Transcript
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Kwame:
What's up, everybody? Welcome to today's episode of Beyond Influence. We have Colin Rocker with us here today, and we are just hanging out. How are you doing today?
Colin:
Doing good, man! Happy to be here.
Scott:
Welcome to the podcast. Super excited. A different flavor of creator than we've had before. I'm excited to dive into all things business advice, life advice. I've been following your feed for a bit and really enjoy your content.
It's a really important day because Instagram just allowed you to post music on your profiles, so we’re basically back to basics.
Okay, I don't know if y'all are ready for this topic coming. It's a new day for Instagram, but okay.
Colin:
Okay, I think I should go. I feel a first question brimming. What are we rocking at the top of our profiles then?
Scott:
Yeah, no, we update all year. Let's see, if you have two songs, what's on top of your profile, man?
Colin:
Okay, the first one that comes to mind, and this is going to age me geographically as well as my actual age, but when I got married, I came out to "Bring Em Out" by T.I. I'm a big Atlanta rap fan. And so, you gotta bring that energy to your profile, right?
This is literally all my videos, all my content. Let's bring them out, so that's the first song that comes to mind for me: "Bring Em Out" by T.I.
Scott:
Nice. Kwame, what would yours be?
Kwame:
Oh man, this is a really tough one. I don't know if it's something that's reflective of me now, but my all-time favorite song ever is "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal. Wow.
Colin:
Okay. Very different vibe.
Kwame:
Okay. I know we weren't expecting that, but not at all. Maybe nowadays it'll be like Migos or something, but are you sure?
Scott:
I just want to land on your profile, though, baby.
Kwame:
Right, Scott? What's yours then?
Scott:
I have no idea. I'm all over the place. I'd probably pick some cliche, but those are solid picks. That's pretty great.
Kwame:
Yeah. Look at Scott. He's avoiding it.
Scott:
I am. I will circle back.
Kwame:
We'll circle back. Well hey, Cole man, so what have you been up to lately? How's life? How's it affecting you? I've been watching a lot of your recent content, and we'll touch on a few things. Maybe some things I agree with. Maybe some things we can have some dialog about. But how's things going?
Colin:
Things are good, man. I'd love to just give people some context in terms of who I am. Right. Obviously, as you said, I'm Colin Rocker, a content creator. I focus on career and corporate content with a real mission to expose, educate, and inspire people, sort of the next generation of young professionals on their journey.
Especially people who identify as self-taught, first-generation professionals like myself who don't come from a long line of bankers or accountants or consultants or marketers. My dad was a plumber. When I asked him for advice on how to get my career really going, we couldn't really navigate my path the same way others may have access to.
That's sort of why I exist on social media. Some pretty big recent updates in my life are that I'm now a new dad, so that's pretty awesome. I've got a three-month-old here named Isaiah. He's a handful, you know, definitely takes up a lot of my time and a lot of my attention, especially in this new phase. I'm working from home, and I'm trying to manage putting the content, building the business, being a dad, being a husband, and being a friend. That's honestly, that's the one big update that's been all-encompassing, but it's been a lot of fun.
Scott:
That's amazing. I was scrolling your feed again, and I came across your photo drop. I was like, “Man, I feel like I'm deep in his world right now about meeting the mayor of New York City at a mansion and then all the kids stuff like summer activities.” It's awesome. It highlights how multi-dimensional your life is.
Yeah, the both kind of personal and professional success you're having. So super stoked for you.
Colin:
Thank you, man! That's been interesting. I'll say my journey on social media was definitely like all niche, all topics for the first couple of years. Every single video was tip, tip, tip, tip, tip. But I found this whole other sort of side of my audience inside of myself, getting more comfortable, and being more vulnerable with the other parts of my life.
Going to this podcast and beyond just the influencing and the splashy big pics. Yeah, let me show you on the beach with a little bit of crust on my eye, some sand on my skin, and just let me show you that other side of me. People have been really receptive to it.
It's been fun.
Kwame:
Yeah. I think that's really cool, man. A few things that we've learned along this podcasting journey. We had this exact conversation with Kay Brown, a different influencer in a very different space but people show up and they end up finding you for the content, right? They stay for the person the deeper you can get into yourself. It's really funny, but sometimes it gets creepy at times because people end up knowing way too much about you.
Colin:
I mean, you're one to talk. You talk about personal lives on the internet.
Kwame:
I know it's crazy, but yeah. People love people. They want to follow your story. They want to see that journey. They want to hear you talk about the first job you got. Then in ten years, they want to see you say, “Hey, I'm a CEO now.” They love that transition of a journey, man, and you've obviously had a big one.
I'd love to know what was your first step into content creation. At what point did you realize, “You know what? Hey, this is something I think I could be good at.”
Colin:
It's a good question. Throughout my life, if I look back, they always say it's easier to connect the pieces looking backwards. I would say early on, again in school, I was always the one chosen to present the group project when I was a kid. My mom tells me I used to put on magic shows and I would make tickets out of construction paper and put on a show after dinner.
I've always enjoyed or been comfortable being in front of a stage or communicating a vision. Obviously getting my first job in management consulting at Deloitte – that's not exactly the best career path for that specific kind of skill. I was doing that when I graduated college, and then Covid happened.
I was back in Georgia with my in-laws at the time and really just felt like I needed a creative outlet. I just felt bored. I think for a lot of people, I felt kind of like trapped and limited in my space in what I was doing. I really started making a lot of content.
I was making workout stuff, motivational stuff, commenting on topics in the news on business, and stuff and no one cared about any of that. I think randomly one day I just started breaking out what my life was like and what my job was like. People really gravitated towards that content, especially young people at that point. If you can imagine being in high school or early college and you're starting to think about your career and you have no idea what these jobs are like. What is an investment banker? What is a UX designer?
These terms are nebulous. For people like me and that had the background I had. I think I started to cultivate that following. And I was like, “Okay, let's talk about it. How do you get these jobs? What is a day in life actually like? What do I like about my work? What don't I like about my work?” That naturally grew through to the beginning of 2021 to where I am now.
I was talking about this earlier...I've now brought in this whole aspect of my actual lifestyle. What does it mean to live in New York City and have a young baby in New York City?
And how do you balance that with the work I'm doing? It's been a really natural path. I wouldn't say when I was 18 I thought I'd be an influencer one day or a content creator, but it's been such a natural and cool and exciting sort of a path that I've been on.
Scott:
It's awesome. It's funny going through content too. I think a lot of people have different views on work and are kind of more traditionalist or new remote. Some of your posts hit me specifically this one about drafting a cover letter and how important that is. And, you know, just show up to the interview in shorts.
And it's funny because I came up in the world of very formal, wearing suits. You were in a tie and the thought of wearing a hat to work or wearing shorts was laughable. I mean, it's wild and I think context matters so much. I think there's something to be said for the spirit of some of the things that you talk about, which is showing that you care, showing that it matters to you.
I think a cover letter, whether read or not, it's almost a gesture in and of itself. It's the thought process. We talked about handwritten notes there. Candidates will drop like an actual handwritten note to me, and I'm like, “Regardless of what it says, there's a level of care, a level of want, a level of effort that they're putting in that demonstrates this other intangible, of how they're going to show up and do the job.”
I really like your perspective. It's interesting, I feel like you get some pushback, though. How do you…Maybe that's one of your topics or whatever. But I mean, how do you manage that more traditional view with a lot of the younger generation who doesn't care about those things or doesn't put a value on them?
Colin:
I love this question, first of all, because I feel like in a lot of ways, I feel like this bridge between this pre and post-pandemic work environment where a lot of people weren't exposed to a world before remote work and before Zoom meetings and before all these other things.
I do get a lot of pushback, especially from a lot of young people who say, “It’s about being authentic and showing up as your full self.” And I get that and I'm empathetic to it, but at the end of the day, these are the same people who will say something else that I actually agree with. When you show up to work, it's not a family, but it is a team.
There is that sense of camaraderie. I played sports growing up. I understand bringing people together with different skill sets to accomplish a higher goal. At the end of the day, it's about what you want out of your career, which I always try to give a heavy dose of. This is for people who want or came from a certain place and want to get to another place in their life and in their career. My whole thing now is about empowering people to create careers that lift themselves in their lives.
Depending on what you want out of life and what you want out of your career, you can take different paths. I sort of lay out how I see it and get a fair amount of hate on either side of the age demographic, but mostly on the younger for sure.
Kwame:
I would say to anybody who's listening to this: a big part of landing your dream job or just even a job on your way to your dream job and also keeping it and also getting promoted. A big part of it is showing that you give a crap. You know, I don't feel like a lot of people show that they give a crap, especially in jobs that can feel a little bit tougher to start off with.
The first job that I ever had was at Hollister, which was the good old days.
Colin:
I can see it.
Kwame:
All right. Then I had a job at a gas station passing out fliers. Then I progressed to a few others. One of my favorite ones was being a waiter. I loved being a waiter because obviously there's a component that a lot of people out there have control over what you make. But a big part of it is how you make them feel and what they walk away with in terms of their experience.
I remember the worst experience I ever had. I think at that point in time I was very new. I was very green, and I was taking out the wrong orders. I didn't know what drinks they ordered. I was all over the place. Then I spilled a drink on the table. And the guy, the dad looks at me and he's like, “Buddy, you're batting 1,000.”
I will never forget that moment. Before everything wrapped up I came out and I apologized. I was like, “I'm so sorry. I'm new and I'm nervous.” You know what I mean? And they gave me a considerable tip.
And it was just because I showed that I care about my job. Even at that moment, I didn't represent my best self, I wanted to let them know that I cared about their experience and all that good stuff. When it comes back to the whole wearing shorts to your interview, like “Come on, it's the bare minimum.”
It's crazy. You can't go out there and show that you care about something you're going to do well on your job. You are going to focus on it and put your effort into it. If you can't put the effort into showing up for your interview.
Colin:
Yeah. I mean, I think pursuing excellence is the ultimate transferable skill because I like you. My first job was at Chick-fil-A. I did door-to-door sales while I was in college. I mean, I've had those sorts of jobs, but in every professional thing I've ever done, it's like, you can show up every day and just choose to be a little bit better and try to pursue whatever the model for excellence is and whatever you happen to be doing.
But yeah, I think there's also… Oh man, this conversation is about to take a turn but I'm going to do it. I think if you look at the state of the internet, especially social media, we're going into this like an algorithmic internet where whatever your current belief system is, it comes to you at your work or your life that is being reinforced. It's great for people like me who are on the internet. I can find people who are interested in my stuff.
I think on the other end, if you believe other things in terms of your attitude for work or what you show up to in an interview, I mean, who knows what this person was consuming before? They got this opportunity to show up, right? I think it's also this thing of like getting in our own digital echo chambers.
You never expose yourself to other perspectives. When you see them in the real world, it's like, “Oh my God. Like how could you wear pants? How could someone tell you to be formal?” It's like it seems strange, right? Because your whole world has been reinforced by what was already there the second you connected to the internet. It's really interesting.
Scott:
We always had this debate where we wanted to see what each other's algorithms were. If you want a fun game and this is maybe super nerdy, but anytime you go to an Airbnb that has a TV, go and pull up the Netflix account of whoever logged in last most times, and we'll log out and just see what's getting served up.
It's wild. I went to this place in Arizona and it was like all Bollywood Indian content. And I was like, “This is cool.” We're watching them there. I was super cool because it's like a whole world that I don't even know exists on Netflix, whatever it is. I feel it almost transplants you into the ecosystem and the life and the thoughts and beliefs of these other people.
And it's super fun. I don't know how advisable we are at each other's phones and Instagram if you're friends. I do think it's super interesting and I think it is, on a serious note, one of the reasons why I've gotten into trouble is when you live in that kind of echo chamber, it it gives you error, emboldens you in some of the maybe more out there thoughts or the destructive thoughts or areas where people can be belittled or bullied or treated poorly.
I think that is where I think social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that while they're serving you entertaining content that resonates with you. They're also not creating destructive behaviors and/or polarizing and creating opposition amongst people and division, which I mean it's clearly there. A lot of division at the moment. Yeah, we don't have to go too deep into that.
Colin:
100%. No, I agree with you on 2%. I also think the best thing that ever happened to social media was the viral video of someone doing something ridiculous and crazy and I've even been a part of some of these creator boot camps. I've talked to coaches or heard people at events talk about it.
It’s a legitimate part of the strategy. Right? What can you say that's going to push someone to either side of something? It's definitely prevalent because it gets views, it gets clicks, and it gets engagement. But yeah, definitely going to some, some pretty, dark and distracting places.
Kwame:
I'm glad you took that turn because I'm going to make a very bold statement. I do think, in my opinion, what's most wrong with the internet right now is how overtly polarizing it is. Right? It absolutely just diminishes and it takes away our ability to have diversity of thought and that's not fair to us as a society.
Because if I believe something and you keep feeding that to me, it's just going to further that belief so far that I might be too far gone for someone else to be able to tell me something that they believe in, that I maybe should consider. Right? We just get so far siloed into our own thought processes and our own beliefs, and that is constantly being reinforced, reinforced by everything that we see around us.
For goodness sake, social media. I know that it makes for a really, really good, easy way to sell something to someone. If there's anything we could do for the powers that are above there, help us a little bit with the diversity of thought. We need to be able to relate to each other more right away.
Colin:
So to make this about myself again, I do think that I’m a slightly different voice when it comes to the content you see on social media when you're talking about your career or specifically corporate America because a lot of that content is overwhelmingly cynical and negative, right? Everyone wants a remote job that pays $500,000 a year where they can work three hours a day.
I think that just showing up and saying to wear pants to your interview, write a cover letter, and show up willing to do the work is like, ”I get daggers, right?” But I like that kind of abrasiveness because it attacks people. It says, “Okay, well, you know, let's see where these things play out.”
You can clearly see if you model success. In almost any industry, the people who are getting to a certain place in terms of the life they're able to create for themselves and their families, the growth of their businesses, if they happen to be entrepreneurs like that. I mean, those habits lead somewhere, right?
I've always wanted to be a positive voice, even though I can be honest and real. Because everything that a lot of people assign to corporate America, they should actually assign to character, right? I mean, if you have a bad boss. I mean, people don't leave jobs. People leave people.
I think there are disingenuous plumbers and they're disingenuous software engineers. You can be positive and have a good outlook in terms of a thriving sort of corporate or any kind of career, without diving too deep into things that are going to make people reinforce the thing that nothing matters.
Why do anything? I'm going to wear my shorts. All that kind of stuff.
Scott:
I love that. Obviously, I'm biased as a leader of an organization, but I've seen the power that work and meaningful work and growth can change lives and how that can create meaning for individuals. I really dislike the narrative. I hate my job. I hate my boss. It’s really negative reinforcement of work. You can do some of the most meaningful growth and work in the context of your profession. I do think, to call these earlier points, how you show up is showing that you care. It's showing that you're not just there to punch the clock and then leave. You're invested.
It's funny, I talked to my wife about this quite a bit because I'm a little old school in my beliefs too. If there's a box that shows up like a desk to be put together, I'll put it together. Who cares? Like, why not? And everyone's like, “Why would you do that?” And I'm like, “I don't know.”
I just have pride of ownership. I don't want that box sitting there. We need that done. Who better to go do it? But then I see some of the more junior employees and they're just like, “Why is that box there? I wish I could take care of that.” And like, “Hey, where's my swag?”
It’s this pride of ownership thing, and I get it. We're incentivized in a different way. They might not feel like they have ownership of the company, but I feel like even as a junior employee, if you act prideful and you act like you're an owner of the organization and you're a steward of it and your own success, it's going to turn out better.
Part of that is aligning yourself with the business. I think that as a key aspect, you have to find a group of individuals, a business leadership who will advocate for you, care for your growth, and support you. If they have the same view of you that you might have of them, which is like, “Oh, they just work for me.” They're so annoying.
I hope they just come in and do their job and leave and don't complain to me. Yeah, but if you say, “Hey, these are real people who want to grow and want investment in their future, they want some job security and want to make meaningful contributions. You know, they'll give you a lot more. I think there's a lot to be learned there.
Colin:
The worst piece of advice anyone can take when it comes to their career or their business is that your work will speak for you. Like that's something where being raised in a blue-collar household I heard that all the time and I saw it modeled all the time in my community.
When you go into these corporate spaces, the people that are moving and shaking…Yes, they have a level of competency or what they've chosen to do with their careers, but they're networking the people and they're building relationships. They are self-promoting. That's another thing where in a virtual environment, it's hard to see those sorts of things and it's hard to build those sorts of skills.
I learned very quickly in 20 1819, in the early parts of 2020, when I was working my first corporate job, how to navigate that zone and how to do good work, but also make sure that my managers and the people who were above me that had a say in how much I made at the end of the year, knew the work that I was doing. I was also aligning myself to things that were leveraged opportunities where you are putting yourself in a company that's going to grow.
As the team you're on going this way or are they stagnant or are they going that way? You need to make sure you're on the right side of that equation. A lot of these operational/organizational like movement pieces get lost because everyone's focused on, “I'm responsible for this report. I'm responsible for this dashboard. I'm responsible for this campaign. And you lose sight of it. There has to be a long term strategy for how you want to navigate your career.
I totally agree that's something that I preach over and over again. I've got a series called Subtle Social Skills or subtle, subtle, subtle Social Secrets where I break out some of this stuff because you'll miss it in a second.
No one's going to teach it to you, especially if you're in a virtual or remote working environment. You can't even observe it. That's something where I've tried to be a voice or an example or a model that people can use, like this is how that's a tool I can take that I can use, I can share that can help me get to a better place.
Scott:
100%. You must have been mad at yourself the day you made that title, though. I would totally tip over every time I tried to say it.
Colin:
100%.
Kwame:
Colin, you're speaking a lot of facts and, there's one thing that I think resonates throughout most of your post that speaks to my heart is the percentage of black Americans that make six figures. I think in 2024, it's tough to live comfortably if you're not within a certain area within your salary without being way too direct about it.
But ultimately, we want to be able to find ways to help our communities elevate. We want to elevate the people around us. When you think about our journeys, I was very fortunate to ever get to a place where I was making money which I was shocked about. Growing up, I was in a household. I was born in Ghana, came here.
My parents were both very hard workers, like blue-collar in that sense. My dad finally got a job as a loan officer at Wells, Fargo, and that was our first break into, “Wow, there are possibilities here.” And then, you know, went to college, got my master's degree. Thought about what I would do next.
Long story short, it got me to an organization where I started to work day-to-day as a sales development rep. Throughout that journey, I worked really hard, became a sales development manager. And then, through that journey, went on and on and on. One of the biggest things that I learned as I was going through all of that was despite the degree that I had or the learnings or the accomplishments or the achievements, it was that if I was consistently curious and learning more about not just what I do, but the people I do it with, right, I would be able to grow in my career.
My biggest break came from getting an opportunity to work, like an extra day. You know, in the office, they were like, “Hey, who wants to stay Wednesday nights?” So I started working once. I was like, “Hey, I'll stay for another couple extra hours, book some demos, make some extra money.” And then through that, the person that I ended up working with was somebody who was looking to advance their career as well.
We started to connect. We started to learn together, and we started to propel each other as well. It is really important for any career direction to really help propel each other. With that being said, I want to ask you a little bit about how to uplevel as a creator. You know, I think that you've had a really great journey and you are now, you are definitely a noticeable voice in the community.
As we think about professionals in the transition or maybe just the supplement, maybe if you don't want to become a content creator forever, or solely you want to add to what you're doing, what are the biggest things that you are seeing that help you to improve or increase your ability as a content creator? If it's not just like making money and making better content, what do you see there?
Colin:
That's a great question, Kwame, but I honestly can't answer without, you know, addressing what you talked about earlier because yeah, when I first time I saw that stat, it was like a gut punch, right? Because like, I'm the same as you. I've been blessed in my career to, you know, to hit that milestone and it's, you know, it's a good feeling.
But to know that there are so many people in our community who weren't yet there, really kind of calcified my mission as to why I exist, especially on social media. Because I remember, you know, I would go to work every summer. I didn't go to camp. I went to work with my dad. I'd be in his, you know, pick up truck and we'd go, he was commercial and residential plumbing.
We'd go to these big office buildings in Atlanta, and we'd be in the basement, you know, tightening a wrench or, you know, knee deep. And you know what? But like, you'd wonder, like, what do people do in this building full of glass with white shirts on and tights? Right. And it's like, are they all in finance?
I don't think so. What even is finance? Right. Like, you know, my dad didn't even invest in the stock market. Like, it wasn't like I had. I didn't have any frame of reference for what was going on. I think even outside of content, I think just the awareness of all of the different ways, we don't all have to be bankers, we all have to be consultants.
But all of the different ways to hit that milestone and get us some semblance of financial security sales is a great path. The trades, right, are a great path. There are ways to do it, but that's certainly become a big part of what I feel I'm doing out there, sort of giving people at least, eyes into ways to, to hit that milestone.
But, obviously specific to content creation, it's kind of related because I think that, for me, I felt like online I was giving career advice for the first two years I've been in the last year, I've sort of really, like, clarified my actual mission and who my actual audience was and who I'm actually serving in this phrase of like a first gen professional.
How do I take someone who has no idea what a corporate career path looks like, maybe hasn't even, you know, have the opportunity to pursue a four year degree? And how do we get them to that, to get into that 6%. Right. That's like I think that's a big one, like the, the, the awareness piece, of how do you move beyond a niche in a topic and actually get to like, like I think your moat is who you are as a person, right?
And nobody can Kwame or Scott better than Kwame or Scott. Right. I felt like the more of me I injected into the content without just doing, you know, a get ready with me. You know, no one cares really about my skincare routine or how hard I work out, but it's like, how do I inject who I am into the value I'm giving my audience is a big thing.
Another huge thing is having a team. I mean, to date right now I've got a literary agent, I've got a talent manager, I've got a financial advisor, and I have an accountant. And those are all people I've added onto my team in the last like year. And they have all, you know, more than our, you know, bringing in or providing value far and above, you know, whatever, whatever costs that may be for me.
But I held out for a while, probably longer than I should have, honestly. But you have to model success. I was looking at the biggest creators and who I want to be and who I'm looking to, and it's like they bring on people who are experts in what they do that enable them to go further than they could have gone alone.
Right. I think like building a really good team, a sort of trusted, and well-compensated advisors, and then really figuring out what you're, like, competitive advantage and your motives, which for me is a combination of how am I providing value and then like, who am I as a person? And like sort of finding where this is to me.
Scott:
I love that and that, you know, we've heard from others the same kind of unlocking around building out a team and surrounding yourself with people who can help, you know, uplift the kind of total output of the system. And it's funny, I think both on the creator side and, you know, work it largely applies. And it's really funny.
I feel like it's super awkward anytime someone gives a compliment, it's like, oh man, look at all this stuff. I'm like, I just hired a bunch of smart people and I, like, made sure they're aimed in the same direction. I'm like, you know, I have my own skills, but like, yeah, I'm not going to go engineer a product.
I'm going to hire an amazing CTO who can go and build it better than anyone else. I'm going to hire an amazing sail sales leader who can go out and navigate. And that's not to say we don't have value, but I think, it really does come down to building an amazing team who has specialization, who has unique skills to get stuff done.
We talked to Marcel. Basically I do work, strimmer. His team was like, he's like, I have a thumbnail. Artists have like three editors. I have all this. There's no way I could accomplish it by myself with the amount of content we need to push out. And he's like, they're better. I don't like it. I'm not as good at it.
And, you know, it just works out better. I love that. And there's no shame in that too. I think, you know, recognizing that others are better at things or like to do things, that's great. That's, that's part of why, you know, working as a team makes a lot of sense. I'm curious now, you know, you've been an established content creator, you've got this team.
You know, you mentioned having a talent agent, and we know you're you know, you're doing some work with brands. What was the first kind of foray into working with brands? How'd that go? I'm curious. What? What was that first step on your journey?
Colin:
Yeah. No. First, I feel very fortunate that my first ever brand partnership was with notion, and they reached out to me. It was like, oh, let's go. All right. Like making money. Like, you know, I felt really good about it. And then they said, our budget was $300. It's like, okay, well, not rich yet, but let's do it, you know?
And so, that started a really long, arduous, hard-knock process of realizing what my value was as a creator and what I could charge for. I mean, again, another wild West. I mean, you want to talk about the corporate path, and the creator path is like, you know, it's crazy, right? As I'm sure you guys have seen given like your, your business.
But like, that was, you know, I was in a lot of slacks and discords and group text and like other people just trying to figure out, like, how are you navigating this? What are you charging for? Like, what can I charge for? Like what? You know what's good? What's bad? It was a very gruesome and ugly process, and I feel like I haven't heard a story yet.
That wasn't that from the people I know that that created new brand partnerships. But that was the first real major unlock was bringing on a talent agent that had experience with creators but also brought in a lot of, like, traditional experience. My specific talent agencies worked with, like, stand up comedians. He's an awkward traditional celebrity. And so, like, he had a really big understanding, of of what was going on in the market, which is exciting, especially now as I'm moving into doing stuff that, you know, they're not quite ready to talk about too much yet, but that's really exciting, you know, in larger and more like traditional media.
Yeah, it's definitely helped.
Kwame:
Okay, well, let's get to a hard hitting question real quick. Can you speak on this? What's the most money you've made from a deal? And you can either share the company or you can not, you know, tell us a little bit of that. Yeah.
Colin:
No, I'll keep it real with you. I mean I won't give any company names, but the same I will say, that influence is weird because I feel like this is the first year I've ever had a five figure deal, but it's also the year I've had the most five-figure deals. I would say the biggest one, single number one was probably I think it ended up around like just under 40,000 for one, for a couple videos.
That's been really, really good. But now I will say with my audience, what I'm really excited about is, you know, now I've got, I've got a newsletter. I'm on Instagram, on TikTok. And so, like, I've been finding creative ways to sort of package up content and sort of sellers and, a whole thing instead of just like, you know, these one off little, like, piecemeal deals.
Yeah. Biggest contract signed with one brand, probably just under 40 K.
Scott:
That's amazing. We're so happy for you. It's funny. I'm like, there's going to be this huge influx of creators in the first generation of business, basically. We'll take that deal.
Colin:
Exactly, exactly. Which that's I mean, yeah, it brings up an interesting point because obviously, like, you know, people ask me like you're talking about career success, but it's like you're not, you know, I don't have a traditional job anymore. It's been interesting because in some ways I rationalize it where it's like, now I have so much more time, a capacity to like, help people.
But also now people are coming to me that are, accountants or marketers or software engineers, and they want to build their own personal brand. How do they get started with content, whether that's a newsletter, whether that's on LinkedIn. And so, it's interesting how one constant is like building an audience online. And once you do that, there's so many really interesting opportunities that really open up to you.
It's been nice.
Kwame:
I can dig that. I think, you know, to speak to myself, I, I completely agree with the influencing is very strange. My first year as a content creator, I think in total, I made like 46 K. Yeah, right. Not impressive numbers. And what I can say is when I really invested myself and started putting myself out there and sometimes occasionally following a trend and doing something funnier or more lighthearted or going with the flow a bit more, it definitely changed and people started seeing it.
I always used to think like, what? Who am I creating this content for? Yes. Yeah. And then one day it all started to make sense. I made three viral videos just because I looked at what trends were going on, and I thought about a funny way that I could put my own spin on it. And that changed everything about me, about my marketability as a creator.
Because I think as a creator, people saw me as this reality-TV personality. They're like, okay, maybe if we have things in alignment like love and relationships and, you know, soppy feelings, so we can do that. Yeah. Right. But when I, when I started branching off and, like, doing funny things and being lighthearted and going with the humor and going with the flow, I can say, August, July and August are my most successful month as a creator by far, and I've just in those months, doubled what I made amazing, made my whole last year as a creator.
It's really important to just lean into it. You have to go out there. You have to like it, show yourself. You have to like to jump on the occasional trend like, don't, don't keep yourself this one very one dimensional person. Be multifaceted. As a creator, you can share out the things within your niche while also appealing to.
Colin:
100%. And another part of that is you have to also like pitch and do outbound and put yourself in front of people. Because if you're not, if you're not speaking to your ability to play in those other zones outside of a traditional, you know, reality Netflix TV star, like sort of silo, that's all people will see you as.
Right. And so you're, I think, fortunate to have those viral videos as sort of like a proof point. But for me, it's like, I don't want to just be an influencer, like, I'll do speaking, I'll host an event, I'll come in and do a workshop with, like your intern class, like I'm down for all of that.
I need to be talking about that in my newsletter and on LinkedIn and like, you know, hinting at it in my content in a way. I don't get bucketed into the person where, oh, he only wants to, you know, flip a TikTok and, you know, that'll be that'll be all.
Scott:
It's going to be great. Colin's going to come back in September with a shirtless Pilates pic and a romance post on Instagram.
Kwame:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You give me some.
Scott:
Work for me.
Colin:
100%.
Kwame:
We are coming up towards the segment. Man, I love this segment. It's just a quick run through of your experience as a creator and what you prefer. I'm going to say I'm gonna give you two options. Right. And you're just going to tell me what you prefer out of those two. And just a quick sentence or two about why.
Colin:
Very nice. Yeah. Ready for it? Let's do it.
Kwame:
All right. We'll call it. We'll call it this or that segment. TikTok or Instagram?
Colin:
Instagram. I feel like TikTok is really good for going viral, but I feel like I've been able to curate a much tighter knit community on Instagram.
Kwame:
I like that okay video or static photo?
Colin:
Oh, video. All the way. All the way. Yeah, I think, I don't know. I love the sound of my own voice and I, you know, people, it doesn't bother too many people. Right. And I think that, it just adds, I think it's harder to be honest. I think I'm building a bigger moat around myself. But that's also probably a coping for the fact that I'm probably not as good of a writer as I should be.
So, yeah.
Kwame:
I can dig it. You know, you do have a good voice.
Scott:
I could use what you got.
Colin:
Absolutely.
Kwame:
Long-term or short term partnership?
Colin:
Long term for sure. Yeah, I think it's one. I think it proves a lot more authentic as a creator in terms of what you're bringing up to your audience. And, you know, obviously, I mean, you know, the checks are much bigger. Definitely for them.
Scott:
Long.
Kwame:
And then the last one story or grid post.
Colin:
Story, I've honestly, that's been the most fun because I started on TikTok and then in the last year, I got really much bigger on Instagram. And I love it for that reason, too, because people actually look at your stories. I like all the different things.
Kwame:
Poles.
Colin:
And the links and like the stuff you can share, it's really, really fun, man. I love, I love, I love my stories.
Scott:
That's awesome. Always funny. I always, always have this existential debate about stories. And like we talked about it a little bit, but I don't know, we always ask one question and I'm curious if there was any brand that if they just showed up in your inbox, you're like, that's it for me. Who would that brand be? Aspirational, brand new.
Colin:
Aspirational brand deal. This is okay. You said aspirational. I'm going to give you an aspiration. I would love to do a deal one day with like, like a banana republic because I feel like, for me, getting started, I mean, my dad wore a blue Dickies suit, you know, before they popped off in Brooklyn.
Right? Like the real ones, you know, with a little bit of dirt on them. And so, like, I, I had to build my own wardrobe when it came to work, and, like, I just fell in love with that brand and, you know, the fit and like, the styling and obviously the last couple of years, it made a huge investment into their own brand, into it was like the premium ization of it.
I would love to do a social collaboration with them, you know, maybe get my face on a couple stories, you know, and Soho-like, that would be amazing. You know, like, I would love to do something with them. It's like, like a back to school or like internal, like kickstarting a professional wardrobe kind of thing.
That would be amazing.
Scott:
What, to shoot over your shorts purse and see if we can get some? Yeah. Hey, there's got to be a play. I know I'm thinking about that. You can get Kwame with his Hollister shorts on and flip flops and. Yeah, don't be this guy. Yeah. This guy.
Colin:
Oh, I like it, I like it.
Kwame:
Oh, man. So, yeah, it's been a fantastic conversation. And, you know, is there anything that you want to leave? You know, our audience with, would you say, you know, I think generally what would you want to leave them with? But also, do you have any, you know, other content creators that are, you know, that you look up to whose content you love to, to, you know, take example from or anything like that.
Colin:
Oh, that’s a good question. Yeah. There are a lot of content creators I admire. I think, you know, in the career and in corporate space, I think there's so few of us, I feel that we all sort of stick together. Especially here in New York, like, I've had the chance to, to talk and meet with people like Tim to you.
Sano. Hannah gets hired. Kevin White, who's based out of Chicago and mostly on TikTok by chance to talk to him. I mean, there are a couple career focused creators that I really enjoy, and I think they're doing really good work. I mean, dang, also on Tick Tock, and yeah, the one piece of advice I'll say, and this is, this is career advice, but it's also good life advice, is that I think when nobody told me that, I wish I had heard earlier in my career is that not all feedback is good feedback or should be weighed like equal weight.
And I felt like if somebody would have told me that if someone gives you a piece of feedback, especially if it isn't related to your work product, which is your first red flag that makes you feel a certain way about who you are as a person and who your actual like personality and how you show up to your life is.
You really need to judge like the messenger and like the validity of that feedback. Because I've seen in my own career multiple times and a lot of people that I interact with on social media, they've been told something that is like the total antithesis of who they are and how they would naturally show up. I feel like you know, I'm all for, you know, real-time feedback and responding in the moment and all that stuff.
I'm not anti-feedback, but it's not all good. It's all coming from the right place. And if you hear something that is so antithetical to who you know, you, you are as a professional or as a person, you gotta judge that and maybe, you know, toss it by the wayside.
Scott:
I love that. Well, we really appreciate you coming on. To find Colin, check out Career Colin, on Instagram. It's been a great conversation. Really, really appreciate your time.
Colin:
Of course. Yeah. Appreciate the opportunity. And nice to meet the two of you.
Scott:
That is for sure.
Kwame:
See you next time. Bye bye, y'all.