Sup you guys
First of all, let me just say thank you. It is an honor to have such a large audience
And it's not just I think the quantity of people, which by the way is unbelievable
I cannot believe how many of you I have convinced to subscribe to my channel, but also the quality of the interactions.
So you know, you guys have had so many incredible suggestions, so much wonderful feedback that has had an impact on me
So I just want to say thank you. I wanted to do something a little bit different today. A little bit less
Produced, a little bit less edited. So I'm just gonna take the opportunity to answer some of your questions
I did this on Instagram and I might do it again in the future. So if you're interested in asking me something
Consider checking out my Instagram. "So what's your definition of success?" Which I think is a really interesting question
And something I'm currently working through right now
so I don't want it to sound like I had this figured out. But I spent a lot of time thinking back to when I started.
Casey Neistat that was a huge inspiration for me. Just something about his storytelling in the videos he was putting out was just incredible
I had never seen anything like that before and that's what pushed me to create my channel years ago
And so his philosophy and the ideas that he espoused and the message that he put out
Largely influenced my definition of success which is to like work really hard and grind and push and move forward and you know
Have that kind of American entrepreneur sort of lifestyle.
As time has progressed I've realized that first of all his lifestyle was super unhealthy
He has since spoken about how close he was to divorcing his wife.
And so all that kind of just made me realize like "Wow, this is absolutely not the kind of lifestyle that I want to live."
My definition of success is now moving more and more towards
Having a solid sense of well-being and taking care of myself
As well as working hard and being creative and having some sort of positive impact in the world
I think it is largely based in taking care of myself, which is something I'm figuring out
I mean, I don't have that part figured out right now
"Do you believe in fake it till you make it?" That's a really good question, I'm so glad I was asked that
That expression makes me sick. I feel like it is such a backwards way of looking at things
because I feel like inherently if you're faking it you you're not making it.
And increasingly, I'm starting to think that there's no real need to actually fake anything,
That it's always better in the long term to be honest and be truthful. Be real.
Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's difficult, especially in the short term
Another expression that I absolutely despise is,
I'm kind of paraphrasing here, but this idea of "find what you love and you'll never work a day in your life"
Like that's absolutely not true.
I'm doing something I love right now, but there's plenty of work associated with it, and I don't think that ever changes.
Again, that's my personal view. Some people will disagree
But I think work is inherent. Having a dream job doesn't mean not working
"When did you decide to translate your passion for self-improvement into making videos?"
I think it naturally happened because I just felt the desire to create
content that I wasn't feeling like I was finding very easily on the Internet.
The way I would describe what I do is not just self-improvement but also like self exploration.
I'm talking about emotions in a way that not a lot of guys do
it's been interesting the reaction because I feel like
It's not typical. I don't even know what to say about that
It's unfortunate that we have such a limited view on the way men can express themselves
So anyway, yeah, I think it just kind of naturally happened. I was like, "Wow, I
Feel like I can contribute something that's a little bit different
To the tsunami of content that's out there and it might be valuable to some people"
Yeah, and then the rest I've just kind of been figuring out as I go
"How much time did it take to start seeing revenue from YouTube?"
I started back in 2015, so over four years ago at this point,
I was posting very regularly for a very long time. I've since private like over 50 videos, but I
I made practically no money.
And certainly not anything even close to even part-time income until like March of this year
So almost four years, but again
Like I don't know how much that means to any of you guys because everybody's journey is gonna be a little bit different
In many ways luck and good fortune has played a huge role in my journey and my life
So it really depends and it's- it's- please do not compare.
"How am I supposed to be confident?" So like I'm certainly not
An expert in giving advice on something like this
But I will say this - there's a lot of like bad advice out there that you know, like for example
"Fake you till you make it" right which I just don't believe in
In my case,
I feel like I found a lot more confidence and self-esteem by
developing a skill and kind of getting good at it which takes a long time but it's a long and
confusing process and I just want to say that
Even now I maybe I come across as very confident and very like comfortable in my own skin, which I think is true,
But I absolutely still have my insecurities, my fears, and my doubts, bad days,
Confusion on where to go in the future like in what direction I want to move in all of that stuff
I don't think it ever goes away.
"What is your biggest fear?"
I think it would be difficult to pinpoint like an exact biggest fear
but I will say one very large fear that I have is
You know, and I think it has many manifestations
But it would be like public ridicule and the destruction of my reputation and everything that I've built
Just kind of to lose it. All I think is a terrifying thought
And in a way
I mean death also represents that right because it's like you can't take your
Possessions and your reputation and all the things that you accomplished with you after you die. That's it.
"How can someone impress you? 'If the world was blind how many people would you impress?"
I think one of the qualities that impresses me, the most especially in women is
Honesty and like being real.
Which is pretty rare. I mean, let's just be honest. It's pretty rare, but I find it very attractive when a woman is able to
Speak directly not play games, you know not create a facade.
I think you can feel and see that kind of honesty and it's very impressive to me because that to me speaks
To a certain level of self-confidence and and a comfortability in yourself
"How to stop feeling pain when you're alone?"
That's a heavy one
I would say it's something you shouldn't run from I think
I guess the spiritual journey or a journey to figuring yourself out is gonna have lonely moments
So accept that's part of the process, you know, it's not forever.
"Do you feel alone? If so, how do you deal with it?"
And you know, it's interesting. I probably seem like one of the last people to
Feel alone considering the quantity of you guys showing up to watch my videos, which again thank you so much,
but I do. I do struggle with that a lot and
I think the way I try to deal with it is first of all not to run away from that feeling
When I'm feeling very very lonely. I tried to spend time figuring out why - where's that booted from? Where's it coming from?
And then of course, you know I try to make an effort to make plans meet up with people and force myself
Even if it doesn't, you know, it feels kind of uncomfortable or I kind of would rather stay moping around in my apartment
It's good. It's always good to kind of force myself to get out a little bit
And practice Italian (ay)
"What is your favorite thing to do when you have nothing to do?"
That's an interesting question because the truth is it's been a long time since I felt like I've had nothing to do
And I'm trying to make an effort to not fill all of my time
Because it's just you know, it's not a healthy way to live
You know, it's good to have free time sometimes.
"Any creative advice for a beginner content creator? I plan to start creating soon."
Like honestly don't even try to have things figured out. You won't I still don't
and
Place all of your energy in learning to love the process because that's the only thing that's gonna stick with you,
I think, and keep you going all the way through.
"Hey Drew-" I love it when people call me that like that's not my name. It's funny. A little bit on the practical
"How do you choose the B-roll in your scenes?" which is a great question. I get a lot of comments
Sometimes asking me, you know, "Why do you put shots in that don't directly have- you know, correlate with what you're talking about?"
There's a few reasons for that. First of all, some of the stuff I talk about's abstract
And I try to show kind of the feeling that I want to convey if that makes sense
So in many cases it make senses to show exactly what I'm talking about, but not always.
I find that to be a little bit boring sometimes and I see that as like an opportunity to
Flex a little bit of artistic muscle. But more than that
I think I try to show the visuals that I'm personally seeing in my life. So in a way when you watch my videos you're
Seeing a slice of my life. You're there with me
You're seeing what I'm seeing you're experiencing what I'm experiencing and I'm sharing that with you. That's the best way
I feel like I could kind of
describe
How I select a lot of my b-roll shots
And also, let's just be real and there's only so many shots of me
walking, journaling, on my computer, on my phone that I can put
Into a video and keep it looking fresh and interesting, you know?
"Would you rather fight 10 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?"
Well, why am I fighting these creatures?
"What's one thing you don't understand about Italians?" Every time I go to a bar, because they don't really have coffee shops,
It's like you go to a bar where you order a coffee and you have it and you leave. I just find it incredible that
Italians will continue their conversation and completely ignore that you're waiting in line there
You know, it's not
Disrespectful it's just part of the culture, but I'm just like "Yo, dude. I'm here for a coffee."
"How do you stay consistent?"
James Clear talks about how
To create long term habit change you really have to create long term
Identity change, you know the way you see yourself and the stories that you tell yourself. I think the single most
relevant reason why I'm
Consistent with content creation is because I have this identity of "I'm gonna show up, week in week out"
So my Myers-Briggs personality type is INFJ
As for Enneagram, I haven't done it yet. I might do that as like a bonus thing on Patreon.
"What keeps you going in this messed up world?" I would say I just find something endlessly inspiring
In somebody or a group of people taking a really horrible situation and making something out of it.
That's incredible to me.
I, unfortunately, could not answer all of your questions, but I did my best. I do have a small request to make
Usually at this stage in the video
I plug my social media, my newsletter, my Patreon page, but I'm gonna ask for something a little bit different this time
And that is just to consider hitting the bell icon. It has become apparent to me that YouTube
It does not show my videos to all of you guys and I don't upload that often at a maximum once a week
And that might go down in the future
So if you enjoy my videos and you feel like you're getting value out of them, please consider hitting that bell icon.
Thank you so much and I'll see you soon!