Swell AI Transcript: RobBanks_Official.mp3

SPEAKER01 What's going on, fellow creators? Welcome to the Creator Factor podcast. I'm the host that loves you the most, Oziel. This is your favorite podcast mixtape, what I'm going to call it, y'all, where we give you different perspectives, different vibes to help elevate your creator journey. And, you know, as creators, y'all, We often experience feelings of overwhelm, stress, anxiety, all of the above, especially when we're deep in the trenches trying to build this creator brand. And today I'm excited to be chatting with one of my personal favorite content creators and someone who inspires me to live a life with more clarity and less clutter. He started his journey decluttering his life back in 2016, paid out 23K of debt in 12 months. And since then, he's launched a successful YouTube channel with over 200K subscribers and counting. He's the founder of the Clarity Club, where he helps people bridge the gap between less clutter and more clarity at home, in life, and in your business. Creator fam, let's welcome to the show none other than my man, Ronald Banks in the house. What's up, Ronald?

SPEAKER00 I appreciate you, man. What's going on? What's going on, man? Great introduction. I like that.

SPEAKER01 The only thing missing, brother, is just like, doo-doo-doo.

SPEAKER00 I need some music in here, man.

SPEAKER01 Fireworks, something popping off, yeah. We're working towards that, bro. We're working towards that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, man, I'm excited. As I mentioned, you're one of my personal content creators. I discovered your YouTube channel, I want to say about a year ago. And it was when I was kind of digging into minimalism. And as a creator, you know, and I mentioned this in the intro, how sometimes I feel a lot of overwhelm, you know, more frequently than I would like. And I'm like, when I discovered a YouTube channel just resonated with me the way you spoke. uh, very much like a poet. Uh, you know, it's very minimal and just the whole aesthetic, the whole vibe. And I was like, that's my guy. So whenever I need, like I'm feeling overwhelmed, I always go to your YouTube channel just to kind of remind me of the importance of minimalism and, you know, living a life with less clutter and more clarity. So I want to take it back, my man, because we want to get to know you. Um, I want, I want to take it back to your, your creator origin story, brother. Share with us that moment in your life where you were like, I'm a creator. This is what I love to do. And of course, what kind of got you into video and all the things that you're currently doing as a creator?

SPEAKER00 I'll tell you this. My story started with poetry. Now, I am a poet originally. I started writing poetry maybe 2011. I graduated high school. Maybe I started writing before that, actually, while I was in high school. Because as a kid, I was very closed off. I was very introverted, kept my feelings to myself, didn't really express too much. And my parents suggested that I try journaling. I'm like, okay, cool. I'll write the notebook. No one's going to read it. I'll write whatever I want to write. And I'll tell you this, that notebook was under my bedroom mattress at my parents' house up until maybe when I turned about 25, so about five years ago. Then my mom finally found it and threw it out or something because it's not there now. But that's where my story started with writing. I was always very introverted, introspective, thinking about my thoughts, understanding how I feel, putting that into words, expressing it creatively. And when I got to college, some friends of mine would say, you know what? You should try poetry. You should try creatively expressing yourself in that form. So I said, OK, why not? I had no idea what poetry was. So I explored it, figured out how to write it in my style, and then everything took off from there. I started hosting my own open mic. I performed at open mics every week. I self-published three poetry books. One of the books was for a Women's Empowerment Conference. And from there, my poetry allowed me to touch people in a different way. because of the way I was expressing things. So there was a period in my life where, and this is early, early in my YouTube channel, if you scroll back far enough, where some of the poems I shared on my YouTube channel were the stories of other people. And I would reach out to my Instagram follower and say, hey, let me tell your story through my poetry. And I had people. I had a young lady who suffered from chronic seizures. I had a young lady who was suicidal. I had a young man who was very insecure in relationships. And I'm just expressing these things creatively, my voice, my poetry, but their story. And it took off from there. Then I started exploring more and more about what I was interested in, what was important to me. And then I'll tell you that minimalism fell into my lap accidentally. So minimalism and the whole content creating journey, all of that fell into my lap accidentally. I found minimalism three ways. The first was when I met my wife. I went over to her apartment for the first time. She wanted to cook me dinner. And I noticed that her apartment was very curated. She didn't have anything hanging on her walls. She had a candle in her nightstand, just very clean and curated. And then my younger brother, he is the only person I know who has the same circle of friends since grade school. So I'm like, OK, something's up with this. I'm bouncing around friends, in and out, knowing all types of people. And he has the same circle of friends since grade school to this day, and he's 27. And I'm like, OK, there's something very intentional about that. why you have the same circle of friends, what are you doing, how are you curating your circle? And then when I started working in corporate America, I graduated college in 2015, and a coworker of mine is the traditional minimalist. He has the seven T-shirts, he has the one car, he has the very clean house. His house is to the point where he uses minimal materials in his house, so he built his home. So his kitchen cabinets, his dining room table, the light fixtures outside the house, his front door are all the same material. So he's very minimal across the board. So having these conversations, it's like, OK, my girlfriend is intentional with her home. My brother is intentional with his relationships. And then his co-worker of mine is intentional across the board. What can I learn from these people, from the conversations I'm having, from getting to know them, them getting to know me? And how can I apply that to my life and then document my journey and share what I'm learning through the lens of my poetry? And that's where everything started, man.

SPEAKER01 What approach did, and we will look at your poetry. Yeah. Um, obviously it, it shaped your personal development life. How did it kind of shape your, your way of looking at it from a business perspective? Did it have any influence on that?

SPEAKER00 Man, that's a good question. I'll tell you that it taught me to be very mindful of my approach. And I, and I, and I'll explain what I mean by that. When I was deep into writing poetry, I mean, every single day I was doing, you know, Poetry Month and writing a new poem every day based on prompts, all of these things. And the challenging part of it for me was that I was still new to poetry. So I wasn't this, you know, I wasn't a slam poet. I wasn't winning trophies and events. I wasn't published by, you know, publishing companies. I was figuring this out for myself because I was expressing how I felt. in a creative way. So my poetry was very organic and it wasn't from a trained or perspective, you know what I mean? So for me, I was very mindful and attention about the words I used. It would take me weeks to finish a poem. But then as I got more into it, I could write faster and faster and faster. So approaching business, I try to look at business through the same lens of how can I be very mindful and intentional about the products I'm using, the people I work with, the content I'm putting out there. I'll tell you this, my father is very wise. He shares tons of life lessons with my brother and I. And he has this lesson that he's taught us. He said, there are two things you can't recapture in life. That's words and time. So be wise with how you use both. So with that lesson in mind, I'm like, OK, if I'm going to create content on YouTube, if I'm going to have a podcast, if I'm going to get up on stage and perform my poems, I want to make sure that every word that I'm saying carries some sort of meaning, whether it's for me, the person listening, or whoever hears that message, they can understand why I chose the words I use, why I'm presenting myself the way I present myself, why I'm doing the things I'm doing, why I work with the people I work with. So I think the mindfulness is where poetry has really helped shape how I approach business.

SPEAKER01 Let's talk about that pivotal moment, brother, where you got yourself out of debt in that 23K. And I can relate to that, man, because I think it was around that time where I ended up paying. It was about 18, a little bit, yeah, close to 18K in a year and a half. So I know what that took discipline to get that out. So I feel you on that, man. You paid that off in a single year, right? Which is commendable, man. You know, let's talk to me a little bit about the mindset switch. Was it around that time and when you really kind of discovered this mindfulness and being intentional and, you know, what did that accomplishment, you know, teach you about even finances and money? Man.

SPEAKER00 Man, I'll tell you this. My journey has been like an onion. So every layer has peeled back, and I've gotten deeper and deeper into being more introspective, more self-awareness, more clarity, like I like to say, and less clutter. So going back again, I was already pretty introspective, writing poetry. I already had a basic understanding of how I felt, how to navigate my feelings. But I wasn't a master at it yet. I was still young, high school, college. I was still figuring things out. So for me, It started with writing, and then it went on to my physical clutter. And then from there, I kind of peeled back that layer of all of my physical clutter. My bedroom closet was a mess. I had 60-plus pairs of jeans, 100 t-shirts, shoes I never wore. It didn't help that I worked at a retail store as well, getting a discount, buying things I don't need just because I get a deal on it. But peeling back that layer of my physical environment is what spiraled into everything else, or what I like to call a domino effect. So I decluttered my physical areas. Okay, well, my home is starting to shape up and I'm getting clarity in that aspect. And I was looking at my relationships. And then I started decluttering certain friendships and relationships that I had and those connections and those ties of communicating with people. And then that layer peeled back. And I was like, OK, well, what about myself? Because for a decade or a decade and a half, I was holding on to a persona of myself that wasn't me. It was very manufactured. In high school, I was given this nickname based on how I would dress, how I carried myself. Again, I had 60-plus pairs of pants. I had clothes everywhere. the way I talked, the way I carried myself playing basketball, and everyone in high school that knew me referred to me as Mr. Smooth. And you know, in high school, you know, you want to be popular, you want to be known by something. So I embraced that persona wholeheartedly. And it got to the point where it started to consume who I was, how I presented myself, and what I consumed. Because I said, OK, I have to make sure that this is still Mr. Smooth. I have to make sure that this still presents this persona that I am myself in manufacturing, but others think is me. So I decided to peel back that layer and declutter that persona. Because at the time, you know, again, if you scroll back far enough on my YouTube channel, you'll see that my, you know, my intro trailer or my outro, it was Ron Smooth Banks. And then before that, it was Sincerely Smooth. And then it was Mr. Smooth. So my, Social media presence was all about Mr. Smooth as well. So I decided to declutter that persona and present myself as Ronald L. Banks, my real name, putting myself out there. So again, all of these layers are appealing, my physical environment, my mental space, my relationships, my persona. And then it's like, OK, what about my finances? Let's look at that. Because I had $23,000 in student loan debt. I'll tell you this, I graduated college in 2015. I didn't have much debt, maybe 30K, but then I was paying the bare minimum. And you know, when you pay consistently, they lower your principal payment because they want you to stay in debt longer. So they lower my payment. So then I got at 2019, my wife and I, my girlfriend at the time, we decided to take a financial class. We took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.

SPEAKER01 I'm familiar.

SPEAKER00 Yeah. That just completely opened my eyes up to the world beyond what I was familiar with or what I was taught or what I understood. So I said, OK, you know what? Let's commit to this for this year or however long it takes and try to pay off our debt. So I committed, I paid off $12,000 in 12 months. And then my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and mind you, we were doing this separately. We weren't combining finances or anything. She paid off about 19K on a new car in a year and a half. Wow. So everything we were doing was free. you know, completely parallel. Our communication was on point. And we say, you know what, as our money comes in, it's going right back out on debt. We covered our basics, groceries, gas. Every date we went on was free. We would walk around the farmer's market and hang out for an hour or two. You know, we would go to the park and sit there and talk or the lakefront and look at the water. Everything we did for a year to a year and a half was free. And she was completely on board with it. And I'll tell you that The best memories we've had in our relationship in the last eight years have been those free moments. Wow. Of doing those free, just being present with each other and not having to spend money on an activity. And paying off that debt has completely changed the way we approach life, the way we approach our finances. During that time, my wife decided to go back to school to be a dental hygienist. We cash flowed her school. We cash flowed our wedding, our son. We got the payment from the hospital. We wasn't stressed. It completely changed the way we approach life, the way we feel about life, our finances. And quickly, to go back to the idea of peeling back the onion, now that my finances have been peeled back, for me, the last domino to fall or the last layer to peel is work. So now I'm looking at how can I pursue more meaningful work? What role do I want work to play in my life? And that's the layer that I'm currently peeling back and the domino that's falling. And that's where the content creation, the solopreneurship, the entrepreneurship, the business comes into play for me, that last layer of this journey.

SPEAKER01 Man, man, okay. And let me peel my own onion. What layer do I want to go here with this? We just laid, I appreciate that, man, for you sharing that. So, you know, one of the things that really stood out, a few things, but one of the things that, you know, again, it goes back to the power of being intentional and how that really empowers the individual. to be more mindful, to make better decisions, and again, to live a life of clarity, because I do believe that, and we'll talk a little bit more about the whole, where this clutterness comes from, but, you know, life where, especially in this day and age, where we're getting hit with so many things, it's so noisy out there, and, you know, we're getting pinged left and right, and, the mind is overpouring with ideas and getting pains. And it's just hard to keep up and to have that mindfulness. And it's harder to be intentional. And I think it's just that level of discipline, what I heard you and your wife had early on, to be very intentional about the things that truly mattered and what can really get you to the next level on all aspects of life. So that's one thing. And then the other thing too, Rhonda, I want to mention is that You know, going back to what you said earlier about, excuse me, you mentioned about how the perception of the Mr. Smooth persona, how that influenced the way you cared yourself. And I see this, and this is something that for our creators that are watching or listening, this is big on the whole era of building a personal brand, right? Where now people feel like they need to fabricate, they gotta fake the funk, they gotta be able to take on, if they get more, two or three people say, hey, you're this, you're this, how that influences you and how important it is for you to be mindful, to not be attached to the other people's perception, because that's gonna keep you away from the true core of who you are. I want you to speak a little bit on that, man, because I think that's what a lot of creators struggle with is, I'm building a personal brand. I'm behind the mic in front of the camera. I'm trying to make sure that I bring a certain level of energy. I want people to like me. How can we peel back those layers of the onion for us to find out our true authentic voice?

SPEAKER00 Can you speak on that a little bit? I mentioned a couple of things. The first perspective I want to mention is people connect with people. And if you're trying to grow a personal brand, a business where you're the face of that brand, whether it's on YouTube or a podcast, a video podcast, you know, Instagram, reels, tick tocks, whatever it is, people connect with people and people will be able to see straight through the personas, the fakeness, the acting, the, the presentation that will be very apparent to people who are looking to connect with people. That make sense? So I think that's the first thing. If you're looking to grow a business or brand, be yourself so that way you connect with people. That's the first thing. The second thing I'll mention is to get very clear on your core values. For me, when I was holding on to that persona of Mr. Smooth, that is what I clung to, because that's all I knew. Now, I don't want to say that's all I knew, but that's what I wanted others to see from me, and that's what I wanted to present. So that's what I clung to. And that became what I valued. I valued presenting Mr. Smooth more than I did the other nuances of life that mattered more. Being semi-popular in high school, people knowing you. And I'll tell you this, it got to the point where my younger brother's three years younger than me. And I'll give you a glimpse into how much this persona was, you know, encompassing my life. I was a senior in high school. My brother was a freshman coming in. We went to the same high school. And, you know, I'm glad that we were three years apart in this situation here, because as a senior in high school, the entire campus knew me already as Mr. Smooth. So my younger brother coming in, trying to build an identity for himself, trying to, you know, he's a freshman in high school, trying to make his friends. Everyone that had already knew me would address him as Baby Smooth, right out the gate, not even his name, Baby Smooth, or Smooth number two. So it's just kind of like, it got to the point where my persona was then being projected on my brother and taking over him trying to become himself.

SPEAKER01 Who he was, right.

SPEAKER00 You know what I mean? So to go back to your original question, it's about getting very clear on what you value as a person and what you value in your life. Um, so for me, my core values are faith, family, integrity, and creativity. Those are the four things that I value. And again, those values are like pillars in my life. There are other things that I value that fall underneath that, but faith, family, integrity, and creativity are the four things I value no matter what. So any team, anything that I do in my life, whether I'm presenting myself on my YouTube channel, uh, my business, whether I'm making business decisions or personal decisions, I am always filtering those decisions and things I'm doing through those core values. And I'm asking myself, is this going to pull me closer to the things I value or pull me away from that? Is this going to allow me to stay true to that path that I'm on, where family, faith, integrity, and creativity are the four things that I value? Or is it going to pull me away from that and draw my attention towards something else? And if it's pulling me away from that, then that tells me that that's not the path I should be going on or the path that I should travel. So I would stress for any creator listening who is looking to grow that business, start that YouTube channel, that podcast, get very, very clear on what you value, what's important to you. Because if you blow up, if you go viral tomorrow, if you start to get some traction, you're going to be tempted. Temptation will hit you, whether it's finances and people trying to sponsor you or the attention from other people commenting on your videos. You have to understand who you value to stay true to that. And then also make sure that you're being yourself so you connect with people. Those are the two things that I would, that highly advise.

SPEAKER01 Family. Let's talk about family. One of, one of your core values. Yeah. Uh, new dad, congratulations to you and your wife. Thank you. Thank you. Your parents. I know that, you know, we talked about that, how that's a, that's a blessing and that, you know, it's just a, a beautiful gift that we always, you know, that just to, you know, experience in life. Uh, let's talk a little bit about fatherhood. And I know I was watching one of your videos and, One of the things that you were debunking, and I got the same thing, brother, when everybody says, hey, your life's about to change. It's about to get crazy. It's about to get cluttery. It's about to get noisy and messy. in this message, and I want you to speak on this, man, is the message of, again, I think it goes back to you being intentional, but I want to get your take. I want to get your take on how fatherhood has changed you as a creator and also, and as an entrepreneur, but what are some of the significant changes that you've seen and what's inspired you since the birth of your son? Let's talk about that, man.

SPEAKER00 I'll share this with you quickly. This morning, my wife asked me a question. And she asked me, she said, when did things change for you in terms of being a parent or a dad? When did that light switch flip? And you just felt like you were just now a parent and you weren't who you were before. And she mentioned that for herself, it happened as soon as our son was born.

SPEAKER01 By the way, real quick, Ron, that's a great question, by the way. She needs to start a podcast. Much better question the way I put it together. OK. You know?

SPEAKER00 She said that for her, it happened as soon as our son was born. The life switch flipped and she was automatically mama bear, just in that moment. And then she looked at me, she said, when did it happen for you? And I told her, for me, it happened when you got pregnant. And I said, it's been a mountain since then that I've been climbing. It's been a momentum building over time. So then when our son was born, I was already there. So for me, having a son, becoming a parent, From day one, when we found out we were pregnant, my perspective on life, building my family tree, my legacy for him, everything changed the moment we found out we were pregnant. And when it comes to content creation, I was already being very intentional from the beginning, but that told me that now it's time to really buckle down and decide, well, first be more intentional, right? Because we don't show our son's face on social media. But the other thing is, How, where do I want this business, this thing that I'm building to go for my family? Because before it was just me and my girlfriend, me and my wife, just us, you know, having fun on YouTube. She shoots most of my B roll. She takes my thumbnails. So it's just us. But now that it's a family, it's like, okay. My son, he already sits here on the couch and watches me edit. He'll sit here behind me and watch my screen while I'm editing. And he's one. So it's, now he's going to be observant of the things I'm doing. So where do I want this to go? Where now it can become something for him to take on, whether it's, maybe it's not my YouTube channel, but the business itself. How can I be more intentional from that regard rather than just the content I'm creating, but where can this become an integral part of my family and build something for my son and my other kids to take on in the future? So from day one, as I was climbing that mountain, I'm sitting here thinking, OK, if I'm going to be devoting my time to this, or my son's watching me, wants me to pick him up or play, and I have to edit the video, is it just so I can post a video and make sure the YouTube algorithm likes me? Or is it so I can make sure that I am building something that then I can say, here, son, here's something for you to take on when mom and I are gone that you can then take and build with your family? So from day one, that completely shifted for me where it was no longer a YouTube channel and the algorithm and posting videos. It became, you know, a legacy for my son, my future kids and everything else.

SPEAKER01 Yeah, that's it. That's the word legacy. That's what I heard. The online business for the, you know, the content creators that are building a business building the brand online, navigating mindfulness, brother, and entrepreneurship and creating content. It's a balancing act. It is. I'm curious, how do you maintain that balance between being a successful entrepreneur and ensuring that you have the mental clarity along the way?

SPEAKER00 Building a business is better with minimalism. Most people, when they approach business, solopreneur, entrepreneurship, they're under the impression, because out the gate, you're learning from people who are miles ahead of you. You see that they have teams, and they have all of these programs, and assistants, and video editors, and all these things. It's like, OK, how can I go from here, sitting in my living room, watching a YouTube video about how to start a YouTube channel, to there? It doesn't work that way. Building a business is better with minimalism. And what I mean by that is taking a slower approach and being very intentional, again, that word intentional, about where you're devoting your time and being very purposeful about how much time you give to certain things. For me, when I started my YouTube channel, my YouTube channel was the only thing I focused on for years. I had the Instagram, I had the Twitter, but I never posted on it. Instagram was here and there sparingly, but my YouTube channel was all of my focus until it really became something serious. I said, okay, well now let's build a website. And then from there, now let's create an email list. Okay, now let's focus on other social media accounts and see what audience we can grow over there. Now let's build some products and monetize the business outside of YouTube and sponsorships to then build something up around that. I'll tell you now, I am still a one man band when it comes to my business. My wife still helps me. I do all my video editing. And that's not because I'm trying to be minimalist in my business. That's just because I'm not at the point yet where I'm ready to hire a video editor. I'm ready to outsource certain things. But because I've taken that intentional approach to building my business with minimalism, it's, I don't want to say eliminated, but it's prevented me from becoming overwhelmed often or overloading myself or burning out often because I'm trying to do everything and go from zero to a hundred in two weeks. You know, I started my YouTube channel in 2014. I started taking it seriously in 2016 and I didn't hit a hundred K followers until 2019. So it wasn't, you know, I wasn't, I was posting once a week. I was responding to every comment because I was focusing only on YouTube, trying to figure out how YouTube works. So I would, I would highly advise anyone listening to approach your business from a minimalism perspective. And I don't mean, bare bones and try to do it with one camera. And that's not what I mean by that. I mean, being very intentional with your approach, where you're putting your time, purposeful with your actions, and then allowing that to kind of build and multiply on itself rather than trying to take on everything out the gate.

SPEAKER01 And I'm glad you broke it down like that. Cause I was, I was going to ask you follow up is, you know, what does that focus look like for, for the early stage creator? You mentioned that you focused on YouTube and wanted to see what, what that would look like. And, uh, because I know like a lot of creators around they, they, and I've, I'm guilty of this as well. Like, you know, it's. The hyphens, right? I'm a business coach, YouTuber, community builder, and you have so many creators now that are adding a lot more hyphens to their title, to their identity. And I feel like that's… from a branding standpoint, that even the perception of it looks like, all right, well, what do you do, you know, and then and then also, from just somebody who a creator who is looking into building a platform to monetize to make money. That's also, you know, a challenge. I like the fact that you just said, I just focus on YouTube. It's a craft that you respected much like poetry or podcasting, investing in the craft, getting good at it, and then allowing yourself to grow and add other platforms as well. Absolutely. Do you want to share a little bit more about for the creator who is like, you know, thinking about, Hey, I want to do business coaching. I want to be a YouTuber. I want to be a podcaster. Is there any other advice that you can give us for, for that type of mindset? I know you said minimalism, but what should we focus on? Because I feel like just the focus thing is such a challenge, man.

SPEAKER00 Again, I'm gonna say this. I think it goes back to understanding what you value. So what do you want your business? What role do you want your business to play in your life? And for me, I want my business and the work I'm doing to be a blessing and not a burden. So everything that I do is coming from that perspective. So I'm going to ask you, if you're listening, to get super clear on what you want your work, your business, your YouTube channel, your podcast, what role do you want that to play in your life? Are you doing this because you simply want a creative outlet? Then that's going to be a very different approach than someone who's looking to start a business that can then potentially replace their full-time job or service extra income so they could pay off debt or service extra income so they could put a down payment on their house. You have to get very clear on what you want, why you're doing this, what the purpose is, what you value. Again, going back to those core values, then that's going to dictate the approach you take when it comes to starting your business, your YouTube channel, coaching, podcasting, whatever it is you decide to do.

SPEAKER01 Beautiful. That's what I was pulling for, man. That's it right there. You gave me the gold, man. You gave us the gold. That's beautiful. Well said, man. You know, let's talk about The online business. Yeah. You know, I know you've been focusing on the YouTube channel for a minute, and then you transitioned and now you know, you do that you're the founder of the clarity club. Yeah. Curious to know, like, whenever you in the beginning, man, what were kind of the initial challenges of getting that going, building the community, and then, you know, incorporating that service to, you know, your YouTube community, man, what did I look like, man?

SPEAKER00 I'll tell you it was a learning curve for me because early on, and this is a mistake that I made that I'm really stressing anyone listening, don't make this mistake. Early on when I was trying to understand how to take my YouTube channel from being a hobby and something fun to do to a business. I was learning, again, there's nothing wrong with learning from people who are miles ahead of you, I highly advise it. But I was looking at those people who had teams, who had assistants, who had video editors, and trying to do everything that they were doing by myself. And it wasn't working. making that transition from it just being a hobby and creating content for fun into a business was a learning curve for me, because I originally took the route of trying to do everything that I say, Okay, well, that's not, that's not working, I burned out, you know, I'm overwhelmed, I'm stressed, that's not going to work. And then I took the route of, okay, just taking a step back completely. And I'll tell you now, I'm kind of on that kind of moment of taking a step back now, I haven't posted a YouTube video in two months, three months. So I've taken a step back now to further refine my process and how I'm approaching this. But what I would say is that for me, that transition really happened when I scaled down everything that I was doing outside of growing the business. Because it was easy for me to create a YouTube video and edit it and make sure I posted the same day and time every single week. I got that that part is nailed down. I can do that in my sleep. But I was so fixated on that that I started to lose sight of the business and the monetizing. Not for the sake of trying to earn an income, I want to earn money, but for the sake of if I'm going to put in all of these hours and work on this, I wanted to produce some sort of fruit for my family that makes it worth it. bringing that full circle all the way back around. So for me, starting my business and the Clarity Club, right now the Clarity Club is just my email newsletter. But I have a vision to grow that club into something more, but I'm not trying to dive in and do everything now. I'm taking those baby steps. But like I said, for me, the biggest thing for me was learning from people who are miles ahead of me, but not learning from those people at the same time. Not trying to implement everything that they were doing, Because that was causing me to feel as if building a business was harder than it really is, or that I'll never get there, or that how are they growing so fast and I'm not. Right, all of it. All of that, you know, the insecurities and ups and downs of being a content creator. Yes. That comes with it, you know, and then you have, you know, so many creators online that are saying, oh, I make six figures every month doing this one thing. Right. You know, there's so many nuances to business, and we have to take a step back again, get very clear on what we want our work and our business to serve in our life, and then decide how we want to approach that, what avenue we're going to take. I know some some creators who the only thing they do is email newsletter and Twitter. And that's it. And their business is flourishing. And then you have creators who are doing everything. And then you have some creators who post a YouTube video once a month, but they have so many things on the back end that you don't see that's producing that fruit for them and their family. So it's not trying to imitate what you see, but it's learning the different options you have, getting clear on what you want that to serve in your life, what you're trying to get out of it, and then trying to piece it together for you and what's going to work best for you.

SPEAKER01 I love that. I love the whole reverse engineering, looking at it from a perspective of what do you want your life to look like, right? And then going from there, building from there. Absolutely.

SPEAKER00 I'll say this really quick. I'm going to say this real quick because, you know, we see creators who have these big teams, they have video editors, they have assistants, they have, they have a full business, you know? And that can be a blessing in itself, but if you're striving for that, you have to ask yourself an important question. You have to ask yourself if you want to manage people. Do you want, do you want to have a business, you know, not, not to be, not to make it a joke, but do you want to have a business where you're managing people? Do you want to have a team where you're, you know, you have to ask yourself that if you don't want to be in a position where you're managing other people, then maybe that's not the route for you to take. Maybe you should be more of a solopreneur side of things. And maybe you just have a virtual assistant or a video editor helping you out part time. And then your, your, your, your business is scaled down. That doesn't mean the income is scaled down, but your output is maybe scaled down. Yeah. But it's about being intentional and purposeful about where you're putting your time and effort that's going to produce the outcome you want in your life.

SPEAKER01 You said you haven't been posting, you haven't posted a video in about two to three months, man. Did you ever have that tug of war between like, man, because, you know, that's the thing with creators is staying consistent, you know, that big C word. Hey, I got to stay consistent. I got to make sure it's a video a week, you know, especially with podcasters, man. Yes. Do you still struggle with that? Or have you gotten to a point where you're like, look, two to three months, I'm cool when I come back. It is what it is.

SPEAKER00 I think I've gotten to that point now where I'm like, it is what it is. And I'm human. And it's OK to be human. But early on, that was a big struggle for me. I mentioned that I was focused on YouTube a lot in the beginning. And when I say a lot, I was posting. I started my channel, like I said, I started in 2014, but I took it very seriously in 2016. And I want to say, there might have been some nuances here and there, but from 2016, Might have been 2017, my latest video on my YouTube channel now, I've taken some things down. But whatever the oldest video on my YouTube channel is, whatever that date is, might be 2017, up until maybe 2020, I posted consistently that big C word every once a week at the same time and responded to just about every single comment I got. And it was my five to nine when I got home from work, just responding to comments and posting videos. And I want to say I was borderline obsessed with understanding the platform and growing on that platform. And that has its place when you're trying to learn it, but that's not very sustainable long term. So for me, I've gotten comfortable with being OK with not being consistent in standard consistent terms, but I was also kind of forcefully pushed into it, because burning out in 2019, realizing that I need to change some things, I can't do all of this by myself, responding to every single comment, while it is cool and a great thing, at a certain point, it's impossible to do by yourself. So I've had to, you know, take these lessons to the chin the hard way and forcefully just become comfortable with it. And then now I can say I'm at this point now where it's just like, you know what? I'm not going to stress. It's OK. I'm not going to be a slave to the algorithm. All of that stuff. It's not what I'm trying to build my business for. Again, it goes back to that clarity. I want my business to be a blessing and not a burden. And stressing about the algorithm and posting every single week now, at this point in my journey, is going to be more of a burden than it would be a blessing. Okay. And I will say that, you know, take this with a grain of salt, because if you're starting a YouTube channel in the beginning, it pays to be consistent. I will tell you that. But at a certain point, you know, it's less about the consistency and about the people connecting with people, about the community, about people attracting and enjoying you rather than the time you post the video.

SPEAKER01 Great advice. Let me ask you this, uh, in regards to, we talked about the algorithm and me getting from me coming from audio only getting into the YouTube space. Uh, you know, you're, there's always talks of the algorithm changing and it's gotten a little bit more, uh, it's, it's getting rougher for, for creators to get, you know, seen invisibility and, and to grow their channels. You know, what's, what's your hot take man on, on the YouTube. where it's at now since when you started and kind of where do you see the future going in regards to the opportunity we have as creators to really maximize this channel?

SPEAKER00 I'll tell you that I think YouTube is still probably the best platform to be on in terms of discoverability. Growing an audience quickly compared to other platforms, unless you're into the TikToks and the Instagram reels, that's another cool way to grow. But in terms of the algorithm, That's a double-edged sword because you can get so wrapped up in trying to understand the algorithm that it sucks the fun out of creating. And then you can get so engulfed in creating that you're not looking at the metrics to see what's working and what's not. So it is a balancing act, but I will say it's definitely the platform to be on if you want to grow. It's not oversaturated. That's a myth. I'll tell you, when I started my YouTube channel, my main YouTube channel, the one you see today, the Ronald L. Banks, was all of my poetry. Then I had a second channel, which was a vlog channel, and that's where I shared more of the sit-down talks and walking around and the introspective side of me. And it got to a point where that became too much because I was trying to post a poem once a week and vlog every single day. And then my girlfriend and I tried to start a couple's channel. We're doing a little challenges, and it was a lot. So I said, you know what, let's downsize that. We killed our couple's channel. And I took the vlog channel. I said, you know what, let's take that content and what I'm sharing over there, and let's just put that together with the poetry. Why not share my talks in a poetry format? and then share a poem whenever I have a new poem to share. So when I decided to do that, that's when things really clicked for me. But I will say, I'm trying to be wise with the advice I give here. Let's take YouTube for an example. If you're starting a YouTube channel very fresh out the gate, Again, get very clear on what you want to talk about, what's important to you. But I will decide if you're going to be an entertainment channel or an edutainment channel. And what I mean by that is, are you going to be trying to make people laugh or share challenges? Because that's a completely different approach than educating people and taking that approach. Having a niche, you hear that a lot, niching down and being very specific about what you talk about. Again, that can be a double-edged sword as well. I don't wanna get too far from the tangent here, but I will say that, and what I'm realizing now in this part of my journey, and which I knew this earlier, is that oftentimes you are your niche. It's not the topic you talk about. The topic you talk about is a layer within that, but you are your niche itself. If I have a moment of reflection here and look at myself, and you think my YouTube channel is about minimalism and personal finance and habits and personal development, those are topics that I talk about. But my niche, you can say, is me growing and learning through all of those different facets of life on my own journey. So when people find my channel, they might discover my channel through a keyword of minimalism or through the keyword of personal finance or debt. One of my videos might pop up and they might find my channel. But from my perspective, people don't necessarily gravitate towards a channel for the topic. They gravitate towards a channel for the person. And I'll tell you that from my own experience, because there's some channels that I have subscribed to on my YouTube channel, some channels that I like and that I enjoy watching. And I'll tell you now that I enjoy watching those channels for the person at the top that they talk about. The top they talk about is a sub niche under them. If you think about your own life, if you're researching something, and you watch YouTube a lot, and you want to, I don't know, let's say, You need some advice on how to be more focused or productive on your work. Now, you might search that phrase on YouTube and find some videos you like, but at a certain point, you're going to find that creator that you like, and that creator happens to talk about that thing. So now when you have another search term, I need to learn this. You're not looking for that term. You're looking for that creator to see if that creator has talked about that. You see what I mean? So that's what I mean. The niche becomes you at a certain point. It's not necessarily the topic itself. Because if you, if you focus on the topic, that's when you start to feel like you're running out of ideas. Well, I've talked about how to do this. I've talked about how to do that. What I'll talk about now. Well, the niche isn't the, it's you, you are the niche. So look beyond the one topic and look at the things you're learning on your journey and how you can incorporate that into the topic you're choosing to talk about.

SPEAKER01 That's a title right there, Ron. You are the niche. You are, you know, and, you know, even being in this space as a podcast coach, and, you know, sometimes I always have this feeling about that in regards to niching, because we do hear creators, podcasters, YouTubers, feel that, that pressure of, you know, niching down. And from a marketing, and you know this from a marketing background, speak on this, because from a marketing, one argument is like, From a marketing standpoint, if you don't, the reason why I see the value of niching is because you start looking at it where you know how to mark. Once you niche it down and know what target it is, then it becomes a little bit more effective when it comes to marketing to the right people. But if you're broad. what's your take on that in regards to that argument of like, okay, if we, the niching is not so much of niche for the for the niche stake, you know, it's more of like, figuring out who the people are, so we can market more effectively. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER00 Or that? That's very true. But that's what I mean by people connect with people. That's right. I mean, so you kind of have to, it's an interesting topic, because the two are connected, but they're also separated. Yeah, business, your business should be niched down to the to the detail. I serve people for this. This is what my business is about. You know, if you go to Amazon, you're not going to go. I mean, Amazon might be a bad example. Think about think about a business or company that you prefer. You know that that company serves this product to this sort of person. That's what that company does. Right. Right. But when you're building a personal brand, The company behind the scenes might focus on certain things, right? But your content might be a little bit more broad than that. Because if your content is very how-to, just the topic, very marketing, here's this information, then it becomes very mundane over a period of time. And now people get bored with it. You get bored with it. Again, it goes back to the idea of, well, I don't know what to talk about. I've talked about how to declutter how many times on my YouTube channel. What else can I talk about? And if I stuck to the idea of I'm a minimalism channel, then at a certain point, I've talked about everything minimalism is. Now I'm just repeating myself. repeating yourself has its place, but at a certain point, you have to really go beyond that. So I'm not a YouTube channel about minimalism. I'm a YouTube channel about personal development, and I'm sharing how I'm developing on this journey. And minimalism is a layer within that. I love that. Confidence is a layer within that. Personal finance is a layer within that. meaningful work and your business is a layer within that, creating, all of these things are layers within that. But for me, it ties back to a central idea that is derived from minimalism, less clutter and more clarity. So how can I have less clutter and more clarity across all of these aspects of my life, not just my home, and the stuff I buy, you know, it's the relationships, the finances, my work, how I'm presenting myself, my conversations, the things I listen to. It's creating your life, not just stripping things out of your life. That's how I look at it. So if you're starting that YouTube channel, again, it's about you're the niche. It's you. And oftentimes, this is another perspective. I've learned this as well on my journey with YouTube, that most of the time, again, it depends on the type of channel you're trying to create. But if you're starting a personal brand, most times, this might be interesting for someone to hear, the person you're trying to attract to your channel is usually a reflection of you. You're talking about the things for me. I was, I was trying to attract people to my YouTube channel who were looking to the clutter, who was trying to gain more clarity. That was me. If I look in the mirror, my life was cluttered. I'm trying to gain more clarity. So I'm that niche. Let's talk about what I'm doing. Let's talk about what I'm learning. And now I'm attracting people who are projecting their story into me, not the topic I talk about.

SPEAKER01 Where's my sound button, man? I'm gonna work on that, man. That right there.

SPEAKER00 Run. Then you can filter all of that down into the business, what you serve in the business, but your content is much more than that. And that's where other opportunities start to present themselves to you. I'll tell you this to be completely transparent. You're the first podcast I've been on that was in the creator space. Wow. Every other podcast I've been on has been in the minimalism and decluttering space or the conversations have been focused on that. I'll say it that way. You know what I mean? So if I allowed myself to stay within that box of decluttering and you own less and don't buy things you don't need, that's going to limit the opportunities I have for my business, but it's also going to limit the information that I can share to help other people grow on this journey. But I will say that that was a battle for me. My audience is not going to care about that. Why would I talk about that? Well, if I look at it from a different perspective, I'm not talking about minimalism, I'm talking about personal development. Minimalism is a layer within that.

SPEAKER01 Well, first off, I'm honored to be the, you know, creative factor, being the first, you know, podcast, you know, ringing around, you know, banks in the house, you know, appreciate that. And, you know, to your point, I think it's, I also struggle with that, man, because For a long time, my identity in the Houston area, because I run a Houston podcasting community, my identity was very tied into podcasting. So everybody knows me here in Houston, in this space as the podcast guy, right? And But there was, I would struggle with that because there was time. That's the reason why I started Creator Factor because people were like, yeah, shouldn't it be like the Podcast Master, Podcast Factor? But it's because I wanted to, first and foremost, I'm a creative, I'm a creator that plays with different tools. and different colors. And I didn't want to completely associate myself, not because I don't believe in podcast, because obviously I do, but because I know that it was much more than just being behind the mic. It was also understanding and learning about video and talking to other creators that are doing YouTube and writers who are blogging and other forms of creativity. And again, it goes back to the value, right? Creativity is also one of my values as well. So Uh, it's interesting that you say that because I also found myself when I started the YouTube channel talking about podcasts, I got bored after like, you know, after a hundred videos, I'm like, I want to talk more about just like you, personal development, the mindset, the importance of understanding craft, uh, you know, YouTube and other aspects. And I felt like shame, like I was like, but I kind of need to like niche it down. Right. So I also struggle with that. So I'm glad that you gave us permission. to also be who we are. And again, the niche is you at the end of the day.

SPEAKER00 And that's what people fall in love with. And again, when I say the niche is you, it's about having that central idea. So some advice that I was given from regards to my YouTube channel was when people find Ronald L. Banks, what are they drawn to? What's the through line? What is that core pillar of Ronald L. Banks and the content you create? And for me, that core pillar shouldn't be minimalism. Like I mentioned, that's a layer within everything that I'm talking about. So is that core pillar, is that building confidence? Is that core pillar personal development? Is that core pillar, what is that? And then what branches off of that in regards to what I talk about and what I'm doing in my journey?

SPEAKER01 And personal development is the pillar and then everything else. I love it. All the layers. Love it. Two questions before we land the plane, my man. Number one, I, you know, I want to we want to know, you know, as far as like, what tools and practices do you practice for, for focusing on work for having that minimal, laser focus approach when it comes to work, because I know a lot of creators, we struggle with the focus part, our brains all over the place. And, uh, just, you know, is there anything that you incorporate whenever you're kind of in that workflow? Um, whether it's tools or systems processes, can you expand a little bit more about what you do?

SPEAKER00 Yeah. A big part of what I've really started implementing now is eliminating things off of my plate in true minimalism fashion. As a creator, we try to do, and I say we, I'm speaking from personal experience here, but we tend to try to do a lot ourselves or a lot at one time. We're trying to post on multiple platforms. And of course there are tools that can help you with this. You can schedule content, you can do all of those things, but you have to decide, again, where are you gonna give your focus to? And then how can you be more intentional and purposeful with that behavior? So for me, a big thing that I've been doing, like I said, is I've started eliminating lots of things off of my plate. I told my wife the other day, I'm not going to post on TikTok. We're going to kill that right now. I'm not even going to worry about that. I've started killing other social media platforms that I have. Let's focus, and then we can grow from there as things become a little bit more streamlined. I will say also another thing that I'm learning to do now is delegate a little bit more. OK. Sometimes as creators, we're very control freaks. We want to do everything. It has to be done our way. It's perfect. If we don't do it, it might not be done right. So I'm learning to delegate a little bit more than I have. I've already delegated my bookkeeping and all the stuff. I've done that for years now. So all of that's handled by my bookkeeper. I have accountants. I have a tech person. I don't touch any of that. I'm mindful and I'm aware of what's going on within my business, but other people do that for me. Um, my wife just asked me the other day, she said, Hey, can you show me how to edit videos? I would love to edit your Instagram reels for you or your YouTube shorts. I'm like, okay, cool. I'll show you how to edit. So we're working through that now where I can just show her how to do the basic edits of chopping down my long form videos into short little clips. So she can take that off of my plate. So for me, it's eliminating things off my plate, it's delegating things, and then it's automating. And automating is just using those tools to help you schedule, it's using tools to help you, you know, if you want to use ChatGTP or some of these other platforms to kind of help you write content. There's different things you can do with AI to help you automate some of your processes. But those are three core things to really walk away from this with is delegating the things that need to get done, but you don't necessarily have to do. But you should know how to do them so you can communicate to the person so they can do it. And then eliminate things off your plate that you don't, that don't need to be done right now or ever. And then automated things that can be automated. So that way you can truly zone in on your genius and the things that you're good at and things that you want to do, so that way your business and your content can really flourish and thrive. Because if you're stressed out with something that you don't necessarily want to do but needs to get done, then it's going to be hard for you to have the energy to create a YouTube video or to be enthusiastic when it's just an audio platform like a podcast and you're exhausted and now your voice is cracking. And it's all of these things that build and impact other areas of your life and your business. When you delegate the things you don't need to do, eliminate things that don't need to get done and automate what you can, it really streamlines the process for you.

SPEAKER01 I'm going to sneak this question in real quick. Uh, you mentioned the word, the P word podcast, which I'm very passionate about, as you already know, uh, your take on podcasting, man, I know you've been in the YouTube game for quite some time. You also have a podcast. What's your hot take on podcasting?

SPEAKER00 You know, for me, not that I've started with YouTube. That's where my origin lies. I've yet to really figure out how to navigate the podcasting space, just to be transparent. But you're a spoken word artist, Ron. This should be easy work for you. But I will tell you, I will tell you, a lot of my poetry, the emotions, the understanding, the impact of that comes from watching me perform the poem. Not necessarily hearing me. There's an aspect to hearing it. There's an aspect to reading it. When you can see me perform it, it adds another layer to that. That's right. But for me personally, I've yet to really figure out exactly how I want to use my podcast. It's taken different shapes in past years. I had a private podcast at once that did fairly well, but I decided to cancel that and close that down. So for me, I'm really trying to figure out what's the best way. to navigate the podcasting space for me. I've thought about taking my newsletter and creating an audio version of my newsletter. I've thought about maybe having a second segment of the content I talk about on YouTube, where maybe it's just my wife and I having some of the conversations that we have here within our household and the things we're doing with our son in terms of minimalism and personal development and all those things. I thought about just repurposing my YouTube channel. There's so many ways that I can take it, but I've yet to really figure out exactly how I want to handle that. Okay. So, I guess I'll lean on you for this one. Let's talk. Yeah.

SPEAKER01 We'll have to talk off camera because I feel like there's a lot, and all those ideas, I feel like have merit. You know, I think they're all, um, and that's, that's, it's really as a podcaster, you mentioned discoverability and I believe that's why podcasters are gravitating towards YouTube and YouTube as, as you know, announced and they're investing heavy into the podcasting space. Yeah. having the RSS feed and doing a lot more for podcasters. So that's the reason why podcasters are heading over to YouTube for discoverability, because it's hard to scale audio, as you already know. But with YouTube, there's ways to grow the content. So it's going to be really interesting to see. And I feel like they're both being married, right? It's like YouTubers are now becoming podcasters and vice versa. I think it's a beautiful thing. I mean, I think at the end of the day, we're all creators. And I think it's just a matter of figuring out where it fits in with the spoken word with the video component. So exciting. Okay, cool, man. I'm going to leave you with this one last question. Yeah. If there's one like creator factor, you know, that, that every creator should learn, master, or at least have an understanding, uh, what would that be?

SPEAKER00 That's a good question. One creative factor. Conquering self-doubt. And I'll tell you this. Again, I'm leaning back on the wisdom my dad has taught my brother and I here. He has a saying where he says that doubt will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. So if you can conquer self-doubt, And I'll tag onto that by adding another layer by saying it's also, I'll tag it on two things here. Number one is becoming, breaking your comfort with conformity. That's the first thing. And then the second thing is becoming comfortable with swarming against the current. So if you can do those two things in combination with conquering self-doubt, I think that's where, that's the sweet spot for being a creator. and breaking through the barriers, whether it's your self-doubts, others' opinions of you, not knowing where to start, how to build a business, how to create YouTube videos. I started my YouTube channel with an iPhone 6. I was editing an iMovie, which is a free platform on a MacBook. And the only light I had was my bedroom window. I didn't have these fancy lights. I didn't have the microphones. That's it. And I learned in layers. And for me, it was conquering that self-doubt. Yes, I was insecure. Maybe my video quality wasn't the best. Maybe my audio wasn't the best. But I learned in layers. I kept swimming against that current, you know, France, how are you posting the YouTube video? You know, you know, I could tell they didn't really like it, but I'm still posting, you know, and then, of course, your parents are going to support you and all those things. And then it's, you know, breaking your comfort with conformity. OK, well, I'm comfortable with, you know, for me. If you look at my YouTube channel, I was very comfortable with having a hat on in all of my YouTube channels. Now, part of that was the Mr. Smooth, but the other half of that was not being very confident on camera. And then I was like, okay, you know what, let's just take the hat off. Let's just be, let's just try to get comfortable with that. And then now let's try to not use a video script and just see how that goes and just you know, free, free flooring and just see what happens. And then, okay, now let's try, now let's buy a fancier camera. Let's buy this camera and see what I can do with that versus my iPhone. Now let's get a ring light. Now let's get a microphone. Now let's upgrade to a more expensive camera. Now let's pay for a higher quality editing software and let's just learn in layers. and continue to conquer that self-doubt, continue to push against the current, and then say, OK, we know what? If I'm feeling insecure, if I'm doubting myself, that's OK. Well, I don't want to conform to conformity. Well, let's, again, push against that current. Let's continue to challenge that self-doubt. Let's continue to learn the next layer and see how I can improve over time. People are often very surprised when I tell them that I edit my own YouTube videos. My wife shoots my thumbnails. My wife shoots my B-roll, and she has no idea how to use a camera. I'm saying, OK, hold it here, pan to the right. And we're learning behind the scenes. And she's like, OK. And then now we're at the point now where it's like, OK, I got to shoot B-roll. She's like, OK, I got it. And she'll come up with an angle before I even know what the shots look like, because we're learning in layers. And to add to that, I'll tell you this. To show you how this has come full circle for us, My wife now is at the point where she's helping me film YouTube videos, shoot my thumbnails, shoot my B-roll for me. But when we first met, she didn't want nothing to do with YouTube. She didn't want to be on camera. She didn't want to have any part with it. We tried the couple's channel just because every couple was doing it, but she didn't want no part of it. And now she's trying to learn how to edit parts of my videos for me. So again, it's pushing against that self-doubt, the uncomfort that comes with it, swimming against the current and just learning in layers. You do that, I think you're right on that sweet spot.

SPEAKER01 RonaldLBanks.com. He has a dope starter kit, decluttering starter kit, which you can download on the site. Also make sure you join the Clarity Club, which is a newsletter with over 6,000 subscribers.

SPEAKER00 It's probably more now. I need to update more than that.

SPEAKER01 We need to update that, bro. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. It's a, it's a lot, you know, people are joining. So make sure you subscribe to the newsletter and definitely, definitely check out the YouTube channel. and subscribe because you'll be inspired by not only the quality, but the messaging and just the vibe that Ronald brings. Ronald, it's been a blessing, brother. And again, an honor that this Creative Factor was the first podcast. By the way, I'm going to reiterate that. Um, and I appreciate you just, just saying yes, man, for, you know, I was, I was shocked. I'm going to, I'm going to put full transparency. I'm going to make sure we put this out here. I was like, you know what, let me reach out. Cause you know, I'm a few YouTubers rejecting me and I was like, it's okay. Not, you know, no offense taken, you know, I get it. And you're doing your thing, man. You got over 200 subs. You're doing the business. And I'm like, let me go ahead. He's one of my favorite guys. Let me reach out. On Minimalism, you were the only one that I reached out to. And I was like, let me reach out and see what happens. Let me shoot my shot. right, so to speak. And when you said yes, man, I was like, what? I mean, you completely made my day, man, just because I have a mad respect to you. And of course, as a creator, as a father and everything you got going on with your community. So I just want to thank you, man, for just saying yes and being a part of this journey early on.

SPEAKER00 I appreciate you. I appreciate the opportunity. So thank you for reaching out, man.

SPEAKER_01 Thank you for listening to The Creator Factor. I hope you got value from this episode because this is one of my goals for the show, to introduce you to different ideas and perspectives to help you grow as a content creator. Now, I have a huge favor to ask. We're looking to reach more creators like you and build this community. And you can help us by simply heading over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a rating and written review. Also, make sure that you leave your social handle on the review so I can tag you and show you some love on the next episode. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll definitely catch you on the next episode. Till next time, peace and one love.