Keep. Showing. Up. with Billy Thorpe

This week, we bring on full-time content creator, Billy Thorpe! We discuss how he has been able to take content creation to the next level and make content for a living. Billy tells us the ups and downs of his life story that got him to where he is today. Listen closely, as he gives us the keys to his success that YOU can start doing today in whatever industry you are in. 

What we're sippin' on this week: High West Double Rye
“Double Rye! is a blend of two different rye whiskeys. It is also crafted to be twice as spicy (think cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves) as your average rye whiskey.”

How to find Billy:
IG: @thorpecreative

RAZE Energy- 15% OFF PromoCode: WISDOM
Raze Energy has become the most popular and best rated energy drink on the market to date!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Chris: 0:31

Hey, you guys, welcome back to the Whiskey and Wisdom podcast. It's your boy Chris, and my constant co-host, Tyler, y'all. This week we bring on a man of many hats and a lot of technology.

Billy: 0:45

Billy, Billy Thorpe. Hey Billy. Not, not the Australian rockstar either. Dang it. I don't know if you guys are. Yeah, sorry, I know people, I was gonna say I didn't, I know a bunch of Australians clicked on this episode because they're like, oh man, maybe they did something cool with their

Tyler: 1:00

voice. So, you know, the next highest country other than United States is Australia. So it's not Denmark. It's not Denmark. We only have one listener from Denmark

Chris: 1:09

But this week, because Billy doesn't drink whiskey or alcohol really for that matter, we have him doing a blind taste test. We're setting up drinking the high West, double rye, double rye. Yep. Which is one of Tyler's favorites. Mm-hmm. Which typically is gonna have some clove, mint, cinnamon kind of scents on your nose. Should have a very spicy taste with mint menthol says eucalyptus. In the taste

Tyler: 1:41

Uhhuh, it is a blend of different rise. It's not as good as Therye in my personal opinion, but it is another very good rye cuz you do get those different hints of spiciness, I guess you could say. And the reason why and Chris hasn't gotten to it yet, but we're blind taste testing it against Evan Williams is because there has been quite a few blind taste tests where Evan Williams has been beating out some very good whiskeys. So we're, that might be part of the, the show that we bring

Billy: 2:14

on if you guys like it. Yeah, man. You know, and my opinion going to make the difference. We'll make the decision right here globally, right here on Whiskey Wisdom. Yeah. If you don't like it, the guy who doesn't drink will be the deciding factor. I think that's the best one. Right, exactly. That's the way to do it. Yeah. No experience at all. Wins. There we go.

Chris: 2:34

All right. So you get to pick which

Billy: 2:36

cup we try first. Alright, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do the cool glass with your guys' logo on it. All

Chris: 2:40

right. So we're doing the rocks glass to see what those Cheers on us. Cheers. Cheers.

Billy: 2:43

Cheers.

Tyler: 2:44

Taste like whiskey.

Billy: 2:45

Yeah. Yeah. tastes like whiskey. Tastes like whiskey.

Chris: 2:49

Super simple. Classic. All right, so now let's go to the, not

Billy: 2:52

for the fancy. I'm just watching you guys doing what you do. So shake it around. Yeah. Oh, we don't know what we're doing. Do you sniff him? Okay. You sniff it. Sniff it.

Chris: 2:59

Oh yeah. There's a lot of

Tyler: 3:00

spice. Yeah, there's a lot more spice

Billy: 3:02

on that. That's spice. Yeah, that's spicy. However, flavor wise, I, I'm gonna go with this one. Okay. The spicy one. Why? Well one, it, it was a little bit syrup piece, so I did, I was like, oh, this kind of tastes a little syrup. Yeah. But I don't know, it's just a little bit smoother in my opinion. Okay. I would agree that one does taste, it was a little spicy, but it wasn't bad.

Tyler: 3:24

Which is weird because on the nose it doesn't smell on the nose. It hits you hard. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as you smell it, it's like ethanol, but you taste it. It's really smooth.

Chris: 3:35

Well, I mean, there are a lot of, all

Tyler: 3:39

right, Chris, tell us what's in the Glen Carn cuz it was a blind taste

Chris: 3:41

test. Oh, so the Glen Carn was the double rye. Oh, thank

Billy: 3:44

goodness. Yes. Okay. We, we went with the expensive one. Oh, we did this one here. The high West? Yes. Oh, okay. Yeah. So the reason why it

Chris: 3:51

smelled, or it smells very it actually has gin botanicals kind of blended in for the smell. Versus like the classic Evan Williams. And like you mentioned, the mass bill on the double rye is actually a 95 5 barley malt from mgp. Ah. And then the 80 20% malted rye from the High West distillery. So they just blend it together, get you a setup. And the loser of today's episode was the OG plastic bottle. Evan

Billy: 4:21

Williams, 1783 So, so what's the price difference in like the High West double rye in that one? So the

Tyler: 4:28

plastic bottle of Evan Williams was like 15 bucks. Yep. High West. I'm pretty sure it was like 70. Okay. So yeah, so

Billy: 4:36

large difference. I got good taste then. You have very good taste. There we go. my wife is gonna be like you're not gonna start drinking whiskey Right. Wait, wait. So is bourbon always whiskey or whiskey? Always bourbon. Like how does that go? Bourbon

Chris: 4:46

is always whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Right. Okay, cool. And that's because bourbon technically it's supposed to be from the us Kentucky and Kentucky and

Tyler: 4:56

a certain N Bill. Yeah. Well, yeah. It has to have a certain mash bill, which means it has to be 51% corner or more, and then it's corn. Yeah. A lot of people say that bourbon has to be from Kentucky, but the official, like you went to the whiskey place of wisdom. It's just from the US and it has to be in a charred oak barrel. Yes. Right. A new charred oak barrel. All right.

Billy: 5:25

Not used. That's crazy, man. Yeah, I watched a, I don't know what, I don't know if it's on Netflix or Hulu, but there was like some kind of documentary about this guy who worked at a distillery and was like, stealing it. Yeah. And like selling it like millions of dollars is worth of, of bourbon. So Happy Van Winkle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He stole Well, yeah, I think, I can't remember the Oh, he stole Pappy.

Tyler: 5:45

Yeah, he stole Pappy when was selling it. And that's how it got to be so popular and why you can, if you go into an ABC store in North Carolina, you'll never find it. Yeah. It's literally

Billy: 5:56

impossible. Yeah. That's crazy. And if you

Tyler: 5:58

try to get it online on the secondary market, it's stupid

Billy: 6:01

expensive. Well, did they were like showing bottles there, like four or$5,000. Oh, yeah. Like on eBay or whatever. I was like, my gosh, man, that's crazy. I mean, you can

Tyler: 6:09

go and buy that bottle for, I could be exaggerating, but let's say like a regular bottle of Pappy, you're looking like 70 bucks. Wow. And you're turning around and selling it for like five grand. Wow. Crazy. Depending. That's crazy. Depending on the bottle. I mean, could maybe you're buying it for one 50 something for five grand, or you're buying a 70. Dollar bottle and you're selling it for three.

Billy: 6:26

I, but still, I'm gonna be honest, I expected that when I came in to see that sitting here since you guys did, I got a bottle. I'm sorry, We got a podcast. You guys running here, man. I know. Yeah. where's that top shelf stuff at? Where's that?

Tyler: 6:39

Well, we'll call Crystal lacoe. He's the one that has the the ends to those,

Billy: 6:43

those bottles. We'll

Chris: 6:45

see. I'm, I'm being the old Van Winkle. Yeah. Oh, that's all. Every time I think of old Van Winkle, I'm just like, I think there was a TV show, wasn't there? I think old, the guy's name was Van Winkle.

Billy: 7:02

I thought there was like a Van Dyke maybe. Right. That could be

Chris: 7:05

why my brain keeps going to it. And I'm.

Billy: 7:08

Let's, all right, well

Tyler: 7:10

enough about the whiskey now. And so Billy, tell us a little bit about your story, about what you do now and how you got there and something you're not gonna get out of for this podcast. You're gonna tell us a little bit about the, the Puerto Rico

Billy: 7:21

stent. Oh, okay. Cool man. So yeah, so I create content full-time. So that's my, that's my job. And then I've, my business I guess is creating content and it, it really started like, like three years ago during the pandemic. I was Oh wow. So, so pre pandemic, like, back up a little bit. I, I worked at a nonprofit at a church for like a decade doing a bunch of media stuff. Oh, okay. TV stuff, audio, video, whatever. And then playing music there. And then I was getting married and I was like, holy cow, I need to make some money. So I started I started like researching, cuz I was doing graphic design. So a lot of people would be like, Hey, can you make this graphic for me? Can you make this logo? And I'm like, yeah, sure. Cool. And then then people would be like, oh, can you put it on a t-shirt? And I'm like, nah, I can't do that. Yeah. Like, go to this guy down the road. Well, guy down the road like messed up one day and was like, yeah man, thanks for sending me all this business. I'm like, well, how much business? And he told me and I was like, oh, all right man. Well you just created a competitor, maybe I don't know. And so, dude, I watched YouTube videos for like months and months and months. And then my wife. Girlfriend, then wife. Now her, somebody in her family, like distant family passed away and he owned a screen printing business. Oh, wow. So we like go in this basement, I'm looking at all this gear and I'm like, oh, okay. This is a crazy amount of money. Like, I know this is gonna be expensive. And I'm like, how much you guys want for it? Like, oh, we'll take nine. I'm like, yeah, nine grand is good price. Like, that's good price, but I just don't have it. And they're like, no, no, no,$900. Like, we got a bill to pay. We want this crap out of our basement. Oh, wow. And and I still, I didn't make enough money, so I was like I don't have 900 bucks, but my now father-in-law was like, look, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll give you the money. You just pay me back. And and that's how it started, man. So I bought all this gear had a little, little room, probably just a little bit bigger than this one. And watch YouTube videos and learn how to screen print t-shirts. Oh. and still haven't paid him his 900 bucks But I married his daughter, gave him a grandsons, I think we're even, yeah, so that works out But yeah, so after that man kind of fast forward, like, you know, eight years of, of doing that and you know, being a business owner, nothing's always sunshine and rainbows. Like there's ups and downs. And so I'd work like sales gigs and consulting gigs and, you know, I'd work like whatever I needed to. And yeah, that t-shirt business was like my side hustle. And then and then 2020 dude, we were like crushing it. January, February was amazing. And we signed like the biggest deal we've ever signed. Like the first order was gonna be like 4,000 pieces for this. Oh wow. You know, this company. And dude, I was so pumped. And then March, like 16th of 2020, like my emails was blown up with like canceled order. Canceled order, canceled order. And I'm like, Oh dude, I'm done Like this. Is it like I'm, because we were like catering to other non, like to non-profits, building product tables. Oh, so it was all big audience stuff. Yeah, and I didn't have any like brands who were like selling online or anything. So. Essentially my business went away in like a day. Wow. And so so dude, for the next 30 days, all I did was sit at my desk, cry a little bit, and then listen to people call me other entrepreneurs and just listen to their needs. And that was it. Mm-hmm. So I was just like, kept listening, kept listening. And so you know, I, like one person called me, a local guy here Gary Hurley of a Fisherman's Post and said, Hey man, I want to, we gotta do something different. We gotta go digital, more digital. And he's like, we're thinking about doing a podcast, can you help us? And cuz I had created a fishing saltwater fishing show previously with a partner, did it for a while and sold my half to, to the partner. And and so anyway, I was like, yeah dude, I'll, I'll help you. Here's the price. He's like, nah dude, we can't pay that price. And I'm like, cool man. Well I'll just do half of it. I'll like own half of it, you know, of the podcast. So any revenue we make, that's what we'll do. And and that was kind of the conversation with my wife cuz she's like, what do you want to do? And I was like, I just wanna create con, I like want to get back in the constant creation space, video and audio. Yeah. I just really don't know how, she's like, why don't you just go all in on podcasting? And so, you know, with her, you know, with her permission or whatever, or like yeah, belief that I could actually do something in podcast world. I'm like, all right man, let's go. And so Gary and I partnered up, we started, you know, started a show. I said, Hey, we're gonna do four episodes and we're gonna get a sponsor. If we don't get a sponsor after four episodes. I don't know if I can, I don't know if I can invest time. Right. You know, and so we did, man, we created four, four shows. We had like a hundred people listen to every, to each episode. So we had 400 downloads and we went out in Marine Warehouse center here in town, said, yeah man, we'll sponsor you guys. We believe in what you're doing. Awesome. And that was like three years ago. And so we've been doing the podcast for almost three years. And you know, Basically between that and then teaching other podcasters how to monetize is really what I've been, what I have been doing for like, the last couple of years. And then most recently, like while I was in Puerto Rico, I learned about a program called Amazon Live Influencer Program. Yeah. Where you can basically post short form video and content on Amazon, due live streams, all that stuff. And so I got into that a little bit in Puerto Rico. I started paying off really well, and then when I got home, I got a studio space and started going crazy. So now I'm gonna retire from my podcast and and focus on that full-time. That's awesome. So yeah, that's kinda where I'm at now. I'm, I'm grinding, dude. Just yeah, making videos for Amazon sellers. That's cool.

Tyler: 12:29

Yeah. And full disclosure too. I, I don't, I don't even know if I told you this before. So

Billy: 12:34

make me cry. I'll try not to

Tyler: 12:37

So when Chris and I were originally. We got the concept of the podcast down. We're looking for spaces to go. Something you didn't touch on, but I'll make sure I bring up, is you used to have a podcast studio in

Billy: 12:48

town. Yeah, I did. Yep. Yeah. Yep. And for like a, like a month. No, I'm just kidding. So

Tyler: 12:54

like no matter how short it was. Which is funny though, because you must you really well at SEO because you popped up pretty high when I was looking for Oh, wow. Studios. Yeah. And I was looking at it and I saw you actually had a podcast about creating podcasts.

Billy: 13:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I've had a few podcasts about something, right? Podcasting, I think I had like podcasting for money. I had like Creating Daily, so Creating Daily was a live show I did. And then I can't remember what the other one was. Maybe it was like Creating for Money or something. Everything's involved around Making a buck. But anyway, go ahead. Sorry. Right.

Tyler: 13:25

Yeah. And so one of the first ones that you created about creating podcast. I saw that and I was like, oh, this is interesting. Some local guy that also created podcast, I

Billy: 13:34

listened to that. That was super helpful. Oh, cool. I'll be completely honest.

Tyler: 13:38

And that's one of the reasons why we are where we are today. Oh wow. Is because I listened to everything and I was like, okay, he likes these type of microphones, he likes this type of thing. Like, you get, you build content this way, so Oh, cool. I a lot of appreciation and our success

Billy: 13:51

to you, so thank you. Yeah, man. Absolutely. Well, I'm sorry you listened to me I'm just kidding. No, this is awesome. It worked out well, so this is great. No, you guys get a great space, man, great podcast. So yeah, thank you. It's awesome. Well, I'm glad I could help you in some form or fashion, so appreciate it.

Chris: 14:06

Think the only thing we haven't learned yet is how to monetize.

Billy: 14:09

Yeah. You just gotta keep calling people and asking'em for money. No, so, so

Tyler: 14:11

I'll be honest. I. I learned a lot about monetization for you too, and I just haven't taken the leap of faith myself and started knocking on every single door that I come across. Yeah. So I will, I will take the ownership on that one. You have given me all of the tools to do it. I just haven't had the faith in myself to

Billy: 14:29

go out and do it. So exhibit A of why don't coach podcasters anymore, right? I'm just messing. Exactly. I'm

Tyler: 14:36

just messing. Yeah, I'm sure it's pretty true though. You tell everyone all of this information, they probably give you a bunch of money to do it and they're like, yeah, I

Billy: 14:44

don't know. I don't want to do it. Yeah, man. I mean that, you know, believe it or not, that was like the case multiple times when people were like, I wanna do a podcast, or I wanna do this, or I wanna monetize, or I wanna whatever. And you know, I'm like, cool, like just pay me X, Y, z and I'll give you, you know, I'll walk you through the steps. Like, yeah. And they just would pay me, not show up to calls, not do anything, and. what is happening? And you know, and, and some people would just be like, cool man, I'm pocket the cash and keep you on the monthly plan. And I'm like, I can't, man. I want results for you. Like, if you don't want results, I, I can't work with you. So. Exactly. Yeah, man. So I don't know, it it, it's one of those like, I don't know, maybe as an entrepreneur it's stupid. Maybe I should just take whatever people wanna pay me if they don't show up good. But I, I need to feel pride in, in the work that I do, you know? Exactly.

Tyler: 15:52

So, and that says a lot about you too, and why you're having the success that you're having now. I mean, it's, it's that ethic behind it.

Billy: 15:57

Yeah. You know, that's the one thing, dude, that when people ask me, like, as an entrepreneur, as a podcaster, as a live streamer, as an Amazon Live influencer, like, how do you get to where you are? I'm like, I'm just the guy that's dumb enough to just keep showing up, like just over and over and over. And it kind of goes back, I heard this one guy talking one time I mean, years ago when I was in college, like probably when I was 20. I'm 36 now, so probably 16 years ago. Yeah. This guy said this one phrase, he said, you gotta con, you gotta do the consistently. or consistent application of elementary things will win every time. Mm-hmm. okay. Mm-hmm. And I was like, wait, what did you say? Like, consistent application of elementary things. And so I, I kind of adopted that late in life. I heard it early in life, didn't really pay attention to it until later. But that was one of those, there's like little phrases that people have said to me throughout the years and that was one that really stuck. And then another. I worked for this garage cleaning cuz I dropped outta high school my last semester of high school. I couldn't, I know way, I couldn't do like algebra, like numbers and, and the alphabet together confused me. like if you put like George Washington's and some penny, you know, whatever. Like I'll, I'll do Okay, I'll figure that out. But when it's just like, you know, how many strawberries did Susie have? She, she had 85 in her hand. She dropped two, she gave four away. And I'm like, first of all, how did Susie have 85 strawberries in her hand? That's right. That's what I wanna know. I'm not worried about how many she has left No wonder she dropped m like how do you do that? So I was never really good at math, so I dropped outta high school. But to do that I had to go to a GD program and get my G e d, but I had to have a job. And so I worked at this garage just for like a month basically. And this guy, it was a friend of a friend or whatever, and he's like, yeah man, come in and clean these walls. And they were like, block walls similar to these here. Yeah. And he's like, I just want you to clean them. So dude, I was like, yeah, I would do that. No problem. So I go through, in like two days, I cleaned this whole garage. And so he came back, he's like, okay, let's take a look at it. So he goes through and he's inspecting it and he's like, you missed this spot, this spot. It was a crappy job. And he said, let me tell you one thing, and I think if you'll grab onto this, you'll do something successful in life. Just think about quality over quantity. Mm-hmm. And when you can get that, you'll do fine. And I was like, okay. Consistent application, elementary things and quality over quantity. And those two things, man, it's really have kind of guided my life. And there's several other people and other things, you know, throughout the years. But it's really those two things. It's like, am I doing a quality job? Am I doing the consist? Am I showing up every single day and just doing the little things and am I doing'em the right way? Right. And I think that's, You know, is what's propelled me. And I'm not like over here like, man, I got millions of dollars in drive a Lambo. Like, I'm not that guy, you know? But I'm enjoying my life. I'm enjoying my work and you know, I've kind of found my niche in, in what I love to do. And it was with a lot of sacrifice, but it's been, it's been a lot of fun, especially the last six months. It's been a lot of fun. It's been crazy's fun. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: 18:54

Yeah. I, Yeah. I've seen your like, slow ramp up because I probably, I guess on social media, my, all my apps just kind of blend together, so I don't see'em as like one or the other anymore cuz they're all bought, owned by the same people. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm just, I like watching the progression of like your change and your quality of knowledge, I guess. Cause I'm like, oh, hey, he's live or he, he posted a video on this. and I guess social media knew you were coming on because I started seeing more of your videos than usual But I think it's just

Billy: 19:27

encouraging. Yeah, man. You know, and I think that is the thing too. It's like, cuz people are like, oh, and I don't have a big following at all, you know, but I have a, I have a pretty good like, I have a, I don't have a huge falling, but I have like a pure falling, right. And this is how we monetize the Fisherman's Post podcast so quickly was because I was like, Hey, we only have 400 people, or, or actually a hundred people listen to this thing four times. Yeah. But those people are the people that you want to come to your shop to buy a boat to do whatever, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so those are the conversations. It's kind of that quality over quantity thing as well. And so, you know, same with social media. Like I don't have a huge social media following, but the people who follow me are like true friends. Right. You know, they're like, I tell my wife all the time, like, hush, I'm talking to my internet friends. Right. So. Exactly. So man, we have a good time. You know, we help each other out and it's more of like this collaborative effort to say, Hey, we all wanna win in this industry of, you know, content creation and how do we, you know, really lift each other up and, and keep this thing healthy and, and really push forward. You know, like I'm a part of the Amazon influencer thing and I meet with. probably like 20 or 30 other Amazon influencers, like every day on Clubhouse. Not because we were like trying to set it up and be organized. Sure. We're just there and like, Hey man, I'm trying this, this didn't work. This got approved, this got rejected. Amazon shut my account down and what I do, you know, it's like we're just working together as this, you know, creator economy to, to like lift up the whole industry of whatever we're working on. You know? It was the same in podcasting. Same with live streaming. Like it's, it's really cool when you kind of find what you love and you'll admit to yourself that you love it. Right? And then you'll find your way in that. And I think a lot of people are, You know, especially in the content creation world. One, if, if I had to say like, there's two things that con that potential content creators or current content creators who aren't successful that they do is one, they're too worried. They think other people care about them and they just don't. Right? Like nobody, nobody cares really about what I'm doing. I mean, you guys are very kind and you follow my social media, but at the end of the day, you're not like, oh man, Billy didn't show up and do a live stream. Like, you don't care. You're trying to build your own show. You're trying to build your own podcast. And then the second thing is they consume way too much content. Mm-hmm. And it's like, dude, if you're consuming more than you're producing, then that's a huge problem. Yep. You know, so I, I would say those two things are like what I see in the content world of like, this is why you're not successful. So Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I'm not saying that about you guys. I'm know, looking at you, but I don't do a lot of in-person interviews, so I'm like trying to figure out the dynamic Yeah. Yeah.

Tyler: 22:00

So you kind of hit what we've been noticing now too, and I'm. very much the analytics guy. Just because I'm weird like that, But with that being said too is I was going through social media so much, like trying to crack the code, I guess you could say. Yeah. So I was consuming so much just trying to figure out like, what's going on here? And then my numbers were going down and down and down and I'm like, I'm learning all of this stuff. I'm really trying to figure this out. Why are, why is it going down? And I don't know who I was watching. it was someone on Instagram and they're like, stop trying to figure out the algorithm and just put something out there. It'll stick. And you'll be looking at your own data. Mm-hmm. And you'll be able to figure out based on your own data, how to grow your own content. Yeah. And I was like, oh, what a novel idea. And so now I've been posting more consistently and again, we're going right back up and

Billy: 22:52

I was like, oh wow. Go figure Yeah man. I mean, it's weird how that works cuz I used to consume like a ton of content and I was doing the same thing. Oh, I'm learning all this stuff. Like this is great. Yeah. But then I wasn't applying anything. Right. And so it was kinda like, well now I'm just kind of sitting here and, and, and I was that guy where I would like livestream on Facebook or Instagram or do whatever, but I wasn't consistent with it at all. And then I've noticed just in, you know, consistency, man. Like, it's kind of interesting how as a content creator you build relationship with people you've never met in your entire life. Like Oh, for sure. Like even locally, like I'll walk into a grocery store and. You'll like see somebody just like really looking at you and you're like, what is this guy doing? Yeah. Like, what is up? And he's like, Hey man, I, I know you, like, I know you from the podcast. And they'll start talking to me and show me phish pictures and all this stuff. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, this is kind of creepy. One. Yeah. but really cool as well. It's like, okay, this is weird. You know, this is like fun to, to know that someone values your work that much. Mm-hmm. So that stuff kind of gives you a little more fuel to, to go. But, but yeah, man, it is, it's like I, I hear, I hear people all the time, like, I'm a part of this, you know, this social audio app called Clubhouse. Yeah. And dude, there's people on there to this day that I met two years ago that are like, yeah, man, I, I'm still just trying to figure out my podcast. I'm still trying to figure out like how, how long it should be, what the episode should be about, what this, the title, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, dude, just hit record, right? Yeah. Like, it's not that hard. Like, dude, the Sean can thing just hit record, like what he says all the time and do, and and they just won't, man. There's paralyzed because. of, it's kinda like in business too, man. I meet young entrepreneurs who like, they got a, a phenomenal idea. They get a phenomenal product, but they've never sold it because they just won't take the chance of telling anybody about it. And it's like, dude, figure out all that paperwork crap later. Like, go make a thousand dollars and then, you know, you got something going on. You know? So it's like get somebody to listen to you and then figure out how to get more to those people to listen to you. Yeah. Don't worry about, you know, all the presentation stuff. Yeah. There's a guy in the

Tyler: 24:50

real estate world, he calls himself Beardie Brandon, and one of his biggest quotes is paralysis by analysis. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's one a hundred percent what it is. And I started catching myself before we started this podcast, like kind of getting into that same thing too. Like Chris and I were bouncing around name ideas. Oh my gosh. Too long. And finally at one point I was like, okay, put it out on Instagram. All right. This had the most votes. All right, let's go for

Billy: 25:15

it. Yeah. Yeah. Well dude, now I think, you know, a lot of times, like you could probably just start something like, I started I started all my podcasts within like 24 hours. Mm-hmm. not, not in the fishing one, but not the Fisherman's Post, but all the rest of them. Probably like the first fishing one. I think it took us like two weeks. Like we came up with the name at a coffee shop like that, and I'm like, it took me two weeks to figure out the tech, cuz we wanted to do a livestream show. And then our livestream show people were like, oh, can you do this as a podcast? So we'd just rip the audio and, and that's how I got in the podcasting, so to speak. But dude, every other one like creating Daily, it was like, oh, I wanna do a daily live show while I was in Puerto Rico and talk to other creators. Okay, cool. What's that called? Creating and Creating Daily. Okay, cool. That's what I'm doing. I'm creating daily show. Like, perfect, here we go. Yeah. you know, that was it. And then I just started taking massive amounts of action on that show. And I think that's what people, you know, they do, they get. They get paralyzed by the, what do other people think? And like when you realize no one thinks about you as much as you think about yourself, like you'll just start doing stuff. Yeah. And some stuff will work. And social media, man, that crap goes by so fast. It's like, dude, no one cares. Like, mm-hmm. I will put out a one minute video talking about this microphone, like four, maybe 500 people will watch it and then nobody cares anymore. Then they're all done and it's like, cool. Now I get put out something else. You know? Yeah. And I, I don't ever try to figure out algorithms. Like I know what that means.

Chris: 26:35

I was talking to my friend Cassie, who was on the podcast a while ago, and she was like, you know, I just randomly got likes on a video that I posted like six months ago. I'm like, yeah, cuz the a like, it never disappears. Mm-hmm. if the algorithm feels like, oh, hey, this is in style, they'll just send it to people. And I'm like, if there's a billion people using the app, It's gonna show again.

Billy: 26:59

Yeah. And it

Tyler: 26:59

was we had Angela on not too long ago And what she was talking about as well was very similar to what you were saying is when you put something out there, you think everyone just watched it. Yeah. Everyone cares about everything you put out there. Yeah. And she was like, no one saw it. And if they did, they don't remember. They saw it. Yeah. So she was like, so if you put out the same thing again and again and again for the same content for seven days straight, you hit different people. And the people that already saw it, that don't remember that they saw it. They, they finally remember

Billy: 27:29

that they saw it Yeah. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Well, and I think that's the thing about, you know, like podcast content, when I was putting a lot of it out there, especially like on live audio platforms or whatever, like, dude, I just had like a spreadsheet of like topics that I could talk about that I felt pretty, you know, knowledgeable about. And then I would just like rotate through those. Yeah. And I rotate through four or five topics and I go back and rotate through four or five more. Because even if I was on your podcast, like every single day talking about podcasting, there's some stuff that when you're listening to content that really sticks and resonates and you go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I should try that. And then you're fixated on that one point. Yeah. And then you don't listen to all the other. 500 points the person made and then you could go back and listen to it again and get something else, or, you know, put it on repeat. And I think that's the cool thing about, I mean, that's absolutely right about content, man. It's like you can take one topic and have a bunch of subtopics and have a bunch of subtopics and subtopics and sub and it's just, just big triangle that just keeps going down. Yeah. And it's like, it never ending, you know, because that's one thing people are like, I just don't know what to talk about. I'm like, just take a piece of paper. Mm-hmm. write down five things that you love, and then underneath that, break that stuff down and just keep going down into these little, you know, like little subtopics and you'll have Right. A year's worth of content before you know what's up. So, yeah, it's crazy. That's awesome. It's crazy. That was just

Chris: 28:46

going down, like the random thought process I have. Like, I, I love the, cuz we've, every week we've delved into somebody new for the most part and coming up with ideas for season two. that's, that's pretty much what I'm calling. It's just season two, whenever we start changing two up things. Yeah. And like, you know, maybe we might do like double episodes or like diving more into like, Hey, we invited you on, we're gonna stick to this specific topic. It might do like shorter episodes. Mm-hmm. or just do a really long episode. I mean, you heard the one with Reggie on it and it was, it ended up one, I love popping. It made sense to go into two episodes, but he just has so much to talk about. Yeah. And I'm like,

Billy: 29:33

it makes sense. Yeah. And, you know, you get to sit down and here's the cool thing about podcasting and, and consecration. It's like, You know, for, for me, and it really set in when I own that little podcast studio called Co-Pilot Studio or whatever. Yeah. My friend Kyle has a podcast called My Wave Podcast and, and, and basically sat at a table like this across from somebody else and talked about their favorite wave, you know, for surfing. Yeah. And I don't know, I don't know jack about surfing, but I was sitting in the producer chair, not a part of the show, just listening to it. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, messing with audio or whatever and just making sure everything's good. And then all of a sudden it just clicks. I'm like, holy cow man. I'm not like doing a job. I'm like capturing, I'm like capturing this dude's life and everyone else's life that sits in the, across the table from him forever. Like, I'm, I'm a time capsule capture guy, you know, he like turned into this whole other thing and then I thought it was really cool cause I'm like, dude, no matter what my son is gonna get to listen to my grandkids or whatever. That however that plays out. Like, there's gonna be content online presumably forever. Mm-hmm. for them to go back and consume. So it's almost, it's almost like really cool to think about, even if you don't make money with a con, you know, with content mm-hmm. even if it's not a job, but it's just a hobby, it's something to document. It's almost like a diary, but like easy to consume, you know, diary and it's like, and it's kind of cool to to know. You know, there's gonna be episodes where my son and I, he's four, but we'll go into the studio and hit record and we'll just talk, you know? Right. Where we have like a little podcast but no one else knows about it, you know? But that'd be cool if my grandfather, if I would've had that, you know? Right. So it's kind of a cool thought, like long term, more than just money and more than just you know, like doing, you know, pushing our agendas forward. It's like, it's pretty cool just to be a part of that kind of community or whatever.

Tyler: 31:18

Yeah. And that's part of the reason why we haven't really pushed hard to monetize it. Like of course everyone talks about like podcasting and content. You gotta monetize, gotta monetize. Chris and I both have relatively good jobs. Yeah. So we're grateful enough to have that backing to support this and the amazing people that we've met. Just doing it. Oh for sure. Is worth way more than anyone could have paid us. Yeah. Cuz. we probably would've met through like Tippit or something at some point. Yeah. But like, it's a completely different relationship than what like we have now and how we've been able to help and or you've been able to help us and the other people that we've brought on too, and to meet and everything we've learned about whiskey and all, everything we drank Yeah. Like that's so much more than money to me anyway. Yeah. Especially since it's not something that's like high on the priority list for this podcast for us.

Billy: 32:04

Yeah, man. It's that experience, dude. That's what it's the be, you know, the best part about it. And, and like, like you said, it's evergreen, man. Like all this content is like evergreen. It's out there forever. I mean, some of it's gonna be relevant, some of it's not, but Sure. You know, for the most part it's consumable and, and it's fun, dude. Like, I, like, I started with Amazon Live and I really, you know, started focusing on it like a year. Well, well, I, I started doing videos like a, like, maybe, maybe a little over a year ago, right? Yeah. While I was in Puerto Rico and all of a sudden, and so basically to kind of, for people who dunno what it is real quick, like Amazon started their own platform similar to YouTube, where it's like, why are we sending people to YouTube, to watch videos, to potentially click on affiliate links to buy product when we should pay or like have influencers on our own platform to talk about products. Right. Put it, put that video on the product page and when someone clicks on it buys, we compensate the influencer for helping the shopper make that decision. Yeah. And so anyway, I made like 30 videos in Puerto Rico and I just want my gear, like microphone, blah, blah. Yeah. Right. And all of a sudden this thing starts generating hundreds of dollars a month. Oh, this is crazy. This is crazy, dude. Like I have a YouTube channel, I have a podcast that does well and like to make this amount of money in the first month is like ridiculous. And so I couldn't do anything though cause I was on in the middle of the ocean and shipping was crazy expensive. I couldn't get products. And then when I came home I was like, I'm gonna go all in on Amazon. Like just for 30 or 60 days, or no, maybe it's like 90 days. And this is another thing I have learned over in 2020 was like, give yourself a timeline. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Just because you say like, I'm gonna start a podcast, I'm gonna start a YouTube channel, I'm gonna start whatever. Like, give yourself three months, give yourself six months or a year. And just be accountable to it and see what happens. Mm-hmm. I think oftentimes people will just start something with no like end in sight and then like be like, oh, when's this over? But like, give yourself a year and go, cool, I'm gonna reevaluate in in a year or whatever. So anyway, I started doing Amazon Live. I was like, I'm gonna do this thing for three months and see what happens. Well dude, after three months, I think I had made like, Five or 600 product videos worked with over Oh wow. Worked with like that many brands, cuz it's all different products. And they were sending, they were sending, you know, they, that's what they do. That's what I do now. They send me products, I do a review video, they pay me, they compensate me, I keep the product, I sell it or whatever. Right. And it's like become this high frequency, lucrative like little business. And and so, dude, I've been going ham on it for like, the last six months. Mm-hmm. but it's totally my speed, totally my style. Like I love it. Everything's live to drive. I don't edit anything. Yeah. The most I do is like trim and, and, and QuickTime like the ends of it where I'm just like starting and or ending the video and everything's set up in my studio and I'm just live to drive this whole thing. And I've done like almost a thousand videos on Amazon at this. And I get paid off of every one of those. Oh yeah. Like, they're like little cash machines. They just sit out there and when people click on'em, I get paid a little bit of commission and then, you know, I get compensated from some of the brands. I have different deals structured or whatever. But I, I, you know, out of doing all that stuff, I found. You know what I love so much? So that people around me are like, holy cow, dude. Like, you're the happiest I've seen you in a decade. Yeah. Like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't, I'm just having fun, dude. I'm opening up Perez every day because I'll do, I'll do a deal and the thing won't show up for like a week or maybe even two weeks, and then I forget, and I'm like, oh, it's just so generator. Like, this is so cool. You know? And then I like get to mess with that. Get to mess with a bunch of techy stuff. Yeah. But dude, you, I would never know that if I didn't start a, a podcast, right? I would never have been in touch with a cr, you know, the person, the creator who told me about this platform. And so now it's like all these skill sets from years ago, even working at a non-profit, they all like add up. So, you know, know if somebody's listening to the show and they're. Oh man, I wish I was doing something cool like that. Or, you know, whate. I mean, people do that to me all the time. Like, oh man, you're so lucky. I'm like, nah, dude. No, no, no, no. It's not luck, bro. No, not at all. Yeah, it's sweat equity, it's tears, it's, you know, sweat, blood and tears or whatever the saying is. Yeah. It's like, dude, I showed up for years mm-hmm. to get the skillset to be able to produce the stuff I produce and the way I produce it and, you know, all that, all that stuff. So you know, that's the biggest thing is like, invest in yourself as a creator and, and be selfish, man. I I, I was super selfish in 2020. I'm gonna be more selfish in 2023. Yeah. And it's not to say I'm not gonna help people cuz I want to you know, even talk to, I'm met a guy today who has a young kid and it's an artist and I'm like, dude, you could crush it on Amazon Live. Like, let me, lemme show you how I'll show you for free. Yeah. You know, I, I wanna do that. But as far as. Partnering with other people and doing all that stuff. I'm, I'm not, I'm just gonna, I'm, keep it small, keep it all, and just scale my own business and get really diligent with it. So that's good. Yeah, dude, it's insane, man. But, but the opportunity out there is insane. Like, anybody who is like a content creator who's like, ah, just can't make a living out of this. Like, you're just doing it wrong. like, I don't know any other way to say it. It's like, if, if I can with, you know, maybe across all platforms, 15,000 followers, make a full-time living. I mean, I'll make more money this year if it keeps trending than I've made in any business endeavor or any job I've ever had. Wow. You know, per in the next 12 months. Yeah. And so it's like, if I can do that with less than 20,000 followers on all my social media put together, Anybody. And I'm like the least talented person in the room, for sure. And it's like, dude, the, the, the, the, the capabilities out there, the possibilities are endless. It's insane. So anyway, sorry to get off on that tangent. I just wanna inspire some

Tyler: 37:40

people. Yeah, that's great. I mean, you, you hit on the main thing is show up. Show up every day, show up every day, work hard and yeah, it's there for you. The opportunities out

37:48

there.

Billy: 37:48

Take it. It's worse. Yeah, man, you didn't get those muscles by just hanging out in the living room. Went to the gym. I mean,

37:54

Chris

Tyler: 37:54

has known me for the longest time. It's, it's been this last year. Yeah.

Chris: 37:58

I mean, he was in shape before, just cuz he was doing a bunch of MMA stuff. But it's more like, I feel like he, he has had a mental shift where he is like, I'm not doing it just to go for a fight. I'm doing it for like the longevity.

Billy: 38:13

Find a, Yeah. Well, let's go back.

Tyler: 38:16

Let's go back to Reggie's thing. I mean, I put it, I put it out there talking about creating content. There was a snippet that I took from Reggie that he was talking about. Find yourself a therapist, find yourself a performance coach. Find yourself a trainer or a strength trainer. Personal trainer. Yeah. A per personal trainer. And he said how much better he would've been if he would've found those three people earlier on. Yeah. And just do

Billy: 38:38

it. Yeah. And better yet, do what they say. Right? Yeah. Listen to'em. Listen to em. You put his Don't, don't, don't put the action out there. And dude, it's weird. The ROI you'll see on just taking basic things and, and just doing mm-hmm. you know, it's like, and, and dude, I've been a procrastinator my whole life. I mean, I just told you guys, I'm a high school drop. Who basically just lazy in high school. But there was like certain things about high school. I love, like I did a whole music album, you know, with one of my classes there with, with a substitute teacher. That literally changed my whole entire life. So it wasn't really that my work ethic wasn't there. It was like I was just trying to play in a program I wasn't designed for. Mm-hmm. And so I think a lot of times, man, we get into this routine and, and I did this with Covid, you know, with Covid. I could've, I could've went and got a job. Yeah. I probably should've just went and got a job. I mean honestly. But what I did was talk to a bunch of entrepreneurs, figured out what could serve, you know, one or two of them. Yeah. And then, and I didn't even share this part of the story, but during that I used to have this little neck gator business where I'd order these fishing neck gators from China. My wife designed them, like digitally painted them. Super cool. Yeah. And we sold them locally to a couple of stores. And then I actually sold that business and then, A guy called me from one of the kayak shops, was like, dude, can you get any more of these neck gators like, we're selling out Cause it's during covid, you know, everybody's put him for a mask. And I was like, nah dude, lemme call the guy I sold the company to. Maybe he can help you. Called him. He's like, dude, I'm out. I'm not interested. Whatever. I'm like, well I still have the contact information to the manufacturing company. my business just died any, do you care if I step back in? Not under the same brand, but just step in in general as a provi. And he's like, yeah dude, go for it. So dude, we sold some, some locally, but I sold probably$50,000 worth of those things in a couple of months on eBay. Damn. I mean, I was running a outta my spare bedroom and which which finance the podcast studio. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was like a part of it. But I could have just quit. Right? I had every right to just go, you know what, I'm hanging up the towel, I'm outta. And so but I think that's it. Like you just gotta, you just gotta believe in yourself cuz no one else is gonna do it. No one's gonna hand you, no one has handed me Jack squat except for my father-in-law. I owe him$900 But besides that, you know, like, no money's just come to me like, oh, here's opportunity, here's opportunity, here's opportunity. I didn't come from that life. I didn't come from mm-hmm. money. I didn't come from anything like I'm bootstrapping every single opportunity. And then with, but there, there is that mindset shift where you just have to go, I'm going to do and I'm going to believe this can happen for me. and I'm not, and I'm not even trying to like, make it happen. I'm just believing that it can happen, right? And I'm using my imagination and going, okay, this is what life can be like. Mm-hmm. I can be debt free, I can be successful, I can you know, well after living in Puerto Rico, I don't even care about an ice car, just about a car that works, right? So I don't even care about an ice car. Like I used to dream of Tesla and I'm like, you know what? I don't care, man. I, I got my Honda element. It's 15 years old. It works perfect. So But anyway, yeah man, you had a fun, Car story in Puerto Rico. Dude, I had so many man. Actually, I have a tattoo of that car on my arm. Is that a wagoneers dude? So this is a 1996 Montero. That's awesome. A Ms. Bishop Montero. Yeah. Yeah. And and my wife drew this illustrated, took a picture of it, illustrate it, and we both got tattoos to commemorate the trip. But so Puerto Rico's dude, Puerto Rico changed my life forever in multiple, multiple ways. But and that's a funny story because we were, we went down there on I went on a surprise birthday trip. My, my wife, Luke Tippett and some of our friends. Yeah. They were like, Hey, like let's go tarpon fishing in North Carolina. So I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. And, and I know Tarpon fishing in North Carolina's like hush hush, right? So I made this joke of like, Hey, I'll wear a blindfold and we can make some content, whatever, bring your camera. Like we'll do the whole thing. And so he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. From that conversation, they like planned this surprise birthday trip to Puerto Rico for five days for me. So I get in the car at three o'clock in the morning, put on a blindfold. We drive for a couple hours and dude, I'm like directionally challenged, like I don't pay attention to turns. I'm not paying. I'm just like having fun, right? And I'm like, I'm going carbon fishing. This is great. And so we, we pull into the parking. He's like, Hey, I'm gonna get out. I'm gonna get the camera and then we'll pull you out and pull the blindfold off and we'll get, you know, go. And I'm like, cool. So dude gets out, pulls the blindfold off. There's like 10 of my best friends like standing there like, let's go to Puerto Rico, get your stuff. We're late. We gotta go. We're like at the Raleigh Airport. Oh no shit. dude. People are like, hand me luggage. They're like, hand me cash. They're like telling me what the deal was. I'm like, what is happening? And I'm, and I'm one of those people where, you know, Luke was like, Hey, bring a bag. We might stay a day or two extra. And I'm like, no dude. I'm not like, I gotta work. I got a job. Like I'm not trying to, I'm like real structured in my ex expectations or whatever. Right. And and dude, it was best vacation of my life. So fast forward to January. That was in November of 29th or 2020. And then my wife and I went with our son in, in the next January. And then we. Luke and his wife are like, Hey, we're gonna move down there. You guys should consider it. And I'm like, nah, man, this is not, we're not gonna do that. And and dude, the funniest part was like, it kept coming up in conversation, like random people, but have you ever been to Puerto Rico? I'm like, yeah, yeah man. Like a couple times. I'm like, yeah, it's cool. And and then my wife and I kept talking about it and I'm like, okay, honey, like look, let's just do this. Let's just move the pieces of the puzzle. And if the puzzle comes together, we'll move down there for a year. So part of that was like renting at our house, finding a house to rent down there, like all these little puzzle pieces. And, and so it kind of started coming together. So we're like, okay, we'll keep pushing it. And then I sold this rug to this lady and, and I met her in a parking lot and she was talking to me. I was like, yeah. And she's like, are you moving? I'm like, yeah, we're thinking about moving to Puerto Rico for like a year. And she's like, she starts crying. I'm like, oh gosh, man. Not this, no, no, what is happening? And I was like, are you all right? She's like, listen, I just wanna tell you this story real quick. And she tells me this story about how her and her husband wanted to move to Ireland for a year when they're in their thirties and they never did. And they're in their sixties and they sit on their couch every night talking about what would life be like if they moved to Ireland? Oh, wow, dude. So I got back in the car, I was like, honey, we're moving to Puerto Rico. Like, what have we gotta do? And, and do. So we went there, we drove this 1996 montero sport that was just ragged. I mean, it was great for three months. Yeah. And then I call it the island car cuz it just like started falling apart. Oil leaking, had to get all this stuff fixed on it. And and it was just a big piece of trash, man. It was, it was a big piece of trash. But the most annoying thing about it was, was it like, my wife called me one morning and was like, Hey, I'm at the grocery store and I'm stuck. And I'm like, what do you mean you're stuck? Like, it's not raining. There's no. Ink and there's like nothing like, what do you do? She's like, it won't go in reverse. The car won't go in reverse. Oh no. And I'm like, all right. So basically if the car wouldn't go in reverse, you had to wait for like 15 or 20 minutes for it to like warm up or change its mind or whatever it was doing. So, dude, so one of the biggest lessons I learned like by, from this car was like, anytime we go into a parking spot, we had to like really scope out the area to make sure we could always go forward and we can never go in reverse And so, like my wife and I learned basically like, Hey, we always have to position ourselves like to go forward and we can't go backwards, right? And so that's why part of the reason I got this tattoo is like, if I ever get down and out, I'm gonna be like, look man, you survived that. Like you didn't work on cars, but I learned to work on a car. Yeah. You know, I, I learned how to sweat and no ac, I lost 67 pounds doing keto, like all in Puerto Rico. So you know, I was in a culture, like I was a minority for the first time in my life. Yeah. To change my perspective forever. I was like, what? Is going on. Yeah. Like this is, I, I now know not the full extent of what PE minorities feel in the United States, but I, you know, I feel that, like, I feel like mm-hmm. the outsider for the first time ever. So it was pretty wild. A lot of life lessons. There

Tyler: 46:24

is, there is a story that you actually posted on social media that I still talk about today, and you probably don't even remember the story, like posting it on social media, but it, it, it means a lot to me for some reason, and it's because I have a son. As part of it. And then just the lesson that your son teach could teach the people at his age. Oh yeah. And it's about when was it like a ice cream place or like a, an ice place that you would go to

Billy: 46:47

pretty often? Oh yeah. And he kept the Popsicle place. The Popsicle place. Yep. Yes. They kept asking for a spoon. Yep. He kept with That was the, yeah, that was awesome. So we would go to this little Popsicle play. I wish I remember the name. Dude, it's great. It's a downtown Isabella. And. dude, it's awesome. Like organic ingredients, all this fun stuff. Yeah. And they dip it and like, oh, it's so good. If I could have, I could fly there right now and get one. It's so good. But we go there like probably once or twice a week or something and and every single time, dude, this guy would ask for a spoon and they were like, no, don't have a spoon. Don't have a spoon. But it would never stop him from asking. And he just asked so much that one day he asked and the owner's like, yep, I bought a box of spoons for you, Like, and I was like, okay, man. Like, you just gotta keep asking. And that's a part of, yeah. That's part of everything, you know, it's like people don't know how they can help you unless you ask them to. Mm-hmm. I mean, not that it's not for everything, like, but Sure. But for those things that really matter in life, it's like, dude, we all need each other. Mm-hmm. like, we can't, as much as I wanna ride solo all the time, cuz I just like, I love that. I can't, I need people. And so I think, was that the story you're talking about? Yep, that's exactly it. Yeah. Yeah. The persistence man, like dude, and this dude. I mean, you know, you have, yeah. You got kids? No, no. Okay. lucky Doug. No, I'm just right. But dude, my kids Hess me so many things about Yeah. You know, persistence. Like, gosh, they're so persistent, man. I'm like, oh yeah. And he gets what he wants a lot. Cuz he's persistent and just swears it down. I'm like, exactly. You know? So. Yeah. That's a good story. Thanks for reminding me of that. Yeah, definitely. And

Chris: 48:16

you've mentioned it on the podcast

Tyler: 48:18

before. Yeah. And it's because my son is the same type of things too, that the main reason why it made, made it connect to me so much is there's so much you can learn from kids that you just automatically do as a human being. That you show up into this world and you do these things and then for some reason, like society beats it out of you. Yeah. And you're like, you know, actually that makes sense. Yeah. Because when it comes to persistence, How many times did your kid have to try to stand up before he actually started walking? That's right. Yeah. And like forever. And you don't just push the kids back down. Next time he stands up and it's like, you tried this before, it didn't work last time. Why don't you just keep sitting down? Yeah. But for some reason, when we get to life now, if you try to start a business, everyone's like, why are you doing that? Why? Why would you, why would you wanna try to start a business? Yeah. Why have you thought about this? Have you thought about that this person failed? That

Billy: 49:06

person failed? Yeah. Dude, that was one of the funnest things, the funniest things about moving to Puerto Rico is like, and, and if anybody wants to know who their true friends are, their true supporters, and like people who really want them to succeed, tell'em you're gonna do something crazy. Like tell'em you're gonna move to Puerto Rico or you're gonna move somewhere for a year. And the people who really believed iNOS. Cool. It was like I told them I got, you know, it was like I told'em I got my hair cut or something. They're like, eh, awesome. Like, how can I help you? And then the people who aren't really supporters of us gave us 50 million re I mean, do people say the craziest stuff to me? Like one guy's like, bro, are you afraid your wife's gonna get down there and get raped by those Puerto Ricans? And I'm like, No, no. I've actually been down there twice. Right. No, it's never been concerned. That's weird. Okay. That you would even say that out loud. Like, I'm a shame on you. You know? Right. But that was like the craziest stuff, dude, that people would say. And I'm like, wow, this is insane. And that really taught me a lesson, man. You know, even my podcast partner. Like, for him it was like a lot to, to, to do now cuz he'd have to set up his own production studio in his office. And even he was like, yeah dude, that's awesome man. Good for you guys. Go have fun, go experience life. And so yeah man, go. If you want to like whittle it out, down to the, down to the core, like tell somebody you're doing something crazy. Just tell everybody in one week moving somewhere crazy. Yeah. Even if you're not, and then you'll just know who your true friends are. It was insane. So

Tyler: 50:29

to to that same line too, we had another woman on Erica Stillman and a few months ago she said, you know what? I'm selling all my stuff. I'm gonna live outta my van. She was like that, that's what I wanna do. I'm gonna live out, I want to be away from everything and just live outta my van, be out in the wilderness and stuff like that. And I reached out to her and I was like, that's awesome. Like, that's right down your alley, you're going to. and she goes, thank you so much for reaching out. You would be surprised how many people, even people I don't even know that are reaching out and saying like, what a bad idea, this, this. And she was like, so I really appreciate you reaching out to me and, and saying that. And I'm like, well, first of all, why does anyone care? Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, and the only reason why I was reaching out is because I knew this was a great opportunity for you and you were gonna love

Billy: 51:13

it. Yeah. Yeah. It's weird, man. Well, and now she's

Chris: 51:16

moved to California.

Tyler: 51:17

California. Yeah. And yeah, it's cool. I I just love like the free spirit type of Yeah. And people are willing to take those risks, like you to go into Puerto Rico just being like, Hey, you know what? You only

Billy: 51:28

live once, let's go do it. Yeah, let's do it. We'll do that. I didn't wanna be on my couch at 65 looking at my wife going, I wonder what would happen if we moved to Puerto Rico. Now I know what happened. Now I can tell the story what happened. It's like, exactly. And then it opens up this whole, you know, other world of like, anything is possible. Like, you know, for me, like we, we lived in the mountains of Tennessee, that's where we grew up. So moving to, to Wilmington, North Carolina was like this big deal. And you know, like I, we moved here in 2015, so it was like a big deal for us to go like, can we make it on our own? We own two businesses at that time. I moved my company here, so Wow. It was like, okay, can we even survive this? And then when we did, so that was like a boost of confidence, you know, it was like, okay, we can, we can do it. Then when we moved to Puerto Rico, do internally and probably externally to my wife, like I was freaking out. Like I'm like, Oh man, I'm moving somewhere. I don't speak Spanish. I know no Spanish and a little bit of Spanish. I did know, come to find out Puerto Ricans, like have their own like Spanish, so it's not even the same. And I'm like, okay, well thanks. High school for nothing. Like I knew I shouldn't have paid attention to that class. it, it's so, you know that. And, but, but now it's like, we've done that. We've shipped dogs, we've done the hard thing. Yeah. And now we've done the hard thing. We understand like anything else is, is possible. And the more hard things you do and the more things you figure out, it's like the more confidence you get to do other things. And I think, you know, like, especially in the US here, it's like, dude, our culture, like is our educational system is built on factory workers. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like, okay, go to school, do what you're told. Sit down, shut up, raise your hand. And like, bro, I'm like, who's or whose original personality of their core is that? Yeah. Like there's a handful of people. Well, and those are so many, those are some great people and they're all, they're all accountants. So good for them. Right. Or they work in a factory. Or they work in a factory. I mean, and you know what? We can have those people too. My wife reminds me of that. She's like, honey, not everyone can be an entrepreneur, a content creator. Take big risk and, and like, not care, like you Yeah. I mean, I do care, but it's like everything's pretty calculated. It's risky to other people cuz they've never done it. Right. Well, to me it's a pretty calculated thing of like, okay, I, I, I think this is gonna work. Now obviously some stuff works, some stuff doesn't, right. Some stuff works for a little while and it disappears. But it's like, dude, I would rather be 85. Like, all right man, I tried, like, I'd rather be 85 and poor living in a dumpster and be like, I, at least I gave it a shot. You know? It's like, but yeah, it's, it's crazy, man. At least I took some action, you know? Yeah. So I don't know.

Chris: 53:53

So on that note, I got a question for you. All right. What would be your definition of

Billy: 53:58

success? Happiness. Okay. Yeah, happiness. I, I, I mean, I think that's the thing, man. It's like yeah. I don't know. Cuz you know, it's like I don't make the most, I mean, you're like, oh Billy, you're, you're making money. Like, money's nothing. Right? Anybody can make money. Mm-hmm. the guy on the corner here when I was pulling in probably makes more money a year than I do just holding up a sign that's, doesn't even have anything on it. Cause it's been rained off like Right. He probably makes more money than I do, but I'm way happier than he is. And the guy wearing a tie and going to the corporate job and CEO of 150. You know, whatever. Maybe he's happy, maybe he's not, I don't know. Maybe he spent 10 years of his life getting a career that he hates and he wants to be the guy in board shorts in Puerto Rico, like, you know, selling hotdogs or whatever, like mm-hmm. But I, I think that also boils down to like, what we expect other people or, or kind of people's expectations of us. And that's been pressed on us so much growing up. And you know, luckily I have parents who were pretty lenient on me. They weren't like, gotta go to school, gotta be a doctor, gotta do this. My wife or my mom was like, oh dude, if you don't turn into a crack head, like, I'm gonna be proud of you. Like, good job. You know cuz that's where we grew up, man. We grew up around drugs and alcohol and my, my mom got beat, you know, when I was five years old. I watched her get beat up by this alcoholic dude every day for a year. Wow. And so it's like, oh, you go to school, you go to college, you're like, you got a job. Good. You're successful. Like that is, but I think like, if you can wake up every day and you're pumped to, to go to work, like who cares if that's at Chick-fil-A or if that's at cleaning toilets or if that's running American Airlines or like, whatever. It's like, dude, whatever makes you tick and, and gets you fired up and, you know, every day. It's like, that's what makes me, I feel successful now. Like, no matter what's in the bank, no matter what's, you know, car I drive or what people think I make or what people think, I, I don't give a rip what anybody thinks I do. Right. I'm like, and I, and I think in the last year I've stepped into that of I found myself and I'm really happy with that. Nice. That's awesome. And it's kind of an interesting feeling because I think your whole life, you. Are trying to do that, but maybe you don't even know you're trying to do that. Mm-hmm. and, and even people comment, people are like, Hey man, you're not the same bill you were a year ago. Is everything okay? And I'm like, one, I'm glad because I, I think we need to evolve as we go on through live. Mm-hmm. but two. Yeah. Dude, I'm so comfortable. My skin, I don't feel the need to impress anyone anymore. Yeah. And so I feel successful if I died today, you know, I'd be like, cool. I did, I did a thing, man. I, I had a beautiful life. It was great. So yeah, I think that would be my definition of success. That's

Tyler: 56:39

fantastic. And so for the, for the last question to build on that, if you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?

Billy: 56:49

Oh man. So many things. Hmm. I, I think if I could give back and tell myself one thing, it would just be to believe in myself. Yeah. Like, just believe that you can do it because you know, I think so many times I, growing up, I looked for other people to mm-hmm. say, Hey man, you're doing great. Hey, you're doing awesome. You know, like, like probably two years ago if I walked in the studio and you were like, Hey man, you really helped us out do this podcast, that would've meant more to me than my anything. Yeah. Right. But I, but, but I was like, oh man, that's really cool. That's dope. I'm glad I could do that. Right. But it, and it gives me life to do it some more, but it wouldn't have been like the pinnacle. Mm-hmm. Like two, so like two years ago it would've been the pinnacle. Oh, it would've been like, oh my gosh, really, man, like, oh, this is so great. Like, you know, and I appreciate it, but but I think it's, you know, that's part of it too. It's just like, all right, man, just believe that you can do it and, and just put the, put the effort together. So, and it's hard

Tyler: 57:48

too. It's interesting that you say that too, because it's funny when I talk to different people and if I give them like an accolade for something, you can tell who's truly. I guess, confident in themselves because the ones that aren't get really big-headed with it and they're like, oh my goodness, like I made this, like whatever. Yeah. And then people that are like truly confident, they, they appreciate it, of course, because like anything like that, but they're like, well, yeah, yeah. Like I am who I am and I'm confident in what I'm teaching you. Yeah. So I, I know this is good. And so you can kind of tell like what's, what's real and what's not that way

Billy: 58:27

too. Yeah, man. And I think you learn that over time. You know, how to just be comfortable in your own skin. And maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and I won't be, I mean, there's probably moments of like, oh man, I don't feel, I don't feel like, you know, I need to go impress somebody or whatever. And, and there's so many things, you know, talking about a therapist, my gosh, I probably should call one right now to figure this out, but it's like, you know, you, you grow up your whole life and sometimes people are four years, sometimes they're against you. And, and there's so many opinions going around your world. And, and it's like, if I could, and another one, one more thing I would tell myself is like, focus on yourself. Like as much as you want to focus on other people. Mm-hmm. and I, and I think oftentimes, maybe not so much just like millennial age and down, but especially like my parents' age, like, you know, like whatever. They're like, keep up with the Joneses kind of people. Yeah. And I'm like, dude, I just can't do that cuz I'm not, I gotta keep up with who I am. Yeah. And not with anybody else. And I can be super selfish. Which sounds weird. I mean, selfish in a weird way. Not, not like, you know what I mean? Exactly. Yeah. And I think that's

Tyler: 59:28

important too because especially in the social media world that we are in now, you always feel like you want to impress someone else. And we've already talked about, yeah, no one really

Billy: 59:35

cares no one really cares to be selfish and, and those content creators, man, it's like, I'm gonna put out this content to do what it's supposed to do. Mm-hmm. and, and for somebody to sit across the table from me and say, Hey man, your content meant something to me. It really helped us get this podcast started. That's enough for me. Right. That's it. That's like, that's great. It did what it was supposed to for who it was supposed to at the moment. It did it. Now, if that's for a million people and goes viral, even better, I'll go sell some sponsorships. Right? Yeah. But if it's for 10 people and it changed their world and gave them the confidence to, to hit record, to put their voice out there, to create their own legacy, then dude I'm in. I'm in for it. So all you can do is be you and whatever the results of that are is what they are. Yeah. That's awesome.

Chris: 1:00:18

I just wanna say thank you, Billy, for thank

Billy: 1:00:20

you guys, man, for coming on here. It's been great. Thank you for this class too. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. This public knowledge that you give ev everyone you give every guest this class. Yes, all the guests, man. Come in, get a whiskey and wisdom class now. Everybody's gonna be like, let me on the show. I made Kaeo, I got TikTok. I went viral. Huh.

Chris: 1:00:39

Oh my gosh. Do you want to have anything to shout

Billy: 1:00:41

out? No, man. I mean, if you guys wanna check out what I do on Amazon and see what that's all about, it's just Dill billy.live. And I just have a lot of fun on there going live, creating product videos. It's kind of my obsession right now. Yeah. So a year from now who knows if it'll even be around, but right now I'm like obsessed So yeah, that, that'd be the only thing if people wanna check that out. And I will say it is all affiliate stuff and I make money off of it. So if somebody clicks on there and buys something from Amazon, I have to say that via some law that I can't remember who made it up, but yeah, who knows? Some three letter organization says I gotta say that. So anyway, that's what it is. Yeah. I'm

Tyler: 1:01:14

in a similar world where have to disclose, disclose, and disclose some more, is what a coach of mine said. So

Billy: 1:01:22

I appreciate you guys, man. This has been awesome. Thank you so

Chris: 1:01:24

much for coming on. Thank you guys for listening and have a good one. Cheers.

Billy: 1:01:29

Cheers. Cheers.