Show notes
He grew up with kiddie pools in the attic catching roof leaks and frost forming on the inside of his bedroom wall, and today 1.33 million people watch him drag dead cars out of Iowa fence rows. Kevin Brown runs Junkyard Digs out of Ames, two hours up the road from the barn, and this one is mostly about what being broke actually builds.
The house sagged corner to corner and the ceiling collapsed while the family was gone for a weekend. Four of them lived in one room of an office building in town, no walls, three beds, for three years of his high school life. His dad pulled his entire 401k to put up a shell so they could finish the inside themselves. He paid for Iowa State by joining the National Guard as a Chinook mechanic, deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, and built the channel from a cot on government internet. He came home with 130,000 subscribers and two paychecks.
His rule is the part worth sitting with. He would not quit engineering school until the channel paid double an engineer's starting salary. He says the first time in his life he felt safe was the day the math cleared, not the day the subscribers did.
The farming is the cheapest operation in this state. Four and a half acres, a John Deere 620 with three gallons of gas in the oil pan, a $500 planter, and a 6600 combine he bought for $2,200 and drove home. He put $212 into inputs one year and sold the crop for $2,000.
Also in this one: only 3 percent of channels ever crack 100,000 subscribers, a million Shorts views that paid $412, copper at a record and the wire in your grain bin, and why his dad said the 1980s sucked while his buddy's dad called them the best years of his life.
His advice at the end sounds exactly like his dad: do not put your hands in your pockets. Learn to work hard and you will not fail in life.
What do you want us to dig into next week? Drop it in the comments and we read them.
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THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
● Propane Farm Research Program ➱ propane.com/farmfunding
● AcreEdge Soil NXT ➱ acreedge.com
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Cold open and guest introduction
04:25 800 shirts in three weeks for a stranger's roof
13:22 Sponsor break, Propane Farm Research Program
14:16 Kiddie pools in the attic, frost inside the walls
16:08 Four people, one room, three years
16:35 What being broke gave him that money never could
21:27 The Guard paid for college, so he fixed Chinooks
25:12 Building a channel on Army internet in Iraq
27:00 Home with 130,000 subs and two paychecks
30:47 Sponsor break, AcreEdge Soil NXT
33:15 No quitting until it paid double an engineer
35:13 His wife's 45 minute video got a million views
41:15 Get it running and drive it home, no trailer
58:26 Make it run, make it move, make it safe
1:04:19 The Junkyard Digs farming operation, laid out
1:07:15 A $2,200 combine with no reverser
1:12:45 $212 in, $2,000 out, most profitable farmer around
1:18:06 The part of being a creator nobody sees
1:25:11 Only 3 percent of channels ever crack 100,000
1:27:59 A million Shorts views paid $412
1:34:18 Can you build a whole life in rural America now
1:35:40 Nobody should ever move to Iowa, and he means it
1:40:46 What is actually killing small towns
1:55:12 His dad said the 80s sucked, his buddy's dad loved them
2:02:55 If 1995 did not get the hog guys, 1998 did
2:05:53 Is AI actually coming for the trades
2:12:17 25 CRT TVs, 15 VCRs, and 300 VHS tapes
2:16:26 The first time in his life he felt safe
2:21:47 Do not put your hands in your pockets
2:22:10 Tip of the Hat
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Barn Talk is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Nothing here is financial, investment, or trading advice, and none of it is specific to you. Do your own due diligence and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decision. Trading stocks, crypto, and NFTs carries real risk and is not suitable for everyone. You use this information at your own risk.
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