I quit

Summary

Highlights

• After many years and attempts, Swayze successfully quit his day job to focus exclusively on his YouTube career. 🌟
• He shares a heartfelt journey of growing up in a financially struggling family and his various jobs before finding his niche in YouTube. 💪
• Swayze reflects on his passion for streaming and the emotional challenges he faced in this pursuit. 🎥
• An inspiring story of using introspection and consistency to improve content quality and grow a dedicated following. 📈

Key Takeaways

• Swayze has taken the brave step of quitting his day job to focus on his YouTube career full-time! 🎉
• His journey was filled with different jobs, personal challenges, and unexpected turns that ultimately led to his success. 🚀
• Swayze plans to create more content and engage in collaborations to take his channel to new heights. 🤝
• Expressing gratitude, Swayze credits his family and dedicated supporters for their unwavering belief in his passion and goals. ❤️
• An inspiring message for aspiring creators to stay consistent, introspective, and relentless in pursuing their dreams. ✨

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Announcement The speaker excitedly announces that they have finally quit their day job to pursue YouTube full-time. They clarify any potential confusion by ensuring the audience that they are not quitting their YouTube channel.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Emotional Reflection and Video Purpose The chapter titled 'Emotional Reflection and Video Purpose' is introduced with the speaker acknowledging the emotional nature of the video ahead. Despite trying to maintain a light tone, the speaker finds it challenging due to the emotional weight of the topic. The video is described as a happy one, with emotions being positive. The main focus of the chapter is on three significant points related to the channel: the journey to reach the current point, including reflections on the process and challenges faced, and revisiting old clips of initial videos posted on YouTube. The speaker shares a personal and emotional retrospective on their progress and experiences.
• 01:30 - 03:30: Personal Background and Early Career In this chapter, the speaker discusses the future direction of their channel. They express gratitude to the viewers for their support and acknowledge the non-magic-related content might not interest everyone. The speaker appreciates the audience's contribution to their career and conveys understanding if viewers choose to leave. They also mention a light-hearted intent behind experimenting with humorous video titles.
• 03:30 - 06:30: Transition to Gaming and Streaming The chapter 'Transition to Gaming and Streaming' begins with a personal introduction and gratitude for the audience's attention. The speaker invites listeners to join in on their life journey, highlighting it might not be the most exciting story, but it's significant to them. The core of the chapter revolves around the speaker's upbringing in a poor family, setting the stage for how they ended up in gaming and streaming. This background will lead the narrative into more detailed job experiences and pivotal life choices. The speaker emphasizes understanding their past is key to appreciating their current position in life.
• 06:30 - 09:30: YouTube Journey and Growth The chapter titled 'YouTube Journey and Growth' explores the personal growth and various job experiences of the narrator during their early years. To escape financial difficulties and afford new school clothes, the narrator began working at the age of 13 at their uncle's warehouse during summer breaks. This work was unofficial and paid in cash. At 15, they secured their first official job at a grocery store, followed by positions at a movie theater and later at a roller rink at the age of 17 going on 18. These early jobs marked the beginning of their journey towards greater financial independence and personal development.
• 09:30 - 12:30: Unexpected Breakthrough and New Opportunities The chapter titled 'Unexpected Breakthrough and New Opportunities' revolves around the narrator's transformative experiences at a roller rink. Here, they met influential people and their future wife, marking a significant period in their life. The chapter highlights personal growth and new directions during a hectic life phase, introducing the narrator's wife to the audience who hasn't seen her in previous content.
• 12:30 - 15:00: Final Reflections and Future Plans In the final chapter titled 'Final Reflections and Future Plans', the speaker reflects on their past experiences and ambitions. They recount balancing multiple responsibilities, including working at a roller rink, attending school, wrestling, and pursuing a career in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The speaker shares their initial dream to escape the traditional 9 to 5 grind by aiming for a career in the UFC. They express pride in their wrestling background and training in MMA, which they pursued diligently for four years, showcasing a deep commitment to achieving their dream.
• 15:00 - 18:00: Acknowledgments and Gratitude The chapter discusses a personal experience of taking an unplanned amateur fight on short notice after a previously scheduled one was canceled. Despite fighting in a higher weight class and initially performing well, the narrator lost the fight. This experience led to a significant life decision while working at a bank.
• 18:00 - 22:00: Closing Remarks and Call to Action The chapter titled 'Closing Remarks and Call to Action' describes a personal narrative of an individual who was experiencing difficulties in balancing a professional career at a bank with a life of fighting. The individual was turning up to work with visible injuries such as black eyes and cuts, which were incompatible with the professional environment of a bank. This led to the decision to quit fighting, especially with the responsibilities of starting a family and the need for financial stability. The narrative highlights the necessity of making tough decisions for the sake of career and family commitments.

I quit Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Well, I wasn't sure if this day would ever come, but uh it finally happened, guys. I quit. I did it. I quit. Wait, that might that might be confusing to some of you guys. You don't think I mean this YouTube channel, right? No, no. I quit my day job to go fulltime on YouTube. That is tragic.
• 00:30 - 01:00 All right, guys. In all seriousness though, this video is going to be um it might be a little heavy. It might be a little heavy. I'm going to try to keep it as light as possible. Uh but it's probably going to be a little heavy. I've been trying to get through it. I've tried to record this like 15 times now. I'm getting frustrated with myself because I keep getting emotional, but it's a happy video. I'm going to try to stay happy. Uh and uh it's emotion in a good way. But um today we're going to actually be talking about three big points here on the channel. Basically, we're going to be talking about the journey that it took to get here. We're going to take a look at um old clips of videos that we first posted on YouTube.
• 01:00 - 01:30 And uh we're going to talk about the future of the channel and what that entails. But I know this is not magic related uh content and I understand if a lot of you guys want to click off at this point. So before you go, just thank you. I appreciate you all for watching the videos and getting me to this point in my life and uh I owe you a great debt. So thank you for that. I appreciate that. Um so if you want to go, that's fine. Understandable. appreciate you for just, you know, checking out this video. I know it was probably a little silly. I've always wanted to do one of those silly titles to trick people and, uh, you know, have some fun with it. So, hope that was
• 01:30 - 02:00 okay. Uh, but yeah, we're going to jump into it. So, for those who do want to hear the journey and whatever about my life, might be pretty boring. I hope not. But, um, I appreciate you for staying and, uh, being part of it. So, I guess for those who are going to stay, I guess let's talk about it. So to start off, you know, to figure out how we ended up in this spot, I want to just talk a bit about like how I grew up, my job experiences and stuff like that. But basically grew up family was very very poor. Uh you know, very much had a lot
• 02:00 - 02:30 of problems as I'm sure a lot of you guys do have. Um but basically, uh wanted to get out of that stuff, right? Wanted to try to start affording, you know, new school clothes instead of hand-me-downs and stuff. So, I started working really early at like 13 uh at my uncle's warehouses and stuff um during the summer breaks under the table, getting paid cash, doing whatever I could. Officially got a first job at like 15 working at the grocery store pushing carts and um eventually, you know, after working there and then the movie theater, I worked at a roller rink when I was 17ish. Yeah, 17 going on 18,
• 02:30 - 03:00 I was working at a roller rink where I met a lot of really cool people who inspired my uh you know, life quite a bit. Uh but uh met my wife there. Uh, you know, I'll probably I'll probably show her on the screen here. Uh, she's never been on the stream. She's never wanted to be a part of like the videos and stuff, but um, just want to show you guys. Yeah, I know you guys have never seen her, but anyways, uh, it's my beautiful wife and, uh, we we started, you know, dating during that time. And during that time, it was a very hectic part of my life.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Uh, was working at the roller rink, you know, going to school, wrestling, and uh, trying to pursue an MMA career. Believe it or not, some of you guys know that, some of you guys don't, but uh basically that was my first dream to try to get out of the the grind of the 9 to5 is, uh wanted to pursue an MMA career, you know, UFC, that kind of stuff, right? So, uh was pretty darn good at it, too. Wrestled my whole life. Um trained in that for like four years, uh doing the MMA stuff. Uh got a little
• 03:30 - 04:00 impatient, took um I had a fight lined up for like an amateur fight, um and I was really excited about it. It was a few months out. I was about to start like a big training camp for it. Um the main event pulled out, the card got eviscerated. I got impatient, took um a fight on like a week notice at a weight class above um did pretty well actually. Uh the fight was a great fight. Uh put him in some bad positions, but ended up losing that fight, right? But after that, I I made a big decision in my life because at the time I was now working at a bank and I
• 04:00 - 04:30 was showing up at the bank, black eyes, cuts, limps, all sorts of stuff, right? and uh it just wasn't working out. It just those two things don't mix. Showing up to work in a suit and fighting at night. Uh so I decided to quit the fighting thing. I had to um had to quit that because uh I was starting a family and uh all right. Sorry about that. Yeah. So uh we had to quit that because we were starting I was starting a family. Uh we needed money then you know
• 04:30 - 05:00 we needed money. couldn't afford to to keep paying for training and that kind of stuff. Um, so my dad actually at the time his life had kind of turned around quite a bit and he started his own pool company and he's he's been ultra successful since, you know, I turned like 19. So, I had to leave the bank after about four years working there to go work for him because I needed uh a better schedule and just something that I could do temporarily with uh you know getting home a little bit earlier that
• 05:00 - 05:30 way I could pursue something else, more of a career, right? So, tried real estate, got my license. It was okay. I mean, I was I was unfortunately losing more money than I was making on fees and stuff, but I was selling like one house a year. It wasn't great. Um, so during that time though, during all of that time, even during the MMA thing, I was always streaming. Uh, I I enjoyed streaming a lot. Um, it was kind of just a hobby that I really enjoyed doing on my free time because I was already playing games. I loved playing video games. Uh, loved playing Magic at the
• 05:30 - 06:00 time in high school. Um, you know, so I was streaming. Uh, I always thought it was an interesting uh thing that people did for money. Uh, but I was streaming for basically nobody. Just my brother for like 2 years. My brother was like my biggest supporter. He was always hanging out and uh he obvious he made the uh the the song at the end of all of our videos. My brother actually made that. But he's always been super supportive and uh and uh he he's always been like the only viewer I had on my streams for like
• 06:00 - 06:30 again like two years. At this time I hadn't even posted a YouTube video. I was streaming for basically nobody for so long. Uh the streaming thing actually though, I did end up getting a sub button and getting like five or six like average viewers at one point. We were doing Fortnite and stuff like that and it was really fun. Uh but it wasn't ever going to be anything uh that I thought, right? So, but it was something I always really enjoyed doing. Um, so after the real estate thing kind of fell off, I was like, you know what? I'm going to try to actually put energy into this
• 06:30 - 07:00 whole streaming thing. And maybe that'll be what I do after I get home from work and, you know, have that free time. I'll start putting my energy into that. And, uh, just doing my research on how to grow a Twitch stream and, uh, found out that, you know, YouTube videos was the way to go. So, I started posting YouTube videos um, you know, and doing that. I just looked actually. We posted our first YouTube video. Let me see here. I actually I think I have it pulled up still. Let me This is actually interesting. Uh I posted my first YouTube video in
• 07:00 - 07:30 2018. Yeah, July of 2018, right? I posted my very first YouTube video. It had nothing to do with magic. It was probably Fortnite, I'm sure. I ended up deleting a lot of those videos except for one um because they're not magic related, but it was Fortnite and uh I was getting like 10 views if I was lucky on a on a big week. Um but I was posting videos and on YouTube I posted videos for the chart says here I posted videos for two and a half years before the
• 07:30 - 08:00 channel saw a single dollar. And so it was definitely a passion project. I'll tell you that much. It was just something I like to do. Uh the videos were infrequent, the type of videos were all over the place, but I was getting better editing. I was just using that time to just learn how to edit better. Um get just hone the craft and skill, right? And uh then I fell upon Magic Arena. I did not know that the game existed uh for, you know, it's released on what 2018 when I started the channel. So it had just released and I didn't
• 08:00 - 08:30 even know until almost two and a half years later. Uh but I had played Magic in high school a lot. So, I decided, let me try making some magic videos. Started watching other creators like CGB and stuff and, uh, decided, uh, let me try it. And I tried it and it was the first thing that started to gain traction. Uh, which was pretty cool. So, that's what happened. And then next thing you know, uh, you know, my wife's going to school at the time and working at a speech therapist job. Uh, I'm working my job. I'm doing this on the side. So, we're busy. We're very, very busy. We have two
• 08:30 - 09:00 kids we're raising. Um, it was a very hectic hectic time. It's still, I mean, we're still in it. It's still a very hectic time. Um, but hopefully a lot less hectic now because she's completed school and I'm making this decision to go full-time on YouTube. And hopefully we can kind of start regulating our lives a little bit better. But, um, there was a there were some rough patches for sure. Uh, but ultimately the channel was growing like molasses. It was very slow, but it was growing and uh, it was getting challenging. It it
• 09:00 - 09:30 challenged me a lot um throughout those years and uh we didn't really start seeing like significant significant actual growth and like genuinely like a side hustle making actual decent money to start paying extra on some of our bills and stuff. U it's so I don't even know man. Let me see here. Probably like 2023. Yeah, it looks like 2023. Um I'm looking at the chart right now on YouTube, but basically um yeah, many many years of doing it for basically
• 09:30 - 10:00 nothing. Uh but it started to actually show some some uh improvements that are, you know, noticeable around 2023. And uh it got pretty exciting, man. It got pretty exciting. So I started putting all my energy and time into that, taking all the extra money we were making on that and upgrading cameras, microphones, lighting, whatever. And uh really started chasing it. So, uh, that's how that happened and that's how we landed on where we're at now. Um, but, uh, if you know it's just
• 10:00 - 10:30 it's an incredible feeling to finally be here. Uh, I knew this day was going to come eventually. It's very scary because of all the, you know, uh, hold on. It's very scary because of all the, uh, the challenges that I know that are going to be facing us moving forward. Um, it's not easy losing uh that income, but it's something I have to do because I got to put more energy and focus into this. Um, that way I'm not missing videos uploads
• 10:30 - 11:00 anymore. Hopefully, I can stream more. Uh, this this change, by the way, is going to be gradual. You might not notice it on the channel too much right away. It's going to be gradual because I still have to pick up my kids from school, dropped offs, and uh, you know, until they're on summer break. That's when you'll really see a big shift. Hopefully, like in a month or two. But, uh, for right now, um, we're gonna ease into it. We're gonna hopefully get more consistent. Uh, but it's exciting. I'm hoping that, uh, you know, this gets even bigger and better and, uh, we keep growing. But if it doesn't and this is it, that's fine, too. Um, I just want to
• 11:00 - 11:30 give it my best shot. Uh, yeah, I just want to give it my best shot. And, um, I need some time to do other things and work on other things, too. And, and, uh, you know, just putting all my energy into this is going to be really awesome. But I also have another really fun project I'm doing with my son. I'm sure a lot of you guys already know. Uh we have another YouTube channel where we just post Fortnite videos and content like that together because he's been playing Fortnite with me since he was really little, which actually it's going to lead us into the next uh segment here
• 11:30 - 12:00 where I can show you guys some old video clips and stuff. But um he's been playing Fortnite with me since he was three and uh he's really good now. He's nine. He's very good. He carries me now and uh he really loves doing that, too. So, I want to He wants to be a tennis player or, you know, or a Fortnite content creator, which I hope he becomes a tennis player, but uh you know, I'm going to I'm going to uh you know, help nourish both of those things for him and uh hopefully guide him and help him
• 12:00 - 12:30 along the way. So, we've got a channel together. Uh I'll link the description. I'll link in the description below the channel. It's Dropin Duo, but we play Fortnite. Um, but hopefully I can put some more energy and time into that as well and post more regularly on that channel so he can start growing his channel and doing his thing. Um, but yeah, man. Uh, we can I guess that again leads right into the next uh thing which is uh I mean this is the very first video you'll find on my channel. It's actually of uh me playing Fortnite with
• 12:30 - 13:00 uh my brother and friend and my son who was three at the time. And uh it's just a really fun video that I like to go back and look at because I deleted all my old Fortnite videos, but this one in particular I really loved um as just like a memory keepsake because uh he actually got the final kill and he was three and uh it was our first time posting a video together and uh it was just really cool. So uh the little bit of clips that I found here that were I thought were pretty cute and funny that I want to just show just like just to show also to the quality of the videos
• 13:00 - 13:30 and how drastically different they are now. It's pretty interesting to see. And this was actually actually at the time where I was just like streaming for like five or six people. Uh which was pretty cool too. This was just basically clips from the streams and stuff like that. So anyways, the way to park uh we don't know yet. Hold on. Wait for the marker. There it is. There it jump there cuz you got to fly on the water. There's a rift zone going over paradise. Nail
• 13:30 - 14:00 truck over there. One of those shots. I have a weapon. Don't worry about me. It's just It's so crazy, man. And then like he him talking about the uh the hamburger. Yep. I came from the blocks coming right here. A hamburger. Yep. A hamburger. It's just so funny. Look at my tongue's out. His tongue's out. That's right. My tongue. It's just so funny cuz he he's nine now. So, this is like super fun to look back at and just
• 14:00 - 14:30 like, you know, it's just interesting to me. And then he ends up getting uh the final kill and uh it was just Parker, you got him. Let's go, Parker. Parker got it. It It was crazy. It was crazy cuz he's three. And uh I think that was one of his first kills he ever got. It was the final kill. And dance on Parker. Parker got the We didn't even help him. That was insane. Let's go Parker. My hands here are fuzzy. His hands are sweaty. Your hands are getting sweaty.
• 14:30 - 15:00 Do you want to be done? Um, yeah. Okay, you can be done. Here, I'll turn you off and you can come in here with me. Hang on, guys. A hamburger. [Music] Oh, man. I used to love making those videos. Those videos were so fun for me, man. They were just just a blast to just like create and just have fun playing. Uh, but yeah, that that was the spark that kind of started it all. Um, but yeah, that that was the kind of content we were making, just fun clippy type videos off my Twitch. And uh eventually,
• 15:00 - 15:30 you know, my first well, this will be my first not my first magic video I ever created, but my first like standard deck build uh that led into the type of content we're making right now. Um, you know, it's funny is I actually made a mono blue deck list that was mill first before I made anything else. And I ended up deleting it cuz I it got like three or four views. It was horrible. It did terrible. So, I was like, "Ah, just delete it. Magic's not going to be the thing for the channel." And I second
• 15:30 - 16:00 thought that and I tried it again and it the next video did pretty well. It was like a draft. And then I tried this and this ended up getting 2,000 total views now, but like at the time it was like a,000 views and I lost my mind and I was like, "Okay, magic's got to be it." So, I really put my energy into magic. But, I mean, just look at the the difference in quality and uh sound and just everything in this these videos, man. It's kind of crazy. Guys, welcome back to another YouTube video. Today's video we are going to be going over a Selelesnia Enchant deck. Um, and today
• 16:00 - 16:30 kind of embarrassing to watch a very inexpensive, easy deck to build. Hence the fact that it's the first deck list I'm actually posting to YouTube because it is the first deck that I have that's a competitive tier deck that uh I was able to put together with the cards that I was able to amass over time. That's the other thing, right? I had no cards. I had no cards and uh I was just building like deck lists that other people were building but like tweaking them to be more budget because I I couldn't afford to get the Magic cards at the time or the uh the wild cards
• 16:30 - 17:00 trying to build my account up. So trust me when I get those comments down below. Trust me when I say I understand the wild card thing. I know a lot of people give me grief about like this has like a million mythic cards in it. It's like I don't think about those things anymore but like I'm just focused on making the most entertaining deck list and content and like that are competitive. But trust me, I've been there. I know your guys' pain. I mean, look at my lands. I don't even have all of the lands. Like, it's ridiculous, man. Anyways, uh just I mean, look at the difference too between just not just the qu like the quality,
• 17:00 - 17:30 but like the way I'm like doing it and presenting it. It's like I've got half the screen, you know, lowered down. I'm not even showing the full deck list. Uh it it took a lot to like learn how to do this. And this just goes to show you that like the most powerful tool you have is consistency, man. and just trying to be consistent and uh keep pushing forward and just never stopping cuz that was that was the only thing I had going for me is that I wasn't stopping. Uh and it was really difficult
• 17:30 - 18:00 to learn the lesson of like introspection, but you really have to if you're if you're if you're pursuing this as like something you want to do in the future and like really make it serious, you have to look at yourself. You have to tell yourself like what am I doing wrong? It it can't be like, oh, I I remember going through such a interesting period of time where I was like, well, my videos are just as good as other people's videos and looking at other people's videos and how well they were doing or why mine weren't doing so good. And it was like, wo is me, yada yada. Some tough times on the channel,
• 18:00 - 18:30 right? But it wasn't until I started looking at my own videos and being like, look, watch this and pretend you don't know who the guy is on the screen. It's boring. It's boring, bro. Stop being boring. And so I had to be honest with myself like, look, these videos are not good. You have to up the energy. You have to up the quality. You have to, you know, you got to put the extra work into editing. You got to make things entertaining. And you've got to make the best deck list possible. Um, and so until that started happening, that's
• 18:30 - 19:00 when I started showing the growth. But, you know, I just, it's been a wild journey, man. It really, really has. And I just I hope I hope that journey, you know, inspires again some of you guys that are maybe going through the same thing. But man, I've been ranting on a long time. Uh, sorry about that. Uh, I'm actually surprised I got through as much as I have this time. Uh, but anyways, um, yeah, that's that was the journey to get here. It was a wild one. A lot of odd jobs, a lot of working really hard, but I just I couldn't keep I couldn't
• 19:00 - 19:30 keep burning it on both ends the way I have been. It's just I had to quit something and uh it this was something I had been so passionate about for so long that of course I had to quit my day job and move into this and and really try to give myself the full effort to make it happen because if if even if this fails, I just need to know that I tried, you know? I I need to know that I tried uh because it is my dream. It's my passion. It's my goal. And uh I'm excited for the future, man. speak into the future. Hopefully
• 19:30 - 20:00 hopefully in the future of this channel, um I I can I'm going to try to hold myself accountable to all these things. But basically, I the the ultimate dream is to post, you know, seven days a week if possible. Maybe not quite possible, but maybe. Um I'd like to stream three times a week instead of just one. Uh so that will hopefully go up a little bit. And then um I also want to look into collaborations. Man, I'm already trying to talk to some people and uh you know, trying to work with others, but I I want
• 20:00 - 20:30 to try to start doing some collaborations. I have a really really cool idea that I hope I don't chicken out on. I hope I can socialize and not be weird and just try to get some people on the channel because I feel like that's going to be a big game changer going forward. I feel like collaborations is where it's at in most communities and um we need uh we need more we need more collaborations and magic and I hope that we can, you know, start building that um ourselves. So, I'm very excited for the future. I'm very terrified. Um, it's not easy losing a full income. Um, and it is scary, but
• 20:30 - 21:00 my wife supports it. I'm ready. And I just I can't work I can't work another summer outside. So, um, 10 years, man. 10 years I've been doing this other job. And, uh, it's about time that, you know, this starts to be my full-time thing. So, thank you all so much for your support. Thank you all for getting me here. Thank you all for everything you've done for me. Um, there's a couple of you guys out there
• 21:00 - 21:30 that I mean, there's a there's a lot, but uh, a handful of people who have really invested heavily into me with certain streams and gifted subs and, you know, some of you guys really believed in me, man. And, um, and you really support me in ways that I can't wrap my head around. So, thank you. And uh yeah, I just I'm forever grateful that uh I was even granted this opportunity. So So
• 21:30 - 22:00 I hope I don't fail. Uh but if I do, at least I can say I tried. So that does it for me. And uh yeah, thank you for watching and exciting future, man. Uh oh, the other channel, too. Don't forget to subscribe to the other channel if you guys want to with me and my son. We're going to be posting more. Um, we actually have plans today because I'm free today. I'm free. I'm not working today. And, uh, we're going to be, uh, recording the, uh, a video
• 22:00 - 22:30 about the new update. Fortnite got a big update today. Big one. So, should be exciting video coming out soon. Uh, but yeah, thank you guys for watching. If you made it all the way through, you guys are truly a real one. So, appreciate it. Peace out.