THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Grow Your Social Media: Secrets Revealed! w/ Josh Richards

Episode Date: January 12, 2021

What can you learn from an 18-year-old? This will blow your mind! Josh Richards is one of the top content creators in the world with over 30 MILLION followers across all platforms. But not only is this young man social media savvy, he’s also a successful entrepreneur working with big names like Ellen DeGeneres and Snoop Dogg! He is the youngest person I’ve ever had on the show at just 18 years old and he’s got a wealth of knowledge you NEED to hear! The only way to get ahead in the social media game AND EVERY OTHER AREA OF YOUR LIFE is to outwork everyone else… but how? In this interview, Josh is sharing his unfiltered and authentic secrets about how to build a massive following on social media and revealing the HUSTLE behind the success. He wasn’t just waiting around to get insta-famous. Josh went out and HUSTLED follower by follower to grow his reach. Building a social empire isn’t just about clout. It’s a REAL BUSINESS strategy that requires WORK, DEDICATION, and a RELENTLESS will to win! Don’t miss out on these never-before shared strategies on how to grow your following and stand out online. PLUS Josh reveals the worst decision any content creator can make! Social media is a business and this interview is your blueprint. 👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈  → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ▶︎ INSTAGRAM ▶︎ FACEBOOK  ▶︎ LINKEDIN ▶︎ TWITTER ▶︎ WEBSITE  

This is the Edmmerl Show. Hey, welcome back to Max out everybody. So, what can you learn from an 18-year-old? You're going to find out today. I have a really remarkable young man to share with you guys today. Some of you for sure have heard of him and if you have children under 20 years old, every single one of your children know who he is. And let me tell you why. First off, this guy is an entrepreneur at a very young age and a very successful one. But we're talking

about some with 30 million plus followers on all social media platforms. 20 plus million on TikTok has founded multiple companies, has a podcast on barstable sports with Dave Portnoy. And this is done a ton of other very remarkable things. So Josh Richards, welcome to Max out with the entire family or welcoming you to our community. Hey, thank you very much, ma'am. I'm happy to be on. I'm so impressed, guys. Let me just fill you in a little bit because you're the youngest person I've ever had on the show.

And I think you're gonna, I think you're gonna teach people enough a lot of things. But guys, just so you know, if you guys are familiar with Sway House, which I wasn't until about six months ago, I started to bring one of Josh's friends, Bryce Hall, and I became familiar with Sway House, which has become this movement, but just give you a little bit of background here. Josh had his first business when he was 13. He comes from a small town outside of Toronto. I mean, this guy's gone on to have found, he's a founder of talent X.

He's got a business, he's own parts with Snoop Dogg now. He's got an energy drink. He signed his recording on it. He's got his podcast. He's got an investment in Ellen DeGeneres. Deal on hide. He's creative director of that. You're talking about a ton of different stuff invested in multiple different businesses. Forbes named him one of the top five most influential people on social media. One of them was successful financially on social media. You're talking about a very remarkable young man.

So first thing, man, I have to ask you, I want to know all of you guys. one of them was successful financially on social media. You're talking about a very remarkable young man. So first thing, man, I have to ask you, I want to know all you guys, is it kind of a mind deal for you to go from this little town like outside of Toronto, through having, you're more famous than most musical artists and actors. I mean, is that messed with your mind at all?

It definitely was like a shock because I remember starting my, I guess social media career in my hometown and building it up to like 20,000 followers and I'd never seen one fan and then I got to 100,000 followers still hadn't seen one fan no one had ever come up to me and asked for a photo and I went to an event for the first time and as soon as I walked in the door these six girls came up to me were like, you know, can we get a photo? And like that was the most blind mind blowing thing to me that people just wanted to take a photo with me. And like as it's gone on, it's just gone crazy and crazy. And now it's gone all the way to Pomeroppa Ross here just filming me eat for two hours. And it's like, yeah, it's definitely mind blowing. Yeah, I went to dinner with Bryce. It's the first time for a long time, but dinner no one gave a crap who the heck I was. I mean, literally nobody. And I'm double people in my demo too. We walk outside and he's popper out to everyone. I'm thinking, gosh, this young man at such a young age to be dealing with all of this attention is, is gotta be unbelievable. So let's start out. I want to, I want to get into

a little bit about you, but I read recently, because you're unique brother, all the guys in Sway House. And by the way, from my eyes, you don't know what Sway House is. We're taking you all back. Picture the real world, house and by the way from eyes You don't know what sway houses we're taking all that picture the real world except on social media all of you that are in your 30s Before you're watch the real world on MTV It's almost like a reality show of these young guys lives You're unique because you got to be the young 18 year old dude party and all that stuff. I get all that Yeah, they're really and so is Bryce by the way really savvy, sharp businessman who's getting some of the best mentorship in the world. But recently, a while ago, you stepped away.

And like, why did you do that? You kind of got away from it for a little bit. What was the reason for that? The party. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think what ended up happening is, we wanted to show everyone like our true authentic selves at the very beginning

because no one was doing that in social media. Everyone was putting up a character and I was actually signed to a manager for two years that didn't let me post any of the content I wanted. He would monitor every single video, every single story, every single tweet that went out on my account. So when I finally was able to be authentic, we went all out. We were like, we were showing them every single thing we do if that's partying, smoking, drinking, whatever it is. And then when we got that audience, we got those people that realized how authentic we were.

We were like, how else can we show our true authentic selves? Because if we just saw one side of it, if we just show the partying, then we're not being authentic. So we're going against what we're trying to do, right? We got to show them everything. And that's when the business came into play. And with that, as I started like growing my portfolio out in the entrepreneurial world, they were just, there's certain deals

and certain, I guess, partnerships that were way more important than going to the next party or going out drinking that night. So it was just kind of like looking at what was more important for me personally, and it was the business stuff. So I've just been kind of like looking at what was more important for me personally, and it was the business stuff. So I've just been kind of like stepping back, letting myself focus on the entrepreneurial side and grow that out.

You're really impressive. And you're obviously one of the top content creators in the world. So almost everyone who listens to my stuff wants to create content that people like to see. You obviously do it in your demo, but is there any advice you would give just in general to people who are creating content that they want people to see? So it grows their brand, it grows their company, if you grow their income,

but was overall content advice would you give? Yeah, I mean, one huge thing, and everyone says this, but no one seems to follow it is like consistency is key Like I've said that so many times to people and they'll be like yeah, and then they go and they post you know twice a day For two weeks and then it doesn't work out and they're like I'm quitting. That's not the trick That's not the trick like I took two years where I was posting five videos a day on on tick-tock It was musically at the time, but two years five videos a day on on TikTok. It was musically at the time, but

two years, five videos a day plus live streaming for four hours every single night from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. straight, four hours. Because I knew the only way I was going to be able to get ahead of the millions of millions of people that are doing social media was to just outwork them. So that's what I did. I went, I went live all the time, I post it all the time. And then also it's, you gotta make stuff that's passionate. Like you gotta care about what you're creating. You can't just go and copy someone. Like I can't just go look at Bryce's content

and be like, all right, I'm gonna post the exact same thing on YouTube, the exact same style or else you're never gonna grow. People are just gonna look at you as the copycat kidcat kit. And you need to build out your own identity. It's super important. But yeah, those like building out your own identity and staying true yourself and then consistency are like the two most important things. So beautiful. I want to go down that road because I did that too. Why did you do the extent you did? Which is why I don't have 30 million, I have 10 million. And you, you know, guys, one thing about it too, you look at these young guys in Sway House.

You don't know what it is, Google it, ask your kids, you'll know in about one minute. But one of the things I said to Bryce is, I don't think people understand the amount of work. It looks like a party, it looks like you're having a blast. It is work to create content. But the thing you said in the content that I think most people don't appreciate is you really that identity thing, you're more revealing who you are, you're showing parts of your life. It's like, I think some people think on social media because it's what I do a lot is like, here's a tip, here's a key. I'm an influencer, you know, that somehow if you're not bringing

value all the time, but I think it's just like documenting your life, I mean, with all due respect to you, I don't think an 18 year olds life who's carrying on in LA is any more or less interesting than a 40 year old mother who's trying to get her kids off to school and get to work every day, right? No, exactly. There's just a whole different side of entertainment

that comes with that, right? I have a different life so I can show the entertaining things in mind, but like you said, a mother is gonna have a total different side of you, like entertaining things in mine. But like you said, a mother is going to have a total like different side of it, like three kids, let's say they had three kids like my mom has three kids. If she would have set up a video camera and filmed me and my siblings growing up, I'm sure she would have had a ton of followers because we were crazy. But also just like there's so much entertainment in people's daily lives that they don't need to realize.

That's exactly what I want to brother. If we do nothing on the show, it's those things. I'm so glad you said it, because one, I believe, consistently a posting, the amount you did is more of an idea, but I'm broke, it's every day I put some, anyway, but value themselves. They think, I'm not interested,

who the heck wants to know about me? What you're not getting is Josh and Bryce, and these other guys are the ultimate example of what were average ordinary everyday teenagers. Yeah, most normal kids, just like I was playing sports, I was going to school dances, I was like just everyday kids, small town, no one knew me at all, didn't come from a rich family, like nothing like that. And I just picked up my, I think it was probably an iPhone 5 or 4 at the time.

And just started creating videos in my room, didn't need lighting, didn't need, it's just a phone in yourself and you can become whatever you wanna be really. Yeah, and are you better at it now? Are you better on, did you suck on camera in the beginning? Like give people some insight, are you already pretty it now? Like, are you better on, did you suck on camera in the beginning? Like give people some insight, are you already pretty good at this from Gett?

I was a pretty outgoing kid just luckily. Like I was, you know, a class clown. I would always like stand up in class, make comments. So it was kind of just, I found a different way to be that class clown. It was just on social media, right? But I definitely was not even close to as good as I like at the start to now. Every single day when I was going live, I was getting

better and better. I was finding different strategies to like entertain my followers because of the start, people would be like, this live is boring. I don't want to watch it anymore. So I had to find new ways to spice it up all the time. I was playing different games. I was like engaging them with liking the video. If they would double tap it, I would play like, if every 10K likes, I would go and react to my fans' videos or I would guess them on the live stream. It was just thinking creative ways to keep it in the tank.

Yeah, I want everyone to get this. So you've got to start to document your life and what you think is an interesting isn't for people the first time. But if I see you with your kids three times, four times, five times, I post my little palmuranians all the time, my dogs, right? Everybody's got dogs, but I post them consistently and people start like, I wonder what these, my dogs don't do anything cuter than

your dogs, but I post them consistently and they become something of an addiction when people start watching. All of a sudden you've got your followers guys just picture this way. You take Josh 20 million on TikTok 30 million overall. Okay. He has more than 99.9% of the top recording artists in the world, actors, actresses and way more than most athletes. Give or take five people on the planet. Okay. And in my case, I've got you know, several million people as well. And my first post got eight likes. And I just kept posting regularly until people caught on. Let me ask you a question about young people.

So if I'm an entrepreneur, I'm either a young entrepreneur or I'm a business that I wanna market to the more. I wanna recruit young business people. I wanna sell to young people. What do young people want, educate us in my audience? And by the way, it just funds us 18 and 20 yearyear-olds listen to this right now, two and 16-year-olds. But what do young people want on social? And what do young people want in terms of their ambitions in their

career? What's important to 16 to 30-year-olds right now? I mean, for me, I always looked at like the workspace and I was like, I wanna do something more than just the normal. And I think that's for a lot of Gen Z kids now is because there's so much opportunity out there. No one just wants to be the regular guy that goes to college has like a worse than nine to five off this space, like the same old, same old that tradition that everyone's done

since college has been a thing, right? So I think that for me personally it was like how can I make sure I just find something more exciting or find it was like creating content but it's really just anything that is different now people want to be different. Do you think that young people like from a business standpoint, here's what I'm saying, I interviewed Damon John recently from Shark Tank. Right. And he's got the sock company that's blown up

where they buy a sock and give some way to the homeless. Do you feel like correct me if I'm wrong? I think this generation wants to also be involved in businesses that have a purpose and a cause. Maybe it needs to be more than just the business, right? Like dog for dog, the company that you brought up with Snoop Dogg. It's not just like a better dog food company or healthier kibble. It's every single time you go and buy a bag, a bag gets donated into a shelter.

Like the utilization in the United States is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure the last time I looked it up, it was like 700,000 dogs are killed a year in shelters. And it's like for someone like me who has a husky and then also my family had a dog when I was growing up, like that hurts me, right? So then what I do is like they are something more, right? I'm passionate about it, I love it, I can give back, but then also I'm creating a business,

I'm using that entrepreneurial mind I have to help, you know? Yeah, what do you think of I guess big guys I guess big and you're hearing it from really arguably top one to five guys on the planet who deals in this demo But what about Overall like I just watched something on a last night, the social dilemma on Netflix. It's a document. I don't think I've seen it yet. It's pretty interesting, man, about really you fit it perfectly about algorithm works and people keep feeding on top of one another.

But what about overall social media addiction? Have you gone through any of that? Like, I mean, because you're huge. So do you think it's a, do you think a cross is over if someone has children or even for themselves right now? Have you seen it cross over to be like an unhealthy thing or do you think all of it's all good? It's all unnet positive? I mean, I think that, like, I think my brother spends too much time on social media for example, right? And like, as a kid, when I grew up, my parents eliminated my

screen time. It was like, you came home from when I grew up, my parents eliminated my screen time. It was like, you came home from school, you got to watch one TV show and then you were outside. Like, my parents kicked me out of the house. They were like, go have fun, play outside, be a kid, right? And I think that's super important for especially this generation because how easy it is to always just be on their phone.

They can always just pull it out of their pocket and check it. So it's a lot harder for parents also to monitor it nowadays. It's just got to be something that you can look at. Put it in me. How much are you on? Honestly, I only go on my phone for posting, doing podcasts, like when I'm tweeting, and then I get off because I spend so much time on it doing work, it's become something that I don't even like doing for my spare time anymore besides maybe watching Netflix or playing video games with my friends, but there's always like some feeling of being around

people when I'm on social media. So it kind of adds to the friend value as well. Yeah, I want to remind everybody that I'm talking to an 18 year old right now. So I just want you to listen to the amount of poise, articulation, intellect, experience that this young man has. And by the way, when you go to TikTok and look at his content, you're going to go, that's not the same guy because he's reviewing, but when we listen to your podcast, I do

see that guy. So, you know, all of you, because I'll be asking you, TikTok started. I blew it. I'm like, I don't get it, man, I'm not a dancer, like, you know what, and now I'm seeing more and more entrepreneurs and business people finally get viral on that platform. I'm curious as someone who's on the leading edge

on the planet in social media. So you've got Instagram, you've got Facebook, you've got Twitter, you've got YouTube, you've got TikTok, you've got Facebook, you've got Twitter, you've got YouTube, you've got TikTok, you've got Carla, you've got all these things. Yeah. Give us a glimpse as to what you see over the next five years. Like, what are your insights about where social is going? Well, the what we saw with TikTok was like quick form content, which we hadn't seen since Vine, like in that video format, like everyone went from Vine and then YouTube blew up with the longer form, like 15 minute videos, 20 minute vlogs.

It almost felt like you were watching TV, but about your favorite person every single time, right? And then as David came in, David Dobrik and introduced these like four minute vlogs, people started getting more and more used to this quick action, like always climax in the vlogs, just best content you can get for four minutes and 20 seconds. And then when TikTok came out, you get 15 second videos or even shorter. So what I think is going to happen is that there's going to be these short video platforms for probably the next three years. And then it's gonna boom again in the like five to 10 minute videos. Yeah, I think that kids are gonna love the short, like they're short attention span. That's how Gen Z is right now.

Like they just wanna watch a video and then go to the next, go to the next, go to the next. I think that TikTok videos like that are gonna move to more like 60 to like three minute videos. You do. At least I think there's gonna to be room for that soon. Very good, man. Because you guys know that I said this earlier,

but he's a founder and talent exer's like a TikTok management company. He's one of the things that Josh is involved with. So for me, I want to ask you, I want to stay on social because everyone listening this is on social. So let's just stay on a topic for a minute. So I'm fascinated here that you think it's going to go the other way, which sort of favors me a little bit, because I'm okay with anything,

or doing anything in 15 seconds. But I'm also become a pretty big believer of not relying on one platform, because you got to spread across platforms. Okay, elaborate on that. What do you mean? You can't hold yourself to one social media platform. Owl, that's like the worst decision, I think any content creator can make. And that's what, Like, you can't hold yourself to one social media platform. At all.

That's like the worst decision I think any content creator can make. And that's what, when I first started social media and I was looking at what I wanted to do, I was like 13 years old, and I wanted to be a YouTuber. I remember I was like, I wanna go make vlogs. But I also saw how hard it was to grow an audience on YouTube when you just start on YouTube. You need something else to push it.

So I was like, all right, how can I push my YouTube when I don't have any social medias to push it? Like, where am I going to start? Then I saw musically and I was like, look, this app is this anomaly where you can grow quite quickly on compared to all these other social media platforms. Let me start on musically just so that I can push my YouTube, which is actually what I wanted to do the whole time. So I was like, I was never just focusing on one platform. I was always branching out. And then when I grew my music, I was like, all right, I need an Instagram because what happens if

what happens if that disappears one day, what happens if musically or TikTok, we saw TikTok almost got banned. Imagine you were just like, you were just a TikToker. What would happen to you? Yeah, I think if, so Amanda Cerny's a friend of mine, she's been on my show, she was huge on Vine, and they're like, one day it was gone. Yep. And so, I want everyone to hear this too,

is like, and you may stick better on one platform than the other, like try YouTube, try making some content there, try putting it off, right? Yeah, and I wasn't even good at YouTube at the start. Like I remember being so like nervous or almost like unsure of what to say when I was staring at the YouTube camera and filming because it was so different than a live stream. Like it was a completely different thing.

So don't like go on YouTube anyone that's listening right now and then be like, oh this is too awkward, I'm too awkward. It probably took me three and a half months to finally get comfortable behind the YouTube camera. And I had already done social media at that point for three years. Hmm. So this is very interesting to me, you guys. Like, you would think that it's different in his age to grow your brand in your business and it's not. It's the same principles. It's just he's better at it than everybody else. And it's just, it's just a fact. So I really appreciate you saying that.

Now, let me ask you, I'm loving this, but I'm pulling everything out of you, I can't. Well, yeah, let's talk a little bit about entrepreneurship, but inside that, you're conscious of, see, I think people should, if they don't get on camera, like write a blog, have something relevant, create an email, something.

Don't you agree? Like, find some way to expand your reach. People do business with people they know nowadays. People used to say, it's good to like, since I've been in LA, I've found so many times, I will get brand deals or I will get a business deal just because I've went to a dinner with someone. Like, I've went to a dinner with that person. We become like friends or we're on a good level and then they're like, oh wait, that Josh get out of here. I remember him.

He would be perfect for this. Let me call him up and boom, there's a $50,000 brand deal. Or, oh look, I'm on a jet to Dominican Republic to meet Vin Diesel, right? Like those things have happened to me just because of networking and knowing the right people. So like when people say social media is important or like you're saying even an email list, a list of blog, whatever, it is so important to do that networking to keep moving up and up in that entrepreneurial world. Yeah, because you're one, this is the truth. You're one relationship, one contact, one person seeing your video, one person reading your contact, one person seeing your video,

one person reading your blog, one person away from completely changing your life. Even you and I are here because I had dinner with Bryce, Michael's there, he goes, gosh, and now we're doing something together, right? And what you'll expand, you into a couple million new people in my market. I'm going to meet a couple million people in your market, and we're networking. If you go, well, I only got 80 followers. I've got 300 followers.

You won away. You're one of those. It's crazy how quick it happens. I remember yesterday having my first video on musically hit a thousand likes, like my first ever video. And then it seems like just two days after that, I was signed to my first manager. And then a week after that, it after that I was signed to my first manager and then a week after that It seemed like I was on a tour like it happens so quick and it's really just because of like the people you need to know Yeah, I totally agree with you and so everyone get out there talk to more people do it your way

Some of your podcasts BFFs with Port Norway. What are you doing there? What is that all about? So I've been looking at my social media content and I've found that personally I New where I wanted my identity to go, but I wasn't taking the right steps yet I've done some of the stuff branching out into YouTube was a great idea It was adding depth to my personality because you can't really see a lot off a 15-second dance video Like you said like people listening to this podcast will go watch my TikToks and not even think I'm the same person, just because it's so different, right? But I've been trying to get

touching to the male demographic as well because I'm so strong on the female demographic and wanna step into the sports world. I grew up like an athlete. I played sports my entire life. So that's why that was such a good move to go on that bar stool podcast with Dave. Dave is huge in the guide demographic. He has a little bit of the college fan base, which is older as well. And it has a lot to do

with sports, which I love. So it was just this perfect crossover because I feel like bar stool also sometimes has trouble reaching the Gen Z, which I reach very well. And also in the female demographic, they don't reach Gen Z very well. So I think it was just a perfect crossover where we both were touching into each other's demographics. You are a product of mentor, you're a brother. So you can't have the amount of wisdom and insight you have without seeking out mentorship.

And I was struck even with Bryce, but you know, we went to dinner with a couple of other guys and how much he listened closely. And then also told me who else he has sort of working with him. To be general, Josh, about the importance of finding mentors and coaches for everybody listening to this. Yeah, I mean, there's been, I can probably think of like five, six, seven, and very important mentors in my life since I've moved out to LA.

But just to know that you have the ability to send a text to someone that's been through what you're going through or to get advice, have a different set of eyes, a fresh pair of eyes, look something over. If that's, you know, a deck for an investment, if that's what your next play is going to be in a business situation or whatever it is, like it's just a comfortable feeling. Like, I'm able to shoot off these text to billionaires or people that are very wealthy and have done what I'm trying to do. And they give me advice, so they'll hop on a 15 minute call with me and just go through what I and they give me advice, they'll hop on a 15 minute call with me and just go through what I need to vent out, you know? What you do though, that people don't get, first off you should all be seeking a mentor.

When you are one like me, let me tell you what you watch, do they do what you ask them to do? And then they can go more and more. Nothing's more frustrating than someone asking you for your time, asking you for some counsel like today. Today's a mentor call for your social media for you moving into the younger demo and we're telling you things you should be doing. Get on more than one platform, post more consistently. Document your life, tell a story, right? We're talking about those things you need to do.

Build your identity in your brand. Are you going to do these things? They actually work. So for you, some are entrepreneurship. You get approached with a bazillion deals. And he said, it's like the van Winkle's from Facebook, Aston, Kutcher, different people, how do you determine that this is a business I want to invest in? Because you put money and stuff, or just partnering with somebody, how do you make that determination?

Sometimes it depends on like the product, like how passionate I can get behind the product, but a lot of the times it has to do with the founders. Like, when I see a good founder or I believe in a founder very strongly and I know they are a good one, they're going to make it work. Great founders always find a way to flip their product, change it if it doesn't work. Like, they find a way to succeed and make you have an exit. So a lot of the times it's looking at those founders that are involved.

Do you work on yourself at all? Or are you too young? Like if you started kind of reading, or you just kind of mirroring what these mentors give you, or how do you grow your own identity? How do you do that when the whole world's telling you you're amazing, you're 18, 30 million people, you can't walk out of the front door,

he's back in this town outside of Toronto that he's in right now, can even imagine when you go outside there. How do you, the reason the question is this is, let me tell you what I mean by asking. A lot of people listen to this, have had some success. And I think they grew to get to that success level.

Here's what I watch with humans. They get to a certain point that maybe exceeds where they thought they'd ever get. And they get caught growing themselves. You got it. So what are you talking about that? So for me, like, I'm analytically tracking. I'm a very analytical person. My dad's a calculus teacher. So I was just like, I remember being like three four four years old and my dad had the timetable out like the 12 by 12 going through it with me making me memorize every single time. So I've always been a person that's driven by numbers. So what I do is I'm tracking my numbers all the time. If that's like in growth, if that's like how many likes I'm

getting proposed, how many comments, um, the like how many likes I'm getting proposed, how many comments, the like how many people I'm converting a day from I take talk to my Instagram. And when I'm tracking that stuff, I'm making sure it's never going down. Like that's what keeps me driven to just go up and up. The only thing I have to say about that is like you just need to make sure you don't lose yourself in the content and trying to always beat the old content by going crazy or crazy because I think that that is a road we went down like swag when we started getting in a lot of trouble in the media. There was a point when we were just always trying to outdo ourselves and that got us in trouble, but we kept going and we kept pushing ourselves forward. So in the end, we did it. We made it work, but you just can't get comfortable. If that's putting yourself even in uncomfortable situations,

like starting YouTube or going on a brand new podcast or like just add depth to your portfolio so then you're never comfortable. You guys, we're listening to an 18 year old. I mean, so just with you know, I coach large groups of entrepreneurs, I have something called RIT, Syndicate where I coach entrepreneurs. One of the things I'm psycho about is tracking metrics and data.

I cannot get over how many people that are either entrepreneurs or even in like fitness. So they say they want to get fit. They don't track their calorie intake. They don't track their water intake. They're not specifically on the right in the left, right? You know this. Yes, I know I'm tracking my calories right now. I'm trying to get every damn, trying to get like 300, 3500 calories right now. I'm trying to get every damn trying to get like 300 3500 calories right now. Yeah, and I'm trying to not eat

3500 because I'm more than double your age, right? It's the same exact thing. You're trying to gain weight But like how are you going to get super fit if you're not tracking it if you're not measuring your body fat As it works more. I mean so many entrepreneurs. They don't know their data They've got no idea how many contacts are how many leads leads. What's in the pipeline, what their revenues, what their, and like it's brilliant to hear that on social, which is your main business, you're a psycho about the metrics and the data, it's awesome. Dude, I've been someone that's been so focused on like the customer since day one, like how I blew up on social media was not a natural way kind of to blow up. I would say. I feel like I cheated the system and I don't think people are going to be happy to hear this,

but what I pretty much did is I had musically right, I knew this platform, it was easy to grow on, but it was going down in relevancy. So I hired my sister on a 15% commission based salary when I was 14 years old. And I was going live on the platform because I found out you can make money on the platform. The other thing I found out was when I went to the leaderboards on the live stream app, they actually showed you a list of the top 250 highest donors. So the people that donated the most money in a live stream. So while I was live every single day, I would get my

sister to go through all those 250 people, tap on their profile, follow them on my account, she'd be logged into my account, she'd follow them like seven of their posts, and then unfollow them and swipe off. And she went through the higher list. So I was going directly to the consumer the highest paying customer,

because I knew that, I saw the list. So I didn't need to have the most followers on the app. I had, I think, 80,000 followers, but I was the highest paid livestreamer on the app compared to people that had 7 million, 10 million followers because I was going right to the customer. And then also had my sister going to the biggest musicly, like, creators going to their comments section

because those were the most engaged followers, obviously, they liked the video and Comitant and then she would go to all the positive comments the people that loved on that person and Follow them on and that liked their posts unfollow them and then they would follow me as well So then I was gaining we did two we would do We did it until I would gain 250 followers every day and then I would make sure that I was gaining I was making minimum $500 a day too. So we would go live and she would be going through and following that until I made 500.

And then 250 followers every single day minimum. And then that grew up to 500, that grew up to 1,000, that it just kept going. Okay, all time on the show, one of my favorite things ever, ever, if I could say first off, it's incredibly vulnerable and honest. Yeah, people are gonna be like, Josh is a fake social media thing now.

Because I like, I think we're a little past you having to worry about that. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but everybody stay on this. Okay, a couple things to unpack there. Number one, a dude with 30 million was literally going back and liking seven a day and getting, like, that's how you grow. How many of you are doing that? So my social media teams watching us do this right now, they are going crazy because when we

started, I'm like, listen, after I make my post every day, I want you to go to Tony Robbins and Gary V and Tom Billio and Grant Cardone, I want you liking this many of their posts. I want you commenting on these. They're like, that's not going to get us anything. I'm like, absolutely, yes, it is. And so we would micro manage it so much and still with my anything. I'm like, absolutely, yes, it is. And so we would micromanage it so much and still with my team. I'm like, we need to reply to this many comments. We need to like this much other stuff. I'm a psycho about it. Now you listening to this, those you listen, do you do that stuff with competitors,

with peers, with people? Do you comment and like in different people's communities? Are you there consistently? This is how you grow something when it's not just your content. Second thing I just want to say is how many of you, you can't get Josh because he's one of the most famous dudes in the world. But how many of you have a person that thinks like Josh in your life? So for me, when I started, it was my son Max. He'd do the lights.

He edited my podcast. He sort of helped me with content. You got to have someone in this eight. It's probably your kids, guys, who's like, yeah, it's going over there, right? But you've got to have someone. You were that person, both the crater and the person doing it, right? It was you. Yeah.

I mean, I was luckily able to do both, but my sister was a huge help as well. Like, being able to like hire someone and just be like, all right, she knew as well. She was making money every time she was going through the follow list So she loved to do it too like it helped me a ton and then it's like it didn't just stop there I make sure like like you said on Instagram. I would comment on like Shawn Mendes photos or Justin Beacon photo and I would make try to get like a lot of likes on my comment I would try to comment something relatable or funny on under their posts and then I would gain followers from that as well like on my Instagram. And the crazy thing is, is like a lot of people would, if they ever saw you doing that or caught

you doing that, right, they would be like, you're a scammy social media kid, you're like, that's not how you can grow, no one can grow that way. They would call you out on it, they would try to expose you whatever. I never got caught because I was good at it. And look at where it brought me. Like now I'm all the way up and I'm at the top. Like it took a lot of work and it was like actual work. It wasn't just like hoping a video would blow up. I was like entrepreneurly finding a way to get famous on social media because I knew I could do it. I just knew it would take work. Brother, awesome, freaking awesome. Like, and by the way, it does work and it may not blow you up to 30 million followers, but it might blow you up by 6,000. It might blow you up to 5,000, right?

Yeah, and then 6,000 turns into 8, right? Because then you start, like, the craziest part about it all is is like once you start getting that traction, like once you start building that fanbase, it just starts growing on its own too. So there's obviously a point where I stopped doing that all, like after probably two, two years of doing it, like I didn't have to go and like all those posts anymore. I didn't have to go and follow and unfollow people. I didn't have to go into that donation part and like do that to make money. Like I could do it on my own now and I would get pushed on the app naturally because I was already one of the big creators.

Like you're just gonna do it for a long enough time work hard enough so that it starts growing on its own. Yeah, and the principle of it is, brother, is to do things other people aren't willing to do. So, exactly. This is why it's one of my favorite things all time said on the show. I've had tons of social media people.

I have the biggest dude I've ever had on because here's actually what I did. And so a lot of you post stuff up, but do had tons of social media people. I've the biggest dude I've ever had on because here's actually what I did. And so a lot of you post stuff up but do you work your social media? Are you entrepreneurial on your creative? Go to similar pages and like some comments, engage with people. It's, it, it, what if it was 11,

some of you, what if it was 11 new followers a month? That's a big deal. And a lot of people, so, so good, bro, so good. And I'll let you, I'll let you in on one more thing. People aren't going to like this. People aren't going to like this. But so I first started and I did social media. Like I created my account and I did it for about two months during the summer.

And then I got bullied in high school and I was used to being like the popular kid. I played sports. So I was like, what the fuck is going on right now? Why are people like making fun of me, like calling me like slurs, all that? And then I quit. So I quit for like two, three months. My accountant completely dead, inactive. And then my one friend was like,

yo, Josh, why would you quit? Why would you stop doing social media? Like you were doing good. Why would you let these students, high school kids like get in your head, right? And I was like, no, you have a great point. That's dumb. So I went on to the app and I swear it was meant to be.

It was like the craziest thing ever. But this was my first investment, I would say, on my life. I saw this guy's account. He had 70,000 followers and he was quitting. He was quitting social media. And his account was active. He was getting 10,000 likes of video. And my account had 20,000 followers and was probably

getting like 2,000 likes, right? And then it went inactive so it was down to like 1,000. I DM the kid and I was like, hey, can I buy your account? And then the guy was like, oh, I don't know. Like people don't really do that in social media. I was like, dude, don't worry about it. Like let me just buy it. I'll switch the username, whatever, whatever.

He was like, all right, give me like $600. And this was me like being $400 or a 14, sorry, and I was like, holy cow, $600. All right, this is like, it's a lot of money. So I sent him the $600, but that's $600, turned into my 30 million follower account. That's on TikTok two day. So that was probably the best investment I've ever made.

Like the multiple and that investment was crazy. Talk about rate of return on 600 bucks. Yeah, I know. Get entrepreneurial about your social, right? Just do it. So good. All right, last question, man. I enjoyed today, brother. Like, yeah, it's great. Calm, man. I got to come on this podcast all the time. I would have to have you on all the time. and they would love to have you on here all the time because guys, listen, you're talking about a young man who's involved in like tons of different businesses and different sectors, different segments.

He's an actor, he's a writer, he's a musician. He's got a music with a hundred million downloads on one song. It starts with having this 14 year old sister start liking stuff. This is what everybody to get. You may not get to 30,000 or 300,000. Work your social media, work your brand.

It's not just about the content, but I got to tell you, when I told family members you were coming on, and so this happened with Bryce too, brother, I got to tell you, the amount of influence you have on young people is striking, like the responsibility that comes with it. So, I'm talking about my nieces and nephews. And, bro, I've had some of the most famous people in the world on.

I say, I got Josh coming on there, like, what? Whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, like, and it's a demo that buys. It's a demo also though that right now, it kind of a vulnerable demo man. There's a lot of people that feel alone. There's suicide rates are up there. There's pressure because there are such successful dudes like you to be successful very young and if you're 23 and you're not, you're past your prime, you know, there's all of that stuff. So I just want to give you the floor. I want the parents to hear this and if they have children play this part at least

of the show, what would you just say to kids? Like, overall advice, I give you a microphone which you have every day, but now it's not a 15 second video. Just young people, here's some of my counsel to you as a dude you all kind of look to. Well, the first thing is like something that you said there that like I feel very, very responsible for is,

with power comes responsibility. That's something my dad said to me day in and day out, every single day is a kid, because he always felt that I was going to be something more than just a regular kid. So I have that tattooed on my arm, like I live by that. And just the one thing I want to say to everyone out there is,

you got to stop comparing yourselves to the people on social media all the time because that is the highlight of people's life. Like that's what I think people are missing. Like you post on social media, like no one posts on social media now when they look bad, which kind of sucks. Like I remember Instagram used to be the most casual thing ever.

Like I would post a picture of my smoothie that I just made, right? Like it didn't need to be this like over edited, all that. But like everyone tries to compare themselves to these models on Instagram or guys might try to compare themselves to the sway boys on Instagram, whatever. You got to stop doing that because obviously we don't post like the worst photo of ourselves. It's just, it's strange. I think it's I get why people do it. They just got to get over that. The same thing why I love TikTok though is because

it's created this notion where you don't need the quality. You don't need the lighting. You don't need the like the camera, which is awesome. So that's why yeah, I just love being able to post on there too. Very good advice brother. Comparison is a formula, a whole podcast on it, for adults and young people. Comparison to people's highlights. Comparison to the best one minute of their day. Comparison to their best lighting. Comparison to your former you, even compared a year ago or you at a different moment in your life, it's a thief of bliss, it's a thief of joy. And I could not agree with you more. And I do think it's more pronounced with younger people, but I think it's an epidemic with all people is comparison.

And, bro, I'm so impressed with you. And what I'm really glad is, I hear a lot of people say, ah, he's sway host, guys, or a social media people, these young people blowing up. And they just got a sense of this remarkable young man. He's humble. He's got perspective. they just got a sense of this remarkable young man. He's humble. He's got perspective. He's got a big entrepreneurship. Check out his podcast, by the way. Follow him on social. And I got to tell you, Brother, I'm really, really grateful that we met. I think you helped a lot of people

today because I got one of the world's best social media people to give them actually the real scoop, which is not the surface BS stuff. You, you actually do the group group. So thank you. No, yeah, I don't know if I went that in depth about like how I grew on social media and all like the little hacks and stuff. So hopefully people actually listen to that and take it seriously because I always felt like I would get in trouble if I ever kind of went off

and said that but now I don't care. So do follow those tips, like they do work, you just gotta be a workhorse, you gotta work ethic. Nobody ever shows that side of it and I really appreciate you doing that and if it did ruin you, you make millions of dollars, you're okay, but I'm pretty sure you're safe. I'm glad I've watched you, man. And everybody, I hope you enjoyed today. Please share today's show.

I know it was a tremendous value to you with everybody that you love and care about. God bless y'all, max out. with everybody that you love and care about. God bless y'all, max out.