Transcript
Oops! Our video transcriptions might have a few quirks since they’re hot off the press. Rest assured, the good stuff is all there, even if the occasional typo slips through. Thanks for understanding.
Kwame
What's up everybody? Welcome to today's episode of Beyond Influence. I'm Kwame Appiah, your host, and I am very excited. Today we're having a bit of an unconventional episode. Today is my very first evening episode, as well as this is my very first episode where there's currently an NFL game that I could be watching. So I want to thank my guest very, very much because he is here, also taking time away from that game.
We talked about that a little bit today, but with that being said, the man, the myth, the legend. Thank you so much for being on the show today, Andy Dooley. Andy, how are you doing, man?
Andy
Great, bro. I am honored to be on the show and be in your presence bro. And just a conversation.
Kwame
I love that man. You are somebody who just exudes positive energy. So I'm very glad to have you on here, man. Andy, I'd love to just give you a second to tell the people who you are, what you do. And what brought you here?
Andy
Yeah, my name is Andy Dooley. I am a husband. I'm a dad. I'm a lover of people. I just love to add value. I am also an author. I'm one of the in-game hosts for the Seattle Seahawks. I am also a chaplain and assistant athletic director at Bellevue Christian High School. And so I also like to dabble in social media.
Kwame
Oh, right. Talk about a jack of all trades. That is quite the resume, man. Before we get too, too far in this, I gotta know. How in the world do you keep all that? Because to be honest with you, why don't you mention husband and dad? That right there. Well, it took me out big.
Andy
Thanks, bro. Hey, I have, I have three. Well, now my pillars are expanded faith, family, fitness, fun and fandom. Okay. And that's kind of where my YouTube, my new YouTube channel is like being revamped. And those are the pillars. But, you know, my faith and my family is first. And when those things are aligned, everything falls in place.
So I'm able to—I don't really stress over the next thing. I just do the next thing and I time block and I'd like to do the Pomodoro technique where it's like I'm working for 25 minutes, take a five minute break and work and then during those blocks I work on a certain project. And then once that time is done, I move on to the next, and I'll come back the next day and work on it.
Kwame
Wow. That's actually really that's inspiring because I think a great way to consistently give yourself positive feedback, that positive self reinforcement is to reward yourself, you know, when you go through something and so, you know, 25 minutes of hard work, five minutes of a little bit of something. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The you know, I feel like most people get caught up is that they do 25 minutes surfing and then five minutes are right.
Andy
And they're grinding.
Kwame
Yeah. Exactly right. And so look, it's really cool that you have this whole thing buttoned down, man, where you know, you have your pillars, you have the places in the ways that you spend your energy. You know, I would say like how how do you structure your day from beginning to end, right? Like, you know, on a regular Monday Andy wakes up. How does he go through it?
Andy
Great question. Right now, first thing I do when I wake up, I will turn off the alarm. And then I have a widget of, like, Bible scriptures that come. So my thing right now, I started last year where I will not scroll or do anything before I read a Bible verse. I read that verse, I pray and then I'll get up, go use the restroom, come back and hit a hundred pushups.
So right now, in that sense, in September I have a group of guys. We're doing 100 pushups a day right now. So I do that. I get up, you know, brush your teeth, wash your face, go hit the gym, come home and then get ready for the kids to get ready for school. Since school is started now. And then I had the school and we have our work day, and then I have like, I have a— I'm a checklist person. I have that, I mean, even so much. So if I have to put on— brush my teeth, I just gotta check something off.
Kwame
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andy
It gets it gets me going. So once I could check it off, I can just start. All right. Knock that out. Next. Knock it out next. And then.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
That's pretty much how I structure my day. Yeah.
Kwame
It's so similar to me I think, you know, in the same vein or what I just said, kind of reward yourself. Complete task, reward yourself. I like to think the satisfaction of completing that task and getting it off of your list is a reward in itself, and so it keeps you going, I think. I always love to think about the fact that the way that you start is, you know, you know, contrary to popular belief, there's obviously the, you know, you the way that you finish is more important than where you start.
But when it comes to your daily habits, the way you start definitely plays a big role on the way that you finish. Right. And so if you can get up with some consistency, you can get up with some discipline, right? You can follow through your day with that. It's just as simple as if I wake up and the first thing that I eat is a chocolate chip cookie, my cravings are going to be up and I'm going to eat unhealthy throughout the rest of the day.
Andy
I want to eat more cookies all day long or back.
Kwame
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Right. So the way you know, whatever, whatever you feed yourself is what you will crave, right? You know, whatever. However you water, is the way that it's going to grow, oh, blah blah blah. You know how it goes. But yeah, you know, Andy, you know, I think turning a little bit into, you know, one of your really, really cool roles.
I'd love to talk a little bit about your involvement with the Seahawks, man. Yeah. How did that all get started? And how's that progressing for you, bro?
Andy
Let me tell you, it started off with TikTok. They found him on TikTok. Yes. Wow.
Kwame
There you go, people. There you go.
Andy
Okay. When you hear people say TikTok has changed people's lives, it literally changed my life in so many ways. But we'll get into how I even got to that point on TikTok. But Blitz, the mascot, would be in my life. So I used to do a ton of lives, and while I'm on live, he'll pop in, you know, be Blitz, and then, apparently he went back and spoke to them and said, hey, we need this guy and his energy in this organization and bring him bring it into the twelves environment.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
And that's how I got introduced to the Seahawks. They had me come to a training camp. Then they had me come to, like, an influencers, like, combine, and then I did all of that, met everyone. And then that's how it started for me.
Kwame
Wow, that is super cool man. Really great inspirational moment there. That all matched up from just you were—you were on the boat and kind of ahead of the curve with the social media game in all honesty. Because right now, what are you at, what, 1.5 million followers on TikTok or so?
Andy
I'm not trying to flex, but it's 1.9.
Kwame
Almost two. Yeah. No flex, no flex. That's—yeah.
Andy
I just wanted to be accurate. You know what I mean?
Kwame
Yeah. Yeah. We love accuracy, man. Look, staying on business, whatever.
You know, that's 100%. That's crazy, man. That's crazy impressive like you, bro. That is a lot of human beings who open up their social media and digest your content. And based off of the way that you do your content, a lot of it features you, right? There's people who have all different types of content, right? But a lot of your content is based off of you and your life and your lifestyle or your reactions, the way you see things.
Right. And so people are digesting a lot of you. How did you come up with the right concept that you felt was going to work for you to really grow to that? Yeah.
Andy
So I took my Instagram hack, got hacked actually. Oh, I was at 22, 23 thousand followers on Instagram.
The time I got hacked, lost everything, and it took forever for me to just get my name back. Wow. I lost everything, so I had to start fresh and start all over. But then I jumped on the TikTok and said, I'm going to treat this almost like a TV show and post every single day. And I'm talking about how I didn't miss a single day for a year and a half, and the only reason I had missed that one day that broke up my streak was because, video got banned and it wasn't even a bad video.
It's just like TikTok was having these weird—they were just banning videos. So I missed a day. But then I jumped right back on. Yeah. I wanted to just be myself. I've met too many influencers who they just had an avatar, and then when you meet them in person, they're not the same person.
Kwame
Okay?
Andy
And I knew I didn't ever want a brand to think I was one way. I didn't want anyone else to think I was one way and then meet me in person and not me. Be the same person. You can. I can ask you right now because we've met in person. We've hung out.
What you see online and me talking to you right now and in person, is it not the same person.
Kwame
It is the exact same person.
Andy
Exact that same person, you know, saying like, yeah. And I want it to be on my TikTok. The CEO of empowerment, I wanted to bring motivation, inspiration, but also highlight other influencers are people that I felt I didn't care if you had a million followers, ten followers, 100 followers, if you had something that I thought was beautiful, special, cool, hilarious, then I'm also going to react to you or highlight you.
And if you notice, in a lot of my reactions, I'm doing this. So I'm looking at the screen here and the person I'm reacting to. No one was doing it that way. Everyone was like, how we are right now, split screen, okay? And you're just reacting to it. But I want you to focus on my reaction to the person.
So just by body language it showed a little more respect to the person in their craft and what they're doing and highlighting. Yeah. And then for whatever reason people loved my reactions while I did that. And I just based it on trying to add value to people.
Kwame
Yeah. And that's super cool man. You know, throughout most social media journeys, people kind of hit a spot where things start looking real good, right? You put in a lot of work, like you said, you posted every day for a year and a half. Was there firstly, was there a moment where you thought to yourself, is this ever really going to pick up? Like, did you ever have a moment of doubt?
Andy
You know? I'm trying to be very candid. No. As much as I want to say. Yeah, no, the reason why was because I wasn't trying to be famous on TikTok. It wasn't like there was. Oh, I want to be TikTok famous. I don't even know that was going to be a thing. I wasn't trying to be famous.
All I wanted to do was add value. I loved creating content because if you don't like creating content, this isn't for you. You could be a casual, social media person. That's fine. But if you're trying to grow a brand, grow your account, you're definitely not. And if you don't enjoy it, it's going to suck because I posted, my wife would tell you, I posted at least 4 to 6 times every single day. It wasn't one, it was 4 to 6. And then it was a section, a point in time when followers was like when I had views of like a hundred and I was getting some followers, had one video go viral, and then I had a thousand new followers, and then something snapped because of the consistency.
And then it just started becoming tens of thousands of followers. Wow. I will open my app and it's just insane. And the consistency of just posting like that on a regular basis. I watched it, I took screenshots, and I saw—showing my wife because my wife was like, why are you doing all this posting? You know?
I just love it, I enjoy it, I'm connecting with people and I really feel like it's just going to grow and—
Kwame
Man, yeah.
Andy
And the biggest thing was this was the beautiful thing. It was I was trying to just visually look at like, okay, right now I have 100 followers. If I stood in the middle of the mall and out of 100 people standing around me, that's a lot of people. So I'm going to love on those people. Right? And yeah, 100 are going to feel seen.
They're going to feel loved, and they're going to tell their people to be able to. Oh, you want to check Andy, dude? Yeah. He actually loves people. He actually cares. He's genuine. He's real. And then it just started to just pick up.
Kwame
Wow, that's really dope man. You know, I think obviously you said there's a point where you hit, kind of an acceleration point, and then things kind of took off. Do you remember your first viral video? Man.
Andy
I think yes, I think it was. I did, you know, the super man push ups.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
But I did it where I was like, jumping. I probably took like 15 takes because I changed outfits. I did it like 15 times in different outfits in the same spot. So then I made it where every second there was a different video of me doing it, and it just— it just went crazy. And then after that, my next one was like, I did a reaction to this dancer Taylor, the dancer.
She saw her and this other guy, they're so dope, they kind of pop in, like the way they do it, but then fire. And then from that point on, those were the ones I remember right out the—
Kwame
Gate.
Andy
That took off.
Kwame
Yeah, but you know what? I actually think that style of content, like on its own, is it's really interesting right now, as I think about my growth strategy, that's actually a style that I'm trying to incorporate into my life more often and into my content more often. It's taking some. Right. I would say like the reaction style, you know, basically taking time to appreciate other people's craft and showing the way that you appreciate it.
So I've always thought that was it. Like when you think about a really big influencer now, Jordan the Stallion. Even though he does a lot of, like ,mirror you know bathroom mirror conversations. Yeah. Yeah a lot of it is, when he first started out it was a lot of reaction stuff. It was right. It was like yeah it was like, video first.
And then he pops up and then you're like, oh okay. It's that guy again.
Andy
Yeah, he's. But he was like, can't. It was, he was so himself. Yeah. Like oh young guy.
Kwame
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. And he's.
Andy
Doing it.
Kwame
Yeah. Right. I met him in person, at first at a Netflix event. And I remember approaching him and being like, hey, man, like I'm a big fan of yours. And he's like, oh, yeah. Like, you know, like, great, great to meet you. You know, like, he was real personable and he, he was he really was what you saw, right?
He had those moments where was just like, he goes on like a quick little rant and he stops and he, you know, said he was like, yeah. You know, just like the way that I think about things, right? Like I was like, yeah, this is I'm literally watching a Jordan Stallion video. Yeah. And don't you appreciate.
Andy
When you see the person that you actually like or admire what they do online, and then you see him in person and then you get glimpses of it or see it. Yeah.
Kwame
And you're like, yeah, I love, yeah. And Imma be honest with you, man. This is one thing that I wish was more apparent across social media was like, you know, it'd be really tough to create, but I wish we could rate influencers and creators based off of the the real them, because there have been so many times that I've met a creator or I've heard stories about people meeting creators who they're like massive fans of.
Yes. Right. And you see them online and they give this positive, incredible glow, and then you meet them and they're just like very different, right? Either they don't want to talk or like they don't have the energy or the time. Yeah. Or whatever the case may be. And the thing is, you do have to respect everybody's private space.
I think that that's really important. Yeah. But I also think apart from, you know, an introduction or a conversation, you can tell the way that a person is just based off of their aura and energy. You know what I'm saying? Like, if there's darkness, you can tell if there's darkness, you know, and you can tell if there's light.
And so when people are on social media and they put out all this light, and then you encounter them in real life and they put out all this dark like one of the most interesting stories I met was or I heard was someone who met one of their favorite influencers. Yeah, I'm talking one of their favorite, like, top five type influencers.
And they came away disappointed and they were like, wow, I did not I did not enjoy that at all, you know? And so when it comes to the age old saying of like, you know, never meet your heroes or whatever the case may be, right? Like, I think it's important for us to try to change that standard. Right?
I think it's important for us to find a way to connect to the people in person, to our communities, in person, the same way that we try to go online. Yeah.
Andy
I agree with you. And that's what I was mentioning earlier. I don't know if this was offline, but it was. I look at it as they are presenting it. Avatar. Yeah. So they're living this dual lifestyle. So they have to put it on social media. And then I feel like that would be so exhausting. And then you're one way and then on social media you're this character.
Yeah. And then at some point it's going to be a conflict of interest. You're going to be. Yeah. You're going to forget you're not that person and you're going to be this person and it's going to be at the wrong time. That's exhausting.
Kwame
Yeah. You know what? It's a perfect time for, for a little, analogy, a little comparison, a little, kind of just like a little clip of something that I think about when I think about that in, in one of the X-Men movies. This was, the one I forget. Oh, man, I forget what her name is, but she was a really, really big star at the time she played Mystique.
Andy
Oh, yeah.
Kwame
Yeah. Right. Yeah. And when she was, you know, when all the X-Men got together, at the house and they were all kind of, like, working out and going through all these trainings. Mystique had the, facade. She had the human skin on. Right. And she was lifting weights. She was benching. Right. And Magneto being the most pro-mutant person ever.
You, he, he walks past her, he looks at her. Yeah. And he's like, you'd probably be twice as strong if you'd stop faking that skin or stop putting on that. You know what I'm saying, right. Because it's the truth, right? Mystique. Power was to change into other people, right? Become other people. Like, that was her superpower. And so when she's doing that, when she's putting on the human skin or the human appearance, that is part of her power.
And while you're using that superpower, you are obviously taking away your natural strength and your natural speed, right? Because your brain capacity is focusing on something else. And so with all that being said, that all just comes back to ultimately, as you are wasting your brain capacity on trying to put up a facade, you are taking away from the energy that's meant to actually positively affect the people that you are. You know you are presenting.
Andy
And you're robbing people from your gifts that you're supposed to transfer to them. There's a gift that's flowing through you. There's something that you're supposed to give out to other people, and there's a demographic of people that you're supposed to reach, and you can reach them because you're trying to be someone else. At the end of the day, just be yourself.
Kwame
Yes, we love that. That's right. There's going to be the episode promo for Saturday for real bro. Love to hear it man. So you know Andy, you've done a lot of growth. You have obviously all these incredible things going on. You know, very proud of you. By the way, I got to say that.
You know, and because of that, it's matriculated into really awesome opportunities and experiences. Right. You are getting some, brand collaborations and so on and so forth. Right. And so what was your very first brand collaboration? Ooh.
Andy
That's a good one. My very first brand collaboration. I want to say. So I was heavy. Okay. Yes. I can tell you right now.
Kwame
Okay.
Andy
I became the face of Reebok in 2016. And so, so prior to that, I was posting a ton. I was dropping on my workouts, and then people were like, why are you filming yourself work out?
Kwame
Yeah, because.
Andy
I do this. I enjoy it, and maybe I could help people with their form and workout and maybe I'll get paid for it. And it ended up turning into this huge competition of fitness coaches all around the world. I made it to the top 12, and then there was this huge worldwide voting phase. And long story short, I made it to the top four. And then Reebok flew me out to Boston.
I had to do like—so it was like a week-long celebrity judges. It would have been a TV show.
Kwame
Truly. Yeah.
Andy
The show, but it just wasn't filmed like that.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
And that format.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
But it was. And the other three were incredible. They're all doing amazing stuff right now. Alexa, Clark, Hannah and Brian, just showing them love because it was a grind. So they judge us on marketing ideas. Photo shoots, video shoots. And then we had to train the Reebok staff.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
And then whoever won ends up, I signed a whole year contract with Reebok and it was incredible. So that was my very first brand new—and that's amazing, you know. And it's been a beautiful thing.
Kwame
Yeah. That's amazing, man. Would you say that that was you know, your favorite brand deal? And if not what has been your favorite brand experience.
Andy
Was it my favorite brand deal? I think it was my favorite brand deal because it was such an impactful brand deal where I wasn't even looking at it as a brand deal because it was a competition.
Kwame
Yeah, but that's why.
Andy
It turned into being such an elaborate— and opened up so many other doors for other brands. So that's bonding to other fitness equipment companies. Food I had signed with like a company called Transform Supplements. Love, Chris Powell, Heidi Powell, all of them. They're amazing people. And then I so I did deals with, you know, Samsung, Walmart, Target. I could go down the list, but it's— I would say that was probably my favorite one because it was my first and such a special, special situation.
Kwame
Yeah. I mean, when you talk to a lot of creators and you ask them what their first brand deal was, they're like, oh, this brand sent me, I don't know, some lotion. And they told me, use it. And they sent me $100, you know. Yeah.
Andy
There's—you have those for sure. You get that.
Kwame
Yes.
Andy
But my situation was a little weird. Mine was different because it was with Reebok. And then you had those other ones where like, hey, if we send you these, whatever lotions or whatnot and we can send you product, we can send you a protein, but we can't pay you. And there's still some of that.
Kwame
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
Andy
There's still some of that. But now you just have to add, I don't want to represent something that I might want to use or do.
Kwame
Yeah, I respect that. And that is something you gotta live by. You can't take your brand for either a quick buck or, you know, a quick giveaway. So worth it. It's not worth it. Right? So, you know, do you still have a dream brand that you have yet to work with, or do you think you've already crossed that list?
Andy
Oh no, I do like—I would love to work with Apple.
Kwame
Oh.
Andy
You work with Apple? I would love to work with the Jordan brand. Apple is one of those I, I started a gaming Instagram like a year ago called the Mental Break Lab, and I do tech reviews and stuff like that. And so that opened up that door, that side. Because there's the nerd side of me, you know.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
Like I was showing you earlier the—I built my first PC.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
Recently, but I joined the gaming world, man. Let me tell you, the gamers are incredible. They're one of the most uplifting, warm people. And they're so inclusive. It's crazy. I don't know, I felt like I was in a different world when I went to that part of Instagram.
Kwame
Yeah, that community is incredible.
Andy
Mental break, mental break, fam. You know what I'm talking about. You know who you are. You guys are amazing.
Kwame
Yeah, that's awesome. And that's really dope to hear. So are you planning on like, you know, I guess a question that kind of ties this all together. Obviously, you know, your gaming now, do you plan to stream, do you already stream? And with it, with that also being a question, how many different platforms are you on?
All right. You have Instagram, you have TikTok. Do you know, are you on Twitch? What are your things?
Andy
Yeah. So I started dabbling this summer in streaming. But I wanted to get— I was like getting things in place. I'm almost in that place where it will be seamless. Yeah. And I feel like I will choose a certain time of the day or week to stream and just have fun with it. Yeah. I'm not trying to be on or be doing the, I mean, he's about to do that crazy, insane—Like, I don't know how many days he's going to stream for.
Kwame
My, oh yeah, Mafia thing. Yeah, yeah, Mafia.
Andy
I'm not trying to do that, you know, but yeah. I, I'm on Twitch. I'm on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram obviously. Facebook. And don't sleep on Facebook.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
Sleeping on them. And then recently they be pushing.
Kwame
Yeah. You're really push—
Andy
They push, push on those and you can cook on there. So those are the ones—I really want to level up my YouTube channel. That's what I'm doing. I'm in the process of rebranding my YouTube. And the whole theme is called Unboxed. Andy Dooley Unboxed and okay, I can't be boxed in. I'm not going to—I'm anti-niche.
You hear people tell you you need to niche down. No you don't. I am a true testament of it. There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to niche down if that's what they choose to do. If you are going to be tech and you're going to always do tech, people are going to follow you. For tech. And if you grow out of tech, then you try to do something else that's not tech. Then they're going to leave you. Yeah, if you're yourself, you're your brand and you have different interests, people will grow with you.
They will flow with you. And that's why I have my pillars where I'm like, you know what it's going to be faith, family, fitness, fun and fandom and all the things fit in those pillars and you just get to ride the wave with me. And I'm hoping to inspire other people who are artists, sketch artists, communicators, streamers, gamers, whatever you, whatever you do that you can be able to do that and not feel like you're pigeonholed and boxed in.
Kwame
Yeah. That's so—it's really similar to kind of what I'm going through right now. Obviously I was really fortunate to inherit a platform, but as I continue to grow, like it's interesting, you know, you have your ups and your downs and your growth path and your growth trajectory. And as a creator, you know, I had some months where I gained really well and I've had some months where I've lost, you know, and for me, whenever I think about losing, I actually think any time that I lose, you know, a few hundred or a thousand or whatever the case, personally, I like that because it means I'm shedding the people who were there for, you know, the old version of me that they saw online. Yeah. And the people who are there for now, like it's really funny. I started posting golfing content recently. And in my head I'm like, oh, my audience probably won't like golf. And it's not to say like it was a—it's been a huge uptake in any way.
But I've had maybe like 10 to 15 people who have DM'd me right to like when I, you know, I was talking about my swing and, you know, people were like, oh, Bubba. Like, you know, maybe try this, maybe try that. And I had someone literally DM me and say, hey, I'm just like, you know, I originally followed you for something else, but now I'm actually really curious to just follow you for your golfing journey. Wow. You know what I'm saying?
Andy
That's what it's about right there. Because there's multiple facets to come. Yeah. You're not just one, one person like, you're not the TV kwami. You're not just. Yeah, you know, there's more depth to you. And even your wife would probably be able to be like, yeah, call me that. You know, she's your biggest cheerleader.
Kwame
You know, she's—
Andy
Yeah. But I really feel like I understand that because for a while, I thought fitness was just going to be my thing. And I was like, no, I'm more than that. I want to be more. So kudos to you for doing that. And I think the more that you share your interests and open yourself up, you're going to attract the community and people that it's all about what you do.
Kwame
Yeah. You know. Yeah.
Andy
And it'll be 100%. It'll be more curated like it'll be your people. I don't even call my community followers. I call it community. I call them fam.
Kwame
Yeah, yeah, 100%. And yeah, I think it's definitely something that I aim to achieve. I want everyone who follows me to be there to follow Kwame. Right. Follow all the parts of Kwame. I don't want them to be there just for one segment. Now this is the thing. If they did come for one part of Kwame, I hope what brought them in might just be something that, you know, did the recruiting.
But what does—the retention is everything else in my life. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And so yeah, man. So and you, we're coming to a pretty good portion of this conversation. I think we've been having a good time powwow and a little bit so, so, you know, and, you know, like I said, you've got a wealth of experience in things and in social media.
And so we're going to go to a section here, which we call our quickfire session. All right. Yeah. And in that I'm just, I'm just basically going to go down a set of a list of questions or this or that. You give me your answer, you give me one sentence to prove why. And if you want hey, if it's not one sentence, you can go on and talk talking a parable.
That's fine with me, but I just want to know a tiny little explanation about what makes you choose that. Does that sound good to you?
Andy
Sounds good, bro.
Kwame
All right, let's make it happen. So, to start things off, would you say you like to create in batch content or create space spontaneously?
Andy
Spontaneously I really love, even though I do batch, but I love spontaneous because there's something so genuine and real about it. And that conveys through the camera when people see it. There's so much of my content where it's just in the moment.
Kwame
I love that. All right. So what is your current algorithm insight? Do you have something to beat the algorithm?
Andy
I don't—my way of beating the algorithm is consistency. At the end of the day, I feel like if you stop posting people, not just an algorithm, there's so many people out there creating content and if it's similar to yours, they're going to find someone else.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
So that's why you need to be consistent. So then if they are interested in you, they'll see content coming through you. Just like if we go on Netflix and I'm looking for a show and I immediately—how many episodes are there?
Kwame
Yeah, it says five.
Andy
I'm like, dang, it's really fast.
Kwame
And then they done it.
Andy
Then you're like, man, I watch Arcane. Have you seen that show?
Kwame
Oh yeah. Best animated show ever.
Andy
So fire.
Kwame
Yeah. Number one. Best animated show ever. Without a doubt.
Andy
I agree. And there's only two seasons.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
Yeah, I would say like, just not for me, but I also the way to end, I'm like, I get it, you know.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
But it's very similar. When people come to your Instagram or your TikTok, they want to see that you have content if they like one video. Yeah, that's one of the cool things people come to mind. And then I'll see them like and then there's like like like yeah. So they've had a time where they're just enjoying the journey of the page.
Kwame
I love to see it. So, Instagram or TikTok?
Andy
TikTok.
Kwame
Okay. Yeah. I think that makes sense for the way that you’re growing there.
Andy
So, but right now what's crazy is my Instagram. It's— flip my Instagram and it's like exploding right now.
Kwame
We love to hear, so, Reels or carousels?
Andy
Reels. Love Reels.
Kwame
Yeah. I think with your content style it makes a lot of sense. And then, what do you have as an underrated growth tactic?
Andy
A great question. Underrated growth tactic.
Yes, I think my underrated growth tactic is trying new things because some of the things that you may just think, “I'm just going to do it,” those are some of the most viral moments.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
Those are— I can, okay. Don't be, don't be, don't be scared to fail. Yeah. People are so caught up on, like, man, I only got ten views on it. So you tried something new.
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
So what?
Kwame
Yeah.
Andy
And three people whose lives were actually impacted and changed for life. You never know who those three people are going to tell about your stuff.
Kwame
Love that I love that. And then this is a little past our tactical five minutes. But just one question for you. If you started today with zero followers, what would you do, man?
Andy
I think the first thing I would do is introduce who I am and what I want to bring to you through my page, which we value in, you know, faith and life. And I'll do the exact same thing, but just always engage with my people. That's one of the things I try to do, that's why my engagement takes. I'm always connecting with people in the caption or in the comment section.
Kwame
Yeah, that's dope man. Well, Andy, look, what, we're—you know, we're on a pretty good streak here. I feel like we've touched on a lot of amazing things. You know, you've been such a great contributor to this conversation. You know, I've said it before. I think you're a really unique, really inspirational human being. And, you know, as we as we tie things up with all of your success that has come your way, what are you currently working on?
You know, do you have any brand partnerships you want to chat about, or do you have any, you know, projects or strategies or things that you are currently focusing on?
Andy
Yeah, yeah. So I just became an ambassador for Jo Malone Cologne, Germany and London. Yeah. I love their stuff. And the fact that I am part of the brand is just very special to me. I am doing a brand deal with the TV company called TCL, which will be coming soon.
Kwame
Nice. That's me. Yeah. You may know a little something like that. Yeah, just, just finished my brand deal with them, and man, I got that 98-inch TV in my basement.
Andy
That’s a beautiful day.
Kwame
Bro, I see. Yes, sir.
Andy
Yeah. And, I'm also working on a couple other brands I just can't talk about.
Kwame
Yeah, yeah.
Andy
Yeah. So. And there was also a possibility of a TV show.
Kwame
Oh.
Andy
So it's like, we'll see what happens with that stuff. And then it's football season, baby. It's Seahawk time. I got to be able to do a couple photo shoots. I just released some of the photos of the new uniforms. Those new rivalry uniforms. They are fire in person.
Kwame
Right. Yeah.
Andy
They hold, I see, crispy.
Kwame
Yeah. Sweet.
Andy
Just way so.
Kwame
Yeah. Well, though that is exciting stuff, man. Well, Andy, like I said again man, thank you so much for joining us. As we wrap this up, man, I'm just going to pass the mic over to you for one second. Just give our audience anything at all that you want to leave them with. That's words of inspiration and a way to tie this whole conversation together or whatever else is on your mind.
Andy
Thank you bro I appreciate that. I just want to tell everyone out there, just be yourself. Do not compare yourself to everyone else's progress. Comparison breeds doubt which would delay your purpose. It will literally stagnate to keep you from moving forward because you're looking right. You're looking left, trying to be perfection. Far forward, fail forward. That is, information that can be valuable for you in the future and be patient. Patience is going to be key. Consistency, discipline plus patience will equal success. I truly believe that.
Kwame
Lovely, man, those are incredible words. And with that being said, man, that's it for today, folks. Thank you so much for joining us on Beyond Influence and you are such an inspiration. Thank you for all that you do. Keep crushing it out there. For anyone that wants to find Andy, what's your what's your handle?
Andy
Yeah, it's @andyldooley. And that's on all my platforms.
Kwame
All right, we love that. All right, @andyldooley on all those platforms. Go check them out for some incredible, inspirational content that also has a bit of workout content that also has some reactions to it and might even have a little bit of cologne in it as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can smell it.
Andy
The screen.
Kwame
What smell? Smoke screen. All right, y'all, thanks so much for tuning in this week. That is a wrap for us. We are excited for this episode to drop. I'm excited actually. When this episode drops, it drops on a Thursday the day after I will be in South Korea. And so yeah, I'm excited for this episode.
Andy
Just drop that bomb like that.
Kwame
I should have just unscrew this mic so I can just drop it.
Andy
Did you—you didn't go to Japan, did you or did you?
Kwame
I did not— did not go to Japan. But that was on—
Andy
The couple, right?
Kwame
Yes, that was Brett and Tiff, but, let's go. Fortunately reached out. Yeah. And I'm really excited about Seoul and I think, you know, it's, I've always been excited to go to Asia in general. I've been to Vietnam before, Vietnam was a real treat. Japan's in my top five list. So is Seoul, South Korea as well.
And so but right now, just an ode to it. I actually have my airplane mode Alaska sweatshirt on, you know. So give them a little bit of love. But yeah man, I'm excited for this to drop. I'm excited for everybody to hear it. I'm excited for everybody to be inspired. And I'll be listening to it in first class while I'm asleep. So we—I can't wait for—
Andy
It just—because it drops. I'm going to know where you are at at that moment.
Kwame
Exactly. Yeah. To have a beautiful weekend. Weekend? Thank you all for tuning in. That's it for Beyond Influence today. Bye bye.