248: MUST-KNOW Content Trends To Grow on YouTube in 2023
Hey, before we jump into the show, I just wanted to take a second and say thank you for listening.
I know that life is busy and you have a lot of options when it comes to the content you consume.
So whether you're new here or you've been listening to the Think Media podcast for years,
I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you. Okay, let's jump into the show.
I think always create content where you consume the most because you're going to know the format better.
What's resurfacing now is combination videos. Like a thing of a smoothie, right? You combine
cooking with a story time. The fusion is how you build an audience. The fusion is what makes you
unique and you found something that makes money, gets views and you like it, niche it down, niche it down.
Maybe that's how you make that coin. So what are the biggest trends that you need to know in the
creator economy? What do you need to know from Gen Z right now that you can apply to your content
as it comes to making more of an impact, reaching more people? And what does it look like to be a next
generation leader in the creator economy? Today on the Think Media podcast, we have Jade,
Darma Wongsa, a 22-year-old phenom who is a social entrepreneur, the current CEO of X8 Media,
an influencer marketing agency that works with tech platforms and civic movements. She's also a
creator with TikTok, YouTube, 371,000 subscribers on YouTube. And so we're going to learn a lot today,
Jade. How are you? Sean, honestly, I'm going to be for real. I'm honored to be here on the Think Media
podcast because for the longest time, I thought I was too relevant for you. So thank you so much for
having me. Super fired up to have you on and known you for a while now. It's been a while to watch
your journey. And you're still just getting started, but you've been doing this for a lot of years
for people that are just meeting you. What have you been up to over the last, when did you start?
So I started when I was nine years old. My first YouTube video ever, 2010. I don't think you're
supposed to be that age on YouTube. I think it has to be 13, but I broke the law. And I've been
making content for a long time, and I knew I wanted to be a full-time YouTuber since I was a kid.
So I'm living the dream job, and I'm still producing content till this day.
Yeah, so you're a full-time YouTuber. You're also active on TikTok, but you're also wearing a CEO hat.
If there was a pie chart, how do you break your time down?
Used to be 50, 50, like CEO agency work, 50 content, but I just had to be honest with myself. I was
like, I like content more. Yeah. So I would say right now it's 80-20, 80% content, 20% CEO.
I love that. And you recently just did a panel here at VidCon in Anaheim, and it was on next-generation
leadership. The C-suite reimagined. What are some of your thoughts on what it means to run a company
in a creator economy, Gen Z, next-gen world? I think it's just all about age, and we live in a world
where right now our leaders are going to be older, and it's hard to come in. I thought it was
hard to come in a space where there's legend, Sean, you know, veteran, and I'm like the 16-year-old
girl who doesn't really have that experience. And I think what it means is age is now just a number,
but it's also more based on your experience and what you in your work versus like your race,
your background. And I think that's really empowering for a lot of people. For me, I didn't
grow up with a lot of money. I started really young, so I had to rely on my work and let that be the
talking point to get clients to get brand deals. It was a hard hustle though. I'm not going to lie.
When it comes to your story, what role did your parents play in you being an entrepreneur?
A huge part. I lucked out, not on the finances part, but I lucked out on having supportive
parents who are themselves, very entrepreneurial-minded. My dad runs apps, like he builds apps,
he, my mom's an artist, so like they've always been like, if you want to drop out of high school,
which I did, they let me. What have you learned wearing the CEO hat of what it means to lead people
on your team? Are they all young? They are all young. They're either younger or older than me.
Like I have someone who's 25 on my team and like 12, I mean, not 12. Wait, that's not
just child labor. I mean like, you know, like 18, 19, Jade comes on the podcast and says she has
child labor. There's a confession. It's on tape. I don't, I promise. And so when it comes to what
people need to know about Gen Z, what are some of like the things, especially, you know, I turn 40
this year. So I'm an elder millennial. Elder millennial. Yeah. And because there's like younger
millennials and elder millennials, it's such a big generation or something. I don't really know. Are
you closer to Gen X or closer to? I'd be closer to Gen X. Okay. Yeah. And the only reason I came
with that term was there's a Liza Snapflick special. I'm forgetting your last name.
Koshi? No. Okay. Liza, she's a comedian. Anyway, she did a segment called elder millennial.
And I was like, Oh, you identify. I might speak what I am. Yeah. Because there is Zalennial. And
that's someone who's more millennial closer to Gen Z. So when it comes to Gen Z, I mean,
breaking that down, first of all, like what are maybe some attributes of Gen Z that if you're a
marketer, a business owner, that's trying to think about how do I reach Gen Z? What do people
need to know? I think historically, Gen Z was anyone under 12 to 24, who was basically born after
2000s. I would say is Gen Z? I'm going to be honest. Gen Z is a huge market to market to right now.
We are like the highest consumer spending. We buy anything that's cool and trendy. Unfortunately,
we have no brains. We just keep consuming products. But I think we're definitely a huge turning
market for a lot of people because we're very malleable and like, easy to market to on social.
I think there's also Generation Alpha, which I'm not going to go into. But some traits of Gen Z
also include very, very passionate unhinged. I think we're the generation that started all.
The social movements and all. Who cares about environmentalism? I feel like we've been a
pretty cool generation for the most part. There are some problematic qualities. Cancel culture is a
huge problem. I feel like with our generation, but I can't complain. I'm a part of it.
What are some strengths that elder creators could learn that Gen Z's doing well?
That's a really good question. Gen Z seems to be maybe short form.
Seems to be grabbing hooks. There seems to be maybe a native understanding of content.
So those things just seem maybe observational. But I oftentimes think that as the younger generation
goes, it eventually ages up and it sort of shapes all content. So I just know if there's
maybe attributes that you recognize. I notice, for example, you as a content creator,
maybe you just were being yourself and making this up. But you were longboarding around with a
little wireless mic storytelling in a parking lot on a long board, which if anything made me think,
you were A being you, but B you were keeping attention. It was weird. It was unique. And
it seemed to be intelligent. You know, quirky is a good word. Quirky is definitely a thing that
elder millennials can learn from Gen Z. Just keep it. Keep it interesting. I think a lot of Gen Z
likes to make fun of things that are called chugie. Have you heard of that word before? Yes.
And like, did someone call you chugie? I didn't hear it. There's lots of viral vertical videos of
like Gen Z breaking up. There's, you know, I'm like in the church world itself. There was one that was
like, your love is bus and bus and everything I put my trust in. It was like a Gen Z worship song.
And then it was like, your love is dead ass. And it was like, what?
You know, it's just Gen Z language or whatever. Yeah, it's easier familiar. I'm glad no one
called you chugie because I feel like that. Not yet. Not yet. What does chugie mean?
Chugie is just cringe. It has no risk. Okay. You heard of risk. Give me the full list and
define the terms. So you know what it is? So chugie is crazy. Yeah. So it raises like your cool,
your calm, your quirky, collected, chugie is the opposite. You're trying to hire people. So you
want to, oh, like, oh, he's raised. Yeah. You have a raise or like you want your content to
have a raise. Yeah. What does dead ass mean? Dead ass means like for real, like 100%. 100%.
What is what is on God? On God means like period. Period. Okay. What is cap? No cap. No cap means
like, like, I'm not lying. Like no cap. Like my cap. Yeah. So, so sometimes all like that one,
I'm actually doing not pretty good on TikTok mainly because we're repurposing content probably
over 300,000 subscribers followers or whatever. Whatever. But punch line. I'll sometimes say stuff.
It's of course absolutely true. But maybe it seems sensational. And then somebody will just drop
the cap emojis. So they're saying that it's all cap. Yeah, people think you're lying. People think
I'm lying. It's just a bunch of like, oh, this is cap. And then to that, you reply to
a comment on TikTok and you say, you take your cap off. How? You take your cap off in like a video.
Yeah. You can do video replies on TikTok. Yeah. You know, you can do that on shorts now. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You did it. Yes. Is it been effective? I think shorts is useful. I
think it depends on your audience. No, I mean shorts reply to comments. Oh, no. I haven't
done too much of that. I don't know. Okay. This has been the already the most unhinged podcast
we've ever done by far. I'm sorry. No cap on God. By far, this is, Sean, you're good at this.
You're like Gen Z. I'm doing my best. You're doing so good. Comment below if Sean's
is doing it. But ultimately, as far as what do people need to know about Gen Z? This has probably
been a pretty good conversation. No, you probably learned way more in school. Oh, no, we got you
did learn more in school than this, for sure. I was going to say you learn more in
think media than in school. But I think in this episode context, you're better off just reading a
book. Okay. Well, yeah, YouTube secrets. We're going to bring it back though. Okay. And
let's let's hit some more. Well, I mean, I want to talk to you about your video podcasts
about some of your tips and strategies and some different things that are working for you.
But let's let's start there. You started a video podcast. I did. Why? I'm just tired. I mean,
to be honest, like, I do a lot of short from content. I do YouTube videos are trendy.
People don't really get to know you, even if you make like very long form content, unless
if you're going to say stuff that doesn't gravitate attention and sometimes the things that
people get to know you about isn't going to work on short form, you know? So I built a podcast.
So my fans can know me better. And also, I just feel like in terms of a monetization tool,
it's pretty lucrative. So I we got so our podcast is called finest. I have a podcast with my friend
Caro. We got a presenting sponsor. And it's like, honestly, one of the most fulfilling work too,
it's because like you're having deeper conversations with people, you're interviewing people,
and it's awesome. What is a presenting sponsor? It's like a sugar daddy of podcasts. Like,
you get the, you know, upfront payment for having their brand in your podcasts every episode.
For what range of time did you do? 12 episodes for a year. Wait, okay. So you is a year-long
contract, but you only had to shout them out in 12 of the episodes, even if you're up a little more.
No, 12 episodes are seasoned. So we sign like a every episode deal for 12 episodes one season.
Got it. So you're doing seasons? Yeah, I'm doing, I'm going professional, yeah.
So you're doing seasons, 12 episodes. How long does that take? We're almost done. It's it's been
eight, eight months, six months. So you're not trying to do weekly? No, we're doing by monthly,
like twice a month. And any tips if somebody wanted to get a presenting sponsor,
how to network around, work that out? I 100% I actually have great advice on this. So our podcast
is called finesse and we 100% finesse this presenting sponsor, because we didn't have any
viewership on our podcast. We didn't have any metrics that could show us that we could,
you know, kill it, but you know, it's just kind of like getting investment towards,
towards like a startup. The brand needs to believe in you as a founder, you as a storyteller.
And we told the story really strongly, finesse is about teaching creators and founders that
you can do anything. You can start a business even if you don't have capital or if you don't
have money. And our sponsor, not sponsored, it's called fourth wall and they're like a platform
to help creators do that. So it just it just worked out. And my my co-host is also so happens to be
one of the most talented talent agents. So that also was a plus. And now that you've posted a few
episodes, what have you learned about posting them on they go on YouTube? They go on YouTube. Yeah.
Do they though? Did I actually check and maybe only the shorts went on YouTube,
but you put audio elsewhere? Or do you put the full video podcast up? Oh, you're the full
videos only on fourth wall. I add to Spotify. Okay. So fourth wall is a separate destination?
Yes. It's kind of like it's kind of like a landing page for our like a home, a home base.
Okay. So you could listen to your video podcast on fourth wall or Spotify, Apple,
or Apple music everywhere. Yeah. All that. And then on YouTube, you're just uploading clips.
Yes. And you put you might share some clips on your socials as well. Exactly.
Yes. You post a lot of clips. Do you post a lot of clips from podcasts? That's what we do now.
That's basically our entire TikTok. You need to make that little Gen Z conversation
a clip right there. Like that whole little interaction. Yeah. You got it. All right. Noted taking
notes. Okay. So and then anything else you've learned since doing a podcast because a lot of people
want to launch their own maybe tips, growth, topics, how to have conversations. Is it always just
you two talking about something topical? It's always that. And we interview people who are really
cool. If we if we are able to find cool people, which I feel like you would be one of them. But
I think one of my biggest tips is try your best not to be. I don't know if this is a roast to think
media, but like try not try your best not to be just. It's really easy to basically do like content
that's about other people. And if you don't build personality, it's hard to retain that audience.
I mean, I learned it. Trust me. I've done this with finesse and initially our first five episodes
was just interviewing people. Yeah. And then when we did a solo episode, no one cared. And we're like,
okay, like this is something that we want to work on. So I learned, okay, there needs to be
a healthy balance of solo a little bit of, I mean, you done a great job. Like you have your own
channel, but it's like really important not just to be an interview podcast because there's a lot
out there. You have to differentiate yourself with either your personality or solo or something
like that. It's really good. And that's not a roast. Think media podcast is three years old. This
week was all been solo. We just we've been doing lots of solo rounds. That's good. It's probably
50% solo rounds. Okay, then you got it. And they perform very good. And there's that I think there's
a pretty strong relationship. Let me know. I love you. Think media podcasts, especially if you're
on YouTube. I know you can't comment anywhere else. If you, what do you like better interviews,
solo rounds, but I just love you, Sean. Just like I'm here for Sean. I love you.
And yes, so that's that's a great tip. So you actually have that depth. You actually have that
connection when it comes to YouTube versus TikTok. What say you? What say you? I mean, at this point,
I think I treat YouTube as my diary, TikTok as my capture attention to drive people to the diary.
Unfortunately, now with there's so many short form platforms, it's kind of getting blurred. So
now I just treat it as each platform has its own funnel. Like so, for example, shorts is the top
of the funnel and I drive it to my long form, which is the YouTube long form vlogs TikTok. I have
short form TikToks that are like clips trending, but I also have long form like day in my life that are
three minutes because TikTok also released a new creator fund. It's like RPM like YouTube money
and you can get actually a lot more money than initially TikTok creator fund was. I'm actually
incentivized now to post more long form like 10 minute videos on TikTok, which is a whole other
conversation. Are you ready to start or grow your YouTube channel? Do you feel stuck and need help
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Well, I just heard at the YouTube room here from DJ that a million views on TikTok,
if it's over a minute, was like a thousand dollars. Which is pretty good. It's really good for
TikTok and for vertical video. And for vertical video. So the future is bright. But he said the
frustrating part was if you put energy into that content, not because it's over a minute,
you're gonna have to edit it more for YouTube shorts if you just want to use the same piece.
That makes sense. Which is fine, but you know, so maybe you shoot for 105 and then just
find five seconds in a different version. Exactly. But you're talking like three minutes on TikTok.
Why not 10? Because can't you do 10? You can't do 10. I scroll past people who post 10 minute
blogs. I think three minutes is a good start, but I'm trying. Did you have anything else to say?
You mentioned it's a home at the creator fund or TikTok or you were gonna say something else.
Was I gonna say something else? I don't know. You said I have a lot more we could talk about there.
Oh yeah, I have a lot more we could talk about. I mean, like in terms of like long-form content
on TikTok, I think we're just scratching the surface. But I feel like every platform at the end of
the day wants to be a YouTube plus TikTok hybrid. Like everyone wants to have that love child where
you have people who come for the quick bits and then stay for the long form. And if you can master
that ratio of like whether it's 50, 50 or 80, 20, like I think that's how you build the audience.
So let's pretend you are a young person because obviously that ship is sailed. You're old now.
I'm old now. Relax. That was a joke. But you are starting from scratch. Yeah.
Because you I mean, you've been doing this since you were nice. That's 13 years in the game. It's
kind of crazy. It is crazy. And so you're starting from scratch. What do you what platform do you
start on and with what type of content? I always tell people this. Like my first tip is make a hundred.
Can I constantly know? Yeah. Okay. Why did you say videos? Well videos isn't make a hundred.
What were you going to say? Finish this. Make a hundred. What's the I want? That's what I know now.
Well, I was going to say make a hundred videos that don't that don't.
I want platform. Honestly, whatever you. So I think always create content where you consume the most
because you're going to know the format better. Don't try to make TikToks. If you don't know
the culture, the language, if you love YouTube, just double down and you can repost on TikTok.
Right. So double down on what platform you love the most. I think I would personally start with
YouTube. And then you can make a hundred TikTok or 100 YouTube shorts and focus on only just
understanding how to edit and produce and be interesting. I think a lot of people focus on how to
get views and optimize when they don't even know how to talk, how to edit, how to like get comfy,
how to start and just treat your 100 videos as making videos for fun. And I always say like
recreate your top 10 favorite YouTubers top 10 videos. Like that's a good start. Like look at
like if you like Sean's video, maybe to recreate his top 10. Actually, you probably get a lot of
that. But like, you know, like start there and you now you have a hundred videos, right? So
make a list of your top 10 people, find the top 10 videos, start there and then optimize. You
don't need to overthink the beginning. Okay. So that's how you would start. If you went into this
now knowing everything you know, wanting to build a sustainable income, which in other conversations
we've already had here, like John Usher, I was like sustainable. Is there such a thing in the
greater economy? That's a good point. And so if that was the intent though, to not
have highs and lows, you're here one day, you're gone the next. We actually had someone apply
at Think Media. That was a full-time YouTuber. And was going to go full back into the workforce.
Totally, of course, respectable. But because all of his brand deals dried up and he couldn't
really rely on AdSense. So he was fully paying all of his bills and then that all went away. And
this is in the last six months. And so sustainable is one of those big questions. If you want to do
approach YouTube with a sustainable mindset, what is the best way to earn money sustainably?
I agree with your last friend though. Like, is there a way to make money or is it you make the money
where you are able to find opportunities and then it's the way you manage it? Like, I could say
yeah, because for me, I make money unique way. For example, I really primarily do brand deals.
I do consulting through my experiences with the other brands I work with. I kind of upsell them
on that. And not everyone can do that. So I don't know. I just feel like, for me, it's really based on
like managing how cash flow essentially, right? And to your friend that is also probably just
honestly a byproduct of the recession right now that I'm feeling. Yep.
You know, everyone's feeling like, that's okay. And I think I don't think there's a sustainable way
because the economy always goes through Epson Flow. So why do you expect as a creator to always
maintain a similar income? For me, I'm making a lot less than I did last year, like 100%. Like, a lot less,
I manage a better because I've learned through years, but it's not easy. I don't even know the
good answer. That's really good. The good answer is that there's not one way. So you find out your
unique mix, be smart with your money because it might be feasting today, but it could be
famine tomorrow. So if you've set something aside and you're wise, then you can write out the ups
and the downs and then work to your strengths. So you have the ability to consult and do these
different things, but that might not be the model for somebody else. So really, there is no one way.
And ad revenue is great for some channels and they get zillions of views. And it's insane.
I also think there's nothing wrong with getting a job and doing the creator stuff on the side too.
Like, I mean, I've never had a drop drop, but I owed 100%. Like, me and my dad joke about this
because I'm a high school dropout. And they're like, Jade, like, you need a like a job just
does know what it's like. And like, I'd be down. You know, I'd be down to like know what it's like.
And I don't think that's there's nothing wrong with that. Sure. And there's all kinds of households
you could do. Respect the hustle. You could Uber Eats Uber and then still film videos and
100%. You also could then turn that into the right-share guide blog and monetize. You turn
your hustle, uh, right-share or postmates into content. You know what's so funny? So speaking
on this, there's this book I'm reading called The Artist Way. And there's this quote saying,
how do you look at every turnaround you turn as pointing me in the right direction?
This year, just to like give you that think media podcast inside T, my brand deals really got
a postponed slash cut or whatever budget cuts, whatever. Mostly on the agency side, like my own
brand deals were fine, but it allowed me to turn around and be like, wait, I love making content.
So I don't need to focus on like my brand work. I could focus more on my content. So every,
it's the way you look at it, right? It's perspective. Yeah. The artist way is that a new Rick Rubin book
or is it an old book? It's an oldie. Okay. It's an oldie, but a gutty. The new Rick book, you
know, that is he's all over the viral right now. He's got the glasses. He's a little jolly man with
hair and beard. Yes. Yes. Okay. He's like, I love him. Okay. As we land the plane,
you've been known to say, creators shouldn't niche down. I have.
To niche or not to niche or to niche or not to niche. I have an update, a thought about this.
Okay. Let's do it. Okay. So for those who don't know, I made a video like multiple videos that
went viral about like, I don't believe in a niche. I think I was going through a mental breakdown.
I was a little unhinged at the moment. I mean, everyone is, but I was definitely unhinged in that
moment. I felt very trapped in my own work. Now, here's the thing. If you love what you do,
and you know what you, and you found something that makes money, gets views, and you like it,
niche it down, niche it down. Maybe that's how you make that coin. At that time, I wasn't there yet.
But I think my updated thought is you should niche down if you can, but if you can't explore more.
Most people niche down too quickly. I think that's a fact. But I also don't, my updated thought is
like, I mean, if you want to get that bread, you need to like focus. So I think that's my updated
thought. And this is something that I'm announcing in 2023. Jade, you also speaking of some of your
most influential content, you, you do trend predictions. I do. It's 2023. We're going into July
at the time of recording. So that's for some reference. What do you see in the future and in the now?
I've always said this, but we're living in the world where topical niches are already done. Like,
if you want to search how to cook a steak, it's a video. What's resurfacing now is combination
videos. Like a thing of a smoothie, right? You combine cooking with a story time. That's that's the
meat. You know, that's that's what's doing well. You think about Alex Earl, a popular tech talk
beauty YouTuber. She combines talking about college with getting ready and doing makeup. The fusion
is how you build an audience. The fusion is what makes you unique. There's already too many videos
about how to surf. You know, so it's like combine something else. Get at that. Riz.
Okay. So fusion makes me think there's so many fusion restaurants in Las Vegas.
Yeah, there is. And that's the, I mean, they're good though. Even think, yeah, and you're like, I
wanted to thought of putting those two things together. But, but that's a whole experience. And so
fusion is trend one. What else?
Trend two, I think, would be, I mean, it's already a thing. But like, I think podcasts is still
still scratching the service for me. It's already been done. Big deals already have been
happening in the industry. But I still think more and more creators should have podcasts because
it's really efficient way to get a lot of content and get the highlights, turn it into clips.
And I think it's just a good practice of packaging your content. I think what people are now doing
a lot more is like talking about something, but how do you make it? So you like highlight the best
parts, combine it into like a 30 second, 60 second reel to push people into the longer form. I think
that's, I mean, that's really hard to do. Like, I struggle with that on my podcast. Like, how do
you find the best bits? How do you tell a story really quickly in the most efficient way?
Have you tapped into AI yet for that? Yeah. I think touchy beauty is basically a better
version of me for sure right now. Have you tapped into things like opus clip? Yes.
Which does search keywords and trending things and you throw your podcast in there? Have you
found that to be useful? Yes. I think a human though knows what's funny. Like, I'll say like,
really off the cuff stuff and the AI won't pick it. They don't have that risk yet. I think once the
AI gets an update with that, I think that's going to be fire. You know, I think, and actually,
we have been loving opus clip. It's definitely not perfect. Are you sponsored? We're not sponsored.
But we're open to it. We're selling sponsors. But what we are at an end legit, we're, I mean,
we're paying attention to all of them and we're just wondering who's going to kind of like edge out being
right? I think Adobe is going to win. Really? With pulling clips too? I just feel like if it's,
if anyone's going to just copy a like an existing product really well and make it better, it's a
dopey. It is. That's a good point because it's kind of an unfair advantage that they can just go
swipe it up and they are, they're bigger. They have more money. They have a bigger team. Exactly.
You know, what's interesting though is when you, when it spits out though, like 10 clips,
the humans still has to review them and that's what it, at least to save you time to maybe be like,
oh, those are cool. And let me use those and then you still edit around them. Perhaps even if you
did it somewhere else, just by throwing them in there, keywords, trending keywords, emojis,
or whatever else some of these are doing. It's a crazy time we're living in. Like, I used to hire
so many, it's kind of sad. I used to hire so many people that do things that AI does. And it's like,
damn, like, what a weird time to be, and what a scary time to be for like a lot of people just
starting to, like, I mean, you probably saw this industry change so much in the past, like,
let alone three years, you know, it's like, it's weird. Are you saying I'm old? No, Sean,
you're a zillennial. I mean, you're a older millennial. We already established that. I'm a
millennial. Um, I think 55 is the cause. I have been to VidCon for I think 10 years. I think,
I think I was here. I think I was here in 2023. Wait, as a fan or as like a speaker, 2013,
2013, it's 2023 right now, as a fan. Well, so you've been through the progression. I came,
I came with Benji and I was just super pumped to be here. And I remember Tim Ferris was here.
What? Just chilling and no one cared because no one here, like, was like reading blogs, reading
for our work week or whatever. And we were just into session is like, is that Tim Ferris?
Because he just wanted to learn about online video and stuff. Damn. Yeah. 10 years is crazy.
Yeah. I am old. I respect and I'm a dad. I got two kids, you know, well, I think I think the 10
years on VidCon really speaks a lot, but also makes you so like dope. Like, that's awesome to say.
You could base. Do you not own equity at this conference at this point? I wish. You need to.
Like, you probably built this. I wonder who, I mean, I think I thought it was started by like,
Hank Green. Right. And is he, he's shared it with others and others. It's owned by VidCon now.
VidCon. So you might need a, you might be, you might be too late. Yeah. We have our own event.
It's called Grow With Video Live. It's in Las Vegas. I know. And I didn't get an invite.
GrowWithVideoLive.com is in the show notes. And yeah, that's a good point. And we had 17,000 speakers
last year. But 17,000 attendees, right? No speakers. It was, I'm exaggerating, but it was kind of
too, like it was great, but it was so packed in like so many panels and so because we only have
one stage. We don't have 48. We don't have three floors with 68. Can I say something right now
on the podcast too? Let me DJ your next Grow With Video Live event. Like DJ the music? Yeah. And I
can speak too, but I rather DJ. What like off decks? Yeah, I'll do for free. I play violin piano,
like professionally for 10 years. And I'd now DJ. And I've been doing this for startup events
starting three days ago. Sick. So let me DJ. Okay. I'll do for free. Let's talk. That sounds
fire. Or you could pay me. No, let's collab. Like it'll be fun. We need that that we need the
risk. Yeah, like if like maybe like I can DJ like when you walk on stage before you like an
opening song, like you know, something something cool like that. Yeah, I didn't know you did that.
We had a DJ last year. Okay. When we're a focused guy. Yeah, it's DJing, intro music,
outro music. Anyways, it's coming. It's coming together. Saturday brings from about it. And
as we land the plane, I'm curious for you, what type of content has helped you learn the most
and learn the fastest? If you need to skill up as a business owner, learn new skills. How do I
be a CEO? How do I operate a company? Or how do I do content? Like where have what has been the
best source of these skillsets for you? Source of learning. I mean, is it books, is it events,
is it networking? I'm gonna be honest. I mean, this plane ride by the way, it has been fantastic.
A little turbulent a few times. Got to tell the captain to because he made a joke about like
we're landing the plane. Okay. Okay, so you were so lost. Oh, so deep. That was so deep. Okay.
And I respect. I'm so grateful that you actually you were you were trying to fly in my jet
stream. No, I love it. I already parachute it out. I mean, Turner. You didn't realize I wasn't
even in the plane anymore. I literally just laughed. He was getting his baggage. I was already a
baggage plane landing the plane. It was up to you. My biggest resource for learning honestly
is unfortunately and fortunately failing a lot. You know, I I read a lot of books. I mean,
I can name a couple like I love subtle art. I'm not giving a f***. It's a classic of just
starting with the mental side. He just spoke. You did? Mark Mason. Really?
Was here. Manson, by the way. Manson was just here. Wow. Mark. Mark.
Really? I want to. He was in the first session here today. Oh my gosh. Okay.
I'm a big fan of being Mark Manson. Yeah. Mark Manson's great. All his books are awesome.
Okay. I also have read like, you know, like funnel secrets like all like the growth hacking books.
But at the end of the day, nothing really worked until I learned from failing. You know, I I mean,
I can name so many failures like hiring too many people at once. I learned about how to not make
videos too long or too short and just trying a bunch of things. And I think that is it. I mean,
like obviously think media, duh. You got to subscribe to podcasts, the newsletter to everything
in my vlogs. But other than that, like I just encourage everyone to just be their own little
scientists in the lab. Hypothesize. Good. Do it. And then report back.
Jade Dharma Wong said really appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the podcast. You mentioned they
got to subscribe to your vlog. They don't have to, but you could. But if like what's the stack of
your brands and accounts worth following? I think it's easier to follow them in Instagram because
I post pretty photos. I also have tech talk in YouTube, which is all Jade Dharma Wongza. And if
you really want to get to know me, the unhinged side, my podcast is called finest. I will say
read it or notice it's just, it's just, it's just funny. Jade, I appreciate you. Really grateful
for the value that you've added to our community today and the forward to connecting more in the
future. Thank you, Sean. I'm again honored to be here. I thought I was too relevant. But I
think I've been, I've gained my trophy back. There it is.