Bring Your Own Tools

Meet Brent

I’m a BUILDER. I’ve been a builder from the very beginning. You know, one of those kids, where all my mom needed to do to keep me busy, was to pour a big box of Legos on the floor and let me have at it for hours on end. Yep, I was that kid and through the years I’ve never strayed too far from the love I have for building and creating.

Through summer jobs during college, I continued my education by working for small construction companies remodeling houses. After I graduated college with a Construction Management degree and landed a job with a large general construction company, I slowly started to realize that I had made a miscalculation. I wasn’t building or creating anything. I was stuck behind a desk and couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. My upper management colleagues, that were knowledgeable and successful were still just sitting at a desk, just a nicer one. I will always have a love for the construction field and the amazing men and women that I have worked with throughout the years, but to be a true builder, I need to physically build something.

I bought a house in 2010 and it was truly the “ugly duckling” on the block. Within the first three months of owning the house, I gutted the bathrooms, the kitchen, the deck, all the plumbing and started the remodeling process. I certainly didn’t know all of the steps needed to remodel a house from start to finish, which is why I started watching A LOT of YouTube videos from electrical, to plumbing, to flooring, to windows, and so on. I found YouTube to be an extremely valuable resource when it came to remodeling my house. However, at a certain point after scouring the internet for hours I FINALLY realized that I was searching for a video that seemingly didn’t exist. I was looking for a video that showed how to renovate a yard from START to FINISH from the journey of a weed jungle to grass and all the steps in-between. I said to my then fiancé, now wife Hillary, “Maybe I should make a YouTube video since I can’t find one out there”. I felt that it would be good karma since I received an abundance of help from YouTubers throughout my home renovation process and if the video could help at least one person, then it would be worth it. That video was not the first YouTube video I produced, but it was the one that got the proverbial “juices flowing” on my YouTube journey.

However, I ran into my first dilemma with starting a YouTube channel fairly quickly. What am I going to name it? I knew it was going to be a DIY/How To channel, but what’s a good name for that type of channel? I thought about it for days and finally brought it up to Hillary, mentioning that I was having trouble thinking of a good name for the channel. She paused for about 5 seconds and said “what about something like BYOT, Bring Your Own Tools. Get it?” I was dumbfounded by her ability to come up with a name off the cuff that I felt was so perfect. I married her the very same day and we lived happily ever after….. haha. Ok ok, no we didn’t get married that day, but we were engaged and told her “WOW, we truly are meant for each other”.

Every YouTube channel is different and unique. I personally wanted to set a standard of producing detailed “Do It Yourself/How To” videos that will help others learn new skills, while trying to add a bit of humor and entertainment value along the way. Looking back at my first videos, I now cringe a little when I watch them since I have grown leaps and bounds with my videography, video editing, and voiceovers. But as most successful YouTubers or just successful people in general will tell you, everyone needs to start somewhere and no one is perfect at something right off the bat. The most important step is to just START because there are always a million reasons why you shouldn’t do anything. If you’re truly devoted and passionate about something you will push through and find a way. I’m a very strong-minded and determined person when I’m passionate about something and this new challenge seemingly gave me a purpose in life that I wasn’t expecting. I felt blessed that I was able to help others with the knowledge I had gained through my years of building and creating.

I feel honored for all the love and support I have received throughout the years and my dedication to continue to provide quality and consistent content has never been higher. Please follow me on this journey and help me strengthen the DIY community.

– Brent