TikTok or Instagram Which Platform Wins for You?

Level that I'm at, I make around 60 to $100,000 per month. I think the possibility of the ban in my honest opinion is.

So today we have with us the TikTok famous, Brandon. Brandon is from Seattle actually I met him on TikTok. He has been helping me with the Guru Nanda brand and he is one of his kind creators. He has made it his full time career. We are going to today be talking to Brandon about he built his career, what does he think about TikTok and in case TikTok goes away, what would we do? So let's start. Can you tell me, because I came to TikTok accidentally because somebody talked about us, how did you come to TikTok and how did you start creating content? Give us your backstory.

Actually pretty similar. I came across TikTok on accident. At the time, this was 2019, so TikTok was still new to like me and I think a lot of people. But my girlfriend had downloaded TikTok and she was. I just caught her scrolling and she's laughing and having a good time and I'm like, is there really funny videos on there? Because if there is, I'll download it. But I thought it was just a kid's app. So she's like, no, there's really funny videos on here. So I downloaded it and I was like, okay, yeah, there is super funny videos on here. Are you kidding me? Eventually I got to scrolling and stuff and I came across my friends on my for you page and he had like, I think like 70, 000 followers. And I was like, wait, what? I was just hanging out with him the other day. He never told me this.

What?

This is crazy. So then I kind of just pushed it away. Whatever. I had no intention of ever creating content ever. And then I came across one more of my friends and he had 600000 followers. And I was like, okay, nope, if these guys can do it, I can do it too. I. I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna start somehow, some way.

So do you mind getting your age?

So I'm 30. I'm 30 years old.

You were 25 at that point. And what were you doing? Did you go to school? What did you do?

At that point in my life, I think I was working at a beer company, a warehouse where I was packaging beer and sending it out to bars and restaurants and stores and stuff like that.

What was your aim in life at that point?

In that point in life I was really wanting to stay in that career path. I wanted to move into sales in there and then because I've always done sales previous to that, but I wanted to move into the sales field and get out of the warehouse and kind of take that field in that direction.

So basically from a beer salesman you became any product salesman to the global community.

Yep, essentially.

Right. So did you go all in? Like did you just leave the job and go all in in 2019 itself?

No, no, no, no. Easy. So I mean a lot of people would think that oh yeah, you just quit your job and go all in. No, I worked a full time job. I'm also a dad, so dad's my number one job. Right. So then I'm working a full time job creating content and I would just post in my free time and do what I could. And the biggest thing was I just stayed consistent throughout the years. It wasn't until January 1, 2024 that I quit my full time job.

I see a beautiful room behind you and explain us. How do you come up with ideas? How do you content create? What is your strategy from generating ideas to filming and editing?

Currently all by myself, I do have another person that I trained to do TikTok shop who quit their and is now full time TikTok shop creator as well. And they work in my office every single day, but they don't work for me.

It just.

He does his own thing as well. But the way I kind of go about my content and stuff is I do a lot of research. I check my for you page, I see what's trending, why it's trending. Is it the audio, is it the product, is it the person, is it the hook? What was it about these videos that I'm seeing that made them go viral and made them be on my for you page? I study all these things, I collect the data and then I implement them in my own stuff. Whatever product I'm promoting at the time, whether that's just a viral one off product or it's a long term product like your products that I've been working with so long term now for over a year and a half now, you know.

So what was that first viral product that got you into it or first viral video? Like for me it was a lady called Pashmama who had gone viral with one of my products. I went in there answering her questions and then one of my videos went viral. That one video about Roll on got like 200,000 views, like matter of hours. That kind of instigated me. And then there was Bethany Frankel's video that I dwerted that got like 4 million views. And after that I was like, I'm never going anywhere else. So what was that moment for you?

You know, I've been on TikTok for a long time, so I've had a ton of viral videos. But if we're talking just shop stuff, the first one on Shop for me was the Wyze security cameras. That was the first one to take off. And that was the space that I thought I wanted to be in at the time was tech. Right. Because tech products are cool and stuff. So, like, that's where I thought I wanted to be. But, you know, now we look at it and I've ended up in personal care and health and everything else, so. But that didn't really go viral. Viral. I think one of the first viral videos that I ever had was with the Coco Mint pulling oil.

Oh, beautiful.

Yeah. Yeah, that was one of the first ones. I think that was my first ever shop video to hit a million. And then from there I had one of them hit like 13 million. Another one hit 5 million, you know, 6. Yeah. A lot of them started taking off early on, so I couldn't pinpoint the exact which one did the best, but a lot of them did very well at that time.

So that is when we met and that is when we started working together. You've always been in top 10, but at one point you were number one creator for a little bit. It was amazing. And I think you were on a roll at that time, like everything was going viral for you.

I had a good span of time there, especially with the bundles, where it was like every post about the bundles was doing really well now.

So what advice would you give to budding new TikTok or social media now, I should say, because I don't know what's going to happen with TikTok. Yeah. Is staying consistent your trick or is it. Yeah, going to FYP and learning the trends. Your trick. What is your main trick?

The main trick, and it sounds so generic, but every single time I tell everybody it's consistency. That's the main thing. I've taught a lot of people how to be successful content creators. The one place where 99% of them fail is consistency. They'll start and then once. Once I kind of let them fly from the nest, they stop. They don't stay as consistent. They. They need somebody else to hold them accountable. You have to hold yourself accountable and show up every single day. If you do that every single day for an entire year. Watch your life change. It's as simple as that. It's just showing up every single day. You don't have to have the most perfect videos, but you just have to show up and then you'll learn from there.

I both have the exact same point. 99.9% people are not consistent. I even would tell you, my closest people, who I really would want to give everything to. I've told them and they don't post. I said, Yep, it's like Yoga 99 is practical. I can keep telling you the theory. If you're not going to do yoga, then you're not going to heal yourself.

Same thing.

Tik tok. If you're not going to post, you're not going to get the result. End of story.

Exactly.

And you have to post every single day, three to five times a day, period.

And it doesn't discriminate. There's. There's an account that I had that was my backup. Backup, backup account. And I didn't. I posted on there for a while. I did really well. I, I made a lot of money on that account and I just. It started to become too many accounts, so I took, I didn't post on there for a long time. I just tried recently posting on there and trying to stay consistent on that account again.

Back again.

200. 200 views. Jail. It's just, it's because the inconsistency now. The algorithm doesn't recognize this account and where it's supposed to go and what it's supposed to do and stuff. I failed, you know, I failed that account. Now that's not to say that if I was to really try to revive it and stay consistent, that I couldn't do it. I probably could. But right now it's, you know, it's where it's at. It's. It feels very discouraging. It feels like a waste. You spend all that time on those videos, they're getting 200, 300 views.

Do you mind sharing? How much do you make?

I. I just made a transparency post. I left out some things for sure. So on average, as a content creator, at the level that I'm at, I make around 60 to $100,000 per month.

Do you focus on things that pay you more? Like percentage wise, or do you focus on things that you're more attached to?

It's a mix up of everything for sure. Because I don't want to promote a product that I don't like or use just because it's Viral, right? Or it could be a garbage product that has high commission and it's doing really well. But I know it's a garbage product. I don't want to put myself behind that. That's just bad representation on my end. Right. Just to make a quick buck. There's so many other ways to make money out there and be genuine while doing.

Right.

So it is totally a mix though. I mean, sometimes it'll be a viral product where I'm like, wow, this, this is going. Not saying it's a bad product, not saying it has bad reviews or anything, but I personally going to use this a lot. Probably not, but there's a ton of people who would and I know that. So I can promote this to that audience, right? Like for instance, if I'm promoting for instance, fishing stuff even too, that's like, I know that there's a huge audience that doesn't like, doesn't even care about fishing at all, right? But then there is a massive audience that does. So it's like I do fish myself, but as an analogy, if I didn't fish, I could still promote those products to those people who do.

Is it the products that you use yourself go viral more or is it the products that you feel our viral go viral more?

For me, right at the, at the beginning I didn't really care as much about the commission rates. Now that is a big thing that I look at, right? I do take that into into fact. If I see a great product that might be going viral but it's garbage commission, I'll probably pass up on it on promoting that product because what is.

That even though it's commission rate according to you?

Oh, some. I don't like going below 15% for sure, if I'm being honest, I don't like going below 20%. That's just point at this stage at where I'm at, I feel like I bring more value than 20% commission, right? So sometimes that will make or break me. And that's where I'll reach out to the seller and say, hey guys, can we negotiate a commission right here? Because I don't want it to make or break our relationship. I do like your product, but I need a little bit more. I need a little bit bigger piece of the pie because I'm helping everything, right? So I need a little bit, I need a little bit on the back end.

Now what is the possibility of TikTok ban you think? And how is it going to impact your approach to content creation and planning for the future?

Well, it'll definitely be a huge impact, that's for sure. I think. Well, I've known about the TikTok ban, I think we all have for a long time. It's been in discussion for quite a while now. So everybody should have been preparing for this moment and I didn't prepare as much as I probably should have. But as soon as it became a little bit more of a reality, I was. The instant the snowball started rolling down the hill, I think the possibility of the ban in my honest opinion is up in the air. 50, 50 chance on where it goes. It's a coin flip.

It's almost like, you know, LA fires are there. A lot of my friends did not go out of the house till the very last point moment. I was talking to one of them. Unfortunately she lost her house and she said, God will help me. I said, you know what? I know God will but thing is you need to at least get your passports and everything, you know, stuff that you need in order. At the last moment, she only could grab her passport, not even three day clothes. Unfortunately no.

You should have had a big bag packed, everything ready to go, car loaded up.

It's easier said than done. My house is under line of fire and my Even after days that prepared. No, I think it's. It's human mentality. You wait until the last and thinking positively that procrastination keeps us on right human nature. But it would be really disastrous for us too. Yes, TikTok does go away. It would be disastrous.

So here's what I've been telling everybody because as a content creator who makes my living, a lot of it coming from TikTok. Everybody's question to me always is what are you going to do? What are you going to do if TikTok goes away? So it will. I think that I'll make a little bit less money for sure, but I'll just switch gears. I'll start doing more UGC content like I used to do for all of the brands and sellers that I've already worked with. You know, I've done thousands of videos that I could even sell to the companies and say hey guys, I got a ton of great videos that did well on conversion. You guys can purchase these videos and just run unlimited ads on them on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, wherever you want to run the ads. It doesn't matter. Here's these videos so you can have the soul.

Do you believe that Instagram and Facebook even have the same kind of conversion? I have felt this is my personal opinion. Nothing against Mark Zuckerberg. I felt that Instagram is very superficial. Like in TikTok, I could go without. Like the way I'm talking, the way I am, I'm being me versus on Instagram. I feel everybody is kind of a little fake. Little. Everybody is trying to make themselves up. And I think creators like you and me, who thought I'm not going to be like accidental creators, I would say they thrived on TikTok. What do you think?

Yeah.

What is a platform that you think could replace TikTok?

I don't think anything could replace TikTok. I think a good safe bet would be to go to YouTube shorts and maybe even YouTube long form and Instagram. As much as people don't like to hear it, Instagram steals from everybody. So eventually they're going to figure out how to have a shop that works like TikTok. And if you're already on Instagram and you're already getting a following, you'll be one of the first people, people in the door when that happens. So I think that would be a good place to go and a good place to be because there would be money there. And I have made great money on Instagram in the past.

Oh, you have? Tell us how.

Yeah, well, I did in 2021, I did 1 billion views on Instagram in six months. Yeah, 1 billion.

How did you do that?

At the time, it was just a lot of trends and a lot of things that were going on. But I also posted 150 videos per month, so consistently.

And why you don't do them anymore?

Well, I focused on TikTok solely a lot. You know, that was the consistency thing. I left Instagram for a while and the consistency has kind of died down. But I am seeing success on Instagram still. A lot of my videos do well over there on Instagram.

How many you have on TikTok and how many on Instagram?

I have a million followers on TikTok and 175,000 on Instagram.

Interesting. And do you do lives on TikTok and do you do lives on Instagram?

Lives on Instagram? Like sometimes I do, but I don't know. They're not as fun. It's not as much of a community and stuff. Like, I feel like TikTok. I do do lives. I wish I would do them more often. I just don't have a lot of time to sit down and do lives for a few hours. But if there is ever any crazy sales like last night, you know, I'll jump on and I'll do A stream. We did two hours last night, which was good. It's great. I love doing streams on TikTok because I get to connect with my community and talk to people and it's actually a really good time. I'm actually having a lot of fun the entire time. It's not just about the sales, it's like I'm actually having fun with people and engaging and having a great. It's like a party for me, like at the same time. So I love TikTok live streams for sure.

Do you have a television in front of you? How do you do it?

I just have my phone and then I'll have my computer on one side and then I'll have another phone, which is my stream phone right here to where I can show people, hey guys, check this deal out. Do this, do that, what? You know, here's how you do it, here's how you enter the giveaway, here's how you add it to your cart, you know, to show people. And then I'll have my computer so that I can see the orders coming through and I can shout out the people purchasing orders. It just makes them feel seen and acknowledged and it makes them like, wow, I purchased and he actually noticed me, you know. And then I have it set up on the stream phone where I can press a button and it'll give the cheers like every time a purchase comes through. So that people are.

That personalization is unbelievable. That personalization is irreplaceable. Irreplaceable. Do you think because TikTok is going to stay in other countries like UK, do you ever think you'd actually go to UK and start doing it?

Well, I did just have this conversation with some of my other top creators because as you can imagine, as one of the top creators on TikTok in general, I'm connected with all of the other top creators as well. So we have lots of group chats and stuff, but we just had this conversation about maybe making a quarterly trip to the uk.

I have been actually thinking, if this thing really goes down, exactly what I thought.

Why not, you know, for a.

Couple of weeks to UK and just.

Yep.

Start growing the community there. Because I already have a page in uk, but it's not doing that well. I have been using app called Repurpose to repurpose my content, but I don't know, maybe it's the system, it doesn't really propel my videos. I've got only 100, 200 people following.

Me in UK, so I think, yeah, I think for sure, we would have to figure it out and figure out how that market works because I'm sure it's a different market, you know, but yes, I did think about that and it is something that the money is worth it to me. Every, every so often, every quarter you go for a trip for a couple of weeks and you make a ton content and post it and you know, it could be enough to get you through until the next quarter, you know.

You know, a lot of people I know like Anna the nurse, Lauren the hygienist, a lot of people who've done really well, they've left 90% of their day to day jobs and they came to creating content on TikTok. How would you feel like I know you left your full time job. Let's say if TikTok totally goes away, would you stick around for Instagram to make money?

I think that I would stick around for other stuff. I'm already monetized on Instagram. Is it anywhere near TikTok? No, but that gives me a leg up to do UGC content for other brands. I mean you have to understand, you as a business owner, you understand probably better than anybody. These brands still need videos made for their products. Right. They still need to run ads and run their companies just because TikTok's gone.

Because I've been running ads on Facebook and Instagram with zero results. Like I. For every I spend I get maybe 20 back. It's a losing game. The only person who makes money is Mr. Zuckerberg.

Yeah, well that's where, that's where I guess, I think, you know, marketing gurus would come into play there and help with those strategies and stuff. I think that's where I would target my things too would be more brand management stuff and you know, bridging the gap between, you know, brand and creator and top creators and then also doing UGC content and selling videos and then doing paid partnerships and everything else. And I think it would be selling digital goods at that point. Just a lot of other avenues that I would take and I would focus more of my time on long form content on YouTube and at the end of the day I would have to work 10 times as hard to make. Yeah, I think we've been a baby spoiled.

We've been spoiled by TikTok to the point where everybody's about making money for themselves, whether it is Facebook, Amazon, like everybody, LinkedIn. I think the only, only platform that actually gave every creator an opportunity to make money was TikTok.

Entry level creators at the bottom of the barrel could get in there and make a living.

Similar. Similar to a big creator if they were good.

Yep, exactly. So that's why when people would ask me about followers and stuff, I was like, that doesn't matter. With TikTok Shop, there's people with way less followers followers.

I just was looking at a girl. She has 30 million views. Yeah, you could get any amount of views.

I was just just looking at another guy. I think he had 14, 000 followers and he had 36 million views on his video and rushed it, you know. Over a million dollars in GMB in one month.

I'll give you a few seconds for your shameless plug. It's your time. Go ahead.

Well, I don't have any cool phrases, which I wish I did. You know, use it before you refuse it or anything. I don't have any cool phrase, but go follow me on all social medias at I am Skateboard B. Yeah, I think that's the the only shameless plug I have. Just go give me a follow and stay tuned for some really cool content. If TikTok gets banned, you'll see a lot of more cool long form content on YouTube from me, which I think you guys will really enjoy. A lot of stealth camping and fishing and hiking in the mountains and doing some crazy adventures. And then as far as the short form content goes, that's going to be really, really, really intriguing as well and be a lot of challenges and a lot of really cool stuff that I think you guys will really enjoy.

Thank you for your time, Brendan. And I hope that President Trump does some magic and the TikTok stays.