Episode description

Welcome to another episode of In Search of Excellence! My guest today is an incredible young man, Ian Boggs. Ian is one of the most successful influencers of all time. He has more than 30 million followers on YouTube, TikTok, Snap, and Instagram. His videos have been viewed more than 30 billion times.

Tune in to hear Ian talking about his childhood, education, and his journey from dreaming about being a doctor to becoming one of the most successful influencers online. Find out how he started doing what he loved, how his videos went viral, and how he gained millions of followers on social media. He also shares how he dealt with hateful comments and how he earns money as a social media creator.

Time stamps:

01:27 Ian’s background

• An American father who grew up in Kenya and a Japanese mother
• That helped him build his audience all around the world

02:48 Creating his first content

• His mother loved photography and had a camera
• Ian created content with Legos

04:46 What was Ian like as a kid?

• Introverted and super creative
• Learned that nothing comes for free
• Made money mowing lawns

07:53 The education and the shift in mindset

• AP classes in Italy
• Cheating on test
• Studying to be a doctor at UCI
• Decide to go a different route
• Switched to Media Studies

14:53 Cutting his own hair for a video

• Making fun of alpha males
• Started doing haircuts for $15
• Passionate about photography and videography
• Started earning money

19:28 Becoming a social media creator

• A dream of becoming a social media creator
• A video went viral
• Did live of himself sleeping
• Parents supported his dream

25:44 Hitting a million followers

• A million followers on Tik Tok
• Had a lot of anxiety
• Wasn’t happy about the content he was posting

27:24 Making the content he loved

• Going to California, starving, and working hard
• His father cut him off financially
• He decided to make the content he was happy about

30:30 Hateful comments

• He made some cringy content
• Bad comments gave him anxiety
• Learned to deal with it
• Engaging with comments on social media

34:45 Buying followers

• Bought followers are usually bots
• Fake followers are harmful
• Buying followers is a scammy business

38:27 How to make money on social media?

• Merch – selling different products
• Earning with AdSense on YouTube explained
• Brand deals - Marvel, Netflix, and Old Spice

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