Who is the Anti.Prophet？ From 0 to 2M followers in 1Y
Summary
On this episode of the podcast, we have a very special guest, the anti-prophet, Abe. Abe is a content creator, podcaster, and podcaster with a particular focus on the conservative side of the internet. In this episode, we talk about how Abe got started with his content and how he was able to create a career out of it.
Transcript
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There were two videos that really, really blew up on YouTube, each of which has around 40 million
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views. The first was me making a comment about this kid who had taken a selfie in front of a guy
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who was dead at Starbucks, who had just gotten stabbed. And you see the dead guy on the ground,
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there's just blood everywhere. And this guy's like, bro, this guy just fucking died, bro.
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And the comment that I made is, you know, what people generally say when they see a video like
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this is like, oh, social media has ruined the world. But in my mind, social media more than
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anything is this perfected tool that basically mirrors back to you what it is that you want to
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see. And that's what it's incentivized to do in order to keep you on the app for as long as you
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want. So the fact that that kind of content blew up and that someone feels like they could build
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career around that because they knew people would eat it up is not a reflection of how bad social
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media is. It's a reflection of like the monster that you see in the mirror yourself. Would you
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like to know more? Hello, Simone. We have a very special guest with us today. The anti-prophet,
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Abe, you haven't heard of him. That may not be surprising, but you will soon. So I want to just
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as somebody who like stays up to date with what's going on and sort of the online intellectual space
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and the online conservative sphere, this guy started his channel at the end of 2022. So basically
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about a year ago in a little bit, he is already at over 2 million followers. His core thing is if
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you watch his channel, it's very, I'd say Chris Williamson, like very just sort of sane, non like
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out there content, like the type of content where like somebody understands like the red pill concepts
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and stuff like that, but they also understand where they've gone off the rails. And somebody
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understands like wokeism and how it distorts reality, but doesn't have any antagonism towards
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it. And so it was just shooting straight on everything. And I really love this. And I wanted
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to have you on to talk about how you achieved this, because it's very clear that some people,
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when they have pseudonymous selves within the online sphere, it's because they had a profile where they
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were just posting like angry and they didn't want it connected to their real life. Yet with you,
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everything seems very intentional. Like you went into this as a career pathway and one designed to
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inject sanity into the online discourse. So I want to know more, how did you accomplish this? And how did
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you sort of approach this? What were you thinking when you went into this?
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Yeah, man, good question. And thank you guys for having me on. So I think it's very fair to say that
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I went into this very intentionally. And the reason for that is when I started Antiprofit,
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I was actually managing the 15 person team of a very large content creator. So I had a lot of
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insight into how social media actually worked, how the sausage was actually made. And as a result of
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that, you know, I was able to go into this kind of understanding the volume that I would have to put
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out and the type of production quality that I wanted to achieve right out of the gate. And I also knew
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my shortcomings when it came to social media. For example, I know how to video edit. I'm a,
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I would say lower intermediate editor. I could certainly do the types of edits that I
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produce in short form, but I absolutely hate editing. And I knew that if I was going to force
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myself to do the editing, there was going to be no longevity with this project. And similarly,
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I wanted to make sure that my content was being posted within American hours because I wanted to hit
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an American audience. And in order to do that, I would have had to wake up at 6 AM every morning
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and post my content. And I'm not a morning person. And I knew right out of the gate,
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that was not going to happen. So right out of the gate, I hired that video editor and that social
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media manager to ensure longevity. And I think outside of that, just because of the volume that
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I was putting out, originally I was putting out, you know, 14 videos a week on three different
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platforms. And it just gave me a lot of data to work with very, very quickly that allowed me to
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learn very quickly as well. And I think that's the biggest thing that beginning content creators
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need in order to figure out what works with their audience, what doesn't, and what the market kind
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of wants from them. And I'm very, very lucky. So you said something there that surprised me.
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You're saying that you needed to be releasing the videos at a time when you were awake. Is that
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because scheduling videos in some way hurts you in the algo, or was that because you wanted somebody
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to be interactive in the comments? Sure. So on YouTube, scheduling is no problem,
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but on something like Instagram, if you're using third-party posting applications, that's
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something that Instagram really does not take kindly to. It takes it as sort of like bot mechanisms
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working in the background. And as a result, it's very, it happens a lot where people actually lose
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access to their accounts because they're posting using third-party software and then they show up
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to the algorithm as a bot. So you have to actually kind of be there to like manually post. Even if you
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draft it beforehand, you got to manually hit the post button if you're doing a creator account.
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So I want to go into the brand that you created here, whether it is the stuff in your background,
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the way that you dress, the way that you have done your pseudo anonymity, and the name of the account,
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Antiprofit. Can you just go into that, what you were thinking when you were creating this?
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Sure. So, you know, I knew I had a lot to say and I, again, had that background in social media.
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So I got to a certain place where I was like, all right, I'm going to try this out for myself.
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And the mask was actually sort of needed out of practicality to begin with, because again,
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I was working for this other creator and I knew that he was not going to be okay with me posting
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about the types of things that I post about while also representing his brand. So I went on a search
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to find a mask. And I think when I first settled on this mask, it was mostly just kind of a
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subconscious thing. I just saw it. It was gut instinct. I was like, okay, that one.
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It's cool. And I think on top of that, the nice thing that I've sort of realized over time is that
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the fact that this is a blank face really, I think, kind of lowers people's guard to a certain degree
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so that they can listen to the argument that I'm making for 60 seconds and kind of decide for
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themselves whether or not they buy into it or not. And then, you know, kind of ask themselves a
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question about a sacred cow that they happen to believe in. And, you know, if the question that
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I'm having them ask themselves as a result of my content causes them to poke some holes in that
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sacred cow and it loses water, then that gives them the opportunity to go and potentially find a
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stronger sacred cow that serves them a little bit better in their lives. Or if my question that I'm
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having them pose to themself causes them to go and poke that sacred cow of theirs. And it still
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stands the test of time. Then it's an indication that, uh, whatever it is that they're doing in
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their personal life is, uh, working for them and that they should continue in that direction.
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So I think anti-profit, I really started this again, I think subconsciously from the beginning,
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but over time it's become very conscious. I don't want to be, uh, I don't want to basically just come
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out and be an edgelord with like very conflicting opinions or very hot takes for the sake of being
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incendiary. I want to have you challenge your own deeply held beliefs simply to see if you actually
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believe them and make a, an informed decision moving forward about whether or not you keep that
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belief around. So, uh, the name anti-profit, what was the idea behind that? What was it supposed to
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invoke? Sure. So it was funny getting into this. I was actually thinking to myself, you know, what would
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be a cool name? And this is actually from a French film. That's really, really great. I don't
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remember the director, but the film is called the prophet. And I was thinking about actually
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calling myself the prophet at the very beginning. And I was like, nah, that's, that's too hokey.
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And it's also like to like, Ooh, look at me. I'm so cool. And I also really did not want to be
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anyone's guru going into this. I didn't want to be like the person that people look at and be like,
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yeah, that's what he thinks. And as a result, that's what I think too. That was like the antithesis of
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what I was going for. And I think even just that word that I used right there, that's what sort of
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led me to the, the name anti-profit is just like, I don't want to be your prophet. I want you to
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look inside of yourself for the answers. And as a result, don't look at me as your guru.
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That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And that's very much the theme of the channel for people
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haven't seen it yet is challenging the wisdom of online guru communities.
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Yeah. Well, while still finding the truth within them. And I feel like the mask is perfect for that
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because people really do look at appearances when deciding how they're going to interpret content.
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I mean, we get that all the time because we look like pasty pencil neck nerds. And I think it does
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definitely influence the way that people view us and view what we're saying. So it's just so smart
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that like, not only with the mask, but also you ask incredibly thoughtful questions. And I'm curious,
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like, how do you prep for the content that you're, you're creating, be it shorts or more long form,
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like the questions you create and the questions you often pose with the shorts that you're making too
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are quite interesting. And one thing that I've, I've always struggled with is we've,
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we've had friends in the past that have been insanely successful with creating a lot of content that
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tons of people watch. Right. But it's all like, it's, it caters directly to the lowest common
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denominator. Like this is the rainbow hair group, you know, and like, it just like, it's not changing
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people's views and you're actually asking profound questions and getting people to think differently.
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How have you managed to walk that line between lowest common denominator and fast growth and
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spreading versus asking questions that actually make people think, which they don't typically like
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to do. So that's kind of a two-part question. Like one, like what's your episode, like ideation and
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preparation process. And then two, how do you manage to walk that line?
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Sure. Well, I'll answer the idea of preparation as far as shorts are concerned, at least what I've
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been doing over the last two months, which is kind of returning to my roots. It's just talking about
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whatever happens to be on my mind that day and recording it. I actually don't do a lot of prep
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for these shorts at this point. Previous to that, there was about an eight month period where I was
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going through and really scripting out my arguments word by word, because I, I was really trying to
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kind of make complex arguments and I wasn't used to doing that. And I think as a result of that, it really
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required me to sit down and kind of flesh out my, my thoughts. And I think just since I did it, I got to
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a place where I felt more comfortable just going back to what I was doing originally, which is really just
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kind of riffing into a camera and doing it that way. And I think the funny thing with that is, you know, I'm still
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getting, you know, my thoughts across on a, on a day-to-day basis, but it's coming across more
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organically. And I think this kind of answers the other question that you were, that you're posing
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is the organicism of my delivery seems to be something that people connect with. And I think
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whatever it is in terms of the way that I'm communicating, people also find it easy to digest.
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I don't really know why that is. And it's, it's the kind of thing where I'm like eternally grateful
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that anyone would have any interest in hearing what it is that I have to say, but in terms of making
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it accessible to people, you know, I've, I've tried going in the direction of hiring really
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fancy editors to do like really fancy animations throughout the course of my, my shorts. And in,
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even in doing something like that, where it's visually much more engaging for whatever reason,
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it just turned people off. My views actually went down while I was paying 10 times more
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for the actual editor. And, you know, I went back to my normal editing style where you see me and it
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just flips to some B-roll to kind of further demonstrate the point that I'm making. And that seems to be the
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thing that really comes across. But I think maybe the, the overarching answer that I'll give is this.
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I don't think that me kind of dumbing it down as the main appeal to people. I think the fact that I'm
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trying to go into these issues without leaning on polarization and in, in other words, being like
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the Mr. Beast of like the political world, which is kind of what I think everyone is doing right now.
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I think it's a kind of a breath of fresh air that, you know, someone can watch a piece of content and
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ask themselves a question at the end of it, rather than have an opinion to shove down their throat.
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So maybe that's the, the, the aspect that it makes it easier to digest.
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I wanted to pull on something you said there when you were talking about the two different types of
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content that you had experimented with producing, i.e. the scripted and unscripted, which does better in
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the algo for you in which types of subjects do you find do better for your audience? And, and then as
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a follow-on to this, how do you think about balancing subjects that do well with the algo
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with subjects you really want to get across? Yeah, good question. So firstly, my organic improv
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delivery has always done better. I think it just has to do with like the organic inflections in my
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voice when I'm speaking naturally, as opposed to talking, like I'm reading from a script like that.
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You know what I mean? I think it's just a little bit easier to digest. Sorry. What was the second
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question one more time? So balancing different topics. So like on our channel, we have some
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topics that do better than others, but I know if I ever go hard into just one topic, that's doing
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really well, then the algo will only show us to people who are interested in that one topic.
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A great example where I learned about this was from the game theory and game theory really hated that his,
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his, his five nights at Freddy videos always would really outperform everything else,
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but if he ever leaned too hard into five nights and Freddy's, then he would only get recommended
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to people who are interested in five nights at Freddy's that would significantly hurt his reach.
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So how do you think about balancing that? And what's your five nights at Freddy's on your channel?
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Yeah, sure. And my five nights at Freddy's on my channel is Israel and Hamas.
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Yeah, no, that like, it does really well with my audience just because it really gets people
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talking in the comments, but it, it destroys my reach. I, it's just, it's the kind of content
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that's never like recommended to anyone. And, you know, understandably so these, these, you know,
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social media platforms don't really have a lot to gain by pushing that out from an advertising
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perspective. So I understand, but in terms of the content that just does well in general,
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it seems to be the case that when I speak about things inside of pop culture or inside of like
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just the general cultural zeitgeist for people between the ages of 18 and 34, that does a lot
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better than if I do anything related to politics, anything related to philosophy, which sometimes
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to me is a little bit frustrating, but I think the nice thing about current events and pop culture
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and that kind of thing is I can always use, you know, the things that I'm reading about politics or
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philosophy or the most recent article that I've read by like Leo Strauss to inform my opinion of
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whatever I'm saying about Ariana Grande, you know, instead of just coming out and being like Leo
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Strauss would have this to say about it. It's, that's not a good way to frame it. But if you allow
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what's kind of cooking in the back of your head to come out in your commentary on things that people
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are actually thinking about, then it's, it's a good way to kind of marry the two things.
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Well, I love that. Well, and philosophy is best when applied and not discussed in a vacuum out
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of context. Beautiful. Do you have a long-term sort of ideological objective with the channel or
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career objective with the channel? Like, do you plan to transition this into something else or do you
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plan to like shift the, the flows of thought of society? Flows and thought of society. I, I actually
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try and make a point to not admit that out loud, but I think something that I'd really love to instill
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in my audience as it continues to grow is the idea of centering your life around the truth or at the
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very least in the pursuit of truth. I think there's a lot of value to that. I think it's the thing that
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does a really good job of holding society together. And I think even with the products that I'm building
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out, I'm really making an effort to focus on providing like truthful statements and honest,
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like business practices in an industry, which is quite frankly, just run amok by influencer scams.
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And I, I'm, I'm actually currently building out a product to specifically try and fix that. So I
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think telling the truth as much as you can, both to yourself and to others is the way that I'd love
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to ideologically change society. If I am able to do that, I don't know. Talk about these products,
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like, like what products are you building out and what is your plan with them? Cause I'm not
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familiar with this. Hold on. Where will people know like where to find them when it's actually time?
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Yeah. Well, just follow me on my, on my page. You'll, you'll, you'll definitely hear about it
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from there. The product on a building out though, is kind of something akin to hustlers university
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where, you know, it's a subscription, you go in, you learn how to make money online, et cetera. But
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it's very much focused on the area that I have a lot of expertise in and that I have a really great
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network in, which is social media. And the reason I chose that is because I could have gone the
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direction of, you know, essentially just doing a hustler's university where I teach like day trading
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and like crypto gains or whatever. And it just, it, it didn't really feel authentic and I don't know
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anything about it. And I would be at the mercy of whatever random coach I brought on in order to try
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and make a quick buck, which I didn't want, did not want to do. And you know, there are a lot of
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studies coming out. I would actually use this by the way. Like, I want to know how you got to 2
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million followers in one year. Yeah. Sounds like we're signing up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so with,
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with this particular product, it's actually a little bit of a change. It's not so much how to
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grow on social media. It's to teach people how to be the people that sell the shovers to the
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incoming wave of creators that are coming in over the next couple of years in order to help them make
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money. So I'm actually teaching people how to be a COO, to manage teams, to manage systems inside of a
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creator company, how to manage high ticket sales teams, how to basically build out scripts, CRMs,
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that type of thing, how to manage communities, how to negotiate brand deals, that kind of thing.
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So you're being the Levi's Krause in the gold rush and not the gold prospector, which is very smart.
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You got it. Everyone wants to be a YouTuber now.
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You're teaching people how to be Levi's. Well, to, to, to, and I like that. I mean,
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I think that this is what's really needed as the university system increasingly as just a utility to
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get bureaucratic jobs, teaching people how to functionally make money on their own,
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which is really important for another thing that's important for you, which is what's,
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It's a really important part of digital nomading is being able to develop your own income streams
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outside of bureaucracies. So I'd love to hear a little bit about digital nomading. Was this
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something you were doing before this? Was this something that this unlocked? Like, how do you
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think about digital nomading, the digital nomading community in this career path?
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Sure. So yeah, digital nomading was something that I kind of first got into when I first started
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managing the team for this content creator that I worked for. And as a result of that, and as a result
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of certain people in that person's network, I got a lot of exposure to, you know, the, you know,
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obviously living abroad, which was really great, but I also got a lot of exposure to a lot of creators
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creating products and services that were just complete dog shit. And I think I saw between that,
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as well as, you know, watching someone like CoffeeZilla or something, I saw a lot of faith lost
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in the creator economy. And which I think is really, really too bad. And I think, you know,
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one of my values is being able to leave the US even just for a few months, just to kind of get
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yourself outside of the pressure cooker to realize that there's a bigger world than what's happening
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in my case in Salt Lake City, Utah, or New York City, or Miami, or, you know, Topeka, Kansas.
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And to be able to go and make that change by not just learning how to make money online, but to be a
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part of a community that is very much centered on the truth and pursuing ethical business practices.
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Because in my mind, if there are a bunch of digital nomads who are supporting all of these incoming
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creators by being the Levi Strauss, as you said, that won't build out a sales funnel for people unless
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it's like ethically done and it's not created to basically fuck over the person's audience.
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Like that to me is like the best sort of melding of all the things that I think my brand espouses,
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which again is living abroad, telling the truth, making money online, like doing stuff like that.
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I think that's sort of the reason why I'm building out that community and
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trying to marry that with, you know, living abroad.
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In the digital nomad community, have you ever lived in one of those creator houses or are you in sort of
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like a creator collective or is all of your information about the creative world mostly coming from your jobs?
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From my jobs, but as a result of that job, I was around a lot of content creators and one of the
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creators that was very much close within my network owned a, what would you call it, like a, like a hotel
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So, you know, I, I surrounded myself with those people quite a lot and learned a lot from them as well and
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You end up just hiring people like within your immediate network when you're getting started.
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So it's, it's, it's been interesting to say the least on that front.
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Do you see this way of life becoming more pervasive over time?
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Because we often think about, well, what's the future of the economy and jobs going to be like?
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It seems like right now, basically, if you are like a white collar knowledge worker that used to work for large
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corporations, we'll try something new because no one's going to hire them anymore.
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If you are like, if you're working in HVAC or you're doing like physical in-person stuff, you're
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going to be able to find a job, but a lot of people don't want to do that.
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So then you have this sort of unmoored class of people who want to kind of be more creative
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knowledge workers and maybe work remotely who cannot go to get a job.
00:21:43.440
So like, what do you, do you think more people are going to go into content creation and
00:21:49.280
Do you think you see these communities growing?
00:21:50.800
And if so, where do you think they're going to be?
00:21:54.220
And how do you think people who are now planning out their careers or planning out the next
00:21:58.480
stage in their careers as they get laid off from a big tech company should be thinking?
00:22:04.780
Well, I mean, I think there's going to be a lot of people entering the content creator
00:22:11.140
First of all, simply because, you know, Gen Z is finally graduating from high school and they're
00:22:15.680
going to be able to fulfill their teenage fantasy of not becoming a doctor, but becoming a content
00:22:21.560
The second thing with stuff like Sora and ChatGPT, like the barrier to entry for content
00:22:27.040
creation is going to be lowered to a level that we've never seen before.
00:22:30.980
And as a result, a lot of people are going to take up AI generated content creation.
00:22:35.240
And again, in my mind, that's sort of why I think the main money that there is to be made
00:22:40.600
is not going to be as a content creator, but as someone selling the shovels during the gold rush,
00:22:46.320
just because so many people are going to like, and I speak about this from experience.
00:22:50.420
You know, I built out this audience originally.
00:22:52.500
I had a million and a half followers and I didn't know how to monetize it.
00:22:56.080
And that was coming from the background of regularly monetizing someone else's audience.
00:23:00.980
And it's just because I had a lot of like emotional plugs around money that I had to kind
00:23:05.900
But there are a lot of things that, you know, I wasn't really skilled at doing and that I
00:23:11.460
And I paid a lot of money to the right people, luckily, to get that support.
00:23:15.980
And in my mind, that's where the main money is going to be made.
00:23:18.540
And for people who don't want to kind of do the traditional nine to five white collar work,
00:23:23.780
it's going to be a very, very viable alternative.
00:23:26.060
And I think it's going to be one that becomes more and more attractive as things can continue
00:23:30.280
to kind of disintegrate in our social lives in the West.
00:23:33.340
Yeah, I actually I want to pull on something you said there because it's true and it's
00:23:40.640
If people have looked at top, most prestigious careers or most interested careers by generational
00:23:46.580
cohort, you know, it used to be things like astronaut and stuff like that for the kids
00:23:51.380
who are coming out of school now for a while now, it's been content creator.
00:23:55.440
And this really changed like it's a totally different thing.
00:24:00.000
These young kids think of the content creator career pathway the same way my generation might
00:24:05.560
have thought of the VC career pathway or the previous generation, the astronaut career pathway.
00:24:10.400
And with the new tools like AI, I think AI fundamentally transforms what content creation is and the
00:24:18.940
amount of content you can output at a high quality.
00:24:21.840
I'm wondering, what are your thoughts around AI and how might you use it?
00:24:27.280
Like, for example, have you ever thought about training AI on your back collection to try to
00:24:38.280
I actually sunk about $4,000 into training an AI bot on all of my content and a lot of content
00:24:45.540
And ultimately in trying to get like concepts out of it, it was, it was half-baked AI isn't
00:24:51.700
quite there to, to, you know, be able to pose in, in Simone's words about my content, which
00:24:57.820
I appreciate a thoughtful questions about kind of complex issues with, with current events.
00:25:07.860
But I think the way that I'm seeing AI being very, very useful in my own business setup
00:25:13.040
is actually in the realm of assisting my sales team.
00:25:16.820
You know, like there's a lot of people that reach out to me via DMs, for example, that,
00:25:21.160
you know, want to potentially work with me in some way or another.
00:25:24.420
And utilizing AI to kind of sort through the qualified leads versus the unqualified leads
00:25:29.720
is something that's going to take a lot of, give a lot of time back to my, to my sales
00:25:34.180
team so that they can focus in their efforts on stuff that has even higher ROI.
00:25:39.600
By the way, interesting bit of trivia for people who might not know this, but the original
00:25:43.540
concept for Basecamp, our show was that it was going to be a three person show.
00:25:47.260
And the third person was going to be an AI that developing one that could react in real
00:25:53.280
And so we're like, Oh, that'd be cool to have the gimmick, but we just didn't go ahead
00:25:57.860
But I was also wondering how you thought about platforms in terms of where you're distributing
00:26:03.560
So you talked about Instagram and stuff like that.
00:26:06.180
When you started, did you have one platform you were really aiming for or one vertical
00:26:10.140
you were really aiming for, or was it a cross platform and then go where things did well?
00:26:15.560
From the very beginning, I knew that I was going to create 14 pieces of content per week
00:26:19.000
and that I was just going to put them out on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube shorts and
00:26:23.420
And it was interesting because again, at the very beginning, TikTok was my first standout platform
00:26:29.240
And I think it took like five or six months for me to see any movement whatsoever.
00:26:33.460
On YouTube, I was stuck at 1300 followers on YouTube for about, again, five or six months
00:26:44.380
And then I kind of tapered off for about, I think probably six weeks or so.
00:26:49.400
And then it went from 300,000 to 1.1 million in about two weeks.
00:26:57.680
And again, it just kind of started off with me not really being intentional about where
00:27:03.560
It was just me being like, okay, here's the content.
00:27:07.280
And I think as time has gone on, I've realized that if I really wanted to, I could further
00:27:12.540
segment the type of content that I was, that I'm creating.
00:27:15.820
So that it's more native feeling for something like TikTok than it is for YouTube.
00:27:20.900
TikTok right now is actually my least exciting platform.
00:27:23.740
I'm at around 300,000 followers and I get an average view count of around probably like
00:27:28.180
four to 6,000 views per video, which is obviously very different than what's happening for me
00:27:34.380
And I think that would change if I made just selfie videos that were like 12 to 20 seconds
00:27:40.760
But it's just, there's not really a way for me to do that in a, in a way that excites me.
00:27:44.720
So as a result, I just keep putting up the same content on TikTok, much to my chagrin.
00:27:51.880
Or was it like all of a sudden, all of your content just started picking up?
00:27:55.660
There were two videos that really, really blew up on YouTube, each of which has around 40 million
00:28:01.620
The first was me making a comment about this kid who had taken a selfie in front of a guy
00:28:09.220
who was dead at Starbucks, who had just gotten stabbed.
00:28:12.800
And you see the dead guy on the ground, there's just blood everywhere.
00:28:15.200
And this guy's like, bro, this guy just fucking died, bro.
00:28:19.180
And the comment that I made is, you know, what, what people generally say when they see a video
00:28:24.080
like this is like, oh, social media has ruined the world.
00:28:26.120
But in my mind, social media more than anything is this perfected tool that basically mirrors
00:28:33.920
And that's what it's incentivized to do in order to keep you on the app for as long as
00:28:37.600
So the fact that that kind of content blew up and that someone feels like they could build
00:28:42.420
a career around that because they knew people would eat it up is not a reflection of how
00:28:47.800
It's a reflection of like the monster that you see in the mirror yourself.
00:28:51.600
So that was something that really, really blew up.
00:28:53.640
And then I think people were like, who the fuck is this guy in a mask?
00:28:56.920
So as a result, the other video that blew up was why I wear the mask.
00:29:00.880
And the nice thing about that, and this is something that a lot of beginning content
00:29:05.560
creators don't really realize is I was very happy that it took about five or six months
00:29:12.020
Because by that point, I had like two, like probably 100, 200 pieces of content online for
00:29:18.640
people to binge once they got exposed to my brand as opposed to going viral on the first
00:29:24.820
or second or 10th post, because then they wouldn't have anything to binge.
00:29:28.020
And when people binge your content for like 30 minutes, that shows the algorithm like,
00:29:32.420
hey, let's give this guy another 40 million views to get more eyeballs in front of him
00:29:37.640
because it's working for whatever is happening on the platform.
00:29:43.400
While our followers can't see this, while our subscriber number grows pretty gradually,
00:29:53.060
Like we're probably at around a thousand daily watch hours now, which is probably nothing
00:29:57.560
But for us, it's, I think because that back catalog keeps growing.
00:30:01.260
So every new watcher who then binges is hugely adding to our daily watch hour.
00:30:07.540
Because when you reached out to me, you know, I think the first thing I saw from you guys
00:30:11.500
was Chris Williamson's talk, but then I came and like actually found Basecamp and I watched
00:30:15.980
it and I was like, oh damn, these guys are actually kind of cool.
00:30:20.180
And I think that's what happens when you are putting out good content is if you really like
00:30:24.740
hit a home run the first time somebody sees a video from you, they're like, damn, I want
00:30:28.600
And that's what you guys are obviously doing, which is great.
00:30:31.400
Well, I mean, the thing for us, it's really hard with this show.
00:30:34.080
And you might have thoughts on this is balancing the different topics that we talk about, because
00:30:38.480
you know, this, this is why I asked this question.
00:30:40.040
And it's something we think a lot about because we generally do sex, politics, and religion.
00:30:44.460
Like those are our four areas, maybe a spattering of AI stuff.
00:30:48.020
And these are really, we do it with a theming that would likely be cross interesting to our
00:30:53.540
audience, but we have to be very careful because some people who like us for like sex are really
00:31:02.440
And so the idea is, is like, do we use different title cards for the different types of content?
00:31:07.980
Do we use, do we separate it to different channels?
00:31:11.000
Like, I'm wondering how you've thought about this type of like partitioning of audiences
00:31:16.820
Well, I think basically what you guys are building out honestly seems more than anything
00:31:22.380
And I think the nice thing about personal brands is you really don't have to, you know,
00:31:27.540
No pun intended, since we're talking about sex, but like, you don't have to like commit yourself
00:31:32.060
Like the thing that people find interesting is you guys.
00:31:35.260
And this is very much like what I felt when I came across your brand, which it wasn't,
00:31:42.800
I obviously was, but here were these kind of two quirky looking like bubbly people talking
00:31:48.200
about, you know, what was the super spicy one that we talked about a few days ago.
00:31:52.920
Two quirky looking people talking about a victim blaming on a podcast and then switching
00:31:59.760
like so easily to something like, like AI or politics or something like that.
00:32:03.640
Like there was, there's a certain appeal to that, that you guys provide that is specifically
00:32:08.180
And I think that gives you a lot of flexibility to play around with different, different
00:32:12.240
topics and not have to worry too much about it.
00:32:14.040
If there's one thing, and I've just, I've thought about this for the last couple of weeks,
00:32:17.540
since I was introduced to your brand, if there's one thing that I think would actually
00:32:20.380
really, really help your growth, it's investing in like a thumbnail editor.
00:32:25.540
I think that's the one thing that would just like explode.
00:32:28.680
It's, it's amazing how much a thumbnail affects like click-through rate, which affects everything
00:32:38.100
If you, if you have a good one, you'd recommend to us.
00:32:41.220
I actually just found one for myself and they're, they're sort of a media company type of thing,
00:32:46.060
but man, they're, they're good and they have very reasonable prices.
00:32:50.200
Your answer to this question, and I'll, I'll wrap it up soon.
00:32:52.720
Cause I know we don't want to hold you forever.
00:32:55.320
But one thing I really wanted to ask you, because I think that this would sort of show where
00:33:02.700
So one of the things that we've been looking at doing, and we've been in talks with various
00:33:06.340
groups about this is taking what we're doing here to mainstream TV, to like Netflix or like,
00:33:13.640
you know, discovery channel or something like that.
00:33:16.320
And we're, when we do this, we're probably going to need to bring along some other content
00:33:22.640
Is that sort of career trajectory, something that would interest you, or are you really
00:33:27.040
interested in sort of the self-ownership you get with the traditional like YouTube, Instagram,
00:33:35.800
I think it is definitely something that I'm, that I'm interested in.
00:33:38.480
And I think a good example of this is when I first started building anti-profit, I think
00:33:42.240
I was at like 20,000, 30,000 followers on Instagram.
00:33:45.560
And I thought to myself, Ooh, like maybe I could try like networking, not with like Hollywood
00:33:50.140
stars, but like people within the orbit of Hollywood stars.
00:33:55.700
I don't know if you know her, her work as an actress, but her boyfriend is in a band
00:34:00.020
who actually produces some pretty catchy music.
00:34:02.460
And I, I was like, okay, well maybe I could like just sit down and record some violin tracks
00:34:08.000
And I actually made the track sound a lot better and I DM'd it to him and he, the bastard
00:34:12.240
But I think the point that I'm making here is I, I think that alone is enough of a demonstration
00:34:16.860
that getting my foot into legacy media is something that I'm okay with.
00:34:20.380
And, you know, I think at this point, something that I'm also okay with is allowing a certain
00:34:24.480
percentage of whether that be profit or creative control being, you know, not, not so much
00:34:29.860
I think more so profit going to other parties that facilitate certain opportunities for
00:34:35.280
Cause again, I have a sales team and they work on commission.
00:34:37.740
So it's, it's something that I'm comfortable with and something that I've previously aspired
00:34:42.420
to, even though this bastard didn't get back to me.
00:34:46.580
Can I ask, I'm really, really curious just because you, you do talk.
00:34:50.360
Talk about really interesting things, but also you have such an aggressive publication
00:34:58.240
Like, are you spending, how many hours a day do you spend on like yourself, exercise,
00:35:03.440
food, like just having fun, whatever admin versus consuming content to get inspiration versus
00:35:13.820
Well, if I'm just focusing on only creating shorts, I think in total, I probably spend,
00:35:19.700
and this is including like giving my editor feedback on the edits after he gets a version
00:35:25.000
It's probably a max total of like 20 minutes in terms of consuming content that, that just
00:35:30.580
If I'm driving somewhere, if I'm just chilling at the house, if you know, I'm just hanging out
00:35:37.140
And I think it's because I'm generally interested in it, but on top of that, I am kind of looking
00:35:41.420
for something to talk about all the time, but in terms of exercise, I work with my personal
00:35:46.140
trainer four times a week for about an hour and a half each time outside of that admin
00:35:51.080
I think per week I'm probably doing if, if again, if I'm just doing shorts, it's probably
00:35:59.700
But now that I'm doing a long form and now that I'm building out this product, it's, it's
00:36:04.280
So I don't really know what it is, but it's, it's definitely keeping me busy.
00:36:07.520
Well, I love that part of your weekly routine is hanging out in a pool.
00:36:12.640
Um, that is not something I would even consider, but that is a life of leisure.
00:36:16.940
And this is why people should consider digital nomading.
00:36:19.820
It's, it's a great lifestyle if you can get the, the outside income to do it.
00:36:23.680
Well, it has been absolutely wonderful having you on.
00:36:26.280
And I would say actually to your last question, one thing that people might be surprised about
00:36:29.640
the biggest thing that's changed in my life since I've started producing these is I'm
00:36:34.000
just consuming dramatically less content because this has taken the time that I used to idly
00:36:38.320
watch YouTube and now I need to much more directly watch YouTube.
00:36:41.460
So I don't get like religious stuff wrong and stuff like that.
00:36:43.680
But anyway, it's been wonderful to have you on.
00:36:46.220
If there's anything you think we should have asked you or talked about that we didn't,
00:36:49.180
I'm happy to, to go in that direction or we can just sign off.
00:36:52.320
Well, and definitely let's end with like everywhere where people can find you and you know,
00:37:00.280
You didn't ask me where I get my hair done, so that's fine.
00:37:02.500
But yeah, no, if you want to find me, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
00:37:10.040
That's profit as in religious leader, not like capitalistic profit or TikTok or excuse me,
00:37:15.540
not TikTok, Twitter, anti underscore profit underscore.
00:37:18.740
I think I'm like barely on there, but I post pretty good memes over there every so often.
00:37:27.060
And we're really looking forward to seeing everything you put out going forward.
00:37:31.480
And yeah, thanks for sharing some behind the scenes stuff with us.