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On this week's Influential Barbecue, I chat with Maciek Zurawski, the person behind grillin_with_dad. We talk all about where he started his BBQ journey, deciding to step away from his full time finance job to pursue BBQ full time, and what a typical day looks like for him.
A weekly podcast focused on talking to influencers in the barbecue industry, uncovering how they’ve cultivated huge followings, unique income sources, and sponsorship possibilities from a love of cooking over fire. Hosted by Jordan Moore of @thebackyardbrisket
005 Going All In w/ Maciek Zurowski of Grillin With Dad
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[00:00:00] Voiceover: You're listening to influential barbecue, the podcast where we talk to influencers in the barbecue industry to uncover how they've cultivated huge followings, unique income sources and sponsorship possibilities from a love of cooking outdoors. If you want to turn your passion for food and fire into a world of opportunities, you're in the right place.
And now your host, Jordan Moore.
[00:00:30] Jordan: Hello, and welcome back to influential barbecue. Thanks for tuning in again this week. I just want to say a big, thank you to everyone. Who's been tuning into the podcast so far, sending messages and suggestions and sharing the show. It means the world, and it's how this thing can grow to more than what it is right now.
So please keep listening. If you're enjoying it, keep sharing it with those who may find it interesting or useful. And if you have any comments or questions or want to suggest a guest or a topic, please email me at podcast at influential barbecue. Calm. If this is your first time listening. Welcome. I hope you enjoy it and be sure to check out the earlier episodes because they are full of great advice and awesome conversations.
So this week I sat down and talked with Machek from grilling with dad. He's grown his following on Instagram to over 250,000. His tic talked over 1.1 million and he just left his job in finance in order to pursue grilling with. As a full-time venture. So that's kind of the thing we all want to do is what we're striving for with this.
And he has done it. So this conversation is great for anyone looking to do that. We chat in depth about what a regular day looks like for him, how he diversifies his income streams to generate income from a wide variety of sources. And he provides some tips to the pit masters out there that are looking to start making money with their barbecue passion through this medium and how they can go about setting rates to start with sponsorships or partnerships and where to go from there and how to make sure you're not doing too much for two.
Be sure to check out Machek on Instagram at grillin underscore with underscore dad and visit his website for everything that he's up to grilling with dad.com and now onto our chat.
hello, and welcome back to influential barbecue today. I'm here with my check, the Pitmaster behind. Yeah, thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today, man. Yeah. Thanks.
[00:02:34] Maciek: So, thanks for having me, Jordan. I know it's always, always fun doing these and I appreciate you, uh,
[00:02:38] Jordan: having me on yeah, of course. Um, so just to get things rolling, why don't you just start out telling any listeners who don't know who you are a little bit about yourself and what you do?
[00:02:46] Maciek: Uh, yeah, so like you said, my name's and I run the grillin with dad pages on all social media platforms and then really what I do with. Backyard barbecue, grilling recipes, videos, content, um, you know, I try to record everything and then post it across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Tic-tac just making easy to follow recipes, content, hopefully to inspire others, to kind of do the same cook at home, uh, fire up the grill and just, you know,
[00:03:15] Jordan: That's awesome.
It seems to be a really popular thing to do these days with the combination of, you know, grills are so much easier to use now it's not all offsets and would, and mix that with social media. You can actually find a lot of really cool recipes out there from people just creating things without a chef's background.
Oh yeah.
[00:03:32] Maciek: Yeah. There's a, there's a ton out there now, you know, kind of glad that you mentioned the shove background. So I, my, you know, my background is in finance and investments, so I'm not trained chef, not a. Professional Pitmaster, just the backyard, barbecue guy, cooking at home for family, for friends and kind of sharing all that.
So it's everything super approachable, very easy to make a and
[00:03:52] Jordan: replicate. I think we need a lot more of that these days too. Um, can you take me through kind of your progression, how you went from someone who got a grill, started firing things up, and then you start an Instagram account and then all of a sudden it takes off.
How does, how did that all come to be?
[00:04:09] Maciek: You know, I've always enjoyed grilling. Um, bullies had a grill at home, you know, cooking during the summer cooking for friends. Um, and then, uh, about five years ago for father's day, my wife got me a big green egg, and I've always wanted one. You know, we always talked about it, but just never, never pulled the trigger.
So she surprised me with that for father's day. Uh, and then when the grill got delivered, I kind of decided kind of right there. And then to start an Instagram page to post kind of attract my cooks. You know, I think how a lot of people start these pages to just kind of, sort of like a cooking diary of what you make, you know, what worked, what didn't work, maybe get some new ideas from other people, meet some other people, uh, Kind of like a personal blog almost on Instagram.
Right. So just kind of came up with the name because we had two kids, you know, so I figured, you know, grilling with that and just kind of went with that. Didn't really put much thought into it, uh, and really no intention of it being anything more than just that. And just me tracking my books, you know, I used to follow some of these other guys before on Instagram, on my personal page.
I kind of saw what they did, you know, the stuff that they cooked. So I figured, Hey, it'll be cool. A cool way to kind of meet people and get them. Especially using this new grill that I've never, never cooked on before. Uh, and that's really what it was for the first couple of months. You know, I would cook every day, post a picture, post little caption, whatever.
And, you know, as I kind of got a little bit better at using the grill and cooking, then I posted a video a couple months into it. And, you know, I had maybe a couple hundred followers at that time, which seemed awesome, you know, because I'm just, you know, Posting food pictures on Instagram and posted a video.
And it got like 20,000 views would just kind of blew my mind that so many people watch this video and it was something silly. Like I was wrapping a rack of ribs or something. You know, nothing, nothing crazy. And then, you know, the video kind of took off and I'm like, oh, this is, this is super cool. You know, people seem to like that sort of video content.
So then I started posting more videos and, and those got a lot of views and the page started to grow and I started doing more videos. Kind of progressed from doing little clips to, you know, trying to record full recipes, start to finish of whatever it is that I was making. And, and a lot of times it was me making something for the first time, because again, this was a new grill to me, you know, I was a lot of this was, was learning and, and.
Trial and error as I went. So I posted all of that. Uh, and then that they just started to grow. And then I started posting, you know, on other platforms, Facebook sharing on YouTube as well. And it just kinda kind of took off from there.
[00:06:40] Jordan: That's awesome. You mentioned at the end there, you started posting on other platforms.
I went over to tick-tock today and I saw you at 1.1 million followers, which is amazing. So congrats on that. How, how do you feel. Ticktock compares to all the other like reels and YouTube. Cause you S you started early doing video content when Instagram was predominantly a photo platform. Do you think that's kind of helped to translate you over to Tik TOK and help take off?
Or do you approach that completely?
[00:07:08] Maciek: Uh, yeah, I mean, it's so, so tick-tock, I signed up predictor when it first launched. I think I posted a couple of short videos. Um, you know, didn't really think much of it. Then I stopped and I didn't post for like a year. And then last year when kind of everything shut down is when a lot of people went to tic-tac just because they were sitting at home and they were hearing about this new app.
And, you know, at first it was. Kids dancing or whatever. It was nothing, you know, nothing really for, for, for us to go on. And, you know, I don't want to look at that stuff on the app. So, uh, but then as more people went on there and they started sharing. Other content, you know, a lot of cooking stuff. Uh, then the app kind of gain more traction with, uh, with a wider audience and other creators.
So then I started, you know, thinking all I have all this content on Instagram, all these videos might as well posted, you know, on tic-tac as well. And it was nice because tic-tac is full screen. So I can kind of show more now, before real scheme on Instagram, you know, it's still a minute long or back then it was just a minute long.
So the content transferred over very easily and, you know, similar to what happened with Instagram, my pay just kind of took off. So all that, you know, that growth was within a year. You know, when I started posting, you know, more last year consistently. Right. So
[00:08:20] Jordan: just because you already had such a backlog of content that was already fit for that platform, it was easy for you to just kind of dump it onto there strategically and have people notice it and see what was working and what wasn't.
[00:08:32] Maciek: That's what I always tell people whenever, you know, I always get asked about. Starting a cooking page. How do I get started in this? What do I do? And I said, you know, you know, don't just focus on one platform. You know, I always say, just, you already have the content, so just post everywhere, right? Like, it's not to say that it's going to go viral everywhere, but you might as well, you know, you're already put into words, filming it, editing it.
So it takes all of, you know, 30 seconds to just copy your caption and post. You know, on tic-tac on Facebook, on, on YouTube, you know, you already have it, so might as well just do it and helps help your page. Girl helps with the exposure helps get your name out there. So,
[00:09:09] Jordan: yeah, absolutely. And it helps maximize the time you spent doing it so that you're not doing one piece of content per platform at the same time, too.
Right. You got to make sure you're spending your time wisely and making sure you get the most out of everything you're doing. So at what point did you realize, like, you know, cause I know it started to take off and all that, but. Did it kind of click in your brain that like, Hey, I can take a real swing at this and maybe turn it into more than a hobby and kind of try to pursue it.
[00:09:34] Maciek: So it did take a while. So what happened at first is kind of once my Instagram page kind of clicked over about 10,000 followers, uh, is when I started getting companies reaching out, asking like, Hey, can we send you the seasoning to try out? Or can we send you these barbecue tools to try out, um, money really?
Wasn't a factor at first, it was more like, Hey, we'll send you this. In exchange for a post, if you try whatever the product is, or, you know, some meat company or whatever, whatever the case might be. Right. Uh, and at first he gonna get all excited, right? Because it's all in you. I'm like, oh, my Aaliyah is displaced.
Wants to send me a box of stuff. Just to make a video, right? Like I'm already going to make a video anyway. So might as well, why wouldn't I take the stakes or the seasonings or whatever those products might be. Right. So you kind of say yes, at first you try all this stuff out and then, you know, and then you start realizing that, Hey, like, you know, at school that do you're gifting me this stuff, I'm kind of making this content for you.
I realize maybe my pages and the biggest at the time. At the same time, it's me creating kind of marketing videos for you for essentially free because you know, it doesn't cost you much of anything to send me whatever the products it is that you're making. And here I am trying to promote your business, you know?
So then you start thinking to yourself, well, Hey, maybe I should start charging for this because even if it gets a couple sales from you making this video, it's still something for the business. So. So at that point, you start thinking that, you know, maybe I should kind of change with how I approach this and see it as a business, because that's essentially what it is.
You know, companies see the benefit, the advantage of sending out these products to these, you know, influencers or content creators, because it's a very specific form of advertising. For the people that follow me, right? They'd like to cook, they grill, they do stuff outside. So they know that the people who are going to see it are more likely to purchase those grill tools or steaks or whatever, you know,
[00:11:26] Jordan: product.
I think the hardest slog for most people is getting from zero to 10,000 followers. That just seems to take forever. Just with you mentioning that once you hit 10 K things started to change, it's just kind of really cool. Cause that's when all the options for your account open up, you've got all these new features and people start reaching out to you.
So I like that you, you had the change of focus from free things to, you know, Hey, this has taken up a lot of my time and it it's worth more to me than it is to steaks.
[00:11:56] Maciek: Right? Well, that's, uh, you know, this is the thing is people don't don't realize how much effort and time goes into it. Like it's easy to watch.
You know, a 45 second video on Instagram of me putting something together and you're like, oh, that's cool. You know, there's some music playing and maybe I have a voiceover and you know, you watch the video, you swipe up, you know, on the page or on the, on the app and you kind of go on and it kind of leaves your line, but you know, there's a lot of effort and one that goes into it from planning it from recording, from editing.
So. Uh, that's the stuff that people don't really see, and they don't realize that I do this every day, right? Like the, the, the way for your page to grow organically and to get good followers is to be consistent with your posts, with your content. So it's something new every day, something engaging something to kind of keep that momentum going.
And, and it's a lot of work, you know? It's not just 45 seconds, you know, that's what you see as the final product, but that's, you know, hours of work put into it, you know, to make it that. And they could that enjoyable and kind of, kind of engaging for them.
[00:12:55] Jordan: Yeah. A hundred percent like you watch a one minute video on an 18 hour brisket and you don't even think about how long that would have take.
So when you went from free product to deciding to charge from it, how did you, you don't need to get into any of your rates or anything like that? Cause that's all personal, but how did you kind of gauge and decide what the rates were going to be? Did you have anyone to talk to, to pull information from, or did you just kind of throw it at the wall and see what they said yes.
[00:13:21] Maciek: To that's a really good question. Probably one of the hardest things to kind of, kind of answer and talk about because there really isn't a clear. Guidelines for, you know, like, Hey, what should I be charging for this stuff? You know, like at first the company, maybe one of the first places that reached out and said, Hey, you know, we'll give you a hundred bucks to make the video and use our products.
I'm like, oh, sweet. You know, a hundred bucks. That's awesome. I'll think that, you know, like it's, it's a hundred dollars, you know, it's, it's a lot of money, right.
[00:13:47] Jordan: A hundred bucks to do what I'm doing
[00:13:48] Maciek: anyway. Yeah. Right. And then. As I make my content that I realized like, Hey, wait a second. Like, this is a couple hours of work.
And this is, you know, like then I gotta pay taxes on this, you know? So like it's not that a hundred dollars ends up being like maybe, you know, $4 an hour when you kind of break it all out. And I'm like, well, that's maybe not. Um, so, so it's you try to create. The you base the rates, right? On a ton of what you think you're worth, right?
How much effort you're putting into your content, your videos, but then you also have to look at what you're providing to the customer, right? Like a person who has a million followers on Instagram can charge a different rate from someone who has a half a million followers or 20 million followers. Right.
Because it's all about getting that video, that content in front of as many people as you can. So then there's different formulas you can use to kind of back track into. Your raid based on how many followers you have. Right. But, but at the end of the day, it's still just kind of a, a crapshoot with, you know, like my rates are, think what, what I'm worth, right?
Like how much effort and time I put into my content. So when people reach out and ask, Hey, how much for, for this? You know, I close on. It's more than others charge. It's less than some other people, but it's, you know, what's it worth for me to, to. Make a living doing this stuff now. So, but you have to try, you know, you have to try and kind of, kind of see what you're comfortable with and as your page grows and you can of course, kind of step, you know, increase those rates as you see growth and, and posting to other platforms and things like that.
[00:15:19] Jordan: Absolutely. So yeah, the hardest thing would probably be finding the first base rate that you would then increase from because you know, people coming from a background where they're working for a company. It's just like, Hey, it's $22 an hour is what you're worth. It's really hard to jump out and start cooking on Instagram and being like, no, I'm 35 an hour at least to start.
And just, it's a really strange jump to go up. Right. Yeah. How often do you find, like what's the ratio of your rate being accepted versus rejected? Do you
[00:15:48] Maciek: find it? So, I mean, it's outside maybe half the time, you know, like, but I'll, you know, I tell you, I try to sell at first, right. When I first started got into like the, the money side of this, of, uh, you know, of Instagram charging for content, you get excited for a lot of opportunities that show up, right?
Any place that emails you say, Hey, we got this product. What are your rates? You're like, oh, sweet. I'm going to make some money. Here's my rate. Let's do it. Right. But then you start realizing that if you say yes to all of these, and even if the people agree to your REA, then you know, you're just kind of selling out because.
Your page is just all ads, right? Like cure. Yeah. You'd still have the video, but it's an ad for whatever the company might be. Right. So then you have to be more selective with who you work with. You know, like I try to do stuff with the brands and then people or companies that I would normally use myself, you know, I try not to do stuff.
Like these one-off, you know, like I get so many emails from people that make, you know, ruling tools or grilling mats or tongs or whatever. And I'm like, I would never use this stuff. Right. So even if you, even if you agree to my rates or whatever, I want to charge, like I'm still not going to do it because it's just kind of selling it.
To promote, you know, a silly product. So it kind of gets, gets to the point where I try to focus on more longer-term partnerships where it's not just, okay, do a video for us and we're done. It's more like, okay, let's maybe go into a six month or 12 month partnership where I make content for you. Every month I use the products all the time.
It's a better fit for my page. People see it all the time and they're more likely. To to purchase it or use it because they see me using it. Then it's something that I I'm naturally using at home
[00:17:24] Jordan: anyways, that also aids in, you know, natural growth, which is just a page and posting that is consistent and not like it's blatant marketing, right.
Because you're going to use something all the time. They see it all the time. Then you're consistently posting with that thing. So it's not jarring to go from, oh, Hey, here's me with a Yeti, Ohio of a arrow. Here's a steak. Oh, here's this all of a sudden, it's like I'm using all of these tools. I always use to make a new.
Before you, which is the goal,
[00:17:52] Maciek: right? Yeah. And then, you know, the other part of it too, is it's not always about the money or working on, you know, we're charging a business. Like, you know, like I'm not, I don't want to make it sound like, oh, I'm not going to use a product if somebody doesn't pay me, because that's far, far from the case, you know, like, like you mentioned Yeti, you know, like I like Yeti products, you know, they're expensive, but it's a quality product.
Like a lot of stuff that I have from Yeti, I purchased, you know, I don't want the website, I buy it. I ordered it. And I have it. And then what starts happening is after you start using it in your videos, then the company might see it and then they might reach out and say, Hey, we saw your content. We see that you're like using our products.
Can we maybe send you some stuff for, you know, for your next videos, if you like it so much. And you know, so then you kind of get into that, that it's okay. It's not maybe a paid partnership, but I'm using it anyways, you know? And then it's a good, it's a good brand. Something that I liked. So I might as well take advantage of that.
[00:18:44] Jordan: Yeah, it goes back to a conversation I briefly had with Noah cheek on this podcast a couple episodes ago where he's like, don't go just shooting messages to companies saying, Hey, let's partner. Like if you like them buy a few products, use them in your content and then tag them in that. So they kind of see your natural using it.
And that starts more of a natural dialogue then kind of cold emailing them. Right, right.
[00:19:06] Maciek: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point. You know, it's, it's good that you mentioned that too. Like when I first started, you know, some of the advice that I got from other people back then was. Oh, here's like a, a email template or a DM template.
You can send out to companies. We're just going to put the company name, put your name, your stats, and like, Hey, let's collaborate. And they say, you know, just shoot all these out every day to get stuff or try to get business that way. But. You know, you realize like, well, but you know, like how can I legitimately promote something or mentioned on my page and when I haven't used it in the past, and it's just me kind of doing it simply for the money and nothing else.
So that's a good point. You know, that's what I do as well. Try to, if I want to do something or I want to use a product, I'll just go, I'll buy it, use it, type the company. And if they wanted or they like it, they like it. But if not, and I like the product, I'm still going to continue using it and then tagging them if I want.
And because if it's something that I, that I. Yeah. It's
[00:20:00] Jordan: just something to keep in mind when you get into it. Like you can still purchase things that you want. It doesn't all have to be, you know, a business slog to get food stuff. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So I'm going to shift gears a little bit here, and rumor has it.
You recently left your finance job and you're now doing grilling with that full-time is that right? So
[00:20:18] Maciek: I went, yep. I went full-time with this, uh, back in June. So it's been four or five months now that I'm doing this for.
[00:20:26] Jordan: Well, congratulations on that. That's kind of what everyone dreams of when they start.
One of these things is I'm just going to start cooking full time. So with the premise of this podcast, being to give people more of an insight to the backend of the barbecue influencer world, I was wondering if you might be able to give us some insight onto what full-time really looks like. Are you just cooking all day?
Are you spending most of the time in emails, editing videos, or like what, what does a typical day or week kind of look like for you?
[00:20:54] Maciek: Yeah, well, so, so I'm happy to get into that and really kind of to start that what drove the decision to go full time as it got to the point where I just, I didn't have enough time.
In a day to do all of it. Right. So I had a full-time job. Uh, you know, I'm married, I have two kids, young kids, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old and then running this, you know, all, you know, the grillin with add pages. Like it was, it was too much, you know, because I would get home from work, trying to cook something, make the video, play with the kids, put the kids to bed.
Then edit my content post, respond to messages, respond to emails, you know, like I would staying up half the night, just kind of doing all that. And then I didn't have enough time or more time to do more things with the gorilla. Would that page to do events or, you know, have more time to shoot content? You know, my weekends were pretty much booked cooking because that's when I had the most time.
But then, you know, the family wants to do stuff we want to. You know, you do family things and, you know, dad's grilling doing cause videos. So, so we kinda got to the point where like, well, the, the social media part of this is growing. There's more opportunities there. So maybe let's commit full time and see how it goes, where I can dedicate the full day to doing this and that weekends and nights.
And. You know, kinda grinding, you know, taking away from the family time. So, yeah, so, you know, we, my wife and I decided to kind of, kind of try it full time and, uh, and it's really been great because it's not just me cooking, you know, I still don't cook every single day. I mean, it's almost every day, but there's just so much more time to even do a podcast like this, you know, kind of talk to you.
It's nine o'clock in the morning. I'm not at work. We can do those. I have time to edit my videos, you know, do the administer. So the emails, messages, things like that. And it doesn't, it doesn't take away from my regular family.
[00:22:41] Jordan: That's awesome. That's, that's so great. Cause I, even me, I, you know, between jobs and stuff, if I have to decide if I either want to cook something on the weekend or go out and visit family or go to dinner with the girlfriend or do any of that stuff, it's kind of a choice because I have so many things going on.
So it's nice that you're able to tear it down and just be able to focus on the one thing. So. From like a Monday to Sunday kind of thing. What are you working on? Is a, do you have a plan for what meals you're going to cook out and you do like a grocery day and then content days? Or is it just what you're feeling at the time?
Like, can you walk us through what, what you do on the
daily?
[00:23:18] Maciek: So normally, so I try to plan out as much as I can plan ahead what I'm going to make. Um, I know what I'm going to posted. Uh, this is really, really true, especially for like the sponsored stuff. Right? So like I work with swift needs, uh, where I've been with them for the past two years.
I'll almost, and like Marianno's market, which is a local grocery store. Uh, in the Chicagoland area. And so like those recipes or, you know, like those partnered posts, I kind of plan out ahead. So I have those written out in my calendar and I know, okay, this week I'm doing this for Marianno's next week, I'm doing this for swift or big green egg or whatever the case might be.
So I try to plan that out as much as I can shoot that content, you know, a couple of days ahead, uh, get that created. Um, but like the regular daily cooking daily recipes, you know, Not paid, uh, stuff, you know, I'm usually maybe a day or two in advance of when I make it to when I post it. So then if something comes up or, you know, I can't cook or there's something else going on or some family event, you know, I always have content ready to post daily, right.
For a couple of days, uh, as far as groceries, I'm at the store every day. So I go, I go daily because I try to buy, you know, the store super close by me and I try to buy smaller quantities. So I just kind of buy what I need for the recipe instead of buying. Too much cause that I found that a lot of that goes away, so I don't end up using it all.
And it's easier for me to just run to the store and get a couple of things that I need cook that same day. And then I usually, so usually I'll go to the store in the morning, so there's no people I can kind of be in and out super quick. Uh, I'll do my videos around new. You know, for whatever it is that I'm making, uh, I'll edit the content either that afternoon or the next day in the morning, and then it's ready to post and go live.
And then the time in between a span, either responding to messages, right. Again, a lot of it kind of depends on what I cook and what I post on my Instagram or. Either a ton of messages asking about a specific recipe or a method or something, you know, that people just have an interest in. So I try to respond to as many of those as I can.
Um, and then emails always get some business related emails, people asking for, for different things. Um, and then I also sell merge and some seasonings. So I also pack orders. Uh, but to come in. So I shipped out of my house and the kind of room that I'm in. So just kinda run through the Shopify store pack orders.
They they'll send a post office, dropped it off and that's, that's pretty much it. So
[00:25:46] Jordan: it sounds like it truly is a full-time thing. You've got it kind of planned out.
[00:25:50] Maciek: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you kind of have to, because otherwise, you know, the first thing that I realized and I realized this really quickly, when I, when kind finally went full time with this thing is if you don't have a plan of what you gotta do or how you're gonna do.
You were just going to like waste avail it, right? Like, it's easy for me to just sit on my phone and scroll Instagram for three or four hours or Tik TOK or whatever. And you're like, oh crap. Like I did. And you know, I didn't cook anything. I didn't go to the store and I fell behind on messages because of.
Get sucked into the void of, you know, scrolling social media for half a day. Right. So you always have to kind of be very self-disciplined with kind of focusing on the words, because now it's not my boss at my job telling me what to do and providing the paycheck. It's. And the effort that I put in directly reflects with what I make and then how that pans out, you know, financially for us.
So
[00:26:41] Jordan: yeah, we've, we've all caught ourselves, especially in the last two years, just like, oh shit, it's 2:00 PM and I've done nothing. Right.
[00:26:50] Maciek: And that's not to say that doesn't happen. Right. I still that's still happens to me too sometimes, but he kind of try to try, you know, try to keep that in, in your mind to not, to not to do it too often and just really focus on the work and then do what.
Yeah.
[00:27:04] Jordan: So do you, I assume you do, but do you have a way of like, tracking, like all the grocery expenses and like fuel expenses per recipe so that you can kind of do your costs and profits and see how you're doing? Or do you have like a weekly way to do it? How do you kind of manage the expenses of.
[00:27:22] Maciek: Yeah, that was, that was kind of hard at first too, because again, it's, you know, this whole world of like social media, like content creation, there's not a lot of guides, not a lot of guidelines with how to do stuff.
So, um, this was about two years ago where I opened up an LLC for grilling with dad, just to kind of keep the expenses on the business side of it, separate from my personal. So that was, I dunno, like 200 or 300 bucks, whatever. Um, and then I opened up a business checking account in my name or in the grill and with dead name and try to, again, to try to separate the expenses that I had for like sponsored content for the poles that I was making money on for my personal expenses.
So then when it came to tax time, which again, nobody tells you about, right. Like you can write all this stuff off because it's a business expense because now it's. Because nothing hurts more than, you know, you make all this money throughout the year and then you come to your taxes and then you get a huge tax bill, because there is no tax deductions.
You know, when you, when you, when you're basically 10 99, you know, for, for all these, all this words. So, so that's something, again, you gotta keep in mind or keep the money separate. So it's not a surprise. You're like, oh crap. I got to write out this huge check. Right. So, uh, so right now I try to keep, you know, When I go to the store, I buy whatever I'm buying and take a picture of the receipt right away at the register that gets uploaded into my accounting software.
So it's all stored. And then at the end of the year, I have a nice, it's still a time consuming process, but it's all at least in one place and I can separate, okay, these are the expenses for groceries disease, or my travel expenses. These are, you know, Tickets or like, you know, travel tickets, rental cars for events, things like that.
And I can kind of put it all together and try to write off as much as I can. So that tax bill doesn't hurt as much. Yeah.
[00:29:09] Jordan: That's a really good way to do it. So for anyone out there thinking about full timing it, or taking a big shot at doing this open up a separate account and a little bit of a business so that you can properly track it, keep it completely separate and store some money away from each paycheck you get so that when the tax man comes, you have something to give them.
That's not out of your pocket. So we all, we've talked about it and we know you've got, you know, income sources from sponsorships and partnerships. Um, again, no need for details, but what other streams of income have you been able to kind of create, but since going full time? Yes, that's a very
[00:29:43] Maciek: good question.
And, um, at first, and I realized this really quickly when I first started making money and on the sponsored content is you realize, okay, so this company's paying me to make a post on Instagram. What if Instagram goes away next month, right? Then like I lose all my money. So you try to think of ways to, you know, kind of monetize in other ways than just sponsored content.
Right? So sponsored content, I would say accounts for. Maybe half of my revenue of my income. So that's the sponsored posts, the partnerships, um, and that I have in place. Uh, another big one that's still fairly new to me. Uh, or do you just kind of, kind of started happening recently the past maybe year or so is ad revenue from Facebook and YouTube?
Uh, that's a really, really great source because it's not brand specific. It's not a post it's all my posts. When I run ads on YouTube and on Facebook, right. And then I don't have to rely on any brand or any company to pay me because this comes straight from, from YouTube or Facebook. Uh, now on Instagram, you know, reels and IETV are monetized as well.
So I can run ads on those as well. So that all adds up, you know? Little less than half of this point of, of my monthly income. Okay. Awesome. And then another, another one that I mentioned before is selling merge and spices. So I started selling t-shirts and like the GWT had about two. Two and a half years ago.
And you know, it was kind of like consistent, you know, people would buy some t-shirts or hats and stickers, things like that. And then I figured, you know, well, I don't have my own rubs, but what if I sold the rubs that I use on my, on my videos, you know, just directly so stuff from hardcore carnivores stuff from the church, you know?
So I sell those and I fulfill those orders. Myself. I ordered them wholesale from those guys, uh, Selma my Shopify side. And it's a cool way, I think, because one of the only place that there there's a couple of other ones, but not too many where you can buy both brands at the same time, you know? So you save on shipping.
If you want to try hardcore carnivores in the church, you'd have to go to them separately. Can just come. The prices are the same as what they charge. And I get a couple of dollars from each sale that way. So, so that kind of adds up as well, especially now over the holidays. So merge sales will pick up again and would like to t-shirts and hats as gifts and things like that.
So, so I do that. And then another one, which is kind of more during the summer months is like different events and demos. All right. So I try to do those as well, which is kind of cool to kind of get out there, be an excess, uh, doing demos or like private lessons, things like that. You know, that's another way to kind of monetize in person rather than just, you know, on the, on the internet.
[00:32:29] Jordan: That's awesome. I'm glad to hear that you're very diversified in your income streams, because like you said, If anything, any one of those channels goes down and that's the only place your income is from then you're done your bones. I never even thought, but it's such a good idea to sell the spices you use instead of trying to sell a spice blend you haven't created yet.
How did you kind of get into that and talk to the companies being like, Hey, ship me cases of your stuff and I'll sell it on my store for you. Like how did that kind of come about?
[00:32:58] Maciek: Like, so I thought about a lot of places. Do you affiliate. Or, you know, they'll give you a link or a code and you make, you know, 10% or whatever on the sale.
And I tried it in the past too, and I just, I never had much luck with that. It just seems like. I don't know. I just, I never like, you know, he can make some money doing the affiliate stuff and I do have a couple of those still in place, but, uh, but it's never, never been anything substantial for me. So then I figured, well, like they like hardcore carnivore, for example, you know, they sell in different stores, nationwide, uh, different websites on.
So I figured, well, why can't I sell it? And what if I sell them with me? Together. Right. So it's two big brands, two of the brands that I use all the time, pretty much. So people can come to me directly if they want it. So I, you know, them ask them, they're like, yeah, for sure. Like we do wholesale, here's our wholesale list.
And it's, you know, order as much as you want, we'll ship them to you, put them on your website and, and sell it for whatever you want to sell them. And it's more than like the affiliate sales that you get. So it's, it actually works out pretty well. Plus it helps drive traffic to my website where I'm trying to put more of my recipes on.
Uh, we're again, there is Google ads on the website, so I make some money off of that as well. So it all kind of, you know, they're trying to keep basically all of it within the grill and would that space. So if you want recipes and you on my website, if you want rubs, you go to grill with that on the website videos, you go to my YouTube channel or Instagram, right?
It's all, anywhere you go. There's ways for me to kind of try to monetize and all this travel. You know, one
[00:34:31] Jordan: way or another, that's such a good way to do it because you have to drive because I notice a lot of people will end up, they have the link tree and then each link goes to a different website and you never end up back at that.
Person's main hub again, you're just, you're gone into the internet. Just find other things to distract you, where if you build your own website up, you're going to get like domain authority. First of all. So you'll search, you'll appear faster with Google. If you have more things pointing back to you, and it's just such a good way to monetize every little bit of the links that they can go to in different ways.
So. You go to the store, you get Google ads or you buy something, you go to Instagram, there's monetization. There you go to YouTube. There's monetization there. And it's just, it's a good way to really spread it out and just, it's a true multiple streams of income ecosystem. So that everything's bringing you a little bit instead of one thing, bringing you a lot.
[00:35:25] Maciek: And then same thing, like you mentioned the link tree, even that is like, it's my own link tree on my side that I have, you know, the landing pages would that, you know, Lincoln bio and then I can just list whatever I want. But again, it shows people the website and they're already on there. So it's easier to click.
Oh, what's the recipes here. Oh, what's the shop? What. It's all right there, rather than some third party app with the links. Yeah.
[00:35:49] Jordan: And that's one of the first things I noticed. I went to your Instagram link on your page and it took me to a link tree and I was like another link tree. I won't be able to find the website, but I was like, oh, I just take link tree out.
And it's his website. Perfect. There I go. I got right to the home instead of having to go and then Google you and find the website through that way. So it's just really smart how you're keeping everyone on your page in order to, to really give them everything that you can offer. Are there any types of initiatives you're thinking of in the future to help generate more streams?
Do you have any big ideas in your head that you're working through or, or do you have any ideas that you tried that did not work and you just stop them because they were not working at all?
[00:36:28] Maciek: So I don't. So the one thing that, like I said, I was just sort of. Or didn't really work out as well. For me, it was like the affiliate stuff, the affiliate marketing, where you, you know, having to like your own specific lane, can you make a couple dollars off the sale?
Uh, I mean, in the warnings, what it seems like for those you to like consistently we're constantly pushed those links and say, go here to buy, go here to buy, you know, like it's and I get it right. That's how you make the money when the sales happen. So that's, like I said, I still have a couple of those in plays, but it's not, it's not a, not a big source.
Uh, for me, I am working on something for next spring for doing more events or demos, you know, I always get a lot of questions for that, especially, even from like local followers. So I live outside Chicago, people always ask like, Hey, can you come up to our business or like do a grilling event or show us how to grill steaks or do something in person.
And. Uh, and as much as I would love to do that, the problem is that, you know, I cook primarily on a big green egg. It's not very easy to transport, you know, like they're just big, heavy, bulky, so it's not, you know, I can just put those in my car and roll out to someone's place and, and do do stuff. So I've got something in the works to kind of help with.
So hopefully that all pans out, uh, because you know, it's fun doing social media at home. You know, you do the videos. I do the recipes, whatever, interact with people, but it's super cool when I have, you know, actually can be out somewhere in person. That's why I like doing these events so much. Like the Xs, or can actually go on people, come up to you, you know, you can kind of cook together.
Explain what I'm doing. Maybe learn something from some other people. Um, it's just more fun interacting in person. So I'm trying to do more of that, or I will try to do more of that next spring and summer, you know, when, when that time
[00:38:11] Jordan: rolls around. That's awesome. And now that it's getting more and more safe to do things like that, I think that's going to be a really popular thing.
If you can just do a little grilling with dad road show. Yeah. Show people how to cook things on whatever cooker they have and yeah, I think that'll be awesome. That'll be a really good source as well. Just a couple more questions here, and then I'll let you get back to your day. Um, now that you're full time, what would you say takes up a lot more time than you had really thought it would when you went to do this?
Is there something that's just, you're doing way more of than you ever. You would that you didn't think
[00:38:43] Maciek: of? Um, so, uh, I mean, I guess I would say a couple things so on, and this is probably the hardest thing and we're doing all this, uh, is just coming up with things to cook, to make all the time with like recipes, you know, like, like I said before, Professional chef.
So a lot of the stuff that I make is, is easy because it's easy for me to make and then easy to show, easy to make a video with. And, you know, like you want to keep things kind of different, but at the same time, similar and simple, and I don't want to cook steaks every day just to season a steak gorilla, slice it, and then do the same thing the next day.
So coming up with content ideas of what to make and make it interesting is the absolute hardest part. Of this whole business side of it, you know, and really an editing videos, like those two things this, and then like once I have the content made, it's, didn't just sit down and edit stitch the clip. So it'll be cool to have maybe that's something for down the road to have someone else assist or help out some editor or somebody to take away.
'cause it's just, it's such a grind sometimes just setting the time aside and doing all that.
[00:39:53] Jordan: Yeah, for sure. And, Hey, that's another write off to go against your taxes. So we'll say for anyone looking to bring their page kind of to where you are now, anyone starting out that wants to get big enough to kind of go full time or.
Give full-time a shot. What kind of tips or advice or anything do you have for anyone like that? That's looking to get into it. So
[00:40:16] Maciek: again, that's another thing that I get asked or message about all the time on my page. The really the main thing is to just start pulling. Your page will grow. If you're just posting consistently, you're making content and you're posting the pictures or videos, whatever you're comfortable with is to just try and post every day, you know, find a schedule that works for you, or however many times you want to post in a day, but just gonna stick with it.
You know, it's easy. There's been a bunch of times where I wanted to just like, say this. This is stupid. You know, why am I, I'm 40 years old now and posting videos on Instagram. This is dumb, you know, and it especially happens if like you spend a lot of time on the video, like editing, thinking of an idea, you post it in the video just like flops or, you know, you lose followers, whatever you look at that.
And you're just like, well, this is it's a waste of time. So just, you got to kind of get past that and just be consistent, you know, try to improve, look at what, you know, how your content does. Learn from, from what happened and then just post again the next day and really not focused. Like I said, when I started my page, it was never about trying to do it full-time or trying to make even money on it.
It was just to keep track of my recipes, learn some new recipes, meet some people, really the social side of it. Right. That's that's what you got to focus on. If you come into this thinking, oh man, I'm going to make millions of dollars. I'm going to be so rich doing cooking videos. You're probably gonna feel.
Guaranteed. You know, you got to, the mindset has to be set on, Hey, how can I get better at cooking? How can I get better at, you know, motivating other people at sharing what I like to do with the world. And then just the money and the business of it will we'll eventually come. You know, you gotta remember.
It's not, you know, it's not already, it's, it's a marathon like this stuff. Some people take quicker than, than others. Some people takes longer, you know, you can't really compare yourself too much to what other people are doing. You can definitely use that as motivation or as inspiration, but just. Find what works for you and really just be consistent.
That's the main thing is just keep added, can give up, just keep going and it will happen. That's
[00:42:22] Jordan: great advice. Like, yeah, stay true to yourself. Do what you need to do and just be you. Good things will happen. Well, man, thank you so much for joining me today. This has been such an insightful and enjoyable conversation.
I'm really looking forward to learning more and more. The ins and outs of this side of the Instagram business, because it, like I said, it's not shown anywhere. It's all just steaks and briskets. And I wanted to do a show that wasn't another episode on how to cut brisket across the grain. You know, I just wanted to learn more of this backend stuff.
So thanks so much for joining me and sharing all the information you did about how you've gone full time. Now, where can people find you if they want to find anything? Yeah. Uh, so
[00:43:02] Maciek: the easiest way to get in touch with me is definitely through my Instagram page. Uh that's in, on their score with underscore that, uh, it's also available or linked through my website, grillin with that.com.
But if people have questions or want to ask a little more details via the recipes or the business side of it, just shoot me a message on Instagram. Like I said, I try to. Uh, to everybody, sometimes it might take a day or so, but I usually try to catch up and get back to all those messages. So that's, that's the absolute best way to do that.
[00:43:31] Jordan: Awesome, man. Thanks again so much. And if you're ever up in the Hamilton area in Ontario doing a demo, let me know and I'll definitely come out and have a. For sure. Awesome. Thanks so much, man. Have a great day. Thanks man. I
[00:43:42] Maciek: appreciate it.
[00:43:47] Jordan: That's it for my chat with Machek. It was so fun to chat with him and I'm really happy that he was willing to share so much with us from behind the curtain of grilling with dad. Something to consider. If you're wanting to go full time, one day is to get in the habit now of doing simple things. Tracking your expenses and planning out your weeks ahead of time.
It may seem silly if you're just getting started or you're not quite there yet, but you'll thank yourself down the road, for sure. When it's a habit that saves you an immense amount of frustration and time, lastly, always be on the lookout for new ways to generate. Let's face it myself included. If Instagram went down overnight, a whole lot of us would be screwed.
So having smaller amounts of money come in from more places is always better than putting all your eggs in one basket. Please go give Machek a follow at grillin underscore with underscore. And check out his website for a bunch of super easy delicious recipes, www.grillingwithdad.com that will do it for this episode of influential barbecue.
Thank you so much for tuning in this week. We'll be back next week in 2022 for episode six, with Matt rose of Matt Outback. You can find links to everything we talked about today in the show notesPage@influentialbarbecue.com. I'm always looking for feedback on this show from you. I'm just sitting in my studio, recording in front of a black hole, talking to myself, talking to my guests.
So any feedback you give me, it's going to help me improve this show and bring you better topics and better episodes. Please shoot me an email with any of your thoughts, a podcast@influentialbarbecue.com or send a DM to influential barbecue on Instagram. If you enjoy this podcast, please share it up with those that you think would enjoy it and benefit from it as well.
I'm Jordan Moore, you can follow my barbecue adventures on Instagram at the backyard. Brisket. Thank you so much for listening. Have a happy new year. This weekend. Don't drink and drive. Arrive alive. Be safe. Be smart. Have fun. We'll see you next week. And next year, keep on grilling.