How Planking Paid For Dinner

How I turned an epic failure into an epic feast

This post is a follow-up to my previously published post, ‘Does Planking Pay Off?’

In a nutshell, my friend filmed me doing some epic planking. The video was licensed out to Jukin Media, who then sold it to the National Geographic to use in their TV show called Science of Stupid.

Jukin media told us to standby while their financial department tallied up the royalty earnings for the video. Since I did not own the video, I was out of the loop and didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was that this video was shown on Nat Geo, which meant that we should have some money any day.

My friend sent me a message on my birthday, explaining that our video made $122.50! So we made plans to celebrate our epic feat by having an epic feast at Excaliber.

What you see is a giant slab of wood covered with a bed of potatoes, topped with two full chickens on each end and stacked with heaps of delicious sausages, vegetables and garlic. We spent well over two hours catching up with good company and coming to the realization that planking literally paid for dinner, and we still have half the cash left.

Dinner at Excalibur

 What This Epic Planking Failure Story Really Taught Me

1. Always follow up – From chasing a girl, applying for a new job to making reservations, following up is the key to success in today’s world. My friend and I didn’t hear a word about the licensing of the video. The video even aired without us knowing. He happened to be watching Nat Geo when the clip aired and this convinced him to follow up with a basic inquiry. Had we not seen the video, who knows if they would’ve reached out to us.

2. Don’t jump to conclusions too fast – Today teaches us that all our questions can be answered in seconds and that we should always go with our instinct. Because face value information moves so fast these days, we seldom take the time to consider ‘outside’, external information. So be patient and don’t ignore what you can’t see at first sight.

3. Take control of the situation – This is easier said than done, but if I could go back in time I would’ve uploaded the footage to my own YouTube channel. I am not a control freak, but it would’ve been easier speaking directly with the media company rather than via my friend. If you’re not the boss, then take control of what directly affects you.

4. Don’t fall on empty TV boxes – Thankfully our society has kept up with the growing demand of laughing at people doing hilarious and sometimes, stupid things. Perhaps I would’ve made it on America’s Funniest Home Videos if the video was shot on home turf. Either way I probably won’t be planking again, but side cash is always nice.

Jordan Youtz