I'm writing this one from a hotel room in Madrid, Spain. No kids. No "Dad, watch this" every four minutes. Just my wife, a little bit of jet lag, and the strange quiet of a suitcase packed for two instead of four. It's been a weird, good, disorienting week and it wasn't just a vacation. Some real firsts happened while we were there.

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Spain aside for just one moment, this is only the second trip my wife and I have taken alone without the kids. If you remember our creator cruise back in April was our first ever, but very short, trip without the chaos crew. This is the first real extended stay trip my wife and I have taken without the kids and the best part it is our first trip to Europe together. And honestly at first it felt like we were forgetting something, there are some many things to pack and think about when traveling with kids, it was nice for once to be able to turn that part of the brain off for a moment.

We had many moments like “oh they would love this,” but we had more moments like “could you imagine how hard it would be if we brought them.” Walking through a city without a stroller, having a full conversation with my wife that didn't get interrupted, remembering that we were a couple before we were a chaos-management team. These moments were some of the best and gave us a chance to slow down and reconnect with each other.

The second thing that happened as we strolled this beautiful city of Madrid, eating some amazing food, it also given me some distance to actually think about the business instead of just reacting to it, which is its own kind of rare. Rare because June was the busiest month since Devin the Dad launched. We did nearly $12K in brand deals alone and we were non-stop filming, editing, and posting. The newsletter here suffered a bit as did the Turning Chaos into Content coaching and business model. Sometimes you just need that moment of slow to see where you can focus on next. Which leads me to something else that happened while we were in Madrid.

While abroad, I had my first official coaching session with Bedford Education and it felt like I was in my element. Going from losing my job as a producer, to Dad chaos content creator to someone being brought in to actually coach and guide is not lost on me. I shared my tips and tricks that helped Devin the Dad generate over 100 million views in a year and from $0 to over $10K a month in brand deals. There is a formula and being able to share my journey and help others is something so foreign coming from traditional media. I talked before about traditional media and their gatekeeping ways compared to the creator economy and the willingness for everyone to win.

It's one thing to build your own content. It's another to help others in their journey and share what I have learned along the way. If you are looking to grow and learn more as a content creator, I suggest you check out Bedford Education.

Somewhere between tapas and time zones, I put together the basics of what I've been calling "Reels 101" the handful of fundamentals I keep coming back to no matter how much the algorithm shifts:

1. Find your niche. Just like ESPN is known for sports, the algo needs to know where to place you, so what are you known for.

2. Hook ‘em We want people to stop their scroll and land on your content.

3. Trends Video and audio, need to hit both of them. Know what is trending and how to put your niche spin on them.

Simple stuff. Not flashy. But it's the stuff that actually moves the needle, and I'm building a bigger breakdown in my digital guide coming soon. If you want to see the full Bedford Education breakdown on YouTube, click this link. And if you want my free digital guide, click here. I am also launching private 1 on 1 coaching if you want to level up your content game, so let’s connect.

Back to reality, no more Spanish food, wine and coffee. So reply and tell me, when's the last time you unplugged from the chaos, even for a day?

Keep creating,

Devin the Dad Former TV Producer. Current Chaos Coordinator.

P.S. Vacation is good for the body and your mind, try it before the craze of school and holidays begin if you can.

P.P.S. — If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you want more of this every week, [subscribe here]. No spam. No fluff. Just a dad trying to figure it out and taking you along for the ride. 🎬