Dad's Log - A Glimpse Into The Mind Of A Broadcaster

Today I want to talk about shaking it off. It's one of the toughest things to do as content creators, but it's a vital part of what we do. There are going to be days and times of year that are naturally slower. School starts, holidays, work, it all digs into the time we have to be entertained. When it's slow, remind yourself that it's not because of you or your content. My encouragement for you, is to look past the bad week of casting. Look beyond the numbers, remind yourself it's ok to have slow times. I'm a content creator, and this is normal. Keep creating content, be consistent, and good things will come. Patience, patience, and more patience. God bless!

Today I wanted to talk about taking time off. Since I just got back from vacation, and feel recharged and ready to dive back in, it's a really relevant topic for me. After taking the last 12 months and really focusing on being consistent in my creation, I needed some time to recharge and refocus. I think it's an important consideration for every creator to make, and to consider taking time off when you start to see diminishing quality in your content. My encouragement for you, is to take some time to reflect on where your content is at, and ask yourself if you're at the point of diminishing returns. Is it time to take some time off? Consider it an investment in your health and your community. If you've built a quality community around yourself, they will be there when you get back. Take time to recharge! God bless!

Today I want to chat about quality over quantity in content creation. 2 or 3 years ago, the streaming mantra was "Always Be Streaming" if you wanted to succeed in the space. Interesting enough, and based on my personal experience, I feel like that isn't necessarily the case any more. I've made a lot of progress as a broadcaster only putting in around 9 - 12 hours a week, because I've focused on the quality of my broadcasts. My encouragement to you, especially if you aren't seeing the results you want to see, is to consider reducing the number of hours you broadcast. Focus on increasing the quality of your content, which could be focusing on better ways to develop commands for your bot, networking, working on graphics, or any number of other backend assets that can build engagement for your community. Give that a shot, and see how it can pay dividends in your stream. God bless!

Today I want to talk about ups and downs. As people, and especially as content creators, we ride these ups and downs like a rollercoaster. It can be really tough to go from hundreds of people in our chat to five, and we all have those days where we wonder, "Am I good enough?". Why aren't people coming back? Questioning our abilities as content creators. When in reality, we have very little control over many of these things. You never know when someone is sick, or has something going on in their life. School starts up, holidays happen, people are busy. My encouragement for you, is to pay close attention to the people who are there, WHEN they're there. The reality is, if you have ONE person in chat, then you are entertaining enough. They chose to hang out with you, over anyone else. So give them a show, they deserve it. God bless!

Today I want to talk about compromising your integrity. As a broadcaster, and as a person, integrity is crucial when building relationships. It sets the expectation that you are a good person to work with, that you'll fulfill your side of the deal, and that you're willing to stand for something. Recently, there was a massive uptick in viewership on Mixer, which I wrongly jumped to the conclusion was the result of viewbotting. However, the premise still stands, compromising your integrity for the pure reason of gaining numbers (follows or views) will come back to bite you in the end. My encouragment for you, is to consider what it would mean to your brand, and your community, for you to compromise your integrity. Very little in this life comes easy, and that includes your moral compass. Don't risk everything you've built for a "quick win", it usually ends up meaning you lose in the long term. God bless!

Today I want to talk about having meaningful engagement on social media. A lot of times we go out on Twitter or Instagram, and we just like and follow and that's as far as the relationship goes. That's like shaking someone's hand, saying "Nice to meet you" and then walking away. Generally speaking, it's not usually socially acceptable to do that. So why then do we do that on social media? My encouragement for you today, is to take the next step with those that you've followed or liked their content. Take a moment to tell them why you liked their content, or take a second to ask them a question. Strike up a conversation with them. You never know who's day you might make. God bless!

Today I wanted to provide a life update for y'all. I've been a little slow to upload the podcast and Instagram posts, because it's been a very busy week for me. As "side hustle" content creators, it can be tough for us to maintain a stream schedule, let alone all the extra curricular content that we might post on a regular basis. My encouragement (and hope) for you as consumers of my content or anyone else's content, is to have a little grace when it comes to our creation schedule. Many of us work really hard for a long time to bring you the best, and as much, content as we possibly can. I'm not down, or unmotivated, or quitting. I've just been busy, and will do my best to get back to regular content as soon as I can. Love you guys, God bless!

Today I want to talk about showing your weakness, which seems super backwards from what most people want to project. A lot of times, we as human beings, feel like we have to constantly show strength, be invincible or invulnerable. But something my pastor said that stuck out to me in one of these last few sermons, is that showing your weakness is a sign of humility. A little humble pie never hurt anyone and it gives those in your community an opportunity to get closer to you. My encouragement to you, is to be vulnerable and show your weakness. Give others an opportunity to build you up and to help you grow in ways you never would have thought possible. It's ok to be weak in certain areas, we all are. Take that weakness, and use it as an opportunity to grow as a person and to grow in your relationships with others. God bless!

Today I want to chat about not taking unfollowers personally. It's really easy, as the industry puts heavy emphasis on follower counts, to get down about even one person unfollowing you on your channel, twitter, or whatever else. Whether it's intentional, unintentional, a bug, or whatever, it can feel personal. But at the end of the day, we have to do our best to put things in perspective. That person may have wiped their whole follow list. It could be a bug in the platform like on Mixer. It might just be that you're not bringing value to them any more. My encouragement for you, is to do your best to not take unfollows personally. It's going to happen ALL THE TIME and focusing on it isn't going to help you make your best content. Focus on continuing to entertain, bring value to your community, and the rest will fall into place. Don't let an unfollow or two or five derail from putting your best foot forward every day. God bless!

Today I want to talk about setting expectations for yourself. As a Mixer Partner, I'm afforded and presented with many opportunities I've not had previously, and it's easy to set unrealistic expectations for myself and for my community. With the Destiny Forsaken launch, I think I had some "delusions of grandeur" if you will, and had set an expectation in my own mind that it would be a springboard for the channel and community. When it fell flat, I found myself in a little bit of a rough headspace. My encouragement for you, is to "plan for the worst, hope for the best" when it comes to opportunities that present themselves. Look at every opportunity as a way to possibly accelerate your channel and community in the right direction, but don't get your hopes too high, because that is what will lead to disappointment and negative thoughts. Set yourself up for success, and don't set unrealistic expectations for yourself. God bless!

Today I want to talk about taking shortcuts. As human beings, we're always looking for the shortest path between point A and point B. Whether it's traffic and driving, or trying to make our way to CEO of the company, we want the shortest, easiest, most convenient route. In content creation, there are definitely opportunities to accelerate growth. However, there really aren't any shortcuts. Only hard work, patience, and perseverance. I'm learning that right now as a partner. My encouragement for you, is to stay the course. Be consistent, stay positive, and always be moving forward. There are going to be times when you thought an opportunity would pay off and it doesn't. There are going to be times when you will unexpectedly experience growth when you thought you wouldn't. Simply use these experiences as an opportunity to learn and grow, and you'll be in good shape. God bless!

Today I want to chat about harnessing your excitement for new releases. As a content creator, and as I've talked about before, we spend a lot of time on auxillary things outside of playing games. Editing video, creating social media posts, networking, creating stream assets, it all takes away from playing video games. When new releases come out, whether it's a new IP or a DLC, it generates excitement for us as gamers. It also presents us with an opportunity to relate to the greater game community. My encouragement for you, is to harness that excitement when new games come out. Take the opportunity to chat on various social media and forum sites with the greater game community. This will help you get even more excited and create even better content, in addition to helping you drive awareness for your channel and possibly engage with new viewers. It's a win win for you as a content creator, so get excited! God bless!

Today I want to talk about the grind. When people watch other people playing video games for a living, it's really easy to imagine that the only thing that person does is play video games and get paid. In reality, you see 90 percent of the video games, and 10 percent of the back end work. Last night I wanted to play video games, but instead I prioritized editing clips for Instagram. Because at the end of the day, that is what was going to pay more dividends for the channel and for executing on a multi-platform content strategy. My encouragement for you, if you are brand new to broadcasting or thinking about getting started in content creation, is to consider that most of your work has nothing to do with video games. If you want to see success, you are going to spend way more time executing on other things like editing content, writing scripts, sending emails, spending time in other communities, etc. So be prepared for the grind folks! God bless!

Today I want to talk about something that I think takes practice and time, and that's finding your flow. As new content creators, it can be a struggle to weave in your every day life into the conversations we have with the people in our community. Everyone has passions outside of content creation, whether that's working out, cycling, reading, whatever. The challenge as creators, is how to fit that into our conversations that we're having when the stream is on. My encouragement for you today, is to seek out conversation. Have a conversation with someone new, figure out how to find common ground and to be a "conversationalist". You can practice this in many ways, and it doesn't just have to be in your stream. It can be with a random person on the bus, or the person checking you out at the grocery counter. Take the opportunity to engage whenever possible, as it will help you be a better content creator. God bless!

Today I want to talk about bad decisions...I mean, making assumptions. Yesterday, amongst the massive increase in viewership on Mixer, I made some assumptions initially that I came to find out were all kinds of wrong. It's easy when you see others doing certain things, or in this case, other things happening to others, to make assumptions about how or why it's happening. So when I saw the massive boost in viewership on Mixer, I immediately assumed it had something to do with people using viewbots. However, as I did research and talked with others, it's become apparent that this was not the case. My encouragement, is to consider a few things when you make assumptions about others. Number one, assumptions reveal something about your character, so be careful about how you react / act on your assumptions. And number two, it's an opportunity to reflect inward and figure out why you're making those assumptions. Use it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and be a better person. God bless!

Today I talk about a fear I have with playing one game too much on the channel. From what I've seen in the short time in this content creation space, it's really risky to be a channel on a single game. As we saw at the release of Destiny 2, many channels that built their following on Destiny only, had a hard time recovering from Destiny 2's sub-par launch. And with Destiny finally being in a place that I love, I find myself wanting to play only Destiny for the most part. My encouragement for you, is to consider, especially if you want to do this full time, what it means to put all your eggs in one basket. And that doesn't just mean from a game standpoint, I'm also talking about where you put your content. Consider your content distribution strategy, and make sure that you are diversifying your content. You never know when a platform may make a change that severely impacts your ability to grow. God bless!

Today I want to chat about finding what works. As content creators, a lot of times we can get wrapped up in "always being on" that we can forget to take time and have consideration for what works for us. For instance, I finally decided to NOT record podcasts on Saturday. It was taking away already precious family time, and just wasn't working for me and my family. So I decided to only record 5 podcast episodes per week, and to focus on only the stream Saturday night. My encouragement for you is to consider, and reflect on what's working for you and what isn't. Make changes that will help you streamline things in your life, remove friction, and help you be an overall happier person. If you aren't happy, you aren't going to make your best content. I've always preached quality over quantity, so find what works for you so you can make your best content! God bless!

Today I admit I was wrong. I let my jaded perspective get in the way of realizing that much of my following came from the Fortnite directory, and that I've been ignoring that part of my community for the last couple of months. As someone who is focused on building community and reaching people, I want the quality of my community to be the best it can be. And for awhile now, I've felt like the Fortnite directory has lead to "empty follows". But looking at people who have spent time in my channel, and in my Discord, there are a lot of folks that are from the Fortnite community and ARE quality followers. My encouragement for you today, is to consider your perspectives. Get other perspectives. Reflect on where you've been so you can focus on where you're going. I was surprised to come to the conclusion I have, and I look forward to getting back to playing a little Fortnite among the current rotation of games we're playing. Thanks for sticking with me fam! God bless!

Today I want to chat about optimizing your day. I've been reflecting and projecting on what I imagine a normal day as a content creator would look like. What would my "routine" be, and then last night I had an epiphany. I realized that I should be, every day, executing all parts of that routine with work being my normal "stream" time. So in the morning, I should be posting to Twitter, uploading an Instagram post, going through the previous night's clips, and getting ready to stream. After work, I should be wrapping up "stream", spending some time in other's channels, and so on. My encouragement for you, is if you are looking to go full time, think about the ways in which you can optimize your day and what your routine would look like if you were a full time creator. Start to fit those things in around your work schedule if you can so you can start to realize whether full time creation is a reality for you or not. God bless!

Today I wanted to breakdown the Gamescom 2018 Nvidia reveal of the new 20 series graphics chipset that they revealed. We'll start off with the absolute stellar: the Turing chipset has no rival to date based on the date that they released as part of the reveal. The sheer number of teraflops of data compute is dumbfounding, and the advanced render, shader and light capabilities are incredible. Watching the live renders of some of the video they revealed showed true cinema quality in gaming engines. My encouragement for you as creators though, is to consider the cost to value for a card like this. It's a prohibitively expensive card, and realistically you as the GAMER will be the only one able to perceive it's quality, as the internet and streaming really isn't there to provide that cinema quality to an audience yet. So consider the cost versus the value you deliver to your audience before jumping in on this card. God bless!