15. How to grow your social media influence and become a force for good in this world – Chris Do

Do you want to know how to grow your social media influence and become a force for good in this world. If so, you’re in for a treat!
 
Mark my words. This episode is going to be one of the best because my guest is the epitome of what it means to be highly sought after. His name is Chris Do. He runs an Emmy award winning brand consultancy for over 25 years and has worked with well-known brands like Google, McDonald’s, Audi and PlayStation.
 
With more than 1 million subscribers across all his social media platforms, Chris today teaches the world how to value themselves and communicate their value to others through his online education platform, The Futur.
 
Strap in and enjoy the interview as you’re about to learn how to skyrocket your influence using social media while becoming a force for good along the way. 
 
If you’re a content creator or entrepreneur building your personal brand on social media, listen in at 43:17 where Chris shares his content creation process, including two things you can implement immediately to get inspired to create new content.

Also listen out for Chris’ answers to the following questions:

• Chris, you have been in the creative industry for more than 25 years and today you are a big name not just with the creatives but also with entrepreneurs worldwide. What were some of the key inflection points during your 25 years journey? – 1:31
• What led you to join graphic design and to decide that you want to make a living out of creative work? – 6:54
• How do you know when you are a person of influence? Are there certain metrics to know if someone is influential? – 13:20
• How can we find out differentiation? Is there a certain thought process that can lead there? – 15:55
• Remember the Chris that produced a video with 50 views. Now the Chris is producing videos with views of 1.7 million views. Has that changed your approach in creating content, or anything about you? – 23:04
• Do you think being an introvert has been an advantage for you in building your influence? – 25:34
• There is a lot of free information out there, a lot of how-to strategies, ideas, podcasts. Why is it with so much information out there, why are not all people there yet? – 28:56
• How can we help ourselves be more teachable and less defensive to new ideas? – 31:12
• How can he help those that are not willing to invest in learning? - 36:36
• In your book, A Pocket Full of Do, under Marketing, you advise us to be a “T-shaped person”: develop deep expertise in one area of focus but have wide interests outside our area of expertise. How does being a T-person help you in marketing? 41:02
• What is your content creation process? – 43:17
• In your team, do you have a certain process on how you differentiate your videos from another person talking on the same topic? - 45:57
• Chris has a very big vision, and his mission is to inspire and teach 1 billion people and that’s being a huge force for good. How did you arrive at such an inspiring mission? - 56:51
• What do you think is your biggest challenge right now as you reach this 1 billion goal? - 1:00:56

If you want to keep in touch with Chris, you can reach him on Instagram @thechrisdo.

Read these books to become highly sought after in your own industry -> www.pickericsbrain.com
 
Thank you for listening to this episode of #HighlySoughtAfter! 
 
If you enjoyed this episode, please help me hit the ‘subscribe’ button if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or hit the ‘follow’ button if you are listening on Spotify. 
 
I would also love to hear your biggest takeaway from this episode! Here’s how: take a screenshot of you listening to #HighlySoughtAfter and tag me on Instagram. My handle is @ericgoesglobal. This way, I can personally thank you!
 

Transcript

Eric Feng (Host):

Mark my words, this episode, it's going to be one of the best, because my guest is the epitome of what it means to be highly sought after. His name is Chris Do. He runs an Emmy Award-winning brand consultancy for over 25 years, and has worked with well-known brands like Google, McDonald's, Audi, and PlayStation. With more than one million subscribers across all his social media platforms, Chris today teaches the world how to value themselves, and communicate the value to others through his online education platform, The Futur.

Eric Feng (Host):

If you want to know how to grow your social media influence and become a force for good in this world, you will love this interview. So, Chris, thank you so much, I'm super-duper grateful to you for agreeing to do this interview. I have to ask, I'm really curious... You're a busy man, you have a lot of people asking for interview requests, is there a reason why you said yes to this one?

Chris Do (Guest):

I'm sure there was a really good reason, but I have no idea right now. It could be because of your reach, your audience, or maybe it was about the subject matter, but there's got to be a reason, because I do turn down a lot of people who ask me.

Eric Feng (Host):

You know what? I'm really very grateful, and I treasure this. In fact, a lot of my followers who found out that I'm interviewing you, they are extremely excited. They actually asked, "[inaudible 00:01:23], can we do it as livestream?" But I was like, "Nah, we'll record the interview." So, I'm going to dive straight into our first question today, right? Chris, you have been in the creative industry for more than 25 years, you're a big name in not just with the creative, but actually with the entrepreneurs as well. And I know this because the people that responded to me were not from the creative industry. My top sales guy, he's only 23 years old, but he was my top guy, he closes six figure deals for me, he watches your video every day.

Chris Do (Guest):

Wow.

Eric Feng (Host):

Yes. Baggio, this is for you, okay? This is for you. I'm interviewing your idol. So, I'm just very curious. I watch your videos, and I realized that you have been doing this for 25 years, or maybe even more. What were some of the key inflection points in that journey that led you to be who you are today?

Chris Do (Guest):

There are many, so let me sprinkle a few out, and then if you want me to go deeper, I will.

Chris Do (Guest):

I think one of the most critical things that have happened to me in my life and my career is when I met my business coach, his name is Kier McLaren. I think I was four or five years into my business, and was feeling like, "You know what? I'm hitting a ceiling, I don't know why, I need some help." And this is around 1999... Maybe 1998, so it was just a few years into my business. And it's just through a chance encounter, I'm having lunch with the composer, sound designer, he's telling me about how his business is doing really well, how he doubled his business the previous year, and when you hear things like that, you're like, "Wait a minute, can you share what has happened?" He's like, "Yeah, okay."

Chris Do (Guest):

So, he was the one who turned me on to my business coach, and that was a 13 year long relationship with my business coach. So, he taught me, we met every single week, and we would meet every single week for an hour and a half without fail. So, you're talking about 13 years, it's something more like 50 weeks each year. So, that's really how I got my business skills. A lot of people today will watch me and say, "Oh, how does this person know all these things?" Well, first, you run a business for two decades, and you get coached for 13 years. So, people just need to understand, I've been coached longer than you've been in business, most likely. So, that's the difference. So that's an inflection point.

Chris Do (Guest):

The second one... They're kind of paired up together, where my wife and I were traveling back from school, and I was teaching at this point, maybe 13, 14 years, and she said, "Maybe there's more for you to do in life than just teach a small group of people." And I was like, "Ah, this is annoying, why would you say that to me right now?" And then, made me really think... I didn't have the answer, well, that paired me up with the next event that changed my life, which was... One of my friends from school, we hadn't worked together ever, and 10 years out of school, he's like, "You know what? You want to make some content with me on YouTube?" I'm like, "No, why would I want to do that? Why would I expose myself? Why would I risk alienating clients?"

Chris Do (Guest):

And I'm a behind the camera talent, not in front of the camera talent, and so the spark of my wife planting the seed, and this guy named Jose Caballer, he gets together with me, and we make a video. That's not the point that it changes everything, the point in which we make a video that actually connects with the audience in a real, genuine, authentic way, that's the moment my life changes for the better. So, there's a couple of inflection points, there's more, but I'll leave them there.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, you mentioned that you did your first YouTube video with Jose?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes.

Eric Feng (Host):

And you got very good response, what kind of response did you get? Could you walk us through that? Make you go like, "You know what? I want to do more of these videos?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. So, the first video I made, because I went back to YouTube to find when it was, it was January of 2014. I'm 42 years old, okay? I've been running my business now for 22 years, or 20 years, so I'm not a young guy, I'm just trying to do this thing. We make several videos, they're okay. They don't take off, they get 25, 50 views. 50 views, I would be very excited per day. And I would look at it... I'm a very analytical person, so next morning, I'm like, "Oh my God, okay, 48 views, that's not too bad. We're doing better." And at one point my wife, she's watching my video, and she's like, "I can't watch your videos, this is unwatchable." [crosstalk 00:05:33].

Eric Feng (Host):

The same person who asked you to put yourself out there.

Chris Do (Guest):

Same person. Yeah, yeah, same person. She's like, "It's unwatchable, do you guys prepare?" And like, "What's the process like? It's so all over the place." And again, it's like you need somebody in your life to tell you the truth. Not sugar coat, look you in the eye, and say, "You know what? That's garbage." She didn't say it like that, but I'm like, "Oh, that hurt." So, that's when I decided, you know what? I'm going to sit down, I'm going to prepare, I'm going to write, I'm going to put a Keynote presentation together, that's the video that changed everything, and it was called something like, Branding and Logo Identity Design, something like that. Branding Identity Design.

Chris Do (Guest):

And instead of getting 50 views, we got several hundred views, I'm like, "Whoa, we hit something." And that was the first video that started to take off relatively speaking. It wasn't a viral hit, but I'm like, "Wow." So, that was a lesson for us, put in the work, teach, give generously, don't try and pitch or sell anything, and that was the game changer.

Eric Feng (Host):

Got it. So, for those of you who don't know, right? Chris has a podcast, and there was that particular podcast that talks about his backstory, which I'll put it in the show notes, and I highly recommend you to go check it out. So, Chris, I'm going to take us the listeners back many, many years before you even go to ArtCenter. So, may I know, what led you to even join graphic design, and to decide that you want to make your living out of doing creative work?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. So, this is a seminal moment in my life, I'm 17 years old going on 18, it's my senior year in high school, and I'm just like, "I don't know what to do." I apply to schools, but I'm waiting to hear back. But my younger brother, he's in the wrestling team, and his coach's like, "Doesn't your brother draw or something, because I know a guy who makes t-shirts, maybe I can introduce you." And so, I'm like, "Great. This is fantastic." So, I meet this guy, his name is [Brad Chaboyer 00:07:24], and he owns a screen printing company, they print and design t-shirts.

Chris Do (Guest):

Now, Brad's a graphic designer, so I go in and I show my pathetic portfolio, but there's enough there that Brad came like, "All right, I'll give you a shot." Now, keep in mind, this is in the late '90s, mid to late '90s... No, I'm sorry, early '90s, and minimum wage was like what? Five bucks an hour? Okay? And I've been working minimum wage labor jobs. And Brad's like, "You know what? I will pay you $18 an hour." Whoa.

Eric Feng (Host):

Wow.

Chris Do (Guest):

This is real money. I remember being so excited that I called my older brother, and said, "You don't know how much money I'm going to be making." He's like, "How much?" "18 bucks an hour." He's like, "Really?" "Yeah." So, what I was doing is I was inking. I was tracing his drawings and inking them over so that it can be turned into a t-shirt. I got to tell you, the first couple of days I was doing that, my hand was all shaky, [inaudible 00:08:14] I'm so nervous inking, and he's like, "Let me show you." And he was perfect. My hands like, whoa, just trying to do this thing.

Chris Do (Guest):

But during my employment with him, he sent me on an errand to go pick up some typesetting, I didn't even know what that word meant. He's like, "Just go to Dean's house, here's his address, he's expecting you, just pick this up." I'm like, "Okay, fine." I drive over to Dean's house, not too far away. Dean opens the door and he's like, "Man, you're early, but come on in." And I'm like, "Okay." I don't even know what to expect, I come in, and when we turn the corner, we go into his design studio, and he had two desks, beautiful equipment, pens and protractor, T-square, everything was there, and I'm like, "What do you do here?" He's like, "I'm a designer." I'm like, "Really? What does that mean? You made all these things?" He's like, "Yeah, yeah."

Chris Do (Guest):

And he was probably thinking, "What an idiot, everybody knows this." He's working on his little Mac [inaudible 00:09:09] 512K all in one Monochrome six or eight inch screen, it's tiny, and he hits Command-P, and then this thing comes alive, and then out comes a tiny little piece of paper out of this giant machine, and it's a typeset. And I'm so impressed with his studio, it's like a dream I never knew possible was here, and he's real. His name is Dean Walker, and I asked Dean, "Dean, is this what you do for a living?" He's like, "Yeah." "You support your family this way?" He goes, "Yeah." So, that's the moment I knew I was going to be a graphic designer, everything else just went out the door.

Eric Feng (Host):

Beautiful. Beautiful. So, now we understand why you do what you do. And then, of course, you went to school, you did fantastic. By the way, Chris is very competitive, he's good at what he does, and then he started Blind, right? And I look through your portfolio, and it's impressive, and you won a couple of Emmy Awards. I was in your office, livestream on Facebook. I want to know, when you started this brand consultancy firm... Now, obviously we know you're good at what you do, and that means something, right? But for you to do it for so many years, to be able to attract talent, and to continue to have high profile clients, what do you think were some of the things you did right in Blind that led to your company's success?

Chris Do (Guest):

Probably a couple of different things. One is, be good to people, because you don't know where they're going to go in their life. And some of our earliest opportunities came up from me just helping out friends in school, and then helping friends of friends, et cetera, and I would do that, and oftentimes, I would get paid nothing, or very, very little for what it is I was doing. But I did it, I just kept doing it, and I picked the right people to be around, and eventually, when they got an opportunity, they paid me back by introducing me to higher profile people. So, a little freebie job turns into a logo identity job, which turns into an opportunity to design titles for a commercial, the next thing I know, I'm working on car commercials, and it was just like that.

Chris Do (Guest):

The other thing that I just don't want to discount here is, we're talking about 1995, it's the birth of the desktop motion design, I'm in Los Angeles at the heart of where all this stuff is happening, and it's just timing, place, and everything. If I was in Chicago, probably a different story. If I started in 2001, different story. But I started at the beginning. So, I'm probably part of the first or 1.5 Generation... Generation 1.5 of motion designers. When I started, the term, motion designer, was not even a term yet. After Effects had just been purchased by Adobe, from CoSA, and I think it was on version 1.1, or 1.2, or something, it was still really super early.

Chris Do (Guest):

And so, when you're getting in on a market, that's hot, that's early, and there's no competition, you get to eat all you can eat. And the only thing that was standing between me and success, was business skills. I say, "Only," but that's a giant thing. So, you can do the work, maybe, but you got to learn the business side. So, that's also where I'm very fortunate to meet business people in the industry who taught me how to build a bid, how to talk about money, and so all those things compound on the success.

Eric Feng (Host):

Fantastic. If you guys want to pick Chris Do's brains on business skills, keep listening to the interview, there is a platform that he has built with a super big vision, and we're going to talk about that later on in the interview. So, I titled today's interview as, How to Grow One's Social Media Influence, and Be A Force for Good. Because I like what you said, it's like, how do you make money, but without losing your soul? Because everybody out there, the rhetoric and the narrative is, how to make money, but money is not [inaudible 00:12:40], it's for something.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, we talk about part one first, right? Because you can be good at what you do, but if you have no influence... Like the book that you write... For those of you who can see the video, it's Pocket Full of Do, and it's a very beautiful book, it's a beautiful book. Sometimes, I just hold it so I look good. If you're like, "What are you reading?" "Oh, I'm reading some cool book." You know what I mean? It makes me look cool. So, you mention on marketing section that it's not just about good at what you do, but people need to know you, they need to trust you. So, let's tease that topic a little bit more, right? How do you know when you are a person of influence? Is there certain metrics that we can look at to know, ah, that person is influential?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. I was having a conversation with somebody like, "What is marketing?" Or then, like, "What is networking?" Because they say like, "Your network is your net worth." Something like that. So, networking is who you know, and marketing, or influence is who knows you, right?

Eric Feng (Host):

Ooh.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. So, you get work when people know, like, and trust you. So, they have to know you before they can like you, and they have to like you before they can trust you. So, the hardest part, the part that's holding everybody back is the part where they get to know you. Okay. So, how do they get to know you? Well, you can do what many people do, which is, "I'm a designer, I'm a designer, I'm a painter, I'm a painter," and that's what they do. And after a while, when enough people do that, people become really numb to that. "Okay. So, you're just another designer." "Oh, okay, you're just another painter. What makes you different than John, or Mary, or Bob? You're all the same as far as I can tell." Okay. So, what do you have to do?

Chris Do (Guest):

So, for me, the way I am able to stand out is, you just do something a little bit different than everyone else, and that's enough to separate you. See, our mind and the way that we survive, and we've evolved is, we are able to spot differences. If you see a thousand white cars, but there's a red car, that's where your eye will go. And if there's a thousand red cars, there's one white car, that's where you'll go.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, for me, it was about using my design background, teaching entrepreneurship, putting them all together, and I started to teach people design concepts that intersect with business and marketing concepts. And then, you start to build your authority on a subject, and then ultimately, if you don't quit, if you really, really work on it, maybe you become a person of influence. I'm still not entirely comfortable with the term, influencer, but basically, I like to share what I think, and if enough people like what it is that I share, then you become influential.

Eric Feng (Host):

I love that. Let's dive deeper into the differentiation, right? Because in Chris' book, he actually shared a story about how this guy was trying to apply for a job, and nobody cares about his resume, and later on when he visited I think one of the employee, he realized, the reason why is because all the resumes look the same, it's white, it's black text. And so, he did something to make his resume stand out just a little bit, and that was how he got selected, right?

Chris Do (Guest):

Right.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, how do one find his or her differentiation? Is there a silent thought process that can lead us there?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes. There's a couple of different things. There's external ways to differentiate yourself, and internal ways to differentiate yourself. For example, there are markets and categories of people who are generally ignored by design services. Like say, for example, if you were to work on woodcarving tools, you wanted to become a designer for people who work on wood carving tools, well, they're generally ignored by a lot of designers, because it's not sexy, it's not interesting to a lot of people. And so, if you focus on that niche externally, then you can become known for the person who does a very highly specialized thing. But the more interesting way to differentiate yourself is internally, like, what are you doing? Who are you? Okay?

Chris Do (Guest):

So, there's a guy, his name is Aaron James Draplin, and he's a very well-known graphic designer because he's done a very good job of talking about himself, his background, his story, and weaving that into everything he does. So, he's a guy who grew up in the Midwest, I think in Michigan, and he moves out to Portland, and he starts to assume this personality as a big man with a beard and a trucker cap, and he tells you all these little personal stories, and you get to really fall in love with him. My friend, Yo Santosa, who is a branding expert, says, "People do not fall in love with corporations, they fall in love with personalities." So, you have to figure out, what's your personality?

Chris Do (Guest):

So, this is where you bring out your backstory, what makes you weird? Your interests, your hobbies, the idiosyncratic things are the things that make you memorable. So, when you're a cookie cutter... If everyone's six foot tall and you're 5'10", you'll stand out. So, you're taller, shorter, smaller, fat, or whatever it is, you need to lean into who you are, and the weird parts are what make you wonderful.

My friend, Yo Santosa, who is a branding expert, says, "People do not fall in love with corporations, they fall in love with personalities." So, you have to figure out, what's your personality?

Chris Do (Guest):

So, this is where you bring out your backstory, what makes you weird? Your interests, your hobbies, the idiosyncratic things are the things that make you memorable. So, when you're a cookie cutter... If everyone's six foot tall and you're 5'10", you'll stand out. So, you're taller, shorter, smaller, fat, or whatever it is, you need to lean into who you are, and the weird parts are what make you wonderful.

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh my God, this is the first time I've heard the distinction between intrinsic differentiation and extrinsic, right? Because I was about to tell you that I feel like I'm in a pivotal point of my life. We learn marketing, and people say that in marketing, you have to focus, right? So, I have been in the training... I'm [inaudible 00:18:01] two years younger than you, so probably the same year, same batch. I remember when I first joined the training industry, I was struggling, because I was teaching too generic stuff, right? I was thinking communication. So, someone then said that you need to focus, and then I found one vertical that I fell in love with, and I've been doing business with them for the last... 2013, so the last eight years, which is the insurance vertical, so the financial service.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, I went all in, and I went regional, then global, then I started asking myself, "Is this all?" Because I'm going to hit 40, I have still another 20 or 30 more years to go, do I just stay with one vertical, or do I pivot? But all of a sudden, I realized that that shouldn't be the question that I ask. It's not about the external differentiation, what I teach, or who I teach, but it's about who I am, and how do I put that personality in everything I do? Am I on the right track?

Chris Do (Guest):

You're on the right track. You totally understand it. Yes.

Eric Feng (Host):

I get it. So, guys, it's about self-awareness, that means we have to know ourselves, our strengths... I like, "Your weirdness." And by the way, Chris [inaudible 00:19:04]. Okay. Another question, do you think there's a difference between... Because you speak a lot about mindset, right? In fact, you have two checklists, one on mindset, one on beliefs, which I think is pretty similar. So, what is the difference between a mindset of a person with influence of just 100 people, versus the mindset of a person with a million and million people influence? Is there a difference in that mindset?

Chris Do (Guest):

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I mean, you're influential if you influence one person, I think, and it's just a degree of scale, scope, and reach. And I think if you are very specific with your messaging... For example, if I only talked about phases of a certain foundry, I can find a really dedicated group who just want to hear from me, but is your mom going to care about it? Is your uncle, or the new students... Who knows who cares about it? And it's fine. And I think it's actually really important when you're working to find your voice, that you work towards finding a very small audience. There's a lot of power in scale, in small scale, but then you realize, like Oprah, or the President of the United States, they have broad appeal because they're talking to lots of people, so they're going to be more famous, or more influential. And so, the things that they say are going to hit a lot more people.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, this is a balance, because you don't want to become a generic person because you want to be more influential, so you start with the core, and slowly you start to find the edges. The edges are really kind of interesting to explore. The edges are what starts to hit more people, and then you find kind of your voice in the market, in the world, right? So, I started out talking about typography, about pricing creative projects, and as I start to expand, people are like, "Well, what are your thoughts on belief systems?" Or, "Why am I stuck?" Or, "Why can't I charge this amount of money?" And then, you start to understand, it's not about the tools, or the techniques, or the tips I'm going to give, it's a reflection of someone's unresolved childhood trauma, okay?

Chris Do (Guest):

Somewhere along the way, little Timmy, little Mary, something happened to them, and it could be the most innocent little thing, that then triggers a response, and they hardwired into their emotional core... This is bad. For example, it could be they lose money, or they over-purchase, or they overpaid for something very small, insignificant, and then a parent admonishes them for spending too much money, and now they have unhealthy relationship with spending money. So, when there's an opportunity to get coaching, or training, or to invest in their own education, like, "Nope." And they don't even know why, they're just like, "Ah, that's not a good idea."

Chris Do (Guest):

And so, they live their entire life based on one, unfortunately, very seismic event, at least in the child's mind, that they carry with them for a really long time, until somebody says, "Let's travel back in time, let's go back to where you first felt pain around this idea, go as far back as you can." And they're like, "Okay." So, something happened to you six years old, and now we can look back from the adult point of view and understand that a child making a lifelong decision is not someone that you would wholly trust to guide you for the rest of your life, and then you start to work on unraveling that.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, that's where this kind of conversation can go. So, you let your audience find it with you, and you find where that edge is, and then you hit... Not the mainstream, but you hit a much larger audience.

Eric Feng (Host):

I get it. So, meaning to say, at the beginning, focus on a topic which is your core competency, but as you put out the message into the market, you get markets feedback as they ask follow-up questions, and so that's when you start leaning towards those areas. Okay, fantastic. Maybe let me flip the question a little bit, right? Remember the Chris that produced a YouTube video with 50 views? Now, Chris is producing videos with 1.7 million views... His best video was 1.7 million views, it's about Instagram. So, has that changed you? Now, every time you're in front of the camera, knowing that it's not 50 people watching your videos, you possibly could have a million people around the world watching your video, does that change your approach in creating content, or does it change anything about you?

Chris Do (Guest):

I don't think it changes you, but if you... This is what happens, it's like chasing the dragon. So, you have a hit, and you say, "Well, shoot, it's better to do work and get a hit, versus make something that nobody watches. What's the point." Right? And so, you try to go back and you say, "Well, what does the audience, the community... What did they want from me? And why did this work?" And then, you keep trying to figure that out. But I don't get sad... When we make a good video and nobody watches it instantly, it's okay. I believe in the long tail, in working on something today that 3, 6, 9, 12 months, two years from now, somebody's going to watch and they're like, "Wow." And then, it could take off.

Chris Do (Guest):

Our videos aren't made as viral hits, we don't follow those formulas. And it's not that we're trying not to, it's like, we don't know what those formulas are as they relate to design and business education. We know if we do some kind of stunt, we do a prank, or something like that, then we'll have a viral hit, but that doesn't really follow the purpose and the mission of what we're trying to do, which is to teach the world. So, we're in it for the long haul, and we'll do that.

Chris Do (Guest):

But in terms of like, does it change my mindset when I'm recording the video? No, it's not any different than me talking to you right now. I don't know if you have an audience of one, 10,000, 100,000, or 100 million, it doesn't matter, I'm just trying to connect to one person that's you, right?

Eric Feng (Host):

Beautiful.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, if I can answer your one question, maybe there's 100 people who might get value from the same answer. So, that's all I do. I don't really think about the other stuff.

Eric Feng (Host):

I guess you already kind of answered the question, right? That while we are creating a piece of content, we always think about one person that we're trying to get our point across. It could be the avatar of your perfect client, but then, anyhow, their public speaking is really still one-to-one conversations.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah.

Eric Feng (Host):

[crosstalk 00:25:06].

Chris Do (Guest):

You have to make it intimate.

Eric Feng (Host):

Beautiful. Now in Chris' Instagram, he says he's an introvert, right? But he has a big voice and big message. So, do you think you being an introvert has been an advantage for you in building your influence? Because there's always this main rhetoric writer, "Oh, if you're an extrovert, you have a colorful personality, you're going to make it big online, more people will follow you." But is that really true? Is that really true?

Chris Do (Guest):

That's a good question. I think extroverts have a little easier time in this world because they know how to work with people, and they don't feel emotionally drained. Their energy is not gone when they spend it with people. So, my friend, Jose could walk into a room full of strangers, right? Barefoot, unshaven, dirty, and just take the food literally off someone else's plate and start talking to them with his mouth full, that's just who he is. I can enter a room with a suit, clean shave, and ready to present, and feel really uptight just because I'm like, "I don't know these people, why would they talk to me? This is weird, I want to get out of here." You have all those thoughts.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, yeah, I think there's an inherent advantage from a networking point of view, human-to-human interaction that extroverts may have over introverts, but that doesn't mean introverts don't have their own power, okay? So, I wouldn't wish my life to be any different than exactly the way it is right now, because despite Jose and I being on the opposite ends of our introversion and extroversion... We're on the opposite side, I have a way bigger influence on audience than he does, because he has skills that I don't have, and I have skills he doesn't have.

Chris Do (Guest):

I'm contemplative, and I read, and I think. It's easier for me to have focused thoughts, I don't feel the need to be around people all the time, so I have a lot of time to process and think about the things I think about. And I'm a really good listener. I've been quiet for a lot of my life, and so I'm a better observer, I could be potentially more empathetic than he can be, because when he's in the room, it's like, "It's me talking, I've arrived." And he makes a lot of noise in a very good way. He would describe himself as an obnoxious extrovert, wow.

Eric Feng (Host):

Wow.

Chris Do (Guest):

Right? So, that's where I'm like, "Okay. So, introverts do have their own power." For example, speaking to you on a one-to-one level, I may outperform an extrovert. Sitting down thinking, and writing, and getting ready for a presentation, I may have the advantage. The extrovert is probably going to have the advantage when it comes to stepping on stage and feeling really comfortable, but I make up for that in preparation, in knowledge, and just the way I think about things, right? I can't get away with a loud personality, I have to be more thoughtful, and I'm going to outwork someone. That's how I do it.

Eric Feng (Host):

This is beautiful, because what I'm getting from you is that it really doesn't matter if you're an extrovert or introvert... First of all, you need to know thyself, right? You need to know, are you an extrovert, or an introvert? And then, use what God has given you, what talents you have, make the best out of what you have, right? So, I guess that's the answer, man, whether you guys are introverts or extroverts, it doesn't matter. But if you are introverts, then I really recommend you to go check out Chris, because you can role model after him. Otherwise, for extroverts, go check out Jose from Tijuana, right? You always mention some guy that you always go to, was it him, Jose, Tijuana?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. Actually, he's from Puerto Rico.

Eric Feng (Host):

Puerto Rico.

Chris Do (Guest):

He's actually from Puerto Rico. Yeah. So, he always refers to himself as the Obnoxious Puerto Rican.

Eric Feng (Host):

Ah, okay.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes, that's him.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, go check him out, right?

Chris Do (Guest):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).
 
Eric Feng (Host):

Now, Chris, the future is an education platform, right? So, you want to teach the world, and let's face it, there is a lot of free information out there, there's a lot of how-to strategies, ideas, a lot of podcasts going on, why is it that with so much information out there, even on like how to be successful, how to be influential, why are not all people there yet, even with all this information out there?

Chris Do (Guest):

Oh, there's no shortage of information, people aren't there because of probably two things, a limiting belief, that it's not going to work, it's not for them, it's for special people, not named you. And the other part too, is their reluctance to take action, their desire for short-term reward versus long-term gain. And when things get tough, people quit, and you have to have a combination of all those things, right? So, I want to have an open mind, I want to learn, and I want to surrender.

Chris Do (Guest):

Basically, when I look for a piece of information, when I look for a teacher or a coach, somebody to help me, I have to surrender. I have to leave my ego and what I think to be true at the door, because what's the point? I don't know who said this, but it says, "You can't fill a glass already full." And that's you. If you walk in saying, "My knowledge and what it is that I know is full and filled," there's no more room to add anything. So, you have to first empty some ideas. And actually, I read books on this, about how we learn, forgetting is an important part to learning.

Eric Feng (Host):

Ooh!

Chris Do (Guest):

It's critical. You have to make room for new ideas, so you have to forget the old ideas. And if you're stuck... And this is where people are, they're in love with their own thinking, and their own perspective, so they can't adopt a new perspective. In fact, when they hear a new idea, they're so threatened by the new idea, because it challenges their worldview, that they go on attack mode, they're like, "That's stupid. This guy is a scammer. It'll never work. Only for people in LA, only for bald Asian guys." They'll say whatever they want to say, and so they can't get out of their own way, and that's usually a problem.

Eric Feng (Host):

Chris there're so many... I mean, both of us, we are in the education industry, right? And then, clients will always come to us and say, "Oh, you run a program, what kind of results can you create?" But we always know that it takes two to clap. So, how can we help ourselves be a lot more teachable and less defensive to new ideas, especially when you're already successful? When you're not successful, I think you're more teachable, because the ideas that you have doesn't work, and you know that, and that's why you're welcoming ideas.

Eric Feng (Host):

But when you have a certain amount of success, that's the bunch of people that have the most difficulty. I'm speaking about myself too, that I find that when I become... Because the idea helped me be successful, I can't let go of this idea, because I feel that part of my identity is there, part of my success is there, and it makes me actually not teachable, and therefore I plateau, and then I spiral downwards. I know there's a vicious cycle out there, how do we break that?

Chris Do (Guest):

Okay. I have a slightly different perspective, okay.

Chris Do (Guest):

I think the most difficult people to teach are the ones who don't want to be taught, who aren't successful. It sounds crazy. And I think the people who are easiest to teach are the people in the middle, they're going to be successful, they're open to new ideas, and they're going to try lots of things. And perhaps on the very, very far right where they're ultra successful, like the millionaires and billionaires of the world, maybe they're the ones who think, "I have nothing left to learn." But I doubt it, because people who are self-made who are super successful know that the way they got there was to seek mentorship, to follow direction, take massive action, to have a bias towards taking action, and course-correct along the way.

Chris Do (Guest):

Usually, their rule will be, I'm not supposed to be the smartest person in the room, that's their humility. See, usually, I don't get into arguments with successful people, because successful people say, "Well, I have a strong belief in something, but I'm open." It's usually the people who are not successful, the ones at the bottom, who are like, "You know what? You're telling me that if I just change one thing in my life, my whole life would be different? Well, screw you, because that means that my entire life has been a waste." See?

Eric Feng (Host):

Wow. Okay.

Chris Do (Guest):

When you read books like, from Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, learning, growth, change, all those kinds of things, focus, dedication sacrifice, they're all there. So, that's the difference. And I'm not sure I agree with that. So, you may be in a weird pocket where maybe you feel like you're too successful, so you're like, "Screw it."

Eric Feng (Host):

Nah, nah. I'm speaking in the context of fitness, actually, because I have a fitness coach, and I'm always fighting him, and it's so ironic, that I shouldn't be fighting him because he's stronger than me. So, when you say that it hit me, it made me go, "Oh my God, you're right." That, yeah, there's all the information out there, but the question is, are you teachable? Right? Are you willing to let go of the old ideas that may have worked for you?

So, what are some tips that you can help us so that we become more teachable? Is there something we can do?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. There's a couple of things you can do. Like I said, I think you have to do maybe some ego work, you have to surrender. I don't know if you're a fan of Hollywood films, but one that I reference a lot is The Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio, right? And Mr. Miyagi and Daniel LaRusso. So, the thing is, Daniel LaRusso gets his ass kicked all the time by the bullies, we know that. And he's from out of town, a single mom, the whole bit, it's tough. So, Mr. Miyagi saves his butt, and he's like, "Will you teach me karate?" And he's like, "No." He's like, "Please, please, please, I'm begging you, because I'm just getting my butt kicked all the time."

Chris Do (Guest):

And Mr. Miyagi says, "Under one condition." And Daniel's like, "Yes, I don't care." He's so desperate. And Mr. Miyagi says, "Do everything I say without questioning." He goes, "That's it?" He goes, "That's it." So, he shows up and he tells Daniel to wax the car, wax on, wax off, to paint the fence, [inaudible 00:34:32] very specific way. And after grueling days and weeks of doing this, he's like, "Man, I am just so fucking fed up right now, when are you going to teach me karate?" And he goes, "What do you mean? I've been teaching you karate." He's like, "No, you haven't. You've been making me do all your chores, I'm just a monkey, a dog in this place."

Chris Do (Guest):

He goes, "Daniel, wax on," and he tries to hit him, [inaudible 00:34:51], and they go in. So, he's like, "Oh my God." So, Daniel initially surrendered to the teachings of Mr. Miyagi, and Mr. Miyagi knew that in order for you to be a good student, you must first submit yourself, you must surrender. And if you're a fan of kung-fu films, it's almost always the way. There's some homeless, wretch, drunken person, and then they find a master, and the master is the most cruel teacher ever, because they break them until they can submit. And when you surrender, everything can happen.

Chris Do (Guest):

Now, I know this, people who suffer with drug addiction, one of the things is to surrender to a power greater than them. They must believe they're a smaller part of a greater universe, and the universe has order. Until they do that, they're going to constantly struggle, right? So, I say it the same way. When you go to school, the way they get you to submit, to surrender, is they charge you so much intuition, at least here in America, where like, what is the point for me to go to school, to study under masters, and not listen to them?

Eric Feng (Host):

Absolutely.

Chris Do (Guest):

People still ignore their teachers.

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh, this is beautiful. So, now we know, right? It's not just about information, but we need to be open to these ideas, we need to be teachable. And to be teachable, we need to surrender, right? And actually, being forgetful helps as well, because you forget all ideas, and then you will be more open to new ideas, and most importantly, be biased towards action.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes.

Eric Feng (Host):

Now, there's a second part to it that you mentioned, that sometimes, we have limiting beliefs, which is why we are not willing to invest in programs, or we're not willing to spend, right? And there's a bunch of people out there who are not willing to spend money, and to invest money on themselves. And I'm not talking of buying expensive bags, or going for holidays, but invest in learning, they're not only willing to pay money for learning. How do we help these people?

Chris Do (Guest):

I don't know. I don't know. And I don't know if I have the power to help people who don't want to be helped. They say that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, so I just say like, "Maybe now it's not your time. Maybe you have to yet still struggle, hit an obstacle, have some kind of calamity happen in your life where you hit rock bottom, and you say, 'Oh my gosh, I need to surrender, I need to submit, I need to learn.'" All those things, right? I have a friend, very successful artist, financially, he's almost broke.

Chris Do (Guest):

And then, what happened to him was, in his youth, he thought the money was always going to be there, so when money came in, he'd buy expensive things, he would live, because he thought the faucet of money would always be open to him. And eventually, as he gets older and older, the faucet becomes dry, right? So, his wife, her father passed away in a different country, and he didn't have enough money to send his wife. So, her father is dying, and then he passes away, and his daughter is not next to him, and not only is the wife sad, but my friend is heartbroken, because he didn't take care of his business.

Chris Do (Guest):

And so, I keep telling him, "When is the day that you're going to wake up and do what's necessary, not what you like, what makes you feel good, but necessary for your wife and your child?" And so, we'll never know that answer until he knows it. And so, he's not a young man either, okay? So, everybody finds their own time and place in life, and sometimes, people wake up really early, meaning, you might know someone who's really young, who's 12 years old, who's already watching the videos and reading the books and so on their game.

Chris Do (Guest):

You also might know someone who's 52, who's like, "[inaudible 00:38:19], I don't know, things are working out all right." I don't know how to help those people. Each person arrives ready to do the work, or they do not. But I do know that the champions, the successful ones, the world breakers, they're the ones who are ready to take action, and they're ready to submit.

Eric Feng (Host):

How do we start getting ourself into that mindset? I'm talking to people who they know they need to do these things, and they're trying to get themself to be more driven, to be more motivated, right? To be more open. What are some routines or processes they can have to have that kind of champion mindset?

Chris Do (Guest):

There's a couple of things you can do, you can always put yourself in a state of confusion and disarray, so you're open to new ideas all the time. There's little things that you can do, like for example, if... I don't have hair obviously, but if you have hair, you comb your hair with your right hand, comb your hair with your left hand. Walk backwards sometimes, take a different route to work. Walk to work, bike to work, do something to disrupt the pattern, to keep your mind placid, and it's pliable. It's like, that's what you want... Not placid, pliable. You want to be able to stay loose. If you work out, right? You want to stretch, you want to be limber, you want to be able to have full range of motion so that you can do all the exercises to the best of your ability. So, we need that stretch.

Chris Do (Guest):

The other thing that you can do is probably the more important of the two things, surround yourself with people who are in constant states of change flux. We want to be around them because like, "Oh my God, what are you doing? What are you doing?" By virtue of them doing all these things, we feel like we're moving backwards if we don't try and keep up, I think Jim Rohn said this, he said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with."

Eric Feng (Host):

Absolutely.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, if you're around negative people, if you're around naysayers, if you're around people who often feel sad for themselves, feel self-pity, get away from them. Surround yourself with people who are positive, who are optimistic, who are investing all the time in their own growth, and their own learning, and you will become like them.

Eric Feng (Host):

That's so true. That's so true. Because imagine you're going for a dinner, and you ask like, "What's everybody doing?" And everybody has all their fanciful stories of the challenges that they face. And then, when it comes to you, you're like, "Oh, not much. Well, there was a new TV show on Netflix." And immediately, you either will leave the group, or you will step up. Oh, my gosh, this is so good. So, that's influence, right? I want to talk a little bit about your book, which is Pocket Full of Do-

Chris Do (Guest):

[crosstalk 00:40:42].

Eric Feng (Host):

And especially marketing, I guess, it's one of my favorite topics. You mentioned that we need to be a T-shaped person, a T-shape, right? So, develop deep expertise in one area of focus, but have wide interests outside our area of expertise. And you put that in marketing, is there a reason why? How does being a T-person actually help you in marketing?

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. Because people in the world prefer specialists. People prefer people who have deep experience and expertise in almost every facet of life. When you have the option, you would choose someone who's done something for a really long time, and have chosen to focus on this, right?

Eric Feng (Host):

100%.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, if your car breaks down, and you drive an expensive exotic sports car, you're not going to take it to the general dealership, you're going to take it to the one who deals with European sports cars, that's what you would do, right? If you're going to get eye surgery, you're not going to want the one who also makes pasta in the back, why would I want that? I just want the eye surgeon. And it happens like that. But creative people will get really confused, because we like to do lots of different things. We're divergent thinkers, so we think doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, it's going to make us really strong. In the long run, it does, but it makes you really hard to be marketable.

Chris Do (Guest):

And I find that in my own life, and in looking at our competitors, the ones who have a very narrow area of focus tend to accelerate and have much more success than ones that are broad and hard to get your hand, or head wrapped around. When you're looking for a studio that does beautiful hand-lettered calligraphy, you're going to find the world's best hand-lettering calligrapher. It's just how it works. You're not going to get the person who designs symbols for Starbucks, and packages for Nike, it usually doesn't work that way. Usually, that's how it works. So, that's why I say, "Having the internal focus expressed externally, is how you're going to draw people to you."

Eric Feng (Host):

Beautiful. And I've asked the question... I watch a lot of your videos, right? And they constantly get high viewership. So, the one that I really liked was the 1.7 million, the How to Get 10K Followers on IG. I'm just curious, right? What is your content creation process?

Chris Do (Guest):

Oh, okay. It depends, but these days it's usually around me listening to what people want. This is critical, before you create, you need to listen first. And so, when I see... This is usually a good formula. When I see something that I hate, I say, "That's a piece of garbage, and that's stupid. Why do people do this?" To me, that is an opportunity. And I ask myself this question, why does this offend you so much? Well, the design is this, and the messaging is so simplistic. Or, that's not the truth, this is really what you need to do. And so, that becomes the foundation for a new idea.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, usually, I'm reacting to something, or I'm listening to a very specific request, and if I hear it enough, or I hear it in a way that's so emotional and so powerful, I know that a solution is out there. Now, I started thinking about this, right? I started to have some success with Instagram, and I would go onto college campuses ready to talk about business and about pricing, and they want to hear all that stuff, and then some person would inherently raise their hands like, "So, how'd your Instagram account grow so fast?" I'm like, "Do you guys want to hear?" And then, everybody is just quiet, and they lean in like, "Yes, please."

Chris Do (Guest):

Then, I'm like, "So, pricing, you don't really want to know, but you want to grow on Instagram?" Okay." So, that's a clue, and I'm not a dumb guy, when I hear a clue like that, I pick it up, I'm like, "Huh, let me sit on this." And so, what happens is, another person will ask me, "So, how'd you do it?" And I break it down. "How'd you do it?" I break it down. All of a sudden, I see commonalities, and I also see their reaction to me expressing it to them. So, I'm like, "Let me put some thought into this." That's when I go and do a talk, and hopefully, that talk gets tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds, and sometimes a million views. That's usually how it works.

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh my God, beautiful. So, it's not just about creating content out of nowhere, but it's about paying attention to the market's feedback, right? But also paying attention to what frustrates you, right? Because anything that frustrates you usually means that you have something you want to say. It's the same with business, right? People say, "How do I get business ideas?" Well, the best way is to look for a problem that you want to solve, because you're sick and tired of having people screw things up for you, and you want to solve it, it gives you that drive.
 
Eric Feng (Host):

So, wow, I guess that's it, man. Those of you listening to this, if you want to create content, just think about your own business, what are you fed up about? What are you upset about? Then go fix it, right? Go fix it. And then, that itself, it's really a piece of content. Now, with so much content being produced, right? So, that would be a big macro way of thinking about, what are the themes and topics? There's so much videos being produced on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, in your team, do you guys have a certain process on how you differentiate your videos? Or, how do you make sure that your video stands out from another person who is also talking about how to grow your Instagram, for example?

Chris Do (Guest):

Okay. There's a couple of things, and I'm going to throw some shade out there, okay? So, I just might get a little spicy in this part.

Eric Feng (Host):

Ooh, I love it.

Chris Do (Guest):

Okay. So, when I watch videos on how to grow an Instagram, and then I look at their account, and it's got 40,000 subs, I'm like, "Really? Really? We'll do that in a few weeks, what are you talking about?" So, they don't know. And I feel like, oftentimes, that people who make content on how to do something, have yet to do it themselves. But what they've done is they've read best practices, or some blog post that somebody must have written, it's not actually from experience. This is the general problem I had with the internet, on YouTube and social media, the reason why I was so reluctant to make videos, because I saw a lot of hack amateurs who don't know what they're doing, have no credentials, haven't done anything of note, and are practicing and preaching really bad things.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, I'll dig into their videos. They might have 700,000 views, I'm like, "This is what the world wants, very surfacy, superficial ideas? There's no real depth there." Everybody can tell you, "Oh, post twice a day, or do..." Those are generic, dumb things that anybody can tell you. And apparently, people like generic, dumb things, because that's where the views are. Because ultimately, I don't think anybody actually really wants to learn how to do something that's hard.

Eric Feng (Host):

Yeah. That's why the word, hacks seems to do very well, because-

Chris Do (Guest):

That's right.

Eric Feng (Host):

... implies easiness and-

Chris Do (Guest):

Easiness.

Eric Feng (Host):

.... the easiness.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes. And here's the thing that you need to know. If it's easy to do, then everybody does it, therefore taking away the specialness of it. Not everyone is exceptional because everyone is exceptional, then no one's exceptional. So, what I like to do is... And I do it from a teacher point of view, like, how do I get you to be a better human being, and get the reward of a lot of people to view things? So, we have to get into writing. It's not easy to teach writing, and we want to teach frameworks and structure, and how to figure out your hook, and how to build anticipation for a payoff. So, now we're going to get much deeper, and it's going to take a while for people to get that this is a good video. They just want the quick cookie cutter shortcuts.

Eric Feng (Host):

Exactly.

Chris Do (Guest):

And I get that. I'm not going to make that kind of content, because there's a lot of people already making that kind of content. And, again, all I ask you to do is look at their account, look at their following, look at the quality of their posts, is it generic? Does it feel cookie cutter? And that's usually what they have. So, I'm not so worried about being different in that way, I'm trying to approach it from a more substantive point of view that's going to help people become better communicators to be a little bit smarter, to develop some expertise in what it is that they do.

Chris Do (Guest):

Having said that though, there are a couple of things that we do differently than everyone else. One, I used to make commercials and music videos for a living. I have a team, I have four full-time editors who work for me, and they have backgrounds in cinematography, and editing, and filmmaking, and broadcast journalism, communication. It's not two kids, two young people... No offense to anybody, that's running out of the garage trying to figure out how to use a camera. We know what we're doing, we're just trying to be better teachers at scale. And so, the other thing is, I've been teaching for 15 years, way before I made a YouTube video. I was teaching at a highly regarded private art school, and so I had that. I've run a company, so I bring all of that to play.

Chris Do (Guest):

And the last little bit is, I bring, sometimes, a little snappy personality. I like to have fun, I like to make fun of people, because I want people to be entertained while they learn. And that combination put together, make up me, and nobody can duplicate that.

Eric Feng (Host):

And you said that at the beginning, right? Which is, understand your idiosyncrasies and incorporate that inside there. My take away from you is that maybe that's it, that the best way to create content is to first do something in your life. Because I think what money can't buy these days is experiences, right? I mean, I could really just repurpose content and just tell people what to do, but there's a lot more weight and influence if it comes from real life experiences, and the nuances is very clear.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, I guess that's it. Even for myself as a content creator, it's to do more so that we make more mistakes, and actually, people like to learn more about your mistakes than your success, and then share a repeatable successful framework, but that comes with time. I love that. So, step number one to be a powerful content creator, or be a powerful person of influence, is to go get out there and live your life, and do more, experiment more, make more mistakes, and then come back and share your victory stories. [crosstalk 00:50:21].

Chris Do (Guest):

You can share while you go. You don't have to wait to become victorious to report back, you can share while you go, but take it from a point of view like, I'm just sharing something I learned today, not like I'm an expert, I'm not an Instagram marketing guru. No, that's fake. Just say, "You know what? I'm on a journey, I have zero followers, and I learned something today. I gave it a try, and it seems to be working, who knows tomorrow might be different?" And so, you're going to be very vulnerable, and you're going to enroll an audience into your whole process of learning, and they're going to grow up with you, and that's really powerful stuff.

Eric Feng (Host):

Got it. How would you say if let's say... Even for myself, right? When I first started, I did not start off teaching social media. I mean, [inaudible 00:51:04], but I'm more interested in personal development and social media. This whole area of me now teaching about personal branding came because I was struggling as a trainer in Singapore, and no one bothers about giving me the job, and then was when I realized that life is a popularity game, that people need to like you first. That's why I resonate with what you say. And our entire framework of our content is K, L, and R. That for you to be successful, you need to be known, you need to be loved, you need to be respected for your knowledge.

Eric Feng (Host):

But my problem is, at the beginning, it was very easy because I was [inaudible 00:51:41], I was learning, I was just sharing my own experiences, but now that I'm doing it for a living, sometimes, it becomes difficult for me to make mistakes, because people expect me to get it right all the time. When I try to experiment a new piece of content, I get very fearful, because I fear that, like you said, if Erickson will teach social media, his content better be doing well. But sometimes, we need to... You said this before, quantity creates quality, right? You need to put out lots of content, and then you get good stuff.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, it's a personal advice, how do I pull myself away from that public image of me supposing to be a teacher, to be a student? Because I want to be a good student, and that's what makes me who I am at the beginning. And I find it sometimes more difficult to be a student anymore because the teacher thing comes up more.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. I heard this from Jim Kwik, and he wrote the book, Limitless, I believe, and he said something like, "The best teachers are the best students, and the best students are the best teachers."

Eric Feng (Host):

Yes.

Chris Do (Guest):

You cannot be a great teacher if you no longer are a great student. So, I'm going to warn you... There's a word of warning there for you, okay, Eric? I want you to think about that. And I want to share some data with you, just so you have a perspective on how I look at the world. To date, we've made over 1300 videos on YouTube in the last seven years, 1300 videos, and do you know how many videos have passed one million views? Eight. And of those eight videos that passed one million views, three of them came in the last 30 days. So, prior to that, I would only have five videos that made it past the million viewed mark, which, in today's time, isn't even that much, considering some big influencers will make a video that get 30 million views in a week, okay?

Chris Do (Guest):

So, let's do the math here. My math isn't that good. But even if we had 10 videos for a thousand, that's 1%. So, the number of videos that we have had that are hits in the million range is less than 1%, okay? And that success only came... I mean, it's about to double really soon, in terms of the last 30 days. So, what I'm telling you is, it takes a lot quantity before you get to quality. Chasing the quality before the quantity is getting the order wrong, okay? So, what happens? You make a video that people don't like, so what?

Eric Feng (Host):

Learn from it.

Chris Do (Guest):

They don't like that video, they can make their own video. This has nothing to do with them. This has nothing to do with them. This has something to do with your own personal progress, and your journey. You have to learn to love the process before you can seek perfection, okay? So, you are going to make videos just for you. And remember, I can watch your videos and say, "You suck, I'll make my own video." And that's my prerogative. Totally okay. But for you to grow, you have to try things, you have to make a lot of mistakes, because innovation is inherently messy and wasteful. And not innovate by just trying to be efficient, they're on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Chris Do (Guest):

You want to be efficient, you want to be perfect? That's one thing, but not innovative. You cannot innovate without making a lot of mistakes. You have to get through a lot of garbage before you find something that's new and different. And as soon as you do, what happens? Everybody copies you. But good news is this, the people around, the people who are paying attention, will always refer back to you-

Eric Feng (Host):

[crosstalk 00:55:20].

Chris Do (Guest):

... the original.

Eric Feng (Host):

Yes.

Chris Do (Guest):

[inaudible 00:55:22].

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh, my God [crosstalk 00:55:23].

Chris Do (Guest):

I didn't invent this. I did not invent what it is I'm doing, right? I actually learned from someone else, these Carousels that I'm doing on Instagram using a certain [inaudible 00:55:31]. But all of a sudden, because at the velocity in which I grew, there's a lot of people that'll say, "Oh, that's the Chris Do clone look." I don't even care. I don't own anything, I'm not trying to take it, but that's what people give you credit for. So, there can only be one person who's going to get credit for that, and it takes a lot of mistakes to be that person who then starts yet a new trend.

Eric Feng (Host):

I love it. It makes me think about how we should reposition ourselves. You're right, to be a good teacher, you need to be a good student, right?

Chris Do (Guest):

[crosstalk 00:56:05].

Eric Feng (Host):

Yeah. Thank you so much for that. That didn't come in from the list of questions I have, but I just have to get it in. And that leads us very nicely to the end of our interview, where Chris had a very big vision, and he says that his mission is to inspire and teach 1 billion people, right? And that's huge, being a force of good. It's a 1000 [inaudible 00:56:30], and it's probably going to take a lifetime to get there, right? So, two-part question, number one, how do you even arrive at such an inspiring mission?

Chris Do (Guest):

Okay. I just big round numbers, okay? So, if I said, I want to teach a million people, well, we already have 1.3 million subs on YouTube. The way these mission things work is, it's got to be so big it's going to keep you busy for a really long time, maybe multiple lifetimes. If you want to say end world hunger, how many lifetimes is it going to take? But it's a worthwhile mission to pursue, because if you can feed one more child, that's a good thing that you've done. So, if I could teach one more person, that's a good thing, even if I fall 999 million short of the billion goal, I'm okay with that, because that's still a million people.

Chris Do (Guest):

And so, you want something that rolls off the tongue. I don't want to say, "I want to teach 10 million," it's just another one million. Well, the next number is a billion. And I think there's 7.8 billion people on planet earth, so one in eight people, depending on the way the population grows, will be someone whose lives we'll touch, and I'm okay with that. I also realize, it's a little nuts to think something like this. So, I realized that in order for me to have a shot at doing this in one lifetime, I have to teach the teachers how to teach more. So, then you get that multiplicative effect.

Eric Feng (Host):

Network effect.

Chris Do (Guest):

Boom. Yeah.

Eric Feng (Host):

It's possible.

Chris Do (Guest):

Chain reaction, right? I touch one person, they touch five people, they touch five people, and it eventually gets there, so that one day they could be pulled back and it's like, "Yup, there it is." I'll give you one example. I'm not trying to equate myself with Bruce Lee, but I actually looked into Bruce Lee's life for a little bit. He only made a handful of films, and he was only alive for a very short period of time in which he was known as a martial artist. But the core group of people he taught Jeet Kune Do, the book that he wrote... And he's a philosopher, I think, that's what makes him the martial artist, and the handful of films that he made have lasted well beyond his lifetime, have influenced so many people, that people can trace back to say, "I'm a disciple of the disciples of the disciple of Bruce Lee, and I know Jeet Kune Do."

Chris Do (Guest):

And so, that's really interesting to me. So, what I want to do is have this massive ripple effect to reach the teachers, so that they can teach more and say, "Look, I learned this from Chris, [inaudible 00:58:53]." So, it's like many generations back, hopefully, it can be [inaudible 00:58:57] back to me as a source.

Eric Feng (Host):

And because of social media, it's absolutely possible to [crosstalk 00:59:01].

Chris Do (Guest):

It's possible.

Eric Feng (Host):

And I just want everybody know, I don't know if you guys noticed, it's not 1B, it's 1BminusOne that Chris writes there. I haven't done some research about it, but can I guess? And then, you see if I'm right or wrong.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes.

Eric Feng (Host):

Right. I think 1BminusOne, that one is you, right? You say you want to teach one billion, but you teach yourself too, because you just mentioned that to be a good teacher, you need to be a good student. I'm implying, I'm just wondering, is that it? Or is something else?

Chris Do (Guest):

No, but that's a good story. I like that. So, I wanted to think of a hashtag... One Billion Minus One. When you say, One Billion Minus One, it means, Chris, you can take one off the billion, because I'm your one. So, I'm saying-

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh.

Chris Do (Guest):

... now you can only go for 999,999,000... Something like that. So, people are using the #1BminusOne, you can count me now.

Eric Feng (Host):

Damn. Okay. I'm glad I didn't do the research, and I was guessing it. So, [crosstalk 00:59:53]-

Chris Do (Guest):

I like your story though. Your story is good.

Eric Feng (Host):

I don't know, when I saw yours way earlier, I was like, "1BminusOne, why?" Then later on during this interview, I'll go, "Oh yeah, yeah, you want to be a good teacher, you got to be a good student, so you teach yourself first." There you go.

Chris Do (Guest):

It's a good theory. Look at this t-shirt here.

Eric Feng (Host):

No, you're teaching me. Oh, wait-

Chris Do (Guest):

[inaudible 01:00:09] see that?

Eric Feng (Host):

One Billion Minus One.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yeah. See?

Eric Feng (Host):

Oh, God, I love your merch.

Chris Do (Guest):

See, so somebody made this for me.

Eric Feng (Host):

I love your merch.

Chris Do (Guest):

Somebody made this for me. Yeah. [crosstalk 01:00:19].

Eric Feng (Host):

This is beautiful, Chris. And Chris, what do you think is your biggest challenge right now that you're facing as you approach this 1B goal?

Chris Do (Guest):

We have a long way to go, [inaudible 01:00:30], because we haven't figured out all the social platforms, and how we can reach people. If Justin Bieber has a music video that has 760 million people look at it, if we can be Justin Bieber, we can achieve a goal in two videos. That's great. Psy, the guy who did Gangnam Style, that thing has over a billion views.

Eric Feng (Host):

Or BTS the Korean band.

Chris Do (Guest):

How many do they have? Hundreds of millions of views, right? BTS. Yes. So, that's the thing though, that's the sad, unfortunate thing, is that we would rather be consumed by pop culture, something that doesn't actually help us to grow. Maybe it lifts you spiritually, and you feel better, and that's cool, so maybe we have to write songs, and we have to do different things. And that's where we could fail terrifically, Eric. We can try some things and people are like, "That was bad, why did you guys do that?" I'm like, "Okay, no worries, we'll try another thing."

Eric Feng (Host):

We'll try. Yeah. Like you said, be a T-person-

Chris Do (Guest):

[crosstalk 01:01:23].

Eric Feng (Host):

Right? So, education is your T, your [crosstalk 01:01:26], but you can do it in a song, or a movie, right?

Chris Do (Guest):

Virtual reality, who knows? And we can tap into the things... I want to meet people where they're at, not tell them to come to me. So, sometimes on our clubhouse calls, my friend, [Mo 01:01:40], he'll recap the lessons in freestyle rap form, and it's wonderful to hear it.

Eric Feng (Host):

Wow.

Chris Do (Guest):

So, I'm like, "Mo get your act together, because we can take this thing on the road, and we can teach people, and hopefully, go to stadiums where there's 10,000 people, and we'll teach you, we'll help lift up your life." Why not?

Eric Feng (Host):

And then, have the entertainment songs.

Chris Do (Guest):

Yes. Well, the entertainments while they're coming, right? So, I think of it like this, people will not take medicine if medicine tastes bad, that's why they put it in a gel capsule, they make it easier to swallow, so that medicine can disperse inside your body.

Eric Feng (Host):

Right.

Chris Do (Guest):

But if the pill tasted like the medicine, nobody would eat it. So, we have to learn, what's the form that the medicine comes in? The medicine is the education, the capsule is the delivery, the entertainment part. So, that's the mix of entertainment and education.

Eric Feng (Host):

Edutainment [inaudible 01:02:27]. So, for those of you listening, that's Chris' vision, that's Chris' challenge, but I think every single one of you here in Asia, right? This is an Asian podcast, I'll talk five countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Hong Kong, we topped the charts last week for marketing. But in my defense, I think it's because there's not enough podcasts in Asia on the area of business.

Chris Do (Guest):

Or maybe you're good.

Eric Feng (Host):

Nah. I don't want to humble-brag, but I really picked up a lot of tips for myself today. This podcast feels very selfish, it feels like I'm getting free mentorship from you. It affirms that... Really, the most important point I learned from you, it's about being coachable. As long as you keep working on yourself, the deeper you work on yourself, the greater you are. Again, in your book, you said that... Or at least you quoted someone that says that, "Personal development is the unfair advantage." Right? When you work on yourself. I think it was Jim Rohn, he says, "If you work hard on your job, you make a living, but if you work hard on yourself, you make a fortune." And I think that was so powerful.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, those of you listening, if you are inspired by Chris, you have gotten value from Chris, let us all support his 1B goal. It's so easy to support his 1B goal, just go to The Futur, go to YouTube, go watch his videos, go buy his merch, and most importantly, I think, get his book. That's the most basic thing you guys can do, The Pocket Full of Do. It's beautiful, even on my iPad, it could look as a... Do you know we can even do it as a phone cover? And so much useful bite-sized tips. It's one pitch per key takeaway, it's so easy to read. The essence of design is there. It will make your day very, very beautiful, then you can use the #1BminusOne, because you're in that minus one.

Eric Feng (Host):

So, Chris, thank you so much for your acquaintance, thank you so much for agreeing, and I'll do you proud, I'll put the things that you said into practice, I'll keep in touch with you, I'll let you know how I progress.

Chris Do (Guest):

Beautiful. I'm excited for your journey ahead.

Eric Feng (Host):

Virtual five.

Chris Do (Guest):

Okay.

Eric Feng (Host):

I'll see you in Singapore.

Chris Do (Guest):

All right. See you soon.