Ep. 453 - TikTok...Why am I there?

TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts a variety of short-form user videos, from genres like pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dance, and entertainment with durations from 15 seconds to ten minutes. Wikipedia   

Join Rob as he discusses his new presence on TikTok, Twitch, and other social medias...and why he's made the decision to join and engage in those platforms.

The conversation goes deep as he revisits some of what contributed to the growth and development of the podcast in it's current form...and teases of what's in store for the future.  Today's episode is a good one that will strike you deeply in some way. 

Have a great day. 

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Discussion Links:

Food Forest Farms - Enterprises - Food Forest Farms Coffee ...

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Rudder of the Day - 48 Days Online Store

365 Tao

Strength for Today - DavidJeremiah.org

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Today is Friday. And this is episode number two. My family I'm going to do as we grow various family businesses and operations here at York Meadow Farm. The sponsor of the today's show is, of course, York Moto Farm, where you can obtain uh bath and body products, all natural bath and body products, along with high-quality lacto fermented foods delivered to your door. If you are a listener of this show, if you are watching this live stream, you are eligible for savings at checkout utilizing the discount code AllAroundGrowth. Simply go ahead with your order at checkout, enter all around growth, and you will save 25% off of your entire order, which you know you do the math at the time of checkout. That basically gives you free shipping and then sums. So you get better savings than email subscribers and anyone else out there. That's basically the way that we uh have agreed as a family to say thank you for your support. Um, also, quick shout out, like to say thank you to Food Forest Farms, who is helping sponsor this live stream. Check out foodforestfarms.com for everything that's going on there, including high quality coffee, the upcoming Squatch Fest summer solstice celebration in June 2023, foodforestfarms.com for information on all of that. And the topic of today's show, guys, is gonna be TikTok. Yeah, tick tock and social media, and uh, you know, why am I there? Um what am I doing there? Well, I've heard people talk about TikTok for a while, you know, and um I'm like, look, I'm not on TikTok. I I'm I'm on you can check out the show notes as a matter of fact, let's do that together. Um, the different social media platforms that this show I don't want to say actively participates on, but is there and present on um, you know, where we're most active is Telegram, t.me slash all around growth. There's a Facebook group that was the very first thing that started. We have just about as much of a presence on Facebook as we do on Telegram, but the reality is I'm just not as active, I'm not really active on that many social medias, excluding Telegram. And I think that needs to change. Uh, it doesn't need to change, but if I want to grow the show and grow the social media presence, if you will, then then it then it would behoove me to engage in social medias. All right. And so, like I said, the social medias where you can find the show being posted, besides Telegram and Facebook, are MiWii, Twitter, and Float. Okay. Now I'm not exceptionally active on any of those platforms, but there is actually a group on MiWii, okay. In addition to my own personal profile, yeah, we have a MiWii group, a Miwi community. And the you know, on Float, there is an all-around growth page. We now have an all-around growth YouTube channel that I'm streaming on. And after the discussion where I was uh interviewed by John Willis and Nicole Sauce on Wednesday, we talked about somehow TikTok came up. And oh, it came up because you know, John asked me where you know, like where we could find the show, where people could find the show. And I'm still not the best at talking and self-promotion, and the reason why I'm there on TikTok is no different than the reason why I'm doing this podcast, right? And as I thought about this this morning, as I thought about what, you know, like what I'm doing on TikTok, like why, like why I'm there, like what the whole what's the point? Um what I realized was that perhaps TikTok is simply the next iteration of the the the the content creation that that that I feel compelled to do. Um and and you know, and maybe that's what that's what this is all about. Um is is the content, like our message, like what we have to share to people, what we have to provide to the world, what our purpose is in life. And you know, it's it's like that's kind of a bold thing for me to talk about is to talk about life purpose and figuring it all out, like like like I've done that, you know, and and and like that's my place, like I'm some guru that I can tell you like how to, you know, come to grips with the world. No, I I I I I can't even do that myself. I've spent many a podcast in the past and many, many, many an episode of of of whatever uploaded to various YouTube channels in the past talking about this very same thing. And you know, it got me it got me thinking, you know, like yeah, so like why why tick tock? Why try to grow this show? Why try to grow the audience? Like, why try to put myself out there? What message am I trying to share? For a long time, I didn't know that. And for those of you who've listened to this show, you know, we are 453 episodes. I had to look and remind myself, yeah, we're 453 episodes into this show. And it started off as something much different than it is now, it may end up turning into something different than it currently is, and like that's just the way it is, and I have to be comfortable with that, and not only comfortable with that, but confident in communicating that to everybody. The evolution of the show quickly morphed from this, you know, join me as I build the life and homestead, providing tools and insight to build the life and homestead of your dreams. I didn't know what I was talking about, but I knew that the life and homestead of my dreams was the end goal. And we can talk more on that later, and maybe we should, as far as like what the actual end goal was 10 years ago, because it's important to understand that this is all part of the message uh and and why TikTok, I think, comes into play because you know, when we talk about life and when we talk about homesteading, we talk about all of this stuff, you know, we got to talk about 10-year plans, like big life changes, right? This isn't like just some kind of thing that we see, some cool thing. Oh, yeah, like go to a conference, see some dude put on some bang up show. I mean, that's what he's there to do, and that's why he's at the conference because he's a dynamic speaker, and he leaves people, you know, leaving that conference and his talk or her talk saying, Yeah, I'm gonna go do this, I can be this too. I think more emphasis needs to be put on the amount of time and dedication that it actually takes to get to that point where you can feel like, yeah, you know, I'm doing it. And so, you know, the tools and resources that I talked about quickly became like those were things I was talking about, tools and resources, because that's what I was seeking. Like, that's what I needed in order to continue this trajectory of building the life and homestead of my dreams. And so it became this is a thing where we talk about this together as we do this together, because the audience that I started to gain was people who were doing uh something similar, even if, even if the you know, no matter what the scale or type of homestead, whether you owned acreage or not, whether you're in the suburbs or in the city or in rural acreage or way out in the sticks, doesn't matter. Homestead's a homestead, a homestead. It's up here. So tools and resources to build the life and homestead of our dreams eventually became the goal setting workbook from the 48 Days. Well, yeah, from Dan Miller specifically, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, and for lack of a better term, founder of the 48 Days Eagles community, a community that's been, you know, uh dare I say paramount to my growth and development, and taking this podcast in the direction that it's gone, and ultimately getting it to the point where it is now, which is a show where you join me with my family on our small farm and homestead as we grow all around. Because what started off many years ago as mom and dad planting some blueberry bushes, and then going to the farmer's market to earn a little extra money and ultimately to maintain the tax valuation status of the land as an agricultural property has turned into a family homestead where we live together. Something that I used to, you know, chide them about, and at one point I actually told them to sell this place. I thought it was a lost cause. I've changed my ways, decided to move back here with them to try and make living in your parents' basement cool again. Not that that's actually where I live, but you get what I'm saying. So the All Around Growth Podcast has really become what I just said it is. A show where you join me with my homes, with my family on our small farm and homestead as we grow all around. And it's not like my parents, because they're in their 70s, are just you know done, like retired. No. The reason I am the way I am is because I am a child of my parents. That's really how it is for most of us. Now, that doesn't mean that's the end all be all because you are the spawn of your parents that determines the ultimate trajectory of your life. No, you can change much of who you are and where you come from. You know, you have control over your life, full stop, it just so happens that I'm in a position where I'm lucky and blessed enough that I want to be here with my family, building this and growing this, and they also are realizing that in order to achieve for us to all achieve the levels of success that we want to achieve, we may need to do things differently than we currently are. Okay, for example, everything that we do here is under the label York Meadow Farm. You can see in the banner if you're watching online, all of the information about York Meadow Farm. Up in the corner, we've got a little logo, Yorkmeadow Farm.com. I talk about the show, how it's sponsored by York Meadow Farm, right? But we may we do a lot of different things here on the farm. Like Cody's here on the farm. We're gonna talk with Cody next week. I look forward to sharing this interview with you, with him. Um, I have a lot of questions for him, uh myself, even things that even though I've I've we've we've known each other and and have worked uh very close to one another, uh things that I still don't know about and things that I'm excited to learn about him as as we grow together. And now he's a part of the farm here managing the market garden, has been doing so for uh well, really, this is his first season managing it solo. He was working in conjunction with Ken Rowe previously. Ken was the first one up here as a very loose tenant farmer arrangement, and um, you know, the homestead over the past five years has has really grown and developed into the point where we've had a tenant farmer come on board growing and selling produce in their own way. I'm doing certain things with my business deliberate living systems in my own way, you know, here in the office, and although most of my time is spent working for my parents via York Meadow Farm, effectively as a contractor of sorts. Um, and most of my time is spent in the commercial kitchen, uh making large, increasingly large batches of lactofermented foods. Mom is down in the basement of the cabin in the mad soap laboratory that is uh being framed in down there currently, continuing to do what she does. And where I'm going with all of this is that we're realizing that as we open the online store just last month now, that it's been a little confusing for people to like understand what we do. And also as we approach new markets, like when I went to when and applied for uh to be a vendor at the Tremont Farmers Market, was I the crowd guy? Was I York Meadow Farm? Well, who am I? And we're realizing that there may come a time down the road, there will likely come a time down the road where some rebranding isn't going to be necessary, but it's going to be a good move, and mom also believes this too, with regard to her soaps, rather than calling them York Meadow Farm uh Bar soap or York Meadow Farm Hand Cream. Uh she hasn't really decided on a name, but what she's thinking is something along the lines of Acme Brand Artisan Soap Company or something like that, to identify her as an artisan soap maker. And that's that's a that's a that's a a more niche market that would likely uh improve sales both at farmers market and online, as well as us rebranding the fermented food operations as something perhaps along the lines of natural ferments or the kraut guys plural, since I'm working with dad now, and at some point we're going to scale up. We are in the process of scaling up. Since I've joined full time in June of this year, we have effectively quadrupled production, and at maximum capacity, we have had half a ton of vegetables in various. Stages of fermentation. So as we continue to do this and gain more accounts, both wholesale and retail, we're going to need more people. And the crowd guy, crowd guys, perhaps, is going to grow. And it might be nice to be able to put something out there and say, hey, do you want to be one of the crowd guys? Um who knows? Natural ferments, the crowd guys. All these are things that we're that we're working through. All these are things that we are talking about. And this is all part of the content that we are creating. Because if I didn't learn uh or make that mistake in trying to do something new, I wouldn't have learned something new and it wouldn't have accelerated the the growth and the progress that uh I would have otherwise made. So going a little bit outside my comfort zone, trying to do a little bit too much too fast, sometimes that can actually be a good thing. And pushing the limits just a little bit sometimes isn't necessarily a bad thing because the end result can be good. Stress, not all stress is bad. Stress is necessary. Sometimes too much stress, though. Can overdo it. End up with the old brain going, haywire, ask me how I know. So you know, the the the whole idea with TikTok though is you know making some little selfie videos and talking like that. And I was thinking, well, how you know how am I gonna do this? What am I what am I gonna cover? And an easy thing to cover would simply be referencing some of the old material from time to time that got us to where we are now and kind of doing a throwback of sorts. Um, and what I mean by that is a lot of these videos on TikTok are very short and very brief, very quick, and you know, okay, so what do I what do we cover? Like what okay, so what do we do in the beginning? Talked a lot about and read a lot from The Rudder of the Day by Dan Miller, another book by Dan Miller. We also read from 365 Dao by Deng Ming Dao, and we also read from Strength for Today by David Jeremiah. It just so happens that I have these books right here, and I thought, for example, that one of the things we could do uh that I could do is make little snippets of me reading. Like for example, it could be something like this where the video starts with me saying, Is a toothache clouding your bigger picture of success and accomplishment? Sigmund Freud once stated, a man with a toothache cannot be in love, meaning simply that the attention demanded by the toothache doesn't allow that person to notice anything other than his pain. In working with people going through job change, I often find Freud's principle to be confirmed. I see grown men ignoring their wives, hiding out to avoid seeing their friends, watching too much TV and eating foods that blunt their minds. I see women embarrassed about yet another layoff stop, going to church. Spend money they do not have, read romance novels rather than inspirational material, and snap at their kids when asked an innocent question. The pain of the job loss seems to mask the health, vitality, and success they have in other life areas. Quote, only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. Close quote. T. S. Elliot. So little snippets like that. You know, this goes on. It continues to it continues with another paragraph, another quote, a quote from the Bible, and then a couple questions that give us some direction for the day. And this was I used to read this. Whoops, I used to read this book going down the driveway, and then I would talk about it during the commute here to work. And I'm I'm just showing you this book here on the screen now because this book, you can see it's been used, it's quite dog-eared, and it's got dog fur on it, but this has been such a such an integral part of my own journey towards all around growth. And it's been a big part of this show. And as a matter of fact, the the the number one episode, the top episode, episode number 234, is a result of a reading of this book. So I think that says something. Other and maybe that's what I should do is just do a quick wax on some of the top five episodes. One of the things I want to do, which I've I've begun for this YouTube channel, as a matter of fact, is upload videos of the top five episodes, um, so that they can be listened to online. I've done that with episode number 234. I need to get to the second most popular episode, and I think I'll try to do that today. And maybe what I can do is because Buzz Sprout is such a solid podcast player of choice, I'll link to them in the show notes too. If you're interested in creating a podcast, definitely check out Buzz Sprout because it allows you, I'm sure there are ways to do this as well. Um outside of the way that I am familiar with it. But, you know, I've experienced with Libson in the past, and ultimately when it came time to pull the trigger on doing a podcast full time and making the commitment to it, Buzz Sprout really was the best choice that I could make, and that's what I continue to use to this day, and I'll link to that in the show notes. But maybe what I can do is continue to create these little sound bites from time to time and post those on TikTok, post those throughout social media, in addition to little snippets from the Daily Rudder, little snippets from Strength for Today, and little snippets from the old 365 Dow, which is a book that I've owned for 20 years. This one's really been through the ringer, and maybe in closing, we can look at what we've got in store for today. Okay, and like I said, it is Friday, October 28th, and it is the 301st day of the year, and the way that this book is outlined is as follows. This treasury of life-enhancing daily readings turns a wise Taoist light on every facet of life. Each daily entry begins with a one-word title and its Chinese character in elegant calligraphy. A brief poetic aphorism provides the theme, followed by a clear, insightful meditation on the day's Taoist principle. Deng Ming Dao is the author of The Wandering Tao Taoist, Seven Bamboo Tablets of the Cloudy Satchel, Gateway to a Vast World, and Scholar Warrior. Guys, this is a great book, something that provides um timeless, timeless wisdom for your day. And with that, I think we will conclude today's episode with a reading from 365 Dow. The one-word title of today, the 301st day of the year is Oneness, and the brief poetic aphorism reads as follows. If I break the levee, water will inundate me. Meditation is not to be separated from life. So there we have the theme and the clear, insightful meditation on the day's Taoist principle of oneness reads as follows. It is only a matter of convenience that we label things inside and outside, subjective and objective. Indeed, it is only at elementary stages that we should talk of a Tao to follow. For true enlightenment is the realization that there is a Tao to follow, but that we ourselves are Tao. Let me reread that. Indeed, excuse me, for true enlightenment is the realization not that there is a Tao to follow, but that we ourselves are Tao. That understanding comes after a simple breaking down of a wall, a shattering of the mistaken notion that there is something inherent in this life that divides us from Tao. Once the wall is broken, we are inundated by Tao. We are Tao. Do we continue to meditate once we come to this understanding? We still do. But it is no longer a solitary and isolated activity. It is a part of life as natural as breathing. When you can bring yourself to the understanding that there is no difference between you and Tao, and that there is no difference between meditation and ordinary activities, then you are well on your way to being one with Tao. That's it for today's episode, guys. That is why I will be on TikTok. That is why I am on TikTok. That is why I will continue to be exploring more social media platforms. That is why I will try to be engaging in the social media platforms that I am actively on. Because I feel that with appropriate use of social medias and that time that we spend online, instead of it being a convenient distraction from what life has to offer, we can actually use it as a tool to spread the message that we have to share. And even if you aren't a content creator yourself, when you find a content creator that you can identify with and network within the community that they're creating, you can find other communities of like-minded individuals and surround yourself with the people that you need to surround yourself with to lift yourself up in order to accomplish what it is that you want to accomplish in life. That, my friends, is why I am on TikTok. That, my friends, is why I will continue to engage in the social medias that I'm on. Hopefully increase my presence there because I see people doing good things. And people see me doing good things and lift me up. And I want to help lift you up. One of the reasons why I started doing this show was because there were many a day when I was working here on the homestead, listening to podcasts, searching for something to motivate and inspire me. And I heard people talk. And there were times when I was out there working alone in the dark. Headlamps under headlights in the rain with gloves, fingertips cut off. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Because there's a strong possibility you're in that moment right now. And it was podcasts, hopefully like this, that I was listening to in those moments where somebody was saying, you can do this. Somebody saying, I believe in you. Because there's there are times in life when we go through this and we do this and we don't believe in ourselves. And we need someone else saying, I believe in you. And maybe from time to time I can be that guy. And doing a podcast is just one way that I can give back what was so freely given to me some motivation, some inspiration, something to grab onto when I couldn't find it in here myself. So that's what's up. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. And I appreciate you being a part of it. I appreciate you listening today. And I would encourage you, if you haven't already, to join the telegram group at t.me slash allaroundgrowth to participate in the community that's there to connect with other like-minded people, to learn, to grow, to share, and to keep this good thing moving. This is Rob Kaiser, and thank you.