Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
This week, I finally chat with a fellow Canadian! Paula is a grill enthusiast, recipe developer, social influencer, photographer, content creator, backyard BBQ Chef, chicken wing cook book author, and all-around wonderful human. We commiserate about the cold, talk about her new book, and chat ideas for instagram content.
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
008 | Queen of the Grill
===
[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 following 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.
[00:00:29] Jordan: Hello, And welcome back to influential barbecue. So how's, everyone's new year's resolution coming along. Have we all collectively given up on them already? Or are we still hanging by a thread? I personally have not had a single salad yet. So there. That, uh, in all seriousness, I do hope everyone is still on track with any sorts of goals or milestones you've set for yourself for the new year.
If that's something that you've done, I'm currently doing a dry January. And as of today, I am on day 19. The trick is just to replace the beers with a different drink. So I'm doing my part in skyrocketing, the stock prices for sparkling water and near beer. For those of you that don't know the term near beer, it's just dealcoholized beer.
It's not great, but it's cold, but nothing really beats cracking, open a beer and sitting down to watch the hockey game. Or sports game, whatever sports game you like to watch big leaf sky here. So don't hate on me for that. But more importantly, have you started the thing that you've been waiting to start?
If you haven't, you should go back and listen to episode six, just get started. And I talk about three things that may be holding you back from kick-starting your next big idea. And it's a really good kick in the pants type episode for anyone kind of sitting on the fence and kicking the can at something you've been wanting to take a step.
But I digress let's get into this week's episode. Shall we? This week's guest is a fellow Canuck, a fellow Ontario, Ian, just a short jaunt down the highway from Hamilton is grill enthusiast, recipe developers, social influencer photographer, content creator, backyard barbecue. Chicken wing cookbook, author, and all around wonderful human Paula as queen of the grill.
hello, and welcome back to another episode of influential barbecue. Today. I am joined with Paula from queen of the grill, Paula. Welcome, and thank you so much for joining me today on this podcast.
[00:02:36] Paula: Thank you so much for having me on
[00:02:38] Jordan: Anytime. I'm glad to have another Canadian in the house tonight. I've talked with exclusively people south of the border so far, so it's nice to have another Canuck.
And I just learned you're about 35 minutes away from me, which is even better. So I'm glad to have you up here and we can share and commiserate with the terrible weather today. It's just rainy and gross. It's miserable. It's not nice. So to just get us started off here. Why don't you tell the listeners just a little bit about yourself, who you are, what got you into the barbecue world and kind of what you're all about?
[00:03:10] Paula: My name is Paula and my handle is queen of the grill on Instagram and TechTalk. And I started my Instagram account in 2018 and I did it for fun. I said, Hey. Let me just do this. Let's see what comes out of it. Uh, just backtracking. I was always intrigued by barbecue. Growing up. We did a lot of family camping trips and we did live fire.
We cook breakfast over live fire. So I was always watching over the fire and I was like, dad, like, how did you do that? And show me, and so. Getting older. We always grilled when we had family functions. So for me, that was always something that was sentimental because there's so many memories built off of grilling and just the food and standing over it and just having discussions and stuff like that.
And you're like, wow, you know, this is amazing. This tastes great. How did you make this? And then you get, you get together again. And yeah. Hey, do you remember that last time we got together, this and this happened and we made this and this. So for me, it was incredible. Just the memories. And I was like, you know what, let me do this.
Let's see what comes out of it. So I did it for fun. I honestly, in my wildest dreams would have never thought that I would be where I am today because I did it for fun. And I said, you know why, let me do it. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I'll just delete my account. And, you know, I did it for fun.
And then. I had a few people that are still following me to this day from 2018. So I'm coming up on four years in April and so much support right from the beginning. And I said, you know what, maybe this could be something. Maybe I could make something out of this, but I never thought that, you know, I could do something where I make money.
So I just wanted to do it for fun. And I met so many incredible people along the way and just made so many great friendships that have lasted for so many years. I started off with a Weber charcoal. So that's where I started. Those were some of my few first posts. I started with that. So I learned how to do the charcoal grilling.
I got really into that, did a lot of research, YouTube videos, and I followed a lot of incredible accounts that did charcoal grilling. So I started learning that way. And then I said, you know what, let me try something different. I'm getting bored with charcoal. Let me try a smoker. So I went out and well, actually my husband bought me my first one.
So we got a trigger smoker and I started learning the craft of pellet grilling and hotspots and how to rotate things and how to make wings. And one of the first things I did was wings. So I learned all about that and it just kind of took off from there. So I still. Like two of my favorite things to, to grow like two of my favorite grill styles is obviously the pellet grill and the charcoal grill.
So I'm always going in between, but you know, with, with the winters in Canada, There's only so much, you can use a charcoal grill. I mostly charcoal grilling in the summertime, which I absolutely love, and my family loves as well. So I try to use it as much as I can in, in the summertime. But, uh, winter time, I, I tend to stick to the pellet grill.
[00:06:28] Jordan: That's incredible. And I think that's a way a lot of us start and get into this. As you have get togethers, you do cooking, and it's just a memory about all of the food you cook together. All of you together and happy and eating. And that's just such a joy to cook in, eat together as a family or as friends or as a group.
And that's where a lot of us get that joy from the start. And we, then we pursue it from there to cook more things and chase that feeling again and provide food for more and more people as we get older. So you mentioned one of the first things you made was wings and. Of course, you've got a book coming out for pre-order in April called wind crush.
First. Congratulations on getting a book up, getting a book published. That's huge. That's amazing. And can you tell me a bit about how you came to getting a cookbook? Like it's not easy to just say, I want to write a book and then write a book. So what was kind of where'd you get the idea for that? Uh why'd you pick just wings, you know, how did this cookbook come to beef?
[00:07:26] Paula: Yeah, absolutely. So starting my account and going through the motions of creating recipes and things like that. I had so many incredible people supporting me and saying, you know, one day you're going to put out a book, put out a book, put out a book and it was, you know, month after month there was.
Certain individuals that saw the vision before I did, you know, so for me, it was all about having fun and creating recipes and hoping that someone would recreate my recipe and love it as much as I do. So it just, that went out into the world that you should do it. And I didn't pursue that. So I had the publisher reached out to me in January and to January, and she said, you know what?
I love your Instagram account. I love your recipes. I love your photos. Would you like to write a cook? And I was like, wow, is this spam? Because you know, on Instagram, you know, on Instagram, you're getting a ton of messages saying, oh, do you want the badge? And do you want this and that kind of stuff? And I said, is this real?
Because I, in my mind, I didn't think I was good enough to write a book. I didn't think I was popular enough, I guess, to write a book. You know, my following at that time was about 20 K's. So I was like, huh, this is not real. So I said, okay, let me take the next step and email this person back. And it was legitimate.
So between April and March, we were kind of going back and forth on the type of book to write what to write about. So at the end of it, they said, you know what, let's do a wing book because you're doing wind crush. And that seems to be really popular every Wednesday. I'm putting out wings, I'm trying to do as many different recipes as possible, trying to recreate some of my favorite flavors and, and adapt that into wing recipes.
So we decided to do a wing book and we started off saying, okay, let's do 60 recipes, which is a standard book. So I said, okay, fine. Let's do it. And then they came back and said, Hey, can you do a hundred? Because in the meantime, I had to create three recipes, send it to them so they could test. To say basically, okay, we're doing a book or we're not doing a book.
Let's see how good these three recipes are. So they came back and said, let's do a hundred. And I said, okay. Yeah. I, I think I could do that. I probably have more than that anyways, written down because anytime I get an idea, I have a book and I just write things down. Anytime something just pops into my mind, whether I'm sleeping or I'm awake, something's always popping into my mind to.
So, so I said, okay, let's do it. So we decided on that. And then we were kind of discussing as far as photography goes, you know? And I said, well, I don't, I don't think I can handle doing my own photography for me. It just seemed like a lot of pressure. And I didn't want to let people down because my photography isn't good enough.
And you know, it just seemed like a lot to me. So they said, well, can you just send in a few photos? And then we can kind of go from there. And I said, okay, I'll do a few phone. But can you just recommend a photographer? So in my mind, I was like, I don't want to do this. I'm you know, I don't think I'm good enough to do it.
So I sent it in and long story short at the end of the day, they said we would love for you to shoot the book, like shoot your whole book. So a hundred recipes. I shot all the recipes. I created all the recipes. Uh, it was a labor of love. The experience was incredible. The whole team at page street was so helpful.
Anytime I needed anything, they, they were ready and they were so willing and so helpful. I think the key is to ask questions. And I think anybody appreciates that is to ask questions rather than give someone more work because you're not asking the questions. So the whole experience was incredible and I'm so grateful.
I got to work with them. And, um, I'm I CA I can't wait to have this book out. There are six chapters we've got, must have classics. So your classic wing recipes, Buffalo, if you think classic, you're usually thinking Buffalo, but there's a lot more to that for sure. To that comfort food favorites. I took some of my comfort foods and created wing recipes with those a sauce.
So saucy wings, if you love saucy wings, that's the chapter for you? Yeah. Messy egg just gets all over your vase. It's an experience. It's one of the best ones, wings around the world. So I took some of my favorite cuisines from different parts of the world. And I created wing recipes. They have saw, some of them have saw some are dry rubbed wings gone wild.
So that that's a chapter that's got stuffed wings and just crazy creations that I came up with. And then my last chapter is let's get tipsy. So they're alcohol infused if you'd like anything with alcohol, which, I mean, they're, they're pretty good. And then also in Booz
[00:12:20] Jordan: pairs pretty well,
[00:12:21] Paula: I mean, right.
Beer and wings, you can't go wrong. Um, and then also in the beginning of my book, I do discuss wings 1 0 1. So I just kind of break down wings and structure how to cut them and just little tips and. And, uh, grilling and cooking techniques. So if you're using a smoke or a grill, even an oven, so I break down temperatures and how to get your wings crispy.
So there's a lot of information in the book.
[00:12:46] Jordan: That's awesome - I remember the first few times I cooked wings. I did it in the oven and my downstairs neighbors didn't appreciate the smoke alarms, but I had a good meal. That sounds like such an incredible book and a great experience to go through. So anyone looking for some wing ideas and you want to really up your wing game, a wing crush comes out on April 26th.
Uh, so I'll put the link to pre-order that in the show notes. So if anyone listening wants it, please go and grab that. You mentioned while talking about the book there that you kind of have. That's essentially some imposter syndrome going into it. You had issues, you know, getting over your own head thinking you weren't good enough to write a book.
You weren't good enough to take the photos. And I think a lot of people, especially those starting out think, you know, everyone that I follow is better than me at what I'm trying to do. So why am I doing this? How can I be better than the people who are already the best at it? What did you do to kind of coach yourself?
Through those lower points to get you back up on the horse and be like, yeah, no, I can do this. I'm writing a book, a hundred wing recipes with photos. No problem. Let's go.
[00:13:51] Paula: I think one of the biggest and most important things is to have an amazing support system around you. And I met so many incredible people on Instagram and some of them are like my best friends.
And I obviously told them I didn't, this is how I felt. And they were like, are you insane? Like, are you really, when you're in it yourself, you're not thinking that way. You, it's hard to see it for yourself, but when you have an amazing support system and they're kind of just naming certain things off and you're like, you know, yeah, you're right.
So I think just having incredible people around you and my husband as well. And I was telling him, like, I don't know, I don't know if I even want to do this. I don't, I don't think it's going to do that. Well, I don't, I don't think I'm that important and just all these things and he's like, are you crazy?
So, um, I think for me, it was just the people around me having an amazing support system and just telling me the things I think I knew in the back of my mind, But I don't see it for myself because I just, that's just how I am just, you know, some, I think that for me was one of the most important things is having an incredible support system behind.
For
[00:15:04] Jordan: sure. And that's something we should all keep in mind too. Like, it's kind of like when someone else cooks for you, like if you're doing all the cooking yourself, you're going to look at it and go, this could be a little better. This could be a little better. I didn't do well at that. But someone else puts a plate of food in front of you.
They're thinking all those negative thoughts and you're just like, this is delicious. This is awesome. And that's how it goes. This content as well. You know, you spend a whole day shooting, a wing recipe or a steak recipe or anything like that. And you look at the picture and go, oh, it doesn't look that good, but it comes across someone else's feed and they go, that looks amazing.
I would love to try that. And I think it's a constant thing that we all have to be mindful of is to get out of our own heads. And we're in the thick of our own brains, which is one of the harder things to deal with. When in reality, you wouldn't be, you wouldn't feel that low. Good at what you were doing, because you wouldn't be concerned about it in the fact that you're worried about something means you have enough talent and passion to be doing what you're doing.
If that
[00:15:59] Paula: makes sense, we make sense. That's exactly. At anytime I cook for family. I before I even touch my food, I'm just watching everyone's reaction. The first bite for me is as soon as I see that first bite and someone's doing that head nod, like, okay, so, you know, it's good. I'm like, all right, so I'm going to start eating now because it's good.
[00:16:22] Jordan: So,
[00:16:25] Paula: I mean, I always try for me, I'm like, I think it's good, but let me see how everybody else reacts. So I think it's just getting out of your own. You're your own head, like you said, and having a support system is important because those people help you get out of your head
[00:16:41] Jordan: 100%. Yep. You mentioned that you started cooking out because it was all fun and you love to learn and you just have a really good time cooking for people, but at some point, Something kind of clicks and you think I could maybe have a go at this, make a little extra money on the side and then something else turns in you're in it full time, doing barbecue as a full-time job.
Can you kind of talk about your transition between hobby and then a side hustle and then a full-time gig and how you kind of. Came to this point
[00:17:12] Paula: here. Yeah, of course. So I think for me, the turning point was when Rachel Ray magazine re posted one of my recipes. So for me, I was in awe. Wow. Rachel Ray, that's someone I followed for a long time.
I love her recipes. You know, I've watched her shows. So I said, okay, you know what, let me, and, and that kind of pushed me to get better and grow and, and just keep creating and creating. And at the end of it, she, they reposting three of my recipes. So I was like, wow. And I think that's when people kind of started taking a little bit more notice, and then I just had company.
Either email me or DM me and say, Hey, do you do any recipe development? Can you do recipe development for us? And that's one of the first paid gigs that I started receiving as doing paid recipes for websites. So I was doing that for a bit, writing the recipe, doing the videos, and then everything kinda just fell into place.
And I've worked in. And I still worked with so many incredible companies. I got to work with Tabasco, which I'm still working with Tabasco, Dallas, strong knives. I'm an ambassador for Louisiana grills, which is Louisiana grills and pit paws whiskey bent. I work with, with their rubs, jealous double charcoal stargazer cast iron crowd, cow, the meat company out of the.
There's just been so many things. Once you start, it's kind of like there's attraction, everything just comes at you once. And you're like, oh my God, can I even handle this? But it's an amazing feeling. It's an incredible feeling that people are noticing you. And you know, you're like, okay, I am good enough to do this.
Maybe I can do something out of this. And that's why the book kind of. I'm assuming that's how I came about to do the book is because so many people took interest and there were so many reposts and just people putting me out there in, in. In the media world. And I think I was besides myself. I was like, what, what is really?
So it was, it was an incredibly humbling experience. And I think the biggest thing for me is just the support from the barbecue community and all the, like, just even outside of the barbecue world. There was just so many people being supportive and kind, and just I've received huge followings. I've had.
Some celebrities, um, follow my stories out of the us. One of the ladies played in black Panther. She like watched all of my stories and I've had a few celebrities and I was like, whoa, really? Okay. So it was just. I don't even know how to describe it. It was just incredible. So things just kind of started going really quickly and I loved every moment of it.
And I think the biggest thing is just to be yourself, be yourself, put out content that you love, put out recipes that you love. I mean, some things overlap. We all make certain recipes that are similar, but make it your own. And I think that's when people really noticed. They know that you're being yourself.
They know you're being genuine and just taking the time to interact with people. I think that's huge for me.
[00:20:25] Jordan: Yeah. A hundred percent. Like if you're not being yourself, then you're just being someone else and they're already following that person or that person's already doing what you want to do. So at least put your spin on it.
You're having fun with it in your own way. So what would you say as a full-time barbecue food person? What is your week to week look like? What are you kind of working on? What, what are your daily tasks that you complete as
[00:20:50] Paula: work? So basically, as I mentioned before, I have a book. So anytime I have any recipe ideas or I get some inspiration from social media, I see something that I think would be incredible to recreate in my own way.
I write everything down and then I basically. Break my days down to see how many recipes I can do in a day. I try to get at least two recipes in a day. Um, but this time a year, it's a little bit harder because of the sunlight and the time of day gets darker earlier. So, and it also depends on the recipe, how intricate it is, how long it's going to take, but I'm basically creating.
A recipe a day, five days a week. And if I get a day where I can't create during the week, I push it off to the weekend. So I'm, I'm usually going five days a week. And I start, I try to get all my prep work done the day before if I can do it. So chop certain things up and whatever I can. So I'm. Going hard.
And I do videos for every single recipe. All my recipes have videos, so I can have video. Um, I find that a lot of people do want to see how it's put together, especially. A recipe that's a little bit more difficult. Someone's never made it before. So I always do video content. Uh, and then I do get all of, you know, in my mind, I'm thinking, how am I going to shoot this photo, the colors?
And I'm always thinking, how is it going to look? And a lot of times, I don't know until the recipe's finished, so, okay. So that looks more red. So this is how I'm going to say. My photo, and this is what I'm going to put here. And I get everything. I buy everything from the store, just knowing what I'm going to create.
So in my mind, I'm already, I'm thinking I'm constantly thinking I never stop. You know, even after I'm done my recipes in the evening, when I'm sitting down watching TV, I'm like, oh, this would be great. And, um, you know, putting things in my notes on my phone. So it's a constant thing. I don't think my brain ever said.
This is going. And I have so many recipes that I haven't even put out because I just keep going through recipes and recipes and risks.
[00:22:56] Jordan: And these recipes that you're doing now are all for your own things, or are you still creating recipes for websites as well? So a
[00:23:02] Paula: lot of them are for just myself, but I am doing a little bit of a recipe development for brands.
[00:23:08] Jordan: Okay, cool. So for those out there that are looking to kind of start making their first dollars, as you know, they've built up a fall, a bit of a following on Instagram or Tik TOK or wherever, and they. Have the confidence and they want to kind of start making their first dollars in this social media industry of barbecue.
What, what would be your advice on where to kind of turn to first, to try and find an opportunity to do that
[00:23:35] Paula: with? So for me, I have. A lot of brands reach out to me, but I do know that there's brands out there that may have not seen your account or having come across your page. So have a media kit where you have pricing based on what your reach is and there's websites out there where you can do that.
You put in your handle and it'll basically tell you what you can charge per post per story. So you can always do that. Just make sure that your rates are reasonable because. Brands know all this stuff and they'll look into you before they even give you an answer. So if you're way out to left field, they won't even probably respond to you.
So you're going to lose your credibility, doing that. So always make sure that you are being true to what you do. Uh, and you can always reach out to. Always do not be afraid to reach out to brands and send your media kit and say, Hey, I would love to work with you. This is my media kit. This is what I can do.
And just name all your strengths and they will go through your media. They will see where your strengths are anyways. So just make sure to, to be honest and everything you say to them, because there's no point in not being honest. So I think for me, Be true to yourself. Just, just keep doing what you do, create your recipes and make them your own.
And brands will see that they will see that and don't buy followers. You know, don't do that brands. They see that there, there is a way to tell and they'll know, there's a huge difference between your likes, your followers, comments, and all these things. And there's a way to find out, but just be true to yourself.
I think that is one of the most important thing. Be original. And interaction is huge. Always interact with your followers because brands love that. They want to see that interaction. Anytime someone comments on your post comment back, if they DM you respond back, it doesn't have to be right away. You don't have to constantly be on social media, but always take the time to do it.
They took the time to say something nice and pleasant about your, your recipes. So that, that goes a long way just to respond to people. And it's a human connection. So people love human connections. You have to respond to people and they'll know when you're true and being real.
[00:25:49] Jordan: Yeah, absolutely. And I've mentioned this on previous episodes as well.
And the barbecue world is truly just a community on social media, even more so since the pandemic started a couple of years ago and everyone that's the only way they could connect. So everyone connects so much on those platforms now and the brand. See that, that you're out there, you're engaging, you're talking, you're building connections.
And then they're going to want you to do that for them as well. At the same time, you know, be friendly, be or. And make connections. And that's going to help you go a long way when you're trying to make your first dollar doing any of this.
[00:26:23] Paula: And also, the other thing I wanted to mention is don't look at the amount of followers you have that essentially does not matter to these brands.
They look at your interaction and how many people come to your page and how true those interactions are because. If they see that you, you have, you know, a thousand followers versus 10,000, your interaction at a thousand followers could be better and more truer than that bigger account. So they rather have you represent them because they know these thousand people more than likely will go buy their product.
And those thousand people are just going to go word of mouth. They're going to tell their friends and family and get togethers. Don't ever get discouraged by the amount of followers you have. It really isn't about that. It is about being true, being genuine, your interaction. And that I think that is one of the most important things to brands.
It would be to me, if I had a brand, to be quite honest, I wouldn't look at the amount of followers. I would look at the true interaction and you can just see consistency. If, if these people are constantly commenting every post on every post, you have a true following. You do not want fake followers. So that is important to brands.
[00:27:36] Jordan: Yeah. And that's, that gets tricky too, because as a smaller account myself, I noticed my reach, even from a thousand to four and a half thousand that I'm at now, my reach is almost the same as what it was when I was at a thousand, because only so many people can look a day anyways. So it's definitely one of those things to keep in mind, because if you have 20,000 followers, you might still only be reaching 2000 of them back when same as when you had 3000 followers.
[00:28:02] Paula: Exactly. And brands see all of that there, they find out everything. So I think it's really important just to be true to what you do. Don't look at your followers, just keep doing it. Be true to yourself, make original content and just be kind of.
[00:28:19] Jordan: For sure. You know, it goes the old saying in almost all things, businesses, you're going to get 10 times as many nos as you are yeses.
So ignore the nose and unless they give you some constructive feedback, then it's just a no, and it might be a yes. Later on, but don't stop doing something because one brand wasn't interested in working with you because it's probably not a YouTube. Exactly. I mentioned earlier, we're both from the great white north up here in Canada and the majority of people that I follow and the majority of people that follow me.
I don't know if this is true for you as well or not are from the states. They're from the U S and I find that the U S creators seem to get more traction for what they are. I don't know if it's purely based on the population of the United States versus Canada or the fact that most companies are based down there that are working with barbecue stuff.
But do you find any like major difficulties or bigger hurdles from being in Canada that you don't see others doing? Or is there anything special? You have to kind of tackle being up here in Canada. You weren't really expecting when you started this.
[00:29:23] Paula: Absolutely. I've had to turn down. I don't know how many companies, because they can't ship to Canada, so there's always a shipping issue.
Uh, so I find that that that's one of the biggest struggles is having to turn down brands that, you know, may help you gain the popularity and the views. And, you know, depending on the brand, especially me companies. They won't ship into Canada. So I've had to turn a bunch of meat companies down. I just had one that I had to turn down as well, because they didn't realize I was in Canada.
They just love my feet and they wanted me to represent them. So I think that is one of the biggest. One of the things that I get frustrated with is because I want to work with these brands, but I'm with I'm in Canada and I can't. So not even just me company, there's just certain companies that don't ship into Canada.
So definitely I've experienced that for the last three and a half years being on Instagram, having to turn brands down. And yeah, a lot of them are US-based and you know, as far as Canada, Canada is getting a lot more popular as far as grilling goes. And it's, it's taken off because of the pandemic, but the us has, you know, a lot more than like their population is huge, but most of the brands are in the S.
So anyone that Sarah literally can have a shipped to their door within a day where, you know, we're waiting, customs is stopping your package and it's like, you know, three weeks later, they're like, you still didn't get your package. You're like, no, no. A lot of brands don't even want to ship to Canada just because it's such a hassle to do that.
So definitely, um, I've noticed that.
[00:31:07] Jordan: Yeah, it just seems if you're based in the U S like, why wouldn't a us company want to partner with us people, they don't have to ship over the border. It costs them less to ship it. Inter-country or nationally, I guess, is the word for that. Um, what are some, do you have any.
Like really great Canadian companies that you are working with, or you have worked with in the past that you would recommend to some Canadian folks to check out or to reach out to about partnerships or anything like that.
[00:31:36] Paula: The brands I've worked with and it's still am working with our US-based. Uh, the only one.
I can think of is Tabasco Canada, which is an incredible company. Uh, so they've got a Canadian headquarters, but most of the brands I work with are from the U S that have been able to ship here, or they have partnered with a Canadian distributor to be able to get the products to me. But yeah, it's been US-based.
[00:32:07] Jordan: What do you think the reason is for that? Like, is there a reason Canadian. Either Canadian companies aren't looking for partners or there just isn't Canadian companies really. Like I tried to find a cast iron pan a couple of weeks ago and I searched Canadian companies and I found like one or two and everything else was in the states.
Like, is there just not enough going on in Canada in general? Is that what the issue might be then? I think
[00:32:32] Paula: so. I think there's just not enough happening here to be able to build partnerships with. And like you said, the same thing. When I go on the internet to try to find a product, everything that the search results bring is us companies.
So I think that is one of the biggest things. And hopefully that changes one day and there are more companies, more barbecue companies and more brands that want to work with, with, um, Canadian influencers. But I just think there's not enough for that to happen. So
[00:33:08] Jordan: if anyone's listening. Reply to any of this media, with your favorite Canadian companies in the barbecue world.
So that more of us Canadian content creators can find them. Because even if we look, we have a hard time finding those really great Canadian companies in the barbecue world or the food world, and we want to represent the Canadian ones. We want to help help our, our country out here because the American stuff is great, but let's keep it on Homebase for a bit too.
Let's let's give Canada some love if. So hopping over to the content side of things with Instagram and Tech-Talk, you're a victim of the algorithm, no matter what you do. Cause some days it will just decide, Hey, no, I'm not showing your content to people today. Deal with it. When that's happening. Do you have.
Like a go-to style of content or a go-to thing that you'll post in order to kind of re-engage your account. Cause I find if you post a certain thing after that happens, that gets re-engaged, then algorithm will feed you back into the loop. So is there like a go-to style or a go-to content type that you kind of post in?
If, if you find that happening to you?
[00:34:15] Paula: We do so with there's so many changes on Instagram, they're constantly, constantly updating. There's always updates. You pretty much know that your post is not going to be shown when they're doing an update, because things are just getting lost and you know, your, your photos are not posting and then it just disappears off the feed when you post it and stories go wank in your feet as wonky.
You're seeing things you've already liked. So, you know, that day is just not going to be a great day. And you're like, oh my God, was this just a really bad recipe? Maybe I should just delete it. Um, But I always, so I feel like Instagram because they're trying to push videos right now and. For me, I feel like I do a lot of videos right now.
So when I post a photo and they decide not to show it, I post a video next because they're kind of like, well, I think you're a video account now because you've done so many and you're constantly doing videos and it's receiving amazing traction and views and stuff like that. So if I post a photo, the next post I do is a video and it just does incredible.
And then I just forget that that was. I didn't get seen by anybody. So I was like, oh my God, it's recipe. I mean, it definitely discouraged. When you, when you look at a post and it just doesn't get the views, but at the end of the day, I'm like, you know what? There's, it's Instagram, it's not me.
[00:35:43] Jordan: Yeah. A hundred percent.
And Instagram has the, has the ability to just take the wind out of your sails, especially it's the days you spend a whole day making the recipe and filming the whole thing. And then you're laying in bed. You edit the whole thing, and then you wait for like the perfect time to post it the next day. No, not interested.
Yeah. Damn it. All right. Not
[00:36:04] Paula: happening today. Yeah.
[00:36:07] Jordan: I did an experiment a little while ago where I, I posted one video and it said, Hey, you can't play this song in the states. And I went, oh, okay. But I left it up because it started to take off in every other country. And then I posted another one. With a different song that went to the states and they both just had the exact same views, but one of them completely did not have the U S involved in it at all.
And I was like, what is Instagram doing here? First of all, why can I add the song if I can't put it everywhere, don't just, don't put it on the platform. And second, I posted these two videos, two minutes apart, and they're going. In different directions, but with the same views, I don't understand this algorithm and it's infuriating me right now.
[00:36:51] Paula: Yeah. It's interesting. And I think a lot of people are feeling that way. I've had some feedback recently from people that they're just, they're not getting the reach. They're not getting the views are getting frustrated. A lot of people don't know what's happening. And I know I mentioned this before, but I think that's why a lot of people are turning to tick talk because I feel like Tik TOK is a little more consistent people either like it or they don't.
There's no. You know, their updates don't really matter whether or not your, your video's being shown. I think it's just, they look at your account, they look at what you do and they know, so they show it to that audience. And, you know, I've had a bunch of stuff go viral. And so they've now categorized me in the barbecue.
Video content, you know, world. So I'm just like, I'm just going to put them out. And this is why I do videos. Every time I do a recipe, you know, I'm doing a recipe, so I might as well do a video because I'm going to put it up on Tik dock. And a lot of times I put it up on my. Just to show the process. And I know in the beginning, a lot of people said, I don't want to watch your video.
Like, I don't want to watch this process. I don't really care. I'll just read your recipe. Like, why do I need to watch you make this? But, you know, and I heard people say that people have been saying that, but in my mind, I said, you know what? There's a few that say that, but there's other people that actually want to see it.
And I've had great feedback where someone's reading. I'm glad you put this video up. I really wanted to see this put together. So, I mean, it's hit and miss with Instagram. I find, I find it's been very frustrating. I think for like the last year on and off the last year, it's just been very frustrating and, you know, tech talks become very popular because of it.
And a lot of people, when they post a video on tech talk, they will post it on their Instagram. Just to show you, Hey, I'm on Tik TOK com follow me on tech talk so you can see that logo. Right. And I
[00:38:40] Jordan: always struggle with that. If you post a real on tick-tock or vice versa, the quality is so much worse when you save it off the platform and put it on a different one, but it doesn't seem to matter because both platforms are going to be like, it looks fine.
I'm just going to shove it in people's faces and they're going to watch it. And I'm like, why did I take all this time to get a great shot then? I guess it doesn't, it doesn't matter in that, at that time.
[00:39:02] Paula: No, it doesn't. And I learned that I learned I've been learning that because for me, I've always been, you know, OCD, the colors have to make sense and it has to look perfect.
And that's two off to the right. It's got to go closer. And I think that's what tick talk has taught me is that it does not matter the quality you can film your video and pitch dark with a little bit of light and you'll get like a million views on it. You know, I was like, what? I did this video and I had all this extra lighting and it was amazing and I barely got any views on it.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It's all about your recipe. And if people like it, they don't care about the quality. And I think that's how social media has shifted at this point where people don't really look at the quality anymore. It's all about what you're creating as long as it's entertaining.
Exactly. Well that too. Yeah. That's you and the songs matter. That's
[00:39:54] Jordan: the key. If you pick the song that's popular at the right time, it doesn't matter what the content is. It's getting fed in there and you'll get the views on it. Exactly. Well, Paula, I think you've covered pretty well. All the questions I needed.
This has been an incredible conversation and you've provided so much. On the full-time world, the Canadian barbecue world, social media, you know, writing a book, you've done so many incredible things. So just thank you so much for coming on here and chatting with
[00:40:23] Paula: me today. Thank you so much for having me on.
I really appreciated. I'm so grateful to talk to another Canuck. So, and this has been amazing.
[00:40:32] Jordan: I have to start a whole series of it now and get all 12 of us Canadians on the podcast.
[00:40:38] Paula: Exactly. Yeah, we can just get everybody on at the same time.
[00:40:41] Jordan: Yeah. We'll do a whole live and we're just all in the same backyard in an igloo.
It'll be great. So if anyone is interested, where can they find all things? Queen of the grill,
[00:40:51] Paula: Instagram queen of the grill, tick talk queen of the grill. You can, pre-order my book on Amazon anywhere that's available internationally and chapters indigo target. Or you can just type in wing crush book into Google and it'll show you where you can purchase.
[00:41:10] Jordan: That's perfect. Everything that she just mentioned will be located in the show notes for this episode as well. Paula, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure and I hope that we can chat again when you've got six more books out.
[00:41:22] Paula: I appreciate that. Thank you so much. All
[00:41:24] Jordan: right. Have a wonderful day and we'll talk soon.
You as well. Thanks.
[00:41:27] Paula: Bye-bye bye bye.
[00:41:34] Jordan: And that's it for my chat with queen of the grill. I hope you enjoyed my talk with Paula as much as I did. I can't wait for her wind crush book to show up on my doorstep because I'm going to be making so many different types of wings next summer. Once I get that in April, please go follow her at queen of the.
She posts some amazing content and recipes, and you can always count on a mouthwatering women crush Wednesday, post a pop up on your feed, midweek to kind of pick you up and get you through to the weekend. You can find links to everything we talked about today, including a pre-order link to wing crush on the show notesPage@influentialbarbecue.com as always.
I am looking for feedback on this show. Any feedback you've given me will help me improve this show and bring you better episodes in the future. So please feel free to shoot me an email@podcastatinfluentialbarbecue.com or a DM to influential barbecue on Instagram. If you're enjoying this podcast, please share it with those that you think would enjoy it and benefit from it.
And please leave a review on apple podcasts or Spotify. The reviews help this podcast get discovered by more potential listeners. And Hey, it's a good ego push for me as well. It makes me feel pretty good. I'm Jordan Moore. You can follow my barbecue adventures on Instagram at the backyard. Brisket. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next week.
Keep on grilling.