Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robert Warren. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Robert, really appreciate you joining us to talk about a really relevant, albeit unfortunate topic – layoffs and getting fired. Can you talk to us about your experience and how you overcame being let go?
I worked for a company for over 15 years as their Director of Technology, the last 5 years I had been working part-time remotely as their system admin. Then one day out of the blue they decided they didn’t need my services and laid me off without warning and with no type of severance at all. After losing my job and part of my income, I realized I didn’t want to be reliant solely on someone else for my financial security. I have embarked on a new endeavor being a content creator and primarily using YouTube as a medium to do that.
I currently have 4 different channels, two of which have associated websites that I post blogs on that correlate to the YouTube video that inspired the blog post, and both of those channels are now monetized and growing.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
The process of being a content creator on YouTube was very different than the preconceived notion I had going in. It’s a lot of work but once you learn what processes work best for you and you get your own systems in place it gets much easier. The entire process has been a lot of fun and I am really enjoying it and continue to grow myself and improve my craft.
Each one of my channels is in their own niche because I learned early on you can’t mix it all together. I have a travel vlog called Pitstops and Postcards, where I started to document my travels. I also do a podcast with a good friend who lives in Canada, that’s called United We Stand, Divided We Podcast where we discuss a lot of topics related to the US and Canada and technology.
I also publish videos on my Wellness, Wisdom and Wealth channel that chronicle my YouTube/Content Creation journey and help others facing similar situations and choices. I want to help others get their YouTube journey started because I firmly believe it is a great way to leverage your knowledge and experiences to earn income. This is my most recently monetized channel and blog.
My other monetized channel and blog is a tech channel called Gadgetguyz Gadgets, where I mainly focus on smart home technology. I do unboxing and reviews on smart technology products and software. That channel is growing the fastest and has better earnings, probably because that’s my area of expertise being in a technology career for over 30 years. I am hoping that within the next couple of years, I’ll be able to transition to full-time content creator and quit my 8 to 5 grind.
I love being able to provide good value to my viewers and help others achieve their own goals.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
In regard to becoming a content creator, there are three things you should know before you start that will really help you know what type of content you should create. First and foremost it’s important to know your why, your why in my opinion is what creates your drive and motivation and helps you stay motivated even when things aren’t going well.
Next is to know your who. Who are you creating your content for? What demographic do you want to speak to and help with the content you make? This is very important to understanding your niche, which is a critical step before you start creating.
Then you need to know your how. How are you going to be creating your content? What type of camera, microphone, and lighting do you need? Where are you going to create your content and how often are you going to make content?
Unfortunately, I jumped into this without a clear understanding of everything except my why, which was clear. I made a lot of mistakes early on and had to learn the hard way. Once I had clearly defined my who and how I was able to start making much better content that was doing what I wanted it to do.
Another important thing for new creators is to not believe everything you read or watch on the internet about how you should be doing things. Find other creators who you resonate with and vet their information, meaning make sure what they are saying, or selling is legitimate and that they are not just trying to sell you something.
I fell for a couple of junk programs that wasted my money and my time and once I did find a few others doing what I wanted to do and that was really trying to help I stuck with their teachings and it had a positive impact on my growth.
I want to be that person for others who want to start creating, I want to be someone that people can trust and rely on for good, helpful information.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
By far the person I discovered that has made the most impact on my content creation journey is a creator by the name of Greg Gottfried. He has a lot of good, high-value free content and truly just wants to help others achieve success in their own content creation journey.
He also has a paid course that I bought that was well worth the cost and has helped me tremendously in learning how to create better content and given me more ideas and ways of monetizing my content. he is also very good about answering your questions and offering guidance. he truly does want to help and doesn’t take advantage of you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cloud9teck.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gadgetguyzgadgets/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gadgetguyzgadgets
- Twitter: https://x.com/gadgetguyzgdgts
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GadgetguyzGadgets
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/@unitedwestanddividedwepodcast, https://www.youtube.com/@wellnesswisdomandwealth, https://www.youtube.com/@PitstopsAndPostcards
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.