• 8 months ago
Greg and Rebecca Remmey, the creators of DEVOURPOWER, join Rosemarie Miller on ‘New Money,’ to share their journey to becoming food influencers and offer branding tips for aspiring content creators.

0:00 Introduction
0:36 How Greg and Rebecca Started Devour Power
3:19 A Day In The Life Of A Food Influencer
5:52 Why Greg and Rebecca Don't Review Restaurants
8:36 Do Restaurants Treat Influencers Differently?
11:10 Expanding Beyond Social Media
13:04 Is 2024 A Good Time To Become A Content Creator?
14:35 Working With Brands
18:14 Managing Money As Business Owners
20:12 Smartest And Dumbest Money Moves

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Transcript
00:00 Then we slowly got like five clients, then 10 clients,
00:02 then we started to do the math and we were like,
00:04 we could potentially make the same, if not more,
00:06 as we're making now with our full-time jobs doing this.
00:10 So we ended up quitting our jobs and yeah, here we are.
00:13 (upbeat music)
00:16 - Hi everyone and welcome to New Money,
00:19 where we talk to movers and shakers about how they made it.
00:22 I'm your host, Rosemary Miller,
00:24 here with Rebecca West-Remy and Greg Remy,
00:28 the co-founders of Devour Power.
00:30 Thank you so much for joining me today.
00:32 - Thank you for having us. - Thank you, thank you.
00:33 - We're so happy to be here.
00:34 - Absolutely.
00:35 So y'all seem to have the best job, okay?
00:39 You have millions of followers across multiple platforms
00:42 and you're just eating food and reviewing great food.
00:46 Am I getting it wrong?
00:47 What exactly do y'all do?
00:48 - You wanna explain?
00:50 - Yeah, so about 12 years ago,
00:53 when Rebecca and I first started baiting,
00:54 we started going out to eat all the time,
00:56 so we decided to post it on Instagram.
00:58 Back when it was just like photos, really,
01:01 wasn't really videos yet.
01:03 And we quickly realized that people really love seeing food,
01:06 so we just kind of kept posting,
01:08 kind of kept getting followers.
01:10 And about how long after that did we quit our jobs?
01:14 - We were three years in, so it was about nine years ago
01:17 we quit when one restaurant in particular approached us,
01:21 said, "I love the photos you've done.
01:23 "Can you do our Instagram, our Facebook?"
01:26 I think at that time it was even Snapchat.
01:28 You know, how social media is always rotating,
01:31 so we know what app is next.
01:33 But it was like Snapchat back then.
01:35 They offered us a certain amount per month
01:37 to run their social media, and we said,
01:40 "You know what?
01:41 "Let's do it."
01:42 We had not gotten married yet, we didn't have kids,
01:44 we didn't have a mortgage, and if we were going to do it,
01:47 I think that would have been the absolute best time,
01:51 because we could always step back
01:53 and go back into the careers we were in.
01:55 At that point, actually, Greg was a neurophysiologist,
01:59 so he worked in the hospitals, and I was in real estate,
02:01 condo co-op sales in the Upper East Side.
02:03 So both professions you can always fall back into.
02:07 So we decided we better take the risk
02:09 and see where it takes us, and yeah, that's it.
02:12 It's spiraled ever since.
02:14 It snowballed.
02:15 - Yeah, it definitely snowballed from there.
02:17 We started doing social media for a restaurant,
02:20 posting a certain amount of times per week
02:23 for a restaurant on, specifically, Instagram,
02:26 and it kind of snowballed from there.
02:27 Look, we got another client from that client
02:30 who knew somebody else,
02:31 then we slowly got five clients, then 10 clients,
02:33 then we started to do the math, and we were like,
02:35 "We could potentially make the same, if not more,
02:37 "as we're making now with our full-time jobs doing this."
02:41 So we ended up quitting our jobs, and yeah, here we are.
02:44 - Did y'all have any money saved up before you quit?
02:46 (laughing)
02:47 - No, zero.
02:49 - Not really, no. - Zero, zero dollars.
02:50 - We learned how to save through making money.
02:54 We didn't have enough money to save at that time.
02:56 We didn't come from wealthy families by any means,
02:59 so I moved to New York City with maybe $400
03:02 in the bank account.
03:03 - His mom loves telling this story.
03:05 - Yeah, I have my drama on here.
03:07 - Oh my gosh.
03:07 - She'll talk it here.
03:08 - He came with no money in his pocket.
03:10 She offered to try to lend him a little bit
03:12 to help cover rent, and he didn't need it.
03:15 He was gonna be independent.
03:16 - Yeah.
03:17 - Yeah.
03:18 - Oh my goodness.
03:18 - Yeah.
03:19 - Talk me through a day in y'all's lives.
03:21 - Sure.
03:22 - As he mentioned, we figured out basically
03:25 how many restaurants it would take
03:26 in order to support a lifestyle, pay rent, et cetera.
03:30 Then from there, we would figure out
03:32 how many restaurants it would take
03:33 until we could pay a part-time person,
03:36 or well, eventually, a full-time salaried assistant
03:40 type of person to help us with these photo shoots
03:43 and keep organized and everything like that.
03:45 So now we are a team of seven.
03:49 We have employees full-time here, as well as the Midwest.
03:54 We have managers.
03:55 We have, the managers also do photo shoots.
03:57 Then we have specifically posters
03:59 who help maintain all the restaurant accounts
04:02 that we deal with.
04:03 They're fantastic.
04:05 Our staff deserves so much credit.
04:08 I think we couldn't do it without them,
04:11 to be honest with you.
04:12 They are phenomenal.
04:14 We started with our first employee,
04:15 like, I don't know, nine years ago, basically?
04:18 - Yeah, about, yeah, seven, eight years ago.
04:21 - And he's still with us, so.
04:23 - So you have these clients with the restaurants.
04:26 What exactly do y'all do for the restaurants?
04:29 - Okay.
04:29 - Yeah, so we have Devour Power, which is our blog.
04:34 This is what we started.
04:36 And then we also have Devour Media.
04:37 So Devour Power is where we go out to eat
04:40 and all that crazy food porn type stuff.
04:45 And then Devour Media is, are all of our clients,
04:48 like all the stuff that we do for our clients.
04:49 So specifically restaurant clients,
04:51 we have them on retainer and work with them
04:53 to kind of build their social media.
04:55 So we create content for them as well,
04:58 which is separate from Devour Power.
05:00 So it's all kind of tied into Devour Media.
05:03 So we, it's like, Devour Power is the influencer side,
05:06 and then Devour Media is the agency.
05:08 - Okay, so with Devour Media,
05:10 do you actually go to the restaurants,
05:12 shoot their content for them?
05:14 - Wow.
05:15 - Start to finish every single dish.
05:17 First shoot, it's about 15 dishes.
05:19 Every followup shoot is around eight to 10 dishes,
05:22 all from scratch, all in the making,
05:24 all the way to the end, and the lifting, the opening,
05:27 the every shot that you can take on an iPhone, mind you,
05:32 with handheld lights, that could then translate
05:34 into small videos for their TikToks and Instagrams.
05:37 Currently it's TikTok, Instagram.
05:39 Everything changes all the time, as you know.
05:41 So it could be Facebook next month
05:43 or whatever else, the following.
05:45 But currently we are, we focus mainly on TikTok
05:48 and Instagram for restaurant clients.
05:50 - So for Devour Power, do y'all ever review the food
05:54 from the restaurants that you work with with Devour Media?
05:56 - So I would like to change the word review.
05:59 That's my only thing.
06:00 We actually never review.
06:03 We only post things that we love.
06:06 So if there is something from the shoot
06:08 that we don't personally like to eat,
06:10 you will not see it on Devour Power.
06:12 You'll still see it on the restaurants page
06:14 'cause it is their food and food is subjective.
06:17 What we like doesn't mean next person will,
06:19 or it might be something cultural that we're not used to.
06:22 - Or I'll like it and you definitely like it.
06:23 - Yeah, and then I will like it.
06:24 - We go back and forth.
06:25 - So we never review.
06:26 We only post positively.
06:28 We also will never, ever, ever say anything bad
06:32 about a restaurant or their dishes.
06:34 That includes Yelp, that includes no matter what.
06:39 I don't feel like it's our right, honestly,
06:43 to put someone down,
06:44 especially because one, we're not trained chefs, you know?
06:47 And like I said, food's subjective.
06:49 And two, you don't know what that chef
06:52 or restaurant's going through that day.
06:54 We've both worked in hospitality
06:55 since living in New York City.
06:57 So 18 years for me, we've worked in kitchens,
07:00 we've worked behind the bar, we've worked as waiters,
07:02 waitresses, cater waiters.
07:04 Something can be going wrong
07:06 and that's not my or Greg's right
07:09 to throw them under the bus and ruin their business
07:12 because Devour Power does have a lot of followers,
07:15 which in turn means influence,
07:17 and it's just not right.
07:20 So we're just, we're not doing any negatives.
07:23 - You know, I like that, Rebecca.
07:25 - Yeah, thank you.
07:25 - That's very human of you.
07:27 - Well, it's just, I don't know,
07:29 sometimes you see influencers
07:31 and I feel like they use their voice very negatively
07:35 and it really hurts a family business and that's not fair.
07:39 You know, I just, that's not for us, that's all.
07:42 - So how do you determine which restaurants
07:44 you're gonna go to on any given day?
07:46 - Oh God.
07:47 - Oh God.
07:48 - We do our own research, obviously.
07:50 We go on Yelp or whatever apps
07:54 to kind of see what is popular.
07:56 We go on social media, obviously.
07:57 We get sent a ton from like followers,
08:00 from people that want us to come to their restaurant,
08:03 people that want to work with us for Devour Media.
08:05 So it's a mix of, you know, work-related stuff
08:09 and then also stuff that we really enjoy.
08:11 - Really want to eat.
08:12 - We, like Rebecca's favorite food is sushi,
08:14 sushi and wings.
08:16 If there's ever a sushi and wing place,
08:18 we will be there like every day.
08:20 - I will invest.
08:21 - But sushi, like, we go for sushi all the time
08:24 because she loves sushi.
08:25 I love hamburgers, fried chicken,
08:27 like all this stuff that people see on Devour Power
08:30 is essentially what we love.
08:32 Like, we do what we love every single day.
08:34 I mean, there's no way around that.
08:36 - So when you go into a restaurant,
08:38 do they know who y'all are?
08:41 - Sometimes, for sure, yeah.
08:42 - And when they do, do you feel like they're going like,
08:45 I don't know, the extra mile to make sure the food
08:46 is extremely good, extremely well presented for you guys?
08:50 - I don't know.
08:51 I mean.
08:52 - That's something we used to run into.
08:53 - Yeah, so back in the day we would,
08:57 why don't you take this?
08:58 - Okay, so,
09:01 do restaurants treat us differently?
09:03 I think in some aspect, yes.
09:05 We try our absolute best to avoid those situations
09:08 and therefore we don't go in for comped meals.
09:11 So like, we get hundreds of emails a week
09:13 from restaurants asking us to come in, try the food,
09:15 post about it, et cetera, et cetera,
09:17 and we firmly believe in paying for our meals
09:20 because many years ago when we thought about
09:24 doing the comped thing, we had a couple experiences
09:27 where the dishes would be so much different
09:30 than what the next person gets.
09:32 And that's not good for us, in our reputation,
09:36 nor is it like, we're thankful because they're trying
09:39 to be nice, but also sometimes you just want
09:41 to enjoy yourself.
09:43 Sometimes we just want a date night.
09:45 - We really like to have, clients aside,
09:49 when we go into a restaurant, we really like
09:50 to have a genuine experience.
09:53 Whether they know us or not, if they know us,
09:55 that's awesome.
09:56 We'd love to meet people, we'd love to go hang out
09:58 in the kitchen and say hi.
09:59 - Of course.
09:59 - But we like to have the actual experience.
10:02 If they take a little longer to cook the food
10:05 and make it quote unquote better, that's fine.
10:10 It's just, when we were saying yes to a lot of free stuff,
10:13 we would go in thinking like, oh, we'll have a nice meal,
10:16 like a casual meal, but ended up 15 dishes
10:19 come flying out. - Oh my God.
10:20 - And this whole table's full.
10:21 Everyone's staring at us, we're shining lights
10:23 in people's faces.
10:24 It's not our vibe.
10:26 - Yeah.
10:26 - It's really overwhelming.
10:27 - It's uncomfortable.
10:29 - We started obviously saying no to that
10:31 and then turning it, that was around the same time
10:33 that we were really going in on the business.
10:35 - Yeah.
10:35 - And it just made more sense to go on the business route
10:40 rather than just getting free food because--
10:42 - Well, I want you to know, it gives thankful, okay?
10:45 - Yeah, no, okay, no.
10:46 - It gives thankful, it gives grateful.
10:48 - I know, I just, I don't want it to seem like
10:51 we're like, ugh, free food.
10:52 - No, no.
10:53 - We are very thankful, we're in a great position
10:55 to be in, but at the end of the day,
10:57 we also try to help small restaurants
11:00 and most of our clients, I'd say 99.9% of our clients
11:03 are mom and pop, family owned, a lot of different cultures,
11:07 which has really started in the past couple years.
11:10 - Is social media still your highest source of income
11:14 or is it now devoured media?
11:16 - I would say it's all kind of intertwined
11:19 into social media.
11:21 - Yeah.
11:22 - We, without social media, we wouldn't have a business.
11:25 - Mm-hmm.
11:26 - A lot of these restaurants that we work with,
11:28 instead of going with the traditional PR,
11:30 they're allocating that money to work with us
11:33 and agencies like ours, where we come in
11:35 and we create content and it's very visual
11:38 and it's all like the stretchy cheese and all that stuff
11:41 that what people really love to see.
11:43 So yeah, I would say that social media
11:46 is the forefront of the business.
11:49 - Are you at all concerned about the TikTok ban
11:52 that just got passed through Congress?
11:54 - I know, it just got passed through like an hour ago.
11:55 - Yeah.
11:56 - I know.
11:57 No, I'm not.
11:58 And the reason is because it's not going anywhere.
12:01 I know that they have time to figure out
12:03 whatever it is that needs to be owned by the US or whatever.
12:06 And even if it does vanish out of thin air
12:10 and it's not no longer available in the app store,
12:12 people don't post on it as much,
12:14 that attention will go somewhere else.
12:16 Either that attention will go somewhere else,
12:20 be it meta like Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat
12:24 or another app that somebody makes.
12:27 I mean, those people will go somewhere.
12:29 They love social media.
12:31 They're on TikTok.
12:32 They're just asking for a different platform.
12:34 They will be asking for a different platform.
12:36 - I think social media is the wild west, right?
12:38 Every day something changes, algorithms change,
12:42 a new app appears, a different app fails.
12:45 We've seen so many since, you know, MySpace days
12:48 that I don't think we really are that worried
12:51 about the TikTok thing going on.
12:53 And also there is time for them to be bought out
12:56 by someone in the US and given a percentage to China,
12:59 et cetera, et cetera.
12:59 So, meh, it'll be all right.
13:02 - So be real with me. - Roll with it.
13:04 - Do you guys think 2024 is still a good time
13:08 to start being a content creator?
13:10 - Great question.
13:11 That is a great question.
13:13 - I think so, yes, absolutely.
13:15 I don't really know how to dive into it.
13:19 - I mean, I think anything that you set your mind to,
13:22 you can definitely do.
13:24 When it became a thing that Instagram was like
13:27 the new thing, I guess, and we hopped on it
13:30 like the day it started, that's all, Greg.
13:33 When TikTok came out, Greg started it
13:36 like the day it started.
13:37 You have to be on top of the trends
13:39 and you have to be on top of what's coming up next.
13:41 And like I just said, it's the wild west.
13:43 You gotta keep your eyes and ears open and just dive in.
13:47 And it's consistency, Greg posts every single day,
13:51 no matter what, rain, sleet, snow,
13:54 you know, he doesn't feel well.
13:55 It's every day, Greg posts on something,
13:58 whether it be we have YouTube, you know,
14:00 we have Snapchat, we have Instagram,
14:02 we have TikTok, we have whatever.
14:04 And also not for nothing, I have to say,
14:07 for Devour Power specifically,
14:09 all of that content to this day is fully edited
14:13 and fully posted by Greg only.
14:15 - Really?
14:16 - So thousands upon thousands of videos a month
14:19 are all coming out of this guy.
14:20 - It's a full time job.
14:21 - It's a full time job.
14:22 - It's a lot.
14:23 - Oh my goodness.
14:24 - He's very talented.
14:25 - Doesn't feel like work to me.
14:26 - It doesn't.
14:26 - No, it doesn't.
14:27 Going to the restaurant doesn't feel like work,
14:29 editing in the office doesn't feel like work.
14:32 It's pretty cool.
14:33 - He definitely loves it.
14:34 - So with social media, I know you guys,
14:38 you had your restaurant at first,
14:39 like the restaurant approached you guys
14:41 and that's how you kind of made your first lump sum of money.
14:44 How long did it take you to actually make money
14:47 solely from social media, like in advertising?
14:50 - That would be you.
14:53 - Oh geez.
14:54 I think, well, when we quit,
14:56 that would be probably three years in, I'd say.
14:59 About three years in, so about 2015.
15:02 - Maybe you discussed like a first client,
15:05 what do you call it?
15:06 - A brand?
15:07 - Brand thing, yeah.
15:08 - I don't know what the first one would have been.
15:09 We started getting brand deals pretty early on.
15:13 We got picked up by a lot of the larger publications
15:16 that had just gotten on Instagram.
15:19 For example, like Food & Wine and--
15:22 - Cosmopolitan.
15:23 - Cosmopolitan Magazine did a whole spread on About Us
15:27 about on their Snapchat and on their website.
15:30 Food Network then approached us
15:31 and did like three different mini series with us,
15:34 like different fun food shows.
15:35 So we had a lot of opportunities very, very early in
15:39 because we were so quick to jump on
15:42 the different social media trends that were happening.
15:44 Trends meaning like different apps and things like that.
15:47 Which again, I give that credit to Greg
15:50 because he's really, really good at knowing
15:52 what's coming up next or like if an app
15:55 just looks a little too silly
15:56 or like maybe a little too young or things like that.
15:59 He's really good at deciphering all of that.
16:03 About three years in is when we really were able
16:06 to monetize enough to cover rent and cover food.
16:09 And we were also, again, Greg said,
16:13 we didn't grow up affluent or anything like that.
16:15 We were living in a basement apartment
16:18 in the Lower East Side at this point.
16:19 So we were paying nearly nothing.
16:22 It was definitely an illegal apartment
16:24 and we were just trying to save as much as possible
16:27 at that early 20s age where we could just make it.
16:30 And--
16:31 - And y'all did that.
16:32 - That's what we did.
16:33 That's what we did.
16:34 It's been a really interesting and fun journey.
16:37 - I just wanna add something to that if you don't mind.
16:40 So the way that we set up the company
16:43 is we don't have to rely on the brands
16:48 to reach out to us for that money
16:50 because it's not consistent.
16:52 We can't rely on it every single month to come in.
16:55 We created Devour Media because we can control the contracts
16:59 and control the money coming in with the clients
17:01 and it's on our terms.
17:02 So we could literally, we can end it, we can continue.
17:06 We know what money's coming in
17:07 and that's how we were able to grow the business.
17:11 With the brand work, it's tough
17:13 'cause unless you make a year-long deal with Coca-Cola
17:16 or whatever brand that reaches out to you
17:18 or you reach out to, it's really inconsistent.
17:21 You don't know when they're gonna email again to work.
17:23 The campaigns are just, they're almost random.
17:26 - So would you suggest to people
17:28 who mainly only have a personal brand,
17:31 would you suggest that they also figure out a way
17:34 to create some kind of business brand?
17:35 - Sure, yeah.
17:36 So there are a lot of ways to do that.
17:39 I mean, you can create some sort of subscription type thing.
17:43 You can start podcasting,
17:44 just branch out in different directions and see what sticks.
17:48 That would be my thing.
17:49 I mean, everyone always tells us
17:50 we should open up a restaurant,
17:52 we should start a podcast, we do all this stuff.
17:54 And I go a little crazy with that kind of stuff.
17:57 So it's good that we've honed into one thing
18:00 and are working with clients
18:03 because we get a lot of satisfaction from that,
18:04 helping out small businesses,
18:06 them telling us that we're helping,
18:10 that's the best feeling in the world.
18:11 - Oh yeah, absolutely.
18:13 - So you say you come from humble beginnings, both of you.
18:16 How did you guys learn how to manage all of your money?
18:20 - Oh my God.
18:22 - I still don't know.
18:23 - That would be my side.
18:24 I, through a restaurant owner
18:26 that we actually worked with for many years in Brooklyn,
18:29 introduced us to his financial advisor over at BlackRock.
18:33 And to be honest, I meet with him quarterly
18:36 for the past many years,
18:38 and he has really put into place a lot of different tunnels
18:43 of where to invest, where to save.
18:46 Now we have a son, obviously,
18:48 so I think a lot of the things that we've put into place
18:51 is to make sure that he has a better upbringing
18:53 and better chance and money saved up
18:57 for what he wants to do when he gets old enough.
19:00 I think that's probably our main priority.
19:02 And then of course, real estate.
19:04 So when we had enough to purchase something, we did,
19:08 and then we Airbnb'd it for a long time up in Hudson Valley.
19:11 So that was a whole nother side hustle
19:13 that I don't know how we had the hours in the day
19:15 to be managing, but so real estate was a big thing.
19:18 And it's New York City,
19:19 it doesn't normally go down in price.
19:22 (laughs)
19:23 - Oh girl, who you telling?
19:24 - I don't know.
19:25 (laughs)
19:26 So I think that we got our foot in the door with that,
19:29 with a small project, and that's really helped us out.
19:32 And now it's really just,
19:34 it's really just working with professional help.
19:38 Like you really should get somebody,
19:41 whether it even be in your local bank
19:43 or anything like that,
19:44 to help with some kind of financial advice.
19:47 Or, I mean, to be honest,
19:48 I follow a ton of women in business Instagram accounts
19:52 who will tell you so much about all the different areas
19:56 of investing and stocks and things like that.
20:00 That's like free advice.
20:01 Obviously do your own research,
20:02 but there are some really great free people
20:07 to follow on Instagram.
20:08 - Well--
20:09 - Women Who Invest is one of them, it's great.
20:11 - We ask everyone this, so we wanna know,
20:14 what has been your smartest and your dumbest purchase
20:19 since falling into money?
20:20 (laughs)
20:21 - Okay, I'll start with dumbest.
20:23 Back maybe like five or six years ago,
20:27 there was a very popular YouTuber
20:30 that I was pretty much obsessed with, Casey Neistat.
20:33 - Okay.
20:34 - He would just go around on his Boosted board
20:37 in New York City, look cool, look cool as hell.
20:40 He was making money, he had a business and everything,
20:43 and I wanted to somewhat be him.
20:45 I wanted to gain a following on social media,
20:49 figure out that.
20:50 I became so obsessed with the electric skateboards
20:56 that he was riding.
20:59 I bought, no joke, seven of them,
21:02 seven different brands of them to try to like pick.
21:06 I use them for maybe like four months,
21:09 and I just never, they're just kind of like burning a hole
21:12 on the wall in our bedroom for no reason.
21:15 And all the wheels of the skateboards are all dirty,
21:17 so they make marks on the wall.
21:19 - You scuff it up the walls, don't get me started.
21:21 - You let him buy seven?
21:23 - Seven.
21:24 - Electric skateboards too, it's not even just like,
21:26 it's not even like I was getting exercise,
21:28 I was just like, boom.
21:30 There's no reason, I wasn't even getting,
21:32 I thought I would get places faster,
21:34 but instead I would just like have fun on it
21:35 and just ride all around and get no work done all day.
21:38 Like, I don't know.
21:39 - Oh my goodness.
21:40 - Pretty dumb person.
21:41 - Gotta rope him in.
21:41 - Gotta rope, you know.
21:42 - But you know what, it's okay, it's all right.
21:44 I mean, we all have our hobbies.
21:47 He's a hobby person,
21:48 so I think every month is something different.
21:51 We have, besides all the skateboards,
21:54 we have a nice bike, we have a surfboard,
21:58 we have, what would we use once?
22:00 - I didn't know you were gonna roast me right now.
22:02 (laughing)
22:04 - He likes the hobby, you know, whatever.
22:06 - All right, a little bit.
22:07 - It could be worse.
22:08 - We got some successful persons, right?
22:09 - He could be like a heavy gambler
22:10 and then we'd have a problem.
22:11 - Yeah, right, yeah.
22:12 - It's okay.
22:13 - It's all gone by the way.
22:14 - You gotta have fun with it, you know.
22:15 Life's short, who knows?
22:16 (laughing)
22:17 - Well, the smartest.
22:19 - Smartest investment was the home we bought
22:21 in Hudson Valley, and that was by chance
22:24 we bought it literally six months before COVID hit.
22:29 And it was a beautiful four bedroom,
22:30 COVID hit, we continued to rent in Brooklyn,
22:34 we moved up into the house with a few friends
22:36 just for like two months and then we realized
22:40 we were losing our minds during quarantine.
22:42 Moved back to Brooklyn, Airbnb did out for a little bit
22:45 and then we were able to sell it
22:48 for double what we bought it for within the first year
22:51 because of everyone trying to leave the city
22:53 to work from home, et cetera.
22:56 We were able to take that money,
22:57 then flip it into investing into a property
22:59 in Brooklyn where we are now in Greenpoint.
23:02 And that has really helped,
23:06 not that mortgages are cheap,
23:08 but it's really helped think of the future
23:10 and at least we're dumping money
23:12 into having equity in something.
23:14 I think that was, that one silly little house
23:17 in New Paltz, New York was the best investment
23:20 we ever did.
23:21 - Sounds like a great investment.
23:22 - We are very thankful 'cause again,
23:24 not that COVID happened, but because of COVID,
23:27 we really came out up top.
23:30 - Well guys, could each of you leave us
23:33 with one piece of advice that you would give
23:36 to content creators starting off in 2024?
23:39 - Do you want me to start?
23:43 - Yeah, sure.
23:44 - All right, my one piece of advice for content creators
23:47 just starting off for 2024 is be consistent
23:51 and do not waver from your voice.
23:53 You know, you're gonna have a lot of crappy comments,
23:56 don't pay attention to them, block people,
23:59 delete people, do what you need to do
24:00 to protect your piece.
24:02 I will not read comments anymore
24:04 because people are mean, obviously,
24:06 it's Instagram, it's Facebook, whatever it might be,
24:08 but stick to who you are and be consistent.
24:13 Post every single day, no matter what it is.
24:16 It could be something silly, it could be something stupid,
24:18 but keep it up so that you really find your voice
24:23 and find the people that really relate to your voice
24:26 and that's how you build your own community.
24:28 - And I would just piggyback on that
24:29 and say, diversify the platform.
24:32 So don't just focus on TikTok,
24:35 'cause obviously you don't know where that's going,
24:36 but create something for TikTok,
24:38 take that same piece of content,
24:40 upload it to Instagram Reels, upload it to Snapchat,
24:42 upload it to YouTube, upload it to Facebook,
24:45 upload it to Be Real, I don't even know.
24:47 - We don't even know what that's like.
24:49 - Just diversify, you never know.
24:51 I mean, we have content that doesn't do well on Instagram,
24:54 but pops off on TikTok and all of them in between.
24:58 I mean, there's really no rhyme or reason sometimes
25:00 and you'd be surprised at what quote unquote pops off.
25:04 - Thank you guys so much for joining me today.
25:06 - Thank you for having us.
25:07 - Thank you for having us. - This was really fun.
25:08 - For sure.
25:09 (silence)
25:11 (silence)
25:13 (silence)
25:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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