00:00
Yeah. I mean, like, our first, like, full year, I think you already shared it. It well, you said twenty is forty, but, yeah, we did about forty million dollars. And then, you know, this year, we're on track to
00:10
do thirty percent, thirty five percent growth. Yeah.
00:14
It's it's crazy.
00:23
So we are here in the
00:26
or where we all live? Yeah. The sheds. Yeah. Like, this studio, like, I'm looking at the video. It looks legit. Yeah. People don't know what's looks like from the outside. This is definitely like a sketchy
00:36
like, I've seen a Netflix documentary about a shed like this. Well, you got here five minutes later than we did. It was it was like a hundred degrees in here.
00:44
Was like, this is gonna be a sweaty podcast. And this is a d, you guys are different than, I'll say, our normal guests, which are almost always, like, kinda,
00:52
business, like tech software type of entrepreneur,
00:56
y'all are entrepreneurs in a different way. Okay. And
00:59
you're Instagram famous. So that's cool. That's amazing.
01:03
You tagged me in a story yesterday,
01:05
and I got my wife has never looked at me that way before. She was like, she was like, oh, because she's never listed in one episode of this podcast. No. We've done maybe four hundred episodes.
01:14
She's not a podcast person in general. Like, she'll listen to anyone's podcast. Yeah.
01:18
But you would think maybe she'll listen to live with us. Yeah. We got all those kids. It's just not a lot of, like, time to, like, do things like that. Hey. I get it. But I think she'll listen to this one. So I'm excited because, she's a fan of yours and,
01:30
and so we, and we have got at dinner last night, got to know each other a little bit. So I'm excited. Maybe will do, like, you guys give, like, be, like, a sixty second intro of who you guys are, what why, introduce yourselves to the audience, you know? Sure.
01:42
I'll go first. So my name is Danny Austin. And I started,
01:47
creating content online about ten years ago. I was actually living in Austin. I was at University of Texas, sophomore, like, just making videos on YouTube in my in my dorm room.
01:57
You know, it kinda just grew from there really fast. Then got an Instagram, all the other platforms.
02:02
We now run divvy, which is a scalp care,
02:06
hair care product brand.
02:08
And we do that together. We have a lot of fun doing that. Honestly online, we just share anything about our lives from, like, be having two kids under two
02:16
to,
02:18
you know, fast or
02:19
affordable fashion.
02:22
Yeah. Yeah. We've kinda been doing that together for
02:25
you know, five years. So she's been online for ten years. You know, we met. We didn't work together until we got married. I was in like Austin tech.
02:33
Seen before we got married. And then, you know, I was telling you last night, this just became a lifestyle and it was all consuming. And so she would be in, like, turks and caicos, and I would be in a boardroom, and I'd be like, oh my gosh. Like, what what am I doing in my life? And so around twenty eighteen, we took the lead to work together jumped into kind of like the influencer space, which we it didn't have a name before that. Right. It was just like we created content. And then I think the media started covering it a lot more
02:59
And then they labeled me an Instagram husband, and then they labeled our our industry, you know, the How do you feel about that label? You know, it's fine. Like, I'm I'm glad that I did it. Wait. That's so not true. At first, you hit him. Yeah. It's true. It was it was it was it was it was that party. They'd be like, what do you do? And he's like,
03:15
you never knew. Well, when you're coming out of college, like, you know, so much of your identity is wrapped up in your title, especially being here in Austin, Texas, like, you know, in the tech scene, it was like, startup are you part of? Do y'all have funding? You know, what's your title? What employee number were you? And so I was still kinda caught up in that mindset. And then, you know, we jumped in together. It was like, I remember the first article that came out was by, a writer named Taylor Loren's, and she wrote an article about what is the instance of history. With Taylor Loren. Too. Yeah. Really? Yeah. She taught the dude. It's crazy. A lot of people have a history with her now, but, you know, she so she she wrote that article and she quoted me in it, and then I was, like, labeled the Instagram husband. But,
03:51
yeah, and so we we did the influencer industry for five years together and just honestly created content together, and then COVID hit and and brands started really investing in that space. We should also say how this came about. Yeah. You listened to the pod. Yes.
04:05
You he's a huge fan. I'm a huge fan. Huge fan. And so we I I didn't know that. I didn't know who you were at that time, but,
04:12
I did an episode where I was talking about
04:15
creator businesses. Yes. So content creators who have now spun off businesses that are doing really well, that are not called Mister Beast. It's like, okay. Everybody knows mister Beast. Yeah. So who are the oh, what are the other cool cool examples? And we did, like, maybe five, six, seven examples.
04:31
And then Danny with with DIVi was one of them. And so
04:34
I guess you heard that. Yeah. Well, so, like, a couple nights before, I think it's that you were doing, and you were like, we're doing up selling creator led businesses. And I I think I, like, told you. I, like, pulled over. Love you so cool.
04:47
Was like, oh, man. Like, that'd be cool if they recognized divi, but we're in a a a niche, right, that is totally not your niche. Like, you know, you had you had no idea who Danny was. I last night, Danny was, like, watching the first couple episodes as y'all's podcast. And I was, like, no. This is Sean. It was cool.
05:01
And, yeah,
05:03
I I was on a plane a couple days later listening to that episode, and then it was like, oh, have you ever heard of Danny Austin, you just asked that to Sam, and Sam was like, no. It is That was funny. And then it was, like, yeah, you talked about Vivi, and I pre really appreciate that. So I sent a DM. And I was, like, hey, man. We'd love to come and share a story. It's very different than most of the business that y'all cover, but And let's play a little game.
05:23
We went to dinner last night, Chinese restaurant.
05:26
We ordered food. Let's see how well you know your I don't I don't know if he told you this already. He ate alligator. Yeah. Oh, he brought him home. Shaker in the busy order thing. Please. He ordered alligator.
05:35
I I did order it. And and it was just kind of like a spur of the moment thing. There was a couple things that were funny about things that were trying to impress us. No. I I was not trying to impress you. This is funny though. Like, So Matthew booked the dinner. Yeah. And it was, so it's Sam Ellen Grease to play football at UT. Awesome. That's one of Matthew's really good friends. Matthew works for for Danny and I. And I go, hey, find a cool restaurant in the in Austin that, you know, we can talk to these people. He books this, like, upstairs room. There's, like, a chandelier. It's a table for sixteen.
06:03
And then five of us. Five of us. And they walk in, I go, Matthew. This is such a power move. And then on top of that, you know, the I'm like, you know, we're we're all talking. So I don't know what to order. And then he's like, you the alligator. I was like, okay. I'll take the alligator, and they were like And then he brought it home and woke me up. And he was like, you gotta try this alligator. I was like, no. I'm not touching that. Sorry. It really tastes like chicken. She's just try it.
06:23
Okay. Because he didn't try the alligator. Yeah. That was a crazy move. I gotta give him credit. I will never enjoy it. I'll never forget it. So, yeah, I guess that's maybe a lesson to be learned. Yeah. If you're going to a dinner with somebody for the first time, what are the weirdest thing on the navy, they Never a year. Forget it.
06:37
That's awesome. So you guys, you started doing this back in twenty twelve.
06:42
Right around twenty twelve, you're in college at the time.
06:45
What was because, you know, Instagram had been out. YouTube had been out for maybe five years by that point. Mhmm. But it sounds like you're talking about it, it was very early days back then. What was what was working back then? How did it, like, would would you put your tiny following back then? Like, how did it and what were these early years like? So the backstory is my brother, Lan and Austin, he's actually a musician, and he started on YouTube. He just started posting covers of different songs, He had one video blow up because people thought that he was John Mayer.
07:14
That's yeah. It was actually covering Teisande's like chocolate rain, song, Anyway, so that popped off. So my brother started to, like, kind of acquire this audience, and he told me about the space, but I thought it was so weird. Like, I'd walk by his bedroom and he'd be, like, talking all of his imaginary friends. And I just was I was like, come on, Landon. Like, you gotta make some real friends. And so,
07:33
but he ended up putting me in, like, a sibling tag. Because tags were really popular on YouTube back then. You know, like, the chubby bunny challenge or whatever tag.
07:42
So he put me in a video and, you know, in all the comments, it's like, sister should start a a channel or she should share how she did her makeup or where'd she get her top. And so my brother actually made my channel for me, and I didn't touch it.
07:55
We went home over winter break, and we were so bored because, you know, all of our friends are in Austin now and everyone's in college.
08:02
And, you know, it's like, you know what? Let's give this thing a shot. So my brother filmed and edited my first video. It was all, like, just affordable
08:09
New Year's eve outfits.
08:11
And it popped off. And within, like, three months, I had a hundred thousand followers, and I just started kinda posting consistently. I knew of, like, a handful of girls out in Los Angeles that were doing this, like, full time. And they actually had
08:24
managers and there were agencies that were just dedicated, like, specifically to YouTube, which was, like, a totally different world. So within three months, I signed with a manager.
08:32
And then every summer from then on out, I would just fly out to LA and do collabs because clas were, like Yeah. Oh, yeah. Clas were everything. They actually had just opened YouTube space in playa Vista in Los Angeles as well. And They had this thing called the creator program where they only allow to think, like, ten or eleven of us in and creators of all sizes.
08:51
And we were four you had to collab with two other creators in the
08:56
program in order to be able to use YouTube like, when you got to YouTube space, I mean, they had everything from, like, their, you know, a red camera, they had
09:04
studios, they had, you know, editing base, editing suites, they had all these classes you could take. So I would go and work for my manager from, like, you know, nine to five and then from five to, like, nine, I would go to YouTube space and just collab make YouTube videos, learn about how to edit and everything. And you're, like, twenty one at the time. Yeah. I'm twenty one dollars twenty. Actually, it was nineteen twenty. I couldn't train. So what were you doing when you're working for your manager? Just by day, like So that's high. Please and stuff or work. Like No. I mean, I was, like,
09:31
in on, like, all of the negotiations,
09:33
like, a lot of the creators were moving out to LA, and the brands would come to the office and, you know, meet all the creators. And I honestly learned everything about, like, the back of the business. And so you weren't the star, but you were like -- Exactly. -- building up. Yes. And then, like, also being around all these creators, I would meet some of, like, the girls that I loved and then get their number and then we would collab. And everyone was very it was just very collaborative. Everybody's helping each other out.
09:56
So it was awesome. And but then I was able to kinda take all of that back to Austin. And there really weren't a lot of, you know, YouTubers in Austin.
10:03
Which also kinda helped me because I felt like I was one of the only ones. And so,
10:08
when I was I did start kinda like pitching myself to brands because, like, also signed with my manager, but she was, you know, managing girls that had over a million followers. I had maybe a hundred fifty thousand at the time.
10:19
And so I started pitching myself all these, like, startups in Austin.
10:23
And what I found was what was happening was I was getting these brand deals or these partnerships. I would you know, get to know them, pull them in, and then forward them to my manager. And then I would look on YouTube and, like, all the other girls that were signed with her would be working with these brands, and I wasn't. I was basically just like funneling these brands to my manager. So I realized at that time, I was like, I'm not big enough for them to care. Right. So I need to get out contract and just kinda manage manage myself and build my own team and, like, have people that actually care about what I'm doing.
10:53
So as soon as I could, I got that contract and ever since then, we've always kind of had, like, an in house team,
10:59
which we've learned a lot -- Oh my gosh. -- from that. But,
11:02
Yeah. It's just kinda crazy how it's evolved. And so how even when you were so how do you use the audience now? So now on Instagram, like, total Total on all of our platforms, we have probably over two million. Yeah. Two point five million. The main one is Instagram now. Main one is Instagram, which is, like, the perfect platform for us most of our content is on Instagram stories. And the reason we like that is because
11:22
it's kind of like reality TV where I wake up with my audience, like, like, literally when I wake up in the morning, I get on stories and I carry them throughout the entire day. And so it's just, like, the closest I feel like people really feel like they're in our homes. You know? It's it's very stripped down. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot more authentic. Just kinda, like, followed all of my day. And so you,
11:42
you've done that. Now you also launched DIVi. Yes. It's because that's kinda how we when we initially found you guys, but I I read this thread, I read a Twitter thread. Somebody else somebody else have written about this. And
11:53
they named five or six creators I'd never heard of that had business that were really big. It was like, divi,
12:00
it's, you know, this sort of, like, hair care product, whatever, and it was doing forty million or something in revenue. I I don't remember what the exact numbers were. I remember being like, wow. That's, like, really significant. And so cool. I had never really
12:12
like, I'd never heard of that. You hear the same three or four examples all the time when it comes to, like, like, Logan Paul and prime and mister Beast and whatever. Like, especially in the tech world, we kinda hear the same. We're not, like, as deep in. So you only hear this hear the same, you know, three or four examples every single time. So how did that come about? How'd you -- Yeah. -- when'd you decide to instead of posting for other people? Like, let's create our own brand and how'd you pick the product? How did you, like,
12:36
Had you had the confidence to go for it? Yeah.
12:38
So,
12:39
there was definitely an era on Instagram where everything was perfect. You know, it was, like, back in the day of, like, posting the perfect selfie or the perfect, like, latte art, whatever it was.
12:49
And so I definitely played that game, and it gets very exhausting. After a while, I started actually losing
12:57
my hair when I was in college whenever I was at UT. First, it started with, like, just me being so stressed out because I'm at UT. I'm flying to LA every weekend. I'm posting on these videos. I have, like, neutrogena's, like, where is the brand deal? And I have, like, four exams the next day. So I'm stressed out all the time. Start blowing my hair, then I get hair extensions to try to, like, cover that up. That makes it worse. Then I bleached my hair. That makes it worse. When we get married, I think, like, a year in, I look in the mirror, and I'm, like, I literally have no more hair. I was like, I didn't even wanna leave the house anymore. So Jordan This is a dumb I mean, are we talking a couple strands of hair? What are we talking about? I mean, like, bald spots. Like, patches. Like, patches of hair, I mean stress driven? Stress driven and then hair extensions. So that's probably, like, more traction alopecia.
13:40
What happens when you put hair extensions in, like, your hair can't withstand that weight. And instead of just losing hair where the hair extension is, with traction alopecia, you actually lose hair, like, around that whole surrounding area. I see. So it was, like, multiple bald spots, like, all over. So Jordan, of course, my husband, he's like, wait, I don't get why don't you just get a wig? All the Kardashians wear wigs. What's what's wrong with that? So he takes me to a wig shop in Dallas. Like, the first placey Googles. We walk in. It's, like, a Halloween store. Like, the most expensive wig is, like A bike called Swordinary dollars. Jack. It's a bright neon yellow. I'm, like, I don't know gonna work. They're like Plastic wigs. They're like the most expensive one is like fifteen bucks.
14:17
So I leave there, like, so defeated. I'm like, I'm always gonna be bold. You know? So we actually,
14:22
learn about this, like, wig shop in Los Angeles called the wig shop, actually. Yeah. From Jeff restaurar. Yes. I was gonna say Jeffrey. Jeffree Star is another youtuber. Anyway, long story short, we fly out there, find my first wig, I'm in Wigs for a year. And, actually, when I first got my first wig, I didn't tell anybody because I was so embarrassed. I was like We actually took a trip to Chicago with my parents and my sister-in-law and my brother, and we didn't tell them the entire time they go, oh, nice haircut. You know, like, they I mean, these things can look so real. Yeah. They're super real. It's insane. So About a month into wearing it, I just felt like a fraud. I was like, I gotta tell people.
15:00
I feel like I'm probably not the only female going through something like this. I think that, like, people will appreciate it and hopefully they'll be cool with it. So I
15:11
shared that I was wearing wigs, and it kinda just opened up this door of, like, all these females that are kind of going through the same thing, like, this, like, hidden epidemic of hair loss.
15:21
So all the time. After,
15:23
after we had our first baby, I think there's like a a known kinda like postpartum. Oh, yeah. Like, issue with with, hair losses. So she was talking about it all the time. And I was like, I was like, what do you mean? Like, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. She's like, no. Look at this. And he's like, baby hair, whatever.
15:36
It really bothered her. And I I didn't even think really even to to try, like, what what what a solution look like. So Yeah. I mean, it's had felt that. It can be very emotional, like, especially for females. Yeah. Because there just weren't a lot of people talking about it. So,
15:52
Long story short, I took the year in WarWiggs, and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna focus on my scalp health. I'm gonna focus on my wellness.
16:00
And really, like, give this thing, like, a hundred percent. So meanwhile, there was actually this trend
16:07
or, I guess, a hack online where a lot of women were using monistat
16:12
to grow their hair back, which is so strange. But the reason that was working is because it has a lot of, like, anti fungal properties.
16:23
Should know about or no? No. You shouldn't know about it, but is there a good thing there? I don't know a little about this for me. This is a good clickbait. Tell us. Okay. So all the guys on the podcast would be like, what By the way, we we always judge Blaine, but there's we always joke that we have four female listeners. Hopefully, that'll change after this episode. Four fewer losers. We're all, like, dying inside laughing. Right?
16:40
So Monica is what people what females use for yeast infections. Okay. Gotcha. Who's And so a lot of the women were using this on their scalp though, and it's helping their hair grow. People are taking before and after pictures, and it's, like, insane. So the reason that's working is because it has these anti fungal properties in it, which nowadays, you know, they always tell you don't wash your hair. It's not good for you. So a lot of females are using,
17:02
dry shampoo. Yeah. And so they're putting all this dry shampoo, all this product that's just, like, sitting on your scalp blocking your follicle. And so your hair doesn't really have, like, a fair chance of growing. So when they're using monosat, you know, it's kinda like detoxifying. It's getting rid of all that product build up and your hair's growing. So the only thing with that is you shouldn't be using it long term. It's just, like, has a lot of harmful things in it. So my goal was to find a more natural way to essentially accomplish the same thing. So I would, like, get into my bathroom and I studied bio at the University of Texas. I was going to So did I. They don't teach you anything.
17:35
I learned photosynthesis
17:36
for, like, seven years. Exactly. Don't teach you anything about the human body. Exactly. She can hang with the chemist. Hang now. She can hang. She's like, okay. I remember that. I kinda I kinda get it, but It's amazing how much you learn when you really need to learn versus, like, by major. Now I wish I really would appear tension. Right. Because I think it really would have benefited me, but Good to know. Anyway, so,
17:56
so, you know, I'm, like, a little chemist in my in my bathroom. I'm getting all these ingredients from online, whole foods all over the place,
18:02
and just making my own scalp serums, and I would, you know, share on YouTube, This is how I make it. This is where you ordered this and then mix it this way. And and then people started asking me, like, hey, can you just, like, ship it to me? And so I go to Jordan. I'm like, I really think this could be a thing. A lot of people When when was this, like, couple years ago or This was a twenty ninth
18:22
No. They're probably yeah. Twenty nineteen. Twenty nineteen.
18:25
And so that's kind of, like, where the idea originated from. And it was totally clean. It's something that people could use every day and not feel like it's gonna be harmful. So we had a lot of, like, eucalyptus,
18:35
natural ingredients, jojoba oil,
18:37
But there were a lot of things I wanted to put in it that I just didn't have access to. So long story short, found partners, found a great chemist, and then came out with our first product, which was scalps, rim, and to be honest,
18:48
I did not think that it would pop off at all. I really was just like, I wanna serve my audio. I've been very, like, service driven with all of my content. I'm like, I just really wanna serve people because I feel like if I serve them, they'll come back. So that was really just, like, the heart behind it. But what happened was a lot of people were buying it for, like, their day were down the street or their mom or their husband, and people started taking, like, before and after pictures,
19:10
We never asked for before and after pictures, but I feel like that's kind of what made it blow up. Right. So that's marketing there is, right, before and after. Yes. People started sending in their before and afters. And, like, then I would start sharing them, you know, left and right. And, I mean, every day I'm probably tagged in, like, fifteen before and afters, even to this day. Yeah. So were there not scalp syrup was before that, or there were, but they just weren't You know, I think it was just such a new, like, a niche, like, you know, putting something on your scalp, like, a skin care routine, like, creating that scalp routine was very new. People weren't really thinking about it. So I'm sure that there were scalp serums out there. But I don't think people were educated about, like, how to use them or why they were important.
19:48
So our biggest thing is just, like, if you're taking care of your skin, like, you should be taking care of your scalp. It's kind of, like, an extension you know, and so, so I think once people kind of understood how to use it, then they went to divvy first because you're also one of the only, like, clean scalp serums out there. Gotcha. So business launches win.
20:05
Twenty twenty. Twenty twenty. Twenty twenty one. Twenty twenty one, October twenty twenty one. So we're not even two full years
20:13
in, you know, and it's exploded.
20:15
So I don't know how much you guys typically share. Do you guys share revenue stuff or not really? Yeah. I mean, like, our first, like, full year, I think you already shared it. Well, you said twenty is forty. But, yeah, we did about forty million dollars. And then,
20:27
know, this year, we're on track to do thirty percent, thirty five percent growth. Yeah.
20:33
It's it's crazy. And that's mostly from kind of the power of your community, or that's that plus a bunch of other marketing that you have to do, or how does the business grow? I mean, he was just That probably exceeded your expectations. I mean, that would exceed anyone's expectations. Yeah. I always say, like, when we launched the product, we thought that we were launching it for, like, ten percent of Danny's audience. Like, we were like, hey, these people need to be served Danny, you know, acquired this audience. They want a resource.
20:58
And it just grew so far beyond that. And a lot of people think that, you know, divvy
21:04
is all Danny's audience that's buying it. And, you know, she's only made up about fifteen percent of the overall revenue. And so it was just a product that I took off and worked. It was just right place, right time. It was like during the era of the skinification
21:17
of the scalp is like what the beauty gurus call it and say, I missed that whole error. Yeah. You missed the error. Well, it's here. It's now I don't have a skincare routine either. So I I had to catch up on his starwood skin, move to hell. Gave you two boxes. Yeah. I know. You're you're in it now.
21:30
And so, yeah, it's it's just been wild. I mean, we we never expected -- And so did you guys look at, like, other crater led this is, like, who was the inspiration that you're like, oh, you know, if we do this well, this could be, like, you know,
21:42
whatever.
21:44
Skims or this could be like the Chinese Kylie lip thing or whatever. I mean, we've always admired the Kardashians in a business sense. Like, how they've
21:52
how they've, like, used their reality TV to grow all these businesses. And, like, we one thing we love about them is, like, how
21:59
they all support each other. It's like a an ecosystem. Like, you're using, you know, Kylie's makeup, and then you're wearing Kim Scims. And so we always love that aspect of what they do. But, I mean, in terms of, like,
22:10
our inspiration,
22:11
to be honest, everyone in our space was just launching clothing lines.
22:15
So it was totally different. Yeah. It was very, very different. Were you tempted to do that too? Or A hundred percent. Warren was like, please don't. Please don't. So our turns are insane. My parents my dad actually has a showroom at the, Dallas world's trade center in Dallas. So he,
22:31
you know, sells wholesale to, you know, Nordstrom, all these boutiques,
22:35
my dad always told me he's like, the one thing I ask you is please don't get in the fashion industry. It's just Yeah. It's it's a lot. And so,
22:42
but one thing I knew that I wanted if ever did launch a business is I wanted to have something that could be on subscription. And so a lot of my ideas
22:49
were mainly tech at first.
22:52
I never really thought it, like Like, what? Like, what would it be? You know, some service that you could get. I had I honestly didn't have, like, a a what Like, you We had the software. Yeah. There was one time where she, like, wanted to launch her own app because she felt like, you know, she could build a better community, like, through a different platform than Instagram and and and we tried it. We called it what did you call it? The sassy club. The sassy club at the time. And it was like we use this
23:15
this third party app system, and we drove a large part of our community to it, and we tried to do, like, more the whole concept was, like, let's meet in real life with our audience. And so it's like we do meetups and stuff like that, and that was just really hard. It was kind of like a bumble Yeah. It was kinda like a bumble. And so we tried that, you know, it it was pretty difficult. And then It was it was difficult to manage, like, the in face interactions. Yeah. Now let me ask you a question. I just hired a guy, paying a guy five thousand dollars to do a couple of, like, one on one, like, workshops with me.
23:48
And
23:48
it was all about this idea of personal branding,
23:52
which honestly a pretty lame phrase in general. Like, I cringe that I even did all this, but I'm putting it out there in the spirit of authenticity. So I paid this guy. Why did I pay this guy? Well, this podcast itself has gotten pretty popular.
24:05
But,
24:06
I've always had this problem, which was just like,
24:09
you see some people and their brand is so clear. It's like, there's this guy who this guy named pump and pump is all about Bitcoin. He's the Bitcoin guy. Yeah. Like, you know him about But you know? Yeah. Because of Bitcoin, he talks about Bitcoin. Everything he loves, you know, every fourth word needs to be Bitcoin. Yep. And then you have, like,
24:27
Tim Ferris, who's, you know, the four hour working guy with four hour body, four hour chef. He's the four hour guy. He's all about kinda life hacking your way there.
24:36
And so you you go nonetheless. And a lot of people who have built good online followings. They have a clear, kinda, like, they're the blank guy, or they're the blank gal, whatever. Like, that that's what they're known for.
24:47
And for me, I've always been like, well, I don't know. But,
24:50
the business business guy, I don't know. That sound very, like, specific or focused.
24:54
And I was like, oh, I've gotten pretty far without that. But maybe, like, maybe somebody can help me kinda sharpen this. So this guy who I hired, he works with, like, you know, like, Jay Shetty and, like,
25:03
a bunch of people who are like that. Like,
25:06
the guy who did a quest quest bar thing. Yeah. Tom, whatever bill you.
25:11
And he's like, yeah. You know, like, Jay Sheddy, his story is
25:14
he was, like, kind of, like, in and out of trouble then decided to go be a monk. And he was a monk, and then he, like, I kicked out of the monastery because a monk came to him was, like, you know, you, like, some there's something bigger in store for you. So he decided to make his life mission to bring ancient monk wisdom in a modern way. So it's the world or whatever. I I've butchered I've butchered that but something like that. Right.
25:36
He's doing it every day. I just knew him as, like, the blue eyed of Indian guy or, like, you know, that's what stood out to me. Like, the guys who were green eyes. Yeah.
25:44
But I was like, okay. I see I see the value. And if you really like, Sharpen this, like, whatever your brand is all about. Yeah. But then I've met people who are maybe like you, who
25:54
You probably never hired a consultant or, like, did a brand workshop or, like, sat down with a piece of paper and, like, tried to architect it. It seems like It kinda happened organically and naturally for you. So I I have I have two questions for you. One, do you think you have, like, a focus like that, like, the blank
26:09
You you you are the, you know, just like the Bitcoin guy. Like, do you have, like, a thing that's, like, our brand is is about
26:15
this word or these three words or whatever? Do you have something like that?
26:19
So when I started going through my hair loss, I think it was the first time that I kinda felt like I had that thing. Like, I was kinda like the wig influencer for a while. And then kind of like the hair loss influencer.
26:30
I mean, as cliche as it sounds, I feel like,
26:34
like, I think our biggest thing is we've always just been very
26:37
authentic and, like, goofy.
26:40
And we've kind of I feel like what we've done is
26:43
figured out how to collide those worlds of, like, being professional, but also getting, you know, taking your heels off, getting back home, just like and being real about what it's like having two kids. Like, you're in heels changing diapers, kids peeing all over you. But, like, I would say it it
26:57
took
27:01
like, ten years for people to kind of I've never had, you know, this persona or this video pop off and go viral. And then everyone knows who I am. Like, I've never had that moment. It's just been, like, very gradual
27:12
of but I but I totally feel what you're saying. Like, I I still go through those times where I'm, like, okay, Who am I? Like, what do It's my identity. Like, what do and I I do feel like there are some bloggers out there that are so good at, like, okay. When you think of Chick fil a, you think of this one person. Or when you think of, like, this one brand, you think of it. Dude, that's a bit mine. Chick fil a. This is you're a genius. Yeah. No. You've gotta be the whole time. And it's like and so I do try to find those things that, like, okay. When in Dallas, when people go here, like, are they gonna what brands are they thinking of when they think of Danny? You know, but it it's it's challenging because also, like, I'm very, you know, one day I wanna be doing this. One day, I like to, like, kinda shift and be on my toes. What do you think people get? Wrong when they try to build a following. Not like the people who are just obviously bad, but let's say people who have the potential work could be working out What do you think are the mistakes that those people make that, like They're trying to be perfect all the time, and it's so unrelatable. I think, like, one of the biggest reasons that, like, people can relate is because We have made so many mistakes, and we share them. And, like, there's times when we get online and we're like, man, that was bad. We should have done that. Like, there was Example, a small example, but I was, cutting up, like, fruit for my daughter still as lunch, and I'm cutting the grapes wrong. You know, like, where they can shut up choke on grapes and, like, had no idea. Like, my mom never cut my grapes. So, like, I didn't know I was there anything wrong, but, you know, like, the DMs start flooding in. The Facebook groups are popping off. And he's, like, cutting the grapes from Are you trying to kill your skin? Yeah. Yeah. Here, darling. Like, you're influencing all these moms to cut grapes wrong. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. I didn't know. Like, So, you know, you get on. You're like, guys, I'm so sorry. Like, I made a mistake. Let me, like, teach you the right way to to cut grapes instead of, like, deleting the content and being embarrassed about it. And so it's like I think you cut them wrong time too. I did. I did. I did.
28:57
But, yeah, so I just feel like I have a lot of girlfriends, like, in Dallas that are, you know, trying to do something similar, and they're trying so hard to be perfect all the time. Right. And it's not really You said the word relatable. I think that's a key,
29:08
key thing. Like, we had the comedian Hassan Minaj. I don't know if you heard me. It's on
29:13
Netflix something like that. He came on.
29:15
And,
29:17
and I was asking him something about because we do this, like, we're doing this live podcast sometimes. So we're doing one this Saturday here in Austin. Mhmm. And so I had asked them. I was like, hey. I'm going on States. Kinda like stand up comedy. It's gonna be whatever, like, thousand people in the audience, How do I, you know, any what what would you say? Like, first five minutes? How can I set a good tone here? And he goes,
29:37
he could be two pieces of it. I see those first, make it clear that you are there. So he's like, talk about the room, talk about the person on the front row, talk about, well, you know, the city that you're in and, like, what has been like for you to be there? Like, Just make it clear, like, give them the fact that you're there. It and everybody will be present together when you do that. And he goes, the second thing is, low status.
29:57
Know, low status. He goes, yeah. Like, people make this mistake a lot that they try to be high status. They're like, yes. I want your approval. So I'm gonna present a version of myself that is high status. Mhmm. When in actuality,
30:09
the way people relate to you and like you is doing something low status. So making fun of yourself, showing a weakness, being vulnerable, saying something that's
30:18
makes you
30:19
look bad, not greater, like, embarrassing to you. And so he's like, you know, comedy is actually a low status art form, not, like, not high status, which is what you're like. If you go into conference, you go on stage,
30:32
It's typically gonna be all high status stuff. People trying to say things that show how important they are and how smart they are and their resume and all that. Basically, that's not how people relate to you. And so what you're saying kind of reminds me of that is like a,
30:44
doing things that are showing the the showing some of the flaws almost
30:48
not just because they're there, but, like, it actually helps. It actually builds that relatability.
30:53
I know. I I I agree. I mean, I feel like the times that we connect with our audience the most is, like, in those goofy times when I'm running around with no pants on and, like, you're, like, oh, I relate. Same thing. You know? I think there's, like, a there's, like, pushed back on, like, a list celebrities even towards influencers because it's, like, I don't understand, like, this is not relevant to my life at all, what the Kardashians doing in the private jets and all that stuff. And, like, I think that that's where people feel
31:17
at home, you know, is is in these kind of, like, moment, which is what I told Ben you need to do. I feel like y'all do this so well on the podcast is, like, you're not trying to be the business guru expert, you're just kind of talking about everyday people's business and your thoughts on it and you're kinda riffing. And I think that, you know, I told I was like, I think he just needs to do more. He needs to get on Instagram stories, and he can get on YouTube. That was my advice to him. Are you on Instagram? I went non private, like, you know,
31:45
down not private. Yeah. When we DMmed him, it was private. I was like, what's this guy doing? Yeah. Yeah. I didn't bother with this, Graham, but but what did your your your fancy branding coach tell you?
31:56
So what he was saying was so they did this they did a great exercise, actually.
32:00
I kinda wanna, like, package this thing up so more people can do this. I think it's a it's a pretty useful thing, but What he says is he was like, you know, you wanna figure out your signature stories.
32:11
First. So he's like, don't try to get to the endpoint of, oh, I'm known for x. He's like, go look at yours, the signature stories that made you you. So, like, what were the moments of your life
32:21
that kinda defined who you were? Times you either made a key decision in life or you which could have just been, like, no more. Like, I'm not doing this ever again or,
32:30
know, so some people have that with the gift of alcohol or something. It's like that becomes their brand, but it's like the signature story is the rock bottom story that they when literally they were so embarrassed at something that they did or felt and that they decided never again, or it could be a signature story where, you know, they went from kind of being you know,
32:48
shy to actually getting out there being more confident. What what changed? So you find your signature stories, that kinda reveals
32:57
what you're gonna be, what you're gonna end up being known for, what the the mental shortcut people will need to make when they're trying to think about who's that guy? Oh, he's the guy who
33:05
That's their that's their story.
33:07
The second thing he said was he was like, you gotta figure out
33:11
what you said something about, like, serving. He's like, Basically,
33:15
people will come to your contact because they're they're trying to change the way they feel.
33:18
So you gotta know that. You're not giving information. You're giving a transformation of, like, you know, emotion. How how somebody feels. So he's like, what transformation do they get when they come to your content? That you give them better and more consistently than anybody else. If you do that, you win. And so you gotta figure out what is that change. So, like, with the pod, for example,
33:37
we talk about business ideas or, like,
33:40
we'll show you an under the radar business you never heard of really interesting crushing it. But, like, let me ask you. I I bet I bet your I bet your answer will match what I think it is, which is why do you listen to the pod? What do you What do you feel when you when you listen to it? I think it's like education meets inspiration.
33:55
Like, I think I walk away being like, oh, cool. New idea. Like, I wanna, you know, I wanna learn more about that, or I I feel like I can, you know, go do this in our business. Right? And I think that that's what you guys do really well, whether it's, like, just sharing ideas or you know,
34:10
uncovering these things we've never heard of. But it's done in a relatable manner, whereas, like, I think that that's why it's inspiring is because you're not doing this in, like, this, I'm up here. You're down here type of way. It's kind of like, hey, we're all here and we can all do it. Right? It's more tangible. It's more tangible. It's very relatable. I think that there's very strong parallels between what I've seen in like Danny's content and the way that she relates to her audience and what you guys are doing with your Well, we call it the girl next door. We we don't wanna be a supermodel. We wanna be the girl next door. Yes. You're still trying to be hot, but you should be, like,
34:39
relatable
34:42
like, I can get there. But, yeah, you are the girl. I love them. How have people, like, do you what are your experiences, like, in real life when you meet people who listen to the pot?
34:51
It's probably, like, how what you feel, which is that
34:53
they know you. They're, like,
34:55
like, you know what I mean? But I really know you because We're friends. Yeah. Like, an Instagram, like, daily vlogging kinda like through an Instagram store is kinda the same way. It's like the same. Yeah. I know you, your kids, I know what your house looks like. I know, like, on my way here, I was asking my wife. I was like, I was like, I don't follow them on Instagram. Like, I don't know their stories.
35:13
What do I know? They're like, oh, their mom is, like, involved in it. And this, they got two kids, like, there's, like, all these little things that are -- Mhmm. -- known about your life, the inside of your life. And so I think, like, that's what you guys do. On the podcast, a different podcast is, like, such a long form conversation, right, unedited, unscripted. So you get to know someone's personality, and we I usually do the pod with, my buddy, Sam, and Sam, like, it's kinda like two friends hanging out kicking it. And so you you get the fun like, the bay what we found was that the two transformations people get, the two feelings that they get consistently is.
35:44
We're, like, their entrepreneurial friends. It's almost like they got to hang out with their two guy friends who are, like, super into business, nerding out about business stuff. It's like they kinda got to have the hangout without, like, going and having to friends and doing the hangout, like, themselves because it's like, oh, I was driving somewhere and I just listened. Right. But I kinda got my hangout fixed. And the second is, like, motivation or, like, the inspiration, like, the juice -- Yeah. -- to be like, I'm probably not gonna go do any of the things you mentioned on this podcast specifically,
36:10
but
36:12
Just hearing about stories of people doing interesting things made me wanna go do more interesting things or made me want if they're doing well, made me wanna go crush it in my field too. So once we realize that, it's like, oh, okay.
36:21
That's very different than people come to me for this specific information,
36:25
or the specific help. Because it's like, yeah, there's some of that, but it's not the main thing that gets people attached. I told I told Ben this.
36:33
You know, but I I said the biggest pitfall from here
36:36
is you gotta stay humble and you gotta stay consistent. Because I think that what happens in this era, and and you saw it a lot with the early TikTokers that blew up during COVID is they moved in these big houses, right, you know, and then they would signed with these managers and then they're all and all these commercials and the very thing that made them relatable and tangible during those times dancing alone in their bedroom. Interest dancing alone in their bedroom. Now they're in mansions, and it just loses the same sentiment. Right? And I think that that's the pitfall of anyone really in, like, the entertainment industry, but, like, anyone who's built their brand off of authenticity is, like, losing that. Right? So it'd be like you guys, you know, becoming jerks you know, or douchey. And then, like, no one wants to hang out and they're like, oh, well, now they're just pompous or even, like, you have to protect yourself, you know, in our world, we have to protect from the sponsored things of like, oh, they're just bought now. You know, like, I don't trust them anymore.
37:25
You know, I I I don't believe that they're saying this for just genuine reasons. It's not Sam and, right, you know, kicking it. And so you probably get this question a lot. It's the same question we get a lot, which is, like, if you were just starting out today, what would you what would you do? Right? If you were twenty one now, what would you where would you start?
37:42
We get that on the business side. What would you say your your answer to that is on the content side, which Yeah. Would you start on TikTok? Would you go to Instagram? Yeah. Like, what type of content would you do? Because, like, you had said one thing that was actually very, very interesting to me. Your first video you said was, like, affordable New Year New Year's Eve outfits,
37:57
that's kind of amazing because that's a great, like, almost, like, title. Mhmm. Like, It seems like from the beginning, you had a good sense of, like, what content will work. Right.
38:07
Yeah. Not everybody has that. Like, I think most people would have tried something that's, like, not that. I would say with, like, any platform that I started on. I mean, I would probably start on TikTok now just because I feel like it's the easiest to go viral. Instagram is so tough. But I do feel like YouTube's, like, kinda coming back a little bit. Yeah. I heard vlogging's coming back. Vlogging,
38:26
long form, but
38:27
I honestly wish I wouldn't have started
38:30
out with the trends, like chasing the trends. I really wish I would have, like, just, like, found something really unique and honed in on that. I feel like I was, like, trend chasing for so long. And then I would have some video pop off, but that was just because it was trendy, and no one actually wanted to get to know me more.
38:47
So I wish I would've just, like, kinda been more unique, which I think kinda just goes back to, like, what does Danny actually wanna share? Like, what is she really passionate about? I would mix. In a little bit of that. Like, I since I was studying biology and kinesiology, I would, you know, mix in a little bit of, like, what I was learning in my classes, but then the next video was a trend. Right. You know? And so that's the same thing that I feel like a lot of TikTokers get caught up in. You know, they're just doing all these trendy videos and then they have a meetup and, like, no one comes because nobody really knows them and nobody like, connects with them.
39:15
And then two, like, I think branding as characters within your content is so important. Like you said, my mom's in a lot of content.
39:23
So I had this idea to call my mom. What's her character? So, yeah, her character is we call her tornado, and that's the re the reason we call her tornado is because she is a tornado when she walks in the room. Like, right now, if she was in this room, she'd be dusting off your leaves over there. She'd be fixing all the light bulbs. My mom has so much energy, and I didn't really know how to, like, communicate that to the audience. Right. So my first step was, like, we call her tornado.
39:47
And the second step is every time she comes over, we're showing her up on a chair, thing things off and, like Doing tornado things. Doing tornado things pulling me out out of my comfort zone just like being a tornado. And so And then, you know, Jordan's Jordan's character is, like, every single day. He gets up at the same exact time. He wears, you know, he gets dressed up every single time. I'm running around the house, just like chaos. So we all have our certain characters, and I didn't really learn how important that was up until, like, probably, like, three or four years ago. How did you learn that? You just sort of, like Because people started forgetting who we were. And so I I had to, like, create a way where people, like, when they when they you know, we're missing it. Like, what did they associate our family with? And, like, how how could they remember us throughout the day? And so,
40:30
so, like, tornado was was a, like, was kind of huge for us. I feel like that was not like that, but it was, like, very relatable because, you know, just even before we had kids, like, the content we were creating, I'm, like, who relates to this? We're traveling all over the world, taking outfit pictures. Right. You know, like, this is not That does make sense. And honestly, it was exhausting for us because it wasn't even, like, relatable for us. You know. And so as soon as we kind of, like, settled down and we had kids, and I was like, okay. We have to figure out a way to make our everyday life You're like, so we bought our nice house and then we put an unlabeled house. Yes.
41:06
Obviously, I know people that do that. Like, I know influencers
41:09
that have second houses that literally just film there. Yeah. Our moon class house. No. Or I know influencers that literally will like, they'll take a Chanel bag to dinner, but they'll, like, switch it with, like, an Amazon one before when they take the photo. And it's, like,
41:24
But, no, I feel like what's so, like, unique about us too is, like, that we kind of live our lives just the way we were raised, like, with the same family values that we were raised with. We're not shared to we're not scared to share that with our with our audience. Yeah. I mean, I would say, like, everything you said a lot about, like, characters This is, like, who they are, you know, and it was just, like, how do we kind of, like, tell it from all of these different angles? And it just fit. You know, like, every family
41:49
is a story. Right? And I think that that's where a lot of the creativity seeped into what we did, right, and why it was hard to do what we did is we had to find what made our our family unique and almost produce it like a reality TV show. And I think that that I mean, I don't wanna say that we were in the first, but I think that that's what we saw the medium of Instagram stories as, like, a lot of, I think influencers in, like, the twenty nineteen era when it came out, we were, like, oh my gosh. Like, how am I gonna do this? Because they're not, super personable. And we, you know, with your YouTube background, we were like, oh, man. This is, like, our platform to shine. And it was it was so fun. So what I'm pushing you to do is, like, show your wife show your kids, like, show the behind the scenes of, like, what is happening in Sean's life beyond just this podcast. Like, that's what I think And it doesn't even have to be family. It could be, like, your produce or your assistant or whoever it is, like, my my brother now has an assistant. Her name's Katie. And she shows up, like, three days a week, and she is everyone, like, loves her on the content. And now because they love her and because she's a character, they got and do these crazy things that they probably would have never done, just so much more entertaining now because there's another character involved.
42:51
And so who's are you just, like, selfie with the camera? Do you have somebody who Oh, it's your right -- This guy.
42:58
--
42:59
this guy. I mean, yeah, it's
43:02
we do have a content creator now that we actually just hired. Yeah. So, like, reals, because those are that's a different game. That's a whole another beast. So, you know, he's been helping out a little bit, but, we kinda just enjoy doing ourselves. There's a lot. I talked to another woman who wishes the pot. It's Rebecca
43:16
Zemarillo. You know? She's like a youtuber She's got, like, ten million subs subs on YouTube. Mhmm. And when I called her, she was
43:24
basically, like, yeah, downstairs right now is, like, the camera crew basically live in our house,
43:29
and she's like, my dog has a channel that's got, like, three hundred thousand subs. Like, we have our gaming channel. We have our she does, like, kinda kids, like, role play content or something like that story kinda like, oh, let's, like, treasure chest in the back here. Alright. Let's go do everything. And so They not only each one not only as a character. Each one got their own subchannels as their own following, and then they have camera crew that was, like, just there all the time.
43:52
I was like, man, that's, you know, like, stressful. Or, like, just it's like a lot. Like It's like, reality. It's like, you know, famous people, they have trouble when they go out. Because they're like, oh, I keep getting stopped, but almost like influencers have it in the house. It's like, I never get to just not
44:06
Yes. Have you said the same thing? Yes. Oh my gosh. It's It's hard. And I love our team to death, but, you know, it's it's hard when your job is to live your life. You know, your job is to to
44:16
experience life to capture it in a very raw stripped down way. But, you know, when there's crews and there's teams, it's it's sometimes counterproductive to what you're trying to do it. And and so, you know, the reason I think that the husband and wife dynamic works so well in our niche is because it it's just us hanging out. You know, and it's like, It's the best content there, Larry. Had a bin in her life that was, like, falling around that wasn't her husband. It's, like, it's all about the dynamic. Right? And so, like, I You know, it's funny I always advocate for, like, the best producer for a content creator is gonna be the husband. In fact, I think that the most successful,
44:48
couples in our niche have that husband wife dynamic where they're creating content together. It is funny. We have our so we do have a team and they come over, like, four days a week, but they they meet in our upstairs playroom. So they're not the ones actually filming the content, but they're there.
45:03
Surely. It's it's off the bat as we have more kids. It was like, okay. We're just gonna put this ball pit in here. Okay. Here's Stella table and Cistelo will walk in and just be playing. They were there. The amount of times that we've tried to, you know, get a workspace or get an office, it just, like, doesn't work because they do have to be there. Because, like, it if we're going into an office every day, that's not relatable anymore. Right. And there's also, like, nothing I don't know. It's truly one of the most, like, like, technical nuances that's difficult about our industry.
45:31
Is, like, how do we position our team? Where do we put them? And then, like, Danny can't
45:36
You know, you can't just say, hey, Danny, come to the office and do a try on haul. All the clothes are in the the the closet. Right? Right. But so it's always the trade off of, okay, do we have people in our house? What do we do? Yeah. We're still figuring it out. Still figuring it out.
45:48
And for the, like, Instagram kinda like sponsored content or, like, brand deals,
45:55
Tell me a little bit about those. So how, how those kinda, like, changed over time? What what it
46:02
is, like, working the best or what works, what doesn't work anymore, or doesn't work at all when people try it? Yeah. So, I mean, Brandell started out as, you know, here's a product. Go make a YouTube video,
46:13
include it for twenty seconds, put the link in there. And, like, at first, I was such sell out. Because, you know, like, you're I'm twenty years old. I'm like, I'm just trying to pay my rent. Like, I'll I'll
46:23
do anything that I can do to just, like, get by. And so and then I think you get to where you're like, wait. Like, people really trust me. Like, this is, like, some responsibility. So I kind of, like, took this approach where I pictured myself, like, you know, shopping with them and then purchasing something then trying it and then them being like, what the heck, Danny? Why do you recommend this? So I really started to take, like, more responsibility and, like, Wait. I am a resource. Like, I gotta serve these people. Not only that. I have to find the best deals.
46:49
Not only that. Like, I need to go after these brands and beg them for better promo codes like, they can't get anywhere else. So it kinda became, like, competitive with myself. Yeah. We kinda became, like, like, a, like, a QVC always gonna have the best deal. And so we tried to adopt that mentality in house. You know, we I always describe it as, like, a, like, a, like, a triangle. Like, at the top is the audience and, like, as long as we're prioritizing them first, everyone's happy, at the bottom left is, like, our business, which we have to take care of. We run a team, and then on the right is, like, the brand we're serving. And we found that every time we try and flip the triangle a different way, so if we put the brand at the top, then the audience is like, you don't actually like this product, and everything kinda just crumbles.
47:27
And the the I would say, like, this year, in particular, COVID, especially,
47:32
it was, like, there was just this, like, craze for promo codes. Like, because what the shopping was happening so much through Instagram that we found our edge to be like, hey, let's get the best deal that you're not gonna find anywhere else you know, in the country. And it kind of I mean Yeah. But I think what works a lot for us is to not just go a hundred percent on brand deals, but to also couple that with affiliates.
47:54
So when I post, you know, LTK,
47:57
so when I share something, I Like to
48:00
know it. Yes. So, like to know it is basically a platform where, you know, anything swipe up to, you can make commission off of it. But the best thing about LTK
48:08
is I can share things that I genuinely bought. Like, this top right now, I got from Target. I purchased it. I get to go tell people, okay. It kinda fits a little tight in the shoulders. Maybe go a size up. You know, here's the link. Make sure you order it in white because that's about to sell out. Whatever it is. And so that's, like, super authentic, super real. People know that you're making commission off of it. They don't care because you're just providing them, like, a lot of value.
48:31
So that's, like, fifty percent of how we monetize. And then the other half is, you know, through brand deals where I feel like if you have a really strong affiliate base, like, you can get really picky with the brands that you're you're choosing.
48:43
So we got super picky, like, the past couple years. And, and then it got to a point where, like, okay. We're getting brand deals. We gotta affiliates. Now let's go after those brands that have never given promo codes or never given deals. Let's fly out there and, like, meet with them in person and, like, beg them for promo codes. So one of those examples was free people, you know, girls love free people. I've been wearing free people for years. They never do promo codes. They rarely do. They'll go on sale, but never do like a discount code. So we begged them forever to get a code. Finally got a code. You know, within the first hour, we pushed seven figures because people are, like, And all of that, but because we I had worn it for years and people had seen these, you know, these specific, crop tops that I've been wearing for so long, It was, like, the most, like,
49:27
genuinely authentic
49:29
push, and it, like, benefited us,
49:31
benefited the audience. Everyone's happy. And so
49:34
What's the juiciest brand to leave ever had? Well, you were like, wow. They're gonna pay us that. Like, that's a stupid amount of money or, like, You know, and we we can make this work. You don't have to say the name of the brand or you can just describe it. You understand?
49:47
I know what you're gonna say. I think. You said. Stanley?
49:51
Yeah. Stanley. Stanley,
49:53
the cusp. Like, giant
49:54
water? Yeah. So fun fact, we were like the first. Why are those, like, so popular? We were the first to share them. Yeah. First black.
50:02
Yeah. And I was like, this is humongous.
50:05
This is a giant giant cup. It it's it's a great product. You know, they are owned by
50:10
and so we flew up to Seattle, and we were, like, guys, listen, because they really hit that, like, Utah Mormon market really well. Love that market. Yeah. It's a great market.
50:19
And then they saw that that was working. The the president is a guy named Terence. He's actually a phenomenal, like, marketer. He was the one who put post malone and Crock. And, like, kind of, like, reverse crocs trajectory to being, like, a a cultural icon. And so he,
50:32
I think had noticed Danny and was, like, hey, you know, like, I there's something about this mom market that's working with Stanley,
50:39
you know, flew us up there. And,
50:41
it was it was hard. They still haven't given us a a code per se on the quencher, or have they? Not on the quencher. We have a code on every other product, but the quencher. Yeah. That's it's hard. But, yeah, they
50:52
They've been good. They've been awesome to us. We have some special things coming out with them. We're excited. Yeah. We're excited. Amazing.
51:00
I can't find this client info. Have you heard of HubSpot?
51:03
HubSpot is a CRM platform, so it shares its data across every application.
51:08
Every team can stay aligned. No out of sync spreadsheets or doing databases.
51:12
HubSpot, grow better.
51:16
So pain points. Right? So, like, you talked about how divi was born out of a pain point that you had. Yeah.
51:21
I'm curious as you guys are trying to run this kind of influencer business, plus divi. Like, have you felt any pain points that you're like, god, I wish I wish somebody just made this easier or made this easier? Hiring people easier. Yeah. Wait. This is kinda random, but, like, content creation at weddings.
51:37
Content creation at weddings. Yes. So
51:40
I
51:41
feel, like, now, brides really want, like, TikToks or Reels or just, like, iPhone photos. They don't wanna, like, hire this photographer and wait, you know, two months before they get their photos back. So at my wedding, I just hired someone to, like, take an iPhone like, take I think they walk around. That's a good idea. That's a great idea. That's a great idea. Take photos. And I just paid them, like, hourly, but I feel like you could get, like, a pretty good team that, like, know, they take all this. The nice thing is, so you get your content the day after the wedding. Because, like, the biggest bummer is you go to your honeymoon. You don't have any pictures. Yeah. Post. And, like, people are gonna pay for that because it's their for one day. A normal videographer, I think, is, like, ten grand. Oh, yeah. Like, grand And sometimes, I don't even, like, I like the iPhone videos. The because those are, like, like you said, like, my sister-in-law just got married, like, few months ago, she just now got, like, the first cut of the wedding video. And then that doesn't look like what content looks like nowadays. Exactly. It looks like this, like, okay, like, review thing. It's, like, nice.
52:38
Yeah. But it's, like, if you posted this, it's, like, okay, grandma. Like, you know what, this is not, like, they would rather have, like, five TikToks and, like, six instagrams that, like, felt like the fun of the party, you know, was captured. I think the reason we've noticed that is because Jordan films a lot of our content, and we've we've been to a lot of weddings where the next day, the bride is, like, reaching out to me, like, hey, can you send me that real that you posted or,
52:59
your stories for the day? And we're, like, oh, they're expired. Like, they're they're done for. You know? There's so many, like, content creators now that I feel like don't want to be influencers. They're just, like, content creators. Like, they'll just create content for other people. I think someone's gonna that's always been a great idea you had. Thank you. Five more time. I I like that. I like that one a lot. And that's cool because that could just be, like, local franchises. Right? Exactly.
53:20
You could, You just train someone. In theory, you could just start that business and then be like, I'm looking for an operator in Nashville. We need an operator in Florida. Who's gonna be able to do these, like, dispatch contact creators. And they go in and then they, like, cut it all up and then they have it to you by midnight. Yeah. Who did you say? You said there's a bunch of content creators that don't wanna be influencers. So who are they? What do they what do they do Yeah. I would say, like, we've seen this a lot with, like, divi. It's it's called UGC now. So it's, like, user generated content. So there's, like, a whole yeah. There's, like, a whole economy now.
53:50
They're not getting paid, like, as a brand deal to promote it on their own stories. It's like, you know, hey, we'll pay you two thousand dollars for four videos with our brand a month. And so these brands will have, ten
54:04
UGC creators on standby, on retainer, you know, and they use that content for ads. And so what is happening is, like, our, like, our UGC content at Divey is performing the best over any type of branded asset. And so it makes it sort of feel like a lot of people are using the brand in in an organic ways. And they are, but it's a whole other new class. And I was like, oh my gosh, people are doing that. Like, that's insane. Yeah. We pay for our brand, we pay, like,
54:30
between one and two thousand dollars to a handful of creators for this exact thing. And it's like, they don't have a following. Yeah. They're just like, good at creating this content. And, they're like, wow. You know, I get free product and I get paid to do this. Like, this is amazing. And I don't even need to be famous. Like, yeah. I felt the hit even with my brand deals, like, we don't get a lot of those opportunities more because they they used to come to me and they used to say, we'll pay you extra But now, I guess, word's too expensive or something because we never hear hear from them anymore. Well, it's kind of shifted to, like, that's interesting part about, like, how the influencer industry shift is. It's it always kinda goes in waves. Right? But like, moving from,
55:07
like, back to mass marketing where it's, like, as many people as possible are using and talking about your product at the same time. And so That's how it goes viral on TikTok. So how it goes viral on TikTok? Yeah. So where does divi go from here? So you guys are at this level now. You are you guys you have, like, a retail distribution too. Right? Yeah. So last year, we did about eight percent of our revenue from retail, but we are scaling in Ulta. So we're hoping to be in all doors of Ulta by the end of this year.
55:34
I don't know. Danny's always been big on, like, not taking investors. So we didn't do that at the front end.
55:39
And so we're kind of like we own our own destiny at this point. I think that we're very passionate about the mission, but, divi, like, it's hard to create an influencer
55:48
brand that people don't think you just slapped your name on it. Right? So we really wanted to create a product that is more and bigger than Danny. And so the products have to be really good. And so we're really focused right now on innovation. We're trying to patent some of our technologies
56:03
By the way, why is it called divvy? What's the name? Yeah. You answered this. I was forget. So do it's just, like, divvying up attention to, like, each area of your life. Like, overall better lifestyle and overall wellness.
56:14
But Is it one of those things where it just sounds cool, then later, you're like, what's the meaning? Or you're, like, always said she doesn't know real life. Yeah. She's just so hard to trade marketing. Yeah. I was like, I mean, we She gets mad when I say this, but I was like, yes. Third name. All the other's lines are trademarked. No. It was, like, the thirtieth name. Like,
56:30
It's a good name. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. Now I, like, I love it now, but
56:35
And, so you're going into retail.
56:38
You hired up a bunch of people you said. Yeah. What else is like? What's the next unanswered question for you guys? What are you trying to figure out next? I would say, like, you know, last year was very difficult,
56:48
just because, like, it was kind of Danny and I running everything. We've now, like you said, hired, like, this suite of VPs.
56:54
Let's say the next biggest challenge for us is, like, we're kind of setting the stage for in twenty twenty four to go international.
57:01
Which some companies have done really well and other companies have really botched. Yeah. And it's been just like a a money pit. And so that's probably the next frontier for us. And, you know, we would like to do it without having to raise additional capital. We've done everything thus far ourselves.
57:17
Is very interesting. I mean, the best part is, like, our audience is kinda built in. So when we launch something, people tell me that day if they like it or not, or that day what they want more of. And so, you know, our sequence or what we've launched, we only have four SKUs right now has just been, like, listening to our audience. And that's the biggest one of the biggest things is Can you sell international? And so so we're definitely working on that. And then just like a lot of other SKUs in the pop pipeline. Since we only have four SKUs, we have a lot of platforms. Product development's been the hardest thing to learn for us for sure. Oh, I'm interested.
57:47
And so there's like that, company like seed beauty that was doing stuff for
57:51
forgot who Kylie or some something like that a second. Yeah. There's like these companies that are off the influencer brands. Like,
57:57
I know, like, the prime drink or whatever. There's, like, these guys behind it. That's totally. They have their own company. They do, like, multiple brands out of that. Did you guys work with somebody like that or did you do your own sourcing and manufacturing? We found a manufacturer,
58:10
and that's pretty much it.
58:12
Formulation? How'd you do that? You went to, like, a formulation house or whatever? You've kind of the same. Yeah. Like, manufacturers usually have chemists in house. And so we we found one, and it it they developed our serum. And luckily, we just picked one right. That's a very hard world to navigate too. I've learned. I think we totally got lucky with our on the first one because there's a lot of bad manufacturers out there, and you don't know until six months later. Right? And so picking the good ones has been hard. But, yeah, other than that, I mean, We have two in house chemists. No. Yeah. We have two in house chemists. We we, again, with the influencer business, like, Danny learned so much from having a manager
58:47
We've always just tried to be entrepreneurs in house and bring in house, which is usually longer. You make more mistakes. It's harder. But, I mean, I think that we like where we're at, where we didn't have a Cody or someone come in and say, just lock your name on this because we're able to listen to our audience develop the products that we know that they want. And, but yeah, it's more challenging for sure.
59:06
I didn't see them at all last year.
59:09
Like, I have a life now. I play paintball now. So, like, I'm I'm good now. But The paintball round? Yeah. I play paintball now. So Yeah. And it's also the first time now. We have, like, our four b keys when we walk into a room and we're like, Hey, we have an idea. Can we do this? You know? What's the political process of how we get things done? And and now there's process everywhere, whereas, like, if we have an idea today on the content side, we're like, okay. Let's make it happen. You know? And it's just it's becoming a real company, which is it's cool, but it comes with Yeah. I have to be careful. It's written tells me when we walk into the office. He's can't just walk into the office and tell them what you want. Or you don't like something. Like, we've been working on this product for eight months. It's like, yeah, I don't really like it. You know, it's like, wait, wait. Just don't say it. Just crushing hopes of dreams. Sorry. Do you think you'll be doing content in, like, five years, ten years? Hundred percent. I'm obsessed
59:52
I'm obsessed with my job. Like, I love creating content.
59:55
Yeah. Yeah. I don't even think of it as a job, but it's -- Yeah. -- it's honestly, like, so I I think it, like,
01:00:02
our relationship, I feel like is always really healthy, which we're we're, like, creative together and creating things together. And I think we love doing that.
01:00:10
Instagram therapy, basically. Yes. Pretty much. I mean, did you guys get tested? Well, if you work with your wife, like, you I feel like you have to work through so much more conflict than you have nine to five. Like, I mean, we yeah. It's it's it makes our relationship stronger in in a And we were something like a a larger goal and then, you know,
01:00:27
but we'll see, like, how it evolves with involving our family, like, our kids. That's something I still haven't really figured out.
01:00:34
And that's what's so great about working with Jordan is, like, if we ever didn't wanna share our kids or go down that path, like, him and I can just take over again.
01:00:43
And then also having Debbie. We don't have to rely on on sharing the entire family.
01:00:48
But no, I think it's something that we'll probably always be doing. Yeah. Where's well, on Instagram? Yeah. So people can find us on Instagram under Danny Austin.
01:00:56
And then divi divi official dot com. Yep.
01:01:00
And then Instagram divvy official. Yep. How about you? Where's your Instagram? Oh, I don't. You don't even have one? I don't have one. Thanks. You gotta spin off character, man. Like,
01:01:09
it's so much effort that I I I couldn't. I couldn't. It would it would it would cause conflict in our marriage to try and do both. Like, It would yeah. I'm a great supporting actor. That's why it's amazing.
01:01:21
If people wanna come work for you, how would they mind you? Yeah. Yeah. If you want, Yeah. If, if you guys wanna come work for divi, email hello at divi official dot com, and it'll get to me. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks for doing this. I know this is definitely you're probably like, what the heck is this podcast? Who are these guys? But, you know, I appreciate you coming on. It's fun. It's fun.
01:01:41
It on.
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