The School of Greatness - 178 How to Turn Your Passion Into a YouTube Phenomenon with Cassey Ho

Episode Date: May 18, 2015

"Give yourself a 100% chance to succeed." - Cassey Ho If you enjoyed this episode, check out the full video interview, bonus clip, and more at lewishowes.com/178.

This is episode number 178 with YouTube fitness sensation Cassie Ho. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Today's guest is none other than the one and only Cassie Ho.

And I met Cassie through a couple of mutual friends during her book launch party here in Los Angeles. And right away, I said, I got to get this girl on the podcast. If you go back to the show notes at lewishouse.com slash 178, she puts me through a little partner workout and I highly recommend checking it out and trying it with a friend. A lot of cool moves that she did there. But today's episode with Cassie, if you don't know who she is, she is a certified fitness instructor, creator of Pop Pilates, which is now being taught in 24-hour fitness clubs. She's been doing Pilates for 10 years and has been teaching for six and a half years.

She's also a fashion designer, runs a top-rated fitness blog called Blogilates.com, has appeared on Dr. Oz, was named Best Healthy Living Blogger of 2012 by Fitness Magazine and is the number two most influential online personality in fitness, second to Jillian Michaels. In today's episode, we talk about her intense Asian upbringing, how she made the leap into entrepreneurship, and what she's been able to create since then. I think you're going to love this episode, and make sure to go back to the show notes, lewishouse.com slash 178, to watch the full video interview, and also the additional video of us doing the partner workout.

Without further ado, let's go ahead and dive into this episode with the one, the only, Cassie Ho. All right, welcome everyone to the School ofie Ho. All right. Welcome, everyone, to the School of Greatness. I'm super excited today. We've got Cassie Ho on. How are you doing? I'm doing great.

How are you? Very excited. We met recently at a launch party of yours for your book. I'm just going to hold it up here for a second so everyone can see it if it's on video. And everyone make sure to check this out. I'll have it linked up on the site. I'm very excited to connect with you because I recently found out about you and I started researching and learning about you.

And I was like, I got to interview this girl because I'm so impressed with what you've created. Wow. Well, I'm honored to be on this show right now. Yeah, I'm very excited. And I want to figure out first, have you always been passionate about fitness and working out or is it something you fell into? It started when I was 16.

My parents, my dad actually was my tennis coach growing up and that's always really hard. He was yelling at me if I didn't get the ball over the net in the corner in the right place. But he did train me to become varsity tennis team captain for three years. As a sophomore, you made varsity? I made it as a freshman and I was captain as a sophomore. So I was good, but I had no heart for it because I just don't like competition against other people and that kind of stuff. And so when I was 16, I was training for a pageant and I wanted to find a way to really tone up my body and everything. And I saw these Mari Windsor DVDs

being sold in an infomercial and I asked my parents to buy me Pilates. That's right. And I fell in love with the fact that I could do it at home by myself, compete just against myself. And that's when I fell in love with fitness. So I ended up taking home the crown for the pageant. But I think it was a lot of different things. I actually did a Michael Jackson impersonation. I taught myself how to moonwalk.

Yeah, it was great. Yeah. Could you do it? I will. Okay, later we'll do it. After you teach how to moonwalk. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. Could you do it? I will. Okay. After you teach me some yoga stuff. And so after that moment, I felt so much confidence in my body and in fitness that four years later as a sophomore in college, I started teaching the format after I got certified. And from that point on, I mean, I've taught at every single gym and now there's

blogilates and Popilates is a real format at 24 Hour Fitness. So that's just crazy. Okay. Yeah. Wait, it's a real format? It's like classes at 24 Hour Fitness? Yes.

Yes. No way. We actually just released a press release and it will be at all clubs in the United States alongside Zumba, Turbo Kickbox. It's a dream come true for a fitness instructor. Holy cow. So there's now instructors teaching. Oh, yeah.

We have master trainers teaching the, you know, the, the trainings to other trainers so that everyone can start teaching at the club. Now, is this what I experienced at your launch party? Essentially that little 30 minute class.

So it's a, it's an updated version of Pilates. It's upbeat. It's music. It's like a party. It's like a party. And it's, and the great thing is it's a little bit faster And I love dance And it seems that you do too

Right Yeah yeah of course And so I love doing things to the beat Because you don't think about reps And stuff like that So it's fun It's more enjoyable Yeah it's a lot more enjoyable

Interesting Now would you say Your parents were like this Typical Or stereotypical I should say Like Asian parents Who were like

Very like Strong and forceful with you Oh my goodness My dad was in control Of my academic life My mom was in control of my academic life. My mom was in control of my love life. She said, you know, you can't have... How's that working for you, Sam?

It was hard at the beginning, let me tell you. She had this weird rule of you can't have a boyfriend until second year of college. No way. It was just like that specific. And when I had a boyfriend in high school she found out and she like disowned me and it was just terrible and forced me to break up with him it was just like really bad my dad on the other hand she disowned you yes yes and like kick it kick it she said if you don't break up with him i you're you're like done no yes come on that's tiger mom yeah oh my gosh okay

where was this growing up oh this was up in Union City in the Bay Area. Okay, cool. Wow. And my dad, on the other hand, he was like, you need to be taking these AP classes and getting this on your SAT and make sure you apply to these colleges. And he would read over all my personal statements and make sure they were written. It was crazy. Now, did they want you to be a doctor or a lawyer or what did they want you to be?

The predestined path for me was to, yeah, I'm serious, was to be a doctor for my sister. She was supposed to be a lawyer because if you aren't a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, or engineer, you're basically meaningless in the Asian community. You're not Asian. You're not successful. You're not honoring the family name. And so I ended up majoring in biology in college under a full-ride scholarship. And that was to become a doctor.

And I just felt no passion in it. Of course, I knew how to get the good grades. And so my parents were like, well, why wouldn't you do it and everything? So the only way I knew how to get out of this was to sabotage myself and drop out of organic chemistry, the last class that I needed to take the MCAT. And they were furious. And we were yelling and screaming, and they just didn't understand. And you know what? It was my way of being rebellious. And that step really was pivotal for me because it taught me that I'm not living this life for anyone else. I'm living it for me.

So you dropped out of the class or out of school? Out of that class. Well, for me, out of that class was a big deal. It was the last class I needed. Yeah. I had taken everything else. Okay. So she graduated eventually. I did.

Yes. I actually graduated with an honors in biology. So I did well. I just had no passion for it. But you needed one more class to then go and become a doctor essentially. To take the MCAD. To take the MCAD to be a doctor. So you didn't take that essentially not allowing you to take the test.

I wanted to sabotage myself. That's right. Wow. Okay. So your didn't take that, essentially not allowing you to take the test. I wanted to sabotage myself. That's right. Wow. Okay. So your parents, they disowned you then or what? You know, there was lots of yelling and screaming and there was very dark moments in my life where I was like, I don't know how this is going to work out unless one of us dies. Like it got to that point. And it's crazy because I talked to a lot of my Asian friends whose siblings have actually attempted to commit suicide and crazy stuff because of the pressure. And I think it's a very real, real thing. Luckily, I had a close friend at the time who helped me through everything. And so it was fine. And I'm glad that

I always had that belief inside myself that I knew if I just would go towards what my passion was, everything would be fine. But I think a lot of people may wean on that and they may not be sure if that's going to work out for them. But I'm so glad that I took a risk on myself because who else are you going to take a risk for? You know what I mean? That's it. That's it. Okay.

So you started, you became certified. How old were you? Let's see. I was second year in college. So what is that? Sophomore. Well, I'm Asian. I might be 14.

No. I wasn't one of those okay so you're 19 essentially like the rest of us like the rest of us um okay you got certified and then when did you start you know doing classes and start teaching this and you know people and getting good feedback like oh i like your stuff yeah so i started teaching at this tiny gym down the street in Whittier. And I had like two people in my class. And then I started teaching at...

Near LA, right? In LA. Exactly. Right. And then I started teaching at 24 Hour Fitness and Ballet and all these other places. In college. In college. Yes.

This is my side job. I had a lot of side jobs while I was in college. I was always making money, right? It's always fun. And then I started doing my Pilates to pop music because i love music and i love really upbeat music makes me happy then at when i graduated in 2009 i was leaving all my students la behind and it's a sad thing because you see each other every you know tuesday at 7 30 or whatever these are your friends and so i decided to film a 10 minute video just for them

total body i put on youtube now in 2009, for me anyway, just a video sharing platform. That's all it was. There was no channels, people making money, being famous, none of that. And then I left for Boston for my first job in fashion buying. And then that video started getting shared, started getting views and comments. People started asking, oh, Cassie, this is great. Can I have a butt video, an ad video? And I was like, who are these people?

I have no idea. And then a few months later, I would post another one just to satisfy them. But then I didn't know what that was. But it was from that genuine intention of just wanting to teach and to share and that I still have that same intention today. And I still do group fitness instruction. And that genuineness really shows them and think that's why the channel has truly grown. It's incredible. Now, I heard your dream as a child was to be in fashion, right? Fashion designer? Yeah. And did I also read that you had a baking shop? Yes, I did, actually. What was that like? Okay. So when I was in middle school, well, actually, one thing you need to know about me is that

I can't eat chocolate. Not that I don't want to. You physically can't. I really actually want to eat chocolate. I just can't. I'm what you call a super taster. So for me, arugula, chocolate, coffee, all that kind of stuff tastes extremely bitter to me.

So I can't eat it. What about milk chocolate? White chocolate? White chocolate's not chocolate. I love white chocolate. Oh, my gosh. That is a trick question. So what I would do, my sister and I would go trick-or-treating and we'd take all the

candies together and then I would create chocolate creations out of them. Then I would bring them to my friends at school and they liked it. So I was like, well, if you like it, then you're probably going to buy it. So then I started packaging them, charging them 25 cents for three little balls. And then they went crazy for it. So then I started making value packs and adding cookies and Rocky Road bars and stuff. And I had my first business partner in middle school. In high school, all the other middle schools had heard about it, apparently. And so everyone was like, oh, you're Cassie the cookie girl, right? And I was like, yep, that's me.

And then so I carried this huge bag with me to school every single day. And then some kids were so addicted. I mean, obviously it was sugar. That they were like, Cassie, please let me sell for you. So I had five student employees under me selling. So we like had this massive thing going across campus. Wow, you're like a drug dealer. Yeah, exactly.

Cookie drug dealer. Imagine being in Spanish class and people like underneath the're like a drug dealer. Exactly. Cookie drug dealer. Imagine being in Spanish class and people like underneath the table, like going like this. That's how it was. Passing through like 15 hands getting to the next person. Were they that good? Oh yeah. Buttercream cookies, sandwiches in M&M flavor, chocolate chip, anything, sugar, snickerdoodle. Do you still make them? I don't. I need some of those right now. You know, we should do that. We should totally do that. So the crazy thing is that it got so big that the school had to shut me down. I got in trouble.

No way. Oh, yeah, for sure. But that story got me the full ride scholarship to college. So I ended up paying off. So, yeah. A full ride scholarship. Uh-huh. A full ride scholarship.

Yeah. Living the dream. Now your parents were happy with that then. They were happy with that. But they can always find something wrong with everything that they do. Of course, right? They're always judging you. Always judging.

Picking at everything. Everything. It's never good enough. Which is the next thing I want to ask you about is body image. And you just came out with this awesome video. I think it's called The Perfect Body, right? The Perfect Body, yeah. And I was going to talk to you about this anyways, and then you put this video out and

it's perfect timing. Because I wanted to ask you, you know, you've got over 2.1 million subscribers on YouTube and however many everywhere else, millions everywhere else, which is insane. First off and congrats. Thank you. And you know, I have a, an audience, not that size, but I get criticized constantly for different things. Right.

And the bigger you are, the more criticism you get. Exactly. And I'm sure over the years you've had more and more and more. But you've also got a lot of love. Now, why do you think so many people criticize first anyone who has a platform? Why do you think they're criticized a lot? I think it's an easy target.

I think that the more you put out there, obviously the more people have to judge and say something about it. But the crazy thing is that usually the people who say the nasty stuff, and I'm okay with criticism that is constructive. That's okay. Because every time I get a mean comment, I do take a step back. I look at it and say, hey, did I do something wrong that's causing this feeling? But every time it's the crazy, nasty stuff, you click on them, it's like zero followers, no profile pic. It's just like,

you would never go up to my face and say that in real life. So for me, I try to invalidate that because you don't want to let that negativity take over space in your brain and your heart. Yeah. Now, why did you do this video about the perfect body? Yeah. So I am in an industry where physical looks is almost everything that makes you who you are, which is really sad. However, it is what sells. But to make it a really long-lasting business and a personality, you have to have something inside too. And I think for me, the funness of blogilates and popilates, the format, the colorful, the motivation, everything about the brand is great. And the people love it. People have lost hundreds of pounds through doing the workouts and

the meal plans and stuff. But I may not look like the typical trainer. I don't have six-pack abs. I don't have a huge booty and a tiny little waist. And some people just keep picking at that. Now, I bet you those people are not the ones who do my workouts. I think they just follow for fun or whatever and then don't listen to anything. And so in the past few months, it's actually gotten worse. So it got to me. And I'm a human being. I can only have a thick skin for so much, but it really started getting to me. And so throughout one of my hardest weeks, I actually had this creative epiphany. And it's interesting because energy, negative or not, it's energy. And if you can learn how to turn that into something great, that's what happened that week. And so I had this idea for, you know,

this video where I would be live photoshopping myself. And the only time this technique has been done that I know of is in Captain America, where that's like multi millions of dollars creating this effect. And I only knew one person who could possibly help me this video, my friend and director, James Chen. Um, he's done a ton of creative stuff. So I called him up within the next five minutes after having this idea in my head. And I said, James, I really want to do this video with you. I explained to him and he started getting chills down his spine and I started getting chills down my spine. I was like, we need to do this. Not just for me, it's for everyone. Because we all need to know that we are worth more than our body.

Our body is just a vessel to bring us, you know, to let us do things. But it's not who we are and what we're worth. And so over the past month, I mean, we have been working so hard on the visual effects and everything. I mean, hundreds and hundreds of hours on this two-minute video. And last night when we released it, it's been less than 24 hours. There's already over 300,000 views and tons of comments. And it's been incredible because I wasn't sure if this video was going to hit, but it looks like the fans, the fans.

It's crazy. It's really, it's, you made it look so simple too. You made it look like a movie, you know, it's like, how did you guys do this? It's really cool. It reminds me of, um, man, what's the movie with Tom Cruise? Which one? Minority Report. You know where he's like picking up things and like moving around with his hands?

It's kind of like you're doing that. It's pretty cool. It sort of reminded me of. Now, how have you been handling this emotionally over the last six years, I guess, seven years since you've been doing this? How do you keep coming up with great content, even though you know, like, okay, how many people are going to attack me this week?

Honestly, the attackers are probably like 0.1%, honestly. But you know, one bad apple makes the whole thing. You just taste everything. You read 10,000 positive comments, but you look at the one. It sticks with you. It's survival mode, right? Like caveman days, if there's this one bad thing,

like a poisonous berry, you remember to not eat that poisonous berry. So I think that's why our brains are wired that way. Anyway, the point is not to focus on the negativity. You focus on the positivity. You focus on how you've helped people, changed people, and that positive feedback. And you keep doing more of what makes you feel good and what makes other people feel good. And like I said, when I started the channel, it was all about that genuine want to serve my fans and to keep teaching. And as long as I'm on that road and people are changing their lives and becoming better versions of themselves every day, then I'm doing the right thing. And the haters, whatever. It doesn't matter.

So it doesn't bother you really that much. I mean, it bothers me because I read it, but it doesn't bother me enough to change my business, to change my game plan or anything. Sure. What advice would you give to women who constantly are judging themselves or feeling judged? Even when they look perfect to a lot of people and they have six-pack abs, but they still have these insecurities, what would you say to them about their mindset or what they should be focusing on in their daily life with regards to their body image. Right. I think a lot of people have body image disorder because not only because of media around

us, magazine covers and whatever, but also these comments that people leave like, oh, your butt's so flat or you're so fat or whatever. We're all creating this mentality. So I think we need to be able to look in the mirror and love what we see as long as we're working towards a better version of us every single day. And I think that need to be able to look in the mirror and love what we see as long as we're working towards a better version of us every single day. And I think that takes work on the inside. Not everyone can look at themselves and feel like they love what they see because even when I look in the mirror, I see flaws. I think we all see flaws with ourselves. But as long as we're working towards something better, then we should learn how to love ourselves every step of the way.

Do you have some exercises or examples of what people can do when they have a negative thought about themselves? When they look in the mirror and they say, oh, I've got love handles, or this is bad, that's bad, or this is wrong. What's something that, do you have a mantra that people can follow that you do? Or is it just think positive from it?

You know, what I've always done when I've had a bad day is I step back and remind myself all the great things that I've done before that make me me. Like, what are my other talents? What am I really good at? Because you're not defined by the size of your hips or the distance between your thighs. And you have to keep reminding yourself that or else you're going to go down a really deep hole.

Because our physical being will diminish as we get older. So we can't keep holding on to that. We have to be so much more. Right. Now, is it cool that your childhood dream was to be in fashion, right? Fashion designer. And now you have a fitness fashion line. Isn't that right?

That is so cool. So do you feel like you're fulfilling this childhood dream? I do. And it's truly amazing because my dad, when I told him I wanted to be a fashion designer, I think I probably was in middle school or something. And I had binders and binders full of evening gown designs and sketches and stuff. He told me literally to my face, you will not succeed. You'll make no money and you'll have no friends. That's actually in my book. I wrote that and I will never let him go for it. And I want everyone to know because that

could have broke me right there. And I did cry and it did break me, but it didn't break me for the rest of my life. But I remember it because I know how I can take that and turn it into something much better. So I proved to my parents and to myself that you can follow your passion and do something you're happy with. Because for them, I mean, I understand they really wanted me to be financially stable and all that kind of stuff. And I'm first generation Asian American. So they're coming from Vietnam

and that deal with the war and all that kind of stuff. So I understand. But I don't understand imposing your dreams upon mine and not letting me at least try. Sure. Because this vibrance inside of me, this desire to just make it i don't think they ever understood how hard and how far we go to actually make it happen

right right now so would you say you've achieved your childhood dream then i would say yes and i but i think i'm also working on it every day to make it even bigger and what would you say is your adulthood dream my adulthood dream yeah i would love to see the clothing line in stores. I think I'm working on that. And my other dream is to make sure that Pop Pilates is a huge group fitness format across the world. And we have a great start this year. We're trying to certify 2,000 trainers by 2015, 4,000 by spring 2016. And that will really bring us to the next level.

I mean, everyone would do Pilates at 24 Fitness. It would be so cool. Oh, my goodness. Now, how are you finding these trainers or how did you create this training for them? I'm working with NAFC as my certifying body. And so together, we've created the manual and everything to make that happen. But my current core team of master trainers

are beyond incredible. And, you know, it's interesting. It's not that they weren't fans of Blogilates to begin with. Some of them,

maybe like a few. But a lot of them were already really seasoned group fitness instructors. They've been teaching Zumba and Pio and all these things for years.

So to impress them, you know, that takes something as well. And I wasn't sure. And you're never sure what people think. And so this group of core, like 15 people have come together. And let me tell you,

at the summit, it was magic. And I can only use that word because there was something swirling in the air that wasn't just learning the format, learning the choreography and that kind of stuff. It was just this passion to bring this format to people to help them change their lives and have a really fun time doing it. It was really cool.

Now, I'm curious because it seems like there's different fitness formats that come and go all the time. Every three to five, six years maybe, you see them on infomercials for a while. What was the boxing one? The Taibo? Taibo. Is that around anymore? I have no idea.

Billy's legs is awesome. Yeah. But is the Taibo classes aroundibo. Is that around anymore? I have no idea. Billy Blanks is awesome. Yeah. But is the Taibo classes around? You know, I think he has his own gym down in OC. Really? That's cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Every time. Because I'm friends with him. Every time we walk around the fitness conventions, he's like such a big celebrity. The older people know. They're like, oh my God, Billy Blanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The younger people are like, oh my God, Cassie Ho. There's definitely a disconnect there.

Sure. Yeah. Now, do you have a game plan for like, okay, at some point this may go out of style or this may not be as popular, you know, like Taiba was for however long, a decade or something. But now it's like, is it irrelevant? I don't even know. Because you don't see the infomercials. He's not talking about it.

Right. So do you have a game plan for like, what's after the next decade? Are you thinking that far ahead? Or is it more like like let me focus on this and blow it up because we've got this audience and this following? How are you thinking?

That's such an interesting question and I appreciate you asking that. Right when we found out that 24 wanted to take on our format, of course we're super excited. How are we going to blow this out? But about a couple months later, I thought, okay,

what's going to happen when this goes away? And the truth is it's going to go away at some point. It gets old. People want new stuff. So I think I need to pay extreme attention to what's happening. Where are people? What are they feeling?

And we need to innovate with that. And just because something worked 10 years ago doesn't mean it's going to work now. And you have to be able to let go and go with the flow. But at the same time, not be a slave to what the market wants, but also be a leader at the same time and serve them. Right. I like that. When did you start realizing that you could turn this into a business? This whole fitness, everything that you've been doing with the YouTube stuff, when did

you start seeing like, oh, I'm actually making money more than just like teaching a class at a gym. Right. But this is like a real business. So right after I graduated from school in 2009, I had a job for about eight months. And during that time, I was also designing yoga bags because I've always been designing stuff like that. Oh, gorgeous. It was the name. And halfway through my job, I was flipping through Shape magazine and I saw a picture of my bag.

And I was like, oh my God. And so I started crying. I remember I was at Target and I just fell to the floor and just started crying. And they took it as a sign to leave my job because it was so toxic. The job itself was whatever, but the people were just horrendous. And so I quit. I bought a ticket to China on Friday and I left on Sunday because I knew that if I'm not going to give myself the 100% chance to succeed, I'm not going to succeed. So it is

time. It is now. And so during that three months that we were developing the bag, I had more time to YouTube and blog. And it was that moment in my life that- So you went to China to go to work with a manufacturer? Exactly. Yeah. To find a manufacturer at the Canton Fair. And then when I came back more time to youtube blog probably blogging every single day youtubing every week i mean i had nothing else to do i didn't have a job i was teaching pilates 12 times a week and that perfect disastrous storm of not having a job and teaching all the time made me a better instructor and a better blogger and youtuber And that's when my subscribers started to grow. What year is this?

That must have been like early 2011 or something like that. And then my channel got partnered so that I could make money off the AdSense. And then I started getting campaign deals and everything just kind of came. And I got manager, agent, all that kind of stuff. When was the tipping point? Was it like the million mark or is it the hundred thousand mark when you feel like it was the tipping point where it really uh yeah i if i have to think back to it i remember a really really big youtuber by the name of bubs beauty she was actually using my videos to slim down for her wedding and um and she had a. I think she had a couple million or whatever.

And I had maybe under 100,000 at that point. And it really blew up my subscribers. And then other people started, you know, I mean, people had always been using the videos, but it was from these big influencers showing people that the videos do work that helped me grow. But I think it was also my consistency creating good content that kept the growth growing as well. So if someone wants to build an audience now on YouTube, what would you recommend? What advice would you give them to the keys to YouTube success? Yeah. First off, they need to just post a video. There's so many people I talk to,

even fitness celebrities or people who already have a name, who are just so scared to put up a video. Why are everyone so scared? I don't know. I say the same thing. I know. I know. I think it's because they want it to be so perfect and so high quality.

But you know what? On YouTube, if you are too high quality, you create a glass wall between you and the audience. There's no more relatability. You're too perfect. Too perfect.

And with YouTube, that's not how it works. For TV, yes, do it perfect. That's the caliber. But for YouTube, you don't have to worry about that. What people want to see is your personality and that you can connect with your audience however you choose to convey that.

Okay. So do your first video. What would you say are the next steps to building an audience? Well, obviously, you need the whole social media thing around it. You need your Instagram, your Snapchat, your everything. What's the new one I have now? Periscope. Are you on Periscope?

I'm not on Periscope. I'm not on Periscope. When you're on Periscope, I'm like waiting. I'm holding off to see if it's going to work. Yeah, me too. I'm like trying it out. So many things. So many things, right. But you need to have all of them.

Yes. And then I think you just need to serve your audience. Like genuinely want to help them. Don't try to sell right off the bat. You can do that later if you want to. But people want to follow people for great content. I think you need focus. Content is king.

Focus on that. Connect. And then see what happens. Now, how consistent are you with YouTube? Oh, we're very consistent. What's the posting schedule? Once a week? Yep.

Motivational Monday, we have new workout videos. And usually on Thursdays, we have cooking videos or just something different. So this video that we just posted was a body image video. So Thursdays allow me to be a little bit more creative. But around two videos a week, we block shoot about two to three videos at a time. Back in the old days, I would shoot everything by myself. I would shoot everything by myself and do it like 12 a.m. the night before. Post it like the next day and edit like, oh my God, that was terrible.

Then I learned this thing called block shooting, and it doesn't have to be real time. And then we started doing that, and the videos have progressed a lot. So it's been great. That's amazing. That's cool. Okay.

And two times a week, you've been doing two times a week for how many years now? We've been doing two times a week for a couple years now, at least. I'm probably getting it wrong, but a long time. Would you say it's more valuable to be consistent every week, or once a month, times a week for a couple years now at least i'm probably getting it wrong but a long time would you say it's more valuable to be consistent every week or or once a month or whatever maybe your

consistent schedule or the quality well if you could have one or the other ah that's interesting i think obviously both obviously both um because i've seen it work actually both ways i've seen people post content that you know i think as long as you're posting content that your fans want to see, I think the quality is subjective. I've also seen beauty gurus who only post one time a month and their fans go crazy for it because

they crave it so much. It depends how you want to play with your audience, I suppose. What's the best industry or space to be in if you're launching a new channel right now? With all the competition out there, where could you find the most opportunity for someone listening? That is a very interesting question because I know the fitness space. Is it too saturated now if someone jumps in? I think everything's always going to be too

saturated. And I think if you're good, you're going to end up on top. So I think you need to not worry about saturation. Go where your heart belongs, where your passion is, and where your smarts are and figure it out and how to be on top. Sure. What are you most proud of with everything you've done so far? Let me see. I'm most proud of how my fans have turned around and changed their lives. When I first started Blogilates, I wasn't trying to help people lose weight or anything. I was a group fitness instructor, just wasn't trying to help people lose weight or anything. I was a group fitness instructor, just teaching group fitness, having fun because it's, you know, you go into the gym, you make sure people have a good time for that hour. And all of a sudden,

people will start asking me, well, how do I lose love handles? How do this and that? And then, you know, I helped people, you know, battle eating disorders and change their lives so that they actually feel confidently beautiful and all that kind of stuff. And I never really thought of fitness as that. But every time I see my fans at meetups, we just had our book tour, you know, they say that sometimes they just watch my videos just to feel better about themselves. Like I never thought that that would be a thing. And so I'm so proud of my fans for doing that and taking, you know, initiative in themselves to really change their lives because that's big.

And that's really hard for a lot of girls. Yeah. Now, how does your parents think about you now? Are they supportive? They're a little bit too supportive. Really? They brag about me to all their family and it's really embarrassing. Wow.

Yeah. No, but they're great. It's just like, I'm just like, did I really have to do all that to prove to you that I could be happy and successful at the same time? Do you think they're more proud of you for what you're doing now than if you were a doctor? I think so. I think so. But I had to teach them that this could be a way to be happy and successful as well.

But I think all parents essentially want their child to be a doctor at some point. Sure, sure. But it's not me. Right, right, right. Now, tell me a little bit more about the business side of things. Are you a business-minded person or is that more with your team? They're focusing on what products and services to offer and books. Or what's really driving the business for you?

What's the biggest ideas moving forward? Is it the certifications? Is it the products? What is it? Yeah, so I'm the CEO of the company and we are very business driven. We're also very fan driven as well. And the creativity starts right here with me. I, in fact, I still do... So you come up with the ideas. Yeah. I come up with the ideas and I even do like some of the graphic work and like all of

the artistic stuff. And I oversee all the creative direction too. Because for me, aesthetics, so important. I mean, even the book that you're looking at. We had to go over the cover several times. And I was like, wow, I'm working with these publishers. Don't you guys get it? You must be so much better than me. And I'm not saying I'm really good, but I know what I want.

You know what your audience likes too. Yeah, exactly. And I know how to work Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to a point. Definitely, I definitely not great. But I'm trying to actually find a graphic designer right now. If anyone's listening, that'd be really helpful. So as far as coming up with new ideas and everything, of course, I must attribute a lot of credit to my team as well. We're small. We have a team of three in LA and we work with a ton of contractors and we have a team of five up in the Bay Area

with the customer service and the warehouse shipping and stuff like that. But we're actually moving into an office in a couple of weeks. So that will allow us to expand the team. We're in West Hollywood? Actually, it's going to be on Pico. It's like down in Mid-Wilshire area.

So it's actually right next to our house. So I get to walk to work. That's sweet. Awesome. I know I hate commuting. It's the worst thing. So yeah. Now is YouTube is still a big revenue generator for you, I'm assuming with how big your audience is. Now, do you think that YouTube and the partnerships you get from YouTube, the brand partnerships, the sponsors, things like that, is that bringing in a majority of the revenue for you or is it more the products you've created behind your brand? It's actually the products. Really? Uh-huh. Wow. Big part. I would definitely say that the campaigns and the AdSense probably only about 30%. Wow. Yeah. It's still pretty good for the size. It's pretty good. I

know the number is for YouTubers. Yeah. So I think a lot of YouTubers need to start looking at how they can monetize their business in different ways. And you can't keep depending on views because that means you are a slave to how many videos you put up online and you need to be able to create a whole empire around it. Of course. So that's why some of our top selling products, not only just a close, but these detox bottles and our power rings and our yoga mats. It's a whole detox bottle. Det and our yoga mats it's it's a whole like detox bottle detox bottles so it's like an infusion bottle you can actually put and then there's a timer on the back so you can actually see how much water you should finish at

a certain time wait a minute yes exactly you're not supposed to have a certain amount of water you can only have are you can only have well i, it's like a game. Okay. You know how bodybuilders mark their milk jug? It's like that. Oh, gotcha. In a pretty little crystal bottle. Interesting. Like a pink little bottle? Yeah, it's clear with pink words on it.

Yes. It has a purple and blue too. I like it. Okay. Are there a lot of people that are doing what you're doing on YouTube as well? Are they creating their own products and services on the side? Or are people missing out on that and just focusing on the money from AdSense? A lot of people are missing out on it for sure.

I think it's also because there's a lot of younger kids who go on YouTube and suddenly find all this fame and they don't know what to do with it. Or they just do t-shirts or something. They just do t-shirts, but they don't even manufacture it. But I understand. Manufacturing is not easy and I've been doing it for several years now and we still run into issues

with our manufacturer and our tech packs and inspectors being paid off so that they get them a good grade and it arrives in the US and it's like, what is that? I understand it's hard

but I think if you are a true business person, you'll figure out how to do all these things. And you know what? You don't even have to do it. At least understand it so that you can manage someone or a team to do it for you. But I think it's really important that you know how. Because recently, I've been finding out a lot of things about whether or not we should outsource even our PR team or an event planning team. And I just keep finding the same result. It's never going to be done the way you want it unless

it's in-house. And so we are looking to hire a lot. So you're trying to grow. Yes, for sure. And we need to grow internally and slowly at the same time, just because every person that we add to the team is like a family member. And we don't want someone coming in that doesn't have that passion and doesn't have the culture to really want to achieve the same vision. And at the end of the day, like great if you have talent, but if you don't have the right heart, then we don't want you here. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What are you most grateful for in your life recently? I am most grateful for my family, my boyfriend. He's been with me for a really long time from the beginning how long uh yeah like several years several what several years since college college how long is

what how long what year did you start dating i don't say what year do we he's getting red six years no 2008 2008 wow seven Yeah, he was actually my finance tutor. What? Yeah. Is that legal? No, tutor, tutor, not teacher. Not professor? Okay, cool.

Yeah, and I got a B- on my finance test, and I was like so upset. You kept dating him? No, no, no, no. And then I went to the tutor, and I was like, help me, I got a B-. To him? Yes, and then I met him, and we started talking, and then no, no. And then I went to the tutor and I was like, help me. I got a B minus. To him. Yes. And then I met him and we started talking. And then here we are.

And he still does all the analytical stuff. And, you know, we call him Analytic Sam. So it's really funny. Nice. I like it. Oh, yeah. I bet you got an A, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. I do not do any finance stuff right now. Just don't. I like know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I do not do any finance stuff right now. Just don't. I like it. So, yeah. What's something that people maybe don't know about you that you haven't shared because you share everything? What's something they don't know about you that they might be surprised about?

You know, actually, what I just shared with you, I have not shared with a lot of people about my boyfriend. A lot of my fans don't know because I keep that very private. And so that's something they may not know that they will learn on this podcast interview. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Awesome.

Now, I've been asking this to a lot of my guests lately, and I'm curious to get your answer on this. It's 100 years from now. It's your last day. Okay? 100 years. Asians last forever, right? Oh, yeah.

That's right. So it's your last day. All your YouTube videos have been deleted or erased. Everything you've ever created is gone for whatever reason, right? You're on your bed. It's your last night. You've got a pen and a piece of paper. And you get to write down three truths to share with the world, your family, your friends,

your audience, what you've learned about life, the world, whatever you want to leave behind, what would you be the three truths that's coming up for you now? There's three things that you want people to know about life. I love that question. That's really beautiful. Number one, live passionately. I think that is so important because if you don't live for yourself, you're not living. Number two, believe in yourself because that's your gold.

And if you can't believe in yourself, you're never going to succeed or you're never going to know. And number three, give yourself the 100% chance to succeed. Because I really do believe if you don't give it your all, you're not going to get there. And I think that was more of like the business side. But if I could add a four, if I could add a four, asterisk, it would be be around those who make you happy. Because I think that's one of the most important things. As the channel has grown, as a business has grown, we've, you know, we've been surrounded by some weird people

and people that want to, you know, either take you down or steer you in the wrong direction on purpose. It's nasty. And you cannot, you can't be around that because that's not your energy.

Are you talking about fans or do you mean more like business partners? No, I'm talking about other people. I'm talking about like, you know, competitors or whatever you want to call them, whatever.

I distance myself away. I unfollow them. I just make sure you do not need to be renting space in my brain right now because you're not worth it. And so the more you can surround yourself with the people who love you, the people who believe in you, the more you all inspire each other to be better and to battle that negativity. Okay, cool.

Well, I've got one final question for you. But before I ask you that, I want to take a moment to acknowledge you, Cassie, for the consistency of you've had over the years in supporting so many people, typically young people who have issues with body image. And I think you're such a great example for them. And I love that you are constantly putting yourself out there. I know how scary it can be, specifically when everyone's judging you. So I wanted to, again, acknowledge you for consistently putting out great information

and inspiring content for people to live their best life and feel good about themselves and their body image. Thank you so much. It means a lot to me. Yeah, of course. Thank you so much. So final question. Okay.

What's your definition of greatness? Ooh, my definition of greatness is, there's so many different facets I want to go about, but I think it is finding happiness in what you do every single day. I think that is true greatness. That is success. And I think it's a true blessing if you can really marry your career and your passion.

And I'm honored that I can do that every day and help people out. So I think that is what true greatness is. I love it. Thank you. And where should people go find you and what do you want them to do? I want them to go on youtube.com slash blogilates and check out the channel. There is videos for beginners, advanced people, whatever.

And it's really fun. And then also go to your local 24-hour fitness and try to take a class. See if they like it. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. And there you have it, guys. Thanks so much for joining me today. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to head back to lewishouse.com slash 178 and share this with your friends. Feel free to post it over on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or anywhere online. And let me know where you're listening to this episode by tagging a photo of you listening to this over on Instagram. You can tag me, at Lewis Howes, and Cassie as well. All of her links to her YouTube channel, to her book, to her programs, her products, her sites are all back at my page at lewishowes.com.

To check out all of her information. Make sure to follow her, subscribe to her incredible videos, and learn a lot more about what she's doing in the near future. She's an incredible person and up to really big things. So make sure to pay attention to what she's doing in the future. So again, thanks, guys, so much for coming in today. Again, my name is Lewis Howes. Check out episode number 178 over on the show notes, lewishowes.com slash 178. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music