How A 4M-Subscriber Creator Rebuilds After Burnout

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We talk with Matt about why he walked away from a massively successful YouTube channel and what it takes to come back with a healthier purpose. We dig into formats, money, team leadership and the inner work behind shifting from chasing views to building real community. 
• his early years filming with friends and learning to edit and upload 
• deleting old videos, restarting and learning what actually drives growth 
• how working with experienced creators taught him proven formats and simplicity 
• using a checklist and clear qualifying questions to pick stronger video ideas 
• the real reason for the long upload break and how faith shaped his mindset 
• handling a shutdown with employees, recommendations and financial runway 
• why high-cost shoots can flop and why lean production often wins 
• Profit First, gross margin thinking and treating YouTube like a business 
• creators who inspire impact-driven content and “win-win-win” formats 
• returning after a long break, fear of the first upload and rebuilding momentum 
• focusing on reaching hearts and building community over pure virality 

If you're listening to this podcast and you want to see it, I'll leave a link in the description in the show notes so you can go over there and see him and say, hey, we're keeping you accountable. 
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Transcript

Big Swings And A Costly Miss

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I was like, okay, now that I finished my YouTube work, now I can get to the real work, which is figuring out how to fix me. There was a time uh we didn't even upload uh where we went to New Mexico, we rented out a 50,000 square foot prison, we filled it up with 100 people and we put makeup on them to look like zombies, and then I had my three friends try and escape it. We didn't upload the video because it it failed. The shoot failed and we wasted 25 grand. I needed to make a video so that my friends would be impressed. We've been really good at viral, we've been really good at getting a lot of eyeballs, but we've not really been good at getting a lot of hearts and building community. So I think that's gonna be the main focus of coming back. But whether it's it's 100,000 views, 10,000 views, or 10 million views, we just want to reach hearts.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Hey, welcome back to the only podcast that's overly zealous to give you all the things you want to know about YouTube. And I am Travis as I am every single week, and I got an incredible guest today. The man himself, I said I said it already. I said I'm zealous, but I'm not zealous. Matt is zealous, man. Welcome to the show, bro.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Hey, how's it going, guys? Uh, just an absolute pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Thanks for the invite, Travis. Anytime, Matt is here to tell us about his YouTube journey. But if you're new here, this is how this is what we do. We talk to creators and we get to know about YouTube and their journeys. Uh, and Matt is amazing because he has uh over 4 million subscribers, over 600 million uh views, and has done it over the course of time and done some really cool content that we'll talk about. But the thing I really want to ask most about, one of the reasons that I asked you to come on, is I think it's interesting that you have what most people will say uh uh made it, right? So in under and you didn't even do 300 videos and you have four million subscribers, which to me blows my mind every single day on Sidewinds, right? It's crazy, that's insane. But you made it and then you just kind of stopped uploading. Well what's going on? What is happening?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Why you just diving right in the room? That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

I want to know. I want to get it deep.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Let's go. Okay, yes. So uh when was the last video uploaded? Was it eight months ago? Eight months ago, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um, to be honest, this this really has nothing to do with

Why He Stopped Uploading

SPEAKER_02 2:05

YouTube in a kind of roundabout way. Obviously, it does because it's my job. Um, but I I'm also a man of faith. If you're watching on the video, I'm wearing a cross necklace here. I love the Lord Jesus. Um and don't don't let that don't let that kind of uh you know uh stir you. We're gonna talk about YouTube. Um but uh really I I think Travis, dude, I went on like a uh uh theological journey. You know, I there was a lot of time times where I wasn't really sure if what I was doing was impactful enough. And um, you know, I think I think really the biggest realization, uh, which is this is just such a great time to talk about this, is just that it doesn't really matter as much, I think, what we do as much as just how we do it and uh the heart that we do it with. So excited to talk more about that. But um, I'd say that most of the break was was purely just because of of uh that kind of side of things.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

I can't wait to dig into that. I love stuff like that. Actually, um, another content creator, Jideon, did that. Um he does yeah, he had a big break, and it was he pivoted and pivoted back. It's very interesting. I mean, I definitely want to talk about that. I I want to dig in it because I'm personally interested. But let's let's readwind. Let's go all the way back before you ever hit upload on YouTube. What were you doing?

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Okay, wow. So before I ever hit upload on YouTube, I was trying to learn how. Um, so I was seven years old, and uh my friends and I, my brother and I, we lived in Dayton, Ohio. I don't know why all these YouTubers come from Ohio, by the way, no clue. But uh, I'm another one of those guys, and uh we would just be filming these videos in our backyard, uh, just having a blast. Love Star Wars. We'd be just doing lightsaber fights, our friends would play Call of Duty, so we'd try to make it in real life with airsoft guns. Um, and we just film it. And uh I knew how to put it together on Windows Movie Maker, um, but I didn't know that when you hit save as, it turned into a WMV file and not an MP4 file. And so I try to upload the WMV file, and I did not know how. And it took me two years until I was nine to figure out how to do that. Uh, but really, really to answer your question, a lot of playing outside, a lot of making videos, um, and just just having fun with friends. Childhood was awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

So you grew up um kind of like what a lot of kids nowadays grew up wanting to be a YouTuber. Is that would you say that's somewhat accurate, or at least some type of uh entertainer in that way?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Yes, absolutely. I I watched Smosh and I watched Ryan Higa and I saw them making videos with their friends. And I was a I grew up homeschooled, so uh I was just like I was this kid, I was pretty socially awkward, I didn't know how to make friends. Um, and I just I wanted friends who I could make videos with. And so when I saw them making videos with their friends, I was like, I think I want to be a YouTuber. Like, I don't think I necessarily realized that was the reason, uh, but I think it was just because I was like, man, I I just want I feel lonely and I want to be able to have fun with some some awesome people.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

And you've you've been able to do that, I mean, over the course of all this time. Absolutely. The other thing is I mentioned that you've done this in like less than 300 videos, and that's true. But what's interesting is your first upload is almost 10 years ago. So it's not like you did it on shorts and you didn't just do it within two years. You've been grinding for a very long time. Tell us about what it was like to upload those first couple videos and what you know. First of all, YouTube was different, it was wildly different than it is today. Talk to us about that.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Absolutely. Yeah, you know, YouTube was like a wild west, it still is um in a way, because there's just still so much opportunity and there's so much um just opportunity to have an edge by doing something differently and new and just not really having fear when you make videos, um, just making it out of uh a pure like creative instinct and and and the joy of the game. But um really back then I actually um I have about a hundred and thirty videos. This might be the biggest regret of my life, Travis, um, that I deleted in 2016. Um so I'd uploaded about 130 videos, and these aren't crazy, like uh it would be me at nine years old giving my my 100 subscribers an update about the fact that I just you know, it's like it's like what is he doing, you know? Um,

Childhood Roots And Early Uploading

SPEAKER_02 6:05

but uh yeah, I I I started uploading at about nine years old, uh, because I figured out how. And that was a lot of like Lego stop motion and stuff like that. Uh, and then I I really got into film riot. I I loved Freddie Wong, he's a VFX uh YouTuber, you know, and he made this uh YouTube channel called Rocket Jump eventually. And I just wanted to copy everything he did. Corridor Digital was another one. Um and so I would just try and like, you know, I took Film Riot's advice, and what they said was just make try to make something every day. And um I was like, well, I I can I can do that. Like no matter how bad it is, I can just try to make something small every day. And I think when you do that, um, you know, I think you can really bend the curve a lot better than I did because it took me a lot longer than maybe most. Um, because if you're really looking at, you know, that's 17 years ago, was when I was nine. I'm 26 now. Um, and it's like it's it's it's like you can do things a lot quicker, but things really things really took off when I when I got intentional. And I've noticed that that's really the case in most areas of my life.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So let's talk about that. So you upload for how long was it before things started really doing well? Was it a couple of years or was it within the first year? Like how long did you think before you started getting like multiple thousand views per video?

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Oh man, that was probably around I'd say like when things really felt promising. Like, like I had the slow growth, like there was a couple different seasons of my life where I'd upload a hundred videos here, 80 videos there. Like the first one was obviously that that season I mentioned to you where I deleted everything. But the second one, and the reason why I deleted everything was I was 16 and I was seeing all these people vlogging. I was seeing Tanner Fox, Tanner Rungaard, I was seeing uh excuse me, Casey Neistat, I was seeing all these vloggers just like having a blast, uh, you know, just filming filming their fun adventures. Like, man, I want to do that. Um, because I'd gotten into a couple other endeavors like martial arts, stuff like that, and I really took my focus off of YouTube. And when I was 15, 16, I put it back on. I was like, I want to try this. So I deleted all my other videos and I just got to uploading again. And those videos would get a few views, like maybe like 800 there here, uh 5,000 there. Another one of my biggest videos was uh getting my my braces removed. So believe it or not, um, a lot of search traffic on that one, not necessarily recommendation traffic, which is something we can get into and why you want to be in the recommendation engine instead of the search engine. But um I was like, man, do I have to like be the braces guy? Like if this is that blows up, do I have to be the braces guy? Um, but that was probably the first one when I was about 17. I really didn't have anything pop off uh until I tried YouTube again uh when I was uh 20 years old.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Oh wow. So you took a you took a bit of a break?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yep, that's right. So I I I was super into martial arts and I was also feeling pretty entrepreneurial. And uh so I I started making videos for other people actually. So I had a couple clients here where I live in Colorado Springs where I'd I I was uh making videos for a go-kart track, and then I uh by I don't know how it happened, but I I met some uh some YouTubers by the name of J Stu. I don't know if you guys know more J Stu or those guys. They used to, they started the the toilet paper for it um uh uh you know trend back back in the day. Um but they they were just YouTube veterans. I met them at my church and I started I started editing videos for them. And those videos that I made that I I filmed and edited for them with their creative inspiration were the first videos that really I I saw, oh, I can make something that like actually gets gets views long term.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Interesting. What was what were some of the things because when you work with someone who's uh doing what you want to do and uh to accomplish, uh they almost become a mentor. What type of things were you learning from them that you didn't know before you started working with them?

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah, I think I think the the biggest thing was um I think just how simple everything was. Like uh you didn't have to like do this elaborate thing, uh they just go from place to place filming videos. And uh they they didn't really necessarily script anything out, they but they did have a format, and like it the format made made it so easy just to be able to say, oh, we're making this type of video, like we're making a toilet paper for it video, you know, back in the day. It sounds kind of hilarious to say now, like as a 26-year-old, I hope you wouldn't cut toilet paper for it. Um, but you know, maybe if I'm 17. Uh, but but you know, it's it's like it's like, oh, like I just I know what to do because it's a proven format, it's a proven concept. And um really there's if you look at the top YouTube creators now, this is a principle that follows. Um, all of the best YouTube creators are really reminiscent of the top television shows 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, and the do you do you use that kind of format even now? Uh well, I say now, but I mean technically it's been a couple months ago, but yeah, like even to this day, or is that how you kind of figure out what your video is going to look like or what is your process currently?

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah, so I'd say, you know, as current as I can make it is really like genuinely we have a checklist, and it's not to like standardize things or to just say like um it to try and make something that like just is kind of status quo, but it is to uh filter down to like the simplest and the best. Um so we ask ourselves questions like does this video have the potential? And and you can switch this view count around, and it's a really helpful clarifying question. But we ask the question, does this video have the potential to gain five to ten million views in 30 days? And uh, you know, sometimes we hit it and sometimes we miss. Um, but that's a really good qualifying question, at least for our niche, um, to say, like, because we have a very broad niche. If you're like you, you know, uh, I was just with my friends who run a uh like a family couples, like kind of a chip and Joanna Gaines HGTV style channel. And like did of course, that's a little bit of a it's a more specific niche. So they might say, does this video have the potential to get a hundred thousand to a million views in 30 days? Um but we we we have checklists that like narrow things down, and then when a video works, like we just repeat the format in the same format, but in a slightly different way. Um so you can almost think about it like putting uh like like like uh different modular pieces into into um like a man we used to call it ice trays because it's like the ice trays the same shape, but you can put like a different soda, you know, in the in the ice. Yeah, yeah. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

I so I want to talk, I want to get back to this whole kind of break thing because if you look at your channel, you see things that are a little bit over a year, and then there was this eighth-month one, and then so nothing from there, uh shorts look like you haven't eluded for about a year. So I and you did say that you were you're kind of going through this uh life change, and which I respect a lot, and uh I'm sure we'll talk off air about this because I have a lot of thoughts about this. Um but uh I look at this and I think you again are in a unique situation where you're crushing it on YouTube. Not an easy thing to do. Very few people get to reach the standard of which you were at and even are still are, right? We'd have to see you start uploading again. Um when this was happening, when you were thinking, you know, things in your life are changing, you you have a business at that point that is, you know, very much about you, but you probably have people relying on you for some sort of income, right? Like you have do you have employees at all, or do you have just uh freelancers or what?

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Yeah, so at the time we had four full-time employees, I believe. Um, or actually it was probably including me, four. So it was it was me, I was on payroll, and it was my friend Kendall, who's an amazing operator. He really just helps organize my creative thoughts. We had a production uh someone for production named Kylie Becker, and she just did amazing. Uh, and then we had an editor named Bruno Antonio, and he's incredible. Um, so they they they made an amazing team.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Okay, you have this team, and now you are not, it's not just about you anymore, it's about other people. What was tell me the thought process about going, I still need to take a break for me to really figure this out, knowing that it affects other people. I I'm curious what how that went for you.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yeah, so I think what you know, looking at hindsight's 2020, I think you can always handle things better. Um, like like I I think feeling pretty overwhelmed, I was thankful to just be able to

Mentors, Formats And A Video Checklist

SPEAKER_02 14:20

kind of put things on the back burner. Um, but I think the best way to do that, and some things I think I did do well, like there's things I would have done differently. I think perhaps some like it was a little abrupt, you know, to stop things. We stopped in January of 2025. Um, and we just uploaded some pretty amazing like videos. Uh like we had one that hit like 25 million views. Um it seemed like like like you know, momentum's kind of going. But behind the scenes, I was like spending about 20% of my time on YouTube, and I was spending the other 80%. Like I was like, okay, now that I finished you like my YouTube work, and this is only possible because I had employees, like I wouldn't have been able to do this um, you know, if I were if if I were just on my own. But I was like, okay, now that I finished my YouTube work, now I can get to the real work, which is figuring out how to fix me, figure out what's wrong with me. And like and like, and why I say that is because I was there was I was just so unsure of what I was doing, and I really care about impact. I was like so unsure of what I was doing was even um beneficial to society. And the truth is like like at the end of the day, like we talked about, so much just about like what is your intention in doing things. Because you know, people are gonna misunderstand you and people are going to um like uh criticize you or you're gonna make mistakes. But the truth is like like as long as your your intentions are are pure, then you can you can remedy those things or you can m move past the misunderstanding because at the end of the day, behavior is a language, and that will your actions will speak louder uh than even other people's words at the end of the day. Um, but I was I was just super unsure. So um a lot of this comes from like uh like legalism and and and stuff like that in Christianity, uh, but I'm still a Christian, it's just you don't want to fall into that, which we can get into more later. Um but essentially when I ended things, it's like okay, how do you end things well? And you care about these people who are on your team, and they're so incredible, and you know they're incredible. And the best thing about having incredible teammates um is just you can recommend them. So um, you know, I I texted uh I, you know, told everyone, hey, we're gonna be kind of closing things down for a little bit. And, you know, who who would you want to work for? Like, where do you want to work? Because you guys are incredible. Um, and so then I just took, you know, wherever they said, hey, I really like this YouTuber, I really like this person, um, you know, and just reached out and and gave my recommendation. And Bruno was working for another guy within, you know, three days, and he's still working for that creator, and he's just doing an incredible job, so amazing. Um, for instance. And uh, you know, that's just I think kind of the best, the best way to go about it is like uh relationships are the the WD40 to life, you know, and you can't really be in in life without being in relationship with uh something or another person. And so I I think really investing in a non-transactional relationship, even though transaction occurs, like transaction is a part of everything we do, um, really looking past that and like like caring for your people and and doing your best. And of course, like I think there's things I could have done better, um, but but really setting up your team to succeed. Um, and you know, that that involves like good severance, like so they they actually have financial stability to be able to, if if they don't know what they want to do next, to figure that out. Um, but that that's that's kind of how we went about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

So, where are you now in this process? Like, are you gonna come back anytime soon? Uh is that something that you're are you still just kind of figuring yourself out?

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, so definitely on the way back right now. So a few videos are in process of like when it comes to just reaching out to people and saying, because a lot of our videos involve a lot of collaboration with experts. You know, we can't really hide from army rangers without army rangers, you know. Of course, yeah, yeah. People who are watching don't know, like like the best way to describe our channel is really like um games taken to the level that you wish you could take them as a kid. You know, we have adult resources, so you know, let's take it to the highest level. Um, and so you know, uh obviously it takes a little bit of time to spin those relationships back up. And life is in business, it's so much about momentum and just keeping momentum going. Um, but but getting it started can be a challenge. So uh, but when it comes to how uh I'm approaching returning to YouTube, um there's a while there where I was like, man, I'm not sure if I wanna, you know, the nature of my work, if I do well, then uh, you know, I have the opportunity to be seen by a lot of people and I have the opportunity to be famous. And that's not always like the healthiest thing. It's not always the best thing. Even when I look at myself, like I think when I was younger, I I really, you know, trusted myself. I was like, I was like, man, you know, put me in any situation, I got it. And then I started to get tired. And I started to notice that I would like in the small, like like it's almost like the situations just kept getting smaller stakes and lower stakes and lower stakes, and yet I'd not be able to control my emotions. I'd get frustrated, I'd have to walk away, and I'd be like, what is going on with me? And you know, so so often this this um, you know, isn't really because of our work, at least for me, it wasn't because of my work. I think it was a lot because of um, you know, a lot of the just the internal reality of of what we live with uh on a daily basis. There's so much about mindset, about heart set, about even forgiveness, like in business. So many things happen on a daily, weekly, monthly basis where you're like, I can't believe that just happened. And you have to like forgive whether it's a close friend or someone you barely knew, and they might not even know that you that that they wronged you and that you felt this level of offense. But those things pile up, and there's been studies even like uh, you know, psychological studies on on the physi physiological reaction, the visceral reaction in the body that stress and unforgiveness creates and bitterness creates. And I think I just allowed a lot of that to pile up. And I realized over time that I couldn't trust, excuse me, I couldn't trust myself, um, really. And uh over time I was like, okay, well, I want to fix myself. And I was just trying so hard by my own strength to fix myself. And uh what I realized is that um, you know, when I first started YouTube, I never even really thought something was wrong with me. And there was nothing really to fix. Um now I don't think I had like a full understanding, but uh really I was relying on the Lord. I was relying on God. And I think really there's so many examples, if you whether you look at um, you know, self-improvement, mental health, even like when you look at a at an organization like, and not to get too deep, but like Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the biggest parts of healing and just like getting into a really uh a place where where you're good to go and you're like you're like a a high functioning human being again, is having a higher power to believe in. And so for me, that's Jesus Christ. And uh what I realized is you know, I can't I can't sanctify myself on my own. I can't I can't um like do all the things in my inner reality that I need to do on my own. But what I can do is believe that God has already completed it. And in that faith, it says in the Bible that um, you know, all like like is we are saved by grace through faith. So the only thing that's required of us is to believe, and uh not to get too religious here, obviously. But that's what really healed me, I think, in so many ways is just knowing, you know, I don't necessarily always have to trust myself, but I can trust the Lord. And now when I actually put my hands to something and I work, I'm not just working for me, I'm not just working for material gain, I'm not just working for status or for completion. Like where I'm coming from a place where it's like I need this attention or this fame or this money to be a complete person. I'm coming from a place where no, no, Jesus Christ has already finished the completed work. I'm complete in him. And now I can actually deliver a gift. You know, Ryan Trahan calls it redemptive work. And uh when you're giving a gift to somebody, um, you're not, you're not necessarily looking for their approval, but you're doing it just because you love them. And uh so what an amazing, amazing place to create from. And when you create from that place, um, you know, a good tree, good roots can't bear bad fruit. And it's again, nothing that I ever did. Uh, you know, I didn't pull out my own roots. Jesus replaced his roots, um, you know, put replaced my roots rather with his. Uh so hopefully uh hopefully that's not too much of a crazy explanation. Uh, but but that's the that's probably the most real and raw

Faith, Identity And Creative Intention

SPEAKER_02 22:50

truth that I could uh in in the way that I could explain it. So that's the on that bombshell, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

You're the oldest 26-year-old I've ever met. It's crazy. Um man. Uh I mean it's crazy to hear. Like this is very uh you're very introspective, which I respect. It's something that I value as a person, uh, and you're very pragmatic and very rational about the whole thing. I I appreciate this. Um, I'm wondering though, is there do you feel do you're at the point now where you've quote fixed enough of the things that you needed to fix that when you move forward and if you continue to grow the channel and then you you maybe hire people again and stuff, that you won't have to you have a firm base that like this time you feel like you can continue on and not have to take a break in a couple years or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

You know, I've heard a lot of people uh explain the YouTube career as like a professional athlete. I don't know if you've ever heard that. Um, but essentially, you know, there's a there's you get the the occasional professional athlete like Tom Brady, who you know, he's in the game for like two decades and it's like wow, like that's incredible. And I don't watch football, so I'm gonna be totally off on that. I am interested in in high performers and you know, all these things that I just said doesn't mean that you don't work hard. It actually gives you more reason to. Um but I I'd say, I'd say, you know, when it comes to the future, um, I'm really inspired by this guy, Tim Tebow. He's also a football player. I can't necessarily tell you exactly, you know, uh how can we know the plan? How can we know the outcome ahead of time? But what I can say is I think the decisions I make, um, you know, we we would we have certain videos that would have literally, if you do the math, a 99, I think it was a 99.4% margin, gross margin, which means that we'd make a video for like $200 and it would yield like uh $75,000. You know? And and then I take those videos because of the place I was coming from, I'd take that revenue and say, okay, now we're gonna make an insanely hard video. And I literally would say to my team, like, we'd get a check. I didn't even think it was mine. Like, I was like, we're gonna dump this. And we go make the most high effort, craziest video. There was a time uh we didn't even upload uh where we went to New Mexico, we rented out a 50,000 square foot prison, we filled it up with 100 people and we put makeup on them to look like zombies, and then I had my three friends try and escape it. We didn't upload the video because it it failed. The shoot failed and we wasted 25 grand. Um, so so you see, like coming from this place, it's like it's like I needed that. I needed to make a video so that my friends would be impressed. And that's not their fault. Like, I like they weren't putting that on me at all. I was putting that on me, you know. So I'd say to answer your question, you know, when I come back, I I don't know where you know we're gonna be in the next three years. I have a lot of thoughts. I think I'm gonna be a lot more focused on like where the Lord is leading my heart. It says, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart in Psalm 37, 4. So I'm gonna be paying attention to that quite a bit more as we make pivots. But I can definitely tell you, I'm gonna be paying attention to gross margin. I'm gonna be paying attention to our net profit, I'm gonna be paying attention to like the the amount of runway that we give ourselves so that if a pivot is in place, we can make that in a really healthy way. Uh, and we can make it in a way that not only is like um going from strength to strength, but is honoring our team as well. Um, because again, it's it's so much how we how we do what we do, um, more so than it is what we do,

Profit, Runway And Lean Production

SPEAKER_02 26:25

um, you know, that I think really, really matters.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

One of the things that's important for up-and-coming creators is they want to, a lot of them, a lot of people I get messages from all the time, they want to do this full-time and they're really trying, or at the very least, leave their full, their first first job, their full-time job. Uh, and they frequently forget this is a business. You've got a taxes are different, like everything is different. You become the producer, director, director, and then the accountant, all these things, things that you don't even think about when you're shooting a YouTube video, if you really want to be successful. So let's talk a little bit about where you ended and where you are now, because I'm super curious. You don't have to give exact numbers, although if you want to, you can. When you stopped, how much money in the bank did you have? Or did you have enough that you could have retired and had a like a so there was a creator I talked to about uh six months ago. He said he could have stopped if he wanted to be live like a very humble life for the rest of his life when he was like 25. Uh, could you have done that? Or were you burning stuff because of the videos you were making so much that kind of like Mr. B says that he's rich but he's not rich?

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Oh, yeah, definitely the second. Definitely the second.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

You're rich but not rich.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Okay, I'm not sure. Without a shadow of a doubt, yes. So so uh yeah, but uh I think um that's why, you know, I had a mentor, uh Daryl Eaves, and he's I know Daryl.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Daryl's one on the episode on the podcast, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Oh, isn't he amazing? Dude, he's he's I he's a good friend.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

I've known him for years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

He and he has so much passion, he's so right about so many things. You know, he'd tell me certain things, and you know, I was just too young to understand, and I wouldn't necessarily apply as good as I could have. Um so you know, looking back, I'm like, oh, I see the wisdom in that and I see the nuance. But he gave me a book called Profit First by Mike McAllowitz, I believe is how you say his name. Very good book. And I would say, yeah, he told me to apply it. It took me a while to apply that book, but I'd say the sooner I applied that book, the better. Pretty much the concept is that you no matter where your business is at, you just you you you set up the system to take profit and uh your business will adjust. And I think that's I think that's so important. I could have lived, uh, you know, I know I I I didn't have to really worry about cash um over the entire like break that I that I had, like about uh a year and a half. Although there were like a couple moments where like uh I I did like, and this is pretty embarrassing to say, but like I've literally borrowed money from my parents, you know. And it's like like but but for the most part the back catalog like just had a had a cash flow. But there was you know, there's those times when you shut down a business and there's expenses that you're like, oh didn't think about that. Uh so you know, here's here's me, you know, throwing that out there, confessing that. But um, but yeah, I I I'd say not necessarily uh in the in the in the best spot. And I think I think being like just logical and rational with your resources, you know, and investing and investing in what you know, you know, I think it is super key along the way.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

So does this mean when you come back you won't be able to do super big videos, or do you have uh kind of the the money to be able to still do move videos that people know you for? Like what what kind of content are we looking forward to coming back?

SPEAKER_02 29:26

Yeah, you know what's incredible about most of my videos is they never really required much capital. It was the videos that um required a ton of capital that flopped for the most part. And it's it's usually because you're trying to reinvent the wheel. Like I was trying to reinvent the wheel in a way I was, oh, this is gonna be incredible. But it's like, no, like take a wheel that already exists and make it better, you know, like like like take take something that because there's really nothing new under the sun, you know, like like people are breaking, yes, four minute miles, but they're not like running backwards. Like they're not like, you know, it's like they're not like like we all run the same way. We all like like there's there's certain principles that you can enact and and abide by. And uh so I I'd say um the answer is yes. Like like we can absolutely come back with with certain videos that we uh that that really work because like our extreme camouflage video that did 25 million views only cost us um you know with person with uh operating cost versus growth versus cost of goods sold, you know, like versus like net versus gross. Um net is obviously when you add in you know your employee costs and those things, but like uh, you know, our our the cost, the actual like out-of-pocket cost that it costs to take that to make that video is like $2,000, $3,000. Like it wasn't really that much. Um, so yeah, pretty pretty lean operation if you just simplify things. And complexity is the enemy of execution. So you want to keep things super simple.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

It sure is, it sure is. Um, it's funny, you said something earlier, and I I'm I didn't want to

Kindness Channels And Real Impact

SPEAKER_00 31:00

forget talking about this. I think it's really interesting. I was talking to a friend, I think um maybe six or seven months ago, I was watching a YouTuber and I was watching her content. I'm like, this content matters so much. And I was jealous, uh, not in a bad way, but like I wish that all the content I'd ever made impacted people in the way that I saw this channel's stuff do. And I and I felt like, oh my god, I forgot that YouTube can impact people in such an amazing and positive way if you if you have the right content. And I I messaged my friend and I was like, this is the type of content I wish I could do because it's so impactful in such a positive way. And we both kind of marveled over, you know, this channel and this niche. Um, do you get inspired by other channels? And if so, I mean, name them out. That's I would love to hear. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

You know, someone who I've been watching a lot is uh yeah, in in my theological pursuits, you know, I'd watch Bryce Crawford, I'd watch um, I think the word is is patristic nectar, and it sounds like a crazy name, but uh it's an Orthodox Christianity channel. And uh, you know, I was just I was looking at all these different uh, you know, channels. Um, but you know what channels I really think do the most amazing things, like like above like these informative channels, like because those guys are amazing in their own right. But I love the channels that it's such a symbiotic relationship, it's such a triple, I call them win-win-win situations. It's almost like you could make a triangle, and every point of the triangle is a win. And uh, it's the case with uh these channels are like uh I think SB mowing is one of them. I don't know if you know that, but essentially he'll go to uh, you know, maybe it's like a 90-year-old woman who just cannot take care of her grass and it's just so overgrown. And he goes, cuts the grass, and it's such an incredible business model because he doesn't have to charge her anything because you know the older you get, the more you realize like there really is nothing in this life, like like what from a transactional point that's free, you know. Like, like, like he has gas for his mower, he has gas for his trucks, he has maintenance on his mower, like every single thing that he does is actually costing him money. Um, but the most amazing thing about the format is that he gets 22 million views on a long form video of him cutting this lady's grass. People are super inspired and their faith is restored in humanity. He gets paid through the video and she doesn't have to do anything. All she has to do is just say thank you. And it's um it's incredible. There's other channels like Jimmy Darts, I think he does an amazing job. Uh he'll he'll find uh I don't know exactly the behind the scenes, you know, um, of how it works, but you know, they'll find someone who's really in need, like genuinely in need, and then they'll make a video. Um, and uh like and who knows if like he might know that they're in need, like maybe they have some friends that say, Hey, this person really needs it, and he goes there and he encounters them and he does his thing where he says, he asks for for money and and they're kind to him. He says, Well, why are you kind to me? I'm gonna give you 500 bucks. It's an amazing viral format that then uh you get to hear the story of this person, they get benefited in the process, and it goes viral because of the format. And guess what he does then? He adds a GoFundMe link, and the next video on shorts is usually $150,000, $500,000, just because 500,000 out of these 22 million people that saw this short donated a dollar. Like it's incredible what what impact you can create. The leverage of content is insane. It's hard to even imagine. Um, you know, we got 250 uh years of watch time at one time. I believe it was it was either in a day or a month. I forget exactly which one it was. But it's like still, it's like it's like 250 years. That's like that's like three lifetimes, you know, and there's so much that you can do with that, with that time and with that attention. So it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Does that sound like something you'd want to get into? Is a channel like that, or even this channel like that, uh, where you just kind of do kindness for strangers or something? It seems like it's directly related to some of the changes you're you're having in your personal life.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

You know, it definitely, it definitely could be like I said, I I I really I really do believe um that you know you know I've thought of I've had friends say, you know, why don't you just turn into a Christian channel? Why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? And I really do believe that we should use the talents that we've been given, because everyone has been born with intrinsic gifts, uh, that like they're just they just have a knack for something, they have an edge for something. And you know, you can spend a lot of time, I can spend a lot of time looking at someone else and be like, man, I I wish I was like them. But the truth is to everyone listening, like you're one of one and you have very specific strengths and weaknesses. And, you know, Kobe, like, uh of course, like when he would practice, you know, just playing basketball, he would he would work on the weaknesses. But when he was playing basketball, he wasn't the one like cleaning the stands. He wasn't the janitor. You know, it's like it's like he was the player. So of course you're gonna work on your strengths and weaknesses in your specific lane, but you want to play your strengths, you want to make sure you stay in that lane. And so for for me, I think I'm I've always been very good at getting attention for better or for worse. Um, you know, I was a little kid and all these different things. Um, but uh, you know, I really think that the Lord can use these talents that we can use for better or for worse for him. So when it comes to attention, like I think the biggest thing that I want is I really care uh because I struggled with it for so long, uh, about identity for young, young men and women, and specifically uh really stepping into the purpose for their lives and the dreams that the Lord has placed on their heart, uh, because there's a there's an apathy epidemic uh happening in our culture. And I can totally see why. I mean, I've felt it, I've been there where I just do not want to get out of bed, I just want to scroll reels all day. So, whatever that looks like, I want to leverage the attention that we can get to uh remind the next generation that whether they are working a fast food job or they are, you know, like the next Bryce Crawford, or you know, for for a different example that, you know, maybe I don't agree with his morals or whatever, uh whatsoever, but you know, clavicular, like he's a looks maxer, you know, and it's like it's like he has such incredible gifts and talents that he could be using for for the Lord and for really like showing the next generation that life is more than the exterior and vanity. Um, and and I feel so bad for him at times, but it's like I know he'll find his way, or at least I'm I'm praying that he does. But there's uh I just want the next generation to know that wherever they are at, that they can they can find purpose in it, they can find meaning in it, they can work out with excellence. I think the best way to describe this, not to talk your ear off, but there's a story of uh of bricklayers. And you know, someone goes up to the first bricklayer and says, Hey, what are you doing? He says, Well, I'm just laying brick, you know, just doing my thing. But he goes up to the second bricklayer and he says, Hey, what are you what are you doing? And he's like, he's like, I am providing for my family. I am doing something like meaningful for them. And then he goes to the third bricklayer and says, What are you doing? And lastly, he says, I am building a cathedral where so many families are gonna come and they're gonna just be able to let their burdens off and and you know, worship with their families and just have an amazing, amazing morning. And uh it it's uh it's really incredible. The the janitor um on the uh on the Apollo mission, um, or I believe it was Apollo, when when you know they're first sending someone to the moon, and uh John F. Kennedy came up to the janitor and he said, Hey, what are you doing? He says, I'm helping send a man to the moon, sir. And so I think just you know, that attitude really opens up a lot of doors in life and it lets you lets you actually reach your deathbed without regrets because you really gave it your all wherever you're at.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

So okay, Matthew, then what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Yes. Well, I think that's always the question. It says, Okay, how what how can you use your talents to the best of your ability and leave the tank empty? I don't think that happens by shutting yourself in a cave and reaching spiritual enlightenment. I think it happens by stepping out into the arena and actually doing something. Um, whether

The Fear Of Coming Back

SPEAKER_02 39:05

you're misunderstood, whether someone thinks it's worth it, I think that's what I really used to deal with was what am I is what I'm doing on YouTube worth it? So what to answer your question, what am I doing? We're making videos again. You know, we're getting back to uploading. Uh there's something called going pro, it means sticking to a schedule rather than being an amateur and just kind of doing things when inspiration hits you. So uh, you know, sticking to a schedule, being consistent, uploading bad videos, taking L's publicly, you know, making videos that just suck and like they get no views, and then everyone says, Oh, he fell off. And it's like, okay, well, that's not really the reason why I'm doing this, you know. Um, so you know, it it could it could be that we just get back to making entertainment videos, um, and then there's opportunities to go beyond that. But, you know, you from for me, what I've realized is you know, there's a lot of fear, there's a lot of doubt, there's a lot of um questioning whether or not this is the best use of my time, but that nothing beats action. So to answer your question, we're we're getting back to taking action and and getting back into the field after kind of being a monk guru um, you know, for the last year and a half.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

The reality of a YouTube channel that takes a long um break, as you have, is one of two things that I've seen. And I've I've worked with, coached, and of course watched thousands of channels, and it only one of two things happens. Uh, someone comes back, and because they were so popular and so beloved, and they're finally back, their first video back goes nuts. Everyone's glad to see them again, like, oh my god, you're back! I can't wait to see what happens next, and it goes wild. Or you come back and not much happens because there's no watch history, people haven't seen you in forever, they're not even being recommended your content, so it's hard to ever be found. Have you gone through that in your head? Do you are you emotionally attached to the outcome of this first video back? Um, how have you kind of worked through that in your mind? Or are you going to do multiple videos so that you basically like, well, I have three coming out, so it doesn't matter if the first one doesn't do as well?

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Yeah, you know, it's a wonderful question. Uh, you know, you you you can tell like how many YouTubers you have talked to because you can tell you totally understand like what it's like to be in the head of, you know, like like you you couldn't have not you could have not you couldn't have put into into clear words how I feel. And you know, getting over that like that hump of coming back is almost like more scary than starting, I think, at times. At least for me, it's been. Um, but I I think the biggest thing is uh exactly what you said. We we can't we can only control um you know what we can control. You know, there's certain things that are that are outside of our control, and about 99% of things are. But the best thing we can do is to um leverage what we know, apply what we know. There's a proverb that says if you if you um know and you don't do, then you haven't learned, you know. Um, and I believe it's a Chinese proverb. Um, but it's it's like, you know, I I feel like there's so much where I've learned, you know, something and and really just like kind of gotten the dopamine hit of learning something, and then I just don't apply it. Um I think the the best thing that I could do in this situation is just say, okay, how can I set myself up for the most success? And that's that's really by um you know humbling yourself under the principles, saying, okay, hey, this is this is what I know is true. Um, even if this is uncomfortable, even if I think I could do it a better way, like let's let's do this to the best of my ability and uh let's let's make it the best it can be. And then if it doesn't, if it doesn't hit, you just move on to the next one, you know. Um but there's strategy involved, right? Like we we could upload a compilation of of like our last three uh extreme camouflage videos to get the momentum back going. We could upload shorts to get the momentum back going. We could live stream, you know, like the behind the scenes of our next video, and and that could get things going. Uh but I I think the biggest the the biggest thing is um you know we've been really good at viral, we've been really good at getting a lot of eyeballs, but we've not really been good at getting a lot of hearts and building community. So I think that's gonna be the main focus of of coming back, whether it's it's 100,000 views, 10,000 views, or 10 million views. We just want to reach hearts.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Now, I don't know when this is

Accountability, Links And Subscribe

SPEAKER_00 43:15

gonna go live compared to when we're recording this, but as of the time when we're recording this, about how far away are you are you from from uh coming back?

SPEAKER_02 43:23

Yeah, to guess. I'd say uh a conservative uh answer is about 30 days. Yeah, so we're filming June 1st. I'd say like like beginning of July, first week of July would probably be the best most.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

We'll probably be released right around that same time. So this would be great. This will be great timing. Let's see if I can see the exact same week. Yeah, let's see if we can. It gives me a deadline. Let's go. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep you on I'm gonna keep you on point for that. You're the best trap. If you're listening to this podcast and you want to see it, I'll leave a link in the description in the show notes so you can go over there and see him and say, hey, we're keeping you accountable. We need you to know y'all loved it. And if you want to see more about Matthew Over at Zalous, like I said, there'll be a link in the description and in the show notes if you listen to the audio podcast. I highly recommend checking him out. I'm excited for his return. I can't wait to see what you're up to and the things that you will and the people you will impact. I think it's gonna be incredible. If you're new here, hey, hit that subscribe button. Why not? You know you love this, you're all the way at the end. You absolutely want to crush it with us, and we do more of these. As a matter of fact, got one right here for you. I'll see y'all in the next one.