The Iced Coffee Hour - Meet The Most Interesting Person In New York City | Elliot Choy
Episode Date: August 22, 2022Elliot Choy is an American videographer, digital content creator, entrepreneur, vlogger, and social media influencer from New York. Elliot give us insight on how one can grow on youtube and find their... niche. 5 days unlimited access and 20% discount on shortform here: https://www.shortform.com/coffee Check out the Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/icedcoffeehour Add us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jlsselby https://www.instagram.com/gpstephan https://www.instagram.com/alex_nava_p... Official Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeBQ... For sponsorships or business inquiries reach out to: icedcoffeehour@creatorsagency.co GET YOUR FREE STOCK WORTH UP TO $1000 ON PUBLIC & SEE MY STOCK TRADES - USE CODE GRAHAM: http://www.public.com/graham MY NEW COFFEE IS NOW FOR SALE: http://www.bankrollcoffee.com/ The Equipment used: https://tinyurl.com/y78py5g2 Audio Equipment Used In Podcast: Shure SM7B mics, cloud lifters, rodecaster pro audio interface The YouTube Creator Academy: Learn EXACTLY how to get your first 1000 subscribers on YouTube, rank videos on the front page of searches, grow your following, and turn that into another income source: https://bit.ly/2STxofv $100 OFF WITH CODE 100OFF For Podcast Inquiries, please contact GrahamStephanPodcast@gmail.com *Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Graham Stephan will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Graham Stephan is part of an affiliate network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Welcome back to the Ice Coffee Hour.
I'm L.A. Choi.
And so far, this podcast has made $230,000.
Very close.
That was a fantastic guest.
It's 247,000.
Oh, that was good.
You're one of the closest we've ever had, I think.
That's true.
I kind of like watched one from like a month ago.
Yeah, that was a good guess.
Thank you.
Welcome to Vegas.
Thank you.
What are you doing here?
I'm here for trade show, actually.
What's the trade show?
A clothing trade show.
It's called magic.
Sourcing. So you're to like talk to manufacturers. So I was here for like the past few days doing that. Is that manufacturers for like a personal brand or something like that? For clothing. For clothing. Yeah. So just trying to find you manufacturers and factors. And this is your merch line. Yeah, for copyright. So we've seen your videos from back in the day. I remember when it was a big thing to do like a day in the life of a Harvard student.
A day in the life of Yale student. And then there's you. Day in the life at Vanderbilt. Yeah. And that video got how much.
How many, was it, five million views, four million?
No, not that much.
That was, yeah, around two, I think.
Two and a half movies.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that was your, was that your first video ever?
So that's my first public video.
Uh-huh.
But maybe overall, like my seventh video.
Seventh video.
Yeah.
Was that like the first video you took seriously or was it like?
Yeah, that was like, okay, so I made a few videos about like flipping and reselling because
I used to do that in high school, very Carrie V inspired.
And then I made some videos about like selling on Amazon because I used to do that.
And that's terrible.
And that took a year off.
And then my first real attempt back was that day in the life video.
And it just absolutely popped off.
It did really well for like my first real attempt at YouTube.
And honestly, I think like having the other videos beforehand kind of helped with that though.
It's pretty amazing because like you gained 50,000 subscribers in just like two months, right?
I think I have a video named something like that.
Yeah.
What was so special about that Vanderbilt video?
Why do you think so many people watched it?
Yeah, there was like a ton of Day in the Life videos at the time.
Like Harvard, like you said, Harvard, Princeton, like any other college, there was like a ton of viral videos.
And then with my school, Vanderbilt, there was only like one video, day and the life video and it had 10K views.
So I was like, okay, like if I make a decent video, it'll probably do well.
And I got lucky and it ended up doing well.
So I spent like a week like researching because at the time, this is 2018.
At the time, the only thing you needed was good watch time and good click through rate.
And it's like a viral video.
Nowadays it's a little different.
Tell us about that video.
What did you do in that video?
In that video, specifically that made it do perform well.
Yeah, like how was your day?
Oh, how was my day?
It's a really like regular video.
Just like wake up breakfast.
I read a book maybe like went to classes, went to the gym,
hung out with friends, very normal average day.
I think what made it like do well was a lot of the other videos,
Day in the Life videos is a lot of people kind of talking and not showing.
and I was like kind of bothered by that.
I was like, oh, I want to know like how long are your classes or like how nice are the amenities there like at your college campus.
So I try to like lean into that and fix some of those things that I saw.
And for those day in the life videos, I have a feeling that someone picks like if you're going to make one of those day in the life videos, you're going to pick out a day that you have a lot of exciting things going on.
Yeah.
Did you do that or did you just do like that?
So you picked out a day where you're like, okay, I'm going to read.
It's my first time reading in two months, but I'm going to read it.
Like a cold shower and journal.
But yeah, some of it is definitely like hyped up a little bit.
Yeah.
I think that's also just like my effort to like really show like a variety of things that maybe it wouldn't just go into one day.
But like an average of multiple different days.
So I was really thinking about like myself as like a high school student looking up the in the life videos for my school and not finding anything that was like actually relevant or actually that information.
Do you think that goes into a high schooler's decision?
Oh, yeah.
Do they YouTube, like, day in the life of, you know.
When I was making college videos, like, guaranteed a ton of those viewers were high schoolers.
Really?
Yeah.
And even myself, like, when I got accepted into Vandy, I was, like, looking up,
the In the Life videos.
And there was none that was, like, super good or well-produced or anything.
So even myself, I was, like, looking at stuff like that.
How did you pick Vanderbilt?
Vanderbilt?
They gave me good financial aid.
Okay.
So they threw me a lot of money, and I said, okay, I'll go.
Did you apply to, like, Harvard, Yale?
No, no, not really.
Really. I only applied to mostly state schools. Like maybe like USC, Cornell, Vanderbilt. Like, those are the ones you know probably. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. And that video did extremely well. Did it do well out the gate or did it take a while to like start catching on? I have some like screenshots. I don't remember exactly. Maybe like, I want to say like 10K views in the first week, which is crazy for me. Yeah. Coming from 100 views max on some of those older videos. So 10K views off the gate.
And then within the span of a few months, like,
and that probably 20, 30, 40, up to maybe 100.
Wow.
That was crazy.
How much clout do you get at a college campus after that?
I'm so curious.
Everyone must be like, yeah, that's Ellie.
He had that video.
That's funny.
No, I feel like my peers, like, didn't know it all, like anyone in my grade.
It was more so, like, I really noticed it when a new freshman class came in.
Because every single one of those freshmen coming into the school, like, had watched that video
because they were just like, just like me when I was a senior in high school, just curious about, like,
what is college life like? And like, what am I going to expect? Like, what am I going to experience?
They're just like so curious. So that was weird. And then the next freshman class after that, it was even
more. So that's the first week of like a new semester was always pretty interesting. Yeah, but
definitely not like people in my grade. What did you go to study there? I studied business. Yeah,
just like general business so was your expectation you were going to graduate and then just go in the
field of yeah like what did you want to be freshman year i wanted to go into ib like investment banking
uh sophomore i wanted to be like in consulting and i'm like so glad i did like i'm so glad i'm
so glad i escaped that but i was very much just like um i was kind of brainwashed yeah really like
oh that's like what i'm supposed to do that's like the best job you can get it's like ibe or
consulting. How many of your friends went into investment banking? A good amount actually right around
like my year, investment banking was becoming less popular and consulting was becoming more popular,
mostly probably because of like the work culture and that type of thing. So a lot of people,
a lot of my friends are in consulting and then a good amount are also in like tech, like from college
specifically. Sounds stupid. What does a consultant do? Because I would have a hard time imagine like
what a fresh college graduate. No offense could consult on for like a large company. You would think
that they would just hire people with prior experience in the industry to consult?
Right, right.
Yeah, I don't, I mean, I never worked a consulting job, so I couldn't tell you.
I guess my friends would say they just like apply problem solving like at frameworks, I guess.
I don't know.
I was never a consultant.
I feel the exact same way, man.
Yeah.
I never knew what it was because I was studying Econ at UCSB.
Okay.
And I was like, I was like, okay, like, I get going to consulting.
What is that?
Like, I have no idea.
I feel like insulting is one of those buzzwords now.
It's like democratizing, whatever it is.
You know what I mean?
Like it means a lot of other things that are under consulting.
But people throw that in to confuse you.
Yeah.
It's like, I do consulting.
All right.
Yeah.
It's one of those things that just like I do real estate.
Yeah.
Okay.
But it could mean anything.
Yeah,
I really could.
That's interesting.
But at what point then did you realize it's like,
I'm not going to do consulting.
I'm not going to do investment banking.
The YouTube channel's popping off.
I'm going to be a YouTuber.
It was like a very gradual process for me.
I definitely started off like not,
really convinced that YouTube was going to work out. Like, I was still like trying to get summer internships and that type of thing.
And then I remember like there being a little bit of a turning point, which was I made like this viral video and it ended up like making a lot of revenue like off that because of ad sense. And then that that was like really a turning point. Because I had I hadn't really made money from YouTube before that. And then at that point I was like, oh, like you can actually like make money from YouTube like, you know, comparable to what I might make it like a consulting job or a finance job. So.
For me, it was like, okay, like, I'll always like do YouTube on the side, right?
Like, that's what I was doing at the time, whole time student, YouTube on the side.
Maybe I was like, oh, maybe I'll just like go work a normal job, do YouTube on the side.
But yeah, definitely at a point kind of like which.
What was that video?
That was giving Harvard students an iPhone.
I saw that video.
Yeah, giving away iPhone at Harvard or something.
Yeah.
That was like a very different video.
But I was in a group chat with like, with like Jimmy, Mr. Beast, like, like,
Ryan and a few other friends and like it was called I figure what it's called 10
million bangers or something and we were just focused on making a video with 10
million views and so I was very influenced by them and I was like oh I need to make a
viral video I need to make a viral video so that was my effort at that and yeah I
think it got like 24 million views or something wait wait what goes on in this the
secret world that is that group chat dead now is it's totally dead now yeah
it's totally dead I feel like they just like start up and then like they kind of die
What was going on in there?
How did you get access to that?
I was friends with Ryan.
So Ryan Trahan, he's a great YouTuber.
Yeah, I met Ryan, like, at a talk that I gave with him
at my other friend, friend's conference.
And, yeah, that was how I met Ryan.
And then Ryan kind of invited me in.
But what goes on in there?
Like, just conversations about, like, oh, this video, is it going to do well?
Like, why is it going to do well?
A lot of, like, thumbnail comparisons.
Like, what's the better thumbnail and why?
a lot of times like previewing each other's videos and like we used to do like a weekly call
where we just like gave feedback and like kind of roasted each other how long ago was that
this was a while ago this was like my sophomore junior year of college was it intimidating
to be in that group um not intimidating um it was just like super exciting just because yeah it was just
fun to like learn whose idea was it to go to harvard and give away iPhones whose idea was it was it
Was it yours?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
I, um, so at the time, like, when I made this video, there were a ton of really viral
videos where people were giving away iPhones.
And I had done like a Harvard Day in the Life video.
And that had done like super well, like a few million views.
So I was like, okay, like trivia, giving away iPhones already hitting 10 millions of views or
whatever.
And then like my day in the life video at Harvard already had like a few million views.
And I was like, let me just combine the two.
and like do that.
So it's kind of like on brand and like I don't know.
And as soon as you produce that video,
did you know it was going to be a banger?
Yeah.
When I was planning it,
I was like,
oh,
this is going to go viral.
Like this is going to be,
this is going to be big.
Oh,
sorry,
go for it.
Yeah.
No,
I thought it was going to reach like a few million views.
But it did like way better than that.
So how much did that video make you?
Okay.
So this is a really interesting story.
I basically had $3,000 in my bank account when I made that video.
I spent $2,000 on the two iPhones that I gave away.
$500 on a round trip flight to Boston from Vanderbilt.
And so I had like $500 in my bank account when I went to Boston.
And I was like, I was really like, I put all my chips on on one thing.
I was just like, okay, this is going to, this has to do well or else I'm like, I'm screwed.
The video made like, I think like right now it's close to 100.
Okay.
So maybe around like 98, 99 in that rate.
I don't know.
I don't know the last time I checked.
That's incredible.
ROI. Yeah, it was like, I can't tell you guys like how insane that feeling was because I remember I had like
$500 left my bank account and the first week, I think in the first six days it had six million views or
something like that. Holy cow. And then the AdSense hit like the first check for AdSense was like 20 or 30 or
40 something like that. And so imagine going from like 500, never having more than $4,000, $5,000 in my bank account
ever to now having like my first check of.
that 100K was 20, 30, 40K.
And so, like, I literally felt, I can imagine, like, what it feels like to win the lottery.
Yeah.
Because it literally felt like that.
It was like the most insane high I've ever felt in my life.
Yeah.
And, like, even just talking about it right now, I'm like kind of like, yeah, bring myself back.
And like, oh my God, like sophomore year, junior year, Elliott was just like, I was just off the walls.
So how do you not then just go back to Harvard and do it again?
Yeah.
Why not just repeat?
You found a winning thing.
Right.
keep doing that. Yeah, I didn't like want to end up being one of those creators that like just did
interviews and stuff. I get the question a lot like why didn't I just go back and do it. But at the
end of the day, like I love making vlogs. Like I like making videos about my life. And you know like
that type of video is more of like a hosting role than like a main character role if you want to make
that comparison. So for me it's like I really cared about like sharing stories about my life and
sharing my perspective. And although like that type of video does well and makes a lot of money like makes
you successful because you get a lot of subscribers. I got like 400k subscribers for that video.
Yeah, it just like wasn't what I wanted. So I went back to like just making normal like blogs.
What's amazing to me is that you gained 400,000 subscribers from that video, but still you were
somehow able to pivot to pivot where usually like you see someone grow and then they pivot and
then their child, their channel dies. Yeah. But you also have amazing engagement for the amount
of subscribers that you have. You have like 1.2 million subscribers. But each of your videos gets like
200k views, which is like nearly 20% engagement, which is fantastic. So how were you able to pivot
in such a successful way, do you think? Yeah, actually, it's funny because like I went from
having a few million views on that video. And then the next video I posted it, like, just went
back to my normal viewership. I thought my life was like totally changed after I hit that viral video.
I was like, oh my God, all my views are going to do super well now. So I experienced like a lot of
burnout after because I was like, okay, that's not the case. I think how it ends up working out is
usually like that's the top of the funnel like people might find your channel that way and they
might subscribe for that type of content and then the videos i was making like not really the type of
content that people subscribe for but there's still some a little bit of overlap people interested in
college or people interested in like college life in general so yeah i think that kind of helped
but um i was trying to find this like i'm sure you guys do this too but like find this fine balance
between making videos that bring new people in and then making videos that also kind of
like keep people in the ecosystem and keep people engaged.
Now is that the time you decided to go full time?
I really didn't decide to do full time YouTube until like my second semester senior year
of college like three years in and still was like, ah, should I go like apply for a job?
I come from like a pretty like conservative family and so they were definitely like pushing
for me to just like go get a job.
So it took a lot of like, I don't know, even though it was like, like,
like a no-brainer for most people.
Like, I feel like it would be a no-brainer.
For me, it was still a very, like, last-minute decision of like, okay, I'm just like,
I'm going to do YouTube, like, after I graduate college.
So, yeah.
How much were you making at the time where you decided, all right, I'm doing this?
I decided to do YouTube full-time, like that full-time decision was when I was making
as much as I would at, like, a consulting job.
And so I was like, if I'm going to make the same amount, but I can do what I love,
then there's no, there's no opportunity to.
cost and going to go work a corporate job because it's not like I'd be making more money there.
It's not like I'd be having more fun. It's not like at the time. It wasn't like I was getting
more opportunities. So for me it was just like, okay, when the pendulum kind of like switched over to,
okay, most of the opportunity is on on the YouTube side, that's when it made sense for me to
like really commit to that. It was like a hundred hundred grand a month or a year or something
like that. Yeah, 100 grand a month. Yeah, 100 a month. I was like, oh, yeah, I might want to be a consultant.
We're so used to the finance niche.
Yeah, sorry, guys, I don't have a finance channel.
Not like that.
Your threshold is not like that.
I just misspoke.
It's funny.
You know, when people say like, sometimes we'll ask, like, how much you may and they'll be like 80 grand?
I'm like, I always think a month.
Everything is now a month.
It's so bad.
Oh, 80 grand a month.
That's not bad at all.
That's okay.
Yeah.
It could probably double it.
Yeah, we can work on it.
No, that was huge for me.
Like the six-figure threshold was definitely like.
okay, I can do this like full time.
What did your parents think about it?
At first they were like very, very hesitant, very reluctant.
They definitely were like every time I went back home for break, they're like,
so where are you working next year?
Where are you getting that internship?
But over time, I'm kind of like, I'm very stubborn.
And especially with my parents, I'm very stubborn.
They know now like if I'm going to do something, I'm just going to do it.
Like they can't really change my mind.
So over time, they just gave up.
and yeah
they're very supportive now
like of course
what do you vlog now
if someone asks like
what your style is
or why people watch
what would you say
you mentioned like
Day of the Life videos
it's kind of like
it's just like
honestly like
a bunch of Day in the Life videos
but they're just blogs
and now I live in New York
instead of on a college campus
and so a lot of it
is just like
me hanging out with my friends
getting coffee
and that just like
my life
to me
that sounds like the life
you go out
you hang out with your friends, you just film it, right?
Like everyone already does like on Snapchat and stuff like that.
Yeah.
You post it.
You make a bunch of money.
How is that, are you just like on cloud nine?
I mean, lifestyle content is great in that like, yeah, you can just live your life and then
document it.
And that's like very natural and organic.
I would say like it has its own consequences and like its own, I don't know, there's,
there's sacrifices that you make because your work and your life are so intertwined.
And sometimes I wish that I could just like have work mode.
which is like going in and like making a video, producing a video,
and then like getting off and then like just kind of being on personal time,
if that makes sense.
So yeah, it's hard because like if you, so in college, like I was making videos about
being in college.
And so once I graduated college, like I had to make videos about being someone who makes
videos.
And so it's a very like weird loop where you're like, okay, if most of my day is consumed
by like thinking about how to make videos, like what are you actually making videos about?
So that's like a very like challenging thing as a lifestyle creator is like, okay, then you have to go make your life interesting.
You have to go like do things that are interesting.
Otherwise it's not going to be entertaining to watch.
So yeah, you hear that from a lot of vloggers.
And what about like the David Dobrick kind of vlogs?
Yeah.
Do you think that you can produce something similar to that?
I don't think so.
You don't think you want to go in that direction.
I definitely would not.
It's just like to produce for me and like.
Yeah.
You know it's crazy.
I just realized that style has officially died out.
The David is not posting.
No, but Logan Paul was doing there.
Remember that?
Yeah, Logan quit before David, though, didn't he?
I think so.
But there was that brief period of time where everybody, I feel, like, did the David Dobrick route as like five-minute videos, just clip-plip with high retention.
Yeah.
I have not seen a video like that.
I like it.
But then now, I feel like we went the Emma Chamberlain route of just like these long, 20-minute vlogs, very low editing, just very personal.
I don't think we're there yet.
I think we're not.
I don't think we're at the Emma Chamberlain.
Like Emma pulls it off really well.
Yeah.
But I think like it is a bit of a pendulum.
I don't know.
There's still,
I feel like the dominant thing is still like fast pace.
It's not as like,
it's not like David Dobrick style,
but it's still.
I agree.
It's fast paced and also like challenges.
Like that's kind of what's like popping off.
Yeah.
But you also can't compare like
10 million views on a challenge video.
Sure.
To like an Emma Chamberlain video.
It's like totally different.
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And with that said, back to the podcast.
How are you able to cultivate such a dedicated audience?
I still can't wrap my head around it because like, like I said, you have like, what,
200,000 followers on Instagram, but you have videos I get, or photos I get like 50,000
likes.
Those ratios are insane.
Like the people that follow you, they actually watch all of your content.
It's not like they just like hit subscribe and they don't stick around. How are you able to keep these people around? Is it just because you're very personal in your videos? I think it is that like when you spend 10 minutes a week with someone and like you share kind of like what's going on in your mind. A lot of times I think the relationship that I like compared to is like if I was like face timing my friend like and I'm updating them on like what my week looks like or like what I'm up to and just like having almost like if you're hanging out like the way we're hanging out. But then imagine there's like I mean, I'm updating them. I mean,
I mean, it's kind of like this, actually, where you have, like, another person just kind of sitting in on, on that conversation. And you can directly address that person if you want sometimes. And that's pretty much like they're a part of this friend group and they're just like hanging out with you. So in that way, I think a lot of times people come up to me and they're like, hey, like, it's me. Like, you know me. Like, you know me. Like, you know me. But I have no idea who they are. But I get it because like I was, I sometimes watch creators. And I've also like been like had that feeling of like, oh, it's me. Like we're friends. Like you know.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So I think like that creates a very strong bond because in a way like they don't feel like just a fan, but they just feel like a friend.
So I think that's like a huge, I don't know.
For me, it's like a great part about making like personal videos is that you get to develop like a personal relationship with your viewer.
And would you say you're very genuine in your YouTube videos and can viewers sense people being genuine or not?
Of course he's going to see.
Yes, he's genuine.
I'm actually fake as.
No.
No, no, man
Actually, everything
Actually, everything is just fake, you know
Viewers can tell a creator's being genuine or not.
Yeah, 100%.
Like, it's uncanny how viewers know, like,
certain things like we, like, I never talk about sometimes.
They just know, like, so you can sense, like,
the craziest things like that I've,
they would have no idea what's going on,
but like, sometimes they'll DM me and they're like,
hey, Elliot, you okay?
Like, you look a little down today?
I was like, or like, they're like,
Is there something going on between, like, you and a friend?
Like, you know, they're just, I'm just like, how could you know that?
Like, it makes no sense, but there's some smart.
There's some smart people out there.
Highly, like, emotionally intelligent.
Just, it's crazy.
People tell me all the time.
You look tired.
Like, I am.
Like, yeah, I'm very tired.
No, half the time, it's the lighting.
It's the lighting.
Bad lighting makes me.
Are you tired?
Sometimes.
Yeah, so maybe.
There's some videos.
I'm not tired and be like, oh, man, you look tired.
I'm like, it's the lighting.
That's the lighting.
That's why Graham's so particular about the lighting.
Sick of the tired comments.
Tired to counteract the lack of sleep.
That's funny.
How is your business broken down now?
Like YouTube in general.
I mean, a lot of it is, for a long time, we used copyrighting music for a while.
So, AdSense is like, I still mostly use, like, nowadays I do use non-copyrighted, but
I've never, like, relied on AdSense.
It's just, like, not as high for lifestyle creators.
And so mostly like brand deals for sure.
And then a huge part is like the clothing copyright.
Sorry, that's confusing because I just talked about copyright.
But no, the clothing is called copyright.
And then yeah, so clothing, brand deals, ad sense.
It's kind of like the mix for YouTube.
And then of course, it's like random things on the side.
But yeah.
Can you give us a rough like, you know, estimate on what your income would be every month?
It fluctuates a lot.
Um, because some months I'll do drop. Some months I don't do drop. So that makes a huge difference.
Yeah. Because I only like do drop every few months. Um, it really varies. Like, yeah, I will say like,
I have seen it like for for some reason. I always imagine that like my channel is dying and like my
career is going to die. That's every one. Every single day man. Every single day. I'm like,
oh my God, this is it. Like we just hit the apex and like we're going downhill now. Um,
but you know, uh, you, you had Shelby on here a few months or, or, um,
maybe a month ago or whatever.
We were talking because we went on like a trip together.
And she was like, yeah, like, you know, like my income just keeps growing.
And I'm like, okay.
Like, you know, she's a little bit more, like has a few more years on me.
I'm like, okay, like, I'm just going to keep it up because like, hopefully I'll just like keep growing.
It really is like interesting how more opportunities just like keep coming up.
And sometimes that's like a problem because you don't really know which ones to choose.
Just because you have so many.
But it's a great problem to have.
but it gets distracting sometimes for sure.
So it's extremely variable, basically.
It is, it is.
Yeah, I feel like, I don't know if you guys feel that, but...
Mine's extremely variable.
In general, like...
It literally will go like 2x and then like 50%.
Yeah, because you could have a great brand deal or you could have like a good month in views.
You can't control it a little bit, but sometimes you, I mean, I don't know.
Sometimes you can't, so...
Do you ever worry that making more money is going to make you seem less relatable,
that all of a sudden you're like a rich guy who's like, ooh, he's pretending to
be, you know, a certain way. Yeah. Yeah. Or if you get, you know, too flashy, then it's like,
oh, he doesn't get it anymore. Yeah. It's definitely like a risk. Like you've, I've seen it happen
to like a lot of people where they become very successful and then they're like suddenly out
of touch. Um, it's a thing, like, especially for lifestyle creators. I think for me, like, my goal is
just to like be genuine, be authentic. Like, if I am like making more like, I'm not, I'm not going
to hide it. Like, I'm not going to like go. Some people like, I don't know, I'm not calling anyone out.
but um you might like go like living like a small apartment because you're like oh like um you know
i don't make any money or sometimes people will just be like oh i don't make money like i'm broke
they're clearly not broke um i'm never going to be like oh i'm broke and like when i'm not broke
but um i think that's that's important like that trust in like a viewer like as long as you're
being honest it's like fine i think like i know i follow some creators that like i know make a lot of
money and like it's not like i like i like them any less because they make more like i'm
happy for them. Like I root like I think true fans they like root for your success. Um, so I've never been like,
oh, I need to like hide like if I'm making money. Of course there's a risk of like you don't want to like,
this is just me as a person. Like I don't want to be overly flashy. Like I don't want to like flex on
anyone. Like that's not the goal. So yeah, I think just being like being yourself with it like and if
you're just like a person about it, then it'll probably just bite you in the butt. I agree. I think it
depends on how you use it. Right. Like if you're making a bunch of money,
And you're like, guys, I'm like, I can't believe it.
This is amazing.
Like, I'm so fortunate to be in the position I'm in.
Then people are rooting for you.
But if you're just like, oh, yeah, I just got this new car, got this ice.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
There's a way to do it.
Yeah.
Danny Duncan was a great example of that.
I remember when I first met Danny, he was living, I think it was a one bedroom apartment
in Hollywood.
I knew he was making a killing.
Guy didn't spend money.
And that was just him.
I mean, but he invested so well, too.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
That's awesome.
He's so, he's so smart behind the scenes.
But yeah, he's just the one.
bedroom apartment in Hollywood. He just went there every now and then. I think he's like trashed. I've seen
some of the videos. You're just throwing people against the wall. I feel bad for the landlord.
Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I goes to show you. I mean, he was really authentic with a lot of like
spending in his his videos. I think I was like just chatting with him. Like I think he's like a very
just downer. Like he's a real guy. You know, like yeah, it doesn't try to like just like shows it as it is.
And I think that's the best way to do it. Eventually if you just are faking it, it'll eventually like bite you in the butt.
Yeah. Now you were mentioning that.
your phone is black and white.
Is there a reason for that?
Like you've said you never saw the colors of the podcast room.
Yeah, yeah.
It's,
maybe I've seen it,
but like,
maybe it's just because I walked in and it was like in person.
Yeah,
my phone isn't black and white.
It's just,
that's just the way.
Is it healthy?
Is it better?
I don't like it like that.
What does it do?
Is there a,
I bet there's a study.
There's got to be a Vanderbilt study done that's like,
black and white is better on the eyes.
I don't know the study.
I don't know the study.
And I don't know where I start,
Like when I started doing this in college, I think.
And I don't know if I read it somewhere, probably.
So you had it for a little bit.
Yeah, I mean, sometimes, like, I go through phases where it's color.
But, like, I'm in a good phase right now where it's been black and white for a while.
Good phase.
Yeah, this one's a good one.
What does it do?
It just, like, keeps me off my phone.
If you, um, have this, I'm, I'm just, like, very addicted to my phone because,
well, everyone is.
And then also, like, we do it for our job.
So it's also, there's that factor.
Um, I just, when I'm scrolling through Instagram stories, like, it doesn't,
It's just not as fun to look at.
So then you end up putting it down versus if you are scrolling with color, it's just like,
I don't know, you can scroll for hours.
What about for things like if you're studying someone else's YouTube thumbnail, you know,
you want to look at their colors or you're taking photos.
How does that work out?
Yeah, it's funny.
Like I take all my photos in black and white and then like sometimes I like send them over.
It's like my friend and it's terrible.
Like the lighting is so bad.
That would be a great way to test thumbnails though, is do it black and white and see if it,
if you could get it to stand out in terms of just the day.
visuals alone and then you could add color afterwards yeah because that will also show you contrast
pretty well honestly like not not that well like sometimes i'm like this a great photo and then it's
just like terrible yeah but that makes sense i don't know it's a small price of pay to stay off my phone i
get very like jittery if i like spend too much time on my phone um i don't have tictock on my phone i just like
i don't know ticot is way too addicting i feel like every episode i i talk you love talking about
tic talk tic talk yeah
It's bad.
It's bad.
It's gotten to the point.
I've been trash talking it for such a long time, but now,
anytime I have, like, just downtime where I know I just want to, like, my mind is going to go to mush for five minutes.
I'm like, all right.
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That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.
Open TikTok and to see what's up there.
And, yeah, 20 minutes goes by.
So bad.
Yeah.
20 minutes is not bad.
No, 20 minutes is not bad.
That means you have a lot of self-control.
You know what?
Actually, we could look at the, I turned on the screen time.
Oh, nice.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, so a long time ago, we had someone on the podcast,
and we were talking about screen time.
And I was so curious what Graham's was,
because he's, like, working all the time.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's re-compare.
So we guess?
Can I guess?
Guess.
Four and a half hours.
Too much?
Wow.
Four hours and 42 minutes.
Oh.
Yeah.
But, okay, now let's see.
YouTube.
Yeah.
Oh, this isn't terrible.
I don't think this is epic.
Yeah, that's not per day.
Okay.
No, so this is, what is this, the last week?
I've spent seven hours and 30 minutes on YouTube.
Two hours, 14 minutes on maps.
But that doesn't really count.
No.
That, like, if we get rid of mass.
two hours on i message but sometimes i just leave it open like all two hours oh okay respond to a text
but then i'll leave my phone like that what why i don't know because sometimes someone's typing and i just
don't want to click out of it okay a little bubble an hour on instagram wow this is actually higher than
i expected that's funny an hour on tictock in four days so what is that uh a little under 20 minutes a day
six hours and nine minutes yeah and i have three hours on youtube two hours
Three hours on Safari.
Two and a half hours on Instagram, two hours on Google Maps.
An hour and a half on TikTok, it's bad.
I'm right around like four hours.
Like under four daily average.
I try that black and white thing.
It's still not great, but I was, it was a lot worse.
Like six to eight hours at one point.
Now switching topics here, you were saying that you watched Jack's video.
Oh, yeah.
You saw, okay.
Well, it came up on my way here.
It came up on your way here.
Yeah, yeah.
I didn't see it.
I haven't clicked on.
You haven't clicked it.
Yeah.
Let me say, first off, shout out to Sean Rizwan.
Okay.
Yeah.
I know Sean.
Yeah, I know that you know.
I'm good friends with Sean.
You guys hang out.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, well, he gave me that thumbnail suggestion.
And it was a banger thumbnail.
And I liked it a lot.
Yeah.
But yeah, like the asking strangers like money questions.
Yeah.
That stuff's just like popping off right now.
Yeah.
And I thought to myself, I think I could do this okay.
Yeah.
So I went out to like downtown Vegas.
Nice.
And went, but for some reason, it's like blowing up on TikTok.
There you go on TikTok.
And I want TikTok, I eat it up.
It's a good format.
Yeah.
I mean, my most viral video is be asking questions to strangers.
I like the idea of being able to get content, just kind of like letting strangers be strange.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
There's going up to them and letting like, you know what I mean?
Like instigating some weird conversation, seeing where they take it.
It's not a new thing either.
You guys know like humans of New York.
It's like a blog.
Yeah.
And it used to be very, very popular.
I don't know if it's as popular anymore.
But it's a similar concept like going out and like interviewing just.
random strangers in New York.
And it was like, it was huge.
And like this is like the next generation of that.
It's always like there have always been pranks.
Like that's always been huge on YouTube.
Yeah, of course.
Like telling jokes to people, stuff like that.
That's always been huge.
But it's just showing up right now finally for like finance.
Like people are like talking about their income stuff.
You could one up this by going to Fremont Street at night on a weekend.
You need to do this at night.
Oh my God.
That's a great idea.
Yeah.
I feel like you wait.
Jack Manley.
but money?
Yes.
Because you know what?
You went in the middle of the day.
Mine is like the girl and guys.
You went in the middle of the day.
Yeah.
That place gets crazy at night.
And just imagine the interactions you have.
It would be 10 times what you did.
30% of the people I interacted with during the day were already drunk.
Imagine night.
That's how about this?
You pay people $5 to tell you their net worth.
Oh, they would just tell me anyways, man.
Really?
Yeah, that was so easy.
Yeah, they'll just tell you.
Yeah, I just went out to people.
They were all cool.
Like I, some people rejected me, but overall.
I would say like 75% of people were okay with it.
If they're wasted though, like, I don't know if you can like really assess the credibility of the
Oh, that's true.
Yeah.
If you're just like really drunk and someone's like, what's your net worth?
I don't know how honest I'll do that at night.
Yeah.
I would try it at night.
Maybe the net worth question, people are going to be like, what's a net worth?
Yeah.
That would be good.
That's good content.
You know, but a really simple quite like a finance quote.
Yeah.
Easy.
I love those videos where people go up and like, all right, how many continents are there?
And people say, oh, a continent.
Yeah, what's a continent?
Like, those are my favorite videos.
I want to do something like that.
I have a great idea.
I love the videos where the news reporter, whoever, make up a fact.
So you should just make up a crazy fact.
Like, so did you hear that the president just raised the industry rates by 20% and just see what people say?
That's good, too.
Somebody's going to be like, oh, I expected it from that guy.
Yeah, that's good.
Did you, oh, you say, did you hear about this?
And then they say, oh, yeah, I heard about it.
Completely false.
There's like a statistic.
It's like, or like not a study.
There's a study.
Maybe some Vanderbilt study.
I don't know.
They're like, oh, just say any thing.
If you say a fact, it doesn't have to be true.
But not a fact, I guess.
If you say any general statement about anything, but you add like a little bit of
specificity to it, people will 90% of time say like, it's okay.
Yeah, I believe that.
That's real.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you can probably pull that off.
It would be a good piece of content.
Yeah.
You know, what?
You know what, man.
What?
Go to Fremont at night on a weekend.
Ask people what their thoughts are on Andrew Tate.
Oh.
You would get some wild answers.
That's a good idea.
Wild answers.
Done.
I get credit for that one.
I'll see you tonight at Fremont.
You run into me.
I'm just like,
Andrew Tate.
No, I had to go to free months.
But get like everyone from like old, young men, women, professional.
I just got to go and collect footage for like five hours.
Just go and just get as much as I can.
Realistically, that's what you should be doing is spending like eight hours.
Yeah.
From honestly from 6 p.m. to probably 2 a.m. if you can.
Yeah.
And get a wide range of questions.
Spend three hours.
Andrew Tate.
Three hours network.
Three hours something else.
That's what I did.
Yeah.
When I shot the first time, I probably shot for nearly five hours.
And it was like midday.
It was burning hot.
It was really hot.
It's a lot.
Yeah.
And I mean, the end product was like a nine minute video.
Yeah.
So why does it take so long?
Was that because a lot of people
said no or their answers weren't interesting.
A lot of people said I was extremely anxious, to be honest.
It was very hard for me to go up to people and like ask some personal questions.
In general, just like for me going up to someone's very challenging.
So a lot of the times, if you look at the raw footage, just like, I can't do this, JJ.
I can't do it.
And Jayj is like, you got it, man.
Just one more.
We need one more.
I'm like, okay, I think I got it.
And then I walk up to someone like immediately turn around.
Nope, I can't do it.
I can't do it, JJ.
But that was a lot of the raw footage, to be honest.
But it was very draining.
Yeah.
But that's why it took so long.
So at the end, the security guard came up and gave you guys a bit of a hard time.
Oh, really?
What happened?
Yeah.
Okay, so I got in trouble.
I was approaching this couple.
And the security guard came out to me on a bike.
And you're saying, oh, you can't do that.
You can't do that.
And I cut the video.
And then I went back in and I was just finishing the interview with the people.
So the guy came out to me, he's like, okay, these brands behind us, if you're making
money off of this, they don't want their, like, logos shown.
It was like White Castle and like all the other brands.
And I was like, oh, no, I'm not making money off that.
Channel wasn't monetized when I said that.
So it wasn't technically lying.
Sure.
Now it's monetized
Made like 40 bucks
Okay so if these guys
Now you're gonna get sued
They can have my $40
I don't believe that
I don't believe it either
It was a public space
Yeah
But you know I'm not gonna
I'm not gonna like argue with a cop guy
You know what I think you'll be fine
Yeah I think so too
I don't think White Castle is gonna come up for you
Yeah but it was funny because he comes up
And he's like you can't do this
And he's like all mad
I'm trying to put the camera
And he like slaps my hand away
Yeah
And then it cuts and I'm just asking the same people
The question he's just gone
You know what
It would have been funny to get him to answer
if he went to college.
Yeah.
That would have been really good.
He was not in any good mood, though.
He was very upset.
That's funny.
Like,
you just got to push the boundaries.
Like,
never stop recording,
and you just,
you just kind of go with it.
I think I could.
Yeah.
I think I could do that,
but I had,
like,
during hour four and five,
I was getting much more comfortable.
Yeah.
So it probably has to be near the talent,
but I would love to do something.
It's hard going up to people and just like,
it takes some practice.
It's really hard.
Yeah.
I once tried to film this video where I was selling,
like,
trying to go from like a dollar
to like $100.
or $1,000 in a weekend or a week.
And I just filmed the first day.
And for some reason, I was filming 4K, which is terrible.
And I just like six hours of me trying to sell water bottles to people.
And I scrapped the video because it was so bad.
It was so hard.
But a lot of it was the same exact thing.
Me just being like, I cannot do this.
Like I do not want to go up to people and like ask them to buy this one wander bottle that I have.
Is when you're soliciting value out of people.
Yeah.
Like you're like, you know what I mean?
Like I'm asking people personal finance questions.
Like they're not, I'm not necessarily like, like,
like taking anything away from them except like maybe they're like financial like privacy sure um but
if you're like trying to sell something like selling a waterball like what ryan trehan did i was like there's
no chance that i can do that's hard trying to get something out of random what are your thoughts on the
ryan chahan uh penny challenge i thought's great like he basically daily vlog right like that
i mean i thought that you couldn't really do that anymore but he did a great job i think i'm i'm a
huge fan of any content style where you have to like watch multiple videos it's like an ongoing
storyline. Like, I love it when like most videos on YouTube, I feel like they're one off. It's not like
you watch one and then you're waiting to see the next video. Like normally on TV shows, it's kind of
like that. There's like a cliffhanger and then you started back up on the next episode. And then
there's another cliffhanger. So it keeps you going. So like, I love that. There's an overarching
storyline because I think like there is a place for that on YouTube. It's just like really hard
to achieve because it just sometimes like your videos just don't do as well. And so it's hard to like
keep that. That's consistent viewership right there.
So I think it's great. It's like TV.
Yeah.
In a way. His ability to go up and be like, howdy, you want to buy some water and just like constant
nose is incredible because I would imagine he has to put you a hundred people for like
every five maybe that say yes, a one and 20.
Yeah.
So, yeah, guys. So speaking of making money, I sold out.
You sold out? How'd you sell out?
Oh, geez. Here we go again.
I'm going to have to tell you guys the story here.
you may notice something different about the camera angle.
Wait a second.
You don't have a,
you have a memory card in the camera.
I actually just noticed that.
So let me explain you guys what happened.
I was minding my own business on Instagram.
When I get this message from Lexar,
Lexar, if you guys didn't know,
is an SD card company.
And they said they wanted to send me a SD card.
So I stuck it in the camera.
And you know what else I said?
I said,
why don't you guys?
guys sponsor me and I don't give any of the profits to Graham and Jack and I stick a sign right here.
I think that's a terrible idea. I think that's a really, really bad idea. But on the bright side,
guys, they did send you guys some card readers. Oh, good. So I'll bless you guys for that. But,
so yeah, guys, the official memory sponsor of the podcast or myself is, have you guys,
have you guys really not seen this? So Elliot. I was kind of aware of it, but I'm still, I'm still a little
in shock that it's actually happening.
But we're going to change the direction of this conversation back on the Elliott.
I can't believe that's funny.
That's funny.
You got to keep the side hustle up.
One thing.
Oh, gosh, Alex.
We're going to have a talk about this, Alex.
We're going to have a very, very serious talk about this, Alex.
As you know what?
How much is they paying you in you?
We'll do this as a midweek episode to keep you guys watching.
So you have to subscribe to see our confrontation with Alex about what's going on here.
Yeah. So now we have a continuing storyline.
That's funny. There you go.
Gosh, Alex.
That's funny.
So I thought you guys...
How much it cost to sell out, Alex?
Well, I guess just...
I can't...
Listen, man.
I can't reveal my secrets.
But if you're interested, hit me up on Instagram, okay?
Yeah, I don't know how...
Yeah.
And I'll seriously, it would be funny if all of a sudden, like, everywhere...
It's sold out with these multiple sponsors.
I think it would be funny if you had a hat with, like, a dangling thing on.
I mean, look how much retail space.
I mean, there's a sign.
Like, here?
One up here.
We got...
We got some space right here, too.
We have a lot of, yeah, we could sell out really big.
Guys, you can't take my money-making idea.
Hey, wait a second.
Is that the iced coffee hour?
A fan said that thing.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you're covering, no, no, no, behind the hard drive.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Did you cover that up?
No, no, no, no, there's nothing here.
A fan made us that thing, and you're covering it up with your sponsor.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Listen, the fans should be happy for me, okay?
I'm making some, Jack, Jack, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
Come on.
The fans come first.
Someone made that, man.
The fans come first.
All right, guys.
All right.
I mean,
that needs to be.
You know what?
There we go.
The fans come first.
I just wanted to keep those there to let you guys know.
That is so fun.
I saw that.
And I was like,
oh, nice.
You guys got like,
you know,
likes their sponsor.
Oh, no.
They genuinely didn't.
I was like,
oh, you guys are doing like sponsored a segment here.
Yeah.
One thing that I wanted to talk about with you is that you're in a content.
tent house, aren't you? Yes, I'm in a creator house. It's called your mom's house.
Your mom's house. Is it actually called your mom's house? It's actually called your mom's house?
Don't take about my mom like that. You're at my mom's house? Yeah. I'm going to your mom's house later,
you know? Save it for Creator Clash. Yeah. Now, there you go. So you're in your mom's house. Yeah.
Okay. You're still living with your mom. I'm, I live in my mom's. No, I live in your mom's house.
actually.
No, I live in your mom's house.
Yeah, I know all I do live in your mom's house.
Yeah, there you go.
Your mom's house.
So, um, mom's house seems pretty nice though.
Your mom's house?
Yeah, it is.
No, your mom's house.
We're all getting confused too.
Yeah, your mom's house.
But you live in a creator house, you said, right?
Yeah.
And, um, what's like the reason behind that?
And I've also noticed like all of these companies going and like sponsoring these houses.
Yeah.
And they're usually like mansions or super nice places.
Do you have any like insider information on that?
Or how exactly did your mom's house come about?
Yeah, it's not like a typical creator house.
Like we don't have like brand sponsoring it and like we're not even making money off of it.
Like it's very much just friends that are creators that happen to live with each other.
Actually not even in the house because we live in New York.
So in an apartment.
So technically that name is not even right.
It should be your mom's apartment.
But yeah, no, we're just like group of friends and like we live together and we make videos together.
So I did this like month in L.A.
where I like live with creators.
It wasn't a creator house.
It wasn't like a content house.
And I mean, it was in the sense of like creators living together.
But it was very much just like super natural and organic.
And it was like the best month ever.
Like we made videos together.
It was like very organic collaboration.
And it was fun.
It was just super fun.
And we learned a lot off of each other.
And so like we went back.
I went back to college.
A lot of people went back to school.
And I was like, okay, like how can we like do this again after college?
It's like such a good environment to be in.
And so that's when we went.
we started the house like, I guess it's been a year now.
Yeah.
Who else is in it?
Kelly Ocasta, your mom, Ashley.
So there's some inspiration for the name there.
You previously had a member.
Her name was Amric Chase.
She's no longer part of the house.
And then we have like some new members coming.
So yeah.
It's very much just like an apartment.
Is it a nice place?
For New York, it's like spacious.
Like it's really hard to find a lot of space in New York.
So for New York, it's quite spacious.
So it's not a luxury high rise
It's not a nice like that
It looks pretty good in the photos I've seen of it or the video
Yeah, it's a little bit ratchet actually like
But it's nice because like we beat it up a little bit
Like we got a skate ramp in there
And that's weird for New York
For sure skate ramp in the place
Like a there's a half pipe at there
Wow
Why is you the movie big?
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.
Yeah
Yeah
We're just like I don't know
Just kids like screwing around in there
So much is rent
Rent rent?
You know, you reacted to my what I spent in a week video.
And you were spot on.
So for me, I think it was, do you remember what you said?
I probably said $7,500 bucks, $65.
No, not for me.
So me personally, for a month.
$4,000 bucks a month?
For me, yeah.
Do you have like the nicest room?
I don't have the master.
I think I have the nicest room low key.
But they wouldn't agree.
No, I think they would agree.
I feel like I have the nicest room.
Okay.
I think I got lucky.
But it's not the,
it's not the master.
It's not the master.
Master pays a little more.
But.
So you got a good deal.
Do the math.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
But yeah.
And then what I spent in a week video,
I'm spending a lot of money going out.
And,
you know,
I think I gave you a lot of,
uh,
criticism that I think after speaking to you now was,
unwarranted.
Oh yeah?
Yeah.
Yeah, I do.
I think it was warranted.
You're going,
you're going to coffee shops.
You're spending like $8.
on designer coffee and $15
dollar avocado toasts.
But now that I'm hearing about it,
that this is like your full-time thing
and going out making content,
you can't really make the content like that
being like, hey guys,
I'm going to make my coffee at home
and have an avocado toast by myself
and I'm going to invite someone over at the house today.
It's more entertaining to watch you go somewhere
even if it's at a cost
because that cost is at that point
just the price of doing business.
It's a little bit of both.
I mean, honestly,
I can definitely cook a little bit more.
Like that's, I don't know. It's something I'm trying to work on. You inspire me to like try to cook more. But no, it is also like sometimes I'm like, okay, I can like film it if I'm like going out and like meeting up with a friend. I think New York is obviously like very glamorized. Like people like the idea of like going to New York and like what is life like. And if I just stay in my apartment all day, it's like I don't get to show off the city as much. So there's like that. But no, I should definitely be cooking more. I'm just like terrible at it. So. And when you're trying to figure out like which day you're going to vlog, is it.
it based off of if you know something's going to happen that day or do you just pick a random day,
I'm going to vlog today and then you try to create exciting stuff in that day?
Yeah, that's pretty accurate.
Like if I, if something's going to happen already, like, I might just like add in a few more
things to like make it a little bit more interesting.
That being said, like sometimes I just like commit to like, I'm going to vlog that day
and I have nothing planned.
It's always a really tough vlogging day.
But I only vlog like really one day out of the week.
Would you say you work a lot in general?
I do.
I used to work way more because I was in college. So like balancing school and in YouTube.
Nowadays I still do work a lot, but also like hiring people and like working with more people like is definitely like I don't edit my own videos anymore.
Like still a little bit of retouching. But yeah. So like that saves a lot of time and like focus on more things.
So walk us through a normal day. What do you do? Because it seems like if you don't.
You don't watch a video. I'd rather just keep telling the thing is it's like if you if you don't edit the video and you spend one day a week.
logging. Yeah. What do you do? What? That's a great question. It's just like so different every
single day. Like usually I wake up, I go get some coffee, get some food in me, uh, go to the computer
just like go through some emails. Um, maybe I get lunch with someone. It's like a meeting.
Um, yeah, think about like if I, if I need to plan some videos, like I'll just like bring some some
some video ideas. Um, a lot of times I'm like working on copyrights or like talking to manufacturers
or like talking to my team and it's just like all over the place like a lot of like meeting up with
people a lot of planning videos or like thinking about YouTube but then also like planning um
copyright and doing operation stuff there it's really different like every day I couldn't tell you
it's just like all over the place and then sometimes I travel so that gets in the way it's a lot
it's pretty amazing because you only had like four hours of screen time so you're like not on your
phone that much. No, I'm not on my phone too. This is a good week. So is a good week. Yeah, it's a good week.
Yeah. It's hard to be on your phone when you're at lunch every day, Jack. Yeah. Going out to breakfast
every morning. Yeah, I've been dinner every night. I've been eating out every single day. Have you really? Yeah, I have.
Every single day. Every single day. Why? I get Chipotle. Oh, you're doing the Alex Formozy.
Nope. Okay. So let me explain. Let me, you know how Alex Formos is? No, I don't. He's like this like entrepreneur guy.
Only eats Chipotle?
Kind of.
He did, yeah, for a period of time, for a year or so.
I decided I don't want to cook in the kitchen.
It takes too long.
It's exhausting.
I always buy a bunch of stuff from the grocery store.
It always goes bad.
I feel like I'm wasting food.
But if I just go to Chipotle, a bowl is like a meal and a half for me.
Yeah.
You know, and I make some overnight oats.
And that's pretty much I'm good for the day.
There you go.
Overnite oats and like Chipotle bowl.
And Alex Romosey said that his accountant came to him and was like, hey, it says here that you
ordered Chipotle like 500 and so times this year there must be some sort of error and then
Alex said no that's right yeah that's right so why don't you try chiple catering because that would
give you enough to make your own bowls for a whole week that is a really good idea that is an
extremely good idea we just need to win one of those my friends like one of my friends had the
chipoli card it's like a year free chipotle try to win that he got it yeah how do you get it um he just
won it it's like won it in a sweepstakes and he got like 50 dollars of
fully every day. What was one? I completely forgot there was a, was it like a soup plantation thing? Or it was
that all you could eat pasta from Olive Garden. That was it. That's a thing. Yep. And they gave
away 500 of these, but you had to apply for it. And then there's a lottery system where you have to
sign in at a certain time to buy it. It was like $100 for, it was all you could eat at Olive Garden for
like a year or something like that. Really? Yeah. And I thought I was going to buy it for a video. And that
morning, like I had applied. I had secured a spot
to go in and like buy it. Yeah. But you had to
be really quick and I overslept.
Didn't get it. That's like a, you know that old
like American Airlines like
free flight pass? It was, what was it?
250 grand for free flights for
a lifetime. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's like
best like that. A little worse
actually. Yeah. Well, what about you guys? Like what is your
day to day like every typical day?
Oh, Jack, you want to go first? Your
busy schedule. Yeah. So usually
what I do is I wake up.
Right. And then I go to the gym. That's generally speaking, like the first thing I do.
Nice.
I come back home, eat a little bit of food, overnight oats maybe, and take a shower and then get ready, start working pretty much.
So that would work.
Work. Yeah. Sometimes I have some stuff to do, surprisingly.
And I'll usually take care of some work, probably done by like, done by 11 a.m.
Probably done with all my work.
No, I keep working.
Usually take some breaks.
I play a lot of ping pong.
Oh, really?
I just go back to work.
I usually don't go out.
It's pretty much just like I'm in my room on my computer, basically all day.
That's pretty much it.
A lot of the times I've come over here to film sponsors or we'll be filming podcasts.
And that's moving.
I don't go out.
I live in like a suburban type.
You live in a content house, Jack?
I kind of do.
Yeah.
I mean, all five rooms are filled up with kids that are between the age of 20 hits.
With men.
It feels weird saying like adults, right?
It feels weird saying that because I still feel like I'm a kid.
But it's between the age of 21 and 23.
So we're in, yeah, like a couple of us like making.
Alder you?
I'm 23.
23, okay.
Yeah.
So kind of a content house.
Yeah, but we mess around, you know, we have fun.
Yeah.
Is that funny if you call it your dad's house.
Your dad's house.
Yeah.
My place is your dad's house.
Yeah.
The guys will love that one.
Yeah.
That's good.
All right.
Yeah, that's pretty much the average day.
Your turn, grand.
Oh, man.
Every day is.
Every day is different.
It depends if it's a posting day or a non-posting day, but usually like Monday, Wednesday,
Friday's, I'll wake up, try to plan out a video.
Alex comes between 12 and 1.
We review the video that's posting that day.
We'll spend two hours thinking title, thumbnail, answer comments for an hour afterwards.
And then after that, usually we'll either be filming a podcast.
I'll go to the gym.
I'll react to a video for the second channel or I'll film what I planned out earlier.
And then Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually planning days where I'll spend all day just
trying to script out videos to then post the next day or that that following day.
Because I was going to say, you pump out a lot of videos.
Like, I was going to say you have to just be filming a lot.
Every day.
Every day.
Every day.
You film every day.
Every day.
Just one, like three channels?
Three channels posting seven days a week.
So there's a video posting every day.
And that's actually down.
At the peak, I think it was 12 videos a week.
Wow.
And I did that for a few months.
Actually, it was nine videos a week for, I think almost a year.
year. A year giver take nine videos a week. That's crazy. Went up to 12 for a month. And then now I'm back
down to seven. And you think seven is where you're going to stay? For as long as I can. Yeah. Yeah. Actually,
seven is a lot. Seven is a lot. Seven is still a lot. Yeah. Do you ever feel like,
really? Yeah. Well, you're coming from 12. So yeah, exactly. So it's just whatever the threshold is.
But like three of those videos don't count because I think those are the reaction videos. So that's just me
like reacting to a video. Pretty easy. It's an hour.
title thumbnail.
Yeah.
Not the end of the world.
The podcast is simple because it's just one day a week.
And that's usually something like this.
It feels kind of like hanging out.
It's the three main channel videos a week.
Gotcha.
That's a lot.
That's still a lot.
It's a lot.
Every video is its own video.
It's got to be its own topic.
Yeah.
And especially in times like this, there's not a lot to talk about that it's that
different.
So there's got to be topics that repeat.
Because sometimes people don't watch.
They'll be a topic on a video.
And people won't watch that one, but they'll watch the next one.
Sometimes it's just busy.
So there's got to be some topics that repeat every now.
Is that your biggest challenge?
Like coming up with new video ideas?
Yeah.
Yeah.
If I had a list of topics where all I knew is just like, all right, Graham, you got to plan out this video this day.
I could do that so easily.
If they had the video, just topic.
Video topic, title thumbnail done.
And then all I had to do is plan it out and film it would be so easy.
But part of it is like trying to see.
what I watch so much YouTube videos to try to figure out like what people want to see and
all create videos around that. Right. Very little about like what I care about at this point.
It's sure whatever the viewers want to see and it's dictated by how many views each video gets.
Is that different from in the beginning in the beginning where you're just like making things that
you wanted to make? Yeah. And then now is it like, okay, you feel a little bit more responsibility
of like, no, I have to now create for like my viewers. Yeah. In the beginning it was really fun
because these were videos that I wanted to make that didn't exist. Right. And then.
The finance base on YouTube was nothing.
Yeah.
And so when I saw it, I was like, oh, wow, there's no videos on being a real estate agent.
These are the videos that I wish were up there for me.
Yeah.
And so I'd make all these videos.
And financial independence very quickly became a thing in like 2017 on YouTube.
Yeah.
No one was making this videos except beat the bush and maybe like two other people.
But they weren't doing well with title thumbnails.
So I thought, wow, we could make this so much bigger with a good title and a good thumbnail.
Howse hacking was it?
was one of the first videos for me that did well,
that didn't exist on YouTube with that sort of title thumbnail
that would attract an audience.
But as the space grew,
it became way more competitive.
Because now everybody's doing the same videos,
the same day,
because there's nothing.
So when you have 100 creators,
all searching the internet for the same topics
and there's one little nibble of something,
they're going to hop on it fast.
And so if I don't cover a topic within 24 hours,
everyone else has already covered it.
And there's no need for my take on that.
So now you feel like you're more like,
almost like a news outlet like you gotta be fast with it yeah because i'm never going to be the
fastest because you have other people who will literally live stream the event right right and they
provide such great context on that so i know i can't compete with that sure there are other people who
will just freestyle a video within an hour afterwards yeah can't do that so mine is always i'll
come to it with the with as much perspective as possible yeah in a way that's you know edited and
informative and entertaining right but it's got to be within 24 hours that's interesting that's so
interesting. I also feel that where like in the beginning it was like a huge gap and you're like,
okay, I can fill this gap. There's a huge gap in the market. And now it's like super
interesting where it's not so much of that. It's more just like, how do I keep growing like what
I've built. Yeah. It's hard to see where the next gap is. Because for a while, I think Jake Tran really
got on that bandwagon. Do you watch his channel? Yeah, yeah. He got on that bandwagon of just the really cool
like documentary style videos. Yeah. But now I'm seeing everybody making documentaries.
Stiles.
Like Moon is another channel I've been watching a lot of that makes similar videos, just different topics.
But it's like these documentary style videos are popping off.
Same with like Patrick Cici, Sunny V2, like the rise and fall of Elaine.
Yeah.
Like narrated, very dramatic.
They do so well, but so many channels now are popping up like that.
It's hard to figure out like where's the need now in the marketplace and like what's next.
Yeah.
It's like that intersection of like what, where's the gap and like what are you good at?
Like for you was probably very clear.
I'm trying to find it too.
I think there's a lot of like soul searching on YouTube.
Yeah.
Like who am I?
Like who am I?
Who do I want to be?
Not to get so deep or whatever.
But I think,
I think,
I don't know if you feel the same way,
but just on YouTube is just a lot of like,
and I feel like,
are you like,
Jack,
you're trying to like figure out your stride on YouTube as well or?
I suppose.
So,
I mean,
basically all my focus on is on the ice coffee hour.
And on my off time,
like I'm just kind of doing whatever.
I guess I have fun with.
Yeah.
I'm on my own personal channel.
But that's pretty much, I guess I kind of in a sense, trying to find what I like.
Yeah.
Every single video I've posted has been a completely different format, like a reaction versus
like a challenge versus like a stranger's question.
Yeah.
There's so many like different types of videos on YouTube.
And I feel like a lot of people starting off are just like, okay, what's going to do well?
Like how can I make something that does well?
But I think it's actually the opposite.
Like what am I good at?
Like who am I as a person?
Like what can I bring to the platform?
I don't know it's a different game
I don't know it's a different game
how often do you have this feelings
or go through those moments oh like all the time
like I always have to do a ton of soul searching
like who am I like who do I want to be
like what I stand for or what am I good at
in the beginning of so clear like okay college videos
like I didn't like the ones that were being made
but they're doing well so like okay I can make ones that I like
and they'll hopefully do well
but yeah now I'm like I really feel like
I'm approaching a little bit of a pivot actually
which is also kind of scary yeah I'm just like
trying to think of like what's prompted that um just like being just not complacent but just doing making
similar videos and like not really innovating and growing so i think it's like a constant cycle of like
okay you're really happy with the videos you're making and then you're not so happy with them and then
you change something of and like trying to make them better and then you become happy with them
do you feel like you've stagnated in a way like you've kind of peaked and plateaued in terms of
like what you are currently capable of i think like i haven't been as like creative and i think part of it
is actually also like having an editor now, like not being as like, not being able to like do as
much creatively because like I there's only so much you can communicate like creatively and it is
a challenge. And then I think YouTube also is a lot about like consistency over like trying to like
change it up all the time. But a lot of times for myself like it comes from like making videos.
This comes from a place of like wanting to share something like creatively. So it's a balance because like
you don't want to switch it up too hard because then that kind of like is not good for your
channel, but at the same time, I think it's important to, like, think about how you want to innovate and, like, bring something new.
I think you guys need a soundboard. Do you guys have a soundboard? Yeah. Yeah, we'll put one of those.
But, like right here. And then you guys could be like sound effects. Yeah, like, oh, like, how much you make this?
Yeah, yeah, exactly. They say a low number, but we're already pressing it. Yeah, that'd be funny. No, just for
community effect. No, I think you guys do great. Okay. That is crazy. This is something else.
Huh. What is something you think you can work on?
I mean, I can work on.
I can work on a lot of things.
This could be business related, personal.
Yeah.
Anything.
I think a lot of times I just need to remind myself to like be patient.
I think I'm 23 too.
Like I'm just very young and I think like YouTube is going well and there's a lot of great
opportunities there and like I'm excited about it.
But I also like like like you said, Graham, I want to like maximize my life experience still.
I just like I don't know.
There's a lot of pressure because there's a lot of like opportunities and you want to make sure you're like making
most of it, but at the same time, I'm just, I'm really young. Like, I feel like I am really young
and still have a lot of, um, going to do. So I always feel like I need, I need to be in a position
where I'm learning the most. And early on on YouTube, that was YouTube, just like, how do I
learn how to like grow on YouTube, all that stuff? And I think like I'm learning different things
nowadays, but yeah, I think like, I really have to think critically about like, what is going to
make me kind of like a more well-rounded person. That's,
really interesting because I'm the same age as you, but I see it in a different way. I feel like
I'm going slow. I feel like I need to like speed things up. I feel like I'm too too old.
You know what I mean? I don't like excuse my like naivity even though I am only 23. You know what I mean?
Yeah. You feel like a sense of urgency. You're running out of time. Not that I'm running out of time,
but like a sense of urgency insofar as that I'm like racing. You know what I mean? But I got to keep going
like hit some goal hit something you know what I mean yeah I mean I've been there too like just
trying to like reach the next milestone and reach the next milestone and I'm interested here
Graham your perspective on this too but I used to just move the goalposts like yeah I just keep
moving it but after a while it's like just not the same is I don't know I would tell you to keep
going and for Jack Jack I'd say oh double your output there's so much go harder more I feel like
there's so much more.
I'd say a lot more guest outreach.
I think a lot more picking videos for the second channel.
I would say for the filming.
I don't know your filming schedule right now,
but I'd pick one day a week,
like Saturday or something like that
where you just film for six to eight hours.
I'm fine if you outsource the editing on those videos.
On what videos?
The you going in the public.
There's no sense of you editing those videos.
I agree.
Yeah, it's just tough to find an editor.
well, I guarantee that it's not tough.
There are probably hundreds of people right now
who would love to be your editor.
The only thing that I'll say as a counterpoint to that
is the fact that, and I mean this in no offense,
I mean this in most respectful way possible.
Every single time you've seen that.
I really mean it in a respectful way
because I think that there's a lot about you
that is extremely admirable.
But when I look at you and I see that you're continuing to push
and you're pushing and you're going to hold out
for as long as you can
and you've been saying the same thing for years,
but it seems like you haven't like traveled you haven't like gone and do things that I would at least find enjoyable like maybe you find enjoyment sitting down and working but that's just not how I find a lot of enjoying I like trying out things and being creative and filming new videos and doing trying out new things but when I see you I'm like God I do not want to like in 10 years I don't want to be like that but the thing is it's like now is the opportunity when you have that golden egg and you have that golden opportunity you shouldn't waste you
And you think of how many people would love to be in that position.
If you don't give it 110%, you don't make the most of it, I feel like it's being wasted.
I agree that it can easily be wasted.
But I think as it currently stands, I'm actually doing a very good job.
I don't think you're wasting it.
I think you're doing a good job.
But I don't think it means taking it easier, being complacent, or not pushing yourself even further.
Because I've seen more people not give it 110% and lose it.
have pushed and maybe gotten an extra few years.
I just think it's such a volatile career in general.
But you can say you keep pushing for an extra few years and then a few years pass and
you're like, keep pushing, and it's just like a treadmill.
There's going to be a point of diminishing returns at a certain point.
Either your income scales at direct proportion to that or your other investments just become
more to offset everything.
I think there'll be a point of diminishing returns where all of a sudden, I think life
experience trumps the opportunity of continuing as is. What do you think about this? I think it's
really important to like know what your priorities are. Like what is important to you? What are you
willing to sacrifice? I think people are different. Like some people like a lot of it is like how you
grew up or like what were your childhood influences or traumas or whatever. I think it matters a lot.
Like you do have to like listen to yourself a little bit. Like for me I needed that push a lot.
Like people is telling me like you're not working hard enough and it got me to like work harder and it
got me to place where I was happy.
But I do think like it just depends on like what's important to you.
Like just got to ask yourself that because different things are important to different
people.
So I agree with that.
And I think I have a fairly good idea of what's important to me.
But Graham likes to continue to put his opinion over my shoulder.
No, this is what's important to you, Jack.
This is what's important to you.
It helps to have someone pushing you.
I agree.
I am pushing you.
But I think that it's better when it comes from a more encouraging, a place of encouragement.
The fact that I'm pushing means I believe that you have the potential.
I wouldn't push someone who I don't think has the potential to do it.
Graham,
what's your,
wasting my time?
What's your personality type?
Do you know?
It's an introvert of some sort.
It's I NGJ.
How do you know that?
Because we took a test on that podcast.
I think it's super funny, like, seeing the interaction because I'm like an ENFJ.
And I just took like, I didn't take the test recently, but I like looked it up recently.
And it was funny.
Like one of the things that it said, it was like, oh, it likes to give advice to be.
that he cares about or she or she cares about, but often too forceful in a way where it's not
received the right way. And so I was just curious. But I've had this where like I've also been
someone that like likes to push people to like work really hard and like go for it. And it's also like
kind of backfired on me a little bit in some of like my personal relationships because I figure that
everyone like wants the same level of success or like has the same drive or same priorities that I do.
but then I come to find out that, you know, some people are just, like, interested in different things or, like, have different priorities.
And I just think it's important to, like, listen to yourself and, like, really listen to how you feel.
That being said, like, I sometimes you need that push.
So I do think, like, that question of, like, what do you do every day?
You know, it's like such a hard question to answer.
It's a very difficult question.
It is, like, so different every day.
Like, you're right.
Like, I do feel sometimes like, I'm really busy.
And then if I look back, I'm like, like, what exactly am I doing?
Like, you know, like, I just, like, write it down.
or check my calendar, just gets blurred.
There is a lot during the day, though, even for myself, that you realize you waste doing stuff that doesn't really matter.
Yeah.
I'll spend a lot of time sometimes.
I'll be in the middle of planning, but my mind is just down somewhere and I'll check my email for five minutes.
Yeah.
And then that leads to checking CNBC for five minutes, which leads to checking Reddit for five minutes.
And then I get back to planning, but it takes me 20 minutes to get back into the zone.
Yeah.
So there's like 40 minutes.
It's gone.
Yeah.
It didn't need to be gone.
Yeah.
I used to think that like if I wasn't working from the moment that I woke up to
to the moment that I fell asleep, then I wasn't working hard enough.
But I really think that like quality work matters way more than the hours put in.
Like there's a lot that you can do.
I agree 100%.
I think that matters a lot.
Yeah.
It's tough for me because I just, I've always had this mentality that your 20s could be like
completely sacrificed to set yourself up for the rest of your life.
And I think if people just gave themselves from 18 to 30 just to put their head down
and work and just bust their ass.
like all the time.
Maybe, you know, the occasional weekend trip or whatever, but like the focus should
be work for 12 years.
I'm curious to see how many people would be further ahead.
Yeah.
If they really gave it 100%.
And that's, and not to discredit people who, you know, are maybe in a job that they
don't like.
Yeah.
A be a bazillion other things can come up, but to really be like very dedicated.
Right.
Of like, I'm going to spend these next 12 years and I'm going to work on myself every day.
Yeah.
I think it's great. Like, I also think it's idealistic. Like, a lot of people, I think just don't, don't care for it.
Like, that's fair. I'm a little bit more like work slash experience on that spectrum. Like, I care about, like, experiencing, like, stuff like travel. It seems like worth to me just to like go travel and like experience life. And just like how you said like, oh, 20 is time time to like work and like grind and like set yourself up for life. I could also be like, oh, 20s. It's a time when like you're young and like you can travel and then you can tolerate like, you know, going.
to like different places like five different places in a week you can't do that when you're
you know a lot older it's just like harder so I don't know it's a balance I just think it depends
on what's important to you as a person yeah I guess I've never had the urgency to to go and do those
things because I feel like I could do them anytime if I really place the importance on that I could
do it right and that's that's a conscious decision for you that's like okay I could do that
but I don't want to because I would rather do this.
So that's like your values.
And I think like that's what it is.
It's like I think it is too.
I think if you are as long as you're aligned like with your action and what you value, then
you're living a good life.
Because like what more could you do is like if you if you are living out the life that's in
line with your values.
Yeah.
I think that's that's really the goal.
Do you guys live like living out here in Vegas?
Love it.
Really.
Yeah.
What do you like about it?
I like that there's no traffic.
I went across town the other day.
At, was it 6 p.m.
Was the same as driving in the morning on a Sunday, you know, salary, no traffic.
Tax is fantastic.
Food, I had $25 all you can eat sushi the other day.
Food is good.
$25 for a quality sushi with a good fish to rice ratio.
Very good.
Everything about it.
The people here are very friendly.
The neighbors, now we know the neighbors.
We wave to the neighbors.
There you go.
Walk down and a neighbor will come up and say hi.
Alex is working with some neighbors now, which is cool.
Alex picked up some business from that.
It's just really friendly, really nice.
Can you take the heat?
He's not bad because I'm inside all day.
Ah.
It doesn't really matter.
Yeah.
At night, it's really nice because you go out and it's kind of like a little warm,
but it's like a comfortable warm.
Yeah.
Do you think you'll stay here for a while?
I do.
For many years?
Decades?
Most likely.
Decades?
For the rest of your life?
I mean, too early to tell.
Where did you grow up?
Los Angeles.
Okay.
So that's why you think the traffic is good because
Alic traffic is terrible.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Have you lived anywhere else?
Nope.
Are you willing to?
I'd be open.
You'd be open to it?
Have you lived anywhere else?
I grew up in Ventura, which is an hour north of L.A.
And then that's where you grew up in.
Yeah, I grew up in Ventura and then I moved to UCSB.
And then from there I moved in with him in Santa Monica and then here.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I would say go live somewhere for a year.
I want to live in New York.
Yeah, come to New York.
New York for one year. I've told myself that. I think that everyone should try New York for a year.
That's what a lot of people say. Yeah. I really feel like you learn a lot about yourself in New York.
It's a really tough city and it's very uncomfortable. But that's what that's its charm actually.
Yeah. What is it about New York though? It's just like so everything's expensive. It's very like you don't get a lot of space. It's dirty. It smells. It's like the weather is like really harsh. And I kind of like that because it keeps me like on my.
toes and it kind of like keeps me. I don't know. It's like a cold shower. It's equivalent of like a
cold shower. Like I don't know. It's hard to explain. That makes sense. You learn a lot about
yourself when you're like under those conditions. I feel like all of the people that I know that
have spoken about living in New York speak very fondly of it. Yeah. I don't think I'm going to live there
you know, past my after I turn 30, but I'd probably going to spend my 20s in New York just because
it's, I don't know. There's, you know, there's plenty of things wrong with it. Taxes one
But it's just like I said, I'm someone who like maximizes like cares a lot about experiences.
And I go through a lot there like in a lot of different ways in a lot of different areas of my life.
Personal work, everything.
So I don't know.
I've learned a lot of by myself just because there's a lot of trials there.
What about these experiences?
Like what stands out to you?
Like this past year, a lot of like personal experiences like dealing with friends like a lot of my personal relationships.
Part of that is also like living in a creator house.
like obviously very complicated.
But I've learned so much about like navigating some things, like even stuff like
me not being a confrontational person.
But then by nature of like trying to do business and then also live with friends, like having
to work on that skill.
That's an example of like something in my personal life.
Just areas of growth that like you would find, you would not find unless you were like put
in those specific situations.
I think like every, every few months like I go through like some stuff in New York.
and I learn a lot about like myself and I think I come out usually like a better person just having grown.
And it's not always just like career stuff, a lot of personal stuff.
And I care a lot about like the personal career, work, life balance.
So it's important to me to like focus on everything.
Yeah.
So we're going to be taking questions from our audience, from the fans on Patreon.
Okay.
Here's some questions for you.
From Ben, what is your process from making videos to uploading videos?
I feel like we answered that pretty well.
Yeah.
Uh, plan out a day, bring my camera around.
Is there anything in that day that you know hits with the audience?
You're like, they love when I go to this one coffee shop.
Not necessarily.
I do try to fit in a talking segment into every video, which doesn't always work out because
people click off of like talking segments usually in a vlog.
Like you see the retention go like this when you start talking.
But I do think like it's really important to build that audience relationship by talking to them
directly.
Like a lot of times it's more like the viewers just like, sorry, like watching in on you versus like you're actually there and they're talking directly to you. I think that's a different type of creator. Where do you source, do you use stock B-roll? Stock B-roll? No. You don't. Stock B-roll? Yeah. No. You don't use any stock B-roll? No. Why would I use stock B-roll? What if there's something you're trying to explain and there's a really nice, you know, stock footage or something? I just never have used B-roll like that. I mean, I use my own B-roll.
I don't use stock bureau.
It's not my style.
That's interesting.
I feel like all we use is stock mural.
Pretty much.
Pretty much.
That's like every, all of the, huh.
I don't know.
I just never have, like, I'm showing my life.
It's weird if I kind of show someone else's footage.
Shelby Church, I think, does the same.
She filmed such good B-roll.
I think she's got a backlog.
She has to have a catalog.
It's just like her walking in a hundred different spots.
Like her at a grocery store and, like, different buildings and stuff.
And then she could pull back from this.
Right. I also don't do voiceovers. Like, oh yeah. So that's a little different. Why not? Don't you think that would be a good idea? I'm, I want to experiment more with voiceovers just because it's a little bit more versatile. I just like, for the longest time I've been doing this and just talking. So that's what I'm used to. But I'm actually really interested in like experimenting more. What about walking around with that thing? Do you get embarrassed like filming out in public? Not anymore. Like in the beginning. Yeah, but I got over real quick. Just a lot of just like, loud and proud. You know, just like.
really just you got to for me it's like if I don't do it no one's going to do for me if I don't do it
right then I'm if I don't get the high enough this is not a good shot you know like this is the right
shot yeah straight on do like like what about looks at you in public or do people ever trying to
interfere because I just don't care if I just don't care if they like hey yeah um I read four hour
work week my freshman year of college and in there there's a bunch of like uncomfortable
exercises that you're supposed to do and one of them was like lying on the ground in the public
area for like five minutes. So in the middle of lunch, like in my college dining hall.
I would just lie down in the middle. Like, you know, you're scared of judgment.
You tell your friends you were doing it? No, I just do it. And people are just like, what are you
doing? Or just random stuff like pushups in the middle of nowhere. And like, we're just looks,
obviously very judgmental looks and like a lot of judgment for my, my friends and like people that I was
like meeting because it's a freshman year of college. But it really trained.
me like super well to just like not care like I need what I need to get done I get done like
I don't care if it's like this and if I have to yell or whatever it's just like practice
cool yeah what other like challenges did you do from the four hour work week that was the one that was the
memorable I don't really remember I think there's one it was maintain eye contact oh I did that
the other person looks away I did that where you just maintain eye contact until the other person and then
it gets very uncomfortable with someone you're not talking to yeah I would just saying like you're
sitting over here there's someone else sitting over there
just staring at them.
No, even during a conversation,
like you want to look away.
Like, we could do it right now.
Like, really did.
Yeah,
Grav and I could have a little bit of this.
We both read the book.
So we're just going to go forever,
really.
Like, I can probably just go forever.
Unless I just like,
keep talking and get you to look away.
But now we just gaze into each other's eyes.
You really want to look away.
I know.
Like, right now is that point?
Now my eyes are just getting watered.
So I was like also not blinking.
So that wasn't healthy.
You got to blink.
Yeah, it's okay to blink.
It's okay to blink.
It's actually weirder if you don't blink.
That could be an added layer.
Try that and then report back on the next episode.
Yeah.
Just with a stranger?
Yeah.
It could be with a stranger.
I'll do it at Cholet tomorrow.
Passer-by.
Or anyone that you're talking to.
Like,
you order,
Tripoli,
but stare at them until they look away.
Yeah.
I mean,
that's not hard.
You think.
If I'm speaking to someone,
I actually maintain,
I actually maintain icon.
I feel like I do it pretty well.
Yeah.
And I'm not really scared to look.
You should do with people
that are just like walking by on the street.
That's what I think would be harder.
Yeah.
If I was just sitting down,
you know,
biting my burrito.
Intently.
That depends how you're eating the burrito.
How else would you eat it?
Would you eat it sideways like this?
The joke is lost.
I got it,
Graham.
It's okay.
Yeah,
I don't know.
I think that's definitely something I should try out.
I just got a lollipop.
Popsicle.
Yeah,
the props might not really help,
but no,
it's great.
I actually,
you know,
you were just talking about
being uncomfortable in public,
this will help.
Like,
not uncomfortable,
sorry,
not uncomfortable in public,
uncomfortable asking people questions in public.
Yeah.
Yeah, it'll actually help a lot.
Like, the eye contact thing is big.
I got to practice that.
You can lie down.
I like that a lot, actually.
Okay, I'll report back.
Yeah.
I'll report back.
All right.
Well, cool.
Well, thank you.
I really appreciate this.
Thanks for coming to Vegas.
Thanks for coming on.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Did you get your free stock in the description?
I'm about to right now by going down there in description and click it.
Have you followed me on?
So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for tuning in.
episode of the Ice Coffee Hour podcast.
Thank you, Elliot, for coming over here.
Very gracious of you.
With that, that said, you guys.
Until next time.
Cool.
