Glen Henry on Stability, Enterprise, and Beleaf in Fatherhood

“I used to be a keep at house dad and struggling artist making an attempt to determine how one can make ends meet,” Glen Henry, the creator behind Beleaf in Fatherhood, responded when requested concerning the inception of his video profession. His unique intention was to make use of his YouTube channel as a medium to advertise his music, however the group he drew on-line had different concepts. “Individuals needed to know extra about fatherhood than they needed to listen to me rhyme. I began to create movies on the sensible facets of fatherhood and the difficult elements of it. I didn’t shrink back from something. I may speak about all of it. It grew to become this insider’s have a look at black fatherhood.”

“I didn’t shrink back from something. I may speak about all of it. It grew to become this insider’s have a look at black fatherhood.”

That insider’s look stuffed a much-needed hole for viewers who had been accustomed to the media’s portrayal of black fathers as uninvolved and absent within the lives of their kids. His narrative was so unusual that when the channel first began garnering consideration, and as Henry shared with the information website Popsugar, some viewers started commenting with jabs like, “He’s going to depart his household in per week” and “I didn’t know black fathers existed.”

As an alternative of shying away from these stereotypes, the stay-at-home father of 4 met them head-on, utilizing his platform to share an unfiltered have a look at his life.

“[The thing that’s] fascinating about being a father or mother, it’s a kind of ideas that folks attempt to make studious like you possibly can discover ways to be a father or mother by a e-book. However your dad and mom normally don’t inform you how one can be a father or mother,” Henry defined. “They normally simply survive it and are like, ‘effectively, I’m glad that’s over, good luck.’ Being a father, I spotted nobody was declaring the potholes that had been developing, I simply stored falling into them. I hoped somebody would take me underneath their wing and assist me be a dad. However most males had been like ‘dude, I’m making an attempt to determine it out as effectively, so don’t come over right here and attempt to get any mentorship from me.’”

With nothing to study from however first-hand expertise, he determined to share these classes in real-time, paying it ahead to the subsequent technology of dads.

“I spotted that if I used to be feeling this fashion then so had been the those that had been coming after me. So I made a decision I’d attempt to present a really genuine, unscripted have a look at fatherhood. I don’t know if I’m doing this proper or fallacious. It wasn’t like I had the solutions. It was similar to, ‘ what I simply discovered?,’ or ‘I screwed up,’ or ‘ensure you do that when you have the chance to.’ It was nearly [the audience] studying with me. It wasn’t like I used to be making an attempt to show you.”

“It was nearly [the audience] studying with me. It wasn’t like I used to be making an attempt to show you.”

Backed by the assist of a thriving and continuously rising group, Henry has revealed a e-book, shared the ins-and-outs of being a keep at house dad in a extensively streamed Ted speak, began a profitable podcast together with his spouse titled, How Married Are You?, and has plans to convey the story of fatherhood to a different podcast this fall known as Lifeless Beat Dads, the place he’ll sit down with a lately incarcerated buddy to speak about his transition again into society and the nuanced and complex world of parenting.

Henry admits that success didn’t occur in a single day, and he doesn’t shrink back from the hardships he encountered within the first two years of Beleaf in Fatherhood. In actual fact, when he first launched on Patreon, after listening to Amanda Palmer speak about her success with the platform throughout a Ted speak, he felt like operating his web page was an additional time expense. Then, he realized the true worth wasn’t simply in creating unique content material for his patrons — it was giving them the chance to assist a trigger they believed in.

“The membership mannequin grew to become sensible to me after I noticed the depth of how folks had been being affected by the content material,” Henry remembers. “It wasn’t like ‘oh man, I really like your stuff’ it was like, ‘I’m 12 years previous and I by no means needed to be a dad till I noticed this, or ‘I haven’t talked to my dad in eight years, however due to one in every of your movies, I gave him a name.’ I knew folks could be keen to put money into that.”

One of many greatest points creators run into is discovering an viewers that may give them the monetary independence to create full-time. Nevertheless, Henry shares that crucial factor shouldn’t be what your viewers is keen to pay for, however what worth you’re keen to provide them, one thing he refers to as talking your viewers’s language.

“It’s not a lot about discovering the viewers that may assist you financially, it’s extra about discovering the folks that you would be able to have an effect on on a deep sufficient stage that they might wish to,” Henry shared when requested about what recommendation he’d supply to creators searching for their group. “I’d say proceed to ask questions that may trigger you to tailor your content material. So, whenever you ask your viewers a query on an Instagram put up, what you get again from that query is intel. I’d ask somebody, ‘hey, with regards to fatherhood, what’s the scariest factor in your thoughts?’ and somebody may say, ‘I’m scared that I’m going to depart,’ or ‘I’m scared that I’m not going to have the ability to afford the child,’ or ‘I’m scared that my spouse or my partner shouldn’t be going to have the ability to take part.’ You then get all that info again and also you say, ‘OK, what I’m going to do is inform you how one can not be afraid of being a father.’”

The subsequent step, based on Henry, is answering these questions within the medium you utilize to attach along with your viewers (in his case, video), after which providing further suggestions and extra in-depth variations of that content material solely in your Patreon web page. He additionally suggests providing digital items at first to chop overhead and to avoid wasting time, and that, typically, ensuring your viewers is aware of they’ve been heard with a easy “thanks” is sufficient.

“The balancing factor is such a delusion, it’s all about juggling. It’s all about studying how one can catch one thing when it’s falling and having the capability to ship it again up.”

The very last thing Henry shared with us had been his shocking ideas on discovering steadiness; briefly, he doesn’t suppose it’s doable.

“At first, you’ll by no means be balanced. At first, you’ll all the time be stretched and uncomfortable,” Henry defined “You’ll all the time be sore in locations that you just thought you weren’t going to be sore or when you’ve ever tried to face on a Bosu ball on the fitness center, you get on by miracle after which your legs begin shaking and also you’re like, ‘what am I supposed to maintain nonetheless, my ankles or my legs?’ You simply don’t know. And so it’s not a lot about steadiness as a lot as it’s about juggling. If you juggle (and) you toss a ball up into the air, that ball is ascending whereas two different balls could also be in your hand. After which the ball is coming down. So it’s not about retaining all of the balls up within the air. That’s levitation, it’s unimaginable. What it’s about is ensuring that when the ball is falling, you possibly can catch it and you’ll toss it again up. The balancing factor is such a delusion, it’s all about juggling. It’s all about studying how one can catch one thing when it’s falling and having the capability to ship it again up.”