ZFarls here, chatting with you guys from 35,000 feet!
I’ve got a huge weekend coming up! I am traveling to the West Coast for an old friends wedding and have been looking forward to it for a long time.
This type of trip reminds me of one of the huge perks of building a little side income online and that is the freedom of your own schedule.
I didn’t have to request any days of from work or tell my manager, I simply get dropped off at the airport and come back whenever.
At my old office job, this trip would have created a scheduling nightmare and anxiety, but now I can even leave an extra day early to try a burrito shop in San Diego. I’ll let you know how it tastes!
While the money on the side is nice, the time to me is far more important.
Anyway, of course not everything goes perfectly…
Dealing With Online Trolls & Critics
Yesterday before my trip, I felt a burning pain in my head. To be more specific, I should say “on my head” or my forehead. Of course, of course I get a pimple and not
just a small one, but a real monster DIRECTLY in the middle of my forehead. This is just great, just two days before a wedding with pictures that will last forever.
Now, I am gonna feel self conscious all week long. Plus, what if people on the West Coast are just flat out mean and every place I go, they say “Hey, nice zit!”
Then, I realized just how insane I was being and how my fear of getting called out or made fun of had made my mind run wild with scenarios that hadn’t or wouldn’t happen.
My friends certainly don’t care if I have a zit and neither will I in 10 years or probably even 10 days.
Have your fears ever escalated and made you nervous to do something? The mind can get out of hand fast, but only if you let it.
I probably should have been more nervous to broadcast our weekly Madden show TWIM, which will be seen by thousands of people with this new addition to my face, but I simply don’t care. There are a few reasons why I don’t care about the haters out there and today I am going to share some of my strategies with you today.
First, let me say that as someone who was a little heftier as a youth, I have had my fair share of fun poked at me, so I know the pain is real. I will say that the confidence and success I share now was worth any struggle I had to overcome to get there.
Confidence is something that builds over time, make sure to sign up for the Reel Gamer newsletter to get free strategies that will build you up like a “Go Live Checklist” which will teach you what to wear so you feel your best when you go live.
Truth: You aren’t crazy to have some fear, but you can’t let it paralyze you
When learning to stream, very few people start with a Facecam which is a small window that shows you playing in the corner of your gameplay screen. Yet, our research has shown streams with facecams WE CRUSH those without it.
Viewer retention and subscriber rates go up significantly. So, if your goal is to buid a stream, you’d be crazy not to right? No. You have to be comfortable with your stream and take time to find your voice.
If you can start with just playing the game for 1 week, then by adding a microphone in the second week and then talking with the chat in the 3rdprogress. Then by the time a month rolls around, you should feel more ready to make the leap.
If we simply said, “You must use a facecam on your first day” that would be silly. It takes time to build up to it and as you learn that people aren’t just out there to be mean, you can build into it.
Truth: The bigger you get, the more there will be!
When I stream on our new Reel_Gamer Twitch Channel, I often think there will be more haters showing up to give me grief. After all, I don’t know FIFA, NHL, or NBA quite like I know Madden. So, if someone shows up and tells me “I suck” they are probably right.
Our channel is still in its infancy, so we don’t have the proven track record of success. However, there has been little to no haters showing up like I thought or crafted in my mind.
On the flipside, I feel confident when on our Madden page! We have a solid amount of subscribers, banners and a nice looking setup. However, this attracts even more punks that show up to spew their garbage into the chat. If they said this stuff on the new stream, I might give them credit and quit. Yet, since they are doing it on an established channel that I know people enjoy, I just ignore it and keep on streaming.
Case Study: Trolls really only have 3 things they say
I’ve heard them all before during my 5+ years of streaming, nothing even phases me anymore. They say things like this…
“You stink at this game”
“Your products cost too much”
“How did you get viewers, I could do this better than you”
Subscribe To The Newsletter and I’ll send you exact scripts of how I respond to each of these complaints from the trolls totally free!
Truth: Some Criticism May Be Valid
When a random user name you don’t recognize pops into the chat, it is exciting! I think to myself, “Let’s see what this person is all about, ask them how they are doing”. If things go well, I just might get them to follow. However, something strange happens, we really want this person to like us.
So, when they make a ridiculous request like “can you play a different game” or “Can I be a mod” we might even consider doing it. After all, gotta grow that channel right? No.
Have you ever seen this behavior in your friends? They meet a pretty girl at a party and the next week they are going to Yoga class with them? “DUDE, you’ve never done yoga before, you are just trying to impress this chick and it won’t last!”
This is a mistake I made as an early streamer, I tried to appease the new people, while I had regulars in my chat who were loyal and loved to hang out. Most importantly, they like me for me. The more I stream and the more we grow, the more I ignore new people who ask for things and the more I ask for information and feedback from the regulars.
Who do you value advice from, a stranger you just met on the street or someone you see consistently who knows you and your goals?
It certainly can be nice to get a fresh perspective and if 100 strangers tell you the same thing, it is probably true, but don’t always try to please everyone. Stick with the people who are there for you and make sure to ask for their detailed feedback and really factor it in.
So, while I still get pumped to answer questions from new people and help them out, I don’t run out of my way to get a new follower, because that isn’t a long term solution that is viable.
Ignore The Noise
Over in a special FB group, we all share one goal for the week. It varies from “stream once this week” to “Gain 15 subscribers” or “Get 25 likes” and we talk about what we are going to do this week to meet that goal. That is the goal that drives our activity for the week.
Anything else that doesn’t get us to that goal is just white noise and we don’t have time to sink our energy into it. At the end of the week, you have to report back and that makes you accountable. Nobody wants to say “I didn’t reach my 15 subscriber goal because I spent all week arguing with trolls that I am actually super awesome at playing Hearthstone” Set it and forget it.
I know this post was long, and I think it was more therapy for me anyway. We are really trying to provide you guys with valuable information to help grow your streaming channels. Reading is great, but taking action is better even if it is just one little step.
Do This Now:
Please reply to this post (I read them all and will keep it private) but let me know your one biggest fear about streaming.
Afraid you will quit before making it?
Afraid of what strangers will say?
Afraid of what your family and friends may think?
Please let me know, thanks!
P.S. I’ve got 3 Scripts To Disarm Trolls that are the written word for word lines that I use to squish trolls in my stream and keep my confidence up! They will be sent out to the email newsletter next week, we only want people that take action so sign up free now.
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