I was like, sure. So I just had to edit in like a little minute-long thing, which was fun because I got to be goofy in it, I got to be like a little heartfelt with it. Um, it was pretty simple, and then published the video, and they were just like, Cool, thanks. That's it. It was like super, which is how it should be, because they're literally just like by sponsoring the video, yes, I'm advertising for them, but they're also supporting me and they're leaving everything in my hands creatively, like they're trusting me on how to uh sell that product to their odd to my audience. And the part I so they were cool with that, I was cool with it. This last scary piece was the audience because I don't do a lot of sponsored or really any sponsored content, and so I was very scared of what's the reaction gonna be, but I thought this would be a good chance to test that out. It's been a rough month anyway, like let's see. Uh, and nobody cared. Um, the only thing, the only feedback I got about that was a couple people saying, I think I'm gonna check out Artlist now. So I was like, great, I guess the ad was helpful, like it's a win-win-win, right? Like you actually want the thing that that was in the ad. Um, so that was cool, and that was that led me think, like, okay, I do not want every video to be sponsored, but if I'm okay with certain things, like Artlist, for example, where we're on the same page and the community seems to be on board and it's relevant to what I'm doing, um, I'd be open to more of those. I wouldn't want to do more than one a month, so that'd be one out of four videos. Um, and maybe even more ideally, like once every two months. So one out of eight videos would be sponsored. Um, but that's that's kind of a cool, you know. So again, numbers are down in some areas, so you know, ad revenue and affiliate links are down, but then deciding to do a sponsorship with Artlist can make up for some of that. So it's it's that thing where if you listen to the episodes of a few months ago where I went through all the revenue from the channel, there's there can be times when um you go through and you're like, wow, this was the worst month ever for a number of these sources, but overall it was the best month ever in terms of overall revenue. Um so it'll be interesting later this week when I go back and like do all the adding up of everything for May to see where that lands, um, knowing that it's been analytically, at least directly on YouTube, a very rough month. But in terms of like the course and sponsorships, it could end up being actually a very strong month. Um just sort of interesting. So anyway, um, that's kind of that I I guess I feel like I might have gotten in the weeds a little bit. And I hope I didn't, but I did want to I did just want to share that just so you can see where where I'm going through, so we could talk about the idea of when to reevaluate what you're doing versus when to just stay the course. Um, and since I did do a sponsored thing, I thought that was an important thing to bring up because you probably know how hesitant I am for anything like that. And it turns out that was a great experience, but it doesn't mean that cool, now that's just open the floodgates and let me tell you about VPNs every day and stuff. So that's definitely not going to be the case. And same thing goes, I think I told you with like this podcast earlier this season, I talked about like how to monetize podcasts, and I've had so many questions about like how do you monetize a podcast? Um, and I even looked into like ad rates and sponsorships. And unless you find just like a company that really, really wants to support you specifically in what you're doing, because I I did I do know somebody who with a relatively new podcast. Got a sponsor for an entire season that was like tens of thousands of dollars for the whole season for like a 10-episode or a 12-episode season. Um, for me though, it was like what I could find was if I was trying to get sponsors, it would be like you can get twenty to thirty dollars per ad, uh which is not worth it, like at all. To to make an ad, to record an ad to waste your time with an ad so I can get 20 bucks. Like, nah, it's fine. Like, I can find other ways to just save $20 throughout the month, and then it's the same thing. Um, so I decided for me, it would be best to just not worry about that for the time being, and just remind people that there's Patreon and channel memberships. Um, if you want to check those out, specifically for the podcast, because I've been trying to do more video versions. So if you want to see the video version, that's the way to get access to that. Um, couple other just quick things as we wrap up. Next week is going to be the season finale of season four, which is crazy. It's already 21 episodes in. So Heather's gonna be back next week, and we're gonna kind of go over some stuff and try to look at the whole season and tie up everything together and wrap it up. I think that'll be a really fun episode. And um what was I gonna say? Something about that. Oh, and then I'm probably gonna take about a month off before starting season five just to take a break and then to also um spend a little more time like planning out season five and and figuring it out and um just sort of like calendaring things out for season five, because I have the time to do that now. So that's that's kind of where we're at there. And yeah, I think that's pretty much all the things. So, as usual, you know, I really do appreciate you taking the time to listen or watch. Um, I always appreciate the feedback and the insights. I hope you know how much that means to me, especially like if you're an hour and seven minutes in, you're still listening to me. Maybe it is because this microphone, this worker bee microphones, just sounds so good and you just want to keep listening to it. Um, but if you actually like what I'm saying and my ideas, I appreciate that. Feel free to reach out at Sodarm Tom or send me an email, Tom at enthusiasmproject.com. If you want to send in uh a video or a video, a voice message, uh, so we can hear actually you could even do a video one if you want. I could include the audio and the video of that too, um, about anything I've talked about today or this season. Feel free to do that and uh I can find a way to include you in the season finale episode. So you can just send that to Tom at enthusiasmproject.com. Of course, podcaster playbook is up. Um, podcasterplaybook.com if you want to check that out and you know get all the the info about starting your own podcast. And otherwise, I think that is about it. I think we did it. Cool. Well, this was really, really fun, as always. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. I appreciate it. And how do I push the button? And I will see you next week. Bye, everybody.