This is the full transcript of The 22-Year-old director shooting ai commercials for major brands, published on YouTube by Brett Malinowski. Every paragraph carries the moment it was spoken, so you can click any line to jump straight to that point in the video, search the whole thing for a word, or copy it out.
0:00You're making AI videos for software companies that want to like release a new product or launch their business, like a launch video. Yeah. Yeah. And you charge anywhere from 20 to 40K for one of these videos. How old are you? 22. 22. Okay. So, this is a pretty cool time where people like you, obviously, you've been making videos for a long time, but you picked up this AI video skill a few months ago, and now there seems to be a lot of demand in the market for it. And you make probably some of the coolest videos I've ever seen. We've worked together on many videos. you made the
0:26infamous GTA 5 video at [ __ ] and you have many, many more cool companies under your portfolio. I guess I really just want to understand how you're using AI in your videos and just your overall just I guess perspective on the last 6 months. Yeah. Okay. So I I think the most interesting thing that I've been able to capitalize on in the last 6 months with AI video is um these AI companies are taking over social media. When Sora came out, when V3 first came out, like it's the views are so cheap. It's so easy to um and each time a new tool comes out,
1:04there's like a period where there's actually something that you could have never done before. like the day like people started making Yeti videos like for a week or two that was actually like mind-blowing and really awesome and like really hilarious and most of the world like found it very entertaining and no one was really talking that much [ __ ] about it. So I've been kind of trying to follow like the arbitrage is each new like um each new tool that comes out that moves the ship forward, I'll try and incorporate that into the project I'm working on. So it's has this it can have this mind-blowing effect if the
1:36timing is on point. like the GTA video. If we posted that today, it would have done a lot worse than it did when when we did because no one had really done that yet. So, um it's just more to more to work with. Yeah, you can do a lot more things yourself. Um the teams can be smaller, it can be cheaper, you can
1:54still kind of charge a similar amount. It's definitely a nuance topic though. Yeah. I mean, it seems like the fact that novelty is rewarded on social media, like even in education space, like if you're the first one to share a new way to like make an ad or something or grow a business, like that video
2:10grows because it's valuable to people. And so, it seems like you just like I remember you were using a tool that came out 2 days before that video came out to like make to upscale it. Like you're just so ahead of the edge of what the like modern capabilities are that when a new tool comes out that allows you to do like one new type of content, you jump
2:26on that and you already have a client. You just insert that into your client's next video basically. For sure. So, you've been so far ahead of it, but it's not Yeah. It's not like doing the video for you by any means. No. No. Yeah. It's very interesting. So, what tools like like if you're going to make an I video right now, like what are you leaning into? What are like what's your
2:41tool suite? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, Nano Banana Pro is awesome. And I mean, I'll just be like super like upfront with it. Like every other image model [ __ ] kind of [ __ ] sucks. like um might have been cool 6 months, but right now I'm NA Banana Pro. Um overall like pretty bullish on Google. Um I mean Gemini is incredible. Some something I use not for like producing stuff but to be able to analyze videos or even like look at 100 of my favorite ads and see what what's in common with scripts or the writing. Um, V3 is is VO3.1 has been really good in
3:18the past, but it's kind of at this phase right now where they need to come out with a better model. Um, right now it's a little bit like substandard. I think Clling 2.6 is like the best um the best quality right now. You can get Sora 2 is decent, but they it's so expensive and they have so many like restrictions with it. I haven't found like massive utility for Sora 2. Um, I think AI UGC is a huge like conversation and that's something where like you can definitely say AI is making everything cheaper. You can actually produce [ __ ] that most of the world think is real. That's like the
3:50scary stuff. But yeah, as far as like real commercial stuff, um, upscaling Topaz is good. Um, 11 11 Labs is awesome for audio. Like I've been able to create we created a voiceover with 11 Labs for the GTA video that was based off TGR's voice. He also made an actual voice over for it and the 11 Labs one was better for the video. [laughter] So it's like
4:14that kind of [ __ ] is weird. So if you had like so if you had to make an AI video like today and I said you only can use AI for the entire process like step by step what tools are you using? What are how are you using them? How would you make an AI video? First I would I would like I mean I'll literally explain everything. So I like [clears throat] have a call with you. I ask you maybe some questions. Get contact. I have like a um I have an onboarding form that I'll ask and get all the information about what you like,
4:39what you don't like as a company. Um I'll take that information and start by coming up with 10 to 20 like highlevel ideas for the video. It's obviously like the most important part with with AI. Like if my idea for an AI video was like, oh, it's a guy and a girl in a restaurant talking, it's like, why the [ __ ] would you make an AI video about that when it's super easy to shoot? It's obviously like more captivating to be okay. Oh, monkey on a private jet that explodes jet ski. Like coming up with 10 ideas that I feel like would work and I mean coming I it will
5:10either just come to me or like find a reference or maybe I'll even use claw. I'm like careful about what how much I use like LLMs but um come with the ideas. We'll decide on one together. Um concept down. Yep. Cool. Concept is like monkey on private jet um explodes. It's co mask commercial. [laughter] Then I would um I'd write the script and uh just get like the dialogue I want in there. Maybe I have an idea for the hook general like high level like what the [ __ ] going to happen inside of the video. Again, like check in with the client, make sure it looks good. Uh when
5:44that's all locked off, then I'll like make a storyboard in Figma. So I'll just list out all the lines in Figma and then um I'll start generating images with Nana Banana Pro. In the past, I've had other people on my team like generate a bunch of images. You'll do a static image. Yeah, static images. Okay. So, you're kind of doing like a
6:01storyboard, like a preview. Storyboard. [snorts] Yes, exactly. Story. Um, the move with that is like using Nano Banana Pro if you want these all these exact prompts. PJ's latest newsletter has all of them in there. But, um, you want to prompt to create 2 by 2 grids. So, you're just basically like mass prompting images. Say like the first shot is a monkey uh driving the plane. Like I'm gonna get like every style of monkey, every style of plane, every style of angle, and like see what hits the hardest, then upscale that, and then okay, cool. I found a great image for this specific scene. Lots of back
6:33and forth on I use free pick, so you can use like reference images. You can like get character consistency on point. You can even have like a style reference. If you love like the color of Wolf of Wall Street, you can like incorporate that. Um, so I'll lay out all the images when like I have a good uh base set. It's like, you know, 20 images for each scene and angle. Um, I'll start animating them. I'll use cling 2.6 for like 90% of animations. If it's like V3, the only edge case for V3 because I think they've trained like they've back trained everything on on YouTube. So,
7:10you f like I find like you get the best human emotional expression. Cling 2.6 is a little more AI and robotic, but VO is the characters like almost have a sense of humor. It's pretty funny. Um, but yeah, whatever whatever I use to animate will be CL mixer of Clay and Vio. Put them all in the edit. Um, and then from there, like maybe new ideas will come up inside of the edit and I'll kind of just like ad hoc generate new videos or something like that. For the most part, yeah, just getting the edit to a good spot. Um, and then you you'll add sound
7:42effects, overlays, like trying to do some color treatment. I'm just looking at it like, okay, everyone out there is making videos. they just like oneshot it, just put it in Caput and put it out. Like what how many layers can I stack to it, stack on top to make it um as like custom as possible and take the AI footage as far as it can go. So yeah, overlays, maybe there's like a VHS overlays and and photo for GTA for example, I'll maybe design them some things in Figma, like a news banner or something like that. Once the edit is like good to go, um we'll upscale
8:14everything in um upscale everything in Topaz and and yeah, for for voice over use uh 11 Labs. There are some really cool things like you can do now with cling motion control. So I haven't done this yet, but I'm about to do this. Um, you can hire actors on backstage.com for like a hundred bucks a day. And what they will do is like from their the comfort of their own home, film themselves like delivering the line and you can import that into Cling and like overlay a monkey or whatever the [ __ ] change the character, change the character and the scene, but you have that like original like human
8:51um emotion and touch to it, but you can just completely like change the scene. So, I'm pretty bullish on that for like higher level commercials, especially now that like VO is a little fatigued and a lot of people can tell it's AI. It's still not like perfect yet. We're getting so close. Okay. And then you'll use Claude to write the scripts half the time like you like it helps you write I see like write like I mean what I'll do is like it's a bit of an autistic process but I'll like say it's for a um say it's for a prediction market um I will like make a list of the highle
9:26concepts around prediction markets. Okay, you can trade anything. Um, this is finance is changing forever, whatever. And then I'll compile like a huge list of like really cool quotes that I find like strong and powerful like Alan Watts, like anyone that's like an interesting writer. I mean, not that Alan Watts is like the peak of like historical writers, but like just in general finding like cool [ __ ] that's been said and it's all about the it's obviously all about the context and your ability to source high quality information versus letting Claude like so I'll make a huge list like four or five pages long just of oneliners that I
9:58really like and I'll just ask Claude like let's restructure this into like a 40 second commercial with a hook and build up. You'll build the context like general theme of what what the message of this is. Dear Claude is not writing sentences from scratch for me and more so just helping me get the structure
10:13piece it together. Tighten it up. Yeah. Harry didn't follow the traditional path. He didn't go to college, get a degree, and wait for a job offer. Instead, he learned a basic skill. He chose a specific outcome and started selling it to companies who already need help. Now he's making $500,000 per year creating AI commercials for venture-backed startups. Not because he was qualified on paper, but because the market needed what he could do. And I know this path works because it's the exact path I followed to earn a six-figure income my first year out of college. So, if you're a student in college or struggling to find a job, I'd
10:48like to invite you to a live workshop where I'll break down how this new path actually works step by step. We'll cover the in- demand skills companies are actually paying for right now, how to choose a skill without guessing, and how to actually get real work and experience without waiting years. This isn't about
11:03shortcuts or flashy business models. It's about understanding how income actually works in today's economy and what your first realistic step could be. This workshop is completely free and it's happening live next week. So if you want clarity instead of confusion, click the link below to save your seat. Yeah. Okay, cool. So you concept with the So you reach out, client talks to you, they want an AI video, you get on a call with them, you guys kind of concept together, you come up with 10 different concepts, land on a good idea that's creative that you like. Once you have that, you start storyboarding. into storyboard. You
11:34start getting actual still images of what you want this monkey on a airplane to look like. Yeah. And so you use freepic to make these images. Once you find the sequence of images that you like, you'll upscale them and then take those into V3. V3 or cling 2.6. Those your two video generations will turn those images into videos. Once you have those videos, you'll go into Premiere
11:54Pro and actually edit the video. And then you're going to edit the video without the voice over. Or do you need the voiceover first? No, I [ __ ] that up. Yeah, I'll put the voice over. I usually start with audio. Okay. So, you'll start with audio. Yeah. So, then you'll go into you'll get the you'll talk to Claude. You'll get the actual script written out once you have
12:10the concept. And then you'll get the voice over. You'll find a voice that fits the theme. Uh you didn't talk about this, but your music. You just have like Spotify. You always are looking for new music. And when you find music, you like you put into a Spotify playlist. I know that about you. And so, you have like this backlog of Spotify songs. Pull one, find a voiceover that works. Take the Claude script, put that into 11 Labs. 11 Labs gives you
12:32Alan Watts voice. Yeah. Put that in the edit sound design with actual just like stock sound. You're not using AI for sound design, are you? No, that's kind of unnecessary. Yeah. I That's actually a big part of the process, too, is like sometimes I'll just generate the voice over for the script and put it in and play it back and forth with different songs and see like what hits the hardest. And then even before I put any videos into the sequence, I'll like put sound effects in there to like add to like the buildup or like the what's like the big punchline and I'll add like different kinds of
13:05whooshes and hits and stuff like that. Your sound design is like probably one of the most like beacher style things you got. What makes you special, bro? So you go. You're welcome. [laughter] Okay. So that's like the general anatomy of an AI video, would you say? Yeah. And it's not too different from just the anatomy of a video. Yeah. But let's like that's why I wanted to start with your story because like
13:28you don't like that's what I'm saying. It's not just like, oh, you made an AI video. It's like yeah, you're using AI to like generate pieces of this story that you you don't need to go shoot a $50,000 budget in front of the pyramid of Giza. Yeah. You just get a quick B-roll shot of the pyramid of Giza and not new stock
13:42footage. Yeah. And so like it's you're incredibly skilled and that's why you've got here. You're seven years in the game. Um, but unless you have any other thoughts on AI, I really want to try to understand how you've expanded out of just like you have like a you have like a suite of offers now. You're not just doing AI commercials and you're making more than, you know, 50K like if you don't just do one video a month, you have other income revenue. And so I'm curious how you've kind of ex this like you're running a business in what I think is the most modern way that Gen Z Kid could be
14:12running a business where it's not like you just do one thing for a company like you don't work inside of a marketing department. You offer these AI commercials to different companies now. It's like a very specific. So I guess my first question is why like why have you settled in on these like soft venturebacked software companies that you're selling AI commercials to? like why is them
14:36specifically? Yeah. I mean, and that just has happened naturally, but these are I think startups are genuinely gen generally run by younger people. They're down to do crazier [ __ ] and they have a bunch of cash. Mhm. And simple as [laughter] that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like they're good. Um and obviously like since in the past two years, I've gotten pretty like imshed in the world of of Twitter and like how valuable that can be for companies. Um, I feel like it's just a big diva fest of like a bunch like I don't know if there's many customers on Twitter. I just feel like it's all these like found
15:09different founders, fans of different founders. It's almost more cool to be like a goated company in the eyes of another company than it is like your customers now. It's interesting. People just want to be like [ __ ] have aura on Twitter and [ __ ] like that. Why like why did you why are you making these types of good videos for these
15:26type of companies? Yeah, dude. I mean, it's just just what happened. It's just it's just the chain of events really. like I didn't I wasn't that conscious. Um it's just what's the referral network. You got basically it's a referral network, but it's also kind of my like what I'm interested in. I I crypto companies. Yeah, lots of my friends, you know, I'm I'm friends with like a lot of people at a lot of these companies. Um and I uh I like them myself and I think they're like doing interesting [ __ ] generally in the world. And I'm trying not to like take on projects with companies that
15:56aren't doing like interesting and like mind-blowing [ __ ] You turn a lot of people away. Like you're only working with like future thinking like modern companies with young founders. Yeah. Like you're very selective. It's like again it's almost like the type of work you're taking now is like building a brand for you. 100%. It is dude. It is. And it could destroy my brand at the same time. So yeah. It's people throw this word around like personal brand and I think a lot of people think of like a make money online guru but like really like a personal brand is really just like a portfolio
16:23and like Yeah, dude. And a brand is what you say no to, not what you say yes to. Clip it, dude. That's a [ __ ] bar. Let's go. But I would say you've kind of like you were one of these first movers on these AI video stuff. Yeah. And so and then like you obviously did it for us now. You've done it for like Poly Market, like these other huge other companies. So that's like one thing that you're like known for and you've actually gained like authority in this space. Like when people look at Beach and Newer on Twitter, they're like it's the same thing how you're posting your
16:49videos on Instagram back in the day for rappers, but now it's these videos on Twitter and the people that run companies are also on Twitter. And so when they see that, not only do you offer you actually do the video for them, but you have like other a few other like income sources. Yeah. Can you explain the like like the now the flywheel of offerings that you have
17:08around this? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think that um and I like what you said like this is how like Gen Z are running businesses because it just is it's like you want to become um I think through like getting good at a skill and operating in like [snorts] a hot market such as AI video. Um, I think like you've experienced this too, like you can have this like perfect storm of just being like the guy to go to and then you um people don't just ask you for videos, but like even consulting um for brands I've done um and selling off different parts of my videos, having a
17:51community around AI, just like even building I've been trying to work on building my ex account for the last like few months too and it's like there's different I've, you know, there's different like ways to make money. Like if you have followers or um that's like its own equity. Um even people paying to doing like paid promo post which like I I don't really do but I've gone offered it and it's like um damn [snorts] dude like I thought I was in this impossible to scale business model but like here I am like able to
18:24scale this business model. Yeah. It's very interesting. Like a year ago, you might have had like 400 followers or 1,000 followers on Twitter. I had two I started my I mean I think I had like 300 followers before I joined W. Yeah. You had like 300 followers. Yeah. You're really talented at making videos. You were a creative director. You started making these AI videos. A lot of [snorts] ours kept going viral. You then would post that video on your main Twitter building your personal brand like, hey, just did this video with [ __ ] People started to recognize that. You started to gain a little bit of a
18:51following. AI videos becoming popular. You're making more AI videos. All of a sudden you're like this like authority in this niche and now you are like okay now that people perceive you as the expert because you are like you're making videos at a very high level. You can obviously other companies are going to want that but simultaneously not every other people want to learn how to make a AI video. So you could package that into a community where you can teach people. So instead of the done for you, you just give the package $300
19:18program. And then some companies want instead of you just doing it once for them and paying 40k where that's not going to return anything after that first video, they'd rather you just consult them and teach them how to do it so they can have someone internally even placement, bro. Like people have paid me to connect them with and that's like the signs of a hot market. That's not going to last forever and there'll be different markets where it's like this. But yeah, like when AI video was really popping off, it's like people were just wiring me money just to put them in iMessage group chats with other
19:44people that knew understood AI video. And so you have this flywheel now. So it's like now you're just like at the end of the day, you're just, you know, how to make AI videos that are like at a very high level that succeed on Twitter. And so now people just pay you for a
19:56different form of delivering that value. Like they can either get you to talk to them for an hour one-on-one and tell them, you can do it for them. You could watch a two-hour video you where you teaching them how to do it and they have to make it themselves or you go find someone that watched the course and is now good at it and you
20:13just give that person to people. Yeah. So you have like these four other income streams. Yeah. But even just as you say that out loud, it's like so [ __ ] important even to tell myself like I like for any of that [ __ ] to even have a chance of working or continuing to work, it's very vital that I I stay my Yeah. You're not some YouTuber that's
20:31going on YouTube making tutorials. you're like actually doing it like and so you've grown your Twitter because you'll share stuff on Twitter like oh I use this tool to make this video. So you've gained like 10 15 thousand followers now and on top of it you're still dropping banger videos like every two weeks so people are constantly seeing like oh he's like actively doing this at a very high
20:48level. Yeah. So you're selling through authority like you're not like marketing yourself and like promoting yourself and going on a podcast. Well I guess that's kind of funny now but [laughter] but that's not even why you're here trying to chill too hard. Yeah. This is a favor for me. So, thank you for being here. But that's cool to me. So, can you will you talk about how much you charge
21:07for videos? Well, for your whole suite cuz you got consulting, you got a community course, and then you got placement, dude. It's like I think this is kind of the beauty of like my [ __ ] that I something I like about my life in general. It's like I'm not running like I'm probably capping my my income by with this, but I'm I'm just [ __ ] making it up as I go along, bro. It's like [laughter] it's like what is this really valued at
21:35in the market right now? You've been coming off so professional and like legit in this podcast which I love but at the same time like you're also just [ __ ] hilarious. [laughter] I mean like dude I don't know what I'm doing. No but seriously bro it's like what do you charge like whatever I can't [laughter] like literally like whatever people whatever I can say that people won't say no to. So it's
21:58whatever. Yeah. But it's it's it flows with the market. It really does. Like No, I mean it's such a new market. There's no like established pricing for anything. Yeah, dude. For sure. Um and it goes up and it goes down and I um Yeah, like the videos are like five figures, low to low five figures. And hopefully I can get that up somewhere to six figures in the next few years. Be sick. But it's also not for the purpose of like pocketing cash. It's just like
22:25making sick videos. Um yeah. And then with the consulting stuff like sometime like there were periods where people were super um it it was it was very like there companies were under a lot of pressure to like figure this [ __ ] out. So it's like people were down to pay whatever um just to have like a conversation or something and it's not the case today like but but yeah I don't
22:48know. I mean imagine trying to start this is just a point I want to make cuz I love I'm very excited about the next topic we're about to talk about. My favorite thing about what you've done is how you've done it all in order. Like you really did start at just like picking up a camera, wanted to go shoot a music video when you're 15 and then you saw Cole B Cole Bennett that really inspired you. You stacked skills. You gained leverage with what you're doing. So now you were so skilled at this that now you're like perceived as the authority of an AI video creator cuz you are. And
23:15then because of that, you've been able to spin out these different businesses like a digital product business, a consulting business, an actual agency. You know what I'm saying? You're probably making like half a million dollar a year minimum. Probably more than that. As far as the IRS is concerned, [laughter] $100,000 a year. Okay. Okay. But [clears throat] with that being said, like I guess what is life like now? Like how do you look back at it? Like when you were thinking about making money and being successful back then to you being here now? Like what have what's changed in your mindset to
23:40like approaching work and everything? Yeah. Honestly, truthfully, like right now, I feel exactly the same as I did before I even started making music videos. I feel like I'm at the bottom of like a a completely new mountain and I think that just happens like uh there's definitely no like in my mind I'm like bro like I'm yeah I've done a lot of things I wanted to do but I'm still very much at the bottom of like a huge uh huge mountain to climb. There's like
24:05a lot more [ __ ] to do. Um and by no means am I like set for life or anything like that. thought I um I I will say like I there's videos on my phone I filmed on myself like two or three years ago at loop like I just had an 11 hour day in the office now I'm going home I have negative $300 in my bank account I hope this changes one day like just you recorded that you say that to yourself wow that's cool but I have like videos on my phone of like just these really hard moments where like I was just going and going
24:38and going like I came from I did not come from poverty at all. Like, so I was never like truly [ __ ] but like I was I had a very cheap apartment and I just wasn't like I couldn't really do [ __ ] Like I was in New York and I was just working working working. Um my account was was like under $1,000
24:57like 99% of the time. So how did you like actually get into video? I got into video when I was like 10 years old. At first it was like an iPad lying around. I was I definitely grew up watching YouTube videos. And I remember it clicked to me at like 11 years old. I was like, "Wo, like these people are like cutting clips together and just like posting on YouTube and getting millions of views and like um yeah, like
25:19skateboarding videos, biking, whatever." I was just like I would wake up at 7:00 a.m. and just binge YouTube so much as a kid. And that's like something in common with tons of like other kids, friends that are kind of like in this space. We kind of grew up Yeah. watching YouTube. And that's where it started for me. Started just like home videos,
25:38skateboarding, and then it just evolved. I always had like this parallel want to make money, but also like make cool stuff. So, you know, it was just like got back and forth. I was grinding like bar mitzvah videos, like basketball highlights for like moms in in my local neighborhood. And then I pivoted to uh like making sports highlight videos for like schools in the neighborhood. And then I watched this TED talk with Cole Bennett, which is a really good TED
26:03talk. anyone watching should check out. And like that night I was like, "Okay, I'm making music videos." Like this kid literally just like picked up a camera and started making vid music videos. Why can I not do the same thing? That night I messaged a hundred different rappers from my Instagram account. I was like, "Bro, please let me make you a free video." And that next day in science class, like this literal and like FaceTimes me and I'm in science class and I'm like, "What's up, bro?" and he's like, "Yo, come to like shoot this like
26:32behind the scenes with me this weekend." And it was so crazy cuz that day co started. Oh [ __ ] Yeah. Yeah. So then I um I was like, "Mom, please please let me go and do this. Like this is going to change everything for me." A free music video. Yeah. Yeah. And I went, dude, and I went to do that behind the scenes music video. I got on a a police chase. Like it was just bizarre. Like my mom picked me up and I stinkked. Um, or my dad picked me up and I smelled of weed and he was like pissed and I stayed up till
26:597 a.m. that night editing the video, send it to him and that like started a domino effect of music videos and I made around like 100 different music videos throughout high school. I was like able to travel around the world. I worked with like some pretty big rappers. I had some wild experiences. But that was just awesome for getting reps in and I was very like I was following my curiosity and like in a vehicle where I was just work became very easy to do and I was progressing with editing still not charging anything crazy but just having a lot of fun with it and that just
27:30progressed like that got very old um and it ran its course. I kind of wanted to make more money and like deal with less [ __ ] and um and yeah, there was like a one from the age of 18 to 19 like I kind of shifted into the marketing and tech world. I just ended up at the at this marketing agency and I um got my foot in the door with like some more less music videos and more like ads, commercial, promotional materials. Like it was pretty humble at start like
27:57when you came to LA. I was in LA when I so I I moved there for college. Um, so I was like around 18. I was young young freshman. Um, and I was there for more or less a year and yeah, like college didn't work out. I ended up moving back to New York. When did you when you were making that first music video? How old were you when
28:17you got in a police chase? I was 15. I believe you were 15 years old. You had a rapper pick you up to shoot a video and you guys were literally in a police chase. Yeah. Shooting the video. And you didn't mention that part. And then I was doing that like after I would bring my like [laughter] big briefcase to school and like Uber from high school to like
28:36Brooklyn to shoot some drill video. [laughter] The funny thing is we were do I was doing this exact same thing. I was a little older, but like exact same path. Cole Bennett is a huge inspiration for me as well. Yeah. So you moved to LA for college. Yeah. How long did that last? I really didn't like I'd been SCOPed by like YouTube [ __ ] when I was a kid. I was like, "Bro, like, [ __ ] college, blah, blah, blah." Like, but didn't really have any like real case against college in in my parents eyes or anything. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that. Like, I wasn't making a
29:05ton of money. It wasn't like super clear that not going was a good idea. And I got this like I got like a scholarship to a pretty good film school, uh, which I was generally excited about. And, um, you know, I was I was pretty sold on the idea of going to film school. So I um I went and I had some I was dealing with some personal issues. I think it was like a whole hodgepodge of just like
29:28college didn't feel like it was working. I didn't have I didn't want what the teachers had. Like I didn't trust that the dude telling me how everything is done had a cool career even himself. Like he you know apart from a couple people they're mostly just like washed up people that couldn't make it in the film
29:45industry. Yeah. And um it's not to say it's like an L for everybody, but um you know that combined with like bro, people are there to party and like try and hook up with girls and do whatever less like I I was pretty like I have a dream like I want to [ __ ] make videos and commercials and like do cool [ __ ] And um it just felt like an unserious environment like honestly. Um and then I was also just like having fun myself and like living life. And by the end of the year, I was just like over it, dude. I was like where I thought I was going to be
30:21at 18, 19 was just like pretty far away from where I was in reality. And I was just looking around and I was like, "Okay, there's a bunch of reasons why that is." Like, you know, it's this party environment. It's college. It's like, you know, I'm not like all in. I'm not taking this [ __ ] seriously. And like, you know, I left on a whim. Um, I bro I actually woke up like one morning and I checked my schedule and it was like archaeology class 9:00 am and I was just like this is a [ __ ] joke. This is like really stupid and yeah it was
30:48just like you know perfect storm. I was just like I can't do this anymore. You had I mean you had a pretty clear goal that you wanted to be like a great artist, filmmaker, videographer, whatever it was. So you were like still set on that and you just realized this pro this situation this school specifically wasn't really advancing you towards your
31:05goal as quickly as you wanted to. For sure. And even like, you know, by Q2 they're letting us like use cameras and make stuff. They're like, "Yo, you you actually need a permit and you actually turns out the only place you can even shoot is in your dorm room." Um because like you need to apply for a permit to this park. And I was just like, "Bro, this is no one [ __ ] does that [ __ ]
31:24unless you're making like 100k plus." Um, you know, these are schools like now I've picked up, but like I just wanted to make stuff and get reps in. I mean, that was the single biggest annoyance for me in college was like, when are we actually gonna start doing something? And it's like you feel like you have to wait four years before you actually like do stuff. And I'm like, why are we not like making a video in glass on the first day? Like I never really understood that. So, I really I really understand that sentiment, but okay. So,
31:47you left college for obvious reasons. Then you moved back to New York where you grew up. What were your next steps once you got back? I mean, it was just like starting. It felt like I was starting from scratch. It was actually pretty scary. Um, I wasn't one of these kids that was like I didn't like just hit 100k a month and
32:02drop out and move to a penthouse. Video. Yeah. Huh. It's video. So, it's like a little harder. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like I wasn't like I really wasn't like winning that hard. Like um it didn't feel like that internally at least. When I came back like to New York, I like roughly knew what I wanted. Like I knew I wanted to
32:17make money. I wanted to do cool things. I wanted to have like an impact in this life and make cool videos. Like I had rough set of goals, but it was not very clear. It wasn't like, okay, in 6 months from now, I'm going be doing X, Y, and Z. Um, but it was very much like, let's just like I I think that's a great lesson for me to even tell myself now. It's like sometimes like you just don't really know. You're not feeling it. You're not sure, but like just getting up and trying [ __ ] reading [ __ ] just trying I was just continuously setting a new
32:43daily schedule. Like just trying to output stuff and and ship stuff. And, you know, I made like a free I wanted to get into commercials. I knew that. So, I made a free commercial for this brand and like that that did really well on Instagram and and got me a bunch of new clients and then uh you know I I it was my around my it was around my 19th birthday and I was kind of like I I didn't have much money in the bank like I I actually cycled through a [ __ ] ton of different like side hustles in that period of time and um
33:14name a few dude I tried everything like drop like and this is even before college like I'd always like been you know trying drop shipping ing trading um you know starting a clothing brand like kind of everything just experimenting and like I don't regret any of it. Like 99% of that stuff that I did never worked out but was just
33:32Were Sorry, I don't want to cut you off. Were you taking the money that you were making from video to then try to do drop shipping or to try to start a clothing brand? Like you would make $500 from a video and use that to like get the first like 20 shirts or whatever. Yeah, dude. Yep. I would buy like and I was really not that smart with my money at that time but like Yes, for sure. I was investing in Facebook ads for like this drop shipping store and and like achieved minor signs of success here and there, but I was just like going and
33:59going and trying different [ __ ] and trying different [ __ ] Interesting. I I think that's really important to note for people to see because you see all these like online business models and you think and all these like young successful kids that are doing it, but like those do take a little bit of money to start or whatever. And so I think it's for me I was the exact same like I would try a drop shipping store in college, but then I would just like all right, let me go make shoot a video, make $1,000 and I would take that $1,000. [clears throat]
34:18Okay, let me try Amazon FBA this time. Exactly. And so I would when I was trying the business models, I wasn't I didn't realize like how much how many skills were required to make drop shipping work. Yeah. Or Amazon work. But I just think it's really important to understand like if you're just starting out,
34:31just really learn one skill. Yeah. Sell that to whoever you can locally and then just take that money and then you have the money and resources to start trying and learning other skills. Yes. Yeah. So, I think that's like fundamental cuz now even to this day, you you've you've come full circle and now like you're still making videos cuz you focus on that one skill for what, eight years now, seven years now and you're so good at it that now people are
34:51willing to pay you $40,000 per video. And so, I think that's like a really I just want to point that out to anyone watching that kind of like sees all these podcasts and like maybe overwhelmed like you don't choose a business model. Just like choose a skill and that'll be really valuable to any business and will serve you later in
35:05your life. Yeah, for sure. And like learn it's the classic like learn cash flow first like do not learn like you know passive income first like I'm going to buy real estate. Yeah. Like just you know something to generate some cash and like and just try stuff. Yeah. I think that's incredible. And so you would make so I kind of want to understand this. You would make videos and you just post them on your
35:26personal Instagram. It's kind of like your portfolio basically. Post them on personal Instagram. You know I had a few different portfolio websites. LinkedIn. tried everything. YouTube and you're probably using Premiere. Premiere Pro. Premiere Pro. Yeah. What type of camera did you have back then? Dude, that's another story, too. It's like I I started with a GoPro and then I would just flip the cameras over and over again. So, I got like a a Panasonic
35:50G7, then a Lumix GH5. GH5 was a goated camera. Yeah, it was a really good camera. Like I I shot loads of music videos with that camera. And then I got an A7S3 like um it was like 18 or 19 and you know got some better lenses and just And then did you get so you would post your you upgrade make your quality of your product better post this on Instagram. The better your videos the more you could charge over time. That's why you got to thousands of dollars per video and then did you just get all your
36:16clients through outreach? I've tried it all. Like I've done I've had periods where I was like cold outreaching and sending like mass DMs on LinkedIn and I never ever ever got any high quality clients like doing that. What I was doing a lot of throughout like this whole period of time which I thought was so like what which was really valuable is just hitting people up and being like dude like find like seeking out people who I really respected and wanted what they had and were really cool I thought were really cool. message them and just be like, "Bro, like, I just want to chat to you
36:46and like learn from you. Like, I'll do some [ __ ] for free, like just for some of your time um on the phone." And I would just ask them like whatever the [ __ ] I was doing with at the time. And um those were the connections where at the end of the phone call, they'd always be like, "You know what? Like, I think I do have some people that might need video or I should connect you with this guy or this guy." And yeah, those are connections I still like have to this
37:06day. So, you your lead magnet, which is I'll just do anything for you for free up front or just can we talk? I I I'm down to help any way I can. And you build a relationship once they get to know you, they kind of like you, then they help you out for sure. And I think as this whole market gets s more saturated, there's more kids trying to do this [ __ ] there's more, you know, lead generation agencies being created on LinkedIn like that. I think leaning into more humanistic like approach to cold outreach just trying to make friends and especially lean into if you're young,
37:34leaning into your age. Yeah. I mean, there was like a status circle or like a social circle inside of my small town. And I would like I like how you're saying you're specifically seeking out other people that you think are like popping off or like trying that you admired and wanted to like work with and just do anything you can to get in that
37:50person's like social circle. Yeah. And what I can only see now is like those are skills I actually learned with music videos because Hunter talked about this on your podcast, but I love this idea of like tapping into people's peer groups. Like I was doing that with music videos. I was like, "Okay, I
38:05really want to work with the Migos. Like, let me try and at least get in touch with their DJ or at least, you know, get in touch with someone they follow on Instagram." And just applying the same logic to it was I mean, for my I'll just go to my video story. My literally my first video was for super lucky. Asked my dad if he knew anybody that needed a video or I was at my dad's ham store. I was like, "Ask his employees, you know, anybody that needs a video?" Random bluecollar
38:28worker said, "I know a guy." Calls him. Turns out to be like one of the biggest promoters in Kansas City. I go downtown that night, shoot a video for his event, and then literally edit it all that night myself, send it to him, didn't get paid, and then but that after that one, he introduced me to every single nightclub. He introduced me to every single private event, and I probably got
38:4730 clients. Like, I owe so much to him. Shout out to Josh, Josh Lewis. But at the end of the day, like it was like, put yourself out there. It was all referrals for me. I just post my stuff on Instagram and then Yeah. He just always recommended me and it just grew from there.
38:58Yep. I do the same thing today. Uhhuh. Exactly. That's why that's why I want to make it a point of like I think most people when they're starting out they're like sally online. Yeah. And I think that you can really try like you don't think of it as a relationship or a social circle for sure. And I think trying to if you grow up like on the internet like some you might have like some social quirks like [laughter] it's good to iron
39:19those out. You got to get the reps in. Yeah. I was horrible on calls like you should see my first hundred videos dude. Like me talking on camera is horrible. But yeah. Okay cool. So I think that's really good context. I just want to make those points just because I know there's a lot of people that are like 18, 25 watching this and they're just trying to start out and they don't really know how to go about it. It's really relatively that simple. Just you picked up a camera, you were excited to learn, you reached out to your first 100 people, one random rapper replied, rented build
39:44relationships with people you cared about. Okay. So, you got back, you knew you wanted to make commercials, and then didn't you start working at like an agency or something? Yeah. Yeah. Why did you decide to do that? Cuz you were probably making like four to 5K a month with your video business if I had
39:58to guess. Yeah. So, why'd you go work at a company where you probably weren't making Yeah, I really wasn't making that much money, but I um I knew that I I knew that I wanted to go and like learn like I knew that the commercial is a different game. Like some companies are putting up 10 to 50 million for a commercial and I I it just felt like such a beast, a massive beast to me. And I was just like, dude, like and it's obviously not one dude filming and editing it. It's like massive teams of people and the process is completely different. I knew nothing about it. So,
40:30I um I was applying to a and I just think this was the universe kind of doing some [ __ ] for me. I was just applying to a ton of different agencies um uh to to be an editor or or just help in some kind of way. And this one agency in Brooklyn, New York, um Loop, they they like reached back out to me and there was like pretty small team at the time. And but I I knew that the people that were working at that agency had just left Mischief, like the most, you know, notorious like viral marketing um studio. Like the did the Big Red Boots,
41:04like all these kind of it was like the team from Mischief, the team from like HQ Trivia. Um lots of these like really scrappy but like massively viral moments. And I was like, "Dude, these are really [ __ ] smart dudes. They're 20 years older than me. Like it would be sick to just go and learn from them."
41:20And I I learned a [ __ ] ton of stuff. Just like I was just in the office with them every day. Got super cool, learned a ton of [ __ ] What I mean, what did you learn very specifically? I had grown and I think this serves me so well in what I'm doing today and like how I'm able to to charge or even just stay afloat nowadays. A lot of that is
41:39due to experience I had at the agency. before the agency, you know, I was like pretty good at editing, decent with like an A7S3, but I didn't know like if someone was to give me 40 $40,000 for a video, I would have no idea what to do with it or where to find, you know, talent, where to find um camera rentals or how to even plan these shoots, how do you pitch a company, how do you like manage a CRM of clients, and how do you like make sure I I at that agency, I was just like looking at as much [ __ ] as I
42:12could. Like what did their like project tracking spreadsheets look like? What did their like financials look like? Everything across the board. And I was trying to ask I was asking everyone there like what did you do before this? Like what do you think makes an agency not work? What makes one work? And while I was there I was like dude I want to start an agency one day or like you know they're they're making pretty good bread and they're working with like really cool companies. So, I was learning a ton of just like random ass skills and things that made me more of a valuable u
42:41player in the market. Still nothing not like a big fish, but like I mean that was the number one thing I was most impressed with you when we were when you were directing the Iman Wap announcement video. Like you pulled together a full team. You had the entire budget laid out. You like had a DP, a director come in. Like it was like super organized and super tight. And you're like a 21-year-old kid. And so it's just like really really impressive how you like so professionally managed a
43:04production like that. Yeah. But before loop that was very I'm assuming that's what you learned there. Yeah. Yes. Just things like that. Exactly. Even how do you speak what does a sales call look like for an agency cuz you watch YouTube videos and you'll have Alex Ramosi telling you you need to [ __ ] you know collect all the ammo against them and then say this these things in sequence but that's just not how it really works. Like that's not how like these dude Nike executives really roll. Like these are like pretty long sales cycles and like you have to be a [ __ ] normal dude. You have to be a
43:32cool dude and um and just stuff like that. Like the CEO is like a pretty good reference point for me for like he's closing a [ __ ] ton of deals. He's on the phone all the time. Yeah. It's so interesting to me because this is like instead of college you were like totally fine with I'm just going to go
43:48to an work at an agency and learn. Exactly. And that's so accessible to so many people. Yep. Exactly. Exactly. And I could have made probably more cash like just trapping videos like I didn't that's how I was looking and they even would say it to me while I was working there. I was like this is your college like
44:03how long were you there? A year and a half. Year and a half. And they also were like really creative so you could like see the brainstorming session of like how to come up with an ad see how much money actual companies were willing to pay for stuff like this. Dude, it was my version of film school for sure. And I got to touch a ton of really cool projects while I was there as like you were always interested in starting businesses online and you've done that now which we'll get into later but I know I that's kind of how we met is you were in like this like you joined
44:28some sort of like mentorship program where other videographers around the country were like learning how to like grow their businesses online specifically. So what was the thought process behind that type of stuff? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean while I was at Loop that agency I was always like doing [ __ ] on the side the entire time. Like it was so difficult for me to it was really difficult for me to like just work. I I still felt like I was working for someone else. Like I I still had like my own ambitions and dreams. So I would stay at I would work from 10 to 7
44:58and then I would stay in the loop office from like 7 to 10 or I'd go home from like 7:00 to 10 to 12. I would just continue doing my own personal work, whatever the [ __ ] it was. Um and yeah, like I knew that I didn't want to just I I knew I didn't want to work for someone else for that much longer. Um, and I was just trying to figure out like what did that actually look like for me? Um, was it start an agency, become a freelance dude, whatever. Um, and then I connected with Presley uh on on Twitter and he had
45:30this mentorship group that he had just started called Leverage Creator. And I saw Presley and Cam had done like a really sick job with this YouTube agency. And um, and they were making good money. And I wasn't making that much money at the time. you know, I'd had good like I had I'd had good months here and there and I was also trading a lot of meme coins at that time and I was
45:49doing pretty good at certain points. Yeah. Connected with Presley and and his whole thing was like leverage creator. Um, and I think they were like sharing some really valuable. Before my only experience selling my work personally was like, you know, Fiverr, Upwork, music video vibes. Like I'm not really seeing much more than 1 to 2K at a time. And um, Cam and Presley were like, "Oh, wait. actually if you add on like scripting and you add on like a retainer and then you also add on SEO and a bunch of these other like value stacks um you could charge like 10 to 15k a month and
46:22you could also like build a team like this and I was just like jamming with those dudes for a while and they were teaching me a ton about you know I was learning a lot of cool stuff at Loop but then also like I was like okay the stuff they were the stuff that they were talking about felt more applicable to me at that time was like okay cool big picture like this is how you like work with do lingo like awesome but President and Kim were really like, "Okay, this is how we're actually going to do it. This is how we're actually going to make some
46:45money." It's very interesting cuz it's like you had the video skill and if you wanted to make more money, you had to go out and shoot the video, come back, make your bag, next hunt for the next client, trapping. Yeah. Yeah. And then you were learning like, okay, what what's the end state of an like a top tier agency look like? So, you kind of saw like the professional operation, but Cam and Presley were kind of like saying if you have one client you shoot a video for, you could also write the script. If they're like a YouTuber, write their script. you could go shoot it, then you can edit it and you could
47:11tack on all these different you're basically learning more skills to make yourself more valuable. And then they introduced the concept of leverage, which I assumed is the concept if if you work with a YouTube creator, maybe you get like a piece of the if you have enough of these skills, like you're like writing scripts for them, building their websites and whatever, maybe they'd give you like a percentage of their business or something. So, it's you get more skills and then you have a higher
47:34leverage client basically. For sure. It's just like finding ways to increase your value in the market. And I think that can be confusing for someone who's like making videos because it's easy. Okay, how do you increase your value? Oh, you actually need to also write copy and then add a landing page. But you can increase it horizontally, but you can also like just get really even better and better and better and better at one thing that also will
47:55increase your value. I think you had a good description in the doc my last video, the documentary that a T-shaped person. Yeah. Explain that. Yeah. Something actually my dad told me like three years ago. He was like the most valuable people are like T-shaped people. You know, whether you're in a comp if you're working at a company, you want to be someone who has like a really deep niche expertise on a specific skill, but you're also like pretty competent in other areas. So for me, it was like my deep expertise was probably video editing or or something like like that. And then over time it was like
48:27okay you know maybe some people skills here and there maybe some like copywriting over time like other skills will come in. Yeah. So you were good at shooting and editing a video like that's your deep and then you started to learn how to like okay what does like writing an actual ad look like? So copyrightiting a commercial
48:42marketing. Yeah. And then then you kind of learn how to pitch and sell and like present an idea which is another like important skill. So you got competent enough to do those well but like you're like truly the expert and what pays you is your ability to shoot videos for sure. And I also think when the time comes for it makes you a 10 times better manager if you know exactly how like the process is done. Um it's like really hard for someone who only knows how to
49:05code to tell to give notes on a video. 100%. I do think I think video is probably one of the best I'm just going to be biased. I think it's one of the best skills to learn because you can pick up a camera and go shoot an event with not knowing anything and you're still like capturing the value pretty
49:18quickly. Yeah. Like just like a family event that doesn't need some cinemat cinematic lighting or anything. Like it's pretty easy to pick up a camera, hit record, and like understand what's going on. The cutting you can learn how to do in 10 minutes and like you can get paid 300 bucks just for being there to capture the moment. I think I got really lucky falling into that as well. But I also found at a very
49:34young age. Do you ever How do you ever think about people finding their like thing? I think like I was blessed with a pretty tunnel vision like obsessive mindset where like I would always think the thing I'm doing right now is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. That was never ever the case. So I think it's just like I was lucky, dude. Like I really liked making videos as like an
49:5211year-old. It's Robert Green's book, Mastery. It's like what did you have as like a child? You had like a natural inclination to like I was when we were like in second grade, I was recording my friends and I doing Yeah. dumb skits or like ding-dong ditching people. I always just liked recording stuff and showing people what we did. Yeah, dude. 100%. But like I think it's important to also not get too hung up on it because a lot of people start doing one thing and they like Stephen CEO of WP really enjoyed making videos when he was younger and then he he's found coding and then it's like
50:24it's just everyone has a different like domino effect [snorts] thing but he learned how to code when he was like 13 and yeah it's very interesting. So that's what but I guess to go back to what we were saying before becoming a T-shirt person mine same thing was like video and then I realized oh these are nightclubs they need more people in the
50:37club. What if I made a Facebook ad? Yeah. So then I was like, "Hey, can I take your video? I'll pay for it. I can I run it as an ad and see people show up and people showed up." And then I got down that I'm like, "Okay, what makes a good ad?" So then like I learned this word called copyrightiting where it's like, "Okay, the words you use in order
50:51there's a more effective way to do it." And then I was like, "Okay, their website. What else could I do? Okay, well their website kind of sucks. Build a website, add copywriting, put my video on it." Like, "Wow, that's like a really complete thing." And by that 3 years later, I was like so skilled. And that applied to any business I've started since then to this day setting
51:08up this podcast. We can't plan it. We really can't plan it. So that applies to everything. Like you're a designer. Like you first learn how to design a logo and then you figure out how to design an onboarding flow for a software company like at the end. So it's like all different it's all the different disciplines but it's like writing, design, [music] video, coding, maybe operations can fit in there. Like there's like the five core skills that anyone could like foundationally start with and 100% expand. I think like the only thing to maybe find out about yourself is are you like a logical mathematical dude or are
51:41you like more um creative and intu intuitive? Um but apart from that it's like I tried to run a [ __ ] ecom store. I've tried tons of other stuff and the universe kind of didn't let that happen. Like I wasn't curious enough like I didn't reach enough success with it. So it's it's just a matter of trying things over and over again and it'll make it'll be clear. Yeah, that's the only reason I'm like hammering this point in so much is because it's like I used to think drop
52:07shipping was just like didn't work. Yeah. Because I was like 21 years old. I made like a few thousand dollars with video. I was like, "All right, I'm going to take all this and try to run Facebook ads with my drop shipping store." But the reality is I just wasn't skilled enough for it to make it work. Like I knew how to make a video, but I didn't even know how to make a good ad. I just knew how to make a
52:24video. Yeah. And then I had no idea like what how if the product was in demand, how to position the messaging towards my ICP. Yeah. How to design anything. Like I knew nothing. So I was choosing. It was a losing battle no matter what. Just cuz I wasn't good enough yet. But over this time period where I was like, "Okay, if I learn this video skill, then I make an ad." Three months. Three months of just working on ads, three months of figuring
52:44out copywriting, then I make a website. Now, if I were to do drop shipping, I'd probably be slightly profitable. Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't know anything about backend email marketing, all that stuff that I learned later. So it's like it's this progression of learning which then and make you capable of succeeding with that business model
53:00100%. So as we keep building into your story, you've acquired a few more skills. You've learned a little bit about leverage by working with Did you learn to like work with a specific type of customer through leverage? What was it? Le whatever Presley. I love Presley. Shout out Presley. Yeah, Presley's [ __ ] I think like I went into that whole period thinking I was going to like start an agency and just start like printing cash and like not like Well, you kind of you kind of deviated
53:26from that. Yeah, I deviated a little bit. I was like I I wasn't really as into making videos. I kind of like lost my flow a little bit, but the universe had like some other [ __ ] in store for me. like I I I got a few clients um and was doing like YouTube [ __ ] for them and um I was like kind of doing different services that were way more sellable like um then we'll make a cool video for you. I was like okay I need to figure out how like these I'm going to like make these business owners more money etc. and I
53:54was going down that rabbit hole a little bit and then through Presley I was connected to you to start working with [ __ ] which was like that's what the universe wanted me for clearly but well it's just a pretty interesting path you you joined this mentorship program probably paid a good amount of money to join it or press hooked you up I don't know but you were in this group thinking that you were going to like learn a specific skill and the whole reason of you joining that was actually just to get connected to [ __ ] and to join this as like our team as like your creative
54:21director and so we got connected you joined and you were like the most impressive person I've ever worked with. Most fun person I've ever worked with. But like you had the [clears throat] most deep knowledge of brain rot I've ever seen in my life. [laughter] And man oh man was that like is that a valuable skill in my opinion. Like like you have tell me about like how you consciously consume content because I think that's a very interesting thing that most people might not think about. Like you have the deepest library of like the sickest videos you've ever made and you like have s like you just have like you like
54:50save so many videos. Yeah. explain why you do that. I mean, in Rick Rubin's book, he talks about like you're you need to curate like a really high quality diet. Like, if you're trying to make music and all you listen to is like um I don't know, Lil Tekker, like you should probably like listen to like some of the greatest classical watch like the greatest movies that have ever been created. Like, start rubbing up close with like the best of the best [ __ ] that's ever been made. And it starts to like it kind of [ __ ] my brain up and starts like it it builds
55:23like your taste, but then it's like your definition of good changes a lot and it's just helpful. And I also enjoy watching videos. I love like what's always worked for me is like, you know, finding someone I I think just always trying to learn stuff. I would always find like a director I was really interested in. I was captivated by their work and I would just research everything they've ever done in their lives and like just I just build this archive of of [ __ ] I mean I think if you're going to start a clothing brand like you should know the best clothing brands of all time and have like you
55:53know all those if I was trying to start a clothing brand I would have like the best hoodies ever like in my room at all times. 100%. And you're like curating taste. Like it's almost like you're it's like taste is a muscle and you're like working out every single time. You're like you would consciously spend an hour, two hours I would walk into the room, you're just watching and searching for really high quality videos. And then you'd bank it. And it's not like you would like a lot of people might do that to go find one like we're going to copy this. Like you were just straight up
56:18consuming it and be like, I like this font here. Save that. I like this hook here. Save that hook. I like this cinematography style here. Like I like this lighting style. Like you would just always be doing that when I walk in. Dude, I had this friend that like um side story, this might actually be valuable. I had this one friend who like wanted to become a designer. Like he was like, "Okay, I'm going to learn Photoshop and um become a designer." And uh he like took a bunch of Aderal and learned Photoshop over the course of a month. But then he was like, "Okay, I'm
56:46going to close my computer." And then he went to Paris for like 2 months and he came back and he's like designing [ __ ] Supreme T-shirts. Like sick ass [ __ ] But it was really interesting for me to watch like I [ __ ] that up a lot growing up. Like you know I think you see editors on Twitter and it's clear like their peak quality bar is like um an Alex Forosi video or something like that. But I think there's so much value in like seeking beyond that. And this dude was going in real life looking at street signs and like different
57:16billboards and stuff like that. The pure intention of building up his like reference library. Reference library. So his straight up intention was I'm going to learn how to design, learn the basics in Photoshop, and then just put himself in like the best of the best. Went to Paris. Yeah. Yeah, he's went to Paris.
57:30Put himself in the world. Took pictures of street signs and [ __ ] Just being around the best of the best. Yeah. I just think it's interesting. It's like Well, I mean, yeah, it's a good it's a really good thing to like that's a really good piece of advice and if you witness that firsthand, that's probably pretty powerful of showing like what's possible if you like
57:43are fully committed to one thing. Like Virgil Albau too, like ver I think if you're in a creative field of any kind, like Virgil Alblau has tons of lecture lectures on YouTube. He talks about this non-stop off-white. The lines of off-white were literally a picture of Virgil took of the floor of a parking lot. He just liked the way the lines looked on the
58:01floor that became the Off-White logo. It's a similar Lord to uh what's his name? Steve Jobs with Apple and like their font. Like he had he like didn't like college, but he took a typography class. You learned about fonts. Exactly. Yeah. It's just very interesting where you pick it up along the way. Okay. So, I mean you you joined you a creative
58:18director. made absolute bangers with us. Like I thought they were very, very cool videos. And one thing about you is you always have like a a taste of cultural relevance in your videos. And so like the GTA video that you did was really culturally relevant at the time. Like you blended the money Twitter world with GTA Universe, which is a really good parallel to the W brand. Like you tied that together so well. And you've done that with multiple multiple videos. Even the most recent one we did on the uh bet on yourself video. like you're so good at pulling these cultural moments that like make you feel
58:47and that's now what you're doing with all of your future clients you've been working with since then. So, I'm just curious like how do you when you're thinking of crafting a video now that you're like this fully formed person uh and these software companies are hiring you for 20 to $40,000 per video to announce their new product or to build a brand video AI commercial whatever it is like how are you really thinking of like okay you have this client you always seem to tie in some sort of like cultural relevance you obviously are using AI to generate a lot of the scenes but like really how do you craft these
59:12in your mind like what's the thought process the way I look at it is like each project I create has a set of variables your song, script, video, the uh I don't know [ __ ] text on screen, the fonts, and like while I was at W, but even now like and at Loop before if I was asked to make a video, I don't have access to like the world's greatest cameras or like the world's coolest cars or like the So I I over time I was kind of like watching people make stuff with unlimited budgets and I'd be like, "Bro, but the lines are so cringe." Like
59:46they're not that funny. like, you know, stuff created by 40-year-old men has its like downsides. Like, um, so I I think like even from my time at Loop, I was just like I always had like a this voice in my head judging [ __ ] of just like, dude, this is not that funny or like, bro, this is actually hilarious. And like and it was like it was it was always like that zero one. It was like this is
1:00:10not cool. But then kind of started to realize like if I'm I'm like 21, like probably a bunch of other kids in high school think the same thing. And this is actually like Coca-Cola trying to speak to 21 year olds and 20 year olds. So like why are they not like figuring out what these kids find funny? So semi-consciously, semi- unconsciously, I just like love memes. Like I love group chats with my friends and sharing memes. I think there's some really hilarious [ __ ] that's that's on the internet. And um that to me is like one of my value props in my work is like I'm a [ __ ] I'm the
1:00:42[ __ ] audience a lot of the time. Like I know like what I'm not amazing at it but like I will have a better sense than like um your typical massive ad agency who might be able to lap me with like their 3D animation or their set design or or some other variable. But for me, like if I can stay hyper competitive with this variable, like people will still come to me and like I get messages from brands and they're like, "Bro, like, yeah, like we were thinking about this agency, but like they they're just giving me boomer vibes." And I'm like, "Okay, sick. That's kind of my my my
1:01:14value prop then." It's like, "Let's not give boomer vibes." [laughter] Good lingo, dude. I think that's pretty I think that like pretty much encompasses like what your edge has been. like you're cool at the end of the day to a lot of these brands like where there's so there's so much like brand safe stale content out there like you're coming with a very like you've I mean you have a you have a person like a personal brand in a way like your portfolio the way you make content like it's very clearly like a beacher video. Okay. So like you're you're someone who's just like you're 22
1:01:43so like in theory all of your peers are graduating and like you're just the fresh out of this like college age experience where most people just now start entering the world and you're a really good position. So, I'm curious like if you have a friend, like literally a friend from high school maybe that was a little younger than you that's like just got into college or is in college right now and feels like they want to start doing more. They don't want to get a job or whatever. Like, yeah. What like what are you or at least
1:02:06what are you even recommending them? Even if they don't even like what do you think people that are 18 years old should be doing right now, bro? Do something. Just like literally take some No, no, no. seriously take because it gets more it gets really difficult when you graduate college and you're like at your job and you're pretty exhausted from your it gets harder and harder. Um I think first like find something where you can make some cash flow. Um cuz [snorts] that way you'll be able to like at least have your bases covered if like
1:02:32just finding a cash flowheavy business. It's like something that's like simple and beginner friend friendly. Like anything come to mind specifically because that kind of sounds like vague. Yeah, for sure. Um, I mean, if I was literally starting from scratch, I would I would probably start copyrightiting for people. Um, I would start, you know, AI UGC is huge. Um, tons of [ __ ] in clipping. Um, tons of, you know, making videos is a pretty simple way to like make cash flow and just get started. And I would also like maybe take some pressure off of the first thing being perfect because it's probably not going to be like what you
1:03:10do for the rest of your life. So like um just just pick something and like I think everyone talks about this, but like get that initial taste of like being able to make like a hundred bucks from your laptop with like nobody else involved. Like you completely doing it from from scratch and then you're like a little hooked on on it and you're um it unlocks in stages, bro. Like when I made like 5k in a month for the first time for me I was like what the [ __ ] dude like and I'm pretty sure I went straight to like Soho and I went shopping like I
1:03:39was like but like so the people comment that might be commenting oh that's like really insane or unrealistic or whatever. Um it's just like it stages. I think it's like getting over that next piece of fear and if you've never it's like going to the gym for the first time after a long time. You like constantly put it off. constantly put it off and when you go it's like really hard but then like on the sec second day you're like oh yeah I go to the gym and then by day three you're like this is normal
1:04:04now. Yeah. So I think 100% that first just doing send that first outreach message. Yeah. Like I you just for some reason were fearless when you were 15 years old. But I think people have that fear of rejection. They feel like they're bothering people. They feel like they can't actually add value. Yeah, dude. 100%. That's another huge part of it is just like [ __ ] I think the commonality in the kids that actually like figure it out tend to figure it out is like they just are like [ __ ] it like just kind of fearless and um a little bit like you have to take
1:04:33some risks for sure. Mhm. I still have that in me now. But like if I were to go back to like a business in Kansas and be like, "Yo, do you want me to make a video and run ads?" I'd basically just be like, "Yo, do you want me to make you like four times more revenue than you're making right now?" just because like I know how to do marketing and there's so many things that I've done that I could add value to. So now it's like no fear. But if I still swing up and I go to someone I don't know like the president of a
1:04:54record label or something. Yeah. I would still be like a little nervous and intimidated and like kind of put it off. And so like doesn't ever stop. It's like how much Yeah. are you willing to face that fear and just go through it? Yeah, dude. Like it's normal. And you got to land on your you have to land on your own personal like thesis too. Like when I was 14 or 15 making music videos, I was just like, "Okay, all I need to do is make each video better than the last one and everything else will get taken care of." Like just
1:05:20find make it super simple for yourself. If you're a copywriter, be like, "All I need to do is charge 20% more each time and like work backwards from that." Like for me it's just like okay byproduct of me making better videos is I was able to charge more is meeting more people getting more like I think if you're also young you should if you don't have the attention span for it use chatbt but read compound effect um the book okay I read that at that time and I was like okay this is the blueprint I'm just so unbelievably shocked at how subtly you just said if you don't have
1:05:53the attention span for it like is that like a I'm just like assuming who like what percentage of people that are watching this are actually going to like go and read that book like if I can spark it in their brain to look up on chat and see what the main takeovers are. That's a very jinzy thing. Like we just assume at this point people don't have the [clears throat] people can't read a
1:06:11book. Yeah. What's it called? The compound effect. What's it about? It's literally just about like you know if if if you take two 18-year-old kids, one adds in 20 minutes of outreach into their day, the other one adds 20 minutes of Fortnite into their day. On a week time span, those two people are gonna look very similar. But after 10 years,
1:06:31it's gonna look like this. Yeah. The Fortnite guy is gonna win major championships, be a multi-millionaire, and the guy who did an outreach is going to be a VA. [laughter] But it's it's it's just like exactly that. But but it's also the same with like both of our paths. Like I'm it's our skills compound, the people you know compound, and you just have to kick the domino effect off as soon as you can. Do you think other people should be learning
1:06:56how to make AI videos? If you want, um, if that speaks to you, if you if you think you'd enjoy it, then yeah, I do think that actually the most real thing I've said in the last 30 minutes, like I do think that we're in an era where like you actually should follow your passion or your interest because you have more insight in the thing that you're if you're deep into it, you have the insight. You know what lingo people use, you know how to communicate like what's actually valuable very specifically to people. And the more specific something is, the more likely
1:07:26they are to like pay for it. And like now anyone can build an AI software. Anyone can, you know, set up a community. Anyone can build a website. Anyone could do any of these business models like that with AI. Like actually really easy to do the thing, which is like the first time ever. And so instead of like it mattering what business model you could choose and the pros and cons, it's more of like what are you really into, what is a specific problem in that area and then what is the best way to solve that problem. If it's a software tool, great. If it's a community where
1:07:56everybody comes together, even better. Like it doesn't matter at all. It's just like you pick really a specific niche that you have a genuine interest in that you like and then fit the tool most likely to help solve that problem. Yeah. Yeah. That's really how I've been thinking about it. Aren't you building a
1:08:11software? I'm building kind of. Yeah, this Yeah, you're building an app. Uh, iMessage app. An iMessage app. That's different. It's more just like a [ __ ] around project. Yeah. Yeah. We don't need to talk about it. I was just actually I forgot about that. That just like rang into my head. Dude, the other thing I will say about the 18-year-old [ __ ] is like I always was seeking out people that were like three or four years older than me who me
1:08:32kind of stuff. Yeah. Look for them for free. Just like hang out with them every day, however you can. I always had older friends. I was always seeking a peer group that was like trying. Yeah. There was no one in my life that was trying. Yes, dude. 100%. Like when I was making music videos, I had this kid that was like 8 years older than me charging like 10 times my amount, but I would like go to his house every day. That change that
1:08:54helped me so much. Any other pressing things in your consciousness that need to be streamlined to the world right now? The only thing is like now is the time to like really protect your brain, protect your like health, and focus on like craftsmanship and excellence and like craft craftsmanship. Like I think Rick Rubin is like a great person to like look at right now. Like that is it, dude. And I love all the points you said in that last video around like you need to just become more valuable yourself. Um it's not about like finding the perfect fit between you and a business model or you
1:09:29and a company. It's all about like what skills have you stacked every time and like who is in your network and like even your social media account kind of thing. So a good way to look at it. Beach newer. This is my social skills for the week, bro. [laughter] You're fading, bro. You're like you're
1:09:46like starting to lean back. Yeah, dude. All right. Well, dude, I appreciate you making your first public appearance. Yeah, this is a big deal. I'm very honored to have you here. It's been very very fun. You're one of my favorite people. Uh if you do want to follow him, are we allowed to share your social media? You can share my Twitter as Beach andor and
1:10:02I'll put my Telegram group in the bio. Bet. All right. Well, if you're interested in AI video, he's your guy. Thank you so much, bro. Thanks, bro. Appreciate it.
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