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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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
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
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More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
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LifestyleTranscript
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)
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