June 26, 2024

This week we discuss the unexpected value of learning to vlog and do a deep dive breakdown of an example travel vlog of the Ardbeg Scotch distillery.

We get into the different subgeneres of vlogging, the lesser known ones that have turned out to be useful, despite us being uninterested in the standard popular ones. Also how every type a video is little bit a mix of nearly all types and what benefits you can bring into your more serious content if you gain some experience in the vlogging genre.

Then we break down a vlog visiting a whiskey distillery, a great example of a different type of vlog where the speaker is not the focus, gaining information is a major component and the vibe is chill.

We break down its:

Check out the video & let us know what you thought about it too:

June 11, 2024

Writing is the most important skill in all your content creation. This episode we dive deep in learning to improve our writing skills by breaking down the techniques & skills Ryan used in writing his episode of Spirit Of on James Buchanan.

This has been one of my favorite episodes to record and I feel I learned a lot that will make easier to write in the future. Would love to hear if any of these techniques help you out, or if it made you think of another tip you use.

Covered in this episode:

June 3rd, 2024

In a rare episode Ryan makes an in person appearance in Nashville. Following up on things I learned about Ryan from our interview with Cory Cranfill, I ask Ryan about his previous education in content creation. First Ryan tells us about the Modern Rogue weekend content creator bootcamp he attended. What it was like studying under Brian Brushwood, what he learned there, and connecting with Cory there.

Then a layer before that, I ask Ryan about his whiskey training at Wizard Academy. It was originally founded as a marketing school and Ryan also got storytelling and writing training during his classes there. Ryan tells us of the hard process of learning to write, the benefits of being exposed to good quality writing, and how he learned by recognizing good when he saw it.

Next Ethan & Ryan discuss the removing friction from your creative process so you can create in ease and inspiration, vs. powering through friction and overcoming it through brute force. As usual we came at this question from total opposite sides. It appears in the end you really need a mix of both.

Finally Ethan shares how his hobby of making videos of dim stylish bars may have brought him his first client: another beginner creator launching a music career.

Items Referenced In This Episode:

- Modern Rogue - https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRogue

- Wizard Academy - https://www.youtube.com/@TheWizardAcademy

- Cory Cranfill - https://www.youtube.com/@cranfill

May 14, 2024

This episode we interview special guest Lea Brainerd, a clinician at Mindbloom providing ketamine therapy. Ethan credits his Mindbloom for improving several of his creative skills & taking action on his content creation dreams.

Lea first guides us through how ketamine therapy works. She explains the powerful mental preparations that can be done before a session to multiply the effects, also the Trust, Let Go, and Be Open framework, the experience during the actual session, and how to multiply the lasting effects through active integration after a session. Lea also explains the current safety & legal state of ketamine therapy, and how unlike most mental health treatments, which are prescribed and repeated for life, ketamine therapy is designed to give you experiences you learn from and eventually never need again. Lea shares with us the remarkable results she’s seen in it’s primary purpose of treating depression and anxiety.

Next we discuss how ketamine therapy can grow the fundamental skills needed in content creation. In particular, strengthening your ability to be intentional, which is essential for actively pursing your true dreams & succeeding in entrepreneurship. Listening skills, which are core to planning content that connects with an audience, performing market research, and creating believable characters with perspectives different than your own. And writing skills, through the increased awareness of the connections between ideas & which are significant and which can be left on the cutting room floor.

Finally, Lea shares her personal experiences with her family & mental healthcare that gave her a lifelong passion for improved treatments, and her own experiences with ketamine therapy, both as clinician and a patient. She explains why she believes it’s essential to have expert assistance for patients’ integration step, and special customizations to ketamine therapy for various patients such as those with ADHD.

Lea runs Transcendental Health, a private Ketamine therapy & life coaching clinic covering Tennessee, Florida & Wyoming..

Referenced Items:

April 30, 2024

Ethan & Ryan share the things they learned from hosting Cory, their first ever guest. They learned about different styles of questions and when to use them, what different level of listening vs controlling the flow is ideal for different types of content, and the advice Cory shared after the episode.

Next Ethan explains how many ways improving his listening skills is paying off in his content creation, and how most of developing those skills has come from alternative lessons far outside the scope of content creation. He covers why the one that has the rare supply of patience to be quiet & listen actually has more power than the person who is speaking the most, and ensures you grow and develop as fast as possible. Ethan also retells how his trip to the Dominican Republic, doing nothing for 4 days with an old friend taught, him even more about both listening and burnout, and how ‘losing’ those 4 days paid off in his work too.

Finally catching up on our new creations, Ryan tells about his first attempt at vlogging in public, dealing with the microphone, the weather, and his growing strength at doing the scary thing and learning from the experience. Ethan walks through creating his Dominican Republic video, from rapid planning shots, & editing, in the most on target ‘small pot’ he has created. An ideal target to try to aim for in future creations.

April 19, 2024

In this episode we interview our first ever guest: Cory Cranfill. A friend of Ryan, Cory is a professional content creator, who pivoted from a 9-5 management job at Microsoft to creating content for Brian Brushwood’s Modern Rogue, then kept going to form his own content marketing & consulting business: Right Tool Media.

Cory walks us through his journey from an untraditional background, to building a successful traditional career in operations at Microsoft. Then how the lessons he learned taught him how to make the big leap to leave it all, show up on the set of Modern Rogue with a bottle of whiskey to get an unpaid start content creation. Next rise to success there as well, and then take another leap, starting his own media business from scratch and building it to a success he owns.

He shares with us how he learned to overcome the ‘soul sucking feeling’ of looking into a camera, his success with unscripted dialog & live editing, how he set up a full multi-cam recording solution for Whiskey Provisioner, and the most important equipment recommendations for getting started.

Cory also works behind the camera at Whiskey Provisioner and behind the camera on his channel Shed Logic.

Referenced Items:

April 3, 2024

Ethan tells us about starting in voice acting. How it’s rapid learning for important skills, and an excellent way to make lots of ‘small pots’. Ryan discusses the short trailers he’s making for his newly released episodes of season 2 of ‘Spirit Of’, with good insights on rapid creation with your phone, minimal resources and your ideas. 

Next we discuss the balancing act between enjoying and succeeding at content creation, starting with how to decide the right balance for you, and some examples of good tradeoff and bad ones.

March 29, 2024

We celebrate Ryan releasing the long awaited 2nd season of his whiskey audio drama ‘Spirit Of’, telling the legendary stories behind famous whiskeys. We discuss the fear of releasing your work to the public turning into anticipation and excitement, and how everything got started for Ryan over a year ago. Then a spoiler free discussion of the behind the scenes process and learning from making the first episode of the new season: Taketsuru - Father of Japanese Whiskey.

March 20, 2024

Ethan & Ryan celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and discuss the videos they created for it. They both dipped their toes into Short Form content and have a good discussion about important lessons needed to make them well, and how that actually taught them more about making Long Form content.

Ryan walked us through a discussion on maintaining motivation through hardship. If you can do it then, you’ll make it through everything and last until you achieve your dreams.

Finally Ethan shares the lessons he learned on writing scripts in batches helping the speed and fun of writing, the critical need to target Browse & Search traffic one at a time, and more about connecting Thumbnail, Title & Hook together.

March 5, 2024

Ethan celebrates making his first full video using the techniques learned from Part Time YouTube Academy, and shares with Ryan the surprise lessons he learned from the first completed process. 

Then Ethan & Ryan discuss the gems they were simply taught too soon before they could use them, that became distractions and hurdles. For example, presenting from word for word scripts instead of rough bullet points, outsourcing editing & using 3 point lighting to record a talking head video. By discussing the Parable of the Sculpture, they build a guide for when it’s helpful to start hiring assistance, even when quite new. 

Finally they discuss the reasons and opportunities in having guests on the podcast & how important it is to clarify your motivations in order to maximize the benefits you get out of your creation.