What Going Viral Really Feels Like And How To Survive It

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We sit down with Rob Kenney of Dad, How Do I? to unpack the whirlwind from quiet how‑to videos to global virality, and the choices that protected his time, values, and audience trust. We trace simple beginnings, sponsor boundaries, short‑form strategy, and wisdom born from empathy and forgiveness.

• origins of Dad, How Do I? during lockdown
• two‑minute nuggets vs honest longer tutorials
• viral surge, media attention, anonymity lost
• keeping the day job until income felt stable
• sponsor fit, faith, and recommending only what he’d tell his kids
• family reactions and reconciliation with his father
• the algorithm’s shift from subscribe to engage
• shorts across platforms and long‑form staleness
• hiring help, accountants, and management fit
• Wisdom Wednesday, grace online, and choosing time over noise

Of course if you're listening to the audio podcast you should leave us five star because that's just how we we get to know that we're doing a great job here.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Reveal

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The gang algorithm is the thing that I've been fighting lately, very, very frustrated with. Subscribing and following isn't what it used to be.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

You need to have engagement. Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that helps you find your parents that you didn't know you were missing. Today we have an incredibly special guest. I'm super excited about this one, and you all know who he is. But uh why don't you just introduce yourself, Dad?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yeah, my name is Rob Kenny, and I started the YouTube channel Dad How Do I in 2020 during the pandemic, and the rest is history.

Owning The “Internet Dad” Identity

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Rest is indeed history. We're going to talk to Rob a little bit about his uh YouTube journey, things he's seen and experienced. I'm sure it's been quite amazing. But if you're new here, of course, as always, every single week, we hope we try to grow your YouTube channel through different things. We sometimes answer your questions. Uh, we talk to creators, we do all types of things here. So if you're new here, sit down, get a pen and paper, write some things down, have a fun time. We're here to talk to the internet dad, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, Rob, like being called the Internet Dad must be a little bit weird. I mean, by now you're probably used to it, but like that kind of uh is a thing. So talk to us about um what that feels like. We're we're gonna go back to like the days of first starting YouTube in a little bit, but like just like how have you kind of grown to accept that?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, it is a thing. Um, that's my new reality. Um, I I've never actually referred to myself as the internet's dad because I I think that would be a little arrogant. Look at me. I'm the internet's dad. You need to listen to me and you know tune out all the other dads. And so that just kind of happened. Um, and so but if you Google it, um I'm the internet's dad. That's what it says. So that's what it says. You Google internet's dad, and it's me. But anyway, uh yeah, it's it's been an adjustment, but I've grown so much um in the past, it's almost been six years now. Um, through all this, you know, I've I've been trying to share some dad vice, is how I refer to it, with people, and it's grown me more than anything. I say I would say I've I I've grown in so many ways because I've had to um either that or crush me. So so I've had to adapt.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Well, so the channel, for those of you who don't know, is called Dad How Do I. Uh, and as you said, it was created um back in the pandemic around 2020-ish. Talk to us about how that happened. So, what was happening during that time in your life? What were you going through before you kind of uploaded your first video? And tell us why you decided to upload a video.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, uh big influence was my daughter. Um, she was she's 33 now, so she was 28, I guess. And we were uh, you know, I was at home like everybody else um during the pandemic, and my daughter said, you know, I'm watching videos of uh celebrities putting together bicycles. Um she said, I think people would actually appreciate hearing from just an average guy, you know, uh not that I'm average, just kidding. Uh yeah, just a normal guy, I guess, um, just during this weird time that we were all going through. And so I thought, well, um, I I had thought of the channel Dad How Do I, uh, the name Dad How Do I several years before. And I, because I pictured one of my kids in the other room saying, Dad, how do I? And I would come fix it. You know, that was kind of the idea. And I put it off like anybody else and thought, well, you know, there's so many creators, even at that time, even now, there's even more creators. And so I thought I'm gonna be lost in a sea of other creators. So I just never really did it. But I was stuck at home like everybody else, and my daughter said, Dad, you need to start it. Now's the time. And I thought, okay, um, you know, I can tie a tie, that's easy, not a big commitment. We'll see, see what happens, and then how to shave too. Um, I thought those are two real basic things that I need to do anyway, most of the time. The tie I didn't because I was at home, but I knew how to. And so, you know, that's it was wasn't a whole lot of lifting, heavy lifting at the very beginning. And, you know, I was just recording on my phone, which I still do, um, because I think that's part of the charm. It's not overly produced. I'm just trying to share some stuff and a lot of stuff I learned the hard way.

Early Goals And Two‑Minute Lessons

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So um those two things do make a lot of sense, like how to tie a tie and how to shave and stuff. But those videos existed on the on YouTube before. Was there a part of you that was thinking, oh, I'm just retreading uh things that already exist? Or did you have an idea that they actually still might be good? And what were your expectations going into this? Like when you uploaded, did you expect a lot of things to happen at once, or did you expect it to take a long time? Or what were your expectations?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

I just thought I'd have uh honestly, this is what my original goal was. I was gonna have 30 or 40 followers and I would just kind of mentor them. I wasn't looking for, I wasn't looking to switch careers. I wasn't looking, you know, I've been uh in sales for 30 years and I kind of built uh a customer base, and so it wasn't just to leave my my job at the time. Yeah, um, yeah. So I just thought in my own way, uh, I feel like my kids turn we're always my wife and I always said we wanted to raise good adults. I wasn't raising good kids, we wanted to raise good adults, and how do we do that? Well, we walk alongside them and we try to include them when I'm building a fence or when I'm doing different things to try to get them to learn how to do this too. You know, it takes longer. I could I could do it a lot quicker. Um, but I think if really the goal was to raise good adults, I needed to include them. And so I thought from my vantage point, this is just stuff. And I wanted to another thing I I felt like on um YouTube, I'd watch YouTube and learn things too, but I thought, man, these are this is like a 30-minute video. This guy has me hanging around and he gave me the nugget at like 25 minutes. I can you shorten it? I just I don't want to spend my whole life here. I want to learn something and be gone. And so the goal originally was two-minute videos. I thought I was just gonna have two-minute videos, and that was before shorts, you know. Shorts came out along afterwards. I thought I'm gonna have a two-minute video, give you the nugget you need. But the reality is, you know, things take longer than two minutes, and so you can give people a false sense of how easy something is by showing it in two minutes. You really didn't show the struggles that you went through. So I started expanding, but also not doing stuff gratuitously, like trying to keep you around. It was more you kind of need to see this because this is the problem I had when I was changing my car filter or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

So um when you started your channel, did you upload just one video at a time or did you upload a couple at at all at once? What did you do?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Just one video at a time, and I I honestly still do that. I you know, I I am uh I call myself semi-retired because I'm doing my YouTube videos, but I'm not you know working outside of this anymore. And so I I don't the thing that I don't want, um, people may differ, maybe if you have more energy and you're younger than me, uh I I don't want the the tail to wag the dog. I want to be in control of this thing. And you know, there's there's so many opportunities I could take to to make more money, so you know, but that's not what's important to me. My time is very valuable to me. I like I enjoy pickleball. I like to do some stuff, you know. I could get into the weeds and you know, squeeze out even more, but I I I'm trying to enjoy my life.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I love that. Yeah, it's so important. Um, one of the only commodities that um and I talk about this in my personal life, uh, that is uh irreplaceable is time. So like you can always make more money, you can always, you know, make more products. Uh, you know, if you have like a car and it breaks down, you can always work hard to get another one. But time, that's it. You get it, and that's it. It's gone.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Absolutely. And if I can pass that along to the the next generation, um, you know, you can't get more time. I see these people when I was younger that came into a lot of money, and I don't want to name names, but came in all of a sudden they have all this money. I'm like, wow, that guy's got it made. But you know what? Time ticks on, and then you get old and you you're they're grasping for time where they have all the money they ever need, but the time is super valuable, and we downplay that.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

We you know, we I totally agree with that, and um, so let's talk a little bit more again. Well, I do want to talk more about like your life nowadays and stuff towards the end here because it is interesting. I'd be interested to know like how it's changed your life and stuff. But let's go back to um after you uploaded that first video. How long was it between you uploaded the first one and the second one? And had the first one taken off yet by the time you had um upload the second?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

No, no, yeah. So uh I I I want to say I don't know the date. I know the dates because I I started my channel April 1st, which was uh April Fool's Day, so the joke was on me. Um I uploaded my first video because I figured that it took me a while to figure that out. And then once I figured that out, then I uploaded uh my first video April 2nd, which was the Thai video, and then the very next day I uploaded, so I didn't know anything about letting it breathe or anything like that, you know. Um, and so I uploaded uh how to shave the next one, and then um, yeah, and then somebody commented, I think I'm if I'm recalling this correctly, somebody commented, hey, I'd really like to know how to change a tire. Thought, okay, you know, we got this small little group, I'm just gonna show you how to change a tire. So I was kind of thinking I would, again, 30 or 40 followers take requests, you know, to kind of pass along some stuff I learned. Wasn't trying to pretend I had the you know, the corner on knowledge, um, just trying to show things that I learned. This is how I iron a shirt, this is how I change a tire, this is how I do this. You might have a better way. More power to you. This is how I do it. Um, and so that's still what I try to do. I'm I'm it's not dad's way or the highway. It's this is how I've done it. You might have a better way, and good for you. So, but if you don't have a way, this is the way.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

What's funny is that like all three of those videos, uh, so the change of tire has a million views, and the other two have three million views each, uh obviously make a lot of sense because they are very common things that people would want to know. Tell us how deep into having this YouTube channel the things start picking up? What did that look like? Uh, did one start picking up? Did multiple like just talk to us about what that was like and what you were doing at the time.

Work, Faith, And Media Frenzy

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yeah, mine was unique. Um, it got shared around uh Facebook. Uh I was I was interviewed um and of April, and you know, it was this was complete completely caught me off guard. We didn't build a foundation thinking this thing was gonna be this huge thing, and and I, you know, my wife and I were out walking, and I'm like, I still remember this vividly. I'm like, I look at my phone, oh I just got two more subscribers. Wow, you know, this is really crazy. And then um, but then it started to take off, and you can see some of my early videos where it's like this is catching me off guard. I got 10,000 followers now. I I don't even need it, it's getting away from me, right? That's kind of how I was looking at it. Uh oh, yeah, so it went viral in May. I mean, I wow started beginning April, went viral um right around uh May 20th. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

So just over a month and a half.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

It was it was I only had a few videos. I probably had you know six or seven videos, is all I had at that time. And so it was uh it was, you know, I consider myself an introvert. I've I've kind of grown outside of that where I've got done speeches and stuff now, just because I had to. Um, but at the time it was terrifying, and I've shared this before and I'm a little embarrassed by it, but I'm just being honest. I I actually was in tears over it. I was like, oh my goodness, I can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Yeah, my anonymity has just gone out the window. So so that was scary.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah, I'm I do want to talk about this. I think it's super important because so many people think, Oh, I just can't wait to go viral, but they don't really understand what that actually even means. Like it when you go truly viral, which is kind of what you did, because it's it's more than just getting a couple of videos with hundreds of thousands of views and stuff like that. That happens all the time. That's not quote viral. Like it's not like people will necessarily remember you after the fact. You were known across people who maybe didn't even see all of your videos, they maybe saw one video and they still know who you are. That's viral. To me, that's viral where you actually connect with someone on a deep level very quickly and um and you you you just blow up. So can you tell me? Do you remember the day that the numbers started going really crazy? And like, wait a minute, why do I have like 10,000 views all of a sudden? Do you remember that and what that feeling was like?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it it's a little hazy because it was also I was also like dealing with, oh my, what what is happening, you know, and it was happening so fast. I remember talking to my former boss, um, because I was like, I I have 600,000 followers now on YouTube, I don't know what I'm gonna do here. And then I mean it got to a million within a day after the 600,000. So it was like it was bananas, um, because I just wasn't prepared for it. Um, because I I and I think other people that over time they're able to adjust a little bit at a time and kind of okay, get their feet underneath them. And as an introvert, it was like, oh, what do I do? You know, I I I I hadn't planned on having so many, you know, because then there's a little bit of pressure, you gotta come up with another video, you got more videos, and people want to see more of what I I don't planned it out. So I only thought I was gonna be talking to 30 people, and then meanwhile, I'm getting emails from very famous uh outlets, news outlets, wanting interviews and wanting to talk to me. And I'm like, I'm not prepared for that. I I don't know, I don't want to say something stupid, you know, and then everything I'm that's my legacy. And so did the best I could, you know. I'm a man of faith, so I was praying a lot. Like, what would you have me do, Lord? I I you know, I'm just trying to do the best I can and hopefully not say something stupid.

Telling The Boss And The Plaques

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So let's talk a little bit about um so things are starting to catch up, like just out of in the first month and a half, which again is crazy. It's it's it's not something it's a the ten one-tenth of a percent of the people ever experience that. So you've kind of experienced something that most people don't, even though there's like millions upon millions of creators on YouTube, the vast majority of them will never experience anything like that. So you go from this this really quaint channel that you're just hoping to help a couple people here to just all of a sudden now you're getting messages and emails and comments, and when how long did it take before it came into your job? That is to say, maybe someone that either you worked with or or worked for or anything like that started seeing your your video content, and what did that feel like?

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Oh, right away. Yeah, no, it was uh yeah. Uh it even uh the CEO of the I worked for a fairly large company and they were remote from us, and yeah, he made a comment like it brought tears to his eyes to see what I was doing, and he didn't even know I worked for him in a sense. That's crazy. Yeah, no, it was everything was happening out of order. I will share this too. I got my my million dollar YouTube plaque before I got my hundred thousand dollar YouTube plaque. So you're million before I got the hundred thousand. Wow, because it was so fast, everything was happening so fast, it was everything was out of order. Um and even in my own life, I'm just like, I I don't even know what to do with this. I I'm just doing the best I can. And I, you know, so to fast forward a little bit, I I hung on to my job, my full-time job for another year, two, two and a half years, I think. Because I well, because I felt like again, as a dad, yeah, what's a what kind of example am I setting if I okay, I'm gonna run after this shiny thing, and then it blows up, and I had my customer base and I had to give them away because it's not fair to them to string them along. And so I hung on as long as I could, but I was like, I just can't. I can't do all this, and my brain is not functioning well because I'm juggling too many things, and I can't really focus on what I need to be doing.

When To Quit Your Day Job

SPEAKER_00 15:59

So let's talk about we're gonna get some dad advice from you because now you've gone through it. Um, we do talk to creators all the time that their channels start to pick up, certainly not in the way that yours did, but in a way that like starts to become sustainable. At what point do you think it makes sense to uh leave your full-time job to go after content creation just based off of what your experience was and looking back and kind of knowing what you know now?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, I think uh I think there's several things too. I I think uh sponsorships, I you know, I've gotten um I get them daily almost um for sponsorship um requests. And I'm very, very picky about that. And I think the temptation might be to run after everyone. I think you'll lose people if you do that. The temptation to let every spot every per every company that wants to sponsor you so you because you need the money. Um, and so that's why I think it is important to kind of have it be your side hustle for as long as you can. Dave Ramsey actually said something about then he was talking about something else, but he said, get the boat a little closer to the dock. You know, get it, get it to where you feel like, okay, this is just a step. I'm not jumping and hoping it works, especially if you got responsibilities with a family and other things like that. If it's just you, you know, you can kind of deal with just what what you got to provide for. But if you're providing for a family, you got to be very careful about jumping in because it there is the chance that it could go sideways, and then where are you? But if you're working at a job that you can then fairly easily replace, I couldn't because I had I had built this career over 30 years, and again, I had customers that I'd had for over 20 years that kind of trusted me, and so that's my client base, and they're buying from me, and that's my you know, that's kind of what I did. And so if I give that up, I'm handing that off. I can't go back. I have I'd have to then rebuild my my customer base. And that I was like, I I can't, I gotta make sure that this is here.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

How much of a replacement of your income did you feel then okay it was good? Was it 100%? Was it 150% of what you were making? Was it 50% of what you were making? Like what percentage would you say of what you were making at your full-time job felt okay to then step off and this other thing?

Sponsors, Values, And Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah, I I felt like it had needed to be more um just to kind of sustain me. Well, my wife and I are pretty conservative though, and we, you know, I I I'm fairly unique, um, probably compared to other creators, in the fact that I was already kind of close to retirement. We had planned pretty well, planned to retire around 60 anyway. So I ended up retiring at 58. Um, so a little bit early. And we, you know, we still live in the same home. We still drive the same cars, other than we had to replace the car because somebody rear-ended us. Um, otherwise, I'd still be driving that other car because it was transportation. I don't, I don't get caught up in buying fancy things. Um, you know, we're fairly fairly simple. I'd rather honestly give money away than hoard things. That doesn't mean anything to me. Um, things just, you know, they they get old, you know, they get they get rusty, they get, you know, and they I'm I'm over that. I'm I'm old. So I've been there, done that, seen that, oh, okay, that doesn't really satisfy me.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

That's amazing. Um, which does make it easier for you to make certain decisions then based, especially when it comes to sponsors and stuff. Can you talk about the first time that you remember getting a sponsor to uh come to you with uh an offer that sounded like, whoa, this is is this are this real? Like, and tell us what that was like.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Yeah, that was uh right at the height of when everything went viral. Um, Lowe's, actually. It was that was my first real big uh sponsorship deal that I got. And when I had to get a manager quickly, and that and I didn't know what I was doing there. I you know, I'm like reaching out to a few people. Can does anybody know anybody, you know? Like a guy I was on a podcast with, he was like, I I asked him and he wrote me back, and yeah, here's somebody. And so um thankfully I was able to get them to help me. I'm no longer with that manager. We uh you know, things happen. So you you you have different people and try to figure out who you fit best with, but they were managing all that, and when she called me, um, I was actually at a park kind of just trying to just get some set, you know, some normalcy in my life. My wife and I, because it was during the pandemic and not many people were out, and so we went to a local park and we were just hanging out with my daughter and just kind of enjoying, and then I got this notification. I'm like, wow, that's that's real money. So yeah, and I like Lowe's, so again, uh I I I I've tried to, to the best of my ability, maintain the idea that if I can't recommend it to my own kids, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, what kind of content did they want you to make? Was it just like you went to Lowe's and recorded buying some stuff, or what what is exactly they were looking for from you?

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah, it was kind of uh I had to do several videos for them, and one was uh something about building something, and so I showed how to build a bench. Um, that was part of it. And and I the sponsorships for me that I think get it right, the the people, the companies that come to me, just let's get a piece of my wholesomeness and I get a piece of, you know, and we kind of exchange that instead of writing my script for me and telling me, and so and I've found that out, unfortunately, a little bit the hard way where you sign the contract and you're kind of committed, yeah, and then they want to make me say things that I can I this isn't gonna come off. This isn't gonna come off very well. I'm just telling you that people can tell when they're being sold to. So if you can just get let's just get the wholesomeness, you're getting that from me, and I'm getting the word out about your product.

Family Reactions And Backstory

SPEAKER_00 21:50

And what are the things that go through your mind when you're talking to specific sponsors? I mean, obviously you said you you know, you want to make sure that like something you would use or something, which I think is kind of like the bottom rung of like obvious okay yeah I use this thing I mean obviously you're not gonna do I get I used to still I used to get emails for um like women's products and I'm like I I I I don't use that so I there's no reason for me to promote it right so that I mean that stuff is obvious. Do you do additional research behind like what the company stands for at all? Like do you care about that? Do you look into that at all?

Forgiveness, Empathy, And Healing

SPEAKER_01 22:23

I kind of do. I mean if it's something that's obvious that they stand for something that I don't agree with again as a man of faith I um I I I feel like I need to be fairly choosy where I'm not doing something that uh would go against what I believe in. And so that that is important to me. Um yeah so okay um when you started to really get these like everything started really popping off you you're putting in videos and you're getting great views and everything how is your family reacting to all of this like what were they saying my immediate family my kids and yeah my uh my wife and I were uh we were like what has just happened to our lives um because we're both fairly introverted where you know don't necessarily need the spotlight I'm comfortable just kind of being a fly on the wall you know for the most part and I I'm still kind of that way so I I do have to kind of push myself to what you really want to hear from me. I was invited to real quickly I was invited to go speak at this thing in Sweden um last last year called Brilliant Minds. Wow and and it's they have some pretty top names um there uh and I was like are you sure you got this the right guy I don't consider myself a brilliant mind so we'll and they and they said but what you're doing is brilliant I said oh okay well thank you I I guess I I'm okay with that so um I'm sorry so what what what do you think your family's reaction yeah yeah so uh my daughter of course was part of it so she she was okay with it and then my son he's actually out on the east coast our son is out on the east coast and and I actually called him and I said are you okay with this um he said um dad you actually yeah you did a great job raising me I'm self-sufficient uh if it's something you want to do then go ahead and so that was nice I wanted their blessing because I even told told my son I said um I said if if this if you don't like this I'm okay with even just shutting it down I you you mean more to me than this I'm not gonna run after something but I think it is something I can provide you know some advice that I think people could use and so yeah what were some of the more um because a channel like yours probably get some pretty amazing comments what are some of the comments that have stuck with you through time uh that you've gotten yeah there's uh you know it caught me off guard again when I had people writing and saying that um they're crying watching me tie a tie you know I I I was ignorant I thought I was just showing you how to tie a tie where people are actually sobbing for for various reasons uh maybe not having a good dad or missing their dad or or what have you so there is an emotional um part to it and then my my dad left um when I was 14 and so I think that backstory also resonated with people and I share that for a couple reasons not to disparage him because we reconciled in the end um I forgave him and we were good before he passed but I I share it because um for several reasons I you know I feel like I I have a level of empathy that I wouldn't have if that didn't happen to me. And so I'm grateful for it you know at this looking back I'm grateful for it now. But I I think um and it you know I also struggled with unforgiveness and that's one of the things you know don't don't be like me forgive sooner you know move on because otherwise your life is ticking on along and you're this is holding you back I think from your from the best that you could be if you're sp if you're spending mind space um on that thing and holding on to it it's taken energy from you so if you can let it go you can put energy in some into something more positive.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

What's something uh I mean we talk about a lot of positive things and I and I do want to stay on that uh but I I do want to know like what's the thing that's kind of the your least favorite thing about this whole thing like uh whether it be you know the business side of it or certain interactions or whatever what's like your least favorite thing?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

The business side of it. The accounting and the I'm like ah you know because it's a business and so you got to run it like a business and that that's the stuff that I kind of wish it wasn't do you have other people doing that for you or do you do you do it yourself? I do yeah I have an accountant but um I it's struggle it's a struggle to find an accountant that you know does a I mean they do a good job but you know I don't want to disparage anybody again but uh it it is a struggle to find the right fit let me just put it that way.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

So that's interesting. Let's talk a little bit about that because when you whether it be hiring an editor or hiring an accountant or something like that you have to have a certain level of trust with something that you have really cultivated from the beginning. What are the things you've learned that you can pass along to people who might be on the verge of being like okay I you know I can now either hire someone to do something or something. What are the things that you've learned that you want people to know before they just randomly Google a name and go, oh you're my new accountant yeah I would probably interview a couple I still haven't figured that out so I'm not going to sit here and say yep it's all streamlined.

Hiring Help You Can Trust

SPEAKER_01 27:36

So uh I would interview a few you know and I I think I I've tried an online one that didn't go too well um and they'll tell you that they can do it and you know it's much better to be able to talk to somebody and say this is what I got going on. I don't think it's too complicated you know my taxes compared to somebody that's running a hundred employee business I you know it it's kind of just us. And so um but trying to find that fit of somebody that yeah I I I haven't perfected it so it'd be a little bit tough for me to even I'm six years in almost six years in and I I still don't I'm still not satisfied with where that's at.

Management Changes And Resources

SPEAKER_00 28:15

You know the funny thing is this is and this is probably uh only interesting to uh select few people but I'll share it um when I about was about a year into my YouTube channel I um I set up an LLC because I've been told like hey this is not really smart you need to do this it's something to protect yourself and your personal stuff and uh you know I went to uh a lawyer in uh Bellevue which is in Washington state and I actually yeah I I actually got my um recommendation for my uh tax people through him um and that was uh you know once I got you know I I felt trust in the the guy who did all my LLC and everything I sat down with and talked and everything I was like yeah I can trust this guy it was through that recommendation that I got the next person and maybe you can use I'm not saying you but like people who are listening can use that as something that when you find someone you'd be surprised how connected some people are and and even if you think oh how would an editor know an accountant they might they actually might right so always just ask your your community that you're building and building a community is super important. Have you been able to make friendships through YouTube or build a kind of and I don't mean a community of the viewers because we can talk about that later but like of other creators that you feel like you can talk to when you need to or if you have a question or anything?

Semi‑Retired Life And Workflow

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Not so much. I mean I've talked to them over the years you know it's through different interviews and stuff and I feel like I've made some friends. I don't have though uh a core group of people that I feel like I can bounce stuff off of that really know it. I with my new management team that I have now I feel good about that there's opportunities and stuff and they got resources. I was with a small management team up until about a year ago and we both kind of made a mutual decision that you know it's probably in your best interest and my best interest to probably part ways and I've landed at a good place now I'm really happy with my management team and they've they're providing opportunities I got a couple cool things that'll be coming up here um that I can't share yet. But um yeah yeah it's pretty cool because they got resources and stuff. But I will say this um even though this is on on the air we need to talk afterwards if you got a good accountant since we actually live really close together Travis so maybe we'll go to lunch.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Maybe we'll grab a coffee for sure. Yeah I'll be happy to share that with you. Let's talk a little bit about um what your day to day is now what does that look like when you wake up what is your day now because you don't have your your former full-time job um you left out you said what like two years ago or so? Yeah 58. I'm 61 I'll be 62 in May. Okay so about two ish years ago um which by the way was that scary I mean you knew that the money was going to be there but was it like oh my gosh this is really I'm jumping off into this thing.

Shift To Shorts And Multi‑Platform

SPEAKER_01 30:48

It was kind of you know but again we're we're fairly conservative um I I did have a book deal that helped um with that kind of push us forward again and we were aiming towards 60 to retire. And then I um got that book deal that really helped um and then we we didn't go out and buy cars we didn't move we didn't buy a mansion we're still in the same house um so it's like okay because again time is value valuable and yeah so we yeah that that helped us to be able to do that now with my time I you know it's freed me up to be able to do things that that I enjoy so I'm fairly choosy um every day I don't wake up thinking how can I what am I going to create today? I'm a little bit behind um on my videos right now my long form um and part of that is because you know I'm on TikTok I'm on Instagram I'm on YouTube and I'm on Facebook and so I can do a short video or a real and I can put them up on all four.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Let's talk about that your short form content when did you start kind of doing that and how has that affected how you've done content creation because again you you did talk about how you wanted to start the channel with like two minute videos and obviously shorts are now things that you can do in a around that a length of time.

Algorithm Frustrations And Experiments

SPEAKER_01 32:04

When did you start going to shorts and how have you seen that affect your business and your channel and your and your kind of brand yeah I think it's good because I can still I you know I don't I I think a long form video on YouTube you'll make more from YouTube. But sponsorships um I'm still able to get the sponsorships which help um um you know keep things alive I need to get some more long form content out because I have it um it's just having an editor I I I'm talking again resources that I have now through my new management team we're working on that right now that'll allow me to get more and more content up as long form but I started probably so if you go back in my history um if you're ever want to go down that rabbit hole I I actually came up with uh dad shorts is what I started to call them um before before YouTube shorts were even a thing and I made this Vunny video and I had some a drawing of some shorts uh dad shorts um and so I was planning to kind of start start down that road and then now it just is convenient because again I can upload to all four of those platforms with the same video they probably you know um they probably could be more you know patterned to go this one really should go on tick tock and then that one should go here because TikTok's kind of shorter um so I probably should edit them down but it's the same one it's basically the same video because it's easy. Yeah yeah yeah yeah and that works pretty well like all the platforms are doing pretty good for you yeah yep they're still growing um you know some people will comment on YouTube and say where'd you go? I haven't seen you in forever well I I'm still there I'm just on on the shorts so some people don't apparently don't get notified if if the shorts come up and so I don't know I'm like what do you mean where am I I'm still here the paying algorithm is the thing that I've been fighting lately um that I'm very frustrat very very frustrated with honestly and so I did some videos I don't know if you if you've seen that but I've been running some experiments on my channel to just say hey can you comment and let's just see what happens and sure enough I'm seeing people I haven't seen literally in years that haven't that thought I left right which is you know as a dad that's that's extra extra tough to hear that you think I left. Yes I'm like I no I've been here they just haven't been you know this silly algorithm hasn't been showing you my videos and so you know subscribing and following isn't what it used to be. Right. You you need to have engagement.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yes and the change I mean for you personally like it looks like you've you've uh you've done a lot more shorts than you have long form and there are just some people who just don't watch shorts so they're not aware of you because algorithmically they're not being pushed shorts so because they don't watch them for whatever reason. And um like I personally don't watch shorts so some of the creators I watch I only get fed their longer form content. So when you pop up for long form people are probably going to be more likely to see it unless unless for example let's say you did a video so this I'm looking at your channel now like there's a couple times where the last time you've done a long form video looks like it was about three months ago. So watch history is really important for um how YouTube suggests content. What you've watched previously is indicative of what YouTube will probably uh send you uh recommendations for so for over the last three months uh let's say I watched that last pumpkin bread video and I really loved it but I haven't seen anything from you three months you're not my watch history for three months so the next time you upload a video it's possible I won't be promoted that video unless I've gone back and watched some of your older content more recently so the the staleness of like long form versus short form that's why you'll see some people try to do both but I gotta be honest it's overwhelming to do long and short form at the same time it's a production company I've talked to many creators in the last couple of weeks that actually have an entire team they're like yeah I do shorts and longs uh I just I just leave the studio and then they clean up after me like yeah but that's you know not everyone does right I yeah thank you thank you for acknowledging that because there's times where I get frustrated and I'm like man I I had every intention of getting this thing up but I and I got close yeah yeah um but I didn't actually finish it. So yeah I think in a lot of ways what you're doing though is you're you're serving a lot of people with the short form across multiple platforms. And what's interesting is that a lot of people forget that once you and you did the right thing uh diversification I talk about a lot and I think it's super important which includes across platforms it's so important to do because if one platform something goes wrong with it or it gets messed up you still have the other ones that are feeding your brand and feeding people to you. So it it's really smart that you ended up doing that.

Watch History, Reach, And Reality

SPEAKER_01 36:46

And because most of those other platforms are not long form you're kind of pushed into doing short form plus again a little bit easier doesn't take as much time just easier along uh everything I don't think you're doing anything wrong what you're doing for sure well thank you i you know it is it is interesting this dang algorithm though just it's so frustrating because and people are like oh yeah I subscribe to you I assume and a lot of people don't know you know they assumed that since they followed me and they just forget about you so they follow you think I'll see the stuff and then they don't and we're so distracted with so many different things that six months have gone by and wait I never saw that guy oh yeah I remember you yeah and you know the funny thing is um funny not funny is that even people that are uh uploading content in the same format for example long form uh sometimes that happens to them too so it's not even just people who don't upload long form for a couple months it's some people that are uploading all the time the reason that that happens is um as I'm sure you're wearing as probably you probably watch YouTube as well it's like you might be subscribed to a bunch of channels but if you're not watching every single one of their videos which you really probably shouldn't be unless you're just obsessed with that creator um if you miss a couple it's just like we're talking about with the three month thing.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

You're not in their watch history then you know you don't get suggested their content. And then something maybe happened a month or two where they're they put out a video that is really interesting to their core audience so then YouTube tests it against people who maybe are subscribed but haven't seen anything in a while and then you're like oh yeah I haven't seen you in forever but it feels very different to a content creator. It feels like we're being punished or it feels like no one loves me anymore. It feels like YouTube's oppressing me you know it feels like these things when in actuality the ones and zeros of it is is something that logically makes sense but it does not feel good.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Amen. Yeah well well said because it is it is it's like what am I speaking into a void? I actually interestingly I had this one one um comment and I'm you know if you're a creator you know how this goes you can have a hundred nice comments and you have one comment that's rude and I'm like what but this guy I think it was a guy but he he took the time to tell me um how how saddened he was and how um that I that I'm running after the evil temptation of the dollar and you know you should be showing how to do stuff but you've you've gone away from that by now you it seems like you're seeking views. When I'm testing I'm running this experiment trying to find out what happened to people it was all I was asking. And then he even had the audacity to say be better and do better. Dude who are you what how you I and I wrote back I said you are assuming a lot yes in your you know I I'm just trying to figure out I have over five million subscribers on YouTube and but YouTube's choosing not to show my videos to my subscribers yeah why I want to know why and it wouldn't it serve my community better if I knew why so I could tell them this is what you need to do so we stay connected so you get to see my videos and then it gets pushed out to more people that maybe need this advice.

Misreads, Parasocial Gaps, Grace

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Absolutely yeah yeah it's it's interesting that I think because um the parasocial relationship between the viewer and the content creator there's a there's a gap of knowledge and it's not necessarily ignorance uh on purpose by any one particular person. Sometimes it is unfortunately sometimes it is but a lot of times it's not it's just they don't know they don't understand like what the other side of it is and like trying to reach back out to your audience can look a lot of different ways. And if you're only seeing the one thing without any context it may seem like oh they've sold out or they've done this, that the other the reality is there's usually some much more uh reasonable explanation for why you're seeing the things you are so is there anything that you feel like in the past you maybe have done where you were being completely like upfront and forthright, but it just came across wrong.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Was there ever a time and you felt like oh man if I look at that now cringe certainly especially if you're trying to get content up and you're you know running behind and oh I and then I then I post something like ah I should have included that or why did I say it that way you know and people can run with things sadly I think we're we live in a time where people assume things like you know and so I I do my wisdom Wednesdays um because part of that is I want to pour back into hey you know maybe tell slow it down for a second and maybe give that person the benefit of the doubt and then instead of just assuming the worst of them because if you live that way that's not a good way to live you know it it really isn't. And so that's what a lot of my wisdom Wednesday is maybe what I'm going through at the time or something that I think would help um other people to be able to to live their lives because there's more to life than than fixing a toilet you know or unclogging a toilet or you know whatever you you need to figure out other things and how you cope with different things that happen to you during your life.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yeah I love this dad how do I the YouTube's most wholesome channel Rob has been here spreading his wisdom with us and we greatly appreciate you joining us today.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Is there anything you want people to know uh before we go today that I maybe even just a little dash of dad wisdom I think I just shared it actually because that's kind of what's been on my mind is you know I I think we're at war. We're so we kind of become so divisive where we're in this camp and that's in that that person's in that camp and I can't talk to them. Right. What you can't talk what what happened where did we lose something our humanity along the way that we can't just discuss things without getting so angry you know we should be able to because you grow by hearing a different opinion. If we're all in our own little box and you're hearing the same thing from the same people all the time you don't grow and I I'd like to grow because I'm like okay yeah help me understand that okay I at least I can understand where you're coming from I might not agree with you but can we have compassion? You know I think that that's really lacking.

Wisdom Wednesday And Perspective

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Well I hope all of you have joined us and learned something amazing I'm pretty sure you have uh the Dad How Do I channel will be linked in the description below and if you listen to the audio podcast it will be there as well. Of course if you're listening to the audio podcast you should leave us five star because that's just how we we get to know that we're doing a great job here. If you're listening on the YouTube channel feel free to hit that subscribe button that like button and we'll see y'all in the next one