Oh, Brother

Oh, Brother

"You can't be afraid to step up to the plate and eat the bigger sandwich" my little brother insisted with a chuckle, turning his chair away from his two lit up computer monitors. A third monitor sits unused and vertical, presumably used when he games on the Nintendo Switch that sits beneath it. The PC tower emits soft RGB lighting from underneath his desk. His blue and orange keyed keyboard stands out on top of the desk, which is otherwise adorned with hastily scribbled on sticky notes, some miscellaneous office supplies, and two mouse pads. This computer equipment, designed primarily for gaming, is what allows my twenty-two year old brother to operate his digital marketing business, SocialWeb, from his own bedroom.

The SocialWeb logo

Brady pushes his chair away from the desk and stands up. He runs his hands through his fluffy brown hair a few times before standing up, stretching as he does so. His brown eyes dart back and forth, most likely trying to remember why he stood up in the first place. 

The beige walls have been sporadically populated with pictures, notes from his girlfriend, and heavily scribbled on whiteboards. His bed, hastily made, takes up a bulk of the floor space. A blue electric guitar leans against a nightstand, where a few motivational books also sit. Outside of the room, you can faintly hear the laughter of our nieces and nephew from the first floor while our mom tries to corral them into the living room for a movie. Our dad's lawn mower roars to life in the distance. The two German Shepherds thump around the kitchen below us, searching for any stray food the kids may have neglected to finish. Inside the room, however, the only noises are the clacking of the mechanical keyboard, the occasional click of the mouse, and the sound of an old filter running on top of a small fish tank. A singular gray algae eater lazily slides across the glass wall of the fish tank.

Brady unzips a case and sets it on the bed. Inside is camera equipment that he uses for the other aspect of SocialWeb, which is content creation. 

"After signing with a client," he began, pulling the camera out and fiddling with it "Basically, step one is to figure out what kind of video they'd like me to produce. I turn these videos into ads, which is step two, where I run paid ads through social media that target areas local to the business, which generates exposure, leads, and/or sales for my clients." As he spoke and elaborated on various technical terms and social media algorithms, his speech got faster and his statements got longer. When discussing subjects he is passionate about, Brady will sometimes begin to talk so fast that the helpless soul he's hosing with information will be completely lost. It's a trait the two of us share. Our father will often crack jokes about how nobody can keep up with us when we talk to each other about something we are both fired up about.

The onslaught of information eventually subsides and he places the camera back into its case. He then shuffles over to a white board and pauses to examine it. Scrawled across the white board are various to-do items, goals, and a place to keep track of revenue and expenses. One might expect to see a calendar somewhere in the room, especially given Brady is not only a business owner but also is pursuing a business administration degree at Penn Tech, but there is none to be found.

"I’m not going to lie and say I have a set schedule. But I do have set tasks, and the type and amount of tasks affect when they get done. If I have a meeting at noon, it’s at noon. If it involves other people then there are set times. But if it’s just me doing my own thing, I’m just editing videos whenever I can, squeezing it in." Brady explained while erasing the tasks he had accomplished so far today. Then an all-too-familiar shout rings out from somewhere outside the bedroom door.

"Brady Lynn! Come downstairs and take the trash out, please!" The mild irritation in her tone and use of his middle name suggested this is not the first time my mother has made this request today.

"I'll be right down Mom, just finishing up with Kyle!" Brady responded, rolling his eyes the same way he has since we were kids. He pushes up his glasses and struts over to the door, before opening it and letting out a heavily exaggerated sigh and laughing his way down the stairs.