Digital Social Hour - How I Overcame Internet Hate and Built My Brand | Lacy DSH #1167

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

How do you overcome internet hate and create a thriving brand? 💻 In this powerful episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, we sit down with Lacy as they share their inspiring journey from battling online criticism to building a successful streaming career. Hear raw, relatable stories about facing insecurities, handling hate, and finding the strength to push through life's toughest moments.   Packed with valuable insights, this episode also uncovers the strategies behind pivoting content, the truth about face reveals, and the mental toll of being in the spotlight. From losing nearly 100 pounds to reviving a renowned gaming group, this conversation is a testament to resilience and growth. 🌟   Don't miss out on these game-changing lessons! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation—you won't want to miss what's coming next! 🚀   #personalbrand #contentmarketing #personalbranding #socialmediamarketing #makemoneyonline   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Lacy Admits He Almost Killed Himself 00:29 - Lacy Lost $1,000,000 in a Poker Hand 02:10 - Lacy's Recent IRL Streams 03:42 - Lacys 30 Day Subathon 06:02 - Twitch Viewership Decline 50% 06:57 - Lacy's Growth Timeline 08:52 - Cloakzy's Audience Transition Strategy 09:56 - The Dream Face Reveal 10:18 - Lacy's Fear of Revealing His Face 13:03 - Future Plans for Nick 14:05 - Lacy Discusses Recent Hate   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Lacy https://www.instagram.com/lacy.himself/   SPONSORS: Specialized Recruiting Group: https://www.srgpros.com/   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/

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I'm not watching anymore. I was like genuinely thinking about like killing myself. Yeah, it was the darkest time of my life that week. It was that bad. Yeah, I didn't stream for the whole week. Wow. I didn't really know what to do. I was doing that myself.

Alright guys, Lacey here today at the CelebBPoke tournament. What happened to you man? I lost. What happened though? Uh, so I'm gonna be honest, I was on my last leg. Ninja told me he said if you got a good hand, you know, go all in. And I don't play poker so I don't know what a good hand is. But I had an ace so I thought that was good. You know, I went all in and I don't play poker so I don't know what a good hand is But I had an ace so I thought that was good. You know I went all in and then Adrian Peterson He had three sixes damn. Yeah good old trips. I guess I mean you made the right call honestly I thought I did too like by the books that was yeah, that's what I thought too, but I'm lucky Sometimes it runs out man, so you don't play often poker. That's my first time. Oh, that was your first time I had no idea what I didn't even know what a check was.

I was saying check to everything when I was supposed to call, I think it's called. Yeah. Yeah, but I've never played poker. Did you know how to raise? Oh, that's when you put more in, right? Yeah. Yeah, I did that a few times. Not too much though.

Do you gamble at all? Other shit? Sports. Sports betting? Yeah. You're big on that? Not big, just here and there. Are you up or down overall?

So I actually haven't done it in a while. I used to do it in college. So when I was in college, I started with like $2,000 and I would just put money on games, like Sunday football. And I went up to like 12K and then never did it again. Damn, you're up. Yeah, I'm up.

Have you bet on like Polymarket yet or those sites? What's that? It's like a site where you could bet on just random stuff. Like you could have bet on Trump to win the presidency. You didn't see that? No. I saw people were betting on it but I don't... Yeah, it was everywhere.

I've never done it. I think Aiden put up like a lot on stuff. Yeah, he did. I think he think it was like a mill or something. It was something crazy, yeah. XQC put up two mill on Kamala, I believe. Jeez. And he lost.

How can you even bet... I feel like betting on that stuff that you have like a say in is weird. Yeah. Yeah, they do have a lot of poll, right? Yeah, because like if Aiden bet a mill and then he like promotes Trump, it that you have like a say in is weird. Yeah, yeah they do have a lot of poll right? Yeah, because like if Aidan bet a mill and then he like promotes Trump it's kind of like oh. It skews it a little bit yeah I feel that. How's the streams been going? Pretty good I've been traveling a lot.

Yeah, do you stream the IRL stuff too? Yeah it's pretty much all I've been doing this month. I went to Mexico, then New York, then Austin, and then Vegas, back to LA, and now I'm back in Vegas. Jeez, what were you doing in Mexico? Streaming. Like any type of content or? It was Day of the Dead. Oh, is that a music festival?

No, it's like the biggest Mexican holiday. Oh, that's dope. Yeah, it's their Halloween. What did you see there that was interesting? Nothing. Really? They wear masks. Nothing crazy in interesting? Nothing really mm-hmm. They wear masks Nothing crazy in Mexico. Not really. No, the food was great. I love Mexican food. So that was amazing Okay, but I see crazier stuff walking out of your house in LA. Yeah. No, you want to hear a crazy story?

Yeah, what happened first week in LA? I'm driving down the block and I see a dude on the side of the road Pulling his pants down jerking off on the sidewalk, like on a busy road. Dude. Like just dick out, jerk, like actually just rubbing one out in the middle of the road. Welcome to LA, right? Yeah, I wasn't expecting it. I don't know how he's not arrested.

He was just there with his, yeah, it was insane. Their jails are probably full over there. Probably. Where did you move from? Um, I was in Texas before LA. Big change. Yeah. Dallas or?

Dallas, yup. Downtown. What do you like more? Or no, I was in my I lied I was in Miami, okay, what do you like more Miami or LA? It's a pet I'd rather live in Miami like when I'm ready to like settle down but for what I do now definitely LA Yeah, I mean that's where all the streamers are and everything So it's all like have you ever done a subathon? Have dude those are nuts. I've been watching Kai's every day and big celebrities coming on. Yeah well, we just did one the September. Oh yeah? The whole month? Yeah, we, Faze as a group did a 30 day. Holy crap, so you were live for 30 days straight? Yeah. Damn. It was, it was draining.

You don't feel like it's an invasion sometimes? Oh no, it definitely was. There were some interesting stuff that happened on the subathon. You know, on camera 24x7, it's crazy. Yeah, because you can't hide anything at that point. Oh, I had a few things, but... You hid your side girl? Nah, not even a side. I didn't really hide anything. I mean, they know, but like, there were some times the camera had to go off. Okay. How to do your thing. You know. Out here here in LA successful. I mean, I've seen your leaked numbers Mr. Humble out here

Streamer numbers. Oh crazy. Yeah, I heard this month. It's getting messed up. Yeah, which it's insane So it's down like what 50%? It's a lot. I don't, it's, I'm very open about, like there's like a lot of streamers who don't say how much they make. You know, they want to, for some reason, keep it a secret from their audience. I'm, I've always been since the jump, very open about how much I make, like, how much streamers make. So I don't get ready for Las Vegas style action at bed MGM the king of online casinos enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM grand

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I just feel like why not be transparent? It feels deceiving if you're like, oh, I only make X amount of money so you can give me more money. I feel that's deceiving to the people that watch me. Like I don't need you to donate me as long as you're watching me and enjoying the content. I don't really need the donations or anything. I feel like you and your group were the first ones to really like share

those numbers honestly. Yeah, because for years like no one knew it's like people keep it a secret. I don't understand but I guess they felt maybe some shame because they're making so much you know. Maybe it could. Yeah, maybe I could see that. I genuinely think that people just keep it a secret because they if they show the public how much they make, they won't get donations as much. Right. I think that has a big play in it, but it also could be they're like embarrassed to show it. But yeah. So how long did it take to see some traction? Because I'm sure this took some time for me personally.

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a pretty good amount of time. So how long did it take to see some traction because I'm sure this took some time for me personally yeah um Yeah, it's it took a pretty good amount of time. I mean like I started three years ago and For a while. I was just streaming to zero viewers and one viewer two viewer for I wasn't streaming full-time then But I was just streaming here and there and there'd be no one watching the only person watching was my brother in the other room Wow always watch your brother. I know he would he always kept me going I even when I wanted to like stop he would pull up my mom's laptop My dad's phone so I would have three viewers. That's a real one right there. Well. Yeah, he is and but then I I met clicks through the fortnight scene, yeah, and

started averaging like 70 80 viewers and over the course of the last two years, I'd say just Work its way up. Obviously have your ups and downs But damn shout out to you for sticking it out because most people would have given up at one viewer two viewers Yeah, a lot of people do and you had that for a year. Um a year. Yeah, but I wasn't like consistently showing It was just like once a month. No part twice a week week. Okay. Damn. Yeah. No. Shout out to you, man. Yeah. It was, I would just do it cause it was fun. That's awesome. So clicks you met through Fortnite. So you're really good at Fortnite then.

Oh, I'm pretty good. Yeah. I wouldn't say really. I'm, I mean compared to the average person I'm really good, but yeah, I'm not on like pro level. So you weren't playing pro level. I was playing pro. Yeah, I was playing pro level, but I wasn't at the top of the top. I was just like middle of the pack. Yeah, I play a little Fortnite. Oh, for real? Zero build though. Oh, that doesn't count.

Yeah, yeah, come on. I mean, maybe a couple of tournaments here and there, but. You don't respect zero build players? No, I respect them. It's just I've never I've played builds. So when they dropped zero, I was kind of like, OK, those kids are sweats, dude. In zero builds? No, it's in builds. Yeah, like I understand it for the the public

Yeah, but from a competitive standpoint, which is what I played. I don't really understand the zero bill Well, that's where the money is. There's no money in zero build not like 500 bucks. Yeah, I've seen like the tournament I mean it's your build cash, but now the money isn't even in the tournament. It's in the streaming. Yep So you made the right move? Yeah, a hundred percent Did you pivot were you like wait, wait a second, the money and competitive is not that good? I was very people don't even know this. I was very strategic with how I did it.

So I knew I always I knew when I started playing for it and started like streaming that it's not what I wanted to do. I wanted to shift to IRL content. But when you have a fan base who watches you for Fortnite, you can't just snap a finger, switch, and they're gonna stay. So I knew that I found, I waited for a dead spot in the game

when there were no tournaments, it was kind of like dead, people weren't really interested. And I started slowly shifting over to GTA. Like I'd play GTA a couple times a week, and then I'd do a couple IRL streams a week. So I like kind of strategically trained my audience to switch over and start enjoying other content and then That's kind of how I that's smart. Yeah, you slowly eased your way in thyroid

Yeah, cuz if you just switch right over you're not gonna it's not gonna be successful. No, it's not. It's like the dream face reveal Yeah, yeah, like that flopped. Yeah, I think it was too quick. He should have shown like a piece of his face Yeah, maybe like like take it like half of it. I'm showing a bottom of it. Yeah Yeah, it should have been like a piece a week and then the full thing but I think it was too See that would have built more hype. It was too sudden. It was like, you know, yeah, I was like, yeah, that was wild But these days you got to show your face. I think it's hard. You have to not have a face to your friend That's how I started out. Yeah. Oh you start off off no face. I was too embarrassed. I was, I was super overweight and um, like genuinely like scared. Like it was like a fear of mine to show my face on stream. There was even a point where I fake face revealed and

showed my roommate. Yeah. Yeah. That's how scared I was because you know how the internet is. It's like, it's a horrible, like it's a really bad environment especially for people who are fat or you know bad looking and I was terrified to show my face and I finally did and I knew exactly what I thought would happen would happen I show my face, you know the Twitter pages post it and then people are making fun of me and for like a week I was like, I don't want to stream anymore. I don't do do my face cam but I pushed through it you know I got in the gym started losing weight and I'm comfortable on camera now. You were ruthless dude.

How much weight did you lose? Um like 90, 95 pounds. Holy crap. Yeah. So you were up there? Yeah I was I was 296. God damn. And how tall are you? 5'9". Wow you lost almost a hundred pounds. Yeah almost almost. Well done, bro. I'm at 205 now, thank you. I had the opposite issue. I was a twig. You put on a lift-in? Yeah, people bullied me because I was too skinny.

You could see my rib cage. See, it's like, why? And like you though, I was scared to post shirtless pics and stuff. I didn't want girls making fun of me or whatever, and guys. So I was pretty insecure. Just how the internet is, it's just ruthless.

I mean, we used it for the better. We got bullied into bettering ourselves. But that's true. A lot of people would take it the other way and just get in a deeper hole. Yeah, I mean, I was there. I'm like I've I've said this on stream before. When I first face revealed that night and the Twitter pages started posting it and people are like, damn, he looks like this. Like he's fat. I'm not watching anymore.

I was like genuinely thinking about like killing myself. Holy shit. Yeah, it was the darkest time of my life that week. Damn, it was that bad. Yeah, I didn't stream for the whole week. Wow. Did you have a good support system? I was living by myself.

Oh shit. I had no one, by myself in an apartment. Dude. Yeah. You didn't even tell your parents or anything? No. Your brother that was supporting you? I could, it was just too embarrassing. It's always been like an insecurity of mine, so.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah, judging off looks is just, it was just too embarrassing. It's always been like an insecurity of mine, so. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, judging off looks is just, it's like a low IQ move to me. Yeah, it is. It's like, you're that shallow? Yeah, like, like let's judge the character. Exactly. I know this is gonna sound kind of weird, but like, you know what I mean?

No, it's true, it's true. People, people judge off looks, especially on the internet. Yeah, and especially in LA where you're at. Yeah. Looks are like currency out there. Yep. Like as a woman, as a man, like looks, people won't even go up to you that's true you don't look a certain way or some jewelry or whatever exactly you ever get caught up in that

materialism stuff never never no never bought a car watch about a car okay but that's pretty much it I mean one car is fine about a car just because I genuinely enjoy driving what car was it BMW M44 Comp. Let's go, baby. It's like therapy. I love at night going and driving. It's like best thing in the world. Driving is therapeutical. It is.

I love blasting music and just flooring it. Yeah, it feels good. I love that, man. What do you got planned up next this year? Well, we are doing the, we have something planned. All of FaZe are doing this huge thing we have planned, not huge, but it's an event we have planned in December for Christmas that we've been planning and working on,

putting some money into. So I'm excited for that. We have this big month long stream that we're doing. I can't talk much about it, but it's gonna be in 2025. It's gonna be a lot of planning and funding going into that but other than that just I'm just gonna keep streaming as much as I can. It's cool to see you revive be part of the revival of Faze. Yeah. I mean I doubted the comeback of it but you guys are pulling out. A lot of people did. I did I'm not gonna lie like. I mean no I don't blame you a lot of people did a lot of people were like why the hell are you putting this group together?

Yeah. But it ended up working out. Yeah you you had a ton of hate at first, your whole group, and now it's like almost all love, right? I'm honest, I'm in a stage right now where I'm getting a lot of hate. Really? Yeah. Why? I don't know. It's not the overweight thing anymore, so what do you think it is?

I really don't know. It's, and the worst part is, is it's the communities within phase. Like- Maybe it's the OG fans that- it's not. I don't I honestly have no idea. I try to be like super nice to everyone. I try to not invade content but also give my touch in it. But people just I don't know I've been getting a lot of hate recently in the past like week or two. That's weird. It's really mentally taxing to be honest. But yeah that's tough man. Well you got good support with Banks now, right? Yeah, that's cool

He's probably been through everything you're dealing with. Yeah, they all have especially adapts been huge like big brother for me Yeah, that's a while. I don't know what the hell's wrong with people. I don't know. I really don't cancel culture, man Maybe I need to stop rage-beating. It could be that well, dude. It's been cool. We'll link yourself below. Thanks for coming on Of course. Yup. Get ready for Las Vegas style action at BedMGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for. When you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette, with our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games,

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