WISEGUY WANDERINGS 6!
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BUSY, BUSIER, AND BUSIEST!
Last month I wrote about how this is my craziest time of the year with coaching and trying to publish two YouTube videos per week. What I didn’t mention is that I decided to move into a new home in April as well. Not a very WISE decision, although there wasn’t much I could do about it. You gotta do what to gotta do when you gotta do it, right?
April is now in the rear view, and the busy month of May (but less busy than April) is ahead. My coaching job will take me to San Antonio next week and to Arkansas in three weeks. In between I will have an off weekend, so I plan to get out and explore. Where? I have no idea.
At this very moment I’m sitting in a hotel in Cherokee, Oklahoma. Actually it’s the only hotel in Cherokee, Oklahoma. We hosted a track meet in Wichita Friday and then I decided to drive down here for the weekend to film some videos for YouTube. I’m driving all around Alfalfa County exploring every little dot on the map and plan to make four videos from this trip.
It’s a good thing I was able to get out of town because I’m completely out of footage to edit. I had stockpiled videos for quite a while, but the recent busy months have kept me from working on anything new lately. I feel like I’m complaining. Sorry, it’s just been hectic and I’m ready for some fun travel later this summer!
THE CRAZY YOUTUBE ALGORITHM
After a slow start to 2024, the channel has really done well this past month. It has been some of the best growth it’s ever had, and I have no idea why. My Woodson County, KS, videos have done really well, but they aren’t different than previous county tours I’ve done. I put out a video about Wichita’s Towne West Mall (Dead Mall), and that did very well too. But even videos from the past are now taking off again. It’s like the stock market, you just log into the app and watch the numbers go crazy. I try not to look at the numbers that much, but when it’s going well it’s a lot of fun. We’ll see if the trend continues. It’s also getting hard to keep up with the comments on YouTube. I usually try to respond to as many as I can, but it’s a bit overwhelming now. I’m confident I read all the comments but responding to a higher volume is very difficult. I’m also beginning to get more and more messages on email, Facebook, and Instagram. It’s very humbling. If I haven’t responded I hope I’ll be able to soon!
300 VIDEOS!
This kind of snuck up on me in the craziness of the season, but Sunday will be my 300th video. I never thought I’d make it to 100, so 300 sounds insane. With doing 2 videos a week (sometimes 3), it takes about a year to get another 100. It’s been a fun journey – hoping I can continue on to 400 and beyond!
TRYING TO PLAN MULTIPLE TRIPS AT THE SAME TIME
Because of my aforementioned schedule, I haven’t been able to plan anything for later this year yet. I’m going to Hawaii in October with my family, and they are wanting to get things planned. Before that I’m going to Alaska in July. I’ve barely even looked at plane ticket options. And I’m wanting to go to Minnesota in late July then drive back to Kansas through Ohio. I usually travel solo and have no problem planning my trips little by little until I leave, but when other family members are involved, I understand their impatience to get things figured out. I’m guessing by my next update in June I’ll have more of these trips figured out – at least I better!
Q&A
Please send any questions you have to jwise@goshockers.com and I’ll try to answer them next time!
Q: Other than Victoria, Arkansas (where I got kick out), have you ever gone somewhere and were told or felt like “it’s time to go!” – Becky
A: It’s very rare for me to go somewhere and feel uncomfortable. It’s happened a few times, but nothing where someone has asked me to leave like Victoria, Arkansas. And in that case, I think the lady was just surprised someone was there as a tourist for a town of 20 people! Maybe I’ve been lucky and/or possibly naïve. If I run into someone, they are usually curious what I’m up to, and then when I tell them what I’m doing they are almost always very welcoming. One of the “problems” I run into (that really isn’t a problem) is that often people want to talk for a really long time, and I’m trying to get to the next dot on the map. I never want to be rude, and I do genuinely like chatting with people about their town’s history, but I do have limited time to get where I need to go. Like today I was at the Sod House in Aline, OK, and this really nice lady was telling me all about the history of the place. I realized if I didn’t cut her short then it would be dark before I got to my destination for the day. I felt bad because these small town museums don’t get many visitors. Oh well, they’ll get a nice video on YouTube next week :)
Do you have a question? Email me and I’ll answer it next time!
FOR THE DIEHARDS
I like to have some fun stuff down here for those of you who read until the end, but unfortunately, I don’t have much this time. What I can say is that I interviewed Traveling Robert, and that episode will be published Thursday as part of another “show” where I talk about random things in the studio. Then I’ll have these four videos from Alfalfa County, OK, that I’m currently filming. I don’t like to film when I’m on the road coaching so I can focus on the job at hand.
Oh wait I just thought of something interesting. I’ve reached out to several large YouTube channels about doing interviews and most have not responded, but two have (besides the previous shows I’ve already published). Nick Johnson and Josh from Through My Lens did respond about doing interviews later this summer. They are both currently on long road trips, but said they’d be happy to be part of the show. Nick has almost 1 million subscribers and Josh’s Route 66 videos with his dad are incredibly popular on YouTube. So there ya go for some insider stuff. Oh yeah, I’m also going to be in the next issue of Kansas! magazine (don’t ask me how to find it)
THAT’S ALL FOLKS!
If you enjoy my channel and want to help it grow, feel free to share videos to your friends and/or family! I also have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (Instagram is probably the best to follow). Oh yeah buy some merch! (but only if you want)
Thanks for all the support and we’ll see you down the road!
John Wise
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