Perfection Not Required: Growing an Online Business from the Inside Out
Perfection Not Required: Growing an Online Business from the Inside Out
Ep.35 Discovering the Secret of Entrepreneurship
The Secret caught her eye from the bottom shelf and it literally changed the course of their lives. Though the process took many years, many forms and lots of courage, Jewel and Auret held tight to the vision of a successful business together...and it's all worked out.
Auret Esselen and Jewel Tolentino are the founders of Essetino Media where they teach creatives how to use YouTube to grow an online business. This is the story of the years of trial and error it took for these women to settle into the thriving business they have today.
In this episode, you'll learn about:
1. How allowing yourself to be curious opens doors
2. Building success from "failure"
3. The value of evergreen content on YouTube
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It was surprising the amount of times we had to fail and leave whatever it was that wasn't working and go on to a new thing because you name it. We've done it all. dropshipping blog writing MLM, all the MLMs used to sell coffee, Craigslist, Amazon eBay merch by Amazon like all the stuff all the steps to get to this point.
Jamie Stephens:Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Breaking up with corporate each week I chat with everyday women that ditch their nine to five to bet on themselves. We break down their journey into entrepreneurship, unpack the lessons learned and create the vision of how this life gets to be if you're willing to get uncomfortable and step into your potential. I'm your host Jamie Renee to time corporate escapee and coach to burnout women looking to plan their escape. Let's go. Okay, welcome back to another episode of Breaking up with corporate today I have a REIT and jewel on the podcast. And I'm gonna let them go ahead and introduce themselves. So Right.
Auret Esselen:Yes. Hi, Jamie. Thanks so much for having us on here. It's a REIT here. And they also got I'm Joelle. So we're YouTube strategy coaches. We're YouTubers as well. We've been on YouTube for over seven years now. But we also help entrepreneurs and coaches and consultants with growing their business online. So anything from design assets, YouTube, video marketing, that sort of thing. And we are so passionate about what we do we absolutely love helping new entrepreneurs specifically, because I know that's a stage where we all need help the
Jamie Stephens:most. Yeah. And you know, I remember in my beginning stages of business to where that is exactly where I turned with YouTube for all of the I mean, we're just talking like, how do I set my Instagram profile? I mean, like all of the things, it's like you're Googling every single thing. Yeah. So we'll get into that in just a minute. But why don't you tell me like what you guys were doing before you started doing this?
Unknown:Yeah, no problem. So it's dual here. There's two of us in the room,
Jamie Stephens:which is exciting. I just want to pause for a minute and acknowledge that you guys are my first like, I've never had more than one guests at a time. So are you business partners? Is that like, Yeah, okay. Yeah, so
Unknown:I'll do a little bit of a an intro of that. So I'm Joule and arreton. I are best friends from high school. So we've actually known each other since we were 12 and 13 years old. And we had, I mean, we, we grew up in the early 2000s. That's when we went to high school. So social media was not a thing. So the options for jobs were very limited. And me being Filipino. I was told to be a nurse, and Arete was told to be a doctor because he used to edge and yay, those stereotypes are totally true. And you know, when I questioned my, my family and my mom, and I'm like, Why do I have to become a nurse? I don't even like any of that stuff. And she's like, that's what you do. That's, that's, that's what you go into. And that's actually, you know, if you notice, like, there is a lot of Filipino nurses, and it's a thing because the families push them into that. But I thought it was strange. And I thought it was weird. And I was like, I didn't think that that was the path for me. I felt really inside that it wasn't where I wanted to be in life. And so we kind of just, you know, went through high school and I went to a college, I wasn't good enough to go into a university here in British Columbia, or read went to UBC, and she actually got her her degree in psychology, was it? Yeah, I didn't get any degree or anything I dropped out after the second year. But we've kind of just been going on this path up until 2009. When I found this book called The Secret and it changed my life, quite literally changed my life. It was like, I saw color again, I saw hope I saw I felt that I actually could do something in life because, you know, when we were in high school, or it was very studious, she was extremely smart, got all the principles on her own. I was just having fun, but I was the complete opposite. I was good at art and gym class PE, but I was failing out of everything. So at the time, when you don't have good grades in high school, it's like what are the options for you? So I really thought that I wasn't going to have a good life because I didn't have the quote unquote, grades. And so that's how we've known each other. That's how the journey started. And my one of my first jobs was, I worked in downtown Vancouver as a kid claims clerk slash adjuster for a private insurance company. And so that was kind of a corporate job. And oh, yeah, in your corporate? Yeah, I mean, we it's a lot of randomness right? We did a complete 180 But yeah, it was so making use of my psychology degree and the pre med stuff that I learned in university I actually took the MCAT twice which is the medical admissions exam to get into med school so I was very much on that path. And and so when I graduated from university I went and got a job another office job in downtown we actually didn't know that the building are like so close together was like one block away. It was so brand new, it was seriously really weird. So I first got the job in 2009 Yeah. And it was like in the heart of downtown by the water, Vancouver, we're here in Canada. And I got the job first and I'm like, Hey, I'm all of a sudden Miss claims clerk slash adjuster thought it was really cool. You know, I'm in downtown, and I'm in an office building is cool office building in a read gets her job to, and it's three buildings away. Yeah. And it's like, it was crazy, because we would always meet up for lunch. And it worked out later on. Because we that's how we started working on our business was on our lunch times and stuff, and going to different coffee shops, even going to networking events, during our lunch breaks and stuff. My, the business that I worked for was an employee Family Assistance Program. So it, it was an E fab company. So my role was to work with the clinicians and the psychologists and the counselors to decide whether or not clients or employees of other companies could get more counseling sessions through their benefits. So it was in I was, it was like, it was like a national Administrator role for for Canada. And so, you know, I felt good about this role. It was like making use of my psychology degree, I still didn't know at that point, whether I want to continue going to med school or not, but I just felt like, I felt kind of empty, like, growing up. I'm very much creative. I, I love art and music, especially I'm actually also a music artist. I've released several albums and gone on tour a little bit on that later. Because that's kind of the spark like really believing what it is that you really believing in your dream, which doesn't come right away, by the way, it kind of comes by actually doing and making those 1% steps on on that journey. So yeah, well, well, we can touch upon that. But the secret is what really opened our eyes that we're not victims of our circumstances, we can actually take control and do what we want to do with our lives. I
Jamie Stephens:love that. So were you both reading the book or jewel, you grabbed it first and then passed it on it? Like, okay, we got to do this is that kind of how it happened? Or
Unknown:I found it really randomly. And it's even crazier, because like I said, I wasn't very studious. So I hated reading. Like reading was not the thing. I actually just wanted to look at comic books like Simpsons, comic books and stuff. And when I went into this bookstore called the Chapters Indigo, also in downtown, this book caught my attention by I guess it's not by accident. But I saw this huge emblem, like the s with the stamp, if you've ever seen the original secret book, and it was at the bottom of this shelf, and it was right when I came in, I didn't even make it upstairs to the comic book section because I walked right directly to this book. And it said, a secret. And I'm like, I laugh to myself, because I'm like, What's this secret? Like, what do you mean? Like I thought it was LAME, actually took the book to person who worked there. And I was like, What's the secret? And then she's like, Oh, you haven't heard about this. There's a DVD. It's really popular. It's about the law of attraction. And I was like, What do you mean, what? Law of Attraction? I never learned about this in science class. And then she was like, No, it's not about that. And then she's like, You should just, you know, get this book and get the DVD as well and watch it. And I was like, Okay, I'll whatever, you know, I'll just start reading it. Because at the time, I had already been at my insurance job for about a year and a half. And I was getting very stagnant at that job. I was starting to actually get depressed at that job because I could, I was like, wait a minute, I graduated. I'm at this job. I'm supposed to be here for the next 50 years. Like it didn't have like, This is it? This is like, this is what happens like, is this the exciting part? And so I actually took that book went to my car RT, I just started reading it. And it was very out of character for me because I, I tell you I'm not I was not a reader at all. And I read half of it, and it started to get really dark. And then I went home. And then I read the second half in one go. And this is extremely rare for a while, I finished the book. And I was like, Oh my God, I want to be an entrepreneur, I just like blurted it out. And I didn't know what kind of entrepreneur internet wasn't really going. So there wasn't really much happening online. But I just said, I want to be an entrepreneur. And I told the read was like, you've got to read this book. It's called The Secret but about the law of attraction, we're not victims, you can actually create your own life, like all these things in the book, I was telling her and then we watched the DVD several times. And it just, it literally changed my life. And then I spread it over to her that that was what started the personal growth journey. Honestly, that one book and just starting to read all of the other stuff out there like the thinking Grow Rich, the Rich Dad, Poor Dad, like everything that was out there at the time, we can assume So are you
Jamie Stephens:a big fan of Abraham Hicks? Are you familiar with?
Unknown:Yes, I will. That is my Bible. I was like
Jamie Stephens:any single thing that you have a question about, you can go or you know, go on YouTube, and it's like Abraham Hicks and jealousy or confidence or, or meme, you know, like whatever it is, it's just so much wisdom that just pours out. I mean, that is so fascinating that that's what kicked things off a REIT when a jewel said like she didn't want to be a nurse. But were you still thinking that maybe? I mean, I know you said you weren't sure if you're gonna do the MCAT. But when he first started, were you committed to the doctor? The whole thing, like in the beginning, and then it just kind of changed after you graduated university or kind of how did that happen? Yeah.
Unknown:I so I think I was mostly committed to that idea. Because I was brought up to believe that when you do have good grades, these are the professions that are going to really help you excel in life is you know, doctor, lawyer, engineer, stereotype. Stereotype. You got it? Yeah, exactly. And it was. I mean, I grew up from a very academic family, like my dad's in education as well, like, he works with the University, University of South Africa. And I was really very much like I was for it. And I was taking all the science classes and everything. But it was like something that I was doing, not something that I was really feeling. And because like I said, I'm very creative, but I was also, you know, this is some of the creative stuff is not something that you do in life, it's not, it's not going to make you money, it's not going to make you successful. So those things just became hobbies. And the pursuit of academics getting good grades, being on this path was what, you know, kept me going until I stopped, like until university ended, right, because all I knew before that was just eat, sleep, study, repeat, eat, sleep, study, repeat, like you're on that routine over and over and over again. So actually, it was kind of a blessing that I didn't get, I didn't have very good competitive marks on the MCAT because that's what made me take a year off and go get a job and work and that really allowed me to breathe and really see like, be exposed to other things that and make me believe that I'm, you know, I'm capable of a lot more than capable of going after what it is that I really love.
Jamie Stephens:I think one of the biggest blessings from things like the secret and understanding like law of attraction and all of those things is that you don't always see it in the moment. But whenever you look back at these like little disappointments and redirections, and all of the things and you can go Oh, like I get it now. I mean, like just that zooming out. That's so cool. So with all of that pressure, like to be somebody that you're not or to go down a certain path, how did your parents take the idea of you guys going and doing your cutting your corporate jobs and going to do YouTube creation? I've been through
Unknown:a lot in this entire entrepreneurial journey, a ton of ups and downs. But nothing compares to the fear that I felt on that day, telling my parents that I'm not going to be come a doctor. I'm not going to med school. I instead want to try this singing thing this music thing right complete one ad Hey, I'm gonna be a singer, not a doctor anymore. Like yeah, exactly. And they were like all scared that I would end up like Britney Spears and it was It was so scary. It really was. You know, I know that. Of course, at the end of the day, your parents just want the best for you. Like they know what they know. And they're brought up to believe certain things, and that's what they pass on to their children. But it was, it was terrifying. Like, I just remember being like so shaky, walking in the door. This was like a full fledged operation it was with remember the three of us? Yeah, they're friends, you can tell the salary we read had scheduled, okay, she's going to tell her parents and me and another friend. Each of us were going to tell our parents that we didn't want to do what what they thought we wanted to do. So the other girls they wanted her parents wanted her to become a surgeon, and either read the doctor or the nurse. And then so we were literally sitting outside of ARIS place in the car, like on tech support, like texting her being like, Hey, we're here for you. You know, if you need to leave the house or whenever we're ready, and we just like, sat there in the car for hours. And she spoke to her parents. And it was like three hours and we didn't hear anything. And we're like, oh my god, what happened? Is everything. Okay? She finally texted at the end. She's like, I told them, it's done. They didn't take it that well. But now they know. But it's out there. And then we went to go get ice cream.
Jamie Stephens:I mean, that's like a cure. All right. It's like, yeah, it can't be solved with ice cream, you know, currently not solved, but just softened. Yeah,
Unknown:I think it was an even though, like, it didn't go like perfectly or the way that I wanted it to. It was still a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. Because by just speaking it into reality, like it made it more real for me. Especially telling my parents that, like, I'm on a different path now. And I'm going to try this other thing here. I'm going to do this. And, and yeah, I mean, that was like one of the best the best decision decisions I've ever made. When I told my parents, I had this chip on my shoulder, so I scrolled downstairs and I was like, I like blurt it out. And I was like, I'm going to be an entrepreneur now. And I was kind of like, I don't care what you say it for it. Yeah. And they were like, scared and shocked. And they were like, oh my god, Jewel like you, you didn't go to business school, you wake up in the afternoon, all you do is watch TV. You don't like you never did anything in business. And all of a sudden, you're gonna say you're going to do entrepreneurship. And they were like, what, what are you going to do entrepreneurship, like, what, what's the business and I didn't know, like, I had no idea. I just said, I'm going into entrepreneurship. I'm gonna, I already started calling myself an entrepreneur, before I even had any thing like before, I didn't start anything, I hadn't even attended a networking event. And it just all of a sudden, claimed that status. And when I announced that it was daily repeated fights about the same thing over and over again about the decision I made because they, they literally thought I was going to be like homeless on the street. Like they thought, how are you going to make money like in at the time, I still had my job, so I was leaning more on that. But that's also another crazy story, because I actually got fired from my corporate job, because I was working on our business was
Jamie Stephens:another one of those divine timings to where it's like, looking back, that's the push I needed. I mean, you know, it's, it's so funny, because it's just like that push out the door to I mean, even just calling yourself an entrepreneur, I feel like that is such a huge step. Because as women we have such a complex, I guess I don't really know what to call it, but like, where you don't feel like you're enough or you know, you feel like so just to be able to boldly claim, I'm going to be an entrepreneur with absolutely zero evidence. I mean, that takes a lot of just, you know, so
Unknown:on a current Yes, yeah. I love that.
Jamie Stephens:So you were gonna go scene and you were figuring out jewel, you were figuring out what exactly you wanted to do. When did you decide that you wanted to do something together? And what was that if if a REIT was planning on singing?
Unknown:Yeah, so I kind of got molded in, along with the journey of entrepreneurship as well. So I found the book, The Secret in 2009. And my life my world has been flipped upside down. I see the world differently. I all of a sudden believe in myself. I'm saying I am affirmations. I'm I'm trying to manifest money. And I at first they teach you like to see if you can find money, like on the ground. And I was doing that everywhere in downtown and it was working. And I would actually find bills everywhere. And it was just like, I was like, okay, the law of attraction works because I'm finding money everywhere now. And it was just like, I just needed to look down. But anyways, in doing that in because my my whole mindset shift change, I was no longer that nine to five worker like I could not go in every day and do the work like I was having such a hard time, just getting through the nine to five date like I would get in. And I would have five to six coffees pop soft drinks, chocolate bars, just to give myself a sugar boost, or a caffeine boosts just to stay awake. Because I needed those things to get through the day. And it wasn't until 2010 When, you know, we actually started going to networking events and things like that and started to see like, what are the opportunities out there? And actually, one day we were walking to Starbucks, and we were like, What business? Should we start? And Arete said, Hey, will, you were good in art in high school. And I'm good at making greeting cards. I like construction paper. And by the end of the walk when we got to Starbucks, which was like a 1015 minute walk. We're like, let's start a greeting card company. And that was like the first business venture that we went off of. And so we got our drinks, like ran home to Reed's parents reads dad, he had tons of books in his library. And so I went in and found like a marketing book and how to start a business for dummies book. And it looked up and it said, Okay, step one, come up with your your name. And then Arete was sitting in her bedroom drawing out in pencil paper, our first logo and name and I'm looking through this book, and I'm like, hey, it says we have to do a proposal. I don't know how to do that. Like, let's skip that one. And let's furiously Yeah, it was all self taught like no formal business education. This is the real deal of how it went. It's not kidding. And in that one day like it's so it's like we went to the Starbucks in the like late afternoon, we became consumed with this new idea. She's trying to figure out the logo and the name. And her first name was essity no connections and she like wrote it out. It was like in block letters, and it kinda like it was trying to make it really artsy, to go along with like the greeting card company. So as the T knows the combination of our last names, which is still sticking today are called us and Tino media. Yeah, my last name is Tolentino, and her last name is insulin. So we took the first part of her last name and the last part of my last name. And because we were also trying to be different, like Google, so we were like, What is a weird sounding word? And so she came up with ESSA, Tino, and then at the time, we were doing a lot of joint ventures and networking. So that's why it was connections. So that's why we started off with that as a name. So just to answer go back to your question, Jamie, I think the way that it started was, you know, I decided to pursue my music. And actually I started taking singing lessons, which trickled into a whole, like music career further later down the road. But it started off with that. And at the same time, I was working at my office job, right. I had a co worker who is in the accounting department. And she said that she's part of a networking group, a women's networking group, and she invited me to come along, and I was like, oh, Ira, Jewel said she wants to be an entrepreneur. So I'll tell her and I'll bring her along. So that's how it started, like, we went to this together, got inspired. And we're like, what business? Should we start? Hey, we're both creative. Let's do greeting cards, which like, failed horribly, really fast. Yeah. And then we went to a craft store called Michaels here, it's a really big craft store. And we spent like, maybe three $400 just going around no actual plan being like, hey, we need this cutter. We need this this sack of foam paper. Oh, yeah, we would put this now. We just like bought lots of stuff. And we just started making greeting cards. And we realized very quickly that it wasn't going to be sustainable for us because we we want it to be an eco friendly greeting card company. And at the time, being green and eco was just kind of evolving and turning into something. So we tried to make our own paper. And so I Googled how to make paper. And it's actually way harder than it seems. And it turned out to Be this like half inch tablet. So like probably hear stories or Sharpie pens. And I'm like, This can't make this as paper like, this isn't gonna work. And we're like, maybe you should try something else. So yeah, that that was our very, very first journey.
Jamie Stephens:Yeah, I mean, I think everybody I've talked to, it's just like, if you are going the, the completely new route of, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm going to be an entrepreneur, which is kind of where I've always been myself, I know that this is for me, I have no idea what capacity it's gonna be on. But like, I can't do that anymore. I mean, I think that it's like, as you start to just allow yourself to play and quote unquote, fail, which it's never failure, right? Because you're always learning and growing and understanding what not to do mostly. Next time. It's such a process and like, I think people just one that's important to, for people to understand, because that's why you should either have a really big runway for money or do this while you're still at your job.
Unknown:We each have different stories, I needed that security, like I could not just quit my job and jump into it. The Universe force tool. And she Yeah, she never went back up. Yeah. So
Jamie Stephens:how did they find out? You were? What is it that you got fired for? I mean, like working on the job, but like what, tell me the
Unknown:story about that. So I was a claims clerk slash adjuster at this private insurance company. So my job was I answered the phone. And you you're calling because you either got into a car crash, or something has happened with your home, usually flooding or something, and you need to make a claim. And then so I would document the claim, and then hand it off to a more experienced adjuster. Or if it was like a simple claim, like a rock chip on your windshield, or hitting a deer, which happens apparently often here in British Columbia, then I would, you know, get them to a body shop or something and help them fix their car and get that process going. So that's was literally my only job for eight hours a day was answering and answering and answering, and overtime, you know, all these people that call they're like, either angry, distressed or scared, and it kind of gets put on you, it gets put on you as well. And I didn't realize it at the time. But after a year you I mean, I became really depressed at this job. And so when I found that book, it like gave me hope. And I would just be reading a bunch of things and all that kind of stuff. And like I said, we would go to all these networking events. And we would just be trying out all these little things. One of the first things that we were doing was called joint venturing. So if somebody had like a painting business, or a cake making business, they would give us like these vouchers, and then I would try and give them connects people that needed a cake or needed painting. And then I would get a commission for it. So I was constantly trying to do these connections and trying to to get something going for our business. I really didn't know what I was doing. But I was it that was more exciting to me than the actual job. So you would get these calls. And there was a team of us a team of five to seven people that took these calls. And so I figured out the call routing system, like if you forwarded the call, and it needed to take a certain amount of calls per day. But if you answered it, put them on hold for 30 seconds, then transfer them over. It's like you took the call. Right? So yeah, I know. It's really Yeah, it wasn't the greatest, you know, I was Yeah. So that's how I was able to show that I was quote unquote, taking these calls, but not really taking the calls because I was just passing them on to another Jasmine.
Jamie Stephens:Your coworkers are like what the hell yeah, they're like, why is it
Unknown:so busy? Yeah. And so I would be like, on the end, we didn't have access to any social media platforms because they blocked all of them. So I only had like Google and certain websites and stuff. So it was like writing things down ideas. Like I was so excited for our business venture, but I didn't even know what it was. So it was constantly doing that. And then I became pretty cocky and I started telling my co workers that I know that actually even really working I'm just actually doing like our business and stuff and then you know one thing led to another and it got up to the you know, the the people above and on February 24th around there I was called in. And, you know, they're like jewel, I think, you know, it doesn't seem like you're working on, you know, the call of you're on taking the calls, you know, what do you have to say for yourself? At that point, I was so far removed from my job like I was all in. So Tina, like, I only want to do that. And my dream was to make enough from this, our new business, and then I walk in, and then I quit, you know that that was the way it was supposed to go. I didn't envisioned it several times daily, I would just picture myself walking in and giving my letter of resignation. But it didn't go that way. Because they're like, What do you have to say for yourself? By kid, you know, I'm like, I'm so like, zoned out from everything. And I just flat out said, I'm depressed at this job. And I, I honestly, I don't like the work. It's not for me. And I'm unhappy here. And then they just said, okay, you know, you're terminated. That was pretty much it. And they I couldn't even go back to my desk or say goodbye to my co workers, because they had some gather all my stuff. And I had to your Google. Yeah. And how do you how do you escorted out by security? I felt like I was some sort of criminal or something. You rebel you. Yeah. And I was escorted to the lobby. And I called a REIT. And I just broke down and I was crying because Adelgid, I became like, slightly scared as well, because I'm like, that was my job. Like, that was my income. That was my earnings, you know. And I called a REIT, crying, scared, and she's like, just go to the car, just go to your car at the time, I used to park across the street at this hotel. And she's like, just go there, I'll meet you on my lunch break just hanging out there. And like, I'm sobbing so hard. It looks like I've like, I was under recognizable. Because you know, when you cry so hard, your face is so puffy, and you can't see or breathe. And so that's what was happening. Because the my, my world was literally flipped upside down. And that was the beginning of everything. Because a read on her lunch break, she comes over and she's like, I think this is a sign from the universe. And I'm like, and I'm like, This is the secret. And then I was like, okay, and she's like, I think that this is supposed to happen. And she's like, we're supposed to have a meeting with so and so at 5pm. And I was like, No, I can't go to this meeting. Like, I look horrible. I look really bad. I'm in completely disarray. And she's like, let's go to that meeting. And let's, you know, she wants a website. And, you know, let's, uh, you know, let's potentially sell her on a website, I clean myself off in the hotel lobby washroom, I actually get some ice cubes, put it on my face to get the puffing to go down. And sure enough 5pm rolls along, we head over to this coffee shop. And there was a potential client there. And you know, we we had recently learned, what was the net wicks. So I was because I was doing my music and like, we're meeting other music artists and stuff. I was part of the an artist development company, and then later labeled, while we were learning all this stuff for marketing for business for ourselves, we recognize that a lot of other artists need help with that as well. So everything that we learned in terms of design and getting our website up and all this kind of stuff, people would see that and they'd be like, I want that too. Can you do that for me? So we started putting it out there like even in that in the networking meetings that we went to, that we can help you with web design. So that's how it started with Wix websites. And at the time, Wix was very different than it is now we have totally different. And so we pitched this, this client, and they were like, yeah, we can make a website for you. $500. And at the end of that meeting, she gave us a check for $500. So on the day that I got fired is the day that we made our first money in our business, and we had been doing entrepreneurship at that time for about a year. And so that proved to me, and then showed me that this is it. And I can't go back. I can't go back at all. And it wasn't like completely smooth sailing after that. But that that showed me that yeah, we can do this because it's possible. It was like $500 and I was making $23 An hour and I would get nowhere near that amount for working an eight hour day and we just got it in this one meeting. Right this one one hour meeting. So that changed our world and that's kind of how SSDNow started. Did, it's awesome.
Jamie Stephens:So, tell me a REIT. Tell me about a little bit about your music journey. I'm curious about how all of that has kind of led into everything you're doing now.
Unknown:Yeah, so, I mean, I've been singing since I was little. And I've always loved music so much my sister used to dress me up and make this like, flower background with her paints and stuff and make me like, saying and lip sync music, video and stuff. And it was, yeah, it was fun times. But it was always like, you know, I love this thing. But it could never be an actual career, like, I could never pursue this. And also, it's like, way too competitive. Like, there's amazing singers out there. But yeah, when after reading the secret, and just really deciding, like, hey, I can, I can do whatever I want with my life. I'm the one. I'm the Creative Director of my life, I can design it the way that I want to, I started taking singing lessons. And from that I had opera, small little opportunities here and there to perform. I started singing with the local collective group. And by the way, like all of this stuff, and realizing now than telling me stories, it's like people, it's the people that you meet that you network with the people that you interact, this is what all leads to opportunities later down the road. So yeah, I was not necessarily feeling like a music artist or anything yet, like I was just making again, those 1% moves to do to sing right to just take a vocal lesson. And over time, like I started gaining a little bit more confidence in myself and, and my voice, I would usually sing soprano. And I would do these little side gigs with some other people that I met up with. And I saw an ad like, I wanted to actually start thinking about creating my own album, like writing a song, like original song, because I've written poetry since I was young as well. And I always love writing poems, and I was like, let's be pretty cool to take that skill and just turn it into lyrics and make it a song. So I saw an ad in a paper for an artist development company where they help you get your first album out. And it called them and I met up with this guy, he had a very similar story to mine, to ish, you know, his parents wanted him to go to med school, like it was just so it's not coincidence. But it was like I, we really connected on that entire storyline. And he was in music. And I saw him as a role model that he's doing what he loves. And he's like, You know what, let's do this. We're gonna do a 12 song album for you, we'll get the producers and we'll make this work. You write the songs, we'll have scheduled dates, let's make this happen. So that in itself started this entire journey of like, me writing music, figuring everything out along the way, working with producers, we're performing on tour across Canada with a band like going from Victoria and went all the way to New Brunswick, like 12 cities in 14 days a crazy tour, but it was like a dream come true. And I'm still writing music to this day, I'm actually doing a whole rebrand of my of my sound and because before it was very much pop music, but now I'm really working into the whole cinematic genre, epic orchestral cinematic music. It's really, it tells the story of what's really in here and everything that's happened in the past decade. So the music and the lyrics are really a reflection of, of this whole thing that's happening to us. And it's all around empowerment, and how you can do whatever it is that you want to do.
Jamie Stephens:I love that. So you were doing that while you were still doing the the media stuff with jewel, or was that at the same time? So you alongside?
Unknown:Yeah, so actually, we because I was we were doing like our business writing and learning a lot about marketing. And we would do this for me read the music artists and other artists would see that so that artists development company actually had a label as well. And they were like, can you do this for a we'll hire you? Can you do this for all of the artists on our roster? Yep. And it really became our first clients out I'll yeah, it was crazy. They Yeah, they brought us to a meeting and we had no idea what it was about. And they were like, we see what you're doing with a REIT stuff and social media. Can we hire you and we're like yeah, so we were doing like social media for all the people on the roster. And it was so cool because we got to go like I also got to go on tour. and stuff, and do all the social media for it. And it was like one of our first like, legitimate gigs that we got from an actual company.
Jamie Stephens:That's really fun. So how has that transitioned into what you guys are doing today on YouTube? Like when did that whole thing start?
Unknown:Yeah. So all that's all the story stuff we've been telling you about. That was up until 2015. And that's when I found YouTube. So I've always known about YouTube, YouTube has always been around. But one day, I was trying to do something on Facebook, and I was trying to upload a banner. And at the time, that was the vertical banners that were on the left hand side of your profile, not sure if you remember, but yeah, they had these very thin vertical banners. And I was trying to upload it. But for some reason, I couldn't figure it out. So I went to YouTube to find a tutorial, I found this really horrible tutorial where they were just typing on a screen and blasting like rock music. And they were trying to show the steps, but there was this blasting rock music and I figured it out, I you know, I was able to upload the banner. But at the end of it, I was like that, that was horrible. Like, I could do a better tutorial than that. And so that's when I got the idea to put up a tutorial to put up a tutorial really, for myself. And I was like, I think I can explain this in a very simple format, and just get straight to the point and not distract the person. And so I put up a tutorial. And I would randomly put up tutorials, I had no actual schedule. And I noticed that once a week, we would get a new subscriber, like one new subscriber to the point where we got 300 subscribers over like, quite a long period of time. And I send to a re unlike Hey, we're getting like one or two new subscribers every week. And we're not even trying on YouTube. What if we actually, like took YouTube seriously and actually made an effort? And then she's like, okay, sure, I guess. And then we just started, like a great idea. We just started doing these YouTube videos, but we still didn't have a schedule. And it wasn't until we were about to hit 1000 subscribers, when YouTube was running this program for new YouTubers, and they actually assigned someone to work with you for as three call mentorship, wow. Three, half an hour calls with someone who actually worked at YouTube. And they gave you advice. They give you advice on how to succeed on YouTube. And the first thing was, hey, do you need to schedule schedule out? You know, on Mondays you talk about this, because we wanted to talk about different entrepreneurial things that we were learning. And so she's like, if you want to talk about all that stuff, it's fine. Just put it on a specific
Jamie Stephens:date people know what to expect and how Yeah, okay,
Unknown:thanks for consistency as well. And so we started doing that. And then we started to get this group and then we got 2000 subscribers 3000. And then we're like, wait a minute, are we YouTubers like is this and then it just turned into a deep love for YouTube, YouTube, I, you know, I didn't pay attention to my childhood, but I was always playing with the video camera and wanting to record things. And then now in 2015 16 I'm like, obsessed with YouTube and wanting to create more tutorial videos. And we will start to get these comments from people saying, Hey, I like your teaching style, or this really helped me or, or you saved me, you know, and we just from there, it turned into our business like 15 and 16 is when we found it. And then 2018 That's when a REIT was able to quit her job, because I was like full time working on this trying to make it grow and stuff. And so, I mean, fast forward to today we are we have a whole coaching business now for YouTube. And it's, it's wild, the journey and the opportunities that YouTube has created for us. With YouTube, you create your own stage to say whatever it is that you want to speak on, right? And you decide what goes you you decide, hey, I have my own show what it is, what is it that I want to say and share with others and we're just still to this day. So in all that creating a video over and over and over again, can help someone quit their job can help someone gain immense confidence not just in themselves, but in speaking can help someone grow a business gain monthly revenue like passive income as well as selling your products and services, whatever that is getting opportunities to speak on it. Other people's stages, I was able to actually interview Danielle Laporte and Evan Carmichael, some of these people that you would never normally like connect with on our channel. So YouTube was really the first time that we had started to see and grow a community and see results come out of that.
Jamie Stephens:I mean, that's no small feat. I have a very small YouTube channel, it's, I don't know, 300 Something subscribers, but I, it's really been on my mind to really just kind of totally shift the direction of that, because I actually started out with like, like a cooking show, because I love to cook. But the problem is, as I started it, right before the pandemic hit, and then I was so burnt out with cooking, because it was like, that's all I was doing 24/7 with my family, and I was like, I cannot do this. So it kind of got pushed to the backburner. But I'm like, gonna reboot that and really just kind of change it into this new direction that I'm going with, like the podcasts and consulting and all these things, I'm going to have to go and spend some more time on your channel and learn learn all the things in because you've got a course on it, right?
Unknown:Yeah, so we have this course called the profitable channel. And it's essentially we've taken our one on one coaching and put it into a, an online video course format. And it's our system, to how we earn over five figures a month with our YouTube channel. And it's, we've done it in a mentally stable way. Because I say that that way, because a lot of people think that they need to have a million subscribers, they need to do weirdo things on videos, and it tried to try and get the views and to try not to go via a crazy personality and try and do that kind of stuff. But if you go in our channel, it's how to tutorial videos, I'm teaching something and it's different topics. And it's not wild and crazy. But it's extremely fulfilling and fun for me. And, you know, we, we want to teach people to create a channel like that that's sustainable, that isn't so volatile with emotion. Because when you try to chase the virality of things like trying to be viral, it takes a toll on you. It drains you. And so we actually don't go for anything viral, we just we seek to evergreen content, and SEO content, which is like searchable content. Yeah, it's all through just being yourself and sharing your knowledge. That's that's like, just simplified. That's all it is. Like, we're not trying to there's no like crazy high video production or anything. It's the simplest setup that we still use today. This is simple webcam and USB mic. And that's it. That's what we built the entire channel on this camera is spring 2015 16 is the exact same one we use to this day. Why fix something's not right.
Jamie Stephens:I mean, keep those costs low. So when I was looking at looks like you guys pump, publish every day, is that correct? Or like five days a week, seven days a week? I'm not sure there's a lot of videos.
Unknown:Yeah, there is a lot of videos and the thing was in YouTube, that and in life, really, it's like consistency is key. If you are consistent with your YouTube channel, then it it has this compounding growth effect. And so we actually release videos, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And then we do a live stream on Thursdays at 6pm PST. And then lately I've been doing this Facebook marketplace selling series because that's one of the ways I used to make money like cash to put into the business. And people really like those kinds of videos when I show myself selling on Facebook marketplace. So I recently because of the pandemic accumulated lots of stuff and and my friends and family have been selling homes and stuff and they asked me to sell stuff. So I'm turning it into content. So I'm actually documenting, me selling like all this stuff on marketplace to show people that you know, it's possible to make X amount of money on marketplace that you can put into your business, pay your bills, whatever you need to do with it. And by the way, you don't need to release the four or five, six videos a week on your channel to be successful. It could just be one video a week, it's whatever that you can realistically and consistently keep up with. That is the number of videos that you should be releasing because it's really a consistency game a numbers game engaging with your audience.
Jamie Stephens:So I'm just curious kind of about your process whenever you are. And I watched your like intro video and not actually into the tutorial ones but I see that you're like I mean like You said it's 150 125 views per video. And but then like, on the back end, after a year, like what happens with I mean that it's really impressive just kind of how those just build and build and build over time. Because like you said, Evergreen, which is my people don't know just means that it's forever searchable. It's, you know, it's something that is not trendy or gonna go out of style, or you know, it's like something that people will always come back to not like, what you were saying with a viral video that, you know, everybody looks at once one day, and then it's gone. So do you film every day? Or do you batch your stuff? And then just kind of break it into pieces? Or like, tell me a little bit about how you do your process? And then kind of who does what?
Unknown:Yeah, yeah, so this is all like, this is what we teach in the course, right? It's really, it's, it's broken down into four, four steps, really. Number one, you have to create your videos, create your content. So planning things out, right? brainstorm a list of video ideas. Number two, you got to set a date to film those video ideas. And number three, you got to either outsource the editing or figure out a solution for editing it yourself. And number four, scheduling those videos. So for our process in terms of like, how do we do all of this stuff that once you set it, it really comes down to batching. And setting specific days where you're going to film where you're going to edit, where you're going to schedule and where you're going to brainstorm as well. Step number one. So for me, and that number of like videos that you want to batch, it's totally up to you, it depends on what kind of videos How long of the videos, you're producing your energy, all that how much time you have in the day. So for me, I find a good a good amount is, is for videos batching at once, or will sometimes do this thing, we've actually recently started doing this and it's been amazing. We rent a hotel room or an Airbnb, for the entire day, just spend that day filming a whole whack load of videos come into that day already with a list of your ideas, your outlines ready to go. And then when it comes to that date, and you're just focusing on filming, and nothing else, and it's like amazing, you can get an entire like you can get 90 days plus depending on how often you're releasing videos on your YouTube channel. All done in like
Jamie Stephens:one day, just by removing all of the distractions and all of the big one, that's where the the Airbnb or hotel room comes in. I'm assuming that's why you do that. It's just kind of like what I'm doing today.
Unknown:Yeah, you don't have to recode anything. It's like, okay, you booked it. So you know, you've got some money on the line here, you better produce, and yeah, we found like 25 or 30 videos in one go. The next time we do this, I want to go 50 plus videos in one go. Because it really I mean, it maximizes like crazy. And some of our students, that wouldn't be because we we live streamed and we shared the process with them. And people were like, That's genius, and they want to go and do it themselves now. It's really cool.
Jamie Stephens:So as we kind of wrap up, what is it? That is like one thing for each of you that was the most surprising out of entrepreneurship, whether it be like how your parents feel now or how you're supported now, or if you're supportive? You know, kind of like what was one thing that you were really expecting it to go one way and it's really just been like a total surprise?
Unknown:Well, I mean, to answer your your other question, they're like, uh, now my parents are fully supportive of what I do. And my dad is actually a really big fan of my music. And it's, you know, the story does have a happy ending. It's actually our relationships a lot better now than it was before when I was going to school and stuff. But in terms of what was really surprising, I think, from the very beginning, I saw entrepreneurship as a big feat. Like I didn't, I didn't think this is gonna be easy. I didn't think this is going to be fast. Like, it was like climbing a mountain seriously, I saw a huge mountain before me, but I knew that I had nothing really to lose and I I'm not going to quit. Like I knew that just by dealing continuously 1% Each day 1% Each day stacking those winds pivoting as needed meeting people, etc. It would just snowball eventually. And it would it would lead me to where I want to go. Sometimes I think and maybe this is sort of this is the lesson is you really You got to be comfortable with stepping into the unknown. Because that's where the magic always happens. And just learning that lesson over and over and over again, doesn't matter who you are, or how much success you have, or didn't have, it's really stepping into the unknown, which releases a whole whack load of new opportunities, new feelings, new behaviors, new thoughts, and leads you to places that you never would have imagined. What surprised me was the amount of times we had to fail to get to where we are now, I didn't anticipate that. Because every time like in the, especially the first five years, was like, and if we're being completely real, it took us until year eight, to really just like, blow it out of the park here. And that, and I'm okay with that. Because that's my journey. That was our journey. It was surprising the amount of times we had to fail, and leave whatever it was that wasn't working and go on to a new thing, because like, you name it, we've done it all like dropshipping. Blog, right in MLM, all the MLMs used to sell coffee. At each every paid legal, Craigslist, Amazon, eBay, merch by Amazon, like all the stuff, all the stuff to get to this point. And when we found YouTube in 2015 16, like, you just know that like, that was the one like I felt it when we were doing our YouTube channel, I was like, This is it, this is the one this is the one we're gonna take to the moon, I think that's that's really important is you is yeah, we both felt it happen. Because you can be successful with anything like any of those things that we tried MLMs blogs, all this kind of stuff, they all make money, they'll learn rules, they all work, you can be successful with any of them. And like at the beginning of our journey, we would be chasing these different things. Because we see this person here and it works for them, this person here and it works for them. And what we didn't really know and we had to learn this lesson is we got to find something that we truly connect with. And we're passionate about. And no matter what like this is, you know, this is it, this is our thing. And we have to go through selling and helping a lot of other people's businesses grow, like through the joint venturing and stuff because we didn't have a business back then. And MLMs as well, to realize that we're putting all this time and effort into something, why don't we just build our own brand? Like that is an asset that's going to last forever. So why are we doing this for ourselves? And that's when the whole, you know, like, Snowball happened of of us creating our own name for ourselves and figuring out what services we provide. And then yeah, I mean, the journey can the journey continues, who knows where it'll go from here? Like, it's, it's really exciting. It's really exciting.
Jamie Stephens:And such important lessons, too. I mean, like, I'm smack dab in the middle of all of that as well. Like, it's, I think it's just worth pointing out again, or like emphasizing the point that it's all of those things work. I see work for you. I mean that you can't you can't just do what everybody else is doing if you don't feel it, because it's it's I mean, it's back to the law of attraction. It's back to the secret. It's like, yes, you have to be magnetized to that. And so yeah, totally. Thank you for those lessons. So, all right, do you want to tell people where they can find more about you your YouTube channel, your courses, all the things and then I will also link them in the show notes so you don't have to like spell them or anything like that. Just kind of give us the brief. The brief rundown.
Unknown:Yeah, good. So yeah, you can check out our YouTube channel as Latino Media we go live there every single Thursday at 6pm PST. It's a creative mastermind. So you can come in, bring your questions and you know, we'll we'll hang out with each other. There's a lot of other entrepreneurs there that you can network with. You can contact us through our website as a Tino media.com. And if you at all want to check out the profitable channel course which walks you through step by step, our entire process of getting, you know, 90 days plus worth of content released on your YouTube channel that's working for you and monetizing that as well. That you can go to the profitable channel.com Awesome. Well, thank
Jamie Stephens:you so much, guys. I am so glad that you were able to come on today.
Unknown:Yeah, like so much appreciate it. Thanks for having us, Jamie.
Jamie Stephens:All right. How fun is it that we get a double dose of guest today. I just love having these conversations and it was so fun to have both Ori and jewel on here. Some of the key takeaways from our conversation are number one, it can change in an instant there Is this life changing moment when you realize that you can set aside all the quote unquote shoulds in your life, and live the life you want to live, it could be a brand new revelation or the tiniest shift in perspective, but once experienced, there's no going back. Number two, follow the energy. When you're just going through the motions of a job, there's a total drain on your energy. But when you're excited about something, you can pour yourself into it because it actually energizes you and motivates you. Number three, do the scary thing. Whatever it is that you've been avoiding, go ahead and take action on that. Facing that fear directly allows you to take the weight off your shoulders and set it aside. Acknowledge your dream, have the hard conversations, speak your truth, then feel how much lighter you feel. Number four, learn through the process. You don't have to have every single thing figured out to take action. Sure, you may end up with half inch thick paper, but the lessons gained through the quote unquote, failure propel you forward to the next idea and the next and the next. It's all part of the journey. Number five, meet all the people make connections through networking events, reaching out to your contacts, letting everyone you meet, know what you're doing and how it could help them. You never know what will come from one connection or project. Number six, consistency is key. Regardless of whether it's a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, showing up consistently is key to building trust with your audience. And by the way, that's consistent for you not what everyone else is doing. Number seven, the value of evergreen, focusing on clear concise, how to content over viral video trends translates into consistent five figure monthly revenue from a wreath and jewels YouTube channel alone. Number eight, just keep going. It may take years and a whole bunch of trial and error to really hit your stride in your business. And that's okay. Just keep showing up and learning and pivoting until you find your connection and success. Alrighty, thanks so much to Ari and Joel for being on the show today. I have linked all the things in the show notes and that is it for this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a five star rating for me. There's a link in the show notes. Thank you friend. I hope you have a fantastic week.
