My finger was hovering over the enter key as I thought through last second regrets for making this decision. Marissa was at work (We just pulled back into Tennessee. Our videos are about a week behind) and she was on the phone reluctantly giving me one last go-ahead for the launch.
What were we launching? A computer virus that pops up a message promising a million dollars if you loan a Prince in Nigeria a measly $200? Nope. A missile heading straight toward our motorhome that still hasn’t sold so we can at least get insurance money out of it? I wish, but wrong again.
We were launching a YouTube video announcing our Patreon page for Less Junk, More Journey. Dozens of people had asked for it. YouTube had taken away the donate button on our page, so we now had even more people asking for a way to give. So, we put on our hard hats to protect us from rocks ready to be thrown by YouTube trolls and we pushed the button.
But something amazing happened. No, the trolls did not throw us high fives for the 195 free videos we’d given them over the last 16 months. I would imagine most of them had sore arms from throwing reason after reason why we were free-loading, money-hungry, Joel and Victoria Osteen look-alikes who need a real job. I seriously get told I look like Joel Osteen once a week on YouTube. It cracks me up.
But what we did see was viewer after viewer stand up for us and battle the trolls with us. It was honestly one of the most encouraging days of our YouTube career. Many viewers blocked rocks as they hurled toward us. They pushed us out of the way into safety. Some even took rocks the trolls threw at us and hurled it back at them.
Within 24 hours, our YouTube video of “How Much Money Do You Make on YouTube? And Why We are Launching Patreon” set the record for the most dislikes AND the most likes any video we’ve created has ever received in that time frame.
Time and time again we’ve seen it. We’ve been rewarded for taking calculated risk.
Not risk without a plan. We worked on our Patreon page for months before launching. Not risk without pain. No one likes to being called greedy or selfish.
But calculated risk with reward attached to it.
Can you guess the second most disliked video on YouTube we’ve released?
This line is here just in case you want another second to guess….
Ok. Enough waiting. It was our “We’re selling our RV” video when we announced we were selling our motorhome and getting something smaller.
We took a risk by downsizing again and we haven’t looked back. I’m not going to say every single risk we’ve taken has given us the reward we imagined, but all risk has a reward. If nothing else, the reward is wisdom.
One of the most powerful things having less junk and more journey has done for us is show us how little of a risk taking risk is.
What does taking a risk look like for you? Risking income for family time? Risking space for freedom? Risking the norm for a new normal?
Rewards in life are about taking risk. I’m so thankful I pushed that button to launch our video and Patreon. We’ve already been encouraged more than we can imagine by those of you who have joined us. We love making videos for a large audience, but life change typically happens in a smaller setting. We are hoping Patreon can be that for each of us as we strive to have less Junk, More Journey in our lives.
If you haven’t checked out what Patreon is all about, head to https://patreon.com/lessjunkmorejourney. We will continue posting articles once a week and creating YouTube videos, but our hope is for Patreon to help with some of the day to day decisions that come with downsizing and living/traveling in an RV.
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