Uploading... How to Reach 100K+ Followers and Land Your Dream Content Job
Blaine 00:00:02 - 00:01:06
Welcome to uploading the podcast where we take you behind the wheel with the world's best creators, marketers, and professionals who have cracked the code on how to profit through content. You'll learn the ins and outs of content strategy, creation, production, distribution, growth, platforms, tools, and more. If you haven't already, be sure to join Cas magic, the all in one content workspace for professionals. Be sending out tips from our shows in our weekly newsletter, and we've also got a slack community of over a thousand creators, so make sure to drop in and say hello. And now get ready for the show. Welcome to today's episode of uploading, and today we are chatting with Jay Yang, a content creator with over 100,000 followers on social media, and he also serves as the head of content for Noah Kagan, the founder of Appsumo, the most incredible part of Jay's story. He's only 18 years old and has achieved all of this while still attending school. I just chatted with him, and he just headed back to the University of Illinois to kick off the semester, and he's doing this while maintaining great grades as well.
Blaine 00:01:06 - 00:01:32
In this episode, we're going to talk about the frameworks and methods Jay uses to grow his audience, how he landed the opportunity to work with Noah Kagan, and how he balances content creation with a job and school, and ways he thinks about creating really successful frameworks for creating content that helps you grow. So, Jay, I guess without any further ado, I'll let you kick us off. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into this whole world of content in the first place.
Jay Yang 00:01:32 - 00:02:12
Yeah, well, first off, thanks for having me on, Blaine. It's always a pleasure talking with you, but, yeah, it's been quite a journey. I know I may only be 18, but I don't know, it feels like I've lived a decade in the past three years. It's kind of funny. Before this, I was just listening to a podcast I did about a year ago, and a lot of the frameworks and systems that I used back then, I completely forgot about or completely revamped. And so it's been quite a journey. But it started in the summer of 2020 when Covid hit and I was stuck at home. And at the time, I was playing video games for like 5 hours a day, basically rotting away in my room.
Jay Yang 00:02:12 - 00:02:49
And I remember looking at myself one day. I looked in the mirror and I was like, what am I doing with my life? I could probably be doing something more productive. So that's when I literally googled how to make money online. And one of the things was to start a YouTube channel and I started a music promotion YouTube channel where I'd promote underground artists songs to help them get exposure. And while that channel ended up not going anywhere, it did teach me the power of digital leverage and content. And that little old me from my room could actually make a, a serious impact on others. And so that's kind of how I fell into the world of content.
Blaine 00:02:49 - 00:03:19
Amazing. And that's very cool. The fact that you were 14, saying, what, what can I do with my life? I know I was probably, I guess I wasn't really playing video games, but that, that moment maybe didn't hit me until a little bit later, but. So, yeah, what? Talk to me about how you actually then got started. You started reading about it, you started figuring out what you wanted to do, you started working on some of this YouTube stuff. When did you start creating content for yourself? And what were some of those first relationships working with creators? Like, what were your responsibilities? What were you doing? What did you learn?
Jay Yang 00:03:19 - 00:04:12
Yeah, to take a step back while I started my music promotion YouTube channel, at the same time, I also fell into the rabbit hole of self improvement. Right? The whole take cold showers journal workout, wake up early, read self help books, the whole shebang. And what I realized was self improvement is the gateway drug to online business, because when you change your habits, you realize you can change everything else. And it really gave me a sense of agency over my life. I was like, if I can start waking up early, start doing push ups, then why can't I take control of my finances? In my career, I started a portfolio of businesses and I call it my portfolio of failures. You know the YouTube channel. I started Instagram theme pages. I even try to start a clothing brand.