How LAS Curry Cracks The Code & Turns Passion into Profit Live Streaming

Would you please welcome the founder of Curry Media Productions, recently named creator

success coach at vidIQ, content entrepreneur and live streaming expert, Anthony LasCurry

Santana.

Welcome to the show, my friend.

This is long time waiting.

Long time waiting.

What an introduction, man.

It's an honor to be here with you guys both.

This is looking great, man.

I'm excited.

I'm excited.

Thanks for having me.

I appreciate it, man.

You and I, now listen, I've been following you for quite some time.

And for those of you who are hidden under a rock and don't know who this gentleman is

on the center of your screen, get ready because you're about to be inspired to not just make

a bunch of content, but to live a better life.

And you and I connected a number of months ago, Las, and it was about Amazon.

And so we spent some time together on a Zoom call, I believe it was, and you just kind

of rolled into your story.

I mean, I was just, I casually asked you a question.

It was one of those conversations where I was like, this conversation was a podcast

or it should have been broadcasted at that point.

And of course I didn't record it or anything.

I was like, boy, I hope if I asked this guy to be on my show, that he's going to be on

the show.

And I would love to just have you share with our audience why you are in the spot that

you're in, because you did not come to your faith and to the business that you're in,

in an ordinary way at all.

And I'd love for you to be able to share that with our audience.

Yeah, I'd be definitely happy to share.

So let's see how far back do we want to go.

So let's talk about Back to the Journey when this kind of all started four years ago.

I was an insurance agent for nine years, selling all kinds of insurance.

I was in sales and marketing, but I had a passion for gaming and gaming was something

that would always be my escape to get away just from the everyday kind of things that

were happening.

And I caught myself playing the game, just like most people would for tons of hours.

And I would see other gamers just like, man, there's people out there that's actually turning

this passion that I have into something that's more meaningful.

But I just don't know what that journey looks like or how to even begin that process.

So I did what anybody else would probably do and how most of us start our journey, which

is just being curious, right?

And I began to just use what I call now my second mother, which is Google, to be able

to search everything that I possibly can about how this worked.

And I stumbled upon creators that were before me on YouTube that were teaching live streaming

on Twitch and other platforms.

And I decided to go the route of streaming on a platform created by Microsoft called

Mixer.

And during that process, there wasn't no content created for that platform.

So I decided to, you know, like I love teaching and I love learning.

So I was like, hey, as I go through this process, I'm just going to document what it is that

I'm learning.

And I know that I can't depend on like Microsoft to promote me.

They don't even know who I am.

So how can I go ahead and get people to find me?

So I leveraged YouTube and I started creating a weekly video on what I learned the prior

week.

So through that journey, you know, I started to begin to educate other other people on

streaming.

Now, one thing that happened recently, which was about maybe I'd say now two years in the

making was through the journey, was that I got saved through the Xbox.

Now I can dive deeper in through and through the story, but that was a big turning point

for me because it showed me that there's a purpose why I was put into this role.

There's a purpose why this this passion of mine really was drawn to me and really gave

me the curiosity to go deeper with it.

Not knowing where I am now of like the influence that I would have and the people that will

gravitate towards me, the opportunities and doors that would be opened up.

But again, just walking in faith and knowing that I'm just moving in the right direction,

not on my behalf, but on his behalf, brought me here to where I am today.

And now, you know, I full time, I spend my time just creating an online education business

to try to help gamers turn what they love, which is gaming into something more meaningful

that can impact their families and impact the lives of others.

So feel free that I can go deeper on any part of that.

But that's kind of where I'm at right now.

OK, now you just skated by the phrase, I got saved through the Xbox.

You skated right by that.

Now, you know, listen, you know, we don't let you skate on this show.

The sea's getting a little warm.

But like when you hear that and when I heard that for the first time, I don't care if

you're a person of faith or not, when you hear that, you're like, wait a minute.

Yeah. Right. How does that happen?

Yeah. OK, we'll go there.

So pretty much what ended up happening is that I was teaching people how to stream on

YouTube and this pastor from South Carolina reached out on one of my comments like, hey,

I'm trying to stream. Would you mind helping me out getting things set up?

So I met with him, got things set up.

He's like, yeah, I try to do a gaming stream, but I do a Bible study every Friday if you

want to join. Now, in the beginning, you know, I'm like, this is awkward.

I'm not interested. And I just kind of put it off for a while.

So, you know, he would invite me to, like, play the game together.

We would play sports games.

And every time that we would be connected together, he would always try to take the

conversation from like the natural to like the spiritual.

And it would always take me back and I would just put him off.

And he would every time just invite me, hey, you know, on Friday night at nine p.m.

on the Xbox, you know, we do a Bible study.

And then after the Bible study, we get together and we game.

And I remember for the longest time, I put him off and I would tell my wife now,

Shauna, she was like, you know, why don't you just join one time just so that he can

get off of off of you and stop inviting you?

And I was like, that's a great idea.

You know, I should I should probably just join this time and then I never have to

come back again. So it doesn't work that way.

Doesn't it? It doesn't work that way.

They don't work that way. And what happened next really was unexpected for me because

that was that was a day that a lot of things in my life changed.

And so I joined and, you know, it's not on camera.

It's just you're just in a chat that's just voice only on the on the Xbox.

So they can't see what it is that you're doing.

So there's about maybe nine or 10 of us in there.

And I'm just playing the game, just like, OK, I'm here.

He sees my name in the in the chat.

So that's that's that's all.

So I remember for like the longest time, 10, 15 minutes, I'm just ignoring the

conversation. And then, you know, they get to the end and they're just like

wrapping up. And I remember there was like, hey, this is a moment we want to do

an invitation and invite you guys that, you know, if you believe that Jesus Christ

is your Lord and Savior, you know, all you have to do is declare that and you'll be

saved.

And I remember in that moment, everything froze for me.

Right. My attention to that voice instantly was gravitated to it.

Right. I was getting goosebumps on my hands.

I pretty much froze.

And I remember, like, turning to Sean and just looking at her and, you know, they

were like, all you have to do is say yes.

And I could feel myself wanting to yell, but holding it in.

I'm like, what is going on?

Like, I'm losing control of myself and what it is that I want to say.

And then I literally just opened up and said, me.

And I remember in that moment, like, it felt, you know, I didn't have this

pressure. I didn't know that had this pressure, but I felt so light after saying

that. I began to cry.

I had goosebumps.

I just didn't know what it was to expect.

And in that moment, you know, they just all came together.

And even though it wasn't, even though it was, it was like a virtual kind of

engagement, it really felt like they were all there.

Right. So instantly right away, Pastor Danny reached out and it's like, hey, I

wanted to send you, I want to send you a Bible and I want to send you a first

steps book and I want to mentor you for the next 10 weeks just to be able to help

you. So and, you know, for maybe like a month, I just put them off because it

was still new. I'm like, I don't know what happened there.

I'm not really too sure what, what just what that was about.

Did I black out?

What happened?

I'm concerned. Right.

I'm concerned.

So, so finally, you know, again, he was never forceful, but just continued to,

you know, be that, that steward of just like, Hey, I'm just, I'm just trying to

be your friend, right?

Not trying to pressure you, but I do want to mentor you.

And I finally took him on and said, okay, do the same thing, right?

10 weeks, I'm in and out.

And 10 weeks came in, man.

And until this day, you know, he baptized me, he came down, flew down, baptized me.

And then literally, literally, maybe a few months after that, Shauna came to me

and she's like, I want to join you in Bible study.

And it blew my mind because the biggest thing that he said to me was like, you

and Shauna are unevenly yoked, you know, she's not in faith, you're in faith.

That's a problem.

Um, but don't force her to do what it is that you want.

Just be you do you and let her see the change in you.

And I did that.

And then now here we are and we got married and you know, everything's

just been blossoming from there.

So it's, that's definitely the story for me, but, um, never did I think that it

was going to happen that way.

So now I feel like a purpose to, uh, reach out to people in that space, in

that gaming community and maybe be that light where there's so much darkness.

Yeah.

Are you going to keep that specific Xbox like forever?

Like even if you

Oh, I have it.

I have it.

It's there.

Oh, trust me.

I, I have it.

And, and, and so, so did that.

That day is just like so ingrained in my mind.

Um, that even just speaking to you guys right now, like I'm getting hot, like I

just reliving it, you know, to realize that it's just like, it's just crazy the

way the world, the way things just happen and just the journey that you're able to

go on and just a blink of an eye.

So yeah.

Well, and it, it, to me, what it also just shows is, is the power of connection.

It's the power of what live streaming can do.

Right.

I mean, these are people in different places.

It's not like he was down the street from you or had to go to a meeting.

And so if you've got an open mind and are willing to learn, you know, I think

that as saying, and, you know, and love what you're starting to do now, right.

You're teaching others, you're helping as Chris and I like to say, helping them

solve the problems, making them understand there's more to, you know, life

maybe than just playing a game.

Right.

And that there's opportunities where you can actually make positive

changes in, in people's lives.

Yeah.

I agree with a hundred percent.

It's an incredible story.

And, um, you know, and, you know, thank you for, uh, for sharing that.

And I think, you know, and we talked a little bit about this as well, like

typically our audience, the people that, that, that tune into our show, that

listen to the podcast, the people that we talk to their entrepreneurs, podcasters,

live streamers, um, and they're, they have a certain, not stereotype, but

maybe misconception about the gaming community and they, you know, whether

they think it's just for kids or they don't understand Twitch or maybe

they're just not interested in it.

They're not passionate in playing PS five, uh, you know, or, or doing, you

know, playing video games or, or whatever.

Like that was something where, you know, they put quarters in, in the arcade

in 1984 or whatever.

And so they, they don't either, they don't understand it and don't have a passion

for it or they think it's not for them.

And so they don't, they don't lean into the fact that there are a ton of really

great content entrepreneurs like yourself that sits in the middle of this Venn

diagram of the gaming community and the entrepreneur podcast community there.

You sit in the middle of this.

And, um, so one of, I'll share this with you.

One of my biggest clients that I have, he's a, uh, he's a keynote speaker

and he's a, he's a six figure, um, keynote speaker.

He goes to Abu Dhabi.

He goes all over the world and he speaks in front of thousands and

tens of thousands of, of, of people.

And he's not a very religious man.

Let's say he's not typically a man of faith, but he tells me that he,

not only every Sunday, but weekly, he studies pastors and preachers because

he learns so much from them and he will, he'll call me cause he, cause he knows,

you know, kind of what, what, where I stand.

And so he's like, Hey, you know, I, I, I watched this video from Andy Stanley,

you know, or watch this video from Craig Rochelle.

You see how he leans into this and you see how he says this.

And I think there's so much that we can learn from other industries, from other

people that are doing this, right?

That are, that are like, I look at your background, I look at your setup, I look

at the road mic that you've got and I, and, and then I start watching your videos.

And it doesn't matter if you're talking about how to set up your account on kick

or, you know, how to, how to set up your microphone.

I'm like, how do I do that?

How does he do this?

How does he do that?

And so if you're speaking to our audience, how do you, where do they start in,

in sort of getting and garnering influence from this community that you're,

you're kind of sitting in the center of?

Yeah.

Um, that's a great question.

And, um, I love the idea of just, you know, studying outside of your space.

Um, because I feel like we need to be a student for life, right?

Um, there's not a moment where you become a master.

Um, there's always something that you can improve on someone that you can

learn from, um, and that kind of brings me to the idea there where it's like,

we got to take the idea of that.

I'm a gamer.

I'm a business person, right?

And, and just take that out of the equation for a moment and look at, look

at every opportunity as live streaming, as we both share the same goal, whether

you're a business, whether you're gaming, we all want to build connections,

relationships and build a community.

Right.

Um, and one of the biggest things that gamers do so well is that they do foster

massive communities, right?

They do know how to be transparent, how to be vulnerable.

How to be able to connect and relate.

And I think that when you look at it that way, our goal is just to seek attention.

Right.

And the way you seek attention is to be where those people are.

Um, so that's why I'm always a big component of not like, not using a

platform just because it doesn't make sense, right?

Because everyone has different kinds of interests and there's where I may enjoy

gaming, I may enjoy sports, I may enjoy politics, um, but we'll never get to know

what somebody truly is interested in if we don't have that conversation.

Um, and if you're not on that platform, you're not going to be able to ever

meet those kinds of people.

So, um, I'm constantly always learning from other people, right?

And I look at how are you producing your show?

What are you doing?

Because at the end of the day, even if it's not being done in the gaming space,

it can be something that could be introduced and I'm could be innovating

in a space where that is so used to being inside of a same box and vice versa.

Right.

People who are doing podcasts, people who are doing live stream, you can be caught

up in this box of doing the same thing that everybody else is doing because

you're not willing to look outside of that space because you feel that, oh,

it's gaming, I'm not a gamer, but let's look at some of the things that

they do to build engagement.

How are they getting the chat moving?

Right.

How are they getting people talking?

How do they get people to like, when they go offline to just seek them on social

media and want to comment and follow them everywhere, right?

It's this tribe that they build, right?

They have these creeds.

They have these creation stories that, you know, a lot of times when we're

doing business, we tend to not show that side of us because we feel we

need to be so polished, right?

And that's the difference that I feel that can be the gap.

I want gamers to understand how to turn gaming into a business.

And I want business people to understand how it is okay to be human, right?

And be yourself.

Um, and I feel like if, if somebody's trying to get into this space and try

to learn, um, I think the biggest thing is like, gamers are just themselves.

And if, and if podcasts and business people can just be more transparent

and be themselves and be that person where it's like, Hey, when you go to work,

you're this person, but when you're with your friends, you're this person.

Cool.

You can control how you respond and how you engage with those kinds of people,

but people need to know your failures, your flaws, the things that you're

struggling with, your challenges.

And gamers do that very well because they're just being them.

Um, so I, I hope that answers the question, but I just think that there's

the, the gap of just humanizing connections and focusing more on

relationships as far as rather than just thinking about this platform is not for me.

I think what I really love that you hit on there is the fact that, you know, and

you, and you think about it when you're playing a video game, it's kind of like

you're you've let yourself go, you are yourself.

And so it's kind of hard for you to act one way and jump on a video game.

And then it's like, okay, now I'm no, I mean, now maybe you get into character

or something, if you're playing a certain game, but if, especially if you're like

really focused and intent, right.

It's like, why not be that way on other things?

And I also love how you bring up, because you hear this so much when people talk

about, as an example, like these zooms, like, how do we get more engagement on

live streams?

Well, go look at what gamers are doing to get engagement, right?

I think that is a great, great idea.

Cause yeah, there's, there's always new things coming out, right?

There's, uh, you know, these different things you can do to get people to

vote while they're, you know, engaging, but what else can you do to make it

more interactive?

And I think, you know, you kind of hit on it earlier, I think before the show,

you know, talking about what AI is doing, right?

AI is creating all these new things and even things like the, the Oculus and,

you know, we're all very intrigued and excited to see what Apple's going to do

with the, um, the, the, the, was it the, the Vision Pro and how that's going to

kind of like change things.

Because it reminds me of some of those movies we see, right?

Like you're going to have all these screens moving all over.

I'm excited about it, but like Chris said, hopefully somebody will gift us one.

Yeah.

Put it out there.

So, so what are, um, in speaking about this, what are some of like the

effective sort of strategies for someone that you see like from a, you know, a

lot of gamers are doing some creative and innovative things.

What are some things that, you know, maybe some podcasters and live streamers,

and, you know, like a lot of, a lot of podcasters, they, they were, they've

been podcasting when, when the only thing you could do with a podcast was create

an audio version that was on an iPod, right?

So they were really reticent to start doing video, right?

So what are some of the, the innovative things that maybe the gaming community

are doing that, you know, we might want to be thinking about, you know, dipping

our toes in?

Yeah, that's a, that's a great question.

Um, this is what I believe, and this is just from my findings and kind of just

spending time in both spaces is that as a podcaster and as a business, um, there's

what I call three buckets, right?

Um, that you can play in and, you know, as a podcaster, as a business person,

most of the time, most people, I'm not going to say everyone, but most people

play in one bucket and that's the sales bucket, right?

Every type of engagement, every type of live stream is driven and focused around

a single goal of generating sales.

There's nothing wrong with that.

Right.

And the difference between gamers is that they play in the other two buckets and

they actually miss out on the sales bucket.

They don't play in the sales bucket.

Um, so the other two buckets is the discovery bucket and a, and a

community bucket, right?

So they focus on creating a community and creating content that's focused on

being found, right?

With the only goal is to expose themselves to a new audience and just to

put their best foot forward as like, Hey, this is just a first introduction.

I just want to get found.

Right.

And then the other second bucket that they play in is community, right?

Where these are pieces of content that they're not more or less

focused on getting views, but the people that they've already pulled in from the

discoverable content, they're using that to go deeper.

This is where they become vulnerable.

This is where they share stories.

This is where they go deeper.

Um, and, and where they miss them, the mark is to take that person that's now

invested, has that no like, and trust factor and taking them over to kind

of like that sales, right?

What can you offer them?

How can you take them further?

Right.

Whether that be subscribing to you for a membership, buying your merch.

Um, and I think again, the flip is, is, um, flip on the podcast side where it's

like, we're so business and sales driven, um, that we forget to say like, Hey, I'm

okay with making this piece of content.

That's not going to give a scene by a lot of people, but it's going to get people

to understand me more as a human and know who I am, right?

So making those kinds of videos where it's like, I don't need to be in my studio.

I can grab my phone and be very authentic and be very transparent and just share

like what it is that I'm doing.

Um, because one of the things that gamer gamers do is that they include their

audience in the things that they're building, right?

What do you guys want to see this show?

Uh, what do you guys, what do you guys think about this?

What do you guys think that we should do about this?

And I think that the, as businesses, we sometimes forget that the audience

is what drives us, right?

There, we need them more than they need us.

Um, and when we realize that we'll start asking for their input and because when

the audience feels inclusive and they feel like they're a part of your journey,

now only do you get more referral and them talking about you to other people,

which is great for business, right?

But you start building this relationship with them that they'll come to you, right?

I think there's a great book by Pat Flynn, right?

Super fans, right?

You don't need a thousand people.

So if you put that into perspective and you're like, I don't need a thousand

people, then you would slow down.

And instead of doing five sales videos every week, you would do four a month and

you would focus more on discovery and community because that's going to ultimately

naturally drive more sales.

So, um, I know I went into like a deep end there, but it's like, I think that's

the missing pieces.

And I think that's where I'm trying to bring the gap gamers.

Let's find something for you to make money on so we can make this sustainable.

And then business and podcasts, let's, let's slow down the sales and focus more

on relationship building that way you can make more sales.

This is that's the, it's like the perfect answer.

And, uh, Nancy, uh, thank you.

You've, uh, you've unbroken the chat, uh, for, you know, it's like, uh, finally

we were, uh, it looks like, uh, ECAM is, is cooperating with us.

So Nancy, uh, we love this guy too.

Um, you know, can't help it get fired up, um, for sure about this, but yeah, it's,

it's crazy.

It's like, you're so right is that there's so many people that are so

buttoned up business wise that they want to get you in the funnel so bad.

And I think a lot of people can smell it.

And, um, then there are so many people that are not even worried about the funnel.

They're not even worried about that.

And it's like, Hey, tap, tap, tap.

There's some, there's some money hiding under your bed here.

Let's, let's, let's pull it out.

You know?

You've, um, and so it's, it's really great that you've got this, uh, almost

10,000 foot view of both of those.

Uh, and so you can be able to kind of say, Hey, you're not doing enough of this.

Um, so that, and that's why companies like FID IQ is, are hiring you for a

streaming coach.

It's amazing.

Exciting.

And it really too, Chris, this even reminds me of the conversation we had

with Tim Hughes, right?

This is more about social selling.

You're not trying to sell people.

You're, you're getting to know, like, and trust them and vice versa.

And then they want to do business with you.

And I think it's, it's interesting.

The comment you made earlier, and I don't want to maybe dive a little bit more into

this is you talk about how these businesses and Chris sees it a lot.

It's like, how do I get a sponsor and how do I get more downloads for my podcast?

It's like, well, how about putting something out there first that people like?

And I guess maybe on the flip side, the gamers are like, Hey, I just want to play

my game. And what do you mean?

Right.

I can make money off of this.

Right.

So how are you, how do you see, what's kind of your thoughts on how you're going to

drive maybe those, those gamers to think a little bit more business like?

Yeah.

It's definitely been the biggest challenge that I've kind of encountered.

Something because like the business and marketing side is something that comes

natural to me.

So it's almost like it's common knowledge, but it's, it's very difficult to

transition somebody's mind.

Especially I remember back for me back in 2014, when, you know, like even though my

dad grew up as like an entrepreneur, you know, building for himself, you know,

since I was a little kid, just, you know, doing all kinds of odd jobs, you know, I

still got caught up in to, you know, working a job and understanding like that's how

you produce and make a living.

Right.

Like if you were to make money on the side or something, it was just always going to

be a side hustle.

Right.

It wasn't something that you would be like, this is how I make my living.

It's not at a job.

And it's not, that's not the mindset.

So, you know, for me, gamers are in that realm, right.

Where it's like growing up your parents, you know, especially for the audience

that I'm serving, which is like a lot of it, which is crazy to think, but it's

about 20, 24 to 35 year olds.

Right.

So like kind of in my range.

So they grew up on parents telling them that, you know, gaming is, is, is a game.

Right.

Like you need to get off that game.

You need to go do something with your life.

Like you can't let that consume you.

Right.

Go get a job.

So I believe that that's like a trauma that gamers have, where they either believe

that it's not possible or they don't believe in themselves enough to think

that they can do it.

So that's been the challenge to get them to change, to change their mindset on that.

I feel that that, that conversation for me, it's very few that I have just based

on a certain percentage of people that actually are like already thinking that.

Um, for me, the stage that I'm at right now with gamers is first to get them to

believe that like what they're doing, there's a community around the thing that

they love, right?

So first my mission right now is to convince them that what they're passionate

about is worth the chasing and that there are other people that have the same

passion and that will support their mission and help them grow and reach that.

Right.

So I'm in the belief stage of them right now, right?

Mindset adoption of what's possible before I could even have that conversation

of like marketing and business.

So, um, I do believe that they are, uh, certain gaming content creators that are

out there now that have been doing it for a while, that are full time, um, but are

leaving money on the table, um, that I feel those would be, uh, creators that

would be better to have a conversation with about like, okay, hey, look, you're

generating money, you have brands supporting you, um, you know, you think,

but let's think about other things you can do to be able to leverage because I

feel that the best person to be able to educate and train and help people are

the people that are doing it day in and day out and they have had success in the

past.

Right.

Um, so I want to get gaming content creators, um, to understand, like if you're

having success, like, I want you to share that story.

I want you to share because the more that people can hear like, Oh, it's not

the top 1% that are making it.

There's a bottom pool of people that are making it that are not being heard

because they have no visibility or, you know, I mean, how many people in the NBA,

um, are you don't even know some of the players, but they made it to the NBA, the

top of the top of the top, right?

But you don't even know their name.

I know when I watched them, I'm like, who is that?

Uh, okay.

So, but you don't know their story.

Um, and I believe stories share such a powerful impact on people that if you

were able to hear how somebody came through their like struggles, their

discipline, the sacrifices, the thing they had to do.

Um, how did you make it here?

How did you foster this community?

Um, I think once more, those stories are being shared, the belief will get stronger

and there'll be more of a curiosity factor of like, Hey, there's a possibility.

So for me, as I'm educating the gamers on developing their mindset on the back end,

I'm building the things that later they're going to need.

So I'm trying to be ahead of the curve, um, by knowing that what I'm building

now may not reach the amount of people that I want, but I do want this customer

journey of like, once they're ready, it's there.

Um, but, um, I know the question I went to deep and I always do that all the time,

but it's like, so, so that's kind of like, that's the, the, the big, the biggest

thing for me of like, that's where I'm trying to get them to be, um, and to

understand that.

And I believe that when like, you're talking about like even podcasters that

want to like get sponsorship and get brand deals, like one thing that's true

to me, and I can't remember who said it, um, but it was like, you need to become

the honey, not the bees, right?

Become the honey that the brands and companies want to come and be attracted

to because of what you're building.

Um, and I believe that that's like the biggest thing gamers build the audience,

but they have, they don't know what to do with the audience.

Um, so they have the attention, they have the eyes and brands want that attention,

but you know, in experience, they don't know how to, they don't know how to, they

don't know how to, how to position themselves, how to attract those, how to

have those conversations.

So then they become unmarketable in the eyes of a company because they're like,

I don't really like the way you're presenting it.

I don't like things you like, you know, it's, there's no structure.

So, um, I feel that there's so much that can be learned from both sides, where

it's like, if we as business people and brands stop focusing so much on like,

how much numbers we get, how much sales we get this week, like it's important.

We want the business to thrive.

We want to be able to pay payroll.

We want to be able to do so much stuff.

But if we were to dedicate more time onto fostering relationships and creating

content that's just more about how can I add more value to somebody's life?

How can I position what I do here in my company as a solution to the problem that

they have, right?

As opposed to me selling them, let me get them to think that, Hey, my

product is the solution.

I don't have to sell you, right?

Because I understand you so much deeply as a human beyond just demographics,

because I think that's where everybody likes to be demographics is going to

psychographics, right?

What does this person like to do offline?

What does this person interested in?

What are the hobbies?

And the more you get to learn that audience and that's kind of where I'm at

in my space, right?

I'm just so deeply invested into learning so much about who it is that I'm trying

to serve so that I can better position the things that I say, the things that I

do and the things that I sell in a better picture frame that it resonates with them.

And they come to the aha moment.

Like, Oh wow, this is for me.

Like this guy understands me.

Yes, because I'm, I'm, I'm trying to understand you.

Um, and I think that the minute that a creator, regardless of you in the gaming

or a podcaster, you take yourself out of the equation, it's not about you.

The minute you can get out of that, that, that scenario of like thinking like,

Oh, it's about me.

And you start putting all your energy on the other person on the other side.

One person, not many, one person who's that one individual that I'm trying to

solve that my business would do the best for what game am I trying to create?

What kind of content am I trying to create is going to serve and make that

person either be inspired, entertained or educated in what I'm doing.

So I just think that at the end of the day, it all comes down to relationships.

And the moment we focus on other people, um, I think Jim Rohn said it the best,

right?

The, the, the, the more you help others, the more you get back in return.

Right.

Um, and we just got to serve.

And I don't think, I don't think we do enough of that.

We just think about our bank accounts, how many followers, how many subscribers

I'm going to get, um, and I was like that in the beginning, I'm not going to lie.

Um, that's probably something that I was super attached to numbers.

Um, now I look at the data to understand if what I'm creating is resonating so I

can better improve and make better decisions.

But ultimately the moment I stopped worrying about like, Oh, if I upload this

video, it's not getting that many views.

Um, I started being more free in my content and I started feeling being more

personal, more authentic, more transparent.

Um, and there was a deeper connection when I stopped and slowed down.

It's like, man, I'm creating three videos a week, but the minute I create a video,

I just move on to the next.

I'm never going back and looking at those comments and engaging with people.

Like people are taking their time to write something that, that was

impacting them through the content.

So take that conversation deeper.

And I think we always keep a surface level.

I've now started like DMing people when they message me, now I've

responded back to the comment, but I take it to the DM.

Hey man, where are you adding your journey?

How can I help you?

Because I'm now so invested in trying to learn who that person is so that way I

can better serve them because I don't want to serve everyone, I just want to

serve the right one.

Um, so it's just like, it's, it's a journey and it's a challenge.

And I don't say I got it all figured out, but, um, I think that's where our

focus needs to be because we're so focused on like these virtual connections

that it's like, we still need to be personable.

You know, and it doesn't matter if you're a gamer, it doesn't, or an author or a

keynote speaker or a podcast or a live streamer, if you're listening, if you're

watching, those are key elements to anything is listening to the people that

you're serving, you know, speak and then shut up and listen, right?

Cause I mean, you, I mean, I can't, you know, you must have taken hours and hours

and hours to listen to your unit.

You have a, you have a keen, um, idea, um, down radar of the person that you're

speaking to, like, and I think that is, that is so lost now in, in so many

industries is they just, they're firing up the mic and they forget about who

they're serving.

They forget about the content.

They forget about the medicine that they can deliver to someone to make them

better.

And you have this keen idea.

And again, I mean, I keep saying it.

It's like, ladies and gentlemen, we can learn from anyone in any industry.

And we're dropping, you know, people's names like Jim Rohn and Pat Flynn and,

you know, all of these others.

Not one gamer has been mentioned other than, other than the last Curry.

And, uh, so, uh, we've got some other comments here, Cyrus Webb, thank you

again for, uh, for joining the show.

Um, great tips become the honey, not the bees.

Yeah.

I wonder who I, I, I've heard that before too.

I'm trying to remember who said that.

To me, it seems like it's less Brown, but I'm not, I'm not a hundred percent.

I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I do believe that, um, those are people I

listen to a lot, so it just gets caught up in the, caught up in the winds.

Nancy Fenner.

Yes.

Uh, very, very inspirational.

I'm just, uh, I'm getting fired up and I'm so glad that you're, uh, that you're

here with us.

So I, I wanted to take this in another direction and, um, because you're so

focused on who you're serving right now.

What are your opinions on the future?

We mentioned AI, right?

And, uh, our friend, uh, Jeff C who's going to be on, uh, next week on, on, uh,

on deal casters, when you bring up AI for him, um, as it relates to, um,

live streaming and what we do, of course there are AI things.

There's deep fakes and all kinds of things.

Look, I can actually go live and not be there, but I think there are things like

Nancy's in the house, Cyrus webs in the house, James Hicks, like we have inside

jokes with, with, with some of these people.

I know Cyrus is another Amazon, uh, influencer.

He has, you know, he's, he has other people that he interviews that are

book authors and like, this is, this is a community that you can build.

And I don't think yet, unless, unless last year you're aware that there's

any artificial community intelligence, uh, being, being built for, for live

streaming, but what in your opinion is, is the future, where's this going?

Yeah, sure.

I think that's a, that's a great question.

And, um, and one that I think about, uh, pretty frequently, um, and something

I can share here is just like, you know, there is positive, positive things with

AI, um, and I believe that anything that's going to allow you to be more

efficient, uh, to be able to allow you to get your message out faster, um,

is, is a positive thing, right?

I think that every tool and technology that allows us to do that, um, is great.

The one thing that, that I'm against is when you use leverage those tools and

you remove, uh, the human connection from it, that's, that's where I believe

it's, it's the biggest driving factor.

Um, where it's like, yes, I can use this too.

And I spend every day, five to 10 minutes trying to learn AI.

Why?

Because we still have to adapt.

We have to understand where these tools are going, um, and how to be able to

leverage them, but again, for me at the core is always going to be the human.

Right?

How can I use this tool to better understand?

So like the way I leverage AI, um, and there's an AI that I, that I utilize

pretty frequently is called Harpa.

Uh, that AI, um, is to understand more about my audience, right?

Because I don't want to skim through a thousands of comments, but that tool

allows me to pull up a video, scan the comments and tell me who's the

audience in this video, right?

So when you can leverage AI for research, it's beautiful.

Um, so like that's how I'm leveraging it.

Right.

And that's how I'll continue to leverage until things change.

Um, but I am a super believer in AI because it's, it makes you more efficient.

It makes you be a one person creator, which I've been for a long time.

I think I now have a small team, but, um, it allows me to do tasks that before

would take me hours and hours and hours.

And it speeds up my process of collecting data to come to a kind of conclusion.

Um, of understanding like, oh, wow, like this kind of video, this P these are

the people that are watching this, right?

They're, they're this kind of people there.

They enjoy these kinds of things.

These are the common words that are being said by hundreds of comments, right?

This is the same question as being asked by hundreds of comments.

Cool.

So now I know that I can leverage that conversation because it's something

that resonates with so many people that now when I speak it, what happens?

They know, like, and trust me.

Why?

Because I'm listening and I'm addressing their problems.

So, so for me, like I said, um, I'm still new into the whole AI space, but I do

dedicate five to 10 minutes every day to learn it.

Um, I believe it is positive, but the minute you use it to kind of eliminate,

like having the AI work for you to sell your product or do the things that require

like that personal heart emotion, even though AI can do empathy, tell me in a

story and it can do so many things.

Um, it doesn't, it doesn't be this here when you can see my expression,

when you can see my eyes, you can see me raise my voice and lower my voice and

lean into you and talk to you and lean back.

Um, so, so for me, that's where I stand with AI.

Um, I use it to understand better who it is I'm trying to serve and what I'm

trying to create, um, but then I try to just still be the person that's like the

liaison that's in front of it.

Um, still doing the hand to hand combat.

Love it.

Love it.

And I think that's so important, right?

Because I feel like sometimes, and I think that even when we see these people,

whether on the podcast side, whether on the gaming side, they're looking for the

easy button.

So now everybody's like, Oh, I got this AI thing and I just work for five minutes

and you know, money's going to be falling from the sky, dollar bills everywhere.

And that's not the case, right?

We've got to actually do the work, right?

It, I love how you said earlier in the show, right?

We have to be constantly learning, right?

Chris and I don't stop learning.

We're not like, we've arrived.

We can stop learning.

It's like, what else is new?

Right?

We were talking before the show, Oh, there's stuff you can use on a PC.

There's stuff you can use on a Mac and, and you may not be strong in one of those

areas.

Like, so how do I get better so I can help others?

I agree 100%.

We all have our own walks of life and our own experiences that we kind of go through.

Um, and I don't, I don't believe in the gym, no Chris nor I, uh, have walked the

same path.

So, um, you know, I've seen a different tree than you have Jim and so have you

Chris, right?

So at the end of the day, um, it's those stories and those experiences that it

may not be a tech education, but a life education is just as strong.

I mean, like books are the best teacher, right?

I think I have, I have these two books here, um, which is one is a story worthy

and the other one is, uh, the, the coaching habit, right?

Um, less ask more and change and change the way you lead forever.

Right?

So I think that we can learn so much from people in the past.

Um, and I believe that we're so focused on the future that we forget, like the

experiences that are left behind, um, and what we can learn so much from, because

the way we respond as humans is still the same.

Um, and what we, what we kind of relate to is still the same.

So we'd like to be heard, right?

People like the way we speak and the things that we inspired, we, we're all

chasing growth.

Um, and I believe that, you know, there's so much to learn.

Like, like I said, so I'm a hundred percent glad that you guys are on the same

page of this, like forever being a student to the game and understanding that it's

just, it's a lifelong journey.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I'm a big believer and I know Chris has heard me say this before that

once we stopped learning, we start to die.

And that's why for me, I'm almost afraid to retire.

Cause like, then what am I going to do?

Right.

Unless I'm going to go learn something else, like, you know, how to, uh, mow

my yard or something like that.

But, um, so you, so, you know, we should add this to the carousel, but you

mentioned story worthy.

What, what was the other book?

Uh, the other book is called the coaching habit.

The coaching.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I'm going to, I'm going to work on that while Chris, uh, talks to you some more here.

So, um, one of the things that whenever I'm working with podcasters and

live streamers, we talk about niche.

We talk about niching down.

We talk about how important it is to not try to be everything to everyone.

Um, but to really in, you talked about the super fan concept with, uh, with

Pat Flynn and everything when you're working with, uh, with, with your community.

Um, how important is it to, to be niche?

It's extremely important.

Um, and especially in the early stages, right.

Um, because I believe that over time you do have the opportunity to be able

to expand and broaden.

Um, and I believe that most people, especially gamers or even business people

do it vice versa, they try to go broad.

And as they go broad, they try to shrink it up.

Um, and it should be the other way around, right?

How can I find the small pool of people that are interested in what I'm interested

in and then from those small pool of people, whether it be two, three, four,

five, I say this all the time to gamers, like don't discredit the two viewers

that you have on your stream, right?

Get to understand why are these two people showing up every time you go live?

Why are, why are these two people, the ones that are liking your Instagram,

liking your Twitter, like ask them those questions.

And I, and I believe that we discredit that because it's not an in-person,

and I use this analogy every time.

Like if I put 20 people in here, I'm, I'm it's, it's, we're going to be tight.

Um, and I think we forget that like 20 people, you know, um, and I believe

it was Doc Rock and I can't, I can't remember exactly how he, how he positioned

it, um, but it was just like the level of people that you have, like if you have

20 people, that's like a small cafe and it just increases from there.

So it's, it's just like, once you understand that, like starting small

and figuring out what is that problem that that person's having, it naturally

allows you to expand, right?

Um, so I always, I always say when I'm talking to gamers, it's like, let's,

let's first uncover these things, right?

The first thing that I said before you can know what you do, you need

to know why you do it, right?

Um, so, and, and you, in order for you to know why you do it, you need to know

who that person is that you're doing it for.

Um, so that's where like the first kind of conversation, whenever I do a coaching

call, that's like the, the first thing that I asked is like, Oh, you know, I

love, I love, I love to game.

I'll just say why.

Right.

And I, and I dive deep on that.

Why?

Right.

Because the minute you start uncovering, it goes from just like a gaming, uh,

because I just enjoy it.

It's like, no, I like, I want to turn it into something because I want to support

my family and have control over my life.

Okay.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Right.

So, so how can we, how can we leverage that?

So sometimes, and I think you think about this, right?

Companies use a MVP product, right?

Small test pool, right?

Beta groups.

Why?

Why, why do companies do beta groups, right?

And do a small group before they launch it out to bigger people?

Because they need to understand the flaws.

They need to understand the struggles, the pain points, what's happening here.

Because if 10 people are having the struggle, then a hundred people

will have those same struggles.

Um, so, so that's where I always say like start small and then branch out.

Right.

Like, especially when you're talking about like YouTube, let's take, for example,

like I think media, right?

Maybe people don't know there, but you know, initially they started with a small

group of people, right?

Doing tech review and just for a certain type of creator.

And then it expanded to where now they're in this huge ecosystem where it's like,

they're no longer serving a real estate agent.

They're no longer serving, you know, a pool, a pool company.

Like now they're just a whole ecosystem.

So it now opens up the field for somebody to come in and say, well, think media is

not going to serve real estates there.

They may serve it abroad, but I can come in here now and serve that real estate

market and serve that void where it's like, I'm no longer, I'm not competing

with Think Media, but I'm actually a companion to them because I'm able to

serve a certain pool of people that they can't serve.

So I always believe small and, and, and small is like, for me, it's like one

person dialed into that one person.

And once you find that one person, you literally can duplicate them over and

over again, until you build a massive audience and then you can branch out and

build other products and serve other communities and serve other industries.

But for me, niche is always going to be down up as opposed to big and then go small.

Yeah, a hundred percent.

And it's, it's a good thing that you ha you don't have that many viewers or

subscribers when you first start, because you're going to, you're going to screw up.

You know, you it's like,

Jim and I will go back to our first time we did a show and it's, man, it's cringy.

You know, it's bad, man.

And it was like the first time we did a podcast and how many times you said,

uh, you know, whatever.

And so we do that because it's like, okay, look where we're at now.

Okay.

And, and how we grew and back then there wasn't, there wasn't that

many people watching or listening.

They may go back to that.

That's okay.

You know, we're not going to, we're not going to take that stuff down, but

it's good that you start small because you need to get the reps in, right?

You got to, you got to get used to doing what you're doing.

You can't just show up with, uh, with the road pod mic and, uh, the,

the amazing background and, uh, go the TS four hub that you just brought on

Amazon, all the stuff we have loaded in the carousel and you notice Amazon.

I mentioned that.

Um, but you, you know, you don't, you don't wake up like that.

You got, you have to, you have to get in and go and put in a rep and, you know,

you don't go to the gym and come back shredded, you know, you got to, you got

to, you know, got to be consistent and do that.

So it's actually a good thing that when you start out, you know, if we started

out and all of a sudden we had, you know, we woke up and we had 5,000 subscribers

on our YouTube channel, we wouldn't be ready.

Right.

Amen.

Right.

And it wasn't meant to be, you know, so let's just, let's just roll with what we

got, man, I love this.

Yeah.

And it's the thing is like in the beginning you're doing, you're focusing on

quantity because you're learning just like you said, right.

And then as you progress where you guys are now it's quality because you

focus on growth.

Um, so, and you know, there's always a conversation of like, you can, you can

do both, but in the beginning it's super encouraged to do quantity.

Um, so that way you could, like you said, just get those road, those bumps out the

way, I think the other day I was spending time just, uh, again, just looking through

all the videos that I've created on my channel and really trying to understand

like, where are people dropping off?

Where do I lose people's interest?

What are the things that I can do?

And I, and it had to go through those moments where it's like, this is like a

video three years ago, it's very like, I can't watch it, um, but I need to, but I

need to like look at it.

Um, but it's, it's a great, at the same time you feel embarrassed from looking

at it, but it also kind of makes you feel to where it's like, wow, like when I was

in that stage, I didn't believe that I can get where I am now, right.

I didn't have the confidence that I have now.

So you can also leverage that.

And a lot of times I use it as a tool.

Like when somebody joins my email list, like the first email that I give them, it's

like, go and check out the first video that I made as embarrassing as it is.

Go look at this first video that I made where I didn't know anything.

I just decided to turn the camera on.

Like I'm, I'm so blown out.

Like there's this, um, just like so much brightness, the lights have a big window.

Like it's, it's crazy.

Um, but if I didn't start that and I didn't press record and I didn't feel confident

to say like, I got something to share.

I wouldn't be here with you guys here today.

And I believe that a lot of people don't start because they have either

imposter syndrome or they feel that they're not perfect enough.

When at the end of the day, it's like, if you've got a message to share, share

it as you, as you share it, you'll develop it and people will start to gravitate

towards it and then you'll start to see that like your shakes of being on camera

and feeling comfortable, um, will start to dissipate because like it just becomes

natural.

Um, so yeah, I am a hundred percent in agreement with you of just like, you

just got to start.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This, I mean, this has been amazing.

I mean, just, and I love how you, you talk about that too, cause like when I've

done digital marketing, you know, classes for small businesses, right?

You, you kind of ask that question.

Who's your, who's your target audience and say everybody?

Well, if it's everybody, it's right.

Right.

It's gotta be somebody specific in mind.

And you say, well now wait a minute, you know, it's like, is, is a guy going

to buy the product you're selling?

No.

Okay.

Well now we've eliminated guys and you start getting into, you know, is it, okay,

it's women.

Well, what age are they?

Oh, so let's focus on that.

Right.

And, and not try to like, Oh, I've got to get all these followers and subscribers

and you know, the vanity metrics.

Yeah.

Pat, Pat Flynn is amazing.

Are you know, super fans and just that whole mindset applies everywhere, right?

Applies to gaming.

It applies to business.

And I think, uh, I think the biggest thing and Chris and I both run into this

and I would like to hear if you've seen this as well is, well, one of these people

like, well, I post this stuff on LinkedIn, but nobody ever engages with me.

And then we asked the question, do you engage on other people's content?

Well, I don't have time for that.

Yeah.

Well, then why should they have time for you?

I mean, have you seen that as well with like, whether it's working with gamers

or, you know, they're just like, I don't got time to talk to these people or.

It's probably very like, you see it a lot.

Um, and that's where it's like, the biggest focus for me is that mindset shift

where it's like, it's just all about them.

And I think that's the, that's the thing where it's like, they'll, they'll post on

Twitter, they'll, they'll post on Instagram.

It's just like, follow me, come check out my stream.

I'll look here or they'll like pop into somebody's stream just to get them to

follow back.

Um, so, and that's the disconnect where it's like, um, a long time ago, I think

Gary V dropped the video maybe several years ago, like 2015 or 16 called the

dollar 80 strategy.

And, um, to this day, I, I leverage that, um, you know, because what it is, is that

is you spend, you know, one, you spend, you get, uh, you get 18.

It was like, initially it was like for Instagram, you would get 18 hashtags.

Uh, you would go ahead and spend one minute and you would click on each

hashtag, find, find three people that kind of are in the same space as you

or resonate with you and you would leave a genuine comment and you would do that

on three of their posts.

And if you do that every single day and you did that, you would naturally just

build people curious to be able to check you out and want to go from there.

Um, so I do that now.

Um, and I believe that that's where the disconnect is that it's like, okay, how

can I, like you said, how can I expect people to want to exchange their time,

something that they didn't ever get back to engage in my, in my, in my common

content.

But other than that, I won't spend time doing, doing that for others.

Um, so, and that's where relationships comes into hand.

And I think that when you give without having expectations, um, which is very

rare in the gaming space, there's always something that you're giving, hoping to

receive, whether it be a like a subscribe or retweet, uh, you know, a shout out.

There's a lot of that.

Um, and I think we're just now in the gaming space getting past the

follow for follow or shout out for shout out.

You still see it around, but, um, it's just, it's just a, uh, there's just a

huge disconnect.

Um, and I believe that there's not enough education around, like the key is to

build relationships, get to know other people, build connections, get collaborate

with other people.

And I believe that a lot of gamers, they try to go at it alone.

And this was me as well.

Um, until I felt like I was like, you know what I need?

I can't go out this journey alone.

Like I need to either mastermind with people.

I need to talk to certain people.

I need to get connected with, I need to look around because I know that there's

certain things that it's like, if I'm constantly just doing this on my own, I'm

not going to grow because I'm going to constantly look at things from my lens,

as opposed to getting outside experience that, that, that we need.

But yeah, especially for the gamers, it's something you see every day.

They just post and ask why I'm not getting engagement.

Uh, why are people not engaging?

Well, one, you're not spending time engaging other people, but you're also

not studying what the people who are getting engagement are doing.

Um, and that's something that it's, it's a balance where like, there's moments in

my day where like, I'm just browsing social media casually, right?

Um, but there's times in my day that I'm just like, I'm browsing social

media with intentionality, right?

I'm like, why, why did I, why did this thumbnail stop me?

What, why did this title capture my attention?

Right.

Oh, what did they say in the first three seconds?

Like, how did that capture my attention?

Um, why am I scrolling Instagram and like, why did I stop that?

Why did I share it?

Why did I comment?

Right.

And I look at those, those kind of like viewer signals of like, who am I?

Like, I'm probably my perfect target audience.

So how am I engaging with social media?

How am I engaging with content?

And when we can look at that and be intentional with like leveraging social

media, because it can consume you, right?

You can go through the endless scroll of social media, but when you flip your mind

and it's almost like, once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Like, it's just like, once you start analyzing content, you just start

analyzing and you start looking at it.

It's like, oh wow.

Like, that's why that made me laugh.

Um, that's why it made me emotional.

That's where it brought me to there.

So I think that sometimes we're so focused on creating new content that we

forget to analyze the tons of content that's being produced every single day

and analyzing to see like, why is that working?

Why are people responding to that?

Why, instead of saying like, oh wow, that's the most craziest video.

Why did that get a million views?

Study it.

Why, right?

Why did it get a million views?

Ask that question instead of trying to bring hate down or saying like that

person doesn't deserve it, right?

But obviously what they created resonated with a lot of people and it hit, it hit

somewhere where like they felt to share it, to comment, to like it, regardless

of how silly it was, um, and I think we discredited that, that we can leverage

other creators in our space, in other spaces and learn from their content and

their successes because they're also going to have content that flops.

Why did that flop?

Oh wow.

Like what they're doing in that video is what I do in almost all my videos.

No wonder I get no likes, no shares and no comments.

Right.

So it's like, so you gotta have that self-awareness to look at your own

content and be okay with like understanding, like, Hey, what you created

didn't hit the mark.

It's okay.

Right.

But now analyzing other people's content, you try one new thing.

Hey, instead of me doing this in the beginning of my video, I'm going to do

this, um, and may I never ask a question in my content or ask the audience to

give me their opinion, maybe I should try that and I'll get more comments.

So, um, I've just been now in this phase of like, just trying to be a better

understanding of how the, the audience reacts.

Um, and I believe that that's the key.

I haven't unlocked it.

Um, but it's definitely been something that's been true to top of my mind of

like, you know, I'm growing, but like, could I grow more if I understood who

was that's, that's watching the constant.

Could I grow more if I knew that, um, certain things that I say in my videos,

actually get people to go away.

Right.

Um, and then I can remove those things.

And then not only do I become a better communicator and a better creator of

content, but I'm also giving a better experience to the viewer on the other

end, to be able to enjoy the content better, because I'm taking the time to

realize when they're telling me.

They jumped off this video.

Uh, they didn't, they disliked it.

They didn't comment.

They watched one video and left.

They didn't watch multiple videos.

Um, so I think that we just need to be a student and study content.

Um, not just engaging with other people, but studying how they're producing

content and, and learning from the successes and the failures.

So, yeah.

I mean, it's curiosity, right?

And it's, it's at the core of, of being a lifelong learner.

And, and it's like, I think to your earlier point, how many times do you

look at something and just, and you immediately, I don't want to use the

word hate, but you immediately just kind of put shade on it and just kind of like,

why does this, you know, and you just sort of like, cause you're, you're thinking,

well, I would never do that instead of going, is there something that's being

done here, you know, and that doesn't mean like if somebody's doing some silly dance

on Tik TOK, you got to start dancing.

But is there something in the way they're editing it?

Is there something is in the sound?

Is it being delivered in a certain way that maybe you can take and add to

something that you're already doing, not changing your, you know, your, you know,

things completely, but if it's going to add to your arsenal in terms of your,

your ability to serve your, uh, your community, why not be curious about it?

And to your point, test it out.

I mean, that's the great thing is there's really no rules to this stuff, right?

And man, it's the biggest secret that I've ever learned is that, especially when

it comes to social media, nobody is watching your content specifically all the time.

So because you posted something today, doesn't mean you need to create something

new tomorrow, take what you created yesterday and post it again tomorrow.

Right.

Um, and sometimes that's, that's what it takes to get the right people to be able

to see it.

So we've built this catalog of content, um, that we're just always on this

hamster world of like, we got to create something new.

No, how can I take what I created last year?

We purpose it, bring it back to light, shape it in a different way and put it out

there.

Um, right.

And, uh, one of the biggest things that, um, that, um, that I'm seeing a trend

and a shift in YouTube is that it is swapped.

Long form content is going towards more home-based, not search-based titles and

shorts.

There's a huge opportunity for education channels where shorts are going more

search-based, right?

So using search-based titles in shorts and using more humanized titles in, in

long form.

So you start looking at those, at those, at those shifts in there where it's like,

okay, how do I get maximum visibility?

It's like, people want to learn something, but you got to think about again, viewer

signals, how are people consuming content?

When you're, you're, when you get on YouTube or any social media platform,

you're not, how often do you use the search, the search bar, unless you're

actually trying to seek an answer.

Most of the time you're scrolling and the, the, the platforms know you well enough

based on your activity and how you interact with the platform to try to feed

you something you're going to enjoy.

So when we start thinking of our content of like, okay, I'm going to make this,

this piece of content, but how can I interrupt that person on the other side

and get them interested to want to click?

Um, and just recently, I think maybe like four or five days ago, um, I came to this,

this kind of realization of like the ADA principle that's used for sales copy and

writing, right?

Attention, interest, desire, action.

Um, it's something that's, that's, that's proven to work, right?

It's a great way to be able to get people to want to take action.

So, um, for me, my new experiment is to use that principle in scripting videos,

right?

Of like, okay, how can I grab attention?

Well, that's my thumbnails and that's my titles, right?

I need to capture their attention, right?

And not just on like a how to type of thing, but like, how can I showcase in

this thumbnail and this title that they're going to be interested in, in what it is?

Like really capture attention.

I know what you want.

And then as soon as the video starts getting their interest, getting them

interested into the content, not by saying, Hey, my name is last Curry.

Welcome back.

Uh, you know, here's my bright.

No, how can I instantly get them interested and then desire to want to

watch the rest of the video?

And then once I get them to desire the video, then to get them to take action

on what it is that I want them, whether it be teaching them how to set something

up or just to take action on listening to this story.

And it's just like, so for me, that's kind of like my new experiment of, uh,

really leveraging that to really get me thinking about like, before I even

create a video, I need to think about my packaging, right?

Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how good my video is going to be.

If I can't even paint the picture and, and, and give them interested

enough to even click, right?

Um, so a lot of times, you know, and, and like I said, I'm not saying this

is something I've been doing forever.

This is something I'm just learning as I go through this journey, right?

Because I've been on the other side of it where I just create, because I'm like,

the more videos I get out, the more views I'm going to get, uh, you know, just

need to create, just create, create, create, create, create, and not thinking

about anything and not adapting to consumer behavior and how they were

interacting with the platform, right?

YouTube used to be heavy search.

People still will search, right?

Um, but you also think about the viewing behavior.

I look at myself, I get on YouTube and I just scroll and I'm like, oh, wow.

Watch that.

Watch that.

So guess what?

That's on the home feed.

That means that I'm not actually looking for that, but that person who created

that content and YouTube understands the things that I'm interested in and the

season that I'm in, right, to be able to say you're interested in that.

So now that's where my focus has shifted to really take the time to really spend

on all I want to do is to improve my ability.

And that's, that's the one thing I want to work on my videos is just

thumbnails, titles and hook.

How can I improve those even marginally?

Just, just getting people to the 32nd mark at about 70%.

How can I do that?

How can I get more people to click?

And then naturally I can then progress through the video and start improving it

to give my viewers a better, a better experience.

So, um, yeah, I just think that it's like, when we spend time focusing on like,

why does this piece of content matter to the person that I'm trying to serve?

Why would they watch it?

Um, and you have to be also look at your own content with like your own eyes and,

and, and look at it, you like, you know, your content is not always going to be

the great, the greatest, right?

I always think of us like, like me looking at my content, it's like my mom

looking at my content, right?

It's like, oh, it's great.

Awesome.

Right.

It's like, there's, there's no wrong.

You can do right, right.

It's a gold star.

And, um, and we have to look at that and say, like, let me take a step back and

look at this, would I share this?

Would I comment on it?

Would, would I go ahead and watch this all the way through?

Right.

Um, and a lot of times we don't think like that, um, but it really changes you

and how you approach content creation, how you approach, uh, like building a

community and building a business when you truly, truly try to do everything in

your power to understand that other person that's trying to watch that piece

of content and naturally, once you understand them better, your hooks

improve, your, your storytelling improves the things and they naturally just

progressed through your journey of like, man, like this person gets me.

I want to check out more of their content.

I want to subscribe.

Oh, what do they have?

What are they offering?

Oh, they do coaching.

Oh, they, oh, they have this.

So like, and I think we forget that there's, it's just like, we go

straight to selling and it's like, let's, let's first understand like, what's

the messaging that's going to work best.

Um, and I think that now, and I know I'm going crazy long with this, but, um, the

biggest thing now is like, if you make content for like Instagram or shorts or,

you know, Tik Tok and organically, it gets a lot of engagement, it's primed for ads.

Right.

Um, so it becomes a testing ground to be able to understand where it's like,

instead of you spending hundreds of dollars on running advertising on a

content that you haven't proven, if it does well organically and people are

naturally engaging with it and commenting and sharing it, just imagine what you,

what the amplification you can do to it.

Once you put it in front of an ad, you've already tested it.

It already works.

Um, so again, it, but you can't get there if you don't understand who the viewer

is and who that audience you're trying to serve, because you'll never connect

that message that's going to hit home and get them to take that next step.

So, um, it's, it's ever evolving, but I realized now that it's, it's not about me.

It's not about what I want to create.

And it's about who that person is.

Um, that was a hard pill to swallow.

Um, because, you know, I thought I knew it all.

Um, I thought, I thought I knew exactly what was needed.

Um, and what I thought they needed was completely wrong.

Um, and, and it saved me a lot of time.

I spent, I wasted a lot of time trying to create something that I thought was

needed.

Um, and then the minute that I started to listen, it just made the process a lot

easier.

There was no like pushback.

It was like, wow, I needed this.

I'm like, yeah, I've been listening.

Um, so it's just, it's just a great opportunity to just spend more time with

your audience and learn who they are.

Yeah.

And, and when you're doing this short form video, right?

These shorts that are minute or less.

And I know Chris and I, and Chris has been doing a really good job and I'm, I'm

trying to get as, as good as, as him, but I know I never will because I'm

perfectionist, but that whole point of, right?

Nobody cares who you are.

Get to the point.

If they want to know who you are, if your content captures them, they're

going to go check you out.

Then they can go find that the, like the intro video on your channel, where you

talk about who you are instead of like, feeling like, Oh, I got it.

I got to say who I am in the first 10 seconds of the 60 or 59 seconds that I

have.

Right.

And by the way, I don't get it.

And, and, and, and really the sweet spot is like 34 seconds.

Right.

So, so it's like, if, if you can, um, and, and I believe that it's like, it all

based on the type of content you're making, right?

Is this, is this piece of content you're creating meant the goal for discovery?

Is it meant for community or is it meant for sales?

And I think that once you establish the goals of that piece of content, it makes

it easy to understand like the, like how you approach it and how you do it.

If it's a discoverable piece of content, you really, it's for people who don't

know you, so you really want to make a good impression.

So you really want to make sure like it's highly edited.

It does right into the content.

But when you go to something more of a community piece, you can be a little bit

more laid back because these are transparent moments.

This is where you're trying.

These people know you and now they just want to get to know you deeper.

And then same thing for sales, right?

It there.

So I think there's different levels of pieces of content and each piece of

content needs to have a goal.

And then it makes creating the content a lot easier because you have that in mind.

Like, okay, this is not really going to get a lot of views, but it's really going

to get people to understand what we're about here at Dealcasters, right?

Um, or like, Hey, this is not going to be a lot of views, but it's really going to

get people to want to head and work with us to do, to do their remote production

and to get them to know us.

So we're not worried about getting millions of followers, but this video

right here is focused on getting a scene by five, 10,000 people because we want

to start that new journey again with that new person.

So, um, I think that's a big component of it, of understanding, like, what's

the actual goal of the individual content.

But yeah, it's, uh, you can't, you can't really be sharing like who you are

because people don't want to know that unless that's the goal of that piece of

content.

And that's the crazy thing too is, is, you know, you know, you mentioned we're

remote producers and the whole reason why we did this show was because we wanted

to display that we were remote producers.

And then it kind of, you know, turned into this, this thing.

But the day I got a call from a now client and he said, uh, the episode you

did, it was episode 38, it was with Kirk Nugent, you guys did this and you pulled

in this, I want that how much.

Yeah.

That's when it clicked for me.

That's when I was like, I wasn't even like, that wasn't even the intention.

Like it was just like, okay, we're having, uh, this, you know, Kirk Nugent and I

know you've been on his show and we're going to do this, you know, whatever.

We're going to have a conversation.

Hopefully it's going to serve our audience.

And boom, I get a client out of it.

And that's, that's what I think people don't realize.

It's like, you don't necessarily have to hard sell.

You just have to show up and serve.

And that's what you, sir, are doing.

And for those that are still hanging out, you're welcome.

And you can enjoy a lot more Alaskury.

There's his, his link on the screen.

Please go to Alaskury.com slash links and you can connect.

I've never seen so many places to be, to connect with anyone.

Um, you can follow him on all of the tubes.

I thought we had all the tubes.

You have more tubes than we do.

You've got more tubes, more tubes for us to explore.

Yeah.

You know, we're going to add rumble soon.

So, okay.

All right.

Yeah.

You can go live streaming on rumble as well.

I think.

Yeah.

I think, I think it's a, it's a platform to kind of keep on the radar.

Um, I think it's still, I think it's, uh, in the early stages of like where

YouTube was back in 2016, I think it's not really developed yet.

Um, but I think it is, it is a platform to just keep your eye on and, and maybe

spend some time reproducing content that you post elsewhere on there.

Um, there could be an audience for you.

Awesome.

Well, Anthony, can I call you?

I feel like I, it was like, I only know you as Alaskury.

Yeah.

And it's all, it's all part of my name.

I think, I think they, they all work.

So if you want to call me Anthony, you want to call me Santana.

You want to call me Alaskury.

All of them work, man.

Just, just don't call me for dinner.

Yeah.

That's it right.

Late for dinner.

I'll never be late for dinner.

Okay.

That's probably the one meal I'm always early for.

Yeah, man.

Thank you so much for delivering so much value to this audience, man.

Um, just incredible stuff and an amazing story that you shared as well.

The, the whole origin story of, of, you know, saved by the Xbox.

Well, not saved by the Xbox, but yeah, you know, you know what I mean.

But, uh, and everything about it.

And certainly you've made some fans here, Nancy Cyrus and others, uh, as well.

So we appreciate you being here, man.

Thank you so much.

Man.

It's been an honor.

Uh, this has been something I've been wanting to be a part with you guys and

collaborate with you guys so much.

Um, thank you for like expanding my mind just from your questions and the things

you really made me think deeper, even about the things that I'm doing.

Um, and I think that's where collaboration comes ahead.

So it's been an honor.

Um, and I'm just grateful for this opportunity.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And for everyone else, don't fear the gear.

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