The Real Work of Content Creation: @412ontheMove on Getting Started, Getting Views, & Getting Paid

Welcome back to Real Work Ideas, where we dive into the breadth and strategy behind how people choose to spend their time. Today, we're joined by John from 412 On The Move, and a lot of people talk about getting into the community and connecting with fascinating people. John actually did it. He's built a thriving, highly engaged platform, highlighting local culture, places, and people. From the ground up, on top of his creative work, he has a deep background in leadership and business growth, giving him a sharp strategic perspective on what it takes to turn intention into real action. Join me in welcoming John. Hey, how are you, John? Good, how are you? I'm great. It's so good to have you here. Thanks for taking the time. Yeah, I appreciate it. So you're a creator. So many people want to be creators. So what was the moment that you realized, like, wow, I'm a content creator and doing this? So it's funny that you say that. It's actually been a little bit of a journey. So, you know, growing up, I always loved to take pictures, take videos. I traveled a lot when I was younger and I had a decent following on Snapchat, but it was kind of just like all over the place because I'd be traveling a lot. And then I tried my hand at a few different ideas over the years and didn't, I mean, I had some success to be honest, but not a ton. And it wasn't until like maybe six months ago where I'm getting recognized everywhere. I'm getting offers and stuff like that. And I'm like, this is actually weird because it's like real now. You know, like there was a few things that happened in the past and I was like, this is cool, but it wasn't like a big deal. And then maybe, yeah, like six months ago, mainly because a lot of my content, as you mentioned, is like local and community based. So it took less time for people in the area to become familiar with me where you could have a million followers, but none of your followers are near you and people don't really know what you do. But in my case, I kind of put myself out there. And so local businesses, local people on the street, you know, at the store will come by and say hi or want to talk to me. And yeah, it's really probably all kind of ramped up in the last six months. Wow, that's super exciting. So tell me a little bit about, you were talking about like your backgrounds and your other things, like what other things have you worked on? How did you even get here? Yeah, so I actually, like so many people, was laid off during COVID and had a lot of free time on my hands. And my wife and I moved down to Savannah, Georgia. And so we were down there, huge tourist area. People travel there all the time. And so I started making videos about Savannah on YouTube. And it was cool. And there was, like I said, some success, you know, and people were recognizing the videos. And this was before we had children. And so we knew we would be down in the South probably for a limited amount of time. You know, it wasn't a permanent move. It was like a two to three year thing. She was down there for a work project on her side. And so every like once a month, we would go to another Southern town. You know, we'd go to like Huntsville, Alabama, Asheville, North Carolina, where, you know, we wanted to see it all while we were down there. And we'd make a video each time we went somewhere. And that was my first like foray into content creation. Fast forward a couple of years, we ended up coming back to the Pittsburgh area. And when we came back, life kind of slowed down. I got to kind of got, you know, settled back into work. We had our first child, you know, we were looking for a house, things like that. And we started, you know, our travel became much more limited and we weren't doing what we were doing before. And so the channel kind of slowed down naturally for that reason. And then shortly after that, I got an opportunity because my channel had been growing to join, long story short, to join like a video game streaming platform, you know, a group that was doing like video. Yeah, so we're streaming video games, live streaming. And two things I learned during that process. One, I'm not super great at video games. Like I've always enjoyed them, but I'm not like super competitive. So I was like always the worst person on our team. And then secondly, I'm terrible at live streaming. So any of the skills I had did not transfer over and it was like a failed attempt, let's say that. So my YouTube channel had fizzled out by that point. I had invested time and energy into this live streaming idea that wasn't going anywhere. And so it kind of just died off and I moved on. And that was a couple of years ago. And like I said, within the last year, I just had the itch to do something again and to take what I learned in the past and try again. Okay, so it sounds like you are super curious, very creative and always willing to do just the next thing. So I'm kind of curious, what did you learn from live streaming? Live streaming? Well, I mean, I mean it not as a joke, but I learned that I'm not good at that. And that's like a, it's a real thing to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are, especially if you wanna be successful. So live streaming often, I think there's two elements to it where I really missed. One was I'm not super quick on my feet. So even though I may have a witty comment or have some good factual information in my videos, that's something that I researched beforehand. And it's easy for me to retain that knowledge or to take a second take as I'm filming, where in a live scenario, I don't react that quickly. The second thing is, and I think this is why people resonate to what I did on YouTube and what I do now, is I very much am simply myself and just am natural. And I think for live streaming, especially in the video game space, there's a lot of exaggeration, there's a lot of excitement, there's a lot of loudness and being very quick and yelling and things like that. And those are not things that are part of my personality. Yeah, yeah, very unnatural for me. Thank you for answering a question that I asked in a very awkward way. You did tell me what you had learned, but I meant like, what did you learn from that that has informed you to moving into your new venture? So thank you for that, for filling in those pieces. Yeah, no worries. So you keep doing all of these things online, like the streaming, you had the travel content. So many people talk about just being on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all the things. What made you just do it the first time? I guess idle hands, I'm not sure. I just had some time and it's funny because I fell into a trap early on where I've seen a lot of people over the years that do this, where say I meet somebody and I talk to them, they're like, I wanna get into content creation. And I say, let's do it, let's meet up, let's do a video. They show up, they got the new laptop, they got an awesome camera, they got this light, they got a tripod, they got a script and they got all this stuff they download from chat GPT and they don't have any videos posted. And you kind of get stuck in that preparation phase. And so I think I had done that myself prior to being laid off from my job. And I had a tripod camera, things like that. And it just made me think like, am I ever gonna do this? And let's just try it out. And living in Savannah, which is a beautiful place, it's a gorgeous place. There's so much to see, so much history and having time and loving to take pictures and loving to take videos just on my own. I said, why not string it together? And it was kind of just for fun, I suppose. Yeah, so you have people reaching out to you. Yes. I'm just curious, how do you get all of these people to be on your channel? Do they just like contact you through DMs or are you reaching out? How does that whole process work? Yeah, so as of right now, one of the things I do, and this is kind of the business side of my channel and where I'm monetizing it is I'm partnering with local businesses to promote what they're doing, show them off, bring them new customers and kind of tell their story. And I started, I think the first video I did of that type was with a local coffee shop. And he was also just making videos a lot about his coffee shop. And so he kind of was already online. And to be honest with you, I think I did message him first. I can't remember, but I said, and I was much smaller at the time. And I said, hey, I see all the time. I'm like a mile away from you. Do you wanna do a video together one time? And he said, sure. And so we did a video together. It did well. He was telling me like how it really helped and he saw customers and things of that nature. So as soon as I did that video and that video was successful, I had a whole bunch of people message me like, hey, do you, you know, you worked with this business. Will you come by and see our shop and whatever. We have a special going on. We're opening a new location, things like that. So I had a bunch of opportunities really quick. I was not charging anyone for them at this time. You know, I was a small guy. And I said, I just started doing them a lot. And when I did one, another person would ask or their friend or the neighboring business or someone would see it. And so it kind of grew naturally, organically like that. And I decided early on that I was gonna continue to do it for a little while without charging anyone anything, because I realized that the exposure was more valuable than what I could have earned at that point. And so I kept doing them until the point where I honestly had too many opportunities. You know, when it's free, everyone wants you to come. Everyone is excited about doing the video and they don't care. So as soon as I started monetizing a little bit, it slowed down in the right way. And I was able to make money and continue it. And I think at this point, I say this humbly, but like I justified the fee that I'm charging now prior to charging people, because if it was, if I had never done any videos and I say, hey, give me this money to go out, why would I give you money? But I had already shown the value. And so people, so now people understand, and some people aren't willing to pay, which is fine, or they don't want to, but I don't have any people that come to me at this point and say like, how are you charging people? Or why would you justify like asking for money or things like that? Because I think the value has been shown. Yeah. Okay, I love a couple of things that you've said. I think so many people, when they get into, or they want to get into content creation, they are looking only at clicks and views and likes. And there's this whole part of it where it is, you are building a business. Content creation is a business. And sometimes it's a slog. So if you could talk a little bit about, a little more about when people are getting started, there is a part of all of this, it's a little bit of a gamble and a game and you're investing in yourself. How did you know, like, and I don't want you to talk about prices, but like what to charge, when to charge? Like, did you do your research online? Was it all just sort of like a feel? How did you figure all of that out? Yeah, so two main things that I, two things I did, and then I'll tell you kind of the strategy that I turned it into and how I've done it. One is, as I started working with businesses, they were telling me stories about someone else they had worked with, or some video they had done in the past. And so I started asking around and asking them what people, what they paid. And then I learned, which was really actually more insightful, is I learned what other people were asking for. And so when I started, it wasn't so much like, oh, you did this one video and it was this much. It was more like, I talked to these five different people over the last year and this person said this, this person said that much. And so my next follow-up question to them was, well, did you do the videos? And a lot of people said no. So there's a lot of people who are out there offering content with a lot of followers. But what I found is they were getting a lot of no's and they're asking for a high amount. And so I started doing research and I found the rule of thumb is for something like what I do, where you're going into business and doing short form video, is generally speaking, you ask for about $10 per 1,000 followers you have. So if you have 1,000 followers, you get 10 bucks. If you have 10,000 followers, you can make 100 bucks. 100,000 followers, you can ask for $1,000. That's kind of a general rule. And I would say that a lot of the people and a lot of the information I was gathering kind of were in line with that. Maybe a little more, maybe a little bit less. But as I said, regardless of that, so quote unquote rule, a lot of people were saying, no, it's too expensive for these bigger creators. And so I decided, well, these videos are, take me an hour or two to make. They're not really like a huge lift. So I'm gonna kind of ask for a little bit less. And so my rate would be reasonable and less than what some other creators my size might ask, but I'm doing multiple videos a week. And where someone might ask for more and do one a week, I realized there's value in just constantly pumping out videos nonstop. So if I wanna get a ton of money from one video, that's gonna hurt my channel because I'm not doing a lot of videos. So if I take a little bit less and have videos all the time, I have more people asking, I'm hitting the algorithms or however you wanna say it, better and getting more exposure. So to me, it was more valuable to just get the yeses, if that makes sense. And so. Yeah, that's interesting because I do notice with your content now that you're saying that, and I never thought about it, which is you do have a lot of new, interesting and varied content. In that you're right, I think a lot of bigger creators tend to re-share the same thing over and over throughout the week. And I get why they do that. Like I get the strategy behind it, but it makes your account very interesting. And I love to, this is just an aside, like I love that you'll have a, this is how I found you. Oh, there's this little hike in my neighborhood and you went on this hike. And I always kind of wondered like, where does that go? Like you could see this place and I'm like, I don't wanna go back in there. Is it gonna be creepy? There'll be a bunch of like deer and ticks and everything. And I'm sure there's still deer and ticks, but I was like, oh, that's really cool. I'm like, maybe I will do that. And then I just saw one of your other videos I love. This is a newer one where there was some weird structure off of the side of the road. And this is the way my brain works too. I'm like, what is that? Why is that there? So I love that you have such varied content. So if you can, talk to me a little bit about that. Like, is that a strategy or is that a curiosity that you do like businesses and then all these other little things? Yeah, so going back to what I did on YouTube where I was traveling hours away, staying in hotels, time, money, there's a big investment that I was able to do. When I first started doing the short form videos, I said, my idea was, well, if I could take what I did before and make it easier or make it more approachable, I could actually do this. So it was more of like a logistics thing, right? Like I can't leave my family behind for two days to go fly somewhere. So let me do, instead of doing a 20 minute video in another city, let me do a two minute video in the next town over. And I started with that approach. I was covering. And so initially it was the curiosities around town history, trails, parks, local events that were going on, things like that. And that's where I started. And the business side and interviewing people in businesses wasn't something I was necessarily keen on or that I had planned for. But as that started happening, it really created an opportunity for A, monetization and B, it created an opportunity to have some cool stories and interviews. I wanted to interview people, but you're not going to be in the woods and some woman's walking by herself the other way and be like, hey, I'm making a video. Do you want to talk to me? So it created a new opportunity and it was, so it kind of just happened organically. And so, yeah. So the curiosities and the parks and the random structure by the side of the road, that was my initial attention on what I was doing. And I still continue to do that. And to be honest, the video you just mentioned in videos like that tend to be my best performing types of videos is, yeah. But naturally there's, I can't go to a restable structure by river and say, will you pay me to make this video? So the diversification and the wide view of it all fits under, it's extremely local to the area that I'm in. And so therefore it all fits in. And so I've got different ways of keeping people engaged, making money for myself, because ultimately like, I mean, everyone has a dream of having a YouTube channel and being super rich. And like a lot of people want to do that, but it's, so it is a business. You can make content for fun, but the way I approach it is a business. I need to maintain that business, but I can't just like shovel out commercials all day. I need to have different things, you know? Right. Okay, I love this conversation because I'm also in content creation. I have an education channel, Tarle speech on YouTube, it's successful and I make money from it. But I think everyone has this idea that when you're a content creator, that you're getting all of these like packages from all of these brands and everyone's reaching out to you and they want you to do commercials and you know, all of the things. And bottom line is it's a business. And I just love hearing, it's so refreshing hearing that you are running your channel as a business. And I think if a lot of people change their mindset that this is a job, then things kind of fall into place. And your process is worth money. And I think a lot of times people undersell themselves that you have a skill, not everyone can do this, even though everyone thinks that they can go out and do this. And so I love hearing that part of it. For anyone who wants to be a creator, are there any tips that you have on the business side? I'm thinking bank accounts or when you are, did you establish like a certain business structure? Talk about that a little bit. Yeah, those are definitely steps that you will go through. It kind of goes into the preparation phase of buying all the equipment before you make a video. You don't necessarily have to start with too much because you're probably not gonna make very much for a while. And so I think those things will naturally fall into place. Right now, the only thing that I really have established is like a W-9. So I have a tax ID number, EIN number that I'm a sole, I guess technically a sole proprietor. So I haven't established a company yet for what I'm doing because a lot of the deals that I'm getting are like local businesses and stuff and it's not for a ton of money. But I have actually worked with a couple big corporations or bigger companies on a few videos. And the more that starts happening, the more you realize that you will have to eventually have a few pieces in place. They definitely, it's not like the guy hands you some cash from the register. It's a little bit different. So the only hurdle I've had so far is the W-9, which you can do for free. It takes five minutes. So that's one thing I would do probably, as soon as you start making money, that's probably something you could do. It takes, like I said, it takes 10 minutes. And that's, I mean, that's really all I've done. I have a Venmo account for my content. That's it. No, I love this answer because I think it gets back to when we started the conversation, you have to just get started. So I've been so many different business entities as I've grown. And I started off as a sole proprietor for years and years and years and years, years, decades. And then I finally did establish a more formal business structure, but I've always had different checking accounts, credit cards, all of that so that I could, more or less for my tax purposes, I could keep everything straight. I do think it's never been easier than now with Venmo to sell all of the banking features to start. But I think it's very important for everyone out there to remember, just get started. And that is the biggest thing is just do it. Don't get that analysis paralysis. Yeah, my favorite saying, and I think the first time we initially met before doing this podcast, I said it to you, and this is the best advice I can say or most true thing about making content. Everyone wants to do it, but no one wants to do it. And that's the thing. And that's the guy with the camera and the tripod and everything all planned out that has no videos. So everyone wants to do it, but no one wants to do it. And the truth of the matter is that when you start, your videos are not gonna be as good as they will be later. So you just have to do it. You just have to have a bad video and you have to put yourself out there and you have to learn. Like it's as simple as that. A couple of questions about that. I have, you can see them on my YouTube channel. I actually hired someone, so this was way back in the day when you actually, it was cost prohibitive. I've been doing this now for like 20 some years, 21, 22. And it was cost prohibitive to buy your own equipment. You couldn't just use your iPhone, right? So I hired this guy, he made all these videos. You know, it was amazing, blah, blah, blah. I'm laughing now, I can like hardly do it, but this was my face. Yeah. I didn't even touch my smile. I was like, I had no energy whatsoever. I chose to keep those videos up. They still get views on YouTube. And what I think is interesting is I use those now as a teaching tool for a lot of my students who I'm trying to teach them how to use energy in their presentation. So what do you do with your videos when you first got started that are really bad? Are they still out there? Have you taken them down? Like what's your strategy for that? So I have taken things down for sure. But I haven't taken, if I'm totally honest, I'm trying to think back. I haven't taken any videos down on my YouTube channel or on like my short form, like TikTok or Instagram because they were bad. But what I did do later on was you have to adjust and you have to like figure out what's working is I went back and I took some videos down that were kind of off theme, if that makes sense. So like things that didn't match, I went back. But if it's an old video and it's totally on theme and I'm at a park and it's not a good video, like who cares? Someone's gonna watch it and think it's funny. You know, like I'll get a view off it later, you know? So yeah, but I don't wanna say this like I'm bragging or anything. The mistakes in the learning process I went through were on YouTube and years ago. So when I started the short form stuff, I kind of was already like comfortable, I feel like. So it was more about, yeah, it was more about like figuring out my angle than figuring out my skills or my way to talk. Okay, I love that because let's face it, isn't this just life? That you learn, you evolve. So what are some of the things that you did learn that worked, didn't work, or maybe that just weren't right for you? Kind of a broad question, but like what did you learn from your mistake that kind of got you to where you are now? You've talked a little bit about it, but like is there anything a little bit like deeper, like taking back if you were like, oh God, I'll never do that again, or oh, I need to do that more. Yeah, I think there's kind of a fork in the road for content creation that a lot of, well, let me just take a step back. For someone who's doing something similar to what I do, so if it's like travel or interviews or kind of point of view man on the ground type stuff, there comes a point where you have to make the decision if it's going to be natural and authentic or if it's going to be produced. And I'm better at exploring and coming up with thoughts and pointing the camera around than I am at editing and sound effects and overlays and things like that. So I had to make that decision that like that's not the direction I want to go and you can go on YouTube and find people with a million subscribers on both sides of it, where it's like a really cool video. They've got drones and there's all kinds of special effects and cool music and it looks amazing. And the colors are like, I don't even know how they get their videos to the colors to look like that. They look so good, but man, that video took them days and days to make and they're doing one massive video every week or two. That wasn't me. And it wasn't something I was passionate about doing. So I learned that. And then, so I got into more of how can I produce a video every day and put the value into something that's quite honestly low production, low production value, I should say. I hold my phone and that's it. I think your production value, you're selling yourself short. I think it's excellent actually. I think though you hit on something that I talk about a lot, which is authenticity. And I think people can smell a rat from miles away and they know if someone's not being authentic, did it take you a while to sort of embrace that? Like, were you trying to be something else when you first started? And have you just always been yourself and comfortable with that? I'm pulled into the direction of creators that have influenced me or that I admire or that I enjoy their content. But I've always just been myself, I think. And it's funny, when I work with the businesses we talked about earlier, or when I do an interview with someone, I'm like, you're like the guy in the video. So I'm like, yeah, I am the guy in the video. That's me. They're like, no, you're actually the exact same thing. And I said, oh yeah, that's me. So people actually find it funny. And I give advice to other people I meet along the way. I've made so many videos with so many people where as soon as the camera comes on, they're kind of playing a character a little bit too much. And I don't know that that really brings a lot of value. I think you can get like, I don't know. And I think it's inconsistent too, if you try to do it all the time and just, rather than just talking. And some people, maybe I'm not thinking it from someone else's perspective, where for me, I find it very easy to talk to the camera. And maybe for someone else, they have to put it on a little bit. But I would rather work on being better at talking to the camera than work on creating a character, if that makes sense. Totally makes sense. You're actually very good at speaking. I do this all the time, like listening to people talking. You are very good. You're so authentic. It comes through, but you're also very clear. You have great energy. So you have like a gift in that department where that really comes across. Okay, content creation is a slog as well. So we're talking about like all of the great things. I batch create content. I will record for like two days straight and then edit and then post, unless posting is the bane of my existence. It just takes forever. So how do you stay motivated with the downside of content creation? Well, I am the opposite of you. I could never, ever do that. That would drive me nuts where I'm not. Yeah, it is different. Yeah, it is. But I think the whole thing like on the move is very, as you said, authentic to who I am. So the video you saw with the, we've referenced it a few times, with the structure by the side of the road. I parked behind a Sheetz gas station when I saw it. I walked over through the grass. I filmed that. I went back to my car and I edited the video and then I was uploading as I was driving away. So like that's how I have to do it. It also goes into the decision I made in the last question about production volume. If I wanted to do more with it, if I needed overlays and all kinds of stuff like that, that would be very difficult, especially on the phone. You know, editing on the phone, it's hard. I actually have a, I use a, it's actually right here. I don't see if I can lift it up. I have like one of those USB, I don't know if you can see it, but I just plug my phone and with a mouse and keyboard into a monitor. So it just blows up my phone screen. And I, and so I find it like, yeah, easy and efficient to just do that, but it limits my capabilities. You know, so for, we're talking about learning and making mistakes. For me, an efficient, quick, rapid workflow where I'm posting the videos I make the day I make them or the next day, like literally the very latest. That's how I'm a fast paced like thinker. And that's how I stay on it. And I've had a couple of times where I held a video for one reason or another, and it was like, it was like pulling teeth to try to make it later because I had moved on, you know? And even though it was a totally fine video of a park or whatever it was, I was like, man, I just don't like this video anymore because I filmed it two weeks ago. Why am I doing this? So for me, I don't like, let me go back to your question. How do I get through this log? I don't like downtime. I like to be busy. So I just make it like kind of fast paced to enjoy it. It is just like a natural thing. You know, if I sit on, if I filmed 10 videos and sat on them, I don't know if I'd ever finished them. You know, I had a video for, I did in Asheville, North Carolina on my old channel. I posted it a year after we went because for one reason or another, I just didn't feel like doing it at the time. And it just sat and I made other videos and I did this and I did that. And I just never, and my wife kept asking me, why don't you do the Asheville video? It was so great. I was like, I'd like lost the, where my heart was when we filmed that. Yeah, it's gone. Like, I don't have the feeling, like when I film, I kind of feel like what I'm trying to say or what I'm trying to express. And I just like, whatever I was feeling, it's gone. Like, I don't know. Like, so I have to, so for me, it's just about keeping up with it. And it's almost like a race. And I love that. I don't know if I'm crazy or what, but that's how I feel, you know? No, I think everyone has their own process. I think I'm similar, even though I do batch create, is that I can't think too much about it. So once it's done, I have to immediately edit, immediately post, you know, it takes me several weeks. But if you start thinking too much about it, again, like I'm a woman, so I think about things like, oh God, I don't like that shirt. I don't like my lipstick. Like, you know, my hair sticking up. And like, that's not what's important about the video, the content, what you're saying, the message, that is what's important. So what do you think is gonna be next? Do you see any like evolutions in your channel? Do you have any thing that you wanna branch out in? Are you feeling good about where you are right now? You just wanna ride that wave for a bit. I think it's important to recognize that it's working. And so I am, as somebody who is fast paced, always thinking, loves to move, it's very easy for me to be like, oh, let me start doing this on YouTube too now. You know, let me add another platform. Let me, maybe I should live stream a little bit while I'm at a park. You know, I always constantly think about those things and I try to bring myself down to earth. So right now, I think I'm, with considering what I'm doing is working, I would say I'm probably only halfway to where I wanna be with what I'm doing now. And so that's, so I'm trying to humble myself. I'm trying to bring myself in and be like, you can't, you don't have time for long form videos right now, bro. Like, don't do it. You know? No, great answer. I think that is totally fair. And I do think that there is something to be said about doing the same thing really, really well over and over and over again. And just kind of bringing in what I do. I did this mini series that is now, I think six years. Every Tuesday, I post two words that are pronounced the same, but spelled differently. Some people are like, why don't you do something else and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, I don't know, it's working and I enjoy it and my students enjoy it. And it's paying the bills. So I'm happy with that and it's working. And you can drive yourself nuts as a creator trying to do all the latest and greatest things and trying to keep up with all of the production and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You seem incredibly curious. So I have to ask, are you reading anything good? I know you have kids. So maybe the answer is no. But are you reading, listening, watching anything that's fun or interesting right now? So I think a lot of parents with young kids are in the same position as my wife and I where we like to watch really dumb reality shows and stuff like that to turn our brains off. So we're watching, not that this is a dumb show, I actually really like it. We're watching Big Brother right now. We watch a lot of the dating stuff, the love is blind or whatever type shows. And that to me is mostly so I could only half pay attention and play on my phone and do nothing for a little bit. But yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's it. I still have a regular job that I do. I do the videos, I have two kids. That's enough right now for me. I don't have time for much else, to be honest. I totally get that, fair. I do wanna say too, I love that you're mentioning that you have a day job. I think so many people when they start content creation it's like this is my gig, I'm gonna be doing this and it's gonna be glorious. And you really do have to make a sacrifice. I think with any business, this is a business and you have to make a sacrifice. And in the beginning, it's a slow build and it sounds like you found your niche and I love that. So I love your authenticity. I love that you have found this very niche but very loyal audience. And it's so interesting to hear how you are monetizing versus I think what people think monetization is like these platforms pay you millions of dollars unless you're Mr. Beast or one of these super big channels that's just not. Even the big channels who are getting hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube they have commercials in every video. Why are they doing that if they're super rich? And especially with TikTok, they pay pennies. It's absolutely nothing. And there are people out there when I do videos this has come up where they're like, wow you must be doing really well with all these views. I'm like, I don't make anything. Like I don't make anything at all. Like Instagram doesn't pay a penny, not even one penny. So like I'm not making money at doing that. That's not how it works. But people assume that. It's a myth that you have one video that's viral and then you're a millionaire and like, no, that's not. That's not the way this works. Is there anything that we're not talking about that we should be talking about or that I missed? Well, I think going back to what we said earlier where everyone wants to do it, but no one wants to do it. I think people are kind of, we're all in a way like egotistical or narcissistic to a degree, right? And I think people have a hard time realizing a couple of things when it comes to like getting started or making content. And the first thing is it's I'll say based on myself. My content is me, but it's not about me. And I don't make videos about myself. And even though every single thumbnail I'm in it and every single video I'm in it I don't talk about myself. I do my absolute best. I'm not like great at this, but anytime I edit a video or watch it where I say, I like this, or I did this, or I did that, I find I'm like mad at myself for saying that because nobody, and I genuinely mean this about myself, about you, Jennifer, or anyone who wants to make content, nobody cares about you and nobody cares about me. And if I made a video right now, like, hey, let me tell you about my day today. That's gonna be the worst video I produced all week. And so you got to take yourself out a little bit. It's not about you. If you watch channels or social media platforms are successful, it's not about people. Maybe you can earn that over time, but you can't ask for it. So I think that's one thing, that's one piece of advice I would give is if you're talking about yourself or your day, if you can indulge me for a minute because I'm passionate about it. So I see people who want to do stuff about like restaurants or food, which is, it's an approachable category to get into, and it's not that thing. They'll say, I'm John, and I went to this restaurant, and I ordered this, and I liked it. And I find that to be the most boring and, that's not, I mean, you're not gonna get any views, right? So let me do the exact same video a different way to say, you can say I'm John, fine. I'm John, if you're looking for this type of restaurant, you can go here. And when you go here, you might want to try this. And if you try it, you're gonna love it. It's the exact same video, but it's one is about me and one is about the viewer. And when somebody is watching content, they're consuming the content for themselves. So making it about them is really important. And I think that's probably the most basic thing that everyone on TikTok is missing. The second thing I would say is, if your videos aren't getting views, they're not good enough. And I don't think people want to accept that. And it's the truth. There's no, all these videos, you'll see them on TikTok and how to hack the algorithm or the trends or how to break through or the hook, all this stuff. I don't care. I mean, maybe there's some value to some of the things that people say, but generally speaking, if your video is not getting views, it's not good. And that's why I kind of like to say, a hard thing to say, but it's true. And I still put videos up that don't get views once in a while. And I'm like, okay, that video wasn't good. Why wasn't it good? And then maybe I'm just, I have a hard shell. I'm crazy. But like, sometimes I love the negative content, the comments in my videos because, yeah. Yeah, exactly. People get so mad. Like, I can't even remember what it was, but this one guy just railed into me about how bad the video was, how much I suck and how everything was wrong. You know how some people are just like that. And I read this comment and I was like, man, thank you. He's right about everything he said. Like, this video could have been so much better had I done it a different way, you know? And instead of being bad at him, instead of responding to him, I was like, man, that comment just made me a lot better for the next one. And you gotta take those steps. And I think if you wanna make content, those are, if you can't accept those things, then just don't do it. You're gonna have to learn and it's not about you in a weird way. No, I think 100%, I agree, it's not about you and you can't take things personally. Now, let me back up with that. You can. Like, sometimes people say things like you're ugly or you're old or something and you're like, that's just mean, right? But like, when people give me feedback, I love it. Like, why do I have this microphone? My students are like, your sound is terrible. I'm like, all right, how do I fix it? And I literally said to one guy, thank you so much. I'm trying, I've tried all these things. I don't know what to do. And he said, I'm gonna message you. And he sent me this like long list of everything that I need to do, how I need to edit my sound, the microphone I need to buy. Like, how nice is that? And I could have just written off his comment, like, oh, he's being a jerk. But it's gotten me so much further. And I will say, usually most people on YouTube, especially where I am, are kind. And then if they're mean, my community will kind of push back a little bit, which I do appreciate. And I love what you said about it's me, but it's not about me, exactly. It is what your viewer wants, what the consumer wants. And if you don't do that, and I think that's a great tip about food videos. I never noticed that, but you're 100% correct. I like food reviewers that are like, you're going to love that. You are going to think it's great. And then also, this is just one of my pet peeves, that you have to have this hook. I think the hook works when you're getting new viewers, but when you have people who are your people who are there all the time, and there's a whole strategy behind this. Sure. But I do think that people talk about the hook way too much. Yeah. People will still leave, even if you have the best hook, if your content isn't good. Yeah. I actually sometimes enjoy going through TikTok or Instagram and watching the videos of the people who recommend how to make content. And you're like, hmm, I want to hear what they say now that I know what works and doesn't work. And things are working, so let me watch them. And I'm like, man, these guys are doing a good job of getting people to watch their videos. That's all they're doing. They're not teaching people stuff. I know from their classes. I looked into some of these classes. They're expensive, really expensive. Yeah, you don't need all that stuff. It's basically my point, you know? No, I 100% agree. Okay, so where can people find you before we wrap up here? I'm on, my handle's 412onthemove. It's on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook right now. And so you can find me under the same name on all three of those. I post the same, I should say, I post the exact same content on all three, so there's no, the only difference is on Instagram, I put some stuff on my stories sometimes, but it's not the central part of my content. Okay, very, very good. And any more advice that you have for people, like one little nugget, what should people do if they want to get started? Just start, I mean, honestly, just start, because you're going to suck. Your videos aren't going to get views. You're going to figure out what works, what doesn't work for you. So just go ahead and do it. Don't get bogged down in equipment and processes and stuff when you have no success, because you'll learn what works later. You know, you'll, and you'll learn what piece of equipment you need later. You don't need anything to start. If you have a halfway decent phone, maybe, depending on what you want to do, maybe you get like a medium to cheap microphone and a tripod, you know, depending if you even need a tripod, if you're talking on, you probably need a mic if you're going to talk. But other than that, I mean, I don't, I get millions of views. I have, my entire setup is my iPhone and a microphone. I have nothing else. That's all I use. Yeah, I don't. Let me, let me, can I just take a step back? This is the lesson. That's all I use. That's not all I have. So in the beginning I bought a bunch of stuff, but all I, yeah, all I actually use is a microphone and my phone. That's it. I don't have lights. Again, I don't use lights. I don't use a tripod. I don't use a $200 gimbal that sits in my car every day. I don't use anything. You don't need it. You don't need to do overkill. Maybe for your situation, you might need a light or a tripod. What I'm saying is keep it simple because in the end you'll have a bunch of stuff sitting around that you don't use. 100%. I've spent more money on junk that I didn't need and used once than I care to mention. Yeah, just get started. I still use my iPhone for all of my videos. Me too. And that's it. That's how I record. And people are like, what's your camera? I'm like, my phone. Like it's fine and it works and it's my process and I've been doing it. And so like, I don't want to mess that up because it's my system. Yeah. John, this has been amazing. And I just want to mention one more thing. We are in a smaller area, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and that you're getting millions of views on this niche content is beyond impressive. So excellent. And I think it's just such a great lesson to people out there. Find your thing. Be authentic. Just get started and think about it as a business and everything will fall into place. This has been so much fun. I've learned so much. Thank you so much for being here. And I would love for you to come back. We'll talk about something else. You just have like endless curiosity. I'd love to hear more about the South. I love to travel. Like, where should I go? Savannah's on my list, so. Oh yeah. If you want to talk about travel one day, I've been around. I would love to do that. Cause like, it's one of our favorite things, travel. And I think there's so much travel also in the US that people miss out on because it doesn't sound as exciting. And you can just explore your own backyard all across this beautiful country. And it's so much fun. So thank you so much, everybody. Thanks for being here, John. Yep, thank you. Okay, take care. Bye-bye.