Trading Secrets - 170. More Than Money:  Diving into all things Reality TV & Pop Culture with Zachary Reality! 

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by social media personality, entertainment news host, and reality TV expert, Zachary Weinberg aka Zachary Reality! Zachary and Jason dive into all things reality TV, starting with the Bachelor franchise and where Zachary provides his overall thoughts about where Bachelor Nation is heading. Zachary gives insight to how we are currently in the era of crossover TV, which shows he thinks is the hottest, rapid fire rating of current reality TV shows, how he feels about other reality TV content creators, what he loves about content creation and how he got started, and his best advice!  It’s an episode you can’t afford to miss!  Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guest: Zachary Reality Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial  Trading Secrets Steals & Deals! The Farmer's Dog: This spring, brighten up your dog’s bowl with fresh, healthy food. Get 50% off your first box, delivered to your door here Cort Furniture: Get furniture on your terms with CORT. Rent or Buy furniture that flexes to fit any situation, style and budget and to get 50% off your first month’s furniture rental head over to cort.com/podcast

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets, More Than Money Edition. Today, we are joined by social media personality, entertainment news host and reality TV expert Zachary Weinberg, aka Zachary Reality. Zachary burst onto the social media scene branding himself as one of the top breaking news. and recap specialists for Bachelor Nation, Netflix shows, Bravo shows, any of the Real Housewife shows, as well as interviews with other reality TV personalities. He has hit almost every show at this point. He's doing movie premieres, show premieres, and all the things. Today, we are going to discuss the unique entrepreneurial path that Zachary took,

starting from when he was 15 years old on YouTube to where he is today covering all of today's top celebrities lifestyle and entertainment news via social media. Zachary, thank you so much for being in this episode of More Than Money. I love it. Quiet introduction. And thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. I've always loved your podcast.

So I cannot wait to get into it. Amazing. All right. Well, I have a lot of questions on your career and how things progress that the way they did. But I feel like when I have you on this podcast, especially if it's a more than money episode, we got to talk a little gossip, okay? Because we're talking more than money. So let's just start with this.

We know Bachelor right now is in between seasons. Jen's season of The Bachelorette is coming out. Just finished the first Golden Bachelor and, of course, Joey's season. And then now we have another Golden Bachelorette and no paradise. So I'm just curious. Like if I said, state of the union of the Bachelor franchise, what is your take? Where is the franchise? Where do you think it's heading?

And just give me your overall synopsis of State of the Union with Bachelor Nation. I mean, coming off Joey season, which was so strong, I feel like the nature of was there more than ever that I've seen in the last few years. So I feel like they're still there and they want to give Jen a chance. But I also am a little worried because Jen's season, Joan's season, we want to

see more of a paradise. I think the fans are going to miss that. They don't always tune into the Bachelorette, I think sometimes because it's in the summer and people travel. And Jen wasn't like everyone's number one choice. So I do think that they need to kind of get it going with the marketing a little bit for people to get excited. I'm interested for it to

come back to see where the community is, because I personally am very excited and very ready for Jen season July 8th. Okay. Amazing. So we know that Daisy was person considered. She now has a boyfriend. Maria has come out saying that she signed the contract, was ready to go and then last minute decided to not pursue it. Based on the interviews you've heard from Maria and the current state of Daisy, what do you think happened with the whole Maria situation? Do you think it's precisely what we're hearing or do you have any Zachary reality spins or takes? I mean, I think Maria went on call her daddy and just said it exactly how it is and told her peace on it. She was ready to do it. It was

hers. And two days before, she just got a bad feeling about it. She wasn't ready to commit to the process. She didn't want to, she just probably wasn't ready to get engaged in such a short period of time. And I think the same thing with Daisy. She did, you know, she had so much going on in her personal life with her hearing and doing the show. And there was just so much back and forth that I just don't think that they wanted to commit to the process because it's such an intense environment. And also, maybe they weren't ready to get engaged in six, eight weeks. Like, that's kind of crazy. So I think it happened the way it was supposed to. I think Jen is a great choice. So I think it's time to just get it going. And I think that everybody will support her

once it starts. Yeah, I think Jen will do a great job. I agree with that. Let me ask you take on this. Do you think the franchise should reconsider going deeper into the pool to bring a bachelorette on like i think it's almost always the case now unless maybe it was r a season or maybe matt james but they'll just go to the previous season just your take like you covered literally everyone that's been on the show 10 years ago to people that are currently on the show do you think it would behoove them to do something like that what's your position on that i mean for sure if there is a fan favorite that is ready to come back and do it like like tyler camera obviously is the easiest answer but i think that we would love that but i also do think it's

important to have the most heartbroken from the season before because that's kind of how you really get into it. Let's talk about a Golden Bachelor, Golden Bachelorette. So clearly it's been such a success ratings wise that they moved Paradise. I'm curious from your take when you're covering Breaking News with Paradise last year or Golden Bachelor this year. Do you see a massive change or discrepancy in the engagement, the comments, the likes from your business based on how the show's performing. For sure. And I actually do think Golden was maybe more popular than Bachelor and Paradise, because they were on at the same time. But I noticed more fans online actually wanted to talk about Old and Bachelor instead of Bachelor in Paradise, essentially because a lot of the

Paradise cast was a little bit more low-key and they didn't have as much, you know, experience in the franchise. It was kind of a thrown-together cast and no one worked out. But I think that the whole world is really into this Golden. I don't know if it will be the same though with all guys now and one lady, because I think that the girls really carried the show. So it's going to be a lot on Joan to kind of keep us interested, but of course I'm going to watch. Yeah. And there's a there's all, it's going to be incredible. I think, I don't know, I think the guys are going to keep us very entertained. I have a feeling that it's going to get really interesting because I'll tell you this much, just being on the show, especially at a younger age, you are definitely hyper aware of

the possible impact of acting goofy. It could impact your career. You get fired. There's so much life to be lived. And I feel like the older they get, the less you care about that, and especially if people are retired. Obviously, people care of their image. But I don't know.

I think we're going to get an entertaining season. So we'll see. I want to ask you this, though, a lot of shows out there you cover, especially Bravo. They curate alumni in a wild way, and they bring alumni on to all different shows. and they do the bravo cons and they spin people back. And of course, some people leave too.

With the Bachelor franchise, they don't do that. And there's two opinions that are both very polarizing. You get people that used to be on the show will then do cameos. And people will be tweeting and be like, get these people off my screen. I don't want to see them again. They're done. Move on. It's like you graduate high school.

You then get some people saying like, I wish we had more of it because there's so much intertwined, drama and entertainment and answers unsaid. someone that covers it the way you do do you have a take on the alumni of the Bachelor and what you would like to see with the alumni either continue to go away and do your own thing or get them more involved. I'm curious your take.

I've been loving crossover reality TV more than ever recently. I think with like traitors, house the villains, the goat, I don't know, just there's been so much crossover TV. So I love that. I think we're truly in the era of crossover TV. Of course they need to bring back Bachelor Pad.

Bachelor of Paradise is like over played. It's time to end it. There's nothing going on. And I think if they bring back Bachelor pad, that would really, really attract viewers. I mean, I'm really into social strategy competition games with love on top of that. Like, that's everything I need in a show. So I don't know if they'll ever do that or what they're going to do. But I do think that they could do more, but that's not really what the Bachelor is based on. It's really based on, like, one person finding love and like the format that kind of thrives. And I think that Bravo, they have a lot reoccurring characters, people come back every season.

So it's like just a different type of like community with like competition shows versus like, this is how we live our life's shows. Okay. Very fair take. I think the crossover is just, it's interesting. The economics, I should do a full episode on this because reality TV has taken off, right? But almost in a way you can't keep up with it and there are too many shows and you hear someone come out with a show or they're going to be on a show.

and then you hear nothing about that show ever. And I think that's because there's just such an oversaturation of like reality TV right now. And it's hard to keep up with what does and doesn't do well. Yeah. The question on you on content when you talk about Bachelnation. So which performs the best for you when it comes to Bachelnation content? Is it people that are extremely relevant off the show now? Is it coverage of the show?

Is it when a breakup happens? Is it when there's breaking news? No one knows about. Like, if you look at the success of all your content, what would you say as it connects to bachelor nation, performs the best? Everyone loves a breakup. Everyone loves to know the tea. Everyone wants multiple parts.

That will always do, I think, like, the best. Or an engagement or a wedding, covering a wedding for short. But I really am into covering episodes. That's like my passion. It goes like beyond TikTok. I really love, like, rehabbing episodes. So that will really do the best for me, I think, when it gets to the finale,

or the premiere of The Bachelor or really whatever show is the hottest that I'm covering. I love covering the episodes of doing multiple parts and mysteries and like theories. That's usually what does the best. Okay, so let's talk about it. You just said

hot shows. There's obviously some that are out right now. You got Valley. You got Summer House, Real Housewives of New Jersey. But in general, let's just take a sneak peek back to the last six months to 12 months. Which shows do you think have been the hottest in which shows are you benefiting from the most by covering them?

The Bachelor Joey season was so good, like the best in years. Thank God. Dancing with the Stars always does really well for me as well, because I think it's so tied in with Bachelor. I think just because I'm the creator that does a lot of like ABC Netflix, like I really need to, I thrive on those shows are on. Not that I can't cover other shows, but I think that a lot of people will like look to certain creators for certain shows.

And that's really all they want to hear. So I feel like since I have like a poll with like Bachelor on TikTok, whenever that's on, it's always going to like do the best for me. But perfect matches some index and that did really well last year for me. So I'm super excited about that. Interesting. And with perfect match,

you know we got Jess in the mix there, maybe a little hairy jowsy. So something tells me you'll get some good analytics with that. Dancing with the Stars, mirror ball. Let's take your crystal ball. It's in front of you. Who from the Bachelor franchise this year be on Dancing with Stars?

Oh, they got to put on Joey. No-brainer? Yeah, or Maria, but I feel like they're going to pick a lead. Or maybe someone from Jen's season, if Jen really rises to a star, they really like people who are like super relevant, I think, for dancing. Like, they're not going to bring someone back. I think they really want whoever's the hottest at the moment. That's kind of what we've seen in the last few years with like casting charity right away, Gabby.

So I think it's like almost too soon to tell which explanation versus they're going to pick for dancing with the stars. And it could have been Gary if he didn't get divorced. interesting well my take will for sure my my opinion is i would definitely love to see joey up there but you could have someone from golden bachelorette could have the golden bachelette it could be joan yeah it could be joan what do you think about what do you think about maria in the franchise you think i know she's your absolute favorite yes i've had the pleasure of meeting her a few times i know you have she's a complete unbelievable fun personality in person

in every which way, do you think she'll be back on The Bachelor shows? If the opportunity presents itself, I think for sure, it has to be like a mix of guys and girls, like a Paradise or a Bachelor Pat, as I was saying, if not, put her somewhere else, put her anywhere else. Okay. Another question I got for you is you're big on social media. I know you pay attention to social media. It's not like your Bachelor data,

where you're doing like the analytics every single week. No. But I know you pay attention to the success. of people and they're following. Maria is at 634,000 followers. It feels as though PR-wise, for the little I know, that Maria's been literally everywhere, like, in a good way, right? Like, who has been on Caller Daddy podcast from the show? Daisy, over 900,000 followers. What do you make of that? I think that Maria hasn't been as active on social media. She said that in her interviews that she was taking time away from it at certain points. And I think the number one way to grow on social

media is either being on TV, so people will always talk about you or posting every single day. I know that Daisy has a great team out here in Los Angeles, helping her with her social media, and she's really engaging with her followers. And she's been doing it for years as well with, like, influencing, like she was doing it before the show. So I think she just has all the tools. And I think it's just really like her thing. It doesn't mean she's more famous than Maria. It just means that she's really good in social media. Okay. Good take from someone who's on social media himself doing such a great job love it all right i'm going to say a show i want you to just give me your overall take of the show and here's what i want you to do i'm going to say the show and i want a

score one through 10 what you would give the show and a very quick like almost like rapid fire high and low what's the high of the show what's the low of the show no wrong answer we'll start with one i already mentioned valley i'll give it like an eighth the drama is definitely interesting we definitely needed a reunion and there's there there's I don't know it's still like new it's really feels too new okay so there's your low there's your high there's your rating vanderpump this season give me the rating and a high and low I give it like a nine I think it's always good nothing will ever top last season but the drama is always so interesting and I think that they have such a core cast that works really well and I think it's great that they're going on a little

break because I think when they bring it back it'll be better than ever do you think Ariana's outgrown the show. Yes, but she can still stay on it a little bit if she wanted to. Love it. Okay, love is blind. Rating in a high and low. That shit's good. I think everybody really gets invested when love is blind is on. For me, I like the ending, the last few episodes, like is the best part of it, just seeing all the relationships come crash and burn. So that's the best part. Sometimes I feel like the pods are a little slow and repetitive. And I'm like, I don't want to see people in pods. Like let's see them live their lives. Like we're not in COVID. anymore. There you go. There's the high, the low. I will say, you mentioned earlier, I get why

someone wanted to go on the bachelor. You got to be engaged in eight weeks. We'll imagine being married, not seeing yourself, no pre-numping. It's official right on the spot. That's terrifying. Summerhouse this season. Oh, my God. It's so good. I love Summerhouse. I think as someone who joined the Summerhouse fan base later in later, I'm like enjoying it more than ever. And I think that we love a breakup. It's such a good climax to the end of the season at their own. risk. Like, sorry for them, but they signed up for it. It's just a really good season and really good new guys too and just great casting. What's the low? I don't know. I think it's so good. Okay. Maybe like they can fill more in the city. I don't know. Which new cast member do you like

the most? Definitely West. Okay, by a long shot. And who on Summer House, just curious, do you dislike the most? That some people may like or be surprised by this? I think it's always changing. I would say that between Kyle, Carl, and Lindsay, they would all probably get on my nerves depending on the episode. Gotcha. Good stuff. Well, next week we are interviewing Kyle to really get down to the understanding of all this business conversation. There's a lot of business and numbers tied to Kyle's drama. So there are some facts and there's some fiction and we will get down to all that for everyone listening. Thank God.

Are you going to ask him about that drama? Oh, I'm going to ask him all about it. Okay. I'm team toast. That's my favorite podcast of all time. But I like Kyle, too. But, like, that was just amazing. Claudia's podcast, the way she did that, I was like, she's just, she's so well-spoken.

I am obsessed with Claudia, and Ben's a good friend of mine. I actually got to give Ben a call, let him know I'm having Kyle on. And I am a huge fan of both Claudia and Ben. And Kyle, I've got to know. pretty well. And I just think it's going to be interesting to see two different business perspectives. I'll have to have Ben back on, too, to state his case. But yeah, I know it'll get interesting. Let me ask you this, special forces. There's some rumors out there that Trista and Ali were on from The Bachelorette. Do you have any type of spoilers? Anything you know that we don't

as it relates to the Bachelor alumni being on some of these shows? That definitely seems very possible. That's what the word on the street is. I don't really think special forces. is interesting. So, and I don't think either of them are that interesting. So it's just not my type of show. Yeah. Okay. Interesting.

Yeah, it'll be fascinating to see who they bring in, where they bring in, and why they bring them in. But I know there's several shows that are casting right now. So it's interesting stuff. Okay. I want to get into some more of the business of you, Zach Reality. I appreciate your breakdown of all the current news because everyone here, I know listening will want to hear from you.

But let's talk about some of the business. stuff. First and foremost, you are covering Bachelor Nation, some of the other shows that we talked about. Now, there are some others in this space, right? You know, there's Reality Steve, Bachelor Nation Scoop. They don't have like a, it's the person as it, like, showed themselves. I love them, though. They're the best. Yeah, they're great. They're for the most part, good to me. Sometimes, not so much. In order for them to do what they do, they have to be anonymous. Have to be anonymous. Agreed. They have to. Now, Do you look at like a reality, Steve or a Bachelnation Scoop or some of these other TikTokers that are now out there trying to emulate what you've done?

Do you look at them like competition? What's your business take on them? Do you collaborate with them? Do you keep away from them? Do you try to differentiate someone that's in the space? Like, what's your overall vibe there? I mean, I think that my content from the beginning has always just been so me. Like nobody was doing what I was doing on TikTok when I started doing it.

And I've made it so mean. So I think that every content creator is so original because I think everyone truly has their own way of covering things. There's definitely creators that I follow who I like their content. And there's other creators who I'm like, I don't need to see their content. I don't want them to interfere with mine. I don't want to feel like I'm like hearing people's opinions

before I can create my own. So I really don't like to follow too many people either. But I think that the key is to just always like be yourself and just like do it your way. And I think that's what success is always. And I don't really care. care what anyone else does. Honestly. Have you had any run-ins, tips or issues behind the scenes with any of these accounts or like things of breaking something or being wrong and they come to you

and say something or using their name? Have you ever had that happen? Not really, no. Maybe like so long ago when I was first starting, but like I am just so like by the book now. Like I know what I need to say to not piss anyone off. I'm going to make a video on my way. Like I'm not interested than that. So not, that's just not the vibe anymore. I don't spend too much time online unless I'm doing it from, unless I'm posting. Yeah, I love it. Do you ever worry though? Okay, so you're talking about these people from reality TV, most of which you're going to run into and or try and have a podcast or want to be. Do you ever think twice about like what criticism you might be giving, knowing that you're going to run into them? Or you just like, listen, I'm going to love you. I'm going to

hate you and if I see you, I'm going to address it. What's your take there? Not anymore. Like, maybe in the beginning, I felt like nobody was ever going to see my content and it was during COVID. So I would literally say crazy things. But now I feel like I'm like going to all the events. I'm really trying to like work in the industry and do a lot of hosting that like I would never say anything mean about anyone. Like I just would find like criticism as far as like the show that's like respectful. So I don't have to worry about that because I know what's like, you know, what morally is right and wrong to criticize. You can't call someone like a bad name,

but you could be like, hey, like, you shouldn't like do it like that, like if I'm commentating. What's the worst learning lesson that you've had in all these years of commentating on people from reality TV, being in a space where you know there's a lot of positivity, but also a lot of negativity? Yeah, that's fair.

I think that when I was really starting off and I was, I don't know, I remember there was times where people like wouldn't want to be posting with me like certain people on the shows because I was doing a lot of spoilers or I wouldn't get invited like certain places or like whatever that was after a while I was like wait I can't be this like guy that like everyone hates that is like spilling everyone's tea so I think like when that when I not that it was ever like that bad for me but I felt like there was like two directions and like if I wanted to go that way I just feel like I wouldn't have been able to like grow as like in my career with like more opportunities and that's not the way I wanted to go so I think that once that I kind of realized that I needed to like really clear clean up my social media and really make it more fun and not like neat or not like too spoily like you know

that I'm not going to talk about certain things that are like on Reddit you know like that's just not what I do so I think that that was just like a learning lesson that I learned like over two years ago so I've just been like chilling ever since yeah and I think there's been a lot of like discussion around that the impact of like those spoiler accounts

and spreading news that's true or untrue I feel like Nick Vial and Reality Steve really got into it in that episode when they had one another on talking about that. Did you listen to that episode and what was your take if you did? When Reality Steve was on Nick's podcast. Yeah. And they were talking about this very thing you're suggesting, something that you learned from. I did listen to that. Like I guess a a couple years after. I don't really know. That's just, I don't know. I don't really have a take on that. Okay. Understood. Next question that. When we

look at the breakers that are out there, the media outlets, there's people, there's us weekly, right? There's a million of them. And there's always different areas in which they will confirm or deny a source. And oftentimes it might say the team or someone in the space. And of course, if it's not identified specifically, I always, knowing my history and everything, there's always a big question mark behind the validity of it. But I was wondering what I was thinking about this interview. Do they ever come to you? Like, do you ever get a call from people or us weekly? They're like, you know about this? Have you talked to them? And what's that relationship like if they do? I have friends who work at a lot of outlets because I do a lot of entertainment hosting. I do a lot

of collabs. So I have friends at Usbig. They have friends at page six. I think they kind of do their thing. You know, I don't, not really. Maybe like a couple times a long time ago, but like not, not for real. No. Okay. And is that a direction that you would ever want to take your career? Like I'm not a good writer and I literally applied to like jobs to do entertainment hosting with writing and it wasn't my thing. So I really want to take my career to like video content. I would love to like if we're going to be specific and we're going to manifest. Like I would love for peacock, someone that I've worked with on lots of campaigns to like hire me to like host their carpets and like travel the country hosting like events or something. Like that is definitely or maybe I would do that with

my own Zachary reality. Like that is definitely what I would like what I am working towards. Amazing. Maybe you have your own media group. It's your company. and they hire that company to do it. That is something I'd love to see from you. From a business perspective, when you look at pop culture stuff for you to report on, there's everything right now from, you know, Brad Pitt and George Colleen. You have this new movie coming out that's buzzing. You have this whole J-Lo Ben breakup, right? So, or possible breakup, wherever the hell the status is. But my point is, is you have very A-list relevant things that are in the pop culture news at the highest levels. You then cover some things that are more.

Or, like, just for satire and being facetious, we'll call it Z-list stuff. But what's interesting is a lot of the Z-list stuff, at least if you look online, captures mass engagement, like a huge engagement. Like, it feels like, I could be wrong. But I feel like Christina Cavaleri and the Montana guy are, like, creating more of a buzz than J-Lo and Ben, right? Like, to put in perspective. We're over J-Lo and Ben.

We're done with it. I don't even care. You're just like, I'm out. But it also knows my question. If it's not Jaylo and Ben, because you're just, like, bored with all their shit that's been happening for decades now. Do you find more success in a certain area of pop culture that you cover? And if so, what area is it? And tell me a little bit about it.

I mean, I think I just really niches as, like, covering reality TV. I remember one time I made a video about Sophia Grace and she got pregnant. And that was, like, literally what my highest rated video on, like, YouTube shorts ever. It got, like, so many millions of views. So I think sometimes if you cover like an influencer or like just like the big moments as we were saying like breakups, engagements, pregnancies, like if you just cover anyone who got who gets pregnant, like it just goes viral for some reason. Yeah. Here I am complete goofball. Googling Sophia Grace. See your face. I'm like, oh yeah. She is from the Ellen show. Yeah. I saw her and I was like,

I know who that is. Okay. Interesting. All right. So it's you you stick to reality TV. But even when you do cover some of those? The thing about being content creators is like there's so many more videos I can make every single day. I can talk about new things. I could do nothing. Like it's just there's no like rulebook on like how many times a day to post, what to post.

And honestly, the last few days I've been wanting to take a little bit of a break. Not because I don't think I'll get back and be stronger than ever, but just because it's like exhausting every single day. And you have to like love it and you have to like make sure you're making money on it if you're doing it like so much. Because I know it's looking people are really successful in there on TikTok specifically.

So it's just a balance. I don't know. Yeah, it's a balance. It's interesting. My brother worked in Broadway marketing, and he was telling me about Ariana being on Chicago, and those were record box office sales ever for the show. And he was telling me one thing you're going to see, at least in Broadway, is your quote-unquote celebrities, like the ones that we just referred to, like your Brad Pitt, your George Clooney's, or those they're under, are going to start being replaced by influencers and creators. And he was saying because the gen alphas and the Gen Zers are gravitating at such a higher level of engagement with them. So on billboards and campaigns

and stars of these shows, that's going to be the transition. And I was just curious if a statement like that also connected based on the type of content you put out. But it makes sense that you're more reality niche. So probably your sample size isn't even large enough to do it. But that's interesting. That's interesting the whole concept of it. Let's go back to when you started in YouTube. Okay, you started in YouTube. What was the vision at that point? Was it for the purpose of monetizing? Tell me about the career track you expected when you started your YouTube channel. Oh my God. I think I've been posting YouTube videos forever. I love creating content. I love making videos. I love editing videos. I love filming myself. I just love it. I grew up doing theater

and I was acting. Like I did a lot of that stuff. I did a lot of commercial auditions, a lot of background work. I went to a camp for film school where I would literally learn how to make short films or short commercials.

And then in high school, I went to somewhere called Wilson Tech. So I would 11th and 12th grade, the second half of the day, I would go to film school. And we would learn how to do like screenwriting and like just like making videos and editing and like all that kind of stuff.

So I've always wanted to just create, create videos. So when, like, you know, I realized I loved Bachelor Nation and reality TV and broadcast journalism, that's kind of how it came together for my TikTok because I had like background and like the editing and the uploading and all that kind of stuff, the techie stuff, but also like maybe pop culture entertainment. The last I looked, Zachary, I got 38,000 followers, TikTok 470,000 followers, X 17,000, YouTube 17,000. So this was a passion at one point. It was a place that you went to school, right?

and you learned some of these things with short firm. But what was it? When did you start popping off? How long did it take for you to pop off in the way you did that really started building momentum to now having over a half million followers? I mean, I think it was just TikTok. It was just like that perfect app where like I was able to create content with like everything I learned as well as it being timing.

Like I graduated college and I was TikTok started like six months later and then the pandemic happened. So I think that that all just kind of happened the way it was for me to have the space, the new app, and just kind of like the vision and the degree and the time to really like put this together and see what was going to go viral. And the first video that went viral was like, who have I met from Bachelor Nation? And it was just talking about like Caitlin and Tyler and Hannah and like all these people I met and just like the stories.

And that got over like 450,000 views. And then everyone was like, find your niece, find your niche. It was like, all right, I guess I just found it. How long did it take you to get that video to pop off? How many videos in time? Oh, maybe like a few months. The first few months I wasn't posting like seriously though. I was just kind of dancing.

And then I think like within like a few weeks of me like posting like more seriously or like trying to get a niche, then it was going pretty fast. And I gained like $200,000 within like a year. Okay. So in about a year's time frame, you go from dancing, just making these videos up to over $200,000. And at what point do you start monetizing when you're following? It's what amount of followers are you starting to monetize? I think you need like, at the time,

you need to like maybe 10,000 followers. And you could join the creator fund. And I remember I used to make 75 cents a day and 25 cents a day. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so exciting. So for a really long time, I've been in the creator fund for probably over three years. Now they have the creator beta program. So we need to post videos that are over a minute. But we actually get paid more because we're putting in longer videos.

So that's been great. Okay. Trading secrets is where we talk numbers. I got to ask you because I've asked a previous guest on and it does seem on social media that everyone has a different answer to this. If you post a video that is 61 seconds about how much can you expect to earn, give me an amount of views you would have to have an amount round that you would earn from that. If it was 61 seconds. You would need like, let's say you got a million views on a 61 second video on TikTok. And I'm just guessing. based on like what I've seen. I think you could make like $200. Yeah. And I've seen answers on a million views from 200, and I've heard some people say $3,200.

So it's a wild, it's disparity between that. But of course, majority of the money is made in appearances, events, and of course, social media monetization via brand campaigns, which I know you've had a ton of, a ton of success with. Before I get into that real quick, I just do want to ask people that are starting off right now. They weren't there at 2020, 2020, 2021, TikTok, boom. They want to create a following.

They don't have a TV show. They just have a passion like you do. Give me the blueprint. What does it look like? Yeah, you got to post every single day, put you're all into it. And it has to just feel organic and right. It cannot feel forced. Otherwise, you're wasting your time.

Yeah. I think the other big one you said, Zachary, that everyone should listen to is you kept posting and posting and posting, and then something popped off and you're like, well, this is something I really like. And it went well. So it's my niche. The cool thing about anything as it relates to content creation is you put something out, you put something out, you put something out, you instantly get numbers. You instantly get feedback. Like in what world do you get instant feedback like that to see what direction you should go and why? And so I think you got the right exact script of just post, post, post, see how things do, and then adjust strategy based on how that posting is.

So that is, that's brilliant. Now you're doing a lot of, I see it, it seems like you're invited to every single movie and show premiere out there in these days. I don't know. It looks like it at social media. Tell me about, is like those ones that you're going to, are you paid to go to everyone or some of them just for content creation? Is it brand building? Tell me about the business behind showing up to a movie or show premiere. Yeah, there's so many events in LA.

Like there, I feel like there's events every single night. So if I can go to like two a week or maybe three, then I'm fine. And they usually don't, well, people won't pay you to show up. Sometimes if you'll get paid, if you're, like, doing a certain amount of stories or posts to show up to an event and, like, create the content. But other than that, like, you're just going, potentially getting a free Uber that will expire at 12. You're getting food all night, drinks, in a room for a full of cool people. You get an exclusive. You get a lot of PR.

Every single event has PR. You get a great hoodie bag wherever you leave. Last week, I left the Kardashians premiere for season five. And that was probably like the best goodie bag. ever. You're like in heaven, a product from each of their brands. Ah. Did you get to meet any of them? No, they didn't show up. Not that I didn't expect them to. Okay. Got it. So then, yeah, it's just like a fun night out where you don't have to make a plan. You know, that's what it's so cool about events and why I'm so fortunate to be in

this space and get to go. Yeah, amazing. When you look at the career track in five, 10 years from now. I fast forward to 2034. What does it look like for Zachary reality? So I want to be like my own Jeff Probst, traveling the world, hosting a competition reality show, new country as often as possible. And just living a fun life that's just more, maybe like more like low key, where I'm just kind of like not posting every single day because, you know, that is, I don't want to know if I want to do that forever. I think that it's a lot of work and it takes a toll on you. So I'd love to find a career path and have a job to do what I love without having to put in all that back-end work. I love it. And you have come across a lot of influential people, a lot of public figures,

a lot of big celebrities. Of all the advice that you've been given in this space, which is a very, very tough space, as you know, and the hard work that it takes, like you mentioned, is just nonstop. It's like you're as good as you are yesterday in this space. It feels like what's the best piece of advice that you've gotten from someone and what is that advice? Well, be yourself is the corneest. There's room for everyone. Literally just like focus on yourself. I promise you that's like the best advice is to just do your own thing, create your own path and there will be your time. And just like everything is about timing and it happens for a reason and just be happy for happy with what you have. Like, I have a roof over my head. I live alone. Like, I am so lucky,

you know, and I think that's just really, like, important to, like, appreciate, like, small wins and small goals and, you know, surround yourself with good people, especially people who, like, don't want to talk about work or pop culture on the weekends, you know, like to really decompress. Okay. I like that. And then I'll end with this, Zachary. Well, this is a more than money episode. So there's obviously money associated to your career path. You've been able to. to monetize from 75 cents in the creator fund to many, many more dollars down the road, and we'll have to have you back to trading secrets to talk about those dollars whenever you do feel comfortable talking about those. But there's something you've done with your brand

that has gotten to where you are, and there's something you've done with your career navigation that's been much, much more than following the dollar sign, a little more than money magic, if you will. What is the more than money magic from Zachary? What is it that you've done that someone, no matter, and this is the tough part about your answer, that someone that is an accountant in Ohio or a teacher in New York or a nurse in Florida could also translate to their career as they're trying to figure out, as they're trying to build into whatever direction it is. It's a little bit more than money. It can only come from you. What would you say that is? That's such a hard question. I think it's like being so original. I think you can't

make up authenticity. Like you truly just can't. And I think just like building my brand around like who I am and like what I'm doing and what I'm talking about and just being so me is just is what is going to being the pat the passion is just what will make a brand successful yeah I think that's true and the one thing I could say from you know working with you at the agency and then also seeing your success is I think the biggest thing is like consistency you are consistently yourself you are consistently producing content and you are consistently giving your opinion no matter what other people think about it. And so when they think Zachary reality,

everyone knows what to expect because of consistency. And when you think about the biggest brands in the world, like a McDonald's, when you think of McDonald's, you typically people don't think of a product. They're not thinking of like the chicken fingers or the burger. They're thinking of, okay, I know that when I go to that restaurant,

I know what the smell will be. I know what the price point will be. I'll know what I can expect. It's the consistency that no matter where that restaurant is, whether it's in California, New York, or Japan, there's consistency with it. And I think my more than money lesson I've learned from you is the consistency and and also the commitment because I don't know if there's anyone out there that puts as much

content out as you. You are a complete warrior when it comes to the hard work in the space, which is really hard. So Zachary Reality and 10 years from now, we're going to see you host shows. You're going to have Peacock signed to Zachary Reality production and media company. Yes. And there's so, so much more to come. But for anyone that's listening to this, that doesn't follow you and wants to find you, where can they find everything you got going on?

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me on. I loved it. Love to the Convo. Everyone find me at Zachary Reality. Where else? Find me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. I'm on threads now.

Twitter, X, and on my podcast. So go check it all out. Okay. Where can people find your podcast? Zachary Reality. Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen to your podcasts. Bam. The only curveball is I did see you do have a LinkedIn.

and it was Zachary Weinberg. So if you want to find my LinkedIn, though, so I change it? Yeah, well, what's crazy is like there's actually like LinkedIn deals happening now. It's wild. LinkedIn is becoming like a social media. So anyway, all the exact reality you can go find in there. Your hot takes on all things pop culture, your career navigation, and some of the overall scoop of how things work was really interesting. I know people are excited to hear this.

So thank you so much for coming on this episode of More Than Money. Thank you so much for having me. I hope you all enjoyed it.