A New Way Of Monetizing As A Creator

Over the past year my wife Heather has transformed her gaming YouTube channel into a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. It’s a VERY different way to monetize and build a sustainable career as a creator, so I wanted to explore that journey with her!

Learn more at heatherjustplay.org

🎙This week's mic:
Hollyland Lark A1

https://geni.us/w02vhCl (Amazon)

———————————————————————
Affiliate links earn a commission from qualifying purchases which helps support my channel at no additional cost to you. 

——————————— CONNECT ———————————
Electronic Mail: tom@enthusiasmproject.com
Main Site: https://himynameistom.com
Social Medias: @sodarntom

——————————— PODCAST GEAR ———————————
•Rodecaster Video: https://bhpho.to/3Ub88j2 (B&H)
•Rodecaster Duo: https://geni.us/ULKDFkp (Amazon)
•Elgato Prompter: https://geni.us/elgatoprompter (Amazon)
•Mic Arm: https://geni.us/zc7hAbW (Amazon)
•Elgato Stream Deck Plus: https://geni.us/EzyY6o5 (Amazon)
•Headphones: https://bhpho.to/3JNacqg (B&H)
•XLR Cables: https://geni.us/bluexlr (Amazon)

S14E02 | Series Episode 186
 
Podcast Artwork by Kevin Ramirez
Original theme music written by Patrick Boberg and performed by Mike Alvarez

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:31

And welcome. My name is Tom. This is the Enthusiasm Project Season 14, Episode 2, and I've got something new for you, which is you might notice things looking and sounding a little different, and I want to explain why before we dive into the episode with our special guest. So this sort of overlaps with the Mic of the Week and the Gear of the Week segment, because it's the same thing again, just like last week. I am recording this entire episode using my phone. So first and foremost, if you're watching this and you're like, hey, the phone doesn't look the same as like the full frame mirrorless camera, you are correct. And if you're listening to this and you're thinking, hey, the lapel wireless microphone that you're using doesn't sound as good as your normal Rodcaster broadcast mic setup, you're also correct. So then if you're also thinking, Tom, why are you doing this? This is why. Those things, believe it or not, a little bit expensive. And these things, very, very affordable. So I've actually been working on a video for my channel that's about how to produce a podcast with your phone because I am very much into gear, and I know a lot of people who watch and listen to this podcast are super into gear. But, and lots of people are even wanting to get into it. The downside to that is that people who want to start podcasting sometimes think they have to have that gear to get started. And we've all seen the gear doesn't matter videos, and I think that gear doesn't not matter, as I've said before, but you don't need full-frame mirrorless cameras and super insane computers and the most expensive microphones in the world, especially if you you already have an idea that you just want to make. You can do that pretty much on a budget. The thing I say you absolutely do need is a microphone. Do not use the built-in microphone on any device. Don't use your phone's built-in mic, whatever. Maybe for something super short, it's okay. For podcast length stuff, 30, 60, 90 minutes and beyond, you definitely need something. So today, the mic of the week segment is the Holly Land Lark A1, which is a very tiny, super compact wireless mic setup. I do have the windscreen on just so during the course of this podcast, I don't have to worry about plosives or anything. But these little transmitters are crazy compact, and I can actually just magnet it onto my very lightweight shirt here, and it's not like sagging or drooping the shirt. That's something I really like. But what's great about this is for $65, I got a charging case, two transmitters, a lightning receiver, and a USB receiver, and it's $65. So I have the lightning receiver plugged into my phone. There is a USB connector on there, so if I needed to power my phone, I could just run power into my phone. Even though the phone has lightning, I can now use USB-C to power the phone, which is pretty cool. The HollyWand is one of the only ones, the mobile mic setups I know that has that, and I think it's a really cool feature. Um, so $65 for the dual mic setup, you can actually get a little less. You can get like $35 for a single one. I think even like the DJI mic mini has a very affordable single transmitter option. Whole point here being if all you've got is your phone or you know a tablet or just a single device, a pretty minimal investment in a very simple microphone setup lets you get started. I'm using the Rode Capture app to record. You could use just your regular camera app or even voice memo. I'm doing video, so that added a layer of complexity. And then I'm going to edit this in iMovie on my phone and then upload it both to BuzzSprout and to YouTube just on my phone. So everything you're seeing and hearing was produced entirely with my phone. And while it's not at the same level that it would normally be, it's way more accessible than needing all of that gear. So that's what we're doing today. And I don't know, I think that's fun. And the reason I'm using the Road Capture app is because I do have a very special guest. And my special guest today is my lovely wife, Heather Ramirez.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Hello. Hi, everybody. I don't have Oh shoot, I'm looking at the camera. I'm supposed to look at you. There we go. It's okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

It's okay. We're trying to figure out. I mean, this is the thing, right? Like I have the screen facing me so that I can see it's recording, but Heather just has the phone looking at her. Ideally with picture in picture. Because the reason I'm using road capture app, I mentioned, is because I have a guest. And the road capture app, which is free, and I'm not even using a road microphone with it, by the way. Uh it can use the front and rear camera simultaneously on the phone. So I have the front camera, Heather has the rear camera, I get to see the screen and monitor everything. She doesn't, but she gets the better camera. She deserves the higher quality camera.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

Oh. So this is very difficult though, I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Well, we are trained to look at the camera.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

No, I know.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, even when the camera's not on, like when I'm at my desk setup, just on the phone, like just talking to the camera.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah, I look at the camera too.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I look at the camera even though it's not on, computer's not on, lights are on, I still look at the camera. So it's okay if you look at the camera. Um, all that to say, it has been a few minutes since you since you were on the podcast. A few minutes. Many minutes. Uh at least a season-ish. Um, and so I wanted to have you on today. We're talking about, you know, the this podcast with the phone and the microphones making things accessible, all that. I wanted to kind of flip turn the tables. We're sitting at a table. I want to turn the table and kind of put you in the spotlight.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Because you have helped me over the years like navigate a lot of different career things. And right now, recording this in September, a lot of people are the academic school year starting up again. And I've gotten a lot of messages over the past like month or two from people who are either leaving teaching or starting teaching.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Um, and they're looking for input. And a number of them have mentioned that the series we did, the secret series, where I was like moving off of my teaching job. Yeah, that was all your idea. And that is probably one of my like favorite runs of episodes in this podcast history. And you know, because it's helpful, it's like, how do you navigate the world of being a creator with your job? And what do you do all? We have other videos where we talk about or other podcast episodes where we talk about our LLC and starting that. And so we've we have touched on sort of like the practical side of you know starting something, whether it's full-time or part-time. We started the LLC a year before I stopped teaching. So that wasn't like I'm quitting my job. Now we're starting a company. It was a way, hey, we have to kind of earn money somehow and like be able to legally earn money.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Um, so so over the past year, almost exactly a year, a little bit shy of a year. Actually, I shouldn't say that. Three years ago, you started uh an additional YouTube channel, if it was your third or whatever YouTube channel. I want to start there. Oh wow. And then go to where we're at now because you have done something that I'm really proud of you for doing that I think is really cool, and that I don't think it's that is not something we've seen in the creator space. And it's cool to not only just share that story, but to also show an example of different there are always different ways to approach things.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Yeah. Just because something is I just want to clarify, this is a we situation. This is a wee situation. It's not a we I know my name's on the thing, but you No, no, no, it's been a partnership very much.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

But you know, it is a it's your brainchild that I helped like help raise.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

I don't know. Um, but you know, it's it's it's the thing that we always do, you know, the same thing. Like, I know you encouraged me to leave my job way before I was ready to do that, but when I was finally ready, you were like, okay, that's this is how we should do that. This is what would, you know. And same thing here. Like, you're having ideas, you're like, okay, this is what I want to do, and then I can step in and and go, like, okay, here's how I can help you do that. Here's how we can work on that together. And we're also fortunate enough that we have lots of other people helping as well. Yeah. So we'll talk we'll talk about all that. Prior to getting into that, I do want to uh promote another podcast series that you have called Charting the Course.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Charting the Course. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

So the reason I want to share that, you have a couple of new podcast series we could talk about.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Um, but charting the course, where can people go if they want to check that out?

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Uh they can go to youtube.com slash heather just play or uh go to the HJP Podcast Network wherever you get your podcast.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

HJP Podcast Network. Because there's several different series on the same podcast feed. One of them is charting the course, and that's where you work with Suean, who's uh on a board of directors that we're gonna talk about, but also a member of a community that we're gonna talk about. You guys dive into kind of the nuts and bolts, sort of overlapping with a little bit of what we're talking about today, but I want to take this more on the creator side of things. Yeah. So um I don't want to just like duplicate what you guys talk about over there. I want to focus on the the side that people know you as like Heather from YouTube and you know.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

I kind of want to do that.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

So we're talking to content creators. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

In your studio.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

In my studio.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

If people watch your videos, there's a bookshelf in the back, and there's a pink piece of paper on the bookshelf. Or framed pink piece of paper. You wrote something on that piece of paper in a vlog nine years ago.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

What did you write?

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Just create more.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

And why did you write that?

SPEAKER_03 9:59

That's a good question. Uh okay, so in the moment, the reason why I wrote that is because I had just come back from Iceland. It's a trip of a lifetime. I had already been uh vlogging and a content creator trying to do this and make it a sustainable career. And of course, when we were going to Iceland, I had booked that trip before I quit my job. So that was a problem because I did not have the money I thought I was gonna have or the income I thought I was gonna have to go on a frivolous trip, but I couldn't cancel. So I was like, well, let's turn it into content. Um and so I wanted to vlog. I wanted to do the daily vlog thing where I would crunch out vlogs while I was there. I was able to do a few, but I took so much like photos and videos, right? And I had it all on a hard drive. And then when I came back, I was sick, I got sick. Um, but I was like, I have to get this content out because you know we're doing the daily thing. I was at my parents' house. I had my uh hard drive with all my Iceland footage on top of my laptop, and I was running down the stairs.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

I honestly forgot this was part of this story. I didn't for those are two separate stories.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

And of course, when I turned the corner, there with the hard drive, right? Smash onto the tile floor.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

This is not an SSD we're talking about, I'm guessing, nine years ago. It's probably like the hard drive that physical damage really, really bad for it.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

Yeah, like the Samsung like hard drives, yeah. So of course it could not it was corrupted. It broke, right? So I was so I can't even tell you how. Like just on a personal level, losing that footage from going to Iceland, I was so sad. And then I was sick, so then I was so like defeated. I went back to my apartment and I was like, I don't know what to do. Like, I'm all thrown off, having come back from vacation, my rhythm's all messed up and all this. And I was like, okay, I could it felt like one of those moments that was like the writing's on the wall. Just quit and go back and get a job. But that's when I took out the piece of paper and I was like, you know what? Just create more. Just create more, push through this, you'll figure it out, it'll all be fine. And uh, you know, that is kind of my that has been my mantra this whole time. Just keep going, just keep creating.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

And actually, I'm realizing what was your YouTube channel called when you back then? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

I don't remember when I like changed it to Heather Just Create. It was early on. And Heather Just Create is like going off of Heather, you know, just create more.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Heather Just Create, like if you don't know what to do, Heather just create.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Just create, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Um, it had to be after you wrote the sign, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Honestly, I don't remember. Maybe I have no idea. That is a very good question. This is lore that I need to figure out.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

I want to dive deep into the lore. So 1985, Chicago. Um, okay. The reason I brought that up is because that sets the stage. Heather, you you wrote just create more. That's a message to yourself, but it's also a good message for everybody to hear. And then it feels like after that you renamed the YouTube channel to Heather Just Create. And since then there have been sort of a Heather Just Blank cinematic universe.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Like I can't help but laugh because it's just it's like but but it's also I'm also at the point where I just own it, right? So if you asked me this a couple years ago, I'd be embarrassed because it's like, here are all my favorite. Oh, I think it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

No, I think it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Like I've obviously like I've pivoted. I've tried this, I've tried Heather just plays, and Heather just jumps, and Heather just, I don't even know. Um But but going back to the original, like obviously, you know, I'm someone who has many interests, and I think with every single thing that I've tried, I've always it's always leveled me up personally and professionally. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And so you you do have you mentioned other ones. There's Heather Just Jump, which is like a jump roping based one, and then there's Heather Just Play.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Heather Just Play.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

So that's what we're going to jump into. That's what we're gonna jump into right now.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

You are delighted. I am delighted.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Um so in 2022, yeah, spring-ish of 2022, summer of 2022, you got into Final Fantasy XIV. Yes. We are switching gears and jumping into the world of MMORPGs.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Uh Final Fantasy XIV is a critically acclaimed. If you haven't played, you should play it.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Uh you've always loved video games. Uh I don't know what Atari. Yeah, I mean the 80s probably is when you like play video games for the first time. So you're a lifelong gamer. Final Fantasy series is something that came in super early, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:56

Like Yeah. Yes. Well, actually, this this is I feel like is a separate podcast because I can go down my gamer journey, but basically, yeah, I've been playing video games for a while.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

So you and I also have another podcast on the HJP Podcast Network called the Just Play Podcast. Yes. And maybe that could be a future.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Maybe that could be a future, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Um, but it's so games, big deal, Final Fantasy, series that you've played a lot of.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Um, and then Final Fantasy XIV, which is an online MMO. So you're playing. It's a huge game, lots of the story itself, massive, but also, you know, it's a worldwide thing with millions and millions of other players playing. And you've been kind of putting it off, but you you it had been on like your two playlists for a while. And then in that summer you dove in and got pretty hooked.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

I got pretty hooked. I got very hooked, yeah. Yeah. It was a I mean, it it was one of those like life-changing things because then that's what got me to start how to just play.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

And I had never played I've played video games, but I definitely had I had been like a dormant gamer for the most part since like I was 13.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

You and I played, you know, we got like the Switch, played Animal Crossing, Mario, Mario Kart, like that kind of stuff, but I had never played anything like Final Fantasy. And I was just like, that's something, there's so many numbers on the screen, and it's crazy, and I'm never going to do this. So but I was very happy for you that you had something that was fun and you know, super cool story that you would tell me about at happy hours and things.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Yeah. So I basically I started the channel because I could not stop talking. I just I realized like, you know, up until that point, I had been a content creator that was vlogging my journey in being a content creator, but then also helping other people start and grow their own YouTube channels. And so it was actually really completely different to uh set aside the coaching, the teaching, the guiding uh angle, I guess, and just talk about what I like and why. Yeah, it was it was so fun in a you know surprisingly different way that I hadn't felt as a content creator in a while. It's like it's just so fun to talk. It didn't even occur to me to talk about video games through my content.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Even though it was like a lifelong passion, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Even though it's like, you know, you people have seen all the music references that you have uh in your room and and you you you know reference it and talk about it a lot. I I just for some reason Yeah, but I don't have a music. I think also a big part of it was like I put a lot of video gaming on pause because you know it's like priorities trying to build a business.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Uh but yeah, so gaming channel for fun, and I remember like you know, I didn't know really what was happening, but I do remember you would do live streams, you made videos which did really well because Final Fantasy 14 at the time you started playing it to get through just the main story is like a tight 300 hours.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Yeah, it's a big so if so, first of all, context. If you have if you don't know what this game is, um there's a there's a a very popular RPG series. I know the this it's like what does this mean? Role-playing game.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Just remember, Gil is probably listening to this and he knows exactly what you're talking about. And if he knows, other people know.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

It it is there's you know, many uh mainline titles in the Final Fantasy series, but none of them, a lot of them aren't related.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So even though there's like Final Fantasy 16, you don't have to start at one.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

No, yeah, it's not like that. So they're they're kind of each their own standalone. So 14 is the one I didn't play because it's an MMO, it which means like you you you it's a subscription. You have to play with people online and stuff. And I was like, no, no, no. I am past the play.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I don't There is an extended free trial up until yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

So I wanted to just play by myself. Um, but I heard the story was so good that I was like, okay, I'm gonna give it a try. So yeah, for anyone watching, there is a free trial where you can get like you can play this. There's no time limit. So there's no like you can only play for a month or you can play for 50 hours. No, you can play for as long as you want. Um, it's just that you can only really get through about half of the main story, and then you gotta actually buy the thing. But you know, to at to get to that point is gonna take you a while. So um, there's a lot of game for free that you can play. Available on uh Mac and PC. Go ahead. And Xbox and PS5. And if you do play and download it, please let us know. We'll go help you and play.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

There might be a community that could help, actually. Um yeah, so I didn't know anything at the time, but I know that you know, for many different reasons, you blasted through this quickly.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

And so for future contexts, I would eventually play, and it took me a year to get through the main story. You did it in two and a half months. Yeah. And you made a video about that, you made other videos about it that were like that did really well.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Like, I you know, I got so that channel was monetized. You you know how you know how hard everyone is.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

4,000 hours, a thousand subscribers to monetize like a long-form YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Brand new channel monetized in two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah. So it obviously struck a chord with people. And then you also did live streams, and even though I had no idea what was happening, I know I noticed that whenever you did live streams, like not only were lots of people watching the streams, but you'd be like, Oh, I'm gonna go to this part in the game and do something. Tons of like people would be there as their characters helping you or hanging out, just having fun.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

That was the weirdest. I've never had that happen. I know this is like so typical in the gaming space, but I I never had an experience.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

We were both confused. I remember watching and being like, This is I don't know how to feel about this, but I think it's good.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Yeah. It's really it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

And you, yeah, you were just on like cloud nine as soon as those streams were over. You were like riding a high for days afterwards. So um, so you did the gaming channel for quite a while. Uh, I don't know, a year, yeah, I guess. Pretty solidly on the gaming channel, kind of gave yourself the chance to like dive in, and then just sort of as as happens with things, it just kind of like stopped. Yeah, you know, life happens, priority shift, you know, work, business stuff was changing at that time. Um, your husband started playing a lot of hockey for some reason. So yeah. Um, so you kind of stopped 2023. We go into 2024. We'll save this for the just play podcast, but yeah, I got pretty heavy into gaming at the end of 2023 because your brother, who also is the one who really recommended 14 to you, got me an analog pocket, a little handheld kind of retro console thing, emulator thingy. And that was really fun. And so I decided I'm gonna dive into some of your favorite games. I play like Chrono Trigger and then Earthbound. Well, earthbound. Chrono Trigger is like one of if not your favorite game.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

And that was the first RPG I ever played because I was like, I want her favorite game to be my first RPG.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Aw, he's so sweet. It is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

And then I was like, what else is there? And you and I had like almost started playing Earthbound years ago, and it always stuck with me as like something about that game. And I got real into Earthbound and Mother 3, which is a sequel to that, even though it's called a different thing in the US. Anyway, got really into that and was trying to go into other things. So much so that I started reading literary RPGs because I really like that world. And I recommended one to you. This is now getting into like summer of 2024. And you you were like, look, I know that I have tried to get you to play this game before, but if you like this book, actually, I didn't though. You didn't. You're the one that connected the dots.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

I didn't try to get you to play it because I knew I knew it was delete. I was like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

But I think you knew that recommending it to me was like I never, I never I would probably be like, it's not my thing.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

I I know you, and I was like, there's no way until I read that book.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Jake's Magical Market.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Yes. And then I was like, okay, I think I see a bridge.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

If you like this, you should really do that. And that was the thing that I had been primed through all those like earlier games and through the books, where I was like, I think and now I understand this and I want to dive in. And I got really hooked.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Uh into 14. And I was now suddenly playing this thing. You were like, I can't I never thought in my life I would see you play this. So then you were like, well, I'm gonna like log back in and see what's up, and you know, you because you kind of finished a huge story arc and then sort of stopped.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Yeah. And the game had continued on the year arc that had finished with 14.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

And you did it in two months.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

I and I yeah, it took 10 years for this whole thing to come out, right? Because it's been like released in seasons, basically. Uh and I I started playing when the last season came out. And so did the whole thing, and then there was nothing. I caught up and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah, and so you you kind of lived in the lore and the world and all that kind of stuff for a while, and then just you know, priority shifted. So you dove back in, you got hooked again.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

And so we were both playing a lot, and then you were like, Well, I got the gaming channel. And this was we talked about this before, I think, maybe not on this podcast, but we had literally redone your office setup last summer.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

My god.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

And you were like, okay, I'm focusing on, you know, tutorials and that kind of stuff. So we had like capture card and consoles and stuff. It's like, let's take the consoles out of here, let's streamline the setup. Within a couple weeks of doing that, we were rebuilding the setup entirely again to put it out.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

We redid the setup like three times that summer, last summer, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Yeah, because then you were like, well, let's do more stuff on the gaming channel. And it kind of it's crazy because in the world of YouTube, taking a two-year break from a YouTube channel, probably like the worst thing anyone would say.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Like I lost monetization.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:52

Because it had been that long. I got him back pretty quickly. But you know, to get monetization is hard. To lose it and then try to get back again. Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

And but it was crazy because as soon as you started again, like there were people who had been involved prior, like what two years prior, who were just like, oh my god, you're back, and they just jumped right back in. And then there was a also a whole bunch of new people who were on board. Um, because you were also sharing my experience with it, as like, which is both for people who had never played the game, it's accessible because it's like, oh, here's someone who's how is their experience, but also for people who have played the game, and I understand this now. Seeing newbies like explore it is really fun. Like you want you want to share the thing that you like so much with them that it's like, oh yeah, let's see what this person thinks. So it just brought in a whole bunch of new people, and then it was crazy because we started having like YouTube aside, we started just having you know people to play with online because there's certain elements where it's like you kind of need to, you know, party up with people, but then we're realizing it's it's just sort of really fun. And in your live streams, there was a question that popped up more than any other. Do you have a Discord server? Yeah, and you did not. I did not because both of us were like, I don't understand Discord server.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Discord is such a headache. Like that, that was what I yeah, both of us. We we tried, we'd been in Discords, but it's so overwhelming that I was like, I don't, I can't. It's like I dread it checking it. I never it never like got into my like check Instagram, check YouTube, check no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah. But it kept popping up because obviously in the gaming world, people use Discord all the time. All the time because it's and it is, it's really nice. It's real time, it's high quality. It makes sense. But so you were kind of like, I don't know, maybe we do need a Discord, and then someone just volunteered, like, hey, I'll help you set this up. Um and it's like, okay. And then so you set up a Discord out of utility, right? Like out of like organic request. Requests. We need we need a place to organize. It's not just when you're streaming on YouTube with a delay.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

There's a 30 to 60 second delay usually when you're streaming on YouTube. Yeah. Makes gaming hard. Uh we need something where we can talk, we can party up, we can stream, we can do whatever in you know, very real time. And so Discord community started, and then it started growing. And then it just kept growing, and then it just kept growing. And so now we're getting into near basically exactly a year ago.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Yep, October 13th.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

And I'm trying to like figure out when this shift was, where it's like it was a streamer's community.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Heather just plays the content creator, the streamer. She has a community. This is where you go to join it.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

This is a very typical content creator model. Yeah. Is building an online community around your YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

I've heard people do that.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Um, or attempt to do. That never sat well with you.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

The streamer community thing.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

I can't, I I don't know if that's the way that I would put it. It was unique.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Uh but I I don't know, it's hard to explain because you know, we we've been doing this for years. And the community, if you compare the community behind our like your channel or my like YouTube coaching channels, you almost everyone has like their profile picture, it's their real picture, it's their phone.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Everyone's very used to putting themselves out there.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

They're all trying to promote their channels too. You know, so it's like it very much feels like uh you're going into the same room as everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Would people leave messages for this podcast, voice or video, like they sound like the radio. Yeah. And they do their video and it's like in a studio. It's very pro.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

Right?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Usually.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

On the gaming channel, it's avatars, it's nicknames. It's no master. Yeah. Noobmaster 69 or whatever, right? Like it's I don't know who they are. And so I wouldn't say it didn't sit well with me, but it was a different dynamic where it I was very conscious of like staged audience.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

I think that's what I meant didn't sit well. Not the people, but the like Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Not the people.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

There was a feeling where it's like this can only continue as I do it.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Like the community is active when I say to be on the stage in order for there to be a thing, right? I have to be streaming, I have to be like, hey, this is what we're gonna do. Hey, we're gonna do this event, hey, like I have to be the initiator, and then you know, there's some people because this community formed around the game who could do like, hey, we're doing this in game and they can do it by themselves. But for the most part, it was very much a this is Heather's party, there's no party without Heather.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:49

And so I de I definitely recognize early on, I was like, this is not this is not gonna be sustainable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

And also with the community as it grew, when you think of like online gaming communities, I think there's a stereotype that you're drawn to, the new masters and things. So you know, like in Heather just play, the people that were joining the Discord, you know, it it is all ages. And to date, youngest members 20, oldest is 74, so quite an age range, global, global audience, a global community. Um, but the thing we were noticing is it kind of seemed like the average age was like 30s and 40s.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Honestly, I would say like 40, 45.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Mid-40s kind of seemed to be like the average, which sort of was different.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Um I think there's more people in their 40s than there are 20s, 30s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Yeah. And that was No, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

That's I had not seen a gaming community that was people of like our age.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yeah, and that that changes that that just sort of changes the approach because people are coming into it. They're not, you know, coming home from their high school class and like letting out like hormonal teenage aggression online or whatever. Sorry to be super stereotypical where I know not everyone does that, but the stereotype, that one does exist for a reason. As a former high school teacher, I can attend to that.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

Yeah, you can say that.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Um but it's very different when someone's 46 and now after work they want to like unwind with a game.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

The experience, the vibe, the what they bring is is different.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Um, and it was just really, really I don't know, refreshing and special.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

And here's the difference, right? So here's the difference between like that that is the same on our other channels. It's a lot of, you know, I don't know what the average ages are. My average channel.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Yeah, on my channel, average age is like 30s to 40s, 35 to 30.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

So same, say, like mostly same generation, right? That is not the unusual thing. The unusual thing was the combination of similar life uh phase generation combined with I'm not trying to build a brand.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Yeah, there's just recreation.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Recreation. That I had not seen since me being a YouTube creator. I had not seen that at all. I've always it's always I've always been around people who are also trying to build a thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Which there's nothing wrong with that, but it was just it's a totally different approach.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah. It's very it's just it is, it's very different. It's very different to start a YouTube channel to share your passion and then start a YouTube channel to leave your full-time job. Like those are it's a different experience, different approach.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Um so that was happening as it's growing. You were kind of feeling like you didn't want it, you didn't want it to all rely on you, even though your name was on the thing. It's like, well, all these people are joining. I don't want their enjoyment to be dictated by me and my schedule and my, you know, whatever. Some days I don't feel like playing games, sometimes I do, sometimes I'm busy, some all the things, just normal life. And then also, as it was growing, it's hard for one person. Like, what do you have to like, especially because it is tied to your online brand, you have to moderate the Discord channel and you have to, or Discord channels, and you have to make sure things are okay, which like fortunately, you know, with with the audience or the community that's like, well, like the maturity level, it's not a good thing. It's not a huge issue, but it is something if something weird happens in the Discord, it could have a huge effect. So you had to start reaching out to people to help. It couldn't be you. I am honestly like I didn't know anything about Discord. I'm a noob in or was a noob in Final Fantasy as a sprout. So I'm not really available to help because I also then been doing my own channel thing. So you actually had to reach out to people in the community to help maintain the community.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Which is which is pretty cool. And then the the ti I don't know how to transition to this. The tides turn shifted. That sounds bad.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Um well so Tell me about Operation Rising Time. Okay, before we go into that, one thing that I do since I have been on this podcast before. Many times, yes. Yeah. And especially uh if the if the like impetus for you doing this episode is based off of your series, how you you know went from teacher to content creator. I think one of the cool things about this whole story, which is still ongoing, like we are still very much at the beginning, is the the question of how how do you make a sustainable career out of content creation? I think what's really cool is that you we like you guys are able to witness this in real time. We're documenting this in real time. Like so much of what happens, what has happened in Heather just play has informed what you are doing now on your channel.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

And it's, you know, especially with how volatile and fast-paced the content creator space is. I mean, we could do a whole episode on how, like, you know, things that were best practices two years ago are just so either cringe or like not out the window. Yeah, obsolete, whatever. Um, and so to be able to kind of um document, hey, these are the things that we're noticing. Here are the things that are working in an ever-growing like AI ecosystem. Yeah. How do you cultivate and maintain like genuine connections, which is what I think everyone wants at the end of the day through content creation, is to be able to connect with like-minded people and share their interests and passions or be on the same journey or whatever it is, right? So I think like to contextualize, like, I know it's it, it is kind of a cool story, but also uh taking a step back to to put the content creator hat on and being a good idea. Thank you for doing that. Yeah, like there, there's like I think it's really interesting to s to like point out what it is that we are paying attention to because this is how we're pivoting, literally pivoting our business, our content creator business to like respond to um what's happening. Because I'll tell you right now, like this chapter of you know what we're about to go into, this is not something I saw on a YouTube growth channel or like I've never heard I've we have not seen this done. That doesn't, you know, and also we've not seen this done and so I have not seen it done successfully, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

So all the YouTube advice that I have followed, like especially you know, early days, was all tested and proven. Like that was all like, hey, do put text in your thumbnails because there's there's evidence that it helps you get clicks, right? This I have no evidence. There's no evidence of this being a thing, which is why I'm curious, right? I think it's a it feels like it's gonna work. Or it generally, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Yeah, it is. But it's it's yeah. But getting there is very organic, and I think that's a key thing. And maybe, you know, looking back at the knowledge and experience you have now, it could have there could have been moments to be like strategic about it, but I think the organicness is what really helped it not feel fake. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

Because it wasn't right, strategic. Like not that we're not being strategic, like obviously we're thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

But it is we are building the track as the train is going down it very much. So in a way that I'm not used to doing for sure. Um but it's it's been super cool. And so as you're bringing in more people to help do this just out of necessity, uh one thing that I saw you really prioritize was trying to make sure that like the party you said could continue even when you're not there.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

So e like shifting the dynamic from like content creator and audience to just community.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Um but you gave people tons of chances to step up and do things. And one of them was through something that you dubbed Operation Rising Tide.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

I know. I don't even know where I came up with that name. So anyway, Operation Rising.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Because the rising tide lifts all ships.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

Yeah, I know, but like, was I in the kitchen just like Operation Rising Tide? I have no idea. I have no idea. But uh, so this is February this year, and basically I was to me, you know, not wanting to do not wanting to um have the community's fun and all the magic that was happening be reliant on me, right? I was like, I it sucks that I have to like turn on the lights and start the party in order for the fun to happen. Is there a way that it can kind of just like people could just do that? Yeah, like you know, like how do you shift that? Uh so we had seen glimpses of it, right? Because it specifically in Final Fantasy XIV, even though I had played a lot, I was definitely still a newbie, which is you know, it's I put in hundreds of hours, but this game is so never ending. Yeah, there's so much stuff in it. So, like it in in the in like compared to everyone else in the HJP community, I was definitely on the newbie end. And most of the people that were in there were a lot like veterans, like people who just knew a lot more.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Because your your two months of finishing the game is finishing the the main story. But there's like literally, I don't think you can finish it. There's probably someone out there who's like, I finished the game. They're freaking lying, they didn't finish the game. There's the side quests and the options and the this, like it Yeah, it it goes in many different directions.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Yeah. Uh so they had kind like a lot of members had created events around helping me do things, right? Uh and then now helping you do things. So we had like like there's this, there's there's more like advanced content that is like battle focused and like fighting focused.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Not my strength.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

Not yeah, you I was playing for the story, so it's not my strength either. Um, but but there's really good story lore behind all these things, right? So HJP create, like they would help me create events where these veterans, because there's content where you need 20, 24 people total. Yeah. So they would organize that and we would go in and they would kind of walk us through in real time.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Uh instead of being thrown with 22 random people who are who could be great or could be, you never know.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

Yeah. And so like that that was happening more and more often. And then we had people who had like never spoken in voice chat before, never led an event before, never, never uh put themselves out there in gaming communities or really any communities before. Yeah, even in real life, like rising up to um create these experiences. And I was like, uh, you know, if you know me, I am I love video games, but that is cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Team building and personal growth, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

That is the thing, like that's I that's what I've always been trying to do since day one of this whole entire journey is like, how can you know, empower, support, teach, guide, uh, cultivate, like all those things. I I would that's immediately where I zeroed in and I was like, oh my God, video games are allowing us to connect and collaborate and like do all these things in a really cool way. How can I amplify more of this?

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Right.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

It just happens to be through video games, and that's what Operation Rising Tide was. So basically uh redesigning um our Discord server and then putting together a uh you know format to teach people how they can create their own events that other people can experience, whether or they're not, was the key. And shoot, I shouldn't know this number off the top of my head, but we had like thir I should know this off the top of my head. Um, I want to say it was like 30, 40 events in six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Yeah, it was every day multiple things were happening. Yeah. But it was cool because the way you you set it up was like it's six weeks. So we're gonna go, we're gonna throw everything at the wall, we're gonna try everything. People can try stuff, but it's six weeks. So for that person who was new to like putting themselves out there, they're not like, I'll do a weekly session on whatever, or I'll help people do this. And it's like, I guess just every week forever. Forever. Which I'm talking about with this podcast. Like when I started, it's like I'm doing I'm doing a weekly episode, I guess till I die. And then after 21 weeks, I was like, I have to.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Eventually you feel you've eventually you burn out because you're just like, I don't even remember why I was doing this, right? But having that like six weeks is such a great amount of time for something like this because it feels it's long enough to matter, but short enough where you feel that there's a there's an end. Yeah. You know, there's an end point. And then we could just like reassess from there. And that was my whole thing was like, I just want to test this. I want to test if I can shift it to be more member-to-member interaction, community driven. And just I just observe. You know, I help, I cultivate, I think.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

You participate, you can be a member.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Yeah. And so and I was uh it was intense and it was there were challenges that popped up as there were supposed to be, but it was like a pretty huge success. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

Wildly successful. Like the it was it was like if you're gonna ask me like what the test was, right? Like it surpassed every single expectation.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

Every single one. So and now we're talking, we're getting into like April at this point. And obviously the thing that pops up is well, is after six weeks, where do we go from here? And because this was taking uh this was a full-time job and more.

SPEAKER_03 43:38

80 hours a week. Yeah. Like first thing I thought of, last thing I thought. And it's all free.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

So nobody in the it's not a membership only community, it's not a Patreon, it's not anything, it's all free.

SPEAKER_03 43:51

If anything, I'm burning right now. It's costing money, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Um so it's like, okay, we have this thing, what do we do with it? In the content creator space. The typical thing is like, well, now you you pay well that community. So people want to join, it's taking time. You put that, you know, memberships, whatever, and then that works. And that works really well for a lot of people in a lot of cases. But I know that was something you definitely didn't feel good about doing in this case.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

Yeah. I mean, I I I thought about you know, we were really at a crossroads. Like, do we I this cannot continue at the pace that it's at? And even if I scaled it back, uh, that didn't feel right to me either, because it just felt like we would gain all this momentum and then it would just fade away. You know, so I was like, I can't, I can't just be like, well, now it's the thing I do whenever I feel like it, because you know, for me, I'm I'm either all in or I'm like, it's gonna be like two years ago where it just kind of fades away. Um so I didn't know how to adjust the scale without being without it being a main priority in our lives, right? And so if it is gonna be a main priority in our lives, how do we make this like sustainable sustainable like as a business? Like, can we turn this into a you know a monetizable creator community?

SPEAKER_04 45:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 45:08

All the models that I had seen before, which you know, we have research and I discussed. That's everything that I do on my channel. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

You have courses, you have memberships, you do sponsorships, you do ad revenue.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

And you know, those things exist for reasons and they can be successful. But I know in this case, like the the genuine like magic of what people were experiencing, especially just, you know, that's they kind of just came into like find people to play a game with, is where it started a lot of it. And then it built into so much more. Suddenly, like making money off of that and charging them for that doesn't feel good. Something feels off about it.

SPEAKER_03 45:45

It doesn't, it didn't feel good, especially when and I know, like I hear every business mentor I've ever worked with, and every like I just I feel like the advice would be well, that's value. So charge for that value. Right. You know, like you are there's obviously some kind of transformational shift happening in their lives.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

And it's not that people in the community wouldn't would even be against that, but that was you and I feeling like it just it wasn't it didn't feel the thing. The gut was saying no, don't do that.

SPEAKER_04 46:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

So there was one day I was sitting at the dining room table at the end of a day, uh huh, and you came out of your office in tears, and I was like, oh, somebody died.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

You literally, that was your thought.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Because I was this, I wasn't like kind of crying, I was full-balled.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Yeah, and I was like, what happened? Oh my god. And uh it was luckily happy. Um so that was where you you sort of like, and this is you having the idea to do this. Um that's what you call a teaser in the business. Why was Heather crying? Now you might be wondering how I got into this situation. Now we rewind it. Because prior to Heather Just Play or HJP, prior to Heather Just Create, prior to even working, you know, at schools and admin roles, your experience was in nonprofit. Yeah, the nonprofit sector.

SPEAKER_03 47:13

Yeah. So even in college, like I was part of a co-ed community service fraternity. I know fraternities have the reputation, but this was a co-ed community service fraternity where your pledging process was to go volunteer. We were a dry fraternity, means no drinking. We were, you know, so every stereotype you have of those kinds of organizations, we were not that. We were the dorky ones on campus. Uh, you know, we we had we did dance competitions and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

I mean, I know a lot of your college friends.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

Maybe the fraternity wasn't, you know, but um that that's when like as someone who was in nothing, that's maybe the thing like I I would maybe even be like, oh, I could actually do this.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

So I I was the service vice president of that organization. We had, you know, hundreds of members. And so my uh job was basically to work with like you know, the hundreds of local nonprofits in the area to coordinate volunteering opportunities for both of our pl our pledges and also our members and alumni. So it was like coordinating thousands of hours of volunteering opportunities. Um, and that was in college. And I was always just so I like since then I've always gravitated to wow, look at all these organizations, do it like approaching good in the world in so many different ways. You know, because like to find the right volunteering opportunity, obviously you wanted to make it fun, you wanted to make it like you want people to feel accomplished at the end, but also contributing to a good thing, doing something that matters, all of that. You know, we did all kinds like from environmental to going to like this one time we went to a um an organization that uh took one of the racing dogs that like Greyhounds? Yeah. So they were all retired greyhounds, and we just had to hang out with them.

SPEAKER_04 49:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

And walk them and play with them. And that was like the thing, you know, and so like it was all kinds of every, I don't know, industry, every space. Uh and from then on, my working career like as an employee was all in nonprofit.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

And you even started a nonprofit at one point.

SPEAKER_03 49:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

And so that was just that's always been a thing. And I even remember when we way before we were dating or anything, I remember you talking about this and these things and the passion you had for it and everything. Um, so that's always been a thing. It's not something that you know the solopreneur usually does. Because you can't you cannot start a nonprofit by yourself. So when you want to go be, you know, if you're helping people. Quitting your job, be your full-time content creator, you can't be a solo nonprofit. It it is not possible because of the structure of which a nonprofit is put together. Yes. It in it requires other people. Um and it's much more complex than like starting an LLC, which you can just do today.

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Yeah. Yeah. If you want to start an LLC, you can get it, you can have well, okay, say like a couple days, you can have all your paperwork and you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

Yeah, depending on your state, at least in the US, you could literally probably do it before the end of this episode. Like some states it's like $35 in a simple form and you're done.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

California's not that simple, but yeah, anyway. Um, so that's something you've had passion for, but the same way that you had passion, like video games are a lifelong passion, but in my YouTube creator thing, those are my hobby, and this is what I'm focusing on. Nonprofit is something I have passion for, but in the YouTube creator space, this is how you you earn a living, and that doesn't fit. But last summer, so while while I'm getting into Final Fantasy XIV, we're also starting this program local. It's our local version of a program that's in lots of places throughout the US. Lots of different communities and cities have like a it's called like leadership your town name or your community name.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

Uh and so we were in Leadership Coachella Valley, because that's the that's our area, our region. Yep. Um and this is something you would want to do years ago. And then the pandemic happened, so it didn't really work out for different reasons. Yeah. Uh and then you were like, I think I want to apply for that leadership thing again. And then I was kind of like, you you sort of are like, I think you might like it, I think you might like it. And it is something basically it's leadership development for adult professionals. Um there's there's lots of different components, but at the core of it, you meet once a month for an entire day, and each day goes through like a different, you could call it like a industry of your region, and you learn more about it. So, you know, there's education, there's media, there's healthcare, uh, you know, arts, transportation, all that kind of stuff. Every month you meet we had 45 people in our class.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

And I had done this program before.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

You've done it and run it in a different community.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

In in Torrance, California. So um I I think that so typically these programs are partnered with a chamber of commerce, right? So your local chamber of commerce probably has a leadership blank. Leadership, something like that. And and the whole idea obviously is to promote the region and business, but in order to do that, it's really understanding how your community operates and runs, right? And you're cultivating a better community by having people be more informed.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

You essentially become like an ambassador for your community, and there's connections, and there's so when someone needs something, you're like, I don't know how to do that, but I actually know the people who do, and you can kind of like everything kind of grows together. Which is really cool. Yeah. Uh there is one of the days was nonprofit day.

SPEAKER_03 53:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

And so we went to that and heard from God, 16 nonprofits or something in in a single day. All the different, like you were saying, all the different types of organizations. You know, I think I think the most common ones when people hear nonprofit, they think of like a charity, uh, you know, donation thrift store, a food bank, like those are kind of the ones that that that really pop up. Homeless shelter, something like that. Um but there's anything and everything in between. Because nonprofit, the the thing about it, which I learned is nonprofit doesn't mean no, well means no profit. It's not out for profit. It doesn't mean that the people involved with it can't earn money.

SPEAKER_04 53:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

It means that the organization's mission is at the forefront. Whereas with a with a for-profit company, might have a mission statement, but you know, revenue is at the forefront, return on investment at the forefront. If it's a public company, pleasing your investors is at the forefront. And sometimes the mission ends up taking a backseat to like we need growth quarter over quarter, which is not sustainable. But nonprofits, here is our mission. We need to make this mission happen.

SPEAKER_00 54:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 54:12

And that's where donations can go to help that mission. You know, people can donate, people can support it. You know, the thing we learned was time, talent, treasure. Those are the ways that people can can share what they have, you know, your time, your talents, or your if you do just donate. Have money, your treasure. That's helpful too. And you know, that was kind of like I think a lot of that was old news to you in your experience there, but it kind of like rekindled or reminded. I don't know, it was almost like a reconnecting with this part of yourself and your life. And so we came home after that, and you went into your office and were just kind of working on some stuff. And I was like, I think I was just like watching YouTube and eating a snack at the kitchen table like a 12-year-old.

SPEAKER_03 54:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

And then you came out in tears.

SPEAKER_03 54:58

Yes. Cause like, so basically, you know, I I had taken all that information for like because that was like 70% through the program. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Maybe so I more than halfway for sure.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

Yeah. So we had been learning so much through this program, and then that was the end of that day, specifically was the end of nonprofit day. Meanwhile, we had just like Operation Rising Tide and HJP had just wrapped up. And I think that's when I was just sitting in my office. I don't I don't even know what I was doing. I was just sitting and like staring at the wall. And then click. Everything just clicked. Like the whole I felt my whole body was just like, oh my god, this is it. This is it. I can't believe I didn't think about it before. And I'll tell you why I didn't think about it before, because I've never seen it done. You know, like it I've never seen it done, but I feel like I I feel like I've always tried to focus on the impact versus the income. Like it's not that I've obviously I'm not like averse to money. We talk about this all the time, right? But we do often uh leave money on the table. Yeah. Right. Like we have just kind of taken a different approach with content creation that um I don't know, is probably not the most business, business savvy of uh approaches, but it's it's the thing that we we have to do it in a way that you can it it's the price of like sleeping well at night for us for us, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:34

And and our for you know, for us.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

And so like I I was seeing all the impact in HJP, like literal, you know, I'm not doing a good job of explaining it, but the peep the impact that people were having in this community. It's it's real genuine friendships, which is awesome. That happens everywhere, right? It's leading something for the first time, leadership development, great. But it's also this like um I mean, there's so many things, but it's also like I really liked how diverse this community was, but that's also not the focus because we're not it just naturally happened. Right. We're not saying this is a community for these types of people or these types of people or these types of people because you are a minority group or whatever, and so we're trying to like, you know, here's the community where you belong. No, it's like we're all different kinds of things from every time zone, from all over the world, all walks of life. And we are collaborating and teaming up to attack the digital dragon.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

Yeah. And even though it formed around Final Fantasy XIV, other games were getting folded in. Because, you know, if you're like that, you probably like play other games. So the community started branching out other games, even other things. So there's then we're talking about fitness sports. There's Discord has a hockey channel.

SPEAKER_03 57:49

Um, you know, and like people started We're actually streaming this to our content creator channel as we're doing this.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

Yeah, there's a content creator channel.

SPEAKER_03 57:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

Um, and people, so people started building those connections, building those friendships, started branching out to other interests, other areas.

SPEAKER_03 58:04

And I I was just, I was seeing like, I don't know, a really true example of the kind of community that I felt like everybody should have, like every human being. It's not just because I, you know, we've been a part of a ton of mastermind groups and online communities and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

This is very different.

SPEAKER_03 58:25

But the difference is that with those communities, there's some kind of goal, right? Like we're in this community because we're all YouTubers trying to grow grow our YouTube channel, right? Like this is where we are, this is where we want to be, right? And we're all in that thing. But this is like, there's no way we're just trying to have fun.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Yeah, but it was, it was there were those things happening which made the community great, but there was also evidence of it carrying over into people's real lives where suddenly now they were like, whether it's through work or personal things or whatever, they were kind of maybe like trying new things or opening up, or you know, you led an event in the community. Now maybe you're gonna step up and lead something at your job or take a more active role in something, and it was like, wow, there's it's kind of started as a joke, but it became a real thing of like leveling up in-game and in real life. Because it it completely carried over. Even for me.

SPEAKER_03 59:17

I saw it. I saw it happening, and I was like, I think it's so cool that you can ha you can make a positive impact on people's lives without that being the selling point.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:29

You know, it's like it's like everything else is a selling point. That's why you pay. You you are paying because you are it's like I'm gonna pay because if I'm a part of this mastermind or whatever this group, I know that I'm going to get 2,000 more followers or you know, finish this challenge content creator challenge or run that marathon or whatever it is. But it's but here it's like that there you we just want you to have fun. And as a byproduct of the way that we design the community, you are going to experience a level up in all the different things.

SPEAKER_01 59:59

There have been people who like literally never spoke in a voice chat before, did a camera thing, who are really like we have people designing like presentations and power. Designing presentations, putting themselves out, starting their own, you know, channels and and uh projects and things, you know, stepping in to help you host. You said I'm not doing a good job explaining it. I think you're doing a great job. But also, you know, I'm trying not to overlap too much because there is literally an entire other podcast on the HTTPast Network called Charting the Course, where you you kind of dive in more to these nuts and bolts, uh, with hosted by a member of the community who had never hosted a podcast before and is a phenomenal host and didn't know that they were a phenomenal podcast host. Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

And I think that I think that's cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

It's like you don't sue and is not joining the like podcast community to try to grow a podcaster where it was just like it just like you said, it happened organically. And I think putting yourself in these situations where you you're discovering parts of yourself that you didn't realize you had through the it's you know, it's the medium that we use is video games, but there's so many, they're so interactive, and the way that we uh, you know, create these experiences is where people can learn so much about themselves and you know how they lead and uh how they can participate. It's just so, I don't know, it's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

Yeah. Um so to try to like condense things, because now we're getting into more overlap. You you were like, okay, I want to do like I think nonprofit is the answer for this. Okay. That's complicated. How do you start a nonprofit? It kind of goes into that. You had done it before, but it's like, wait, is that even possible? Like, how do we do it? So then there was kind of like this big research phase.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:44

So, okay. Like, I in terms of like it hasn't been done before, here's why, right? What I have seen is I've seen content creators fundraise for charities and nonprofits. That happens all the time. We've all we've probably like donated ourselves to someone's stream where they're fundraising for whatever, right? Very, very, very common. The flip side of that is I've seen nonprofits start YouTube channels where they could talk more about their mission. They have educational videos. You know, here's you know, when you donate $20, whatever, here's where your money's going to. Here are all the um, you know, the testimonials of people who have had their life changed, whatever. That's that. I have not seen I don't want to say it's the in-between, but I haven't seen a content creator online community. Like that is the nonprofit. It exists digitally.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

I've not seen that.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:34

We there's no office, there's no building, there's anything like that. Plus, the person running the nonprofit is well versed in creating content and sharing stories and doing that. Because a lot of, you know, a lot of nonprofit YouTube channels, they put this stuff up, but it it's not like you know, it ain't hitting the trending page anytime soon.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:50

And because it's it, yeah. Those nonprofit channels are only going to the people who already are familiar with that nonprofit.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

And so there's that part of it. So there's this huge strength with with you're basically taking all of your experience, the nonprofit and the non-nonprofit experience, and smushing them together into this kind of unique skill set. And, you know, speaking of things hitting the trending page that is stressful, right? Your your channels monetize, demonetized, remonetized. You know, there is kind of the element, okay. If I'm gonna we had the talk even before this of the gaming channel should just be the main channel. That's what's lighting you up. That's what's having, that's what's fun. The world of like content creation and coaching and stuff is so crazy right now. Why not just lean into the fun, you know, for all the reasons you mentioned before? But then you do kind of have to play the YouTube game, right? Like you have to do the thumbnails, you have to stay on the trending topics.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:41

So that's fine. But like the problem with with the the niche that I was in is all the the videos that you that I know, okay. It doesn't see the matrix. Yeah, like I know what videos I need to make to blow the channel up. I felt like they to me, no, no offense, right? To me, they are not videos that I would want to make.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Well, especially with the with the community that you have, because if the if you're trying to grow and protect this very special thing that's happening, playing that game is not necessarily like in line with with the that mission.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:20

Because that's not what I want to talk about. Like I don't want to talk about like the 10 things that piss me off in the game or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

Like it's over. We need to talk about the blank situation. The blank situation is out of control, like that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:34

So that is also a benefit of the nonprofit that is, and and I guess this is sort of it. So a lot of traditional nonprofits, they might post like, here's our donor dinner, here's our you know, our PSA, here's our promo thing that kind of just goes out to the people who are already knowing and donating donating to the nonprofit. And that it doesn't really need to go beyond that. But in your case, like you and we know how to build stuff that is, you know, like kind of beyond that. But it through the lens of a nonprofit, it does not have to the the the fact of like, oh, it's only got X number of views, it didn't do this, it's another 10 out of 10 video is irrelevant.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:12

Because with a nonprofit, donations are tax deductible.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:18

So that goes for anybody. That goes for an individual's, but also specifically companies, businesses, and brands, right? So you're not I I think like when you when you think about sponsorships, when a company sponsors a content creator or, you know, someone's content, it comes out of the marketing budget because they are try, you know, it's they need to grow their business. Content creators are basically the digital billboards now, right? So that's what you're paying for, is like have a content creator create content about your product or your service or whatever, your company, whatever it is, right? That's out of the marketing budget. With uh as a nonprofit, it would come out of a different budget because um, like even individuals, you want to donate. You're incentivized to donate to a nonprofit because that's that you get a tax break.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

Just from a nuts and bolts perspective, that means different brands and companies would have different incentives to support this, and they're not looking for a return on investment. It's not, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:20

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: They want to align, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:21

So it's like it's not we need this many conversions from a sponsor video. We need to sell this number. There's it's we have a we have a budget of things like whatever you want to call it, like the I don't know what that would be, the donation budget. You probably know better than I do. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Corporate social responsibility. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: You have that budget, and that needs to go to these causes. Where do we be?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:40

And now there's something here, especially for, you know, if you think of a lot of the partners that we've worked with in the past as creators, like, oh, that aligns really well with like potentially what there's just a whole different world of potential partnerships.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

An example of this is like if you go to McDonald's, right? And they're like, hey, do you want to round up to donate to the Ronald McDonald Foundation? When you round up, right, you are you donate to McDonald's, and what McDonald's does is take that and they donate it to their foundation so that they, yes, they're yes, the Ronald McDonald's. I've actually been to one. It's fantastic, it's super cool. Um, but McDonald's is getting a tax break because they are donating to a nonprofit, right? So yeah, like you can donate that dollar yourself and get your tax break, but by donating to McDonald's, they're getting the tax break.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:31

In a weird way, it's a way for companies to make more money because they are saving money through taxes.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:38

Um capitalism, maybe.

unknown 1:07:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:41

But you can take this thing and you know, you can wield it into something.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

I'll use what I can.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:48

A mission first project, like Heather Display the nonprofit. And so you kind of looked into it and you're like, okay, nonprofits can be big, they can have they can be giant things, right? Like some of the biggest organizations in our country are nonprofits, but they can also be very small. They you don't have to have a physical location. You don't have to have clients seeing you in person. You're kind of looking at like this is what you actually need in terms of like paperwork, forms, approval to do a nonprofit.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

My goal, right? So the the Okay, let's be fully transparent. HJP is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We went through that whole process in the past six months, basically. Um we have raised exactly $49.09.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:42

So I so this model Which also, to be fair, it's been officially as an open nonprofit for less than a month. So that's also like less than a month. Since you like announced Oh, you're right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:56

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, since I formally because I hadn't told anybody. Yeah. So so first of all, uh congrats, right? Because getting your first donation as nonprofit, big deal. That's cool. It's possible, right? People believe in it. $49 is um It's not gonna pay the rent. Yeah, we have a long way to go. So uh the my from the business standpoint, the reason why I want to try this model is because none of the other ones, the content creator models, just didn't feel right for what HJP is doing. Um, and then trying to approach these, you know, companies that have popped up in the past 10 years that uh, you know, work a lot with content creators. I wanted to kind of just show them a different thing, like just a different, a new partnership of, you know, if we're actually a nonprofit, would that change how you would want to work with us, right? And we're using the same equipment, right? All the same stuff, we're creating all the same code. We have three new live stream podcasts with two more on the way. Um, I'm just I feel like if if a cr a creator company wants to align with a positively impactful nonprofit, I don't have to worry about views. I don't have to worry, like it's not that I'm not going to try. Try, yeah, or make it the best content that I can, but it it feels very refreshing to not be beholden to playing the algorithm game.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:30

Yeah, it's mission first.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:31

Exactly. It's the same way that a company can get distracted by like profit first, revenue first, this is mission first. Yeah. And that can be that can be the main goal there. So to put this all together, and this is where you know we can like hand it off to the charting the course episodes you've done where you get into the nuts and bolts. But to start a nonprofit, to start an LLC, you can be an individual, you can fill out some forms, pay a fee, and you're good to go. You you have your your EIN, your emplo your organization ID number, you can earn money, open bank accounts, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

Nonprofit, you need a board of directors. You need there's there's a bit more of a lengthy like application and approval process. So you actually had to enlist people both in and out of the community, the HJP community, to be on a board of directors, to, you know, it to make it a real thing. Put their name on the thing. Yeah. So so someone who might have joined with their you know random profile picture and you know, computer generated name. Yeah, yeah, no, no actual identity online now could be someone their name and address. Name and address.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:45

And I gotta submit that to the IRS.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:49

And and and even though so the way that that HTT is set up is you're really the only like employee. Yeah. Because you're the only employee, but the board of directors determines the directions, determines the goal, even determine your salary. So that's where it's like you think like how someone just like juking the system here, but really there's only a percentage determined by the board, which in our case is like pretty modest, extremely modest, of the amount of money that comes in, what percentage of that can actually even go to the executive director, which is you in this case, as salary, and it is definitely not most of it. It's it's a it's a relatively, I forget exactly what the number even is, but it's like um I mean it's most of it. It is most of it?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:31

It is most of it, because I do I I am the asset. I know that sounds weird.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:36

No, I know, but sorry. No, but it's are we talking about the budget? Yeah, we're talking about the budget. Like, but there you can't the executive director can't take all the money that comes in.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:45

No, of course not.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:46

That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:47

Yeah. So the money comes in. Like uh say you have a hundred dollars that comes in.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:51

Yeah, the I I can't remember what it is off the top of my head. I want to say it's like forty percent.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:55

Yeah, I think forty is the one that's popping in. So yeah, maximum is forty percent can go to salaries or in New York Case.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:01

So we I submitted a budget to the IRS because you have, you know, it's like you have to have like a I think it's a I can't remember, a projection budget for the first five years or something, three years maybe. And um, you know, I was like, in if everything works out, we get $150,000 a year, right? So how much of that goes to my salary for operating the thing? How much of that goes to all the, you know, keeping the lights on, the equivalent of that, and and all that. And we're not gonna get $150,000 in the first year. And so what the board decided was that we would do a percentage. That's where the post percentage is.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Well, because even whenever the say a time does happen that there's a you know that much money comes in in donations, it doesn't mean you're getting $150,000, I'm getting $150,000. It means you're getting like a, you know, a board members can't even be paid. So board members can't even be paid. You're getting a a modest salary because it's a full-time job to run and maintain it, and then the rest of it goes towards, like you said, keeping the lights on. Um, and then also then there's different initiatives and opportunities and stuff because you know, we want to serve the community and serve the people in it as best as possible, and that sometimes takes money to do. A lot of times takes money to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:16

But that way, instead of instead of monetizing from the community, the community benefits from the mission of the organization.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:23

Yeah, because you wouldn't ask the people at the food bank to pay for their food. That's why. Right, that's a restaurant. Yeah, exactly. So that is the difference, is like, you know, and and I I can I feel like I can I feel like the impact in that's happening on our members is justifiable. Like it's it's life-changing impact. So my job is like, how do I share that and you know, show people how important it is that this exists, right? Right. For for anybody who wants to be a part of it, it's great, but also this is just such a good thing. Like it's genuine connection, and I feel like in this world we could use a little more fun, right? And I think that that translates when you're happier, you go out in the world and you're happier, you know. And um, and so so yeah, like that's that's gonna be the the tricky part is like, you know, I I'd be curious to see where we are in, you know, by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:21

Oh, we can do another episode and catch up. I think the whole I think I think that is the perfect note to wrap up on because also I don't wanna I don't wanna overlap into existing podcasts and also uh recording with the phone, I now have the low storage worrying part. So um, but I think I think that's perfect. That kind of sets the stage, gives the background. We dove into the lore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:40

And then if people want to listen to charting the course, they can go to HJP Podcast Network on wherever you get your podcasts, or go to youtube.com slash heatherjustplay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:50

And if they want to learn more about Heather Just Play the organization, HeatherJustplay.org.org.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:54

Yes. And I do want to say, like, I think it's really cool that we are sharing this in real time because, like I said, it's it is you are such a big part of it. You are the president of our board, but then also you're getting so many ideas for youtube.com slash Tom Buck. Yeah, which is like this is now a channel, 165 something thousand subscribers. Like with every content creator, you can't just do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:20

Yeah, everybody has to, which you have to keep carving your own path has been a running theme. Like, yeah, you can't copy paste what works for somebody else. But it's fun to see what other people are doing and and cherry, you know, yeah. So it has been transformative for my own, you know, more like traditional content creator experience.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:37

But as a member also.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:39

Yeah, sorry, the thing went off and I'm nervous there. But it's also been transformative for me as a member. Um, and I'm going to remember to wrap this up because my phone's running out of storage. That's maybe the downside of recording on a phone. But thank you for being here. And I think that was the last thing I wanted to say was this was something that, regardless of where it does go, if we didn't do it, it would have been a huge regret.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:00

Oh no, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:01

And you can't fix regrets. So that's that's the number one reason to do it. So with that being said, I'm really grateful for you sharing all that here and being so transparent. I'm grateful for everyone listening and watching. And heatherdisplay.org. If you want to send anything, as always, Tom and Enthusiasmproject.com. And with that being said, thank you for listening. I hope you have a safe, happy, healthy, fun rest of your week, and I'll see you next time.