Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Wellington.
Hi Jon, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
First, I never planned to be where I am today. I am a SC Native (or at least I have lived here since I was 5), a US Navy Veteran, and a career business man who has worked in the manufacturing industry for more than 20 years.
The story of how I got to be “The Dadbod Veteran” was never anything that I had expected. I wasn’t really on social media before 2022 (other than Facebook for sharing with family and friends) and had never considered the idea or concept of being an “Influencer” (I hate that word by the way) as something that was possible for me.
I am a father of 5 (3 of my own from a previous marriage, 2 that joined my life with my better half, Julie, also known to the world as Mrs. DBV). I have been a father since the age of 18, and it’s really all I had ever wanted to be. Do to this being my life goal, all my career decisions have been based on taking care of my family, and not any internal desires.
In 2022, my youngest, Maximus (we call him Max) was graduating from Summerville High. It was always his plan to join the Navy after graduation, which he planned to do in August of that year after his last summer at home (he graduated in June). I had planned to spend that summer with him, enjoying what I knew to be the last time he would be living with me as a “child” before he went off to become a man. The Navy presented him an offer he couldn’t refuse, a very large sign-on bonus if he left immediately, 1 week after he graduated high school. As he was a man now, the choice was up to him, and he took the offer. We didn’t get that last summer together, and I was left facing something I had never thought was possible, a life without a purpose.
There’s a part of my life that goes back much further that is relevant to this part of the story. My own father, was just like I was, worked for his family and not himself. He was the kind of Dad who told you he loved you without words, through guiding and teaching about the world. He was diagnosed with colon cancer when I was about 9, and passed away on December 7th, 1995, at the age of 39. Due to this, my older brother and somehow came to the conclusion that neither of us would make it to the age of 40. So I had never expected to live as long as I did, to see my children graduate from high school and have to live in a world beyond being a father.
Back to June of 2022, I was depressed to say the least. An empty nester, past the age I never thought I would see (I was 43 at the time), with no purpose in life. I had a beautiful home, a great job, a loving better half, but all of that was created for the purpose of being a father. I never did it for me, I did it for them; and now without them life seemed useless.
So after about a few week of this depression, I decided to try to focus on something worth living for, so I started thinking about the next step in life; grandchildren. Now at this time (as still as of me writing this) I didn’t have grandchildren. I also had a stark realization because of my dad that life can end at any moment. So I took to social media (which I had no idea about) and started making videos…telling stories of “The Times Before”. I created a persona that mirrored how I would want to be told stories, a wise but witty old man, with a lovely beard that further solidified his wisdom. My goal was to create a library of videos for my grandchildren to have in case I didn’t live long enough to meet them. I wanted them to hear the stories of the way my world was (in a humorous way of course) so that they could understand me and how I lived. So each day, without fail I would go outside and tell one or two stories to my phone, and upload them to TikTok. I was using this story telling time as therapy to me, to help me overcome my empty nesters syndrome and to transition to having a new purpose in life. Little did I know it would become one of the most important parts of my entire life.
It started slowly, then started to pick up steam; 200, 500, 1000 followers. Then, one day, someone sent me a video of a kid asking how they delivered pizza before GPS, and asked me how “Dadbod” would react to this…so I reacted to it. I was probably at about 10,000 followers at that time, and that single video propelled me past the 100,000 mark with more that 3.2 million views. That wasn’t the end, more requests came in, and more reactions were created. By the time my son had left boot camp, I had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok. When I was up in Chicago for his boot camp graduation, it really hit me when one of the drill sergeants at the Navy boot camp recognized me when I was picking him up for his off duty weekend.
And that was where it started. Then, I started to diversify, posting my videos on Instragram, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, and now even BlueSky. Companies started offering money to have me push their products; hats, coffee, you name it. Then the platforms themselves started paying me, and The Dadbod Veteran was now DBV Enterprises LLC, with more than 5 million followers across all platforms. I have my own merchandise line, DBV Nation. I continue to create new and inviting ways to engage with my followers, most of whom are GenXers and feel the same way about the world that I do. I have done all of this work, from the luxurious office of my front porch, leaning over the railing, like I’m talking to my grandchildren.
Then, in 2024, and even crazier thing happened. I had followed The Real Slim Sherri for quite some time as we both had a very similar GenX style content, and a similar rise on the platforms. We had never met in person, only casually chatting over DM’s from time to time. She sent me a note one day in April or May of that year and asked if I was interested in coming to Nashville at some point to hang out with her, Kelly Manno, and Nick Harrison (The Professor on social media). Our wives, not wanting to pay for a trip to Nashville, decided to put us to work while we were there and planned for us to do a standup comedy show to pay for the trip. We sold tickets for one show, that sold out in about 2 days, so we sold tickets for a second show, and it sold out. We didn’t really consider the though of a tour, but it was being discussed. So we planned a second show in Cleveland, and it sold out. That was when we realized that the next step was a tour. And the GenX Takeover Tour was born.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I faced struggles because of how little i knew about this industry. Once the brand deals started coming in, I hired a brand agent to manage this for me. Being a little naive to contracts, lets just say I didn’t read the fine print.
On several different occasions as I grew, I was faced with periods that my content didn’t perform as well as I was expecting, which was causing me to second guess continuing this as a side gig. Was always kept be going was to remember why I had started all this, to make a library of videos for my grandchildren to hear my perspective on the world.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In my day job, I work in the security industry, and have for more than 20 years. I have had the pleasure of working at car shows, fashion shows, race tracks, Formula 1 events, and many other events in my career.
In my side gig as an “Infleuncer” I get the opportunity to do things that people dream of, like being flown into Nashville for a NASCAR race, put up in a swanky hotel and getting the VIP treatment in the PITS for the race. This happens to Dadbod quite often, just for people wanting me to be at the event they are holding. This summer I will be on the field at the Joe Reilly stadium in Charleston playing in a charity/celebrity/former MLB player softball game. I have to pinch myself everytime I get to do something like this.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Well, I have become what I would call a “Yes” man. I’m 45 years old, living in what I call the “Extra Innings” of life (remember I never thought I would make it passed 40).
I say “Yes” to everything now. EVERYTHING. If someone wants me to do something, Yes. If there’s an opportunity to go an event, YES! There is literally nothing I wont say yes to. The way I look at it, If I hadn’t said yes, I would never be where I am. The world will tell me when something wont work out, be it a time constraint or a money constraint, but for me personally I say yes to everything and let the world sort it out.
So do I take risks, Yes. But I also know that if I don’t say yes and take the risk, Ill never see what could have been possible with that situation. So far, there hasn’t been a “Yes” that didn’t improve my life, even if it was just a new experience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Linktr.ee/thedadbodveteran
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedadbodveteran/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dadbodveteran
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedadbodveteran
