It's hard to believe, but this year marks 10 years since I created my YouTube channel. Strangely, I never intended to create a YouTube channel. I am not sure if you all are aware, but people on the internet are not exactly the nicest when it comes to commenting on publicly available videos... It all started because I was an Adjunct Instructor with the State Fire Academy and wanted to provide students some resources to keep up with their skills. If you told me that 10 years later there would be over 2.5 million views on the channel and that people from around the world would message me about the training videos I would have laughed at you.
I took a break from making videos last year just to catch up on life in general. It takes a lot of time to create YouTube videos and I had a lot of other "creative" projects going on. That being said one of the biggest barriers for me creating new videos has been the thought of "self-promotion". I am just not a fan of trying to promote myself on social media. I know this sounds ridiculous considering I have a YouTube channel, but I enjoy the creative process more than getting the credit for a video. My Dad is a professional photographer and my brother works in Sports Broadcasting so creating content that is enjoyable or makes an impact is something I hold a lot of value in. With all of that being said, when you push aside the negative comments or the thought of self-promotion, I have had some great experiences in the fire service because of the YouTube channel. I have traveled to many places around the country, met a ton of firefighters, and have really enjoyed training alongside some of the best instructors in the country. This year marks a decade for me on YouTube and coincidentally it's the beginning of a new decade. I think it's about time I create some new videos. I have several ideas and if you're interested in joining me in this new decade, go over to YouTube and hit subscribe. Let's see what 2020 has in store.