 Sit back, relax, and get ready for a story about how I am still awkward as hell and a whole lot of name dropping in this video. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about helping people with their mental health. So if you're into that kind of stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So anyways, a lot of you know, I just got back from beautiful Los Angeles, California. I was at Vid Summit 2018, and I just wanted to go through my experience. It was one of the best experiences of my life. And I just want to share that story with you. But if you are somebody who has social anxiety or is awkward, like please watch this video because I think there's going to be a lot of tips that can help you out. All right. So let me just kind of explain what Vid Summit is. So Vid Summit is a creator event. All right. So VidCon is kind of like, you know, fans get to meet, you know, your favorite YouTubers and all of that. But Vid Summit is pretty much a place where creators like myself, we go and we learn how to grow our channels, how to, you know, potentially make some more money off of YouTube so we could do this full time and, you know, follow our dreams and all that kind of good stuff. So it's a lot of creators in one place. But anyways, a few months ago, my buddy Aaron from the channel For the Love of Tech, he's like, yo, are you going to Vid Summit? I'm like, no, man, I'm broke. And he's like, hey, I'll buy you a ticket. I'm like, no, dude, that's really expensive. And he's like, I'm buying you a ticket because I want you to go. And I'm like, okay. So that's kind of how that happened. And I'm forever grateful for Aaron for contributing to just one of the best experiences of my life. He's such a great, great dude. And I'll talk about the collab being him did towards the end of this video. But anyways, so I went down to Fresno, California for my friend's sober bachelor party, and then I hung out with my mom and dad. A lot of you met my mom. And by the way, she loves your comments. And I saw, you know, like this just outpour of like love for her. And yeah, like we need to do more videos together. Me and her are going to talk. She's going to try to come down hopefully like at least once a month and we can like batch record some videos together. But I'm trying to get her to move out here. But yeah, like we're a great team. And I want to, I want to do more stuff with her. Anyway, so I drove down to Los Angeles. I think it was Monday. Yeah, Monday night. So I drove down to Los Angeles and I got the idea stuck in my head about how I'm going to try to meet Shane Dawson. If you want to know how that went to talk about, go watch my other videos that I've made about that. Shane ended up emailing me. We're going to try to meet up at some other point. Anyways, so I went to the hotel and I met up with Aaron and some of the other people from, um, I'm in a group called Awesome Creator Academy. And by the way, for everybody I mentioned in this video, I'm going to try and remember to link them all in the description below. Like go check them out. All amazing creators. And if I forget you and we met and you're watching this video, I apologize. I love you and let's keep in touch. All right. Anyways, so I go, I meet up with Aaron and some other creators. So I, I know Aaron, Roberto was talking over there somewhere. And I hung out with Aaron for a bit and met his awesome friend Chrissy and Aaron went to sleep. But then I ended up hanging out with my buddy Ken and he's from the group I'm in and he has like a dog training business and he's also a firefighter from Canada. So we talked a lot. And then, um, Dan Norton, like if you are somebody who is a parent and you have like a baby, like a young baby, like he's a new father and he's pretty much documenting it on his YouTube channel, but also giving a lot of tips and advice for other new parents of like what to expect before the baby comes in, what to expect after the baby comes. But anyways, Dan like worked so hard. He was live streaming like almost the entire time. It was madness. So that was Monday night. I go, I go back to the hotel. I go to sleep Tuesday. I, you know, hung out with my hotel room for most of the day, doing just some work, working on the YouTube channel. I did a live stream. By the way, I have just one of the best audiences ever. Like there was like so many of you in the live stream and I love, I love it. I need to start streaming more. So by the way, I'm going to always link my Twitch down in the description. I stream over on Twitch. I might start doing some more stuff on YouTube, but please follow me on Twitch. Anyways, so Tuesday night, Tuesday night is when I go and there is the Patreon party. So we go, I go to the Patreon party and like I go and we register and I got myself some sweet Gary Vaynerchuk sneakers, which was sweet. It was part of the whole deal for going there. And then like there's the Patreon party and like this was just my nightmare. All right. This is where like it was just, it was crazy. It was crazy. Like this is where we're going to talk about the social anxiety and the awkwardness. Like I am somebody who when I tell people, when I tell people how I used to have like crippling social anxiety, like I've had clients. I've had people be like, no, no way. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I used to like just so much of the stuff I try to teach you about not caring what people think and, you know, getting out of yourself and meditating and all this other stuff. Like these are all things that I do, but I don't know what happened on Tuesday night, but it was just the most awkward experience of my life. Like I was just roaming around and like this is going to be embarrassing, but I think it's like it's important for me to share this story for all of you who are that awkward type of person and it's difficult for you to go to parties or work gatherings or whatever. So anyways, I'm just wandering around this party like, do I know anybody? Do I know anybody? And like, I knew some people, but they were like in conversations. I'm sitting there like, do I just butt in? I'm like, that's weird. Don't do that. So I'm just like wandering around, doing the labs. I went outside like every 10 minutes to go smoke because I just didn't know what to do. And I'm just walking and walking and walking. I probably got some good steps in and burned some calories. But like, I don't know. It's crazy. Like, so there was a bar and everything of those of you who don't know me. Like, I'm sober. So I don't drink or anything. But like, I was sitting there and I was like, man. Like, no wonder why I used to drink. Like, I don't know how to interact with people. And like, I was beating myself up in the head because I made a video. I forgot which one it was. But it was about making friends as a doll. Actually, I think it was the video I made about Morgan when Shane and Ryland kicked Morgan out of the house. And I mentioned like making adult friends. And a lot of you said, yeah, Chris, make a video about making adult friends. I'm like, OK, cool. So that night when I'm at that Patreon party, I'm seeing that I'm like, how can I make a video about making adult friends when I don't even know how to do it? Like, what is wrong with me? And I'm just so caught up in my head. And like, there were some people who had come up to me over the last like 24 hours and like, hey, I know you. I know you like people saw my Shane Dawson videos. And, you know, or they just knew me from the community or other videos. And like, like, so people were coming up to me. And I was telling my girlfriend about that. And I think like part of my pride, part of my ego is like, yeah, you know, people know me and, you know, it's cool. But like, I don't know. I finally just went outside to smoke and I texted my girlfriend and I just like, let her know like everything like that's going on in my head. And by the way, tip, like reach out to somebody. Reach out because our brain is our worst enemy sometimes. So I reach out to my girlfriend and I'm like, I do not know what is wrong with me. Like I can't talk to anybody. I just feel uncomfortable. I feel weird. Like, I just don't get it. I'm telling her and like, she's like, Chris, she's like, you can talk to anybody. And she she said this and it just it just clicked. She's like, Chris, you worked at a treatment center with strangers constantly, like new clients coming in and you had no problem talking to them. He's like, she's like, just treat these people like they're drug addicts and alcoholics. And I'm like, oh my God, you're right. And it just it clicked. And I just stopped giving a fuck. All right. And like, I just strutted my butt back into that party. I ran into one of my buddies, Jason from the channel, Jay leaves and I go and I sit down. He's sitting with some other people. I'm just sitting there talking and like just having a conversation and having a good time. And then I go do something. I go outside and like, I just introduce myself to some other people and some other people come and introduce themselves to me. And we just talk for like a long time. And like, as I'm talking and like starting to enjoy myself, I'm like, why was I so nervous about this? Like, and here's something that I'll tell all of you. Like, as nervous as you are, like remember, like we live in a world where people are socially anxious and dealing with their own awkwardness and insecurities and stuff like it's like what they say about animals. Like they're more scared of you than you are of them. You know, that's kind of what I realized. Like as I started talking to people, I'm like, oh, wow. They're on, you know, like they're they're a little shy and uncomfortable, but then they started loosening up and I got to know some really cool people that night. So anyways, here's a fun story. So like now I'm on my cloud nine that I've overcome my social anxiety and I like go outside to go smoke and I'm all jazzed up. And oh, my God. So did any of you watch the Shane Dawson series where he's like, oh, I met my daughter. If any of you didn't, basically Shane was like just YouTube binging and he came across this young woman who was like singing by the beach and like rapping and stuff. He's like, she's so good. He's like, why didn't she have more subscribers? And he did like a little mini series. This was like before he was doing the real deep stuff and he goes and he meets her and she's an amazing artist. And anyway, so that's the little that's who I'm about to talk about. So I'm walking out of the hotel to go smoke. I'm all like, jazzed up. I'm walking out and this girl is walking in with her dad. And like, I just go up to him like, you, you, you're that singing girl. Like it was so and like her eyes, like she's like, I don't know, 15 or 16, her eyes got this big. And like in that moment, I'm like, I just made such a bad decision. Like, I'm a big dude with a bellowing voice. And I just ran up to this like teenager and just said, you're the singing girl. And then she's like staring at me. I'm like, Sophie, uh, and she's like, uh-huh. I'm like, that's awesome. And her dad was just cracking up the whole time. And then I just walked away and they walked inside. Like it was just, but like, I don't know, just like embrace it. Like, who cares? You know, Sophia, if you watch this, I'm, I'm sorry if I scared you, but don't go around like just scaring the crap out of people. That's not cool. Like, but I was just excited. Um, I'm a very excitable person. So anyways, I go back inside. I hang out for a little bit and, um, and after, uh, you know, people, it was starting to wind down, they started to clean up the party and, uh, I walk out of like the little like party room and people are like coming and going. And I was talking to, I think Jason or something and this guy walks up to me and he's like, Hey, I don't want to sound creepy or weird, but I was literally watching your videos this morning. I'm like, what? And it's this little well-dressed dude with a red shirt and like, uh, a black like vest thing. And then his buddy's there and they look exactly the same and we just start talking and he says, you know, like they, they know, uh, Katie Morton and he just kind of found out about all the, you know, drama that was going on with the Shane Dawson series. And we just started chatting. Well, anyways, these two guys, they're from, um, the YouTube channel RKVC. So they're musicians and these are two of the coolest guys I've ever met. And we just get to talking and then they introduced me to their buddy Billy and like we were talking. And so even though they have, uh, you know, like a YouTube channel, a lot of what they do is they help out with other YouTubers and they, you know, they play shows or they help with like, uh, videography and things like that. Like they've worked on like, you know, the sets of like Swoop, um, they helped with that film that she made about her anxiety that, um, ended up winning the cinematography award at Buffer Festival, which is amazing. So like we started talking about Swoop and all of that. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm trying to reach out to her and do something and you know, whatever. And, uh, and yeah, then we sat down and then they told me, um, I forgot how it came up, but they let me know that they knew Megan Tonjes as well. And I'm like, oh no, oh no. And they're like, what? I'm like, okay, let's sit down, let's sit down. And I told him this story and like, I'm not going to spoil it now, but I told him a story about back in my old days, like eight or nine years ago when I was an addict, alcoholic, awful person. Like I was just the worst person to Megan Tonjes online. And I've actually reached out to Megan. She's like, I don't even remember that. It's cool, you know, whatever. But like this, I'm going to just let you guys in on sneak peek. Like this isn't something I'm doing for my ego, but I've been sitting on this video, like I want to make a very public apology to Megan. But like when I'm bigger and enough people see it, right? And it's not because I want views or anything like that. It's just because it is something where like, you know, she's big in the YouTube community. And like, I really feel like I need to apologize publicly, but I've talked to Megan on the side and everything. So don't worry about that. But anyways, so these dudes knew Megan and we were chatting and stuff and we're trying to figure out a way that we can collab together. By the way, guys, I'm about to DM you on Instagram. I miss you before I headed back to Vegas, but I'll be back in LA soon. All right. So anyways, that was Tuesday night and it was awesome. So now we get to Wednesday morning. And Wednesday is the day of truth. You know why? Because Gary Vaynerchuk himself is going to be speaking. And I just had one goal, just one goal. And that was to ask Gary Vee a question. And that's all I wanted. And this was in like the main room and there were so many people in there. Like people spoke in that main room, like throughout the event. But Gary had the biggest crowd, right? I'm like, there is no way I'm going to ask this guy a question. And it was just so weird, too. And by the way, even more awkwardness, like I was trying to meet up with Aaron and Aaron's like, yeah, hey, I'm in here. I'm in the very front and like, he's like, can you go grab me some water? I'm like, sure. So I go and grab him some water. And so like, imagine this gigantic room. Everybody's staring at Gary Vee. I'm looking for Aaron in the front and I'm just like, excuse me, excuse me. Like ducking past everybody and I cannot see Aaron. So like I just go meal down in the middle of the aisle, holding a cup of water and I'm like, texting Aaron, I'm like, bro, where are you? You know, then I eventually see that he's like all the way over off on the side. So I go over there and I sit down and like as I walk over there, I go sit down, I'm like, oh my God, Peter McKinnon is right behind us. Like I love me, some Peter McKinnon. So I sit down and I text my girlfriend. I'm like, holy crap, Peter McKinnon is right behind us. And then right after I text my girlfriend, Aaron, who is sitting right next to me, text me, he's like, Peter McKinnon is right behind us. I'm like, I know what I showed him the message I sent his girlfriend. Then Aaron holds up his phone to take a selfie of us and we get this picture. And by the way, Kudos to Aaron, he tweeted just like, yeah, Peter McKinnon, pretty much photo bombed us and it was absolutely hilarious. But like now that I kind of have this like confidence and was getting over my social anxiety, my awkwardness, I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to go and I'm going to take pictures with whoever the heck I want to take pictures with. So I ended up getting a picture with Peter later and we look beautiful together. Cool guy, love that dude. So anyways, Gary does his whole talk and then he opens up for Q&A. The sessions weren't as long. Like I've seen Gary like just do Q&A for like an hour or two hours. Like nuts, but there was like 15 or 20 minutes and like they're like, OK, raise your hand if you have a question. And then like the people come with a mic and so many hands went up and I'm all the way off to the side and like, I'm just like, there's no way. There's no way they're going to pick me and like my arm is big and heavy. And I'm like holding it up like this, like the entire time. And here's a strategy I use. I don't know if any of you can use this in the future. But I saw other people like they would have their hand up and then when Gary would start talking to somebody, they would put their hand down. And then they would wait for that question to finish to put their hand up again. No, no, no, no, no. Chris is in it to win it. So I kept my hand up that entire time. But yeah, anyways, this this kid comes over to me and like he picked me for the question. I'm like, oh, my God, oh, my God. Oh, I'm freaking out. I start messaging everybody. I text my girlfriend. I text Kayla from Paco Bunny. I think I texted Zach. Like I was just like freaking out and I'm just waiting and waiting. And I'm like, oh, my God. And then Roberto from Awesome Creator Academy, he runs it. And I'm going to talk more about him in a minute. Like he comes over and he has his camera. Then he gives Aaron another camera and they film me for when I'm asking Gary the question. So once I get that footage from Roberto, I will post it on the channel. But anyways, they call me. I'm like, you guys like, OK, like I have like the social anxiety and awkwardness, but I don't get like nervous. I don't get like starstruck. Like I'm just I'm just a believer that people are people, you know, some people just do things and have more attention in their eyes. But oh, my God, when when Gary like finally like acknowledged me and like it was time for me to ask my question, my leg was just shaking like this. I'm like, I've never been this nervous in my life. Like my leg was shaking so bad. Like I thought I was going to have a seizure, right? But anyways, basically I just told him like I wanted to just thank him. And you'll see this when I post the video. But like he always talks about like if anybody's ever, you know, been through something like had alcoholic parents or, you know, struggles or whatever and they've done it, then you can do it too. And I just said like, dude, I'm that guy. I'm the guy who had an alcoholic bomb. I had an addiction. I'm six years clean. I'm like, yeah, dude, I'm that guy. And now all I want to do is just help people and spread a message. And like I told him like the only reason I care about my numbers is because I want to just help as many people as possible. And like I'm going through and like Gary, like Gary is pretty much just like, why are you even asking me a question? He's like, you're doing it. You're winning right now. And like, oh, my God, like the validation. Like I don't know. I just maybe he had like a hack or a tip or he's going to finally kick me in my butt to go do a podcast or write books or whatever it was. But he's like, you're doing it. And he just basically told me to be patient. And, you know, somehow like my money situation came up, but I told him like, hey, man, like I'm doing contract at work now and I love what I'm doing. And like, he was stoked for that. And I was like, Gary, I got to get a selfie with you. So I went up to the stage, he answered a couple more questions and then I got this awesome selfie of it. Anyways, that just made my life complete. And I think I'm still on cloud nine from that. But one of the other good things that came from that was like, I just told a room full of hundreds of people that I'm an addict and alcoholic and recovery. I have a mental health channel and stuff. And I had so many people come up to me throughout the event afterwards. They're saying thank you for sharing that. And some people told me about their, you know, their family members or their friends or their own struggles in life. It was just so cool. I met so many, so many awesome people because of that. So like, aside from getting to talk to Gary, like a lot of people were able to talk to me and now I'm keeping in touch with people. I'm giving this young woman a free copy of one of my ebooks because she has a family member who struggles with addiction. So anyways, we had lunch and after that, it was time for the Peter McKinnon talk. And we go in there and Peter McKinnon just crushed it. I was sitting there, I'm like, oh, my God. So I think now is the time to let you all know, like, the series that I mentioned yesterday that I'm going to do. I went to so many phenomenal talks and like those of you who are, you know, you've been around my channel for at least a week or two. You understand, like, I try to show you, like, that we got to do everything actively, right? Like when we're sitting, we got to, like, look and listen and say, how can I adapt that to my life? What kind of inspiration or motivation can I take from this to improve my mental health? I saw so many amazing speakers. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to intertwine, you know, with my Shane Dawson videos, just videos about different speakers, like Peter McKinnon, Sarah DiCi, Cody Warner and just other people. So make sure that you stay tuned for that. So Peter absolutely killed it. And like, I was glancing around. I think at the beginning and I saw Cody Warner come in. I'm going to talk about him in a minute. And then he walks in with Swoop, with freaking Swoop. I'm like, what? And I texted my girlfriend. I'm like, I've been trying to get a hold of Swoop because Swoop and I, like, I think we tweeted back and forth for a second or to reply to one of my comments. But anyways, afterwards I went and I just like waited for Swoop. She had a bunch of people talking to her and I waited. And I just go up to him like, Swoop. And she's like, you look familiar. And like, it's it's crazy because I try to balance my ego with staying humble. But like, it's just this good feeling. Like, like people are recognizing me like, what? Like that's nuts. That's crazy. So Swoop and I talked. I congratulated her on her win at Buffer Festival for her short film that she did about anxiety. And like, we talked about anxiety. I asked her how she was doing and everything. I'm like, she's like, you know, doing this journey now and like working on some stuff. So like, you know, that's her story to tell. But basically we talked for a bit and I was like, yo, in a few months after you're kind of like, you know, been doing this, like, I hope that we can collab because I would love for you to give advice to my audience who struggles with anxiety like you do. So anyways, I'm recording this video on October 13th. Well, Swoop is re-releasing her short film about anxiety on the 14th. So tomorrow, so I'm going to link to her channel. Make sure you go check it out. I might do another review of it. I did an old review. Actually, I'll link that down in the description too. But anyway, she said there's a bunch of new footage and it's changed a bit. So I'm going to re-watch it. All right, so go check it out. It's an amazing, powerful, powerful short film about anxiety. And I know it's helped so, so many people. So Thursday morning, I wake up and I was at a hotel down the street and we've been doing breakfast and we did breakfast every single morning. And I went, I was like waiting for everybody and stuff. And I wanted to see Cody Warner. And Cody Warner, for those of you who don't know, he vlogs every single day. He has ADHD, but he's just like this amazing creator and he's exploding. And he started this thing called hashtag NoSmallCreator. I'll talk about that in a second. But Cody is just amazing. And like, I really wanted to go see his talk because his talk was about how to create a movement. So I went to breakfast and like people were like coming at different times and I said, listen, everybody, I love you, but I'm ordering my food now. I'm going to shove it down my face because I'm not missing Cody's speak. So Cody, if you're watching this, you're my boy. So I ditched my friends and I go hustle over to watch Cody speak. And like, it was so phenomenal. So basically Cody started this this hashtag NoSmallCreator because he was just saying like, you know, like, you know, we always use the word small creator, small creator, small creator. But like the the act of like taking something from your mind and creating and turning it into something that you can present to people like there's nothing small about that. So that's why he's talking NoSmallCreator and I get that. Like I love it. And like, like I want to do something like that with mental health. So I had the honor and privilege of asking Cody a question. And like Cody and I had already met in the event, but I wanted to ask him in front of everybody because that's what he was talking about. I'm like, yo, I'm trying to start a mental health movement. Like I want people to have conversations about mental health the same way we talk about physical health. I want to be casual. I want to I want to do this thing. So we talked and he gave me some advice. So I don't know. I need to figure out a hashtag. So if you have any ideas for a hashtag about like a mental health movement, you know, where we get into the solution and don't talk about the problem or like, you know, we just normalize like the discussion around mental health and stuff like if you have any ideas for hashtags, leave them down in the description because I really want to get this thing started. And I hope to start a Facebook group. But the other thing was like I'm going to be totally honest. I said this when I asked Cody a question like I was texting my girlfriend like my first night there and I was just like, I don't I can't tell these YouTubers like if these other creators, if they're really real or if this is like their persona and they're just always on, right? And like when I met Cody, I'm like, no way. I'm like, this guy is full of it. I'm like, this guy's full of it. But like I got to talk to him like a few times, right? Like before his talk and like he's just like legit, just high energy. Happy to be alive. And like, that's just him and I love that, dude. Like he's just so awesome. So anyways, like I wanted to talk to Cody later because me and him have talked in DMs before before this event because we want to do a collab together. He's coming out to Vegas soon. But like his his talk got me so inspired. I'm like, dude, I want to do a collab like now because I'm impatient. Right. That's like Gary Vee told me to be patient. But anyway, so later later that day, I like ran up to him. He was like eating Thai food. I'm like, Cody, I'm going to let you eat. But I want to talk to you later. He's like, OK, cool. So I go and I sit with my buddy Dan and he's doing the vid summit live stream. I'm sitting there just talking and out of nowhere, Cody just comes up and jumps up right behind me like a freaking spider monkey and scared the crap out of me. He jumps on the live streams like, hey, everybody, I'm like, Cody, I have a heart condition. You can't be doing that. And Cody hung out for a minute or whatever. And then he jumps over my head and it almost gave me a heart attack. And one of the viewers in the live stream actually recorded it. So enjoy. It's up on my Instagram. But here's another clip of it. But yeah, Cody is a, you know, he's in demand by a lot of people. He did a ton of interviews, a ton of collabs. So we were going to try to meet up Friday morning before I left back for Vegas and we're going to try to do a collab. We were like talking back and forth. But anyways, he came up to me Friday morning and he was like super busy. And by the way, like I could, I might make a video about like Cody's really good at setting boundaries and like I get impressed by that. Like Cody like doesn't like over commit and things. Anyways, he said, hey man, like he was like, I might have time. He's like, no, dude, I'm not going to have time. But he's like, I'm going to be in Vegas. So we'll do something then. And yeah, like that's totally cool. But anyways, the collab I want to do with Cody is like he, he doesn't see his ADHD as like a problem. He sees it as this like this tool and this power that he can use. And he turns it into something awesome. And that's what I'm an advocate of. So I think he'd be an amazing person to talk about that. So when Cody comes out to Vegas, we will be doing a collab together. So I was like, all right, Cody, we don't have got a collab, but we got to take one more pick together. So yeah, also on Thursday after Cody's talk in the morning, I went to Roberto Blake's talk. So those of you who don't know who Roberto Blake is, Roberto Blake, he has about 350,000 subscribers on YouTube. And he's a creative entrepreneur. And I joined his group, The Awesome Creator Academy, when I first got started on YouTube, I've been there for, I don't know, a little over a year now. But basically I joined that group because I just needed other people who were on this journey with me because I'm a big, like I'm big on support groups. Like I need people who get it, you know what I mean? So I joined The Awesome Creator Academy. And anyways, like Roberto, like this was my first time meeting him in person. But yeah, he went up and he did his talk. But before I get to that, like so we're waiting for the talk to start. And Aaron was saving me a seat. I go and I sit down. I sit down next to Aaron and there's this dude next to me. And like as soon as I sat down, this is like the first time this happened, like the entire event, right? I sit down and there's just like happy dude, which is like, he's like, hey, man, how are you doing today? I'm like, I'm doing good. How are you doing? He's like, I'm great. And I'm just like, I remember sitting there thinking, I'm like, what a nice guy. I'm like, that is very nice. You know, it's not often that you just meet like a really nice and just charismatic person that's like, hey, man, how are you doing? Right? So I'm sitting there and we're waiting for Roberto to talk. So me being like nosy as hell, I like look over and he's like typing on his laptop and he has his YouTube channel up and it says Free Hugs Project. And I like look at him and I get a better look at his face. I'm like, wait a second. I'm like, you're the free hugs guy. And he's like, yeah, man, I'm like, well, what are you waiting for? Where's my free hug? And he just laughs and he gives me a hug. And then this other dude next to him gives him a hug. And so those of you who don't know who he is, like, like he got really big, like during like 2016 when just the country was going nuts. There was like officer involved, you know, shootings and like, you know, the elections and a bunch of like racial divides and everything. And this dude was just going around giving people free hugs. It was like this amazing, just inspiring, like beautiful form of like peaceful activism, like and it was just so amazing. Like I love this dude so much. So anyways, we started chatting a little bit before Roberto went on stage. I'm like, dude, like, I don't know where you're from, but I was like, and he's like from like, I think he said San Diego or something somewhere in Southern California. I'm like, I would love, I would love, love, love to like work with you sometime like, like I really try to teach my audience about love and compassion and kindness and empathy and stuff. And he was like, yeah, dude. And like we were talking and he actually comes out to Vegas sometimes. So yeah, man, like we're hopefully going to meet up and do something together. Not sure when, but so stoked that I got to meet this dude. He was awesome. Anyways, so Roberto goes on stage and he starts talking and Roberto again, he's a creative entrepreneur. Like he's not just about like helping you grow your YouTuber. He's not just about like helping you grow your YouTube channel. He wants to help you just do what you love, kind of like Gary Vaynerchuk. Do what you love, create something. His tagline is create something awesome today. By the way, I've watched enough of Roberto's talks and he was like, hey, how's everybody doing today? Everybody's like, good. And I'm like, I'm doing awesome. And he was like, yep, he knows because I know, I know what he's looking for. But anyway, so Roberto starts talking and stuff and like, man, in the middle of his talk, like he was talking about something. He was talking about context and he used me as an example in front of everybody. And he's like, and here's, you know, one of my members of the awesome Creator Academy, Chris, who found a way to give more context to the topic of mental health by making these Shane Dawson videos. And he just like started talking about it. And I'm like, oh my God, like, like that's, that's just crazy. It's just like, you know, when when a teacher compliments you, you know what I mean? Like, because I've been doing it like a funny story about Roberto is like, I'm competitive by nature and stuff and Roberto goes on these rants. And like I remember when I first joined, like he was talking about how entitled YouTubers feel like people just want to pop and go viral for nothing. And like Roberto said, like until you have a thousand videos, don't complain to me about how you don't have any subscribers. And I remember just thinking challenge accepted. And that's literally one of the primary reasons why I bust out so much content. Like that just got planted in my head. I'm like, yeah, I can't complain until I put out the word. But anyways, like Roberto shouting me out and complimenting like what I've done and what I'm learning and all that like it meant the world to me. So Roberto, if you watch this, thank you. Thank you so much. But yeah, anyways, that that was awesome. Roberto is the last speaker that I saw on Thursday, Thursday night. We did some stuff. And then Friday, I just went down, hung out and things and like I had a collab that I had to do with my buddy Eric from the Awesome Creator Academy as well. And I was like trying to hustle out the door. That's when I ran into Cody. But like in the lobby, I'm like, holy crap. That's Mr. Beast. And I'm like, Mr. Beast. And he's like, hey, man, he like shakes my hand. I'm like, dude, that's crazy. And he just starts talking with me. He's like, oh, yeah. So you like my channel is like, what kind of videos you like? So I just started talking to him a little bit. And I was like, yeah, dude, I have a YouTube channel too. And he's like, yeah, he's like, I saw you in the Shane Dawson video. And I just like, I was like, oh, my God. I was like, I literally think it was like this. I was like, oh, my God, Mr. Beast knows who I am. And he was laughing at stuff and it was just it was great. So I got to take a picture with him too. So Mr. Beast, if you watch this, shout out you to man. Oh, so anyways, like, yeah, it was all in all just an amazing experience. Again, thank you to Aaron. Aaron and I did a collab. We talked about like how you don't need like a bunch of expensive gear because he has a tech channel that I'm linking down in the description called for the love of tech. You don't need a bunch of expensive equipment to start a YouTube channel. I started just on my cell phone and like less than like 15 bucks worth of stuff. So when that comes out, I'll be tweeting it out and sharing it on social media. But also my buddy Vince Leah, he's a fellow vegetarian. Well, he's vegan. I'm vegetarian and we've been talking about doing a collab. So he took me out to this amazing, amazing vegetarian place called Veggie Grill. It was awesome. I had one of the best veggie burgers of my life. We also went with our buddy Tony and those Tony's first time having a veggie burger and it was great. So when that comes out, I'll let you all know Vince is also going to do some collabs with me. He does a lot of holistic treatment for his anxiety, which I think would be really beneficial for everybody because like I always say, like medications can help, but you have to do more. So I can't wait to have Vince over on my channel. So hopefully that'll be in the next few weeks. But yeah, other than that, I have a bunch of other collabs in the works like coming up like the guys from RKVC. Like I hope to see them next time I go down to LA. Maybe I can meet up with them and then do something with Swoop too in a few months. I don't know. I don't know when Cody's coming back. Anyways, anyways, just an amazing, amazing, amazing experience and like the moral of this story, if you have stuck around this long till the end, the moral of the story is like get over the awkwardness, the social anxiety, worry about what other people think about you, all that kind of stuff. They're just as scared of you as you are of them. But think about like my girlfriend Tristan. She also said this, she's like, I just don't want you to be angry or upset when you get back because you, you were too afraid to talk to people and like that's what I want you all to remember like because what Tristan said to me is absolutely so true. Like, like don't miss out on opportunities because of these fears, right? Like I'm not telling you to go like like bungee jump off of a building or something crazy. Like, but when it comes to like having these like once in a lifetime opportunities and talking to somebody and introducing yourself, like just go for it. Like the risk is definitely worth it. You know what I mean? But I have this might be the longest video I've ever put aside for my long live streams. So I'm going to end this video right now. So anyways, if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and if you're new again, make sure you subscribe, bring the notification bell and a huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon. I got some new Patreon supporters that I just added to the thank you list. So thank all of you new beautiful people. And if you would like to help support the channel, you can click or tap on that Patreon icon right there for as little as a dollar a month. That's it, baby. Anyways, that's all I got for you and I will see you next time.