What Time Is Noon? | Chip Leighton (Dad of 2, NY Times Best-selling Author)

[00:00:00] Chip: I'm a big believer in humor just in life in general and including in parenting. But you know, I think it's got a power to just you know, cut through tension and relieve stress. And you know, whether that's at work or at home or with kids or your spouse and especially if you can laugh at yourself, I think a big part of it.

I think, you know, showing your kids that you can laugh at yourself is a healthy thing. And I think the other thing is, it's a healthy thing for kids to be able to like experiment with their personality a little bit at home in ways they can't do at school or elsewhere.

[00:00:27] Adam: Welcome to Startup Dad, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of dads who are also leaders in the world of startups and business. I'm your host, Adam Fishman. In today's conversation, I sat down with Chip Leighton. Chip is a comic and the creator and host of The Leighton Show, a social media platform with more than a million followers and 250 million views.

His comedy focuses on funny relationship and parenting moments, and he's recently published a book based on them called What Time is Noon? For several decades, he was a marketing leader in the corporate world and then left that life to focus his time on the Leighton Show. His work has been featured in the New York Times, national television, and various other print outlets.

He's a husband and the father of two kids who are, or used to be, teenagers. In our conversation, we spoke about the importance of humor in parenting, the community of parents that has sprung up around his social media platform, and what people can expect from What Time Is Noon? Also, we talked about having teenagers.

We discussed his pivot from corporate world to creator, the reaction of his kids to all of his social media exploits, and advice he'd give his younger self around the individuality of your kids. Chip offers an important perspective on building an organic audience that I found particularly refreshing. I hope you enjoy today's conversation with Chip Leighton.

[00:01:55] Adam: I would like to welcome Chip Leighton to the Startup Dad podcast. Chip, thank you for joining me today. It's a pleasure having you here with me.

[00:02:07] Chip: Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to have a little conversation here today.

[00:02:10] Adam: Awesome. And I would be remiss if I did not thank the one and only Carla Naumberg for introducing the two of us. I understand that you two share some literary connections. So yeah, she's awesome. And thanks, Carla,

[00:02:23] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. Carla’s great. I just got to meet her relatively recently. I would share a common Literary agent, Gillian Mackenzie, who's also an amazing person. So.

[00:02:31] Adam: Cool. All right. You are an author now, but you did not start out as an author. What did you do earlier in your career?

[00:02:40] Chip: yeah, have no business doing what I'm doing now, really. But I spent 25 years in the corporate world. I was in marketing and corporate strategy roles. I worked for a large supermarket company for the last 15 years. And yeah, it was not doing any sort of comedy or book writing or social media content.

And I started this TikTok account a few years ago and, um, we can talk more about it, but eventually started taking off. And I sort of got to the point where I was it was kind of looking for a an off ramp from the corporate world anyways, you know, it was a great job and it was, you know, it's a lot and it's a little stressful.

And this whole thing started taking off at the same time. And eventually I got to the point where I, you know, I wanted to do some things with this platform and that I wouldn't be able to do while working full time. And so actually, I left that job last year and I've been having a lot of fun, you know, I wrote a book and social media content of doing some performances and stuff.

so, yeah, very, very different chapter at this point in my life. I mean, I think I started the social media stuff at age 50, so I'm doing a lot of different things in my fifties now. And so I'm very, very fortunate to be in this position.

[00:03:36] Adam: That is awesome. When you transitioned from a corporate job to a social media content creator, how did your kids react to having an unemployed middle aged TikToker for a dad?

[00:03:48] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. That's so, well, that's how my daughter refers to me now. you know, I mean, my kids tend to give me, you know, harsh feedback or whatever, but yeah, a lot of the commentary turned toward like, Oh look, a, a grown man with no source of income, you know, those kinds of comments and like, you know, Hey, does this mean we have to start flying spirit airlines now?

You know, a lot of, a lot of, gentle ribbing like that. But yeah, and then people, I should say people at work were pretty surprised as well. I I mean, I had a pretty good job and when I started, like tick tock was still like kind of, it wasn't totally mainstream yet.

Right. And so people were like, I, I heard you're on like tick tock now. Like, is everything going okay with you? Are you like, isn't that kid’s dancing app? What's happening here? So it's yeah. I'm full of surprises, I guess.

[00:04:30] Adam: That's amazing. I mean, That's a pretty significant career pivot mean, I'm sure you were passionate about marketing, but you're clearly much more passionate about this, but that's a really big deal to do, especially at around, you know, age 50. Most people are like, they've got like an eye towards retirement, you know, at age 50 and they're like, how am I going to land this airplane?

So like, what was that conversation like with your wife when you were getting ready to do this or thinking about it? I'm sure you talked to her about it.

[00:05:00] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. And I mean, the retirement thing is the other piece of it. Cause I was like, I sort of did have an eye, not immediately, but towards retirement or towards something that was like less full time eventually. And I didn't know exactly how it would play out. But but my wife kind of knew I was, you know, kind of looking for something a little bit different.

She's totally supportive and has been great. Yeah, I mean, it's, more than a pivot, I guess. It's like a totally different thing. And you know, people ask me like, Oh, were you like you know, the class clown or did you do comedy when you were younger?

And it's not really, I mean, like when I was in high school, I did like some theater. And so I did have like a bit of a performance bug, I think, in me all along. I remember I took a filmmaking class when I was in high school that I really loved. And I often have thoughts of like, Oh, I bet I could have been a decent filmmaker.

I would have had fun with that. And so the stuff I do on social media is a little bit of that, cause there's a little bit of me performing and there's, you know, editing together a tight little story and  And even in my corporate career, I as I mentioned, marketing and corporate strategy and a lot of that was like sort of, you know, creating stories that will compel the organization or customers and, you know, trying to like stitch an engaging story together.

And so, that's what I'm doing now too. So there, there are some common things but subject matter is pretty different. I mean, I definitely miss the people that I worked with. I worked with some amazing people and I miss that a lot, but I don't miss the day to day, you know, going over the Monday morning sales report kind of kind of stuff. So.

[00:06:17] Adam: Yeah. And you recently wrote a book, which I have here called What Time Is Noon, which in the first like five or six pages, even it was just dying laughing. So tell me a bit about the story behind what time is noon.

[00:06:32] Chip: I'll just first describe what it is. So it's a collection of like hundreds of funny text messages sent by teenagers to their parents. It's also got like, yeah, you know, stories from my family, and I've got like some quizzes in there and a bunch of like silly charts and graphs to kind of talk about life with teenagers.

And you know, a big part of my, what I do on social media is, you know, teenager focused. And so, at some point I was thinking about where else to go with the platform. And I was, you know, talked to a few different people just to get their advice and thought about it. And I was shocked at like the number of people who were like, Oh, you got to write a book next.

That's like the next natural extension of the platform. And the more I thought about it, I was like, you know, I think that does make sense. And so I kind of went through the process of, you know, finding an agent and a publisher and all that kind of stuff. And then when I went about putting it together and so it's been, as with all of what I'm doing, it's all kind of new and just a fun kind of learning experience.

And the title, what time is noon is just an example of one of those teenager text messages. I've probably heard some version of that from at least 10 parents that are like, yeah, my kid was like, what, when you say noon, is that like one o'clock or two o'clock? What are we talking about here?

And, so I thought it was like the perfect title. Cause it's like, it's a concept that's like so simple. Like you would never think you have to like, Hey, have I talked to my kid about noon yet? And what that means? Like you would never think to talk about that, and if you're a kid and no one's ever explained that to you, I guess you wouldn't know it.

Right. So it's like what I'm trying to do is I'm not trying to make fun of teenagers or anything like that and try to celebrate teen humor. And so, this stuff is like not anybody's fault or, you know, a bad thing. It's just funny, you know?

[00:07:54] Adam: Yeah, I had that same reaction and I was reading some of what you had talked about in writing the book that you know, it's sort of full of these things that we take for granted about knowing as adults, like, for example, what time noon is, right? And I can imagine even now I have a nine and a 12 year old and saying like, Oh, I'll see you at noon.

My kids would be like, where's that on the clock? I don't get it. You know? So it's just funny. What we really kind of take for granted when it comes to like basic things that we gotta teach our kids.

[00:08:23] Chip: Yeah. The other time one that gets them is like, if you say like quarter to 10 or a quarter after or whatever, like, they don't know what that is because it all references this like ancient, like physical clock with like our, you know, hands that go around and they're, they don't, they're like just speak English.

Like what time are you talking about?

[00:08:38] Adam: Right. Exactly. Exactly. When you were growing up, you weren't like a particular jokester or class clown or anything like that. You were just kind of a normal, you know, treading water kind of kid. Well, how would you describe yourself as a kid?

[00:08:54] Chip: Yeah, definitely not the class clown. I mean, I'm an introvert, so I've always been quiet, you know, real life. And so, yeah, like people who have known me at different points in time would probably be pretty surprised that kind of like, you know, how this is all kind of evolved. But the thing is these platforms, you know, like TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, you can create content like by yourself, like in your living room or whatever.

And so it's like, kind of doesn't feel like you're out there. Right. And yet. You could be, I mean, in my case, I'm out there with, you know, thousands or millions of people might see, you know, what I post. And so it's a little bit surreal, I guess, but for some reason the, yeah, the platform kind of works for me and I feel relatively comfortable on it.

But every once in a while it's like, is this real? Like, are all these people actually seeing me? So.

[00:09:33] Adam: Yeah, I find that so fascinating that you describe yourself as an introvert because you wouldn't think about that. But I've met a ton of creators. And when I worked at Patreon, I knew a bunch of creators. A lot of them are introverts which is really interesting. I guess that lends itself to the creative process or something.

[00:09:50] Chip: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of times in your career, you've got to do things that aren't necessarily in your perfectly natural kind of wheelhouse. Like even like in my corporate job, I was like, like on the leadership team of my company. And so like, as my career developed I remember having conversations with people you know, mentorship conversations or whatever.

And if I would say like, Oh yeah, I'm an introvert. They'd be like, Oh really? I had no idea. Cause in the role you're on stage and talking or you're, you know, leading. And it just takes more energy for an introvert to do that. And so, hence, you know, being exhausted at the end of the day, the corporate world and thinking about other things, you know, so,

[00:10:21] Adam: Yeah. I do want to talk a little bit about family and then we're going to dive more into the book and kind of go back and forth a bit. But As I recall, your wife is an attorney and as someone who is also married to an attorney I like to say that she has the real job in the family. So, I'm curious, how did you and your wife meet each other?

[00:10:41] Chip: So we both went to the same college. We didn't know each other there, but we ended up both taking the same job out of college, which was actually working for a law firm. , we were both thinking about going to law school and, we're going to sort of try it out as paralegals for like a couple years and just see and she ended up liking it and going to law school.

I ended up not liking it and not going to law school, but it was actually kind of a small law firm and it was like this sort of, for a while it was like this secret office romance and eventually I think when we both like left, we like announced it or whatever. But yeah, that's how we met.

And we've been married 25 years, happily married. I may do a lot of content around marriage too on my on my channel. But yeah, she's got the more traditional, she doesn't actually practice law traditionally. She's a like a freelance writer and editor, so she's got good flexibility and yeah, great, a great partner.

[00:11:22] Adam: Awesome. And you have two kids who are either teenagers or have been teenagers. I think you have a 21 year old and a 16 year old. And so obviously some of the inspiration for your book, of course and your social media work. So you know, as somebody who is about to have teenagers myself I really appreciated what I've read in the book so far.

Give me some of the highlights from What Time Is Noon, like as a reader or somebody who might be thinking about giving this to another parent of teenagers, what can they expect from the book?

[00:11:53] Chip: Yeah. It's a light, fun read. I mean, you mentioned giving it to someone, like, I think it's a great gift. Cause it's like a lot of times it's tough to give someone a book. Cause it's like, okay, here's like a 20 hour commitment for you or whatever. Like this is literally the kind of book that's like, you can crack it open and read any random page and get a laugh.

You know, it's not a novel and it's, you know, family friendly. So it's good for a kid. I'm actually hearing from, the book's been out like a week or so as we're recording this and I'm hearing from a lot of parents who are like reading it like aloud with their kids or they're telling me their kids like it too, which is amazing.

I wasn't actually counting on that. But like I might've said before, it's kind of like a celebration of teen humor and it's got hundreds of these, you know, crazy text messages that kids send, you know, all real. So they kind of break out into like, you know, either you know, crazy questions.

Some people call them dumb questions. I don't like to call them that. Cause again, it's just, it's innocent or whatever, but you know, stuff like, you know, did grandma have kids? Or like, you know, how does eating cold turkey help you quit smoking? You know, just some of these concepts that they're not totally clear on.

And then there's like a whole bunch of texts that are like, basically instructions on how not to embarrass them. So like, you know, my friends were almost here, make sure dad stays in the basement, you know, a lot of that kind of stuff. You can't really mimic or recreate the teen voice.

I think he just has to speak for itself. And there's just some great language and humor there. And then, yeah, I have like a bunch of little features, like quizzes on sort of testing your knowledge about teenagers or sort of ranking yourself on how cringy your technology habits are as a parent, that kind of stuff.

And this is where maybe where my corporate background comes in, but I did a bunch of little like charts and graphs, like pie charts and bar charts to kind of explain some of the teenager concepts in a funny way. So that's just an added element. So yeah, it's good. I think it's, like I said, I think it's a great gift and I'm hearing great feedback and it's a quick, light, fun read.

So yeah.

[00:13:31] Adam: Early in the book, you have a bar chart. That's like the likelihood of response to different text messages. And it was like, you know, 0%, 25%, and then one that was like, what do you want from Chik fil A?

[00:13:43] Chip: Yeah. 100 percent right there.

[00:13:44] Adam: 100 percent guaranteed response.

[00:13:46] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. No, you learn some things.

[00:13:49] Adam: You do. Doing your social media work, writing the book, has that influenced your own communication , with your kids or, you know, are your kids thinking now, like anything that they send you could be fodder for your channels?

[00:14:03] Chip: Yeah, it's funny. Just as further background, like I started with my own family's texts,  I think my first post in this genre was like funny texts for my teenage daughter. And I did some for my son, but pretty quickly it turned into this thing where other people send me theirs and mostly what I feature and most of what's in the book is like text from other people's teenagers.

So, you know, early on, I think my daughter was like, you know, I'm responsible for like 80 percent of your content, you know, like a cut of the profit or whatever. Not that there was a lot, but the feedback has turned to you need to make it much clearer that these are not all our texts.

Like all my friends that I'm sending every one of these, they think I'm a total idiot or whatever. So I'm like, I think I'd make it clear enough, but whatever.

[00:14:41] Adam: Yeah, in the book, you have the texts and the graphs and stuff juxtaposed with like the, how this applies to the Leighton family which I really liked and appreciated. So hopefully that assuages some of your daughter's fears a little bit. But why do you think, and why would you say that humor is so important as a parent?

[00:14:58] Chip: Yeah, I mean, I'm a big believer in humor just in life in general and including in parenting. But you know, I think it's got a power to just you know, cut through tension and relieve stress. And you know, whether that's at work or at home or with kids or your spouse, and especially if you can laugh at yourself, I think a big part of it.

I think, you know, showing your kids that you can laugh at yourself is a healthy thing. And I think the other thing is, it's a healthy thing for kids to be able to like experiment with their personality a little bit at home in ways they can't do at school or elsewhere. Cause you know, like a lot of the texts from my kids are like, you know, they're joking, but they're sort of mock being rude or whatever. So like, you know, you know, make me pancakes, do it, you know, which is like, you know, somebody without any context to the relationship would be like, Oh, you're, you know, that kid's a brat or really rude, or you need to teach them manners, but it's like, no, we can joke around and they can joke around and sort of like use sarcasm and play around with that language, but they would never say that to another parent or to a teacher or something like that.

So, I think your kid can have a little bit of, you know, yeah, experiment a little bit at home in ways they couldn't do elsewhere.

[00:16:00] Adam: I love that. So if you could rewind the clock to the time 21 years ago, right before you had your first kid and you bumped into younger Chip. Maybe a bit more spry. What did, what advice would you give the younger version of yourself?

[00:16:20] Chip: Yeah. I mean probably a couple of things. So one, I actually heard at the time, which was somebody at work gave me this advice, said there's no one right way to raise a kid, there's only a right way to raise your kid. And I think he was basically saying like, every child needs something different.

Right. And you can read all the parenting books or listen to the experts all you want. But the most important thing you can do is just pay attention to your child and know what they what they need and what they don't need. I have two kids. They're both totally different and they need different things.

And so I think that's the first thing is just, there'll be all kinds of people giving you advice, but, but you're, you're going to be the one that knows the best, And then the other thing is, don't sweat the small stuff because sometimes I get comments on my social media stuff, like, Oh, this is an indictment of parents, because we're not teaching them all, you know, they should know how to do laundry or mail a letter or whatever. And I, I kind of think almost all the stuff that I do content around is like not really important in the grand scheme of things. And like, you're, you're, your kid's going to learn how to mail a letter.

It's if they ever do need to mail one, that is like they can, you know, Google that or YouTube it or whatever. And they don't really need you for that. If they feel comfortable texting you about it, that's great. You know? So that's another, you know, way to stay in touch with them as they get older.

But I focus more on the stuff that they can't learn online. And really like, you know, Hey, how to be a good person and how to treat others well, and, you know, stuff that you sort of role model rather than like, you know, where to put the laundry sauce in, as they often call it, you know, like…

[00:17:40] Adam: Laundry sauce.

[00:17:41] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. Sauce. The other one that use a lot of juice. They're like, you know, so I, you know, at first I turn it on and I put the two juices in and it's weird.

[00:17:50] Adam: I'm currently teaching my 12 year old how to do laundry…

[00:17:52] Chip: That's great.

[00:17:53] Adam: She can never remember the amounts. She wants me to like come down and watch while she does it. She's doing it though. She's great. I mean, I'm like, I refuse to send you off to college at some point without knowing how to do this, because you're going to be a hero when you're in the dorm and you're the only one that knows how to do a load of laundry.

[00:18:12] Chip: Yeah. Well, that's I applaud you, but I need more parents to take the other approach to keep the content flowing for me. Just selfishly.

[00:18:17] Adam: That's right. That's right.

[00:18:19] Chip: Right, right. Yeah.

[00:18:20] Adam: All right. Now on the flip side, you probably got a ton of advice. That you might tell yourself to ignore. Is there a piece of advice that was dispensed at you that you would say to younger Chip, like, Hey, don't bother. This one's not worth it.

[00:18:34] Chip: That's a good question. There's nothing specific that like jumps out of me, but it's more just like yeah, it's more when people give you advice where they don't really know your kid in particular. And so yeah, I mean, it's, it's almost the stuff I just described. It's like, oh, well you should, you know, your kid doesn't know manners or whatever, like, just people who don't, like, really know the relationship or the kid or even you, like giving that advice is the kind of stuff I ignore.

The other piece of advice actually that just occurred to me when my son Matthew was like just about to walk, he was like cruising around but he just couldn't quite make it happen. I forget who was like a older relative, like a great aunt or something who was like, Oh, you, you got to get him a pair of these stride right shoes, you know, which are these like old school shoes.

 If you go to like a special store or something, and like, we went, we, he'd been doing this for like weeks and weeks, like not being able to walk, you know, fully walk. And we were like, all right, let's go do it. We got him these shoes. We brought him, brought him home. We laced him up, put him on, he stood up and just like walked down the hallway.

So, so sometimes people do have like little practical things that really help. And I always remember that once it's like, wow, that was that was a good tip.

[00:19:36] Adam: Yeah. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So you have this, you know, for all intents and purposes, gigantic social media following, gigantic by my standards. Over a million social media followers, 250 million views on your videos. You're showing up on these major media outlets, like the New York Times and major broadcast networks.

And then of course this podcast obviously.

[00:19:57] Chip: Yes. Yes. Startup Dad.

[00:19:59] Adam: The pinnacle. The pinnacle. So I'm curious to hear about your social media work and the kind of the community of parents that have sprung up around it. Was that surprising to you when you started doing this stuff?

[00:20:11] Chip: Yeah, it's just surprising how universal some of these things are, you know, I get a lot of comments like, oh, yeah, I mean, cause I started out with just stuff that was unique to my family or I thought was unique to my family. And then it's like, oh my gosh, did you steal my phone? I get the same exact text from my daughter or my spouse or whatever.

And so like the comment section kind of turned into this community of people who were like, yes, that's exactly it. so, yeah, that was, surprising that’s partially, I think what led it to kind of take off because it's, you know, that relatability and shareability. And yeah, yeah, it's amazing.

That's one thing you find if you spend a lot of time on social media is like, I guess none of us are like original, you know, we're all living the same lives. So it's yeah, that's been the most amazing part about this is, you know, I get lots of nice notes from people and, they share stuff with me that they want me to, you know, include in the hope of they like make the cut or whatever, which is crazy.

 But yeah, that's, it's very surprising.

[00:20:59] Adam: Yeah. And then I'm curious about your early social media efforts. So I think if I remember reading about this, you didn't have a lot of followers early on, and some of these platforms that you got started on, like Tik Tok was pretty nascent when you got started there. So you're making this, you know, pivot big career move and you're like, I'm going to push in here and sometimes it feels like I'm shouting into the void.

Maybe. How did you push through all that and say, no, I just got to keep going. Just keep swimming. As Dory the fish would say.

[00:21:29] Chip: Right. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, so I started on tech talk and, and I just, I was just like, I thought it was a cool platform because like anybody with no following can, if they create something that's engaging enough, it can go to like thousands or even millions of people, which is like, there's never been anything like that before.

So I, I thought it was cool. So I was like, Oh, maybe I could post something funny that, you know, 5, 000 people would see if it's like really good. And, the stuff I did for the first six months was, was terrible. In retrospect, it was like, I can't even describe… people asked me what it was. I can't describe it.

It was like, I was going for like a quirky sort of weird thing instead of like relatable. And so I would do different trends and stuff. And so after six months of doing that. I had 17 followers, so it was not, I wasn't, I wasn't on a great pace and I was actually seriously considering just deleting the account and either starting over or just like not doing it anymore.

Cause I was like, I guess I was wrong. I don't really have anything to offer here. So I ran into like my sister in law, it was like July 4th, I remember. And she's like, Oh, you haven't posted anything in a while. I was like, yeah, yeah, I know. And I, you know, I put something together about marriage and posted it that night and I didn't like pay attention to it.

And I was on vacation. We were in this rental house and it was the last morning and I went out like kayaking and I'm like kayaking. I got like a fishing rod out of the kayak and like my phone goes off. It's my daughter. She's like, she's like, Oh my God, dad, your, your post is going viral. It's got like, you know, 50,000 views and so many comments.

I'm like, well, I'm like fumbling around trying to look at it. And it's like, and it did, it went to whatever. Over the course, a couple of days, went to a couple million people or something. I'm like, okay, that was something. And then like a couple of weeks later, I did my first teenager text message post and that went viral. And then it kind of kept happening every two or three weeks.

And, you know, the first one got me, you know, a couple hundred followers and then the next one, maybe a thousand. And, you know, you build from there. I was like, you know, maybe, maybe I can get to 10,000 followers. Cause that's like a meaningful number on Tik Tok. And, of course my daughter's like, you're never getting to 10,000 followers that, you know, and said the same thing about a hundred thousand.

It's the same thing about a million, by the way. so it was, yeah, it's, you know, I think it's just a good lesson. Like you gotta keep. I mean, I'm sure I got lucky, right? You know, but you just keep plugging away. You never know when you're going to hit something and then like you want, I don't have a ton of skills, but one of the skills I feel like I have is like being able to improve and sort of see what works and doesn't work and like get better at something over time.

And that's definitely been the case on social media. Even the series that I've done for a long time, I, I try to kind of sharpen those up and improve them over time so they don't get, you know, stale. But yeah, so that's, it's, yeah, it wasn't an instant success.

[00:23:55] Adam: Yea. One of the things, uou know, that I've talked to a lot of creators about from my career is this idea of being on a creator treadmill where you're like, to put out another piece of content. This idea of burnout for a creator is very real. Now, I think it's probably A lot more real when you're like in your early twenties and you know, you don't have the maturity to know, like, Hey, this is just a fun thing, but how have you managed the pressure, obviously, when you're a creator, like the more views, the more significant this endeavor is for you, like, how do you kind of balance that you know, with this being your work now?

[00:24:33] Chip: So I think if you listen to most like social media experts, they're like, oh, you got to post every day, post multiple times a day. Like I one guy say, like, got to post six times a day. It's like, I've never done that. Nor would I ever want to do that.

Or nor could I do that. And so I've always believed in like quality over quantity. And so and I, I think the, you know, at least in my experience, like, especially early on tech talk, the numbers would back me up. Cause like a good post for me would do, you know, like maybe a hundred thousand once I got a significant following, like a good post would maybe do a hundred thousand views, but then like a great post would do like 3 million or something.

And so it's like, it's better to do like one great post and like 10 good ones. Right. And so I know it's different at different points in your, in building your base, but so I've always tried to do that, which helps a little bit with that sort of treadmill thing. And, I came at it later in life when it wasn't like, you know, my only thing, or it wasn't like trying to make a huge long career out of this.

And so that helps with the pressure a little bit. And yeah, and I always just have the attitude like this is, this is like gravy at this point in my life. And so I'm not gonna, Hey, if it goes away tomorrow, it goes away tomorrow. And it was a fun thing. I mean, that's a little bit different now that I'm turning it into more of a platform, got a book out and everything.

So it's, and you start you know, partner with brands and stuff like that. But the other thing is I'm kind of lucky cause I've done these like sort of series that I can go back to, like the teenage text messages is the best example of like, you know, I don't have to have a totally new idea for a type of post every single time.

It's like, okay, once a week I'll do of those teenage text message thing. And I'm so lucky that so many people send me their, you know, text. So it's like people providing me their content and I'm sort of curating it or whatever. There's a few reasons why it's helpful. But even having said all that, like, yeah, there's days when you don't even want to, like, open the apps.

And sometimes I don't, you know, and there's other times when you're really into it. So it's, you know, you gotta sort of find that balance and keep it in perspective. 

[00:26:20] Adam: Have you found that doing this type of work has opened up more time with your family? I mean, not that your teenagers and teenager and almost adult here really want to hang out all the time, probably, because that's the age. But, you know, have you found that's kind of helped your life and your flexibility a bit more than when you were working your corporate job?

[00:26:46] Chip: Oh, yeah, sure. I mean, it was tough, especially at the end of the corporate thing, because I was doing this at night and on the weekends and, you know, working very, very much full time. And so yeah, having the flexibility to, you know, whatever, go to a doctor's appointment or whatever, I mean, one of my kids in college, so he's kind of out of the house most of the time.

But you know, I, I remember like, like my daughter is a pretty serious violin player and she's got these, you know, amazing concerts she does at night. And I remember like, after I left the corporate thing, like the first concert I went to, you know, which is at like 7:30 at night or something, I was like, I hadn't been at the office all day.

So I wasn't like racing over there, you know, maybe not even having did. And so I remember like, those were always like, I was always like exhausted when I got there, but you know what? This was like, Oh, it was like the highlight of my day. And you know, when I didn't have to like work all day leading up to it.

And so it definitely gives you more time and more flexibility and I'm very fortunate in that sense. And the childhood years pass, it feels like in seconds, you know, so I'm really appreciative. Yeah.

[00:27:40] Adam: That's so great. I don't know if this is, was an issue for you or something you had to navigate, but you know, in the beginning you were sharing a lot of your family moments online, texting, marriage, like stuff like that. Now, of course you get a lot more submissions from people. And so it's not all about your stuff, but I'm wondering if you had to negotiate all with your kids or set any ground rules or if they came to you and asked you About this or your wife for that matter, around like things that you were sharing online. And again, some people, this might be a big deal and for others, maybe not, so I'm just kind of curious about you and how you approached it.

[00:28:19] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. Well, when I created the account, I really wasn't sure what it was going to be. I actually thought it might be like a family account and, and that's why I actually called it the Leighton show. I was like just trying to find an account name that that wasn't taken, that like was flexible and like, I didn't know, maybe my wife would be doing stuff, maybe my kids would be doing stuff.

I didn't know. But it turned into mostly just me, but, but but yeah, I, so in terms of the kids I never show them in any posts. So that's one thing I did probably would have no interest in it either. So that's one thing. And then I, I mean, I try to never post something that would like put them in a bad light, you know, that would like make them look bad.

And as I think we talked about a little bit before, sometimes people misinterpret stuff and they, you know, they might think that. And so if I, if I post something that like people start reacting to, you know, start making comments about my kids or whatever, I'll either delete those comments or take the post down because I didn't strike the right tone.

So. I try to be, you know, be careful in those ways in general. They've never had any issue with what I'm posting other than the fact that now everybody thinks that every single text message came from them and they didn't. So that's the feedback now. But yeah. And then my wife wife's got a great sense of humor and is appreciative of this. She's been in a few of my posts. She actually occasionally says to me like, Oh, you haven't done like a wife apology post. Like you should do a marriage thing, you know, again. So she Kind of likes it. Of course, the last time she, well, the last time she said that to me, I posted stuff for like a week later about marriage and she's like, well, why did you post this? You know, I'm like, alright nevermind. Nevermind.

[00:29:44] Adam: That’s funny. Yeah. So I'm curious. This is a little fun one. But so let's say you wrote a companion book to What Time Is Noon and that book was going to be called. Why Is Dad So Cringe? What do you think your kids would say the top three chapters of that book should be?

[00:29:58] Chip: Yeah. Well, that is a great question because I am, I'm just starting work on the next book actually now. And your hypothesis about what it might be about is, It's pretty close to my current thinking to be very honest. So you're, you're we're, we're on the same wavelength here, but yeah, I mean, there's so much it's there'd probably be a chapter on like clothing slash personal appearance, you know, you had a lot of comments like that.

I walked in the kitchen the other day and I heard my daughter like muttering under her breath, something about my monochromatic outfit. You know, you can't, you can't ever have the same color, you know, top and bottoms, I’ve learned. Told me once told me once says my shirt looked like something a baby would wear.

It's like, well, it's rugby shirts with stripes. I get the feedback, but so there'll be something there. Probably something around like what, you know, rules about what not to do when friends are over or you're driving your kid's friends in the car. Some of this is in the What Time Is Noon book, you know, like, I always think of that one from, this is from another family, but it was like, you know, don't check your blind spot if my friends are in the back seat, you know, they might think you're looking at them, so it's, it's, you know, a lot of rules like that are probably one chapter the dad thing and the husband thing sometimes come together. Cause usually the stuff that annoys the kids or my wife will, it'll annoy both of them.

So there might be like a wife perspective chapter in there around, you know, just some of the classic things that bother her. Like when I, you know, breathing, chewing, you know, sneezing, all that basic stuff. 

[00:31:21] Adam: I love that. Making any kind of noise. I think I saw in one of your recent lists, things that you should never do around your kids, charging your phone, don't ever do that.

[00:31:30] Chip: Well, if there's has a lower battery percent, that's not. Yeah,

[00:31:33] Adam: Right.

[00:31:34] Chip: Yeah, I think I have a quiz in the book about that. It's like what your kid will say if you know, if you ask if you can use their charger and it's like…

[00:31:41] Adam: Right.

[00:31:42] Chip: Like, no way. What percent are you at? I'm at 6%. You know, it's that

[00:31:47] Adam: Of course.

[00:31:47] Adam: So you recently started doing live performances, readings of the book, Q and A, dipping your toe a little bit into stand up comedy.

[00:31:59] Chip: Mm.

Adam I’m curious how you got into that and what the reception has been like you doing these things live as opposed to, you know, on Tik Tok or, or social media?

 ChipYeah. Well, so the backstory is, I guess it was a year and a half ago, Caroline Rhea, who's a great standup comedian, actress had reached out to me. And she's like, Oh, you're really funny. I, so I live in Maine and she's like, I live in Maine in the summer. Do you want to do some standup shows together?

You ever done standup? And of course I was like, that would be great. No, I've never done standup. And so. He's like, Oh, I'm a great teacher. I'll coach you over zoom. And I was like, all right, let's do it. And she did. And she, I mean, she's great. And we did a couple of shows that summer and the feedback was really good.

I mean, a lot of it does translate quite well. I do these like lists of things I've apologized to my wife for, my teenagers for, and it's very kind of deadpan and that, that works pretty well. I mean I’ve always thought that it could work live. But I probably, honestly if she hadn’t reached out to me I’m not sure I ever would have like made the jump to actually try something  because it was like hey, a built in audience, and I didn’t have to like headline or whatever so that was great. And so I’ve been exploring that further in different ways. I now, if I can I try to do a performance with like a screen behind me and I show like some of the visuals. And I include some of the, I don't call it standup cause I'm just, I have so much respect for like a true standup.

That's like honed it, you know, night in night out through the clubs. That's not what I've done. there's some basic standup in there. And then there's like, I'm like sharing some of the funniest text messages and I'm doing some different visual stuff. And it's been fun. I'm still kind of working through what that is.

And like I did a performance at Penn State a few weeks ago for like family weekend. And so it's like, that's like my perfect audience is like parents of college kids

[00:33:41] Adam: Oh,

[00:33:41] Chip: So I think there could be a big opportunity for those kinds of venues where, you know, people yeah, where people can really relate to it.

And so I'm continuing to do that and that's, yeah, yet another kind of interesting new spoke in this whole thing. And because I have the book out, I'm starting to do some events that are sort of like some combination of what I just described along with like a book signing or, you know, reading some excerpts from the book.

So it's been fun. I mean, I I think I mentioned earlier, I did like a little bit of theater in high school, so I've like, I've been on stage and in, even in my job, I was like on stage for, you know, a certain, you know, leadership meetings or whatever, so it's not totally unfamiliar to me, but.

But doing it in that context is obviously very different.

[00:34:17] Adam: That's so amazing. And then do your kids think that this is even more terrible than the social media presence or, have they been to one of your shows yet? 

[00:34:25] Chip: Oh no, no. I can't imagine them coming to the show. I actually have a conversation to do like a fundraiser for like the high school parents association, like at the school mentioned that to my daughter, she's like, I will be nowhere near that, which is totally fair. 

[00:34:39] Adam: That’s awesome. Maybe, maybe they'll come when they're significantly older. We'll, see, so.

[00:34:43] Chip: yeah.

[00:34:44] Adam: So that's awesome. Okay. Last couple of questions for you. So I have found, and you probably have too through 25 years of marriage, that partnership is super important when you have kids. But also hard to agree a hundred percent of the time with your spouse.

What's an area that you and your wife don't agree on or haven't agreed on when it comes to parenting?

[00:35:07] Chip: Yeah, we're both pretty laid back so we don't, you know, get into like huge fights over stuff. And I mean, largely we agree. I would say probably the biggest one is like how much we should do for our kids or not do, you know, how much to let them do it themselves versus, you know, baby them or however you want to describe it.

I mean, my wife's a little bit more in the do it for them camp. And I'm a little bit more in the, like, let them figure it out camp. And there's no right answer, but you know, I remember I read this book when the kids were younger I think it’s called like uh, How To Raise An Adult. And the whole concept was like you know you’re not trying to raise a toddler or whatever, you’re trying to raise an adult so like let them start to practice being an adult. It’s  tough to navigate that. Cause you know, kids have to learn somehow, right. And you don't want to just throw them in the pool by themselves. but I would say if there's one consistent kind of thing where we're not always on the same page, it would be that.

[00:35:58] Adam: All right. And then on a more serious note which is a rarity for this podcast, but on a more serious note aside from everything, what would you say is a mistake that you've made as a dad?

[00:36:10] Chip: Yeah, well, well, right. I do a lot of the not serious ones like these lists of things I've apologized to my teenagers for.

[00:36:15] Adam: Breathing,

[00:36:16] Chip: Yeah. Yeah. All the basics. I mean, I don't feel like, I mean I try not to beat myself up, I don’t, and I feel like I haven’t made any like huge like mistakes I think it’s more just like you know little things, right, like they grow so fast that like you gotta take very opportunity to like be there and spend time with your kids. And you know, I think largely I have done that, but not, every single time. Right. If there are any regrets, it's like stuff I didn't do, or, you know, maybe sometimes like I'm a pretty, like I mentioned, I'm an Introvert. And like I do stuff, but I don't always tell people about it. And so like, yeah, it was probably more stuff I should explain to my kids. Like, here's what I'm doing and here's why I'm doing it. Like they might not know, like, cause there's, you know, just think I'm working on something, but it might be, I might be like doing some volunteer thing for like my church or whatever.

It's like, you know, like letting your kids like, kind of see how you think and why you do things. You know, I could probably open up a little bit more in terms of that stuff.

[00:37:07] Adam: All right. Well, in closing, what is the best way for people to follow along or be helpful to you? Obviously buying the book, what Time Is Noon. But what else? What are ways that people can, can help support you on your journey?

[00:37:22] Chip: Yeah. I mean, well, so I'm on social media primarily Tik Tok, Instagram and, Facebook. And it's the Leighton show L E I G H T O N. So following or, you know, commenting or sharing, I'm always looking for funny, you know, text messages and stuff like that, you know, stories from people to send me are great. Obviously the book is something I'm hoping people will enjoy. And if you do happen to buy the book, I know reviews are really important for new books. So if it's something anybody out there reads, if you want to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever you picked it up, that would be awesome too.

[00:37:51] Adam: All right, well, I, now, because I'm a book owner, I need to go leave a review. I'm gonna make that after this. Okay, well Chip, do you have a few minutes for our lightning round? Which is always a fun,

Chip Sure, let's do it.

Adam: Fun time. Let's do it. Okay. The rules of lightning round are simple. I ask you a question, and you say the first thing that comes to mind, and then we move on.

Judgment free zone. So here we go. What is the most indispensable parenting product that you have ever purchased?

[00:38:20] Chip: Probably that thing, baby Bjorn, whatever they call it, where you strap them to your chest. You know, that was, it's been a while, a long time since I used one of those, but that was key.

[00:38:27] Adam: What is the most useless parenting product you've ever purchased?

[00:38:30] Chip: One of those like swing type things that like never kind of worked or the kids didn't like, like, or took a lot of batteries

[00:38:37] Adam: That's the one. Okay. What is the ideal day with your kids? What activity would you be doing with them?

[00:38:44] Chip: Well, to me that's changed over the years. So like when they were younger, it would be like, Oh, maybe I'd get my son to go kayaking with me. I'd try to like fit in like things that I love to do with them. And I did a lot of fun stuff, but as they get older, they tend to like, have less interest in spending time with you.

So then it's like whatever they want to do. So even if it's like, like the other day I was watching some stupid TV show with my daughter cause she was into it and like, like a terrible show. It was like the secret lives of Mormon wives. It's like, I wouldn't recommend it, but like, you know, but like it's a chance to spend time with her.

And so I'm in, you know, some of your listeners are probably fans of that show. I'm not denigrating it, but it wasn't for me.

[00:39:19] Adam: I'm sure many are and many are not. My daughter, my 12 year old has been very into police dramas lately I'm like, how did you find this and why are you spending time watching The Shield or Brooklyn 99 or that's comedy. So anyway, yeah. Which one of your kids is your favorite?

[00:39:39] Chip: Both.

[00:39:42] Adam: What is the most frustrating thing that has ever happened to you as a dad?

[00:39:46] Chip: It's the times when stuff's out of your control, like, know, you have disappointments in your own life and they hurt or whatever, but like when your kid gets disappointed by something like it's, it kills. So like if you're I don't know, like my son's team, like, like lost a heartbreaking, you know, match or something.

It's that kind of stuff. Or like they don't get into something they want to get into. Like that's the stuff that really hurts. Like it's way more than when it happens to you is my experience.

[00:40:08] Adam: Yeah. All right. What is your go to dad wardrobe?

[00:40:14] Chip: Oh boy. I do have some New Balance shoes, so that would be, that would probably rank up. There, you know, I mentioned earlier, my daughter described my outfit as monochromatic. So there's like, I get a lot of feedback of wearing like gray pants, gray shirt, you know, very drab.

Like we, we once played this game that was where you went around and described like if somebody opened a, a clothing store, what would it be called? And that it was mine was they suggested by be called chips tall and drab. So it gives you a sense.

[00:40:40] Adam: Love that.

[00:40:41] Chip: I’m 6’6. So just so you…

[00:40:42] Adam: Oh, okay. Well, there you go. How many parenting books do you have in your house?

[00:40:47] Chip: Oh not that many, maybe half a dozen. Well, maybe, I don't know. I'd have to look at least half a dozen, but tend not to look at the book so much as the kids, but.

[00:40:55] Adam: All right. How many parenting books have you actually read cover to cover?

[00:40:59] Chip: Oh, cover to cover. Yeah. A couple. I mentioned that one earlier about

like how to raise an adult and probably like what to expect when you're expecting. Maybe that's not really a parenting book, but I remember that one.

[00:41:08] Adam: Sure. It is. Yeah. Okay, cool. What has been the favorite age for your kids so far?

[00:41:15] Chip: Mean, every age is great. They're amazing. But like, you know, that kind of, nine to 12 ish kind of period where they're like kind of becoming like almost not adults, but they're coming real people and they're more much more independent, but they're not teenagers yet.

So they don't hate you quite as much and they still want to spend time around you. So enjoy that, Adam, while it lasts.

[00:41:35] Adam: I know I'm in the zone. I'm in the zone of excellence right now. What is your least favorite age?

[00:41:41] Chip: There's no like least favorite. It's much tougher when they're really young. You know, somebody once told me like, when my kids were young, they were like, oh, when they get older, that's the, there's still big problems, but they're just different kinds of problems and it's just as hard.

And I'm like, that's BS, man. I'm not sleeping at all. Right. It's like those early years when you're not sleeping and like you, they need you to like constantly take care of those. Those are definitely the hardest life.

[00:42:03] Adam: Yeah, makes sense. How many dad jokes do you tell on average in a given day?

[00:42:09] Chip: Not that many. Though I'm kind of in this like genre or whatever. I'm not in like the dad joke thing so much, it's pretty rare. And I mean, you can imagine the reactions I get from my kids when I do that. So it's not encouraged.

[00:42:18] Adam: Yeah speaking of which, and this may be a hard one to pull, but what is the most embarrassing thing that you've ever done in front of your kids?

[00:42:28] Chip: They'd probably have some different answers. I mean, the one I always think of is it's not that embarrassing, but like I had that thing happen, we were on a road trip once and we were parked at a rest stop and the car next to us started to back out of its parking spot. And I had that optical illusion thing where like, I thought our car was like rolling forward into the grass.

So I like started like slamming on the brakes and like, you know, freaking out, you know, grabbing the wheel, looking like an idiot. So this was like four years ago. I hear about it every time I park the car. So that's the other thing about teenagers. They won't let you forget anything like that.

[00:42:55] Adam: No, never forget. Never forget. That's amazing. That, that is probably also one of the most more unique ones that I've heard on this show. So, thank you for that.

[00:43:04] Chip: Has that ever happened to you?

[00:43:04] Adam: Yeah. No, but never say never. It's probably going to happen when my kids are teenagers for sure. So.

[00:43:11] Chip: I heard from a lot of people when I posted that one online, like, Oh yeah, that's happened to me. And I heard from all these people in these weird situations. Like I heard from an airline pilot. It was like, Oh, that happens at the gate all the time. I'm like, what?

[00:43:22] Adam: That's amazing. Have you ever secretly thrown away a piece of your kid's artwork?

[00:43:28] Chip: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it's a secret. I mean, I don't, they probably don't care, but like, I tried, we tried to take pictures of them and then toss them and then that's, you know easier to preserve.

[00:43:35] Adam: That’s good.

[00:43:36] Chip: But well, yeah, I mean, how are you gonna, you can't keep it all.

[00:43:40] Adam: No, definitely not. What is the most absurd thing that one of your kids has ever asked you to buy for them?

[00:43:46] Chip: Well, right now my daughter wants this like crazy, like, speaker, like Bluetooth speaker that costs like, it's like $400. It's like this weird brand. It's got like, like cracks open. It almost looks like an egg and it's got this like light inside. It's like, the marketing is really weird.

It talks about like intuitive hand gestures. It's like, she's been asking us for like a year, so I don't, it might have to happen. It's weird.

[00:44:10] Adam: Well, potentially a holiday gift. We'll see.

[00:44:13] Chip: I know. I know.

[00:44:14] Adam: What is the most difficult kids TV show that you've ever had to sit through?

[00:44:19] Chip: Oh yeah, it's been a while since we did the kids ones. It's more of the, well, I mentioned the one that she's watching now, but I don't know, like maybe like, that Barney stuff was kind of, it got a little bit old.

[00:44:32] Adam: Yep. When your kids were younger, or maybe now, have you ever used them as an excuse to get out of social events? 

[00:44:38] Chip: Oh, constantly. Yeah. I mean, I mean, usually it's legit. Like you do have conflicts, but you know,

like I said I’m kind of an introvert, so I'm not usually looking to go to a lot of social events, but yeah, Oh, absolutely.

[00:44:48] Adam: All right. What is the worst experience that you've ever had assembling a kid's toy or a piece of furniture?

[00:44:54] Chip: I probably have to go with the Barbie dream castle or Barbie dream house. I forget what it's called, but it was, yeah, that was Christmas one morning and one year and it was, I mean, that's a lot of parts. That's, that was not fun.

[00:45:06] Adam: Yeah. Especially not fun if you start it on Christmas Eve, you know, like you're trying to have it assembled for them. Like, Oh man, that's, I got some stories about that. Have you ever accidentally mixed up your kid's names?

[00:45:18] Chip: I haven't mixed up their names. I've gotten in some situations like their age is wrong. Like I, my daughter never lets me forget. Like I was taking her, she's getting like a COVID test once and it was like peak of the pandemic. We're like at a drive through CVS window and person's like, Oh, how old is your daughter?

I was like 12. And she looks at me like what's wrong with you? I was like, I mean, 13, 13, it's like, I know their ages, but like in a pressure situation like that, sometimes you can't come up with the right answer.

[00:45:45] Adam: Right. Maybe not as relevant now, but how long can a piece of food sit on the floor in your house and you will still eat it?

[00:45:53] Chip: Oh, it depends on the food. I mean, if it's like if it's like a vegetable, that's, you know, not long, but if it's like, you know, whatever, the last Oreo, that's, you know, you can kind of rinse that off and dry it or whatever. it's, it, that's

[00:46:05] Adam: Days. Awesome. Is there a nostalgic movie from your younger years that you just couldn't wait to force your kids to watch with you?

[00:46:16] Chip: Oh, yeah. I mean, there's there's a lot of those. I think, yeah, I guess I think of ET, you know, that is one of the fun things to get to show them all those movies that you loved as a kid.

So, yeah, there's a bunch of them. Yeah.

[00:46:26] Adam: Okay. How often do you tell your kids back in my day stories?

[00:46:31] Chip: I try not to do it that often, but yeah, once in a while, not maybe once a week, that kind of thing.

[00:46:34] Adam: Okay. How many times have you said, go ask your mother this week?

[00:46:39] Chip: This week, I don't know if I've said it this week or not, but I definitely say that a fair bit.

[00:46:43] Adam: Okay. And then finally you, you know, your kids are older now, but what's your take on minivans?

[00:46:50] Chip: We, you know, we'd never had the minivan. they seem very practical to me. I don't, I'm not opposed to them. I mean, I live in Maine where we get a fair bit of snow. So, you know, sometimes you want the four wheel drive. So there it’s not, there’s probably fewer here than other places, but yeah, I mean, I'd be willing to do that, but it's, we're kind of out of that phase now.

[00:47:07] Adam: What do you think your daughter would say to you if you were like, Hey, I'm going to go buy a minivan for the family now.

[00:47:12] Chip: Yeah. I don't think she'd be too psyched. She'd be like, she drives now. So she'd be, she'd probably say something like I’m not driving that.

[00:47:19] Adam: Wouldn't, wouldn't be caught dead in that thing. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, Chip, thank you so much for joining me today. This was a fun conversation. Good luck with the book. It is What Time Is Noon. Please go buy it. Everybody who's listening to this, I'm going to gift this to more than a few people, I think.

But very excited. So thank you for the time. And I wish you and the family all the best and many more text messages.

[00:47:43] Chip: Awesome. Thanks. I had a fun conversation and good luck to you.

[00:47:47] Adam: Thank you for listening to today's conversation with Chip Leighton. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share, and leave me a review on Apple or Spotify. It'll help other people find this podcast. Startup Dad is a Fishman AF production with editing support from Tommy Harron. You can join a community of over 11,000 subscribers and stay up to date on my thoughts on growth, product, and parenting by subscribing to the Fishman AF newsletter at www.fishmanafnewsletter.com. Thanks for listening. See you next week.