Episode 69 - From Building To Monetizing Your Brand

Nicky Saunders  
What’s poppin whats poppin whats poppin. Welcome to Nicky and Moose. I'm Nicky, That's moose What's up moose ?

Mostafa Ghonim  
What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders  
and welcome to episode 69. And on this episode we're going to talk about NAS going into the NFT game, but given up some royalties, we're going to talk about IG update with subscription that you can make some money. The Rock did a fire fire partnership with UFC and we're going to talk about a creator who should have been on the highest paid YouTube stars list Forbes you messed up, but we got you. We got you.

Mostafa Ghonim  
We got your back.

Nicky Saunders  
Yeah. But how we feel about this episode?

Mostafa Ghonim  
Man, I'm looking forward to this one it's time to help our people think a little bit bigger. And I think the the conversation on this one is gonna help you just do that. So yeah, tap in let's get to it.

Nicky Saunders  
So let’s get into this intro

Jaymie Jordan  
two kids from Queens. Cut from a different cloth. Now joining forces helping you to elevate your personal brand. Yeah, I'm talking about Nicky and moose, bringing you a never before seen perspective into the mindset, the mentality, the behaviors, the driving force, more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.

Nicky Saunders  
So you know what time it is is the review of the week. And we're gonna show some love to our YouTube people because they have been coming through this past numbers looking disgusting. So we appreciate you. This one's from Alex. Love. What love how chill the vibe always is. While Yeah, never let up on dropping knowledge bombs, bombs, bombs and gems. Gems gems. These are emojis people have wisdom, although I'm a bit curious what's going down in the after show with some thinking emojis. appreciate y'all praise hands. And perhaps Out Check Out Apple podcasts one of these days for the after show.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Great read

Nicky Saunders  
you see Emojis you know you gotta show. Gotta show Emoji some love. Everybody Please continue to leave reviews and comments. If you want to leave a review. Go to Apple podcasts, and pod chasers. If you want to leave a rating if you're a Spotify listener, go to our page, you can leave some stars that rates our show. And on YouTube and all our social media platforms. Leave a dope comment for any piece of content that has moved you added value. Whatever it is  feel me however you feel the emotion that is felt. But uh shout out to our audio listeners and our viewers. We love y'all moose. How are we feeling? How are you doing?

Mostafa Ghonim  
I'm feeling good. I'm feeling really, really good. Things are going great. But honestly, yeah, this week is about you man. Man. I'm super excited. I think you had a phenomenal week. This episode went live. A wire episode went live, which is kind of funny because we joked around we were like, well, we don't know me it comes out in two months. And it came out pretty quick. So shout out to you know, the fellas over there for making that happen pretty pretty quickly. But yeah, catch us up on your world, man. What was this week? Like? Like for you? Because the numbers was the numbers was up there. Numbers was up there.

Nicky Saunders  
A shout out. Shout out to the new Nicky and moose listeners and viewers shout out to my new followers. Um, yeah, the the interview was impactful. Let's just say that. Yeah. And not only the views, but as well as for my brand. I'm meeting a lot of new people. I got a really dope people following me from we got a brand new New York audience already already had a bit of a New York audience clearly right. But, um, this time, they're coming out. Very, very fierce. So shout out to all the New Yorkers. And Cali people are not leaving y’all out of this. Don't worry about it. Don't. But um, I had a groupie moment that I was almost ashamed of speaking about but I'm going to speak about about it on the podcast, right? Were twitch. Hello, sir. You may not watch this or hear this. But I had a groovy moment. Okay, didn't know you were following me? Didn't know I had no clue, right? Um, when you were dancing, so you think you could dance? Right? I was following it. I loved it. I watch every single episode. And so I'm not one of those new Ellen people, but shout out to you, and your Ellen moves and everything. But when he commented on my 50k following thing, I was done, I think I ran around my house several times. Feel Me, I was like, Twitch follow. And, and I realized that it's not the, the, you know, the big celebrities and situations, if not nothing, that he's not a big celebrity. But it's always the people that you follow the journey that you get super, super excited about, like, I followed his journey, like, everything, and even when he got married with a kid and everything, I was like, happy, happy. So shout out to twitch. Appreciate you. We gotta do, we gotta do something together. I gotta, I gotta help you out with something. Moose gotta help you something is gonna happen somehow, someway. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. I mean, you are popping with with the dance content, but I'm saying there's so much more. But we'll talk about that. Feel me. We'll talk about that.

Mostafa Ghonim  
But hey, the email is wide open for all business talk. I'm just saying emails wide open for all business talk. We're here for it. Yeah, yeah, it is.

Nicky Saunders  
But let's get into this episode. So first topic, of course, Queen zone, Nas finally drops his NFT. Right. But this one is a little bit different. So it was both come out the 11th. It like completely broke the site. It completely broke it. Right. So it came out January 20. And sold out in seconds. I tried it. Isaiah tried it. No luck. Oh, so sad. And so with this one, he put up two songs, Ultra Black and rare and was actually giving 50% up of the rights to these particular songs, right. Which is really interesting. Because normally, you just sell the art, maybe give them something physical or some access and things like that. But this is literally saying, Hey, you're going to get money back when you purchase this, which is dope, because now it allows the community feel like yo, we're in this together if this song continues to succeed the way it is, because I have access to it. I'm getting money to. Yeah, I'm not spending money just to spend money. Like this is an investment that is reoccurring, I'm getting mailbox money. Like that's very interesting. I want to definitely your take on it.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Yeah, no, I mean, it's phenomenal. When you think about what Nas has represented in the community and how his career has matured over time. I think this is a move that it's it's clearly him giving back in a way. But it's it's giving back in a way that shows people was possible, right? Because now you're giving people you're giving back, but you're giving back and you're saying hey, actually, I want you to see that there is a way to invest your money, where you can earn additional revenue or additional income over time, right? It's it's a, it's a positive cash flow investment, almost because you're talking about royalties from two songs, that who knows. I mean, he's still dropping music and people are still going back to the catalog. So that is super unique. I mean, it really, really cool.

Nicky Saunders  
And, and I think also for us, right? Thinking about what this means for people's brands. It's like how do we get our community more involved and it not only feel like a money grab, like a lot of these NFT projects, have some people like run away With the profits and just leave their community kind of left, high and dry. I was in one, I'm not gonna say the name of the project. But it it got quiet. Once it sold out, it got very, yes, very well. And this wasn't a cheap. This wasn't a cheap one, right? Because like, an average new one is about like, 400 500, right? Unless there's a celebrity backing it, and this is about 1000, something like that. Some over, right, um, and then boom, kind of like, ghost and hush. So that with this one, with Nas NFT it doesn’t even matter, if no one's really talking in the community or anything like that, we know, we're going to get money because of the smart contract. So when I'm, when I'm thinking about how can brands really bring this to their table, it's like, maybe if I drop a new shirt, and some of the profits go to that, like you get the shirt, but you also, as we go, you know, get a percentage of it, you know, cuz the community came up with the design, you got the NFT, boom, boom, boom, that's an idea. Whether you have a new group membership, an event, something to that effect, right, or, of course, anything that will continue to bring mailbox money, just like a streaming does. Or it could be real estate would would do very well with that, too. If you think about it. Yeah, yeah. No,

Mostafa Ghonim  
yet. It's not. I think it's really interesting in the fact that it's so seamless to me, you do it once. You as a creator, you don't have to do any maintenance to it, like you said, with the community. Well, you have to keep engaging in the community. But because this is going to engage on its own meaning it's going to produce on its own. It's not like Nas has to do any sort of dialogue shortly thereafter. Like once he puts it out. That's it. It's a wrap. Yeah, so yeah, that's a that's a that's a pretty cool idea. Now, you got it? Like, is there?

Nicky Saunders  
I mean, there's 10 No, not 10,000. Um, there were a certain amount, I forgot how many there was, there was like three tiers of each one. So, um, like for one of I think it was for Ultra Black. They had like a gold or platinum and then like a VIP and like the VIP one was like five G's or something like that. But like the first one was, um, like a discord community. And, man, like something else I forgot. The next one was like merch. And then the VIP one was like, VIP tickets to this event, an exclusive vinyl, a call where hit boy, and then everything else that the other people get, and you get a higher percentage, because understand this is of 50% kind of broken into all the tokens that are there. So you don't get 50% Because How does everybody get 50% of the song?

Mostafa Ghonim  
So its like 50% divided up amongst Yes, people who purchase Yes.

Nicky Saunders  
And so if you get the higher tier, you get more royalties, right? But everybody gets royalties is just divided up evenly depending on which tier that you get so I thought that was genius, but I can't really remember how they broke it like how many but it is on for those who are interested. It is on the aftermarket, or the third party market whatever they call it open see. And if you want your chance to purchase it for a higher price, this is not this is resale now this is resale have at it feel me have at it. But oh wait, he said something. I didn't even mention it. Can we mention that real quick before I go? Hello. What did nas say about this project? I'm always looking for new and unique ways to connect with the people said the Queens, New York native in a statement. So I'm excited to partner with royal which is the platform that they have had this NFT on on their new endeavor in order for the world to connect with my music in a new way. So, shout out to NAS royal, especially for the sold out. NFT I wanted one I wanted one. I mean, we're from Queens. Why can we? I mean, but it's all good. It's all good. Um, let's get into this next topic. So I'm personally excited about this one, right? We're going to talk a little social media what does this mean kind of vibes? Instagram is starting to create different ways for creators to get paid on the platform, right? So they've been in the works, if if those who's been on Instagram, you may see different ways like badges in Stream Ads, reels, on how you can monetize some of your content. If not, we'll go more in depth about it. But now, they're kind of facing what Patreon is doing. And doing subscriptions. Which I think it's kind of fire. But let me show you what I mean by something I did. Ayo instagram update time, and we're talking about money. So Instagram is introducing subscription. And there's gonna be three types. Let's talk about it. Here's the first one.

Unknown Speaker  
First is stories. So craters gonna be able to go live just to their subscribers, you can get exclusive access to those stores, they'll be marked with a purple ring, so you know that it's just for you

Nicky Saunders  
 Now, here are the other two ways.

Unknown Speaker  
The second is subscriber lives. So a creator can go live just to the subscribers. And the third is you'll get a subscriber badge, a little purple indicator, so the creator knows that you're a subscriber where they see you in comments, and DMS, or anywhere else across Instagram.

Nicky Saunders  
So now you could charge your followers a monthly fee to see exclusive contents that are going to Patreon and other platforms. What do you think about this comment below? Sir, so, um, I like this, I like this a lot. Because I'm always very happy for different ways to make money on a free platform. These are things that we were already doing. Now we can give a certain kind of incentive of, hey, you've been getting all this value, I got more stuff for you. And no one else is going to see it. Unless they're a subscriber, right. Now, this is funny, because we brought up fan base last week, right, which got an announcement for that. I'll say Low key later on, right. But um, fan base is a platform that allows you to monetize right away and do subscription. But here comes Instagram, me. Instagram is not playing. So you are able to create exclusive stories and lives for whatever price you want a month, whether it's from zero to 100. Now, what they did say, which has been a been a big problem for other platforms that do this kind of subscription situation is that you can actually take the contact list off of the platform where other like YouTube and Facebook and Twitter, you can't necessarily do that. If you're like locked in for that. Now. It's great, because as you're growing a following, it is a bit difficult. It's not impossible, but is it bit difficult to get them off feel what I’m saying like to get them off the platform, it is a bit hard. But now that there's going to be pretty much of a workflow of them, we get the followers. Let me cater to them nurture to them. And they let me offer them something of a really dope experience by them becoming a subscriber and giving them natural status because with badges with the subscriber badges, as long as they're subscribed, every single time they comment, they're going to have just like purple badge, which no one else has on Unless their subscribers shout out to Lonnie, one of the people because they only opened up for 10 creators, so he, he's one of them. And he was breaking it down to me kind of just some of the ideas that he's going to have and things like that. But he has it and he's, he's already starting like, Yo, I'm gonna go a little bit more personal into my life, you're going to see my writing process, because he's a comedian. You're going to see all into my world. And so I subscribed just to understand the process, it was very smooth. You buy right on the app, right? Just like how you buy badges. And, um, I got access to his stories right away. And I got the badge. And it definitely made me feel like I stand out out of all his 1000s of comments that he gets, you know, so I think this is going to be really good for people who are trying to grow a brand on Instagram, because it allows you to continue to create a really dope experience on the platform. And if they are true, because when I did ask Lonnie, hey, you know, is the contact list going to include emails, he was like, I'm not sure I'll ask. But if it is true, that you can take this contact list, and take it off social media, put it on, like an email, list and grow your list that way. Oh, game over game over, I feel. Um,

I feel like it may shake a little things up for fan base. But of course, this is going to roll out. So that means that it's going to take a minute for everybody to have it, but they're saying everybody has it at this moment. fan base, everybody has the chance to monetize. Right now regardless, if you have one follower, you have 1000s of followers, you're able to do this. So I like what what Instagram is doing. Moose from a brand business side kind of vibes. What do you think?

Mostafa Ghonim  
Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's of course, from from a big business, just thinking Instagram and meta really quick. What they're doing is, is almost competitively scary, right? Because from a business standpoint, it's competition. Yep, they have the backing, they have the resources, obviously, financially, very well equipped to start taking over some of these areas. But the advantage here from a business standpoint that I think a lot of entrepreneurs need to pay attention to is centralizing the experience for your users, your customers and your clients. What's happening now is they're noticing the trends of people building a following. And then because the platform doesn't really give major opportunities for the creators or other people to monetize, then the entrepreneurship instinct kicks in. And people are finding ways to monetize, whether it be through events, through services through other platforms, like you said, exclusive content, putting things behind a paywall. So what's what's that doing ultimately, it’s taking people off the platform and going elsewhere. And we know that for these platforms like Facebook, aka meta, and Instagram, and YouTube, that is the last thing that they want you to do. They don't want you to go from from their platform or from one place to another place, so that you can continue to consume or interact with with the Creator or someone who's things that you enjoy. So for them to centralize this, I think is going to help them drastically from an overall experience standpoint, because everyone just has to go to one place and stay there for some of the things that they typically would have had to go elsewhere to get. So I think that's something that from just an overall strategic standpoint, we can echo that in our own experiences. I know for us simply put, when we look at our some of our programs and some of the things that we've had, we've noticed that there is less of a follow through rate when we have people having to sign in from one portal to another portal to another portal to access some of the different resources. So anytime we centralize and we say hey, if you log in here, you're going to get all of the things that are part of your subscription or your membership. There's usually a better retention rate, which as a business owner, that's got to be something One thing that is super important for you, because I've always said, retention is the number one thing that gets you out of the hamster wheel. Meaning that you don't have to keep waking up every single day to chase sales. It's not to say that you don't, you no longer have to innovate, because innovation is something that we always have to continue to do. But the better that you can retain your customers, the quicker you're able to get out of the hamster wheel and have a solid foundation in place. So I think it's really cool. Obviously, like I said, with their resources and backing, they're competing at a very high level. The The only question I would have for you nicks is, when is it a good time for someone when they get access to this? Just because they get access to it? Is that an automatic? Yes, put that up and make it available for your audience? or should there be some things that we're thinking about as people managing brands or businesses online? To say, Okay, I have the feature, but should I charge my audience for additional things? Or should I wait? Like, what's the, what's the recommendation here? You think?

Nicky Saunders  
So, I think Um I'm big on monetizing the second you can, that doesn't necessarily mean that people will buy into it right away, but you have it available. And with a platform, if you are trying to grow a loyal following that is going to buy into the things you do, you got to provide the options and people are aware, right, this is going to allow the people to to be trained, that they need to buy instead of just doing free, you know, so it's, it's very interesting how we're going to now start seeing the importance of free content and in a paywall, and I was having back and forth conversation when this was, you know, this was announced, some people were like, Oh, no one's gonna pay for this. And I did a whole live about it. And people were like, what we would we would pay for extra access, that means I'm a more into your life, that means a more, finding out more details, more tips, more motivation, more, more entertainment, like, I broke it down to even like for the podcast? What would that mean, for the podcast, if we did IG subscriptions, and we could do our after shows, right on the lives, we can show on stories, who were talking about, maybe it's a glimpse into the different clips, you know, getting polls, to allow other people to let us know what the topics are going to be, you know, and anybody who has a podcast, you could take this same model, I'm no problem with that, you know, people who, you know, do entertainment or, or drawing, you know, do a live drawing that, at the end of the live gets gifted to one of the subscribers, on the stories they have chance to say was going to be drawn next, or for people who do video editing was going to be edited next, you know, it's about creating a different experience. And you could do that on day one. You could do it the second that you have the the option to do it. Now this is going to be a minute. Right? They got 10 creators right now who have a crazy following. I think Lonnie has about over 500k on Instagram, right. But as they start opening up more and more, is still not going to probably be available for everybody, I believe, until probably six months. I give it that probably six months till we start really seeing something. I think in three months, they'll start opening it up a little bit more. And then three months after that, opening it up a little bit more. Like so. Yeah, I don't really see it, truly getting to everybody for first, so you should start preparing. If this is something that you want to add to, you know, to your streams because this is just and they said in the first year, we're not going to take out any fees. But we, but we also have to be aware that Apple takes 30% of everything.

Mostafa Ghonim  
even on Instagram? 

Nicky Saunders  
yeah, any, any app that does in app purchases, Apple takes 30%. It's been a ongoing battle for creators who do like any type of subscription base or any purchases, or whatever, anything that's bought with Apple phone, they get 30%, which we should talk about one day, that is trash. But I do believe this IG subscription is, is going to be really good for creators, because on top of Instagram badges for those people don't know what that is, you get tips on live. And right now it's available for everybody who's over 10,000 followers, majority of things that I'm going to say, are pretty much available for people with 10,000 followers. So that's why the subscription is very interesting. Because it may be open for everybody. And they don't have to go to other platforms, which Instagram is very aware of. Like,

Mostafa Ghonim  
yeah, that's huge. That's huge. Wow.

Nicky Saunders  
I like it. So if you're going to try it when it's available? Let us know, in the comments in the reviews, if you're going to do IG subscriptions, but let's get into some business talk. So, um, Moose wanna set this up, you wanna, set this up.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Sure, yeah. Well, so I was actually, first time I get set something up on package. Okay, so yeah, I was. I've always been we've we've talked about this multiple times in terms of just Dwayne Johnson and and the different types of brands and companies and businesses that he's built. So we were like, always planning on like, okay, how can we implement this into the show, because, again, that's definitely someone that needs to be highlighted. But what happened recently, this collaboration that he pulled off, was definitely worth noting. So for those who don't know, the rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, just signed a deal with the UFC, to give them his signature sneaker line, which is a shoe that he has were Under Armour. So we'll play the clip. And then we'll break this down a little bit deeper, because I think this is a very, very smart move.

Dwayne Johnson   
First of all, it's incredible exposure for the brand of project rock. And again, this is why I am so grateful, I put so much heart and blood, sweat and respect into the brand of project rock, because it is a reflection and an anchor of who I am in my DNA. But beyond, I think the brand exposure and these two brands coming together. It's deeper than that, to me it is, you know, these fighters on an island. And I have such tremendous respect for these fighters, the men and women and that island that they're on, they make for the ones who walk the walk, and they make that walk to the iconic octagon, and they put it all out on the line.

Mostafa Ghonim  
So really, really cool here, right first, first, let's just kind of take you back to how this came to be. And then we'll talk a little bit about why we think this is a good move and how you can possibly benefit from something like this, if you know you're in a similar position, or how to get yourself in that position. So first off, if you noticed the rock, he's probably one of the best, big celebrities that built a personal brand, right? He's really, really good at just pulling out his phone, especially when he's in the gym and talking about his values, the things that he cares about his hobbies, and just showing you a behind the scenes of his life. And this is something that many and all of us can do, right? We don't need a crazy camera crew. But through that a lot of people started engaging with his social media. So you notice that his social media from the US, I think, if not over 100 million is definitely close to that. But what happened shortly thereafter is he said signed an agreement or he signed a deal with Under Armour to create this sneaker line for him, right. And it was like pretty much sneakers and what they call project rock, which is all types of gear, right shirts, hoodies the whole nine. So you fast forward a little bit now and you notice that he takes that deal on that product line. And he gives it to the UFC to be the official sponsor, because UFC recently cut ties with Reebok after a deal sold Reebok away, so they kind of just let that go. Now here's one thing to think about. Number one, UFC is a multi billion dollar brand. Shout out to my good friend, Nick who told me about this, but they have 48 of the 52 weeks, they have events airing every weekend. 48 out of 52 weeks, they've had fights airing every weekend. So they're they're almost becoming like a new, global or main sport when you think of like NBA, NFL MLB. But like, they're really out here and they have a full long season. So a multi billion dollar brand, airing almost 48 weeks or 50 weeks a year. And then you wear that you give them your gear to wear. Now here's the part that I think is so interesting nicks the rock didn't go out and say I'm going to make my own shoe. I'm going to design my own sneaker, I'm going to start my own sneaker company and take that and give it to the UFC so that I can generate more sales, the Rock partners with Under Armour and uses their signature line to give to the UFC. So the part for me that I think is so fascinating is we have to start I know I know, for our community, and we encourage you also on the platform and on the podcast when we talk about ownership. But sometimes you want to be strategic about what type of ownership you go after. Yeah, but not not all ownership. So just because we're in content creation, or we use cameras and mics, we don't have to, we don't have to go out and say, okay, you know what, I'm gonna start my own camera company, I'm gonna start designing cameras. It's like, it's like, okay, oh, yes, we get ownership, but you don't have to go into something that's not in your lane or in your niche. So I like the idea of let me partner with a company, or with something that I use regularly. It's a part of my DNA and my brand. And because we have a great relationship, I can boost sales, earn more revenue, bring more attention. And it's a win win for everybody, by putting it with a major contributor or major brand or growing brand, like the UFC. So I think that to me, for me nicks, that's the greatest part about it. It shows a very community approach to building businesses and sharing a sharing a brand, as opposed to saying, you know, what, nope, I'm out on my own. I'm gonna start building sneakers, or I'm gonna start making sneakers. And and it's like, it's a waste that don't make sense. It's like, No, you're an actor, you make movies, you act, this, you keep doing that. But utilize some of these other channels to help you bring more awareness or more revenue. And then share that with other areas that need it. So that that for me, I thought was really cool and should give us a new way to think about as business people we don't like I said, don't gotta go out and make your own cameras. But think about, Hey, can I partner with a Sony? Can I partner with Canon and then use their cameras and give them to my students? Because I'm teaching people how to shoot maybe, you know, like that. That's another way to think about ownership instead of having to go out and and necessarily make your own things all the time.

Nicky Saunders  
Yeah. I love that. It's, it's, it's a combination of ownership, as well as relationships. So he's over 20 years of friends with Dana White. I said it Right, right. Yeah. Never wanna Screw that man's name. Right. But, um, so when, uh, how do I put this? When Reebok when they drop Reebok, it's like, oh, let me go with my friend who's already killing the game who's backed by Under Armour, right? This could work out. He was a wrestler. He understands the training situation. This can actually work. And now this is going to be available for all UFC fight fighters during their open workouts, walk out locker room situations, which is huge. It's amazing for brand awareness and I wasn't even super aware of. And I remember Under Armour announcing, like a part a global partnership with him. But I didn't I totally didn't even know about this. This whole other brand that he had created the sneakers, the gear, and then I'm looking at different clips and how they strategized the mission statement for the brand. It's really interesting, but I love that the core, maybe not the core, but a good amount of why this deal happened was because of the relationship. It was because the rock and and, and Dana White are. Yeah, I've always wanna make sure I say his name, right. But um, those two had a long term relationship that then now is going to turn into a multi year deal with each other's brand. I think that's amazing if you can, if you could do things with friends, powerful brands, because the rock alone has a power brand. Yeah. And that do you have see is a power brand that they could come together because of friendship. I think that's really dope.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Absolutely, absolutely.

Nicky Saunders  
But, uh, let's talk about the the Creator. That should have been on the Forbes lists I'm gonna let moose say his name, but been been in the YouTube game. Since he was 13 years old, has over crazy 1000 videos out as of today, right? Over 1000 and has as of today, which was January 22. When this was recorded 15 point 2 million followers moose Who are we talking about?

Mostafa Ghonim  
Man, the one and only MKBHD. Marcus Brownlee.

Nicky Saunders  
Now, moose gave me this this video. And I was instantly like, Yo, we got to talk about it. He ain’t have to explain it too much. He said, like maybe one or two things. Sent me the video. I was like, Absolutely. This is fire. Right. And I'm gonna let moose explain why he sent it to me and things like that. But there is a clip that totally like, if you want to know how to stand out. Here's a formula. Yeah, it's not the only formula. But here's a formula. Right? So moose real quick, what, what really got you with that video that you want to talk about on the podcast?

Mostafa Ghonim  
Yeah, I think the main thing for me is that we need to start showing examples of people who have gone from content creators, to media companies.

Nicky Saunders  
Needs air horn 

Mostafa Ghonim  
Yeah, yeah, because I think one of the things that we've talked about in terms of when it comes to black and brown communities is that we're always late to the party. And now we're starting to see that okay, you can like the content game, you can you can make a good amount of money as a content creator. But the next tier is the media company. So for me just kind of seeing his transition and what he's on now. I was like, okay, yep, let's bring that to the platform. So we start to show people, there is levels to this, there is bigger goals to it. Nothing against content creation. It's a great start. But, but let's also put a bigger, you know, bigger goal behind that, which is Can I can I can I turn my creativity to be able to start a media company one day. And that's the that's the bread and butter here

Nicky Saunders  
Let’s get into this clip.

Unknown Speaker  
This was a quarter million dollars. Obviously not worth it. But here's the thing. Here's so here's the thing about being a tech channel, every time we pull off something new, we find that it's replicated pretty quickly. So this is specifically difficult. To replicate, every time we do a robot shot, we want it to be not just fun and exciting to watch, but leave you with a little bit of how the F did they do that.

Nicky Saunders  
So Um, real quick backstory, he has a really expensive robot that helps the camera move in a certain kind of way. For his shots now, yall heard, how much that cost? How much does it again? Moose

Mostafa Ghonim  
quarter mil 250 Yeah.

Nicky Saunders  
So I found this very interesting. Because we always want to sit and think about how do we stand out, there's so many brands, so many people doing what we're trying to do, and what we're trying to do to stand out and be different. And when we do it, it seems like, especially if we're leading, or people already watching us that it gets copied in 2.3 seconds, or somebody else did it the same time. So his way of thinking about it is, you know what, let me buy the most expensive thing that creates an effect. And that's going to be super hard to replicate. And so that instantly makes me think, like, sometimes we got to spend the bag, just to avoid being duplicated. And some people are gonna be like, Ah, I don't have it, I don't have it, he probably didn't have it in the beginning. Right. But this is the importance of investing in your craft, because he already understands, to stay on top of the game, he has to continue to be new, he has to continue to innovate. And even the smallest movements in a video can make you stand out, like nobody's business. So he said I would invest a lot of money, it's probably really not worth it. But you can't do it. And for that, it's worth it for me. So you have to look at it. Like, when I'm creating something or when I'm doing something for my brand. It may be expensive. But can other people duplicated? Don't only look at something from a standpoint of is it expensive? Because then it becomes a status situation, and other people will eventually get it. But is this something that's expensive, that people are not going to duplicate right away, because half a mil quarter mil. And it's something that not everybody puts priority to, to have a the camera move in a robotic way is not necessarily priority. That's a nice thing. But it's not necessarily priority for some content creators. But for him, this is going to be my style that no one else could copy. For him. That's that's priority. Right? Yeah. So I, I really even for myself, is thinking about what is a small thing that will instantly if I invest in it instantly make me stand out that other people wish they had, but it's not that super important. They they could still go by without it, they can still create certain things, they can still say certain things. But you know when you see that is me.

Mostafa Ghonim  
And here's some benefits to it from a business standpoint as well. Right? Then, number one, when you're in a good place, you can afford to make these types of acquisitions. Because from a tax standpoint, it's extremely helpful, right? I'm not going to jump into the tax expert. My accountant has me really really well versed on this but I'm not gonna pretend to be one but from a business standpoint, if you're talking about making these types of large purchases, talk to your accountant about how that can help your business because the end of the year or depending on what your estimating to make and gross. It's always a good idea to consider these types of purchases. Nikki and I had this conversation literally two days ago I say with a three to six months, if you're tracking this amount, let's make these types of moves. Because you don't want to, you know, like, and here's the thing about, again, when we talk about black and brown communities going into business, you think that the idea is to hoard your money, meaning like stacking money, stashed your money, and the more that you see there, the bigger you see the number in the account, the better that is for you. It's good for your ego. But it's not good for you at the end of the year, because you are going to pay a significant amount of taxes on things that you could have used. Right, right. Meaning on equipment that you could have purchased, that lowers how much taxes you could have paid, and you could benefit from, from using that equipment in your business or what you're doing. So definitely, I would say, look into that, if you're not already aware of it, it's definitely something to consider. That was just, again, fascinating, because I remember coming across, you know, his videos when I used to watch Casey Neistat, you know, maybe like, a long time ago, maybe five or seven years ago, Casey Neistat was a, a New York YouTuber who blogged and was a filmmaker, and they did a phenomenal job. And he had them on his on his on his blog once. Yeah. And then I'm scrolling through Instagram last week. And I see, I see this guy doing a commercial for Best Buy. And I was like, what? How do you go from YouTube to a partnership with Best Buy? So that's what kind of had me looking into it a little bit more, right? And then, and then I see the growth. I was like, dang. Now, again, let's take a word. Let's take this word, with some perspective, because you talk about 13 years in the game, yeah, started in his parents house, and goes from that, to now having a studio that he's paying, you know, a substantial amount of money for, but it improved his workflow. And there's so much more that you can do to it. So I'm pushing us now to really think about your what's the next level of the thing that I'm doing? What's the next level of the thing that I'm striving for? Yes, I could say, I want to be a full time content creator. But is there another level to that? I want to be a full time entrepreneur. But is there another level to that? I want to establish a personal brand, but is there another level to that? Alright, so I heard something that said, it takes just as much energy to work on something small as it does to create something big. So you might as well go for the bigger you know, the bigger concept is gonna take the same energy. So yeah, I just I just thought it would be important to talk about that. But yeah, shout out to shout out to my man and he's right here in Jersey. So if you watch this, man, you want to do a little you know im saying, just a little some some. We we’re local.

Nicky Saunders  
I'm just saying. Moose is local I'm not local. I'm not local.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Close enough. No, local but local for the right reasons.

Nicky Saunders  
Right. Right. Me make it we can make anything happen. There's planes, and automobiles, who says automobiles wait who said that

Mostafa Ghonim  
sounded a little bit.

Nicky Saunders  
trolling me. It's okay. It's all good. Anyways, look, we are going to continue our conversations. On the after show. We got a really good topic of does it matter to create the relationships or to just be whole? So we're gonna have that conversation on the after show. A big announcement. Big announcement. Hold on. People we’re on fan base. Yes, we have now converted from Instagram to fan base, we still going to have our Instagram Don't get it twisted. But this is for those who truly support us. Right. We are going to put the after show clips in a fan base, as you know, for subscribers, and on our regular posts. If you really love it, you could send us some love, which is like tips on the actual posts. So we're going on fan fan base. Shout out to Isaac Hayes, the third shouts to the fan base community. This is really big. We've been strategizing on it for a little bit. So we kind of introduced it for a reason. Last week, when it came to the YouTube, the highest paid YouTube stars, talking about in this subscription situation. We practice what we preach. We're going to be on fan base So please, please, please go find us there at Nicky and moose. Send us some love, literally. And you chat with us over there. But Um, moose ready. Are you sure? You're ready? Yeah, sure, sure.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Yeah, I've been I've been thinking about this for a while, actually. Well, not a while, but I had a conversation. Just last week. Nice shout out to Kurt had a really good conversation. But I'm, I'm a little concerned. Because I know that words are powerful. Mm hmm. Words are powerful. But I'm a little concerned that our community is starting to get too attached to quotes and bars. And they use that as their inspiration for building business. Let me tell you

Nicky Saunders  
why. Wait, wait, go just there you go.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Are you gonna jump right into it?

Nicky Saunders  
Go go go. I don't even want the backside. I just want the bar. I just want the bar.

Mostafa Ghonim  
Well, let me tell you this nonetheless. Okay. I know words are powerful. But be careful not to use bars and quotes as your inspiration to start a business because bars don't build businesses. frameworks do. Quotes don't build businesses. Data does. Memes don't build business. Customer Service does so just be careful for what you use as your inspiration to start a business. 

Nicky Saunders  
I wanted to put air horns right before that good god. 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai