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An Interview With Travis Garcia

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me this week! Please tell the readers a bit about yourself and the work you do.

Travis Garcia: Hello Aaron and EN readers! My name is Travis Garcia but I go by Ore0 Shake on many platforms. I am 32 years old and I am currently a police officer who works in elementary schools as a School Resource Officer and have been doing that for 5 years.

In total, I have been a police officer for 7 years. Before moving to the blue side I was on the red side; a firefighter and EMT of 5 years. I love building relationships with the community and students of the schools. I helped create a skate park initiative with the local skaters and secured a skate park!

Aside from all that professional stuff I enjoy playing an obscene amount of video games. My parents never liked how much time I spent playing games but I told them that the only reason I work is to afford my gaming habit. I showed them! I streamed CS:GO years ago while skin betting and the skin market were huge.

I had a decent following but honestly couldn’t financially support nor did I have the time for gaming. It was early in my career and I was paid a base salary and worked a lot. My wife was working an entry-level non-profit job that didn’t pay much as well. I stopped streaming and focused on home life. Now that we are older and more stable, I decided to return to streaming as it was something that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Streaming takes a lot of time and energy. What do you do to stay productive?

Travis Garcia: Honestly, I spend so much time gaming that in general, it was only obvious that I started streaming again. Creatively I spend time watching other streamers and Youtube videos and am always trying new things. I started DJing during the COVID-19 quarantine and creating Twitch overlays and elements.

My wife is a natural artist and has a very different, yet complimentary, personality to me. She inspires me to explore my creative side and empowers me to pursue new hobbies. She and I started playing Dungeons and Dragons and that really was the catalyst to my creativity. It helped me stop caring what others think of me and to just pursue what I enjoy or am passionate about.

Streaming is all about community. What do you do to build your audience?

Travis Garcia: I actually feel as if this is the main thing I struggle with the most. Being that I work full time, often even overtime, I have a lot of responsibilities beyond streaming and gaming. I have restarted my Twitter, created an Instagram account, opened up a Discord channel, and have reached out to other streamers for support.

However, I have noticed that I tend to forget to post tweets or even check discord. I ran a promotion in my discord where people could submit twitch emote ideas for my channel and the winner would win a steam game of their choice. This was awesome and created great content. My viewers talked about it frequently and it felt like everything was starting to grow and come together.

After the promotion ended, I saw an immediate decline in Discord usage. Thankfully, I have a core group of supporters and friends who are always there. So even if I am streaming just for those few people it feels worth it.

What are your biggest obstacles when it comes to creating content? How do you overcome them? 

Travis Garcia: One word, time. My schedule is ever-changing and sometimes a “routine” 8 hour day could turn into a 13-hour clown fiesta. Also, I have to be present for my wife, friends, coworkers, and my pets so putting off connections with them to stream is unfair and unhealthy.

To be honest, streaming is more of a hobby at this point but I hope grows into something bigger. I invest as much time as I can but, currently, it doesn’t pay the bills. My wife has been very supportive and I have been holding myself to a schedule of streaming which has been helpful for holding me accountable. 

I heard you were recently featured on the news about helping to open a skatepark. That is a great accomplishment. Can you tell us more about it?

Travis Garcia: A few years ago I was on patrol and got called to a local university for kids skateboarding/trespassing on the property. This type of call was fairly common at the time because kids had nowhere to ride, skate, or scooter. I located a group of kids just off of campus and the age range was astounding, probably 7 years old to 18 or so. I grew up skateboarding too so I knew their plight. We talked for a while and decided that we could do better.

I founded a nonprofit organization for the skatepark and we began holding meetings with the kids, their families, and other community members at our local library. We immediately started to make headlines in our local paper and I was invited to meet with community officials about the park. The kids were able to add input, design ideas, and value throughout the process and we eventually got the skate park put it.

It actually was recently viral because ESPN posted a video of a teenager helping a kid learn to drop in. All the hard work, bemoaning of my fellow officers, and time invested was worth it. Kids are always at the park and we don’t get called to many trespassing calls for kids skating. 

You have also dazzled us with your skills as a DJ. How did you get into DJing? Do you do any music production as well?

Travis Garcia: I love EDM. I loved going to festivals and shows before COVID. One day I was listening to a set by Dillon Francis and thought, why not. I always loved creating a playlist for parties or road trips and honestly just wanted to DJ for my friends. I found a VR game called “Tribe DJ School” and figured I could see if I actually could do it or if it was a pipe dream. I wasn’t that bad, at least in my opinion, and decided to buy an actual controller.

I then learned that my cousin’s boyfriend was an accomplished DJ out of Chicago and asked him to help tutor me. We had one quick session and I felt like I could do it in the sense that people DJ local pubs and things. So, I hosted a large pool party and DJ’d it. I loved it and my friends all thought I did well enough. So, I then DJ’d my sister’s graduation party, a few house parties, and even streamed a very random, and messy, set.

I don’t do any music production but am interested in it. I have cool ideas for songs and edits but no idea how to begin. I’ll stick to just mashing songs together with brute force and pretending that is called DJing. 

Burnout happens to the best of us. How do you stay motivated to have a career and multiple creative endeavors?

Travis Garcia: I am still fairly new so I haven’t had much burnout. There are days that I am disheartened while I stream due to low viewership or interaction but I know it’s early in the game. On days that I feel like I am not entertaining on the level I want, I just remind myself that I am still having fun and look towards others for inspiration.

Currently, I love a game called Binding of Isaac, but man is this a niche game. It doesn’t have a lot of viewers on Twitch but I try and push through it. While streaming Fall Guys I have decent viewer numbers but when I switch to Binding of Isaac I those numbers drop.

I was starting to lose faith in Binding of Isaac but then a buddy of mine started to play it because of my stream and messaged me on a few occasions to say things like, “how have I never played this game” and “this has now become one of my top 3 games.” That moment reinvigorated me and reminded me that if you are happy with what you are playing people will notice and may find enjoyment in that game as well. Which, to be fair, is how we met Aaron!

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What advice can you give to those who want to start streaming?

Travis Garcia: My first piece of advice would be to understand what you want out of streaming. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to grow and make a livable income on Twitch. It is my dream to make money by playing games and entertain people. This means that it will inevitably become work, therefore, I must treat it as a job.

I have invested in streaming, continually study and research streaming, and strive to deliver the best content I can. This leads me to my second piece of advice. Understand what you are capable of and have the ability to do.

In my example, I work full time and have bills to pay. I can’t just drop everything and go all-in on streaming. I can’t leave work every day and then go home to stream. There is a decent amount of balance that takes place. I would love to invest every dollar I have into a good stream and then spend every waking hour gaming and entertaining on said stream, but that isn’t viable. So, be honest with yourself and then set realistic goals. 

Do you have any upcoming events or releases that you would like to discuss?

Travis Garcia: Though it is still in the preliminary stages, I am planning on starting up a Youtube channel to house some unique content different from the streams. This will include some FAQ videos, comedic tutorial videos, etc.  Other than that I have toyed with the idea of a once a month DJ stream as I think my viewers enjoyed seeing me make a fool of myself.

Thank you for chatting with me today! Where can the readers find you and your work?

Travis Garcia: Of course! It has been a pleasure and thanks so much for the interview. Helps keep me motivated. Also, thanks readers! You can find me on:

Twitch: www.twitch.tv/Ore0_shake
Instagram: @oshake134
Twitter: @ore0shake

Check Out Travis Garcia!

A huge thank you to Travis Garcia for taking the time to chat with me this week. Make sure to check out his work at the following locations:

Ore0_shake on Twitch

Travis Garcia on Instagram

Travis Garcia on Twitter

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