Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph and Kristy Griffin.
Hi Joseph and Kristy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thank you so much for allowing us to share our story! We’re a family of 5, we have 3 children, Kyleè and Joseph III (who are twins) and Jrue (who will be 2 years old soon) We reside in North Charleston, South Carolina, where we’ve enjoyed the coastal living of the lowcountry for the last 10 years!
Our journey as content creators began on January 1, 2021, we wanted to start off the new year in a way we had not did in the past. We decided to do a family picnic at the park. While on the way there we decided to capture our day on video, with a new camera we recently invested in. We also decided that this would be the start of our journey as content creators on YouTube. We did not fully know what we were embarking on, did not know the hard work that would be required and didn’t know much about the in’s and out’s of YouTube and what it really takes to be a successful content creator. One thing is for sure, we knew that we wanted to capture our family memories and adventures and document it so we can always go back and watch.
With that in mind, on that day we had our family picnic at the park, played with Nerf guns, flew our drones (which got stuck in a 14+ foot tall tree and eventually we climbed up to get out) and just enjoying each other as family, all of which we captured on video and used as our first ever video on YouTube! The adventure of that day gave us confidence and left us eager to do more as a family and create new memories together. We began to do more as a family such as going fun places together, doing different activities, eating out more and just overall spending more time together.
Our journey as content creators has lead us on a path of fun, adventure, exploration and enjoying life as a family. At the time we began this journey we were a family of 4, and we’ve seen so much growth in each other and also as a family, speaking of growth…we’re now a family of 5! We have shared so much of our life on video and hope it has inspired someone or some families to try new things and have fun doing so.
When we began YouTube we were only concerned about making videos, creating memories and hoping others watched those videos and memories. We have had a few unexpected perks along the way. YouTube has lead us on such a journey that we have visited other states and had experiences we probably wouldn’t have otherwise. We have met some amazing people along the way and have formed close bonds with them. We’ve had a chance to meet about 40 other YouTube content creators and have gained genuine friendships from them. Before we started this journey this aspect of it had not crossed our minds but we’re glad we’ve been able to go places and and meet so many amazing people along the way.
We enjoy the content we make, which consists of family activities, vlogs, challenges, travel, food reviews, cooking and so much more. We believe in the importance of quality family time, positivity, and having fun while learning and growing together. We enjoy encouraging and motivating everyone to enjoy life & have fun while doing so! Our ultimate goal is to continue growing and inspiring others in the process!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our first few months on YouTube was a struggle with trying to grow our audience, and there was even a time when we questioned if we should give up on the content creator journey. We then quickly remembered what we were doing this for…the fun, the adventure, the good times and most of all the memories! We regained focus, continued what we were doing, along with exploring new forms of content and we really began to grow. By the end of that year we gained our first 1000 subscribers and were monetized on YouTube. Fast-forward to today and we have over 25,000 subscribers and have created over 1000 videos in the 3 years since we’ve been on YouTube!
Another downfall to being a content creator is the fact that you have to make time for it all! Content creation is a process and you have to be in the mindset and willing to invest a great amount of your time to do so. We like to look at it as a 3 step process: planning, recording and editing. All of which has it’s own challenges. With planning there’s so much involved depending on the type of video it is. Sometimes planning involves ordering props, ordering tickets, ordering food, checking the weather, etc. This all depends on the type of video being recorded.
The challenge with recording is always making sure we capture what the viewer would be interested in. Sometimes we have to make sure we are allowed to record in certain places and doing it in a way that doesn’t interfere with others. The editing takes the most amount of time. It’s piecing it all together in a way that’s exciting and grabs attention. Things involved with editing are color corrections, timing, angles, music all of which is so time consuming. It’s very normal for 1 hour of recording to eventually end up as a 10 – 15 minute video or 2 hours of recording to end up as a 20 minute video. The challenge is always making sure the right amount of content is included to keep your audience happy.
Another challenge or obstacle is making sure the whole family is in the right mindset to record. This can get tricky with a family of 5 because recording takes time and making sure everyone who is appearing in the video is on the same page is very important. There are plenty of times where we start recording and ultimately come to the conclusion that it may not be the right time to record and we might need to revisit it at another time or another day. All of these challenges play a very important part in the quality of content.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We consider ourselves a fully invested content creators who look to inspire others with the videos and content we produce. We are a family channel on YouTube but we also consider ourselves a variety channel because we offer so many different forms of content. We mainly focus on family friendly related videos but we also do travel content as well as food related content. We specialize in promoting positivity in whatever content we put out and just want to give viewers a sense of happiness while watching wholesome content.
One of the best feelings we get is when we see our family in public or family gatherings and they reference something from our videos or tell us that they watch our videos. That’s one of the best feelings to have as a content creator, when your actual family tells you they watch and love your content! It’s a very proud moment for us because they are supporting us and endorse what we’re doing!
A proud moment that references all the time we’ve invested would be receiving 14 Mete And I Awards (Mete And I Awards is an annual award show on YouTube highlighting smaller YouTube channels for their hard work and content creation) Over the course of 3 years we’ve earned awards such as Channel of the Year, Best Family Channel, Best Variety Channel, Best YouTube Couple, Video of the Year and so much more. All of which we are so proud of because our hard work has been noticed!
I think the thing that sets us apart from others is the hard work and thought we put into each and every form of content we put out. There’s five of us so we have so many ideas and aspects to bring to the table when it comes to creating content. We are doing this to create memories but also give others ideas and inspire them to create memories of their own. We take that into consideration and we are proud of the effort we put in and the output we receive in every video we create.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing our family learn, grow and have fun! This makes us happy because we’re doing something positive, we’re doing something we can always look back on and think, “wow we had such a great time doing that together!” It’s about the experiences we have together, a lot of times they’re fun but also there’s times were its valuable teaching moments. Not just for the children but for us as parents. It’s strengthened our ability to be better parents and help our children learn and grow, for any parent that should bring pure happiness!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClo6lEWSwL6J_y0fsSvm_CA
- Instagram: instagram.com/keepnupwiththegriffins
- Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083620380071
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KeepingUpWithTheGriffins
