We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Derrick James. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Derrick below.

Hi Derrick, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I had to learn different skills to do what I do: the subject of prepping itself and the skills surrounding the different platforms to bring my content to different people. The former, prepping, came relatively easily because I was playing in the woods and teaching myself bushcraft skills for as long as I can remember. This was well before the days of cell phones – thankfully! My father taught me hunting skills and, because of the constant flow of worrisome news headlines, I continued digging into personal preparedness in early adulthood, back when it was still considered “fringe,” and I haven’t stopped since.

The latter, learning different platforms, was less intuitive to me. Fortunately, I’m self-driven and have an entrepreneurial streak. I started a prepper blog (SHTF Blog) in the very early days of blogging. I was ahead of the curve and quickly found a following. I was then ahead of the curve with advances in book publishing and began publishing books to sell on Amazon. In both cases, the market soon became flooded with competition and that made my job more difficult. I have now transitioned to producing video content out of necessity. Fewer people are reading and more people are consuming video content. I was late to that game.

The most essential skill in all of that was adaptability, changing with the times. My obstacle was too quickly shifting gears when I found a sliver of success in one platform, often dropping other platforms when I should have stuck with them and kept building, tying all platforms together in support of one another.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I became a content creator for preppers quite by happenstance. I started what was, at the time, a humor-based prepping website that had kernels of truth and information. Of course, it was also a subject matter that I was familiar with and found interesting. That helped me stick with it over time. I knew I had to keep my work fun in order to stay with it for the long haul.

Many people find prepping to be overwhelming, expensive, and time consuming. It can be all of that, but when done right, you can build on your personal preparedness of time. I call it “stacking” skills and equipment. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. This is the message I try to bring to my audience, to be patient and have fun with it.

My brand has changed a few times. I started “SHTF Blog” back in 2007. I then created a “prepper” book publishing business called Prepper Press. Later, I rebranded SHTF Blog to Survive Doomsday because I felt the name better described my content, better fit different platforms, and lends itself to a better logo (a play off the old Civil Defense logo).

Readers can find me now at www.SurviveDoomsday.com and at various social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

This is a funny question, because – in the interest of learning new skills and stay relevant – I created an entire NFT collection called “Armed Bears” that was (and I suppose is) intended to be the first pro 2nd Amendment NFT collection. Unfortunately, I was late to the NFT market on that one and it collapsed just as we finished building the collection out. I still have it, but haven’t launched it.

Preppers take a negative view of NFTs, however, and I think crypto projects in general. That is based on knowing that the electrical grid is fragile and NFTs (or crypto) are not hard assets. They’re not going to help you survive an apocalypse is the thinking. There are elements of truth to that, but I think many preppers are missing the bigger picture, particularly when it comes to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. These are financial assets that can be stored outside of a bank and – in many cases – “hidden” from thieves or others. I’ve tried to bring attention to these facts, writing articles about Bitcoin and even trying to educate people that you can even send Bitcoin over ham radio connections. There are also plenty of examples, particularly in developing countries, where cryptocurrencies have helped people secure their wealth and protect them from hyperinflation.

NFTs don’t have the same “wealth protection” potential, but once their actual utility becomes harnessed by the masses, beyond just pictures of rocks and avatars, people will understand their value. We’re just not there yet.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think being real about prepping has helped me a lot. I do not sugar coat things, but I am also not chicken little screaming that the sky is falling. Too many prepper content creators, in my opinion, spread too much fear. That’s not my style. People prep because there are reasons to fear for one’s safety, for sure, but the message can still be positive and empowering.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://survivedoomsday.com
• Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/survivedoomsday/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/survivedoomsday/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-james/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@survivedoomsday
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@survivedoomsday