We recently had the chance to connect with Shawn Plant and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Fighting against the algorithm.
Presented by Smokey & Spike Productions.
Literally it is an uphill battle and the reward is right there within my grasp. I’m chasing it continuously on a day-to-day basis. Trying to show my purpose in life as a silver miner and gold prospector. While bringing across my creativity and making it as enjoyable as possible with an entertaining twist to it. It’s a lot of work to make my content appealing to watch. There’s has been a time or two I felt like just throwing in the towel. Realistically failure is not an option, I’ve never been a quitter. Nearly 45 years of age and I’m still hiking, prospecting and mining while showing the world the tricks of the trade.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Born and raised as a silver miner and gold prospector. My brand is essentially my YouTube channel as well as the equipment I custom build and use for the mining and prospecting industry.
My processes are directly derived with some modifications from the old-timers techniques that our forefathers established when they first came to the west and started mining. With all this in mind, there’s always room for improvement in the mining industry. There’s nothing wrong with having an advantage or access to new technology or bettering existing equipment.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
My great-grandfather, both my grandfather’s and my dad loved silver. My dad always told me to get my own mine when I grew up. Also I can never forget get my mom for getting me into gemstones and jewelry. That’s where life really changed for me when I started prospecting and mining for precious metals to eliminate the middleman for on the cost of silver and gold. The metal collected was used to cast custom-made jewelry pieces. My profession was starting from the ground up with the lost wax casting processes all the way to finished pieces of jewelry, including gemstone settings.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely! In fact that was very recently. During my adventures and learning how to refine ore to precious metals. I started my YouTube channel over 2 years ago. Originally with the intent to educate and entertain people. Then those goals to become monetized really got my interest making me lose track of my original intent as a YouTube creator. I’m currently close and have exceeding most of the goals. Only to be discouraged by the big goal of being monetized fighting against a rolling yearly clock while my watch hours are diminishing. That goal seems nearly impossible to reach, after reconsidering a lot of things. I’ve decided to resume the channel without worrying about becoming monetized.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Fairness, kindness, respect, honesty, hard work, integrity, intelligence, consistency, proficiency and productivity. Not failing and becoming successful at whatever endeavor I take on.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
You better believe it. I’m doing what I was born to be doing. No questions asked, no matter what I do. No matter where I go, I always find some type of mineralized piece of quartz or some type of native metal somewhere. There have been several hikes within the Salt Lake area I’ve just gone out for some fresh air and I’ve stumble across an old mine. Several of them no one else had seen for hundreds of years. Always & forever Silver Spike
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smokeyandspikeproductions?igsh=eG1rNnZ3azBvZjVx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EhBgrciue/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@smokeyandspikeproductions?si=uE5TRW7ZFeuc8dkg
Image Credits
Shawn Plant
