As Nike Says, Just Do It
August 24, 2020. That’s the date I purchased the timetoroll.com domain. I had a simple vision for a Photography/Video/Travel channel: Transform a casual set of hobbies and interests into a business capable of generating some small cash in pre/post-retirement. However, with over 20 years of successful business ownership experience, I quickly found that such experience can quickly became both a blessing and a curse..
THE BLESSING
Business can be both simple and complicated at the same time. The simplicity comes from the general characterization of business components that must be address with any endeavor, such as:
General Business Strategy
Legal Structure, Licensing and Regulatory Requirements
Brand Management & Marketing (e.g., Social Media)
Customer Trends and Competition
Investments, Operating Costs, and Revenue
These and many other components could each be a blog by themselves. The point is, there are a ton of considerations when launching ANY business, regardless of the core product or service . . . and the earlier these things can be addressed, the better! The last thing you need is a regulatory agency contacting you about a fine because you failed to acquire the necessary permits (for example).
With this understanding, I quickly went to work resolving each unknown. For example, I researched and registered the business name, making sure I could represent the brand legally on all major social media accounts. I did a ton of research on the commercial use of drones and how those rules might apply to my YouTube outlet (short answer - yes, you need a license and drone registration). I also performed some extensive research on tips and publishing trends from others and even tried out a few things as part of my own learning experience. In short, if I new there was an unknown component of my pending business, I worked diligently to resolve it and mitigate the risk. Sounds great, right?
THE CURSE
Despite feeling extremely comfortable about my ability to resolve the standard business tasks (the known unknowns), someone once said, “it’s the UNK-UNKs that’ll kill you,” referring to the unknown unknowns. This is particularly true when moving into personally unchartered territory. Despite the wealth of information available from others online, every video I watched or article I read seemed to introduce something new. What am I missing? Is there something else I should be doing or becoming proficient at? Likewise, as many experienced YouTubers will tell you, your first attempts are likely to be, well, let’s just say, not up to your own personal expectations.
This quickly led to the phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” YouTube is all about subscribers, likes, and, most importantly, watch time. What if my videos are horrible? What if folks don’t even watch past the first minute? Will I permanently lose a potential subscriber?
Where did this leave me? Paralyzed! Don’t get me wrong. I was keeping extremely busy, and I don’t just mean with my day job. I would review and revise my Time to Roll website. The video cameras would come out constantly as part of my own “pilot testing.” Sure, becoming familiar with the equipment is certainly an important part of the journey, as is simply getting comfortable in front of a camera (which I’m still not over). The challenge became controlling my overly critical personal expectations, enough that I could actually post the first video!
THE ANSWER
OK, maybe not “the” answer, but here’s some food for thought. When I saw my nephew last August, we discussed some of my own plans to travel in the RV and launch Time to Roll, and how he and his girlfriend were planning to quit their jobs and spend 10-months traveling the U.S. in a DIY custom van. He contacted me a few days ago to update me on his travel status: They just launched their new blog website and were about to embark on a three-day 33-mile hike (Adventures of Goldie). That’s when it occurred to me. Here I am, a 50-something experienced business guy, frozen in a pre-launch state of panic, while my 20-something nephew is posting pics and sharing his adventures with the world.
You may have heard the phrase, “Do what you like, and the money will follow.” Well I’m going to modify that slightly for this purpose and state, “Do what you like and the [subscribers] will follow.” Yes, as many before me have said, it’s the story that matters.
With that, I’d like to thank my nephew and his girlfriend for teaching this old guy some new tricks. If you get a chance, please check out their blog below. You won’t be disappointed!
