It's a really big hurdle for me, like I, I've, I've grown a lot more comfortable with it at this point for sure.

And I think, I think the biggest thing that has helped me is just getting feedback from people.

And so I really appreciate people who do this because I've had people reach out, whether it's through comments, direct emails social media, whatever it is, and they talk about, you know, the way that it's impacted.

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Hello everyone and welcome to the conversation this week on the Creators Hub podcast.

I'm so excited today to be joined by Chase Christopher Chase.

His bio says that he's just a regular dude, firefighter, DIY, adventurer, and soon to be dad.

So that's something that he and I bonded over off air as he is expecting his first.

We just welcomed our third, fourth, and fifth.

So he's got, uh, a lot of fun times coming for sure.

His goal is to help people live more intentional and adventurous lifestyles, making the most of the situation that they're in.

He's grown his YouTube channel now as of recording to this almost 80,000 subscribers, not even 150 videos uploaded just yet.

Every video, as I look at his channel and I look at the vid IQ tool.

Almost every one of his videos is an outlier, which means that every time that Chase uploads, his videos tend to do better than the last, and if they don't, the one after certainly does.

So, chase, how you doing today?

I'm doing great.

Yeah.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

So tell me the origin story of this YouTube channel.

Looks like you tinkered around with some stuff five, six years ago, and then you started taking it more serious and it's kind of evolved over time.

So give the audience a perspective of kind of how did this channel come to be and how did it certainly come to be, what it is today?

Yeah, I'll try to, uh, keep it fairly short.

Um, no, you don't need to.

This is a podcast.

You give us the full story.

Okay.

Alright.

Well, I guess throwing it way back, um, I've always had an interest in photography and that stemmed, I guess when I was young in school and I kinda went down that path a little bit, including through high school, had some interest there and was considering doing that as a profession potentially.

I ended up getting into firefighting in high school through a program there and then that pulled me in and I pretty much put all of my focus and energy on that from that time forward.

And photography became kind of a, a side quest of mine for, uh, during my hobbies.

Then I, long story short, after a number of years got into firefighting, ended up moving over here to Idaho and I was still using my camera a lot for just personal photography use.

And then I started doing some, uh, some photography for some companies in the outdoor space, which led to some connections that, um, brought me into the hunting world where I started.

Doing photos and then they asked for video.

And so I started to learn that side of things and I was able to travel a bit around the US and then over the years, and this was while also working full time.

So I just kind of shovel the, the schedule around to where I could make these trips.

And then I just, just be gone a lot.

And then, uh, when I wasn't gone, I was pretty much at work.

And so, um, then my wife and I met in 2019 and I'd been doing that for a few years and shortly after we met, I, I actually did my, my last it didn't end up being my last, but one of the last projects was over into Kyrgyzstan on a trip over there, which was really cool.

But it was a, I think it was.

Two week long trip.

And so when I came back, I had a ton of work to make up and still had to do all the editing, had to do all of the, uh, the things associated.

And so I realized pretty quick that I needed to.

Create a little bit more flexible schedule.

And so I was also simultaneously at that time, starting to get some roles, um, at work that involved instruction presentation.

I realized very quickly that even in things that I was comfortable with and confident in, um, I was not capable or didn't feel very capable of presenting those to new people.

You know, recognizing where the the person that I'm talking to is, especially when they're newer and I don't really know their background.

So I just wanted to learn more about presenting and so, um, I just decided to try YouTube out and use it as a continuation of the creative outlets but at a more flexible, um, timing and then also to get to work on presentation because I was incredibly uncomfortable.

Speaking certainly on camera, but even just in general to groups.

It was, it was something that I, I didn't feel comfortable in and it's still a work in progress, but, um, I, yeah, started doing YouTube.

I really enjoyed backpacking outdoor stuff.

And so that was the original idea I was gonna share about backpacking.

And so I set up, at the time I had, or actually we still have the car, but, uh, Subaru Outback and I set it up inside for camping inside.

I pulled out the back seats, built a camper in the back, and then.

I was gonna use that to go out and make my videos to make things a little more efficient traveling.

Um, and somebody actually at work told me, he was like, oh, you should make a video about that.

So I did a quick video one day and that was not the first one, but, um, among the first videos, and then it kind of took off a little bit.

And so, um, I ended up getting a bunch of questions about that and that build people wanted like designs, plans, all this stuff.

And I didn't have any of that because I pretty much carved it piece by piece and was like, yeah, not a carpenter by any means.

And so long story short, after a lot of requests, I ended up building a website, rebuilding the uh, the little camper insert system and.

Learned a, a, a design modeling program, made some very rudimentary designs and then posted them up on the site that people could buy for, you know, pretty, pretty inexpensive so that people could travel a little bit more, uh, efficiently I guess, with the car that they had.

Uh, which was a big surprise to me 'cause at the time I had a truck sold it to, uh, get this Subaru and I thought I was probably one of the only people that would.

Kind of make that transition.

Like people doing the stuff I was doing would maybe look at like a, a van or a camper or something like that.

Um, but turns out there was a lot of people who were interested and so that led me down a path for, for a while.

I would make videos about camping, kind of manage the site, and then I.

Slowly over time, I guess other interest trickled in to include, um, a little bit of real estate investing.

My wife and I we got married, you know, a, a while after that.

And then we started looking into a lot of different things.

Again, real estate investing being one.

And so we, we ended up buying a really old house, um, and we.

Fixed it up over the course of about two years.

And so the channel during that time swerved a little bit into sort of the DIY space, um, which it was adjacent because like the plans and, and the projects were a DIY ish venture, uh, to start with.

But swerved into that, that realm slowed down a little bit on the videos, just 'cause I was, I was headlong into that project while also, you know, working the, the day job and.

Then, yeah, I guess all that kind of has, has ebbed and flowed o over the years.

And I've done a bit of the, the outdoor content, bit of the DIY content.

Both of those have continued in different, uh, forms.

And then we've also traveled a bit in the last few years internationally, which wasn't something that we had really done prior.

And so that's also kind of started to flow in, um, a little bit.

And really it's been a, a side outlet I guess for me this whole time, both creatively and then also certainly with the desire to build something out of it and, you know, have some sort of monetary, uh, component.

But it's been a really good outlet and, and it's also just, it's led to a lot of really cool connections through the process in multiple different lanes.

And so that's the short story.

Short, if.

Sure.

I love, I love that.

The website that you mentioned, road to ridge.com you got a few DIY plans for sale there.

A lot of those leads I assume are probably coming from your YouTube videos where people watch those things that you're doing in your vlogs or whatever, and then they say, oh, I would like those plans, and they purchase those for a very inexpensive price on your website.

So again, that's one of your monetization methods Now.

Were, was there a time where you thought to yourself as these videos and you were uploading and you were seeing some traction with the things that you were doing on the channel that you thought to yourself, okay, I need to probably take this a bit more serious than I have been?

Yeah, I would, I would say unfortunately, there's probably been about a hundred times where I've thought that and I, there's been phases where I've really leaned in and been a little bit more, uh, consistent and.

Then it's ebbed and flowed a lot just because of, of work and things like that.

But definitely that, that initial phase when when people started reaching out for those plans, like I said, I, I had no intention of building them.

I had no intention of selling them.

I didn't feel qualified at all to do it.

Among all the other things, I, I felt unqualified to, to share, um, online.

And so I, I didn't plan to, but I, I had.

Messages a lot, and then emails.

And then one day I got a, a call from an older lady across the US who she called me.

She started talking to me like like I was her grandson.

I, I didn't really know how she got my number.

Um, I think it must have been from an old photography posting.

And she was like, Hey, I really need that.

So if you could send it to me, that'd be great.

Um, and it's like, I, I don't have it.

And so.

That I think that that was really one of the big like, turning points for me where I realized, I was like, okay, there's actually there's a really cool opportunity to reach outside of I guess my own little sphere, even though I feel entirely unqualified.

There's impact happening, which felt very surprising to me.

Like I, I didn't think that it would be anything beyond, I guess maybe surface level education or entertainment.

And so that definitely kind of flipped a switch in a way that I realized like, oh, this is, this is really cool.

Not only is it a certainly a selfish pursuit creating these videos, but also the impacts are outsized.

And so ever since then, it's ebbed and flowed as I realized that, and I, I get dedicated and then I, you know, life kind of swerves a little bit.

And, uh, yeah, I think that is probably one of the most wonderful things about YouTube is that you can do that.

You know, if it is a side thing for you, like it is for you, obviously, and it's not your full-time, you have to count on this to put food on the table.

You're able to go through seasons where you don't upload.

The channel will always be there.

And you can also adjust and pivot on the things that you're creating about based on interest and passion, because that's gonna come through the camera.

Now you mentioned in that open about trying to become better at presenting and speaking in front of the camera.

And when the microphone goes, you know, in front of your face and the record button starts to blink.

Become better at that.

For your day job, as you were doing training, I assume for firefighting, EMT, whatever it may be, did it have the effect and has it helped you and, and what are some things that you did to improve and get better at that skill?

Yeah, I would say it's certainly, it's certainly helped from the confidence side a bit.

Hard to say how it's changed over time as far as the, the effect, but I've definitely grown a lot just through having the repetition, you know, watching yourself on camera, um, is hard and listening to yourself is even worse.

And so having all of those reps where I just like get to see, you know, all of these different ticks or these things that I.

Tend to do has definitely helped me.

At least a small amount.

I've got a long ways to go, but in my role today, I, I still, um, do a bit of training, or I should say I do more.

Um, I'm a part of the, our field training division I guess.

And so we, um, we work together to, to facilitate and, and deliver training.

And so, um, I think it's helped me, um, a lot and, and I think if I did it more, it'd probably be.

Even more useful.

I mean, it's ultimately kind of like when I was getting into it, and, and maybe many people do this when they're preparing for like interviews.

You talk in the mirror, you know, you record yourself to help critique the way that you're, you are, uh, presenting yourself.

Um, and so this has kind of been that, but for different topics and certainly the, the comment section will, uh, help me out with that too.

They're usually pretty, uh, yeah, pretty okay with being hypercritical.

Yeah, absolutely.

What do you think has been the hardest thing to, I don't know if you would say learn or adjust to or coming from someone who really didn't do much content creation.

You obviously were a photographer, so you were a creative, but as far as video creation in running a YouTube channel, what has been the biggest challenge for you?

Yeah, I, I'd like to come up with something novel.

It's probably a pretty consistent theme that people hear.

It's, I mean, imposter syndrome is a, a, a good starting point where it's, from the, the example of the car camper, you know, I, when people ask me, I was like, well, I don't know how to, I've never built a website, um, other than a simple portfolio, um, I don't know how to 3D model, I'm not a carpenter.

All these things, you know, and so every topic that comes about, like you kind of feel that way where it's like, well, I'm not the best at this thing, or I don't have the most experience at this thing.

And so that, that definitely is like a natural brake pumper that you kinda have to look beyond and, and trust that there's going to be impact that, um, makes it worth it.

And so the, yeah, the willingness to just, I guess just send it and not care about what you how you're perceived.

And so long as the, I guess the, the intent is right then at the end of the day just.

Becoming okay with that has been a challenge that takes time.

But the more, more feedback you get on the positive side certainly encourages that.

Did you have much outside noise from people when you started uploading and putting yourself out there and you know, obviously you and you wife's, uh, journeys and adventures.

How have you handled people commenting or giving their.

2 cents about you putting yourself out there, because one of, I believe the greatest barriers to being a creative, and whether it's uploading a short form, funny video to TikTok or uploading a long form video to YouTube is the ability to get beyond caring what other people think.

How big of a hurdle is that, do you think, and how have you gotten beyond that?

Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a really big hurdle for me.

Like I, I've, I've grown a lot more comfortable with it at this point, for sure.

And I think, I think the biggest thing that has helped me is just getting, getting feedback from people.

And so I really appreciate people who do this because I've had people reach out, whether it's through comments, direct emails, um, social media, whatever it is, and they talk about, you know, the way that it's impacted, which in, in a lot of ways, I, I see these, these videos that I make on, you know.

Whether it's an adventure type of a, a piece of content or DIY stuff, and, and it, feels like it's very, uh, low impact capability, you know, or it has a low impact capability.

But then you talk to people and you realize like, oh wow, this actually, like this had a monumental.

Like impact on them, at least in that, time of their life.

Maybe it's not a life changing thing, but it had a, had an impact.

And, and when people communicate that, which again, I really appreciate it because I, I'm not good at doing that to people who impact me similarly, but that those things are become like little, I guess little nuggets that I try to fall back on and, and think of like, okay, well, sure there's, there's 50 people who are.

Leaving, you know, hate comments on this popular video.

And, and maybe they're justified in some ways, but then there's also, you know, at least whatever, this one person who had a positive impact.

And so, um, at the end of the day, it's, it's free for everybody.

So, the people who are, uh, not enjoying it, I mean, they.

Fortunately for them, they have a choice and they can choose not to watch it if they don't want to.

Yeah.

Using those things as motivators to me, and obviously for me doing this for so long, I use even the negative comments as fuel and you know, I'm able to look at those things and if it is constructive criticism, I found early on in my creator journey, I wasn't able to take that.

Utilize it and actually make it helpful.

I was getting very defensive, but now as I've gotten older and I'm, I've learned, hey, some of these people are not out to just.

It completely hate on me.

They really want it to be better, and whether they're listening to a podcast and they're giving me feedback on how I'm putting the podcast together or the different segments or the questions I'm asking, they're saying they're still listening and consuming my content, but they really want it to be better.

They're giving me honest feedback, so being able to balance the honest feedback.

Ignoring the haters and being able to just put yourself out there is a, is a really good balance, and I think you put it probably better than I did there.

So that, that's a great answer to that question.

Now, as far as the production of your videos, you know, your upload schedule seems to be one or two videos a month, obviously, depending on kind of what season you're in in your life.

What does it look like for you from start to finish, from ideation, all the way to upload for one of your videos?

Uh, it's a bit all over the place.

I won't, I won't come out and pretend like I have a, uh, an ironed out process at this point.

I, yeah, I, I've approached it from a lot of different angles and really through this whole time I've, I've treated this, like, I've called it chasing rabbits where I allow myself, I guess the, uh, the ability to just try things.

And maybe I never.

Catch whatever the rabbit that I'm chasing there.

Um, but at least I'll, I'll, I get to learn, I get to try, you know, especially, um, in this phase of our life that, where that was an option.

And so, um, I guess generally speaking for the videos, I'll usually come up with a.

I try to come up with some sort of like value, like what's the one, um, little, little orbit piece of value that this content's gonna offer.

Um, and because I do a mix of things from like DIY projects where it's a little bit more obvious of like, oh, build this thing.

And I also do a little bit of travel stuff.

Um, I try to just summarize my head like, okay, if there was a, a, a general purpose or a value offering in this, you know, what is it gonna be?

And then.

If I have any sort of like very specific intentions within it, I might do a little bit more pre-planning where I actually kind of bulletize some notes and, and come up with an outline, especially if it is like a, um, an instructional or a informational piece.

And oftentimes it's more just to help me not ramble like I tend to do.

Um, but in general aside from coming up with like a general like value offering and then.

A handful of like, I guess, supporting pieces or, or the process?

I try to keep it fairly, um, fairly loose, I guess because I, I don't feel like I read I don't sound natural when I'm reading, and so I try to avoid, I don't really ever use any sort of script, um, or anything like that.

I'd rather do a retake then, uh, have a, a script is kind of my, my perspective on it.

And so most of the time I will do that in the beginning.

Create the video.

If during the creation I'm able to do any sort of narration or there's just a, a natural, um, fit for talking in the video, then I'll do it that way.

Or if not, then I will in post then do a voiceover.

And I usually do that after I've put the, the video together, to have a kind of a basic outline and I'll just sit down.

Try to rip through a, uh, a voiceover process.

And I tend to do that more often with, um, like some of the DIY projects like recently, um, we just moved into this house that we're in here, um, about eight, nine months ago, and we had a, a flood after, um, in the house.

We had a leak and some plumbing and, and so I, I ended up making some videos of the process of repairing that, but.

I didn't have the time to, um, I guess pre-pro produce and during the process, like stop and narrate everything.

You know, I, I had little bits here and there, but it was a lot more time constraint and, and uh, I just didn't have the mental capacity to think about it during.

And so, uh, a lot of it ended up happening after.

I'm all over the place.

Are there any, are there any tools that you use that you just couldn't live without?

Like as far as the, when you're working through everything and you're doing your video production side of things, like what, what, what are your tools of the trade?

Yeah.

As far as standard tools, I, I use I guess like the the Google Suite a lot, so I, I, I tend to create a lot of, uh.

I guess just content in there that I can, I can review through before I even start stuff.

But then as far as during the process, I don't use many different tools other than, um, I have used TubeBuddy a little bit in the past.

Um, and then certainly these days I use, uh, Chad, GBT pretty regularly.

Often just to clean up.

If I am trying to bulletize something and I just kind of brain dump, um, I might use it to clean things up or I might use it to, uh.

Do a little bit of research on something or confirm something that I'm, I'm.

Working on Interrupt the conversation just briefly to tell you about two things that we offer creators.

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So with that said, let's jump back into the conversation.

That's probably just a result of where we are in this age of YouTube.

You don't have to have the fancy tools and the bells and whistles.

You can do everything with your phone or a decent mirrorless camera or whatever you decide to use.

Um, and AI is, is a companion to, to almost everyone.

I think if you're not using it.

Some regard, you're probably getting left behind.

You have to utilize it in some way.

Um, so I, I completely, uh, am with you there.

Now, as far as packaging, like thumbnails, titles what is your strategy there?

I know you said you kind of chase rabbits and you kind of try and experiment, which is what YouTube is made for, uh, especially for a hobbyist and a part-time person on a channel.

But what are, what have you learned over time about what works for video packaging?

Yeah, it's, it's, uh, well, I guess to go back, sorry, were you asking before this about like specific, like camera equipment or were you more talking about, uh, software?

No, no.

So software tools.

You, you answered exactly what I was, what I was asking.

Okay.

That was perfect.

Okay, good.

Um, but for the, the question now I'm asking more in regards to like thumbnail title, the packaging you're putting together when you're uploading your video.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, I try to keep that fairly organic.

I think one thing that I've found, especially with like instructional or not instructional, educational content in general, um, I try to stick to a little bit, uh, more of a, I learned this or I did this, or how I do, x thing.

Um, just because that, you know, and, and this is probably something I've drawn from you, um, in podcasts, uh, that I can't recall specifically, but it kind of just closes the door from like a, you should do this, um, type of a presentation that people can reject.

Um, you, you, it's hard to reject somebody's experience when it's, I, I did this and so yeah, I just try to, uh, I try to create thumbnails that, you know, are, are.

Photography that I, I appreciate, which can be really hard, especially 'cause I do a lot of content by myself.

And so it's a lot of setting up tripod and going, you know, back and forth and, and creating the photos.

But at the end of the day, I just, I just try to, um, yeah.

Have, have some.

Combination of, of how I did this, or I went and did this thing and then represent it well through a thumbnail.

That's a good photography.

And, and I've definitely found that, um, it's helpful to have a, you know, a face kind of visible, at least somewhat like, so that people can maybe recognize you.

Or if it's not your face, then it's like just something recognizable.

Um, yes.

In the thumbnail.

And, but again, it's, it's something that I'm, I'm not, uh, I, I don't feel I'm extremely strong at, but I've really enjoyed having the, uh, the AB testing process in YouTube now native, um, recently.

That gives me a little bit more insight into this.

And it's probably something I could go back and, and revisit a lot of my videos because I'm I don't really go back at all, um, and update anything, uh, which I, again, I should, but, um.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The A, the AB testing tool is phenomenal.

I'm so glad it's built in.

Now you do one of the things, and you can tell looking at your thumbnails that you have experience or a history in photography because the, the photos that you use are wonderful.

They're big, they're colorful, they're in.

You know, they tell a story almost, which is kind of what you want your thumbnail to do.

You want your thumbnail to evoke that curiosity or people to see it on that home feed, because you have to think of how people are consuming content.

Now.

It's that infinite loop and that infinite scroll, and you have to be the thing, or your thumbnail or your title has to be the thing that stops them, right.

In their tracks to get them to do that.

And you have a video, uh, that you did about six months ago that you, that you titled How I Turned Our Garage into a super Cool Space.

And then you put, IM parentheses a couple of things that you did.

That video now has over 625,000 views, uh, still climbing.

It's done really well for you.

I think that's the antithesis of what I teach my clients when I'm doing one-on-one coaching calls.

Remove the text off the thumbnail.

You don't have to have.

A ton of text or a, it doesn't have to be inconsistent.

It can be just this one fluent image that make people wonder or make people think as to why they'd wanna watch that video.

And so you do that very well.

Uh, like another video example, the one you did about fall truck camping, plus dirt biking in, in the snow.

It's a great thumbnail of the truck and the dirt bike and you sitting there in nature.

These are things that in combination will make people want to click and watch a video.

So.

Let's now transition into, you've grown this channel, you've done really well with it.

You've got a great community building.

Now we're monetizing.

So we've talked about your website.

You're selling those digital blueprints basically for pennies on the dollar, which by the way, if I was your coach, I would be telling you, number one, double down and do more of those.

And number two, you're charging way.

Way less than you probably should.

That's my advice to you here on Air on the podcast, but let's talk about the ways that you are monetizing the channel.

Can you talk about that and then towards the end of the answer, give us on average what you might make on a given month?

Yeah.

As far as monetizing, there's a.

There's a handful of different ways.

Like, like most people, certainly the ad sense, um, is a, a portion, it's consistent, but it's not the lion's share by any means.

So, so just the, the standard ad sense, uh, revenue.

And then, uh, the site has been just been chugging along.

You know, it's been.

I don't even know now, probably five years.

And there's still pretty consistent consistently orders coming through on there.

Um, and I've also actually put most of those plans on Etsy as well.

And so that's kind of a, uh, an adjacent sister system, I guess with those plans.

And then.

Through it all.

I've definitely gotten, um, a number of client jobs through it.

There's been phases where I've done more, um, client work totally away from YouTube, whether it's for their own channels, specifically on the video side, um, or else for their marketing or whatever it might be.

Um, my wife's a wedding photographer and so I also do some wedding videos periodically.

I usually do one or two a year just so we can do it together, especially on, um.

And cool spaces.

And then, some partnerships.

I've done a, a number of those, A lot of times I've used that more as a an avenue to facilitate whatever I'm trying to do.

And so like recently with the, the, uh, well the Garage one isn't a great example, but the house one hasn't done very well.

But the, uh, the video of us repairing this flood damage, I re floored the whole house.

And I had a partnership with the, uh, the flooring company that provided the, the flooring to me.

And throughout time I've, I've.

Know, depending on the phase that I'm in, I'll kind of swerve a little bit towards partnerships that help to facilitate something that I would already be buying.

And so the, uh, it just more, yeah, helps, helps to remove expenses, um, in our life.

And then, I haven't mentioned it yet, but actually I recently with partners, we started a, another company called Lewi Gear Company.

And it's, uh, it's a dirt bike hitch hauling system.

It lifts your dirt bike, carries it in a different way than most, and then even when it's on there, you can drop it down and lower your tailgate, get into the back of your truck, things like that.

And so, so recently that's been something, um, because I am a.

Doing most of the, uh, the marketing side of things there.

It's, it's another kind of an adjacent brand that I am able to use the YouTube channel as a, a lead magnet for.

And so I can, I can, you know, in these recent videos, I've, I've just shown the product.

I haven't actually even really talked about it at all.

It's more just a it's there and people can see it and then it can help.

Move people over if they're interested in that.

Um, so it's fairly organic, but on, in the last couple months since we've, or last really month, only since we have started our, uh, sort of a beta launch it's been really effective at, uh, connecting with people that way.

So all those different avenues.

Now on a, on average, what do you think you might make on a month from the creator endeavors here that we've mentioned?

Yeah, it's ebbed and flowed.

Um, I would say and I, I haven't done a good job of quantifying all of the partnership things because a lot of the, the product type stuff, um, so maybe, maybe with that excluded I would say on average in the last few years.

Maybe two to five grand a month.

May, maybe more some months it's significantly more depending on the, uh, the, I guess the projects outside of YouTube that might be client stuff.

So depending on my capacity, it can, it can certainly go a lot higher.

But I would say the, the floor is probably around the, the $2,000 mark.

And I think that that's only going to increase, right?

Especially with this new product from, you know, uh, the, the dirt bike.

And, and that's more of a higher ticket item.

And I assume once more of those come through, depending on what the margins are on that, you can see that just only increasing.

And having YouTube as the central hub of that is, is such a wonderful thing.

So that leads me to kind of my closing question.

I mentioned off air to you what are some things that you would.

Think, find interesting about, about your channel and you really mentioned this thing that doesn't get talked about very much, and that is the opportunity and the opportunities that YouTube provides you as a creator outside of just the initial or the uploads of videos and the community.

In the comment section, it provides you with clientele outside of YouTube.

It provides you with connections that allow you and your wife to go on trips that you never would've been on before.

Can you speak on that and maybe encourage those listening that may think that they have to get to a certain subscriber or view count to, to experience these things?

I found that to be completely opposite, where you don't have to have a specific number.

You just have to talk to the right person.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's, that's probably been the most surprising thing to, for me, outside of, outside of the impact potential of YouTube, that's been one of the most surprising.

And there's been, I mean, there, I could go on about different things, but one example that comes to mind is one of our, uh, my wife and i's good friends, a couple.

They, um, we connected with them.

Originally it was through YouTube.

He had reached out to me just.

Shot me a message.

We ended up connecting.

And we've become extremely good friends since then.

He's a YouTuber as well.

Um, and now his channel's growing very rapidly.

But after we connected, I he ended up taking me on a, a, a trip down to, to Baja, California down in Mexico on a, a, like a, a long trip to help.

So I could help him make some videos for, um, a business that he was launching down there.

And so we got to go drive these off-road trucks for, you know, a week.

And I've gone back another time since then with him and, and so it's just grown.

I mean, that one's just been.

A whole friendship that started just from YouTube.

And I've got multiple other, connections, friends that are like that.

And I think it's just because in, in a way, the YouTube channel, when somebody watches it, they're like, oh, you know, it's kind of like a, a very informal interview of sorts where you kind of get to know somebody.

And then I've had multiple people, I just had somebody reach out the other day who is local to me, and, and he just messaged me and he is like, Hey, watch your videos.

I think we have a lot in common.

We should, uh, hang out some time.

I was like, sweet, let's do it.

So, you know, it kind of just it, yeah, it connects you with people and companies in ways that I just would've never expected.

And then, especially with the client side, while I'm not necessarily pursuing client work at all right now on the video side, it's had a, a really crazy impact in that.

I've had several.

Projects in the past where I maybe get somebody introduces me or, or they just reach out and there's, there's like zero pitching of anything.

Like, I don't send, you know, I don't send a deck, I don't send any sort of pitch because they just come in and they're like, yeah, we saw, you know, whatever, a video or they, we saw something and we like that.

And so it creates this extremely like low stress or lower stress environment for me where the client already, you know, they, they've seen it, they've.

Decided already that they're like, oh yeah, you know, it makes sense and I don't have to yeah, I don't have to pitch myself or worry that they're expecting me to be something else because it's, you know, they're coming in through this, this avenue.

Yeah.

Long-winded, uh, but a lot of different ways and it's been awesome.

YouTube's already done that work for you, and I always say those, every video is, is is a business card for you.

And I completely stick by that.

Now I just think that for you, in the future of your channel, you're at the very bottom of, of your potential.

You know, your channel can really do.

I mean 3, 5, 10 x.

What it's doing now, and these are the channels that I love featuring on this podcast, is, is you know, you're at the point now in your journey where you're comfortable with who you are, you're comfortable with your voice and you're really good at the on-camera side of things.

Now it's just a matter of how do I scale this thing and how far do I wanna take it?

I love my job firefighting.

My, you know, you and your wife are expecting kids, so, with you, you're stable and you have this thing on the side that you can do that's fun.

And that is, is giving you a multitude of opportunities.

And that's what YouTube can do, is it can really improve your circle of influence.

Uh, I, I say it all the time about this podcast, it's one of my favorite things is my Rolodex of people that I now have contacts with in my phone has increased dramatically, uh, through these 500 some odd interviews.

And I'm just so thankful that I'm, I'm able to do this each and every.

So, chase, thank you again.

And, and I wanna close by giving you the opportunity to just what would you say to the creators listening to this, whether they're starting or trying to grow or trying to monetize wherever they may be on the creator journey?

What would be your kind of parting words to those folks?

Yeah, I don't, I don't know that I have a whole lot of wisdom to share, but one thing I was thinking about before this, um, in anticipation was a strategy that I've started to use for myself in the last, I guess it's been probably this, most of this, this journey has been, um, something that I learned from my study into considering real estate investing.

Um, and that was like with every single.

Every single project have multiple.

In the real estate world, they say have multiple outs, you know, and so if you're, if you're buying a house to make it into a rental also consider if that didn't work, you know, what's another lane in which it would work, you know, which, what's another way that it could have value that would still make sense.

And so in, in the YouTube realm, I've kind of thought about that, where as I approach content, I think like, okay, you know, I'm.

I'm gonna do this, this project.

We'll again, we'll talk about the house since that's where I'm looking right now and thinking about recently.

I approached it from, you know, a couple.

I was like, okay.

There's, there's a couple different opportunities here.

One is and then sometimes they're synergistic, but one is I make the video and I, I learn this process that I've never done before, which is, you know, installing this flooring, repairing these certain things that, that were damaged.

I.

Have a partnership in doing that.

And so it facilitates it, it helps you know, my wife and i's financial bottom line effectively on a personal level.

And so that's like, that's lane one.

That's like, that's a win, you know, in and of itself.

And then if the video reaches people and they enjoy it and they get inspired or they learn certainly it will.

Have an impact on me financially if it gets views, but also it's another, another lane that would be considered a win, I guess, or or another out.

And so yeah, having two different ways that way if one way, you know, on, on one hand, which that video hasn't done super well, and so it's like, well, okay, you know, the, the video maybe hasn't reached that many people and, and maybe it isn't as valuable as I'd hoped to people, but, our house is still fixed, and now we've got a house to live in, you know?

And so that, and, and adjacent to, other realms like, like travel, you know, we, we've really enjoyed travel in the last few years.

Um, and so again, we might make a video and it's like, well, you know, you get to make the video.

Maybe some part of that travel or the gear or something was facilitated through a partnership.

And so at the end of the day, it's like, it's already a win before, um, you push, make it public, make the video public.

And then at that point, you know, it's a, yeah, it's already a win before it happens.

And I don't think it has to be, like, those are, I guess, more financial considerations.

But, um, the education side has been huge for me too, where like with the flooring, um, there's multiple things where it's like, well, even if this, you know, costs me money, um, it always costs you time.

Um.

If I come out the other side and nobody watches the video and they don't like it I, I still learned a lot, you know, just because I, you approached it with, with specific intent that Sure.

Um, yeah, you have an outcome.

I, I love that.

I think that is a great perspective and a great mentality to, to go by is you can benefit from a multitude of things from a YouTube video.

It doesn't have to be just strictly.

Vanity numbers or metrics that you're looking for, sure those will come, but the things that can be the auxiliary of those is important.

So I love that.

That's a great answer.

Chase, you've been a wonderful guest here on the podcast.

I can't wait for a couple of years from now when you've blown up.

On your channel and I'll have you back on and you can, uh, tell us how you've gotten to where you are then.

But thank you again.

Good luck in your fatherhood.

Upcoming here in the next couple of months.

It's gonna be one of the best, uh, if not the best things that you ever do, uh, and I can't wait to see you feature that a little one on, on the channel, possibly one day down the line.

And, uh, we'll talk to you later.

Sounds good.

Thank you, dusty.

And that's a wrap on this week's episode of The Creators Hub Show.

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