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00:00:01
Brian - Host/Content Creator of DIY Outdoor Life
57 Plays9 months ago
Sometimes you set out to pursue a career and life has other plans. You go down a road and end up in a meadow that wasn't even on the map, and that's a good summary of Brians career path. From early influences to work with his hands and be self sufficient, to a college degree and career as a P.E. Teacher and coach, to now the host and content creator of the very popular Youtube Channel, "DIY Outdoor Life", Brian has found his true calling. If you like camping, teardrop campers, off grid living and more all wrapped up in an amazing human interest story, you will love this interview. Thanks Brian!
Brians Youtube Channel can be found HERE @DIYOutdoorlife
If you found the interview entertaining and/or helpful and would like to support the show, you can do so HERE. Thanks!
Music by: SnoozyBeats - Song Title - "Keep It Calm". Please check out SnoozyBeats on PixaBay for a ton of awesome content! -LINK
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:21
The Jobs Podcast
Hey folks, you're listening to the Jobs Podcast. I am your host, Tim Hendricks. We've got a great guest today. His name is Brian, and most of you know him from DIY Outdoor Life on YouTube. I myself am a subscriber.
00:00:34
The Jobs Podcast
He does all things with camping and teardrop trailers and campers and modifications and all the different gear that you can use, gear reviews and stuff. And he explains it in a phenomenal way, so I'm really looking forward to talking more about the origin story of Brian and how he became to be the expert at DIY Outdoor Life.
Brian's Early Influences and DIY Spirit
00:00:55
The Jobs Podcast
So welcome, Brian. Thanks for joining me.
00:00:57
Brian
Hey Tim, it's great to be here. I had a good chance to check out some of your other pods. I love what you're doing, so this is exciting for me as well.
00:01:04
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, great. Thanks a lot. Well, let's go ahead and start. A lot your listeners know who you are, but they may not know the backstory and just kind of how you became to be the guy that they turn to for advice on YouTube. So start with us.
00:01:18
The Jobs Podcast
Let's go where you were born, your upbringing, and we'll just start from there.
00:01:22
Brian
So I had the privilege of being born and raised upstate New York in the Catskill State Park, a little over 100 miles north of New York City.
00:01:29
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:01:32
Brian
And, you know, the older I get and the more I travel, the more I experience, the more I realize how formative, you know, being born and raised in the Catskill State Park really was.
00:01:43
Brian
And that's where I'm still living. I have an older brother and a younger brother. So middle child with three boys and Mom and dad still live, you know, just four or five miles down the road from me in the house that I was born
Career Choices and Teaching Journey
00:01:57
Brian
and raised in. So I've kept it pretty local here in the Catskills.
00:02:02
The Jobs Podcast
Good deal. Did you have any early hobbies or any early influences that, because when I watch your videos, I noticed that you have a lot of knowledge about how to DIY things, how to work on things, electrical work, plumbing work, stuff like that.
00:02:17
The Jobs Podcast
Did your dad or your brothers or somebody have early influence on you about how to be
00:02:22
Brian
Yeah, for sure. They definitely did. But, you know, it's impossible to tell my story or where these influences came from. It's really inseparable from, know, understanding what it's like to be raised in the Catskills or in state park like this.
00:02:36
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:37
Brian
I mean... I'll go into that for a minute because I think that was just so influential, but the Kenskill State Park is extremely unique, and I didn't realize that for a number of years until meeting lots of new people and traveling to new places.
00:02:54
Brian
If you look at the national park system in the United States, you see that it's skewed very heavily to the West Coast the center of the country.
00:03:04
Brian
And that's not because those areas are more beautiful or more worthy of protection. It really has to do with... you know, just the history of how our country took its modern shape, right?
00:03:15
Brian
So folks came over from Europe and the East Coast was settled and populated lot sooner than rest of the country.
00:03:16
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:03:24
Brian
So when the national, you know, the federal government gets around to creating park systems, you know, the East Coast was populated, it had cities, the land was privately owned, it just was practically more difficult to form national parks in the East Coast, right?
00:03:40
Brian
So New York did something that was way ahead of its time, in
Life Changes and Zen Monastery Experience
00:03:44
Brian
my opinion. They carved out enormous state park systems. So it's still kind of the best kept secret.
00:03:52
Brian
When I tell someone I'm from New York, they think of Manhattan, but New York is a very, very rural state.
00:04:00
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:04:00
Brian
And the Catskill State Park is, think, three quarters of a million acres in size. And the Adirondack Park, someone could correct me if I'm wrong, it's like five or six million acres.
00:04:11
The Jobs Podcast
Shoo.
00:04:12
Brian
So this is enormous. And you can actually fit, I wrote it down here, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Everglades, and the Smokies inside the Adirondacks together with room to spare.
00:04:25
The Jobs Podcast
Good grief.
00:04:27
Brian
Yeah. So, you know, to tell my story, you're in an area where there's not many people. You know, we're living in a state park that is, you know, like I said, three quarters of a million acres of public land where not many people live.
00:04:43
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:04:44
Brian
So the idea of becoming self-sufficient, idea of being able to fix your own stuff or, you know, even what you're devoting this podcast to, you start thinking about what you're going to do to make a living or the occupation that you're looking to.
00:04:59
Brian
you know, we're kind of a small knit community and the opportunity in school to go work with somebody that does plumbing or electric, or they're a carpenter or stonemason,
00:05:11
Brian
I really enjoyed that at a young age. So I helped a lot of friends and family that worked in those occupations. But I think the overarching thing is just this necessity.
00:05:21
Brian
You know, if you have a farm or something in this area and something breaks,
Pandemic Projects and Teardrop Camper Adventures
00:05:25
Brian
usually you learn how to fix it yourself or you're going to be waiting a long time. And yeah, so that was...
00:05:33
The Jobs Podcast
You were exposed to a lot of folks showing you how to do things at a young age then because it was a necessity.
00:05:39
Brian
It was a necessity and it's more than that, right? It's like a culture or a spirit to be able to take care yourself. And we get into a lot of off-grid living on the channel, but this is an area where there wasn't an electric grid for much later than most of the country.
00:05:50
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:05:56
Brian
So, you know, people here had a leg up when it came to getting things to be powered off of the national grid system.
00:05:56
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:06:05
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm. So let's move forward to where you've grown up. You've had a lot of exposure to folks, masons, plumbers, electricians, et cetera, that are showing you how to do things. You're soaking up all that information.
00:06:18
The Jobs Podcast
What kind of, what was your, did you have any formal training? Did you go to college or kind of how did that play out?
00:06:25
Brian
I did, but my story a far, you know, there's a lot more meandering than just like a straight path to what I'm doing now.
00:06:33
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:34
Brian
But it all relates. And I hope, you know, like with your audience that they understand and can benefit, you know, learning about a job or learning about what you might want to do for a living.
00:06:46
Brian
In this area, it was beat into my head from a
Content Creation Journey and Mentorship
00:06:49
Brian
very early age that you want to find a career that has benefits and ideally a pension.
00:06:59
Brian
And the idea was, and this was something that I'd hear from my grandparents and my parents and aunts and uncles, like there's such a value, even if you pass up some more money in the short term, the idea that after 25 years, 20 years, years,
00:07:14
Brian
this organization that you're trading your labor for is gonna pay you for the rest of your life was a really big deal.
00:07:22
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:07:23
Brian
So at the same time that it was important to learn those skills, there also was like a strong familial pressure to actually find a position that had that pension and benefits.
00:07:37
Brian
And for the most part, the trades in our area did not.
00:07:41
Brian
So I actually went into being a New York State school teacher. And lot of people in my family went into being in law enforcement or a corrections officer within one of the state-run prison systems.
00:07:56
Brian
My grandfather worked for New York State Electric and Gas, which was kind of semi-private, semi-public organization that provides electricity to folks. But again, it was a job that you sign up for, in 25
00:08:11
Brian
We're going to pay you for the rest of your life. So that's hard to do as an electrician or a plumber because there's not the same union work here.
00:08:13
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:08:19
Brian
You'd have to be traveling down to the city. Otherwise, you're just going to run your own business, right?
00:08:24
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:08:25
Brian
So I actually, know, I went a different direction. I went into being a school teacher.
00:08:30
The Jobs Podcast
What did you teach? What subject?
00:08:33
Brian
I taught physical education.
00:08:35
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, right on.
00:08:36
Brian
Yeah, this is... It's so funny and why I was so interested in talking with you. I just love the idea of like a jobs podcast because, know, I really did have enough kind of foresight and good influence in my life that when I thought about what job I wanted to do, I viewed like a phys ed teacher as, of course, you know, holidays and the summers and all of that exciting stuff.
00:08:46
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:09:04
Brian
And you could You know, you could retire. But the idea was like, I thought it was something that I would absolutely love, just working with kids and their health and sports and becoming a coach. And it's definitely something that early in life was like a major influence or a major desire.
00:09:23
Brian
And that's what I went off to do. So I taught pre-K phys ed and health. I did it for almost a decade. in the local school, you know, just 10 minutes away from where I grew up.
00:09:30
The Jobs Podcast
Oh.
00:09:34
Brian
So I landed a pretty cool job there.
Insights and Challenges in Content Creation
00:09:37
Brian
But how I got from there to what I'm doing now is a bit of a story. That's, we've taken a lot of turns on the road from there.
00:09:46
Brian
So
00:09:47
The Jobs Podcast
Well, yeah, sometimes you meander into your dream job, and I think you've done that. So let's dig right in. You've been a teacher for 10 years, and then walk me through that meander.
00:09:57
The Jobs Podcast
Take me down the trail.
00:09:59
Brian
I'm glad it's long form podcast. So interrupt me if I get too rambly with it.
00:10:02
The Jobs Podcast
No, you're good.
00:10:04
Brian
But for me, all of this stuff is,
00:10:04
The Jobs Podcast
You're good.
00:10:08
Brian
has a deep impact, right? I try to think about the big questions. You hear the adages, like, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.
00:10:17
Brian
I took all that stuff to heart. So I went to college. I actually accelerated what I was doing. In New York State, you have to have a master's degree and certifications to teach in the school system. But
00:10:29
The Jobs Podcast
Okay. Mm-hmm.
00:10:29
Brian
New York State teachers are paid very well, relatively speaking to other places in the country. So I went off, I got the degree, I studied kinesiology, human movement studies, got my teaching certification, and I actually landed that job.
00:10:46
Brian
which is kind of unusual. I was 20 years old during my job interviews and not even 21 when I was hired to start as a full-time teacher.
00:10:58
Brian
So I wasn't even old enough to drink, but I had students that were 19.
00:10:58
The Jobs Podcast
Wow.
00:11:04
Brian
Yeah.
00:11:05
The Jobs Podcast
Good grief.
00:11:06
Brian
So I really worked hard to get that position and In a rural school district like that, there's a lot of opportunities. I became a three sport coach, which that's three separate paid positions.
00:11:20
Brian
I was an assistant to the athletic director. I ran a summer recreation program. I was kind of a workaholic. I still am. So I found a way really early on to actually make a lot of money teaching in New York state.
00:11:37
Brian
So I set off to build my own house. you know, that's part of the skills I had developed when I was younger, but looking back, I developed more skills during that process than all of the years before, you know, I, even then could, YouTube wasn't what it is now, but I could like look up in books, like the proper way to create a multi-branch circuit on your electric panel.
00:11:51
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:12:02
Brian
Like I really wanted to build the house myself.
00:12:05
The Jobs Podcast
do.
00:12:06
Brian
Um, I did that and, you know, to fast forward, a little bit or to do the old Seinfeld yada yada yada, if any of your viewers know what that means.
00:12:15
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. do
00:12:17
Brian
So yada yada yada. You know, I just woke up one day after teaching for eight years. I had a beautiful home, nice cars and toys and was in a long term relationship and doing what should have been my dream job.
00:12:34
Brian
But I just wasn't happy. hard to put your finger on it, but I just simply wasn't happy. And if I could, know, offer something somebody that listens to your program, you know, like it takes a little bit of courage and a little bit of bravery when you identify that to just be willing to make profound change.
00:12:58
Brian
And in my situation, I was drinking too much. I definitely developed some alcoholism and anybody who's been through that, it's like a dog chasing its tail.
00:13:06
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:13:11
Brian
It's like, am I drinking because I'm not happy or am I not happy because I'm drinking so much?
00:13:16
Brian
And the truth is it's like one hand washing the other, right? It's just, they feed each other. So You know, wasn't a mess. I was still highly functioning, doing a good job at work.
00:13:28
Brian
But I reached a decision point, you know, a critical juncture where I had to make some tough choices. And when I decided to quit drinking, I thought I was just going to take like a leave of absence from work and just kind of get my head on straight and go back.
00:13:45
Brian
But that experience was profound enough that I questioned everything. And I said, you know what? I'm not afraid to just start over. And it was kind of baby steps, but I wanted to, I got into like meditation, you know, something that we can do to kind of manage our stress and kind of get our head on right.
00:14:06
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Mm hmm.
00:14:08
Brian
So I went to a local Zen Buddhist monastery and I thought, okay, I'll come here for a week and surely I'll leave an expert in meditation, right? Yeah.
00:14:19
Brian
but something amazing happened. You know, I, uh, one week turned into two weeks, turned into two months, turned into six months. And before you know it, I had resigned from teaching.
00:14:32
Brian
I left, uh, my job, kept my license in case I wanted to go back. But I had rented that house out because I was living at the monastery.
00:14:43
Brian
So all of a sudden that rental income gave me enough money to stick around. And I said, right, I'll do this for a year. And then I'll go back into the rat race. I'll get another job in the district or take on a college coaching position or something and Life is strange.
00:14:59
Brian
You one year turned into two years and I actually met a woman there and were engaged. You know, it's been a while, but before you know it, I had sold my house, had no intention to go back into teaching and a position opened up at that Zen monastery where they needed a facility director.
00:15:23
Brian
They have 1,500 acres of land, roads and buildings, some off-grid buildings. And they needed someone to serve as the director of that facility. And they had another one in Manhattan.
00:15:36
Brian
So I actually ended up getting a career out of that effort to go meditate for a week in the woods.
00:15:44
The Jobs Podcast
You weren't kidding. That was a meandering, but that's funny how that all works out.
00:15:47
Brian
Yeah, that is not your average...
00:15:49
The Jobs Podcast
No, you, you threw me a couple of curve balls there, but that's, that's a really interesting story. And I do want to congratulate you on getting past the alcohol. Sometimes that is major obstacle for folks and for you to, to accomplish that, that, that speaks a lot to your, your internal fortitude. So congratulations.
00:16:09
Brian
Thank you. I appreciate that. But I mean, you know, again, I hope I hope if anyone has ever been through this, that's listening. You know, the idea is I am super happy.
00:16:23
Brian
ah ah My worst days today are better than my best days then.
00:16:23
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:16:28
Brian
And what I had then seemed picture perfect. That was the career I wanted, the house, you know, everything is different today. And wouldn't trade it for the world. That experience was the foundation that pushed me to a whole new world that I never knew existed.
00:16:45
Brian
So I'm not, I don't regret anything. I feel very grateful for those meanderings.
Advice for Aspiring Content Creators
00:16:51
The Jobs Podcast
I do have one question about, you said that you were unhappy when you were teaching and you kind of saw that you needed to make a change. What was the...
00:17:01
The Jobs Podcast
If you could put your finger on it, if it's even possible, was it just the fact that you didn't feel like you were doing what you should be doing?
00:17:05
Brian
Mm-hmm.
00:17:09
The Jobs Podcast
Was there a big creative itch that just was never scratched and you felt unfulfilled? Was it all of the above? Was it the rat race? You know, kind of walk me through what was at the core of that that finally propelled you?
00:17:26
Brian
So this is a really good question, right? And I think sometimes the answer is very simple, but it's subtle.
00:17:32
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Right.
00:17:32
Brian
There's this realization that time is so precious. Like, what do we want to with the day that we have ahead of us? What do we want to do this year? we want to do with our lives? And most of the time, we have no idea.
00:17:48
Brian
we kind of sugarcoat it, but, you know, go work in a school and see like a guidance counselor trying to help people figure out what they want to do with their lives. We have no idea.
00:17:59
Brian
but for me, knew that, teaching definitely did scratch that itch.
00:18:06
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:18:06
Brian
But the most significant contract we ever enter in our lives is that we, within the United States and the world at large, we just enter this contract where we're going to trade our labor for money.
00:18:22
Brian
So every day, no matter what job we go into, I'm going to trade my time for some money. And depending on our skills, experience, or just the market, some people's time is worth more than others.
00:18:39
Brian
But even in a job like teaching that I thought would have so much intrinsic value, the question came like, is this really what I want to do every day? Is this really something that's making me happy? And I couldn't put it in perspective at the time, but I've since come to realize that if you're miserable, you'll bring that with you anywhere.
00:19:02
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
00:19:05
Brian
I have a friend of mine, we talk about it when we're camping. People see that I travel the country with a little teardrop camper all the time and they're, oh, wow, it must be so amazing to be in New Mexico or the Rockies or Florida.
00:19:20
Brian
And the joking answer is like, don't worry. If you're miserable, you'll be miserable in a beautiful place, the same that you are anywhere.
00:19:26
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Right.
00:19:29
Brian
So, so I don't know how well I'm answering that question. The, the idea was, I came to realize that even though I felt like I should have been happy doing that for a living, I simply wasn't.
00:19:45
Brian
And I had to find a new way, a new contract to exchange my time with.
00:19:45
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:19:50
Brian
Yeah.
00:19:51
The Jobs Podcast
Sure. Well, no, everybody has that thing. You know, some people are just as passionate and satisfied being a teacher as you are being content creator.
00:20:02
The Jobs Podcast
And you're teaching people, you're just doing it in different medium that is more satisfying for you.
00:20:03
Brian
Mm-hmm.
00:20:06
Brian
Exactly, exactly.
00:20:08
The Jobs Podcast
So just because one person, doesn't mean there's a problem with the job. It just means it's not a right fit for that person and they need to find something else. And that's what you've done.
Content Creation and Outdoor Experience Balance
00:20:17
Brian
Yeah. And I mean, part of learning those lessons was like in the early days, even at the monastery, taking on those facility jobs, I could be plunging out a toilet.
00:20:28
Brian
I could be making a trash run and sorting garbage and compost. And was making one tenth the money doing a job that, quote unquote, should be less desirable.
00:20:40
Brian
And I was way more happy. So you just you don't know.
00:20:44
Brian
You can't always take somebody else's word for what brings you some enjoyment in life. But yeah, ultimately we're going to get to becoming a content creator, but that was kind of the culmination where I still feel like I get to teach and work with people, but I'm getting that, I'm getting that trade of my time that feels free and it just feels like a, you know, a life worth living.
00:21:10
The Jobs Podcast
I'm jumping ahead to the question I'm about to ask, but I want to make sure I ask it in case I forget.
00:21:12
Brian
Yeah.
00:21:15
The Jobs Podcast
You travel all over the place, but you also do a lot of testing of equipment.
00:21:23
The Jobs Podcast
You're going to be, I'm sure you do some filming and whatnot. Does the work side of the travel take the joy out of the travel or does it ever feel, and I know this is almost kind of silly to say you're complaining because you have to do some filming when you're going to the Rocky Mountains, for example.
00:21:39
Brian
Sure.
00:21:40
The Jobs Podcast
There should be no complaining there, but does, does the spontaneity go away or does just the, I'm living the life, I'm on vacation kind of thing go away when your trip has structure to it for the filming and the products and all that kind of stuff?
00:21:56
Brian
That's a brilliant question. And it's something I tackle and juggle with every single day.
00:22:02
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:22:02
Brian
Because if you take something that you absolutely love and you turn it into the constructs of a job, it can steal the joy out of that.
00:22:06
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:14
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:14
Brian
And much of what you pointed to, I have to admit going into this, this is an extremely privileged situation.
00:22:14
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:22:23
Brian
position to be in some folks have to go change their labor exchange their labor for money to make the bare minimum to be able to avoid the hardships of life right I have to pay my rent I have to pay the power bill I don't have a choice to go do something I love I understand that
00:22:44
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:45
Brian
I think for me, with the experience that I had, am very, very cautious. And when we get into this more, you'll see that I'm probably missing 75% of my occupational opportunities by just not taking deals or entering, you know,
00:23:04
Brian
An example would be I don't film probably 90% of my outdoor recreation. The channel comes from about 10%. And you never see my fiance has never been a video. She just doesn't want to be involved. Like the filming of DIY Outdoor Life is just a fraction of what I'm actually trying to do on a daily basis.
00:23:29
Brian
So
00:23:30
The Jobs Podcast
That's intentional though, to keep that kind of at bay so it doesn't steal your, your joy from the trip.
00:23:38
Brian
That's exactly it. You know, you go for a three week trip, I might try to organize something to put out a 10 minute video.
00:23:39
The Jobs Podcast
Okay.
00:23:46
Brian
But if you're swinging cameras and working with mics and trying to charge batteries, you're not necessarily enjoying those Rockies in the same way.
00:23:59
The Jobs Podcast
Well, thanks for joining me on that rabbit hole. Let's go back to the main trail that we were walking down. And you have been working at a monastery. You've been there for a few years, you're doing the property management, the maintenance, that kind of thing.
00:24:14
The Jobs Podcast
Walk me through the next part of your trip.
00:24:18
Brian
Yeah. Long, strange trip. I wish I could get more easy for you, but nothing has been simple in my life. It's always been different.
00:24:27
The Jobs Podcast
right
00:24:28
Brian
So I meet a wonderful woman. Part of my job as the facilities director comes with a cabin on the property that is mine. So the monastery, huge property. Monastery is a couple miles up the road. I live at the gate, the entrance in the home.
00:24:44
Brian
So it's not like I'm living inside the monastery proper. So I do meet somebody. We start dating. And it's not, you know, I have to explain that because people like, you were dating in a monastery.
00:24:55
Brian
Well, you know, no, I did have my own house. So yeah.
00:24:59
The Jobs Podcast
Right. Hmm.
00:25:01
Brian
She worked semi-remotely, but her occupation at the time was in California. So we're 3,000 miles
Future Goals and Off-Grid Technology Engagement
00:25:10
Brian
away. So as dating became more serious, a large part of our occupations these days that I'm sure you've dealt with on your podcast and a lot of the viewers have dealt with this, she got the opportunity to work completely remotely.
00:25:28
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:25:29
Brian
So that's a big deal. She was able to actually move from the West Coast to the East Coast and do her job in upstate New York. Well, we had big ideas and dreams. We were going to do this. We were going to that. We were going to travel. We had all these ideas.
00:25:53
Brian
you know, New York was a bit of the epicenter there. You know, we had all of these ideas of what we were going to do.
00:26:00
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:26:02
Brian
And what we were actually doing was like spraying our mail with Lysol and we weren't allowed to leave our home, you know.
00:26:09
Brian
So life throws you curveballs. So we were at a loss. Holy cow. We made this huge life decision kind of do this thing on the East Coast in the middle of the woods.
00:26:22
Brian
And the world is upside down. And actually started viewing these tiny trailers, these tiny campers. as like, wow, there's really something to this.
00:26:35
Brian
So it's 1500 pounds, give or take, you know, as an average size, you could tow it with almost any vehicle. It's got a little kitchen, you can make your own food.
00:26:47
Brian
You know, you tow it behind your car. I could go visit her family, which was very important to her. Obviously, they were in New Mexico, you know, 3000 miles away from home.
00:26:59
Brian
I could go back to the West Coast.
00:27:00
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:27:01
Brian
We could go do things that when you weren't allowed on airplanes and you weren't allowed in public spaces,
00:27:12
Brian
I thought, you know, well, what would stop us from just going to remote areas? You can work from cell service. And so we jumped into this, uh, we jumped into this teardrop camper lifestyle and I just thought it was the coolest thing that I'd ever seen.
00:27:29
The Jobs Podcast
Huh. You started with Bushwacker, if I remember right, right?
00:27:33
Brian
I started with a bushwhacker. I knew very little, but I knew they were cheap.
00:27:37
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:39
Brian
So, uh, To be honest, I did a lot of research, but really it came down to, I felt like I could fix it myself, change it, modify it, take it off grid. I had those skills and there was a bushwhacker place when I was early enough in the game that a bushwhacker was like $8,900. And I
00:28:02
Brian
you know, other teardrop campers were like 18, 19.
00:28:06
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:28:06
The Jobs Podcast
Yes.
00:28:06
Brian
They're shockingly expensive for beginners.
00:28:08
Brian
They don't realize how much they cost. Those prices have like doubled.
00:28:13
Brian
So it was modestly affordable, like within my budget to get this cheap one and to get out and try to You know, we had a dog and we were like, let's just do some travel during the pandemic.
00:28:29
Brian
We can cook our own food and take care of ourselves. We don't need to go to any public areas. We could be outside. We don't have to wear a mask. We could hike. And so it really was an adaptation to a pandemic.
00:28:45
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Where did the shift occur? see the value in the camper. You see the ability to travel when the world is just kind of collapsing in on itself and there's a bunch of noise and drama going on.
00:29:00
The Jobs Podcast
But you see kind of an avenue for a fun adventure, a little bit of normalcy. where did it shift into I'm going to start filming things about this and where did the, the content creation stuff kind of start to brew?
00:29:19
Brian
Well, it was a gift from the universe. I got on YouTube, which is what so many of us do now when we want to learn about something.
00:29:30
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:29:30
Brian
It's like at our fingertips. YouTube is owned by Google. Google is the largest search engine in the world. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.
00:29:41
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:29:41
Brian
So every day people type you know, first place is Google, second place is YouTube to learn about things.
00:29:41
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:29:48
Brian
And I stumbled upon Cosmo Weems channel.
00:29:53
Brian
He really was one of, if not the first in the game to just do this silly lifestyle channel on his teardrop and do some reviews and just be really authentic, trying to help people out.
00:30:07
Brian
And his channel exploded. You know, he had videos, several videos with millions of views when when that was really big news back then. You know, now market has changed.
00:30:18
The Jobs Podcast
Good
00:30:20
Brian
It's a much bigger playing field. But he really was a pioneer there. And I am and this is this is nuts. Right. This is such a synchronicity. But I am watching his channel.
00:30:32
Brian
And in a video, he comes to my town. goes to the spots that I'm familiar with. And then he drives to the monastery and knocks on my door.
00:30:45
The Jobs Podcast
grief.
00:30:47
Brian
I am like dropping my jaw. I love this channel. I love this guy. And I'm like, he on video, he is knocking on my front door. So we were closed.
00:30:59
Brian
So he just said, I'll come back another time or whatever. But I reached out first with a comment. And then we were able to exchange some emails and share with him how crazy the story was and how I had a teardrop camper.
00:31:13
Brian
And Cosmo was just an amazing guy. He's not with us anymore. If people don't know, he did pass away couple years ago, but he really wanted to pick my brain.
00:31:17
The Jobs Podcast
Right. Mm-hmm.
00:31:25
Brian
about this elusive Catskill State Park. He felt like he had found an insider, right? We have a lot of campgrounds, but our boondocking opportunities, and for someone who doesn't know, we say boondocking or dry camping, there's a lot of places in the country where you can camp for free.
00:31:46
Brian
Some have more resources than others, but the Catskill Park is rich with just places that you can go and not pay any money staying on the public land to camp.
00:31:57
Brian
And that's very popular on the West Coast with BLM land and stuff. But on the East Coast, it's a little more rare. So Cosmo really wanted to know, like, give me the dirt, share me, share with me the inside scoop.
00:32:02
The Jobs Podcast
Right
00:32:09
Brian
And I kind of weaseled my way into being like, well, let's go together. You know, let's camp together. So when we started hanging out, he realized that I had these skills.
00:32:22
Brian
He was very knowledgeable, but he would still bring his camper someplace to have a tire change or the brakes worked on. And that was something that I felt like I, you know, there's not that many businesses where I live.
00:32:34
Brian
That's something had to do myself.
00:32:36
The Jobs Podcast
Okay.
00:32:36
Brian
So he wanted me to do a spot on his channel where I would just do little guest appearances and do some maintenance videos. And in the early attempts to do that, he kind of changed my life.
00:32:51
Brian
He leaned back and was like, there's no way I'm taking this. He's like, you have to do this yourself. you know, you're, I'll help you out, but you should have your own channel. Like I was going to stick you on for three minutes with Brian to do a tire change, but he's like, I really, I'm learning a lot. And I just, I think that you should make your own channel.
00:33:12
Brian
And that man gave me microphones. I didn't even own a smartphone at the time.
00:33:18
The Jobs Podcast
Flip phone.
00:33:20
Brian
I don't think it flipped. You still had to hit all the numbers multiple times to set a text in.
00:33:23
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, right.
00:33:24
Brian
Yeah.
00:33:25
The Jobs Podcast
Okay.
00:33:26
Brian
So he set me up, showed me how he edits. He was never very good at any of that stuff, but I loved it. It felt authentic.
00:33:35
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:33:36
Brian
And we, you know, I sent him rough drafts. I came out with like 10, 12 videos. We did a collaboration together and boom, the channel started to grow.
00:33:48
Brian
I had couple hundred subscribers and things were going well. And, From there, you know, we planned all of this stuff. We actually filmed a bunch of stuff together and then he suddenly passed and kind of was on my own and the rest was kind of history, though. The channel took on a life of its own. And I went from trying to find something to do during the pandemic to being like, oh, this is another career opportunity. This is a legitimate thing.
00:34:16
The Jobs Podcast
It's one of the questions I always ask is who, if you had any mentors and if so, who they were. And he obviously was someone who believed in you, took you under his wing, showed you, you know, the editing and all that, or, you know, how to, how to do the camera stuff and provided some equipment and everything.
00:34:34
The Jobs Podcast
It's always nice to have someone who sees something in you and they believe in you. And all you need is that little nudge and a little bit of advice. And then, you can just take it and run from there. Even if you're not quite ready, it's like, well, all right, the training wheels are off.
00:34:49
The Jobs Podcast
So.
00:34:50
Brian
Yeah, and the other one I'd have to throw out there was Drew from Playing With Sticks.
00:34:55
The Jobs Podcast
Oh yeah. I've watched this stuff.
00:34:57
Brian
Drew's channel had this huge steep rise. It just exploded.
00:35:02
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:35:03
Brian
For a while, Cosmo was bigger than him, and now he's five times bigger than Cosmo ever got as far as subscriber base and viewership. I had sent him an email within the first week of my channel posting,
00:35:18
Brian
You know, just kind of, I mean, how out to lunch that I thought that somebody that had such a big program would even like read an email like that.
00:35:26
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Hmm.
00:35:27
Brian
He took the time to watch my videos and give me this long list of like really clear, honest advice.
00:35:37
Brian
This is really good. This is not good. This thing that you're doing is so good. Nobody can teach that. You have that run with that. And yet when you do this, it makes it feel cheesy. Like it was just such great advice.
00:35:53
Brian
constructive criticism. And Drew and I have become friends. You know, we talk and we've done a couple of collaborations and we have some more planned. But, you know, that's another mentor that really just set the stage. I'm very fortunate in that respect.
00:36:07
The Jobs Podcast
I think these guys, what they see in you, and I'm not just blowing smoke when I say this. One of the things that attracted me to your videos early on a number of years ago is that you speak well.
00:36:19
The Jobs Podcast
I can see now when I learned that you were a teacher, it kind of made sense because you explain things well. You're relational. You know mean? I can just kind of, I feel like you'd be a guy that I would just sit down and you would just be talking to me like a friend as opposed to a bunch of flashy noise and all this stuff. The word authentic is what comes to mind.
00:36:38
The Jobs Podcast
And playing with sticks and Cosmo, you kind of had that just everyday man kind of a thing that I think is a big part of your success along with your knowledge is your presentation style.
00:36:49
The Jobs Podcast
So kudos to you for that.
00:36:50
Brian
Well, I appreciate that. But I think, yeah, if they lock you in a monastery and don't let you talk for a while, the floodgates open when you get out. I just talk a lot. But it fills up dead air for a podcast.
00:36:58
The Jobs Podcast
No, that's totally fine.
00:37:01
Brian
I could keep going.
00:37:14
The Jobs Podcast
And here we are. So, you know, I appreciate that.
00:37:16
Brian
Well, this is an important point. This one thing that those two, Cosmo and Drew, impressed upon me really early. And it's amazing. This is different than a lot of jobs.
00:37:27
Brian
When you are a content creator, when the tide raises, everyone comes up together.
00:37:30
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:37:33
Brian
It is not a competition and new content creators need to learn this, whether it's a podcast, YouTube, an Instagram person. If you live in a small town and you have a shop that sells paint and the neighbor opens up a shop that sells paint, that's not a very good feeling.
00:37:53
Brian
You're competing for a limited amount of customers. The better you do, the worse they're going to do. Most of the time. Content creation is not this way at all. When your channel does well or your podcast does well and you collaborate with other people doing similar things, the same thing.
00:38:13
Brian
you actually organically grow your niche. And want more channels doing outdoor content and tiny camper stuff. It gets more people into it.
00:38:24
Brian
So absolutely, try to do this as much as possible. I have a bunch of channels that reach out for collaborations or advice guidance on something. And I try to offer to them what was freely offered to me.
00:38:38
Brian
You know, it's, you know, you want to bring the whole pool up together. You're not competing with anyone.
00:38:43
The Jobs Podcast
Right. So on the topic of content creation, what do you think if someone is listening to this and they're thinking, I want to get into content creation in some form or another, whether it's a podcast, video, whatever product reviews, I don't know.
00:39:01
The Jobs Podcast
What do you think folks would either miss or they just gloss over when they really need to focus on that particular thing.
00:39:11
The Jobs Podcast
What, what, I think a lot of times we look it and go, that's glitzy and glamorous, but I know full well, once the microphone or the camera goes off, that's when the work starts and you've got editing and you've got audio levels and you've got clips to make and you've got, you know, you got to put it up on social media. And there's a lot of stuff that's involved making phone calls, emails.
00:39:29
The Jobs Podcast
People don't realize the hours that that consumes, but, What's your take on that, someone getting into it early?
00:39:37
Brian
It's a tremendous amount of work, but it is very, very difficult to go into it for the reason that I see a lot of people go into it for. I think that's why the failure rate is, if you get into the data on this, the failure rate is astronomical.
00:39:55
Brian
Like 99% of YouTube channels don't get to a thousand subscribers and the ones that do,
00:39:55
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:40:03
Brian
tend to peter out from 1,000 to 5,000. People quit. It's really difficult to go into this and be like, I want this to be my job.
00:40:13
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:40:16
Brian
It's very challenging to know what's successful and what's not. And a lot of the people that consume this media, they see their favorite content creators and they're like, oh, they get all this free stuff and they make all of this money playing with the toy. I could do that too.
00:40:32
Brian
And the truth is, yes, you can go for it.
00:40:35
Brian
You know, the more the merrier. But if you go into it thinking that you're going to be financially successful, good luck. It is happy accident.
00:40:46
Brian
And when it does happen, and for me, it happened, you know, I got lucky in a lot of respects.
00:40:50
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:40:53
Brian
But even once it happens, you have some really tough choices to make. Because immediately, and you asked this question earlier on, it's like, do you want this to be your full-time job? And do you want to steal joy from the thing that you might like most in life?
00:41:10
Brian
So if you're into, I don't know, jogging and you become jogging influencer, you can stop enjoying jogging in a hurry.
00:41:20
Brian
I mean, it can steal, it turn it right into work and stress.
00:41:25
The Jobs Podcast
Well, I mean, I hate jogging, but I get your point.
00:41:28
Brian
I to use an extreme example of something I've never done.
00:41:30
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, yeah.
00:41:33
The Jobs Podcast
What, how long did you, from the time that you started doing content creation in your early days with Cosmo, how long did you do that before it became this, I'm making a decision now for this to be my full-time job?
00:41:49
Brian
Wow. For me, fought it every step of the way. Yeah.
00:41:54
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:41:55
Brian
This is not going to be probably good advice for some people, but when I did the collaborations with Cosmo and then had a couple successful videos, the inbox became flooded with opportunities.
00:42:12
Brian
And I'm so glad that I had Cosmo because you get an offer that says, hey, would you like to use torque wrench or this tool that I saw you using in the channel? We'll give you $300 and send you a torque wrench.
00:42:29
Brian
And you're like, oh, sweet, sure. And then you get an email that's like, well, we want you to say that it's the best torque wrench that you've ever used. And you're like, well, I don't know that yet.
00:42:39
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:42:42
Brian
So the moment you write back and say, oh, no, no, no, no. If you want to send me something, I don't even need the money. You want to send it to me, I'll give an authentic review or not.
00:42:53
Brian
That's the risk you're taking. If I don't want to show it, or if it's so bad, I feel like if you don't something nice to say, don't say something. 90% of those people disappear.
00:43:05
Brian
And you start to see the ugly side.
00:43:08
Brian
All of a sudden, you see that same product appear in 20 other videos. And you're like, oh, wow. If you want this to be a job, you have to sell out and just take promo deal after promo deal.
00:43:22
Brian
And you'll see the audience does not like that.
00:43:25
The Jobs Podcast
Right. Yeah.
00:43:26
Brian
They smell that a mile away.
00:43:29
Brian
So what I did was I stopped accepting money or exchange. Sometimes I'll take free products for testing as long as they sign my contract, which is like, this is 100% authentic. I can say whatever I want. I can do whatever I want with it.
00:43:44
Brian
If I just want to throw it off a building, I can. If they're so confident in their product that they're willing to do that, then we can talk.
00:43:54
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:43:55
Brian
But that's not the usual course. I think the money path is to just say yes to everything. And Cosmo told me really early on, it's not worth it.
00:44:05
Brian
Say no to everything. And if you genuinely fall in love with something that you think would make people's lives better, and that company wants to work with you, then... That's a good deal. That's a collaboration.
00:44:18
Brian
But don't just continue to take every deal that ends up in your inbox, you know, telling people that you just, I just love Subway sandwiches or whatever, you know.
00:44:29
The Jobs Podcast
Well, it reeks of inauthenticity when you're just constantly, you know, this is my new mattress. This is my new rice cooker. I mean, pick whatever topic you want. It just seems like you're a sellout.
00:44:41
The Jobs Podcast
And I'm not saying that everybody that takes a deal like that is a sellout, but you get my point.
00:44:45
Brian
No. Yeah. And I want double edged sword. You can't not take those either because it's very expensive now.
00:44:51
The Jobs Podcast
Right. Right.
00:44:53
Brian
I pay for supplemental editing. I have a friend that does a lot that saves me just countless labor working with editing.
00:45:00
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:45:02
Brian
I go and plan trips and work and go to different places to interview people. It's a very expensive production. So you do every once in a while have to say, all right, well, I'll take that rice cooker and just be honest about it. Maybe it will help somebody out, but you just can't sell yourself out because people are going to pick up on that right away.
00:45:24
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. If you were just getting into this industry, if you know, we can't live in the past, of course, but if you could go back and do some things or one big thing differently, that would have maybe accelerated your path or maybe have provided a more desirable outcome.
00:45:44
The Jobs Podcast
Is there anything that you look back and see? Or was the journey part of what is allowing you to establish a solid foundation?
00:45:54
Brian
Yeah, that's another great question. I mean, I personally, I can't think that way.
00:45:58
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:59
Brian
The latter of what you said is more in line with how I'm thinking. All of the mistakes and stuff like that are what kind of build you to the present moment. You have to accept the whole thing.
00:46:10
Brian
But as far as like from an advice standpoint, make content that you want to watch, make content that is going to help somebody out.
00:46:22
Brian
But you have to find a hybrid between what you're into and what you think your audience is into. You can't go one way or the other too sharply.
00:46:28
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:46:31
Brian
Produce lot and don't judge yourself. I look at my old content and my cursor hovers over the delete button.
00:46:41
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Hmm.
00:46:42
Brian
Like it's, that's so bad. I can't believe I did that.
00:46:45
Brian
I can't believe I said that you can't go down that road. You have to just, that's a, that's a good sign that you're getting better is that you don't like the content that you produced earlier, you know?
00:46:58
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:58
Brian
so I just be true to that and just keep making content, uh, It takes a long time for that algorithm to think that you're worth showing videos to other people.
00:47:11
Brian
There's a long crawl to get to a handful of subscribers that engage with your content.
00:47:18
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, when I first started doing this, I don't have any illusions that I'm the next Joe Rogan or anything like that, and I'm not doing it for the money. I'm doing it because I started initially just to kind of get some information.
00:47:32
The Jobs Podcast
I've got two teenage boys, and they're going to have to figure out what they want to do with their lives. And it kind of frustrated me trying to help them look at careers.
00:47:37
Brian
Yeah.
00:47:42
The Jobs Podcast
We spend so much time in our occupations in our lifetime, it should not be this frustrating to figure out what a job is actually like.
00:47:47
Brian
Yeah.
00:47:51
The Jobs Podcast
So I just started interviewing people. I liked it. And so I figured I'm going hit record and put this out there and maybe somebody will like it, but I'm, I'm doing it because it creates, it scratches a creative itch and I enjoy it.
00:48:02
Brian
Absolutely.
00:48:03
The Jobs Podcast
I get to talk to people like you about, you know, campers and social media and whatnot. It's fun. So.
00:48:22
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:48:22
Brian
You'll see it's the jobs podcast.
00:48:25
Brian
So let's be honest with the deep question here is like, why, before you figure out what you're gonna do and how you're gonna do it, you have to spend some time on the why,
00:48:39
Brian
And realize that the why is the most elusive one. Why do we go to work? What type of life do we want to live?
00:48:48
Brian
And how do we want to trade our time for some sort of compensation?
00:48:52
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:48:54
Brian
Or if you're doing niche-y things like me and you, a lot of times you're trading your time for very little compensation. So you have to...
00:49:01
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah. It's not monetary, but it's a different type of, I mean, I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing it. So that's my currency for this, but it certainly doesn't keep the lights on.
00:49:13
The Jobs Podcast
So I have a day job, but yes.
00:49:15
Brian
Yeah, and you're a fireman, right?
00:49:17
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:49:17
Brian
Very cool. See, that's an exciting, exciting job, right?
00:49:18
The Jobs Podcast
And,
00:49:23
The Jobs Podcast
It can be. It's got its pros and its cons, but which that leads me into the next questions that I want to ask you. What do you like most about your job and what do you dislike most about your job?
00:49:36
Brian
All right. you're getting to be very good as an interviewer. As I tried to turn the tables on you, you jujitsu'd it right back in my way.
00:49:40
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:49:45
Brian
So what I like most about it is I like to view certain things in my life as a tool that helps leverage me back into the things that make me the most happy.
00:50:04
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:04
Brian
And this is some little little bit of wisdom that I've learned over the years. But it's like when I look at my tiny camper, it's just begging to hit the road.
00:50:16
Brian
It just, you know, even if it's for the night, even if I if I go.
00:50:22
Brian
Eat dinner outside, look at the stars, get up at six in the morning, drink a cup of coffee and drive back to work. If I'm working in person, that's fine. It's a tool that gets me outdoors more.
00:50:34
Brian
Now, I love my dog. I don't want to refer to it as a tool, but that dog brings me joy.
00:50:38
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:50:40
Brian
It makes me go outside.
00:50:41
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:42
Brian
I walk it. It likes to lay on the couch when I want to lay on the couch. So I don't want to call it a tool, but I think you know what I mean. It's a gateway to more of the best things.
00:50:50
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:50:53
Brian
Well, this YouTube channel, I have to sit down and be like, all right, where am I traveling? Where am I going? You know, what type of campers do I want to look at? Is there, you know, this pursuit of engineering an affordable system that runs air conditioning off grid?
00:51:11
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yes.
00:51:12
Brian
It's ridiculous. But I got there.
00:51:13
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:51:15
Brian
don't know that it's affordable, but I could drive to Texas and run air conditioning off my solar battery system without plugging in. I wouldn't have done that without a channel.
00:51:28
Brian
Part of the pursuit to try to get there is to show people, you know.
00:51:33
Brian
So in that sense, the channel has been a tool to get me outdoors more, keep me outdoors for longer and to engage with people and maybe help them do the same.
00:51:46
Brian
You know, that's we called it DIY outdoor life. Everyone thinks that means like a channel about DIY lessons, but really it was like, get outside yourself.
00:51:57
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:51:57
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:51:58
Brian
How to encourage you to get outside.
00:51:59
Brian
So what's the other question? What I don't like about it?
00:52:06
Brian
I don't like the type of capitalism that is hovering this world of YouTube.
00:52:19
Brian
I need to take advantage of my ability to influence in that I can get new products and things to show to my audience for free or cheap so that I can...
00:52:37
The Jobs Podcast
Thank you.
00:52:38
Brian
expose people to an honest review or an honest perspective on something before they spend their hard-earned money. And then I can do something good with them. I just gave bunch of really cool off-grid gear to a friend of mine that needed it. And I was able to do that because I had very little money in it.
00:52:56
Brian
But it is so clear that these companies are every day. You know, the emails I had this morning, they want you to say it's the best. They want you to say that the competition is no good. And they're constantly pulling you into a space that is just trash.
00:53:14
Brian
You know, it's like in our real life, what kind of car do you drive?
00:53:14
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:53:21
The Jobs Podcast
Toyotas.
00:53:22
Brian
So what does Tim drive?
00:53:23
The Jobs Podcast
Toyotas, yeah, exclusively.
00:53:25
Brian
So you drive Toyotas. So you probably have a million positive things to say about Toyota, but you also have some wonky stuff that you're like, God, I hate that Toyota does this.
00:53:34
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, absolutely.
00:53:35
Brian
In a conversation with a beer at a campfire, that's an authentic conversation. If you came to me and we're talking about your Toyota and you're like 10 years, bumper to bumper, do you work for Toyota?
00:53:49
Brian
Yeah.
00:53:50
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
00:53:51
Brian
best in class towing like no it so i hope that's clear i know that's a long way to answer that but it's there's a weird vibe where they just want you to sell their wares and they have no ethics on getting that done and then it ruins other youtube channels for you because you hear them saying the things that they were trying to pay you to say you know and it's like oh god
00:53:53
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:54:09
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:54:16
The Jobs Podcast
They have this, it's kind of a scorched earth, short-term mentality that's the only thing that matters is these quarters profits. That's all that matters. And I'm not opposed to making money.
00:54:26
Brian
Yes.
00:54:27
The Jobs Podcast
I, hey, we got to make money to survive, but it would be nice if there was some quality and some authenticity behind that. You can make your money, but you shouldn't have to sell your soul to do it.
00:54:39
The Jobs Podcast
And that's where I think a lot of these things, I don't, I turn off most YouTube channels when I'm watching reviews because within the first five minutes, they're highlighting something that, you know, they just got yesterday and they're trying to sell you on it.
00:54:52
The Jobs Podcast
And it's not something they genuinely use and like.
00:54:55
Brian
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely true. And I also empathize with them because like I was getting, know, if you wait two years, like I used to, I was reviewing gear that was like ripped up that I really had used for a long time.
00:55:06
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:55:12
Brian
It's already passed when people are buying it. The companies don't care. You lose money. It's like there is a huge pressure. to get out on the cutting edge of what the gear is and hopefully the person you're listening to has the skills and experience to actually give a meaningful review of a piece of new equipment which you know sometimes i'm decent at sometimes i fail at but it's a reality
00:55:37
The Jobs Podcast
I noticed here, I don't remember exactly when, within the last year you moved from Bushwhacker over to Hiker. Is that right?
00:55:44
Brian
i have them both yeah
00:55:45
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, okay. I've looked at the Hiker. My wife and I have been toying around with the idea of getting one of these. And my short list is the Hiker and then Rog, Encore Rog makes a nice one that has a bath in the back.
00:55:58
Brian
Yeah.
00:55:58
The Jobs Podcast
I don't seen that one or not.
00:55:59
Brian
Yes.
00:56:00
Brian
Yeah.
00:56:00
The Jobs Podcast
I forget what the model number was, but I really enjoy watching reviews like yours where they do a deep dive into stuff I love those kinds of videos when I see it's a product and it's 23 minutes long, oh man, that's, that's my morning right there. I get my coffee and I'm ready to go.
00:56:17
The Jobs Podcast
And so I really like your videos where you explain that kind of stuff. But I think what a lot of people don't realize the work that goes into that, not just, I know you hire out your editing now, but you used to have to do that yourself, but it's the starting and the stopping and the positioning and having a game plan and an outline.
00:56:28
Brian
Yeah.
00:56:35
The Jobs Podcast
I think that's a lot of what people forget is involved. It's the grind, not just the fame that comes with the channel.
00:56:41
Brian
Absolutely. And you can't, I mean, I wish I could hire out editing in that all encompassed way. I obviously, I still have to put everything in sequence and get rid of outtakes and cut things to time, and then stitch them all up and editing software.
00:56:54
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:56:58
Brian
And I'm basically just providing it to somebody who can quickly and more professionally do some graphics and text coming on the screen, because I just, that stuff is laborious, you know, and so but yeah,
00:57:08
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:57:12
Brian
And what we're talking about, you know, a bushwhacker I thought was the best entry level buy on the market. That's why I made the decision to buy it.
00:57:23
Brian
Excuse me. But if you look at all of my early videos, I told people not to buy it. I said, do not buy this camper because it leaked and it was wonky and it did this and it did, you know, it was really the company was terrible.
00:57:40
Brian
You know, to this day, it's been bought and sold. It's owned by different folks. But, you know, I would call and ask for help on things. And you think that they would cheat. Oh, this is a content creator. He's going to tell everyone.
00:57:52
Brian
No, they were just as miserable to me as they were everyone else's. But what I found by meeting the people, and this is what I wanted show on the channel, is that everyone took that camper and most people took that camper and made the most out of it.
00:58:09
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:58:09
Brian
They learned to fix the silly things. It was cheap enough that when they were done, they had a really solid trailer that they loved. And it just completely changed my perspective.
00:58:22
Brian
So that the channel steered in that direction. We still try to do like 25 Bunchwacker walkthroughs a year because everyone is completely different and the community loves it.
00:58:35
Brian
Yeah. Even if the company is so-so. Hiker's the opposite for me. Hiker's the most incredible company that I've ever been able to work with. I think their trailers are top-notch.
00:58:47
Brian
They sell them at a great price, but they really care. They're on social media asking their owners, what can we do better?
00:58:51
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:58:56
Brian
What do you want to see changed? They're putting on gatherings and rallies that they're sponsoring so that their customers can come back together and they can learn from what people's experiences. So I was really excited to hop on with those guys.
00:59:14
Brian
But, you know, my trailer is now more expensive. I don't consider you can get an entry level hiker, but mine is cost a lot of money. You know, I got every bell and whistle they were willing to put on it because it just...
00:59:27
Brian
I was camping a hundred times a year. It was just worth getting an upgrade.
00:59:31
The Jobs Podcast
Wow. You're using it. Yeah. I agree with you on hiker. And course I'm not sponsored by them. I don't even own any of our products yet, but, but I, I met, I forget the guy's name that does the videos.
00:59:37
Brian
Yeah, me neither, worry.
00:59:43
The Jobs Podcast
Is it, uh, I forget his name.
00:59:46
Brian
Robbie.
00:59:46
The Jobs Podcast
But yeah, I met him at the Moore Expo last year in Springfield, Missouri, and he was one of the few sales guys that you could tell knew his product.
00:59:50
Brian
Okay.
00:59:58
The Jobs Podcast
He wasn't just regurgitating a brochure to me. He actually knew his product and the questions that I threw him because I did my homework and I find a lot of times I'll go look at a new car and I know more than the salesman.
01:00:06
Brian
Yep.
01:00:10
The Jobs Podcast
It's like, golly, man, know your product.
01:00:10
Brian
Absolutely. You're not going to do that with Robbie.
01:00:14
The Jobs Podcast
No, not at all. No, that guy knows his stuff.
01:00:16
The Jobs Podcast
And even my wife, we walked away and she's like, man, he really knew what he was talking about. Extremely friendly, knowledgeable, down to earth. So I can see why Hiker is as popular as they are. I'm hoping to see them again and maybe make a decision this next April.
01:00:30
Brian
Yeah.
01:00:32
The Jobs Podcast
don't know you go to those or not.
01:00:33
Brian
I'm going to try to the Missouri stuff and the Indiana stuff. It's difficult. You know, there, I have to, it's a long drive to get in there and, but I have to start doing that more, but yeah, Bob, who kind of runs the outfit, Robbie, who there, I would miss people if I tried to mention everyone, but Jordan, like I spent a lot of time with those guys.
01:00:38
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. It is. Yeah.
01:00:53
Brian
I hung out in the factory. I filmed, I don't know, six or seven videos
01:00:58
The Jobs Podcast
Yes.
01:00:59
Brian
trying to highlight some of the things that they were doing. I didn't get paid to do that. I went out there and did that because I thought there was a story to be told there. And the thing I like about them most is there's also no BS.
01:01:14
Brian
Like I looked at part of the trailer that was, that had the potential to rust because of the type of framing that they were doing.
01:01:14
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:01:22
Brian
And the response was like, Yeah, metal rust. We're not going to sugarcoat this. We do have some aluminum options.
01:01:33
Brian
Aluminum is not, it's lighter and doesn't rust, but it is not as structurally sound as for the more rugged options.
01:01:41
Brian
And it was a non-sugarcoated answer that was like, if you want something different, we can go that direction, but we're not going to pretend that, you know, it was just a very honest way of dealing with somebody. And I just, to me, it went a long way.
01:01:58
The Jobs Podcast
Someone that is getting into content creation, are there soft skills that... you think are just overlooked and an absolute requirement to possess if you're going to be successful content creator.
01:02:15
Brian
Boy, I don't know. I know that if you were to study this in a college course, there's going to be a formulaic way of doing things that gives you the highest success rate, just like there is with music.
01:02:29
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:02:32
Brian
They can put out pop music with a four, four beat, do, do, do, with the same three chords and it sells again and again and again. You could do YouTube video on the 10 best jobs of 2025 and probably be really successful or more successful.
01:02:49
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:02:53
Brian
I think that's lame.
01:02:55
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, I'll write that off my list. Thanks, Brian. Yeah.
01:03:00
Brian
So just doing something authentic that interests you is going to resonate more deeply and probably be more meaningful, like what you're doing versus just being like, tell me 30 seconds why it's so cool to be a content creator.
01:03:03
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:03:16
Brian
Yeah.
01:03:16
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:03:16
Brian
People have a short attention span. So this, the content that you're doing and that I'm trying to do is, is harder to digest for people.
01:03:19
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:03:25
Brian
But you mentioned Joe Rogan earlier that dude, what is this podcast like three and a half hours long?
01:03:30
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, yeah, they're long.
01:03:31
Brian
It's wild. Who has that much time in their day listen to a three and a half hour podcast?
01:03:33
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Right.
01:03:36
Brian
Obviously millions and millions of people, because it's the most successful one that ever, that ever existed.
01:03:39
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:03:44
The Jobs Podcast
What's your best advice on how to deal with failure? When you make a mistake, I always say it. We're human beings. We all make mistakes at some point, but how we respond to that failure, that's usually what separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.
01:04:00
Brian
You got it.
01:04:02
The Jobs Podcast
What would be your advice for that?
01:04:04
Brian
Learn to hug the cactus. Failure.
01:04:08
The Jobs Podcast
That is a bumper sticker if I ever heard one.
01:04:11
Brian
Failure is it. If you want to grow a good farm, the first thing you do is cover it with shit.
01:04:17
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:04:18
Brian
Sorry. Maybe you're going to bleep me.
01:04:19
The Jobs Podcast
No, no, no. Manure.
01:04:21
The Jobs Podcast
No, that's fine.
01:04:22
Brian
Okay.
01:04:22
The Jobs Podcast
Manure.
01:04:24
Brian
Sorry.
01:04:25
The Jobs Podcast
That's okay.
01:04:26
Brian
The idea is from those mistakes, you have the greatest opportunities, but we've been conditioned to just cringe and wallow in the fact that we've made a mistake. When you make a mistake,
01:04:41
Brian
like embrace it, own it, don't make excuses for it, and then ask yourself, like, how do I get better from this? And I think that's the best advice that I've ever been able to kind of implement in my own life because I make a lot of mistakes.
01:05:00
The Jobs Podcast
What's next for DIY outdoor life and for Brian, where, where do you have your sights set?
01:05:07
Brian
So my audience... is growing and I absolutely love them. For every knucklehead, because social media likes knuckleheads, right?
01:05:18
The Jobs Podcast
Oh yeah. Yeah.
01:05:19
Brian
For every troll that gets on there and says something and I just sigh, okay, whatever. There's like 100 people that are engaging with the content that are saying, hey,
01:05:29
Brian
I learned so much from this. don't even own a Bushwhacker. I own an Airstream and I see you got a hiker and I could never use a hiker, but I still watch.
01:05:38
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
01:05:39
Brian
It just makes me want to go out and meet more people and show people's story because there's nothing better in my mind than a real owner Even if they, some are great on camera, some aren't.
01:05:55
Brian
If they're just telling their truth, I think that's amazing. I want to do that, but also the off-grid gear is in a state of revolution. That's like what the PC was going through back in the day, right?
01:06:11
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, lithium especially.
01:06:12
Brian
Every single day, yeah, you're just getting into a piece of gear that's twice as capable for half the amount of money. And I would like to help people navigate through that space the best that I can.
01:06:28
Brian
Because a lot of the content creators in that space are pure. They are just on the payroll. You know, they are just trying to sell, sell, sell.
01:06:35
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:06:38
Brian
If I find a piece of gear I like, I have no problem selling it, you know. But it's a tricky space and I'd like to be there to help people navigate it.
01:06:49
The Jobs Podcast
You know, I love the off-grid campers and the hikers and the ROGs, and there's a million other brands now, these small teardrop campers and square body campers and whatnot. What is so...
01:07:10
Brian
Yep.
01:07:12
The Jobs Podcast
You've got battery. The lithium batteries are getting more powerful and smaller and lighter, so you can run air conditioning and heating. I mean, you can have all the comforts of home.
01:07:22
The Jobs Podcast
out in the middle of nowhere. But at the same time, think it makes it more difficult sometimes to disconnect. And that's what you really need when you're going camping, when you get away, is to separate yourself from that umbilical cord of social media and the rat race and kind of regroup mentally, relax, unwind.
01:07:44
The Jobs Podcast
So it's great, but it also, you have to develop that skill of being able to turn it off.
01:07:51
Brian
that's it. You know, that's, that is, that is a huge point. And as long as you stay as open-minded as you just were, when you kind explain the dilemma, you're on the right track because some people become purists.
01:08:07
Brian
Oh my gosh, you're not camping. You have a heat and a memory foam mattress and a refrigerator.
01:08:10
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:08:13
Brian
And is that Starlink? That's not camping. And then you ask them,
01:08:16
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:08:17
Brian
Oh, okay. I'm sorry you feel that way. How many times did you get to go camping last year? I went for Memorial Day and Labor Day. It's like, I lived 125 days in my tiny camper.
01:08:28
The Jobs Podcast
Jeez.
01:08:29
Brian
So, you know, if it's getting you out more and keeping you out longer, I'm okay with that.
01:08:33
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:08:36
Brian
But just like you said, sometimes that experience that's actually helping you unwind and stuff like that is one that's kind of like,
01:08:47
Brian
forced deprivation.
01:08:50
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:08:50
Brian
So with all that gear, you might still want to just head out for one or two weekends with your backpack and get rained on and stay in the tent and realize how miserable that can be.
01:08:51
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
01:09:01
Brian
I love that. That's still one of my favorite ways to get outdoors. But we don't want to get too judgy with all of the tech because I can leave for three months and my fiance can work.
01:09:15
Brian
on the road, on the edge national parks and state parks in Arkansas and New Mexico and California and Wyoming. And we couldn't do that 10 years ago. And I'm pretty sure I'm happy about that stuff.
01:09:29
The Jobs Podcast
gives you options that you didn't have before. So, know, it opens up the opportunities to go more. And you mentioned Arkansas, I saw your video on Petagene Park, and you like to go in the wintertime, don't you?
01:09:38
Brian
Yeah.
01:09:43
Brian
I like when those parks are dead.
01:09:46
The Jobs Podcast
Yes, I'm the same way.
01:09:48
Brian
To me, that has a unique experience. When things are busy, I try to find where people aren't.
01:09:53
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:09:54
Brian
But yeah, you know, it was right on the way. I try to do a cross-country trip every January.
01:10:02
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, cool.
01:10:02
Brian
So yeah, petty gene in the winter. Yeah.
01:10:06
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Well, let me get on my soapbox for just a second. If you're going camping, if you pack it in, you got to pack it out. I hate being in the wilderness and seeing trash. So we got to be better about that. But.
01:10:16
Brian
We've got to be better about that and stop trying to turn places into the place that you're getting away from.
01:10:22
The Jobs Podcast
Right.
01:10:22
Brian
So, you know, if you come to a unique, small area that has its own culture, like take it you know, drink it up.
01:10:23
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:10:30
The Jobs Podcast
hmm.
01:10:31
Brian
It might be different than what you're used to. It might feel uncomfortable. But yeah, you know, we don't have to, we don't have to change every place we go and leave a big pile of trash and leave a big trace behind us.
01:10:43
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:10:45
Brian
And, you know, yeah, we could do a whole podcast on that.
01:10:50
The Jobs Podcast
Probably. Brian, I know where to find you, DIY Outdoor Life on YouTube, but any other links or anything you want to say, really appreciate your time today.
01:11:00
Brian
No, youtube.com slash DIY outdoor life. Check out the channel. I appreciate it. You know, it might be for you. It might not. But until we grow into some other social media platforms or start the website, we're really just focusing on the YouTube and what it is.
01:11:14
The Jobs Podcast
Right on.
01:11:15
Brian
But it's I really love what you're doing. Thank you for letting me come on and ramble about some of these stories. But I hope it helps somebody out, you know.
01:11:23
The Jobs Podcast
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, there's a lot of people wanting to do content creation and it helps to hear from someone who took an unusual journey to get there and now they're successful at it. And I've learned a lot today. So if you happen to find yourself at the Moore Expo in Springfield this April, please let me know. I'd love to meet up with you.
01:11:41
Brian
We'll do. We'll stay in touch. But thank you very much.
01:11:43
The Jobs Podcast
right, buddy. Thanks.
01:11:44
Brian
Take care.