June 26, 2025 • 57 mins
Dhar Mann is the #1 scripted creator globally with 136M followers across platforms. He was also named Forbes #2 Top Creator in 2024 and 2025. In this powerful episode, Dhar Mann opens up about how he went from filming videos on his couch to building a media empire. He shares the struggles of growing up feeling like an outcast, the values his immigrant parents instilled in him, and the moment he almost quit right before his first viral video changed everything. Dhar dives into how panic attacks forced him to prioritize his health, why he stepped back from full creative control, and how his mission to help just one person continues to fuel everything he does. Whether you're a creator, entrepreneur, or someone searching for your purpose — Dhar's story of persistence, purpose, and reinvention will stay with you long after the episode ends.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
What is Up? Runner Gang, Welcome back to Post run High.
Today's episode is with YouTuber, entrepreneur and viral storyteller Darman.
He's the creator behind one of the most watched inspirational
content brands in the world, with over one hundred billion
views and more than sixty million followers across platforms. Star
is listed alongside mister Beast as one of the most
(00:24):
viewed creators on the Internet. And if you're new here,
this podcast is all about inspiring conversations that start with movement,
because we believe movement opens people up in wighs nothing
else does. And today we kick things off with a
rainy run through the streets of New York before sitting
down to chat. What makes Darman's story so powerful is
how it all started. He didn't grow up with a
production team or a clear roadmap, just a belief in
(00:46):
the power of storytelling to inspire change. In this episode,
we talk about it all growing up as the son
of immigrant parents, launching and losing businesses in his twenties,
and how we eventually built Darmond Studios from the ground
up through purpose driven content. This conversation speaks to the
power of resilience and never giving up. Before we dive in,
just a quick ask, if Post Run High has been
(01:08):
meaningful to you, please take a moment to leave a
review and share this episode with someone who could use
a little extra motivation today. All right, let's get our
post run high going. Darmont, welcome to Post run High.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Thanks, catch my breath, steale from our run. But that
was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Darman and I just ran a couple of blocks around Brooklyn,
a couple miles a couple of miles. It was raining outside,
so we took it easy. But it was really nice
to get easy.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I was trying my hardest.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay, you did such a good job. Are you a runner?
Do you like to run?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I used to run a lot back in the day,
and then I don't know. As I got to my forties,
I stopped running as much. But I still love to
play like pick a ball, mountain biking, tennis, weightlifting, so
I love to stay active.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I feel like it's important. You live such a busy
life and you have this massive business that you run,
so I feel like your schedule is probably insane. So
how do you kind of carve out time to maybe
move your body or play pickleball with friends?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, So I like to combine, you know, different activities together.
So if I am like, if friends ask like, hey,
let's do dinner, I'll be like, can we go for
a walk instead, Can we go for a hike instead.
I try to just make spend time where you can
kind of hit multiple goals at once, where you can
(02:39):
work on like friendship, have fun, work on your fitness,
work on your finances. I don't know why every one
of those started with f that was just coincidence. So yeah,
it's one of those things that's like not in if
it's just an is like, you absolutely have to do
it to maintain you know, your health and mental well being.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So I love it. And the runners high is so real.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I can even see like a shift in our energy,
you know, from when I first walked in the studio
thirty minutes ago.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So I love that feeling.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We started running and Darmam was like, oh you really
like running, Kate, like I could tell this like got
you going, which it is so true. I feel like
anytime you pair like movement with being social, it leads
to just really good energy and good conversation. So yeah,
I love knowing that. I'm also such a productivity stacker,
and we were talking about productivity stacking. I just stole
that term from Darmat. He said it to me as
(03:28):
we were in the elevator. My favorite thing about being
in LA and being in New York, but not as
much as I like, cause I feel like LA is
just such an outdoorsy, active place is that ability to
go to the beach, go for a hike, and do
it with friends.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I get way more steps in when I'm in New York.
People in LA do not like to drive, I mean
do not like to walk. I'm always the one, the
crazy one that's like, guys, it's not that far, you know,
let's just walk there. So I don't know what it is,
but the walking culture is not that strong in LA.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
We are in New York. You're an LA boy. What
brings you to New York?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Youw I'm here to do this pod.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And you're accepting a Shorty award.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, I'm accepting a Shorty Award for Studio of the Year,
which is crazy because you know, when I started this
whole thing, like, I didn't even think I was building
a studio.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I was just talking to camera, trying to help.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
People that were going through a tough time, and now
our seven year anniversary is coming up. I put out
my first video in twenty eighteen on my birthday, thinking
that because I was posting it on my birthday, I'd
get extra love and it would help it go viral.
But that video didn't even break one hundred views. So
now just seeing how far things have come, like within
(04:37):
seven years, Like you know, yesterday I was with the
CEO of YouTube, I'm meeting with different cmos for like
big brands. You know, we're getting invited to like award
shows and pressed opportunities, things that just never existed and
that are all coming to life now. So it's a surreal,
full circle type moment that I'm just very grateful for.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
One of the things that you just said there like
really gave me chills because it's only been seven years
and you're sitting down having conversations with the CEO of
YouTube and you're running a business that, as we mentioned
on the run, your videos are reaching over one hundred
and thirty six million people around the world in seven years,
and it all started with you sitting down in front
(05:18):
of your camera trying to just help people and spread
a little positivity and say you're not alone and what
you're going through.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I'm just so grateful to God, and like my life
was at such a low place, you know, Like anytime
I think about like the highs and the accolades and
the milestones, I don't know, my mind just immediately goes
back to like that struggle that I had when I
was in my small studio apartment, recording from my couch
with like no direction, no hope, no resources, no crew,
(05:46):
no industry connections, no experience. I was just a guy
with a camera and a story and a dream. So
I never lose sight of that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You know, that's like your core mission. And I think
it's cool that your mission has never changed, it's only
gotten bigger, and you've been able to explore it with
you know, more people kind of watching. I want you
to take us back and tell us a little bit
about your childhood. You know, what you were like growing up,
but your parents were like growing up?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So my parents came into this country gosh, what like
forty five years ago, the traditional American dream type story
that you hear, you know, like they came to this
country with seven dollars in their pocket. I used to
say eight dollars. My mom would get mad. You'd be like, no,
why do you say eight dollars? It was seven dollars
and we had to stretch a dollar a long way. Like,
(06:33):
you know, my earliest memories are growing up in an
apartment where there's three other families living in a one
bedroom apartment. Like we didn't have enough, like for instance,
like plates for everyone to be able to eat at
the same time. So I remember waiting around for others
to finish their food so I could have a plate
to actually get food, even though you know, we didn't
(06:54):
have much. I saw how hard my parents were working
because they had that hustle mentality and so so my
parents were both working at the bank. So my dad
found out from a friend who was driving a taxi
at the time that you can make a decent living
drive in a taxi. So all day he would work
at the bank. All night he would work driving a taxi.
He literally not sleep, or he'd sleep like in the
(07:16):
taxicab to try to get small naps in between. So
I just saw how hard they worked, and slow by slow,
my dad was eventually able to own his first car.
His first car, our family car, was a taxicab, so
everywhere I went, I would be driven in a taxicab.
My dad wore a turban and you know, has a
(07:36):
full beard. At that time in my childhood, I had
a turban as well, and there wasn't as much awareness
that existed around like racism and bullying and those types
of things. So my childhood was a little tough. You know,
my parents weren't aroald much. I was the only Indian
in my city outside of my brother. So when I
got to high school, it was just kind of a
(07:57):
lonely feeling because I went to a very racially segregated
schools where all of the like kinded cultures like sat together,
and I never really fully fit in with anyone, even
though I was so desperate, like for friendship and connection.
I spent a lot of my lunches in the bathroom stall,
just kind of hiding and waiting for lunch to be
(08:19):
over with or with my teachers. So while most people
kind of waited for like recess and lunch, I dreaded
it because I just didn't have like a lot of friends.
But you know, I had a hard work ethic ever
since I was young, and I would say I didn't
really start to like come out of my shell until
I was in college. But I've always been very entrepreneurial
(08:42):
just seeing my parents, Like I've you know, started every
kind of business that you can imagine. I started my
first business in fifth grade, like selling baseball cards and
you know, magazine subscriptions, and as I got older in college,
I started a real estate company. When I was nineteen
years old, I bought my first house. Like I was
(09:04):
someone who I was worked very hard, but I felt
kind of lost in some ways too, where I was
trying to find my purpose in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
What do you feel like were some of the values
that your parents instilled in you when you were younger
that you think are still there today.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, I always felt conflicted, Like I don't know how
many people listening in this can relate where you're kind
of torn between two cultures. So my value system was
very different, right, Like I had the Indian values from
my parents, like they only speak Punjabi or native language
like at home with me, and so you know, it's
(09:40):
a little bit more conservative, right, like much more spiritual, religious,
superstitious in some ways. And then there's American culture, right
and for American culture, which was like much more progressive,
open minded, valued the self a little bit more than
the individual versus like the familymen's like that Indian culture
(10:01):
comes from. I never fully fit into either one of those,
and I struggled for a long time. So when I
had a turban, I got made fun of constantly at school.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I'd even get beat up.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I'd get you know, every kind of racial slur that
you can imagine. So I was too Indian to fit
in with the American kids. And then one day I
decided my parents saw how bad I was getting bullied
and allowed me to cut my hair. And so when
I cut my hair and I started going to Indian
functions or like our temple or something, all of a sudden,
(10:34):
I was too American to fit in with the Indians.
So I never quite felt like I found my place
with either, you know, community. I always felt like an outcast,
feeling a lot of shame, just like you're letting everyone down,
you know, Like I constantly felt like a black sheep
and here I am, like, you know, being a YouTuber,
like in a conservative Indian family, right Like that did
(10:57):
not go well for the longest time.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You know, I just.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Kept thinking, like, why don't I belong in one of
these groups, right, like what is wrong with me? And
ironically I kind of went to social media because I
was searching for a connection, Like I didn't really have
that many friends, so I thought, oh, well, maybe if
I've become popular on social media, like this will be
a way for me to build a community and build friendships.
(11:22):
But you know, it wasn't until I got older where
I realized that, hey, you know what, I actually don't
need to.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Fit into any bucket.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I've been my whole life trying to fit in when
I was born to stand out, right. So once I
came to that realization that I could just be me,
and you know, pathways would open, doorways would open, people
would accept me as long as I'm my authentic self.
That's when this heavy burden that's just been on my shoulders,
(11:56):
like since childhood, of like searching for my place in
the world was lifted, and I was like, Wow, it's
such a freeing experience when you can just embrace who
you are and not worry so much about what others
are going to think of you, or how they're judging you,
or how you're not living this certain people's expectations it's
(12:18):
a very freeing feeling.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Being introverted is a common experience that you hear from creators, right,
Like you ask a lot of creators were you extroverted
growing up? Like did that make you like have the
confidence to start posting online? And sometimes it's like actually
the opposite, where it's like these people were like looking
for community and wanted to find their place, so they
put themselves out there and found community through it. So absolutely,
(12:48):
let's go to Darman's studios. In twenty eighteen, you posted
your first video and that video is called before Deciding
to give Up on your goals, and in it you
quoted success on the persistent. So what does that quote
mean to you now? And what is it like when
you go back and you watch that video.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
You know what's ironic about this whole thing is so
I've spent a lot of my life just giving up
on stuff too soon, you know. And I think we
live in a society today where everybody wants like fast success,
and we're constantly inundated by people seeing people living well
(13:29):
on social media, and we want to get there fast.
We want to be that success story. So I know
a lot of like young men, especially like suffer from
that right of like trying to find the quickest pathway
to success versus building something that is sustainable for the
long run. So you know, throughout my life, I was
(13:49):
always starting over. I whatever business I was in, I
would try it for a year. As soon as it
wouldn't work out, I would move on to the next thing.
If I was in a relationship, as soon as it
got hard, I was moving on to the next relationship.
So I found myself just always starting over in my life.
And the first time that I ever stuck to anything
(14:11):
was this studio. And that's made all the difference, because
regardless of where you are in your life, like whatever
dream it is that you're chasing, or whatever goal that
you have, whether that's fitness, whether that's finances, whether that's family,
it takes persistence. Like these things don't just fall into place,
they don't just happen on their own. They're really hard,
(14:33):
and I think, you know, we live in a world
today where people just kind of think as soon as
things get hard, move on, like, go find something else,
Go find something that's better. But the real magic is
staying in that place and trying to make it better,
trying to shape it better. So the ironic part about
all this is when I was recording that first video,
(14:55):
I was having such a hard time being myself because
I was still in that like old mentality a little bit.
So when I was speaking to camera, I had my
wife there and I had my one employee, Reuben, who's
still with us today, and they would say, just talk
normally because I was talking so stiff, so robotic. I
(15:17):
was trying to say things perfect. I was trying to
like look a certain way, be a certain way. And
when they'd say be yourself, I was like, I don't
know how. I don't know who myself actually is. And
our very first video, even though it was scripted, I
was reading from a teleprompter. It was only three minutes long.
(15:38):
It took me over a thousand takes to do, like
I'm not even kidding you, and I thought so many
times to give up. But ironically, the topic of the
video was about not giving up. So I kept thinking
(15:58):
that I have to listen to the words that I'm
saying right because I was ultimately trying to give advice
to the world. That was the advice that I needed
to hear. So because of the topic and those quotes
and such. I kept pushing through and video after video,
(16:18):
you know, every single week, I kept putting out until
one ended up going viral. But ironically, and I don't
know if you want to get into this or not,
but the video that ended up going viral was supposed
to be the last video that I ever posted, because
I had decided to give up a day before posting
that video.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Wow. I mean, if that's not a sign from above,
I don't know what is. What was the topic of
that video.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I had been creating content for a few months, and
I had this was a part time thing, right, Like,
it was a passion project that I was doing at night.
So all day I was running my day job and
then at night I was creating content.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
So I had no.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Time for my relationship. I had no time for social life.
I had no time for any of my goals. I
was just working so much, and it wasn't getting traction, right, Like,
none of my videos were breaking, you know, even a
thousand views at that time. And this is a few
months in, so I'm struggling, you know, with like deciding
(17:22):
if this is worth it? Did I kind of choose
like the wrong project because I wanted to inspire people.
I wanted to help people that were going through a
tough time. I was very dedicated to that mission, but
I was thinking, maybe there's some other way that I'm
meant to fulfill that calling, through books or through blogging
or something else. So I started thinking the video thing
isn't going to work out for me. So I tell
(17:44):
my wife, I, you know, I'm like, hey, I don't know,
I'm second guessing this. She's very supportive, so she's like, no,
just keep at it, keep at it. And after telling
her for a long time that I'm struggling with this,
finally we agree that the next video I host is
gonna be my last video, and you could schedule videos
(18:06):
to go live at a certain time. Right. So the
night before I tell her this is it, I'm scheduling
my last video. You know, this dream is over kind
of a thing. I go to bed that night. I
wake up in the morning and she's shaking me, like
to wake up. She's like, tar, wake up, and I'm like,
(18:27):
what's going on? You know, I'm like rub my eyes
slowly waking up, and she goes, that video you posted
it's going viral. So sure enough, the last video I
ever ended up, but I ever planned on posting was
the one that went viral, and that video went on
to get over two hundred million views. And you know,
(18:49):
the question that keeps me up at night is what
if I decided to give up one video before, right,
I wouldn't have had millions of followers, it wouldn't have
gotten billions of views. More importantly, it wouldn't have impacted
people all over the world, and none of this would
(19:09):
have happened. And the reason that I share that story
is that you never know how close you are from success.
So many people have dreams, they have goals that they're
very excited about, and in the beginning, you know, you're
fueled by passion and excitement. But at certain point things
get tough and so a lot of people end up
(19:31):
giving up too soon. But you never know when that
one call is going to come, when that one door
is going to open for you, when that one video
is going to go viral, that can change your whole
life trajectory. So don't give up on your dreams, because
you never know how close you are from making it big.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
On that note, A, we need to shout out Laura,
because there's nothing like having a supportive partner that is
pushing you. That is a part of your business. That
is like, baby, you were going to do this and
it's going to work, and then it's waking you up
in the morning being like it worked. You know, there's
just nothing better than winning with, you know, the person
that you're building your life with. Absolutely, I want to
ask you're doing it, which I am doing as well. Yes,
(20:13):
shout out Jeremy, who was sitting literally right there. If
you could rewind it back then in that mindset, in
your gut, you know, even when you had made the
decision to say, Okay, this is going to be my
last video, did in your gut did you almost feel
like you were letting yourself down by that being your
last video? In your mind? You know, did you know
what was going to work out for you?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's a great question. So I did experiment with that video.
I will just kind of tell you this origin story
really quick, because you did ask me what that video
was about and I didn't explain. So at that time,
I was just talking to camera and I would tell advice, right,
So the visuals you would see is just me on camera.
(20:56):
And so before I decided to make that last video,
I was writing my script that I was going to say.
I used to write my scripts on little napkins at
the time, and I covered different topics in my video.
So some of them are on relationships, appreciation, kindness, you know, manifestation,
all kinds of different topics that inspire people. So this
(21:18):
particular video was about how cheating can happen in relationships
with relatively innocent acts. So what I was writing is
that there was a husband who was liking his who
comes across his ex girlfriend's posts on Facebook and he
decides to like it, right while his wife is in
(21:41):
the kitchen with her back to him, cooking him dinner.
And so the whole storyline was going to be it
kind of starts off with him liking this post, then
it becomes a conversation between them, right, And so this
was the story I was going to tell. As I'm
writing this on a napkin, I look over in my
kitchen and my brother in law happened to be visiting me,
(22:03):
and he was sitting in a stool on Facebook, scrolling
his phone, and in front of him was one of
my wife's friends who happened to be cooking something in
the kitchen with her back to him, and I was like,
oh my gosh, if this is not like manifestation and
you know, serendipity, like I don't know what is. So
(22:26):
I come up to him and I'm like, are you
okay with being in this video?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I asked her and they're like, well, what do
you need us to do? Sure?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I was like, just stay exactly where you are, don't move,
don't do anything. And so they just stay in their
current spot. And then I call Reuben, the person, the
one employee who was operating like the cameras, I say,
come film this. So he's filming them just doing what
they're doing while I'm narrating this story. So ironically, I
(22:56):
didn't know. I had no film experience, right Like, I
never intended to create a studio. I never thought I
would be producing, you know, three to four hours of
premium scripted content a week, like right like, I was
just a guy trying to inspire people through things I
had been through tough times in my life, and so
(23:19):
that was you know, I had no live action experience,
Like I didn't even know what a live action film was.
It was shot on an iPhone, it was shot in
my apartment.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
My actors was my.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Brother in law, like zero clue what I was doing,
and that was the video that ended up going viral.
So it was just again it was ironic how it
all happened. But to answer your question, I think every
person feels like they're meant to do something with their life,
you know, like I've never met someone who's like, I
(23:52):
have no dreams, like I don't want to do anything,
Like I'm not meant to do anything with my life,
right like everybody has, I'm sort of calling in their heart.
And I've always felt some deep connection with trying to
help people, and I found myself like in that role
even as even when I was younger in life, like
I was just that guy that people would come to
(24:13):
for advice, and whenever I would give advice, people would
say like, hey, your advice really helped me get through
this tough time. So I always knew that my calling
was going to be helping people in this world. I
just didn't know how to go about it. So I
wish I could say I had some magic ball where
I knew if I said, you know, this is going
to be my last video, I was somehow putting it
(24:35):
into the world where it's like, God, please make this
go viral. I'm putting it out there. It wasn't planned
like that. I honestly would have given up on videos
if that hadn't worked out, but I never would have
given up on my dream to continue to try to
help people in other ways.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And it's amazing that almost by chance, that was kind
of your entry way into scripted video content, right where
you're telling stories with actors, And at what point did
you go from you being the narrator to then having
other people acting out the scenes.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
That was the turning that was, Yeah, that was the
eureka moment again, the moment I didn't know that that
was a live action film. Again, Like I didn't even
know how we were describing, how to describe what we
were doing right, Again, this is just something that it
was like, you know, lightning in a bottle that we
just happened to stumble upon. But after that experience, yeah,
(25:31):
that's when I decided that there's clearly something that is
working here. And that's any creator, any entrepreneur. You know,
you're always experimenting and pivoting and then you you know,
figure out something that works and then you realize like
this is the new direction. So as we started finding
success from there started We're still shooting everything in my
(25:55):
apartment for the first couple of years. We I think
for our first two years, we were a three person team.
There's a magic in three people teams. I was writing everything,
and then I had a director who would also shoot, edit, color, score, VFX,
everything that's ruben. And then I had a producer who
also ran sound on set. So it stayed like that,
(26:18):
you know, for the first couple of years. As we
started putting out videos consistently, and then we started learning
what was working. It was sort of that combination between
entertainment and education because these videos were entertaining, but they
were also teaching a positive lesson. So that was a
secret to our virality. A lot of people would share
(26:41):
our videos with someone who they thought could benefit from
learning this lesson, or they'd say, hey, this is a
conversation we were talking about on why you shouldn't give
up on your dreams. You know, I know you've been
thinking about this, so watch this video. This might inspire
you to keep going, or this might inspire you to
reconnect with your father who you've lost touch with, or
to fix that problem in your relationship that you've been
(27:03):
struggling with. And then we built an amazing community because
there wasn't really a place that you could go to
find positive content where the good person always want in
the end. And there's a certain comfort in that in
knowing that, like a lot of people that watch our videos,
they deal with anxiety, and they say that watching our
videos actually helps to ease their anxiety because even though
(27:27):
it's somewhat of a predictable outcome, they know that there's
a positive ending and the good person wins in the end.
And so as we continue to build that community, I
think by our second year, we became the number one
creator on Facebook. Our third year, we became the number
two YouTuber on the platform, as declared by YouTube.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Alongside mister bast to be clear, like this is this
is it's so nuts. You know, I can't believe I'm
sitting down.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
With you like it's cool. Oh my god, you're so sweet.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
No, I know the guests that you've had, I'm definitely
a fish compared to other folks that you've had.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Big fish, big fish.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So yeah, you know, it just all started coming together
as soon as we built that community that really understood
the mission, and I think they really felt connected because
I shared my personal story of the struggles that I
went through, the lessons that I learned, and I took
people on that journey with me. So yeah, it just
ended up taking off.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
At what point did you go from a three person
team to scaling into what you guys have now? Your
company is almost challenging traditional Hollywood studios.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
My very first month that I was accepted into like
the Facebook monetization program, I was still confused as to
what it was because a few months in of creating
content and having viral videos start to come out, I
didn't know that you can make money from this. I
didn't understand why people put out viral videos, right. I
just thought it was the same reason that I was,
(29:02):
because they had a mission. And then I get a
little notification one day that's like, you're eligible for Facebook's
monetization program. Do you want to turn it on? And
I'm like, I guess, Like, you know, I didn't want
them to like suppress my videos because it didn't earn
the platform any money, So I only turned it on
for that reason. And the first month I think I
(29:23):
made like one hundred and twenty dollars or something. So
I was like, Okay, you know, this isn't anything that
is going to change my life or like pay for
the bills. So I just decided never to look at
it again. And so, you know, a couple months go
by and I'm not paying attention, but I am looking
at my bank account and there's this month that like
(29:43):
a you know, like a four thousand dollars deposit comes in,
and then like a seven thousand dollars deposit the next month,
and then a ten thousand dollars deposit, and then a
twenty thousand dollars deposit, and I'm like every month the
numbers are getting bigger. And then I was like, oh
my gosh, guys, like there's action really a business here,
like you can actually generate revenue. And for me, it
(30:05):
wasn't like, oh my gosh, I can make all this money.
It was like, I can grow this, I can impact
more people, I can grow my team. And at that point,
we were running the business from my apartment, so I
was running a cosmetics company during the daytime, and so
my kitchen was like the office where everyone was working.
(30:27):
My living room was like where we had all of
our ring lights, my bedroom was where all of our
storage was for all of our boxes. I got like
asthma because there was so much dust all the time.
The hallway to walk to the elevator was our fulfillment center,
so we actually had people packaging products and stuff in there.
(30:47):
And this was like a twenty four to seven operation.
My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, you know,
we didn't even have our own restroom, right, we didn't
even have like our own fridge. So like we'd walk
into the frie and like my wife would go for
her dinner and it was eden, you know, we'd go,
like she'd go to use the toilet, and the toilet
he was always up. And like just all these hardships
(31:08):
of trying to work, you know, live and work from
your place at nighttime. When we were filming our content,
every one of the rooms in the apartment became our
film sets, and so our dining room became a restaurant,
our bedroom became a patient hospital room. Everything you could
(31:29):
imagine took place in our apartment. So it was stressful.
I wanted to start renting outside locations because we were
actually starting to generate some revenue, but then COVID hit
and so you couldn't rent any sets. And that was
the moment where I had to decide should we actually
(31:50):
get a studio and try to build our own sets,
which I had no knowledge of, or should we continue
running things in my apartment. And even though I didn't
have the funds, you know, to start a studio, I
found this gym that was going out of business because
again it was COVID, and they were looking to sublease
(32:11):
their space, and it was about you know, the building
was about thirty thousand square feet, so it was way
too big for what I needed for my sets. But
I thought maybe if I could take like some small
portion of that space for myself, we could run the
cosmetics company from there, and then I could sublease like
to like four or five other tenants like the rest
(32:33):
of the space. Maybe we could make rent work. So
I took a leap of faith and decided to commit
to a building that I knew I could not afford
at that time, just hoping that everything worked out. So
we got the building, then I needed the sets. I
had no idea how to build sets, how much sets cost.
So you know, it turns out there's a whole industry
(32:55):
around this, especially in La. So we got some bids
to build the sixth sets that I thought I was
going to be able to fill in my space. I
look at the total and I'm like, that is like
three times more money than the amount that I have
in my bank account. Like there was absolutely no way
that I could build six sets. So I was like,
(33:17):
all right, what are the three cheapest sets that we
can build? And they're like, it's a low income apartment
and a high income apartment, and a school because school
is relatively simple. Some lockers, some desks, and I was like,
all right, we'll just build the three cheapest sets.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
So that's all we had.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I literally spent every dollar on building those sets, and
at this time all my traction was on Facebook. Still
I wasn't getting any views on YouTube, so I couldn't
really break like a thousand views for my first couple
of years of posting on YouTube. So after those sets
were done, now we have these sets, I had to
write stories that took place in these sets.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
And since I.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Had the school, I was like, oh, okay, well, I
guess I have to write school based stories. But the
audience on Facebook isn't going to care about school based stories.
That's mainly like older people on Facebook. So I wrote
these like school based dramas. I didn't think that they
were going to perform very well, and they didn't. They
flopped on Facebook, but they took off on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And every time we posted a new school based video,
my social team would be like that videos number one
on YouTube is breaking a record, is breaking a record,
And all I could say is like, oh, who cares
about YouTube? Like I'm focused on Facebook. But after doing
that consistently enough and our YouTube started taking off, that's
when my eyes opened as to you know, young people
(34:43):
are on YouTube, there's no content that really exists like this,
and YouTube you actually have the ability to build a
real community. Because everywhere I was going, even though I
had way more viewership on Facebook than YouTube, people were
telling me I watch you on YouTube. I watch you
on YouTube. So I'm like, wow, that community impact is
(35:04):
so strong. So after our YouTube started taking off, that's
when I was like, all right, we need to expand
this whole thing. You know, how far can this go?
We started growing our team and within I would say,
one year of us getting that first building, not only
(35:25):
do we build out the whole studio for ourselves and
we built like twenty five sound stages within that building.
We ended up getting the two buildings next door as well,
and we got up to now over one hundred thousand
square feet. We have about one hundred film sets, and
fast forward to today. You know, we started with three
to four minute videos a week. Now we're putting out
(35:48):
three to four hours of premium scripted content. We have
about two hundred team members. You know, we employ about
fifteen hundred plus actors a year. It's been incredible, just
like how far things have come in such a short
amount of time.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
People's jaws must be on the floor listening to this
right now because it is so wild and it's just
so cool hearing kind of how your mind works.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It is like this creative dream for me to walk
around seeing all these like people that are inspired, that
are mission motivated, that are super creative, and filmmakers and
storytellers now being able to create content that exists without me.
In the beginning, I wrote every single script. So I
(36:35):
wrote almost two thousand scripts. You know, in seven years.
That's a lot of scripts. Whereas like if you ask
somebody in the traditional you know, media world, right to
be able to write like twelve episodes in a season
like once a year or something is a lot. But
the you know, the amount of work that we put
(36:55):
in was like insane. And now that the team is scared,
I'm actually no longer involved in the writing anymore, so
I can focus on other projects that are more like
personal passion projects.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
But to see, like, it's almost.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Like watching your child grow and like, you know, start
to become an adult. And I haven't experienced that yet
because my kids are young, but that's what I imagine.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
This is your baby, it is it is it's your
first child. Are there rules that you have built into
your stories and for the writers that come on and
join your team that the team abides by to make
it a Darman video.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
So no cussing, no swearing, we don't talk religion, we
don't talk politics, we don't do anything that's controversial. Everything
has to be mission based. So these are just the
values that live within every one of our videos. And
I would say that is our brand standard. So even
when Disney, you know, acquires Star Wars or Marvel or Pixar,
(37:58):
there's certain things that just need to meet the Disney standard.
And so even as we start to expand and look
at new genres and new different types of content formats
that we go into. Those brand values always stay the same.
But yeah, it was kind of ironic.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Again.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Sorry, There's so many things that were just ironic in
my life, and that's why I'm just so grateful, because honestly,
I was the underdog that never thought that, you know,
I would get anywhere, like very far in my life,
and it's amazing just being here at this stage of
my journey now.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
But the way that I started.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Delegating things, because I know every creator goes through this challenge,
every manager, every founder is it didn't happen on purpose.
It happened me because I got sick and I was
working insane hours where I was staying up like all night,
not sleeping, neglecting my health, neglecting everything. Again, just like
(38:56):
a lot of people that are hustling hard and trying
to make it. I would literally drink energy drinks in
bed and chase it with coffee to stay up longer
so I could write more scripts. It wasn't very healthy,
and then I ended up developing panic attacks and my
health got so bad that a doctor told me I
(39:17):
have to stop working so much, and I have to
focus on my health. So that's what it took, literally
a wake up call from a doctor saying you're not
going to live much longer if you continue down this
path for me to say that I have to let
go of creative control in some aspects, yeah, because it's
not sustainable, Like I will kill myself literally if I
(39:40):
continue down this path. So that forced my hand to
let go of the reins a little bit, and that
ended up being the best decision that I ever made
because ultimately allowed all these other very talented, capable people
to really spread their wings and reached their full potential.
(40:03):
And you know, it took a little bit for them
to kind of get things down and understand like my
vision and my voice, but after some time, I truly
believe that they're even better storytellers than I am, and
more capable than me. So yeah, so it's an amazing feeling.
It wasn't by choice that I started like backing, it
(40:24):
started delegating.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was like, yeah, I was compelled.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
By I mean, I share that story completely on a
much smaller scale. But when I first started my running
interview show, I was working a full time job in advertising,
and I was waking up every single morning at six am,
sometimes earlier, filming the first episode around six thirty with
a guest. I'd meet them on the West Side Highway
in New York, and then I would film the second
episode right after I would go home, try to be
home by like eight thirty, a little bit before nine,
(40:50):
and I would start editing, and I would try to
have my first video out by ten, because at ten
fifteen I was getting on my morning status call for
my full time job. And I was working these just
like crazy hours where I wasn't stopping. And like everybody,
you know, if you work in advertising or you work
in PR, you know how crazy the hours can be,
especially when you're in a client facing business. And I
was doing that full time while also running the Running
(41:13):
Interview Show and literally running the run Lily Show, and
oh god, I got so burnt out. And you know,
it was so nice when I was finally able to
go full time with the Running Interview Show and make
that my full time job. But when I was finally
able to bring on editors, I would have them say
to me like, how did you do this? And do
the show and do the interview prep and schedule all
the interviews and I'm like, I don't know how I
(41:34):
did it, but I just did. And now that I'm
able to like delegate it, it has made it so
much better because your business flourishes in a way that
you never thought it could. And yeah, it's a I
can relate to, getting really worn down and literally sick
working way too hard.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I know, there's this quote that's like, you know, people
that want to start their own business basically they want
to leave their nine to five to start at twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
It literally is that.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
But the goal is to be able to to you know,
find some success and then be able to hire a
great team that can do a lot of those tasks
for you. And yeah, I'm so blessed to have an
amazing team that makes it all possible.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You went from being in your videos to then removing
yourself from the videos being the person writing the scripts.
When did you decide kind of to stop putting yourself
in the videos? And was that a conscious decision to
kind of bring actors in and bring people in.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
I mean, in full transparency. You know, anyone who's a
successful creator, you have to really pay attention to your
video retention graphs and your analytics, and so I used
to pop on at the end of the videos and
tell a moral of the story. And when I started
looking at our retention graphs, as soon as I would
come on at the end and tell the moral, the
retention would fall sharply. So I would be lying if
(42:45):
I did not say that retention had something to do
with it. But you know, as time went on, I
realized that, hey, you know what, even if we lost
some retention, I could still be in the video at
the very end for a short amount of time. But more,
our stories are not about me, you know, And if
I am the person that is on camera, I think
(43:08):
certain people could be able to.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Relate to me.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Right, we all make we all have certain first impressions.
So I'm a big guy, right, I've got a beard
an Indian that relates to certain people, and that also
makes the stories kind of center around that. But if
I can remove myself from the content, then this becomes
not about me. This becomes about everybody. And we have
(43:33):
such a diverse group of actors and that has helped
us build such a global audience where a lot of
our community feels like they can really connect with somebody
that oftentimes looks like them or talks like them. So
for me at this stage, removing myself from the videos
(43:57):
was a more conscious decision about just having our storytelling
be even more universal and not about me.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
I think it's incredible. I think if you're able to
create and have the level of success as a creator
that you have without even being in the videos, I mean,
it's pretty amazing. You know, you are in all of
the thumbnails. And as we were running along the water,
we passed a group of kids that were probably in
high school and they start screaming. They're like, oh my god,
I watch his videos. So you still are so recognizable.
I think even by just having your face in the
(44:27):
thumbnailtbil little thumbnails, it's a lot of impressions, right, what
is the strategy behind the thumbnail and having yourself in
the bottom left.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
We spend so much time testing on packaging, you know,
so I don't know if you want to go into
a whole like crash course about thumbnail optimization, I do idea. Yeah, So,
you know, every single video we create, probably about twenty
different concepts now of what the packaging can look like.
Our thumbs kind of break all best practices as to
(44:58):
what you would think would work on YouTube where you
have big text on the thumbs, whereas like before us,
I never saw anybody doing that. But for some reason,
it just relates to our audience, and so every single
thing that you see on our thumbs was strategically tested.
They're often changing because of all the different tests that
(45:20):
we're running. But as we became more successful, there started
becoming a lot of copycats out there that were trying
to create similar videos to what we were, and since
my face is not in the actual videos, we needed
some way to differentiate what's a Dharman video versus someone
else's video. So that's when we started putting my face
(45:41):
on the dumbnail.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
For that reason.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, it's nicer than it just saying Darman because it's
like it's you, It's Derman.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
And it actually improves our click through rates by like
I don't know, by like three percent by having my
face on there. So yeah, there is a community that
looks for that face before clicking the dumbnail.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
So you went from doing endings where it was you talking,
doing a sign off, but then you guys switched it
to see you what is it? So you see so
you see Okay, so let's talk about so you see
how did that come to be?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Every time I would write a script, before we'd go
into some sort of emotional heavy flashback, it would always
start with that, you see.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
So you know.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
It's like, let's say that I'm a only child and
I find out that my parents have adopted a sibling
for me, and now I'm so upset that this sibling
is coming into our household and that's not even my
real sibling, you know. That's and I'm saying to my parents, like,
(46:47):
don't call her or him, like you know, your real
son or daughter, right, And then the parents look at
me and say, there's something that we have not told you.
It would start with that, you see, and then it
would explain to me that I'm actually adopted as well,
right Like it would be some shocking backstory, like for
(47:08):
a audience that they would not expect. And just every
time I would go into the flashback, it would start
with the U see, And then when we come out
of the flashback, it'd be so you see. And so
we'd get made fun of for that as to why
we couldn't come up with anything more original. So a
lot of the comments are like, does he not realize that,
(47:29):
he says you see in every single script or so
you see. And I decided to sort of lean into
it and I made merch out of it, and I
was like, this is going to be our tagline now,
so now people actually love it and if we don't
say it, they have a problem with it. So it
was like totally unexpected, but it ended up becoming one
(47:49):
of our taglines.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
So you see, the next time I'm in LA I
have to come and see the studios.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
You'd probably get a couple miles in just running through
all the sets.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
That would be so cool. Honest. Do you still have
the original sets?
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Yeah, original sets, original team, some of the original equipment,
the original scripts. Yeah, we're keeping it all we You know,
I got a gift for my birthday and it was
like a check that Walt Disney had signed, but it
was his signature, And I just can't help but think, like,
(48:34):
you know, when you're in your early days of working
on your dream, you never know what is going to
become like an important, important memorabilia or some artifact or
a part of history. So that's why I was saying,
even like take pictures, take videos, relish every part of
the journey. Don't take anything for granted, because for the
longest time I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm
(48:56):
such a small creator, you know, like this is embarrassing,
My setup is embarrassing, my equipment and is embarrassing. Honestly,
none of that stuff matters. What matters is like your story,
sharing that with the world, and later on when you
make it in life, you'll look back and be like, gosh,
like there was a magic in that low budget space
and that low budget equipment or not having any of
(49:18):
these things, that that's where the real magic happens.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
You know, you've mentioned Disney a few times throughout this
interview and on the run. What is it about Walt
Disney that you idolize so much and love?
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Oh my gosh, there's so many aspects. You know. He
had a tough childhood. Growing up.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He was very committed to his dream of building an
animation studio. He went bankrupt multiple times when trying to
start his business. Even when he came up with the
idea for Disneyland, he was denied by banks over a
hundred times.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
In the beginning.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
When he started making videos, there were actually only two
to three minute He can't even call him TV, you know, length,
like it was just two to three minute animations that.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
Would be pre rules before future.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Films, and so the the industry didn't take him serious
at all, right, Like they just thought this was some fun,
silly entertainment before like the real film started. So I
can really relate to kind of being the underdog in
a traditional industry that doesn't take you serious and kind
(50:30):
of dismisses you. I can also relate to the failure
aspect because I felt so many times in my life,
and you know, the only reason that I've been able
to find success is every time I've failed, I've just
kind of picked myself up and keep kept trying, and eventually,
you know, he got to future films. He put his
whole heart into I believe snow White was his first film,
(50:53):
and then after having some success, he found a team
to delegate making movies too while he went and focused
on his next vision, which was building Disneyland. So there's
just so many aspects that inspire me. But I would
say most of all when you go to Disneyland and
in LA I'm going to disney World for the next time,
(51:14):
for the first time next week with my kids. I'm
sorry side in Florida. Yeah, that's where I'm flying out
tomorrow morning. So it's really cool to be able to
have them experience, you know, the same stuff that I
got experienced as a child. But when you walk into Disneyland,
there's a statue of Walt holding Mickey Mouse's hand, and
all I can think of is like he had ideas
(51:35):
right in his lifetime that are continuing to still impact
and shape the childhood of people growing up one hundred
years after his death. Like, if that's not success, then
I don't know what is right. Like that would be
my ultimate dream that like, long after I'm gone, I'm
(51:56):
still continuing to inspire people through my works that I
had or through a team that I kind of laid
the foundation and continue to take things to the next level.
So there's lots of aspects about Disney Story that inspires me.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Again, I just love like hearing how your brain works.
You're such a visionary and you are so creative. What
do you feel like is next for you? Like is
there a massive project that you want to take on,
or a project even like years down the road from
now that you are like at some point I am
going to do that or I would like to do that.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
You know, when so many people get caught up in
the like what am I going to be like five
years from now? I just really take things like a
day at a time and see the things that excite
me and then am passionate about I know I shared
this story with you on our run, but when I
started making videos, I didn't, you know, plan on starting
(52:48):
a studio. I didn't plan on having two hundred employees
or one hundred thousand square footed studio space. I just
planned on helping someone. And you know what got me
through that self doubt that a lot of creator's face
when putting out their first video. I was worried what
people are going to think of me. I was worried
about being judged. I was worried about being in my
thirties and trying to start a career in social media.
(53:10):
Like all these things plagued my mind. But what drove
me was if there's that one person that has a
better day because they watched my video, that is reason
enough to put that video out there. And that is
still my north star. I still just think about how
can we impact that one person and the stories that
(53:33):
I hear when I meet people face to face that
have been impacted by the content. That's the most exciting
part by far about what I do. You know, I'm
so grateful to be at a place now where we
hired a CEO for you know, the first time last year.
He was like the former CEO of MTV, which was
(53:55):
like a network that I grew up watching. You know,
our head of production is now the person that was
a show that was the head of production for Beast Games,
or head of finance, like the person who ran Warner
Brothers like finances. So we have such an amazing team
and they're working all the time on so many new
exciting projects that I'm always just like, wow, I can't believe,
(54:19):
like so much is happening that I'm not directly involved
in now, but I would say, you know, stuff that
I know that's coming. We signed our first original content
deal with Samsung, and so you.
Speaker 3 (54:34):
Know, I'm not just a YouTuber now.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
For all theysayers that you know are like, oh, YouTubers
aren't to be taken seriously, but.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Yeah, so we have really quickly. Didn't YouTube just surpass
Netflix in terms of viewership? Is that?
Speaker 3 (54:48):
Yeah? It is true.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
I'm about thirteen percent of US households now watch YouTube
on their TVs compared to twelve percent for Netflix. So yeah,
YouTube is like that the new TV. And you know,
I think creators are still trying to find their place
in this world. And there's always the old guard versus
new guard, you know, type challenge that happens whenever you
(55:11):
have people that are changing old industry trends. But yeah,
so we've got our first originals deal that we just
signed with Samsung, so you're going to see brand new
Dharman videos that have never been seen before, exclusively on Samsung.
And then I have a podcast that I'm getting pretty
close on launching. I would love for you to be
a guest on my podcast. At some point, might scrap
(55:34):
the running part, but I don't know, we might keep
it in there.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
I would be honored only if we can do it
in the original school.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
So okay, yeah, we'll run up and down the hallways. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (55:43):
So there's my podcast, and then just trying to make
our videos better every single day, like that's really what
drives me.
Speaker 1 (55:51):
Yeah all right, Well my last question for you is
knowing what you know now, what is one thing that
you would tell your younger self.
Speaker 2 (55:59):
Oh gosh, this is a great question. It kind of
goes back to what I was describing earlier. I spent
so much my life trying to fit in with different groups.
I'd be so sad if I wasn't invited to certain
social events or certain activities. I felt like I was
too American for the Indians and too Indian for the Americans.
(56:23):
I was too progressive to be conservative. I was too
conservative to be progressive. Like I always just got caught
in trying to figure out what bucket I fit into.
But my ultimate power that I was able to unlock
is when I realized I don't need to fit into
any bucket. I can just be myself, and that's where
(56:44):
true success is. So for anyone that's struggling to find
their place in the world like I was for such
a long time, that place is where you are exactly
right now. You don't need to be anybody or not,
just be yourself.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
Thank you so much for being here today on Post
with Us. Your story is incredible.
Speaker 3 (57:02):
Thank you, This was so fun. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (57:04):
That's a wrap on today's episode. Huge. Thank you for
being here and for listening all the way through. If
this conversation with Dar resonated with you, it would mean
a lot if you took a moment to rate and
review the show and share it with a friend. Don't
forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel at kate max
where you can watch all the video versions of our
episodes and lastly, follow the show at post friend high
(57:25):
and me at Kate max on Instagram to stay up
to date on everything we have going on. We've got
more incredible guests and powerful stories coming your way. I'll
see you guys next week.
What is Up? Runner Gang, Welcome back to Post run High.
Today's episode is with YouTuber, entrepreneur and viral storyteller Darman.
He's the creator behind one of the most watched inspirational
content brands in the world, with over one hundred billion
views and more than sixty million followers across platforms. Star
is listed alongside mister Beast as one of the most
(00:24):
viewed creators on the Internet. And if you're new here,
this podcast is all about inspiring conversations that start with movement,
because we believe movement opens people up in wighs nothing
else does. And today we kick things off with a
rainy run through the streets of New York before sitting
down to chat. What makes Darman's story so powerful is
how it all started. He didn't grow up with a
production team or a clear roadmap, just a belief in
(00:46):
the power of storytelling to inspire change. In this episode,
we talk about it all growing up as the son
of immigrant parents, launching and losing businesses in his twenties,
and how we eventually built Darmond Studios from the ground
up through purpose driven content. This conversation speaks to the
power of resilience and never giving up. Before we dive in,
just a quick ask, if Post Run High has been
(01:08):
meaningful to you, please take a moment to leave a
review and share this episode with someone who could use
a little extra motivation today. All right, let's get our
post run high going. Darmont, welcome to Post run High.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Thanks, catch my breath, steale from our run. But that
was fun.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Darman and I just ran a couple of blocks around Brooklyn,
a couple miles a couple of miles. It was raining outside,
so we took it easy. But it was really nice
to get easy.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I was trying my hardest.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay, you did such a good job. Are you a runner?
Do you like to run?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I used to run a lot back in the day,
and then I don't know. As I got to my forties,
I stopped running as much. But I still love to
play like pick a ball, mountain biking, tennis, weightlifting, so
I love to stay active.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I feel like it's important. You live such a busy
life and you have this massive business that you run,
so I feel like your schedule is probably insane. So
how do you kind of carve out time to maybe
move your body or play pickleball with friends?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, So I like to combine, you know, different activities together.
So if I am like, if friends ask like, hey,
let's do dinner, I'll be like, can we go for
a walk instead, Can we go for a hike instead.
I try to just make spend time where you can
kind of hit multiple goals at once, where you can
(02:39):
work on like friendship, have fun, work on your fitness,
work on your finances. I don't know why every one
of those started with f that was just coincidence. So yeah,
it's one of those things that's like not in if
it's just an is like, you absolutely have to do
it to maintain you know, your health and mental well being.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So I love it. And the runners high is so real.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I can even see like a shift in our energy,
you know, from when I first walked in the studio
thirty minutes ago.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
So I love that feeling.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
We started running and Darmam was like, oh you really
like running, Kate, like I could tell this like got
you going, which it is so true. I feel like
anytime you pair like movement with being social, it leads
to just really good energy and good conversation. So yeah,
I love knowing that. I'm also such a productivity stacker,
and we were talking about productivity stacking. I just stole
that term from Darmat. He said it to me as
(03:28):
we were in the elevator. My favorite thing about being
in LA and being in New York, but not as
much as I like, cause I feel like LA is
just such an outdoorsy, active place is that ability to
go to the beach, go for a hike, and do
it with friends.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I get way more steps in when I'm in New York.
People in LA do not like to drive, I mean
do not like to walk. I'm always the one, the
crazy one that's like, guys, it's not that far, you know,
let's just walk there. So I don't know what it is,
but the walking culture is not that strong in LA.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
We are in New York. You're an LA boy. What
brings you to New York?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Youw I'm here to do this pod.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And you're accepting a Shorty award.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, I'm accepting a Shorty Award for Studio of the Year,
which is crazy because you know, when I started this
whole thing, like, I didn't even think I was building
a studio.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
I was just talking to camera, trying to help.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
People that were going through a tough time, and now
our seven year anniversary is coming up. I put out
my first video in twenty eighteen on my birthday, thinking
that because I was posting it on my birthday, I'd
get extra love and it would help it go viral.
But that video didn't even break one hundred views. So
now just seeing how far things have come, like within
(04:37):
seven years, Like you know, yesterday I was with the
CEO of YouTube, I'm meeting with different cmos for like
big brands. You know, we're getting invited to like award
shows and pressed opportunities, things that just never existed and
that are all coming to life now. So it's a surreal,
full circle type moment that I'm just very grateful for.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
One of the things that you just said there like
really gave me chills because it's only been seven years
and you're sitting down having conversations with the CEO of
YouTube and you're running a business that, as we mentioned
on the run, your videos are reaching over one hundred
and thirty six million people around the world in seven years,
and it all started with you sitting down in front
(05:18):
of your camera trying to just help people and spread
a little positivity and say you're not alone and what
you're going through.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I'm just so grateful to God, and like my life
was at such a low place, you know, Like anytime
I think about like the highs and the accolades and
the milestones, I don't know, my mind just immediately goes
back to like that struggle that I had when I
was in my small studio apartment, recording from my couch
with like no direction, no hope, no resources, no crew,
(05:46):
no industry connections, no experience. I was just a guy
with a camera and a story and a dream. So
I never lose sight of that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You know, that's like your core mission. And I think
it's cool that your mission has never changed, it's only
gotten bigger, and you've been able to explore it with
you know, more people kind of watching. I want you
to take us back and tell us a little bit
about your childhood. You know, what you were like growing up,
but your parents were like growing up?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So my parents came into this country gosh, what like
forty five years ago, the traditional American dream type story
that you hear, you know, like they came to this
country with seven dollars in their pocket. I used to
say eight dollars. My mom would get mad. You'd be like, no,
why do you say eight dollars? It was seven dollars
and we had to stretch a dollar a long way. Like,
(06:33):
you know, my earliest memories are growing up in an
apartment where there's three other families living in a one
bedroom apartment. Like we didn't have enough, like for instance,
like plates for everyone to be able to eat at
the same time. So I remember waiting around for others
to finish their food so I could have a plate
to actually get food, even though you know, we didn't
(06:54):
have much. I saw how hard my parents were working
because they had that hustle mentality and so so my
parents were both working at the bank. So my dad
found out from a friend who was driving a taxi
at the time that you can make a decent living
drive in a taxi. So all day he would work
at the bank. All night he would work driving a taxi.
He literally not sleep, or he'd sleep like in the
(07:16):
taxicab to try to get small naps in between. So
I just saw how hard they worked, and slow by slow,
my dad was eventually able to own his first car.
His first car, our family car, was a taxicab, so
everywhere I went, I would be driven in a taxicab.
My dad wore a turban and you know, has a
(07:36):
full beard. At that time in my childhood, I had
a turban as well, and there wasn't as much awareness
that existed around like racism and bullying and those types
of things. So my childhood was a little tough. You know,
my parents weren't aroald much. I was the only Indian
in my city outside of my brother. So when I
got to high school, it was just kind of a
(07:57):
lonely feeling because I went to a very racially segregated
schools where all of the like kinded cultures like sat together,
and I never really fully fit in with anyone, even
though I was so desperate, like for friendship and connection.
I spent a lot of my lunches in the bathroom stall,
just kind of hiding and waiting for lunch to be
(08:19):
over with or with my teachers. So while most people
kind of waited for like recess and lunch, I dreaded
it because I just didn't have like a lot of friends.
But you know, I had a hard work ethic ever
since I was young, and I would say I didn't
really start to like come out of my shell until
I was in college. But I've always been very entrepreneurial
(08:42):
just seeing my parents, Like I've you know, started every
kind of business that you can imagine. I started my
first business in fifth grade, like selling baseball cards and
you know, magazine subscriptions, and as I got older in college,
I started a real estate company. When I was nineteen
years old, I bought my first house. Like I was
(09:04):
someone who I was worked very hard, but I felt
kind of lost in some ways too, where I was
trying to find my purpose in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
What do you feel like were some of the values
that your parents instilled in you when you were younger
that you think are still there today.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, I always felt conflicted, Like I don't know how
many people listening in this can relate where you're kind
of torn between two cultures. So my value system was
very different, right, Like I had the Indian values from
my parents, like they only speak Punjabi or native language
like at home with me, and so you know, it's
(09:40):
a little bit more conservative, right, like much more spiritual, religious,
superstitious in some ways. And then there's American culture, right
and for American culture, which was like much more progressive,
open minded, valued the self a little bit more than
the individual versus like the familymen's like that Indian culture
(10:01):
comes from. I never fully fit into either one of those,
and I struggled for a long time. So when I
had a turban, I got made fun of constantly at school.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I'd even get beat up.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I'd get you know, every kind of racial slur that
you can imagine. So I was too Indian to fit
in with the American kids. And then one day I
decided my parents saw how bad I was getting bullied
and allowed me to cut my hair. And so when
I cut my hair and I started going to Indian
functions or like our temple or something, all of a sudden,
(10:34):
I was too American to fit in with the Indians.
So I never quite felt like I found my place
with either, you know, community. I always felt like an outcast,
feeling a lot of shame, just like you're letting everyone down,
you know, Like I constantly felt like a black sheep
and here I am, like, you know, being a YouTuber,
like in a conservative Indian family, right Like that did
(10:57):
not go well for the longest time.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
You know, I just.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Kept thinking, like, why don't I belong in one of
these groups, right, like what is wrong with me? And
ironically I kind of went to social media because I
was searching for a connection, Like I didn't really have
that many friends, so I thought, oh, well, maybe if
I've become popular on social media, like this will be
a way for me to build a community and build friendships.
(11:22):
But you know, it wasn't until I got older where
I realized that, hey, you know what, I actually don't
need to.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Fit into any bucket.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I've been my whole life trying to fit in when
I was born to stand out, right. So once I
came to that realization that I could just be me,
and you know, pathways would open, doorways would open, people
would accept me as long as I'm my authentic self.
That's when this heavy burden that's just been on my shoulders,
(11:56):
like since childhood, of like searching for my place in
the world was lifted, and I was like, Wow, it's
such a freeing experience when you can just embrace who
you are and not worry so much about what others
are going to think of you, or how they're judging you,
or how you're not living this certain people's expectations it's
(12:18):
a very freeing feeling.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Being introverted is a common experience that you hear from creators, right,
Like you ask a lot of creators were you extroverted
growing up? Like did that make you like have the
confidence to start posting online? And sometimes it's like actually
the opposite, where it's like these people were like looking
for community and wanted to find their place, so they
put themselves out there and found community through it. So absolutely,
(12:48):
let's go to Darman's studios. In twenty eighteen, you posted
your first video and that video is called before Deciding
to give Up on your goals, and in it you
quoted success on the persistent. So what does that quote
mean to you now? And what is it like when
you go back and you watch that video.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
You know what's ironic about this whole thing is so
I've spent a lot of my life just giving up
on stuff too soon, you know. And I think we
live in a society today where everybody wants like fast success,
and we're constantly inundated by people seeing people living well
(13:29):
on social media, and we want to get there fast.
We want to be that success story. So I know
a lot of like young men, especially like suffer from
that right of like trying to find the quickest pathway
to success versus building something that is sustainable for the
long run. So you know, throughout my life, I was
(13:49):
always starting over. I whatever business I was in, I
would try it for a year. As soon as it
wouldn't work out, I would move on to the next thing.
If I was in a relationship, as soon as it
got hard, I was moving on to the next relationship.
So I found myself just always starting over in my life.
And the first time that I ever stuck to anything
(14:11):
was this studio. And that's made all the difference, because
regardless of where you are in your life, like whatever
dream it is that you're chasing, or whatever goal that
you have, whether that's fitness, whether that's finances, whether that's family,
it takes persistence. Like these things don't just fall into place,
they don't just happen on their own. They're really hard,
(14:33):
and I think, you know, we live in a world
today where people just kind of think as soon as
things get hard, move on, like, go find something else,
Go find something that's better. But the real magic is
staying in that place and trying to make it better,
trying to shape it better. So the ironic part about
all this is when I was recording that first video,
(14:55):
I was having such a hard time being myself because
I was still in that like old mentality a little bit.
So when I was speaking to camera, I had my
wife there and I had my one employee, Reuben, who's
still with us today, and they would say, just talk
normally because I was talking so stiff, so robotic. I
(15:17):
was trying to say things perfect. I was trying to
like look a certain way, be a certain way. And
when they'd say be yourself, I was like, I don't
know how. I don't know who myself actually is. And
our very first video, even though it was scripted, I
was reading from a teleprompter. It was only three minutes long.
(15:38):
It took me over a thousand takes to do, like
I'm not even kidding you, and I thought so many
times to give up. But ironically, the topic of the
video was about not giving up. So I kept thinking
(15:58):
that I have to listen to the words that I'm
saying right because I was ultimately trying to give advice
to the world. That was the advice that I needed
to hear. So because of the topic and those quotes
and such. I kept pushing through and video after video,
(16:18):
you know, every single week, I kept putting out until
one ended up going viral. But ironically, and I don't
know if you want to get into this or not,
but the video that ended up going viral was supposed
to be the last video that I ever posted, because
I had decided to give up a day before posting
that video.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Wow. I mean, if that's not a sign from above,
I don't know what is. What was the topic of
that video.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I had been creating content for a few months, and
I had this was a part time thing, right, Like,
it was a passion project that I was doing at night.
So all day I was running my day job and
then at night I was creating content.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
So I had no.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Time for my relationship. I had no time for social life.
I had no time for any of my goals. I
was just working so much, and it wasn't getting traction, right, Like,
none of my videos were breaking, you know, even a
thousand views at that time. And this is a few
months in, so I'm struggling, you know, with like deciding
(17:22):
if this is worth it? Did I kind of choose
like the wrong project because I wanted to inspire people.
I wanted to help people that were going through a
tough time. I was very dedicated to that mission, but
I was thinking, maybe there's some other way that I'm
meant to fulfill that calling, through books or through blogging
or something else. So I started thinking the video thing
isn't going to work out for me. So I tell
(17:44):
my wife, I, you know, I'm like, hey, I don't know,
I'm second guessing this. She's very supportive, so she's like, no,
just keep at it, keep at it. And after telling
her for a long time that I'm struggling with this,
finally we agree that the next video I host is
gonna be my last video, and you could schedule videos
(18:06):
to go live at a certain time. Right. So the
night before I tell her this is it, I'm scheduling
my last video. You know, this dream is over kind
of a thing. I go to bed that night. I
wake up in the morning and she's shaking me, like
to wake up. She's like, tar, wake up, and I'm like,
(18:27):
what's going on? You know, I'm like rub my eyes
slowly waking up, and she goes, that video you posted
it's going viral. So sure enough, the last video I
ever ended up, but I ever planned on posting was
the one that went viral, and that video went on
to get over two hundred million views. And you know,
(18:49):
the question that keeps me up at night is what
if I decided to give up one video before, right,
I wouldn't have had millions of followers, it wouldn't have
gotten billions of views. More importantly, it wouldn't have impacted
people all over the world, and none of this would
(19:09):
have happened. And the reason that I share that story
is that you never know how close you are from success.
So many people have dreams, they have goals that they're
very excited about, and in the beginning, you know, you're
fueled by passion and excitement. But at certain point things
get tough and so a lot of people end up
(19:31):
giving up too soon. But you never know when that
one call is going to come, when that one door
is going to open for you, when that one video
is going to go viral, that can change your whole
life trajectory. So don't give up on your dreams, because
you never know how close you are from making it big.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
On that note, A, we need to shout out Laura,
because there's nothing like having a supportive partner that is
pushing you. That is a part of your business. That
is like, baby, you were going to do this and
it's going to work, and then it's waking you up
in the morning being like it worked. You know, there's
just nothing better than winning with, you know, the person
that you're building your life with. Absolutely, I want to
ask you're doing it, which I am doing as well. Yes,
(20:13):
shout out Jeremy, who was sitting literally right there. If
you could rewind it back then in that mindset, in
your gut, you know, even when you had made the
decision to say, Okay, this is going to be my
last video, did in your gut did you almost feel
like you were letting yourself down by that being your
last video? In your mind? You know, did you know
what was going to work out for you?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's a great question. So I did experiment with that video.
I will just kind of tell you this origin story
really quick, because you did ask me what that video
was about and I didn't explain. So at that time,
I was just talking to camera and I would tell advice, right,
So the visuals you would see is just me on camera.
(20:56):
And so before I decided to make that last video,
I was writing my script that I was going to say.
I used to write my scripts on little napkins at
the time, and I covered different topics in my video.
So some of them are on relationships, appreciation, kindness, you know, manifestation,
all kinds of different topics that inspire people. So this
(21:18):
particular video was about how cheating can happen in relationships
with relatively innocent acts. So what I was writing is
that there was a husband who was liking his who
comes across his ex girlfriend's posts on Facebook and he
decides to like it, right while his wife is in
(21:41):
the kitchen with her back to him, cooking him dinner.
And so the whole storyline was going to be it
kind of starts off with him liking this post, then
it becomes a conversation between them, right, And so this
was the story I was going to tell. As I'm
writing this on a napkin, I look over in my
kitchen and my brother in law happened to be visiting me,
(22:03):
and he was sitting in a stool on Facebook, scrolling
his phone, and in front of him was one of
my wife's friends who happened to be cooking something in
the kitchen with her back to him, and I was like,
oh my gosh, if this is not like manifestation and
you know, serendipity, like I don't know what is. So
(22:26):
I come up to him and I'm like, are you
okay with being in this video?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I asked her and they're like, well, what do
you need us to do? Sure?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I was like, just stay exactly where you are, don't move,
don't do anything. And so they just stay in their
current spot. And then I call Reuben, the person, the
one employee who was operating like the cameras, I say,
come film this. So he's filming them just doing what
they're doing while I'm narrating this story. So ironically, I
(22:56):
didn't know. I had no film experience, right Like, I
never intended to create a studio. I never thought I
would be producing, you know, three to four hours of
premium scripted content a week, like right like, I was
just a guy trying to inspire people through things I
had been through tough times in my life, and so
(23:19):
that was you know, I had no live action experience,
Like I didn't even know what a live action film was.
It was shot on an iPhone, it was shot in
my apartment.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
My actors was my.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Brother in law, like zero clue what I was doing,
and that was the video that ended up going viral.
So it was just again it was ironic how it
all happened. But to answer your question, I think every
person feels like they're meant to do something with their life,
you know, like I've never met someone who's like, I
(23:52):
have no dreams, like I don't want to do anything,
Like I'm not meant to do anything with my life,
right like everybody has, I'm sort of calling in their heart.
And I've always felt some deep connection with trying to
help people, and I found myself like in that role
even as even when I was younger in life, like
I was just that guy that people would come to
(24:13):
for advice, and whenever I would give advice, people would
say like, hey, your advice really helped me get through
this tough time. So I always knew that my calling
was going to be helping people in this world. I
just didn't know how to go about it. So I
wish I could say I had some magic ball where
I knew if I said, you know, this is going
to be my last video, I was somehow putting it
(24:35):
into the world where it's like, God, please make this
go viral. I'm putting it out there. It wasn't planned
like that. I honestly would have given up on videos
if that hadn't worked out, but I never would have
given up on my dream to continue to try to
help people in other ways.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
And it's amazing that almost by chance, that was kind
of your entry way into scripted video content, right where
you're telling stories with actors, And at what point did
you go from you being the narrator to then having
other people acting out the scenes.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
That was the turning that was, Yeah, that was the
eureka moment again, the moment I didn't know that that
was a live action film. Again, Like I didn't even
know how we were describing, how to describe what we
were doing right, Again, this is just something that it
was like, you know, lightning in a bottle that we
just happened to stumble upon. But after that experience, yeah,
(25:31):
that's when I decided that there's clearly something that is
working here. And that's any creator, any entrepreneur. You know,
you're always experimenting and pivoting and then you you know,
figure out something that works and then you realize like
this is the new direction. So as we started finding
success from there started We're still shooting everything in my
(25:55):
apartment for the first couple of years. We I think
for our first two years, we were a three person team.
There's a magic in three people teams. I was writing everything,
and then I had a director who would also shoot, edit, color, score, VFX,
everything that's ruben. And then I had a producer who
also ran sound on set. So it stayed like that,
(26:18):
you know, for the first couple of years. As we
started putting out videos consistently, and then we started learning
what was working. It was sort of that combination between
entertainment and education because these videos were entertaining, but they
were also teaching a positive lesson. So that was a
secret to our virality. A lot of people would share
(26:41):
our videos with someone who they thought could benefit from
learning this lesson, or they'd say, hey, this is a
conversation we were talking about on why you shouldn't give
up on your dreams. You know, I know you've been
thinking about this, so watch this video. This might inspire
you to keep going, or this might inspire you to
reconnect with your father who you've lost touch with, or
to fix that problem in your relationship that you've been
(27:03):
struggling with. And then we built an amazing community because
there wasn't really a place that you could go to
find positive content where the good person always want in
the end. And there's a certain comfort in that in
knowing that, like a lot of people that watch our videos,
they deal with anxiety, and they say that watching our
videos actually helps to ease their anxiety because even though
(27:27):
it's somewhat of a predictable outcome, they know that there's
a positive ending and the good person wins in the end.
And so as we continue to build that community, I
think by our second year, we became the number one
creator on Facebook. Our third year, we became the number
two YouTuber on the platform, as declared by YouTube.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Alongside mister bast to be clear, like this is this
is it's so nuts. You know, I can't believe I'm
sitting down.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
With you like it's cool. Oh my god, you're so sweet.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
No, I know the guests that you've had, I'm definitely
a fish compared to other folks that you've had.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Big fish, big fish.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So yeah, you know, it just all started coming together
as soon as we built that community that really understood
the mission, and I think they really felt connected because
I shared my personal story of the struggles that I
went through, the lessons that I learned, and I took
people on that journey with me. So yeah, it just
ended up taking off.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
At what point did you go from a three person
team to scaling into what you guys have now? Your
company is almost challenging traditional Hollywood studios.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
My very first month that I was accepted into like
the Facebook monetization program, I was still confused as to
what it was because a few months in of creating
content and having viral videos start to come out, I
didn't know that you can make money from this. I
didn't understand why people put out viral videos, right. I
just thought it was the same reason that I was,
(29:02):
because they had a mission. And then I get a
little notification one day that's like, you're eligible for Facebook's
monetization program. Do you want to turn it on? And
I'm like, I guess, Like, you know, I didn't want
them to like suppress my videos because it didn't earn
the platform any money, So I only turned it on
for that reason. And the first month I think I
(29:23):
made like one hundred and twenty dollars or something. So
I was like, Okay, you know, this isn't anything that
is going to change my life or like pay for
the bills. So I just decided never to look at
it again. And so, you know, a couple months go
by and I'm not paying attention, but I am looking
at my bank account and there's this month that like
(29:43):
a you know, like a four thousand dollars deposit comes in,
and then like a seven thousand dollars deposit the next month,
and then a ten thousand dollars deposit, and then a
twenty thousand dollars deposit, and I'm like every month the
numbers are getting bigger. And then I was like, oh
my gosh, guys, like there's action really a business here,
like you can actually generate revenue. And for me, it
(30:05):
wasn't like, oh my gosh, I can make all this money.
It was like, I can grow this, I can impact
more people, I can grow my team. And at that point,
we were running the business from my apartment, so I
was running a cosmetics company during the daytime, and so
my kitchen was like the office where everyone was working.
(30:27):
My living room was like where we had all of
our ring lights, my bedroom was where all of our
storage was for all of our boxes. I got like
asthma because there was so much dust all the time.
The hallway to walk to the elevator was our fulfillment center,
so we actually had people packaging products and stuff in there.
(30:47):
And this was like a twenty four to seven operation.
My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, you know,
we didn't even have our own restroom, right, we didn't
even have like our own fridge. So like we'd walk
into the frie and like my wife would go for
her dinner and it was eden, you know, we'd go,
like she'd go to use the toilet, and the toilet
he was always up. And like just all these hardships
(31:08):
of trying to work, you know, live and work from
your place at nighttime. When we were filming our content,
every one of the rooms in the apartment became our
film sets, and so our dining room became a restaurant,
our bedroom became a patient hospital room. Everything you could
(31:29):
imagine took place in our apartment. So it was stressful.
I wanted to start renting outside locations because we were
actually starting to generate some revenue, but then COVID hit
and so you couldn't rent any sets. And that was
the moment where I had to decide should we actually
(31:50):
get a studio and try to build our own sets,
which I had no knowledge of, or should we continue
running things in my apartment. And even though I didn't
have the funds, you know, to start a studio, I
found this gym that was going out of business because
again it was COVID, and they were looking to sublease
(32:11):
their space, and it was about you know, the building
was about thirty thousand square feet, so it was way
too big for what I needed for my sets. But
I thought maybe if I could take like some small
portion of that space for myself, we could run the
cosmetics company from there, and then I could sublease like
to like four or five other tenants like the rest
(32:33):
of the space. Maybe we could make rent work. So
I took a leap of faith and decided to commit
to a building that I knew I could not afford
at that time, just hoping that everything worked out. So
we got the building, then I needed the sets. I
had no idea how to build sets, how much sets cost.
So you know, it turns out there's a whole industry
(32:55):
around this, especially in La. So we got some bids
to build the sixth sets that I thought I was
going to be able to fill in my space. I
look at the total and I'm like, that is like
three times more money than the amount that I have
in my bank account. Like there was absolutely no way
that I could build six sets. So I was like,
(33:17):
all right, what are the three cheapest sets that we
can build? And they're like, it's a low income apartment
and a high income apartment, and a school because school
is relatively simple. Some lockers, some desks, and I was like,
all right, we'll just build the three cheapest sets.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
So that's all we had.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I literally spent every dollar on building those sets, and
at this time all my traction was on Facebook. Still
I wasn't getting any views on YouTube, so I couldn't
really break like a thousand views for my first couple
of years of posting on YouTube. So after those sets
were done, now we have these sets, I had to
write stories that took place in these sets.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
And since I.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Had the school, I was like, oh, okay, well, I
guess I have to write school based stories. But the
audience on Facebook isn't going to care about school based stories.
That's mainly like older people on Facebook. So I wrote
these like school based dramas. I didn't think that they
were going to perform very well, and they didn't. They
flopped on Facebook, but they took off on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
And every time we posted a new school based video,
my social team would be like that videos number one
on YouTube is breaking a record, is breaking a record,
And all I could say is like, oh, who cares
about YouTube? Like I'm focused on Facebook. But after doing
that consistently enough and our YouTube started taking off, that's
when my eyes opened as to you know, young people
(34:43):
are on YouTube, there's no content that really exists like this,
and YouTube you actually have the ability to build a
real community. Because everywhere I was going, even though I
had way more viewership on Facebook than YouTube, people were
telling me I watch you on YouTube. I watch you
on YouTube. So I'm like, wow, that community impact is
(35:04):
so strong. So after our YouTube started taking off, that's
when I was like, all right, we need to expand
this whole thing. You know, how far can this go?
We started growing our team and within I would say,
one year of us getting that first building, not only
(35:25):
do we build out the whole studio for ourselves and
we built like twenty five sound stages within that building.
We ended up getting the two buildings next door as well,
and we got up to now over one hundred thousand
square feet. We have about one hundred film sets, and
fast forward to today. You know, we started with three
to four minute videos a week. Now we're putting out
(35:48):
three to four hours of premium scripted content. We have
about two hundred team members. You know, we employ about
fifteen hundred plus actors a year. It's been incredible, just
like how far things have come in such a short
amount of time.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
People's jaws must be on the floor listening to this
right now because it is so wild and it's just
so cool hearing kind of how your mind works.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
It is like this creative dream for me to walk
around seeing all these like people that are inspired, that
are mission motivated, that are super creative, and filmmakers and
storytellers now being able to create content that exists without me.
In the beginning, I wrote every single script. So I
(36:35):
wrote almost two thousand scripts. You know, in seven years.
That's a lot of scripts. Whereas like if you ask
somebody in the traditional you know, media world, right to
be able to write like twelve episodes in a season
like once a year or something is a lot. But
the you know, the amount of work that we put
(36:55):
in was like insane. And now that the team is scared,
I'm actually no longer involved in the writing anymore, so
I can focus on other projects that are more like
personal passion projects.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
But to see, like, it's almost.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Like watching your child grow and like, you know, start
to become an adult. And I haven't experienced that yet
because my kids are young, but that's what I imagine.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
This is your baby, it is it is it's your
first child. Are there rules that you have built into
your stories and for the writers that come on and
join your team that the team abides by to make
it a Darman video.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
So no cussing, no swearing, we don't talk religion, we
don't talk politics, we don't do anything that's controversial. Everything
has to be mission based. So these are just the
values that live within every one of our videos. And
I would say that is our brand standard. So even
when Disney, you know, acquires Star Wars or Marvel or Pixar,
(37:58):
there's certain things that just need to meet the Disney standard.
And so even as we start to expand and look
at new genres and new different types of content formats
that we go into. Those brand values always stay the same.
But yeah, it was kind of ironic.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Again.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Sorry, There's so many things that were just ironic in
my life, and that's why I'm just so grateful, because honestly,
I was the underdog that never thought that, you know,
I would get anywhere, like very far in my life,
and it's amazing just being here at this stage of
my journey now.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
But the way that I started.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Delegating things, because I know every creator goes through this challenge,
every manager, every founder is it didn't happen on purpose.
It happened me because I got sick and I was
working insane hours where I was staying up like all night,
not sleeping, neglecting my health, neglecting everything. Again, just like
(38:56):
a lot of people that are hustling hard and trying
to make it. I would literally drink energy drinks in
bed and chase it with coffee to stay up longer
so I could write more scripts. It wasn't very healthy,
and then I ended up developing panic attacks and my
health got so bad that a doctor told me I
(39:17):
have to stop working so much, and I have to
focus on my health. So that's what it took, literally
a wake up call from a doctor saying you're not
going to live much longer if you continue down this
path for me to say that I have to let
go of creative control in some aspects, yeah, because it's
not sustainable, Like I will kill myself literally if I
(39:40):
continue down this path. So that forced my hand to
let go of the reins a little bit, and that
ended up being the best decision that I ever made
because ultimately allowed all these other very talented, capable people
to really spread their wings and reached their full potential.
(40:03):
And you know, it took a little bit for them
to kind of get things down and understand like my
vision and my voice, but after some time, I truly
believe that they're even better storytellers than I am, and
more capable than me. So yeah, so it's an amazing feeling.
It wasn't by choice that I started like backing, it
(40:24):
started delegating.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was like, yeah, I was compelled.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
By I mean, I share that story completely on a
much smaller scale. But when I first started my running
interview show, I was working a full time job in advertising,
and I was waking up every single morning at six am,
sometimes earlier, filming the first episode around six thirty with
a guest. I'd meet them on the West Side Highway
in New York, and then I would film the second
episode right after I would go home, try to be
home by like eight thirty, a little bit before nine,
(40:50):
and I would start editing, and I would try to
have my first video out by ten, because at ten
fifteen I was getting on my morning status call for
my full time job. And I was working these just
like crazy hours where I wasn't stopping. And like everybody,
you know, if you work in advertising or you work
in PR, you know how crazy the hours can be,
especially when you're in a client facing business. And I
was doing that full time while also running the Running
(41:13):
Interview Show and literally running the run Lily Show, and
oh god, I got so burnt out. And you know,
it was so nice when I was finally able to
go full time with the Running Interview Show and make
that my full time job. But when I was finally
able to bring on editors, I would have them say
to me like, how did you do this? And do
the show and do the interview prep and schedule all
the interviews and I'm like, I don't know how I
(41:34):
did it, but I just did. And now that I'm
able to like delegate it, it has made it so
much better because your business flourishes in a way that
you never thought it could. And yeah, it's a I
can relate to, getting really worn down and literally sick
working way too hard.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I know, there's this quote that's like, you know, people
that want to start their own business basically they want
to leave their nine to five to start at twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
It literally is that.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
But the goal is to be able to to you know,
find some success and then be able to hire a
great team that can do a lot of those tasks
for you. And yeah, I'm so blessed to have an
amazing team that makes it all possible.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
You went from being in your videos to then removing
yourself from the videos being the person writing the scripts.
When did you decide kind of to stop putting yourself
in the videos? And was that a conscious decision to
kind of bring actors in and bring people in.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
I mean, in full transparency. You know, anyone who's a
successful creator, you have to really pay attention to your
video retention graphs and your analytics, and so I used
to pop on at the end of the videos and
tell a moral of the story. And when I started
looking at our retention graphs, as soon as I would
come on at the end and tell the moral, the
retention would fall sharply. So I would be lying if
(42:45):
I did not say that retention had something to do
with it. But you know, as time went on, I
realized that, hey, you know what, even if we lost
some retention, I could still be in the video at
the very end for a short amount of time. But more,
our stories are not about me, you know, And if
I am the person that is on camera, I think
(43:08):
certain people could be able to.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Relate to me.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Right, we all make we all have certain first impressions.
So I'm a big guy, right, I've got a beard
an Indian that relates to certain people, and that also
makes the stories kind of center around that. But if
I can remove myself from the content, then this becomes
not about me. This becomes about everybody. And we have
(43:33):
such a diverse group of actors and that has helped
us build such a global audience where a lot of
our community feels like they can really connect with somebody
that oftentimes looks like them or talks like them. So
for me at this stage, removing myself from the videos
(43:57):
was a more conscious decision about just having our storytelling
be even more universal and not about me.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
I think it's incredible. I think if you're able to
create and have the level of success as a creator
that you have without even being in the videos, I mean,
it's pretty amazing. You know, you are in all of
the thumbnails. And as we were running along the water,
we passed a group of kids that were probably in
high school and they start screaming. They're like, oh my god,
I watch his videos. So you still are so recognizable.
I think even by just having your face in the
(44:27):
thumbnailtbil little thumbnails, it's a lot of impressions, right, what
is the strategy behind the thumbnail and having yourself in
the bottom left.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
We spend so much time testing on packaging, you know,
so I don't know if you want to go into
a whole like crash course about thumbnail optimization, I do idea. Yeah, So,
you know, every single video we create, probably about twenty
different concepts now of what the packaging can look like.
Our thumbs kind of break all best practices as to
(44:58):
what you would think would work on YouTube where you
have big text on the thumbs, whereas like before us,
I never saw anybody doing that. But for some reason,
it just relates to our audience, and so every single
thing that you see on our thumbs was strategically tested.
They're often changing because of all the different tests that
(45:20):
we're running. But as we became more successful, there started
becoming a lot of copycats out there that were trying
to create similar videos to what we were, and since
my face is not in the actual videos, we needed
some way to differentiate what's a Dharman video versus someone
else's video. So that's when we started putting my face
(45:41):
on the dumbnail.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
For that reason.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, it's nicer than it just saying Darman because it's
like it's you, It's Derman.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
And it actually improves our click through rates by like
I don't know, by like three percent by having my
face on there. So yeah, there is a community that
looks for that face before clicking the dumbnail.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
So you went from doing endings where it was you talking,
doing a sign off, but then you guys switched it
to see you what is it? So you see so
you see Okay, so let's talk about so you see
how did that come to be?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Every time I would write a script, before we'd go
into some sort of emotional heavy flashback, it would always
start with that, you see.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
So you know.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
It's like, let's say that I'm a only child and
I find out that my parents have adopted a sibling
for me, and now I'm so upset that this sibling
is coming into our household and that's not even my
real sibling, you know. That's and I'm saying to my parents, like,
(46:47):
don't call her or him, like you know, your real
son or daughter, right, And then the parents look at
me and say, there's something that we have not told you.
It would start with that, you see, and then it
would explain to me that I'm actually adopted as well,
right Like it would be some shocking backstory, like for
(47:08):
a audience that they would not expect. And just every
time I would go into the flashback, it would start
with the U see, And then when we come out
of the flashback, it'd be so you see. And so
we'd get made fun of for that as to why
we couldn't come up with anything more original. So a
lot of the comments are like, does he not realize that,
(47:29):
he says you see in every single script or so
you see. And I decided to sort of lean into
it and I made merch out of it, and I
was like, this is going to be our tagline now,
so now people actually love it and if we don't
say it, they have a problem with it. So it
was like totally unexpected, but it ended up becoming one
(47:49):
of our taglines.
Speaker 1 (47:51):
So you see, the next time I'm in LA I
have to come and see the studios.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
You'd probably get a couple miles in just running through
all the sets.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
That would be so cool. Honest. Do you still have
the original sets?
Speaker 2 (48:12):
Yeah, original sets, original team, some of the original equipment,
the original scripts. Yeah, we're keeping it all we You know,
I got a gift for my birthday and it was
like a check that Walt Disney had signed, but it
was his signature, And I just can't help but think, like,
(48:34):
you know, when you're in your early days of working
on your dream, you never know what is going to
become like an important, important memorabilia or some artifact or
a part of history. So that's why I was saying,
even like take pictures, take videos, relish every part of
the journey. Don't take anything for granted, because for the
longest time I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm
(48:56):
such a small creator, you know, like this is embarrassing,
My setup is embarrassing, my equipment and is embarrassing. Honestly,
none of that stuff matters. What matters is like your story,
sharing that with the world, and later on when you
make it in life, you'll look back and be like, gosh,
like there was a magic in that low budget space
and that low budget equipment or not having any of
(49:18):
these things, that that's where the real magic happens.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
You know, you've mentioned Disney a few times throughout this
interview and on the run. What is it about Walt
Disney that you idolize so much and love?
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Oh my gosh, there's so many aspects. You know. He
had a tough childhood. Growing up.
Speaker 2 (49:37):
He was very committed to his dream of building an
animation studio. He went bankrupt multiple times when trying to
start his business. Even when he came up with the
idea for Disneyland, he was denied by banks over a
hundred times.
Speaker 3 (49:55):
In the beginning.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
When he started making videos, there were actually only two
to three minute He can't even call him TV, you know, length,
like it was just two to three minute animations that.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
Would be pre rules before future.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Films, and so the the industry didn't take him serious
at all, right, Like they just thought this was some fun,
silly entertainment before like the real film started. So I
can really relate to kind of being the underdog in
a traditional industry that doesn't take you serious and kind
(50:30):
of dismisses you. I can also relate to the failure
aspect because I felt so many times in my life,
and you know, the only reason that I've been able
to find success is every time I've failed, I've just
kind of picked myself up and keep kept trying, and eventually,
you know, he got to future films. He put his
whole heart into I believe snow White was his first film,
(50:53):
and then after having some success, he found a team
to delegate making movies too while he went and focused
on his next vision, which was building Disneyland. So there's
just so many aspects that inspire me. But I would
say most of all when you go to Disneyland and
in LA I'm going to disney World for the next time,
(51:14):
for the first time next week with my kids. I'm
sorry side in Florida. Yeah, that's where I'm flying out
tomorrow morning. So it's really cool to be able to
have them experience, you know, the same stuff that I
got experienced as a child. But when you walk into Disneyland,
there's a statue of Walt holding Mickey Mouse's hand, and
all I can think of is like he had ideas
(51:35):
right in his lifetime that are continuing to still impact
and shape the childhood of people growing up one hundred
years after his death. Like, if that's not success, then
I don't know what is right. Like that would be
my ultimate dream that like, long after I'm gone, I'm
(51:56):
still continuing to inspire people through my works that I
had or through a team that I kind of laid
the foundation and continue to take things to the next level.
So there's lots of aspects about Disney Story that inspires me.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Again, I just love like hearing how your brain works.
You're such a visionary and you are so creative. What
do you feel like is next for you? Like is
there a massive project that you want to take on,
or a project even like years down the road from
now that you are like at some point I am
going to do that or I would like to do that.
Speaker 3 (52:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
You know, when so many people get caught up in
the like what am I going to be like five
years from now? I just really take things like a
day at a time and see the things that excite
me and then am passionate about I know I shared
this story with you on our run, but when I
started making videos, I didn't, you know, plan on starting
(52:48):
a studio. I didn't plan on having two hundred employees
or one hundred thousand square footed studio space. I just
planned on helping someone. And you know what got me
through that self doubt that a lot of creator's face
when putting out their first video. I was worried what
people are going to think of me. I was worried
about being judged. I was worried about being in my
thirties and trying to start a career in social media.
(53:10):
Like all these things plagued my mind. But what drove
me was if there's that one person that has a
better day because they watched my video, that is reason
enough to put that video out there. And that is
still my north star. I still just think about how
can we impact that one person and the stories that
(53:33):
I hear when I meet people face to face that
have been impacted by the content. That's the most exciting
part by far about what I do. You know, I'm
so grateful to be at a place now where we
hired a CEO for you know, the first time last year.
He was like the former CEO of MTV, which was
(53:55):
like a network that I grew up watching. You know,
our head of production is now the person that was
a show that was the head of production for Beast Games,
or head of finance, like the person who ran Warner
Brothers like finances. So we have such an amazing team
and they're working all the time on so many new
exciting projects that I'm always just like, wow, I can't believe,
(54:19):
like so much is happening that I'm not directly involved
in now, but I would say, you know, stuff that
I know that's coming. We signed our first original content
deal with Samsung, and so you.
Speaker 3 (54:34):
Know, I'm not just a YouTuber now.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
For all theysayers that you know are like, oh, YouTubers
aren't to be taken seriously, but.
Speaker 1 (54:42):
Yeah, so we have really quickly. Didn't YouTube just surpass
Netflix in terms of viewership? Is that?
Speaker 3 (54:48):
Yeah? It is true.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
I'm about thirteen percent of US households now watch YouTube
on their TVs compared to twelve percent for Netflix. So yeah,
YouTube is like that the new TV. And you know,
I think creators are still trying to find their place
in this world. And there's always the old guard versus
new guard, you know, type challenge that happens whenever you
(55:11):
have people that are changing old industry trends. But yeah,
so we've got our first originals deal that we just
signed with Samsung, so you're going to see brand new
Dharman videos that have never been seen before, exclusively on Samsung.
And then I have a podcast that I'm getting pretty
close on launching. I would love for you to be
a guest on my podcast. At some point, might scrap
(55:34):
the running part, but I don't know, we might keep
it in there.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
I would be honored only if we can do it
in the original school.
Speaker 3 (55:40):
So okay, yeah, we'll run up and down the hallways. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (55:43):
So there's my podcast, and then just trying to make
our videos better every single day, like that's really what
drives me.
Speaker 1 (55:51):
Yeah all right, Well my last question for you is
knowing what you know now, what is one thing that
you would tell your younger self.
Speaker 2 (55:59):
Oh gosh, this is a great question. It kind of
goes back to what I was describing earlier. I spent
so much my life trying to fit in with different groups.
I'd be so sad if I wasn't invited to certain
social events or certain activities. I felt like I was
too American for the Indians and too Indian for the Americans.
(56:23):
I was too progressive to be conservative. I was too
conservative to be progressive. Like I always just got caught
in trying to figure out what bucket I fit into.
But my ultimate power that I was able to unlock
is when I realized I don't need to fit into
any bucket. I can just be myself, and that's where
(56:44):
true success is. So for anyone that's struggling to find
their place in the world like I was for such
a long time, that place is where you are exactly
right now. You don't need to be anybody or not,
just be yourself.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
Thank you so much for being here today on Post
with Us. Your story is incredible.
Speaker 3 (57:02):
Thank you, This was so fun. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (57:04):
That's a wrap on today's episode. Huge. Thank you for
being here and for listening all the way through. If
this conversation with Dar resonated with you, it would mean
a lot if you took a moment to rate and
review the show and share it with a friend. Don't
forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel at kate max
where you can watch all the video versions of our
episodes and lastly, follow the show at post friend high
(57:25):
and me at Kate max on Instagram to stay up
to date on everything we have going on. We've got
more incredible guests and powerful stories coming your way. I'll
see you guys next week.
Host
Kate Mackz
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