Redefining Success: Samantha Best's Unconventional Path on the Internet.

I had a reading done from a psychic saying that I was going to be on a TV show first of all the process of like when the public started watch it what was that like so I was really really nervous I had so many sit Downs with their lawyers and their producers and stuff was that a concern did you think that originally we want to stay away from drama when you put yourself into that position you have no choice unfortunately things were kind of Twisted in the media a little bit Yeah men who think I owe them like a date or something I don't think it's a bad thing it's a go in there for fame until the breakup came out but for what reason

what would they give you as justification if someone else can match me with someone like how cool would that be being a single mom is not easy but being a content creator and a single mom is just on a whole another level that is a recipe for not an easy life but our next guest Samantha has been a to pull this off not only that she's been on reality TV show she's built up following of 10 and something thousand people and her whole career now is content creation listen to the story there's some inspiration there for anyone else who's a single parent or is just someone who wants to like put in the hard yards and build this life for themselves welcome to the podcast

great to have you here no no thanks for coming on why don't you quickly introduce yourself and we'll get going uh okay uh my name is Samantha best I'm a 27-year-old single mom to a beautiful little six-year-old and I'm a content creator here in Oakland first of all um you told me this is your first podcast it is my very first podc how are you feeling about doing a podcast for the first time I'm actually really excited I love talking okay perfect great this is going to be so fantastic cuz some people on their first time they're like a little bit nervous they get into and they're like oh I don't want to look like a dick but um my only advice is I'll look

like the dick the whole time through cuz I'll make a full myself yeah I think doing reality TV like that's kind of worth the Pinnacle of podcasting right the Pinnacle of I love that well tell me about that like that was my first question I told you I want to ask is what forced well I shouldn't say probably the wrong word what drove you to make the decision to go on math yeah so uh it kind of started actually when my friend sent me the link she sent me the link to maths and she's like you should apply for this and I honestly had never really thought about it until I had a reading done oh yeah um I had a reading done from a

psychic saying that I was going to be on a TV show yeah in 2024 and I was like okay this is weird I was like you know what I'll just apply like there's no harm I my love life was terrible I don't leave the house because you know between my son and then working from home like I never got out of the house I didn't meet people the apps were terrible and I was just like if someone else can match me with someone like how cool would that be um so yeah I applied and literally straight away they came back and I was like oh wow okay this is happening yeah yeah and when I say I took the longest time apparently out of everyone

to like sign my contract and like actually be like yes I'm going to do this cuz I was so on the fence the whole way through even after like my interviews and stuff um yeah that's funny um so for you it was actually going on to potentially find love and and take that approach to it as opposed to just like oh this's a reality TV show cuz yeah literally yeah I had so many especially when everyone found out my job they're like oh she's just on off for the fame like she's lit on it for the fame and like obviously anyone that goes on it could be on it for that exact reason but like for me it could have like ruined my career it

could have ruined you know like if they portrayed me in a certain way or like I don't know anything could have happened and like that was you know I could have completely ruined anything everything that I kind of you know built so far so was that a concern like when you're doing it did you think that originally or did do you know that now knowing how they uh craft characters yeah it's interesting because I think in the New Zealand one they didn't really tweak too much compared to I believe what they do on like the Australian one um but I didn't know they're going into it they were very much telling me like you know we we want the Love Story We don't want the

drama um apparently after the last one they were like we want to stay away from drama okay um so I was like okay that's quite like reassuring um and then yeah I was just like I just want to you know put put myself out there and try and meet someone because I'm so ready to settle down there was actually some reasons for it cuz I was wondering cuz it's like I don't think it's a bad thing to go in there for fame and those sorts of things because it's a great way of like getting some instant publicity I think it takes like a certain individual to do that cuz it's not the easiest process no what was the process like for you like cuz it

you know you're you are a single mom and so there's a lot more for you as well on stake here so like how was that process for you like going off and doing the filming that must have been it kind of been easy no so I was that was another thing too I was super nervous about was obviously you're away filming and I am not away from my son very often and so I was really really nervous and that was a lot of like I had so many sit Downs with their lawyers and their producers and stuff just being like I you know need phone calls home I need you know and they were so accommodating like I could ring him basically anytime I wasn't

filming um and then when we were in Oakland staying at like the accommodation and stuff um if I had a filming like afternoon off filming um I could go home and go see so yeah they were so accommodating for that because I was so nervous about that being away from him um how long was it in total 3 and a half weeks I think yeah so it wasn't too long but it felt longer yeah of course yeah yeah yeah away from your child for that long um being in this kind of little bubble of filming um yeah it was yeah it was it wasn't too bad actually okay so tell me I don't want to stay on it for too long cuz so much other

things I want to ask you but like I do want to know like afterwards after the whole thing so not just after filming cuz that's one stage then it comes out then everyone watches it yeah um take me through first of all the process of like when the public started watch it what was that like yeah so I was cuz obviously we watched at the same time the public did so I had no idea what they were going to show how they were going to show things and so I was so nervous and me being me I guess I would was constantly checking all of the comments people were writing and you know they they had like four different Facebook pages of groups just chatting

about maths and so you're literally every episode they like you know commenting things and I was checking up and following everything um and it was actually really like I found my experience I think a lot better than some of the others um we yeah I guess you know we were kind of like the quiet kind of couple in the background a little bit kind just getting to know each other and um you know the public seem to love that so I think the the filming and it earing was actually like a really positive thing from my end anyway um until the breakup came out tell me about that cuz like honestly like look at me I don't watch mess like I'm not a m Watcher

like so there's no way I've watched this whole story the only thing I've seen is because I follow you on that and it's just a mom and a person yeah so I mean I never introduced a male to my audience besides my son's dead which was 5 years ago um and that was before kind of I reached where I am now I think I had like a few thousand followers when we were together um and so I'd never ever introduced anyone and I think a lot of people do get really into the me story and they loved our you know our story of getting to know each other um I do think they forget sometimes that it was three and a half weeks of meeting

someone you know you're still getting to know each other and like we had such an amazing time in the experiment and um you've got no pressures of outside world you know you don't know what you're going to be like as a couple in the outside world because you're in such a la la land almost um and so you know um when it didn't work on the side World um then that kind of came out in the public uh a few weeks after filming got it and the public just were not happy at all I think they had only just I guess finished watching this love story kind of come out and then just yeah find out that it didn't work out and um unfortunately things

were kind of Twisted in the media a little bit yeah um just as they do as do as they do I think kind of you know it was just I know that like feeling were hurt and so things were painted in a certain light to make me look worse and it just it was unfortunate that it kind of came out the way it did and that it yeah got taken the way it did and I put out a statement kind of saying my side of the story um and because you know there is always two sides to every story and then I had like the media come out and be like do you want to do your side of the story now like do you

want to do another you know another article on your side of the story and I was like honestly I just want this to be put to be I was just like it's out you know everyone can believe whatever they want at the end of the day everyone involved and knows what happened and you know so it was just yeah one of those things how was it for your audience like when they found out like how did they respond versus how the G public did yeah my followers they were amazing honestly the amount of support and love I've had over the last like six months since this eared is ridiculous even now I used to get you know just people being I've just watched you like

you're amazing blah blah and it's just like that's really nice and that was so like through that time when the media first kind of at first came out about the breakup like the first week was brutal and it was so I'm someone that takes everything to heart I'm like they always say like to be like a you know a content creator and stuff you need to have a thick skin and I really don't I really don't and so you know my friends like don't you look at stuff you know um but then to have like my audience being like sending all these amazing positive messages was just so nice that's so good I was going to ask that because like I've seen your audience your

audience is like giddy with you like the way that they love you is awesome like you don't get it a lot actually like to that level like you might see more comments than what I see as well because it's your brand so you probably see the good and the bad but like just me scrolling through stuff um your commentary is so positive and so in love with you like they just like like there's like an admiration they have of like she gets us yeah you know they like you understand what they're going through too yeah so that's kind of interesting like how like how do you think you crafted that cuz it's not normal I honestly don't know like I really don't know I think

I've just always been myself online like I kind of yeah it's it's it's crazy because obviously I get like you know the DMS and things that like obviously you know you don't see on the comments and stuff but they're just even like more amazing and it's just like I generally just sometimes think to myself how did I get so lucky I really ever get like a mean message like ever and so that's why I think the meths thing was kind of quite hard cuz I was not used to the negative um publicity whatsoever um and so yeah I really don't know I think it's just always been like I'm just sharing myself doing things that are like I don't know I think they're a normal

all everyday things or you know being a mom making him something or you know whatever and it's just like yeah people really seem to love that and it's really cool like in my opinion I think you see it is how you did it like looking at from an outsider someone who like Works in this Feld that's exactly what I would have said like you've done it by just being you but more importantly like um there's this idea that like uh we're really interested in other people's we're really interested in it so people just saying your is that like there's enough of it that I think your audiences see in themselves either they were raised by a single mom they are a single mother or they're

a young woman trying to make it in the world or or whatever this those are just like probably broader groups maybe that you can see in your audience but like they resonate with something that's like super relatable but yeah you're doing your take on it yeah you know and then they're buying into that like oh that's so cool like she's doing it in such a cool way yeah which I love I think it's great I think like there's not many people we have in this podcast we just have like there I reckon there's only probably like half a dozen of the creers we've had on we just have like a like overwhelming positive sentiment oh really across this stuff it's really interesting yeah you know

I think usually parents are usually the ones that we have Louis Davis is one he's just like I don't think he's got any mean comments anywhere ever you know what I mean that's so true yeah but you said something before I want to go back to you said um when we were in the experiment yeah is that language they use or is that just the way you think of it cuzz that's quite interesting I've not heard anyone say that before yeah yeah no honestly the whole thing was like an experiment because it was like they were experimenting with us basically you know they were putting us through things to see how would we would we react you know like how would we react couple swapping

and how would we react doing certain things um and so you know it did feel like this experiment that you kind of like in together and like navigating through we Al yeah we had like you know once at night time and it's just the two of you you know at home and you kind of just like debrief the day yeah and it's just like you know like yeah everything that's gone on that they've you know put us through or whatever it's um that's interesting it is interesting cuz like I think it was a great term that you use experiment because it is exactly that like it's this like human psychological experiment to see which is kind of not too dissimilar to content Creation in itself

like it's weird to think of like you're just saying are just doing things that are normal people are watching I think that is an experiment in human like why do we care like why do we care other people's stuff yeah I um I was thinking about the other day when someone I was reading a book about a guy who talked about when he was young he couldn't believe people would go watch other people play sport he's like why would you do it why don't you just go play yourself oh and I used to say the same thing about my nephews who watched people game on oh my God that's so true yeah that YouTube I like why would you just play the game like these

guys are awesome I want to watch them play and then one of my nephews was like oh Uncle you watch the All Blacks why don't you just go play rugby I'm like oh true but like I think the same thing applies like when we're watching content creators it's like we could just go that life yeah but instead there's something about like following other people do you have like when you think of that like are some of your fans like do they ever take it too far like are they ever like well not too far but are they like too needy or anything is there any do you have that cuz I've talked to a couple people who when the fans are in love they're a

little too in love yeah I do think yeah over the years um yeah there's you know certain people kind of feel like they know you and they they they know that they think they know everything about you and I mean for me especially I do not show a lot of my life online I actually am very private um and I think that was one of the main reasons I took my son's face offline was because you know you just don't know who's watching and you know I do have a lot of people in my DMs especially men who think I owe them like a date or something and it's just like yeah and it's like they're constant like it's just yeah I don't know if

it's because they think yeah they they know you or they feel like they're part of your life I'm not too sure what do they say they say they deserve a date yeah pretty much really yeah yeah but for what reason what would they give you as justification to them they don't but that's the thing it's just like let me take you out like I need to take you out and it's like no you don't that's so funny yeah oh man yeah it's um yeah I think it's kind of put me off dating every now and then yeah it shows you it shows you um there is the other side of the fandom right as like the crazy not it's probably the wrong thing to call

them they're just like they have this parasocial relationship with you they do and you notice I seen it a lot in other people's comments and stuff as well and it's just like you know that's why I kind of felt very yeah not gross but like having my son's face online where like everyone felt like they know him and it's just like oh no no it's a better yeah I did the last probably two years I've done such a deep dive into how you know dangerous the internet can be with children especially um so yeah I think kind of stepping back and looking and being like okay well yeah these guys cuz I mean especially like for me it was like my content is very mum

based and you know literally just I'm just posting me and my son's everyday stuff and yet I will be sexualized in everything I do and then the thought of that like those people then seeing my son was like yeah that's bit weird yeah and the same breath yeah that is weird it's like it's weird how the internet like when you put yourself into that position you have no choice yeah like you got to accept the good and the bad and some of that bad is just like some people can't help but I don't know it's not being weird it's just like that's their whole like the fact that they even think that that's an appropriate thing to say is kind of mind blowing yeah and

it kind of reminded me of like that as well as you know people getting so invested in maths and it's like they took that like Steps way too far like messaging me being like you've just lost the most like the best thing that's ever going to happen to you and I'm like okay relax like you know he's an amazing guy don't get me wrong we just you know we just weren't meant to and that's life you know lots of people date and then they don't date and it's just like yeah I think everyone just kind of yeah gets very caught up in the world of social media and you know reality TV that they kind of forget actually I'm human like you know exactly I'm

sure you've dated people that hasn't worked out you know we right exactly it's life literally so it's funny we had um when we had J Thornton on here and she was telling us about her breakup that went public and like she hadn't told everyone at first and then we came out and she was saying the same thing like she'd get stopped in the street by people going I can't believe like you didn't tell us and blah blah blah like you just you know we need to know and she'd tell like yell at her oh my gosh like as if she did something wrong she's like hey this is just my life like get out of it like I'm allowed to break up with people or

not I don't have to tell you if I break up with them do what I want I know I decided after you're that very public break I'm I'm not sharing anymore of my private life my love life online we're keeping that one until we're probably engaged or something yeah it is a hard thing though right because like when you already got the people who invested and they they they're literally going through heartbreak with you that's the problem yeah they're not ready to move on and you are yeah yeah especially I think yeah you know for me I was also when I go through a breakup you know to be fair I think James is the only one that I ever introduced to CN my son

um so you know going through that was also double hard because I was managing his kin's um reaction to the breakup so it was like I've got enough to wave out with my own breakup and my own son going through the breakup I don't need to worry about you guys you know like having to how did you manage that through like cuz that kind of easy what was your process of dealing that just like one foot front of the other pretty much yeah it really was It was kind of honestly just keeping him busy like keeping him really busy he'll mention him now even you know um two years later um or one year one year one year has been two year this last year

feels like a long year um yeah so you know literally yeah it is um and you know because I think that was also my first time my first ever break up post his dad and you know he was only two so he didn't really kind of understand that one at all um whereas now yeah it was the first kind of managing that one interesting espe like have you ever thought about like what it's going to be like this is a random but have you ever thought it was going to be like when he's 16 all the time yeah yeah cuz he's going to it's all there for him to watch and see that's the thing that's why I think you know especially when I over

the last I think year especially since maths I think I removed so much of my content yeah when it was maths and I think cuz I'd never really like gone back and looked at some of my cringy stuff when I first started no um it's it's it was it was okay and I think when I decided to do maths it was like this is going to be more public now like I do want to go through and like look at things and then also I think when it came to removing him offline too I keep thinking about you know when I was a teenager and like I'm so glad some of the stuff I did and posted as a teenager it's not online now because

it's so embarrassing and I just keep thinking like when he's older is he going to be embarrassed you know by stuff that I've posted of him or even things I've posted of me I think that's I've kind of got a different lens to kind of obviously creators that don't have kids because it's like I'm worried about what he's going to see when he's old like his mom doing this online you know and so I think it's yeah it's almost it's almost like better for me because I'm like H should I be posting this like you know check yeah I actually I actually think the opposite are like I don't think you'll be embarrassed at all 100% if unless over the next 10 years your content

changes drastically and you turn into something else I don't no but like I can't see that happening I think I think K one he'll just be proud like of course he would cuz he's like he is now yeah he's like look at my mom and watch she's done for us right and then 10 years from now when he's 17 or 16 or whereever he is yeah like you'll only be I guess more welln and bigger career obviously whatever you decide to do with that career um he' only be proud but I think the interesting thing is going to be the kids you've already seen it somewhat some of the like older YouTube Facebook stars with their kids is that their kids were normalized to it

so actually they they they don't know any different so they will never look back thinking oh shame they'll look back just going like oh that's normal I can't believe your parents didn't do it on your parents kind of thing you know like so I actually think it is but what I thought why why I ask the question is like I wonder um I I I always wonder like what it would be like for these parents like yourself who have young kids now or those kids like what they will do like and from and the question I kind of want to ask is like what happens when he wants to be on social media himself but like when he's old enough to make a real decision

CU at the moment if he says it doesn't mean anything cuz he's so young but like how do you feel about that happening I know it is it's something I've actually thought about a lot recently because I mean he doesn't have any social media his sex but his friends do really yeah so they've got like Tik Tok and uh YouTube and like posting or just to watch uh both yeah yeah W that's CRA yeah so he's kind of you know I think I feel like I shouted him from it for quite a while and now you know his friends are like oh look at your mom on Tik Tok and you know it's like oh gosh um but he's like obsessed with YouTube and he

wants to be a YouTuber um he wants to start his own YouTube channel um that's amazing yeah and you know obviously I'm like no it's not happening right now you can make a decision when you're older so it has been like a big thing that I've been like thinking about um and I think when he does get to an age yeah he can you know make his own decision I just I'm struggling to figure out what age that would be that I feel like he his brain has developed enough to know because I'm just like yeah I don't know I'm trying to think back to when I was younger and you know what age I was so I'm like yeah it's a hard work I

think there's a difference when you like a YouTuber who's creating content specifically for something like let's say like kid YouTube's are the biggest channels right like there's only Mr Beast and like T whatever it is the T Series Indian music channel and uh PewDiePie who are up there with kids channels all the rest of kids channels Coco melon and right like they're all massive so there's something different when you're creating like a kid YouTube channel as opposed to like a six-year-old putting out da lify content like get ready with you like get ready for school like you know like those are two different things I think and I think like there's nothing wrong with like curating his ability to create as opposed to him putting

his life on the internet yeah I mean those are two different things and I think but they're quite hard to separate when live in that world because you know as well as I do that that'll still bring people commenting as if they know him yeah which will do it but there is a I think there is a slight difference um but it is a hard thing I mean I'm not a appearance I'm not going to have any parice at all I should never do that um I am at best an uncle but I think there is something different I think one thing I uh think is interesting in that space is they can still create without publishing yeah and actually something I found out like

with Janie and Al team that she was to tell me like I was like where did the start like creating content she's like oh dad used to have this thing and I used to make all these videos and stuff like that and same with my nieces I do it as well and I'm like that can still happen you can still teach that so when they're when they are older anyway that's another thing again not parenting advice do not take my parenting ADV I have no clue what's right for children but um I am fascinated though with like when these like next generation of kids oh I know come through CU you can't stop it they're either going to be I want all in or I'm

going to be I want nothing there'll be no middle ground I think for these kids yeah cuz social media is going to be even bigger I can imagine by the time though you know and their teens it's going to be it's going to look different oh look at you know even AI That's I think what's terrified me the most with having my son online it's like oh you don't know what's real you take his photo and put it on anything you know like take his face oh it's terrifying yeah yeah yeah such a helicopter mom I mean like I think you've got some uh good re to be like how public you are I think that's a difference like I think yeah when it kind

of got to the point where like kin was with like um other people and get recognized in public that's when it was like interesting yeah okay no I don't okay so that started happening before yeah and and once he hit school and I was like he's not with me 247 if he's on a class trip or God knows I don't know it just everything started to freak me out cuz I remember that cuz it wasn't that long ago you took his face down right no it was just before maths before I started filming yeah before you started filming cuz I remember the you did a post explaining it a why your reason why I remember seeing that post thinking oh that's real interesting yeah because

it was like a especially because at the time I had been talking to like Louis a bit and like other people creators who had kids who take the opposite approach put them out more and more um and I was like like I don't know what I don't think either's right I think it's right for each you know it's it's an individual thing you know it's your child you get to make the decisions you know for your child exactly yeah so that's good okay so I want to move forward um I kind of have some gist of like how you begin I just talking it sounds like you just started I fell into it accidentally that's what I was going to say sounds like what when

you say fell into it what does that mean so I well I guess yeah when I was just had my son I was so like I was 20 and none of my friends had kids no one I knew had kids and so I was really lonely like it was really isolating and then I just started like posting life online for like my friends and you know I had probably a thousand followers and I just started posting and you know sh ing my life basically as a young mom and people seemed to really like it and I started to get you know a lot of more engagement then a lot more moms were following me and it was just kind of like we could relate to

each other and like I felt like it was so nice to not feel alone and then yeah I just literally just kept posting it was never a plan it's never you know at the early days it was never a plan to like make it a career like back then it was barely you know it was barely known that you could make it into a career like youal no absolutely not YouTube was huge but I was not into the YouTube kind of thing like making long videos is not really I don't know how to eat it um and so it was kind of just like posting you know my life and then Tik Tok came about yeah and I you know at the start was like

dance videos I was just like no that's not me and then I was just like oh I could just share like basically what I've been sharing on Instagram on YouTube uh on Tik Tok sorry and then that's where I really blew up was Tik Tok and Instagram reals around the co time when it all happened or a little bit later yeah I think it was before then oh okay yeah real early before yeah TI Tok um when reals first came out I was one of the first creators that got onto the reals um through my management back then and so yeah that really boosted my Instagram yeah yeah okay and so now in today's world this is fulltime this is all you do when did

that happen yeah like two years ago it kind of became like fullon like I can do this as a full-time career you know um and I'd always kind of been like I'd never really known what I wanted to do and then I found this like passion for like sharing stuff online like I said I love talking and so it was like you know being able to you know talk to other moms and just like talk to people and really kind of like create you know I've made so many friendships my best friend now through Instagram you know like it was just yeah it's crazy it's like the power I guess of social media like yeah it's really cool yeah the whole um people forget that

like meta's whole thing about Connecting People is true like it actually does happen there's lots of bad connections that happen of course y but there's lots of positive ones too I mean my whole life that I have now is thanks to it right like I [ __ ] love my life and it's all because of social it's just how you use it but what I want to ask is like okay so you're now fulltime in this m mhm and that's like not insignificant like that's quite a big deal to be full-time content creator and from what I can see it's mostly partnership and brand deals that fund this right is there anything else that's it no that's it and it's always been it just brand deals and

Partnerships yeah and like I mean you don't have to give away like your actual annual earnings but like you're saying that that's enough that like you don't ever need to work like it's enough to fund the whole lifestyle yeah yeah yeah cuz I mean like obviously as as like as a mom you know we also get kind of like the like family tax credits and stuff so that also helps them as well but it's not much but um that is nice having it as a weekly thing because being a content creator is so everywhere like you can not make money for like a month and then all you know or you've done brand deals but you don't get paid until the following month so like

you really have to be good at budgeting yeah and I'm really not that's so good just Feast of femine yeah I'm really bad I'm really bad I you know I've got a uh I've got an accountant that does all my taxes and stuff um so yeah I don't even really know my overall earnings um I really should have a look at that but you what you just like get it an allowance almost or does he just say what you can and can't buy or they uh no he just kind of like does one my kind of um obviously we have to do our own tax and I'm not good at that um so he kind of just does that and yeah I just make sure

I can you know pay rent each week and I love that that is so funny yeah that is so irresponsible to that you are a business that is so irresponsible but not just a business you're a mother you G Fight assorted but I mean it must be enough that like you're not worried oh no no and I think that's why I have such a relaxed outlook on it it's like it's like no you know like irresponsible coming from like the guy in my business that's like counts every cent you know like oh that's me like I'm the tight ass like my team always ask oh we need this I'm like yep and then like four months later I might buy it for them you know

like I'm such a tight ass I guess I don't have that to worry about I don't have like yeah yeah your business is just you and your son yeah it's actually just me and you know my son and then I love it yeah no like it's nothing with it like it's it's irresponsible it is irresponsible but like hey if it works it works I guess what I'm asking is like have you been able to generate enough income that like you have some safety net in place and stuff as well that's pretty yeah yeah yeah no I'm not just spending I'd imagine not but I guess why I want to say that is cuz like for other people listening yeah like you've gotten to a point

where like penis sing your mom's not easy and there cost and kids are not cheap um but you've been able to sustain that for the last two years and well as well as like have a safety net built so you're not just like living week to week oh no no no absolutely that's honestly [ __ ] awesome yeah no I I do think people do kind of underestimate you know and I don't put that lightly where it's like you know you can create a really comfortable living through being a content creator and you know I do think sometimes you know I feel like I do take that for granted because you know like I don't have to you know rest each week kind of thing um whereas

it's like you know but I think for me to go back four years ago I was you know we were scraping the barrel each week and so it was like it's such a nice turnaround now where I don't have to stress as much you know obviously we all do um but yeah it's just it's such a nice kind of place to be in now compared to where I was you know a few years ago what's real interesting about that too is that that's 6 years of content creation right because you started back when your son was born yeah so it took like four five years of that time to get to that point I think that's fascinating because like people think oh they're making all

this money or doing this thing it's like yeah but like for 5 years we'll scraping the barrel yeah how was that so you were working at the time like cu no I was at her mom I was going to say cuz you had a son so like so you were scraping the barrel to get through but you persevered what allowed you to like how did you have the I don't know determination to just continue because it's not easy right just continue put our content when there's not a lot of return for it no because I think at the start you know for the first few years it was just a hobby it was a hobby that brought in a couple of you know paychecks here

and there and I never realized I could make a career out of it I never kind of set out to make a career out of it and so it was never like oh like you know four years of having to like you know post content because it it didn't feel like that and it was like it was just fun like it was just just did it for fun I was raising my son you know those early stages where like you know the first couple of years of having a baby you know they're not easy um so it was kind of like my creative fun Outlet um and then yeah when I kind of started building up my following and you know the the brand deals

started coming in more and more I was like oh actually I could I could do something with this you know um I yeah this what I like about that story is like and I was hoping what I was hoping it's what you'd say is that like you don't go into it trying to become a billionaire content creator no because you'll just give up yeah so you've got to have some passion drive towards you do you do cuz it is I mean like it's it's not it's not an a hard job yeah trying to way to go around that one it's not it's you know it's not hard but you've got a kind of like a can be quite mentally draining um so you definitely have

to kind of you know have passion for it there have been many spots where I've gone through it I've just been drained out and I'm like I just don't want to do this anymore um and then yeah you kind of get your spark back and yeah it is very up and down down oh for sure mentally it's hard especially if you're a content creator on your own you know yeah like you obviously have like P networks and stuff but as you say you don't go out a lot and you're home and you're on your own it's pretty lonely I think yeah I mean I think my life like being a single mom as well can be draining and then know when you are just talking

to what feels like you're just talking to your phone um it kind of feels like oh gosh you know like and then you get these messages from people being like oh you've inspired me to do this or you know I love you know watching you and it's like oh gosh like it's so worth it you know um so the feedback is like keeps going Community you can see that in your content and your commentary like which is quite cool to see um okay so then um what's next like are you just is this the brand forever you just evolve it gain more followers get pick brand deals or like what else you're so young yeah I know I know well I don't feel young yeah

but you are and you got s like you got such a long career ahead of you before you can realistically stop yeah I definitely don't think my personal brand will be what I'll carry on forever I do want to get into a business myself like start my own kind of brand um we've been looking kind of the last I want to say a year um just kind of figuring out what I want to do next um whether it's yeah kind of starting my own like not clothing line but you know starting my own business or looking at you consum good product or um looking at you know seeing what other businesses you know there are out there um so yeah it's kind of just like

the next steps is definitely I do you know I've kind of created this um you know platform for myself where it does put me in a better position to then kind of branch and do something else um whether it be yeah starting something or um but yeah I definitely do want to kind of do something now I think I've I think I've you know done myself for so long and I'm getting to kind of the point where it's like I don't necessarily love putting myself in front of the camera all day like it is yeah at yourself in it's like literally staring at yourself in the mirror all day like it is you know you just end up nitpicking at yourself constantly and it's like

like I said I don't have a thick skin it's so interesting so I think yeah I think I've kind of built up and I love just like from what I've built has never been like purposely like I'm going to do this to like get more following and you know like I think I think if I really did that like I would get so deflated because like I said it doesn't work like that right it's like half of it Tex Al you know you go up and down and it's like half ofal I think if I was to yeah really focus on just like building up me on social media I think I'd get really deflated real quick yeah um so I definitely yeah I you

know when I first started out it was to like help well not necessarily help but just kind of like share my life and just be like if you are going through similar just know that you know it gets bit or you know like I'm doing it so can you and then I think I had a really bad birth so it was like that really resonated with a lot of moms and you know that was kind of so it's like okay what's next like what can I do that's going to like benefit others I don't know yeah it's an interesting one hey like I If last year and the year before in stance planing I would have given a lot of advice around and like really

promoted the idea of starting a brand or business outside of it like I used to think that these influencers could definitely like create Brands and take on like seemingly like this hisorical Giants in a field right like and and you've seen it with like say Mr Beast launching a chocolate brand Prime energy doing that stuff but like the reality came out like two years into this run of all these creators creating these Brands is that actually most of them failed yeah in the long run they had this peek at the beginning all your super fans jump on and then they die off and uh from that perspective what I've seen now is that the only ones who really lived on are either their super massive

like Mr Beast doesn't matter what he does he's just so many people watching it right he's he's gonna go off um or they're business people yeah they're really good business people and because fmcg or fast moving Goods or consumer goods um actually a real hard business to do like they're really hard to get into there's so much that if you don't do it you just don't know yeah and you're trying to take on like the Giants who have been doing it for literally 100 years like you know trying to take on like Johnson and Johnson or uni or all these guys right um that actually like my thoughts have slightly shifted for a lot of people that consumer product goods are pro unless you're a

business owner like unless you're an entrepreneur and you are if you are go for it because if you're an entrepreneur no one's going to stop you anywhere you're just going to go for it and that's what it is because that's what entrepreneurs are like right that's like me like no one could stop me from doing this because like just love business too much yeah I actually think like there's a bunch of Pathways that are more uh natural I suppose for someone who does content creation like for instance we have a client well one of our old clients ilsa her business is like buying homes small ones like like we're like three four I don't know how much probably 6 700k adding a beer during bathroom

whatever increasing the value of it um renting it out for more doing an equity uh exchange and then buying a new one and she's built this like I know probably like $30 million portfolio and she's a couple years older than me wow and she did it she just done it for so long for 12 years and now she's like built this whole brand she like has a whole coaching business where she helps other people do the same thing it's called the bur method be it's like buy renovate something whatever anyway the point of the story is is that all you need for that is good servicing like it's not a real business I mean definitely a real but it's not the same as a real

business where like every day you're grinding away with employees and you know starting like a product you've got to do like warehousing manufacturing and all stuff and it takes like 2 3 years to develop a product properly like we're in the process with the client uh co-developing a product with them and it's been a year and we've only just got samples yeah like it just takes so long to do it and we didn't do it probably but like there's like things like that like and I was looking at sort of your content like it's probably not a dumb thing to just do investment in some way yeah because like especially if it's housing cuz like like it would apply really easily to content style yeah

you know like buying rals or whatever any I'm not telling I'm not giving you Financial advice this not Financial advice or parenting advice but my point is is that is there other Pathways to invest the money that isn't just into like a product business which is real hard yeah real hard yeah that's a really good question yeah is there anything like you've seen outside of product because that's the most natural thing and the reason why it's most natural for Content creators is because you're getting sponsored by Brands all the time and so you just that's your world you see all time you're like well I'm promoting his brand or their brand so why don't I just do my own one and take all the upside

right it doesn't ever play out like that but like you know like I there's a um there's a couple people I follow who do this sort of thing with housing now I'm not I'm I'm saying housing and I don't even own a house and I don't want to own a house like I just do not like it's not at all where I want to be but save money not quite that much no I know but like but your brand deals will going through the roof they will they'll just keep climbing you know you just keep going this way and it just it's exponential anyway that's how this platform these platforms work so you give it another six years and you're only 33 and crack a

yeah you know you're making quadruple the money yeah um that's actually how it works if you stick at it because your brand just grows exponentially but I watched these guys and then their brand deals end up becoming people sponsoring their fit outs and their renovations and yeah I did see I have seen some yes people been renovating at the moment it's like yeah they get like sponsorships for doing them yeah so it's like how do you create a business which is actually just your life yeah and you're getting paid for doing your life but that thing in itself creates more wealth I don't know I don't I don't know the real answer here but like I would not just for you but for people listening

like I would look at like if products is a thing are you going to partner with someone who can run it for you Who develops a business that's fine if you got someone who's and you might be the business owner yourself but like um it's not an easy thing no and I wouldn't like I I've thought about doing it myself and I don't want to do it I don't want to do products like I've thought about it and we've talked about it as a business and we know we could Market the [ __ ] out of it because that's what we do yeah I just don't want to go through the logistics of building a business like that takes a lot a lot they say like the

first like yeah few years of a business you're not even getting paid I didn't I mean I probably started paying myself a year actually um and I paid myself 4 $48,000 a year yeah up until a year ago oh yeah a year ago when I gave myself a pay rise I gave myself a pay rise once like two years ago and pulled it back two months later cuz I realized like I can't afford this yeah this is stupid and I try to double my salary and I was like this is fair I got some I'm paying some other guy 160k I should at least be getting paid 100 you know tried to increase my salary two months and I was like a I need to

pull back like I haven't got the cash flow to do it um that was my like fourth year business I was going to say how long year and then now like as a last year so for the my fifth year business I I didn't quite double my salary but I put my salary up um I'm still not even in six figurs like I mean it's difference I get all you get the equity upside so like the business is worth a certain amount of money so I'm getting paid that as well but it's not as tangible as physical cash but anyway my point is is like there are definitely businesses out out there where you don't have to go and build these products that then a

year later people don't want anymore yeah um it t it's a real heart slack it is yeah my dad is like really into business he well he is yeah he owns quite a few businesses so it's like he kind of knows all of the what sort of businesses oh gosh no like like just like in a field industry doesn't have to be actual business but what industries this is interesting yeah are they like uh are they consumer product are they service based businesses are they service service based like like kind of like um and you don't have to say if it's this business or not but like are they services in the professional world like where a marketing agency says like a professional service legal

um things like that Finance or are they services like um like a laundr mat of service or like water blasters or Builders I'm think what um do they do manual labor or do they uh play on computers play on computers Okay cool so like a professional service Professional Services yeah yeah so they like yeah they created an app and yeah yeah cool okay so in some form of tech yeah well see that's this is another thing I thought about it's like if you've got a dad who can help you in the space yeah it's like rather than going into product servic is a real interesting one to play in because um not just professional but all sorts of services do you watch Cody Sanchez have

you watched her a you would love I re you'd love Cody Sanchez she's um she's called like her nickname is Main Street millionaire it's her book anyway and she does this thing about boring businesses and she buy she made all her wealth originally off buying laundromats and she she's worth hundreds of millions of dollars now she's my age she's phenomenal like she's massive but she just buys like businesses that are um they don't take a lot of her time to run but her brand can help build them as well yeah and uh but they're businesses that everyone needs Lunds aren't going anywhere no they're not if anything they're actually increasing in yeah I was going to say most people using them now so that's quite

cool like if you've got a family you got family who can teach you that part of it so it's yeah like the last year it's been you know I think I will go into business with my parents you know great that's what I want to hear that's great yeah yeah no I could not do it by myself it's not to say you can't it's not to say you can't actually because I don't know your priorities when it comes to business but like if I was the only reason I was confident my owners cuz I did a 15y year career running hotels yeah right and that's and like I watch a lot of kiwis go into business never running have run a business before and then

they fail yeah and so my thoughts are just because you can make content just means you're a marketer you're a business owner actually you need to go get some business experience yeah but if you've got someone who has the business experience they can teach you at all yeah great oh yeah know my my parents are very very knowledgeable in that department yeah so yeah they've they've taught a lot and it's and it's cool kind of seeing like over the years because it's like you know when I first started being a content creator or doing content you know everyon was like what are you doing like this is silly you know like why are you posting videos you know and and not to say that people

were supportive but it you know at the start it wasn't like the greatest and then now come like a full 360 being like we can use this for a you know business and it's like cool you know like I got I got I got the same stuff from my family and friends when I started they're like I mean they weren't mean about it obviously they're supportive but they kind of like what's this guy doing why is he posting on link and I was on LinkedIn right that's well my my my biggest my most profitable brand is LinkedIn yeah um it's still like half where half our business comes from it's LinkedIn and so like what is this guy doing like no everyone's on LinkedIn trying

to get a job and he's out here posting his journey you know yeah um but it wasn't until like we got to this point that people like oh maybe he was on to something yeah but you have to be able to persevere through that first few years oh yeah yeah especially cuz I came from such a small like Hometown as well like I'm from New pouth I'm not from here and you know a small town where people are you know and talk yeah yeah that nicely you know is what it is though it out yeah putting yourself out there means that you have to be able to take both sides yeah and there's um I probably should start to rep so cuz I'm well over

an hour now I think I think but um I read I was watching a post or video the other day from Luke kimy who runs the keep the change podcast have you heard of that let keep the change podcast they quite now he's done well over a million downloads now oh wow he um he was talking about how funny it is that in New Zealand we have a uh an insult where we call people try hards yeah and he's like oh that's weird that like I'm calling you a try hard like shame on you for trying hard in life like it's such a dumb so true yeah and it made me really think like that's what content creators and people are trying to do we're

trying hard to better Our Lives yeah and then we get you get sh from and I think the I think the message was is that don't like as content creators people put ourselves out there we understand the both sides of the story we're not saying people shouldn't do it because we I mean they shouldn't but they're going to yeah um but also maybe they should look at themselves and like maybe you should try powder yeah yeah I so agree with that yeah it's a funny it just such a funny thing I was cracking up anyway um I think I need to wrap up cuz I'm well over an hour but that was real interesting it's interesting to um I haven't had someone on who uh

a couple things oh God no there's a couple things the audience that you've got I've never really seen there's just a weird love that you have with your audience which is awesome I say weird in the best way possible it's good it's amazing and so having someone with that having gone through what you did with mths this your son being part of that whole process too and doing it on your own and then doing it all on brand deals yeah that's huge cuz so many people like they're like trying to do other things yeah and you've just gone no I'm just going to like one foot in front of the other yeah step by and I mean you know like we we got to make

sacrifices you know like it's not like like I have flat mates to help with the rent and you know like things like that you there's always going to be sacrifices you got to make um it's just about putting yourself in the best position you can basically love it that's great well thank you so much for coming on that was than you so much for having me wor first podcast yeah I love it got the first one all right thank you