Trading Secrets - 83: $1M+ net worth started from TikTok! Griffin Johnson leaves nursing school and reveals $$$ behind the sway house, his media career, ventures in investing, and more

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

This week, Jason is joined by social media influencer and TikTok Megastar Griffin Johnson!    Griffin rose to social media fame in the early stages of the pandemic after being a founding member of Sway LA, a notoriously “fratty” TikTok collaboration house comprising some of the most popular online stars. Since then, Griffin’s social media following has grown to over 13 million followers between TikTok and Instagram and if you include all the other social media platforms out there, it's 15 million+. He’s now led various other career opportunities within acting, music, and the investing space.    Griffin provides insight on how he started on TikTok with the sole intention of making money, how attending Playlist Live resulted in the launching point of his social media career, how much money he made with each venture, and his different interests in the film world. Griffin also reveals how he was originally in nursing school to go into anesthesia with never having any ambitions to do social media, what the biggest deal he lost while living in the Sway house, what his best business move was, and what project he is most excited for. What was his first brand deal?  How did he end up with a lip tattoo? What is the most ruthless industry he has been exposed to? What is his finance goal for 2023?   Griffin reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!    Be sure to follow the Trading Secrets Podcast on Instagram & join the Facebook group.   Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.   Sponsors: Nextevo.com/podcast code TRADINGSECRETS for up to 25% off subscription orders of $40 or more   Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today I am joined by social media influencer in TikTok megastar, Griffin Johnson. Griffin rose to social media fame in the early stages of the pandemic after being founding member of Sway, L.A., a notoriously, quote-unquote, fratty TikTok collaboration house, comprising some of the most popular online boy stars, now complete grown men. Since then, Griffin's social media following has grown to over 13 million followers between TikTok and Instagram. And if you take all the other social media platforms out there, it's 15 million

plus. He's now led various other career opportunities within acting, music, and the investing space. Today, we're going to do a deep dive into the world of TikTok, the ways that his life has changed for the better, and maybe the worse since his rise to fame and where he sees his career going from here. Griffin, thank you so much for being on Trained Secrets today. Thank you. Let's get into the whole tickety-tacety world. Let's get into the tickety-tackety world. Now, I would say in general, just to like set the stage, my audience is probably more of like the millennial crowd. So what I got to do is I got to rep the millennials. where there might be like confusion around the TikTok.

So if I sound like a TikTok 101er, that's why. That's right. Okay? But before we get into that, this is where I want to start. So 2020 before the pandemic, the research I did said that you were, I had to read this three times because I just, you know, I see your image. I'm doing this. I see your profiles, all your gear.

And you're a nursing student. Okay. I was like, whoa, nursing student at Indiana State University. Okay. Now on the show, we talk a lot about money. The average nurse in Indiana earns around 69K. a year. So when you hear that, like, that was the path you were on to making 69K a year and where you are today, making the money you are now. Like, what goes through your head?

Oh, man. Well, I guess at that time, well, I wanted to do anesthesia. Okay. So I wanted to be CRNA. That's what my original goal was. So a little bit more cash, but still, you know, I grew up in a small town called Paris, Illinois. I think the last of my check, it's like 8,000 people maybe. Okay. So really small. So, you know, the traditional 9 to 5, you go to college, you get your degree, you get the job, you know, anesthesia and nursing there is like pretty damn good. That's the spot. Like, you know, like if, you know, it's doctor, lawyer, you know, that kind of thing.

So, you know, at that point, I thought I was, like, doing really well for myself, like, just had it all planned out, never had any ambition to do social media, nothing like that. I was just, I guess, a common, like, farm boy, I guess. That's what I would say. So if the kids in high school that your buddy's with or that your acquaintances with, they see where you are today. And you think to most of them, that's like a shock. They're like, wow, I never saw Griffin go in that direction. Yeah, you know, it's like weird because a lot of my buddies are also super like Midwest, farm boys.

Like, you know, we didn't do none of the social media stuff growing up. So I don't even, they kind of caught on over time. But when it first started, a lot of my good buddies had no idea what was going. on. Like they had no clue. They're like TikTok, what is that? You know, we didn't use anything hardly except for maybe Snapchat, a little bit of Instagram. Once a year, you'd post something like, you know, a deer you shot or something. You know, a fish you caught. Yeah. So it was a weird, it was just a weird time. Like I didn't, I didn't even really know what I was doing. I just wanted to make money. Okay. I love, I love the honesty behind that. So you didn't know what

you were doing. The golden question, especially for millennials, that still some out there don't no TikTok. What did you do? Like, what actually happened that you blew up? You know, I didn't really put much effort or thought at first. Like, I was just a kid sitting in class. I had a buddy. He always wanted me to model or do something I would always refuse. I'm like, I'm not going to go take pictures. You know, like, I was that guy that wouldn't even smile for a Christmas picture. So he said, get on TikTok. I'm like, what? What is that? You know, I was like, no, I don't want to. And he's like, you can make money. And then I was like,

because at the time, you know, broke college kid, you know, get your beer money, whatever. So my first few videos were just me in class.

And then one day I put on my nursing scrubs because I was in class, but I think it was a clinical day or something. Okay. And I posted a video. I think I was spinning a pencil

between my fingers. That was it. And it just blew up. And I woke up the next day. I had like 20,000 followers or something. Did you like say anything or dance in this video? or you literally were just spinning a pencil.

I was literally just spinning a pencil in class looking up and my teacher like messing around in class like anyone else would. And I just put on like a, I don't know, it was like a, at the time TikTok wasn't what it was. Sure.

Like nobody, if you made TikToks, people were like, oh, that's cringy. Of course. You know, now everyone makes TikToks or at least watches it. So, you know, I just clicked a random sound and just put it on there and was like just figuring it out, I guess.

Okay, so you blow up to 20,000. what then creates the spiral to like get to the 500,000 million five. Right. So like I said again, like a million followers on TikTok then was a lot more than it is now. Not saying it's not a lot, but like there wasn't, there was nobody on the app that 10 million followers. And I think that's a good. Guys, stay tuned to the recap. We'll talk about the growth of TikTok.

I'll break down the years and how many users they are. I think to your point, if you had a million followers back in 2020, that is a huge percentage of the actual population using it. Right. Yeah. So like, you know, at that point, to get to a million followers, that was like the tippy top. Like that was like the top. Now it's like a hundred million. You know, you have people that have a hundred million followers on me. So yeah, whenever I started, I woke up, I had 20,000 or so followers. And at the time, you could go live on there, right? So like an Instagram live, whatever. Yeah. But people could donate to you. Gotcha. So I went live the next day, you know, just to see what would happen. And I made like 50 bucks. And that's because. when you go live people can like put the gifts and stuff yeah so all the girls came in they're like oh nurse boy this this and that like oh my god like I'm my children whatever they say and they started donating me money and I was like shit I'll bust a jiggy in the middle of my room for 50 bucks so I think I made like 50 to 100 bucks my first one I'm like holy shit I am rich

it's a lot of beer money at any state university that is a lot and then so you make 50, 100 bucks. Tell me, you keep making videos. You keep growing your following. So when was like the next big moment? Like when you look back at your career now, you got 10 million plus. If you guys don't follow Griffin Johnson, go follow them. But you got 10 million plus now. You talked about the moment you blew up to 20. The moment you made 50, 100 bucks. What's that next big moment for you in TikTok that you'll always remember in your career? Yeah. So this was crazy. This was like the ultimate pivot. So the same guy that told me to get on TikTok, right? I think I started February of 2019. And then by like April of that year, I had like 100,000 followers. So it was like pretty

quick. Once I got that 20, it was like 20 to 100 was pretty fast. There was playlist live. I don't know if you ever heard of that. It's like this weird thing in Orlando where a bunch of, it was musically. Now it's TikTok. Creators get together and the fans fly in. It's like a, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like VidCon. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep, same thing. And he's like, I'm taking you. His name's Chris Biddle, a great friend of mine.

I have to shout him out. He's like, you're going. And I'm like, dude, no. Like, that's weird. No. And he's like, no, I'm going to fly with you there. So he did. And when I was there, it was like when I met everyone that's in our house now, basically.

Okay. Except for Bryce, I think. And there was this guy. He basically went there to put together a tour for the summer, right? So he was going and picking. like random guys that were on the platform like starting to blow up and like create a meet and greet tour sure like people ask me like what do you do it's like you literally just were there standing and taking pictures and people would line up it was the craziest shit but yeah they would line up and just

come take a picture with you then move on to the next guy that's got it okay and that's when it changed because i met you know most of the guys that were in our group there except yeah Bryce and this is from the original group we added people on but the original group was Bryce hall Josh Richards, Jaden Hossler, Keosier, and me and Anthony Reeves. Okay. So that was the original, like, people in the house. And then we added in as we went. Gotcha.

So in that, you getting into the Swayhouse was all a play on going to this play creator's videocon type event. Yeah. So when we went there, it was when we started this tour, I guess. So, right? We did that the summer of 2019. That's where we all met. And it was like, it was just one of those things that was meant to be.

Yeah. And when he put all of us together, we just had the energy. We had the, it was just one of those things. The vibe was there. Yeah, it was like, and you have the power between all you guys. Yeah, it was like putting together an expansion team. Yeah. You know, for whatever, the NBA, and you just somehow put together a dream team.

It was like the craziest thing. So when we came off of that, I was still in college going into my junior year. So I had a year and a semester. left of college. And they're like, dude, you got to move to L.A. So after that, that's whenever Sway started because the amount of hype we got from that tour, they wanted to keep it going.

Okay. And that's when we all came together and we're like, we got to start a house. Okay, so let's talk a couple bucks here. So before you meet these guys at the conference, you got about 100,000 followers. By the way, this guy, Chris, that's a friend of yours, I'm going to say you owe him at least 5% of all your earnings.

This guy is influenced by this dude to house one day. Yeah. So he tells you to go down, on that trip, at that point, if you looked at your P&L, how much money do you think you had made from TikTok before you landed at that conference? Not much. Okay. Maybe 500 to $500 to $1,000. Okay.

So $500,000, you then get picked to join the Dream Team. It's like the Backstreet Boys at TikTok over here. You then get on there. When they sign, like, did, did, was that man? Was that Michael Gruen or no? The one who picked you? Okay. When they signed you for this tour, do they take, how does it work?

Do they like take certain percentage? Do they give you a guaranteed amount or do they just say, let's go see what we could do and we'll pay you based on how we do? Yeah, at that time, I was what? Just from 20, I was like, 19 or 20. I knew nothing about business. Like I said, I was a small town kid. My dad grew up working at the cereal mill.

My mom's a nurse now, but growing up she wasn't. So, you know, we didn't talk about business. I didn't know anything about financial literacy or anything. So I don't really remember the deal. I just know that there was a percentage of the tickets that you sold, like people that would say, like, I'm going for Griffin. Sure. And then a percentage of like merch sales and stuff.

So you'd have like, you know, your own merch there and you would get a percentage of the merch. Okay. So in that whole tour, how long is that tour that you did? So there was two phases, right? So there was one and two. I think one was four or five stops. So that was like a week and a half. And then number two was like another week and a half.

Gotcha. And if you had to take out like a high level guess, how much do you think off those tours came back to your bank account? Hardly nothing because he didn't pay any of us. So that's where it got crazy. What? Yeah, it was like most people didn't get paid at all or like, actually I owed money. I'm lying.

You own money. So he actually. Who is this she? You know, I don't really know how it happened. but it was like for each of the hotels and everything we got. He ended up like expensing it to us. So he was like picking the nicest hotels and all this shit. You know, like I was there like, I got you.

I'm like, dude, I'm the shit. It wasn't much money. It was like four or five hundred bucks, I think, that I owed at the end. But yeah, now that I remember, I owed money. Okay. So this is why this is actually, so this is the stuff that drives me nuts, right? Kid, he's got talent or looks or whatever you use. I mean, you could definitely twirl a pencil the right.

way. I was going to say, I don't know about talent. Maybe not talent, but he's got, I mean, I've heard your music. It's pretty good. But then there's a shark that comes in and completely takes advantage you. And then to anyone listening out there, I think what I'm taking away from this is he brought you guys on tour. He was managing the finances. He would pick like the four seasons or wherever the really nice places were. And then based on your income, he would deduct that expense from your income. And then without really permission planning or anything like that, I don't know who that guy is, but I'm going to go on the record saying, fuck that. guy, very much taking advantage of the situation.

So you go on tour, the kids tell you to go to L.A. Now, you're a junior in school. And you said the reason you got on TikTok initially, you said money. So did you drop out of school? And if so, how did you financially justify that decision? Right. So growing up, believe it or not, I was kind of like a nerd, like goody two shoes kind of guy. So I actually got a full ride to college for academics.

So, you know, for my parents and everything, they wouldn't have been able to pay for it. So that was huge. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. What would you have, did you have like a monster SAT or ACT score or something? Yeah, just like, I don't know. I just, I just walked the line, I guess.

I was valedictorian and like, you're valetian and like, damn. So what was your like overall GPA in high school? We didn't have weighted. So it was just a straight up. We had actually a five. Okay. Five point out was like the top. Top and it wasn't weighted.

Gotcha. And you had round a 5.0. Yeah. Yeah, I had a 5-0. Damn. I think it was out of 5, if I remember, right? Okay. So, yeah, so going in, I, you know, my parents were ecstatic.

You know, no one in my family had finished college. So, like, you know, it was a big thing. I think my mom was the only one. She ended up, I can't remember if she, she just went back now. But at the time, I think she had, like, maybe an associates. Maybe not. I don't remember. But, yeah, the first person to go four years, finish it.

So to them, it was like everything. You know, my dad was like, he did better to me. You know, it's like kind of a thing. And I didn't drop out. I ended up finishing online. Okay. Because I didn't want to pay back the money. Gotcha.

So if I dropped out, I would have had to pay back all the money. Oh, the full ride money. Yeah. Oh, shit. So I switched into business online. Okay. It's got like a whatever business management degree or whatever. Gotcha.

Yeah. Okay. And so at that time, it was whenever I left, my parents were pretty, I don't even know the word, flabbergasted, I would say. Just the fact that I was leaving, I had a year and a half left. I already had, you know, I was doing well, had good grades, all of the good stuff. So it was a weird, it was weird for me. Just from the way I grew up, you know, you didn't really, you know, stray from the line very much. You kind of just grow up, you do your job, you do your work, you move on.

Yeah, based on the picture you've painted your family, I can imagine when you sit down at the dinner table saying, hey, mom, dad. I'm no longer going to be a nursing major at Indian Estate University. I'm going to move in with six guys that are 19, 20. They're all six foot two plus, extremely good looking. And we're all going to live together and do dances online. I'm like, what the fuck? Dude, I remember, I didn't even tell them that because I was terrified. I mean, my dad was, I was like, he's going to rip my head off.

So I just told him, I'm moving to L.A. That's all you said. Well, you know, of course they got pretty upset after that. So I probably talked more about it. But I just remember, I didn't say like, hey, I'm doing this or that. I just said I'm moving to L.A. Okay. I'm 34 now.

And I have financially, I've been able to do pretty well. And even at this point in my life, if I said to mom, dad, I'm moving to L.A., they'd be like, talk to me about the business case. Like what's the business case? Like where are you going to live, cost of livings, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, all that stuff. How are you justifying either to yourself or to your family, the business case of I can afford it. I will make money out there. What's the thought process? Are they giving you guaranteed money to go and live in the house? What was the business case for you to justify going?

You know, our house was paid for. So we actually had a company, you know, a couple guys that were paying for the house. So I didn't have to pay to live. So basically any money I made was like spending money. Okay. So was the company that paid you to live there? Was that Talent X? Yeah. Okay. So guys, stay tuned in the recap. We'll talk more about Talent X and the talent management. team behind that. So whatever money you make in there then is your money. Did you have, you talked about 50, talked about 100 bucks, made up to a thousand. Do you remember the first moment you're in the house and you got a big paycheck? We were pretty wild. So, you know, it took us, TikTok once again wasn't what it was. So there wasn't a lot of ad spending. There

wasn't a whole lot of companies, you know, taking the chance here. They were just starting to dabble and understand what it was. So I remember my first. first time I made a bunch of money was a Trojan condom brand deal. Okay, and give me a timeline. Like, when was this? How many followers did you have at the time? I actually think that was before we started the house. Right when we were like just ready to go in and they did like a sex education thing with my nursing stuff. It made sense. And I think I got five grand. And what did you have to do? Post a video? It was like an Instagram post. Okay. And some Instagram stories, I think. And how many followers did you have on Instagram

with around roughly. 100K. Okay, 100K. And just curious, trading secret, what was the biggest tip you gave? Your Trojan sex education. What was the biggest thing you said?

Just wrap it up? Yeah, it was pretty much like, you know, like one of those things, like don't be silly, rap your willy kind of deals. And it was like a Trojan back to school

sex education thing. Okay, I love it. All right. So 5K, but then you're in the house. I would think you're in this house with like now the most influential TikTokers in the world. I'm thinking you guys are just raking in coin. Is that not the case?

No, actually. So once again, we weren't very brand friendly. And it's made it. Sorry to interrupt, but what do you mean by that? Well, you know, we were just wild. Like, I don't know, it was like the jackass kind of like kind of like R-rated content. Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, Disney, you know, people like that that actually spend money, weren't going to spend money on us. Because we were just, you know We were really good at entertaining And not And what came with that

Was a lot of just wild crazy parties You know like I I got drunk one night Lost the game of beer pong And then I posted a video Me Getting a lip tat Like just like We're just crazy

You know like brands A Weren't really spending on TikTok yet And if they were They weren't going to spend it on us Got it Okay so how long did you live in the house for Year? I think I lived in it for like

nine months to a year somewhere in there okay so let's go sway house nine months estimate right now how much you think you made on the top line if you had to guess high level when i walked out of there probably around in my bank 30 grand 30 grand wow so not much not much i'm i'm shocked by that okay but it's also good to know that because it gives visibility to like maybe what some people do thing. I think people just automatically associate you're in the house with that big name in LA, rep by a big company, millions and millions and millions of dollars. And that's the beauty of this show is you're really just giving transparency and honesty to the name of the game. When was it that you moved out? February, March? Yeah, it was, I think, yeah, it was around that time. It was

like nine months. Maybe I was in there for a year. It was like right around February, March. Okay. All right. So I have a quote here. You said it in Newsweek article. and this was February 2021. It was social media fame doesn't really last that long. So I'm just using it right now to spin off into business and becoming an avid entrepreneur.

Your social media has grown a lot even since that comment. Do you still stand by that statement? 1,000%. Okay. Yeah, 1,000%. I pretty much became obsessed with the whole business behind,

you know, like everything because I was realizing that people were paying me and I was kind of being their bitch and they were making more money than me and it's like you don't even have followers you're paying me and you're making more money than I am

so like you said I was never financially literate but I wasn't a dummy so then I started picking up on it and I'm like I want to be the guy that's in the front and behind and what I mean by that is like figuring out ways that you know I can raise my own capital and invest or you know finding ways that I can create

my own production company for movies or whatever it is that I do I like to be in front and behind. I love that. When I got off the reality show, I was in The Bachelor World, got off the show, built the following. And what I told people was the, like, when I was a CFO, or I'm sorry,

when I was a banker, because I had a banker by trade for 10 years, I'd meet with CFOs. And the difference and the gap between what the CFO knew and what I knew was razor thin. So you're negotiating and working with someone who knows every single little thing about your product service offering in the competition. But then I get to this social media world.

And the difference between the sharks and the talent, the gap and the information they know is larger than literally the entire United States. It's, it's, it's sick. It's sick. And so that what happens is the sharks come in exactly what they do with you. And they completely suck you dry, put you on tour, put these big expenses, and then you're paying them for the money they made, which is just complete bullshit. That's why I started a talent agency myself. So I have a talent agency. it's for talent by talent advised by talent so it's like all the things that we have got screwed on

we're going to make sure don't happen right to the talent to be on the front end and the back end just like you said when you got out of that house what was the first big deal that you took or that you invest in whatever it is that you said holy shit maybe what was happening in the sway house isn't the reality because now my feet are on the ground i'm doing it for myself tictox blowing up and like what was that dollar about i'll tell you this i remember the biggest deal that I lost in sway and this was like right whenever we started leaving was like I think I had a $400,000 gaming deal with Facebook okay and when they got arrested it got pulled so that's whenever we split so that deal was on the table I was like holy shit

I'm gonna make you know at the time I'm like I'm gonna be fucking writ and so I remember that I think the biggest deal I did coming out was I have to think about it I think I did it the deal with the NBA. Oh, that's cool. So that was a big deal. That's crazy. And like, as soon as I left Sway, I made 1,000 times more money when I was out than whenever I was in. Why? Just the name around it and just how crazy. And, you know, we had the COVID party that shut down the power and water in L.A. And just like all these big headlines of things that were crazy. And it just did not pan out very well. Interesting. So since you left the Swayhouse, everything has changed drastically for you that.

Gotcha. So MBA, you said, was one of your best deals. Facebook deal, you lose 400K, not even because something you did, but someone else in the house did. And that's the crazy brand power. Even if it's not you, but you're tied

to them, it still runs with you. That's wild. Okay. So then what would you say is the best business move you have made? We got MBA is your best deal, Facebook deal you lost. Since the Swayhouse, you're now on your own.

Now you got your you're following. You went through all the crazy things to do it. Thank God. It's over. Tattoos on your lips. You got, you know, you're running to conferences doing boy band meet and greets, but without the band. Not even the talent. Not even the talent. What was the best move you've made since then? And how did that financially pan out for you? I would say definitely VC fund. Oh, cool. Yeah. So let's see. This was, it's been, I think, two years now. Time flies. But we have animal capital. So, you know, we ended up raising $10 million. That's where we started.

We raised a little bit over. But we started with, you know, a bunch of people saying, like, no way these kids can raise. Because, you know, Michael Gruen was who I originally was working with on it and Josh Richards. So we were at the time 19, 21, and 22. And we told people we were going to raise, you know, 10 million bucks from like big names and the business in the VC world, everyone. So, you know, I remember eight months straight I did at least. eight hours if not 12 hours straight of back-to-back calls for eight months to get that fun going but I met you know dinners every night like the whole shabang every single day at dinner like

Monday through Sunday the whole shebang and I met so many people I have so many you know great mentors great connections that have taught me so much from that you know the money from the VC is great and you know investing I love it but just the relationships I made from that have brought me so many deals and just, you know, so much money and so many great relationships and connections. That is so cool. So you start a VC fund. Guys, if you're confused at all, what a VC fund is, stay tuned to the recap. I'll break down exactly what it is. Now, you do venture deals. Before I wrap that up, have you had one big, like, success or big exit yet or one that's close? The only one I've really done is a magic spoon cereal. Oh, that's huge. Yeah. Oh,

that's you what do you remember what stage you got it but just part of it it was we did a deal with them and like early like January or February of 2021 I think or maybe it was even 2020 somewhere around in there but yeah we we did a deal with them and part of our deal was equity so I took it some equity and so it's like a blend of cash in equity yeah it was like a little bit amount of cash and equity so that one I sold a little bit of it recently and that felt really really really good to get a nice win out of something. Is that a six-figure win or no? Right at it.

Right at it. And guys, again, recap Magic Spoon. I'm going to talk all about it. Congratulations. That's really cool. Thank you. That is awesome. So things have changed a lot then since you got in the Swayhouse.

50 to $1,000. You walk out of the sway with $30,000. Now you got V-C. You got equity in Magic Spoon, six-figure payout. You go from making hundreds to, I mean, I'm making the assumption. And you can Google stuff online. It's always wrong. You're a millionaire now.

Yeah, actually, are we talking like capital in the bank? Are we talking like just like your net worth? Yeah, because I invests a lot of money too. So, yeah, net worth for sure. Okay, that's amazing. I fucking love that. Congratulations. I appreciate that.

That's huge. It's a valedictorian too. Like now you obviously have the mental capability and the like the wherewithal to have learned it. You just weren't taught it. Now you're taught it. And all momentum's behind it. By the way, I don't want to sound like an ego.

just I was an idiot. I just put myself in the right place with the right people, and that's the smartest thing you can do. I'm not saying I was a genius or anything crazy. A lot of luck in there, a little bit of just knowing where to be the right time and putting myself there. I don't want to sound like... No, here, no, I want it's just to clarify, just for understanding. The point I'm trying to make is we, and this is the whole thesis of the podcast, is why we do it every day. We are not taught this shit in our curriculum that we have to know. And guess what happens? Things like this happen and you blow up and the result of that is other people who were taught it or did learn it are taking advantage of you. Period. And until you learn it,

you're never going to be able to do well for yourself and others. And I think what's cool about the story is you learned it the hard way and now you're doing well for yourself and others. Like that's what that's the point I'm trying. Yeah, definitely learn the hard way. said just a small town kid grew up you know working factories and shit I had no idea what I was doing so I learned a lot of things the hard way that's good stuff all right so then you train you become the the millionaire in net worth from TikTok you then transition and I've been reading about the reacting career so you just had a small show come out to rom-com I saw diamonds in the rough yeah and you did an interview and you were saying that that harry jobs you was in this interview too

and we talked about him a little bit but before the show. You said, I think a lot of it, honestly, people are a little bit, I don't want to say jealous, but they really love to come down on people from TikTok because the careers are happening pretty quick. And this was in reference to a question you were asked about. You're getting a lot of pushback because now you're starting as an actor and you're not an actor by trade and you didn't go to trade school and that was your response. And so you have acted now. You've been in a movie, based on that and what you heard the haters say, do you think the career of acting is something you can jump into? Or do you think it really does take? Like, got to go to school,

got to practice your trade. What's your take on it now that you've done it? Option two. And I think that some people are just naturally born to entertain. They're really good on camera. I think even social media made me better on camera. I'm more familiar with the whole scene because, you know, some people, they've gone 8, 10, 12 years of trying to be an actor or an actress and they've never, still never been on camera then you get your first role and you're so nervous

because the camera's there, you know? So it did help me out a lot with that, but you definitely have to work and, you know, even now I've been working on it for two and a half years. School, you know, I do auditions. Like, I just practice auditions. Like, sometimes I don't even submit them.

I just do them to get on tape. And, you know, it takes a lot of work. Acting and being a great actor is almost soul searching because it's deeper than just reading the words. And for a long time, I guess, I never understood what it meant. And it took me a long time to really learn and respect the industry. Got it. You're putting in the work, though, which makes sense. All right. So we jumped into acting. Last thing about acting, do you see like five, 10, 15 years from now? Is this something you really, really want to pursue? Or is it a project and the time period you're currently in.

Yeah, no, I love it. And it's more for the challenge. And I just, I just love to entertain. And I realize that through social media, that's just something I really like to do. So I'm definitely going to pursue it. All right, I want to get into the music industry. So Spotify, Griffin Johnson, you got, I think I saw it. You have two songs out there, right?

Well, one of them I got hacked. Oh, shit. And it wasn't even me. It was like, someone hacked my Spotify. Okay. And I don't even know how to take it down. Like, I just was like, screw it. All right. You just like let it rip. Okay. So, but the songs I saw out there, there's on average,

20,631 monthly listeners. And then there's your most popular song, convenient. I was bump into that before you came in, just listened to the first time. A lot of emotion that one. Guys go download it. 4.1 million streams. Is it? Yeah, that's what, yeah. That's what, yeah, it's 4.1 million. Good for you. Of that, like, 4.1 million. Does Spotify, like, how much, can you make money off music? Like, do you get paid for 4 million streams or no? I'm not very good at the music. industry. I actually, that was just like a social media stunt a long time ago. I put that out for like, it was like, I guess sort of shits and gigs. I didn't like want to be a musician. Okay. So I have like a old disc track, whatever. It's funny now. But I've got paid zero dollars.

Paid zero dollars so far. I don't know. Or there's some little shark taking it from you. I never. So I'll just be transparent. The music industry is the most ruthless industry. I have seen ever. Like, I put that song out for shits and gigs. There was some deal we had with Talon X, with Warner or whatever. And I remember, like, they sent me, basically sent me an email. It was like, either you give us all the money you've made from YouTube and all of that, or we're going to sue you. Like, there was like no in between. Why, though? Because they had, you signed a record deal with them or something? Like, what basis can they sue you? I don't know the exact deal. Some kind of exclusive deal where anyone at Talon X that puts out music had to go through

Warner. Okay. So I made this song with 303. So they helped me like kind of like put it together and like produce it and whatever you do with music mix it up and whatever. And I just kind of put it out. I was like one day I like woke up and I was like fuck it. And I just posted it. Yeah. And I didn't know that there was like all these ties and stuff. And now I don't even know. I've made zero dollars from it. Okay. So you pretty much were just like take the music. I'm like going to have it. I'm done making it. I'm like I just did this for like shits and gigs. I'm not trying to be famous for making music. I just did it because.

And they were just like, I mean, it was ruthless. That music business, I agree with you. It's really tough. It's also extremely hard to monetize, extremely hard. Now, once you do, it's big, but even then there's a lot of hands in the pocket. You made a comment right there. You said social media stunt.

It was a social media stunt. Someone that is often in the news for social media stuff and knowing a lot of guys that kind of run the girls that run the TikTok gamut. Is that something that people plan? Do you think people really strategize for social media stunts to increase engagement, give followers, stuff like that? I would say that it's a yes and no. Okay. I think that, and I, this is like the whole art of people have asked me this before. Everything that we used to do, like none of it was set up. Like, it was like a complete shit shell. Like it was, that's why people loved it. It was like,

you couldn't even make this shit up and things that weren't happening. Just like, arrest. and fights and breakups and like the whole shebang was just nuts like people dating girlfriends and they were like in the same house and like just like craziness yeah and it was real and I think that the only thing that's ever really faked is the relationships okay and like they're not it's like not true it's all foggazi don't get me wrong like it's all a bunch of attractive people sure young people of course they want to you know whatever hook up and do their shit. That's not fake, but like a lot of them, what's really driving on the inside is how many followers can I get from this and how much money can I make from this? Even though

they probably don't ever say it, that's all in it. It's in the back of your head. Yeah. You know. And what's crazy is these are, in the age group of these people, this is 18, 19, 20, 20, 21 year olds, right? Right around. Right around. Right around. That's the heart of it. That's the heart of it. Yeah, I was 20, 21, whenever I was like really in the space. Yeah. So I mean, I guess to my point is, like, if that's the thought process, then, I mean, there's so much more life to be, like, there's, what's the thought process going to be at 25 or 30 when they're excellent, then there's serious money in the, and then you see in general, forget about TikTok 10, 20, 30 years ago, you know, Hollywood couples, it's almost like a joke because

they're married every month. And a lot of it, like, is all headlines, a play. It's crazy. Headlines, you know, all that good stuff. Crazy, crazy stuff. Okay, I appreciate answering the question on social media stunt. All right. One of the last things I got for you is we talked a little bit. I heard the word Bachelor. You haven't been on any reality TV. Would you go on reality TV and for any Bachelor Nation out there? If you're single, would you make a play on the show? Or would you say like that's not great question as well? You've had some great ones today. I'm not against it. I think people put too much of like, you know, and this isn't from the viewers. This is from the business. And I'm sure you know, like a negative outlook on people that do reality. now more than ever. Now more than ever. Especially if you're trying to get into acting. Yeah.

You can't, reality TV, you better kiss and goodbye. You never touch. Like, the two worlds don't collide. Yeah, and I just think it's silly. And I think that in the next, you know, Hollywood, a lot of the people are old. And like, the people that are in power, have been in power for a while.

And it just kind of trickles that way. I think it's starting to shift now that people have social media and people are able to make a name for themselves that were nobody's before, right? Like, I'm going to be able to pull. together my own production, like my own production fun and produce movies and create movies without even really fucking with any of them. So I think it's going to shift. And I definitely would because fuck it. Why not? Yeah. I think I think it's stupid. Like who cares about? To like put

the stigma. I also think if you're talking only dollars and cents, only money, if you take someone who has nothing and then you give that person in 2022 two years with a reality TV platform and they do well in the show. Or you give them two years enacting. The person reality TV on average is going to 100% make more money, have a bigger following, and have a higher chance of creating a bigger splash. Because that's the market now. And it's harder to make it in that world. So it's interesting that there is that stigma that's so strong, especially in LA. It's like reality TV. You guys don't talk to me. Well, it's the media too, you know, because a reality star, once they're off the show, the show is them.

Yep, exactly. That's the only downside. With acting, you kind of build a career around you, with reality TV, and some people break out, you know, as you can see you, like, you know, Tyler, a few people, Harry, you know, my boy Joey, like, there's people that do well out of it. It's just acting is more respected. 100%. And that's just what it comes down to.

And I think one day it's going to shift. Yeah. No, you're totally right. All right. let's go let this do you have a revenue goal like do you have in 2023 i want to make five million dollars two million dollars do you have any money targets like that you know what i've realized i used to do that and what i've become more successful with is focusing on passive income okay so you know like i was making a lot of money here and there sporadic you know random

checks you know random deals whatever this year i want to make my goal is to start off making like 50 grand a month. 50 grand a month? Like figuring out how... Passive income, you're saying? Every month. Okay. Like no matter what, I could sit on my ass for the most part.

Yep. And make 50 grand. So you want to go into January 1, 2023, having set up investments that you know for sure. If you literally don't post again, act again, you do shit. You're making 50K a month from the money that you've deployed and the people you've arranged that with. Yeah. Whatever that is.

I just acquired part of a marketing company. So that's where I'm starting. Gotcha. So I'm going to figure out whatever it takes, whatever investment, whatever it is to make $50,000 a month. All right. Well, maybe if you want to acquire part of a talent agency, we can help you get there, too. So don't forget about that. That's awesome. Yeah, actually, you mentioned Harry. I think when he came on, he said his revenue goal, I'll have to follow back up with him. I think for 2022, his revenue goal was $10 million in gross revenue. Wow. But he also does crazy shit to get it. Like he'll, he's like, I was like, break it down. Like he's like, yeah, well, last month. Yeah. I made a million-off only fan. I'm like, Jesus Christ.

I love it. All right. Last thing I got for you, what any projects coming up? Anything like secret opportunities down that you could tease for our listeners. Man, I would say one thing that I'm excited about is a movie I'm working on right now. That's called Austin. I love it. All right.

We'll get your trading secret from you. Before we do, the last question I have. You got acting. Got a little bit of music. Got a whole lot of TikTok, Venture Cow. I mean, the list goes on. I'm thinking to myself, I never realized how much you do have going on until I talk to you like this. How many hours a week are you working? You know, so this is, it used to be a lot. Like, I would work every day, all day. Like,

I would barely, I don't know, like, even whenever I necessarily wasn't working, my mind would be working. And what I've figured out is having people, like, basically that you work with that run it. Got it. So it's like, you know, for VC, Marshall, my homeboy. I talk to him almost every day, but he runs a lot of it. With the production and everything, I got my boy Joey Stanton. We worked together a lot, but he's pretty much the guy that goes and finds all the scripts and finds all of the writers and the books and the people. And then my job is to get the money. So it sounds like a lot, but I'm working with people and having people with the marketing stuff. There's already a whole team there. I'm just a part

of it that helps come up with the strategies. So I figured out ways to have some well-oiled machines to where I'm just a piece of it. Got it. And I'm just helping it move along. And do you have someone that's auditing these people to make sure like all the dollars and cents are being put in the right place now? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, of course. You know, a little like quick books and like all of that stuff. Like pretty much everything I have is like,

I'm like a spreadsheet guy. So full transparency to everything now. Yeah. Fully like, you know, getting paid this for that on this day. Here's this, here's that. Haven't got paid for this. Perfect. I love it. All right, well, we got to wrap up with your trading secret. It's one, financial, professional, investing, trading secret, you can give us career navigation, anything that can only come from Griffin Johnson. Can't be, you know, Googled or learned in a classroom. What would it be?

I think that my biggest thing that I tell people is, you know, believe in yourself. And it sounds super cliche, but basically what I mean is like that gut thing. I have so many people that come up to me and they have things that they love or ideas, you know, like, for instance, one guy came up to me. he wants to do fishing for his career and make content and do all that. I'm like, well, how often are you posting? I haven't posted yet. It's like, what are you waiting on? And I think that, you know, that fear is what holds people back.

So I would just say you get one life and a lot of things in this world, if you're consistent and you're doing what you love, I promise that you can figure it out. You'll pivot, you'll find it, you'll figure it out no matter what. Even, you know, I've been scared before. I'm like, oh, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. Like, you know, I'll fail. I just truly think that if you love it, yeah, you'll figure it out every single time.

So I would just say to make sure that you're taking the risk. Take the risk. Trust your intuition. One follow-up question. If someone just heard your training secret and whether it's fishing, it's yoga, it's fitness, anything. Cooking, whatever it is. And they heard you just say to that guy, you're not posting about it.

And their follow-up question was, how much do I have to post about it? For a guy that has 15 million followers, trading secret, How often would you post about your trade if you're trying to make it in that trade? Okay, yeah, that's another good one. So I think about it this way. If you want to build a community, because that's what it comes down to, right? It's like, fuck how many followers you have, what's your community? I think that once again, if you love it and you're doing what you like to do,

there is no necessarily, there is no, like, a number of times to post. I think that you'll naturally find yourself as you get more comfortable with the camera and on screen, you'll find yourself posting more. And I think that the more you post, the better it is. Okay. You know, like the more you can, the more consistent and the more that you post in a day, the more the people are going to get to know you, they're going to see your day. They're going to feel like they're living with you.

They're going to feel like they're there with you. They're your friend, whatever. And the more, the better. All right. The more, the better. Griffin Johnson, if people out there aren't following you, which I'd be surprised if they aren't, but if they aren't, where can they follow up, find all your stuff? just I'm Griffin Johnson

that's it on every platform I am G-R-I-F-F I am J-O-H-N-S-O-N and that's the consistency he tells you guys to have at home Griffin thank you so much for being on this episode Thanks for having me! We are closing the bell

to the Griffin-Johnson podcast it is the second last episode of 2022 David what did you think? I know you were excited about having a TikTok guy just so you guys know back there Evan and I were sitting back and what could we do this podcast when we first started?

We're like, there's a no-brainer. We bring in David. The guy knows more pop culture and TikTok than you and me combined. So I know you're excited about this. Griffin Johnson, what'd you think? Look, I was expecting a little bit of an LAF boy to come on the pod doing his TikTok dances. I was not expecting the nursing student from the Midwest. I think he even threw a Midwestern accent for half of that podcast when he got a little comfortable with you.

So what a polarize, like not anti-polarizing, I should say, what a normal human being super relatable in terms of, you know, coming up in the nine to five to go to college, you know, do your degree, get a $65,000 job. I was blown away by that. So before I get into anything, were you expecting any of that? Was that a surprise to you? Well, I, the only, you know, transparently, unlike you, like, I don't, I wasn't very well aware of him other than.

they were, he was part of that massive TikTok group. I then had him on the podcast, because you suggested, and we were so lucky to have him on, and I studied kind of him up down left and right. And from the little I learned just doing the research, no, that's not what I was expecting. I was expecting, like, kind of, you know, man, just like, I was like, good looking, dude, he's got all these followers,

killing all. Like, I expected, like, supreme arrogance. I expected a little delusion. I expected someone who was far from centered. Like, this is me just being as real as I am. And what's interesting is he was the opposite of all those things. He was centered. He was humble.

He was well grounded. He had great perspective. He was smart as shit. So I was blown away to the expectation. And shame on me. Griffin, if you listen to this, I apologize. Don't judge a book by its cover. Well, I loved it too because deep down, like, I see all these TikTok guys.

I know all these TikTok people. I want them to be smart. I don't want them to be these, like, annoying, ungrateful. like delusional people like this guy is a full ride academic student to the college that he was going to is a valid is it validatorian or i say valid victorian all the time probably like valedictorian validatorian clearly he's smarter than i am so to see to see him parlay this into success and business success and apply and learn through it has been really cool obviously going from being a nursing student to going on a meet and greet tour where girls were saying

have my children or whatever they say. It was a direct quote for him, I thought, it was awesome. So before I go on any more rants about how impressed I was with his overall demeanor, I do have some questions. You mentioned, stay tuned for the recap. So voice of the viewer is not doing his job unless I bring those up. So there's about four things. Are you ready for me to put them on your plate?

Anyway, brother, let's go. All right. Well, he talked about the, you guys wanted to talk about the, in the recap, the growth of TikTok. I think the direct quote was him. When he started, he basically said having a million followers was like unheard of. Basically, you're on the Mount Rushmore if you had a million followers. This day and age, I think that you see a million followers, a new million follower person come up every week.

So I just want to talk about the growth of TikTok from your end and how you wanted to talk about it in the recap. Yeah, I mean, let's just talk about it for, let's talk numbers first, right? So revenue in as far as millions go. In 2017, the revenue was $63 million. 2018 for TikTok, $150 million. 2019, $350 million. $200, sorry, $2,000, $2.6 billion in revenue. $2.201, $4.7 billion in revenue.

So from 2016, 17, they did $63 million in revenue to 2021, $4.6 billion. billion. That is in such a small sample size. Let's talk about the users. I think that's a really good conversation point, like where they are then versus where they are now. 2018, if you had a million followers, you had almost 1% of the entire TikTok group following you. Because only 133 million users were in 2018. In 2019, there's 381 million users. 2020, when I joined, 700 million users, 2021, 902 million users. And in 2022, this is only up to quarter two of 2022. So quarter two ends in June. There are 1.5 billion users. And this is the fastest growing app in the number one app out there now. So little stats on TikTok. Before we go to the next, you know, just the entire,

like podcast, just TikTok. I just dropped the line. What do you think and how do you use TikTok? I'm a consumer. I'm the complete degenerate consumer of the app. I think it's genius in the sense. Like I think it's the most undefeated algorithm that there is. If you want to learn more about something or you're interested about something, boy,

oh boy, are you going to get it in spades? Like I think someone's TikTok algorithm speaks volumes about who they are and what they're interested in. I think the fact that it's the first app of endless scrolling is, you know, genius from the absence. I think it's incredible. A question for you, I got three really rapid fire questions about TikTok. One, have you made any money off TikTok? And if just say yes or no, because if it's yes, we'll get into it and Jason Tell All next week, everybody. Yes, next week is Jason Tells all. So bring that question. I will answer it. But yes, I've made money off it.

Okay. Something I probably should know, finance podcast is TikTok a publicly traded company? or is it privately owned? No, it's privately owned, and that's a very deep conversation because it's owned by, I believe, the group's called Bight Dance out of China. And there, let's just say there's a ton of controversy around that. A lot of the controversy stems around the information they have and how it's being used.

And another big thing about Bight Dance is they have extreme regulations. So it's a China-based app, right? They have extreme regulations on the Chinese population, and specifically the kids. They can only be on the app for a certain amount of time per day, I believe it's 40 minutes. And the interesting thing is, like, they're pumping out an algorithm with information that no one else has done. So while their kids are limited to usage, the rest of the world is being consumed in this app. And so you can imagine with that, with parenting, and what are kids seeing? And is there manipulation and all these things?

There's a whole rabbit hole. But this is rapid fire. So I'll pause there. No, and it's super interesting. And I heard that even though their time is limited, the content that they promote is strictly educational. Like it's about the education of the government system of like the economy. Like it's not watching people dance for 40 minutes or cooking recipes.

Like it's purely strategic from the government. So it is a deeper conversation. I have to share this too because every time this, I saw this on TikTok. And you say million, you said, you know, talking about the growth, millions into billions, and we talked, you know, users and dollars, everyone I feel like has a hard time understanding the difference between a million and a billion. And I saw us on TikTok and this hit me and I'm very curious. How many over time, so in days or years, how many days or years do you think a million seconds is? Oh my God. I never, I've never done that. Like, I guess. A million,

I don't know. A few years? A million seconds is 11 days. Wait, what? How many time frame? Oh, I was doing 60 times 24. No, 60 times. Okay. So a million seconds is 11 days. How many time frame is a billion seconds? A billion has got to be 222 days. 31 years. That is the difference between a million and a billion. If you're trying to put in perspective, a million dollars to a billion dollars, a million users to a billion users, a million of anything to a billion of anything, that for me was the most, holy stupid. It'd be, yeah, 11 days times 1,000, right? I just think, I think, wait, how many, a billion seconds is how many?

31 years, and a million seconds is 11 days. That shows you the draft contrast between how much greater a billion is than a million. I digress. I love analogies, and that's a great, great way to put things in perspective. I think the last thing I want to say while we're on the topic of all those TikTok stuff. So it's not, it's important because there's a lot of people that can confuse about it. It's not the number one app with the most amount of users. That is still Facebook at 2.9 billion, then YouTube at 2.6 billion, then WhatsApp at 2.4,

then Instagram at 2.3. TikTok is then the one below under that at 1.5. But in 2021, this is the really important part. it was the number one most downloaded app. So its growth is outpacing those. And so the number one downloaded app was TikTok. The number two was Instagram, three, Snapchat, and four, the cache app of all things.

So just like fascinating facts on the growth of it. And when you look at the demographic of it in 2021, I'm not going to quiz you. I'm just going to give it to you. ages 10 to 19, 28% of the entire demographic, 20 to 29, 35%, 30 to 39, David and I, 18%. 40 to 49, 16.3, and 49 plus is 2.7. So when you look at the analytics of people from Bachelor struggling a little bit, especially OG bachelor people on TikTok, it's because our demographic is not aligned with the demographic that makes out majority of TikTok.

No. I mean, those are all hard hitting great facts. We're running at a time. So I'm not too much out of time, but running shorter on time. I'm going to give you a rapid fire here. We talked about you wanted to recap what a VC fund is. I'm going to try and nail it. And if I'm right, we can move on. All right, because I think I've asked this before, a venture capital fund is when you start a fund, you go out, you get, you raise a lot of money, a lot of capital. And through that capital, you start investing in different things through that fund. People who invested in the fund get certain, um, equity and ownership of the adventures that you start. Yep, exactly. You know that you create a fund, you get a bunch of people. Sometimes your fund could just be institutions, like big businesses, corporations that have put in place. Could be very wealthy people. It could be just people of influence.

Get the fun, you go out, and then you go talk to small startups, and then you try and write a check to the startup. Perfect example right now is liquid death. Liquid death, do you know, are you familiar? Yeah, water. Okay, so liquid death is water built on literally, just branding. It's canned water. They started in 2019. So when they started, they needed funds. They still are raising more funds. Venture capital will go write a check. And then they get

paid massively because right now that water can company, it started three years ago, is now valued close to a billion dollars. Billion, 31 years and seconds. Talent X, you want to talk about talent X at all? Or do you want to move on? They told me to read it. I think in general, it's just important to know it's a marketing, marketing and media company. They build businesses around people. Mike Gruen was on the podcast. He used to be involved with Griffin and Josh. There was a big falling out. He went one way. They went the other. And, you know, there's a lot of like controversy and rumors around it. But at the end of the day, it's, it is what it is. And, yeah, I talked to someone who talked to Mark Cuban.

And that Mark Cuban met and knows Michael really well. Michael is a genius networker, genius. And Mark Cuban said that kid knows what he's talking about. So just, you know, obviously for a guy like that to be saying that speaks volumes to his, for at least the little bit, his business acumen. Do you want to go over the recap of Magic Spoon cereal? Just a little thing about Magic Spoon, I ended up getting an opportunity to get in MagicSpoon from a venture capital company.

And MagicSpoon has done extremely well. When I got offered to get in, it was well after Griffin got offered to get in. So Griffin got in earlier. And one of the big reasons I passed is I went to Target. And I just looked at it against other cereals. And I looked at the price point and it was like almost double the price. I was like, I don't know. I just don't know if this is going to make it the long run getting this late to the investment.

although it's like one of the third fastest growing cereal skews out there. So interesting. That's the cereal that has like shockingly low sugar and carbs, right? Yep. It like supposed to taste really good and has like really good nutritional facts. I've had it. I never had it. What'd you think?

Depending on the flavor, some of the flavors are unedible and some of the flavors are like, okay, this feels like I'm eating cereal. Yeah. I mean, there's a reason they've grown so fast and it has to be, part of the reason it has to be that the product is solid. So yeah, I'm sure. that's interesting definitely serves a purpose he said he sold off a small piece of his equity deal made six figures on it 100k so that's you know probably over a million dollars that he's got cooking

in there one really interesting thing he brought up was uh social media stunts he was talking about some of the tick talkers and some of the relationships were more social media stunts i wish he was saying names i was looking for some tea i didn't get it i'm curious have you ever done a social media stunt and if not have you ever is there anyone in bachelor's nation or anyone that, you know, you can maybe shed some light on a stunt that you may know of in your influencer world there, Jason? Brain's moving 100 miles an hour. Have I done a social media stunt?

I feel like you haven't because I would have called you out on it. I was going to say, I don't think I have. No, I don't think I have. Yeah, I haven't. If I could think of what, no, I just haven't. I don't think I have. The only thing that just immediately came to mind, the two things. One, when Lowe and I recorded our reactions to Caitlin winning,

Like, some people big, oh, it's a stunt, but all we did was put the camera up, and that was just pure reaction. There was no planning, no nothing. That was one. Another one, people are like, oh, was that a stunt? And it was when I was at the Super Bowl, and there was a guy streaking. And I just took a video of the guy because I was like had a really good seat at the Super Bowl in 2020. And they don't show that stuff. So I put that, I take the video and immediately put it to TikTok.

And I even thought to myself, like, this guy's stupid. Should I post this? Screw it. And both of those things, I was like, eh, should I put it? post them or is this embarrassing and I just said it and they both went like crazy viral so no but let's go back to Bachelors I think a lot of people in Batchar Nation

do stunts I mean there's plenty of them I'll say this 98% of any time you see anybody from Bachelor with paparazzi it's planned I was oh I was asked oh I'll give you this

I was asked when all the Colton stuff happened like when Colton came out TMZ called in texting me saying, hey, can we meet you? We want to do an interview with you. We'll set it up like it's like paparazzi's in the parking lot wherever you are. And I ended up declining that. So I said no to that. You did show me that text message. I remember that. That's just wild. People who call the paparazzi in themselves. I've been watching that Harry and Megan documentary on Netflix and like that's paparazzi. That's real. That Justin Bieber's of the world.

That's real paparazzi. too, but even some of the Kim Kardashian Pop-Bratz's stuff's all staged. Like, hey, she'll be here, make sure there's, you know, because the image, it puts someone on such a pedestal when there's all these people there. I will say, like, there's definitely real, some real Pop-Bratzian. Like, I think, like, you know, when Hannah Brown and Tyler, right, when they were dating and then Tyler went to go see Gigi and then Tyler gets like seen at Hanna's, I think that was real. And there was one time, Kaelin and I, when we just started first dating, we were on today's show and we came out and there was someone there and that was not planned either of us. So I don't know.

I think sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. Good to know. Paparazzi. Not always, don't really always believe what you see people. Last question I got for you. He talked about in the eventual capital firm startup and meeting all these people and trying to get them to invest in his fund. He talked about the relationships and the deals that he's got just from the financial capital firm startup and meeting.

networking outside you know kind of side things that um just from meeting these people you always talk about you know how the podcast one of the greatest thing is really opened up networking it's great to have people in the pod and hear their stories but what happens behind the scenes and after is just sometimes more fascinating do you have any hard concrete stories that you could tell us about deals that you've done on the side or four people or people that you've hired on the talent agency that you met on the podcast i will i will do a deeper dive on jason tells all love it but But there's definitely like, I'm trying to meet with about one founder, I would say, a week for new companies to look to invest in.

And I would say almost every introduction that I've gotten to a founder has been from someone that's come on the podcast or someone from Bachelor Nation, which is crazy. And then I would say we represent, this is just a little tease, a lot of people that come on the show, we then get the opportunity to pitch them for deals. So what I'll do in Jason tells all, because obviously confidentiality, there's only so much I could tell, but I will at least tell how many people we've actually done deals with since they've been on. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. Jason tells all. Love it. Love it. Well, we're running out of time. Some things I have to say, if you're listening

and you hope I brought it up, we have to get someone from the music industry on. We're almost two two seasons in we haven't really got anyone deep in the music industry you talk he said it's the most quote unquote the most ruthless industry i've ever seen ever four million streams zero dollars paid i thought that was really interesting and just overall like him kind of squirming in his chair talking about money and having to say hey like had to explain himself that he's not trying to be egotistical he's just trying to be transparent he talks about financial literacy uh makes me feel really really good about what we're doing here so i thought it was a great episode from our uh farm boy turn TikToker. I love it. We talked to a, I just recently talked to a guy that is an ultra high

net worth wealth advisor. His name is Benji out of Nashville. So they work with the wealthiest of the wealthiest. And I was telling him a little bit about this episode. And he's like, yeah, that's one of like our big discussion topics is like we have to start connecting with the next generation and those that are leading the generation. And it's people just like Griffin. So Griffin, congratulations on everything you've accomplished. This has been an unbelievable episode. Next week is Jason Tells All. This is where I'm in the hot seat and David grills me. So you'll have to tune into that. Don't forget to give us five stars, please, and Apple reviews. And thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets. Let me tell

you what. If you didn't think that this was one you can afford to miss, I promise you next week won't be. And then we go into January where every show has a theme. Build your wealth, better your health. We will see you next week and thank you for tuning into another episode of Tray's Secrets one you can afford to miss.

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