If I Wanted to Go Viral in 2024, Here’s What I’d Do

We're doing over a billion views a month. It was like printing money. A lot of people think that we only go viral because of our personality. That is a formula, not a personality. I was waiting for a suit behind a desk to give me permission to be successful. If you have a Karen and she takes a giant Slurpee and throws it on somebody's car, that's going to grab you, and then if she takes chalk paint, keeps shaking it, but doesn't do anything, but she's just yelling at you, you're like, what is she about to do with that? That is the difference in good creators and the best creators in the world. Their ability to hold suspense.

2017 to now, 2024. Who did you need to become to deal with this level of success? Welcome to the Growth Stacking Show. This is Dan Martell. If you love to read, my new book is out. Buy back your time. You can get it on Amazon or any other retailer where books are sold or buybackyourtime.com. it's gonna help you build a business you don't grow to hate. Buy back your time if you read it. I would love, love, love a review on Amazon so it could help it get in front of other people just like you. So let's get into this episode. Adley, thanks for having me in your beautiful, beautiful. What do you guys call it? A Crater house or Viralish House? Viralish house. That makes sense. Of course it's viral.

Ish. You know, not every video, but ish. At least.

Ish. That's so cool. Well, I mean, obviously. Did we first meet on Clubhouse? Is that back? Yes. Yeah. 2021.

I was wondering where that was. It was clubhouse.

Yeah. 2021. I remember after. I don't even know what the conversation was, but we messaged each other on Instagram afterwards and kind of. I always knew I wanted to connect with you. And we were coming to Nashville and I think Sam had saw something and connected us through Ryan. Megan. I believe so. I'm pumped. I'm here. Right off the bat, you guys do a billion views a month.

Do a billion views a month. That's conservative, I'd say now.

Really? Yeah. Because, I mean, with. With the content you're putting out there, I mean, you can, you know, go up 20, 30%. Like, it's just.

It can fluctuate based on the day, based on supply and demand of ads.

Yeah.

You know, and so it's. It's very unpredictable. But we've learned how to manage our expectations and manage that at scale So.

I asked you earlier off camera about, you know, because I knew you were a cheerleader. Did you always feel like you'd be an entertainer? And. And I know there's. Because your videos go viral because you're trying to figure out what in the culture can we do? What is the formula for you to create a viral video? Like, can anybody do it? Or do they have to be somebody like yourself that has that kind of personality?

This may sound cliche, but a lot of people think that we only go viral because of our personality. I've taught people to make faceless videos, people who have terrible anxiety, because it is a formula, not a personality. A personality is just icing on the cake. But ultimately, it's your authenticity that has to come through. I'm silly. I'm very, very goofy. And a lot of people will see that and be like, I couldn't make viral videos as a job. And then I just want to show them all of our other channels that you would not even know are ours. My.

Such as just so everybody knows what they are. What are the other channels?

Oh, you could look at my husband's. My husband, we gave him a challenge. My husband Blake, we gave him a challenge to grow a million followers on TikTok. And. And this is a great example of just the formula at work. My husband is terrified of being on camera. He doesn't like to speak. He has camera. He just has anxiety about being on camera. So we said, all right, you're going to grow a million followers on TikTok and you have to use the formula and you can't speak.

So you box them into, like, this is the creative form. It's what we teach people.

Yes.

You have to use it. And you can't talk. Because we want to. That's the challenge. Forcing function.

Yes. And so that anybody can do this, and you have to pick a smaller niche, like deep DIY.

Okay.

And he did it in 29 videos.

Come on.

29 videos.

How much time did it take him to a million followers?

About 5 months.

29 videos. 5 months.

29. Shot 29 videos on tick Tock.

I want a million followers.

We got you.

Let's do this. My collab with Blake. Is that what I gotta do? Go find him in the kitchen. Yeah. Like, let's hang. But do you mind sharing the formula or pieces of it?

No, not at all.

Okay, cool. I want to know.

Yeah. So it sounds. It sounds simple, right? This is storytelling 101. But we've adapted it in a really unique way for social so first, obviously, there's the hook. And we have seven elements of a great hook. Then we go into suspense.

And suspense creates tension.

Create tension. And that is the difference in good creators and the best creators in the world really is their ability to hold suspense. And then we have the payoff. We have engagement tactics and we have. What's the other one? Probably call the action stakes and raising the stakes. And so those sounds so surface level. And people are like, that's it. Yes. But it goes in really deep of how you're going to hold the psychology of attention second over second over a second. How you're going to emotionally anchor somebody. And we see this in sitcoms, we see this in the best movies.

You see it in Mr. Beast.

You see it in Mr. Beast.

Yeah. If you actually know what you know. Because, like, I love this. I think everybody listening is going to get a masterclass today and how to create better content, even if their desire isn't to get a million view or followers on TikTok or go viral. It's just better. Like, if you're a presenter, you should learn this stuff. You know, if you're even. Oh, my gosh. I would actually enjoy listening to boring PowerPoint presentation if you understood, hey, kick it off with a great hook. Tell me what the payoff's gonna be. Create the suspension. But it's interesting because I've been doing content for a while and everybody's got thoughts. Let's just start with the hook. And you said you have different formats. Do you always script your videos out or do you sometimes shoot and then have the person prompt for different hooks? Because I've done both. I've done scripted and I've done prompts based on what I'm sharing. Am I losing the precision by not scripting everything? Is there a way to not script and still nail the hook?

I would say if you want to go predictably and sustainably viral, you script it. You increase your chances at bat every single time, but let your authenticity come through still. But you have your parameters, you have your bullets, and you're just a little bit more well thought out. Because even if you have your boundaries, you can play inside those. But you know that you've anchored the emotion within the first three seconds.

What's an example of that?

The first three seconds.

So anchor of emotion.

So golden rule is, in the first three seconds, you're going to create an itch that does not pay off until your last three seconds. And your suspense is the bridge in the between. And that holding that tension is what separates good creators from the best creators in the world.

Two, three.

And it sounds like a lot to do, but if you can accomplish 90% retention on your first six seconds, you're off to an increase.

Is this where people say things like, these are the four things that most people get wrong, and the fifth one's definitely the thing you're not doing?

That's one way to do it. Yeah.

Okay, what's other examples of that?

Let's use the oldest trick in the book. If somebody's sleeping on a couch and I put shaving cream in their hand, you immediately know what you're waiting for. And I could hold that moment 30 seconds.

We did that to each other growing up.

So, yes. And you can choose hold that moment for 30 seconds. Hold it for a minute. In our case, for optimizing for Facebook monetization policies, currently we're holding that moment for. For three minutes or 18 minutes, which is how if you've ever watched a video and wasted three minutes of your life, that's what they're doing. That's our specialty. But you would do it too if you knew how much it paid.

Well, yeah, no shame in the game. It's so, it's so interesting. But what's funny talking to Adley is that you say, you know, it's the oldest trick in the book. And, and I'm like, I'm a kid in a candy shop. Like, I'm like, oh, I didn't know that. Like, it's, it's so good. What you're sharing is so good. And you talked about like, kind of the concept of entertainment and also education. Yes, kind of. The Mr. Beast meets a hermosi. How do you do that? Where are you looking for hooks that are similar in a business context? Or do you still do something as silly and then fill with the business lessons?

I think if you're going to go, here's how I would do it. If so, you do a lot of thought leader content. If we're going to wide, if we're going to unleash ourselves, and that's really what we teach people how to do. I don't care if you're a small candle company. You have to unleash yourselves to get past your existing audience. So say I was a small candle company and we wanted to use the oldest trick in the book of shaving cream in the hand. Sleeping guy, waiting for him to hit his face. I would have sleeping guy here and I would have the candle company right here. And his face is here and as you set up that shot, you get the branding of the candle, but it's very seamless.

Yeah.

And then I'd have to show you this videos. Maybe you overlay it.

Okay. Does this video exist?

It does.

Okay, we'll just, we'll put it in now.

Okay. This is our first hundred million view video. And here's how I would advertise a small candle company. Okay, we're making this up. But I would have my head here for the actor here. And then the narrator, the person who's filming, they're going to get that candle there. Okay. So it's established, it's a piece of it and the candle is lit. So you're adding a moment of tension with a candle burning by somebody's hair and head right here.

Oh, the hair too. See, you just got me with the.

Hair increasing a little bit of tension and putting by the way you're filming, you're increasing a possibility that that could happen because this person is sleeping. We're obviously playing with them. Right. So then me as the actress back here, I would maybe pick this candle up over the sleeping guy and be like. And he goes, no, no, that's my favorite candle. Whoever's holding the phone, that's my favorite candle. This one. Essentra. Say the brand goes, yes, I just got the two for one at target. I just got 30 of them. Put it down. You know, and this is the person behind the camera.

Oh my gosh.

That's getting the messaging out there.

So good.

Saying there's social proofing because you stocked up on it. Telling me where to get it. Yes, there's 2, 4, 1 on target. I just got 30. Set it down now.

Wow.

So then that's somewhere in the middle of the three minute video. Then later, as I'm messing with this guy, I have a Fly app. So I'm just buzzing over his head so he thinks there's a fly and we he's about to slap himself any moment. But then as I'm doing this above his head, I would be like, God, this smells so good. You know, just to edify, this is the best smelling candle out there. Then that's how to get 100 million views for free. Then if you have a media buyer, you can retarget viewers of specific videos. So then they're going to see that again and attach a coupon for where to go get it. Advertise the sale, use ManyChat to put in the caption or the payoff of the video of where they can go get that candle. And you just hijacked 100 million views for free. That would have cost you a fortune.

That's interesting. So I love the product placement and I'm gonna come back cause I got a hot sauce question for you. It's kind of my new passions. I eat a lot of plain food, but I gotta get some locale hot sauce. What. How would you do content that is viral and like thought leadership? Like, how would you do both? Like a little bit more. I feel like I'm a little too education and not enough entertainment. So where, where does that balance come into play?

I think you could do something. So we have different formats and different buckets that we.

But would you start with the education part and then try to figure out the entertainment angle? No, you have to start with the viral entertainment.

Yes. Because if you start saying, here's how to save 30% on taxes, most of us are out, right. I mean the large part of the.

Population, here's how I paid 1.2 million in taxes. And then people are like, what's that? Or here's how I lost 1.2 million in taxes.

Right. And I'd say, I mean, this is how viralish does it. So we. Most people, when they describe a video, they're describing the outcome. We do every video in reverse. If you're going to pitch a video to me, you're going to pitch the.

First three seconds, begin with the end in mind.

Or sorry, you're going to pitch the first three seconds. You're going to say, I'm going to crack an egg into a thing of Quaker oats in the middle of a target. And then if I'm interested, I'd say keep going because that mimics the viewer's experience.

You literally feel like you wait to feel, say, say what it is.

Yeah, I would say I'm going to crack an egg. If I'm pitching you an idea, I would say I'm going to crack an egg into a thing of Quaker Oats in the middle of the aisle at Target. And then I'd say, I like it. Keep going. Because you just pitched me the scroll. You pitched me an opening three. And then I would say, okay, now I'll hear the rest of your idea. But most people say, here's my idea. I'm going to show people how to save 30% on taxes. I'm going to show them the best three ingredient brownie recipe. With all due respect, even if you make the best video out there, less than 20% of people are maybe making it to the end. So they're never going to see that amazing tax strategy. They're never going to look at the amazing brownies. They're never going to learn how to save money in real estate because they're not making it to the end. So we have people describe a video by the opening shot. If we like it, they can continue telling us the video in sequence because that's the viewers experience.

So good. It's so interesting because I think I spend too much time on like how can I help people? So I want to create entertainment educational content. But I would help a lot more people if I could figure out that. Because then I get more views and more people learn more cool things.

What if you did? We've done this before for an educational piece. It was how to save money on taxes.

Yeah.

And it was a paper towel roll because that's interesting. And it has writing on it and it says the first paper towel says if you saved a penny then you pull the next thing down. It reveals the second piece of the paper towel every day for a year. No, first one. It says first paper towel roll says would you rather.

Oh yeah, okay.

Would you rather have a penny every day for a year?

Now I need to know what the.

Second one is or whatever that other status.

Yeah.

You know, and you just take them line by line through this paper towel roll of laying out a story and you educate them. But it's something visual. 82% of people are watching without sound.

It's interesting because I even watch like some of these tiktokers that are sitting there making tea and singing.

Yes.

And I'm like, they could just sing but there's something about watching them make their coffee or their tea that it's kind of like I'm curious what they're drinking today.

Yes.

It's so I'm like why? Why am I that some visual. It's a part of our brain that wants to know. Yeah, right.

Or a part that represents a piece of you. Like I like tea. It's giving you some emotional tangible thing to be like I'm like that person. Rather than just sitting in a chair hearing somebody's talking. And a lot of people are sitting, substituting, sitting in a chair, talking. They know they need visual so they're just substituting with editing. But if you can create a physical anchor that has suspense, even better. Say you were a trauma psychologist. How would you do that? You could have a balloon filling it. I'm making. But you could have a balloon fill it up with shaving cream. With a great verbal Hook, second sentence has a ton of suspense. And you're like, what's she doing with the shaving cream though? It's a visual demonstration.

That's the thing. It's like, I heard what you said, but what are you doing with that?

Yeah. And so I'm continuing to tell you, and I'm never gonna let my voice drop down like this and finish a sentence because if you finish a sentence, then people have a second to swipe away. So you're never gonna just end it and leave a moment where somebody could swipe away because then they would. So it's how you speak to where they like can't find a moment to get away. And they're anchored with a visual the whole time.

It's interesting because you keep bringing your, like the genius that you keep saying is like even the suspense and the anger, the, the, the emotional second thing or the hook. And it's fascinating because I went down the rabbit hole of studying Mr. Beast videos. Okay. Because if I go, I'm going to create YouTube videos, I got to study the best. And I found that a lot of people that have dissected, I mean, to the level of edits where they show how he raises all the stuff you said.

Yeah.

And I'm like watching this and to normal person, to my 10, 11 year old boys, they're just like, this is a cool video. And to me now I cannot stop seeing the jump cuts, the, the, the, the frames, like whatever these things are called. And it is a masterclass in just what are some of these things people could consider even language patterns, like words you don't say. I think it was like don't say, but say and. Or something like that. Like, so talk to me about some of the ideas around creating high retention through a video. Because at the end of the day, that's one of the metrics that kind of tell the algorithm to, you know, the kind of completion rates. Yeah. How do you, how do you create tension? Suspense, engagement. Before we get back to this episode, if you prefer to watch your content, then go find me on YouTube. I have this episode on YouTube. I'm Dan Martell on YouTube. Just subscribe to the channel, turn on the notification bell because then you'll get notified in real time. It'll. You tell, tell YouTube to tell you get a new episode so you'll never miss anything. Now let's get back to the episode.

It is creating that itch. I mean, number one thing is creating that itch in the first three seconds that isn't going to pay off. And then relatable moments like, say, that's why politics work so well. Or controversial things. A protagonist and an antagonist. And these are things that you can plant in your video. Karma Videos. Karen's. It's a whole psychological play of.

Say more. What do you mean by Karens?

You know, Karen's.

Like in a. I know Karen's. I had an HR person named Karen, and she was.

Oh, that's right.

She was the Karen. I don't even know how she got the job.

But yes, it's good to have a Karen. If she's your Karen.

She wasn't a good Karen.

Okay, sorry, Karen.

It's all good bringing you into this.

But if you have a Karen and she takes a giant Slurpee and throws it on somebody's car that's gonna grab you, and then if she takes chalk, paint or something and then just keep shaking it, but doesn't do anything, but she's just yelling at you. You're like, what is she about to do with that? You know, you're creating a moment that you're not waiting out. You're going to hold on for that moment the entire time. But she could be saying something that you want to learn, that you're educating, being educated about politically. So say she's taking the.

Oh, you're saying, why political. The videos do well is because she's acting, doing a thing that psychologically speaking, we. We will want to watch play out. But she's screaming a point of view that we're indirectly not realizing that we're absorbing that.

And you're either gonna hate her and you're gonna want to see her fail, and you're gonna want to see Karma. So we would always introduce Karma to a Karen. Or we either identify with her like, yeah, she's right. You did take her parking spot. You did. You are in the wrong. So we would create videos that cause tension and who's right, who's wrong? And we would pin two characters against each other. But you're going to see yourself in one of those characters.

So good.

In my husband and I's videos, you're either going to see. You're going to identify with him or you're going to identify with me. And we lean heavily into those characters. They're real to us, but we lean into them because we're representing audiences that are bigger than ourselves.

The level of sophistication is awesome. Like, you really. It's very thoughtful. Like, you're literally saying, these are. The audience want to appeal to and we got to say these words and roll them into this narrative that we're creating tension around. And then to me, it's the payoff. Because, I mean, you say you got to pitch the first three seconds, but there needs to be a purpose. And eventually you got to release the tension. And if you do that, well, do you get a second view if you don't do that? Like, how does. Because what if I don't do it? What if I never do the payoff? Am I penalizing myself in the future for, like, do people get mad and like, and then thumb it down, part two? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything's falling for part two. And then all your search is like, I've done this. I'm on TikTok pocket in my search. It's like, third video. And I'm like, oh, I don't have the third video. Because sometimes I can't. They do that. Now they got me. Now I know why they do that. They cut up a 15 minute video in these shorter ones to make me keep looking for the next one.

And they have a winning piece of content. They know it. So they're just. They know they're gonna take one. It could have had one video, but now they have five. And they're gonna make more money. They're gonna get more followers. Milking a winner instead of just, all right, I did it once.

Yeah, that's so crazy. So, so is. Is there any downside of not doing a payoff?

Well, I think it depends on what you're optimizing for. Are you optimizing for people to like you or.

That's fair. Or get followers?

Are you optimizing to get followers and earn most money from the platform? Are you optimizing conversions? I don't know that I would do that. Then I think you need to.

You wouldn't want to be lazy. You don't want to make sure the payoff actually gets delivered. Sometimes I start stories, I forget to finish them all the time.

I know, I've done it three times.

Yeah, it's like, want to buy a bike? It's like, what? Squirrely brain? But you know when you think of the metrics. Cause you've mentioned this a few times and I'm a software guy, so I'm a bit nerdy on this, like, obviously. Well, maybe not. I'm not going to assume anybody knows this stuff, but I've gone down the rabbit hole. I studied what are the numbers that the algorithm or you look at on a video to know this is a banger.

A marriage of watch time and percentage completed.

Say more.

If you do a six second video, of course you're going to have a high percent completed. You may even have 112% completed because they rewatched it. But there's creators that are better than you that are making minute, three minute long videos that are not just getting six seconds, they're getting 15, they're getting 45 second watch time. So they're trumping your six second all day. So we teach people at Viralish to hold attention for longer. So take that six second and we'll show you. You could have paid off that fly prank. Smack yourself in the face. You could have done that in 30 seconds. We're going to hold you for three minutes and we're going to have a higher percent completed. Maybe not a higher percent completed, but relative our watch times, your watch times will be way up, significantly higher.

Interesting.

I wouldn't do a three minute video if it was going to have 90% completion at a minute 20.

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, you just, it's, it's kind of like the average watch time per viewer has to be the highest because then you know that there, there's engagement on the video.

Yes.

So that's interesting. And then what about like click through rates? Because obviously the, the hook is going to get at least. I mean, is it. Do you look at 3 second pass? Like what's the percentage of people that watch more than three seconds and know you had a good hook? Like do you test. I know on YouTube we have click through rates.

Yeah.

Because there's thumbnails. But with a lot of your social content, it's more of a scroll. Right.

So we're not playing to dedicated.

It's like rolling. It's. Yeah.

Even with like. Yeah, I'd say 35 million followers, 99% of our views come from non followers.

Yeah.

So we don't play to dedicated audience because we're trying to get more. We know that they like us. We're trying to get outside of them and find more new ones. So we're constantly unleashing ourselves to where if we were going to sell a tie dye kit. You're not going to know that I'm selling you a tie dye kit until the very end. I wouldn't lead with here's five things you should know about tie dye. Yeah, you're out.

I'm out. Yeah, it's very, you know, we would.

Find a totally different and engaging way to back you into caring. And then by the end you're like, oh my God, I love that tie dye kit. Where can I get it, you know?

Yeah, I could buy for somebody else even if I'm not in the market. Let's talk about the business of viralish in this, this house. Like how big is this team? Cuz I met so many people since I walked in and this is a calm day. Yeah. This is a. I know, I don't know where you park. I mean it's a big house but I mean do they go into the street and stuff like.

No. I would love to have a Batman thing where you pull into under the house. Our neighbors would love that too.

Yeah, they would.

We've had as many as 20 in the house. But right now, in and out of the house, we have staff creators.

Yeah.

And then we have creators that we manage. So depending on the day, anywhere from 6 to 15 in this house.

How does the business. Let me stay on your business. Then we'll talk about the business of managing creators. So how long you been doing viralish for.

Publicly? A year. We've been in business content creation and distribution. I'd say since 2020.

Yeah. That's so crazy. Congrats. That's amazing. I love it. And then how do you monetize what's the. Is it brand deals?

No, it's completely opposite than every creator influencer that we know and we're switching this model a little bit. But all of our money to date, 90% of our money to date has been made from platform revenue and just dominating the news feeds and recommendations.

And what's interesting about these platforms like meta, like my understanding is they don't really give you a rep. Right. Do you have. No.

So like we do at an enterprise level, but I don't specifically as a creator.

So. So I mean there's things that could happen that do happen.

Yes.

And do you ever feel like concentration, risk of the business like is.

Yes.

How does, how do you resolve that in your mind? How do you deal with those emotional swings?

So my main 10 million follower page hit has had a penalty wrongfully for a year and a half. So we have 40 pages now and some of our brand new pages because the content knows how to hold attention. We have brand new pages making more than my 10 million follower page.

And that was in a response to somebody you know obviously wrongfully penalizing you guys. But it's interesting because in that what probably was a moment of like, oh no, you said let's go diversify, which today is a better business, is a much better, much better Business.

Because we didn't always. My husband and I, we didn't want to dance for our dinner.

Yeah.

And during COVID we were having the time of our lives. We went from averaging 20 million views a week to 200 million views a week. And all of our friends and family were really struggling. Is the music industry down here?

Yeah.

You know, it shut down. And we were like, we can teach you how to make videos. We can teach you how to hold attention. People need levity and comedy right now, so let's teach you. And they started making millions of dollars. And we're like, holy crap, what have we all stumbled upon here? So that's how it started. And then. But you can't.

But even on the back end of a global pandemic, you found this thing.

Attention.

So cool.

Everybody was here, so we were like, we got to be there.

The consumption went just through. I mean, everybody's numbers. Netflix, everybody, Clubhouse. I mean, it's just.

Yes.

People wanted, like, entertain me. I'm home entertainment. Got nothing to do.

We got you.

Everybody used to work. Stop working, Start consuming. And so you had this kind of, like, not artificial, but enhanced demand, which probably made it easier at first to have these hits. Right. That in the past might have only had a fifth of the views, but it gave you the confidence to be like, hey, this is really cool.

It gave us speed. It gave us quantity. And I. Quantity breeds quality.

Talk about that.

Say what you want to say. But quantity does breed quality. Because if I sat here and I was like, I'm putting out a video this week. I'm going to put out a video every week. 1. Then I have so much emotional weight on that single video, and it may or may not be good. It's subjective. Right. And so you had all emotional weight on that video, and it flops. Or it did. Okay, but I'm putting out 80 videos a week, and not all are going to be great. But when it was Covid time, and we had all the time in the world, and it was pretty profiting as much as it was. It was like printing money. So we're making every type of video imaginable, so we get data faster than anybody else, and we're studying 40 pages of data to see what's working, and then we double down, we create double of that the next day, and we're just learning at a scale that most people couldn't replicate. And that's what we still do today, is let the quantity lead.

So I'm just curious if we go back four years and you publish. What was the first viral video?

This was pre Covid, but I put chickens in a bathtub. It was a 19 second video. I was a touring musician at the time. I put chickens in a bathtub and it blew up. It did in 2017.

Why did you. Was it planned or you just happened to record some chickens in a bathtub?

Both.

Okay.

So I was creating things.

It never occurred to me I should put chickens in the bathtub.

Oh, you totally should.

But, like, this is what's beautiful about your mind is that you're just like, I want to be. So you must have had some previous experience with how crazy chickens are.

This was my first. Well, I had chickens. I love them. So this is the story. It was 2017 and I was creating content from meme page at the time. It was horrible. I had no idea how to work a camera, lighting, do anything or act. And I was doing it all on a GoPro so I couldn't even see what I was doing. And I had to turn around a new video every morning by 6am and so I'm writing, scripting. That was all I could do every single day.

Why did you have to turn around and video?

That was my deadline for this meme page, and so I would do that.

You were freelancing for this page? Okay.

Just trying to figure it out. While I was a touring musician, but I was waiting for a suit behind a desk to give me permission to be successful. And they were saying, ah, you're good, but not now, not entertaining enough. And I was just getting frustrated. So I was like, I'm gonna do this on my own terms. I want to entertain people. I think that's why God put me here, is to represent who I am. So not so. Not because I'm so cool, but so other people can see pieces of themselves in me in this success that we had from touring. I was touring with Blake Shelton at the time.

So cool.

It was awesome. But my footage was destroyed. One night, it's one in the morning and I got to turn something in by six and I was just crying. I was like, what am I going to do? And my boyfriend at the time was like, go get those chickens in the backyard and do something with them. They make you happy. And I was like, I have no other option. So, okay, I went and got the chickens and I put them in a bathtub and I pretended like I was curling one on the counter's hair and. And we had him bust them and go, what are you doing? Why is there a chicken in the Bathroom. And I'm like, he was lonely. And then I pull back the curtain, and there's all my chickens in the bathroom. And they had funny names.

Okay, now I'd wanna watch. Yeah.

Chick Norris. Ellen DeGeneres.

Oh, come on.

Kim Kardashian. Shakira. Chakira. They look alike. And so people were just like, I want to be this girl. Every comment was just a tag. And this is so me. This was so relatable.

Yeah. It would just become best for friends. Like, they're just like, I want to hang out.

It was that. And so that was. Did 19 million views overnight, which in 2017 was huge, and grew me 100,000 followers. And I was like, that's it. I quit trying to do what everybody else was doing on this meme page. I was put back against the wall, and I just did myself. I just did what made me happy, and that's what resonated. And that's been my North Star.

Can I share something with you? Because I've been actually talking to Sam. You know, creative director Sam Workouts. Yeah. Lifts heavy stuff, puts it back down, picks it up again. Sam. And I said this to him on the flight down here. I said, sam, every person is one creative project away from being a superstar.

I believe that.

And. And the only way that ever happens for them is if they allow themselves to actually listen to their heart, which.

Is a scary thing to do.

It is, though. And it's. It's, like, scary because it's the hardest. You literally have to say, I want this. I love this. I don't know why. I know my family's going to judge me. I know there's a chance that everybody's else is going to hate it, but for some reason, I just keep thinking about this thing, and I'm going to do it.

What would you say to somebody who doesn't know what they want to do?

I ask them what they don't want to do, and when they tell me that, I go, it's the opposite of that, because that's how everybody want. Because everybody tell you what they don't want.

Mm. Yeah.

And if they tell you what they don't want, it's actually what they do want. Right. So what do you not like? What's the opposite of that? Perfect. Go do that. I don't know. I just. I just find that, like, such a fascinating concept. And I've studied this because, like, the. Oliver Anthony's Oprah with Color Purple, you know, all the music, a lot of the musicians there was always John Maxwell's book, 21 Year Freedom Leadership. Number 13 for him. Okay. Every. And it became the number one. He's the goat of leadership. Like everybody. That is the tip of the spear from the rock to whoever. What we admire about them is they allowed themselves to absolutely honor their personal preferences. And I think it's interesting because we can sometimes get caught in after that incrementally improving and we get away from the creative part. Right. And we don't have the collabs like a Linkin park and a Jay Z. For me personally, that's.

Yeah.

That. That album. I was like, I needed that. My life. And that's like. That Numb Encore is like one of my favorite songs in the history of the world.

I knew I liked you. I like you so much more because.

I shared with you who I am. Isn't that crazy?

Yeah.

And I think that's what happens. A lot of people walk around the world. They're actually fascinating people, but they're wearing a mask.

Yeah.

They love chickens.

Let's see.

I love. Yeah, I like you more. Tell them about the Shakira. Shakira. That's funny.

Secure it.

Secure to cure. That's.

They're great.

Yeah. So you do that. That brings you into the world and then Covid is this beautiful blessing for you Now. I don't know about you. I'm in software. Software went awesome. And I had to feel a little bit of guilt because while the rest of the world was melting. So I'm just curious, like, you went from a touring musician and most people. Music don't make money.

I was bankrupt.

Okay.

Actually bankrupt.

So you're there and now you're making money.

Mm.

Like. Like, how did that feel? Were you worried it would stop tomorrow? Did you. Did you put it away? Did you carpe diem it a little bit? Before we get back to the episode, if you're enjoying it so far, could you go ahead and do me a huge favor and leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify reviews? Help us get up in the rankings, which gives us credibility to reach out to bigger and bigger guests. We can bring them to you. It would mean so much. Let's get back to the episode.

Invest it immediately. Is the real.

Because you just got so nervous, this may not last.

Yeah. And I still have that bankrupt mentality of this isn't going to last. So I need to make hay while the sun is shining. And then past that. I feel like this is just the human experience, that once you have your immediate needs met, the immediate Next thing you want to do is go show everybody else how to find the level of joy that you found. Especially because my success was tied intrinsically to who I was as a person. I'm pranking my husband every day and I'm playing with my chickens. And I was like, this is the best, most authentic gift I could ever be given. And I want everybody else to learn how to make videos, learn this formula so they can make videos around whatever makes them shine and have authentic, like, have just trust in their own authenticity and their own abilities because they see me living out mine and mine's way sillier and less meaningful than yours. My mission is really silly, you know, but you have important missions and important messages and products and services that need to get out in the world. So let me tell you how to storytell them. Let me show you this formula that works seven out of 10 times. That's a pretty good batting average.

That's crazy.

I don't know baseball, but that seems.

I don't know it either, but it sounds good. I don't even think they do 7 out of 10. I think it's out of a thousand and it's got a zero point something in it.

Yeah, okay, 700.

Yeah, 700. We just got caught, like, people watching me, they're like, that's not even a thing. Dan Adley. What do you guys stick to your chickens? Yeah. But let's. Let's talk about. Because a lot of people follow me, know about the concept of buying back time. You don't build this if you're doing everything. And I met. So I think I met some of your staff. So, like, how did you. Who is the first hire? Like, how did you think you're making money? And you're obviously like, I got more creative projects I want to do. I'm assuming. Were you editing the videos at the beginning?

I still edit the videos because I'm so particular.

Yeah, but what were some of those first hires?

First hire? Well, so we were. We started managing creators. I taught my brother and taught my friends how to do this first so we could change their lives. And then I was like, I can't make my brother work more. Make more videos. That doesn't work too well.

Not to family members. Not to family, no.

So that's not scalable.

So that's a definition of not scalable.

I was like, right. And so we were just taking a percentage. So that was not scalable. Then it was higher. Staff. Staff creators. We saw security footage popping off. Well, I can't pretend to be a robber or an Amazon delivery driver at this point, But I could hire someone to be. To take advantage of that opportunity.

Tell me what that means. What? You see, you just said it as if you think. What? What do you mean? Staff, creators and security footage.

Good point. Okay, so have you ever watched a video of.

You mean like an Uber camera?

Yes, Uber camera, ring cameras, porch pirates, restaurant security footage. Someone doing something they shouldn't be doing. People love watching cctv because you're getting to watch people do things they don't think people are watching. So we were like, well, let's just stage them. You know, let's recreate wild things caught on camera.

Dude, change our. Let's filter. Let's do some CCTV vids.

Yes, let's do it.

Wow.

Let's do it. Because that. It just takes formats that people love watching and moving movies or sitcoms, repackage them for social. And people think they're real. Or at least they used to. They did for many, many years.

Wow.

But you know what's crazy to me is people will get so mad at us for scripting videos, but we watch scripted reality tv. We watch scripted entertainment like wwe, and you're fine with that. But I think we were so early to scripting social media entertainment.

But I'm not gonna lie. I honestly thought all those videos were real. It's funny. Fascinating. Now that you say, I know. You're just like, oh, poor, poor you, Dan. Did you think that was real? So. So don't break my heart, but what percentage of videos you think that I watch it go viral that are fake?

A lot?

Is it more than 10%?

Oh, my God.

More than 50?

No.

What about the one, the police officer and the other person? Is that not real either?

Oh, we had a police car for two years.

Oh, not cool.

We bought a police car. Police outfits. They all look so real.

No. Yes. It makes so much sense. I know, because the entrepreneur in me is so proud of you. But the consumer.

Consumer is like, my life is a lie. But it works. So you can play on themes like unboxing videos or super, super hot. So we're like, all right, what's a new take on an unboxing video? Cops finding something strapped to a girl's leg. Like, maybe. We don't know. We have to unbox her. Everything we do is pg.pg 13. But it was a cop pulling somebody over and saying, what are you hiding? So is ripping open the gene.

Oh, my.

Whatever. And unboxing a body, because we love the human body.

Creative and we would just have the. Is this your concept? I don't remember your husband. Just take credit.

One of us.

You're very good.

It all happens, you know.

Awesome.

But we would just unbox a human body, you know, but it's same thing, but just more of what people would just try to blend three boxes together.

So when you say staff creator, you hired them, put them on salary, and then worked with them on scripts and they would just produce.

Yes, because we need them to be an Amazon delivery driver.

I never heard this, so that's fast. But you know what my boys watch is Dhar Mann. Do you know Dhar Mann?

I love Dhar Mann. We tried to do Dhar Mann before.

And it was just cool for me because I knew Dhar Mann before he actually. The previous version of who he was.

Really.

Right. Yeah. The Internet guy. And then he came out with these Dhar Mann videos, and they all have a great message. And my boys. And they were like 8, 7, 8 years old. Wanting to. Wanting to watch it.

Yes.

I was like, oh, everyone does exactly what you said. They have, like, you know, tension. And then they've got the Karen. And he's like, you have no money. You can't buy this car. And then it's like. And then he realized he didn't know who he was. And, you know, and it's just.

I don't.

I think it's cool that Dhar Mann created content for my kids that they actually wanted to watch and learned important life lessons. Everyone has a cool life lesson. It actually. Watching that video sounds funny. And even watching Paw Patrol, it made me realize that growing up, I was being taught things through Astro Boy and he man and Stimpy. It never occurred to me. Isn't that crazy? It never occurred to me. As a kid, the shows I watch were all teaching me life lessons. They were wrapped up in entertainment.

And you can. It's still wrapped up in entertainment.

It's still. That's the format.

Look at the Taken series. We. It was. You learned about trafficking and what a problem that is. And we were educated by way of entertainment. And suspense is a huge part of that. It was. We were all hooked right away. But we would have stopped watching if Liam Neeson had rescued his daughter halfway through the movie.

Yeah.

You're not rescuing her till the end. And the stakes were very high because we wouldn't watch the movie if her stuffed animal was stolen or.

It wasn't his daughter.

Right. Well, we watched Taken because she was trafficked to the other side of the world. He had to get her within three days and 100 people in the process. So we take stakes, we take timing, we take suspense, the way that we traditionally know them, but pack them in a way for social media and make them relatable. Make yourself be able to see yourselves in the character, even if it's really thumbed down and simple.

So great. Yeah. I heard one time somebody say the quote. They said, the bigger the monster, the bigger the hero. I think that's what it was. Yeah. Because essentially the. The bigger the monster, the bigger the villain.

Yeah.

The bigger the hero has to become. So it's like, that's why when I watch, like, X Men or whatever, these movies are like a DC movie. And it's like, whatever. The guy, the. The bad guy's name's like, you know, Domin. You know, it's like this crazy multiverse bad guy. It's like he's got all. All the powers ever created. It's like it's gotten a little silly, like he's undefeatable. And then they're like, you know, then all the X Men have to get together to fight him. But again, it's like the bigger the tension, the bigger the evil, then the more the transformation has to occur.

Yes.

So I think it's a fun concept when. When I tell stories, I. I try to remember to talk about how bad it was.

Yes.

Because if I do a good job there, I guess what. I'm getting attention.

Yeah.

Because it's a. It's like a meaningful thing, an obstacle that has to be overcome.

Yes. And every story has a villain kind of, whether you want it to or not.

You got to develop the villain.

In our stories, our old selves were the villain.

Yeah.

My past.

But if you don't tell how bad you were in the past or the thoughts you had in the past, it actually doesn't make the story as interesting as it could be.

Right. That's. You're undervaluing your testimony. And why did you go through all that to be here? And the people who are still stuck in that need to hear that you were there, too, because look at where you are now. And that's the light they're looking for.

So on the staff creators, do you have any that you produce that are their own creators, and you do the percent fee or you don't do that.

At all, we give them a percentage of the video's earnings because if we just said, hey, you're going to be an Amazon delivery driver in this video, you're going to be Pregnant in the next video. Third video of the day, you're going to get evicted. Then they can just run through them and not care. Not say, stop, restart, and I'll stop and rest. Restart you eight times.

Yeah.

I'm crazy if I'm behind the camera. And I need them to have that level of consideration for the psychology. And so we started incentivizing them based on the videos.

Okay. So. But you've never done, like an agent model where you. You produce other people and they do it and then that you take care of some aspect of the business. You still do the stat. That's the only model you guys currently do.

No, we do have staff and management, so for some of our managed creators.

Okay, so YouTube, do you do the Facebook, do you manage all their social channels?

They do know they do the uploading still. Because they need to learn it. They need to learn the editing. Because if you learn editing, it makes you a better creator because you're seeing, wow, I shot that horribly. Or I should have said this. Then you're going to get way better if you have to look at what you did.

Yeah.

If you're just in front of the camera and then phone it in for someone else to deal with, you're never going to see all the mistakes.

So that's fascinating. And I was, you know, obviously, I'm all about buying back my time. I've never edited it a video.

Yeah.

But I realized I got a great Sam and a team of bodybuilders. But what. But I'm not learning, like you just said. Because what you're getting is you're seeing where you had to edit around you to know, next time. Hey, complete your thought.

Yes.

Announciate your words.

Yes.

Sam has to probably feel, I'm sorry, dude. Like, I know how bad I can be sometimes where he'll be like, bang, he forgot to close the story. And I'm just like, all right, well, so we go volume game. But when. When you work with these other creators where you're doing the management side, that starts to look potentially like what the music labels do with their artists. Right?

Yes.

So how do. What have you done something different around that the way you do it? Is it traditional? Like, is it like. I don't know. Because I've seen. I've seen a lot of people like a Bradley Martin and he had a person he produced and got pissed off because they built them up and they left.

Yeah.

And they get in a lawsuit. Like, that part's always fascinating to me. When you work with Other creatives because we're all crazy. I'm just a little crazy. I don't know if you would. Okay, cool. We're all.

I'm totally normal. I don't know.

Yeah, But what do you. What is the model like? What do you do? Is it. How do you do it so that everybody stays friends? Before we get back to the episode, if you actually want to know what my real life looks like and see the people and the businesses and the companies I buy and my family and just, like, how I make it all work, go follow me on Instagram. Dan Martell 2 Elsa Martell on Instagram. It's where I show the behind the scenes, the real deal, real time. I'd love to see you there. Have an amazing day.

If somebody doesn't want to do business with us anymore, we. We let them go. It's that plain and simple.

Okay. You don't worry too much about it.

No, no one's left yet. Like, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. But I And the music industry, I always wanted a seat at the table. Yeah, always. And now I have a table, and I want to pull up as many chairs as possible. So I'm going to create the best table where everybody's invited. You have to be really good. But once you're here, we want to see, what do you need? How else can we serve you? How do we build that out? And if we don't have that model yet, go elsewhere, or if we're not serving you as good as so and so could, then go. Go figure out that and see if that makes sense to you. But so far, we're still young. We still have a lot to learn. But if we take care of our people, they take care of us.

That's the way to do it. Yeah. My philosophy, as long as I help my team members achieve their dreams, I've.

Learned a lot from you. You want to know the biggest thing I've learned from you recently?

I would love to hear it.

The difference between traditional and transformational leadership. You said that, and I. Oh, it rocked me. I was like, I'm. Is it traditional leadership? Transactional is transactional leadership. And I am such a transactional leader. I have a big problem delegating. And so I would just. Task oriented. Task oriented. Which just kept me having to do the work and not buying back my time.

You get maxed out, and then you get burned out on the work. That actually is beautiful. If you just get this time back.

And they can see an escalation process. For themselves too. And it intrinsically binds them more to the mission and vision of the company. When they're attached to the outcomes, they. So the day after you said that, I gathered everybody in the living room and I told them, you guys now own this stuff.

No, you don't never have to give me credit.

No, I did.

I was like, listen, I love that you learned that.

I learned something. It was radical for me. That's exactly what I needed to do to buy back my time, was turn into a transformational leader and attach them to the outcomes and then let them go. And then when they came to me with the issue 131131, I did. It was so good.

Oh, I've learned a lot.

You've helped me become a better leader.

You just made my day. Thank you. I love. You know, you put work out in the world and you hope it. It kind of resonates with people. And just hearing how it has, especially watching what you've created here is just so inspiring. Like, it really inspires me.

You're doing the Lord's work. When people come up to me and say, I love your work. I tried to make ribs on my car engine too. It doesn't feel as good.

Yeah. I have a bath full of chickens, too.

Yeah.

But the, the business side, like when. When you look at advertising versus brand deals, why do you not do brand deals then?

So in the last year, we have, okay, so we were like, we're doing over a billion views a month. Why are we not putting brands into our content? We're leaving so much money on the table. So we started viralish X about a year ago now, and that's doing really, really well. And our blue ocean with that is mass visibility and mass awareness.

What kind of products? Yeah.

Land Rover. Charming.

Like real brands.

Hp, Drumstick tool companies.

Yeah.

Who aren't looking for the immediate click through.

Yeah.

In revenue.

Straight. Straight to transactional CPAs. That is so cool. What do you think, like 10 years from now, what happens?

I want to create shows.

Yeah.

I want to create what we do now, but I want to verticalize some of our YouTube channels. We have YouTube channels with 3, 2, 3 million subscribers.

Yeah.

We've been on YouTube 11 months and we have almost 10 million followers. I don't know what's happening or what I'm doing. So looking to figure that out and get into long form because we're very good at top of funnel. But I want to take all this attention and really understand why did God give us this unique ability to grab and hold attention and make people watch videos they don't even want to watch. What a superpower. So why don't we use that for good and actually put more meaningful content back into the world? Because for the two years that we ran, we ran a fantastic experiment on Facebook for two years.

Yeah. Nailed it, Learned it.

Grabbing attention and getting people to watch videos that they didn't even want to be watching. So how do we translate that now? How do we step out of that amazing experiment in the difference between what people say they want to watch versus what they actually pay attention to? So now it's taking that attention, currency, and knowing how to translate it for people who have messages, missions, or amazing brands.

So good. I got two questions left. The first one is, who are some of the. I will say women, because my wife's also an entrepreneur, and I know a lot of women. You don't have as many role models to look up to.

That's true.

Yeah. Cause, like, for some, you know, I know why there's a bunch of men that are top of the. But, you know, if you actually look around the women that run the companies, I'm not an idiot. My whole team. What. Who are some of those women? For you? When you think, like, entrepreneurial role models, where you're like, I love the way she does business. I love the way she does life. I love the way she is with her friends. Who are some of those people that come to mind.

It's sad that you say that now, because a lot of my role models are dead.

But we can go. We can go dead.

Lucille Ball.

Okay.

A lot of people just know her as the silly, goofy entertainer, but they don't know that she ran a content empire. Let's go with her husband. Yeah, but it was that dynamic that was the top of the funnel and the fuel and the attractant to that allowed her to produce and scale and get people jobs and all that. So she's a big role model for me.

That's amazing.

And then lately, the last several months.

Oh, now I'm curious.

Our life has just. It's been transformed since we literally started running ads. It's been a whole different level of introductions and people that.

Where's some of those? I'm just curious. Is there any. Any specific names? Like, I think Sarah Blakely is one of the coolest.

I was going to name Sarah. I don't know her personally, but we'll.

Get to know her. I don't know her either. I'll get to know her. I'll make sure you get to know her.

I'll race you.

Yeah, if you get there first, I'm calling. Send the elevator back down. Just saying. But, yeah, I mean, I just posted on Instagram recently about the thing I do with my boys every night where I ask them what they failed at. And that came from. That came from Sarah.

Really?

100%. She said her dad used to do that with her every day. Hey, what'd you fail at today?

I love that.

Yeah. We celebrate our failures. What a simple frame change that I think will have a profound impact on my two boys.

I have. I have no doubt to one say it's okay. It's expected and normally celebrated, and you celebrate.

And when they don't have something, I'm like, oh, that sucks.

Yeah, you didn't try enough.

Yeah. Next time, what do you think you try. What did you know? Is there anybody else? I just want one more.

Lori Greiner.

All right.

You have to be close with Lori during quarantine. Like, we talk every night for three hours on the phone type of friends.

Whoa.

And Blake, when he still had a real job, he would come home from his corporate job and I was Lori again. And then he's going to bed five hours later, he's like, I guess, good night.

What did you guys talk about?

Everything. We talked about business a little bit, but we talked about shows, we talked about attention. We talked about, you know, how the QVC journey, customer journeys. We just talked about family, about kids.

That's so beautiful.

It was a really, really wonderful friendship. She loves comedy. Enjoyed.

Yeah, I'm going to Andrew Schultz tonight. Are you really? Yeah. I'm like, comedy is my jam. Anyways, last question. Adley, when you look back at, like, you know, 2017, when you first viral video. Let's start there. 17, 2017 to now, 2024. Who did you need to become to deal with this level of success?

You can't be a people pleaser and do this business. And I was a people pleaser when I first started making videos. And the comments would tear me apart because they would misunderstand who I was, what I was doing. I was like, no, I'm not that person. I didn't say it like that. You took it like that. So I would change my next video to do everything right. Then nobody could have any room, be condescending towards me. And then I would still get torn apart. And there would be two comments back to back. This is the best video you've ever done. The second one was, you're absolute trash. This video is Trash. Take it down. And I was like, I can't please everybody. And now I'm just getting more and more inauthentic. And even when you try to do everything right, you're still going to upset people. And so learning how to just care about what I think, what do I think of me? Because if I think I'm doing okay and I'm happy, then that's going to resonate and then other people, the right people, are going to be attracted to that. And that's who I'm doing this for. That's who I'm trying to represent possibility for. So that's been the guiding north side.

So beautiful. I love that. Where should people follow you? Where's your favorite platform to get to know you?

I say Instagram.

Perfect. Same, I think, is my fave. Everybody go find Ali on Instagram. Give her a follow. She's incredibly creative. And here's the deal. If I was and I haven't bet, if I could buy stock, I'd buy stock in her. She's going to create a massive portfolio. Production company, shows. I have no doubt. I have no doubt. I, like, know it. I've already. I can kind of already see it. And it's because of the people you're talking to, the mindset you've built, the willingness to take risk and build out the pieces of the empire and that you stay close to the creative, which is just awesome. So thank you for having me.

Thank you.

So great.

A lot coming from you.

Thanks for listening to the Growth Stacking show. If you get to the end of this podcast, could you do me a huge favor and leave a review? Having lots of reviews allows us to reach out to even bigger guests to bring them to you or get out access to special events or activities that most people wouldn't get access to. So if you could leave a review, it would mean the world. And I'll see you in the next episode.