Ray Mak
  • 11 months ago
During Dato @joeyyap 's THRIVE 2024 Event, I had the privilege of getting to know a very young and intelligent entrepreneur, @BryanLow , who is also an aspiring content creator, introduced by my good friend @AlexChee9 . I was impressed and inspired by his passion and enthusiasm in creating contents that are meant to help other entrepreneurs in their work and businesses.

Despite his young age, talking to him felt like I was talking to someone who has handled many businesses for decades, especially during this podcast where I get to know him even better. He's mature, steady, and most importantly, humble. I also found out that we have many things in common, ie, having the interest in documenting our lives during university. On top of that, he's also very knowledgeable in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the many AI tools and services available.

In social media, he knows his audience well and knows how to provide them and many new potential audience great value. If you are interested to get to know him even more, Google his name, Bryan Low, and you'll see some of his amazing achievements covered by newspaper and other mainstream media.

In this episode of In The Spotlight, I'm truly humbled and honored, to be able to invite him to share with us priceless insights in entrepreneurship, content creation, and influence.

Be sure to like, comment, and most importantly share if you find this podcast useful. Thank you very much and advance and Enjoy the Show! Feel free to make use of these timestamps to go to the topics that you're most interested in.

00:00 Intro
02:06 How Did Bryan Low and Ray Mak Became Friends?
03:12 First Impression
05:41 How Did Bryan Low Got Started In Content Creation?
07:52 Turning Point, Pivotal Moment!
10:03 Encouragement And Support From Good Friend @williamsengg
11:57 Success Story - E-Commerce
15:10 Defining Moment To Go Into Content Creation (Entrepreneurship)
16:40 At What Point Did You Realize Your Niche? How Did You Overcome The Challenge Of Being Perceived As Young, Unqualified, And Inexperience?
19:28 Haters, How Do You Deal With Them?
25:00 Building A Community Of Like Minded Individuals
25:40 Monetization, Possible Income Sources From Your Work
29:10 Burnout, How Do You Deal With It?
32:35 Parents, How Do They Feel About What You Do?
40:13 Words Of Wisdom

About In The Spotlight

I have been a content creator for almost two decades now as I've had the privilege to have started when all these platforms started. Over the years, I've made many great friends and have also enjoyed the many blessings from the Internet.

In The Spotlight is a Platform where my amazing content creators friends share their precious experiences so we can all learn together as well. I really hope you like it too.

Last but not least, special thanks to my good friend @KevinChanBazi ( http://www.youtube.com/kevinchanbazi ) for being the catalyst, push, idea and brains behind In The Spotlight.

PS : Very nice to meet Bryan's friend Hen
Transcript
00:00 Sounds very painful.
00:02 Completely torn.
00:04 Yeah, PCL.
00:05 Usually people injure their ACL.
00:07 Yeah, yours is like the back.
00:09 The back, PCL.
00:11 The hardest to break.
00:13 I broke that.
00:14 I just remember my mum once said to me,
00:17 she said,
00:18 "Zhen,
00:20 I'm a teacher.
00:22 If you want me to teach you,
00:23 I'll teach you to become a teacher.
00:25 If you don't want to be a teacher,
00:26 you want to be an entrepreneur,
00:28 you better go out there and find someone who is capable to teach you.
00:31 And I will give you 100% freedom."
00:33 She said that to me.
00:34 I was so gamtong.
00:35 Some people who are good at content creation,
00:37 not necessarily good at monetizing.
00:39 Some people who are very good at business,
00:40 not necessarily very good at content creation.
00:42 Yes.
00:43 Correct?
00:44 So I...
00:45 Hey, what's up everyone?
00:53 Welcome to another episode of
00:55 In The Spotlight.
00:57 So In The Spotlight is a platform,
01:00 is a podcast that I've created recently
01:03 where I chit-chat with my friends
01:06 who are content creators.
01:08 And today we have Brian Lau.
01:11 Three,
01:15 two,
01:17 one.
01:18 Me and my friend were on a mission to find out
01:20 if it's possible to make good money selling at the night markets.
01:23 Yay!
01:24 Hi everybody, this is Brian.
01:25 I'm super excited to share some insights
01:28 and more importantly to have a good time with Ray.
01:31 Yeah, I hope you guys like this podcast,
01:35 this platform.
01:37 I actually created it so that I can learn from my friends.
01:40 At the same time,
01:41 that knowledge I can share with you guys as well.
01:44 So if you really think this brings some value to you,
01:48 please consider clicking the button,
01:51 subscribing,
01:53 and also click on the bell notification
01:56 if you want more of this.
01:58 On the site, I do music as well.
02:00 So I hope you like all the different contents
02:03 that I'm creating now.
02:05 Okay, so Brian.
02:07 Let's get into it.
02:08 Yeah, let's get into it.
02:09 I'm very excited.
02:10 Do you mind to tell our audience
02:14 how did we meet?
02:15 And what was your first impression?
02:17 There was a very funny...
02:19 It wasn't funny actually,
02:20 because I knew you before I actually met you at that time.
02:23 Like how?
02:24 Wow, knew me before you met me.
02:25 I listened to your music during MCO.
02:28 Because during MCO,
02:29 it was actually my downtime.
02:31 So I listened to a lot of your music
02:33 to make myself more comfortable
02:37 and to heal myself.
02:39 So that was how I knew this guy called Ray Ma.
02:41 And then I saw a lot of comments of yours,
02:43 like you are everywhere.
02:44 So I was like,
02:45 "Wow, this guy is very interesting."
02:47 And then the next thing you know,
02:49 we met each other in a Thrive event.
02:52 It was a JY, Dato' Joey Up's Thrive event,
02:55 2023 in November.
02:57 So we just met each other like for a month only, right?
03:00 We knew each other for a month only.
03:01 Yeah, not long ago.
03:02 But then we connected a lot.
03:03 We connected a lot through Feng Shui,
03:04 through Batze,
03:05 also through content.
03:07 And then we also shared a lot of insights with me.
03:09 So that was how we met.
03:11 And the first impression was actually quite shocking.
03:16 Oh.
03:17 Yeah, it was actually quite shocking.
03:18 Because, you know,
03:20 when I wasn't a content creator just yet,
03:23 we have the impression of all these creators
03:28 or influencers out there,
03:29 they are like very atas one.
03:32 Like that, we have the,
03:33 "Yeah, they are influencers."
03:34 Very hard to.
03:35 We look up to them like that.
03:36 So when I met you, I was like,
03:38 "Wah, very kanjong eh."
03:39 Like quite kanjong.
03:40 And talk to you, you're like,
03:41 "Wah, so friendly one ah."
03:43 And then, "Wah, suddenly I fall in love with you."
03:45 Like so friendly one.
03:46 And then we started chit-chatting.
03:47 There was no awkward moments.
03:49 And then the next thing you know,
03:50 the first time I met you
03:52 was the first time I saw you playing piano live.
03:58 You remember that?
03:59 In the cafe.
04:00 Okay, yes.
04:01 In that cafe.
04:02 I was like, we were makaning, drinking coffee.
04:04 You bought me a coffee.
04:05 You bought me a coffee.
04:06 And then we were drinking coffee,
04:07 chit-chatting, and suddenly,
04:08 "Eh, where's Raymark ah?"
04:09 "Hilang already."
04:10 All at the back, playing piano already.
04:13 Yeah, that was how we met each other.
04:16 And I think it's a very,
04:19 very wonderful
04:22 yunfan.
04:25 Wow, yeah.
04:27 That sounds like a pretty nice impression.
04:30 That was the real first impression.
04:33 Oh, wow.
04:35 Yeah, I mean, I felt the same also.
04:37 Because you have this very positive energy
04:40 that radiates to people around you.
04:43 So that's why it's easy for us to connect.
04:46 Because there are some people,
04:47 when I talk to them,
04:48 and then they are maybe not so friendly
04:50 or something like that.
04:52 And it makes it very difficult for me to connect.
04:55 So me and you,
04:56 I feel like there is a very close wavelength.
05:00 Correct.
05:01 Very close.
05:02 So it's easy to connect.
05:04 And also thanks to the Thrive event,
05:07 when we are learning the same thing,
05:09 it's easier.
05:11 And then we discussed on the same thing as well,
05:12 the same topic.
05:13 Yeah, we discussed on the same topic.
05:14 So I understand all directions and stuff,
05:17 all those knowledge.
05:18 And I was like, "Wow, Raymond is very good at this as well."
05:20 Yeah.
05:21 He's very good at this as well.
05:23 And then we met up the second time,
05:25 and he also taught me how to activate certain things.
05:28 Yeah.
05:29 I bought the candle as well.
05:30 So it's a quite fun experience, honestly.
05:33 Yeah, that's good.
05:35 I'm so glad that our first meetup was so good,
05:39 so warm.
05:41 Yeah.
05:42 So now you are doing content creation, right?
05:45 Correct.
05:46 Full-time content.
05:47 Full-time content.
05:48 Correct.
05:49 So you can tell us how did you get into this content creation thing?
05:53 Oh, content creation.
05:55 The funny thing about it is I've been hesitating to do content for two years.
06:00 Oh, why?
06:01 Before I actually started, because I was scared.
06:04 I was scared of hate speech.
06:05 I was scared of judgment.
06:07 I was scared of this and that,
06:09 because my background is that my mom is a teacher,
06:11 and we are quite reserved.
06:15 And then we are also quite okay students in the school.
06:21 Yes.
06:22 So a lot of people actually recognize us, the Low family.
06:26 And then for me, I struggle a lot with the...
06:29 I used to struggle a lot with the expectations that people set.
06:33 It was wrong already, and now I realize it was wrong already.
06:36 So I was really hesitating.
06:38 And then I started doing YouTube when I was in uni.
06:42 I think it was back in 2017.
06:44 Oh, that is quite early.
06:46 Yes.
06:47 I started using the small action camera, because no money.
06:51 So for the action camera, it's like RM70 or RM200.
06:54 Oh, that is like the...
06:56 Like GoPro, but fake GoPro.
06:58 I was about to say that.
07:00 Yes, the fake GoPro.
07:01 Got the fisheye like that one.
07:03 Like that.
07:04 So I was carrying it here and there, here and there.
07:06 And then share things about my university, Siamen University.
07:10 So then I got like 3K followers, 3K subscribers.
07:14 Then I stopped doing it already.
07:16 Why?
07:17 Because no clarity.
07:18 I don't know why I'm doing this.
07:20 And I was struggling to consistently post per week.
07:25 So it was what I struggled with when I first, first, first started content creation.
07:30 It was YouTube.
07:32 And then after that, two years later, I've been hesitating already.
07:37 I know in my mind that I will do it.
07:39 I've just been postponing it.
07:41 Like, ah, so ę…˜å•Šä½ , you know.
07:45 Then after that, the incident that actually got me into content creation was a turning point.
07:53 It was when I broke my PCL.
07:56 Oh.
07:57 This year, last year, March.
07:59 No, April.
08:01 April of last year.
08:02 Wow, that is very, very recent.
08:04 April of last year.
08:05 So I broke my PCL.
08:07 And then I had to go back to my hometown, Perak, and heal myself.
08:12 And then I went into a cast for six weeks.
08:14 So my leg was like that.
08:16 And then I got the crutches.
08:19 I started learning how to use the crutches.
08:21 You were doing some sports?
08:22 Yeah, I was playing football.
08:24 Okay.
08:25 I was playing football and got tackled by a defender.
08:27 I was just on the pitch for two minutes.
08:28 Let me tell you this story.
08:30 I was just on the pitch for two minutes.
08:31 And then I got the ball.
08:37 And then I passed through a defender.
08:39 And it was a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
08:42 So I thought, two minutes, I'm going to score already.
08:44 And that was the first time my girlfriend was there watching me playing football.
08:47 That was the funny thing.
08:48 So I want to be the hero.
08:49 Then I almost scored, but a defender crashed me from the back.
08:53 And then my knee.
08:54 So this is my Taipei.
08:56 This is my Taipei.
08:57 This is my Saipei.
08:58 I land on the ground, like that.
09:01 So the tulang goes back and then my PCL broke.
09:04 Sounds very painful.
09:06 Completely torn.
09:08 Yeah, PCL.
09:09 Usually people injure their ACL.
09:12 Yeah, yours is at the back.
09:13 The back.
09:14 PCL.
09:15 The hardest to break.
09:17 And yet, I broke that.
09:19 Because your knee has to bend the other way.
09:22 Correct.
09:23 Bend back.
09:24 And then I went to the cast.
09:26 I went to the cast.
09:27 I didn't go through surgery because the doctor advised me not to do.
09:30 So I went into a cast for six weeks and then we say "tai se kiap" already.
09:36 And then there was a time I decided to do something about it.
09:40 I was like, I have always wanted to tell stories.
09:43 I've always wanted to share my personal life experience and my lessons.
09:48 The things that I've actually learned, things like that.
09:50 I've always wanted to, but I was just so scared of these.
09:54 Hesitating.
09:55 People commenting.
09:56 Correct.
09:57 Very scared of that.
09:58 Very, very scared of that.
09:59 But there was a point that I decided, yeah, I have to do it.
10:03 Also with the encouragement and support from another influencer friend called William Seng.
10:07 William Seng, he's very good at the shooting and all those things.
10:12 He's a guy.
10:13 He's very good at camera.
10:14 He's very good at cooking as well.
10:16 And then he's the boyfriend.
10:19 He's the perfect boyfriend that we see.
10:21 So he actually encouraged me.
10:23 He said, "Brian, you have good stories to tell.
10:25 Why don't you just do it?"
10:26 I said, "I want, but."
10:28 There was a but.
10:29 Then he said, "No, no, no, no."
10:31 No but.
10:32 No but.
10:33 You have to do it.
10:34 You have to do it because your amazing stories will be able to inspire a lot of people out there.
10:37 And people actually need that.
10:38 So these words actually really hit me hard at the time.
10:44 And then when this thing happened, I finally decided to share my stories of how I broke my PCR.
10:51 How I went from this to this.
10:53 And then fortunately, the first TikTok video that I posted about PCR went viral.
11:00 It was like 1 point something million.
11:02 I was like, "Wow, quite scared."
11:04 It can actually be like that one.
11:06 So then I continued to do that.
11:08 And then six months later, I've had 400k followers.
11:14 I hit 400k yesterday.
11:17 Wow. And you were talking about many different things as well.
11:23 Correct.
11:24 So mainly I want to share more of my experience, my lessons, and then share more tips as well for people to start their business.
11:31 Because I used to start some business as well.
11:33 Some failed, some did good, some so-so.
11:36 So I gained some experience.
11:38 And that's when I decided to share my experience, share some insights that a lot of startups, especially startup entrepreneurs need.
11:45 That was what I needed in the very beginning.
11:48 And I actually paid a lot of money to learn all those things.
11:51 Some are bullshit, some are good.
11:52 So this is the...
11:54 Trying out many different things.
11:56 Correct.
11:57 I saw quite a number of articles talking about you doing some...
12:03 I think, is it a dropshipping kind of business?
12:06 It was e-commerce.
12:07 Yeah, e-commerce kind of business.
12:08 And that was during the pandemic, right?
12:10 That was during the pandemic.
12:11 Correct.
12:12 Yeah, maybe can you share with us a little bit about that?
12:14 I started...
12:16 Okay, so the story about it is because I was running a social media agency back then.
12:21 I was running a social media agency, social media marketing agency.
12:26 And then I wanted to penetrate into the e-com niche, which means I want to help e-com business owners do better.
12:32 But we don't have testimonials.
12:35 We don't have e-com business owners as our testimonies.
12:38 So I was like, "You know what? I cannot get a testimonial.
12:43 I will be my own testimonial."
12:45 Be the testimonial.
12:47 Correct.
12:48 And then me and my partner, we checked our bank, say, "We got 400 here at the back."
12:55 So it's like, "Duh, duh, duh, duh, 400."
12:57 So, okay, let's take out the 400...
13:01 What's that called? Balance, right?
13:02 The 400 balance.
13:05 And we start doing an e-com business with 400 in it.
13:10 So I started doing it with dropshipping because 400 only.
13:12 We have to focus a lot on marketing, on ads.
13:16 So basically 80 to 90% of the money went into ads.
13:20 And then the remaining will go into the website and things like that.
13:23 So we spent days designing our own website.
13:27 Also no skill how to do website.
13:29 Like skill learned all the way.
13:31 So learn and do it ourselves, cut costs.
13:34 And then after five months, we crossed 100,000 in sales with 38% profit margin in just five short months.
13:41 And we were like, "Wow, can one."
13:43 But for me, it was like, "So-so only."
13:46 Just like that all.
13:47 Because I was just doing the normal things.
13:49 So I was like, "Other people also can, so there is no point sharing this story also."
13:53 But then my friend William said, "No, a lot of people actually need it."
13:56 Actually, yes.
13:58 So that's when I just say, "Okay, I'll just try it out."
14:01 And then this video was open viral on TikTok.
14:05 This is how I made over 100K in five months from my bedroom.
14:08 And then the next thing you know, I woke up in the morning and then I checked my phone.
14:14 And then my mom sent me a WhatsApp saying, "What happened?"
14:18 With a screenshot of Sin Chu.
14:21 And I was like, "Blah, blah."
14:23 I asked my mom, "You tell me what happened."
14:25 I also don't know what happened.
14:26 I don't know what happened.
14:28 Then after that, it went on Shi Hua.
14:31 It went on some other press.
14:33 Major newspaper articles.
14:35 And sales and word of mouth.
14:37 Word of mouth.
14:38 Ever since I got reported on a news portal.
14:41 So that was when I got quite some attention for some traffic.
14:45 And then I had to tell myself that I had to be ready.
14:48 I had to be ready to capture the traffic.
14:51 Don't allow it to just come and go like that.
14:54 A lot of people make that mistake.
14:57 They suddenly have a lot of mainstream media coverage, but they do nothing about it.
15:03 And then it's just wasted.
15:05 Then there was a time that I started to really, really...
15:11 I decided.
15:12 I made a decision to really go into content creation.
15:16 So I go into content creation with more entrepreneurship-related videos, related reels.
15:25 And then there were some were doing good, some were like that.
15:30 But I was still testing out.
15:32 So I'm still in the process.
15:33 Still a long way to go though.
15:35 So the niche that you are doing is more on motivational, business, those kinds of things.
15:43 Correct. Business, motivational, sometimes mindset.
15:48 I'm also opening a new page to do more speaking content.
15:52 Because quite a lot of my followers require me, not require, inquire me to speak more.
15:59 Because they want to listen to me speaking in real life like that.
16:02 So I actually decided to open another page to speak more, like the podcast or interview format.
16:11 So I would speak more and then hopefully in the future, more values will be shared.
16:18 I know where your fear was.
16:20 I mean, I could feel where your fear was coming from in the beginning of this journey.
16:27 Because you are very young.
16:29 So a lot of times when we are very young, we would think that, "Oh, I'm so young, I haven't really achieved much.
16:36 What do I have to share?"
16:38 Correct.
16:39 Yeah, that kind of blockage.
16:41 Imposter syndrome.
16:42 Yeah. So how do you realise, at what point that you realise that, "Oh, this thing, this business, motivational thing can be your niche."
16:51 And how did you overcome that blockage?
16:53 It was from a book I read.
16:55 Oh, a book.
16:56 It's called Expert Secrets from Russell Brunson.
17:06 Russell Brunson is a co-founder of ClickFunnels.
17:10 He's a funnel tutor.
17:12 So I read this book.
17:13 He said that because a lot of people have the fear of not, a lot of people have the fear of teaching.
17:21 Because they say, "I don't have a cert. I don't have a qualification. Can I really teach? People will really listen to me."
17:29 Yeah, the blockage.
17:31 Correct, the blockage.
17:32 So what Russell Brunson told in the book was, he said, "You don't have to be..."
17:39 Okay, so he quoted this from a movie.
17:42 I forgot the movie name. I know it was the main actor of Titanic.
17:52 Ah, okay. Yes, yes.
17:53 I forgot his name. I'm sorry.
17:55 Leonardo DiCaprio.
17:57 And then he was in a movie. He cast a lot of different characters in life.
18:04 He was a teacher, things like that. He just pretended to be a teacher and pretended to be a pilot and things like that to make more money.
18:10 So that movie.
18:11 And then he once faked to be a teacher and then he went into a classroom.
18:17 He taught the students and the students actually listened.
18:21 So then the police or someone else asked him, "How did you teach a lesson?"
18:26 Then he said, "I only have to be one chapter ahead of the students."
18:32 Oh, yes.
18:34 That gave me a huge spark.
18:36 That gave me a huge spark to share my things because the truth that I know is I will never be enough.
18:43 And we'll never feel super 100% ready.
18:48 We'll just feel, "I'm kind of ready and then we should go."
18:51 Correct, right?
18:52 Yes, yes.
18:53 So I decided to, you know, "Ah, I don't care. I'll just share first."
18:57 Because I know there's people like the previous version of me, the very beginner, they will need this kind of information.
19:05 And let me just be the one who share this information and not solely from the textbook but also from my personal experience.
19:12 So it's kind of like you move forward and allow other people at the back to follow that footstep.
19:18 Correct.
19:19 Wow, that is crazy.
19:23 That is crazy.
19:24 That was the spark.
19:26 That was the spark.
19:28 And now you mentioned that you are very afraid.
19:33 I mean in the beginning, you fear and you were a bit worried that people would say bad things or give hate comments.
19:42 You know there are some people that are just keyboard warriors.
19:44 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:45 And they will just attack.
19:46 And there are some people who are jealous.
19:48 Haters hate.
19:49 Haters hate.
19:50 Imagine I play piano also there will be haters, you know.
19:54 So for you it could be a lot more, you know.
19:57 Yeah, yeah.
19:58 So what kind of hate you get and how do you...
20:00 It's quite controversial.
20:01 It's quite controversial on my content.
20:04 So a lot of people say in Chinese, "Nadiu zong meng rongyi ah? It's so easy one."
20:09 Of course it's not easy.
20:10 It's actually very simple but it's not easy.
20:12 Why?
20:13 Because what a lot of people lack is not the strategy.
20:17 A lot of people lack the attitude.
20:18 Yes, yes.
20:20 The attitude.
20:21 I can give you all the strategy but you don't move there.
20:24 I cannot do anything.
20:25 So a lot of people they...
20:27 I would say me including me myself because most people including me myself back then
20:31 I lose to my emotion a lot.
20:34 I've been getting attacked by a lot of new followers and some nasty comments came in without any reason.
20:39 I do things based on my emotion.
20:41 I don't feel like doing it.
20:42 I don't do it.
20:43 But now it's different.
20:44 I'm starting to build the discipline.
20:46 Yes.
20:47 Discipline over motivation.
20:48 Yes.
20:49 So dealing with hate speech I once heard of a story from my mentor last time.
20:55 He exactly told this story to me.
20:57 He said, "You know there was an experiment.
21:00 There was an experiment where people put five monkeys in a cage, a big cage.
21:08 They put five monkeys in a cage and then in the cage they put a stair.
21:13 And then on top of the stair they put a bunch of bananas."
21:17 So monkeys see bananas and you want to climb up.
21:22 Yes, show them what to eat.
21:23 Oh, bananas.
21:24 So they climb up.
21:25 They climb, climb, climb.
21:26 Halfway people open the cold water splash and splash them with cold water.
21:31 Boom, like that.
21:32 Splash the monkey and every monkey.
21:34 And then after that monkey dropped.
21:36 Then the second monkey attempted to climb up and then they opened the water again.
21:40 Again.
21:41 And when the third monkey attempted to climb up, all the other monkeys catch him down.
21:46 All the other monkeys catch him down and beat him and told him, "Do not climb up the stairs
21:52 or else we're going to be splashed by a lot of water."
21:56 And then no more monkey climb.
21:58 And then after that they take out one monkey.
22:01 They replace a new monkey who doesn't know the rule.
22:04 So the new monkey would attempt to climb.
22:06 But when the new monkey attempted to climb, they would beat him out, catch him, beat him out
22:09 and say, "Do not climb, do not climb or else we get splashed by water."
22:13 So over time, all the other four monkeys were replaced.
22:18 So five brand new monkeys in the cage who have never experienced the water splash.
22:24 But no monkey dared to climb up the ladder.
22:27 Why?
22:28 Even the five new monkeys, how?
22:29 Because every monkey who got replaced in, they all beat, beat, beat, beat, beat, beat.
22:34 Oh.
22:36 So when all the monkeys who have experienced the water splash got replaced,
22:41 these five new monkeys, they never got the water splash but they don't dare to climb.
22:46 And then when they ask, because what they say is,
22:50 what they think is not water splash.
22:52 What they think is if I climb up, I'm going to be beaten.
22:54 Something will be.
22:55 I'm going to be beaten so I don't climb.
22:57 They don't even know why they get beaten.
23:00 So that was what most people do.
23:03 And there's another experiment called, let's call it Monkey B.
23:08 Monkey B.
23:09 Same thing, same setup.
23:11 But when one monkey go up, but longer stair, difficult way.
23:16 But when one monkey go up and take the banana, everybody gets a banana.
23:21 So the second monkey climb up, everybody help.
23:23 So at the end, everybody gets a banana.
23:25 So lesson is that, lesson that I learned is that I want to be Monkey B.
23:29 There's a lot of people be Monkey A.
23:32 Yes.
23:33 And a lot of people, they don't actually know why they leave.
23:35 They don't actually know why they comment.
23:36 They just keep complaining, keep complaining, keep complaining every day.
23:40 So this is what haters do.
23:41 They will have to beat you up.
23:42 They will beat you up.
23:43 They will say, "Hey, don't do this, right?"
23:44 Beat you up, beat you up, beat you up.
23:46 "I don't care. I want to be Monkey B."
23:47 Correct.
23:48 So this is a story that gave me the inspiration of not giving a fuck to haters.
23:56 Yeah.
23:57 Haters hate.
23:58 When you want to get some sort of attention, of course, it will also attract some haters as well.
24:04 Yeah.
24:05 It's a package.
24:06 It's a package, right?
24:07 So I'm quite used to it already.
24:10 You see, Ronaldo also got a lot of hate speech.
24:12 Yeah.
24:13 People say "Penal" though.
24:14 "Penal".
24:15 Because penalty.
24:16 But do you reply to them or you just don't care?
24:19 I used to reply.
24:20 I used to reply back.
24:21 I used to attack back and then they attack.
24:22 Then I was like, "Huh?"
24:23 Very tiring.
24:24 Very tiring.
24:25 There's no meaning or no point.
24:26 No substance, no ending.
24:28 Correct.
24:29 No point.
24:30 So I might as well just let them do what they want to do.
24:31 And then I continue to shine.
24:33 Wow.
24:35 That is very good.
24:36 That is very good information.
24:38 Yeah.
24:39 I really like the two different monkey story.
24:42 Because the second monkey, even though the road is difficult and all those things, and
24:49 then the second monkey goes there, there was no water splash and all those things.
24:52 And the other monkeys actually help because they all get bananas at the same time.
24:57 That's when I've been always dreaming about having my own community, having my own group
25:03 of people.
25:04 Yeah.
25:05 So I created the Broadcast Channel Call for Hustlers.
25:07 That's exactly the place we gather every hustler around the world.
25:11 And then we actually learn from each other.
25:13 And then when I have some insights, when I have some...
25:16 You share.
25:17 I share with all of them.
25:18 Yeah.
25:19 And then I think this is how I bring more value to the people.
25:22 And this is how I'm able to create a community with strong, light-minded entrepreneurs, hustlers
25:28 to move forward and attack together.
25:30 This is the community I want.
25:31 I don't want a community of a lot of monkey.
25:33 Yeah.
25:34 True, true, true.
25:35 Correct.
25:36 So this is exactly how I deal with hate speech.
25:39 That is very, very good.
25:42 So now that you are building a community, I'm sure there are also ways to monetize from
25:50 whatever that you are doing.
25:52 What are the ways that you are possibly thinking or doing to monetize?
25:57 I like the question.
25:58 I like the point of monetization.
26:00 A lot of people say, "Why you do content?"
26:02 Trust me, you do content, you do business, you go to work and everything.
26:06 At the end of the day, it's about monetization.
26:08 Yes.
26:09 Correct?
26:10 It's about monetary return.
26:11 Well, a lot of people who are... not a lot of people, some people who are good at content
26:19 creation, not necessarily good at monetizing.
26:21 Some people are very good at business, not necessarily very good at content creation.
26:24 Yes.
26:25 Correct?
26:26 So I once had a social media marketing agency, so I understand, I kind of understand how
26:31 to monetize, how to get people's attention and how to convert.
26:35 So I apply these methods, these strategies into my own content creation journey and then
26:42 I can see that it actually works.
26:44 So what I found out along the way is that when content creators want to monetize, we
26:50 can either go for brand deals, which is other people's products, affiliates, or your own
26:56 product.
26:57 So your own product has two types.
26:58 One is tangible product, one is intangible product.
27:00 Yes.
27:01 So tangible product, say merch, say you're doing cooking content, you can have your own
27:06 pot with your own name, things like that.
27:08 So those are tangible products, merch, shirt, hoodies, cap, and things like that.
27:14 Or we can go for intangible products, aka info products.
27:18 So info products are those like ebook, guides, video tutorial, video course, live masterclass,
27:25 paid community, and things like that.
27:27 So these are the things that a lot of people can create for themselves.
27:30 So this is my ebook, this is my guide, this is my video course that I will share with
27:35 you how to do content creation.
27:37 So these are the possible ways that we can do.
27:41 And also, service.
27:43 Service is when you can do it yourself, you can teach people how to do, or you can do
27:49 done with you service, you can have a mentorship program, a coaching program, and be with the
27:56 students for say 30 days, 90 days, to do it together so it's done with you.
28:01 Or you can have done for you program, done for you service, which you offer a complete
28:06 service for business owners.
28:08 They just don't want to find out, they don't want to worry about the part, and they let
28:12 you handle the part.
28:13 So when you go into the company, you help them solve some sort of problems, say marketing,
28:19 or social media marketing, or content creation, or funnel building, or website building, or
28:23 design, whatever it is, freelancing, whatever it is.
28:26 So these are the service type of content, service type of service.
28:30 And then we have product, info product, or tangible product.
28:35 And we also have brand deals, affiliate, it's commission based, or pure brand deals.
28:40 So these are the possible ways that I personally see in content creation, where content creator
28:47 can actually monetize.
28:48 Wow, so many different sources.
28:51 I noticed that the concept of your monetization is very click funnel based as well.
28:58 Very click funnel.
28:59 So because like DIY, then do it with you, or do it for you.
29:05 Correct, correct, correct.
29:07 Wow, that is amazing, that is amazing.
29:11 So since you can be doing so many things, do you face any burnout issues?
29:20 I do, it's very normal.
29:22 One struggle that entrepreneurs have, well I talked to a lot of my friends, so I got
29:30 some insights as well, is that discipline is the hardest to maintain.
29:34 Yes.
29:35 Self discipline.
29:36 Because you don't have to report to your boss, you don't have to go to an office at 9am,
29:42 right, so you basically can wake up at any time you want, you can do anything you like
29:48 at home, or at your own office, and you don't have to punch a card.
29:53 So it's like self discipline is something.
29:56 So when I was stressed out, when I was trying to achieve a lot of things, when I was trying
30:02 to do a lot of things at one time, I definitely feel burnout, I definitely feel very frustrated.
30:09 At first I feel confused.
30:11 So for me my concept is that confusion, when I don't solve the confusion, I don't figure
30:16 it out, it leads to bigger confusion, then it leads to bigger confusion, and then it
30:20 turns into frustration.
30:22 And when it turns into frustration, the attitude changes.
30:26 So you would talk to your family like, "Ah, don't bother me!"
30:29 Yeah, it happens to me as well.
30:31 It happened to me.
30:32 It really happened to me.
30:34 And it came to a point where I noticed it, because I didn't notice it, I was just being
30:41 me, I didn't notice it, the awareness wasn't there.
30:44 So when I noticed it, I was like, "Wow, so bad ah, I was so bad ah, something has to change."
30:50 That's when I decided to have a more organised routine, so I started using Google Calendar
30:58 to...
30:59 Same Google Calendar.
31:00 Correct, I saw you also using Google Calendar, and your Google Calendar was so packed.
31:05 For me, I realised that I cannot do so many things in one day.
31:09 I can do maximum two important deep, deep work in one day, two only.
31:13 So one part and two parts, that's it.
31:16 And then the rest, maybe I do some video editing, maybe I do some thinking, I do some planning
31:20 for the things I want to create in the future, but deep, deep focus work, I can only maximum
31:27 do two for the whole day.
31:29 So when I...
31:30 I used to plan like five, because I think, why cannot?
31:34 Like ego, ego ah, like...
31:35 Can ah, got time ah?
31:36 Got time ah, of course can.
31:38 But I never take into account of my tiredness.
31:41 Yeah, and the mental capacity.
31:43 And the mental capacity.
31:44 And then my mum also said, "You know what's the most tiring?"
31:47 I said, "What's the most tiring?"
31:49 She said, "It's not going to work, it's actually sitting down and thinking and doing the mental
31:54 fight."
31:55 Yeah.
31:56 That was the most tiring.
31:57 And then I experienced the whole thing, I realised what she said was actually true.
32:01 It's very tiring one, you sit there and you think and you fund now.
32:05 So one way that I do is actually I write down.
32:09 Because a lot of time I have a lot of different thoughts that came in, made me confused.
32:14 Too many information in my mind, too much information in my mind.
32:17 So I have to write down, write down whatever it is.
32:20 It's called brainstorming.
32:21 So write down everything and then only I organise and only I make it into order.
32:27 This is how I deal with burnout then.
32:29 For sure burnout one.
32:30 Yeah, same.
32:31 I put everything into calendar so that it's easier for me to refer.
32:36 And since you talk about your mum, so how does your parents see whatever you are doing?
32:43 Oh, my parents are the best parents in the world.
32:51 Of course right?
32:52 Yes, of course.
32:53 They give me absolute 100% freedom to do whatever I like.
32:59 I just remember my mum once said to me, she said, "Siena, I'm a teacher.
33:07 If you want me to teach you, I will teach you to become a teacher.
33:10 If you don't want to be a teacher, you want to be an entrepreneur,
33:13 you better go out there and find someone who is capable to teach you
33:16 and I will give you 100% freedom."
33:18 She said that to me, I was so touched.
33:20 And then she said, "One thing, don't do bad things."
33:23 Yes.
33:24 And I was like, "Mum, I remember it here and here."
33:28 My dad said, "Buia piao."
33:33 Buia piao means don't show off, don't think that you are so gay.
33:39 Super gay.
33:40 Yes, super gay.
33:41 Be humble.
33:42 That's what I learnt from my dad.
33:43 So, they influenced me in a way that I see family in a very different perspective.
33:57 Because we always compare.
33:58 So, I heard a lot of different stories from my friends since university,
34:03 back in the days.
34:05 And then a lot of them actually were quite controlled by their parents
34:14 when they were in high school.
34:16 So, when they went to university, they would want to find freedom.
34:19 So, you go do a lot of clubbing, drinking, partying and all those things
34:23 just to get the, "Finally, I'm out of the cage."
34:27 But since more my family don't actually control me,
34:30 my parents don't actually do that.
34:32 My mom said, "Whatever grades you get, as long as you learn,
34:39 not just study, you learn.
34:41 You learn to be a better person.
34:42 You learn those knowledge, not just study and pass the exam."
34:45 That's what my mom told me.
34:46 It's from a teacher.
34:47 I was like, "It's quite strange."
34:49 The teacher would be like, "You need to get an A."
34:52 So, I feel very thankful and very fortunate to be able to have them as my parents.
34:59 Yeah, this is very, very true.
35:02 I need to learn from them also.
35:04 To be a betterā€¦
35:05 Now I have kids, so I do feel there's pressure when it comes to education and all those things.
35:12 So, how do you deal with that?
35:13 What kind of pressure you'reā€¦
35:15 Like you see, my kid is five and two.
35:18 So, there are a lot of five-years-old, they are very good withā€¦
35:21 Some of them, not a lot, but some of them, they can read things already.
35:25 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:26 They feel quite slow, you know, and then now with all this YouTube stuff,
35:30 they will be watching a lot of things like Skibidi Toilet and all those.
35:36 So, it's not easy to control.
35:39 So, I really admire how your mom and dad is able to give such freedom and trust.
35:47 Yeah, it's like a bat.
35:50 It's either very good or very bad.
35:52 Yeah, exactly.
35:54 They're willing to put the bat.
35:56 I was like, "Wow, better don't disappoint them."
35:59 Yeah, this is really, really not easy because I'm very early on all this social media thing.
36:07 So, during my time, it was quite different also because no one heard about YouTubing and all those things.
36:13 So, in the old days, it's all aboutā€¦
36:16 When I was a child, I would think that making money means going to office,
36:24 bringing a lot of files and documents and all those things,
36:28 and wearing a necktie and a coat because that's what my father does.
36:33 So, I would be thinking, "Oh, making money is like that."
36:35 But now, when I look at my son, to my son, making money means taking the camera
36:40 and record yourself talking or doing stuff.
36:43 Yeah, it's a picture father plants into the children's mind.
36:48 Yeah, so I'm very surprised to hear that your parents are like, "Okay, go ahead."
36:55 A lot of parents would be likeā€¦
36:57 Maybe today, a lot of parents would be more open,
37:00 but the older parents, they would be like, "Oh, you're so unprofessional."
37:05 Correct, correct.
37:06 So, actually, we talked about your children, the education, your way of educating your children.
37:12 Yeah, so we talked about the way of educating children,
37:15 like how parenting is so different today compared to in the past.
37:19 In the past, it's like, "Oh, very strict. You have to do this," and all those things.
37:25 But we would never know how the world changes.
37:29 Like, for example, I can see that in the near future, a lot of jobs will be replaced.
37:37 If you do not know how to make use of things, technology, like artificial intelligence,
37:44 these kind of things.
37:46 I know that there are many countries, like even in the US right now,
37:50 they are still having toll collectors.
37:53 Yeah, do you know that?
37:54 Because in the US, they want to retain those jobs because those people,
38:00 if you take away their jobs, then they will be jobless,
38:04 and they will start doing crime and all those things.
38:06 So, in the US, they are still keeping those.
38:09 But there are also some countries that really move forward,
38:13 and these people, they learn new skills.
38:16 But I don't know, the US is a lot about human rights and stuff,
38:20 so that's why they try to retain.
38:23 Well, it's about adaptability, I would say.
38:25 So, say for parents to let their children adapt,
38:30 first of all, they must adapt themselves.
38:32 You must be able to adapt to a new generation, new things, new technology,
38:37 and things like that, so your children also learn the skill of adapting fast.
38:41 Whoever adapts slow, loses the game, actually, honestly.
38:45 Exactly.
38:46 It's quite challenging also to be a parent.
38:49 I'm scared.
38:51 Yeah, it's really not easy because things change so fast.
38:57 Like the parenting today and parenting in the past is totally different.
39:00 So, you cannot say, "I read this parenting book from the 1990s or 2000s."
39:05 Even 2010 is obsolete already.
39:08 Things are so different today, and I cannot tell my kids,
39:12 "Oh, you've got to study this, and next time be a doctor, lawyer, or something like that,"
39:16 because in the future, doctors could be replaced.
39:19 It could be AI that helps us fix our stuff,
39:22 or there could be things that we eat, like a pill that we swallow in,
39:28 and that thing would help us fix our problems inside.
39:31 Well, I got AIDS again. Better take my Nyquil cold flu and AIDS.
39:35 All gone.
39:37 So, things will be very different.
39:41 To me, I would say, as a parent, I would want my kid to learn how to learn.
39:49 You know, to learn how to learn things,
39:52 so that if whatever things that will start to change,
39:57 then they can learn how to learn something new.
40:00 I love that. To learn how to learn.
40:02 Yeah, to learn how to learn.
40:04 Wow.
40:05 Well, I'm still scared.
40:07 I still don't feel prepared yet.
40:10 We are, we are. Not yet, not yet. Not the time yet.
40:13 Okay, so now we are at the end of our podcast already.
40:19 Maybe you can tell our audience,
40:23 what are the three things that they can keep in mind
40:27 if they are aspiring to be a creator like us?
40:32 I've concluded quite, quite, quite a lot of my personal lessons and experience,
40:44 and a lot of them actually came from mistakes.
40:47 So, I would love to share these insights to the audience today.
40:53 Well, first off is, you've got to be very clear of what you want.
40:58 Be very clear of what you want to do, what you want to achieve.
41:03 Whether or not the things that you do, the things that you share,
41:05 are actually congruent to the things that you want to do in life,
41:08 you want to achieve, aka your dream, right?
41:11 So, that one is very important.
41:13 Because if you do something that you are personally very passionate about,
41:17 you can last for a very long time.
41:19 Yes.
41:20 If you don't even enjoy what you do, it sucks every single day.
41:24 You force yourself to do it, and you don't even know why you do it.
41:28 Because you're in a cycle already, there is no turning back.
41:31 So, it's actually very ꅘ, quite sucks.
41:34 It's something that I hope that people actually told me,
41:41 or somebody actually told me from the very beginning,
41:43 but I had to figure this out along the way myself.
41:46 So, I think it's something that's worth sharing to the audience.
41:50 That was the first thing.
41:51 The second thing is the commitment.
41:53 Just make sure that discipline over motivation.
41:56 Yes.
41:57 Right?
41:58 Trust me, you cannot win a game like in content creation,
42:03 you cannot just win a game like winning a lottery, overnight success.
42:07 Even if you get overnight success, you don't know how to retain it.
42:11 Yes.
42:12 And I heard from another mentor of mine who said this, he said,
42:17 "Success is not success when you cannot repeat it.
42:20 It's just luck.
42:23 Success is only success when you can repeat it.
42:27 Repeat the success.
42:28 You can do it over and over again."
42:30 So, to do it over and over again, it takes a lot of practice,
42:34 aka repetition.
42:36 Right?
42:37 So, the second thing, the second advice that I would like to tell you guys is that
42:43 you must commit.
42:45 You must make the decision to commit to do something for long enough
42:49 to hang on while others quit.
42:52 To hang on while others quit.
42:54 Yes.
42:55 Correct.
42:57 That's good.
42:58 Yes.
42:59 And the third one is from my friend, William Seng.
43:07 He once said this to me and I didn't understand the meaning of this exact sentence.
43:12 He said, "Brian, remember this."
43:14 He said, "A piece of content that shows who you are is more important than a piece
43:20 of content that goes viral."
43:22 I didn't understand.
43:23 I was like, "Going viral is so important.
43:25 Why do you say that?"
43:26 Once I understand that personality or persona or who you are that's being shown
43:31 in the video actually connect with people more than a piece of content
43:34 actually goes viral.
43:35 Yes.
43:36 Correct?
43:37 So, to simplify this, it's basically audience is more important than algorithm.
43:45 So, focus on audience.
43:47 Focus on what you want to bring.
43:48 Focus on the value that you want to bring to the audience and worry about the
43:51 algorithm later.
43:53 Yeah.
43:54 So, those are the three things for me to share with your audience and those
44:00 who are in the Aspiring Contemporary.
44:01 Thank you.
44:02 Thank you so much.
44:03 You are very right because the audience determines the algorithm, not the
44:07 algorithm determines the audience.
44:09 So, wow, this is super eye-opening.
44:13 This has been super eye-opening.
44:16 I hope you guys get a lot of value from this.
44:20 If you really like it, do subscribe to both of us.
44:24 Follow us on Instagram and TikTok.
44:27 Whoa.
44:28 Yeah.
44:29 So, and please comment as well whatever that you have learned and show some
44:37 appreciation.
44:39 Yeah.
44:40 I want to say thank you so much.
44:42 Thank you so much, my brother Ray, for inviting me over so I have the chance to
44:47 chit-chat more about your stories as well.
44:49 It was a true privilege to be here and I'm so glad to be able to share whatever
44:54 that I shared with you today.
44:55 Thank you so much.
44:57 The honor is mine as well.
44:59 Thank you.
45:00 Thank you.
45:01 See ya.
45:02 Bye.
45:03 Bye.
45:04 Bye.
45:05 Bye.
45:06 Bye.
45:07 Bye.