Lessons in Resilience: A Conversation with “Dad, How Do I?” Creator Rob Kenney

Meet Rob Kenney of Dad How Do I ?

Rob Kenney’s journey is a testament to the unpredictability of life’s pathways. Starting his career in sales despite being an introvert, he embraced the challenges, demonstrating that sometimes, the greatest successes stem from unexpected beginnings. His willingness to pivot, adapt, and find success while navigating panic attacks and social anxiety is both admirable and relatable.

Balancing Dreams and Realities

Through his YouTube channel, Rob Kenney aims to offer practical life wisdom, honesty, and empathy, targeting a wider audience. His commitment to providing useful content, maintaining mental well-being, and balancing the demands of social media with a semi-retired life are anecdotes worth applauding. His gentle reminder to prioritize content’s value over the allure of virality is a breath of fresh air in an age of digital metrics.

Guiding and Empowering through Education

Rob Kenney’s emphasis on the value of community college, 2-year degrees, and transfer protocols offers invaluable guidance for individuals navigating higher education. His reflections on his journey from the gas station to Boeing, coupled with his commitment to helping others through similar experiences, highlight the transformative power of accessible education and mentorship.

Lending a Helping Hand

Rob’s genuine willingness to provide hands-on guidance, evident through emails from viewers seeking advice on fixing drains or tying ties, epitomizes the compassion and empathy that defines his platform. His dedication to offering useful content for everyone, regardless of age or gender, serves as an inspiring call to leverage our experiences to uplift and support others.

Rob Kenney Dad How Do I? Episode Transcript

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Alright. So, folks, just a little truth in podcasting here.

Scott Cowan [00:00:29]:

We’ve been having some technical challenges. I think this is our 4th attempt to make this podcast work today. Rob, tell my audience who you are.

Rob Kenney [00:00:42]:

Yeah. My name is Rob Kenny. I started a YouTube channel, Dad How Do I, during the pandemic. There’s lots of reasons why I started it. I I thought of the channel several years before I actually started it, and, during the pandemic, I kinda ran out of excuses for why I wasn’t starting it. My daughter kept encouraging me. My daughter is now 32, so she was 28, maybe even 27 at the time because she just had a birthday. So, yeah, she kept encouraging me, dad, you just need to do it.

Rob Kenney [00:01:12]:

You need to do it. And I’m like, okay. Well, I’m stuck at home like everybody else. I can show how to tie a tie. It wasn’t a heavy lift to show how to tie a tie. Right? Pretty quick video, and I just I suction cupped my phone up on my bathroom mirror and just showed how to tie a tie.

Scott Cowan [00:01:28]:

So was the tie Wenatchee first the first one?

Rob Kenney [00:01:32]:

Yeah. That was my first video. I actually started my channel April 1st. I joke about that because it was April fools, when I started the channel. And then my first upload because I was still trying to figure out the technology of it all, and so my first upload was April 2nd, and that was how to tie a tie.

Scott Cowan [00:01:49]:

In doing some quick research, I think that’s your most watched video, isn’t it? By by a fairly substantial

Rob Kenney [00:01:58]:

amount. How to tie a tie, how to shave, are kinda neck and neck. They’re both, and those were my first two videos. Yeah. So

Scott Cowan [00:02:06]:

I’m here on you I’m here on YouTube, and 2,700,000 views for both of them. Yeah. That’s no small amount of of observation in the world. The other thing, though so I gotta ask you this. So you started this April 1st. April 2nd was your first video. And as today Wenatchee we’re recording this, it’s June of 2024. So 4 years 15 months later, okay, approximately.

Scott Cowan [00:02:34]:

According to YouTube, you got 4,860,000 followers.

Rob Kenney [00:02:39]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:02:40]:

When did you kinda wake up and go, oh, wow. This isn’t what I expected.

Rob Kenney [00:02:48]:

Yeah. So, my my channel went viral in May, around the end of May. Okay. And so I I only had probably I’d have to look back to see exactly how many. I would say maybe 8 videos by that time.

Scott Cowan [00:03:04]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:03:06]:

And what happened was, a gal on TikTok shared it, and it got shared on Facebook. And then Reddit got a hold of it, and that’s when it kinda went bananas, and so I was getting subscribers left and right. When I first started the channel, I was hope you know, hoping I’d have 30 or 40 followers. I was just gonna try to download some information from my head that I learned the hard way. My dad left when I was 14, and so I learned a lot of things. I learned my my brother taught me a lot of stuff because I went to live with him when my dad left. And, but a lot of things I just learned the hard way, how to deal with money, how to deal with, you know, all kinds of different things. And so I’m grateful that my channel is much more than just a how to channel because I do have Wisdom Wednesdays and feel good Fridays where I share some dad jokes.

Rob Kenney [00:03:54]:

You know? It’s kinda all I I try to give the whole dad experience, some groaning and some you know? So, you know, and some of those aren’t necessarily the most popular videos, but I think, maybe in the long run, they’ll all get watched because it is kind of the whole package.

Scott Cowan [00:04:11]:

So I gotta ask you this question. This is my typical style of questioning of guests or, like, even they’re a business owner, I always ask the question like this. So what great idea did you have that flopped? So in, in your case, what video idea did you think, oh, this one’s gonna really be this is good, and it just didn’t hit the target.

Rob Kenney [00:04:36]:

Yeah. I think I don’t think I get enough watch or views on some of my some of my wisdom Wednesdays because I think, you know, I and I think as you know, as an older, you know, you just learn things over the year. No. You’re young, but, you know, myself and speaking for myself. But I you know, I, there’s quotes that have meant something to me, and then I also I you know, we live in a dip an interesting time where people tend to get canceled if they say one thing wrong, you know, and yet they might have a lot of wisdom to share with you. And so that’s even one of the wisdom Wednesdays I’ve shared was, hey. If we’re looking for only looking for quotes from perfect people, there’d be no quotes. You know? I mean, you can’t you you I I’ve learned a lot of things from people that I wouldn’t and I’ve shared that, that I wouldn’t necessarily emulate how they live their lives, but they can say something profound still.

Rob Kenney [00:05:30]:

And that’s like, hey. I can grab that.

Scott Cowan [00:05:32]:

Right.

Rob Kenney [00:05:33]:

And so all that to say, I think that there’s there’s a lot of them where I’m like, well, I thought that woulda done better, and then there’s ones I’m like, man, how did that one do so good?

Scott Cowan [00:05:41]:

Well, that’s that was the flip that was the flip the follow-up question is, which do you have any examples of ones that just kinda were more resonated more with your audience than you might have thought?

Rob Kenney [00:05:55]:

Well, so here here’s a funny thing that I’ve found out that, especially on different platforms, you know, because I’m I’m on YouTube, but I’m also on Instagram. I’m also on Facebook. I’m also on TikTok. Right. And so it’s funny because certain platforms, especially Facebook, if you do something that’s not quite the way other people think it should be, you’ll hear about it. If because and everybody everybody and anybody’s got an opinion on how things are supposed to be done. I’m like, boy, I I when I started my channel, I’ve always, and I’ve said this in a lot of my videos, I’m just trying to show you a way to do something. It doesn’t mean that it’s the only way to do it.

Rob Kenney [00:06:39]:

You might have a different way. One one of the examples is how to iron a shirt. Mhmm. I’ve always kinda done it a certain way, and the reason you do it a certain way is so you don’t miss a spot. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:06:49]:

You

Rob Kenney [00:06:50]:

know, it’s a in my mind, that’s how I’ve done it. I’m not a, you know, I I’m not a professional. You know, I haven’t done that at the professional level, but I’ll do, you know, do it in a certain order so I don’t miss it. And then people say, well, you should do it in this order. I’m like, but why? Why do I have to do it in that order when this order has worked for me for 30 years? I I don’t, you know, you have to prove it to me that that’s really gonna make a huge difference in how my shirt comes out. Right. I think the method is more you just wanna make sure you’re hitting all the spots. I think that’s the main reason why you do it in a certain order.

Rob Kenney [00:07:24]:

If you’ve been taught a different way, that’s great. If it works for you, great. But if you need a way, here, I got a way for you.

Scott Cowan [00:07:30]:

So how I solve that particular situation is I don’t iron. I don’t wear shirts that I have to iron. That’s that’s how I solve it.

Rob Kenney [00:07:39]:

That works.

Scott Cowan [00:07:40]:

Yeah. That’s that’s an option. Let’s just, but, you know, it’s not good for video content either. So you started you started on YouTube. Was that the first platform you started on?

Rob Kenney [00:07:49]:

It was.

Scott Cowan [00:07:50]:

Yeah. And then then what what was next? Was it was it Instagram next? Facebook next?

Rob Kenney [00:07:56]:

Instagram. Instagram and Facebook kinda almost go hand in hand because it’s owned by Meta.

Scott Cowan [00:08:01]:

Right. Right.

Rob Kenney [00:08:01]:

And so and my daughter was big helping me with that. I I’ve since learned how to use it because I had to learn how to use YouTube. Right. I since learned that, so I I took that back over. But she helped kinda get that thing up and running and then

Scott Cowan [00:08:16]:

Okay. And then TikTok is the latest. I put off

Rob Kenney [00:08:20]:

I put off TikTok for a while just because I I have a concern for the younger generation that it’s shortening our attention span, you know, and even for older generation too for that matter. We tend to wanna swipe swipe swipe swipe, get be entertained to death, and you spent there you’ve been there for 3 hours, you know, scroll scrolling through short videos that and nothing that you’re really learning a whole lot from. Kinda wasting time.

Scott Cowan [00:08:48]:

Right. I I I yes, I have similar apprehensions. Alright. So we’re gonna pause. We’re gonna shift gears. I’m gonna push the clutch in partially and then grind the gear here. But so where did you grow up? What area of Washington?

Rob Kenney [00:09:03]:

I grew up in Bellevue. In Bellevue. I was actually born in New Orleans.

Scott Cowan [00:09:07]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:09:09]:

Yep. My dad, so I’m one of 8 kids. There were 6 kids born in Wichita, Wellington, Kansas area. My dad worked for Boeing. Just to kinda give you a quick Okay. Synopsis of what happened. And then my dad moved us to New Orleans because the work dried up at Boeing in Wichita. Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:09:27]:

And so we moved to New Orleans for the space program, and that’s where I was born in 64. Okay. And then we moved up to Seattle in 66, with Boeing again with the 747 program.

Scott Cowan [00:09:40]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:09:40]:

And so and then I grew up in grew up in Bellevue, went to Sammamish High School.

Scott Cowan [00:09:44]:

K. And then, you you went to the best college in the state?

Rob Kenney [00:09:49]:

I did. I went to central. Okay. I didn’t graduate from there. I went there for a couple of years. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I actually sat out for a couple of years after high Scott. And then because of the family situation

Scott Cowan [00:10:00]:

Right.

Rob Kenney [00:10:00]:

You know, with my dad leaving and stuff, I wasn’t really sure what to do, honestly. And so and I share about that in my book about wishing I had somebody kinda guiding me to help me give give me some direction instead of just going to school and hoping it sticks. You know?

Scott Cowan [00:10:16]:

So I chuckle because I do I also you know, I went to central, right after high Scott, and, my bio says my freshman year was the best 6 years of my life, which is somewhat accurate and somewhat tongue in cheek. There’s there’s 6 is a bit much, but, I had a really good time at at Central. I met wonderful people that are still dear close personal friends of mine 40 years later. My my time in Ellensburg was extremely valuable, Just not officially recorded, you know, with the diploma from Central Washington University. But I also think though at 18 years of age, do you really know what you wanna do? I mean, you you go to school to major in accounting, and you get there and you think you wanna major in accounting and you start taking accounting classes and you find yourself falling asleep in class because it’s boring to you or whatever. And then you have to either stick it out or switch and college is not cheap. It was when I when I started at Central. So here’s a question for you.

Scott Cowan [00:11:30]:

You you went to Central, I think you said in you started in 86. Right? Mhmm. So I started in 80. Do you know how much my tuition was my freshman quarter at central?

Rob Kenney [00:11:44]:

If I had to guess, I would say $300.

Scott Cowan [00:11:47]:

$202 a quarter. $606 a year for tuition. So even even in the early eighties, that was more money than $606 is, you know, 2024, but it I didn’t have to take out loans. I didn’t, I didn’t go into debt to go to college. I am very grateful for that. Where I see people today taking on staggering debt to go to college, being forced into trying to figure out what it is they’re going to do while in college, and then go try to do that after college. In some ways, I always thought maybe it would be better to wait a couple of years until you had a little bit of life experience and you kinda went, maybe I don’t wanna do accounting. Maybe I wanna do, you know, marketing, whatever, science, engineering.

Scott Cowan [00:12:35]:

Mhmm. So that’s just my my take on it. So you you went to Central. You took a couple years off. So do you play football there. Right?

Rob Kenney [00:12:42]:

I did play football, and so that was, you know, part of it was, again, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I was a good football player in high school. Mhmm. But then and I had, some interest from some local colleges. But, see, I this is how ignorant I was. I didn’t even know the difference between a JC, a university, a community college. It didn’t mean anything to me. I just didn’t know. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Rob Kenney [00:13:05]:

And I my self esteem was pretty low at the time because of my family situation. And so I didn’t realize counselors were there just waiting for you to just ask them. I didn’t take advantage of that. And so that’s one of the things I hope to share with people on my channel too. I’m actually been talking about doing a podcast, and I wanna, get into some of that stuff to save people some of the heartache that I did and talk to people that are in these positions that, can help guide you. Because I I agree with you that, you know, if you don’t know what you wanna do, don’t just go to school and Scott, racking up loans, I think. Or if you want to, you know, a community college is a great way to go as long as you get your 2 year degree. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:13:51]:

You know, if you go

Rob Kenney [00:13:52]:

to community college and play around and just get some credits, they might not transfer wasted because you might have found out what you liked. Right. So you would get that benefit. But if you can get your 2 year degree, you know, of course, there’s running starts as well where you can get your 2 year degree out of high school. That wasn’t around when we were

Scott Cowan [00:14:11]:

Right.

Rob Kenney [00:14:11]:

Younger. But, there’s just a lot of options that, and I share that too because, again, football, I set out for a couple years, and by that time, they’ve forgotten about you. You know? They don’t think you’re gonna come to ever. And I just showed up at Central for spring football thinking, okay. I’m gonna give this a shot. It would have been way better if I went to a JC at the time than, you know, what Wenatchee Valley, recruited me out of high school. They don’t have a football program anymore I know. I think.

Rob Kenney [00:14:39]:

But, Wenatchee Valley, Yakima Valley, any of those, I coulda gone to to help kinda get back in the spotlight so people then would recruit you to these universities. You know, the transfer protocol now, you can just transfer. Back then, it was a major deal. If you’re going from a university to a university, you have to sit out of here in different things. You know? So, anyway, all that to say is, man, I wish I had somebody to tell me, you know, instead you’d ask your friends and your friends a lot of times will tell you, oh, you know, you wanna be a fireman. You should do this. Well, what what do you know about being a fireman? You’re not a fireman. Right.

Rob Kenney [00:15:18]:

Yeah. I could really talk to a fireman. And so that’s again, something that I hope to do on my podcast as well, talk to people that are actually doing what you might wanna do.

Scott Cowan [00:15:28]:

So let’s I I do wanna explore this football thing. So what position were were you?

Rob Kenney [00:15:34]:

Yeah. I played, I played tight end in high school

Scott Cowan [00:15:36]:

because I

Rob Kenney [00:15:37]:

was kinda bigger. I was, I’m I’m I was 63 then. I’m shrinking a little bit. I’m 62 now. Okay. Alright. Yep. Yeah.

Rob Kenney [00:15:45]:

So I played tight end, and then I, at central, I played, split end.

Scott Cowan [00:15:49]:

Split end.

Rob Kenney [00:15:50]:

I wasn’t as fast as, the normal split ends, but I always had good hands. So

Scott Cowan [00:15:56]:

So question, was this was this during the Kitna era?

Rob Kenney [00:16:02]:

Kitna was after me. He was in,

Scott Cowan [00:16:04]:

That’s what I thought.

Rob Kenney [00:16:05]:

Yeah. He was in the nineties, early

Scott Cowan [00:16:07]:

nineties. That? Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:16:09]:

Alright. I think so. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:16:10]:

So when I went there, they didn’t have a real good football program. It wasn’t Oh. It was a basketball school back then in the early eighties. Yeah. You know, how was Central’s football in 86, mid mid eighties?

Rob Kenney [00:16:23]:

Yeah. We were good. I so this is another thing. You know, as a walk on, you gotta kinda prove yourself. And there was a coach there at the time was Tom Perry. Yep. He and he kinda came and went at central. So he’d been out and then came back.

Rob Kenney [00:16:37]:

And, anyway so he was there when I came in 86, and then he stepped away. And then Mike Dunbar came in, the following year, and we started to have success. We actually were ranked high we made it to the playoffs, ranked 8th in the nation. It was NAIA at the time.

Scott Cowan [00:16:54]:

At that time. Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:16:55]:

Yep. Yep. And, we, and we’re good. So we it started to come Cowan, and he put him on the map, and then he ended up using that as a stepping stone, Mike Dunbar, and he left. Right. You know, went to Toledo or something. I So yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:17:08]:

I think I wanna say Toledo. You’re right. Okay. So after college, I guess, I’m I’m where I’m going with all these questions is kinda like picking your brain for the knowledge pool that you’re you’re you’re sharing with people, you know, now Yeah. 40 years later. So what’d you do after college?

Rob Kenney [00:17:25]:

Yeah. So I, before college, when I was out of high school, I used to work at a gas station. K. So I haven’t really shared this part of my story, but I, I worked at a gas station and, again, my self esteem was pretty low. I didn’t think I was valuable. And this one company used to come in, and get their gas from us. And so and then I found out they were hiring. It was an office supply company.

Rob Kenney [00:17:50]:

And so I went and applied there and got the job there just as a stock kid, you know, and doing different things, you know, help helping out and doing some driving and stuff like that. And so I kinda moved up in the ranks at this, it was called Olympic office supply. And I worked there for for a few years before I was like, I I kinda always wanted to play football. I think I need to give it a shot. I just didn’t have great direction. And so then I ended up going to Central because my sister had gone there. And so she had some familiarity with it, so that’s why how I ended up there. Anyway, so then I I went to work at or I I went to Central for couple years, and then my dad, Boeing, again, the Boeing connection, he ended up, I haven’t told this story, really, on any interviews.

Rob Kenney [00:18:36]:

So you’re getting the exclusive here.

Scott Cowan [00:18:38]:

Alright. But

Rob Kenney [00:18:39]:

I I worked at, I got my dad got me on at Boeing, and so I worked yeah. So that’s part of the reason I cut it short at Central was, like, okay. This football thing doesn’t look like it’s I gave it a good try.

Scott Cowan [00:18:49]:

Sure. The

Rob Kenney [00:18:50]:

old college try, so to speak. And then I, my dad got me on at Boeing. So I was a drafter at Boeing, and I worked there for a couple years. And then I got in, I met somebody there that actually that’s where I met my wife too. But I met, somebody that was doing was doing something with audio visual company that he is starting. And so I did that for a couple years. That kind of fell apart. Then I was desperate.

Rob Kenney [00:19:19]:

My daughter was or my wife was pregnant with my daughter. We were trying to figure out what to do, and so I went back to the office supply Cowan.

Scott Cowan [00:19:26]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:19:27]:

And asked them if they had a job, and they said, we love what you did, but we don’t really have a work we do consider sales. And I’m like, I always considered myself an introvert and sales always, I don’t I’m not that type of guy, you know. And so, but I took it because I needed a job. And so I ended up, in sales, and it worked out amazingly because it I had the freedom of spending time with my kids as they were growing up and the flexibility that I had, and I actually made some decent money at it. I was better at it than I thought I might be. I I still I’ve gotten better over the years, but, it took me a long time to get over the fear of public speaking. And as a salesman, you know, I mean, with all these type a personalities that that’s not a problem for them. But, I found with that particular job, I usually only had to speak with 1, 2, or 3 people, and so I’m comfortable doing that.

Rob Kenney [00:20:26]:

And so yeah. Anyway, so that’s, that’s the roundabout thing and what I and I did that for so I ended up doing that for 30 30 years in office supply sales.

Scott Cowan [00:20:37]:

It’s interesting because what you’re doing on your channel or I’ll I’ll say channel singular, but but all your channels. I I have yet to be able to bring myself to do that. I I I can sit here and talk to you all day long. Yes. The camera’s running, but nobody sees it. But, you know, this is just for you and I to kind of look at each other. And I can sit, and I can talk, and we can have a conversation. I can talk to 2 or 3 people and have a conversation.

Scott Cowan [00:21:00]:

That’s fine. You asked me to get up in front of a group of people, you know, if it’s more than about 4 people, boy, boy, is it terrifying for me? I mean, that’s I hate to give it that much power, but it’s it’s terrifying for me, even if I know the people. And really, if I don’t know the people, it’s yeah. I don’t sleep.

Rob Kenney [00:21:25]:

I can empathize with you. I I know I I’ve struggled with social anxiety

Scott Cowan [00:21:29]:

Yeah.

Rob Kenney [00:21:30]:

My whole life. I’ve had panic attacks where, like, I’ll be on you know, I used to again, a bunch of type a personalities for our sales meetings, and I’d be driving to our monthly sales meeting thinking, I don’t really wanna do this. Can I just, and so I called my manager? I’m not feeling good. You know? He got to be where he understood that this is more than this. Yeah. But he knew guys, I was kinda trying to hide it from him, but he was such a good guy that he I finally confided in him. I said, I honestly struggle with fight or flight in some of these times where I’m just sitting there thinking, what am I doing here? I don’t belong.

Scott Cowan [00:22:05]:

Right. But if you’re able to serve the customer, do you need to be at the meeting? I mean, that’s the question I would always ask. It’s, like, if you’re serving your customer and providing services that they need and value, do you need not not you specifically, but but what’s the benefit for someone like us to be in a meeting where we’re anxiety ridden and now we’ve got to, you’ve knocked us off track and now we’ve got to go back, put ourselves back together and go back out almost, almost better for us to just keep doing what we’re really good at doing Yeah. And and get that information you would get in a meeting in another manner.

Rob Kenney [00:22:44]:

Yeah. I kinda I agree with you. But and my I think the owner because so I worked for Olympic and then Olympic sold to a company called Complete Office

Scott Cowan [00:22:52]:

is who

Rob Kenney [00:22:52]:

I worked for. And the owner of that, he was great too. Name was Rick Israel. And he just super guy where he I think he understood, and he he was all about just performance. If we perform, this other stuff is secondary. Right. He didn’t put such a highlight on he he thought that the meetings were important because they’re you know, you’re getting information, But he didn’t ever make me Rob, we’re gonna make you stand up and talk in front of everybody today. He was always gracious about that where other people would talk.

Rob Kenney [00:23:20]:

Yeah. But my numbers were always near the top, and so I didn’t have to

Scott Cowan [00:23:25]:

Yeah. Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:23:26]:

Do other things. So So

Scott Cowan [00:23:29]:

with your dad, how do I? Have you changed how you’re going about your videos from when you started? I mean, what’s your setup like? You you mentioned when when you mentioned your first time, you you hung your phone off the mirror. You know, have you have you complicated filming? Are you still keeping them, you know, super straightforward and approachable?

Rob Kenney [00:23:57]:

Or Yeah. I try to keep I mean, I’m a dad. So I think part of the charm is, not, you know, super fancy. Mhmm. So, you know, I have an iPhone, and so I use my iPhone. That’s what I record all my videos Cowan. And I just have a tripod that I set up, and, my wife helps me sometimes with kinda visuals where she’s kinda zooming in on things for me. But for the most part, I just set up a tripod because it’s easy, and I can do it.

Rob Kenney [00:24:27]:

And it’s on my phone, and then I can edit on my phone too. Mhmm. So it’s not overly complicated. Maybe in the future, who who knows what it’ll end up being like, but I think that’s part of the charm.

Scott Cowan [00:24:42]:

I I would agree with you. I I I think that makes it to me, it makes it approachable enough inauthentic versus, you know not that not that a polished production doesn’t mean it’s authentic, but it maybe you know?

Rob Kenney [00:24:55]:

Yeah. How

Scott Cowan [00:24:57]:

many times a week are you publishing now? Do you have a release schedule that you’re working on?

Rob Kenney [00:25:03]:

I try to. I try so I actually need to get, and I was working on this morning, a wisdom Wednesday because it’s Wednesday Okay. Right now. So as we’re recording. But I, I try to post, at least a couple times a week, but I also have a life. You know? I’m semi retired, just turned 60

Scott Cowan [00:25:22]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:25:23]:

Just a couple weeks ago and or even week and a half ago. But I so I’m just trying to I don’t know. I’m trying to provide useful information and content, but I’m not gonna have the the tail wag the dog. I’m not gonna do that. I you know, we’ve planned financially pretty well. Mhmm. And so I was hoping to retire originally at 60 anyway.

Scott Cowan [00:25:46]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:25:47]:

And so, yeah, I I I think as opportunities come, we’ll see see what happens. But I I don’t wanna be a slave to this thing, and I don’t you see a lot of people that are thirsty. Mhmm. Thirsty on social media where, hey. Look at me. Look at me. I don’t need that. I I’m hoping just to provide useful content that in the long run, people will appreciate what I was trying to do because I’m trying to you know, I talk about mental health and the importance of mental health.

Rob Kenney [00:26:15]:

Again, panic attacks. I’ve I’ve I can empathize. I’ve been there. And I can also empathize with people that maybe didn’t have the greatest dad. My dad started out good, but went haywire for a while, and I talk about forgiveness too. You know, all that, the whole package, I hope that it, you know, continues on beyond me, you know, because my life, you know, I won’t be here forever. So, hopefully, who knows what’s gonna happen in the future with the media or what have you, but at least it’ll be there that people Cowan consume and understand what I what I was trying to do. I’m trying to provide useful content that will help people and encourage them and empower them to be able to forgive because forgiveness is huge.

Rob Kenney [00:26:58]:

Mhmm. Because if you’re spending that, if you’re spending energy on stuff that you can’t do anything about, it’s real it really kinda seems silly when you put it that way. Right? I know I was, though. I was I Cowan, you know, I was harboring unforgiveness and spending that plate and spending energy Cowan forget Scott forgiving my dad. And so that’s wasted energy in my opinion. Once I forgave him, and moved on from that, boy, there was freedom for me on the other side of that, and that’s why I try to encourage people to forgive.

Scott Cowan [00:27:30]:

Does your audience ever ask you, Hey, can you do some, can you, you know, I’ll say, do a video on how to tie a tie? Do they, do they ever ask for specific

Rob Kenney [00:27:44]:

advice? All the time. Yeah. Yep. I get emails and stuff from people all the time. And a a lot of them are encouraging. Just telling me, hey. I’m just so grateful for you. I’ve had people even say that I, in a roundabout way, saved them saved their life

Scott Cowan [00:28:00]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:28:00]:

Because they didn’t think anybody cared, and they were lonely and so on and so forth. So, yeah, I get I get emails all the time. I just had somebody, send me a message on Instagram asking me how to fix her drain in her garden. I’m like, you know, it’s really tough. Yes. She she has a drain, she was saying, in her garden. I think she’s in the UK. But she’s telling me and so I said, I I don’t have a drain in my garden, so I don’t know.

Rob Kenney [00:28:29]:

You know? Every every house might be a little different.

Scott Cowan [00:28:32]:

A little different.

Rob Kenney [00:28:32]:

Moving in different countries. It’s completely different. Right. So I can’t possibly fix show you how to fix everything and anything that you have because I don’t have it here. Right. Right. So yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:28:44]:

What has been the most requested? Is there been a theme?

Rob Kenney [00:28:49]:

Yeah. I think, well, so early on, I think my channel was pigeonholed into that I’m here to help help young men. Okay. Because naturally, you know, tying a tie that tends to be for young men. Shaving your face tends to be for young men.

Scott Cowan [00:29:03]:

That’s true.

Rob Kenney [00:29:04]:

But but how to change a tire is for everybody, in my opinion. I I and I had comments early on that, hey. I just you know, my boyfriend will do that. Well, what if you’re driving and your boyfriend’s not with you and it’s dark out at night and you’re alone?

Scott Cowan [00:29:18]:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:29:19]:

You hope some nice guy comes along and helps you or you know? I I so I I think it’s important to try to, show anything and everything to everybody. And I one thing that has come out or 2 things that have come out of my channel is, realizing that, it’s it was resonating on a different level that, people were crying watching me tie a tie rather than the instruction actual instruction of tying the tie. I think it’s because of the dad the dad moment that maybe they never had or miss or all of the above. Okay. That was something I didn’t anticipate. And so I have, I don’t know if it’s 2 things or necessarily, but I so I’m I’m surprised by how it’s resonated with all ages. I have 80 year old kids. You know, I call my my followers kids, and, hey.

Rob Kenney [00:30:11]:

I’m your 80 year old kid. K. I just had somebody say because I showed how to throw a football, and I know how

Scott Cowan [00:30:16]:

to throw

Rob Kenney [00:30:16]:

a football because I learned and I know how to throw it properly because I just learned that with all the years of playing football. And so I showed that the other day, and somebody said, hey. I’m 68, and nobody’s ever showed me this. Thank you. You know, they and they and they jokingly said, hey, dad. I’m 60 8, and nobody’s ever showed me. So

Scott Cowan [00:30:37]:

And I’m looking. I saw the football one, and it had a lot. There was a lot I mean, a lot of views.

Rob Kenney [00:30:47]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:30:48]:

Yeah. I mean Yep.

Rob Kenney [00:30:49]:

It depends on the platform. Yeah. So it’s, yeah. I mean, I I on TikTok, it has close to a 1000000 views on TikTok.

Scott Cowan [00:30:57]:

That’s that’s crazy to me. That’s just Yeah. Absolutely crazy to me. So on all these platforms, you know, they they all give you demographics and all that. So how do your demographics, according to these platforms, show up? Is it

Rob Kenney [00:31:14]:

Yeah. It’s different. Yeah. And as you can imagine, it would be different. But, so on on, YouTube, it’s about, I used to say 80 20 because it was 80 20, 80% men and 20% women. And now it’s kind of gone about 6040.

Scott Cowan [00:31:32]:

Wow.

Rob Kenney [00:31:33]:

60% men and 40% women. And if you go to Instagram, as you can probably imagine, it’s flipped. And so it’s more it’s 60% women and 40% 40% men, and Facebook’s kinda the same way. And, and TikTok I haven’t looked at TikTok recently to see what the what the demographics are.

Scott Cowan [00:31:52]:

That’s actually those are interesting interesting demographics, though. It’s not 5050. That would be that would be frankly shocking, but it’s 6040 is pretty tight ratio there of, you know, men to women or women to men. Right. And that that I think that’s a a big testament to what you’re doing. Until just before we started recording for the 4th time today.

Rob Kenney [00:32:14]:

Yeah. You

Scott Cowan [00:32:15]:

I I didn’t realize you had a book. What Yeah. What was the Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:32:20]:

Motivation and inspiration to do a book?

Rob Kenney [00:32:23]:

So when my channel went viral, as you can imagine, and it, end of May, and we’re closing in on Father’s Day. Right? There was I was getting requests from, you name it, to come on, and be interviewed and that sort of thing. But I also was being, asked if I ever thought about writing a Cowan. And so I had a a few different publishers reach out to me early on. Wow. Good. And then I had, you know, some pretty big name publishers reach out to me. Harper Collins is, who actually ended up at yeah.

Rob Kenney [00:32:55]:

Oh, what is the name? I can’t think the name escapes me, but it’s a division of Harper Collins who ended up doing doing my book.

Scott Cowan [00:33:01]:

Is it Penguin?

Rob Kenney [00:33:03]:

No. Because it probably says right on here. So here’s my book. Yeah. Why am I why can I not think of the

Scott Cowan [00:33:12]:

Oh, put you on the spot? At the door.

Rob Kenney [00:33:14]:

William Morrow. Okay. William Morrow. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:33:18]:

And yeah. So Do do you enjoy the process of writing a book?

Rob Kenney [00:33:24]:

It was, it was a little tough because it was, it was just such a busy time because I was still doing my regular job. I was also doing, dad, how do I? And I was asked being asked for interviews, and then now suddenly I’m writing a book. And it was, it was a lot of work because they wanted to, try to capitalize, I think, on the popularity of everything and get the book out in a year, which is normally quick. Right.

Scott Cowan [00:33:48]:

You know? But less less than

Rob Kenney [00:33:49]:

a year, because we started so I had a ghostwriter because I, you know, I wouldn’t consider myself a writer, so to speak. And so I thought I wanna make sure I do this right for them Mhmm. And do it, you know, well. And so I I hired a ghostwriter, and we would meet. And we started in October of 2020, and it came out in May of 2021.

Scott Cowan [00:34:11]:

That’s a really fast turnaround for a book. I I never really realized until I started talking to more authors on the show the the lead time

Rob Kenney [00:34:21]:

on a Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:34:22]:

On a book project. That was really, like, one surprise. So that’s a really fast turnaround. Okay. Yeah. Putting you on the spot.

Rob Kenney [00:34:34]:

Uh-oh. 2

Scott Cowan [00:34:35]:

years from

Rob Kenney [00:34:36]:

now how well?

Scott Cowan [00:34:37]:

Yeah. 2 years from now.

Rob Kenney [00:34:38]:

How well I did with with the William Morel thing.

Scott Cowan [00:34:41]:

That’s half the fun for me. It yeah. Yeah. But 2 years from now, what what do what do you want your what do you want your platform to look like? What do you hope to accomplish in the next couple years with with this?

Rob Kenney [00:34:53]:

Yeah. I hope to just continue to do what I’ve been doing. It’s been on an upward trend. You know, my channel continues to grow, and I think the popularity of it. I I’m hoping, you know, to pass along to people to, you know, again, it’s kind of the same old thing on a grander scale where I hope that I would love to be able to go on go out on tour, so to speak, and meet people and talk to them and help, encourage them that just, you know, I think a big thing, like, I talked about with forgiveness. I think, sadly sadly, there’s such a major problem with fatherlessness, all over the world. My channel is all over the world. I get you know, it goes viral in Brazil, and then it goes viral in Australia.

Rob Kenney [00:35:41]:

And then a sudden all of a sudden, I have all these followers from all Russia, actually, recently. I started getting a whole bunch of somebody was sharing it on, on one of the platforms, maybe Instagram and Did did you, like, do a thing

Scott Cowan [00:35:54]:

on how to drive on ice?

Rob Kenney [00:35:55]:

Or, I mean, no. Again, I think it’s just resonating with the fact that, you know, be I I wanna bring back the fact that being a dad is cool. Mhmm. It’s, it’s not something that you know, a a Scott of times dads can be made fun of, like, Homer Simpson and, you know, or Al Bundy. And we can have a good time yucking it up, but I I don’t like it because I think it also maybe lets people think they can make fun of dads. And it’s a hard job being a dad, you know, because you because you’re working, trying to support, then you’re trying to do the best you can. And then if you’re getting beat up with friendly fire, that’s you know? And and we have such a problem with fatherlessness, in, again, all over the world. If I could help with my channel to even move the needle just a little bit to help people understand, you know, if you if you do choose to to leave for whatever reason, you know, I can’t it’s I can’t it’s such a broad Right.

Rob Kenney [00:36:59]:

I can’t paint with such a broad brush. Everybody has their reasons. There’s different things going on. But, you know, make sure that you really think this through because if you if you leave, there’s a void and that needs to be filled by somebody. Somebody’s picking up the the slack. And so I you know, if I can encourage people that if you’ve been through something, maybe your dad left, you don’t have to make those choices yourself. You can do you can do it differently. Don’t use that as an excuse.

Scott Cowan [00:37:27]:

K. One of the questions I ask all my guests, and we’re gonna have a little bit of fun with with you or play a lot, play a lot, It’s coffee. You know? Where’s so where’s a great place to get coffee near you?

Rob Kenney [00:37:42]:

Yeah. I I usually drink my coffee at home. Okay. I get up early and

Scott Cowan [00:37:46]:

With my dog.

Rob Kenney [00:37:47]:

And, yep, have my coffee. Okay. You can stop.

Scott Cowan [00:37:49]:

So I’m gonna phrase the next question like this.

Rob Kenney [00:37:52]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:37:52]:

Dad, how do I make a cup of coffee?

Rob Kenney [00:37:57]:

Well, so here’s a little trick that I didn’t know, but when I got into Office Flies, I found out that, so we started selling coffee. And a company I just gotta give a shout out to them to really enjoy their coffee is Caffe d’arte.

Scott Cowan [00:38:11]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:38:11]:

And they have a coffee called the meaning of life, which which I really enjoy. It’s a great coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:38:19]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:38:19]:

But one thing I learned was get a coffee maker if you if you’re gonna drink your coffee at home because you can save a lot of money doing that. Right. Get a coffee maker that has a bold setting on it because what that does is it slows down the brew, so you get a more flavorful coffee. You know, a lot of times we’re in a hurry to get our coffee, and so you might want it I want it fast to come Right. Dripping through there and and get my cup of coffee. And they even have those things that stop it so you can pull out

Scott Cowan [00:38:48]:

Right.

Rob Kenney [00:38:48]:

Steal a cup of coffee before it’s completely done. But I would recommend that point, getting the bolds make sure you get a bold setting. It just makes for a more flavorful coffee, in my opinion.

Scott Cowan [00:38:58]:

Now I have not tried their meaning of life. Is that a darker roast coffee?

Rob Kenney [00:39:04]:

It’s not super dark. And, You know? So it was a couple years ago where that that was really what I was all all what I was drinking, but I have gotten the more into a French roast now where I drink a a kind of a more darker coffee. So it’s not quite, a dark coffee

Scott Cowan [00:39:20]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:39:20]:

But it’s not a light coffee. It’s kind of a medium, but I think a little darker than a medium.

Scott Cowan [00:39:24]:

Okay. So one of the trends in coffee with, you know, these micro roasters and all that, and no disrespect, but they they tend to, like there there’s this trend in coffee for lighter roasts, and and and there’s some great coffees. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some great lighter roast coffees, but for the most part, my palate isn’t sophisticated enough to pick up those tasting notes of, oh, I picked up a little bit of nutmeg here. I just I want I want hot black liquid. And so I tend to my go to is I like, you know, darker roast, pure coffee. Very rarely do I ever add anything to it. And if I the only thing I’d add to it is, like, you know, half and half.

Scott Cowan [00:40:08]:

I don’t know. I never put any sugar in it. And I understand that that’s kind of, you know, a caveman technique to a lot of a lot of people. A lot of people are like, oh, no. I want the, you know

Rob Kenney [00:40:18]:

It’s way better for you. You’re you’re saving on all the calories, though. Scott I I like a little cream.

Scott Cowan [00:40:23]:

Yeah. I know. A little every now and then. Every now and then, a little cream just to cut it. Sometimes it’s fine. But I don’t, you know, I don’t go I I tend to make fun of in this, you know, not my place. I shouldn’t make fun of anybody, but, you know, if somebody’s drinking oat milk, I tend to make fun of them. It’s those it’s those oat milk lattes or, you know and I just I mean, good for you.

Scott Cowan [00:40:46]:

I’m glad you’re I’m glad you’re enjoying your beverage, but that’s not my thing. My thing is, you know, coffee. At home, I’m using an AeroPress, which is a plastic tube, and it’s a single cup, you know, making a single cup.

Rob Kenney [00:40:58]:

With it.

Scott Cowan [00:40:58]:

Yeah. I that’s that’s my go to thing at home is an AeroPress. If I’m gonna, you know, maybe French press once in a while, but I think your your advice about the bold setting on on a coffee maker the other thing about a coffee maker that I think if you can add is making sure that it heats the water enough. So many of these machines don’t get the water warming. You don’t want it boiling, but you don’t want it, you know, want it 150 degrees. Where where what area of the of Puget Sound do you live in now? What do you call home?

Rob Kenney [00:41:29]:

Yeah. Kent. Kent. Okay. I I live in Kent. We moved down here because I couldn’t afford to stay in Bellevue. We had to because Bellevue changed a lot from when I was a kid.

Scott Cowan [00:41:38]:

Yeah. It did. Yeah. It did. I saw something in the Seattle Times the other day last week. The average house price in King County now is $1,000,000 in King County. So that means Kent. That means Burien, Tukwila.

Scott Cowan [00:41:52]:

You know? I was yeah. Okay. I’m gonna get to Kent around lunchtime, and I’m always looking for a really interesting place to eat or good place to eat. What where where would you recommend for me for lunch on a in Kent?

Rob Kenney [00:42:12]:

Yeah. You know, there’s a lot of places I that we’ve kinda found, but I really like the Banyan Tree.

Scott Cowan [00:42:19]:

The Banyan Tree?

Rob Kenney [00:42:20]:

I gotta give a shout out to them. Banyan Tree down at Kent Station. Mhmm. It’s really, really good Thai food.

Scott Cowan [00:42:26]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:42:27]:

Their pad thai is amazing, but I like their, pineapple curry. Pineapple curry with rice is so good.

Scott Cowan [00:42:35]:

So how many stars?

Rob Kenney [00:42:37]:

I’m a wimp. So the pineapple curry is naturally hot and kinda naturally spicy, but I always just take a one star.

Scott Cowan [00:42:46]:

Take a

Rob Kenney [00:42:46]:

one star. I like I like to enjoy my food. I don’t like to be sweating while I’m eating.

Scott Cowan [00:42:51]:

There’s so many people that, you know, they my son loves hot sauces. Yeah. I think Tabasco is too hot. I mean, you know, ketchup sometimes seems a little spicy to me, but but but, you know, there’s so many people that like these, what I’ll call extreme heat experiences. I I can I can skip that? I don’t I don’t need to I’m with you. I like to enjoy my food. I don’t like to be uncomfortable, and I love curry. And Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:43:26]:

And and sometimes it’s like, I’ll go to a place and say you know, I’ll go there once. Let’s say I went to the bay let’s say you and I went to the band aid dream, and you we you know? And I get a one start. Next time, I might try to, might. Yeah. I almost always regret that choice, but, you know, every now and then, I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll push just a little bit, but never never, you know, 3 or whatever their cap out is. Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:43:50]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:43:53]:

What do you like to do when you’re not giving advice? What do you what do you like to do for fun and and recreation?

Rob Kenney [00:44:05]:

I I love to walk my dog. That’s one of Wenatchee

Scott Cowan [00:44:08]:

dog?

Rob Kenney [00:44:09]:

Peaceful thing. She’s a mutt. Okay. She’s a she’s a border collie mix.

Scott Cowan [00:44:14]:

Okay. High energy.

Rob Kenney [00:44:15]:

Yeah. Yeah. We and we lost a dog. We had used to have 2 dogs, and we had to put one down about a year ago, almost a year ago to the day, which was sad. But, Yeah. So she she’s a great dog. She is so loyal. Just a great dog.

Rob Kenney [00:44:32]:

It’s interesting because I shared this in my book about our the one dog that the kids kinda grew up with. I always thought was a good dog, for the most part because she didn’t nip. You know? She didn’t snap at the kids or whatever, and they could be crawling on her. And I always I gave her way too many points for that Mhmm. And and and gave her a break on the fact that if you opened our front door and she went outside, you’d be chasing her for 30 minutes to get her back. She just didn’t wanna come it’s like she’s always trying to escape, you know, where this so we got a little bit of PTSD.

Scott Cowan [00:45:07]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:45:07]:

This dog is her name’s Lola. Great dog. And she she just hangs around. She wants to be with us. That’s what my son says. Why do we act like our like, her name was Gan, was our first dog. Our little our daughter named her when she was really little, but

Scott Cowan [00:45:23]:

Mhmm. So I

Rob Kenney [00:45:23]:

don’t think the name means anything. But, but she used to escape, and it’s like, I never really thought about that. My son said, that dog didn’t really wanna spend time with us. She was always trying to leave us. So now with with Lola, she just is she just sits and stares at me and just waiting for me to do something, and she’s so excited to be around me.

Scott Cowan [00:45:43]:

So where’s a good place to take her for a walk?

Rob Kenney [00:45:46]:

Just in our neighborhood. We just go up and walk, and we usually try to walk a couple miles after, like, we get done here too. My wife and I are gonna go for a walk with her. So that’s, you know, it’s funny that now that I’ve gotten older, simple pleasures. Mhmm. I’m all about simple pleasures. I don’t I don’t I’m fairly content. I don’t need a whole lot to make me happy.

Scott Cowan [00:46:07]:

We have a Bernese mountain dog who’s 2 years old, and, he’s about £140.

Rob Kenney [00:46:15]:

Oh, that’s a big dog.

Scott Cowan [00:46:16]:

He’s a big Cowan, he’s blissfully unaware of his size. He’s actually given me kind of a black eye before by hitting me in the the eye with a paw. He’s but he’s so sweet, and he’s just but he’s he’s a pony. I mean, I I you know, he’s just you know, he’s

Rob Kenney [00:46:38]:

£140 is huge.

Scott Cowan [00:46:40]:

Yeah. Yeah. You know, he’s he’s a pony, and Burner’s he’s the perfect dog. Well, he’s not the perfect dog for me. He’s the perfect dog for me, but for all the wrong reasons. I what I mean by that is is, like, he doesn’t really like to go for walks. Like, a half mile is enough for him. I I which is fine with me, but I should really be walking more.

Scott Cowan [00:46:59]:

More. So it’s like that’s why I’m saying he’s not the perfect dog. I should, you know, have more like yours where we can go 2 or 3 miles, and they’re like, come on. Let’s keep going. And then I’d be, like, regretting it, but then it would be better for me. Yeah. Alright. I have last question to ask you before I ask you to tell everyone where they can find you online.

Scott Cowan [00:47:20]:

So you’re you’re ready for this question? This is the most important question you’ve ever been asked in any interview ever. Now I’m gonna set the parameters for you. It’s a very simple question. You must answer it, and you must give me your reason why.

Rob Kenney [00:47:33]:

Mhmm. Well Alright. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:47:35]:

You do you agree? You’re gonna play along? Well, I might have to

Rob Kenney [00:47:39]:

go let my dog back in. No. I’m joking. Yeah. I might have to let her in, but I’m Here we go. Bail on you.

Scott Cowan [00:47:43]:

Here we go. Let’s see. Cake cake or pie?

Rob Kenney [00:47:49]:

That is a tough question, but I would probably choose pie.

Scott Cowan [00:47:55]:

Alright. Why?

Rob Kenney [00:47:59]:

I I like, a good, like, a strawberry rhubarb pie. I like that. I

Scott Cowan [00:48:10]:

you lost me.

Rob Kenney [00:48:10]:

And I really? See, I I make a good homemade pumpkin pie. But I like, I like apple pie warmed up, or strawberry rhubarb warmed up and then vanilla ice cream. Just vanilla, any they they got so many different vanilla flavors now, vanilla bean, French vanilla.

Scott Cowan [00:48:28]:

Right. Right. Right. So you’re you’re you’re firmly in in the pie camp then?

Rob Kenney [00:48:32]:

I am. I do like a good cake, but, yeah, I I would take pie over cake.

Scott Cowan [00:48:37]:

Okay. There you go. Some people you you you struggled a little bit. Some people, it’s, like, asking to name their favorite child or what struggled a little bit. Some people, it’s like asking to name their favorite child or what hand we’re gonna cut off. Some people are just adamant it’s, you know, cake, and you can’t, how dare you try to dissuade me that anything but cake or pie. You know, it’s it’s just kinda fun. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:48:53]:

Alright. Yeah. As we wrap this up, I Scott a a couple really, really follow-up questions. 1, what didn’t we talk about that we should have? And 2, which kinda ties into that, where can people find you to watch your videos? Where’s a good place for them to go? And there you go.

Rob Kenney [00:49:11]:

Yeah. I, I would say one thing we didn’t really get into too much is I I think a big reason and I did a video on this is what is what is your why? Why do you do things? And I think for me, I’m a man of faith, and so and I’m vocal about that. I think that’s important. I think I’d be a fool to try to act like it’s all about me. I have a much bigger vision. And so and I think, the Bible does say that you’re supposed to help widows, orphans, and the fatherless.

Scott Cowan [00:49:43]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:49:44]:

And that’s I feel like I’m doing all three of those. And I get emails and messages from people all the time in all the 3 of those categories. Maybe not necessarily widows, but single mothers that are trying to raise young men and not knowing what to do in certain situations. And so I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful for the platform that I’ve been given to be able to try to spread kindness. It isn’t always easy to be kind. I’m Scott, you know, it’s not a I think people, you know, I’m not pollyannish where I think that, oh, you just need to be kind to everybody. People can be hard to be kind to.

Scott Cowan [00:50:21]:

Some people can make it very difficult. Yes.

Rob Kenney [00:50:25]:

If you travel at all, you see the selfish nature of people, because they tend to think only in their little box about what they’re doing instead of, can you recognize when we’re on this airplane that, you know, when you grab the back of that chair, that’s my chair. And that’s yeah. You’re shaking me, you know, just all the little things like that that added up. And I told my wife when we because we just went on a a long trip, but, when we got back, I said, I can’t wait to just hang out with Lola. I miss my dog. Right. The more I hang out with people, the more I miss my dog. You know, that that saying.

Rob Kenney [00:50:59]:

But, anyway, I got kinda got off on a on a tangent there.

Scott Cowan [00:51:03]:

But But that’s that’s we you’re right. We didn’t specifically address the why, And and and the why is vitally important for all of us. What’s what’s what is our why?

Rob Kenney [00:51:12]:

I think it is because it it keeps me going. It it motivates me to wanna continue to do what I’m doing because I think I’m providing something that is valuable, that may not be appreciated just yet. I do have people say they just love to hear my voice. They they have it in the background playing

Scott Cowan [00:51:30]:

Mhmm.

Rob Kenney [00:51:30]:

In the background to help reassure them that things are gonna be okay. So I I I’m grateful for that. And then so, yes. So, yeah, I have I have my book. It’s called dad, how do I? Mhmm. I’m on YouTube. Dad, how do I? I’m on Instagram and Facebook. Dad, how do I? I’m on TikTok as the real dad, how do I? Because since I didn’t get on there early on, somebody else stole that name.

Rob Kenney [00:51:55]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:51:56]:

Got it.

Rob Kenney [00:51:57]:

From me. So, yeah, I’m on kinda all those, and we’ll see what the future holds. I I hope to, whatever I can do even to grow this thing, to help make it, yeah, an encouragement to people to understand the coolness of fatherhood as we’re heading into Father’s Day. You know? Mhmm. It’s it’s very important. We need the mothers are important, but dads are important too.

Scott Cowan [00:52:23]:

Absolutely. Well, Rob, thank you so much for taking the time and being patient as we got this thing started today.

Rob Kenney [00:52:30]:

Yeah. Sorry about that. No. Not not not me. Maybe my fault, I think.

Scott Cowan [00:52:34]:

I don’t think so. I I I think it’s just the gremlins in the system, if you will. You know, it’s a little you know, it’s just technology can sometimes be a challenge for us. So I appreciate the patience, and, I wish you continued success with your channel. And, well, this will have happened before this episode comes out, but you’re you’re being you’re you’re gonna be on SADL TV, q, q 13, tomorrow. So this will be you know, people can probably go to their website and see that. Have you ever

Scott Cowan [00:53:04]:

been interviewed on TV for before?

Rob Kenney [00:53:07]:

I I’ve been on, a lot of Zoom interviews.

Scott Cowan [00:53:11]:

Okay.

Rob Kenney [00:53:12]:

Or or Zoom, you know, whatever. They use different platforms all over the place. And so yeah. I’ve been and, so my my in person interviews, I was on the Today Show last Father’s Day last year with Hoda and Jenna. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:53:26]:

I

Rob Kenney [00:53:26]:

was actually in person, flew out there and was in person with them with a couple other, guys. And then I was also on New Day Northwest, in person. K. So the in person ones aren’t near as Cowan, but, yeah, I’ve been on a whole bunch of other. I’ve been on the Today Show several times remotely.

Scott Cowan [00:53:45]:

Okay. Okay. That’s so let me ask you this. When you when you’re on the Today Show, do you see a bump in in con in consumption?

Rob Kenney [00:53:55]:

Yeah. You see people that

Scott Cowan [00:53:56]:

Me immediately.

Rob Kenney [00:53:57]:

Just find out about you at the time. And, yeah, speaking of, like, we were talking about with social anxiety, though, it’s it’s surreal. And my first in person interview was New Day, and my wife and I were driving to Seattle. I’m going, what am I doing? Am I really, gonna go sit in this studio? And I didn’t know if there was an audience or not. At the time, there wasn’t. They may have audience now. Mhmm. But, so one thing that really was cool, and so I gotta give a shout out to this guy, Cisco, If you’re familiar with Cisco, the gardener Yeah.

Rob Kenney [00:54:31]:

Familiar with him? Yeah. He was on the show. He was on the show the same day, because he’s a regular on New Day. And what a great guy. I’m telling you that grounded me. I I got there, and I’m like, oh, what am I doing? And and then Cisco was just so friendly, just a really super guy in person. We I started asking him about some horsetails that I had grown in my yard, and he was so sincere, and he really wanted to solve my problem for me. He was telling me anything and everything, and he said, oh, wait.

Rob Kenney [00:55:08]:

I’m being called on to the set, you know. Yeah. He kinda gets nervous or or he’s kinda whatever. I’m gonna go call on get called on the set. He goes on the set, does his thing, comes back out, picks up the conversation with me. So he wasn’t just you know, just putting up with me. He was sincerely interested in helping me.

Scott Cowan [00:55:27]:

That’s quite great.

Rob Kenney [00:55:28]:

Guy. So that really helped. That really just, like, calmed me. I’m like, okay. I’m going on next. Okay. I got this.

Scott Cowan [00:55:34]:

Alright. How was the Today Show? Were they did are they do they have people in place to kinda help calm the nerves of a inexperienced interviewee?

Rob Kenney [00:55:49]:

I would say no. Okay. Alright. So so I was on there. There was 2 other guys, and they had a PR person that was there with them. I didn’t. Okay. And so I I had my wife and my daughter, and my manager were all, my manager flew out there too.

Rob Kenney [00:56:07]:

But, so I had them, but I was just kinda I hope I do okay here.

Scott Cowan [00:56:13]:

Oh, see. I couldn’t. You know?

Rob Kenney [00:56:14]:

It was pretty interesting.

Scott Cowan [00:56:15]:

Uh-huh. But

Rob Kenney [00:56:16]:

it went well. They treated me well.

Scott Cowan [00:56:18]:

I’ll tip my cap to you because I I can’t imagine I can’t imagine being able to do that. So good good on you. Alright. Thanks. Well, Rob, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it, and, keep sharing wisdom and tips, especially, like, how to throw a football. That’s that’s that’s very cool because you’re right. It’s it is a skill.

Rob Kenney [00:56:42]:

There’s a certain technique, and I go to the beach and see people. I’m like, yeah. We don’t know how to throw football

Scott Cowan [00:56:48]:

to you. So Awesome. Alright. Well, thank you so much.

Rob Kenney [00:56:53]:

Yep. You bet. Thanks for having me, Scott.