Hot Smart Rich with Maggie Sellers Reum - Jun Yuh: How I Built A $13M Creator Empire From A Broken iPhone (& Gave My Dad $500K)

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Jun Yuh, content creator and founder of Creator College, reveals how to grow an audience to over 1M, make money from what you know, and turn your personal brand into financial freedom! Jun grew up broke, started posting from a shattered iPhone, made his first million through content, built a $13M+ business, and gave his dad $500K. He shares the exact systems he used so you can start doing it too! Whether you want more confidence, more money, more freedom - this conversation is your sign to start building your personal brand! Find your angle, tell your story, and build the kind of reputation that makes people root for you & makes you rich. Get unselfish access to the insights that will help you own the room. Sign up now https://linkly.link/2jPXJ —------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro(00:02:19) Build A Brand That Pays(00:03:24) Why Personal Brand Matters(00:03:58) Should You Build Online?(00:04:32) Stop Performing, Start Sharing(00:06:20) Turn Difference Into Power(00:07:19) Find Your Content Angle(00:08:16) Get Over Posting Cringe(00:09:21) The 3-Part Creator System(00:12:10) Building Maggie’s Brand Live(00:16:45) Repeat Your Story Strategically(00:19:23) Share Struggle The Right Way(00:21:52) AD: Pipedrive(00:23:09) AD: Bilt(00:24:09) The 4 Content Types(00:26:41) When To Start Monetising(00:28:44) How Money Shaped Jun(00:31:48) Turn Scarcity Into Power(00:33:28) Spend Money With Purpose(00:34:44) Show Wealth Without Flexing(00:37:02) The First Step To Freedom(00:38:18) Build Income You Own(00:40:30) Position Yourself Like Harvard(00:42:08) Make Money Beyond Brand Deals(00:43:04) Choose Better Brand Deals(00:44:34) Build Long-Term Creator Wealth(00:46:40) Systems That Run Success(00:48:11) AD: Stan(00:49:08) AD: Lululemon(00:50:06) Use AI To Find Blindspots(00:52:59) Protect Yourself From AI(00:55:20) Ask Your Audience First(00:57:33) Choose Better Role Models(00:59:27) Build Skill And Resilience(01:00:36) Jun’s Latest Card Purchase(01:00:52) Jun’s Biggest Card Spend(01:01:21) Jun’s Favourite Credit Card(01:01:43) The Creator Jun Studies(01:02:13) Pick Your Best Platform(01:03:27) Brand Deals To Refuse(01:03:54) Jun’s Dream Brand Deal(01:04:17) Why Hard Is Good(01:04:46) Prepare To Own Rooms(01:05:13) Where To Find Jun ⸻ Sponsors: Pipedrive - http://pipedrive.com/HSR Bilt - Sign up at http://Joinbilt.com/HSR Stan -  https://ig.getstanley.ai/? ref=hotsmartrich&utm_source=podcast Lululemon - http://lululemon.com ⸻ Hot Smart Rich: Your Business & Culture Gossip For ambitious women wanting to own the room, gain power, and build wealth. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotsmartrich/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hotsmartrich Maggie Sellers Reum: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiesellersreum/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maggiesellersreum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sellersmaggie/ Locker: https://www.wantlocker.com/users/maggiesellers ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/maggiesellers Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/maggiesellers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I started creating content with a shattered iPhone 12, and that's where I got my first million followers in my first million dollars. Junior, you are a creator entrepreneur that has made $14 million teaching people how to build personal brands online to create financial freedom. Now, let's break it down for everyone to do the same.

And it doesn't have to be that hard. I wanted financial freedom, but I was so embarrassed because I was not well-spoken. Things started to change when I actually picked up my phone one day and started speaking to it. How did you think about positioning that? Because of it, I recently gave my dad five $100,000 and that was a very cool moment for me.

So I'm going to do a little game with you. Can you rank my content on a scale of 1 to 10 and tell me your number one piece of advice to get to million followers? Ultimately, you can share one piece of content to thousands of people and then you'll never have to chase another opportunity again. You will attract it. It's my first time saying this publicly, but... I love that. How do you feel about AI as a creator? I think every creator should do this.

The ones that don't are the ones where I'm like, you guys are like 10 years behind. I'm going to break it down fully forward. you. Firstly, Hi, Angels. Did you know that subscribing to our channel is free? And it's the simplest way that you can support our show and help us grow. If you do this, we can bring you even more of the content and the guests that you love. All you have to do is just hit the subscribe button below.

So please, if you wouldn't mind, subscribe to the channel and thank you. In case you missed it, you're allowed to be hot, smart, and rich. Let's get into it. June you, are you ready to get Hot Smart Rich? I've been looking forward to it. I always love seeing what people's response to that question is going to be. And I can tell a lot if they watch the show because they're ready for it. I'm ready for it.

Were you practicing? I was not only practicing this morning. I was practicing late night in the shower. I was like, I can't wait for Mackie to tell me that. I'm ready for it. Well, I feel like people are going to know it's special that you're here because you are a male, which doesn't happen as often as a female. But for someone that's just clicked into this conversation, they're not familiar.

familiar with you, what would you say to get them to stay? I would say that anyone, no matter who they are, no matter what Walker stage of life they're coming in from, can and should build a personal brand because it's the greatest long-term asset that anyone can build. And it's not only for the tangible benefits, but also the personal development that comes with it. And it doesn't have to be that hard. So if they want to learn it from a systematic standpoint, they're in the right place. I have a hypothesis I want to throw out about this conversation. Do it. I think that those that listen in full, they will not only have the confidence to start creating content,

they will have the tools to stand out, and a real plan to make money from their content, which a lot of creators are missing. Do you believe that to be true or false? A hundred percent true. A hundred percent true. I actually feel as though it's what makes me a good teacher in the sense where I didn't come onto the camera feeling extremely confident. I was not well-spoken when I first started.

And it forced me to actually learn it in a sense. step-by-step way, which I'm sure we're about to break down. So I'm 100% confident that they'll come out of here if they watch it in full to actually be able to do it themselves. So now you today, what would you say is the mission that you're on? I'm on the mission for helping 100,000 people build their personal brands. Why is building a personal brand so important to you? Because I want to first define it. So a personal brand is your public reputation. So whether or not you're Maggie and you have a thousand posts or you're somebody that has never posted a piece of content ever before, you already have a personal brand.

It's just simply that content allows you to scale it from a one to many standpoint. And ultimately, if you do this effectively, you can share with one piece of content to thousands of people exactly who you are, what you stand for, and what you have to offer. If you can do that, then you'll never have to chase another opportunity again. You will attract it. And do you think that everyone should have an online personal brand? It depends on their goals. And I feel as though if they want to leave an impact, if they want to do some,

something that goes beyond them, if they ultimately want to start a business, if they want to become aspiring founders, that content gives you such an upper hand. And I think what actually scares people a lot is the fear of visibility, a fear of being seen and fear of judgment. And ultimately, my entire brand is centered around how can we break all of those, what I would call misnomer's down to make it easy for people to start. And then if he learned how easy it was, I think most people would say, I'm going to go ahead and film a piece of content and post it online. Going into your story a little bit, I was fascinated because I actually watched one of your original videos, which was styling yourself.

Heck yeah. And I'm interested in the art of the pivot here, June. Yes, hit me. What did it take for you to go from fashion videos to now building the empire that you have, helping people build these exceptional personal brands? I love this question so much. I think about it almost daily. So for me, I thought that I had to be somebody to be online.

So I was constantly trying to put on a front. And I thought fashion and fitness was the cool thing to do. That's me being fully honest. I had no idea what I wanted to do online, but I knew that the cool people were doing these fitness and fashion videos. That's why I started there. And ultimately, it didn't perform that well. And I was sitting in my parents' basement recording these videos for about seven, eight hours.

And I didn't know how to pose. I was shifting around and I was trying to make these pieces of contact. And only a few hundred people were watching it. Things started to change when I actually picked up my phone one day and it just started speaking to it. And ultimately, I was just trying to get a message across in regards to how hard life is. and there was a lot of things that I was struggling with during that period of time. And that video got different types of comments.

So people used to comment the fire emoji, and then now they started to comment the fact that your video has actually changed me. Or it's been such a good reminder for me to see. And so I started to watch those. I thought to myself, why don't I just do more of that? The pivot came very naturally. And what I've learned is that you don't have to wait to be somebody. You already are somebody.

So I started to create content about studying. And that couldn't be the more lame option, right? So I thought, oh my gosh, no one's going to want to watch this. Who's going to care that I study for my classes? But I did that and I start to grow following. And I hope that if anyone's listening to this, it's that, again, you don't have to wait to be somebody, just take your lived experiences, learn contact creation because you can package that experience and you can transform other people's lives.

I'm fascinated that you said it was what the cool kids are doing. Talk to me a little bit about that word cool, belonging. Did you feel like you had that in real life? or were you searching for that because you didn't have that in real life? I didn't have it in real life. And I think the word cool tends to be subjective. So in my inner circle, right, I was always the slower one. I was surrounded by biomedical engineer.

So I was never smart in my circle. And I thought, again, what did I have that allowed me to create content online? But I start to realize that my own studying experience can actually be transformative to other types of people, right? So what we think is cool tends to be because of our own lived experience. But once you start to realize there's another way, world out there, then cool can be whatever you are, whoever you are, right? So for me, I think the word cool is about being your true self and posting it online. I know the word authentic tends to be overuse,

but ultimately, that is the game here. You want to go ahead and be yourself online. You'll find your people, and that's the only way that you can have longevity. When you're not sure what you want to say for your personal brand, where do you go to identify what to just start talking about? It's the younger you principle. It's the place that I take everyone when they're first starting. I truly believe that if you have no idea what you want to create content on or who you want to target, you should target the version of you two to three years younger. And the reason for that is because you understand them so well. And it's true that you are not the same person.

So that transformation is what you can teach. And so ultimately, when anyone has this question of where do I start, I tell them, if you were to talk to your two to three year younger version of yourself, what would you say? What would you need to tell them? What struggles were they experiencing? What do they desire? And if you can start there, I truly believe you'll find your people online. I first started creating content on that, and that is literally barely any storage on it.

I had no idea what I was doing, and I broke my phone when I was a freshman in college, and I started creating content. And that's where I got my first million followers and made my first million dollars. So take me back to when you start creating your videos on this broken, shattered at iPhone 12. That's exactly how I looked by the old thing. Did you feel cringe? Did you feel embarrassed? Like, how did you work through those emotions? A hundred percent. And I actually avoided watching my own content for a very long period of time.

I would never even go to my homepage because I didn't want to see who was following me. I didn't want to see the comp. I didn't want to see any of that stuff because I was so embarrassed. And ultimately, I truly do believe volume negates luck. So after a long period of time doing it, and I start to realize that all of this is a skill. It really is. Being able to click the record button and talk in front of the camera, that is a skill. And I was judging myself for a skill that I didn't have yet. And ultimately, over time when I got good at that skill, now I have systems for everything. And now I can feel confident doing so.

But that's what I want the message to be. When I first started creating content with that shattered iPhone 12, the one that Maggie's holding right now, I was embarrassed. I was shy. I was in this constant fear of visibility. And ultimately, it's led to what has happened today. And that transformation is what I hope to teach a lot of people. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about these systems. You have quite a few.

Yeah, I did. What's the most important one if people are only going to remember one from this episode? What is it to go from zero, embarrassed, cringe to million followers? Is it okay if we go very tactical here? Yes. Okay, this is my favorite thing in the world to talk about. So here we go. I truly believe if anyone's listening to this, they'll get a ton of value and a ton of clarity.

And potentially they have their own pieces of paper that they're following this exercise alongside with us. So the first thing that they're going to do on this piece of paper at the very top, they're going to write their name and the words creator vision. So this will be Maggie's creator vision or June's creator vision. And there are three branches that stem from it. It's going to be what, who, and why. It's because personal branding is the intersection of what you say, who you say to, and why it matters to you.

So I'm going to break down each branch at a time, and thank you so much for letting me be tactical here. It's my favorite thing. And so when I'm thinking about the what, underneath that is your voice or message or philosophy that you want to share with the world. And underneath that are content pillars. So I'll give you an example.

Instead of you saying that you are a quote unquote travel crater, you could lead with a message that reads, I believe more people should lead a life of freedom to be able to do more of what they enjoy. Then yes, your contipillar could be travel, but it could also be productivity. It could be financial management. It could be relationships and how traveling and freedom has actually changed relationships with the people that you love. And it allows you to not traditionally niche down, but become the niche in that sense. Then the second branch is going to be who, and this is your demographic and your psychographic. Demographic, a little bit more obvious.

It's the sex, the occupation, and location. But psychographic is what I really enjoy. And I think you're phenomenal with this, by the way. It's understanding the pains and desires of your audience. When I watch your content, I know exactly who's watching it, but not just because of the way that they look, but because of what they've struggled with. And you're so good at getting that personality out,

that experience out. So that's the psychographic standpoint and stepping to the shoes of your audience and making them feel seen and heard. Then the third branch, the what, is my favorite. And this is the thing that I feel as though I've nailed down. which is ultimately sharing your own stories. You have to share why this voice or message or philosophy is important to you. And ultimately, if I said the message of personal branding is the greatest long-term asset that anyone can build,

then these stories could be the fact that I went from being insecure to feeling confident because of the content creation journey. I could also speak to the fact that I went from being poor to being able to take care of my family because of the content creation journey. I could talk about the discipline that it required. So when you look at this creative vision in full as people fill this out, What you get at the very bottom are a ton of content starters, all beneath the brand of you, right? So people always think about where do I start making content?

What do I create content on? That's it. This creative vision, this exercise that I take the biggest creators through, it is what separates people that create content just for the fame or the money and the people that actually make it personal. So can we do a little exercise? Please, let's do it. Okay. I'm going to describe to you, me, my purpose, my why, my audience. and then you can kind of take me through what we haven't done so far.

Because I would say the mission is so there. It's like I wanted to be able to, for people to be at dinner with me. They would learn business advice. They would learn investing advice. They would learn a little bit about fashion, dating, relationships, travel. It was an all-encompassing dinner party. That's how I wanted you to feel when you watch my content. And the why for that was my whole life.

I felt very much like I had to choose. Choose the beauty, choose the fashion, or choose the business, choose the finance, choose the investing, choose the interviewing. And I was like, I'm so sick of this because women control 85% of consumer spend, yet we get two percent of venture dollars. Like, why are we taking off the mask of being a consumer when we walk into the business world? Why aren't we allowed to embrace all of that?

And it's so clear to me exactly who we're talking to, like the 25 to 50-year-old woman who is trying to have it all. That's what she's trying to do. She's trying to be financially independent. She's trying to get promoted at work or start a business. she's trying to have the best fashion. She's trying to travel the world. She just wants a full life.

So I'm fascinated with you being the expert to do a little bit of a deep dive. We're going to go to my Instagram. Mind you I just posted my wedding. So it's a little bit swayed. And I'm going to have you rank your creator vision framework to my content and tell me on a scale of 1 to 10 how I'm doing and what I could do differently. Firstly, when I look at the who, right? So the target avatar, so good. You even just listed it to me directly, right?

But it's not even just the fact that there are certain age demographic, but it is the pain and the struggles that people are experiencing. So when I look at this, I see a lot of women out there that are insecure. A lot of them are dealing with imposter syndrome that feel as though they have to make the decision to say, do I choose this route or this route? You're like, you can have it all three, right? It's the name of your brand. And so that is phenomenal.

And then in terms of the what, right, the skill or let's say the perspective, the opinions, the beliefs, those are all really, really great, too. because you actually have lived experience. The most, in the nicest way possible, a lot of creatives try to be somebody when they're not actually that person. You've lived this, I can tell. And when I met you,

you're exactly the same person, which is phenomenal. That's my favorite compliment. You are. And again, it feels like I know you because I've been just studying you non-stop. But in regards to the area that I think will take you

to a million followers on Instagram is so obvious. And it is the idea of the Y branch. You have this deep mission, and because I know a lot about you, I know it had to do with that boss that you first met and then making this judgment call on you that you can't do it both ways and you have to change the inflection of your voice. I know that story and I think it's so brilliant.

I would love to see that through Instagram. Even when you're talking about the struggles that you're experiencing, it still feels as though you have your life together. It still feels as though you are this picture perfect. I have it all done. I am this really, really great role model for everyone else. And I would love to peel back a few layers. I would love to think about, and this is an exercise that you and your team can do immediately after this.

And again, I think this is the difference between you having 100,000, ultimately, a million followers in the next year. It is telling the story concept. So if you guys were having a Google dog together, the first thing that I would suggest is spend 30 minutes. You can have a 30 minute timer and list out experiences or transformative moments that you've undergone. And what I want you do is take one theme. So potentially you went from, let's say, being insecure, to now having a lot of confidence. Potentially you're someone that lacked discipline. Now you have a lot of discipline.

Let's say that you felt this inept feeling of how do I, be myself and now I am my true self. These are all transformative moments. And I would list that on a Google Doc. And I would spend my time ideating content messages and formats that fit each of those themes. And I would start to capture that into your content and start posting that at least three times per week. Okay.

Can I stop you there and ask the question? Yes. Because I had a very tactical question to ask you about the algorithm and about posting the same story frequently. Because one of the things I'm obsessed with you on is like your story in general, which we're going to get into, but like going from. literally being broke and poor to like retiring your father and like getting out of poverty and having no confidence to being extremely confident. You were very skinny. You're obviously

very bulk and built now and you've worked very hard for your body. And I love that most, a lot of your top videos, like 36 million views, 25 million views, 24 million views all surround those themes but are packaged similarly and differently. And my question to you is, How does telling the same story multiple times through that same video keep getting the 36 million, 25 million, 24 million views? Like, doesn't your audience almost get fatigue because they've seen it? I'm going to break it down fully for you. There's first an element to your own intimacy around the content. When you're ideating content, you're thinking about it for three, four, five hours.

You're constantly rehearsing exactly what is playing through and then the video that you produce. But ultimately, people are just watching it for about 20, 30, 3,000, 45 a minute long, right? And so there's a level of you growing bored or tiresome of the same story when in reality other people are seeing it maybe once every two weeks, once every week. And it's this little moment of motivation and inspiration. But the reason why storytelling content works so well, and I think about content in missions, right? I think about content top of funnel as a track content, then I think of nurturing, positioning, and conversion. And so at this top of the funnel, the reason why attract content is actually the embodiment of your

story is this. I want everyone that's listening, watching this, think of this exercise in their heads. If they had two creators, one creator is coming online in a fancy car and flexing their fancy watch and saying, I have it all figured out. You should listen to me. You should do X, Y, and Z because I have done it. And this is my life now. Versus, creator beasts talks about the struggles that they've had to endure in order for them to overcome all of what life is thrown to them. And now they've seen the other end of it. The difference in perspective is that, one, people actually find the human common denominator is struggle. So if you told me that you were dealing with insecurity.

I know immediately we connect on that wavelength. That's what happens with content. Why is there 30 million people, 20 million people, 10 million people watching this? It's because there's billions of people and hundreds of millions of people are struggling with the exact same struggles. And that is what makes content different. So instead of trying to be somebody and acting this posture or trying to pretend like you know it all, you can actually talk about these struggles.

And immediately what happens is people see themselves in the struggle and they actually root for your success. So what I've seen is the greatest difference is that people that constantly talk about by their successes, they often get hate online, like a lot of people because they're jealous and there's that level of insecurity on other people's perspective. But if you start talking about your struggles, all of that starts to change because people want to see you in. So when I start posting content in our business did $9 million in 14 months, I'm not getting

comments of people saying, oh my gosh, why would you talk about this? Like, why would you, this feels like it's audacious, no, it's all people rooting for me. And it's because they actually have experienced the same struggles that I've started with. And that's why I think your next layer to this is the more you can do storytelling content, I think so many more people are going to find themselves in you. And that's how I think you'll grow to a million followers on Instagram. Okay. So I'm going to do a little game with you. I'm going to do this.

And by the end of the year, we're going to be at a million. Yes. And you're going to be like I told you so. 100%. 100%. So the struggle. We need to talk about this. Because I think that there are quite a few people out there that think about that in a way of manipulation.

and how can I leverage or exploit situations that maybe didn't even happen or weren't really that bad. And I think it's very easy, especially when the algorithm does favor, like, maybe negative content or things that aren't as motivating. So where is that line and boundary for people between the struggle and then things that are not being done for the right reason or that underlying why we keep talking about? I love it. So, okay, here's two parts. One is that if you look at all of my storytelling content, not a single one of them talk. badly about my mom, about my dad, about my relationships. It has all the focus on my own personal maturation, emotional, spiritual, physically. And that's the biggest difference. People think that

in order for them to talk about their own experiences, they have to talk about other people in their story. But when we were going through, even all this podcast prep with your team, they had asked about what is my girlfriend's name? Ultimately, what do we experience? And no one knows this stuff because I've decided to keep those things more private. And ultimately, it's never been about those people. It's always been about my own exploration of life. And it's And so if you start to focus it on that, people are not going to think that, oh, he's taken advantage of his experience or he's taking advantage of this bad scenario or experience. I think another part to it, too, is that when you're telling your stories, you're looking

to talk about the transformation of it and not just the negative. So in real time, you're showcasing the fact that you've dealt with X, Y, and C, and how you've become a better person for it. And that transformation stops your content from being sappy or depressing, just being uplifting and enlightenment experiences. So there's another part to this as well. When I talk about a track content, that's the storytelling transformational content. But there's also something called nurturing content.

And I do this about once a week where I actually don't talk about a transformation. I let people into my real life and real time. I do that less, but it's imperative that you do nurturing content so that you can tend to your audience. A lot of people struggle with unfollowings, right? So people that come into their audience and they lose followers over time. And it's because they never did nurturing content. Content actually tends to your audience. And so when I make a piece of content saying, I am absolutely exhausted and anxious and nervous

because I have 14 podcasts to record. I've never done this before this upcoming week. There's a level of humanity that's associated with that. And that's the nurturing side. But again, when I'm doing a track content, I'm usually focused on the transformation, and that's how you stop it from being sappy and turn it into something more empowering.

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Let's get broken down very easily for people. And then how you would think about actually putting a content strategy together. So you're hitting those different types of content perfectly. Yes. Okay, cool. So there are four missions and I stack them up into a content funnel. And so at the very top you have a tract content. And a track content is meant to garner exposure and get new followers.

And the best content for attract is going to be storytelling because people see themselves in your struggle, and ultimately you're able to have them be empowered or be inspired, and you want them to know of you. You can also do attract content with trends, but people usually misuse trends. Trends have to be yours. You can't just copy and paste the trend. You have to add your own messaging or your own purpose or sentiment to it, and that's how people come into your audience for the right reasons. Then the second mission is going to be called nurturing content, and nurturing content is where you tend to your audience so that they feel as though you're a human being. And that is when you're showcasing the real, raw reality of,

let's say, your life or your struggles, or maybe even your desires and passions, right? Or maybe at a very big moment and you're like, this is how I feel because of it. That's nurturing content. Then I think about positioning content, which you're exceptional at, which is actually showcasing your expertise. This could be talking head videos where you're actually teaching something, or it could be brand building moments. So your podcast being such a success is a positioning piece of content. At the very final part of that, you have conversion content. And this is where you have an offer or a brand deal and you're trying to get the attention from social media onto a landing page or to that brand deal and get them to buy.

Now, I want to talk about cadences for each of these, right? And this is definitely going to differ based on who you are and what goal you have. But most creators need a bigger audience. And that's who I'm assuming is listening to this because a lot of people have great expertise, but they don't necessarily have really good attract content. So if the cadence was split, I would think about three attract content. I would think about one nurturing content. and then I would think about potentially two positioning and one convert at the most, right?

And conversion content, the issue is that a lot of people want to make money, right? So they think about converting every single post, but they forget that there's a real human being on the opposing side of the screen. You have to earn that goodwill. And what's beautiful is that I'll do conversion content once per week, but the amount of traffic that we get will make up for most creators six conversion posts, right? And it's just because I've done the funnel effectively, and that's how I want everyone to think about content.

Content needs intention. It needs missions. It needs purpose. And that's how you can give it that mission or that purpose. So let's go back a little bit to when you hit a million followers. How did you or how did you not at this point monetized your audience? It's a good point. So I've done every single way of monetization under the umbrella of social media.

So in the beginning, I've done affiliate deals. I had done, let's say, even platform payouts I've obviously gotten advantages of. But in terms of my own offer, nothing. I had nothing to my name when I had a million followers. It was only after about, I would say probably one and a half million, two million followers, where I really start to open my eyes to what is possible. And that's when I start to fall in love with this idea of equity and ownership. And I'll tell you exactly what I mean.

And I know this is where we're going to have a lot of parallel. That's why I think you're phenomenal. But when I first started, I was doing an affiliate deal, right? And I'm just going to say the name, it was Alphalit. And I really loved Alphali and Christian Guzman and what he was able to do in the fitness space. And I looked up to my entire life. And this was such a beautiful moment for me. And I thought, all right, I'm going to do an affiliate deal with Alphali.

And I went ahead and let's say that I made $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000 for them. I was getting 10% of that, right? What does that actually mean in the long term of things? I might have been earning a few hundred dollars, but that's not going to change my life. It won't, right? And then I saw it, I'm like, but they're getting $3,000 or $4,000. Why can't I just develop my own thing and just reap the benefit of that reward? I'm hardworking just like you are.

So when I thought, all right, let me own something, it was only after that I started to release my own products. And it is ridiculous to say this aloud. But I was doing the math on this now preparing. It's been about less than three years in totality of me doing business. And we're now upwards of $12, $13 million. And it's the idea of owning. Right now as I'm doing more investments, I can see, all right, now I'm playing this long game of, I hope that in 10 years I have all of these different creator brands underneath me. But yeah, it took me a little bit of time to understand that world.

You are such a confident person when you talk about money in a way that to your point, I'm like rooting for you. And I think it's because I understand your story a little bit more. So for people that are listening, can you share a little bit more about how you grew up with money, what your relationship was like to money? And we can go from there. Yeah. So for me, I grew up in quite a tumultuous background. So I can give the full origin here. We grew up as Korean immigrants.

I traveled to the U.S. when I was just three years old. And I only knew America, but all I saw in my internal home was hardship. So my dad didn't speak the language. My mom didn't speak the language. Eventually when I was about 13 years old, my parents got divorced. And my mom, who was my best friend up to that point in time, left to a completely different country permanently. And I lost contact with her for over 10 years.

And what was the outcome of that was a lot more struggle. So we got to the point in which we were moved. moving homes and had to move every six, seven, eight months because we can afford to live where we were. And we finally found ourselves in a tiny apartment where me and my brother were sharing a small room together and my dad was sleeping on the living room floor. That was my reality at 14, 15, 16 years old. And the idea of money was impossible. It wasn't even something we could fathom. And I grew up watching my dad, he works construction. And he would go to Home Depot and I would be the one going with him at 13, 14 years old because he couldn't speak the language.

And what I saw was that people were taking advantage of him. What I saw was that people looked down upon him because he couldn't speak the language. And that was heartbreaking, but at 14, you can't do anything about it. That's why I went on this great mission to realize that why can't it be me? Why can't I? Why can't I be the one to change my family's legacy? Why can't I be the one to end the generational trauma? Why can't I?

And so I had this great belief that, you know, if I, at first, I thought it was the engineering route. I thought it was going to be the best engineer in the world. And I was like, I'm going to be the biggest, most, successful engineer that anyone could ever possibly fathom. Obviously, life took me a little bit differently, but that's how I treat everything. And so when I started to develop my business, it was a no-brainer that I wanted to showcase the reality of it because I came from nothing.

And it is harder for somebody to come online and say, hey, you should do X, Y, and Z and get somebody to believe it if they don't look like them or sound like that. I hope that people listening and seeing this is like, oh my gosh, he's so relatable because he's going through exactly what I'm going through right now. That's why I feel confident about talking about money. Money is just energy. Money is an output. It's a byproduct of impact. And I think that impact is the forefront of everything that I do. And that's why I'm so confident that one day I'm going to do $100 million. And I know that right now. And I can say that verbally because I know that I'm going to keep working as hard as I possibly can to leave further impact on so many people out there. But that is the whole wiring of my brain. So like if you look at the comments of those videos, you're exactly right. These are people that are rooting for me that wanted to happen. And I want other people to win just as much. And that's why I'm showcasing the behind the scenes of it. even though I didn't come from money at all. I've had a lot of people on the show who come from maybe not the same, but a similar background.

And they often use this word, I had a scarcity mindset towards money. I was so afraid of spending money. Like, I'm sure, you know, buying the first camera equipment or like the first big investment, it almost felt like a punch in the gut, right? Because when you're not used to being around money, it is something that made them feel more scarce towards it. So is that how your brain worked initially? And then how did you actually move to a place of like looking at it as a currency and a tool,

and a way to create opportunities for yourself. It's such a fascinating question, and I'm going to be extremely real and raw with you. I had nobody around me that was rich or well-off. I couldn't even think of the word scarcity mindset because I didn't have anyone in my life to explain that to me. I didn't know what it was. Interestingly enough, I think that was the greatest benefit

because I started to leverage it like a superpower. And I still do it to this day. Even to this day, right, my accountant tells me that I have to spend more money. We get the tax bill and we're like, holy cow, here we go again. there's a lot of money that we've spent. And there's a part of me that doesn't really care, as in like, I feel as though I want to do things in the most role and stripped down version as I possibly can. So even if you look at my setup today, it's not as though today I have a ton of fancy equipment or anything of that nature. I was creating content with that shattered iPhone 12,

about four or five years in, and then at a certain point, people were DM me like, don't you think it's tired for a new phone at all? I'm like, I don't even think of that. And so even to this day, I don't know if it's scarcity in my sense. It could totally be that. But I'm engineered in the way of, I don't think money defines who you are. And I don't think money makes you overall better. I think you should become better from a human level. And the tools and gadgets and things of that nature might just amplify it. I've seen people make very similar common mistakes.

Let's take a brand founder. They have the vision. They have the idea. They've put in the reps of understanding what the consumer wants. They spend $100,000 on a brand design when they have no customers. They don't have any POs placed yet. and they're sitting on inventory, they spend 100 grand or 30 grand on a brand design, and they don't know where to go from there.

Have you ever made a similar type of very large investment, whether it's in your personal life or professional life that you have regretted? This is where my accountant would probably be like, I wish you did something like that. And honestly, I don't really spend that much money. And the only money that I spend that's large sums are either investments currently that I feel very confident in or it's for my family. So I recently gave my dad $500,000, and that was a very cool moment for me.

Now, I look at that. I think the money is gone, but it makes me feel significant. It makes me feel like I've done something right. And so I've never had a big investment. Like, for example, I drive a 10-year-old Jeep Patriot, right? And it has dense on it. It has a lot of things inside of it doesn't work. But I've never been a big spender.

So one day, though, I'm sure I will make the mistake. And I'm excited to let you know when that happens. It's funny, though, like listening to different. people and their relationship with money, I think specifically because especially a lot of entrepreneurs, they're looking to make very smart decisions with their money. They actually don't like to spend a bunch of money to prove things to other people. And I'm so interested for someone that's online. And obviously, you do have an audience of people that expect things from you or you can signal certain things. How do you think about the way that you show up as it relates to talking about

money and signaling and all the things that everyone feels like they're a victim to online. I believe it has always boiled down to if I was watching somebody growing up, who would I want to watch? And there's been a lot of moments in my life where I would watch a crater and I would love them. But ultimately, they start to change, right? And it's noticeable from the audience's perspective, especially if you've watched them for a very long period of time. And I'd never want to be that person. So for me, it's always this goal of saying, all right, what do I? actually need. And yes, money can buy me convenience. And it's also really cool because now money allows you to be more generous. And growing up seeing my dad work blue collar, even jobs, let's say,

like room service, or let's say somebody that's helping my bags go up to a hotel room, which I never thought was even possible, that you can be so generous at those moments and makes you feel good. So there's a lot of spenditure in that way. But that's not in front of the camera. And I think that when I am in front of the camera, I just want to be the version of me that I would be proud of looking at when I was younger. And don't get me wrong, I think money can buy you a lot of really great opportunities. So here's another example of this. It's not an investment that I regret, but it was a lot of money. So we just hosted an event in New York City, and it was not going to lie, it was my fault, because I really wanted to make an in-person event, and I wanted to make an impact on a local

community. So I said, let's do it. I don't care how much it costs. I know we could do it more optimized, but just let's do it. And so we did it. And this turnaround was about one and half months and we then went to New York City and we had this amazing experience and I was there from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. just like meeting every single person. It's the coolest thing in my entire life. We lost $50,000 from that event and it allows you to really focus on what's important. Like money gives you that luxury. So we're going to go and host another event at London. I'm like, let's do it even bigger. Let's do it even better. Yes, can we do it a profitable way and we probably should. But it's like I just love that type of experience. I think money has given me that freedom to do it.

and I don't necessarily want to lose that. And I think it requires me to stay rooted in my own beliefs. A lot of people listening to this will also feel like they're starting from zero. Like they don't have the income to be able to afford camera equipment. They're like you. Maybe they're not 14 years old. But they're thinking like, okay, if he can do it, I can do it. I want financial freedom.

I want to attract opportunities. I want to be chasing them. What is the number one piece of advice that someone listening to this after they listen to this episode can immediately go and do. Delay gratification. So the first thing is that when someone thinks about money, they immediately think instantaneous. And that's the issue where I think a lot of people burn out. But if you can delay gratification, expand the horizon for success and become valuable to the marketplace, meaning that you actually develop the skill that people would pay for. That skill needs time for nurturing, though, right? You should go and work people as projects for free.

If you can, right, get the exposure, get the experience. And when I was hustling, that's how my entire life was. I was always trying to get in the right rooms. I was always trying to be connected to people. But you have to have that grit. And then once you can delay gratification, ultimately, the money will follow. And so I hope that anyone listening and watching this is like, yes, money is great. But it took me a long time. So I talk about my business experience of the last less than three years not doing well over 10 million. But nobody sees the four years of me creating a content before that, right? When I was by myself in my college dorm room and people were making fun of me. But it's just simply because I could delay gratification. I think that's the

priority for most people to tackle on. So you're creating content in your bedroom. Yes. You get a million, a million and a half followers. You then start to monetize. What are the best ways to monetize your audience? What are the things that maybe you would recommend you don't actually go into because you learn the less and the hard way? How should people start to think about having multiple different income streams as they're thinking about monetizing their audience as a creator?

What I would recommend people not to do, and it's not inherently that it's a bad. thing, but if you want to maximize your effort, affiliate deals where you're getting a small percentage of it. And I know this is what's actually happening. And it's my first time saying this publicly, but I feel comfortable and confident with you, so I'm just going to do it. But this is what actually happens from the creator's perspective when you're doing affiliates.

In order for you to make real income, let's say that you want to make $5,000, $10,000 with affiliate income, what do you actually have to do? You have to showcase your product so many times, I mean, the brand's product, to your audience. You almost become their mascot. You almost become this, this person that's constantly trying to be somebody. And you're like, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this. Sir, you are letting a brand borrow your audience. And although there's moments that it can work, effectively, why not take ownership of it? And now digital products have made it so much easier. So when I released my first product ever, it was called The Guide to Academic Success. And it was

literally a 63-page PDF that I took a lot of time and effort putting together. But at the end of the day, it was a PDF. A PDF made me $100,000 the first month as being an entrepreneur, $100,000 to second, third, fourth months. And then I released a physical book that landed number one to Amazon's new releases, skyrocketed business to a million dollars while still in my labs, right, as a college student. But that's the power of ownership. And I'm the type of person that I want to push it to as far as it possibly can.

And if there are other people listening to this, and I know your audience is especially ambitious, it's like, why not own the thing? Now, I don't think that you have to immediately start doing a ton of products, but find that one thing that you want to develop and practice marketing it. People think that all attraction content is good for your brand, but it's not. It's like you have to actually learn how to market your products. You have to learn how to take that trust and goodwill and give somebody something valuable with your product.

You have to learn how to connect those two pieces, right? You have to bridge that with your content. So learn how to do it with one digital product. I think it's the easiest way to start. You've obviously done an exceptional job at like not being lumped in with like the digital course creator. So I'm wondering, like how did you think about? positioning that so that we can steal your secrets?

I would look at Harvard, for example. Harvard makes a lot of its money through online courses, but nobody looks at Harvard and thinks they're a course seller. They think about the reputation. They think about the brand. They're like, of course, if I can learn for a fraction of the price with Harvard's education online, of course I'm going to do it. That is what I believe my personal brand has effectively done.

The people that are doing it wrong is that they're jumping from product to product. They're selling something that they don't know. they're ultimately trying to do these get rich quick schemes. And it's given the world of courses a bad rep. And I think it's starting to change. I think more people are starting to open their eyes to what online information can, in fact, do for them, especially as you see some of the biggest personas online. They're all doing it behind the scenes, right?

Because people want it. Why wouldn't you want to learn from somebody that has actually done it exactly the way that you want to do it? Of course you're going to. And if you could speak directly to that person, let's say with a coaching perspective, of course you're going to do it. So I think about Harvard, I think about the Ivy Leagues, that were somehow able to turn courses into this amazing benefit for the audience. And that's how I envision my content. So when people look at Creative College, Creative College has its own library of programs, Masterclasses, courses.

Even if you think about the actual business Masterclass, right, they go ahead and they have some of the largest names on the planet doing course content for that. You don't see anyone looking at them thinking, oh, they're a course seller. You think of, oh my gosh, it's so much value, so much great reputation. So ultimately, that's how I want people to perceive it. And that's where it goes down to this idea of making good content. If you can make good content, control that personal reputation, and actually be yourself online. People will not make those comments about your course seller. When you think about your revenue overall, how much of it is still from brand partnerships,

the gatekeepers that you're attracting the audience to that's giving you a brief? What is the breakdown of that revenue? A very small fraction, a very, very, very tiny. percentage. And in fact, I've never also said this publicly, but even when I get brand deal money, which can be a lot, right, it can be 50,000, 60,000, it can be those amounts of money. I actually take that income and I put it straight into my other businesses, which is the actual thing that I want to build equity for in the long term. So brand deal money, it's like I'll only do it and I feel very aligned to it and I will actually enjoy that experience. But I don't even think

of that as like real income for me anymore. So I would say 98% of my income and the money that Creator College builds and that's underneath my personal brand is through the actual businesses and a very small percentage has anything to do with the brand deal. And that money will actually get streamlined into the other businesses. And is that because you don't think that brands do a great job with creator marketing? Some do. And I've been in rooms where they don't do a very good job. The brands that actually give freedom to the creative to make something aligned to them is phenomenal. The ones that don't are the ones where I'm like, you guys are like 10 years behind. How can you imagine that a creator is going to bring attention for your brand,

and you're scripting their video when you've never scripted any of their videos before. And so ultimately, the brands that get it, I believe ManyChat is a phenomenal example. I'm working with them right now, and they've never, ever told me that I have to say X, Y, and Z thing, and that's why our brand deals start to work really well. And so ultimately, I think that brands can be good at it,

but it's more of a personal experience. I don't necessarily think it's because of the brand side. I think just because of my own side of, like, all right, if I could build my own things, And I'm also the type person that gets very distracted, and I don't want any external distractions if I can help it. I'll focus only on the thing in front of me. And then I'll do a very good job with it. I've realized if I could channel my energy into my own businesses and have ownership around those, then I would start to build long-term wealth for myself.

And that's the way that I've always thought about it. It's fascinating talking to you because I feel like you figured this out very early. Generational wealth, equity, ownership. It was such a struggle for me to get creators to invest even in angel investment opportunities. they were so used to getting a huge check from a brand partner. It's like they can clock in, they can clock out, they do the brief. They don't even really care about it because they're like there's another brand that's going to come inbound next month.

Where did you learn that that was going to be your past generational wealth? So I actually just broke down the numbers when I was sitting there and I was looking at the brand deal income. I thought to myself, do I need a lot more than this? Do I physically spend more money than this? The answer was no, right? And I already told you that I wasn't a big spender as it was, and especially as a college student, literally my only, this is of my real credit card statements, it would be Chipotle and it would be

gas. So it would be like Chipotle, Chipotle, Chipotle, Chipotle, that's all I was spending money on and my apartment fee. But in that regard, I thought to myself, what actually do I care about? I care about my dad. I care about my family. And I want to make sure one day that they can look at me and think, wow, they have level freedom that they never once had before.

I was not going to get that with the $20,000 or $30,000 or $50,000. Now, I want it to go much bigger than that. And that's when I start, even to this day, I'll get income from the businesses. And I think to myself, I'm like, am I actually going to spend this much money? A lot of it goes to my personal investments. And the rest goes into angel investing. So I'll hear a lot of creators. And I think the era is changing, which is beautiful to see.

I think a lot of creators are starting to recognize this. And they'll be in my DM. So a lot of these big creators are in my DMs. Like, would you actually invest into this thing? We'll go on to calls. And I'm like, this is cool. Like, I can help you do this thing. And so that gets me excited because I'm like, I don't care about taking money out of this

business. I don't need it. And instead, what I'm going to do is effectively play the 10-year game. And hopefully by then, all of this will start to make sense. And I'll be like, cool, whether I exit, whether I don't exit, I'll have that type of opportunity and option. So that's where it starts to think. It was just like, do I actually need that money? And I think a lot of creators don't do that. I think creators get the money and they just spend the money. And effectively, what happens is you're on this hamster wheel. And I think I've done a good job getting out of that hamster wheel. Well, I think that what you've done when you've lived your life based on what you've shared with me today and the research I've done is like, you have lived experiences, you study those lived experiences, you find trends, you create systems,

then you live by those systems until it doesn't work and you kind of re-formulate. So we've talked about the creator vision framework. What are some of the other frameworks that you fundamentally live your life by, whether it's to create content, whether it's to make money, anything that you do? What are some of the other frameworks that you've developed? A lot of it boils down to consistency. And I genuinely believe that if you don't give me any system, I'll be the late. leastiest human being ever. And I truly believe that. And so I run my life through systems because

it's the only way I know that I will be fulfilled in my experiences. Everything I do, though, is quite consistent. I don't do a lot of things. So you can ask anyone on my team, I live quite a boring life. And I get a fun chance to meet people like you. And I'm like, yeah, this is the highlight of my ear. But ultimately, my regular life is not like that. I actually live quite a boring one. And ultimately, it is this perception of how can I do things that I feel it's extremely aligned to me? and how do I ensure that I never lose sight of that? And so for me, I won't miss a day of working out. Actually, my girlfriend challenged me this past Christmas.

She's like, you should go work out more consistently because there's a season of time with work that I was like really not in a good state physically. She's like, you were so much happier back then. You should go and do more of that. So I haven't missed a day of working out since Christmas and no matter where I am, no matter how much I try. That, and I haven't missed a day of posting content

in the last six and a half years. Like every single day I've gotten a video out. But what I do is that I'm very good at saying no. I'm very good at saying no, because I realize it's a deeper yes to the things that I really want. So it all boils down to having priorities, and I only have like five or six priorities in my life, and I'm going to make sure that I'm really good at that with a consistent standpoint.

And then accountability is like a big part of that, right? As in like I journal a ton, I ensure that every single day that I feel is on making progress in some capacity. But that's it. Like, I don't do anything else in my life, and I think it allows me to channel my energy in ways that I believe is productive for me. Hot take incoming. Making more money as a creator doesn't actually require you to have more followers.

I see so many creators getting this wrong. And this is part of the reason why I love what our show partner Stan is doing with their V2 of their funnels and order bumps. Because if someone is already buying from you, that's a completely different moment than someone casually watching your content. It means that they trust you, they're paying attention, they're already in checkout mode. So instead of sending everyone to one link and hoping for the best, Stan helps you create a smarter buying journey.

And with order bumps, someone can add something extra at checkout with one. If you are building a creator business, this is the kind of thing you should be obsessed with, like every brand founder is. I'll let you in on one secret. The top earners on Stan all do this. Sign up today to set up your funnels and order bumps and get started with a 30-day creator pro trial at link. dot stand.

Dot store slash Meggie. Everyone has that one brand they always reach for because it's a trusted classic, right? For me, that's Lulu Lemon. And they've just become a sponsor of Hot Smart Rich. Sometimes I wonder if I love it so much because we're both Canadian, but really, I know it's because their styles are consistently so flattering and comfortable. This top in particular, their flow-eye tank is one of those pieces that's actually perfect for Alley, because it's lightweight and buttery soft, but also minimal and sleek.

It's why racerback shape also gives me a lot of movement when I'm doing low-impact workouts. And because it has added lycra fibers, it stretches easily, but also holds its shape over time. And that can be said about any of my Lulu Lemon clothing. It always lasts for years. So don't sit on it if there's something you've got your eyes on. Lulu Lemon offers free returns too. So there is never a risk if you change your mind. Head to Lululemon.com to get your hands on their flow-wide tank in so many different colors. Can we talk a little bit about how you leverage AI with your systems? How do you feel about AI as a creator? That's a great question. I believe that people are using it in the wrong way and I believe there's a right way.

way to use it. So the wrong way would be, hey, chat, BT, hey, Claude, can you give me a content idea and write me a script? And then you say verbatim and you put it on to the screen. Could it be helpful for someone to go from zero to one, potentially in that regard? But here's the actual expert way of using AI in your content workflows. And I hope that all the people listening actually start doing this. AI is really good at seeing holes in your own workflow, in your own way of thinking, in your own even assumptions of your audience. So I'll show you exactly how. I've used it about eight months ago, and that's what transformed Creator College since. When I first started creating content with the idea of promoting Creator College, I kept using

the word creator a ton. I kept saying, if you want to become a creator, do this. I started to see that my content performance was going down. And because I'm such a numbers person, I was like, all right, what is going on? And so I used Whisper. I'm not sure if you use Whisper yourself, but yeah, it's phenomenal in the sense where you can just do these humongous voice messages. So I did one of those ginormous voice messages, and I stated basically all of the

assumptions that I had about my world about this crater landscape. And I asked it, and the prompt was after a ginormous 28-minute voice message, it would be, can you find common, let's say, holes or common, I would call them blind spots in my line of thinking that you can fix and then update my way of thinking to ultimately help me do it better. And what actually told me was that people don't wake up thinking that they want to be a crater. Actually, they never think about it at all. What people think about is fear of visibility, fear of being seen. They think about the fact that they want to go and do something that they enjoy, that they feel aligned to. No one ever wakes up and thinks, I want to be a creator if it is a very small fraction of people.

So I started changing my content strategy altogether. And I started to create more about communication, about psychology. I started to create content about business and mindset. And those became angles in which I would help people build personal brands. And what ended up happening is my content started performing better and created college started making more money. So what I used AI to do was to simply challenge my way of thinking, help me understand my audience better. And I think that's what people should utilize it for. So it's like, what is my strategy?

What do I think is a good strategy? What should I stay in my content? Can you find holes into it and change your way of thinking? And then ultimately, the cherries on top would be, can you help me optimize this caption, help me optimize the script? But that is such a smaller fragmentation of what I actually use AI for. I've also had a lot of people on the show that have a theory that the creator landscape will look. look very different with AI by the end of the year. And I don't know if you've seen any of these, like, AI podcast women that are from AI. Have you seen this? Oh, the AI avatar landscape.

I've had a lot of people on the show who have a theory that content creation, creators is going to look very, very different by 2026, by the end of 2026. What is your perspective on that as someone who teaches people to become exceptional creators? I believe that AI will transform the way the content creators approach their work and how the world perceives them. Because as AI gets better, we're going to lose the ability to discern whether something is real or it's fake,

especially online. You just mentioned that podcast girl. I've seen quite a few of these AI avatars online too where some people in the comments just can't even notice that it's AI. It's like that's only going to get worse. Now, this always boils down to my definition of personal branding because I truly believe

that a personal brand is simply your public reputation and content is one medium to build that. but that's why in real life experiences are such a big part of this. And that's why I wanted to do the New York one. That's why we're going to be doing the London one, the Dubai one, the Miami one this year. Because I truly believe the next iteration of this, and I hope you join me one of these days. You can join me in an event, and you and I can do a live podcast in front of a lot of people, and I think we'd crush it.

But in that regard, it's those intimate experiences I think people will hold on to tighter. And I truly believe, though, there is a part to this that I haven't seen anyone online talk about. And I want to give the consumer more flowers in this case. And here's what I mean. I actually do believe that the public perception of AI is not good. As in most people do push back to the idea of having AI avatars and creators. And I think it's fascinating because a lot of these business owners will be like, oh, I'm going to use AI to leverage.

And I'm going to have all this output because I can have all these AI avatars underneath me. But you're forgetting the fact that AI is meant for the consumer. It's as in people are watching this content because, of the interest that they have. And I think most people, from the consumer's perspective, at least at this point, are pushing back on it. So I don't think it's going to be by the end of 2026 where all these AI avatars are taking over social media.

I think it'll take a lot more time because I think the public, the consumers are smarter than that. They want better than that. Now, to protect yourself from that, there's obvious ways to, let's say, do more in-person experiences and events and build those communities. But I think we're very far away still from this world of where AI avatars and creators are going to take over social media.

You have 9 million followers across platform? Something like that, 8 to 9, I think. You've obviously learned a lot from them as much as they've learned from you. What are some of the most shocking things you've learned about consumer behavior and trends from your audience as you've been building with them for the last couple years? You know, it's hilarious. So when I first started doing this business, I thought that I wanted to do a fashion company. So I thought that was the cool thing to do. So ultimately, I thought that I was going to develop a clothing company.

And then I posted on social media and I said, on my stories, I said, hey, so what do you guys want? As in tell me, tell me specifically, what is it that you guys want? And I talked about this idea of a clothing brand and it was crickets, right? Even at hundreds of thousands of followers, people were like, why would I want to buy clothes from him? And this is where I think people get it wrong where they think of merch and they're like, oh, I'm just going to do a merch line and make a quick buck. But I was thinking deeper than that as I'm like, what does my audience physically, want. And then I went down the line. I was like, all right, so maybe I'll create this, this program around content creation. And back then, nobody wanted that from my audience.

I was like, all right, so what do they want? So I just did an open Q&A to my audience, a survey, and I did it twice every single week for about three months straight. And they just told me, they told me that they wanted more time to be doing their hobbies, their passions, that they were stuck focusing on school and studying, and that they weren't performing well on their exams. They felt like their work wasn't worth it. And I saw that, I was like, how stupid would I be to not develop a product geared towards these individuals. So I think there's a big lesson here where you have to validate the idea and social media gives you that opportunity.

But ask, ask your audience, ask them exactly what it is that they want and do as many lives that you can do, do as many of these posts where you just physically try to garner that interest. Now, there's going to be a lot of people online that say then, what if I don't have an audience yet? Who do I ask? At this point, then you have to think about who are creators that are already developing the thing and selling the thing that you ultimately ultimately.

aspire to sell. You should study their content. You should start to see how are they approaching their content? And what are people saying in the comments? Is there a missing gap that you could potentially take advantage of? So consumer behavior is this idea that people have needs and desires. And it's not a selfish pursuit entrepreneurship is much more of an intimate service. If you can start to see it that way, you can treat content that way. And you start to get this formula for exactly what people want. You develop a product. And ultimately, content creation allows you to scale that at a great scale. When you think about your inspirations, mentors, people that you look up to, who would those people be? When I think mentors and I think people that I look up to, I think more from

a personal level and not necessarily business acumen or, let's say, success acumen. I just think about the human underneath it. So my dad is the forefront of all of my role models. And it's not because he was always good with money or that he knew how to make it. It was never that. It was more along the lines of I just like the way that my dad approached life. I just liked the way that he was so nice and he was kind and he was generous and generous to fall because he didn't have money to be generous, but he still did it. And so when I think about the biggest role model in my life, it's always him or my brother is a big component of it as well.

I think my brother had a lot of hardships in his own respective way. And I look at him, I'm like, I want to be you. Like, I still want to have your personality and your generosity. And then when I look at other people, I start to look at athletes a ton. So I look at athletes in a sense of their hard work and their discipline, right? And so for me, when I look at an athlete, I think about like how much do they have to work to get to where they are, right? And I think about that. I'm like, how do people go to their interview post conferences and what are they saying?

Like, how do they embody work ethic? It's just a part of who they are. So I think there's elements of that. I think there's also an element to my girlfriend that I always look at as like a huge role model for me. And she has taught me so much about empathy and she has taught me so much about how to be kind and generous to people. And she has been like such the epitome of how do I keep June humble as much as I possibly can. Like everything that she does, I feel as though it's so impressive. Like I look at her and I'm like, holy cow, you should be the one in front of the camera.

Like you do so much for me in ways that I could never imagine. So I think it's elements to my girlfriend. It's elements to my dad and a few athletes that I look at. But that's kind of when I think about role models, it's what I think of. With that, June you, is there anything that we haven't talked about? that you would be sad if you left and we didn't get to. Yes. So everything that I think...

I knew you were going to say happy. I think just this one thing of I think content and I think success in life boils down to two things. And their psychology and their skill. And I think skill is often glorified as in I need more information. But people forget the psychology associated with it and the resilience and grit that it requires in order for you do big things in your life. And I want anyone listening to this thinking like, yes, I can learn the skill. But don't forget the mental, emotional, and spiritual work.

that is required to be successful. Something that I've had to learn a lot is the emotional maturation of, I have this income now, but like how do I treat people? How does that influence me? How can I ensure that my emotional regulation is just as strong? And I think those things behind the scenes, the psychology is actually what is transcended into all of the success. So if there's anyone watching listening to this, I just let them just simply realize

that don't forget the hard work behind the scenes, even if the outside starts to change. It's amazing. Okay, we're not done because we're doing some rapid fire. That's it. You cannot say Chipotle for any of these answers. I try not to. June, you. Yes.

What is the last thing possible that you put on your credit card? The last thing that I just put on my credit card was room service. And it's because I want to do a lot of preparation for this one. So I thought, all right, I got to expedite my convenience here and I just order room service. What is the last most expensive thing you've put on a credit card? So we're hosting our London event. and we had to put our deposit for that, and that was very, very, very, very expensive. And I wanted to also do these little goodie bags for everyone that comes through.

And that meant that we were paying all of this with this one third party people. And so we just gave them a big lump of change. And that was the last thing that I put on our card. Of course it was generous. Yeah, I was hoping to. What is your credit card? And why? My credit card is American Express.

And I used my credit card for all my business expenses. but I use it because it gives me a lot of these points and benefits for it. So my business card that I think about spending for everything on my daily experiences, and because my life tends to be business, a lot of them tend to be business expenses. And I get a lot of travel points for it as a result in a vid, and I get these benefits. So that's why I use it. If you could only consume one person's content for the rest of your life that's not yourself, who would it be?

It would be, I believe Kat. KatGBT does it really well. and I'm interviewing her soon, but I am a fan of her in the standpoint of she gets the content marketing while also getting the business component and that is very rare to find within a creator.

So when I think about the new age of creators, she's all my list of, I think she's doing it the right way, so I'd be more than happy to consume her. I love her. You can only pick one for the rest of your life, both to create and to consume on. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram.

Instagram. Not YouTube? Not Instagram. I'd create on Instagram. I think that the amount of connection points to your audience. So wait, this is such a good conversation. I know this isn't rapid virus. No, keep going. Keep it going. So for me, I think, because I've been creating YouTube content for a while as well, and I really enjoy it. But the misnomer is that with long-form content,

you can have a lot of deeper connection and short-form content can't reciprocate that. And I disagree, because let's say that you're posting YouTube content and it is a 15-minute video and you post it once a week. And let's say that you get a 10%, 20%, 30% watch time on it. So you have a few minutes of watch time. Imagine that you post in short form content every single day for a minute plus. Then what happens is that throughout a week in these contents, people are watching all the time. Let's say that they're watching you for 10, 15 minutes as well. But then they're showcasing onto your Explorer page all the time and consistently.

Then you have Instagram stories. You have Instagram lines. Then you have the ability to respond to people on DMs all the time. And so I think people just making this blanket statement of YouTube is a better long-term platform I disagree with. I think YouTube is phenomenal. But I think there's a lot of connection that you can build through Instagram as well. I love that. Okay, brand deal you'd never take no matter the money. Oh my goodness. What?

A big deal I'd never take. A brand deal that I'd never take. Okay. I've never said this. But you know those gambling sites? Yeah. So I've gotten a lot of offers from those where they're like ginormous payouts. And I don't blink and I don't even respond to those emails. That's one that I would never, ever, ever do. Brand deal, you'd have to take no matter of the money.

I think Apple would be one because I'm a huge proponent of using your phone for content. And I think that Apple does a really good job, obviously, for creative. So that's one where I could imagine a cool collaboration around. I'm obsessed. Okay, two more. So I do these HSR love notes to retrain my toxic brain. It's an affirmation. If you could only say one HSR love note for the rest of your life,

what would it be? It's meant to be hard. That perspective, I believe, changes everything. And I think that when we seek easy, we lose ourselves in that process. So if you expect it to be hard and expect the fact that hardship is not a sign that you're doing it wrong, but it's a sign that you're actually doing it right. It makes you better for it. You develop quicker. You also learn a lot more.

And ultimately, I think it makes you fulfill when you can overcome difficulties. Okay. And Junio, how do you own the room? I own the room with all the preparation that I've done before I've come into it. I am an absolute workhorse, and I love to prepare and I love to be over-prepared. But when I go into a room, I know exactly who I'm going into that room with. I know effectively how I can communicate with them. That makes me own the room.

Junio, you are one of my favorites. Where can people find you, and how can HSR help you? So, one, you're already helping me because tomorrow you're going to be with my first set of interviews. but they can find me at June underscore you across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. But we're also releasing Creator Unplugged. So Crater Unplug, they can find us on YouTube. And if you guys want to watch more of Maggie,

you can do so there. Thank you so much for coming on. We love you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.