I have 1.1 million followers, but I never wanted to be "an influencer."
Meaning, I've never been interested in attention for its own sake. I don't really have any desire to be in the spotlight.
But I also know what it's like to feel invisible and overlooked.
Which is why I started YouTube back in 2017:
I'd been doing product design and marketing for 15+ years at that point, and I did a lot of work I was proud of. Worked on brands like Nike, Red Bull, Swiffer, Febreze, and Nintendo at agencies, did design at Abercrombie & Fitch when they were on top of the world, sold millions in courses at CreativeLive (venture backed startup) etc etc...
But nobody cared.
I got zero traction when I applied for jobs, my network was weak, and I felt like an anonymous face in a crowd of 7 billion people.
I didn't really WANT attention, but I recognized that I NEEDED it-- and I got it:
Fast forward 7 years, and (to my total surprise) I have over 130 million views and 760k subscribers on YouTube and another 400k followers across other platforms.
Now there are literally millions of people all over the world who know my name, face and a good chunk of my life story.
It got me in outlets like CNN, Billboard, New York Times, No Jumper. I became friends with people I'd only seen on TV before, and I made 5x more than I did at my last 9-5 job (where I made six figures).
It changed my life, no joke.
→ Here's my point:
Most people don't really want to be in the spotlight. And the people who DO want it usually don't deserve it.
There's so, SO many cool, humble people out there who get overlooked for opportunities they deserve simply because they don't put themselves out there.
And those are the people I want to help.
You don't need anywhere near a million followers, but you DO need people to know who you are.
And I'm proof that you do NOT need to be an extrovert to make it happen.
I'm also proof that you don't need to be good looking, cool or fun at parties 😅
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