We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christopher DeLisle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christopher below.
Alright, Christopher thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I am proud to say I currently earn a full-time living from my YouTube channel and the brand I have created around low carb recipe creation online. I have been through multiple day jobs, even to the point of having an administrative career in higher education, but I was always missing the creative side that was so important to me. I started my YouTube channel to keep myself accountable on my weightloss journey and to hopefully inspire others while enjoying a creative outlet with video editing and cooking. As I continued to pursue this path daily I found a calling to help people where my love of artistic expression, kitchen skill to make great food, and my new passion for regaining my health all came together. Once my channel started to grow I dove in working late nights after my day job to keep the momentum going. After almost a year and a half of working multiple jobs while also doing all of my own filming, editing, and constantly improving those skills as well, I now earn a full time living doing this as well as playing lead guitar and being the band leader for my wife, country artist Ash Taylor. It has been extremely difficult and tiring to get here, and most people never see the hundreds of hours of video editing, learning filming and color grading techniques, learning how to be a YouTuber, and so many more things it takes to do this daily. In the end though I would do it all over again as nothing beings me more satisfaction than helping people and being creative in this way. I still work just as many hours even without the day job. Now I just get to focus on the things I truly care about. The only thing I would give advice to others for to speed up the process is to tell people (my younger self included) to refuse to quit, work the long hours, and do what it takes to get better every day without slowing down. You’ll find the path eventually if you refuse to quit.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a professional songwriter, musician, chef, recipe creator, YouTuber, video editor/director, husband, and more. I came to Nashville to pursue the music industry dream by attending Belmont University, and after graduation I went through a number of jobs and careers looking for my place in the world. In the midst of this I ended up developing a carbohydrate addiction that lead to binge eating and using food like a drug to deal with emotions of every kind. After leaving Nashville and returning years later I found myself weighing almost 400 lbs dealing with depression, anxiety, major physical health issues, and more. Being a musician was nearly impossible because of my mental and physical health. I met my future wife and she saw something in me no one else had and encouraged me to become a better version of myself, and for her I was willing to finally make changes. At this time I discovered keto and carnivore and did hours of research. We decided to live a low carb lifestyle and make changes to impact our health. As a result I ended up losing 130 lbs (and I’m working to lose the rest), I eliminated my anxiety and depression with no medication, and I found myself with a new passion for creating low carb recipes for myself and sharing them along with my health journey to inspire and help others. I started a YouTube channel to keep myself accountable and began posting all my recipes and health updates. I used my musical knowledge and skills of networking in the industry and business approach of branding yourself as an independent artist to create my channel, Chris Cooking Nashville, on YouTube to grow a following and reach as many people worldwide as possible. Over time I began working with other YouTubers in the low carb space and developed a business that was quickly growing in both my following and the resulting income, which I would then invest back into my business. With the help of my wife, independent recording artist Ash Taylor, I was able to grow and expand my business in ways I never imagined. Her brilliant marketing mind is where I learned most of what I know about my online image and how to create a following like she does for her artist career and her fan base. Today Chris Cooking Nashville is growing faster than ever and I’m about to surprise 100,000 subscribers, a huge accomplishment for any professional YouTuber. Along with my YouTube channel I go on the road with Ash, and we now have the freedom to tour and perform and also run my channel to make our living. It has been a long and difficult road to get here, but we’ve made it this far and will not give up now. We survived a pandemic where we lost everything, reversed serious health issues, worked multiple jobs to keep ourselves afloat, and built businesses together from the ground up. I’m proud to be a creative person who can now support my family doing what I love and helping as many people in the process.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 2020 the music industry took a massive hit. I was on a different path but still trying to be a creative person full time. My wife and I both lost our jobs, all of our music careers, our businesses we had at the time, a house we were renting, her verified artist pages and bank accounts due to hackers attacking though Facebook, and then we had to buy a new car when mine broke down and pay to move to a small apartment with no income at the time. To say we lost everything was an understatement. We both had to quit our creative pursuits and get day jobs to survive. I worked nights, she worked days, and we had different days off. All we could do was put our heads down, work together, and keep going. The good news was we were able to make enough money to keep from moving away from Nashville (which many other people couldn’t achieve at the time). We slowly built her artist career together form the ground up. I started my YouTube career, which we built together from scratch as well. After several years and constant work we were both able to get out of those day jobs and finally pursue our dreams and passions once again. It was harder than anything else I’ve ever done, but we did it together because we refused to give up. God blessed us with the opportunity to stay here, and now we do everything we can to give that back and help others do the same.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Being a creative person means there’s usually not a clear path from where you are to where you want to be to become successful. You have to work long hours. You have to be your own boss. You have to sacrifice and make do with very little. No one pays your paycheck through an HR department or gives you benefits or guides your tasks on a daily basis. No matter how much you do there’s more to do. No matter how tired or busy you are you have to show up if you want to get paid. You don’t get paid a normal weekly or biweekly or monthly check. Money comes when it comes and you have to put off the immediate gratification of a paycheck to invest in your business in a way you hope will be a return for you in the future. We don’t do this because it’s easy. We do it because we’d feel lost and empty if we didn’t. It’s not a normal path, but it’s one we love. If you love it you’ll pursue it, and in the end it will absolutely be worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ChrisCookingNashville.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriscookingnashville?igsh=MXZmMXg3MDl0a2ZkdA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/6vupjrnQM887Z8Wf/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chriscookingnashville?si=c0UXOpyUQ1OLAMTy
Image Credits
Nita In Nashville
Christopher DeLisle
Ash Taylor