Season 4 Finale! The Secret Series Continues... [S4E21]

We’ll call this an honorary epilogue to “The Secret Series”! Heather is back to wrap up Season 4 by taking a look at what things are like 3 months into self employment and how I’ve been approaching things (which in some cases is very different to her approach).

Hopefully this will be some helpful insight for anyone who might be working to make their side thing a full time thing.

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  http://youtube.com/heatherjustcreate

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S4E21 | Series Episode 84

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Hello and welcome. My name is Tom. This is the Enthusiasm Project Season Four, Episode 21. And you know what that means? It is the season finale. Finally. Finale. Our dog Finlay is here. So this is the last episode of season four. And as I talked about last week, it's not going to be just me. I have a very special guest. Super hard to work with her people to book this whole thing. This has been months in the making. And that is the one and only Heather Ramirez, my wife. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hello.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

It's been a while since you've been here. I have. Yeah. Yes, it is. Sure. It's been a while. And um what what I thought would be a good, a good episode to do today, to wrap up this season. This has been there's been a lot of uh personal change and growth this season. And uh that has been a very fun thing to document, in no small part due to you, because you're the one who suggested we do the quote unquote secret series earlier this season, where it was kind of documenting leaving my job, going into full-time content creation land. And now it's almost three months into that, almost well, almost exactly ish, three months from that. And so I thought it would be a cool thing to revisit at the end to sort of see, you know, now that the honeymoon phase is sort of over with that transition, and just break it down and uh, you know, let's just sort of revive the secret series in a not so secret way to wrap up the season, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Okay. That's sort of the context of what we're doing. And it fits in because I don't know if you listen to every episode, but last week, last week I talked a lot about um how like the month of May was super weird and numbers were down and all these things I would normally be able to just like would just fall off my shoulders and I would think about it, weighed very differently just because of hey, I don't have another job now, so this stuff is different now. And um, so the the so everyone listening, if you listen to that, should already have that context. I don't really need to rehash all of that. And then since then I've gotten a number of like incredibly kind messages and emails and stuff from people who were really kind of like, you know, set me straight and trying to reprioritize what I am focusing on, uh, more importantly, than just like, oh, the numbers are bad and the actual impact you can make on someone doing this stuff. So that's kind of where we are at right now.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

That sounds great.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

All right. Well, we did it anyway.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Okay, I'm trying to think of ways that we can conclude the season, conclude the secret series. A couple of themes come to mind and we can just, you know, peruse down the alleys as you would like. So I feel like looking back, there are a couple things that stick out to me. One is I think that your relationship with money has changed or evolved, at least.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Um, number two, I think your philosophy around uh like someone's I don't want to say job, but like I guess so. Because we all have to generate money to be a human.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Like that's just it is expensive to be a person, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Uh but I think that you know, you you the thing that sticks out to me is that you told me the number one priority is to never have to give up your freedom again.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Like more so than I mean, you you would take on a bunch of stuff that you wouldn't want to do before you get a job again. So I think that's an interesting thing to talk about. Okay. Uh and then the other thing is um, I mean, I don't want to take too much time talking about this because it almost feels like you're rubbing it in and bragging about it, but your lifestyle has completely changed. Yeah. Like completely.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

I'm a lifestyle influencer now.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

But I think it's I think that from the outside looking in for from some people who are not or can't imagine what it's like. Or, you know, I'm thinking about you before, you know, let's say two years ago, three years ago, your only example of someone doing YouTube full time was me. And I was a bad example back then. I'm probably still a bad example.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

But you're the best example. I know. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Now that you are your own example, what are some things that maybe people don't realize or expect or you know, foresee? Because I I think like you know, I know this conversation is about you, but to me, I think that there's something super magical that you've been able to not make a living off of YouTube, that's like secondary. But the fact that you have been able to take your passion and turn that into your full-time thing in a way where you have the freedom and flexibility to do it however you want to do it. I think that's like YouTube is just the enabler to to make that happen. Yeah. And I think that people don't, you know, they they just think like, oh, I just I need, you know, I need to make money from YouTube ads. Like it could just go so much further than that.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah, or just I need to make as much money as possible at all times and rise and grind and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

There's nothing wrong with rise and grind.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

There's nothing wrong with you gotta grind and you gotta rise and all the things, but uh sure.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

So anyway, it's up to you how you want to take it.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

I like all of those, and I think the the whole reason I want to explore this is not I'm the subject and it is my podcast. You are listening to me. Yes, I'm aware of this, but also it's it is a case study, and yeah, and I I want to just put that out there for other people, just like we did with the first batch of episodes with the secret series, because uh you mentioned me like your life changed your lifestyle, and a couple years ago you couldn't imagine. I never would have ever imagined myself being somebody who did this, who yeah, who left the job and did the thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

I'm and I met that person who didn't imagine this.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah, and that I mean I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

I love that person.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

I would not not have bet like any amount of money on like, yeah, that guy's gonna do that one day. Like it was um, I I don't know who you were talking to yesterday, but you were I heard you saying, Oh, it was your stream, yeah. You were on a stream at Dog Rock. That's what it was, where you're saying like Tomway.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

He says you're two small potatoes to be on his stream.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Oh, oh yeah, that's fair. I gotta grow a little bit. Um, but you were you were on his stream and he was saying uh you were saying that you know Tom's plan was like teaching is the career, that's the job, that's when school for, that's what you do to retire. There's ups and downs, and it just sort of is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

And I think there's an overall trend, because you know, you know me, passion economy stuff. I I look at things from a very big picture now.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

And I think that there is definitely a trend where whether you are excited and energized about your job is something that matters to people. Whereas before it was like you just do it for the paycheck, and then all your you know, passion stuff is for when you can find the time between family, work, and other obligations. But I think people, I mean, that's what's cool about living in the time that we do is that there is that it's never been as easy as it is now to be able to find a you know combination of being able to make money, you not only utilizing the skill set that you have, you know, your strengths, but then something you're really passionate about. Yeah. Even if you are working for somebody else, but especially if you're if you can enjoy your own freedom.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Right. And that uh I this sort of ties into it because I I was reading a thing and I think I heard you talking about it with all the passion economy stuff, but a big thing that people are into now is finding, it's not just like I want to find a product or a service or whatever, but it's like I want to find a product or a service that comes from a company or a provider that like aligns with my values, which isn't really something that has ever been, you know, a part of it before. And I was just this morning reading an article. It was an article that was called like it's time to ditch Google Chrome. And it was all these reasons about why you shouldn't use Chrome because you know the way Google takes all your data and all this stuff. Um, but it wasn't really like the most effective article because it didn't really provide any, it was like, use this other browser or this one over here, but it didn't tell you like, well, what do you do when you're everything's integrated into this browser? How do you actually transfer it over? So it anyway, um, it led to a conversation with like different browsers, and in the comment thread for that article, a bunch of people were suggesting, I forget what it was, and it's probably best I don't say it anyway. It wasn't like Firefox or anything, but it was another browser I hadn't really heard of. And then people were like, Oh no, don't use that because their owner is like a uh very vocal anti-vaxxer, um, anti-this, that, the other thing, which has literally nothing to do with how good of a web browser it is or or how it manages your data. But it was literally like people like, thanks for letting me know. I'm glad I didn't put over to this. And it was like, wow, like it really does go into uh it goes into this sense of the everything that I do, like I want it to come from a company and a provider that that's in line with what I do, and also furthermore, a sense of sort of like jadedness that comes from it. Seems like, at least when it comes to big stuff like that, the more you scratch the surface, like there's just everything is a problem, you know. Like there's oh, the this company I think might align with something I do, and then you dig a little deeper, and it's like, oh, it turns out they do this horrible thing, and this company does this, and that anyway, coming back to something like YouTube and content creation, those things can happen and people have their secrets, but a lot of times, especially when you're in the realm of just the single person doing their thing, it it is a lot easier to go like, I believe this and I feel this way, this person seems to do that, I connect with them, and it it there might not be those skeletons in the closet, like you can actually just make more.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Well, that's what I think is so interesting about you as a case study, because you're you're so the extreme, and the way that you've executed is very unique, right? Like we've talked about this in the past couple weeks. You're not just creator economy or passion economy, you're this like really interesting hybrid, which is where I think that we are going to see more. I think that's where the trend is gonna be. Uh, because I I really do think that people, I mean, you have an online course, you know. I think more content creators are gonna use some kind of passion economy business model. And I think that's I really do believe that we're gonna see the build-out of the whole creator middle class thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

Yeah, and that and that that was the goal too, is like we would all love again going back to Doc. Yeah, as he had you admit yesterday, sure. Yeah, nobody hates money here, but that's not necessarily the driving factor.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

The goal is like, can you just make a steady, secure, decent can you make the same amount of money you made at your full-time job doing your thing on your terms? I think that's like key. If we could go beyond that, of course. Yeah, but like I think bare minimum, this is this is the goal. And the fact that you were so it's not even that you were against it, you just it just it was literally like you could not see it. You know, it's that whole thing where you're standing, you're in the jar and you can't see the label because you're just inside the jar and you have no idea like what's outside of that world.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

So you don't even think you don't even think to consider and the thought of like once you even have those thoughts, the idea of like how do I shift to the like it's a mountain I have to climb and and it's very overwhelmed. And you did it! Yay! And well, thanks for listening. So so yeah, that's that's that's sort of where that went. But you talked about, I'll just kind of go down some of the stuff you said. One of the first things you said was my relationship with money has changed because prior to that I had my job where my full-time income had been coming for a decade, and that's where every year I got a modest little raise just because I kept working and you get a raise every year, and it was more than enough to support us, it was more than enough to like pay the bills, put a little money into savings, and buy microphones and stuff. And then when the YouTube channel and stuff started generating revenue, that was great too. And it it let me save a little more aggressively, it let me invest in business-related stuff more. Um, but it was also like, oh look, it's like like financially there there was nothing to worry about at that time, and then to take half of that and just axe it away. So, how has that changed over the I I'm I don't even know that I know well I think that like your relationship with money? Yeah, that's what you had said.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I don't know, what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 13:45

I don't I don't know. I mean, I uh I that's why I was very curious when you said you think it has evolved and changed because in a big part of me is actually trying to not have it change because I was always very responsible with my salaried income. I'd only had like the two full-time incomes, not for very long, so I didn't like get accustomed to this crazy lifestyle or anything. And a big part of me feeling comfortable with doing things on my own terms is seeing that consistency carry over. Like, oh, when I needed to save this much money every month, I can still do that when I needed to or wanted to buy something, I can still do that when I wanted to, you know, we want to go out to eat or something. Like feeling the the consistency from my regular employment to self-employment is uh it brings like a feeling of security, and that so I I'm sort of like trying to just make sure I can still do that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So I don't know, I don't know what that means, but so maybe it's not that your relationship with money has changed, it's more of like uh maybe maybe the it's my observations of I thought you would react a certain way. Oh, but you're not. So like okay, here's an example. Tell me here's an example. Do tell uh we have a couple big purchases in in the on the wish list that just came out of no order. We you know one of the things that we want to do is build out this whole like in cabinet.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, like in our house, when the house was built, you could have like a built-in, very beautiful, like media center shelving thing. And and I didn't do that just to save money at the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

That's gonna be a couple thousand dollars. Then I was like, hey, babe, we should get a spa, like an outdoor spa, because our backyard is huge. We're never gonna get a pool because we have dogs and we like that they can't.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

And pools are very expensive.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yeah, and then there's like just these other things. So to me, I'm just like, gosh, this guy has the freedom and the flexibility to do whatever he wants and make however much money he wants, however, he can't. Because you not you have you did it right, right? Like I like this. You built everything so that if you opened up a whole week's worth of consultations, boom, you can pay for the built-in, you can pay for the spa, and it would be done. Literally, you can make that in a week. And you won't.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Are you telling me something?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

No, I mean, like, obviously do what you want. But I I guess I'm just surprised that like I am surprised that you've stuck to your um your values so rigidly.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Oh, is it a good thing or a bad thing?

SPEAKER_00 16:24

No, I think it's a or just a thing. I think it's a thing. I don't think that it's not the way that I would do it, but of course I'm gonna support you however you want to do it. But I am it is it is interesting because I I think that overall you are working less.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, which is the goal. Like having two full-time jobs down to one, it wasn't to be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

No, but even like like I don't even think you're working 40 hours a week.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

No, probably not, which was the goal. Like that was the goal.

unknown 16:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Which is like, I guess I'm I'm curious about that because you could and make more, but you choose not to.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah, well, okay. So a couple thoughts about that, which is one, after being in my like YouTube slump and talking to a lot of like creator friends and and realizing like everybody's sort of in that, no one really understands the cause of it. Uh, but literally basically everybody I've talked to, like their channels are like it feels like they're dying right now. And of course, that means like revenue and all the stuff's cut in half. So it's not just me. That feels good. It's everybody, then I feel bad for everybody. Uh, but something I was thinking, I was like, you know, maybe for the summer I could do two videos a week, or at the very least, uh, because I randomly did a video on uh Monday last week, and it was what I liked about it actually, even like numbers aside, was when my videos come out on Thursday, it's fun, and then I get very excited for the next Thursday, and I have to like wait the week. And a week is a long time, and it's just my enjoyment of like making videos, sharing it, and that whole thing. And doing it on Monday was like just enough time where like, okay, the excitement of the video were off, and now a new video, and when that wears off, anyone. It was like, hey, this is kind of fun, like there's always something to be excited about. Um, obviously, you have to like make those videos to do that. And I was thinking, okay, I could do that at least for the summer, just to see what effect it has, if any, and if it has no effect on things overall, then I know like, hey, don't there's no need to put in the extra time and do two videos a week. If it like makes everything go amazing, uh, then hey, it was worth it because yeah, I have the time to do that. Um, I could totally do two videos a week and it would be super reasonable. But a big thing too is like I it's after spending so many years working so many hours constantly, and then even in the off time working on the side hustle, being able to like focus on a thing, have my to-do list, check it off, and then just have the option to be done for the day, it feels really good. And I think I'm still recovering from like exhaustion that has just built up over the years because I still feel really tired all the time, and I know it's not because I'm like sleeping away, yeah. At least not in the same way. Um, anyway, probably not working 40 hours a week, and that's that I mean, that was kind of the goal the whole time. Like, I don't want to have to do all of that kind of stuff. I want to be able to focus on what I need to focus on, when I need to focus on it, take a break, shift mentally, like exercise I'm curious all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

I'm not it's awesome that you've been able to be like, okay, here's some, in my opinion, relatively easy ways to make money doing what you're good at, and you're just like, nah. I just find that fascinating because like, you know, I'm all about the passion economy. I get that, like, you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Well, okay, so I know one of the things you're talking about is consultations because I can book those, which are still available. The it's just the rate is expensive and the slots are limited. Um, and my thought behind that is if people don't book them, then I don't have to do them. It's not that I like ever literally every client I've ever had with a consultation, every consultation hour I've ever put up has been booked. Not to brag, but but everyone has been booked and every client has been awesome, um, which is great. So, like every single person, huge, like wild variety of people.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

That gives you that gives you guys, you listeners, an idea of the demand, okay, sure for Tom's time.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Well, I just wanted to I wanted to paint the picture that the people I'm working with are not they're not nightmare customers and but also painting the picture that there is definitely a demand.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah like if you were to ink if you were to open up slots, they'd book for sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

There's definitely a demand. Um the problem with the consultations, and if you're someone who's booked one, like I'm not talking about you. But the problem the problem with it is how it fits into my schedule, and this is sort of a thing I've been like wrestling with because there's sure the consultations are an hour, but there is time to set up and time to tear down. So that's the whole process is two hours at least. Um, depending on it, there might be even more follow-up. But the the harder part is also like the prep work on my end. So it's like here's two hours where you need to do something. Um, if you do it in the morning, it affects the morning routine. If you do it in the afternoon, it affects that. I'm tired at the end of the day, so I know I'm not gonna be performing as well. So if move consultations in the morning, cool, then I'm better for those, but then I'm not as good for my own stuff. Anytime I'm doing that, it is taking away from my it's it's very disruptive to me working on my own stuff. That's that's the problem. That's the real problem. And the days that I've done like back to back to back consultations, it's just exhausting. It's like when I it feels exactly like when I was teaching my classes. Not that it's bad, but it's like I'm just dead at the end of it. Um, and I just don't like that feeling. And I've thought of different ways, like, okay, what if there were a week a month that that week is just consultation week, and I'm not trying to like produce. Produce videos and do all this other stuff. It's just, I know my main thing is I'll just do consultations and I'll do that. Or even a day, you know, two days a month or something, where it's just that whole day, nothing else. It's just, you know, eight hours of consultations or something. Um, the problem is I know based on just how there's also the anxiety I feel because people pay for this time, even though literally nobody's ever been like, I didn't get it's been the opposite. Everyone's like, this was great, so worth the money. Like it's testimonials at the wazoo. But in my mind, I'm like, they paid, I need to deliver, they have these expectations. Let me make sure. Like, there's a lot of anxiety on my end. Yeah. No, there's a ton of anxiety and a ton of stress. And then if I had that one day where it's like, yeah, you could make a huge paycheck in that one day, you dread that day. I would weeks, yeah. As soon as that day's over, I would feel relieved. And then I would just be like, okay, I have four more weeks until that day comes again. Which I know maybe that's just dumb.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

It's not dumb. I just my my whole point in bringing it up is that it's interesting that I guess, you know, one that you do have multiple ways to make money to make, you know, let's let's I don't know, 10k, right? Sure. 10k a month. You have so you've built your brand where we could do online courses, we could do YouTube ads, we could do consultations. Like there's a bunch of ways to make that 10k. And it's interesting that even though you have the opportunity to make 20k, you are very firm in nope, this is what I want, this is what I need, and this is how I want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Yeah, I would love to make 20k, but I would love to do it in without having to to do it that way. I guess is what it comes down to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

But and and I think the reason why I'm so interested in it is because I think that for people like me who made the leap, like I definitely sacrifice the okay, I'm not at the point where I can just, you know, dictate exactly how I want to make the money. I'll take what I can get, kind of thing. And you're just like not. And you know, to your credit, that's because you've built the brand to the point where you can say no to many things and you'll sh you're still fine.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

That was intentional, yes. That's very, very true. And there could, I also recognize like going forward, you never know. Like, what if what if all of these numbers that I keep talking about do keep going down where it's not just a mindset thing of like, well, I just can't focus on it, but it's sort of like, oh, okay, now need to restructure things a little bit. That could be a thing that happens in the future, you know. Our health insurance is expensive. And if one of us ever gets sick, hey, might need to open up some consultation hours, like because our country sucks at health insurance. Um, there's you know, there's stuff that could happen where like the hand is forced. But right now, like if it's gonna come down to, yeah, you could you could open up consultations or you could go on a bike ride in the morning on a Tuesday and then come back feeling like I'm the bike ride is worth so much more than any money I could make from an hour of consulting.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

I love I love that. I just don't this is why I love you. And then the other thing is like, um, I totally lost my I lost it.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

You love me. This is why I love you. Because the bike ride is worth more.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

I know. I started thinking about how much I loved you and I got distracted.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

I completely lost it. Um what were we talking about? We're talking about money. Yes, we were talking about.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And I was talking about, you know, the the how it feels to there's there's intangible things that money doesn't cover, like being able to do stuff like go on a bike ride, which starts my day off right, puts me in a great mood. Then if I spend the rest of the day at my desk at my computer doing that stuff, it doesn't feel bad. I don't feel like I've been in a cave all day. I don't like I come up with good ideas, I feel so like that nobody's paying me for that. You could argue I'm losing money by doing that, but it sets things up in such a way that like you you you'd have to really pay me just an insane amount of money to give that up. Yeah. That's kind of that because that sort of a thing. Um yeah, and then you know, stuff like I've been poking around with sponsorships on the channel, which I talked about last week, very minimal, but that could also be, I mean, geez, you know, one decent sponsorship a month could literally take the place of more than I was making consultations. And I would so much rather just have to make a video where I talk about something I like for a minute than have to then give up however many hours a month doing all the prep work and everything. And, you know, again, if you see consultation slots open on my website, it's not like I'm dreading it or miserable or unhappy. Like I have chosen to open those and put those there, but um, it's just it's just the you're dealing with all the expectations of others, and so many years I spent walking into a classroom with students thinking, where does this class fit into them? What do they need out of it? Like, how are they gonna not hate it? Like, what are their expectations? I need to deliver on that, and that's that's really stressful to me. Like that delivering on other people's expectations stresses me out so much. And so if I can just do my thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

I guess it's been surprising that you because I've seen you at your at your old full-time job. I saw, I mean, you forced that was a voluntary choice to work 60 hours a week. No one was no one told you to do that, and you didn't have to do that. You could have left at three, but you didn't.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

You could have gotten in at seven, you got there at 550. Like, why you know, like you work weekends, you would willingly take on things. And I'm so fascinated that being your own boss, you don't do that. You don't put in the it's obviously you go above and beyond to the things that you commit yourself to and dedicate yourself to, but I'm surprised that you're not even doing 40 hours because you can't, right? Like you can do that, you just choose not to, and I find that fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Yeah, because I would just get a job.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

I would just, I mean, that's like I I don't know how to well, it's more of like the the sense of security, you know, because that I mean, literally, how many episodes of the secret series was about how you were so right scared of money? Like we talked about money so much. It was just like we don't have a sense of security, we don't have the nest egg. Like if something happens, if you're all good because you got the steady health insurance, like da-da-da, that's gone. But there's no sense of panic, if anything, you have total confidence in how you're doing everything, and and that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

I'm not saying that that's bad, but so far in 2021, even in the down months so far, um the revenue has been greater than like significantly greater than the school paycheck was, which what it did for me, and you know, I'm still in touch with a lot of my teacher friends, I'm still like observing that world. Yeah, and what it really pointed out to me, and I'm sorry if like anybody's but the amount of time and stress and energy and just begging and and killing yourself for not that much. Yeah, um, I I didn't know, I didn't have that perspective of like, good God, just trying to get a lunch break is like a whole ordeal. Um you know, I I was at a decent salary rate because I had multiple degrees and years of experience and all this stuff, but it's still not like I was in six figures or anything. And if you're just starting out, you're if you're just starting out, like you're really pulling in, I don't know, not that much more than minimum wage. And it's just like this is not worth that. Like the what you're putting yourself into, not worth that at all. Like dealing with, and then you're getting like evaluated where people who literally don't even do your job are sitting there, and I had all good administrators and evaluators.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

There's like veins popping out.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

But when when people who don't do your job are sitting there making notes about your job, and it's just like, and and just so you can beg for the opportunity to make like a low-end middle class thing and and torture yourself and and make yourself literally sick, so that oh, I have health insurance and I really need it because the job that I have to have it is making me sick. Like that whole thing, um, stepping out of that and going like, oh, I can do my thing, and I still trust me, like I still I do still panic about time, I do still feel guilty. I feel like I should be doing stuff all the time. There are plenty of days where I'm not only stopping at three but working till nine or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

If I re-listen to, you know, episode two of the secret series, like you were so I mean, I was the one who was we got into freaking arguments about me trying to get you to quit your job.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Because of all the things that you enjoy now. But you fought, man. You were like, no.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

Well, there's not quite. I think there's stuff, and I the the same is probably true for you. I think there are times when I'm working where it doesn't look like I'm working, which I'm still not used to. But but stuff like obviously, if I'm making a video, if I'm doing like there's stuff where it's very obvious that I'm working, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

But there's a lot of times where it's like I mean the lines blend, because obviously, like even us listening to podcasts, uh watching YouTube live streams, like all that is research that like that's making us better YouTube creators and better entrepreneurs and all those things. So technically that's work, but now yeah, obviously we've we've made it so that the things that we do love are the things that generate money.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

So I think it's Chris Doe who who said that when he deals I I like this philosophy when he deals with his messages and his emails and stuff, his whole thing is based on putting the ball in someone else's court. So I I've always done that, but I never heard it phrased that way. And when I heard him say that, I was like, that's perfect. And so that's a lot of what I do. I think like in total for everything, there's like, I don't know, eight email accounts that have to check like every day that get different messages about different things, and they're they're whatever, it's all different facets of things. But my goal is every day to go through and put those balls in in other people's courts. There's nothing on my plate, it's all, and then the next day like come back and put it back in theirs. Um, point is that's really important because that's what like sets things in motion, that's what opens up other opportunities, that's what you know helps people to decide they want to buy the course or do do all the stuff that helps things keep running. But I can also do that, you know, I can spend 30 minutes doing it on the couch. I can then take a break and have breakfast and then spend another 30 minutes doing it literally like in the backyard while the dogs are playing. And then it's like now, you know, so it might end up taking two hours of time throughout the day, but it does not look anything like when it's like, okay, I'm gonna leave now for the day.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

And you stand and you don't sit down until you get back home at five.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

Like, yeah, what the heck? And and just the inefficiencies, which I think this is part of like when you hear a lot of employees protesting about like returning to the office, and they're like, Well, our employees aren't putting in a full work week at home anymore, so we need them in the office. But it's like a lot of employees are then saying, Yeah, but the office involves commuting, it involves chatting, it involves when I need something, I have to go up a flight of stairs and take an elevator and walk across whatever. So it takes me 10 minutes just to get there to talk to the person, to realize they're not there, to walk all the way back, to send them like the monumental inefficiencies that exist, they don't exist in this environment. Like you have the idea, you take care of it, it's execute done. Yeah, and that honestly saves a lot of time. Like, yeah, but yeah, but that also then opens up where I was thinking, like, okay, I think now there's I you know, it could come down to I could do consultations or I could make an extra video every week. Um, and I would like to see what an extra video does versus another thing. And I'd also like, you know, I have ideas for more courses and stuff. I would rather like focus on those things um right now. But anyway, I don't, that's that's kind of where that's at. But those are all ideas, those are all things that just couldn't have happened before. Even doing the course was like, you know, years. You're like, you should have a course, yeah. But I'm gonna spend a whole Christmas break or a whole summer putting that together when I'm like just trying to recover. Right. I can know, you know, I can't do it. And now it's like not only can you do it, but then you can think of the next thing and the next thing, and that's that's really valuable to me. Hope that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Yes, it makes sense. I have nothing to add to that.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

You're oh, I thought you said you you're wanting to add to that. No, I mean it's I don't know. It's just I guess you're right when we have things that we we need or want, where it's like, well, if there's a thing we're thinking about and it costs X amount of dollars and you could just do X amount of dollars more work every month, like why don't you just do that and cover the cost of the thing? But I don't know. I never I honestly never even considered it that way. I didn't even look at that.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

I was like, you we can get the thing in a week, literally. Like, but I you know, I I I just I think here's the takeaway for people who are listening. If you are thinking about, you know, making the leap and and Tom's planted a seed or whatever, I think the big takeaway is that if you set it up right and do it how Tom did, which I have another question about that, but if you do it the way that Tom did where, you know, if you have a full-time gig right now, don't leave, right? But build your side thing. Like work on your side thing. And it has to be a personal brand. I really think I believe in the power of a personal brand because if it's a tie to your name and what you're good at and your specialization and who you are, that will work for you forever, like for as long as you're alive, it'll always be credited to you to you as a person. So work on that personal brand, whatever it is, you can figure out how to monetize it later. And then if you have a brand where you're, you know, getting to the point where you're making an impact on people, that will bring in opportunities that even if you don't come up with the monetization ideas yourself, they will come to you.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. What was your question? You said you had a question.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Oh, what would you do differently? Like if you were to like the whole thing, I mean YouTube from the beginning. What would you do differently? Like if you were to start today.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

If I were to start today, the the initial part, I mean, I don't think I would change much at the beginning because you need that exploratory phase of like, I'm gonna upload a this and a that and try this and do that. And if you try to go in it, if you approach it from a money-making standpoint, you've already failed. Like it's just not gonna work. Um, so like keeping it a personal thing, exploring what I like, finding out what I don't like, you need to do that, and that's gonna take months to just work through that. There's nothing you can do about that. Uh, however, the thing was like fairly early on, there was at least basic stuff, like not YouTube ads, because I didn't qualify for that, but I've talked about like affiliate links. I talked about products very early on. I could have put a link, and even when it's early on, your channel's small, the the people who are watching, even if they're not many, they're really into it and they want to support you and they're proud of you and they're excited. Yeah, and if you do an affiliate link, um, they're gonna want to go through. And to speak to that, I was showing you this morning. Um, I did have an affiliate, I have affiliate links for Sweetwater Sound, which is a lot of audio gear. And the application that it that you just discovered I can see what people order. I can't see who orders it, so I have no way of identifying anything, but I can see like there was an order place for this much money. You click on it, you can see the items that were ordered, which is interesting because I can literally see like how many Rodcaster Pros and how many this is. But what I've noticed is there's a lot of big orders, things like $1,500, $2,000, $2,500, where the stuff on it, I don't even know what it is. Like I was looking up the products, I'm like, I've never heard of this, I've never used this. This person just dropped that much money. But then realizing, like, especially because those links aren't everywhere, they're not as common as like Amazon links. So it probably indicates that those people needed that, went to my channel, clicked through my link, and then bought whatever they're buying, even though it's stuff I've literally never talked about, just because they want to support which is a thing that happens early. And and that I was so anti that. And I thought, like, I thought people are gonna respect me because my B and H link is just a regular BNH link and not an affiliate. Never mind the fact no one notices or cares. Yeah. And like, I mean, I I've talked of I wish I didn't think that generating revenue while it shouldn't be the end goal, doesn't mean that you're sacrificing what you set out to do or your creativity. There's so many ways to approach it to make it work for you. Um that like it, it is literally just leaving money on the table, and it probably would have helped things grow um more quickly. Like I I think I think I added a year onto my journey by doing that.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

So that's something that I absolutely would have changed. And just getting to the point too. I mean, it was last summer on this podcast where I admitted like I'd like to do this full time out loud to the world for the first time, which is a huge step for anybody who's thinking of doing it. Um, doing that earlier, because I don't even think I told you, like, you would tell me gosh all the time.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Like literally, I Tom and I never fight. I'm sure I've said this on this podcast. Tom and I are very, very. What you're wrong.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

We fight all the time. What are you talking about? I mean you're crazy.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

You guys, if you know us, you know that we are on we're basically the same person. At this point, yes. Seriously, did you tell the story about how we rock, paper, scissored? So we rocked, paper, scissored for the first four shots. We did the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

It was it was until we just gave up from laughter because it's like duh duh duh duh. Because we were trying to figure out like what we were gonna eat or something at a restaurant. And it was like and then, yeah, I mean, yesterday, not only does it happen where like we will say the same word at the same time, yeah, but yesterday we said like an entire phrase at the same time, sort of out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

We just have the same observation, we're just the same person at this point. So it's rare for us to have you know disagreements. All the disagreements are really just like misunderstandings. That's really it. But I will tell you pre-Tom, you know, doing his own thing, me trying to convince him to join the entrepreneur club was definitely a point of contention because I just was like, oh, this is so annoying. You're so freaking cable, and now you know, everyone here knows you know, okay, yeah, this was inevitable, it's just a matter of time. But you know, and whatever, it all happened the way that it should have. But it took you did not make the choice. Let's be honest, right? You didn't make the choice.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

I needed that, I completely needed that to happen.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

That's that's 2020 made the choice, right?

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Um, and I needed something like that was going on.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

And that's you. You're you're never gonna be the one to do it.

SPEAKER_02 41:04

It's to be honest, what I thought it what I thought it would be, if anything, was as time went on, maybe another year or two, the channel would grow to a point where literally I couldn't I couldn't do it anymore and have a job. Like it just wouldn't be possible. And I'd have to make the choice then. And that would be if that ever happened. And I of course there's no guarantee that any kind of growth like that would ever happen. That was kind of what I was thinking, like if this is gonna be a possibility, that would be it, would be like a jumping off point that I don't really have control over. Um, but if if that happens, then that's that's where it would be. But you're right, and it's it's crazy. Like, I it's there's nothing wrong with having a job. Like the person who took my job is enjoying it immensely, like you know, and I enjoyed it immensely too for a long time. I just got burnt out and and had other things happening and and just had different different priorities pop up. And there's so there's nothing wrong with having a job that you enjoy. Like it's not like everyone should work for themselves, otherwise you're you're wasting your time. But it's a very different it's just very different to be working. It's just, I don't know, there's a lot, like you said, there's a lot that I wouldn't want to sacrifice.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

There's so many things that you don't even think about.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

There's so there's so many things. I didn't, I mean, you know, I I had someone who I hadn't seen in 20 years randomly showed up in town this week, and they were like, Yeah, I'm gonna be here. Can you meet up for lunch at 1230 on Wednesday? And I was like, I looked at my calendar, there was nothing in the calendar, I was like, Yeah, sure. And it wasn't until I was done, because we, you know, we spent like two hours or whatever. It wasn't until I was done that I was like, oh my god, I just went out for a random two hours on a Wednesday. Like that would have never been possible. And then I would have missed this opportunity to reconnect with someone, or it would have been a huge source of stress of, can you meet at this weird time in the afternoon where no one actually ever wants to meet together? Cool, we'll meet then. Let me work a whole day and then be exhausted and show up here kind of frazzled and tired, and like not be in the headspace to actually enjoy. Like it takes me a long time to shift gears mentally, and I never had the time to do that because it was always like I mean, minutes from this thing to the next thing to the next thing. And I I guess where it's like the non-40-hour week thing, the the hours that aren't part of the 40 are like mentally shifting hours, which is huge.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

It's a lot of animal crossing.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

It is, it's a great way to ease into the day. Yeah, sure. I'm not exercise in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

I'm not judging you, babe. I'm so proud of you, okay? Like, don't get me wrong at all.

SPEAKER_02 43:44

Exercise in the morning, come home, ease into the day.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

I've never seen Ton so happy. Like I've never it's a completely different person.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Well, that was what I was I was interested in because when I first left, um, there was like a a honeymoon phase.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Yeah, it's euphoria.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

Yeah, euphoria. It was like literally just walking on the clouds. Nothing nothing could get me down or upset me or anything. And that was kind of one of the most incredible feelings I've ever had. Um, and now like it's not that it's gone, but I've been in bad moods since, you know, like like it's there's sort of you you kind of equalize out, you know. Yeah. It's they that's what they say about like if you if you were given like millions of dollars, you would be happy, but then you just sort of get like return to your base level of happiness. So what do you think about that? What do you think about, you know? I don't know. For for anyone who might want to do this, and then they like, yeah, I gave my resignation, yeah, I started my thing, I did that, super psyched. But two or three months later, that initial honeymoon phase because you're years and years into it.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Okay, so here's here's what comes to mind. When I first met you, I feel like you had this same feeling.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Um I saw you and I was like, I don't know what, but I want to do something or work on something together with you. I I don't I didn't know what that was gonna be. And it's crazy because you know, the past what three, four years, we we it's just been about that. It's just been about how can we make life changes so that me and you can work on something. We can spend all the time together. Yeah, exactly. And I think that for some people, of course, you know it it's up to you and what you want out of life. But the fact that we can do exactly what we want, how we want to do it. Like our problems that we work through are what should we record a podcast about today? What should we talk about on the couples table today?

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Very I'm so grateful.

SPEAKER_00 45:52

Or what should we, you know, we're we're we're getting invited to speak. What should our topic be? Or oh, here's this client that I'm thinking about working with. What do you think about that? Like, yeah, it's all stuff that we want to work through. Like all these challenges are are everything that we we are willingly taking on. And, you know, we're so supportive of of each other's goals and what we're capable of, and it's just so awesome to see, you know, not only what we can come up with individually, but just to see us, you know, kill it as a team. And you know, I I think that you have had a completely different perspective and appreciation for for us, for life, you know, like what you can do now that you're able to do it. I don't know if that makes sense. I know that's really like it is, but it's not like a tangible, you know, let's look at the green and reds of numbers and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

But here's so here's here's the thing. Like one of the things that I follow and read regularly, which has been very interesting because I used to check it multiple times a day, once a day, every couple days. Can't remember the last time went, which is the teacher's subreddit. Uh and it's a great it's a great place for it's not that it's always a positive place, but it's a great place for like commiserating, it's a great place for just knowing, oh, okay, I'm not alone in dealing with something or feeling this or whatever and reading what people are saying. Um, since I left my job in mid-March, you know, that's right before spring break, right kind of before the end of the year, right around then, when I would go there and do stuff, it seemed like the majority of posts that would pop up would be, you know, 56 more days, 48 more days, whatever the last day of school was just that. I just can't wait to get through these last seven weeks, this last lat. And every time you come in, it's like 10 more days, 13 more days, 23 more, whatever's. And and I get it, and I used to do that too. Literally, you know, the seniors have their 50-day countdown, and it's just you literally write it on the board and change it every day, 49, 48. Then you every year have the argument of does it end at zero and zero is the last day, or is one the last day? So are there really 48 days or 49 days? And for me, what it what it really highlights is gosh, that's a lot of time of just wishing your time away. Like, I mean, huge chunks of it. Everybody has days where you're like, today is gonna be a very busy day. I don't want to do any of the things, and I just want to get through today. Everybody has those days, it happens. But when you're literally going like only 56 more days, like you're wishing away 56 days of your life so you can get to a point where you can actually do what you want. That's it's scary. And that's what I had just spent so much time doing. And as soon as summer's over, you're like, okay, we have you know three-day weekend here, three-day weekend there, got Thanksgiving break coming up, Thanksgiving break's over, we got Christmas break, Christmas break's over, a couple three-day weekends and thanks then spring break, and then back to summer. Okay, okay. And like that's just how you're I will put most of the stuff I want to do on hold for these times, and then do everything else the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

I I I think it works because you are a person, like we are people who don't want to just waste our lives away on the couch. You know, it's one thing if you're if you just want to literally get paid doing nothing. I don't think that Tom and I are very good examples of you know helping you out with that, but but you know, your YouTube channel is is fun. Like this is literally the thing that you've been obsessed over as a since you were a kid, but it just so happens that it's also really impactful to you know, anyone who finds it. Yeah. And so you can turn it into a thing.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

I I think that's the the important thing to realize is like, you know, if you just think, oh, let me just get paid by doing YouTube videos, it's like it sounds I don't know, easier than it is, or I really hate explaining it to people because I feel like I'm just explaining a scam, but right, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 49:52

But you're doing something that how many shows, how many podcasts, how many YouTube channels have started because of YouTube?

SPEAKER_02 49:58

Right. I don't mean that as a big deal. Yeah, there's there's well it c it comes down to the same thing of like going back to something like consultations when when it when you're deciding what to charge hourly, yeah, there's a part of it that for me is definitely like what are you what can you pay me to take me away from my own thing, which is not gonna be nothing. But also it is only an hour of time, but to get to that hour of time you're paying for this many years of experience, so that way you don't have to go through those. You can I can distill it to you in an hour. Um that's you know, like it's just it's just sort of like how stuff is valued and how it it plays in and how it's all connected is like a little bit different.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah. And it's and that's and that's where like the work thing, you know, one of the reasons I thought I could never leave was because well, I've already sunk so much into this. It's like that sunk cost fallacy of but I've already like I have teaching credentials. Well, do you want to use them? No, I'd be fine leaving, but I have them. Okay why then? Like what you know if if that is the thing that you want to do, then of course, but if not, then it doesn't and it doesn't really matter. You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

So I don't know that And I think like I think that it's not rocket science, it's not it's not anything that like you needed to, you know, get a degree to learn how to start a business. It's hard, it's complicated, it's hard for sure, but it's totally figure out. Yeah, and we anybody could do it. I believe that. I believe that anybody who wants to do it, obviously, commitment is like the biggest factor. Like you obviously have to be committed, uh, because it's just gonna feel like nothing's working every day. You just have to push through that every day. Uh, but if you're willing to do that, I I really think that you know it's it's possible. You could you could literally design your life however you want it to be.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

And I think the key there, at least in my case, was doing that stuff prior to making the leap. Because if I had left my job and then was like, how do we form an LLC? How do we do this? What is where does money go?

SPEAKER_00 52:16

How like well that's what I did. I know, but that's roll uh lots of people do it that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

So I'm not saying it can't work. I'm just saying for me and my personality type, it wouldn't have worked.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:30

It's just it's important to recognize that.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:34

So you don't like you can do it, whatever works, works. But like I would recommend that. And that's why like talking to a lot of my teacher friends and colleagues, we all have similar, there's a similar personality type, let's just say, um, that's probably going to be more hesitant to do those kinds of things. But that's why it's like, yeah, don't wait until you have no other options and you have to, oh my gosh, what do I do? Um, like start a thing and figure it out and take the baby steps while while it's not something you need to rely on.

SPEAKER_00 53:05

Yeah, and just for the record, like my headspace five years ago was I had six months of savings. Right. And I was just like, the the the countdown begins.

unknown 53:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:15

I'm gonna quit my job.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Yeah, and I was just like, I'm gonna either figure this out or get another job. I knew I was hirable, so it's not like I couldn't just get another job somewhere else. I knew I didn't want to work at the place I was working at, so it's not like that was Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

So something had to change. You knew there was an option, so you could either get another job immediately or give yourself that six months to see if it works.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

I had built such a local network that all it was gonna take is one Facebook post of like, I need a job, guys, and I knew I would be taken care of. So, you know, that's my credit for building that network over my career. But I so it wasn't just like I threw everything to the wind and you know, like let's just sail the ship or whatever. But uh I didn't have anything lined up. Like I built it from the ground up, and it was a lot of I'm willing to eat ramen and you know, I'm still willing to eat ramen. Sacrifice a lot of, oh my gosh. Like, I I mean it was yeah, this is not my podcast. But no go please. I it was a lot of sacrificing in terms of like I miss a lot of some of my bestest friends' bachelorette parties because I couldn't afford their like trip to Hawaii and all that. Like it was not easy to no longer live the lifestyle of someone who has a stable paycheck, but I don't regret it for a second. Are you kidding me? Like I don't regret it. So uh so I mean between the two of us, I think that we're very good, cool examples of we are, you know, how how to how to design a life you love and to approach it very differently. To approach it very, very, very differently.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

So as we head up on an hour, thank you for spending time out of your busy schedule to wrap up our season.

SPEAKER_00 55:01

Is that where you wanted to go?

SPEAKER_02 55:02

It's all fine. It's just that's exploring it. We're it's not a scripted show. You didn't read your script. Um, what what would you say? So uh season four of podcasts is ending. I'm gonna take a few weeks off just to have a break, and then also season five, I kind of want to spend a little time outlining some stuff. So the podcast will return in July and with season five. I'm gonna have a little bit of time off from the podcast, not from other stuff. Um, what would you then what advice would you give knowing where I'm at now mentally, uh creatively, financially, heading into the summer season, the next few months of figuring things out as self-employed, you know, to me or to someone in my position, like do you have any advice that you would give? Or something where you're like, you know, this is kind of the time to think about this thing.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

Gosh, it's hard.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

I know.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Because I I would never I would never be your consultant, you know. What was what was interesting?

SPEAKER_02 56:08

What was interesting though was when you earlier when you said it's not how I would do it, but it's what you're doing it, it definitely gave me a flash of like I'm doing things wrong. That was how I felt.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Yeah, see, that's why I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 56:19

But that's why I'm curious, and I kind of want to like poke a little bit more. Like, is is there an oversight? Is there something like that I just is in my blind spot and I'm not aware of? Or is there is it just a different approach? Or is there something like I mean, I remember last summer when Peter Lindgren was like, Have you ever thought of changing your YouTube channel name? And you were like, Yeah, oh my god. And I was like, Okay, here's a thing that's been kind of percolating over here for a while, but didn't have an outlet, like that kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:49

Uh nothing really stands out to me.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

Um I mean, if it's literally just like keep doing like stay the course, that's also helpful advice too, to go like, yeah, it seems like this is great and you should keep doing this, or not.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

I mean, I have ideas, but they're just ideas. It there's nothing that's like, is there this glooming oversight that you know, like the channel name? There's nothing like that, but there's things that you know, obviously through all the research and things that I'm learning, I always take it through the lens for both of us, you know, and I'm like, oh, this is a cool thing that Tom could do. And I know you would never want to do this, and I know you never want to do it, so I don't even want to say what is can you say one of the things? I don't know if you guys know this, but every time I pitch an idea to Tom, I know when he's he's just gonna shut up in his like tortoise shell and just defense up and and and then I just feel like I shouldn't even bother saying it in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

Anyway in a safe space, in a safe space where maybe I'll be open to it, and if I'm not, I won't violently reject it. Can you share one of those ideas?

SPEAKER_00 57:55

A live cohort class.

SPEAKER_02 57:57

Okay, how would that work?

SPEAKER_00 58:00

Uh I don't know how it worked, how it works, but I think that you're obviously a professional teacher. You live cohort classes are are, you know, I don't want to say trending.

SPEAKER_02 58:13

They are trending, but one of the most popular questions I get about my course is is there a live component to this?

SPEAKER_00 58:18

It's a thing that people are open to because I think that's the thing that's missing with online courses is the connection that you would feel in a classroom with other people, and obviously that's what the cohort does. And I think that the way that you do it, I wouldn't say this for everybody. I think for every for the there's a lot of people who should just make the online course and you don't need a support piece, but because your thing is so hands-on and so a very specific certain Tom Buck way, I think, and plus you're a professional teacher, I think that you can really create an experience that would be honestly life-changing and something that would be completely unforgettable for the people who take it. Like I could imagine it, you know, as a poor example, but I was in a co-ed fraternity in college. It was a community service fraternity, and like I'll never forget my pledging, you know, my pledge class. You know, some of my bestest friends came out of that pledge class, and it was like some of the best memories I had in college. I honestly feel that you can create some camaraderie or some connection with a live cohort class that's like, oh, you're in the, you know, kind of like our mastermind members. They're like, oh yeah, we're part of the, you know, I'm a fellow mastermind member or whatever. I think that you can create that, like, oh, I was in like the first Tom Buck cohort or something, and there's this sense of pride and community that people have that builds lifelong friendships and you know, businesses, collaborations, who knows what comes out of that. I think that would be super cool. And it would, you know, obviously be like a higher ticket thing, but I think that people are willing to, you've, you know, paid your dues, you've shown your value. That's not even something you need to worry about, worry about. Um, but I the reason why I hesitate with even suggesting it is because I know you, you know, you don't, you don't want to be hands-on. You're you're this is why you quit because you didn't want to do this anymore. You you like the fact that you could do a YouTube video and you never really have to, you know, aside from comments and a few messages here and there, and that's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:26

Like you don't so I don't hate this idea.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

This is why you're not doing consultations, because you don't want to talk to anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

Well, so here's here's what's interesting about that. And I'm sorry, I hope this is still relevant and applicable, but I'm gonna ask you this as soon as the show's over, so I might as well just ask you this now. Do you have an idea of what that would be about, or just that's for me to figure out?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:51

I think it's both. Uh, I have ideas. Um, but not I I've thought about mine more than I've thought of yours.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

Yeah, well that makes sense. So here's here's the thing though that I'll say which might be helpful to hear is when I look at the way you because you do consultations and you love them.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

I freaking love them, dude. Like tomorrow I have five appointments. Three, two are consultations and one's a mastermind, and then two are just like other meetings. But like I just I love them everyone.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

Your consultations though that people book are coaching, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

Like they're both. So the way that I I on the website, they're called consultations because I don't I don't want to coach anybody that I haven't consulted with at least once. So I don't even what people do if they want to take me on as their YouTube coach is that they just book multiple consulting sessions. Uh and you know, there's uh an accountability plan, and and at the end of a consultation with a person that I know is gonna book again, there's homework, there's you know, okay, this is what I'm gonna work on. So there's that like follow-up. Uh wait, did that answer your question? Yeah, no, it did.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

But but so but it seems like from what I have seen at least, when you do the the consultations that people can book, a lot of it is like brainstorming YouTube ideas, like YouTube like YouTube consulting. You're looking at what they're doing, you're kind of giving them ideas, you're pointing them in directions, you're opening their eyes to things they might not be aware of otherwise. That would that be correct? Yeah. Okay. And I I kind of I'm not a YouTube coach. Like I obviously, like we do the mastermind. I do like I like talking about YouTube, but I that's not a thing I position myself as anywhere. Um, so when my consultations come in, the majority of them are are kind of like tech support where it's like setting up a screen. I don't do any of that. That's like and that I think is where some of my anxiety comes in because it's it's a lot of times people having really specific problems. And sometimes when they book, I know I can solve the problem right away. I'm like, cool, this is exactly it. And then I'll sometimes set up mock things for that. So if they're using this equipment, I will set up that equipment, and which so you can see why it takes a lot of time. Like there's there's prep work that goes into this.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:04

Let me tell you what mine is. Literally, I am probably napping until 10 minutes before the meeting starts. And then I, you know, I have a very small questionnaire that's like, what would you like to accomplish out of our session? And then like I'll look at their YouTube channel. I've done this long enough and I've looked at enough YouTube channels, it's very easy for me to identify like here's you know room for improvement, things to change, you know, very quick changes, blah dah, dah, dah. Uh so zero prep work. I probably already have my room turned on because I try to stack meetings on the same. I would rather have a meeting full of five meetings at just so that the next day could have zero meetings. So I try to stack everything in one day. Uh, so I love the back to back to back to back. Like I would rather do that than start and stop and you know have to put on makeup every day. And there's zero follow-up. Are you kidding me? Like, there's I would never, I'm not gonna say I used to, I've learned that just what I do is I start the consultation, I say, hey, I just gave you permission to record this meeting, you can watch it as much as you want. You taught me that. Yeah, and then that's the follow-up, that's what you get. And like obviously, my I I make it known to them, or they have the impression that if they want to reach out to show me a quick video or you know, yeah, I do that. Can you just take a look at this real quick? No one has taken advantage of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

I'm not an attorney, I'm not gonna like bill you for the minute or anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

Exactly. Uh, but there's it's literally, it's like I wouldn't say that there's a you know, the one-hour consultation is now a two-hour consultation. Mine is literally like an hour and ten minutes start to finish, and then I'm done, and I have a great time. And then what I love about my clients, I don't know how I did it, but obviously it's a certain person that gravitates towards me. And the people that I have had the pleasure of working with, I have a blast. Like, I love my consultations, like they're all so.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:56

I have the same feeling of the time during it is great. It's everything around it that's stressful, especially because a lot of it is very specific tech support. So it's not every once in a while someone will be like, hey, I'm thinking of starting a podcast, thinking of doing a YouTube channel. I'd love to like kick around ideas and get insights. Um, that is is simpler, but most of it is I'm setting up this thing, I'm doing that. And that's where like the expectation thing comes in because I there's a concrete result that I feel they need to get from this, which is there's a problem, they we talk, and now the problem is solved. And it goes so far as like, you know, sometimes I have a camera. If they're doing a roadcaster thing, there's a camera that's on my roadcaster screen, so I can walk them step by step. Go to the menu, click this, do that. Sometimes I'll have them FaceTime around their studio with their phone, so I can say, like, take that cable, connect it here, put that cable over here, do that. Like it gets, you know, like it's very tech supporty, which is why you know I it is successful if at the end of it they're like, Oh my gosh, it solved the problem. Then it's then I know I did a good job, but I I never feel confident that I'll be able to do that going.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Realize that our consultations are so different. To me, that's not I think that I think that providing um service like the same way that if our AC was broken, we need to call the R.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

Yeah, and then the AC needs to be working when they leave.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:17

Yeah, that should be a completely different price tier than hey, I need a brainstorm. I want to pick your brainstorming.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

Because if somebody wants to like, yeah, hey, if that that kind of thing, I enjoy those. People ask me.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

That's what I do. No one's gonna ask me for tech support. Are you kidding me? Like, I don't even know my own tech support.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:34

So this is why. So I don't know then.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

I mean YouTube, they'll ask me about YouTube, but like I can't help you with your camera. Like, I don't even know what camera I have, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:42

I don't know if it involves me then reframing consultations.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:44

You yeah, you should have like troubleshooting tech, like blah blah thousand bucks an hour, period. Don't even like because seriously, that's how much it costs to hire a c to have the guy come out. To have the guy come out, exactly. If you want to be the guy, if you need Tom to be the guy that's gonna come out, then it's a thousand bucks an hour. Bam. I don't even care what the problem is, you know, but it's or at least it's a thousand.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:07

Tom doesn't get out of bed for less than four figures.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

And then if it's just like, you know, strategy, brainstorm.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

Yeah. Those I would I would like to do more of that kind of stuff. Yeah, just hey, I'm starting a channel, I don't even know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

Like I love that. Yeah. I mean, that's if I could do consultations all day, every day, I would.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:28

So that's interesting. But when you talk about a live cohort class, the thing that's interesting to me is I don't know if it could uh, you know, because it's a class. Like you want just like when people take the course, you want them to finish the course and go like, yeah, I I can now do the thing that I wanted to do when I started. The same thing would be true with a live cohort, like I've reached a certain level. I don't know what it would be about. However, a thing that has popped up, and I was just telling you about this the other day, since I've stopped teaching, when I'm teaching in class, there's always things that are popping on my radar, and the first thought is like I can bring this in. I can like I like how do I bring this in the classroom? How do I tell them about this? How do I make a lesson out? Like, this is a thing that I can use as a tool to teach people stuff to do that. And that still happens. I come across stuff and I'm like, oh, oh, but I don't have somewhere. It's not, yeah. And this could potentially scratch that itch of like I like I am just discovering. I know YouTube videos can do that because it's like, hey, like I discovered, I'll make a YouTube video all about it, but it's very different than there's a level of polish that doesn't have to exist when you're doing it in a classroom thing where it's like it's almost workshoppy, and that I don't know. I feel like there's an itch that could be scratched through that in a in a really fun way.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:45

Um and you have always been a person that's like, I'm gonna do it my way. I am doing it my way. I've tried other ways. I'm you always end up going back to your way. And I think that for this, like this is where, okay, Tom, seriously, no hold barred or whatever the expression is. That's the bard. You I mean the expression. That's the bar.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:12

We're over an hour in, you know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:15

You design your class exactly the way that you want it. There's no California ed code, there's no Fed code, there's no fed up with that code. There's not like you there's it's literally 100% up to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

I'm gonna have follow-up questions for you about this, but we don't have to do them on the podcast. Uh, because this isn't actually an interesting. So see, I like this idea you brought up. I think it could be some. Your face. This should have been a video podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:50

I don't put makeup on babe.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:52

Um, okay, so I think this is probably a good point to wrap up the season right here. Uh, is there anything you want to say to me or anybody as we draw to a close?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:02

I should say I'm proud of you. I hope you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:05

Well, and I want to say how grateful I am uh to you for not only supporting me, and I know you've done that since the beginning, but really like just really being that has never been a source of anxiety. Like, what is she gonna think? What's like that? And I know for a lot of people it's a huge one.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:20

Like, I know I I laugh because I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:23

Yeah, I mean for so many people they're like, I want to do this, but my partner is saying blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And to know that that's not even had I chosen to stay at my job, you would have supported me had when I chose to leave, you supported me. Like, if I don't want to do client calls, you support me. If I do, you do like whatever you'll you find a way to like make it work and understand it. I really appreciate that very, very much. Can't put a price on that. Uh so where do you want to direct people if they want to connect? Maybe book one of those amazing consultations.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

Yeah, uh, you just go to my website, all my subscareheather just create.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:59

Yeah, that's pretty easy. And uh, you know where to reach out to me. I'm at So Darn Tom and all the things. You can send me an email, even though we're in but we'll be in between podcast seasons for the next few weeks. Uh Tom at Enthusiasmproject.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:11

Check out my podcast. I started a podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:13

Yeah, there you go. That'll fill in the blanks. How can people do that?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

Uh you can go to from one to one hundred podcast.com or search from one to one hundred wherever you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

There we go. So I'm not gonna be having them for the next few weeks, but you can just hang out with Heather instead. Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. And I'll be back sometime in July. I don't know exactly when, but uh, it'll be good, it'll be fun. Thanks so much for going on this journey. I really appreciate it, and I always appreciate all like the support and the kind messages and all of that great stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:45

If you guys are interested in his live cohort class, tell him.

unknown 1:11:48

Tell him.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:49

Yeah, actually do tell me those things. Yes. Uh anyway, thank you so much. Appreciate it, all the support. Take care, enjoy your time, and we'll see you next season.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

Bye.