Evolutionary Tom: Retired Marine Makes YouTube Channel a Hobby

When Tom Hornstein started his YouTube channel, Evolutionary Tom, his goal was to stay up with technology after retiring from the Marines. Now he’s using his technology skills to help Marco Islanders.  

"I like technology,” Hornstein said, "and I always thought that you could never use the excuse that I'm too old to learn it. And I’m 59 right now. So, I wanted something that was interesting that would sort of force me to keep up on technology. And plus, I enjoy technology. Then there was the other side of that coin, that I wanted to have a YouTube channel, and I wanted to make $1 off of it in views, so I could tell my two sons that I did it. I started it back in Illinois, and I started it basically dealing with e-bikes.” 

Hornstein has produced several videos on e-bikes, but he has recently branched out to other community-centered topics.  

"Evolutionary Tom started because my interests change. They evolve,” Hornstein said. "So, I didn't want to get stuck into one category. I kind of have two or three, maybe four categories that I do videos about. And because of that, I get a little penalized by YouTube in terms of followers. I could have grown a lot faster had I just stuck on e-bikes. But for me, it's a hobby and I don't want anything that smells like a job. So, I keep it as a hobby. I'm up to over 8,000 followers. 

So far, his most popular videos have centered on Marco Beach. 

“The sand berm project that went on at Tigertail and Sand Dollar Island was a big one,” he said. “Anything after hurricanes or storms, people want to know what's going on. I hit what I call the Canadian algorithm after Hurricane Ian because I did a couple live streams. After that happened, I had a number of people contacting me, even on the street, and saying thank you for the live streams because we have property there and we want to know what's going on. And yours was the only thing that we could see that was out there. But I'm restricted to sort of what's out in front of the house because I'm not going out in the water. I'm not driving my car around in the floodwaters or anything like that. That's just not worth it.” 

Hornstein has been drone certified with the FAA since 2016. 

“I like to incorporate drone shots into my videos,” he said. "I think that perspective helps showcase the beauty of Marco Island. It gives a different perspective. So, I do things like construction updates on Caxambas Park. Right now, I'm doing reports on the 951 boat ramp for people. I really like giving current information to people that want to be here, but they can't. There's also another subgroup of Marco Island residents, the ones that are in condos, and maybe because of their physical limitations, they can't get out. So, what's been really popular is when I live stream the Christmas parade. That's been really, really popular. I even get comments from people that are in the parade.” 

Hornstein likes to focus on positivity with his videos. 

 "I tell everybody I only make positive videos,” he said. "I don't do the clickbait type videos. When I approach city or county officials, the first thing I say is,‘I make YouTube videos about Marco Island, and I only make positive videos about Marco Island.’ If I find negative stuff, I just won't do the video because there's plenty of people that could do that or will do that. I don't want to get caught up in that because I want to keep it positive. I don't need the drama. Don't need the stress. Don't need any of that. And I don't want to be known for that.”  

Hornstein said he gets a lot of feedback on his videos. Some more than others. 

"I do get a lot of feedback,” he said, "get a lot of comments. If it's a video that's specific to Marco, I'll go ahead and post it on Marco Island-specific Facebook pages. And that gets out to people pretty quick. I've got people that are local that are Marco Island centric, and they just want to know the Marco Island stuff. And the quickest way to get that content to people focused on Marco Island is going to the Facebook pages and putting the videos there. 

"YouTube is very fickle, and you never know what they're looking for. And they don't tell you either. I try not to get caught up in the numbers, and I try to say, okay, I do this as a hobby. I do it for enjoyment, and I do it to pass along information. And after that, whatever happens, happens because I'm still accomplishing my core pursuit, which was to keep up on technology and stay relevant. You have some videos you swear 'Oh, man, this is a good one, I don't think anybody's ever done one like this. This could be fantastic.' And it just doesn't go anywhere. You ask yourself why. And you would go crazy trying to figure that out.” 

So what’s in the future for Evolutionary Tom? 

"More videos,” he said. "Probably more on Marco. I'd say in the last six or eight months, I've started focusing on Marco just a little bit more because I've enjoyed that. The e-bike videos will continue. I'm thinking Marco's probably going to be 70% of my content as long as I'm still curious about things. The people that can't be here love to see what new houses came up or what houses came down or what the changes are in the area. They just love maintaining their connection with Marco."