Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 321: Social Media and Content Creation with Enrico Incarnati

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

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Welcome in everybody to another episode of the dynamic dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host Danny Matranga. And in today's episode, I'm joined by Enrico incarnati, social media expert and former photographer slash videographer for some of the biggest names in fitness and nutrition. In this episode, Rico and I will be talking all things content creation, social media, whether or not social media use can be harmful or beneficial, his positive spin on it, his origin story, and how he went from competing in a bodybuilding show to being one of social media's foremost experts on content creation. I think you'll enjoy this if you're somebody who likes fitness, who likes personal growth, who likes hearing people talk about really cool stories of overcoming adversity and finding themselves, as well as for any coaches and trainers who are looking to make better fitness content. Sit back and enjoy the episode with Rico Incarnati. This podcast wouldn't be possible if it wasn't thanks to support from our awesome

partners, one of whom is Vivo Barefoot. Vivo makes the best barefoot training shoe on the market. For years, I stayed away from barefoot training shoes despite knowing the benefit of low cushion, wide toe box shoes for the health of our feet, the intrinsic musculature that helps support everything that we do. I stayed away from these shoes because I health of our feet, the intrinsic musculature that helps support everything that we do. I stayed away from these shoes because I thought they were ugly. But that was until, of course, Vivo started producing some absolutely gorgeous barefoot training shoes. These are low cushion, lightweight, breathable trainers that have a ton of bend, a ton of flex, low cushioning to provide for optimal stimulation

of the proprioceptors at the bottom of your foot. Fun fact, 70% of the proprioceptive cells in your body, the cells that tell your body where it is in space to help you be coordinated, to help you create movement, balance, stability, all of these things, they're located on the bottom of your foot fighting to make contact with some kind of surface so they can get the tactile feedback they need to help you optimize and coordinate movement. That's why when you're barefoot, you probably feel more stable and more connected to the ground. And I have never found a shoe that feels better to train in, not just train my clients and stand around in for eight hours a day, but literally train in. Tons of fantastic mobility out of my toe box,

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muscle of your foot and ankle complex that is so imperative for movement. Trust me when I say you've never had a better pair of training shoes than you will when you try Vivo Barefoot. You can't beat these. And Vivo is offering listeners of this podcast a special 10% off order by using the code Danny10 on VivoBarefoot.com. You can just scroll down to the show notes and grab a pair. But these shoes are fantastic.

They're beautiful. They train incredibly well. They're durable. And I promise they'll be the best pair of shoes you've ever had in the gym. Again, that's vivo barefoot.com and check out using the promo code Danny 10 to save 10% on the best pair of shoes you've ever owned. Rico, how's it going, man? It's good, man. Wait, I just learned about a new Harry Potter game that you put me onto. Yeah. So for those of you who are not aware, both Rico and myself are fans of the Harry Potter

franchise. I got back into it more recently, getting into a kind of like just place where I was overdoing nonfiction, which, and we'll talk a lot about creation, but like, if you're creating content, it helps to read a little fiction. It makes you a little bit better, especially with written content. And so I started with the first Harry Potter and I think I was done with the seventh book in like four and a half weeks. And I just got re hooked again in the game. The game is amazing. Wow. I got to get it. I got to get up to your speed on pace of reading. Well, you actually listened to it. Audiobook 1.25 times speed. And that's like some people

love to brag like, oh, I do two times speed and more power to you. Are you one of those people who does multi-speed reading? No. Even one speed. I'm just like, wait, what? Go back. I know I need to rehash things. So for those of you who aren't familiar with, with Rico and Rico's work, Rico is somebody who I think has some of the cleanest, highest quality looking video content and concepts around creating video content across all platforms, YouTube, Tik TOK, Instagram. And you've actually been somebody whose work I've indirectly consumed without even knowing it as somebody who at one point followed both Jordan Syatt. I think you worked a little bit with Jason Phillips. You've worked with people

making content. I just didn't know it was yours. And then when I finally came across Rico's work, it was very well polished and quite well produced. And I was like, for being newer, your content was clearly a result of having a ton of skin in the game. And just through reading your work, man, I've come to really appreciate your expertise as somebody who creates really beautiful, effective content, but also somebody who understands social media really, really well. So I'm stoked that we're going to get to kind of talk about fitness, social media, social media, and fitness. And I have a lot of coaches that listen that'll probably get quite a bit about making less shitty fitness content. So it should be a lot of fun. There is a lot of shitty fitness content. So let's just nip it in the butt and

let's chat about it. So I have one thing that you wrote here that I love. Social media is not toxic. Social media is not draining. Social media is not exhausting. The accounts you follow are toxic, the content you consume is draining, and the mindless scrolling is exhausting. Stop blaming the platform. Look at the person using the platform. When I read that, I thought initially like, okay, a lot of the negative things I have to say about social media are a direct reflection of what I consume. Do you think that social media can be a positive force? Do you think there's good in there?

Do you skew a little bit? Seems like you skew a little bit more optimistic than some people. good in there? Do you skew a little bit? It seems like you skew a little bit more optimistic than some people. Well, the reason I skew more optimistic is because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for social. I mean, it quite literally saved my life. So that's why I'm so passionate about social is because it was an outlet for me. It was a way for me to express my creativity. It was a way for me to step into a new identity that wasn't just Enrico the doctor and be able to find a new version of myself that I didn't even know existed. So yes. So you worked your way to social from a different place. What got you into social, got you into content? And I know, I think I've heard you mention this maybe one time before,

but you used to be a pre-med student. You were well on the track to becoming a physician, which is like, I have a degree in pre-physical therapy because I wanted absolutely nothing to do with the rigors of post-doctorate level education. I just couldn't hack it. And that's something I haven't heard you talk a ton about. So I'm interested in how you got from that to now creating the content you create as good as it is. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Long about way, which it's not going to be long. It's not going to be short at all. I, for the longest time was supposed to be a doctor and coming from an Italian family. I'm 97% Italian. I did a 23 and me test. So yes, it's verified. My father came over to the United States from Italy with $2,000. And if anyone can relate to having immigrant parents, when you're

the child, you got to make it work, right? Because they're here to build a life for you. And oh, by the way, I was the first child for my father, like my father's side of the family, my mother's side of the family. Like I was the first son, the first nephew, the first grandchild. I was like the first one. And there was a lot of expect, right. And not at all. And there was expectation, especially when I had wanted to become a doctor when I was younger, because I wanted to be a pediatrician because I enjoyed just being able to work

with little, like little kids and understand the problems that they had. And I looked at that as I'm like, I feel like they don't have a voice to be able to communicate much. And I looked at it as I'm like, I want to make it less scary because I always hated the doctor, always hated. And still to this day, I hate going to the doctor and I will avoid it at all costs. And I wanted to provide that barrier for children of like, it's not that bad. Right. And that for me was my dream and it became my goal and it slowly became more of my father's goal. And it slowly became more of my father's dream of me. And mind you, I had taken like all the AP classes to, but by the way, I hate chemistry. If you love chemistry,

great. I don't like it. I don't like it. Say what you want. I don't like it. I feel like I grew a resentment towards it. That's neither here nor there. I took like the AP classes in high school and I got my certified nursing assistant license

at 17 years old and like was working in a nursing home at 18. And it was a cool thing of like, oh, I'm like becoming a doctor. Like these are the things that I need to do to become one. Right. And every time I would see like my dad's family or my dad's friends, it was always, oh, like you're Enrico the doctor. And I'm like 17. I'm like, I am not a doctor whatsoever. Thank you. But I'm not like anything. But so it was like this continuous reminder of like Enrico the doctor, Enrico the doctor. And it just became more of my dad's thing and more of like something he was proud of. And like he wanted to send me to Mount Sinai in California for med school.

And he had it all planned out. And I'm like, I don't even know where I'm going to go to pre-med, right? I don't even know like where I'm going to go for that yet. And when I enrolled at DePaul University in Chicago, that's when I did my pre-med, I started to realize that this whole doctor thing, I'm like, this is my dad's thing. I'm like, I don't want this anymore. And the reason that that gave me the permission to have that new perspective was I saw a piece of content. I don't know how it got fed to me. I don't know how I saw it, but I vividly remember I was walking, ironically, from chemistry lab to the gym.

And it was from Gary Vaynerchuk. And it was a piece of content that completely changed my life. And if you're listening to this, I hope this does something for you as well. And the video was, I'd rather you spend the next two to three years doing what you want to do and not pleasing your parents versus the next 80 years resenting them because you did what they wanted you to do. I don't know what I did. After that, I almost feel like I blacked out, but I was just like, oh my gosh, that's me. He's talking to me. And I had to have a conversation with my father. I don't remember how, but I'm like, I need to do this because I can't keep living this life of, I don't want to resent my father. I love my dad. I love my parents, but I can't do this anymore. And I had the

conversation with him and like any immigrant father, especially from Italy, what are you going to do next? I'm like, I don't know, but let me figure it out. Like, give me a year. Let me just, let me figure it out. So I defaulted to communications major because that was the easiest thing. I'm like, I don't know what I want to do, but I know what I don't want to do. And that's also when I hit the lowest point of my life because I had completely done the heart. I had done the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and that was face my father and let his dream of me die. And once I did that, I hit the lowest point because I had an identity crisis of like, who the fuck am I? I'm like, I have no idea who I am now.

I'm like, I was built up to be Enrico the Doctor so much. And I'm like, yeah, I'm like, who am I? What am I going to do? Right. And during this time is when I attempted suicide because I was just done with anything. And that's why I have this tattoo on my inner wrist. It says Forza right here, which means strength in Italian. And I came to a point where I was like, nothing I'll do, I feel, will ever surmount to what my father's expectations of me were. My father always looked at it as the prestige of Enrico being the doctor, Enrico making this $400,000 a year minimum salary. And it was good. It was comfortable, going to live in a nice

house. My dad had this ideal life of me. and i don't blame him for that because obviously that's what comes with the territory but i was just like i i that was predictable for him and i feel like now this unpredictability is like man you could have been enrico to the doctor will you be enrico the disappointment right and that was a really just tough thing for me because i'm like, I just don't think he's going to look at me ever the same. And so I went through that period of trying to figure out who it is that I wanted to be. And I didn't know at the time, but I knew what I didn't want. And I leaned more into fitness and the gym and working at my school's gym as an entrance attendant at the gym. Right. And just leaning more into that. And then along the lines of that, I wanted to help people

with fitness. I was making videos on Snapchat of fitness tips and all this stuff. And my girlfriend at the time was like, why don't you start a YouTube channel? And I'm like, great idea. So what I did was I took any money I made from my school's gym and I went to Best Buy and I bought a GoPro. And I started filming myself on YouTube right then and there. And I had watched Christian Guzman, Max Tuning, Casey Neistat, who was arguably one of my favorite creators of all time. And I'm like, I'm doing it. I'm like, Christian left college, Casey left high school. I'm like, I can do this. And I'm like, I'm doing it. I'm like, Christian left college, Casey left high school. I'm like, I can do this. And I'm like, I don't know how I'm filming. I'm going to do it. And I

felt a sense of purpose. I'm like, this feels cool. This feels like I'm aligned with it. Even though I'm not great at it, I'm still learning. And so as I started filming more, and if you go on my YouTube channel, my first ever videos are all filmed on a GoPro. And I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm figuring it out, right? And I'm getting better. And I upgraded to a camera of like a Canon T5i with like a shotgun mic, kind of similar to this.

And I'm like, I'm a YouTuber. And it was cool because I remember I would watch Casey Neistat videos and I'm like, I'm going to go skip class to go film a time lapse for my for my vlog. Like that 10 people were watching by the way. But I'm like, this was fun for me. I was skipping like a journalism class. I don't give a shit about this. I'm like, I'm going to go film for my video because I had to get that posted today. Right. And it was like a 20, almost 30 minute vlog. And I'm like, who's going to watch this? But I'm like, I just, I'm so happy to make it. Well, 2017 came and Christian Guzman was going to hold his first ever summer shredding competition. And I'm like, I'm going to do this. So it was March of 2017 until June of 2017. That's how long the timeframe went. His first ever summer shredding competition at his older gym in Houston.

2017. That's how long the timeframe went. His first ever summer training competition at his older gym in Houston. And I did it. And the end goal was to go down to Houston, celebrate with everyone and connect and meet everyone and whatnot. And it was cool because I'm like, wow, this is real. This whole social media thing, I'm like, everyone here, I've followed you. I feel like I know you, even though I don't really know you, but I know a lot about you. And it's cool to put a face to the face I see on social, right? Like a body to the person. And I met someone there who on Instagram is the flexible batting lifestyle. And his name is Zach Rushlow. And Zach, I had followed because he makes macro for the recipes. And he was crazy. He's at like over a million now, but he was at like 50 K when I met him. And I'm like, Oh dude, like I know you like super cool. And he's like, Hey man,

send me a DM. I'll send you like my free recipe book. And so he sent me his recipe book and whatnot. I'm like, Oh, super cool. So I went back home to Chicago and two weeks after the event, I had to have surgery because I had tore my hip labral the year prior. And it was because of all my years of being slightly overweight, playing soccer. When I went to weightlifting, the load on my hip was just different. And it was just, it was so worn out. It snapped and I had to get surgery. And there's a reason why that's important.

Well, the week after surgery, Zach put on his Instagram story and he was like, I need a videographer to fly with me to Los Angeles for five days. I am in no position to be flying, mind you. I literally just had surgery. I should be nowhere near being in a car, let alone a plane, flying to Los Angeles, filming for someone. And I'm like, excuse me. I replied and I said, would love this opportunity. He hit me back and I was shocked. He's like, okay, there's two other people in front of you who are a lot more experienced. Why should I choose you? And I'm like, well, that's a fair question. I said, I'll work harder than both of them combined. And I didn't have any experience.

I didn't have, I just vlogged myself and he's like, okay, can you find a flight to LA? So two days later I booked, I was in LA, booked a flight with two crutches, like my, my leg brace on. And Zach didn't know any of this until he saw me at like the rental car place. And he's like, are you okay? I'm yeah i'm fine i'm like it is what it is it's fine like i didn't want to make a big deal out of it and uh we filmed for the next five days and what's cool is that turned into me moving to austin from chicago to work with zach for the next year and what's even cooler about that is zach and i returned to la for another trip that was separate and we were at an event that

was hosted by Lewis house pencils and promise event. And that's where I met Jordan Syatt. And I knew him then for Gary Vaynerchuk's trainer, not as Jordan Syatt. And we connected and just linked up whatnot. After my time working with Zach, I moved back home to Chicago. I was doing more freelance stuff and just kind of figuring it out on my own again and whatnot. And 2018, it was now Jordan put on his Instagram story. He's looking for a videographer. Then I'm like, oh shit, I need to do this. And I responded, I'm like, hey bro, I'd love the opportunity to do this. And he's like, hey man, there's someone in front of you. If it doesn't work out, I'll let you know. And this was around this time, like 2018. So like five years ago. And he, he said he was, he was going to reach out. And I remember it was like November ish,

December. And I'm on the stair master at lifetime fitness at the gym. And I see on my phone, it says Jordan side and he's calling me like the fuck. What's he calling me for? And he, he, he calls and I, and I might be like, I'm doing cardio. I'm like out of breath.? I'm like, what's he calling me for? And he calls and I might be like, I'm doing cardio. I'm like out of breath. And I'm like, hey, man, what's up? He's like, yo, dude, are you doing cardio? Like, you want to call me back? I'm like, no, no, no.

Like, what's up? I stopped the machine. He's like, cool. He's like, do you want to move to New York City? I'm like, yup. And he's like, dude, you could think about it. Like, if you need two days, like, let me know. I'm like, no, no, no.

I'm like, I don't need time. Like, let's do it. And he's like, dude, you could think about it. If you need two days, let me know. I'm like, no, no, no. I'm like, I don't need time. Let's do it. And he's like, okay. And so two weeks after that, I went to New York City to go hang out with Jordan for a weekend. First time in my life being in New York City. And then after that, I moved my entire life, me, myself, and two suitcases and my camera gear to a Chinatown apartment that I found with six other roommates and lived in Manhattan for the first year that I moved out to Brooklyn with my buddy of mine. But I worked with Jordan for the next two years. And what's really cool, man,

is when Jordan took me along to go with a workout with Gary. I'm like, this is pretty cool. And what's super cool is we were waiting as we were waiting at Gary's apartment building and we were waiting for him to come down and he came, he comes down and cause Jordan's like, he's going to come down now. And so he comes out and Gary's just like, sup man. I'm like,

do you have any idea? I'm like, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. And I, and that was the moment where I just? I'm like, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. And that was the moment where I just realized, I'm like, yeah, this social media thing is pretty fucking cool. I'm like, I would not even be here. And I'm at Gary Vee's apartment in his apartment gym, working out with him, filming him. And I did that a handful, plenty of times.

And I was able to meet him. It was super cool. But then afterwards, he dabs me up as if we've like known each other. And I'm like, all right, I guess we're cool like that. Right. And it's cool because that really made everything so full circle for me. And I learned so much from my time working with Jordan and even with Zach. And after my time with Jordan, I'm where I'm at now where like I am on my own.

And I worked with Jason Phillips after Jordan too, well for a period of time. And now I love it because it's like, I've taken the step back of not just being Rico, the videographer and photographer and editor of like, well, now I help people strategize with content and social and build their entire machine for content. And it's cool because it's like, I've done it for other people. And now I'm like, I've done it for myself now. And I'm like, now I get to do it for other people. And so that's a long about way of where we're at today. It's a good story. And I, there's a lot in there that I didn't know about you, but none of it really surprises me because I see you as somebody who does great work, who works really hard. And typically, people who do that cultivate that skill through challenge, through overcoming difficulty, through putting themselves out there and taking those leaps, those risks, being courageous, which is to say doing something that would be otherwise pretty comfortable to not do. But I have to ask, how is your relationship with your dad now?

Better than it's ever been. I had a feeling you might say that. Yeah. And it's cool because all my dad cares about now is, did you eat today? How are you and Melissa, my girlfriend? He's like, okay, cool. That's it. He knows I'm fine. He knows I'm doing it. I'm great. If there's a problem, I'd say something, but like, he just cares that I'm happy. And it's, and it's crazy because he can't conceptualize social media still. Like he sees that, like, I have like, like large numbers on social, but he can't conceptualize that, you know? And it's just cool for him. Cause he sees a video and he'll just be like, that's a cool video. I liked that video. I'm like, thanks dad. You know, but he can't

really like conceptualize like that. A video got like a million views. Like he doesn't understand, he doesn't, he doesn't fathom that, you know? But no, our relationship is better than it's ever been. That's awesome. It's fun. My mom is the exact opposite. She thinks that I am substantially more famous and have substantially greater notoriety than I do because she thinks she understands social media. There's people who are just like most parents. I'm unplugged from that shit. It's cool. I don't really get it. I don't get what my kid does, but he's on there. That's kind of what my dad thinks. My mom thinks I am probably the most famous person on earth, which is hilarious, but I love it. I don't get what my kid does, but he's on there. That's kind of what my dad thinks. My mom thinks I am probably the most famous person on earth, which is hilarious, but I love it because it's cool to see our parents being proud of where we ended up.

And anybody who's making content to a certain degree now, let's say you've been making content for 10 years. You're talking about going back to 2017 and you're prepping for a bodybuilding show and making content about it. That's eight years ago. It's a long time ago. Anybody who's been making content since 2017 was certifiably insane to the people that they were making... Now, if you're making content, yeah, that of normal everybody's making content back then you were a nut you're crazy what are you doing and so to see parents on board in any way that they can i always love that yeah it's crazy when you say that because like my camera if you can see like on the reflection there it's like my my sony camera sure but walking around with something like that oh like in 2017, it's just like, what is that?

But now you have it. It's just like, oh, he's probably like a TikToker or something, you know? And I'm like, it's just, it just baffles me how normalized it is. But people still can't conceptualize it. Like, oh, he's just a TikToker. I'm like, yeah, but a lot of these TikTokers are pulling like some crazy numbers that you probably can't even fathom. But they're just like, oh, yeah, just a TikToker. He's like a YouTuber. I'm like, no, no, no. It's not just for fun.

Yeah. There's a lot of dismissal because I think people, they understand the currency that is an audience. They understand the currency that is a follower, but much like an asset you don't own, you tend to devalue it when other people have it. Oh, you don't have a house yet? The housing market's going to crash. Houses are too expensive. Oh, you didn't invest in the stock market? Stocks are too risky. Stocks are too volatile. Oh, you don't have an audience? Oh, that's just a silly app. Those aren't real people. It's remarkable how people do that. I see kids in the gym now with their phone on a tripod filming their lift. And I think, man, I used to be so damn scared that somebody would see me filming on my iPhone. I used to be like, I hope nobody sees this phone propped up on my shaker bottle. I hope nobody

sees this. So when I do see kids doing it, being kind of brave about it, just out in the open about it, part of me goes like, you know, that's good. You know, we did the hard work. We crawled so you can all fly. But I do think a lot of people naturally don't like putting themselves out there, which brings me to my second question, which is like, when you think about the blocks that people run into when they want to make content and the excuses that they come up with for like, oh, it's just... I think a lot of people that say that just don't either want to make content and are

afraid of judgment or have tried making content and it sucks. So now they just judge. What do you think are the blocks that get in the way of people getting from either a place of judgment or inaction to actually making good content regardless of platform? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology

and best user interface possible. I partnered with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my Home Heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells, or Elite Physique, which is a female bodybuilding-focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming planned for a variety of different fitness levels, but what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do, the reps to do, exercise tutorials filmed by me with me and my team. So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the

movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific. So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the core coaching collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. And that's a fair question. I think it goes back to, not I think, I know it goes back to what you mentioned of kind of not knowing essentially the unknown, right? And it's like, well, what is this person going to think? And it's crazy that to me, people in this day and age are still so worried about what someone from

high school is going to think of them making a video and judging them. And I say to them, and I say this in the most kind way, because I mean it without the utmost respect, because the whole Gary clip of why that sparked me. I'm like, if you can look your children in the eye in 70 years from now and be like, you know what? I gave up because I was worried about what someone in high school was going to think of me. I'm like, would you be proud to say that? Like genuinely. And it sounds silly to say in theory, but I'm like, you're, you're doing that though. Like You are allowing that to consume you, the perception of what someone else might think. And I used to go the realm of saying, well,

what's it costing you to not show up? And more fear-driven based, right? And now I look at it as more of, well, what are all the possibilities that could come from it? In a sense of what if it actually does work and whatever it is, whatever you want, what if you actually build that business? What if you could actually buy that house you want? And mind you, I don't think making money is bad. I don't think it is. I don't think it's bad to want certain things like own it, but make sure that your ambitions and your actions and your attitude are all aligned with it. Because I look at so many people, they want certain things, but for the wrong reasons. Well, if you want to build a business through social, cool.

What is that going to give you? Is that going to give you freedom financially? Is that going to give you more opportunity to speak to people? Is that going to give you more opportunity to help someone? What is that going to give you? What are all the opportunities that that's going to provide? And when you frame it like that, and when I look at other people that are scared to show up, and I say this, if you really have a message for someone, if you really have something to give to someone and help them, it's selfish of you to not.

It is selfish of you to not show up because that is a gift that you are robbing someone of. And if you have that internal within you where like, I could help someone and I want to, I have this driving force. Cool. That's your ambition. Match it with an action. The attitude's there. Just match it with the action. And that's the number one thing that most people are just scared of is to take the action.

And I will end on this part too, is the reason most people struggle with even posting content because they're like, well, what do I need to make today? And I don't know what to post today or what audio or what hashtags to use. I need to make today? And I don't know what to post today or what audio or what hashtags to use. And I look at it as 99% of your problems would be solved, not would be, will be solved if you have this one thing and that's who you're talking to. If you know who you want to speak to, everything gets cleared up. The reason people get so wishy-washy in their head is because, well, I want to, I could talk to this person. I could talk to real estate agents. I could talk to fitness coaches. I could talk to moms. I could talk to that. You could. Great. But that's why there's so much confusion in your head

is because you have all these different people in your head. You should have a specific person that you want to help, whatever that is. And if you're just starting out and you're trying to sell your services and products, I'd recommend going more niche. Like I want to help women who are in their twenties, who are in college and who, what, like be specific. And what I would challenge you to do if you're listening to this right now and you don't know who that is, well, A, figure it out. But B, the way that you figure that out is I want you to understand what is that person, whoever that is, what are they doing from morning until night? Everything. And I want you to write it out and flush it out in a document. What are all the things they say to themselves? Right? Let's say if it's a weight loss client, how many times are they trying on a different pair of pants in the morning to get ready for work? And how many times, because I did this, are they comparing their stomach to their legs or to their arms or whatever that is? I've done that, right? So I understand that. How many times are they going to the vending machine? How many times are they maybe saying, oh, I shouldn't have the donut, but I'm going to eat it anyways. And all these things that they're doing and what they're saying to themselves and what they do when they come home, what's their marital status? Are they single? Are they divorced? Do they have children? Because

those are all different stress things. Those are all different pain points and problems that you have the solution to. And oftentimes, our number one client is our younger selves that didn't have us then, but we have us now. And that's who you should speak to. Yeah. I feel like I see some of the best content, the content that really converts, that really travels well, it travels deep is content that's clearly written by the creator or produced by the creator for themselves like three to five years prior. I go like that, that I see this a lot on Twitter. That piece of short

form content that's written very well was just what you would have told yourself five years ago had you known. This is you speaking to your younger self. And I think that's true with if you are running a business and let's use fitness as an example, like you're running a fitness business. It's a really good idea to have a potential client archetype. Because if you're trying to, let's say, make content that is pro-carnivore diet, but you're also trying to make content that is pro-plant-based diet, you're probably going to end up with absolutely no audience to which you can eventually sell. You don't have to niche down, but you also have to have some degree of focus. And I feel like a lot of content is very scattered. And that's a big reason why people don't produce

because they haven't even thought about like, yo, who's going to be benefiting from this? Who can this help? Who's this going to educate, inform, or inspire? Like, is it going to do any of these things? If it does these things, I'll post it. If not back to the drawing board. Amen. What kinds of content do you most enjoy to consume? Oh, good question.

Right now, big on aviation content. That's for me me selfishly i i am an av geek at heart i love planes but also simultaneously i hate planes when i'm flying and i hear a noise and i'm like oh i haven't heard that one before or there's turbulence and my irrational brain is like it's gonna fall out of the sky and And that's just, I love consuming things like aviation because there's so much I don't know. And I have an aspiration in the future where I want to have a live stream where I live stream just planes taken off and landing like these big YouTube channels that I love watching because I love that stuff so much. And it's just something that's, that's like a side hobby, but it's something that's fun for me.

I enjoy consuming soccer content because that's like a passion of mine. But I also, selfishly, I love consuming what I talk about because it's generally a passion and interest of mine. And I like seeing how other people put spins on things. And I'm like, oh, that was a great way to frame that. Or I didn't know about this certain, like, trick or link feature or whatever. And I'm like, Oh, I could remix is good content, what's not good content. And understanding that and just understanding of like, is this just more of like a entertainment piece, an education piece? Like I can look at, I look at content objectively. And especially when I'm working with people, I have zero emotion attached to their content where I'm like, I don't care if we're working together.

I don't care if we're friends. I don't care. I'm like, I'll be honest with you because that's truly what a friend is. Right. And when I, when I look at content now, I, I enjoy the long form content more. And specifically right now for me, I've been watching more of Casey Neistat videos again. Like I've been going back and watching his older vlogs because there's so much that I missed. There's so much that like younger Enrico didn't pick up on, but now we look at it now and I'm like, holy cow, I, I miss so much that I missed. There's so much that like younger Enrico didn't pick up on, but now we look at it now and I'm like, holy cow, I missed so much of the story. I missed so much of it. And that's something that I generally like looking at now is

story content. Like what is the story behind it? Right. And that's stuff that I like creating lately too, is I did a video on Matt Rife, who was like the famous comedian. Like that video is continuing to go up for me. I enjoyed that though, because I want to make sure that you have a payoff at the end of the video. But I enjoyed telling the story because I'm like, that's pretty cool.

People need to hear about this. And I'm like, if there's any point that they take away from this, if I just make, like you never know what one piece of content could do, or you're like one video away. I'm like, that's a win for me. And it's just these like atomic stories that I want to tell, but then I also enjoy consuming.

Yeah, no, I, that was a great video. I remember you probably dropped that one. What? Like two weeks ago at the, at the most I watched that. I started watching it in the car. When I pulled into my driveway, I put it in my pocket and listened to it while I carried the dog in. And then I picked it back up out of my pocket to finish it visually because I was just engaged with the storytelling. And I think all good content is in some way, shape, or form. It comes down to how it's executed. And being a good storyteller is a good part of that.

And I think long-form content is critical. So let me ask you this question. You're stuck on or you're not stuck. An entrepreneur or somebody who wants to be successful in creating content relevant to their niche, they want to be known for being an expert in their space and maybe monetize that. They are stuck on a deserted island and they can have three pieces of content, books, podcasts. The three things, or it could be more than three, that you would give to somebody who's like, I got nothing better to do than just digest these things on repeat until I get off this island. And then I'm going to make some fire content. Wow. Great question.

They're probably right behind you. not there's there's a book one is building a story brand by donald miller yep great book number one and then i would recommend anything from uh what's the name um robert uhdini, Chialdini, something like that. Sure. I'm butchering it. And it teaches you on psychology because it's really understanding the real emotional desires of people and what gets them to,

not necessarily click on a video, but understand what gets them to do certain things and you can understand their behaviors. And I think if you can understand psychology in today's day and age, like you will hack and hack, you will like hack culture, but also social, because that's the one thing that differentiates everyone is when they can truly understand the human psychology and why people's behaviors dictate certain things. So those are two things that I would say. Those are two books right away.

The third one, man, good question. That's tough. Could it be a person? Hell yeah. Could be a person. I mean, if I'm being honest, I would say, I mean, someone like Gary. Yeah.

I just, he's's someone and by the way we we do have the same personality test um we have the same exact personality because we his his former coach michael conti tested us and we were the exact same you guys are actually similar in the way your faces move when you talk really the minute you said we're very similar i like can't now unsee your facial mannerisms i'm like it is like you could be like his kid i appreciate it yeah you could totally be like it is really i can just see the way your face moves and it might dude humans are very interesting we mirror but i bet you've consumed a lot of Gary content. And if you are similar at a neurological level, you just operate similarly. The way you guys are wired is

similar. And you know, somebody who's like, bro, I'd be willing to bet, take the test. You're like, oh shit, we are there. You probably subconsciously have assumed some of those mannerisms just through being around him, consuming the content. You could be his kid. Right. I appreciate that. But I look at that as he's someone that he gave me permission isms just through being around him consuming the content you could be his kid right i appreciate that but i i look at that as he's someone that he gave me permission to go do me and he gave me that permission on that level from college perspective and what's cool is the way he shifted is he speaks on multiple different aspects of if you're in college and like what to do and gary gives you the permission to go do shit right even if you don't have the answer or even if you don't know

all the ins and outs even if you're confused if you're stuck if you're worried and he gives you the permission of like you're 28 i would kill to be your age, right? Like you won't know how young you feel at 40. And it just, he expands your time horizons more than I think anyone else has done. So, and when I say like, gives you permission to go do shit, it's like, cause you can go try stuff. And if you mess up, cool, you can keep, just keep trying, just keep trying stuff. And again, I think from a time perspective, cause we all view it as like, there's so much, we don't have a lot of time in life. So sure. But Gary's just like, life's long. Like you have so much more life to live. And well, one of my favorite things he says is, um, he interviewed

like someone that was 20 years old and he's like, you're going to live five more lives. Like you're literally going to live five more lives. Like if you're, if you live to a hundred, like you're going to live five more times than being 20. And I'm like, that's cool to think. Um, but nonetheless, it's just expanding your time. And it doesn't put as much pressure on you in the macro, but in the micro, be relentless. That's a great point. I'd say the number one reason people are finding themselves unsuccessful is they're operating on way too short of a time horizon.

And if you operate on a very long time horizon with consistency, and then I think it's Alex Hormozy who says, when it gets easy, go hard. And so it's like, if you give yourself a long enough time horizon and you just plot along, plot along, plot along, and then you find one of these moments of deep inspiration, or it can be a video, it can be a book, it can be a movie. It can just be a good weather day. We talked a little bit about mental health. It can be seasonal. Bro, there's seasons in my life where I am surviving. And then there are seasons in my life where I am building. And it sometimes just depends on where I'm at when you hit the gas. But if you are on a long enough time horizon and you just commit to not quitting, even

on your worst day, you can move that stone wheel forward ever so slightly. But I think people operate on way too short a time horizon when it comes to building an audience, making an impact, growing a business. So let me ask you this question then, because I think it's always interesting to pick people's brains. What are you excited to be building? Be it in business, be it in relationships, be it in fitness.

What attributes of your hypothetical life character are you leveling up right now? A new identity of myself. And what I mean by that is fully stripping away Enrico, the videographer, photographer, and editor, and really stepping into a thought leader of Enrico,

who is strategist and who is consultant and fully embracing that. And I think a part of me, and I say this because I see people that I've turned down to work for, like large names. And I look at them now and I'm like, that could have been me though, like being able to be a part of that success. But I'm like, I wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't be anywhere where I'm at now. So it's almost like that. I'm thankful that I had that opportunity even come across my face, but I'm grateful that I'm where I'm at now because I chose where I'm at now and I can go to bed having zero regrets at all. I don't think twice about like, oh, well, what about that opportunity?

success they have and i know when they had reached out i'm like that's pretty fucking cool like i'm proud of where they're at now right and i know what it's like to build something from like i said like i helped build jordan a lot too and it's just cool to like be on that grind right and um for me it's a big control thing right because as a creative we control the story of the video we're editing or filming and all that and you know for me, where I want to go to, I want to be large on social. I want to have a million subscriber YouTube channel. I want to have the plaques on my office here. And I want to have a larger presence. I want to have these speaking engagements. I want to have all of that. And I know that's going to come with a new identity of letting go of control. And it's hard as a creative because I don't ever want to give that up. I don't ever

want to give up the 18, 19 year old kid Enrico who use it as an outlet. And I don't have to, because I look at someone like Casey Neistat who's in his forties and he still films and he's never hired an editor because he wants to always control the story. And I look at it though, of like, I really want big things in life. And I was, it's funny. I was on a podcast with somebody. He's like, well, you know, you follow Gary and Hermosian. They've never edited a video themselves, but like they're huge. And I'm like, right. But they've never edited a video or filmed one. So they don't have that tie to the creative craft. And there's just something about that for me that I'm like, right, but they've never edited a video or filmed one. So they don't have that tie to the creative craft. And there's just something about that for me that I'm like, I never want to lose that.

But it's also, I don't ever want to limit myself and hold myself back from what I potentially could be with giving up control. Wow. Well, that's powerful. I think about myself as somebody who still owns an in-person fitness studio, who still goes to work to that studio 40 hours during the week. Because I will work 80 hours. I don't mind. I like to work. And fitness is one of those things where it's like, for every input of hours, there is a disproportionate return of good in the world. Unless you're really fucking people up, you are making a big difference by helping people be healthier

in this very unhealthy world. So it always feels good. But it is an inarguable waste of my time on the basis of what I get paid for. I would do it for free. I get paid more doing stuff online, but it's a piece of what I do that I love because I just love the craft. But I think to accomplish what you want to accomplish, you have to cut loose a piece of that. I think that would be very difficult for me to do. So I know that it is probably extremely challenging for you.

And I think it kind of encapsulates that term, fear of success. I hear people say this all the time. Are you afraid of failing? Are you afraid of succeeding? And I would always go, what the hell is afraid of succeeding supposed to mean? And I think it means like, well, there is a little fear around relinquishing a piece of the creative process that would be required to truly blow up. But that's probably what you have to do. Yeah. And it's tough, especially someone who watched

someone like Casey Neistat start a daily vlog every day for two years while raising a daughter, building a business, being married, living in New York City. He did a daily vlog every day and he was able to build his channel to... He's over 12 million now. And so I look at that as I'm like, I could do it too. But there's other things that I want that I'm like, I still need to give up control about myself. You could do it, but you could probably do it faster and do it better. Correct. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. A lot of the people who came before us

have paved the way. But dude, great chat. Thank you so much. I really appreciate, you know, going deep on content, on creation, on your story. You know, a lot of the coaches that listen to this don't make very good content. And a lot of the people who listen to this for fitness and nutrition advice are in a space where they should be making content or they're struggling with making content. And I want them to follow you because you make great content about content and where can they do that? You can follow me at Rico.Incarnati and then Enrico.Incarnati on YouTube. You need to be more consistent on YouTube. And I also have a Facebook group,

completely free, it's called Video Content Made Simple. And I do a weekly newsletter called Caffeinated Content. Brother, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Thanks, man.