The Iced Coffee Hour - Meet The Most Popular Person In New York City | Kelly Wakasa

Episode Date: February 26, 2023

Take control of your creator finances for FREE with Creative Juice here: https://tinyurl.com/4uzejx5n 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... Thanks to Alexander Verbitskiy for helping us rescue the sound of this episode last minute. He is an Emmy-winning mixer who specializes in all things audio. If you need help with sound post on your project, you can reach him through his Instagram @averbitskiy Official Clips Channel:     / @theicedcoffeehou...   For sponsorships or business inquiries reach out to: [e-mail] GET YOUR FREE STOCK WORTH UP TO $1000 ON PUBLIC & SEE MY STOCK TRADES - USE CODE GRAHAM: http://www.public.com/graham  Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:42 Living Room Boxing 04:04 Casey Neistat 05:58 Kelly's Skating Roots 10:17 Youtube Money In High School 11:50 Moving To La 15:41 Growing On Youtube 19:05 Coming Up With Video Ideas 20:34 Fidias Hugging Elon 22:34 When Youtube Became A Career 24:18 College As A Business Expense 27:30 Very Weird Frat Rituals 31:57 "Do What Excites" Meaning 34:40 Spending The Day With The World's Talle... 40:42 How Much Kelly Made In College 43:19 "Your Mom's House" Backstory 44:59 Breaking Up With Roommates 50:09 How To Stop Caring 53:41 Insecurities 56:32 People Don't Actually Care 58:20 Kelly's Income Breakdown 01:00:01 Planning For The Future 01:01:16 The Future Of This Podcast 01:06:15 How Graham Got Into Making Content 01:08:54 Outro - MUST WATCH 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 [e-mail] *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

Kelly Wakasa is a perfect example of if at first you don't succeed, try again. After repeatedly hitting rock bottom, Kelly moved to New York City and was able to build an audience of millions who watch them push boundaries, do the uncomfortable, and make a lot of money in the process. Today, we're getting an inside look into the business. One of the most popular vloggers in New York City discuss the difficulties that come along the way. I was making like a thousand to two thousand a month. And then I actually tanked. Then I just couldn't make any money. And answer all of the questions that you've been dying to hear on this.

episode of subscribe if you haven't done it already because we're closing in on 400,000 subscribers. So thank you so much. And now let's begin. But first, we want to thank our sponsor, Creative Juice. As a creator, you're running a business. And as a business, you've got to have a business banking account that's separate from all of your personal stuff. Well, fortunately, Graham, Creative Juice is the perfect place to get started. Juice funds creative futures so that you can stay in control of your content and supercharge your growth. Not only does Juice provide creators with funding, it's a one-stop shop for all of your creator banking needs. debit cards with rewards, invoicing, team collaboration tools, paying your contractors,

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If you're looking to this camera, say, welcome back to the iced poppy hour. Welcome back to the iced poppy hour with me. Is that what you wanted? Beautiful. Thank you so much for making it on the ice poppy hour, Kelly. We're excited to be here. This is a wicked house in New York. We have to describe where we are.

I feel like we're three levels underground in a bedroom. Yep. It's a basement-turned bedroom, and this is my roommate Luke's house or whereabouts. His situation. Yeah. This is a very nice place. Like a lot of places in New York are very small, but this is like an actual large like condo. What do you call it? I mean, it's like a townhouse, I would say. I mean, we have a backyard, so I feel like that has to be like house. House? Yeah. Lovely place. You hosted a boxing event two nights ago. That was crazy. It's all just like a YouTube boxing event with a bunch of people punching each other in the face. You included. Yeah. I mean, I just built a boxing ring and thought it'd be funny to have like a fight night and a party. And I'm glad you guys came. And that was like last minute too. I was shocked that we were like, okay, we're going to do this podcast this day. We're like, actually, I got this boxing match.

I wanted to do in my living room. I had decided Friday night. So like the day before I built it and just because of like scheduling, I was like, okay, if I'm going to make this video happen, I have to make it now because I'm leaving on Thursday. And I wanted to be like a weekend party. Otherwise, like no one shows up. And you built it yourself. Did you?

Yeah, yeah. You did all of the things. Like, because it's actually like a somewhat legitimate boxing. I mean, it's like, it's not legit. It's like pool noodles and stuff like that. I'd love to throw up B-roll. Yeah, yeah, we'll throw up some footage. Maybe we wait until you post your video and we'll...

You look like you're itching in the corner just to get in that room. It's harding you wanted to. Because, like, there was 20% to me that thought, man, I could kick some ass in this thing. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. No one. No, you're just sitting in the sidelines talking like that. That's sure.

You know, it's like, I saw that the, you know, people were putting their hands down. They didn't have good form and posture. Like, put Graham in now. And it's just game over. Man, I could do this. First down knockout. Fine. All right, let's do it.

We saw the ring set up. Alex, you're in box? I'm great. Micacotta, where are you at? I posted on Instagram, and I said, like, who would you guys like to see in the iced coffee hour? And I made, like, this makeshift spreadsheet of how many times each name was mentioned. Oh, really? Yours was mentioned, I believe it was third.

The first was Casey Nystatt. Second was Ryan Surhan. Okay. And then it was you. You know, I mean, you're very probably well aware of Casey Nystad. As we saw Candace. Have you heard him? At Sweet Green.

We saw his wife at Sweet Greens early to just coincidentally. Oh, really? She was just there. And it was like, hey, Candice. She seemed weirded out. I thought so. You said hi?

I didn't know what to say. She was walking right by us and I was like, wait a sec. You just don't say anything. Why would you? Like, I just don't like, hey, Candice. I mean, that doesn't sound terrible to me. But I didn't say anything.

I didn't say like, hey, I'm a fan. Because we're also planning on shooting with Casey. He was DM and Casey. Yeah, we were talking about setting something up when we're here. Oh, nice. But we were pushing it until a little later. And then Jackson's, hi, Kay. And she looked over like, who's this guy?

I was like, right next to us, too. I was talking to Casey about maybe. She's like, oh, okay. But I'm sure she's like, oh, he's one of these guys. Like, you know, one of the tens of thousands of people talking to him on like a weekly basis. Yeah, I've met Casey. I don't know if Casey has met me. Like literally, I'm like, hey, what's up?

Like, I saw him on the street once. And I offered to help because he had like garbage bags. And I think he was shooting a thumbnail at the time. But I didn't like introduce myself. I was like, oh, what's up? I'm just, you need help. And then he just looked at me like this. And then we had a lunch at YouTube that we were all invited.

Just like 10 creators. It was like Dr. Mike, Casey, Dylan LeMay and myself and Ashley. And then I went up and said hi. And then he just kind of went around. Hopefully I'll get my moment. He's like the YouTuber's YouTuber. Like all of the YouTubers is just like adore him. I feel like everyone does.

So respectable. Everyone in New York, too. It's like he's Casey. Yeah. He walks on water, even at the YouTube office. Like there's other people in the room that are definitely like notable status and then he's just like above and beyond Yeah interesting well we're here to talk about you. Oh yeah okay by the way I realized that I saw your video a while ago asking your Oh it was you you asked out your crush from like was it elementary school okay. Oh yeah my middle school

That's how I initially found you. Oh wow that the middle school crush video I You're editing was so good like I watched your video and it made me feel like crap because I want my video afterwards I'm like my videos suck compared to like the work that you put in a storytelling yeah yeah like well I can't agree more it was crap it was just no I mean that video specifically was I mean a long time in the making it was actually we I had shot a video I had a duo channel with my friend Luke where we like DM'd our middle school crushes and so we had all this footage and then I was like we never met up so I was like, oh my God, this would be amazing.

Let's finally do this. And I still kind of had those butterflies when I made that video. So it's all very genuine. And I think the results kind of showed for itself that it was a good story. Well, tell us a little bit about, like, your story growing up and what led you to here today. Yeah, well, I'm from San Francisco Bay Area, specifically like Burlingame area. I don't know if you guys are familiar. But, yeah, grow up, grew up playing soccer.

And then getting into YouTube, I found a. passion for skateboarding. So actually my first initial 100,000 subscribers are all from skateboarding content. And I worked with the biggest YouTube skate channel, Braille skateboarding. I don't know if you guys know them. Aaron Cairo, Braille skateboarding. They have like 5 million subscribers. Are they the ones that they try different decks out? Yeah. Yeah. Crazy death. I loved yeah. Like the glass and stuff like that. I loved that. Yeah, doing a kickflip with that. So I was I was an intern for them for many years just like unpaid just like help do camera work and was just kind of like a sponge learned a lot at the time like 15 16 how'd you get the position as their intern sent just like a bunch

of emails that I was honestly surprised they got back to me you send email that's exactly what happened too well wow just lots of emails that's cool though yeah and then since then just kind of like evolved content wise over the years and now I guess I make adventure vlogs did you know that you had an interest in YouTube specifically, or was it more so skateboarding? I think over the course of my life, video making has always been, like, at the forefront. Sometimes in the back, just because at one point I was like head over heels about skateboarding, it was like my girlfriend. I was just like all day, skate.

And but my filmmaking beginning started when I was like, I want to say eight or nine. And I had like made a lot of videos using my mom's Mac desktop computer. So I have like videos on other channels that were from. 2009 when I was nine and like just a decade of videos now. That's incredible. What did you, who did you look up to as a kid? Did you have any like skate influences or anything? I know for me it was, what was the guy's name?

He was the first Tony Hawk's name to Jamie something. Oh. Oh, I was thinking J-O-B. No, I don't think it's Jamie over. I feel like I know who you're talking about, but I don't want to slaughter the last name. Chad Muskech, too. Chadmaska.

Okay. Those are definitely some OGs. I wouldn't say like my era, but I would say like growing up, I looked up to another YouTuber named Chris Chan. Yep. You know him? He's a lifestyle vlogger and skateboarder. Like I would say pretty much pro to a non-skater's eye, I guess.

Or to a skater's eye as well. I don't want to disrespect him like that. I didn't mean it like that. But yeah, I used to look up to this guy specifically. He has like a million subscribers. And I remember just like, wow, his videos are so cool. And now, like, we're friends, which is crazy still. Like, we'll get food together.

And I still have to, like, pinch myself. It's like, we're on the same level now, but it doesn't, you know, I'll always kind of look at him or be like, oh, so cool. So at what point did you start to pivot to your own content, like start your own channel and go that route? When I was like 15. That's early. Yeah. Yeah. I was making YouTube money in, I mean, not like YouTube money.

I want to hear. How much were you making back then? Well, it's hard to tell, but by the end of high school, I was making like a thousand to two thousand a month. That's incredible. Yeah, in high school with like, I want to say like 100,000 subscribers. I feel like that's a little low for 100,000 subscribers. But as a high schooler, like as like a job, that's really good. Well, it depends on the content, I would say, right?

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the time, I was hyped. Like, I would do it for free. So, I mean, it was definitely like even then. I was already posting like all the time like multiple times a week like I would say three times a week a new vlog kind of I would say like more David Dobrick style I was kind of like grabbing from a lot of people yeah but yeah I would say like early beginnings just like a couple thousand and then I actually tanked after doing like one to two thousand then I just couldn't make any money

what happened um I switch up my content again and you know when you build an audience for something it's like you guys are doing a podcast right now then all of a sudden said like okay we're gonna do vlogs like it might it might not do well. And that's what happened to me because I did skateboarding so much as that was my niche. And then I was like, now, I cut the skateboarding because I just felt like it was such a small niche that I couldn't grow to the size that I wanted to. And I wanted to not feel like trapped in a box. And then from there, I went from averaging. I want to say like 40 to 50K views to like 10K views or less. And then I was just like, yeah, that was not making any money. And then how old were you at that time? I want to say like 18, 19. Right as I moved out. That, that's what. I was, That's when the views dropped.

Got it. And you were going to college, right? No, I moved after high school, after graduating high school, I moved to Los Angeles. How were you able to afford L.A.? I had saved up up until I was moving. And I want to say I saved up a good chunk, like $20,000. How did you not spend it? I feel like it's so tempting for people in high school.

You have like $2,000 a month rolling in. How do you control yourself to save? I don't even think I thought about spending it. I kind of think I liked seeing the money grow. Okay. I was like, oh, this is awesome. And I want to say, like, I was very fortunate growing up. Like, I didn't feel like, like, my family didn't, like, struggle to, you know, have food or, like, certain nice things.

So I didn't feel like I needed to spend. And I had everything I needed. I had a skateboard. I had a car. And I was good. I was just borrowing my mom's car and just, like, go around and film and skate. Yeah. How'd you pick LA?

It's funny. The room we're in right now. This is my friend Luke's room. I met Luke when we were in freshman year of high school. We sat next to each other and we're like, oh, you skate, I skate, I do YouTube, you do YouTube a little bit. We should move to L.A. and blow up. And this was kind of like, I want to say during like the Jake Paul, those type of air of vloggers. And so we're like, we got to go to L.A.

And so it kind of like manifests itself by the end of high school. We're like, okay, let's move out. Let's move to L.A. And then we shared a studio apartment in East Hollywood right in front of the blue sign tall. building. Yeah. And yeah, that's that's where we started. What was the plan? Like, no plan. No plan. Absolutely no plan. What'd your parents think of that? I think at by that time my parents were like, Kelly's a wild child. Like, he's just going to do whatever he wants. And, uh, they knew that I was driven. And so I think they just like said, oh, he'll figure it out. But yeah, I mean, I just like loosen money. Just doing

whatever I want every day. You move to L.A. You get a place with your friend. You were making at the time, like you said, one to $2,000 a month. So realistically, it tanked. Yeah, on a month to month basis, like you're in the red. Right. Yeah, I had never, I never did a brand deal, like ever until like maybe two years ago from today. So I wasn't making any brand money. It was only AdSense.

And, but luckily our rent was only $6.50 each. That's not bad at all. Yeah. I mean, it was a studio. It was really small. And, yeah, we just rode with that cash. And I had something saved up. I actually really messed up my boy, Luke, because I was like, Luke, you got it.

move out you got to come down to LA and he's like I have no money saved up and he was also a way smaller YouTuber so we kind of like supported each other during that time so humble begin what sort of content were you creating was this must have been like 2016 no this was 2019 2018 2018 got it okay I moved out I was making literally the most random content and that's why it didn't stick looking back I'm like this is the most stupid direction a YouTuber can make I went from like making it some high school vlog skating to uh just like clickbait titles and vlogs. And I'd still had like good editing.

Like what? It would just be like, I can't believe it. Like that would be the title. I can't believe it. Just hoping, you know, it's just full lifestyle. And in LA, it'd be like, you know, of course it would be like a moving to LA video. And then sometimes I'd go back to my old niche of skateboard because like I was like, oh, this is all I know.

And so then I would do a like a, I used to do videos like asking people about skate trivia on the street, which would do well. But it was just jumping around. with so much different content you would you could watch one video in the next video I post look like it's out of your guys's video or something like it could have been it a finance niche like I was just literally trying it at the fan even though I had like at the time like I want to say like 200,000 subscribers 200,000 subscribers yeah yeah that's a lot of subscribers I think I knew how to make a video or I knew how to make a video but I didn't know how to like

cultivate an audience great yeah so when did you get your like viral video what What changed that- There was no viral video. It was definitely just a slow grind. Like, I still feel now that I'm just like still so beginning. But like, what was the pivot? What changed that, like, put you on the path to make the content easy today? Actually, I had a manager in L.A.

Who basically, like, kind of roasted my content. We had worked really hard, me and my friend Luke, on this video together. And we were just, like, worked for two weeks. weeks on this video and he's just like yeah it's not good and so it was kind of like a wake-up call and he was just telling me like you should like do some storytelling or something I was like storytelling what do you want me to narrate I was like that's that's suicidal like I can't it was just not part of my style at the time and then I just started you know writing down like

okay what well how can I package a good video and I was so obsessed with you know just YouTube in general that I was like looking at everybody who's really winning in the space like Casey or Emma Chamberlain or David Dobrick at the time. And I was just like, let me just grab a little bit from each. I mean, I hope that I was like, Emma Chamberlain relatability. And Casey and I sat storytelling and David Dobrick funny. And I tried to like pile it in and then, you know, maybe like yes theory narration. And so it kind of started molding my style.

And from there I started doing more videos that were story based. And I think that's kind of like still the content that has made me the bigger creator I am today. Yeah. I think it's still the style now. It seems that the story style, like that your sort of narration, I believe, has really carried for it a lot. Like, even now, those videos are, like, just as relevant. I think storytelling is just something that will never go. Yeah. Like, good videos, good stories, they're timeless. So how do you, how do you start with telling a story? Like, is there a structure that you follow every time? Or how do you know, like, how to tell it, I guess is like, how do you figure this out?

It's practice. It's got to be practiced. Like, this is all I do every day since I was like. Sure. But walk us through like just. Let's say you come up with a story. What's the story boarding, I suppose, process of like getting it all out on like a script or a paper? Nowadays it's very different than when it like back in the day.

Nowadays, I think I'm just smarter with YouTube that I have to start with thumbnail title. Like the idea of like what do I want to look like and then work backwards from there? because I just don't even feel like wanting to make the video if I know it's just going to flop. There's so many cool ideas out there that just don't work in a thumbnail title that I just would not make. Give us an example. Let's hear it. I'm trying to pick.

Maybe we help you on this. I mean, even, now I say out loud, like, that could be cool. We would, like, I would do a lot of videos that were just, like, maybe kind of like a stunt or something, but it didn't, like, you couldn't capture the moment in a thumbnail that was like digestible if that makes sense. Like we would do videos like in the LA River. Like wakeboarding the LA River, I thought this was a great idea

or somehow taking that and elevating that idea. But we can never get it that like it would go viral. And so I feel like there are certain videos that are very cool as segments that lead to a bigger idea. That is why like I'd just stray away from those ideas if that makes sense. But when you're telling a story,

how do you script it? How do you figure out like this is a good hook this is what people care about and remove the fluff. I think I like to film and everything happens in post. I'll have a brief like, okay, let's shoot at certain places and then just let the like magic of being out and about filming happen. So, you know, the best moments happen when they're like unscripted, obviously. If I scripted everything, like the videos would suck.

So I think I just use like notion and I just literally will like write down like, okay, this is a checklist of like things I want to shoot that day. And the next day, if I don't get it, then I'll just go out and shoot something else that comes to mind. And a lot of times I'll have these ideas that I'll sit in my notion or whatever for for months. I think my videos are heavily like, you need an edit. Like I'm not Jideon or a Danny Duncan who's like just, you know, naturally super funny. And like that type of content, I would say I'm closer to like, I don't know, a Casey Nistad or yes theory or something that has more. post-production work.

Not to, like, say that JDy, no, no, no, no, yeah, no, no, yeah, you know, like that's crazy. So I've, I've hung out with Danny a few times.

Yeah, yeah. He is the exact same off camera. Exactly, like, he will do the same things off camera. And I'm like, dude, you're not even filming this. It's just,

he just finds it funny. Yeah. Like, all the time. Of course. So it's like just, like just filming his life. It's wild. I thought, honestly, he played up for camera,

but no. That's so funny. Yeah, I mean, not at all. Do you know who Fadias is? Yes. He's the exact same on camera as he has off camera. He's like,

he's honestly a public nuisance when I go out with that. It's like, it's like gonna love you like, yeah, yeah. Like, he will like, we'll just be in a restaurant. He'll just like, start like yell. Not yelling, but like basically just like being a distraction to everybody. And he just doesn't care. Like, yo, you realize that we're not filming right now. He's like, yeah, no.

He hugged Elon Musk. Can you see that? I did see that. That made me so happy to see him. How many days was he out there? It was like two months. Was it almost three? Wow.

A month. Did he, like, work in between that, or is that that it? He was, like, doing daily shorts. That was like his thing. He blew up on YouTube and TikTok by doing the daily shorts outside of Elon Musk's office. And I'll tell you, like, I honestly felt around day 45, he wasn't going to do it because he upset Elon Musk's mom. Someone said he should reach out to Elon Musk's mom, and, like, he mentioned something to his followers, and everyone went to her. And, like, started spamming her of, like, have your son hug, Phidias, you know.

And such a YouTuber thing like I want to hug Elon Musk for my video So people spam them up But she was so upset over that that she did like a public tweet and told like Elon do not hug him Whoa And I was like oh yeah then that's not gonna happen especially with security issues I thought it might set the precedent that like Elon is now gonna hug anybody who like camps out for a hundred days or something like that And it might set like the wrong tone or he might say like hey I'll do it but like you can't post about it We'll do it.

Oh, my God. Like, something like that. I was worried about it. But the fact that he stayed just as dedicated, like, is inspirational to me. That, like, seriously, that you can do that. I would love to see Graham Steffin, like, outside of Casey and Ice Sack's office. Oh, don't know. Please, Casey.

Please, Casey. Just give me a hug. I don't know. Someone like Elon Musk is, like, that is, like, the top tier. I was shocked. It is dedicated. He did it, though. It made me so happy.

Yeah. I mean, that's got to be one of the hardest people to reach. Yeah. Yeah. And he did it. resilience right there so when for you did things on youtube really start taking off to the point we're like okay now you're affording a nicer place you moved to new york right yeah i would say 20 20 20 was that was kind of like the change i i would say like when i felt like i was making it was when i was averaging 100 000

views i was like oh my god this is all i ever wanted 100 000 views and that happened in the summer of 2020 and that was just through like the new style of content i was making and then for From there, I actually enrolled in college after being out of college for two years because I saw the opportunity to go to college to make videos. Going to college to make videos. So being a college YouTuber? Yeah. At the time, I noticed like all these college videos do so well and they're no offense, like

kind of shit. I was like, what if I go to college and I just make videos but I don't even focus on school? Like I'll make great videos. What college videos are doing well? I'm just, even just a basic day in the life. Anything? Yes.

The day in the life of a UCLA student kept getting recommended. The Harvard, the Ivy Leagues. Yep. The day in the life of, you know, what was the one? There's John, was it John Fish? Yeah, John Fish. Yeah. I mean, just at the time.

I mean, I think even today, like, college content is still very, like, you know, that's the, everyone who's on YouTube is, like, kind of younger and wanting to go to college or, like, wants to see. Especially, like, even UCSB, like, I think they have, like, 30. No, they have a ton of students, but I know each year when people want to go and join UCSB or they want to apply there, they have like hundreds of thousands of applicants. Very high likelihood that those people are going to watch day in the life of a UCSB student. So like all of those like still pop off even for schools like UCSB. So what college did you want to go to? What was the plan? Well, originally in high school, I applied to colleges, but by the end of high school, I just didn't want to go.

But I didn't get in. So I couldn't have gone anyway. So I applied to the University of Arizona, which, which I knew I could get in because it's like a 95% acceptance rate. And so I went to University of Arizona. Really? Yeah. Because I knew at the time, this sounds bad, but I knew they didn't really care about COVID. Like they just, like, they had very little rules there.

So I could like kind of still film and it was like kind of maskless. I'm not like an advocate for that. Wouldn't Florida have been just as good? Like, don't more people go to Florida? Probably. Yeah. I just being on the West Coast and from like the Bay Area. Like so many people went to Arizona and like I was kind of familiar and I also knew that they loved the party and I thought like oh my god this is great content like I have so many ideas. So from like all this momentum I had that summer I was like okay now I'm going to college and then from there that's I think the year because I was in college for a year that really like solidified my presence as a YouTuber and like had a community by then. And you moved to Arizona and like lived there and in Tucson. Did you actually study and like do class or was it purely kind of like?

Like, you guys are failing all of my classes. So I was, I stayed for a year, but I only did one semester. I did a semester and it was kind of like hybrid online in person. And yeah, I had like a 1.8 GPA. But by like two months in, I just like stopped showing up. And I was just filming. But what about tuition? So it was kind of like a business expense.

It was a business expense. Yeah, kind of like, I was like, okay, let's just do it. Wow. And it was kind of a risk. Like, oh, it's kind of expensive. I think it was like 14,000 for a semester. And I was like, well, I always wanted to go to college. If I'm ever going to go, it's got to be now before I'm like too old.

And I was like old. I mean, I was like 20 year old freshman. I was like, oh, it's kind of weird. Like, oh, what's up? I'm 17. Like, oh, God, like, get away kind of thing. God, someone don't clip that. That's like the opening.

But, yeah, even when I was at college, I wanted to like, let's just maximize and maximize. So we would film, I would edit everything in my dorm, like living with another student. Are you serious? Yeah, so I was doing the full thing. So were you like the 20-year-old guy gets roomed with like the freshman or? Was I 19? I mean, I was maybe 19, 20, or something. But the guy I roomed with was 19.

Okay. I mean, he was never there. So it was true. But yeah, I wanted to do the full thing and like document everything. So I was joined a frat? Yeah. Now, was it easy to get into like anywhere because you have the YouTube channel? Like I feel like any frat

If you say like hey I got a channel I'll put it on the channel You guys will get like way more exposure No No They the frats don't want me to film anything Because I mean they do like things that they shouldn't do You know it's like hazing

Like hazing or something I mean I would never say that my frat hazed Come on that's against the rules Against the brotherhood I'm just kidding But what would they do Like I never went to college I never got any college experience

Like what goes down? Yeah. Honestly, my frat that I joined was called Sigma AlphaMU. It was really chill. Like, they were really like, if you ever want to say no, you can just say no. So I remember we would do like smoothie night, which was basically they would like blend anything, put it on the ground, you eat it. And. Wait.

What's the point? What is it? I don't get that. It was just like, let's do stupid stuff to make their lives hell. You know. For entertainment. For entertainment for them. And looking back, I'm not going to lie, maybe.

Like, it's not everyone's cup of tea for sure. But, like, the guys I did it with, you build such a bond. It's almost like going to war. I mean, I've never been to war. So, like, I don't know, but I'm guessing. But one of the funniest things we did was we had a courtyard. And then they had, just like these cups, they had a garbage can in one corner and a garbage can and the other. One was full of water.

One was not. And they all gave us a spoon. And so while they were like pelting us with like water balloons and tomatoes or whatever, we had to put all the water from one garbage can in the other using spoons while like tied to everybody. And it was just hilarious, just hilarious. That sounds fun. See, that's something I know for a fact I would love. Yeah. Graham is just like, Graham, come on.

Let's do a video. Going back to college finally or something. Grant, I went back to college. That would be a great video for you, Graham. I would do one day. I could show you a good time. Oh, business, yeah. I want to do, going back to an MBA program for one day at an Ivy League.

That would be good. I would do college for a day. Honestly, I would. That would be a good video. I'd try it. That'd be a good video. Well, then we have to do, if you're going to do that, you also have to do, like, the gnarly frat version, too. Because, I mean, that's what people are going to want to see, like.

I mean, no interest. Just that reaction is priceless. Come on. I just feel like, guys, it's stupid. Like, why are we doing this? We can be making money. I'd be, like, starting a little. lemonade standard like so let's raise money for something you want to start

lemonade no one's gonna buy lemonade right sponsor or a guy like I can blend in that would I don't think I look 32 I think if I went on a college campus I could blend in perfectly I mean there's a whole range of students too yeah you could be like a graduate student sure right yeah okay yeah what else did they do like what was the I mean there was a college like drinking shotgunning keg standing I'm trying to think there was definitely a lot of

interesting we never did like an elephant walk or something weird what's that you know I don't know what it all god I don't know what I don't want An elephant walk This is like the gnarliest of gnarly frat things

I've also like feel like now I'm branding myself as a frat guy when I was only there for a semester guys But you're the one with the experience You didn't go to college I went to UCSB and I dropped out Oh okay but you never No frat No frat

Elephant walk is like God I can't you explain this all if the frat guys watch it through like dude what the hell you're like it's like the norrly thing i've never done i'm not but it was like word around town like one frat did it which basically is like you get in the line behind your frat mates or whatever and to me this is really sus like you put your thumb in their butt and then you hold their their elephant in the back no way who's who's pitching right right like i thought you guys were like hard guys like what is this who's pitching them who's like who's the guys who's the guys who's the guys who's

Guys, I got a genius idea today. Hey, yo, not my friend. Yo, I don't know. What? If you can convince so much of students to do that, they probably got kicked off today. Yeah, I would question whose idea that was in the first place. Oh, my gosh.

Ice coffee hour elephant walk? Bonding. Wow. I wouldn't want to be the guy in the back. Okay. All right, I just know what I expected to do it. I thought I had to do with like alcohol or something. That's what I thought too.

But it's just nothing to do with alcohol. You guys never partook? No. It was never an actual thing. Now Graham is excited to go to college. Yeah, he's ready to go. Oh, man. All right, sign me up.

It's so fitting we have the red solo cups too. Just water, guys. It's just water. During that same year, I brought on like my first employee, which was like huge for me. And yeah, I felt like, okay, like I have an audience. I have a routine. I have a brand.

And it was at the same time where I actually came up with, or no, it was earlier, but it was really strong that like my fans knew me as like my slogan, Do What Excites. And basically like people were like having this community with this catchphrase kind of thing. Can you explain what that means? Do What Excites was something I made up when I was at like MyLewit Excites. lowest point in my life when I was just like super lonely like borderline depressed just felt like YouTube wasn't going to work out and this was honestly right right before the summer where things started to pick up I was living in between places in between like my first L.A. apartment and my

second L.A. apartment and so it was like a two or three month period where I was like living at my grandma's in L.A. just felt like I'm making no money. I just feel like such a loser and I just was like in this cycle of sadness and I couldn't like get myself to do anything. I'd go to the gym and that was pretty much it. Never felt like the camera like what I was filming was good enough because nothing was working up into that point. And yeah, I wrote down one day like what's my favorite emotion out of pure like I'm nothing. I have literally nothing so I might as well write something down and I didn't want to write down like happiness or something because I felt like that was didn't mean anything to me and I wrote down excitement and I literally don't remember but I

somehow came up with do what excites at that time and I was like I'm just going to do what excites every single day and maybe that'll help and I use that like phrase as like motivation every day and set in every single video and literally just like changed my life as like just a mantra to look in my mirror and be like you're going to do what excites every day so what was some of those first steps like what excites in those in that situation that you were in I mean I think everyone defines it differently like you know whoever watches the video like be like oh do what excites, I might jump out of an airplane or something. But I know to me what was like exciting and kind of like, okay, I'm pushing myself every day to like go after it. So I guess it could be

like skydiving or overcoming your fears or something like that. And that mantra kind of pushed you through to this next level. And now you have a whole brand do what excites and you sell merch and everything like that. Yeah. And it was kind of like, kind of like, oh, discovering who I am and what do I want to push? Because I always wanted to push something positive. And I never had like a catchphrase or something that I really could. stand behind. And so that was like kind of a big moment, I think, just for my brand like personal branding online. So ever since I had that, I kind of like, okay, let's just ride out, do what excites? And hey, this is, what type of video should I make

this week? I should do what excites. What's the most exciting thing that you've done? Most exciting thing that I've done. Well, a video that's coming out, well, I don't know when this comes out. It might have been out already, but I spent 24 hours with the world's tallest man in Turkey. And to me, it was just like, so hard to get this and it was such a risk that was so exciting to me so I feel like this is one of those do it excites moments and rare life moments that I got to have and like super grateful to have flew to the middle of nowhere in turkey right near the Syrian border and met up with the world's tallest man on his farm spent all day like going around with him and yeah it was just like just a while how do you get in

contact with him I just DM'd his manager that was in his bio yeah and then I and it's not it wasn't a free collab. So I had to pay his name's Sultan to spend a day together. And I just like, you know, this year I'm like, I want to just take the next level like whatever. I don't care about money. Sorry, Graham. Wouldn't he, I'm just curious.

I'm just trying to think here. Wouldn't you want the extra exposure? Like the fact that he gets like a dedicated video from you? I think this is how he makes his money. Oh, God. Because he doesn't have like a social presence as much. So he does all of his like, you know, his salary or whatever money he's making is just

through appearances. Can I ask how much it was to spend the day with him? Yeah, so originally his fee just for like two to three hours was four thousand dollars dollars? Dollars. U.S. dollars. Whoa. And so I was like I had seen other videos he had done with other YouTubers and I was like, they're just kind of like showing him as a spectacle. So I was like, I want to do 24 hours. Like I want to spend a whole day and see what his life is really like because it's kind of crazy to be like he's 8,4. He's 8, 4? He's 8 4? 8.4. 8.4. Wow. And so, yeah, to spend all day, I paid him $8,000. So there's probably not a return on investment.

But I was like, walk us through that. Now I'm so curious. So, like, how long did it take to get there? Like, what was your first impression when you met him? Paul. But, like, does he speak English? Like, how did you guys communicate? Does he speak?

So we brought a translator. Okay. And he spoke, I would say, like, decent English. I mean, most questions I asked him, we had to use a translator. But as soon as I saw him, he's like, Kelly. I love America. I love America.

And then I would ask some questions about like random things like coffee. He's like, I love ice coffee. You like ice coffee hour? I didn't hear the hour. Okay. He probably said out. We could edit it. I'm sure he said, yeah.

But he's like, I love Starbucks. Like I was asking him random things. And yeah, we had breakfast. We went shopping. We played like Turkish games. Is he in like a small town? So it's not like he can go out. And like everybody already knows who he is.

So they're not like, oh my gosh, this is a tall guy. Because I already know who he is. I think like a big part of turkey knows who he is. Oh, wow. So his town is not tiny. Where he lives is like on his farm outside of the big town. So we went to the big town and it was like, BTS. Like everyone was pulling up to see him.

We're in a tiny store in the middle of nowhere. Boom. 20 people out of nowhere and taking pictures like hugging him and like giving him tea. But do they know who he is or they know who he is? Or it's like. I don't know the language. So I couldn't tell like, are they just taking it because he's a spectacle or I think they also knew who he was.

Okay. But everywhere we went, it was like, I don't know, like, BTS, like tons of people coming through. How old is he? 40. And does he have, like, trouble with mobility and stuff like that? So he was using me as like a cane. And so he had...

He was using you. Yeah, he would... I mean, it was really cool. I mean, it was like, he would put all of his body weight on me and he also had one crutch that he would use. And then we'd walk around. What does he do if you, like, if you weren't there?

How would he... He always had to... someone so he was just like for for our video using me as his person kind of thing so if it wasn't you would be another person who's always with him is a yeah okay just to get around why a person and not like a like a cane or something on the other side you know I never I didn't ask him that okay so yeah I was curious who he only has one cane like maybe just get two or something I don't really know but it seems like a person yeah it's like a very because important thing and but not

that but you have to be the right of person like if like I don't know if I would be hit for him yeah I don't know yeah like that like you have to be the right size to do it I mean I didn't get all the info out of him I have to go back I didn't ask him like that did you ask if he could do a standing dunk he can't he can and I also without jumping he can just dunk it he can dunk it wow and I asked my Instagram like what do you guys want to know about the world's tallest man and everybody was like how big is his penis and so I asked him and and then I don't think he understood so we still don't know but then but did the translator

understand or like yeah so that it was funny because um because one I was like I don't I don't I didn't feel that comfortable asking him like hey I like this is weird it's a weird question like dude it's like so personal like no one says it right and so I asked him uh for when this video comes out like can you like get angry or something at the question and he's like just was so like loving to film and like happy go lucky that he's like sure And I had brought from my house a breakaway bottle. So I asked him, like, how big is your penis? And then he just hit me with the bottle.

It's just like, just a funny moment. I'm curious, is his furniture in the house larger to fit his size? His bed. Okay. His bed is, I would say, like, double the size of a normal bed in length. But besides that, his, like, ceilings are low. His, I was like, how are you not, like, catering to yourself, you know? He's literally ducking under his door.

And I'm like, are you kidding me? You're like the world's tallest man. I had to imagine like 4,000 American to see him. Like, he's got to be a ton of money for his location. Yeah. And like he could buy a house probably like just every now and then. He has like a few pairs of shoes. Like Lillet just sits on the ground.

Interesting. But I think he's happy. I don't think you know. You don't need too much. Let's go back to your time in college when you started, like I said, like that really meteoric rise. Jeff wants to know about the elephant. I don't want to know more about the elephant.

Yeah, check out this video. How much were you making at the time, if you're able to say? I think at the time, I was just getting my foot in the door with brand deals. But that was really inconsistent. So in college, I don't know. Maybe if, like, I don't even, probably like 5,000 to 10,000 a month. That's good. Maybe.

I'm kind of guessing, but I'm pretty sure I could be wrong. That's very comfortable living, extremely comfortable living in college. Yeah, especially the frat doesn't know, but I moved into the frat second semester and they'd never charged me. So it was cool. They never charged me. Yeah, they never charged me. Why did they charge you? I think because I moved in second semester and everyone was like long-term living.

So I got lucky there too. Why didn't you continue at college? I didn't feel as satisfied. Like, okay, I knew this door is going to close. And I was just like, I feel ready to move on. The content was getting a little repetitive. And I wasn't a student. I just felt like that wasn't me.

I thought it was really fun for that year, but I was just ready like, hey, why don't I get ready for like actual life and build the content that's going to sustain me like for more years than if I build myself so much as a college vlogger and then like as soon as college ends like, what do I do? Like what do I do? And so I kind of wanted to always make sure that I wasn't making only college videos and I could like, you know, make videos that I can make after college. And how did you notice that transition with your own success? Like was it positively, uh, was it positively, uh, responded to when you dropped out of college? It was hard. I think the audience I had, which I would say like average like 200,000 views per video during college or more. And after that, the content for me was hard to make because I was so like all my friends are here. I have, you know, my filmer lives in Arizona and the things were rolling.

I had the jokes with the certain campuses like, oh, I just make a college video. Like it's super easy. And so after it was a little bit more of rediscovering and I also was just like bumping around place to place because I didn't want to sign a lease just somewhere random. So there was probably a good five months. I was just like, what am I doing? So another like, damn, like not a rock bottom, but just like, what am I doing? Like, is this it again?

How did you figure out a way around that? Just keep showing up. And then eventually we moved three other friends to New York City. So from college, I moved to New York City last year, which was your mom's house, which was like a creator house that we had last year. What was the motivation behind doing a creator house? I had always wanted to live in Creator House. I felt like, you know, those were like the people I love spending time with because, like, we have such a shared passion.

And so I was like literally willing to do whatever it takes to like end up in a Creator house because, you know, you know, content creation can be really lonely. And my whole like where I was really struggling was because I was so alone feeling that I just wanted to be around Creator. So I was like, we'll do it whatever it takes, you know, cold calling, meeting up with people. oh, you're a creator, like, let's meet up and try to make something happen. So you decided to go with the creator house here in New York City. And did you notice that the creator house positively affected your success as a YouTuber? And was it, like, drastic if so? Of course.

I mean, I wouldn't say it's drastic because, like, views probably went from, like, 250K to, like, maybe, like, 400K. That's pretty substantial. But, like, I feel like also, like, look back, like, some of my videos would do that or, like, more or something. So it was just, like, building that audience. And definitely there was more eyeballs because, like, yeah, we have three people that were always collaborating with. And, yeah, I can't say that. It didn't help. Like, we are making videos all together, building a brand together.

And everybody was looking forward to our videos every single week. And it would be like, okay, I'm going to watch Elliot's video and then Amory's video, then Kelly's video, then Ashley's video. So it was like really, you know, cool thing. It's cool, like, sitcom where you get to see four different perspectives. That's cool. It reminds me of like the David Dobrick thing. Yeah. Like everyone's creating their own, like, prospective content.

And then... And everybody came in with the audience. So it's kind of like, we're just like... Yeah. You guys know a crater house. And just constantly collabing. But now you're in this spot. And the last house was...

It just ended? Yeah. I mean, it's like pretty public. Like, just didn't end well. And it was a lot. We had some differences. And I think we're in the beginning. We were just like very naive and didn't look at the big picture of things.

We just like literally put force. strangers together almost, like expecting it to work and like day one started like making videos together. And yeah, we just at the end just didn't renew the lease and everyone went kind of like separate ways. What were some of the differences? I would say like just the level of like how much they love YouTube and want to do that forever kind of thing. I think certain people just like wanted different things out of YouTube and content creation and also like different rates of how much they can work. Like me, I could like literally film all day every day.

And just like, that's like where I get my energy. Where I think a lot of people like, hey, I need to like take days off or just like not film for a week or two. I think there was always this like balance of filming and not filming. So I think I mean, obviously like creator houses do work, but just this one didn't work. Interesting. So there's a difference in business perspectives. And you said that when you guys initially moved in together like it was nearly

strangers. So there was no like real conversation beforehand. Of course there was cons like a conversation. Right. Right. Sure. Conversations. But, but, uh, but like hanging out with each other, like getting to know each other. Yeah. So like I was really good friends with Elliot. So like that was like a solidified relationship. But Amory and Ashley were pretty like, I didn't know Ashley really. I had met Amory before. And so that was kind of like, you know, I knew one person really well. And then the rest were kind of like, we're like going to learn about each. other. Interesting. Yeah. And then from there, basically the after the end of the lease, you guys decided to come get this spot over here. And it's similar. It's kind of a content house, right?

Yeah. I think we just learned from the last one, like, hey, let's just all do our own thing. We still live together as creator. So it's kind of like we have coworkers and also just like friends. I mean, literally everyone who lives in this house now, it's just like, we're just friends. Like, we barely even film together. We just like hang out. But yeah, it is similar, I guess, in the last one. What are some of the key takeaways, like things that you learned from the first content house that you had? I think you have to look really big picture. When you're building like a business with other people, it's a lot of times there's so many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has different ideas.

It's really hard when there's four people coming up with one solution. So I guess like in the future I would just feel like, one, just do it myself or maybe like one partner or something like that. I'm trying to think. I really would never have changed anything. Like, it was a great time. I think everyone who was involved, like, had, like, you know, such a crazy experience that we'll all remember and laugh about in a few years. So do you wish you could have made it work?

I mean, we definitely tried to make it work. And it was, like, almost like a relationship, like, with the girlfriend or boyfriend. And I think we were just really trying. And if not everyone is trying, it kind of can't work. And, I mean, we had a whole year to keep. keep growing and we had everything was working like exterior i guess if that makes sense like online and everything was totally working but i think as a just a community and like hey are we going to invest the next you know five years of our lives to try to build this to be like a sideman because we're

really looking at all these other content collectives like hey can we do this as well interesting so you saw it as kind of building a business with other people not so much as like you know we're all going to move in together and just kind of film content around each other and then that's that. No, no, no. I totally thought it was just for filming content. The business, I was at the end. Oh, so that's kind of, was a byproduct of everyone living with each. Yeah, we never made any money together.

It was all individual channels. So we were just all filming together. But by the end, it was kind of like, okay, should we, because we had already, like, from the beginning, we're like, we can make group channel videos. It would be so fun to, like, make group videos, just send it to an editor. It's not like someone's baby. It'd just be like. Yeah.

Because everyone's so creatively different. But by the end, then that's where there was talks of like, okay, well, if we renew, if we kind of like stayed together, kind of do this thing, like, let's do it or don't kind of thing. And that's when a lot of things was like went downhill. And then it was just like, okay, this is not happening. Interesting. But now here at this place, it's like, I would say it's not so much you're seeing it as like a business. It's more so like what you had initially in mind where everybody has their own like videos.

and it's just kind of like hanging out with each other and shooting content like that? We're literally just roommates and then like if we want to be like, oh, yo, can you help me get a shot? Yeah, I'll help you get a shot or like get a, you know, if you want me in your video or something.

But the last one I never saw like really like that business minded because I'm really not business minded at all. Like I'm just like I'm just going to make the video so like every week just make the videos but here it's just like it's just my roommate and then we happen to be friends as well. One thing that I noticed about your content And I know most people probably wouldn't label it this way, but it could kind of be described as like self-help or development, right?

Because you talk about like how to not give an F. Sure. Or like how to not care about certain things. And also like body transformation stuff as well. Yeah. Which I found kind of interesting. How do you learn to not give an F or to care? Well, I have a great video for you to get my video.

So you want me to explain? To give us the synopsis. I think I've actually seen. I was like, I'll send the link. No, no, no. Some recommendations or, uh, no, I think I actually watch that video. Yeah, I mean, like, it's a, to me, it's a repetition thing. It's a practice thing.

And I think it's an identity thing. I think if you kind of like, it might, in the beginning, it might be hard to, you know, just not, if you're really not confident and then be like, I'm confident. It is a slow, you know, not an overnight thing. But I do think, like, you know, confidence is a choice. And I say that because every. can, you know, go to the gym, can work on themselves. Everybody can read or work harder on their business or anything. So I think in that video and what I was trying to convey was just, you know,

one, you know, inspire hopefully, but just tell my story because I didn't actually, the video title is how not to give a F, but really it just tells my story of how I learned. And I was just sharing my experience rather than telling you how you have to do it. Because I don't know how to tell Graham to not give an F or, you know, it's just like, I only know what I know. How'd you learn? Practice. I would say practice and like consistently going out of my comfort zone and becoming the person

that I want to be. Kind of like writing down, hey, if I want to be athlete or not athletic because that's like kind like genetics or whatever. But like, hey, I want to have a good body that I feel comfortable in that like this is what I like or I want to make this amount of money so I don't feel like insecure with that. Like it's like I think just like kind of like working on those maybe insecurities or things that I feel less confident about.

And in that journey of like trying to get confident, I think is where I learned that like where you're at right now is already, you can be confident with it. Why do you think it's important or in what situations do you think it is important to not give an F? I mean, I think, you know, living life with a bunch of other people's thoughts about you in mind is a really limited life. And if you're always constantly thinking about what people will perceive you as,

like you're just going to live a less fun life. And I know from experience, like I used to be like out in public, you know, filming, like, oh my God, is someone looking at me? Or then I remember like literally developing a stutter because I would get nervous of filming and be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's up guys? But, you know, after so many years,

like now I can smoothly say, what's up guys? Like, you know, in front of, you know, anybody or something. Not that I actually say, what's up guys. It's Graham here. So it's just like literally just through repetitions

and practice of getting out of your, comfort zone, sometimes just challenging yourself to do weird and crazy things that you wouldn't normally do out in public or whatever? Sure, yeah. I think that is one way and to you might be different. Like, whatever your insecurities are or things that you need to tackle in order to feel like 100% confident that you don't give an F is what you should do. Like, you know, if you want to do a consulting call, I could, you know, we could unravel. What's the rate? Four thousand two hours. I need to make up my money. So you don't do four. What, um, what do you insecure about now?

It's a great, great opportunity. Great question. It's a great question. Great question. Um, I mean, I've even said it on my channel or no, this is like, that's not when I was insecure. That was like old insecurity. Um, I would say now I'm just like, really like, can I, can I take this to the next level

with my YouTube? I just feel like I'm still a small creator. And I think I'll kind of always have this insecurity of like, am I good enough? Am I funny enough? Am I good enough at editing or storytelling? And I think that's, I think that's the same thing. that's just because a comparison is kind of, you know, the thief of joy in that sense, where you see everybody online, you see ice coffee over pulling numbers, and you go, what?

What am I doing? You know? And so, yeah, I think that's something that I'll always have in the back of my mind, like, just maybe it's a little bit of competitiveness and also insecurity of like I want to be one of the better YouTubers. Sometimes insecurities and beliefs like that can serve you. Of course. In this case, it sounds like it kind of is. It's like a big motivator for you.

Yeah. I'm pretty like straight to the point with myself. Like a lot of people be like, oh, like positivity, like, oh, you should look in the mirror and be like, you're amazing person. You're so awesome. But I kind of like to look at them and you're like, you're fat as fuck. You did nothing today. And so that kind of gets my like, gets me going a little bit more.

But, you know, everyone's different. I don't expect everyone to be like David Goggins or something. What was your old insecurity? Body was definitely one. I was a little chubby when I was little. And my family was like super athletic. All my siblings went D1. soccer and my mom is like also a soccer player so like me being chubby i was like looking to my left

and right like damn y'all got six packs like i got the bakery and so that was definitely one of my first uh insecurities that i wanted to you know i guess conquer and that's like an endless grind obviously i got a couple a what a couple of insecurities uh yeah uh my first one was body hair i just have copious amounts of body hair i'm a while walking like gorilla. Yep. I have some. My man.

Where's it at? I'm just kidding. Where's it at? It's everywhere, man. You're pointing. It's there. But I would say that was probably like my biggest insecurity. No, but no.

I think the one that I thought was silly was I think with the face. Oh yeah. Asymmetrical face. I don't see it. Well, that's because you're... You're saying that you don't have a symmetrical face? Yes. And a lot of people don't.

Do you see it? Of course he sees it. I mean... Was that the first thing you noticed in inside of Jackson? It was. I didn't want to say it. Oh! No.

No, yeah. Go ahead. Well, first of all, you have great face. Yeah, you do, too. You guys all have great face. Oh, stop. We all have great faces. Yeah, thanks.

But to say it's not symmetrical, I mean, I don't see it. I don't even notice it. It doesn't like... Yeah, but that's because... A lot of people don't notice people's insecurity. Exactly, which is why they're so confident already, you know. I think that it's funny because someone pointed this out to me, it's like, if you walk into a Starbucks and you open up the door for the Starbucks and somebody's like kind of far and you're like, okay, you're, okay, you're, okay. Okay, am I going to hold it open for them?

Am I not? And then you're like, okay, I'm not going to. And then you rush in, but then they kind of like did a quick leap to try to like get in the door. You know what I mean? Like you're going to be thinking about that for the next day. But they are going to forget about it in two minutes. So a lot of the times the point here is that you remember your own faults and things are such a big deal to you when to other people, it doesn't matter at all. That's true.

I also always say that you're not that special. I always say myself, you're not that special. Like no one cares. like you could fall in like pour milk all over yourself and people forget in two seconds like you just said no one cares you know I saw short on that there was a YouTube video or something like that

where a guy was like just to prove that point yeah like I think he like I forget what he did he did something so crazy in public like nuts with he's running around his underwear like screaming or something like covered in oil people were just walking by like wouldn't even look at it I feel like they definitely noticed it

but I think about that too for the next day told their friend yeah but my point being it's like no one stopped him no one laughed like just people were just like minding their own business and kept like walking by yeah just no one paid him any attention but I do see those TikToks of those that guy as well he's like people don't care about

what you do oh yeah I like those like oh I can just walk up here and I can stand on this park bench and I can say hello to this stranger I love this videos because it may he's like you can control your own reality yeah and you could do whatever you want just look it's I think it's so cool yeah that was I mean yeah yeah I would say that's like a similar message to do what excites or anything.

Kind of just like, hey, propel, you know, my audience to just like, hey, you could do whatever you want, create your own reality, reality, and just like live the life that you want, pretty much. Let's bring up the topic of income real quick. A question we ask a lot of the guests is if you were to create a pie and assign a value to each slice in the pie, what would your income look like on that pie? So like sources, basically. Okay. AdSense, brand deals, merchandise.

are definitely the biggest, and then maybe a little bit of affiliates. So is that like 30, 30, 30, 30 10? No. I would say brand deals is definitely the biggest chunk. Then AdSense and merch is very similar. So I would say those like would be almost a third, a third, a third. But I would say brand deals is maybe half the pie. Interesting. So brand deals is probably your largest income source.

Yeah. Brands pay a lot of money. What sort of brands are you getting? I just did one with like Celsius Phillips Celsius is awesome Like like

The shaver Are he's thinking like that Samsung You did one with Samsung Yeah Samsung Who's bringing these deals Uh Just

Well I have a management Yeah I used to be with Select Who are great And then I'm now with Whaler Okay And yeah they're both great management And yeah we've been

You know Nor VPN very casual sponsor on YouTube or I'm trying to think who else that are like Because are great brands Better help That's a good amount What are the cool ones? I feel like I've had some cool ones

I feel like brands really like your content Because it's very positive I hope so Yeah, that'd be awesome I mean, yeah It's wholesome, wholesome content You know, it makes you feel better when you watch it Well, thank you

Yeah, thank you So for the future, what excites? What are the plans? I'm just going to dive and put my head down with the videos I'm doing and making sure like I'm investing a hundred percent effort into them and I think the end result of that will be awesome I guess and that's and what's the desired end result or is it just right now it's just focusing in and just having fun with the content making yeah I think like I honestly could care less about the money or anything besides just like let's make bangers like let's literally just make the best videos

we can and that's really what like feeds me as just like a person like even the boxing thing with something that's like well that's kind of extra like I don't have to do that I probably could just do a day in life video but I'm like kind of tired of that I'm like that's not pushing myself so just like the world's tallest man video like that's like my new standard like I just want to go on crazy adventures and document them and tell like the best story I can it seems like a like a yes theory except for your perspective yeah just from my perspective I would say it's very cool I'm waiting for that collab yesterday. Amar.

You want to collab with them? Yeah. We have him on the podcast. You know, Omar's great. I invited him actually to the world's tallest man. I was like, you should come, but he couldn't at the time. I'm just curious about you guys and how you guys run the podcast and everything. This is probably out online, but I don't know.

You don't do a podcast, right? I don't do a podcast. Did have one, though, with the... Oh, yeah, we did have one with your mom's house. Do you plan on starting one at some point in the future? Not really. I think I'm just better at making videos rather than talking. I'm just okay at talking.

I think we're still trying to figure out the podcast, to be honest with you. We don't know what we're doing, and we're trying to get better at it, and we realize we have a lot of shortcomings here and a lot of things to be improved. Jack, so... What? That's it. I thought you're going to keep going to keep going. I'm saying something.

I'm kidding. So we're still learning. Yeah, yeah. Like even us coming to New York was like an experiment to see, like, What is like the travel for guests. Yeah. It's a sustainable. Do we like it?

Yeah. I think it's very clear on like day one, we like it. So we want to do this more. It's a big hill to climb. Yeah. Like I mean, and also just like you guys together. I always think like, you know, you guys both live in Vegas, right? Yeah.

And then, you know, what if you guys move or something? You just got to stay together. You just got to stay together. Yeah. Well, I was living with, I moved in with him in L.A. That's where we started the podcast. And then like, right after I went full time with him and dropped out of college. He was like, all right, I'm moving to Vegas.

I'm like, well, it looks like I'm moving to Vegas. Yeah. And that's, you know, big to know, but I feel like you guys could always make it. But you know what? I wouldn't have moved if you weren't 100% on board and Macy was not 100% board. Of course not. This guy looks after me. He's a great guy.

But of course I was going to be on board. I wasn't about it just like drop out and be like, I'm going all in and then reject the first theater decision. I'm like, are you into this idea? Would you do it? Are you open to trying it out? And I think we both went in with the mindset. Like, we could try it for a year. Worst case, if we hate it.

we could always change but like give it a year and we'll know pretty quick and same thing with macy it was like we could we could try it out see if we like it yeah pretty immediate i think we liked it so it worked out but yeah had it been like this sucks we could always just go back yeah yeah and i have a question too you know i feel like a lot of your branding online is very like i would say maybe like on an extreme end like penny pinching a little bit is that true like is that very like you know like today what have you spent today oh i was i was good today i was good today i was actually. I treated. I'm just curious. I did get hit with a Venmo request for that.

I did. No, you did not do that. It's fine. Jack and I, Jack and I are 50 were for business partners on the podcast. No, no, we're going to get the other podcast, so it doesn't make sense. Yeah. That's, yeah. No, I spent in total today, I would have paid Alex's Uber or whatever you spent getting here. 40 bucks. 40 bucks. But I guess it's a, that's part of the the iced coffee or whatever to bring all the equipment and Alex having Alex here. So $40 plus 15 for sweet greens plus seven, Boba.

So 1530 plus 40. So $70 is how much I've spent today. But most of that is like I think what we're getting to right here is he's very frugal. He still does like if we go out to a restaurant, he will save the temporary utensils if he doesn't use them. He will. Well, that's just, he will like, he will reuse his floss. like several times.

I don't think that's good. My dad's a dentist, I don't think that's good. Your dad's a dentist? Yeah, he's like, you've got to get rid of that. I've got to get rid of that.

You know, I'm not the dentist, but whatever. It looks good. You're not the dentist, though. But he's... Don't take mine. Genuinely very cheap. Like, definitely far more...

Sorry, not cheap, but frugal, far more frugal, than I would say probably anyone I've ever met. So do you, in your feelings, they spend time together? Yes. But you know what? We are still

trying to figure some of it out, I would say in the beginning we really had like this dedicated schedule where it was like, you know, weekends and then weekdays after like seven. We had a very regimented schedule and sometimes like things would come up and it. So now we do our best. Usually like one day a week

dedicated to like just doing stuff. And then usually every weekday after like eight I'm done or sometimes earlier. So we find that. Yeah, that's good. Work life balance is always good. I ask because because Ashley and obviously that we are

we have a work life balance you know both and I'm just curious what another couple does yeah especially as a YouTuber couple or I mean you as someone who's a YouTuber with a girlfriend yeah he or she fiancee

fiancee and a dog and a cat oh and a dog and a cat yeah and a fish tank in a fish tank you get your hands full it's a whole thing so that's what makes traveling kind of difficult

because I get antsy or not seeing the fish for like because things the dog and the cat yeah they could just Now I know Graham's different, man. But the fish tank, like, I check the parameters every day for my phone to make sure they're okay. You have a camera?

Like, you can see the fish? I do. You can. I do. Oh, wow. Quality is not the best. Do you have names for the fish? Macy does.

I don't. That's his fiance. You know, I'm also curious how you got into YouTube. Me? I mean, both of you guys, how you got into, like, creating Instagram? I just always want to make YouTube videos, and I just decided one day after putting it off for years that I was going to film a video and put it out there and make content that I was going to film a video and put it out there and make content that I thought would be helpful that I wished I could have seen. And I loved it so much.

I just continued. And what was this? December of 2016 was when I posted my first video. And then I started posting one to two times a week in January of 2017. And then I went to three times a week, I think, in February or March, like, pretty quick. Because I realized when I was posting like once a week, I get like a certain amount of views. And I thought, well, let me do twice a week. And I did that.

And the views started to actually grow. And I was like, well, if I do three times a week. And then I just decided pretty quickly on that doubt was like perfect amount to grow. Yeah, I think, you know, YouTube's ever changing. So it's good to like look at, you know, what, you know, the audience is, you know, responding to. So because I feel like nowadays, quality is really important versus back in the day. I feel like we could get away with a lot of quantity. But nowadays, everyone has so many options.

So like TikTok, you have YouTube. Well, I was comparing it earlier. There's so many more people on the platform so that like in the past, let's just say there would be one docu style video. a week that would come out from like one creator. I was like, okay, they get all the views, but everything else now is like up for grabs. Yeah. But now you have 10 creators, each posting

these insane docu-style videos independently. And so it's like one every single day. So you have to up your quality because everyone else is. Yep. And there's more for people to pick from. So like you have to be even more selective. Yeah, for sure.

If I can ask, how big you're operationally, how many people do you guys, or do you work with all? You see like basically the whole team here. Really? Okay. Andrew back in Vegas. Vegas. What about like editors and stuff? Andrew's back in Vegas. Andrew and Alex helps on the main channel. Alice is like 90%

of the main channel. There's maybe the occasional video that I'll just bang out really quick. But that's it. It's a really small team. And, you know, I think we got to, we're talking about maybe hiring someone full time to do guest outreach who knows that. Like that's their business. It's just like linking people together with podcasts.

Yeah. And like doing the media stuff. So we don't know that that well. We don't have this connection. So that's someone we think about maybe, you know, bringing on the team. Yeah, I feel like a small team is good, especially for content. It becomes like, I think a little bit less genuine, the more and more you become big. Yeah. So. Yeah, I admire the people who have really small teams and like we did Dr. Mike the other night and just seeing like, he's just in his apartment. It was just really cool. It's just like him and two guys and they're just all buddies. And I like that. I like that a lot. Cool. Well, thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.

Should you come in the Ice Coffee Hour? Thank you for hosting us. Ice Poppy hour. The other thing that I do want to mention to you is that you can't get a free stock. You guys can check me out. PublicGram somewhere in the description. Kelly's got his stuff linked down below. Thank you so much for tuning in.

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