In this episode of the podcast, I sit down with the founder of TikTok Studios, a media company that focuses on influencers and content creators. We talk about how she got started with TikTok, how she built a business from the ground up, and why it s so important to be an entrepreneur.
00:00:00.000I will say, though, out of out of the women that I've seen on social media, I think to your credit, you've really done well.
00:00:07.180Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Like to get have this studio, you know, not just here, but like even what I saw before we start filming, like the team you have and that that's organizational ability.
00:00:19.680That's like not just influence or social media. That's like you're actually a legitimate business person.
00:00:24.280Thank you. Thank you. I think so, too. You took the risk. I did. The risk is the price.
00:00:30.000For wealth. Correct. Correct. But but I still was thinking about it. And to say I had no advantage because I'm a woman. It's silly.
00:00:37.020You know, I definitely did to get here. I mean, the fact that you got this place, it's a big place.
00:00:43.380It's just one room, the equipment, the staff you have here, security, everything like you have a full team.
00:00:49.920You know, you basically built a TV studio and that really is entrepreneurship.
00:00:55.780Yeah. You know what I mean? That's really like the people that just have one business, they just work alone.
00:01:01.740They're a freelancer. Right. So like in 2027, freelancer will actually be like the most popular job.
00:01:09.380Most of our workforce will be freelancer within a few years. Really? You think so?
00:01:13.400Yeah. That was according to a study, I think, in the Wall Street Journal or something like that.
00:01:16.600Wow. That was a prediction. The trend, we're already getting there.
00:01:19.800Okay. But like the idea of being an entrepreneur and being able to have an organization and be able to create jobs, have labor, you know, being able to distribute capital, make investments, manage accounting, all of this stuff.
00:01:36.420The taking the risk, what happens if I purchase all this stuff and it doesn't work out, putting it together, figuring it out, all of that stuff.
00:01:45.180We're not even talking about entrepreneurship. Right.
00:01:47.580You'll see a lot of people that do well on TikTok.
00:01:50.580And outside of being able to get, you know, money from brand deals or sponsorship, they're going to struggle because, you know, they haven't on TikTok.
00:02:01.260They might've got hand out by the extreme far left staff there. But once they get off that ocean, once they go into another platform, once the tide turns on a lot of these creators and influencers, where they lose that one stream of monetization, you're going to see who's actually an entrepreneur and who's not.
00:02:19.420You know, like it's easy to copy Mr. Beast. Many people copy Mr. Beast.
00:02:23.680Yeah. But what, but here's the beauty of Mr. Beast. What Mr. Beast did, I think, the real secret was that he did something new.
00:02:32.880Yeah, he did. And like, and like, I think even if everyone copied him today, that guess what happens? It loses its value.
00:02:42.020You lose, you lost the competitive value once everybody knows.
00:02:45.400I think his level of mastery is so significant on YouTube, for example, that he can have everyone copy just as an experiment for him to learn, just to set up the next new thing he's going to do, which is going to be nothing like what the others are going to do.
00:03:03.160You know what I'm saying? And that happens in all industries.
00:03:05.560So as soon as you feel like someone's copying you, you pivot. Look, I did millions of dollars of business over 20 years. You go on Money Twitter, their average experience is three years of business.
00:03:16.420They're giving business advice like it's Bill Gates or Elon Musk or Warren Buffett or Mark Cuban, you know, over 20 years of business experience doing millions of dollars of deals.
00:03:25.620I'm a multimillionaire on TikTok. You know, I was already doing millions before I got on TikTok.
00:03:30.680And I'll tell you, in business, this is from a man with over 20 years of experience, you're going to have good cycles and tough cycles.
00:03:41.560Not everyone makes it through a tough cycle, you know, and you're going to have competitors that are going to copy.
00:03:48.860No matter what business you go to, your competition will watch you for content creators.
00:04:18.820Everyone like you and I realized so Kevin Samuels, I like such a big fan of and I noticed there's so many people that would like say they were credited for his ideas.
00:04:28.900Like I heard this from like five different people.
00:04:31.400And I was like, it's so interesting in YouTube, the people that are really like pushing forward, like the space, they're never concerned about credit or copycats.
00:04:42.680But I realize everyone that's like, oh, they copied me. They copied me. One, nobody's copying you.
00:04:47.760Yeah. And and two, if you're worried about credit, you're like focusing on the wrong thing.
00:04:52.220You need to worry about like making new and innovative content.
00:04:55.620You know, it's such a it's such a good it's man, that's such a good point.
00:04:58.580Because there was like five different people.
00:05:00.600I swear there was like five different people I heard say that they were the reason Kevin Samuels had his show.
00:05:06.600And I was just like, he's not doing the same thing any of you guys are doing.
00:05:10.000Yeah, I guarantee I guarantee you if you have anybody that watches this show that grew up with a father, in particular from a Mediterranean country, Middle Eastern country, Latin American country, you know, African country.
00:06:16.860So like if someone says to me, I copied someone, I'm like, bro, I'm like, I'm older than almost all of you.
00:06:23.200And my father in his 70s is the one, if I'm going to give anyone credit, it's my father and his friends, because this is just a cultural norm in that region of the world.
00:06:32.220You talk to any guy from Spain, Italy, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Iran, you know, like you go to Greece, you go to Turkey, you know, you know, in these countries, these men have fathers that this is just a cultural norm.
00:06:55.960So what's your advice to guys that want to succeed in business and like make it through those rough patches, especially now, because there's so many people wanting to do content creation or like freelance drop shipping, whatever it is.
00:07:09.520Yeah, I would, I would say like the number one thing I'd say is try out a bunch of things that will work for you and you like, rather than just trying to do something you don't like.
00:07:28.760Some people, one person tagged me on one of my videos today and said, and they tagged someone and they were like, hey, Shelly, he looks like you.
00:07:39.520I look like your dad, you know, and I was just like, wow, I look like some girl's dad who's watching my video.
00:07:49.460So it's just when you say that, you know, so, so, you know, it really is, there's something to be said about trying out what works for you and that you actually like, rather than trying to do what you think will make you a lot of money and you hate.
00:08:02.980If you can, if you can get two checks on that checkbox, you like it and you're good at it, you significantly have a benefit.
00:08:15.600I was, I was working in copier sales and I quit it to do, I was like, I had one viral TikTok and it was, it was actually just me telling a story about my family.
00:08:24.680Like it was actually nothing to do with any, cause I had a whole following.
00:08:37.780Like we were talking about earlier, but, but so, um, yeah, my dad always said like, I don't care if you make sandwiches or sell toothpicks on the side of the road, like do something you love and do it well.
00:08:49.100Because there aren't that many people that really try and are smart at the same time.
00:08:53.420So he would always say like, if you do something you love, you're going to put in so many more hours than anybody else.
00:08:59.400And it was so true because a lot of people will kind of, I guess, criticize me because they'll be like, oh, you work so much.
00:09:05.460But it's like, it doesn't feel like work a lot of the time because I genuinely love doing it.
00:09:09.680Like, it's just, it's like, I'd rather, I would rather do a podcast than go to a party.
00:09:16.100Even the whole, um, the whole, I'm sorry.
00:09:18.700The whole premise of my show was started because, um, like my show is called the pregame and it was the whole idea was, I always liked pregames better than parties.
00:09:28.140Cause you would have like such a deep conversations with people and then like at a party, it's loud.
00:09:33.480Everyone's taught, like, I just didn't like parties.
00:09:36.240So the whole premise was the pregame is better than the party.