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I didn't start out trying to inspire and entertain people, it just happened.  Learn more about how.  >>>

How I became a YouTuber

During the week, as a Financial Services Enterprise Architect, I help drive strategy to align the use of technology with my organization's business goals.  But on the weekends I have a passion for building things, fixing things, and enjoying the outdoors.  And though logging trees and turning them to lumber on my sawmill for use building things may not be that unique for an IT professional, my capturing all these things to a weekly YouTube channel is a bit more unique.  

Taking 5-8hrs (sometimes much more) of manual work and condensing into a 15min video that educates, entertains and inspires, is no easy task; especially when you do it nearly every week of the year.  It’s a part time job (15-20hrs/wk) by the time I plan, record, edit, publish, and market each one.  All for the satisfaction of a job well done.

You see, I started my YouTube adventure during the pandemic, in-part because my friends and family were worried about me and my mental health.  At that time I had come through a number of life events, one after the other, including starting a new job, going through a divorce, and raising my girls while preparing/renovating our home to sell.  Then of course putting it on the market and selling my home, buying a new home and moving to a rural area where I was secluded--a house in the woods with a pond.  Understandably, any one of these events might be enough to lead to a person to depression.  So naturally my friends and family were very concerned.  However, for me it was a wonderful new start on life where I could be the country boy from my youth, before I became the suburban professional that I allowed the world to convince me I should be.

Though that was why I started making YouTube videos, I quickly found it to be very therapeutic, allowing me to exercise my creativity on a number of levels at once, and experience a sense of completion every single week; something that my line of paid work doesn’t provide so frequently.  It didn’t take long before complete strangers from around the world seemed to be interested in what I was doing and offered tremendous encouragement.  I now receive dozens of comments each week providing positive feedback, asking questions, and telling me about the things they buy, build, or do because of one of my videos. 

So though I didn't realize what I was getting into, I'm now very grateful that I took that first step and kept stepping forward.  And I'm grateful to all of you who continually offer such encouragement and support.  You inspire me to keep making more videos.  Thank you.