The Bigger Picture: Embracing Our Identity as Cupcakes

I want to start by saying that I'm excited to share some changes and new initiatives with all of you, my beloved community. As we've discussed before, we're going to keep our name as Cupcakes, and I couldn't be happier about it. It's a part of who we are, and I love that we can proudly say it out loud.

As we move forward into 2023, I want to focus on creating a more interactive community. If you want to stay up-to-date with my latest endeavors, please follow me on the following platforms: Facebook, Graham (I think he's a social media guru), and Twitter. I've linked all of these accounts below, so be sure to check them out.

Now, I know we've talked about this before, but I want to reiterate that community interaction is crucial to our growth and success. That's why I'm excited to share my Discord channel with you all. It's a place where we can chat, ask questions, and connect with one another in real-time. I'll also be sharing updates on my Patreon page, which is a platform that allows us to support the channel monetarily by joining as members.

I want to apologize for neglecting my patrons this year. They've been instrumental in helping me get to where I am today, and I'm truly grateful for their support. To my top-tier patrons – Steve, even man Derek Coates, Chuck Faulkner, Andy the Viking, Todd Stewart, Jason Ayers, read means Tina Porter, and Derek Steele – thank you for being part of this community. Your loyalty and encouragement mean the world to me.

I also want to give a special shout-out to Frank Hugh Johnson and Atlanta Cheerio, who have recently joined our Patreon family. Welcome aboard! I'm excited to have you as part of the Cupcake Army.

In addition to my YouTube channel, I've recently launched an Etsy page, which is generating some income for me. This has given me the opportunity to help others build their businesses, and that's where my Wednesday Night Lives come in. These live sessions are designed to be interactive Q&A sessions, where we'll discuss topics such as making products, marketing, and more.

My idea was always to bring on other creators or experts in the field to join us on live and share their knowledge with each other and our community. However, I soon realized that it wouldn't be feasible for me to do one-on-one consultations with everyone who reached out. That's why I decided to start a new live called Makers Therapy, which I host alongside my friend Chris from Dark Hollow Wood Shop and Jesse from Building Jesse.

This live is focused on mental health awareness, self-care, and other topics that affect us all as creators and entrepreneurs. Our goal is to create a space where we can open up, share our struggles, and support one another in a safe and non-judgmental environment.

One thing I'd like to discuss with you all is merchandise. As you know, I don't sell a lot of merch compared to other content creators. However, I do have some ideas for designs that I think would be cool and help support the channel. If there's something specific you'd like to see on my merch, please let me know! I'll take your suggestions into consideration and create it if it sells well.

I want to emphasize that this community is just as important to me as my own success. We're in this together, and I'm excited to see where our collective efforts will take us. So, let's make 2023 an amazing year – a year of growth, learning, and supporting one another every step of the way.

My mantra for this year is "Be Better," which I want you all to join me on. Let's strive to be better versions of ourselves, both as individuals and as a community. Let's lift each other up, support each other, and create something truly special together. That's what being part of the Cupcake Army is all about.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat do you mean I can't say that on YouTube it's a proper name like dick and James what if I say let's kick 2023 in the dong turn shop lights on hold on foreign so you guys tired of your recap videos yet I know I am so I'm gonna make this brief 2022 kind of sucks for me but it shouldn't have I mean come on this happened this year so 2022 I've officially made more as a full-time YouTuber than I was making at my day job this means that I made the right decision so don't give up on your dreams make them come true and this happened pulled it up there 100 000 Subs baby silver play button matches it should have been a stellar year except for one thing that happened but we'll get to that in a minute I just want to let you know that this video is really going to focus on what we're going to be doing moving forward in 2023. so last year my mom went into the hospital in January and I'm gonna spare you the details but basically she was there for 10 months that's Mom and that's dad so at the end of those 10 months mom passed away and dad died about three years ago now I don't tell you that because I want your sympathy or I want you to feel sorry for me at all I tell you that because even with all the jokes and the sarcasm and everything you guys really probably didn't know what was going on behind the scenes I guess this is a good time to say don't think you know what a person is going through just because you see one side of them so even with all the cool things that happened last year even with all that stuff the mom situation just took its toll on me physically emotionally you name it so I'm coming into 2023 40 pounds overweight mentally just wrecked and emotionally numb great pep talk right I tell you this because I think that things can only get better from here so hopefully if any of you guys are experiencing anything similar maybe you're a little bit overweight maybe you're having some problems in your mental health just want you to know that I'm in the weeds with you I guess you can call it a rebuilding year but what I like to call it is the year of the cupcakes why the year of the cupcakes you might ask well first of all I wouldn't have hit any of the Milestones I did last year without you so thank you I appreciate it so this is the year that we make it about Community we make it about family I got family we make it about the cupcakes why cupcakes you ask because I pulled the audience and you guys said we don't want to change our names we're proud cupcakes So Cupcakes it is the bigger picture and what I want to focus on this year is creating a more interactive Community if you want to follow me on the Facebooks or the Graham or the tiki Takis hell I even have a tweeters account I'll link them down below but what I'm looking for is more Community interaction so I will link to my Discord Channel and of course I will link to my patreon down below as well I've kind of Done patreon Dirty this year and guys I apologize I've got Pages dropping like flies and I don't blame them because I've really neglected my patrons this year and I feel really bad about it for those of you that don't know patreon is a platform that you can support the channel monetarily by joining up as a member and guys moving forward I just have to say I apologize I will do better because my patrons really did play a really big part in where I am today so I just got to give them a quick shout out thanks to all of you I promise I'll do better and I double that promise to my top tier or Boilermaker patrons Steve even man Derek Coates Chuck Faulkner Andy the Viking Todd Stewart Jason Ayers read means Tina Porter Derek Steele and voltage I mentioned there's some people leaving patreon we do have some people joining up too the special one-time shout out goes to Frank Hugh Johnson and Atlanta Cheerio and Chin Chin Tio now that I feel like I've got my business up and running and that's kind of doing its thing I have an Etsy page that I finally have generating some money as well I now have the opportunity to help you guys build your businesses as you guys know I do Wednesday night lives and those lives have been mainly a lot of q a towards me but that's not what I really intended them for my idea was always that if one of you guys would email me with a problem like you don't know how to make a product that you want to sell or let's say you you you you can make the product but you don't know how to Market it and maybe I would bring you on live or maybe we would just talk in the chat but we would kind of shop that together and figure out next steps that way we can have other people in chat being able to interact with you in case I can't answer one of your questions and that way I I can impart that knowledge to more people than just one at a time because one at a time doesn't work for me I I don't I have too many balls in the air he said balls to sit down with each individual person that seems to be an issue and try to fix it for I just don't I just don't have and I did start another live called makers therapy that I host along with my friend Chris from Dark Hollow Wood Shop and Jesse from building Jesse the idea behind that live is to talk about kind of mental health awareness issues that we may be having and things like that I'd like to see that go is eventually we would have people on that wanted to discuss their problems if it does really well it would kind of spin off into its own thing and maybe become like a video podcast also a lot of content creators make money selling merch I do not um I sell I I sell maybe 100 200 worth of merchant year so I kind of would like some input from you guys on what kind of merch you would purchase to help support the channel I don't want to make the shirt designs if they don't sell so that's another place that Indian Community involvement because I'll make it if people are gonna buy it kind of like this shirt which actually I kind of made just for this video but it says be better on the front that is my mantra for this year and then it just says build that build on the back on my logo but I want to hear from the community on what you guys would like to see moving forward if you come to me with an idea and it's a really cool design and we end up making it I might just send you one just letting you know right now if we do that and you do get a design and I make it you're gonna have to remind me to send you a free one because I will totally forget that in the end when everything is said and done this is your channel as much as it is mine you are the cupcake Army at large so I want to help you guys out help me help you help me help you help me like I said earlier my mantra for this year is be better because I want to be better and I want you to be better too now let's kick 2023 in thewhat do you mean I can't say that on YouTube it's a proper name like dick and James what if I say let's kick 2023 in the dong turn shop lights on hold on foreign so you guys tired of your recap videos yet I know I am so I'm gonna make this brief 2022 kind of sucks for me but it shouldn't have I mean come on this happened this year so 2022 I've officially made more as a full-time YouTuber than I was making at my day job this means that I made the right decision so don't give up on your dreams make them come true and this happened pulled it up there 100 000 Subs baby silver play button matches it should have been a stellar year except for one thing that happened but we'll get to that in a minute I just want to let you know that this video is really going to focus on what we're going to be doing moving forward in 2023. so last year my mom went into the hospital in January and I'm gonna spare you the details but basically she was there for 10 months that's Mom and that's dad so at the end of those 10 months mom passed away and dad died about three years ago now I don't tell you that because I want your sympathy or I want you to feel sorry for me at all I tell you that because even with all the jokes and the sarcasm and everything you guys really probably didn't know what was going on behind the scenes I guess this is a good time to say don't think you know what a person is going through just because you see one side of them so even with all the cool things that happened last year even with all that stuff the mom situation just took its toll on me physically emotionally you name it so I'm coming into 2023 40 pounds overweight mentally just wrecked and emotionally numb great pep talk right I tell you this because I think that things can only get better from here so hopefully if any of you guys are experiencing anything similar maybe you're a little bit overweight maybe you're having some problems in your mental health just want you to know that I'm in the weeds with you I guess you can call it a rebuilding year but what I like to call it is the year of the cupcakes why the year of the cupcakes you might ask well first of all I wouldn't have hit any of the Milestones I did last year without you so thank you I appreciate it so this is the year that we make it about Community we make it about family I got family we make it about the cupcakes why cupcakes you ask because I pulled the audience and you guys said we don't want to change our names we're proud cupcakes So Cupcakes it is the bigger picture and what I want to focus on this year is creating a more interactive Community if you want to follow me on the Facebooks or the Graham or the tiki Takis hell I even have a tweeters account I'll link them down below but what I'm looking for is more Community interaction so I will link to my Discord Channel and of course I will link to my patreon down below as well I've kind of Done patreon Dirty this year and guys I apologize I've got Pages dropping like flies and I don't blame them because I've really neglected my patrons this year and I feel really bad about it for those of you that don't know patreon is a platform that you can support the channel monetarily by joining up as a member and guys moving forward I just have to say I apologize I will do better because my patrons really did play a really big part in where I am today so I just got to give them a quick shout out thanks to all of you I promise I'll do better and I double that promise to my top tier or Boilermaker patrons Steve even man Derek Coates Chuck Faulkner Andy the Viking Todd Stewart Jason Ayers read means Tina Porter Derek Steele and voltage I mentioned there's some people leaving patreon we do have some people joining up too the special one-time shout out goes to Frank Hugh Johnson and Atlanta Cheerio and Chin Chin Tio now that I feel like I've got my business up and running and that's kind of doing its thing I have an Etsy page that I finally have generating some money as well I now have the opportunity to help you guys build your businesses as you guys know I do Wednesday night lives and those lives have been mainly a lot of q a towards me but that's not what I really intended them for my idea was always that if one of you guys would email me with a problem like you don't know how to make a product that you want to sell or let's say you you you you can make the product but you don't know how to Market it and maybe I would bring you on live or maybe we would just talk in the chat but we would kind of shop that together and figure out next steps that way we can have other people in chat being able to interact with you in case I can't answer one of your questions and that way I I can impart that knowledge to more people than just one at a time because one at a time doesn't work for me I I don't I have too many balls in the air he said balls to sit down with each individual person that seems to be an issue and try to fix it for I just don't I just don't have and I did start another live called makers therapy that I host along with my friend Chris from Dark Hollow Wood Shop and Jesse from building Jesse the idea behind that live is to talk about kind of mental health awareness issues that we may be having and things like that I'd like to see that go is eventually we would have people on that wanted to discuss their problems if it does really well it would kind of spin off into its own thing and maybe become like a video podcast also a lot of content creators make money selling merch I do not um I sell I I sell maybe 100 200 worth of merchant year so I kind of would like some input from you guys on what kind of merch you would purchase to help support the channel I don't want to make the shirt designs if they don't sell so that's another place that Indian Community involvement because I'll make it if people are gonna buy it kind of like this shirt which actually I kind of made just for this video but it says be better on the front that is my mantra for this year and then it just says build that build on the back on my logo but I want to hear from the community on what you guys would like to see moving forward if you come to me with an idea and it's a really cool design and we end up making it I might just send you one just letting you know right now if we do that and you do get a design and I make it you're gonna have to remind me to send you a free one because I will totally forget that in the end when everything is said and done this is your channel as much as it is mine you are the cupcake Army at large so I want to help you guys out help me help you help me help you help me like I said earlier my mantra for this year is be better because I want to be better and I want you to be better too now let's kick 2023 in thewhat do you mean I can't say that on YouTube it's a proper name like dick and James what if I say let's kick 2023 in the dong turn shop lights on hold on foreign so you guys tired of your recap videos yet I know I am so I'm gonna make this brief 2022 kind of sucks for me but it shouldn't have I mean come on this happened this year so 2022 I've officially made more as a full-time YouTuber than I was making at my day job this means that I made the right decision so don't give up on your dreams make them come true and this happened pulled it up there 100 000 Subs baby silver play button matches it should have been a stellar year except for one thing that happened but we'll get to that in a minute I just want to let you know that this video is really going to focus on what we're going to be doing moving forward in 2023. so last year my mom went into the hospital in January and I'm gonna spare you the details but basically she was there for 10 months that's Mom and that's dad so at the end of those 10 months mom passed away and dad died about three years ago now I don't tell you that because I want your sympathy or I want you to feel sorry for me at all I tell you that because even with all the jokes and the sarcasm and everything you guys really probably didn't know what was going on behind the scenes I guess this is a good time to say don't think you know what a person is going through just because you see one side of them so even with all the cool things that happened last year even with all that stuff the mom situation just took its toll on me physically emotionally you name it so I'm coming into 2023 40 pounds overweight mentally just wrecked and emotionally numb great pep talk right I tell you this because I think that things can only get better from here so hopefully if any of you guys are experiencing anything similar maybe you're a little bit overweight maybe you're having some problems in your mental health just want you to know that I'm in the weeds with you I guess you can call it a rebuilding year but what I like to call it is the year of the cupcakes why the year of the cupcakes you might ask well first of all I wouldn't have hit any of the Milestones I did last year without you so thank you I appreciate it so this is the year that we make it about Community we make it about family I got family we make it about the cupcakes why cupcakes you ask because I pulled the audience and you guys said we don't want to change our names we're proud cupcakes So Cupcakes it is the bigger picture and what I want to focus on this year is creating a more interactive Community if you want to follow me on the Facebooks or the Graham or the tiki Takis hell I even have a tweeters account I'll link them down below but what I'm looking for is more Community interaction so I will link to my Discord Channel and of course I will link to my patreon down below as well I've kind of Done patreon Dirty this year and guys I apologize I've got Pages dropping like flies and I don't blame them because I've really neglected my patrons this year and I feel really bad about it for those of you that don't know patreon is a platform that you can support the channel monetarily by joining up as a member and guys moving forward I just have to say I apologize I will do better because my patrons really did play a really big part in where I am today so I just got to give them a quick shout out thanks to all of you I promise I'll do better and I double that promise to my top tier or Boilermaker patrons Steve even man Derek Coates Chuck Faulkner Andy the Viking Todd Stewart Jason Ayers read means Tina Porter Derek Steele and voltage I mentioned there's some people leaving patreon we do have some people joining up too the special one-time shout out goes to Frank Hugh Johnson and Atlanta Cheerio and Chin Chin Tio now that I feel like I've got my business up and running and that's kind of doing its thing I have an Etsy page that I finally have generating some money as well I now have the opportunity to help you guys build your businesses as you guys know I do Wednesday night lives and those lives have been mainly a lot of q a towards me but that's not what I really intended them for my idea was always that if one of you guys would email me with a problem like you don't know how to make a product that you want to sell or let's say you you you you can make the product but you don't know how to Market it and maybe I would bring you on live or maybe we would just talk in the chat but we would kind of shop that together and figure out next steps that way we can have other people in chat being able to interact with you in case I can't answer one of your questions and that way I I can impart that knowledge to more people than just one at a time because one at a time doesn't work for me I I don't I have too many balls in the air he said balls to sit down with each individual person that seems to be an issue and try to fix it for I just don't I just don't have and I did start another live called makers therapy that I host along with my friend Chris from Dark Hollow Wood Shop and Jesse from building Jesse the idea behind that live is to talk about kind of mental health awareness issues that we may be having and things like that I'd like to see that go is eventually we would have people on that wanted to discuss their problems if it does really well it would kind of spin off into its own thing and maybe become like a video podcast also a lot of content creators make money selling merch I do not um I sell I I sell maybe 100 200 worth of merchant year so I kind of would like some input from you guys on what kind of merch you would purchase to help support the channel I don't want to make the shirt designs if they don't sell so that's another place that Indian Community involvement because I'll make it if people are gonna buy it kind of like this shirt which actually I kind of made just for this video but it says be better on the front that is my mantra for this year and then it just says build that build on the back on my logo but I want to hear from the community on what you guys would like to see moving forward if you come to me with an idea and it's a really cool design and we end up making it I might just send you one just letting you know right now if we do that and you do get a design and I make it you're gonna have to remind me to send you a free one because I will totally forget that in the end when everything is said and done this is your channel as much as it is mine you are the cupcake Army at large so I want to help you guys out help me help you help me help you help me like I said earlier my mantra for this year is be better because I want to be better and I want you to be better too now let's kick 2023 in the\n"