Episode #

001

Our Mount Rushmore of creators who inspired us

Listen on:

The HeyCreator Show is presented by Riverside.fm — ⁠get 15% off a new subscription by using code HEYCREATOR at checkout.⁠⁠

In the first official episode of the HeyCreator show, Matt Ragland (⁠⁠@mattragland⁠⁠) and Tim Forkin (⁠⁠@timforkindotcom⁠⁠) talk about facing the challenges of starting a new creative project. Then, the team goes deep into their past, revealing their Mount Rushmore of Creators Who Inspired Us.

(0:00) — Presented by Riverside.fm

(1:45) — Rundown of today’s show

(2:26) — Starting something new as a creator

(10:22) — Why reps are so important early in a creative project

(17:35) — Mount Rushmore of Creators Who Inspired Us

⁠Join the HeyCreator Community⁠⁠Make more from your content with Automatic Evergreen⁠

Podcast Transcript

[00:00:00] Matt Ragland: HeyCreators, I want to tell you about the sponsor of today’s show and it is Riverside FM. Now I love using Riverside for the HeyCreator podcast, but we use it at HeyCreator for many other things, including client interviews and community calls at times. It is the best tool that I have found for recording podcast episodes either by myself Here with Tim or with our guests.

[00:00:27] There are several reasons that we chose Riverside to be the tool of choice for the HeyCreator podcast. But let me give you a few of my favorites. The very first one is the ease of use and the quality of the audio. All I have to do is send a link to the guest and they can join. There’s no additional software for them to download or anything special for them to do.

[00:00:47] It is so easy. The other big thing that I love about Riverside is how it records all of the audio and video. Locally and individually per guest. What that means is if someone drops a connection, it doesn’t affect anyone else’s feed. It also means that if someone has some background noise going on or something that could affect other people on other recording platforms, Riverside isolates all of those tracks, which makes it really easy to clean up in post production.

[00:01:15] Another great feature that Riverside has come out with recently is their AI Clip Generator. This makes it so much faster and easier to get those short form, vertical videos from the best moments of the HeyCreator podcast. I highly recommend using Riverside FM for your podcast. And to get a special rate, all you have to do is go to riverside.

[00:01:34] fm and use the coupon code, HeyCreator. That’s one word, HeyCreator for 15 percent off any Riverside play.

[00:01:45] Welcome to the HeyCreator podcast. I’m your host, Matt Ragland. Today, my cohost, Tim and I are talking about what it’s like to start something new and the challenges that come along with it. And obviously this is a little meta because this is the first episode of the HeyCreator show. We’re also going to be talking about our most inspirational creators.

[00:02:04] These are the people on our personal Mount Rushmore of creators who helped guide us and place us on the journey that we’re on now in our own creative content and businesses. All right, let’s go ahead and jump into the show.

[00:02:27] Tim, we’re here. It is the very first episode of the HeyCreator show. How you doing?

[00:02:33] Tim Forkin: I’m doing great. This, this is, we’ve been working at this for a while and, uh, I’m excited to be here with you.

[00:02:39] Matt Ragland: Yeah, the way that I’m thinking about this is we’re finally here and it’s episode one, and it’s taken a bit of a journey to get here on multiple levels.

[00:02:48] But one of the things that I want to kind of open up with, but I know it’s something that creators struggle with every single day, perhaps, uh, quite often. I know I have, is when do you know? That a new thing that you want to do is ready to start. That you have enough pieces in place, that you have enough structure, that you have, uh, enough of a direction, a plan for getting stuff going.

[00:03:19] But you’re also not procrastinating through the perfectionism of wanting to be like, Oh, I got to have everything in place because we’ve been talking about the hate creator show for a year. And now here we are. And that kind of seems like a long time. Like we could have started before then, but also in retrospect, the timing just wasn’t right for our business.

[00:03:40] But I’d like to hear kind of your perspective on it as well. And something that I want to open up by talking about, I guess, sounds like a kind of a meta conversation for a very first episode. But how do you know when it’s the right time and you have enough in place to do the new thing that you’ve been thinking about for days, weeks, months, or even years?

[00:04:00] Tim Forkin: Yeah, I’ve been the person who has started so many different things, so many different channels, pages, accounts, projects. I have started so many things. And I haven’t finished many of them. I haven’t taken them from the point that I want them to go to. And I think it’s because I haven’t had this conversation with myself yet.

[00:04:20] And now that we’re here, doing this show, it does feel like the right

[00:04:25] Matt Ragland: time. I think that makes a lot of sense. And you were talking to me some in the pre show about, you have to know that it’s the right time and you’re in the right place mentally, and it kind of fits with what you’re doing at the moment.

[00:04:39] I’ve Because I know with the way that we were working and the kind of client work we were doing, we didn’t have enough time that we could dedicate to this. To make it what we wanted it to be. And that’s not just you and I, that’s the whole like, Hey, creator, good people, digital team. And so I do think like there’s an element where people and creators have to be honest with themselves enough to understand is this thing that I want to start?

[00:05:04] Is it enough of an opportunity? And is it something that I can give enough time to in order to see it be successful with enough resources and attention?

[00:05:15] Tim Forkin: And now feels like that time for us and for anyone listening, there is a lot that goes into finding that right time and the amount of work you have to do your relationships at home, your other opportunities, things you want to chase.

[00:05:29] This is simultaneously something that you have to make the most important thing if you want it to be amazing, but also something that can’t consume your life because then you’re. Trying to perfect it and overthink it. One thing we talked about before was when you start something, a lot of people try to be the most perfect version of it at the very start.

[00:05:46] And a lot of people try to just throw up the very V1 pre alpha version of it, just to see what comes out of it, just to see if it resonates with anyone. And I’ve been in both places. I’ve done huge projects. And I’ve done things that are literally just the voice recording of what I was thinking as like the start of the project.

[00:06:05] And the answer typically is in the middle of perfect and raw. It’s something that you’ve thought about enough, but haven’t started overthinking on. And it’s something that you have time for to make it great.

[00:06:15] Matt Ragland: Yeah, I think that understanding all those variables. And one thing that I talked with Daryl a lot about and we’ve, we’ve discussed is making a plan for what you want this new thing to be.

[00:06:27] Yeah. And then reverse engineering what it’s going to take to get there. We had a version of this conversation where we’re saying like, Hey, what would it take to make this an incredible in person podcast? Well, it would take these lights. It would take these cameras. It would take this tech. It would take like a studio.

[00:06:41] It would take these things. It would be expensive and it would require a lot of attention and resources. That’s like the ultimate place that we want to go. That is not something that we need in order to start this. So like, what are the variations and like maybe the phases of the thing that you want to do?

[00:06:58] Reverse engineering that and looking back to say like, Hey, This like first version of what I want to do, like say us for the hate creator podcast. Well, we know that the most, the biggest thing that we need is time, attention and resources enough to have good webcams, good microphones and a subscription to, um, a hosting recording service.

[00:07:19] So all of that we can do. Actually for both of us for less, less than a thousand dollars. And that is something that is a really good starting point. Something that can be, be high quality. When can both of us protect two to three hours per week for prep, for recording, for post production editing? When can we like between the two of us probably protect five or six hours at the most?

[00:07:42] When can we have like the budget and the company to like get this equipment? And, um, also bring in some other team members to help, like turn this into newsletters and short form content and even things that we could post on like social media. When will we have those things in place? Once we have those things in place, then we can go and This is what we’re doing today is we have all those things in place.

[00:08:06] It’s time to go. It’s time to hit record for the hate creator show.

[00:08:10] Tim Forkin: Yeah, it feels great. The there’s a mindset piece of it too, though. Uh, you did a lot on, on gear there. There’s a mindset piece too. I get DMS and. Calls from friends all the time who see me posting things. Like I want to be doing what you’re doing.

[00:08:23] I want to be posting. I want to build an online business. I want to start, I don’t know where to start. And they typically go to that gear point. They’re like, what camera should I get? How do I do this on my phone? How do I, like, they’re so focused on the gear part, but. The outcome is the most important part.

[00:08:40] And it’s the first thing I tell people is like, hold on, you’re getting way too focused on like camera lenses right now. Like if you’re making tech talks, you don’t need a big camera. All of those things are important, but they’re not the most important. The most important is the mindset and the outcome that you’re trying to have.

[00:08:54] The outcome can be a dollar amount. It can be a lifestyle. It can be just the thing that gets you up every day. The thing that you’re so excited to do. A lot of people think of like one of those things. They don’t think of the entirety of it. And then they are building something that they either don’t like or don’t want to do.

[00:09:11] And you don’t even start because you. You think you have to get all this stuff and you’ve, you’ve punished yourself because you don’t already look like the big creators who are doing it. Right. So you need to want that outcome and see that outcome and what it can give you before you worry about any of the other ancillary things.

[00:09:29] And I don’t mean to say that to say that gear isn’t important, Matt, like everything you just said is very important. The outcome piece is like, why start something that you don’t want the outcome for?

[00:09:39] Matt Ragland: Like we’re in a place and we have a level. Right now, where there are some expectations both internally at the company and externally like I have a good size YouTube channel and following on social media newsletter.

[00:09:55] I think that there’s expectation, or I have an expectation on myself that if I’m going to spend my time doing this thing, then it has to be a certain level of quality, and that can still be a trap that, uh, people fall, that creators fall into like, Oh, because I have this big audience, I have to do things at a certain level of quality.

[00:10:12] That’s another conversation. I think it’s a very interesting conversation. of like what got you here won’t get you there. The other thing that you said that I want to highlight for people is when you’re starting something, especially if you’re relatively new, there’s a framework that I think of that helps you like hit some milestones for creating something and figuring out, is this something that I want to continue to put time and resources into?

[00:10:38] And it’s the 10, 100, 1000 rep rule. That means If you want to try and do something new and you want to dedicate time to it, do it at least 10 times. Write 10 newsletters, record 10 podcasts, make 10 YouTube videos. This way you’ll get a feel for how much time does it take, how much attention does it require from you, what kind of additional gear do you want?

[00:11:06] Maybe there’s some things that you realize you don’t really need. Do it ten times, you can also get ten episodes of feedback, you get like ten, ten things that, ten pieces of content that can be used over and over and over again. And then understand that there’s a much like, longer progression to get from 10 to a hundred.

[00:11:25] But I guarantee you if you do something online intentionally a hundred times, then you will build an audience around the thing that you care about. So make a hundred YouTube videos, record a hundred podcasts, write a hundred email newsletters. I would say that if you do that weekly, obviously it’s going to take you two years.

[00:11:45] If you work on something weekly for two years, On the internet. And this is again, another conversation. And it’s about the majority of that content is around a focus, specific topic. You will be able to build an audience and because you have an audience, you’ll be able to build a business around that thing.

[00:12:03] Tim Forkin: Let me jump in right here. Um, I want to know, I want everyone to know that I took your advice to do this, the a hundred, a hundred round rule. Um, my first hundred tech talks, I put a little like out of a hundred in the top left corner and I’d update it. for every single one. And when I got to a hundred, I had exactly a thousand followers on TikTok.

[00:12:23] And I started a short form video editing business that I didn’t even mean to start because of that consistency because of a hundred videos. So I committed myself. I public accountability. I put in the top left corner, every video you can go and scroll back and see how embarrassing those videos are. Okay.

[00:12:38] But they’re out of a hundred. And when I hit a hundred, it was the indicator that I needed to keep going. So I want you to keep going on that. But I also want the audience to know that I saw results for starting and committing to a hundred tech docs. My, my life changed because of it.

[00:12:53] Matt Ragland: The only other thing that I want to bring up for that, and that’s awesome, by the way, uh, I feel, I feel humbled that you brought, that you, uh, followed, followed the advice, but I have something.

[00:13:02] I’m glad you hit a thousand followers. It took me, I think, 60 videos on YouTube to hit a thousand followers. It took me 11 months and 60 videos on YouTube to hit a thousand followers or subscribers. The other like story from this that blows my mind is the YouTuber, M-K-B-H-D. We started his YouTube channel like over a decade ago.

[00:13:24] Um, like. Marques is like younger than you would think. I don’t think he’s 30 yet. And so I think he started his YouTube channel when he was like 15 or maybe younger. And I found a video of his, I can’t even remember how I stumbled on it, but it was his 100th video that he posted on YouTube. And. While he’s going through it, he’s like reviewing some software.

[00:13:49] Like he’s sitting, he’s at his parents house. He’s in the dining room. He said like, Hey guys, really excited to record this video. This is my 100th video on YouTube. This is a big milestone just to like record this many. And I’m really excited and I’m thankful to everyone here who like comes and watches and comments.

[00:14:08] And let me just see like how many subscribers that I have for my channel right now on video 100, like looks around for science. And it’s like, Y’all, 76 subscribers. That’s awesome. A hundred videos. A hundred videos. 76 subscribers. He has 18. 4 million subscribers right now, and he has made over 1600 YouTube videos.

[00:14:37] So like it’s, it’s, you said a hundred videos, a thousand subscribers. It’s pretty wild. Like sometimes there’s like, there’s an eerie correlation. Sometimes you 1600 videos, 18 million subscribers, . It certainly starts to compound, but you can often see like kind of a one to 100 or one, two, 1000, or sometimes even 10,000.

[00:14:58] I think that’s kind of where Marques is right now, of that correlation between the more that you just keep. There’s 10, 100, there’s 1, 000. If you do 1, 000 things, 1, 000 specific things on the internet, Uh, Casey Neistat had his like 1, 000th video on YouTube, and I think at the time, wouldn’t you know, he has around, he had around 10 million subscribers, I think, when he produced his 1, 000th video.

[00:15:22] Tim Forkin: Yeah. The last thing we should say on this is when you do videos one through 10, uh, or one through 20. Or whatever you do. Like podcast, newsletter,

[00:15:31] Matt Ragland: whatever it might be. When you do a thing.

[00:15:32] Tim Forkin: What, when you do those first ones, you really can’t see that number, you That it’s going to be when you hit like X milestone, right?

[00:15:41] You, you, you can’t fathom it either. It’s going to be, it’s probably going to be higher than the number that you set out for, but you can’t see that in those first 10 videos. It’s impossible. You, you, there’s so much self doubt. You’re still committing to like the habit and the routine of creating. And you have all these excited feelings about starting, but you don’t know what’s going to come of it.

[00:16:02] And, I guess for me, I would never have thought that I would have a thousand followers and a business started in those first 10 videos. It wasn’t apparent to me, people that I was able to meet, the fact that I can do this show now with you is a result of staying consistent, being on camera, being on the mic, and getting to that hundred video mark because everything changed.

[00:16:23] But you can’t see it. I want to keep emphasizing that you can’t see it in the beginning.

[00:16:32] Matt Ragland: When I think about the times in my life when I’ve felt the most inspired, productive, and motivated, they’re all times in my life when I’ve been around a group of people on the same path as me. These communities gave me the support, encouragement, and motivation that I needed to stay on the path and be accountable for the goals that I set, especially when I hit a rough patch, like if a launch didn’t go very well, or if there was a piece of content that I worked really hard on and it just didn’t really pan out the way that I wanted it to.

[00:16:58] This is why we started the HeyCreator community. A place for you to connect with like minded creators, follow a proven roadmap for success, and get the support you need to build your creator business. And look, the people are the most important part of any community. But, it’s more than just the people.

[00:17:13] It’s more than just the connection that you make, even though that is critical. You also get step by step training and direction from our team of creative experts. Plans start at just 39 per month with no long term commitments. Go to heycreator. com slash community to learn more and sign up for your first month.

[00:17:30] I

[00:17:35] want to shift to now something that we’ve been talking about together and we’ve mentioned a few creators already. And when we share this, I want to be really clear that what we’re going to talk about is, are the creators that inspired us to going to get into this type of work to do the things that we’re doing.

[00:17:56] And we’re going to share, uh, Tim, you actually, you actually explained it well to me, right? Like, how are we Like putting this list together. Like, what are the filters? What are the requirements of like making this list? We’re going to make lists for each. And then we’re going to talk about some honorable mentions and other people that have inspired us.

[00:18:16] Tim Forkin: Yeah. The way I’m thinking about this is the Mount Rushmore of creators who influenced us on our creator journey. And I don’t mean necessarily who’s influencing us right now, but the creators who we found, who put that creator bug in us to get to the next level, the four that I chose, I know were instrumental in my journey to being a creator now without finding their stuff, I wouldn’t be here.

[00:18:40] Be on this podcast. And I encourage you, the listener to start thinking before we name ours, start thinking about the creators who put that bug in you, the creators who made you realize that you want to be a creator too. I know we all have them. And I’m sure as I say this, someone is popping in your mind immediately.

[00:18:57] So hold on to that as we go through ours.

[00:18:59] Matt Ragland: Yeah. And I’m glad you said. Be thinking about who your list is. Cause obviously this is, this is our list. And these are the people who are influential to us. We did frame this around who are the people who influenced us to get to this point, really take some time, like make lists, like get, kind of get it, maybe get out of your, your normal routine and protect some time to think about.

[00:19:24] What is it about these four people? And if you have five, that’s fine. If you have three, that’s fine. But this small group of people who helped influence your journey as a creator. And I think you’ll get a lot out of that reflection and like, Oh, this is why I do this thing or this other thing that I really admire for some reason, I’m not.

[00:19:43] I’m not being like brave enough to do it, even though I feel like it’s a good, it’s a good step to take. So I want you to think about it that way. As we’re going through our Mount Rushmore, our most influential creators. Okay. So I’m going to go ahead and start. And the way that we’re going to do this, just for you, the listener to understand is we’ll go back and forth.

[00:20:02] We picked four each and we’ll do some commentary on each of them. And I know I have, I’m pretty sure Well, mine I feel like are pretty, are pretty popular. I feel like I have a good list right here. You’ll probably, even if you don’t follow all of them, I think that there’s a good chance you’ve heard of all of them.

[00:20:20] I don’t know if I will have heard of all of yours. So maybe I won’t have as much commentary and just for like some context. Like I am, I’m 40 and Tim is 24. Right? Not to be like, you know, the old man and the youths ’cause I’m not that old. And

[00:20:36] Tim Forkin: I do have more gray hair though. He

[00:20:38] Matt Ragland: does, he does have more gray hair.

[00:20:39] I do have, you can see more gray hair. You see that in the video. So, uh, you know, if it doesn’t work out for me as a podcaster, I can always try go into like hair products. Okay? So I’m gonna kick off my Mount Rushmore by giving my number one all time, most influential. creator and for me that’s Seth Godin.

[00:20:58] I wouldn’t be doing the things that I’m doing right now if it wasn’t for Seth Godin and specifically a call out to my dad. Hey Chuck. My dad giving me my first Seth Godin book when I was in college. And so this was many moons ago that I was, that I was in college, but he gave me a book called Purple Cow and Purple Cow by Seth Godin was about how to make products, but also how to make content that is remarkable.

[00:21:33] And not remark remarkable in the sense that like it’s interesting and wow, that’s, that’s really cool. But also like, you see something, if you saw a purple cow on the side of the road, That’s worth remarking on. And it’s like, wow, did you see that purple cow? So it’s making things that are so interesting to people that they’re worth talking about.

[00:21:58] And that was the first time that I’d really like, I, I was a business minor, not even business major in college. And so we were talking about my, my dad was like, Oh, I read, I I’ve read a couple of books by this guy, Seth Godin, and it made me think about this book, Purple Cow. You should, you should read it.

[00:22:15] And then we talked about it a bunch and I probably read more Seth Godin books than any other like creator, definitely any other creator author. Obviously. And so Seth Godin, for me, I was also able to meet Seth at ConvertKids Craft and Commerce Conference. He was the keynote at the very first one. And I told him that story and Seth’s just such a kind guy.

[00:22:37] He’s like, Oh, that’s really cool. He’s like, let’s take a picture for your dad. And that’s one of the only times that I’ve taken selfies with, I’ve tried not to be like, this is probably another like social conversation. I try not to be like, Selfie, selfie with people that I admire guy, because, like, if they bring it up, sure, you can take a picture with me.

[00:22:54] But, I don’t wanna, like, for whatever reason, you know, it’s probably some other, like, personal stuff that I have going on that I haven’t processed yet, but. I wouldn’t have asked Seth for a picture, but Seth was like, Oh, let’s take a picture for your dad. And I was like, yeah, let’s do it, Seth. And that, that felt cool.

[00:23:08] So Seth, great guy. He’s number one for me. He’s, he’s my George Washington on, on, uh, my creator, my creator, Mount Rushmore, he’s the founding father for me.

[00:23:19] Tim Forkin: As you, as you talk about Seth Godin, I immediately just feel like guilty that I haven’t like dove in to his stuff. I know how good he is. I know how many people he’s influenced.

[00:23:29] Um, he has a connection, like I heard him on someone else that I’m gonna name, his podcast. And that was one of my first introductions to Seth Godin and this entire world. Um, but I feel guilty. Number one

[00:23:39] Matt Ragland: best book to start with, with him for y’all listening, if you haven’t read any Seth book, Tribes. Tribes came out in 2009.

[00:23:46] My dad, again, my dad gave it to me. Thanks, dad. And it really, like, it is prescient for how, like, people started to gather. This was really, not before the internet, but definitely, like, you know, Facebook kicked off in, like, 2005, Twitter kicked off in 2008, Tribes came out in 2009, and the way that he talked about the people organizing online, It was way ahead of its time and still like very, very applicable.

[00:24:11] Tim Forkin: Yeah, that’s, that’s really good. I, I will quickly make an Amazon order after we’re done recording to get my hands on tribes and purple cow and the Seth Godin books that I should have already read, uh, it should have been a prerequisite for me to be at this company and having read those books. It feels like I feel like I’ve missed out.

[00:24:28] So I will, I will definitely dive into Seth Godin. My first two, I’ll, I’ll go one at a time, obviously, but my first two are completely outside of this creator business world, but the lessons that I’ve learned from them carry me through. They’re the reason why I’m here and the first person, and I would be shocked if someone in this audience has ever watched them, maybe their kids have.

[00:24:50] His name is Chris Smoove. He’s a YouTuber. And I have no

[00:24:54] Matt Ragland: idea who

[00:24:54] Tim Forkin: Chris Smoove

[00:24:55] Matt Ragland: is. So there we go. I imagine. And so I have no, I imagine. So,

[00:24:59] Tim Forkin: and. You mentioned earlier that you’re aging yourself, you have to be aging yourself. I’m going to be you thing myself here.

[00:25:05] Matt Ragland: Is that a thing? I don’t really think people say that, but I gotcha.

[00:25:10] We’re, uh, we’re starting, we’re starting new terms here. This is great.

[00:25:13] Tim Forkin: In the end of elementary school, beginning of middle school, I would get off the bus. I’d go to my computer room. So I’m not like, I’m not like a young, young kid, but I had to go to my computer room. And I would watch Chris Smoove on YouTube play NBA 2K video games.

[00:25:30] Now, I’m not gonna go into what he was doing in the games. He’s basically just, he was acting like he was his own player in the game. And he, his commentary was funny. And he’d add his own storylines to these boring games. But my main takeaway, one day, what’s Social Blade? I figured out what Social Blade was.

[00:25:47] And I looked up how much Chris Smoove was making off of his YouTube videos of him playing video games. Mind you, I’m 5th, 6th grade at this point. And a quick look at that number, which I don’t have in front of me, and then a quick look at his Instagram made me realize, I mean, unless he was lying and these numbers weren’t real, he could afford a mansion in Miami off of YouTube ad revenue.

[00:26:12] Of him playing the same video game that I would play.

[00:26:15] Matt Ragland: I know you don’t have the number, but like, do you remember roughly, like, just give an estimate of like, what, what was that per month, do you think? Oh, he

[00:26:22] Tim Forkin: was, he was doing 100k a month. Okay, 100k a month. He was doing 100k a month at least. Like, and he did Call of Duty, like, shooting video games too.

[00:26:30] He’ll do, like, playthroughs of other games, but NBA was his main thing. Yeah, he was a gaming streamer. Okay. I, I was just, I, I’d never seen someone get paid to play video games or get paid to make videos. As, as a middle schooler, I had, that just was unfathomable to me. I thought I was going to be a teacher or something like that, or a doctor.

[00:26:47] I mean, I definitely was not on the doctor path, but that’s a different story. But this was so mind boggling to me that someone was getting paid to create content. And I think watching him be himself, play these games, it set the tone for, for Avenue that opened everything else up. I can get paid to be myself on the internet.

[00:27:08] I’m here. I’m here right now because Chris Smoove was, was driving a race car in a separate game and stitching it together with his NBA 2k game and making it look like he actually was the player in the game. And, He, he is the real founding father without, without him, I don’t, I don’t see the rest of this, this career path.

[00:27:27] Matt Ragland: Yeah. So I have no notes on that, uh, because I don’t know who Chris Smoove is, but I will kind of, I will use it as a transition, as a segue, if you will, to like talking about my number two. Because you talk about seeing on ad revenue, this is how much he was making and that was kind of a mind boggling, one is just a mind boggling realization that that was a possibility.

[00:27:56] I’ve had those two and probably a second mind explosion of like what the amount of money Like that is, because when I first started reading bloggers in the mid 2000s, my first blog I like had on blogger. com in like 2004 and one, I read like a couple of like sports blogs at the time. I didn’t know how they made money.

[00:28:26] I also like didn’t. I don’t know if it even occurred to me that it was possible until I saw like someone had a sponsorship and I’d like, you know, because of my business minor, I was like, Oh, sponsorship must mean money. I didn’t think that people could get rich on the internet yet. And this was like early, early 2000s.

[00:28:43] Then Tim Ferriss came along and I read, four hour work week, and I read, I’ve read all of his books, and I was listening to the Tim Ferriss show, his podcast. He did, not many people know this, but he did like a TV series like 10 years ago, the Tim Ferriss experiment. When I saw that his books obviously did really well, I was like, oh, they’re doing well enough, and he’s writing enough that he’s probably doing pretty great.

[00:29:15] And then I had learned about investing and especially like angel investing. I knew like he invested in like Uber and some other big companies like, well, that’s, that’s worked out. And he got, you know, one of the reasons he like made those connections was because of the content that he created and because of the playbooks that he published online.

[00:29:34] And just seeing like how he built his business, how he designed his life around things that were interesting to him. That was really inspirational for me to think about, like, Hey, how can you, like, build something bigger than just content? By creating content, how can you get in rooms and meet people that you may not have been able to?

[00:29:58] How can you make money through your content that then you can invest and leverage in? Other creators and other businesses and other, other ways to keep growing. For me, number two,

[00:30:11] Tim Forkin: uh, Tim, Tim Ferris, that’s a great one. Another one where I feel like I’m behind because I don’t, I’m not like a, you’re, you think Tim Ferris disciple.

[00:30:20] I don’t have many notes, but I think it’s important to recognize. And I think I’m not going to put words in people’s mouth, but as you’re making your own personal Mount Rushmore, the person who introduced you to like the highest possible outcome. of doing what you love. I think that is an important person in all of our journey.

[00:30:38] I think we should, should in our own mind, remember those people because that first feeling it’s the most fun. It’s the, it’s all of the opportunities are there for you when you finally see. What could possibly happen if you start posting about what you love on the internet? So if Tim Ferriss was that for you and you saw like what was possible like blogging and you said 2004 I was turning five that year So I kind of I have a five year old

[00:31:05] Matt Ragland: son now But it does like for you to say that it does make me kind of think about like, you know, whatever.

[00:31:12] I also have an eight year old, he, he turns nine in a few months and it makes me think about like, what is he watching that could, that could influence him like both, both good and bad. Normally when we think about influencing kids, we often think about it in a negative sense. Like, Oh, we don’t want to have like bad influences and they watch, listen, or like read something but it’s just something about who can I.

[00:31:33] Expose him to in a healthy way to like, yeah, he’s going to make his own decisions, but, uh, like, Hey, this would be a good, I think this is a good person. My parenting judgment to kind of like put, put in your field of your, your sphere of influence, but this isn’t a parenting podcast. That’s something else.

[00:31:49] Tim Forkin: Yeah. I was going to say, I mean, he’s seen you in front of the camera before, I think, so like you, you’ve already started that. We don’t have to go too deep into that, but I think it is, I think it is. There’s something there with that for sure. My next person. Like I said before is not in the traditional creative world, but he has created not necessarily even my favorite Music at this point in my life.

[00:32:13] He’s definitely As the as kids my age would say fallen off in recent years, but kid cuddy was my first true Favorite artist I was in once again fifth or sixth grade I was all the way in on his music, even though I had no idea what his references to drugs or women meant. I had no clue, but he was different than everyone else because he was so vulnerable.

[00:32:38] He openly talked about in his songs, how he was struggling mentally, his, his thoughts and where they took him. And while every other rapper that I was into was talking about their traditional tropes of rap music, he was like singing and putting together unique songs that sounded different, but also were about.

[00:32:55] in ways that other people like weren’t signing up to hear people weren’t signing up to listen to this guy talk about his problems. But when kid Cuddy did it, everything, everything changed. And it was the first time in my life that I heard someone else talk about these things that I was feeling too, but I couldn’t communicate them.

[00:33:14] I was in sixth, seventh grade. I knew that I knew I was an anxious person. I knew that. Things felt a little bit different for me. I was kind of, I didn’t understand the other kids weren’t worrying about things in the same way that I was. And I look back today at Kid Cudi and I think I can talk on camera.

[00:33:34] You and I can have open and honest conversations because I basically learned how to be vulnerable. I learned how to, to talk about those things and talk about what I’m struggling with and, and, you know, Recognize the feelings that come with being a creator. Be cut and as a recognized feelings as a person, because I listen to kid Cuddy, I know that I’m not the best podcaster I can be yet.

[00:33:56] I know the parts of this, that, that are a struggle for me, the parts that I don’t want to do the parts that, um, I haven’t gotten to yet. And I feel like. Kid Cudi’s music and his ability to communicate the way he was feeling. It let me and a bunch of other kids and adults, let them know that they weren’t alone.

[00:34:16] And I definitely want this podcast as fun and as crazy. And as silly as we might be, I want to speak the same language as who’s listening. And Kid Cudi is where I learned, um, that someone was doing that for me.

[00:34:29] Matt Ragland: Yeah. I’m really glad you brought that up because that’s a special and important. Person, uh, influence to have in your life is to see like, who is it?

[00:34:41] That makes me feel comfortable being how I am. And that is, especially if you can kind of understand that from a creative perspective, as I’m even, I’m looking at my list and. On my, my top four, my Mount Rushmore, there’s really not a person who like does that for me the way that you’ve described it. So I’m glad that you did bring it up and kind of frame it that way.

[00:35:09] Well, the last person that I’ll share kind of, kind of has that, kind of has some of that, um, I also didn’t have, I didn’t have any musicians, all of mine, like for, are kind of the more classic, uh, content creators. If there is such a thing, uh, yet as classic content creators. Yeah,

[00:35:26] Tim Forkin: I’ve got, I’ve got two of those in the hopper here, but I wanted to get those out of the way because like you, like you said, these, these are the, these are the people who set me on the path, right?

[00:35:36] So I can go into now, like when I was fully into the creator world. These two people, um, were there at the very beginning of the creator journey for me, but I don’t think I would even get to a creator journey without, uh, Chris Smoove and Kid Cudi. So I’ll let you go, but that, that, those were important for me to include.

[00:35:51] I

[00:35:51] Matt Ragland: like, I like that you did that. I, I appreciate that, that framing. And again, like we’ll keep. We’ll keep reiterating this, that when you, dear listener, are making your own list, I think, like, the way that Tim kind of put his together is, like, there’s no wrong way to do this, but I think, like, who made it possible for you to even get in the mindset of, like, being a part of this creator life?

[00:36:16] And I’d say, like, if, if there’s one person like that for me, it was, uh, Seth Godin. Because, like, he made me start thinking about, like, everything else that I ended up thinking about and doing, uh, for the next, you know, 15, almost 20 years.

[00:36:33] HeyCreator, I have a secret weapon that I want to tell you about. First I want to tell you how I use it. You know those awesome HeyCreator newsletters that go out once or twice per week that sign off from me, Matt Ragland? Well, I’m not writing those, not directly anyway, because every newsletter is researched, written, edited, and uploaded to ConvertKit by our automatic evergreen team at HeyCreator.

[00:37:01] And the reason those newsletters sound like they’re coming from me is because they’re coming directly from the HeyCreator show along with special presentations that I’ve made in the community, keynote speeches, or other podcasts that I’ve been a guest on. Automatic Evergreen lets me send high converting quality newsletters on time every week with a fraction of the time and attention that I used to give to a newsletter.

[00:37:21] And this is so valuable because it gives me more time to focus on the podcast and on the community. If you’re curious about how Automatic Evergreen can put your newsletter on autopilot and make you money, then click the link in the show notes to book a call. My

[00:37:40] number three is Casey Neistat, the OG. Knew it, knew he’d be on there. Gotta be, gotta be on here. Shout out to Casey. Also, Uh, humble brag on my part. Uh, Tim liked when I, when I did this last week, when we were in person is he’s the, he’s the second of these, of the people on this list that I was also able to spend some time with.

[00:38:05] He was a speaker at the 2019, uh, ConvertKit Craft and Commerce. Great, great conference, by the way, like great speakers. If, uh, and great, great attendees. I won’t be able to make it this year, but if you’re, if you’re interested, nice little, nice little plug for Craft and Commerce. Check it out. I think it’s like the first or second, it’s early June.

[00:38:25] So go check it out. If you attend one creator conference this year, it has to be Craft and Commerce. Okay. I digress. The reason Casey Neistat is on the list for me is because I saw him doing YouTube in a way that no one else was doing. When I was watching YouTube for the first time, 2014 2015, it was a lot of like gaming streamers like you mentioned, uh, our guy Chris Smoove, or it was the early stages of personal vlogging, which Casey did a version of, but what most people were doing was a pretty, a pretty rough, like, Handheld styles with okay cameras and okay audio and more of a conversational style and Casey just took that and elevated it to an art form really like the consistency at what you did.

[00:39:28] I think he did a daily, a proper daily vlog as he termed it for two and a half, almost three years. And it wasn’t just that Casey did a vlog. It was the quality, the expertise that he brought to it. The filmmaker quality, because make no mistake about it, Casey was an accomplished filmmaker. He had done, like, a documentary series with his brother Van for HBO.

[00:39:55] He had done, like, one of the first big videos that I saw from Casey on YouTube was his, like, he did a, like, very successful commercial commercial. for Nike called make it count. And when you see like Casey’s expertise and Casey style applied every day to a YouTube vlog storytelling format, it made me think this is incredible.

[00:40:19] Like people can do this. I could do something like this for my own, for my own content. Because like to go back even further, one of the classes that I had the most fun doing. In high school was video production and we were using like, uh, not eight millimeter, but like mini DV that would like handheld camcorders and mini DV tapes.

[00:40:44] And we’d wire those, we’d firewire those suckers into like the, the colorful IMAX with the big, like trans, translucent, bubbly, bubbly backs. And my friends and I would edit. We’d shoot, like, these goofy sketches and, like, try out new transitions and scene cuts. This was in 2001, and it was, like, When I watched Casey make those videos, like 10, 12 years later, I was like, Oh, this kind of looks like what me and my friends, like dude, perfect is another exam.

[00:41:18] I was like, if like, maybe this sounds like I’m like giving myself too much credit. But like, when I think about what my buddies and I did in high school, I was like, dude, perfect is doing the version of that, that if we had like, Maybe been like 5, 10 years later and we had stuck with it a little bit more or we, uh, that’s, that’s a possibility, but Casey was the person who made me think that YouTube was something that you could do, like, with style and expertise and with, like, and still have a lot of fun doing it and tell a great story.

[00:41:52] And for, for me and just getting to like meet him and spend even a little bit of time with them and be like, man, he he’s up there. He’s up there for me. And if you, if you miss it, his, his, uh, his latest video, since it’s been really since as of this recording, it’s called the impossible dream. It’s him trying to break, I think, uh, it’s him trying to break a three hour marathon and just, just the way he makes his videos.

[00:42:17] Like it’s inspired me to like, Think creatively about how I create. Ever since I started watching them.

[00:42:24] Tim Forkin: Yeah. I knew Casey Neistat would be there for you. Uh, I think since we’ve met, he is the creator you’ve talked most about, um, for you, your YouTube stuff, the way that you behave online, um, and your attention to detail with like the things you say, the way you, the way you work, the way you edit, I think I can see all of that stuff from Casey Neistat in you.

[00:42:45] So that’s really cool. Like to hear exactly how and why, uh, he formed your mind around YouTube and like, He like, would you say he’s the one that like you decided I’m going to make YouTube videos because I watch Casey Neistat? Yeah, yeah,

[00:42:58] Matt Ragland: yeah. Yeah. And like his, like his hand drawn sensibility on some of like his, his edits and his scenes, like you just watch about like how he like customizes things.

[00:43:07] Like you can see like these, these little boxes that I have right behind me, these little tackle boxes, like he has a whole wall of those things. In his New York city office. Like I want a new, not a New York city studio. I have no interest in moving to New York, but like, I want a studio set up that is like, As functional and weird and custom and personal as Casey’s is like he, he just like, he continues to like inspire the kind of work that I do in the way that I think about content.

[00:43:35] Tim Forkin: That’s awesome. That’s, that’s really cool. My person like that, uh, is Chris Doe. Yeah. I knew

[00:43:42] Matt Ragland: who’s going to be on yours. That was like, if I would have picked one, I would have said like, yeah.

[00:43:47] Tim Forkin: Yeah. So a little more backstory on me. I come from a video background. I made YouTube videos all growing up. I was inspired by Chris Smoove and I’m in my own gaming videos and I did all of that and I repressed all of that.

[00:44:00] Um, I started a YouTube channel again. It was actually kind of successful, but I didn’t, I got kind of got burned out by it. And I realized that I could take these video skills that I had and turn them into service work. I could go be a videographer for local businesses. Um, so I didn’t know what to charge.

[00:44:17] And I’ll talk about this, uh, in a separate episode, but finding Chris Doe, him talking about pricing and then him talking about branding and him talking about business. I quickly started to speak the same language as him. I felt like his live workshops that he just straight up posted to YouTube to help people were like the exact kind of rooms that I needed to be in.

[00:44:39] Um, it completely elevated my level of like, I went from knowing nothing to like fluently be able to speak the words of like creative service work I knew what the word scope meant. I knew like Day rate and it’s not just

[00:44:53] Matt Ragland: something you put on the top of your rifle there tim just scope No,

[00:44:56] Tim Forkin: I learned all of the things like the ability to speak this language by watching kristo It was my first introduction to people in this orbit Like like I told you set seth godin was an on an episode of show.

[00:45:09] That’s Yeah, that’s how I figured out who Seth Godin was. There’s an episode with Aaron Draplin who we share an appreciation for that. They’ve like re upped like probably three or four times. They’ve posted the Aaron Draplin episode. Um, one of my favorite business people, Eli Altman, uh, who is, I don’t know if it’s related to Sam Altman, but, uh, Eli Altman runs a hundred monkeys, which is a naming agency, which is like the coolest thing in the world.

[00:45:31] I’ve read all his books and I found him through Chris Doe’s podcast. And, uh, My main takeaway is that I could listen to Chris and his conversations and level up into this person. I want to become that way. It’s my goal to be as clear on my mission and to be as helpful to people as Chris is for his, his goal is to, I’m pretty sure he words it this way where they want to help 1 billion people make a living doing what they love, which was like, who can’t rally around that?

[00:45:59] You know who, who, who’s going to hear that and be like, nah, got to go work in a factory. Like, like once, once you’re. In Chris’s orbit and you hear the way he talks about these things and how He’s an introvert, but he can somehow still be on these stages and talk to all these people and he He just know he always feels like he knows the right thing So I want to be someone like chris was for me that can help people at the beginning of their journey explode with just a few mindset shifts and like put them in these rooms where They can be hearing the things and speaking the same language to get to a point where you can do creative work either for people or for yourself.

[00:46:35] I wouldn’t be able to have done it without Chris Do. So if the first two were like, here’s why I want to become a creator. Chris Do is like, here’s how I. Speak the creator business world language. And I have him to only think for that. If I wasn’t, if I didn’t find his stuff, then I wouldn’t be here.

[00:46:52] Matt Ragland: Yeah, that’s a great, that’s a great one.

[00:46:54] Uh, I haven’t followed Chris as closely as you obviously he’s, uh, but it’s someone, he’s someone that I’ve always appreciated his work and his, uh, sensibilities and his message and his mission that, you know, billion creators earning a living doing these. They, they love my favorite. My favorite thing that I’ve heard from Chris is like his show.

[00:47:18] He was actually the first like full on YouTube guest for our friend Jay Clouse, uh, creator science show. So when Jay launched his YouTube channel, he had Chris on as the very first, like full length video guest. And you can just see like the attention to detail that Chris has for everything, like how well spoken he is, like how everything is like so well set up and designed and aligned.

[00:47:41] And I’d, I’d seen him and I’d read some of his stuff before, but when he came, I listened to pretty much every episode of, of, uh, Jay’s show. And so when I saw that, I was like, oh man, yeah, I see. Cause you had mentioned him to me at that point. And so that was like a real like convergence of like you, who I work with and respect and Jay, who’s, who’s stuff I respect and admire.

[00:48:05] And then like, uh, Chris overlapping into that. I was like, all right, here we go. Here we go. Yeah. I need to listen to the Aaron Draplin episode because I’m a big Aaron Draplin fan.

[00:48:16] Tim Forkin: If I need to go dive deep into Seth Godin, I think Chris Do is someone for you. He’ll probably, because you’re further along and like, you know, how to run a creative business, maybe all of it isn’t like that applicable for you, but.

[00:48:30] And those interviews and the things that he talks about, the way he can communicate, uh, I’m just a huge, uh, admirer of, and like I said, if I didn’t find that video on how to price my video work, I would never, uh, have had a client. I’m really excited to do our content, um, episode, like the content on Rushmore because Yeah.

[00:48:50] I think the piece I learned about pricing, like set the tone for like, it’s a core tenant of how I live, like the, the, the, what I, what I gleaned off Chris, like became more than just how to price video work or how to price design work. So he’s super important to me and I, that would be my homework for you is to like, go, go take a poke around that Aaron Joplin episode is exactly the right place to start.

[00:49:16] Matt Ragland: Alright, you got it, you got it, I’m in. The fourth and final person on my Mount Rushmore creator list is Ryan Holiday. Ryan is an author, he is also a podcaster, a YouTuber, a Uh, speaker, and he is a husband and father. That’s something I’ll talk about. He’s also a small business owner. And the, I’ll talk about this a little bit more, but the reason that Ron, one of the reasons that Ryan comes to mind for me is not only like the impact he’s had on my creator life and how I think about content and business structure and team, uh, and flywheels.

[00:49:56] And in a sense is that. He’s also doing it in a way that I could see myself like living the kind of life That he does. And not everyone that I’ve like mentioned on this list, I wouldn’t want to have like Tim Ferriss’s life. He, I’m very inspired by him, but I wouldn’t want to have Tim’s life. I wouldn’t necessarily want to have Seth’s life.

[00:50:17] And the, and part of that is because Seth is like older, older than me, but I, I look up to, and I admire Ryan. Because of the, the way that he creates content, the way that he built his business and because of like the person that he is outside of those outside of those two things. But the reason that I love Ryan’s work is because I’ve been reading his books for a long time.

[00:50:40] Whether it’s obstacle is the way or stillness is the key or a ego is the enemy. Um, the other, the other thing, the first very big The very first book that I read of Ryan’s, I actually saw it when I was scrolling through my Kindle the other day, is um, Growth, Growth Hacker Marketing. And that was when he was, like before he was doing the stoicism writing and he was working at American Apparel.

[00:51:08] Another book that I read of his really early on was, uh, Trust Me, I’m Lying, was, was another one about like media manipulation. And that’s another one, like I mentioned Tribes and Seth Godin. Trust me, I’m lying. Written 10, 15 years ago, written a while ago and it is insane how like applicable that is to our modern media landscape.

[00:51:31] That’s not a thing that we’re going to go into, uh, right now, but he has just, he’s done so much. And like specifically what I like about seeing how he’s built his business and like develops his content right now is he’s like the king of like how to. Repurpose content in like a healthy way that doesn’t seem like you’re just using the same thing over and over again But it’s still like almost every piece of content that he makes is used at least as a piece in something else And so like when he write he writes two daily emails.

[00:52:10] There’s daily stoic and daily dad and He also is on YouTube Uh, two or three, two or three times a week. He has a daily podcast is daily, but here’s like where some of the overlap happens. The daily daily stoic podcast is literally him reading the daily stoic email. And so that like repurposing is one to one.

[00:52:34] But then on Saturdays he has a long form daily stoic interview, but then that content, that interview becomes. Sections of future emails and parts of that are pulled out to become clips on short form clips on social media. He will also do the same thing with his longer form YouTube videos. And those become like, maybe not direct word for word emails, but those become inspiration for other emails.

[00:53:04] And also like back the other way, if he writes an email and gets a lot of great replies on, he’s like, Hey, I’m going to do a video about this now. Yeah. Um, the other thing that I don’t know if a lot of people realize is just about like his business that I think is really cool is one of the main ways that he monetizes his uh, email lists is through sponsorships because like daily stoic, I think has over 800, 000 subscribers now.

[00:53:29] So obviously if you are going to sponsor the daily stoic email, You’re going to be paying for it, but there’s also a membership community called Daily Stoic Life, and Daily Stoic Life is basically 20 bucks a month, 250, 240 for the year. And so if you’re a member of Daily Stoic Life, you don’t see any of the advertising on the emails.

[00:53:53] But wait, there’s more. If you’re a part of Daily Stoic Life, the membership Ryan also has, like, these, these courses, like, um, around stoicism and reading and, like, habits. He has, like, three or four really great courses that sell for 150 each. And if you’re a part of the membership, then you get all those courses.

[00:54:16] So you get a membership, you get all the courses in the membership. You don’t see any sponsorships, just the way that he puts it all together. And then my favorite little part of this, and I don’t know how much money he actually makes on this. It just, it inspires me to think about like how interconnected all these things are, is he owns a bookshop in Bastrop, Texas, and I hope I’m pronouncing that, uh, that town properly called the Painted Porch.

[00:54:40] And it’s like really awesome. Uh, bookstore, it also doubles as his office, he records all of his podcasts and YouTube videos in there, so it’s also his studio. He recommends a lot of books in his emails, he actually even has another email list, a once a month email that goes out, it’s like, hey, here are all the books that I read this month.

[00:55:01] Voracious reader, like I don’t know how he reads the amount that he reads, but when he sends like, you know, here are the five to seven books I read this month and then like end of the year, here are my favorite books of the year. Every, almost every single book that he mentions is linked to purchase at the Painted Porch.

[00:55:20] So he’s not linking to Amazon. He’s linking to his bookstore, to his own inventory that he is selling from. And he talks about this a lot. Uh, or he talks about this a little bit when he was, uh, one of the episodes he was on My First Million. But I just like the way that he has built his life and his business to be so interconnected and overlapping.

[00:55:43] Is like really, is really inspiring and interesting to me. I think he’s he, the other reason, like Ryan and I are a similar age. He has, uh, two kids that he like reading, reading his emails and interacting with him just a little bit. Um, very, very in tune with their lives. And so like him being a parent, him being a husband and doing the kind of things that he’s doing is also really, really inspiring to me.

[00:56:09] I haven’t even talked about his note taking system, which is also very inspiring to me as like a note taking nerd, but, um, to, to round out my Mount Rushmore, I would definitely put Ryan Holiday up there for me.

[00:56:20] Tim Forkin: Yeah, he feels like the culmination for you of like all of the different things you’ve learned and things that interest you with, with business and being a creator.

[00:56:30] He feels like for you, like you found the person who like encapsulates all of that. I think, I think it’s really cool. Um, I actually saw, uh, I was part of the college basketball team, and I saw our head coach post a Ryan Holiday quote today, and I thought of you. No way. Because I know you’re a fan. I know, like, one thing, this is kind of like an aside, but one thing to take from Ryan is he’s a creator, but like, he extends far beyond the creator world.

[00:57:00] Like, uh, Many people read his books and, and follow him that, that don’t exist in our creator space. I think that’s something that’s very admirable. Something that I seek in, in my like longest term play is like, can I be someone who like exists outside of just like internet creator world? And he does that.

[00:57:20] Matt Ragland: Yeah. I think like Seth is probably a bit like this as well, but I would. I would agree with you that I think, especially like right now, Ryan is the most mainstream of the people that I mentioned. Like if I was to bring up those four people to like people who are not in my creator bubble, say like, you know, real life folks that I’m around and be like, Oh yeah, Ryan Holiday.

[00:57:41] I like, you know, stoicism and like, you know, self, self improvement. I think he would be that, uh, like most recognizable name.

[00:57:50] Tim Forkin: My last one, I started making TikToks in March of 2022 because I’d spent nearly a year watching everything. That Tom Boyd at bonus footage. Um, did you have him on my bingo card for, I did

[00:58:06] Matt Ragland: not, but I’m glad you, I’m glad you brought him up.

[00:58:09] I love Tom.

[00:58:10] Tim Forkin: Yeah. Tom is not like a massive creator. He doesn’t, he doesn’t sniff Ryan holiday. I’m sure he’d be the first person to tell you that. I’m sure he might not even want to be that big. Um, but he was the push I needed to become a creator. Once again, I found someone right as I made my account. Who was speaking the same language as me.

[00:58:28] He talked about creators using short form video to build interesting businesses and the mindset shifts to help, like, like literally I am his target audience. Like the mindset shifts to help me become a better creator. I was lucky enough to get a follow back from Tom Boyd early on in my TikTok journey.

[00:58:45] Um, he was small like I was at the time. He has since completely surpassed me. Um, and he was the first person that I looked up to. In this creative world who I could get to with a DM who would respond who actually like Took an interest in me just as much as I was taking interest in him. And funny enough, nine months before Matt, you and I started working together, he made a video reacting to your essay about 10 lessons for aspiring creators.

[00:59:14] Yeah. And, and I think I told that to you, like, right when we started working together, I was like, Hey, I know who you are. Like my guy, Tom shouted you out. And since you’ve been on Tom’s show, which I think is like the coolest thing. Um,

[00:59:25] Matt Ragland: yeah, definitely an episode to check out. Uh, I just actually linked to it in the hate creator newsletter yesterday.

[00:59:31] I talked about Seven Steps to Seven Figures with an email list on Tom’s show last year, but it’s one of the better episodes I’ve done because of how, like, well Tom hosts his show.

[00:59:42] Tim Forkin: Yeah. He, because I can get to him and by knowing and following him, I have built a connection. Almost all of my like creative muscles.

[00:59:50] I look at Tom as the, like, uh, Terry talks about identity templates a lot, Terry rice, and he is like my creator identity template. I just, his perspective on things resonates with me so much. And it always has. And like a little side note on Tom, he represents the start of when I took this entire creative thing seriously, not only in my own content, but my seventh video, I talked about like the hundred.

[01:00:13] videos that I did and like what came out of those 100 videos. The seventh video I made on TikTok ever, not even like messing around like dancing videos. I’ve never done that. Like I’ve never, I’ve never been a traditional meme or dance TikToker. The seventh video I made was about Tom and, and his videos and why I was impressed with them.

[01:00:32] And he responded and he liked it. And like, like, I had already like been talking to him a little bit just because I, like, I could get to him with the DM and someone in his network saw that video and they DM to me and they asked me to be on camera for them. And then that person, I did that project. I was on camera for them.

[01:00:50] That person recommended me to someone else. And all of a sudden I had a short form video business that spun out of making a video about a creator I liked. I was both on camera and editing behind the scenes for a bunch of different companies. And if I didn’t take the initiative to make something about how much I appreciated Tom and Tom earned all of that, I just look back at that moment as like Tom represents, okay, I’m a creator.

[01:01:13] Now I do this. I can get to these people. I see myself in Tom and I want to do this too. And I made a very curated list with my four Mount Rushmore people because Tom is like the final form. He’s like, he, he isn’t the biggest creator, but he knows his stuff. He says it exactly how he would say it in real life.

[01:01:34] He’s so himself, which really resonates with me. And Yeah, he just, he’s my guy. I will always, if someone asked me, like who made you become a creator? The real answer is Tom, just like this version and like the future internet version, it’s Tom Boyd.

[01:01:49] Matt Ragland: I love that. Shout out to Tom. Great guy. Definitely worth a follow.

[01:01:53] And obviously, obviously a lot more. Uh, excellent. So those are quick recap for me, my Mount Rushmore of creators. My influences are Seth Godin, Casey Neistat, Tim Ferriss, Ryan Holiday. And Tim, yours

[01:02:10] Tim Forkin: had Chris Smoove YouTuber. If, uh, if you’ve got kids who are into gaming, send them, send them his way. Um, he’s still kicking it after all these years, like he was doing videos, like NBA 2k, like 2011, and he’s still kicking it, doing the same, same few games.

[01:02:25] He does the big, like the big box games, but he’s still there. So Chris Smoove kid, Cuddy first true favorite artist. Um, and then Chris Do for all the business and creative world stuff. And Tom Boyd is like. The, the culmination of like, this is who I want to be. I want to be just like Tom.

[01:02:40] Matt Ragland: Okay, so if you’re listening and you’re here, I hope that you’ve been thinking of your own like list of top creators, the ones who influenced you, your Mount Rushmore, the ones that you look up to, the ones that you think about, the ones that not just Like helped you set you on this path for the type of creator, the type of person that you wanted to be, the business that you wanted to build, but also the ones who like helped influence the way that you’re doing, the ones who’ve got you here and the ones who kind of pushed you along along the path.

[01:03:13] So I hope that you think of your own, like, Take some time, make a list. What is it about these people that was important to you? That was influence, that was influence, uh, on your creative journey. And where is that pushing you? How can you maybe do it a little bit in your own way? And the only other thing that I want to point out about this, and this is, I thought about this a lot with Casey in particular, is that It would take so much and it could be like so, almost like defeating in a sense of like, I, it would take so much for me to like make videos like Casey, like time, talent, all of those things.

[01:03:50] But, I had this saying where I was saying like, I can emulate this without duplicating it. Like what’s my version? What’s the thing that I can do a little bit of? And so like, maybe I couldn’t do like a whole 10 minute Casey Neistat video, but could I do like one scene, could I do one cut that would feel like a Casey cut that would feel like a Casey scene and just like chasing after like that little moment and be like, Oh, that’s cool.

[01:04:15] That’s cool. It’s like that. And then eventually it’d be like. I would maybe do something similar to that and think like, Oh, that was like, I’m kind of doing it in my way now. So think about how you came to this point, the people that helped get you there, the people who helped pull you along even now, and kind of like how you’re doing your own version of that.

[01:04:31] And I bet it will be really inspiring and hopefully very motivational to you on your own creative journey.

[01:04:42] Thank you for listening to the HeyCreator podcast. This show was produced by Tim Forkin and would not be possible without the support of our incredible team at HeyCreator and the HeyCreator community. Make sure you connect with us on all of the socials @heycreatorhey, and for more information on our company, go to heycreator.com and also sign up for the newsletter while you’re there. See you next time.

 

Hosts

Guest

Effortless online growth

Streamline with Automatic Evergreen.

Embrace the power of automation with Automatic Evergreen. Perfect your sales funnels, automate your marketing, and keep your business thriving around the clock.