Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Matt - 731 Woodworking
58 Plays1 month ago
Matt is a classic example of if you feel called to do something, you better just do it. He took a leap of faith and left Law Enforcement to begin a journey of building a very successful woodworking and social media company. He, along with his wife (Who is also his best friend), have stayed steady, always learning, always striving for better, for growth, and always looking to pay it forward. If you want to learn woodworking, if you want to get the best tool reviews on youtube, if you want advice on how to grow a youtube channel, and if you would like to help charities along the way, you can find Matt thru the various links below. Thanks Matt!
731woodworks.com, @731Woodworks , Faith Valley Tools, 731 Woodworking's Youtube Channel
If you enjoyed this content and would like to support the channel, you can do so HERE. Thanks!
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:01
The Jobs Podcast
Hey folks, you're listening to the jobs podcast. I'm your host, Tim Hendricks. And today we have someone, if you're into woodworking, my guest needs no introduction. He has a very successful YouTube channel.
00:00:13
The Jobs Podcast
He's got a podcast. He has an Etsy store. The gentleman has created quite an impressive woodworking empire with just some borrowed tools. And his name is Matt Outlaw.
00:00:24
The Jobs Podcast
You can find him at 731 Woodworks all over the place on social media. Matt, thanks for joining me today.
00:00:30
Matt
Hey, man. Thank for having me.
00:00:32
The Jobs Podcast
So let's go ahead and start off, Matt, give the listeners a little bit of backstory kind of about where you were born, little bit of your upbringing, early influences, and and how the woodworking stuff kind of panned out.
00:00:45
Matt
I was born in South Arkansas, a little town called Hermitage. That's where I went to school. i think my graduating class had about 30 people in it, including myself.
00:00:53
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:00:54
Matt
From there, i just my dad was always in construction or some type of construction. We grew up on a farm. And so that's kind of where I guess the building stuff come around because we just kind of built and fixed things as we needed to.
00:01:06
Matt
And then when I graduated high school, I didn't really have any plans. I didn't know what I was going to So I went to work in construction with my dad and kind of from there, like wasn't really woodworking. It was just rough construction, concrete work, pipe feeding, that kind of stuff. So after the years go by, I wound up being a state trooper for a while. Then while I was doing that's when I got into woodworking.
00:01:30
The Jobs Podcast
The shift shifting gears from being a state trooper with the last name of outlaw that had to you probably got some comments on that, didn't you?
00:01:37
Matt
Pretty regular.
00:01:38
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. So what was the the shift from leaving law enforcement? That had to be a big step of faith to move into woodworking as a full-time job. What was the the drive behind that?
00:01:52
Matt
ah Well, I'm a Christian. i believe I was led to do it. i'm sorry i I felt like I was led to become a state trooper. And then that mission ended. You know, I was 13 years in and everything on the channel, the YouTube channel, and it was taken off. And ah the business, woodworking, was doing really good locally and Etsy store was doing good. And I just started feeling led that this is time to kind of close one door and open the other. after a whole lot of prayer and talking with my wife,
00:02:21
Matt
and We finally made the decision to make the jump in May of 2021. twenty twenty one
00:02:27
The Jobs Podcast
What was the initial, I'm sure you remember back to when you first started the YouTube stuff and the Etsy stuff, did you just kind of get that idea or were you crafting some things and then folks said, Hey, I'd like to buy that. And it just kind of grew on itself. Or did you make a concerted effort to make that work?
00:02:46
Matt
When I first started woodworking, it was out of complete necessity. We were extremely, extremely broke, even though, you know, we got a state job whatever. It doesn't pay the greatest or didn't then. Anyway, they've gotten quite a few raises since then.
00:02:58
Matt
But we was just broke and i didn't have any way to make any extra money, ah you know, working full time, but I was working swing shift. And so a lot of times I was, you know, working in the evening shift and I was here by myself after the kids went to school, my wife went to work.
00:03:11
Matt
So I was just sitting around playing on the internet one day and just, I guess the Lord showed it to me, a video of a YouTuber called Jay Bates. He's also a woodworker. And he had a set of outdoor chair plans. He showed how to build them and he had the plans for free on his website. So i went and downloaded I looked at them. I said, think I can make that.
00:03:28
Matt
So I borrowed a circular saw and a couple of drills and, While my wife was at work one day, I went to the store and grabbed some two-by-fours and slapped that stuff together. And she'd come home and she thought it was hers.
00:03:39
Matt
I was surprising because I had it in the garage when she pulled up. And I was like, no, I'm selling these.
00:03:42
The Jobs Podcast
Sure.
00:03:43
Matt
i said, we need to make some money. And so she helped me stage them up. If it hadn't been for her helping me stage I'd have never sold them. But she made them look right, you know, put a rug under them, flowers on the table and drinks on the table, made them look real nice and inviting.
00:03:52
The Jobs Podcast
sure
00:03:56
Matt
So we post those online for $150. I think I had probably $40 in materials in it and they sold like within a day. And so I just repeated the process, went and bought some more stuff, made the same thing.
00:04:09
Matt
And I just kept selling those over and over until somebody asked if I could make a bench. And then i made that. Then somebody asked, can you make an end table? I had no idea how to make an end table. I was like, yeah, I can do that. So I figured it out along the way. And then over time, that that stuff really took off.
00:04:23
Matt
The Etsy store took off when my wife was asking. I had put stuff on there. It wasn't really getting any traction. And at the time, I had no idea what to do on Etsy. And one of the main things is you have to make yourself stand out somehow because there's thousands and thousands of people selling the same stuff.
00:04:35
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:04:38
Matt
And so she wanted what they call a stove cover or a noodle board. And a lot of people, we use our stove, but a lot of people don't. And they put this cover over their stove for extra counter space, basically our storage.
00:04:48
Matt
Anyway, she come up with her own design, um designed the handle design that was way different than everybody else. And so I made her one and I took really good pictures of it and put that on my Etsy store. And all it took probably a month or so before those took off. But man, when they took off, they took off. It got to where every time I heard the cha-ching from Etsy, I was like, oh man, not another one.
00:05:08
Matt
And they were selling like crazy and did really well for us.
00:05:12
The Jobs Podcast
Well, that's really, that's neat. Whenever you have a spouse that's in in it with you like that and is supportive and is coming, you know, contributing and whatnot and helping where they can, that always makes it more exciting because you're doing it together versus just something you're doing by yourself.
00:05:26
Matt
ah it's It makes a huge difference. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be talking to you today.
00:05:32
The Jobs Podcast
So you're making the stuff on Etsy. It's taken off. How are you, what's your plan or are you just kind of taking one step at a time as far as, all right, well, now I'm going to team up with, you know, this company or I'm going to rep these tools. How does that all kind of start to play out?
00:05:51
Matt
That was happy accident. i am So I was just, at first, I had another YouTube channel called Scanning Arkansas.
00:05:53
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:05:58
Matt
know what it's called. Scanning Arkansas? I think so. I've forgotten now Monitoring Reviews is what it was. So I was really being into radio scanners and like police scanners and stuff like that before I became a police officer.
00:06:06
The Jobs Podcast
hey
00:06:09
Matt
I was a firefighter and I was just dreaming of being a police officer. Yeah. was just sitting around listening to the scanner all day, right? And so I got really big into those things. And I actually got in contact with ah one of the product managers with Uniden and GRE at the time made scanners.
00:06:25
Matt
And they were sending me beta units or alpha units. Like they're not even released yet. They're just working the bugs out. And so I was testing scanners and stuff. Anyway, so when they the public release come out, I had enough knowledge about them. I made videos on them.
00:06:37
Matt
They were really bad videos, but I was putting them on that channel, monitoring reviews. And that channel was making me like $100 a year. And if you know anything about YouTube, that's not very good money.
00:06:46
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:06:46
Matt
Like I was getting very few views, wasn't making a whole lot of money. But that's where I used ah some of that money to buy the, or I did use $100 that I got paid to buy the two befores to make my first outdoor chair set. My thought was, man, if I could just make another $100 a year on YouTube with the woodworking, that'd be awesome.
00:07:03
Matt
Like, seriously, I had no idea that it could literally change your life. And so I just started putting what I was doing on YouTube about woodworking and tools and things like that. So that's really how ah the YouTube and the tool stuff started.
00:07:17
The Jobs Podcast
the The thing that I always see when you know i try and grow this channel and i'm I'm always soaking up YouTube videos and listening to stuff when I drive an hour to work and whatnot, they're always talking about you just have to start.
00:07:29
The Jobs Podcast
You just have to start making the videos or the podcasts and you're going to not be very good when you start, but that's how you grow. You'll get better over time. Is that kind of your approach or did you have a ah different kind of plan laid out?
00:07:44
Matt
A hundred and 10%. It was, that model was my approach. I had no plan. I didn't know what, I didn't know anything about YouTube. i didn't know anything about the algorithm. I didn't know anything about thumbnails, about video. I knew nothing. All I knew is I had a phone that would take a video and I put it on a little tripod and got started.
00:08:00
Matt
And like you said, the biggest thing is to start. You'll figure it out from there. If you look at my first video, you'll but you'll say, this guy's never gonna make it on YouTube. He's terrible. I wouldn't show my face. I was too scared. I didn't want the people at work to see me. i didn't want my family to see me. I didn't want friends to see me.
00:08:15
Matt
I was worried that they would judge me or talk bad about me for being on video or whatever. So the first several videos, first couple of videos, I wasn't even on camera. And then when I was on camera, when I started out, I was real monotone and very, very withdrawn because it was nerve wracking. Like I was nervous.
00:08:29
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:08:30
Matt
And then as time goes on, you know, you can look at a year later and say, okay, there's a big difference. You could look another year later. Okay, there's another big difference. Even a year from now, and I feel like I'm extremely comfortable on camera, and I felt like I was then too, a year ago, you can see a difference. It's just, you know, you it's just more practice and you get better at it.
00:08:48
The Jobs Podcast
How do you decide what is going to be your next project? Do you have people that when they email you, because I'm sure you get inundated with emails and and comments, is if there's a trend of folks wanting to know a certain table that's in style or something, or do you do projects that you personally are interested in or both?
00:09:08
Matt
Well, so I don't do a whole lot of projects, very few actually anymore, just because the channel has taken on a life of its own. And so beginning on, yeah, I would just take on projects when people would just send me a message, usually on Facebook or something.
00:09:20
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:09:21
Matt
and They would just send me a picture they saw on, you know, a website somewhere. And they're like, can you make this? And I could look at it and say, yeah, I can do that. Or no, I don't think that's something I want to tackle.
00:09:32
Matt
And that's kind of really how all the custom projects come along is just, you know, they, somebody reach out and say, can you do this? And most of the time I didn't know if I could or not, but I figured I could give it a good shot.
00:09:43
Matt
And so that's kind of how I started out doing the projects. And then as time went on, especially after the channel took off, ah the Etsy store is doing good and everything. And I told my wife after the I had one video go viral.
00:09:54
Matt
I say viral hit a million views in a little while, maybe a few weeks. And I could, I saw the potential. It it just opened my eyes. And I thought, And i I need to double down on this. Like, this is the way, you know, i this is how it's going to go.
00:10:07
Matt
And I don't i don't know why I thought that I just had that feeling like this is what I should be doing. And so I just pretty much at that point, I told my wife, was like, I need to give up the stove covers because they're taking up way too much time and focus on making videos.
00:10:20
Matt
And she's like, okay. And at the time, that was a significant amount of money um coming in from Etsy. And so that's kind of where we you know took a loss up front because all that went away soon as I just took them all down, off the listings down, and then started focusing on videos.
00:10:36
Matt
I was still doing projects, but over time, it's it's really transitioned into more tool-related content because watching the data and the the analytics and everything, you make a build video or and you make a tool video.
00:10:50
Matt
And that just overall, majority of the tool videos do way, way better than the build videos were doing. So I kind of transitioned that way.
00:10:59
The Jobs Podcast
How does the, because initially you're going to be purchasing these tools yourself, right? And then you're going to do the review or did you have people sending you stuff to review or was it a mix?
00:11:10
Matt
It's been a mix, but it's heavily, us like its still today, I still purchase 95% of the tools that i show on the channel. A lot of people think that the channel's 100% sponsored or companies are just flooding you with product.
00:11:24
Matt
And while they probably would, you know certain ones probably would send them to me, One of the things that I have been very cautious about is taking those products simply because their ask is usually more than I want to give, right?
00:11:36
Matt
They wanted me to, um so when you reach a certain point, you have a certain amount of reach and you understand that.
00:11:36
The Jobs Podcast
ah
00:11:42
Matt
And if they send me a $300 saw and I put a video out that gets a million views, it's a it's a way lopsided ah deal there. I mean, the company winds up with this massive amount of publicity that they would have literally spent tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue, getting you know ad placements, getting that...
00:12:00
Matt
product in front of their customers. And then if, and then if I'm trading it for $300, it's not really a fair trade. And so usually unless I, the company that I've already made up, you know, good relationships with this stuff, they'll send me say, Hey, do you want to take a look at this? And if it's something I think the audience would be interested in, then I'll take it.
00:12:18
Matt
But 99% of those, I don't even keep. We usually give those away and regular giveaways because there's no way to keep all this stuff. You know, if even the stuff we're buying, I try to, we do regular giveaways on the channel and,
00:12:30
Matt
through our social medias and stuff, just trying to pass it on, just helping other people out as we can.
00:12:37
The Jobs Podcast
When you look back on your journey so far, do you see any missteps or things that, you know, we can't live in the past, of course, but if you went back and thought, I kind of wish I would have done that differently, or is the journey what's kind of made you what you are?
00:12:53
Matt
Yeah, I think it's the journey, really. i mean, if I could change anything and go back and change anything, I would have just took YouTube serious sooner um instead of kind of throwing spaghetti against the wall and just hoping to make $100 a year.
00:13:07
Matt
i didn't I just had no idea. i mean, if you don't you don't know what you don't know, and I had zero idea. um Over the years, though, like even before the video took off, I i was watching various people on YouTube teaching how to do YouTube and think media is a really good one Darrell leaves.
00:13:23
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah, I watched it.
00:13:24
Matt
And, and so I was watching them them and they were giving tips and advice and things like that.
00:13:25
The Jobs Podcast
Yep.
00:13:28
Matt
And I was trying to implement them as much as I could. And, you know, that stuff paid off dividends over long period of time. You know, I have a very obsessive personality. So once I go down that path, I'm, I'm on it. And so I, I would,
00:13:41
Matt
Eat, breathe, and sleep trying to figure out how to do YouTube better over and over and over until ah something hit, you know. Still trying to figure it out. It's always changing, though.
00:13:51
The Jobs Podcast
Are you the one, is it just really you and your wife or do you have a team now of folks that you have working for you or how does that play out?
00:14:00
Matt
It's my wife and I ah here at the house. um She was a school teacher and was able to leave her full-time job and come home and help us. We ship products and things like that out of here. And so she does all the shipping, all the bookkeeping and all that stuff. And I also, we do have editors.
00:14:17
Matt
I have a guy that does my short videos for Instagram and YouTube shorts. And I basically just taking up my long videos and breaking them down into shorts. And then I have a long form video editor, ah the full-time.
00:14:28
The Jobs Podcast
What is it that you like most about being a a full-time YouTuber and content creator like you are now?
00:14:37
Matt
just You just live in the dream, man. You you don't basically answer to anybody. you know You kind of live your own rules, your own hours.
00:14:44
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:14:45
Matt
Main thing is just being able to literally spend time with my wife because we always said, we're like, man, I wish somebody would just pay us to love each other. you know And now it feels like we're getting to do that because know there's some couples that just they they couldn't be around each other 365 days year.
00:15:01
Matt
three hundred sixty five days a year
00:15:02
The Jobs Podcast
Amen.
00:15:03
Matt
But it is very, very rare that we spend more than 30 minutes apart at any given time. She may go to the store without me, grab some groceries whatever for 30 minutes or an hour. and But that's it. Like we just, we've always been that way. We like to travel together.
00:15:16
Matt
all of our activities are together. i don't go golfing or fishing or anything like that and away from her. And so everything that we do is together. And so it's just, it's been a huge, huge blessing for us to be able to spend this time together.
00:15:30
The Jobs Podcast
That's awesome. It's always nice when you're married to someone that you enjoy.
00:15:33
Matt
Yeah, no doubt.
00:15:34
The Jobs Podcast
What would you say that you, flip side of that coin, what would you say that you dislike most about your line of work? There's always one aspect that's not your favorite.
00:15:44
Matt
Yeah, I think it's the work's never done type thing. um it's It's one of those things that you can put in as much as you want. And like the obsessive personality back to that, I just, it's hard to unplug and stop, you know, even watching TV or whatever at night, you're you you know, a lot of people using their phones or laptops or iPads or laptops scrolling around and I'm constantly like looking for a video idea or a title idea. I see, know, a sports, I watch sports videos and things like that. I'll see a video on sports and they'll have a really cool title.
00:16:14
Matt
I'm like, man, I could, I could really use that on a video about this or that. And so I'll, you know, bookmark that title somewhere. And it's, that's probably the worst part of it. But I mean, that's, it's minor, minor stuff. I've i've had, this is the best job ever had. And there's very few things I dislike about it.
00:16:29
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm. What soft skills do you think would allow someone to be successful in, in the vein that you're in? Um, as far as you strike me, you've you've mentioned you're very tenacious, you know, you're very kind of latch onto something and you go for it, but is there any other personality traits that you think would lend it well?
00:16:50
Matt
having discipline is the main thing. I see people start something and after a few videos or a few episodes or whatever they're doing, they just give up.
00:16:52
The Jobs Podcast
Uh,
00:17:01
Matt
And it's kind of natural. You know, even woodworking, you see people get into it, they buy all the tools, they spend all this money, and then they don't make the sales they thought they were gonna make in the first couple of months. And like, this stuff takes time.
00:17:13
Matt
It takes time to learn how to market stuff.
00:17:14
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:17:15
Matt
YouTube and selling products is very similar. You have to learn how to market things. You have to learn how to what your audience wants or what your customer wants, how to talk to those customers. It's just one of those things that just takes time. And the only way to get there is to to learn how to do it.
00:17:31
Matt
And the only way to do that is to stick with it. And it's not always going to be easy. Like even today, I released a video today and it was eight out of ten. you know, YouTube shows your last ten videos, how they're doing. And that bums me out. I hate if it's not five or above. I get bummed out. I can't stand it.
00:17:46
The Jobs Podcast
Oh.
00:17:46
Matt
and But, you know, that's part of it. Like everything can't be a number one and everything's not going to be ah huge hit. Like unless you're Mark Rover or one of those guys that just, you know, can't do wrong. But I'm sure even them would tell you they'll see that they'll put one out. It didn't do as good as their last fire or whatever. And they get all up in their mind about it.
00:18:05
Matt
and But it's one of the things you just got to stick with stuff and trust the process. I kind of think of YouTube as compound interest. I put out a video today and just because it doesn't do very well today doesn't it mean in a week, a month, a year.
00:18:13
The Jobs Podcast
oh
00:18:19
Matt
I've even had videos that were out well over a year all of a sudden go from 50,000 views total to five, 600,000 views in just a couple of months. And so you never know when the algorithm finds the right person or the right group of people and serves that video up.
00:18:34
Matt
it could It could be just because it could be I tweaked a thumbnail or a title or something along the way and it popped off or whatever. It's all compound interest. and so And some of the money's coming from affiliate marketing and things like that, like affiliate links in the description. So if they click and go buy a tool, I'll get a commission off of it.
00:18:51
Matt
I've got 13, 1400 videos on the channel. I mean, that's all compound interest. I made a video six years ago about a saw and that video is still getting saw seen. And then somebody clicks and buys that product and they, I get a small commission off that and you times that over 13, 1400 videos.
00:19:07
Matt
It starts add up, and it's only because of discipline and sticking with it. It's the only reason it's still there, you
00:19:13
The Jobs Podcast
If someone ah said, I'm thinking about, you know, taking the leap and stepping into YouTube or whatnot. This question, i don't know, it it almost seems like you're admitting defeat from the beginning, but do you tell people give it a year or give it a year and a half or really dedicate yourself for six months before you throw in the towel? Because sometimes the idea just may not be ah a good one and you might need to tweak it or just go back to the drawing board. But what do you say to folks that are initially wanting to go out?
00:19:41
The Jobs Podcast
How much time should they give it before they step back and take a hard look at it?
00:19:47
Matt
man, my channel didn't take off for three and a half years. I mean, it was a long time.
00:19:49
The Jobs Podcast
Wow.
00:19:51
Matt
ah Of course, again, I wasn't taken to that serious. Like if somebody serious about it, they could probably get one off the ground pretty quick. I've seen people do it. um But you just got to start understanding.
00:20:02
Matt
Well, first you got to pick what you're going to videos about, right? And then from there, you have to understand what the audience wants to see inside of that niche that you're talking about targeting. But I mean, if my, my main thing is to tell what I tell people when they ask me about it is to start, start making videos about whatever, whatever you're interested in, somebody else probably interested in it too.
00:20:22
Matt
And just try to stay consistent. You know, it doesn't matter if it's one video month, one video or two weeks, whatever, just gotta be consistent with it and hold yourself accountable to that because it's,
00:20:34
Matt
and And also don't don't also overcommit like I'm going to do one video a week. That's pretty hard. We're putting out two videos a week, but also got a full time editor, you know, and so it's it's one things that's very, very difficult to keep that pace.
00:20:42
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:20:45
Matt
And so make sure that while you have a wife, a kids, a full time job, like pace yourself, understand it's going to you know be a process. but also understand that one video could change your life.
00:20:57
Matt
It changed mine. Like I have one video pop off three and a half years in and it literally changed my life. And so it's one of those things that there's no other thing on the internet like YouTube at all. TikTok's not like it.
00:21:08
Matt
Instagram's not like it. Facebook's not like it. YouTube is the only one that has evergreen content that if somebody searches something or even jumps on YouTube one day and then there your video is in front of them that they can watch it. Instagram doesn't do that.
00:21:20
Matt
TikTok doesn't do that. Facebook doesn't do that. So YouTube is a, it's all thing. And so I think it's the greatest social media platform that you can get a part of because of how much money you can make off of it. I mean, just add a revenue alone.
00:21:33
Matt
And then there's other opportunities there too. But I would just say, if you're interested, go for it, pace yourself and understand it could take some time.
00:21:42
The Jobs Podcast
Is there any advice that you would give for folks when they're dealing with the ad revenue and things like that? Are there common pitfalls that, you know, when you get your first offer for some kind of a deal, you in a rush to make that money and feel like you're successful, you may forget to read the fine print.
00:22:02
The Jobs Podcast
Are there any common pitfalls that you've seen that you would, you know, warn people about?
00:22:07
Matt
Yeah, I mean, the company is always going to try to, for the most part, benefit themselves more than you. It just depends on the size of your channel, how many views.
00:22:13
The Jobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:22:15
Matt
It's typically what they're looking for is average view counts. You know, and like you can take your last 10 videos, how many average views you got. And so it just depends on those numbers as to how much money you can get off of different sponsors.
00:22:27
Matt
I've asked for way too little money many, many many times. And then I've also over asked and they're like, OK, thank you. But I would rather them say, okay, thank you to me to get under underpaid on that kind of stuff.
00:22:37
Matt
But yeah, just make sure you read the in of the ah um contracts and also hold them accountable to the contracts. i had a company, I was doing um ads for a company.
00:22:48
Matt
And if so, it was a company where they could sign up for certain things. And so if I got, if so many people signed up using my link, I was supposed to get bonuses along the way. And the contract stated after i think it was 35 signups, I get a certain amount. After a next amount, I got an amount.
00:23:06
Matt
And so I had like a six-video deal with them. After like the third video, I hit the here's the thing, and that it they didn't say anything about the bonus. And so I reached out. was like, hey, I didn't say anything about the bonus.
00:23:18
Matt
They're like, no, it's per video. You have to have that many signs per video. I said, that's not what the contract says. The contract says this many total. And I said, you can't go outside the four walls of that contract. And so we went back and forth. I wound up having to pull all the ads off the videos because you can edit videos afterwards on YouTube, cut things out. You can't add things to.
00:23:36
Matt
And so wound up pulling all their ads down and took me forever to get paid what they was owed me, but they were just trying to give me the runaround. So just make sure you're watching those things. But that wasn't a tool company either. Most tool companies are going to want an exchange from what I've experienced so far. They just want an exchange for the product video.
00:23:54
Matt
And early on, it's not a bad thing. You know, if you, you know, you need a dust collector and this company is willing to send you a $500 dust collector and you can, you know, make a video about it. Probably not going a ton of views on it unless you're already established and doing really good.
00:24:08
Matt
um But, you know, you can get you a free tool and do a review on it. and You know, it's not a bad tradeoff sometimes. But again, when you start growing your audience and getting more and more views, and I think it's a little unfair to get a three, four, $500 tool in exchange for a video that's on average going to get a hundred thousand or more views, you know.
00:24:27
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. As you've gone through this journey, you've made mistakes. We all do as human beings. What is your best advice on how to deal with failure when you encounter it?
00:24:41
Matt
i Just keep going. I mean, now like I said while ago, failure comes along pretty regularly on YouTube. You're going to put out a video or going put out a product. If you're making selling products, you're going to put out a product that just nobody buys. Same thing YouTube.
00:24:53
Matt
Nobody's buying the video. In other words nobody's clicking on it Maybe you picked the wrong topic. Maybe you picked the wrong title. Maybe you took the wrong thumbnail, whatever. and Just keep on keeping on. is You can be bummed out for a little bit.
00:25:05
Matt
Typically how I handle it is I'm pretty bummed out most of the day. I usually release my videos on Thursdays and Sundays. at about 10 or 11 a.m. The rest of the day, I'm bummed if the videos are 10 out of 10 or the worst it can be.
00:25:18
Matt
But, you know, the next morning when I wake up, it's all good. Like, on to the next one. Because, again, compound interest. That's one of ah thousands, right? And so you can't hang your hat on one video and so or one product.
00:25:32
Matt
and When we was woodworking, when I was building products, I built an outdoor chair set and I painted them a weird blue color. I don't know why. Put them on, put nice pictures out. Nothing. I couldn't sell them.
00:25:43
Matt
I kept, I had those things for months and months and months on my deck because I could not sell them. Literally it was trying to give them away like the bare minimum price, like what I had in them. Couldn't give them away while I was selling the other ones that were unfinished, like nothing on them. I was selling those like hotcakes.
00:25:58
Matt
And so, you know, you're going to have those things that you do that just aren't going sell. People just don't want it. You made a bad choice. You made a wrong decision. It's fine. It's just one of, you know, one of many. And and my wife always says if if it's made of wood, it's not set in stone. So you can just rebuild it.
00:26:15
The Jobs Podcast
So what, talk to me about Faith Valley Tools. That's a little bit different venture for you, is it not?
00:26:22
Matt
Yep. So we wanted to have some physical products and also benefit Christian missions. And one of the, well, the main, the reason, the reason that I went full time on YouTube is because I believe God was calling me to it.
00:26:34
Matt
And so um we just kept getting these messages, people watching the videos. I wear Christian shirts in every video and that like resonates with people, not Bible thumping people, not preaching to people.
00:26:42
The Jobs Podcast
Sure.
00:26:44
Matt
um Just subtle. And they would reach out.
00:26:47
The Jobs Podcast
sure
00:26:48
Matt
They would email. Hey, man, had a police officer from Florida email and say, hey, I was I was thinking about committing suicide. I don't would work. I don't do any type of DIY stuff. And for whatever reason, your video showed up and I saw your shirt and it it just crushed me.
00:27:03
Matt
And he said, I'm just emailing, you know, ah you saved my life. And I believe God's using the videos for that.
00:27:08
The Jobs Podcast
wow
00:27:08
Matt
Even though we're tool reviews, we're doing, um you know, projects or tips and tricks or whatever. There's a link in the description on every video that it shares the gospel story.
00:27:21
Matt
And people watch that, like hundreds of thousands of people have watched that over the years. And um so we're using that. So to continue that mission, we started Faith Valley Tools, my wife and I. And so the idea is we take 10% of all the profits from Faith Valley Tools and donate them to Christian missions.
00:27:38
Matt
Right now we're donating to Proverbs 22.9. They have ah outreach school and ah feeding kids and things like that in the Philippines. The the lady that started this actually from our home church.
00:27:52
Matt
And so we are proud to sponsor them. And that's just a way for us to continue God's mission to help people.
00:27:59
The Jobs Podcast
I'm looking on their website right now. The proverbs229.com is how you can follow up with, with that ministry. If you feel led to donate, ah you've got a live edge podcast as well, man, you are a busy fella.
00:28:12
Matt
We are very busy. Very busy.
00:28:16
The Jobs Podcast
What was the, ah what was the drive? I, you know, you're going in all these different avenues. Do you ever feel like ah I've got enough on my plate or is it just a joy to just keep going?
00:28:28
Matt
Oh, it's always, uh, we've got enough. And then we add another spoonful. We, yeah we started the, it's actually a live stream on the channel that also turns into an audio podcast. Right. And so we started the live stream. I have no idea why I really don't. Um, it was December four years, three, four years ago, wife and I decided to start a live stream.
00:28:48
Matt
I really don't know why we did. it's called live edge. But of course it goes to all the podcast platforms too. yeah well we Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. we do the live stream and it has been one of the greatest joys we've ever done on a channel because we have the people that come and and hang out with us for 30 minutes or an hour every Tuesday have become some of our best friends. Like we have met and like literally have met them in person now.
00:29:13
Matt
ah People that have watched our videos for years, like some of them just only watch the live stream. They don't watch the regular videos and some them watch everything. and But it's been one of the greatest community building things that we could have. Now, with that said, the live stream actually costs me about 50, 20 to 50 subscribers every time I put one out. it all it it People see the hour long video or whatever and unsubscribe or they just they can't separate the two.
00:29:37
Matt
And so, you know, we we know that it's costing subscribers, but I think it's worth it because of the community and the community. Like just the real interaction you can have with people and see like the same people, the same people that were there on day one, the first live stream we ever had.
00:29:53
Matt
um We have jokes going all the way back to there. We got guy we call Lloyd's in the house because he, he, he, um his name is Ronnie. And he, when he first popped on the screen, I saw his last name was Wagner or wa yeah Wagner.
00:30:09
Matt
And there's an old, Golden Girls episode, he says, Lyle Wagner's in the house. And I mispronounced it Lloyd on that episode. And so now he even calls himself Lloyd. Every time he chimes in, he says, Lloyd's in the house.
00:30:21
Matt
We're going back four years. And we just made some really good friends. Got to meet him in Kansas City a while back. Hug his neck and just, you know, have a good time with them and have some people from Canada. We actually met in Boston and and got to talk to them for a while. And just made some really good friends. I think it's just an excellent community building thing.
00:30:38
The Jobs Podcast
Was there any adjustment with starting to get your face recognized and and a little bit of the recognition that comes along with being so successful on your different social media sites and on YouTube and whatnot?
00:30:52
The Jobs Podcast
Was that an adjustment for you?
00:30:52
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. It's pros, cons and weirdness. Right. And so, ah like it's, it's very humbling when we've been, you know, people come to us in airports pretty regular, almost every time we fly somewhere and they'll say, there'll be the kind of you could tell that they're looking at you and they know you you know, they're like trying to place you a lot of times so and they're like, are you 731?
00:31:08
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:13
Matt
And so you get to meet people like that. It's very cool. um or on their airplanes. Like we've sat behind a guy one day and was getting up and he turned around and he said, you're 731, aren't you? I said, yes, sir. watch you all time And so I get to talk to them, you know, and it's really cool. You know, it's really cool.
00:31:27
Matt
It's also very humbling. It has some cons, you know, people showing up at your house uninvited. is It's, it's, Not okay. You know, don't, I'm very private anyway, but and we've had people reach out way ahead of time and say, Hey, we're traveling through your town and next month or two months from now would love to meet you, you know, and just kind of fill them out from there.
00:31:35
The Jobs Podcast
yeah
00:31:48
Matt
had one guy that I was a police officer at the time. I just left. It was probably June or July of the year I left state police. So I still had really good contacts here in the city. Guy calls He's like, hey, man.
00:32:00
Matt
Well, I'll back up. I got a message on Facebook. um I saw it pop up. It says, hey, I'm in Texarkana. It's like three hours away. He said, I'm close to your house. you mind if I stop by?
00:32:10
Matt
And i didn't I didn't answer it. I was like, yes no, it's a long way. Guess what? Three hours later, I see this box truck driving in front of my house. i'm like And i we live in a cul-de-sac. I'm like, he's creeping by. I'm like, hmm.
00:32:23
Matt
Then he drives out of the cul-de-sac real slow. I was like, huh. About 10 minutes later, I get a call from a police officer, and I picked it up, and he says, hey, man, there's this guy up here wanting to come see you. He said, man, this dude, I don't know.
00:32:35
Matt
was like, I don't either. said, well, you want me to tell him? I was like, I mean, he already knows where I live. I saw him drive by while I go. Just tell him, come on. And so being a former police officer, I was not unarmed, and so when he he shows up, he didn't know it, but
00:32:47
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:32:50
Matt
His dude was probably as high as I've been around somebody. He was probably on some meth or something. I don't know. He was he was pretty wired up. And I could tell that he was impaired on something. And ah he was just jittery and just made me all kinds of nervous.
00:33:05
Matt
you know and So and we had that happen not too long Like a guy just, he looked up our um address on the internet somehow, and he knocks on the door one morning. It was like 8 o'clock in the morning.
00:33:15
Matt
I was like, you expect somebody? She said, no. Open the door. He says, hey, it was at 731. Yes, sir. Okay. I've been watching you a while. And like almost trying to come out, was let's step on outside, man.
00:33:26
Matt
I don't know. you You know, it's, it's, it's different, you know, it's very different, but I've heard that happen to most everybody that, you know, starts getting a little bit of traction.
00:33:29
The Jobs Podcast
Good grief.
00:33:37
Matt
You'll start getting people wanting to come meet you and stuff, which I understand.
00:33:37
The Jobs Podcast
and
00:33:40
Matt
And and in a public setting, we're a hundred percent. Okay. with We do live in person events a few times a year to try to get out and meet people because we love meeting people and, getting to hear their stories and you know all that stuff it's it's really great but uh i don't know i would just prefer some somebody to reach out first before you knock on my door
00:33:58
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah. Well, on one hand, it's flattering, but they're just not executing that flattery in the correct way. So, yeah.
00:34:04
Matt
It is. I mean, it's it's flattering. And so far, i mean, know the the guy was a little hyped up, the one guy, but he wasn't – didn't mean, you know, no ill harm or anything like that.
00:34:10
The Jobs Podcast
Sure.
00:34:13
Matt
But on the other hand, if you see some of the comments, the emails, the messages we get privately, you would understand why we're a little bit leery. I mean, we get some pretty nasty stuff just from –
00:34:23
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:34:26
Matt
Just random people. Um, I don't, you know, people are not always in the best mood or whatever. had some guy email me, say he watches my video and points me out to his son and tells him never be by me.
00:34:37
Matt
I was like, what did do to you, man?
00:34:38
The Jobs Podcast
Hmm.
00:34:39
Matt
And, but you also get those, you know, tell me that we should, I shouldn't be married to my wife or, you know, just weird, weird, weird stuff.
00:34:39
The Jobs Podcast
Good grief.
00:34:46
Matt
And, Sometimes people come at you, and one time I'll, sometimes I ignore it, and sometimes I'll reply back. One guy emailed, and he was pretty riled up, and let me know how bad I was, you know, and I replied back, and I said, hey, man, I'm really sorry you feel that way.
00:35:00
Matt
I really am. And I said, i I don't know what I did to offend you, but I apologize. I said, but just just know I prayed for you today. I sent that email like two days later, emails back and he apologized profusely. He had lost his mom that day and it was just lashing out basically everybody.
00:35:17
Matt
His mom had passed away that same day and he was probably just distraught, you know, and, and you never know what people are dealing with, but then sometimes they're just, you know, idiots for the lack of better word.
00:35:19
The Jobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:35:24
The Jobs Podcast
yeah
00:35:28
Matt
They're just, you know, they just want to cause chaos, you know, or, or bring everybody down. And you see this, I, there's several on my channel that comment, you know, pretty regularly, how terrible of a person I am.
00:35:40
Matt
And they just, you know, just constant, you know, once every couple of weeks they'll bash out or whatever. I got some guy on the internet now making videos about me and a couple of other people. he's on YouTube, but he, he doesn't got a follower anything, but he's constantly making videos about me, how terrible a person I am.
00:35:54
Matt
I'm like, it's just strange, very strange.
00:35:57
The Jobs Podcast
Wow. Well, what's next for 731 Woodworking and for Mad Outlaw? what's What's on the horizon? You got any big things in store?
00:36:09
Matt
just going to keep on trucking, man. is is Everything's going good. I like the direction of the channel. I like how everything's tracking along. and We plan to hire a person here ah for our business, for shipping, for 731 and Faith Valley stuff, um to be able to help out with shipping and some content creation or at least take some load off of me on different things.
00:36:32
Matt
If he decides to leave his other job, he would be starting July 1st. So that would be cool. um But we just want to keep growing Faith Valley Tools, keep adding products there, and keep doing what the Lord leads us to do.
00:36:46
The Jobs Podcast
Well, I'm sure everybody knows it, but go ahead and tell us all the different places that they can find you.
00:36:52
Matt
731woodworks.com, posting tool deals there every day. All the social media platforms is at 731woodworks.com.
00:36:59
The Jobs Podcast
Okay. Matt, thanks for your time today. I really do appreciate it. It was great to get a little bit of history into someone that we all watch and and enjoy on YouTube. So thanks for your time.
00:37:10
Matt
I appreciate you having me.
00:37:12
The Jobs Podcast
All right, take care.