How are you doing?

It’s another busy day at the Schmoyer home. One of the things I’ve learned in the last year is to spend the morning slowing down and clearing my mind before diving in to the day. Taking a few minutes to just enjoy the *mostly* quiet while I feed the chickens is a good way to do that.

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I have to say, though, that as crazy as the day can get, I love what I do and I love getting to connect with other creators who are on mission to reach more people and change their lives.

This week, I got to chat with Brad Rodriguez from Fix This, Build That on YouTube.

He’s got 1 million subscribers on YouTube and has been rapidly expanding to other social media platforms. He sells woodworking plans (some of which I have personally bought) and teaches others how to do build things from scratch in a way that is fun and engaging.

I asked Brad about his story, which you should really listen to above because it’s great, as well as the biggest lessons he learned and what the things were that really moved the needle for his channel were.

Here’s what he had to say.

  1. Don’t be afraid to imitate other people. Just like the best writers are readers, the best YouTubers watch a lot of YouTube… and/or you consume a lot of content from your community. You almost have to at first because you don’t know how to be you yet. It takes time to find your voice. After a while, you’ll learn what is “you” and what your viewers like about your videos and you’ll get better with each video. Let your feedback shape your direction of your channel.
  2. Make a plan for reaching your goal. Brad couldn’t stand his day job, but him and his wife didn’t feel confident in him quitting until they could pay off their debt. So, while he grew his channel, he threw all of his extra money, after expenses, at debt. Once they did that, he made the jump to quit his job and pursue growing his channel and business full time. It was scary, but it was made possible because Brad made a goal and executed it.
  3. Remember people connect with personality. Because it takes some time to find your voice and personality on camera, you may feel robotic on camera or uninteresting. That’s okay. It takes time to develop these skills. Once you start to, you’ll come into your own personality. You may be able to incorporate more of your humor or storytelling on your videos. These are the things that will set you apart from other creators. Your viewer will remember you and want to keep coming back for more.

Have you learned any of these lessons as well? What have you been learning?

Hit ‘reply’ and let us know!

Keep changing lives,

Tim