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Episode 02 - Rob Scaduto of The Lost Boys - Travel Vloggers in Indonesia
265 Plays3 years ago
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to leave your career and book a one-way flight out of the country? In this episode - our first with a guest - Rob Scaduto recounts how he did exactly that. Where he and his backpack have ventured to. thrroughout the world. How that journey landed him in Indonesia, meeting Cheyne, and starting The Lost Boys.
The Lost Boys are a duo of travel vloggers from the US, and based in Indonesia. On their social media platforms, Rob and Cheyne take you with them and show you all of their favorite parts about traveling...the culture, food, hisotry, nature, and people. They vlog all of their travels, and tell you stories about the places they visit and the people they meet.
Rob talks about the techniques and skills he has developed with The Lost Boys, future goals for the platform, and exciting things happening for them. They can be found on YouTube at "The Lost Boys", as well as on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @TheLostBoys.Travel.
To connect with Rob and The Lost Boys, please follow their social media below:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheLostBoysTravel/featured
https://www.instagram.com/thelostboys.travel/
https://www.tiktok.com/@thelostboys.travel
https://www.facebook.com/thelostboys.travel/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Convos with Jordan'
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello everyone, and welcome to Convos with Jordan, the podcast where I, Jordan Keith, interview and introduce you to people pursuing their dreams, living authentically, and self-actualizing to their true selves.
00:00:19
Speaker
Guests discuss their unique experiences, trials, and tribulations that they have overcome, shape them into who they are today, and where they are headed next on their life's journey.
00:00:29
Speaker
On our solo episodes, I'll draw upon personal experiences from my own life, concepts from the self-improvement community, and topics revolving around success and inspirational ideas so that you can become the person you want to be.
00:00:42
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in on this journey.
00:00:48
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:00:49
Speaker
I'm excited to share my first guest on the show with
Guest Introduction: Rob Scuduto of the Lost Boys
00:00:51
Speaker
you.
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Rob Scuduto of the Lost Boys, a duo of travel vloggers who are based in Indonesia and showcase hidden gems of the country that are off the beaten path.
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Their YouTube channel, the Lost Boys, recently hit over 100,000 subscribers as well as their Instagram account.
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Speaker
You can find them at thelostboys.travel on Instagram and TikTok, where they take you with them on their travels and food adventures.
00:01:13
Speaker
Check that out on YouTube, subscribe, and follow their adventures on Instagram and TikTok.
Rob's Journey: From Coast Guard to Backpacker
00:01:19
Speaker
In this episode, Rob discusses leaving a stable career to become a backpacker, how the Lost Boys were founded, and where they're headed next on their journey.
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Speaker
Enjoy.
00:01:29
Speaker
Hello everyone.
00:01:30
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My name is Jordan Keith.
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I'm the host of this podcast, Combos with Jordan.
00:01:34
Speaker
On this podcast, what we do is we interview people who are doing really cool, interesting things or gone through unique experiences.
00:01:42
Speaker
Today I have as a guest, my friend, Rob Scaduto, a classmate of mine from the Academy and one of the Lost Boys.
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Speaker
And I'll let Rob take it from here and kind of describe what he does as a travel blogger.
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It's a really cool story.
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Speaker
So Rob, what do you guys do?
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How'd you get started?
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all of that.
00:02:01
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Hey guys, so my name's Rob.
00:02:03
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Me and Jordan go back to the Coast Guard Academy back in graduating in 2014.
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But basically since then, after graduating the Academy, I had a five-year contract with the Coast Guard, similar to Jordan.
00:02:15
Speaker
After that, I did some traveling as a long-term budget backpacker.
00:02:20
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And then a long story, which maybe we'll get into, but I eventually got stuck in Bali, Indonesia during the pandemic.
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So I was in Indonesia for the majority of the pandemic.
00:02:30
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I'm still here.
00:02:31
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And basically in 2021, so about a year and a half after I got to Indonesia, I decided to start a YouTube channel with one of my friends here.
Founding the Lost Boys and Starting a YouTube Channel
00:02:39
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I was also from the States and we started doing travel vlogging.
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So now for about a year, we've been doing travel vlogging all around different parts of Indonesia.
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Our main focus is putting out videos on YouTube, but we also do content on Instagram and TikTok as well.
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And it's been a pretty wild ride over the last 13 months now.
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But it's been a really cool ride and a really exciting experience.
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And I'm sure we'll get into some of the details today with Jordan.
00:03:04
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So yeah, and a little bit about who I am.
00:03:07
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Yeah, and that's awesome.
00:03:09
Speaker
And you know,
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I have, I'm sure you, when you first started doing this, you'd been hearing from people messaging you like, Hey, you got to start something.
00:03:16
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You got to start something.
00:03:17
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What was it kind of like taking that first step?
00:03:20
Speaker
You know, we'll probably get into backwards, but how was that like actually taking that first step as someone who's now just starting to kind of go down that path, you know?
00:03:28
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Yeah, you definitely have to have a huge risk and you just have to jump straight into it.
00:03:34
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It's almost like starting your own business, but anything, because I mean, it's almost like we've started our own business.
00:03:39
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So you just kind of have to have that no fear.
00:03:41
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Also a bit of confidence knowing that I'm going to take this risk and I know that I'm going to succeed because I think it will help push you further.
00:03:48
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Yeah.
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But in the beginning, I think it definitely was a little scary.
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But it's something that I thought about for a while.
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So by the time I made the decision to do it, it was almost a bit of a calculated risk.
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And also having my friend Shane do it with me definitely alleviated some of the fear.
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You know, we're in this together.
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We're going to make it together.
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But yeah, in the beginning, there is definitely a little, you know, you're maybe a little bit apprehensive of starting something like this, just not knowing what the future entails, you know, what the long run is going to be.
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But I was really excited the whole time.
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And I definitely had a confidence in me that I know that we're going to make this work and we're going to succeed.
00:04:26
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So that's kind of how my feelings were at the start.
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But it was definitely a bunch of little things.
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And I'll calculate a time of thinking, all right, I'm going to jump right into this and start this.
00:04:35
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Yeah, I think that's really awesome.
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Is it too, Shane, he's from, I know I've seen him on, you know, your videos and everything, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.
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He's from the States as well.
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And then like, did you guys meet in Indonesia then or had you traveled around with him before?
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Speaker
Because you've been a lot of places, you know, you really traveled.
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Yeah, so we met.
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We met in Indonesia.
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A lot of people think that we were friends from the US, but we're not.
Partnership with Shane and Developing Vlogging Skills
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Shane had a bit of a similar story to me, but eventually had got stuck in Bali because of Corona and then was stuck there during the pandemic.
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We couldn't leave and go home.
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And then we had met a few months after we had both got stuck there.
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And so we both got stuck in March 2020.
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And then we met in May.
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And then basically the story is that we continue our, I was a traveler at heart.
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I wanted to continue traveling.
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Shane likes traveling as well.
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And then once Indonesia became open for travel, which was about 6 August 2020, they started allowing people to travel within the country with COVID tests and whatnot.
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We started traveling with a group of friends around Indonesia.
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No video, no blog or anything, just doing our thing.
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And it was a group of us, actually a few Americans that were traveling around Indonesia and we were just doing trips.
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We'd travel around for two or three months to different islands and then come back to Bali and kind of rest for a bit.
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And we were doing that for about a year.
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And then it was our last trip when it was just Shane and I, basically all of our other friends had either left or weren't interested.
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And it was really during that trip when Shane and I kind of like really connected as friends and became, I know the friends who we are today.
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And then we kind of realized we both have a really strong passion for traveling.
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We're the people that are still here, we're the people that still want to do it.
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And we love doing this.
00:06:16
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And it was a few other things had lined up and it was kind of during that trip where we kind of saw the light and said, man, we should just learn how to shoot videos and start a YouTube channel.
00:06:26
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And so I mean, so many people had told me prior and people had told Shane to.
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And yeah, we basically made the decision to do it, bought all of our camera equipment and then started it.
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And then now here we are today.
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So that's kind of how Shane and I met and how it started.
00:06:42
Speaker
So we yeah, we were had friends.
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We were friends for a little while, not too long, but had some experiences together already traveling.
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And basically the concept was we need to take what we're doing, but figure out how to capture it on on video.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you guys have really rammed up in the video skills.
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I remember asking you the other day because you had a drone shot or something.
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It's like, did you guys like learn how to do that?
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And I think that's really cool because it's not like these type of skills aren't things.
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Maybe people learn them in school, but I feel like no one who's on YouTube or any of these other platforms, they're kind of teaching themselves a little bit of trial and error, right?
00:07:14
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And yeah, absolutely.
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Do you guys travel with another camera person or do you have like a third person or anything or just YouTube and...
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Yeah, it's just it's just us two.
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Yeah.
00:07:24
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And so one of the ways we approached it is once we decided to start, we bought all of our equipment and then we had we didn't post a video for almost two months.
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So basically we bought all of our equipment.
00:07:36
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We moved in together into a place.
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We live in a pretty crazy party area of Bali.
00:07:41
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So we moved we moved away from there, away from the distractions.
00:07:45
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And then basically got our own place, got all of our equipment, and then every day just dedicated ourselves to learning.
00:07:51
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So we learned everything about video, learned everything about editing.
00:07:55
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We learned about social media and strategy and how to grow and, you know, different ways to like approach social media.
00:08:01
Speaker
And we did that for a month and a half pretty much before we even posted our first video.
00:08:05
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So I think that also has led to our progression where, you know, just for a month and a half, all our focus was, was just let's learn how to become, you know, okay,
00:08:15
Speaker
bloggers, okay, editors, because when you start out, you're never great.
00:08:18
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We look back on our first videos and we're like, what were we thinking?
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Yeah, we took some time to prepare ourselves before we jumped right into it.
00:08:26
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So I think that helped too.
00:08:27
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But yeah, I mean, most bloggers,
00:08:30
Speaker
especially travel vloggers or anyone really making YouTube content.
00:08:34
Speaker
It's pretty much the whole package.
00:08:35
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So anyone that's doing it, I have a lot of respect for it because they have to be the face on the camera.
00:08:40
Speaker
Then they have to figure out how to do the editing and put everything together.
00:08:43
Speaker
And then they have to figure out the social media strategy.
00:08:46
Speaker
And most people don't really have a team of people doing it for them unless they're really successful.
00:08:51
Speaker
So yeah, Shane and I do everything ourselves.
00:08:53
Speaker
We both do Shane and I can both run the channel individually, you know I could blog shoot video fly the drone edit and do everything by myself and so could shame so we're interchangeable.
00:09:04
Speaker
And that was one of our goals when we started as we we both want to be able to do everything so.
00:09:08
Speaker
But later on, if things keep going well, I think we'll definitely hire a team because it's quite busy, especially editors, because if you can hire some editors and hire other people, it can allow you to grow your business a lot more.
00:09:23
Speaker
But for now, yeah, it's just Shane and I tackling everything.
00:09:26
Speaker
I totally get that.
00:09:27
Speaker
Having like, I edited a little bit of my first episode.
00:09:29
Speaker
I'm like, oh yeah.
00:09:30
Speaker
And especially video too, like shots, angles, watching through that.
00:09:33
Speaker
That's a lot of time.
00:09:34
Speaker
And I think it's really impressive because I've noticed in your videos, you're able to speak Indonesian and some of the people commenting, they're like, oh wow, you know, local dialects.
00:09:42
Speaker
So that's wild because they're like white guys who know this stuff.
00:09:45
Speaker
It seems like the country has been very welcoming of you guys and very receptive, right?
Positive Reception and Travel Experiences in Indonesia
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
Indonesia as a whole, not many people know about Indonesia, especially in the US and Europe and other parts of the Western world.
00:10:02
Speaker
Maybe some people know about Bali, but Bali is such a tiny, tiny, tiny part of Indonesia.
00:10:08
Speaker
But yeah, in terms of our audience is primarily Indonesian.
00:10:12
Speaker
We do have a bit of a Western audience too.
00:10:14
Speaker
But for people that don't know, Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world by population.
00:10:18
Speaker
There's 275 million people.
00:10:21
Speaker
It's right behind the US.
00:10:22
Speaker
The US is third and that's the 330 million.
00:10:24
Speaker
Indonesian is fourth.
00:10:26
Speaker
In general, Indonesians are incredibly kind and welcoming.
00:10:30
Speaker
They're some of the nicest people that I've ever met.
00:10:32
Speaker
And especially with foreigners, they love seeing foreigners travel around the country and interacting with them and trying to speak the language and try the food and kind of adapting to the culture.
00:10:40
Speaker
So that kind of
00:10:42
Speaker
energy is reflected on on social media so they really enjoy seeing foreign travel vloggers um travel around the country go to different places explore kind of hidden hidden places so that receptive energy is not only on online but also in person but it's just like kind of like a feel for indonesia and it's it's a indonesia is a great place i could talk to you about it for for hours uh but it's we're really happy to be here and you know even before we started the channel it kind of already felt like home so
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, because and that's wonderful to hear.
00:11:11
Speaker
And it doesn't surprise me all at all that you're able to integrate and like, you know, have a great time because you've always been someone who has been able to get along with just anyone you go with and me and everything.
00:11:20
Speaker
And I think that really helps with travel, you know, just that love of getting to know people and different cultures and everything.
00:11:26
Speaker
Really immersing yourself because so many Westerners, I think they just like you said, think, oh, Bali, whereas I've seen you guys are like, hey, you got to go here.
00:11:33
Speaker
No one goes here.
00:11:34
Speaker
This is such an awesome place to go.
00:11:36
Speaker
within Indonesia.
00:11:37
Speaker
Exactly.
00:11:38
Speaker
Exactly.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
There's so many places like that, but because as with anything, Bali is the most famous place on Instagram and people don't realize, but Bali is one of 17,000 islands, you know, if Bali is only 4 million people out of 275 million, I mean, there's just, Bali is a great place.
00:11:56
Speaker
It's amazing place.
00:11:57
Speaker
And it's cool to be a tourist there, but there is so much, there is so much more to see.
00:12:00
Speaker
So is it like, how many islands have you guys hit at this point then?
00:12:03
Speaker
Have you like gone to most half?
00:12:05
Speaker
I don't know.
00:12:06
Speaker
That's a lot of islands.
00:12:07
Speaker
Oh, no, no.
00:12:08
Speaker
I mean, you can, I didn't even know that.
00:12:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
You can, you can probably travel Indonesia for 10 years and not see it all.
00:12:15
Speaker
Um, but there are like, there are the big main islands, um,
00:12:19
Speaker
I think I forget this.
00:12:20
Speaker
So Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Aluku.
00:12:26
Speaker
So yeah, there's roughly like five to 10 big main islands.
00:12:30
Speaker
So we've done a few of the big main ones and we've done them pretty extensively, but they're still,
00:12:35
Speaker
we still have like the biggest islands to see.
00:12:38
Speaker
We're going to go to Sumatra next, which is the sixth biggest island in the world.
00:12:42
Speaker
And then there's also Borneo.
00:12:44
Speaker
Indonesia has a part of Borneo.
00:12:45
Speaker
There's also Malaysia and Brunei on Borneo, but Borneo is mostly Indonesia.
00:12:51
Speaker
That's the fourth biggest island in the world.
00:12:54
Speaker
And then there's parts of Papua, West Papua that are part of Indonesia.
00:12:58
Speaker
So
00:12:59
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's going to take a long time to really explore it all, but, uh, we've done, we've done a lot and we we've done more than, you know, most travel vloggers that spend time here, but yeah, there's still, there's still a ton more to see.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:12
Speaker
And is that kind of the plan in the future?
00:13:14
Speaker
Have you guys like planning out where are you going to go trip wise?
00:13:17
Speaker
Because I think you guys are traveling on scooters or motorcycles, right?
00:13:20
Speaker
So have you, how far in advance, um,
00:13:22
Speaker
what do they call it?
00:13:23
Speaker
Voyage planning or whatever in the Coast Guard, you know, like, and I think that's probably like a good skill that really came from, you know, being active duty and doing all that nonsense, right?
00:13:32
Speaker
Oh, for sure.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:13:33
Speaker
I mean, that's some of the stuff I, in the Coast Guard, like has helped me as a traveler for sure and be planning and prepping and being organized.
00:13:39
Speaker
But, um,
00:13:40
Speaker
yeah we definitely have a rough plan of the islands we want to spend time in in indonesia um we also have plans to travel outside of indonesia um which we can talk about later and building building the lost boys as a hopefully an internationally recognized travel brand um but yeah we kind of shane and i are pretty easy going and we figure hey which island do we want to tackle next um so yeah the island we're going to tackle next is sumatra and you know we plan to be there pretty open-ended but it could be three four or five months but you know we start on one end and we go to the other and and
00:14:10
Speaker
cover as much as we can in between.
00:14:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
And more.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:13
Speaker
So pretty much in terms of long term planning, it's more rough planning.
00:14:16
Speaker
And then in terms of specifics, it's as a backpacker, especially it's that's more day to day.
00:14:22
Speaker
And that's kind of a hard concept to grasp, especially for Americans that haven't backpacked before.
00:14:27
Speaker
But backpacking in general is as a day to day type of planning, you often, you know, figure out where you're going to stay and where you're going to go.
00:14:34
Speaker
Sometimes it may be the day before, but sometimes the day of.
00:14:37
Speaker
So yeah, in that, in that regard, we're definitely very flexible.
00:14:40
Speaker
So when it comes to being a backpacker, since I've never been a backpacker before, you know, I never got that opportunity.
00:14:46
Speaker
Is it, um, when you're traveling that way, do you feel like you're almost like semi nomadic?
Nomadic Lifestyle and Cultural Observations
00:14:50
Speaker
Is it like, you know, the things you're carrying, like, and you can always purchase something if you really need it, I'm sure if it's available, because I'm sure there are places you're like, oh, they don't have this thing that you might need.
00:15:00
Speaker
Right.
00:15:00
Speaker
So what are some kind of things that you've learned?
00:15:03
Speaker
Because
00:15:03
Speaker
You backpacked how many countries now?
00:15:06
Speaker
Like you've done a lot.
00:15:08
Speaker
I've done a lot.
00:15:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:09
Speaker
So I left.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I didn't say before, but when I left my contract with the Coast Guard, I basically started a gap year traveling.
00:15:16
Speaker
And my initial plan was to just gap year and then go back to the U.S. and get go to get a master's and get a job and do and do the whole thing.
00:15:25
Speaker
But a backpacking, a gap year backpacking culture isn't that familiar with Americans.
00:15:30
Speaker
So it's more of like a European thing.
00:15:32
Speaker
But yeah, basically my plan was to just backpack for a year and then go back to the US.
00:15:38
Speaker
And what I did was I spent three months in Europe, basically the maximum visa we can get there.
00:15:43
Speaker
And then I did a month in Australia, a month in New Zealand.
00:15:46
Speaker
And then I flew to Asia in January 2020 with hopes to travel for six to eight months backpacking.
00:15:52
Speaker
And in terms of what yeah so you're obviously very nomadic.
00:15:57
Speaker
I was on a pretty fast paced traveling, you know I was doing like, you know, in Europe, just doing a few days in each place and moving around.
00:16:05
Speaker
And in Australia I spent the whole month there New Zealand, the whole month there in Asia, a little bit more time, you know, like a month in each country but pretty nomadic.
00:16:12
Speaker
But it really depends where you are.
00:16:14
Speaker
And it also depends, you know, what your pace is.
00:16:17
Speaker
So in Europe, you definitely have to be more, you definitely have to be more planned.
00:16:22
Speaker
And also the thing more things available to you, obviously, because you're kind of still in the in the Western world a bit.
00:16:28
Speaker
But you know, your planning is usually like, minimum three days out, usually a week out or two weeks out, you kind of have your plans ahead of you.
00:16:35
Speaker
similar in Australia.
00:16:37
Speaker
And then in New Zealand, I had advanced to a little bit more flexible.
00:16:41
Speaker
But then when you're in Asia, that's when it's like fully loose.
00:16:43
Speaker
And it's you're really every day just figuring out something new because there's such a huge backpacking culture in Southeast Asia.
00:16:50
Speaker
There's so many hostels.
00:16:51
Speaker
There's so many places to go.
00:16:52
Speaker
There's so many things to see.
00:16:53
Speaker
And it's you're really fluid.
00:16:57
Speaker
Uh, and yeah, it's, and it's, it's really, it's really hard to grasp, but, and people told me before I went, they're just like, you're going to, you're just going to figure things out on the day and everything's going to change.
00:17:08
Speaker
And it's just, you're not going to have a set plan.
00:17:11
Speaker
Um, and it's kind of, yeah, it's kind of a hard concept to grasp unless you're there, but, uh, yeah, you, you just have to be flat.
00:17:17
Speaker
You'd have to be really flexible and you have to be really easygoing and you have to be not get stressed.
00:17:22
Speaker
You know, these are all like very, uh,
00:17:23
Speaker
like general characteristics of the backpacker is to not get your feathers ruffled is to be open and easy and you're living in hostels, you know, in a room with 10 people where maybe someone's loud and snoring.
00:17:36
Speaker
So yeah, you really just have to be, you know, a kind of a stress free, easygoing person.
00:17:41
Speaker
Right.
00:17:42
Speaker
You can't be very particular about space.
00:17:44
Speaker
And as we know, Americans are super particular about space.
00:17:47
Speaker
Right.
00:17:48
Speaker
And maybe it's more so now in the pandemic.
00:17:50
Speaker
And did you notice like more backpacking?
00:17:53
Speaker
Have you noticed a lot more backpackers now that we're kind of through the pandemic?
00:17:56
Speaker
Because I'm sure a lot of that was kind of locked down.
00:17:58
Speaker
Right.
00:17:59
Speaker
During 2020.
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:01
Speaker
I mean, yeah.
00:18:02
Speaker
Tour.
00:18:02
Speaker
I mean, yeah.
00:18:02
Speaker
Tourism pretty much shut down.
00:18:04
Speaker
Everything that I saw in Indonesia and from other places in Asia, obviously.
00:18:07
Speaker
But from talking to friends, it seems that like.
00:18:12
Speaker
I think travel is pretty much almost at 100% now, including all types of tourism, backpacking, luxury travel, whatnot.
00:18:19
Speaker
Indonesia is pretty much back to their normal number.
00:18:22
Speaker
Bali is back to their normal numbers.
00:18:24
Speaker
I've talked to friends in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, and it seems like everything has kind of gone back to normal.
00:18:29
Speaker
And a lot of places, especially in Asia, as long as you're vaccinated, you can get in.
00:18:33
Speaker
There's no more quarantining.
00:18:34
Speaker
There's no more testing.
00:18:35
Speaker
So it's a little bit easier.
00:18:37
Speaker
So yeah, since the pandemic, it seems that things have pretty much gone back to normal.
00:18:41
Speaker
That's really good.
00:18:42
Speaker
And then like expanding out.
00:18:44
Speaker
So Lost Boys travel.
00:18:45
Speaker
You guys want to go international.
00:18:46
Speaker
Is the kind of plan to go up to Borneo, I think, and go into Malaysia or where are you guys hoping to go to next?
00:18:52
Speaker
What would be the next maybe Asia?
00:18:54
Speaker
Are you guys thinking or where's the next step you think would be for the Lost Boys?
00:18:58
Speaker
internationally.
00:18:59
Speaker
So I think I think we'll stay in Asia.
00:19:01
Speaker
We have a couple ideas for countries that we'd like to go to.
00:19:04
Speaker
Nepal is high on our list.
00:19:07
Speaker
Also considering going to India, Sri Lanka.
00:19:10
Speaker
But Shane and I have also talked about maybe like pushing the limit and going to some countries that aren't as highly covered.
00:19:15
Speaker
Like I would love to go back to Vietnam.
00:19:18
Speaker
I haven't been to the Philippines there.
00:19:19
Speaker
I would like to go there.
00:19:21
Speaker
But places like that have been like extensively, extensively traveled and extensively covered.
00:19:26
Speaker
So, I mean, I'd like to get to some places maybe in Northern Africa, maybe some places in the Middle East and kind of like following through with our theme of, you know, our theme in Indonesia is we go to places that people don't go.
00:19:37
Speaker
So when we go abroad, I mean, I want to continue going to places that people don't go and, you know, really show and tell stories about, you know, people in places that you would have never heard of.
00:19:47
Speaker
But yeah, basically our dream is, and as long as it goes well, is to use Indonesia kind of as a home base.
00:19:52
Speaker
Basically spend a few months in Indonesia, relaxing and also traveling and making videos here, and then spending a few months abroad and maybe like four or five, six months abroad, travel to a few different countries, make videos, and then always come back to Indonesia.
00:20:05
Speaker
Just because we love Indonesia, it's pretty much our home now.
00:20:07
Speaker
And we've also built such a huge Indonesian audience that we want to continue to entertain.
00:20:12
Speaker
So that's the plan.
00:20:13
Speaker
That's our basically long-term goal in terms of lost poise.
00:20:16
Speaker
I think that's really awesome.
00:20:18
Speaker
How do your, out of curiosity, like what's your family think of this?
00:20:21
Speaker
Like you haven't been back to America since like for like nearly three years, have you?
00:20:26
Speaker
Or have you?
00:20:26
Speaker
Three years, yeah, yeah.
00:20:29
Speaker
My family's very supportive of me.
00:20:32
Speaker
I don't think they quite grasp
00:20:34
Speaker
You know, you, they don't understand social media.
00:20:37
Speaker
They don't understand you specifically YouTube.
00:20:39
Speaker
You know, they don't understand, you know, how some of the brands and the businesses that people have built off content, you know, and like how, what we can take lost boys and what we can build from this.
00:20:50
Speaker
So, I mean, maybe they do.
00:20:52
Speaker
I don't think they, I don't think they quite understand, but yeah, they're very supportive.
00:20:55
Speaker
My friends are all very supportive.
00:20:58
Speaker
People are all to see how fast we've grown.
00:21:00
Speaker
I mean, everyone's really happy for me, which is great.
00:21:03
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think everyone quite grasps
00:21:06
Speaker
you know, what we can build from this, especially within the travel space, because not like Americans are just not, not many Americans are into traveling and backpacking and that and vloggers.
00:21:17
Speaker
Like it's not, it's not, you know, it's not like one of the pillars of content in America.
00:21:22
Speaker
There's definitely an audience.
00:21:23
Speaker
It's just not, it's not the same.
00:21:25
Speaker
So yeah, I don't, everything, everyone's very supportive of me, but I don't think everyone, everyone quite grasps, you know, how far we can take this, you know, and what the, you know, what the potential is.
00:21:35
Speaker
Um, but yeah, it's definitely, uh, it's definitely not a standard, you know, type of, you know?
00:21:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker
I mean, becoming a YouTuber is becoming more popular in America.
00:21:45
Speaker
Obviously a lot of people wanted to do it, but in terms of the lifestyle, in terms of like, you haven't been back to the U S three years, like you don't have a nine to five, you don't have a, you know, a normal life.
00:21:53
Speaker
Like, yeah, that is definitely outside the box from, you know, but yeah, it's, it's never a, luckily I have good relationships with everybody and everyone's super supportive and that side of it's nice.
00:22:03
Speaker
I think that's awesome, you know, taking the unconventional path because, you know, I was stationed in New York my last tour with the Coast Guard and you see people, you know, taking their midtown commute, not being very happy.
00:22:13
Speaker
And, you know, I think a lot of those people would think it's wild and really awesome.
00:22:16
Speaker
And I think it's really awesome that you just went for it.
00:22:19
Speaker
You know, most people, they just dream about it.
00:22:21
Speaker
You've just kind of gone for it and ran with it and really made it into something.
Milestones and Brand Collaborations
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:29
Speaker
Just because now like we just hit our year market and so much has happened.
00:22:34
Speaker
I mean, we hit a hundred thousand subscribers at 10 months, which is pretty crazy.
00:22:38
Speaker
We just hit a hundred thousand on Instagram, which is also pretty crazy.
00:22:41
Speaker
And now that we've kind of built our brand and like
00:22:45
Speaker
not mastered our content, but we have the content portion down.
00:22:47
Speaker
Like now the business side is coming.
00:22:49
Speaker
We just closed, we did some deals with some, you know, Squarespace and Skillshare and Surfshark and like big companies on our YouTube, on our platform.
00:22:57
Speaker
We have some exciting deals that we're closing right now before our next trip with,
00:23:01
Speaker
potentially getting sponsored by a motorcycle company, getting sponsored by a big out.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:06
Speaker
Like it's, and it's crazy.
00:23:07
Speaker
It's just, it's, it's, yeah, it's a crazy whirlwind, but yeah, it doesn't happen unless you just jump into the fire.
00:23:12
Speaker
You know, that's, you know, that's what it comes down to no matter what you're doing.
00:23:15
Speaker
It doesn't, it doesn't have to be, you don't have to be a YouTube blogger or you can, whatever you're doing, you just got to jump in for it.
00:23:20
Speaker
And, but again, make it a calculated risk and prepare yourself.
00:23:23
Speaker
You know, it's, it's a balance of, you just have to have the, like,
00:23:27
Speaker
not give a F, you know, I'm going for it, you know, aspect, but you also have to have a bit of calculated and preparation.
00:23:33
Speaker
And yeah, the combination of those things, I think it sets you up well, no matter what you're doing.
00:23:37
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that.
00:23:38
Speaker
And I think that's amazing.
00:23:40
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:23:40
Speaker
I didn't know you guys were securing, you know, like
00:23:43
Speaker
being sponsored, other deals with like Skillshare and everything.
00:23:46
Speaker
That's really cool.
00:23:47
Speaker
And I'm sure you'll be able to share a ton of different like things, affiliate links, and like, you guys are probably just going to snowball.
00:23:53
Speaker
And it seems like you guys did it the right way.
00:23:55
Speaker
Like you said earlier, like, Hey, we like kind of practice before we really started releasing things.
00:24:00
Speaker
and everything.
00:24:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, no, that helped for sure.
00:24:04
Speaker
And just the time we took prep for preparation before jumping right into it.
00:24:09
Speaker
Yeah, that was critical and crucial into our growth.
00:24:12
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:24:12
Speaker
Do you feel like what are some things that you kind of like miss about America?
00:24:16
Speaker
Like it could be even food wise.
00:24:18
Speaker
And what have you kind of fallen in love with?
00:24:19
Speaker
And, you know, if you ever left Indonesia, you're going to be like, oh, I'm going to always miss that thing.
00:24:25
Speaker
Yeah, US, there's definitely some food things I miss, especially from New York, like a good bagel in the morning.
00:24:32
Speaker
I knew you were going to say that.
00:24:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:36
Speaker
Fortunately for food, Bali is almost, it's not a city, but it's almost like a city.
00:24:41
Speaker
So you can find whatever types of food you want.
00:24:43
Speaker
So I can find most foods.
00:24:45
Speaker
But yeah, there's some things about food.
00:24:46
Speaker
I obviously miss my family and friends.
00:24:50
Speaker
And sometimes I get nostalgic more so about like times in my life.
00:24:55
Speaker
You know, when I was in San Diego, I really had some good times there.
00:24:59
Speaker
And when I was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, I had some good times there.
00:25:03
Speaker
And occasionally I get nostalgic moments, but I'm not often missing the US.
00:25:07
Speaker
I'm pretty content as a nomad and being abroad.
00:25:11
Speaker
And then in terms of Indonesia, I mean, there's so much.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, just the welcoming atmosphere here, kind of the energy amongst the people.
00:25:20
Speaker
It's just, Indonesians are really open and really loose and really social amongst each other.
00:25:28
Speaker
It's easy to get along with people.
00:25:30
Speaker
People get along with each other.
00:25:32
Speaker
And even so, like Indonesia is incredibly diverse.
00:25:34
Speaker
There's, you know, tons of different culture, even though it's, you know, this one main country and everyone looks the same, but it's they all stem from different lines and different kingdoms and different tribes and whatnot.
00:25:45
Speaker
There's actually like over 700 different languages in Indonesia, not dialects, languages.
00:25:50
Speaker
But they still there.
00:25:51
Speaker
It's not perfect, but they I think like Americans can learn a lot from Indonesians, but they still manage like cohesed together so well.
00:25:59
Speaker
So there's always a nice energy like wherever you're going, if you're going to the market, if you're going to eat somewhere, if you get in a Grab or an Uber, it's like everyone's always loose and open and easy to conversate with no matter where you're from, what language you speak.
00:26:11
Speaker
It's just like it's a nice feeling when you're around.
00:26:14
Speaker
So I would definitely miss that.
00:26:15
Speaker
I would definitely miss some Indonesian foods.
00:26:18
Speaker
Indonesian food is notoriously spicy and I love spicy food.
00:26:22
Speaker
So I would miss that.
00:26:24
Speaker
And just being able to drive around on a motorbike, that's probably one of the biggest things.
00:26:28
Speaker
A lot of travelers that spend time in Asia
00:26:31
Speaker
when they, you know, they're driving around a motorbike for, you know, a few months, then they go back home and they, there's, they can't just like hop on a motorbike and go wherever you want.
00:26:38
Speaker
It's just like, it's the ultimate freedom.
00:26:40
Speaker
It's, it's really, it's really affordable.
00:26:42
Speaker
It costs you $2 to fill up your gas tank and you can drive for five hours somewhere.
00:26:47
Speaker
And like, yeah, I would definitely miss being on a motorbike if I had left Indonesia and the people.
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:53
Speaker
I miss the people the most.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like everyone's super accepting.
00:26:56
Speaker
And I didn't know that about that's a ton of languages.
00:26:59
Speaker
So there's this intermingling of cultures and everyone's just accepting because I guess there kind of is a overall now, you know, arching national identity of being Indonesian.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:07
Speaker
And it's all these things just mixed together.
00:27:09
Speaker
Right.
00:27:11
Speaker
Exactly, yeah.
00:27:11
Speaker
And Indonesia only got its independence, you know, just over 75 years ago, 77 years ago.
00:27:17
Speaker
So there's still a fairly new country, but there's really a strong sense of pride and nationalism here.
00:27:22
Speaker
People are proud to be Indonesian.
00:27:23
Speaker
People are proud of how diverse the country is, you know, how fast it's growing.
00:27:27
Speaker
And yeah, I think it's something that I think it's something that Americans could learn from, just the cohesiveness here.
00:27:35
Speaker
And it's not perfect.
00:27:36
Speaker
Indonesia has its fair share of problems.
00:27:37
Speaker
But overall, there's just a better, more stronger feeling of unity here.
00:27:41
Speaker
And people are proud to be here and, you know, proud of their country, which is really cool and amazing to see.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah, because you probably see like some stuff back here on the news and you're like, oh, there's not a lot of cohesiveness really going on in the States.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really cool though, but that's something too.
00:28:01
Speaker
I think being a world traveler really just exposes you to all these different ideas and ways people live, right?
00:28:08
Speaker
Yeah, well, I wish, I think one of my, one of the goals, Shane, well, Shane and I have, but something we talked about started is, I hope we really, it's going to be a challenge, but I really wanted to tap like an American audience someday.
00:28:19
Speaker
And like the dream would be like, I really want to like, and this is such a long shot, but I would love to make a huge impact in America to make traveling and backpacking like
00:28:29
Speaker
a part of the culture.
00:28:32
Speaker
Because I think there's so many benefits to traveling, especially long term traveling, not only personal benefits, but societal benefits.
00:28:38
Speaker
And this is just something that's not in an American culture.
Cultural Insights and Personal Growth Through Travel
00:28:41
Speaker
And it's in a lot of parts in Europe, European culture, like Germany, France, you know, Scandinavia, the Netherlands all have this culture where at some point in your life, you take a year and travel.
00:28:53
Speaker
maybe not a year, maybe six months.
00:28:54
Speaker
A lot of people do their traveling between high school and university.
00:28:58
Speaker
They graduate high school, they take a year off, they usually work for a few months, they save up money and then they go traveling for three, six, nine months or a year.
00:29:07
Speaker
And that's pretty common.
00:29:08
Speaker
Or then maybe they go to university, then they take their gap year or they work, save some money and take their gap year in their late twenties.
00:29:15
Speaker
But there's always, there's this culture of, I need to go out and explore the world
00:29:20
Speaker
also explore my open my mind and like grow as a person.
00:29:24
Speaker
And in terms of like the personal benefits, like it makes you more, it makes you learn about yourself.
00:29:28
Speaker
It makes you more comfortable yourself.
00:29:30
Speaker
Like I really came into the person I am now because of my time traveling.
00:29:35
Speaker
So there's all these personal benefits that I think.
00:29:37
Speaker
And then also it just opens up your mind to the world and different cultures and different ideas.
00:29:42
Speaker
And the best part about that is when you take everything that you've learned and you take all the conversations you've had with other travelers, and then you bring back those to your home country, I think it just makes you a more complete and, you know, well put together person, maybe with a better set of ideas with a better understanding of the world and a more open mindedness to other ideas.
00:30:03
Speaker
And I really think that if there was this culture that existed in the US,
00:30:07
Speaker
I think a lot of the tension and, and, you know, the combativeness that exists would be, I really do think would be alleviated.
00:30:16
Speaker
And I hope one day that, you know, I understand that, you know, the American process is, you know, school, high school, college, career, you know, that's it, you know, but, and there's part of that process.
00:30:29
Speaker
That's great.
00:30:30
Speaker
But I really hope one day that,
00:30:33
Speaker
You know, there is maybe maybe Americans will be more willing and open to, you know, going out of the country, exploring a bit, growing themselves, growing their ideas, and then coming back home.
00:30:43
Speaker
And I think some of the, you know, the tension and problems we have would be it would be a little bit, you know, but it'd be alleviated.
00:30:49
Speaker
And that's that's my personal that's my personal opinion.
00:30:51
Speaker
That makes a lot of sense to like what you describe American culture is a lot about mile markers.
00:30:56
Speaker
Like you just said, like, you know, school, high school, college, career, and then maybe family or whatever.
00:31:02
Speaker
But instead of what you're advocating, hey, rather than hitting those mile markers, why don't you take some time off the beaten path and, you know, explore what's out there.
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:31:12
Speaker
Yeah, and the other way I've approached it is just trying to collect like maybe staples in culture from different parts of the world.
00:31:20
Speaker
And like, yeah, so in terms of like the American way, like I have a strong work ethic built inside of me because of American culture.
00:31:27
Speaker
And I love that.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I love the American work ethic and getting things done and working hard and succeeding and putting yourself in a place where you want to be.
00:31:35
Speaker
And that's, you know, one of the reasons why I am the way I am today and why one of the reasons why our channel is so successful.
00:31:42
Speaker
And that's great.
00:31:43
Speaker
But, you know, maybe if you spent some time in Europe, you would, you know, there's more of a mindset there of enjoying your life.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:49
Speaker
And maybe having a balance between working hard and also having time off.
00:31:52
Speaker
And then if you spend some time in Southeast Asia, you know, you would learn about maybe enjoying the little things.
00:31:58
Speaker
Individualism isn't as important as community and everyone, you know, eats and everyone lifts each other up.
00:32:03
Speaker
And I've tried to pick different, you know, cultural staples in different parts of the world and put them all together.
00:32:09
Speaker
And I think that's kind of like for me personally, I think that's like the best way to approach to approach life.
00:32:15
Speaker
So maybe if I look, I don't hate America.
00:32:17
Speaker
Like I think America is a great place.
00:32:18
Speaker
I'm like, I'm like one of the biggest, in terms of a backpacker, I'm like one of your biggest American defenders ever.
00:32:25
Speaker
Cause I mean, many people, many Americans who backpack will bash the US but I'm one of your biggest defenders ever.
00:32:30
Speaker
But I love the US and I love what it stands for.
00:32:34
Speaker
I think the US could be even a better place if people traveled and were a little bit more open-minded.
00:32:41
Speaker
So yeah, ideally, maybe the Lost Boys can tap, you know, if the Lost Boys became a huge channel in the US, like some other big channels like prank channels and daily bloggers, you know, it would be cool if we could have an impact on, you
Future Business Plans for Lost Boys
00:32:55
Speaker
know,
00:32:56
Speaker
inspiring people to travel yeah that that would be that would be a huge dream but we'll see we'll see yeah and I hope so too because it's like you guys are almost growing beyond the YouTube channel itself and really trying to expand into a brand and everything too right of like this is what could happen have you guys thought about that setting up like tour things or anything like hey this is what you've got to hit I don't know if you guys have already made travel guides or anything like that for people or waypoints or you know kind of like that
00:33:23
Speaker
No, for sure.
00:33:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:24
Speaker
So that's, yeah, the biggest thing you can do, especially as a YouTuber is you have your content and you build a business off your content, but what's your next step?
00:33:32
Speaker
Like what's the next thing that you're doing?
00:33:34
Speaker
So for people in the travel space, yeah, some people sell travel guides.
00:33:39
Speaker
Also, some people who make videos, they do courses is obviously the new thing, right?
00:33:43
Speaker
In any lane.
00:33:47
Speaker
Uh, just cause you can set up a course and then it's automated and then you made money.
00:33:51
Speaker
Um, so travelers set up travelers, set up courses for, um, video and editing and how to do that.
00:33:56
Speaker
But a new thing that Shane and I are going to look into for sure within the next couple of years that travelers are doing are actually trips.
00:34:02
Speaker
Um, so setting up not just the travel guide, but Hey, we're going, we're going to this island in Indonesia for 10 days.
00:34:09
Speaker
We have 10 spots and you can join us and come with us.
00:34:13
Speaker
You get to travel with us and we get to, you know, everything's planned for you.
00:34:16
Speaker
And, you know, we can show you this great show you this place and enjoy your time.
00:34:20
Speaker
So that's probably one of our goals in terms of, but yeah, building the Lost Boys as the brand is more than just us making content.
00:34:26
Speaker
It's us attacking everything within the travel space, guides, trips, helping you make videos, like whatever we're doing.
00:34:32
Speaker
So that, that is our, those are our long-term goals as well.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's really awesome.
00:34:36
Speaker
And it's really cool to see because like you want to scale out, like you mentioned earlier, like next step would be probably like editors or something of that nature to hire to kind of offload that work.
00:34:45
Speaker
So you guys can focus more on these kinds of like big initiatives that you guys want to execute out.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:34:51
Speaker
Unless you, especially editing, because editing is a, yeah, like you're starting to see now as a process and it's time consuming.
00:34:59
Speaker
So if you can, it's all time is, yeah, time is money.
00:35:02
Speaker
So if you can get someone to, especially editors to take that time, it just frees up a lot more time for you to tackle these other ventures.
00:35:09
Speaker
So that will be probably the first, that and maybe an assistant would be the first person that we hire maybe next year.
00:35:15
Speaker
So we'll see.
00:35:16
Speaker
But yeah, some, I mean, some of these big travel creators, I don't know if you know, but the big guys, but they have teams of 10, maybe 10 people, you know, doing their stuff.
00:35:26
Speaker
They have three editors.
00:35:28
Speaker
They have people shooting their content.
00:35:30
Speaker
They have people managing logistics people.
00:35:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:32
Speaker
So like you could build a, you know, as a YouTuber, you can build a small business.
00:35:36
Speaker
It's, it's, it's pretty crazy.
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:37
Speaker
And like older generations don't get that.
00:35:39
Speaker
I've seen like Gen Z or like Gen Alpha.
00:35:41
Speaker
I think they're calling them like, you know, the really young kids.
00:35:44
Speaker
Like that's their number one thing.
00:35:45
Speaker
That's what they want to be when they grow up.
00:35:47
Speaker
They want to be like YouTubers and everything.
00:35:49
Speaker
It's like the number one desired job.
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:51
Speaker
And I forget the metric on it.
00:35:53
Speaker
One of the channels, I follow this channel that helps you build your YouTube channel basically.
00:35:57
Speaker
And yeah, the, the, that metric tied in like how many people want to be YouTubers, but they tie it into like starting a small business, you know, has risen over the last few years.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
But it is, I mean, if you're, if you're starting a YouTube channel, if you're starting social media, you're building a, you're building a business.
00:36:15
Speaker
So.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:16
Speaker
And it's like, what was I about to ask on this?
00:36:19
Speaker
I was about to ask something because you're building
Inspiration and Early Travels
00:36:21
Speaker
all this up.
00:36:21
Speaker
And I think it's really cool.
00:36:24
Speaker
I guess like shifting what inspired you because like, did you have this thought like when we were back at school, did you think like, hey, this is what I want to do like from the moment like we graduated or something or when did it occur to you to be like, hey, I'm going to go travel the world.
00:36:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:36:38
Speaker
So it was in 2015.
00:36:41
Speaker
But yeah, basically, I was always interested in traveling since I was young.
00:36:44
Speaker
That's part of the reason why I joined the military.
00:36:48
Speaker
But then in 2015, a year after we graduated, I was on the ship and had a little bit of traveling, but definitely inspired some traveling outside of the military with a little bit more with a little bit more freedom.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, in 2015, I started telling people, man, what if I, and this is without me knowing about like gap beer culture.
00:37:07
Speaker
I was like, man, what if I just finished the contract?
00:37:10
Speaker
I saved as much money as I could and just like traveled for a long, as long as I could.
00:37:13
Speaker
What if I did that?
00:37:14
Speaker
I remember telling some people about that and they're like, what?
00:37:17
Speaker
Like, sure.
00:37:17
Speaker
Okay.
00:37:17
Speaker
What are you talking about?
00:37:19
Speaker
So in 2015, I had that idea.
00:37:23
Speaker
And then ever since 2015, I was very focused on, you know, what's worth spending my money on.
00:37:28
Speaker
So I was very cognizant of, you know, what I spend my money on.
00:37:31
Speaker
It kind of did a lot of saving, obviously.
00:37:34
Speaker
And then it was just a thought in my head I thought about doing and you know I wasn't sure.
00:37:38
Speaker
Two years later in 2017 I took my first kind of backpacking style trip to Europe for three weeks.
00:37:45
Speaker
That's the most time we can get three weeks.
00:37:46
Speaker
I was pretty lucky to get three weeks off actually.
00:37:48
Speaker
That's a lot of weight.
00:37:48
Speaker
I'm surprised they let you take that.
00:37:50
Speaker
I know.
00:37:51
Speaker
I didn't think like any leave anytime else during the year just saved three weeks.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:56
Speaker
And I went to Europe for three weeks and then I just met people that were doing this.
00:38:00
Speaker
I met people from all over the world that were, you know, I was in Europe for three weeks bouncing from city to city.
00:38:05
Speaker
Hey, I'm traveling for a month.
00:38:06
Speaker
Hey, I'm traveling for three months.
00:38:08
Speaker
I'm traveling for six months.
00:38:09
Speaker
I'm traveling for a year.
00:38:09
Speaker
I've been traveling for two years.
00:38:11
Speaker
Like what?
00:38:14
Speaker
This is a thing?
00:38:16
Speaker
This is a thing?
00:38:16
Speaker
How much money did you save?
00:38:18
Speaker
I didn't save that much money.
00:38:18
Speaker
You can do it cheaply.
00:38:21
Speaker
What?
00:38:21
Speaker
This is a thing?
00:38:23
Speaker
And that really lit my fire, meeting these people, seeing that they're doing it in 2017.
00:38:30
Speaker
And then from that moment on, I had two years left on the contract until 2019.
00:38:33
Speaker
And I was just waiting, dude.
00:38:38
Speaker
I was enjoying my life for those two years, but I was just waiting, man, every day thinking about it.
00:38:43
Speaker
Anytime I was spending and I was still having, you know, doing things, doing activities, going out, traveling, having trips, but I just like I'm not going to spend my money on anything that I don't need.
00:38:53
Speaker
Every day thinking about the dream of just like leaving my office in the Coast Guard and getting on my one-way flight.
00:39:00
Speaker
But yeah, that's kind of how it happened.
00:39:02
Speaker
It was an idea.
00:39:03
Speaker
And then once you meet people that are doing it and seeing the reality, that's what lit my fire before I started off.
00:39:10
Speaker
So that's kind of how it happened.
00:39:12
Speaker
And it's like what you were saying earlier about like Americans aren't exposed to this because like you don't know what you don't know, right?
00:39:17
Speaker
So we don't see backpackers like going around
00:39:20
Speaker
in the states really at all or no no no and there's no hostile culture in america either like people they serious like seriously this is not a joke like people have told me like you stay in hostels like what about the movie hostile have you seen the movie hostile no i haven't but is it like a horror movie yeah it's a horror movie it's like a it's a
00:39:40
Speaker
it's a hostel in Eastern Europe and it's this guy who like, they use girls to like kidnap travelers and then they torture them.
00:39:48
Speaker
It's like, it's so ridiculous.
00:39:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:51
Speaker
But yeah, people have seriously asked you that because there's not a hostel culture in America.
00:39:54
Speaker
I mean, even in like, there's only a few hostels in the big cities like New York, there's a few, maybe a few other big cities, but yeah, like you can, you know,
00:40:04
Speaker
there's the people don't understand like you could stay in a hostel it's so cheap you know compared to what a hotel or airbnb is there a lot of them are really clean and really nice um you know sometimes you have some horror stories but it's part of the gig and uh and you meet and you can and you can just go by yourself like my whole gap year was pretty much by myself um and i can go into a hostel step foot into a hostel and like the net that night go have a beer at the bar and make 20 friends
00:40:31
Speaker
um and also do it on a budget uh so people don't understand this culture in the u.s uh it's more common in europe obviously and then anyone who travels around you know southeast asia even parts of central and south america but yeah people don't people don't understand this but you know i can go to you know i could spend a month in europe and spend you know a fifth of what you would spend on your vacation um and still have an amazing time still do a ton of things that you did
00:40:56
Speaker
stay in a hostel make a ton of friends and like people understand that you can do it on a budget and you can really stretch your money yeah and it's also an amazing an amazing experience you know people don't realize this
00:41:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:07
Speaker
And I think it's like, you know, when people think of European vacations, they think maybe going to like, you know, like Nice in France or something like that.
00:41:15
Speaker
Right.
00:41:15
Speaker
They're not thinking like, hey, there's way more cooler things off the beaten path and you don't have to go stay in like, you know, a very expensive place.
00:41:21
Speaker
You can go and see these.
00:41:23
Speaker
There's I've seen one.
00:41:25
Speaker
Maybe, you know, this guy, Bold and Bankrupt.
00:41:27
Speaker
I sometimes see his YouTube videos.
00:41:29
Speaker
He's big.
00:41:30
Speaker
He's big.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:34
Speaker
No.
00:41:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:35
Speaker
Prime example, man.
00:41:36
Speaker
And what else was I going to say?
00:41:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:39
Speaker
There's a difference between taking a holiday and traveling, you know, at least in my eyes.
00:41:44
Speaker
And I think in most travelers eyes, you know, if you're taking your two week holiday and you're, you're sitting at a fancy hotel and, or you're sitting at, you're all inclusive on the beach, you know, in my eyes, that's like, that's a holiday.
00:41:56
Speaker
You know, traveling for me is that's when you're like really getting in and you don't have to do anything crazy, but it's like, you know, you're really on the move, you're really expanding your mind, you're, you know, you're learning, you're interacting with people, local people from the country you meet, you're interacting with other travelers that that to me is traveling, you know.
00:42:14
Speaker
And I think in the U S it's more of a culture of, you know, holiday.
00:42:16
Speaker
I get my 30 days off.
00:42:18
Speaker
Maybe I'm in 30.
00:42:19
Speaker
Maybe I get my two weeks.
00:42:20
Speaker
I've got like 20 days, you know, and I negotiated that.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
So it's just a different, it's a different, it's a different culture, but, but yeah, both.
00:42:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:29
Speaker
And the other thing I want to, I guess, stress is that, you know, I'm not here to say that my lifestyle or, or that style of traveling is the only way it's not the only way, you know, there's many, many ways to be happy.
00:42:43
Speaker
You know, I like the way what I'm doing.
00:42:44
Speaker
If you want to rush through the system and have a family and, you know, do the more traditional lifestyle, I'm not saying that's wrong.
00:42:51
Speaker
Like, that's totally fine.
00:42:52
Speaker
There's plenty of plenty of people that are happy that way as well.
00:42:55
Speaker
But I also at the same time, I also do think there are some people who are stuck in that who maybe want more and could be happier trying something else.
00:43:02
Speaker
So that would be the only thing I would say.
00:43:04
Speaker
But look, there's many ways to be happy.
00:43:06
Speaker
There's many ways to live your life.
00:43:07
Speaker
There's many ways to travel and explore.
00:43:09
Speaker
And there's no right way and to each their own is kind of my thought process on it.
00:43:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:14
Speaker
I think it's very Zen in a way, right.
00:43:16
Speaker
You know, to each their own.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:20
Speaker
Is it like, I don't know.
00:43:21
Speaker
Have you like tried dating on the road?
00:43:23
Speaker
If you don't mind me asking, is that like a big challenge?
00:43:28
Speaker
So, I mean, yeah,
00:43:30
Speaker
Traveling is like it's fun like yeah people I guess the way it goes is people say you get like travel girlfriend or boyfriend when you're backpacking yeah usually especially like in Southeast Asia because Southeast Asia is like the hub right yeah so I the main I start most people go start in the peninsula so Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia this is like the heart of backpacking culture.
00:43:53
Speaker
So I spent three, almost three months there before Corona.
00:43:56
Speaker
And then I got stuck in Indonesia.
00:43:59
Speaker
But yeah, basically with dating and also friends, like it's the same.
00:44:02
Speaker
Basically you meet people, you're like in a, in a hostel, like, Oh, I'm going this way.
00:44:07
Speaker
I'm going this way too.
00:44:08
Speaker
You kind of join together, you spend some time together and then maybe you eventually part ways.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:13
Speaker
And sometimes it's a few days, sometimes it's a few weeks, sometimes it's a few months.
00:44:18
Speaker
Most of my traveling in Asia, I met this German kid.
00:44:21
Speaker
We were super good friends and we actually spent like two months traveling together.
00:44:24
Speaker
But in terms of like dating, like, yeah, you meet a girl, you know, from, you know, wherever you guys hit it off, have a fun time.
00:44:32
Speaker
And then you usually spend, you know, a few days together, a couple of weeks together, and then usually part ways.
00:44:38
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, it's part of the culture.
00:44:40
Speaker
It's, I mean, it's fun.
00:44:41
Speaker
It's, it's,
00:44:42
Speaker
It's spicy.
00:44:43
Speaker
It's sexy.
00:44:44
Speaker
You know, you're meeting girls from all around the world.
00:44:45
Speaker
The girls meet guys from all around the world.
00:44:47
Speaker
It's a crazy energy.
00:44:48
Speaker
No, everyone's in this, you know, vibe, you know, the, the, you go, you like things move quick and it's fun.
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:54
Speaker
But it's not, it's not really dating per se.
00:44:57
Speaker
You know, you just kind of have fun with someone and enjoy your time together and then you part ways.
00:45:00
Speaker
So, you know, that happens a few times, obviously on your trip.
00:45:03
Speaker
And then some people maybe meet the love of their life and take the leap and like try to make it work.
00:45:08
Speaker
it's like, it's such a small, maybe they like buy a van together and like go to Australia or go to New Zealand and try that thing.
00:45:15
Speaker
But yeah, it's such a small, more, it's just like a fun, happy, you know, happy vibe.
00:45:19
Speaker
You meet people with expensive time together, enjoy your time together.
00:45:22
Speaker
And then, you know, you go in different ways and,
00:45:25
Speaker
you know that's the way it is no hard feelings that's part of the road right it sounds like that yeah that sounds like that comes from maybe like you've seen that happen personally you know exactly yeah of course yeah yeah of course yeah but uh yeah no that's kind of like the the dating scene in the backpacker life is just you know it's just it's more just fun and loose yeah and that makes sense too because people are there to have a good time and be exposed to different people and everything whereas like exactly like you said um
00:45:52
Speaker
It's almost like a set path, you know, it's like in the States, right?
00:45:54
Speaker
You know, like work or, you know, like you eventually get to work.
00:45:58
Speaker
It's like school, career, work, die, retire, retire, die.
00:46:01
Speaker
Right.
00:46:02
Speaker
Whereas like, this is a lot more looser and it's like, you're building different stuff.
00:46:05
Speaker
It's like, has any of your family wanted to come out and visit you or have they thought about it or.
00:46:12
Speaker
Yeah, so my family plans probably to visit next year.
00:46:15
Speaker
They'll probably come to see me, ideally in Indonesia, and spend some time with me.
00:46:19
Speaker
And I'll probably show them a bit of like my life in Bali and what my life is like, but also hope to take them around to other parts of Indonesia.
00:46:28
Speaker
But in terms of fully understanding what it's like to be a backpacker, there's really just no other way besides doing it and just going in for yourself.
00:46:39
Speaker
But yeah, I'm excited for my family to come out and kind of see a bit of what my life is like and also to see Indonesia.
00:46:46
Speaker
So that's the plan.
00:46:47
Speaker
I also have this crazy, I wrote this down, like when I, so before, like, basically I proposed to Shane to start the vlog.
00:46:55
Speaker
I think he had ideas of it too, but like I was the one who was like, we're starting a vlog, like we're doing it.
00:47:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:02
Speaker
And like, you're coming with me, like we're doing it.
00:47:04
Speaker
But I wrote this like list, like I wrote like a goal list of like, this is what I want to do.
00:47:10
Speaker
And like, these are like short term goals and these are long term goals.
00:47:12
Speaker
And like one of my long term goals, which is also like a crazy dream would be to like to pitch a movie to Hollywood.
00:47:18
Speaker
Because I just think like, you know, like there's like the movies, it's like Into the Wild.
00:47:21
Speaker
Have you seen Into the Wild?
00:47:23
Speaker
I haven't.
00:47:23
Speaker
I need to like get my movie list going here because, you know.
00:47:26
Speaker
Into the Wild is a good story.
00:47:28
Speaker
It's about, you can, it's a traveling story.
00:47:31
Speaker
You've seen Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
00:47:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:47:34
Speaker
So there's, there's these types of travel movies, but there, there's no movie that really captures what it's like to be a backpacker.
00:47:41
Speaker
Um, there's no movie that like, we'll tell a story of like, you know, an 18 year old who just got out of high school and then goes on this crazy year long backpacking trip and all the trials and tribulations and the dating and the culture and like everything.
00:47:55
Speaker
And, uh,
00:47:57
Speaker
And I would love to pitch a movie to Hollywood about that and then try to make a movie of like a backpacker story.
00:48:04
Speaker
Because there's I mean, yeah, because I'm telling you, it would be exciting.
00:48:06
Speaker
Like you think college is fun, dude.
00:48:08
Speaker
Like you think living in a dorm and going in fraternities and this stuff is fun.
00:48:12
Speaker
Like, dude, you should be a backpacker.
00:48:15
Speaker
Like it's so much more fun.
00:48:17
Speaker
And you're, you know, during, like during the, during the day, you're doing all these crazy things and learning and history and culture.
00:48:23
Speaker
And then at night, it's like, it can be, if you want, it can be wild and crazy and, and loose.
00:48:27
Speaker
And yeah, I think a bad movie about a backpacker and like, like would be, would be sick.
00:48:33
Speaker
So that was on my list.
00:48:34
Speaker
Like that was the last thing.
00:48:35
Speaker
It was like pitch a movie, pitch a movie to Hollywood.
00:48:38
Speaker
about being a backpacker.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like, with the way things are going, you guys could probably pitch a mini-series.
00:48:45
Speaker
I don't know if that would be, like, a good, you know, something you'd be interested in, but, you know, like, Netflix and all these other streaming platforms have these kind of, like, mini-docu-series now.
00:48:53
Speaker
Or limited series, I think they come, too.
00:48:56
Speaker
Yeah, that could be, yeah, it could be either, yeah, the thing is, it could be either way, it could be, like, a documentary style would be cool, just to, like, really see it for real, but, like, if Hollywood wanted to, like, glitz and glam a story and, like, Hollywood it up a bit, I think that could also be cool as well, but, yeah, either route would be good, but, yeah, that would be, I think that'd be funny, yeah, I don't know how, yeah, I just think it would be, you can make a good story out of it, and it'd be exciting.
00:49:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think so too.
00:49:21
Speaker
And I think you could definitely do it like based off, you know, like you said, that work ethic and like that, that ability to really execute, you know, like, Hey, what am I dreaming?
00:49:29
Speaker
Let's go turn that into reality.
00:49:30
Speaker
It seems like that's something that you guys have got down so well and everything at this point.
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:36
Speaker
Well, I respect you to starting to starting the podcast journey and taking a leap into that too.
00:49:41
Speaker
It's I respect that as well.
00:49:43
Speaker
And I also, it's, I guess we haven't really got to talk like about us, but it's, it's also good to talk to someone who's left the military and is doing it, you know?
00:49:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:51
Speaker
Like, cause I'm sure.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:53
Speaker
I mean, you know, like, you know, most people, most of our classmates are still in, uh, which is totally fine, but not many people take the leap out.
Challenges of Leaving the Military for New Ventures
00:50:01
Speaker
Um, uh,
00:50:02
Speaker
And it's cool to talk to someone else that has taken the leap out and is doing well.
00:50:05
Speaker
I'm like, you're starting this, you're working remote, you're happy.
00:50:07
Speaker
It seems like you have a great life.
00:50:09
Speaker
And it's just an affirmation that there's light on the other side, that if you don't want to stay and work for the military and don't, if you don't want to be in that, in that space, you can always take the leap out.
00:50:19
Speaker
And it's,
00:50:20
Speaker
totally fine and it's totally possible to succeed and do what you're doing so it's also good to you know to talk to you and see you here and and we've been pretty good about like keeping in touch on you know dms and stuff so but it's it's cool to you know spend time with you and talk to you yeah it is too and you know that's a big motivation for me starting this you know me like when i when i was back at school i was always talking to everyone you know i was always trying to keep in touch with everyone and
00:50:44
Speaker
And that's a big motivation why I wanted to start this.
00:50:46
Speaker
I just love talking and getting to know people and staying in touch with people.
00:50:50
Speaker
It's also true what you're saying.
00:50:52
Speaker
I feel so many people, you're talking about, you know, that path, right?
00:50:55
Speaker
You know, career, all that.
00:50:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:57
Speaker
Coast Guard, you know, military was definitely like that.
00:50:59
Speaker
Like, you know, we're being told at 18, like, you're gonna, like, retire, like, 30 years later as, like, an admiral or something, right?
00:51:05
Speaker
It's like, yeah.
00:51:07
Speaker
It's like, what?
00:51:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:51:09
Speaker
And I just remember, yeah.
00:51:11
Speaker
Sorry, you got you.
00:51:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I just remember feeling a lot of anxiety about that, personally.
00:51:14
Speaker
Like, my life path is just set like this.
00:51:17
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I felt like I didn't like that because I'm like, it's just like,
00:51:21
Speaker
turning the page is like, oh, you know, I've got this notebook.
00:51:24
Speaker
It's like, oh, this is it.
00:51:25
Speaker
Then you're like, I retire five years later and that's it.
00:51:28
Speaker
You know?
00:51:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:29
Speaker
Dude, I totally agree.
00:51:31
Speaker
And I remember, I remember this moment specifically, like I was in Lieutenant Crowley
00:51:37
Speaker
his one of his knots like i think it's lieutenant crawley right yeah i remember is he like the blonde like the funny one yeah and uh we were i was in his nautical science class and they took one class to focus on like career and they had brought other people in to like i'm a car i work on yeah what we'll do we'll do non-military terms yeah i work on ships i work on planes and whatnot um and i was like i want to talk to someone who got out at five years
00:52:04
Speaker
like can we talk to someone who like got out in five years like i'm just like and at this point i was like hardy like hard coast guard like when i was a cadet man i initially i was very hard like i think i'll do 20 years on the beat you know an admiral yeah but i was still like i was like bro i want to talk to someone who got out like i what's the other what's the other side um so yeah but yeah yeah i agree with you there's just like
00:52:29
Speaker
The biggest thing for me was the countdown.
00:52:30
Speaker
That's, you know, pros and cons of the Coast Guard.
00:52:32
Speaker
A lot of things I love, a lot of things I don't like.
00:52:34
Speaker
One of the things I don't like is it felt like a big countdown.
00:52:37
Speaker
you know, four years left at this job.
00:52:40
Speaker
Oh, and then I go to this job two years and then, oh, I'm at 10 years, only 10 years left until I get my pension.
00:52:44
Speaker
And like, that's just, you know, that's not the lifestyle for me.
00:52:48
Speaker
You know, I'm not, I'm not trying to, you know, just make it through and count it down.
00:52:51
Speaker
I'm trying to, I'm trying to live my life and enjoy every moment of it.
00:52:55
Speaker
I'm not saying that people in the Coast Guard don't do that, but there's a lot of people, I think that in the military that are just kind of holding on.
00:53:01
Speaker
And that was,
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's not, not, not what I want to do.
00:53:05
Speaker
I agree with you.
00:53:06
Speaker
It's like waiting for that clock to, you know, like hit zero.
00:53:09
Speaker
I mean, I remember, and you were on a ship to first tour, right.
00:53:12
Speaker
And you, you know, deploy, did patrols, but I remember on those watches, like, that's what I felt like the coast guard largely was for me and my experience, like great people, you know, got to do some awesome stuff, but it was just like,
00:53:23
Speaker
waiting for that time to count down like how many days till graduation then how many days left until this deployment and how many days until I'm off of the ship or whatever right yeah oh absolutely yeah and this and this I want to bring it back to like your opening point is
00:53:39
Speaker
And my initial point of saying there's different paths and there's different lifestyles and like, look, there's plenty of people in the Coast Guard that are super happy and I have, I'm happy for them and I respect them and that they have a career, they have their family, they have everything they want, they do enjoy it and they love every minute of it.
00:53:53
Speaker
And, you know, that's great.
00:53:54
Speaker
And I'm happy for those people genuinely.
00:53:57
Speaker
But I do think there's a lot of people in the Coast Guard and other careers that, you know,
00:54:03
Speaker
our desire, maybe they desire something else, but they're scared to take the risk and to go for it.
00:54:08
Speaker
And it all comes down to just saying like, you know, F it, like I'm going to go for it.
00:54:11
Speaker
You know, like you're saying, it's like, what makes you do it?
00:54:13
Speaker
And
00:54:15
Speaker
you've got to sometimes you just have to go for it.
00:54:17
Speaker
And that's my thing on, I think there are still some people I know personally people, you know, in the Coast Guard that are not happy and other things, other places too.
00:54:27
Speaker
And it just sometimes it takes some guts to just really go for it.
00:54:31
Speaker
And everyone has it in them.
00:54:31
Speaker
You just got to figure out how to tap into it and then to go for it, you know?
00:54:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker
And, you know, taking that unconventional path, like I bet when you book that one-way ticket or you're telling like, you know, whatever, I think you were at like a sector, which is a land unit for those people who are like non-military.
00:54:48
Speaker
When you told them like, Hey, this is what I'm going to do.
00:54:50
Speaker
Because like, they're, they're always like, Hey, what are you going to do?
00:54:52
Speaker
You know, what, what's next?
00:54:54
Speaker
You know, it's always like you were saying like, what's next on paper.
00:54:56
Speaker
Right.
00:54:57
Speaker
And you're like, Oh, I'm going to go book a one-way ticket.
00:55:00
Speaker
Like, what was that reaction?
00:55:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, even for you, I'm sure you can relate to this, but that was probably the most...
00:55:09
Speaker
not conflict, but the most like questioned I was, was leaving, leaving the coast guard.
00:55:13
Speaker
You know, that's the, probably the, one of the most like times where people were really questioning what I was doing.
00:55:18
Speaker
Why are you, why are you getting out?
00:55:21
Speaker
Like, why are you leaving?
00:55:22
Speaker
Like, what are you, what are you going to do?
00:55:24
Speaker
Like, how, what are you going to do for work?
00:55:26
Speaker
Like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like this, like you're like this uncertainty.
00:55:31
Speaker
People think that you're stepping off a cliff, like, you know,
00:55:36
Speaker
like it's like you're gonna like what what are you gonna do oh my like but no man like it's there's a there's a path on the other side uh but yeah i was definitely questioned um yeah more so not not even not even looking the one way and traveling i think more so why are you getting out of the coast guard that was and i'm sure you've i'm have experience i'm sure you can speak to this as well yeah like why why are you getting out of the coast guard this is
00:56:03
Speaker
this is the only way like the only way or the coast guard way is the only way yeah yeah like this is like yeah and i think it i think for me the reason why it's like that and i've had this conversation with people is because it's almost like you're choosing a path that they didn't take and that that is what startles them you know yeah did i freeze okay sorry yeah yeah they're saying wow you're not you're not taking the path that i'm taking
00:56:29
Speaker
And that really hits them.
00:56:31
Speaker
Why not?
00:56:32
Speaker
Why not my path?
00:56:33
Speaker
And hey, man, it's okay.
00:56:36
Speaker
It's okay.
00:56:37
Speaker
You go your way.
00:56:38
Speaker
I go my way.
00:56:39
Speaker
It's okay.
00:56:39
Speaker
I'm going to make it work.
00:56:40
Speaker
You're going to make it work.
00:56:41
Speaker
But I'm sure you can speak to that too, just that maybe apprehensiveness from people.
00:56:45
Speaker
And why are you getting out?
00:56:47
Speaker
Because there's such a small percentage of people get out.
00:56:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:51
Speaker
And, and like you said, you can have a really comfortable life in the Coast Guard.
00:56:54
Speaker
You really can.
00:56:55
Speaker
And I just, I don't know, some of the culture there I did.
00:56:58
Speaker
I didn't necessarily agree with.
00:57:00
Speaker
And I couldn't, you know, like, I went, like, I know you have a nose ring right now, right?
00:57:03
Speaker
And I wanted to grow out like my facial hair, like, just be more independent living in New York.
00:57:07
Speaker
I really,
00:57:08
Speaker
Because you know how it is, like four years at school, which is super locked down, two years on the ship was its own form of lockdown.
00:57:14
Speaker
I felt like I started discovering more of my identity and what I wanted to do when I lived in Manhattan, met like people doing all sorts of different crazy stuff.
00:57:21
Speaker
And it's like, it's like really funny.
00:57:24
Speaker
I'm sure you see Americans out there, but I made friends, like I became really good friends with this guy who's from through Run Club.
00:57:31
Speaker
He's British and his roommate, Matt, we became really good friends too.
00:57:35
Speaker
We flew out to Athens and stuff.
00:57:38
Speaker
And we rented a yacht and we sailed around like the Cyclades Islands and everything.
00:57:42
Speaker
And like, yeah, no, it was awesome.
00:57:44
Speaker
Like we captained the whole thing.
00:57:45
Speaker
We didn't hire anyone to charter it.
00:57:46
Speaker
We did it ourselves.
00:57:47
Speaker
But, you know, there's like obviously like a dude like you're like, what is it?
00:57:50
Speaker
The Parthenon with a Red Sox, you know, jersey on as soon as we landed there or something like, ah, you know, you're never going to escape it.
00:57:58
Speaker
I'm sure you probably don't see that as much like when you go off the beaten path, you know.
00:58:02
Speaker
You know, just mean like me, mean other Americans traveling.
00:58:05
Speaker
No, you know, in the way it's where they're sometimes, you know, they stand out as like tourist traveling type of thing too.
00:58:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I mean.
00:58:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:58:12
Speaker
No, no, not too much.
00:58:13
Speaker
Not too much.
00:58:14
Speaker
Sometimes like you and there's stereotypes for every for every, especially everyone has stereotypes for Americans.
00:58:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:19
Speaker
Germans and French and like everywhere.
00:58:21
Speaker
Everyone's got stereotypes.
00:58:23
Speaker
And sometimes you meet like the stereotypical person of the country you meet.
00:58:27
Speaker
It's not so often that I do, but sometimes I do, of course, which is always funny.
00:58:32
Speaker
It's maybe someone who's really, I mean, I'm really loud, but maybe someone is really loud.
00:58:36
Speaker
You're from New York, right?
00:58:37
Speaker
So that's the stereotype.
00:58:37
Speaker
I know, I'm from New York.
00:58:38
Speaker
I'm from New York.
00:58:39
Speaker
But yeah, sometimes you do.
00:58:41
Speaker
But yeah, most of the time, if you're meeting a traveler,
00:58:44
Speaker
It doesn't matter where they're from.
00:58:45
Speaker
They're going to 90, 99% of the time, it's going to be a cool person, cool person, open mind, cool experiences, willing to learn, willing to talk to you, loose, laid back, stress-free person.
00:58:57
Speaker
And I've met some amazing Americans while traveling as well.
00:59:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:00
Speaker
And I feel like you kind of have to be that way to actually take that step.
00:59:02
Speaker
You know, it's not like we're talking about someone who's hunkered down in their place and like, oh, they're coming to get us, whoever they are, you know?
00:59:09
Speaker
Yeah, no, no, exactly.
00:59:13
Speaker
But yeah, and yeah, back to my, I just, yeah, I think America is a great place and I love, I think that people there are great.
00:59:20
Speaker
I just wish there was more of a traveling culture.
00:59:22
Speaker
Maybe that will change.
00:59:23
Speaker
We'll see.
00:59:23
Speaker
But yeah.
00:59:24
Speaker
Hopefully, like, you know,
00:59:26
Speaker
The flights are crazy now too, you know, like everyone is trying to travel.
00:59:30
Speaker
I'm sure, I don't know if you guys saw that over like in Indonesia, but I had friends who got stuck in Europe and everything because there was just so many different flight delays or issues or overbookings or something.
00:59:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think Europe was like, they're having a lot of problems, right?
00:59:44
Speaker
Well, first they had raised the prices I heard this summer, they're trying to capitalize on summer travel.
00:59:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:49
Speaker
But yeah, I had some, I had many stories of delays and lost baggage and stuff.
00:59:54
Speaker
I think they maybe were overwhelmed as well here, there too.
00:59:57
Speaker
I don't know too much about that here, but I'm sure in some aspects it was similar.
01:00:02
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
01:00:03
Speaker
I think it's cool.
01:00:04
Speaker
You guys seem to have like really carved out your niche and you guys are going to like expand out.
01:00:07
Speaker
It seems like Asia is the focus though.
01:00:09
Speaker
Maybe Southeast Asia specifically or, you know, because I heard Japan's opening back up.
01:00:15
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, there's a few different things you need to consider.
01:00:20
Speaker
We need to consider our budget.
01:00:22
Speaker
So we definitely wanna travel to countries that are more affordable.
01:00:24
Speaker
Obviously a lot more of those are in parts of Asia, just cause we're still on a pretty tight budget.
01:00:30
Speaker
I've been on a tight budget for a long time now.
01:00:32
Speaker
So that's one thing, yeah, that's one thing.
01:00:34
Speaker
Yeah, one thing to consider is what's your budget.
01:00:36
Speaker
Going to a place like Japan is super expensive.
01:00:38
Speaker
Also like parts of Europe compared to parts of Asia.
01:00:41
Speaker
So yeah, in terms of that, that's something that we consider.
01:00:44
Speaker
Another thing we consider is like, where do we want to go?
01:00:47
Speaker
Where are we going to be excited to go to?
01:00:49
Speaker
Obviously, like what are our desires in terms of traveling?
01:00:53
Speaker
And then also, you also have to think about your content and
01:00:58
Speaker
how it's gonna perform.
01:00:59
Speaker
That's just part of the deal is, where do you think your videos will receive the best reaction basically.
01:01:09
Speaker
And in terms of that, there's also a bunch of different things to consider.
01:01:13
Speaker
Places that have been covered already, maybe people aren't as,
01:01:17
Speaker
interested in watching.
01:01:18
Speaker
So maybe we try to go to places that aren't covered.
01:01:21
Speaker
Also going, yeah, going to places that people are interested in traveling to and making guides and types of videos to assist them with that.
01:01:29
Speaker
And there's also countries where you can build audiences.
01:01:33
Speaker
Basically, there's going to a country where, you know, they like watching vloggers in their country and you can build an audience there.
01:01:40
Speaker
So there's definitely parts of the world where people go to because, you know, they know people are going to watch them.
01:01:45
Speaker
Because the locals like watching a traveler adapt and similar in Indonesia, they like watching a traveler adapt and get accustomed to, you know, the culture here and the situations here.
01:01:54
Speaker
So, you know, what's going to be good for our what's going to be good for the channel, not just for us.
01:01:58
Speaker
So, yeah, you got to kind of combine all of these things and figure out what the best the best route and best plan is to go.
01:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, I was actually, it's funny you mentioned that because I'm sure you guys look at your comments and see the targeted, like what are people really receptive of?
01:02:10
Speaker
I was watching like one YouTuber, he was talking about how he got big on his channel.
01:02:14
Speaker
He was trying to start something and then people would comment on like, hey, I like your hair.
01:02:17
Speaker
Or they're like, where'd you get that shirt?
01:02:19
Speaker
So he decided to be like, when he's like,
01:02:20
Speaker
male fashion type, you know, advice guys or whatever, because he's like, oh, that's what my content was hitting.
01:02:25
Speaker
You guys, have you guys noticed that about particular places and everything like in comments and what people really react to?
01:02:30
Speaker
Maybe those are in likes.
01:02:32
Speaker
Apparently, like people need to like videos I've heard from other YouTubers, right?
01:02:35
Speaker
That's like one of the key things, right?
01:02:37
Speaker
To really get those likes.
01:02:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, there's yeah, there's definitely, you know, you can YouTube is a is a metrics game.
01:02:44
Speaker
I don't know.
01:02:45
Speaker
You would be very interested in this.
01:02:46
Speaker
Like, I don't know how much you know about it.
01:02:47
Speaker
But yeah, in terms of like, how often people click on your videos, how what percentage of the video they will, I'm sure you've seen this.
01:02:54
Speaker
And like, I don't know if you've watched like the growth of Mr. Beast and like, why he's so big.
01:02:58
Speaker
But yeah, it's definitely a metrics game.
01:03:00
Speaker
And all that's super important.
01:03:02
Speaker
But as well on that is also, yeah, reacting to the viewers and reacting to your audience.
01:03:07
Speaker
And sometimes you can notice trends and what videos perform better than others based on where you are, what you're doing, how you present the video.
01:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, so you have, it's a learning and learning and adapting is huge, especially in YouTube.
01:03:20
Speaker
So we've noticed that trend and honestly,
01:03:24
Speaker
some of our videos that did the best are places that were never covered by foreigners in Indonesia.
01:03:30
Speaker
So, yeah.
01:03:32
Speaker
So we, you know, we saw some people, some foreign vloggers in Jakarta, which is the capital city of Indo, the biggest city, biggest city in Indo and some other popular places.
01:03:41
Speaker
Um,
01:03:42
Speaker
that maybe a few years ago did really, really well.
01:03:45
Speaker
But now it's like, it's, you know, a million people have done it and they're not as, people aren't as interested in seeing.
01:03:51
Speaker
And then we went to some very lesser traveled parts of Indo and our videos did hundreds of thousands of views.
01:03:57
Speaker
So that's just like a reinforcement of, wow, you know, there's an appetite for you going somewhere that hasn't been covered.
01:04:04
Speaker
So that, and so that's a big thing.
01:04:06
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:07
Speaker
Adapting to your metrics, obviously.
01:04:09
Speaker
And then, and then obviously there's other certain like categories that hit.
01:04:12
Speaker
Food.
01:04:12
Speaker
Food is huge.
01:04:15
Speaker
Food is huge.
Popularity of Food Vlogging Compared to Travel
01:04:16
Speaker
Food vloggers are huge.
01:04:17
Speaker
I mean, food vloggers are some of the biggest vloggers on YouTube.
01:04:21
Speaker
I'm sure.
01:04:21
Speaker
I don't know if you know, like Mark Weins and Food Ranger and the best ever, but these guys are bigger than, bigger than normal travel vloggers.
01:04:28
Speaker
I mean, they're honestly, in my mind, like the biggest channels on YouTube are a lot of the prank channels, a lot of the funny channels where it's just, you know, talking head like this, you know, PewDiePie, you know, and then the Paul brothers, obviously, and like channels like that.
01:04:42
Speaker
Um, but then like the next level, man is like food vloggers have between five and 10 million subscribers, dude.
01:04:48
Speaker
That's crazy.
01:04:50
Speaker
Yeah.
01:04:50
Speaker
And like your best, your best, you know, there's a few travel vloggers I know that are in the millions, you know, a few, most travel vloggers in the hundreds of thousands that are successful.
01:04:59
Speaker
But food vloggers, man, are like in the millions.
01:05:02
Speaker
So we like to do a food video every once in a while because people love watching food.
01:05:07
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:08
Speaker
So you pretty much, yeah, you can pretty much like it's a safe bet to make a food video that you know it'll do pretty well.
01:05:14
Speaker
So we try to do that every so often.
01:05:15
Speaker
But yeah, there's a lot to consider when, yeah, but yeah, adapting to your metrics, adapting to your audience and viewers and doing what you think will get a good reaction.
01:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's awesome.
01:05:25
Speaker
And yeah, food definitely because like there are fruits I've probably never even seen in my life over there, you know, like things like that.
01:05:33
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
01:05:34
Speaker
But yeah, people just love watching food content on any platform.
01:05:38
Speaker
I mean, yeah.
01:05:39
Speaker
I get it.
01:05:39
Speaker
I get it.
01:05:40
Speaker
I get it.
01:05:40
Speaker
I remember like when we were back at school, there was a guy who was like a year ahead of us who took like over at like the college across the street, the civilian college.
01:05:47
Speaker
He took like cultures through food or something.
01:05:49
Speaker
And like some like captain kept bragging on that.
01:05:52
Speaker
And like some core wide, he would constantly bring that up for some reason.
01:05:55
Speaker
I'm like, like you said, though, that's what people like.
01:05:57
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:57
Speaker
He'd constantly bring that up.
01:05:59
Speaker
I don't know why that stuck in my head, but he just kept saying, you know, culture through food.
01:06:03
Speaker
You know, I'm like, well, yeah.
01:06:04
Speaker
Yeah.
Vlogging Advice: Authenticity and Audience Engagement
01:06:06
Speaker
Food is huge, man.
01:06:07
Speaker
People love, I mean, people love, you know, people love watching some people eat something that looks amazing and delicious and seeing slow motion shots of it getting like cooked on the grill, right?
01:06:18
Speaker
Like people love that.
01:06:19
Speaker
People love watching videos of people eating crazy things.
01:06:23
Speaker
you know, trying new foods that maybe, wow, they have that in that part of Africa.
01:06:27
Speaker
Wow.
01:06:27
Speaker
They have, they eat that in that part of Asia.
01:06:29
Speaker
And like, what's like, yeah, the food is, food is huge.
01:06:32
Speaker
Um, so yeah, we, we try to do a sprinkle in a food video every once in a while also, cause food is very important in Indonesia.
01:06:39
Speaker
It's a huge part of the culture, uh, just to kind of, uh, it'd be a good, it's fun.
01:06:44
Speaker
And we know that it's going to get a good reaction.
01:06:45
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:46
Speaker
I think that's awesome.
01:06:47
Speaker
And it's like, yeah,
01:06:49
Speaker
Overall, I think it's awesome what you guys are doing and how you've kind of grown this and kind of like you just kind of found this path.
01:06:56
Speaker
And it's awesome what you're doing.
01:06:58
Speaker
What would you say to people like possibly listening?
01:07:00
Speaker
You know, what are some of your biggest takeaways that you've kind of seen and what your like biggest hopes are besides everything else?
01:07:06
Speaker
You know, like, what would you give people who are kind of on the fence or maybe are thinking about what would it be like to be doing what you're doing?
01:07:14
Speaker
So it's like talking specifically about being a vlogger or just in general?
01:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, in general, I'd say in both too, being a vlogger, a traveler, all that.
01:07:23
Speaker
So the first thing, which I think we've talked about pretty extensively, yeah, like you just have to take the risk and then finding the balance between making a calculating risk and also having a F it attitude and just jumping right into it.
01:07:34
Speaker
That's the most important part, right?
01:07:36
Speaker
You just got to start.
01:07:38
Speaker
Everyone beats that, you know, it says it enough.
01:07:40
Speaker
So the second thing I'd say is,
01:07:43
Speaker
you know, specifically for us being a vlogger in or just in general is to do something that you love doing, do something that you're passionate about doing and also to, in terms of being a vlogger is like to be yourself.
01:07:57
Speaker
I think one of the reasons why we've been so successful is because Shane and I aren't trying to
01:08:03
Speaker
We're just being ourselves.
01:08:04
Speaker
We're not trying to build this huge persona or this act or try to be something that we're not.
01:08:09
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We're just wholeheartedly being like ourselves, being silly, being goofy, being loose, and specifically in the vlogging space.
01:08:18
Speaker
specifically in the travel vlogging space, I think a lot of people are trying to fit into this persona or try to portray this image of themselves that isn't them.
01:08:25
Speaker
They're trying to be an Instagram model.
01:08:27
Speaker
They're trying to be this perfect and luxurious life, you know, and it's just like, because they think that's what people want to see.
01:08:34
Speaker
But people want to see genuine, authentic, real, human interaction.
01:08:40
Speaker
That's what a lot of people want to see.
01:08:41
Speaker
There's an appetite.
01:08:42
Speaker
Sure, there's an appetite for the Instagram-y, model-y space.
01:08:45
Speaker
But there's no originality in that.
01:08:48
Speaker
People want to see originality.
01:08:50
Speaker
People want to see authenticity.
01:08:51
Speaker
And I think that's something that Shane and I have nailed.
01:08:54
Speaker
From the start, we've never tried to be something that we're not.
01:08:57
Speaker
We're just average guys, man.
01:08:58
Speaker
And we're just having a fun time.
01:08:59
Speaker
I don't think anyone wants to see me try to be an Instagram model.
01:09:02
Speaker
It would not work.
01:09:03
Speaker
I don't think you want to see me like modeling in front of waterfalls and modeling in front of things like it's just, you know, that so that that would be another big thing that I would say.
01:09:14
Speaker
Also, yeah, taking regardless of what you're doing, doesn't have to be vlogging is take the time to prepare before you jump right into it.
01:09:22
Speaker
I think that was crucial for us.
01:09:24
Speaker
Even a month and a half doesn't seem like a lot of time, but you know, a month and a half doing something every single day gives definitely gives you a headstart.
01:09:30
Speaker
So whether you're making content or you're starting a business or whatever you're going to do, take the time to prepare.
01:09:36
Speaker
And then, yeah.
01:09:37
Speaker
And then also it's just, obviously I don't want to beat this one down because everyone says, learn from your mistakes.
01:09:43
Speaker
Like we all know you're going to make mistakes.
01:09:44
Speaker
You need to learn from those mistakes and yeah, being, being able to adapt and be flexible.
01:09:49
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:51
Speaker
Because, you know, things are going to change.
01:09:54
Speaker
You have to be able to figure out what's going to work for you and what's not going to work.
01:09:58
Speaker
And that's going to take time.
01:09:59
Speaker
And that's something that Shane and I are continuing to do to this day.
01:10:03
Speaker
And also, I will say that being in the military definitely set me up so well for this, especially in the academy.
01:10:12
Speaker
And people are like, would you go back and do it all over again?
01:10:16
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:10:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:18
Speaker
Honestly, like I,
01:10:20
Speaker
I wonder where I would be.
01:10:21
Speaker
I would hope that I would be, I think I would end up in a similar place if I hadn't joined the military and gone to the academy.
01:10:29
Speaker
But even though of those, like how big of a sacrifice it was, I think it's the reason why, a big part of why I am the way I am today.
01:10:37
Speaker
So if you can go through some type of, I would challenge people to challenge themselves.
01:10:43
Speaker
You don't have to go to a military academy, but find a way to challenge yourself
01:10:47
Speaker
at an early age, if you can.
01:10:50
Speaker
Um, because once you go through
Promotion and Future of 'The Lost Boys' and Podcast
01:10:51
Speaker
that struggle and go through the, all that learning and, and, you know, figure out how to solve problems, you know, regardless of what you're doing, whether you're going to be a content creator, start a restaurant or start a marketing business, like the lessons you've learned from there are going to set you up so well.
01:11:04
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:05
Speaker
Just going through those trials and everything.
01:11:07
Speaker
So it's kind of like, exactly.
01:11:08
Speaker
Authenticity, uh,
01:11:11
Speaker
Progress over perfection seems to be a big theme as well as like exposing yourself.
01:11:15
Speaker
And I think that kind of really ties back into what you're saying.
01:11:17
Speaker
Like if more Americans traveled and put these themselves in these situations where they had to figure it out when they go on and do other stuff, they would be, you know, more adaptable.
01:11:27
Speaker
Exactly.
01:11:28
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:28
Speaker
A hundred percent.
01:11:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, definitely experience, experience, experience, experience.
01:11:33
Speaker
It's all about experiencing new things and, and opening up your mind.
01:11:37
Speaker
I think, um,
01:11:39
Speaker
Anything else you'd like to say?
01:11:40
Speaker
I think we might wrap this one up and everything.
01:11:42
Speaker
Yeah, this has been awesome.
01:11:44
Speaker
I maybe I'll give a plug to the channel, but yeah, I'll give the plug to the channel.
01:11:48
Speaker
And when I was at the Lost Boys, right, I was looking earlier on the YouTube on YouTube at the Lost Boys.
01:11:55
Speaker
Same thing.
01:11:56
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:56
Speaker
Lost Boys dot travel on Instagram, I believe.
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:00
Speaker
And yeah, so the Lost Boys on YouTube and then TikTok and Facebook and Instagram, the Lost Boys dot travel is all of our pages.
01:12:08
Speaker
And also, if people like feel free to message if anyone has questions about traveling, about backpacking, if anyone just wants to chat or if you want specific tips, if you want to know about Indonesia or any other places I've been like shoot us a message.
01:12:23
Speaker
We answer all our DMs.
01:12:24
Speaker
And also, I'd be happy to talk to anybody and, you know, help anybody out if they want help or just chat.
01:12:29
Speaker
Just so, yeah, feel free to message.
01:12:31
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:32
Speaker
And what I'll do too, is like when I, when I'll add it, I'll do like a little pre-recording.
01:12:35
Speaker
I'm going to plug all those like links in this.
01:12:38
Speaker
And then when I post this up, I'm going to put like, Hey, here it is, you know?
01:12:42
Speaker
And yeah, because like you, you know, that's the point of this too.
01:12:45
Speaker
I want you guys to be able to grow.
01:12:46
Speaker
I want to be able to grow this podcast and like get more people.
01:12:50
Speaker
So personally, I'm really excited for this.
01:12:51
Speaker
Like I've got a list of
01:12:53
Speaker
Let's see.
01:12:54
Speaker
I've got like, probably like, I've got you, I've got another person I'm going to be interviewing next week, but I've got like another like list of like all these people who are prospective people lining up, you know, you know me.
01:13:05
Speaker
I like to talk.
01:13:07
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:07
Speaker
Well, yeah.
01:13:07
Speaker
And again, I just, I want to say it's really good to see you and I'm happy you got the chat.
01:13:11
Speaker
I'm trying to think the last time we saw each other, I think it was in a, at star school in Virginia in 2017.
01:13:15
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:16
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:19
Speaker
17.
01:13:19
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:20
Speaker
Uh, but it's, it's really cool to chat with you and it's cool to, I've been following your path when you were in New York and then moved to Texas and, you know, going remote and leaving the coast guard and now starting this, it's really cool to see.
01:13:30
Speaker
And I'm, uh,
01:13:31
Speaker
I'm happy to talk to you.
01:13:32
Speaker
And I'm also happy to see how it goes from here and all the people you talk to and what you do with the podcast.
01:13:37
Speaker
And thank you for inviting me on.
01:13:38
Speaker
I really appreciate it.
01:13:39
Speaker
This is the first time I've done a podcast and the first time I've talked about the journey extensively.
01:13:44
Speaker
So it's really cool.
01:13:45
Speaker
I didn't know that.
01:13:46
Speaker
I'm pretty honored by that.
01:13:47
Speaker
It's been a treat.
01:13:48
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:13:49
Speaker
You know, especially since like you're going to be the first guest that, you know, it's going to be on, like I'm going to be my pilot and then you'll be the second episode.
01:13:55
Speaker
So I really appreciate that because it's going to help me a lot to really get this ball moving here, you know?
01:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
01:14:04
Speaker
Thanks for listening to today's episode, everyone.
01:14:07
Speaker
Please follow our Instagram account at combos with Jordan, where you can receive updates on new episodes and connect with each of our guests and their social media.
01:14:17
Speaker
See y'all in the next one.