Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to the Doug Show. Today’s another episode I’m trying to record outside and, uh, it’s, it’s fitting. I think some people are. Running a leaf blower like one door over, so it’s kind of perfect. I almost didn’t record out here. I was like, maybe I should go inside. It’s just. It’s a little problematic with the additional noise.
In the last episode that I recorded, um, the neighbor who never is in the backyard was like, I think he was moving like a propane tank around or something. So he was, uh, like 10 feet away making a bunch of noise. And I was like, motherfucker, I’m, I’m like, can, can we not? How do we get the timing like this?
But it’s just one of those things, and I was like, you know what? I’m picking what I wanna do. I’m sitting outside playing guitar. George is hanging out next to me. There ain’t nothing bad going on. I mean, this is good. I’m not even really working. Right. So. I was like, I’ll record out here. It’s cool. People seem to dig the vibe of the crickets and the wind and, um, the neighbors making noise.
If we’re lucky, maybe a kid will come out and start throwing a toy around and, uh, crying. You know, if we’re lucky, which happens from time to time today. I’m gonna talk about a few random things. So, uh, recently I talked about the, the project management skills that you might be able to use. So I have, uh, all these corporate skills and I was like, ah, these are largely useless.
And then they start coming in handy and really it’s all about like. Observing the skills that you have and then like applying them how it works for you and ignoring the other stuff. So we’ll talk a little bit about, uh, priorities and sorting through noise. So that’s one thing. The other area is just like breaking down your very long, complicated projects and tasks into manageable bites.
I know when I was working a, a lot harder. And looking at like huge projects that may take like six weeks, and there’s a lot of dependencies. There’s a lot of, uh, things going on. Just like being able to start working on something and knowing what you’re supposed to work on each day and kind of managing the schedule.
And shout out to, I forget the individual , sent me the email. But a couple months ago I did a video on this guitar institute called, um, gosh, I forget the name of it. Sonora Guitar Institute. And it’s a. Expensive, like online guitar, instructional platform, and it looks pretty good and it’s pretty expensive.
Something like, you know, a thousand dollars a month or so, and then maybe if you’re, and that’s if you pay it all at once and they really put it in competition with like, guitar. conservatory, kind of the college level of like guitar instruction. And if you do that, then it’s a good value.
You know, you’re at home, you could take these courses, there’s instructors, there’s uh, office hours. There’s a lot of valuable stuff in there, but it’s pretty expensive. And for just the casual. you know, hobbyist, for most people it’s probably a little expensive. You could probably get, good lessons and for whatever instrument locally for, you know, 50 to a hundred dollars per hour.
I mean, it could vary. Based on who the instructor is, the cost of living, where you’re at, and a number of other factors if they’re independent or if they work for like guitar center or music shop or something like that. So the the point is, um. I created this, video and someone said, Hey, check out pickup music.
So I actually signed up for pickup music and the reason why I’m, this all ties together, by the way. It’s not a random story. So I signed up for pickup music. They have a 14 day free trial, 60 day money back guarantee in. One thing that, , many people, studying something, many people working on a creative project, specifically instruments and playing guitar and stuff like that, I’m like, I wanna practice.
I want to do more. But when I sit down. I just kind of noodle around. I maybe play things that I already know how to play. I’m not learning new things. I’m not challenging myself. There’s no structure and I don’t know what to work on on any given day with pickup music or Sonora guitar intensive like.
There’s a curriculum, so like for pickup music, and the person that emailed me, I, I just forgot to look up the email beforehand, so I forget your name, but thank you. I actually signed up. This dude was like, I signed up, I’ve been doing it for six months, and each day I know what to work on. So literally they ask you, you know, 10 or 15 questions to understand like what skill level you’re at, and then.
Uh, they advise you based on like what you wanna learn, what you’re able to do. Like here’s a learning path to go down and there’s a handful of courses and it teaches you x , skills. And each day there’s a, you. A lesson where they go over, you know, whatever material and each day you know exactly what to work on and you could probably do, you know, 10 minutes a day or whatever.
I think they advise to make great progress within like three months, which is a decent chunk of time, especially if you’re putting in some time each day or each week. But they advise maybe like 45 minutes a day. Um, at least three to four days per week. So it’s not a huge amount. And if you’re doing other stuff, if you have a full-time job and a family and other hobbies, then you know, carving out three, four days a week, that’s totally doable if it’s something that’s a priority for you.
So anyway, the reason why I bring that up is like, I’m excited. To make progress because I know what to work on each day and there’s a specific thing that I’m trying to learn in each week and each, uh, day I know what I’m working on and I know why I’m working on it and when to use it. So that’s the general idea.
Typically, I’m sure, depending on the material, like if I’m, I’m already familiar with some of the early lessons, so I think yesterday I worked through like four days and I was able, I was like, I know this material already.
There’s a couple, you know, little exercises and stuff that help reinforce it, but I know what to work on. So when you’re working on a big project, so for example, when I was putting together like one of my big flagship courses where maybe there’s 50 videos and there’s 10 different units with five videos for each one, I have to look at this as like a big project that’s gonna take a month to work through.
And if you look at it and you’re like, oh, what do I work on today? It’s like. Shit, there’s so much like I have to write a script for the video. Well, I have to figure out what we’re gonna cover in the different units. I have to figure out what’s gonna be included on each video. Then I have to write the script, or at least create an outline for my courses.
I actually did right. Scripts verbatim. I would like go through and like figure out what I wanted to say. So it wasn’t like a loose outline where I would just wing it. It was like everything was calculated. I would ad lib occasionally, but generally it was like, I wrote this out so that it, I won’t ramble on and I’ll get to the point and I’ll finish and I’ll cover the things that I want to finish and I won’t repeat myself, so I would write it all out.
And then you have to figure out the video and the recording any graphics or other, uh, screen shares or something like that, that you have to include in the video. And it all, like, you gotta have that stuff ready by the time you get it to your editor. So there’s like all these different.
Layers that you have to figure out. And if you just sit down and you’re like, all right, I’m gonna do all this stuff, I’m gonna keep track of it in my head, it’s gonna be a fucking disaster. Like, you’re, you’re gonna be all over the place and it’s not gonna be organized. So from my project management skills in the past and, and frankly just like going through college and stuff like that, it’s like, okay, you have to break these projects down, these huge projects into something smaller.
You have to figure out like, alright, what phases do we need to go through? Are there times where you know you have to finish this set of activities before you can move on to the next set? So for example, before I could write the script, I need to know what. Topic what material I’m gonna cover in each unit and each lesson within.
So like you have to figure out how you’re organizing things before you could write the scripts. And before I do the videos, well I have to obviously have the scripts done ahead of time, and there might be times where you reach, exit criteria where I’m like, okay, I’ve finished the scripts.
Now can I do the videos? Or is it a situation where I need to like. Write the script for a unit and then do the video and then have it edited. Or do I need to batch everything together where I like lock myself in a room and for three days I write the scripts and then the next week I do all the videos?
Or do I do this in a unit based situation? And that could depend on your schedule and other constraints or how you like to work. Really, it’s based on all of those things, because some people. They’re like, I do wanna batch it all. If I’m in the frame of mind of writing scripts, then I’m only gonna write scripts.
And then when I do video, I want to set up the lights, I wanna get the teleprompter ready, and all I’m gonna do is do videos for the next several days. And I’m not gonna do anything else. However, you may run into a situation where you need to go back and as you’re writing the scripts and you’re doing the videos and you realize, oh, I actually need to go back and I need to.
I add another section in here. I forgot that I was gonna put this in. Maybe it’s a technical thing. So maybe at some point you realize, hey, I need to use a different lens for the video and I need to go back and, um, reshoot some of them. Or I need to stop here and wait until I have the new lens or whatever.
And I’m just making up this example based on stuff that I’ve done in the past. The, the way this all fits together is if you’re working on a big project, a, a big thing, then you need to divide up the tasks. You need to divide up the schedule and really like outline everything and spend a lot of time planning ahead of time.
Not managing things in your head when you in, in fact, when I hear from people and they’re like, oh yeah, we’re working on this. Or when I’ve worked on, , maybe like projects with a partner, and I’m like, yeah guys, we have to like fucking write this stuff down. Like you’re all over the place. Like we need to be more organized so we don’t duplicate work where like, I.
I’m working on something and then someone else is working on it. We don’t need to, um, like miss something, right? So either the biggest issue is like you’re gonna end up missing something because you thought someone else was gonna work on it, or you end up both working on it where it’s just like, oh, this was a waste for both of us to work on it.
That was unnecessary and we shouldn’t have done it that way. I’ll pause here for a second. If you’re only listening, you can’t see, but Georgie is bringing me her Frisbee, which she loves. So I have to give a little throw every now and then. She just waits patiently like a border collie and stares at me to get me to do whatever it is she wants me to do.
She’s very pushy. So I didn’t write notes, so I can’t remember the other stuff I was gonna talk about. All right, so we talked about the, the project stuff. So break things down. When I was, uh, chatting about the, uh, audience capture stuff from a recent episode, and I was thinking about creating a job where you, , you don’t want.
To be doing the work that you’re doing, but you accidentally created a successful business when you didn’t want to do that sort of work. A lot of times it ends up, it ends up happening because you like follow the analytics, which is good advice. Like you should take a look at your analytics, but you should be very aware of the issues if you just create the videos that.
The analytics are telling you, and this could apply on the YouTube side, it could be on, , social media, especially like short form video. So those are like kind of the two areas. In podcasting, we hardly get any data, so it’s a little bit freeing because you could see downloads. You really don’t know if people are listening to the full episode.
Some systems like Apple Podcast and Spotify, you can get some data, but that’s only a small amount. Those are the people that are actually like allowing you to, to have a look at the analytics and stuff. So the thing that I wanted to bring up, was , basically around burnout.
And I mean, you are gonna burn out if you are creating content or spending time on something where you’re like. This sucks. I’m not really into it. And you know it, , it’s a horrible spot. It’s a horrible spot to be in. I’ve avoided burnout even to this day. I mean, like, I’m, I’m doing these videos ’cause I want to, and I’m recording these.
Because it’s fun, it’s stuff that I wanna talk about. There is, um, there’s a small piece where I’m like, you know what? I haven’t missed a week. And that’s cool, but I could change the scope. I could just, you know, publish once a month if I want to, or once every two weeks. But the cadence of once a week is nice.
And there there’s a little piece where I’ve like, like I appreciate, I haven’t missed a week, but I could change the rules at any time. One of the ways that I’ve avoided the, you know, the dreaded burnout, which, you know, hits YouTubers especially one, I disconnected my satisfaction from the analytics. So when I publish a video and there’s only like a few dozen of you that check it out, I’m like, ah.
You know, it stings, but only a tiny bit. I’m not like questioning my existence, I’m not questioning anything too much. I’m just like, ah, you know what? I’ve been consistent doing my stuff for a little while. So my hunch is it’s more related to the algorithm and the video just not surfacing as much and. The fact that I’m creating the content that I want.
So big thing is creating the content that you want. And sometimes that means I’m not, I don’t write down even the two topics that I was gonna cover today. I didn’t even write it down on a sticky note, which could have been a good move, at least, so I wouldn’t forget what I was gonna talk about. Plus, outside, there’s all these distractions.
Like Georgie, , currently, I don’t know, there’s like a truck backing up. So it’s beeping or the leaf blowers, which, uh, luckily they turned them off. I guess they finished their, their blowing there. , But I’m creating the content that I want and I’m doing it on the pace that I want to, however, and this is, you know, I’m in a luxurious position, though I worked hard to place myself in this position.
I don’t need to create these videos to earn money. I don’t need to record the podcast to earn money. Occasionally there’s a sponsor, but not too often I am not pushing any affiliate products. , Rarely. But just on a day-to-day basis, I’m not doing it. And well, yeah, like on a quarterly basis, I’m not doing it.
If there’s a deal where I’m like, oh, you know what? That’s a legit product. I could work with ’em on that. I’ll go ahead and move forward with it. And, you know, there’s, there’s cost to software and other stuff that I’m using, hosting. I mean, although at, at some point since websites are like, no one goes to websites, like in a general sense, I’m like, uh, should I just let, should I.
Get rid of like the premium WordPress theme that I’m using and just fucking use a flat file system, move over to something that’s free , you know, just use like a, you know, free WordPress theme. Anyway, some things that I’m looking at where I’m like, I’m paying a hundred dollars a year for this, is it worth it?
Is anyone even going to these fucking websites? Probably not. I could probably just like, stop doing that. , I could put sort of like the, the blog section, the landing pages over on the podcast hosting website. And does it, does it even matter? So anyway, there’s questions that I’m asking myself.
Is it worth it? So anyway, to avoid burnout, make sure you’re not doing work that you hate. Be very cautious, uh, with the audience capture situation where like you can create videos, you can actually create courses that are, that are very good and very profitable, but is it what you want to be doing? That said, you know, sometimes you gotta pay the bills, you gotta do that stuff.
And if you. If you can compartmentalize it and like create the content and then like disconnect yourself from feeling like your, , self worth from analytics or acknowledgement, external acknowledgement, that could really help. And the thing is, um. It did feel good when I was getting a lot more views, but at some point I was just like, it is okay if I don’t get views.
And when I look back at the data, I’ve mentioned it in, in some shows in the past, you know, back when niche sites were a lot more popular, say 2016 to 2020, something like that. I would do success interviews, how-to videos, stuff like that. It would get tens of thousands of views in, uh, a relatively short amount of time.
Now it’s like a fucking miracle for me to get that many. Uh, views. I mean, people, this topic area just like died , I’ve heard people say, Hey, you know what? You should just, , start a new channel, do a new channel. You could actually publish all the old content and it’ll probably do well, or at least the relevant content, but like, basically like starting a new channel could be more worthwhile.
That said. I don’t, I’m, I’m like, I don’t get off on the analytics, so I’ve disconnected myself from that. I mean, actually to the point I, I disconnected myself from that, like when I had a corporate job where I was like, uh, the raises are a joke. Working extra hard to get, like a better performance review was like a joke as far as like getting, uh, like a better bonus or a raise or a promotion.
Like it was all, I just, I was like, this is all just a little bit of a game. And now that I see how to play, I’m only gonna do the stuff that matters and like working extra hard and, um, that sort of thing. At least where I worked, it didn’t, it didn’t pay off in the same way as, um, playing the game to just get promoted.
So hopefully this episode made some sense. A quick note, I have a guitar for sale, and if you’re in the Denver. Colorado area and you’re interested in an Epiphone Les Paul. I’ll put a link in the description. It is listed on Craigslist. It might already be gone by the time this episode comes out, but I’ll put the link in.
, It’ll be listed or it won’t be, but if you’re interested, have a look. It’s from 2005. It’s in great shape, , for a 20-year-old guitar. It has like some lights, play wear and that sort of thing. But I actually like those kind of guitars. I don’t wanna buy a brand new guitar.
I want to get a guitar that already has like a couple dings and scratches. I don’t wanna have the stress of like, putting that first scratch on there. It’s just like, I wanna get something. I, I like these relic guitars that are already like. Broken in, they feel like they’ve been played. , Or a literally guitar that’s old and that has been played.
So that’s pretty cool. Alright, if you got any show ideas, feedback at Doug show. Thanks a lot for checking this out and, um, let me know what you, , enjoy or if you enjoy these outdoor episodes, it’s definitely a little bit. it’s considerable more work. ’cause I have to set up the camera out there, out here.
I gotta get the wireless mic and all that kind of stuff going on. Uh, but it’s fun to shoot out here occasionally and it’s nice out. I mean, it’s nice to just sit out here. It has a, has a different vibe, you know.