 So before I go out for the beer You've got something to tell the audience you came back from Vietnam. What have you registered for the noosa try the noosa try And what does that mean? You're gonna buy your first what? You bought it I bought a bike and I bought a frame Well, no, we've actually got all the bits and pieces on it. What have you got? Specialized tarmac expert. Yeah, what color is it? It's gray and hot pink and black very exciting And you got a power meter as well power meter They didn't want to put the spokeie-dokies and streamers at the basket on it. Yeah, they're excited Yeah, I'm excited for you. Are you because when I asked you if you would help train me I got kind of like a like there was fear in your eyes. I think experience Yeah, look I might I'm gonna do really well, but we might get a divorce I'm working on my camera skills I mean I'm always working on them and a lot of other things behind the scenes on this channel But really trying to put a focus on You know getting a better understanding and intimate understanding Of the settings and by doing that I'm going to shoot better footage and I wanted to share that with you because in this video What I wanted to do is give you a bit of a channel update better behind the scenes. What's going on? What am I thinking? We're going to split it up into three parts the first part is Okay, what's the plan content? Now I know I touched on this a little bit in an update on my road bike reviews So I'm not going to talk specific about that if you want that detail link to that video below number two I've been working on an online course like a cycling fundamentals with a Cycling coach of mine David Sturt so I want to share with you what's going on there and lastly this will be the Probably the last time or not probably definitely the last time I do this type of update on the channel I'm going to move it over to a patreon account So the third part of this video I want to share with you why I've set that up and what sort of value I think it will deliver. So the number one part of this video is okay plan content now Road bike reviews as I said always going to be a cornerstone of this channel. I really enjoy doing them They synergize nicely with bike chaser. They enable me to discover new subscribers on the channel, so That will always be there the other major parts To the channel. There's probably four other major parts. There's entertaining cycling stories inspirational cycling stories There's biohacking for improved performance in the bike and look I'll always do that because I have a passion for that and the last one is a bit of vlogging so You know that could be by series to win a grade or riding around Nusa etc So here's the thing I sort of look at the analytics, right? So it's not just about views. It's about Engagement so likes and comments dislikes watch time that kind of thing And they're entertaining and inspirational cycling stories Like I enjoy them and I'm not going to rule them out, but I do question How much I focus on them because right now I kind of split everything up. You sort of get a review An inspirational story maybe an entertaining one And then there'll be maybe a vlogging style just riding around and the thing that I've sort of recognized is while I enjoy sharing some of the stories I think about riding out to Australian Cycling Academy with Ben Kirsten or You know going and seeing inform you know those videos They don't tend to perform so well and I wonder Like do I do I continue to focus on them like I still want to continue to do them, but is the channel better off where I focus my attention elsewhere not Doing things I don't like because I like doing all of these things, but It's interesting. I kind of look at the analytics of just the general riding stuff that I do around Noosa whether it be talking about the crit pig Or whether it be riding the beautiful sunshine coast or riding the criterion track like these pieces get a lot more engagement and more views and It's sort of making me question. Do I do a little bit more of that Over the inspirational and entertaining cycling stories. So I'm not saying I'm going to stop one or the other More so just letting you know that I'm sort of putting some thought to this So the second part of this video is I wanted to share with you behind the scenes. I've been working on a online course for people out there That have either just started to get into road cycling or perhaps have been road cycling for a while Like I had been at the time and they want to improve So what I've done is You know a lot of people reach out to me on this channel. It's only small and we've only really just gotten started But I do get a lot of people saying can you give me some advice on training or tips around the bike, etc and I certainly can but I don't have the credibility of somebody who's been coaching say for 10 years who's taking young athletes To the pro peloton or are taking middle-aged athletes to win masters events and that person's david sturt my cycling coach I invited him up to the sunshine coast. He stayed with me Wife and kids were away in melbourne last weekend. He was here for three days and We spent the whole day or not the whole day. Sorry the whole weekend three days Worth of shooting we've done podcasts. We've done whiteboard sessions We've done Like you name it. We've done it and I'm going to put it into it's a five course tutorial Enabling people to become smarter on the bike You're going to learn better handling skills learn more about the bike You're going to learn how to train properly and you will become stronger. So I'll put that together as a value add for people out there that don't want to necessarily get coached But they want to improve Love you Okay little spizz, okay You sure you don't want to drink water or something peppermint tea Want peppermint tea honey So it's been one of those days today when you've got kids Things just happen and this morning I was supposed to finish shooting this video But I got a call from the wife and said you need to get home immediately because I'm taking Holly to school and Ruby's staying home She's um. Well, she saw her earlier She's feeling a lot better now as one of those 24 hour things I think so I thought I'd finish off this video out by the pool having one of my Favorite two-year-old dark hails and talked to you about the third part of this video Which is why I'm setting up the patreon account So there are two reasons why I'm setting up this patreon account number one From the research that I've done online and I've done a fair bit of it. My understanding is there will be Some people out there that want more from this channel and what I mean by that is, you know more content more behind the scenes Etc now I've started to do some of that on this channel But there's probably a number of people out there that are indifferent whether they see it or not Some people don't watch the videos, but there will be a small portion that enjoy Okay, what's happening behind the scenes? So The first thing I'm going to do in terms of content over there is a monthly update Okay, where's my head out? What am I thinking? Get feedback from my patrons and number two is Do a full quarterly update on the channel and once you get get feedback from my patrons to help me drive the Direction of the channel. So I'm really keen on that the second part will be some exclusive content So quite often I have discussions with bike brands or manufacturers when I'm preparing these reviews And normally I'll just use parts of them for the review and then discard it afterwards But there's a lot of value to be had and a great example is a video that's currently On the patreon account and that is a conversation. I have with a product expert at specialized So I'm currently preparing for a video two and a half thousand dollar road bike versus a 10,000 This is usd dollar road bike. What's the difference and we're talking about the tarmac entry level versus the top level Now I'm going to use snippets from that conversation in the Video I put on youtube, but the actual conversation that I have with the specialized expert It's 35 40 minutes pretty interesting conversation. So I'm going to put that type of content over on patreon as well So that's the second part. So channel updates exclusive content and the third thing I'm going to put over there is I'm starting to get some brands reach out to me wanting to do some work together Not so much paid work because I don't really want to do that on this channel Because I don't want to be directed and be told what to do in terms of brand deals But I am getting brands say, hey, would you be interested in reviewing this? If you are which an example was the ketone drink I did some research. I tried it myself and I said, I would be happy to do a review on this product We'll give a we'll do a giveaway which I did on the youtube channel, but moving forward I'll do a giveaway on to my patreons So an example is I've got a cycling book that I'm reading now I've got one of those to give away from the publisher next up. I've got some of the Glasses cycling glasses that I wear the sun god pace makers pace breakers pace breakers I think I'm going to do a giveaway and that'll go to my patreons as well So we're going to giveaways there as well and sort of in that when I start making merchandise in the next six to three months I'll be giving a discount to people that are patreons as well. So I've set that up. I've done one tier I've kept it simple. It's $10 AUD, which is $7 USD at the moment, and that's it No other tiers despite what everyone tells you despite what the patreon Executives tell you to do. I think it's just easy to do one tier and it's Doable, right? I'm already sort of delivering this stuff over on my youtube It's not going to cause extra stuff that I need to do that. You might be concerned that I'm not going to be able to deliver I'm just going to do it over there So I'll link to that below not expecting it To explode if I get one two or three up front. That's great But I'll continue to grow and reference it moving forward now the reason the other reason So that's the number one reason why I've set it up. The second reason is You know, I want to start reinvesting back into the channel. I want to buy better video equipment I want to utilize external resources to help me film certain footage And I can't really justify that because on the other side of the fence I've got bike chaser which is bootstrapping as well. So The ability to invest in the channel, you know, this once it grows this patreon and other things that I'm offering such as The training course that I mentioned earlier is really going to help me Create improved and more consistent content on this channel, which I'm really keen to do So that's pretty much it my next video really looking forward to this one It's the shram one by I'm actually sold on one by even though I was highly skeptical Before I put it on the bike. So that review is coming early next week. And I hope to catch you in that video