The Exchanges

Q So walk us through one of these deals. What do they look like?

A So for example, let's say, uh, Home Depot is probably my biggest, uh, client. Um, and so they'll come to me and they'll say like, Hey, you know, what can you do for us as an influencer? And I'll create like a series of content packages that I'll include. So let's say I create like a DIY project, how to build an outdoor kitchen. I'll then sort of make a YouTube video, uh, still images that have a step by step instructions, Instagram posts, Pinterest posts, um, and, uh, also sort of short videos, 15:02 and 32nd video clips for native uploads to Instagram and Facebook. So rather than just being a YouTube, I'm essentially acting as a production agency and producing a whole suite of content at once. And the reason why that's effective is Even for big brands, it's rare that they have a YouTube person that's in charge of YouTube influencers. It's most of the time they group social media into one bucket. So if you consider yourself just a YouTuber, you have a hard time interfacing with these big brands who really need a broad spectrum of content across all platforms.

AI assessment note: “Home Depot is probably my biggest, uh, client... I'll create like a series of content packages”

Q But can you add, I mean, can you add in like multiple products per video? Like, can you add products? Can you charge more per video? What would enable you to grow that way?

A I love the way you're thinking. Cause that's actually like a technique that we use a lot where we'll stack products. Right. And so we'll often try to find two or three brands that are compatible. So if we're working with Home Depot, we also want to work with products that are sold within Home Depot. And so even if you're not getting paid for all by all of them, you can at least tell them and they'll probably put some promotional effort behind it. So even if, uh, I'm, you know, if I'm doing a video for Home Depot, And quick reach in it, which is a concrete company. And let's say they're not paying me for that video. I'll still tell them and let them know and give them the mention because they're likely to promote it on their social medias. And sometimes they'll even put like a boosted post behind it on Facebook. So it's still about sort of collecting and acquiring assets. Now, obviously it's really ideal when you can stack multiple, uh, branded content fees within one video. That's great. And that happens sometimes. Um, but I think the key is to always just sort of say, I look at this way, right? In a particular type of content I do, brand and product mentions, they aren't getting in the way. They're actually essential.

AI assessment note: “that's actually like a technique that we use a lot where we'll stack products”

Q Let me, Ben, real quick, let me ask a Capital question real quick. I know you had partners that, that probably thought more about this than you did, but what did you buy the piece of property for and what was it? Was it just land? Was it something already there?

A We got a empty piece of land and that's how I sort of dealt with my guilt about sort of a gentrification. So we weren't displacing people. We weren't buying an old building, tearing it down and building, you know, new luxury condos. No, we bought a piece of land that had been empty for about, I think, uh, you know, Um, we got the blank land for just right around a 100,000 dollars. Uh, it was zoned for two units, right? So you could build a duplex there. Um, and what we immediately did is since I'm very interested in sustainable design and green design is I want to build, you know, a state of the art, uh, solar powered, super insulated building, um, that would really reduce its impact on the environment. Now, I know that consumers don't always want to pay extra for that on the sort of either the renting end or on the purchasing end. So my strategy was, rather than try to make, uh, increase my margins there, is could I leverage that with the city to get some zoning variances? So since I could only, since I bought the land for a 100,000, uh, and it was zoned for two units, I, you know, when I made my proposal to the city, I said, well, I'm going to build a really energy efficient building that uses less resources than a typical, uh, than a typical building. So can I get a very, can I get a zoning variance to build a three unit building? So I worked with the community to get them b…

AI assessment note: “we got the blank land for just right around a 100,000 dollars.”

Q So about six to eight clients. Um, how do you, What's the method? If you only, you're making, you're doing all kinds of things. I know some of the other products you're in, but if you want to just scale this business, Is there a way to, how would you scale it? If you want to do a million just in branded placements next year, how would you do that?

A Well, I think scaling is, uh, it's personal to what your skill sets are. So I'm not a good people manager. I'm a good creative. I'm a good producer. So for me, scaling would be finding, I don't want to manage people. I always want to be hands-on. I love working with power tools for, so for me, the scaling that I've started doing is hiring people that are generalists, just like me. So people that can Design a project, produce a video, edit it, and then post it. I don't want to have a team of assembly line production. That would actually be more efficient from a sort of, you know, total sort of business view, but it would also eliminate the reason I got into this the first place, and it wouldn't sort of leverage my skill set, because then I wouldn't be designing and making, uh, content.

AI assessment note: “scaling that I've started doing is hiring people that are generalists”