Rob Kenny, a 55-year-old fatherless dad from Chicago started his YouTube channel “Dad, How do I?” in April, and in one week he managed to get two million subscribers on his channel. Wondering how he managed to do this? No, he wasn’t using any high-tech camera, nor was his video ideas really out of the box. What he was producing on his YouTube channel was pretty simple and basic.
Kenny posts certain advice videos that a father would normally give to his children. These videos are usually referred to as “dadvices”. These are the basic lessons for everyday life which a father would pass on to his child such as “how to tie a tie?”, “how to put up a shelf?”, “how to unclog a bathtub?” etc.
Kenny initially started his YouTube channel as a joke when his twenty-seven-year-old daughter would continuously call him to ask about several “adulting” questions. This made him think about those people who didn’t have a fatherly figure in their lives just like him, and never had someone who would answer these questions for them.
He felt for those people who never got the chance to have a father who they could call at any time, and ask about how to carry out a certain task. He could relate to those people, as his own father walked out of his life when he was only twelve years old. So, now that he has two children of his own he wants to make sure to post videos of common tasks that one might ask his or her father to help them with.
Now back to the question – how did Kenny manage to get all those 2 million subscribers in just one week? He got all this success when a man named Chris Hart from Texas discovered his channel and shared an appreciation post on his Facebook account for the great content that Kenny has been putting up on his YouTube channel on May 19.
He mentioned how he doesn’t know this man personally, but his channel got an instant subscribe from him for all the great and selfless work that he is doing, which is a great example and gives him hope for humanity. He also addressed how this is a great resource through which people who don’t have a father can learn about common tasks.
Chris Hart’s post about Kenny immediately got viral and got 628k shares, 22k comments, and 329k likes. This made Chris edit his post and add how surprised he got from the response to his post. He further thanked everyone for sharing his Facebook post.
He also mentioned that he had directly emailed Rob Kenny about his post, so that he could utilize this momentum and expand his YouTube channel. Lastly, Chris stated that Rob’s followers have doubled ever since he shared his Facebook post which makes him extremely happy for Kenny.
In a nutshell, it was Chris Hart’s viral post that helped Kenny’s YouTube channel “Dad, How Do I?” become famous and get two million subscribers. After Chris posted on Facebook about Kenny, and the number of subscribers on his channel skyrocketed, websites started to write about Kenny and his story.
When Kenny started his YouTube channel he wasn’t in contact with any big agency, but his channel still managed to go viral. Kenny is just a simple man who wants to give back to the boys and girls who weren’t raised by a father and want basic advice, and that has helped his channel to win the heart of millions of people.
Kenny now has a professional PR team that is helping him get good deals. He mentioned in an interview with Shattered Magazine how he didn’t want to be wealthy or capitalize on this channel. All he wanted to do was raise good adults because he had a fractured childhood and didn’t want others to experience the same thing. He had no motive to make money. It was his sincerity and authenticity that made his channel famous.
The purpose of sharing such a good story is to make people aware that humanity isn’t dead and they can also start up something like this. You don’t have to be a celebrity or have incredible talents to create content, all you need to do is believe in yourself that you can add value to this community and you are good to go.
