How have you been?

What have you been up to? What's, what's the latest in your life?

Dude, latest in our life and both of our lives is we're both husbands now. But that's, that's definitely the biggest update. Nothing, nothing, none of my work stuff will compare to that moment, which is really cool. So that's the biggest update in terms of what I'm up to right now. For those that don't know, I run a company called Creator X. We're basically a modern day recruiting firm for brands to hire content creators in house. The thesis that I have is that every company that wants to be relevant within culture right now needs to understand how to do social media well in an organic sense rather than being a paid sense because we're so inundated with ads that now you need to be able to watch the content without people paying for it to be watched. So the way that I think companies are going to do that is first and foremost I think they're going to look to find people that really understand how to make content.

Well, that is usually content creators. And so I think we're living in a world now where a lot of companies are going to try and hire content creators on their team. And so we act as the recruiting firm and it's a bit of recruiting, it's a bit of recruiting and a bit of consulting. We act as the first consulting to get you clear on what your company is looking for in a creator and like the content you should be making. And then we go out and find those creators for you, for you to hire as either employees or part time. 1099 to make content for your brand account. So that's what I spend the majority of my time doing. Happy to give background on me or whatever too, but stoked to chat.

Yeah. And one of the reasons I was super excited for this convo is like obviously getting so far into content, there's a couple ways to do it, right? Like there's the creator side where you are the creator building your business, you're trying to figure out the strategy and you're able to turn that content into your business. And then there's the other side where you're running a business and you know that, you know you can create content. You want to put out founder led content, but you know you can grow even faster by bringing in a creator who can like really, you know, be able to scale up your content initiatives alongside you. So I think both of those topics are like super right on the money and where we're going to be focusing the convo. But I'll go ahead and give a little background about, you know, you today's convo and then we can actually just jump right into it. So as you mentioned, JT is the founder of Creator X where they connect brands of all sizes, some even major ones that I don't think JT shouted out. But brands like Microsoft, Skechers and Nissan Power tap into the power of creators to grow organically.

So JT himself is one of my favorite creators, which is why I wanted to bring him on. I think his, his style is super approachable but also very informative. Right. There's a lot of creators who you see and you're like, they're chasing trends, they're not putting out what feels authentic. But like, I think JT does a great job himself as a creator and also knows the creative strategy behind how to run all this. So in today's episode we're going to be breaking down how and why to partner with creators to grow if you're a business, the most impactful strategies and trends for crushing it on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn in 2025 and JT playbook for building a sustainable six figure business as a professional creator. So with that, JT officially welcome to this recording of uploading and yeah, why don't we break it off? Why don't we kick it off from there? So you started with $0 in your bank account and you built a seven figure business in less than a couple years. So why don't you just tell us how it happened for you?

So the quick gist that I Think people need to hear is I went from being a pro athlete to getting into content by posting workouts. So I started filming all of my workouts after I was playing, and I realized, wait, I love making content, but I don't want to be a personal trainer forever. So I would love to get into the business side of things as possibly possible. I saw TikTok coming out. I went really hard on TikTok and just really fell in love with the platform as a consumer. I think a lot of people in here that I'm 32, a lot of people in here that are my age. During the pandemic, TikTok was a thing that they were like, what's going on with this? Maybe I'm having a little bit more fun consuming on this than I am on Instagram. And I had that experience, jumped on TikTok, started seeing some things perform really well, and was like, okay, this is going to be something that everybody's going to use, so how do I make a bigger play on this platform? So I decided to start a content creator house for TikTok creators.

So we put a bunch of people in a house together. We filmed it kind of like MTV Real World, like a docu series style of random people in a house during the pandemic. And it had a bunch of success. We went from zero to a million followers in two months. And because of the growth of that success, E News and Business Insider and a lot of major publications started doing stories on us. So then once we had those stories done on us, companies came to me and were like, can you teach us how to do TikTok? We saw your thing in E. News. We saw the Honey House, which is that TikTok house.

Can you teach our company how to do this? So the first brand that I went and consulted for was Poppy. I'm sure a lot of you guys know who Poppy is, because now they're much bigger than they were when I was starting with them. But we essentially went in and built Poppy's content strategy. So they're organic. TikTok, organic Instagram, just how to resonate with an audience online without needing to pay for it. And through Poppy's video, where the founder was talking about airing on Shark Tank and what her product was, she ended up selling more, more, more cans of Poppy than the day that she aired on the show. And so that, for me, was like an aha moment of, not only is TikTok like a fun platform that I really love consuming on, but it actually can sell product for people like I have a consumer brand telling me now that she just sold more product from a single TikTok that was organic than a day that she aired on one of the biggest shows on television. And so she made introductions to a lot of her friends of, can you consult for other people as well? So I started this consulting firm.

So that was what got me into doing TikTok strategy for brands. Through that, I started realizing a lot of people have the strategies, but they don't have the people to do it. So, like, even people that are listening to this, like, you might actually have the ideas, but when you go to film it, you just don't know the technique, you don't know how to edit, you don't know how to create in an actual capacity. So I, then I started, it started becoming really clear for me that, like, even if people have ideas, they need makers, they need people to do it. And that's really hard to find because no Creators go on LinkedIn, no creators go on Upwork, no creators go on indeed. They just don't go and look the same way that you do as a, as a traditional recruiter. So I just saw, like, there's something really missing here where brands are going to need these creators, and creators also want these kinds of jobs to work within companies. So why don't I go and be the person that can match, make and pair the two? And so that's what we do today.

So we do, we do the strategy still for companies that need organic content strategy, it's not just TikTok anymore, it's all platform. So if you need YouTube, if you need LinkedIn, if you need TikTok, we do content strategy organically. And then the second thing is, if you're actually looking to build that team, we'll go out and find those people for you and help you, like, really build that team.

So getting into organic strategy, the one thing you just mentioned was you were like, this girl created that founder piece of content and it sold more than like, her big day on Shark Tank. So why don't you tell us about, like, why is that in particular, like one type of piece of content that everyone should be creating? And yeah, why don't you just talk about that particular content format and why that it makes it so it's content that people want to watch.

Yeah. Okay, so her, the video that she made was a green screen, which I'm going to talk as if people in here have no idea about content. But green screen is where there's a visual background behind you and then there's like your head talking in front of it. So with her, initially, we were actually like filming these viral ideas. None of them worked. And then I was like, okay, wait, maybe we need to lean into your authenticity, your own story. Your like, the unique angle that you actually have on this product, which is she was pregnant when she started. She ended up going on Shark Tank.

She got a deal with Mark Cuban. And I was like, you have a very. And like, she had started the product because of a pain point. She had like a lot of gut issues. And she ended up creating this in her. Off in her garage. And so I was like, maybe you need to. TikTok is a platform for.

Of authenticity. Maybe you need to lean really into that authenticity of like, what actually got you to here. So why don't you do a green screen, put a photo of you on Shark Tank behind you, and just talk and literally talk like you're talking to a friend. It doesn't need to, because anybody that starts content, you're like, how do I say things? Da da, da, da, da, da. It just becomes a little bit chaotic. And the easiest way to think about it is talk like you're talking on a FaceTime to a friend, especially on a platform like TikTok. Cause that's the way you talk most authentic. So that's what she did.

She literally went on. Hi, my name's Allison. Yes. I got a deal on Shark Tank. And we. I started Poppy. And the reason why I think that works is because we. We get.

We get content fed to us that is so polished and perfected and inauthentic that I think TikTok came out especially at that time and was the polar opposite. They really incentivized people to be as raw, as off the cuff, as natural as possible. And it was like a refreshing thing for everybody because we had seen such different content for so long. So I think that's why that works for anybody that wants to start something like that, especially on a platform like TikTok, where that still is incentivized to be raw and off the cuff. I really do think that you just getting on and telling your story in your own way is a way to get an audience to actually resonate with you and your ideas and what you care about in a pretty low barrier to entry.

Yeah, jt kind of piggybacking off that. Right. I just sent something in the comments, which was a newsletter that you did on the steps to make your first hundred thousand dollars as creator. Right. And the first thing you say is to pick A platform. So you know a lot of people who are like listening and when you're creating content it might be overwhelming, right? There's so many platforms to choose from, there's so many topics to talk about. Like how do you get started? How do you pick a platform that's right for you? Is the platform TikTok? Should you be on LinkedIn? Like how do you decide where to start?

There's always. So there's moments where there's like really big opportunity where it's like people are, there's there where the supply and demand is off kilter, where there's so much opportunity for you to be there. And that was TikTok three years ago. So like if you were on TikTok in 20, 19, 20 and 21, there was very little people posting but so much people consuming that it was like you had a real chance of getting a hundred thousand views within your first five videos. It's so much harder right now. And across the board on many different platforms there's less of that opportunity than there was three years ago. But saying that I still do think that there is a. There's a couple different places where there's opportunities.

One is LinkedIn, literally LinkedIn video. Right now they're just starting to really push video on LinkedIn. And so if you're somebody that creates business minded content or a lot of probably founders listening to this, if you're a founder going and telling your story about your brand and what you're trying to build, they're really pushing video on the platform. And most people that Even thinking about LinkedIn is used for work. So most of the people don't post because they don't want their colleagues to see them. Beyond that, the people that do post, it's usually you're posting accolades or posting big moments of your career that are updates for the your work colleagues. So there's like even less people that are posting video trying to build an audience. So I do think that there's an opportunity there and there probably will be for some time for people to go and create video on LinkedIn it's less of an opportunity than it was on TikTok because of there's not as many people consuming.

But I still think for the founders that are out there, LinkedIn is a great opportunity to know where you should go. I always ask people like what do you enjoy the most? Where are you, where are you consuming the most yourself? And where do you feel like you would naturally fit in with the way that you create? So if you like review. If you like consuming on X and you like writing a lot, I would go and try and create on x or on LinkedIn rather than going and trying to be a tiktoker. If you like creating video and you're long winded and you really like telling stories, I would consider going and creating on YouTube or podcasts rather than going and trying to be an X creator. So I think you gotta just ask yourself, like, what's the stuff that I enjoy? What do I feel like I'm good at? What are my, what's my natural skill set? And then that's the step that you take.

Yeah, I think LinkedIn is super interesting at the moment. Like what you're saying in terms of videos, like, right, right on it. Just anecdotally, even the stuff that we've been doing. So you know, kind of what our content strategy for video has been recently has been basically doing these interviews with you. Right. Or people like you. And then what we do is rather than just chop up clips to try to make them make sense, we'll kind of watch the interview, see what works, and then go back and rerecord hooks and then combine that into a video. And I just did one of these last week and it did like 600,000 impressions on LinkedIn and it like blew up.

And it was if it was a piece of content that felt good, it felt like I was like sharing something value. And you know, when you're like having a conversation, there's so many moments and like getting the perfect clip is often like hard to do and it may be hard to find. But if there's a bunch of value being said and you can go back and you can maybe rerecord the hook and the way you're framing the question, you tee it up for the person creating like, that's just a strategy that I've been using that I've been seeing success with on LinkedIn. So for anyone who's listening, you might want to want to give that. That.

I actually like that. I think this, this is going off off topic maybe and diving into what you were just saying a little bit more. But one of the things that we've been testing lately is I do a handful of podcasts and a lot of the podcasts I'm talking about the same kind of subjects, but I say them in different ways. And so my editing team now is going back to multiple different podcasts and looking at the ways that I've said things and making one video by pulling 5 seconds from one 15 seconds from another, 20 seconds from another, and then like you said, putting a hook at the beginning, and then it going into multiple different podcasts all around the same topic and kind of piecing it together like a remix of some sorts.

Just I feel like, no, it's, it's super cool. And I think it's just, I think your first point was sort of like, you want to go where the attention is and like, you kind of have to do some different things to stand out. Right. And you know, when podcasting became a big thing, everyone was just like grabbing a simple clip, posting it, and when no one was doing that, that was performing really well. But now, like you're saying there's a little bit more competition for attention, so you want to just be more thoughtful about like the content you're putting out, make sure it feels authentic to you. And you can test a couple of different formats. So that one's a really cool idea of what I've been saying has worked for me. And I'm sure, you know, everyone in the audience has a couple other good ideas as well.

The next thing that you were talking about was engaging with your niche. Right. Give it like, let's just use the example of like LinkedIn or TikTok. Let's say, like, we want to get started on one of those platforms. What do you mean by engage with your niche? What do you, what do you have to do and how does that help you grow as a creator? That's getting started out.

Yeah. So if you start with zero followers and you're trying to build an audience and you now know, okay, I want to be in the fitness community, the first thing that I think people should do is go and get inspiration from leaders in that community. Whose accounts do you really enjoy that you could see yourself being somewhat similar to? And I don't think, I don't think of it in a way of like, let's go copy that person. I think of it like, let's go and make friends with everybody that's in their audience. Because if that person has an audience of fitness minded people and you love their content, there's a really good chance that that audience is also going to be the audience that you're trying to get to follow you and care about you. So I like to look at it as relationship building. I think you go in the comment section, I think you actually jump in on comments. Comment sections are like, it's like being at a coffee shop and everybody's talking about some single topic and going around and saying, hi to people and being like, let me jump in this convo, let me jump in this combo.

So I look at comment sections where somebody's answering, somebody's asking questions. If you actually are a fitness professional and you know the answer to that question, jump in that comment section and answer that question for that person. If you answer four or five questions in a comment section, then anybody else is going and looking through the comments and they see one person answering five questions with legitimate answers, there's a really good chance that those people are going to click on your profile and go and see what you're about. And that's the game. You're trying to get people to actually care about you in an authentic and genuine way where they actually want to spend time on your profile. So I think the first thing you do is you find somebody, you go jump in their comment sections, you give real love, you give real love to them, who's making the content as well, for them to be like, yo, who is this person? Let's pay attention to them.

Yeah, and kind of like jumping away from there. One thing you just mentioned was like, the profile, right? And I know you have like a framework for optimizing a social media profile because like, you're saying you're commenting now, someone might click on your profile, they're going to see who you are. How do you optimize a social media profile for, you know, growing your personal brand or your content?

What do you say? Optimized? Do you mean like bio and stuff like that?

Yeah, it's like, I think you had an example on your Instagram or whatever where you would pin a couple different things, like up top, like, about me or like on your LinkedIn, right? Like you structure it with your headline and your cover image and all that sort of stuff so people are going to know what you're about.

Like how exact about that. That's the, that's the line. So your profile needs to give, give off exactly what you're about for anybody that comes onto it. So you don't need to overthink it. I think that there's a lot of, like, there's. We're very deep in the, like, nuance of strategy with organic content. People are posting things about like, you need to post at like 11:27am every day. I think that that's, I think that that's a little bit too detailed and I think that that pulls away from the actual energy of enjoying creating.

But what I will say is just thinking about communication, when somebody goes to your page, if they don't know what you're about, how do you expect them to follow you? So you need to actually, you need to make it as clear as possible what you stand for, what they're going to get by coming to your profile and following you. How they can partake in anything that you're about. Like if you, if you're a business and you're selling a product like writing in your bio, buy you can get my product here or click the link to, to find more. Like just making it clear communication, how people can actually understand more about you. And then what you were just saying. Blaine of the pinned posts. Pretty much every platform that has short form video now even LinkedIn which is in written style allows you to like pin 1 to 3 of your posts to the top of your profile. What a lot of people do is they pin their highest performing content to show as like a way.

Like this is the things that I've done. What I actually think people should do rather than trying to show their highest performing content is pin three different things that may that are like about you. So what I pin is like a who I am video. The next one is like a what my company does. And like the third one is like how I can help you. So it's like three different styles of informative videos that right when people come on my page, it's like a, it's like a banner that people can click on and that becomes informative to them that they watch. And it doesn't matter if those videos get a ton of views. It can get viewed by the right people who then know who I am and then actually get to decide if they want to work with me or hang out and spend more time on my profile.

Sweet. So now that we've like optimized our profile, we're kind of engaging in the comments. You know, you also have this thing about creating a signature series. Why don't you tell us a little bit about what is a signature series? How do you come up with one? And why would it like why is it a good thing to do.

The same way that you were talking before of like everybody needs to be able to stand out. Like the, what most people do when they jump on a new platform is they go and look at what everybody else is doing and then try and do that. And I think that there's, there's good in that, in like the sense of like seeing what's performing to get information from it. But what you really want to be known for is something that people can talk about. You in your own unique way. So going and trying to copy somebody else verbatim isn't going to get that for you. And what I mean by a signature series is a recurring piece of content that has, like, multiple parts to it that gets people to actually want to watch the next one, which makes them follow you. So if it's like.

If it's like, one of the brands that I think has done a good job is Immy Ramen. I know there's probably a lot of CPG people in here, and so Immy Ramen is like a cup of noodles brand that they started this, like, Ramen on the street, where it's like a creator going and interviewing people and talking about, like, heartfelt moments in life in a way that is unique. It's like part one, part two, part three, part four. And, like, if people watch that one video and they see part four, it makes them go, oh, wait a minute, I want to see part three or part five. So this will make me consider following them. And so what a signature series is for you is you got to think of what is something that's unique to me that I would enjoy creating, that I think my audience would enjoy consuming, that I can redo multiple times over and over. And for your. What it does for your own personal wellbeing and your team's wellbeing is you also get better at it each time.

And you're not waking up being like, what am I filming today? You wake up and you like, okay, we're going to do number seven of this series, and tomorrow we're going to do number eight of this series. So it just makes it a little bit easier and gives a little bit more structure. So, yeah, I think you should really try to develop your own signature series.

Yeah. And I think it just goes back into, like, what you were saying about building a content strategy.

Right.

Like, if you've got a signature series, it makes it a lot easier than waking up and being. Scanning the Internet and seeing what else is working and then being like, oh, let me try to fit my content into that framework. And then it's like you're starting from scratch every single time. Whereas when you've got a signature series, you. It's like you're getting better and better and better. And not only that, your audience, rather than starting from zero, is actually becoming more familiar with you. They know people are.

Yeah, let me give everybody an example, just because I know a lot of people probably know the Costco guys that are like, we bring the boom. They literally went to Costco and started saying that word boom for 50 videos, maybe even more than that, before they started really popping. And now they're on Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon and like, all these, they're like massive, massive, massive creators now because they created that signature series of them going, doing Costco reviews and creating different content around it. And so it's just like, I promise you, if you go and look at any creator that you follow, the reason why you follow them or the reason why they're so big is because they had one thing that they did consistently that ended up getting traction, and it might be their, like, fifth iteration of a series. Like when we do, when we do content strategy with brands, I try to create three or four different series for us to try consistently. And it's like, Monday we film series one, Tuesday we film series two, Wednesday we film series three, and like, we run with these for the next two or three months to see which, which one hits and then we change the other two that don't. So, yeah, dive into your own series.

Cool. And then I guess, piggybacking off that, like, when you've got a signature series, you've got baked in consistency in some way. But why can you tell us a little bit about consistency, why it's important as a creator, and how you kind of avoid burnout? Because I think we've all been there, everyone's been there. It can feel super overwhelming. You're like, oh, my God, I have to create today. I've got to publish something. Like, why is consistency important? And how do you stay away from burnout?

I think the metrics is what really throws people off and gets people to stop. So the way that I think about it is, like, you got to really find intentionality with the content that you're creating. And if that's like finding purpose in it, helping somebody, if that's like you really enjoying making it yourself, if that's like it allowing you to express yourself in some way. You gotta find something beyond the vanity metrics that gets you to show up and create every day because you don't control the algorithm. And there's not one creator that's been that's big that has not gone through up and down dips of their content, really performing and then not really performing. And so I just think that the way to stay consistent is to, like, find enjoyment in it and whatever that is for you. If that's like you and your team, if you do have a team that you're creating with, collaborating together and in that room While you're creating, just really finding fun in it and, like, really, like, hyping each other up and making each other feel good about what you're creating before you even press post. That's something that I think is important.

Or if it's you and you're a solo creator, it's like you. What I try to do is, like, I try to picture the person that I'm helping on the other side of the screen that I'm making content for and being like, even if one person sees this, if they. If one person sees this and gets stoked on it, then I'm going to feel good with it because this is like, I'm actually helping somebody. So I just think you need to really lean into more of, like, why am I doing this? And what's the other things, aside from the final outcome that could help me get through the day to day?

Yeah. One of my favorite, you know, ways of thinking about it is like, when. When you can have something other than just, like, the pure numbers that helps drive you as a creator, it becomes a lot easier, right? Because then you're not as focused on, like, oh, like, that content didn't perform and like, now I'm like, down on myself. It's like, no, I actually enjoyed making that. Maybe one person saw it, maybe I didn't see it in the numbers. Because you just, like, people who are consuming your content, they just become numbers to you, and it becomes hard to realize. But, like, if you're enjoying making that content, if you're proud of it and it's gonna. If you think it can even help one person put it out, stay consistent, and over time, that'll be the best way to grow.

Wait, before you jump to the next one. Perspective is really important with that because I think we lose sight of how big size audiences are. And I think if anybody here that is listening to this were to get a call and get invited to an elementary school classroom or a high school classroom to tell your story and what you're up to and be interviewed by a teacher for a room of 25 people, a lot of people would be like, oh, shit, that's. That's like a pretty big deal to me. To have a college class or a high school class getting interviewed, that's 25 to 35 people. But when you see 25 to 35 views on a video, you literally think you are a failure at life. And I think the perspective is important because even on a bigger scale, if you get 10,000 views on a video and you're like, okay, this is all right, but I want a hundred thousand. Ten thousand views.

Is a professional sports team, full audience, you know, So I just think there's a real perspective that needs to happen. And I think if more people spent time really thinking about, okay, I might have gotten 375 views on this. But if these 375 people are diehards about this content, this is going to improve and this is going to get better. And I can feel really good with what I'm doing. So I think I really try to push people to just, like, like, practice that perspective of the viewership.

Oh, a hundred percent. And, like, one of the reasons that we actually started moving this show to, like, a live format is I was like, I love it. Like, there's over 100 people here right now with us, like, live. Which is, like, a totally different feeling to, like, when you're having a podcast.

And you're like, oh, I don't know.

If anyone's really listening right now. And then it goes live and those people are listening. So, you know, I think having the perspective, like, people are tuning in. People are listening to you. Like, just because you get only a couple different views, like, that perspective is awesome. A video does 10,000 views, that's like a professional sports arena. Like, that's wild, right? And sometimes you can see people post a TikTok and be like, oh, it only did 10,000 views. It's like, that's.

You're doing great. So, yeah, perspective is. Perspective is everything. The next thing you talk about is monetization, right? And that's obviously a topic that a lot of creators are going to want to think about when it comes to creating content. Creating content. You create content, you grow in so many different ways, from relationships to leads. It grows your business, it grows your brand. But ultimately, people want to see return in some way.

So how do you think about, you know, turning content into profit? How do you think about monetization? When do you monetize? How do you approach that?

I think a lot of people want to monetize too soon. This goes back to. This goes back to literally, number one, if in step one, your goal of content is literally just to make money from it, I think you're going to be in a bad place because it's not easy. And the people that actually make money from it find enjoyment in the process of what they're doing. So I think that literally on day one, I would be like, I need to find a way to actually enjoy this. Beyond that, when you actually Start building a community and you're spending time, remember that comment section, like getting in the comment section with other people. Then when you start posting content, getting in your own comment section and talking to people in your own dms and with your community being like, what do you like about my content? What could I do more of? How did this help you? When you start doing feedback with that, you start to learn, like, what people are looking for. And like, a lot of people would be like, you know what? Like, I'm using the fitness fitness example because I use that before.

I'm really curious about what protein you use because I can't find a protein that I like and I just would love to hear more about that. And then you go out and you like, start making content around protein because you're like, my audience is going to like this. So the first thing is getting feedback from your audience as to what they want more. Then once you do that, I think it's very applicable for you to reach out to the brands that you are talking about in an organic way, like the brands that you already are talking about and saying, hey, here's the videos that I've made, the posts that I've made about your product. I use it every day. I would love to share it with more of my audience because my audience is asking me in DMS about the protein that I use. And like, I would literally send a screenshot in that email of a DM from somebody in my community saying, what protein do you use to show this protein brand that there's demand from my audience? And I think that's the way that you go about it. Like, that's the way that I would go and structure, go and lock in brand deals.

And that would be the first thing that I would do to monetize, would be brand deals rather than launching my own product.

Awesome. Moving forward, one thing that you had recently talked about, I think this is the newsletter you published yesterday. You were talking about longer form organic content, right? So we've talked a bunch about short form. We've talked about posts on like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Short form, how do you break down a story? How do you hook people? But talk to me a little bit about long form organic content. Where are we going with that? What are you seeing? Why do you like it?

I like long. I like YouTube long form because the longer that you spend with somebody, the more you're able to actually relate to them and understand them. And therefore, as a business, it's a much better, bigger builder if you get people to spend more time with you where they have undivided attention. YouTube is one of the only platforms as of right now that people typically go to and give their full undivided attention. Whereas a lot of people are scrolling on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. But it's very mindless, it's very like passive. Whereas YouTube, you're usually going on YouTube with some sort of intention of either you know what you're going to watch, you're going to search for something, or because you've already followed certain people, the things that are going to get shown to you are things that you know that you're going to want to watch. Whereas if you go on, if you go on TikTok or Instagram, because it's now interest based, most of it is things that you're not following and people that you're not following and things that you might what might like.

So I think that long form on YouTube is a great play for everybody that is really trying to build long term. It's much harder to hold somebody's attention for 30 minutes than it is for 30 to 60 seconds. So I think that's why it becomes discouraging for a lot of people. But it's the biggest, it's the biggest brand builder and the biggest long term business builder. So that's why I think YouTube is really smart for anybody that wants to dive into it.

Yeah. And it's something that we've been playing around with a bunch for uploading, for cost magic. But it requires a bunch of strategy. But a couple of reasons that we really like it is like you were saying, there's the search intent. So like when someone's searching for, for something they're going to land on your video and there's a bunch a series of questions that are going to be related to that topic that they're searching. So there's actually a lot of parallels between YouTube strategy and like traditional SEO where you're answering all the questions for around a particular topic. But I think to your point, holding attention is super important. So when you're creating that video it's not just like, you know, the one hook and you're done.

It's constantly being able to keep the listener engaged, re hook them throughout the video. And you know, if you can maintain that attention, the two benefits, like one, like you were saying, they're with you for a longer amount of time, but being with a creator for a longer amount of time, they're actually going to get to know you. There's that parasocial relationship which is going to develop a lot more than if they just see like you're saying a 32nd or 22nd short. That could be anyone creating that content, they're like oh, haha, that's funny. And like they forget about it. Right. So I think like you're saying there's a lot of opportunity but like also on the same time there's a lot of strategy involved in terms of the creative, the hook, the title, the thumbnail, the concept, the rehooking. There's just a bit more strategy.

It is a long form piece of content, but if done well, it can be absolutely massive.

Yeah, I agree. And the last thing I'll say is YouTube is evergreen. Whereas TikTok or Instagram, I don't think there's anybody here that has gone and clicked on a profile and scrolled back, you know, six months to a year and watched videos. Whereas on YouTube that happens all the time where you're getting recommended old videos or you're going and actually looking back into historical content. So it's another thing that if you, if you have a product that you can make evergreen content around, I think doing that on YouTube is a really smart play.

Awesome. So a couple last questions that I've got for you and then we can jump into the qa. But I want to talk to you a little bit about your personal content strategy. Right. Like we've reviewed it for like what you need to do as a creator, but talk to me about your current setup, how you're thinking about content, what does your day to day look like? Like what are you creating about?

Just.

Yeah, how are you thinking about content these days? What's your setup?

Yeah, so I'm actually like right now I'm in a bit, I'm in a bit of like a, not a transition but just like switching things up. Because with Creator X, so all of my businesses have been built to my organic content. Everything that I'm talking about with you guys is literally what I was doing to get me to the place that I am with my own businesses. That's a double edged sword for me because all of it is reliant on me making content. And I would like to venture into additional topics other than content strategy, which is what my videos are typically about is business and content strategy and, and the creator economy. And I want to add in a lot more life, like my actual day to day life. Like we just talked about, I got married and like things like that. So right now what I'm actually Thinking about is what is our content strategy as our brand? So we just started Creator X on Instagram.

We just started filming with the. One of the things that I am doing is I film a vlog on YouTube that is creator X film focused. And that's been going now for probably about five or six months. So that's a big piece of it for us. That's our series. But I'm really thinking about like, what is, what is the way that I want Creator X to show up in the world as a business for our content. So all the conversations that I'm telling you guys is the same thing that I'm sitting with my team and being like, what's going to be our series for Creator X? If it's not me on my personal brand talking about content strategy, what is it? Who do we go and find as a creator? Who is our team that's going to be doing this? So that's where I'm spending a lot of my time. And then on my personal brand, I'm just having a lot of fun.

I'm like posting things about my, my personal life. I'm testing out different ideas. I'm spending a lot of time on Instagram, I'm still creating a lot on LinkedIn and I'm focusing a lot more on YouTube. So that's where I'm at right now.

Sweet. And talk to me about like your editing setup. One thing that you mentioned was like, you know, any idea. It's like one thing about having an idea about content, it's another like bringing it to life. So talk to me about like how you film, do you batch your content? How do you come up with like content ideas? And then what does your team set up look like to be able to, you know, create for all these platforms?

So I have one person that helps me with video edits that's remote that I just started using about five months ago. And so he'll help me with any short form video or some of the YouTube long form. Anything that has a formula to it that isn't like, I'm just feeling it in the moment and this is how I'm editing it. Anything that I can actually teach him to do, I'll teach him so that he can create the additional edits. So I do have somebody that helps me with edits. I also have somebody that helps me with my newsletter because I have a newsletter that is Creator X focus. It's called extra value, extra-value.com if you want to check that out. And I have somebody that Helps me with that.

So he'll help pull different topics for the week for me to give my own thoughts on. Aside from those two, the rest of the content is me. So the structure for my week is this Monday. I usually am doing writing, so I'm reviewing our newsletter. I'm writing my own part of the newsletter. I'm reviewing edits from editors, I'm writing captions to those edits, and I'm scheduling content first throughout the week. Throughout the week. Tuesday, I focus only on Creator X, my business.

So that's when we're filming our vlog. Every week we have our team in the office. We schedule a lot of meetings on that day on Tuesday to like really batch a full day of a vlog. Wednesday, I write out ideas for me to film for my personal brand and, and. And a YouTube video for my personal brand as well. And then Thursday, I do all my filming on Thursday. So Usually Thursday from 11 till 6pm is just filming for me trying to film like 10 to 15 different videos in one day. And then Friday is spillover.

So anything that I need to do on Friday, I do. If I. If I'm editing something myself, if I need to write different things for the newsletter, if I need to review content from editors, I do that all on Friday. And that's the way that I structure my week. And if ebbs and flows, it's not perfect, but I try to maintain that, to have some level of consistency.

Awesome. I know we've got a bunch of Q and A, so I think let's go ahead and let's start getting right into it. So one, this one I actually like. And then Shin, why don't you help me, like, moderate. But I'm going to start with Miele's question because. So jt, you just mentioned you've got your content, which is all about like business building and content strategy and all that sort of stuff. And now you're trying to work in some more of your personal life. Emil has the kind of opposite situation where he's got a personal brand with 27,000 followers on Instagram.

Originally, they followed him for his lifestyle and he's trying to get more into entrepreneurship and is having a harder time to pivot into it. And he's had friction because some of the followers who originally followed him for lifestyle weren't following for entrepreneurship. What do you suggest? Should he start a new profile or do you have any ideas here? Yeah, I think that I would do.

There's two things I would do. One would be I would really Try and communicate to my existing audience how important entrepreneurship is to me and how it's integrated into my lifestyle and is a big part of my life. If they're following already for your lifestyle and entrepreneurship is a big part of your life, I would really try to get them to see what you see in entrepreneurship, to get them to care about it. Because at the end of the day, the algorithm is people. So if those people can end up seeing that video and then caring about it, it's going to start showing it to more and more and more of them. So I would really try to communicate to them in all different ways, in stories, in captions. Like, if you're posting a lifestyle video that would perform before I would post that video in the caption, I would literally start it with, guys, I am trying to incorporate more business and entrepreneurship into my lifestyle videos. It's such a big part of my life.

Would you please, if you see one of those videos, engage with it? Because I want to incorporate that more for you and just see if that works. I would give it, like, maybe I would give it like 2 months or like 50 videos to see if that changes. And then if it doesn't change, I would create a new account that's specifically for your business because the algorithms are so specific that when I was doing a couples account, and with my couples account, I had the same thing where I was like, I want to transition to business and start talking about content and education. And I did exactly that. I tried for about a month, and every single video I made was like, guys, I really want to. I want to talk more about business. And it was. It just became down to the platform being so specific that if you have been building in one niche for a long period of time and you really have built an audience in that, and now you're trying to switch over to a different one.

Sometimes it can just be too hard to, like, recalibrate that algorithm, that it might just be easier for you time and energy to start something new. So that's my answer. I would give it time. And then if it doesn't work in that short amount of time that you give it, then I would start something else.

And then with that said, jt, do you think you could take those videos that you've tried, like, say it doesn't work? Could you take those videos and, like, repost them on a new account? Or are you going to get flagged for something like that?

What do you think about that? If you're going to repost something, I wouldn't Repost it verbatim. I would cut a second off at the beginning or the end or change the front or change the music because you got to think about it from the tech part of it. They have an analyzer on the back end of the platform that is looking at all of the audio and written content that comes in to see if anybody has posted this before. It's the same way that music rights work on YouTube and things like that. So if you're reposting videos, the exact same and that is getting flagged as, oh, somebody already posted this, it's not going to get viewed. But if you cut off a second of it or change a second of it and now it's original piece, it'll pass that test and it'll have that option to get to get viewed. So I just think you need to change it up a little bit and then you'll be okay.

Perfect.

Okay.

So Jim asks, what do you guys see as the big trends going into early 2025 when it comes to content like green screens, et cetera? So I guess this one's more about content formats and content types. What do you like? I know we, we just talked about longer form, organic, but maybe on the short form and if you're posting on like LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, what, what trends do you like going into 25?

The things that. I think that what I see is I think people leaning really into what they. The platforms that they care about and feel natural to rather than ones of the moment. And I think there's been like I was saying TikTok had like a real moment where I was like, everybody needs to jump on this because there's not that moment right now. And I don't see another platform coming out right now that it's like go and be there. So I feel like one of the things that's going to happen is people are going to realize I got to actually go to where I really enjoy and like want to build my audience and like build on that rather than going where you think you need to be. I think another thing is shows. I think, I think we've been talking about this signature series.

I think that those continue to level up. I see more people, companies investing into what does it look like on short form if we were to be creating the next Wild and Out or the next MTV Real World or the next like really specific show, Survivor, like really leaning into tradition, traditional TV shows done in a short form manner, what does that look like for us? So I think that that more will go into leaning into those signature shows. I think. I think journalism is another thing that I'm seeing. You just mentioned green screen. I think there's this moment where independent journalism is now a TikTok creator or an Instagram creator with a green screen behind them talking about a topic that's going on in the world. So I think that rather than. I think that there's a moment for anybody that wants to be a broadcast journalism type creator in their niche, going and finding trending topics and giving their own POV on it.

Um, I think that there's a real moment for that where a lot of people are looking at those as, like, ind, as like, thought leaders. So I see that being a thing. Yeah, those are some of them off the top of my head. Sweet.

Um, and this one's for Boris. Jt, I don't know if this one is as much in your wheelhouse. I've got a couple ideas on here too, but Boris asks, which platform should I use for a new podcast guest outreach? I'm planning on inviting a hundred big influencers in the vet space. Can I use my other podcast account with 29,000 followers, my LinkedIn with 900, or email? Note, I have no audience on TikTok or Instagram.

If I was building a podcast today, I would. I would go. I would. I would start with people that will say yes to the pod, and I would send them a DM and send them a. An email, and I would just start small with getting anybody that I can get on the pod, and I would start reaching into more people that. That are probably a little bit more, like, out of my wheelhouse. And the way that I would get them on it is by having a unique angle or a unique story for them to resonate with. So I don't know what the pod is about, but I think if you're coming at it in, like, a unique way, if your email just says, I have a podcast, would love for you to be on it.

I have no guests and we have no audience, I think it's going to be hard to get guests. But if you have, like, a unique way of doing the podcast where it's like, like hot ones, like, it's like, we do I meet you at, like, a brewery, or I mean, we do it in the sauna or we like something unique, I think that that's a really easy way to get guests because a lot of people are getting hit up for podcasts. And if, if you have a unique spin on it or if you yourself have a Unique story. I would lean with. I would lean in with that. This is my story. Here's why this podcast means a lot to me. I would really appreciate if you would jump on.

And I think you get people that way.

Yeah. And another thing, Boris, that I've sort of seen just from doing this, growing several podcasts and that we're sort of seeing now is like, there is a lot of fatigue if the concept for the podcast or whatever you're recording is just like, guest, guest, guest, guest, guest. So kind of the way that we sort of approach it is, you know, either I'm bringing in someone who has, like, insane domain expertise. Maybe they don't have the biggest audience, but we can, like, absolutely, like, crush the domain expertise and share that story, or they've got a big audience and like JT said, there's a really specific angle that they can pull. But I think knowing that, say, you want to approach a hundred big people in the vet space and have a guessing show, that would just be like, one of. One of my tips is just like, rather than just playing in the middle and we're just being like, oh, I'm doing guest interview, guest interview for everyone. Just make sure you've got a strategy and you kind of, like, think about the different buckets there. Otherwise that format can get a little bit tiring.

So let's see. Sky says, I'm not big into speaking as much as writing. What about using AI for voice content overlaid with authentic video? So this is interesting. We see a lot of, like, AI stuff coming up in content. I mean, I even have friends that are, like, literally creating content of themselves, like, fully and like, hey, Jen. And doing crazy stuff. So Jill's core, what do you see is I want to hear more about.

I want to hear more about that.

Oh, yeah, well, dread you can get Diego on for that. But, um. Yeah. So what do you think about this in general? AI for voice content overlaid with authentic video. Is that a viable format If. If, you know, you're not into speaking? What do you think?

The way that I feel about everything is if the barrier to entry is so low, it's going to end up getting. It's going to end up getting watered down. So the way that I feel about AI is the people that actually really do it with intentionality and have talent and do it in a unique way will rise to the top. A lot of people that jump in on AI just because it's easy or it's accessible or it's because they don't. Yeah. Like, I'll use the word easy. I think a lot of those people will get thrown in with a lot of others. Just like anybody that jumps on TikTok and is trying to go viral by doing trends, it's like, that's the easiest thing.

That's the barrier to entry. It's going to be really hard to stand out that way. So that's the way that I feel about any of the AI generated things, if you're doing it in your own style. Like, there's a. There is a Instagram account that has really popped off in the marketing world called. I think it's called Repute Forge. R E P U T E Repute Forge. And they use an AI voice in their storytelling videos.

And it's like marketing stories about Coca Cola and things like that. And their whole thing is done with faceless and with an AI voice over top. And because they've done and because they were the first person to do it that way, and it was in the voices unique. And their stories are actually legitimate where if somebody was speaking over top of it, those videos would perform the same way it works. But if somebody else goes and uses that voice and it's just, you know, them riffing off of the cuff, I don't think that it works that way. So I think AI, I think the AI voice is a tool. And I think my question would be like, what is the rest of your content?

Yeah, and I agree. And just following up there, I think that, you know, you want to see what the content looks like on the other side, and it's got to have some sort of personal angle or touch. So even in the instance that I just gave you, jt, of my buddy Diego, who's creating all this account, where he's like, literally created himself to create content, it's not like he's just pulling that clip out and posting it. That post still goes into post production with his editors. They clip it up. They make sure that, you know, it makes sense as a concept in a video. So, like, AI is part of the workflow in terms of streamlining one portion that he doesn't like to do, which is like recording himself all the time. So, sky, to your question, if you don't like speaking and you're like, hey, I think this will help.

You know, maybe you come up with a unique voice on something like 11 labs, and you make sure the content looks good, and then you can put your time and effort into the hook, the concept, the visuals and all that. And if you get a piece of Content that starts to work and you're happy with it, then you know, it can definitely start to work as, as we've sort of seen. Um, okay, moving forward, when you post clips, this from Travis. When you post clips from your podcast, do you add a musical score to it or do you post the clips as is? Which allows others to score it and repost it how they like it? Um, yeah. So, jt, maybe in terms of like how you do your own podcast clipping and remixing that you were talking about, how do you do that? Do you score it, do you add your music or do you.

Depends, depends on what it is. Like, like there's some, there's some videos that I think I need to post completely raw with no audio over top, no editing at all, maybe captions, but that's it. And then there's other videos where it's like, oh, this is actually a little bit more emotionally compelling of what I'm talking about, that if I add a sound to it, it would probably pull people in a little bit more. Mike, the answer to all the questions that you're asking is usually like, what will my audience like more? Like, does this make them resonate with what I'm talking about on a deeper level or does it pull from that? And if it pulls from that, then I don't do it. So I think it depends on the clip and depends on what I'm talking about.

Sweet. Okay, this one's from Joanne. LinkedIn. 916 or 16. Nine for me, it's been nine, 16 I've seen. I don't know about you.

I think every. So the way I think about it is, like, it's also a business. And the business model for all these platforms right now is we gotta become good at video. Meaning, like, we gotta be a platform that people wanna post video to because we want more creators here because they bring in more people to the platform. And so if you're LinkedIn right now and you're seeing, okay, TikTok is vertical, Instagram is vertical, YouTube is now integrated vertical. Like they're gonna be pushing vertical as well to not make you go left field, to not get. To get less people on the platform. So I think I would push 9, 9 by 16 on LinkedIn as well.

Cool. Let's see. Alex has a question about AI and agentic workflows that allow you to balance your work life. Balance. What are your main tools besides cast magic? The same save time, hassle and create more strategic workflows. So do you work with any creator Tools you work with any AI? Have you thought about any AI agents and bringing those into your workflows just yet?

In terms of content, there's a couple of things that Cap Cut has that like, allow you to edit like a little bit quicker. But to be honest with you, like, I don't think I'm at the, I don't think I'm at the point right now where I am needing more time with things to be. To, to remove from my plate, to need something like AI to use for the editing process. So I think if I didn't have an editor, I probably would be leaning into more of those things. But right now it's, it's, it's just me ripping it and having no problems with it.

Yeah. And then Alex, on, on my end, it's something that, like we're thinking a lot about in Gas Magic, right? Like, if Cast Magic is like your platform for managing your content strategy, like, what do agents, what can they help you with? Right? Can they help you do research? Can they help you, you know, can they help you script? Can they help you do all these different things? So those are all things that we're looking at to build. I think it's pretty early in the space in general in terms of agents, but I think over the next year we're going to see a lot of really, really interesting stuff. So, so stay tuned for more agency workflows, especially when it comes to content. Um, and then Alex also follows that up with what kind of data or metrics are you keyed into when looking at developing a brand strategy? How do you collect, store that data? Is privacy a concern?

What kind of data or metrics are you keyed into when looking at developing brand strategy? How do you collect or store that data? Um, is it develop what I would love to know, is it developing my own brand strategy or another brand's strategy?

I guess we could just start with, you know, you for yourself and your own content, right? Like, what are you looking at when it comes to. Are you looking at comments? Are you looking at engagement? Are you looking at questions like what are.

Yeah, I think things that we talked about. I think I, I think that all, like when I'm going to build out a new series, I'm going and looking at historically, what have people watched on my account in the current moment? What are people asking me in my comments and in my dms? And then like, what am I seeing in the world that I like, like, if I'm scrolling or if I'm in my industry, what am I, looking at that, I think there might be a play for me to jump in on in my own way. So I think it's a mix of those things in terms of like storing them. I honestly I, I don't even know how I would answer that. Um, but yeah, I think it's the things that we talked about of like really looking deeper into your own community. Perfect.

And last question here is from Boris. Back to the podcasting stuff. So he did, he launched a podcast yesterday with a hundred downloads. How do I get a sponsorship from someone in the health space? Or health or chewy? I can build a website and media kit recording three guest episodes this weekend.

I think you need to really focus further on the community and building the audience before monetizing and looking at sponsorships because I, I know for a fact that reaching out to a big company with 100 downloads is going to be a hard bargain and is probably going to be a waste of your time and energy. So what I would really focus on is keep pushing into the community and buy and getting people to become obsessed with the podcast and then you'll know the moment when people are asking for, for sponsors and different people that can actually monetize.

Yeah. And you know, this is something we've definitely had experience in as well. Like when you're in a niche podcast, you've got the advantage because you've got a long form interview, you've got listeners attention for a long time and brands like that want to go niche and have a niche target are going to.

Want to be all over you.

That being said, to JT's point, like you want to focus right now on growing the audience and then it'll make all the monetization, the discussions, everything like that easier and you won't have to be like going back and forth and then them not wanting to renew. I, so I would, Boris, I would lock in on the content, the growth, the strategy, building that niche, doing all the engagement things that JT talked about and then from there monetization will be a bunch easier. So I guess that's it. Jt, we covered a whole bunch. We went all the way down the rabbit hole on creator strategy. Thank you so much for coming on uploading today. For anyone that's tuning in, why don't you shout out your socials and where we can connect with you?

Yeah. So the company is Creator X. Our website is just Creator X app. Our Instagram. You can find all of my stuff on J.T. barnett. So TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, all J.T. barnett.

Appreciate you guys listening. Really want to encourage you guys to go and start this journey of you creating content for yourself and your business. So glad that I was able to do this with you, Blaine. And great to catch up.

Sweet. All right, man. Have a good one. Thanks for coming on.

All right, guys, later. Thank you.

Bye.