How to make $$$ traveling the world with TikTok.

so welcome to the podcast great to have you on I've lost all my mojo because Connor's told me not to be loud um but I thought I'd just give you a quick two seconds introduce yourself to the crowd and tell us who you are hello I'm aluca I'm a content creator in Auckland I'm 26 about to turn 27. um and yeah I make lifestyle Japan and travel content cool um so we're definitely gonna geek out as I said to you before about Japan and Tokyo because I'm real Keen to talk about that but what I wanted to start with is a little bit about the history and you're probably the first content creator who I watched the early stuff as ICT before but haven't watched

the most recent stuff until recently um so like and I think I watched a lot of that a lot of it was more comedic I suppose back in those days than it is more lifestyle now yeah um so two things one how did it all start getting onto Tick Tock and then two tell me about this switch of content styles so I was living with my best friend at the time just over the summer and she was on Tick Tock doing skits and stuff and like she was she blew up but then she did she was like no I'm done with tech talk it's just not for me anymore and then I just thought her stuff was really funny she just like do stuff like

you know um being an Asian like growing up Asian uh what might POV my Asian mom and stuff like that and I thought it was pretty funny and I just thought okay how what could I do that's kind of relevant to me being growing up on the North Shore kind of taking the Mickey out of that and just like all you know guys I dated in the past and stuff like way back in the past like have been in a healthy long-term relationship not talking about maxing toxic he's great yeah um yeah um but yeah I kind of talk about that and then be like POV he takes you on a date and like he takes you to like Vic Park and stuff like that

and like people kind of just thought I was being serious sounds like something we know oh no no that's just what he does for dates he just takes people updates as you should yeah self-care yeah um yeah that's that's kind of how I got started into it into it because we were living together then was kind of fun we'd bounce ideas up there yeah and then I kind of realized that working in that well doing skits and stuff wasn't actually going to be monetizable it's not going to Brands don't like it you know I had very few brand deals which was great you know in 2021 uh but I wasn't able to really monetize my content and I was just like how can I take

it to the next level because I know I've got followers here I know they've ever got a community and also I felt burnt out from making that kind of content yeah and so that made the switch into lifestyle yes and was that just like natural because like that was who you were or did you like deliberately go what are the options which way do I want to go down or was it just a natural I think it was more of a natural approach because it was sort of like okay well skits are now starting to die out what can I do that's more sustainable and just more more long term I guess yeah yeah and in terms of Lifestyle like how do you categorize that

for yourself like like where do you sit in that lifestyle category because like it's quite broad on Tick Tock but like how do you categorize yourself and lifestyle I think I categorize myself more into like uh you know the day in the life Vlogs you know day in my life as a buyer you know my corporate job what I spend in a day is you know very general stuff and like also I talked a lot about buying a home last year and then also just travel content and stuff as well and then from like a brand deal perspective I mean you've obviously got your brand deals on your page so it's not like we're doing jumping into things that people don't already know but like

what sort of brand deals do like how did the brown brand ideal sort of conversation change as that happened like from the comedic stuff to that like was it quite deliberate going to the brands through the agency or did it just organically happen that more Brands were like oh I like this content more Brands organically like starting to like the content more and they I think a lot of them just weren't sure how they would be able to work with me in terms of like what my current my current Niche was as a more comedic skit Creator versus doing like oh this is a day in my life Vlog and then add in the product product placement you know so yeah just made just more

sense organically yeah yeah it's quite interesting it's the second time I've heard that well in two weeks like Emma was the last one right last week who curated her whole feed for brand Deals they completely changed like in terms of like cooking you know she does a lot of cooking and buying and budgeting tips for Fort meals yeah but similar to you like she did it deliberately it's like I need a change yeah because I want brand deals and brand deals ain't gonna come for anything else even though she might to do like she has like a side gig which is like her Korean K-pop dance group yes thing that she does whereas like that's not really as monetizable well not in New Zealand for

that space anyway where she's at so it's interesting that you actually what what made you like who was it just something that you did that you knew like was there a catalyst to make you make that change like how did you know to do that um I think it's like you I just saw like people coming up doing Day in the Life Vlogs and stuff and I was like I could do that yeah I could do that my life's a bit more boring like I don't you know work from home well at the time I didn't work from home I worked from the office all the time and stuff and I was like how do I how do I do this so I started transitioning

into doing like weekend Vlogs through two week and Vlogs a week and then I do like you know fashion content sort of and stuff like that and cooking content too yeah and but how did you know that was going to get better brand deals did you or did it no I think I knew it was going to happen because of the I think just because a lot of people would say in like my friends yeah who had mutuals who followed me were like oh it's Luke really like that she's like really an awful person like it obviously says POV yeah mean girl at whatever like yeah yeah situation like but people thought I was actually serious and I was like I don't want people to

think that like I don't people think I'm an awful person because I'm not at least I don't think so so I was just like [ __ ] this is not not for me yeah and I just kind of thought like it's just not on brand for me I want to be more like just myself and just more Carefree yeah yeah interesting so tell me then um so you made that transition things started to go quite well um where do you see that content Journey going into the future like I mean we spoke off camera before that you're quite career driven and that's the thing for you but what's the Creator world what do you hope to do with that into the future um um actually Japan as

we talked about that and travel is a big you know part of my life and pre-pandemic and everything I traveled a lot with my friends and family and my partner as well um and I'd love to you know do more travel and stuff and kind of at the moment a little cheeky plug I am actually working on an a uh ebook oh cool yeah so I'm actually doing a three-week Japan itinerary so there's a free version and I'm actually writing the premium right now which is like a complete guide for beginners for three weeks in Japan or hotel reviews food recommendations you know everything we did yeah yeah have has your audience asked for it yes is that where it came from yeah so that's

cool yeah they it was really cool because they had kept asking me when you're dropping a three-week itinerary when you're gonna do it and I was like guys I need some time I need some breathing space and then I was like actually why don't I just write it all like instead of doing multiple videos it just felt like it didn't make any sense to do multiple videos people will keep asking me about it and I'm like I can't keep saying go to this playlist yeah yeah I was like well I might as well just write a book about it yeah it is funny that though I like in that course or a book creation space where like even though people could go watch all your

videos they just want it curated and put in a place yeah for it right it's like um we work with a company called vidsing have you heard of vidsing before they do like no build your own Netflix essentially oh okay um and it's like a pay subscription model self-service thing um and they are we're helping them bring on a bunch of creators as well for this purpose where they they literally like they take a whole bunch of your content and then they just monetize it but in a group like in a group package so people can go and pay like I don't know it's crazy that people do this but they'll pay like a hundred bucks to take a collection of your videos that tells

them about a topic that's crazy yeah because like it stops them having to scroll through and find everything yeah and so like some of the creators aren't even um making new content wow they're just like packaging up content they already have and selling it as a bundle and and it's the whole thing of like times money right like people just want to be able to give what they need and know that this is exactly all they need to do the thing um so that's interesting oh cool so tell me about the ebook like wins when can people expect it let's plug the [ __ ] out of it let's plug this right all seven people watching people people what is it when is it coming it should

be coming this weekend I've been that soon yeah that soon so I have been actually working on it for three weeks now it's like yeah that's me and they can get it from your link they can get it from my link tree um it is not there yet no um but it will be there soon so yes yeah and that's essentially a three-week holiday itinerary guide yeah there's a free one and a premium so if you feel like you need more cool it's a premium version for you tell me where does this guy take them is it Tokyo is it all of Japan so just be kind of like where I most beginners want to go so Osaka Hiroshima finishing a trip off Okay cool

so actually three weeks around the country yeah that's cool um what's the like what's one of the cool tips in it that people without giving too much weight that you want people to pay for what's something cool that like you're putting in there that people most people don't realize I think yeah it would be a lot of it will just be kind of more in the general tips so kind of like just general customs and stuff and also um just etiquette in Japan and then also just more about the Jr pass that's something I get a huge like oh yeah people always ask about that yeah okay yeah the thing that I um I that bugged me out the most when I went there and

like a Bill's fine it was just like I didn't get it at first was when I um rocked up to the gym oh yeah because I'd Rock up in a singlet yeah oh and they're like you can't come in here no no do you have tattoos at the time all right I had this heart sleeve and they're like you can't be in here and I'm like why they're like you have tattoos and so I had to like I had to go buy because I kind of wear t-shirts no so I had to go buy a long sleeve I had to work out on long sleeve and when I was in Japan it was uh I went there and June oh and I left in September

worst times yeah it was so hot um and and I went there so that was a real interesting thing and I thought like I had to tell Houston people that I was like because most people I know had tattoos yeah and like I get the culture I get why not and all that sort of stuff but I was just something I wasn't prepared for yeah going because it's not one of those things that you rock up to so and and I think and I find that in a lot of countries when I've traveled like there's always little tiny things right they're like just Customs are different yeah um what's your biggest tip for people trying to find good places to eat if they don't you

know they just want to randomly roll up somewhere um oh see I don't pre-plan feel like you're better off to like go so like one of my favorite places in Japan is called ronokunomiyaki you know like we I didn't even know about this place I didn't know it existed I just need okonomia Uhura existed in Hiroshima and it's like a place that's just a whole building full of people who do okonomiyaki so we went there and we were just looking there's like they're telling you like oh come to us because we're this and they're like family-owned business I was like okay let's go there yeah third floor and then we just had the most amazing time and then I plugged them on Tick Tock into

this day I still get people telling me like Whoa We like went there and like remember you and stuff so yeah um yeah they had really good Google reviews someone mentioned that they watched my Tick Tock so my best suggestion is honestly just to kind of walk around I try avoid the chain restaurants if you have to like just go some of the chains are great but don't go to ichiran that place sucks I hate that place what is it it's a really popular uh Ramen place and everyone like ever a tourist eats it up but like this place is amazing and it's small oh the only ramen places I went to are like the local route near where we lived like I don't know

local places why would you go to I did go there to take Max and I was like this place is going to be average by the way and it's just really thick broth and it's good but like man when you're paying 13 nzd it's like you could go somewhere else that's pretty expensive wait what yeah it's like how much common in Japan yeah in Japan they've like increased everything yeah they increase their prices because of the tourists really yeah wow am I like local like so you had two locals you have the one where you like you go in and order and that like that you'll be okay to pay like seven or eight dollars but then the other ones are all the vendor machine

ones this is like yeah two three bucks those ones are really good yeah those are the best ones those ones because when we first got to Japan we uh I think for like well there for four months and for the first two months or two and a half months we were like on a budget trying to make it last get careers there set up for a bit and then about a month and a half before we left we got offered these we got pulled back to Sydney for for work right and we got off of these we signed roles that were really good so we had like six to eight weeks left and we had a whole bunch of money left and we're just like

let's like ball out but in that first like 10 10 weeks yeah we were like super super strict with where we ate yeah and like so all the like vending machine ramens were the best one but also um I can't remember the place now there's like a supermarket it's yellow it's got a picture of a cow on the on the logo and it's like it's everywhere the supermarket but they sell like like it's mostly like well actually it sells everything but we used to go in for the um for the meat oh okay they sold yeah because they did all like the I can't remember how you call it in Japan now um they're like thinly sliced oh yeah for like strawberry shopping yeah and

so we'd buy all that because it's like the cheapest place the cheapest way to eat was like to buy that in a massive bag of rice yeah anyway like I told you we're gonna geek out on [ __ ] Japan if I if I go too long um let me go back a bit so uh ebooks coming out yeah that's great what's the price point have you decided on that or not um the price point will be under ten dollars oh that's good that's easy that's an easy thing for people to describe yeah I just wanted to make sure it was accessible to people because I just feel like I mean it takes a lot of work to build a really solid itinerary in Japan is a

really big country a lot of people don't realize that it's so spread out there's so much to do it's so dense but um you know I didn't want it to be like outrageously expensive where it's like well I could just do this myself I'll put the time into it so I thought you know I'll put the time into it my followers have wanted this for a while make it accessible for everyone yeah cool I really like that idea I said to a lot of people who come and see me they're like um I've got this really great idea for a thing I need help marketing it and I like these days like whenever it gets on at that stage of their business cycle whatever I'm

like go away and make grab an audience if no one knows who you are one you're not gonna have to sell it anyway there's only so much I can do yeah and two how do you know they want it yeah like and so I love like hearing this from creators who are like yourself who's going no no people have asked for this thing and so I make it and what I love is that like your your audience will they will actually be stoked for it that's the coolest thing like and I've seen that like when you when people make stuff that the audience asks for it's not like a oh this guy's just plugging so I need to make some money like they're legitimately like

thank you so much for that thing um have you how do you propose on pushing that out through this um so yeah I'm planning on making a tick tock video and I'll also post on Instagram reels probably on YouTube shorts as well it'll be like under a minute hey guys if you're going it'll be I think also another thing I've learned recently is like um Tick Tock audiences really like when you refer to them as you so this is how your make your Japan trip better yeah and buy my itinerary but there's a free version as well if you want to read that and you feel like you need more yeah that's kind of how I'm planning to do it yeah and then like also

having like a green screen of like this is the free one and this is like a screenshot of like one page from there um what you can expect in the premium have you talked much about it on your channel no not because I haven't seen right because I just watched the last sort of 10. yeah I have no I posted on my stories I why not I have my reasons oh I could tell you later oh you tell me later this is a yeah okay no that's fine that's fine um and I always the reason I say that is like uh there's this thing when you like post about stuff and is this the mentality that people have like build in they'll come sort of

idea and like the issue with that is that like just people aren't ready at the time when you tell them they're usually not really for a while they're not already at the same time so it's like how do you keep telling a story about something that isn't just like by myself today but yeah find myself today and that was even like when um Conor launched like with his de Plaza he like he had real good numbers real good like people coming through but then he launched in those tens of thousands of people didn't translate to tens of thousands of orders which is normal like that's how it should be so like how do you see it how do you see you doing that long term

like continually push it or you're just hoping that like it'll be a passive thing that people just go into the link and buy so I'm hoping it's going to be a passive thing but I think that also with my future trips not just with Japan like if I'm going to South Korea that's something where I really want to go is like as a beginner going to Career this is what I did and like I'm someone who really likes to do extensive research before I go someone new so you know then I'll also like put out like this is my free itinerary because people will ask me about it I'm sure and so then I will then transition that into okay this is my one week

guidance Soul yeah and then you know same thing if I go to New York or wherever you know yeah okay so it becomes a like a Lonely Planet guide sort of oh yeah she told me about that yeah oh you don't even understand is that not being a thing for that long is it I don't know that was a real stab in the back thanks my mum told me about it oh yeah and I haven't seen it yet so just for everyone else who's [ __ ] young out there um Lonely Planet was like the thing oh that was the only guides that you got when you went traveling okay they like sell books oh and you they can still buy them but like they obviously lost

in a lot of sales because everything went online but like they were like the definitive guy it's like and they were like they're actually like real good I'm surprised like the dumb thing is is that they didn't like they didn't make the content like relative or relevant sorry for social media yeah but they have it all if you pick up an old Lonely Planet guide it is like um you know it's one of the it's like having like all the answers you need perfectly and the perfect like itinerary sort of setup um you should you should uh I will have a look a Japan one and like yeah still still their conduits old and outdated now okay no all of it's gonna have changed yeah

that's so funny that makes me that does make me feel like when I first went traveling into 2011 so it's not that long ago no but when I went first traveling there like every time you went to hostel or something like that that's they would just have like books so you could like pick it out and way you didn't have this no well yeah we did no did we no not not not to the same level oh yeah they were like you couldn't do everything you wanted on it no it was just most people didn't have one because the iPhone came out 2008. yeah they weren't Mass markets 2012 when Instagram popped off true yeah I didn't have a smartphone until 2012. yeah I think

so same for me yeah um I still had like the Nokia Blackberry oh I was gonna say yeah it would have been the old school Nokia yeah I had the one that had the full qwerty keyboard on it oh that's fine yeah it wasn't flash or [ __ ] so okay anyway thanks for making me feel right that's great um anyway we'll move on from that um so ebook going out um what about the brand itself like you as a brand what do you hope to do with it how do you see it aligning do you see it aligning with career as you go forward or do you see them as two separate things always like me as a Creator and Sakura guides as a brand no

no no no no no yeah so you as a Creator and the brands and the guides and your career as a buyer oh okay yeah uh you've seen those two separate things I see them as two separate things and always always why is that I guess because it's interesting because when I first when I was at Uni I was always interested in influences I was like Wow and like you know you see all the Aussie influences and I've been following them for such a long time and I thought how cool would it be to be an influencer one day um but now that I'm here I'm like okay like actually when I was at Uni thought cool I'd love to go into digital marketing and

like advertising and stuff and like social media management and now I'm like whoa separate like I really don't want to be involving my work life and my you know I don't want them to come together I feel like I think it's a good balance for me to just kind of keep it separate it kind of also allows me to you know work a different side of my brain and like you know and just kind of keep it separate and like in terms of my buying role it's like you know doing negotiations and stuff for suppliers and like um a whole bunch of different stuff like real yeah um your kind of textbook marketing kind of stuff and like you know real life stuff not saying

that social media is not real life but it's just more like it's completely different it's more of like a fun thing and I think it kind of grounds me in a way interesting um let's push on this this is something I'm real interested in in how social media and uh or how people's brand as uh helps with career and business yes obviously like our whole business is built on personal branding like that's actually what we're known for not The Tick Tock side of stuff like that it's just like a fun side project almost to it for our business so why not like what why not have your professional brand and you're like like your Tick Tock brands are never going to be the career driven

brand isn't it this isn't going to be the brand that grows and helps your career but is there why is there not a professional brand for Luca no I haven't really thought about it like why isn't there like a why isn't there like a LinkedIn version of of I do have LinkedIn but I can't try to keep it low-key because I was like I just didn't want people to find out where I worked or anything but then I was like I feel like I just need LinkedIn anyways because this is where people are yeah like if I want to be in the corporate world or whatever just like being known as someone I do need to be on LinkedIn it's just the place where everyone

is and um you know whether I'm working for my current company or somewhere else and so I'm not that active on that I used to be really active on that and then I started social media people start finding out where I worked and I was like nope deactivate but then I reactivated it tell me about that a little bit before we move on um what was it about them finding out where you were what was happening I think it was because it was kind of early on into my social media that was like when I was doing povs and stuff and my work has always known about it they've actually since I started with my company um they've known about like my social media hustle

and they've watched me grow from like it being at zero to now where it is and they've kind of like seen me you know you know uh do like my Vlogs and stuff and then do I did twitch for a little bit and then get brand deals and working with these amazing Brands and they're like whoa this is crazy and they've always been really supportive which is amazing but I always just were I had a fear of people like you know watching my tech talks and then like associating me with being you know who I was on Tech Talk versus like my corporate self yeah and I was like oh no like I don't want people to like find out about that and now all

my colleagues just they watch my tech talks so I'm like you know what whatever yeah everyone's gonna see it anyways yeah yeah yeah so you're more worried about the people at work yes knowing about tech talk rather than the tick tock following know about the work uh it was kind of it was kind of the security reasons you're worried about the other way around yes yeah so it was just more like initially I was like oh my gosh is this is my tick tock's growing and I was you know hitting around 20 000 followers at the time I was like oh no people were starting to recognize me in public and I don't want them to know where I work and like you know I

walk I work in Auckland and you know that was kind of something that kind of really scared me because I'd never had been recognized before so I was just like how does this work like this is really weird and I kind of got used to that then it became more of the oh my gosh now my work is finding out like people in my company like in you know the head office in Australia they're like watching my tick tocks and I'm like crap yeah so but now I'm just like it is what it is they're more chill about it because I'm like there's really nothing you can do like people are gonna see it and I'm better to own it than you know try to

hide it away because like you're saying earlier when we started this at like you're quite career driven like that's definitely something you want to pursue and that you've got plans on like making sure these two lives can live next to each other and coexist um like I like saying for me is like how how do you make those two things work well together and it sounds like me they're like like uh rather say where you work but like I'm not sure if I should but like it tells me like your current workplace is quite supportive um the only thing I can think is that it's only a good thing you know like I mean I like I'm super biased because I want all the guys

in my team to be big on social media and grow but like I think I remember when I used to run hotels and we had people who had worked for us who had decent sized followings and it was basically Instagram those days because Tick Tock had only just started when I left the hotel so it wasn't no one was really big there but like what it allowed you to do is someone um in sort of more senior positions it's like you say you go into negotiations with you as a buyer and you're going to negotiations and negotiations with the supplier the biggest part of negotiations is report building right like yes it's like to build rapport once that's built the deal's much easier to be

done the right way yeah so what you tend to find is that with people know you before you get in the room half the Rapport building is done all they're trying to figure out is is this person actually cool in real life and like we do that all the time like people will come meet me here they'll like come in or I'll go meet them and they see me on LinkedIn and they'll see us on the tick tocks or whatever and their first thing is just like oh like you guys aren't just this crazy [ __ ] off attention-seeker place that Joni's running around like in that case the whole time like your legit business yeah and that does probably like more than half of the selling

for me like most of that's done so like would would that be something that you would like how do you feel about having a professional brand like is it just something you just don't want to do or is that something you just never really thought about that it could be worthwhile it's something I just never thought about and not known how to I guess execute it yeah what sort of content we putting on LinkedIn before you stopped nothing I thought you said you'd put out some stuff oh no I was just kind of active as in like you know making connections yeah I was just on there I was on there just seeing what the corporate Lads are doing stuff like that yeah and so

now you're not sure what sort of stuff you can do yeah I'm just don't know what the vibe is my friend who works for Rocket lab he was just like oh you know people post crazy stuff on LinkedIn all the time I'm like what he was like because he doesn't really engaged in Tick Tock and then he said that like linkedin's like the place for a lot of corporate people and I was like that's weird yeah I would like so so my my ah it's not really my sister-in-law but my brother's girlfriend my partner she's the head buyer for Balenciaga and Dubai wow okay yeah and we were we did like a deep dive with her when she was here in the summer they came

open to buy and like I was showing her the people she wanted to speak to as in like and and not just in um currently who she's trying to work with and build connections with but even like future career goals and what blew her away is like one how every single one of them were there yeah and two like how much they put out on LinkedIn um I don't think we've got into me trying to convince a tick tocker to get on LinkedIn in this podcast this might be the first time but I reckon there's like a huge opportunity for you you know what sort of content you put out no you put out this sort of content but written no you write about your

journey because this is a lot of your stuff is like lifestyle this is my life day in the life this is what I do if you go and read any of my content that I put out yeah it's all that how many followers do you have or connections 13 000 okay that's a lot but they're all business owners as well yeah so they're all like that's why like I always say to like everyone I meet like if you're trying to grow a business like unless you're selling cheap no not cheap but like um low-cost consumables tick tock's a better place for it but as soon as you go into any other sort of business or um Professional Service or corporate or stuff like that and

the sale items or like the negotiations are bigger like the the cost or purchase is bigger yeah the link the stuff on LinkedIn is just like way more valuable because you're talking to decision makers only see yeah yeah you know and that's like when I first met Johnny that was like a real big eye opening because she was telling me how little she was making being a content creator with 430 000 I think at the time yep and I was like at the time I think I had ten thousand or eleven thousand followers on on LinkedIn and I was like I was like that's you know this is so messed up when my 11 000 followers on LinkedIn are about to pay your salary yeah

you know like that's why like I always suggest LinkedIn like from a corporate world you think about it from um your client your um employers perspective if you've got like a big brand on there as well that's only going to help right it's only going to help like think about a negotiation process tell me how it plays out um so what's what's your typical process for that whole thing yeah so like I guess with the negotiation process and this kind of applies to everything it's like you go in and do it making sure that you've done you know your research on obviously who you're going into business rather than it's kind of like um you know what what they want from us what do we

want from them and how can we show them that we can benefit them and also you know just try squeeze a little bit you know here and there is and like they're going to be doing the same thing right and um I guess that's kind of where as a now I'm thinking should I say this well you don't have to talk about like what you're buying but people know you're a buyer yeah I know but I'm scared now because I'm like that's okay about your process yeah let's not talk about your offices I'll take it from my perspective okay so from my perspective as a buyer there's a couple things that you've got to do right like one of them is you've got to find

the things and find the suppliers yes that you want to work with right yeah and one of the hard things about that is like vetting finding out about people is it the right thing are they the right type of company we want to work with and stuff like that and that's all part of that negotiation they're doing the same thing to you and all that sort of stuff but like when you've got a brand that is solid on there the thing that changes once you've done it is that they all come to you all the good ones do as well yes and so it and they come to you not like I know that in your world you're sort of got I don't know if

you've got more of the power but like you're the one spending essentially right but there is still this like layer of like if people know you you've got better opportunities with things they're like I want to be part of that because there is someone there um and the only thing I'm saying is like and we don't have the concert is too long but like there is by building that personal brand from a professional sense like it's only gonna one give you better opportunities in the buying World better negotiations better um what's the word like relationships with people as well but also like in you know without your current employer but like just opportunities yeah like you think about um you think about CEOs at the

moment we're doing a lot of work one NZ and Jason Paris yeah most of his career growth has come from the fact that he's got a really strong personal brand yeah you know like every company knows that like people don't stick around for their whole lives anymore so that's another thing like even your current employer knows that you're not gonna be 18 still working for them that's a thing they do know that you're one day you know if it's 5 10 whatever the time frame is move but those sort of progressing jumps like a lot of that comes from like the biggest jumps come from not from applying for a role yeah no one applies for this is like like it was like when I

was talking to my my brother's partner like her next role she's they won't advertise the role yeah like you know she's trying to move into like um like her her goal would be to move into something like uh Louis Vuitton or you know working into that level of luxury Brands yeah but she's like they went up they won't advertise that roles down no it's just who you know you get shoulder tapped and stuff like that and you're just better off being able to do it if you've got a big brand yeah anyway we'll move on okay tell me what's next for this so you've got the ebook yeah you want to do more travel yes do you see the traveling being like a long-term play

or is that like a midterm whilst I'm still young you know like or do you just see it as something that goes on forever something that goes on for the rest of my life yeah and does that how the channel changes yeah I think so I think it will continue being lifestyle but then it then also right now what we're what we're seeing is like kind of like watching myself I guess is like this transition where it was like last year was like a different stage of my life where it was okay we can't actually still go anywhere book tickets to Japan waiting for that to happen and it was just like okay I'm like this is why my content is like me buying a

house lifestyle stuff whatever and now that we can travel and I've done a fair bit of traveling this year we're sort of like Okay so I've went here and then I went here and I'm going here as well and it's kind of taking like my photos on this journey of like planning the trip then going on the trip and you know what I found what I learned and stuff if it's a new place um and yeah have you ever met um what's her name Aaliyah uh early is that how you say her name Alexandra I'm not sure the um the young can we put a can we open up earlier ili she's like from Wellington she's she made Wellington on Wellington NZ or something Elia

Alexander just type that in but it should come up i r y a Alexander I think just how old is that I should have just gone so she started like this um yeah that one there oh Lilia sorry sorry earlier sorry Lilia gosh that's embarrassing have you seen her before no okay so she's based in Wellington she's cool she's a cool content creator so she does full time travel content now but look if you scroll up like in terms of a follow account like she's not huge but she's just been like Singapore like she goes all around like she's going to Queenstown the other day um but you know what she did she she started a local like Wellington NZ like what's happening in Wellington

page oh I think I've seen that yeah and then she sold it oh she sold it for a whole bunch of money at like 24 or 23 or something that's crazy and I exited out she's like and her whole thing on LinkedIn is um I I sold a media company that's crazy yeah and now she's like full-time travel Creator that's amazing she was she follows like well we're following each other and I was messaging her she's like oh I'm just going to Singapore like crazy but so like is this kind of thing like that sort of travel or just like like just follow me on my life follow me in my life I'm not trying to be um I don't know if you've ever seen

your uh mytrani or like uh Johnny day uh no he's on YouTube so 20 days so um John and his girlfriend Delina absolutely obsessed with them have been obsessed with them for a long time he was actually doing comedy like 10 years ago he still does it occasionally but then he transitioned into more lifestyle and travel stuff his Japan series went off like he did season one two three four five six like they go to Japan like every year yeah they go to Korea America what's his name how do we spell it um c c h o n n y day I said this is my way to Cho in in one Chinese day so this is more yours like you would like to do

yeah so they they you'll really plan out their trips and then they've kind of film and take you on that journey of everything they're doing and I absolutely just love them so yeah they do like different seasons of stuff so like yeah Japan season six that's when they got engaged Gundam um and then they also do stuff in their Hometown they live in Melbourne and I think it's awesome like they've really done the lifestyle and travel thing and they've been able to balance it with their lifestyle I think it's awesome so yeah um and YouTube's for you too right done a bit why only a bit just time it's just I don't have time it's just really hard editing is crazy and then I'm like

well am I kidding like 397 views on a video that took me hours to edit and it's just yeah it's it's sort of like it just feels like there's just not enough reward for well you know and obviously I do sort of like you know I'll post it on Tech talk and stuff I post a link but that's kind of it I don't really I feel like I could do more but yeah just take it's very time consuming yeah it's a it is a long thing um and I wonder like there's always a big thing about like how do content creators move people from One platform to the other right um I would like you definitely should just be posting about it more to do

it because like there's this like whole thing with YouTube it's like getting people initially to watch it yes but then obviously if that's got to be good for them to stick around like the worst thing you can do is getting to watch and then they don't yeah and I think that's the problem with Tick Tock is that people come from tick tock not really to dive into a 12 minute video or eight minute video and so then they just go I'll watch 40 seconds and they get off and then that that's worse for it yeah that's worse yeah um have you ever thought about like starting like uh like a newsletter or something like a like a follower newsletter I know Emily Mariko does it

who's that she's a really big Tech talker she does like half Japanese just like cooking and stuff and she's amazing she doesn't actually talk she does well she does talk sometimes yeah but she does like ASMR stuff but she has newsletter yeah she's like the first creator that I've actually seen do a newsletter yeah you know how many people how many creators I've seen who do paid News subscription newsletter really heaps of people do it it's like so think about it from your perspective you instead of doing an ebook you do a paid subscription travel thing and they don't come out of time yeah and you can do it that you can do paid subscriptions and people only pay when it comes when an audition

comes out okay I didn't know that you know so it's like it's called like there's there's like payment systems like recurrally and stuff which when you activate it gets sent out they signed up for whenever it happens but no more than a certain amount it's kind of like what patreon try to do patreon turn into a cheap version of only fans but like it's like that initial thing that could be a cool way yeah because like because the reason why yeah is it's easy to get people from newsletters to other things yeah you know you can send people from these videos to anywhere because like to commit to read a newsletter is like a whole thing and so there's two ways of doing users you

either make the newsletter um paid that's one way to do it which and your model it might work because you're gonna go um hey you like these ebooks that are doing like moving forward like they're all going to live here subscribe to this you'll get all of them yes or you can buy them one off here yeah or you subscribe and you can get access to the whole Library yes um all the other way people do it is that once you get enough people subscribe to a newsletter you just have paid advertisements on it can you just be like Tony I need someone to sponsor my newsletter this month Tony sorted out just tell him to take you I mean he's going to take care

of it he made many of them exactly those like the paid newsletter subscriptions they'd usually do cost per click with a base spend yes yeah you know because it's easier for them to track so they'll just do like cost per click like we'll give you a dollar per person who comes through and if you get a thousand people through then well or whatever the number is like Okay um that's an interesting way like as a way to look at it of like the hardest thing when you sell ebooks or like all that sort of stuff is that even if it's one of those things that you can make once and sell it forever yeah people won't buy it forever they're not gonna buy it forever

no yeah and it's outdated yeah yeah anyway right and you have to update it you have to put new versions new versions yeah yeah so how do you create something where this is like you think about like software yes all software subscription based now so that people don't have to upgrade all the time they don't always have to buy the new edition yeah they just get it yeah so like how do you put them on a newsletter yeah and then they can just get an updated version and then yeah and they might even get like you think about your Vlogs on your um Tick Tock how long are they on average super long stuff I'm like what are we doing for this other footage like

could we have like behind the scenes or could we have additional footage where does that live could it go somewhere else like people who yeah Keen could watch more but you could do similar stuff on your um newsletter right it's like oh my thing you saw me go to this place but here's like me actually walking around you can watch them oh like the more behind the scenes it's not just like a 0.5 second clip whatever yeah you know and I only feel like the deeper lore of people like the people who are real yeah because your audience since I've known Joanie hasn't grown heaps no yeah but that sometimes is a real good thing because you've used like your audience gets to know you

real well right so would you say that your audience is like pretty like in tune with everything that you're doing sort of thing like they're pretty loyal right like pretty yeah so I think it's interesting because I used to be like oh everyone like has more followers in there and it's really you know it is what it is when you're when you're content creator it's so easy to compete yourself like so and so has like 500 000 followers why do I like not why am I sucking like I'm not getting to that point but I think what I've really realized this year is the fact that my audience are very loyal and they know what's going on in my life so I'll get DMS from

people saying like oh my God haha when's Max gonna propose I'm like wait what I'm like you know about this and then all like um how's work going or like how do you get into buying and just stuff they talked about so long ago that people remember and they come to me and ask me or they'll comment about it and yeah it's really nice I think I've kind of really realized the value and having an audience in a community versus just like having a number because there's really no point in having 500 000 followers a million followers if no one actually gives a [ __ ] about you like what's the point if they're just there for the laughs yeah or whatever right I reckon that like

yeah that like because you're already gonna do these ebook things like how do you make it something that one I don't have to you know if you get a thousand people to buy the ebook how do you get them to buy a second one and you always have drop off yeah I don't think you should not launch the thing just because you [ __ ] came on a podcast what are you like how do you get that into something where people just are part of it yeah and it might not even be a paid thing it might just be like like say for instance you come on over get the free version you're going to get the email address like what if you just said in that

email address you sign up to a newsletter at that point don't don't even have an easier planned yeah just have permission because I like newsletters are one of those things they're like people don't realize how many people actually do consume yeah use lettuce like I've probably got three that I like Seth godin's one I mean he's been doing his for literally 20 years 25 years or something I've been doing his one um published press which I've only recently subscribed to that's the guys from Colin and Samir um they're a massive YouTube guys theirs is all about Creator economy stuff and there's a third one that comes out way less regularly um the guy who wrote Atomic habits um anyway anyway but like I don't have

any time to read that [ __ ] but those things I make time for yes and like even our one that we have on LinkedIn we probably on average get like two and a half three thousand readers a month yeah two and a half thousand yeah three thousand readers a lot of people a week not a month I said a month no but that's our viewership too oh yeah yeah our viewership's about two to two and a half thousand yeah that's a lot like um there's most of these guys [ __ ] around it you know what I mean um but I guess my point like for you like there could be two cool things because like it actually um probably plays into your career side of it too

like you're writing yes you know because like most corporate career driven content is not going to be tick tocks and Vlogs but like writing and like you know think about like think about people like at the top of the game in in your career they all write articles for Stuff they're already you know writing a book like it's just that sort of it's just the progression it happens yeah but also like as you get older you you don't mind having longer form content to consume you notice so much just trying to know what's up with the world and be part of it yet a bit longer um me saying that how does that make you feel like are you just like that's a dumb thing

I'd never do it or like no and I don't need to be kind because it's an interesting debate yeah no I think it's I think this is definitely something I want to do because I was sort of thinking okay it's cool to just post a video and be like hey guys hey y'all subscribe to my subscribe to my YouTube channel and then you know no one cares and it's like okay well I've put out this premium thing No One's Gonna care like after one video like how many times can I put it out like you said so it is interesting because I'm thinking okay well yeah now I need to go back and think you know again I'm not in a rush to launch it

because I've said to them be patient yeah it's gonna take time because I want to make sure it's good this is my passion project so yeah I think that's probably going to be the best way to draw people because I I was thinking do I just I do kind of like the idea of doing a send out because people were like because initially I was like this is way before I even thought ahead of like premium yeah I just put a at you know box on Instagram stories and then people sending me the email address and I was like wait I haven't done it yet screenshot almost now and then people just like send email it to me when it's done like girl it's gonna

take a while yeah so like just wait yeah so now I'm like actually I initially that was where it all started was like maybe I'll just personally email it out to people yeah and I still like the idea of that because it feels a bit more personable for the people who want it and then yeah we can do yeah yeah yeah I think so I think it's quite cool like I like a big thing this year for us is like how do we provide more content for different consumers or different audiences so you know a whole bunch of people watch us on Tick Tock and a whole bunch of people will watch me on LinkedIn or whatever it might be but like they want more

but um that doesn't mean they want more tick tocks yes yeah you know that's not true that's just not what they want yeah so what else can we give them and like a lot of people on our like on our Taz Tick Tock will be like oh tell us what you actually do and stuff like that and we're like this is a TV show like this isn't the real tears like this is a full-on drama yeah like tragic tragedy probably more than a drama um but like that's what it is right but that's why we have like the newsletter on LinkedIn we have the LinkedIn profiles the guys are about to start YouTube or get more heavy into YouTube than we were and things like

that so like it is a good way of diversifying that group but also like it is another like as soon as someone commits to a couple things with you they are more likely to then like have you have you ever heard have you ever read the book um uh not persuasion um oh I'm gonna forget it now but it's like the seven sort of habits of like it's essentially habits of manipulation no um it's pretty I mean when I say it like that it sounds real terrible but like they're things like social proof um scarcity reciprocity but one of them's commitment and consistency and the commitment and consistency principles like one of the like most crazy powerful like like things like principles you can put

into place to like have people do [ __ ] and what it is is that um if people act I if people make small little commitments over time they will continue to act consistently into the future so if someone subscribes to your Tick Tock and then they're like you're like hey come to my YouTube and then they go to YouTube and they're like hey you got this email address and they're like yeah and then like hey I've got this ebook you want to buy it they'll continue to act consistently which is like yes I will buy and so the more places you can live and have those people come around which is like you on like Instagram YouTube Tick Tock already but they're like very similar styles

of content yeah and they're all video heavy content so it's not really like they're just like oh yeah I'll be everywhere but as soon as they like continue a newsletter you know that's why I often talk to like young creators like why aren't you on LinkedIn like linkedin's like linkedin's like where Facebook was like 2014 2015 where it was actually like good yeah like before it turned into like a bunch of old people arguing about [ __ ] like it was like it was actually really good back then which is why it became what it is and that's where LinkedIn is at the moment like it's actually really good content so it's like how do you make other content Styles where people can go act consistently with

your things so that when it is the time that you want them to purchase something or it doesn't even have to be purchased because it's not all just about making shitloads of money but you just might want them to do something like let's say you're going like let's say you had a charity or saying that you were trying to support and you're like guys like I really want some support doing this like they'll act consistently there you're always going to have some people who will do it because it's natural but the more more people you can shift to make more decisions in your favor the more likely they'll say the next one in your favor as well yeah so I reckon you gotta that's a

cool opportunity I it's saying that I would definitely suggest is like how do we get a newsletter how do we have content on like a platform like LinkedIn doesn't have to be LinkedIn there's other places you can do there's like you can be one of those guys who gets right into Reddit and have written content on Reddit that's fine like just depending on the subreddits you get into just yes but there are like places for rent or medium okay could you have like dinner medium blogs no oh mediums like medium is like um it's like a it's essentially a newspaper but it's like user generated content okay all of its usage is this like a Blog website yeah essentially that's all it is um and

they pay you for it too so like okay I think I've made all of like eight dollars on mine something like that but slow you know I'll take it I don't even know if I could cash it out I think it's still sitting in there because you have to get 50 bucks yeah but like um I only did it for a little bit as I was putting my newsletters both there in LinkedIn but like it's a good place for like um we could put you could put the newsletter so you could talk like let's say you're doing travel vlogging yeah but you could put the long written version there and people like travel travel mediums are massive yeah okay they're like a big thing there

you should look at it medium's like one of those rabbit holes that you when you start like you get really sucked in um anyway I'm rambling now okay I think we're at the top of the hour are we at the hour yeah and we're going over am I getting told off um what else what's last what do you want to leave people with um what do I want to leave people with buy my ebook on the weekend pun buy your ebook on the weekend you might buy my ebook on the weekend yeah definitely uh like subscribe like subscribe like subscribe um yeah I don't know I think like the thing that I kind of want most for my audiences to um feel like it's a

safe you know Comfort space I want to be everyone's Alex girl you know she's she's the flavor of the year I did notice that on your um ones where you talk to the camera of doing like your night routine or whatever yeah very Elixir yeah very Elixir and they're like there's some of your biggest videos yeah people like really enjoyed that and I was like okay that is a Content style that people love yes because you don't you know what I I'm so disinterested in is when people say get ready with me while I shut up and just get it to the point yeah yeah that's what I've been trying recently that is so funny because I was like yeah it's like yeah these ones

Eh this one yeah I was watching them and I was like this is so which is cool because I think Alex Hill's amazing yeah um but this is so like that style which is not the only one but like um it's so fascinating that these like people just get hooked into these storylines and just watch it's cool okay cool cool thank you for having me awesome thanks for coming on appreciate it cheers