March 10, 2025 • 40 mins
Ever wondered how some people seem to crack the social media code while the rest of us are stuck in the algorithm abyss?
In this episode of No More Mondays, I sit down with digital marketing powerhouse Austin Armstrong—who has amassed over 3 million followers across channels—to talk about what really moves the needle when it comes to online influence.
We’ll explore the intersection of AI and content creation, why authenticity always beats vanity metrics, and how even the most camera-shy can create engaging impactful content.
Plus, Austin shares insights on the evolving digital landscape, the challenges that come with influence (hello, trolls and burnout), and a sneak peek at his upcoming AI Marketing World conference.
If you’re looking for practical, no-fluff strategies to amplify your online presence—without selling your soul to the algorithm—this episode is for you.
Tune in, and let’s get real about digital influence.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Angie,
(00:01):
Good Monday morning, everybody.I am Angie Callen, host of the
No More Mondays podcast herewith a little extra shot of
espresso to help you kick offyour week with some inspiring
and action filled advice from anamazing guest. I'm excited to
introduce you all to just in asecond, but I want to remind you
that we are here to inspire youto have a thriving life with a
(00:23):
career or business you love. Andso we bring you guests with
great inspiration and actionitems to help you work and live
more authentically. And today weare talking about building
influence, and we have an experton this subject joining us.
Austin. Armstrong is a digitalmarketer, public speaker,
startup founder, and literallysocial media influencer who has
(00:46):
amassed over 3 million followersacross his channel. Channels
staggering, especially with mylittle 15,000 piddly in
comparison, followers onLinkedIn. It takes a ton of work
to create that, which is why Ithought it was so important to
bring Austin here and tell youhow he's built his influence,
because now he's using thatvisibility to help others do
(01:06):
just that in their domains. He'sleveraging AI and technology and
some other really fun, creativeapproaches to do it. He is here
to help your influence. He ishere to influence your
influence. Man, that was goingto be so roll off the tongue,
but we're just going to keepgoing with it and shut me up.
Austin. Armstrong is here,Austin, welcome to no more
Mondays. Angie. I'm so glad tobe here and chat with you again.
(01:29):
And real quick, don't say your15,000 audiences. Piddly, that's
a great number. That's a greatthing that you've built.
Celebrate every win. I can'teven imagine a room full of 3
million people, let alone 15,000
so you've built an amazingaudience. Well, you know, it's
really fun. Thank you. One Ican't even make fun. I cannot
even make fun of myself withoutbeing called out on it on my own
(01:52):
podcast. It's, you know, what'sreally funny. I saw a graphic. I
think this was literally justyesterday. Maybe this was you
that was like, here's what 50people look like, here's what
500 people look like, and here'swhat 10,000 people look like,
and it was a stadium. How's thatfor full circle? And it's funny,
even 50 people looks like a lotwhen you actually see them all
(02:12):
standing in a group. So don'tever, don't ever doubt the
because even if you make adifference with one, right man,
we just had this entire podcastin two hours and eight and two
minutes and 18 seconds. Austin,
yeah. I mean, look at theconference scene, for instance,
right like you might think thata 50 speaking at a 50 person
conference might not be worthyour time, but I challenge that,
(02:36):
because it might just be 50 ofthe right people that will make
a connection for you, invite youon on your podcast, help you
with one unlock moment, aha,moment that that can get you to
that next level. And when you'reon stage talking to a group, I
don't care how many peopleyou've spoken in front of,
(02:57):
whether it's 50 or 5000 it canalways be a little intimidating.
So this is fun, because thiskind of ties into something we
were talking about backstage.Austin is another one of the
things. So for any of you who'vebeen listening regularly over
the last month or two, I'm veryfortunate for some of the
amazing connections that I madewhen I went to the thing in
(03:19):
Orlando this fall, and it wasexactly what Austin just said.
It was a room of 50 to 60 highlyengaged, highly present people
who were ready to a learn and B,connect. And so there's
something to be said for thefact that if you're influencing
50 highly engaged, highlymotivated people, you know
you're going to end up havingmore impact than if you're kind
(03:41):
of not really impacting a roomof 5000 and so sometimes it's
quality and quantity. There'ssomething to it. And and Austin,
I'm curious, as we talk aboutthis whole, you know, kind of
influence thing, you know, asyou've built it, what types of
doors have you seen it open foryou?
Gosh, it's opened everything.It's, it's changed my life.
(04:04):
You know, influence is definedin different ways, right? It's,
it's not just having the vanitymetric follower count, which I
will say does open a lot ofdoors. I don't care what anybody
thinks those vanity metrics do.Absolutely work is assuming that
they're earned, right? You'renot just like buying followers
or whatnot, but influence alsocomes from experience and
(04:27):
expertise and consistency overtime and continuing to build
trust and rapport andconnections with different
people, but it has opened wealthfor one, I don't have to, you
know, when I go to a restaurant,I don't have to worry if I can
(04:48):
afford the meal that I want ornot anymore, that it's just like
little things like thatlifestyle creep, that if I
really want to just get thelobster that night for dinner, I
can get the Go for it.
Not and not feel bad about it,but it's allowed me to I don't
have to outreach to be onpodcasts anymore. For instance,
(05:10):
I just speak at conferences, andone person refers me to another
podcast guest, or they areconnected with me on social, and
they see me and they reach out.I haven't reached out to be a
guest on a podcast in years, andI get to do five to six podcasts
a week, typically. And I alsojust love doing podcasts. It's
(05:31):
opened up doors to speak atdifferent conferences, like the
thing, for instance, Terry shoutout to Terry Weaver, who runs
the thing. We were connectedonline for several years, and he
invited me to be a speakerbecause of my social media
presence and influence. And thatturned out to be an amazing
opportunity. It's allowed me toscale multiple companies and
(05:54):
help many different people, bothinternally as employees and
customers, and and inspire a lotof other people. I mean, it's
opened pretty much every doorthat I've I could imagine, and
it continues to grow, yeah, andprobably some you couldn't have
imagined, because I think it'salso interesting that like
influence can end up beinginfluenced. Like can build
(06:17):
influence. So there's a there'sa point at which it becomes
almost exponential,
yeah, I mean one, oneimmediately comes to mind. As
you said that I'm teaching aclass at Duke University here. I
don't even have a collegedegree, and now I'm teaching
Master's Degree students AI andentrepreneurship, because of my
(06:40):
influence and because of thatconsistency, and because of
growing businesses and havingsuccess in that space like that,
is a mind blowing door that wasopened just recently. I hope
anybody out there, who is it?Who is I've talked to many a job
seeker throughout the years whofeels very self conscious about
lack of academic credentials andwhat opportunities it keeps them
(07:04):
from having. Austin justdebunked and blew up every
single one of the myths andlimiting beliefs you have
applied to what you can andcan't do with or without a
degree. So learning, lessonlearning, opportunity number
one, as we sit down and talk toAustin today. I'm curious about
something that's almost the flipside of this, is it's opened so
(07:26):
many doors. But I don't want togo negative, but I kind of want
to be real about, like, what aresome of the downsides or
drawbacks? Because it could alsotake a whole lot of energy to
constantly be cultivatingconnection with 3 million
people, even if they're in adigital space. So how have you
kind of, like, balanced that or,
you know, kept that in checkover the years? Yeah, there's a
(07:49):
couple, a couple that thingsthat immediately come to mind.
One, let's just call a spade aspade. I'm totally addicted to
social media. My my averagescreen time would shock most
people. Well, because I like, Ifollow you everywhere, and it's,
it's you a lot of the time, andI can tell you, nobody, yeah,
(08:10):
nobody has access to my socialmedia profiles. It's only me.
So, so, yeah, I'm just, I'm onmy phone from the moment I wake
up till the moment I go tosleep. I love it that you're
just, I'm just gonna say itYeah. And even in the middle of
the night, I'll wake up and, youknow, take a minute to just
respond to more comments online.So like, I have a socially
(08:31):
acceptable addiction that hasmade me be a productive member
of society,
and I justify that in differentways, but so that's that's
definitely a downside, right? MyI already have ADHD, I have
short attention spans and andsocial media doesn't help with
that, but I have channeled thatinto
(08:57):
a lot of successful things.
The other is just the nature ofonline with trolls. Now I've
coped with that in my own way.I've been a child of the
internet and a child of socialmedia. I got started when I was
14 on MySpace, so I've justdeveloped thick skin for this,
(09:18):
and I even troll the trolls, oneof my favorite strategies, but
you have to be okay with that.You have to be okay, especially
when you reach a large amount ofpeople. Guess what? Not
everyone's going to agree withyou. We're a very diverse world,
not even country, right? And sowhen you make stances or share
opinions, people love to asserttheir egos and their anecdotal
(09:41):
evidence from their little echochamber that they're in online,
right?
So that is a definitely negativeside effect that affects a lot
of people differently. I facedburnout in life too. I was in
the agency space for 11 years,and I.
My own agency for a little oversix years, and I got completely
(10:05):
burned out on that, just really,really to the point that I had
to step away from the company. Ieven ended up shutting down that
company. It just brought me somuch stress and anxiety, and I
was not happy at that at all andand so that, you know, made some
life change decisions there. Andnow, I'm just, I'm stacked with
(10:29):
where I'm at, but there, there'speriods of times of of burnout,
for sure. So those are, thoseare a couple of things that come
to mind well. And you, you kindof went there with the, I think,
no matter whether you've gotfive or 5 million people in your
feeds, at some point thecritical feedback thing comes.
And I wanted to ask you aboutthis, because as an influencer,
(10:52):
we and we tend to, we're open,we are out there, and we are
open. And for me, I the troll.The troll thing doesn't work for
me. So here's a perfect exampleof like, I am not a poke the
bear content creator, plenty. Ihave plenty of it in my head,
and I know exactly what I couldput out there that would get
Garner me tons of followers andtons of engagement, but it
(11:14):
stresses me so out, so much Iwon't sleep for three days. So
it isn't worth it. So I am not alike a troll, the troll
controversial poster,
it's just, doesn't I know itcould benefit me, but it doesn't
work for me. So you also have toknow kind of your own boundaries
there. But even without beingcontroversial, people all have
(11:36):
opinions. And one of the thingsI come across with a lot of the
coaches that I work with and Icoach, is they have this
resistance or fear of puttingthought leadership out there and
building influence in a visibleplace like digital media,
because it feels like they'regoing to be made fun of. It
feels like they're going to bestupid, it feels like they're
(11:56):
going to face critical feedback.What do we do about that, both
the feeling and the actualcritical feedback. What are some
of your thoughts there?
We're our own worst enemies inevery single way. And I hate to
break it to you, you are goingto face that as soon as you get
started online. It's natural.You're going to get that in
life. You put yourself outthere, not just on social media,
(12:19):
but
if you are a thought leader,
you have an obligation to shareyour information online and help
people I came up through theagency space in marketing for
the behavioral health industry,therapists, addiction treatment
experts and centers, clinicalpsychologists, and we took the
(12:46):
incredible information fromtheir head and took it into
video for social media
now with the idea that it wouldturn into clients for them. And
it does, however, just puttingthat information out there
literally saves people's lives.You don't know when someone is
(13:07):
at the end of their rope, andyour video pops up at the right
time with the right information,saying it in the right way that
resonates with them, and you'vejust helped them step back away
from that ledge and and face thereality. And same thing with
coaches as well. They are somany people that have heard the
(13:31):
same information over and overand over again, but they're just
looking for that voice that theyresonate with. Yes, we all learn
from someone else, right? Butour unique personalities and
communication styles resonatewith people differently. That is
the difference. And so if youare a thought leader, you have
(13:51):
to put that information outthere. You can, you know, put
your best information away forfree and sell the specific
implementation.
Say that again. Say that again.Give your best information away
for free, sell theimplementation.
I know that people really that,Oh, I feel like that might be a
(14:12):
rabbit hole to go down. Pleasefinish the current thought, and
then we will circle back tothat. Austin,
yeah, I mean,
you know you're gonna there's
you have to meet people wherethey're at, right? There's
different ways to get yourthought leadership out there.
There's different ways to getclients, there's outbound,
(14:33):
there's ads, there's networking,there's going to conferences,
there's public speaking, there'scontent creation, there's SEO,
right? It's just casting thatnet and sharing your personality
online video is the number oneway to get your personality
across online, to make sure thatthat person knows that you are
(14:54):
the expert, that they can helpand to drive that point in a
little bit more.
The best marketing advice I everlearned is to give your best
information away for free andsell the implementation, because
they are going to know like andtrust you, which I'm sure you've
heard on this podcast a milliontimes every you know everybody
(15:14):
surely knows that at this point,right? It's I didn't, for those
of you that have been through mybusiness coaching, I did not
plant Austin is a mole, becauseI talk lots about KTL.
I mean, it's just yeah, it'sjust a no brainer, right? They
have to
the more that you createcontent, the more that you're
top of mind, the more that theyknow you, the more of your
(15:35):
personality and your expertisethat you put out there, the more
that they like you, and the morethat you show them repeatedly
that your processes andinformation and strategies will
help them, and they do itthemselves, and they get you
know, micro success. They trustyou. And then all of that
(15:56):
together is when they reach outto you, to hire you, or to take
things to the next level afterconsistently showing up over a
period of time and and now youdo have to consistently show up
more over a longer period oftime to get to that point in our
good old marketing funnel wherethey finally moved to like
(16:17):
consideration and decision afterswimming up top In the lead gen
and getting the KTL going.
So it might take a littlelonger, but it's having impact.
And I want to go back tosomething that you said when you
were talking about thebehavioral health content
creation. Is that is such apotent example of what we were
talking about when we first cameon and you were chastising me
(16:38):
for making fun of my ownfollowing in comparison to
yours. One, don't compare.There's lesson number two, but,
but also, if one person is savedor impacted or moves forward
because of the thoughtleadership you put out there,
you won, and you fulfilled thepurpose that you have in this
world. And and I heard, I heardsomebody say the following once,
(16:58):
and I thought it was sopowerful, but you have something
to put out there and thatsomeone needs to hear. Who are
you to keep it from them? Sogood, absolutely, it's almost
selfish to say me, I don't Ifear and I feel vulnerable.
(17:18):
Well, this isn't about you.We're talking about three 3
million followers. But in a way,those 3 million followers came
to you, Austin, not because youwere focused on getting 3
million followers, but becauseyou were focused on meeting
people where they're at, takingthem where they want to go, and
being authentic and genuine asyou did it. And I'm curious how
(17:39):
you found that voice
reps,
lots of reps.
Yeah. I mean, you know, I'vetried so many it, honestly, just
being myself, like when you comeup and in this space, in digital
marketing, in particular, I'vestudied everybody. I've read all
(17:59):
of the best books, I've listenedto all of the podcasts. I've
seen the best speakers speak.I've bought coaching from a lot
of these people. I I've I've putand you, you enter that space
trying to emulate success. Andyou know what ultimately it
comes down to is just be yourauthentic self with the
(18:20):
information and experience thatyou have. And so I did all kinds
of funny things. Like, I triedto make wooden bow ties my brand
for a little bit, because I sawpeople have, like, cool hats or
fun glasses or, you know,whatever. I'm like, I'm going to
be the wooden bow tie guyonline. That's not me. I don't
wear wooden bow ties in life. Ijust thought that that would be
(18:41):
an interesting
I've done so many like, weirdthings to try. Do they feel
gimmicky when you tried them?Yeah, yeah. Or like, you know,
just like, over exaggerate evenmore than I am in real life. But
like, my
personality, that you see in mycontent is literally me. Like,
when I'm speaking on stage,that's just my everyday life,
(19:03):
like I am a weirdo, and I'm notlike that that comes across in
my content, like my sense ofhumor. I do weird stuff in my in
my content, to crack jokes, andI troll the trolls, because
that's my sense of humor, and Ifind that to be funny. And so
that, you know, just being yourauthentic self and paying
attention to the data. You know,that's the other reality is
(19:25):
like, as you create morecontent, notice the trends of,
okay, this piece of content inthis format or this information
did exceptionally well or betterthan my typical content. Let me
do a little bit more of thatabout that. Let me validate that
theory a little bit and doubledown. And I've just kind of done
(19:48):
that the whole time is Test,test test until something
clicks, and then go deep on thatthing until it doesn't really
work anymore. And then test,test test until something works.
And then go deep.
In that thing, and then test,test, test, and you just kind of
continue to go through thatcycle. I can attest to the just,
just say it and just put it outthere and think about it less,
(20:11):
because that tends to be when itresonates. You know, I have, I
have a similar experience to,here's your like the the my
version of your wooden bow tieis that in the in the career
coaching space, specifically onLinkedIn, there are a lot of
thought leaders who write thesereally long form, heavily
researched articles with tons ofsources and tons of tips. And
(20:33):
for some reason, when I put outthat, put that out there, even
though my peers are doing it,want WAMP Wah,
put a two, a yes or no, pull upabout whether do you make your
bed in the morning, becauseyou're two, six times more
likely to be a millionaire ifyou do, and you get a windfall
of response, right? Or mehurling myself down a mountain
bike because I'm learning how toride at 44 years old, right?
(20:55):
That's the kind of stuff that,for some reason, hits, and in a
way, it doesn't feel sometimes Idon't feel like what I'm like,
What's the value of this tosomebody? But clearly they're
seeing and that's where you haveto remember, it's not about what
you're trying to do, it's whathow people are kind of receiving
it. And if you pay attention tothe data, you can kind of start
to identify the actual trendsversus what you think the trends
(21:19):
are. And I think that helps withthen identifying the voice, but
it starts with just using yourvoice, and I think that's really
important, absolutely,personality and yeah, which is
why video videos are great,although I'm gonna there's an
irony in the video thing comingin a second, and you know what
it is, but
you talked about trends. Whatare some of the trends you're
(21:41):
you're seeing out there? So youknow, video is a great way to
show personality, and we thinkit's trending. But what's really
happening out there in the worldof digital media?
So there's all sorts ofdifferent formats of content and
tent poles of topics,
and so I'm in the AI space, andso there, there's a constant
(22:06):
new
cycle happening in that space inparticular, right every that I
just happen to be in a fastpaced market right now that's
speeding up. It's not slowingdown. That was a strategic pivot
pretty early I got in, involvedin AI,
but there's constant new thingsfor me to talk about. So like,
(22:29):
you can be the news. There'sdifferent ways to let me go on a
little tangent here. There'sthere's different ways that you
can create content, right? Youcan be educational, you can be
entertaining. You can be thesource of news. You can react to
things and give your two cents.There's all of these different
formats of content I do. Icombine
(22:53):
entertainment with education. Solike edutainment content, a lot
of my stuff, my videos inparticular are breaking news or,
like, really cool new websites,but I work in like, little skits
into it that are that areCorning. I just finished a video
right before we got on on this,but I'm also able to break news.
(23:15):
So there's, like, there's alwaysnews stories that come out and
and I share that news andactionable takeaways and
tutorials on that, and you canride that wave in pretty much
every industry,
unless it's like a reallyarchaic industry, like, if
you're a content creator in,like, construction, like, I
(23:36):
don't know how much there'sGonna be. Yeah,
we have a new nail, folks, yeah,
right. Like, breaking news,there's AI tractors now. Like, I
don't know,
I Yeah, most industries, I thinkyou can just, like, type it in
on Google and click on the Newstab and, like, you'll find new
(24:00):
content that way. As far as likeformats of content, video is
still crushing it. I highlyrecommend short form videos.
That's been the thing for fouror five years now, since Tiktok
came on the scene, that's notreally going anywhere. I've had
a lot of success with textthreads, which is like going
(24:22):
back to the beginning, butthat's online, but that's where
I'm seeing a lot of success, onon Facebook in particular, which
is my top platform, which isvery interesting. But
engagement. You know, what Ifind interesting about that we
email marketing, at least forus, is is still where it's at.
(24:44):
And I almost wonder if, becausefeeds are so overwhelming and
also stuffed with stuff, withcurated, curated versus like
actual user content, if emailand messaging you.
Going back, back a decade, toemail and like, texting is a
(25:04):
better way to get direct to it,because people know it's from
us. Yeah, that's a great point.I mean, email, for me, is very
exciting right now. There'slike, a new platform, beehive,
that I'm just so bullish onright now. It's amazing what
they're doing for creators,
but it's performing. Newslettersare still performing very well.
(25:26):
Automated email marketing. Imean, these text threads like
I'm not super big on x, but Ihave a lot of followers on
threads. Instagram's X clone andworks very well on there, we got
blue sky coming on the scene.Blue Sky blowing up. I think
people just like differentstyles of content, right? Some
(25:48):
people like video, some peoplelike audio. Some people like
long form video, some peoplelike short form video, some
people like to read. Some peoplejust want images. You know,
carousels, like, there's allsorts of of different ways that
we learn and retain information.
(26:08):
Yeah, and I think that ties backto also, you're invalidating so
much about what I what I teachand train people, because I also
talk about the educate,entertain, enrich or engage,
like the four types of content,and that the way that they
merge, right? Like so you can,you can always be entertaining,
but also enrich or, or and, oreducate. And if you give people
(26:33):
content in various ways, it canappeal to a larger, you know, a
more diverse audience because ofthe different adult learning
styles that that people have.And I would, you know, I bet if
we looked into the psychology ofit, we tend to consume the
content that aligns with ourlearning style. And so knowing
that about your audience is alsovery, very helpful. Yeah, I you
(26:54):
can really have compoundedsuccess from combining education
and entertainment. This is whathappened to me. For instance,
there's, I'll I share a lot ofuseful websites and digital
marketing tips and AI tools andwhatnot. And there's always been
(27:14):
a lot of content like, hey,check out this website. It does
X, Y and Z. And there's alwaysbeen sketches that are
entertaining online, and I tookso like, I'm not the first
person to create sketches in away where I'm talking to myself
and communicating valuableinformation, nor am I the first
person to share a usefulwebsite. But on Tiktok, I was
(27:36):
probably one of the first peopleto combine those two that are
two relatable pieces of
delivery and content remixedinto something new, really
fresh. And so it's relatable,but it's also really fresh. And
now you're separating from thenoise, and you're, you're, you
(28:00):
know, separating yourself fromthe pack and doing something
fresh and that, that's literallythe video that I just made, is
like, again, like doing that nowthat style is kind of saturated.
So I'm trying to reinvent otherthings, because when you have a
lot of success, then everybodyelse starts to catch up and do
that too, and until it becomessaturated. But find in any niche
(28:21):
like find the gaps in thecontent, find the delivery of
information that is performingwell, and maybe another style of
delivery that you feelcomfortable doing that has not
been pulled over into yourspecific industry, and Test
merging them to create somethingfresh and new. This is cool, and
(28:43):
you just queued up exactly oneof the things I wanted to talk
about, which is essentially
something you did create, likeyou merged memes and video, in a
way, if we think about it, withfaceless video. So here we go.
And this is my this is where Ito bridge the gap into this. And
I promised I was going tochallenge you on this is, you
(29:04):
know, if we talk so much aboutbuilding authenticity through
video, because people can see usnow, you're specializing in this
kind of like faceless videothing. Walk us through that walk
us through that connection. Andthen I want to hear more about
the faceless video world. Okay,so the reality is that even
though we're giving everybody onthis podcast so much information
(29:26):
to get out of your own way,create the content, you have an
obligation to create thatcontent. There is still going to
be a percentage of people thatsay, I can't do it. I'm not
going to press record. I can'tget myself on camera. I don't
like it, I don't like how Ilook. I'm in a regulated
industry where I'm not allowedto be on camera. All of these
(29:49):
reasons, video and social mediahas changed my life, personally,
and I don't want anyone to havean excuse to not get their idea,
their message.
Their vision out there as acontent creator, and faceless
videos are a perfect way to dothat, where you can create
content that hits thesealgorithms in a way that they
(30:12):
are pushing
without you needing to be oncamera. And so what a faceless
video is as the name implies,it's a video without a face.
Face less less face. And there'sdifferent ways that you can
create faceless videos, B rollstyle, so
(30:32):
shots of oceans moving, orpeople shaking hands and, you
know, dogs run it like all,whatever your video is, is about
like, highly stylized B rollfootage. There's also AI
generated faceless videos, whichis something that my company
syllabi specializes in, whichbasically you have your script
(30:53):
and then it reads that scriptand it generates unique images
based on that script, andwhatever art style that you
choose. So it's 100% uniqueevery single time, and it
stitches everything togetherinto a perfect video with
subtitles and background musicand an AI voice. You can have
your own voice in there, if youwant, and then you can animate
(31:16):
those clips as well. So the AIimages are actually moving. And
this helps a lot of people. Imean, every single day, we have
a pretty big syllabi communityon Facebook called syllabi
content creators. I think we'vegot like 23,000 members, very
active. It's very active. We'vebuilt an absolutely incredible
(31:37):
community in there of peoplesupporting one another, but
these are people that have nevercreated a piece of content in
their life. They have neverrecorded a video, and we're
showing them how they can createcontent. They can grow on these
social media platforms. They canlearn affiliate marketing things
that were completelyunaccessible from them before
(31:58):
because they couldn't get out oftheir own way is now accessible
to them, and that's my mission,is to actually help people
wherever they're at. So I justgot excited, as you were kind of
even before you said that wasyour mission. I'm sitting here
thinking one you've answeredthat question before of, how do
we get from the authenticity tothe faceless video? But it's so
(32:18):
it feels so intentional. It'snot just, oh, there was no
product out there that could dothis kind of technology. It was
actually created with a segmentof people in mind to enable them
to get into a type of contentcreation that they otherwise
have a barrier to. Because I'vehad plenty of of coaches who
will look at me and they'll say,Do I need to be doing video? And
(32:38):
I'm like, Well, do you like it,and are you good at it? And
they're like, No, it takes a tonof my energy, and then don't do
it right, because it's not goingto convert. It's not going to
resonate if it's taken a ton ofenergy. And so this not only
filled a void from a marketperspective, but from a need of
a content creator. And I lovethe intentionality behind that,
and I think it's such a cool wayto look at how technology can
(33:01):
actually have a positive impact.Yeah, thank you. And I also want
to be clear that it's not just afaceless video tool. I wanted to
create the best video marketingtool possible from A to Z and so
just a quick overview, we showyou topic ideas. So if you don't
(33:22):
know what topics to create, youcan find trending data in your
industry. It will write videoscripts for you, or you can
enter in your own video script.You can customize the AI however
you want, and you can createvideos however you want. You can
create these faceless videos.You can do the B roll style
video. You can upload an audiofile now, so you can upload a
(33:43):
podcast episode or a song or avoice note memo recording, and
it'll create a video from that.You can do a URL so you can take
one of your blog articles andturn that into a video. We have
aI avatars, so if you're like, Ijust don't want to record, but
I'm okay having my face oncamera, you can create a real
(34:03):
clone of yourself, which moveslike you, talks like you, sounds
like you. Or we have a videoeditor so you can literally
record yourself reading thescript or however you want, and
upload that into our editor andedit the video to however you'd
like, and then you can scheduleand publish it. So you can
connect all of your social mediapages and you can optimize all
(34:26):
of them. It even creates YouTubegenerates YouTube thumbnails for
you. We brought in a YouTubeexpert. Shout out to Jeremy Vest
to really train our team witheverything, and we have his best
practices for thumbnailgeneration, but everything is
optimized. And then you canschedule, publish and even track
your analytics. In syllabi aswell. So it's really that A to Z
(34:46):
workflow, and I don't want anylimitations. So if you're like,
I don't like faceless videos,fine, use an avatar or create
the video yourself. However youwant to create videos. I'm
literally like, I have worked inthe agency space for 11 years.
I.
Worked with 1000s of contentcreators, business owners,
entrepreneurs. I'm trying tojust eliminate every excuse to
(35:07):
just not be active on video. Iwas just sitting here thinking
it's like the it is the it isthe ultimate enablement tool,
because it really is. It isremoving every possible excuse
you could have for not being onvideo. And we know how popular
and how, if you're going to beout there and video in whatever
(35:28):
form, is kind of a criticalisn't going anywhere component
to building influence online.And so it kind of brings this
whole, this whole full circleaspect, and even just looking at
you and your experience Austin,of building an influence, seeing
and seeing an opportunity, butalso a way to serve, in a way,
to then help others buildinfluence, which is exactly why
(35:52):
I thought this could be such aninteresting conversation, to
kind of inspire people out thereto do this on your terms and in
a way that's authentic, becausethat's how it's going To feel
best, and that's how it's goingto hit best. And we should give
everybody a spoiler alert,because there's one more way
you're bringing this all toeverybody, and it's happening
this fall in a little placecalled Dallas. So tell everybody
(36:13):
about it. Yes, so both Angie andI are speaking at my conference
called AI marketing world. It'saI marketing world.co.co.
I've assembled the best AImarketing experts in the world
to Dallas, Texas, October 9through the 11th of 2025 it's
(36:37):
going to be awesome. It's goingto be an interactive experience
as well. It's not just going tobe a talking head style
conference where we talk at youfor three days. It's going to be
very immersive experience. I'mlooking at bringing in different
hardware and AI techs that wecan like play around with,
and I'm planning on doing apitch competition throughout as
(37:00):
well for AI martech startups. Sothere's going to be a bunch of
new AI marketing companies thatare pitching, and there's going
to be audience participation tovote on who they think will win.
And I have big, hairy, audaciousgoals, big,
they're the best kind. Yes, yes.For this conference, we really
(37:24):
want it to be, I'm a I'm a gobig or go home kind of guy. I
partnered with Scott Simpson onthis, who's the owner of video
marketing world. We rebrandedthat existing conference into AI
marketing world. This is notgoing to be a 50 person
conference. This is going to bea 507 50. We're hoping for 1000
people conference. We're goingbig with this thing. We've got
(37:46):
some big sponsors already. We'repumping money into this thing.
We brought the best speakers.This is gonna be a big deal. And
tickets are discounted and onsale right now. Yeah, AI
marketing world.co, and somehow,y'all, I'm included in this
mess.
So excited to do this. You justgot me more excited. And I
(38:06):
bought in the minute Austin evensaid he was doing it. I was
like, Oh, can I come talk abouthow to be a human in AI, so I
give you the human component.Yeah, it's a it's important to
fight to make sure you have thatgrounding. You know, as AI, just
increasingly becomes morepresent, but also more
leverageable as a tool we allhave. So I'm super, super
(38:28):
excited about it. So buy yourtickets now and come give Austin
i A hug in real life. It's gonnabe great. And we're also, if you
want to support this podcast andsupport Angie, I'm sure she has
an affiliate link in thedescription of this episode.
Sure, I do get that set up. Soyes, we will add that to the
show notes and to chat here. Andif any of you all have questions
(38:49):
about it, Alison and I are happyto answer, but it's going to be
a fun time and an educationaltime. So there we go, on brand
education and entertainment atthe same time. Awesome. This has
been so fun. Thank you so muchfor joining me today, but also
everything you are doing to helppeople put the influence that
they're meant to put out intothis world. And I'm wondering if
(39:11):
you would love to give everybodyone last little piece of wisdom
to leave them with this week,
perfectionism isprocrastination. Just post the
damn thing. Yeah, oh, man. Now Iwant to start a whole new
conversation. I'm talking a lotabout how
perfectionism is at the expenseof progress. Think about it less
(39:34):
and put it out there.
The world needs to hear it justlike Austin is doing. Thank you
so much for inspiring andsupporting and influencing. This
has been a fantasticconversation. I can't wait to
see you again in a few months.Everybody out there. One, thank
you for listening, and two, goput your influence out there
into the world right now. Do itrip off the band aid. We'll see
(39:56):
you next week for anotheredition of no more Mondays
podcast.
To do.
Angie,
(00:01):
Good Monday morning, everybody.I am Angie Callen, host of the
No More Mondays podcast herewith a little extra shot of
espresso to help you kick offyour week with some inspiring
and action filled advice from anamazing guest. I'm excited to
introduce you all to just in asecond, but I want to remind you
that we are here to inspire youto have a thriving life with a
(00:23):
career or business you love. Andso we bring you guests with
great inspiration and actionitems to help you work and live
more authentically. And today weare talking about building
influence, and we have an experton this subject joining us.
Austin. Armstrong is a digitalmarketer, public speaker,
startup founder, and literallysocial media influencer who has
(00:46):
amassed over 3 million followersacross his channel. Channels
staggering, especially with mylittle 15,000 piddly in
comparison, followers onLinkedIn. It takes a ton of work
to create that, which is why Ithought it was so important to
bring Austin here and tell youhow he's built his influence,
because now he's using thatvisibility to help others do
(01:06):
just that in their domains. He'sleveraging AI and technology and
some other really fun, creativeapproaches to do it. He is here
to help your influence. He ishere to influence your
influence. Man, that was goingto be so roll off the tongue,
but we're just going to keepgoing with it and shut me up.
Austin. Armstrong is here,Austin, welcome to no more
Mondays. Angie. I'm so glad tobe here and chat with you again.
(01:29):
And real quick, don't say your15,000 audiences. Piddly, that's
a great number. That's a greatthing that you've built.
Celebrate every win. I can'teven imagine a room full of 3
million people, let alone 15,000
so you've built an amazingaudience. Well, you know, it's
really fun. Thank you. One Ican't even make fun. I cannot
even make fun of myself withoutbeing called out on it on my own
(01:52):
podcast. It's, you know, what'sreally funny. I saw a graphic. I
think this was literally justyesterday. Maybe this was you
that was like, here's what 50people look like, here's what
500 people look like, and here'swhat 10,000 people look like,
and it was a stadium. How's thatfor full circle? And it's funny,
even 50 people looks like a lotwhen you actually see them all
(02:12):
standing in a group. So don'tever, don't ever doubt the
because even if you make adifference with one, right man,
we just had this entire podcastin two hours and eight and two
minutes and 18 seconds. Austin,
yeah. I mean, look at theconference scene, for instance,
right like you might think thata 50 speaking at a 50 person
conference might not be worthyour time, but I challenge that,
(02:36):
because it might just be 50 ofthe right people that will make
a connection for you, invite youon on your podcast, help you
with one unlock moment, aha,moment that that can get you to
that next level. And when you'reon stage talking to a group, I
don't care how many peopleyou've spoken in front of,
(02:57):
whether it's 50 or 5000 it canalways be a little intimidating.
So this is fun, because thiskind of ties into something we
were talking about backstage.Austin is another one of the
things. So for any of you who'vebeen listening regularly over
the last month or two, I'm veryfortunate for some of the
amazing connections that I madewhen I went to the thing in
(03:19):
Orlando this fall, and it wasexactly what Austin just said.
It was a room of 50 to 60 highlyengaged, highly present people
who were ready to a learn and B,connect. And so there's
something to be said for thefact that if you're influencing
50 highly engaged, highlymotivated people, you know
you're going to end up havingmore impact than if you're kind
(03:41):
of not really impacting a roomof 5000 and so sometimes it's
quality and quantity. There'ssomething to it. And and Austin,
I'm curious, as we talk aboutthis whole, you know, kind of
influence thing, you know, asyou've built it, what types of
doors have you seen it open foryou?
Gosh, it's opened everything.It's, it's changed my life.
(04:04):
You know, influence is definedin different ways, right? It's,
it's not just having the vanitymetric follower count, which I
will say does open a lot ofdoors. I don't care what anybody
thinks those vanity metrics do.Absolutely work is assuming that
they're earned, right? You'renot just like buying followers
or whatnot, but influence alsocomes from experience and
(04:27):
expertise and consistency overtime and continuing to build
trust and rapport andconnections with different
people, but it has opened wealthfor one, I don't have to, you
know, when I go to a restaurant,I don't have to worry if I can
(04:48):
afford the meal that I want ornot anymore, that it's just like
little things like thatlifestyle creep, that if I
really want to just get thelobster that night for dinner, I
can get the Go for it.
Not and not feel bad about it,but it's allowed me to I don't
have to outreach to be onpodcasts anymore. For instance,
(05:10):
I just speak at conferences, andone person refers me to another
podcast guest, or they areconnected with me on social, and
they see me and they reach out.I haven't reached out to be a
guest on a podcast in years, andI get to do five to six podcasts
a week, typically. And I alsojust love doing podcasts. It's
(05:31):
opened up doors to speak atdifferent conferences, like the
thing, for instance, Terry shoutout to Terry Weaver, who runs
the thing. We were connectedonline for several years, and he
invited me to be a speakerbecause of my social media
presence and influence. And thatturned out to be an amazing
opportunity. It's allowed me toscale multiple companies and
(05:54):
help many different people, bothinternally as employees and
customers, and and inspire a lotof other people. I mean, it's
opened pretty much every doorthat I've I could imagine, and
it continues to grow, yeah, andprobably some you couldn't have
imagined, because I think it'salso interesting that like
influence can end up beinginfluenced. Like can build
(06:17):
influence. So there's a there'sa point at which it becomes
almost exponential,
yeah, I mean one, oneimmediately comes to mind. As
you said that I'm teaching aclass at Duke University here. I
don't even have a collegedegree, and now I'm teaching
Master's Degree students AI andentrepreneurship, because of my
(06:40):
influence and because of thatconsistency, and because of
growing businesses and havingsuccess in that space like that,
is a mind blowing door that wasopened just recently. I hope
anybody out there, who is it?Who is I've talked to many a job
seeker throughout the years whofeels very self conscious about
lack of academic credentials andwhat opportunities it keeps them
(07:04):
from having. Austin justdebunked and blew up every
single one of the myths andlimiting beliefs you have
applied to what you can andcan't do with or without a
degree. So learning, lessonlearning, opportunity number
one, as we sit down and talk toAustin today. I'm curious about
something that's almost the flipside of this, is it's opened so
(07:26):
many doors. But I don't want togo negative, but I kind of want
to be real about, like, what aresome of the downsides or
drawbacks? Because it could alsotake a whole lot of energy to
constantly be cultivatingconnection with 3 million
people, even if they're in adigital space. So how have you
kind of, like, balanced that or,
you know, kept that in checkover the years? Yeah, there's a
(07:49):
couple, a couple that thingsthat immediately come to mind.
One, let's just call a spade aspade. I'm totally addicted to
social media. My my averagescreen time would shock most
people. Well, because I like, Ifollow you everywhere, and it's,
it's you a lot of the time, andI can tell you, nobody, yeah,
(08:10):
nobody has access to my socialmedia profiles. It's only me.
So, so, yeah, I'm just, I'm onmy phone from the moment I wake
up till the moment I go tosleep. I love it that you're
just, I'm just gonna say itYeah. And even in the middle of
the night, I'll wake up and, youknow, take a minute to just
respond to more comments online.So like, I have a socially
(08:31):
acceptable addiction that hasmade me be a productive member
of society,
and I justify that in differentways, but so that's that's
definitely a downside, right? MyI already have ADHD, I have
short attention spans and andsocial media doesn't help with
that, but I have channeled thatinto
(08:57):
a lot of successful things.
The other is just the nature ofonline with trolls. Now I've
coped with that in my own way.I've been a child of the
internet and a child of socialmedia. I got started when I was
14 on MySpace, so I've justdeveloped thick skin for this,
(09:18):
and I even troll the trolls, oneof my favorite strategies, but
you have to be okay with that.You have to be okay, especially
when you reach a large amount ofpeople. Guess what? Not
everyone's going to agree withyou. We're a very diverse world,
not even country, right? And sowhen you make stances or share
opinions, people love to asserttheir egos and their anecdotal
(09:41):
evidence from their little echochamber that they're in online,
right?
So that is a definitely negativeside effect that affects a lot
of people differently. I facedburnout in life too. I was in
the agency space for 11 years,and I.
My own agency for a little oversix years, and I got completely
(10:05):
burned out on that, just really,really to the point that I had
to step away from the company. Ieven ended up shutting down that
company. It just brought me somuch stress and anxiety, and I
was not happy at that at all andand so that, you know, made some
life change decisions there. Andnow, I'm just, I'm stacked with
(10:29):
where I'm at, but there, there'speriods of times of of burnout,
for sure. So those are, thoseare a couple of things that come
to mind well. And you, you kindof went there with the, I think,
no matter whether you've gotfive or 5 million people in your
feeds, at some point thecritical feedback thing comes.
And I wanted to ask you aboutthis, because as an influencer,
(10:52):
we and we tend to, we're open,we are out there, and we are
open. And for me, I the troll.The troll thing doesn't work for
me. So here's a perfect exampleof like, I am not a poke the
bear content creator, plenty. Ihave plenty of it in my head,
and I know exactly what I couldput out there that would get
Garner me tons of followers andtons of engagement, but it
(11:14):
stresses me so out, so much Iwon't sleep for three days. So
it isn't worth it. So I am not alike a troll, the troll
controversial poster,
it's just, doesn't I know itcould benefit me, but it doesn't
work for me. So you also have toknow kind of your own boundaries
there. But even without beingcontroversial, people all have
(11:36):
opinions. And one of the thingsI come across with a lot of the
coaches that I work with and Icoach, is they have this
resistance or fear of puttingthought leadership out there and
building influence in a visibleplace like digital media,
because it feels like they'regoing to be made fun of. It
feels like they're going to bestupid, it feels like they're
(11:56):
going to face critical feedback.What do we do about that, both
the feeling and the actualcritical feedback. What are some
of your thoughts there?
We're our own worst enemies inevery single way. And I hate to
break it to you, you are goingto face that as soon as you get
started online. It's natural.You're going to get that in
life. You put yourself outthere, not just on social media,
(12:19):
but
if you are a thought leader,
you have an obligation to shareyour information online and help
people I came up through theagency space in marketing for
the behavioral health industry,therapists, addiction treatment
experts and centers, clinicalpsychologists, and we took the
(12:46):
incredible information fromtheir head and took it into
video for social media
now with the idea that it wouldturn into clients for them. And
it does, however, just puttingthat information out there
literally saves people's lives.You don't know when someone is
(13:07):
at the end of their rope, andyour video pops up at the right
time with the right information,saying it in the right way that
resonates with them, and you'vejust helped them step back away
from that ledge and and face thereality. And same thing with
coaches as well. They are somany people that have heard the
(13:31):
same information over and overand over again, but they're just
looking for that voice that theyresonate with. Yes, we all learn
from someone else, right? Butour unique personalities and
communication styles resonatewith people differently. That is
the difference. And so if youare a thought leader, you have
(13:51):
to put that information outthere. You can, you know, put
your best information away forfree and sell the specific
implementation.
Say that again. Say that again.Give your best information away
for free, sell theimplementation.
I know that people really that,Oh, I feel like that might be a
(14:12):
rabbit hole to go down. Pleasefinish the current thought, and
then we will circle back tothat. Austin,
yeah, I mean,
you know you're gonna there's
you have to meet people wherethey're at, right? There's
different ways to get yourthought leadership out there.
There's different ways to getclients, there's outbound,
(14:33):
there's ads, there's networking,there's going to conferences,
there's public speaking, there'scontent creation, there's SEO,
right? It's just casting thatnet and sharing your personality
online video is the number oneway to get your personality
across online, to make sure thatthat person knows that you are
(14:54):
the expert, that they can helpand to drive that point in a
little bit more.
The best marketing advice I everlearned is to give your best
information away for free andsell the implementation, because
they are going to know like andtrust you, which I'm sure you've
heard on this podcast a milliontimes every you know everybody
(15:14):
surely knows that at this point,right? It's I didn't, for those
of you that have been through mybusiness coaching, I did not
plant Austin is a mole, becauseI talk lots about KTL.
I mean, it's just yeah, it'sjust a no brainer, right? They
have to
the more that you createcontent, the more that you're
top of mind, the more that theyknow you, the more of your
(15:35):
personality and your expertisethat you put out there, the more
that they like you, and the morethat you show them repeatedly
that your processes andinformation and strategies will
help them, and they do itthemselves, and they get you
know, micro success. They trustyou. And then all of that
(15:56):
together is when they reach outto you, to hire you, or to take
things to the next level afterconsistently showing up over a
period of time and and now youdo have to consistently show up
more over a longer period oftime to get to that point in our
good old marketing funnel wherethey finally moved to like
(16:17):
consideration and decision afterswimming up top In the lead gen
and getting the KTL going.
So it might take a littlelonger, but it's having impact.
And I want to go back tosomething that you said when you
were talking about thebehavioral health content
creation. Is that is such apotent example of what we were
talking about when we first cameon and you were chastising me
(16:38):
for making fun of my ownfollowing in comparison to
yours. One, don't compare.There's lesson number two, but,
but also, if one person is savedor impacted or moves forward
because of the thoughtleadership you put out there,
you won, and you fulfilled thepurpose that you have in this
world. And and I heard, I heardsomebody say the following once,
(16:58):
and I thought it was sopowerful, but you have something
to put out there and thatsomeone needs to hear. Who are
you to keep it from them? Sogood, absolutely, it's almost
selfish to say me, I don't Ifear and I feel vulnerable.
(17:18):
Well, this isn't about you.We're talking about three 3
million followers. But in a way,those 3 million followers came
to you, Austin, not because youwere focused on getting 3
million followers, but becauseyou were focused on meeting
people where they're at, takingthem where they want to go, and
being authentic and genuine asyou did it. And I'm curious how
(17:39):
you found that voice
reps,
lots of reps.
Yeah. I mean, you know, I'vetried so many it, honestly, just
being myself, like when you comeup and in this space, in digital
marketing, in particular, I'vestudied everybody. I've read all
(17:59):
of the best books, I've listenedto all of the podcasts. I've
seen the best speakers speak.I've bought coaching from a lot
of these people. I I've I've putand you, you enter that space
trying to emulate success. Andyou know what ultimately it
comes down to is just be yourauthentic self with the
(18:20):
information and experience thatyou have. And so I did all kinds
of funny things. Like, I triedto make wooden bow ties my brand
for a little bit, because I sawpeople have, like, cool hats or
fun glasses or, you know,whatever. I'm like, I'm going to
be the wooden bow tie guyonline. That's not me. I don't
wear wooden bow ties in life. Ijust thought that that would be
(18:41):
an interesting
I've done so many like, weirdthings to try. Do they feel
gimmicky when you tried them?Yeah, yeah. Or like, you know,
just like, over exaggerate evenmore than I am in real life. But
like, my
personality, that you see in mycontent is literally me. Like,
when I'm speaking on stage,that's just my everyday life,
(19:03):
like I am a weirdo, and I'm notlike that that comes across in
my content, like my sense ofhumor. I do weird stuff in my in
my content, to crack jokes, andI troll the trolls, because
that's my sense of humor, and Ifind that to be funny. And so
that, you know, just being yourauthentic self and paying
attention to the data. You know,that's the other reality is
(19:25):
like, as you create morecontent, notice the trends of,
okay, this piece of content inthis format or this information
did exceptionally well or betterthan my typical content. Let me
do a little bit more of thatabout that. Let me validate that
theory a little bit and doubledown. And I've just kind of done
(19:48):
that the whole time is Test,test test until something
clicks, and then go deep on thatthing until it doesn't really
work anymore. And then test,test test until something works.
And then go deep.
In that thing, and then test,test, test, and you just kind of
continue to go through thatcycle. I can attest to the just,
just say it and just put it outthere and think about it less,
(20:11):
because that tends to be when itresonates. You know, I have, I
have a similar experience to,here's your like the the my
version of your wooden bow tieis that in the in the career
coaching space, specifically onLinkedIn, there are a lot of
thought leaders who write thesereally long form, heavily
researched articles with tons ofsources and tons of tips. And
(20:33):
for some reason, when I put outthat, put that out there, even
though my peers are doing it,want WAMP Wah,
put a two, a yes or no, pull upabout whether do you make your
bed in the morning, becauseyou're two, six times more
likely to be a millionaire ifyou do, and you get a windfall
of response, right? Or mehurling myself down a mountain
bike because I'm learning how toride at 44 years old, right?
(20:55):
That's the kind of stuff that,for some reason, hits, and in a
way, it doesn't feel sometimes Idon't feel like what I'm like,
What's the value of this tosomebody? But clearly they're
seeing and that's where you haveto remember, it's not about what
you're trying to do, it's whathow people are kind of receiving
it. And if you pay attention tothe data, you can kind of start
to identify the actual trendsversus what you think the trends
(21:19):
are. And I think that helps withthen identifying the voice, but
it starts with just using yourvoice, and I think that's really
important, absolutely,personality and yeah, which is
why video videos are great,although I'm gonna there's an
irony in the video thing comingin a second, and you know what
it is, but
you talked about trends. Whatare some of the trends you're
(21:41):
you're seeing out there? So youknow, video is a great way to
show personality, and we thinkit's trending. But what's really
happening out there in the worldof digital media?
So there's all sorts ofdifferent formats of content and
tent poles of topics,
and so I'm in the AI space, andso there, there's a constant
(22:06):
new
cycle happening in that space inparticular, right every that I
just happen to be in a fastpaced market right now that's
speeding up. It's not slowingdown. That was a strategic pivot
pretty early I got in, involvedin AI,
but there's constant new thingsfor me to talk about. So like,
(22:29):
you can be the news. There'sdifferent ways to let me go on a
little tangent here. There'sthere's different ways that you
can create content, right? Youcan be educational, you can be
entertaining. You can be thesource of news. You can react to
things and give your two cents.There's all of these different
formats of content I do. Icombine
(22:53):
entertainment with education. Solike edutainment content, a lot
of my stuff, my videos inparticular are breaking news or,
like, really cool new websites,but I work in like, little skits
into it that are that areCorning. I just finished a video
right before we got on on this,but I'm also able to break news.
(23:15):
So there's, like, there's alwaysnews stories that come out and
and I share that news andactionable takeaways and
tutorials on that, and you canride that wave in pretty much
every industry,
unless it's like a reallyarchaic industry, like, if
you're a content creator in,like, construction, like, I
(23:36):
don't know how much there'sGonna be. Yeah,
we have a new nail, folks, yeah,
right. Like, breaking news,there's AI tractors now. Like, I
don't know,
I Yeah, most industries, I thinkyou can just, like, type it in
on Google and click on the Newstab and, like, you'll find new
(24:00):
content that way. As far as likeformats of content, video is
still crushing it. I highlyrecommend short form videos.
That's been the thing for fouror five years now, since Tiktok
came on the scene, that's notreally going anywhere. I've had
a lot of success with textthreads, which is like going
(24:22):
back to the beginning, butthat's online, but that's where
I'm seeing a lot of success, onon Facebook in particular, which
is my top platform, which isvery interesting. But
engagement. You know, what Ifind interesting about that we
email marketing, at least forus, is is still where it's at.
(24:44):
And I almost wonder if, becausefeeds are so overwhelming and
also stuffed with stuff, withcurated, curated versus like
actual user content, if emailand messaging you.
Going back, back a decade, toemail and like, texting is a
(25:04):
better way to get direct to it,because people know it's from
us. Yeah, that's a great point.I mean, email, for me, is very
exciting right now. There'slike, a new platform, beehive,
that I'm just so bullish onright now. It's amazing what
they're doing for creators,
but it's performing. Newslettersare still performing very well.
(25:26):
Automated email marketing. Imean, these text threads like
I'm not super big on x, but Ihave a lot of followers on
threads. Instagram's X clone andworks very well on there, we got
blue sky coming on the scene.Blue Sky blowing up. I think
people just like differentstyles of content, right? Some
(25:48):
people like video, some peoplelike audio. Some people like
long form video, some peoplelike short form video, some
people like to read. Some peoplejust want images. You know,
carousels, like, there's allsorts of of different ways that
we learn and retain information.
(26:08):
Yeah, and I think that ties backto also, you're invalidating so
much about what I what I teachand train people, because I also
talk about the educate,entertain, enrich or engage,
like the four types of content,and that the way that they
merge, right? Like so you can,you can always be entertaining,
but also enrich or, or and, oreducate. And if you give people
(26:33):
content in various ways, it canappeal to a larger, you know, a
more diverse audience because ofthe different adult learning
styles that that people have.And I would, you know, I bet if
we looked into the psychology ofit, we tend to consume the
content that aligns with ourlearning style. And so knowing
that about your audience is alsovery, very helpful. Yeah, I you
(26:54):
can really have compoundedsuccess from combining education
and entertainment. This is whathappened to me. For instance,
there's, I'll I share a lot ofuseful websites and digital
marketing tips and AI tools andwhatnot. And there's always been
(27:14):
a lot of content like, hey,check out this website. It does
X, Y and Z. And there's alwaysbeen sketches that are
entertaining online, and I tookso like, I'm not the first
person to create sketches in away where I'm talking to myself
and communicating valuableinformation, nor am I the first
person to share a usefulwebsite. But on Tiktok, I was
(27:36):
probably one of the first peopleto combine those two that are
two relatable pieces of
delivery and content remixedinto something new, really
fresh. And so it's relatable,but it's also really fresh. And
now you're separating from thenoise, and you're, you're, you
(28:00):
know, separating yourself fromthe pack and doing something
fresh and that, that's literallythe video that I just made, is
like, again, like doing that nowthat style is kind of saturated.
So I'm trying to reinvent otherthings, because when you have a
lot of success, then everybodyelse starts to catch up and do
that too, and until it becomessaturated. But find in any niche
(28:21):
like find the gaps in thecontent, find the delivery of
information that is performingwell, and maybe another style of
delivery that you feelcomfortable doing that has not
been pulled over into yourspecific industry, and Test
merging them to create somethingfresh and new. This is cool, and
(28:43):
you just queued up exactly oneof the things I wanted to talk
about, which is essentially
something you did create, likeyou merged memes and video, in a
way, if we think about it, withfaceless video. So here we go.
And this is my this is where Ito bridge the gap into this. And
I promised I was going tochallenge you on this is, you
(29:04):
know, if we talk so much aboutbuilding authenticity through
video, because people can see usnow, you're specializing in this
kind of like faceless videothing. Walk us through that walk
us through that connection. Andthen I want to hear more about
the faceless video world. Okay,so the reality is that even
though we're giving everybody onthis podcast so much information
(29:26):
to get out of your own way,create the content, you have an
obligation to create thatcontent. There is still going to
be a percentage of people thatsay, I can't do it. I'm not
going to press record. I can'tget myself on camera. I don't
like it, I don't like how Ilook. I'm in a regulated
industry where I'm not allowedto be on camera. All of these
(29:49):
reasons, video and social mediahas changed my life, personally,
and I don't want anyone to havean excuse to not get their idea,
their message.
Their vision out there as acontent creator, and faceless
videos are a perfect way to dothat, where you can create
content that hits thesealgorithms in a way that they
(30:12):
are pushing
without you needing to be oncamera. And so what a faceless
video is as the name implies,it's a video without a face.
Face less less face. And there'sdifferent ways that you can
create faceless videos, B rollstyle, so
(30:32):
shots of oceans moving, orpeople shaking hands and, you
know, dogs run it like all,whatever your video is, is about
like, highly stylized B rollfootage. There's also AI
generated faceless videos, whichis something that my company
syllabi specializes in, whichbasically you have your script
(30:53):
and then it reads that scriptand it generates unique images
based on that script, andwhatever art style that you
choose. So it's 100% uniqueevery single time, and it
stitches everything togetherinto a perfect video with
subtitles and background musicand an AI voice. You can have
your own voice in there, if youwant, and then you can animate
(31:16):
those clips as well. So the AIimages are actually moving. And
this helps a lot of people. Imean, every single day, we have
a pretty big syllabi communityon Facebook called syllabi
content creators. I think we'vegot like 23,000 members, very
active. It's very active. We'vebuilt an absolutely incredible
(31:37):
community in there of peoplesupporting one another, but
these are people that have nevercreated a piece of content in
their life. They have neverrecorded a video, and we're
showing them how they can createcontent. They can grow on these
social media platforms. They canlearn affiliate marketing things
that were completelyunaccessible from them before
(31:58):
because they couldn't get out oftheir own way is now accessible
to them, and that's my mission,is to actually help people
wherever they're at. So I justgot excited, as you were kind of
even before you said that wasyour mission. I'm sitting here
thinking one you've answeredthat question before of, how do
we get from the authenticity tothe faceless video? But it's so
(32:18):
it feels so intentional. It'snot just, oh, there was no
product out there that could dothis kind of technology. It was
actually created with a segmentof people in mind to enable them
to get into a type of contentcreation that they otherwise
have a barrier to. Because I'vehad plenty of of coaches who
will look at me and they'll say,Do I need to be doing video? And
(32:38):
I'm like, Well, do you like it,and are you good at it? And
they're like, No, it takes a tonof my energy, and then don't do
it right, because it's not goingto convert. It's not going to
resonate if it's taken a ton ofenergy. And so this not only
filled a void from a marketperspective, but from a need of
a content creator. And I lovethe intentionality behind that,
and I think it's such a cool wayto look at how technology can
(33:01):
actually have a positive impact.Yeah, thank you. And I also want
to be clear that it's not just afaceless video tool. I wanted to
create the best video marketingtool possible from A to Z and so
just a quick overview, we showyou topic ideas. So if you don't
(33:22):
know what topics to create, youcan find trending data in your
industry. It will write videoscripts for you, or you can
enter in your own video script.You can customize the AI however
you want, and you can createvideos however you want. You can
create these faceless videos.You can do the B roll style
video. You can upload an audiofile now, so you can upload a
(33:43):
podcast episode or a song or avoice note memo recording, and
it'll create a video from that.You can do a URL so you can take
one of your blog articles andturn that into a video. We have
aI avatars, so if you're like, Ijust don't want to record, but
I'm okay having my face oncamera, you can create a real
(34:03):
clone of yourself, which moveslike you, talks like you, sounds
like you. Or we have a videoeditor so you can literally
record yourself reading thescript or however you want, and
upload that into our editor andedit the video to however you'd
like, and then you can scheduleand publish it. So you can
connect all of your social mediapages and you can optimize all
(34:26):
of them. It even creates YouTubegenerates YouTube thumbnails for
you. We brought in a YouTubeexpert. Shout out to Jeremy Vest
to really train our team witheverything, and we have his best
practices for thumbnailgeneration, but everything is
optimized. And then you canschedule, publish and even track
your analytics. In syllabi aswell. So it's really that A to Z
(34:46):
workflow, and I don't want anylimitations. So if you're like,
I don't like faceless videos,fine, use an avatar or create
the video yourself. However youwant to create videos. I'm
literally like, I have worked inthe agency space for 11 years.
I.
Worked with 1000s of contentcreators, business owners,
entrepreneurs. I'm trying tojust eliminate every excuse to
(35:07):
just not be active on video. Iwas just sitting here thinking
it's like the it is the it isthe ultimate enablement tool,
because it really is. It isremoving every possible excuse
you could have for not being onvideo. And we know how popular
and how, if you're going to beout there and video in whatever
(35:28):
form, is kind of a criticalisn't going anywhere component
to building influence online.And so it kind of brings this
whole, this whole full circleaspect, and even just looking at
you and your experience Austin,of building an influence, seeing
and seeing an opportunity, butalso a way to serve, in a way,
to then help others buildinfluence, which is exactly why
(35:52):
I thought this could be such aninteresting conversation, to
kind of inspire people out thereto do this on your terms and in
a way that's authentic, becausethat's how it's going To feel
best, and that's how it's goingto hit best. And we should give
everybody a spoiler alert,because there's one more way
you're bringing this all toeverybody, and it's happening
this fall in a little placecalled Dallas. So tell everybody
(36:13):
about it. Yes, so both Angie andI are speaking at my conference
called AI marketing world. It'saI marketing world.co.co.
I've assembled the best AImarketing experts in the world
to Dallas, Texas, October 9through the 11th of 2025 it's
(36:37):
going to be awesome. It's goingto be an interactive experience
as well. It's not just going tobe a talking head style
conference where we talk at youfor three days. It's going to be
very immersive experience. I'mlooking at bringing in different
hardware and AI techs that wecan like play around with,
and I'm planning on doing apitch competition throughout as
(37:00):
well for AI martech startups. Sothere's going to be a bunch of
new AI marketing companies thatare pitching, and there's going
to be audience participation tovote on who they think will win.
And I have big, hairy, audaciousgoals, big,
they're the best kind. Yes, yes.For this conference, we really
(37:24):
want it to be, I'm a I'm a gobig or go home kind of guy. I
partnered with Scott Simpson onthis, who's the owner of video
marketing world. We rebrandedthat existing conference into AI
marketing world. This is notgoing to be a 50 person
conference. This is going to bea 507 50. We're hoping for 1000
people conference. We're goingbig with this thing. We've got
(37:46):
some big sponsors already. We'repumping money into this thing.
We brought the best speakers.This is gonna be a big deal. And
tickets are discounted and onsale right now. Yeah, AI
marketing world.co, and somehow,y'all, I'm included in this
mess.
So excited to do this. You justgot me more excited. And I
(38:06):
bought in the minute Austin evensaid he was doing it. I was
like, Oh, can I come talk abouthow to be a human in AI, so I
give you the human component.Yeah, it's a it's important to
fight to make sure you have thatgrounding. You know, as AI, just
increasingly becomes morepresent, but also more
leverageable as a tool we allhave. So I'm super, super
(38:28):
excited about it. So buy yourtickets now and come give Austin
i A hug in real life. It's gonnabe great. And we're also, if you
want to support this podcast andsupport Angie, I'm sure she has
an affiliate link in thedescription of this episode.
Sure, I do get that set up. Soyes, we will add that to the
show notes and to chat here. Andif any of you all have questions
(38:49):
about it, Alison and I are happyto answer, but it's going to be
a fun time and an educationaltime. So there we go, on brand
education and entertainment atthe same time. Awesome. This has
been so fun. Thank you so muchfor joining me today, but also
everything you are doing to helppeople put the influence that
they're meant to put out intothis world. And I'm wondering if
(39:11):
you would love to give everybodyone last little piece of wisdom
to leave them with this week,
perfectionism isprocrastination. Just post the
damn thing. Yeah, oh, man. Now Iwant to start a whole new
conversation. I'm talking a lotabout how
perfectionism is at the expenseof progress. Think about it less
(39:34):
and put it out there.
The world needs to hear it justlike Austin is doing. Thank you
so much for inspiring andsupporting and influencing. This
has been a fantasticconversation. I can't wait to
see you again in a few months.Everybody out there. One, thank
you for listening, and two, goput your influence out there
into the world right now. Do itrip off the band aid. We'll see
(39:56):
you next week for anotheredition of no more Mondays
podcast.
To do.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.