J-milly's Approach to Disc Golf Content

I'm not a top pro, so there's no appeal for someone to just watch me shot by shot. You know, why do they want to watch like a low, low, low level pro or high, high, high level AM, you know, just kind of struggle through a course. So there has to be something else. Hey everybody, this is Bobby Cool daddy slick breeze. Thank you for tuning into another disc golf answer man episode. Now this one is going to be a

little different. It's some of the type of episodes I used to do in the past and that's where I reach out to people that are in disc golf but don't necessarily play like touring. Now they play, they're in disc golf some way, but they are in the business of disc golf. I love learning about people's story then their disc golf story. So I'm have been reaching out to different people to get them on the show to talk them about about how they got into disc golf.

What do they do as far as disc golf? And just learning more about what's going on in the disc golf, disc golf business world. So this first one is J Millie. Now, I did a deep dive into social media and content when I decided to come back to Dynamic Discs because I wanted to see what was going on, what was the landscape as far as disc golf media out there. And one of the guys I came across was J Millie, some of his Instagram reels and then his YouTube channel and I was blown away.

This guy is amazing. He is super talented and I love his style of storytelling. So I reached out to him and said, dude, I got to have you on the disc Golf answer Man show and I want to learn more about it you. Now, I will tell you up front, this is a lot of talk about social media, about content creation, about the creative process, not a whole lot about disc golf. So if that's not your thing, I and you want to skip this episode, totally get it. Totally understand.

We'll be back with more of the regular disc golf answer Man, where me and Eric McCabe answer your disc golf questions. But for now, we're going to do a deep dive into a side of disc golf that I am passionate about and that is social media and

social and content. And one more thing before I want to tell you if you are into disc golf and you're thinking you want to be a pro or if you just want to maybe be on YouTube for disc golf, I got to tell you this guy got has a lot of great information because I've told my team players in the past and I'm

going to tell them again. If you're a team player and you're listening or watching, you are a brand, whether you like it or not, whether you do it on purpose or not, because brand is really a just a another way of saying your reputation, how you handle yourself, how you present yourself on social media

is how people think you are. And so if you want to be strategic about it and make a name for yourself in disc golf or any other industry, social media is a very important or a very, very easy access, a very vital way of doing that. So with all that said, let's jump right into the conversation with Jay Miley. All right, so how are you doing?

Well, does everybody call you J Millie? Is that is that like a stage name or what's the sort of behind J Millie? J Millie is my legal name. No, I'm just kidding. My name is Josh Miller, but Josh Miller is a pretty typical name. So I actually graduated with another Josh Miller. So when I walked across the stage, it was Josh Miller. Josh Miller, you know, And so, and then I also in my company, there's like 5 or 6 Josh Miller's. So Josh Miller's just a common

name. And so when I was thinking, you know, I need something recognizable, when I started my YouTube channel and back in like junior high, I used to tell my friends to call me J Millie just as like a joke. Like I was like, if I was a rapper, my name would be J Millie. I love it. So I was like J Millie, I didn't really like it at first. I was like, I'm going to make my channel J Millie. And I kept asking people. I was like, what do you think of this? What do you think of this?

And I honestly got a lot of mixed reviews. Some people would be like, oh, that's good. And then some people would be like, oh, that's kind of cringe, you know? And at a certain point I was like, well, I don't want to do Josh Miller, you know? So I was like, J Millie it is. And I stuck with it. And it took like 3 or 4 months to make it feel normal. But now I literally like, it's like sometimes I even call myself J Millie, you know, as a joke. So it's definitely I I'm, I like it.

And I don't think that. I don't think it has like a negative connotation. To it at all? Yeah. No, I think it's awesome. Yeah. It's interesting you say Josh Miller being a very common name. Hello. My name is Robert Brown or Bobby Brown. I think I take up like half the phone book back in the days of phone books. So yeah, my name is very common too. I used to hate when I was a kid. I actually wanted to be called Bandit. I want to do Bandit Brown. That's pretty cool, honestly.

So, but yeah, so I get, I get the whole thing of like, gosh, my name's so, so common. So, but I love, I love Jamie Lee. I think it's, I think it's cool. But so, OK, so the reason I reached out to you just let our audience know is of course they know now that I'm back into disc golf, back doing my thing. And when I started to get back into coming back to Dynamic Discs, I took a deep dive into like disc golf content, right? Because I wanted to see what the

latest was. And your stuff kept popping up and on your on the Instagram, on your reels. And then I was like, let me check out his YouTube channel and I checked out YouTube, man, I love your editing style, But most of all, I love your storytelling style. Your recent video of the coming to the Glassbone Open. I, when the people, some people here saw the thumbnail, they said, I, I went to a, a cancelled pro tour or something like that. They're like, wait, it's not

cancelled. I was like, you don't get it. Do you not get it? That's the whole point for people to go what it was can't what is he what I don't understand what he's talking about get you in and then you started with the question and then you took us through the journey in between you. Now, I don't know if you did it on purpose or you it was intentional or what, but it was fantastic. Just how you weaved in the story of was the why was the GBO cancel what's going on?

And still showed us your play. And then of course, you you gave us the answer to the question, your thoughts, your perspective. And so anyway, all that to say is, man, I love your style of storytelling and I think it's fantastic. And I was like, I've got to learn more about this guy. So I appreciate you coming on the show for sure. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I really appreciate you saying that. Like that's something that's the

biggest thing. Before the podcast, we were talking about improving and always trying to be on a road to bettering our content and just, I'm sure ourselves. And the biggest thing I want to work on is my storytelling. Like you can tell a good story and not have good editing, you know? Like I feel like, you know, I feel like people kind of view me as like, oh, he does some good editing, you know, but I want it to be more so like he tells an

engaging story. Like that was a 40 minute video and some of the best, like the responses I valued the most was people messaging me and being like hey dude, that video felt like 5 minutes you know? Oh wow, that's awesome. That that's what I want, you know, like, I want someone to be so locked in on the video that they didn't even realize they watched for 40 minutes, you know? And yeah, like you said that, yeah, the point of that thumbnail and title was for people to be like, wait, what?

I hope it wasn't. Like I hope I explained it well enough that people understood that I wasn't click baiting. I guess it's kind of click baiting, but like hopefully not in that negative connotation where it's like, okay, hey, you know, you shouldn't, you shouldn't name it that. That's completely incorrect. I feel like it's still like, I feel like it kind of still aligns, you know? No, it was, I mean, it was a true statement.

If it wasn't a yeah. To me in my mind, when it's click bait, it's it's when it's not a true statement or what the question you put out there or the statement you put out there has nothing to do with the content. That to me, and no, I think it was just to me it was, yes, you could look at it and go, well, that's click baity, but not in the negative sense, more in the true sense of like it made me intrigued and I want to find out a little bit more about it.

And that's kind of the story I wanted to tell as well was like, I feel like there's a lot of people in the sport, like people that have been around forever know about the glass blown open, you know, but people that are newer to the sport don't really know it completely. And then, you know, when they didn't see DDO on the tour schedule this year might be a little bit confused of like what's going on and like, is

that valid? You know, like if you've only been around for a year or two, you have probably only seen the people kind of harping on GBO and like, oh, it's not like it once was, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so that was what I wanted to tell because I'm I felt like there was a lot of people who who didn't know the fool like,

you know, has been around for. Freaking yeah 20. Years, you know, and also you know how like I, I think I mentioned in my video, people, me included, are sometimes too quick to accept the general consensus, you know? Absolutely, Absolutely. You know, if I'm being completely honest, I feel like the general consensus around GBO was like, oh, get it off the tour, you know, it's not like it

once was blah, blah, blah. And I'm sure most of those people saying that had never been to GBO, you know? And so like the whole story of the video was me going out and just experiencing it. And like in the, you know, spoiler alert in the video, it's like, dude, GBO was awesome. You know, like, I don't know what people are talking about, you know, And then I just, I also mentioned it was like, don't, don't knock it till you try it, you know, like go out.

Like if you think GBO stinks, go, go to GBO next year and see how much fun you have, you know? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's all I have to

say about. That yeah, no, that's good. That's good though. Well, let's kind of backtrack so I can get to know you a little bit more and of course our our audience get to know you a little bit more. Tell me, how did you first come into disc golf? How did it start? And and did you, were you hooked on it at first or did it take a little to a little bit to get hooked on it? Yeah, so funny enough, me and my friends were talking about it last night.

I'm still buddies with a couple of guys from high school and we roomed together in college and we all ended up in the DFW area. So we've been very blessed, or I've been very blessed to have a community that's been very consistent and we've been able to pour into each other and, you know, really deepen our relationships. But around COVID, me and one of my friends from college, we went on a trip to Colorado with his family to this place called Estes Park.

And then there's this place called the YMCA and the Rockies. And they had a disc golf course on it. And we were just bored one day. So we went and played and it was pretty fun. All I threw was Tomahawks because that's all I could throw back then. And you know, kind of forget about it. School rolls around. We got, we went to Texas A&M and they are like, dude, there's a bunch of disc golf courses in the area We're going to start playing.

So the friend I played with and then two of my other room mates went and bought like starter packs and stuff. But I would really like was like, yeah, I'll come with you guys, but I don't want to like spend any money. And I really wasn't that into it. And like, I was just there to hang out with my friends, you

know. And so that kind of like kept going for, you know, probably that first semester in 2020 and they were watching Joe Mez and they were watching YouTube videos and they were wanting to go everyday. And I was just kind of like, Hey, let me borrow a disc, you know, I'll come with you. This is this is pretty fun. Like I'm glad to hang out with you guys.

And then I think it was around the end of 2020, I was just bored one night and I started watching Joe Mez and I started watching Jesse and I started from Trash Panda and like started watching some content. I was like, wait a second, this is sick. And so I think I bought, well, I, I don't know if you've seen it in my videos, but I bought my first disc, which is a buzz that I've named Jimothy. And so I started, started like really getting into it.

I remember vividly thinking, why would anyone ever need more than three discs? I remember thinking, you need a driver, a mid range and a putter. Like why in the world would you buy anymore? And now I have like it's like 200 or something. Yeah, you're you're hooked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah. And so then it just turned into US going all the time. I think that was my sophomore year, like the end of my sophomore year. And so in junior year and senior year, we started going a lot

more. One of my friends got married, so he kind of slowed down a little bit. One of my other friends just was like, I'm not into it anymore. And so it kind of like I kind of just hung around, you know, and get to the end of college. I'm still going two to three times a week and just enjoying it, trying to get outside. But kind of alongside that, you know, to talk about how I got to where I am, I've always loved YouTube, like since 20. I probably got into it when I was 12 or 13.

I tried to start a Minecraft YouTube channel. Like I just watched all anything I could watch anything that was popular at the time I was watching YouTube. I loved YouTube and I've loved YouTube forever. And so I had wanted to make a YouTube channel for as long as I could remember. So I graduate at the end, December of 22, 2023 rolls around and I'm like New Year's resolution. I'm making a YouTube channel. You know, I've been talking about it forever.

Like I just graduated college. Like I got to make at least a video and see if I like it. Kind of alongside this, one of my friends had started a YouTube channel a year or two before and he was finding a lot of success and I was helping him and like helping him edit a little bit. And so I had like a base knowledge of like how to edit, you know, kind of how I would hook people with my shorts and like, you know, whatever.

I just needed ideas, you know? And I was like, well, I'm either like the two things I'm real, I'm really passionate about are disc golf and my faith. And so I was either going to do disc golf or deep dives into the Bible. And I ended up picking disc golf, obviously. And so around that time, I just, I started with shorts. Yeah, because that was about the only ideas I had. And so it was like at that point I hadn't gotten my first ace.

So I was like, I think my first short is something along the lines of like, I'm going to get my first ace, you know, and then like following the story and then it was, you know, it was like a tenth shot ace or whatever. And then yeah, kind of the rest is history. I didn't post my first full length video until May of 2023 and it just absolutely exploded. I I don't know what happened. It's my most popular video. It's almost that half a million views. Oh wow, that's awesome.

I I only had 700 subscribers and. What? That's crazy. Within the within the day it had like 25,000 views and it just kept going. Kind of crazy, but. Yeah, that is crazy. That's pretty much the whole how I got your story. So as far as you can tell. It in its entirety, but. It's OK.

Now, as far as like disc golf, what is your goal with disc golf? Are you looking to just keep it casual or you want to like become a touring prototype or what? Yeah. So my number one priority is always going to be my content. That's where I find the most joy.

Like I, like I've mentioned, I really enjoy telling stories and, you know, watching stories and, and playing disc golf, you know, and so I've made it a story arc on my channel, you know, similar to Bodanza to make it on the Pro Tour. But I, you know, to be completely honest, that'll always be second to whatever content I'm making. So yeah, I'm trying to make it on the Pro Tour.

My SO, my wife is a teacher here in DFW and so we're not super duper flexible about like going places and, you know, going on tour or whatever. So if I ever did make it on tour, I really see it as more of like a, I'd make it out for three events in a row and then take a few weeks off and just go to the events that I'd like to go to. But that being said, I have to be good enough to do that and I am not currently good enough to do that so. That's crazy. That's awesome.

Well, like I've seen a few videos, of course, seen your reels. So I I notice right now that

there is a lot of which is what people like just the kind of throw by throw coverage, which is great. You know, people want to watch the the top guys play and they like watching people do what they want to do as far as getting out and playing. But yours is obviously different. Yours is more of a storytelling and getting and and there's a creative process, I'm assuming obviously to what you do. So what is that process? How do you how do you build a story?

Where do you start and then how do you go through that whole process? You know, being 2, two years in now, just now, I feel like I'm still massaging it out. Like, I definitely have one, right. Yeah, like, like you said, the shot by shot is not what I do. Yeah, I I enjoy watching it sometimes. But you know, when when I look at my game, I'm not a top pro. So there's no appeal for someone to just watch me shot by shot.

You know, why do they want to watch like a low, low, low level pro or high, high, high level AM, you know, just kind of struggle through a course. So there has to be something else, you know, and so if you go back in my videos, one of the first like tournament videos I did, it's more shot by shot, but not really like the typical commentary. And I that's kind of where it started. It wasn't like, oh, right here I'm throwing my buzz and you

know, it landed here. So what I'm thinking about is XYZ. It was commentary but like me trying to tell a story and then slowly that's evolved into what it is now. My process is so like with the GBO video, the A plot to me is trying to figure out if GBO had lost it's touch. You know the A plot is invest investigating GBO. You know like.

Seeing what's up, seeing what's actually not good, you know, And then the B plot is the plot I introduced with trying to cash at GBO, you know, which very quickly went out the window. But yeah, the B plot is kind of more like the ongoing story that I tell on my channel where it's me trying to play well and, you know, do well in a tournament. And there's a lot of people that comment and are like, more tournament coverage, please. You know, like, so there's a lot of people that like that.

But then yeah, there's also the people that I've commented and then like, oh, I wish you hadn't shown as much disc golf. Like, I wish you had shown more of GBO, you know? And so it's like, OK, well, who do I listen to at that point? But sorry, to get back to my point, I think of an idea of like the kind of the overarching story I'm trying to tell and

then have AB plot as well. And typically the B plot is more of the disc golf stuff like, oh, I want to shoot under par or I want to shoot, you know, I want to cash or I want 1000 rated. And then the A plot is like, you know, let's let me pull up my channel real quick. And I can say, like, the A plots usually more related to whatever the title of the video is, you

know? Yeah. Like running a disc golf company for a day, trying to impress my sponsors, you know, So my process is come up with the idea of a video, and I try to have, like, a thumbnail in mine. Yeah. And because that, like, you've probably heard this, if you don't get someone in the door, how do they watch your video? Yeah, like, the most important

thing is title and thumbnail. And so as much as I can, and I'm not the best about it, sometimes I'm trying to think, OK, what is the most succinct way I can do this title and most intriguing? And then what is the thumbnail that goes with this? And then it's like, OK, what's the story I tell? You know, cuz I value the story a lot. And sometimes I overvalue it and like don't have a title and thumbnail and I'm just like, this is awesome. I love this. Like, yeah.

But like, you know, if no one clicks on it, no one's gonna watch it, right? And and then so for like creatively, I script my, you know, most of the time I usually have like a script in general idea of how I want the video to flow before I do it. Like I can't script how I'm going to play right. You know, like I have, I'm not going to, there's no way. And so, you know, I have like an intro that sometimes I film before, sometimes I film after. Honestly just depends on if I get to it.

You know, if I film it before, I just got to it before. If I film it after I got to it after and like, like you, like you mentioned in for the GBO video, I try to contextualize it throughout the video, you know, and that's, that's intentional. Like I don't want to overload people with information like right at the beginning. My goal is to be like, here's enough information to get you intrigued and I'm confident if you stick around, I can share all the information I want to

share. You know, like I didn't really mention, like I kind of mentioned why GBO was like, you know, not on the tour this year, but like, I really got into it 10 minutes in, you know, I did a whole like, oh, let me give some context real quick of like, you know, what's kind of gone down over time, you know? And so, yeah, that's, that's my

creative process. It's it's usually like a script and then filming usually for like most of my content recently has been like tournament or going somewhere or whatever. But I'd like to get back to just like filming at my home courses and on my own time. But I just am flying by the seat of my pants right now. And then editing is, I just like chunk it up, you know, that's where all my time is, is editing. Yeah, I hear you on that.

No, all that make all that makes sense. And yeah, the editing is a is a for me a huge part as well, especially now in well, depending on like what style you use. Obviously if you do like the Sam Solik style where you just kind of talking to the camera, that's not quite as difficult. But you know, with your style and the quick edits and the text overlays and the, the, you had mentioned something on your y'all's podcast where you

control the tempo. And that's, that's see me, I, you know, guys, if you're listening or watching this, I don't know if this is interesting to you, but it very interesting to me because it is the thought, same thought processes that I go through the same you would mention about, you know, the tempo and then you give them a pause and then you

change. I love that I as the editor, well, the whole thing, producer, editor, writer, script and everything I can, I can control or I'm trying to control your emotions. I'm trying to get you to be either be excited, be in, in, in intrigued or be sad or, you know, whatever. And I do that with the, the, the tempo, the pace, the cuts, the edits, the music, the how I talk to the camera, what I show on the camera B roll or me close up

wide shot. You know, there's, I tell people when they watch my, some of my videos and the some of the things they mentioned, I'm like, that was not on accident. That was on purpose. I painstakingly figured out where I want that edit to hit, where I want that note to hit, that crash of this the, the music, the crescendo of the music, where I'm moving it here, watching the video, moving it here, watching the video, moving it here to see exactly where it,

it for me makes the most impact. So I totally get what you're saying as far as as far as the process. Now you did mention something about because I'm curious, because you know, you have a very large following on on the social media platforms. How how challenging is it to not let the noise affect you? Like I know for me as a creative person, it feels good when people, you know, say, oh, I love the video, I love this or I really like this.

But then that one person that says, why did you show this? Why didn't you show more of this? How do you deal with the criticism and the noise among all the chatter that's out there as far as commenting and stuff? Well, before I answer that, I wanted to give you some props. So I'm sure you watched from the when you watched the GBO video, you're like, wait a second, some of this footage looks a little

bit familiar. Yes. So you know, when I was in my deep dive trying to find stuff to to roll, I obviously was going through the DD channel looking at all the old GBO videos and dude, very, very impressive vlogs. I. Thank you. No, like genuinely, you know, I was looking for footage to scrape and use, but like after I finished, I was like, wait, I want to, you know, let me go

watch the other one. Like I, I, I genuinely, I can't remember which year it was, but one of the years the vlogs were just so perfect. I, I really enjoy them. Like one of the opening scenes was like, oh, it's my fake birthday with the cat. Do you remember that?

Dude, that was hilarious. I just want to say like I one of the things I kind of harped on or have harped on publicly is I kind of started my channel the way I have like with the more Youtubey like quick cut fast stuff because that's what I wanted to see in disc golf and it really wasn't there. And when I started watching these videos, I was like, man, I wish he had been around, like kind of when I started getting in, like because you stopped that DD in 20. 2020, late 2021,

yeah. OK, yeah. So I mean, I really wasn't. That was only around the time when I was watching Joe Mez. Like, I really wasn't into, like, watching other content. Yeah. And like, so my view of disc golf content was just, you know, Bonanza Foundation Joe Mez, like, just more chill edits. But when I was watching these videos, I was like, Oh, my goodness, this is like, awesome. And like that very great pacing. Hilarious. Well, thank you.

They were vlogs. Yeah. And I think you did a good job of like I've been calling like some of my videos are disc golf adjacent you. Know like. People want to watch disc golf and so I try to have disc golf in every video, but sometimes the disc golf doesn't start till 10 minutes into the video. You know, and those videos you show some highlights sometimes, but you're not playing disc golf. And I was still very like, I enjoyed it you. Know good. Awesome.

Props to you. I appreciate that I. Literally watched all of your old GBO videos because I wanted footage, but also at a certain point it was just like, OK, I'm just enjoying watching these videos so.

That's cool, I love it. But yeah, to answer your question, I talk about this with my wife sometimes I feel like when I first started and what like felt like I had something to prove was more so when like a comment that was like, I wish you did this or oh, this video sucks or whatever would get me more. But something I'm very grateful to have is my wife is just super supportive.

And like, because of that, I kind of have the, like, I feel like I have like a barrier almost like most of the time when someone comments something that's hateful or, you know, mean or whatever, my immediate thought is just like, you know, they're insecure. Like they're, you know, like, I mean, yeah, they're just commenting that 'cause they want to put me down. Yeah, like. And honestly, that's truly what I believe it is most of the

time. And there's only been like a handful of comments that have like really got under my skin. So I don't know, I think that I've been blessed with a confidence because my wife is just like, so encouraging and really supportive of what I've done. And then when I started, I found success very quickly. And so in a way, I feel like that's giving me confidence to just, you know, kind of block that out, you know? Yeah, as humbly as I can say. That no, I get, no, I totally get it. It's it.

But it's I found it interesting how in the sea of positivity, we tend to hone in on that negativity. Yeah. I remember there was a time where like I had really started to get into what I was doing. I was working full time here, so I was able to pump out a lot of content and I was feeling great. It wasn't really something, it wasn't really a lot of of style of content that manufacturers were putting out. So it really, it really helped

us stand out. And I but I remember for some, I don't know who it was, but he commented on at least three or four of my videos and he literally said you are the worst thing to happen to disc golf. Wow. And then on another video said you need to be fired from Dynamic Discs. You are terrible. And I'm like, what is this guy's I I think it was an episode where I even talked on the disc golf answer. I talked about him. I was like, what is this man's deal? And everybody kept saying it.

So my point is like, your, your support system. Yeah, my family, the people here were like, dude, stop listening to them. Look at all the other comments. People are loving it. They think it's great. But it's always that it's like in the back of your head is like, what is your deal, dude? You know, I always want to say what? Let's get on the phone. What is your problem? What is your problem?

So yeah, yeah, sometimes you have to kind of I and I get the whole thing where you don't want to sound like too overconfident, but you have to have, you know, the the other way of looking at that, you just have to have a thick skin and you have to know that you know what, I'm just doing what I love doing and people are loving it. And so I'm going to keep giving the people what they want and just kind of ignore that the

negativity. Yeah, well, well, luckily for me, I feel like most of the time I get something hateful. It's something I've already thought, you know, it's like, yeah, I already knew about that. Like one of the things when I first started, like I said, I tried to ace, you know, I hate I hateful comment I got a lot is that's not a real ace, you know, like that's not a real ace. But then usually followed by like, get out, get out of the sport.

You know, we don't need that. Like you're too quick pace like I got early on. I got a lot of like you're bad, like same, same to you, same thing you got probably is like you're bad for the sport. You know we don't want you in the sport doing this. Wow. And so I feel like those at first definitely hurt my feelings. Those were ones.

And then recently in a video, it was, it was some comments that got me and it was because it was something that I had thought in the back of my head already, you know. So it was the I tried to qualify for a pro tour event video 4 videos ago. And I tried to go to Waco and qualify and I just played really bad. And I was gonna scrap the video cuz I was just like no one really wants to watch me play really bad. But I like I think I posted on my Instagram story and I was

like, should I scrap this? And I got 8 million comments that were like, no, post a video. We want to see like journey and struggle and blah blah blah. And in the back of my head I'm like, man, like they're just going to like people aren't going to watch, watch me play bad. And so I post a video and you know, like you said, it was a million comments that were like, dude, sucks that you play bad, but we really appreciate you like letting us in on this and blah blah blah, blah.

But then there was like 5 or 6 comments that were like this dude's 60 rated, he should be 800 rated, you know, or this dude is so bad at disc golf. Why did you even post this? You should have just kept this in the drafts, you know, and it was just the reason it got me was because it was like my thoughts are ready you. Know it was like. I was worried people would think this and then they thought it

and so Dang it, you know? And it really those comments got me. But other than that, most of the time it's just drivel and like just meaningless.

And I read it and I'm like, OK, you know, you can think that like I'm not going to respond or give you the time of day and so. Yeah, it is interesting to find out what's popular and what people really want to watch. I remember it early on when I was doing content and I was thinking, you know, I like disc golf, but I don't, I don't, I don't like die and breathe disc golf constantly, right? And so I couldn't I don't, I can help someone learn a little bit about disc golf as far as like

throwing discs. I'm I'm not great at throwing discs and I always that always hindered me or it kind of held me back from doing stuff as far as me throwing discs. And I was scared that people were going to pick on me for not being really good at disc golf. But then I realized that people actually appreciated that, right? They saw Eric McCabe throwing the discs. They can't throw like Eric McCabe, but a lot of people could. They'll throw like me.

So they have the same struggles. So yeah, so watch, you know, watching you struggle, but having this higher goal, definitely. I could see where people are like, man, I just want to see this guy try and I want someone to root for. And actually he's he's he's more like me. He's more just a kind of a casual guy. He's just trying to trying to do good at a sport that he fell in love with. So I think that's great. And. And luckily it's a lot of people giving me props and being like,

we know you'll get there. You know, we appreciate that it wasn't just like that. You know, they, they're like, this is part of the journey, you know, and, and like the people that are here already are like, dude, like we're glad to be in this low because when the high comes, it'll be even better because we saw you when, you know, you were not playing well, which has been the last few months. Well, let's keep, I want to keep diving into some strategy stuff.

So, so you, you said you love YouTube. So you, you know, you've, you've learned a lot about YouTube. I'm sure you, a lot of things you do are intentional. You mentioned, you know, the thumbnail and the first few, you know, gosh, the, it used to be, I remember reading articles where it was the first, you had to catch them in the first 7 seconds, Then it was you got to catch them in the first 3

seconds. And now I've read that when it comes to TikTok, if you don't capture their attention in the first one or two frames, you're going to lose them. And that's just insane. So in your creative process, in your storytelling, how do you balance between wanting to create content, telling a great story, but also making sure that you do the things that get people to watch your video? I feel like how I do it is my shorts are tailored to the

algorithm. Yeah. And my long form videos are where I can just do what I want to do. OK. Like when I'm thinking about a short that's like, like you mentioned, that's when I'm OK What is the opening shot? You know, what is the line that I'm going to make people watch the rest of want to watch the rest of everything? You know, this disc has dimples on it.

You know, this disc is blah, blah, blah, you know, and then have a shot of whatever is very intriguing and then also have some but, you know, like some tension that's going to, you know, unfold and then right as it reveals is when the video ends, you know. And so that's my, like, thought process for shorts, like very tailored towards what is needed to give use. Not that I don't enjoy them.

I really enjoy making them. And I put a lot of creative effort to make them as engaging and fun and storyful as I can. And like, yeah, I try to put funny stuff in there too, because that's just kind of who I am. But then from my full length videos, you know, I think a lot about title and thumbnail. But in terms of like intro, most of the time it's kind of just like, how do I want to introduce

this story? You know, like I'm, I'm edit, I'm in the creative process with a video right now where I went, and I already did this once. I went and investigated an abandoned course in Michigan. Well, Jesse at Trash Panda found another abandoned course in Denver that we went and checked out. And so I just filmed the intro for this video, which I had already scripted before, and it's pretty much just like setting the stage.

And I don't really mention the abandoned course that we're going to in this video until 20 or 30 seconds in which. You know, if you talk to Mr. Beast or some of those other guys, like I'm going to lose everybody.

But my mindset with full length content is I'm trying to post, like, every video I post, my goal is for someone to watch it from 10 years from now and not notice the difference in quality from the videos I'm posting in 10 years, you know, and like, also still be engaged, you know, like, it's a video they can enjoy as much in 10 years as they can enjoy now. Yeah. Like, it's not a disc review.

It's, it's, it's more than that. And so every time I make a video, my goal is just to prove myself to the viewer that regardless of what video they click on of mine, they're going to enjoy it. You know, like, yes, I think a

lot about title and thumbnail. And I want to drive new people into my videos, but what I'm trying to accomplish as much as possible is just gaining trust with the general viewers so that, you know, slowly my baseline views on each of my videos just grows, you know, like this many, this many people trust me to just watch every single video I post, you know,

regardless of the topic. Like, you know, you can go around the sport or even just general YouTube and see people that are very based on like, hey, this has to be a good idea or we're not going to get views. You know, here's a video that got 1 million views. And then their next video they posted got 20,000 views. You know, and it's like that that's, that has to happen for someone to grow, right?

But my goal is like sustainable growth where it's like, yeah, maybe I do have a video that pops every so often, but then you look at my baseline views and it's not that drastically different because I have an audience who is like committed to coming back to every video. So like that's that's kind of my mindset with like not worrying as much about my intros in my full length videos. I'm obviously still like trying to like, I'm not just talking about Willy nilly stuff.

And it's going to be fast-paced and related to the video, but I'm not typically really worried about that first line, you know, like it doesn't have to be as it's not as important to me as like a short is, you know, like for this abandoned course video, it should be like in this video, I'm going to go to blah, blah, blah. And this is going to happen and Oh my gosh, you have to stick around to see this.

But like, instead I say, half a year ago, I investigated an abandoned disc golf course in Michigan. And while I say that, I'm like loading up my suitcase. And so my goal is like a little bit of like, wait, OK, so he did this before. And then why is he loading his suitcase? And then so for the whole intro, it's kind of me like putting stuff in my suitcase, shutting

it, you know, pulling it open. And then right at the end of the intro, right before things start moving is like me walking out the door and being like, all right, I'm going to Colorado to look at this abandoned course. And then it's gonna like hard cut and do like a little montage really quick to get to Colorado, you know, and that's more of a creative decision for me just because I like that. Like I, I think it's interesting and I found the perfect music track that I think is like

really awesome. And it's more just like, that's what I think is sick and I want to do it rather than, oh, I should prioritize boosting this course right at the beginning.

So we really want to see what's going on with it later, so. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. One of the things as I'm listening you talk through it is what I've learned over time, is trying to be more organized and structured. At the beginning. I was at the beginning when I made the vlogs here at Dynamic Discs, I was really just like, OK, I kinda know what's gonna happen for the day. I'm just gonna film everything and hopefully a story happens. Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes I had to make up something to make it come together halfway through the day cuz nothing's happening. But I'm starting to learn that, you know that definitely. Has to happen time to. Time. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's sometimes. You just have to let it go. And you have to wing it. But so many times I was like, OK, what am I going to talk about? Oh crap. I'm just going to film everything that happens and see what happens, what comes up along the way.

So, so that's something I've learned is to do more of a of a pre scripting, figuring it out. Because right now I'm getting, well, I'm getting ready on Tuesday, I'm going to fly out to Portland for the Northwest Championship. Awesome. And we're going to do it. We're going to, I'm going to try bringing back the disc golf adventure vlog style stuff that we used to do. Of course with the new latest type of editing and styles and

stuff like that. I want to bring kind of the newer stuff to it, but it's like a little daunting. I'm like, oh crap, have I even thought about what we're doing? What are we going to do every day? What am I doing? So. When, when, When people ask me, you know, what do I need to do to improve my YouTube videos for disc golf? I always tell them like, well, OK, I pretty much tell them what I, what I don't do. But I think I've gotten into a position where I've proven myself enough that I can do

this, you know? But I always tell them, like,

get that intro, you know, like, that's your priority. Like, if you have a good intro that sets the stage for your video, people would just stick around for the rest of it, you know? And so for you, yeah, like, yeah, that's what I would say too, you know, after I just said the opposite about my stuff. But. No, I'm, I'm trying and the whole thing I'm trying to like, OK, what's the, what's the kind of the put in your term? What's going to be my a plot? Is it just going to the event?

No, it's got to be something more. Than that. So have you been to an event since you? No, that's one of the things was going to be like my, my getting back to what are disc golf tournaments like now or something like that. Have they changed much or something? So, yeah, but yeah, it's going to be fun. I love doing that stuff, you know, as as a content creator

trying to do that. One of the challenges I do have is you mentioned about kind of what you give your audience and you kind of want to give them the same thing because you don't have the spikes because you don't want to make something super crazy and then your next video be like something totally different because then people are like, wait a minute, what am

I doing? I used to tell some of my players that were on our team is that imagine if you went to your favorite Taco spot and you had your your meal that you always wanted the three steak fajitas and they were the best, right? And on the you've been going for years and all of a sudden you go back and they turned into a spaghetti shop. You're gonna be like, wait a minute, I want my three tacos, right? I'm not want spaghetti. It's the same thing with content.

It's like this is what they came for. This is what they love. Be careful how you navigate and you change. And I'm not saying you can never change, but you can't just, you know, abruptly change the style on them. But with with the dynamic disc YouTube channel, the battle I'm facing is that I've got I want to tell the story of dynamic discs, but I also want to tell the story of the team players. And it's like, do I show the coverage of them playing? Do I mix that in with disc golf

answer and podcast? And then I got to mix that in with fun crazy stuff. And it's like, how do I find a good balance so that people don't go, this isn't what I came for, you know, I came for something else. So I'm working through. I have an idea of how I want to do it, but I'm working through that. As like a brand entity, I feel like I've seen a lot of success with serialized content, you know?

For me. They don't really do it that much, but as a brand, it's like there there might be people who only come for the disc golf answer man podcast, you know, and then there might be people that only come for the fun vloggies. If you are good about titling it, you know, maybe just have a second part that, you know, have a hooky title and then have a second part that says disc golf answer man podcast episode, blah, blah, blah.

Then, you know, hooky title. And then this Golf Adventures episode 1, you know, then people will know what to expect from those of it. Like it's almost a subset of the of the channel. Yeah. Like it's kind of it's like instead of being a Taco shop at Dynamic Disc, you'd be like a mall where you can still have a Taco shop segment, which is just, you know, the disc golf at answer man podcast and people know to expect tacos from there.

But you also have, you know, the subway, which is adventures, you know, like I think I think that would be successful as well. And I don't think it would be something that would be confusing as long as you, you know, kind of put a title or something in there that delineates it from the other

stuff, right? Yeah, and I think the the underlying story that will always be maybe not in your face, but kind of felt is that we're just telling stories about people, right the disc, you know, the the pot like this this right here. I'm telling stories about people in disc golf. You know, I'm telling the story of an adventure going to Portland because I want to see what's going on with disc golf and how it's grown.

And you know, so that's going to kind of be the overlying over arcing story is growing the sport of disc golf, right. And so I kind of see that and it was a similar challenge. I had it when I worked at Tulsa Shields because within the store, it's like a mall itself within there with 75 different shops and trying to figure out how do I create content that tailors toward the guy that hunts and how do I make content

that also then appeals to? Well, not necessarily appeals, but if I have the guy that hunts and I show the latest rifles or the latest hunting gear, he'll want to see what's going on. But then I got to show the latest jeans that come out for the ladies. And so it's like, how do I find the balance? So it's almost like even the the look, the aesthetics of each post was a little bit different. That way you can kind of subconsciously go, oh, OK, this

is more of a passion post. This is more of a hunting, this is for me. Yeah. So. But cool. OK. Would title the video something like what's changed in disc golf in the last five years. Yeah, or something like. That and and then, you know, in the intro be like, hey, I've been out of the sport for five years, you know this. And then you have I'm sure you have Buku's of content or like, you know, stocked up footage and be like, this is what it used to be.

I don't know what to expect. Yeah, let's check it out, you know, and then and then the B plot would be, you know, we're Dynamic Discs. Look at these awesome team players, you know, this one's performing well or you know, get a practice round or whatever, you know? I think the C if I had AC plot, it might be something that would be a recurring theme sometimes would be trying to find the best Taco shop. So I love my Taco. So but no, that's I love that. That's that's that's good info.

So I'll probably be working on that a little bit this week. I'm going to take some time off. Of course, we're recording this on Friday right before Memorial weekend. So but I don't want to take up too much more of your time. So I appreciate you taking the time. But just some some quick shot questions to help understand

your, your thinking. Let's say if the PDGA called you tomorrow, and maybe they already have, gosh, as much as awareness you're building for yourself and they asked you to make a video to introduce someone to disc golf, what would it what would it look like? The PDGA has not called me. To do that. Hello, PDGA. Come on. Yeah, come on, man. Come on, pay me. Hi. This guy but I actually let me see if I have the script.

Here, do you have one? I want to make a video called Why You Should Play Disc Golf. There you go. And I want it to be so I'm sure. Or maybe not. I'm sure. Have you seen Casey Neistat before? No, yes, yeah, that dude, I, I when he started his one year vlog every day, one once a day. Oh, I was eating that up. Such good stuff it.

Is like a Nike ad commercial. So what I would want to do is like something really fast-paced like that, OK, with, like some cool, you know, if I could find some cool stock footage that I can overlay and like, you know, kind of more like the video would be two minutes, you know, And so it would be kind of, I would want it to jump between serious and funny and like, really hit on the points that say, you know, here it says disc golf is free to play. 80%. Eighty, 8% of Americans live

within 10 miles of a course. I put getting outside is scientifically proven to be good for you. And there's no barrier to entry. And I I, you know, like any age can play. I truly believe disc golf is like the most accessible sport out there. You know, like, I won't argue with a wall when it comes to that because like what I just said, you know, you need one disc that's $8 in a used bin. Almost all courses are free. And like I said, they're within 10 miles of 88% of Americans.

You know, if you're older, if you're younger, like you can still throw a disc, you know, like maybe your form's a little wonky, but you can get it 200 or 250, maybe even 300, you know, and like anyone can play. And like, I, yeah, I, I'll talk about it and, and, and say like I, I, I want disc golf to get to the masses because truly anyone can play and it's so fun.

And I feel like it could just really launch itself into like bigger than pickleball, you know, like bigger than some of these sports that have crawled up in the last few years. So yeah, that, that would be the video I'd make. It's just like essentially a pitch. I don't know. I want to make that video. I think it'd be really cool. I think that's cool. I'd love to see it. Yeah, that's pretty cool. All right, well, J Millie, I appreciate your time.

I've learned a lot and I'm going to continue obviously, watching your stuff and learn more and more and hopefully we can stay connected. What it what is your like? What's your like 5? How, what, how, what would you want to see for yourself in five years? Is it still in disc golf? Is it doing something just more in YouTube or what? I well, so I, I work full time right now. I'm an engineer at a company.

So I mean, you know, don't tell the company, but my goal is to do disc golf full time in five years. I really, I really love this sport. I love making content. Yeah. You know, right now there's not a ton of money in disc golf, so I'm not making a ton of money, but this is what I want to do. And so I'm going to try my best to figure it out. So that's first and foremost that in five years. Yeah. I I want to be doing disc golf

and making YouTube videos. I never really want to transition from disc golf YouTube. I don't know maybe my mind will change but as of right now like I don't really like when I don't know. I don't want to hate or anything but I'm not a big fan of when people make other kind of content like start doing video

games or. Oh yeah, yeah. Like, I'm just going to make disc golf content, you know, OK, maybe if I get to a insane size and I feel like I've capped and I can make other content, but I really don't have other ideas right now. You know? Like my ideas are all disc golf stuff. That's what I'm passionate about. Yeah. That's the content I want to make, so that's where I see myself in five years. I see myself at 1,000,000 subscribers. Boom, I love it yes yeah, that's fantastic.

That'd be great. So well, good for you, man. Well, you definitely have the talent for it. You have the I for it and the work ethic for it. So it I love it and I'm I'm sure you'll you'll be able to hit those goals, whatever those goals are as far as subscribers and and reach and stuff like that. So. But where do you use? Yourself in five years. In five years.

Oh God, I want to, for the lack of a better way to say it, I want to bring Dynamic Discs back to when it was I, I, I knew Dynamic Discs when it was at its best. But that's to imply that it's, it's bad. It's, it's really not bad right now. There are a lot of great people that work here and they have a passion for growing the sport. They want to see it succeed. There's been a lot of punches that disc golf has taken and Dynamic Discs has taken and some of the other brands.

And I think some of it's been fair, some of it's been unfairly ridiculed. But man, I want to see it back to where I'm just on my hoverboard in the warehouse telling people about new stuff we have coming out, going out to disc golf tournaments and meeting people. And just. I'll tell you what it was. I told my fiance when I was coming back that this was like, this was less of coming back to a job and more of like getting back to like a family reunion. It really was.

She even mentioned when she was here when I came for the. Oh, by the way. Yeah. Oh, should we tell people that you knew about this before? Yeah. Yeah. So inside scoop. So when I whistleblower. No, he did great. And I appreciate that I was here for the Glass One open block party. And I wanted to do a a video announcement, which we never ended up using because it didn't it didn't have the tone I wanted. It didn't turn out I wanted.

But I was filming something. And you were in here filming for your Glass One open episode. I'm a suit, right? Yeah. You were talking to Eric McCabe. And, you know, I said hi to you and everything, and I recognized you. And I thought that was cool. And then I saw you guys walking around the camera. I was like, whoa, whoa, hey, wait a minute, guys. Don't don't say anything because it's not official yet. It was like a week before I spotted in the dynamic.

Square House. So anyway, when I came that time, I had my fiance with me because I wanted her to meet a bunch of the people. And one of the things she pointed out was like it whenever I saw everybody was saying, hey, how are you doing? It wasn't just a handshake, it was a big old hug. And it was just like, that's what it's all about here. It wasn't just a slogan. It really is all about family here.

So anyway, I wanna see. I wanna see dynamic Disk back to how great it was in the eyes of the customers and everybody out there. Yeah. And I know it can get there. So. But that's how I'd like to see myself in five years, still making goofy content and having fun. That's the cool thing that I, that drives me is the goofiness. I'm on camera that you see in the video. It's just because I'm having a great time, man. Yeah, yeah. I don't care when I mess up.

You know, people, you know, we're talking about strategy. And here I go on a tangent myself. We talk about strategy when I make a mistake. I love it when people comment on it because give me that engagement, you know, You know, give me all that. True. And I just have a great time doing it, and I want to keep having fun while I'm doing it. That's how I see myself. Totally. I mean, that's that's what it's all about is truly enjoying what

we're doing, right? Yeah. So that's part of the reason I want to do disc golf on YouTube. That sounds sounds like a lot of fun, right? Nice. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. All right, well, I'll let you get to your day. And I, again, I appreciate Jimmy Lee. But real quick, I know most of the my listeners and viewers are gonna know who you are, but just in case, how can people check out your stuff? It just popped up everything. Yeah, very cool.

I would yes, if you want to be, if you have not watched his YouTube stuff and you want to be introduced to J Millie, I would say the Glossman open video is definitely a great one to start with. And then just, you know, start looking into all his other stuff. So I know I'll be watching. So, so I appreciate it, man, and I hope you have a fantastic day and hopefully we can maybe, you know, every now and then check back in with you and see how things are going. And yeah, awesome.

All right, guys, you have a fantastic day. All right, good stuff from Jay Millie. Thanks again to him for jumping on the show, man. I learned a lot about his creative process. That was so good. Again, guys, I know that this was not quite about disc golf, but it was kind of what he what he referred to as disc golf adjacent. So interesting stories to learn about what's happening in disc golf. If you like this kind of stuff,

put in the comments below. Tell me someone I need to reach out to. Who should I reach out to learn more about their disc golf story? And if you're listening to this on audio and on Spotify, you should be able to leave a comment or you can go to the disc golf answerman.com website, go to send in your question and just let me know. Let me know there.

Say, hey, I was listening to one of your episodes about disc golf stories, and I think this person would be an interesting person to learn more about their disc golf story. Guys, thank you so much. We'll see you on the next episode.