← Digital Social Hour
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- [00:00]
A
I think the big thing, it's how do you build authority and compounding ip. Right. Because you know, if you're, you know, sitting here and you're thinking, hey, you know, we have. I'm really good at this thing. But. But you go out there and all you care about is views, well then you're getting attention for the wrong things. Right. And so I think when you say, hey, this is an attention economy and you know, everyone is trading, you know, a place in someone's mind. Marketing has been that for a long time. How do we create memory structures and have a place in someone's household, in their life and become a mainstay so, you know, be a part of for a long time? And yeah, I think that, you know, monetizing is a big deal because it is a long term game. And I think even with social media and our attention spans, everyone's about instant gratification.
- [00:43]
B
Yep. Okay, guys, we are in Salt Lake. We got John Highland here. He's done a lot of stuff and we're going to dive into it today. Thanks for coming on, man.
- [00:58]
A
Thanks, Sean. Thanks.
- [00:59]
B
Yeah, you've been busy. I know you're working with a lot of influential people these days.
- [01:02]
A
Yeah.
- [01:03]
B
Triumph over 200. You mentioned me. Over 200 people you're working with at the moment.
- [01:07]
A
Yeah, well, we have, we have multiple, you know, kind of aspects of what we do, but we have a talent management side of what we do and you know, there's 200 influencers and athletes there. Yeah. So we managing them like talent and strategizing on media and kind of how to grow their ecosystems. And then we have a bunch of. On the agency side. Have a bunch of clients.
- [01:26]
B
Yeah, I mean, it's smart. I was watching Hormozy's a bit of Hormozy's launch and he was saying how attention is the new currency. So to group all these people together and have all these eyeballs is smart, right?
- [01:36]
A
Well, yeah. Yeah. And you know, the network effect in media and being able to, you know, share stuff. We were talking about, you know, your mechanisms and how you built your audience and it's extremely important.
- [01:46]
B
Yeah.
- [01:48]
A
You know, obviously the messaging and we can get into, you know, that stuff, but the messaging has to be tight, the value offer has to be there and. But getting people to rally around this and spread message is essential to growth.
- [02:00]
B
Yeah, it's an interesting nut to crack because a lot of people have followers and some people can get views, but monetizing is the tough part for a lot of people.
- [02:09]
A
Yeah. Very much so. Well, because it's built, typically, it's built on a house of cards.
- [02:12]
B
Yeah. It's built on drama. It's built off clickbait, it's built off short form content.
- [02:17]
A
Yeah. And I think the big thing, it's how do you build authority and compounding ip. Right. Because, you know, if, if you're, you know, sitting here and you're thinking, hey, you know, we have, you know, I have this, I'm really good at this thing. But. But you go out there and all you care about is views, well, then you're getting attention for the wrong things. Right. And so, you know, I think, I think when you say, hey, this is an attention economy and, you know, everyone is trading, you know, a place in someone's mind. Marketing has been that for a long time. How do we create memory structures and have a place in someone's household, in their life, a mainstay, so we can be a part of this for a long time? And yeah, I think that monetizing it is a big deal because it is a long term game. And I think even with social media and our attention spans, everyone's about instant gratification. I think when we saw the health stuff pop up, it's like the Weight Watchers and the this and the Atkins diet and it's like, how can I take a pill and get skinny? We see it right now with GLP1s, right? When the healthy way to go about doing anything right is long, sustained compounding growth. That's the same thing with monetizing a community and attention. But you have to be adding like real value in solving real problems and building a framework around that that is duplicatable that people can join in on that journey.
- [03:42]
B
I agree. It's a long game, man. Look at Hormozi. He did three books before he made an offer. Yeah, three books. And he did a big webinar last year. Didn't sell anything. People were roasting him and now he did $105 million in a day.
- [03:54]
A
Yeah, well, you know, the OG in the game, right. Gary Vee on this whole thing was, you know, his whole. One of the best books, you know, jab, jab, jab, right hook, you know.
- [04:05]
B
You know, he.
- [04:07]
A
The longer you can jab, the more your right hook is going to land. And he did the perfect long tail journey to that.
- [04:13]
B
Yeah, right.
- [04:14]
A
How much value can I add where there's a symphony and a synchronicity between, you know, what you stand for and the inevitable offer you're going to Make. You talked about Hermosium? We talked about it a little earlier. I mean, that might have been. It's one of, if not the best, masterclass on how to monetize a community. He talked to a bunch of people that were already engaged. They have a huge list on, you know, business owners that are doing a certain amount of revenue. And they built this thing with, you know, acquisition for a long time. And he's built a ton of authority. And he basically mixed an offer with how can a bunch of entrepreneurs feel like they're giving back and contributing to something larger than themselves, which is a spiritual need we have. And so you weren't just giving him money, you were donating 200 books to an entrepreneur that needs it. And it was like, oh, I want to do that. I want to help. And so why it was cloaked and it was real value. Why it was cloaked in this amazing buy 200 books for people. Because every entrepreneur needs to know this stuff. Because we have a duty to do this. And this is our mission to. What you were telling me. $105 million day.
- [05:31]
B
He's broke the world record for most books sold too. He beat Harry Potter in one day. Yeah.
- [05:37]
A
And it's gonna be studied. It's fresh. Just happened, what, three, four days ago. That's gonna be studied.
- [05:44]
B
Yeah. He got a Guinness for it. It's gonna go down in history.
- [05:47]
A
Well, yeah, they interrupted the middle of the stream. Right. I think Layla came in and said, we have a plaque for you. But, I mean, you know, there's, there's. But going back, the more value you can add, the more that your authority can compound and you truly care and are authentic. Which he has been. He's been giving the long form value to people for years. And. And his old saying used to be, I have nothing to sell you. And that was true at the time. But he had a long term roadmap that he stuck to, and this is a marathon. And he did it masterfully.
- [06:18]
B
Yeah, he's playing chess out here.
- [06:19]
A
Oh, 4D chess. Yeah.
- [06:20]
B
That was my approach with the pod. I lost a lot of money at first, but I knew I had to provide as much value as Ken at first. You know, I had to grow the audience. I had to have on really smart people, give value to the audience before I ever sold something. You know what I mean?
- [06:34]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [06:34]
B
But a lot of people want to sell day one.
- [06:37]
A
It doesn't work.
- [06:38]
B
Never works.
- [06:38]
A
It never works. No, you have to be known and you have to develop trust. When you have trust, you can cash in on those karma deposits. But then it feels authentic and it's part of the ecosystem. It's hey, I care about you. We are on this journey together and let me help you. You're not speaking to them, you're guiding them. And it's important.
- [07:02]
B
Authenticity and trust is everything to me these days.
- [07:04]
A
Yeah, it is.
- [07:05]
B
If you don't have that, I can't work with you, can't be friends with you. Like it's really important.
- [07:09]
A
Well, especially. You said you lived in LA for a little bit. You know, I moved from Florida to New York and then to la. And the one thing I noticed in la, especially when you're in the entertainment and marketing business, everybody has a, you know, a job doing, I don't know, waiting or something, all wanting to have the come up. But it was all transactional. I've never found a place that's more transactional in terms of relationships than that. And it makes you yearn for, you know, I just want people that I can trust and that are authentic and organic and that you could build relationships and I think relating it back to content, when you can do that with your audience, it's exponential in terms of the growth and success you can have.
- [07:48]
B
I definitely think that's an LA thing. I think it's a lot of major cities now too. I don't think it's just LA anymore, unfortunately.
- [07:54]
A
Yeah, well, I mean it's kind of the world, right? In general. But yeah, yeah, it's, it's especially with social media. I was having, this guy was talking to me, he said, he said it was funny because you'd have like the best looking girl in some small town, marry her like high school sweetheart. And with the rise of social media now that girl is accessible to the world. Right. Andrew Tate talks about this and it's, you know, social media and the Internet has opened up the world to things and open up the minds and access to things. And I think that that's part of the foundational reason why things are inauthentic and things are vanity driven, likes views. This because for a long time that's where currency has kind of lived.
- [08:43]
B
Yeah. And because of social media there is pretty much a new celebrity now. I feel like the celebrities we grew up with with a list actors and music artists is no longer the celebrity that people think of.
- [08:54]
A
Yeah, well, it's interesting, right? Like Jordan Olympics, Chicago Bulls, Wheaties box. Right. You had somebody who a lot of people and a lot of eyeballs and attention on, but it was admiration kind of A shallow connection. But there were also very, very limited media channels. So when you had a commercial, you needed to have somebody, you know, a celebrity in that to drive attention or on a billboard or on a Wheaties box. When they opened it up and the networks no longer controlled the media airwaves. You had the social platforms being able to give anybody with a camera. Now it's easier than ever to create content and broadcast a voice and a platform. Yeah. Especially around more niche communities. I think around it and building that tribe type thing around a niche community is very, very powerful. They are the new celebrities because, hey, eyeballs, which we can compare the biggest celebrities, movie actors or athletes and all this, they just have a lot of eyeballs on them all the time, watching them play or do their art. And now we have an abundance of that stuff in our face every day with some people doing it really well and have built much larger followings than any celebrity could.
- [10:19]
B
Yep.
- [10:20]
A
Right. Like, you know, some of these, like the Rock and then these people with what, 400 million Instagram followers. Crazy. That's wild. The amount of reach and the amount of impact and influence they have with posting something where you know, even what max on a Super bowl is what, 110 million or something like that. Or in the hundred. 100 million something. So it's wild, you know, what social media has been able to empower.
- [10:45]
B
Yeah, you're starting to reach. You're starting to see these guys launch their own companies and some of them are turning into eight and nine figure brands very quickly.
- [10:51]
A
What do prime did? What? I think they're at 10 billion now.
- [10:54]
B
Prime, the energy drink.
- [10:56]
A
Well, I mean just in terms of, in terms of value. Wow.
- [10:59]
B
Yeah, I know. Mr. Beast is killing it. I think his name's Trahan. He has like these sour gummies strips. It's worth like over eight figures already.
- [11:07]
A
Well, Rock with Teremana was the, was the fastest growing beverage brand ever created.
- [11:11]
B
Did he sell that one?
- [11:13]
A
I don't, I don't think so. I haven't heard that maybe he did.
- [11:15]
B
But I know McGregor sold his.
- [11:17]
A
Yeah, he sold proper. I, I know that Clooney sold Casamigos, but, but you know, they. He was the fastest to sell 200,000 cases. Like buy a landslide.
- [11:27]
B
Wow.
- [11:28]
A
Or, or some. Some what the benchmark is for success in the spirit space. He did it faster than anybody. He became the fastest billion dollar brand in the spirit space.
- [11:38]
B
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- [12:51]
A
Well, you know, it was funny. We deal with this a lot on the talent management side. You know, Rock had been drinking tequila forever, so natural progression of what he does, and he's like, hey, cheers. And he's been doing that forever. You know, we have a lot of influencers that come to us and they're like, hey, you know, that we manage. I said, hey, I want to get a brand deal. I want to do a Nike shoe campaign. I want to get involved with some brand. And then you go back and look at their content. You're like, every single thing you're doing is either shoeless or wearing Adidas. And it's like, how can you know? It has to be authentic to your brand. If you want to work with somebody, how do you build that authenticity where it's an easy integration? And I think all the big ones you're seeing and the ones that are growing, it's an easy integration into that.
- [13:37]
B
Yeah.
- [13:38]
A
And then so one of our influencers wanted to do a Nike campaign. And so we made it a point. Strategize. How do we put Nike in every single YouTube video? And they have a big following. Lo and behold, within like 60 or 90 days, they got a Nike deal.
- [13:53]
B
Wow.
- [13:54]
A
And not like a Nike deal deal, but they're working with Nike, getting paid to, you know, and getting, you know, a stipend to, you know, buy Nike gear. And. And it has to be intentional. It has to be authentic, and it has to fit. I think that's why influencer and the, you know, attention economy has also gotten a bad rap because, you know, for a long time, you know, you could grow followers. Very quick reach was easy.
- [14:15]
B
Yep.
- [14:17]
A
And you just have an influencer marketing company come to you and say, hey, wanna promote this product? How much you paying? They'd be like, I don't know, five grand? He'd be like, okay. And it wouldn't fit. It wouldn't make sense. And it was the wild west for years. But there's no ROI on that. And that's why building authority and doing it the proper way long term is, I believe, the only way to do it. And that's what we focus on when we work with people.
- [14:45]
B
One of your clients was Liver King. We got to bring him up after the documentary came out a couple months ago. I actually didn't watch it yet, but I saw it all over social media. What did you think of the feedback from that documentary?
- [14:57]
A
It was wild. You know, I had a part in that. I mean, obviously our. So when he came to 1ds, he had zero following. Didn't have any social media presence, but he had a mission and he wanted to achieve something, and he came to us. Someone asked him, hey, who's the best social media company? Who should we work with? They recommended 1Ds. And so he came to us and we built his entire brand, his story, everything, from scratch, and launched him. But obviously his rise to fame and then the controversy, and then it was wild. And no one knew the backstory. They see what they see on social media, and it was interesting. We worked with him for two, two and a half years straight from zero to where he's at. And then when the controversy came out, we started parting ways. But watching it, I didn't think I was gonna have a big enough, like a big narrative scene in this thing. But they were saying, hey, it's very, very important we tell, like, how did he just come about and blitz the scene? But I think it showed. It pulled back a lot of layers. I think it was good for him. Controversial in ways, but it was wild. It was top 10 on Netflix for a month or so.
- [16:12]
B
I think it was number one for a bit.
- [16:13]
A
Yeah. Yeah. When it launched. And it's been wild.
- [16:17]
B
That's crazy. So you were in that?
- [16:18]
A
Yeah, I narrate, like, a huge part.
- [16:20]
B
Oh, crap.
- [16:21]
A
Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, you got to see it. It's a pretty wild doc. It's entertaining. It's very well done. It's done by this team out of the UK.
- [16:28]
B
Okay.
- [16:29]
A
Four wall 73. They're really good. Joe did a great job directing and. And, yeah, it got. I don't know if it was supposed to be a part of the Untold series, but Netflix has a deal with his product, their production company, and when they saw the story, they're like, it has to be part of the Untold franchise, which is a bunch of awesome stories on Netflix. It's almost like the 30 for 30 for years.
- [16:50]
B
I got to check that out. I missed 30 for 30.
- [16:52]
A
Oh, brother.
- [16:53]
B
Popping back in the day, the. You Christian Leitner.
- [16:55]
A
Christian Leitner, Yeah.
- [16:56]
B
That's a legendary one. They don't make documentaries like that anymore.
- [17:00]
A
No, they don't. 30 for 30 was. Was. Was a rare breed. That was a. That was interesting. But, yeah, so did a great job, and it's been interesting. It shows the dynamic of how things can go really, really well with building a personal brand and getting attention to somebody who's never had it. Right. Like this instant overnight quote, unquote, like, fame to it going really bad really quick.
- [17:24]
B
Did you see it get to him over time, get to his head? The fame and the eyeballs?
- [17:30]
A
I think so. I mean, I think if anybody goes back on Liver King's page and looks at, like, the first post, you can see how uncomfortable he was on camera. But he's a very smart guy, and he studied and practiced and got really good really quick. And he was pretty authentic with his message. Right. Like, I think when you come from a place of authenticity, it's easy to deliver a message. Right. You're not having to make up or conjure anything. So a lot of what he was saying was true. We just packaged it up in a really snackable and digestible way for socials and. But. But I think over time, yeah, I mean, when you're out in the street, you have a bunch of people bombarding you. We couldn't go anywhere. We have bodyguards everywhere. I had to hire him a team, and holy crap. You know, we had. We were traveling. We were going to ufc. I mean, we walked into the pfl. You ever been to a PFL match?
- [18:13]
B
No.
- [18:13]
A
Professional fight league. It's. It's. They have, like, a tournament style. It's Ms. Martial Arts, but it's more tournament style. Anyway, we go into pfl, we get invited. We know the, you know, CEO of that company, and the whole place is chanting Liver King. In New York City, we're at Madison Square Garden.
- [18:31]
B
That's nice.
- [18:32]
A
And one of their. I forgot what venues Right next to it. There's, like, 7,000 people in there all chanting liver King when we walk in. I mean, it was just. It's wild. Right? Like, and so I imagine as someone like him who he shares in the doc that grew up with some insecurities and had some, you know, issues with his own mental health, and. And then you hit this thing where, you know, you're beloved everywhere and people looking up to you or at least giving you attention, whether it's good or bad.
- [18:58]
B
Right.
- [18:59]
A
It'll mess with anybody that's not grounded and has a really good team around them to keep them grounded.
- [19:03]
B
100%.
- [19:04]
A
Yeah. Especially in your 40s. Right. Like, when it's tough. It definitely is tough.
- [19:09]
B
It's something I have to stay cognizant of all the time, honestly. You know, when I have on a big guess and then more and more people are recognizing me, I'm like, all right, I need to stay grounded.
- [19:17]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [19:18]
B
I've seen ego destroy a lot of people, too.
- [19:20]
A
Well, I mean, dude, we're all just people, and all of us just some. Some of us have a platform, and, you know, all of us are interesting in our own ways, and. And, yeah, the more grounded we can stay, definitely, as you said. Yeah, it's. It's important.
- [19:34]
B
Yeah. I just try not to react emotionally. That's where I see people get absolutely slaughtered.
- [19:39]
A
Well, because it has a lot more. It has a lot more. There's more. What's the word? It's flying me. There's more at stake. No, what is it? There's more to risk, and there's more to lose when you have a big following. Right. Because you're sitting here, and you could say something out into the abyss on X or write something stupid, and two people see it. Every single move you make when you're under the lens is scrutinized. I mean, we were just staying at a hotel in West Hollywood for my birthday this weekend. We're at Chateau Marmont, and we're sitting out of the pool, and there's a bunch of celebrities there. Kanye's on our floor, and, like, there's people everywhere, and. But they have drones flying over the pool there because so many people. But, like. And they get. They get shot down or whatever they do. I don't know what their defense mechanism is there at the hotel, but, like, that's, like, the last sanctuary place in Hollywood for, like, celebrities to go and feel safe.
- [20:35]
B
Wow.
- [20:35]
A
And. But we're sitting at the pool, and there's three or four drones above our Head just trying to get in real quick and look around and then leave and. Yeah. So every single move you make with rising attention gets scrutinized. That's. As Liver King was building and building and building. More people were looking into his history and his background, and more people were curious and Googling things. And, you know, you can search what people Google. When you have a, you know, into the tens of thousands of Google searches into somebody, people are going to create content to satisfy that search. And people started digging deep into what he was about, what he was doing, and he got exposed.
- [21:15]
B
Yeah. Greg was the first one to call him out, right? Greg Duchette.
- [21:18]
A
Yeah, there was a few. But, yeah, Greg, he talked about it because it was all this natty or not thing, and that's what they do with a lot of fitness influencers.
- [21:27]
B
Greg's been on the show. I mean, I like him. Natty or not. It's pretty funny to me.
- [21:32]
A
It is.
- [21:33]
B
I think if Liver King just. I think how he handled it is why he got canceled, honestly. You know what I mean?
- [21:39]
A
Yeah.
- [21:39]
B
I don't. I don't think it was the fact he wasn't natural.
- [21:42]
A
Well, I think there's this thing of having a controversy. There's this thing ongoing. I mean, we got him on impaulsive. Yeah. What are some other ones? Big ones. Flavor?
- [21:52]
B
Iced coffee.
- [21:54]
A
Iced coffee. What are some other. We got him on all these big podcasts. The guys in. What's the H2 or whatever. We got H3. H3. Yeah. H3. We got him on. He was on. The comedian.
- [22:08]
B
Oh, Andrew Schultz.
- [22:10]
A
He was on Andrew Schultz. Flagrant. But we. We first got. That was the apology video. Flagrant. So another comedian that was the first podcast. A big guy from Tampa.
- [22:19]
B
Is that Shane Gillis or. No, Gabriel Iglesis. No, no, Big guy from Tampa.
- [22:27]
A
He's partners with. Gosh, my memory is flighting me right now.
- [22:33]
B
Oh, Brennan Scharf.
- [22:34]
A
Bert Kreischer.
- [22:34]
B
Oh, Bert. Okay.
- [22:35]
A
Yeah, Bert. Bert. So we got him on Bert. He was everywhere. I mean, we went on all types of podcasts. Yeah. And all of them asked him was he natty or not. Every single one. And he said no. And not only. No. He, like, joked about it.
- [22:50]
B
Oh, really?
- [22:51]
A
Oh, that's why it was such a big deal. Oh. It wasn't just about this thing that just hasn't been discussed. It was this thing that, you know, he defended fever, like, feverishly. It was like, hey, no. And then making fun of himself and poking fun at it. I mean, we created. If you Go back in Liver King. You could see like, hey, Liver King. And you have like, he's sitting across from himself and he puts a doc, he goes, your tests are in. And he's in a doctor's robe. And it's like liver King versus Liver King. And he's like, your blood results are in. I think it's, you know, we have to come clean. You're 100% primal. And then we turn it into this parody. And then another one was like, we did this thing where he had, you know, needles in bone marrow and liver.
- [23:32]
B
Yeah.
- [23:33]
A
On screen. Poking fun at that. He's like, no, this is my steroid. It's liver and bone marrow. I mean, so it wasn't even just about lying. It was like tripling down on. On that. I think there's a line you don't cross. I think there's a deflection, there's a deflecting thing that I don't want it to, you know, cloud the message. And then there's a. Another side of it where it's like, you're going to blatantly go on all these major platforms and then say that and then how do you. Can't you. There's no coming back, right? There's no coming back.
- [24:03]
B
It's on the Internet forever at that point.
- [24:04]
A
Yeah, there's no coming back.
- [24:05]
B
Did you ever eat the raw bull testicles?
- [24:07]
A
I did, but not with him. We had another client, Paul Saladino. Oh, I know Paul. Yeah, yeah, Paul Carnivore md And he's crushing it. Yeah. We helped build his brand in the early days.
- [24:17]
B
And when he sells the beef liver. Right. The tablets.
- [24:20]
A
Yeah. The heart and soil. Yeah. And he's. I think he has like a Carnivore crisp out. Like a steak crisp out now and stuff he's doing. He's a good guy. But we started working with him and yeah, I had my first testicle with him in Costa Rica. It was surprisingly not bad. It wasn't as bad. Have you ever had one?
- [24:38]
B
No.
- [24:38]
A
Or any raw organs like that?
- [24:40]
B
Raw organs I've had in a pill format, but not raw.
- [24:44]
A
Yeah, liver's tough. I've had it all now. Brain, trachea, kidney, liver. Heart is actually good. Heart is about as close to a really lean steak as you can get. But testicle, once you get past the thing, it almost tastes like, like an oyster. Almost like a really, like, like a, like a shellfish in a way. It's not that bad. It's not that bad. You got to get high quality stuff. Yeah.
- [25:10]
B
Where do you source a good quality testicle?
- [25:12]
A
That's a good question. I don't know. There's a. There's a bunch of regenerative good farms. I know, I know Liver King and gets a lot of his stuff from white oak and some of these regenerative pastures that are good. But you know, Paul Saladino down in Costa Rica, he moved to another area, but there's just like this organic, you know, grass fed ranch that was like pretty. I don't want. Primal is the right word, but like just old school.
- [25:35]
B
Yeah, just lay it all on the table.
- [25:36]
A
Yeah, a whole bunch of stuff. But yeah, you get all his meat and his organs from there and they're fresh and amazing and so yeah, I got to. That was my first. That was my first testicle and then from there I ate everything. I was one of the last on the team to try it.
- [25:50]
B
Oh, is it like a requirement if you're on the team?
- [25:52]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, kind of. You know, Liver King's requirement was that you had to do the Barbarian. What's up? It's a crazy workout. He has that where you have to. It's a weighted backpack, weighted ankle weights, dumbbells in the hand and a sled.
- [26:06]
B
Oh, I saw Santa Cruz just do this.
- [26:08]
A
Yeah, Santa Cruz did it. A bunch of people have done it. Santa Cruz crushed it, actually.
- [26:11]
B
Really?
- [26:12]
A
Yeah. Everybody says it does this. The hardest thing they've ever done in their life usually takes somewhere between three and six hours.
- [26:19]
B
Holy crap.
- [26:20]
A
Yeah. I mean, go a mile so carrying like twice your body weight on. In your hands and on your back.
- [26:26]
B
And on your feet.
- [26:27]
A
Well, yeah, backpack. Yeah, backpack, kettlebells, ankle weights, sled. And then he has a super barbarian. But a big thing to be on the team, like in his team is you have to do the Barbarian within a certain amount of time.
- [26:41]
B
And you did it.
- [26:42]
A
No, I did not. No, no, no. We were kind of. We were on the outskirts. We were like the agency. So. But there are some people on our team that. That did it. But yeah, uh, no, no initiation like that. But I mean, yeah, when everyone's passing around liver and testicles and stuff, he would like try it. Our whole team was actually chowing down on it quite often because we were spending a lot of time with him. We go there and shoot for, you know, five days at a time and travel all over the world with him. And it was real. They were bringing. They were like, you know, taking coolers of balls everywhere.
- [27:10]
B
Yeah, that's impressive. Yeah, he definitely changed the game, especially for the health influencer space. Like, he was one of the first to really blow up, I feel like in that space.
- [27:19]
A
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, and it was geniusly architected. Right. Like when we went on impulsive, they were like we were launching this protein drink or protein powder that had all of these organs in it. And so it's really easy when you put a platter of organs and say, try one of these to Logan and Mike and all these guys. And then you say, all right, we'll try this shake. Same things are in that or is in that. It's really good for you, though. It's hard to stomach these, but you could drink this same thing with the pill. Raw liver's tough, but you can do raw liver pills easy, easily. And so it was a well architected message in terms of the ease of the liver is one of the most nutrients dense things in the planet. You could eat. Organs are pretty nutrient dense. Nose to tail eating is considered very nutrient dense. And then, no, you don't need to do that. Here's it in a capsule that you can do quite easily. And so it was easy for that. And then you think, biggest social media influencer blow up crazy physique and blood, as he calls it. Blood boiling workouts. It had the recipe for everything. We have this thing called break shift invite that we explain authority Os and you, you, you need to break via pattern interrupt and be contrarian. There's a whole bunch of different hook archetypes, but you got to. You got to break what people are thinking, what the old game is, and then, you know, shift their perspective. So his break was, you know, really polarizing blood boiling workouts and eating crazy things, saying we're eating shit and modern men are weak. Right. And you know, the modern world has taken out all of these amazing ancestral things. How do we put them back in and shift it by showing in this new framework. And then he would invite to enjoy the tribe. And so this was this well architected strategy that we had put together for this. And when you do these things right, just like Hermosi has done with his recent thing, when you do these things right, over a long period of time, your influence and authority exponentially grows.
- [29:22]
B
Yeah.
- [29:22]
A
And then you have something that's compounding. So when he's, you know, the first time we actually put a pill on a table and said buy this was when he's traveling. It didn't have access to liver.
- [29:36]
B
Clever.
- [29:37]
A
Because it's like, hey, if you have the real thing, you want to do the real Thing. But if you don't. Here.
- [29:43]
B
Yeah.
- [29:44]
A
200 grand in like a couple hours. Wow. But you know what I mean, like the biggest sales day they had up to that point, traveling, doing that. It's a huge deal. Like, it's a huge deal. And, but, but trust is built. He's. He's completely authentic and he's just sharing what he does with the world and giving a lens in and then packaging it up in a, in a really snackable, concise, digestible way. And it worked.
- [30:12]
B
Yeah.
- [30:12]
A
Yeah.
- [30:12]
B
Building that brand is everything because a lot of people can blow up, but can they maintain the brand? Like you saw that Ashton hall guy with the water major blew up. But I don't know if he's been able to monetize it yet. Bobby Altoff, you remember her? She just announced the closing. Closing of her podcast.
- [30:29]
A
Why?
- [30:30]
B
Just wasn't getting views. She fell off, I guess is what they say. Yeah, same with the hawk. To a girl, you know, she got involved with that crypto scam and then kind of fucked up her reputation. So you got to take it serious, man.
- [30:41]
A
Well, you get in this thing called the velocity vortex, right? We identify these invisible enemies that people are dealing with and one of them is velocity vortex. And that means that speed and the vanity metrics, but the speed and putting content out in this ever flowing thing is the way. And that's what Gary Vee used to push a lot. It was volume, volume, volume, volume. When the creator economy needed more content. But I think now that the world that was the old creative economy, which he was right. I still think he's right, but it's lacking. What now is like how do you turn from being a content creator to a content operator and how do you turn and build a system around this stuff that can compound value that's strategic and that speaks to something that you are an authority on and builds IP and not just like, hey, you see with Ashton Hall, ASMR ticked all the boxes. He's ripped and looks good. That helps all the time doing it with a shirt off and you know, signs of affluence. Right. And he's doing it in this place. He has like this, you know, whatever maid or whatever serving him things and then, you know, getting into a G wagon or his Rolls Royce or whatever he's getting into. It's polarizing from what I know he has a, you know, a fitness thing, but, you know, just doing things to get views is, has no value. Yeah. How are you going to turn that into real business value that you can compound and grow over time. An IP you can own, which you've done here with digital Social hour.
- [32:12]
B
Yeah. And I think it's heading towards streaming these days, so I'm looking into that. But streamers are getting the most engagement I've ever seen right now. Live streaming.
- [32:20]
A
Yeah. Why do you think that is?
- [32:22]
B
I think when you really build a bond with the audience rather than a short form podcast clip of 30 seconds, they don't actually know you. But if you're streaming for six to eight hours a day, it's like an actual relationship these fans feel like they have with the, with the talent.
- [32:35]
A
Well, you know, it's interesting. There's a guy, there's a fitness influencer. I forgot his name. Big white guy.
- [32:40]
B
Bradley Martin. Yeah, Bradley.
- [32:42]
A
Not Bradley, but he was just vlogging his workout day. He was doing like two hour vlogs and posting them every day. Or very really long form where he was just a normal dude. It had no editing and he's just like taking along his journey of in his car, going to the gym and working out and, and his post workout meal. And he got a lot of attention and it went completely against what mainstream this is during the hormozy, really loud bouncy captions, changing the cut angle every two seconds. Some of which still works for getting attention and satisfying our ever growing ADHD needs. Right. But people right now are being so disconnected digitally that having a connection and community and feeling a part of something is really big. I can land on your page and watch your amazing clips of your people, but if I want to go deep. We call those little short form things sparklers. Right. Like what is the sparkler that's going to get attention? You wave it. But the real thing is that want to lead them to the bonfire. Right. And so. And the bonfire is your long form podcast episodes which then lead into a larger thing which is, you know, maybe it's a streaming or it's events or this, this thing where, hey, I want to get your attention here and add a little bit of value or get you curious. Come here for this. Come sit around the bonfire and then you know, go from there and you know, streaming, you see all these big guys streaming and that's what they're doing. They're building connection with their audience.
- [34:09]
B
Yeah.
- [34:10]
A
In a major way. And it's very valuable.
- [34:13]
B
They're getting the biggest deals right now too.
- [34:16]
A
Well, it's funny, you sit around and like if I wanted to go, I want to compare this back to when I was growing up, like they had Zelda playing guides. How old are you?
- [34:24]
B
I'm 28. So I heard a Zelda. I never played it.
- [34:26]
A
But, you know, like, you used to have to go to like, GameStop and buy, like, playing guide if you wanted to learn, like, how to get through Super Mario or something like that. You know, there wasn't like a, you know, a YouTube channel that you could go say, hey, my kids like Luigi Mansion. Right? And there's like this really awesome page of this really cool guy and he walks through the whole Nintendo Switch, Luigi Mansion thing. We didn't have that. It was like a magazine. Now it's like, hey, you actually can go watch somebody play Fortnite if you want to learn and go play these streaming games. And I think that's where the streaming influencer. I think it came from.
- [34:57]
B
The gaming. Yeah, it started with gaming.
- [34:59]
A
Yeah, with gaming. And because you could sit there and not only you were already interested in the game, and then their personality was just icing on the cake because then you're like, oh, shit. Like, oh, this ninja guy is really polarizing. Oh. And then you have all these awesome gamers and then. And then it's almost like, wow, these are almost like celebrities in their own little. Right within their community.
- [35:16]
B
Yep.
- [35:17]
A
But. But it's like, I'm already interested in watching this content and now you add a personality layer on it. It's awesome. And now it's. It's obviously grown and what we're talking 10 years of streaming now, or however long, you know, kind of the Twitch has been popular in the gaming community. It's amazing. And it's a natural progression of content and feeling a part of something.
- [35:33]
B
It is nuts, dude. Now streamers are the modern celebrities. They got art, music, artists hitting them up, movies to promote their movies are the actors are going on streamers, like Twitch streams to promote the movie. Yeah, it's nuts.
- [35:46]
A
Yeah. See Juju Semis Schuster, right? Like, he's a big gamer streamer. And I just found out about him gaming and streaming. I obviously pick him up in fantasy. Well, when I found out about it, I pick up, I'm like, wait a second. I found out you started streaming and you're not in your Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver days anymore. But, man, like, there's a lot of value to be compounded the brands, man, and people being able to expand their ecosystem and build real value around these things. And it's easy to do, you know, flip on a camera and talk about something that you love doing. It feels like the most authentic thing of content ever.
- [36:21]
B
I think that's why it's doing well too.
- [36:23]
A
There's no editing. Yeah, there might be a lower third stinger on it or if you have a bigger production, but outside of that, it's just raw and authentic.
- [36:29]
B
You're just yourself. There's this guy named Speed I'm sure you've heard of. He could fill out a stadium almost any major country right now. That's how popular he is.
- [36:37]
A
It's wild.
- [36:38]
B
Yeah. It's nuts. Like Ronaldo's commenting on his social media posts.
- [36:42]
A
Yeah. And you know, it's interesting. I think it's really, really powerful and it's impactful. I also think that there was this. I'm just thinking about this now and I want to flush this out with you because this is very interesting. When a celebrity would become or go to a movie and do stuff, when it was a very curated and polished and manicured PR and kind of media campaign around a film or something like that, or even sports. These people got media training. They were looked at to as celebrities and they had a responsibility to be something and be looked up at. They had a sports team that they were responsible for. They had responsibilities in a contract. Right. And these people had influence. And that's why you see hockey is the worst of this. Like. Like never watch a hockey interview with a player after really. Well, no, because they say the same thing. They're completely PC. They never go off script. It's. It's amazing. But they're like. You're not getting any juicy details from them. You know, you're not. But. But it's very manicure now. You have these people that have these extraordinarily large audiences that don't know what to do with them From a media stand. That's like a liver king. Yeah. You end up getting in hot water really quick if it's not done right.
- [38:01]
B
I could see that.
- [38:01]
A
Right. And it's like. It's like you have. You have this thing that is so. It's rarefied air to build a following. Like Speed has rarefied air. You have a responsibility. You can do a lot of good with that. You can also do a lot of bad.
- [38:15]
B
Yeah.
- [38:17]
A
I think 90% of the people out there with followings are doing the right thing. But I think that we're missing that, which it dawned on me now, we're missing that old school traditional media element of curating, coaching and getting people ready for this moment. You could post a video, right? Post a video, go viral. Next thing you know, you have A podcast, and then you have somebody influence you to push crypto scam. And now you're in a lawsuit for 50 million. Yeah, it happened like that. Like, where was her team telling her? What are you doing? Like, you know. You know, and I just think, I hope that these people, with these rising followers, you've done an incredible job at it and that they really have the right people around them to maximize the impact they have. Yeah, because it's important.
- [39:05]
B
The team is everything. That's an interesting take on media training, though. So you actually think it's somewhat important.
- [39:11]
A
Well, yeah. You just said as your following grows, you have to stop reacting emotionally because it has real consequences at that point. Right. And you have to be very calculated. And obviously you want to be yourself, but you have to understand that whatever you say is going to get thousands, millions, billions of impressions.
- [39:32]
B
And also clipped out of context.
- [39:34]
A
Too clipped out of context. And that's even happened to me. And I'm a nobody.
- [39:38]
B
Right.
- [39:38]
A
In terms of influence and stuff. Numbers. It happens to everybody. But, yeah, I think. I think, you know, understanding and really, you know, having the. Understanding the impact you can have if you have a big following and that you can do a lot of good and help a lot of people. Because he has a, you know, big following for a reason, whether, even if it's just entertainment, people need an escape. You have to be pushing some business product or some coaching or some, you know, service or anything like that. It's like people also need. Matt Rife is blowing up. I just saw his clip that he was at Nashville and, you know, did the biggest show at Nashville's ever had.
- [40:16]
B
Wow.
- [40:16]
A
And he was at 14, 15 years ago, 14 years old, sitting. And he had Dane Cook come up on stage because Dane Cook was the biggest then and he just broke that record. And like, sick entertainers are always going to be, I believe, at the top of echelon of, like, celebrity. Yeah.
- [40:30]
B
And even in the pod space. Comedy pods are, I think, number one or two category wise.
- [40:34]
A
Yeah. And I mean, look at Joe Rogan's impact. Joe Rogan's on what? The biggest, I believe, the biggest impactful sports programming there is. All the big pay per views. Joe is a real personality and a real expert at mixed martial arts. And then you have, you know, and then he was on Fear Factor, which is one of the coolest shows ever. Eating cockroaches, doing wild stuff.
- [40:55]
B
Yeah, that show was nuts.
- [40:55]
A
Yeah. All the stuff with it. But he's like, I'll do it. And so, like, you know, people he's entertaining, is extremely curious. So you add this other thing on top of it. But, you know, yeah, entertainers are definitely gonna have the biggest. But. But it's shallow influence and then you have the deep influence. The more like, you know, inch wide and a mile deep. I call that like the mile wide and inch deep, the entertainment influence because just. Cause, you know, we have a ton of brands we work with, probably at this point, thousands of brands, every big brand in the athleisure space, supplements, health, wellness, everything that come to us. Not only, you know, hey, we're working with them from an agency side, but they also want to work with our influencers and the people we rep. And we've had some of the people with the biggest followings on our roster not move a single unit of product because everybody's there to watch them do some trick or entertain them or make them laugh, not sell them a product. Yeah. And so, but then you have like the, you know, we call it the inch wide and a mile deep. The people that are like, very niche talk about one thing and have influence and authority in that one thing and go deep on that one thing and. And they end up. It makes sense that they're, you know, recommending a, I don't know, a workout track or food tracking app or a supplement or a food, a food delivery service or this, this entire vertical of, you know, product integrations you can have and it makes sense then. Right. But yeah, it's interesting. I could go off.
- [42:21]
B
No, it's all interesting stuff. I actually agree with Gary Vee that followers don't matter anymore. And this is coming from someone that has 12 million followers. I think it's all based off engagement now. Like when I, when I'm looking for a guest, I look at their comments. Yeah, I don't care about followers.
- [42:34]
A
No. Well, because the platforms know this. Because just because you have followers doesn't mean they're going to push people to your content. They have it down to a science so much now that they're only going to promote what people want to see.
- [42:47]
B
1%. Actually, I get more views from non followers than followers on my social media.
- [42:51]
A
Yeah, your trial reels. And you'll be able to test it now. And there's so many different things you could do with the space. But what you're talking about, those followers don't matter now. What it does give you is some social credibility.
- [43:00]
B
Yeah, I could DM anyone and get a response.
- [43:02]
A
Yeah, of course. And that's the original reason why Liver King wanted a million Followers he wanted to be able to DM and get in touch with people he wanted to team up with on supplement companies. And so it does bring some social proof to it. But yeah, now as long as the content, content has to be good and has to resonate. And that's what we talk about. Signal over noise. Right. In authority os, you know, stuff with purpose, stuff that's strategic, that builds compounding ip, not just noise of like trend jacking. Like when Ashton hall did do what we were talking about earlier, he did his Saratoga water bucket, boom, sit down, eat, put on his stuff, go run. And then ends with this, cultivating him, sprinting at 25 miles an hour, engaging. But everybody just started ripping that, doing their own parody off of it. Now somebody could have gone viral. Let's play that out. So somebody with 10,000 views does a really good job and gets like say 100 million views on TikTok on this thing and gets like 50,000 followers overnight. Maybe I'm just pulling something out thinner, like what do they do from there? What value were those views and those followers? There's nothing. They came because they're like, oh, this guy's funny or this, this is interesting. And they press, follow, they all fall off. And the one hit wonder on social, you see it all the time.
- [44:25]
B
Yeah, all the time.
- [44:26]
A
All the time. And no, it's like quality content that speaks. I'd rather have a thousand engaged people that, that want to, you know, are interested in what I'm interested in, that I can have engaging conversations with and bring along this journey with me in a community than have, you know, 10 million people that don't give a shit.
- [44:40]
B
Yep.
- [44:41]
A
You know, and it's like because, you know, a lot of our clients, a couple in Vegas, they have an M and A company and you know, he was justifying like, hey, I want to work with 1Ds. It justifies, if I can get one lead in my business and what I do off of this in two years, you guys pay for yourself. So he didn't care about views, he just wanted to get the content for the right person to resonate in the right way. And so we are all about building signal and talking to all the like sometime dense stuff. Then our goal is to make it, you know, engaging and try to get views on things and make it more lighthearted and, and you know, entertaining but you know, different goals. You get caught in these vanity metrics of followers and stuff. The platforms don't provide prefer that nowadays.
- [45:22]
B
Not at all. They used to when we were starting out, but not at all right now. Yeah, it's all about engagement.
- [45:27]
A
Yeah.
- [45:27]
B
Well, dude, it's been awesome. Where can people find you potentially become a client of yours and learn more about everything you got going on?
- [45:34]
A
Yeah, my Instagram JHY agency 1DS collective. We're in the middle of launching a, you know, a book and a course right now because of the launch of Liver King and about this media stuff and us gaining popularity over, you know, and it kind of culminating over the last 10 years. We can't. We had to write our systems and methodologies into a book in a course that we could say, hey, the more one to many model because we can't work, we can't scale fast enough. And so that's going to be coming out in the next month or so and it's going to be really exciting. That's going to be called Authority os.
- [46:16]
B
Nice.
- [46:16]
A
So that's, that's, that's what I'm really excited about right now. But yeah, agency 1ds collective and anything social media branding, very similar to what you do. And I know we've been talking with your team and stuff. It's. Yeah, we just love. We do, man.
- [46:29]
B
Awesome. Check them out guys and I'll see you next time. Peace. I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe.
- [46:40]
A
It helps the show a lot with the algorithm.
- [46:42]
B
Thank you.