Learning from the experiences of others is one of the best ways to grow as both a Twitch Streamer and a well rounded human being. Sometime tough love and hard truths can be just the right medicine for our questions and problems. I’ve gathered advice and other words of wisdom from content creators who have seen amazing growth and success, in this post I have a peptalk from the amazing Tugboet.
Tugboet is an American Twitch Streamer, D&D Enthusiast, and father (of both tiny humans and a beautiful dog). He is a variety streamer with a voice that could sooth the angriest of fantastic beasts! Which comes in handy since he has often been found gallivanting around Thedas, slaying monsters from here to Novigrad, and describing his favorite shop on the Citadel. Tugboet’s Twitch channel has seen tremendous growth and you’ll find his channel and community packed with loyal fans, close friends and star-eyed admirers.
Tugboet’s PepTalk
There is a famous guide to Valve’s massively successful MOBA, DOTA2 entitled:“Welcome to DOTA, You Suck.” At first this seems aggressive and off-putting but in reality, it is the only guide that actively readies you for diving into your first real match. I personally find this to be a fantastic way to introduce new people into any new hobby, game, or experience.
So welcome to streaming. You suck.
And that’s awesome.
There is no formula for streaming. No magic recipe that will cause you to become big time. Sure, there are recommendations, guidelines, and suggestions but the fact of the matter is this: Streaming and content creation is so overwhelmingly saturated that if there were a single formula or magic touch that worked, everyone would be doing it. That is why it’s great to suck.
There are no expectations if you suck, no pretense for what to expect or what can work. You can dive in with both feet, be terrible, toss that idea aside and try something else. For the first year of streaming, I tried dozens of schedules, formats, and approaches. I threw everything I could think of at the wall to see what would draw those circling vultures above down into the bloody corpse of my ideas. So many times I would sign off, close my eyes and say to the now quiet room, “Wow, that didn’t work at all.” So I moved on, and on, and on because I sucked.
I still do.
Here’s a thing I have learned about making content and trying (and failing) to engage an audience. It never, ever, ever stays the same. Ever. You will find a thing, that THING that works. You will get complacent, you will think “FINALLY” but then like an ice cream cone on a hot day, it starts to spill out and drip away. It was there, you felt it, you knew it was right, it had hot fudge but it still slipped away.
Streaming is littered with creators who made it. Got that checkmark, got that big payoff, hit that goal and just stopped. Stopped thinking they sucked. Stopped thinking they needed to keep growing, keep trying, keep experimenting. You can’t stop throwing things at that wall. You can’t stop thinking you could be better. You can always be better.
Go watch a big streamer or content creator’s old stuff. I mean old. Look at the production, look at their delivery, become a forensic stream analyst and tear it apart. You know what you’ll find?
They sucked.
Just like you.
Welcome to streaming.
What did you think about Tugboet’s peptalk? Knowing that everybody sucked at some point actually provides me with a sense of comfort. We all have room to keep growing and keep improving, and we should honestly never stop trying to improve.
Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
