Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Quentin "Q" Allums: Master Visual Storytelling | E28

Episode Date: June 17, 2019

Did you know that video is the best performing content type on most mainstream social media platforms right now? Video is super compelling and connects you to others in a way that words or images can't--- so if you're trying to build a following or grow your personal brand, it's in your best interest to master visual storytelling! Joining us this week is Quentin "Q" Allums, one of the first video creators on LinkedIn and prominent influencer on the platform. Aside from being one of the best visual storytellers of our time, Q also runs a video marketing company as well as an events company under his conglomerate, Urban Misfit Ventures. When Q isn’t working on his start up, he’s interviewing great minds on his podcast “Strange on Purpose,” and traveling the world for speaking engagements on notable stages from TedX to VidCon. Tune in to learn the elements of a visual story, tips to make your video go viral, how to use video marketing for your personal brand and more! We also touch on Q's inspiring rags-to-riches story, and his advice on becoming a better public speaker. Want to connect with other YAP listeners? Join the YAP Society on Slack: bit.ly/yapsociety Need marketing services? Check this out: rethink.agency/yap  Earn rewards for inviting your friends to YAP Society: bit.ly/sharethewealthyap Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Halataha, and today we're yapping with Quentin Q Alums, one of the first video creators on LinkedIn and prominent influencer on the platform who has generated millions of views over the years. Aside from being one of the best visual storytellers of our time, Q is also an up-and-coming entrepreneur who runs a video marketing company, as well as an events company under his conglomerate, Urban Misfit Ventures.

When Q isn't working on his startup, he's interviewing great minds on his podcast, Strange On Purpose, and traveling the world for speaking engagements on notable stages from TEDx to VidCon. Hey, Q, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. What's up? I appreciate you having me. Of course, we're super excited to have you on the show.

So let's kick it off. Like many successful people, your life has been filled with ups and downs. You've recently had some very impressive milestones. For example, last year you were on Wisconsin's 25 under 25 list. And you presented at the world's largest video conference called VidCon. But I heard that not all your projects were so successful and you hit rock bottom at 23 years old and you couldn't even afford a 99 cent chocolate bar. So let's start off with a not so happy times. What were you working on before all the LinkedIn fame and success hit? So I bounced around a lot during college and I was working with a lot of

agencies, a lot of startups in the tech space. So I fell in love with technology and I ended up getting a job offered with a wearable tech company and then a virtual reality startup as well But I didn't want to be just like that. There's social media guy. I didn't want to just handle marketing So I ventured out on my own launch my own virtual reality startup I had no idea what I was doing built a team that failed within six months because again I had no idea what I was doing But I realized that I just wanted to be in that space because I wanted to look cool. I wanted to look innovative and I didn't want to see all my peers doing amazing things

and be left out of the dust, you know. So that was unsuccessful. And then I launched my first agency around the same time because I needed to make money. And I ended up started off with like full stack, ended up pivoting a bunch of different times from just social media. I said, okay, let's do content marketing. and I ended up started off with like full stack, ended up pivoting a bunch of different times from just social media. I said, okay, let's do content marketing, let's just do social media management,

all these different things. Ultimately, during that time, I was creating a lot of content as well, ended up on personal branding and going in companies and teaching them that their employees were the greatest asset. So how can we use our employee story to drive traffic for the company?

That's what I ultimately ended up on, but I struggled for a very, very, very long time trying to build a profitable company. And it wasn't really until I jumped on LinkedIn that I did start making money and finding a little bit of success. So tell us about that. How did you get back on your feet? If I remember correctly, you had like negative $900 in your bank account at one point, what was the turning point for you to be successful

and kind of go in the right direction? Yeah, so the virtual reality sort of, I just dissolved it essentially. It really wasn't even LLC at that point. It was a basically a project, so I decided I was going to stop it. But I was working on this agency negative 900 and I think 57 points, something in my bank account. Now, I remember just walking out of my room at the time

and I had a roommate, a deal was supposed to go through that week and he backed out the last minute. So I walk out and I'm talking to my roommate. I'm like, dude, like, if I don't have one client by the end of this week, I just, I can't do this entrepreneur thing. Like, I'm just not meant for this. So if I don't have one client at the end of this week,

I'm just gonna go get a job. And at the end of that week, I had three clients. And Brent was job. At the end of that week, I had three clients and Brent was doing it at the end of that week. That's why I set that deadline. That was really the moment that I realized that someone like me could do this. I still struggled after that, but I actually made money. That was the first time I really brought in something that I was able to pay my own bills with my own sweat equity.

Cool. So, let's move on to the good time. So you were one of the first video creators to make their mark on LinkedIn. And you grew your fame from vlogging on the platform back in 2017 when many people weren't doing that. But based on my research, I saw you actually launched a YouTube channel first without much success.

So can you share how you initially got the idea to vlog and why you think it took off on LinkedIn rather than YouTube? So I decided to launch my YouTube, I called them video diaries, I suppose they've vlogs as well, but video diaries for me because it was really just me checking in and talking about what was going on, which I guess is vlog.

But I remember I was interviewed by a friend of mine who was also my mentor and entrepreneur out in Virginia. When I was launching that first virtual reality project and he's like, dude, I'd love to interview you about what you have planned for this project. And I sat down with him and it was probably the most embarrassing thing that I've ever done in my life. It was so bad and I was so embarrassed and I stuttered.

I had no idea what I was talking about. I realized I hadn't done any research really. And I promised myself I would never feel like that again. And if I was going to be an entrepreneur, I would have to pitch myself, I would have to get comfortable talking to people, and I have to get comfortable on camera. So from there, I just dedicated myself to shooting a video every single day for a year at least, and I ended up going 500 plus days across platforms. And that was a reason, because I didn't want to be in bearers, and I wanted to get really, really good on camera. And in terms of like success that I found on other platforms,

I would say YouTube for sure like view eyes like total like failure when I was first getting started. But that's where I got comfortable. And then a lot of people don't know this, but like I bounced from Instagram to Snapchat and all these different platforms. But I actually did find a lot of success on a platform called Ask Will. It doesn't exist anymore, it was fairly new, but the founder of Reddit was there.

Jeremy Lynn was there, and all of these huge names and influencers and was kind of like a Q&A platform. YouTube got me ready for things like that. And then when I jumped to LinkedIn, I was ready because I was so comfortable on camera because of that video diary. But in terms of LinkedIn, like yes, I was one because I was so comfortable on camera because of that video diary. But in terms of LinkedIn, like, yes, I was one of the first, so it was very easy for me

to stand out, but I still had to work to retain that attention. And I would say I was able to do that because of all those hours I spent on YouTube and those other platforms. Totally. And that's what people have to keep in mind. You kind of gather all this experience,

all these skills from even failures. And it's important to know in mind, you kind of gather all this experience, all these skills from even failures. And it's important to know that just because you necessarily failed on a project doesn't mean that you can succeed if you apply it in a different way. And you still get that advantage of having those skills. So that's very inspiring. Let's dig into your main expertise a little bit more, which is visual content. Online videos are everything right now.

In fact, videos are the best performing content type. Pretty much on every single social media platform right now. Just a few stats to kind of get my listeners to understand the scale of this trend. According to HubSpot, 81% of businesses use videos as a marketing tool up from 63% over the last year. Google reports that six out of 10 people would rather watch online videos than television. And Cisco predicts that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer

internet traffic. So why do you think that video content marketing is so hot and why is the demand accelerating in this space? I would say, like, number one video right now is so hot and why is the demand accelerating in this space? I would say like number one video right now is so hot, especially for businesses because it is that epicenter of all content. You can then repurpose that video to audio, to written, to little snippets, to screen caps,

whatever it is, there's all these different things that you can turn that video into. But again, it does allow you to make that emotional tie with that person or that story that you're watching on camera. But I would say for me, like it's so important because it is that epicenter. I'm actually a writer before anything. I'm known for video, but I'm a writer before anything

and people read my writing because they understand and they connect with me on camera and they know what kind of person I am, but that wouldn't have happened without that video. Oh, that's really interesting. So video also has a lot of power when it comes to purchasing decisions. Do you know any like science behind why video kind of heightens our motivation to click the buy button?

I was doing a workshop and I got this from one of my mentors and I walked in and I was like, yo, like raise your hand if you have an iPhone, right? And of course a lot of people raise their hand and I'm like, yo, like raise your hand if you have an iPhone, right? And of course, a lot of people raise their hand. And I'm like, okay, if you had an iPhone before that, keep your hand raised. A lot of people kept their hand raised. If you had an iPhone before that, keep your hand raised. And basically all of them had their hand raised. And I kept going.

And really like, again, a lot of them had their hands raised. And I explained to them that people buy not because necessarily like it's the better choice or it's so much better than an Android, they buy it because of clarity, because they really understand it. And I would say video works the same way. It's so much easier to communicate a message when you have visuals, when you have audio, when you have all these different mediums in one place, and that's what video allows you

to do. Again, you get to connect with someone and gives you that overall clarity. Got it. And another element of video that I know that you're really good at is visual storytelling. And as the common saying goes, facts, boar, and story, sell. And in my opinion, stories that are visually engaging sell even more. So what are your key elements of a good visual story? So my team is absolutely incredible when it comes to the visuals. Again, I'm a writer and I'm really good on camera That's where I'm best

But I would say a lot of the things that a lot of people pay attention to on their TV shows and movies like the same things Apply for the most part all stories are the same, right? Like they start someone you have that main point and then they build up and then there's that problem Okay, how did they get over that? What's the outcome? For the most part, it's the same thing, but at least visually, being able to take your viewer from point A to point B and communicate those things that are happening in that story visually, I would say it's the biggest thing, but taking your viewer from point A to point B. And you recently said that conflict is a gateway to connection, so can you share your

thoughts on that related to storytelling? Absolutely. Conflict is an eight and it's been there since the beginning of the time. And if you look at all of the successful stories, like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Batman, like any story, like there's that conflict. And that's why we heavily attach that character. Otherwise, it's going to be boring, right? Like, what's that thing that they overcame and what did they become?

So it's, when it comes to conflict, just like all of your favorite stories, when it comes to communicating your brand story or your personal brand, whatever it is, like, what's a conflict in your life? And it doesn't have to be huge, right? It doesn't have to be, hey, I had negative $900 in my bank account

or hey, like this happened, that was terrible, terrible when I was a child but just everyday conflict that people can resonate with that's gonna make your story so much more compelling versus this static character that doesn't change at all. Okay so let's talk about how you actually create a video. What is your production process? Do you write a script? Is it more on the fly for your LinkedIn videos? Are you guys planning camera angles and things like that? First it was over planned when it was just me. Then it was running gun because we needed to make money. And now I'm really at the point where I want to take everything that we do to the next level.

So we are spending a lot more time planning versus, hey, like here's a topic, go, just go rant. I do want to test and see what's working. So I have this spreadsheet essentially that maps out all of our different content, tracks, different variables, like, hey, did I have my hat on this day? Was I outside? What was a copy that I use? Was there B-roll? Was there music?

What was a message? What was a CTA in the copy? All these different variables that allows me to see, hey, what's resonating? And from there, I lean into the thing that's working, but we do spend a lot of time planning out what topics we want to hit, and then at least outlining the main points of that topic. I would say personally, I don't spend a boatload of time, but for my team and for our clients, we do spend a lot of time there because that's when you're going to get that chair ability, that's when you're going to get that share ability, that's when you're going to get that verality. When you really understand what works and it's a science and you know it because you've

tracked it. Data is law. Absolutely. Data doesn't lie. So you just mentioned your black hat, which is sort of like your icon. People call that a brand anchor. Another LinkedIn star, her name is Dr. Natalia, she wears blue glasses. So what do you think about brand anchors?

Is that something that you would encourage others trying to make a name for themselves to do? Yeah, something I like to say is let your ship sail. Don't be afraid to let your ship sail before you find that anchor. I think a lot of people obsess over that. I had a message one time that's like, Q,, people only watch your stuff because you have a cool hat. And I was like, okay, like, there's some truth in that. It's definitely like science to that.

But like, that's not the reason. Before I had my hat, like, people still watch my videos. But my hat took me to the next level. Because it was like, hey, have you seen that guy with the black hat? I immediately like increased shareability, right? And people were talking about me. And then people knew, hey, yeah, he talks about this. I'm gonna click on this video because I've heard about him.

So I would be just say, don't be afraid to let that ship sail. If you look at the most successful people, like Gary Vaynerchuk, you could argue that he doesn't necessarily have a brand anchor. At least he didn't for a very long time. And now he's known for things like hustle and like sneakers and the jets and like these sounds that he's implementing

into his videos now, but he didn't have a brand-aigre for a very very long time. So I would say you don't need one, but it definitely helps to have those visuals and that can be colors, that could be sounds, honestly, that could be style of clothing that you wear, whatever it may be, anything, having that visual or that thing that's attached to your identity. Visuals make it a lot easier, but it could be anything. But you don't need it, and don't be afraid to go without it. That's so fascinating. I need to think about what my brand anchor is. Let's talk more about optimizing your videos. And like you said, you're doing like A.B. testing and really looking into what's working, what's not, dropping what's not, and focusing on what is. I personally have found that videos

are sort of deprioritized on LinkedIn. My regular text posts or text with images always do better. Grants that I don't really do a lot of videos where it's like me and person, it's more like, you know, still videos and things like that. So I don't think what I'm saying is entirely fair. But maybe you can give us some tips on how to make our videos perform better.

So like how long of a caption should we have? How long should our videos be in general? Is there certain types of videos that work better than others? Young and profitors, do you have a brilliant business idea but you don't know how to move forward with it? Going into debt for a four-year degree isn't the only path to success. Instead, learn everything you need to know about running a business for free

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I would say in terms of the different mediums, for sure, text posts get more views, but that's just the algorithm. In terms of video, every time I go live, typically that's a lead for my company. Every time I post a video and I know it's going to go viral, that's a lead for my company, right? Every time I post a video and I know it's gonna go viral, that's a lead for my company. It just depends, but in terms of like getting your videos

to get more view, I get more views. Like I know this is an unpopular opinion. It's not what people typically wanna hear, but I would say you have to test it. Like that spreadsheet that I have looks very different for all of my founders, right? What works for me does not necessarily work for them. I know for me personally, whenever I talk about something emotional and I'm telling a story

and I'm leaning into my strengths, which is strategy and like, when I speak like there's that flow like state, right? Whenever I'm doing that, I know it's going to do very, very well. It doesn't matter if I have my hat on. It honestly doesn't even matter if I have B-roll. Music does make a little bit of an impact, but that's completely different for all of my founders. So I would say test those things and really pay attention to the shares metric.

I think that's something that a lot of people don't look at. They look at the views, they look at engagement, they look at likes, right? Pay attention to the shares. And then more, like further than that, what are people saying when they do share it? Because that's a good indicator of, okay, this has a likelihood to go viral because more people are sharing it there.

So pay attention to that in terms of actually getting your views to perform better on like a basic level though, I would say like that first frame is going to be your thumbnail. So make sure it's an attractive visual like make sure it's related to the video, of course, but like it shouldn't be looking up your nose, right? Like smile or something like that, but that first second of your video is going to be the thumbnail. So make it attractive. I would say copy is huge, huge, huge, huge. And again, that's why you need to test,

but give everybody the information up front when you're writing always. Don't make them click the video. Make them want to click the video. If that makes sense, I would say also collaborations will help in terms of increasing views. Like maybe you link up with two to 10 creators that you really enjoy and you go and comment

on each other's posts when they post them, just because again, the way that the algorithm works, that will speed that up a bit. Other than that, I would just say test, test, test, and see what's working. And I know that's not what people want to hear, but it's something you have to do if you do want to grow continuously.

Yeah, totally. And it's clearly working for you. So I think you mentioned a lot of great tips that we should keep in mind. So you've used your videos as a way to build a very thriving community on LinkedIn. I would say you're one of the most popular people on LinkedIn right now. You recently posted a video on the importance of retaining your following and not just focusing on getting new followers and more traction. And in my opinion, the way you made it sound like was it's basically treading water if

you're doing that. So can you expand on this? You really do feel research. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like a business, right? Let's go out and let's just get new business, get new business, get new business. But if you're not doing the work for the, the business that you do get for the clients that you do get, you're going to fail because again, there's not going to be any referrals.

People are going to talk bad about you because why are they there? Why are they working with you? Why are they making this investment in you? And I think a lot of creators are like, Hey, like you're following me, like you owe me that follow versus earning it. And I think if you build that relationship with the people that are following you and you actually build a community, not just a following, you're going to have so much more longevity because of that. And they're going to share your message for you. They're going to

feel that attachment to you, which is going to give you so much more longevity. So I would say, again, like, how can I keep these people engaged? And like, also, yeah, do you want new followers? We want more people in there there but by bringing that value to the people that are following you you're going to bring in more people. Are you getting all of your engagement totally organically and just based off your content or are you proactively doing things like whether that's inviting people to connect or using another person's platform as your leverage, like commenting on Gary Vee or whatever it is, or are you just doing it purely organically?

So right now it is just all organic. I want to do more strategic things like commenting on those big, big names and things like that, but for the most part it's all been organic for me. And then of course, I've collaborated a boatload, but also the community that I've built has helped tremendously. Like physical community, like a group that I have had multiple. But those people in those groups are like, hey, yeah, Q is doing this. Maybe you should go watch his content. That's not the purpose of the group, but that does happen because of the group. So I would say my community has helped a lot, but other than that, a lot of it is just organic and collaborations. I think your community is what Mike Winnet calls

an engagement pod. Have you heard of him? No, actually, what'd you say his name was? Mike Winnet. Mike Winnet, no, I haven't. He was on my show. He's like knowing as like the UK's number one demotivational speaker. He's like a satire type of a guy.

But yeah, he talks about these engagement pods with a lot of big names on LinkedIn. Basically, I have an agreement to like like each other stuff to boost up the algorithm. Yeah, and they do. And they do. And I have my team, so my community, like I have a couple, one of them is a video innovators group. We don't allow any like sharing of links or anything like that. The group's purpose is to propel video innovators.

Propel video creators forward. And because of that, I get credibility. People are like, hey, yeah, can you start at this group? Then I have my main misfits group, which is just influencers and creatives. And again, we don't share any links or anything like that. I would say the only part I have really is, I've got like the small group of Milwaukee creators that I want to bring up and that's basically just my team. So there's

a lot of pods. Yeah. I mean, I think it's fair game to do anything like that. There are a lot of pods. I have a group on Slack, which is a network of listeners. And so, you know, they help booster condo. I feel like that's the game nowadays. It is. You need something at least. Yeah. There's a lot. There's people in like 20, which makes no sense to me. And it's just, I would have no time for that, but whatever.

Nobody hasn't invited me yet. What's up, Q? I don't know, I don't, I wouldn't, but I don't, I don't have any. I'm doing pretty good considering. Okay, so your sweet spot is video obviously, but you're also in the podcast space. So tell us about how you got into that. I'm just like big into the future, and there's just massive opportunity in that space, and honestly,

like, it was on a bunch of podcasts, and I saw my friends talking to all these amazing guests, and I'm like, hey, do you guys want to start a podcast? And they said, yes, so we started one, and now we actually do have a podcast studio that we're helping others launch their show, and we're allowing others to use their space like DIY style as well. So we're super excited about it, but I just, I like the space in general and I listen to a lot of them, Sue. Cool. Do you feel like it's been successful?

How have you felt about the business model of a podcast? Just strictly podcast, business model. I would say if you're wanting it to be a business model, it's probably not gonna be the best, but the way we've gone about it, it drives a lot of traffic, and we get a lot of leads because of it. It's good lead gen tools.

So I would say, if you just wanna make it a business, like don't make that your main source of income, but it definitely can generate money later on so long as you're building that brand. But for us, it's been super helpful for the business. Totally, yeah, I definitely see podcasts as like a lead generator type of tool on so long as you're building that brand. But for us, it's been super helpful for the business. Totally. Yeah, I definitely see podcasts as like a lead generator type of tool and just really good to just get your name out there

and get your brand out there. Absolutely. Another space that you have recently entered and you've been doing really well in is public speaking. So can you tell us about the different engagements that you've had so far and how you were able to secure those gigs? Public speaking is interesting.

So recently I just did my first TEDx and I did VidCon the year before that and I just got approved to be a speaker at Inbound as well. And I've done a bunch of like small scale ones as well, like a bunch, bunch, probably too much. And it's so down. But honestly, I got in by accident. I was drinking and at a networking event, slash LinkedIn local and Dallas. And they're like,

hey, Q, you want to speak? I was like, yeah, sure, sure. I had no idea what I was talking about. And again, it went terribly. And I related that back to my experience with video. And I was like, okay, if I'm going to be an entrepreneur, I got to be good at this. And I don't like being bad at things. So I promised myself, I would do a bunch of these things, and I did, and I did, I think, 15 before VidCon, which is, again, too much, but I got comfortable. Still not really good or anything like that.

It wasn't until recently, leading up to the TEDx where I really felt comfortable on stage. But the biggest thing for me was, again, building brand equity and leveraging that. So every time I did a speaking engagement, I recorded a video and then from that video I would find the point that I believe would go the most viral. The point that I believe had the most shareability and then I would share that on LinkedIn. And then again, I would probably get a speaking engagement from that because of all of those shares. And honestly, started by accident,

I instruct people to put together like a one cheater and start reaching out and ask to speak for free, but the most important part then is documenting when you are speaking and then leveraging that from there. And it obviously helps that you have like a big following and people are looking up to you and things like that. Yeah, you have to know it makes you unique, 1000%. So how do you prep for your speeches when it comes to things like nerves or body language

or enunciation and pace? Um, so initially it was, let's just go on stage and let's go. And it was terrible at first, I got better at it and I could totally do that, but TEDx really taught me to prepare. And I am a very go with the flow type of guy but I'm also deeply, deeply strategic and I want to start spending more time like planning these speeches and then riffing it. I like to think of it like music. I was a musician so you learn a song, you play it how it's played normally and then like once you

memorize it then you can start riffing and doing all these things. So for me like I have been writing out my talks now, and I might go off script, I might go way off script, it just depends, but I do have the same routine every single speaking engagement that I do. Like I eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I sit on the stage for like an hour beforehand, if that is allowed, I listen to the same playlist,

and I don't have my hat on until I go up on stage I put my hat on, and then I just forget about everything and I go. It's just the same thing for me every single time and I've found that that's helped me separate myself from those nerves. And the more prepared I am, the better, and more I feel like myself.

That's awesome, that's great advice, thank you. So the last topic we're gonna cover is entrepreneurship. What's the hardest thing you've faced so far as an entrepreneur? Oh, honestly, I feel like I can name off a million different things. I would say though, it's a point I'm at now. I was talking to a friend and new entrepreneur this morning and he's like, man, I'm so close to locking down this deal. This is so hard. He's like, I didn't realize it would be so hard.

People say it's going to be hard, but you don't realize it until you're in it. And I totally went through the same thing. And even now when we're in this growth stage, like we've reached this point where like, okay, let's get a business coach because we want to take our company to the next level. But now we're realizing, wow, there's so many areas that we just absolutely suck at. We're good in a few lanes, right? But like managing everything financial, right? Not to say we don't have cash flow or not making money because we are, but like, just organization and communication and overall vision and things like that. Just every day,

every new stage gets harder and harder and harder. I'm more equipped to deal with those things, but I don't think I could just straight up answer. This has been the hardest thing because literally everything is hard. It all sucks, but it's also fun and rewarding. And you partnered with three others for this venture. Why did you decide that you needed a team? And was it you who decided to recruit this team and how did you select them? Yeah, bam. If you're ready to take your business to New Heights, break through to the six or seven figure mark or learn from the world's most successful people, look no further because

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For the quality of classes, instructors, the platform itself is beautiful. The videos are super high quality. You can't beat it. Gain new skills and as little as 10 minutes on your phone, your computer, tablet, smart TV, and my personal favorite way to learn is their audio mode to listen on the go. That way, I can multitask while I learn. Get unlimited access to every class. And right now as the app listener, you can get 15% off when you go to masterclass.com-profiting. That's masterclass.com-profiting for 15% off an annual membership. Masterclass.com-profiting. Yes. So first start up, I was the founder and then I brought a team. Second agency, I was initially the founder and then I brought on two people later

and then it was just me again and I would outsource and I really stepped away from that because I did want a team and I didn't want to do it alone anymore and I wanted it to have real impact. And that's when I met Eric when I was thinking about those things and he was big on Twitter, big on Instagram,

and I reached out and I'm like, dude, like, let's do something together. So we started a YouTube channel, and we just talked about LinkedIn. And it went pretty well, but after one video, I was like, okay, I wanna do more. And this dude, I had convinced a lot of people to jump on LinkedIn at this point in my life,

and he did 90 straight videos, whereas everybody else pretty much fell off. So I knew this guy was good for it. So we decided to launch a business, had no idea what we wanted to do. We just knew that we wanted to create full time. And then around that time I had met Brema, who I was earlier introduced by my fourth business partner, Izzy, who I was called roommates back within the day. But Brema and I met each other through this group that wanted to do something similar to my company now. They ended up kicking Brema out and me out because we just weren't aligned. And I hired Brema to do some work with my previous company. And then I hired him to do a shoot with me and Eric when we were starting this company. And he's

like, wow, I really like what you guys are doing. I have no idea what you're actually doing, but I like it and I want to be a part of it. So we brought him on. And then Izzy, who was my old college roommate seven years ago, he was transitioning from director of corporate sponsorships at this previous venture. And I'm like, dude, like we need exactly what you have to offer right now. I knew what I was good at. I knew what Eric was good at. I knew what Bremel was good at and I knew what Izzy was good at. So we got together, we hashed it out and we decided to start this together.

And from there, it just kind of grown faster than any of us have ever expected. That's awesome. I would say when you have a lot of people, though, it does get difficult. So just make sure you outline everything before you get started. Yeah, that's great advice. Sometimes just getting the team ramped up takes so long and it's so difficult, but once everything's moving like a well-oiled machine, it's so nice. Absolutely. That's a percent. So this is the company that's called Urban Misfits, correct?

So it's Urban Misfit Ventures. How did you come up with that name? So the name, I had built a community of misfits before. I started this company and I was known as a misfit on LinkedIn. That's kind of what I built my brand around. I wanted to do something with that. And originally we were just going to do MK misfits, which is now our events company that we own. And then we're like, hey, like, wouldn't it be cool if we had this agency that we could launch different brands under

our original company, right? Different brands under this company, but we had an agency as well. And we could run those brands through the agency. So the idea is to own different companies, but not necessarily run all of them, but have full control over all of them under this venture, under this umbrella company, right? So as misfits, I don't know where the name exactly came from, but you are going to have and do have multiple ventures. So that's brilliant. That's awesome. That worked out. And I've heard you compare your company's value proposition to the likes of Kim Kardashian. So can you tell us what you mean by that?

Oh, I don't remember saying that, but that's funny. I would say a big, big thing for us is when you partner with Urban Misfit Ventures, you're not just getting a team that's going to come in and help you with content, right? You're going to get the strategy. You're going to get the content and you're going to get an impeccable story. But you're also going to get, hey, we've got this community and events company. We're able to drive a lot of traffic and there are people that deeply believe in what we promote.

So they know that we're only going to push products and push companies that we believe in. So they're more likely to buy your stuff. But also on top of that, you're also going to get my brand and all of my founders brands and all of my employees brands were able to drive all of that traffic to you. So if you partner with us, you get that full package, that influencer package. Very cool. And if you have to give one piece of advice for an up-and-coming entrepreneur, what would it be? Honestly, I would say stop listening to advice.

Not necessarily, don't consume. I think consuming is great, but especially when your first getting started out, it's very easy to get bogged down by advice and get analysis paralysis. So I would just say do and then learn from that failure or the success, whatever it is, but just don't listen to too much advice

and start taking more action. And then as you learn, as you grow, but just don't listen to too much advice and start taking more action. And then as you learn, as you grow, then you can start consuming more. And then eventually you're creating and doing as much as you're consuming, ultimately. But at first, I would just say, stop taking so much advice. That's good advice. And where can our listeners go to find more about you and everything that you do? Yeah.

So our website is urbanmisfitventures.com., otherwise mkmisfits.com will take you to the same place. You can find me on any social media platform by searching at tag just q. Otherwise I'm linked in I'm Quentin Alums, but yeah. Awesome, well it was so wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate you having me. Thanks for listening to Young and Profiting Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to write us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to the show. Follow YAHP on Instagram at Young and Profiting and check us out at Young and Profiting.com. And now you can chat live

with us every single day on YAHP's Society on Slack. Check out our show notes or Young and Profiting.com for the registration link. You can find me on Instagram at YappwithHalla or link to just search for my name, Paula Ta-Ha. Big thanks to the Yapp team for another successful episode. This week on Yapp, I'd like to give a special shout out to our audio engineer and producer, Danny McFatter. Danny is a super talented lady who keeps our podcast sounding amazingly clean and professional. We are so very lucky to have her. This is Hala, signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative?

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