Today we’d like to introduce you to David Hopkins.
David, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started Tough Guys TV a little over a year ago, call it 18 months ago. The idea sprang up from my interest in video editing, and my propensity to always be building or fixing something. Generally speaking, I try to take on all projects – leisure and necessity alike – from a DIY (Do It Yourself) approach. Sometimes, and actually most times I’d say, that ends up being the more difficult path forward but also the most rewarding. From that thought, came the name ‘Tough Guys’ – not in the machismo sense of the word ‘tough’ at all, but more so to communicate how we do things, not shying away from the more difficult path. Kind of a ‘Get it done, our way’ type of mentality. The ‘TV’ part came as my primary outlet was ‘How-To’ content on YouTube, among other social media as well.
I’ve been in construction for my entire professional career, having grown up working for my Father’s remodeling company starting as a small boy. I am here in Crandall, TX by way of Indianapolis, IN and it’s been an amazing journey to get here! My wife and I live in an old Farmhouse here in Crandall, with our two children (5 & 7), and for the last three years, we’ve been fixing this place up and have basically remodeled the entire house! For my ‘Day Job’, most recently, I was VP of Sales & Chief Estimator at a General Contractor here in Dallas and after six years with them, I’ve made a move back to Commercial Roofing & Waterproofing. Tough Guys has very much been my side hustle, and I’ve dedicated almost every free minute I’ve had when not at work or with my family to build this brand and making content for YouTube/Social Media.
So, a little past a year into this endeavor, and I’ve crossed the 1,000 subscriber mark on YouTube, which for me was a HUGE milestone and I am extremely humbled by all the support. An even more unbelievable data metric to me is the monthly views and minutes watched, which is averaging 40K and 140K respectively. For me, this is what it’s all been about – helping people with their projects, products, processes, etc. My goal is to share my knowledge with anyone that is willing to listen or in need of assistance. I do make some funny and entertaining content as well of course, but my main goal is to give back and help out my community of makers, DIYers, carpenters, builders, and really anyone interested in learning.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The path to creating content, especially for YouTube, has definitely been a difficult road. Mainly in learning the technologies and getting the right tools that work specifically for me. You can go down a rabbit hole, researching what you need in order to start making video content, but an extremely important thing to remember is – You are You, and Your situation and needs in video creation are Unique to You! I wasted a lot of time early on trying to figure out how to buy all kinds of equipment that I thought I needed, or special software to buy, etc. In the end, I found a simple solution for me that works and has worked now for over a year.
I shoot all my video content on an iPhone, and I edit on an iPad – that’s the simple rundown. I was using an iPhone XR, and now I use an iPhone 11 – but let me just say that basically any iPhone past a 6 series would do just fine for 99% of the content on YouTube. For the iPad, I do have an iPad Pro and I use an app called LumaFusion to edit – it was a whole $20 to purchase it. YouTube offers free, royalty-free music that you can sync to LumaFusion using Google Drive (Google Accounts are Free and you get 30GB of storage in the cloud with that too). I use a $20 Selfie-Stick/TriPod I found on Amazon (see my YouTube channel for a full review on it) and that rounds out my equipment and Software.
It’s all about truly being authentic for me – I don’t feel like I can honestly help others unless I am being fully authentic in my process and videos. Because of this, I had a huge desire to keep things simple with my setup, so I’m stressing about money spent on top of the Time Investment that YouTube content creation is in and of itself! Keep it simple and figure out what is best for YOU and you’ll be on your way to success in this platform!
Please tell us about Tough Guys TV – what should we know?
Tough Guys TV at its core is a How-To, DIY, Project channel on YouTube. Our slogan is ‘Build It, Fix It, Test It” which I think sums it up pretty well! My long term goal with this brand is to build a community of makers, DIYers, carpenters, builders, etc. that are all open to sharing knowledge and helping others as well as newcomers to trade jobs. I want to raise awareness that working with your hands and building stuff is a 100% viable option for a rewarding and lucrative future as well – especially for young people. I want to provide value to those searching online for options to complete complex or expensive projects, and to help them do it themselves and hopefully save time and money along the way.
As far as what sets me apart, I feel it is my authenticity and the process in which I record my videos/content. I do so ‘as I go’ in the simplest form – I basically just record everything as I go, and I don’t pre-plan much. This lends to the authentic feel. You’ll see me mess up and then work through problems, where many others edit that type of stuff out. Seeing those struggles and seeing me try things for the first time as well will hopefully help others know that taking risks and trying things are good and ok. Not to mention failing a bunch of times along the way!!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Not to beat the same drum here, but being honest and authentic. On YouTube, it’s extremely important and even more so on social media nowadays. I’ve taken up the approach of just documenting everything as I go, and stopping the whole process of “I need to create content” because the ‘content’ part is too objectionable. What may not be interesting to me could be amazingly captivating to others – so I’ve taken that part out of the equation. I just record everything I do, and then I share as much of it as I can.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 8179997877
- Email: david@toughguys.tv
- Instagram: @toughguystv
- Facebook: @toughguystv
- Twitter: @toughguystv
- Other: www.youtube.com/c/TheToughGuysTV
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