This episode features an interview with Joey Nguyen, a Marine and a YouTuber with over 17,000 subscribers. Joey shares his passion for creating educational content about military life, his journey from a personal assistant to the COO of a prominent entrepreneurship and finance YouTuber, Charlie Chang, and his advocacy for consistency, resilience, and continued learning in content creation. The discussion points cover a range of topics including the significance of educational content about military life, the transition to a digital career, the importance of consistency in content creation, and strategies for starting and improving in the YouTube industry.
Meet the Guest: Joey Nguyen
In today's engaging episode, we are delighted to host Joey Nguyen, a Marine, a popular YouTuber, and a positive influencer who has successfully built a community of over 17,000 subscribers on his channel. A passionate and dedicated individual, Joey has devoted a significant portion of his life to not only serving his country but also shedding light on the often misunderstood aspects of military life. His main objective is to make it more transparent and accessible for those individuals who have a keen interest in joining the military. Through his engaging videos and interactive sessions, Joey provides an insider's view into the realities of life as a Marine, thereby providing a valuable resource for potential recruits and others interested in this unique path.
🔑 Key Takeaways:
- Joey shares his passion for creating educational content about military life often overlooked during recruitment.
- He highlights his journey from a personal assistant to becoming the COO of a prominent entrepreneurship and finance YouTuber.
- Emphasizes the need for consistency and not giving up, citing the 10-year journey it took for his colleague Charlie Chang's success.
- Advocates for getting started and learning through doing, suggesting improvement comes with every video made.
💡 Discussion Points:
- The importance of educational content about military life.
- Transitioning from one career to another in the digital space.
- The significance of consistency and resilience in content creation.
- The learning curve and growth in the YouTube industry.
- Balancing passion and obsession in content creation.
- The impact of providing a platform for military individuals to showcase their talents online.
- Strategies for starting and improving in the YouTube industry.
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Transcripts by Buzzsprout
(00:00)
Welcome back to unarmored talk podcast. Thank you so much for listening and watching each episode and continue pleased to share with your friends and family members and colleagues and don't forget to leave a rating or review if you feel this is a awesome show and you can connect to all of my social media on the parade deck just look at the show notes or you can put in the search engine Mario P.
(00:26)
Fields parade deck and get all access to my social media. Well, let's get ready to interview another guest who is willing to remove their armor to help other people. Thank you for listening to this most recent episode and remember you can listen and watch all of the previous episodes on my social media is follow me on the parade deck that is www .parade deck .com or you can click on the link in the show notes.
(00:58)
I'll see you guys soon. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to unarmored talk podcast again. It's good to see you if you're on YouTube. If you're an audio, I can't hear you, but you can hear me, but a two weeks have gone past that fast and we have another guest who's willing to remove their armor to help people.
(01:16)
And I believe this one's going to be a fun, fast, and furious episode with Joey Nguyen. But before we get into our amazing guests, you guys know how to do it. Here it comes. Thank you. Two powerful words.
(01:29)
Thank you. Again, we're rapidly approaching three years over 700 cities, 36 countries and territories and they have been on Armored Talk podcast have been downloaded on audio in almost 80 ,000 views on the YouTube playlist.
(01:44)
Again, can't do it without you guys. The feedback has been amazing. Continue giving me the feedback on Apple podcast homepage or get on my YouTube channel. And even if you just drop it, what's up Mario, you guys know I'm going to reply within 24.
(02:00)
you to 72 hours. If I reply to you in 72 hours, you guys can go, sorry, major, get Mario, get on your face and give me 10, right? And I worked that out until 2025. But let's get right into the show. Joey Nguyen, he is a Marine.
(02:18)
He is a YouTuber. He's got over 17 ,000 subscribers. He's interviewed a ton of people. He's a positive influencer, and he does more behind the scenes. We're going to get into that. Joey, welcome to Unarmored Talk podcast.
(02:35)
Thank you, sir, major. I'm honored to be here today. No, thank you. I've been watching you. I love what you're doing. I love your energy. Now, I said, you know what? I'm glad we connected through the parade deck.
(02:47)
So can you tell the listeners, viewers, just a little bit about yourself? Yeah. So my name is Joey. I make educational content. I want to say, but also like on my, you know, interview videos, I like to just, you know, shed some light on, you know, military stuff that isn't usually talked about when civilians talk with recruiters and stuff like that.
(03:13)
Like a lot of information is left out, like how much money you make, what it's really like in the Marine Corps. So yeah, I just wanted to sort of entertain, educate and inform people that are in the military, but also looking to join the military.
(03:30)
No, I like it. And also, Joey, from my memory, aren't you the COO or something? Oh yeah, yeah. So I'm a reservist and on the civilian side, I work as a, you know, COO. I started off as a personal assistant.
(03:52)
Then I moved to creative director. And then now I'm the COO of a, you know, entrepreneurship and personal finance YouTuber. His name is Charlie Chang. So you just search up on YouTube, Charlie Chang, and you'll, you'll see him.
(04:05)
Yeah. Right. Right. And then how many subscribers roughly does Charlie Chang have? He has like, I think he just hit 900K like a couple of days ago. 900 ,000. Everyone right? Just hit 900 ,000. And Joey Nguyen, the Marine, is the COO of this online, this YouTube platform.
(04:31)
Again, you're going, yeah, Maura, you know, thanks. I'm going, you start off as a personal assistant and now you're the COO. That's amazing. I mean, that is, YouTube industry, if you guys know if you're a YouTuber out there, you guys know this is not, this is not an easy industry.
(04:45)
You just don't create a YouTube channel and you have a thousand subscribers like overnight. Yeah. You know, am I right? Yeah, no, definitely. It took Charlie, like over like 10 years to, really see success on YouTube.
(04:58)
He created multiple channels, multiple videos, and it really comes down to just consistency and not giving up. Wow. Well, let's get to you, Joey. You interview a lot of people. I love how you use your platform to just bring right information to people.
(05:19)
Let them decide what they wanna do with the information. And you interview, I love the way you interview people, but I haven't seen you get interviewed. Have you ever been interviewed before? No, no, sorry, Major.
(05:32)
So I haven't. This is gonna be, this is my first time. So yeah, I'm a little nervous, yeah. Well, you know what they say, to come on Unarmored Talk podcast, first of all, you gotta have some courage.
(05:42)
And so I applaud you because you'll be our 75th episode and that's a milestone, by the way, for Unarmored Talk. So you'll be part of our 75th episode and achievement. And you have the curse do it and you're a Marine.
(05:58)
So let's get into it. What is it about joy? Like what what how did this all begin? What made you go? I'm going to create a YouTube channel And I'm just going to start interviewing people like how did that begin?
(06:12)
So I actually got the inspiration to do interview content from Charlie So for Charlie stuff, we started to do interviews like Maybe like a year ago And so I've been like sort of experimenting on that side of the Online world for quite a while.
(06:33)
So I kind of understood how that worked before doing that for my own social media Right. And so when you first started doing your own when you started your YouTube channel and you say I'm going to take this skill I learned from Charlie and I'm going to try it out.
(06:48)
Were there any times you were like I don't think I'm as good as this is not working the way I think it should Yeah, it um, I mean, obviously you have like doubts because you know, that's that's how social media kind of works You always kind of doubt yourself until You do it and then you see like how it how people respond to it but I think if I had like a pretty good idea of what I could bring to the industry because um, nobody was doing like military interviews at the time And so, you know, that's the thing about like entrepreneurship and you know, just standing out in the market is you see like What What kind of demand is there in the market and what's the supply?
(07:32)
Right? So there was no supply for any military interviews And so I was kind of like I guess the first one to start doing military interviews And yeah, so that's pretty much all I did. I just got lucky No, well, you you mentioned it you thought through it, you know, you did some research you identified opportunities I mean, you know, that was a choice.
(07:53)
You didn't have to do that. And so you you know you took a thoughtful approach to it, and you identified kind of a niche. And then you created a platform. I think it's, again, my belief, I believe it's amazing.
(08:06)
Did you ever create an interview or did you ever do an interview? You did some self -reflection and you were like, man, I could ask some better questions. Or here's some areas I think I need to improve on.
(08:17)
How did that work? Yeah, I'm always thinking of new questions and new videos to create from these interviews. I've only done one long form interview video on YouTube, and it did really well. And I have a bunch of other ones that I have to edit.
(08:38)
But once I get those out, I'll be able to see what the popularity is in terms of which subjects are good. For example, my previous one was asking Marines what they think about other branches. So that one was kind of like a...
(08:55)
you It was kind of like a controversial topic, I guess. So I guess that's what I think made it perform well. But yeah, we'll see. I'm still like experimenting with some of the content that I have in the future.
(09:10)
Right, now, when you, I know for me, Joey, I don't like watching myself. Like if I record a video, create any content, and then watching me, I don't like that. Do you share the same emotion? Like, do you enjoy watching your content and analyzing yourself after you created?
(09:32)
Yeah, it's definitely something that I learned from analyzing Charlie's content because I would just see footage after footage, hours of footage of him interviewing people and talking in front of a camera.
(09:47)
And so that really got me used to analyzing things without the emotional side of it, just objectively, like what sounds good and what doesn't look good. And all the other things that you notice that make a good video versus a bad video.
(10:03)
And so, yeah, I definitely do struggle sometimes where it's like, oh, I look so stupid or I sound so stupid, but I just really try to look at it objectively and it's like, okay, what is the best for the viewer?
(10:18)
Yeah, yeah. Have you ever had an experience where Marine said, you know what, I was having a bad day. And when you just came up and asked me to do this interview, that really, really made my day positive.
(10:32)
Like, have you ever had one of those experiences? I haven't had any Marines tell me that the interview, like just on the spot made their day, but I have gotten messages where, like, for example, my sergeant, he does music on the side.
(10:49)
And so one of the TikToks that I made from interviewing him, I was able to... you know, there was this guy in the Air Force or something like that that ended up checking out his music and then sent him a DM like, hey, I love your music.
(11:03)
And so, yeah, just like provide being able to provide a platform to, you know, give to the Marines in my unit that, you know, need that exposure online, maybe they do music, maybe they do fitness, maybe they do something, and they just need more, I guess, online marketing to it.
(11:21)
And so yeah, that's, that's like sort of, I guess, similar to, to them. Yeah, it would make that. That's pretty cool because you know, you know, I, I'm a department labor contractor facilitator so I facilitate employment workshops for transitioning servicemen and women.
(11:39)
And part of part of the workshop is personal branding and how to build those strategies to write to get your brand in the digital space and improve your brand, establish your brand and then network and increase your brand through networking.
(11:53)
So that's pretty cool to hear. You know that your platform is creating opportunities for service members, right? And in this case, a Marine Sergeant to improve his personal branding and establish connections in the digital space.
(12:11)
Have you ever had a time when you create some content and you saved it and then all of a sudden something happened and you lost it? You know, it got deleted, maybe the digital space, something happened.
(12:23)
Have you ever had that man when you just lost the content? Lost content. I mean, there are times when it's just like you maybe forgot to record audio or you forgot to frame it right, like in the camera.
(12:42)
But I think I'm like naturally like just a problem solver. So I'll just try to, you know, make the best out of it as I can. But I've never accidentally deleted footage or anything like that. Yeah, I haven't done it yet, but yeah.
(12:57)
Probably in the future, I might mess up. So it's totally fine. Hey, I hope I didn't jinx you. You'll send me a text after this podcast, this interview be like, you know, Mario, since you asked me that question, I just accidentally deleted something.
(13:18)
No, that's cool. Have you ever had a time, you know, where you were so passionate about what you were doing that you didn't realize what time it was? Maybe you forgot to eat or someone was like, hey, what are you doing?
(13:33)
You've been in there for hours, for days. Talk to me about that. Yeah, I think so like over the past year, I've like reflected on this kind of topic of like being obsessed over things and like having like an obsessive personality.
(13:51)
And, you know, back when I first met Charlie, he asked me, he was like, hey, like, do you think you have, have like an obsessive personality. And I think he asked me like two or three times. And all times I said, no, because in my mind, I thought that it was like a bad thing.
(14:06)
And since I didn't wanna make it seem like I was obsessive over like bad things, I just was like, oh no, no, I'm not obsessive or anything. I have self control, because I didn't want it to seem like a bad thing.
(14:20)
But now I'm starting to realize that I do have an obsessive personality over certain things. So like with YouTube, with business and entrepreneurship and finance and stuff like that, that is what I'm like obsessed about.
(14:36)
And so that's where I'll be able to spend hours and hours and not worry about like other things. So yeah, there have been definitely like nights where I just stay up editing. And yeah, that's one of the things that I'll definitely obsess over.
(14:51)
And I think that's necessary for you to succeed. Well, you know, Joey, just the time getting to know you. I think it's your passion, right? I believe you're passionate. I mean, you see I'm smiling because I just enjoy what you're doing, your energy.
(15:09)
And I believe that you're so passionate in doing what you're doing that next day, you know, four days have gone by, and you're like, I need to stop the editing and go eat. Yeah, no, like in the past, I would like play like a lot of video games and I would forget to eat.
(15:30)
And so I pretty much just replaced video games with like creating content and YouTube and stuff like that. So it's just moving from one obsession that was maybe unproductive to another obsession that was, I guess, more productive and, you know, was able to make me money.
(15:46)
Well, speaking of money, you know, I know I've run into a lot of people who want to gain a better understanding of the YouTube industry and to become a YouTuber and to essentially monetize their channels.
(16:03)
Any advice for anyone out there that's considering doing that? For anybody that wants to do like YouTube? Yeah, they want they want to become a YouTuber and essentially one of their long term or short term term goals is to monetize, get their channel monetized.
(16:23)
Yeah, I think like with YouTube, it's a very, very like you you can't really learn how to do YouTube from like, you know, places like school, like traditional like school, like college or whatever, they don't teach you like about YouTube and stuff like that.
(16:42)
YouTube, you kind of just have to learn by doing it. And so I recommend just just do it just because like most people don't even get started. Most people are afraid of like the very first video that they make.
(16:53)
They don't want it to be. bad data, they're afraid of what their friends will think of them or what other people online will say. But I say just get started and make 100 bad videos. And then after those 100 bad videos, then you'll be able to, just each video improved by 1%.
(17:14)
And if you can find yourself a group of individuals that also do social media, things that you want to do, like like minded people that are into business and entrepreneurship, then that'll speed up your growth by a ton.
(17:28)
Because then you guys can talk about your videos and roast each other's videos. And then be able to nitpick and be like, okay, this is what I didn't like about the YouTube video. This is what I didn't like about the thumbnail, the title, what you did at 5 minutes and 43 seconds made me want to click off the video.
(17:48)
Like it gets like really, really in depth. But yeah, just getting started and surrounding yourself with the right type of, and even on YouTube, like just watch videos and surround your, like make your algorithm on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram about YouTube.
(18:03)
If you want to do YouTube, like just surround your entire world with YouTube. And like, I guess kind of obsess over it. You want to see success. Yeah, I've got, I've gotten in trouble with that, but you know, everyone, you guys heard it, you know, Joey said it, do it, just do it.
(18:20)
You know, if you have a vision, just do it. If you want to be a YouTuber, if you're on active duty or not, or you're a Marine veteran or any veteran, and you got it in, you just, just do it. And then be deliberate and intentional, surround yourself around folks who are in a digital space, who are in, you know, in the YouTube industry, they're And again, like Joey said, don't be afraid.
(18:44)
I mean, I remember, you know, I went back to lead a prior 20 videos, cause I was like, what was I doing? But I remember when I first did mine, it was like, I only got like one view in like four days.
(18:53)
Like what the, like, was it that bad? So, I mean, have you ever, have you ever experienced that, Joey? Like, is it that bad? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my, my very first videos on YouTube was like, I think I did like a, like a Minecraft video, um, where I was just playing and making jokes.
(19:16)
And I think that video probably got like five or six views. And, but that was like in like middle school or high school or something like that. And, um, yeah, even, even now, like, um, you know, I basically just make content to try and just give value.
(19:34)
I don't really like try to focus as much on like the numbers. I just want it to be the best as possible. And then by focusing on making it the best as possible, that's where the views will come. Wow.
(19:46)
No, great, great, great, Joey, great advice. Well, I know you're busy. And I wouldn't even say busy. I'm not going to say that, you know, an armored talks about. Accurate thinking I'm gonna are we gonna remove the term busy you're having fun You are doing things that you love doing and so I'm not gonna take up too much more of your time If you had to give the listeners and viewers one tip What tip with what you give them in regards to going into the YouTube industry or Improving their personal brand and more what would you give them?
(20:21)
Oh One one tip just one I Mean besides get started I would say just you know Take take like massive action and like don't ever hesitate because like hesitate is like Hesitating is I guess this is the same as don't just get started But it just really comes down to being able to do things Super fast like being able to go from a thought that you have in your head to executing it and making it a reality.
(20:59)
And so just, you know, it's kind of like a muscle that you have to train where if it's an idea, you just immediately have to act upon it and you can't be stuck in that sort of thinking mindset. You just have to think and then do.
(21:17)
I love it. I love it, Joey. Think and then take the next step and do it. Make it become a reality. Everyone, thank you. Thank you for again listening and tuning in. Joey, thank you for appearing on Armital Podcast.
(21:32)
How can people find you? If you guys aren't subscribed to this channel yet, you gotta subscribe. How can they find you, Joey? Oh, I mean, they could just find me on a YouTube, TikTok, Instagram by my name.
(21:44)
It's just Joey Wynn. So J -O -E -Y and then my last name is kind of spelled like a little bit difficult. It's N -G -U -Y -E -N. And yeah, so that's where they find me. Nice. Well, again, I appreciate you being on the show and everyone until next time, a couple of weeks from now, be safe, God bless it.
(22:07)
We'll see you soon. Thank you so much for having me, Starr Major. Bye everyone. No, you're welcome. Super 5, my friend. Super 5, it's our major. Thank you for listening to this most recent episode. And remember, you can listen and watch all of the previous episodes on my YouTube channel.
(22:24)
The best way to connect to me and all of my social media is follow me on the Parade Deck. That is www .paradedeck .com or you can click on the link in the show notes. I'll see you guys soon.
