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This episode of Your Mic is going to sound a little bit different, and by a little bit, I mean a lot, because we're not really talking about podcasting.
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We are talking about social media.
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And if you host a show, you definitely need a social presence.
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And if views, reach, and exposure matter to you, this is the episode you want to listen to.
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So we're handing the mic over to one of my friends, Brittany Alston.
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She's the founder of Fun Love Media.
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She's my co-founder for Illuminate, which is the event where this was recorded.
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And she's steering the conversation with our friend, Dr. Trevor Baffoni.
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He is a Houston educator turned creator with over 700,000 followers.
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He's been on GMA, and he once did a striptease for Centerpoint Energy.
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In his own words, going viral is luck.
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And a quick heads up.
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This one is explicit.
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Trevor swears.
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And he gets really blunt about the hate he gets online, including repeating some of the nastier things strangers have said to him in the comments section.
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And if you're listening with kids in the car or a boss in the room, hit pause and come back later.
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Oh, and one more thing.
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Illuminate 2027 is going to happen.
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Brittany and I met a few days ago, and we have tentatively set it for April.
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And if today's conversation sounds like your kind of jam, keep an ear out because info is coming and you won't want to miss out.
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This Houston-based educator, writer, and content creator's work using TikTok and social media with his students has been featured on Good Morning America, ABC News, Inside Edition, and Access Hollywood, among numerous national media platforms.
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Just no big deal.
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He spent years as an educator, has published multiple books, works in PR right here in Houston, Texas.
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Speaking of Houston, if you live here, you may have seen him in the wild creating content about area businesses, museums, special locations.
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Please welcome...
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The wonderful, one of my besties, Dr. Trevor Baffoni.
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Thank you for having me.
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And if you want to hire me to do that everywhere you go.
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She's coming with me.
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Load full transcript
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It's not cheap.
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Okay.
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Anyway, no, we really are...
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Great friends, collaborators, and Trevor does a lot of really, really cool stuff on social media.
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And the reason why I specifically want to talk to him about this topic, about growth on social media, because it's a popular topic.
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A lot of people want to know how to grow, right?
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But we're going to be real and raw and open and honest and share all the things.
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Okay, let's start out with the fact that...
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This guy has over 700,000 followers or something like that, right, on social media?
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Also, no big deal.
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And you've had different spouts of growth and things like that.
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So I want to, setting all that aside, talk about the biggest lie you think that there is about social media growth.
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What might we hear about social media growth?
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And it's like...
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Not really.
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Yeah, I would say the idea that you have to post multiple times a day on TikTok or Instagram to grow.
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That's the thing you see.
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There's like these scam pages.
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You've probably seen them where the accounts are all about teaching you how to grow.
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Right?
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That's all the content is about.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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All they say is, you know, post three times a day.
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And how easy is that, right?
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How often do you post?
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So I post one time a day.
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I did do the three-a-day thing.
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When I turned 40, I did 40 days of three times a day.
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And that was fucking hard.
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I mean, I think I made 40 days.
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I think I...
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38 days I made it, the three posts a day, but it was like impossible.
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You know, having a full-time job, having a child, having an active, robust social life.
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But that's the advice I think is just kind of like crappy.
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And I think what I always tell people is...
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whatever you can do and manage for the rest of time, you know, that's what you should stick to.
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If it's two posts a week, three posts a week, that's great.
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Do it, do it well, get better every time you do it and continue that, that energy.
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And if you have those moments where you have a bunch of content, you can post a few extra things here and there.
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Great.
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But,
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What happens is, and I see this with clients and people I do consulting with, is they will get excited, they get the training, they come to these kind of things here, and they'll try to post every day or multiple times a day.
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And then after a few weeks, after a month, they're burnt out.
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And they don't have a positive relationship with it, which then shows up in the content, which then shows up in the fact that there isn't content.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Cause it's like, you're going to just like need to do this forever.
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Okay.
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So like whatever you can do forever.
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Um, okay.
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So what does it really take to go viral in your opinion?
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What's the secret sauce recipe?
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Is there a strategy?
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Luck?
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Both?
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What are your thoughts on that?
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Um, show a little ankle.
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No.
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A little nip slip here and there.
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No, I'm kidding.
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So I will say, I did, I will sidebar.
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That would work.
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I did show nip this year for the first time in seven years.
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I was getting in a cold plunge, and the top comment on TikTok was, nipple reveal!
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And I have not shown nip since.
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But what was the question?
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Tell everybody about your nipples.
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They match my lip color.
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What does it really take to go viral?
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What does it take to go viral?
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So I've went viral for dancing with my students.
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I've went viral for funny social commentary about Hurricane Beryl.
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I strip teased in front of Centerpoint Energy.
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I was in the Houston Chronicle for that.
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I went viral for getting stuck in Japan.
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With students, I went viral for doing things in Houston.
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My health museum video on TikTok went viral.
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I opened that video with, hey, ma, I'm in a giant colon.
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People like that.
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Go do that later, actually.
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That's a good look.
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Yes, go crawl through the colon.
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And, but the thing in all of the, you know, it's different styles of content, but the thing that is consistent is I am putting my personality first, right?
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I'm being myself authentically me as best I can and not being afraid of what people might think.
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I have haters, you know, I have people that will make fun of me for my appearance, the way I speak, the way I dance, whatever it might be.
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But like, fuck them, right?
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I don't care.
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I am being myself.
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And I think...
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bringing people into your personality and just authentically doing the things that you want to be doing or do on your day-to-day basis is the magic sauce, right?
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Or part of the magic sauce.
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The other part of the magic sauce is once you see what people are resonating with, doing more of that content, right?
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So like I noticed quickly early on when I was making fun classroom content in the first, you know, four or five years of my content creator journey that if I stood on a desk,
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danced on top of a desk, that always did better.
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If I'm holding a bag of chips while I'm... Like hot chips.
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Hot Cheetos.
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If I was a hot Cheetos girl, right?
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Takis or whatever.
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If I was doing that in the videos, that was always performing better.
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Right?
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Or I noticed in my classroom I had...
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I had a flag.
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I had a, what do you call it?
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Like different countries I would switch out or a pride flag or whatever it might be.
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And so I would notice people were all of a sudden commenting like the DR flag, the Dominican Republic flag, or those sorts of things.
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So I would like swap them out or I'd write messages on the board.
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So there's multiple layers in
the video to engage with, right?
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Or like when I do, so right now I mostly do like vlogs around town or I'll do things in,
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Things to do in Houston, right?
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So like when I was at the health museum and I was looking at all of the content I had, I always start with the most interesting clip I have, the most interesting two seconds, three second clip I have.
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It could be something funny.
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It could be like...
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something bizarre it could be um like i'm eating i'm at a restaurant trying something and i choke i'm not actually choke well maybe i'm not going to wood but but you know i get something funny on camera um but it's the health museum i'm in this giant colon and i like have this call out i'm doing kind of a voice it resonated with people right but when i came i did a clip of i did like a let's get fun
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physical, physical moment on the bicycle with the skeleton next to me.
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I did a thing where I'm hanging upside down.
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You know, I tried all sorts of different things.
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And then when I was looking through, I have a focus group too.
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Brittany has sometimes been my focus group, but I'll say, hey, what do you think is funnier?
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What do you think is more catchy, A or B, in that video?
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So you always want to start with something really catchy.
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Never, hey, my name is Jennifer Bassman, and here's what I'm gonna talk to you today about.
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Start with the most interesting.
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Definitely, I'll start with that.
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You start with the, actually, that might do well, but you start with the most interesting thing.
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You start with the most interesting thing.
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You want to have something visually interesting.
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So on and so forth.
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That's a few tips.
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Quick tips.
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Before I move on to the next question, really go to Trevor's content and just study it.
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Because what he's saying, it really is how he does it and how he formats everything.
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You'll see the patterns.
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OK, so in case somebody is curious, what happens when you go viral, even semi-viral?
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Like when you have something really get a lot of views, what actually happens to your account, your notifications, and the comments?
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Like what could people expect in that experience?
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Yeah, so I'll tell you in the beginning I was obsessive.
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I had a spreadsheet.
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So let me go back.
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Still have you had a spreadsheet?
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I had a Google Sheet.
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So my brother is a... Vanessa's excited about that.
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Vanessa will like this.
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So I am the, of my siblings, I'm the free spirit, do whatever I want, go where the wind takes me.
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My brother is like a true Texas oil capitalist, right?
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And so I went viral the first minute I posted.
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My first video, like within a minute.
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Hang on.
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I, anyway, I know, but, but I did, I did.
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I was on an airplane a few months ago and I was looking through, I decided to like do a, a cleanse on my, my photos and stuff.
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And I was looking through and I was sending Brittany.
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I had like a text that I was ready to send Brittany when I landed.
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Um, and it was like, I had posted four total posts, just four posts and had 70,000 followers on Instagram within like, within like four weeks.
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And, um, I,
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But I was obsessive.
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So the spreadsheet, my brother, my brother had the spreadsheet and he would literally track every day.
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Like you got 10,000 followers today, 5,000.
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Well, no, he wasn't doing it in an all way.
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He was doing it in a let's make money off of this way.
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And, you know, but that was not fun for me.
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And when I tried to like make money off of it, the content never did well.
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Right.
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It didn't perform well because it wasn't having the same energy.
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And but what happens, what I learned was that I needed to disconnect.
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So like I post and I ghost like I post and then I will not like I posted today before this and I will not check my accounts until tomorrow morning.
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right?
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Because when you have those viral, well, in general, you know, I don't check views.
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I don't check any of that until the next day.
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But when you go viral, it's,
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like all
consuming, right?
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Like if you have notifications, I don't believe in notifications on my phone.
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I would say like ditch them, especially for social media because it becomes this like constant thing where you have to check, check, check, check.
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What are they saying?
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What are they saying?
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How many views?
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And you get kind of obsessive about it, which to me, like for me was not healthy, right?
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I mean, for you, I don't know, other people, it might be fine, but for me, it just wasn't good.
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You also get like a lot of DMs,
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A lot of weird DMs.
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I've been, a lot of people want to date me right now.
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My spouse is not into that.
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No, but it's so weird.
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Like people will literally, you get, she gets a lot of DMs too.
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Like some thirsty DMs.
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but you know what?
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Maybe we should just see what happens.
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No, but it's wild, but you get weird stuff.
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You get weird DMs.
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You get some good DMs, and honestly, you ignore most of it, right?
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You don't have to respond to everything.
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If you get 1,000 comments on a video, you don't have to respond to all those comments.
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Of course, the more you respond to you're playing well in the sandbox, you know, it's...
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it's good practice to respond to as much as you can, but like Kalem knows too, Brittany, like some of these posts, like you literally can't respond to everything, right?
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Or like I'll have stuff where like there's someone posts something negative.
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So I did a video for Tony's Place, which is an LGBTQ homeless shelter.
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And on Instagram, it was like, they did well on every platform.
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On Instagram, it was like, yeah, support.
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00:12:52.297 --> 00:12:53.918
On TikTok, it was mostly support.
230
00:12:54.238 --> 00:12:55.619
Facebook, I literally like...
231
00:12:56.519 --> 00:12:59.221
do not have not looked since because it was just the worst of humanity.
232
00:12:59.861 --> 00:13:00.642
That was commenting.
233
00:13:01.742 --> 00:13:03.383
Just like really hateful stuff.
234
00:13:04.164 --> 00:13:04.824
And from me.
235
00:13:05.184 --> 00:13:06.165
You leave them alone, though.
236
00:13:06.205 --> 00:13:06.825
I leave them alone.
237
00:13:06.845 --> 00:13:07.626
Leave the comments alone.
238
00:13:07.646 --> 00:13:08.667
You don't delete it or anything.
239
00:13:08.967 --> 00:13:09.427
I'll delete.
240
00:13:10.247 --> 00:13:15.531
When I was posting stuff with my students, I very actively would monitor and delete.
241
00:13:15.691 --> 00:13:15.891
Yeah.
242
00:13:15.991 --> 00:13:19.492
Because if they're talking about a 17-year-old, 16-year-old, I'm deleting that, right?
243
00:13:20.273 --> 00:13:22.854
But if they're talking about me, sure, call me a faggot.
244
00:13:22.874 --> 00:13:24.254
Sorry, sorry.
245
00:13:24.594 --> 00:13:26.095
So on and so forth.
246
00:13:26.335 --> 00:13:26.895
I don't care.
247
00:13:26.915 --> 00:13:34.738
There's nothing that someone, a stranger in Duluth or wherever the fuck it is, I'm so sorry, everyone, can say about me that's really going to hurt me.
248
00:13:34.778 --> 00:13:37.059
I haven't said fuck once until just now.
249
00:13:37.219 --> 00:13:38.279
I've said it a lot.
250
00:13:41.062 --> 00:13:41.763
Vanessa said it.
251
00:13:42.124 --> 00:13:51.433
No, but like, the reality is when you go viral, there will be a lot of people that are supportive and there will also be people that want to hate on you just because you're going viral.
252
00:13:51.994 --> 00:13:56.238
And the reality of it is you have to be okay with those things.
253
00:13:56.899 --> 00:13:58.040
And I find...
254
00:13:59.021 --> 00:13:59.741
Just don't engage.
255
00:14:00.322 --> 00:14:00.542
Right?
256
00:14:00.562 --> 00:14:04.824
Like, I know some people might follow stay-at-home Tom on Instagram.
257
00:14:04.884 --> 00:14:05.885
He's massive.
258
00:14:06.445 --> 00:14:08.926
And everything he posts is incendiary.
259
00:14:09.447 --> 00:14:13.128
He's like, he's a stay-at-home dad, like a male feminist.
260
00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:14.209
I think he's great.
261
00:14:14.569 --> 00:14:19.152
But he gets so much hate in his comments from men that are uncomfortable with
262
00:14:19.972 --> 00:14:43.386
uncomfortable right with this man saying he's a feminist and like supporting women right um and he engages and it's part of his thing but like i couldn't do that i would just have to like leave it yeah so so when you go viral you have to sort of figure out like are you okay with the negativity are you not okay with the negativity you know and if you're not okay with it you need to find a routine that's not going to actually put you in front of the negativity
263
00:14:44.358 --> 00:14:44.558
Okay.
264
00:14:44.938 --> 00:14:45.799
So, so, okay.
265
00:14:45.819 --> 00:14:51.100
Say somebody here goes viral or even what I call semi viral, mini viral, some sort of something exciting.
266
00:14:51.661 --> 00:14:53.201
Um, what's your advice?
267
00:14:53.261 --> 00:14:54.102
Like next step?
268
00:14:54.362 --> 00:14:57.803
Um, is there something, should they change something, keep doing the same thing?
269
00:14:57.823 --> 00:14:58.963
Like
what, what's the next?
270
00:14:59.283 --> 00:14:59.844
Yeah.
271
00:14:59.884 --> 00:15:03.005
So sometimes there's different reasons to go viral.
272
00:15:03.025 --> 00:15:05.506
So like when I went viral for the Japan saga, um,
273
00:15:06.687 --> 00:15:12.954
I couldn't replicate that content, and I also couldn't talk about it more than so many times before it was desperate.
274
00:15:13.774 --> 00:15:17.438
But I couldn't get stuck in Japan again with 34 students.
275
00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:21.883
And then Hurricane Barrel, we didn't have power, and my videos was like...
276
00:15:22.775 --> 00:15:27.759
the content was like me dancing to try to get a generator, me dancing to try to get center point.
277
00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:32.002
I was like doing a strip tease kind of dance in front of center point to get them to turn the power back on.
278
00:15:32.022 --> 00:15:32.202
Right.
279
00:15:33.383 --> 00:15:41.609
But, but then the power comes on and the story has moved on, you know, but what you can do is you very much study, you do an audit, right.
280
00:15:41.689 --> 00:15:45.812
Of your content and very much try to figure out what are people, what's resonating with people.
281
00:15:45.852 --> 00:15:46.092
Right.
282
00:15:46.172 --> 00:15:46.413
Is it,
283
00:15:47.173 --> 00:15:50.214
The actual trend, is it something you're doing?
284
00:15:50.294 --> 00:15:51.335
Is it where you're shooting?
285
00:15:51.835 --> 00:15:54.796
Is it the story itself, the current event itself?
286
00:15:55.396 --> 00:15:57.157
And you can try to replicate those things.
287
00:15:57.177 --> 00:16:05.920
So like, for instance, the fun classroom content, I very much was like, hey, if I have Takis and I dance to this one song by Migos, it goes viral every time.
288
00:16:06.660 --> 00:16:15.304
like every single time when I do the same exact, and I will repost like a throwback Thursday every once in a while where I use these old videos and they still go viral.
289
00:16:15.324 --> 00:16:17.765
And people will comment, I think I saw this four years ago.
290
00:16:17.785 --> 00:16:19.166
And I'm like, yeah, you saw it four years ago.
291
00:16:19.186 --> 00:16:19.986
You saw it last year.
292
00:16:20.006 --> 00:16:20.947
You saw it three years, yeah.
293
00:16:21.427 --> 00:16:23.568
So on and so forth, because it always does well.
294
00:16:23.668 --> 00:16:24.348
Right.
295
00:16:24.649 --> 00:16:25.189
And so I think...
296
00:16:25.849 --> 00:16:30.033
for anyone here, like whatever you're making, like very much lean into those things that do well.
297
00:16:30.073 --> 00:16:35.377
So like Christina, you do this really well with your, uh, queen of Tejano tribute content.
298
00:16:35.737 --> 00:16:36.838
We don't, you know, not Selena.
299
00:16:37.499 --> 00:16:38.980
Uh, and Caleb does this really well too.
300
00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:39.801
Brittany does it as well.
301
00:16:39.821 --> 00:16:44.765
We, we've had, we know what that magic sauce is for each of us and we are not afraid to beat it
302
00:16:45.525 --> 00:16:48.127
And, you know, just beat it.
303
00:16:48.167 --> 00:16:48.587
I don't know what.
304
00:16:49.467 --> 00:16:52.009
Just like repeat it, repeat it, repeat it as much as we need to.
305
00:16:52.029 --> 00:16:53.930
We've watched the same episode of Friends a million times.
306
00:16:53.970 --> 00:16:54.691
We've watched the same.
307
00:16:54.711 --> 00:16:55.311
I'm like, who cares?
308
00:16:55.451 --> 00:16:55.671
Yeah.
309
00:16:55.991 --> 00:16:56.211
Okay.
310
00:16:56.832 --> 00:16:57.092
Okay.
311
00:16:57.512 --> 00:16:59.733
I want to make sure we move on so we have time for questions in a few minutes.
312
00:16:59.774 --> 00:17:05.677
But my last official question for you is, so away from the viral conversation and on to just general social media growth.
313
00:17:06.713 --> 00:17:17.965
three tips, two tips, whatever, a couple of top tips for how to grow on social media, even if you're not going viral on a regular basis, but just growth, increasing following, increasing your views, increasing your engagement.
314
00:17:18.637 --> 00:17:20.258
A couple of just like juicy nuggets.
315
00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:21.960
Yeah, a little juicy nuggets.
316
00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:23.261
It's not just about you.
317
00:17:23.401 --> 00:17:26.324
It's about playing well in the playground, right?
318
00:17:26.364 --> 00:17:36.193
So commenting, engaging with other people's content is important, especially if there are people that are in a similar niche, location, business than you, right?
319
00:17:36.233 --> 00:17:39.536
So say you are just someone give me a business.
320
00:17:40.016 --> 00:17:41.137
A yoga instructor, right?
321
00:17:41.177 --> 00:17:52.202
So if you're a Pilates yoga instructor in town, like following and engaging with other Pilates yoga instructors in town, and then don't expect people to engage with your stuff if you're not engaging with theirs, right?
322
00:17:52.543 --> 00:17:58.586
So if you go to Kalem's videos, you'll see Christina's commenting, Brittany's commenting, Davina's commenting, I'm commenting.
323
00:17:59.446 --> 00:18:01.307
So on and so forth, because we're supporting each other.
324
00:18:01.367 --> 00:18:02.348
So that's important.
325
00:18:02.708 --> 00:18:08.272
It also tells the platform that you are a good member of that platform, right?
326
00:18:08.332 --> 00:18:10.133
And they will reward you sometimes.
327
00:18:11.314 --> 00:18:17.878
Other nuggets, you need to invest in, or not invest, I'm saying invest with air quotes.
328
00:18:19.314 --> 00:18:22.256
But good lighting, good sound are important, right?
329
00:18:23.116 --> 00:18:25.717
Good sound doesn't necessarily mean you need a microphone, right?
330
00:18:25.737 --> 00:18:29.999
But if you're in a place and the sound is not good, then you can't post that.
331
00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:31.700
You should not post that, you know, content.
332
00:18:32.140 -->
00:18:33.921
Make sure your lighting is well done, right?
333
00:18:33.941 --> 00:18:41.104
Those little things are what separates someone that's getting 300 views and someone who's getting 30,000 views, right?
334
00:18:41.184 --> 00:18:42.645
If you watch Britney's content...
335
00:18:43.365 --> 00:18:45.828
Notice it's always well lit, right?
336
00:18:46.449 --> 00:18:50.914
When I was in my classroom, if it was, I had two windows in this kind of old dark building.
337
00:18:51.395 --> 00:19:00.966
And if it was overcast at all, I could not, like we could do stuff, but it would never be stuff we actually used because it was too dark.
338
00:19:01.607 --> 00:19:02.567
Right.
339
00:19:02.848 --> 00:19:05.269
And so that's just like basic one-on-one.
340
00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:08.410
And like, I know you do the same thing with your like content at your house.
341
00:19:08.450 --> 00:19:09.991
Like we, you can't do it.
342
00:19:10.151 --> 00:19:10.371
Right.
343
00:19:10.931 --> 00:19:13.072
Or like, I have a thing I'm doing at Miller outdoor theater.
344
00:19:13.092 --> 00:19:17.755
I was supposed to do it like two weeks ago, but every day I've planned, it's like gloomy and not good weather.
345
00:19:17.795 --> 00:19:18.935
So I keep having to postpone it.
346
00:19:20.236 --> 00:19:20.836
So that's important.
347
00:19:20.856 --> 00:19:23.717
And then the third tip is like, I don't be afraid to be yourself.
348
00:19:23.777 --> 00:19:23.958
Right.
349
00:19:24.018 --> 00:19:29.300
And also like Brittany has said this a bunch, like if there's something you do well and something you do different, don't,
350
00:19:29.340 --> 00:19:30.482
do it on social, right?
351
00:19:30.522 --> 00:19:39.819
So if you can swallow swords or fire the fire situation, juggling fire, do it, right?
352
00:19:40.280 --> 00:19:41.001
If you can...
353
00:19:42.249 --> 00:19:45.292
you know, do a handstand, do it on social media, right?
354
00:19:46.272 --> 00:19:47.253
Use those talents, right?
355
00:19:47.273 --> 00:19:54.399
And I think a lot of people in this room actually do a really good job of that, of showcasing like who you are and not being afraid to do that.
356
00:19:54.800 --> 00:19:57.322
I would follow people that you like genuinely want to follow.
357
00:19:57.342 --> 00:20:00.084
Yeah, I don't want to follow you.
358
00:20:00.304 --> 00:20:05.849
But like, it's not, once you get, and also once you get to a certain size, like you can't, like you literally can't follow everyone back.
359
00:20:06.208 --> 00:20:07.970
They're also not going to probably care.
360
00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:08.451
It's not.
361
00:20:08.471 --> 00:20:09.932
I hope they do.
362
00:20:10.092 --> 00:20:17.321
So the social contract of Facebook as it was built, and that was like our first big, big platform, was like you had to be friends with someone.
363
00:20:17.821 --> 00:20:17.961
Right?
364
00:20:17.981 --> 00:20:19.904
So it's like a reciprocal agreement.
365
00:20:20.364 --> 00:20:22.547
But that agreement does not exist on TikTok or Instagram.
366
00:20:22.567 --> 00:20:22.687
Right.
367
00:20:24.113 --> 00:20:24.774
That's my opinion.
368
00:20:25.455 --> 00:20:26.776
But I will do like in real life.
369
00:20:26.796 --> 00:20:30.180
Like anybody here to me that we follow back.
370
00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:32.042
Because that's an actual connection that we made.
371
00:20:32.102 --> 00:20:35.506
But like if it's a stranger and they follow your account, you don't know.
372
00:20:35.686 --> 00:20:39.050
Yeah, like when I went viral, I would get messages from like teenagers that were like, follow me.
373
00:20:39.070 --> 00:20:39.811
And I'm like, no.
374
00:20:40.772 --> 00:20:42.013
Like I don't want this.
375
00:20:42.033 --> 00:20:42.674
I don't want this.
376
00:20:45.115 --> 00:20:47.577
so content creation is my part-time side gig.
377
00:20:48.077 --> 00:20:54.601
I have no team, although I will say like Clarissa works with me in my full-time job and she's shooting content at me right now.
378
00:20:55.262 --> 00:21:00.065
Um, or like if I'm going to something, I always try to like bring people to, so like Brittany does a lot with me.
379
00:21:00.685 --> 00:21:03.447
And so I, I try to bring someone with me who can like shoot content.
380
00:21:03.547 --> 00:21:03.747
Right.
381
00:21:04.308 --> 00:21:06.789
Um, and also isn't going to be like, when are we going to be done?
382
00:21:06.849 --> 00:21:07.069
Right.
383
00:21:07.089 --> 00:21:08.750
We're going to be done whenever I say we're going to be done.
384
00:21:08.971 --> 00:21:09.251
Yeah.
385
00:21:09.811 --> 00:21:10.932
No, no, that's true.
386
00:21:10.952 --> 00:21:11.452
It's true.
387
00:21:11.772 --> 00:21:15.494
So, like, my family, like, doesn't come with me because it, like, is not good for our family.
388
00:21:16.154 --> 00:21:17.454
And at the end of the day, it's work.
389
00:21:17.514 --> 00:21:21.896
Like, sometimes I'm getting paid and, like, it's work and, like, I have to do a certain thing.
390
00:21:21.936 --> 00:21:23.337
And it can be annoying.
391
00:21:23.357 --> 00:21:27.159
So I try to bring people that understand it and see the fun in it.
392
00:21:27.199 --> 00:21:27.599
We have fun.
393
00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:28.299
I think we have fun.
394
00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:28.719
So much fun.
395
00:21:28.879 --> 00:21:29.140
You know.
396
00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:29.800
It's ridiculous.
397
00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:30.160
Yeah.
398
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.383
So it is just me, but I will say there are people that are...
399
00:21:34.463 --> 00:21:37.426
I know Hangry Houstonian is a big content creator in Houston.
400
00:21:37.446 --> 00:21:38.546
She has an assistant.
401
00:21:39.647 --> 00:21:41.168
And people have managers.
402
00:21:41.249 --> 00:21:42.970
I just like to do my own thing.
403
00:21:44.191 --> 00:21:44.771
I don't think you need it.
404
00:21:44.931 --> 00:21:47.353
At my level, at our level, I
don't think you need it.
405
00:21:48.054 --> 00:21:49.175
So my content for...
406
00:21:50.527 --> 00:21:51.287
40 before 40.
407
00:21:51.667 --> 00:21:53.708
So what year?
408
00:21:53.748 --> 00:21:54.368
2025?
409
00:21:54.388 --> 00:21:55.508
So I would say six years.
410
00:21:55.548 --> 00:21:59.009
My first six years of content was not really location-based.
411
00:21:59.509 --> 00:22:03.149
I kept trying to break into Houston, and I just couldn't do it.
412
00:22:03.169 --> 00:22:04.249
People didn't want it.
413
00:22:04.369 --> 00:22:07.190
The style I was doing, people weren't interested, so on and so forth.
414
00:22:07.650 --> 00:22:11.331
When I was turning 40, I wasn't trying to do anything big on social.
415
00:22:11.391 --> 00:22:16.552
I just thought it'd be fun to do 40 new experiences before I turned 40, like the 40-day lead-up.
416
00:22:17.052 --> 00:22:17.572
And it was...
417
00:22:18.392 --> 00:22:23.156
It was things that I had been putting off, things that were outside the box.
418
00:22:23.256 --> 00:22:24.217
Everything was a new experience.
419
00:22:24.497 --> 00:22:26.559
Like nothing in that 40 days I had done before.
420
00:22:26.999 --> 00:22:28.220
I had never been to those places.
421
00:22:28.260 --> 00:22:29.781
I had never tried that thing before.
422
00:22:30.422 --> 00:22:33.244
And I think what happened, and it blew up, right?
423
00:22:33.264 --> 00:22:39.689
And that's what led to me being, you know, I get a lot of good stuff, right?
424
00:22:39.709 --> 00:22:40.250
Because of that.
425
00:22:40.830 --> 00:22:44.993
And it very much was, I think people love the joy.
426
00:22:45.923 --> 00:22:47.666
It's like this person is having fun.
427
00:22:48.306 --> 00:22:51.331
And also, we're old.
428
00:22:51.451 --> 00:22:51.931
It's wild.
429
00:22:52.152 --> 00:22:52.813
I know, I know.
430
00:22:52.833 --> 00:22:53.373
I know.
431
00:22:54.455 --> 00:22:56.558
No, but like when I, it's wild.
432
00:22:56.578 --> 00:22:57.779
Like when we go to influencer.
433
00:22:57.820 --> 00:22:59.942
My whole brand is based on the fact that we're not old yet.
434
00:23:02.436 --> 00:23:03.457
I'm going to get kicked out.
435
00:23:03.777 --> 00:23:13.644
No, but the reality is like when I, if I'm invited to an influencer event, whether it's like a new restaurant's opening or a Pilates thing or yoga, I am almost always the oldest person there.
436
00:23:13.944 --> 00:23:22.330
And so I think that's what resonated is you have, I'm showcasing things to do in a way that's not that different than the 20 year old, 25 year old doing it.
437
00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:27.473
But people who are middle aged or above are like, Hey, that's a, an actual adult, right?
438
00:23:27.633 --> 00:23:28.755
doing the thing, right?
439
00:23:29.356 --> 00:23:29.997
And having fun.
440
00:23:30.017 --> 00:23:34.063
And I think that is what, at the end of the day, connected with people, you know?
441
00:23:34.083 --> 00:23:36.726
I mean...
You're an actual adult?
442
00:23:37.167 --> 00:23:38.129
I am, I am.
443
00:23:38.449 --> 00:23:39.450
I'm struggling.
444
00:23:39.470 --> 00:23:40.973
I'm still figuring it out, but...
445
00:23:42.195 --> 00:23:47.399
And the before times, but when I was in my 30s, you know, I was in New York.
446
00:23:47.419 --> 00:23:50.801
I was at a Broadway play and someone stopped me and was like, oh, my God, you're the guy who dances with their students.
447
00:23:50.842 --> 00:23:52.563
And I was in L.A. and people recognized me.
448
00:23:53.023 --> 00:23:53.544
And that was it.
449
00:23:53.584 --> 00:23:55.845
I'd have to be like a way to get recognized.
450
00:23:55.905 --> 00:23:57.967
And here, like every day of my life.
451
00:23:57.987 --> 00:23:59.088
Everywhere we go.
452
00:23:59.188 --> 00:23:59.568
Every day.
453
00:23:59.588 --> 00:24:02.931
It's like I could run for mayor.
454
00:24:02.951 --> 00:24:03.391
Yeah.
455
00:24:04.362 --> 00:24:05.123
What do y'all want?
456
00:24:05.143 --> 00:24:06.703
Y'all want me to fill the potholes?
457
00:24:07.244 --> 00:24:08.084
Yeah.
458
00:24:08.164 --> 00:24:08.624
Yeah.
459
00:24:08.644 --> 00:24:09.405
What else do you want?
460
00:24:11.946 --> 00:24:18.310
And honestly, I think this is the thing that no one wants to actually believe or accept about going viral is it is luck.
461
00:24:18.992 --> 00:24:19.612
It's skill.
462
00:24:19.752 --> 00:24:22.353
At the end of the day, you need some skill, but it is luck.
463
00:24:22.413 --> 00:24:30.375
And if you look at the most viral video from everyone in this room who creates content, none of us would say, yeah, that's the thing that would go viral.
464
00:24:30.875 --> 00:24:34.876
Your video with how different generations hit their shoulder on the door.
465
00:24:35.816 --> 00:24:37.676
When you posted that, you weren't thinking 80 million views.
466
00:24:37.696 --> 00:24:38.897
The Snoop Dogg shared that, though.
467
00:24:40.057 --> 00:24:44.298
Right, but like, and it's not the best thing you've done, you wouldn't say, but...
468
00:24:45.313 --> 00:24:46.634
You get right.
469
00:24:46.654 --> 00:24:48.675
Like you just luck sometimes happens.
470
00:24:48.755 --> 00:24:50.637
And like my my niche.
471
00:24:50.677 --> 00:24:58.482
So I don't at the time now, if I made commentary about Centerpoint Energy and the hurricane and what we're doing with, it would make sense.
472
00:24:58.522 --> 00:25:02.385
But like at the time, I was entirely posting classroom content.
473
00:25:02.965 --> 00:25:06.927
And then I just pivoted and was like, I'm dancing in front of a tree that's fallen.
474
00:25:06.967 --> 00:25:07.747
My fence is down.
475
00:25:07.787 --> 00:25:08.468
The tree's down.
476
00:25:08.488 --> 00:25:09.748
I have no power.
477
00:25:09.768 --> 00:25:10.789
I'm in a raincoat.
478
00:25:10.809 --> 00:25:21.934
So I would say if you have those moments where you accidentally go viral or you get that luck and it has nothing to do with your niche, well, it has something to do with something because you posted it, right?
479
00:25:22.394 --> 00:25:25.676
But maybe creating, maybe weaving that into your content, right?
480
00:25:25.776 --> 00:25:26.976
Like that kind of vibe.
481
00:25:26.996 --> 00:25:27.477
Do you agree?
482
00:25:28.608 --> 00:25:29.209
Also, cool.
483
00:25:29.289 --> 00:25:31.151
Welcome to my world.
484
00:25:31.191 --> 00:25:32.432
10,000 people in one day.
485
00:25:32.452 --> 00:25:32.632
Yeah.
486
00:25:32.812 --> 00:25:33.193
Awesome.
487
00:25:33.233 --> 00:25:34.574
Maybe you'll also like this other stuff.
488
00:25:35.495 --> 00:25:37.737
And I guess if not, they can unfollow you.
489
00:25:37.758 --> 00:25:43.023
Well, what I also do is sometimes I will strategically do a throwback video.
490
00:25:43.403 --> 00:25:48.148
So that video, whatever you posted that went viral, post that again in a year.
491
00:25:49.049 --> 00:25:50.791
And 10 months, a year, 14 months.
492
00:25:51.432 --> 00:25:52.793
And do it strategically.
493
00:25:52.834 --> 00:25:57.679
So do it, and then the next day or the day before, post your, like, mission video, right?
494
00:25:57.719 --> 00:25:59.281
Like, the overview of your business.
495
00:25:59.301 --> 00:26:01.203
So on and so forth.
496
00:26:01.223 --> 00:26:04.487
So that you get the views on, you know, the views will pancake.
497
00:26:04.907 --> 00:26:05.728
Not pancake, sandwich.