SPI 640: My Tik-Tok Challenge (Results)

SPI 640: My Tik-Tok Challenge (Results)

Announcer: Welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast, where it’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host, he used to ask his dad for the comics section out of the newspaper every Sunday. Pat Flynn.

Pat Flynn: Okay, so we got a lot to talk about. The first thing I wanna say is I got a new chair in my office and it’s kind of changed the game. Now, I have a high desk, it’s almost like bar height. So I’ve had a stool for a very long time, and I can’t remember who it was, but I think it was Michael Stelzner. Yeah, Michael Stelzner from Social Media Marketing World, which I will be speaking at this coming year.

So if you’re gonna be in San Diego around March I’d love to see you. I’ll be there for sure. I’ll be, I’ll be speaking. And I don’t speak much anymore, by the way, but this chair, oh my gosh cushioned the right height and it’s saved me so much pain. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.

And I think it’s just a reminder for perhaps those of you who, you know, might have some gift cards left over from the holidays or are about to get some gift cards. Like, get a good chair, invest in a good chair, especially if you’re sitting for a while. Now, while I sit here in this comfortable chair, I’m gonna tell you about something that I am uncomfortable about, and that is my TikTok results from the 30 day experiment.

There, there’s a, there’s a lot to uncover here. And to sum it up I’m not doing TikTok anymore. Yeah. Now, that’s not to say it won’t work for you, but I gave it a chance, I was learning as I was going and I was attempting new and different ways to create content that would that would capture attention.

I even shared an episode recently that you may have heard about a video that I thought would do really well that I then ended up deleting because it really didn’t make sense for me to publish it. It was there just for the views and I was chasing the views. And when I did try to provide value it didn’t, it didn’t get a lot of reach.

Now, the fact that it’s short form video and this, this is also relevant to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. And yes, the platforms are different and they, they behave differently, but it’s essentially the same kind of content. And I was repurposing the content from TikTok onto Instagram, and the first thing I’ll tell you is I got way more reach on, Instagram.

But that’s also because I have a, a much more loyal following there. And so I would imagine that most of those views are from people who have already found me at one point versus, you know, the wave of the algorithm that can support you. But on TikTok specifically, it did not support me. Hundreds of views on my videos, which, their views, which is great. But none of the videos like I had expected, had really taken off. At least not yet. There’s always a chance, but in this world, if something doesn’t hit within the first, you know, week or two it’s, it’s kind of okay, you’re, you gotta move on to the next one. And again, the big strategy here for these platforms is definitely a quantity game.

The beauty of the fact that it’s short form is that you don’t need to spend a ton of time to create, you just need to be creative and tell a good story and hook people. The big difference of short form versus long form is short form will be put in front of people’s faces. It’s up to them to swipe, to continue cuz they’re not interested or to hold that thumb and, you know, watch the rest of your video. And if that happens, then the algorithm takes off. And again, you can get in front of a lot of people. A lot of people use TikTok very well, very successfully. It’s just not working for me. But I gave it a shot and that was the thing. I, I, I gave it a shot and it’s just not for me.

Now, I might be regretting this decision. I, I doubt it cuz I’ll tell you the bigger reason why I’m off of it right now in just a moment, but I know that my time is valuable and especially with the launch of things like the All Access Pass recently and the continuation of the podcasting that we do in the YouTube channels and such.

Adding another thing that I’m trying to master is, is something that I know would take away from one of those other things. So I decided to not do that. But here is the bigger reason why I am not putting any time into TikTok. Because when I was doing the 30 day challenge, I was on this platform and doing research to look at other videos and figure out the formulas and what was working and how people were capturing my attention only to find, only to find that I was an hour into TikTok, having gotten a few laughs and chuckles here and there some hits of endorphins from amazing videos only to be brought back to reality without anything in terms of advancement, in terms of my life. It, it became just a rabbit hole and a time suck a huge time suck.

And so I haven’t deleted the app. I still publish videos on the Deep Pocket Monster official channel there. And that’s very simple to do cuz I can just record myself opening cards, which I’m gonna do anyway. Post ’em there and then I’m done. And I, and I, and I have to tell myself, Don’t watch any other TikTok videos.

I’m just a creator there. I do not want to be a consumer cuz it consumes you when you consume TikTok, it consumes you, quote Pat Flynn. Seriously. And the few people I’ve spoken with, especially in office hours, shout out to the office hours crew by the way. They all agree. It’s just, it’s just very little value.

In terms of a platform for consumption it is too good. The algorithms are too good. They will show you videos that will keep you on the platform without you even knowing it. It is that good and that’s scary. And I’m thinking about my kids’ consumption behavior on platforms like this in the future.

They’re not quite into TikTok, Instagram, Facebook world yet, but they’re close. And that’s on my mind. But what also is on my mind is just in general as a society, at least here in America, we are obsessed with these short form videos they’re taking over our lives. And I’m on a TikTok detox, a tick, detox, tick, tick, tick, detox.

Detox, TikTok. There’s some way to say it that’s clever, but that’s not it. But you know what I’m getting at? I’ve had to detox myself from it because it is become toxic, not in a way that makes me angry or upset. It’s actually the opposite. It’s almost like a drug. It’s like a short, high, and then I come back to reality.

I’m like, oh, I could have spent that time answering emails or engaging with the community or coming up with new strategies or storyboarding a new video that’s gonna have a lot more long-term success than a, than than anything I could get from watching anything on TikTok. Yes, there have been a few quote unquote life hacks.

You know that quote that’s like, Here’s my life hack that you can’t live without. There’s like some British woman’s voice. I am a terrible, I do a terrible British voice. My family makes fun of me for it. My son does a great one. It’s wild. And like the different dialects too. In in, in different parts of England.

It’s, it’s crazy. I should have him back on the show. If you want to have Keoni back on the show, show, I can chat with him and you can hear his deep voice now as a almost actually, by the time you listened to this, see, he’s gonna be very close to 13, I mean, days away if, if not already 13. Anyway, we can bring him back on the show, but there’s been a few life hacks that I’ve discovered on the channel that have been really great. From different ways that I can spread butter on my toast.

There’s, there’s been some hacks related to a lot of things in the kitchen in fact. Some hacks related to my skincare. That’s probably the biggest value I’ve gotten. There’s been a a skincare sort of doctor that you know, dermatologist that has suggested some really good products for the bags under my eyes. But long term, what I get back from TikTok is not worth what I get personally, and you may feel the same way or you might be punched in the the air right now because you disagree.

Which again, I’m not saying anything that you should do. I’m just telling you from my perspective, being on the platform for this long and giving it a shot, you know, 30 days in my opinion is a good enough time to experiment, to try new things. And there were times where I went along with trends. There were times where I tried to be very creative with the audio and something that perhaps other people could pick up.

There were things where I just went deep into storytelling. I tried some unique things. I tried copying what other people were doing in my own style. Nothing really hit. And you know what? I’m not mad about it. I’m not mad about it. I’m most mad about how most people are mindlessly consuming this content and letting the algorithm control their minds and their lives.

I even saw this thing, I think it was on, I can’t remember where I saw it, but it was like a small little news article or video and, and, and sort of, Assessment of TikTok in the US versus TikTok in China. TikTok is a, Chinese is a, it’s, it’s from China. It’s a, it’s an app that is built in China. ByteDance is the name of the company that makes TikTok.

And the TikTok they ship to China is different than the TikTok they ship to the rest of the world. And what’s interesting is the TikTok in China, there are rules. And if you are under the age of 14, you only have, I mean, they control this. You only have 40 minutes on the platform, which I think is great.

And I know, and I understand the argument of, hey, you can’t have a, you know, a, a, a governing body, tell me what I should do with my time. But there is something to be said for having somebody control that because it can get out of control. So 40 minutes of time for these kids in China the only videos they can see are educational videos, science, engineering, and math related videos, and a lot of propaganda type videos.

But that’s it. Whereas the rest of the world is mindlessly viewing videos of dances and, I mean, all kinds of things. And again, there there is, there is a, I can imagine this being debated. Absolutely. It would be a fascinating discussion to have with other people on both sides, and I think we just have to be conscious about what we’re consuming.

And so this is me being conscious about what I’m consuming and saying, no, I’m opting out of TikTok consumption. And as a result, I’m also opting out of TikTok, creating. I’m going to create elsewhere. That’s where I will take my time and I wanna focus on building community and that’s it. So that’s me.

That’s the experiment. That’s how it went. And yes, you could look at this experiment and go, Pat, you were on TikTok for 30 days and you didn’t get any good views. Like fail. No. Huge win. Huge win. I know. I don’t wanna be there. Right. I might come back later, I don’t know, but for me right now, this is my decision.

Yours is yours. All right. And that’s it. I hope I hope this was interesting to listen to and I hope it maybe allows you to think a little bit more deeply about your consumption habits. And it’s probably gonna end up in my book. You know, I’m very grateful to have recently signed on with the Atria publisher, which is a arm of Simon & Schuster. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet, but I’m very grateful for their belief in this book that I’m going to write. I’m excited for what’s to come and so more on that later. But it’s happening. It’s happening and the way we filter information that gets through to us is gonna be part of that.

So we’ll see what happens. So thank you so much for being here, for listening to me. This isn’t even, it’s not even a rant, it’s just this is what is right now in the world of Pat Flynn after this TikTok challenge. And just wanna be real with you. Just wanna be always as a, as always, authentic and honest with you.

And you know, I look forward to serving you next year, and my team is too. I mean, we’re just so grateful for the All Access Pass and how successful the launch went. And for everybody who’s in there we believe it is a no-brainer opportunity for those of you who are looking to educate yourself in the world of entrepreneurship without A, spending a ton of money up front, but also B, getting the guidance you need through the material that we have that has been proven to work.

Thanks for listening to the Smart Passive Income Podcast at SmartPassiveIncome.com. I’m your host, Pat Flynn. Our senior producer is David Grabowski. Our series producer is Paul Grigoras, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. Sound editing by Duncan Brown. The Smart Passive Income Podcast is a production of SPI Media. We’ll catch you in the next session.