Welcome to Streamers on the Rise, where we find streamers who are growing their channels, content, and audiences in extraordinary ways. Each week we’ll talk with a creator about what goes into livestreaming–both on and off camera.
StreetGrind is a lot of things. A Florida man, a fitness enthusiast, a full-time software engineer, the proud owner of over 120 pairs of nerdy socks–and, over the past couple of years, he’s become a regular fixture in the fighting game community on Twitch.
Life before Twitch was “monotonous,” Street tells Tubefilter. He graduated college in 2012 with a computer engineering degree, and at that time knew nothing about Twitch.
“If I knew it was around, would I have started streaming? Possibly, but there’s no real guarantee that I would’ve had success,” he says. “It would’ve changed my whole life outlook.”
Street has always been a gamer; for a long time, his group of friends would bond by getting together on their Xboxes and digging into games like Halo and Gears of War, with dreams of going pro. But he figured that while he was able to beat his friends up “pretty bad” in those games, going pro wasn’t really in the cards for him. So, he settled into working with computers, and in his free time, embraced another one of his major hobbies: fitness.
Then, in 2018, he was sitting in his office scrolling Facebook, “similar to how we all do sometimes,” he laughs. This time, in amongst the posts from family and friends, something new popped up.
“I found this person who was livestreaming a video game in real-time and people were interacting with it. I was like, ‘Wow,'” he says. “I never knew something like this existed. That origin story is a little bit different than other people who may have started with Justin.tv and they saw streaming there and really got incorporated into it. That was my real intro.”
Exposed to this whole new world, Street thought of his friends, who loved games but weren’t pursuing streaming, and also of other people “where maybe they’re afriad of streaming, maybe they’re afraid of putting themselves out there, or maybe they’re looking for somebody that can really give them the information and the energy that they’re looking for,” he says. He found the idea of jumping into streaming with no experience “nerve-wracking,” but also knew he wasn’t afraid to put himself out there.
So, he committed, and over the past six years, he’s been balancing his full-time career with a few streams a week focused on fitness and fighting games like Tekken. The reason we snagged him for Streamers on the Rise is because over the last six months, he’s embraced TikTok, and has seen that drive significant traffic to his streams.
He’s grown to just over 25,000 followers on TikTok, and just had his best month ever on Twitch in terms of average viewers, as you can see in that data from Streams Charts above. His streams have gone from an average of 29 viewers in May 2023 to nearly 120 viewers in May 2024.
Check out our chat with him below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: Very nice to meet you! To start off, imagine somebody’s reading this and they’re not familiar with you, they’ve never seen your streams. Give me a little bit of background about you, where you’re from, and what you did before you got on Twitch.
StreetGrind: Well, I’m based out of Orlando, Florida, and before I even started streaming on Twitch, in general, it was probably like anyone else, where I was playing games on my own time and going through the monotonous stuff in life, I guess. My real intro into streaming was, I remember I was in my office at work and I was scrolling on Facebook, similar to how we all do sometimes when we’re scrolling on social media, and I found this person who was livestreaming a video game in real-time and people were interacting with it. I was like, “Wow.” I never knew something like this existed. That origin story is a little bit different than other people who may have started with Justin.tv and they saw streaming there and really got incorporated into it. That was my real intro.
I started with variety-based content because I was trying to just treat it as a hobby and whatnot, but what really differentiated me within this whole space is my fitness content and being able to portray that and explain it in a digestible format where other people can understand it and being able to apply it through everything that they do. Whenever someone thinks about me, StreetGrind, yes, they know that I stream, they know me for the great conversations that I have, the motivational content that I put out, people look forward to it, but it’s really the fitness content where they’re like, yes, Street is one of the main fitness people that I look to for just basic advice or basic motivation, encouragement.
Actually, I was just at PAX not that long ago, and a couple people asked me fitness-related questions, because that’s what I’ve been able to build my brand around for the past five years or so that I have been streaming on Twitch. That’s the basic little bit of rundown about me.
Tubefilter: You said you were in your office scrolling. Do you remember what year that was?
StreetGrind: Yes, sure. I believe it was 2018. I want to say it was probably roughly around November of 2018, because I remember I started streaming December of 2018. I want to say late 2018.
Tubefilter: What was the impetus for you to be like, “Yes, I want to do this”? Because that’s a big jump to go from watching Twitch to streaming.
StreetGrind: I always had a core group of friends where we was always in each other’s houses playing games together or online in the Xbox 360 era, and a lot of us wanted to go professional, especially in games like Halo and Gears of War. At that time, that was when social media was just growing.
I don’t know. It just seemed like I could make a bigger impact on putting myself out there and showcasing to people who I am, and being an example for people where maybe they’re afraid of streaming, maybe they’re afraid of putting themselves out there, or maybe they’re looking for somebody that can really give them the information and the energy that they’re looking for. That is truly unique for myself and for anybody else.
It was nerve-wracking at first. I’m not going to deny that, especially when you’re starting off and there’s literally nobody watching you. You probably have yourself tapped up and whatnot just to get that extra viewer, but I would say it definitely has been an amazing experience so far for just starting off streaming to nobody, then actually having an engaging community where people look forward to the stuff that I have to say, the content that I have to share, and being like, “Yo, Street, you’re one of the people that I really come to for a great vibe, encouraging energy.”
Tubefilter: When you got on streaming, what did you first start streaming? Which games?
StreetGrind: The first one I want to say was Tekken 7 because I’m a big fighting game guy. I’m playing Tekken 8 right now, but it was something that was familiar to me. It was one of those genres where I did have those core group of friends that I would play with. I’m not going to lie, I’d beat them up pretty bad. [laughs] It just felt comfortable for me, even though I know that putting yourself out there and losing in real-time to people can be a bit discouraging, and you might have certain trolls that pop up and say, “You suck!” yada, yada, but you can’t really worry about that. You just got to focus on putting the best content you can put out there and continue being yourself and not allowing a specific game to change who you are and what you’re trying to bring.
Tubefilter: That’s definitely something I’ve seen–some streamers are worried that their audience won’t stick with them if they switch games too often.
StreetGrind: That’s something I think everyone has dealt with. I know I’ve dealt with it for sure because I’ve bounced around quite a bit in my career from doing action RPGs to a little bit of FPS and then now sticking into a couple of genres with fighting games, RPGs, and roguelikes, Metroidvanias. But I think was a major thing we all have to try to keep an account as truly being who you are and being honest with what you like to play, because I think one thing people can really see is when you’re trying to force something that truly isn’t there, and that’s not going to make people want to stick around.
If you truly focus on having the core community that knows that, hey, Street might be playing this today, or this another day, but I know that he’s still going to be the same person no matter what, I think that’s more important than trying to please people and you know that you’re not happy.
Tubefilter: So you approach it as, you’re the focus of your streams. People come in for you and not one game. I feel like some people still really struggle with that, with making themselves the center of it and saying, “You come here for me.”
StreetGrind: Right. Yes. I think it’s because people might see the success of other people where they might be playing a specific game or playing a specific category, because there’s a lot of information out there in terms of what’s the best way to grow, et cetera, et cetera, but everyone’s situation is unique. What may work for one person may not necessarily work for another person. You have to take that into account and really be in tune with how your journey is and what’s working and what’s not and take it from there, as opposed to trying to apply a cookie-cutter-based strategy for your content where it might not fit all of the X’s and O’s.
Tubefilter: I’d like to talk a little bit about your audience growth over the years. How did you first start growing?
StreetGrind: I think what helped me start growing is I was being active in a couple communities–and the thing is actually wanting to be there and not expecting anything in return. What ended up happening was people ended up being like, “Do you stream?” I was like, “Yes, I stream a little bit of so-and-so.” They say, “Okay, I’ll go ahead and I will check you out.”
Then from there, sometimes it’s been a little bit of word of mouth, sometimes it’s been some content on Twitter that’s popped off and just says, “Okay, this guy actually is providing some great value. Let me go see in real-time if this person is exactly who they say they are.” It is something that people truly come back to, is that type of consistency where they know what to expect out of me.
I have to say definitely more recently, probably within the last six months or so, my TikTok content has also helped bridge the gap over to my Twitch audience where they might see me talking about fighting game stuff specifically, but they just notice my livestreaming presence is someone that is calm, that doesn’t really rage or anything and still is able to engage with chat and still able to provide great conversations, great value, and let people know that they’re seen as opposed to just playing something and not even interacting with chat at all because I think everyone’s community is different.
How they treat the community is different. Some people, they just have people watch them or they may have people that actively engage with their audience in real time whenever a new message comes in.
Tubefilter: Yes. I’d like to hear a little bit more about that particular aspect. You mentioned that you don’t yell, there’s not a lot of gamer rage. I’d like to hear a little bit more about that, because that I think is a really important aspect.
StreetGrind: Yes, sure. I feel that sometimes people focus on different aspects of gaming, right? Sometimes they want to be the best. If they want to be the best, they might end up losing, they might end up being, like you said, rageful or angry. We’ve seen occurrences where people actually break stuff. Last time I checked, peripherals are expensive. I buy all of my stuff, so I try to take care of it the best I can.
I don’t see there’s any needs for that type of anger, especially when it’s not something where you’re a professional or something. For me, I’m not a professional fighting game player. I’m just someone that’s really passionate about it. Why would I yell about something that I know at the end of the day isn’t going to change what I’m doing? Yes, you can get frustrated. Frustration is one thing. I’ve definitely been frustrated at times with maybe how a certain match is going. I never let that get to me in how I treat my audience or how I engage with them.
I’ve watched Tekken streams, because that’s one of the ways that I’m able to digest information about certain aspects of the game, and you can tell when someone gets angry. They might complain a little bit too much, and the energy just shifts a little bit. You can sense that. That’s something that I personally don’t like to absorb, that type of energy. I stay away from that and really focus on watching the people who are still able to keep a calm demeanor, still able to engage with their audience. If they do have questions, that’s what I stick to, because it aligns with me in how I do my content. I wouldn’t want to take something in that I know doesn’t really align with how I do things.
Tubefilter: You mentioned your TikTok content has helped your stream grow. What made you decide to approach TikTok?
StreetGrind: One thing that I think that stands out with TikTok as opposed to like a Twitch, for example, is the discoverability aspect. That’s mainly because Twitch is a livestreaming platform where you’re able to really see the content in real-time, as opposed to TikTok, you have consistent discovery, how your content is pushed to depths or certain audiences. For me, okay, I’m looking for something that’s going to help me put out short-form content that is going to be in the eyes of other people. I was like, “All right, I’m going to try TikTok. I really have nothing to lose at this point.” That’s how I feel.
I started putting stuff out a bit and trying to get my footing. One thing that really stuck that I noticed was working for me was the FTC content I was putting out. It’s one of those things where if you see something’s working, you want to try to double down on it as opposed to still scattering around a little bit of bits and pieces here and there. It’s one of those things where I found that it was working for me. I found people that were passionate about it like I am, people that were looking to me as a consistent and viable source of information.
Being that, especially in a space where there are so many other people that are doing the same thing in their own way, it’s nice to be able to try to carve out that little path as like, “Hey, Street is someone that I go to for this type of stuff. I really appreciate what he’s doing.” That’s how I’ve been able to utilize TikTok to make that avenue for myself as opposed to Twitch and YouTube, which I’m still working on carving that out and what exactly I want to be known for on those platforms.
Tubefilter: Do you feel like you want to take a different approach to YouTube content instead of crossp-osting?
StreetGrind: I want to say at some point, I do. I think right now with my overall workload, cross-posting is like the best thing for me right now, since my YouTube and my TikTok, they’re pretty closely in alignment in the type of content that I do put out there. Cross-posting doesn’t necessarily hurt me in doing so. I think at some point I would like to, I’m not exactly sure what avenue that I would like to take with it. I think I still would want to stay within the same realm of the type of content that I put out on Twitch and trying to take it over to YouTube and not just take this livestream and chop it up into clips. It’s trying to create a separate and unique avenue, which I’m not 100% sure what I want to do with that at this point.
Tubefilter: Interesting. Is this your full-time thing?
StreetGrind: No, this is not my full-time thing. I actually do software engineering full-time. Doing this really is a side hustle right now, but it can be a bit demanding. It’s like having two full-time jobs, if I’m being honest with you. That’s why when I was, I mentioned a little bit earlier about the cross-posting is what works for me best at the moment, because try to factor in, you have a 40-hour work week, and then you factor in streaming three times a week for maybe three to four hours each. I mentioned the fitness aspect as well earlier. I’m training for roughly a little more than an hour, five to six days a week. That doesn’t even factor in just trying to take care of yourself and making sure that you don’t live like a slob and just trying to balance all of that together. It can be difficult. Yes, this is definitely just a side hustle, part-time thing that does require full-time hours, I feel like.
Tubefilter: Are you working toward being full-time? Is it something you’d like to do?
StreetGrind: It’s something I definitely would like to do, for sure. There’s definitely a couple pieces that I need to shore up in order for me to take that leap, but it is something that I would love to see on the horizon, especially with diversifying the multiple revenue streams and maybe having an online personal training business. That would factor into what my brand is known for. That would be something that I tie into it. “Street is someone that I know that puts great streaming content, but he also does a little bit of personal training and basic consultations to make sure if you need just some advice about certain health, exercise aspects, nutrition, you can go to him for that.” Being able to try to pinpoint that, trying to have that triad of what I’m known for, just the gaming, the fitness, and also like the motivation, encouragement, trying to have all those three pieces together and people know, sticking with that so people know me for that.
Tubefilter: This is a lot to do on top of having a full-time job.
StreetGrind: Yes. I tried to get my online surfer professional training and I noticed that it just wasn’t really working out with all the stuff that I’m trying to pile on top of everything with the streaming and working full-time. I notice when I’m trying to put more on my plate than I actually can handle, so it’s something that I have for the future when things aren’t as hectic and I’m still in a growing phase of not being where I want to be yet at this point.
Tubefilter: You said you’re streaming three times a week, for a few hours. Do you have a set streaming schedule or is it just when you’re able?
StreetGrind: I would say right now it’s a set schedule. I usually stream Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I think this past month or so, I’ve been able to stream consistently, which is awesome. Probably the previous few months have been a bit of a struggle in trying to balance everything, to the point where sometimes it might be two days a week, sometimes it might be one day a week, sometimes it might be nothing, like nothing, at all. One of the major things that’s helped me with it is not focusing so much on the viewership aspect. We all know that is a core metric that a lot of companies look at. It’s something that, we can’t control that, but we can always make sure that we put ourselves in the right scenario to have that number grow up and have our growth be on an upward trend.
Tubefilter: You’ve got your work cut out for you in terms of time.
StreetGrind: Yes. That’s why I don’t try to compare my situation to anyone else’s because you don’t know what anyone’s living situation is. They might be living at their parents’ house, they might have a roommate. Everyone’s different. I make sure I handle what I can based on my scenario.
Tubefilter: Any other cool projects you’re working on or initiatives you’re working on? Not that I want to tell you to work on more. [laughs]
StreetGrind: I’m honestly trying to think about it. I think outside of the ordinary stuff, I don’t think there’s anything that is coming to mind. I know I do have a charity stream that’s coming up in April to raise money for cancer. I usually do that every April. I’ve done it for, I believe, three to four years in a row. Can I swear? Because it’s in the name.
Tubefilter: Yes, you can swear.
StreetGrind: Okay, it’s for Fuck Cancer. It’s a nonprofit. I’ve been raising money for them for, I want to say like three, four years now. It’s something I always look forward to every April. I actually got to meet them at TwitchCon for the first time last year. It was awesome having that face-to-face interaction.
Tubefilter: How often have you been to TwitchCon?
StreetGrind: I’ve been the last two years. I know last year was in Vegas and then before that was San Diego. I’ve been a total of three times, two of those times as a partner. It definitely has changed my overall outlook on how I view TwitchCon, because it’s really a way to engage with people that you’ve seen on the internet for so long that you’ve interacted with and you see that who they are on the internet exactly who they are in person. That’s something that I think we all really hope for when we meet people that motivate us, that encourage us to be better or whatnot. TwitchCon is always an experience that I look forward to.
Tubefilter: Do you think it’s helped you with professional development as a streamer?
StreetGrind: Yes, because there are companies there that you want to create an active relationship with. After every convention, you can always take a little feedback to yourself and say, oh, is this something that I actively put my best foot forward on? You can always reach out to your creator friends as well and ask them maybe how they approach things. Because one thing that we shouldn’t gatekeep is help and trying to be able to grow your career. How I grow my career doesn’t necessarily affect how someone else may grow their own career. Sometimes people can just stick to themselves and not share with any other people, just in case of the fear of helping someone else, they lose what they have, which isn’t just the case.
Tubefilter: Have you worked with any brand partners or had any cool sponsorship opportunities yet?
StreetGrind: StreamElements has definitely been a major one, for sure. It’s also a fitness supplements brand, Evolution Nutrition, that I’ve been able to provide supplements for my audience, whether they’re asking for, hey, do you know a good protein powder or a possible pre-workout? I was like, yes, and I can recommend them, just tell them what it does, how I use it, and see if it aligns with them. Also part of a talent agency, GG Talent Group, which has helped me with great sponsorships and specific activations for games. Let’s see if there’s any other major ones that I’ve had in my career. I have worked with Bandai Namco as well, part of the creator program.
Tubefilter: That’s very cool.
StreetGrind: Yes. One of the major things I was so excited about is when Tekken 8 came out in January and being able to play it a little bit early was actually like sensational. I was so excited about that.
Tubefilter: How did you join the creator program?
StreetGrind: I think it was an application process and I just showcased to them about their specific games that they’ve developed and published that I was a fan of, just showcasing my passion for what they do. That’s when I ended up getting in. I think I’ve been a part of it well over a year now, I want to say for sure. Definitely well over a year.
Tubefilter: The fighting game community is so strong on Twitch. It’s so interesting.
StreetGrind: Yes, it’s one of the things that I love actively being a part of because there’s so much expertise and people love seeing others get better when they put the work in and you can see the progression of, “Hey, you started over here. Now you’re over here. You’re actually partaking in tournaments.” I think people love to be a part of that journey and say, “I saw the progression of this person”–and yes, the fighting game community, not even just for one specific game, but as a whole, you can see how much people really love that stuff, especially around special events. Tekken has events like EVO and Tekken World Tour, and you really see how much people really love that stuff.
Tubefilter: Yes! I’m a big gamer but fighting games are the one genre that’s bypassed me. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen just so much strength from that side of Twitch specifically. It’s been really cool to see.
StreetGrind: Yes. The streaming aspect has helped a ton with the overall exposure to fighting games. Now I think Twitch even had a Tekken Rivals event a few months back, and there up are some professional Tekken players that are coaching really popular streamers who, which helps that game, but then also the FGC as a whole, just letting know that we accept you being a part of this and it doesn’t matter about how good you are if you might suck in the beginning. It’s just…everyone just wants to be helpful.
Tubefilter: That’s huge. Just trying to think if there’s anything we haven’t covered. It’s rarer for us to chat with creators who are balancing a full-time career with streaming, so huge props to you there.
StreetGrind: Yes. It is definitely a more difficult road as well, trying to slowly make that leap, because when I graduated from college around 2012 or so with my computer engineering degree, I just didn’t know about streaming and whatnot and the state that it was in. If I knew it was around, would I have started streaming? Possibly, but there’s no real guarantee that I would’ve had success. It would’ve changed my whole life outlook. There could be a case where I might have not started fitness if I started streaming because streaming would take up a good amount of my life. Honestly, you just don’t know.
It’s a hard balance act, but it’s not something that I would necessarily change, because it allows me that creative outlook where I can put out the stuff that I want and I’m the one that’s in control. I’m the one that calls the shots as opposed to working for an employer and you have certain duties that you have to meet and whatnot to get paid and everything.
Tubefilter: Yes, absolutely. What’s the one thing you’re looking forward to most over the next year as a human and as a creator?
StreetGrind: I would have to say actually putting myself first. That’s something that I’ve struggled a bit with, and because when you’re not putting stuff out, you feel that you might be falling behind with other people that are putting stuff out there and everything. I have to look at it from my specific situation and say, “If I’m not at my best, then I know that I won’t be able to put out my best.” I don’t want people to really receive that because who knows what may happen at that point.
I think putting myself first, understanding what I can handle. I’m definitely in the best place that I’ve ever been in, in that aspect. Also self-confidence, in general, it’s just been such a unique journey of not being afraid of what I put out and having people think differently of you because you’re not going to please everybody, because if you try to serve everybody, you just end up serving nobody. That’s the truth.
Tubefilter: I think creators need to hear that reassurance in general, that you should put yourself first and you should make stuff for yourself before anybody else.
StreetGrind: Yes, 100%. That’s helped me overall in my journey, where before I wouldn’t have frequent check-ins on how I’m doing personally because you’re just on go, go, go, and then when you actually have a chance to sit, you’re like, “Well, damn. All right. That was a lot more exhausting I thought I’d be.” I’ve had cases of burnout or you just stop streaming or just stop creating content for a while. It could definitely be a detriment on your success, but this journey is not quick. Everyone’s journey is different. You have people that are still in this industry for 10 years, 15 years or so.
I look at my journey, it’s been five, six years now. It’s still a long way to go for me. If I can continue to keep up with myself and my energy and my mental state, I think that’s going to help me a lot better in the long term, especially viewing this as a marathon and not a sprint.
Tubefilter: Definitely. Anything else you want people to know about you?
StreetGrind: We talked about fitness and the motivational stuff. Oh, I have a really cool sock collection. I probably have over 120 pairs of socks that range from anime to video games to superheroes. That’s actually another thing that people know me for as well. When I was at PAX East, a couple people was like, “Yo, Street, what kind of socks are you wearing today?” Then I have to roll up the jeans and be like, “Yo, this is what I got.” Everyone’s like, “Oh, shoot! Okay! You came prepared!” I always come prepared.
Tubefilter: How did you start collecting socks? I’ve got to know.
StreetGrind: I believe I received my first two pairs of socks from someone I was dating. It was Sonic the Hedgehog and YuYu Hakusho which is my favorite anime of all time, YuYu Hakusho. At that point, I really saw it as self-expression, where I would wear it out to the gym because I saw people that were just wearing the usual color palettes of black, white, and gray. I wanted to stand out and showcase who I was and not be afraid to show that to other people and be confident in it.
At that point, I went, “Okay, people are engaging with this. People like it. I like it. Which is the number one thing.” I just started going to different websites and seeing what they have, seeing what I don’t have, and adding it to my collection. Just grown into going into its own thing. The main thing is self-expression and just showing people, “Yes, I’m into this type of stuff,” and to let people know that I’m also not an intimidating person as well.
It’s hard to see when you’re talking on a call like this, but I’m 6’5, 250. That’s why I try to wear the bright colors and be like, yes, I’m just a person like everyone else, a little goofy, into nerdy stuff. I think people, they definitely have noticed that like, “Yes, Street’s not an intimidating person. He might be a big person, but no, he’s not an intimidating person at all. Just like everybody else.”
Filed under: Homepage Feature, Streamers on the Rise by James Hale
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