Dad Logs - A Glimpse Into the Mind of a Broadcaster: Recent Episodes
DadGotGame
This is the personal account of DadGotGame, broadcaster of video games on the internet and builder of community, and family. Daily account of the journey into broadcasting, the trials and tribulations, thoughts on faith, family, love and life.
I stream on Twitch on M / W / F nights from 4 - 10 PM CST and Saturday from 9 AM - 3 PM CST, join us for the fun!
STAY CONNECTED: Twitter: https://twitter.com/dadgotgametv Twitch: https://www.twitch.com/dadgotgametv Insta: https://instagram.com/dadgotgametv Website: https://dadgotgame.com Business Inquiries: dadgotgametv@outlook.com
Today I wanted to share episode 1 of my Dad Logs Revisited podcast series! I talk about the transition from part time to full time streaming, some of my lessons learned while becoming a full time streamer, and learning how to grow as a content creator. This is a Dad's Tale, and I hope you enjoy!! I stream on Twitch on M / W / F nights from 4 - 10 PM CST and Saturday from 9 AM - 3 PM CST, join us for the fun! ___________________________________________________________________________
STAY CONNECTED:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dadgotgametv
Twitch: https://www.twitch.com/dadgotgametv
Insta: https://instagram.com/dadgotgametv
Website: https://dadgotgame.com
Business Inquiries: dadgotgametv@outlook.com ___________________________________________________________________________
Today I want to chat about branching out. It's been a minute since I've created a Dad Log, so apologies for that. When you find yourself getting comfortable in the group of creators you've made friends with, it can be easy to support them and consistently go to them to create content together. And if you're at that point, it's important to continue to support them in those ways. But it's also important to seek new creators to support. It's an opportunity in two ways, the first being an opportunity to see how different creators do things. Inspiration for you to continue to innovate. But it's also an opportunity to meld communities and to strengthen the platform from a viewership standpoint.
My encouragement for you, especially if you are comfortable in the group of creators you support, is to branch out. Find a new creator to support today! Make a new friend, you never know where it may take both of you! God bless!
Today I wanted to try something different, we did the Dad Log live on our morning cast. And we talked about motivation. As people, it can be really hard some days to get out of bed, to pull your bootstraps up, and to be motivated to do whatever you need to do during the day. This might be going to school, going to work, or creating content. Whatever it is, motivation is usually derived from a core attribute or purpose.
My encouragement for you, especially if you're struggling with motivation, is to focus on your core purpose. What drives you to do whatever it is you do day in and day out? Remember that purpose, and use it to drive yourself forward. God bless!
Today we're going to talk about the hot topic of the week, stream coaching. This has come up and been fought about on Twitter and even some of the biggest folks in streaming are weighing in on it. Current status? Remains to be seen. There are many variables that impact the success of a broadcaster, from game and platform selection, to personality, to technology expertise, and many other variables that are completely outside the control of streamers everywhere.
My encouragement for you, is that if you are a broadcaster considering getting a stream coach, is to do your research and set expectations appropriately. Like any consultative service, track record is everything. Make sure that the expectations and outcomes of the engagement with a stream coach are defined and know that there are MANY free resources out there available as well. And know that stream coaching isn't a "magic bullet" for success. God bless!
Today I want to talk about dealing with chargebacks. As a streamer, you inevitably will end up at some point dealing with charged back tips. There are a few ways to combat those chargebacks though. The first is to make sure in Streamlabs that you don't allow anonymous tips. There is an option to require people who tip to login, which then puts a name with a tip. Another option is to not take tips at all. As a growing stream, you then have the power to ask people to share the stream in lieu of tipping. This can be a fantastic way to grow your channel.
My encouragement for you, is to consider all your options regarding tips, turn on authenticated tips only, and when you do get a chargeback, reaching out to Paypal to ask the fees to be removed. Renee Reynosa put that little nugget on Twitter, and so far the chargebacks I've received using her advice, has help me combat at the very least the fees associated with the chargeback. God bless!
Today I want to talk about the hard work that no one sees when you become a content creator. The reality is that to succeed in content creation, you have to put in the time off screen. There are many things that go into being successful in content creation, like editing video, scheduling instagram posts, updating overlays, creating new ways to engage with your community. Many people think that streaming is just firing it up and playing video games all day. But you have to do the not fun things if you want to succeed and do the fun things.
My encouragement for you, is to consider all the hard work you have to do on the backend if you want to succeed in content creation. Realize that just streaming isn't enough, and that you need to be prepared to put in the work if you want to see the results, just like any other job or endeavor. Being prepared and setting expectations is half the battle fam! God bless!
Today I want to chat about finding your purpose. I think as content creators we have a tendency to jump into creation almost like a pipe dream. We dream some day of being a huge star, and don't really realize how much work goes into it or that behind every creator there should be a purpose. We all got started creating content for a reason, whether it was for the love of sharing our video game experiences or to build community or to make money.
My encouragement for you, if you are just getting started, thinking about getting started, or even a veteran content creator that is in a lull, find or re-find your purpose. Take a minute to step back, reflect on why you create content, and find that purpose. Then double down on it! God bless!
Today I want to talk about utilizing good ideas, regardless of where they come from. The saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". And every tech company out there, imitates their competitors in one way or another. Often times, companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon aren't the first to market with an idea. But that doesn't mean they aren't successful. As content creators, we should be looking for every opportunity to learn and grow, and that includes figuring out how to take other creators ideas and morph them into something meaningful for our channel.
My encouragement for you, especially if you are a creator, is to get it out of your head that if someone does something well, that you aren't allowed to do it as well. It's a matter of taking that idea, and making it your own so it is received in a genuine way! God bless!
Today I want to talk about being genuine. We were chatting last night about the differences between Mixer and Twitch, and one of my folks commented about how Twitch felt "fake" to them. How many folks put on an act for the sake of making money, instead of focusing on community. I think as a content creator, one of the most important (and often overlooked) traits that a great creator has is the ability to be genuine.
My encouragement for you, is to really focus on making sure you're as genuine as possible when it comes to content creation. Playing a persona and amping up natural traits is fine, but being someone you aren't or attempting to match someone else's style of delivery will likely fall flat. You do you, and let the rest fall into place. God bless!
Fortnite Save the World - Dad Log - Stardate 11052018 Today I want to do a State of the Game address on Fortnite Save the World. This side of the Fortnite franchise doesn't get a whole lot of press, and I think it's mainly because it's not a free game. But if you're a fan of the looter shooter genre of games, this is a solid entry into this category. The Save the World side of Fortnite has you diving into the development of heroes on a quest based story mode, and developing your heroes to save humanity from impending doom. As with any looter shooter, there is materials gathering, crafting, quests and repeatable missions.
My encouragement for you, if you are fan of the looter shooter genre, is to pick this game up. If you play the BR, you will earn v-bucks that can be used to buy skins and season passes. The expansion actually pays for itself if you intend to continue to play the franchise. God bless!
Today I want to share my thoughts on Mixer Season 2. This includes the updates that dropped like Skills, Sparks Patronage, and the ideas yet to come like Embers and the loyalty system. With Season 2 dropping yesterday, we got a bunch of technical upgrades like automatic bitrate switching, video debugging tools, and site stability improvements. They also released skills, in which viewers can spend sparks to put stickers, gifs, animations and games in the chat. I provide my overview here of all of the new items.
My encouragement for you, is if you're a partner, is to go for the 5 million goal, hit those milestones and enjoy the sparks patronage program. But don't let that stop you from support non-partnered streamers just the same. If you are a non-partnered streamer, keep creating great content! Invest in your viewers, your community, and stay focused on making the best content you can. God bless!
Today I want to chat about depth versus breadth in your community. As a content creator, one of the easiest metrics to measure is follower count. It's front and center everywhere, there are 25,000 different tools that track it, and it seems to be of maniacal focus for most creators. But something that doesn't get talked about often is the depth of your community. How deep are the relationships you've built with your followers. When gaining followers is slow, what do you focus on?
My encouragement for you today, is to focus on the depth of your community if you're at a place where the breadth of your community is slower than normal. When you aren't focused on welcoming a ton of new people into your community, focus on building those relationships with the people that are there. God bless!
Today I want to chat about creating a schedule that works for you. There are two types of schedules for people, schedules that work and schedules that don't. Creating a schedule that works means creating a schedule that you can maintain day after day, after week, after month, after year. It means you can be consistent in that schedule every week and your viewers can expect you to be live every week at that time. Consistency is what breeds growth, and will always be good for your channel, community and for yourself.
My encouragement for you is to find a schedule that works for your life. Even if you can't be live at the same time every day of your schedule, setting a time each day you cast and sticking to it will yield the best results for YOU and for your community. So find a schedule that works for you, and stick with it! God bless!
Today I want to chat about content creation and how it's a marathon, not a sprint. I've been doing consistent content creation for the last year, and as a "young" content creator, it can be easy to wonder when you'll see enough success to go full time. And the reality is, if you look at those that are doing full time content creation, the majority of them have been in the game for at least 3 years. It takes time to build a community that can support you as a full time creator.
My encouragement for you, especially if you're a creator that has been in the game less than 12 months, is to remind yourself that you have a long way to go. That may be discouraging for some, but being able to do content creation full time in less than 12 months is like winning the lottery, it's one in a million. So take a breath, remind yourself to stay the course, and keep creating content. God bless!
Today I want to chat about the differences between a green screen and a cambox. I chat about the pros and cons of both, the personal preference side of them, and how to execute the delivery of them. These two delivery methods for broadcasters with cameras can drastically change the interaction and dynamic of the content, but the nice thing is that both of them are attainable and can be interchanged as needed.
My encouragement for you, is to try them both out if you have the ability to. Start with the cambox since it's the easiest to do and takes the least investment, and when you have the opportunity to, invest in some cheap green fabric and the nicest lights you can afford and try out the green screen as well! God bless!
Today I want to talk about innovation, and innovation as a content creator. The top creators are always innovating, tweaking, coming up with new ideas and experiences for their audience to drive engagement. It's important that in the thick of things, you take a moment to step back and brainstorm. Whether it's streamlining your existing experience, or creating something brand new, you have to take the time to innovate.
My encouragement for you, especially if you find yourself in a rut, is to take a step back. Evaluate what makes you and your content unique, and if you're struggling to answer that question, then start brainstorming ways that you can showcase your personality and what makes you unique. Then you can truly take that innovation and turn it into something people love. God bless!
Today I want to talk about different types of agreements. There are many different ways to engage with companies, andy many different ways that engaging with those companies can be mutually beneficial to you and to them. Affiliate agreements are generally the "lowest tier", providing little benefit to the content creator and massive benefit to the company. Partnerships are usually a next step up, and often involve more than just discount codes. Sponsorships are the top of the spectrum, and offer the most benefit to a creator.
My encouragement is to consider long and hard what types of agreements you're willing to engage in long term. Make sure that the contracts have distinct benefits to you, and if the "benefit" entails "additional exposure" for your brand and that's it, I'd be very concerned. Any opportunity doesn't always mean it's a good opportunity. God bless!
Today I have a heart to heart with you content creators and future content creators out there. This is not to discourage you in your pursuits in content creation, but to lay it out there for you. What are you getting into when we're talking about content creation? The reality is that you're in for a LOT of work if you want to see success in the creation space. Expect to put in 2 to 3 times as many hours as you are streaming. You are your own IT guy, marketing guru, sales specialist and owner. You determine your path, so make sure you're prepared to put in the work.
My encouragement for you, is to figure out if content creation is truly something you want to pursue. The dedication and hard work and variable aspects of creation can be very demanding mentally and physically. There are many opportunities outside of directly creating content that allow you contribute and even be a leader in the communities you're a part of. Consider all your options, and no matter what you do, give it all you've got! God bless!
Today I want to chat about what appears to be a departure of droves of creator from Mixer back to Twitch. There are a lot of folks that are upset about the site's stability, about growth on the platform, and many other factors that play into those decisions. I can see where they're coming from. There are many items, technical and otherwise, that need to be addressed by Mixer as a platform. The beautiful thing is, they are addressing them!
So my encouragement for you, if you are looking at leaving (or moving to) Mixer, is to really figure out why you stream and make your decision based on that. If you're just looking to fund your gaming hobby, Twitch is a great place to be. If you want to grow with a platform, and possibly do this for a living someday, Mixer is right where you should be. It all comes down to your willingness to be patient. The reward will be huge if you can get through the short term pain. God bless!
Today I want to talk about getting back on the horse. It can be really easy when we slip up and take an unscheduled day off, get sick, or stop doing something, to say it's not worth doing any more. This is especially true in content creation, but applies to things like working out, eating healthy, and any number of other activities we do in our daily lives. It can be really hard to get yourself back mentally to a state where you can perform, pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and start doing again whatever it is you stopped.
My encouragement for you today, is to get back on the horse. Whatever it might be that you recently stopped doing, do it again today. Did you quit working out? Do it today. Even if it's 5 pushups and 5 squats, do it today. Did you quit eating healthy? Find the healthiest mean in your cabinet, and eat it for lunch and dinner today. Whatever it is, start back up. God bless!
Today I want to talk about shaking it off. It's one of the toughest things to do as content creators, but it's a vital part of what we do. There are going to be days and times of year that are naturally slower. School starts, holidays, work, it all digs into the time we have to be entertained. When it's slow, remind yourself that it's not because of you or your content.
My encouragement for you, is to look past the bad week of casting. Look beyond the numbers, remind yourself it's ok to have slow times. I'm a content creator, and this is normal. Keep creating content, be consistent, and good things will come. Patience, patience, and more patience. God bless!
Today I wanted to talk about taking time off. Since I just got back from vacation, and feel recharged and ready to dive back in, it's a really relevant topic for me. After taking the last 12 months and really focusing on being consistent in my creation, I needed some time to recharge and refocus. I think it's an important consideration for every creator to make, and to consider taking time off when you start to see diminishing quality in your content.
My encouragement for you, is to take some time to reflect on where your content is at, and ask yourself if you're at the point of diminishing returns. Is it time to take some time off? Consider it an investment in your health and your community. If you've built a quality community around yourself, they will be there when you get back. Take time to recharge! God bless!
Today I want to chat about quality over quantity in content creation. 2 or 3 years ago, the streaming mantra was "Always Be Streaming" if you wanted to succeed in the space. Interesting enough, and based on my personal experience, I feel like that isn't necessarily the case any more. I've made a lot of progress as a broadcaster only putting in around 9 - 12 hours a week, because I've focused on the quality of my broadcasts.
My encouragement to you, especially if you aren't seeing the results you want to see, is to consider reducing the number of hours you broadcast. Focus on increasing the quality of your content, which could be focusing on better ways to develop commands for your bot, networking, working on graphics, or any number of other backend assets that can build engagement for your community. Give that a shot, and see how it can pay dividends in your stream. God bless!
Today I want to talk about ups and downs. As people, and especially as content creators, we ride these ups and downs like a rollercoaster. It can be really tough to go from hundreds of people in our chat to five, and we all have those days where we wonder, "Am I good enough?". Why aren't people coming back? Questioning our abilities as content creators. When in reality, we have very little control over many of these things. You never know when someone is sick, or has something going on in their life. School starts up, holidays happen, people are busy.
My encouragement for you, is to pay close attention to the people who are there, WHEN they're there. The reality is, if you have ONE person in chat, then you are entertaining enough. They chose to hang out with you, over anyone else. So give them a show, they deserve it. God bless!
Today I want to talk about compromising your integrity. As a broadcaster, and as a person, integrity is crucial when building relationships. It sets the expectation that you are a good person to work with, that you'll fulfill your side of the deal, and that you're willing to stand for something. Recently, there was a massive uptick in viewership on Mixer, which I wrongly jumped to the conclusion was the result of viewbotting. However, the premise still stands, compromising your integrity for the pure reason of gaining numbers (follows or views) will come back to bite you in the end.
My encouragment for you, is to consider what it would mean to your brand, and your community, for you to compromise your integrity. Very little in this life comes easy, and that includes your moral compass. Don't risk everything you've built for a "quick win", it usually ends up meaning you lose in the long term. God bless!
Today I want to talk about having meaningful engagement on social media. A lot of times we go out on Twitter or Instagram, and we just like and follow and that's as far as the relationship goes. That's like shaking someone's hand, saying "Nice to meet you" and then walking away. Generally speaking, it's not usually socially acceptable to do that. So why then do we do that on social media?
My encouragement for you today, is to take the next step with those that you've followed or liked their content. Take a moment to tell them why you liked their content, or take a second to ask them a question. Strike up a conversation with them. You never know who's day you might make. God bless!
Today I wanted to provide a life update for y'all. I've been a little slow to upload the podcast and Instagram posts, because it's been a very busy week for me. As "side hustle" content creators, it can be tough for us to maintain a stream schedule, let alone all the extra curricular content that we might post on a regular basis.
My encouragement (and hope) for you as consumers of my content or anyone else's content, is to have a little grace when it comes to our creation schedule. Many of us work really hard for a long time to bring you the best, and as much, content as we possibly can. I'm not down, or unmotivated, or quitting. I've just been busy, and will do my best to get back to regular content as soon as I can. Love you guys, God bless!
Today I want to talk about showing your weakness, which seems super backwards from what most people want to project. A lot of times, we as human beings, feel like we have to constantly show strength, be invincible or invulnerable. But something my pastor said that stuck out to me in one of these last few sermons, is that showing your weakness is a sign of humility. A little humble pie never hurt anyone and it gives those in your community an opportunity to get closer to you.
My encouragement to you, is to be vulnerable and show your weakness. Give others an opportunity to build you up and to help you grow in ways you never would have thought possible. It's ok to be weak in certain areas, we all are. Take that weakness, and use it as an opportunity to grow as a person and to grow in your relationships with others. God bless!
Today I want to chat about not taking unfollowers personally. It's really easy, as the industry puts heavy emphasis on follower counts, to get down about even one person unfollowing you on your channel, twitter, or whatever else. Whether it's intentional, unintentional, a bug, or whatever, it can feel personal. But at the end of the day, we have to do our best to put things in perspective. That person may have wiped their whole follow list. It could be a bug in the platform like on Mixer. It might just be that you're not bringing value to them any more.
My encouragement for you, is to do your best to not take unfollows personally. It's going to happen ALL THE TIME and focusing on it isn't going to help you make your best content. Focus on continuing to entertain, bring value to your community, and the rest will fall into place. Don't let an unfollow or two or five derail from putting your best foot forward every day. God bless!
Today I want to talk about setting expectations for yourself. As a Mixer Partner, I'm afforded and presented with many opportunities I've not had previously, and it's easy to set unrealistic expectations for myself and for my community. With the Destiny Forsaken launch, I think I had some "delusions of grandeur" if you will, and had set an expectation in my own mind that it would be a springboard for the channel and community. When it fell flat, I found myself in a little bit of a rough headspace.
My encouragement for you, is to "plan for the worst, hope for the best" when it comes to opportunities that present themselves. Look at every opportunity as a way to possibly accelerate your channel and community in the right direction, but don't get your hopes too high, because that is what will lead to disappointment and negative thoughts. Set yourself up for success, and don't set unrealistic expectations for yourself. God bless!
Today I want to talk about taking shortcuts. As human beings, we're always looking for the shortest path between point A and point B. Whether it's traffic and driving, or trying to make our way to CEO of the company, we want the shortest, easiest, most convenient route. In content creation, there are definitely opportunities to accelerate growth. However, there really aren't any shortcuts. Only hard work, patience, and perseverance. I'm learning that right now as a partner.
My encouragement for you, is to stay the course. Be consistent, stay positive, and always be moving forward. There are going to be times when you thought an opportunity would pay off and it doesn't. There are going to be times when you will unexpectedly experience growth when you thought you wouldn't. Simply use these experiences as an opportunity to learn and grow, and you'll be in good shape. God bless!
Today I want to chat about harnessing your excitement for new releases. As a content creator, and as I've talked about before, we spend a lot of time on auxillary things outside of playing games. Editing video, creating social media posts, networking, creating stream assets, it all takes away from playing video games. When new releases come out, whether it's a new IP or a DLC, it generates excitement for us as gamers. It also presents us with an opportunity to relate to the greater game community.
My encouragement for you, is to harness that excitement when new games come out. Take the opportunity to chat on various social media and forum sites with the greater game community. This will help you get even more excited and create even better content, in addition to helping you drive awareness for your channel and possibly engage with new viewers. It's a win win for you as a content creator, so get excited! God bless!
Today I want to talk about the grind. When people watch other people playing video games for a living, it's really easy to imagine that the only thing that person does is play video games and get paid. In reality, you see 90 percent of the video games, and 10 percent of the back end work. Last night I wanted to play video games, but instead I prioritized editing clips for Instagram. Because at the end of the day, that is what was going to pay more dividends for the channel and for executing on a multi-platform content strategy.
My encouragement for you, if you are brand new to broadcasting or thinking about getting started in content creation, is to consider that most of your work has nothing to do with video games. If you want to see success, you are going to spend way more time executing on other things like editing content, writing scripts, sending emails, spending time in other communities, etc. So be prepared for the grind folks! God bless!
Today I want to talk about something that I think takes practice and time, and that's finding your flow. As new content creators, it can be a struggle to weave in your every day life into the conversations we have with the people in our community. Everyone has passions outside of content creation, whether that's working out, cycling, reading, whatever. The challenge as creators, is how to fit that into our conversations that we're having when the stream is on.
My encouragement for you today, is to seek out conversation. Have a conversation with someone new, figure out how to find common ground and to be a "conversationalist". You can practice this in many ways, and it doesn't just have to be in your stream. It can be with a random person on the bus, or the person checking you out at the grocery counter. Take the opportunity to engage whenever possible, as it will help you be a better content creator. God bless!
Today I want to talk about bad decisions...I mean, making assumptions. Yesterday, amongst the massive increase in viewership on Mixer, I made some assumptions initially that I came to find out were all kinds of wrong. It's easy when you see others doing certain things, or in this case, other things happening to others, to make assumptions about how or why it's happening. So when I saw the massive boost in viewership on Mixer, I immediately assumed it had something to do with people using viewbots. However, as I did research and talked with others, it's become apparent that this was not the case.
My encouragement, is to consider a few things when you make assumptions about others. Number one, assumptions reveal something about your character, so be careful about how you react / act on your assumptions. And number two, it's an opportunity to reflect inward and figure out why you're making those assumptions. Use it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and be a better person. God bless!
Today I talk about a fear I have with playing one game too much on the channel. From what I've seen in the short time in this content creation space, it's really risky to be a channel on a single game. As we saw at the release of Destiny 2, many channels that built their following on Destiny only, had a hard time recovering from Destiny 2's sub-par launch. And with Destiny finally being in a place that I love, I find myself wanting to play only Destiny for the most part.
My encouragement for you, is to consider, especially if you want to do this full time, what it means to put all your eggs in one basket. And that doesn't just mean from a game standpoint, I'm also talking about where you put your content. Consider your content distribution strategy, and make sure that you are diversifying your content. You never know when a platform may make a change that severely impacts your ability to grow. God bless!
Today I want to chat about finding what works. As content creators, a lot of times we can get wrapped up in "always being on" that we can forget to take time and have consideration for what works for us. For instance, I finally decided to NOT record podcasts on Saturday. It was taking away already precious family time, and just wasn't working for me and my family. So I decided to only record 5 podcast episodes per week, and to focus on only the stream Saturday night.
My encouragement for you is to consider, and reflect on what's working for you and what isn't. Make changes that will help you streamline things in your life, remove friction, and help you be an overall happier person. If you aren't happy, you aren't going to make your best content. I've always preached quality over quantity, so find what works for you so you can make your best content! God bless!
Today I admit I was wrong. I let my jaded perspective get in the way of realizing that much of my following came from the Fortnite directory, and that I've been ignoring that part of my community for the last couple of months. As someone who is focused on building community and reaching people, I want the quality of my community to be the best it can be. And for awhile now, I've felt like the Fortnite directory has lead to "empty follows". But looking at people who have spent time in my channel, and in my Discord, there are a lot of folks that are from the Fortnite community and ARE quality followers.
My encouragement for you today, is to consider your perspectives. Get other perspectives. Reflect on where you've been so you can focus on where you're going. I was surprised to come to the conclusion I have, and I look forward to getting back to playing a little Fortnite among the current rotation of games we're playing. Thanks for sticking with me fam! God bless!
Today I want to chat about optimizing your day. I've been reflecting and projecting on what I imagine a normal day as a content creator would look like. What would my "routine" be, and then last night I had an epiphany. I realized that I should be, every day, executing all parts of that routine with work being my normal "stream" time. So in the morning, I should be posting to Twitter, uploading an Instagram post, going through the previous night's clips, and getting ready to stream. After work, I should be wrapping up "stream", spending some time in other's channels, and so on.
My encouragement for you, is if you are looking to go full time, think about the ways in which you can optimize your day and what your routine would look like if you were a full time creator. Start to fit those things in around your work schedule if you can so you can start to realize whether full time creation is a reality for you or not. God bless!
Today I wanted to breakdown the Gamescom 2018 Nvidia reveal of the new 20 series graphics chipset that they revealed. We'll start off with the absolute stellar: the Turing chipset has no rival to date based on the date that they released as part of the reveal. The sheer number of teraflops of data compute is dumbfounding, and the advanced render, shader and light capabilities are incredible. Watching the live renders of some of the video they revealed showed true cinema quality in gaming engines.
My encouragement for you as creators though, is to consider the cost to value for a card like this. It's a prohibitively expensive card, and realistically you as the GAMER will be the only one able to perceive it's quality, as the internet and streaming really isn't there to provide that cinema quality to an audience yet. So consider the cost versus the value you deliver to your audience before jumping in on this card. God bless!
Today I want to talk about understanding, and the encouragement of said understanding. For most of us, this is a hobby or a part time side hustle. We don't do this for a living, and so we are setting expectations and motivating ourselves out of pure love for creating content. But some days, it's hard to do that. It's hard to get motivated, or to get the creative juices flowing to step up and deliver the best content we can.
My encouragement for you today, is to consider the position your favorite creators are in. And know that they, just like you, wake up and some days just don't have it. We aren't on top of our game, and rather than creating sub-par content, we choose not to create at all. So do your best to have that empathy when it comes to expectations for your favorite creators, so when they do put out content, it's with the knowledge that it's their best content that day. God bless!
Today I want to talk about something I've missed since I've started creating content. It's called playing video games with my friends. As someone who has limited free time throughout the week, my ability to just sit down and play games is few and far between. When you start getting into content creation, you also give up focusing on playing games for focus on making better content. Updating graphics, interacting with your community, programming bots, fixing technical issues, learning new things. All these take priority over just sitting down and firing up your favorite game and kicking back.
My encouragement for you, if you are considering starting to create content, is to ask yourself what you love more; playing video games or doing all the stuff I mentioned above. Because in order to have a successful stream, all of those things will end up taking priority over just playing games with friends. God bless!
We've reached the end of our discussion on the "4 Cs" of relationship building, what a series! Today we talk about consideration, and what it means to be considerate of others in your relationships. As you work with other people, it's worth taking a moment to put yourself in their shoes. Consider what they're going through, get some perspective from them so you can better communicate your intent, and compromise where you need to. As you can see, the other "3 Cs" are tied in closely with consideration, and form an important part of the overall relationship.
My encouragement for you, is to be more open to others and their perspective, and consider what it's like to be in there shoes. Put your consideration together with the other Cs so you can continue to build and maintain healthy relationships. It's been said by many, it's more about who you know that what you know, and leveraging the 4 Cs to maintain relationships will be key. God bless!
Today we're on the third of four talking about the "4 Cs" of relationships. In this episode I want to talk about compromise, from two perspectives. The first in about compromising your core values and how that reflects negatively on your character. Never compromise for the sake of follows or money, people will see through it. The second way is in compromising in relationships, or meeting in the middle. It's important to find a balance in any relationship, as swinging too far one way or the other will put the relationship in jeopardy.
My encouragement to you, is to be solid and uncompromising in your core values, and to find the balance of compromise in your relationships with others. It will help you and your friends or family thrive, and will bring a healthy balance to your relationships, which are important for your support structure as a content creator. God bless!
Here is the second part of our series on building relationships and networking. As my mom talks about, one of the "4 C's" is commitment, which can consist of two different types of commitment. The first is when you make a short term, or event based commitment. If you tell someone you're going to be at this place, at this time, you should commit to being there. This seems like an obvious concept, but the term "flaky" didn't just come to be without purpose. The second, is long term commitment. When you're getting into something, being committed through the ups and downs, while hard, is important.
My encouragement for you, is to consider your commitment and how you regard your commitment to not only content creation and the relationships you build as you network, but also the relationships you hold outside of content creation. Understand what your priorities are, and how you can commit to those priorities to be the best person you can be. God bless!
Today starts my 4 day series on networking, specifically on building relationships. My mom taught me from a young age, the key to making relationships work is the 4 C's, communication, commitment, consideration and compromise. I've carried this throughout my life, and it directs the way I build and maintain relationships. Today I dive into communication, especially as it pertains to being a creator. When it comes to interacting with other casters in their channel, it's important to be concise. It's hard to read long messages, since chat generally moves fast.
My encouragement to you, is to consider how you interact with other creators and with potential sponsors or partnerships. Put yourself in their shoes, you understand the pain of reading chat. It moves fast, long messages get lost in the mix. Getting to the point is important. Same with emails to potential sponsors / partnerships. They get 100s or 1000s of emails a day, so have your what, why and how bulleted and easy. God Bless!
It's really easy as people and as content creators to focus on numbers as measures of success. They are the easiest to measure, they indicate trends, and they are useful tools to find the general direction a channel or content is headed. However, numbers aren't the ONLY way you can measure success. In fact, it can be one of the most detrimental ways that people measure success, especially when they are first getting started in content creation.
My encouragement to you, is to consider what success looks like for YOU and for your community. Because at the end of the day, it's the impact you have on others, whether 1 or 1000, that really matters. Numbers are great, but people are better. Consider what your QUALITATIVE metrics are, and start to measure your success by those metrics, as opposed to just the quanititative metrics that most people measure success by. God bless!
We all have those days. The days where we aren't feeling ourselves, or are in a negative headspace because we're tired, or sick, or just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It's really important on those days to make sure that you're aware of those feelings, and to disengage with conversations that may end up hurting you in the long run. There was a situation on Twitter recently regarding another streamer, and I saw a lot of hate getting flung by people who generally are positive folks.
My encouragement for you, is to take a moment each day or each week, to sit down in a quiet place, disconnect for a bit, and reflect on how you felt this week. Ask yourself what you did well, what didn't go so well, address how you felt and try to plan to replicate the feelings you had when you were at your best. The more often you can do that, the better chance you have at succeeding in whatever you're focused on. God bless!
Today I wanted to cover a state of the game for Warframe. We've been streaming and playing it a ton, and I've really been enjoying the switch to PC. So here are the thoughts on the game in it's current state. Given that this is a FREE to play game, it really is stellar. Digital Extremes continues to invest not only in the game and it's content, but into the community and the creators that surround the game. They have a 3 pronged content delivery strategy (core function updates like melee 3.0, prime access releases every 3 months, and major releases like Plains of Eidolon and Fortuna). This strategy is paying off.
My encouragement to you, is that if you like games like Destiny, No Man's Sky, The Division or any other loot based game, is to give Warframe a solid try. Make sure that you find a community to be part of when you're just starting, it will be important to have a group to ask questions to. But give it a shot, you have nothing to lose, it's free! God bless!
I bet you thought based on the title that this was going to be a lecture about how you have to have it all together all the time. It's not. I wanted to take a moment and be a little vulnerable with you. Contrary to what some people have literally told me, I don't always have it together. I have struggles that I deal with, and I don't always agree with people all the time. It takes work, communication, compromise, commitment. And even then, it can still be tough.
My encouragement for you today, is to be ok with not having it all together. Commit to the relationships in your life that mean something to you, and be willing to work through tough times. And don't feel like you have to have it all together, because realistically, even the most successful people, who appear to the outside world to have it all together, don't. And that's ok. God bless!
We all have challenges we need to overcome. For instance, I have a baby on my chest in this episode. It was literally the only time I had during the day to record my podcast, so I got it done with a baby hanging off of me. Sometimes, we face overwhelming challenges, sometimes they're small, seemingly insignificant challenges. The important thing is to face them, and overcome them. They are an opportunity to grow, whether as a content creator, or as a person.
My encouragement for you, is to take the opportunity to overcome your challenges. Grow as a person, as a content creator. If you need help with a challenge, then reach out for help! Get the help you need, overcome your challenges, and you will be a better person for it. It's how we get stronger, smarter, and do better. God bless!
Today I wanted to cover how I use the various social media sites that are available today. I'll cover Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, with a focus on how I use each of them as a tool to become a better content creator and grow the community. At the end of the day, these are just tools, same as the software you use to broadcast or the computer you broadcast from. This is my perspective on using each one effectively.
My encouragement for you today, is to get setup on each and to start exploring how each one of these social media networks can be used to grow your brand and your community, and to get your content out there. If you have a way that you use social media that I don't list here, let me know in the comments below! God bless!
Today I'm going to talk about my opinion on partner pushes and roads to numbers. I've seen a lot of folks put in their stream titles and going live tweets that they are on a "partner push" or on the "road to x followers". My personal opinion on this is one of optics, a PR notice if you will. Instead of putting something meaningful in your tweet or title, you're telling everyone that they are a number, whether you mean to or not.
My encouragement for you, is to consider the message you're sending to your prospective viewers. Think about what you want people to understand about your cast that day. Do you want them to focus on your numbers? Or do you want them to focus on the good time they might have or the content they might see. I'd love to get some perspective from you on this, so leave a comment on YouTube or Facebook! God bless!
Today I want to talk about setting milestones and next steps for your channel. This is SUPER important, especially for those of you that want to do this for a living. When you "make it" to partner status on a platform, it's easy to say you've "made it". And there's nothing wrong with celebrating that milestone, because it's HUGE! But, when the partner hype dies down, and the "real" grind begins, that's when you need to make sure you have another set of goals to obtain with your community.
My encouragement for you is to make sure that you have milestones above and beyond partnership. Because the worst feeling is to come off the hype of becoming a partner, just to crash and burn when the hype dies off. Make sure you have a plan to continue the momentum forward and up as you grow and focus on what's important to your community. God bless!
I was talking with a few other casters at GuardianCon about things. And we came to the determination that as casters, we're often times overwhelmed with a lot of stuff, which means we often forget things. Which is why it's super important to write it down. Figure out where your list is most accessible and easiest to add to, and write down your ideas as soon as they come to you. It's super important that you find the best way to keep track of ideas.
My encouragement for you, is to make sure you determine where you can best keep track of your ideas, whether it's a notebook, the notes app on your phone, a spreadsheet or whatever, and start using it. It will drastically increase your ability to execute on new ideas, iterate and grow and a broadcaster. It's a simple exercise, but one that doesn't get done by a lot of people. Start today, you'll be amazed at the changes you'll see tomorrow. God bless!
Mixer released updated partner program requirements and it's causing a frenzy with folks wanting to get in on it. I wanted to address the updates to the program and make some recommendations for those of you considering applying for partner. Mixer has bumped the follower requirements from 750 to 2000, but removed the "across the board" concurrent requirements. They also added a 12 unique casts a month and 25 hours cast per month threshold, and some subjective requirements around professionalism and representation.
My encouragement, is to look hard where you're at. If you're under 2000 followers, I can't recommend enough for you to WAIT to apply for partner until you're there. Especially right now, there will be a slew of applications in, and a lot of automatic denials going out. I would hate to see someone have to wait 60 days if they're close. Talk to someone who's been through it, they can give you advice, and sometimes a little patience can pay off big time. God bless!
Today I want to talk about giving yourself grace. This is not meant to be an excuse for not getting started creating content, or to take weeks off without purpose. But it's meant to encourage you to know it's ok to miss a day here or there of content, especially if you're working on backend things. Most of us don't do this for a living, but many of us want to. Which means we should be executing like a business. This means creating content every day. However, sometimes things come up that prevent us from doing so.
My encouragement for you, is to give yourself some grace when it comes to creating content. There are things that will come up in life that need your attention, and should take priority. So don't feel guilty if you've been executing for months on end, and need to take a day to take care of adult things or work on "non-customer facing" items. Get back at it the next day, and you'll be ready to keep creating content that you're proud of. God bless!
Today I wanted to chat about soliciting feedback from others. I think it's an important part of content creation, and a very useful tool in progressing and improving as a content creator. We all have trusted advisors that help us make decisions, whether we call them that or not. For me, I make sure to debrief after every stream with my mods, who are the people responsible for helping me curate the experience we create each and every stream.
My encouragement for you, is seek out your trusted advisors, and solicit them for feedback. Ask them what went well, what didn't go well, and how they think you can improve your content next time. This will help you grow as a creator, and will help you and your trusted advisors to strengthen your relationship with each other, and ultimately with your community. God bless!
We all have challenges in our life, some are huge and some are small. But no matter what, we have challenges to deal with. As with anything in life, how you overcome those challenges will dictate how much success or failure you see in your life. The biggest thing is to make sure you're taking on those challenges with everything you've got, and to be self aware enough to ask for help when you need it.
My encouragement for you is to focus on your challenges, and to break through them to see the success on the other side. It can be easier said that done, but make sure you stay focused, and address the challenges you can address. Ask for help when necessary, and no you can do whatever you put your mind to. God bless!
I've been back from GuardianCon for a couple days now, and I'm seeing the Twitter talking about the "con flu", the inevitable sickness that people bring back from conventions. It's important, especially post-con, to take care of yourselves. Drink fluids, get rest, and take a day or two to recuperate if you need to, because if you aren't taking care of yourself now, you will be forced to in the future.
My encouragement for you today, is to listen to your body. You know yourself the best, and you know what you are and aren't capable of handling. I know that if I go three or more nights with less than 6 hours sleep, there is a high likelihood I will get sick. So I pre-emptively choose to take a break, so that I can avoid long stretches of no content or sub-par content. Listen to your body, overcommunicate when you need to take a break, and then rest and recuperate when needed, because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. God bless!
I'm back from GuardianCon 2018, and all I think is wow. What a conference, and what an amazing experience. Convention attendance is an important opportunity to solidify relationships you've built with other creators, with industry professionals, and is an opportunity to meet new people across the spectrum. It can be challenging financially to get to a convention, so I understand the apprehension. But the potential relationships you can bolster and the opportunity to meet new people is well worth it.
My encouragement for you, is to identify a convention you could attend that has people you know confirmed as attending, and plan ahead. Message creators you want to meet, understand which lines of communication you'll use to meet up (Twitter or Discord DMs, exchange phone numbers, etc....) and then schedule your travel and make the most of your experience! God bless!
Day one of GuardianCon and I can see people aren't comfortable introducing themselves to others. The anxiety is flaring up, and it can be a little uncomfortable, even for an extrovert like me. But you will regret not introducing yourself to the person you are fangirling over, I promise you that. I had the opportunity to meet the drummer of Fall Out Boy outside of a Noodles & Co at one point, someone whom I very much admired. To this day it's still one of my biggest regrets.
My encouragement to you, is to go in for the introduction. At the end of the day, these folks are just people too. We all eat, sleep and poop. We all have feelings, and we all crave social interaction. Don't let worry stop you and worst of all, don't let your own anxiety get in the way of a potentially life-altering introduction. God bless!
Watching the GuardianCon stream reminds of me of the fact that, as content creators, you have social influence. Whether you're big or small, you have social influence. It's up to you what you use that social influence for. There are a lot of folks out there that use their social influence for nefarious things, toxic things. We have an opportunity to use that influence to make the world a better place. I use what little influence I have to give people a place to belong.
My encouragement for you today is to consider your social influence and how you're using it. As you grow that influence, you have a choice to make. Are you going to use your social influence for good? Or will you use it for the alternative? Choose wisely Legion, the world is counting on you! God bless!
It's really hard sometimes to admit to needing help and then asking for it. But as people, and especially as content creators, it's vital to being successful. We are often times one-man armies, we have to wear every hat in our production and outside of our production to grow. It's absolutely OK to admit when you're in over your head, and to ask people for help!
My encouragement for you, is to reach out to someone who has the expertise you need to get something done, or to get you the help you need. This applies even outside of content creation, and in some of the most extreme circumstances even. If you find yourself in over your head, please seek help from someone. It's a sign of strength, not of weakness. Admitting your flaws takes courage, and in the right situations, can be the difference between winning and losing. God bless!
Today I want to talk about taking chances and calculating risks. As content creators (and people), we always have opportunities to evaluate, both big and small. Usually, small opportunities represent the smallest risks, and big opportunities represent the biggest risks. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but generally ends up being the case. Regardless of the opportunity, it's up to you to decide what opportunities have the lowest risk and the biggest payoff.
My encouragement for you today, is to take a look at your opportunities, and determine what the risk to you, your community, and your content actually is. Determine whether the reward outweighs the risk, and then either get after it or politely decline. Either way, opportunities abound, and for those willing to take the risk, the payoff can be huge. God bless!
Today I want to talk about saying 'No'. It's important, especially as content creators, to be able to say no. As you grow, more and more people will ask you for things. Collaborations, information and time. As much as I do my best to help everyone who asks me for things, sometimes you just have to say no. It's always a balance between helping others, and growing your brand / channel or whatever you're working on.
My encouragement for you is to identify when it makes sense to say 'No', and to actually say no. Stick to your guns, because people are persistent. Help others, of course, but when it makes sense, say no. Your time is just as valuable as anyone else's time, so make sure you are well balanced and confident in what is worth your time. God bless!
Today I want to talk about diversifying your network. As you begin broadcasting, you always hear from experienced folks that networking is CRUCIAL to your growth and success. I echo that sentiment. But I feel like many people start off strong by networking with 2 or 3 other broadcasters and then spend ALL their time in those channels. I would encourage you to think a little more broadly. Instead of spending 10 hours a week in 3 channels, explore and spend 10 hours in 10 different channels.
My encouragement for you, is to not put all your eggs in two or three baskets, but to instead put them in 2 to 3 NEW baskets a week. It's important to make friends with as many people as possible, both other broadcasters and people in their communities. When it comes down to it, it's just like investing with your money, if one of those channels takes a dive, you have 10 others to back it up. God bless!
In a previous Dad Log, I talked about being patient. Which still applies to this topic, but was a little more broad and high level. Today I wanted to chat about being patient with other people. As broadcasters, we have a tendency to need things from others. Advice, commissioned art, responses from support in various capacities, collaboration responses, etc... the list goes on and on. The key here, is to balance persistence with patience.
My encouragement for you (and myself) today, is to be patient with others and give them a chance to respond. They are likely just as busy (if not more) than you, so while it's important to be persistent, give them time to respond as well. Eleven hours is not enough time, give them a few days. It will pay off in the end. God bless!
It's really easy as a creator to blame our hardware for the lack of quality we produce. I've done it far more often than I care to admit. "Oh, if I just had 'X' then my content would be so much better." It's something I learned the hard way, and this time around, I'm pretty proud to say that I've spent the time maximizing the potential of my gear before upgrading. It's a balance of identifying, once you've maximized the potential of an asset, to determine if an upgrade will provide enough value to justify the cost.
My encouragement to you today, is to make sure you are maximizing the value of your existing investment before considering an upgrade. Spend the time to make sure you are absolutely getting the most out of your gear before you determine that you need an upgrade. We all want the best, but sometimes you have to learn to use the worst to it's full potential before having the best makes sense. God bless!
Today I wanted to talk about minimizing distractions. When you're creating live content, you're already taking in so much information. Playing your game, people following, chat interaction, multimedia information, etc.... I've had multiple people tell me that they also watch shows / anime, or are browsing the web, or interacting in other people's chat. This is taking away from the focus you are putting on your own chat. I know some of you might think, "but there isn't anyone in chat to interact with". That's a subject for a different day, but there are a lot of resources out there for the subject "networking".
My encouragement for you is to consider turning off all distractions you might have while creating content. Turn off the show, get out of the chat room of others, turn off notifications on your phone / browser, and focus on the content you're creating. Viewers aren't dumb, they can tell when you're distracted. So make sure you minimize that as much as possible. God bless!
Today I wanted to talk just a little about time management. We all wish we had more time in the day, to get done what we want to get done. But unfortunately, we all have 24 hours in a day, so let's talk about opportunity to maximize those hours. When you look at your day, you have choices, every minute of every hour. We all also have times when we're not as busy as others, 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. It's how you use those small chunks of time that can benefit you the most.
My encouragement for you is to determine when you have those moments, to consider hopping on Twitter and getting involved in a conversation. Or post a picture to Instagram. If you have 15 or 20 minutes, write a blog post if that's what you do. We can be creating small, but valuable pieces of content all day, and they can be just as impactful as the primary content you create. Start identifying and executing on those content opportunities today. God bless!
The most successful people on the planet aren't immune to having apprehensions and insecurities. It's how you move past them that matters. Even the most confident people deal with doubt, fear, uncertaintly, myself included. As we apply for the second time to become a Mixer partner, I still have my doubts and fears. The support and love that I've gotten from the fam, from my friends on the platform, from my wife and immediate family, have been humbling. I'm encouraged for the future!
My encouragement for you, is to make sure that you have the support structure (supernatural or otherwise) to help you cope with and move past your insecurities, doubts and fears. At the end of the day, we all need help to deal with these things, and the more support you have, the better off and more successful you'll be. God bless!
We all have frustrations. Days when nothing goes right, everything breaks down from a technical or other standpoint. But don't let technical or other isues discourage you from creating content. It's important every day, to be creating content, even if it's just a thoughtful Twitter post or a quick Instragram photo showing your frustration. All of that is content, whether it's your primary form of content or not.
My encouragement, outside of taking care of yourself for mental or physical reasons, is to push through technical difficulties or frustrations and continue to make content. You never know when that one piece of content could be something that goes "viral" for you, whether actually going viral or just some of your most well viewed content. Don't stop, can't stop. Create content! God bless!
I want to talk about something that is a bit of a tough subject for me, but I've noticed an increase in the occurrence and wanted to address it. When you're streaming, you should be focused on creating the best content you possibly can. It's ok if you have another broadcasters stream up and are lurking for them, that's called support. But if you're active in there chat, WHILE YOU ARE STREAMING, then you're not putting your all into your own content.
It also doesn't look good if you queue up to play games with another streamer, while you are streaming. This isn't a "hack" to co-stream with another streamer, and if you aren't telling them you're streaming and you include their voice in your stream, you are actually being extremely deceptive. Always remember proper streamer etiquette fam, it will get you much further ahead. God bless!
I want to talk a little bit about misplaced ownership. A few weeks back Skyan covered a topic like this, and I've noticed recently a bunch of posts about this on Twitter as well, so I figured I'd address it from my perspective. Misplaced ownership can take a few different forms, but most often I find it taking place when financial contributions are made. It seems SOME viewers get a sense that they can have certain controls when they tip or sub. This is NOT every viewer. But what usually happens is that they feel they should have special control over the stream, whether that's determining games played, or priority play time, etc..
My encouragement for you as a content creator, is to be mindful of exactly how much weight you give to financial contributions, and be very clear about the lines you draw. Sub-only games and special Discord access are normal, but be careful when you start putting more weight on "money changes" versus others, it's a slippery slope to losing control. God bless!
I've noticed an increase on Twitter in the use of irrelevant hashtags and the mass mentioning of large broadcasters as a tactic to gain exposure for smaller broadcasters. I wanted to address this head on, and to encourage you as content creators to look past the numbers for a second and see what's actually resulting from the use of hashtags such as "#supportsmallstreamers". It's not helping your cause, and may actually be hurting your brand.
My encouragement for you, is to change tactics and start bringing value to your Twitter interactions in a few different ways. One, in your go live tweet, consider using the hashtag relevant to the game your playing, and mention the developer. Those will have a much further reaching effect. Also, if the only content on your timeline is your going live tweets, then consider getting more involved in other influencer's conversations. This a great way to add to the conversation, and to see positive exposure to those communities. God bless!
As broadcasters and as people, we are always strapped for time. So it's important that you identify a few things when it comes to time investment. First, identify the items that you're going to spend the time on that will yield the most value for your time. People like to focus on things that add polish to your stream (hardware research, graphics & overlays, etc...) instead of core content items (distributing content everywhere, video game research, etc..). Determine what adds the most value to your content, and spend your time there.
The 2nd part of this is to determine what you're capable of delivering versus what should be commissioned. If you've never touched a graphic design program, you may want to consider commissioning work for that, or using pre-mades from places like nerdordie.com. Figure out what is worth investing time to learn, versus what you should "outsource". At the end of the day, your time is the most valuable thing you have. Use it wisely. God bless!
Today I want to talk about making first impressions and giving people second chances on THEIR first impressions. As content creators, we all have bad days. I challenge any content creator that has been in the game for more than a few days to tell me they've never had an off day. The tough thing about those off days, is that those first impressions to people brand new to your content are now stuck with that impression of you.
That leads to point number two, be empathetic of first impressions! If you stop by someone's channel and it feels like they're having an off day, consider turning on your notifications and coming back a different day to check out their content. We all have bad days, give someone a second chance! God bless!
Sometimes we end up in a situation where we are unbelievably overwhelmed by everything going on in our world. Take me for instance, now not only was I lacking sleep because of my stream schedule, but now we have a 3 week, adorable little boy that we are looking after for the foreseeable future. Which means bottles, middle of night feedings, and even less sleep. Sometimes we're handed a lot of things to deal with at once.
My encouragement for you is to make sure that if you're in a situation where you're just overwhelmed with everything, take a moment (or maybe a day) to evaluate where everything is at and adjust. It's important to take stock every once in awhile, and to know when too much is unmanageable. Know what's important, adjust where necessary, and overcommunicate change to whomever needs to know. God bless!
Today I want to talk about sharing information and expertise. Every single person on the planet has some expertise in something. As we grow up and get into the working world, we develop relevance and expertise in the fields we participate in. As content creators, we have an opportunity to share that expertise with others on a regular basis. And we should be sharing that information to push each other to be better, and to push the content creator space forward.
My encouragement for you today is to share the knowledge you've been building up with another content creator. Even if it's just a one on one conversation, getting the information out there and helping a fellow content creator is important. My second encouragement is to always be learning. Make sure you do your best to stay up to date with the latest streaming trends and to continue to share that information as well. God bless!
I want to talk today about showing people rather than telling them. I had this conversation the other day about how I want to encourage my son regarding chasing dreams. So many of us tell our kids, family, and friends to chase their dreams. We offer them guidance, advice, and encouragement along the way, but when the going gets rough, we haven't SHOWN them how to chase their dreams. We need to be doing it ourself (or have achieved it) so that we can draw on that experience to really help them.
My encouragement today is to DO rather than TELL. If we all gained experience in chasing our dreams, we would be able to better support each other in the chase and provide real, experienced advice in that chase. Walk the walk fam! God Bless!
I've been working really hard on a lot of backend stuff for the stream lately, and have been taking that opportunity to catch up on the #AskBroman podcast lately. And it dawned on me, that while I rep the podcast on socials and reference it in some of my content, I've never taken the moment to formally talk about how grateful I am for that particular content.
We are all influenced by people and content every day, but how many of us take the time to say "Thank You" to the creators of that content? My encouragement for you today, is to take a moment, and thank someone who has had the most influence on you in your life, even if you aren't a content creator. We consume content every day, and it influences us more than we care to admit. Thank someone for their influence in your life. God bless!
AskBroman podcast link
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-broman-podcast/id1308573788?mt=2
Today I wanted to talk about building community. A lot of content creators out there talk about how they want a thriving community, and they're creating content with that focus. It's a great goal to want to build community, people are what make the world go round. But in order to build community, you have to go beyond interacting with them ONLY when you're in your stream. You need to genuinely invest in those relationships to help them grow, and that takes a lot more effort than just talking with them during streams.
It's why we use Discord and I'm constantly focusing people to get to the Discord and to get involved. It's where our community grows, it's where we invest in each other and where the community stays healthy and builds relationships. That's my encouragement for you today, invest without expectation, in the people that are part of your community, outside the stream. It will pay dividends that can't have a monetary value put on them. God Bless!
Yesterday was one of those days for me. Where it felt like no one at work was interested in helping you out, but pushed against everything you were doing. Makes you just want to quit your job and pursue your dream full time. We've all had those days, but we still have those pesky adult responsibilities like putting food on the table and roof over the heads of yourself and family. So we trudge on until the day we don't have to anymore.
The silver lining here is that I have a job. A good job, with good benefits. God has provided more than enough to put food in stomachs and a roof over our head, and I'm reminded that I need to be grateful for that. I could endlessly complain about how frustrating things are at work, but I need to remember that I could be in a lot worse of a place. My encouragement for you is that no matter your circumstance, know that it could be worse. And that God will provide. God bless!
You never know fully what expertise lies in your network. We all know the importance of building your network, but a lot of times we compartmentalize our networks to "business" or "friends" or "family" without realizing the potential ACROSS those networks. I just met with a good friend of mine, who I built a relationship with long before I got into streaming. When I found out he did screen printing for t-shirts, I realized he might be a good person to chat with about options for shirt and gear printing.
Because I fostered that relationship as a friendship and not as a "business relationship", I am able to leverage that expertise in a non-business like manner, in the same way that he can leverage my various expertise to help him with other things. At the end of the day, you always want to build positive, strong relationships with people, without expectation of anything, because you never know when those relationships might result in something game changing in your life. God bless!
Always make sure that people can see you when they want to. Yesterday I sent out the third wave of stream team invites. It's always exciting when you get the chance to discover new creators, or get to check out content for the first time from someone you've started a relationship with. A lot of times though, you don't get to check that content out live, so you go back and watch VODs. And here in lies the problem, some live content creators haven't enabled their VODs!
My encouragement for you, if you're a live content creator, is to make sure you ABSOLUTELY enable your VODs so that people discovering you "off hours" can still watch your content. You never know when someone is going to stop in and wants to get a feel for the type of content you do, whether a viewer, collaborator, sponsor or developer. Do yourself a favor and make sure the can watch you any time, any place, anywhere. God bless!
Today I want to talk about challenging yourself. It's really easy when things are working like a well oiled machine, to get comfortable and complacent. Especially as content creators, when things are working, we're seeing the growth and relationship we want to see with our community, it can be scary to think about changing anything up. But at the end of the day, you also need to be careful not to let your content get stale. It can be something as simple as changing up the game to a genre you've never done before.
My encouragement to you, if you are at a place where it's been awhile since you've made a change, to start to challenge yourself as a creator. Think about ways you can improve your content, bring new experiences to your audience. When you keep things fresh, your community will stay fresh and will want to come back and support you. They will see the effort you put in and appreciate it. God bless.
Have you heard of the phrase "Try Before You Buy"? It's a phrase that guides you towards trying out things before you actually buy them so you know they fit, whatever it happens to be. I would also say that this phrase is a good way to think about dreams as well. If you say that your "dream is to do X" but you've never done X at any level, then you're dreaming about something that you don't even know if you like.
My encouragement for you today, if you are a dreamer, isn't to NOT pursue your dreams. But my encouragement is to make sure you actually like the dream your pursuing. So go out there, and do it TODAY, tomorrow, and for the next few months to make sure it's a dream you truly want to pursue. Because if you spend all these cycles dreaming and then find out you hate what you've been dreaming about, you will have spent a lot of time not pursuing something you really love. God bless!
I've never done a "State of the Stream" type update on the podcast before, so I wanted to take a moment and chat about all the things that are being worked on. What you guys and gals see on stream, is only a small part of what goes on behind the scenes. It's the culmination of all the time and effort that goes into it. So for the stream, the last 3 weeks have been incredible. The amount of support both inside and outside the stream have been amazing.
I've been working on a few different things on the back end, including a couple of partnerships which will have some benefits both for me and for the Legion, I've been prepping a very special project in preparation for our partner application, and have continued to enhance things from a technical perspective. All of this work is helping me to create the best content I've ever created, content I'm really proud of. And you are all to thank for that. Big things to come Legion, I appreciate you and look forward to the future! God bless!
Something, that a lot of broadcasters are struggling with is managing viewer games. It can be stressful to play with viewers, especially when you manage a queue that gets large. With a game like Fortnite, people are constantly looking for people to play with and especially look to streamers since they think streamers will carry them to victory. Here are a couple ways to set expectations.
Play solos or with a set group of friends. Set the expectation that you don't play with viewers. Not the ideal option for community focused players in my opinion. The next option is to setup a follower queue in you that results. After that, implement a rank system, where your viewers have to be in the stream for a certain number of hours before they can play. And lastly, you can move the queue to outside the stream and add the extra step of asking members to be part of the Discord. This has been the most effective strategy I've found to dealing with playing with viewers. God bless!
I don't often talk about the backend, or business side, of what I do on a weekly basis, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. People look at content creation, or streaming, as the "dream job". Many times, because they only see the resulting content, they think it's as simple as hitting "Go Live". Build it and they will come sort of mentality. For every hour of content you create, there are 2 to 3 hours on the back end that make it happen.
I am spending hours every week making friends in the space (networking), hanging out with other communities, updating graphics, sending emails, programming bots, building my website, helping other casters out, and other items on my list. The experience you get, is a culmination of all the things I do off screen, to make what happens on screen as best as it can be. My encouragement is to evaluate and know what you're getting into if you want to do content creation for a living. It's not just about the time spent creating content. God bless!
Today I wanted to cover something that a lot of creators are making decisions on and provide you with a breakdown of the various live streaming platforms you have a choice to make content on. I want to cover the pros and cons (from my perspective) on Twitch, Mixer, Youtube and Facebook Gaming. I'm not covering platforms like Periscope or Caffiene because I have no familiarity with them.
My encouragement to you is to make sure you really evaluate what your purpose for content creation is, and then compare that against the pros and cons of each platform. That will help you make the best choice for you and for your community when it comes down to choosing where you create you content. God bless!
I was asked the other night, "When you're exhausted and not motivated, what helps you to maintain your high energy and go live?". I initially answered with coffee and Gamersupps, but after reflecting on it, I realized I probably misled them a little bit. I love what I do and I feel a sense of responsibility to deliver content to y'all on the schedule I've set. I grew up in a time when your word mattered, and if you say you're going to be live at this time on this day, or be here at a specific time, or deliver a certain objective, then it's your responsibility to do it.
My encouragement for you, is to push through your exhaustion if you say you're going to do something. I'm not talking about risking your health, pushing through something like your appendix getting taken out is foolish. Take the time to recover. But the day to day exhaustion, is something that you push through if you've committed to doing something. God bless!
With all of the announcements on Twitter about people moving platforms, it can be easy to get anxious about the influx of creators and the "competition" it creates. I let it get in my head a few days ago, and felt like I was going to fall way behind with the influx of large content creators. But what I realized, is that the Mixer and Facebook platforms aren't near at viewing or creator capacity yet. And the opportunity for the platforms to continue growing from a viewer standpoint is immense.
My encouragement for you, is to welcome everyone with open arms. At the end of the day, viewer habit changes, streamers burn out, things happen and things change rapidly, so the more supportive you are of community the better off you are. At the end of the day, if you're the first person to welcome someone to the platform, and you're a resource for them, without any expectation, there is a good chance that good things will result from that relationship. God bless!
No, this isn't a topic about Big Brother always watching. Well, it kind of is, but not in the menacing sense. Today I wanted to talk about the fact that as a broadcaster, you never know who is watching. At any point, someone could be in your chat, perusing your Twitter feed, or watching how you interact with others to evaluate your ability to represent them. It's important to bear that in mind as you interact with others and create content.
This isn't a scare tactic, or a topic I'm covering to put fear in you or to have you constantly worry about doing something wrong. It's actually the opposite, it's encouragement for you to always put your best foot forward with whomever you engage with. It keeps you focused on positive interactions with people, and at the end of the day, could be the one interaction that changes your life. So know that someone is always watching, and that that's a good thing! God Bless!
It's important as broadcasters, and as people, to take a step back every once in awhile to self-reflect and evaluate where you're at. When you're in the day to day grind of life, it's easy to get lost and to lose focus on what truly matters. If you don't take the time look inward, you will lose your why outwardly too.
So my encouragement for you today, if you're at a low spot, is to take a day off. Take some time to put away the phone and the devices, and reconnect with your significant other or your friends. Take a minute to spend some time outside and meditate. It's tough to do, as we always feel like we're falling behind, but you'll be that much better for it. And so will your community. God bless!
I wanted in this episode to cover some of the hype that has been swirling around one of the biggest conferences of the year, E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is one of the largest events of the year, and there are always a ton of announcements and introductions made at this event year after year. New games that are coming out, updates to hardware, new technologies and disruptors to the industry.
The games I'm most looking forward to getting more information about are Anthem, The Division 2 and Battlefield 5. Anthem is probably the most exciting, as it's a brand new IP from Bioware, and combines many aspects from games like Gears of War, Warframe, Destiny and Titanfall to deliver a looter shooter experience that isn't like anything else I've seen. I'm also interested in what new VR / AR tech might drop, as well as an announcement on the new Xbox Elite controller. It's an exciting time to be a gamer and broadcaster! God bless!
Faye_Vrit wanted to know about securing yourself and your family online. There are a couple different things you can do, but unfortunately it will always be a balance between putting yourself out there to grow (and giving up some privacy in exchange) versus approaching security with common sense. Some things you should never do: put your full legal name out there, personal info like social security number, full physical address, names of family members, information around where you'll be physically traveling to, etc. These are easy things to temper and can avoid making it easy for people to put you in a dangerous situation.
At the same time, as you grow your community, your celebrity will naturally grow as well. Which means that the threats will grow. And at the end of the day, you need to decide how much of your personal privacy you're willing to give up in exchange for making content and creating community. That is a decision only you can make. God bless!
In the pursuit of always being better, it's easy to get focused on creating content without taking the time to learn new skills and pursue the simplification of our setup and processes so we can make better content. If there is anything in your setup that is keeping you from doing things better, you should continue to be persistent about making sure that you optimize and eventually resolve those items.
My encouragement is to be persistent, even if it means temporarily creating less content, to get better, to learn new skills. It will pay off in the long run, and at the end of the day, help you do things better and make better content. God bless!
Today I want to add on to a podcast I did a little bit ago about effective self promotion. In that podcast I talk about making sure that your link to your primary streaming site is on EVERY profile you operate on. In addition to that advice and making sure you have your link on everything, there are a few other pieces of information that are vital to have everywhere you operate online.
The three pieces of information you should have in every profile, are who you are, what you do, and why you do what you do. Now, there are some profiles that may not allow for all that information (looking at you Twitter), but do your best to succinctly describe those three things. When people are perusing others online, they want to know who they're dealing with before they engage. So the clearer the picture you paint for them, the better shot you have at getting that person to meet your community. God bless!
"5% of people will hate you no matter what you do." If you can live with the realization that haters are going to hate, then you can get past just about anything they throw at you. People are going to hate on you, especially with the more success you see. You see it all the time on Twitter and other places, so knowing how to deal with it is half the battle. I talk about how to deal with it in a couple of different ways.
If the harassment isn't too harsh or persistent, the best course of action, is to just block the person. That way you're in an "out of sight, out of mind" type of mentality. But if the person continues to harass you or is very persistent, using the reporting features on the site that you're being harassed on is the next step. If it continues, you can get your community involved in reporting the person. Eventually, the person will do enough to get themselves booted from the platform. But at the end of the day, standing up for yourself is important. God bless!
I've been reading a lot about an increase in trolling recently, which is something that is often difficult for broadcasters to deal with. Especially when you're a growing broadcaster and "every viewer counts". But when it comes down to it, by letting trolls take control of your chat, they are also taking control of your content. So you really need to make sure you have a solid plan that you can execute on if you need to.
There are a couple of different strategies to deal with trolls. The first is to just straight away instaban them. Get rid of the negativity, cut it out and move on. The second way is to whisper them and to ask them to chill, then time them out, and then ban them and move on. At the end of the day, your content is your content. Trolls will impact your content, so having a plan in place to deal with them is important. God Bless!
I've noticed a huge increase recently in the number of posts on Twitter talking about game selection and playing the games you love. A lot of people talk about "growth games" and especially on Mixer, most people look at the size of the directory as the only factor for growing. In reality, playing the biggest games on the planet don't always mean you'll grow quickly. Especially if you're playing the game ONLY for growth, and not because you're having fun with it.
At the end of the day, if your content is crap because you're playing a game you hate just because you think it's going to net you the gains you want from a growth standpoint, it will come across in your content. People will see you aren't enjoying what you're playing. So make sure that when you're choosing games to play, you're looking hard at what helps you make the best content, because your best content will net you your best growth. God Bless!
I hear from people that their scared to engage with others out of a fear of rejection. I get the feeling, I used to be that way. But then I read a book called the "3 Signs of a Miserable Job" and my outlook on interacting with people changed. Whether we're talking about applying for a partnership or affiliation or just meeting new people, the answer is ALWAYS going to be NO if you don't try. I have a quote in my email signature, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". And I wholeheartedly believe it.
If you don't ask, the answer will always be no. And the absolute worst thing that can happen to you, is that you're told no. The beauty of being told no, is that you can then let it go and move on to the next thing. Or work harder to get a yes if it's something you really want. The best outcome? You get the answer you're looking for. I encourage you to put yourself out there fam, it's always going to be NO if you don't. God Bless!
I have a confession. I got sucked into the trap I've been telling y'all to avoid for months. Over the last couple weeks, I've been focusing on the wrong things. I'm sorry. It's hard when you're making a push for the next milestone not to focus on the numbers. Partner is a big step for any community to make, and with the amount of success we've seen in a short time period, it's made looking at the numbers easy. But as we've slowed down, I've started to question and doubt myself. What am I doing wrong? What did I change?
Instead of focusing on delivering the best content that I can, I've been focusing on the wrong things. So starting today, we're going to get back to the basics, and start focusing on the thing that really matters. You. I want to play the games that I can make the best content playing, I want to focus on giving back to y'all, and most importantly I want to re-open the lines of communication so I can ensure we're making this community the best it can be. God Bless!
Time fam. I'm just going to say it. The most valuable resource you can give anyone or anything on this planet is your time. So when you're looking at where and how you spend your time, make sure it aligns with your goals and values, because you can't get it back. I've always told folks that are part of my community that I appreciate their time above all else, because I'm acutely aware of how valuable and precious time is.
My encouragement for you, is to take a moment, and evaluate where your time goes every day. Does it align with your goals and values? Where are you spending it that it could be better utilize. Identifying the people and communities and ideas you want to invest in should be your top priority, and then start investing that time! God Bless!
Today, it's a very long Dad Log. I wanted to break down hardware options for streaming. I get a lot of questions about my own hardware setup, so I will cover what I use, but will also cover other options for hardware in each category as well. There are a lot of considerations to make, console versus PC games, one PC versus two PC setups. We'll also talk about capture cards, audio interfaces, microphones, cameras, lighting and peripherals.
I'll break down the differences between your options in capture cards (internal vs external and brands), audio interfaces (boards vs rackmount vs desktop), microphones (usb vs xlr), cameras (webcam vs camcorder vs DSLR), lighting (DIY lighting vs photography lighting vs LED professional lighting) and peripherals like the Elgato Stream Deck. I hope you enjoy this hardware breakdown! God bless!
Sometimes, as content creators, we just aren't in the right headspace. I'm not talking about those times when you're just more tired than normal, or you've had some setbacks from a technical perspective that you've solved. I'm talking about those days when you would just put out subpar content because of the way you feel. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Even if my computer wasn't out of commission, I wouldn't have been capable of making my best content.
Those are the days where you need to have the self-awareness to admit that you won't create your best content, communicate it to your community, and take the time away to reset your head. The most important thing, is to come back the next day strong, ready, and able to create your best content. Don't let one bad day turn into one bad week or month. Get back up, dust yourself off, and hit the ground running. God Bless!
As a broadcaster, you are inevitably going to run into technical issues. Even the most experienced broadcaster has technical issues from time to time, and the key to dealing with them (if they aren't show ending) is to "entertain through the pain". The same way you deal with challenging parts to a game, is a good way to deal with technical issues as well. As opposed to getting flustered, consider treating it like an end game boss. If you're a screamer, scream at the issue. If you're a whiner, whine about the problem. Whatever your coping mechanism, own it, and pray your audience will own it with you!
I encourage you to always do your best, know that technical issues will happen, and when necessary, end the stream and fight it offline. Your audience will understand, and you can come back with a renewed attitude once you've resolved your issues. Every broadcaster deals with issues, it's HOW you deal with them that will ultimately win the day. God Bless!!
One of the questions I get all the time from new or prospective streamers is "How do I get started?" or "How do I gain a following?". And so I wanted to cover the top three things that I tell every streamer that comes into my channel. So the first thing I say is to put together a schedule. But don't put together a schedule that you can't maintain month over month. Make it realistic and something you can do for month's on end. After that, it's about being consistent. It's about not missing scheduled streams on a regular basis and being on time. If you do have to miss, you overcommunicate why and when. And last, it's about patience. Know that it's going to take time to build a community, a family, and know that there will be days you want to quit. Don't.
If you can maintain those three ideals, you will eventually be successful. Very few people find success without these things, so make sure to do each of these things, every day, and work hard. You'll get there! God Bless!
Let's talk about dealing with disappointment. Yesterday I received notice that I was denied partnership with the Mixer platform. It hurt a bit given what the Legion has accomplished in the 2 months we've been on the platform, but it wasn't surprising. It was motivating. I'm hungrier than ever to prove the Legion, and myself, are good enough to represent the Mixer platform as a partnered community.
It's important, not just as a broadcaster, but as a person, to do your best to deal with disappointment in a positive way. Getting bitter and resentful about a challenge or stumbling block is the quickest way to turn away potential collaborators, sponsors, companies you want to work with, or whomever else is reached by your negativity. Disappointment is opportunity folks, to get better, to refine your craft, to be positive in the face of defeat. It's easy to give up after major disappointment. The strongest people eat defeat for breakfast and ask for more. Be strong. Be Legion. God Bless!
I've always talked about not looking at your numbers. To clarify, when I say that, I'm talking about looking at your numbers when you're streaming. It's the worst thing you can do, because it can be demoralizing if you aren't seeing what's expected. If you are in a position of wanting to grow to do this full time, it's important to look at your numbers OUTSIDE of stream time. Understanding what games do well for you, what times of day do well for you, and many other data points are good things to know.
The thing to consider, is that as you look at those numbers in the context of others, it can really get to you mentally. With the release of Socialblade for Mixer, it's easy to compare yourself to others, which can put you in a headspace of competitiveness and when things fluctuate like they do, you have to be careful not to put much validitation in the numbers and to stay focused on what really matters, the PEOPLE in your community. Numbers are great, but people are better. God Bless!
A lot of broadcasters get hung up on flashy graphics, video transitions and alert packages because they think it's the most important representation of your brand. We're following up on last night's podcast on genuine imitation, because I think it's important to realize that no matter what your graphics, alerts or transitions are, the most important piece of your content is YOU!
You are the core tenant of your brand, the person you are, the message you send, the way you carry yourself and how you position your community. That matters way more than the flashy graphics and fancy alerts. My encouragement for you today, is to memorize your value statement, and be able to rattle it off to anyone, anytime, anyplace. Because YOU are the most important asset in your brand, never forget that. God Bless!
I wanted to talk about what it looks like to improve as a broadcaster. There are two major ways you can improve, one is just by doing. The more you do, the better you'll get. You'll be more comfortable in your skin, with your tech, and in handling interacting with people. The second way, is to observe and imitate other broadcasters. I'm not talking about ripping off other broadcasters and doing it exactly the same way, unless it genuinely fits the way your channel works. The key is to make sure that everything you do, whether it's your idea or not, fits your channel's theme and culture.
If you notice other broadcasters doing something the way you do it, or as a viewer see another broadcaster doing something the way your favorite caster does it, don't rip them down for it. Embrace the fact that you or your favorite caster is doing something worth imitating. There is nothing wrong with genuine imitation, and the fact is, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. God Bless!
I've noticed over the last few weeks that I'm more passionate about the content I'm creating as opposed to the games I'm playing. I've always been a gamer at heart, I love video games. I love the experiences they create, but I've also noticed that as I've shifted from just playing to broadcasting, that my focus towards my love of video games has shifted. Don't get me wrong, I love playing video games. But I've noticed that as I take creating content more seriously, that my love for video games is changing a bit.
My encouragement / "be aware" moment for you, is that as you continue to progress as a streamer and content creator, know that your love of playing video games will mature and change, and know that that's ok. It's almost like marriage, the "fire" you have initially for games, will mature into a steady flame for video games, and that you may find the actual creation of content around those video games is your new fire. Either way, enjoy what you're doing fam! God Bless!
The question was posed in our weekly stream team discussion, "What or who was your reason for getting streaming and how long did it take you to first go live after you were introduced to live streaming?" I thought I'd take a moment to post my motivation for streaming, how I got started, and what drives me to get better!
Realistically, I've always had a desire to help people. At it's core, that is the foundation of my live stream. What it has "morphed" into, however, is purely a result of the realization that people need a place to belong. There are too many people on this planet that feel like they don't belong at home, work, school, church or wherever, and the only connection they get is through playing video games with people. And that is why the Dad Cave exists. God has given me a unique set of skills that I can leverage to bring people together in community through streaming. And my hope is to eventually be able to do that on a full time basis. This is my origin story. God Bless!
The Legion is almost 3300 strong fam. Your support is humbling to put it simply. Thank you for the continued support! Now, on to today's topic. Finding your focus on your own content. I've had a lot of folks stop in to my channel, and ask how I get so many viewers. I don't generally have a problem with people asking streaming questions, but what I do take notice of is when people are actively in my chat WHILE THEY ARE STREAMING!
My encouragement for you, if you are broadcasting, is to FOCUS on your own content! If you are distracted by what someone else is doing while creating your own content, you are completely ignoring the people who are there. And realistically, you may not even know they are there because your attention is elsewhere. If you want to know the secret to creating good content, it's to be in the moment of the content your creating. Not in someone else's moment. Focus on creating the best content YOU can create, and the rest will come. God bless!
Today I want to chat about effective self promotion. Now I know some folks cringe at the thought of self promotion and I've hammered home the fact that you shouldn't go in someone else's chat and promote yourself. That's not what I'm talking about today. I'm no marketing genius, but there are some basic blocking and tackling of marketing that EVERY broadcaster should do, and it's super easy and effective.
If you haven't gone out to every single website you operate on and made sure that your primary content creation site (Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram) is linked out there, then you need to do that.
I encourage you to cross promote yourself and make sure that your site is linked in every social profile you can, because you never know when someone will happen across it, that wants to see what you do, and then is disappointed when they can't because they can't find you. Put your link everywhere fam, you never know when it will catch you your big break. God Bless!
Today I wanted to give you an update on the weekend and most importantly, I wanted to start doing some "State of the Game" podcasts focused on some of the games we play in the Dad Cave. Which brings me to a state of the game on a game franchise I love, Destiny!
Destiny 2 is getting some major quality of life changes over the next 3 to 6 months, as well as dropping a DLC. Weapon slot changes, new content, and things like vault space and multi-emotes will be great, and should give us reasons to get back into the game in a way that feels more like Destiny 1. Overall, after the hype of the Bungie Community Summit and the roadmaps that have been released, I'm looking forward to seeing what the Destiny world has to offer in the future. God Bless!
We all have it, regardless of how confident we might appear. As the family continues to grow and morph into something bigger, y'all are bringing me closer to someday doing this for a living. But with that reality, comes many things that I'm fearful of. Right now, I work for a company that blesses me with the ability to contribute to a 401k, have health insurance, and the blessings associated with someone else managing all those things.
When you go on your own, which is what full time broadcasters are, you are responsible to provide all those things for yourself. And given my situation at home with my wife's health, and the fact that as a content creator, no income is guaranteed, there is a lot of fear. My encouragement is to realize that you will have fear, no matter what you do. But embrace that fear, and know it will exist, and then conquer it. God Bless!
So I actually don't say selling out at all in this video. Let's get that out of the way. But, I do talk about sponsorships, and how important it is to evaluate who YOU are going to partner with when it comes to products. I got quite a few questions from folks after announcing my Gunnar Optiks affiliation, and I wanted to make sure I address some of the things I was asked.
When you are approaching a company regarding partnership or affiliation (or when they approach you) it's important to consider how your brand will represent that company and how that company will represent your brand! A partnership and even an affiliation, is a two way street and should be mutually beneficial to both of you. If it's not, you need to consider why you're pursuing the relationship in the first place, and how the relationship will impact you and your brand long term. God Bless!
Today I want to talk a little bit about the rollercoaster ride that is being a broadcaster. As someone who creates daily content, and streams three times a week, inevitably, there will be high days and low days. I feel like this is accentuated by the fact that Mixer does a REALLY GOOD JOB of highlighting up and coming broadcasters and includes everyone in the ability to be featured. I'm super grateful for that feature of the platform.
But what that also does, is create REALLY HIGH highs, and makes the "normal" days feel a little lower. When engagement from the fam drops off or is lower, it can be tough to mentally deal with that. My encouragement to you today, is to EXPECT those lows, those lulls in engagement. And when they happen, move past them as quickly as possible. It will help you cope more sustainably, and you'll be a better broadcaster for it. God Bless!
Last night was another incredible example of the support on Mixer being absolutely incredible. Ironic that I decided to talk about supporting other content creators, isn't it? So I was hanging out in a buddy's cast after we dropped a host / raid on them, and we came to the agreement that it's important to support other broadcasters. Fully. I'm not just talking about saying hi in their cast every once in awhile, but spending time with them and their community, and truly investing in them as creators.
I encourage you to go into every interaction with a fellow caster with the attitude of "I'm not looking for anything in return, I'm just loving on you and your community because I enjoy your content". That's it. Retweet their going live tweets, even if it's at the same time you're going live. Celebrate their successes. Help them through their failures. Invest your time in them. It's important. God Bless!
People like to worry. Hopefully this isn't new to you, but if you reflect on the past week, how much time did you spend worrying about things you had NO control over? Nothing reminds me more of this than traveling.
I just got back from vacation, and halfway through our two leg flight back, our last leg got cancelled. And I saw a whole bunch of people frantic, upset, and taking it out on the nearest Delta agent who had NO control over the weather. They spent all these cycles, and all this worrying, on something they had NO control over. It's the same way in all aspects of life, you could spend time worrying about decisions that lie with the CEO, the weather, and things you have no control over. OR....you could spend your time on things you DO have control over. When you get up in the morning. What you have for breakfast. Whether or not you'll exercise today.
My encouragement for you, is to spend your cycles on the things you have control over, not the things you don't. God Bless!
So 2700 Legion strong happened last night. That is absolutely incredible, the love and support y'all have given me and the fam on Mixer has been so humbling. Thank you for your love.
Today I talk about patience. It's something I'm terrible at. But it's something that I've learned to embrace. As an entertainer, it can take YEARS before you catch "your big break". There are going to be ups and downs, highs and lows, and learning to weather those with patience is going to not only be the key to your success, but also to your happiness. Some of the biggest names in Hollywood didn't become the biggest names overnight. They had to persevere, they had to be patient. So trust yourself, trust your people, and know that a little patience can take you a long way. God Bless!
Hey fam, so I had an opportunity to talk with a member of the Legion who just got started on their journey in broadcasting. And it was an awesome opportunity for two reasons. One, I got to reflect on the last 6 months and share the things that I've learned, which is always a good thing to do. And second, I got to invest back into one of the members of the Legion.
There is a huge gap between those just starting, and those who have "made it", which offers those of us in that gap the unique opportunity to be both mentor and mentee. We're all still learning, even those who have "made it", but those of us who haven't yet I feel end up learning even more from our encounters with other broadcasters. But if someone approaches you to have a conversation about your experience in broadcasting, I encourage you take the opportunity not only to help that person, but to reflect on your learnings so far as well. Have a great week fam, we'll see you soon, and God Bless!
Short and sweet, coming your way. Today I was late for my cast, I managed to either sleep through my alarm, shut it off in a daze, or just plain didn't set it. Whatever the case, I wolk up exactly at the time I was supposed to be live, and jumped out of bed in a panic. But then, I took a second, composed myself and did what every normal person should do. I gave myself a break.
I communicated with the fam through Twitter and Discord, told everyone I'd be about 15 minutes late, and I took the time to grab breakfast, get my coffee, get everything setup and hit the go live button. The important thing, is that I gave myself a break. We all are going to mess up in life, not be on time for one thing or another, or make mistakes. Don't make it a habit, but the "every once in a while" mistake is going to happen, so don't beat yourself up about it. Give yourself a little grace. Have a great weekend fam, God Bless!
Hey fam, in today's Dad Log I talk about finding a mentor. It's important, no matter what you're doing, to find someone whom you trust and can help guide you in your journey. Whether you're a sales guy, and IT person or a retail employee, finding a mentor can help you in ways you never imagined.
I encourage you, whatever you're doing, to find a mentor. Life is too short to not be growing as a person, so identify someone who you look up to, and have the courage to ask them to mentor you. Build that relationship, and you'd be surprised at the number of people who are willing to help. What's the worst they could say? No? The answer is ALWAYS no if you don't ask, so take a chance. Have a great weekend fam, God Bless!
Huge shoutout for the Legion being 2200+ strong today! But I am going to pay for it the next few days. Which brings me to my topic of discussion, taking care of yourself. Many of us are chasing after dreams that require time, sacrifice and a metric boatload of work. But in the midst of all the grinding and everything going on, make sure you take time to take care of yourself.
Sooner or later, if you don't take time now, illness will force you to take time later. I stink at this, obviously. I woke up in a fog, after 3 hours of sleep, and now need to adult the rest of the day. Make sure you realize your limits, and that you set a boundary for yourself so you can at least attempt to stay in the lines. Chase your dreams fam, but know your limits. Have a wonderful day my friends, God Bless!
Today I wanted to talk a little bit about the right tool for the job. Something my dad always said and engrained in me at a young age was to always use the right tool for the right job. That's stuck with me for all my life, and so I wanted to share some of the tool of the trade I use in #DadCave for the experience I create.
For broadcaster software, I use Streamlabs OBS and talk about OBS, Bebo and Xsplit. For chatbots, I talk about the two different kinds (web based and client based) as well as the bots I use and what they are used for. I also talk about some extra software I use, including Voicemeeter Banana, Audacity and the newest software analytics suite in my bag, Arsenal.gg. I hope you enjoy, and God Bless!
Today I'm struggling with game selection. The Legion has come to expect, that generally speaking, we're playing Warframe or Fortnite. But the "Go Fast" update for Destiny 2 looks very intriguing after watching Ladman play it last night. So I want to try it out, but I also don't want to disappoint the fam. The struggle is real folks.
I know best practice is to introduce new games slowly and at the tail end of a normal cast, but for those of us that broadcast 2 to 4 hours a night, that can be difficult. It's a struggle fam, I want to bring y'all the content you have come to know and love, but when things like the Destiny 2 update drops, I want to check that out too. Hope y'all had a great Easter weekend, and are having a great start to the week! God Bless!
As a content creator, it's easy to dream about wanting to only be a content creator. I do it all the time. But the fact is, many of us, have responsibilities to take care of, not just to ourselves, but to others. And the reality is, we have to take care of business. You need to take care of providing for the people who count on you, and you need to take care of the things for you as well.
We all look to have a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, and clothes on our backs. It's important to focus on your responsibilities and to take care of your needs before everything else. I'm all about chasing your dreams, I'm in the same boat you're in with wanting to just do content creation. But take care of business fam, people (including yourself) are counting on you. God Bless!
Today I want to talk about making time. Not making time, like I'm making my day be 26 hours long instead of 24. I'm talking about making time for the people in your life. A lot of folks talk about how hard it is to make friends, and while I agree that it can be tough making friends, it can be equally as tough maintaining the relationships you already have.
So my encouragement for the day is for you to make time for the relationships that matter in your life. Whether with your best friend, significant other, or family. We all have 24 hours in a day, I always try to prioritize people before everything else. Make time for your relationships my friends, have a great day and God Bless!
A few nights ago, we had a Q&A session in the stream, and I had someone ask me "Why do you stream"? I've always felt that streaming was my opportunity to build a place for people to belong. It's been the core of why I do what I do, because too many people in this world don't feel like they belong anywhere. Whether that's at home, church, school, work, wherever. Video games offers them an escape from that reality.
If you're a content creator, I encourage you to find your "why". Too many people start streaming either because it's the "dream job" or because "I'm already playing games, I might as well stream it". The latter is fine if you want this to be a hobby and that's it, but don't create outrageous goals for yourself that don't align to the purpose you have for streaming. Make sure you find your "why", and then align your goals accordingly. Have a great day and God Bless!
Hey fam, so after last night, I'm just dumbfounded by the love and support we've gotten on Mixer. From the casters, from the viewers, it's incredible. And it would be easy for me to puff up my chest, and say "Look what I've done!" But I know that the Dad Cave wouldn't be where it's at without all of the people around me who support me. Plain and simple. Tom Brady isn't a star quarterback without his offensive line.
So take a moment today, and thank the people who support you, whether they cast with you, retweet your content, mod for you, whatever it is they do. Show them some appreciation, and know that there are very few people in this world (if any) that see their success without the help of someone else. Stay humble my friends, and God Bless!
I can't stress this enough. So many folks that create content on other platforms, are making their way to Mixer. And there are folks that are challenged by this, and folks that are supportive of this. Those that are challenged are "fearful" that these new folks on the platform are going to "take away" viewers from them. While viewers may shift their focus, if you are focused on what's important, that won't happen.
Professor Broman has talked about this on his #AskBroman podcast many times, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. We, as broadcasters, need to take this opportunity to welcome other content creators to our platform with open arms, because at the end of the day, if you want your community to grow, you have to do two things. 1) Make friends (see the nasty term networking) and 2) Support those friends in their endeavors, regardless of where they are. Support your fellow content creators, there are benefits to you both if you do. See you soon friends, God Bless!
I'm letting negativity overwhelm me today, and I'm struggling to get out of this headspace. I've been at this broadcasting gig for about 6 months now, and I've built what I think some really great relationships with folks. I've got several folks that I would call "regulars", but I've noticed quite a few of them have been really inactive lately. I know life happens, and people have things going on circumstances change.
But it's really hard as a broadcaster to not wonder, "Did I do something wrong?" "Is the content I'm creating no longer interesting?" "What changed?" So that's where I'm at today, trying not to let these thoughts overwhelm me and to push forward. It's tough when things that you have no control over take a downward turn. Thanks for listening fam, God Bless!
Hey fam, so it's been a heck of a week, but I wanted to talk real quick about prioritizing your relationships. As broadcasters, it's easy to get sucked into the grind. Cast for just one more hour, work on the stream for just one more hour, heck, I'm doing it right now. Do just a little bit more. We sacrifice time with the people around us, to chase the dream. Balance can be thrown for a loop. Today I want to encourage you to take a moment, reflect on the relationships that are the most important to you, and make sure you do a health check. Are things where they need to be for me and for the other person? Have they asked me to spend more time with them? If you aren't spending time maintaining the relationships with the people who are supporting you in your dreams, when things come crashing down, you won't have the support you need to recover and build it back up. I encourage you to take the time you need, and prioritize the relationships that are important to you today. God bless!
It's been a bit of a challenging week this week, I've had to reschedule 2 out of my 3 casts due to some IRL stuff going on, and I've come to enjoy the regularity of my schedule, so weeks like this make it tough to be content. I know that the Legion expects the days when I'll be live, and when those days are changed it feels like I'm disconnected from family we've grown here in the Dad Cave.
But at the same time, I take solace in realizing that this is just one week out of many that we will experience together. And with all the ups and downs that come with life, I was reminded in my devotion today to be content. It's hard when you've had really incredible days to not desire to ALWAYS have incredible days or when you've had really bad days to crave NEVER having a bad day again. I'd encourage you friends, to find a way to be content, no matter the circumstance. God bless.
As I reflect on the life of a man who did many things before passing away, I realize that I need to double down on what matters in this life. And newsflash, it has nothing to do with making more money, getting more stuff, gaining more power, or anything like that. It's taken me 34 years on this planet to realize that, other than God, the only thing that really matters is the impact you have on other people.
Regardless of where your religion or personal belief system lies, I encourage you to look closely at the relationships you have in your life. Are you loving others as best as you can? Are you putting others before yourself? Matthew 22: 37 - 39 says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Regardless if you are religious or not, the second is human truth that we should all be able to get behind. Love until you can't love anymore. God bless.
Last night, the creative juices were flowing after a friend of mine posted an idea for a podcast on Twitter. I immediately and almost frantically, started writing questions and ideas down for implementing the idea and running with it. It was an example of one of those "yahtzee" moments, where something in a creator's head just clicks, and you take off like a SpaceX rocket after an idea. Creators, take full advantage of these moments, because when they come around you have an opportunity to create something so special, don't let something like needing sleep stifle your creation process (I say that jokingly as it was about 30 minutes before I was going to bed when this brainchild happened, don't sacrifice your health peeps). Point being, when opportunity comes knocking, be sure you're ready, and chase after it like your life depended on it. God bless!
Mixer was down last night. Effectively, most of Mixer's services were down and we ended up calling it about 90 minutes into my cast. Which, as a broadcaster who only gets to cast 3 to 4 times a week, really stinks. But, instead of complaining about it and just logging for the night, we made lemonade out of lemons, got creative, and had a blast! We opened up the voice channels in Discord, and hung out with a bunch of folks and just enjoyed playing video games! It was refreshing, an opportunity to hang and chat with folks we don't normally get to, and it gave me an idea for our family nights that I'm looking forward to implementing. My encouragement for you, regardless of what you do for a living, is to find the silver lining in an otherwise bad situation, get creative, and make some phenomenal lemonade out of lemons. God bless!
So many emotions today that I can't articulate. We hit 1000 Legion strong last night, which is an INCREDIBLE milestone to hit less than a month in to being on Mixer. But while that's super exciting, I'm also disheartened to see so many other great content creators feel stuck on platforms that are doing NOTHING to support their growth and their needs. I have some very good friends on Twitch that are facing a hard decision to stay with a platform that they've spent years building their communities on or to move to platform where they have a chance to possibly accomplish the goals they have for their community.
My ask is that if you are a broadcaster, do your research and evaluate your goals and whether the platform you are on supports your goals / needs. If you are a viewer, consider the impact you have on content creators if you choose a platform over supporting them moving. It's a simple ask, be kind to one another, put yourself in each others shoes, and love. God bless.
It's amazing to see Mixer starting to make moves in the broadcaster space, I was in Angry Iceberg's stream and there was chatter about how Mixer has approached some Twitch partners about making the move to Mixer. This to me shows that Microsoft is taking the next step and getting serious about making Mixer a contender to Twitch in terms of streaming services and competition. And what we saw this morning is that viewers are willing to go where their favorite content creators are. I'm extremely excited to see what the future holds for the Mixer platform, and how the influx of new viewers will drive Microsoft to accelerate innovation on the platform and to bring some things up to par with Twitch (emote size...). It's an exciting time to be a Mixer broadcaster!! God Bless!
After last night I absolutely had to talk about how important it is to surround yourself with a solid team. We nearly hit the 1k mark for member of the Legion, and I couldn't be more excited and humbled by the support and love we've seen from the Mixer community. But it's worth noting that this would NOT have been possible without the strong support from my team, my Mod Squad. Finding people who align with your vision and purpose for your broadcast is extremely important, even as a small broadcaster, because those are the folks who will be with you in the trenches, day in and day out, making sure your chat stays informed, aligns with your purpose and values, and ultimately helps you entertain and enrich the lives of your viewers to the best of your ability. The value they bring to the table rivals your own, so make sure you appreciate them and make sure you surround yourself with them. God Bless!
Today I talked about learning. A lot of times, we as people, actively want to avoid learning new things either because we're in school and we're forced to learn, or we're told by a figure of authority that we have to learn. Today I want to encourage you to go out and learn about something you WANT to learn about. I have a saying that I've told people for years, I've always said "The day you don't learn something new, is the day you die". Becuase whether we consciously or unconciously do so, we're always learning. My encouragement would be to go out and learn something today because you want to learn it. You'll be a better person for it. I appreciate each and every one of you that has stopped by and listened to the podcast, have a wonderful rest of your weekend and God Bless.
It's Friday! Today is normally a day where I start to reflect on how the week has gone, and this week is one of those weeks that I would define as "the grind". I didn't really have any of those "adrenaline" moments where we got a big raid, or we were featured or anything, but it wasn't a bad week either. The Legion saw really solid growth, we've got new fam joining the fold, and it was just a solid week. I think it's important to acknowledge these types of week, and most importantly to be grateful in the grind. It's easy to become disheartened when things aren't at their peak, especially if you're coming off of one of those peaks or hitting a plateau, whether it's in broadcasting or whatever you're doing. But be grateful that you have another day to have a positive impact on someone. Life is too short to let the grind get you down! I hope you're ready for a great weekend, I appreciate you, and God Bless!
So many thoughts running through my head in this dad log, it was really hard to put them all together in a coherent thought. But waking up to a Twitter-storm about Ninja and Drake is a pretty fun thing to wake up to.
Huge congratulations to Ninja, from what I've heard, this has been a long time coming. To get to a point where you can say "I've played video games with Drake" is pretty impressive, and shows what hard work and perseverance can do. So big-ups dude.
Second, the result of this cultural event has brought the best and worst out of people. The worst is when others see the success of someone else, and say they don't deserve it, or that it never would have happened if not for Drake. Not true. So make sure that you celebrate the success of your fellow streamer, regardless of how big or small. You'll be a better person for it. That's all I've got for you, have an amazing Thursday and God Bless!
Today I want to talk about priorities, whether it's stream related or otherwise. Had a chat with a good friend about getting things setup for their stream, and something that came to mind is the fact that it can be hard to decide, with limited time, what to work on and put the time into vs what you you don't put the time into. There are always the basics of making sure that you have basic commands setup for common things people want to know as they engage with your content. When you start looking at more complex items, the level of effort and complexity is far greater, which leads to more time. The main point I'd leave you with, is that from a streaming perspective, make sure that no matter what you prioritizing, that it lines up with the values / purpose / content of your channel. Every creator has a unique value prop they bring to the table, make sure that you prioritize the experiences that will bring value to your viewer. Thanks for listening, God Bless!
My wife and I had a date night last night, and sat down to finish up Thor: Ragnarok (great movie BTW, best of the three Thor movies in my opinion). At one point in the film, it's said that Asgard is a people, not a place. And it struck me, have I been thinking about the Dad Cave all wrong?
Originally the Dad Cave, named by my son, represented the place where my office / streaming setup is. But the Dad Cave isn't just a physical or virtual space, it's made up of the Legion. The people who engage with me and with each other in many different places and in many different ways.
It's easy as broadcasters (and in other professions) to focus on numbers. But if you lose sight of the people, then you need to take a step back and get some perspective. Ask yourself how you're having a positive impact on people, because if you have a positive impact on people, then your numbers will fall into place. Take encouragement knowing you have people supporting you, and focus on them. God bless!
First, before we dive into today's Dad Log, I have to say thank you for all the love and support that everyone has shown me and the fam. We have been on Mixer for a little over 2 weeks now, and the Legion is 600 strong. 600! When we left Twitch after 4 SOLID months of casting, we were at 750 Legion, so we have almost reached the point we were on Twitch from a fam perspective. Absolutely incredible.
So for today's Dad's Log, I want to cover something broadcaster related, because last night was just silly. What I talk about today is etiquette. Do yourself a favor casters, and make friends with the casters you would like support from. They will find out you're a broadcaster, eventually check out your content, and support you. It's that simple. Be patient, be kind and considerate, and support the content creators you want to support you. Don't ask for handouts, it's unbecoming of you and puts the caster in an awkward position. I appreciate each and every one of you, God bless!
Props to those who create content on a daily basis. I'm tackling this one head on, because I woke up this morning drawing a blank. Creating content daily is tough! Especially if you're creating content that isn't really "based" on other content. I don't know if I was just tired, or perhaps maybe I'm just that boring, but I was struggling with what to talk about.
I guess my musing for the day is, if you have a favorite content creator (other than me) that creates daily content, go like / share / subscribe / follow, support them in whatever way you can. They work hard on the content create, and if they do it, day in and day out, then give them as much love and support as you possibly can. Love you all, God bless, we'll see you soon!
So I didn't really think this whole thing through, it's really easy for me to get these done in the morning during the week because I can pop down here before work and get them knocked out before work. However, on the weekends, these may be a bit more delayed than normal.
However, today it was a really good thing because this morning I got up, got dressed, had breakfast, and went to the zoo with the fam. We got some nice fresh air, felt the sun on our face, and spent time together as a family. I've talked to many full time broadcasters who have described their days, and at no point do they get outside, even for 5 minutes, to see the sun and get some fresh air.
As someone who's brother and father both suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, I know how important the sun is for our mental health. So I encourage you, get outside, even just for 5 minutes each day, and get your daily dose. I am going to attempt to do the same. God Bless!
Today I woke up incredibly thankful for the opportunites that I've been given and that I have another day on this Earth. I'm grateful to everyone who I've interacted with over the last 6 months, whether that's been on stream or off stream, through DM or through the Discord, wherever I've met you.
One of my wrestling coaches tragically passed away yesterday while working on a lake up in my home town, and it was a gut check for me that no matter the circumstance, be grateful that you're alive and have the chance to love a little longer. That's not a typo, LOVE a little longer. Take the time to tell people you love them, be kind, be patient, be love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 - Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevere
I was up WAY TOO late last night, but I had an amazing conversation with a fellow broadcaster on the Mixer platform. It's really encouraging to know I'm not alone in the struggles to create the best content I can on the limited schedule I have. That running yourself ragged, burning the candle at both ends, does have some reward in it.
I had someone reach out this morning and share that they are inspired by the content I make, and that they are starting to create their own content. It amazes me every time someone reaches out and tells me that I inspired them to start making content, I've been in this for all of 6 months. And seeing that impact, seeing the impact I have on people, is one of the most rewarding things about creating content and creating community.
I hope you watch this and find yourself encouraged and inspired to chase your dream, no matter what it is. Love you all, have a great day, and God Bless!!
MIXER https://mixer.com/dadxgotxgame
TWITTER https://twitter.com/dad
I wanted to take a moment to share some things that have been weighing on me lately, conversations I've had with people in my life, including my wife and other broadcasters.
I'm looking at the Dad Logs as a way to get out some of my feelings on things going on in life, they are completely unscripted, off the cuff emotions and happenings. Let me know what you think, and if this is something you'd enjoy more of!
MIXER https://mixer.com/dadxgotxgame
TWITTER https://twitter.com/dadxgotxgame
FACEBOOK https://facebook.com/dadxgotxgame
INSTAGRAM https://instagram.com/dadxgotxgame