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Join James Petrossi in 'Leave the Feed: 30 Days of Disconnect' as he interviews creators and mental health advocates about their journeys, the digital quagmire, and tips to create a healthier relationship with social media.
[00:00:00]
James Petrossi: Hello and welcome to Leave the Feed. It's day 12. I'm excited to be here with Jayo to talk about the moment right now. And right now you and I are in this moment, but let's talk about the moments that created your moment. Like what's your journey been like as a creator? Like what, how did this whole thing unfold?
Jayo: Oh, man. Well this is. Man throwback. So in 2019, I was a substitute teacher and my students at the time, they saw me posting covers on YouTube and Instagram. but they told me to hop on TikTok and that I was funny and I should do funny stuff on TikTok. So remember the first post I posted on TikTok, got like 800 views and I was like, you can get views with no followers.
That's crazy. So I just like [00:01:00] learned about this algorithm thing, and I was in the class, so I did like a little skit in the classroom. I posted a couple of like my covers. They didn't work. And then the fourth video I posted was another like duet or skit thing that got a million views. So like instantly from there it's like, oh. Welcome to Content Creation. So from there I just kept making content. So that was 2019 September yeah, I, I grew very fast. Went like 60,000 followers in a month, a hundred K by January. And then in February I hit a mill on TikTok and just kept going, but mostly posting comedy stuff and pandemic hit of course. Slowed down on the comedy. I really wanted to go back to music. So I spent the last three years, converting people from my comedy audience of 2 million to gaining fans that were interested in my music. And
James Petrossi: Cool. So what, what did the kids like, how, what was your student's journey like during your journey? Were they like watching this? Were they [00:02:00] like.
Jayo: yeah, yeah. They were watching they were all like, oh my gosh, our teachers on TikTok, da da da da. And I was a sub, so I would like hop around different schools and it felt like and like especially in like January, 2020, 'cause I went from a hundred K to an. A million in one month. So I was like very much the front page of TikTok.
Like I had a series going with like this whole food war thing and yeah, it was like 40 million views a week. So yeah, every school I went to, people, like one person might recognize me by homeroom, but then by lunch, the whole school's outside the door trying to get in. Like I had to have a lot of classroom management and a lot of just like, you know, making sure, double checking the roster, making sure everybody in the classroom was my student.
'cause some people were just leaving their class to try and be in mine. So, yeah.
James Petrossi: That's fun. So like tell me about the journey from like comedy then transitioning in into music and you sort of still have like a lot of levity in your music and fun in your music.
Jayo: Yeah.
James Petrossi: prompted that like [00:03:00] transition?
Jayo: Yeah, so it was funny 'cause when I, even when I started posting comedy, I remember people were like, you're funny. And I was like. Like, at first I was doing covers. I just, I guess I wasn't showing my personality 'cause in person people would always be like, you're funny. So so then kind of like reverting back, it's like I'm trying to post music stuff and it kept flopping and I was like, man. Like I, I, I enjoy this. Like, I want this to take off. Like, this is not, I don't want to just keep doing skits forever, you know? So I just kept trying to find that balance, whether it was like, you know making a funny video and sliding my song behind it where it was like 5% music, 98, 90 5% comedy, or, you know 50 50 or finding that balance.
And then, yeah, I remember the first thing that did well for me was this comedy series 2023 for my song Comfortably, you. Where and it's funny, it was the first time I came up with the concept for the video before the song. So I was literally in the shower and I was like, what if there was a video where I asked someone like, what's their height? then they [00:04:00] tell me the wrong height. I measure them. Then I sing a song about honesty, the shower I sing like, you could be honest, you could be cool, comfortable here, then comfortable you. And then I literally voice recorded that. And that is the ending of the actual song that's out on Spotify is the original shower, thought and note from when I thought of the idea.
But then I went out, I did it, I filmed a skit. I, I had my friends do it. I wouldn't actually embarrass someone random. But I had him say he was like six foot. I measure him, I'm like, oh bro, you're only five 10. And I'm like, you can be honest, you can be cool. And then I kept going on with the series, just different things, catching people lying. And yeah, that was like the series just kept doing well. Like that first video was like a hundred K views. And then I got a couple with like three mil and it just kept doing well on that series. And then, so I was like, okay, I can figure out this like content comedy thing. And the music was reacting on Spotify as well, so I was like, okay, we're, we're seeing people go listen to the music now.
James Petrossi: That's cool. And like as this is happening, [00:05:00] we've had content creators on this show before that have talked about content creation starting when they're super young, like an adolescence and. Them being almost feel like they're defined by like their follower count, right. Or by metrics.
And you entered content creation sort of different way or substitute teacher, right? And you're having fun with it and you blow up. How do you handle that blow up and how do you handle psychologically like trying to get into music, maybe not getting the immediate recognition , you're wanting.
And then like keeping going during the process, like keeping that fire lit.
Jayo: Yeah, I mean there was a lot of highs and lows especially I'm, I'm a shout out the professor street ball basketball player. He was one of my close friends and mentors when I was like starting this social media thing and I was the one that got him on TikTok and stuff. So I remember, 'cause I went from like. That that month, that February, 2020 like, you know, going from a hundred K to a [00:06:00] mill in a month, like you get used to these metrics. You think like, A video under mill views is a flop was in my head. That's what I thought. So literally like, I remember 'cause I scrolled back and I'm like, wow, I had some. Stuff that I put a lot of effort into, like, I was like, okay, I want to tell my story. So I like edited this blog for like three hours and posted and it got 150 K views in my mind I'm like, that's a flop. No, people don't want to see this. Like, you know, like, people don't wanna see my music, all this stuff. So you know, a lot of stuff happened. Like I had a failed brand deal that was supposed to be getting like a six figure brand deal at the time that literally they they ended up using my song and didn't pay me. So that became depressing. I was still living at my parents' house. And they're like, get a job.
And it was just like a lot of stuff happening where it was like, I have a million followers, but it's like, like, it's not like my whole world changed now. And it was just very depressing. And I remember he was telling me like, yeah, this comes in waves. Like, like you will never just co consistently, it never looks like a consistent graph up.
Lemme do this. [00:07:00] It never looks like a consistent graph up. It
James Petrossi: Right.
Jayo: like, you know. As long as you're like, like he is like, there's gonna be waves, there's gonna be ups and downs. So like it kind of prepared me mentally for even when I got the next up wave, like, okay, there's gonna be a down when I get the next up wave there's gonna be a down.
And it's like knowing that I can always get back up and knowing that I can always go back down is healthy to know. So that way I'm not like, you know, overly expecting this like crazy miraculous thing. But yeah, that, that's what kind of like got me level-headed. And you know, when I would see my music flop, I'm like, okay, I can get something.
And I got something with the comfortable use series first. And then I really saw it work with the worst case scenario series last year where I was the first time people started actually recognizing me for music 'cause I was able to carry the momentum of that. But yeah,
James Petrossi: How did that feel to finally be recognized for what you wanted to create, like what you wanted to evolve into?
Jayo: Yeah, that felt great. It was fun. Definitely fun to do that [00:08:00] series. That series I did a series that was like how music fans play basketball. It's like how Kenrick Lamar fans play basketball, HoWSA fans play basketball.
James Petrossi: That fun.
Jayo: series and that's what really like took off and gave me momentum enough to do the worst case scenario series. That was like when I really started like seeing it be fun 'cause it was kind of like, oh, I'm doing things I love, like I'm playing basketball and I'm singing and I'm garnering this. Like I'm garnering both the basketball audience but as well as like music fan audience 'cause I'm targeting them. So I thought like that was really cool to see.
And then when it was like, oh my original music, now they're loving it. I'm like, okay, this is really cool to see. So yeah.
James Petrossi: Now those like ebbs and flows that come with follower accounts or like posting videos and how much social currency you're getting from them, like how do you manage your own time, like your own mental wellness in the world of content creation? Because like
Jayo: Mm-hmm.
James Petrossi: you're some ways [00:09:00] always on, but how do you turn off and how do you balance like inspiration with ideas creation and then filming that, you know.
Jayo: Yeah. Yeah, they definitely say you trade a nine to five for a 24 7. But,
James Petrossi: Yeah.
Jayo: Yeah, I I mean it's, it's a lot of like note taking. You know, I have friends that help. I've hired friends as assistants and stuff, but, yeah, it's, I, everything's in my calendar. I, I learned that in college, actually.
I remember I used to be a 2.7 GPA, and I remember the things that switched me to a 4.0 GPA were, especially after our, our professor had us read this thing about the power of attention and just how like, the attention fans diminished so heavily from like X to millennials to Gen Z. So on and going from like 15 seconds to nine seconds to even seven seconds or five second attention span, which now with TikTok feels like two, you got two seconds to hook people. But that being said learning that, and then my sister being like, you know what? You only have so much you can hold in your mind. Why do you have [00:10:00] everything on your schedule memorized? Like put it on a calendar. That way you're not constantly trying to remember, oh, what do I have Thursday? What do I have this, what do I have next?
Like, you know, and when I started. Leaving space for my brain to actually be creative and think I put everything on my calendar. I, I don't care what it is, like everything on my calendar, and then try to just focus on having more attention 10 more seconds at a time. I think those two combo things, one flipped me to 4.0, but also are things I carry now to where. Whatever I gotta do, I put it on the schedule and then I try to just focus on the task at hand and pay attention and, and try not to get distracted. But yeah, that's so much to do because I'm, I'm in acting, I'm in music, I'm in, I'm in content creation, so it's like there's so many hat I gotta wear. And then it's like I'm trying to build a product, trying to build a course, trying to do all the things, you know, so.
James Petrossi: Yeah, no, I know for sure. And then like in that journey, how, like where are you getting inspiration? Are you getting it from social media? Are you [00:11:00] just intuiting it more about like what's, what's like coming to me right now?
Jayo: Yeah. A lot of it comes from social media as well as. Just, I mean, intuition for sure, definitely downloaded, you know, tapped into geniusness, like God's ether of geniusness that a lot of people have mentioned, you know, Michael Jackson being afraid to not record a song immediately in case Prince might get it tomorrow. You know?
James Petrossi: Right.
Jayo: But I feel like that was a lot of ideas that come in and like, you know, I, I, they get downloaded and I'm like, okay, I need to act upon this now before someone else does. 'cause I, I've seen it. Yeah.
James Petrossi: So where is social media really like enhanced your wellbeing and your mental health, and where is it like continue to challenge your mental health?
Jayo: Definitely enhancing the, I mean, at least in the ability to have freedom of schedule and stuff like that, and also enhancing like. Just the knowledge and connection with like, more people. It's brought lot of new friends to my life and my circle [00:12:00] has challenged me in that. Yeah, it's definitely distracting.
It's really hard to not distracted, to be honest. Yeah, like I can end up doom scrolling very easily even though I'm getting educated because I, I definitely like fall into like, you know, the education side and like learning and learning and learning, but like also the goofy side and so on. The algorithm being so catered to you, it's very, very addicting.
So yeah, it's definitely hard to sometimes make sure I get everything done don't waste too much time. Doom scrolling, so, yeah.
James Petrossi: so today's lesson and leave the feed is all about. Embracing the moment, embracing the now, embracing what's in front of us, what we're in. And that can mean, you know, sitting in solitude with a cup of tea and really tasting the tea and savoring the experience. Or it can mean being a creator and creating content and getting lost in the moment and finding that like [00:13:00] joy and levity and fun.
And I think that's something that's so awesome about your content. There's so much. Joy and levity fun. It feels like you're embracing the moment and in all of these moments, even though they're getting captured, how do you harness that and what's your advice to other people that like struggle with finding themselves in the moment?
Jayo: Man, I mean authenticity is really just like one of those like things that I'm chasing as well. But I think a lot of people need to chase more. It's just like, how do you be more and more authentically yourself and making sure that you're doing things that you love? Because some people do things that they think they like, but it's really like pleasing others or like what they think they want to be seen as.
And for instance, even with content itself, like some people make videos 'cause they want it to go viral and it's like they delete it when it flops. And I tell people all the time, like, I had to come to terms with myself. Like, I wanna make content that even if it flops, I do not delete. That is the [00:14:00] goal.
And I think like if you are actually enjoying what you're doing, enjoying what you're making, you be in the moment, but also like same principle applies, you have to learn yourself. There's a, there's a character development in that that allows you to know what you enjoy in real life, what you enjoy in front of you, what you actually like, you know, making sure you are present. And the things you're doing, so you're not just like wasting your time pretending to be something you're not. Like if you don't like partying, but you're constantly at parties, like real with yourself. Be authentic and just like, you know what? I like being at home. Go see your butt at home. Like, you know.
So I think some of that is just like, you know, so conditioned to just like. With the flow, with emotion and not really like, question or any of our own thoughts. Like, you know, like yeah, you've told yourself your whole life. My friend tried to challenge me the other day 'cause I was like he was like, oh, do you like anime?
And I was like, yeah, I like anime. I just don't have time to like watch it. You know? then he was like, and he was telling me like, you gotta [00:15:00] challenge yourself in thoughts. Like, do you actually en watch, like enjoy anime though? 'cause like when you do have time to watch something, you don't watch anime. And it's like you're so used and conditioned to saying like, you like it, but do you actually like it? I was like, huh. That made me like really think like, you know, like maybe I don't, I like it as much as I think I do. 'cause like I would rather watch something else. Like, you know? So I don't know. It just kind of like having those deeper questions and the ability to challenge yourself I think is very important.
Like challenge what you believe. You believe.
James Petrossi: Yeah. Yeah, it's true because, I mean, authenticity is a loaded word and. You know, it's hard for people to understand like, what is aau? What is authentic? We're spiritual beings in a material world, right? And we're all yearning to express something. We're all yearning to create. We're here on earth to create, we're creators, right?
Regardless of social media, right? So social media is a medium to create. So like, [00:16:00] you know, it's gotta be hard when a lot of people are in the feed. And they're looking to be a copycat or like, maybe I could be a food influencer. Maybe I could do this. What's your advice to anyone that wants to be a creator to help them uncover like what they should be creating?
Jayo: I mean, it goes back to like what I said with the authenticity. It's like what do you actually enjoy? What won't you delete it for flops and like finding that, and if you feel uncreative about things, sometimes creativity is just combining two things people haven't combined before. people that all the time.
They're like, oh my God. How did you think of this basketball series where you're singing as Michael Jackson or as as Usher? All this is like, I just combined two things I like, which is singing and basketball. I
James Petrossi: Right.
Jayo: it and I said, all right, this is how Kendrick fans basketball, and I'm singing Kendrick Lamar songs playing, and I'm changing the lyrics to basketball terms.
Like, it's like just sometimes combining two things is creating a new thing. You know, so [00:17:00] I mean, same thing with harp instruments. Like you combine a piano and guitar, all of a sudden you got a harp, you know, like,
James Petrossi: Yeah.
Jayo: So it's just, yeah, combining two things and people done that in genres and so on and everything.
So I think there's, yeah, find out what you really, really enjoy and then combine a few of those and now all of a sudden you got a brand new idea that's no one's done before.
James Petrossi: What about like timeout and not like timeout and school and in trouble, but like time out, like sacred spaces like.
Jayo: Yeah.
James Petrossi: For those moments for you to reconnect with your authentic self, like how do you find those? Where do you find those and how do you make sure that you create space for those?
Jayo: Yeah, I mean, we've all heard the Sabbath and making sure we have a day of rest of the week, but. yeah, I think it's very important. And sometimes I lack that and I, I, it is like in my mind, like, okay, very easy to get carried away with work and like keep working every single [00:18:00] day. But it's like you have to rest 'cause like. I, I saw a graph. It was like, when you work every day and then like have one day of rest, you have more energy that following week versus like working every single day until burnout. And I've been burnt out. Like, you do not want burnout. Guys. Like,
James Petrossi: Yeah.
Jayo: well, I think it's very important to rest at least one day a week.
Just find what you enjoy doing. Like. me, it's basketball. I really enjoy playing basketball and no cameras on or nothing. Like I can just go to 24 Hour Fitness, whatever it is, go play basketball with some people for hours, even three, four hours, dead legs. But going and playing.
Very,
Yeah,
James Petrossi: yeah.
Jayo: yeah, yeah.
Dead legs. Good thing I'm a shooter, but yeah, I, I look, you know, I'll go play for a while. It used to be video games for me. I made a rule. only play video games with someone else in the room because I used to be like very addicted to video games.
James Petrossi: So if your students, or there were [00:19:00] students in the, in the room with us right now, and one of them asked, you know, when does social media become an asset and when does it become an unwanted addiction? How would you answer that?
Jayo: I think you have to sit there and actually weigh out your pros and cons for each person individually. 'cause like for me, it's like definitely an asset. It's like my work, but some people aren't making money from it. So it's like, what other benefits are you getting from it? Are you getting education? And it's like how much education, how much. be real with yourself. How much of that is education? How much that is wasted? Like time and energy? Are you advancing? Is the time you're spending there hurting you from your goals or helping you towards it? Being a hundred percent real and honest with that is, is going to help you answer that because some people aren't real with themselves.
Yeah. It's helping. It's helping me, but it's like, what have you done? Have you posted in the last like seven months, even though you keep saying that you're gathering data, even the last two weeks have you posted like, you [00:20:00] know, like so yeah. You know, some people are like, oh yeah, I'm learning. I'm learning, but are you actually doing something about it or is this just distracting you and. I think that's very important to know, like how many hours are you spending a day on it, for what purpose,
James Petrossi: In terms of your purpose and your goals, like what's next in your trajectory, where do you see yourself going?
Jayo: man, selling out stadiums, selling out arenas.
James Petrossi: Yeah.
Jayo: I'm building the infrastructure have some, a fan base, a community that I can with, share with, laugh with, teach anything. So just going through it and seeing what's next. Yeah. it myself.
James Petrossi: As the journey unfolds. Now,
Jayo: Yeah.
James Petrossi: of journeys, there's people right now that are going along with the. Leave the feed book and taking this 30 day challenge, which is really to reconnect with essential [00:21:00] aspects of life, and there's some people that are just looking for some inspiration to be a better creator and not scroll as much.
Jayo: Mm-hmm.
James Petrossi: would you have for anyone that's seeking to have a more balanced relationship with social media?
Jayo: To have a more balanced relationship. I think I, I'm gonna say it again, being so honest with yourself on how much time actually need to be on there for your benefit and having that cutoff. 'cause I think if you do have that time restrict restraints, you are going to be more diligent with that time and more intentional with that time. So I think. That's a big importance. But then also making sure that, you know, sometimes outta hands at the devil's playground. So sometimes you're hopping on there 'cause you have nothing else to do. People are like, oh, I wanna wake up as early is because I wake up at like 7:00 AM every day and stuff like that. And it's like, yeah, but if you wake up at 7:00 AM have nothing to do, you're gonna be bored and [00:22:00] just go back to sleep. Like, like get up early if you have something to do. Like, like I work out and then I start work by nine.
So it's like you gotta have something to do, keep yourself idle or else you're just gonna on your phone all the time and so on. But yeah. I need to get back to my external alarm, I, I wanna make sure that my phone isn't the first thing I touch in the morning,
James Petrossi: Awesome. Any other parting words of wisdom?
Jayo: man. You know, whether it's content or whatever it is, that is your goal and your dream. And it a hundred percent. Like you only get one life and. I'm constantly reminding myself like, stop wasting time. Like stop wasting this time on doom, scrolling all that, like you're gonna regret it later. And I just don't wanna live a life of regret. wanna make sure that I gave it a hundred percent and I don't wanna look back and be like, damn, or could I have been [00:23:00] if I locked in sooner? And yeah, so lock in.
James Petrossi: Awesome. I'm like ready to like. Do what I'm passionate about, but then I realize I'm doing it right now. I'm talking to you. So,
Jayo: there you go. I love it.
James Petrossi: so thank you so much. Yeah.
Jayo: Yeah. Most
James Petrossi: You've been an awesome guest, Jayo. I really appreciate you as a creator and, and thanks so much for being on the show.
Jayo: Well, thank you so much.
James Petrossi: Hey, and thanks for everyone that's listening. Share. Leave the feed with a friend and don't be afraid to disconnect. Have an awesome day.