He Cold Emailed 600 Creators... Here's What Happened

Before people see your success, they see the highlights.

What they don't see are the failed ideas, the rejection emails, the late nights, the self-doubt, and the discipline it takes to keep showing up when nobody is watching.

In this episode of The Tarryn Reeves Show, I sit down with Elijah Khasabo, founder of Vidovo, to unpack the real story behind building a bootstrapped SaaS business from his bedroom at just 19 years old.

From a viral UGC video that changed everything to building a platform now trusted by more than 100 brands, Elijah shares the lessons most entrepreneurs only learn the hard way. We dive into why discipline will always beat motivation, what brands are still getting wrong about creator marketing, why authentic storytelling consistently outperforms polished advertising, and how saying "yes" to discomfort can completely change the trajectory of your business.

Whether you're building a startup, growing a personal brand, creating UGC, or dreaming about launching your own business, this conversation is packed with practical insights and honest reflections on what it really takes to succeed.

In this episode:

•  Why Elijah chose entrepreneurship over the traditional path 
•  The viral UGC video that launched his business 
•  How Vidovo grew without investors or outside funding 
•  Why discipline matters more than motivation 
•  The biggest lessons from building a bootstrapped SaaS company 
•  What brands get wrong about working with creators 
•  Where the creator economy is heading next 
•  The hidden personal sacrifices behind entrepreneurship 
•  Building genuine relationships that lead to business growth 
•  Why hearing "no" is one of the most valuable skills an entrepreneur can develop 

If you've ever questioned whether to keep going, wondered if the creator economy is too crowded, or needed a reminder that success is built one uncomfortable decision at a time, this episode is for you.

🎧 Subscribe to The Tarryn Reeves Show for more conversations with world-class entrepreneurs, founders, authors, and industry leaders who are building extraordinary businesses by owning their stories and leading with authenticity.

Connect with Elijah:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

Connect with Tarryn

Transcript

0:41

Today on the show we have Elijah Khasabo, who is the founder of Vidovo, a fast-growing UGC and influencer platform helping brands scale authentic, high-performing creative content. He started the company at just 19 while still in college and has since grown into a platform used by over 100 brands. With roots in e-commerce and a viral video that sparked his passion for the creator economy, Elijah has built Vidovo through grit, creativity, and results-first mindset. Today, he's on a mission to make the creator economy more accessible for brands and creators and to show how authentic storytelling always outperforms polished ads. Elijah, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. That was a great introduction. It's all you. It is all you. Now, I have actually used your platform myself, and it is a great creation. So you must be very, very proud. I want to talk about the origin story and how this all happened, because creating a company at 19 in college, most people are out drinking, partying, doing all of those things. But apparently not you. So take us back to the beginning. 19 years old, college student, running your first company from your bedroom, which is where a lot of us start. What happened? What made you take the leap when most people your age at that time still figuring out life? Yeah, I mean, so I made the rash decision to not go to college right away. And, you know, I thought most people would be okay with that, but, you know, majority of my family just wasn't, you know, which is just a cryable, I would say, at that time, at least. So it kind of put me in this boat where I'm like, okay, well, it's too late, I can't apply anywhere. So I have to go get a job or I have to figure something out. So I applied to like about 70 to 80 jobs, I would say. I probably had about three interviews and maybe one of them was like a positive interaction, right? And um after that interview, I decided to not pick up with a job. There's a whole background story to that, but it's because I actually ran like a stock and crypto Discord server in high school. I knew the fundamentals of like entrepreneurship just from that. And because of that, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, which is why I just didn't go to college right away, right? In all the interviews I had, which was only like three or four, I never brought up what I built in high school. But for this one, I was like, I gotta do it because I'm not getting a single job. And I'll never forget, he asked me, if you did all this in high school, why are you looking for a job? And that job was door-to-door sales. It was the easiest entry-level job you could get at that age. So like his question was pretty fair, I would say. And I was like, wow, this guy's right. So I ended up not taking a job, and I tried to just create any business idea. I mean, I tried partnerships with other people. I tried presenting ideas to other people. I've had ideas stolen, right? Like, I've tried everything, and nothing was clicking. I maybe tried eight or nine business ideas until I actually got into dropshipping, right? So that's when you create your own stores, sell this product from basically from Alibaba. I tried two products, they both flopped, and I got to the third product, which was a door closer, right? And it was a pretty cool product. At least I like to think so. Looking back, it was probably not the coolest thing ever. And I grew the Discord in high school through affiliate marketing. So I'd get like high school kids from all over the world, literally, not just from the U.S., from all over the world, just to make TikToks about it, right? And I kind of followed the same model with this product. Okay, I'm just gonna find people who I can pay on an affiliate basis. And that's what I did, but it wasn't working. And I was struggling to find good content. I'll never forget a creator approached me and they're like, hey, like just buy a video for me. It's $50. I was like, okay, cool. That sounds great. But he's like, no, no, you have to pay me upfront. Like, you pay me, and I give you the video, and it's yours to keep. And I'm like, I'm not doing that. Like I pay people based on what they earn me. So we had like a little back-and-forth, but that, that was UGC at the time. It was so fresh and so new. No one really knew the term, which by definition is technically not the term, but by our creator-generated content, would say, it was term at the time, and still is basically. I was like, fine, why not? And that video ended up getting me 15 million views organically. So in my head, I'm like, instead of trying to sell this product, why don't I actually go sell videos to other people like me? And that's literally how it started. I would sell videos to other dropshippers, other very small brands, and it would be like 15 bucks a video, then 20, then 30, then 40. It was definitely some tough times, but it ended up working out like that. Then I like built like a solo agency out of it. And then through that solo agency, I met my co-founder who was building an app at the time. And he was so like impressed by how I was able to sell him and manage this like, you know, 13 team, 13 creator team, not actual team agency. And he was like, hey, I'd love to partner up with you. I wasn't really buying it at first, until he had me like a working landing page and a working model of Vidovo in two days, like just something, just a basic landing page, right? When he said he would have it in two weeks. So then I was like, you know, let's just do it. We partnered up, and that's kind of how the origin story of Vidovo started. You'd be surprised that it took me about like a month and a half to really bite on it and be like, I'm gonna go full time on this. Cuz at first it was Vidovo and like what I was doing and then slowly I just started to realize what I was doing just wasn't scalable, and I was like, you know what? Let's just go into software Thought it would be a lot easier, but I was very wrong with that. Very humbling experience, but I enjoyed it, and we're here today, so clearly it worked out. Yeah, amazing. So that viral moment, that was the first UGC, or I suppose the correct term would be CGC, like you said, creator-generated content, um was the moment that you kind of went, oh, okay. And it was this other person's video that got you the sales on the door closer. Yeah. What the heck is a door closer? Can we just talk about what a door closer is? I can't even describe it. It was like a box that you would attach to your wall, and as soon as your door like opens, it just closes with it. Like a wire would just spring out and close in and out. It just didn't make sense honestly. But basically, what we were trying to market was like, hey, when people come into your room and don't close the door, you don't have to worry about that anymore, because this just automatically closes it for you. Yeah, right. Okay. And to get all of your first creators to use Vidovo, what did that look like? What did the groundwork look like? Because I can imagine that you would have had to reach out to a lot of creators to get them onto the platform. It's very hard. I mean, when I did the agency before Vidovo, even then it was hard. I reached out to like 600 or 700 influencers. I DM'd people on Instagram. My DMs are literally still there to this day because you can't delete some of them. I emailed a bunch, and I only got 30 responses. And out of those 30 responses, 15 actually hopped on a Zoom call, and about 12 actually moved forward with me, right? It is very hard, especially at that time. So doing it for Vidovo was actually even harder than the agency, because now we're like a marketplace, right? So it's like, you're coming on expecting to see brands, right? So it's like, you're a user of our platform. Imagine you just come on and there's like zero campaigns active. I was literally pitching a product to them that like they wouldn't see results until six to eight months from there. And that's the toughest thing about building a marketplace because you have to build both sides of the marketplace. We actually just doubled down and focused on just getting good creators. Like I spent my time talking to creators on Zoom, DMing them on Twitter, getting close with Facebook group owners who ran big communities. And my goal is like, okay, let me just get close with the folks that have influence in the UGC community, because from there, naturally, they can speak on us in an organic manner. Like, hey, check out Vidovo. Hey, I just spoke to the founder of Vidovo. Hey, I just got my first job on Vidovo. I kid you not, one of the relationships that I developed with the creator, her name is Emily, amazing person by the way, she randomly wrote a tweet about us, I think about month five or six into Vidovo. So I'm assuming she got her first gig around month five or six and the tweet blew up. Not blew up all over, but blew up in the UGC community where it brought us about 800 creators, just from that one tweet. So it's like developing relationships and kind of focusing on building that one side was great. Cause now I can go to the brands and be like, okay, hey, we have about a thousand creators now. We'd love to have you on board. Because the sucky thing about building the creator side was, okay, cool, we have a hundred creators. But the brand would complain, but you know what? like, that's not enough. What if we use it, go through all a hundred, and only like 10, and we want to use it again? Like where's the scalability there, right? So there's a huge issue. So we just focused on kind of taking that hit and doubling down and just, you know, building great relationships on both sides. And yeah, I kind of played out that way. Yeah, amazing. So looking back on the journey thus far, what are some of the biggest mistakes or lessons that you learned in the early days building it from scratch? That's a great question. And there's so many answers I could kind of ping to this, but I would say, probably the biggest mistake was thinking it was going to be easier than it actually was. I thought, okay, boohoo, we have a software. Like this is a great product. Always do just get both sides. And after that, it's like, you know, it's great. It's good. Cause I would literally watch videos or watch how other companies build. And it just seemed a lot easier. And that kind of like to find the moment of like, okay, I understand why people quit, right? um I wasn't gonna quit myself, but like I understood why, because those beginning days, I mean, I looked at the Stripe dashboard, it would say zero, like every single day, It would never move. I actually have a photo of my phone for the first time, I think this was like month seven or eight, it said like $400 in one day. And I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever. Like I can't believe we made $400 in one day. Like, one day this is gonna be a normal thing, right? But I think thinking it was easier than it actually was, was like my biggest mistake, not being able to drop my ego right away. Like, oh, cool, I ran this Discord server in high school, and it honestly did really well, right? I thought like everything was going to be like that in business, but I probably just got a little luck on my side in the beginning. The agency, I won't lie, did pretty well in the first two months, better than Vidovo did in the first six. So in my head, I just came in with like this mindset like, oh, I've done this before, shouldn't be hard, like, I'm that entrepreneur. And I think learning how to drop your ego and kind of humble yourself and take accountability in those moments where, you know what, I need to learn and just be curious. That was my biggest mistake. I wish I did it a lot earlier. It took me a while to kind of get to that mindset. Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Entrepreneurship, when those numbers aren't going up, you kind of, it's very soul-destroying. And so many people do give up, you know, I'm, I think we are nine in business. um And I have wanted to quit so many times. And I always say to people, if you don't want to quit at least like twice a day, are you even running your own business? Is it a thing? The difference is to just get up and keep going. And I really think that that comes down to loving what you do, as well as understanding why you do it. What are your thoughts on that? I do believe you have to love what you do. I did love working. I also came with the mindset where I had nothing to lose. As you said, I was young. I started at 19. I'm 22 now as of last month, literally a month ago today. I kind of was like, if I quit, what else am I gonna do? I'm still in community college. I don't have a desire or passion for anything else besides just being a creator, being an entrepreneur, just being able to build something. So I really loved it to the point where I didn't want to give it up, right? And I think every entrepreneur kind of has to have that drive. And I tell people this all the time. I feel like something emotionally has to trigger you to become an entrepreneur. Like we didn't just all become entrepreneurs, just to become entrepreneurs. It doesn't make sense. Something emotionally triggered us as individuals, People lit a fire in us. And then to keep that fire going, you obviously have to stay disciplined throughout the whole journey, which I think is the biggest key to it. Mm. I think loving everything I do, having a passion for it, and being able to provide and help others, and solve a problem ultimately is great. At the end of the day, the problem you solved. Like it was hard to get video, it hard to work with good creators, hard to find good creators, right? So I would probably say that. And what was the emotional trigger for you? Let's dive deeper into that because just the thought of, uh, what else am I going to do? Let's go deeper. What was your emotional drive? I mean, for Vidovo specifically, um I would say the doubt I just got in general from um making the rash decision to not go to college. I mean, you make that decision, a lot of people look at you sideways. I don't think that's a normal thing 5 to 10 years from now. I think people start to be like, okay, it's a little bit normal to also not choose to go to college. I mean, by the way, I'm still in college now. I have nothing bad to say about college. Although I do think the price is a little bit absurd and I can go all day about that, right? I think like, just wanting to just prove people wrong, which I don't, I don't live by that anymore now. Like I really don't. But at that moment, I think that's what triggered something in me, right? And then also just seeing my mother work so hard for us. And to me, it's like, if I don't even match that energy or, at least, you know, strive beyond the energy she's put into us, like who am I as a person, right? Like she's done so much for us. All I did, I was a troublemaker growing up. I just got in trouble a lot. Not like a bad kid—an idiot. I'll just do stupid stuff. So I was like, imagine there's always... Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a guy thing. Yeah. That's kind of like, I had to get by that. Doing it for her and just kind of like realizing like, I got it, you know, have worth, cause I truly believe the goal in life is to better oneself. And it's like, how am I bettering myself? Let's say I don't go to college, just do nothing. Like I'm just sitting there, right? That was kind of me and I'm very like, I need to just be ongoing. I need to be doing something all the time. I just can't like sit there and just do nothing like I have to be driven by something, right? So that also was a big factor into it Yeah, your mom sounds like an incredible lady. She's done a great job. So let's talk discipline and motivation because they are different. um And like you said, I think discipline is something that if you are going to succeed as an entrepreneur or a creator or anything like that, doing something for yourself, you have to have discipline. It's getting up at 5 a.m. when everyone else is getting up 9am. It's working in your lunch hour if you need to. And that's different to motivation. Motivation is what drives us, but discipline is different. So let's talk about what that actually looks like day to day when you're building a business from nothing, which is where most businesses start. Yeah. You know, people talk about motivation, but I truly believe it just fades. I mean, um, discipline pretty much gets you through the days that just suck, you know, rejections, failed launches, 2 a.m. problem-solving. I had a lot of those. And, you know, I always realize I'm just wired to be a builder. I like just taking chaos, just building things into structure. I mean, that's helped me become a founder of anything. I've never really believed in motivation. For example, today I wasn't motivated at all, right? But I know I still had to get things done. I know I still have to run a business at the end of the day, But motivation-wise, I just wasn't there. I just couldn't do it. I just wanted to lay down all day. I get those days from times, right? I'm not going to be perfect every single day. No one is, right? But you know, if I wasn't disciplined, that'd be the real problem. If I relied on motivation days like this, I would just lay in bed all day. I would just sit around all day. Like you can't really rely on motivation. I think it's like one of the biggest facades ever. I think it's great. Like when you're a hundred percent disciplined and a hundred percent motivated, I think those days are great. But like what what happens with that motivation bar zero, right? Like do you keep going or do not keep going. Also, it comes back to like, you've come so far. You've worked so hard. You've done so much. It's like, why just stop, right? Discipline just keeps on, you know, driving it. And that's one thing I always try to tell my friends about. Just stay disciplined. Just keep on track, keep going, because you never know. You never know. If you're consistent with your work, something's gonna come out of it as long as you're doing good work, obviously. And I just never believe in motivation. As soon as a friend tells, I'm not motivated. I need motivation to do this. I'm just like, you're just making excuses, right? If you really loved what you did, you wouldn't need to be motivated to do it. Yeah. exactly. And beyond the discipline, because you obviously have a lot of that now, um how do you personally handle the days when things are feeling super sluggish, growth stalls, you're not seeing those numbers go up, you're getting a lot of rejections, and that self doubt kicks in because that self doubt, that inner voice, I don't think that no matter how successful you get in business, it never goes away. It just changes. I'll use this week as an example. This past week was our best week ever, revenue-wise, campaign-wise, creator, brand-wise. Everything is going well, but I'm still so stressed out, right? Like I'm still like, today was like a sluggish day, for example. I didn't really get much done, and I'll be very transparent with that. I can't allow myself to do that every day. You'll have those days from time to time. Like not every day is perfect. But I think, just get out, just get some fresh air, take a break. It's always good to kind of reset your mind. So I work pretty much every day. I work a little bit lighter on the weekends, sometimes heavy, really depends on what's coming up next week. But once a month, I really try to take the weekend off. Like just take it off, don't look at your computer as much as you can, and just reset your mind and remember, like there's a greater purpose to life than just business as well, right? Go outside, get some fresh air, which I'm hoping to do after this. This is the last thing I got to do for the day, so I'm hoping to do that after this podcast. But just being able to put your mind in a position that, hey, it's okay to reset and kind of think about things. I think the more you're so anchored and focused on work, work, work all the time, it kind of just slugs you down. And it's weird because in the beginning, I was kind of the opposite. I would just be work, work, work all the time, because sometimes I believe you're put in a position where you have to think like that, right? And even to this day, I still think like that at times, but I really do believe it all comes out just taking a mental break and knowing like, hey, you need to slow down a little bit to get through those days. uh That's like the biggest thing for me. Yeah, 100%. And as an entrepreneur, it can be so hard to switch off your mind, like the amount of 2 a.m. wake-ups where you can't go back to sleep because you're like, I've got to do this thing and this thing and this thing. It is really important to take care of ourselves. Otherwise you end up burnt out, and then you can't do anything. So I know that Vidovo was bootstrapped. And it can be really easy as an entrepreneur when you get to a certain level to chase those quick wins. But what has been, I suppose, your biggest challenge in staying bootstrapped, and what advantages did that give you in the marketplace? Yeah, bootstrapping was probably the number one thing that's molded me into who I am today. It really, like, really just makes you think. It makes you question almost everything. I mean, we're competing against a bunch of companies who've raised a lot of money, right? We made the rash decision to obviously not raise money in the software creative industry, which is pretty rare to do. But it comes back to like, had nothing to lose. Like my co-founder, we have nothing to lose. Like why go raise money, right? And I'm glad we kept that mindset because things are really starting to look, you know, like the bootstrap ground was paid off. I'll say what makes it hard is just not being able to spend cash just like that. Like our competitors, they could throw like thousands and thousands of dollars into like, you know, an event or a happy hour or dinner or fly people out and all that stuff. We have to be like very frugal with it. Even though we're making more money, we're profitable and we're a cash flow positive, we still have to make smart decisions because we don't have money in the bank. At least not that much money in the bank compared to that company that raised millions of dollars. um I think the pros to it though outweigh the cons. You develop as a character. That's one thing that's very underrated. I don't think a lot of founders talk about you develop as an individual. You really do. Two, I would say, I mean, the cap table is beautiful. You have no investors up your ass, which is also a great thing. You own a whole company, and you're valued at, you're valued a lot higher, right? We've been approached to be acquired, and I can't speak much on it, but we've been approached by three different folks, three different companies. And all of them love the fact that we were bootstrapped and young. Like those are the two things that stuck out to me. Like how were you able to do this at this age and bootstrap it? Because it can be unheard of. I don't want to boast my own boat, that's just an industry norm. It can be unheard of. And that's very interesting to buyers, to investors. Even if we do want to raise one day, raising six months from now versus in the beginning, the leverage we have in those conversations are so much different. We actually have more control on how we want to perceive things and how we want things to go versus we raised in the beginning. It's like the investors basically own you. That was the biggest benefit. The third, would say, um comes down to how we built. When you raise money, you're obviously put in a position where you have to fall invested KPIs. And I say this almost every time. You have to fall invested KPIs, which obviously lead to revenue. What is the number one driver to revenue? Brand acquisition. So go back to what I said in the beginning, we focused on getting creators for that reason. Because if we followed the typical playbook of go get brands, we would get crushed. But being able to focus on creator community first allowed for you know, quality creators, a great creator community, and me being able to be close with these individuals, right? Most of our creators actually find us through other creators. Most of our brands also find us through creators, which can be unheard of in our industry. But because our creators have such good experiences with us, and I really think it's because of the way we built Vidovo by, you know, by being bootstrapped, depending on whether they're being bootstrapped, brands are always like, hey, if a creator's having a good experience, why wouldn't I? If this creator said, this thing won't grow about, why shouldn't I try it out? So like building for the creator indirectly built for the brand. And that was like the number one benefit to bootstrapping, I bootstrapping, I think. Honestly, in the beginning, I didn't even notice I was doing it until like a year later. I'm like, oh wow, okay, so this is how we're growing. It's through our creators. We had a TikTok go out the other day. Two TikToks over a million views. Just creators talking about their experience with us brought in more creators. Those more creators talk about us. It's very likely a brand will eventually see one of those videos. At least just one brand. And that's just an acquisition channel. So using our creators in an organic manner has been huge for us by being in a bootstrap position. Yeah, 100%. Let's talk about the creator economy because it has taken off over the years, and it's one of the fastest-changing competitive spaces now. What do you see that most brands and creators get wrong about working together? Um, that's a good question. I think it really all comes down to creative direction. Brands, I think, get stuff wrong when they rely too much on a scripted or polished uh brief or example or script for that creator. And I think you're just kind of taking away the personality from that creator. Yes, at the end of the day, you are paying that creator to make an ad. You can make the argument that creator is an actor, right? But I've been like this in the beginning. I always tell creators, if we want to push away from that feel and you actually want the content to, you know, allow the consumer to feel something through the other screen, why don't you actually use the product? Why don't you do campaigns that you only have interest in doing, right? Why don't you actually take it, literally take a couple of days, then create the content. Don't just get the product and get right into it. Because consumers are getting so smart nowadays that they can tell if something's an ad or not right away, right? Even if they can tell an ad, it's an ad, how can we make it so, you know, genuine or organic that the consumer can be like, okay, this is an ad, but I actually want to try this out. Okay, this is an ad, but I actually believe this, right? So I think, you know, staying away from the polished, um, examples of it from both sides is pretty much the best way to go about it. So yes, brands, stop giving very scripted, very polished briefs. Let the creator have some freedom. Maybe give them a list of don'ts, some talking points, some ideas, but don't give them a script. And sometimes you may give them a script. Maybe you're like, hey, this is what's working. Follow the script and just put in your own words. That's okay at times, right? And creators, actually do campaigns that you have um interest in, right? The one thing I love about our platform is that proposal message aspect. Hmm. Let's type whatever you want to type. And what I see the best creators do is like they'll introduce themselves. They'll say, hey, I work the X amount of brands like yours. I also ... and what that also is a personal experience with that product or a relatable product or relatable brand, right? So the other day, I actually read a creator was like, hey, I've actually used your products, and I'm also majoring in this degree which relates to like this wellness product there that the brand was working on. The brand was like, we want to work with her because there's actual personal touch point there. So I think it all comes down to personal experiences. The more we drag away from that, the worst the outcome of the video will actually play out to be. Yeah, that makes so much sense. So where do you see the creator economy heading over the next few years? Are there things that we need to be looking out for? That's a great question. My answer changes all the time for this. It really does. Because when I first got into the industry, it was so funny. I used to have to sell UGC in our platform. Now brands understand the importance of UGC. So now we're just selling the platform. So back then, I was like, oh my gosh, I don't even know if UGC is going to make it. But I truly just believed in it, put my head down. But right now, I really just seeing creators being a part of almost every brand. We're in a world right now where the content you perceive, like you need to be perceiving content almost all the time. Like our attention spans are so bad. So what I think brands are gonna do next year and the year after, I think it's just gonna be a volume game. I really think brands are gonna be fighting for volume. How many pieces of content can we get out per day or per week or per month? So the consumers are just always seeing us. Yes, it may not convert on the first feed or the second video, but that's the whole point of the touch point, right? So actually before, it used to be eight to 12 touch points before you make a purchase decision. That was the average. Now I could be wrong, but based off what I saw last time, it's like 17 to 21. So it's basically doubled. And basically, what you're seeing from that is like, if it's doubled, we just need to focus on volume. So think brands are kind of gonna play the volume game. Mm-hmm. just gonna see a lot more content being created, a lot more creators coming into the game, a lot more influencers being involved, right? I always say, oh, I think it's gonna be this and that, and I think we're gonna see more of this or AI helping out with this, but I truly believe the true answer at the end of the day, it's gonna be more volume. The brands we worked with from the beginning of Vidovo that are still with us today, the number one thing I saw, the number one indicator I've seen between all of them is the increase in the amount of content they're receiving from us. And not just from us, from other aspects of like where they're receiving content, whether it's from the ambassador programs, affiliate programs. They just care about volume at this game, at this time. That would be my answer. Yeah, so interesting, isn't it? And it's so exciting as well. And I still see, you know, on the socials and things like that, because obviously I've got my personal brand. I'm a creator. I've got this podcast, as well as running some other companies. But it's still so interesting to see some new creators come in and go, oh, the market's saturated, the market's saturated. It's like, no, where is that authentic storytelling that makes you, you? Because your vibe will land with a brand, will land with their target audience versus somebody else. And there's always space. And with that increased volume, I 100 % believe that you're right. You know, it's going to be because the marketplace is noisy, they have to pump out more content for it to be seen. Yep, literally. Alright, let's talk about sacrifice in entrepreneurship because um it's very easy for people on the outside to look in and go, oh, lucky them. They've created this successful platform or the successful business or there is a successful influencer. What people don't see is the sacrifice. What in your opinion is the personal cost of entrepreneurship? Because there's a lot of pros. There's also a lot of cons. I've actually never been asked that before. um Personal cost of entrepreneurship, I would say sanity, like yours. Yeah. I'll speak from personal experience and maybe I can gather a better answer from that. I had to pretty much just cut off my whole lifestyle. So yeah, I'm a young kid. So yes, people my age, they party, they go outside, they hang out with friends a lot. That was pretty much gone. Like I had none of that. At the time of building, it was pretty much just my family, my girlfriend at the time. I literally talked to nobody. I hung out with nobody. I just kind of just kept that small circle because it allowed me to kind of stay focused. So I truly believe like, give up that fun side of life. I think you have to. Mm. have to be locked in because if you want a different lifestyle, if you want to just be different, you have to do different. I don't believe in the, you can party and you can do this. Yes, nowadays it's easier for me to go out and have a drink and to hang out with friends or do whatever, because we're in a better position to do so. But to truly become a better individual and a better entrepreneur, I really think you have to sacrifice the normal things in your life that you just love. And for me, that was hanging out with friends, that was going out, that was just having a good time. That was all gone. And I don't think most people are ready to do that. There was days I didn't talk to nobody, and nobody, like literally nobody. I didn't have a lot of friends when I was building Vidovo at the time. My whole life was just gone. I don't think everyone has to do that. I think there's ways you can kind of make fun of it. I think I was just very strict on myself because I knew if I needed to change, I had to do that. Just my personal experience. Most individuals just have to be ready to sacrifice the norm in their life if they want to become better, right? I just think that's normal because let's say if you didn't sacrifice the norm, then everyone would be successful. Everyone would be an entrepreneur. Everyone would just be doing what they're doing and just, you know, doing the thing that they think would get them to that next level. But I truly believe to get to the next level, you have to be willing to sacrifice the norm. That's like the best way I could answer. That's a very good question though Absolutely. Now being a young founder, I'm assuming you now have a team at Vidovo. You've got your co-founder, but I'm sure there are other people behind there. And what do you think has been the hardest leadership lesson that you've had to learn? Because it's all well and good doing it on your own, but then when you bring other people into the mix, it can really challenge you. Yeah, I think, you know, maybe a great entrepreneur, maybe a great creator, maybe a great founder, but being a manager is something I never sought to do in my life. So that kind of struck me. I started off with some internship programs and I went to the part-time world. I've made a lot of mistakes because the one, the one thing that I struggle with, I still am, I'm still learning this, is structure. You know, I don't really have a background in corporate. I mean, I worked at TJ Maxx as a sales associate on the floor, you know, selling the TJ Maxx gift cards or whatever, but I had no structure. I don't know what a Slack channel looked like. I don't know what project manager tools people are using. I just used my Google Sheets, my notes, and all that type of stuff. So it's funny because when I actually start to hire people and bring people on, I realized very quickly that not everyone can follow that demeanor. Like you have to have structure set up. And I'll never forget, I was like, okay, cool, what tools do I get? How can I make this easier for people? What is like good structure? Like, let me talk to some other founders. And I think structure has been the hardest thing. I'm still, still learning it till this day for me to follow. I've also have hired pretty much all juniors or entry levels or interns, right? So at that level, they don't come from a background either. They're learning from me, right? Which is funny because as of today, I actually put up a couple of job applications today and two days ago. We're in the midst of hiring, right? And I'm hoping to hire an individual, at least in one of the roles that has like true background experience that I can learn from. So I think being a leader right now, I need to just be able to adapt and learn from other folks and kind of apply those systems like within Vidovo and just build culture from that, right? Like I said, it comes down to dropping the ego and being curious. Mm. was very willing to learn from the interns and from the part-timers what I could learn. I always asked for feedback, all the single time. I'm like, guys, rip me apart if you can please cuz I'm trying to learn. But yeah, I mean it's fun. I never thought I would actually have a team. It's funny cuz I've always wanted to have a team. And we're I mean we're great. It's a fairly small team, about eight of us right now. Everyone's part-time though. So these next two roles will be the first two official full-time roles, right? But yeah, that's kind of what I'd say structure and being able to willing to learn from others and build from there. Very cool. And when you think about the future, what kind of legacy are you wanting to build through Vidovo and beyond it? You know, um I've always been a huge believer in the creator economy. I mean, that's kind of how I grew my Discord. The other business ideas I was trying to do, I was also going to grow it through creators of some sort. I've always believed in video and influence, right? Cause that's pretty much what the creator economy is. It's influence, right? From either an influencer or a creator themselves. Someone is influencing on the other side of the screen. And it's also video, photo, stills, whatever you want to call it, but the actual attribute that's getting across to you, right? Or even blogs, right? There's anything that's being created by an individual that you believe has influence in that you believe that you trust. And I think, especially our generation, I think we're past the Kim Kardashians and the celebrities and the Kevin Hart and The Rock. I think we want to listen to people who actually look like us, people who can actually speak from our experience. Like that's the true power of the creator economy. It's not the actual videos itself. It's the, the resonation. Like I want to go on TikTok, and I want to see people who went to my school or people who are building businesses too, or people who shopped at the store down the street that I want to go to, right? Like it's all going to come down to connection and resonating with the other individual on the side of the screen. That's why I don't think it will ever go away. Like, yes, we will adapt. It'll continue to grow. There'll be down years. There'll be up years. But at the end of the day, I think it's one of the most powerful industries in business because of the fact you can connect with another individual, and I'm so excited to see that grow. Amazing. And what is one thing that we haven't spoken about yet during our conversation, but we should have? I don't know. There's a lot we could speak about like like I said, I usually just come into these and just, you know, go with the flow. I would say, every entrepreneur should be ready to be curious and every entrepreneur should not be as scared of hearing the word "no." I always play it out as like the worst someone could say is no. Just always ask, always be willing to ask, always be willing to want to learn. In the beginning, there's a lot of things that like I could have just, you know, hit on the ground or not said anything, but I kept asking people, hey, what do you think about this? Hey, do you any advice on this? Or what could I do? Can I learn from this? Like you just have to ask. One of our biggest brands, this was actually last year. They're so big. We didn't even deserve to close them as a client, but I remember she got on the call and I was like, listen, like we are a small team, but I'm willing to learn. I'm willing to give you a lifetime discount. Like I just really want to work with you because I think you guys will help us grow." And she was down for it. She truly loved my story. She loved like the vision of what we're building. And it's all because I asked, right? Like if I went with a normal sales pitch there, I probably would have lost that deal to another platform that's more solidified, right? But I tell everyone that's on my team, like, just learn to be yourself. Don't like put on the face for anybody else. I truly believe selling is a game of relationships. And I feel like the more I can actually focus on developing a relationship, the better, you know, the outcome would be, right? I never go into a sales call or demo called the same structure, the same idea. I literally will go into there and build a relationship in any way possible, you know? And I think if every founder can kind of focus on those three things, being curious, learning to be okay with knowing, just asking anyways, and being focused on developing relationships, you know, success is inevitable. That's just my opinion. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, what's the worse somebody could say no? Well, I mean, is anybody going to die if you say no? Like it's, you know, moving on, we need to get 100 hours a day. We get used to failure as entrepreneurs, right? And specifically when it comes to creators, it is showing up on those apps every single day or pitching those brands every single day, and hearing nothing and getting up the next day and doing it again, and again, and again. I had someone message me on TikTok a few days ago and she goes, oh, can you please help me like with your experience? I want to get more brand deals. I've only had one so far. And I said, okay, well, how many brands have you pitched today? And she said, none. I said, well, it's 9 a.m. and I've already pitched 35. Like that's the difference. You know, you've got to get after it. And when you hear no, you do it again and again and again. Yeah. that, and I think it's just because people are just so used to being comfortable with their lives, and that's not a shot at anyone. I talk to some other founder buddies. They just weren't doing enough. I'm like, you gotta be uncomfortable. It always comes out of the easiest quote like the most common quote. If it was easy, everyone would do it. That is like the truly the truth to every aspect of life Like learn how to just be uncomfortable and just shoot your shot and just keep on going. Cause you know, a hundred nos will eventually turn into yes versus like, you five, five nos and you just quit right there, right? So it's like, just keep going. There's billions of people in the world, right? So. Exactly. And if a brand does say no or a creator does say no, there's no reason you can't go back in a few months. Yeah, one of our biggest customers said no at first. It took them a year just to get them on board and now they love the platform. They're using it until this day. So yeah, never be afraid to go back. Exactly. And I mean, you say get used to being uncomfortable, and then suddenly it isn't uncomfortable anymore. It's like when we first start speaking on a stage, you're terrified and the more you do it, the better you get at it and the less nerves that you have. Correct. not uncomfortable anymore. It's just one of those things. And I think that's where that discipline again comes in, where you just go, okay, cool, moving on, tick, tick, tick, you know, keep moving down the line and not giving up. Elijah, thank you so much for creating such a brilliant platform and for sharing your wisdom with us today. Congratulations on your success so far as such a young entrepreneur. I think that you are amazing. Your mama has done an amazing job like we discussed her at the beginning. So thank you to her. And before we wrap up, we have a tradition called the book drop. What book has impacted you either personally or professionally? Right now, and I'm not a reader, I will say, right? I read maybe a couple books a year, and it's only when it's recommended to me. I've never been a reader. I'm reading a book called Unreasonable Hospitality. It's an amazing book. I truly recommend it to anyone listening to this. It just teaches you about hospitality. It's a guy that's in the restaurant business. And the biggest takeaway I have from it is like, people may forget what you said, they may forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. And I think that's just so powerful. Like people will never forget how you made them feel. So give them the best service possible at every chance you can, right? And I think that's how we've grown very well at Vidovo was being able to make sure people are happy at all times and they feel good about the service, right? And it's a great book. I'm not finished yet, but I kind of understand the message of the book already. I think I can pick up on stuff like that fairly quick. But wow, it's a great book and I can't wait to finish. I'll probably be done with it next week or so. So I highly recommend it to any individual listening to this. Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing and for being a guest on the show today. Thank so much, I appreciate you for having me.