The Iced Coffee Hour - Meet The $800,000/YR Dropout Exposing Apple’s Secrets | Sara Dietschy

Episode Date: August 31, 2022

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Sarah Dici is a YouTuber and entrepreneur with over 870,000 subscribers, an extremely interesting story and a rather unorthodox rise to success. In this episode, we discuss how she makes 800K with her unique YouTube strategy and talk about her startup that has raised over a quarter million dollars and is launching in the next couple of months. And here's a hint. There's a lot more than meets the eye. I'm going through some drama with him right now. So if this is something you're interested in and you want to see more like it, make sure to subscribe because we post new episodes every single Sunday and they all have. have to do with making money, personal finance, building up a business, and just becoming wealthier. Did I miss anything, Jack? I think that's great. Let's get on to the episode.

All right, enjoy. But before we get into that, we want to thank today's sponsor, Mumu. Mumu is an advanced one-stop trading app that not only allows investors to do everything they need, but it also provides a community to exchange ideas. Mumu helps you monitor market movements, perform deep technical analysis, quickly screened for stocks, and provides a community where traders can exchange ideas. They also give you access to global assets, meaning you'll be able to trade in Hong Kong and U.S. stocks all from the same fantastic app. And that's just another really great feature that sets Moomu apart from everybody else.

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Again, guys, the link is down below in the description to get up to 10 free stocks with Mumu. It also really helps support the podcast. Thank you so much, Mumu, and back to the podcast. Unpart them? Yeah. Oh, shit. Are you serious? Oh, I got it on camera.

I don't know. This is not the first glass I've broken of plant. Oh my gosh. Out of control. What's up? My name is Saradichy rhymes with peachy. This is the iced coffee hour. And you guys have made $251,000.

Close. $257. Oh, I mean. $1,000. Is that the closest? I think that might, is that the closest? I think so. That's either the closest or the second closest.

It's really not that hard. All you really have to do is watch the last episode. That's my idea. Yeah. Yeah. Like if that. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Well, welcome. Thank you so much for coming here. Yeah. You are a college dropout tech YouTuber making money. I love that you. Making products. Yeah.

Led with college dropout because it's very timely with the news today. But so I've been thinking about it. But I haven't thought about it in a while. Oh, that's a good question. Yeah. Because you went to college for a little bit. Did you have any debt? No.

So that's actually what led to the dropping out because I had a scholarship. Okay. So I had intellectual engineering. scholarship. I went to UTA, if there's any Texans out there. And I did that for about two and a half years, but it's very hard to maintain a 3.5 GPA when you're studying doubly. And so I lost it. I also hated electrical engineering. So I was like, I want to try something new. I went to Belmont randomly because I like Nashville. Change my major to computer science. Didn't have a scholarship anymore. One semester was $15,000. And I had to like pay that out of pocket. So I had no money after

one semester and I was like, this is stupid. I'm not learning anything. Video thing was working out and then I dropped out. So yeah, no debt. Would it have changed knowing that $10,000 would have been forgiven? That would be another semester. Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. Pushed you over the edge to be like, I'm going to continue a little bit longer. And I will say, I feel like I was one of those people who once this started to be a conversation about debt relief. there was a little part of me of like, man, I like altered my entire life because I didn't want to go into debt. So it doesn't seem fair. But at the same time, I'm like, I wouldn't be where I was today without that. And I'm like, I feel like everyone would be better off without the crippling debt. So now I'm like, it'd be great if in a perfect world, it didn't affect other things, you know. But, you know, inflation is a hot topic right now. So who knows what that would do. But I just hate everything to do with college. I graduated top 10% I got good grades. I knew I had a little money in college, but I knew it wasn't going to pay for four years. So I was like, I need you in high school so I can get a scholarship. And so I was always like ticking those boxes and, you know, go home to Christmas and be like, hey, grandma and grandpa, electrical engineering degree, doing good. So I did feel that pressure, but it got to a point where it was so overwhelming. I loved making videos. It was just a matter of time. How can I make this my job? So it took me like three years of doing it on the side to figure. it out. And then I dropped out with only 4,000 YouTube subscribers. How much were you making at the time

from YouTube? It wasn't a thing. So I had clients with a agency in Nashville. So I basically linked up with a local photographer who I did like a docu series on that got like a thousand views, you know. He had some already existing clients at like a creative agency. He had no idea how to do video, but he was kind of like, hey, this girl knows what she's doing. So if I take my high paying clients and say, hey, we do video now. Looking back, it was a terrible deal for me. I would do all of the work and he'd pay me like 500 bucks or a thousand bucks. And I would be like shooting, editing, doing everything. And he would just be on set being like, looks good. But it paid my rent. You know, my rent in Nashville is like 600 bucks. So you're doing contract work at the time just to get this.

Yes. Yes. And it was one of those things where I was posting YouTube every single week. I was obsessed with it. I was like, I have to make this my job. And I was, doing so many things. I was going to like all the conferences and there was a conference called Adobe Max in LA and I had a friend's cousin who we had gone to LA and visited and so it was like a free place to stay. And so I was like, okay, they had college pricing for the conference and I was like, that's 300 bucks. So I can figure that out. And I have a free place to stay. And I went there, made a lot of cool connections, met someone at Adobe, learned about this thing called the Adobe creative residency. So basically, in a span of like six months, I dropped out of college,

I was doing like the side work was going ham on YouTube with only 4,000 subscribers. But then I kind of, long story short, connected some dots, got this thing called the Adobe Creative Residency where they pay you for a year to just be creative and share the process along the way. And literally when I was in the interviews, the final interviews for that, I made my viral video about Casey Nistat. And so all of a sudden I had like a, essentially a contract for a year that just paid me a salary. And I went from 4,000 subscribers to 100,000 subscribers in the span of two days. And I was like, okay, it's go time.

And yeah, the rest of his history. So it was 2016. What was the Casey Nice Die video? Yes. So it was like a parody on his vlog. So he had just hit, I think, a million subscribers. It was in, I guess, somewhat the beginning days. And I was obsessed with his videos like everyone else.

And I was just in Nashville and I was making videos every week. So I was like, you know, this week's video, I'm going to make. a parody and it went super viral. So it was like a four minute video of me talking, you know, being quirky like Casey does. I don't know how to describe it. It's very cringe. Watching it back now, it is so cringe. But yeah, he shouted it out in his video the next day. And I was literally, I was sitting at in Nashville on a on a job. And I think it was like interviews for this thing called the Bible Bee. Have you heard of that? No. It's where it's where people get together and answer questions about the Bible.

And it's like a game show. And so I got this job where I was doing interviews with everyone from the Bible beam. And I was sitting there and like my phone was blowing. I was going on. And all I saw was a comment from Casey. And he said, OMG, when the video had like 500 views. And I was like, huh? And so I just like, I was like shaking, you know, during the interview.

And yeah, the next day you post the video. And then I posted another video that was like zero to four. 40,000 subscribers in one day. And then that second video blew up. And then I started daily vlogging. That was a mess. And then I came back around to tech. So was your growth because Casey Nistadt shouted it out or because the algorithm was

pushing the video? So definitely Casey shouted me out. I was like one of his first big shout out. And it was like peak Casey where of course he didn't have as many subscribers as he does now. But the million people that were watching him were. obsessed. For people who found Casey in 2015, 2016, you're just obsessed, right? So if he tells you to go watch someone, it was, it was instant, it was crazy. But I will say, and I guess maybe this is

the one practical thing people can get from this, I had been posting videos since 2011. And I had just come off like a second season of Creative Spaces TV, like my docu series on Creative People. And I had a whole series of that to post right after he shouted me out. So I like had that. I had all these tech reviews. So I had a huge back catalog of content with like a thousand views for people to watch. So I think that helped. People saw my channel. They were like, oh, she actually makes good stuff.

They stayed. And yeah, how much you make from that? So the Casey video? Yeah. I actually have no idea. Should I check? Yeah, let's see. I didn't even.

AdSense is definitely not my main driver. Let's see. Is there like data from 2016? I can't find it. Oh, gosh. So you click, so estimate a revenue and then you go, your fingers already hovering over where it goes. Sorry, click the wrong one.

Okay, so Lifetime. So you made, and I'm cool just a screenshot this one? Okay. Oh, I thought it was going to be way more. So it made $1,793.64 cents. Off of how many views, gum. Yeah, let me tell you. I think 2.1.2.1 million.

Yeah, 2.1 million. That is crazy. To be fair, I don't think I had money. monetization turned on in the beginning. There you go. Because I was of this belief that I just want people to watch my videos. And I don't want something distracting them from watching my video. So I actually, I didn't turn on monetization until I think a little bit later.

But I obviously turned it on later. But yeah. Okay. Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. How did you keep that audience, though? Yes.

Okay. It was hard because. I had, you know, 100K people come show up. And I wasn't making parodies. I think a lot of people were like, oh, okay, you should start doing this with everyone. You should make a parody of every single YouTuber. But I'm like, that is not me. And so I started vlogging because everyone was daily vlogging. It almost killed me. But so I would like daily vlog. I had a new season of Creative Spaces TV I was working on. And in 2016, kind of like filmmaking YouTube wasn't a thing. thing yet. But later on, I was kind of like camera gear and all this stuff, you know, became

really hot. So I was eventually able to kind of ride that wave in 2017, but 2016 was a lot of like ups and downs. I was going everywhere with Adobe. I was going to these conferences. I was meeting a ton of people, interviewing people. But in terms of views, it like wasn't that much of a priority. As crazy as that sounds, it was more like, okay, how can I do this Adobe Creative Residency and make cool stuff along the way. So it would be weird. I would post a vlog that would get like 15k views and then I would post like something kind of techy and those occasionally popped off if I, you know, would talk about I got a new MacBook or something like that. And that's what later informed me, okay, go back to tech because I was posting videos in 2011, 2012, just unboxing

things. And that's when I kind of was like, daily vlogging is killing you. Stop daily vlogging and just make good stuff. So, so yeah, it was, it was, it was hard. 2017, 2018 is where I kind of got more of my footing. What tech did you find did the best? It was, okay, what's crazy is I feel like only recently I have a pulse on it. I don't have the most like stable YouTube career. It has, it's been just like super random, I feel like, but Apple stuff, you know, did really well. Luckily, it's easy to talk about Apple stuff because I dig it. But I would say the MacBook, was a big driver of my channel. In 2016, they did a huge redesign of the butterfly keyboard, the touch bar.

I don't know if you guys like have one of those MacBooks, but it was terrible. And so I had just built like my entire. Yeah, I kind of liked that. I'm not going to like that. I was disappointed when the new laptop came in without it. You see, this is Sarah, I just want to chime in here. Yes. I'm a techie.

You're a techie. Uh-huh. They're talking about the touch bar, but they don't know about the tragedy that is the keyboard. Yes. And that's what really, that's what really progressed it to be this chaotic thing. Jack, so remember when I was planning out my videos and the keys would fall off, they'd find him up off the floor. And then went it back on because of the touch bar.

Oh, okay. Well, no. Okay. So they completely redesigned the keyboard to this butterfly keyboard. So in order to make the laptop super, super thin, they completely redesigned it. And it was the worst keyboard that has ever been on a laptop ever. And that was just like the beginning of those issues on the computer. So all of a sudden I found myself being like, I've been a Mac user my entire life.

This is the worst laptop I've ever used. So that is kind of what started my trajectory back into tech because I was racking in like really good views, just trashing on the MacBook Pro. That is so funny. I just remember there's countless times I've sat next to Graham while he's typing on his keyboard and his fingers would be a little stick or something. And then flick off and it'd shoot across. We'd have to find it. Yeah. Sometimes it would just keep sticking to his fingers.

Do you still have that laptop? I do. And put him back down and like push it on the keyboard. I still use it from time to time. Yeah. Yeah. So the new MacBooks, they started making changes in 2019 and then the big redesign came last year. And they're amazing now.

They brought back the ports. The ports were fantastic. So I have all three. So that was the one where the keys fell off. Then I got the one with the touch bar. I like the touch bar one afterwards. I liked it too. And then I got the newest.

one as of like six months ago. I like how it's the SD reader. That's nice. Me too. It's so cool to be able to plug it in and it's so fast. Yeah. The charging is fantastic. I love the charging.

The Mac safe. To be at five, plug it in and it's like at 50 within 20 minutes. Yes. So it's been a journey with the MacBook. They've officially arrived. It's good again. But yeah, it took me a minute to get to that answer, but I would definitely say the MacBook.

Got it. Me complaining about how terrible the MacBook Pro was was kind of like, okay, tech works. I'm going to steer a little bit away from my life because I started to get in the vlog thing where I was like, let's do something cool for the day. So I have like entertainment for the blog. But this was pre-David Doberk and all that stuff. So it wasn't doing crazy things and buying people cars. You know, you're just trying to make an exciting story out of your day. So, but it still got to me. So yeah, there were a lot of like sleepless nights, 2016, 2017. So I'm glad I found something a little bit more sustainable. Give us some more.

tech that you dislike. Oh, oh goodness. How long do we have? A lot. Okay. So I'm going to go the other way first because I just made a video that was saying, I'm going to pause reviews because we've actually arrived in a place where tech has gotten pretty good. The MacBook, they fixed all the things because, you know, us YouTubers over here just screaming like, hey, this is terrible. Laptops, like Windows, PCs. I mean, they've gotten so good that it's one of those things that people make up drama for things with the new M2 MacBook Air. It's a great redesign of the MacBook Air, but something that happened is the 256 gig version of the M2 MacBook Air. The SSD is slower. And they didn't disclose that on the website. So the big drama with that computer is basically, oh my gosh, like the speeds are a third of

if you just bought the 512 version. So that's an example of an actual real problem, but basically people, tech YouTubers will take that and make like 10 videos about that. And so, I was just feeling so fatigued. Sounds like the stock market. Yeah. It does that. It was funny to do that. Yeah, he loves what it happens.

We're down a percent today. Yeah. Yeah. But I will say with financial markets and things, every day you really do have something a little bit new in the news. At least you can talk about them. There might be something. With tech. Yeah.

I'm not to make a video. Yeah. Ten minutes. We'll discuss something. Yeah. With tech, you know, you have one product that comes out. And then it's just, you know, it starts a cycle for months and months. I can imagine the titles if I did.

The end of the MacBook. Well, okay. You know what you would do, Graham? The MacBook is over again. Okay. So it's funny. It's funny that you say that because I'm trying to do a big pivot, again, away from reviews. And more, okay, let's take, if something is topical, let's take it and extrapolate it out.

to something like a bigger theme or something. Like, you know, video essays are really big right now. So I did kind of that vibe of a video. And the title was, this is the end of an era for Apple, which is kind of the vibe of what you just said. That's great. And that's the end of the era that's bad, though. So we're ending a bad era going into a good era. Exactly.

And so that was interesting for me because it was all of a sudden a video that I enjoyed making. And it wasn't linked to something that had just come out because. The tech world is crazy. Something will come out and you're like fighting everyone who can get out their video first. And that's complicated even more with an embargo schedule. So certain tech creators will get certain tech before everyone else does. And then they can release their videos at a certain time. And it becomes a rat race.

And it's really exhausting. And I became kind of a, I just felt like I was working for all of these companies without getting paid if that makes sense. we'll send you this. Hey, we'll send you that. Okay. And then what, what day do I have to release it? And, you know, they're not even paying you, but it's because you have the privilege of getting hands on with this tech before anyone else. You feel obligated to make things. Now I'm like, okay, I'll do that for maybe two or three companies, but I got to stop accepting everything because then you're thinking about what the companies are thinking. You're not thinking about what makes a good video. What makes a good title thumbnail. And so now I'm actually kind of taking a step back and being like, okay, what would

actually be a good title thumbnail and it's working. Let's say they send you something. Yeah. And you say something negative. Are they going to come back and say, hey, nope, let's not give her anything anymore. It's a fine line. Okay. It's a fine line.

And that's, and that is why so, oh, man. Why am I talking about it? Okay. So tech YouTube is interesting because because of that, what you're bringing up. Every other year, there's a new phase of YouTubers who come out of YouTubers who come out of the woodworks and just start like slamming tech YouTubers being like, this person isn't honest because they do embargo videos. And they'll just shit on people for forever. But then they just disappear because that's not good for growing, you know, a following that sticks around.

But it's a balance. So people know now and people have gotten way more honest about it too, tech YouTubers included. So it's just a conversation you have with your audience. Like I, you know, I tell people there's a very clear line between. if something's sponsored, if something's embargoed, if someone sent something to me. And that's also the reason why I'm just, it's either sponsored or it's a Apple iPhone, or it's something that's so crazy that I can't get my hands on. I can't get my hands on it without the company's help if that makes sense. So I've, there are more, you know, distinct lines drawn. And you have to do that as a creator. Some of it I've seen that they can't keep what

they're sent. Like maybe it's so new, right? They have to give it back. Yes. And a lot of tech is loans. So it's not like your, you know, of course you're going to be somewhat cognizant of the fact that, you know, a company sent you this. You're not going to completely get on it. But at the same time, we're not keeping this tech. So what could be improved with the tech today? Oh, goodness. Let's start with the iPhone. What are the problems with the iPhone? The problems with the iPhone. Files. I hate files on the iPhone. Oh, yeah, downloading. Anytime you download something, it disappears. I can never find that thing.

It's gone. Yeah, I will say some of the, so I feel like the hardware is fine. I could totally see them coming out with a better telephoto camera. I could see them making the lot, launch I just combined two words, the notch less noticeable. It's rumor that they're going to do the punch hole thing. So they're going to get rid of a notch. So it'll just be, instead of that notch, it'll be a punchhole camera. But we'll see. It's right around the corner.

And so I feel like the hardware is good. Since I use the iPad a lot, some of the new iPad OS updates have me a little worried because they're trying to have this balance between, is your iPad a computer or is it an iPad? You know, so they just released a feature where you have actual window management now where you don't just have split view with apps, but you can kind of open up four apps at one time and switch in between them. It's called Stage Manager. And that's them trying to make the iPad a computer, but it's just using it in the beta.

It's not there yet. So for me, I think the only interesting thing is like the iPad and the software and where that's going to go. But again, to my other point, I'm kind of just like, I'm good. And that's why as like a tech YouTuber, I'm trying to find more interesting stories to tell because I don't know. I feel like I'm good. Can I share my interesting qualms about the iPhone? and I think you will relate to me. Before I do that, I just want to mention

Lexar official card sponsor of the podcast. But the podcast of you, Alex. Okay, sorry. They're my official sponsor. And I record the podcast. So anyway, I think, so for those of you that don't know, I was an Apple certified technician many, many years ago. And my biggest qualm with Apple is repairability and right to repair.

and I think that a lot of people don't realize this, but like your charge board, you're back when there used to be a headphone jack, whatever, they all used to be replaceable and they still are replaceable, but Apple will refuse to provide those parts. And so let's say you break your charger, even though it's on a separate board, which is a very common problem, they'll just like, and I'm sure a lot of people have experienced it. You go into Apple and they're like, we can't it. You need to, we'll buy your phone for this much and you need to upgrade or they'll give you a refurbish product. And then that creates, you know, a mountain of junk in another country. What do you think about that? Okay. So that has been the biggest talking point in the past couple of years.

So there's a great YouTube channel by a guy of the name Louis Rossman who covers a lot of this. And it has become such a talking point that Apple has actually done things to address it. granted, maybe not in the most perfect way, but recently they basically announced a self-repair program where they will literally send you all of the gear that it takes to replace a battery or to replace certain aspects of your phone. It's not everything. So they'll send you the manual. They'll send you the official gear that it takes to do the self-repair yourself for a certain low fee. So they are doing things to remedy that. So it is cool to see that they are. are starting that.

Because, yeah, you're right. It can be an issue. And they lock down, you know, computers to make them harder to repair. But, but yeah, they are taking steps. So hopefully they can continue with that. What do you think of Apple coming out with a car? Oh, gosh. It concerns me how it's just like a, it seems like they're just rotating engineers out of

there. I feel like a lot of important people have been a part of the project and then they just leave. So I don't I I it's one of those things that Apple doesn't do things unless they can do them right. So I can see them working on it for the next 10 years and not releasing it until 10 years. It's the same thing with the VR headset. I feel like they do not want to release their headset until it's perfect until it's more lightweight than the Oculus until people can actually have it on for hours at a time and not get a headache until they can get the resolution, right? So it's one of those things where it's like I would love to see an Apple car.

But we might be waiting like another five to ten years, you know, or who knows if it'll come out. You know, if they can't do it right, they're not going to release it. But they've poured a lot of money into it. That's one of the thing I'm not a fan of with the Oculus is that I love the theater mode where it feels like you're in a movie theater. But there's still something odd about the screen where it's like you see the pixels. It doesn't quite look like a TV. Exactly.

And yeah. And that's something that's, you know, I got the opportunity to interview the Zuck, which was fun. and, you know, that's something that he said is it's like all about iterations. Like resolution will get better. The headsets will get lightweight. They have, you know, a lot of different, you know, prototypes with all those things, but it's just like the tech isn't quite there yet. But I will say I was so, I judged the Oculus hard. I was like, this is so stupid. I'm never like, who is going to do this? But when I gave it another shot with the Quest 2, I became obsessed for like a week. then I set it down and never used it again. But I can totally see, I'm like, this is crazy.

Like, this is crazy playing put putt put with your friends and it feels like they're right there. And so yeah, it just has to get more lightweight. It has to, the resolution has to. What was that like meeting Mark Zuckerberg? It was extremely nerve-hacking. Like, we had like a pre-call which helped. So I feel like I was more nervous about that pre-call. But it was, it was really cool. I mean, I know it's kind of cliched to say this. But it's like when you're talking to someone, you're like, oh, they're just a human like me, right? But it's like all the memes about him being a robot and an alien, you know, like it gets in your head. But he's actually normal.

Oh, really? He's very normal, you know. I mean, should I say normal? Because he's not normal. How was he weird then? Or not weird. Yeah. Sorry, I should say.

I mean, you know, if you, it was a very isolated, you know, we had the pre-call. And then the moment we got on that Zoom, the interview started, because I only had 20. So it was, I had, you know, my list of questions. But I think the, probably the most like, like part where I was so nervous was like towards the end. He said something where I was like, I need a follow up to that question because that doesn't seem, you know, it was my, it was my time to actually be like, ask a smart question because we started talking about creators. He was talking about monetization. And I feel like one thing Facebook and Instagram do really bad is They just take all the money.

They put ads in your stories. They put ads everywhere, but they don't share with creators the way YouTube does. And so he mentioned, you know, in the VR world, we're doing these things like ticketed events and blah, blah, blah. But that is still the creator has to bring the audience. And then Facebook is taking that cut. What about all the ads that are going to be in our metaverse? Aren't you going to like do a profit share? So I think I didn't really get.

So I got that question in at the very end, which I wanted. to actually hear. So it was cool to be able to ask the man actually in charge of that stuff, an actual question you have. But yeah, interviews like that are just, you're nervous in the beginning and you start talking and it's fine. What do you say? Well, he skirted the question, which was a little disappointing. And he didn't say, he just went back to the model of creators can sell merch. Creators can hold events. They can do all these things. And that was just a little disappointing to hear because, again, that is creators bringing their audience and then Facebook taking a cut.

It's like, you guys got to do the work that YouTube, you know, has. And if you want creators to stay on your platform and all the drama that's happening with Instagram right now, you have to make it a platform where people can not just like earn a living, but also feel like they have a shot at getting views and likes and engagement. So, yeah.

How did you even get an interview with Mark Zuckerberg? Yeah. Oh, man. I think, so I had a podcast that creative life that lasted for about like 125 episodes. So I had a lot of like serendipity going for me. And I'm sure you guys have seen it with ice coffee hour. When you start interviewing people, you know, you're having like deep conversations with people. You're building a ton of relationships. And I'm, I'm sure that then puts in people's heads that, you know, are doing cool things like, oh, I should hit up green for that. I should hit up Jack for that. And so that was just like a serendipity thing. Previously, before my podcast, I had interviewed, like, a Facebook executive about the Ray Band Stories. And so I got linked with, you know, people at Facebook. One of the people who worked with this guy, Baas, who's now the CTO, previously worked at full screen where I used to be a part of full screen, and my manager used to work there. And so it was one of those things were just like, you know,

like, oh, hey, I haven't seen you in a while. And you like kind of like strike up, you know, just like a casual relationship. And then when an opportunity comes up where like, hey, Mark is doing a couple interviews with Sarah be down, they hit us up. And I was one of only like three interviews. I think it was like me, Gary Vee, and another podcast that he did. So, so yeah, it was, it was pretty, pretty cool. So I've interviewed a lot of great people. But the podcast just became a little too much booking guests.

And I'm sure you guys like know the stress of running a podcast. But I do miss it talking to people. So this is my new thing that I want to do. I just want to go on other people's podcasts and talk. It's a lot easier. She just show off and, hey, you're done. Exactly. What do you think of the new Instagram algorithm?

It's just showing videos now, which chances are maybe we could clip this as a video as an example of, you know, Instagram's pushing videos right now. And it's hilarious. I mean, my story views got cut into a third, like overnight, which is great. Luckily, most of my business is like YouTube and then Twitter, too. I just did a Kickstarter where I only posted to Twitter. It was only Twitter and Instagram. And we raised like $150,000 before I even post my YouTube video, which is crazy. But Instagram, I don't have a super big connection with just because I feel like I saw it coming because Facebook did the thing where they ruined your organic reach.

Facebook bought Instagram. Where do you think Instagram is going to go? So I totally understand people's frustration and I wish it could be different. Luckily, I'm, I don't know, I'll sit there and watch reels forever. It's TikTok content. It's funny. You know, I get sucked into like, oh, that'd be a fun sound to use. So, you know, I think if I needed to, I can make a pivot into reels.

But yeah, I could definitely understand how it's fudging over photographers. And I totally get their frustration. But I heard the new thing that all you have to do now is turn the picture into a video. Yeah. People are posting their, I see Hormoseb doing this all the time. He tweets something, screenshots the tweet, and then post it as a rector. A real. Oh, a real. It's not work?

I will say, I think the more important issue is monetization. What we were talking about earlier, the problem with TikTok, the problem with Instagram is everything is being condensed into this short form crap sometimes. I'm sorry. And then there is no payoff. I know YouTube shorts channels that pull in hundreds of millions of views per month, but they can only sell two T-shirts. You know, I know TikTokers like that. At the end of the day, people are just like giving these platforms free engagement. They're giving these platforms all of their time, but they're not getting anything in return, which is concerning.

That was about this Kickstarter you did. Okay. Yes. So we're day three. So Lab 22, it's a premium desk accessory brand. It all started with, I'm obsessed with my iPad, right? But you can, oh gosh, I just clicked on one of my videos. But a lot of people start using iPads as like second screens to computers.

They just leave iPads up and use them as a computer. But I'm like, guys, it's an iPad. Use it as an iPad. So the iPad stand is great because it's super flexible. You can bring it down to note-taking position. And it's just really solid. It's like a chunk of metal. And so it's just super sturdy.

You know, a lot of people just have plastic junk from Amazon. And then we also have a phone stand and a headphone stand. And so we just launched on Kickstarter three days ago. And last time I checked it was around 220,000 that we raised. So it's been like a whirlwind. It has been like when all of your validation is if your video is like 10 out of 10 or 1 out of 10 to have something outside of that to be like, oh my gosh, like people do, you know, still care about me or watch my stuff. But also, oh, I made a product that actually people want, which has been like extremely validating. But it's been over a year in the making.

So, so yeah. So how much is that going to cost to make? What are you going to sell it for? How much are you going to make? So the stand is a really great. price right now. It's about $119.19. Yes. Yeah. Phone stand is a little bit more pricey. Headphone stand is, let's see, phone stand I think is 149. I should know this, but there's dual charging. So it's MagSafe. So MagSafe compatible phones, it basically magnetizes. It holds

your phone. It charges it at the same time. And then down below, you can put AirPods or Chi wireless charging. And then the headphone stand. So making stuff is very hard right now. That's why it took us over a year. We were supposed to launch in February, but as you can, you know, supply chain shortages and stuff like that, it's taken a long time. Things have gotten so expensive to make. And so if you do want to make something that isn't just a hunk of plastic, it costs, you know, and it costs a ton to ship it back and then the taxes. And I think something interesting if people don't know about this, that makes products even more expensive if you're making them overseas, is that Trump tariff. So when that came into play. I don't know the exact percentage, but it adds almost like, like, $20, $25 onto

our products because we're shipping them from overseas just from that tariff alone. So there's just many things you have to worry about. So I'm a little tired, but I'm excited because, you know, it got an amazing response. So it's been, it's been fun to make something in the physical because I'm so used to just videos. So, and I'm sure you guys had, you know, had it with a coffee, I feel like, right? I'm sure that was a cool process. Yeah, yeah, it was definitely more work than I expected. It always is, right? I'll tease it here, Jack.

We're coming out with a... What? Oh, let's hear it. You want to hear it? Yeah. Plunk. We are coming out with tea. Oh, that is so great.

That is so great. What kind? A little bit. Macy's a tea, you know what? Macy's a tea. But you know what? The one comment that I got the most often on those coffee videos where it come out with the tea, it's been, do the pods.

Pods are really expensive. but pods and tea. The tea is much better profit margins. It's cheaper to ship. There's a lot of benefits with tea. Didn't you buy a condo? You renovated it. You flipped it.

What happened with that? Okay, guys, I got to take a sip of water to prepare for this. Should do a loud sip. Yeah. Alex adds some, like, very dramatic. Is you know sipping is contagious like yawning? I don't believe that at all. I don't believe that at all.

Drinking water. Yeah, when I saw you went to go drink some water, I wanted to. I thought you were doing it. No, I was doing it for the sip. The sip sound. It's contagious, just like, I don't think so. You know what? I'm thirsty now.

Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. As soon as you see someone drink their water, you want to drink water. I'll pay attention to it now. That's so funny. That's interesting. Yeah. You know what? You got to do that, though.

You got to do that at a restaurant and look around at a table and see if one person picks up the drink to other people. I guarantee you, yeah. I don't think so. Yeah. Okay, guys. The condo. Look it out.

All right. Keep a story. Keep with this. Jack. I'll tell our guess what's good. Sorry, sorry. Let's hear the rest of the story, the condo. So, okay.

We moved from New York to Texas. I'm from Texas originally. I lived in New York for five to six years. Did the YouTube thing, the city life. I loved it. COVID brought us back because, you know, it was kind of crazy. He was good for us. Continue with the story.

Go on. Get with the story. Jack is having issues with water today. I know I'm really having it as well. What happened with it? I went to go drink another time. And I was like, and then I forgot. Yeah.

All right. Just keep. Yeah. Yeah. Continue with. Um, so, you know, we were, you know, I watched Grahamstaff videos. I got to, I got to buy something, right? I thought we weren't prepared for a single family home yet, though.

Uh, because my fiancee and I, we have lived in apartments, you know, our entire time we've been together for five years. So I was like, do we want to mow a yard? Do we, you know? And like, you really. we like cool stuff we like being on top of coffee shops and restaurants we we kind of want new york living but in taxes so we found a really cool place that i'm not going to name um that was super cool loft vibes concrete floors i meet kevin was angry at me because i i actually took up hardwood floors and did polished concrete because i wanted to yeah i like it too okay

thank you. People roasted me for that because I spent 10K on that. But it was like, um, 1900. That's terrible. Yeah. So it did that. We redid the kitchen. But again, this was peak reno time when everyone was doing it. And so finding a contractor, all of those things, it just took way longer than we thought it was going to. But we closed on this condo February of 2021. I don't know if you guys remember what was happening in Texas during this time, but it was the iconic winter storm that came through. Oh, the ice storm, right? The ice storm. It wreaked havoc. Yes. And so we were still stuck in New York. We couldn't get a flight to Texas. You know, we had just closed this condo. We were moving. So we were stuck in a hotel for a week while we were just like hearing all of this crazy stuff

happening. The building flooded. So we had just closed it on the condo and like half the building flood. So we were like, is our condo ruin? What? is going on. And so luckily, the water damage went like right up to our place. So all of the hallways, like, so the hallways in the actual building, the drywall had to get completely stripped. This might be a stupid question. Wouldn't it have been better for your unit to be flooded? Because the insurance company would then have to pay out a pretty hefty amount, right? So I'll get to that. I'll get to that. Put that into the renovations. I'll get to that because things escalate from here. Hallways are completely trashed because all the pipes burst.

And so they ripped up all the carpet, all the drywall had to be redone. It was chaos. So we finally move into our condo. We're like, okay, thank goodness we weren't flooded, but oh my gosh, the hallways look terrible. The building is like kind of in shambles. There's a new problem every day. Like the AC is breaking. So right off the bat, we're having to like replace the water heater. We're having to replace our fridge. It got zapped with all the power outages and stuff. So many things instantly went wrong. And then we get slapped with a special assessment. the building because all of the hallways and stuff got flooded. And, you know, the insurance wasn't covering everything. But so let's say now we're entering a time where I'm talking about a hypothetical

condo. Okay. So this is just a story time about a hypothetical condo that's not mine because I don't know if I can get in trouble for this. But so a condo like ours. Yeah. So this is where the chaos starts, people were not stoked on the special assessment fee because guess how much it was. So there's 200 units, we're one unit, 1,900 square feet, a two-bedroom one. Guess how much our fee was? Myest 15 grand. Yeah, 17K. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So luckily, because we had insurance, it covered like 15K of that. But we didn't know that because the insurance process for that was so chaotic. All of a sudden, the condo starts rolling in other things where they want to do renovation. Like they want to, okay, guys, you know, carpists need to replace. So why don't we just like renovate the entire building? So things start to get super complicated. People get angry. Residents decides to sue the HOA board. It's getting super messy. Now they're under litigation. Like almost like nine months passes. Nothing is getting done. So you walk in the hallways and it looks like you're in a construction zone for that entire time. And this was like a $500,000 condo, you know, in DFW. you. It was a nice place. Like we shouldn't be living in a construction zone. Everyone's doing construction. So it's so noisy all the time, like people's individual units. And so the lawsuit thing happens. And I'm going to meetings. It is chaos. People are screaming at each other. Like a guy on the

board was like, it was like, you effing bitch, you need to sit down. Like it got heated. These are all 50 to 70 year old, you know, people. We're like the youngest people there. It's so not our crowd. It's It's just exhausting. And so the lawsuit basically halts all renovations. And it was a year and a half and just problem after problem. I mean, I would be here all day if I was describing more issues, more payments, like more special assessments. And so it got to a point, you know, interest rates were about to hike.

And I was just like, if we want to get out of this because I'm so stressed out, my main job needs to just be making videos, not worrying about. you know drama with the HOA like right now would be the time to do it we just renovated it it looks nice so we just couldn't handle it we sold it um we basically got most of our down payment back but yeah the kitchen renovation that's down the whole uh you know the money i spent on that so how much you lose on that after like realtor fees yeah um yeah probably lost a solid 40 50k really how would you lose money though if you bought it way back then do you think a buyer wants to go in when the buildings and shambles and buy a renovated unit,

they have to deal with. I figured that they would just assume like, oh, you know, it's going to all. No, no, no, you have to disclose this stuff too. So that's the thing. You know, we had to disclose the drama. And so it helped that people are trying to sell their units without the special assessment paid. So luckily, luckily we're able to say it's paid for.

And they started like giving us the designs. So it was helpful to show, oh, hey, we actually have a direction now. So I am so burnt. I don't think we're renting a townhouse now and I love it. There's no noise upstairs. You know, so I'm like, I'm renting until a house just calls our name. So it's a special assessment just like a fee that a HOA can slap on. Oh, at any time.

At any time. And that is why I will never be a part of an HOA ever. But I thought that they'd take your monthly payment in order to. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like the joint walls or whatever. Like all that stuff I thought was covered by. And that's what a lot of the questions of the residents.

were what happens to the $800 a month we pay? Where is that money? $800 a month. Yeah. And that's okay. And here's the thing. It didn't start that way. So by the time we were leaving, the HOA had been hiked up for a third time, too.

What was it when you joined? 600. The thing is H. H.O.S. are audited. So you have financial statements dating back at the very beginning. And so usually if there's anything that stands out from that, it's pinpointed, unless there's siphoning money from that. I will say, unusual.

There's more to the story, though. Okay. So, yeah, we had a management company that was managing it. And we were under the impression that there were reserve funds. Turns out there was not. Because the management was mingling funds with, so the way this building was, there's a ton of shops and, like, shops and restaurants down below. It's a different board for the bottom than it is for the condos that are up top.

The management company managed both things. and those boards are separate and the funds should be separate. What they were doing is just adding all the funds together every month. And so if the restaurant across the street had issues or stuff like that, money would be taken from, you know, the condos to fix that. So it was a mess. So in the span of that time, not only was all of that being revealed, but in that span, they fired them because, yeah, they didn't audit and figured out there was no reserve money left. It was highly mismanaged. And they fired them. And then it was almost like starting at zero. And I was like, I would have stayed because I really love the building if I had

faith in the HOA board. But these people again are like, picture 70 year old white dude works at Lockheed Martin making missiles, Texan. It was like a replica of that. for like 200 people. And so it's just very like old school. And like I wasn't, you know, like, I don't want to, it's about to, I don't want to make fun of. It was just a certain type of person. And they, they don't want your help.

It's my, my way or the highway. And I was like, this is not a productive environment. This is, this is, I just need out. Someone can come in and just live their life because there's nice amenities or as a rooftop pool. for people who don't care about this stuff, it's going to be a great life. It'll make for a great rental. But I'm very involved. And it just ruined my life. So what about your failed businesses and startups besides a failed renovation?

What else is failed? I know. So many failures. That's why I'm so glad I had this like Kickstarter thing and there's something actually working because it's been 2020 hit. And of course, like many others, you're like, what am I doing with my life? Can I make YouTube videos for my entire life? if you are a fan of business content, you kind of get in your head like, oh, I need to be the entrepreneur. I need to like have rental units and do all these things. And so I kind of like got in that mindset and I was just like, okay, let's start stuff. And I just kind of like did a ton of stuff. The point of all this, it was other people's ideas coming to me and me being like, oh, that sounds cool. Yeah, let me hop on that. And that didn't work out. And like the moment I do something that was my idea. I was able to pull in a really talented team. I was like, oh, it worked. Cool. So this is the hack, right? But so basically the first thing that I tried to do was one of my buddies in New York

City came to me and was like, yo, look at this software. It's super cool. And it was super cool. It was content creation where it would take a pillar piece of content like this podcast and just automatically break up into microcontent, which obviously is super valuable. But it was all AI. It was all automatic. And the problem with that is, again, it was his thing. He's the coder. And I was like, oh, this is amazing. Yeah, let me come on. And I can obviously be the marketing and content and all of that brand building. But when you're not working on the product day in, day out, it's just, and you don't, you can't have as much say as that person. So, you know, it's going to take different directions. And ultimately, it was a very hard problem to solve.

because it was all based on transcription. And when you base an app that automatically crops and add sound effects and does clip splitting and all this stuff on the foundation of a transcript, it gets really messy because the moment you go in and change one word, you like break that timestamp if that makes sense. I don't think I'm explaining it very well. But if you've heard of that service, I think it's called Descript. or it's where you edit via transcript. You like edit a video by editing text.

Yeah, I saw somebody do an ad for that. It seems really interesting. Yeah. So they're doing it probably the best, but I've seen that they're running into the problem as well. Because if you go in and add something, say, oh, I didn't say, you know, I said two words instead of one word. And it's in a block of a sentence. Like, how do you assign those timestamps to those new? two words. So when I say a sentence like this, when you read it transcript, you have timestamps of

so is one second, two milliseconds. The next word is that. But if you go in and edit it, the user does, how do you decide what those new timestamps are? It can get very complicated, but you can say, okay, there's two seconds, so you just split evenly. But we were just running into a lot of technical issues. Video is hard with AI. And we were like on year two. It still wasn't a full product. we would get people to test it out, but it wasn't sticky. Content creators have such a flow that, and this is something I've learned too, is if you have to convince someone to use it, it's not a good product, right? And then I try to open up a photo video rental studio in Dallas, Texas. And it's actually still going. I filmed my Kickstarter video there. But I did it with a business partner, and it was so much

work. When you have five different people coming in every single day, it's essentially like you have five clients a day that you have to be at their back and call. And I was like, I could make one YouTube video and make one brand deal or I could spend every day, every month for like half of that, if that makes sense. And so ultimately, it just made more sense for the business partner to take it because he was closer to it. He understands it more. And but again, the main theme was like, people who I love coming up to me, hey, I have this awesome idea. And me being like, yeah, that sounds great. And like, oh, software, people are selling software companies. companies for hundreds of millions of dollars and me just kind of being naive and almost selfish

in a way of wanting that big payout when I'm not even worried about like, hey, is this something that people need? And so that's and so I've kind of just like given up on that dream, which has been extremely healthy for me because obviously like, you know, Gary V's my homie. Love him. But when you can get so sucked into that content and that's not you, it can actually be kind of bad because I'm not the person who wants a bazillion employees. I do very well on my own. I'll bring in freelancers. And so that's what I've discovered. And it's it's just, it's so much better now. And ironically, you know, I don't want to jinx it, but it just seems like it's even working better. I might end up at, you know, granted a fraction of my main goal, but being more

successful. And now I'm like true to myself. I'm not trying to live someone else's dream. I don't want to be CEO founder. You know, everyone like wants to put that in their bio. But it's like, I don't want employees. It doesn't seem to be a CEO of like nothing. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, Jack's a CEO. Yeah, it's a CEO.

Well, it's like it's just, it lost its meaning. Yeah. Exactly. In the old days, CEO used to be like, yeah, a big thing. No, me CEO. Yeah. It's like, oh, yeah, it's another e-com guy. So funny, funny story about that.

When I first started in my wedding business, I didn't want people, like, mainly my clients, to be like, oh, he's the CEO. So on my business card, instead of putting a CEO, I think I put either event specialists or like wedding coordinator. But I like own the company. So it was like, but I feel like it made it more professional to me honest. Like wedding analyst would be. Yeah.

Wedding executive. I feel like that sounds pretty old. So yeah, I think, and especially for people watching this show, I think the most important thing for you is to figure out just what do you actually want? Not everyone can have 100 employees and run, you know, a big tech company. Because, you know, we all have this. If you're a creator, you at any point, you're like, oh, my YouTube channel can just die, right? You always have that in the back of your brain.

So the thought is, I have to build something sustainable outside of me so I can just go retire on a beach and, you know, not have to worry about YouTube. That's like everyone's dream, right? But like, that's not the most practical thing, right? And so you start focusing your energy on this big payout that is so, you just have to be so in it. And if you don't know how to code, if you don't know, you know, it's just, it's a much harder thing than people think. So what type of successful do you want to be? Yeah. Yeah.

That's the question I've been asking. I just want to make videos. And that's what I came back to. It took me four years of this journey of like, what is the next step? And now I'm like, I want to make videos. I want to make. I don't want to feel like I am stuck to reviews, right? So it'll be about tech, but I like filming and editing, so I want to be creative.

I just want to make stuff. I don't want full-time employees. That's my biggest revelation from all of this. And I want to make stuff. So, you know, if people are digging like, you know, cool new tech stands. I need it my life. They need it in theirs. And that's cool. So if there's opportunities like that that come about, um, that I can create. That's what I'm going to do. And if it's not a crazy $100 million payoff, that's okay. I think that's what I really do.

I don't need a ton of. That sounds great. I don't need that much crazy money. No, no, no. I'm just saying the simplicity of it. Yeah. Oh. Yes. For once. Normally people come on and they're like, Graham, I'm with you. We need to, we need to, we need to, we need to, we need to, we need to, I don't know. Sarah's right here. Graham, this does not sound like. Yes. Yeah.

Are you kidding me? No, when I started cutting everything, remember that, Jack? Yeah, about a month ago. I went through and I cut probably 80% of what I was doing. And now all I focus on the main channel, this second channel, that's it. And that's changed your perspective towards all this? No, no $100 million payout. No.

No, because I realized it. I love that. To get that $100 million payout, you have to put that same attention and focus and passion as I'm putting in my videos in a new business. I'm not interested in that. I have no desire to have employees, build a big business, put my time in that. Hell yeah, Graham. Yes.

No, I really, I hate the responsibility. I realize I do best when it's just me, I'm responsible for myself. Obviously, I mean, having a great team. So between like Alex and Jack, I would go crazy with the third person. No, exactly. And this is it. I have management. I have my lawyers.

I have, you know, I have freelancers that I use. But it's very, a lot of my frustration is someone not. delivering and then I stew. I write notes and I'm like, okay, I'm going to tell them that they did this wrong, but then I never share it because I feel bad. So I am so bad at management, managing people. And I'm like, well, you don't have to do that. So I'm now making less. And ironically, my views are better because I'm making less videos. I'm spending more time on the title and thumbnail and the concept and making them good and they're doing better. That's something that, that, you know, we went and saw Mr. Beast.

And that's something that I learned from him is that he's so focused on just making the best video for the main channel. And that's it. But at the same time, he has hundreds of employees. Yes. But he's found other people that he really trusts to delegate. But his focus is just main channel. And the way he works is like if he doesn't make the best videos, everything else fails. So he just needs to make the best videos.

Everything else will fall in the place. And for me, it's like, I want to keep making the videos because that's where I'm the happiest. Just taking anything off of that is just like, at least for now, no desire. And I will say, people underestimate how much time it takes to just make a YouTube video. And so with all of these different side projects that I was doing, I was like, I literally do not have the time for this. So I think people think, oh, if I can make a, you know, if I can be a successful YouTuber, then I will take that and then make a company from it. But it's like if you're not really good at operations and delegating, you're just not going to have the time. And so that's why I've refocused on like everything has to be, it has to do 100% with my YouTube channel.

And that's how I think ultimately things, you know, will be successful. And I don't. It's been really tough. Alex has dealt with me in terms of delegating. Alex knows how difficult. Are you still editing the main channel that videos? I am. Yeah.

Oh, good. Good. Good job. Yeah. So I have two questions. Yeah. So I'm a huge fan of your content And I remember when I was making the vlogs

You commented on one of the vlogs So as somebody who's at least watched one of the vlogs Yeah what did you think? Yeah what did you think about them and Tell Graham that he's hated for cutting them Okay so I love them But I think I am Okay

Because I watch a lot of your stuff Ironically I watched this to family and the ice coffee hour But I think what a lot of people have said is like they find you through your main channel videos but once you're versed on finance you're like you're good so you move to the other stuff and I love the vlogs because I felt like I was getting to know you guys more um but I will say you guys were saying oh this is an opportunity to reach beyond your audience when I saw it more of a play to go deeper with your already existing audience so I feel like if those expectations are maybe you know aligned a little bit more maybe it would be more

sustainable and fun. Because I can understand how if you want to reach beyond your audience, the vlogs probably aren't going to be the way to do it. Because I was watching every single one because I was like, oh, it's me too. It got up to. Did you like them more in the beginning or near the end? So the end was when I was posting three times a week iPhone. Yeah.

I think I watched all of them. If you had a preference. I'm trying to give me some subjects that because I've slept since them. We posted once a week with Alex editing. There were high edits and then we went to three times a week with me just filming on my phone. Yeah, what was the like, because I remember the iPhone you would like sit on the couch and just talk about them posting a video and stuff like that and that was cool. I liked both. Like I like the mix.

Well, I found that the iPhone did significantly better. Subscribers were up. We were losing subscribers posting once a week. And I was like, this is unacceptable. And I'm spending my time doing this. And I'm worried about title phone mail. And it's taking. So then I just went iPhone.

I stopped carrying. It did so well. Funny enough, I did my aquarium tour. Started off as a 10 out of 10 by far. And that aquarium tour, by the way, it was just a last minute. Macy was like coming home. It was like one take.

Yeah, it was all one take. Macy was coming home in 20 minutes. I'm like, I have some time. Let me share the aquarium. One take. Post it up and it's a whole, like it bombs. Now it's a two. It's almost the best performing video out of the last 10 that I posted.

And this is something I'm noticing with YouTube and this is why I don't get so depressed when I instantly hit like an eight out of 10 or something is if you actually, make a good video. It now has a long tail. So I'm noticing I do studio tours and stuff. And so I did a studio tour of Austin Evans place. It didn't do that great. But I was confident in the thumbnail and title. So I just didn't change it. I was like, if this is going to do well, it'll do well. It took a month. But now it's like, you know, 120, 1.30. And I've been noticing like the past, I would say three to six months, YouTube is taking more time to find an audience for your video. Sometimes, you know, you'll have a flop, but I feel like that has been super encouraging for me because it really does feel like something's different.

I have a question for them. I actually have, and this is something I've been wondering, why do you go the route of like percentages instead of like hiring people as like a salary or maybe like a retainer? It seems like you say, oh, if you do this, you get a certain percentage, correct? That's just Jack. Okay, okay, okay. That was in the very beginning The podcast made nothing Not Jack

Jack was I knew Jack was going to be at a loss For quite some time with no guarantee of ever making anything back And in the beginning I'm like Yeah sure let's do that Never thought anything of it And yeah I think we were like Maybe 8 to 10 episodes in I was kind of getting tired of it But I didn't want to like Jack down

Yeah yeah yeah I like put in so much work And I didn't want to tell him like hey man I'm like not feeling it I don't feel like filming this So I kept doing it I'm really glad But yeah, so yeah, it would have been, would have been, you know, more advantageous for me, financial, probably to give a salary. But you know what?

Definitely. Jack really put in so much. Yeah. Yeah. Really, it wouldn't be the same with without the way it turned out. Yeah. Because it then gets you stoked, right? Because you feel you're a part of it.

Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. I don't like to see myself as someone that's like purely financially motivated because I know that there are plenty of other cash grabs around me I could easily be capitalizing on. But at the same point, it's like having a pretty strong financial incentive for the podcast to do well. Definitely made me work a lot harder. Like, you know, to the point of exhaustion and then past and then some like, especially when we're really in that growth phase. We have ownership over it.

Yeah. Six to six to like year. Yeah, definitely. Speaking of money. Yeah. How much money are you making? Yeah. Okay.

If you don't. Oh, totally. When I first reached out to grandma, I was like, I, yeah. I am the past few years. When everyone was making so much money in 2020, 2020, I was just like freaking out because we were in the middle of Manhattan. And of course, the world was going crazy. I had some just weird. I all of a sudden got awful, awful migraines.

And I'm still trying to figure out. But just some weird health stuff happened. And then we're moving to Texas. And so much life happened that. On 2019, I was like on this trajectory of like, you know, I was, I was doing good. I would say from 2016 to 2019, you know, I started with maybe in 2016, I was making 100K, including that Adobe salary plus, you know, ad sense and little stuff. I can't share that. Okay.

Yeah. But it's a livable salary. It's a livable. It's a livable. It's a livable salary. It's a living off 60s. So the Adobe. All right.

Got to work backwards, Jackie. Yeah. And then each year I was just building, building. Luckily because I was doing video work with an agency before, brand deals came really naturally for me. So all of a sudden when I was like, oh, I can put my spin on a, you know, branded video. That's exciting because I was so used to making videos only for brands. So naturally, I just started doing brand deals.

And, you know, I'm brand friendly. So it just worked out. And I would say from there, like I was kind of compounding, probably like doubling every year. 2019 was my best year ever where if you take out lawyer fees, management fees, I probably grossed around 800K. Wow. But that was me going ham. I was at conferences every month.

I was giving talks. I was doing like six to seven videos a month. Almost all of them were branded. Well, those numbers probably aren't perfect. But, and, you know, I was like doing stuff. And so 2019 was really, really good. And like, I just got engaged. Start of 2020, everything's looking up.

And then 2020 happened. And I had a rough time with 2020. So I've kind of been, like, building back the blocks. Why do you have a rough time in 22? Besides the my, was it just the migraine? Well, it was moving. It was New York, first of all. We were so.

freaked out, you know, because COVID first hit Manhattan, New York. And so dealing with that was crazy. Other things that I don't super want to mention, but just life stuff, life stuff. And then moving to Texas and the condo was insane. Like, I don't know if I can emphasize how much that stressed me out. And I think it kind of proved me that I don't know if I ever actually want to own a house. I know I'm telling Graham's stuff in that. But yeah, it's like I get so stressed out by little things. So when something breaks in her townhouse, I just like text the person. And it's amazing. And I love that. And so the condo too, there was noise every day. It just made making things so difficult. So I've been slowly building back up. And again, I was trying all

those businesses. My focus was super split. And so my income went back to like early days, basically. And now I'm like building back up. But now I'm more focused on long-term projects. I don't need in the beginning. I was like, how do you get back to 2019, Sarah? Hire these people, hire the full-time people and scale and do all this. And when I hated my life doing that, I was like, I don't need 800K a year. What do you actually need? I need money for DoorDash. I need money. I need money to fly first class because I, you know, I'm a home body. I hang out on my cat and like to be comfortable. I hate flying. And that's about it. So I'm like, if you make a few, you know, a few six figures a year, your life is going to be exactly how you like to live it. And so I think I've kind of

just let go of, you know, needing to one up. And I've found my place in a much peaceful, peaceful place. I have hit a million net worth so many times and gone under it just because condo and a lawsuit and so many things. So yeah, that's been fun. But yeah. So I would say I'm floating around that area as general net worth. But I've never shared that. So there you go.

Sarah Peachy exclusive for the ice coffee are. I just had a question I was going to ask. I completely forgot it. You got so drowned in the numbers, man. They were so good. So yeah, well, because I wanted to come to this podcast and because people are always like numbers, numbers. And so I wanted to drop some numbers. What was the first time you flew first class? I remember it so clearly, Graham. So when I was doing the Adobe stuff, I was basically like kind of like an Adobe ambassador. So I was going to conferences probably three times a month, which is like very intense. And, you know, I could never choose. So I'd be in the back of the plane. I'd be middle seat. That was like. like the start of like I need to make money because I'm like I will never do this again for some reason I don't know why it gets so under my skin like being middle seat of airplane having people's arms shove off your arm and you're just feeling powerless but um it's like you know villain origin stories right there but um being sarcastic so right after that you know I remember having a little

bit of YouTube money and signing up for my first fancy credit card so I got the Delta, what is it called? I still have it today. Sky Miles. Yeah, yeah, it's the Delta AMX Sky Miles. And I started building up points. And, you know, I bought an upgrade with Miles. And that was probably like 2017. And I was going to a conference and a company basically paid. Now I have more leverage. If a company ever wants me to travel anywhere, I don't do it unless it's first class. Because I just stay home. You know, like COVID taught us you can do everything at home. But yeah, back in the day, you know, a company wouldn't do that. And I upgraded with the help of that car. And I was like, yes, I think it was a trip to New York when I wasn't living there yet. So I think that was, I think that was actually 2016.

So I might have been, it was the end of my residency. But, but yeah, and I've never gone back. Yeah, you can't. I do not fly first class. I have a quick. I did. I flew first class. So I went last minute to surprise Macy and her family at Disneyland in Florida.

And the first class option was like not that much more. And so I just did it. Because if I may as well experience this, it's incredible. I got so much work done. Yeah. And that's the thing too that I do in my head. I'm like the ROI of having a guaranteed plug of having space is I do my best email work on a plane.

So it's actually extremely productive too. On the way here, I organized my entire desktop on my computer. I have no more screenshots on my desktop. It was so productive. Oh yeah. You should see mine. You know, mine. But they stack on top of each other.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's my one splurge. And then if you want more numbers, I looked at how much I spent on DoorDash last year. So bless my accountant, he lays all of this out for me. So last year I spent, I think it was $14,000 in DoorDash. And that is not, that's just DoorDash. That's not including when I go out to eat.

But I don't. Every meal your door dashing? Almost. Sounds like it. Almost. Do I have a pantry? Actually, no, I don't. I don't have a pantry. My townhouse, we had to get a cabinet. $40 a day on DoorDash. Yeah, yeah. So my, here's the thing, I don't like to be uncomfortable and I don't like to cook. And so I'll tell you my first moment of success in New York was I just moved there and making, you know, enough cash where I started eating at sweet green, $13 salads every single day for lunch. And because when I moved into my gross. New York apartment. I cooked the sad chicken and it was somehow pink and rubbery. And I was just like,

I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. And so really, it's downhill from here. When I, when I could pay for salads at sweet green, I was like, this is all I need. So that, yeah, so food. I need to show you guys this clip of you guys talking about first class. I don't know if you guys seen it, but it's Steve Harvey. Okay. Check this out. Pay a little extra money to fly first class. What it does it conditions your mind. Once you get in first class and you see how wide the seats are, everybody get a wash cloth,

they got a menu, you get to decide what you want, all the drinks is free. Once you sit in first class one time, the next time you get on the plane, it's very difficult to walk past them seats. And then your mind starts thinking of ways

to get back to first class. He's talking about making money. Okay, I actually, listen, I actually relate. That's a great motivation. Yeah, I feel like a lot of people are just thinking to go to debt. They're going to find a way. Okay, that actually spoke to me, though, unironically.

Because that was my motivation. Like, in the, like, and I remember, okay, I remember the first time, too, that I sat in, like, 1A. And I was like, one A. I was, like, just saying that on my ticket, I was like, one A. I'm going to live the 1A life, you know. So that was cheesy, but I understand where he's coming from because that actually was a flip that switched in my brain. I switched that flipped in my brain. And now, yeah.

And also, I'm like good now. I'm like when I finally looked around and I was like, the life I'm living right now, I am good with, you know, it changes how you do things. I mean, I've flown not first class after that. Every flight after that has been not first class. Like we went to North Carolina. Yeah, when we. It was fine. Dave Ramsey podcast.

Yeah. Are you flying first class? No. Oh, we're going together? Yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah. If you're not in the middle seat, if you're not in the middle seat, it's manageable.

But yeah, that's the one splurge. It's nice, but I feel like if I were alone, I would do it because then I feel like I just hone out on work. Wait, can I say one more thing about the Steve Harvey clip? Yep. Because I will say too, early in my career as well, when you're like the only young chick, when you're walking in with your like sweats and, you know, beanie and you just like don't care. But you look around and you're with a bunch of like business bros and like you're the only like human that looks like you.

I will say it is pretty motivating because like I feel like for me there was power in that because I'm like yeah, I'm important like you. Major alpha. Yeah, in this seat, you know. And so that's the kind of energy that I guess. What's that like being one of the few females? Being a chick in tech. YouTube is very male dominated. It seems like that at least.

Yeah. Especially tech. Yeah. Yeah. Significantly. in tech. I will say that the tech space, tech YouTube is amazing. The people I've been able to collab with, they are so supportive. They've been supportive since the beginning. And they, I feel like they make an effort. The larger world, yeah, it can be, there can be challenges,

but I think my entire life, I've kind of been used to, like, I played electric guitar. I was in a band. So, you know, I was the like 13-year-old girl playing electric guitars and being into pedals and amps and stuff. So I've understood kind of this like demographic that you have to play in when your interests kind of skew more techie, if that makes sense. So I've had a lot of practice. But there are things that come up like, you know, collabs that didn't happen because the girlfriend of the person you were supposed to collab with didn't want that to happen because he's not allowed to hang out with like another girl. So, um, so you see?

Yeah. Like that's, that's literally happen. Yeah. No, no, no. I want to hear it. I want to hear afterwards. So that like rocked me because it was right after the Casey thing. And I was going to all these conferences and stuff.

And it was the first big creator that like recognized me for my work before. You know, everyone's like, oh, you're the Casey girl. And this person was like, oh my God, like that series that you did and this thing that you did. And they were, you know, he was like recognizing work outside. of that Casey video and he was a big creator. So this collab was like, I was putting up, I was like, this is a really big collab. This is going to be good for me. And we, we literally filmed it and he didn't post it because of his girlfriend didn't want it out there.

And you have to understand, I like, I don't look like I'm going to go steal your guy, you know? Like, women are more than just like vessels of, like, you know, I get it. You know, yeah. So it's like, that was like extremely disappointing. It was the most like, I was like in, I'm not going to say where I am because then you can start tracing things back. But I mean, I like called my mom. I was like bawling my eyes out because like business things don't happen sometimes because of that. Like that can get in the way.

And so I guess a practical point for men would just be like, make it not weird and it won't be weird. That situation wasn't weird, but for some reason, his girlfriend felt uncomfortable. Yeah. And so a lot of times, you know, that responsibly is on the woman, unfortunately, like, don't wear permissuous clothes. Don't do this. Don't do that, right?

But then there's also professionalism. So anyways, there's just, there's a lot of things. Yeah. Or did he tell you that specifically? Because I feel like if my girlfriend would act like that, I would not want to tell you one. Like, because I'm basically telling my girlfriend's psycho. Yeah. Oh, he was, he was throwing her under the bus.

You guys are going to, are they still together? You were going to freak out when I tell you who this is. Are they still together? Oh, come. I got one. I'll type it. Yeah. Are they still together?

Yes. Yeah. No, but here's the thing. Wait, let me guess. Can I guess? No, no, no. Let's not guess. What if he was talking you up a lot to the girlfriend before?

Maybe. Yeah. Because that seems. And again, and again, I don't know what's going on in their life. I'm thinking maybe. And maybe there's a small chance that behind the scenes, he's really talking you up. The fact that he's been. watching you for quite some time. Maybe there is like something there.

The girlfriend, I'm not saying it's right. But guess what? Men are allowed to like women's content. I remember one of the most attractive things about my fiance, John, was like, he was like, oh, my favorite YouTuber is Lily Singh. And he like, it's going to sound crazy, but he had entreat. Like he wasn't, you know, a super bro. And, you know, he would like things like you're allowed to like women's content. It doesn't mean that you're sexually attracted to them, you know? Okay. I'm going to write this down. Oh. That's, yeah.

Jeez. Yeah. And what? And so I've had, and this is someone who is so loved by the community, and I just have this, like, weird, like, damn, you like, you, like, yeah. I guess, you know, I don't know the situation. I have a, there has to be more than, that we're just not aware of. Because to me that seems like from that person, it's... He shouldn't have explained it in depth in paragraphs. Like, he was literally like, I was here for her on this trip, so it doesn't look good,

that he was like with another girl recording a video. And, yeah, so... That's so odd, you know, but I see, the thing for me is it's so far-fetched that I want to rationalize and be like, well, it's because of this. Oh, and this is why I would never publicly say it, because, Like, you get a lot of views. But I would instantly become the enemy because, I mean, you understand who that is. I mean, they have so many, you know.

Wow. That is really surprising. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, but overall, you know, things like that can happen and then you just take it, you know, whatever.

But overall, the actual tech YouTube space is amazing. I mean, the people I've had opportunities to collaborate. like i justine austin evans marquez um everyone is so cool in this space um so i yeah i feel super thankful that i landed in tech youtube and not in like commentary youtube or mainstream youtube because you know i've had interactions with some of those people and it's it's very different so finance youtube super nice yeah what are some of the things you've learned from some of those other people like meeting marquez oh my god yeah amazing yeah he's he's is he the top or I would say Marquez and Linus.

Linus is awesome. I'm going through some drama with him right now. But it's like, it's like we, it's. Oh, let's hear the problem. Yeah. So Lab 22 is the desk accessory brand. I just launched. We've been working on it for over a year.

There is so much leading up to this. I talked about it for the first time like two months ago, but it was just an email list. So it wasn't a lot of announcements. So we've been leading up to this. He floated a name of. his new big project, his testing facility where they're going to review tech really technically. And it's really, it's going to be awesome. But they were like, okay, guys, we finally got some names that were going to float.

And this was Friday. And he was like, what do you guys think about Lab 32? And literally, that's when I was starting to get ready for the launch and all this stuff. And, you know, we launched Monday, only two days after that Lab 22. And so like half of my comments everywhere are like, Sarah, what about line? You know, Lab 3 June. It's like it's become this thing on Twitter. And it's the name.

We almost have like the same exact name of like new brands that we've been launching. So it's not, but we're friends and we've collabed. And so we've been going back and forth very cordially. So that's some recent fun stuff. So we'll have to figure that out. You know that your thing was lab? There's no way. I mean, it was, we, I shouted out the email list, so I said it maybe twice before.

I definitely, first, but there's no, there's no way that he could have known. So it was, it was really just extremely bad luck. And so I could tell that they're like, you know, like, oh, how committed are you to this? And I'm like, have you seen the Kickstarter? Have you seen the beautiful website? And it's funny because like there's some brand overlap and stuff, but we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. How did you come up with the name? Lab 22?

Yeah, Lab 22. Yeah. So we started with that creative life, which is the name of my podcast, but legally. And I was like hot off of a lawsuit about names and stuff. So I was like, I don't want any issues with the name. So that creative life wasn't going to work out. And then we were like desk accessories, you know, like when I'm editing late at night, I'm like in the lab, right?

And then I was like, we're launching in 2022. 22 has always been my number. So I played basketball in high school. I was a big basketball player. So, you know, I have all these jerseys of with the number 22. So I was like, oh, Lab 22. Trick out your lab and 22. So that's why it's not super complex.

And how did you pick 32? Gosh, I forgot what he said on the podcast. But I think off of some like retro computer system or something. And it does make sense for their brand. Like they're building a tech lab where they can test things out. I totally understand why it's like labs. Why don't you just call it Tech 32? Because it really is like a lab.

That's a lot of people. But I think a lot of people are like, oh, LTT Labs, you know, or something like MIT Labs. Yeah. LTT Labs because other channels LTTs. It sounds just like coincidence. It was a coincidence. Yeah, yeah. We came in hot with the other drama.

This is actually I'm friends with him. So it's not like real drama. It's everyone on Twitter that's making a drama. So people are just confused. So I think he's going to mention in his podcast Friday. So it shouldn't. Yeah. I'm such a big fan of this pod.

I literally send them notes of things that we could talk about because I'm like, I never get to talk about finance stuff on my channel. Yeah, this is amazing. Hopefully it was a good pod for everyone. Yeah. What questions do you have for us? Yeah. I mean, I would love to hear more about your journey to this like, oh, let's actually,

let's focus. Let's get back to the basics, right? Did that affect how you're going to make YouTube videos? Like, are you going to make a different style for your main channel? Or how does that manifest into the main channel? I'm just less stressed out. Okay. No, there were a few things that just, I'm stressed out.

I'm just thinking, I remember, like, I had to plan a video and, you know, I had to sign some papers. It's something stupid. I just had to sign some papers. And, you know, I really got down to it. It's like, I don't like doing that. And everyone that we have in the podcast, almost everyone, is telling me, Graham, you should do this and you should do that. And if you hire this and you grew. this business over here, he'd make so much more money.

And at the end of the day, it was just pulling my attention away. And it made me realize that, like, I am not, like, I don't consider myself like a business owner. I don't have a desire to run a business. I don't have a desire to have a whole bunch of employees. And I'm just like, where I'm really the happiest is just like sitting on the couch, making a video without anything else to think about. Creating things.

Yeah. And so when I really put into perspective, it's like, okay, I could do these other things. Is it really going to, is it really worth my time to do these things compared to what I could just be doing without that stress? And so I started cutting like one thing after another. It started with the vlog. And that was just, you know, that wasn't a business, but it was just cutting down. Then, you know, millennial money was just something where it's, I just, I wanted that time back.

And I just, you know, I just wanted to have something where didn't have to think about it. And just one less thing that's on my shoulders. And it felt so good. in terms of like everything that I caught just felt like a weight was lifted. And so I kept doing it. And pretty soon, you know, I sold off one rental property, loved it. That was great. I'm selling off another one.

These are the first ones I bought. So it's nothing big. I love this energy. Yes. Yes. And it's like, sure, you know the 80-20 principle. That's what I kept going back to. I'm like 20% of the work I'm doing over here is resulting in 80% of my outcome.

so why not I just focus on that and everything else is just noise. That's why I stopped my podcast. One day it might come back, but now I've made peace where I see it as a body of work. I've interviewed like 125 legendary people. Let that be what it is, you know? And so I feel you. So on the other side, what would be your ideal, like for Graham's Steffen Enterprises, if you could do whatever you want with his business, what would it be?

Because I feel like you're on the opposite side of the spectrum. It's just like just allowing JIP be like, hey, you run it. If I could like transform his business. Yeah, yeah. If you could run all of his stuff, what would that look like? Well, it's hard because I don't know what exactly his like day to day looks like. But if I'm taking it from what he's told me is basically basically like planning and like filming and reviewing and stuff like that, I would just say figure out where most of the time is going,

see if you can find someone to potentially trim the fat on that and somehow like make it faster and more efficient and then make that happen. because I know for Graham right now, and this is something I brought up, but like it's very hard for him to take time off, at least like extended periods of time, like three, four days. You know what I mean? Like he can do like one day here and there. But I would like if something were to happen, some crazy opportunity, he can go take advantage of it and go somewhere for three, four days or someone can potentially present him with like three, you know, let's say one script with three different variations of different parts. And then he can say, oh, I like this or maybe it's 80% done and he could just do like the 20% on the top of that or something like that. I will say that.

Yeah, the script thing is hard because I try to get help with script and I'm like, it's not me. This is me is that. So I understand that. But then, yeah, you want to feel like you can be able to go somewhere. I attribute my entire career to serendipity. In the beginning, I just said yes to everything and it's still paying dividends. And so I think having a healthy balance of both of those worlds is good. Yeah, I really love working though.

I mean, that's the thing. So it's like for me, traveling anywhere is usually just an inconvenience. And it's like, I will say, I just went to Santa Barbara. And it would be such a quick trip for you and Macy. I went there with John and my fiance. And it was amazing. The beaches in Santa Barbara are gorgeous. It was the first time I disconnected in maybe two years.

And so I feel like you're so close to just so many pretty beaches and places. You could, you know, you could probably start bopping over to. Yeah. But you got to do what you like. But I have a little bit more free time now that I've cut a lot of the other stuff. It's just less to think about. And then also when you are, because I had to stop feeling stressed about not taking a break. And so once you can free your mind of like, I like working, so I'm going to continue to work until maybe I should take a break.

And so now that I've taken the stress off of the pressure of like, you should take a break and all that stuff, it's much better. Yeah. But what would you say you would just hire a scriptor really? I would look into it. That's the thing. It's like you really haven't looked into it that much. So you could say it's not possible, but we really don't know. But here's the thing.

I mean, like, I thought all of the other things Graham was doing on the side, that was a lot. And he was definitely seemed like he was really stressed out and losing focus on the stuff that really mattered. But now since he has dropped all of those things and it does seem like he's at a place where his workload is very manageable. I think that's totally fine. And if he really does, like, enjoy scripting and stuff like that, I see no problem with it. I don't know if there's really much I would change now. The hardest part for me is topics.

Scripting. If I had a topic that was presented to me every morning, like do this and it will do well, I could do that so well. But it's figuring out the topics and the angle that will make it do well. And that's YouTube and that's what makes it so hard. I have so many ideas, but I don't have so many thumbnails and titles. So much gets left on the cutting room floor. Yeah, Jeremy's actually been helping me with some video topics.

He'll throw me the topics that he thinks would make a good video that he wouldn't cover. Maybe it's just not his stock market audience. So the China video He started sending me these videos It's like hey This is a really interesting video Check this out I started doing a lot of research

But if it wasn't for Jeremy sending me that At like 11 p.m. at night On like a weekday And I'm like looking at this I'm like Macy Look at this video And I'm showing her this Like some credible thing

Who are you doing your Twitter? No Okay Because that is something I've noticed Because I am so on Twitter And I'm like Grandma Steffen up his Twitter And it's working

So speaking of that, that is the only person who I think I would ever trust with the script. And he's helped me with research. I got to do a huge chat. I just have to shout him out. It's a market. It's called the market sentiment blog. I'll link to him down below in the description. Just seriously, just it's free.

It costs you nothing. Just go and check it out. He's a blog that I referenced in a video like a year ago. And I referenced him as this person who compiled this research. I'm like, it's so good that I mentioned it in a video and then I linked to him in the description. And he, I think I emailed him or he emailed me. I was like, dude, thank you so much for that shoutout. We just gained 5,000 new subscribers to our page.

It like doubled. This is incredible. I was like, yeah, no, his blog is so good. And he posts once a week. And so I kept just like shouting out his blog because he had so much good research and I just go there and then reference what he found and say, hey guys just check this out down below in the description and we kept talking and then he made me the pitch and says graham you you have scripts for your videos why don't you create a newsletter and

I'll do it for you um and so yeah and from that he's been perfect like he'll take my script but then take it a step further and then create his own graphs for like the research that I found that's so good uh and then we've gone back and forth and then he took over the Twitter but uh yeah the The Twitter is so good. We grew from, I think it was 50,000 to 130,000. Wow. Twitter followers in like three months, four months, something like that. And, you know, I'm so happy to give him, like, any promotion whatsoever.

Just because his information is good, but he's someone I would trust. And that's good. And he's helped me with research. Like, he's even come to me and says, Grammy, if you want to do a video on this topic, like, I'll help you research on it. And I think that's been fantastic. And I think that's the best way to find people for, for, for. us is like people who naturally integrate and don't just say, hey, what can I do?

Yeah. But it's like, hey, I will do this, this and this, and you only have to say yes. And because I know you were adamant about emailing Graham in the beginning. That was a funny story. But like I think that's so helpful for people if you admire someone or there's an entrepreneur, a YouTuber that you want to work with, don't email them and just say, hey, I'll do anything. Say, hey, I notice your podcast doesn't have clips on TikTok. Here's some examples that you can post right now, free of charge.

If you want to put me on a monthly retainer to have these clips every single month, hit me up, it's this price. If you make it so easy for them to say yes, a lot of stuff can happen that way. Market sentiment blog, I'll link to it down below in the description. That's awesome. One more question. If you have time, I feel like finance YouTube overall is going through an interesting thing because I was, went so ham on it during COVID, right? Because oh my gosh, so crazy and you know, you have all everything. But now it seems like, okay, inflation, markets down, what is new, right? Are you feeling

that fatigue on your side just like personally? Yeah. Yeah. If you're feeling it, I'm feeling it 10 times worse. Yeah, because I'm like, how do you like mentally like wake up and be like, how am I going to talk about this in a YouTube video? The good news is that if I set a goal and I say no matter what and the day doesn't end until I finish a video. I'll finish a video. It's never been an issue of that. The hard, because the thing is, I know 100% I could always, there's always like 30 topics that I could revert back to. There's truly nothing. They're evergreen videos. So it's like, I can make another video on passive income. I can make another. Credit cards. Yeah. And the thing is, those do well because nobody goes back and watches the videos that I've posted like three years ago.

So unless you get that recommended, you're never seeing it. And most new subscribers will never see those videos. So they're missing out on that. So every now and then I do try. Usually once a year, I try to go back through videos that I think are important, remake them better and make them updated. So let's say it's like the top five ETFs that you could buy of 2019. Well, even though it might be pretty similar today, we could improve the video, make it

funny or make it more interesting and bring it up today. And the funny thing is too, people think that the videos that I've done in like 2018 are no longer valid. Be like, oh, dividends. That's 2018. Markets changed. It's almost like you have to make a new video on that for people to think it applies. That's a good point. So, yeah, so there's always like probably 20 topics realistically that I could make if there's truly nothing. And I do that. So usually, like once every other week, there'll be one of those videos and then it kind of fills the space in between the time. But yeah, there's definitely not a lot to talk about. So, you know, I would like to pivot, I think at some point, but, you know, I think it'll just happen naturally.

Yeah. Glad you have the podcast. I mean, that keeps things new. Yeah, I like the flow. I think they got a good flow. They've been trickle in through the main channel. Sometimes they'll dabble in the second channel a little bit, some reactions. By the time they make it to the podcast, though.

And the podcast, I really hope is growing its own audience. I have a feeling there's a lot of over, probably 80% overlap. But I'd love for the podcast to have more of its own demographic that's separate. I could totally see that. Yeah, because you're, bring in new people all the time. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I think it's great. No, don't stop the podcast. Oh, God. No, no, no, no. Honestly, I would say the podcast would be the, well, I don't want to jinx it now. I feel like I'm going to jinx it. I'm going to jinx it. The podcast, I think, has a lot of longevity.

There's a lot to the podcast that I really enjoy. Yeah, I enjoy it. Yeah. And it's cool now with the podcast. So sometimes I get a little bummy if we post an episode and it doesn't do that well. But now I feel like we have so many different faucets for, like growth. We've been doing Instagram reels of the podcast.

I've been seeing your TikToks. Yeah. Oh, God. The TikTok. Yeah. You know what's funny. My dad sends me to, he's like, he gets recommended the TikTok. Yeah.

Randomly, he's like, I saw this TikTok. I thought it was really good. I'm like, you're on TikTok and then like, you got recommended that. Like he's not searching this out. Like he got recommended that. That's amazing. Hey, dad. Imagine this gets clipped up.

Did you know, fun fact. Did you know TikTok recommends? based on like location. Yes. Yeah. So if you, so if you're like an aspiring filmmaker, it would be wise to like post your TikToks when you're in L.A.

or something. I just learned that. I get a lot of Las Vegas TikToks. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But yeah. But so we've been doing Instagram, um,

Facebook. We're in the process of Snapchat. Good. Yeah. Um, for people make good money. Yeah. It's pretty crazy like the amount of reach that you can get on all these other platforms.

But it's also interesting to note that they don't really like trickle down into that. That's what I was saying. I was like all of these views, but what does it do? However, if your face is on there, it's brand equity. You're building brand awareness. But it's hard because it's like this false sense of confidence that you get because it's like, hey, I got a lot of million views. No, there is real value to it.

So for example, if you're reaching out for a potential guest in the podcast, you can say, hey, on average, our videos will get, or each episode will get 30 million views of reach. And you're including all of your short form and everything. And all they care about is the reach. video. It's like 20,000 views. No, but the thing is, at the end of the day, if we're having a guest on that's of that level where you actually need to pitch it to them, all they really care about is reach. That's very true.

It's a superficial stuff. So it's like, what's your follower account? What's your view count? I agree with you on that. But yeah, it makes it a lot more attractive. Especially if we can disperse it on all these different platforms, they have confidence that like, okay, I can be seen on all of these different platforms with all these different populations or viewer demographic.

and that's a lot more interesting to them. No, that's a great point. Really briefly. I'm not trying to plug anything or anything, but no, I'm not. Sponsored by Lexar. Yeah, okay. No, that's what I was going to bring up. Andrew cut this out.

Last podcast, people were like, I can't believe Alex got a sponsor. Like, I just have to point it out, guys, it's kind of a joke, but also kind of not a joke. No, no, but don't you dare act like it's a joke. Okay. It's so funny that they deposit money. in your bank account. No, but let's be honest. Before I brought anything, I did float the idea around and, you know, we agreed as long

it wasn't anything too crazy. I will say the wedding thing shook me to my core. So you're against it. I was, I was shocked that that was even a thought, to be honest. I was serious. I was a good idea. I was like, I get it. After listening to it, I could understand how you could get to that point.

But I feel like a wedding is like such a pure. thing or that you tried to keep that way that I was like oh my gosh I feel like that would be so crazy you have to you have to remember yeah you also have to remember like when people ask my wife like oh you got married just like yeah we got married in December because of tax purposes and like like you have to remember like who you're dealing with you know wait what uh what are reasons to get married in a certain month because it doesn't matter as long as you're married by the yeah yeah so because here's the thing we were going to get married in 2022. But it was the end of 2021. I had just started my own business. I had all this income. We're in

like this tax bracket where we're not maxing out. And so by getting married, we got a tax break. Yeah. Alex literally realized that as I was just sitting at my desk, you know, you can save money with the being married. And he's like, what? What? What? I have to propose. And it was probably like, Jack, do not throw me under the bus. I wouldn't put this up. Seriously. It was like, it was like, 30 seconds that lapsed. No, you could put it up. You could put it to do it anyways. Yeah.

Yeah. But he knew he was going to do it anyways, but it was just a sense. Yeah, I told Jack, I was like, you know what? Yeah. Like, I knew I was going to do it anyway, but. We're probably, yeah. Now's the time. I'm probably eloping because of how expensive things are.

But yeah, I've been engaged for almost two years now. We got engaged February 2020, right before the pandemic in New York. It's tragic timing. What are your plans for getting married? We now, now we're just saying, let's go back to New York, just rooftop. dinner, small ceremony with just a media family. Because like I'm not, yeah, I'm not a planner. And so I'm not a planner, John's not a planner.

And so we just haven't gotten married because of that. You know, so we would love to get married, but we just need to do something simple. Yeah. COVID complicated things. That makes sense. Yeah. Eli Jones, thank you so much for supporting that Patreon. You make a difference and you are the reason why they wake up in the morning.

That's true. All right. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. JLS, SELB-Y on Instagram. And make sure to get your free stock down below. Make sure to buy some Lexar stuff. Thanks, guys.