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00:00:01
End of year wrap up
24 Plays9 days ago
This week Justin is not joined by twin brother Kieran but instead a woman that puts up with his shenanigans
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
This is the Garage Avenger podcast.
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Garage Avenger podcast.
Year Reflection and Project Insights with Kristen
00:00:16
Speaker
I'm Justin trying to share the joy of building death machines in my garage in a hope of one day trying to make a living out of it.
00:00:24
Speaker
And I'm not Kieran. I'm Kristen AKA sidekick, Wonder Woman, mama with two children, film, mer, and I can't think of anything else. So, um, cause there's too many jobs that I do. So that's me. I'm Kristen. Way to put tickets on yourself, babe. Hell yeah. I know what I can do.
00:00:52
Speaker
So today I thought I'd bring on Kristen because I thought it was a good way to reflect on the year. She's kind of in the trenches with me, unfortunately, or fortunately, and unfortunately for her probably. Unfortunately for me. It's not so bad.
00:01:07
Speaker
ah and I thought we'd review this year, get a little insight for you guys to hear what sort of happens behind the scenes of everything from someone else's perspective, but my own. Yeah.
Podcast Collaborations and Kristen's Involvement
00:01:20
Speaker
Well, it's not like I haven't been in this seat before with you. We've done a couple of other episodes previously, not on this show though. So this is a first. So this is this is fun.
00:01:34
Speaker
Yeah, well, I had Make Ideas Reality, the podcast, and you came on probably every 10 episodes, I think it was something like that. Yeah, we had a recap every other, yeah, every now and then. So that was good. So it's good to be back. Good to be back here recording with you, chatting with you. It's not every day that I see him that much, as you all probably can imagine. He goes into his time wop hole, aka the garage,
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, I worked out that it was actually, it's, wow. Did you lose your wedding? The fountain of youth. Oh, was it the fountain of youth? Yeah, because I worked out maybe I can be younger because the world flies past and I used to study in stasis. Yeah. Maybe that's a secret to staying young, just being in the garage. So you're saying you're not getting any more gray hairs and now I'm getting all of them? Yeah.
Balancing Jobs, Family, and Relationships
00:02:31
Speaker
I'm beautiful. I've been down here in the garage. That's brutal. That's brutal. No, I'm embracing my gray hair and then I turn them pink. So that's me. But yeah, so what do you want to talk about, babe? What do we just start off with this year? What are your big feelings about this year and what's been happening in the garage here? What's been any highlights and lowlights and anything else in between?
00:03:01
Speaker
wo Well, the day did I guess the days flows together because you're you're here quite a lot. Often, you would say not enough.
00:03:12
Speaker
yeah i ah For me, it's ah it's a very different scenario. I guess we, on the other hand, don't feel like we see you that much.
00:03:22
Speaker
Because you're out here right and of course I got a day job to side I drift off and go do my thing and then we're like ships in the nights when you work your night shift or evening shifts at your day job.
00:03:36
Speaker
So during the week it's pretty hectic and sometimes it's better for me to just check on stories and stuff what you're actually up to because that keeps me up to date too on what you're doing because we don't actually see each other. I love that you keep up to date with me on social media rather than actually walking in the garage and asking about my days.
00:03:59
Speaker
Well, I'm not here, so it just just lets me like have a little hint of things you might have achieved. or It's not every day that I can do that, but most days I manage to do these
Garage Work-Life Balance: Challenges and Joys
00:04:11
Speaker
things. so I think that, and then I like popping my head in, but I'm also afraid to walk in here because if I wear a white tracksuit, for example,
00:04:25
Speaker
It's a death trap walking in here, and so I'm like, I'm staying in the door, honey. How you going? Are you having a good day?
00:04:34
Speaker
it' sorry true why you never come in the air and clean clothes ever It's like danger, danger. So often or often if I'm home and you're in here, it's more like, Hey, honey, bye, honey. Cause I just need to give you like a ah quick message cause I'm heading off somewhere again. So I think that's mostly our everyday life. It's like this ebb and flow.
00:04:59
Speaker
And then magically he comes in and he does dinner. So let's just agree that he's the best chef of the two of us. I'm the best baker, but he's the best chef. I don't know. Have you had my banana muffins? yeah They were pretty good. But have you had my buns?
00:05:22
Speaker
your buns dar and you buns plenty
00:05:30
Speaker
just had to lay that and yeah Okay, cool. Are we gonna
Managing a Hectic Family Schedule
00:05:34
Speaker
do like a rundown of your of your videos because i I guess everything just flows together, so it's hard for me to remember everything enough with my own two-day jobs, school, and that the shit that I go through every day. every day That's a good point because you know that's something we don't really talk about very much is the fact that like you've got or we've got two children you've got two jobs ah you know things I work a day job in the evenings not full time obviously but still i in the evenings it takes time away from the kids and and their activities and
00:06:22
Speaker
and Kids have activities, dancing and football and hamble and yeah all these things. and you're studying in Oslo yeah as well. So there's a lot of stuff going on and like, actually, now that I'm saying it out loud, I'm like, how do we pull this off? It's kind of impressive. Yeah, but we deal. We find the little moments. Suddenly we get to go to a training together and just try and be present when we're actually there. As well as also being social with other people, which is, it's also important, right?
00:06:59
Speaker
to talk to friends and create relationships and everything in there. It's actually quite amazing what we managed to do, darling. That's quite important to I talk on a podcast, but I don't actually really talk to people. It's really hard. I think Norwegians in general are quite hard. they just They're in the bubble.
00:07:20
Speaker
Well, actually, even even like non-Noregians, like over the internet or on Instagram or whatever, some people message me and sometimes it'll be days till I reply. is it just i It's for me, it's just difficult to get the time to sit down and write something back. Sometimes I even send voice messages because it's quicker and easier for me. Yeah, I'm the same.
00:07:42
Speaker
Not too good at the voice message though, but it can take me days. And that's just because I want to get the time to actually sit down and think through a message. That's why it's often, we're callers. Call us. Yeah, call us. That's the best way to do it. That's the best way to do
Justin's Jet Sled Project
00:07:59
Speaker
it. You have to listen to me waffle on. But I think the biggest highlight is probably the one getaway weekend we had this year. And that was actually,
00:08:11
Speaker
and the maker fair in Oslo. and That was like the ah low light and the high light.
00:08:20
Speaker
But part part of the high light is getting just into myself, which is, well, this year that was the only trip we had away. Two nights at a hard hotel together. And just that uninterrupted time is is worth gold for us.
00:08:38
Speaker
where where we can talk about anything or actually just be social with other adults or because most of the time life is with kids and we love those kids. I love hanging out with them, but I also love this tool set next to me here. He's my best friend as well. Yeah, this tool. na um You just use me that way. Yes, exactly. I'm so practical. Do you know why? Because you have this green up and then the red tool. So I was like, that's why it popped up in my brain.
00:09:09
Speaker
Well, I mean, that's a good so great. I've got the I've got my videos up on the screen at the moment. So I thought we'd go through them one by one and see what Kristen thought about them, what our fears were and or anything else that comes to mind when we talk about the project. So the first one we'll talk about is the jet sled that was built this February this year. ah The idea was to turn a yeah what do they call a spud here in Norway, which is like a kick sled, which are kind of like a dying thing here because there's, well, right now there's no snow outside. You cannot use a kick sled, which is hilarious because I'm building a sled right now. And I'm nearly finished. There's not a flak of snow inside. No, but down here, we're in the Southern world, the hemisphere of Norway. This is often the way in winters. So we got to go find some mountains.
00:10:08
Speaker
Yeah. So I built this thing because I wanted to revive the, the spark or the kick sled here in Norway. Uh, and I wanted to add a bit more zest to it. I guess you say I want to get garage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a term you've created that as a term now. Yep. Very good. So what are you, what were your thoughts on that project? Oh, it's a very cool project. Um,
00:10:38
Speaker
it was It was great to see the kids have so much fun on the ice when you took it to the ice rink to actually test it. Henry is actually, he loves being in his dad's videos and testing his stuff and so he's he's a great add-in for your videos, especially when you make kitty stuff because that was a kitty sleigh or a spike.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's not exactly for almost two meter long man, but it still managed to use it. It looked rad when you did it up. Like when we brought it in like, I don't know, three years ago and it's sitting in the shed, right? Yeah, it's it hung around for a long time. I knew I wanted to do something with it. I just didn't know what and.
00:11:22
Speaker
and you know And that's what it turned into and it turned out great. And the the red details and everything, you're such a, you're such a person for details. And that's also what makes your project look so rad. Do you know why I went with the red? No, because red goes fast.
00:11:40
Speaker
Wow, that's true. um But I went with the red because it contrasted the ice, because I knew that in the thumbnail, I needed something to contrast like the the black and white of the blue of the the snow and ice. So I needed it to stand out. Now, admittedly, that video didn't do as great as I wanted it to do, but You know, and I found the thumbnail production pretty hard to do and get right to get people to click through on it. But you know what? I think it turned out great.
00:12:18
Speaker
ah Absolutely. I think it turned out great too.
SCOP Festival Reflections and Community Engagement
00:12:22
Speaker
And then of course, the the incident which stuck with me at the end of the year, which is the the person sticking their finger into the turbine. So it just shows you how powerful these things are and how much you actually need to respect them.
00:12:39
Speaker
So, you know, I mean, I had a guy visit us. Long story short, he got the wrong house, but he turned out to be a fan. And I said, would you like to come into the garage? And he was like, oh, yeah, he's so excited. Young, young guy. And it turns out I gave this guy a go on on that jet spark on that jet sled.
00:13:05
Speaker
and when I was back out filming another day for the testing um and he's he was very inquisitive and he was the only boy out of that whole school group that actually said I'll do it.
00:13:20
Speaker
when I said, do you want to drive it? You know, um, so it was fantastic and actually made me very happy actually to see someone so ecstatic to see me like randomly at my house. He thought he was fixing something in your house though, but he had the wrong house. But then he was like, he was like, he had his fan shades on. So he was, he was not finding the right house.
00:13:47
Speaker
But too fun. But I think that my memory from that is not necessarily all the bad stuff with the whole Scarpa Festival incident, but more um more the time when we went to test it on the ice rink and I had a bunch of friends and some people from the makerspace that I'm part of, ah which I feel really bad for them. I've been to that makerspace in like, I don't know, four or five months now. Feels too long, actually.
00:14:18
Speaker
Um, so they all came to help me film it mainly, but you know, they got to use it. And I think that was like a turning point for this project. Cause I don't know if you guys can remember, but last year I did a bunch of different stuff. I did like.
00:14:38
Speaker
chairs and tables and stuff made with pocket knives and ah costume to my son with a bear suit. I made a boat. I am i made a bloody puppet.
00:14:51
Speaker
ah You know all this sort of stuff and none of it was really clicking and no real massive views on the videos or anything like that. um And This project, when I had everyone testing there, I realized, like, this is this is what it's all about. This is about building something that will bring a bunch of people that normally wouldn't hang out together. To enjoy something I've built with my hands, you know, and to share that with them and share an experience with them that would now normally never, ever, ever have. And it's kind of like a childhood
00:15:33
Speaker
dream thing, you know, like, that's the thing you'd want. When you're a kid, you'd want this jet powered, you know, that's what you'd want. Yeah. And so I realized, like oh, that's what I'm doing. I'm building dreams from my childhood.
00:15:51
Speaker
And I'm sharing it with adults who also would have loved to have those things as kids. Definitely. And I think on the SCOP Festival, that was a lot of the adults that came over. They were very fascinated by the kick spike. They had questions about it. They wanted to test it. Of course, we had to put it behind a barrier in the end. But but most, like I would say,
00:16:21
Speaker
35 and up, we're quite interested in that, especially the older generation of 50s and up, because they remember these. They used them to school every day, right? That was the that was the common era back in the 60s and 70s and 80s.
00:16:39
Speaker
So for them, there was a lot of questions about it. And I think that's really cool in the way that it sparks interest when you actually join um something like SCOP Festival. yeah I mean, they had these sleds to to go to school and they definitely didn't have...
00:16:58
Speaker
No, they don't. Oh, good segue love. Good segue.
Pallet Go-Cart Project Challenges
00:17:03
Speaker
Nice. Yep. The Pallet Go-Cut. That was a fun project. That made a lot of noise. And I think it turned out great. It looked like you had a a lot of fun. Yeah, I think that's what I realized. Like, oh, wait, I've been limiting myself a lot. I've been limiting myself to what I thought I could do.
00:17:26
Speaker
I need to splash out and spend some money on this one. Yeah, you did. Which was really hard for me. um I think I spent about 22,000 cronets on that project. I bought an engine. I bought a bunch of go-kart parts, axles, wheels, stuff like that. And it had it up so quick. Yeah. um But you know what? I was sort of, I thought I had a bit of money saved up and I thought, you know what? I've got to take a gamble.
00:17:56
Speaker
I took a gamble and, you know, I think it worked out. I mean, that's probably the second highest rated video I've got on my channel. Yeah, the moment it is. Yeah. Yeah. ah It's it did really well. ah The car itself was ridiculous to drive.
00:18:15
Speaker
Like the go-kart, it did not turn in. it was You felt a twist and move every time it went around a corner or like even did anything like a go-kart should do. It didn't do it. But I think that's what made it fun. But you had a you had a rad time up when you guys were testing it. And again, all these people come together to film and be with you and and be part of of the finishing project, right? Yeah, I mean, I felt like it was like such a nice experience to bring all these people together to drive this stupid machine I built like out of pallets, you know? um And i was it only cemented what I thought about the last project with the Jet Spot. I was like, oh, right, yeah.
00:19:09
Speaker
thats That's what this is all about. This is about bringing people together around a dumb childish kind of project, right? So I thought it was really cool and very interesting to have been able to do that for a bunch of my friends. But one thing I do remember out of that project, it was a little too much.
00:19:34
Speaker
There were too many people there trying to help them film and then they didn't all get a chance to drive it. yeah And things were sort of happening and I felt like I ah lost a little control of the filming and the documenting of the the project.
00:19:51
Speaker
with so many people, cause I was trying to please a lot of people. I was just, I was trying to be like, here, you know, of course you can have a drive. Like just let's film this little bit first. And then I lost a bit of control there. So I also learned that I had to like not include 20 people in the in the filming and and driving of these projects. Yeah.
00:20:13
Speaker
But you're allowed to be eager to, like you just want to let people be a part of what you got, right? Creating a community has also been a big underlying, well, at least talk we've had over the years around these projects. And I think um through this year too, i kind of i I want to talk about the fact that around this time is also when you decided
00:20:39
Speaker
How are you going to do the next few videos? What are you going to focus on? You did a shift yeah this year, right? yeah you And we had a lot of discussions about this. Should I do it? Should I do it that way? What do I feel? What do I actually want? And what do I want out of this? What do I like? Because you've been trying to do so many different things, right? And you felt like you were like all over the place. And now you've niched in.
Focusing on Vehicle Projects and Finding a Niche
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. i think The more and more I heard heard, I kind of always knew that I needed to niche, but I was like, I think Kristin, you can remember too. like I used to say, no, I'm i'm not going to niche. like I want to just do what I want to do, right?
00:21:20
Speaker
and It doesn't work. no Not if you want to build a business around it. it's like no You're not going to go to the burger restaurant that also sells Chinese food, that also sells you know sushi and Italian food. The danger is you'll get very average food. Yeah, you'll get very average food and people don't travel a long way to go this to the restaurant that has everything. And I think we have to think about it a little bit like that.
00:21:51
Speaker
so i I bit the bullet and I said, I'm going to start just focusing on vehicles. And so that's kind of why, i like at the Palette Go Kart, I realized like that's, I do want to focus on vehicles. This is what I want to do. I think that's why I made the investment too, in that engine. Because I realized I could rip it out and use it in other projects, which I did already. So that was kind of cool. Plus, I mean, look at it. It looks wicked. It looks so good. Like, if you think about it, it's palette parts just screwed together. It's got this ridiculous wing on the back. It looks like a Formula One current palette. Just a bit airy. Like, how did this out did this project not go get a million views? I don't know. I don't think any of us knows. But I think it was good and I think it was a was definitely a project that was a turning point for a lot of stuff. and I realised I could just buy an engine that was pretty much ready to go and just fit everything around it yeah and it would kind of work. I think that's good. I think that that's going to drive you on to the next one.
00:23:09
Speaker
which is the drift battle and the shopping cart trolley. but What an interesting project that was. I've always liked these like crazy carts and I never had one. And I just always, I i always just play this game in the shopping store. What do you call it? Where you drive it like a rally car. boom remember yeah And I would have like Henry in the, in the basket. We like be drifting around corners and stuff.
00:23:38
Speaker
And so I always had this idea of like turning a trolley into like a drift, drift machine type of thing, right? because And that's what you did as kids, right? Coming back to this idea of kids, like you would dream about drifting a car, but you would only have a trolley to be sitting in with your mom and dad, right? So, or you'd be pushing around behind your mom and dad when you're a bit older, right?
00:24:06
Speaker
And you would be like pretending it was like a car and you were like sliding around the corners and stuff. And I think I leaned into that childhood sort of dream and decided to build this drift shopping cart.
00:24:22
Speaker
Seriously, to date, the sketchiest one the sketchest project I've ever built. I remember filming you out here and you fell over and you were like, can you stop filming and come help me? I was like, what? You can't get up on your own?
00:24:41
Speaker
So, I used an electric scooter motor and battery. I basically bought an electric scooter for about, I think it was about 600 bucks. Actually, I spent on it. It's quite expensive. Yeah. ah The bigger ones are. and But it was dual motor, so I only need one motor to drive the front wheel.
00:25:00
Speaker
And it's essentially a three-wheeler vehicle with caster wheels in the back. And when you pull the handbrake, the caster wheels change the angle to stand a little bit more upright and that allows them to swivel a lot. And I had this idea like, oh, I put bigger wheels on it because that means it's more stable at speed.
00:25:23
Speaker
which was true until you pulled the handbrake and you got it And then it was very, very unstable. And I will never forget, this is also a mental note that I took into the next projects was, be careful who you let drive these things. ah Now, I had a good friend, Thomas, he was helping me film. I had reduced the numbers for filming.
00:25:52
Speaker
from this project down to three of us. And Thomas said, can I try it? And I said, of course, you know, go go for God. But I told him it's really, it's really difficult to drive. You really have to get practice. So don't go full speed and try and pull the handbrake. It doesn't, like, you'll hurt yourself. And what does he do? Full speed, 30 seconds out there. Boom, slams hard.
00:26:21
Speaker
Into the ground. Got some good gravel rush. Yeah. I was like so worried he'd broken his arm and smashed his head on the, like, it was brutal. And I realized like, ah, these things are dangerous. Like, do you really have to be careful who we let drive these things? ah Because.
00:26:44
Speaker
You never know what could happen. Some guy could stick his finger. apart Exactly. see that Oh, what a nightmare.
00:26:55
Speaker
but What do you remember about that project? but That project is probably pushing you around um in our driveway because I'm not there for film day. so This is what Justin does when I'm at my day job. and I've also said that I actually don't want to be there for film day because he goes all out.
00:27:18
Speaker
and i just My stress level just doesn't need that. I just need that he comes home in one piece. because I need him home again. I don't need him in hospital, or I don't need to see it, because that would just break my heart. So I'm not there, but um I think the funnest part is pushing you around. When you do tests here, you're like, Kristin, can you come up here?
00:27:46
Speaker
We do tests out in our driveway here because we've got a lot of space to to play around on, so which is great. so Just these things where I i feel like a turd running around and pushing you.
00:28:02
Speaker
um but It's fun. It's good fun. And the thing that makes me happy is actually to see the smile on your face when you're testing these or you're laughing or you're like, oh, that was crazy. Or you just suddenly like even just the go-kart again, the palette go-kart just takes it out for a spin because you just want to before you took it apart while you were building the other one. So just things like that.
00:28:28
Speaker
I think is my biggest takeaway because that fuels something in me to see your drive and to see your happiness and what you get out of what you do. We've been through the whole work for somebody else, they job, do something that's not very fulfilling, earning money for somebody else. We've done that whole process, right? And I've seen how miserable that actually makes you.
00:28:55
Speaker
because you also have such a strong moral and strong sense of change and what we can do better. And people are just not like that. So I see that how that grinds you. And now it's just it's a big difference in everyday life to have you here and to do this. I see that you sometimes you come out of the garage and you're like,
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah. Or you're like, Kristen, Kristen, I need to show you like a kid. Yeah. But you kind of become like a kid again. And I think that's good. We should always be a kid we with things we are excited about and that actually fuels us and drives us forward. So I think those are more things that I take away more than the actual product.
Personal Fulfillment and Family Support
00:29:46
Speaker
It's because I care about you as a person.
00:29:49
Speaker
Right? That's the most important bit for me. And then I have to close my eyes and squint my eyes sometimes because I'm just too scared of what's actually going to happen. Because he's a bit of a crazy adrenaline, but you're not a huge adrenaline junkie, but there must be a little bit there because otherwise you wouldn't put yourself in this. But you like being uncomfortable and testing boundaries. That is also partly adrenaline junkie.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, I test boundaries, but i I feel like I always take a like a mitigated risk. Yeah. So calculate. Yeah. So like, for example, the all these vehicles I tried before.
00:30:32
Speaker
I didn't just go there and go flat stick. No, no, you practiced here in the driveway and tested it on a little gravel road. Yeah, and like I knew the pallet go-cart worked and I knew that it seemed to help hold enough together to be worth filming. The only thing is I didn't have enough space to test it fully at speed. um You know, in hindsight, there's a couple of things that, you know, I would maybe think about that haven't really, something hasn't happened yet, but I need to think about it a little bit is like, for example, chain guards and things like that. For example, on both of the go cards, I never, I don't have chain guards on anything. So if that chain, let's go at 60 kilometres an hour, it's like, something's going to hurt. So I need to talk about that. I get such vivid imagination pictures.
00:31:28
Speaker
So I do need to think about some of that safety, but most of the time I test things properly, make sure that it's ready. I sort of, I don't just go 100. I'll test it at like 50 first and then work my way up to to top speed, I guess you'd say, and and push the boundary and see where where I can take it. And thankfully nothing bad has happened yet.
00:31:54
Speaker
ah come with All right, so shall we move on to the next one, which is your long video,
00:32:04
Speaker
which looks really cool. I really love the thumbnail on it and it's a good um it's a good build of of what you've done, what you've actually created till date.
00:32:17
Speaker
in your garage, at least the most important projects that you felt that you needed to add into this, right? And you were kind of like in between videos, so you were wondering what you needed to do here. like i was That was a summer project. Yeah, the bigger reason was I was talking with Jesper from Jesper Makes, and he's had a lot of success from long format videos. And I thought, okay, well, maybe that's something I need to try to try and get my channel, you know, going. It's because it was trending that you know all these channels that had long form videos were doing really well.
00:33:03
Speaker
Um, so I thought, you know what, I'm going to do a collaboration of these projects, but I'll do it properly. I'll do it with a voiceover. I do. I spent, I think I spent a month making that video or leastna wait three weeks, two to three weeks. I think you, you actually hacked it out pretty quickly. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was really interesting though, because that project caused me to shift.
00:33:32
Speaker
Cause I spent three weeks or whatever it was editing a video, but I got to review all my projects. get to I got to look back at all the years of projects and understand like my journey and where I've been and where potentially I'm going now. ye And I think There was a lot of discussions around it. We had a lot of talks in between painting the house and... Yeah, that was that period. Yeah, it was that period. Painting the house, building this, talking about where do I want to be? Who do I want to be? Am I the funny one or am I more serious? And you are quite a funny person, but you see yourself very seriously.
00:34:24
Speaker
as a serious person. So finding that middle ground where you also don't have to work your ass off to have four characters and create this craziness and how much time that actually requires in changing of clothes and layer upon layer of videos and all these things. So I think, I think you've had a great success and that just shows in, in the, in your latest videos anyway.
00:34:52
Speaker
Yeah, so it's interesting because, you know, a lot of the characters and stuff, they actually came from a guy called Jake Carlini, who does build videos, but has this huge backstories going on. it's <unk>s He's like a live action comic book.
00:35:10
Speaker
basically, and I really enjoy his videos and I thought, yeah what why that's an X-factor he's got there. But the difference between me and him, he makes really shitty projects and has all these characters in his videos, which differentiates him from it.
00:35:31
Speaker
But I can't do that. I just realized I really like making really mint things. Like things I'm proud to have built. I can't like... Yeah, you go into... When you mean shitty, you don't... You just mean not in such intense detail as you do.
00:35:50
Speaker
Well, I mean, shitty as in like the wrong materials for the job. Or simpler projects. I would make things that you would potentially be able to sell for a lot of money if yeah if you had the market there. So i I spend the time getting machining dings, you know cutting brackets, making it look aesthetically nice as well. yeah Whereas Jake Colini doesn't. He just bangs things together and it's kind of rough. And and then it works. and its yeah It works, but it works for him. And then I realized that i all these characters, I had Mankini man, I had you know the Lumberjack guy, I had you know the surfer dude at some point too, I had Hank the puppet. And I just started to realize when I did this big long format video, I'm like,
00:36:44
Speaker
I'm tired of being the storytelling, like character driven, yeah you know, a lot of details that you have to think, plus being like such a perfectionist in my projects. So I found that I couldn't do both.
00:37:03
Speaker
I was burning myself out. Well, you couldn't do all five parts because it's actually like four characters plus you plus projects. So it's just too much. I think it was good. It's good that you've, um, but it takes time. It takes time to see these things, to figure it out. Like all of this humor actually sent you down and spiral into a track of should I become a comedian?
00:37:30
Speaker
yeah well i did say that didn't Yes, so we've had that talk. So there's a lot of ah lot of conversations that happen in our behind the four walls of our home when he comes in.
00:37:44
Speaker
No one wants to have me as a comedian. sorry but I think and think it's great you tried you tried making it. It didn't exactly kick off, but hopefully people will pay attention and it can run through. It's a bit of your storyline, which I think is great. I actually think through that we should move on to where you said you were dead. Jesus, you scared a lot of people out there actually.
00:38:15
Speaker
It's very interesting because that's what I realized that people just read headlines. They don't even watch the videos. So, you know, I have a thumbnail. I'm done like kind of spray painted onto the back wall and then me with a morbid looking face. And then the the title is garage Avengers dead. The truth about garage Avengers future. and But it just shows you how much the front is what people see. Yeah. All right. And a lot of people don't even click through. yeah So realistically, I had like 12, I've had 1200 views on that video, which basically means I've got six and a half thousand followers. Have they seen it twice? A lot of people just looked at it and thought, oh, he's finished. He's done.
00:39:09
Speaker
And it's really hard because you think people actually are paying attention and they realize actually no one's paying attention. And in some ways, that's freeing. Because if no one's paying attention, you can do what you want. And that's kind of what I've done. I changed it up. That was the whole point of this video it was like to tell people,
00:39:32
Speaker
I'm done with the characters. I'm done with the the huge skits and the big, you know, funny bits and all that sort of stuff. It's too much for me. I need to be honest with myself. I need to just be more authentic. Yeah. And that leads us on to the next one, which is your biggest success to date. Great.
00:40:00
Speaker
It's really great. It's awesome. well I'm just sitting here with a big grin because it was such a highlight when this video reached 100,000 views. that was That was a big milestone. It's a big milestone for us both. It's not just Justin because it's I'm here supporting him on the backside, making sure the houses run and not that he doesn't help out when he can because he does. Absolutely. We are a team here.
00:40:31
Speaker
but to see that there's actually fruit to come from this. That's huge. It's great. And it's still growing. It's still going really well. It's two months old now and it's got 127,000 views on it. It's pretty good. Yeah, it's really great and so much fun. And it was a fun project too. like I remember these um these's guys at the the show trying to steal your hand truck.
00:41:02
Speaker
it's It's crazy what people do. They're like, no, no, we're just going to try it. No, it's there. It's part of an exhibition. You don't take things from an exhibition. Oh my God.
00:41:16
Speaker
to Sorry, that just popped up in my head, but such a great um project and what it turned into and loved by all, really. Yeah, a lot of really great comments. I still get comments on it.
00:41:34
Speaker
today you know I saw a comment come through and it was like I had to translate it because it was in Spanish you know it was like fantastic video you know looking forward to seeing the next one or something so um really a lot of great stuff there's also like okay there's still a little bit of humor in it So that's not all, it's not all doom and gloom and, you know. But you're not all doom and gloom though, come on. You might be serious when you're working on these things and trying to nut things out, but you're still a pretty silly person. So, yeah, I mean, I still have comments where people are like, a minute, you know, one minute thirty two.
00:42:20
Speaker
dogs or something like this. Yeah. Yeah. They still find the humor. People find the stuff that just is hidden into it. And there's still small stuff. And I think, you know, the next video that I'm making now also has those small things in it just hidden in there. but It's not it's not so in your face that you're like, okay, that's inappropriate. If you don't care, or you just blast past it really. Yeah.
00:42:46
Speaker
It's kind of like the hidden Coca-Cola ads in the movies and things like that. The blippets. So if you actually like turned it down, like real, real slow, you would get this big Coca-Cola.
00:43:00
Speaker
But I think that project too was a really great project to share with people. There is something just so magical about sharing like a go-kart with somebody, you know, something you can ride. so really It's so nice. And people, the smiles on everyone's faces when they're driving, it's... to be honest you know it's a really twitchy car like gokart to drive because it's such a heavy isn't it to steer yeah it's heavy but i don't want you to get moving it's fine but the problem is it's not very wide
00:43:35
Speaker
yeah So it becomes really twitchy ah to turn. Whereas as if it was a much wider ah cart, it would be less twitchy, I guess you'd say. So it was also a project that I just went all out in. So I knew what I wanted to do. And I also wanted to give this idea, I think,
00:43:58
Speaker
This is what I realized.
Adapting Strategy with Small Channel Projects
00:44:00
Speaker
So I heard someone on another podcast talking about what they do to find YouTube ideas. And they use this term called the Outlanders. They find the Outlanders. They find the channels that are small but have like one crazy big video. And that and then they copy that idea not identically but like do it in their own way and so that's exactly what this project was I saw there was a guy he had like similar size channel to mine and he was getting like maybe a thousand views on his other videos and then this view this video had like 780,000 views
00:44:51
Speaker
And I thought, oh, well, that's an Outlander. What was that? Well, he had built a go-kart from a hand truck, but ah in a totally different way to i the way I built it. So I use that idea to go forward. And I think I'll try and continue to find Outlanders a little bit, because there is no such thing as an original idea. You can just do a play on it, right? So I think that's what I'll continue to do. you know the The next video that I did was just like a testing go like testing video and it bombed. Yeah, it really bombed. We thought it would do a lot better actually, but it wasn't the build. So people actually want to see the build too, right? they That's what they come to see from you.
00:45:44
Speaker
Yeah. And so that's what I've been realizing too, is like people want to see the build and the driving in one video. They're willing to stick around for that. They're not willing to like wait, or at least I haven't tried another format where I went all the way up to testing and then didn't show them anything. Yeah.
00:46:02
Speaker
because that's I showed them in in the original hand truck go-kart video, I showed them me driving around, we had a friends driving it, it was fun. But then I sort of led on to like, oh, what is it gonna do if I put drift sleeves on it or I do this or do that? And- It didn't do the same. It didn't do the same. nu So I learned a lot from that.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah, but if you actually, you just heard of this podcast, didn't you, about ah Quentin Tarantino and what he said about series and things like that. That is not the same quality as video. I just, I just made a link. Like, you know, in every Siri episode, you kind of like have, um, that drop off so that you just want to click onto the next one. that There was none of that on that video. You're right.
00:46:52
Speaker
So yeah, or the fact that they just, for a quality video, you want it all baked into one. Yeah, like a film would be. Like a film would be. You don't. You want to create the new Top Gun fabric.
00:47:10
Speaker
Well, I'll be shocked if I suddenly see a jet sitting in our driveway. A jet airplane.
00:47:20
Speaker
I've got to get me some aviators, motorcycle. i Yeah. All those almonds and jackets. I would love to put you in one of them. Almondson, come sponsor us, please. There's none sponsoring happening here. It would look great in it. All right. Cool. Next one. For babies, for men. i Sorry, I just read that.
00:47:48
Speaker
I call this the monster bike, but it was the toddler's bike that I put two very high powered electric motors in.
00:47:56
Speaker
a It's a bit crazy. it You know what? It was so much fun, but like so painful the day after. I had no idea how much pain I was in until the next day. so That's what you get for clenching your bum bum together. For 30 seconds.
00:48:15
Speaker
ah
00:48:18
Speaker
ah Too funny. What did you think about this project when I came to you with this dumb idea? I think my brain just went, oh, MJ, you're cray cray.
00:48:31
Speaker
yeah how How are you going to ride this thing, Justin? You're a gigantor compared to this this bike. i I didn't see what you were saying and what you were thinking. and yeah we There was a lot of discussion about where are you going to put your feet? How are you going to do this?
00:48:53
Speaker
Because he was like, nicece knees to chin. but And when it stood next to him, I just i just rolled around around on the floor laughing because it doesn't even reach his knees.
00:49:11
Speaker
ah This is ludicrous but i love the fact that you've you've always liked small motorized things i remember from when we got together your dream car was the mini you wanted a mini that's what you talked about your car.
00:49:29
Speaker
was the mini, the way Mr. Bean has it. yeah And I was like, why? You have a thing with like small places. I guess that's why you survived in the Navy for that long and yeah in a bloody ah tube, but metal tube. but so are yeah and You must have a thing with small things and that you're so you's a big, so tall, right? so you You're like, can I, can I make it work? it's It's like, it's maximum challenge of your brain versus your body.
00:50:08
Speaker
At least that's a theory that I've made. So, but yeah, how was it for you, this project? Uh, I realized that it was a really great project because it was fairly easy. Like let's be honest, I probably use maybe two weeks on it. Yeah.
00:50:25
Speaker
And then I filmed the video maybe, so three weeks total with video editing and everything. And I thought, this is great. I got a video out. Then I realized, you know, I was going to Australia and I could, I lost all my momentum, I think, to be honest. So now I'm stuck with this project in the garage right now. Wouldn't notice no.
00:50:48
Speaker
yeah And i I even bought skis and tracks for the go-kart. And I'm like, there's no snow for me to test that. Because last year we had like the biggest winter we've had in our 18 years together. I'm pretty sure. Like it was, it was snow from October till March. And I mean, snow, it wasn't like in and out. It was here.
00:51:15
Speaker
So we could go play. There was a lot of winter play last year. There's no winter play in this weather. That's for sure. But I'm not complaining. Not at all. oh Not at all. But it was cold too. Like it was just, it was a great winter for winter. Yeah.
00:51:36
Speaker
But um so hoping for that this year, not getting it. What's the universe trying to tell you, Justin? i think nice I don't think she's trying to tell you anything. I think it's just the weather and we have no control over the weather.
00:51:51
Speaker
Now, but I do need to start thinking about outlier projects. I don't really have another outlier project ready yet. ah ah So I think I need to start doing a bit of research for outliers and start looking into interesting ways, fun things that I think are would be really interesting and put my own spin on it. yeah Well, we have that tandem bike, don't we? Yeah, we do. so that And that's coming into spring. So which We are moving in the right direction. So that I'm looking forward to seeing, is it like yeah a jet powered tandem bike? To be honest, I'm not really sure. Because like the the issue I have is that into what I really want to do with that bike, it's not a small project.
00:52:49
Speaker
and They never are. Okay, so maybe the the four babies, a little monster bike, because it was so little, it wasn't such a big
Project Duration Miscalculations
00:52:59
Speaker
project. But when you make things and pull things apart, it always becomes a big project, darling. It's the way you you're made. I thought this sled was going to be a fairly quick project. I constantly realizing how I miscalculate my time. Like I thought honestly that would this project would be like two weeks and I'd be done.
00:53:27
Speaker
And then he's like, I'm not getting enough time in the garage! It's week six, I think, now. Six weeks, baby. It's insanity. But we've had Christmas in there. It does look awesome. Now that I came into the garage yesterday and he's started putting it back together after painting it, it looks Awesome. yeah It looks sick. It's nearly finished. Yeah. but That's a good segue. That's a good segue. Yeah, it is because we need to. You've been working on something for the last few days now over Christmas, haven't you? Yeah,
Garage Avenger Merch Store Announcement
00:54:06
Speaker
I finally got my merch store up and running. Yeah.
00:54:12
Speaker
So I relaunched my website. It was down because I was, you know, yeah it was too expensive. That's what I've been talking about this. So I finally got it up and running guys. So if you guys want to go head over to carriage of edger.com, you'll find the store. It'll take you to Etsy store, but everything is legit there. So just order away. um I can highly recommend the baseball caps. They're really good quality and pretty happy with the outcome there.
00:54:42
Speaker
Is there anything you like that I've made? Yeah, I like the books because I like books to scribble in. I think they're really cool. I think they look great. The hoodie. I haven't actually got the sample of that yet. No, the hoodie. Hopefully, it's really good. Yeah, I hope so.
00:54:59
Speaker
and um yeah The hoodies look good. I like the fact that you've got the Garage Avenger name down on the arm. I think that's really cool. I think in general you've got some really cool stuff there and we tried to we felt the fabrics and you've worn them. I really like the Sikh t-shirt and that that's become a thing and I like i like the Garjiman divide.
00:55:27
Speaker
I think that was a really clever creation and play on words. I like play on words, so I think it sort of also shows that you you have your own way of thinking about things because you garage them and you justify it because you you put so much energy and perfection and so when it comes out, it looks freaking awesome.
00:55:57
Speaker
You like things looking good. I do. Yeah. That's why I chose you. Aw, thank you. Aww. Guess it's good. Smooth. Guess it's in He hopes.
00:56:15
Speaker
Too funny. Poor people, they don't want to hear about that.
00:56:20
Speaker
He's looking into his cup.
00:56:25
Speaker
All right. Um, but yeah, so that's really cool. He's got his wet spot up and running and it looks really good. I've checked it out on the, on the phone and how it looks. It looks great. I like it. Yeah. It's a good step forward. And I, I just really hope that people now will go in and and have a look and see what I have to offer. Um, and of course,
00:56:50
Speaker
Things can always be improved there. Feedback is always great. Feedback is really great. If you have some feedback, please send it my way. And of course, if you just want to support.
00:57:03
Speaker
me and what I'm doing. And Kristen, of course, because she's part of this team. Yeah. I do have Patreon. And so if you do sign up for Patreon, ah you get a discount on merch as well, up to 30 percent discount. Yeah, she's great. You know, there's unfortunately print on demand. The profit margins aren't really great. So to be honest, um it's not really making if I give you 30 percent off. So, you know, there's Yeah, um I'm pretty much breaking even when I give 30 percent off. So, you know, knowing that no that, but I really encourage you guys to go out and use it and use the coupons if you're already a patron. And if you're not a patron, then.
00:57:49
Speaker
sign up and you'll get the coupon, right? And I'll i'll send it your way and you can use it to buy cheap merch. Yeah, become part of the nation. we need We need people on here so that we can continue to do this. And I hopefully don't have to work two jobs. and That would be nice. And I think to the other side of things is that, you know, when you sign up to be a patron on the GA nation,
00:58:19
Speaker
You kind of get an insight of what's going on too. I'll be, I post things on there like asking questions about projects. I put something on there the other day about a jet powered ice skateboard, something like that. And so a bunch of people, a bunch of my amazing patrons gave me feedback on that our project idea. ah So,
00:58:42
Speaker
You know, it's a great little ah place to sort of really understand what's going on behind the scenes. And you'd be supporting us. And I think if you're inspired by what I'm doing, but you feel you don't.
00:58:56
Speaker
you can't do it yourself or you don't want to do it yourself, then and you want to live vicariously through somebody else. Yeah, yeah that helps helps. Every little bit helps. actually Yeah. Every little bit helps. Absolutely. All right. We're done selling them. Yeah. All righty. Do you want to do some of your segues here that you and Kieran normally do or? Oh, I didn't even think about that.
00:59:21
Speaker
The sections? Is there is there anything right now that is uh Double rainbow all the way across If I have something that's mind blown I haven't thought anything out do you have something?
00:59:46
Speaker
that's blown your mind lately? To be honest, I think the only thing I had, which I might even have with Kieran when I do the podcast, might not have changed, but is the fact that I smashed my screen on my telephone and I thought, I don't need a telephone. you know It's like, you know I'll take pictures and things, it'll be fine. like But you use it for so much crap.
01:00:14
Speaker
Like everyday stuff blows my mind how much we rely on phones now. Yeah. Like just because the screen doesn't work a hundred percent means I can't go in and do my banking or like send the Vips to somebody properly or and just type a message to say like, Hey, thanks, dude. Like I can't, I can't do that.
01:00:37
Speaker
And it's been mind blowing how much I realized like how much we use these things in everyday stuff. And if we were to have no telephones anymore, I think the world we've got at plays, but at the same time, like. We are moving in that direction, so we can't. It does put us closer to everybody. Yeah, it does. I think, can I, I think I have one.
01:01:05
Speaker
yeah ah It's actually our new why get dry robes, even though they're they're not the real deal dry robe. They're a cheaper version, but that's what I gave Justin for Christmas, and then I gave myself one for Christmas, and we took them out yesterday.
01:01:24
Speaker
and They were awesome. The way they keep the wind and everything and the colors are great. and you know ah Last night, I put it on to take Lexi out. This morning, I actually went for a walk in my PJs underneath and just that thing showing off my bare legs as I'm walking around the neighborhood. I put it on and I was so warm. It was great. I'm like, I am loving this thing. This is awesome.
01:01:53
Speaker
my Absolutely. it it's a It's a true mind-blowing for us. Ice bothers. Yeah, I was going to say, for those who don't know, we do ice birthing. We try to do ice birthing every Sunday yeah in wintertime with some friends of ours. yeah and it's a It's great. It's really good. that It's really good. Some, I'm sure there's people listening like, Oh, I would never do that. But like, go try a really great that is a mind blown on all on its own. It's been a, it's been a good, good challenge and I totally recommend it. Totally. It's really, really good. Maybe not to the next one. Anything that's given you the,
01:02:43
Speaker
Who does number two work for? Hey, hey, just grab a hold of something, bite your lip, and give it hell. Come on. We're gonna get through this.
01:03:00
Speaker
Hey, that sounds pretty nasty. How about courtesy flush over there?
01:03:09
Speaker
Such a long ah audio the track. The courtesy flashes are best. No, such a long... I think the only thing that's given me this shit is... that is... Applemost. Oh, wow. Physically? No, no.
01:03:37
Speaker
No, I don't know. Sorry, I had to check that. No, I think, I think it gives me the shits because, so here in Norway, epumust is like the equivalent of the cheap bottle of wine that you don't want to give to, like you give to people for a Christmas present or a gift.
01:03:55
Speaker
And the the funny thing I think it gives me the shits about it is it's like never a known brand. Like you never know what does Apple most is this Apple most is never known as like the Apple most to like gift to people. It's always some random little boutique like Apple most which is actually just Apple juice.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's apple juice, or it's a sparkling yeah apple, like the one we got from our friends. that was I love that, that we had like Christmas morning. That was lovely. But still, I mean, you're gifting apple juice. Like, what the hell? Give me the shits. Just don't give us anything. Give us a card. What? I loved it. I loved it, but that's fine. I can give you the shits.
01:04:44
Speaker
I'm glad we're different though. Yeah, we are different. Do you know what? Give me the shits. Oh, please tell me. Christmas Eve. It all comes out. Christmas Eve gave me the shits. I was trying to just lay down low, not have any expectations. I was so cocky. I was like, I don't have any expectations. It's fine. If I just get to relax with the kids, it's great.
01:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, it didn't turn out like that at all. And I learned something. I learned something about how I need Christmas Eve to be. And it's I did learn it back in when we started meet dating and back then, and I made sure that I made Christmas Eve a thing back in Australia.
01:05:36
Speaker
And now I tried to like lay my guard down and like do it differently, and yeah it disappointed me. I was disappointed. I didn't get to sit on the sofa, cuddled up, all quiet and calm in dinners, watching the shows that are awkward and weird, and but gives me a Christmas feeling. ah We didn't have a nice Christmas dinner.
01:06:02
Speaker
or ah like The whole day was just in shambles. the the The greatest thing was that we were with family and we had the people we love around us. That was the best bit about it. But everything else was just sad for my part. So I know what I need next year. It taught me a lot, but it also gave gave me the shit. So I'm realizing that afterwards.
01:06:31
Speaker
and so It was a hard learning curve. You don't give me the shits, it's Christmas day, because I realize how much you were miserable that you didn't get Christmas Eve. So I'm trying to overcompensate and no one's helping, no one's reading the keys that I'm really trying to make this like super Christmas Eve for Kristen to overcompensate.
01:06:57
Speaker
You gave me the shits that I couldn't provide that for you. No, it's okay. Here's a learning curve for both of us and that's, that's fine. But yeah. okay I like traditions. Traditions are easy. It's kind of like Taco Friday or Taco Tuesday, wherever else you are in the world. Taco Friday, you know what you're making. You know approximately the time you're eating. It's easy. Yeah, it's true.
01:07:23
Speaker
So I'm like, let's go with tradition.
01:07:28
Speaker
yeah But we made a ah new plan, and I like that. So to open presents on Christmas Day was actually really beautiful, and Christmas Day was a great day. And all thanks to Kieran and Hale, his food, that was amazing. And I would love to eat that egg again, please.
01:07:48
Speaker
I think we should chi to chi chip chi check it out. Check it out. What's it all about? Do I have some check it out? Oh, I don't know. What do I not? I got nothing. Have you got something?
01:08:05
Speaker
Nothing that we haven't talked about before. I'm just like deep in my silo series. yeah and these It's been really nice to be able to um I don't get into some of the series and take a bit more relaxed days. You know, I mean, I actually feel like super productive. I've, you know, pretty much got the sled nearly ready. Yeah. um And I've put up a website and all this sort of stuff. It's been great. But it's also been nice to just take a relaxed sort of evenings sometimes. Yeah. And mornings too. You know what? Maybe it's actually recommendation is turn off your alarm. Oh, yeah, that's been good.
01:08:45
Speaker
That has been lovely. I have loved every morning where I don't have to have an alarm on. It's been amazing. We still wake up around somewhere in the seven to eight, but i I think just that is, yeah, there is so much value to that. I feel like I've just through that, not having an alarm set, feel like I've had a holiday. Yeah, but that's also been torture for me.
01:09:15
Speaker
Alsar. These cuddles. ah Morning cuddles. Morning cuddles have that lead to nothing. Because we've got kids and they're going to get up. Damn it. Damn it. But no alarm. I recommend turning off your alarm whenever you can. Walk around
Expectations for the Upcoming Year and Conclusion
01:09:34
Speaker
with blue balls over here.
01:09:39
Speaker
Sorry, people. Anyway. Too funny. To wrap this thing up, what can we expect next year? What can we expect next year? What have I told you about what I'm up to next year that you're going to spill the beans on? What are your expectations of these things that I'm about to endeavor and attempt at? Well, we've got a big project coming, don't we?
01:10:09
Speaker
in that so and you're testing this to bargain. All I keep saying is, as long as I'm not there for test days, that's fine. That's good. Then let's hope 2025 is the year where you roll around and suddenly you've got a million followers and come on, bring it on people, we need you. and To follow your,
01:10:36
Speaker
your journey, our journey really, because I'm here, I'm in the background discussing things with you. And I think that too, that's actually been a nice change ah in your videos now is that you have been as, um,
01:10:50
Speaker
sound board where I film and actually that's nice. Or HMS worry wart over here. so yeah yeah And I think maybe just adding a bit more of that and then, yeah, I've got my own journey to worry about. So that's coming. That's exciting too. Yeah, that's exciting too. yeah so yeah Maybe you'll all hear about that end of next year. Me and Kieran will be complaining about Kristen. What's giving you this shit this way? Kristen! Yeah, exactly.
01:11:28
Speaker
ah She's talking about her feelings and shit.
01:11:37
Speaker
So I think with that, I am happy to say Happy New Year everybody and um stay safe, have a nice time with your family and friends wherever you are. And good luck for 2025. Let's make it a good one. See you in 2025. Nice.