RV LIFE Podcast
The RV LIFE Podcast, created by one of the premier companies in the RV industry, is for the RV Community with a mission to Educate, Entertain and Explore the RV Lifestyle. The Podcast will explore all things RV Life: living, working, exploring, learning. With hosts Dan & Patti Hunt, full time RVers, content creators, educators and explorers.
RV LIFE Podcast
Should I Start a YouTube Channel: Unveiling the Journey of Content Creation
Should I start a YouTube Channel? If you're looking to make money while living the RV LIFE is a YouTube Channel the answer? We started our YouTube channel "Exploring Through Our Lens" during the pandemic to inspire others to get out and explore. Today our guests Glynn and Rose Willard of "Resetting your Journey", join us to share their insight on starting a YouTube Channel. Together, we peel back the curtain on the transformative journey of content creation, the ups and downs and making sure you are enjoying what you do.
Glynn and Rose shares their emotional rollercoaster, especially when it involves selling a cherished business and venturing into the nomadic unknown. They candidly recount the switch from business owners to storytelling nomads, spinning their tales through YouTube videos.
Rose is not only a YouTuber but the Co-Host of our sister podcast The RV Entrepreneur
https://therventrepreneur.com/podcast/#hosts make sure to check out the podcast.
You can also connect with Glynn and Rose at https://resetyourjourney.com
Whether you're on the open road or dreaming of it, this episode is packed with genuine reflections and actionable advice for anyone looking to create a YouTube channel.
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You're an RVer. It's hard to make money out there in the road, so the question is Should I start a YouTube channel? This is the RV Life Podcast I'm your host, dan Hunt, with my incredible wife, patty Hunt. She's right over there Now. We started a YouTube channel before we even started full-timing, almost three years ago. Now we got offered a limited TV show on the CW from that YouTube video.
Speaker 3:So now let's back up a little bit and tell people the story. That's a lot of information Now. Dan and I were living in Las Vegas and, like a lot of people, during COVID Things were shut down.
Speaker 1:You know, I really got scared the day I went to Costco and all of the shelves at Costco were completely empty Not one piece of meat in the meat case at all. That was a scary, scary, scary time. But we lived in Vegas, I was working in the entertainment industry, I was working on putting together a magic show for Ballies. We were trying to get it into the Jubilee theater at ballies. Well, I got a call one day from Caesar's entertainment and they said we have decided that we're gonna leave the theaters closed for at least a year, one full year, after COVID has been given the all-clear.
Speaker 1:Now, right at this point we're in the middle, there was no sign of an all-clear from COVID, so it was quite a ways away. So I called Patty up to my office and after I did some quick numbers and I looked at Patty, I said Patty, we we have zero dollars coming in. We have a little over six thousand dollars a month going out. We're gonna have to do something different and I I have always, I have always, always, always wanted To get an RV and go travel the country. What do you think?
Speaker 3:Well, that's what he said. What do you think and I didn't know this was his dream to go RVing, because I certainly had no intention of going RVing, especially living in an RV at this point when he said let's sell everything and get an RV after I was done Laughing because I thought I was kidding, and I realized he was serious at that point I had been in an RV for maybe seven days, like we spent seven days in an RV. That was my experience.
Speaker 1:Don't forget your five days in a tent where it rained. The whole five days we were out there.
Speaker 3:Yes, it, it poured, and so that was my experience with this RV life, and so I I thought it was nuts and we started to have conversation over a couple weeks and I realized things might not be getting better with Co, with the whole COVID thing, and I was tired of being stuck in the house. So we said, all right, maybe this makes sense now. Our mission, our goal, had always been to try and inspire people in some way. We had a belief about you have to live your life fully, life short, all of those things. So Dan talked about well, we could start a youtube channel. That's how we make money. And he also said we go to every national park in the country. Now I got to tell people three years in and we've been to Zero. Not one national park. Now conversation for another time.
Speaker 1:You know we could do a whole show on why we haven't gone to national parks. But they don't like youtubers National park. They make us pay these exorbitant fees to come in. So national parks have been a No-no spot for us right, but it's also been we've and they won't let me fly my drone either.
Speaker 3:Definitely not. But we've also found really cool places on our way to national parks. So you know. Anyway, let's get back to the story we started. Dan insist if we start doing youtube videos because we were Going out and, you know, finding things to do.
Speaker 3:Even during COVID, las Vegas was totally shut down and we were doing these videos. We come home one night and we have all of our equipment and at that time we had a ton of equipment. There were no go-pros at that time and there was a friend of our friend at our house and he sat there and he said what's with all the equipment? And Dan said oh yeah, we were just out doing some video and he said why I want to see it. Well, your face was no way am I showing this because it was all raw footage, it wasn't every day, we had just done it. And so Dan showed these videos to this guy who turned out to be an executive with the CW network and from there we were asked to do four Limited series TV shows For the CW now we were allowed to put those four up on our youtube channel so you can go over to our youtube channel.
Speaker 1:Patty will put a link to all four of them in the show notes so you guys can all see those videos, videos.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's where it all started, and from there we decided youtube channel was a good idea.
Speaker 1:Now that sound means it's time for today's Fun fact. Our fun fact is brought to you by open road resorts with four great locations two in montana, one in idaho and two in texas. We were at the texas facility and we just loved one in texas, one in texas.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, and here's where we're going to go to our first national park this summer. We have plans to go to the montana locations and the idaho locations right outside the gate yellow stone park. And that will be exciting because I've never been there. But for the fun fact, today, 51 million youtube channels there are 51 million Million and I had to double check that number. Now 38 million are considered to be active youtube channels and I did not get what active meant. But seven 3.7 million videos are posted every day 3.7 million.
Speaker 1:that's a lot of shooting, that's a lot of editing, that's a lot of laughing and that's a lot of stupid stuff a lot of videos, um, and well, that's a lot of content.
Speaker 3:You know, we still believe that, for for those people listening youtube, there's still room for more youtube channels, more content. I'm not giving these numbers to discourage anybody out there.
Speaker 1:The one to start a youtube channel and that's what we're going to talk to our guest, glennon rose, about today how to be successful with a youtube channel now. As an industry director and producer, I've worked on a lot of films Uh, including the sixth sense unbreakable. I've worked with a lot of different people in my Short time here on earth, but it takes hard work and consistency. Hard work and consistency those are the two big keys that I see to being successful with a youtube channel. Now we'll talk a lot more about that Right after this.
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Speaker 1:After 18 years of competitive figure skating, followed by a degree in exercise science from the university of Delaware, rose, with her husband Glenn, built a very successful personal training and physical therapy facility which they sold after 20 years. The next chapter in life found them selling everything they have, hitting the road and, yes, starting a youtube channel, not to mention homeschooling their two kids.
Speaker 3:We are so grateful to have Glenn and Rose on the rv life podcast now. When dan and I started full time Almost three years ago, we did start a youtube channel. It was a natural process Dam, being in the entertainment industry Literally his whole life but we thought this would be a great topic, so I want to. I want to Introduce Glenn and Rose. Welcome to the rv life podcast.
Speaker 5:Thank you, dan and patty, for having us. We're really excited to be on today.
Speaker 6:No doubt, dan patty. It's great to be here.
Speaker 1:Now rose, you are also very, very special to the rv life community because you are the host Of the rv entrepreneur. Well, you're one of three hosts? I think yes on the rv entrepreneur podcast.
Speaker 3:So it is our sister podcast of rose and I are sisters, we're gonna go with that.
Speaker 1:So I've always wanted to have a sister wife All right.
Speaker 3:So now you guys are being for two years. Tell us the the story how you heard our story of how we decided to sell everything and go full time. What's your story?
Speaker 5:Well, patty, like many others coveted was the catalyst for us, but Actually it began about a year or so before that when we had been dreaming about having an rv to be able to take weekend Camping trips or travel further and be able to take our bathroom and our kitchen with us wherever we went. And that kitchen part was really important to us because we were also navigating our youngest son's newly diagnosed severe treenot allergy. He's epi dependent which was really scary at first for us. So being able to bring our own food with us was huge. So we researched our v's red blogs, watched countless youtube videos Hello kydy and realized there were families are being and some sold it all and we're doing it full time. So that really intrigued us and Planted the seeds, so to speak.
Speaker 5:And we were also 20 years in, like you said, of owning a successful small business and I was no longer working in the business. I was at home. I was able to be home homeschooling our boys and glenn was still working. But at this point he was feeling the need for a change and was getting a little burnt out by the health and fitness industry. To be honest, he knew he wanted to do something entrepreneurial again, just not sure what. And we're in a beautiful, comfortable home, had all the possessions we needed, but we still felt something was missing.
Speaker 5:Even with all this, we we felt unfulfilled in some way and everything felt like it owned us and we truly felt like we needed to downsize, somehow, make a change.
Speaker 5:But you know you can say that and maybe try and get rid of things, but it's hard, you know.
Speaker 5:You end up just putting stuff in the basement, closing the door.
Speaker 5:So I kept saying that we needed a reset, something that would really shake things up and force us to make a change and do what we felt drawn to do for our family. So Incomes COVID shuts our business down for a few months, and then Glenn's home every day, which was wonderful, and we all got to go on hikes together and be in nature almost every day and Glenn realized how much he was really missing being away from the family and we started to feel like maybe this was our reset, our chance to start over, so to speak. So, together with our boys, we discussed selling our home, selling the business, buying an RV, going full time for a while, and what it would all look like, and it seemed pretty feasible to us so prepared our home for sale, sold it in a day on Facebook by ourselves and began selling most of our possessions and, once sold, we moved into Glenn's parents' home in Delaware for a bit, found our RV and a truck and then launched full time in February of 2021.
Speaker 1:Well, now you say you found your RV and a truck, so you're not class.
Speaker 2:A people like us.
Speaker 1:You were a travel trailer or a fifth wheel?
Speaker 5:Yes, we had a 2017 Outdoors RV Travel Trailer. Kind of small, what 20? It was 28 foot. 28 foot, yeah, and I was obsessed 28 feet.
Speaker 6:Yeah, 28 feet. I was obsessed, before looking for an RV, with boondocking and living off-grid, so I searched high and low for an RV that was really well insulated, had high ground clearance and could get us into those locations. And it took a while and I found one in New Hampshire and it was one of those. It's the only one, but it happened to be perfect. So we took the drive up there. I paid him cash, bought the tow vehicle, came back, sold the tow vehicle and bought a decent diesel truck to pull with A real tow vehicle.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:So, wow, two kids homeschooling. You had already been homeschooling, but now you take it on the road and that's just an incredible story and it's a great message to our listeners, because I think there are people that deal with kids, whether they have allergies or other things, medical things they're dealing with. So to be able to, like you say, get in the RV, have your own food, not have to have that as a concern, that's fantastic. So let me ask when you first started out, was travel what you expected? Was it all the fun and excitement?
Speaker 5:Well, yes and no. So when we first left, we had this feeling that overcame us like, oh my gosh, did we do the right thing? Like what are we doing? We sold everything.
Speaker 6:There was a lot. We were driving down the road in the truck. We're about two hours into it and everyone is silent and there's this air of holy ears. Are we doing the right thing? I can turn around right now and I bet everyone who has done this has experienced that exact same thing.
Speaker 5:Right. But as we got out there and we made our mistakes, drained our batteries the first night we were out of Boondockers. Welcome, it was freezing cold. South Carolina, north Carolina.
Speaker 6:We did realize that all the mistakes that we made were wonderful, because that was the best way to learn anything, and I love adversity and our ability to overcome that adversity by screwing up and then figuring out how to do things the right way, because you don't screw up twice when you're in an RV.
Speaker 5:That's right, yes, so we kept gaining some more knowledge and skills and getting out there and gosh. The experiences that we first had were just amazing and the boys were just so excited to see something new and be in a different environment. It's like that. It's the kids. They see things for the first time and it's just amazing. You get to watch that. It's so cool.
Speaker 6:There was a good opportunity to show the kids how beautiful this country is and how much good is out there. You watch a lot of the media. You see a lot of negative, but we found nothing but positive in good people everywhere we went and then, with their homeschooling, we were able to find PhDs and geology and musicians who were willing to teach them and take time, and these are experiences these boys will never forget.
Speaker 1:Right, that really is incredible. I wish that I would have had the foresight, when I was your guys age and had kids of school age, that I could have got out of the rat race and taken them out on the road, because in the last three years, the experiences that Patty and I have had I mean flying in a hot air balloon, I got to drive a locomotive, I mean physically drive. They sent me in a little mini class and they let me drive this locomotive down the railroad track. It was incredible. So the experiences that we have had on the road have been incredible. Let's go back. I'm going to say about a third of our audience are those people out there that are thinking about going out on the road and they can't get over that I sold my house on Facebook. That sounds amazing to me, but, glenn, tell me about the day that you sold your business and you set the keys on the table and you said to yourself I never have to listen to another person complain about their knee, about their ankle, about their stomach, about whatever.
Speaker 6:Well, dan, I actually loved our business. I had a very unique situation. I loved what I did. I was happy going to work. I loved our business. I loved our client base and our patient base. They were all family to me and from the outside it was you know. Anyone would say you're living the dream life because I worked three and a half days a week, but I am a serial entrepreneur, which means I work 24 seven. You just pick the time you want. What's 365 do you want and what's 24 hours do you want?
Speaker 5:He couldn't shut it off.
Speaker 2:So I couldn't shut it off.
Speaker 6:I was obsessed with growing and working on the business. So even though when I was home for the rest of the time, I was checked out, you know it was very difficult for me to understand what it was like to be a family person. So the day that we sold it, we self-financed our business. We sold our business to one of our employees and he was a perfect fit for it, and we worked our way up to that. And after I sold it to him, I continued to stay on for a month to make sure that all of our systems ran efficiently and everything that we had built that had legs would continue to function under his operation flawlessly, and that the client base because I really cared about the clients, I wanted to make sure that they went through this transition and they didn't even realize I was gone. So, and that's what I stayed on for that and Dan Patty, it was so bittersweet, it was sweet because we had built something with legs, something that would go on forever.
Speaker 1:And something that's very necessary in this world today.
Speaker 6:We helped so many people and it was hard because I loved it so much. When I drove out of there for the last time, I was sobbing. I mean, there's no question there this was our baby that we spent 20 years and it actually was 21 years total that we built up and and had a client base and a five star review across the board. It was so hard to walk away from that and it took a few weeks before I realized that holy years, I'm actually free now. I can. I can direct my brain in any direction I like now and, of course, I immediately start thinking of the next business.
Speaker 5:So well, yeah, got to support yourself somehow, right? Yeah just live on savings forever.
Speaker 3:What a different story here. Most of the people we talked to you know, either on the show or just out and about, they talk about how they were trying to get away from whatever they were doing. They weren't having fun anymore, they weren't living life fully. And here you guys are. You're in a situation where you truly love excuse me, truly loved what you were doing. So now, like you said, you have to get on the road and you need to make money. Like we I think most of us on the road need to make money. Where did the decision to start a YouTube channel come in?
Speaker 5:Well, good question. So before we launched for full time, we knew that we wanted to document our travels on video for ourselves and for our family and friends. So, being the creative one, of course, I dove right into it and taught myself how to create these videos and how to edit them and everything that went into putting them on YouTube. And we videoed a lit little bit of our preparations for full time when we were still in Delaware and then, once we were out on the road, learning more as we went, sharing in our videos, we started getting some really positive comments about how we were inspiring others, and that kind of fueled us to keep creating content and maybe try and make something of this YouTube channel. You know you can make money with YouTube, right, and we wanted to get to being monetized. That's a great goal, right?
Speaker 5:So about a year into our travels, we were monetized, which was a huge accomplishment. And now the pressure to keep up our videos per week one per week was on right, and while I enjoyed, it started becoming a bit exhausting. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. It felt like I was on the computer most of the day, not outside exploring, you know. Mind you, I'm a perfectionist and was modeling our videos after KYD. Of course that was a big one at the time, so our videos were complex and putting in a lot of time for putting in a lot of time for very little return.
Speaker 1:But now, did you have any backgrounds in editing and that kind of stuff? Do you have any background?
Speaker 5:So, being a competitive figure skater, I had experience in cutting my own music and a long time ago it was like cutting from like real to real, so like for actually cassette tapes and we had the old big machine for that. And then I got into the computer editing of music once that came into play. So I had some editing, have a good year for music sound. And then of course I was on a lot of video for skating and my coaches used to video myself so I could see what things look like and I was exposed to it. But I'd never put anything up on YouTube like this.
Speaker 1:Has anybody ever did you take any classes or listen to you talked about KYD? And you know, when I look at them as a director, producer, it's like I think they have a great channel, I think they had a great concept to going out there. I think they have fun with it, but I don't know that they really tell a story the way that I like to, and I've even said this to him directly telling a story, I think, is what people want to hear. Do you guys tell stories as you're making your videos?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Tell me about that we towards the end yeah, we started more doing that because, being a part of all these Facebook groups like content creators and everything about YouTube that I was learning from, they were talking about story. You know, tell a story that's going to bring your listeners and audience in and make them want to stay with you, so I feel like I started doing that more, so middle to the end. But, yeah, I love a good story. I'd love to hear other RVer stories too.
Speaker 6:Yeah, that is correct. I mean, whether you're speaking in front of an audience or whether you're even writing a blog, the story is the key, and it took us a while to figure that out.
Speaker 3:Right, and I think that's what you know again, dan, having been in the industry. We had that leg up, so to speak, and so it was always. We always tried to tell the story. But I think what's important here to let our listeners know, while there's 38 million active YouTube channels and each channel has their own sort of niche and way, and well, kyd, we don't know if they're telling their story. Whatever, we believe it's certainly a successful channel. I think the idea to get out here is no two channels should ever be the same. No two channels could ever be the same. Sounds like you guys kind of learned and grew as you went along.
Speaker 5:Right yeah, yes, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1:And for the new people coming out there, telling a story is so important. I'm going to tell a little story here right now. I will never forget the day I was working on the set of a very big movie for Touchdown or Disney and it's called the Sixth Sense, and the director who was nominated for an Academy Award for that, his directing of that movie, and Bruce Willis, who was my hero because he had just come off or Die Hard, had just been released the Christmas before we started shooting this movie. So he was like God to everybody. During that time.
Speaker 1:We're in a scene and my son was actually in the scene in one of those rides. That's a tilt world. And about four hours into trying to shoot this scene with this stupid tilt world, bruce looks up at night and says what story are we trying to tell here, other than me getting busy? What story are we trying to tell? And it really comes back to night, then took a break and got all of the actors and the head people together and he put us all around in a big circle and he told the story that he had in his head, that we were trying to tell on film and in the little bit of dialogue that we had, so it was so important for night to understand that everybody working on the project understood the story.
Speaker 3:The only people who were having a problem with it was the producers, because we were taking so much time Right and a lot of money, I'm sure, but I think what's important, you guys went back and said that you were really just trying to document for your family, for your friends, and that's how the YouTube channel started, and I think that's important for people who want to start a YouTube channel, like doing that, starting with what you enjoy. I think some people that I talked to about YouTube channels and wanting to start them are looking for that video that's going to go viral. It's going to be their million views. It's going to get them instantly monetized. We all know, right, that that's not the way it's done.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little story about when you guys were sitting at the table whether it was in your house or in your RV before you started. You're sitting at the table. You decided you made this decision. I'm going to put a post on Facebook and my house is going to sell. And one of you looked at the other one and said, yeah, right, but it did. I mean, it's real. So your house sold. Did you think you were going to make money with YouTube?
Speaker 6:The market was hot. We knew we were and we loved this house because it was what we had worked for for so long is that big 4,000 square foot with the pool house and the huge pool. It was beautiful and we photographed it. We made the decision to sell. We put everything and ready to go on Facebook and we couldn't hit the enter button. We could not hit enter to sell it.
Speaker 2:So hard.
Speaker 6:It was almost like you had to. We had to push our finger into it and when we finally did, it was within an hour that we had eight leads come in, interested in seeing the house so fast that we were able to show it the next day I believe it was the next day or the following day and the first person who came to see it or the ones who bought it we qualified them, we took them to the home, we toured it and we made sure that even they were the right fit for the neighborhood, because you know it was. It was one of those large. Everyone has one to four acres and everyone's close, but they're not close. We wanted to make sure that we did our neighbors a solid by buying or selling it to the right group. But that was a very, very difficult day. But it was also that day that you know, once we push enter, there is no turning back.
Speaker 5:Right, but you know we're free. But hey, what's the worst that could happen? You go ahead and buy another home in the future. There's plenty of homes around right? You know that's what we thought, Right. Well, that was during COVID. So, I mean, that house went fast. I don't know if that's a normal situation, but since it was right during COVID, that was summer of 2020. Yes, yeah, that was fast.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so then, yeah, yeah, I was just going to say it sounds a little scary and I do believe it's the scary things that lead to the most amazing. You know, as we told our story, I was scared to death. This idea of sell everything, get in an RV, yeah right, and certainly a lot of things were not what I expected. But I do want to talk about your YouTube channel that you started and it's called Reset your Journey and the quote on there you're always one decision away from resetting your journey. Can you talk about that? Where that came from?
Speaker 6:I figure you know, whatever you're thinking about going any direction in life, you know a decision can turn you left and a decision can turn you right, and you know it is as simple as that and exactly what that quote is that decision can be the difference between you being happy on your deathbed or being very miserable on your deathbed, and almost every one of our emotions are decision based. So you know we just want to stand behind, finding the positive learning from the adversity and, you know, teaching those aspects.
Speaker 5:Yeah, finding your purpose. If you're not happy in your life, make a change. What's the worst that can happen? I mean you're not going to be happy, so you know I never felt like I'm sorry to talk about?
Speaker 6:I never felt like, when I look back, when I was truly living. It's when we started our first business. There was first couple of years I felt so alive and by year 20, I was no longer feeling alive. But then, when we sold everything and we went full time and regardless of the YouTube channel, I felt alive again and it occurred to me that if I'm not challenged, I'm not living. And you know I tell this part a lot when I go through our Google photos. You know I can look back before we left and the pictures are your standard family pictures. You know they're nice, they're cool, we can see our kids. But then when you get through those two years, it is day after day of the most beautiful scenery, the most exciting events, experiences that all piled up in two years. I mean, who wouldn't want that? When they look back at their photos or when they're lying on their death bed. So you know I'm all for this.
Speaker 5:Yeah, a lot of great, great experiences. Wouldn't change it for the world.
Speaker 1:No, we are talking to Glenn and Rose Willard of Resetting your Journey, the YouTube channel that works. I'm Dan Hunt with my incredible wife, patty Hunt, and we'll be back right after this break. We're gonna talk about a lot of things after the break. We're gonna talk about how easy it is to have a YouTube channel, how easy it is to get those videos out once a week. We're gonna talk about having fun while we're doing it and having that mindset of having fun all the time, and we're gonna talk some real talk about the hard parts of living this lifestyle and having a YouTube channel out there. We're gonna talk about that and much, much more right after this.
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Speaker 3:So I love what we do because we get to meet amazing people like Rose and Glenn, and I just want to talk for a minute about Brett Davis, who is the owner of National indoor RV centers. There are six of them across the country and he's just an amazing guy, and I think of anything that we have done in this RV journey is meeting amazing people. Now, rose and Glenn, you guys talked about going out, living your life, not having regrets on your deathbed. It's so funny because we did have a brief conversation before we decided to have you on the podcast, so we didn't know you all that well, but those are the very words that I have said and have talked to people about and trained people on. It's about living life fully. It's about not having regrets on your when you get to your deathbed, like not having any regrets. So I'm really excited about this topic. So now let's talk a little bit about how easy it is to have a YouTube channel. I can't even say that with a straight face.
Speaker 6:Oh the irony, oh my.
Speaker 5:God.
Speaker 3:The irony right there yes, could be easy.
Speaker 5:you know it could be easy if you're not editing anything, you're just videoing and just putting up there, you know, or not SEOing or anything. Right, that would be easy. But to really make something of your channel you gotta be hands on 24 seven. You've got to be out there creating a video consistently.
Speaker 6:So, yeah, it's not so easy but the cameras are always rolling, you're always editing. Everything you start to look at on your journey becomes from the perspective of behind the lens or in front of the lens, and that well, dan, you know that gets old and sometimes you just want to go out and you like, leave the cameras whole. I just want to go have some fun with the family and take this hike and do it for ourselves.
Speaker 5:And our kids were starting to get a little like, really you gotta have that camera out again and I felt so bad. So I tried not to do too much with them, you know, but part of the whole channel.
Speaker 1:So we first started, the GoPro's weren't quite of the quality they are today in the DJI camera, the smaller, late cameras. So we were going out on those hikes and I'm carrying a seven pound camera along with us everywhere we go. I'm exhausted by the time we get back. It really, really is a lot of work and you know, there was a point somewhere in my 40s where I even said this to the people around me, that I started to see things as I'm just walking through my everyday life. I started to see them as if I was looking through a viewfinder, through a scope. Everything that I looked at it was like oh no, we can't do that. That red over there is no good. You know, I'm looking out the window right now and somebody has a red tent right outside there and I'm like, oh no, no, no, no. That just doesn't work because it would just eat up that whole side of the shot.
Speaker 1:So you know the sound, the sound of what's going on with sound, all of the different things. I just started living my life every day as a human camera, and that's not a good thing, because you're not really present with everybody, if that's the way you are.
Speaker 6:So true when you're running from. Oh okay, the clouds are out, it's quiet outside. This is the perfect opportunity. We have to go film right now. Mind you, I don't feel great or I'm not in the mood, but the conditions are perfect. So, you just do it.
Speaker 1:It's magic hour. We'll only have the magic hour. Watch.
Speaker 6:We gotta go we gotta go, we gotta go.
Speaker 4:If I hear that, one more time it's magic hour but,
Speaker 3:I just rolled out of bed, or I've been so mad Feel magical.
Speaker 3:Yeah, real magical.
Speaker 3:But I think what Dan and I have learned and if this helps people because I think there are people out there that love the idea of YouTube channels and I'll be honest, Dan and I have had our ups and downs with Hide and Failies filming today, and the same thing for you guys what we learned and I'm grateful it was early on was if we were gonna do a video for YouTube or wherever, if we weren't enjoying it, if it wasn't gonna be fun and we don't have kids to take into consideration, so that's not an issue but it got to the point where I said, hey, this isn't fun, I'm not feeling this, so we just didn't do it.
Speaker 3:Now, that doesn't always work well because, as Dan said in the beginning, a YouTube channel needs consistency. You have to be consistent because a YouTube and an algorithm, whatever it's called needs that consistency. So, for those people out there that are looking to create a YouTube channel, we don't wanna scare everybody away and I will say right off the bat I don't do any editing at all. We're now at the point where we're gonna start. Yeah, Dan does all the editing. I can't even be in the RV while he's editing because of him repeating the same section over and over again.
Speaker 5:So yeah, that's when.
Speaker 3:I did headphones, yeah, yeah, and he can't do it with headphones, so I would just go do laundry. So I guess the point here is we found a way to make it work and now that we're so busy because we also have the RV Life podcast here and doing video I'm thinking we're gonna get an editor and outsource some of that so we can go out and do the videos we enjoy. You know, like you guys, you had a mission and a reason for doing them and I think that's important and I was gonna ask what was the hardest part? It sounds like what was the hardest part for you guys.
Speaker 5:Well, like I said, like at that point, of doing the videos and being consistent every single week, that pressure, that was the hardest part. And being on that computer, I felt like some days, like all the time, and I felt like I was neglecting the kids and we've got our schoolwork and whatnot, but I was staring at that computer. That was the hardest part For me. I think the hardest part Editing.
Speaker 1:Again, editing to me is not the hardest part, but the part you're talking about staring at the computer trying to come up with that SEO phrase that works, trying to come up with that title that works, and then you know like we had some of these software programs that would help us do that and give it, and I would look at these times and I'm like what the heck are you talking about?
Speaker 1:That has nothing to do with what we're doing right now.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think those are some of the hardest things.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I think I have really enjoyed working with my spouse on with the YouTube channel and living in this tight space like this is we made a conscious decision very early on that we were gonna always have fun with this, and I think we've pretty much. I mean, I'm not saying that we don't have our ups and downs and we don't have our little disagreements here or there, but at the same time, having fun and keeping that fun attitude out there all the time and being genuine, just being us on stage and being us on film and being us on the podcast, I think that that has really made a difference in the quality of our work and the fact that our work has done so well in a very short period of time. This podcast, you know, in its first year was in the top 5% of all podcasts worldwide. And then we just got a notice from Buds for Out the other day that said congratulations, you're now in the top 3% of podcasts worldwide. Wow, that, I mean that just blows me away.
Speaker 5:That's cool Congratulations. I'm glad you stayed true to yourself and decided to just make sure this was you were having fun, and I think that's the whole thing about this is don't lose yourself in this whole process and the videos you know stick to with what your personalities are and what you wanna do. I mean, yeah, you kind of have to make videos and stories that the audience wants to see, but, yeah, stay true to yourself.
Speaker 6:For sure.
Speaker 3:I think that is the message of this whole podcast for our listeners staying true to yourself. Before I forget, I do wanna lead people. We did say your YouTube channel is reset your journey. Where else can people find you, get to you, reach out to you?
Speaker 6:On our website, resetyourjourneycom, which we have been seguing more towards putting more work into that, now that we are stationary, Cause obviously we can't film right now and this part in our life, this chapter, is temporary. We'll be back out on the road, but this is a good opportunity for us, too to move forward with this website and really grow it. And to me, I love writing like I really like to write, and I like to write with the user in mind, not so much just for the SEO. I mean, SEO is a fun challenge, but I like to solve problems for the reader and write to them as if I'm sitting around a campfire or being in a blog or a podcast, just like we are right now and speaking from the heart.
Speaker 5:I was gonna say, and you can also find me on the RV Entrepreneur podcast. I'm one of the three co-hosts now for that podcast.
Speaker 1:Now, when you say co-host, you're not really a co-host, cause all three of you don't do the co-host together. You have your podcast.
Speaker 5:And there's three different ones. So once a week, yeah.
Speaker 1:Kimberly Crosston. We had her on the show earlier.
Speaker 3:And Jim Nelson was on the show as well.
Speaker 5:So, that is like we said before, each week we do a different one.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, so the different person each week.
Speaker 3:Yes, they rotate. Yes, and that's our sister podcast. We highly recommend it to everyone. But I do wanna go back a little bit to what Glenn said. I think you know, for Dan and I, when we started the podcast and you put all this time and energy into it and you know you finally get monetized. And even if you don't, you're not there yet, but you realize, like you said, glenn, that you really love to write, so you're doing some blogs. You're doing blogs, right.
Speaker 1:Correct. Now we have found from a monetization world our blogs do very, very well. We actually get more of that ancillary income, that income, extra income from the blog article than we do from the YouTube channel. Right?
Speaker 3:I just wanna caution people here and I think you guys would agree and you could chime in. When we first started, one of the mistakes we almost made or started to make was trying to do everything that everybody told us. Like we already had some social media leading people to our YouTube channel, and then you wanted to get it on TikTok and Twitter and all these other snap chats and things like that, and I guess for us, the caution is to not jump on every bam wagon out there. Would you guys? Did you guys feel that and see that as well?
Speaker 5:Yeah, you definitely don't want to spread yourself too thin, because then you're not putting out your best work. Your energy is being spent trying to go through all these different outlets. So do what talks and speaks to you. I mean, do your YouTube videos or your blogs, do a social media here or there, but really put out some good quality content and be consistent with that.
Speaker 1:That's absolutely right. Now, real quick, I'm going to take a minute and talk about our newest sponsor called the Open Roads Fuel Card. Now, this card is really important if you have a diesel vehicle. This year we were off the road for a little bit over four months as Patty's mother was in hospice care and we were able to go and be with her for those four months that she was in hospice care. But this year we just saw our report we have saved over $330 on diesel fuel by using the Open Roads Fuel Card.
Speaker 3:It's amazing this card just for details it's absolutely free. You sign up, you do attach your bank card to it, they bill you. You go fill up your tank, they bill you later and you get the discount. We've had discounts as low as $0.05 a gallon, but there's been a couple of times where it's up near $1 a gallon from the posted price or the gas stations in the area, so that $330,. I can't wait to see what it's going to be like after a full year this coming year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when we're not off the road for quite a while when we're not off the road. That's just incredible, so we are excited about that as well. As I got to mention the Open Roads Innovative Tolling and that's its official name, and it is the toll pass that covers all 48 states. We just got off the phone with one of the head guys I don't know his title.
Speaker 1:Operations Director.
Speaker 3:That he like. What they have going on is amazing. This is a concierge service. Now you're not going to pay extra for that. The toll pass costs $25 a year, which is what our easy pass was costing us. But here's the biggest thing, if you go through a state. So we went through three states in a manner of a day and I started getting all these violations because our toll thing didn't work. He said if that ever happened, you call Innovative Tolling Solutions, you call them or you go on your app and they take care of it. I love that, because dealing with those toll pass violation people is a nightmare.
Speaker 1:So that's my it's very difficult at best. I was listening to you on the phone a little while ago trying to get to these people. If you live in this state, dial press one, two or three. If you're in this state, three, four or five. It's like it gave you choices that you didn't necessarily know the answer for.
Speaker 3:No, it's crazy. So we are, as you can hear, super excited. We love to bring different types of services and products to our listeners that really make a difference, whether it's saving money, saving time, saving energy aggravation. So we love working with open roads. We're just so grateful. Now, rose and Glenn, this is the part where we ask if you will stay with us for our next section, where we're going to get a question from social media. So you guys, hang around for a bit with us.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure, thank you. Okay, you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Dan Hunt and we were supposed to do that part before we did the library to that commercial.
Speaker 3:I got excited.
Speaker 1:We got excited, so we just kept going through.
Speaker 3:That's okay. Nothing's really scripted here.
Speaker 1:Let me just say that the Open Road Innovative Tolling okay, it's a toll pass, like a little easy pass thing that fits into your vehicle and it covers all 48 continuous states. It's a concierge service that will handle any issues that arise, from violations to anything else that they call you for. All you have to do is use the app. And when we're talking about apps, I'm going to go back and talk about the Open Roads Fuel Card app. What a great thing that was and is.
Speaker 1:I can sit there and I can look at my fuel gauge and say you know what? I'm getting close to a quarter, we need gas soon. And Patty then can go on this app and see if we're close to Texas or Mississippi or wherever the states are that we're going in. She can say can you make it 70 miles because there's a gas station here and it's a 50 cents less a gallon. Well, that's a big difference to us when we have a 100 gallon fuel tank. So Open Roads Fuel Card, innovative Toll Solutions they are our new sponsor and you can get all the information you need about them in our show notes down below.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:That horn means it's time for today's question of the week, brought to you by Clear2O, your RV water solution. We all drink water. It may as well be clean.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, especially living in an RV not having to carry bottles of water. Their filtration system is amazing. But they also have a new product, tank Fresh, which goes in your freshwater tank no bleach like some of the other companies, so you put it in, you leave it there for a couple of hours and it cleans your freshwater tank. Now I'm excited about this question today. It actually is from social media and it's a friend of ours, christine Swartz, who we had on the show.
Speaker 3:She is the RVMOMA4 and if you go to RVMOMA4.com she's got a lot of social media, a lot of great information for helping people who are on the road. Part-time, full-time, it doesn't matter, she's a wealth of information. She's certainly one of those people that are learning as she goes and sharing her mistakes with people. The question she said she gets asked a lot that we're going to address here is about question about Wi-Fi and internet what works best, and she mentioned Starlink and any other Wi-Fi solutions. So we're going to ask if Rose and Glenn were putting on the spot, what kinds of Wi-Fi internet did you use on the road?
Speaker 6:You know what? That's a great question, because this is one that every RVer asks, and we kept things very, very simple. We have nothing but a T-Mobile hotspot and our cell phones, and I learned how to find boondocking locations with a strong signal and only stay in those boondocking locations. If we wanted to be off-grid totally, then we could go anywhere we want, but, honestly, if you start with the least expensive hotspot and your cell phone and, like I said, t-mobile is fantastic, and then we moved on to AT&T, which is even better. So we never moved into the Starlink because we didn't actually need it All right.
Speaker 5:I mean, I think, towards the end of our travel. So we were thinking about that and how we probably would need something a little more reliable at that time, because we're still uploading videos to YouTube and that takes a lot of bandwidth and you need that consistency. So we didn't have Starlink and we've heard that if you don't have a clear open space, starlink doesn't work so great, so you still always need a backup. It's supplemental, yeah Right.
Speaker 6:And I think Dan might agree with me Starlink is supplemental.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Starlink is a supplemental Right.
Speaker 3:Now it's interesting because T-Mobile and being able to upload videos, that's a big thing for us. So when people ask us about internet Wi-Fi, we always ask well, what is it you're looking to do? Because if you're just looking to watch a video, it's different than Dan trying to upload video. So you found T-Mobile and AT&T and, let's face it, it does depend on the area you're in. Dan, you want to talk a little bit about our experience with Starlink.
Speaker 1:Yeah, starlink, like you say, it really is supplemental because not everywhere you go you can get a signal. If you have a camping spot that has a tree that's 10 feet away but it's 60 feet high, it's going to be in your area. So we found that we had a difficult connection with Starlink. And the other thing is because it was a new service, it wasn't even available when we started RVing. But we got on the list to get on the call to get it when it did come up. And I'll be honest, I loved Starlink when it first came out. I absolutely loved it. We had fast internet and I could figure out how to move the dish around so I could get the best signal possible.
Speaker 1:But Unfortunately they went through some growing pains and they raised their price structure twice in the first 12 months and then another time or two in the next 12 months. So it has been a difficult task to stay with them. Now technology has changed just recently. In the last six months Some new technology has come out and you see T-Mobile has commercials all over the place about this home internet box and it's only $49 a month. And we went into a T-Mobile store and we're talking to them and complaining about Star Link and they said, well, why don't you try this? And she showed me a box, and it's literally a box that's about six inches high. It's a little home router and we get 5G service almost everywhere we've gone. The only place that we had a problem with it was when we were up near Santa Fe, new Mexico, and we were in a box canyon that was all made of granite granite all around.
Speaker 3:So we had no signal. Nobody had signal, Nobody had signal to place it. And I think to let our listeners know, because this question comes up all the time you know any of these services or not? Any service you get, it's not going to work everywhere and certainly uploading video and trying to do a podcast, it's more important for us.
Speaker 1:Well, it's something you should think about if you're thinking about having a YouTube channel or a podcast or anything. You know the files that we make. This file here alone is going to be four or five gigs big, so it's going to take quite a few minutes to get it loaded up to our editor, who happens to live in London. So you know it takes a while sometimes, but it can be done. It doesn't matter what you do. You know we met a therapist that she does her work over Zoom.
Speaker 1:Sessions so her husband built the whole back to be a private area. The back of their camper is a private office for her and she does all her work over Zoom meetings. And they live all over the country between Colorado and Florida and they're all over the place.
Speaker 3:And then it's picking places that they know their service work. So that's another. You know what, depending on what you're doing, pick the places. And again this question comes up all the time. I wish I had one exact, specific answer. Your guys' experience is similar to ours, but there's no one thing that's going to be perfect everywhere. It's just that you know just part of RVing.
Speaker 1:It really is just a part of RVing, and another big part of RVing is the RV Life Trip Wizard, and what we do here on the RV Life Podcast is we have a pro tip of the week. Every single week we have the RV Life Pro Tip of the Week and I am trying to find it right now.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of buttons.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of buttons on this board, so here we go. This is Patrick Buchanan with this week's RV Life Pro Tip of the Week.
Speaker 2:Once you have your basic route picked out in RV Life Trip Wizard and have secured your campgrounds, it's time to add all of those other stops you want to make. At this point you don't need those campground icons filling up your map and getting in the way. You can easily toggle the campgrounds off by clicking the small tent icon in the upper right hand corner. This makes it easier to focus on adding fuel stops, rest stops, places to eat or things to see anything you wish to add to your trip. Just don't forget to click it again if you need to see more campgrounds For RV Life. I'm Patrick Buchanan.
Speaker 3:When traveling in your RV. How do you navigate? Do you use a paper map, a GPS, or do you use Google Maps? Your sponsor, rv Trip Wizard, has the solution and it just works. It just works.
Speaker 1:That's my line.
Speaker 3:I thought it was my line. You already said it in the commercial.
Speaker 1:It does just work. We do not move our RV one inch without first putting it into RV Trip Wizard. You can get all the information you need about RV Trip Wizard on the link in the show notes. You get a discount down there 25% discount. You want to go down and get that. It just works. It will tell you everything from the best roads to be on to the safest roads to be on. It is RV GPS safe.
Speaker 3:Yes, it is. I'm excited because I want to talk about Tampa, which is coming up in just a couple of weeks. I cannot believe it. It has been a busy last couple of months. The RV Super Show, which is in Tampa from the 17th of January to the 21st. Dan and I will be there recording the RV Life Podcast live from the Freightliner booth. Freightliner FCCC, as they call themselves, has asked us to come in and allowed us to set up. We have amazing guests On Wednesday at 12 o'clock. We have Tiffin Lee Tiffin, mr Tiffin's grandson. We'll be there talking about all the new things coming out.
Speaker 1:He is the president and CEO of the grandson Is the president and CEO of Tiffin Motor Company.
Speaker 3:Yes, we'll talk all things. What's new in the industry. I can't wait. Then on Thursday I'm going to see if I can get this all right. We have our open roads. The president and the executive she just changed her title, so I don't have it in front of me Two amazing people that will talk all things open roads, fuel card and the toll pass.
Speaker 1:If you want to save money and you are in Tampa on Thursday, you want to come to the show.
Speaker 3:Friday will be in Clear 2.0.
Speaker 1:Clear 2.0.
Speaker 3:The inventor will talk about how to look for what clean water means. There's so much information about clean, safe water that I did not know that. I learned from Keith, who invented the Clear 2.0 products. I'm so excited. Saturday will be tire minder.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I got something to say about it. If you don't know what a micron is, you want to come to that show because on Friday, because he is going to tell us what a micron is and what it means to us as our viewers?
Speaker 3:Yes, and that will be at 12.30. Then on Saturday we have the head of tire minder. That is your tire pressure system. I've learned again so much about the importance of monitoring your tire pressure. That's a mouthful, it's a tire pressure monitoring system. They're going to be on and explain tire safety and how it's not only important for you driving on RV but the people around you. That'll be Saturday, and Sunday is going to be what I'm calling a dueling podcast, similar to dueling pianos, but it's a dueling podcast. We will be on with RV destinations. They have a podcast and a magazine.
Speaker 1:Great magazine.
Speaker 3:Yes, an amazing magazine. They were going to do a podcast together. They're going to do theirs and we're going to do ours All at the same time, we're going to mix them together, we're going to throw it up against the wall and it's going to work.
Speaker 3:Yes, and I'm going to let you guys work that all out, but that is in Tampa. If you're going to be there, go on our social media RV Life Podcast, instagram, facebook. Let us know you're going to be there. If you see us there, please come up and say hi. We look forward to meeting you.
Speaker 1:Rose, I got to ask you Do you still skate?
Speaker 5:Not as much. No, I'll take my boys out to a public session here and there, but no man, my skates hurt my feet now. My feet have become so soft. They're not built up like the calluses and everything like they used to be.
Speaker 1:It's not as If we go out to a public session somewhere, you're not going to come out there and make fun of me by oh I would Run around me circle by circle. I'll be honest.
Speaker 5:I'll be there. I'll be there, dan, no worries. My best time on the road was being able. One of my bucket lists was to skate at the Sun Valley Outdoor Ice Rink in Idaho. It was my dream. I did it in rental skates, if you believe that you didn't wear your costume.
Speaker 1:I did found my skates with me. Did you do your routine? I didn't know. Did you do your routine?
Speaker 5:Oh, come on, no toe picks, but I poured it on man. I had people watching. They had some fun. Wow, I hope you got that.
Speaker 3:Did you get it on video?
Speaker 5:Yes, we did. It's a really little bit of it. It's on our YouTube channel.
Speaker 3:Great, I will go watch that on the channel.
Speaker 1:Glenn was out there with his GoPro and he's right in front of her Just getting her that tight shot as we're going.
Speaker 5:He was on the side.
Speaker 6:That's not a hard thing to do, Dan. She's a beautiful skater. I enjoy every minute of that.
Speaker 3:I can't wait to see it. That YouTube channel is reset. Your journey for our listeners. Dan and I want to thank you guys for taking the time to be on and share such a great time with us. We appreciate it. We really do. It's great to have you on. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1:Best of luck with the RV Entrepreneur Podcast and all of the things that you're doing out there and getting back out here with us. We need you out here with us.
Speaker 5:I can't wait, yes, I want to be.
Speaker 6:It's been a pleasure. We thank you both very much.
Speaker 5:Yep Love what you guys are doing.
Speaker 6:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:This is the RV Life Podcast. I'm Dan Hunt, with my incredible wife, patty Hunt, reminding each and every one of you to have a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.