RPF0670-Building_a_Big_Business_With_7_Young_Children_in_the_House-Interview_with_Tim_Schmoyer_of_VideoCreators
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00:00:30.620 | - Welcome to Radical Personal Finance,
00:00:32.260 | a show dedicated to providing you with knowledge,
00:00:34.060 | skills, insight, and encouragement you need
00:00:36.400 | to live a rich and meaningful life now
00:00:38.700 | while building a plan for financial freedom
00:00:40.140 | in 10 years or less.
00:00:41.700 | Today on the show, my guest is Tim Schmoyer,
00:00:43.780 | founder of videocreators.tv,
00:00:46.380 | and also you run a personal family blog,
00:00:49.240 | or family vlog called Schmovies, right?
00:00:51.780 | - I do, yeah.
00:00:52.780 | - Tim, welcome to the show.
00:00:53.720 | - Thank you, thanks for having me.
00:00:54.920 | - I wanted to have you on today
00:00:56.080 | because you are an entrepreneur,
00:00:58.260 | you are at least a modest personal finance aficionado.
00:01:01.920 | - Aficionado, oh wow, that's a new word for me.
00:01:05.020 | - And you and your wife have seven young children.
00:01:08.300 | Your eldest is now?
00:01:10.360 | - Just turned 10, two weeks ago.
00:01:12.400 | - Seven children, 10 and under.
00:01:14.440 | So your life is an absolute joy and an absolute craziness.
00:01:17.940 | - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
00:01:18.780 | - I'm sure.
00:01:19.600 | - Also joy, yeah.
00:01:20.440 | - I started with joy.
00:01:21.540 | - Yeah, yeah.
00:01:22.640 | - I started with joy.
00:01:23.740 | But I wanted to have you on
00:01:25.220 | to talk about entrepreneurship and business
00:01:28.080 | as well as, of course, how family integrates into that.
00:01:32.220 | - Yeah.
00:01:33.060 | - Begin with sharing a little bit of your story.
00:01:34.260 | You and your wife have been married how long?
00:01:36.820 | - 13, 2006, what year is it now, 2019.
00:01:41.060 | So, ooh.
00:01:42.100 | - 13 years.
00:01:42.940 | - 13 years, okay, that's what I thought.
00:01:44.500 | See, I'm not a good math aficionado.
00:01:46.300 | (laughing)
00:01:47.140 | - That's all right, that's all right.
00:01:48.240 | And when did your business
00:01:50.700 | and entrepreneurship journey begin?
00:01:52.180 | - Yeah, I was a youth and family worker
00:01:55.300 | at a church for like 12 years.
00:01:58.880 | And that ended very poorly.
00:02:03.240 | We had a lot of bad things kind of going on in the church
00:02:07.320 | and it ended up with 10 of us being fired on staff.
00:02:10.540 | It was a sizable church.
00:02:11.720 | And so I was number nine out of the 10.
00:02:13.680 | And losing your job when you need to make some money,
00:02:19.120 | you know, it's a quick,
00:02:20.600 | you gotta figure something out real fast.
00:02:22.000 | And the only thing I had was my blog.
00:02:23.600 | - Okay.
00:02:24.440 | - It was a really small town in Minnesota.
00:02:26.000 | There's no other career opportunities or anything there.
00:02:28.200 | So all I had was my blog.
00:02:30.460 | And I was like, I need to turn this into something.
00:02:33.240 | But this was, at this point it was 2010 or 11
00:02:37.560 | or something like that.
00:02:38.760 | And so yeah, it was nothing like getting fired
00:02:41.400 | and losing your income that kind of forced you
00:02:42.720 | to kind of figure something out.
00:02:43.960 | - And you would have had one baby at the time then?
00:02:45.520 | - We had two at the time.
00:02:46.360 | - Two, okay.
00:02:47.180 | - Yeah, so I guess it was maybe like 2011
00:02:49.320 | or I don't remember exactly.
00:02:50.160 | - There's nothing like getting fired
00:02:51.400 | and losing your job when you have two little babies at home.
00:02:54.120 | - Yeah, and they gave me some severance,
00:02:55.600 | but it expired on Christmas day.
00:02:57.600 | So you're like, oh, Merry Christmas, everybody.
00:02:59.960 | - Right, right.
00:03:00.800 | - So yeah, so I started, I spent a few years
00:03:04.320 | just kind of living off the blog
00:03:05.520 | and turned that into an income really quick
00:03:06.960 | 'cause I didn't have a choice.
00:03:08.120 | And it was a lot of fire under your butt to get that going.
00:03:12.040 | So I did that and then still looking
00:03:13.940 | for other youth ministry gigs and stuff,
00:03:16.160 | but there wasn't anything that was like,
00:03:18.120 | either I was really just trigger shy
00:03:19.560 | or whatever, gun shy or something, I don't know.
00:03:23.080 | But eventually I took a job up in Cincinnati
00:03:27.240 | doing YouTube strategy for a company.
00:03:30.280 | I have already been, like our YouTube channel
00:03:31.720 | is already reaching like a million people a month.
00:03:33.600 | - Because you and your wife had started
00:03:34.880 | kind of an informal vlog.
00:03:36.080 | - Yeah, it started off when I was in grad school.
00:03:38.200 | I just wanted to introduce her to my family
00:03:40.160 | across the country.
00:03:41.060 | And so we put together little videos
00:03:43.840 | and that was like 2006 before vlogging was a thing.
00:03:46.960 | And so we do those.
00:03:47.960 | And so the channel was growing.
00:03:49.320 | We're reaching about a million people a month.
00:03:50.900 | And so I started doing YouTube strategy for this company
00:03:54.200 | and had a lot of fun with that.
00:03:56.280 | And then when the company's like,
00:03:57.520 | hey, we're no longer going to be doing YouTube strategy
00:04:00.560 | for our, they had a video production house.
00:04:02.960 | So they were like, we're not doing strategy
00:04:04.040 | for our clients anymore.
00:04:05.680 | Like, yeah, six months and then you'll,
00:04:07.960 | you won't be working here anymore.
00:04:09.320 | And I'm like, man, losing another job.
00:04:12.000 | And so at that point I was like,
00:04:14.680 | let me just do for myself what I've been teaching
00:04:17.540 | other people to do on YouTube.
00:04:19.320 | And so I started Video Creators.
00:04:22.200 | I created the channel on January 2nd, 2013.
00:04:26.680 | My last day at that company of having like a real job
00:04:30.320 | was June 15th, 2013.
00:04:33.460 | And within that six month period,
00:04:35.700 | like I knew I had to take this from zero
00:04:37.360 | to a full-time income in six months.
00:04:40.080 | And so I got started and with, by the time my job was,
00:04:44.620 | yeah, by the time my job ended,
00:04:47.700 | it was generating $10,000 a month.
00:04:50.200 | And I was like, oh, I should have quit my job
00:04:52.920 | a long time ago, you know?
00:04:54.840 | But I think for me, it was like,
00:04:56.560 | no one in my background, my family,
00:04:59.400 | on my wife's side or mine have like started
00:05:01.120 | known businesses, you know?
00:05:02.520 | And I think it was just like a combination
00:05:05.480 | of being in the right place at the right time.
00:05:07.120 | It's also a combination of having like a personality
00:05:09.480 | that really likes to solve big problems.
00:05:11.760 | And YouTube stuff was a big one,
00:05:14.360 | especially back in the day.
00:05:16.060 | And also just being like, I can't,
00:05:19.120 | I'm not gonna go look for another job.
00:05:20.560 | I don't wanna do that again.
00:05:21.960 | And then it actually paid a lot better.
00:05:24.360 | So now today, here we are a few years later,
00:05:27.680 | and there's 11 people who work for me on my team
00:05:30.000 | at Video Creators, and we just love working with people
00:05:32.720 | to help them master the YouTube platform
00:05:35.600 | so they can ultimately reach people
00:05:37.360 | and change their lives with the messages
00:05:39.160 | and the businesses that they're growing.
00:05:40.920 | So been a lot of success.
00:05:42.920 | We've done 14 billion views and 61 million subscribers
00:05:45.880 | for our clients so far, all organically on the platform.
00:05:49.020 | We've done strategy for Disney, Warner Brothers,
00:05:51.400 | eBay, Budweiser, HBO, like a lot of big brands,
00:05:55.160 | all the way down to people who are like,
00:05:56.720 | how do we just get started?
00:05:58.180 | You know, whether it's just like the stay at home mom
00:06:00.260 | or a business owner or a brand or just a hobby creator.
00:06:03.620 | Like we love working with all of them.
00:06:05.180 | So been a lot of fun.
00:06:06.660 | - Now I know that in your journey,
00:06:08.820 | personal finance and good financial management
00:06:11.060 | is part of the story that you share.
00:06:13.040 | I think Dave Ramsey was a major influence.
00:06:15.020 | - Yeah, for sure, yeah.
00:06:15.860 | - How'd you get connected with Dave Ramsey and his teaching?
00:06:18.020 | - So I was working at this church up in Minnesota
00:06:20.820 | and we had just got married like not too long before that.
00:06:24.180 | And I wasn't really making, when we first got married,
00:06:26.740 | I was making $14,600 a year.
00:06:29.100 | - And how old were you when you married?
00:06:30.820 | - 26, yeah.
00:06:32.780 | - So not super early. - Just turned 26, yeah.
00:06:35.740 | But you know, you're like ministry.
00:06:37.140 | Like okay, it's not about the money,
00:06:38.820 | but you know, I can buy toothpaste once a year
00:06:41.060 | and that's about it, you know?
00:06:42.580 | So yeah, so we took this full-time gig up in Minnesota
00:06:47.580 | at a church, went up there and I think it was like 50,000.
00:06:52.380 | I was like 50 freaking thousand dollars.
00:06:54.660 | Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do with all that money?
00:06:57.700 | I was like, I'm gonna be rich and wealthy
00:06:59.420 | in two years from now.
00:07:00.580 | So we moved up there and we started doing a lot of dumb stuff
00:07:05.860 | where like, oh, we need a new car, you know?
00:07:07.980 | So we would finance the car,
00:07:12.580 | we'd do the down payment on the credit card
00:07:15.260 | and finance the rest.
00:07:16.300 | And like, oh, well, let's buy a house.
00:07:17.140 | - 'Cause you didn't have any savings.
00:07:18.540 | - We didn't have anything, no, no, no.
00:07:19.380 | We were like, yeah, it was our credit card.
00:07:20.220 | - So it's kind of typical, we're married, let's build it up.
00:07:22.580 | - Yeah, yeah, so--
00:07:23.420 | - That's impressive to finance a down payment
00:07:24.940 | for a car on your credit card.
00:07:26.940 | - No, we did the down payment on the credit card,
00:07:28.420 | we financed the rest of the car.
00:07:30.260 | And then we wanted to buy a house.
00:07:33.020 | So I met with a financial advisor in our church
00:07:35.540 | and I was just like, hey, how much of a house can we afford?
00:07:37.300 | I don't know, we're looking at like 100,000, 600,000,
00:07:40.700 | a million point two, like I don't really know
00:07:42.940 | what range I should be looking at here.
00:07:44.780 | And so he come in with all our statements,
00:07:46.820 | we slide them across the table.
00:07:48.500 | And that's the only question I wanted answered.
00:07:50.740 | He's like looking through it,
00:07:51.580 | he literally like runs his fingers through his hair,
00:07:54.140 | goes, his eyes get big and he's like, wow.
00:07:58.360 | You didn't say wow, but that's the expression on his face.
00:08:00.700 | And he's like, okay, like before we talk about this,
00:08:03.740 | you guys first need to read this book.
00:08:05.140 | And he slides total money makeover,
00:08:06.660 | a day for empty across the table.
00:08:08.460 | He's like, read this book.
00:08:09.300 | And then once you read it, come back and then we'll talk.
00:08:11.980 | I was like, come on, dude, like that's not helpful.
00:08:14.260 | Like just tell me the number.
00:08:15.660 | So we leave and I'm like kind of a little upset,
00:08:19.420 | like that was a waste of time.
00:08:20.900 | And so my wife reads the book and then she's like,
00:08:23.580 | Tim, you need to read this.
00:08:24.980 | I'm like, I don't, I just want to buy a house.
00:08:27.620 | But I wanted to go back and get the numbers.
00:08:30.700 | So I like, I read the book and at the end of the book,
00:08:32.580 | I was like, oh, okay, we got a different trajectory.
00:08:36.220 | So we didn't have a lot of debt compared to some people.
00:08:39.740 | We had student loans in the car and credit cards
00:08:42.700 | and things like that.
00:08:43.520 | But I think all in all, it was like $22,000,
00:08:46.500 | a little over 22,000.
00:08:48.380 | And cause I worked three jobs in college.
00:08:51.220 | So I graduated from college without debt.
00:08:53.220 | My parents, my in-laws pay for my wife's school stuff.
00:08:56.020 | So I had some grad school debt, but yeah.
00:08:59.200 | So we paid that off in 18 months
00:09:01.100 | and did our debt-free scream on YouTube,
00:09:03.940 | which went to like 20 some thousand views really quickly
00:09:07.740 | at that time.
00:09:08.560 | It was a big deal.
00:09:09.860 | And yeah, we've been debt-free now
00:09:13.120 | for like 11 or 12 years.
00:09:14.340 | - All the way hardcore, like including the house?
00:09:16.180 | - Not including the house.
00:09:17.260 | So we were like, when we bought the house,
00:09:19.080 | our credit score was zero.
00:09:20.940 | So like we told the guy, we had to do manual underwriting,
00:09:23.380 | which was like not a big deal actually.
00:09:25.460 | If it kind of fact, it kind of felt the way
00:09:26.860 | you should probably do it, Marcus.
00:09:29.100 | But yeah, so we got manual underwriting.
00:09:32.420 | It wasn't a big deal.
00:09:33.260 | We got that done.
00:09:34.080 | And at the closing, the guy was like,
00:09:39.080 | "Wow, you really do have zero.
00:09:40.780 | "Like I've never seen a credit history
00:09:43.920 | "that has nothing on it.
00:09:45.040 | "It's completely blank."
00:09:45.880 | Like usually when people say zero,
00:09:47.020 | they mean it's like a hundred, like really bad.
00:09:49.020 | It's like, but I've never seen one that's actually zero.
00:09:52.060 | So we're like, yeah, we haven't done credit cards or debt.
00:09:54.180 | We've just done all cash for the past 10 years.
00:09:57.060 | So we did do the mortgage,
00:09:58.420 | but we followed all Dave's stuff,
00:09:59.860 | which was quarter of your take-home pay
00:10:02.460 | and 15 year fixed.
00:10:05.540 | And so we did all that.
00:10:06.580 | And we are actually paying it off faster now.
00:10:08.340 | - Great, great.
00:10:09.420 | So along the way, your family expanded dramatically quickly.
00:10:14.420 | When your twins were born,
00:10:19.300 | you had four children, two and under.
00:10:21.060 | - That's right, yeah.
00:10:22.300 | - So I've been there, right?
00:10:23.580 | My wife and I, we have four children, five and under.
00:10:26.460 | And that's a pretty--
00:10:28.700 | - Yeah, I can do that in two years.
00:10:29.940 | It's crazy. - Yeah.
00:10:30.780 | - We had twins in there, which is kind of--
00:10:32.620 | - I'm filled with empathy for you
00:10:34.060 | and also extremely impressed
00:10:35.820 | because knowing how challenging four, five and under are,
00:10:38.500 | I can imagine the challenge of even younger.
00:10:42.900 | So how do you think your financial stability
00:10:47.180 | influenced your ability to handle
00:10:51.140 | the quick growth of your family and also your business?
00:10:55.260 | - I don't think we would have been able to handle the family
00:10:57.180 | without the business because,
00:10:59.300 | and by that time when the twins came along,
00:11:02.340 | my wife was bedridden for the final three months
00:11:05.300 | of that pregnancy.
00:11:06.740 | So I had, I think at that time,
00:11:10.140 | there was like five, four or five people on my team.
00:11:12.540 | And so for those final three months of the pregnancy
00:11:15.380 | plus the next three months after,
00:11:17.820 | like I only worked like 10, 15 hours a week.
00:11:20.820 | I didn't really, I wasn't,
00:11:22.420 | like if I had a real job,
00:11:24.060 | like there was no way I would be able to do that.
00:11:26.220 | Because I had other people in my business and my job
00:11:28.380 | who were kind of running things,
00:11:30.700 | it was a little bit easier for me
00:11:31.780 | to back off pretty significantly.
00:11:34.100 | So I liked having that freedom to be able to be like,
00:11:37.660 | I'm gonna put my family first right now
00:11:39.420 | and the business can, you know,
00:11:41.660 | it would do better with me,
00:11:43.060 | but the goal right now isn't to grow
00:11:44.860 | the biggest, baddest company in the world,
00:11:46.500 | it's to provide for my family.
00:11:48.740 | And sometimes that's financially,
00:11:50.180 | sometimes with your time.
00:11:51.820 | And so that's why I was,
00:11:53.500 | I had that freedom to do that,
00:11:54.420 | which I'm really thankful for.
00:11:55.860 | And we also hired a nanny,
00:11:58.580 | one of the girls from my old youth group,
00:12:00.620 | moved down, they moved across the street from us.
00:12:02.500 | And so she was over every weekday
00:12:04.340 | helping with cleaning the house and meals
00:12:06.660 | and watching the kids while I did some work
00:12:08.620 | and some stuff like that.
00:12:09.780 | So having the financial means to do that,
00:12:12.460 | to hire someone as well as not work as much
00:12:14.620 | is kind of what got us through that stage of life.
00:12:17.300 | - Yeah, that's what I've experienced as well
00:12:19.100 | is that it seems like,
00:12:21.340 | I mean, if I had to go to a 40 hour a week job
00:12:23.780 | plus commuting practically 50, 60 hours a week,
00:12:27.140 | and if I weren't making enough money to hire help,
00:12:30.060 | I don't know how we'd do it.
00:12:31.020 | You know, I understand why many families
00:12:33.820 | have one or two children and it's hard to handle.
00:12:37.140 | It seems like a society,
00:12:39.300 | it seems like our society once had more support available
00:12:42.500 | for mothers, but today it seems like
00:12:45.140 | it falls squarely on your shoulder as a husband
00:12:47.260 | to figure out how to provide that support
00:12:49.220 | 'cause there's not much community support available.
00:12:51.740 | - Yeah.
00:12:52.620 | - So when you look at your business,
00:12:56.060 | one of the themes for your knowledge,
00:13:01.100 | one of the themes that I've talked about a lot on the show
00:13:03.220 | is we try to balance the two horns
00:13:07.620 | of living a rich and meaningful life now
00:13:11.340 | and also working toward financial freedom.
00:13:14.060 | And it seems like there's a proper tension
00:13:15.620 | between those themes that has to be held.
00:13:19.260 | When you look at your business,
00:13:20.860 | how do you think your family,
00:13:24.860 | has your family hurt you?
00:13:27.500 | In terms of your business success?
00:13:28.340 | - They're holding you back?
00:13:29.160 | - Yeah.
00:13:30.000 | - I don't know if they'd, I wouldn't say they hurt me
00:13:32.860 | because it's like I do it for them primarily.
00:13:36.060 | - Right.
00:13:36.900 | - You know, so I would say that,
00:13:40.240 | like the only way I would say it hurts
00:13:44.820 | or is like a downside or something is like,
00:13:47.900 | like when we travel to events and conferences and things
00:13:52.060 | like you, I try to take my kids as much as possible.
00:13:54.500 | And sometimes they'll be like, oh no,
00:13:57.300 | you can't bring your kid,
00:13:58.460 | either on that pass legal or we have, I'm like legal.
00:14:00.980 | Like, what are they, what are they gonna do?
00:14:03.060 | - I'm gonna get my seven year old a whiskey.
00:14:04.420 | - Yeah.
00:14:05.260 | - Whiskey here at the bar.
00:14:06.080 | - And then they're like, we need to get like insurance
00:14:07.620 | and like check with our insurance coverage.
00:14:09.340 | And I'm like, what?
00:14:10.620 | Oh, just like, come as like, what?
00:14:12.820 | So, but, and there have been a few times where I'm like,
00:14:16.980 | that's, we share some different values.
00:14:19.700 | This is not gonna work.
00:14:21.140 | And I don't feel like that hurts though.
00:14:23.800 | I feel like that's kind of just helping me like,
00:14:25.980 | hey, we're just not aligned on some of these things.
00:14:27.700 | And so we're just not gonna work together.
00:14:29.340 | It doesn't mean you're wrong or bad or anything.
00:14:31.140 | It just means like you are, no.
00:14:33.940 | It just means like, it's just not gonna be a good fit.
00:14:36.540 | So if there's anything, it might've just, yeah,
00:14:38.740 | it saves me from taking, investing my energy
00:14:41.860 | in things that might not have been fruitful long-term
00:14:44.380 | because I think they're most fruitful
00:14:45.540 | when they're aligned with people who share your values
00:14:47.340 | and your vision and things.
00:14:48.820 | - In the data on income earners and wealth generators,
00:14:53.820 | fathers tend to have the highest incomes
00:14:57.780 | and tend to accumulate the most wealth.
00:14:59.880 | Now there's some debate.
00:15:02.100 | Why is that, right?
00:15:03.500 | Does fatherhood somehow change something
00:15:05.880 | in terms of your earning income?
00:15:07.940 | Or is it just kind of a correlation
00:15:10.180 | that oftentimes the kind of man who's likely
00:15:12.340 | to earn a high income or accumulate wealth
00:15:15.180 | is also the kind of man who's likely to be a father?
00:15:16.980 | And I know of no proof or evidence for one way or the other.
00:15:21.980 | Looking at your life, who you're making a high income,
00:15:25.220 | you've accumulated wealth
00:15:26.740 | and are continuing to work on that path.
00:15:28.660 | Looking at your life, do you think that fatherhood
00:15:31.260 | has affected positively your earnings
00:15:34.060 | and wealth accumulation?
00:15:35.500 | - Yeah, 'cause if it was just me,
00:15:36.760 | I'd just be spending for myself
00:15:38.240 | and have a very narrow perspective on the world.
00:15:41.280 | When we bought this house we just bought a few months ago,
00:15:46.020 | before we even started looking at the market,
00:15:47.940 | my wife and I sat down and we're like,
00:15:49.960 | "What's our vision for our family
00:15:51.660 | during these kid years, during the teen years,
00:15:55.980 | during the grandparenting years?"
00:15:59.060 | You know, we fussed out.
00:16:00.020 | We called it our Smoyer Estate Vision,
00:16:02.380 | this little google doc,
00:16:03.340 | and we just started writing everything down.
00:16:06.140 | And so as we fussed out,
00:16:07.640 | what's our vision for our family going forward,
00:16:09.680 | we started in this exercise,
00:16:11.680 | started putting together what kind of space
00:16:15.000 | would serve this vision that well.
00:16:17.440 | And so we started putting in the more practical terms
00:16:19.600 | of this is what we would need and how much
00:16:21.560 | and all that kind of stuff.
00:16:23.040 | And so then we went and looked at the market
00:16:26.320 | to see where would we find this type of tool,
00:16:28.640 | 'cause we see our house and our property
00:16:30.160 | and stuff is like a tool.
00:16:31.040 | And money in general we view as a tool, it's not a goal.
00:16:34.360 | It's a tool we use.
00:16:36.720 | So when we started, yeah, we started to go down that path,
00:16:41.720 | there was only like one property
00:16:43.140 | that's ever been on the market
00:16:45.060 | that checked all the boxes
00:16:46.440 | and all of the greater Cincinnati area.
00:16:48.260 | 'Cause we looked on all the past two or three years as well
00:16:50.980 | to see if this is like a once in a,
00:16:52.400 | like a unicorn type of property,
00:16:53.980 | or is this a like, oh, it comes on the market
00:16:57.780 | every two years or once a year.
00:16:59.740 | This is just one, you know?
00:17:01.260 | And it was on the market at that time.
00:17:03.400 | And it was in our price range
00:17:05.100 | if we took out the mortgage
00:17:06.060 | and still stayed within our Dave Ramsey limits.
00:17:09.260 | And so we decided we were just gonna go ahead and do that.
00:17:12.900 | And so we went ahead and did it and it worked great.
00:17:15.900 | But even then it was like, we're buying this
00:17:18.840 | because it's gonna be a tool that we're gonna use
00:17:21.500 | for accomplishing this bigger vision for our family.
00:17:25.180 | And which boils down to hospitality and influence for us.
00:17:30.180 | Both of those as tools that we wanna use.
00:17:32.620 | - But do you feel like you're more motivated
00:17:34.600 | to earn more, build a bigger business
00:17:37.100 | because of having seven little mouths depending on you?
00:17:40.900 | Or do you think that, well, if I were Tim
00:17:43.420 | and my wife and I had no kids,
00:17:45.980 | I'd still be just as motivated?
00:17:47.460 | - I don't think so.
00:17:48.300 | No, you're probably right.
00:17:49.120 | I think it was because I had a family
00:17:51.440 | and lost my job twice.
00:17:52.580 | I'm like, this is, getting a job feels irresponsible.
00:17:55.940 | - Right. - You know?
00:17:56.780 | Like I can't keep doing this.
00:17:58.640 | So I, yeah, I think that was probably part of it.
00:18:02.500 | Like I didn't go start the business
00:18:03.900 | because I had some sort of entrepreneurial dream.
00:18:06.940 | I didn't even, I didn't know anything about business.
00:18:08.540 | All my education's in theology, right?
00:18:11.020 | So it's like super not practical for day-to-day,
00:18:13.980 | like revenue type of generating stuff.
00:18:16.180 | - Indeed.
00:18:17.020 | - So yeah, so it was all self-taught.
00:18:19.540 | And I was homeschooled growing up my whole life too.
00:18:21.000 | So that probably helped a little bit.
00:18:22.340 | And I'm like, I'm gonna go,
00:18:24.540 | I know how to teach myself stuff and figure it out.
00:18:27.100 | So yeah.
00:18:28.060 | - Tell me about homeschooling.
00:18:29.260 | You just said that you gained from it
00:18:31.300 | and now you and your wife have decided to homeschool.
00:18:33.340 | - Mostly me.
00:18:34.180 | - That's parents as well. - Yeah.
00:18:35.300 | She's on the fence.
00:18:36.380 | She can go either way.
00:18:37.220 | - Right, right. - So it's mostly my thing.
00:18:38.820 | - Why do you homeschool?
00:18:40.220 | - Because I want them to,
00:18:42.900 | I want the primary identity that they form growing up
00:18:45.300 | to be in our family,
00:18:46.800 | not the identity that they're going to likely get
00:18:50.980 | just by the sheer like volume of time they're spending.
00:18:53.760 | Like eight hours a day at school and then a few hours,
00:18:56.860 | you know, like you just break down the hourly rate.
00:18:59.780 | I'm not saying that you lose your influence
00:19:01.880 | as a parent or anything,
00:19:03.100 | but if they're in school, it's just more like,
00:19:05.980 | we wanted to, I should say I, my wife, like I said,
00:19:10.980 | she could go either way.
00:19:12.380 | She's a certified elementary school teacher.
00:19:14.580 | So she doesn't think, I don't think like school is bad either.
00:19:17.700 | It's just kind of like, we have the opportunity
00:19:19.760 | to be able to invest into our kids' lives all day long
00:19:22.740 | and do this integrated thing
00:19:24.020 | rather than this separate bucket thing
00:19:26.060 | where you have like churches and spiritualities over here
00:19:29.020 | and then you have like educations here
00:19:30.980 | and then you have like family times over here
00:19:32.900 | and like, what if we just put all that together
00:19:35.100 | and we taught our kids like Bible at home
00:19:37.360 | and we spent time together by learning together
00:19:40.260 | and then they worked in our family business
00:19:42.420 | and like rather than trying to find time for everything
00:19:46.340 | and then there never feels like there's enough time
00:19:48.140 | at the end of the day,
00:19:48.980 | what if we just did it all together at once?
00:19:50.740 | I know not everyone has the freedom to do that,
00:19:52.900 | but I wanted to orient our life around a rhythm
00:19:56.080 | that would get us there.
00:19:57.220 | And so for me, it was less about like buckets
00:20:00.060 | and more about integration
00:20:01.220 | and having the influence on our kids
00:20:04.020 | that I want them to have,
00:20:04.940 | especially at that young impressionable age.
00:20:07.820 | - Building a family team is your core motto.
00:20:10.820 | You guys introduce every one of your videos
00:20:13.260 | on your personal vlog with exactly that,
00:20:16.100 | building a family team together.
00:20:17.920 | How is that currently expressing itself with your children,
00:20:20.420 | especially as it relates to their schooling
00:20:21.820 | and your business and their work, et cetera?
00:20:23.900 | What are you doing right now?
00:20:25.100 | - Yeah, there's a couple different things
00:20:27.180 | on a couple different levels.
00:20:28.220 | On a business level, my kids get paid as child actors.
00:20:32.700 | So the business pays them,
00:20:36.500 | it goes into an IRA for them,
00:20:38.360 | which they don't care about right now,
00:20:39.740 | but one day they will, right?
00:20:42.060 | So they get paid on one level
00:20:45.260 | and they are assets to our family
00:20:46.920 | because we get like lots of stuff,
00:20:51.060 | you know, like toy companies will just send us
00:20:52.660 | hoping to be in a video,
00:20:53.620 | but also just in terms of being on the channel
00:20:57.740 | and things like that.
00:20:58.900 | They also have their own channel now
00:21:01.060 | that they shoot and edit and publish everything on their own.
00:21:03.740 | So, I mean, my wife and I will prove it
00:21:05.220 | before they publish it,
00:21:06.180 | but they're editing an iMovie now and doing all that.
00:21:09.400 | So that's like one aspect.
00:21:12.220 | Another area though is as a team,
00:21:15.400 | we all play different roles for a common goal,
00:21:17.600 | common vision.
00:21:18.700 | And so for our older kids now,
00:21:23.120 | they are helping serve in ways that the younger kids don't.
00:21:26.060 | Like, so for example, just this past week,
00:21:28.140 | our youngest daughter, who's almost two,
00:21:31.140 | has had this sinus infection going on for weeks
00:21:34.060 | and it's just nonstop nose, runny, coughing stuff.
00:21:37.380 | And a friend of ours who's a nurse thought
00:21:39.460 | that maybe she was getting pneumonia.
00:21:40.940 | So we're like, okay.
00:21:41.780 | So my wife's like, drop everything.
00:21:43.100 | I'm going, I gotta take her into the doctor
00:21:45.540 | and get this checked out.
00:21:46.900 | And, but she's like,
00:21:47.820 | but that means I'm not gonna have dinner prep tonight.
00:21:50.180 | So our 10 and eight year old cook dinner for our family,
00:21:55.580 | the whole thing from scratch.
00:21:56.620 | They ground the beef, they chopped it up of everything.
00:21:59.820 | They grated the cheese, put it all together
00:22:02.160 | and made this really nice dinner for us.
00:22:04.760 | And they didn't drain the beef as much
00:22:08.380 | as they probably should have,
00:22:10.340 | but no one complained
00:22:12.460 | and they were super proud of themselves.
00:22:14.180 | 'Cause I think kids wanna feel like they're contributing.
00:22:15.980 | They wanna feel like they're valuable.
00:22:17.960 | And when they just sit on TV all day,
00:22:20.620 | not saying we don't do that,
00:22:21.740 | but when they just feel like they're couch potatoes
00:22:25.340 | or they just get to do whatever they wanna do,
00:22:27.100 | they become these really selfish, self-centered people.
00:22:29.580 | I think as all of us naturally would.
00:22:31.620 | And so them feeling like they're part of this bigger team,
00:22:36.220 | it really helps shape their identity
00:22:38.180 | and what it means to be a team player,
00:22:39.860 | but also what it means to serve.
00:22:41.580 | And it's not always about me all the time.
00:22:43.800 | And sometimes I give up something I wanted to do
00:22:46.340 | in order for the rest of the team.
00:22:47.760 | So it's not perfect.
00:22:49.060 | You know, they're kids and we're all human,
00:22:50.820 | but that's kind of the vision we cast for our kids
00:22:53.700 | is like, we're not one individual person
00:22:56.260 | and everyone needs their own world revolving around them.
00:22:58.980 | We're like, right now it gotta revolve
00:23:00.740 | around the little one and we're all gonna pitch in
00:23:02.900 | and be a team for that.
00:23:04.020 | So yeah, so whether it's meal planning
00:23:07.260 | or it's doing yard work outside
00:23:09.460 | or it's going to serve another family who's in need
00:23:13.900 | or something like that, we all kind of pitch in and do it.
00:23:16.740 | - What are you guessing or hoping to see
00:23:19.300 | in the coming years as your children move into teenage years
00:23:22.540 | given the opportunities you have with entrepreneurship,
00:23:24.740 | homeschooling, et cetera,
00:23:26.060 | what are some of your dreams for them
00:23:27.540 | or the things you think might happen
00:23:29.700 | in their life as they grow?
00:23:33.180 | - The main thing I want them to happen
00:23:34.820 | is that they adopt some really important values
00:23:38.300 | and that they become people who kind of embody
00:23:42.020 | some of these things more so than like,
00:23:43.620 | I want them to make sure they start a business.
00:23:45.140 | I don't really care if they start a business or not.
00:23:46.740 | Like maybe it's right for them, maybe it's not.
00:23:48.220 | Like maybe they'll marry someone who's more successful
00:23:51.380 | or has different aspirations.
00:23:53.300 | I don't know.
00:23:54.380 | I'm not trying to dictate their life,
00:23:55.460 | but I do want them to grow up
00:23:56.340 | to have certain character qualities
00:23:58.540 | where they can think big picture and longer term.
00:24:02.140 | They can plan for the future.
00:24:04.300 | And what they're doing is all kind of ultimately
00:24:06.620 | revolving around Matthew 6, it says,
00:24:09.500 | "Seek first the kingdom of God,"
00:24:10.780 | all these things we gotta do.
00:24:11.620 | So most of the time we use language like build the kingdom
00:24:14.560 | or invite the kingdom.
00:24:16.340 | We're like, I don't even know what that thing means,
00:24:17.820 | to be honest.
00:24:18.660 | But when it's like seek the kingdom of God,
00:24:20.540 | or we seek like where something important is happening
00:24:23.020 | and how do we join in that.
00:24:24.500 | And I want them to be sensitive
00:24:25.740 | to being able to spot those opportunities
00:24:28.580 | and being like, this is what it means for me
00:24:30.220 | to be a team player in this context right now.
00:24:33.060 | And so that could be in the home,
00:24:34.780 | it could be outside the home, it could be in a career,
00:24:37.420 | but I just kind of want them to grow up
00:24:39.140 | like with the core values that we put people first
00:24:42.060 | and that we are mission oriented, that we do it right.
00:24:45.740 | These are our five things.
00:24:46.580 | So people first, so that's like above everything else.
00:24:50.380 | Like sometimes it makes, like for even in our business,
00:24:52.940 | sometimes it doesn't make good revenue sense
00:24:55.100 | for us to do this, but it serves the person the best.
00:24:58.100 | So we put people first.
00:24:59.780 | We're mission oriented, that means like
00:25:02.060 | there's a bigger cause behind what we're trying to do here.
00:25:04.860 | There's a family or there's a business then.
00:25:06.820 | Like for us, it's not really just about growing views
00:25:09.220 | and subscribers for entrepreneurs.
00:25:10.940 | It's more about like how do we spread a message
00:25:13.240 | that changes people's lives, right?
00:25:15.160 | And that we do it right.
00:25:18.420 | And so it's like, it's not just something that you do,
00:25:22.220 | but you can do this right and then you own it,
00:25:24.300 | which is number four.
00:25:25.860 | So you're responsible for the outcome and the results,
00:25:29.060 | not just like I technically did it, but you know, that one.
00:25:33.860 | And then what's the last one?
00:25:37.420 | I'm throwing a blank here for some reason on the spot.
00:25:40.780 | - People first, mission oriented, do it right.
00:25:44.940 | - Oh, results driven, results driven.
00:25:46.300 | Yeah, results driven.
00:25:47.260 | So yeah, results driven is like,
00:25:48.660 | we're not just like think we're doing something nice
00:25:51.860 | for someone and we feel good about it,
00:25:53.580 | but does it actually have like a tangible result?
00:25:56.620 | You know, so in the business,
00:25:57.440 | like I don't wanna just help people
00:25:59.160 | grow their audience on YouTube.
00:26:00.380 | I wanna be able to track,
00:26:01.900 | is the stuff we're doing actually moving the needle?
00:26:04.340 | Is it actually making a difference?
00:26:05.800 | And so even when we're like serving people as a family
00:26:09.540 | with hospitality, one of our visions behind this place
00:26:11.840 | is that we can host family who are in transitions
00:26:14.740 | and need a place to stay.
00:26:15.580 | So it's got like two extra units on it.
00:26:18.220 | It's got three kitchens in this place.
00:26:20.020 | So we can host families who need that and be hospitable,
00:26:25.020 | but we wanna track the results.
00:26:26.700 | So are we just enabling them to like not get a job
00:26:30.100 | or something, or are we actually helping them
00:26:32.540 | get the results if they want it?
00:26:34.260 | So it's not just about putting people first
00:26:36.460 | and then becoming, you know, whatever.
00:26:39.200 | But you have the idea, yeah, so those five things.
00:26:42.660 | - When you think about, I admire what you're doing.
00:26:46.400 | I can see how, I'm not a big consumer of people's stories,
00:26:51.000 | like the family vlog is not really my thing,
00:26:53.180 | but I've watched enough of your content
00:26:55.460 | to really come to appreciate how you are serving
00:27:00.160 | as a source of encouragement and inspiration for others,
00:27:04.540 | especially many who are lonely and who are in need
00:27:06.540 | to feel like nobody understands them.
00:27:09.900 | And increasingly in today's world,
00:27:11.820 | where we're personally isolated,
00:27:14.340 | but technologically connected,
00:27:16.720 | I feel like what you're doing is valuable
00:27:19.220 | and I see why you're doing it
00:27:21.220 | and how it fits into your overall mission.
00:27:23.420 | I've also personally really struggled with the impact
00:27:27.480 | and the challenge of, is this good for my children?
00:27:32.100 | Like to expose my children to the challenges
00:27:36.020 | that come with some measure of celebrity and notoriety,
00:27:41.500 | whether it's on the grand scale,
00:27:43.420 | children of famous actors, famous child actors,
00:27:46.660 | to the minor scale of preacher kid syndrome
00:27:48.940 | or missionary kid syndrome, things like that.
00:27:51.540 | I've often wondered about that.
00:27:53.040 | And my wife and I, a few years ago,
00:27:54.660 | we worked to take our children off the internet
00:27:56.500 | and decided, you know what, we're just not gonna,
00:27:58.380 | we're gonna keep them off there.
00:27:59.380 | But I've really struggled with that
00:28:01.080 | 'cause it doesn't seem like a very confident thing to do.
00:28:03.820 | It seems more like a fear-driven thing to do
00:28:06.740 | instead of moving forward in confidence and in faith.
00:28:09.340 | How do you think about that as a father
00:28:11.260 | in terms of the impact on your children?
00:28:13.420 | - I don't think there's a right or wrong answer with that.
00:28:16.340 | I think it's just kinda based on your kids
00:28:18.860 | and your values and your vision for your family
00:28:21.380 | and what your kids need.
00:28:22.360 | Like I don't think I can, yeah, I don't.
00:28:24.620 | - But in terms of, obviously you're aware
00:28:26.460 | and you're watching, what I'm asking is,
00:28:27.780 | as you're watching your children,
00:28:29.980 | are you seeing effects of the public lifestyle
00:28:34.980 | that you're living that you like,
00:28:37.380 | seeing effects that you don't like
00:28:38.680 | as compared to your friends who are more private?
00:28:41.840 | - I, yeah, so I think about that.
00:28:45.640 | And when I, and I haven't really noticed anything
00:28:50.120 | that's making a huge difference either way.
00:28:52.360 | Like I haven't noticed that,
00:28:54.280 | if, like one kid will get a bad attitude or something
00:28:59.360 | and I feel like, oh, that's because they're part
00:29:02.160 | of this public lifestyle or something.
00:29:04.120 | And I also haven't noticed that they're really shy
00:29:06.840 | and introverted 'cause I feel like everyone knows
00:29:08.480 | who they are and they wanna be more private.
00:29:09.960 | So I try to kind of keep my pulse on that
00:29:13.480 | and kind of keep an eye on it.
00:29:14.640 | But I don't think that there's,
00:29:16.000 | I haven't really noticed anything that makes it like,
00:29:18.280 | this is like bad or this is good or anything for my kids.
00:29:22.160 | So I do notice, I think if there's anything,
00:29:26.720 | I think my older ones are probably feel
00:29:31.040 | a bit more confident in being around people.
00:29:34.000 | And I don't know if it's because they're like,
00:29:35.540 | everyone loves me, who doesn't love me?
00:29:37.320 | You know, everyone I meet.
00:29:38.160 | - I'm constantly getting.
00:29:39.760 | - Anyone who meets me is like excited to meet me.
00:29:41.680 | I must be awesome.
00:29:42.520 | I don't, that's what I'm trying to be careful about.
00:29:44.240 | But I know I haven't seen that happen.
00:29:46.720 | And I think a lot of it is how my wife and I model that
00:29:49.200 | for them as well.
00:29:50.640 | But then there's another kid in my family
00:29:55.320 | who's like really, really shy
00:29:57.560 | and like would probably prefer to just be by themselves.
00:30:00.420 | So yeah, I guess I don't really have a strong opinion
00:30:03.480 | about that either way.
00:30:04.600 | It's something that we're conscious and aware of,
00:30:06.000 | but I don't have any like, this is how we do it
00:30:08.680 | and this is the right or wrong way.
00:30:09.680 | I think it's like an always evolving,
00:30:11.160 | changing thing as the kids grow.
00:30:12.760 | - When you, you guys are very connected
00:30:15.120 | with digital technology, for obvious reasons, right?
00:30:20.120 | That's how you're interacting with the world.
00:30:22.680 | You're constantly connected and your children are engaged
00:30:26.540 | in producing that technology.
00:30:28.520 | But you obviously have a vision in terms of your homeschooling
00:30:32.200 | and your education, et cetera.
00:30:34.160 | When you think about the impact of that technology
00:30:38.200 | on your children, the connectivity, et cetera,
00:30:42.920 | do you think it's a net positive?
00:30:45.560 | Do you think it's a net negative?
00:30:47.320 | How do you engage with it as a father?
00:30:48.160 | - We monitor it and we limit it.
00:30:50.200 | So it's like, so one of the sayings in our house
00:30:53.800 | is good work brings good reward.
00:30:56.280 | So that's our, one of our, I don't know,
00:30:58.320 | yeah, sayings, mottos, creeds, whatever.
00:31:00.880 | And so they know that like when they get like the screen time
00:31:06.440 | to tell, it's usually because it's a result of good work.
00:31:08.880 | It's like a reward that they've earned.
00:31:11.640 | So yeah, so it gets kind of limited.
00:31:16.040 | Like we'll say, no, you can't watch TV.
00:31:17.400 | You gotta go outside and play right now.
00:31:18.800 | So it's, but we don't shut them off from that either.
00:31:21.800 | If they had their way, they would just sit there
00:31:23.440 | and watch it all day long, every day,
00:31:25.280 | which is why there's parents involved.
00:31:27.560 | So it doesn't happen.
00:31:28.960 | - Do you limit the video creation at all
00:31:30.840 | or the work of video creation?
00:31:32.040 | - Not really, they kind of limit that themselves.
00:31:34.440 | They'll be like, if there's something
00:31:36.000 | that they really wanna shoot, they'll shoot it.
00:31:37.880 | But they're not trying to like put themselves out there
00:31:40.240 | all day, every day.
00:31:41.080 | It's kind of like, oh, I'm really excited about this.
00:31:43.040 | And this fits with what we're trying to do on our channel.
00:31:45.800 | Like, can I make a video about this dad?
00:31:47.400 | And then I'll say, well, tell me the idea.
00:31:49.080 | What's the story you're gonna tell?
00:31:50.440 | And we walk through a character who wants something,
00:31:53.000 | overcomes conflict to get it, right?
00:31:54.440 | And we just kind of like, what is, what's going on here?
00:31:56.600 | And then I'll say, okay, good.
00:31:57.720 | So after they've kind of thought through it,
00:31:59.360 | then I'll let them shoot it and edit it.
00:32:01.480 | But yeah, that's, I would say they,
00:32:04.960 | they go through spurts with that.
00:32:05.960 | They'll make maybe like four videos in a day
00:32:07.880 | and then they won't touch it again for like a month.
00:32:09.640 | So yeah, that's not a huge source issue for us.
00:32:14.240 | - Are you aware of, in the personal finance space,
00:32:16.800 | the financial independence, early retirement movement,
00:32:19.560 | or any of the people--
00:32:20.400 | - I've done some consultations with people in that niche.
00:32:22.440 | Yeah, who are like, live on,
00:32:25.480 | I mean, Dave's very amused, words,
00:32:27.160 | beans and rice and just save everything
00:32:29.420 | so they can retire at age 35.
00:32:30.720 | Yeah. - Yeah.
00:32:31.720 | Do you, do you think about how your children
00:32:34.440 | will impact your retirement, those kinds of things?
00:32:38.680 | - So I'm only 30, only 30, I guess I'm midlife, 39.
00:32:43.680 | And I haven't really thought, I mean,
00:32:47.480 | we're putting money in the way in the Vanguard
00:32:49.600 | and all that kind of stuff, right?
00:32:50.760 | But the company has a 401k.
00:32:53.320 | But I read a book called "Thou Shalt Prosper"
00:32:57.120 | by Daniel Lapin, have you read that book?
00:32:58.440 | - Yes. - Okay, so he,
00:32:59.720 | in there, like one of the analogies he uses for retirement,
00:33:02.840 | he's like, they say the word,
00:33:04.560 | Jews believe that the word doesn't exist in Hebrew,
00:33:07.840 | that it's a man-made concept, and it's not from God.
00:33:11.440 | And so there is no equivalent word in Hebrew for retirement.
00:33:15.200 | And so they believe that this is not an actual concept
00:33:19.100 | that should exist.
00:33:19.940 | And so he uses in the book, the analogy
00:33:22.520 | of when you swing a golf club, you don't,
00:33:26.040 | like if retirement is the goal, hitting the ball is the goal,
00:33:29.400 | you like slow down before hitting the ball,
00:33:31.360 | and then you don't really drive the ball that far.
00:33:33.640 | But if there's no concept of retirement,
00:33:36.320 | then you hit the, you follow through in the ball,
00:33:38.920 | and you're constantly swinging into that one big push
00:33:41.880 | until you die, and you'll get a lot further.
00:33:45.000 | And so that kind of hit a chord with me.
00:33:47.760 | I'm not like, we are saving for retirement,
00:33:49.640 | I'm not anti like, I think for me,
00:33:53.000 | it's less about retiring and more about shift,
00:33:55.280 | being able to shift my focus,
00:33:56.920 | on not having to generate income right now,
00:33:59.320 | instead I can just go be there for my grandkids
00:34:01.800 | and let my kids and their spouses go have date nights
00:34:05.120 | and be able to serve in other capacities
00:34:08.600 | than I can currently.
00:34:09.880 | So I don't think that answers your question.
00:34:12.040 | I think it more in terms of a season of life
00:34:14.520 | rather than like ceasing of work
00:34:16.480 | and doing what I finally wanna do.
00:34:18.320 | - Final question.
00:34:19.240 | If you were to be in a room speaking with people
00:34:26.120 | who are young parents and who are struggling
00:34:28.600 | to manage the challenges of children
00:34:32.360 | and the challenges of jobs or businesses
00:34:35.160 | and feel like they're not doing anything well,
00:34:38.040 | what words of encouragement or advice would you share?
00:34:40.560 | - It gets worse if you have more kids.
00:34:42.160 | No, that's not even true.
00:34:44.040 | No, it's the encouragement I would say,
00:34:46.460 | like in terms of a practical, like what to do,
00:34:48.280 | 'cause we've, I mean, you've been there,
00:34:49.840 | everyone's been there, that's not a unique thing.
00:34:52.240 | Is, sorry if that hurts anybody,
00:34:54.120 | but it's like the thing that's helped us the most
00:34:58.440 | is thinking more about, rather than prioritizing
00:35:02.600 | and balance, is to think more in terms
00:35:05.200 | of integrating and priorities.
00:35:07.680 | So it's like, what do we say is our family,
00:35:11.400 | this is the most important thing for our family,
00:35:13.560 | let's put a list of priorities,
00:35:15.160 | and then we draw a red line,
00:35:16.320 | and whatever falls below the red line,
00:35:18.200 | it might be great things, it just doesn't get done, right?
00:35:20.400 | So it's like, we wanna make sure
00:35:21.400 | we put the most important things first
00:35:23.160 | and that those stay a priority.
00:35:24.640 | So if that means, like our kids don't do sports
00:35:26.920 | because it would be impossible for us
00:35:28.880 | to drive kids around to different sports
00:35:30.580 | and still have time to get together as a family.
00:35:32.880 | Time to go as a family for us is more important
00:35:34.720 | than our kids playing sports,
00:35:35.680 | and so we just don't do sports.
00:35:37.440 | Now maybe, as they get older,
00:35:39.260 | we could maybe do something like tennis,
00:35:40.840 | where we could all four of us be on a court at a time,
00:35:43.320 | you know, and kind of double up with that,
00:35:46.080 | integrate a little bit better, but there's, yeah.
00:35:49.400 | So prioritizing is how we think about it
00:35:51.680 | rather than balance, and then it's better systems for us.
00:35:56.560 | So like, as a business grows,
00:35:58.120 | things break as the business grows,
00:36:00.560 | and same thing is true as your family.
00:36:02.640 | As your family grows and the kids get older
00:36:04.600 | and things change, the difficulties there
00:36:06.760 | aren't because like, oh, we can't sustain
00:36:08.700 | more than four kids, it's like saying,
00:36:10.200 | oh, we can't have more than four employees.
00:36:13.040 | It's like, no, you can grow to thousands of employees,
00:36:15.200 | you just need better systems to manage that.
00:36:17.480 | And the same is true for a family.
00:36:18.720 | If like the discipline is breaking down,
00:36:21.040 | but you need a better discipline system.
00:36:22.800 | It's not like you can't take a third child
00:36:24.560 | because you're having too much struggle
00:36:27.040 | with the two you currently have.
00:36:28.040 | It's like, you know, you just need
00:36:29.000 | a better discipline system.
00:36:31.200 | And so we think about it like, yeah, that way.
00:36:33.560 | Like, what's a better system?
00:36:34.700 | This is not working with these four kids
00:36:37.640 | or with these seven kids or whatever.
00:36:39.280 | What do we need to do different?
00:36:40.800 | And so we grow the family structure
00:36:42.840 | the same way we grow a business structure.
00:36:45.480 | Does that make sense?
00:36:46.320 | - You may disagree, but my opinion is
00:36:47.980 | I think that there is a direct influence
00:36:51.740 | on your ability to run an effective business.
00:36:54.580 | I can tell your business is effective.
00:36:56.620 | And it's extremely unusual for somebody
00:36:58.360 | who never had entrepreneurial ambition
00:37:00.260 | to be able to run an effective systematized business.
00:37:02.800 | And I think you feel free to say
00:37:04.780 | if you think I'm right or wrong.
00:37:05.940 | But I think that it is some of the lessons
00:37:09.300 | that you learned in learning how to order your family
00:37:11.780 | that apply over to the business.
00:37:13.820 | - I think it went the other way around for me, actually.
00:37:16.040 | It was like, when we started the business,
00:37:18.260 | we had a few kids.
00:37:19.620 | And as I was learning about growing the business,
00:37:22.980 | things would break down.
00:37:24.420 | I remember the first time I made my first hire
00:37:26.860 | was because things were breaking down
00:37:28.060 | 'cause I couldn't do it all anymore.
00:37:29.860 | And so I made one hire,
00:37:30.700 | and then I learned a ton of lessons about communication.
00:37:32.900 | And then I'm like, oh, this applies to my family.
00:37:35.900 | And then as I was learning more about
00:37:37.900 | having a vision for your business
00:37:39.560 | and a mission behind it,
00:37:41.100 | oh, my family needs a business.
00:37:42.980 | And even branding, what are the things
00:37:45.380 | that make it easy for a customer
00:37:47.480 | to fall in love with a brand
00:37:49.180 | are the same things that I can do with my family.
00:37:51.020 | Well, what's gonna capture my kids' hearts for our family?
00:37:55.220 | And the marketing world's doing it all day long
00:37:57.740 | to them, being very successful at it.
00:37:59.220 | But as a dad, I can use those same tools
00:38:01.140 | that I'm using to grow the influence
00:38:04.340 | that our business has.
00:38:05.720 | I can do that as a family,
00:38:08.420 | and capture my kids' hearts in terms of our creed
00:38:10.820 | and our mission and our vision and our core values
00:38:13.580 | and all that stuff, like icons
00:38:18.420 | and the rituals we do together as families
00:38:20.420 | and the things we say we're not,
00:38:22.320 | like all these primal branding type of elements
00:38:24.180 | that we have just taken and done for our family
00:38:27.100 | and captures our kids' hearts.
00:38:28.060 | So I think it's like running the business
00:38:30.820 | has actually taught me how to lead my family better
00:38:34.060 | 'cause when it's a pain point in the business,
00:38:37.980 | it's like, oh, I need to fix this.
00:38:39.540 | But if it's a pain point in the family,
00:38:40.860 | the normal response is like,
00:38:42.820 | we just can't have more kids,
00:38:44.140 | or we just need to go to therapy
00:38:46.240 | because there's something wrong with you.
00:38:47.500 | It's like, oh, well, maybe that's true.
00:38:49.300 | There is always something wrong with us,
00:38:51.140 | but maybe there's a better system that we could figure out.
00:38:53.340 | Does that make sense?
00:38:54.180 | I think it was the other way for me.
00:38:55.140 | - Yeah, fair enough.
00:38:56.740 | I'm happy for it to go both ways.
00:38:58.100 | I think for some people, for me,
00:38:59.980 | I think it's often gone the other way
00:39:02.540 | in simply that you have to learn lessons.
00:39:05.860 | And I'm convinced that one of the benefits
00:39:07.700 | of being a father is you have,
00:39:10.300 | whether you work for someone else,
00:39:11.960 | whether you have no job freedom whatsoever,
00:39:13.580 | at least in your home, you have your own,
00:39:15.780 | you can be the king of your castle.
00:39:17.100 | And that means that you bear the responsibility
00:39:20.100 | and you recognize that if I have this authority
00:39:22.620 | and this responsibility simultaneously,
00:39:24.940 | then I have to wield it well because I'm responsible.
00:39:27.420 | If I don't wield it well, I get disastrous results.
00:39:29.420 | If I wield it well, I get really good results.
00:39:31.740 | And I think it can have an influence both ways.
00:39:34.700 | - Yeah, sure. - So I'll buy it.
00:39:35.620 | - Totally, yeah.
00:39:36.460 | - I think you're one of the most effective,
00:39:38.100 | simplest, clearest teachers on YouTube.
00:39:39.940 | Take a moment and share with my audience
00:39:41.380 | about some of the work that you do,
00:39:43.340 | where they may be interested to go to learn more,
00:39:44.820 | and if they wanna become one of your students,
00:39:46.060 | how they can do that.
00:39:46.900 | - Yeah, you just go to, we have a podcast every,
00:39:49.860 | I have a podcast, I just said, every Tuesday.
00:39:53.380 | And it's just, you search iTunes
00:39:56.220 | or wherever you listen to podcasts for YouTube,
00:39:58.380 | for video creators, or you can search my name,
00:40:00.900 | Tim Schmoyer, it'll probably pop up too.
00:40:02.780 | And so if you wanna learn more about diving
00:40:04.860 | into YouTube strategy and how to grow a business
00:40:07.820 | around your YouTube content and how to use video content
00:40:10.660 | to grow your business, yeah, you can just check out
00:40:12.700 | the podcast every Tuesday and love to dive in.
00:40:14.660 | - Tim, thanks for coming on the show.
00:40:15.820 | - Yeah, thanks for having me.
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