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How to Build Your Twitch Stream From Scratch

twitch streaming world of warcraft ryanyockey

I may have to break this down into multiple posts with even more information and how the whole setup goes, but for now, this will serve as a nice overview and the learnings I’ve had in building my Twitch stream.

Check it out my World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth stream AND  subscribe if you haven’t already!

Building Your Stream
How do we go from a blank canvas to something reasonable? First, we have to come up with a theme for what you will be streaming. I’m primarily streaming World of Warcraft for the time being because it allows me to stream from my laptop and given how often I’m traveling, it will be a nice bonus for when I’m gone in a new spot.

So, pick a game you will stream often. It will help you relate to your audience and show them that you’re here to deliver consistent content that they care about.

The hardest part of streaming is actually getting yourself in front of the camera. I swear so many people have messaged me and said how much they struggle with getting on camera and have a million excuses as to why. You just have to start doing it and I promise it will be a lot easier. You can go look at my first few streams and I look like a wreck. It gets better with time and practice.

Gaining A Following
This is probably the biggest leap in Twitch. This is literally the hardest thing you have to do. But this is where you go old school. You reach out to everyone you know and tell them to open your stream and start watching it.

Until you have a regular following of 10-20 people consistently, you will have to work for those follows. Make sure to treat every single one of them like gold. They are the lifeblood of your stream, beyond yourself and what you have to offer them.

After that first load of followers, then you need to stream regularly. Over time it will grow and you will grow with them. Set a schedule and stay consistent and your following with grow.

Making Your Twitch Channel Look Professional
Looking like a pro streamer is not terrible. There are tons of free resources out there to make your video stream itself look good, and then the real work comes in all the details. 

One big part of every streamers page is their panels below the main video. This is where you get people engaged and follow you beyond just the stream itself.

Take the time to make it all cohesive and look decently presentable. It will matter in the long haul. Usually you only have to set this up once and then you can forget about it until you’re much bigger.

Services to Use
There is only one service I’m using right now, Streamlabs.com. It literally has everything you could want for streaming and making it even more dynamic. It can add nice little-animated alerts showing recent subscribers, followers, etc. It can do just about anything and seems like they are adding more functionality all the time. For the time being it’s still free.

Doing This All On a Mac
I might as well drop this nugget too… I’m doing all of this through a new MacBook Pro. It’s certainly not the FPS powerhouse like so many other platforms out there, but it works incredibly well and without building a whole new rig, is handling the job pretty well.

So there you have it. This is a brief, but decent overview of how to get yourself going with Twitch.tv and the learnings I’ve had so far. Hopefully, this gets everyone else started well out there. And if you are online and want to drop in and say hi on my stream, that would be awesome.

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The New Mission 2017 and Beyond

Late this year I had the pleasure of getting married to my amazing wife. The wedding was perfect and the honeymoon was even better. The amazing bonus was having a chance to step away from the rest of my life and reset during the honeymoon.

This was the first time in the last 5 years I’ve had the time to look back and take time for myself. Ever since moving on from my last startup in San Diego and making the move to San Francisco to work with friends on their startups, I haven’t stopped to look back.

This trip was amazing because I actually got clarity on what I want for me and getting back to hustling for myself. To my roots.

I wanted to get back to building businesses and work through a million ideas, being an entrepreneur. I’ve had the chance now with rebuilding this blog and starting to recapture my social presence.

The best part has been the process and the game itself. This game of being an entrepreneur. Its weird to say, but I’m going back to being an entrepreneur.

I am literally at the bottom of this game and could not be more excited to build up and reach for the top and beyond. I have big dreams and being driven to find the limits of everything is on my mind.

I love this feeling. I have to be patient and at the same time constantly fighting and taking risks. I’m testing everything I can and as fast as I can. I want to understand how to make it work better than everyone has.

I’m not afraid to fail either. I have failed so many times before. Countless times and sometimes it gave me great lessons and sometimes it gave me nothing in return. The idea though that I can learn something quick and turn around and try it again is fun.

In the end though I’m grateful and I’m thankful, because I get to play this game. I’m working for myself, but at the same time I’m working for you. I’m working to make you better and meet your goals and dreams by sharing everything I know and learn with you.

So thank you. I am grateful that you have read this right now and given me an amazing gift. Your attention and your word of mouth. It means so much to me that you would take time to read and listen to my stuff. I will never take you for granted. Much Love.

Lets get after 2018.

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Stop Waiting, Start Doing. Taking My Own Advice

Listen, I love this conversation about doing. We can look at any person in history who has made a name for themselves and see how they were not being documented in history because they sat around, but because they took action. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t just sit around in college, he was building web apps in his free time for his school and then built his college friends app that turned into Facebook. Russell Branson kept building on anything he could get his hands on; from music to phones to planes. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but they continued to build and test and rebuild. They just kept doing and never stopped.

From a young age I started helping people and building services. I started my own businesses in web design and development at age 15 and have yet to stop working at that. I see something I want to achieve and I go all in.

I am constantly in a position where people are coming to me with a grand vision for their next big break. What happens is, every time I ask them, they have more research to do.

Look, since my start in the online world I knew I could create big things. That started with running my own consulting companies and learning how to grind it out for other people and put in the tough hours from an early age in order to walk away with thousands of dollars before I even left high school.

I knew once I had gone through the process of making my own website back in 95′ that I wanted more of the internet. I wanted to learn it all and eventually what I learned was valuable to other people. I started giving away my knowledge and consulting with various people, before formally starting my own consulting firm.

Its all about doing work and not being afraid to put in the late hours and the long weekend and literally just putting yourself out there. Much like I am right now.