The School of Greatness - 861 The Power of Keeping It Real

Episode Date: October 11, 2019

MAKE YOUR OWN RULES. If you want to become a social media star, you have to find your voice and carve out your niche. It’s important to be flexible and open to change- as long as you stay authentic. Staying flexible with your vision could keep you from being pigeon-holed in your industry. Staying YOU will keep your followers interested. If you stay consistent, keep creating, and have fun, you will find your core audience. For this Five Minute Friday, I revisit a conversation I had with Justine Ezarik, where she shared her creative process and the philosophy behind her social media empire. Justine is a social media powerhouse. When she isn’t busy being a YouTube personality, she’s busy being a producer, writer, and author. Justine made her mark in the industry creating videos about tech, travel, and gaming. Her loyal following includes over 6 million subscribers on YouTube and almost two million followers on Instagram and Twitter. Justine says that you need to be creative and unlimited when it comes to life and business. Learn how to be successful on your terms in Episode 861. In This Episode You Will Learn: How to have fun and create content without stressing goals (22:30) The importance of not being pigeon-holed in your industry (23:15) Building your brand on authenticity (26:33) How to make decisions based on the opportunities that come to you (26:50) If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/861 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes

This is 5-Minute Friday! This is a very special episode. We've got Justine Ezarek. I always forget how to pronounce her last name because she never says it. It's just iJustine for the interwebs. And for those that don't know who iJustine is, you've probably never been on social media. She's a producer, actress, host, technology expert, and one of the most subscribed to personalities on YouTube. That's right. She has been nominated for two Teen Choice Awards and four Streamy Awards and is the one of the Hollywood Reporter's 50 Most Powerful

Digital Players, was called the most influential person online by Fast Company, and ranked number six on the Daily Beast 2012 Digital Power Index. She is a powerhouse. And what I love about Justine is her authenticity. She is unapologetic in her expression and who she is. And she allows herself the permission to be goofy and silly and fun and creative and whatever she wants to be in the moment. And she has built up an incredibly large audience in the process. How many subscribers do you have over all your channels on YouTube right now? Do you know? Over 3 million.

Because I really only count like the top three. Okay. Top three. Again, this is one of these things where I don't ever look. Really? Why not? I don't. Because I don't want to know.

Why not? It's like as long as... Because then it takes the fun away for it for me. Really? I want to have fun. I want to create content. As long as I know people are watching it and enjoying it and coming out to meetups, that for me is enough.

And so many of my friends, I see them so obsessed with numbers. I'm like, I can't hang out with you because I don't want to hear how you kind of deal with this world. I mean, I think I'm very different in that sense. So what's your vision then for your growth strategy or just for your strategy in general for what you're creating? Just to have fun or do you have a vision of like, I want to hit 10 million subscribers or I want to make this much a year? Or do you not even think about that? I don't really. As long as you make enough money that comes in, you're happy.

You're not like focused on a big dream or a big goal with that. No. And the weird thing for me is like setting goals is I always set these goals. I'm like, I'm bored. I don't want to do that anymore. And I find something else that's even cooler than that. And I've talked to a lot of people who have set these goals that they will do nothing until they achieve that.

And they're so pigeonholed in getting to that goal that there's other things that you could have been doing that are so much better than that. So what are the things you want to be doing? And what's the dream for you then? Wow. I don't know. I mean, I have so many things. Like every day there's something else I want to do.

And it's like, if I don't want to do that the next day, then I change. You don't do it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I could be working on a movie, which is really fun. Really? Yeah. And I think another reason I started writing the book, too, is because I wanted to pitch sort of a web series idea based around my life.

But nobody could really grasp their head around the crazy things that have happened. So, I was like, I'm just going to put it in a book and then we'll talk. I feel like you could be a reality show on MTV or VH1 or any of these networks. The problem with reality shows is they're not real. Of course. I've done one. Even filming sort of my own stuff, like something funny will happen. I'm like, oh man, my sister, her name's Jenna. I was like, Jenna, you have to do it again. Because that was so funny.

Really? So it's a reality show in itself? It is. But at least like these are things that have actually happened. And a lot of times we just will film something and just leave the camera rolling because we know something funny will happen. And I mean, for me, that's actually real. And I think there's a fine line between what is real and what's not real for a lot of YouTube vlogging type people. And the internet can see through it. I mean, they're so perceptive and they're so used to seeing people that they know and trust. And if you deceive them, you are gone. I mean, that is one of my biggest goals is to never upset my core audience and any brands that I work with. It's something that I love. It's something that I would have probably talked about anyway.

And thankfully I'm actually able to get a sponsorship for it so I can survive. Right. So being authentic and being you is the most important thing. So what do you, how do you make your decisions based on the opportunities that come in, the brand opportunities? Because I'm sure you get a lot of companies that say, you know, can you put this on your YouTube channel or promote this?

How do you know, what's your gauge of saying yes or no or if it's going to resonate for you and your audience? I mean, it's just something if I can integrate it organically.

Like the Steak and Shake thing. Like they sent me the Indy 500. I knew nothing about racing, had no interest in it, but I was like I love steak and shake And now i'm a huge indy car fan. It was so much fun So it's like I mean I like to agree to these random projects Even if I think it might be something that I might not be into sure because it's fun sort of taking my audience along that ride of

I don't know what i'm doing watch me potentially maybe fail. So it's fun And do you get all these opportunities yourself? Or do you have an agent now that represents you and tells you what to take or brings you deals? I mean, I do. I do have an agent, I have a manager and like a whole squad of people, which is amazing, but it's still like the deals will still come to my inbox. It's like you emailed me, you tweeted me. And I think that's amazing because it's like, I can still make those decisions. And again, you know, it's, it's our brand, it's us, it's people. And you know, I'm not going to have somebody else tell me what I should do. Sure. That's why I quit my job. That's why I'm here. Right. That's cool.

But if you don't have a vision of like how much you want to make, then are there just months where you're like, well, I don't feel like doing anything because I have enough money or, you know, how do you really make that decision of like, well, I definitely want to make more each year okay so that's well you say that so i wasn't sure okay yeah um but there are times where i'm like i don't want to film anything and it is that that authentic sort of i guess vibe because if i don't feel like filming it's going to be very obvious so like even i was supposed to film some stuff this weekend i'm like i have to push this video because i don't feel like it you're not in the mood you're not ready yeah and it's you know it is it's stressful i mean this video because I don't feel like it. You're not in the mood. You're not ready. And it's stressful. I mean, a lot of people don't understand that.

It is emotional. And I mean, there is that impact where it's like, I'm so exhausted. I physically cannot bring myself to even turn the camera on. Gotcha. Well, I appreciate you coming here to do this. Yeah. No, it's great. No, I'm good.

I slept all weekend. I'm feeling wonderful. Hey, guys. hey guys if you enjoyed this inspirational clip from a past episode of the show then you'll love the free book i'm giving away right now it's called the millionaire morning it includes some of my best tips for starting off your day with a millionaire mindset. Get your free copy at themillionairemorning.com and just pay shipping. Again, check it out right now, themillionairemorning.com.