The Secret TikTok Algorithm Tricks That Grew "Dang! That's Awesome" to Millions of Views

In this episode, we sat down with Josh Russell, the guy behind “Dang That’s Awesome.” 

He built a Wisconsin food/travel TikTok to 7.4M views in 8 months, and he actually explains how he did it without the usual fluff.

We get into what’s actually moving the needle on TikTok right now: timing, hooks, why followers aren’t the metric people think they are, and how he turned simple food reviews into real revenue with restaurants and resorts.

His backstory’s just as wild. West Virginia, Green Bay, country rap career, touring… now full-time content and photography. It all connects in a way that makes sense once you hear it.

We also hit algorithm strategy, posting timing, going live locally, pricing your work, sponsored content without selling out, and yes… chicken wings and the “glazing” situation.

Go follow him: @dang.thats.awesome

If you’re running a business or trying to build something online, this one’s worth your time.

Grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and get to know Josh Russell with us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I am so infatuated by the Amish community. It's ridiculous. Like I remember as a kid. Like I grew up in West Virginia when I was a kid. Yeah. And just outside of the area, there was an Amish community. I remember going to buy bread and butter from them. And just ever since then, it's just enthralled me that I want to know so much about them. The um, did you watch the the um Suddenly Amish TV show? I haven't on TLC. They bring like five English, normal, whatever you want to call what do they call them, um, just English folk, yeah, like everyday people into the community to try to that may want to turn into the Amish life. And it's crazy. I love to watch that show. It was it just finished, it's on TLC. It just finished like two weeks ago, and it's really cool. Do a watch party with Miram.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Yeah, Miram. She's so great. She is I learned a lot from that.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah, I there's there's a community in Indiana that's there's there's multiple like versions of Amish. There's like the old world, and there's the um the beachy Amish, and I actually bought my French Bulldog from an Amish community.

SPEAKER_06 1:10

Really?

SPEAKER_02 1:11

So yeah, like, and I went down there and it was crazy because like you'll have one person riding in a buggy next to another Amish person driving a Dodge Rand. Right. So like it's it's just so interesting. It is.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

She kind of explains that in her episode. Um I don't think I listened to that one. No, it's not okay. Oh, I was like, I don't, I I definitely would have listened to this.

SPEAKER_05 1:32

What does she call she calls it um the lower class, middle class, upper class, and then I think there's an upper upper class. So lower class is like who else that you know of this?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

I have watched so many YouTube videos, like multiple hour-long like documentaries about the Amish community and stuff, and I don't know why I'm gonna get as big. Yeah, I don't understand why, but like I just because of so much private culture, it is a private culture, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

So we're and they like they do a lot of holistic like so. I I photograph uh uh this family had a couple home births, and I talked to the midwives, and they said they mainly just do Amish people because they just don't go to hospitals and stuff. And I was always intrigued, like, what do you do when you're sick? What do you do when you have an ear infection? Stuff that like you need an antibiotic for, you know what I mean? And she goes, Oh, we have stuff for all of that. So that's where the book came from.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Well, I know the hospital here in Shawnee has hitching posts for horses and stuff like that. And I'm like, that's crazy, yeah. And not in a bad way, crazy. It's just like no, it is. We were gonna get hitching posts here.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Yeah, we talked about getting hitching. Yeah, like um, I know like Dollar General has hitching posts and stuff, like a lot of the businesses do.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

But let's get into it about you because you're not Amish. I am not Amish, I am the exact opposite. I am tech all the way.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

So you are feeling close to me.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

You tell me.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

You know yourself inside of me. Tell me freely why in your eye.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

So I'm Nicole Fisher. This is my husband.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Keith. Keith what Fisher.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

I watch enough episodes. I I knew, I knew this was coming.

SPEAKER_07 3:38

It's my thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

It's like he doesn't he makes me say it, but we are wearing the same thing as we did back-to-back episodes.

SPEAKER_07 3:42

I feel like I'm not no, we're not. It's different days. I just wear I have three shirts.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

We're getting caught up. Um, but today we have a special guest, and I met him through the TikTok world. Through the world of the tiki-talkie. Yeah. So this is his name is Josh, and I'm gonna let him take it. He's he stopped in and for the bucket. I think it was the bucket.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Absolutely the bucket. So, yeah, my name's my name's Josh. Go ahead. Go ahead. You sure?

SPEAKER_07 4:10

I think it's an awesome thing you got going. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

It is dang, that's awesome. Dang, that's awesome. So, yeah, my name's Josh. Uh, I run a channel that originally was just a TikTok channel called Dang That's Awesome. It was about food and trying different food, finding like viral food. I'm I'm not a food challenge guy. I'm not gonna go eat a bunch, uh, but it was trying to find things primarily in Wisconsin, and it originally wasn't just Wisconsin, but it turned into that, um, that maybe people don't know about and uh they would want to try, or places that are doing something different than than everywhere else. Uh and that's that's how it took off and and became what it is. And now it's branched out into a whole new genre of everything, but that it's only set eight months old, and I've done 7.4 million views. I started July. I officially have called July 1st my my start date. It was like a week before that. Amazing. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

I see you're even at like Airbnbs and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

So that's the new venture. So that is awesome. It it originally had started out as things to eat, and then it turned into things to eat and stuff to do. So like different entertainment, like mini golf or whatever, like different things to do while you're while you're traveling, while you're going places, and then it turned into places to stay. So now it's things, things to eat, stuff to do, and places to stay is kind of the tagline for it. So it's staying at Airbnb's luxury resorts, hotels, uh, different places like that. And then while you're staying at those, what can you do and where can you eat? So that's now the YouTube version of Dang That's Awesome. So TikTok itself is still just the food-based thing, mostly. And then the YouTube is longer form videos about my hotel stays or my resort stays, and then uh like what I'm doing while I'm there. So I'm spending two days at, and then I'll show the whole stay, the uh uh a shortened version of the whole stay, the whole tour of the hotel or the Airbnb, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_07 6:13

Um you let them know in advance what you do. Yeah, so I'm I'm I'm in touch with them.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:20

So this is so do they like roll out the stops and treat you extra good? Um yes and no. Roll out the red carpet.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

I I always tell them not to. I like I won't, but they're going to.

SPEAKER_07 6:32

Uh so like we really are to tell them not to.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Right. Uh because uh I talked to them beforehand, it's now turned more into like a marketing business, a growth content business is what I've called it. Um, because I am paid to be there. I'm paid to try the food now. But with that being said, everything that you've seen or will see on my channel will always be true. Right, because I I get kickback or you know, kind of hate for that. They're like, oh, you're paid to be there. You I how can I trust you? Well, I've actually done reviews that I did not like the place and I refunded their money and never put the video up. Oh, look at so like I don't want to be that guy that's just pretending to like something so people will go there. Yeah. Because that takes back the integrity of my name from it. So yeah, um, but yeah, that's good to know. I talked to I'm talking to a few different resorts right now. Like, so tomorrow I head down to Milwaukee for three days to stay at the brewhouse inn, which is uh the former Paps Brewery, which is now a hotel. So I'm staying there.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Cool, and that's paid for by them.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah, and uh but in return, I'm doing my long form video, I'm doing some short form, but I also give them some content now too. So that's something. So they get some asset photos, they get some asset videos that they can use on their channel. They can put the photos on ads or whatever they want, they get licensing for that. Um, and I've done it with some food with restaurants too, that I that I'm going there monthly and doing their monthly special where I film a quick 60-second video, but then also they get food photos and food video clips and stuff like that that they can use too.

SPEAKER_07 8:05

Where have you all traveled to?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Um, well, for this, it's primarily been Wisconsin for right now.

SPEAKER_07 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Um, I am I'm a photographer and I teach photography, so I go to like conferences and workshops and stuff. So I'm traveling literally everywhere. Uh, and I've always wanted to find places to eat and do things to do and stuff like that. So that's how I got started with this. Is I started filming them while I was traveling, putting them out, and they took off. But then I started doing them. I wasn't traveling in like September, October. And so I started doing a lot of stuff down in the Appleton area, Green Bay, it's the general area that I live, and like those started taking off like crazy. So I'd put a video out and in three days it'd have a hundred thousand views on it. I'd put another video out, it'd have 50,000 views in an hour. Like, so it's it's insane like how quick that grew in that general area. Like, but now it's branching out more into more travel.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

So what I know you educated me a little bit on the TikTok world. So people that are listening that aspire to be like you, yeah, and or not even like maybe like for food or anything, but some other thing for TikTok. You educated me on like being interacting with other pages helps with the algorithm with TikTok. Explain the algorithm and how TikTok works.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Okay. So how long of a podcast? I'm kidding. Like I could I can like I said it before we filmed, I could nerd out on this like all day, every day. Um, because it is really like there's a few things, and and without going too deep in it in it, it's the one that I would say is interacting with people from your business channel or or whatever you're trying, whichever one you're trying to promote. Because now, Nicole, if you had your personal one and you were commenting on people's stuff, how did they know that you're the owner of the mill?

SPEAKER_04 9:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

But if you're commenting from the mill on somebody's thing, they're like, oh, this coffee shop is commenting on it. Maybe I should check them out or click on it and kind of look at it quick. And then they see your absolutely amazing videos that you have on there, and then they follow you. So, like, that's that's one of the things is making sure that everything you're doing uh it it aligns with your business and they can see that it's a business commenting. Because even like I get messages from or comments from like bigger businesses, and I'm like, holy crap, like this company is is saw my video. So then I'm like, I feel good, you know what I mean? Right. Which, you know, if I comment on somebody's video that's has less followers than me or something like that, they see it and they're like, Holy crap, dang, that's awesome! Commented on my page. And then and I I was that way as a photographer too. Like, if a famous photographer would comment on my stuff, I'd be like, Right, this is it, like I made it, you know. So, like no, I get that, and that's just connecting it to your brand.

unknown 10:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

Now, as far as like posting and and when you should post and how you should post and stuff like that, um, it's really kind of trial and error at beginning until you figure it out kind of a rhythm. So with mine, I was posting food videos kind of at different times of the day to see which one got more views to see if it would. And if I would post at 11 a.m., it wouldn't do as good as 4 p.m. So I would if I post it at 11 a.m. and it didn't do well, I'd take it down and repost it at 4 p.m. Oh, and then that video would grow again. Because I found out with food that uh if you post at 4 p.m., it gives TikTok enough time to realize that it's a food video and show it to people who are eating dinner. So, like figuring that whole thing out is like people are hungry, they're looking for at TikTok while they're trying to decide what they want to eat, and my video pops up. But if I post it at 11, people usually aren't looking at TikTok at noon when they're looking for lunch, they're just out to go get lunch. They're not also looking at their phone, right? But dinner time they are posting my fun videos, like like I just did it's called Unleash. It's a bungee fitness.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

So I just did a video, and the long form video is coming on YouTube, it's not out quite yet as of as of right now. But the short form is I posted it at nighttime when people are laying in bed just doom scrolling. Okay, because that's a video that's not time related. Yeah, so it can do good at any time. Same with my like Airbnb stays and stuff like that. I can post those kind of whenever, and they'll just take off at a certain point.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Okay, that's kind of like what Facebook will tell you. Like, if you look, you probably have seen it'll like give you pointers, at least in the like the business suite. It'll be like posting something like this is good at like 7 p.m. Yeah when people are laying in bed. A feel-good, heart-filled post is always good early. Correct. Or in the evening when people are like getting ready for bed. So it's the algorithm is part of the secret of catching when you become viral or people see your stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah, to start. And then once you figure that out, so like my food videos that I post at 4 p.m. will get a lot of views around between six to eight. So when I post a food video, you can almost guarantee I'm gonna post it at 4 p.m. every time. I'm gonna double down on that footage.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

So, like, and I've noticed that if I post a food video and a fun video and a hotel video, I can see which one does better at a certain time. And then I take a note and I'm like, okay, this video I gotta put. If I do a stay video, I have to post a stay video at this time. That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

I keep looking at Cami because I'm like, maybe this could be a side gig for Cammy. I see Cami like staying at hotels for free. Airbnb is like doing that's a like when you were telling me you like months ago that you were starting to do it. I'm like, what a what a great life.

SPEAKER_07 13:37

Yeah, great gig. What a great life. I think you're missing the boat with the with the food challenges. Okay, so here's old Trixie. Like, this was a couple years ago, probably.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

It's like your dream is to enter a high talk eating contest or something. What?

SPEAKER_07 13:52

What no?

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Oh, it must have been a different guy I was kidding.

SPEAKER_07 13:56

Yeah, it must have been one of those other low lives at the time. Okay. Uh no, I had a dream that I was I was like a food challenge guy. Yeah. And like pizza primarily was in the dream, but it was all different kinds of things.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Yeah, but then you like don't get to really enjoy it at that point, right? When you're just stuck.

SPEAKER_07 14:16

He overeats all the time. I can eat a lot.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

I'm not an overeater. So here's the funny thing about this whole food journey that I went on, which is the opposite food journey than I was on before. I was actually like, I was eating carnivore, I was fasting, I was drinking like a gallon and a half of water, I was working out, I lost like 40 pounds. And then I started this channel and I've put on like 25 back. Well, you and like so it's like definitely a blessing and a curse right now. Right. Um, I'm starting to watch the food that I eat again. So like I'm only like when I go to do the food reviews and stuff, I try to only eat like two or three bites of something.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

And then I take it home and the kids mount it down when I get home and stuff. But like it's really been something. And like I know like the guys that were on TV or the the people that do like food videos on like food challenges, you can see them like really putting on the weight, like the longer their channel, the more successful. Because the more successful, the more you have to do it, and the bigger ones you have to try and stuff like that. So I've gone to a few places, they're like, You want to try the food challenge? I'm like, no, like I that's not my channel. Like as much as I'd love to try some of them. Like, like no.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Maybe that's what my husband will do.

SPEAKER_07 15:24

Have you ever thought are are your do you put your kids on camera ever?

SPEAKER_02 15:27

So I put my kids on YouTube. I don't put them on TikTok. Um, I it's just one of those things that like I love TikTok. TikTok is made is my business, but there's still some sketchiness about it that I just don't know. Um, but the YouTube they've been on, my son went and stayed at uh Great Wolf Lodge and Gurney with me, and we did a video together of that. He's 17. Um my daughter's 13, so like, oh, she'll be 13. So like they're getting to the age where I feel a little bit more comfortable putting online because they're gonna be online at that point anyway. Because you know, my daughter's starting to be like, I want my own TikTok. I'm like, no, like when you're 30, you can have one. So um, like, but but no, like uh I'm I'm semi-okay with it. There's there's a a time and a place for, especially like with Great Wolf Lodge or with some of these resorts and stuff that are family-oriented. Kind of cool to get to that point of it. Yeah, they want family content.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

I just watched uh TikTok on Great Wolf Lodge side note about a room that was haunted.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

I have not seen that.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

I'm gonna forward it to you.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yes, please, because I'm gonna message them and say I want to stay in it. Yes, and it was I'm also a ghost enthusiast. I am too, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

Okay, so it was like creepy, and like it was like a conjoined room, a kid conjoined room, and it was like spooky. I was watching it with Nox actually. No wonder the kids can't go to the bathroom by themselves. But yeah, awesome. So what else do you have for him? Are you gonna ask for questions? Yeah, some questions on me.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

No, I'm waiting for his weird questions. I love the weird questions, like I'm for it.

SPEAKER_07 17:00

Right. Do you think we do we do you think we landed on the moon?

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Oh man. Just hit me with one that could get me in trouble.

SPEAKER_07 17:12

It's your own opinion. We can't get in trouble for your opinion.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

It's one of those things that like growing up, I always thought so. But the more like rational I'm thinking, it's like hard to believe. Yeah, like it's one of those like, why haven't we gone back? And like then I started looking into the whole like space race thing. So like we want so the the between us and I think it was Russia trying to get to the moon, and we did it first, so like now we don't feel like we need to go back. Like, why? Like, like that doesn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_07 17:39

Like, it was like just a way to show that you're far more advanced than other militaries, I think.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah, but like why haven't we gone back since then?

SPEAKER_07 17:51

Yeah, like that's my thought. Like, like and then like that we're streaming it live.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Yeah. Uh okay. There's just too many like inconsistencies and weirdness about it, but like, yeah, it's I would like to say that we did, but I don't really know if we did or not. Like, I think we will again real soon. Like, I think we're getting to the point where we and if we could have, I think we would have, but I think we can, and there's something that's maybe stopping us, or I don't know, aliens, or I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 18:24

I'm so sure we're gonna go back.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

And and going back to the conversation that we had, because I know your alien question.

SPEAKER_04 18:31

Um he's prepared, he's done his homework.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I well, I was listening to yours and and uh your description of the alien with the big brain. That's Mars attacks. Is it? I'm I'm a movie guy, so Mars attacks, they're the guys that had the big brains and stuff like that. Have you seen Resident Alien? It's a TV show. Um it's Alan. Alan Tudik really is he's a he's an amazing actor, and like he's an alien who lives in like Wyoming or something like that, and he takes over the body of somebody. And only we miss this. Oh good. Only one kid can see that he's an alien and sees his true form, and then everybody else. Um it's recent.

SPEAKER_05 19:12

Yeah, the fourth the final season just came out like last year.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah, and it's it's on sci-fi, uh, but now it's on like Netflix and all the other things. And so like only one kid can see that he's an alien, and everybody else sees him as the actor, Alan Tudik, who is um he's the pirate in Dodgeball, pirate Steve in Dodgeball, like amazing actor, like totally like underrated actor, been in so many amazing shows and movies and stuff. But he looks like when they when they do show him as an alien form, he looks like a walking fish. And I that's what I picture the aliens to look like is like fish with big mouths, but like they walk and they have like scales, and that's my alien.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Do you think aliens live in the ocean? Like currently, yeah, absolutely. That's what I'm kind of thinking too. I that they because NASA stopped with space and went to the ocean now. Yeah, did you hear that? NASA pays gets paid, or vice versa, by um Hollywood. Uh help me out. It's not called Hollywood. The production.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Like the Screen Actors Guild?

SPEAKER_04 20:24

Um, no, Hollywood.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

No matter how many times you say it the same, it doesn't sound different.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

Like how the CIA is on Hollywood. What do you call Hollywood?

SPEAKER_07 20:38

This is for this is for the Beans and Banter podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

It is, but like the CIA is legit on payroll from or vice versa. The CIA pays Hollywood. Like Warner Brothers, or or like movie production, Universal Studios or whatever. They get paid. So the theory behind the CIA, this is this is definitely a banter and boom spears and banter episode, but so it helps control the masses and how people should think and feel. Like the CIA is a lot of people. I totally believe that. I totally believe that. Yeah, and it's like legit. You can look up like the CIA is like paying, hey, we need you to lean more towards so like movements, right? We want more of this type of stuff fed to the people. So everything we're seeing is whatever the movement may be today.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah, I I believe that. I mean it's it's media in general, like it really is.

SPEAKER_07 21:32

So at what point is there gonna be like an uprising or like where people are gonna be like I don't want to say like educated enough, but they know enough of the real that's going on.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

My if you're asking me that that there's like something's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_07 21:49

Like what's when is that gonna happen?

SPEAKER_04 21:50

I kind of think we're already seeing it personally because people put more at stake to what podcasts are saying, what um TikTok is saying. versus the news. Yeah. People don't believe CNN. People don't believe Fox. People don't believe, you know what I mean? Whether it's left or right, people are like, whatever. Like, I don't believe it. So I feel like it's already starting that people are questioning the main.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

I think it already is a little bit more. Like I th I think the people that are starting are just being labeled as crazy.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

And like not being kind of overlooked, but I think so. I I yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

I feel like I feel like with I mean whether we're happy or sad it it doesn't matter what your opinion is on with election. But a lot had to do with Joe Rogan's podcast. Are you interrupting me on purpose? Do you want me to say this?

SPEAKER_07 22:37

No, my opinion is I really I can't wait for it to happen. Like I can't wait.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Like the world to fall apart?

SPEAKER_07 22:44

No, not to fall apart, but to like you know take it back.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

The people? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's I think it's doing a disservice power away from it's doing a disservice definitely to not be honest to the people what's really going on. I agree. Because we don't know. I don't know what I don't care what news I'm watching I'm like what is the other half of the story? Tell me the other half of what's going on.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Well when you follow the like who owns everything. Yes. It's like and granted it probably has changed at this point but back when it was Viacom and Time Warner that owned everything. Like CNN and Fox are owned by the same company.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

So that should tell you something that the same company is like telling these two entities what to put on the constant so I feel like I could get in so people did I know I know and I and I I realized it when I don't remember who said it but it was after after Trump went on Joe Rogan. It exploded yeah everything kind of shifted and they're like okay what is this I think it might have been Tucker Carlson who's a little crazy but I kind of like and I I don't I don't know how I feel about him. But he said this should be a wake up to the people that people are listening more to conversations and sit down with podcasters or whatever versus what the news is feeding you. The news should wake up and be like we're doing something wrong.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

Yeah and I I think it's the genuinality of it. Like people just want to hear somebody talk instead of something scripted. And that's coming back to like my videos that I do that are like I always try to be positive with them but like I try to not script too much of it. Like I definitely try to think of what I'm going to say and what I want to do. But I don't want it to feel like a newscast.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

I want it to feel it doesn't seem that way when I watch your and that's why when you asked you like okay what's like what what is on the agenda and I'm like we just kind of wing you're like perfect. You're like perfect.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Yeah some I've been on a few podcasts before both with my photography business and with this now and it's like they some of them want to send you like here's 10 questions we're going to ask you. And like that's cool. Like kind of get an idea but like I like this much better.

SPEAKER_07 24:48

Like I like to just kind of started that way in a sense but Cammy would make the question when it was just Keith and I because we kind of got like running out of things to say about ourselves. We're like you know we're we're boring. We know what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 25:00

We have a minivan. I mean we have to say our story was told already but it's easy when people like you like there's your content this episode is going to be very beneficial to a lot of listeners in the TikTok industry or I hope so any because they want to know like what is the secret? What do you do? And this is is this your full time gig now?

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Yeah yeah well I mean I I've been a photographer and a videographer for about 10 years now okay so like I've owned my own photography business since 2017 or 18. Okay. Uh so like it's just kind of transition.

unknown 25:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Go on. I so I just I've been a photographer and a videographer for almost 10 years now. So I just kind of transitioned into being more of a focus of this. Yeah. But it's it's still the same thing. And when I started this like I said I was just doing the food stuff and I was just doing those videos and like as it grew and as I realized like I'm helping small business and stuff I was like how can I help them more? So like with photography I'm a photographer like I've taken food photos I've worked with some big restaurants and it didn't connect that I should be offering those together.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

It's genius because there's a lot of people in boomer generation and even like my generation like I think our generation just started cell phone era that doesn't do well with marketing. Doesn't do well they'll just like take a picture of a chalkboard of what sure yeah I mean and it's like they're losing the battle of who's coming in because of marketing. Yeah really it comes down to marketing like good pictures like what are you what content are you pushing out there. Yeah. So you are doing a huge service to businesses that can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

I think my struggle is being two produced photos. I've learned that like dialing it back and showing a little bit more like almost natural looking photos like like I took it with the cell phone almost do better than if I set up my light and staged the entire shoot and like added vegetables around the food and stuff like that. Like it's drawing it back and being more natural does better than than the ones that I would literally take all day to take one photo of.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Okay so it's funny you say that because I asked Cammy I'm like I spent so much time on this video like the beans one and I know it doesn't look like I did a lot with it but it it took me a long time I'm like hardly gets any views and hardly the one with the reverse beans.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah. That's amazing. It's an amazing video.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

Thank you but not much traction. Even when I posted it on like our face so usually I do TikTok for the algorithm because you explained a lot to me and a lot of people that come and they're like oh I was just scrolling TikTok and I saw it.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Like it's amazing. It picks up where you're driving. Yeah absolutely yeah geo fences so I do it I don't have a big following on TikTok but I just do it because I know it brings people in. But so I'll repost it on our Facebook page and I'm like I was telling Kami I'm like I hardly got any love. She's like do you know why? She's like because it's too polished. So people are you for me they're used to not my husband's thumb in pictures like when he tries to be funny but like they're used to my style and that was like almost too so there was no brand connection behind it.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

So if you would have had you in it for even a shot they would have seen well if she's in a picture I'm liking it. But like what there's a couple things and that's one is there's no brand connection. So any coffee shop could have done that. They don't know that it's the mill another thing is what makes in that video there's no call to action. There's no like that video is awesome. I want to go to the mill oh I should say something or or just try to tie it in like all of my videos they start out with you know like hey I'm here in like for example like hey I'm at the mill here in Bonnewell and I'm going to try the bucket of coffee. And then I do the video where I'm trying the bucket of coffee and then at the end so that's my hook. The beginning is my hook that's I'm here I'm here in Bonnewell at the mill trying this like that's a hook. So somebody's like oh a bucket of coffee like that sounds awesome. So then they see me try it they see me try the food whatever it is and then at the end I always reiterate what I said at the beginning. So I'm like just got done at the mill this was amazing you know and then I'm like make sure you stop in tell them that Josh sent you so then they're like well I want to go try this coffee like the there has to be some CTA, some call to action. That video is awesome but it doesn't have a CTA. It doesn't have brand awareness there's nothing connecting you or the mill and making somebody want to come here. So those are important in the videos is having a hook within the first like three seconds and then having a CTA somewhere in the video. So and that's that's what and and the the best way to do it is to make it feel natural where you're not like you know call now to order your food or so you know like something like that. It's like trying to get them interested in it naturally and organically that's how how you get it to grow.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Look at you did you go to school for marketing?

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Absolutely not school of YouTube for everything. I've learned everything that I know both photography videography and YouTube through or and content creation through YouTube. That's awesome taking courses online like paying for like small little mini courses and stuff. And I'm actually not I'm not here to like promote it or not but I am starting my own course. And I what I have a photography one right now that's kind of like out there but I want to do one about growth content for restaurants and food industry. So that's great. So I've had a couple like some of the videos that I've done there's a place in Milwaukee that's a sub sandwich shop and they message me and they're like we want to pay you to help us figure out how to do the YouTube or how to do the TikTok. And then I've had other ones that are like you should teach this stuff and like I'm I'm a content creator by heart so I'm cool with that and I've created a couple different platforms and uh courses and stuff like that over the years. So I want to create one that the small mom and pop shop can learn basic skills about vertical video and viral video and growing organically and things like that without spending idea spending money on YouTube sponsored ads that aren't going to do anything for you. Oh my God. So like you I personally with my photography business have wasted thousands of dollars over the years on Facebook ads that do literally nothing for me.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

Addison Addison she's mad at you yet sorry it's good no I'm waiting for that video still tell her you're sorry so sorry I'm sorry um anyways I so I was a photographer I am a photographer dream about that last night actually remind me to remind you okay I took the back the best course I took was like a four day course like online and I was it was like I don't know if I need this best training I ever had and it was about something simple and I use it every day and I explain it to people every day. It's not even photography always related she said when you up your prices like as soon as you're good right and you up your prices to premium prices you're going to attract premium clients. Absolutely and I and she's like it's so scary to do because you're gonna be like oh what if what if what if she's like you just have to do it. Yeah and I did it and it was scary and I upped my prices significantly because I deserved it not because it was like I was money hungry. Like I was like cheap. Yeah and nobody my good clients never batted an eye and still tipped. Yeah but I lost the clients that would always ask for more the tire kickers. Yep and wait for a deal wait for like a a mini session right or or message me only hey you want to and I get it money is an issue and stuff but like you kind of feel like second fiddle when you see them going to the next photographer running a deal. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

You're like okay so it's not me it's you're looking for a deal right those those like budget hungry clients were usually the nightmare clients though too they were the ones that wanted everything. Yes she explains ever happy like there was always something always and she explains that and she was so right.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

So I explain to people every day like not every day but with things I'm like when you whether it's coffee well it's a product if you are like this is my standards this is what I you know this is what I you're gonna attract the people that are like I appreciate a coffee mug that might cost$38 but you know what I know this coffee mug was handcrafted by an artist which is a true story. She did this and I've had people look at the prices and like oh but I'm like you're not my you're not my customer. Yeah yeah like you don't know what goes into making a mug. You don't know that she also has a full-time job and this is her art and you know what I mean you don't appreciate it. So I've taken that workshop class and I'm like I use it to everything.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

You can attract I've always said price yourself out of your own comfort zone and then you'll be happy. So like price yourself to a point where like you feel like you're charging too much and if you're still making that money then you're right where you should be like that's because it's I mean it's it's scary. I did it you know I was doing weddings when I was doing a what when I was a wedding photographer I would charge you know twelve hundred dollars for a full day wedding and like when I just ended two years ago doing weddings I was charging like eight grand a wedding and I was getting it all day long. Like there was no change in the amount of weddings I got and probably less of a headache. Way less of a headache. And there's I I've taken some courses with like luxury photographers wedding photographers who charge like$50,000 a wedding they don't even talk to the bride and groom they talk to a planner show up that day shoot and like those are like dream clients. They're happy they don't care it's the ones that that are and budget looking for the budget is usually the hard ones to deal with.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

And and that's I don't know why that's a whole different podcast that I can go way deep on.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

So yeah I don't know why that is either but it is there it's it's so true. Yeah it is so true.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

And that's one of the reasons that I moved over into like commercial photography and marketing and stuff like that is because I I think the the connection with the the budget friendly or the budget budget hunters is that's their money. When you're working with a business they have a marketing budget. They have especially when you get to the big businesses that I've worked with I've worked with some pretty big businesses with photography and videography where they have money that they have to spend. So like it's they're not there's no personal connection to that money. Okay. So like it's not like I'm taking it out of their bank account. They just work for the business. You know what I mean? And the the yeah like when you're working with small mom and pop stuff like that I still have to be conscious of that because like working with you if I were to work with you you're the owner you are the person that looks at the money you you see your bank account stuff like that. So that's why I've I've priced myself comfortable right now where like I I don't see our bank account but that's probably a good thing sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 35:42

Yeah I don't know okay management doesn't allow it.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

But yeah no you have you have a really good point set yeah so like yeah I've my pricing for what I do for the highlight videos and for the long form stuff it's super reasonable. Like I've had restaurants and bars down in the Fox Valley area tell me I'm not charging enough.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

Can if you don't mind me asking if you want the people to know what do you charge for like so that I have different structures.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Okay. So like my my hotel stays are different than my food stuff because food doesn't I'm not doing as much work for the hot uh the for the food as I do the hotel. The food I'm in and out in usually like two hours. Yeah. So right now currently um I charge$350 to come in and make a TikTok video. So that's I come in I sit down I do my intro my outro my food review stuff like that and then I put it online so that like it's on my channel it goes on my TikTok they get my viewers to see it which is 83% Wisconsin based it's 49 to 51% female to male like its uh age range is 32 to 45. I'm 43 so it makes sense that they want to watch me um but I charge 350 to come in make the video uh and the comped meal of course too now if they want to take that video and put it on their channel too then it's 500 so that another 150 to give them the finished video to put on their channel where they can say hey Josh from Dang That's Awesome came in this is the the review he gave us um if they want a bigger package which comes with some photos the raw video clips that they can use like because I like to go in the kitchen and I like to get the cooks like preparing it stuff like that. If they want that footage to use on their page it's$950. So I'm still under a thousand dollars for you get five to ten photos, you get five to ten raw video clips and then you get the video on my channel. So I mean I'm still super reasonable because my videos on average just on my channel are doing between 40 and 100 thousand views every one of them. Recently it's been even more so and they and they grow and because I've learned the algorithm now I've learned my algorithm that works for me. So so that's one of the things is they're getting in front of my people in front of the people that are looking that are hungry and both metaphorically and physically they're hungry. Have you noticed I this just popped in my head as you're saying that is there a certain food that gets more views um yes and no um I've I should say I've done a lot of Mexican food and Asian food restaurants.

SPEAKER_07 38:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:15

I think those businesses are are attracted to me because there's so many of them like I think Mexican foods in general like I've done a lot of Mexican restaurants I want some Mexican food now. And I think that's one of the things is like everybody loves it and like when you see it but there are so many the competition is so high for that type of food for Mexican restaurants and Asian restaurants too. There's so many different types of options I've done like um Korean barbecue places and I've done uh ramen places and like different sushi places things like that. Uh and there's there's such stiff competition between those businesses there's two in the Fox Valley that are like a block away from each other and they've had me both in multiple times and they've both tried to sway me and say hey you can't promote the other one or not and I'm like I'm not doing that. Oh my God. My job isn't to do which one is better. I'm never gonna now I shouldn't say that because I am doing my personal project is a chicken wing trying to find the best chicken wings but that's a personal project I've taken on myself and I'll explain it in a minute if I need to um but I I don't ever want to say this place is better than that place. Right. I want to always say this place is awesome. So is that place because I'm not trying to one that would hurt my business.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah that's not your business. Right. Your business is to help every business that wants you.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Yeah because if I go in and say hey restaurant A is better than restaurant B, I've just lost restaurant B as a client. And then I'm not made I just hurt my own business by doing that. So I want to and I'm that way in general anyway like I always want to find the best of the best version of everything I do in life. Like I'm never a I try never to be a negative person. I always go into every restaurant thinking I'm going to have the best experience ever. Like it's up to them to prove me wrong. Like honestly like I go that's good attitude I go in and like I'm always happy to be somewhere and the meeting people and the stories I've heard from owners and great side note side note great kick.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

He's got to be happy right but he's also a lot like me because we talked about this at the end of the day after you have to be on and you're like so good at with people you're such a good talker sometimes like you and I discussed you drive home to silence.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Oh absolutely I don't ever turn the radio on and I go social batteries like depleted like yeah you just I feel like I can hear buzzing you know and that's it's so I'm doing this podcast and then I leave here and I have to go do a food review for a place that's opening this weekend. When I get home tonight I won't talk to anybody like I'm like my I'll probably just watch some YouTube and just be myself like yeah surprisingly from the podcast I always feel better after he talks like not like I don't know it's almost like therapy we're on a couch.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Absolutely talking about our feelings yeah forced forced to I think I think Keith I don't always feel that way Keith says it every time doesn't he? I do I think you you know what that tells me I don't talk enough you talk enough and you need to talk more you need to open up more truth come on i sometimes I feel drained after not like drained but like usually I boogie and I like sit in my car. I feel drained working here and like talking customers but that's also and I know we talked about this it's relatable because I love being I love being here.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

I love the people I love hearing the good stories I love hearing all of it but at the end of the day my battery is just like oh yeah oh I love every experience that I have and I love every video that I made and I even when I'm editing I'm gonna hate editing I hate editing oh I do it when I'm done I'm like man I really am happy that I did this and I'm really happy that I met these people and I've met like chefs and restaurant owners and uh I just did a hotel down in Wisconsin Dells and I got to meet the owners that have opened like I love your watch by the way thank you old school I just love I have a watch collection it's something that I got into my son has one like that. I got into watch collecting and it's a terrible habit to have like yeah it could be worse so expensive it could be meth it could be drugs yeah um but well so like I met them and they to find out they've opened like 90% of Wisconsin Dells and like that like they own so many places and stuff like that. And it's like you hear these stories about like small businesses all the way up to like people who are doing crazy amounts of money and stuff like that with their business and like just hearing so many stories and that's like one of my favorite things about this like I met a place there's an egg roll place down in Appleton.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

I met the owner while I was golfing did you just hear Sawyer in your head yeah okay egg rolls or what he does a good egg roll accent he loves he loves he loves egg rolls he loves egg rolls.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Yeah so like I met the owner of it golfing and like we didn't know each other and stuff and he's like yeah I own a restaurant I'm like oh I just started a TikTok channel he's like come on in and do my do my restaurant do a highlight video so like and like I learned his whole story like he um he's trying to golf at every in every state in the United States I would love that so he only has like four left he only has like four left he has a Facebook page that like you can follow him and stuff yeah no no no no he just like takes pictures and stuff like that and gets to golf for free pretty much yeah and like he's golfed in a bunch of different countries and all of this stuff and like I just met him because we were partnered up together. Like that's I went with a buddy and he was by himself and they partnered us and we started chatting and like that's why I learned his whole story before even going to his restaurant while golfing and then I try to tie some of that stuff into this videos too. So like that's one of my things is really learning about how they started or where they came from or the the the personal side without like Sitting down and interviewing them. So, like just learning it myself. So I can f it helps me figure out how to film. Yeah. And how what I should focus on, like if it's really family oriented, or if it's not, or like what it is. So it really is one of those things that it's almost like journalism too. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of those things that like I just love hearing people's stories. So do I. And I think that's where the podcast is such a good thing for you guys. Is being able to hear.

SPEAKER_04 44:28

I love yeah, I love meeting people and having them share their stories. Yeah, it's my favorite thing.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:34

Are you gonna do like chicken wing reviews? Like okay, so I do a pizza guy.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

I do a chicken wing battle. And there's a few people that do chicken wing battles in this area or in the state. But um, what I've done is I'm going in, these are total personal projects. So I wanted to have something that I could have a true review of. Like with the highlight videos and stuff, like I'm somewhat swayed to give a good review, but I wanted something where I'm going to these places and I can like, if it's bad, I can be like, I didn't like this. So I go in and I buy the chicken wings myself. I go out to the car, I eat them in the car. So I don't, I don't sit inside, I don't tell them that I'm there doing a video. I always say, like, when I go to a place, I'm like, I heard you guys have the best chicken wings around, so I want to order some to go. Like, that's all I say. I don't say, like, hey, I'm TikTok, I do TikToks, I'm gonna make a video about this, anything like that. A lot of the places have actually hired me to come do videos for them since doing my my chicken wing reviews because it was one of those things where like I love chicken wings, freaking love chicken wings. So, like, I'm it's very hard to give a bad chicken wing review. I want a chicken wing now, too.

SPEAKER_07 45:40

What so like do you take uh like one sauce or do you like how do you do it?

SPEAKER_02 45:46

I always do a medium buffalo or like a mild buffalo because I'm not a super big spicy person. Okay, um, I always do like the uh a buffalo just to see if they make their own buffalo or if it's like Frank's Red Hot. Like I want to know the difference and see if it's like buttery and garlicky or if it's store-bought. And then I always try to do uh like I usually do six and six. Uh so I'll do like six of whatever buffalo and then six of something they're known for or a specialty, and that's to try it. So, like I did one up in Door County, and they had a Door County cherry maple flavor, uh Door County Cherry bourbon maple. It was like a whole bunch of different stuff, and it was incredible.

SPEAKER_07 46:23

So that's awesome. Go for some wings.

SPEAKER_04 46:25

Yeah, I'm hungry.

SPEAKER_02 46:26

And that's one of the things is like you can always get them, they're 20 bucks, you know, rough roughly. Grab some wings and you you can get them. So, and then I personally judge it on the flavors, the crispiness, and the amount of chicken on the bone. So, like if they're meaty or not. So, like, that's how I try to figure out what's good and what's bad. And honestly, like within the first bite, I'm like, this is awesome. Like, this is good, or this is not good.

SPEAKER_07 46:50

Where's like some of your favorites?

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Um, Waterfront Marys in Door County, which is in Surgeon Bay. I love that. Like, I just randomly.

SPEAKER_05 46:57

That's where she's from. I've actually never been there, but I know the reputation around Waterfront Marys.

SPEAKER_02 47:03

Yeah, they do like the fish boil thing too there. So, like where they where they like light the pot on fire and it like flares up and stuff like that. I haven't been there yet for that. I'm I'm hoping to go back for that. Um, that was really good. There's a place up in Gleason, it's called Nutsy's, like on the on the UTV trail, like little tiny restaurant and bar, the probably some of my favorite. And then down in Nina is Sidetracked, which is a it's just a bar. I mean, it's it's a great bar, but it's just a bar. It's not a restaurant, but they do their own sauces, they make their own sauces, they have their own like recipes that they come up with. And it that was for the long time my my number one. Really? And not another number three behind Gleason's and Waterfront Marys. And those so those are my top three. And I'm doing a top ten. I've only done nine so far. So like the tenth spot is still vacant, but then like as I go, they'll like fall off.

SPEAKER_04 47:55

So time out. You maybe said this, but are you doing this on your personal page then?

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Yes, no, no, no, no. Sorry, it's still on the on the dang, that's awesome. Oh, because I still want them to be seen, but and I still want the exposure form, but they're not paying me to be there. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:11

So it's like they're lucky, they're getting some pre-advertisement, yeah, or unlucky. Yeah, or unlucky shitty. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:16

So so yeah, that's what I'm saying. Authenticity, like gives it credibility, and that's why I wanted because there were so many people in my because I do a lot of live streams. I do live streams when I'm doing my highlight videos. So anytime there's my videos have a three three-part process to them, and it's actually a cinematic three-part. Uh, so if you watch a movie, there's always three parts to a movie there's the build-up, the climax, and the downfall.

SPEAKER_07 48:40

Jamie's like, yeah, girl.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

So and then as you as you watch movies, let's say now he's talking my language.

SPEAKER_02 48:46

And as you watch movies, it's it always happens in acts of three, all the way through a movie. There's the build-up, the where they the build the character, there's the climax, and then there's the down, and then it'll start over throughout a movie and it goes up and down. So that's how I I've formed my videos. So the build-up is me talking about what it is, the climax is me eating, and then the down is this is like free education to you listeners.

SPEAKER_04 49:08

It's like a free class.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

Yeah. So and so that's how I've built them, uh uh based around that. So they're uh and that's I don't even remember where we were going from this, but um about the credibility you're giving your page. So while I'm doing the the try, the eating portion of it, I always live stream. So I set my phone up next to my camera that's filming so they can see my actual reaction. Because there were so many times that like people were like, you're just being paid to be there, so you're you're not telling the truth. So I'll put my my camera, I'm like, well, I'm gonna start live streaming. Like, and I'll put the live stream up. And what I've noticed with live streaming, and this is another tip, is live stream pushes local before it pushes national. Yes. So like it's all the time.

SPEAKER_04 49:50

I don't live stream, but I had absolutely should on TikTok?

SPEAKER_02 49:54

Absolutely. Okay, you're you're missing a lot of views by that. And I want to circle back to in a minute about what you said about not having many followers on TikTok because I haven't thought about that. Oh, okay. Um, but but yeah, so I started putting my live streams up, and like there were people that were like, You're not being authentic, you're not being authentic. So I was like, Well, I'm gonna start something, a personal project.

SPEAKER_04 50:15

Do you realize also that the TikTok world is a little bit more cruel than any other social media?

SPEAKER_02 50:23

They're like mean. My biggest like haters. My biggest hater comment I get all the time is about my beard. Why? You have a good beard. I have a line beard and they make fun of it all the time. They're like, You're 40 years old, why do you still have a line beard? Oh, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 50:42

It's so shit. I'll read comments, I'm like, God, and if I don't like the person, get them. You know what I mean? But like otherwise, I'm like, this is mean.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

And they're like, I get a lot of fat comments too. Oh it's like, oh, I don't care. Like, I would rather trust a fat guy's opinion on food than a skinny guy's.

SPEAKER_04 50:57

If you were some skinny dude, I'd be like, Yeah, you're not eating that. It'd be like the McDonald's review. Yeah. But like I was gonna do one, but I missed the market. It's been too long.

SPEAKER_01 51:07

Like, like, here's the coffee.

SPEAKER_04 51:09

Yep. Oh, yeah, that's so good. But like, yeah, so I'm gonna drink this later.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

But yeah, uh that all the time I get I get the weirdest comments on TikTok that like they're mean and most of it has nothing to do with the food. Nope. Like, I had a I had a comment yesterday of somebody commenting, and they were clearly like 20 years old because they said a whole bunch of terms. I have no idea what they said.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Like, like, like was that slang me?

SPEAKER_02 51:32

Well, they said I was glazing the food and I had to look up what that meant. What does that mean? It means just like pumping the food up for no reason. Like that, like I I it wasn't really that good. I was just pretending it was. So I had to look it up. Like, and I have kids and I know a lot of that stuff, but like that one I was just went over my head. But yeah, so I started the the chicken wing project um just to have a place where I could like still have an opinion on my channel.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

And that's a good that's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

And I a lot of people that are like, oh, your your your videos are are curated, your videos are fake. Well, I have a chicken wing, go watch that one. Like, if you if you don't believe me, go watch the chicken wing. Like, maybe you'll like that stuff. And I'm always very like I'm I'm on the line of like confrontational with my comments. Every day, every day. I I can't tell you how many times I've typed out paragraphs and then just deleted them because I'm like, nah, I'm running a business. I probably shouldn't tell that person really what I think.

SPEAKER_04 52:24

Do you know what you need to listen to that might help you? And it's super lame to say out loud, but I'm going to the let them theory book.

SPEAKER_02 52:32

Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

I have been listening to her story just because I am a lot like that. And I want to like that's why I don't yeah, that's why I don't handle our Google reviews. Our son Sawyer does. Because if you I if you think you're coming at me with Google reviews, I haven't read them. I haven't read them. And it's all him because he he can he he'll be like, he'll give us heads up. Hey, heads up, somebody did this, and so then I'll like we'll we'll message the staff or whatever. Like if we need to know, but half the time it's not you need to know. Yeah, people are just absolutely and they want to bring you down and it and it's like your business, and you take it personal, you're like, dude, this is like private message me. Absolutely something, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:11

Don't don't be a jerk. I uh I know that if you could go back to like your your AI, your your Chad GPT, and say like, what is the thing that I ask the most? It's probably how do I make this sound more professional? And then I'll like paste something in. Yeah, I do it all the time because like I'll type something out. I'm like, man, that sounds really so. I'll go to Chad GPT and say, How do I make this sound more professional? Copy that, paste it, and then comment it. Yeah, I'd I'd be wild if it wasn't. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it's hard.

SPEAKER_04 53:39

I have to I've deleted it like even with like we had that um Elijah Bankey that is our area for state of Wisconsin about the Beagles, and there were some people like coming at him about his political affiliation, and I just deleted comments because I'm like, I'm not gonna debate this. The dog the the the post was about dogs getting tested on, right? Nothing about politics at all, but they're like, Oh, do you know who he represents? Or do you know it's like get out of here? Yeah, like get your negative out of here.

SPEAKER_02 54:10

I uh I'm on this like weird thing where like I like debate on my channel, like because every comment counts. It does. So, like, as long as it doesn't go too far or become personal, like about either me or the restaurant or something. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:24

So TikTok gloves are off for me too. Like, I don't have a big TikTok account, but like I tell you.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

I want to talk about that. How many do you have?

SPEAKER_04 54:32

Um, should I look right now and not be rude? I think only like 5,000.

SPEAKER_02 54:36

Okay, here's my thought about that. And I'm gonna wait until I get the the actual answer because I want I want to bring that into perspective for you.

SPEAKER_04 54:44

Okay. Let me pull it up.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

You can keep talking because it's it's one of those things that like it it has always irritated me because I used to do it.

SPEAKER_04 54:54

So I have fit uh 5,300.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Okay. So if you were in a room and 5,300 people were watching you, would you be happy?

SPEAKER_04 55:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Okay, so why are you upset that you only have 5,300 people on TikTok?

SPEAKER_04 55:06

You're right. I'm not upset. Well, uh, why why do you downplay it?

SPEAKER_02 55:09

Downplay it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:10

Uh you're right.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Yeah, and I and I've said that to people is like even like the the people who get stuck in the 200 view jail, it's called like where like nobody will go above 200. But that's 200 people that know about you, that have watched that. That's an algorithm thing. Like that's that's way beyond beyond my pay grade. Um, but yeah, like and I have always thought that way too. It's like I used to put uh YouTube videos up for my photography business, and they would only get like a thousand views, and they would grow like over time, but like I wanted that like quick, you know, answer. And then somebody told that to me. They're like, dude, you're mad at a thousand people watching you? Like, imagine you in a room telling your story in front of a thousand people, and I'm like, holy, I didn't think about that. Like, that's a completely great way to think about it. So yeah, don't downplay 5300. That's that's awesome. That is um just above micro influencer or nano influencer status. So five five thousand to twenty thousand is nano influencer. When you get above twenty to right around fifty to sixty thousand, that's micro influencer, which is your sweet spot. That's really where you want to be right now.

SPEAKER_04 56:13

So is it the same with Facebook? Because we hit twenty thousand three hundred and fifty dollars.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

No, I'm I'm I'm kind of against Facebook because it's it's such a like ironic thing to say, but Facebook is only ads nowadays. Oh yeah, and I am in the business to create those, so it's super ironic that I say that. No, no, I don't know. But like I just I don't see anybody's posts, I don't like I don't see my friends or family or anything like that. So I only use it for my business, and I only started a couple months ago with my business on it. Um, I've I I went strict TikTok with this because my photography, I was growing all of them at the same time, and they would all grow, but nothing I got no satisfaction out of it because they were all just kind of growing at the same time. Where TikTok, I was like, holy hell, I hit 20,000 followers. Like, that's awesome. That's like that's I wasn't getting satisfied from seeing all of my channels grow 10 at a time. I wanted to see like I wanted to put all of my eggs in one basket.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

It's hard to maintain all different social media.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

It really is. Um, so like that's that was one of the things, but but I did the same thing is like I was like, man, that video only got 500 views, or or something like that. And it's not that's awesome. 500 people seeing your video is better than 10, better than or not making it at all. Uh now it's taking those 5300 people, turning them loyal enough of a following to share that with somebody else. So when you're looking at your analytics, and I think I told you this last time I was here, um, your your views aren't as important as your shares and your saves. As a business, that's what's super important because that is people saving it to remember it, to go back and watch it again, maybe show their friends, or sharing it because it's either going on a repost or it's sharing to a friend or a husband or wife or boyfriend, whatever, like, hey, check this place out. That's important. That's the number you want to get up. So, like, I and when you do that, TikTok will give you more views. So they reward shares because people are staying on their channel, more people are on their app, more people are seeing the videos, staying on the app, and it's creating this this chain reaction. So if you go and look at my videos, I just did one for the silo bar in Wisconsin Dells, and it did 300,000 views overnight. It was insane. It was a it was a 10-second video, three drone clips put together at nighttime with like the LED lights, and I put that's insane. I put like some dubstep music on it and stuff like that, and it did like 300,000 views while I was staying at the hotel. I woke up the next morning and the my contact there, the one of the owners, she's like, Did you see this? And I'm like, No. And I look at it, I'm like, Holy hell, like what happened? And like, and it's now at like 600,000 views on it. But wow, but yeah, it was it was a quick video and it just it just took off. Uh so it's one of those things where when you're thinking about it, don't think about the the the view count.

SPEAKER_04 59:13

The view count does not matter as much as advice would you give anybody starting off?

SPEAKER_02 59:18

Experiment. Just make a bunch of content, like try to keep it quality content, but remember that that just remember that you need that hook and that CTA, especially in the business form. Now, there are video like you can make funny trendy videos and stuff like that that can take off, but in this, as a business owner, you're not trying to really be that. Like you're trying to use this as a tool to drive people into your business or buy from you or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_04 59:49

So you're saying someone like me should do more content of what we have videos versus trending videos of mocking them.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Man, like yours is so different. Like, I think just trying to tie in some sort of reason to come here. Okay. Like, uh, don't change your videos. I absolutely love your videos.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:09

Your videos are like I I look forward to every time I see one of your videos because it is funny and trendy and viral, and uh it has that that virality issue to it where it could, any of them could take off. And it could take off in six months. A video that you made today could take off six months from now. Yeah, like it's I did uh I did an Airbnb stay up in Minoch. Well, actually, it was just there this past weekend staying again. Um it the video did like 300 views for like three months, and then now it has like 60,000 views on it, it just took off because people started sharing it and stuff like that. So, like it's one of those things where like yeah, don't get discouraged by that not happening, but just try to figure out some sort of CTA somewhere in like I think your videos are good because like seeing your personality and being able to see the place like makes me want to stop here and makes like you're becoming the face of that channel. And like I I think it's a great thing that you're doing and and getting your your staff involved and stuff like that. People are gonna want to come here and see it and check it out and showing this showing the store in the back and like the way that you do that, but still having like humor in it. Like, I love that because like that's something that's like I like when you're like put keys back on.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:26

Absolutely, it's more funny. He's he's loved his absolutely, yeah. It's it's great when he does his stupid because people love it, like when he's lost and stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:36

I love it. Like it's kind of like I'm just turning into like the stupid.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:40

I just told him last week. I I told him last week, I said, I know you're not gonna like what I'm about to say, but we need to get you more um screen time, like more recorded time.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:50

He's like don't change the way it is.

unknown 1:01:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:52

I'm sorry, but you have to stay dumb. Yeah, okay. That's like your character now. That's your character now. It's it's crazy though, because like now, like I'm becoming locally famous in the area down in the valley. So like didn't you?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:07

I think one of your TikToks you said someone recognized you.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:09

Like, I get I can't go out anymore without somebody recognizing me. Or I get a message the next day. Like some guy messaged me, he's like, Hey, I saw you at Walmart, but I didn't want to say hi because I was nervous. And I'm like, dude, I was at Walmart. Like, first of all, don't take a picture of me in Walmart, but the Wait, you sent you a picture? No, no, no, I'm just joking. Like, I don't want to be known as a Walmart guy, but like, but like and I I have had other, I just did a thing with the Timber Rattlers, and there was it was a social media, it was amazing. It was a social media event. There were other content creators there, and I got a message from one of them who was like, I was nervous to say hi, but I love your stuff. And I'm like, dude, like we're uh I'm just like you. Like, I'm I'm not but I if I go out, there's a there's a um bar and restaurant, a fusion restaurant down there called Calaveras. Love that place. Uh it's uh it's uh Mexican fusion uh on like Friday nights and Saturday nights, it's like a dance club, all Mexican music. I don't understand any of it, but it's like my favorite place to go. Total vibe. If I go there, I get noticed all the time there. I went there and I filmed a video for him, and I took more pictures with people than like what I took of the place, honestly. Like the people kept walking up to me and they're like, You're the food guy, you're the food TikTok guy, like you're you're the guy that does food. I'm like, I do more than food, but yeah, that's me. Like, and they're like like nervous to come take pictures with me and stuff like that. That's pretty cool. So, what I what I do now is I carry gift cards with me to different places. So if somebody comes up to me and they're like, Hey, we follow you, I'm like, prove it. And if they bring their phone out and they prove it, I give them a gift card to a restaurant, 20 bucks here, something like that, free coffee, whatever it is. So, like I'm rewarding people, and then so I did it and I shot a video of one of them, and she was with like a group of guys and girls, like downtown, and I was literally just walking, I was at uh a burger home burger bar, and I was walking back to my car after eating, and she stopped me, she's like, I follow you, and I was like, Prove it. So I filmed it, and like all the people that were with were mad at her, and then all followed me. So I got like six new followers just from talking to that girl and giving her a gift card because now they're like, Oh, maybe I'll see them out again, and then I can show them.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:19

Yeah, so it's one of those things, and I and it's a great thing too. You could tell businesses like us, hey, give me a couple gift cards, I'll give them away.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:26

Because then we're like, okay, yeah, I did it. If they come, great. If they lose it, right, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:31

Yeah. Um, and usually, like, so I did um the Wisconsin Dells mountain coaster. It's like a downhill coaster thing. They're in like Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and all that. There's one there's one in the Dells now. You did. And they gave me like 30 free passes to give out to people. So like I'll give them out, but I'll only give like one to a group of three people. They're making money off of it, but they're giving one away. So like that, and that's how I try to do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:58

Yeah, so it's fair, business.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

I'm like, give me a$20 gift card, knowing that somebody's probably gonna spend$50 there. I'm not asking for a hundred dollar gift card. I don't want free food for someone. I just want them to be rewarded, but the restaurant to still kind of benefit from it. And so, like, yeah, that's usually what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:15

Usually we'll give you a couple$5 gift cards. That'd be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

Yeah. Maybe maybe a little more than maybe$10.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:22

Usually what usually what I try to do to it is a good cheapskaters and the family.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:27

Okay, I'm not cheap. I was just poor for most of my life. I get that. I get that. So I never know if we have money to give away.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

But it's like one of those things where you want to give enough away where like the person is rewarded, but they bring a friend or bring, you know, something like that. Where it's like a restaurant, you're not going to go spend that$25 gift card by yourself. You're not just gonna go eat by yourself. You're gonna take your significant other or your family or something like that. So I'm making the business money while rewarding the person for following me, which is also in turn making their Friends and family jealous. That's really that's really good. I heard this on another podcast. This is not my idea. I don't remember who I saw say it, but they're they're a that's a really good YouTuber or a TikToker, and they were like, they they would actually go out on the streets, and this is I I can't get myself to do this yet because it's the extrovertie thing. Um, but they'll like go downtown, wherever whatever city they're in, I think it was Milwaukee, and they're like, quick question, do you follow me? Show me. And like they would just ask random strangers, and like that's that's a little uncomfortable for me to just randomly ask strangers. But if they want to, if I can see like somebody sitting across from me at a restaurant and they're like like they know who I am, I would walk up to them, but I can't just like randomly walk up to people. That's a little that's a little idea. But yeah, it's like thank you for supporting me. I'm gonna thank you, and the business is getting business too. That's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:52

Do you have something you wanted to say?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:54

Oh, I was just gonna ask if you had suggestions or advice on YouTube growth.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:59

It's a completely different animal. Um, YouTube is based around long-term views. So where TikTok is like, I want to get this video seen very fast, and it's probably not gonna be seen very long, which is starting to change a little bit with TikTok. YouTube, I build them so they're not time sensitive. So, like a like the hotel stay. Like that hotel will look the same next summer when somebody's searching for that hotel. So it's more about getting the right words in the bio and using the right hashtags, searchable terms, things like that. So it is a much more deep science on YouTube growth, but it's slower. Like a lot of times, you're not gonna see uh 10,000 views within a day. You're gonna see 10,000 views over two years. But it's it's better because those people are sitting down watching you, they're watching you for 20 minutes, a half hour, they're devoting their time to learning what you have to say.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:59

That's what I say when I look at our YouTube, like when we put our podcast sheet does on YouTube. I'm like, I can't believe 500 or some 700. No, I think it's an average of like five to six hundred. Sat and watched the episode because they're long. Yeah, and I don't know how long it has to take to clutch. So I mean, I like I I know, like, I don't know what we're supposed to hit, but it's an honor to me to see that many people even give a sh to watch.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:27

So have you have you have you hit monetization yet on your YouTube? We're almost there. Yeah. So I just started posting on my YouTube about a month ago, a January, and I'm just about to monetize on it. Um, I have one video that took off. Uh, it's uh from my previous cruise in December. I did uh I I tracked every single drink that I drank the whole week I was gone because I bought the drink package, and I tracked every day what I drank. I just typed it in my notes, and then I went home and I made a video sitting in front of my computer or in front of my camera talking about what I drank each day, how much it would have cost if I'd have just bought it on the ship as opposed to the drink package to see if the drink package was worth buying. And was it yes and no? Um, it helped because I didn't have to track like yeah, like I didn't have to worry about a bill. I paid for it prior. Now we're going on another cruise next month, and I'm not buying the drink package because I want to be able to compare the two. Interesting. Um, and I also feel like the drink package because that drink package you get up to 15 drinks per day, which is a decent amount. But you but we we almost thought about the fact that like we had to drink a ton to make it worth it.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:38

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

So like if we had 20 minutes, we'd be like, let's go grab a drink, where honestly we didn't walk around on the ship as much, or like we spent a lot of time at the bar because of that reason. So, but now people are searching for that, and it's I do I do like 200 views every day on it, so it's growing very quick. And the the important part is they're watching the whole thing or almost the whole thing. So I'm getting it's like a 20-minute video, so I'm getting 20 minutes of view time every time somebody watches it. And it's it's searchable because people are going on these cruises, it's with MSc cruises, uh, and it they're new to America, like they they just started sailing a couple years ago out of out of the US. So like people are trying to learn about this and decide honestly, like, is it worth it? So, like that when it comes back to the podcast, you can look at your um your retention rate, and you'll see spikes on like what people watch. And then what you'll want to do is you want to watch that episode back. And this is might something that you might want to do is watch that episode back and see what people are liking.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:43

So then when I'm like, hey, came me any questions? You could be like, Yeah, talk more about exactly talk more about when you lost your foot, talk more about aliens, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:51

Way more, way more ghost talk, way less talk about TikTok. Oh, yeah. But like, um that so like that's what you want to do, is and then then you double down on that. So like that's the stuff you want to like double down on, and and yeah, do the tangents and stuff like that. But if people like the tangents and like the the the the comedy portion, do more of that. But if you see that they really want to learn and don't just do it on one video, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:17

Right, because they're all different, we don't have a genre, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:11:20

Which is what I've read we're very organic here, like A D is the genre.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:25

What is ADD? A D D 100%. And when we have guests that have it, it's even better. We're like, all right, this is better. Yeah, um, but our goal, like I know like when we were like researching podcasts, now we don't have to do much thinking because she does it for us as far as like what to do. But we're like we don't we don't have a genre, like yeah, we want coffee, we want like good, wholesome, feel good stories, good people.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:52

Um yeah, and technically, like we're in the category of people and blogs on YouTube, so I think that's where it like.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:02

What did you do before you were a photographer?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:05

No, I'm done.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:06

Okay. Before you did photography.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:08

Oh, I have a a book worth of stories. Yeah. Um, so I've been a content creator, a public figure, whatever you want to call it, for most of my adult life. Um, for 10 years, I was a touring hip-hop artist. Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:24

I knew you told me a wild story about something.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:27

Yeah, that's what that's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:29

So I I have a very, very troubled teenage years and got into a lot of trouble as a kid, um, which is one of the most crazy things that I'm sitting next to a police officer because you're like having a general conversation because I was the complete opposite as a teenager. So, like, and now I work with a bunch of them and like I've created content and recruitment videos for police departments and stuff, and like to know that I was the hole in the situation, like I think that was my growing up moment that I was I was the mess up, not the police, like, but like another conversation for another time. But uh, I got into some trouble and I realized that I didn't want that life, I didn't want to be that person. So I started writing music. I met these these people who were writing hip-hop songs, and they were they were rappers at the time, and like we were hanging out in the garage drinking beers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:19

And wasn't it that your friend that you brought with that helped record? Was he one of them?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:23

He was yeah, my friend Justin, and who he helps me film my videos now. Um, he's been one of my best friends for decades. Um, but but yeah, so I started writing music and I started like doing that, and I realized that I didn't want to just write music, I wanted to be a performer, I wanted to be in front of people, I wanted to be that guy. Um, so I signed to a record label in Atlanta, Georgia, and toured throughout literally everywhere. I've played shows all over the United States and in front of I've I started in coffee shops performing in front of five people and ended my my career, as I say, in front of almost 2,000 people at an outdoor stadium or outdoor uh concert venue. And I have a picture that's me in front of with my group in front of a sold-out crowd, and that was like I'm probably never gonna be better than this. So I started phasing it out. Plus, my photography business took off too, but but yeah, I I wrote country rap, so country beats with hip hop bars, and and did that. So traveled and toured with some of the biggest names in that genre. I mean, Bubba Sparks. I did shows with Bubba Sparks, the Miss New Booty guy, and um I did a show where we were on stage sharing it together, and I've played with all sorts of different big name artists in that genre, and um I have Jelly Roll's phone number if I needed to call him. He probably had no idea who I am now.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:46

So is he back to Jelly Roll?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:50

He's a legit good guy as he seems uh I don't know anymore. Uh he was. I I don't I haven't spoke to the guy in 15 years, but he seems like a good guy. He seems like it, but I but I don't know. I guess I don't want to talk about that because I don't know. I don't I don't want to speak for someone else, but I've seen stories and uh I I try to follow that whole genre still from the outside perspective because being in that industry led me to shoot for some of the record labels. Oh so like I there was a record label called Average Joe's Entertainment out of Nashville. They are the hip-hop, the country hip-hop record label. Like you aspire to be on that label. Well, I always wanted to be on it, but I never got to that point that I gave up before actually trying. A few years after that, I started working with them, shooting music videos and photos and stuff for that label. So like it led to me working with it, not the way that I thought it was gonna be, but like I shot um there's an artist named Brian Martin, he's a country singer who blew up, and I shot all his promo stuff that was in uh US uh Entertainer or Entertainment Weekly or whatever the um newspaper or magazines, all sorts of places. I've shot a music video for one of the most famous country hip-hop artists, Colt Ford. I shot one of his music videos, like and and but yeah, so I did that. I I was a musician for a long time, but it always just I was always the person who wanted to be in front of the camera, and like I've I've still to this day, even though I'm behind the camera a lot, I still try to figure out ways to be in front of the camera, which is weird because a lot of photographers and videographers are the exact opposite, like they are behind the camera because they don't want to be in the front. Like, I want the limelight, I love it.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:33

Yeah, what was your hip-hop name?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:35

So I went by hands-on okay, H-A-N-D-Z. Oh, and and there's a funny story behind it because it doesn't mean anything in the hip-hop industry. But when I was a teenager, I was into like techno music and DJing. So my hands were always on turntables, and I don't think I've ever told that in a podcast before. But like my original rap name came from me being a DJ and having my hands on turntables. So my buddy was like, Man, you're hands-on, you're always your hands are always on those tables. Like, we would just party all night long, and I'm like, Yeah, that's that's what I'm going by now. And like it just rolled from that into like I started doing the hip-hop thing, and they were like, What's your name? I'm like, hands-on, and like it just continued on, and like I still have friends that call me hands-on all the time now. So, like, that's a great yeah. Wow, yeah. So, like, I did that for a really long time. I've seen uh so much of the United States. I played in, like I said, in coffee shops. We toured and we did like basically coffee shop a coffee shop tour, and we played at one in Nashville, uh, and it was called Cafe Coco or something like that. It's not there anymore. But like we walk in and it was like people you did not think would like hip hop music, like like pure, like with the earth type people. And they like loved it. They were there all night long. We after partied with them, like, and they absolutely they were calling their friends to come. Like it, and it ended up being like a coffee shop like this size with like 150 people in it watching us. Like it was really cool. We played at um a mud park in Alabama, like where they bring the big jacked-up trucks, and like that was a lot of like my crowd was that. Like, I have a song on Spotify that's over three million plays on it. Um, just from that crowd.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:16

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:17

And uh, but yeah, like we played down there. This this uh it was called Mountain Creek Mud Park, and they were actually on Animal Planet, they had their own TV show for like two seasons about just how crazy rednecky and antics they got into, and we got to play that place like while it was in its like height of its popularity. So, but that's so uh when I was doing that, I was still doing photography, videography, stuff like that. I was shooting weddings, like kind of on the side when I was here trying to make money because a little unknown fact is when you're signed to an independent record label, you're very poor. You don't get paid anything, like you get paid when you make your album sales, then you get a portion of it. So, like anytime I needed photos, anytime I needed a music video shot, anytime I needed merch, I paid for it myself. Like I had to and I didn't have any money, so like I taught myself photography, I taught myself videography because I was like, I gotta shoot this myself. Yeah, makes sense. So I went from there to like other independent artists saying, like, hey, we like your stuff. Can you shoot ours? And I charge like a hundred bucks for a music video or something like that. So like it rolled into it, and then I met a company down in Appleton, it's called Custom Offsets. They build these jacked-up trucks, they sell wheels and tires and stuff like that. And I made a song for them. That's the one that has over three million plays on it. It was like it was a theme song for that company, and they offered me a job as their like content creator for the company. Like, he at that time it was like a$30,000 company. They were not doing they were on the come up. Uh, they had like 900 YouTube subscribers. I worked there about a year and we got it to over 100,000 subscribers. They turned into a 24 million dollar company, um, just building it as we went. But that's so I I I was working for them and still touring and stuff, and like it was growing so much that I had to like draw back my music, which is crazy because I got the job because I made a song for them. But so like that's how I transitioned from full-time musician, hip hop artist to content creator, videographer, YouTube guy. So and that's just rolled from one to another to another.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:23

So, how come you can't say that you're a country artist?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:27

Because I can't sing, I'll be the first to admit.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:30

I don't know what the rules are with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:32

I I can't sing I can't sing. Like I and I guess those when I was doing it, they were two completely different things. Like now the lines have blurred, like with people like Hardy and stuff like that doing a little bit of both. Like the lines have definitely been blurred. But like at that time, like country fans hated country rappers, rappers hated country rappers, like we had to have our own genre. So I was doing it from like 2005 to 2015 or so, 2016. Do you remember that when Nelly and Tim McGraw?

SPEAKER_07 1:21:10

Tim McGrath. They were like, oh, uh like there was like naysayers about it, and then big and rich, kind of like with sort of blurring the lines a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:18

So it's funny because I'm actually Cowboy Troy was a guy that did a lot of their uh stuff with them. Um he's actually a friend of mine. Um the blowfish, he Darius Rucker did it for a while, but so Cowboy Troy actually has a trademark on the term hip hop, which is what our genre is known as hip hop. So he owns the copyright and the trademark for that term, so like you won't see that term outside of him. But like that's what in ours in our industry, in our niche, that's what it was known as was hip hop, country rap. So I like that. Yeah, so I was I was uh Wisconsin's original country rapper for a long time. There's a few others in the area now. But yeah, there's one up in Eau Claire, his name's Jake. Uh he goes by Up North Jake, a good friend of mine. But like I still am semi-close to the industry and the people in it. But that's so cool. Yeah, that's awesome. And it's it was one of those things that like even with that music. That's awesome. Dang, that's awesome. It's one of those things that like even with that music, I was authentic to it. I wasn't rapping about things that I've never done. So that's why like that country rap genre fit me. I'm from West Virginia, I grew up in a town of like 500 people. Um, I was thrusted into the streets of Green Bay as a teenager. So, like, I know that side, but it's not really me. You know what I mean? Like, I had to do bad because like that's where I was a product of my environment.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:36

Um, but like when I got back to being able to talk about what I was and who I was, it was bonfire parties and keg stands and stuff like that. Like, that's what my music was about getting in a truck and going through a mud hole, things like that. So it's like I never, and that's the correlation with dang that's awesome, is I'm I've never pretended to be something that I'm not. And I've never tried to portray something that I'm not, and I think that genuinality comes through my c through my current content. It's like I'm not there just to make money, I'm there to help somebody, I'm there to promote a business, uh, and use my skills and my assets to help somebody else. It shows. Yeah, yeah. I try. I still have fun with it.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:15

Do you have anything you want to ask him?

SPEAKER_05 1:23:17

Um, this is very random. What is your last name?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:22

My last name is Russell.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:23

Okay, never mind.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:25

I had a professor in Los Angeles, and he looks and sounds like very similar to you, and it's freaking me out a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:31

I was definitely not a professor in Los Angeles.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:33

Well, if you were like related or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:35

Another life, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:36

Oh my gosh, yeah. So that's it's triggering. And he was what class? He was a professor. Um, I went to a film program out there and he was a professor by that. Yeah, and he's like all about storytelling, and like I feel like just from what you were talking about, you would get along very well and you would look very similar. That's awesome.

unknown 1:23:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:55

So you'll have to pull his picture up and I definitely want to see it, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And just yeah, his mannerisms, it's very similar, but his name's John Booker, so not probably not a real notion.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:06

But um I get I do get at least once a week somebody calls me John, though. Okay. So like they call you what? Maybe the John instead of the Josh. All the time. It's close. Okay, so here's a funny like here's a here's a beans and banters uh conversation. Um, so I was on a Dart League down in Appleton, uh, and we won first place, and the trophy said John Russell. So I comment or I'm I'm emailed them and I was like, hey, my name is Josh. It's registered in your system as Josh. And they're like, oh my god, we're so sorry. We'll send you another trophy, another plaque. It said John Russell. No, the second plaque said John Russell. So like now everybody, now everybody that like I played darts with on that team, they still call me John. John, but like it's at least once a week. Right? Yeah, like my kids call me John all the time and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:52

So how how do your does your wife and kids get to join you on these adventures? Sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:00

Um, my wife has a full-time job that she uh that I still call her real job. Um, but that she's I've always been the person that like I hate a boss. I absolutely hate a boss. It's why I've had like the um I don't know if you remember the line in Wayne's world, but he had an extensive collection of hairnets and name tags. Like, that's kind of me. I've worked a ton of places because I just I'm not happy. Um, she's like the exact opposite. She loves her job, she loves what she does. I can't get her to leave it to save my life, um, even though I've asked a million times. Um, but every now and then they do. Um, the kids, I'm the type of person that like I would rather have them traveling with me than going to school sometimes. I get in trouble. Like every year we get the phone calls like your kids have missed too much school. And I'm like, they're on a beach in Florida, like, leave me alone. Like they're learning the real life stuff. Right. Um, and they're both very smart, very smart children. So um, but yeah, they they get to go with me every now and then. Some of the videos, like as we're growing, like I said, some of the content they want the family views, like we're we're talking to a couple different zoos, they want us to have the kids with instead of just me to create those like experience videos and stuff like that where they can use them. So, yes, um, my goal is to full-time travel, like as much as we can. Um, all of us get as many memories as we can, make all that for the kids. What a great life! It's fun, it really is. Yeah. Like I like I said, um, when I was traveling with the photography and with the photography business teaching that, like last year I went to like six different states. I I made this like personal uh plan for myself, and I just came up with it like a couple weeks ago. Uh, I want to go to all 50 states before I turn 50. So, and if I've been there already, it doesn't count. Like I want to document all of them. So, okay. So I got seven years, I'm 43. Um, by 50, I want to hit all 50 states. And even if it's just a leave on a Friday, come back on a Sunday type situation and stuff like that. Uh, and then uh I had another goal to do two countries this year, which I should be able to hit. So um, yeah, I just I want to experience stuff. Like I said, I had a very terrible upbringing as a teenager. Like I knew my, you know, I was without going super deep into it, I was homeless at 15. Like I was by myself, and uh like my my mom is back in my life now. Um, but like at that time, like I was on my own. I was doing what I could to make money and and doing all sorts of bad stuff to make money. Um, and I didn't get to experience stuff, so I want to make sure that my kids now can experience as much as they can, and and myself too. Like, I want to experience this. So a lot of the vacations that my kids are going on, it's my first time doing it too. So like I'm just as excited. Like, and it's just one of those things is like if I had a boss, if I had a job that I couldn't leave, I couldn't experience as much as when I when I die in 30, 40 years, whenever it is, I can say that I experienced as much as I could and met as many people as I could and heard as many stories as I could. I can and help people share their stories as much as I can. So it's just one of those things that like I'm so passionate about.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:06

Well, it it's very inspiring. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:08

I I I hope so. I want it to be. So thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:13

Yeah, we really like you. Thank you. Yeah. It's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:16

I'm up for this anytime.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:17

Like I love we're probably gonna circle back around with good ones like this and other ones. Like just because it's especially when people want to hear more, you know, like because there's so much more.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:28

Yeah. And I and I didn't touch on it as much, but like the restaurant thing, like that's gonna be uh the the course. Um is gonna be based around like somebody who wants to learn the analytics of stuff and how to learn the the nerdy side of things as well as like the cameras and lighting tricks and stuff like that, but it's not gonna go as deep into that as the why. Like that's that's what I want. And it's gonna be like one of those courses where it's not like you get 20 videos and it's done. It's more of like I'm updating it as it goes. So like as I learn stuff, there'll be another video come out. It's more like a community group type situation. Oh, that's what that's how I built my photography one, is it's more based around a community of like I answer people's questions type situation. That's really good.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:12

So that's what I know a lot of places would probably benefit. Like in well, and not saying anything bad about them, but like that would probably need yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:21

Because that's one of those things that like nobody teaches you that type of stuff when you're learning business. No, and and that's it's it's in today's age.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:29

Usually if you're like the cook or really good at cooking, you're not gonna be focused in on the social media side of things, right? You know what I mean? So like it's you can't do everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:38

Or or somebody who's done traditional marketing for 20, they've they've had a business for 30 years, and 20 years of it has been uh you know billboard ads or radio ads or something like that, where like nobody's doing that anymore. Like it's all at the at the tip of your fingers. So like if you're not there, you're behind. So that's what I want to focus on. But yeah, I'd I'd love to come back again. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:00

Well, thanks so much, John.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:02

Yeah, for thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:03

No, Josh. I know it's Josh. We'll see you next Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:08

Yeah, and uh, and uh, I appreciate you having me on, and oh god, yeah. I don't remember your last name, but maybe one day you'll say it and he never does, but thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:21

Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:22

Yeah, we'll see you next Tuesday, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:23

Bye.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:24

Help me really want to your heart.