A milestone for me and a story...

[chromesphere]

Hey guys,

Whenever I hit a statistical milestone I get all warm and fuzzy, makes me feel like I've accomplished something I guess and I felt like sharing a story with you.  Today I hit 10k subs on youtube, and (nearly) 1 mil views.  I've also just recently hit 1000 posts on madbean too, very auspicious   I said to my wife 2 years ago "im going to get a million views on youtube if it kills me" just as some stupid little goal I guess.  I mean an 8 year old could get 1 mil views on youtube singing a cover song, its not really a hell of lot, but on a topic as specific as building guitar pedals its a lot harder I can tell you that first hand!

But i nearly didn't even get past 100 views.  The first video I uploaded was about 2 1/2 years ago.  It was a sound clip of a combination of DIY effects pedals making a cool spacey sound that I had discovered.  I was really nervous about putting it out there.  A short time after I uploaded this guy wrote a comment on the video.  He said it was the worst thing he ever heard and that I should be ashamed of myself for "using crappy pedals with an awesome amp like that bad cat.  Sell it you don't deserve that amp.  Stop uploading on youtube an wasting bandwidth". A barrage of insults that spanned 3 paragraphs, it was pretty harsh stuff.  I deleted the comment, I just didn't know what to do.  I was pretty upset about it and said to my wife "that's it!  I'm not cut out for this!" and vowed to not upload again. I couldn't even sleep that night I was so angry / upset. She encouraged me telling me that he was just an a-hole and to continue onward.  Took me sometime to get my confidence back, the next video I recorded, it literally took me 5 mins to hit the record button, it was difficult to get over those insults, it really shock me up.   But I did.  And then I got back into the swing of things again.  I've always been a shy individual so to put it out there was difficult at first, but now I'm much more at ease in front of the camera. Even if I do 'um and ah' a lot As a sign of irony I decided to use that clip from my first upload (the one that "angry internet man" ripped through) as the music for my intro

I guess the moral of the story for me was to harden up.  You just have to if you are going to put it out there.  But also, don't be afraid of putting it out there!  If you have something you want to aim for, but your worried what people think, don't be!  Don't let nasty people or the prospect of what people may or may not say hold you back.  You grow from trying.

Anyway, its a small milestone for me and I've wanted to write something personal on this forum for my 1000th post and 1mil view so there it is. 

Thanks for reading and wishing you all the best and success in your goals and ambitions.

Paul

[cooder]

Awesome, way to go Paul....!!!

[alanp]

There's a lot of people glad you ate a teaspoon of concrete

Grats on the milestones!

[jighead81]

Dude, that intro tune is killer. I'm glad that ass bag didn't stop you from doing what you do! Congrats, and I know there'll be a million more!

[Stomptown]

That's awesome! Your videos are a great resource to the community and when I watch them I always think "man, I wish I could be that natural in front of a cam!" Great story and kudos for not giving up. I've been going through some rough times personally and a friend of mine shared a quote that really hit home:

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." - Harriet Beecher Stowe

[micromegas]

I love your videos Paul, they are very useful, instructional and fun to watch.
In my opinion there's always going to be people there so narrow minded and/or with such an inferiority complex that they have to attack what they don't understand only because they're afraid of it.

¡Congrats with the milestone and keep on with that great work!

[rullywowr]

You know what I say to people trying to drag me down?  F%ck em!

Congrats Paul. Keep doing what you do, it's great.

[gtr2]

Good post Paul.

It's hard when people rip apart your work, but it's how you bounce back that counts!  Congrats!

Josh

[peAk]

Paul,

Like I mentioned to you before, I was watching your videos long before I became a member here and was pleasantly suprised to figure out this "Chromesphere" member at madbeans is this guy in the videos I was watching. I was sort of "star struck" ....LOL

Seriously, your videos kick ass! For ever hater out there, there are probably 1000+ other people that are learning from your videos. Just a few days ago, I was having a little issue with my Sharkfin and I watched your video on troubleshooting the FSH which was extremely helpful.

So anyway, I think can speak for many people out there and your contribution to the DIY pedal is totally appreciated, two thumbs up man!

P.S. What pedal (combination of pedals) is that you use for the opening of your videos? Love that sound/riff.

[angrykoko]

awesome!  I love your videos.
Several of my "what to build" decisions are based on your vids.

[midwayfair]

Congrats, Paul! Always feels good to make a goal.

I queued up a couple vids to make sure "nearly" is "actually." 

[slimtriggers]

Nice work, man!  I watch every one that comes out 

[Leevibe]

Paul,

You are a resource and a really great guy! So many of us have benefited because you decided to hang in there, so thank you! I didn't even know about your videos until a couple months ago and I was refreshed to see your way of doing things. I've adopted a couple of your methods.

Some years ago, when I was first getting into this, I had gone into a local electronics store hoping to score some cheap parts and maybe connect with someone else who was building pedals. At that point, the only circuit I had built was the TS and I was excited about all of the mods for it I was reading about and stuff I was discovering with my breadboard. When I took my handful of parts to the front counter, the guy working there asked me what I was building. When I told him, he told me that he had been building pedals for a long time.

So, in my excitement, I told him about a crazy ultimate TS pedal I was thinking about building. His response was, oh yeah, all that's been done a million times blah, blah and that if I went to such and such forum I could learn lots of stuff. Then he told me about all the far more complex stuff he was into and just made me feel pretty stupid. I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, but I walked out of there feeling like, "who am I kidding? I should probably find something else to spend my time on." Then I went to the forum he mentioned and read a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand and basically saw people treating noobs like this guy had treated me. It's why I've been into this for so long but have never become active in forums.

I stuck with it on my own and got pretty far by lurking on forums and figuring things out through trial and error. I eventually met Stomptown via Craigslist and he pointed me toward this forum, and Jacob's and your videos. Watching those videos was a revelation!

I was terrified to post here the first couple times because I truly didn't even know how forums worked or how to even post. I'm actually still learning, but this place has been so helpful, and you have been a big part of that! My builds are better and more efficient already and that sucky electronics store has gone out of business.

Thanks for putting yourself out there Paul! I would have never guessed that you had faced such a challenge.

Lee

[jprizz]

Paul,
When I first heard the intro to your videos I was so captivated by the sounds that I had to immediately contact you to ask about what you used to get those sounds. I even went to work the next day and mentioned to a couple co-workers who play as well, that I just heard one of the coolest guitar effects that I ever heard. Here's to another 1,000 & another 1,000,000!
-Josh

[rullywowr]

Keep on keeping on!