The Secret Life of Ur Mom Ashley | Money, Failure, and Relationships

your mom Ashley is a Creator in New York City and former member of the content house your mom's house who films every single aspect of her life for better for worse at that point for a while I was like I'm never going to show my relationships like ever again she's daringly decided to post her most vulnerable moments insecurities and experiences for everybody to watch which quickly garnered millions of fans and turned into a full-time business that now expands Way Beyond herself this is her Story Journey as an entrepreneur and motivation for business and success as soon as you hit the like button and subscribe it helps us out tremendously thank you so much and now a quick word from our sponsor now thank you Graham for that beautiful introduction on our guest Ashley now she films every single moment of her life and you can probably guess she uses a nice camera and equipment and very expensive equipment just like we do here on the iced coffee hour but you don't need to if you want to get started with our sponsor of course stream yard how do you take someone from being a casual viewer to being like a hardcore fan streaming and that's really really good yeah on Twitch I did twitch during in covid for like six months stream yard is a live streaming software that allows you to begin creating content with just the click of a button all you need is a camera and internet connection and you're able to stream right now directly from your browser by doing so you can stream to multiple social media platforms at the same time including Facebook YouTube LinkedIn and more they also offer various analytics tools such as a tool that shows you which platform is driving the most amount of traffic which is extremely helpful to know it's really the best way to begin creating content without spending any money because they offer a free package that you could try out for no money it's free all you guys got to do to start creating high quality content for completely free is clicking that link Down Below in the description to join stream yard today seriously it helps us out a ton here on the iced coffee hour it would mean a lot thank you so much stream yard and on to the episode I love it down here I have to say it's growing on me I was coming down here at first time what is this spot there are no windows down here we're like nope I feel like we're two floors below ground but it's really nice yeah it's definitely fun yeah it's a fun house you're telling me how much does this rent for down here this room specifically is uh 2 900. so 2900 no you get no windows you get no windows in here it is the size of two New York City Apartments so what's the but where's the window you have no natural sunlight at all that's the real estate agent in him talking right now yeah oh my gosh what's the full rinse on the house that's what I'm wondering um the full rent is 16.5 16. flip between five people but actually I would say that is very doable for New York City wow so what is that like three grand basically yeah relatively yeah yeah some rooms probably paying a little bit more and we have a backyard everything so it's a Cool Spring I think it's it's pretty I think it's a good deal how is it living with with so many people um it's good I love all my roommates they're all like super chill uh we all travel a lot so like our schedule tools are definitely like there's probably like a few people home at a time but it's really nice and it makes it more homey in a way because I've lived alone um a couple of times and it's it's nice to come home and have the house be Lively especially here like there's always something going on um but the house just feels like warm and full so but the living alone uh whole genre Now is really doing well especially in New York my fam just I feel like just pioneered that like living alone in New York City yeah yeah sometimes I'm like wish I could use that title you could I feel like you could just rent a studio for the purpose of like living alone I know right that would be interesting just a straight business expense to be able to click bait that yeah living alone in my studio like or seriously I think just a video title I moved out dot dot dot would do so well even if you just get a studio somewhere else like I feel like it's reciting unnecessary drama like people are gonna start questioning things I'm curious is how do you think drama just in general has affected your channel is it generally a good thing or is it like all attention is good attention or have you seen negative effects of drama yeah I mean I try to avoid drama at all costs um so definitely like try to avoid it I think it depends on like the type of Creator you are I think there are certain creators that like kind of Thrive off of it they use it to grow their Channel um but for me I think at the end of the day like my community is really the most important so any drama that I can like avoid is always going to be the best even if drama brings you more views like all of that I just I think it's better to just have like a nice wholesome Community like do your life do your thing um and not try to get into trouble just for the views I guess yeah how did you get started with YouTube um so I started in college my freshman year of college I was at RPI which is Upstate it's ritzler Polytechnic Institute so I was going there thinking I'm going to do pre-med I will probably go to medical school and although I think I still would have liked that route I was like I have this creative side ideally I would like to pursue this more so I decided hey I'm going to do this on top of college um I've always wanted to make videos I used to make them when I was like 12 13 like I've had my YouTube channel since then and like would post here and there but never actually fully committed to it until I was in college and then I did that alongside my like biology degree for three years until my uh junior year of college when I finally decided like I'm gonna probably do YouTube full time afterwards and then I switched over to business my last year and graduated with a business degree really yeah which is really funny but at any point did you want to drop out and just like just go 100 YouTube for sure like my sophomore year I would talk to my parents like I need to drop out and they're like no you gotta stick through this like they really wanted me to have this kind of um like fall back I guess just in case or just like more traditionally I think they just want me to like have my degree just be like she graduated college yeah um and I think I think I didn't like necessarily need to go to college but I really enjoyed College still and I think it taught me a lot of discipline and also I think um from like a YouTube standpoint even it was more exciting for me to like show my classes and I would do videos where like I wear certain outfits to school so it gave me more things to do and I kind of miss having that structure a little bit now that I'm out of college actually but what prompted you to first start making videos like why did you start first yeah so when I like first first made videos I was probably like 12 13 and it was that era of YouTube where Beauty gurus were like popping off I don't know if you know Bethany Moda but she was like one of them she was like one of like the biggest Beauty gurus at the time and I loved her videos and I was like oh I just like want to do something similar like I love to like show like when I'm packing for a trip or just things like that and I just really looked up to her at the time so I feel like that's what kind of got me into it initially were your parents hesitant about you like YouTube at like 12 13 years old 12 13. that's like sixth seventh grade I know yeah that's why I mean that's why I didn't ultimately like continue it I think I made like 10 videos and then did your parents know about that though they did and were they okay with Steve posting videos online my mom was kind of like like this is kind of sketch like random like old men can watch your videos like uh but yeah mostly it just I don't know got in the way of school I had my sports and then I just kind of like fell off until I later decided that I wanted to um but even then initially my parents were still like hey shouldn't you be focusing on like your classes and like your medical like all of that stuff so yeah but now they're very proud I think they just didn't like understand like initially like that YouTube could be a job and I mean I low-key didn't even know that either I was just doing it because I thought it was fun um but now they're like my biggest supporters of it ever so what sort of videos were you making in college in college I made a lot of like hauls actually I think that's what started my channel and what that's what kind of like brought people to my channel because they were more searchable so I would do like here's like a spring haul or like a haul from like a specific brand um my first video that like ever popped off was a Vans collection video actually so I showed like all my shoes um that's my first video to hit a million views and I think that's like what kind of like kick-started everything what's the appeal to watching a haul video because for me like I'm thinking like if I'm perusing the YouTube algorithm and I see something like my spring haul I would like I don't know if that's something I would really like be super enticed I mean maybe it's not the Target that I'm like so what what is the appeal to something like that because I'm sure you probably consume that content yeah so I mean even now I think there was a time in a place where Halls were really popular I don't think at the moment they're super popular anymore um but the reason why I think people would watch them is because they would be like Oh I'm gonna buy things from like princess Polly for example like and then you can go on a hall and see what someone else bought off that website that like looked good and you could see it worn on a person and then you can kind of go oh actually like I'm gonna add that to my cart just shopping purposes it's literally for just shopping purposes pretty much but what I did actually was I used to fill my hauls with my siblings because I would watch hauls and be like actually these are really boring because like Loki like a haul like is kind of boring and I was like I want to like do hauls that are fun that people also just watch like just because they're a fun video so I would do hauls that like had my siblings in them and like were really like we would just be like messing around like it would be kind of like a vlog but like centered around like occasionally like showing pieces which is like a really interesting setup but like that is how I like started my channel though originally and I haven't done that same um structure in a long time but that's like how I started how much did you make from the video that did a million views at that point I was not monetized so I made nothing and when I actually started YouTube they were kind of like updating the partner program terms so I remember I grinded YouTube for like a full year like three videos a week and I never got paid until I was like a year or more into YouTube like probably over 100k Subs really so you got a hundred thousand Subs in your first year doing YouTube yeah what was the motivation to keep going when you weren't making any money from it and you were in college as well so I'm assuming it was probably a pretty like intense schedule yeah I literally think it was just like something in me was just like self-like disciplined to be like you like told yourself you're gonna do this like you better do it like or I even I remember when I started in college specifically like Emma Chamberlain was popping off so she was definitely like another um like inspiration for me I was like oh like I love her Vlogs like I feel like I could do something similar I remember like watching her videos and being like I'm gonna start YouTube in the first year I will get 300 000 subscribers and like that didn't happen but like I came a third of the way so yeah and I think also like the community and comments and having people kind of like uplift you definitely like pushes you to keep posting as well so how much were you making at the time you graduated college at the time I graduated college I I mean I was making it enough to decide hey I'm going to be full-time I rented out my own apartment I'm like trying to think of exactly how much I made um I would say as a Creator like the amount you make is like pretty exponential for the most part especially like as you're initially growing um but definitely six figures by the time that I graduated college impressive so there's no desire at all to like get a job or take that did your parents pressure you at that point to be like well you could still just you know pursue medicine no sometimes my mom will still have a joke be like medical school I'm like I'm good mom but um no at that point they were like if what's working is working and like keep doing what you're doing although before we go into that hold on one sec where's Jack yo what's up Graham I'm so sorry I couldn't make it again man I'm actually here in New York trying to find funding for my new genius business idea basically it's like any other dating app except when my profile shows up they have to swipe right or else they get banned what do you think pretty smart huh Jack that's the dumb anyways dude even though this is like clearly Fortune 500 level stuff um I'm really struggling to find funding Jack we've been through this you should look instead to today's sponsor fund and grow fund and grow is unique funding alternative with far fewer restrictions than traditional bank loans with their 12-month membership you could access up to 250 000 of credit zero percent interest all while retaining full equity in your company and as a special offer for our listeners fun and grow has prepared a business funding master class that uncovers the five steps to getting up to 250 000 in business credit and don't just take our word for it over 4 000 customers have given fund and grow 4.9 star reviews plus as an exclusive bonus you'll get a 500 discount on their services so don't wait to fund and grow your business visit fund and grow Down Below in the description to get started today and now with that said let's get to the podcast so then what'd you do after college I lived in Troy which is very Barren and boring actually I don't know where Troy is yeah yeah um I mean I like it because it's like kind of my hometown but I live there by myself for maybe like six months and then it was just like I mean I'm still in my hometown so I'm kind of like I feel like I really need a change of pace and then after that six months I eventually moved to New York afterwards when did you notice your content really taking off and why do you feel like people started to subscribe to you I feel like my content really started taking off probably in 2019 so maybe like a year and a half or two after I started like initially posting um I was doing a lot of college videos which like unfortunately like right when I was like oh my college videos are doing so well was like covered and I was like seriously but um I think like what Drew people to the videos were like probably a sense of like relatability I was a college student at the time so a lot of my videos were kind of focused around that um but also show my family a lot that's also like a huge trait in my video so I think that's also like something that people kind of come to see because it's like our little group our little family and people get attached to everyone and we just have like our jokes and our moments and we share like I mean we share like very intimate life moments like low-key on my channel I feel like so definitely that I was trying to like build like an actual Community right like fans rather than just casual viewers okay how do you take someone from being a casual viewer to being like a hardcore fan yeah I think I actually haven't done this in a while but I think things like podcasts like this one right now like are really helpful to kind of like give people a more like in-depth view of who you are or I also used to do streaming and that's real like on Twitch yeah on Twitch I did twitch during kobit for like six months what was the motivation behind me um I just kind of wanted to try it also I think I was like really burnt out of editing so I was like streaming um but it was also like a really cool way to like be super present with your um Community because like they're literally like in chat and you like can talk to them how long were you streaming for like what was the date because of time oh my gosh when I like was really strange I would stream like five days a week for like four hours a day what was this what was the stream crazy sometimes we'd be playing Among Us like oh man that's the only game there you go okay that's the game I know how to play so once Among Us fell off I was like goodbye that's it yeah that's all I got but or I would do like just chatting or like I would edit or like oh like you'd actually be editing a video and like casually talking yeah yeah interesting to be really chill I've noticed that definitely amongst twitch streamers that they have like very DieHard fan bases and it's hard for a lot of people especially the people that do like spectacle content on YouTube to really connect with their audience especially if it's more like scripted out content so they can have a ton of viewers and a ton of subscribers but not very many fans but one thing I've noticed about twitch specifically is that twitch creators like I mean you go on their Instagram and they're like engagement Ratio or engagement rate is like it's like 40 like they have like 300 000 followers on Instagram and they're getting 100 000 likes so it's really interesting yeah and you notice that's a be really positive for you in growing your your fan base yeah yeah for sure I definitely like those are things I kind of haven't done in a minute but that I'm like I really want to do that again in the future just because it was like made me for one feel closer to my community but also I think just like made everyone feel like the community was really there how do you be on so much because I feel like at least for me it's like a constant when when the camera is recording there's always a bit in the back of my mind where I'm like I'm thinking of what I should be saying and I know I have to be present for the camera and I can't like you know that was definitely the most straining thing about streaming that made me kind of realize this isn't something I can do as often as I thought because it is like kind of exhausting to be like aware like for that long um but honestly like if you're like gaming like with other people like the hours pass like you don't even notice but once you are just sitting there by yourself and like chatting to a screen it is a little more noticeable yeah then what was it like then to move into a house with other YouTubers yeah I mean it was so cool I I like group owners I guess you might say um so it kind of felt like I finally have co-workers I finally have people that like really understand my lifestyle that I can ask for advice and ask for questions and like just all kind of grow together and it's kind of like if someone makes a mistake then like all of us learn from it so it's just like the amount that you learn is more exponential and I feel like I can really trust everyone's advice like we'll always be like how does this thumbnail look or like can you help me do this on Photoshop and things like that so I think it was like super super helpful and also just like coming to New York in general was definitely like I don't know such like a big like helpful move for me I felt because if I didn't move I'd probably like still be Upstate doing God knows what but yeah what is it about New York that so many people are drawn to because it seems like there is something different here that a lot of people like it and uh it's it's so much different than anything that I've really seen or experience yeah I mean I think it's definitely just like you come here and there's like a certain energy of people grinding and working hard which can sometimes be like a little exhausting but I think like if you have like the right personality that kind of like meshes with it it's like helps you kind of do the same thing um but I really like the walkability that's something that I really really like about New York is how close everything is and I think there's so many opportunities and especially other creators so just like the community here I think as well it doesn't seem like there's anything Leisure here have you noticed that like there's very little relaxation interesting I I'm now thinking yeah I don't think I've seen anything like there are parks and stuff I don't know if people like really going like chill in park school when I was like everyone's like running people are like hustling like yeah like a violin or something yeah everyone's busy and has a place to be La I feel like there's a bit more of like a relaxed Carefree Vibe Vegas is very much I think like yeah do nothing like we're in yeah well it depends where you go on the Strip everyone's like on vacation so you're not gonna get anyone really like working except if they work there yeah then off of the strip it's just quiet Suburban areas in general I feel like it's kind of hard to like feel like a ton of pressure because there's not very much noise it's not like there's like people walking around cars honking everywhere you know like pushing you so fast it is yeah yeah interesting that's yeah it took me a few days to figure out like why you have this desire to like keep working and going harder here and I think it's just because everyone else is like out and about again always someone working and it makes you want to work yeah I'm curious about the content houses because Graham and I have kind of realized recently that we need to do a better job at networking like we kind of generally stay in our little bubble and we have people in our bubble that we're very close to but it's very rare that we leave this bubble and like meet new people which opens up new opportunities and new doors um feel like content houses are a fantastic way just in general yeah I mean I got a place in Vegas and I moved in a bunch of people that are like young entrepreneurs and I definitely have found myself like benefiting from being in a space with other people like like-minded people yeah what has your experience been with like being in a Content house how has that positively or negatively affected your just success in general yeah and would you recommend it to people that are trying to be good at YouTube yeah I mean I think there are tons of pros and cons I think as like a YouTuber specifically it can be such an isolating job that it's like amazing to like find a group of people that have the same job as you and that you can like actually like I said feel like you have co-workers but at the same time I think pretty much every content house that I have ever seen has like pretty much failed or like has not like lasted for very long or eventually like kind of Fizzles out in a way and I feel like there is always drama involved so I feel like it's good if you're like I feel like it's an experience that you kind of have to be like do I want to sign up for this um and it's definitely good it's a learning experience you get to meet new people I think it definitely helps for like growth for everyone in the group um but with that being said everyone in the group probably does not have like the same ideas or and just butt heads or whatever else happens so is the high power still a thing is that still going or no hype house is not a thing anymore no I think they had a whole like Netflix series about how it kind of I can't joined that I thought it was just the founder like some the founder of something was not giving him good deal a lot of the times the people that found the the houses are not even like the people in the house it's like some random CEO of some companies that's got a ton of money and gets like a bunch of like 18 year old kids all to like pile up in a house why are you laughing oh it's just laughing at the idea though like piling a bunch of 18 year old people in a house and just seeing what happens maybe not seeing what happens there's probably some like business Acumen and reason behind doing it yeah it sounds like it goes against everything you would learn in like a business it does it does but yeah that was yeah just get teenagers together with a cell phone have them post exactly monetize genius throwing some sponsors yeah you're good to go yeah I think what happened in the hype house was like they had I feel like it's like a bang energy they're like you need to post the bang energy sponsors just posted sponsorship and like no one would film or like they're all just like doing their own things I thought they were just like was it was that the that was the group Tick Tock right where they're supposed to do like a group Tick Tock for bang energy maybe I have no idea this was like this is the bang energy thing yes bang energy broke the high power pretty much so they wanted bang energy in the background of like everything so like you when you see like the dance of the like I don't know but like but they're doing like that like like that like whatever she's shaking it back yeah just to do that it just didn't do it which part of the reason why is like they're 18 they have like not a lot of dislike listen they're highly successful but yes but when you put them together in a room and they have to do a sponsorship like a deadline it's very little discipline to get that done I don't know what bang energy was paying but uh anyway probably a bag we should get the CEO bang energy on I hear here's he's a character yeah he said I mean I would be down that would be fun it would be a very interesting episode yeah did you guys ever do anything with bang energy no I want to know because I mean we've talked a little bit about like where you came from yeah how you've become successful but what you do you do it extremely well like I've noticed you have a very dedicated following you have obviously a very successful YouTube channel I want to know what you would describe are the most pivotal moments in your career the decisions are opportunities that were presented to you that I would say made the the this these most Stark changes in your career cool I think well I mean definitely starting my YouTube channel that's the first one um I think actually like when I signed my manager just because most YouTubers have like management that helps them do things signing a manager for me was so incredibly helpful um just to kind of have them like take some of the workload off of me and like negotiate things for me um I feel like that really also made me feel like hey like this is pretty legit like this can be my job and I think from there I took it a lot more seriously once I had been signed um I think another big decision for me was switching to a business major because then that kind of decision really solidified for me that like hey your job is going to be YouTube let's switch to a business major so that maybe some of what you learn in school can actually help you after college but also at my college it was like really stem based so I ended up like doing mostly data analytics like in Excel so I was like did it really help like I don't know yeah um but um I think overall probably the biggest thing for me was actually just moving to New York like I I think it really opened me up to more creators um and is someone that had been mostly a college YouTuber um I think I like I could have probably just Fallen right off like right after graduating college I mean like the same month I graduated college I hit a million subs and I kind of was like Hey like I just did all the things I wanted to do what's next and then just kind of like didn't have as much motivation for it for like a few months or just felt kind of lost um I think moving to New York and feeling the energy here and meeting new people is like really what kind of like kick-started me to like really continue with my channel in the way that I am interested so moving to New York was actually like one of the most impactful things and then what about getting a manager like how do you find a manager because I know a lot of managers can be extremely exploitative towards their clients just in general there's like kind of a negative connotation with talent management in general um how do you find your manager what exactly does management entail yeah so my manager like he just like pretty much emailed me was like I'm from this talent agency do you want to hop on a call and we can chat about it um so it's like very chill and you basically like kind of do like a three-month trial and then from there you'll have like a rolling like subscription but like you'll just like research there's some sort of like what management fee or something um no not subscript I shouldn't have said subscription but like the contract just like continual like updates every like however long um but so how it kind of works is like your manager will like field all your emails and things like that um I'm trying to think what else or what what did you ask another question yeah like what is it like entailed to to have a manager like how did that affect you exactly yeah I think so once I had a manager um I mean he definitely like if I'm working with Brands he actually knew what rate I deserved and I was probably like I would literally do a haul like just for the free clothes like I did hella hauls like give me the free clothes and like I was like super happy with that but I was definitely like really undervaluing myself as a Creator um so my manager was kind of like hey like these are your rates like we're gonna make sure that you get good rates um and since it's like a talent agency he also kind of like would just help out with like strategy or like um I guess like publicity like in a way and making sure that like we're growing and staying on top of things um but also I think once I started signing like more brand deals here and there I definitely like had to make sure that my Cadence of posting videos was very consistent I didn't want to have too many branded videos so I would always make like two or three non-branded videos for every branded video that I did and I think that also is what made me consistent enough for like my YouTube channel to grow so it's kind of interesting to be like oh like taking a sponsorship is like literally like would keep me on track to like keep doing YouTube but it really kind of like gave me a schedule and like pushed me to just be like gotta keep rolling gotta keep doing all these things but yeah I think it was my fam who was saying that uh when she gets a sponsorship that she likes it'll give her inspiration for the idea for the video oh yeah so she's like all right I got this brand what could I do with that that'll make a really fun video and then she builds it around that which I think is really cool yeah I feel like I definitely do the same thing because I like to make sure that things are like super well integrated and I'll of course like only take a brand deal if it's something that like I love so usually I'm super excited about it and then I'll be like hey like what can I do to kind of like formulate a video around this specifically um like a video that I'm working on actually right now was like with the jewelry company and it's kind of like near Valentine's Day so I'm like oh like what can I do to like make a video and like I didn't have this video idea until I had been pitched this like brand deal um but I was like oh okay like I'm gonna get Kelly a necklace and like surprise him like in the airport for Valentine's Day and like all of this different stuff so definitely like can sometimes make for more fun videos which is really cool yeah how do you decide what to post and how vulnerable to be on camera definitely hard um Loki's been like trial and error like sometimes like I'll say things and if I like just don't feel like good about it later I'm like okay the next time I know like hey like keep more things private like set more boundaries um but I would say for the most part I am a pretty open book and there's not much that I actually won't talk about um I feel like I don't really actively think about it too much I just I think I just like know in my heart like hey I'm gonna keep this private it's private but most things are not private is there anything you regret posting or being more public about looking back I don't think so I know like um in the past like I had like another like relationship and when that relationship ended I was like oh my God I had this bro in like a hell of videos and like now now I have to like archive them or something um so definitely like I think in those situations you can be like oh like I regret doing that but I actually don't like I don't I like to be vulnerable and I kind of realize like at that point for a while I was like I'm never gonna show my relationships like ever again um and then actually just like completely came back on my word I was like Hey like I want to show my life like I want to be vulnerable like and whatever happens like I'll deal with the consequences but like I want to show my life and I don't want to like hide a big part of my life either so did you ever undelete those old videos with the x or did you just keep them unlisted I think of them are unlisted and I think some of them are still up okay if I remember after we broke up I was like you can always go through the YouTube editor now and just blur them out you could just blur them out yeah that would be funny or you try to cut around it so what's your plan for growth for your YouTube channel how are you going to take it to the next level what's your overall life YouTube channel yeah what's your overall situation going on right now I mean I feel like I kind of take it day by day um sometimes I try to like think about it too much and I'm just like you get it over your head or like you over analyze it and I think it's better for me to just be like I'm gonna keep making videos that make me excited that I like to do and not focus as much on like the numbers as much or like let it get in my head um but I definitely think um I want to do more like idea based videos going forward I do a lot of Vlogs but I think what brings more new viewers to my Channel or like kind of idea based videos and by like idea based I just mean like not travel Vlogs or like not daily Vlogs but maybe like I just did one where I was like oh trying every matcha in New York City and that's something that like someone that doesn't know me might click on is it really drinking now I am drinking a matcha right now it's just I love the video or is this like just you just got a mantra it's got a matcha okay yes but I actually I had not gotten it from this place before and I also didn't get in the video but it's pretty good because it is the best that would have me it's such a good choice if you said trying every Pizza in New York City and just like every second is a bite dude this one is pretty good bite bite bite yeah but I love matcha I am working on actually starting a matcha company oh really yes what's the goal with that the goal is I love matcha and I'm like what better product could I do within this um but yeah I I've always kind of I mean I'm like working on merch right now which I think will like launch maybe like every season um so I'm excited about that as well but like I'm really really excited about doing matcha I realized like if like in my videos I drink it like all the time it's like really within my branding and it's something that like I genuinely enjoy and I think that would be like super fun um also I guess the goal is I also want to diversify outside of YouTube as much as I can so trying to do a little real estate try to do a little real estate not really real estate but I am about to close on a house really yes congratulations thank you where like what here which is in New York which is a little scary but I was like you know what I like New York like what like a apartment or yes it's an apartment um I always I like to say house because it makes me feel like I can justify how expensive it is but it is literally just like an apartment I love this place that I have here now and maybe like potentially like I could renew like the lease here and like still live with roommates but I really want to have another space that has good lighting because this place yes does not have good lighting like at all and the place that I am working on closing on has like beautiful lighting so I'm like okay I can spend like part of my time there have another place that's like kind of like my own personal home if I really want to say living alone in New York City I can do that yeah wow but yeah just like another place has really nice lighting and maybe my sister will come live there with me as well that's cool it seems like home renovation content is starting to come back in style do you have any plans of like fixing it up those would make great videos like yes who's the one guy Lone Fox Lone Fox wolf I follow him on Instagram his designs are incredible and he goes yeah he bought this whole building in Los Angeles like a 1920s building and he turned it into something incredible uh by doing something like that like a kitchen remodel yeah I don't know about remodeling my Co-op board as the craziest fee for remodeling they're like if you do your kitchen you have to put down a ten thousand dollar down payment and we keep half and I was like what oh why if you like damage anything in the building I guess so but so I think probably not Renovations but I think decorating for sure and was the reason that you wanted to buy mostly like a financial decision like you thought it would probably be smart to build equity in a place in New York yeah that definitely is my main reason sometimes I'm like wait why am I doing this again I'm like it's just like actually just like have something that's like a good asset to have um but definitely I also just really like New York I see myself staying here for a long time so I'm like okay it makes sense to me that like I have a place um and also I think it's fun for Content as well to be like new apartment decorating people love the mentors honestly if you've moved every year those videos just do so well people do that they do yeah all the time so painful but it is good for Content yes just keep doing that uh does the gulp have an HOA or how does that work yes it does um very high HOA can I ask what it is minus 2600. whoa but I get 60 of it back wouldn't be Reserves I really have no idea but very high HOA but then they said oh no you actually get like annually you get 60 of all the HOA that you paid back and I'm like why do I just pay like 40 and like not do that but my guess is that they need a certain amount of reserves by the end of every year and then if they don't use it they give it back to you but there might be a repair that they need the money that's my only guess but I'm not for like an assessment maybe I'm not sure but maybe I don't know we don't really do co-ops in California or Vegas but it's way more common here because the price of real estate is just so high yeah speaking of HOA they raised the HOA in uh my community mine got raised too are you serious yeah I don't know what's happening mine was raised I think it was like almost 100 a month raised no increase are you gonna send them a letter you know why part of me thinks this would be a great video and I'm really part of me is worried about it and part of me thinks it'd be a great video going over their budget and reacting to it I would love that I think that's hilarious you explain like HOAs and everything and then I was told the car the car they Patrol the area in which is probably the building or no it's not a building it's like a gated community okay okay so there are probably my guess is maybe like 500 homes I don't know but they had this car that just like goes around constantly with little lights on the back it looks like a Ford Focus or something like this it's like a Google I'm told someone reviewed the documents guess how much that car is per year to lease they're paying this every single year it's a fourth Focus I'm gonna say I'm going to say some egregious number fifteen thousand twenty thousand to lease the Ford Focus yeah what do you think it's a Ford Focus so this is probably a thirty thousand dollar car yeah maybe maybe the car Market's High maybe thirty five thousand dollars to buy the car outright just to lease it like not even like including the person driving it or anything no just delete the car itself I mean now I feel like I should say like 20 000 just to say something crazy you wanna hear crazy yeah forty thousand dollars a year that is the cost of this car do they have multiple they have a Lamborghini what I think very well could at that price actually forty thousand dollars a year that's a good question if they have multiple I don't I only see one of them at a time maybe they have two but still even two we're talking realistically uh 500 a month per car so it should be let's say you have three of them fifteen eighteen thousand dollars a year for three of them but then you okay insurance right gas and stuff like that 25 something 40 000. I don't get it the surveillance in my neighborhood is 200 000 from my neighborhood per year but your neighborhood is my neighborhood's big but this is huge it's a big neighborhood but still I was thinking I was looking at that and I was looking at my my HOA docs and they're like pulling in like seven figures a year I would love to I would love to review it and but I do I realize HOAs like if you on the bad side of that you're like oh log listed you like they will make your life awful and so it's like do you really want to go up for what like you get a funny video out of it and people are like oh look at that point forty thousand dollar car is it worth it I don't know because all of a sudden then they're like hey Graham here's a notice your car is too loud uh and you have to remove it from our premises because it definitely just wage war against the HOA I don't want to move that's the thing then it's like because they would have the right as the HOA they they supersede me you know I could complain but like at the end of the day they have the final say do you bite the hand that feeds probably not but still 40 Grand crazy uh yeah I think it would be great if I get on that HOA and just like cut and cost like how much like the car we have lucky Lopez get us like a 5 000 card this guy he literally was planning on attending an HOA board meeting to complain about that's funny what was it the weights in the gym the weights in the gym that of the community he's in okay so the weights end at 50 pounds and I thought they should end at 70. and I thought it'd be a great use of capital if we could just increase the weights at the gym that would be fine oh my gosh and I was even gonna plan out like that like the residents would live longer with the higher weights and therefore they'd be able to make more money so I thought it was a good investment in the future that's a great and more people would want to move there if because they have that because they have not only more higher weights but also because the residents were in better shape that's genius and they had bigger muscles so they'd entice more people right it's like marketing it's great marketing yeah 70 pound dumbbells yeah it also strong residences like yeah everyone looks like liver King is walking around yeah it's a backpack this is everyone's just carrying the barbells like up and down the street that's smart man it was that's a really good idea pitch it to him yeah I think so I like it but yeah they came out with this Rule now where you can't park on the street after 10 p.m oh so all the cars have to be fit so here's the thing they said their preference was that all cars be parked in the garage so you can't even like park in the driveway in the garage unless the garage is inaccessible um or like unusable for whatever reason and then you could park it in the driveway but like the goal is to get all cars out of sight after 10 pm wow that is very specific yeah I mean interesting what's the point of a driveway you know and then they also limited the size of the car that you could have parked in front of your house yeah so they they wanted to prevent people from having like the big Vans or like you know little buses or stuff like that parked in their driveway which I was never bothered by I don't know I was bothered by it but they said the Aesthetics are off we have problems yeah there's a height requirement on that and there is actually they did enact a decibel sound for your car's exhaust uh what HOA are you living in men this is crazy I'm being serious though they honestly a decimal requirement for the car yeah but are they actually gonna accost somebody who's like driving their car the thing is the thing is no but they re they create a system where they could do anything they want to they could find something so if they don't like you they could say well you drive that car and it's a little bit too loud and we're gonna go we'll enforce it on you but the other guy he's cool but we don't have to do that but we'll do it on you wow so they create an environment where you have to play by their roles so that's why I'm like do I really want to go up against it and like yeah probably not but it would make a great video true they're gonna be like we are gonna increase Graham's fee exactly 100 and only him I don't know it's it's for me it's just the cost if we could figure out where we're wasting money and bring it back down because then I worry this was an issue with Los Angeles is that there were not HOAs but city services and things like this that would be taxpayer funded but then the money would go to somebody who's like running the company who's friends with the person who set it up like I'll give you an example there was a a homeless shelter in Los Angeles and I think the rent was like 60 to 80 000 a month someone investigated this and it turned out the person who owns the homeless shelter that they're leasing for like 80 grand a month was friends with someone on the city board and the rent was twice market value and they never actually set it up so they're spending twice the market value it's worth 40 Grand he's getting 80. and it's empty and it was never used as a homeless shelter and if there's there's a lot of stuff so like what if someone on the HOA board is friends with the person who's leasing the car for forty thousand I'm like this is probably maybe conflict that's a good point right there I don't know I should investigate I don't know where it's going yeah that would be like a coffee Zilla Style video where like you had the flu versus your own HOA that no that's what that is is like an idubbz type video new style idubbz video I like it I don't want to move I don't want to move I like I like where I'm at I'm just I'm just curious you know that's all I'm just curious join the HOA become one of them imagine for the start raising on Jeremy imagine imagine for the video that like I joined the HOA to influence that would be so good dude so down in the grass I love that video idea that was like ridiculous Frozen I would love that idea no because everyone has to vote on them so you can never get anything ridiculous I'm just curious about some of the contracts this is not to scare you out of your apartment that you're buying with HOA yes I'm sure you're going to be just clutter I know what I'm getting into it's okay they don't need patrols they don't need that luckily let's talk about I ask uh every guest this yes if your income is made of a pie yes okay how are the slices looking like if we're to assign a percentage on each slice where is it coming from I don't know why I use the pie analogy but it's just what I do say pizza if it's a pizza what are the slices well no because the pizza that the slice is supposed to be even pie you cut your own slice you can be a Big Slice small slice so oh that's yeah true oh so how's that I'm gonna be like this is 76.13 exactly yeah well I'm actually probably say um 25 AdSense and 75 brand deals that is what I would say so if the majority um like brand sponsorships for sure just because like it's like AdSense right is like it's okay but like it's not super good um also I mean just as like a vlogger channel I mean I think like my like RPM like CPM is like pretty decent but there's definitely other genres out there that are probably better um but yeah I'm working on like merch and matcha like I said so hopefully those will become slices of the pie but for now it's really just like AdSense Brands so looking to diversify for sure yeah and is increasing the income one of the like a primary goal of yours right now or is it mostly just to continue to build sustainably and then potentially dip into other things it's definitely goal is always just to building that Community there but I do think it is like always like a interesting bonus to be like holy crap like your income can grow with that um and definitely just for also safety reasons I do want to dip into other things just because I feel like I do have faith that YouTube will last a long time but at the end of the day like you never know so I think it'd be really cool to like have a brand that could potentially um even like start as my brand something like matcha I feel like I could start similar to like merch like use some of my own I guess like star power in a way to kind of kick start the business uh but I do think it's also a business that I could have um that is just a business that maybe people buy from and don't even know who I am down the line do you have the infrastructure set up for that like do you already have like it planned out like everything kind of ready to roll out or is this an idea that now that you're working on it's something that I'm in the process of so we're definitely trying to still figure out like Logistics and things like that but I've gotten to the point where like I've tried to Source some different matchas um figuring out like what people's like roles are gonna be who I'm gonna work with and things like that so it's still it's still getting there but I want to launch it by this year though for sure yeah I've noticed with bankroll coffee the coffee itself doesn't have a lot of margin but the accessories do like if you were to sell really okay cool it might be different from matcha yeah but coffee beans are expensive and there's like a price point where people don't want to pay above like 12 to 14 for like a bag of premium coffee yeah so that kind of caps it out but straws are great um cups are fantastic if you have like a branded cup um oh gosh we have ice cube trays which do really well I don't know if that would work for Macho I mean I think all those things would probably work similarly Cub I know people will even like like tote bag frother for matcha actually something as well um they're definitely little things like that yeah would be cool but that helps and those are little cool upsells so like for our coffee will it kind of break even on the coffee but then at checkout hey if you want to deal on this and throw this in it's like that will kind of make up for it yeah definitely looking into matcha like because I'm just like I know I want to do like ceremonial grade like make sure it's like really good or like top of the line from Japan all these different things and matcha ends up being so expensive for just like the tiniest little bit so even if you buy like a little tin like probably like the market rate is like I see people sell for like 24 for like a little tin but it does last like forever I think it'd be amazing if you actually went to Japan yeah and like made a whole thing on this um that would be cool that is the goal uh what was the one that the Breaking Bad missed call oh like Dosa yeah yeah they had a really cool story where they like went to Mexico and it shows them like going through and like meeting people and figuring out like the culture and the history behind it and like whoa that I think if you applied that to yeah and like going to Japan trying it out like learning who makes it like like who's behind it and like really the art and the graph and the history behind it like yeah and you find some like a story behind a really cool supplier there or like someone who makes it out of passion is really in it it's like you know 20 Generations in it's like just doing this one thing I don't know it's like a tea ceremony yeah special then it's not just like hey I got a matcha this is cool because I like it but there's like this cool history behind it and people are going to be curious like why is that one the best yeah and you can be the best exactly so yeah no it's definitely I've never been to Asia like ever in my life so I would love to like go to like Korea or Japan um especially Japan to look at matcha and everything so it would be right I would do that I think if you're gonna do it I'd say do that and find like a good supplier yeah yeah it'd be cool definitely language barrier will be hard but I will figure it out that could be part of the video too yeah yeah I'll get a translator that's cool is there anything you want to discuss yes wait Graham I actually have a surprise for you we have to close your eyes are you serious yeah I am serious I love surprises I know you're gonna love this surprise you have to close your eyes though actually yeah and you have to hold out one of your hands oh gosh is it is it money yes you're gonna put money in my hand yes all right okay keep them closed all right yeah there's nothing really that'll like spook me unless it's something like crazy oh it's not that crazy all right okay keep holding it all right okay maybe like lift your hand a little bit what is this why are you laughing Jack dude you're gonna love it keep your eyes closed but can I see this hand okay oh close okay no you can open yeah trying to guess what it is you like it it's more you get it that's funny were you prepared for this yes I was it was in my tote bag actually like you thought of this like in advance yes I did before I came down here I I was gonna do in the beginning and I forgot and halfway through I was like oh I need to do this still oh man it's been a long time since I had one of these but yeah all right [Music] no no that's so jeez all right wow yeah oh keep going give it a chance yeah he really likes it uh-oh you dropped some yeah who's that who's the housemate or that this is Luke's room Luke shout out to you Luke thank you for letting us use your room very gracious of you we really appreciate it you went on Colin and Samir yes I did tell me about how that was that was really fun um I had probably met them like maybe a year prior um they're just really cool guys super chill and it was really cool to be on the podcast I felt like so honored I feel so honored to be on your guys we're honored to have you yeah yes I've actually seen quite a few of her videos I meant to tell you what's your favorite what was my favorite I used to watch so many of like just like I really when I was living Upstate I was like I'm gonna have an investment property so I literally would be like watching every video that's like about like having a property and like what you should do and I never ended up buying up there and of course I buy here where the Market's like wild but that's okay thank you that's so cool no oh my gosh I'm trying to think about any questions I'm just glad that got the graham cracker thing down well now you can now you can clip that Josh too wow that's what it means holy miracle I did not get it no are you serious okay duh wait what did you think it was I just thought it was a s'more are you serious even I got that I was like oh it's more like maybe like Graham wants some more because he's that's even I recognize that I got it like immediately that's why I was like biting my hands so that you could get it I've had a very long day we've been recording you know I feel like this New York Trip's been draining you gotta excuse me for that Jack is it easy too I literally I literally thought I could sleep in every morning jokes because he's you know he wants some more of something money I don't know views put that in there like Jack's little bit at uh I don't know if you would get this thing do you know Infinity Edge Falls oh my God like as an inside joke though no it's not inside yeah I do know what it okay you know the infinity edge has an edge that goes down into like a little Jack saw a pool like that he's like dude the pool has a little mini pool or something what did you say like what is why why does it have like a second level yeah why is there another level to the pool like we gotta show that that's funny dude the pool I was like that's the Overflow for the the pool how I know man now I know graham cracker graham cracker that's why you're putting your hand over yes exactly so it's like uh dude you're funny that's good that's a great joke congratulations thank you thanks so much uh of course did you get a free stock at public.com did you guys check out all the links Down Below in the description your links let me Down Below in the description thank you so much coffee thank you guys so much for watching and until next time cool thank you guys thank you yay that was great