I've been back from GuardianCon for a couple days now, and I'm seeing the Twitter talking about the "con flu", the inevitable sickness that people bring back from conventions. It's important, especially post-con, to take care of yourselves. Drink fluids, get rest, and take a day or two to recuperate if you need to, because if you aren't taking care of yourself now, you will be forced to in the future.

My encouragement for you today, is to listen to your body. You know yourself the best, and you know what you are and aren't capable of handling. I know that if I go three or more nights with less than 6 hours sleep, there is a high likelihood I will get sick. So I pre-emptively choose to take a break, so that I can avoid long stretches of no content or sub-par content. Listen to your body, overcommunicate when you need to take a break, and then rest and recuperate when needed, because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. God bless!

I'm back from GuardianCon 2018, and all I think is wow. What a conference, and what an amazing experience. Convention attendance is an important opportunity to solidify relationships you've built with other creators, with industry professionals, and is an opportunity to meet new people across the spectrum. It can be challenging financially to get to a convention, so I understand the apprehension. But the potential relationships you can bolster and the opportunity to meet new people is well worth it.

My encouragement for you, is to identify a convention you could attend that has people you know confirmed as attending, and plan ahead. Message creators you want to meet, understand which lines of communication you'll use to meet up (Twitter or Discord DMs, exchange phone numbers, etc....) and then schedule your travel and make the most of your experience! God bless!

Day one of GuardianCon and I can see people aren't comfortable introducing themselves to others. The anxiety is flaring up, and it can be a little uncomfortable, even for an extrovert like me. But you will regret not introducing yourself to the person you are fangirling over, I promise you that. I had the opportunity to meet the drummer of Fall Out Boy outside of a Noodles & Co at one point, someone whom I very much admired. To this day it's still one of my biggest regrets.

My encouragement to you, is to go in for the introduction. At the end of the day, these folks are just people too. We all eat, sleep and poop. We all have feelings, and we all crave social interaction. Don't let worry stop you and worst of all, don't let your own anxiety get in the way of a potentially life-altering introduction. God bless!

Watching the GuardianCon stream reminds of me of the fact that, as content creators, you have social influence. Whether you're big or small, you have social influence. It's up to you what you use that social influence for. There are a lot of folks out there that use their social influence for nefarious things, toxic things. We have an opportunity to use that influence to make the world a better place. I use what little influence I have to give people a place to belong.

My encouragement for you today is to consider your social influence and how you're using it. As you grow that influence, you have a choice to make. Are you going to use your social influence for good? Or will you use it for the alternative? Choose wisely Legion, the world is counting on you! God bless!

It's really hard sometimes to admit to needing help and then asking for it. But as people, and especially as content creators, it's vital to being successful. We are often times one-man armies, we have to wear every hat in our production and outside of our production to grow. It's absolutely OK to admit when you're in over your head, and to ask people for help!

My encouragement for you, is to reach out to someone who has the expertise you need to get something done, or to get you the help you need. This applies even outside of content creation, and in some of the most extreme circumstances even. If you find yourself in over your head, please seek help from someone. It's a sign of strength, not of weakness. Admitting your flaws takes courage, and in the right situations, can be the difference between winning and losing. God bless!

Today I want to talk about taking chances and calculating risks. As content creators (and people), we always have opportunities to evaluate, both big and small. Usually, small opportunities represent the smallest risks, and big opportunities represent the biggest risks. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but generally ends up being the case. Regardless of the opportunity, it's up to you to decide what opportunities have the lowest risk and the biggest payoff.

My encouragement for you today, is to take a look at your opportunities, and determine what the risk to you, your community, and your content actually is. Determine whether the reward outweighs the risk, and then either get after it or politely decline. Either way, opportunities abound, and for those willing to take the risk, the payoff can be huge. God bless!

Today I want to talk about saying 'No'. It's important, especially as content creators, to be able to say no. As you grow, more and more people will ask you for things. Collaborations, information and time. As much as I do my best to help everyone who asks me for things, sometimes you just have to say no. It's always a balance between helping others, and growing your brand / channel or whatever you're working on.

My encouragement for you is to identify when it makes sense to say 'No', and to actually say no. Stick to your guns, because people are persistent. Help others, of course, but when it makes sense, say no. Your time is just as valuable as anyone else's time, so make sure you are well balanced and confident in what is worth your time. God bless!

Today I want to talk about diversifying your network. As you begin broadcasting, you always hear from experienced folks that networking is CRUCIAL to your growth and success. I echo that sentiment. But I feel like many people start off strong by networking with 2 or 3 other broadcasters and then spend ALL their time in those channels. I would encourage you to think a little more broadly. Instead of spending 10 hours a week in 3 channels, explore and spend 10 hours in 10 different channels.

My encouragement for you, is to not put all your eggs in two or three baskets, but to instead put them in 2 to 3 NEW baskets a week. It's important to make friends with as many people as possible, both other broadcasters and people in their communities. When it comes down to it, it's just like investing with your money, if one of those channels takes a dive, you have 10 others to back it up. God bless!

In a previous Dad Log, I talked about being patient. Which still applies to this topic, but was a little more broad and high level. Today I wanted to chat about being patient with other people. As broadcasters, we have a tendency to need things from others. Advice, commissioned art, responses from support in various capacities, collaboration responses, etc... the list goes on and on. The key here, is to balance persistence with patience.

My encouragement for you (and myself) today, is to be patient with others and give them a chance to respond. They are likely just as busy (if not more) than you, so while it's important to be persistent, give them time to respond as well. Eleven hours is not enough time, give them a few days. It will pay off in the end. God bless!

It's really easy as a creator to blame our hardware for the lack of quality we produce. I've done it far more often than I care to admit. "Oh, if I just had 'X' then my content would be so much better." It's something I learned the hard way, and this time around, I'm pretty proud to say that I've spent the time maximizing the potential of my gear before upgrading. It's a balance of identifying, once you've maximized the potential of an asset, to determine if an upgrade will provide enough value to justify the cost.

My encouragement to you today, is to make sure you are maximizing the value of your existing investment before considering an upgrade. Spend the time to make sure you are absolutely getting the most out of your gear before you determine that you need an upgrade. We all want the best, but sometimes you have to learn to use the worst to it's full potential before having the best makes sense. God bless!