Transcription

• Speaker #0

  hey welcome to fargo talks my friend thank you thank you for having me yeah um it's and we're talking before we started yes about just and you're an influencer here in town content creator yeah right in las vegas yes whopper followings You know what you and people are like, oh, well, that's got to be easy to show up and take a picture. And it's where it's not. You're editing videos. You're the right lighting and relationships with people. You have to nurture to be given the right to go into places. Yes. Right.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly.

• Speaker #0

  And so and we can come back to the Rogan stuff later now because we'll go down this road.

• Speaker #1

  Okay.

• Speaker #0

  What's the biggest myth that people have about you as a content creator that is just like, no, absolutely not. Is that correct?

• Speaker #1

  As an IUMI as a content creator, the biggest myth? I don't know. That's the biggest myth. I don't know. There's like so many things I could say, but I don't.

• Speaker #0

  What are a couple that come off the top of your head?

• Speaker #1

  I guess that everything comes easily to me. Like some people will say, oh, she's privileged or this and that or easy. She got that easily. That's one. I don't struggle. I didn't work hard for this. A lot of people don't even know what I do for a living. So they'll see like my house and they'll be like, oh, what do you do for a living? Like they don't understand that this is my career or this is my business. So I guess it's just confusing. I think a lot of people are confused on what I do.

• Speaker #0

  Well, there's so many people that are content creators.

• Speaker #1

  Yes.

• Speaker #0

  But there's only a select few that are monetizing.

• Speaker #1

  Yes, that's true.

• Speaker #0

  As a content creator. Yes. Right. And so you're in that rarefied air that you're one of the few in Las Vegas that actually are monetized.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Right.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And so if you can kind of walk me through your journey about how you got to where, you know, from zero followers on TikTok and Instagram and everything else to where now you've got a kabillion and and that's even a number and and monetizing, which is wonderful.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, I mean, that is another topic I think. it's great that you brought up because a lot of people think the more followers you have, you make lots of money and, oh, this person has only this many followers. And that's not true. Like the following does not matter. You could be not monetized with millions of followers and you could be a millionaire with a little bit of followers. So how I started was around seven years ago, eight years ago, 2017. I don't know my math, but eight years ago, something like that And my friend suggested, hey, you should do social media content creation. Like she has a teenage daughter and she's like, look at these 18 year olds and 19 year olds are millionaires. Like, look at their house. Like, I think you should do it. You have a great personality. And I'm like, I'm all for the money. I'm like, OK, let's do it. I did my research. I'm like, dang, if they could do it like that, these teenagers could do it. I can do it. So I have no content creator friends at the time. I was in the military. half my adult life. And then when I got out, I was in college as the old person in my 30s. So I don't know any content creators. I was living in Georgia and I tried. I tried to become a YouTuber. I didn't know what I'm doing because I don't watch YouTube. I don't watch social media and I'm older. So that's not my thing. And I'm just failing, failing, failing, not making a penny. It's years, but I'm just such a go-getter. And I'm like, I know eventually I'm going to get to the point where I'm going to be monetized and making lots and lots of money. So I've been doing this for years, barely any growth, maybe like a thousand followers after three years on YouTube, which is horrible. And a lot of people would have quit being consistent and not seeing any growth. But luckily, COVID hit and TikTok started blowing up and everybody, even my age, started to look into it. And I seen a lot of my... At the time, I started to follow other creators who are like my niche. And I'm like, oh, wow, they got 50,000 followers in like a month. I need to hop on TikTok, whatever this dancing app is. And I started to do TikTok. And that's when things started to blow up. And I got like 100,000 followers in a couple months. My Instagram started to grow because Instagram started having reels or videos as content. um I started posting my videos on Instagram, TikTok. After like a year or two, again, not monetized, after like another year, that's when I started to get emails like, hey, can you promote this for... this amount or what's your fee? I'm like, oh my God, it's happening. It's happening. I'm starting to get these inquiries of, hey, I want to work with you. And a funny thing is a lot of creators don't know how much to charge. So me, I'm just like, I have no friends who do this. I don't know what to do, but I'm like, I'm going to say $200 for a video. I have over a hundred thousand followers and I thought I'm killing it. I'm like, wow, this is amazing. And then eventually I find a friend who's like, hey, can you mentor me? I'm a creator as well, but I like how your views are so high and you get great engagement. But she was getting more deals than me and she only had like 10,000 followers and I had over a hundred and I'm just like, wow, like how are you getting all these deals? So she told me like, oh, like how much are you charging? I'm like, oh yeah, like 200. She's like, are you kidding me? She's like, no, I, you, me, like I make five figures a month and I only have 10,000 followers. Like you should definitely make, you know, six. figures at least so that's when I started to like figure out the business with talking to other creators networking because without that I don't know like I have no idea I have no help I don't have creator friends I'm older um military people that I worked with like they they won't know so that's when everything started to trickle and I made it into a business people don't understand that

• Speaker #0

  The real money isn't monetizing on a social media platform. It's brand deals. Yes. Right?

• Speaker #1

  Exactly.

• Speaker #0

  That's where the money is.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Walk me through that, for people that don't understand that aspect of it. Because most people, I don't think... They have no idea. They think that you just get a check for 10 grand a month from TikTok. The news, yeah. Right? Where no, maybe now, but really no, it's XYZ company.

• Speaker #1

  Yes, yes. So I probably make $5 at the most a month from TikTok. From the views, I get $0 from Instagram, YouTube, nothing, because you got to get monetized and be long form. I'm not a long form creator. I would like to be one day. But for most creators who are short form, we make money from brand deals. So if you see a paid partnership, little wording on the left-hand corner of our videos, that means we are paid to do these videos. And I do notice that like... Vegas creators where they work with businesses are a little bit different than me because I'm not technically like a Vegas foodie person. I'm just an international creator who makes deals with everybody, every company you could think of. So how it works is they will email me and or they'll email me and my manager. My manager will look over the contract. They negotiate. They do everything. I just... do you want to sign this or not? They give me the end results. They do the lawyer stuff. And the brand might ask, here are the deliverables. What would you charge for these? With whitelisting and things like that. And they will handle that. They'll come back to me. And of course, it's a big number that people cannot imagine for one video or two videos. It's a lot. So that's how most... creators that are short form makes their money. And usually it's like a fortune 500 brand because they have a very big budget. So it could be Dove, it could be Target, it could be Walmart, it could be Nordstrom, it could be Marriott. I worked with all these people and they'll ask me to do a video, but people also don't know that there's like a 12 page summary of what they want you to do with what you have to say, what you can't say, what you could wear, what you can't wear, your background. And you also have to send pictures of your home. You also have to send pictures of what you're going to wear. You also have to send them a script and a concept for them to accept it. It's a very long process that people don't see. It is work. We're literally making a commercial for this huge brand and they're very picky. There's a process where then they tell their people and then they come back like, well, we didn't like this word there, or legally you can't say this with their kid next to you the kid has to be behind you like it's very it's very detailed yeah it's a lot it's a lot and people don't know that they just see like a 30 second clip and they're like oh okay like that's it and we call it a day it's and that's something you touched upon and i have friends

• Speaker #0

  that are vegas content creators one of my really good buddies brandon brandon johnson brandon from vegas with your dad pod together he's my homie i love him i love him but There's something that the large entertainment food content creators are coming under scrutiny now in Vegas. And it's just out there is because sometimes when they go in and give a review and do videos, they don't put in paid. Partition, yeah. This is paid where you have that in there. Yes. Like for all my stuff, shout out to Rain702, who is my sponsor. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, they're wonderful. Yeah. And so I put in everything, YouTube, Instagram, all that stuff. It's put in there as a disclaimer. Yes. And even shout out to Rain702, blah, And there's some content creators here that don't do that. Right? Yes. And what do you think about that? Because it's kind of a gray area. To me, I'm on the fence with it because I would think that if you have morals, you're not going to give a review of somewhere that you don't like. Yeah. If you go in and the food is dog shit, you should probably go back to the owners and go, hey, this wasn't good. Yeah, exactly. I can't do this. I'm not going to charge you or anything. If you want to do a reset next month and we try it again with a different menu item maybe, let's do that.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  But so there's that part or there's just people saying, well, no, I'm just charging and that's it.

• Speaker #1

  You know, I'm kind of like on your side. I don't know because local businesses are way different than these Fortune 500 brands. But at the same time, like the consumers need to know like I'm getting paid for this, you know. So it's like a fine line. I don't know. I have to legally because I signed contracts. That's the difference. I don't think they sign contracts. Most of the time it's like just cash paid or a check. So legally, I have to because I work with. Every brand I've worked with, I have to sign a contract that I've been paid. I have never done anything that I haven't had a contract and that I haven't put paid partnership on top of it. So I don't know legally how that works, but I'm pretty sure that you're supposed to legally.

• Speaker #0

  When in doubt, disclose.

• Speaker #1

  Yes.

• Speaker #0

  Right. So at least put ad. At least put ad. And again, I love Brandon. Whatever he does, I support him 100%. I believe in him and that if he's saying that this is the best crab legs in town, I believe him that they're the best fucking crab legs in town. I mean,

• Speaker #1

  most consumers do. The audience always got to go to their favorite creator.

• Speaker #0

  That's it.

• Speaker #1

  If they say it's good, they think it's good.

• Speaker #0

  That's what it comes down to. If someone says it's good, I'm going to take your word for it and I'm going to go check it out myself. Now, again, different taste buds, different flavor profiles. So, no, you don't hit a thousand. You're representing, you know, Dove. Exactly. There is some... And I use that and all of a sudden my skin breaks out. Well, guess what? I have eczema. I have stuff. I should probably go to my dermatologist and check it out. It doesn't mean that you're false advertising.

• Speaker #1

  Everybody's different.

• Speaker #0

  Everybody's different. And the bigger audience you're reaching out to, the higher the capability is of there are some people being, I don't like that skin cream. We use that bronzer and it stayed on for a month. I hated it. You know, I look like Trump.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, no.

• Speaker #0

  Sorry. No politics. Very sorry. That was from me. No,

• Speaker #1

  it's okay.

• Speaker #0

  So talk to me about how you go ahead and get the brand deals. And is it, you know, you had to go through one or two years of building up your audience and putting out this relevant content. And then all of a sudden you got a manager. How does that come about?

• Speaker #1

  For brand deals, I think a lot of creators... struggle with knowing how to get them. So I learned that if you're a brand friendly, you have to be careful. So with me, they reach out to me. I don't reach out to them. I'm on the list of creators, I guess, from having family-friendly content and stuff like that. And she's brandable. She's not going to embarrass us or say something crazy or do something crazy. So a lot of content creators just do anything for views and don't think about the repercussions. like, oh, they said, This that's controversial. I don't want them to be associated with my name.

• Speaker #0

  You're talking about safe content, my friend.

• Speaker #1

  Safe content. Bless your heart.

• Speaker #0

  I don't know what that's like. It's hard. Bless your heart. It's so hard. Well, sometimes you bite your tongue.

• Speaker #1

  It's hard because, you know, I'm a fun person and I'm just like, oh, well, I can't curse or I can't do this. I'm like, I got to keep the food on the table. So, like, I 100% can't be myself, you know, because I'm trying to be appealing to brands. So, a lot of creators don't think of it as a business. Bye. Think of it from the third perspective. Would you want to work with this person if they're doing this and pranking people in a harmful way or talking about this subject or calling women this? And I don't think Walmart want to work with you or Nickelodeon or Disney. So you have to be careful with what kind of content you put out. So they do reach out to me and my management. And I think it was just from changing my content into... content where they could see their product or they could see them working with me because before I was just doing random things like dancing and pranks and things like that like They're like, okay, how does that have to do with these clothes over here that I'm trying to sell? So I eventually changed more into lifestyle and mom and day in a life. Of course, I still do my dancing and my silly things here and there too, but you just have to think of it as a business. Why would a business want to work with me? Why would a brand want to work with me? So you have to think if I want to work with clothing brands, I have to do fashion. If I want to work with you know, products. I have to do things of hey, here's my shampoo I use, or here's what I'm cooking for my kids. So you have to think business-wise. A lot of people don't think social media is a business, if that makes sense.

• Speaker #0

  No, they don't. They don't.

• Speaker #1

  It is swinging it.

• Speaker #0

  They're just, they're winging it, my friend. When you started, did you think to yourself, okay, it's chicken or the egg. I'm going to build content for this audience, or was it... I'm just going to do my content and I'm going to let my audience organically find me. You know, women 24 to 40, you know, that make this much money and have 2.4 kids and three and a half dogs in a jungle. That's hilarious. Was it something organically that just came about from your content or did you do it the other way around?

• Speaker #1

  It was, I'm freestyling at the beginning. Like I had no idea what I'm doing. I didn't see as a business. I'm just like, you go make views and money should come. That wasn't the case. So eventually I strategically planned it where I'm like, okay, I have to be brandable. I have to look like I'm a professional. My camera has to be clear. My clothes has to be nice. I just can't wear pajamas and a bonnet and flip flops all day. Like that's not going to look professional. So I try my best to look professional. My camera quality is great. I use a professional camera so I can look like a commercial, you know. subconsciously, not on purpose, but just so like, they're like, okay, she knows what she's doing. She's editing and her editing's good. Her quality is good. I can see my product there. So I know that was a very successful strategy because even creators with millions of followers started writing me like, how are you making so much money? Like, how are you doing that? And I would give them my advice. So I am going to make a course one day because a lot of people don't know all these tips and tricks that I'm giving you guys for free.

• Speaker #0

  it's true it is true yeah these are these are gems you guys i'm dropping it's so true we'll clip all this stuff up and drop it yeah you'll be collabed on it so people can people can see because really there was a survey done a while ago i saw it in the news that most kids these days when you ask them what they want to do for a living they want to be influencers yes right youtube

• Speaker #1

  wherever streamers streamers rich

• Speaker #0

  You know, I'm talking to a guy that's going to come on pretty soon. That's a big on Twitch. I'm not on Twitch. I'm 55 years old. I don't know. Twitch is something I get like this. I don't know what the hell Twitch is.

• Speaker #1

  Exactly.

• Speaker #0

  Twitch is a neurological disorder. It's not a service online that I know about.

• Speaker #1

  I don't know about it either.

• Speaker #0

  But it's huge. It's huge. It's gamers doing their thing. But people don't understand the work and the business plan you have to have. And the business acumen, the business smarts, you have to have. You can't just throw up videos willy-nilly and think, oh, Johnson & Johnson is going to get a hold of me now. Or, oh, gosh, Nike is on the phone. Right?

• Speaker #1

  You can't. But a lot of people. And the funny thing is, talking about that, I have spoke to my kids' schools about being a content creator. Because, like you said, for like Job Fair Day, a lot of people don't know and children don't know the business side of it. So when I did do the PowerPoint and show them the work. They're like, whoa, like, I don't know anymore. Like, that's a lot of work. I'm like, yeah, I work seven days a week, way more than eight hours from the time I wake up till 10 to 3 o'clock in the morning sometimes. People don't get it. They don't get it. It's a lot of work.

• Speaker #0

  I think you'd be brilliant to put a course out.

• Speaker #1

  Oh, I am for sure. I'm working on it.

• Speaker #0

  They'd be like, hey, for X amount of dollars a month and you get these videos that drop and here it is and this is how I've done it. And because people just, it's perception.

• Speaker #1

  Yep.

• Speaker #0

  Right.

• Speaker #1

  It is.

• Speaker #0

  And I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that, again, there's pretty privilege. You know, you get more views than I do. I get it. No, I get it. It's not true. I get it. But it's also it really doesn't matter how you look if your message is good. Right. Like, can you share your thoughts on that?

• Speaker #1

  I think pretty privilege used to work on social media. Now you can't just look cute like you have to have. a personality. You have to bring something to the table, either education, entertainment. You just, yes, rarely there's some girls are just so pretty that they just lip-sync a song and they get billions of views. Yes, there's rare occasions, very rare, like negative 1% chance. But mostly now, you just can't be an IG model. Nobody cares. Are you bringing entertainment? Are you doing skits? Are you bringing education? Are you telling us how to make money from this or that, like your business? So yeah, I don't think pretty privilege works anymore, like maybe back in the day on social media wise.

• Speaker #0

  I agree. I think that now The greatest commodity that we have is our attention.

• Speaker #1

  Yes. The attention span of a goldfish.

• Speaker #0

  Right. We all do it. Yeah. We all are just a squirrel. We're all over the place. And so to have on your phone and you are scrolling and looking at TikTok videos or whatever, like you've got like, it's like, I think it's like 1.2 seconds-ish to get someone's attention with a good hook.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And yes, it's got to be somewhat aesthetically pleasing. Like. You can't look like your head looks like your neck threw up. You've got to put a little bit of effort into it. But bring something that is entertaining and or educational to me. And then I'm going to watch it. And more importantly, I'm going to save it. I'm going to share it with my friends. You know, the whole thing. I'm going to follow the content creator. And because I know that they're telling a story and they're doing more stuff. I love it.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Right?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Yeah, of course. I mean, of course, if you are very attractive, that does. help.

• Speaker #0

  Doesn't hurt.

• Speaker #1

  It does help, you know, rather than somebody who doesn't look like a perfect Barbie model. I do see creators who might do the same thing as me, but just because they're super duper hot and, you know, are thin and this and that and not a mom like me, they might get more views just because they're hotter. But, you know, that's life. I got to be funnier than what it's.

• Speaker #0

  My friend, it's something that if you are attractive and you can speak and you have a brain, You're lethal.

• Speaker #1

  I'm telling you.

• Speaker #0

  You are freaking lethal in the business world.

• Speaker #1

  I agree. Right? Yes. Yes. For sure.

• Speaker #0

  Because it's, and look at like, you work with Brand Bomb PR, whom I love, and we love Lindsay.

• Speaker #1

  We love Lindsay.

• Speaker #0

  Lindsay is the, you can't swear, Lindsay's the shit.

• Speaker #1

  She is. Right?

• Speaker #0

  If you have a business, and you're going to get more publicity for your business, you want to call Brand Bomb PR. Yes. And they're not paying me for this. You're not paid to be here. It's just, I love Lindsay. Yeah, she's amazing. the bee's knees she is right and it's something that she is somebody that she's attractive yes she is like you talk to her and she's just one of the nicest people ever and everybody that's there alex all of them everyone that's there wonderful yeah wonderful people but they're also they bring it they do hard-working women there's value that's there it's not just pretty faces nope right and And that's like. you're walking your razor's edge even like how she hires like people like you and other and other the other girls are there i'm like i have no idea how she how she find these people well it's the thing it ain't on freaking indeed.com you know she's not going on craigslist exactly job searches exactly to get these people to get you know to get you but it's something that i think content creators nowadays like we said before yeah you've got to have a look whether that look is okay you You could be a... overweight guy with an oily t-zone and more chins in a chinese phone book it's okay it's all good because if you bring some type of humor or some type of opinion that you stand on from from your life experience that equates to value for a target audience that's all you need you win exactly and some people takes longer than others but like you said how long did you go and got nothing like three four years. Right.

• Speaker #1

  But most people would have quit.

• Speaker #0

  where and mr beast i think it was like seven years yeah of him posting on long form content which is the hardest i know i get hardly any views on my long form some not a lot yeah and but the the a lot of my clips will go yeah those will do well but it's like oh my god because you're just it's months and years of screaming in an echo chamber yeah right what was it that kept you going all those years of not getting views on your content.

• Speaker #1

  And to continue.

• Speaker #0

  And to continue.

• Speaker #1

  I guess delusion, delusion. I don't know if it's delusional or just my mindset. I'm just such a go-getter and competitive person. Like even in the military, if there is something that was unrealistic or a goal that I just want to do it like, oh, I'm going to be the first girl to graduate air assault school, my unit in like 20 years or something like that. Guess what? I did it. I practiced. That's for you. Thank you. I trained myself, practiced after hours. I'm like, I'm going to do it or I'm going to become a non-commissioned officer by 22 years old in the Army. And I did it. I studied with my learning disorder, barely could read, and I passed all the tests. Same with. dental school and everything else I did, I'm like, I know this is going to be a challenge, but I'm not going to give up until I get to my goal. It's just a mindset thing. I think everybody's different. Some people have that mindset. Some people don't. And I'm just, if I have a goal, I'm going to do every step I can take, whether I'm failing, I'm going to learn and just keep researching. I'm like, if other people could do it, then why can't I? If millions of people can do it, I'm like, of course I can do it.

• Speaker #0

  And if you're cool to talk about it, you mentioned your learning disability. Yes. What is it and how have you weaponized it to become who you are now?

• Speaker #1

  Weaponized it? I have dyslexia and a speech impediment called cluttering. I have ADHD and autism. So with dyslexia, I just have trouble reading math. Now I'm good. I finally trained myself over the years. So basically in elementary school, middle school, high school, school has one way of teaching. I didn't know I had a learning disorder. I just thought I was stupid. So I'm barely passing. I'm making it, but I just learn different from people. So in college, when you have to pay for school, I'm like, I can't mess up. So I figured out. myself, how to train myself to learn. I'm like, okay, I learned differently from people. I figured out that I have to make a song or I have to make drawings or I have to do this and that. So I self-taught myself how to go over these obstacles. And when it comes to my speech impediment, just being on the camera more, like being on the camera more. I've done panels, podcasts, TV shows. I've done it all. I stuttered. it is what it is like i can't help it i'm born with it but i learned that the more i do it the more confident i get and the less i struggle if that makes sense do you think that if and when you do stutter or you do have a hiccup yes that it makes you more human yeah

• Speaker #0

  to your audience and it makes you more relatable when they go gosh she's gorgeous but she just flubbed up that line yeah she's just like me i can't say that either right because when i hear that i'm i'm an optimist with stuff so it's like when i hear you saying that it's like okay if i'm watching you at home and you're on channel 13 news here talking about something and you lose your train of thought for a second i'm like oh my god i do the same thing every goddamn day yeah i thought with something that's true that's very true i do edit it out i'm not gonna lie i

• Speaker #1

  so like it takes a hundred takes for me to like do any talking video any voiceover, it takes me 100 takes. Just because their attention span is so short that I can't be like, and, oh, sorry, oops, like the video's done by the time I figure it out. So for attention span purposes, I do cut it out, my bloopers. There has been videos where I just did non-cuts just to show them like I do have a, this is real. And it did well, like when I had the real organic, this is no cuts, it might be a long video, but this is me explaining a story without. cutting out my stuttering or cluttering, whatever you want to call it. So it's,

• Speaker #0

  it's something that we all have something.

• Speaker #1

  Yes.

• Speaker #0

  That we deal with. Yes. Everybody's perfect. No one's perfect, my friend. And it's more about how do you overcome that? You know, like, like, how do you, how do you do it as, you know, you're a mom and how do you be a good example to your kids?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  If, if they, if they might have stuff. That you pass on to them genetically, which I have ADHD. Both my kids have it. Yeah. And I'm teaching them what to do. Yeah. How do you use that again as a positive as a mom?

• Speaker #1

  The good thing is since I have it and if they have it, like it's easy for me to be in their shoes. I didn't have that growing up because, you know.

• Speaker #0

  That wasn't popular back 30 years ago. Nobody was talking about ADHD, autism, dyslexia.

• Speaker #1

  Shut up and sit in the car.

• Speaker #0

  So 30 years ago, that wasn't a topic. So I was struggling. It is what it is. They just put me in special classes and called it a day. But now that I'm aware and I study psychology, I'm very into all of those topics. I give them guidance. If I teach them of my daughter, my youngest daughter, she has a learning disorder as well. So she might struggle with her homework. And I was like, okay, this is how we can do it a different way. We'll make it fun instead of getting frustrated with her so she could gain her confidence. I think a lot of it is just confidence. She's insecure. And I was insecure because, oh, I don't know. It's overwhelming. I don't even want to think about it. So just coming from my shoes, I think that helps. And when it comes to me, I did a lot of therapy. I did a lot. Amen, sister.

• Speaker #1

  Amen.

• Speaker #0

  I did a lot of therapy. I did a lot of research. And I think that helped me accept my flaws. It's like, if you don't like me because of my flaws and you should have been in my life. So I just accept who I am.

• Speaker #1

  I love that. I think that the second you accept your imperfections, you are a more perfect person.

• Speaker #0

  Yes. It's life-changing.

• Speaker #1

  That'd be a good fortune cookie. I like that. Somebody should run that over to Spring Mountain, Chinatown and go run that.

• Speaker #0

  A nice little quote.

• Speaker #1

  I just think that we're all not perfect. And when you see stuff on social media a lot, it's... and this is something I wanted to bring back now, is like I'm a big fan of Joe Rogan and his podcast. And he's been open. He's one of the smartest guys around. He's done tens of thousands of episodes and over 50% of the comments that we're seeing online on social media are bots. They're not real people. They're bots.

• Speaker #0

  Oh, yeah, that is true.

• Speaker #1

  And a lot of it, like if you don't see someone's picture, if it's like the egg, or if it's just like a picture of something and it's not a person, or it's a person but it's pixelated. There's a very good chance that's a bot.

• Speaker #0

  Yes.

• Speaker #1

  And it's trying to promote discourse and just imbalance in our culture. So when things happen, and especially if things are, there's always something you could yell at somebody about with their post, no matter what. No matter what. And ever since I learned that from him, I give myself much more grace that when I see something that comes on, I'll just block it.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  You know, I don't need that in my life.

• Speaker #0

  You block everybody. Right?

• Speaker #1

  You just block it. Yeah. Let's talk about that for a second because for content creators that are getting into this, you've got to have a thick skin.

• Speaker #0

  You have to.

• Speaker #1

  You can't take that shit personally. When someone comes at you, and there's a 50% chance, by the way, it's a bot. Yeah. So even then, don't take it personally. How did you handle in the beginning, like, remember like that first one? And then how did you evolve into developing that tortoise shell on your back? Oh my goodness. To be able to deflect the... The negative comments that you get.

• Speaker #0

  At the beginning, I'm like, oh, I was struggling. But I was personally struggling anyways with my self-esteem and stuff like that. Anyways, you know, so it just made it worse. I'm like validating all the negative things I thought about myself. And a lot of times the comments are so not true that it drives me crazy. Like I just want to prove that you're wrong. And it's just so pointless. It's just so pointless. But over time... I just think to myself, either they're bots, fake accounts. I'm like, this doesn't happen in real life. These people will never come up to me and say this or that. It's just fake people behind the screen trying to get on people's nerves because they're unhappy with themselves or they have time. If you have time for that, then obviously something's not going right in your life to make a fake account and talk bad about innocent people. So I just see it like that. Now I'm just like, okay, anyways, block. But it did take some time at the beginning.

• Speaker #1

  I want to dive deeper into this because it's something, again, to me it's right up there with content creators. It's easy to do. You don't work that hard. It's easy to make money. It's also dealing with the dark side, which is nasty comments that people will say. And how do you go about, like I said before, developing that tortoise shell on your back? Because in the beginning, yes, like you're fighting back with these people. You can't wait to pull over and go back. And then you get to a point where you go. Okay, they're having a bad day or it's a bot block.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  So walk me through how you went through your like maturation process of growth to be able to deflect all of that. And just, you know, it's unicorns jump with your rainbows. Yeah. And really to give yourself grace.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I think my success helped more. Like, I think I'm like, I am doing great. I'm doing great. So I don't see Beyonce. arguing in the comments when they say a lot of things or any other celebrity they deal with it nobody's gonna argue with people who's non-existent so it's just a mindset change I'm like I'm happy They're unhappy, obviously. And I studied psychology the last eight years. So that helped me realize that these are just unhappy people and I kind of feel bad. Like, dang, they need some therapy. So I just think of it like that. I mean, like you said, half of them are bots too. I don't take it personal. I just block because I don't want negativity on my page. It's my page. I get to pick who I want on there. So I'm like, no negativity. Goodbye, block.

• Speaker #1

  I'm all for engagement farming. and if someone leaves a... If someone leaves a positive comment, 100% of the time. Or whenever someone shares one of my pieces of content to their story, 95% of the time, I reply back with a thanks and a prayer hands emoji and I like it. Because if they've taken the time to do that, to share it to their audience of one or one million, thank you for doing that.

• Speaker #0

  I agree.

• Speaker #1

  That's a part I love.

• Speaker #0

  Me too.

• Speaker #1

  Right?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  it's just It's doubling down on you.

• Speaker #0

  Yes, yes, yes. I mean, I'm one of the creators who try to reply to every single comment. Like, that's what I'm known for. And I used to reply to every single DM and build a relationship until things got very strange. I'm like, okay, I got to separate the DMs. That's getting strange. But other than that, the comments, every single comment, I try to reply. Like, if possible. If the video has 20 million views, obviously I can't keep up with that because that's hundreds of thousands of comments. But on every video I do because I appreciate without them, I wouldn't be here where I'm at. I need that audience. I need the engagement. I appreciate people who have been there with me for the five, 10 years I've been doing this. So I remember a lot of their names. I appreciate. Yeah, I know. I remember the ones who've been there since day one. So I do whatever I can to give, you know, some love back.

• Speaker #1

  Did you ever go through a period where to build your engagement and to get algorithm love you would? go back at the negative comments?

• Speaker #0

  Sometimes I would leave them. Like if it's a viral video and people are like arguing, I leave it. I'm like, you guys can't have your argument. Well, that's the best. Those are the best.

• Speaker #1

  If they're fighting in your comments.

• Speaker #0

  That's the best ones. Exactly. Bring it,

• Speaker #1

  bring it, bring it. If they're fighting in the comments, that is gold.

• Speaker #0

  That is gold. Cause I don't got to do anything. You guys are, you know, making the algorithm go for itself. So yeah, I mean, there is times. And I do it to this day that if there's a negative comment, but I can make a good video out of it to like explain my side or joke around it. Like, for example, somebody commented on my video. I was talking about my house and they're like, oh, it was a million dollar house, a nice house. And someone said, oh, you know, you have white privilege. I'm not white. If you guys can't tell. They say you have white privilege. and You got that from welfare, single mom welfare. It just didn't make any sense. And I made a video of it, you know, just making fun of it because it didn't make sense. But things like that, like the crazy comments, sometimes I'll respond. And it's another viral video because it was a crazy comment.

• Speaker #1

  It's like a dance. And it's never the same. Every day is different. The comments are different.

• Speaker #0

  Yes.

• Speaker #1

  Something I wanted to ask you is when you post something. Do you know it's going to be viral?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Really? Tell me about that.

• Speaker #0

  I've been doing this for so long that I know which topics I talk about will go viral versus won't go viral. So I do. I do know. I know for sure like trends easily go viral if it's something like that you don't expect at the end, like a surprising ending. I know videos that are. shorter than seven seconds usually are the ones that get like 20 million versus me doing a one minute vlog. People don't really care about it. Why would they share it to their cousin? Look at her vlog of her day in life. Nobody really cares. I know vlogs don't do well, but I have to for the brands to just balance it out. But I can tell. I know as soon as I talk about certain topics like race or an experience I've had or being neurodivergent, People start arguing. So I know if it's a topic about people who are going to argue, then I just know. So I do. I do know when it's going to go viral.

• Speaker #1

  You're one of the first people that's ever said that.

• Speaker #0

  Really?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Most people have no idea.

• Speaker #0

  Really?

• Speaker #1

  Like some of the, it's funny. Once you get up to a certain level, yes. But the average, you know, Joe and Sally six pack that are just throwing up content. Yeah. And maybe have 10,000 followers on TikTok. They're just throwing stuff up and hoping that it goes.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I mean, it depends on the algorithm, too. I know for sure Instagram, I... got it down pat and TikTok. Yes, TikTok is a little bit more iffy, but I know that that video would do better than my other videos. I just been doing this for so long that I see the pattern of human behavior, what they're going to comment on or what they're not. If it's just me talking about his day in the life, nobody gives a beep.

• Speaker #1

  Nobody cares.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, nobody cares.

• Speaker #1

  At least my audience doesn't well mine I mean it's how do I put this You're not as important as you think you are.

• Speaker #0

  Exactly. Right. That's what I'm trying to teach people. Like, I don't care how many followers you have. Unless you're a celebrity or one of those huge content creators like Mr. Bees, nobody cares. Like, you just can't talk about yourself all the time. Unless you're sharing something of value, you just can't. Act like nobody knows you. That's like a secret that I tell myself or other people. Like, act like nobody knows you. Like, every time, every video. Because there's, I have. you know, a whole bunch of followers and they still think I'm married or they still think like I had all sons. They don't know nothing about me. And I get crazy comments like, oh, I thought this. I'm like, no, you guys really don't know nothing about me. Or I thought you're Latina the whole time. I'm like, no. Or I thought you were this. Like, they just don't know. I'm not important. Like maybe a couple of people might be a hardcore fan, but 95% of them don't know anything about me.

• Speaker #1

  Isn't that funny?

• Speaker #0

  It's funny. It's interesting. Yeah. Because I see my videos every day. So I'm like, you should know these things about me that I have daughters and I'm half Asian and this. But they don't. They have no idea.

• Speaker #1

  People are so wrapped up in their own world.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Right.

• Speaker #1

  And they're so wrapped up in fighting their own personal battles that we all have every day. And then if they want to be content creators or just putting stuff out there. There's two, there's two roles. There's two roads to go down. I think with content creation, correct me if I'm wrong.

• Speaker #0

  Okay.

• Speaker #1

  The one is you are the good side of the force. You're Luke Skywalker.

• Speaker #0

  Okay.

• Speaker #1

  And you are just, this is me unapologetically and with all my faults and foibles and problems and it's okay. And I'm having a bad hair day or for me, it would be having a hair day. It would be wonderful. Right. That's a win. And, but here I am, take me as I am. Then there's the other one that is. overly filtered and you're renting a Lamborghini to look like you have money. And you're creating this false narrative of yourself, which transcends into a false narrative of a brand that you become. Do you think I'm on with that?

• Speaker #0

  Yes, you are.

• Speaker #1

  Right?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  What percentage do you see of people, they're on the good side and then the other ones you're like, ooh, this is just prickly. I wouldn't do that.

• Speaker #0

  of When it comes to content creators, like the percentage, you know, I guess it depends on what your niche is, like what your for you page or explore page look like. Because mine is this cats. So I don't know. Like mine is like cats and like some moms. So it might be different than yours, you know. Dogs. I look at, you know, squirrels and stuff like that and psychology. So it might be different. But from the niche that I'm in, I think it's mostly fake. Honestly, I think most people just. pretend they have this perfect marriage and this perfect life and, you know, no problems. And I'm very open with my struggles. I make YouTube videos about like, hey, right now I'm struggling. I'm fighting for my life right now. I'm crying. I'm showing me look crazy.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  I'm like, you know, so I'm transparent because I feel like I just don't like that people's mental health are affected by watching social media and thinking, oh, my life isn't like that. Look at their perfect marriage and look at this. I don't like that. I think that's really bad for the kids, your kids, people's futures. It's just mentally terrible. Like it's feeding a false narrative on how your life should be when it's not true.

• Speaker #1

  One of the greatest attributes we can possess if we are a content creator is vulnerability.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  It's okay to tell people you're not okay.

• Speaker #0

  Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  We should all be in therapy. we're human every everybody should be in therapy everyone everybody find a good therapist you can go talk to to help you navigate what you're dealing with yeah because there's so much stuff going on right now and you just can't do it alone yeah it's so hard you think you can but you can't you're just gonna burn out you're just gonna burn out right and you need to just give yourself grace and it's

• Speaker #0

  okay yeah it's okay i just wished everybody was more honest but i mean that's Their business too, like, they're not entitled to tell me when they're having a bad time. But at the same time, I think there's a balance. Like, you know, just if you're sharing. oh, I have a mansion and life is good every single day. Like people get bored of that eventually to like, okay, like I'm just saying, all right, we seen your mansion. I'm not on time. Okay.

• Speaker #1

  Show me something spicy.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, show me.

• Speaker #1

  Show me something spicy.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, or share a story like what happened. Drop something that like,

• Speaker #1

  I like content where people are, they've overcome something. Yeah. Like they got gut punched. Something happened in their lives and they got through it. And this is now who they are because of that.

• Speaker #0

  Yes.

• Speaker #1

  Everybody loves a comeback story. Yeah. Look at Rocky. Everyone loves a freaking comeback story. Oh, yeah. Right? And so if you can tell me a good comeback story, you've got me.

• Speaker #0

  Exactly.

• Speaker #1

  As a follower.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  And I'll probably share your stuff too to my friends or my wife or whoever. Exactly. Oh, this is pretty cool.

• Speaker #0

  Inspiring. Right? Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  I just think that, and you're good because your stuff is, you run the gamut of vulnerability to professional, polished, brand-friendly content.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Right? So it's like, you check all the boxes.

• Speaker #0

  I'm trying. Check,

• Speaker #1

  check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, right? Where other people, it's more controversial.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Or they're dabbling in the gray area where they're posting and getting paid and not saying anything about it, which again, I'm not saying that as a judgment. I'm saying it as an observation. Because I have friends in town. They're some of the biggest content creators in Vegas, and I adore them. I adore them. They're friends of mine. But undoubted disclose.

• Speaker #0

  I think legally you have to. I thought that, but I'm not the police.

• Speaker #1

  Let's talk about the future of content creation, at least for years. What's on your radar right now in terms of trends, in terms of what type of formats are you using? Are there certain social media channels that you like better than others?

• Speaker #0

  I think for the future trends and stuff like that, when it comes to my page, I see that storytelling is really good. Like storytelling of my life experiences, either it's educational or just like this happened to me one time, but I overcame it or I came from nothing. Like I literally came from nothing. And, you know, look what I've done. If I'm a single mother with a learning disability. I can do it. You can do it. So I think storytelling is where it's at. It's a great way to build a community for them to learn who you are, not just from trends and stuff like that, not just from the flashy things and the nice things. Just showing who you are, I think, is the forecast trend for social media, especially for my niche. And then when it comes to platforms, Snapchat, I don't know if you know this, is paying higher than YouTube when it comes to ads. So I know there's creators making $100,000 a day from Snapchat, so they quit YouTube. So I am, my trend forecast is Snapchat. I'm building my Snapchat account right now. I started this year, like being consistent on it. I have 18,000 followers on there. It's growing. I'm learning and trying to figure out that algorithm because I'm not that familiar. I'm older. That's like a younger generation app. But If I could grow on there and get that YouTube views better than YouTube money, that's my goal. Also, my goal is for YouTube long form eventually. And I post on five, six platforms a day. So I use Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, just so you could get an audience everywhere. So I use them all. But my favorite is Instagram and TikTok because it's more consistent.

• Speaker #1

  Agreed.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  I agree. What's the number one mistake that you think content creators are making today inhibiting their growth?

• Speaker #0

  Hmm. I think the number one mistake is not learning. I think a lot of them just winging it without doing research. I research. Like every day I'm studying other pages, seeing what they're doing, what I'm doing wrong, watching videos about the algorithm, studying my page. I think people just wing it and don't see it as a strategic thing or a business. Like even if you are consistent, but you're not growing as fast as you want to, what are you doing wrong? Don't do the same thing. Do some research. Try some different things. I play around with my videos. Now I see what does well, what doesn't. do well. I look at the algorithm. Why did I lose 50 followers today? What video did I post on that day? So I'm always doing research. I think a lot of creators don't do that. I think they just pray, okay, let's see what happens. Let me post this video and see what happens and call it a day.

• Speaker #1

  Post and pray.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Which no, no, no, no. Yeah. You can't post and pray.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  My last question is who are the influencers or content creators that you look up to that you look at to help learn and to help evolve?

• Speaker #0

  That is a good question. And my brain is frying right now. Let me think. Let me think. There's a couple. There's some celebrities that I'm impressed of, like Tia Mowry from Sister Sister. I'm noticing that there's a lot of celebrities who are becoming creators now because it's great money. you know it's great money it's probably more than a lot of celebrities make i know a lot of creators make more than celebrities but um let's think i was just thinking of somebody who that i think it was good um i like the scotts and her name is uh christy scott her name is sarah there i've been following them from the beginning and her niche is kind of similar to mine but i like how we started at the same time. And now she's on Forbes. Like that's very inspiring that she's a multimillionaire now. And we kind of did the same thing, but she was obviously more consistent, obviously had better camera quality at the beginning. Her husband and her does have like a photography, videography business. So that does help that they knew what they were doing from the get go. But I think that's awesome. Like we started at the same time and now she's on Forbes. She's at the Grammy. She's at everything you could think of. And she's a celebrity, like literally a celebrity now. And it's just so inspiring. You know, she was consistent, did her research, knew what went viral, did when I say she goes above and beyond for her videos, like she'll literally hire people to dress her up to look exactly like Squidward, like put the face makeup on or like an alien or a bug. That's not cheap. And that's and she'll go in public and like dance and do whatever and prank her husband like she. goes all in. And people might just see that 10 second clip like, oh, okay, you know how long it took to put that makeup on, plan all that. It's a long process. Hours. Hours, all day. So I'm like, yeah, that's awesome.

• Speaker #1

  And I have one more question. Sorry, my PhD. I've got, I have one more question for you is, so you're on the Brand Bomb PR team here in Vegas.

• Speaker #0

  Yes.

• Speaker #1

  Who's the best person, if someone wants to hire you?

• Speaker #0

  Okay.

• Speaker #1

  Who's the best fit for you? you know, to leverage all of your talents, you know, on the Brand Bomb PR team here in Vegas?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I think the best fit would be any business that just needs me to handle everything. Like, it could be a brand or a doctor, a person, a lawyer, a casino resort. Like, obviously, if you're a doctor, you don't have time to manage your page. Obviously, you don't have time to make videos all day and content plan and do a 30-day calendar. Same with resorts or same with local businesses. Either it's a salon or a restaurant or a resort. The clients who have a successful running business but just wants me to handle everything. I will do everything. You just have to breathe and be alive. And I tell you what to do for a couple hours and I'll do the rest.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you, my friend. Thanks for coming in. This has been fun.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you for having me. This is awesome.

• Speaker #1

  And this has been awesome. And if people want to get a hold of you, you'll be tagged in everything. So we'll take care of all that. Thank you. And I'll throw collabs for everything. And so people will be coming your way.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you so much. Thank you, my friend. Thank you.