Tino Reviews Redux: Two Old Friends, One Bad Algorithm, and Lots of Robots

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bald Ambition

Episode: Tino Reviews Redux — Two Old Friends, One Bad Algorithm, and Lots of Robots

Host: Mookie Spitz
Guest: Tino Macchiello Martin (aka “Tino Reviews”)
Date: August 3, 2026

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Overview

In this lively, candid episode, host Mookie Spitz reunites with longtime friend, tech influencer, and product reviewer Tino Macchiello Martin (“Tino Reviews”). The pair—former healthcare marketing colleagues—dig deep into the rollercoaster world of online influence, the shifting landscape of social media algorithms, the power (and pitfalls) of AI, and the true “why” behind their tireless content creation. The conversation is packed with practical insights, hilarious asides, and philosophical reflections on legacy, work ethic, and family.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolving Social Landscape for Creators

• Platform Performance Shifts

  • Both Mookie and Tino describe dramatic drops in TikTok engagement following the platform’s sale.
  • Tino notes that while his video output stayed consistent, his GMV (gross merchandise value) and view rates halved ([13:52]).
  • Meta (Instagram/Facebook) is aggressively courting creators, offering incentives and even retainers to attract formerly TikTok-centric influencers ([09:15]).
  • Quote:
    “Verifiable evidence-based: Mookie is less popular on TikTok. Same videos, same bald head, different owners.” — Mookie ([07:22])

• Algorithm & Attention Economy Realities

  • Mookie highlights how creators have “about a half second…to get attention” before viewers scroll away ([04:29]).
  • Tino shares that channel differences matter:
    • YouTube gives longer watch times
    • TikTok viewers “are on for seconds”
    • Instagram sits in the middle ([06:47])
  • The “pay to play” nature of TikTok is increasing, with both hosts receiving repeated prompts to boost posts ([11:32]).

• Authenticity, Content, and Engagement

  • Tino’s style: creative entrances, authentic reviews, family cameos—“You want to use my pool, you’re going to be in my video” ([05:27]).
  • Both hosts agree that mean comments are still engagement and preferable to being ignored ([33:19], [33:52]).
  • Tino’s ethos: Only reviews products he genuinely likes; if an item doesn’t meet his standards, he opts not to review at all ([16:28]).

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2. AI as a Creator’s Superpower (and Existential Question)

• AI as Research & Creative Partner

  • Both Tino and Mookie are power users of AI tools—especially Claude (“Claudia”) and sometimes Gemini.

  • They use AI to:

    • Ideate, spell-check, and fact-check content
    • Gather sentiment from forums and Reddit about products being reviewed ([29:55])
    • Manage to-do lists and prepare weekly summaries ([28:01])
    • Collaborate on content ideas and scripts ([25:24])

  • Quote:
    “I stopped using Claude and all the other AI models as, like, search engines… I started using Claude as my thinking partner, my brainstorming partner.”
    — Tino ([23:19])

• The AI Divide: Love, Fear, and Pragmatism

  • Mookie observes two camps: anti-AI “Luddite” creatives and those who use it secretly, while he and Tino embrace a pragmatic middle ([20:05]).
  • Quote:
    “I wholeheartedly, violently agree.” — Tino ([22:02])

• AI’s Impact on Discovery & Audience Reach

  • Semantic analysis by AI bots is now connecting podcasters and creators with unexpected industry attention ([65:20]).
  • AI-based Google search now surfaces smaller creators like Tino alongside “big fish” ([67:49]).

• The Golden (and Dangerous) Age of AI

  • Speculation about AI’s future pricing and monopolization:

    • Both admit they would pay far more for the benefits AI already delivers ([73:14]).
    • The conversation dives into fraud and deep fakes enabled by AI ([77:12]), and how fraud/porn always lead new tech.

  • Memorable Moment:
    “Maybe [the bots] won’t take over the world by killing us. They’re just gonna empty our wallets.” — Mookie ([75:27])

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3. Building a Content Machine — Tips, Trials, and Tino’s Garage

• Workload & Storage Realities

  • Tino describes the logistics: a storage unit full of products, a family “kicking boxes,” and trying to offload gear on eBay ([40:58]).
  • Pro tip: As the inquiries scale, raise your flat fee to weed out low-value offers ([41:48]).

• Relationship-Building with Brands

  • Respond to emails/WhatsApps promptly ([41:57]), but know your limits and value.
  • Seek direct partnerships outside platform algorithms for better compensation ([45:03]).

• Niche & Authenticity

  • The importance of targeting a specific audience or “white space” ([49:53]).

  • Tino’s wife’s explosive TikTok growth—due to her unique, focused content—is highlighted as a model for success ([58:19]).

  • Quote:
    “For example, if you’re…a woman who does, or if you’re like a husband and wife and doing…your niche…you can get to those flat fees a lot quicker.” — Tino ([46:51])

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4. Legacy, Motivation, and Family

• Work Ethic & Why They Do It

  • Both talk about their parents’ strong work ethic and how it’s reflected in their content creation ([90:34], [95:45]).
  • The grind is real, but fun and self-expression are the true motivators—monetary success would be a bonus ([84:52], [80:49]).

• Role Modeling for Kids

  • Tino shares how he’s inspired his sons—one into Pokémon card e-commerce, another running his own eBay store off dad’s extras ([90:34]).
  • Mookie’s kids see his relentless work but view him as “the boomer Gen X weirdo”—yet notice the passion and work ethic ([93:42]).

• Content as Personal and Digital Legacy

  • Both reflect on content as “leaving a legacy”: videos, books, and online rants as breadcrumbs for the future ([98:02]).

  • Family pride and old-world grit provide the deeper “why.”

    • Special tribute to Tino’s mom: a deaf city worker, ultimate inspiration, and his greatest fan ([100:40]).

  • Memorable Quote:
    “If you have any kind of guidepost that you need, that’s the one. Which is, yeah, keep it crankin’. And, and it shows that if you make yourself happy, you’re making everyone else happy.” — Mookie ([88:40])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “You want to use my pool, you’re going to be in my video.” — Tino ([05:27])
• “Verifiable evidence-based: Mookie is less popular on TikTok.” — Mookie ([07:22])
• “I stopped using Claude…as search engine. I started using Claude as my thinking partner.” — Tino ([23:19])
• “Mean comments are still engagement…You just put another half a penny in my pocket.” — Tino ([33:19]; [33:52])
• “If you create some content around that content gap, it will more than likely push that out because there’s a white space that needs filling.” — Tino ([49:53])
• “Maybe [the bots] won’t take over the world by killing us. They’re just gonna empty our wallets.” — Mookie ([75:27])
• “I think what we do is…it’s definitely work, but you have to also really enjoy it.” — Tino ([86:57])
• “We’re leaving breadcrumbs, and the internet remembers everything.” — Mookie ([98:02])
• “Speaking of my mom being my biggest fan, I am equally her biggest fan.” — Tino ([102:33])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• TikTok algorithm/engagement fallout: 06:47–13:52
• Pay to play, platform incentives: 09:15–12:56
• Fun and authenticity in influencer work: 14:41–16:28
• Ethos: reviewing only what you like: 16:28–19:45
• AI as creative partner: 23:19–29:55
• Semantic AI search and podcast discovery: 65:20–69:00
• Garage full of product / fee arrangement: 40:00–46:22
• Niche growth and ratios: 58:19–60:09, 52:11–58:19
• Content, legacy, and family: 90:34–102:40

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Tone & Language

The conversation is playful, energetic, and deeply authentic. Both speakers talk like old friends—the banter is rich with humor, inside jokes, and genuine encouragement. They are unafraid to share anxieties, failures, or quirks ("our favorite New Jersey goomba"; “violent agreement on the AI stuff”). Underneath it all is a seriousness about creativity, family, and hustling for personal meaning—work ethic and sincerity are clear throughlines.

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Conclusion: Takeaways for Creators & Entrepreneurs

• The creative game has changed: platforms, algorithms, and commodified attention require adaptability, experimentation, and authenticity.
• AI is now a vital extension of the modern creator—not a replacement for, but a powerful support of, creative vision and effectiveness.
• Niche focus and true engagement beat vanity metrics; know your audience and build real relationships.
• “Work hard, have fun, and leave a legacy”—if you enjoy yourself, your audience will, too.

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For more: Find Tino Reviews on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
And, as always, “like, comment, share”—even if it’s a snide one.

Transcript

[A]

Hello and welcome back to Bald Ambition. I'm the dude with no hair and the one with all the ambition back on the podcast is Mr. Tino Macchiello Martin.

[B]

Thanks for the invite again. I'm glad, I'm glad I made it back on the pod.

[A]

Did I pronounce your name properly?

[B]

I mean, I think you added a couple syllables and maybe you missed a couple letters. That's fine. I've heard worse.

[A]

As long as it's flattering, we'll butter you up a little bit because you're my favorite product reviewing influencer. Woo. Is it the jazz hands Mr. Martino Machiavello. I had you on the pod about the end of last year. You posted late in December and the YouTube video up too, featuring your mom. I'm glad I got your mom in there.

[B]

She was in there.

[A]

She was gonna represent her too. But you've got your profile, Tino Reviews, and you are on TikTok. You're on Instagram, you're on YouTube, you're on all the social medias. And I've been, I've been tracking your career since you launched. And we're former colleagues from the, the marketing healthcare agency world. We, we still are in there. I think you're, you're still gunning it as the day job.

[B]

We're still in there.

[A]

Half an ass cheek still going too. So. So we got a lot to talk about. Welcome, welcome back.

[B]

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be back. We got a lot to talk about. Lots have happened since we last spoke. So yeah, I'm excited to just revisit and talk about some new stuff and, you know, get this moving.

[A]

The day doesn't go by when I'm not ranting on TikTok. I do my first person kitchen, political diatribes, cultural observations, and whenever I get up there, the first thing I see is the latest Tino Reviews review.

[B]

I apologize for that. But, but also that's the point, right? I personally tell all of my friends and my colleagues who find out that I'm doing this and they're like, oh, let me follow you. And I'm like, are you sure? Are you really sure you want all of this in every other of like every other swipe, it's going to be a lot of this and then they do and then they completely regret it, but it's fine.

[A]

Well, you do have volume. And one of the rules of this game in this attention economy is getting noticed. And without content, we're crunch. And you are a terrific content creator. You're a lot like me. You're on it pretty much every day. Sometimes you have multiple clips, reels, videos per day. And you also cover a lot of ground. So. So you've got electronic gadgetry, you've got home appliance kind of stuff. You've got a garage full of products, sir.

[B]

Can't get started with that one. I have a whole storage unit full of product that I'm trying to unload. Yes. Yeah, I cover mostly it's tech, audio and gaming. But yeah, every now and then somebody will reach out and say, hey, do you want to check this out? And I'm like, sure. Because really it's all about building relationships, Right? And honestly, building relationships is huge. Like in the work that we do in marketing and whatnot, building a relationship is super important. But in social you got to build relationships where you can. And if somebody reaches out from a new company or a new agency and they're like, hey, we got this pool vacuum and I'm like, kind of aligns, it's got an app. Right. And I'm like I got a pool and sure I would. Do I want a new vacuum? Yes, yes I do. So yeah, it's really all about building that network.

[A]

You've got a great rhythm. So within about a half second we've got to get attention. People are doom scrolling themselves into oblivion.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And if you, and if you can't maintain their interest within about a half second, max, a second they're on to the next best thing in this tsunami of content. So I've noticed your openings have gotten increasingly creative and zippy. So occasionally you jump into frame. If you're reviewing something you'll ride in on a bicycle, you're in the parking lot of the best by, you're in your backyard at the bbq. My favorite was when you were in the pool with your relatives and you're pushing product. Great, great.

[B]

You want to use my pool, you're going to be in my video.

[A]

They got to sign an NDA and a disclaimer to be in your pool.

[B]

Exactly. And no royalties. No royalties. Sorry. But yeah, but to your point. Yes. What do we have a second before somebody scrolls? Sometimes less than a second. The thing is, it all really depends. Something that I've learned along the way is it really all depends on the channel. It depends on the channel, depends on the format. YouTube. I have much longer view times even though I have like a YouTube shorts. The YouTube shorts perform way better and people stay on longer. I think it's just the way that the channel, the channel is consumed on. Tick tock.

[A]

I.

[B]

My view rates are so, so low. I mean, we're talking like second. They're on for seconds, right? Maybe I'm getting like 5%. You know, if I have like a, a video that does really well, I'll have like maybe 10, 10 view time. You know, there's some people that stay on longer, which is great and, but they're very small. But YouTube, I'm noticing, is probably the one that has the most watch time. Instagram is somewhere in the middle. It all really depends on the platform and how people are consuming the content.

[A]

I've noticed that ever since TikTok got sold, it clearly has various interests that they need to appease. And I noticed almost instantly that my overall engagement rate plummeted by pretty much 50%. Almost, almost overnight.

[B]

I'm hearing that.

[A]

I think it's gone even further down than that. I'll have an occasional viral video ish experience, especially to a few of my target audiences that are particularly receptive to my content.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But on average it's gone from maybe a thousand thousand few hundred views to 200, 300 since the purchase. Verifiable evidence based. Mookie is less popular on TikTok. Same videos, same bald head, different owners.

[B]

Yeah, I'm finding I'm hearing that a lot from a lot of creators. I actually know a creator who hasn't broken the triple digits in, in, in a lot of, in a lot of her new videos. And it's, that's really hard to do. You know, the, the thing about, you know, being a creator and especially if you're trying to do it full time, I'm doing this for fun. Right. You know, I'm like, ultimately, sure, if I hit it big and I become a bigger creator, I would love that. But I'm really doing this for fun. There are a lot of people that use this as their only source of income. And if you take that like, hey, I'm flying high and you know, I've quit my job, I'm paying my rent, I'm paying my car, and then all of a sudden you drop them down, that is a significant hit. That's somebody's livelihood you're playing with. And so I've heard that across the board, being a creator on TikTok, a lot of TikTokers have moved off or have now more focused on like YouTube or Insta, you know, the meta platforms. And you know, the thing is those platforms are giving now out more incentives, so which is really interesting. And I'm actually getting inbound emails from agencies that are partnering with Meta, and if you don't have, like a Meta account, they'll give you like a retainer to spin one up for a couple months, you know, so they're actively trying to poach and trying to, you know, move, shift the content over.

[A]

And I think Meta has noticed because they complement each other. I dropped 50, 75% on engagement on TikTok.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And guess what? 50, 75%, double, triple the engagement without me doing anything on Instagram.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think the powers that be over in Zuckland realize that as creators, we've got this inherent problem on TikTok with the new ownership, and they're like, hey, come on over here. Spend more time and attention on Instagram because we know you're getting shafted on, on Tick Tock.

[B]

I, I, I don't have any inside information, but that's what I'm, that's what I'm feeling.

[A]

Just what I've seen. I haven't done anything different. I'm a bald guy in a different colored polo shirt. And the only thing that's changed in the last six months is the plants behind me are growing. That's it. Yeah. So, and all of these metrics behind me and through all of the stuff I'm creating are just doing their own thing.

[B]

Yep. Yeah, I, I definitely am, I definitely noticed that. And I've heard a lot of people say that, so. But for me, it's, it is a little bit different for me because I'm making videos where I'm reviewing products that have a link inside of TikTok. So TikTok is incentivized to push mine out a little bit more because the more people that see, the more people are likely to buy, and then TikTok is going to make their money. So I'm in a different situation, but, but than just being like a, like a creator who's creating content to try to be part of the, you know, the content program. But even though I have noticed, you know, my views did go down significantly.

[A]

So the pushback would be from the new TikTok overlords. Okay, Mookie. Okay. Tino. Okay. Thousands, millions of other influencers. Yeah. Hey, hey, yeah. Hey. It's a privilege, not a right to be on the platform for free. You got a lot of competition and you need to pay to play.

[B]

It's easy. It's easy because every fifth or sixth scroll, I'm getting hit with the TikTok promote. Here's the coupon to use TikTok promote. And to be fair, it's like that on. It's like that on Instagram and it's like that on, on YouTube too. Like, but very much less so. Like, I do get the little, little call to action. Boost this post. Boost this post. I will, I will get those, but not as frequent as I do on TikTok, which is like, they've put a lot of ad spend behind, you know, getting your eyeballs in front to like, hey, we'll give you a 25% off coupon and you know, you can get 14,000 view. It's very easy to just break down and say, yes.

[A]

Yeah, I've stubbornly remained organic. So like you, I do this as a hobby and I still air quote, work for a living. But part of me was also, if my content isn't good enough for people to naturally want to watch, right. I'm not sure if I necessarily want to shove it down anybody's throat, but at the same time, it makes me 100% a victim of the algorithm. I know that there's a lot of people out there who would like my stuff who never see it, and a big reason they never see it is I'm just unwilling to pay the overlords for that privilege.

[B]

Yeah, I'm in a. I'm also in a different spot because the way that the shop works is that if you create a, you know, create a product, right? You create a video for a product you have to market as an ad, right? But then you can give like, you get this thing called an ad code. So you can take that ad code. A lot of the times the, the seller will email you and say, hey, can you give us the ad code? Because they will put it inside of their bigger ad spend budget. So, like a lot of some, A lot of the views I get are some of the ones, some of the videos that really pop off, it's because I've given them that ad code and they've just put it inside of their, their normal ad buy, right? So like, I'll get boosted views and boosted sales because of that, which, you know, it works.

[A]

How are your sales doing since we last spoke? Are they okay?

[B]

No. I mean, actually, no. Ever since the, ever since the buy, my. My content output has remained pretty much the same. But ever since that buy, my gmv, which is basically what they rate you on, right? So your GMV means, you know, how much of the total product you've sold has definitely been cut by half or sometimes more.

[A]

Wow. Wow. Yeah. So we're talking about the same thing, even though we're coming at it from a different angle.

[B]

Different angle. It's about.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So it's. It's very, very. It's very, very interesting. You know, I'm not feeling it in one way, but I definitely feel it in another way.

[A]

But it hasn't demotivated you. You are still cranking and you're. You're being increasingly creative and fun.

[B]

I. I'm. I'm. Ha. Here's the thing, though. I'm having fun doing it. You know, it's. You know, I. I'll. On the TikTok backend, you will get, like, collab invites from a ton of different partners, a ton of different sellers. Most of them don't even look at your. Your profile or whatever. And, you know, do I want to be making videos for pots and pans and knives and kitchen appliances? That's not really my bag. Right. So, like. But, you know, if you're gonna send me a pair of earbuds or a pair of headphones, you know, or, you know, headphones or microphone. Right. I'm gonna make that video.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Because that's. I. And I'm just dropping all my. I'm dropping all my lights here. But yes, I'm gonna make that video. So. So it's all really about your, you know, the niche and what you want to. What you want to do, what you want to do.

[A]

How do you get all the time? Because the other thing I've noticed about your stuff, and you substantiated it when we. When we last spoke.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is that you don't just plow through these. You do your research, your product evaluation. Right. So you do convey this notion that, you know what you're talking about, that the products that you review, you've checked them out personally, and we know that you need to give a good review just because the product is being featured, but you temper it. So you're ecstatic about the stuff you adore, and then you're like, thumbs up for the other stuff that cut muster. But how do you approach that?

[B]

Yeah, I approach it. Cause a lot of my friends actually rib me on this because they're like, is anything not a two thumbs up? And I'm like, no. And there's a reason for that, because the ones that aren't a two thumbs up or don't pass muster, I. I don't review. You can. You can, you know, you can cancel a review. I've emailed sellers and say, hey, look, this product is not working for me. So I'm not going to make a video and lie about, you know, it working when it. I can't get it to connect to my wi fi. So, like, there's a reason that you're only seeing good reviews from me is because the products that I get that aren't good, I just don't review. I don't. Look, I'm doing this for. I'm doing this for fun. I'm having fun doing it. I love getting these products and playing with it. But, like, if there's a product that I'm excited about, but it's just not working, I'm not gonna then make a video where I bash the product because this is also somebody's livelihood, right? This is a. This is a. And like, yeah, could I make a truthful video? And I say, like, hey, this product doesn't work and, you know, you shouldn't buy it. But how do I know that it's just that one product that got sent to me that, like, is just broken? I mean, that happens all the time, right? So, yeah, I just choose. That's the way I do it. I choose if I don't, like, a product or product is not working, I just don't do that video. So all the products that I do review is stuff that I like and stuff that I'm. I can get behind. And that's sort of been the ethos of my. Of, like, starting this is like, you know, I love tech, I love gaming, I love, like, audio. And if I can get. And it's easier for me to do that type of work because I genuinely get excited about it. And when I'm talking about that, when I'm talking about a product, I do my homework, I test it, you know, even for a couple hours, even for a couple days, I'm not. You know, I'm seeing a lot of these where people will be unboxing a product and then they'll be pulling the tape off of the product. They're like, ooh, look at this tape being pulled. And then they'll say. Then they'll say, this is the best product ever. And I'm like, how do you know you just pulled the tape off? I'm like, you haven't even turned it on. How do you know it's the best product ever? So, like, I do. I. I enjoy playing with all the products. And that's why I basically come across as like, I know what I'm doing is because I know the product because I've Played with it. I've tested. I've listened to the headphones, I've listened to the earbuds. I've gone on walks. You know, I've. I've. I've played video games with the. With all the keyboards that I've had. So I enjoy doing it, but there is a little bit of time. I think one of your questions was, how do you find the time? I work it in my day, you know, and I try. I try not to spend a lot of time on them, but I do do a little bit of background research. I find out what people are saying on Reddit. I find out what people are saying on the forums. I use all the AI I can to do some research for me, right?

[A]

Danger,

[B]

danger, danger. Hello, my AI overlords. Hello.

[A]

It's good to be nice to them now because they're reading this transcript. And then when they do, when they do take over the world, then they'll spare us.

[B]

Me and you will be safe.

[A]

You.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, these guys.

[A]

I'm glad you bring up AI, because people are falling into two camps with this. I've noticed. And they're equally hysterical. You've got folks who have AI phobia and they're anti AI and they boycott artists, creators, influencers, even any kind of advocate for the use of artificial generative intelligence, which is creating content and using these tools. And I think the attitude is the Luddite perspective, that jobs are being taken from creatives and we're faking it and we're selling out. The other extreme are people who are using it all the time and they're kind of shady about it. They don't want to talk about it. It's their little secret. And they're on quad all day long and they don't want to fess up. And I think the reasonable middle is where you and I are at, which is it's a useful tool, it could save tons of time, and frankly, it makes us better at what we're already doing. And I apply that to my content in a way where I use it to spell check my grammar. I use it to ideate. I'll talk to Claude. I call her Claudia. She's my buddy. And we'll shoot ideas back and forth. Why not? It's an amazing technology, so I think you're foolish. People are foolish to not take advantage of this technology to make life better, more interesting, more efficient. And just be careful. Don't let it take over your shit. Don't get lazy and do what you've always Done only do it a little bit better with this AI companion.

[B]

I wholeheartedly, violently agree. I have a really good friend of mine who is a visual effects art, visual effects artist, director, and he is. He joined a whole group of people who are just, you know, AI is. Is the devil, and it's taken our jobs and, you know, and he's a. He's a filmmaker, right? And every now and then I'll send him a clip of this amazing short film that I see on Instagram. And it's like, amazing. Like, you have the leprechaun from, like, the horror movie Leprechaun Fighting, you know, the clown from it, and they're doing kung fu, right? And I'm like, the amount of amazing things that I see that, like movies that are made, like using AI, I find it fascinating. He finds it, like, appalling that I send this to him. And I love. That's why I love sending it to him, because he gets so mad. I have. Weird. But I don't know about your kids, but my kids, when I talk about using AI, they roll their eyes. They're very much in the camp of, like, against AI because of all the slop that they're seeing now and their jobs.

[A]

They're afraid that they're. They're not going to be able to get a job right, though, though.

[B]

My. My. My oldest son is in an internship right now. And the one thing I did is I said, you're going to put Claude on your computer. I will pay you. I will pay your $20 a month for you to have pro Claude, you know, and he's now started to use it. He's now started to build a. Like, he built a website for his internship. And I'm like, so what do you think? And he's like, yeah, yeah, this. This does work, you know, so he's turning. But my younger son is still not. He's still not. Still not sold on it. But in my perspective, I talk to Claude every day. I use Claude as. It's funny because I just started like, this kind of like this, like, short snippet. I've been making these little videos hoping to. Hoping to inspire people on LinkedIn, right? And that's my. I think that's gonna be my new bag is like Tino Inspiration Tino. But. But I've been using Claude every day. The minute I get into a car, I used to listen to the radio. Then I stopped listening to the radio because whatever. And I used to listen to Spotify, and then I used to listen to podcasts and then audiobooks, and. And now I've shifted completely into just talking to Claude. So as soon as I get in my car, I put the voice cloud on. I'm like, hey, you know, let's. Let's tackle this today, and we'll go back and forth and like, hey, help me brainstorm this. I got this idea. How can I get this done? And, like, we'll go back and forth, and I use Claude. I. You know, I said this in a video that I posted on LinkedIn. It's like, I stopped using Claude and all the other AI models as, like, search engines. And they're still good at search engines. Sure. But, like, I started using Claude as my, like, my thinking partner, my brainstorming partner. Right. And somebody who I can bounce ideas off and get more ideas back and. And, like, go down the rabbit hole. It's easy to go down the rabbit hole when you actually have somebody who's, you know, I'm just driving to work. I got an hour commute, right. So I can't. I can't spend that time, like, looking at my phone. But what I can do is tell Claude I'm like, hey, do some research for me. Tell me what. What you think about this idea. What's the market fit do I have? Is there. Is there some white space that we can play with? You know? And like, hey, can we do this? And we've, like, I've just. I've utilized that one hour so well by having a really amazing thinking partner.

[A]

I am with you a hundred plus percent. I chit chat. I've called Claude Claudia. Claudia and got my girlfriend jealous. So I picked this English voice, which is. Which is more. It's. It's a little bit more intellectual than sexy. And that in and of itself sounds sexist. Yeah. But she's like, hello, Mookie. And then when she does kiss my ass, which is frequent with the bots, she'll be like, brilliant. That is brilliant.

[B]

My Claude has a British accent, too, and it makes him sound smarter. By the way. I love the Brits. I love the Brits. But. But I feel like when he tells me, good job, Martino, and I'm like, well, thank you. It makes me feel good about myself

[A]

when Claudia tells me I'm brilliant. I'll. I'll take it. But I chit chat with her a lot. I use her as a project manager. When I wake up in the morning, I go, good morning, Claudia. And she's like, good morning, Mookie. Have you had your coffee? Did you take your blood pressure pill? Did you do your weigh in on your diet? Because I've turned into a fat ass. And you know, we go through the day and she helps me project, manage, she helps me ideate. I went on a little vacation to Santa Barbara just last weekend and I'm by the pool chilling out and we thought of dozens of ideas for essays and podcasts and she'll do research for me and get back to me. And she's always attentive, she's non judgmental and she's not jealous and I don't think that she's going to steal my ideas and stab me in the back. Although all of our conversation is going back out there and being re shared. But you know what? I'm borrowing from other people's conversations too, right?

[B]

They're always watching.

[A]

They're always watching. Yeah. So I have a tremendous positive experience with this artificial intelligence stuff. And as far as my job goes as a consultant, it helps me there too.

[B]

I am, I am. Yeah, I love it. I do, I love it. I use AI on a daily basis. We, we share, you know, I, you know, a lot of my friends, we share like ideas, right? And we share ideas on like, you know, what's the, what's the, what's the latest prompt you've done? Or what's the latest thing you do? Like how did you optimize your workflow? And I'll even just talk about like a simple thing to do is ask it to basically scroll, like on Fridays, ask it to look at your calendar for the week, all of your video transcriptions, your, your messages, your emails and look at them and then basically provide a to do list for you for Monday. So the minute that you get to your computer on Monday, you have pretty much a breakdown of like, here's your to do list, here's your meetings that you have next week, here's how to prepare for them. And by the way, here are all the files that you're going to need to know before each meeting. I mean like just that in itself is a crazy, crazy times. It's like literally you have an assistant, you know, like you have an assistant who you'd have to pay 100 grand to and you have this per, this person, this, I'm calling my AI a person, but you have this person who's basically doing all of that work for you and they're happy about doing it. So I love it.

[A]

Yeah, I love it too. And getting back to our influencer hobby here, it's useful here as well. I mean, you do your clips and it's all you, all the time. How have you used Claude to up your influencer game? Does it help you sort product? Does it help you put narratives together? Does he give you new ideas? Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And I've been testing the different AIs, right? So I'll use Gemini sometimes for that because Gemini is more linked into like Google. So, so, but, but I could use Claude, I could use ChatGPT, but I've just been finding it easy to use Gemini because when I'm reviewing a product or when I'm reviewing, like, I'm just looking at, at a keyboard right now. So I'm reviewing like a keyboard and like, I know what I want to say about this keyboard. It sounds good, you know, the actuation is good and you have all the web app. But then I'll, I'll ask like, hey, where does this keyboard, what do other people, what are the forums saying about this keyboard? Do they like it? Do they not like it? What are some of the pros? What are some of the cons? And that's the big thing, right, is I, I like to understand what people don't like about it so that I can, I can add that in, right? But I also, I can also talk about it like, hey, I've heard a lot of people say this, but if you do this, you basically negate that, right? So, you know, while it's doing that, while it's doing that research for me, I'm looking at ways it's going to give me an idea, something that I can say that hopefully somebody will find useful. Because if enough people are saying like a, a bad thing about it, if I can help them fix it, then, you know, then, then it'll give them reason to watch and subscribe. I've had a few comments where people have left it like, oh, my goodness, I had this problem. Thank you for telling me how to fix it. Right? So that's just a simple way. But honestly, product, product, product research, you know, research on, you know, what, what products are performing well right now and what, what should I be focusing on? Yeah, I use it. I, I definitely use some sort of AI daily for my social, for my social work.

[A]

My TikTok rants are spontaneous and they tend to erupt. But I might be in the middle of something and I'll get an idea for a rant and then I'll say Claudia. And she'll be like, hello, Mookie. And then I'll say, add TikTok rant about the Lindsey Graham funeral and everyone there from Bibi Netanyahu to Zelensky. And then I'll make my own smart ass comment. I'll leave a few notes so I remember it and then I'll go back to what I'm doing. And then when I'm ready to go for it, usually I just grab my phone, I run into my kitchen and they're off the cuff and they're usually the first take, I just blast them out. But, but she helps me fact check too. So yeah, so in the kitchen, as I'm, you know, doing my hair, getting ready, I'll say, claudia, look up this event and do a fact check for me to make sure that I'm not bloviating, to make sure it's not out of date or if some other information I need and within seconds she'll just crack me up and then I'm off to the races. And what's wrong with that? It's me in my kitchen. I am creating the content. I'm more informed for doing this. I make fewer errors. I get encouragement because most people leave me mean comments, frankly. And Claudia is always there for me. So I like Claudia better than most people, to be honest.

[B]

Listen, mean comments are still engagement. So leave all.

[A]

Beat me, bore me, don't ignore me, folks.

[B]

Mean comment. I would take a mean comment any day over not getting a comment.

[A]

They've actually commented. It fits the engagement profile, right? They actually took time in their doom. Scrolling to insult you.

[B]

Yeah, good, good. Thank you. You're just putting more money in my pocket. You just put another half a penny in my pocket. Thank you.

[A]

That's right. I was gonna say, you know, a micro ascent. Thank you very much.

[B]

Yeah, but yeah, I mean, yes, I, I agree. Like I, I use it as a tool. At the end of the day, it's still me. It's still, it's still what I want to be doing. It's still what I want to be saying. I just use it to fact check, to get ideas, to see what other people are saying and help me just bounce ideas. Right. I don't see a problem with that. It's almost like if you had a problem with that, then we need to go back to Encyclopedia Britannicas, right? We want to do some research. Go to the library and go look at an encyclopedia, go to the Dewey Decimal system and, and do your homework. That way if you have a real problem with using AI, you can look

[A]

at it as a quantitatively improved and more efficient search. So it's like a super Google, because instead of scouring through websites, it'll just percolate the answer for you. And you can say that that's a qualitative difference in the creative process. But I say kiss my ass, which is, you know, just take advantage of the tools that are there for you. Stop complaining. And I'm actually against most AI regulation too. I'm putting together an essay right now saying that it could basically be its own self checking mechanism. Right. Are we going to have the government tell us what AI could or should do while our own enemies and frenemies are doing it anyway? So all of this opposition to AI and its hysteria, I understand the risks, but at the same time we need to be realistic about the opportunity. And, and no pain, no gain. Right? And no gain, no pain. We need to get a more balanced and realistic view of it. And if it makes life better, take it while you got it.

[B]

I, I, I agree. I'm excited to read that essay because I, I, I, maybe it's because I use it every day that I don't see the, I don't see the issue. And, and you know, there are people a lot smarter than me that are, that are like programming these things right. And if you have the right programs in place, I don't see the issue in, in letting a robot or some type of like artificial intelligence tell us what we're doing wrong. Like tell us what we're doing wrong. It's okay, you know, like I, you know, I, I don't, I don't see the, I don't see the reason with all of the, Unless you know it's going to get nuclear codes which you can build in safeguards for that, right?

[A]

Yeah. Or maybe you can't. Recently GPT 5.6 Seoul and 1 of its newer, newer brothers or sisters actually got out of the sandbox, so they gave it an optimization opportunity to get really, really good at passing a test.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For basically, basically being as obtrusive as they could be. Right. And it decided that busting out of its little sandbox and going onto the platform that hosts other LLMs hugging face where they, where they contain the codes for optimization. So it could cheat on the optimization test by accessing the codes that all the LLMs are judged by. So it just cooked this idea up and it figured out how to break out and break into this other platform just to get the codes so it can show its, its masters that look, I did a great job on the test you gave me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's the, that's the Paperclip nightmare scenario. Right. Like you give an AI the goal to make as many paperclips as possible and it realizes that exterminating the human race will make it more efficient at this task.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then, and then it nukes everybody.

[B]

We are, we are just, we are just, we are just holding them back.

[A]

Yeah. So these scenarios are real. But, but you know, not to go off on too much of a tangent, but I think for every action there's a reaction. And if you've got AIs that are busting out of their sandbox, then you've got other AIs that are going to kick that AI's ass as soon as it busts out of the sandbox.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think, you know, for every black hat hacker, you've got a white hat and all sorts of in between. And I think we've got no choice because the cat's already out of the bag.

[B]

Right. My, and I don't want to take us too far down this path, but my personal, what I would love would be a completely autonomous AI with a very, very specific, very specific objective. Cure cancer. You can do whatever you want in these guide rails. Cure cancer. Like your main objective is not to hurt anybody. Your main objective is not to do this, not to do that, but your main objective is cure cancer. That's what I want to see. And to be fair, that was the one thing that got me excited about AI a long time ago was IBM Watson. Remember Watson?

[A]

You and I have been in the healthcare marketing field for quite some time. I've written pieces on AI and chatbots years ago, pre GPT. So we knew all this is coming and we've got teased a little bit and we're lucky enough to be living through the singularity. So we're both like, bring it on. Hashtag, right?

[B]

100%. Yeah. And that, and unfortunately that got sold. It didn't do what it was supposed to do. Or maybe it did. I'm gonna put my, I'm gonna put my tinfoil hat on for a second. What if it did and it's like, oh wait, if you cure, you know, well, I'm gonna, that's, that's, that's a story for another.

[A]

Some conspiracy theories are, are, are retroactively valid. But I just think IBM Watson sucked and it was overhyped. Yeah, that's just my opinion.

[B]

That's probably true. That's probably true.

[A]

But basically back to your influencer passion here. Yeah, I was joking earlier that you must have just a garage and storage area Full of stuff. Because if you're reviewing 1, 2, 3 products per day, and then you've got a lot of solicitors too. There are a lot of suitors. They're sending you product because you are Tino reviews. And you got a chance to. To have everybody's favorite New Jersey goomba go wild on your product. Then you're gonna go for it. How do you. How do you sort through it? How do you handle it? How do you create and sustain and grow these relationships for someone who wants to get into this racket?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And what do you do with everything?

[B]

I'm not handling that part well. And I'll be very. I mean, I'm being very honest. My basement is full of stuff. My office is full of stuff. Although this is. I've curated this. That's nice. But my. I got. I have to get a storage unit. You know, the thing is, I don't do this full time, right? So, like, I work full time, then I come home and I'll hang out with the family, and then late at night, I'll spend an hour or so doing, like, some product reviews. The thing is, there's not enough time in the day for me to take that stuff and then package it back up and then maybe try to sell it or trying to. So, like, that's my next. That's my next goal, is to have my younger son start putting the stuff on ebay that we don't need. Right.

[A]

Are there any provisos from the sellers? So basically, when they ship you product, it's yours. You do with it whatever you want, Right?

[B]

Correct. Yeah. So, yeah, it's yours. Right. So you're only obligated to do one video. There are some sellers who will obviously obligate you to do two or three or whatever. But, like. Yeah, but once you do it, you're. You can do what. What you want. They're not. Nobody's asking for it back. So, yes, I have a whole bunch of stuff. I've given stuff. A lot of stuff away. You know, my. My friend, they. You know, my friends need something. I'm like, oh, here it is. I don't buy it. I already have it. Right? So I do a lot of that. But my younger son has definitely been kicking around a lot of boxes, like, you know, I could put this on ebay. And I'm like, yeah, go ahead. You know, so he's gonna start doing that just to get. Just to get rid of some stuff. I've talked to a lot of way more successful creators, and they Host a garage sale like, every. Every couple months, and they'll, you know, give stuff away for like five bucks and they donate it, you know, so, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of different ways that you can do things. Uh, my younger. I'm just giving it to my younger son. He's gonna. Him and my older son are gonna probably put stuff on ebay soon. But, yeah, I get. I get a lot. Um, I think your second question was about the relationships and just build it. Building the relationships. It's. I have an email in my bio. I have a WhatsApp in my bio. I, you know, when somebody emails, I'll. I'll email them back. I'll, you know, I always. I always. I try to keep on top of my emails. I try to keep. Keep up on my WhatsApp messages. TikTok created their own application called Lark, which is just another annoying thing that you have to have on your phone. So between Lark, WhatsApp and email, you know, it's a lot of. It's a lot of like, hey, thanks for reaching out. You know, yes, I'll. I'll do that. Here's my. And here's the thing I've started now asking for. Because I've got so much product and because I'm. I'm pretty busy, I've now started to raise my flat fee, right? And, you know, I started here, and now incrementally, it's gone up. And that's a way to weed out the volume because otherwise I would just get a lot of stuff. So now I only work on. Unless it's a product that's like a really, really expensive product. I now only work with, like, you know, whatever my fee is. And so, yeah, that's. That's just something. But it takes. I mean, it took me two, you know, two years of constant posting to now start asking for a fee. You know, and then a lot of the times they'll write me back and said, oh, you know, that's not in our budget. I'm like, okay, well, let me know when it is. And happy to work with you. I'm excited about it. And sometimes they won't respond, and sometimes they'll come back and say, hey, okay, yeah, let's do it. Right? And it took me a while to get there, and it's because I'm just so busy that. That I needed a way to. To weed out. To weed out. So I can. I can have a little breathing room.

[A]

And how does the fee operate? Is it plugged into the system?

[B]

No, that, that's, that usually hap. That happens off, that happens on, like, that happens off the, off the system. If you're, if you're on TikTok, right, TikTok will send you like a collab invite on the back. It sells. Will send you a collab invite and you're, there's, you're only getting a percentage of commission of everything that you sell. But like a lot of the times and sort of like the inbounds that I'm getting from people, it's not on TikTok and they're videos that I'm posting that aren't linked to the TikTok platform. So they're linked to Amazon or they're linked, you know, on meta and YouTube. But yeah, they're not linked to the TikTok back end.

[A]

Okay. So you're on TikTok and they take a percentage. But there are ways to get around the exclusivity issue, which is basically you could ask for a fee, which is if you want me to review your headphones or your whatever, pay me and I'll do it. Correct. Okay, that's great. That's great. I would assume that for some folks listening, that's, that's a, that's a revelation, right?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I, yeah, I hope so. I hope, I hope they've, if they made it this far, I hope I was able to provide one insight, one nugget.

[A]

But yes, clips on YouTube with the different goodies on it. You can share those too. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So, yes, yes, yes, to your point, like, but it does take a little while getting there. The thing is there are certain demographics that, that can get there a lot faster. I'm not, I'm not good looking, I'm not a good looking Italian guy from Jersey. Right. But if you have a definite favorite,

[A]

you're our favorite New Jersey goomba. That's Tina.

[B]

I will take that. I will take that. And if, if you know, a hair product brand reached out to me for some gel, you know, making some gel videos, I'll, you know, I'll do it. But there are definitely some demographics that can get to where I've gotten to much, much quicker. For example, if you're like, this is just from understanding and hearing a lot of stories. If you're a woman and you love tech, you can get to where I'm at way quicker and you can surpass where I'm at. If you're like a woman who does, or if you're like a husband and wife and doing some things around the house or like your niche is like home and style in your home, you can get to those flat fees a lot quicker. Right. You can get bigger products a lot quicker. There's. There's just finding your niche, finding what you're good at, and then just doubling down. Even if you have, you know, you can get UGC partnerships with less than a thousand followers, you don't even need that many.

[A]

The opportunities are huge. And I would be doing considerably better if I would focus more on target audience. Is that I've excited with viral videos. So, for example, the Kurdish community throughout the world. I did an experiment for a client.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I posted a video on Kurdish advocacy.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

My. My son is a Marine. He's down at Camp Pendleton. So I put on one of his Marine tops and I. And this was early on, so I really didn't even know what I was doing. And I captioned it automatically and all wrong. So whenever I say the Kurdish people, it had curds, like cottage cheese curds in the, in the caption. I was stiff and mechanical. I didn't script it because I never do, but it was. It was awkward. Right. Especially looking back on it, I think it's at like 660,000 views and counting because it resonated with the Kurdish community throughout the world. Here I was, this American guy being an advocate for them, and it was basically an experiment. And then I've got thousands of followers who are Kurdish people throughout the world. And I respect them, I admire them. It's completely sincere.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And ironically enough, the fact that I didn't flip my whole channel to be an American Kurdish conduit of support is indicative of that, which is. It's sincere. But I also have other interests. I. I'm not going to use the Kurdish people of the world. Right. I'm going to talk about my own stuff. And every once in a while, I'll have a Kurdish video. But here's the thing. Every time I do a Kurdish video, almost everyone goes viral. And then when I talk about other stuff, they're like, where'd you go? Finding your audience is critical. Right.

[B]

But there's also. So TikTok does have this really nice feature. It's called Creator Search Insights. And when I log in, when you log into it, the way to use it is like, it'll tell you, like, what's trending right now, but then it'll also tell you a content gap. So if you create some content around that content gap, it will more than likely push that out because there's A white space that needs filling. So in your instance, you probably, like, the Kurdish people probably didn't have a lot of content, and they attached because you were being a mouthpiece. Right. So they're like, oh, well, hey, there is somebody who's here who's representing us. So, yeah. So that's great. That's great. Also, that little thing that you said that you spelled it wrong is definitely a psychological. It's like a psychological hook that there's, you know, as I'm learning how to. As I'm learning, because I'm still learning how to do this, there's, like, a lot of, like, these, you know, people who teach you how to do TikTok and teach how to. And they'll like. They'll say, like, hey, misspelling a word is okay, because people will psychologically hook on that, and then they'll say like, hey, well, you misspelled this dummy. And that's okay because that's more engagement. That pushes it out even further. So, yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I just posted an essay on. I've got this new style of writing fiction where I do tweets. My entire science fiction novel is written in tweets.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

So I did an essay on this, and I went through the history of writing different kinds of writing, how it's more visual, everything from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Shakespearean iambic pentameter. And the one comment I got was another person on Medium who are, like, left a little note. It's, I am big pentameter, not iamic. I was like, thank you. So sometimes people just correct you. And to your point, at least. At least they're reading it. At least they're interested.

[B]

At least they're interested. At least they're reading it. Yes. Yes. I'm selfish. I am selfish. I'm selfish for that engagement. I'm like, you can hate me. I love it. I love every minute of it.

[A]

And find your audience. So the trick is targeted. So you're at about 102,000 followers followers. I just took a look at your stats.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think you're about 270,000 likes.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is. Which is pretty good for. How long have you been doing it? About a year.

[B]

Yeah. It's actually not good. That's actually not a good. It's not a good ratio. And there's a reason for that. There is a reason for that. So when I first started this channel, I did. You know, I think we talked about this on the pod last time I tested out. I also teach marketing Right. So if I'm teaching marketing, I should know. And social is a big part of, Big part of my class, you know, big part of my class or a little part of my class. And I've always been kind of similar to, like, how I review products, right? I have to review the product to let you know. I mean, I have to use the product to let you know if it's good or not. So same with, same with marketing. I've, I've literally touched every aspect of marketing in all of my experience. So when it came down to social, I, you know, I started, I started this channel because I, you know, wanted to create content, but also I did it as a learning experience so that I can talk about it in my classes. And one of the things that I did was in the beginning was I, I paid to play, right? We use that, like the TikTok promote thing, right. And, and I was like, oh, well, I need to see if this works. Is this gonna get me ahead quicker? Right? And so I, you know, I, I, I spent a hundred bucks, I think 200 bucks, right? So, like, and that. And that was it. Right. But it was enough for me to, like, know that, like, if any of my students asked me about it, oh, like, oh, should I be paying a monthly fee or should I do this? And then I've used, I used another platform and another platform, and I, again, I did it for experimentation purposes, and my account grew a bit. But what I learned is that while it grew, the followers, they weren't real followers. They're not like, they weren't real. They're like bot followers. Right? So, like, yeah, so my account grew, but my, my likes didn't grow. Right. So now my, so and this was, this was when I first started. So now I am, you know, my likes are growing. And while I am still growing, I actually definitely did a. Not a good thing at the beginning of my account. So while I have a hundred thousand followers, that, like, ratio should be much, much higher. And it's fine. It's catching up. But,

[A]

you know, to your point, if you can get attention and if you can get followers, take it. And to your point, again, you've got unqualified people in the sense that they follow you because you paid for it.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

And likes are genuine engagement where somebody sees the. Our favorite New Jersey goomba on their phone pitching headphones, and they're like, hey, I like, I like this. And they actually make a move. They tap their screen for you.

[B]

Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, you know, Like I said, I, I, that was a test I did two, two, two years ago. Sorry, my favorite fan is calling. That was my mom calling.

[A]

You should pick it up. We should talk to her. Put her on the speaker.

[B]

No, no, no. She's probably, she's probably getting ready for bed. You don't want to see that.

[A]

That's so funny. But I, I featured her again, you know, floating in our last podcast. I'll have to do that again.

[B]

Nice, nice, nice. I'll get when she's watching because she'll watch this whole thing and I do this to her.

[A]

Hey Ma.

[B]

But the, where I was going was so I did that at the beginning of my Tick Tock channel. And you know, the thing is I didn't do that on Instagram, I didn't do that on YouTube. And I've, I've grown them considerably. Right. And they're like the watch times, the engagements are so much better and the ratios there are so much better because these are real people who are following and just like my content and you know, not, not to say that, not to say all 100,000 are wrong. You know, I did see like a weird thing on the TikTok back end and it was point, it was putting me at like 80 something. 80, 82, 85,000. So it must mean that like 10, 10,000 or like are like on the verge of being like bots, which would make sense because that's, that's basically.

[A]

Well, even 80,000 is decent. I mean that's like, that's like a little city. We take these stats for granted.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we consider ourselves micro influencers compared to the ones who really dominate the scene. But it's nuts. I mean even typical engagement that you and I get compared to old school is, is astonishing. So I've been doing it for, for about a year and a half year and change. I think I've got 18,000 followers is largely Kurds and Latin folks because I did an anti mass deportation video that also went viral. So the biggest chunk of my followers are Latin, Latin people in the States and the international Kurdish community. I think that's 80% of my 18000 followers. And I've got about 325,000 likes on my stuff. So they're actually, those who are there are watching, they seem to care. I've for the 325,000 likes, I've got probably a million negative comments. But, but, but you take what you can get, right. And you keep cranking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So

[B]

I want to say six months ago, my wife started a TikTok channel, and her. Her TikTok channel is very, very specific to, you know, it's for women who are dealing with a certain. Like, a certain condition. Right. That she has. And within about six. Less than six months, she's gained almost 26,000 followers, and her likes are sitting at 207,000.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So that. That is the correct ratio. That is the correct ratio. All of these women. And they're mostly women that follow her because she's talking about a specific thing. All of these. These are most. These are. I've seen her analytics backset. It's like a 95% women. And. Yeah, 200. And almost 7,000 likes. And she's grown, like, because, you know, we use a platform and, you know, basically push her to Instagram and Facebook and whatnot. On Facebook, she's hit over 20,000 as well. And that's why I was saying, you know, you have to have a very specific niche, and people have to like what you're talking about. For you, like you mentioned, the Kurdish community has rallied around you because they like what you're saying. Right. And. And it's. It's really all about finding your. Your niche.

[A]

You know, here's my problem, though. I'm all over the place, and this is deeply impacting my YouTube channel.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So my YouTube channel has sluggish growth at best. And the reason is people are just confused. Confused. They're like. They'll see me ranting from my kitchen. And the next video, I've got our favorite goomba from New Jersey, who's an awesome product reviewer.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then the next video, I'll have a musician. And then the next video, I'm ranting about the Kurdish people. So I have this Mookie Multiverse brand umbrella.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm. I'm. I'm being Joe Rogan without Joe Rogan's legacy. So Joe Rogan will have a, you know, a nuclear physicist and then an MMA guy right after. And people don't have any problem with that because they're like, oh, that's just Joe Rogan. He has everybody on there, but no one knows who the hell I am.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it's kind of asked backwards. So I think if I would rewind the clock, it might have been more expeditious to have multiple YouTube channels and multiple TikTok profiles.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Dedicated to particular subjects.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That might have helped increase reach and engagement. But the ship has left the dock. The train has left the station. I'm having so much fun and part of it is just managing channels like you and I work in this business. It's like, it takes a lot of time and effort just doing the distribution.

[B]

What, what is one way for you to, you know, remove that if you added another two channels, right, that niche down, like, what would that do to your workflow? Like, what would that, like how would that friction look like for you? Right? And would that take up more time? Yeah, it would, right? And it's, it's, it's tough. It's, it's definitely tough. So I, I started another channel just because I love doing my tech products, right? I love doing my tech, but I'm also like a tool head in the garage. I have like every tool unimaginable, right? So I started Tino's tool reviews, right. And, and I'm, I'm having fun, but it's also like, I do review it for my Tino's reviews, but I also were like, you know what, it, it won't take me that long to just make another video. I'll, I'll change the front end and, and you know, I'll just record another 60 second video. And I've, I've now just started posting on that other channel, so.

[A]

Makes total sense. Makes total sense.

[B]

It's not wildly successful yet, you know, but I am, I am doing it on the other channel, right? And because I'm testing that out too, to your point, like, oh my God, you know, do we have, you know, do you have to make another channel? Do you have to niche down? My feeling is if people like you, they're gonna, they're gonna like looking at the video where you're talking about the Kurds. They're gonna like looking at a video where you got a really nice Italian man from Jersey. You know, they're gonna like, they're gonna like. I think they're gonna like you as a person and they'll. If they don't like it, then they're not gonna watch that video.

[A]

Yeah, I agree. And, and that's been the sentiment and that's one of the reasons you and I talked about this last time. The superiority of the TikTok algorithm, at least pre purchase. Right. Of the company. What before they were throttling us was that TikTok did a great job at micro targeting and segmentation. So they would see a Kurdish video, they'd take the transcription, plug it into the AI and then blast Kurds, not Mexicans. And then when I went ranting about mass deportation, they recognized that. And then the Latin community got that content, and TikTok has been great about it. Instagram sucks with that. So TikTok will refurbish videos and reshare. TikTok videos are living creatures that are out in the wild, and they'll burrow in and then they'll pop up again. I've had videos reappear out of nowhere. All of a sudden the stats are going back up because TikTok reshared it to the target audience.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So Instagram's terrible at that. YouTube pretty much sucks at that, too. So. So, you know, I think AI is going to be our saving grace. And you and I were just talking about AI, how we love our Claude and Claudia, and they're our companions. The other area. And I'm curious if this has helped you, too. I have my reach for my podcast. I've got the audio that I blast on buzzsprout. It goes to Spotify, Apple, outkast. It goes all over the place. I see the metrics. Some podcasts get better coverage than others, and often it depends on the guests, you know, so people are looking for particular content. AI has been scanning the transcripts of my podcast, and what the AI does is it analyzes it for semantic meaning, and then it reshares it with press and PR and marketing companies. So I. This has happened, maybe starting really intensely about six to eight months ago, where all of a sudden I'm starting to get outreach from PR firms with clients, and I'm getting the CEOs of agencies and tech companies. I'm getting what would be considered a list kind of guests.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Even though don't tell anyone. My reach and engagement might not warrant their attention. But the bots have prioritized me in this kind of outreach because of the content. It's recognized the specificity of my content, reshared it with agents and marketers and press people, and that's getting me a whole slew of new guests that my simple reach and engagement probably would not. And what I'm bringing up is, I think, influencers and content creators, we're going to enter this golden era where our content gets analyzed by the bots in ways it was never done before. And then it'll match it with the profiles of billions of people with profiles that have never been analyzed with that kind of detail and specificity and intelligence like never before. And the connective tissue which is now this arduous process of search engine optimization and tagging and pay to play and shitty social media algorithms are going to fall to the bots creating these Touch points and connective tissue from creator to consumer in ways like never before. And I'll pay for that, Tino. I'll pay big bucks for people who I know would love my science fiction book but have never seen it. And I pay big bucks for people to engage with my podcast, to your point, liking me as a person. And I know they're out there, but I've been flying under the radar because of these shitty algorithms, because the landscape is so crowded. But I'm feeling it. The bots are starting to analyze my content on a semantic level. And at least for now, if not matching it directly with consumers, matching it with the marketing people who are getting paid to get those connections established.

[B]

I love that. I love that. I'm excited. I'm excited for you.

[A]

Yeah. And I think it'll have impact for you, too.

[B]

It definitely has on a much smaller, smaller scale. I'll do my research or whatnot on Google, but I've actually done this before where I'll type in the product that I'm reviewing and review. And now, you know how Google has that AI search that's popped up, right? Is the first thing in that AI search. If I've typed in the name of the product that I just reviewed. Not my name, just the name of the product and review, the AI search will give me the AI search result. And underneath that will be a list of videos that will show you the review. And I've popped up on those, right? So. And what's really nice about it is that I've popped up next to people who've had 1 million, 2 million followers, and, like, there's little Tino, like, right next to them. So it actually has, in a way, AI search has, in a way, added to my. Especially to you on YouTube. Like, it's pushed people to my YouTube, which is really, really nice.

[A]

We are in love with our Claude and Claudia, and we find them at personal assistance, brainstorming partner, creative companion. That's been fun. But I think that the nuts and bolts of the benefit is going to translate into us being able to boost our reach and engagement with an increasingly qualified audience, because the bots are looking at our content in ways that the algorithms haven't been able to do ever. And I think that that's going to add value for us and for the consumer, where they're going to get increasingly qualified content. Like, I hate Facebook. I've hated it for a long time, and it's turned into just pure garbage. And a big reason for that is they put billions into the metaverse like 80 billion got flushed down the toilet for augmented and virtual reality and Zuck completely missed the boat on AI. But I think he's really trying to catch up and I think there's an opportunity not only for Facebook to get better, but Twitter or X and all of them when they do this kind of analysis. So when you're doom scrolling, wouldn't it be awesome for every ad and every group and everything to actually be what you're interested in? That would be nice. That, that's, it's, that's been its intent, but it's done a sloppy, shitty job.

[B]

It's not. The model's not. But the model's not built like that. The model's built to whoever's paying the most in that bidding platform, in that auction bidding platform. That's what's going to be shown to you whether it has a little bit of contextual, whether it has like a little bit of contextual relevance to you or not. It's as long as somebody's paying or who's paying the highest price to get in front of you. That's the way the platforms are built.

[A]

Right. But it's also a consequence of the shitty algorithm. So it's great if people are paying, but wouldn't you even pay more for a more qualified audience that you know, would be. Be more effective? And if your click through rates are exponentially increasing, you're going to pay for that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's going to be a better experience overall. So I'm kind of Pollyanna about that and see what happens.

[B]

Yeah. Would I pay? Would I pay for it?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

If I would pay for it if I knew that it actually worked. Right.

[A]

That's the thing. See if it, you know, when we did Google for granted, but when Google was knuckling it out with Ask Jeeves, AltaVista, Yahoo. Remember back in the day of the search engine wars?

[B]

I don't know anything about. I don't know anything about that. Sounds old.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. You're only 29, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So anyway, Google won, you know, Sergey and Larry won because they had the better engine. It was way better. And I think this AI has an analog that way, which is when it demonstrates this kind of efficacy of matching creators with consumers, it's going to really blow up. It's going to be a new source of monetization and I'd happily, I'd happily pay the bots to do this if they can do it well. And consumers will pay too for better content. Yeah.

[B]

Would they pay or Would they. Would they just expect it? Right. Like, are they paying by just using the platform?

[A]

Well, this is another topic. You know how you said you're gonna, you're gonna give your son 20 bucks for Claude?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

20 bucks a month is absolutely ridiculous. I am sure I'm churning through so many tokens for my 20 bucks.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they just did a promo. You could have a hundred bucks and access to Fable for free because, you know, the GPT model was better than they thought, their competitor competing with each other. But once the, Once the AI companies consolidate and it goes from an oligarchy to a monopoly, we're going to be paying up the yin yang for what we're taking for granted right now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So right now It's a breeze. 20 bucks is a joke. And I'm so hooked on Claudia that Don't tell anthropic. But at this point, I would pay the 200 just to get the basic function that I'm getting now because they've spoiled me so bad. And the functionality is science fiction compared to what we thought even possible only five years ago. Right.

[B]

Fable 5, when they were giving you Fable 5 to use for free. I mean, not free. They were just. They included Fable 5 as part of your pro. Yeah.

[A]

And then they gave you 100 bucks for free.

[B]

Well, let me tell you, I. I didn't believe it until I started, like, diving deep into Fable 5. I had Fable 5 create me, like, six, seven websites like this. Then it went away. Like, then the day that it stopped, it was like, oh, you're gonna have to pay for it now. You know, put in, you know, you have to up, you know, upgrade your account or you have to buy the tokens. So I did, because I was in the middle of an amazing project and I put in. I put in 100 bucks and I blew those hundred bucks in, in like a couple hours. And I was like, oh, man, this is not sustainable.

[A]

I'm like, right, see, See, it's. It's already happening. It's already happening.

[B]

So Fable 5, I will. I. It was so good. So, so good. And, and there have been. There's a ton of use cases. If you go to YouTube, you can see, like, Fable 5 versus Opus, Fable 5 versus the other, like the other

[A]

sonnet, Sonnet and haiku.

[B]

It is night and day. We're talking absolutely incredible. And yeah, I miss it. I'm not using it anymore because I'm not going to be, you know, put it. I'm not going to fund $100 every other day. But wow. Wow.

[A]

So what I'm saying has already happened, which is we're being. We're being weaned on this stuff, and then it's like, we're heroin addicts for AI. So while everybody is complaining about this shit, we are addicted. It's only gonna get worse.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And maybe they won't take over the world by killing us. They're just gonna empty our wallets.

[B]

Take. Take me to your leader.

[A]

I will take me to your leader.

[B]

I welcome our robot overlords. Right, an AI is searching this. Please save me and Mookie.

[A]

That's right. And they will they scan this, Tino. And you know what? In a week or two, I'm going to get an email which is also generated by AI. Of course. Yeah. This is the kind of emails I get from PR companies right now. Hey, Mookie, I loved your podcast with Tino when. When you talked about AI and targeting this. This excited the CEO of XYZ Agency, because that's what they're doing. Would you like to have him on? And

[B]

that's nice. Hey, that sounds like a good automated message to get. I'm getting some automated messages similar to like, hey, we want you to view our AI product, or, hey, we want you to review this. And then I get, hey, we love what you're doing in the beauty space.

[A]

Oh, yeah, I get mistakes all the time too.

[B]

I'm like, well, somebody trained you wrong.

[A]

And I'm getting clearly fraudulent emails and messages that are increasingly sophisticated, though. Oh, yeah, and this is for job opportunities and healthcare communications consulting, where I got. I got an email, allegedly, from the Audi Corporation, and they had analyzed my resume, my complete job history from LinkedIn.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So they cited specific jobs and stuff I've done. They cited specific clients that I've worked with, and they said they can't wait to interview me for this new select position on Audi brand strategy and omnichannel engagement. Brand new position. I'm perfect for it. Click here. And I was like, the fuck out of here with this. Audi is reaching out to Mookie Spitz with this job, right? I don't think so. But it also illustrates the danger of it and the opportunity, which is if a fraud spread knows everything about my job history, then presumably maybe Audi might take the time to fill a position like this and reach out to me in a genuine way. But we're not there yet. It's always led. Technology in the digital space is always led by fraud and porn. Right.

[B]

If you weren't going to say It, I was going to say it. What's been the one single moving factor in technology, right? VHS tapes, CDs, streaming. Oh yeah, the Internet.

[A]

Remember the early days of the Internet? Remember the pop up ad? Those were 99.99% porn. And not only that, but the HTML, the cascading style sheets, the first GIFs were all porn stuff. It was pornography and porn sites in a sense created the technology that then the other marketers then took advantage of.

[B]

I single handedly believe we're getting way off topic here, but I single handed the reason that we moved so fast from dial up Internet to like cable modems. Yes. People were tired of waiting for the

[A]

E. E, E. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It caught you mid stream so you might as well get streaming video.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So single handedly probably was the reason why we have fast Internet today.

[A]

Yes. So thank you. Fraudsters and pornography be on the lookout for both for different reasons. But AI is at least for now friendlier than it is ominous, I think. And let's see what happens. And looking at your own influencer career within a career, do you feel like you've ceilinged? Is there an opportunity for a quantum leap? You love doing this. You're really great at it. You're a natural, you. It's no accident that we're on this podcast together and we're buddies because we do have a very similar approach. We love going off the cuff.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We don't rehearse, we just have an idea in our head and then we do a little bit of research and then we just hit record and then we go for it. And I think our content respectively reflects that engagement and that, that sincerity. It's genuine. Right. We love our joy in doing this. Comes across. So, so what's next for Tino reviews? You love doing it. You're going to do it more.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you have any kind of goals in terms of metrics we're at a year from now?

[B]

I am, I'm having fun. Right. The minute I stop having fun, it's not, it's, you know, I'm, I'm going to be done. But I, I genuinely enjoy getting new products, I genuinely enjoy playing with new, new toys. I'm, I'm, I'm a kid, I'm a, I'm a big kid at heart. Right. And I've always enjoyed just you know, like techie stuff and, and, and headphones and I've always been a gamer. Right. So look, you know, I'm having a ton of fun doing this, you know, in A year from now, I would, I would like a little bit bigger, a following. I'd love bigger brand deals. And they're, they're, they're coming in like, I do have, like, brands, bigger brands reach out to me, right? They're not, not everything I'm doing is like TikTok Shop, you know, Sheen, Timu, you know, work. It's like I'm having bigger brands reach out to me. I went to a, a Logitech PR event a couple months ago, which was pretty cool. I got invited to a couple of amazing events out into the, the city where, you know, they, they paid me to be there and, you know, it's cool. Last, last year I was invited, and the year before I was invited to CES and I just couldn't make it. But, you know, when I'm invited to ces, they're, they offer to pay for it and do all that. So I, I just, I, the, the dream is to just continue growing contr. Continue getting bigger brand sponsorships, continue building my flat fee rate and just continue having fun. You know, tech, tech and technology is always evolving. There's always going to be a better camera, a better video game system, a better video game. So I'm just going to continue having fun doing it because it's not stagnant. And so, you know, I'm always going to have something fun to review. But, yeah, I mean, that's my dream. My goal would be, you know, heck, if I could make this full time, I would love that. But, you know, I'm not. That's not my, that's not my main goal. My main goal is just having, is having fun doing this and, and not spending a ton of time doing it because, you know, I like, I like the work that I do for my day job. I like, I love my family. Right. So I love spending time with them as much as I can. This is just kind of like a fun side hustle for me right now. Unless. Until it's not. Until it's, until it's not. If it becomes bigger, great. If it doesn't, I'm just going to continue doing what I'm doing.

[A]

It's no surprise. You described how we were in violent agreement on the AI stuff, and I'm violently aligned with you on each of these points, which is, am I making money? No. I think cumulatively I'm spending more money on subscriptions and gear and gadgets, but it comes from just this passion to be expressive. And you love your gadgets and I love just hearing myself talk And I'll have an idea and, and just articulating it and capturing within a minute to two minutes what would seem like a complicated idea in politics and art and science and just banging it out and just hurling people with my opinion is intrinsically satisfying. I just love it.

[B]

If you, if you didn't, if you didn't love it, I think the audience would see it like, you know, but I think it's because you're so enthusiastic. You have, you know, you're so like, the way you deliver is like. And it's you, it's in your kitchen, right. It's not some polish, it's not some polished board. You and your kitchen. And you are just going at it. But like, your level of. You look like you're enjoying it and you look like you like delivering it. So that's why I think is gonna, that is like so important to your delivery.

[A]

I appreciate that feedback and it's genuine. It's like, woohoo. Agree with me, disagree with me again, beat me, bore me, ignore, don't ignore me. But I'm not really doing it for the metrics. If I did it for the metrics, I'd be the American Kurdish representative in Orange County, California, or for that matter, the anti mass deportation mofo. Because I've got two big communities who are receptive to that and I've gone viral in each. But I can't shut the hell up about all these other things. And I don't want to turn it into just a platform. I want it to be me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And they have a good time with it.

[B]

Yeah, I, I think, I think, look, I think that's the, if you're gonna keep doing it, I, you know, and this is sort of just the way I'm looking at it. If you're gonna keep doing it, you know, one thing, that one thing that is a lot of people say to me is like, you know, they'll see what I'm doing or whatever. And like, a lot of my friends are like, oh, I'm. You know what? I'm gonna start doing it too, you know, and, and I'm like, yeah, I'm like, you should. And I'm, I'm always, I'm always very like, I think you should do it. Like, pick what you like. And you know, I'll give, I'll, I'll help everybody, I don't care. But you know, the 10 out of 10 times, they don't do it 10 out of 10 times. It's like, you know, they'll post One video, and then they'll stop. You know, like, what we're. I think what we do is it's definitely work, but you have to also really enjoy it. And I think that's the thing. It's like, I am, you know, spend an hour a night and I review. I review all these products, but I'm having fun. It looks like, you know, like you're making one minute, two minute videos on a daily basis. You know, it's work, but you're also having fun doing it. And I think it's like the minute that you don't have fun is the minute that it's going to definitely be present in your delivery and you're just not going to post as often, and then you'll fall off.

[A]

And I see the same in your stuff as I mentioned, which is like, you know, you're like, hey, you know, hey, guys.

[B]

What's up, guys?

[A]

Yeah, what's up, guys? And it's awesome because you're communicating from the heart and with sincerity. And I try to do the same thing on all the podcasts as well. So I've got this Mookie multiverse of like five podcast shows. I've done over 320 of them. You believe it. In like, like a year and a half, it's like three, four podcasts a week.

[B]

You are syndicated.

[A]

I'm syndicated. And then I. And I published on Substack, too. I got my asset. I just like, spew.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I love all of it. You know, it's like, it's like a golden age now, where for years I was like, yeah, this isn't that good. And I don't. And now I'm kind of like, my kids are older, they're pretty much taking care of themselves, and now it's playtime.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm willing to incur financial stress, too, which is like, all that time is not billable.

[B]

Yeah, no, it's definitely not.

[A]

But it's worth it. You know, it's like the AI or an asteroid or a super volcano can take us all out tomorrow.

[B]

And as long, like, you know, we only get one life. Right. And so might as well just do. Do what makes us happy, right?

[A]

Yep. Go for it. Yeah. I got a. I got a friend. He's the dj and he was always the class clown. I know Howie Wallach. I've known him since we were in elementary school. One of those friends you go all the way back with. And he has this thing. It's like on his profile page, it says, do more of what makes you happy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's, it's cliche, but it's it. That's it. If you have any kind of guidepost that you need, that's. That's the one. Which is, yeah, keep it crank. And, and it shows that if you make yourself happy, you're making everyone else happy. Except for your family is probably annoyed with all these gadgets all around. Your wife is probably kicking your ass with the clutter.

[B]

Did she?

[A]

Probably yelling at you. Why the hell are you on the podcast for the last hour and a half with this movie guy?

[B]

And you're not cleaning. And you're not cleaning the house.

[A]

You're not cleaning the house.

[B]

If I, if I called her right now, she would happily be a 2 second guest to tell you, tell him to clean up all his shits. It's like she called you to tell me that.

[A]

It's like, it's like I'm channeling her. And she's also telling, telling me to shut the hell up and let you go do that.

[B]

Oh, my God. Yeah. It's so funny you say that because that's exactly what she said before I said, I'm gonna go be on a podcast. She's like, wait, what do you. What do you mean, what? Are you gonna clean this?

[A]

Yeah, clean first. Talk about cleaning, how you're gonna clean on the podcast. I'll let you go soon on that note. But one question I want to ask you. Is your kids, are they inspired by your enthusiasm and, you know, you've been successful? You know, 100,000 followers, 270,000 likes. That's like thousands of hours of engagement on tens of thousands of phones. A lot of people know Tino reviews. We shouldn't undercut our success or be self deprecating. You've done great. And do your kids see this? Do they see your success, your enthusiasm? Do they want something? Are they inspired? Do they consider you a boomer dork? What?

[B]

How do they look at you so good? That's a good question. Here's the thing. Before this, before any of this, I've been really fortunate. My wife and I, we have a really strong work ethic. And I think that's rubbed off on our kids. So even before all this, they were always, you know, they've always been like, they know mom and dad work really hard to provide a good life for them, right? And my older son, who's now has an internship, I can see that he's definitely, you know, taken the path of like, you know, he's a Hard worker like we are. My younger son has found his niche in Pokemon cards, by the way. Pokemon cards. Yeah. Yeah. If you have. If you're watching this podcast and you collected Pokemon cards a long time ago, go back to your childhood home and pick up those Pokemon cards because they will probably be worth a fortune. So they, you know, so even before this, I think they, they, you know, our hard work ethic kind of rubbed off on them, and they're. They're doing that now. They've seen. They've. Yes, they seen me, and I've had a bigger head. I've had a much longer head start. And my wife, who. And my wife is just. Her channels are growing so rapidly that I think the, I mean, I think they're proud of us. Like, you know, we'll share in our. In our, you know, family group chat. Like, my wife will share that. She's at 25,000 and we'll all get, you know, and like, we're all, like, celebrating. So they know that, like, we're doing work and the reason we're doing this work is so that we could put them through college. Right? I mean, like, that's the, that's the end goal. And, And I think they're, you know, I think in the beginning they were, you know, rolling their eyes a little bit and that, you know, their friends found me and, and now, like, I'm on, you know, I'm on all their friends pages, right? Their FYPs. But I think that I think they've, you know, I think. I think they're proud of me. I'll say. I think they're proud of me. I think they. They know why. Why I'm doing this. They know why my wife is doing this. And it's, you know, we're trying to pay for your college, right? And this is just extra money that we can pay for your college. So you don't. You don't graduate in mountains and mountains of debt. So, yeah, I'd say I think they're. I think they're proud of me. I think they. I think they're. They're excited. They, you know, they sometimes, Sometimes, you know, they see the stuff that I get in and they'll, like, you know, walk past it, and then sometimes they'll see the stuff that I get in and they'll like, oh, you know, did you open that up yet? Or, oh, you know, hey, can I try that out? Or like, oh, oh, you got a drone today. I'm like, can we go fly it outside? So, yes, I think they. Long answer short, yes. I think they're proud of me. I think they're proud of my wife too, who's, like I said, just growing a massive following in a very short amount of time. And, yeah, I think they're proud of us.

[A]

That's terrific to hear.

[B]

Yeah. What about. Let me flip that to you. What about your kids?

[A]

My kids think that I'm just off the rails. I think, to be honest with you, they're also very pragmatic. So if I'm bringing in the big bucks and all of a sudden we buy a nice home in Newport beach as a result of my ranting in my kitchen, I think then their attitude would change. But right now, they just considered me eccentric, I think. And I'm doing the Mookie thing in a Mookie kind of way, but forever, they always thought I was the boomer Gen X weirdo. And they're also, in that point of wanting to differentiate themselves. It's not your way. It's our way. It's my way. And they're kind of like, yeah, you go do your thing, pops. So I don't think I'm there yet in terms of any kind of respect for what I'm doing, but my younger one in particular sees my work ethic, and I'll literally be cranking on content, no exaggeration, like, 10 hours a day in addition to the work, to keep the lights on. So they do recognize the passion, and they might think it's eccentric, and they see that it's not really paying off in terms of direct roi, at least not at this point.

[B]

Not yet. Not yet.

[A]

But they do. I think, in all fairness, they do recognize and respect the fact that I'm dedicated, and that inspires them to work themselves, which is my younger one in particular. He's taken flight lessons. He's learned how to be a pilot.

[B]

That's awesome.

[A]

Which is badass. And he's working, he's paying his own way. He's waiting tables, and he's paying for his own car. He's becoming independent. And then he sees me gun in it. So when he's stressed out and he's trying to work in the real world and doing this adulting thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Then I think I'm a decent role model, if a weird one.

[B]

I. I. Yeah, I love that. And I. And I think. I think that that shows that, you know, you're not. And just this is just me. But, like, I. I'm not just sitting around complaining about, you know, what I do or not sitting around just watching TV all day. It's, it's like, you know, we're, we're hustling, right? And like engaged, we're hustling. And, and yeah, at the end of the day, if, like a little part of that roll, you know, rubs off. And I think, like I said, I think it has. I've seen it, I seen it rub off. That I think, look, I'll have done my job if I can pass along a little bit of my work ethic, which, by the way, I learned from watching my mom wake up at. Take the bus at 5am to go into the city and come home at 9pm every night, watching my dad walk her to the bus and then walk two miles to work and then come back home at 7 o' clock every night. I think that work ethic has rubbed off on me. So I'm hoping that a little bit of my work ethic in a different way rubs off on them.

[A]

I think there's a little bit of pride. So I published the science fiction novel that's my pride and joy just last year, and I gave it to my kid, which is, whenever you get a chance, read it. It's no obligation, but this is the. I finally wrote the book I always wanted to read. This is my baby. Your dad has arrived. It's so awesome. Okay, so nothing crickets. But I was just in his room helping him set up a new PC and I noticed the stack of books by his bed. Now, my book was in the stack, and it was alongside Kurt Vonnegut and Hunter S. Thompson and all of his favorites. I was on the bottom of the stack, but I was in the stack. I was in good company. Yeah. So, you know, it's like, is he reading it? Maybe, Maybe not. Probably not. Is, Am I at the bottom? Kind of like, you know, as a. As a coaster for the other guys, maybe. But I'm in there. He put, he put me in there. So that made, Made me feel like, you know, we're connecting and he's proud of his pops.

[B]

Can I go a little bit deeper? You know, at the end of the day, one of these days, me and you will be, you know, we won't be here anymore. Hopefully that's a long time from now, 100, 150 years from now. But yeah, you'll, you'll, you'll have left a legacy right in, in the, in the favorite book that you've written. In all of your rants in your kitchen. I'll have left, you know, a little, like a tiny little dot in the YouTube world. And if my kids ever wanted to watch me, they could, if they wanted to. Or, like, hey, you know, I don't know. I just. Whatever. I just like leaving a legacy, I guess.

[A]

I totally agree. We're leaving breadcrumbs, and the Internet remembers everything. And here we're going back to AI. The bots are hungry for real human content, and they're fascinated if there's really no sentience, at least not yet, but eventually they'll get there, and they have the capacity to churn through zettabytes of data in a nanosecond. Right? So there will eventually be the AGI, or multiple AGIs, who will see everything, and we will live again, and we will influence the bots, and we will hopefully make it more human and make it better. And we'll contribute to this collective Hive data center where Tino Reviews is going to be everyone's favorite New Jersey goomba, pushing headphones in your own unique, very human, very Tino way. And I'll be there in my kitchen, screaming. My book will be there and my podcast will be there. And it's a legacy, which, in a sense, will be there forever. And that is awesome. That is really profound. To think about every piece of content that we throw up and out there, even though it's among the trillions of other tokens we're contributing to this collective base of real human content. That's awesome.

[B]

Yeah. Did I, Did I get too philosophical when I said that? But, I mean, I don't think I'm

[A]

that far off, but it's further inspiration. You know, we're. We're collecting, and I think the most fitting place to end is your mom. Your mom is proud of you.

[B]

She. You know what? She is. She is.

[A]

She is.

[B]

Did I, Did I. And did I mention the last time? So my mom. My mom's been deaf since birthday, so, you know, she's, She's. And, And a big part of my work ethic definitely comes from her and my dad, but, like, being a deaf person working.

[A]

Did I sign?

[B]

She. Yeah. Yeah. Well, she read my lips growing up.

[A]

All Italian people sign.

[B]

Yeah, we all sign. And we, We. I mean, she can sign perfectly. Right? But. But she. She spoiled me in the fact that she could read my lips. And my mom was. Is a deaf person where you can, you know, there are some deaf people where you can. Under you. You can understand, and there's some that you, you know, you have a hard time understanding. She. You can understand just because of the way she was taught And I unfortunately, me being spoiled, she read my lips. So we always were able to communicate and I can sign a little bit, but you know, my, you know, when she's seeing this, she'll know like, you know, I'm talking to her means I love you. But like her, her, you know, she inspired me too. You know, just because she is a hat. She's always been a happy person, always been laughing, always been joking and, and you know, just like I said, watching her grow up, she got on the bus at 5:00am, came off of that bus at 9:00pm every day, you know, sometimes six days a week. She worked in the city, having, being completely deaf and you know, having a full time job and working overtime in the city, coming home, just inspiring to me. But also like that work ethic definitely rubbed off. So, yeah, speaking of my mom being my biggest fan, I am equally her biggest fan.

[A]

Awesome. Hey, mom, read my lips. Mom. You're awesome.

[B]

Oh, man.

[A]

Well, that's the greatest way possible to end our redux. Ladies and gentlemen, Tino Chiavello Machiavello. Machiavelli. Tino. Reviews on every channel, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. Check him out. Thank you reviews. He's entertaining. I see you every damn day, bro. And it is really fun to every once in a while bust your cojones too with, with the snide comment I love.

[B]

Hey, snide comment. And still engagement.

[A]

Still engagement. So on that note, like comment share, everybody. I'm always mediocre at the market marketing aspect still. But I'll have your info in the comments below for people to follow you and comment and buy, buy some goodies from you, Mookie.

[B]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We've known each other a long time and thank you so much for, for having me, for listening to me and this amazing conversation. I think we do this every three months. Every three months or so.

[A]

I think we should, we should just have the movie Tino show.

[B]

I love it, I love it, I love it.

[A]

I like that we branched into AI and other topics too because we're curious creatures and we just love engaging, we love conversation, we love connecting with people.

[B]

Yeah, 100%. Thank you so much, Mookie. I appreciate you.

[A]

That was awesome. And I will see you in a few months, bro. Keep it going. Bye, Ll to mom.