2 years ago I made the best decision of my life

Two years ago, to this day, I made what would turn out to be the best decision I've ever made in my entire 27 years of life. And that decision was to post my first ever YouTube video. Now, I won't lie to you, I didn't really know what I was doing at the time. I barely even knew what I was talking about. And honestly, my own life at that point, well, I was just feeling pretty lost, to be honest with you. I was 25 years old, I was working in journalism. But all of the reasons that I'd got into journalism, which was to explore and learn about a variety of things, to present information that I thought was useful or entertaining, I wasn't getting those desires fulfilled by my mainstream job. And I saw so many other people using social media, building whole careers and businesses and brands from social media. And I thought, you know what, I would like to do that. Now, I'll be honest with you, I had a lot of limiting beliefs that nearly stood in my way. But somehow, I just pushed through them and made that first video. Now, fast forward two years, and the YouTube channel and the social media brand that I've created has become a lot more than just a social media page. It's really become an entire movement of men. It's also something that's crossed over into the mainstream media. And needless to say, the numbers on social media are pretty significant. I mean, nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, 230,000 subscribers on YouTube, and even dozens of people showing up to real life events and over 100 people joining our online community, The Gentleman's Institution. Now, even two years ago, if you'd asked me what was my wildest dream outcome prediction for what would happen when I posted that YouTube video, I would not have even got close to the reality that it's become. So, I have to say an absolutely huge thank you to every single person that has ever watched a video, that's ever subscribed to my page or followed me on Instagram or TikTok or signed up for my email newsletter. I owe absolutely everything to you and to the sum of many, many people like you deciding simply, yeah, I like this guy. I like what he has to say. I would like to see more. And it's just incredible to take a step back for a moment and celebrate this two-year anniversary and go, wow, this has become so much more than I even knew was really possible with social media. What I've realized about social media is it isn't about, you know, selfies. It's not about silly videos. It's not really about followers. Social media is simply the new tool of influence and frankly, it's the new tool of power in our age. If you look back at history, great men have always used the most modern technology available. They've always been innovative with their methods, whether this was Winston Churchill making radio broadcasts during World War II, JFK using television and home movies to show who he was as a president. Well, that's exactly what social media is. And really for any man that aspires to make something of himself, whether it's creating a personal brand, whether it's using social media for his business, for his community, you are seriously neglecting the most incredible tool available to you right now if you aren't on social media in some capacity and if you aren't taking it seriously and investing some serious time and effort into learning this skill. Now, I just want to talk to you about a few of the best parts of my journey right now. Let me give you a really quick, you know, top three highlights of the career so far. Definitely the first one was meeting Antonio Centeno of Real Men Real Style. He is somebody that I grew up watching as a teenager. I remember showing my girlfriend at the time his videos, his YouTube channel and saying, do you think I could do something like this? So he was definitely the inspiration behind my channel and he was the first ever influencer who reached out to me to say, hey, I like what you're doing and he actually invited me up to his place in Wisconsin and we hung out and we filmed together and that was just an absolute dream come true and it was so cool to have somebody that I looked up to so much that I respected so much show me some recognition too. So that was definitely the first highlight and that came really, really early on. That came four months after I posted my first ever YouTube video. I had my hero reaching out so it goes to show how quickly things can grow in this new medium of ours. The second career highlight was definitely the first ever Gent Z meetup that I did in Chicago. Again, pretty early on into my YouTube journey. I believe that I hosted this meetup seven months into creating content and why this was so significant was that it proved that what was happening and the audience that I was growing wasn't just online. It was actually something that people would leave their house and get dressed up and spend money on to come to so that they could meet me but more importantly, so they could meet other people that were resonating with what I did with Gent Z. So to see that in flesh and blood, I still remember coming home from that event, sitting on my sofa and I must have sat there for just hours glowing, feeling so happy, feeling so fulfilled with what I'd been able to make. And another really cool thing about that event was actually two of the guys that I met, two of the guys that came, are two of my best friends to this day. So that was really, really cool. Definitely showed me that social media has the power to connect you to incredible people. And then the third career highlight for me has definitely got to be appearing on Fox News. To get the recognition from mainstream media was just absolutely mind-blowing and again, in my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I would be on one of the most watched morning news shows in the entire country. And also as somebody who moved to the US just four years ago, it was kind of like an American dream moment of, hey, you come here, a total stranger to the culture. I was born here but I didn't grow up in the US. So I came here really an immigrant and four years later, I'm on Fox News talking about the movement that I've made, the brand that I've done. It just was absolutely mind-blowing. So that was such an amazing experience. It was also cool because it showed that, again, it wasn't just online. Using social media, the stuff that you create, the influence that you build on social media, it doesn't just work online on social media, it also translates to the real world. I can't tell you, I mean, it's almost like every time I leave my house, somebody will stop me on the street to say, hey, I love your videos. It was the Fox News thing. I got behind me, I was in the Wall Street Journal just a couple of months ago as well. They did an article about me. So this kind of stuff, it shows that social media is a tool. Don't think it's just this little world of Instagram and selfies and it's kind of embarrassing and cringe. No, this is just a mouthpiece. This is a communication method. And if you're not using it, you're severely, severely missing out because, gosh, I kind of dread to think what my life would be like if I hadn't decided to start making content. If I just procrastinated or stuck with the same excuses that I had before, then I'd be stuck doing probably a similar kind of job to what I was before, feeling unfulfilled, not being financially remunerated as well as I should have been, and just being disappointed overall by life, quite frankly. So the level of fulfillment has just been incredible. It's also been a really powerful catalyst for my own self-development. If you go back and watch my videos just two years ago, and I hope you kind of don't because I think they're cringe and terrible, but hey, you learn by doing. If you go back and watch those videos, I am 55 pounds heavier. My face looks like a hamster. I'm relatively disheveled looking. I've got this terrible stubble going on. I'm rather inarticulate. My voice sounds completely different. You can see the slightly dismal apartment I was living in at the time. And fast forward two years later, I mean, not only is my ability to communicate with people and my influence significantly increased, but also I'm in such better shape physically. I dress so much better. My grooming is so much better. My communication skills, my interpersonal skills are so much better because as I've created this brand, I've shared my journey of self-growth. And that's the thing with social media. You are sharing your journey. You don't have to have made it yet. You don't need to be an expert yet. Nobody's expecting you to be the messiah. They want to see a journey. They want to relate to you. They want to go through that process with you. So I don't want you to watch this video to celebrate what I've achieved. I don't need you to congratulate me. Believe me, I'm so incredibly grateful for all of the nice messages. But what I actually want you to take from this video is to be inspired. Is there something that you've been thinking about doing? A project you've been thinking about launching? Well, what happens if maybe you actually just do it? What happens if you actually go all in? What happens if you commit to the process? What happens if you educate yourself? If you give yourself the resources that you need to actually grow? And I'm sure that for many of you watching this, and I know this because I've spoken to guys that I've worked with before in consulting or one-to-ones, a lot of men today are starting to realize the power of social media. And whatever interest you have, maybe it's style, maybe it's cooking, maybe it's model railways, maybe it's fitness, it really doesn't matter because whatever you're passionate about, there are other people that are passionate about it and they are waiting to hear from you. They are waiting for another person to look up to, to watch, to go on a journey with. So are you going to hold that back? Are you going to keep that gift that you have within yourself? Or are you frankly going to grow some balls? Stop caring, stop worrying about what other people think and just put yourself out there. Just do it. Now I'm so grateful for the mentors that I've had with Antonio, with Alpha M, with Raphael. I wish I'd had them from the very start though because there was a lot of stuff that I really had to figure out blind and frankly I made quite a lot of mistakes and I certainly could have done things better if I had the resources, if I had the education. So what I've decided to do, being as it is two years now, that I've been enjoying the fruits of my labors, I've been enjoying the success of my own knowledge on social media, I think it's time that I share a bit more with you guys about exactly how to use social media as a man in a way that works for the male desires of building a legacy, of having control, of being self-reliant, of having freedom. These are all natural things for a man to desire. Now back in the 19th century you might have gone to California and dug some gold. Well today social media, the online world, that is the gold mine. This is the gold rush of our age. So don't be afraid to take advantage of it. So I've created a resource, I've created a platform where I've created a full library of video courses showing you exactly my process of building the brand, of creating videos, coming up with ideas, scripting videos, editing videos, uploading, creating a schedule, growing an audience, growing on multiple platforms at the same time, and of course monetizing your content because I was able to replace the income from my full-time job within six months of uploading my first ever YouTube video. Just six months later and within less than a year I was able to quit that full-time job and give myself the complete freedom that I've always desired and I'm sure you desire that too. So I give you all of the resources, the roadmaps, the videos that you need to learn exactly how to do that and then I'm also offering the opportunity where you can get on a call with me every single week, a coaching call where I'll be able to give you advice, I'll be able to give you feedback, you can ask me questions. I used to get stuck on so many things, I used to doubt myself about so many things. I wish I'd had somebody that I could just speak to every single week. That's exactly what I'm offering here because I'm genuinely so excited to help people that were in the exact same position I was because I am walking proof of the power of social media. I'm walking proof of everything that I teach you is everything that I've done myself. I've been in your shoes, I've gone on this journey, I'm going to show you exactly how I did it. So if you click the link in the description there is a free video where I'm going to give you a free training, there's more information, this is going to be really really helpful and inspirational to you if you are interested or maybe already have a social media presence but you know that you could be doing so much more with it. This is exactly what you want to go and do next. Don't procrastinate, just click on that video, it's about 20 minutes long, it's really going to help you and then if you do decide that you want to do this, if you're ready to do this, if you're ready to take that step then there will be the opportunity to access those educational resources that I've created, to access that call with me, to access my personal coaching and mentorship but start with this video and I'm really looking forward to seeing you over there.