How to Build a $10M+ Online Empire (feat. Joshua Weissman)

Joshua Weissman 0:00 I was really bothered with what was being produced in entertainment and food. What the [beep] is going on? No one is fixing it, and I was like, "I'll fix it."

Codie Sanchez 0:07 The content game is, it is the most competitive game there is, and you are competing for the highest and most expensive commodity that we have in this day and age, which is people's attention.

Joshua Weissman 0:15 The number one lesson that I learned, you can become great at anything if you are willing to perform the relentless amount of repetition that it requires to become great at it. The two hours of sleep every night, that was not by accident.

Codie Sanchez 0:27 No.

Joshua Weissman 0:27 I didn't accidentally hustle my ass off.

Codie Sanchez 0:30 I love this podcast because I love talking to friends about how they made their millions and helping business owners solve their problems. It's fulfilling. I love sharing all the secrets. But what I can't meet in person, there's only one tool I use. It's called Riverside. Riverside ensures I can talk to someone anywhere in the world, recorded in 4K, so the quality of the video matches the quality of the humans you're listening to. Riverside records separate audio and video tracks so we can easily cut out those awkward interruptions that are my least favorite part of interviews. They have in-platform editing software based off a 99%-accurate AI transcription. And if that's not simple enough, they take AI one step further for their show notes. It summarizes your entire content into an SEO-optimized description, and Chapters all automatic saves me a ton of money. So you can use Riverside for podcast interviews, panel discussions, presentations, webinars, more. And best of all, it's simple. Try Riverside for yourself with link in the description. Use code CODIE for an exclusive discount. I get a deal, you get a deal. Hey, everyone. I'm Codie Sanchez, and this is The Big Deal podcast. For those who don't just want to be rich but free and do what it actually takes to get there, today you're in for a treat with a friend of mine who has accumulated 9 million followers on YouTube, tens of millions across multiple platforms. His name is Joshua Weissman. If you haven't watched his cooking channels, uh, I dr- don't really know where you've been. You've probably been under a rock. But the reason I brought a chef on to talk to you guys today is for a couple different

Codie Sanchez 1:53 reasons. One, we talk about food and happiness. Are they correlated? Two, we talk about attention and what it means to be the best in today's world and to go where the attention sits. And the third thing we do is we talk about the differentiation that one can have if one decides to pursue this beautiful thing, which is giving another the gift of sustenance, one of the few things that we need to continue on a go-forward basis. We also go over the deal of the week. If you're not subscribed on YouTube, you should definitely go over there right now because you get to see the inside scoop of a studio that he built out for half a million bucks that is so sweet, that has racked up way more than a half a million views. Bring the band in. Let's go. Joshua Weissman, so excited for you to be here. I wanna talk about the fact that you have, you know, tens of millions of followers cumulative across multiple social platforms, and we're gonna talk about food, we're gonna talk about health, we're gonna talk about nurturing people. But I kinda wanna start with something else. When you have tens of millions of people following you, you get a unique perspective into the human psyche.

Joshua Weissman 2:58 Ooh, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 2:58 Do you think that people are happier today than when you were first creating YouTube w- videos, like what, nine years ago when you started?

Joshua Weissman 3:08 Probably not.

Codie Sanchez 3:10 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 3:10 You know, I think, I don't know why exactly. I think that there could be socioeconomic pressures right now. So much has changed in, like, a five-year or f- maybe a three to five-year time span with COVID and just weird, wacky shit happening that's never happened before in society. Like, a used car is now $20,000 over MSRP even though it has 40,000 miles on it. And inflation, everything's more expensive. And, uh, and then a pandemic. And then, and then after the pandemic, I guess it's fine. But i- is it fine? And, like, everyone's so confused. You know, after society's gone through all these weird filters, it's kinda, like, shredded them down to the bone almost, I feel like. And so, happiness level seems to be significantly lower, or the way that they deal with their feelings has definitely changed. It's like the age of the hater, in a way.

Codie Sanchez 3:58 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 3:58 Right? But that's okay. I also think it'll go away. I think it's a phase. But if you scroll on Instagram, you're probably going to find a negative comment 80% of the time, and 20% of the time you'll find a positive one-

Codie Sanchez 4:12 Mm

Joshua Weissman 4:12 ... at the top.

Codie Sanchez 4:12 Totally. So basically, you know, one of the interesting things, I think, for all of us is there's a bunch of data that shows that social media in many ways makes us less happy.

Joshua Weissman 4:21 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 4:21 I think your videos do a beautiful job of a little bit the opposite of that. Like, even if I don't wanna do the cooking, I like watching yours because it's funny, it's fun, it's ephemeral, it's, um, it's engaging all your senses. Plus, there's no calories.

Joshua Weissman 4:36 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 4:36 Just get to watch it.

Joshua Weissman 4:37 I wish I could add smell to, to one of the senses to engage. That'd be crazy.

Codie Sanchez 4:41 That would-

Joshua Weissman 4:41 Your phone was, like, poofing out, like, product smell, you know?

Codie Sanchez 4:42 I think that'd be a problem. No, because then I'd be hungry.

Joshua Weissman 4:44 Yeah. [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 4:45 And I've eaten it all. It's enough to just look at it.

Joshua Weissman 4:46 And then I funnel that into my Uber Eats thing, and then you're paying me. [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 4:51 This is a business podcast.

Joshua Weissman 4:52 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 4:53 So this is exactly where we're going.

Joshua Weissman 4:54 Exactly. That's what I was thinking.

Codie Sanchez 4:55 But, you know, when it comes to your content in particular, one of the reasons I wanted to have you on is because you have unique ways that you think about, um, food. Like, for instance, I read this quote from you, "I just want them to feel something from food. I wanna make something that makes them think a little deeper about it. Even someone who's not into food, Codie-

Joshua Weissman 5:14 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 5:14 ... knowing that somebody spent three months developing what's on the plate, that it took 72 hours to get all the different components of it prepared, and that you're going to eat it in 30 seconds, that's crazy." And i- in my words, like, also beautiful.

Codie Sanchez 5:27 How do you think about food?

Joshua Weissman 5:29 Mm. Yeah, I mean, it's a great point. I mean, when you look at, like, art, for example, and I think food is art. And that, I mean, it is the culinary art, so just so everybody knows. When you look at, like, other forms of art, though, and that can be a painting, it could be music, it could be, um, honestly, it could be cars. Like, if you're into cars, like auto, you know, uh, automobiles or, or motorsport, right? People look at these things that were, you know, that you spent endless and endless amounts of time creating. Different manufacturers or, um, a- I don't know, art directors or whoever came in to make it possible, and, and all these different people and moving parts, and then they solidify it into this official final thing. And maybe there's multiple drafts. Maybe there's 100 drafts, 1,000 drafts. Nobody knows. And not to mention all of the failed drafts that led to the understanding to get to that product, and then it's solidified and crystallized in times in some form or another, right? With music, it would be a song, and it's there forever. With a book, it'd be a book, and it's there forever. With a painting, it's there forever. The irony about food is that same level of attention to detail, care, passion, stress, practice, um, craftsmanship goes into it, but it is made to be instantaneously destroyed and shit out, literally.

Codie Sanchez 6:43 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 6:44 Right? Like, the weirdest form of art I can think of, just because it- its, its sole purpose is to be destroyed. And so it's kind of this hypocritical, weird, silly thing that for some reason people in food choose to do.

Codie Sanchez 6:56 Well, I think what's lovely in food in particular, and I think we'd be happier as a society, is if... You know, I walk into a restaurant, and there's two things that my business brain goes to right away, and one is like, "What could we be doing differently here? How could we maximize revenue?" Like, little sickness.

Joshua Weissman 7:10 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 7:10 The thing I s- I think about when I sit down is really, man, how lucky are we that somebody determined that they wanted to spend their life perfecting the ability to feed us beautifully? And I think a lot of young people today don't see the f- full history.

Joshua Weissman 7:25 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 7:26 There's kind of this snapshot moment that whatever comes out and is put in front of me is, in essence, uh, all there is, and they don't realize there's this beautiful essay called, um, i-pencil. Have you ever heard it?

Joshua Weissman 7:37 Mm, no.

Codie Sanchez 7:38 So it's an economics essay. We can link it. It's beautiful, and it basically talks about how if you wanna understand the depth of the economy, you should look at one pencil. And because the pencil, basically, they explain all the complexities that go into it, from, like, the, the lead that has to be, uh, created to the wood that has to be chopped down from a rainforest, and it goes all the way through it to the pencil finally getting in your hands.

Joshua Weissman 8:00 Oh, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 8:00 And so it basically talks about this interconnectedness of humanity, and I think about that a lot with food, that there's this beautiful ability at the end of the day for somebody else to decide they wanna serve me, and wow. Like, aren't we kinda lucky to have that?

Joshua Weissman 8:10 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 8:11 And maybe if we saw that more often, we'd realize there was magic all around. But what's interesting is a lot of people actually have the opposite reaction to restaurants these

Codie Sanchez 8:19 days. I mean, if you think about movies, blah, chefs are really intense, and working in restaurants is super hard, and no-

Joshua Weissman 8:25 Oh

Codie Sanchez 8:25 ... you know, and business, you know, restaurants don't stay in business. But you actually really liked working in restaurants.

Joshua Weissman 8:32 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 8:32 You talk about it really positively.

Joshua Weissman 8:33 You gotta have somebody who has a different opinion that's not so negative, right? We can sit and talk about glamour that people wanna hear, which is how hard it is, working 14-hour days, coming in on my day off and not getting paid to work on a special because that was fun, and you're not getting paid to work on a special, but in any other company, they would fucking pay you, right? We could talk about that and get people all riled up and get people excited about how fucked up it is to work in a restaurant, or we could take a step back and be like, well, wait a minute, but people still continually choose to do it, don't they? Why? Because there's more to it than just this, like, brutalist, beat-up society. It's something that's been driven by passion for generations, since the dawn of the first restaurant. It is quite literally partially the nature of how a restaurant must operate to serve you great food. So just as much as someone would be critical to, you know, speak negatively about that lifestyle, they're also equally happy to go sit down at a 10-course meal and wine and dine their husband or wife or whatever and, and pretend that doesn't exist. It all exists because of the passion and the love that people have to do it, and in a weird way, f- so from my perspective, for example, where I wouldn't allow myself to stay in certain toxic environments, I knew what, what, what was good and what was not good. So I look back fondly on the places I worked at 'cause I chose to work at places that weren't that bad. [laughs] Not to say I haven't had pots and pans thrown at my head. Trust me, I have. But in a weird way, like, you have to just be that sort of fucked up, twisted person that loves the grind, that loves being intense, that loves the perfectionism, and that's part of the art. The biggest difference between working in food and any other artistic job or career is the whole point is to suffer for what's going on the plate. It is, that is what creating art is, is you suffer for the art. Some of the greatest art pieces ever created were created out of suffering. I'm not saying it's required to make great art. I'm just saying that it, it's part of the context. What I loved about it was the camaraderie. It was the going to battle every night. It was, like, being a, this insane practitioner slash craftsman and being in a room full of people who feel the same fucking way every day. Like, there's not one person who's getting to, like, s- fucking scrub this tiny little part of the plate because it has to be that perfect. No one's in question of who the fuck they are in that building, and that's badass. 'Cause most people don't know who they are.

Codie Sanchez 11:03 Rare.

Joshua Weissman 11:04 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 11:04 Now, you left this restaurant job to do something that people in the restaurant industry, especially at the time, probably thought was batshit crazy.

Joshua Weissman 11:13 Yeah, totally. Yeah, true.

Codie Sanchez 11:14 You, you were gonna go create videos online-

Joshua Weissman 11:17 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 11:17 ... instead of working at a Michelin-starred restaurant and becoming a real chef, and now you were gonna be a, ugh, YouTuber? How did you decide to do that? Now it probably seems reasonable, and lots of people are jumping into it, but back then, especially as young as you were, not that reasonable.

Joshua Weissman 11:31 Yeah, well, I should clarify that Uchi is not Michelin-starred, just for anyone who is watching this. I'm trying to remember what, how that felt.

Codie Sanchez 11:38 What happened? Like, what was... Tell me about the moment where you made that decision even.

Joshua Weissman 11:43 To leave?

Codie Sanchez 11:43 Remember, like, yeah, and to go do this-

Joshua Weissman 11:44 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 11:44 ... different crazy thing.

Joshua Weissman 11:45 Well, it, honestly, you would think that I, most people would think that I was, was stupid to wait that long-

Codie Sanchez 11:51 Mm

Joshua Weissman 11:51 ... um, based off of, like, what I was making on, on YouTube. Um, like, it was, like, totally overshadowing what I was making, $11 an hour. At the time, I mean, obviously we've scaled this into, like, a substantial business, but at the time, when you're just one person and you're making, like, 40K a month, it's like, what the fuck? ... is going on? Like, you're making literally the cook's salary every month. Like, what is going on? Let me give you a very brief intro into how it led into that. So when I started doing it, I was very gung-ho about getting into the entertainment/teaching side of food, because I f- I, I was really bothered with what was being produced in entertainment and food, and I still am. But what really drove me was, like, I just feel like this is, the- these people don't care about food. They are not practitioners, they have not worked in restaurants. But, but all that aside, it's just the fact that they didn't care is what drove me so insane, and I was like, "This stuff could be so much better, and no one's fixing it. No one is fixing it." And I was like, "I'll fix it. I can f- I can fix this shit." And so I started making YouTube videos. The funny thing is, when I started was when I got the most pushback from people.

Codie Sanchez 12:56 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 12:56 Because people were like, "Dude, like, just go home and rest." Yeah, 'cause I wasn't sleeping. I slept for, like, two, three hours a night for almost a year-

Codie Sanchez 13:04 Mm

Joshua Weissman 13:05 ... uh, while I was producing videos. It was the only way I could make it hap- make full-time restaurant and, and YouTube work at the same time. When I left, honestly, I think most people were like, "That makes sense." Because it was just, like, the grind I was putting into it, most people were like, "Fucking hell yeah, dude," you know? And it was cool. But leading up to leaving, though, before all that, most people would make fun of me, you know, which is fine. Like, that's part of w- like, we all razz each other. It didn't... I didn't... I would, wasn't, like, going home crying, you know? But they'd be like, they'd be like, "Josh, you gonna go film a YouTube video when you go home?" I'd be like, "Fuck yeah, I am, you little bitch," you know?

Codie Sanchez 13:39 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 13:39 And that was, like, kind of the vibe.

Codie Sanchez 13:41 So did you just s- have you always been the type of person who just kind of ignores when people make fun of you, or think that something you're doing is goofy?

Joshua Weissman 13:48 No,

Joshua Weissman 13:49 no. When I was a kid, I was super overweight, and so I got bullied pretty significantly.

Codie Sanchez 13:54 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 13:54 Um, but I think that kinda, like, gave me a pretty thick skin early on. Um, and I mean, I, I ended up losing all the weight, which was great. I lost, like, 140 pounds when I was, like, 16. So you know, in a weird way, they kinda pushed me to do that, so it's hard to... I, I regained this new perspective where I was like, I mean, you know, they were mean to me and they made fun of me, and I'm not saying it was right, and the way they went about it was way, way, way not okay, and I don't condone bullying. But it did push me in a direction that changed my life, which made me realize, oh, I can, like, literally just change something in my life and make good things happen for myself if I'm willing to put in the work. Okay, cool. And that attitude stuck with me from that moment forever. So the whole, like, people saying negative things about me kind of was this wash after that.

Codie Sanchez 14:43 And at some point, do you get sort of inspired by it? I mean, sometimes I think-

Joshua Weissman 14:47 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 14:47 ... when I find people that are high performers, it's often I'd rather take somebody who had less talent and a bigger chip on their shoulder-

Joshua Weissman 14:54 Mm

Codie Sanchez 14:55 ... than more talent and no chip at all.

Joshua Weissman 14:56 Huge. Very good point. I agree with that, actually, a lot. For me, it's not always... It depends. You have to also be able to put it through the filter and understand what kind of, you know, hate or bullying you're getting.

Codie Sanchez 15:08 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 15:08 'Cause there, there's, there's, like, some that might be true that maybe you can work on or look into. There's some that are totally, like, you know, batshit crazy. There's no, no correlation. That one you can kinda just be like, "This, this person's not okay. I hope, I hope you're doing better, Bill, from Wyoming."

Codie Sanchez 15:25 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 15:25 "I hope that you're doing better. Like, Bill, take the kids out," you know? Something. [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 15:30 Touch some grass.

Joshua Weissman 15:31 Yeah, touch some grass, bro. Like, drink, drink, drink kombucha, you know? I've heard that, like, the mind-gut connection now. Uh, so you have to be able to decipher what's real, what's not real. But yeah, I, I definitely draw motivation from it. It doesn't bother me, it doesn't make me mad. Anyone who's worked in restaurants for long enough, for sure you have to learn how to take an aggressive beat down as, "What can I learn from this?" And, um, it's not personal.

Codie Sanchez 15:55 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 15:55 Don't take everything so personally, you know? They're words.

Codie Sanchez 15:58 Are there mental models that you use to not take things personally and not catch feelings when you get feedback and pushback?

Joshua Weissman 16:07 The first thing is recognizing that feelings will always be there. You can't make feelings go away. Feelings are out of your control. Sometimes I do get feelings. Nowadays, I don't really. Honestly, I'm kind of, like, I don't wanna say numb to it, but I just, I'm seeing the same thing over and over. I'm like, "Okay, cool," like, "That was unoriginal. Let's try something new." If you do get feelings, that's gonna happen. The biggest determiner is what you do, right? Like, you just have to decide how you wanna react to those feelings, and if you're able to get into this habit of every time a feeling hits you, it goes into the, into your brain, you mentally process the feeling. You feel it. You feel bad. You will feel bad. That's not gonna not feel bad. And you choose to not react in the way that you... In, in, in the negative way that you think you should, whether that's, like, if... You know, for example, if someone comments something neg- or DMs you something negative, and it could be a close friend, it could be a relative, right? This happens all the time with relatives. Relative says something, "Oh, I don't know if I like this new guy you're dating," you know?

Codie Sanchez 17:04 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 17:04 Uh, or whatever. Then you get that DM, it hits you emotionally, and it, maybe this one really hurts, and you're like, "Fuck you, Grandma. I'm fucking shitting on you today." Just stop for, like... You can literally just not do anything for a second. Sit in it. Let yourself, you know, be as anxious as you wanna be, and then think to yourself, before anything, what would be the logical response in this scenario right now? And, and, and so in that scenario, you might go, "I'm just not gonna respond right now. I'm gonna give this a couple hours. I'm really upset and really mad. Maybe I wanna cry." Maybe you do cry, cool, but you're not going to engage, you're not gonna respond to it for, for the day, and then tomorrow you think about it again. Just, just make the rule to not respond. Cool, okay. Next day comes around, "Oh, I don't really care anymore." Or maybe you do still care, but you don't care enough to respond, and then okay, then wait another day, and that feeling will go away. Feelings will always go away.

Codie Sanchez 18:00 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 18:00 But the action that you choose to take might be permanent.

Codie Sanchez 18:03 When you were working in restaurants, was there ever a time that somebody made you cry?

Joshua Weissman 18:08 Yeah, definitely. But I never showed it, though. A- anyone who, anyone who's worked in a restaurant totally knows what this is like, where you kind of like have that like teary-eyed, but you like don't... You like hold it.

Codie Sanchez 18:17 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 18:17 You like, you hold the tears in.

Codie Sanchez 18:18 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 18:19 Like, I've definitely had that happen a few times. I've been, uh-

Codie Sanchez 18:22 What happened?

Joshua Weissman 18:23 I've never cried from people being mean. I've cried from being called out and looked like I was a bad practitioner or looked like I was bad at my craft.

Codie Sanchez 18:32 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 18:32 Because that is like, you know, in the past when you're coming up, that's like the one thing that matters the most, and it's the one thing you're most insecure about. Because you're like, "Am I seasoning things well enough?" Or like, "Oh, you know, my fish, my fish butchery could be better, and I don't know if I want people to see how I break down like a fish." And then you break down a fish, and then someone says something. Um, geez, there was this one time that, uh... [laughs] Goddammit, I really hope none of my view- people that I work with are watching this. I was making a gastrique, and a gastrique is really basic. It's like basically... The, the best way to describe it is like a French sweet and sour sauce. That's not what it is, but it's like reduced sugar, vinegar, and it- it's like a viscous sauce. And I put it in a pot on the stove, and I was leading a team of like six people. Um, so I put it on the stove, and it takes a while to boil and reduce down, like 20, 30 minutes. So I'm like, "Cool. I'll leave that there. I'll come back and check on it in a second." And I start working on a bunch of things. This guy's fucking this up, and I gotta show him how to do this, and I'm like, "Don't do it like this. Do it like this." I go about my day, and I'm just walking around doing my thing, and then the pastries chef comes up to me and she's like, "Hey, Josh, your pan's on fire." And I'm like-

Codie Sanchez 19:40 [gasps]

Joshua Weissman 19:40 I'm like, "This happens. It's not that big of a deal." I'm like, "Oh, fine. It's fine. I'll take care of it." I walk over there, and it, it's not just on fire. It is on fucking fire. [laughs] Like, literally, this pot's not that big. It's like this big around, this deep, and it's shooting a flame like six feet into the air like a conical jet engine. And I'm like, "What? How is this... This is sugar and, and, and white distilled vinegar. How is this even happening?" And I'm like, "Oh, no worries. I know how to handle a fire." Pour kosher salt on it, suffocate it with salt, which is like a pretty common technique. Pour salt on it, covers it, nice hill, stops the fire. And then like this little flame pokes through, and then it just erupts again. And I'm like, "How is this... What is happening?" The vice president of the restaurant group, like the VP of the restaurant group, this guy has been working there since the beginning. He's worked every position in the kitchen, and he walks in and he's like, "Who the fuck did this stupid ass shit?" And everyone just looks at me, and I'm like, "Um, I did, Chef. I did that." He looks at me and he just goes, "Who the fuck let you lead this team?" And then grabs the pan and walks out with the fire going everywhere and walks it outside. And, uh, I remember just like standing there. It's just like dead quiet, and I'm like, "Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry."

Codie Sanchez 21:00 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 21:00 He was right to be that mad. It was pretty bad. It could have like burned down the whole kitchen, you know, so it was pretty bad. And then I went out there and like... He was super chill. He was, he was like, "Hey, look, I'm sorry." Like, he was actually really cool about it afterwards, but yeah, that, I almost cried.

Codie Sanchez 21:12 I f- I feel that one for you.

Joshua Weissman 21:14 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 21:14 Well, I always used to think that like, uh, finance was the worst, that investment banking we were mean to each other, and then I've had now a bunch of friends that are f- that are chefs, and you guys take it to a different level.

Joshua Weissman 21:24 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 21:24 And I think there's like some good and bad to that, and the good is you've basically gone to the gym of feedback and difficulty so often, every day actually-

Joshua Weissman 21:35 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 21:35 ... uh, that the rest of life is kind of a lot easier.

Joshua Weissman 21:38 Totally. There's also discipline, too. You can hide discipline, but in a restaurant you cannot hide discipline. Because if you are undisciplined, it visually shows, and you will eventually get kicked out of that kitchen if you-

Codie Sanchez 21:50 Mm

Joshua Weissman 21:50 ... decide to, you know, tread that water like that for too long.

Codie Sanchez 21:54 It seems to me when I look at like historically the industry of, of food, you had basically, you had chefs, and you had chefs who were great, you know, regionally or even in their individual cities, and then you got kind of these like superstar chefs, which was TV-based superstar chefs. And then those have really given way to now social media... I don't even know if I always want to say chefs. Some of them are chefs like you, but many are not. And, um, what is your take on, is it true that like the most successful and best chefs today are moving online? And if we categorize success as monetary perhaps-

Joshua Weissman 22:35 Mm

Codie Sanchez 22:35 ... is this the future of like big names in food, or will it always be at a Michelin Star restaurant?

Joshua Weissman 22:42 Well, I think big names depends on what you mean by big names.

Codie Sanchez 22:46 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 22:46 First to categorize that, if you work in restaurants, a big name in food is gonna always be somebody that no one has ever heard of unless you work in that, right? It's sort of like, I guess, maybe in business, right?

Codie Sanchez 22:57 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 22:58 You know, everyone knows like the Warren Buffett. Oh, what about Warren Buffett? But like I'm sure there's tons of business people that, you know, that you love or aspire to or, or have drawn energy from, um, that you might say that I have no idea who they are, right? But to you, they're like a fucking superstar.

Codie Sanchez 23:13 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 23:14 And that exists in food. So if we were to take that out of the equation, I guess, um, I guess the best way we could look at it is like television versus the internet.

Codie Sanchez 23:22 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 23:22 Which back in the day was always like the Martha Stewarts, the Ina Gartens, the Gordon Ramsays, the, um, you know, people that I looked up to when I was a kid. Like Gordon Ramsay was like, I've always said he's been my North Star since I was a kid. I got into restaurants because of him and Anthony Bourdain. Those two people were like literally the two people where I was like, you know... And this is coming from a place where I already wanted to work in food. The internet, I, I don't know, it's like kind of everything now, right? If you're gonna own a business, you should be on the internet.

Codie Sanchez 23:48 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 23:48 If you're gonna have a restaurant, what are you doing not being on social media? Like, it's, it's not even a question for anybody. Now, in terms of fame, popularity or, I don't know, growing an audience or, or who is the next Gordon Ramsay?

Codie Sanchez 24:05 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 24:05 Me. Um, where is the attention? It is not on TV as much nearly as it is on the internet. There's really only a few places that people put their attention. I would break it up based off of- ... their desired experience. And by that, I mean people have different modes for different types of consumption now. Before, it was like you either watched television or you go to the movies. Pick one and have a nice day. And you had two options. It was like, oh, I'm gonna watch one episode of something that's 20, 30 minutes long, chill, watch that. Eh. You know, maybe you binge and watch a couple episodes if you have it on DVD, or you can go and spend an hour and a half or two hours and make a big event out of it and have dinner and go out with the family and go see a movie. That's dead. Done. It's gone. It's not coming back. It will never come back. Now, you can... I'm not saying you can't like go out and have fun with your friends and watch a movie, I'm just saying that now there's so many other ways to consume. So to me, it seems inevitable that, you know, whatever the previous idea of the biggest name in food being on television, I don't think that that exists anymore as much today, but it just... I don't know. It depends. I, I don't have a crystal ball. It just depends on where the attention is, and to me it seems quite diffused at the time. And even the biggest heads in television and entertainment are looking at that and going, you know, and they're thinking, kind of scratching their chin thinking, "Well, what can we do to, you know, build this out properly?" I don't think anyone's gonna, you know, die in the process. I do think that there will be like mergers, but it seems to me that the internet is the place that people go to consume food media nowadays.

Codie Sanchez 25:37 Yeah, totally. I was meeting with an A24 executive the other day and, um, she was telling me that in their conversation with the streaming services, all of them are sort of pondering how to include, uh, like streamed first person POV or user-generated content into their systems.

Joshua Weissman 25:55 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 25:56 Uh, it actually is crazy. When she was explaining it to me I'm like, that is wild that actually Netflix has no optionality for anything like that. Because it seems like such a low-hanging fruit for them, and it would be free as opposed to how expensive their cost is.

Joshua Weissman 26:08 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 26:08 How else could you compete against YouTube which costs them zero dollars, it costs you a half a million dollars to build this location? If they were going to do a Netflix series, they'd have to build it all, but you've already done it, and they could just stream you on the service, uh, just like YouTube does. So it'll be interesting to see if that happens.

Joshua Weissman 26:26 Yeah, totally.

Codie Sanchez 26:26 Well, let's talk about the monetization of, of food online and entertainment. I was looking at a bunch of these, um, online f- food cookers, chefs, et cetera, and I was kind of laughing because, um, everybody's got a tagline, right?

Joshua Weissman 26:44 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 26:45 So you've got like [laughs] ...

Joshua Weissman 26:46 So many

Codie Sanchez 26:46 ... you've got like, uh, Olivia Ada who says like, "Horngry" and, you know, Onlypans.

Joshua Weissman 26:51 No, that's, that's... Who is that? That's, uh...

Codie Sanchez 26:53 Is that somebody else?

Joshua Weissman 26:54 Oh, who is that? She-

Codie Sanchez 26:56 My husband's gonna be so upset-

Joshua Weissman 26:57 Susie?

Codie Sanchez 26:57 ... that I can't remember this. Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 26:59 Susie?

Codie Sanchez 26:59 Susie. Olivia Ada though is the one that flicks off the camera all the time.

Joshua Weissman 27:01 Yes. Olivia, Olivia... So it's funny, this actually happened really recently. So Olivia's a friend of mine.

Codie Sanchez 27:08 Uh-huh.

Joshua Weissman 27:09 She came here, she flew out. We, you know, filmed two videos. It was super fun. She was very chill. I appreciated that very much. Um, and she like blew up out of nowhere. It was crazy.

Codie Sanchez 27:18 Uh-huh.

Joshua Weissman 27:18 Um, and then there's this other girl, uh, Susie Vidal I think it is.

Codie Sanchez 27:22 That's it.

Joshua Weissman 27:23 And I actually had just discovered her like, I don't know, a week ago. Olivia texted me and she goes, "Do you know Susie?" And I was like, "Oh yeah, I saw one of her videos like yesterday," which was, you know, it was a day or whatever. I'd recently seen and I was like, "Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about." And uh, and she was like, "Dude, Susie has been watching you for like four years, like we gotta get together." So anyway, shout out Susie and Olivia.

Codie Sanchez 27:45 And I thought it was kind of brilliant because she has this like instead of OnlyFans it's Onlypans.

Joshua Weissman 27:49 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 27:49 And then she instead of being hungry she asks if you're horngry.

Joshua Weissman 27:52 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 27:52 You know, it's like perfect-

Joshua Weissman 27:53 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 27:53 ... for our generation.

Joshua Weissman 27:54 It's great, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 27:54 Uh, and then Olivia has the little flip-off. And then you have multiple signature moves from like-

Joshua Weissman 28:00 Unfortunately, yeah

Codie Sanchez 28:00 ... the eyebrow. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 28:02 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 28:02 Are those, were those culti- did you guys get together-

Joshua Weissman 28:04 I think they're just... I honestly think all of-

Codie Sanchez 28:05 ... for one-liners?

Joshua Weissman 28:06 ... all of mine are not intentional at all. I think they're just like tics or something that I do [laughs] at this stage. Like I, I have a camera on me all the time, so I just like kinda do shit. I've never intended to create any taglines. Um, but sometimes the audi- you know, honestly, I just do things and I pick up on when the audience loves a little thing that I do, and you know, maybe sometimes I do it more often because I know they like it and I do it for fun. You'll notice if you look through my comments, like everyone r- so I was kind of the one who started like really going deep dive on big recipe content that, that does big views, that's applicable for everybody, right?

Codie Sanchez 28:42 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 28:43 And so because of that, I used to make this joke where I would go, uh... What did I say? I would, I, I... It sort of started along the lines of I started to get annoyed with people, um, because they would ask so many questions that I had already answered. So I was like doing voiceover and one time I was like, "Don't worry sweetheart, all right? Papa's got you." And I just did it sort of as like a, you know, silly joke. I don't know what happened, but I got into like people's like daddy issues and daddy kinks 'cause of that.

Codie Sanchez 29:10 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 29:11 Eh, but also just people in general because of like the fact that I'm like teaching and people are, are kind of looking to me for direction, I, people refer to me as papa like in person and in the comments and in my emails.

Codie Sanchez 29:24 Stop that right now. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 29:25 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 29:25 I'm only-

Joshua Weissman 29:25 That's all my-

Codie Sanchez 29:26 ... calling you papa from now on.

Joshua Weissman 29:27 Yeah, it's a, it's a real thing. It's a real thing. Like all my comments like... Lita- I posted this video like I, I've been like dieting for a while, and I'm starting to like finally get some physique response. You know, your guy's too damn good looking. I'm like trying to compete with him in the gym. I'll like see him doing something and try to pull away.

Codie Sanchez 29:42 Oh, you said you guys were working out the other day.

Joshua Weissman 29:43 Yeah, he's, he's, he's good looking. He's a good looking one.

Codie Sanchez 29:46 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 29:46 So I'm like-

Codie Sanchez 29:47 I'll have to go thank him

Joshua Weissman 29:47 ... I'm over here... Yeah, good work. Good work. Anyway, so I've, I've, I've gotten more fit and I, you know, posted this video of me like it was like my exposed back. I don't know why I did it, but I was like-

Codie Sanchez 29:55 It was very saucy.

Joshua Weissman 29:57 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 29:57 Let's show the video a little bit.

Joshua Weissman 29:58 It was unintentionally saucy, really.

Codie Sanchez 30:00 Okay. It was like you were like that chick that like kind of wants to show you her outfit-

Joshua Weissman 30:05 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 30:05 ... like not all the way. You were like kind of over your shoul- it was great.

Joshua Weissman 30:09 My intention, you know what's funny?

Codie Sanchez 30:10 The back looks good too, dude.

Joshua Weissman 30:11 The way... Thank you. I've noticed that my... I think that that's like my biggest asset. I, I've realized that I have good genes for a good back. And I saw it, and I was like, "Holy shit, like, I really built my back out. This is gonna show how lean I've gotten." 'Cause I've, I've had this back and forth with my audience. I'm like, "I'm getting shredded this year. This is happening," so they know I'm doing it. And so I was like, "I'm gonna show off my leanness, 'cause you can see how lean I am in my back." And it was just a video that I took. The video was, like, two minutes long. I just did the part that showed off how lean my back was, and I was like, "Oh, people will get it." No, dude.

Codie Sanchez 30:41 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 30:42 No.

Codie Sanchez 30:42 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 30:43 And so everyone's like, "Papa."

Codie Sanchez 30:44 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 30:45 "More like Daddy."

Codie Sanchez 30:46 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 30:47 I'm like, "Jesus Christ, y'all."

Codie Sanchez 30:49 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 30:50 I am married.

Codie Sanchez 30:51 [laughs] She probably thinks it's funny, too.

Joshua Weissman 30:54 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 30:54 I like it.

Joshua Weissman 30:54 She's actually less enthused about it anyway. She's just like, she's like, "Yeah, you look good." I was like, "Oh, cool."

Codie Sanchez 30:58 Cool, cool.

Joshua Weissman 30:59 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 30:59 Yeah. You know what? I think mustaches, goatees, and probably your back are just for other dudes.

Joshua Weissman 31:05 Yeah, it's true.

Codie Sanchez 31:06 You know?

Joshua Weissman 31:06 So true.

Codie Sanchez 31:06 I think that's, my husband's the same way. Beards, it's not for me. It's for every other du-

Joshua Weissman 31:09 Dudes love me.

Codie Sanchez 31:10 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 31:10 It's crazy. Way more than women do, for

Joshua Weissman 31:12 sure.

Codie Sanchez 31:12 When you create your content, you were, like, I think one of the early people to create food ASMR cooking videos.

Joshua Weissman 31:18 Probably not.

Codie Sanchez 31:19 And do you even call your videos that? 'Cause I think it's kind of a cool idea. Like, if I'm listening to this right now as the audience, and I'm thinking of creating content in some way, shape, or form, you talked earlier about like, "I wish I could make them smell."

Joshua Weissman 31:30 Mm.

Codie Sanchez 31:30 Well, you can't do that, but you can make them hear, you can make them-

Joshua Weissman 31:33 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 31:33 ... feel, and you can make them see.

Joshua Weissman 31:35 Totally. I-

Codie Sanchez 31:35 But a lot of times people forget the tactile sensation of hearing and how addicting it is.

Joshua Weissman 31:41 Yeah. I, I don't know that I started the ASMR ones, like, generally, but I know for sure that I was the first, if not one of the very first, like, within, like, you could count on one hand, that was producing food content on, like, TikTok.

Codie Sanchez 31:56 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 31:56 That's where the short form, right?

Codie Sanchez 31:57 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 31:57 'Cause there wasn't even IG Reels at the time. It was just TikTok. YouTube Shorts didn't exist. IG Reels didn't exist. It was very sort of a silly underground place to be. If you wanna know who got me into it, it was Gary.

Codie Sanchez 32:12 [laughs] Smart. He's not often wrong about social media.

Joshua Weissman 32:16 No, he's not. I'll, I'll listen to anything that man tells me.

Codie Sanchez 32:18 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 32:18 But I, I was lucky enough to kinda, you know, I, I, I built a relationship with him and his team and, you know, we talk from time to time, and he's, he's great. You know, I love him. And I remember him, like, just constantly posting about TikTok, and this was very early on. I went on there and started producing content, and they blew up every goddamn time. Because it was the onl- I was the only one doing it, so it was just, it was very much of lots of attention, very little production of content. I just kinda ran with it, and then everything, I like to call all these, like, different TikTokers and short form people my children, because they're, they're, they don't realize they're all copying. They may not be copying me directly, but they're copying someone else who copied me, or someone else who copied them who copied who, another person, another person. It ultimately leads to me. 'Cause the whole quick cut editing style stuff started with that.

Codie Sanchez 33:04 Like, you, like, slap the bread. You-

Joshua Weissman 33:06 Slap the bread

Codie Sanchez 33:07 ... throw the butter on, sizzles.

Joshua Weissman 33:10 Sizzling. Lots of, like, you know, unfortunately, in the beginning I did a lot of sexual innuendos. I noticed that they got pretty good traction. So I did utilize that. Here's a funny story for one that I did. I used to slap my butt-

Codie Sanchez 33:22 Did you really? [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 33:23 ... which I really regretted. I really regret doing this.

Codie Sanchez 33:25 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 33:26 I used to, I used to, like, sh- I used to show my ass. Not my whole ass.

Codie Sanchez 33:29 Just a little piece.

Joshua Weissman 33:30 So what, what happened was, there was one video that I, I, this was when it was just me editing. Not a very good editor, by the way. Uh, and I ed- I was editing a short form, uh, a TikTok video. This was, like, maybe my fourth or fifth or sixth TikTok video. May- maybe 10th. And they all did pretty good. I upload the video and it does, like, eight million views in, like, less than an hour, and I'm like, "What the fuck is going on with this? This one's going crazy. It's not even that good of a video." I'm actually pissed off that this, well, why didn't the pizza one do better than this, you know? It was, like, a, some random, it was, like, a grilled cheese or I don't even remember. And I accidentally left in about, 25% into the video there's this shot where I meant to cut off the back half of that clip, but I didn't, and it was five seconds left in the clip that I didn't cut. And in that five seconds I turned around and bent over to grab something out of the drawer. I guess I cut it... I, I didn't cut it short enough. So I did cut it, but not short enough. And so it's literally just me turning around and full ass bending over. I, the only reason I realized that is I went in the comments and they're like, "Jesus Christ, he's got two yellow onions back there. That's crazy."

Codie Sanchez 34:35 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 34:36 I started doing that, and they went viral every time I did it, and then I stopped doing it because I was like, "This is weird."

Codie Sanchez 34:42 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 34:43 And now other people do that, too. Have you seen that, that guy, um, the guy that sexualizes everything in food?

Codie Sanchez 34:49 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 34:49 I can't remember. Is it, like, Cedric something?

Codie Sanchez 34:51 No. What does he do?

Joshua Weissman 34:52 Cedric Lorenzen.

Codie Sanchez 34:53 Oh, I gotta check this out.

Joshua Weissman 34:55 I don't even know if you can show a clip.

Codie Sanchez 34:56 Really?

Joshua Weissman 34:57 It's really sexual.

Codie Sanchez 34:58 Okay, we're definitely showing a clip. So let's see if we get kicked off YouTube. [upbeat music] There's also that other guy who says, like, "Bon appetito, bitches," or something. Have-

Joshua Weissman 35:18 Oh, QCP?

Codie Sanchez 35:19 Yeah, QCP.

Joshua Weissman 35:20 Yeah, he's wild.

Codie Sanchez 35:20 There seems to be a formula for cooking at this moment, videos. In cooking videos the formula seems to be, like, there's obviously some ASMR component of it. It has to be cut pretty quick. It has to be, like, relatively accessible, uh, recipes. Like, they can't be too wild and crazy.

Joshua Weissman 35:39 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 35:39 And then there's some funny entertainment aspect to it.

Joshua Weissman 35:43 I, I would agree.

Codie Sanchez 35:44 Do you have, like, a formula? You're like, "This is what works now."

Joshua Weissman 35:47 I, I also think there's another thing in, in that as well.

Codie Sanchez 35:50 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 35:50 I think it's, or you have presence.

Codie Sanchez 35:53 Ooh.

Joshua Weissman 35:53 People know who you are.

Codie Sanchez 35:54 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 35:55 Right? If Cameron Diaz was in this kitchen and I took a video of her-

Codie Sanchez 35:58 Oh

Joshua Weissman 35:58 ... and she had no formula, I think it would probably do pretty good.

Codie Sanchez 36:00 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 36:01 Right?

Codie Sanchez 36:01 That's true. Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 36:02 It's Cameron Diaz.

Codie Sanchez 36:03 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 36:03 People know me pretty well, and me and food already. Um, and they know me because of my YouTube channel and so on and so forth. So I, I, I think that honestly a lot of my videos do well just because it's me.

Codie Sanchez 36:16 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 36:17 And I don't really n- always consider formula, but we do have generally a direction a video's gonna go before we produce it. Um- I think the number one thing, the formula that I, that I always follow is, honestly, I follow my own viewing intuition.

Codie Sanchez 36:35 Hmm.

Joshua Weissman 36:36 Very much of, like, timed cuts, if that makes sense. So I'm very formulaic on how long the attention span lasts per cut, and that's really the main thing that I follow. But, like, in terms of a saying or, like, having a saying or whatever, that might make sense for someone starting out that doesn't have a presence already.

Codie Sanchez 36:54 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 36:54 I feel like if you are starting out and you don't know where to begin, especially with food content, what you should do is figure out who you are as a person-

Codie Sanchez 37:01 Hmm

Joshua Weissman 37:02 ... and reflect that. Don't create a character, because a lot of people create characters, and I don't think that that's a great way to be happy.

Codie Sanchez 37:08 No, I think you get stuck.

Joshua Weissman 37:10 Yeah. Find who you are and emphasize that. You know? If you're, if you're, like, the quiet person who's awkward, fucking let that out. Be awkward on camera. Be quiet and weird. I'm telling you, it will do well. There are so many videos of weird-ass shit, uh, that do well, and I, I think that that will cultivate an audience of people who, who, uh, associate with that type of a person.

Codie Sanchez 37:33 Like, you're pretty much exactly the person I see in your videos, except maybe your videos have a slightened volume-

Joshua Weissman 37:38 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 37:38 ... turn up effect.

Joshua Weissman 37:39 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 37:39 But, like, everything you do in them, I go, "Oh, yeah, I've seen that face before."

Joshua Weissman 37:43 Exactly.

Codie Sanchez 37:43 Like, just hanging out.

Joshua Weissman 37:44 I don't put on a character. I... If anything, I just... I put myself in a moment.

Codie Sanchez 37:48 Hmm.

Joshua Weissman 37:49 Uh, I'm like, "Oh, what, what's the energy in this shot?" And I just need to bring that energy out, right? If I was like, you know, I show up and it's 9:00 AM, and, you know, I just had my coffee and I've already worked out and I'm maybe just still kind of, like, you know, in my head about something that bothered me earlier, and I show up on set and I know that we're do- we're filming pickups for a shot that's 10 minutes into a video, I'm not gonna be like, "All right, and then you put the butter in the pan." You know, it's like, oh, y- they've been watching for 10 minutes and I was talking a certain way. I just need to bring that back in, you know? So that's the other way.

Codie Sanchez 38:19 How do you... You, you guys create a ton of content.

Joshua Weissman 38:21 Yep.

Codie Sanchez 38:22 Um, and you create really high-value content, and you seem to go viral every single time. You're getting huge views, um, across multiple platforms. How do you keep the creative aspect flowing with the fact that you're like a production house now?

Joshua Weissman 38:40 If you make a video and it does crazy views, the first thing you should do is not give a fuck. You need to get out of the... Whatever feelings you have attached with those views, you need to m- murder those feelings-

Codie Sanchez 38:52 Hmm

Joshua Weissman 38:52 ... and, and look at it formulaically and figure out how to rinse and repeat that process.

Codie Sanchez 38:58 Hmm.

Joshua Weissman 38:58 But honestly, the bigger you get, people think it's like... There are things that are easier. It's wonderful to have a production company, you know? I pay, I pay people pretty well, and it's expensive to run a company, very expensive, actually.

Codie Sanchez 39:11 Yep. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 39:11 Um, look, I'm not gonna say numbers, but the simple reality is if you are gonna run a business, and you're gonna produce content, and you're gonna pay people, please understand that it is going to be... It's going to feel very volatile. It's going to feel very stressful.

Codie Sanchez 39:25 Hmm.

Joshua Weissman 39:25 It's going to feel very pressuring. And now all of a sudden, the videos that you're producing, they have to perform. So how do you make that work? Well, you need to have a thick skin. You need to be ready to, like... That should not bother you. You should still be able to be creative and expressive, and how do you, how are you creative and expressive? By not being stressed out. Good luck with that. So I think a lot of people will fail there, so first ask yourself if that's something you wanna live with. But that said, the way that we do it is it's very feeling based. Uh, I have, you know, my top performers that I... that are always by my side. We're always working together on creative. I mean, you saw it on the front of these doors. We have written on the front of our doors to the kitchen, it says, "Honor the audience." I think in the same way for a chef, what makes a great chef is not just making good food. That should be the easy part. Good food should be the easiest fucking part of your job. What makes a great chef is first being the artist, but also being the businessperson, being the financial analyst, being the marketer. That's what makes a great chef. So if that's what makes a great chef, then to me, that's what would make a great content production studio, is you have to be both. And the best way to mesh it is to bring out your creative, allow yourself to be creative. Come up with things that resonate with you, because if they resonate with you, they'll probably resonate with your audience. But then find a way to honor their presence when they're watching you, which means, "You know what? I love this shot. I don't think everyone's gonna love this shot as much as I am. I just don't. Like, I just know. I know that people will watch this two-minute segment of me doing this thing, and, and, and maybe it... you know, maybe 100,000 people will appreciate it, but I need nine million people to appreciate it."

Codie Sanchez 41:03 Yeah. It's really t- I think one of the toughest parts that I've realized about the content game is it is the most competitive game there is. There is zero moat to this game, and you are competing for the highest and most expensive commodity that we have in this day and age, which is people's attention.

Joshua Weissman 41:16 Yep.

Codie Sanchez 41:17 It is the only thing that we cannot create more of, and we have infinite optionality for what to do with it.

Joshua Weissman 41:23 It's true.

Codie Sanchez 41:23 I mean, you are competing with Donald Trump in the same time that you're competing with the hottest new Star Wars movie, in the same time that you're competing with every single TikToker and actually the algorithm of TikTok driving-

Joshua Weissman 41:38 That's right

Codie Sanchez 41:38 ... the most viral things out there. So-

Joshua Weissman 41:40 And it's free.

Codie Sanchez 41:41 And it's free.

Joshua Weissman 41:42 Anybody can do this.

Codie Sanchez 41:43 Right.

Joshua Weissman 41:43 You're, you're competing with every single human being on planet Earth, because anyone can walk in and just make content.

Codie Sanchez 41:52 So I think it's a really good thing to ask yourself, "Do you actually wanna play this game?"

Joshua Weissman 41:56 Very competitive. You have to have a thick skin. But also, I think the biggest thing... 'Cause I feel like the way I said it made it sound like I don't enjoy this. I love this shit. Like, I love doing this. Like, I love it so much that the competition is not me. I don't feel like I'm competing with anybody. I don't feel like I'm fighting to beat X person. I'm fighting because I wanna do this forever.

Codie Sanchez 42:19 Hmm.

Joshua Weissman 42:20 And if somebody thinks that they're gonna beat me because they wanna make better content than me specifically, they will lose to me. They will lose.

Codie Sanchez 42:27 Why do you think you have that type of attitude?

Joshua Weissman 42:29 It's sort of like fighting for necessity over fighting for glamour. And I think when you fight for glamour, you eventually will fizzle out and lose, not just steam in terms of, like, viewership, but you'll lose the motivation to do it over time. Because if you're fighting for something that doesn't actually really matter to you, and actually m- matters more to other people, like your image and your, how fancy you look, and this, that, and the other, um, yeah, you're gonna run out of energy. It's really hard. Like, you really have to, like, be fighting for something that feels more like necessity, um, and something that you... You know, I fight to continue to do what I do. I love to do this. I wanna do it forever. Um, and yeah, I mean, that's, that's a tough argument to beat.

Codie Sanchez 43:12 I was thinking about this idea yesterday, that I'm calling the law of more, which is basically if you look at some of the best producers or artists of all time, like Picasso, you mentioned before. Picasso has something like 200,000 prints and paintings that he did, um, to become the most prolific artist of all time.

Codie Sanchez 43:32 If you look at Taylor Swift, she was, like, back and forth between being on tour or creating an album for the entirety of her career-

Joshua Weissman 43:39 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 43:39 ... since she's been 16 years old.

Joshua Weissman 43:41 It's crazy.

Codie Sanchez 43:41 Which is why she's now almost has more albums than any other soloist.

Joshua Weissman 43:45 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 43:45 I do think there's some balance between quantity eventually becoming, with relentless focus, quality.

Joshua Weissman 43:53 Absolutely. How can you create quality without the reps?

Codie Sanchez 43:56 Like, if you wanna be great, do a lot.

Joshua Weissman 43:59 Yes. That is, well, that- that is the game. Volume is the game, 100%.

Joshua Weissman 44:03 Working in restaurants i- i- I mean, it's all I really know. I didn't go to college. Um, so a lot of people like to make fun of me sometimes, 'cause they're like, "Oh, my God, he always talks about how he works in restaurants." Like, it's all I know. Like, what do you want from me? People talk about when they went to college, they don't get shit on for that. I didn't go to college. I didn't have any formal studies. I went and worked in a brutalist environment, and I worked in fucking restaurants. And the number one lesson that I learned was you can become great at anything if you are willing to perform the relentless amount of repetition that it requires to become great at it. And it may be 500 times, it may be 5,000, it may be 10,000, it may be 100,000, it may be a million. It- it, it depends on how quickly you learn. It depends on so many factors, but I do believe that anyone can be great at almost anything. It's just, how many reps is it gonna take, and are you gonna, are you gonna be able to do all those reps?

Codie Sanchez 44:58 Yeah, it's so true. I've become kind of friends with, with Tim Grover. Tim wrote a book called Relentless, and I think it's a really good screen. If people love that book, they're gonna like working in my companies. If they don't-

Joshua Weissman 45:09 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 45:10 ... they're not. Um, so I agree

Codie Sanchez 45:12 with you there. Now, one thing you did that I think is fascinating, that you don't get, you don't get enough credit for, and people don't talk about, is the book launch. Like, I wanna obsess-

Joshua Weissman 45:21 Mm

Codie Sanchez 45:21 ... for a second on how to launch a best-selling book in a way that is not ads, that is not... Even at the time, you had a big audience, not the biggest audience, but you sold hundreds of thousands of copies of a cookbook before cookbooks were, like, mainstream everywhere. Um, talk to me about how you did that.

Joshua Weissman 45:39 Mm.

Codie Sanchez 45:39 How do you get 3,000 people to line up to wait to see you for a s- for a cookbook signing?

Joshua Weissman 45:43 Yeah, that was wild. And also, for reference, for the cookbook signings, uh, i- i- any, any in my audience watching, we're working on creating a better method, okay? We weren't expecting that many [laughs] people to show up. We didn't do any paid advertising. There wasn't like, "Oh, let's put a billboard up. Let's..." It was all completely organic push for the book. Funny enough, actually, we did do one ad campaign. We did it for free. We did, we were doing this thing with Pinterest. Uh, we were working with Pinterest, and they gave us free ad space. We used the ad space. Wanna know what's funny? Less than 1% of our sales came from that.

Codie Sanchez 46:13 Wow.

Joshua Weissman 46:14 And the amount of ad space they gave us was $200,000 worth of ad space. Less than 1% of my sales came from that.

Codie Sanchez 46:22 What was the difference?

Codie Sanchez 46:23 You-

Joshua Weissman 46:23 Authenticity, I think.

Codie Sanchez 46:25 Yeah, but it's way more tactical than that. You were systematic as a motherfucker when you were inserting your book. Like, I went back and looked through a bunch of your videos. It's almost like you never marketed because you were in restaurants, but somebody taught you the book. Like, you would be cooking-

Joshua Weissman 46:38 Mm

Codie Sanchez 46:38 ... and then you'd be like, "Yeah, I'm thinking about chicken legs. Ooh, like on page 57 in my cookbook."

Joshua Weissman 46:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 46:44 Talk about that insertion project.

Joshua Weissman 46:46 It became tactical because I care so much about the viewer's experience.

Codie Sanchez 46:50 Mm-hmm.

Joshua Weissman 46:51 So much so that I modified my marketing perspective to, whatever I do, if I'm gonna promote my book, it will be in a way that is entertaining and not just totally boring and disruptive from the content that they chose to, you know, so kindly give me their time to watch. The last thing I wanna do is deter them with a shitty promo.

Codie Sanchez 47:17 What would that be? A shitty promo would be, like, you with the book like, "Look, I'm trying to hit the New York Times Best Seller list."

Joshua Weissman 47:23 Yeah. Like, people say you should be direct with the audience and say, like, "Oh, my cookbook is out." I mean, I did say that, and I did have some promos like that. Like, I did, right? But if every promo is like, "My book is out, go and get it," like, that doesn't, that's not meaningful. Like, it, it, it feels very much like, "Give me your money, motherfucker." And I just don't... I'm not like that, and certainly it's frowned upon from the world that I come from. Always be reserved. Don't, you know, ask for too much. And, um, so I was just trying to avoid being like that, and I think that's how we formulated the whole marketing around, if we're gonna have you buy something, we're gonna make it entertaining, and even more than that, we're going to lead up to it with value before we deliver that. We're not just gonna go, "Book's out. Okay, now let's get to the value." It's like, no. Value, value, value, value. By the way, silly fun thing, goo goo ga ga, I'm gonna wipe my butt with my book, which I did.

Codie Sanchez 48:19 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 48:19 Um, not, not phys- not literally, but I made it look like that. I launched my book by wiping my ass with a, with a page of it. I tore a page of my book out. I was, like, sitting on the toilet and I look over, and the camera cuts to the empty toilet paper roll, and it cuts back to me and I pull up a, a sheet of my book and I'm like- And then it cuts, uh, to a black screen, a- and then it's basically, like, fades in. It's like, "My book is officially out," like da, da, da. My publisher was like, "Dude, I can't believe you did that." Like-

Codie Sanchez 48:45 Did it work?

Joshua Weissman 48:45 ... "Please, please, you know, that, please delete that out of the video." I'm like, "We can't." Yeah, we sold, like, 60,000 copies that day. It was crazy.

Codie Sanchez 48:53 Wow. So it's basically like giving a little bit more love and juice to the idea of even trying to get your audience to sell something or to buy something.

Joshua Weissman 49:02 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 49:02 You know, honor the audience would be... I mean, sometimes when I'm talking to my team, I think, one, you should never write a love letter to whom it may concern, right? That makes no sense. And yet most marketing is not named towards you, is not written like you would write a text to a buddy, and is not actually gonna get somebody to pick up and do something.

Joshua Weissman 49:19 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 49:20 It's written like a corporate speak that makes you wanna gouge your eyes out.

Joshua Weissman 49:23 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 49:23 And so instead, yours is kind of the opposite, and you almost lean into the thing that you don't want people to do-

Joshua Weissman 49:29 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 49:29 ... which is think that your book is shit.

Joshua Weissman 49:30 Yeah. I, I've, I've also done, you know, campaigns where I was like, "Here are the things that my book is good for, using it as a shovel," you know, or, like, using it to put hot things on. And I put a really hot pan on it, it caught my book on fire.

Codie Sanchez 49:43 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 49:43 You know, 'cause it was so hot that it literally caught the pages on fire. And it's just sort of like just being silly. And there was one where I, [laughs] I literally said, "Don't buy my book. Fuck you." And a ton of people bought it. You know, and it was sort of like this thing of like I... It, it, what it tells the audience is, it's not reverse psychology. I mean, maybe it is, but I wasn't trying to be reverse psychological. What it tells my audience is, it says, "I don't fucking care if you buy my book or not. I made it for you, and I worked really hard on it, and it's good, and you've trusted me all these years. Here it is. If you don't wanna get it, I don't care. Like, it's good. That's it. Me writing the book is good enough for me." And most people, I think, can really resonate with that, and they can sit back and go, "Wow, you know, he doesn't even need me to buy this shit. But I've watched him for, you know, three, four years or two years. He's always been consistently good. Why wouldn't I get it? And look how confident he is in it. Yeah, like, sure, I'll, I'll buy it. It's, you know, 20 bucks or whatever," you know?

Codie Sanchez 50:42 What is the process when you're thinking about ads for your book? Do you think about it just like any other type of content?

Joshua Weissman 50:47 I treat it exactly like content.

Codie Sanchez 50:49 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 50:49 Um, which is cre- what's the creative? What's the story? You know, is there a story? Is it a joke? Is it silly? Is it serious? Is it angry? Is there a point I wanna make with it? It should be entertaining without the book being there, basically. It should be entertaining without the product being there. Are we gonna put it in a scenario where it doesn't belong? You know, it's like it's a cookbook. Should we pretend to do a, I don't know, an ad about getting a lobotomy and, like, do something crazy where, like, I pretend to have a lobotomy and I'm promoting my book, and I have no idea what's on the inside of the book, and that's the creative? It's like if it is just fun to watch, that's enough for me, you know? And you can never guess how many people will follow through with it until they, it gets to them, right? So at least if you entertain them, it's better than nothing.

Codie Sanchez 51:35 I think I wanna tap really quickly into... So we've talked about how to sell books. We've talked about how to build a content empire.

Codie Sanchez 51:42 We haven't talked a ton about how your, like, goals have changed over the course of... You were 21 when you first started. Is that right?

Joshua Weissman 51:52 Man, was I? Holy fuck.

Codie Sanchez 51:53 You're 28 now.

Joshua Weissman 51:55 How old was I? Jesus, I honestly don't even know.

Codie Sanchez 51:58 [laughs] Early 20s?

Joshua Weissman 51:59 It was five, it was probably five years ago I officially, officially left, so yeah, so five years ago.

Codie Sanchez 52:04 Five years ago.

Joshua Weissman 52:05 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 52:05 So five years ago, you-

Joshua Weissman 52:06 20

Codie Sanchez 52:06 ... leave the restaurant, and you probably just wanna replace your salary, right? You're like, "I just wanna..." Well, you would already by then. "I just wanna make more money than I do at this other place, and I wanna be my own boss, and I wanna grow online," to now, you know, "I've have a best-selling book. Oh, wait, I have two best-selling books. Oh, wait, I'm one of the biggest YouTubes, uh, YouTubers out there on cooking." What is next, and how has your goal changed-

Joshua Weissman 52:29 Mm

Codie Sanchez 52:29 ... as you've climbed your varying mountains?

Joshua Weissman 52:31 You know, it's funny, it actually hasn't changed.

Codie Sanchez 52:33 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 52:33 I would say most people get into this nowadays by accident, right? They're like, "Oh, I made this video and it went viral one day, and then I kept..." No, motherfucker, that's not what happened here. Like, the two hours of sleep every night, that was not by accident.

Codie Sanchez 52:45 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 52:45 I didn't accidentally, you know, hustle my ass off. Uh, it was very much of like when I started, I knew exactly what I wanted to build, and that, that vision of what that is, that, like, thing that I see in the distance, is still there. I look at it every day. I mean, I have been looking at it for probably the past, I don't know, decade of my life, or maybe even longer because, you know, I started cooking when I was five, and I've cooked almost every single day all the way up till today. And so I've done the fucking 100 million hour rule, [laughs] you know, whatever that is. When I was 11, this is the differentiator here, when I was 11 or 12 is when I saw Gordon, and I was like, "I wanna make something like that. I think I can do something like that." Um, and he was a big inspiration for me, and that created a goal in my brain then. And so every decision I've ever made has always been this north star that I'm looking at, which is to build what I'm building now, but much bigger, um, with varying different things in it. You know, I don't wanna, like, give the whole thing away. I... But, like, you know, that big goal has never changed. I think the only thing that has changed is the way I approach things. I'm much less emotional about things.

Codie Sanchez 53:59 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 53:59 I approach things much more analytically. You know, all those sorts of things that you go through when you build a business is like you get beat up a bunch, and then you kind of, like, learn how to regulate your emotions.

Codie Sanchez 54:08 You almost run out of money.

Joshua Weissman 54:09 You almost run out of money.

Codie Sanchez 54:09 You almost get sued. Yeah, 100%.

Joshua Weissman 54:11 Yeah, yeah. You almost get sued, totally. That's happened. Um, and you just kind of learn, oh, this is just running a business. Okay, cool. Well, I have this part down and this part down, what else do I need to learn to get better at this? What else do I need to, like, try out? And you learn how to be like, oh, the next venture I need to take a risk again. Fuck, I need to feel the sense of risk again.

Codie Sanchez 54:28 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 54:28 You know? And that's where I'm at right now, where I'm like, I'm taking on more risk now to do the next step.

Codie Sanchez 54:34 Yeah, there's got to be some huge correlation between risks taken from a business perspective and amount of success had. Because I think that's the biggest thing that people don't understand. If you're not risking something... I mean, the other day, we, we just, uh, raised a bunch of money, and I put in millions of dollars for a company that we're scaling in the SAS space, and I bought it, and now we're building it. And, you know, I told some of the investors that gave us money, um, you know, I, knock on wood, have never lost money for anybody to date, and I'm not gonna start now. And he kind of turned and looked at me. His name's Donald Park. He was like, "If you have never lost anybody's money, and you have never failed on a business, you are not taking big enough risks." And I was like, "Or I'm really good."

Joshua Weissman 55:15 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 55:15 He's like, "Never the case."

Joshua Weissman 55:17 Whoa, that's crazy. That's actually, that's deep.

Codie Sanchez 55:19 And it's kind of true, right?

Joshua Weissman 55:21 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 55:21 Like, if you haven't done a video where you're like, "This video, I do not know if it's gonna work, and we're gonna spend $30,000 on it, and fuck, it totally failed, but we learned a bunch of things from it."

Joshua Weissman 55:31 Yeah, it's happened.

Codie Sanchez 55:32 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 55:32 A bunch.

Codie Sanchez 55:33 What do you think's the most money you've lost on one video?

Joshua Weissman 55:37 75,000, I think.

Codie Sanchez 55:38 Oh, that hurts.

Joshua Weissman 55:39 Yeah. I've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on videos. Yeah, multiple six figures I've lost on videos, but it's sometimes difficult to calculate what that really means.

Codie Sanchez 55:48 Hm.

Joshua Weissman 55:48 Because what is a loss on a video? Especially on long form, 'cause long form is really powerful. It's not like short form. Someone can watch a short form video and not give a shit about you. They can watch 20 of your videos and not give a shit about you. But long form is a commitment. You're watching a 30-minute, 20-minute video. I mean, people are wa- my video's like 20, 25 minutes. People are watching television show, basically.

Codie Sanchez 56:08 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 56:08 It's like you look at the, you could look at the backend of YouTube and basically go, "How much money did the video make, and how much did I spend on it?" And then do your math and be like, "This was the ROI," right? But that's not always the case, though. Because if you gained 50,000 subscribers, solid subscribers from that video, and then they all watch like, you know, 100 videos each, then you're, you're way above your ROI from that if you think about it.

Codie Sanchez 56:30 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 56:30 I see it more as an investment than a loss, but I try to be careful with that as well. [laughs] Uh, so, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 56:36 Yeah. Well, I think, you know, creating content online is sort of like running a startup.

Joshua Weissman 56:40 True.

Codie Sanchez 56:40 Even if you've been doing it for a long time, because you just have to spend so much money consistently on content with the hopes that it'll eventually turn into more money, or just a, an ability to continue doing the thing that you love to do. And I think that's the hardest part that people don't realize as content creators is they think that they're artists, but they don't realize your component, which is-

Joshua Weissman 56:59 Yeah

Codie Sanchez 56:59 ... this business component.

Joshua Weissman 57:00 That's true.

Codie Sanchez 57:01 I wanna, like, wrap up a little bit on the food front, or my husband will kill me, because he hates being called the word foodie, so I won't use that.

Joshua Weissman 57:07 Yeah, it's a naughty word.

Codie Sanchez 57:07 He likes to cook. It's a naught- why is, I, yeah, people hate that.

Joshua Weissman 57:11 Just cringey.

Codie Sanchez 57:12 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 57:12 You know? It's just kinda like-

Codie Sanchez 57:13 Like I'm a breathy?

Joshua Weissman 57:15 Yeah, [laughs] yeah.

Codie Sanchez 57:16 Okay.

Joshua Weissman 57:16 It's like, [laughs] it's like, yeah, I would've said that in 2007 and looked back at it and regretted saying that, you know? I, I don't know.

Codie Sanchez 57:24 I've heard, for instance, that some chefs like cooking for themselves but not for others, or like cooking for others but not themselves, but there's a big chasm between the two.

Joshua Weissman 57:33 Oh, wow. I've actually never thought of that before.

Codie Sanchez 57:36 Which one are you?

Joshua Weissman 57:37 I don't like cooking for myself as much as I like cooking for others.

Codie Sanchez 57:40 Interesting.

Joshua Weissman 57:41 Yeah, by far. I'll spend days on a, on a dish, and by the time I'm done, I'm like, "Goddamn, I don't wanna eat this shit."

Codie Sanchez 57:48 Yeah, [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 57:48 Somebody else eat it.

Codie Sanchez 57:49 Interesting.

Joshua Weissman 57:50 I've been looking at it for days. I do not wanna eat this. You know, I'll have a little spoonful and I'm good.

Codie Sanchez 57:55 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 57:55 But I'm excited to serve it to people.

Codie Sanchez 57:57 So, that's the nurturing, nurturing aspect that you talked about.

Joshua Weissman 57:59 Maybe it is. Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 57:59 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 57:59 Maybe it is. Uh, or it's like me being like, "I know the best experience of this, and I want you to experience it and enjoy it the same way that I do, and I'm gonna create a, a situation where you can."

Codie Sanchez 58:09 I was reading some studies the other day on, uh, women today, and, uh, more than 60% of women today have never had a man cook for them, uh, below 35, which I thought is fascinating.

Joshua Weissman 58:20 That makes sense.

Codie Sanchez 58:21 And I was wondering, one, what's your take on that, and two, do you think it's, like, an unfair advantage as a man to be able to cook and to like cooking for another?

Joshua Weissman 58:28 Shouldn't be an unfair advantage. It seems like such a basic thing. We're the only animals on the planet that cook our food before we eat it. Why, why, why does everyone not know how to cook? That's, like, a, a, a evolutionary enigma. That's incredible. And it's literally in our DNA. Yeah, it is an advantage. Totally. It was my advantage. I tell you that. It was definitely my advantage for a long time. [laughs] Okay? You know? My wife knows.

Codie Sanchez 58:50 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 58:50 Uh, it was definitely my advantage, and it was my advantage with her, too, by the way. You know?

Codie Sanchez 58:54 Do you teach a lot of young men how to cook? Like, do you see them in the comments learning from you and implementing it?

Joshua Weissman 58:59 My audience on YouTube is over 75% men.

Codie Sanchez 59:03 That's great.

Joshua Weissman 59:04 Isn't that crazy?

Codie Sanchez 59:05 And my husband, yeah, he's, he's-

Joshua Weissman 59:06 All him. It's all him just watching this video.

Codie Sanchez 59:07 It's just him re-watching it.

Joshua Weissman 59:09 Over and over again.

Codie Sanchez 59:10 Like a creep. Um, so if you're new, I know this is, like, a 101 level, but say you're a dude, 'cause most of our, our content is, uh, dudes watching it. Say you're a dude, and you wanna imp- impress a chick, but you suck at cooking. Where would you start? Is there, like, three dishes that you're like, "This is doable, but also a crowd-pleaser"?

Joshua Weissman 59:26 Totally. Before you even start, you need to, like, research and understand the person you are cooking for.

Codie Sanchez 59:34 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 59:35 Do not assume. Do not assume. Don't think that you're the big shot that's gonna make the big fancy dinner. Just shut the fuck up and listen, and figure out what kind of a woman they are, you know? What if they're vegan and you don't know?

Codie Sanchez 59:49 You break up with them immediately. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 59:51 Well, that... Yeah. First, you have a very, very important conversation.

Codie Sanchez 59:54 Just kidding. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 59:55 Yeah, more important than anything, than anything. Um, you do pretty. [laughs] One time I found this vegan cookbook in Kate's desk, and it was like, it was like a movie scene where, that you find, like, a, like, a text, like a bad text.

Codie Sanchez 1:00:07 Like, yeah, yeah.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:09 But instead it was a vegan cookbook, and I was like, "What is this?"

Codie Sanchez 1:00:11 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:00:12 And she's like, "Oh, it's, like, a vegan cookbook." And I'm like-

Codie Sanchez 1:00:14 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:00:16 ... "I can't be with you if you do this, just so you know."

Codie Sanchez 1:00:19 I literally have a meat... What is that? Dry, meat dryer?

Joshua Weissman 1:00:23 A dry ager, yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:00:24 I have a dry ager.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:25 Yeah, if you don't like the smell of dry, 42 dry-age rib eye coming fresh out the fridge, being sliced into a two and a half inch thick steak, that's gonna be cooked perfectly to 135 degrees Fahrenheit internal, medium rare, and topped with an au poivre brandy sauce, you fuck. You can't be in love

Codie Sanchez 1:00:44 [laughs] Exactly.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:45 Anyway.

Codie Sanchez 1:00:45 And she's ignored you and walked back into the kitchen.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:48 [laughs] Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:00:48 As, as one does.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:50 She's like, she's like, "You're done."

Codie Sanchez 1:00:51 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:00:52 Um, yeah, so-

Codie Sanchez 1:00:53 Ask them questions first

Joshua Weissman 1:00:54 ... yeah, figure out who the person is, figure out what they like to eat.

Codie Sanchez 1:00:56 Audience demographic survey.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:57 Yes

Codie Sanchez 1:00:57 Got it.

Joshua Weissman 1:00:58 Now, assuming that they're a meat eater, assuming that they, you know, like beef, I would always have a beef dish in there.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:04 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:04 I think beef is really easy to make luxurious and nice and fun. Save that to the end if you're doing a coursed out. Another thing is a dessert. Pick a really nice dessert or a dessert that's easy to please, like chocolate chip cookies. I'm telling you.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:18 Oh, yeah

Joshua Weissman 1:01:18 Telling you.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:19 Totally.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:20 You gotta have a dessert in your arsenal. If you make a killer chocolate chip cookie, I think that alone will, you'll win.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:26 What's like the one little tri- Is it just like sprinkling a little Him- Himalayan sea salt on top? Is there like one little secret?

Joshua Weissman 1:01:31 Himalayan sea salt. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:32 [laughs] Shows you who cooks.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:34 You're going traversing through the mountains or some shit? [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 1:01:36 Yes.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:37 What the fuck?

Codie Sanchez 1:01:37 Yes.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:38 Um, the, the trick is using my recipe.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:41 Ah, yeah. Page 42. Got it.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:43 Yeah. No, I don't, no.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:44 Okay, fine.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:44 I don't know. But, uh, I, in my first book, I have a really good chocolate chip cookie recipe. If you do need one, you're gonna use... But that aside.

Codie Sanchez 1:01:50 Okay, so steal that.

Joshua Weissman 1:01:51 Yeah, so steal that, so chocolate chip cookie or, or some sort of dessert. And then the, I guess the third, you know, like a, a, it can be an, it could be a protein or I would say some sort of nice either side dish/appetizer or like a starch.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:06 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:06 You know? Like a really nice, nice mashed potato or like a risotto.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:10 Do you have one you really like?

Joshua Weissman 1:02:12 In the new book, I have a one pound of butter mashed potato.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:14 Oh.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:14 That's really good.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:15 Okay, that sounds amazing.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:16 It's insane.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:17 So we got a mashed potato. We got a what? Is it like a steak? Is that what we're going with? Steaks seem intimidating to me. Like, seems like you could really fuck up a steak.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:24 It's really ha- It's really not hard.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:26 Okay

Joshua Weissman 1:02:26 I think that they're, that's why it's such a great choice. The first thing I cooked for Kate was a steak.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:30 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:31 Seal the deal.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:31 Okay. So it's actually pretty straightforward. You follow the recipe. You don't have to French feel it, and a steak is doable for most humans. Okay.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:40 Yeah. And I think, look, I think just, honestly, there are few, so few men that cook, I think, for their ladies in their life or the ladies they wish were in their life, that just cooking, y- you're already so far ahead. I only think you're gaining maybe a 10 to 20% additional advantage by getting really crazy with it.

Codie Sanchez 1:02:57 That's true.

Joshua Weissman 1:02:57 But I think if you go too crazy, like most women will be like, "Oh, are you a chef?" Like, "That's cool." Then it becomes this like career thing. Just make a good steak and potatoes and call it a day, you know?

Codie Sanchez 1:03:07 Yeah

Joshua Weissman 1:03:07 Like make a great steak, like an incredible steak with a really nice sauce and like a mashed potato and like maybe some, some roasted broccolini with a little lemony sauce on it and, and just call it a day.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:19 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:19 If you're the one making it, you're like miles ahead of everybody else.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:23 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:23 And it's super simple.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:25 Yeah. Plus pair it with like a nice French wine.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:28 Yes. Know your wine.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:29 Cheaper, by the way, than most California wines.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:32 Yep, yep. And if you're in California or you're in New York and you got one of those fancy girls, make sure it's an orange wine, okay?

Codie Sanchez 1:03:36 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 1:03:38 Um, okay. I think we've just solved incelibacy in the US for young men.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:42 Yep.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:42 Like food probably solves that problem.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:45 Yep.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:45 And I think it's the same thing for young women, because these days, like there's this, you know, kinda girl boss, fem movement.

Joshua Weissman 1:03:52 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:03:52 Um, but you know, Chris, my husband, who loves to cook, will tell me that like one of the nicest things I can do for him is just take care of his stomach. And so I, I, like as much as food seems simple and obvious and genetic, like if we need to get back to this idea of loving one another a little bit more, of being slightly happier, I think a lot of it starts with our stomachs.

Joshua Weissman 1:04:15 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 1:04:15 And so I think it's a beautiful movement you have, which is why I wanted to talk to you because, you know, we're really big on this idea of community and ownership in this country. And where does most community happen? Around the dinner table.

Joshua Weissman 1:04:26 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 1:04:26 And yet we have lost it. We have, like most families now spend more time in front of the TV than they do in meals together, by far.

Joshua Weissman 1:04:34 Phones now.

Codie Sanchez 1:04:35 A 100%. And you know, we, we believe that this ability to Uber Eats our way and DoorDash our way to everything, which is beautiful and there is a place for that and I use it plenty, um, is just as good as sitting down n- with our loved ones and actually cooking something for them, and I just don't think that's true, and so I think this is a really important movement.

Joshua Weissman 1:04:52 Totally. I mean, simple reality is when people think of cooking, and this is coming from the millions of messages, DMs, comments that I've read, is people only look at one thing when they think of cooking. They look at the inefficiency of it. They look at the fact that they're gonna have to clean up afterwards. They only look at every single negative aspect of it, so much so that they don't even think about is there even a benefit? 'Cause the answer is yes, but they cannot look past this wall, which isn't a wall at all. It's this fake veil that's in front of them and it's like, are you serious? Like, you go through life, you pay your taxes, you go through devastation, emotional devastation. You, you, you deal with the hardship of family, you deal with the hardship of just life in general. You don't wanna like fucking clean a few pots and pans because you're afraid of having to take the time to fucking clean them, but you'll spend two hours on TikTok? Like, let's be real for a second and maybe just try it and see if there was a benefit. And I would say more times than not, the benefit comes in many forms, which is what you learn from cooking I think can be applied to life. I think there's a lot to be learned, uh, about patience.

Codie Sanchez 1:06:07 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:06:07 There's a lot to be learned about focusing on one thing for 30 minutes or an hour. You know-

Codie Sanchez 1:06:12 Mm

Joshua Weissman 1:06:12 ... caring, giving all of your attention and effort to a Brussels sprout, as silly as it sounds, there is a level of release there that you won't get anywhere else. Because there's nothing left in society today where you will give that much attention to something so seemingly insignificant.

Codie Sanchez 1:06:28 That's beautifully said You know, I think the best part of my day every day almost is Chris and I have a rule where we do not come home, uh, and eat separately. We always eat dinner together if we're home, and it's become a ritual. You know, we like have this little candle that we light. We always do a, a cheers, and the cheers isn't allowed to be repeated, so like every night we have to kind of come up with something that we think is special and worthy of cheersing at the end of the day. And then we cook, and we don't get that fancy with it. You know, he has your cookbook, so we copy some of your homework.

Joshua Weissman 1:06:58 Love it.

Codie Sanchez 1:06:58 But the thing that I look forward to is it's an opportunity to really pair with your other human.

Joshua Weissman 1:07:03 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 1:07:03 And, and it doesn't even have to be your partner, but whether that's friends or family, I truly think that there's some movement back to traditionalism in the US, and we're starting to see it. You know, you and I both have friends that we could name and know who are in the massive productivity above all else bucket, and let me tell you what, happiness is not the thing that they chase.

Joshua Weissman 1:07:23 Mm.

Codie Sanchez 1:07:23 And often, like that joyfulness in life is, is missing because they are in the pursuit of what society tells us is important, which is, you know, money and more. Taking a little step back and feeding another human, because it is a necessity to life, is really, really beautiful.

Joshua Weissman 1:07:38 Yeah. People are very black and white, though. You can still be, you know, a hyper efficiency focused person. I- the irony is restaurants are all about efficiency, which is-

Codie Sanchez 1:07:49 Mm

Joshua Weissman 1:07:49 ... kind of silly, but you could s- you could still be that person that's all about, I mean, I'm, I'm not saying unhappy, but that's all about growth and everything, you know, make the numbers go up, make, make more money, make a bigger business, do things to the highest of high. But like it doesn't mean that you have to eliminate and annihilate all forms of things that could be technically not moving that dial. Because I guarantee you you do things in your day every day, no matter who you are, I don't care who you are, that are not moving the dial like you think it is.

Codie Sanchez 1:08:21 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:08:22 They're just not. It's gonna be okay if you take an hour and a half or two hours to make a meal even once a month, it's gonna be okay. Like whatever you wanna do in life, you're probably gonna be okay.

Codie Sanchez 1:08:33 The other thing people are obsessed with these days is being fit and food being a function, not a, an art form in many ways.

Joshua Weissman 1:08:42 Totally.

Codie Sanchez 1:08:42 And you know, you've had this fascinating balance of losing hundreds of pounds, simultaneously making recipes that are not, quote unquote, healthy, and sampling them and trying them. Can you be both somebody who loves food and experiences it, and fit and healthy?

Joshua Weissman 1:08:59 Totally. 100%.

Codie Sanchez 1:09:00 And how?

Joshua Weissman 1:09:01 It's very hard, but I mean, I guess you have, we have to redefine what healthy means also, right? Like, is healthy having six-pack or is healthy, you know, being a healthier weight? Whatever, blah, blah, blah. But I guess if we're, if we're really gonna trim this down to what people really care about, it's like, are- how do I not be fat? Is like kind of the question, right?

Codie Sanchez 1:09:19 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 1:09:19 That's what people really care about.

Codie Sanchez 1:09:20 Yep.

Joshua Weissman 1:09:20 They don't give a fuck about being healthy. They would be more than happy to die at 68 with a six-pack.

Codie Sanchez 1:09:26 Dude, that's, that's actually exactly right. I think that's why people hate Brian Johnson.

Joshua Weissman 1:09:29 Yeah, 100% about healthy.

Codie Sanchez 1:09:30 They're like, "Don't live forever, who cares, but I wanna look hot and fuckable."

Joshua Weissman 1:09:33 Yeah, I would love to live longer. I don't know when I'm going to die, but I sure as fuck don't wanna ruin my quality of life just so that I can live three years longer. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I mean, a goddamn steak. What I will say is the way you can balance it is, you know, you don't need to eat crazy every day. I mean, I, I think some intentionality behind your eating is probably good. Right now I'm like on a more extreme diet, 'cause I, I have like a goal that I wanna hit just for the sake of my own fitness journey and it's like, oh, you know, I wanna, I wanna like do like a bodybuilding thing and see where I can go with that and try that out. I like having discipline in my life. But the way I do it is like, have a, have days that you, you know, are gonna eat a little bit more, uh, under your regime of diet, and have days that are maybe a little more loose, or if you can find a way to i- you know, make that a daily occurrence where it's like, cool, for breakfast I'm not gonna go too crazy today. I think I'm just gonna have, I don't know, a... [laughs] I don't eat breakfast.

Codie Sanchez 1:10:29 I was gonna say, you don't like breakfast. That's like your least-

Joshua Weissman 1:10:31 No

Codie Sanchez 1:10:31 ... favorite meal, right?

Joshua Weissman 1:10:32 Yeah, I don't really eat breakfast that much.

Codie Sanchez 1:10:33 That's so bizarre.

Joshua Weissman 1:10:34 I don't like it.

Codie Sanchez 1:10:34 But I'll let it go.

Joshua Weissman 1:10:35 I don't know. Let's say like a fried egg on a, on a, just a piece of toast with sliced avocado. Really chill, nothing too crazy, not high calorie. I'm just gonna eat that and I'm not super hungry, whatever. And then for lunch maybe you go a little more crazy. Maybe you wanted a burger and fries. Cool, eat your burger and fries, and then chances are you're probably already gonna be full for the rest of the day anyway. But it's like, okay, I know what I've eaten today. Using my intuition, I'm gonna understand that I probably had a lot of calories, so tonight I'm not starving. I'm just gonna have like a chicken breast and some rice and call it a day, you know, and eat vegetables. I mean, you have to find whatever split works for you. Just maybe be mindful about how you're eating and just, that's one way to do it.

Codie Sanchez 1:11:09 Yeah, I think the, the beautiful part there is like, uh, listen, you can be Brian Johnson, you can be Peter Attia, you can be the fittest of the fit and be obsessed with that, um, or you can have your glass of red and steak and also be pretty fit.

Joshua Weissman 1:11:24 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:11:24 And so, um, I think it's really cool that you're pairing the two together, and I expect on the next cookbook you have your eyebrow raised and the six-pack-

Joshua Weissman 1:11:32 Yes

Codie Sanchez 1:11:32 ... on the cover.

Joshua Weissman 1:11:33 That's true.

Codie Sanchez 1:11:33 Is that what we're going for?

Joshua Weissman 1:11:34 That's what we're going for.

Codie Sanchez 1:11:35 Are, are you, you know, it's either a abs or ass guy. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:11:38 I have crazy glutes. I have crazy glutes. I'm not even joking. It's actually insane. I don't know why. I think it's a genetic thing. Like I don't have like the biggest, most like, you know, thick biceps and my traps aren't like the, you know, some guys have like huge traps, but I have crazy back and crazy glutes.

Codie Sanchez 1:11:52 So maybe that'll be on the cookbook.

Joshua Weissman 1:11:54 Yeah. It'd be funny if the front of the book was like me sitting or like me standing and it's like abs, shirtless, and, um, an apron, and I have an apron on.

Codie Sanchez 1:12:03 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 1:12:04 And then on the back of the book it's my bare ass, 'cause you can't see, 'cause my apron's covering my legs.

Codie Sanchez 1:12:10 I love this for you. I think we just decided, you guys can put it in the comments if you wanna see Josh's butt on the back of his cookbook.

Joshua Weissman 1:12:17 Please don't. Please. [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 1:12:19 Just send him a picture of yours, but not full frontal.

Joshua Weissman 1:12:22 Yeah. [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 1:12:23 And, and I think we've really wrapped this up. Is there anything else you wanna tell humans who are probably not as into food as you are, but might just find a place in their heart for it?

Joshua Weissman 1:12:33 Mm. So many things I'd like to say. Um- Well, what's the general vibe of the people watching Be France or-

Codie Sanchez 1:12:41 Probably somebody like me, like, somebody who doesn't know what a sous vide is, or also the maizon plots, or whatever the fuck that side dish-

Joshua Weissman 1:12:50 Misenplace is like the most known term, I'm shocked no one-

Codie Sanchez 1:12:53 That is not... You could-

Joshua Weissman 1:12:54 Even my wife knows what that means.

Codie Sanchez 1:12:56 Well, your wife is married to a chef.

Joshua Weissman 1:12:57 Yeah, but she knew before that.

Codie Sanchez 1:12:58 [laughs] She knew before that.

Joshua Weissman 1:13:00 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:13:00 I would also like to know in the comments, who knows what a maz- What is it?

Joshua Weissman 1:13:03 Mise en place.

Codie Sanchez 1:13:05 So-

Joshua Weissman 1:13:05 Okay

Codie Sanchez 1:13:05 ... they're people like me. So probably, you know, not, not big chefs, not big cooks, but relatively successful and on the path thinking about success, and I think we wanna slow them down a little bit and get them to think about food, or if you have anything you want to say on content too. You can really go wherever you want here.

Joshua Weissman 1:13:22 Just seek out one good eating experience, like, work really hard to seek that out, something really special, and be really intentional about how you do it, and just do it once, and I think the rest will kind of make itself after that. If you choose the right eating experience, I promise you that it'll become more of a internal thought process that grows from there. I don't think anyone needs to go from zero to 100 and start cooking a sous vide steak and learning what mise en place means or whatever. I don't think that that's what it is. As a matter of fact, I, my whole goal when I started doing this was never to convince anybody to cook.

Codie Sanchez 1:13:55 Ooh.

Joshua Weissman 1:13:55 As a matter of fact, I, I despise when people try to convince anyone to cook. Half the time I tell people to go fuck themselves.

Codie Sanchez 1:14:00 [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:14:01 Um, but what I did wanna do was get people interested and, and use food as a vehicle to entertain them because I think that it will improve everyone's quality of life in some shape or form, whether they cook it or they eat it, or there's a fun fact about it, because it's inevitability a, an important part of our life, and there is a way for everyone to enjoy food at a really high level somewhere. They just don't seek it out. So seek it out.

Codie Sanchez 1:14:27 Yeah, I would just watched a show called Bottle Shock. Have you ever watched that? Old-school movie about, uh, wine and the creation of the wine, uh, movement in California. And it was, like, the guy who created the first blind wine tasting.

Joshua Weissman 1:14:39 Yeah.

Codie Sanchez 1:14:40 And what I liked about it, and what I like about thinking about this too, is in today's society, we really think there are, like, I don't know, two or three ways to determine success. Typically, it's, like, your career, maybe it's your bank account, maybe it's also, like, your health and familial situation. Are you married? Do you have kids? But when I watch movies like that and I see microcosms like food, I remember that there is an entire group of humans who have decided to have their own definition of success, and in Bottle Shock it was like, who can create the most incredible wine imaginable with no interest in anything else. Almost no interest in money. And I think one of the cool things about what you talk about is the same thing.

Joshua Weissman 1:15:14 So that's almost like sport. Who's the best?

Codie Sanchez 1:15:17 Yeah.

Joshua Weissman 1:15:17 Everyone loves to be the best, you know? So who's the best winemaker? Who's the best chef? Who's the best pastry chef? Who's the best croissant maker in France? Who's the best chocolatier in France? But the funny thing is, food is probably one of the most subjective things of all time. There is no such thing as the best. There's only what's good to you.

Codie Sanchez 1:15:36 Who's the best YouTuber in cooking?

Joshua Weissman 1:15:38 [laughs]

Codie Sanchez 1:15:39 Joshua Weissman. [laughs]

Joshua Weissman 1:15:41 No way. No way. It's, it's a, it's definitely an, it's definitely a deep thought. I think the one, the only thing I could think of after my statement is just I feel like a lot of people will be sitting here asking, "But why?" Like, "Why? Like, you're telling me to seek this thing out. Like, why should I care? I'm doing just fine. Why?" Well, that's fine. I mean, technically you don't have to answer that question, but I will say that, like, everyone in most senses, especially really hardworking people, always feel like there's something missing.

Codie Sanchez 1:16:09 Mm.

Joshua Weissman 1:16:09 And this is something that definitely will add to your life in a way that you may not have considered that's going to be there anyway. It's one of the only things that's gonna be there anyway. You're going to be eating any fucking way. You know? Just take an extra hour and go to a nice restaurant or something. You know? Or, or what have you. Um, I, I... If there's one thing that I've seen change people's lives across the board regardless of, you know, the color of their skin, who they are, what job they are, they, sorry, what role they do in their career, whatever they're doing in life, food is easily the one leveling thing that has changed more people's lives than anything else, I think. Oh.

Codie Sanchez 1:16:49 Nailed it. You guys want the inside scoop. So my little summary here is that I don't want you to let the jokes fool you with Joshua Weissman. You know, what I, really stuck with me from this interview in particular is the attention to detail in just about everything that he does. You know that saying, the way you do anything is the way you do everything? Well, that is here in excess. I mean, you guys can kind of see it behind me, but this is a real kitchen. You know, a kitchen that cost $300,000 with everything laid out so thoughtfully that he doesn't really have to use his mind, he can use his eyes for the kitchen, as he says. You know, we have this meat smoker over in the corner. We have all of his ingredients labeled and situated perfectly. We have, like, 13 knives of all different varietals. We have an entire prep kitchen behind us. There's this wild iPad thing, if you guys could see it, where you can click the different color settings in order to determine whether you want something to be backlit or warm lighting, or in this case, a little bit of purple, 'cause this was Tanner's guest today. And so I think the biggest takeaway is it's really hard to beat somebody who's relentless and relentlessly focused on details. And when I watch somebody who has mastery, somebody like Joshua, I see that they don't let the little things slide. It doesn't mean that they're maniacal, it means that they are that word relentless, which I think is a beautiful way to describe a human being in pursuit of the thing that they want more than anybody else. And that is here. And so I wanted to share one of my rich friends with you. I wanted to share Joshua with you today to see what it was like behind the lens of somebody who's gotten billions of eyeballs over five years at a very young age of 28, and done it in a way that's a lot tongue in cheek, but a lot of seriousness behind that joke. And it reminds me of, like, the great comedians today, which I think are one of the pillars of truth that still exist in this world around us. And the great comedians today, what are they? They are obsessed with the detail, with every little comma, uh, punctuation mark that go into the things that they say. And he is a comedian that is also a chef, that is also a YouTuber. And so I hope you took as much away from it as I did today. [outro music]

Codie Sanchez 1:18:58 Okay, let's talk about restaurants again. In 2008, women spent 66 minutes a day making and prepping food. In the 1990s, that was 112 minutes. In 1956, that was two and a half hours, or 150 minutes, and in the 1900s, that number was 5.5 hours a day. Go all the way back to the 1800s, it was all day. So we need to thank restaurants, farmers, cooks, and technologists everywhere for the restaurant. But here's the rub: if you wanna be a chef, maybe don't open one, because most of them fail. There are incredible restaurant groups and people who make millions doing it. You know, you got Nobu, Fox Restaurant Concepts, Momofuku, et cetera. But the truth is, restaurants are incredibly complex as a business. First, let's look at the numbers. So, because the, uh, the numbers are hard to lie with, I like to start there. The average small business in the US sells for around $800,000. The average restaurant goes for $198,000. Why? Because 60% fail in the first year, and 80% fail after four. Restaurants, on average, ain't for making money. Second is margins, or how much money you make from the money that you bring in and put in your actual pocket. On average, restaurants can expect net margins of 3 to 5%. Tiny. I won't do a deal unless I can make 30 cents on every dollar, or 30% margins. 3 to 5, oof, you're in trouble if you make a few mistakes. Now, imagine a few people don't show up, food goes sideways, you're out of business. Third, competition. This is what's called a red ocean market. A blue ocean is where you have no competitors. It's like Uber when it was created, or Facebook. Sort of a first. A red ocean is where you have so much competition, you can't throw a rock without hitting another. If you wanna make this, I don't know, Herculean task of eating at every restaurant in New York City, for example, it would take you 22.7 years. It'd take 12 years just for Manhattan. Three and a half for Queens, and who even lives out there? The fourth reason I don't like 'em is procurement. So, forecasting demand, storage, waste, theft, managing off-peak hours, pricing, calculating gross profit of each food item. Let's take just spoilage. You not only have to buy up inventory intelligently, but you have to hope that you are so good at guessing if the fickle crowds will eat your three-day-old shrimp before they go bad. Fifth, they're really expensive. Restaurants to build out cost anywhere from 95,000 to 2 million. And then you gotta deal with, I don't know, all of your employees in the back doing dirty deeds. I don't care if you're a foodie or your buds tell you that you should sell that perfect cheeseburger that you make, don't do it unless they're giving you the startup cash. Restaurants are for humans that simply cannot exist without running one, in my opinion. So go eat there. Go frequent them. But, you know, don't do deals where you eat. [upbeat music] This deal of the week, though, is not to say that I don't love restaurants, but to say, first, don't be greedy. Share this pod with the needy. Okay, now,

Codie Sanchez 1:21:58 let's get into the idea that if you don't wanna own a restaurant, you could still become a chef-luencer instead. This is a new word. I had no idea what it means. Here's a fascinating example. There's this guy, Thomas Straker. He basically built his whole business around viral short-form videos on Instagram and TikTok. He's a London chef with a book, and he spent 10 years working in top restaurants in London. And then he kinda thought, "I wanna bring, like, high-quality, simple f- cooking to people," like Josh did. His big rise to fame was the TikTok series It's All Things Butter. In 2022, he started this little series where he just made butter recipes on camera. Like, in some instances, he didn't even make the butter. He just mixed butter with other things, like Marmite. I don't even know what that is. It's probably English. And then combined it with butter and called it Marmite Butter. This series got over 10 million views on just individual clips. So in 2023, he raised $500,000, seeded his company, started calling the company All Things Butter, and sold a bunch of flavored butter, like garlic and herb. This year, they landed a $2.2 million investment from a private equity firm. So, as of this May, All Things Butter sold about 250,000 blocks of butter. Not too shabby at all. My take for you is, let's all cook at home a little bit more together, but, mm, maybe skip the restaurant. All right, guys, I hope you liked that episode as much as I liked filming it. It was so cool to see inside of Josh's studio. Hell of a setup, man. My guy is, like, drooling in the background, trying to get me to spend more money so that mine gets set up nice like his is. We don't talk a lot about, you know, food on this channel. That's not really my song and dance. We do talk a lot about community, about owning our communities, and about taking things back to the community, and this episode, I think, is really a nice way to put a little bow on that bad boy. All right. If you haven't subscribed, you know the deal. Hit that subscribe button, or don't be greedy. Share the podcast with the needy. Thank you guys so much for listening to the Big Deal Podcast. You are a big deal to me. See you next week. Never have it, you know that I got it. No need to look all in the bag. Stunting like this 'cause I work so hard. I'm the best, I only speak facts