On the show today, Kyle and I chopped it up about how he created a "vibe" in his master bedroom for under $150 with some paint, lights, and plants - and how you can too. He dives into how he views new projects and skillsets as unlockable achievements for a self-taught DIYer and how to push past the initial intimidation. Kyle also goes into why/how he became a full-time DIY content creator through working with giant brands such as Home Depot. Kyle's engagement/following is super loyal and it's easy to see why - he's as funny and genuine as they come! Give Kyle a follow @kyledidit - you won't regret it!
On the show today, Kyle and I chopped it up about how he created a "vibe" in his master bedroom for under $150 with some paint, lights, and plants - and how you can too. He dives into how he views new projects and skillsets as unlockable achievements for a self-taught DIYer and how to push past the initial intimidation. Kyle also goes into why/how he became a full-time DIY content creator through working with giant brands such as Home Depot. Kyle's engagement/following is super loyal and it's easy to see why - he's as funny and genuine as they come! Give Kyle a follow @kyledidit - you won't regret it!
Hey, what's up. What's up. I am your host, Alex Dalessio and welcome to the real life innovation podcast. If you're looking to get your hands dirty and do it yourself in your home, then this is the go-to DIY and home renovation community. Just for you. I invite you to join us each week. As I chat with some of your favorite DIY creators, discuss all that goes into their DIY journey and the renovation projects that they've accomplished and how you can achieve similar results in your home. So if you have zero experience like I did when I started a year ago, and there's no better community for you to gain the knowledge, confidence, and inspiration to release your inner bad-ass upon every corner of your home. So let's pick up their hammer, have some fun, a nail, your home renovations together. Welcome to the real life renovation podcast. I'm your host, Alex Dalessio today. We have one of my favorite creators on the entire social media platform, Kyle or teas. You can find them at Kyla did it on Instagram. It takes hock and probably a couple other places that let them touch on that as well. I know he has a blog, um, and he's one of the funniest people on all the social media and he just so happens to DIY. Uh, he's one of my favorite follows and he's renovating as he likes to dub at his olive garden house in Southern California. I let him touch on that. You're probably like what the hell you're talking about, but his kitchen was featured on apartment therapy, which has over 3 million followers on Instagram. So big deal. It was super well-deserved, but you got to go check it out. His bathroom transformation that he worked with home Depot on is one of the best transformations I've ever seen. And he's coined just a regular dad customizing his builder, basic homes. So Kyle, my question as I am now starting off just about every podcast is you're sitting down with HGTV, right? How would you pitch them on doing a show with you as the star and what would the name of it be?
Kyle:Um, so the name of the show would be Kyle did it, um, that's if, if they approved it, that's what I would want them to do. Um, but, uh, the, the show, I, I think about this a lot. It's weird. I never thought about having that TV show, but I think about it a lot more often now. And, um, I meet, I've met so many people on Instagram, so many cool people like you and I now have friends that live in different places all over the country. And, um, I would love to be able to DIY with all of them. Um, I think that'd be so fine. And I think that a lot of these TV networks are looking to touch in like touch on the more social media aspect of just life in general. And so I thought, like, I think it would be so cool to have a show in which, um, I go around the country. I meet my favorite DIY is, and together we do something. You know, like a family that deserves it, some kind of, you know, a new, a new bedroom or a new kitchen or something like that. Something with a charity aspect, something with, um, something that pulls at the heart strings that makes all of us feel really good about being able to help people and getting, getting to, to meet our friends and do the things that we all really love to do. This is our hobby for everyone that I'm friends with online. This is like what we like to do in our free time. So yeah, that would be a cool show. That'd be a really cool show. Haven't had anyone pick it up yet, but
Alex:we're going to have to start tagging them. Now. That would be awesome. I think it would be a really cool aspect too, if like you took the homeowners along with you and, and they might be scared to get into it and you can be like, look, you can transform your whole master bedroom without these insane tools put up an accent wall. So paint will do you some goods for him. And I think that would be such a cool show personally. I know, I really wish HDTV would kind of get more into the DIY or space. Like no, like, I love the shows, but
Kyle:it's hard to, it's hard to break into because a lot of times we're not talking like big money, um, super high end stuff. And you know, that kind of stuff reads really well on camera. But the reality is, is most people don't have the funds, um, you know, that, that they would need to do these high-end renovations. But, um, I've always been a big believer in doing what you can with what you have. And, um, like a gallon of paint is 40 bucks and it can totally change a room really, really quickly. Um, and so I would love to be able to show people that show them how fun doing things yourself can be and how much money it can save you. So, yeah.
Alex:I mean, even with your recent master bath or master bedroom, like with the art you did with the paint, you know, I wouldn't say it's simple cause it's, you know, I saw that's a struggle of getting the arch. Perfect. And it's, you know, you got to cut the lines. Um, perfectly, but just, just literally like a half gallon of paint and it looks like you have an entirely different space.
Kyle:Yeah, dude, that was like, if you add it up, um, basically that was $13, $13 plus, I mean, the lights were 50 each, so like a hundred bucks. So like for our less than $150, I was able to shop my house and turn that room into like a room that actually looked nice. Um, and I did it just for a shoot for some furniture that I'm getting in there, but realistically, it's something that I could have done a year and a half ago. Um, I could have been enjoying that room a lot more. Now when I walk in, I love it. I love that space and it feels a lot more comfortable and I didn't have to go. I didn't have to use any like big tools. Didn't have to even have a saw. I didn't do a big wall treatment or anything like that. Just a little bit of paint on the wall, a couple of lights and, uh, and added some plants and stuff for my own house. And now it's got.
Alex:I caught a vibe a little bit. Yeah. So I, I have, um, for those I'd know, I gave it on the intro. I talked about your olive garden house. So I think I came in late following you, but, and you've touched on it a couple of times, but for everyone here listening, I need you to go into why you dubbed it, the olive garden house and how your transformation has slowly been, has slowly been going.
Kyle:It's funny because like, uh, I tried to figure out like the true origin of that. Cause I couldn't really nail it down. So like one day when someone finally asked me, I was doing like a Roundup of all my funnier moments and the olive garden thing is just a joke that won't die. So I was like, where did that come from? Like when did it truly start? And, um, I went back in my archives and I'm looking at like day three of living in this house and I was painting this. Painted a wall. And that was like, you know, brand new Instagram, shaky camera, everything, no face on it. And I'm like, yep. So there's the wall. It looks great. Finally, it doesn't look like in all of the garden in here because the color of the house, it's just the whole house was brown. The floors were dark. The cabinets were dark. The granite was dark. The house was brown. The windows were tinted. And like when you walked in here, it just had like mad olive garden, restaurant vibes, like 2014 built in 2014 Tuscan villas. Like they went for all the options and they got up and including the stack stone back splash to completely impractical, like all of it, just, it just screamed olive garden to me. And, uh, I know somebody, people have their houses painted that way. And I know that that's a lot of people like that color, but it just wasn't the feeling here. So. I did that. I started saying that all a garden joke, and then every time I had there's a lot of house. So every time I would paint a wall, that'd be like cut by all the garden brown kind of like that kind of thing. And so was sort of more of an inside joke. And then, um, one day I think it was Ben from dense DIY. He like shared my page and he was like, this is Kyle. He's awesome. You should check him out. And he transformed an olive garden into a beautiful family home
Alex:and people thought it was literal.
Kyle:And so people, he didn't correct it or anything. He just posted that. And then that one night, like probably 15 of my friends caught onto the. So they all shared similar things. Like you got to go check out Kyle, he transformed an olive garden into the family home, or like they would post on their story. Like, I can't believe that you've made a beautiful home out of the old restaurant and abandoned restaurant. Like,
Alex:so are they trolling at that point? Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah. They were trolling for sure. They thought it was hilarious because I like have a couple of group chats I was talking about for Vanessa. I was like, oh my God, Ben just posted this. Now people are going to go live in olive garden. She's like no way. And then she posts on her story. She was like, you've done so much with that olive garden and you guys need to follow this guy. It's amazing that what transformation to them. So then like overnight, I had like a thought that was when I only had like. 2020 500 followers. And then I crossed over into actually it was when I was right around TBRI that overnight, like with all those people sharing me that got me an extra thousand followers and 90% of them truly believed I lived in an olive garden. So to this day I still have people who are like, wait, I didn't know. I didn't know. You didn't live in an olive Grove. I'm like this. It does because it's a regular house. Like it's the most basic house you can find.
Alex:I can't believe people can just use the context clues of like very clearly not an Oliver. That's hilarious. And that's how it all started.
Kyle:Yeah. Like someone posted like, like, oh, um, you know, I'll, every time I post something, there'll be like, is that where the breadsticks are? Or like when the divine garage they're like, is this your olive garden car side to go here?
Alex:Yeah, you need to like have Easter eggs throughout your house.
Kyle:Kind of like allude to it. That's all. I really want one of those olive garden car side to go signs for the, for the garage car side to go parking only for olive garden. I think it would be hilarious.
Alex:We just need to spam olive garden, like crazy on all social media.
Kyle:The crazy thing is, is like, I've never tagged them. Cause I don't want to get like a cease and desist order, but there's gonna come a day where I will be able to tag them and they'll all grin will probably pay me to plug them.
Alex:Yeah. Cause they're going to be a high. Yeah. So
Kyle:I laugh at that so much. I'm like that could actually have been
Alex:one day. That would be the most full circle. Hang on all the social media. That'd be hilarious. I love it. So before in your kitchen, there used to be a stack stone. Is that like the stone I'm thinking of where it's, it's like kind of bumps out and it's.
Kyle:Yeah. Yeah. It was like a small, it was a good, tiny version of that. Like a tile version of that. And they did it all around the backsplash and it looked, it looked okay. It wasn't like, it wasn't like very, like a lot of stone. It was more uniform at the pieces where like that small, but it was still like a stack stone. And that was like the main reason why, um, I wanted to rip that backsplash out was because it was impractical. I cook a lot. And so you can't do stone backsplash when you cook a lot, it's porous it, you know, you get a splatter of oil on it and you can't clean it. So behind the stove, it had these little dots all over where there was splatters or something. And I just, I hated it cause I could never like wipe it down. The backsplash should be wipeable, that's my opinion. We should be able to wipe it. And we couldn't. So, um, when I did the kitchen, that was one of the things that definitely needed to go. So I got rid of that pretty quickly.
Alex:Yeah. And speaking on your kitchen, so you got featured in an apartment therapy for it, and if anyone listening has. Seeing Kyle's page, go check out his kitchen. It's nuts. But so you went for an open concept. You're like, get all the, like for me, I'm such a forwarder. I have so many cabinets and I probably I'd probably use half of them. I should probably should go with your, a strategy here. But, uh, so, so talk about your kitchen and kind of what the thought process was about it.
Kyle:So the kitchen was one of the reasons why we bought this house. Um, we had like a long list of things that we needed and a house. Um, like we needed five bedrooms, we needed three bathrooms. We needed a bigger garage. We'd needed a larger yard and we absolutely needed a kitchen that, um, was big enough to entertain, have parties. And have a lot of people in the kitchen around the kitchen. And so this house has a giant kitchen. It's a 18 by 18. So it's a huge kitchen. And I have a, an island in the middle that's, the island is eight feet by eight feet. So it's just a big ass. It's just like a lot. And so, but the only thing was, is, you know, it's builder's standard. So, you know, they, they put one cabinet in, they put 20 cabinets in and they're all, every single cabinets is same. So I think I have like 26 drawers. I think I have like, um, 16 lower cabinets. And then on top I had a whole wall of cabinets. So I knew I wanted, um, I knew I wanted a re like a hood instead of a microwave over the stove. So I knew I wanted to.'cause I cooked so much. I wanted something that could really get the smell out. And I knew I wanted to build something like that, like a box. And then I was like, well, maybe I'll keep some of the cabinets and maybe I won't. And then my wife and I were kind of talking about it. We're like, we're short. So the cabinets are tall. There was nothing in, there was everything there. Everything was on the lower shelf and there was already ample cabinet space. So my wife was like, we can get rid of some of this stuff cause we don't really need it. And the rest that we have, we'll just, you know, if we do shelves and we'll just put it on shelves. So I was like, all right, I'm game. I mean, the beauty of being a DIY is that if you do something and you don't like it, you could just go to the store and buy new cabinets or you could put your fruit and cabinets back on the wall and be like, well, that was a mistake that didn't work for me. I'll put it back. And like, it's not a big deal. You're not paying someone thousands of dollars to do these renovations. Like, so I just was like, all right, I'll do it. And to this day, we're over. Almost a year in and I have no regrets. My actual, only regret is that I didn't add a second one. So I'll be adding a second row of shelves above, but that's not for like practical reasons. That's more for like decor and, and, uh, balance. I kind of want another set just to kind of add a little bit more balance to the space and put some like nicer cutting boards and things like that. Um, so that the lower shelf is just things that we use every day.
Alex:Nice. Yeah. That scares the shit out of me to do something like that. But I feel like it's such a vibe and. It got picked up by apartment therapy. So, so touch on that. How did that happen? Was it just like, it just caught fire? Did you make the submission?
Kyle:Well, so I did it for the one room challenge. So I think that that kind of helped with visibility, but when I revealed that kitchen, I had, um, I had less than I had right around 3000 followers and I revealed that kitchen and that kitchen was the first post that I ever had that got over a thousand likes. I reached a lot of people. And so that was already like the engagement on that was crazy. Um, and I think that I made a real, uh, where it showed kind of like the whole process. And I did like, cause the whole thing.$1,700. So like all of it, um, everything like, and I bought like a Hutch off of, uh, that was one thing that I did that I think kind of got a lot of traction was I bought a Hutch off of, uh, offer up for a hundred dollars, like an old China cabinet with a glass Hutch on top. And then I took that Hutch and I put it off to the side of my kitchen and I took one of my existing cabinets and I just laid it up on the, on the counter. So it opens up sideways and I like re stained it to match the Hutch above it. And I just built the whole thing in, and, um, that gave me like a glass store, a glass cabinet where I could store like nicer glassware that we have, um, like my drink, glasses, margarita glasses, that kind of thing. So the whole thing just looked really good for $1,700. I think that it was just, uh, a very cost-effective, um, Attainable thing. And it was a type of kitchen, especially here in, so Cal a lot of people have just very similar basic kitchens. And so I think apartment therapy really liked the concept of, of doing something where, you know, the budget is lower and it's more, um, DIY friendly. And so they reached out to me, they had like a sheet that I filled out and I never heard from them again after that. So I was like, I thought they ghosted me. Um, but they didn't, they ended up posting it. And, um, just like, uh, I can't say too much, but they really liked me a lot and they will be working with me again on a larger, more exciting project. That's going to be happening in the next couple of months. So I definitely caught the attention of the editorial staff over there.
Alex:So excited. I can't wait for that. That's awesome, man. I can't say this enough, anyone that's listening, please go check out his kitchen. It really is just amazing. Um, and on top of, I know you talked about engagement, I've had so many people message me after I posted that you were going to be the, uh, the guest here. Everyone is like infatuated with just your style on how you deliver social media content in general. Like, I think obviously DIY is your niche, but I think your style would be successful in any niche. Um, so I've had a lot of questions from creators on how you came about it. Just kind of, you know, maybe not tips, but just kind of how you came about it and you know, how you do.
Kyle:Yeah. So, um, I've always been, uh, I've always been a bit of a performer, like just in general. I'm a, I'm a really social guy, pretty personable. Um, and I don't mind being on camera. Um, but literally before I started Instagram, I never recorded a single IgG story in my life. I never posted anything like that. I didn't do Snapchat stories. I wasn't like a hold the camera and talk to it and share it to social media kind of dude. But I started doing that when I did, when I started this page, it was very much, um, like the first week I would say it was very much like, not a lot of jokes peppered in. Like, this is what I'm going to do. This is how you paint a cabinet. And I found myself like, Kyle, this is boring. Like, I don't even want to watch this shit. Like I'm so bored right now, a hundred slides on how to paint a cabinet. And so, um, pretty quickly I realized that I wasn't being the true Kyle, you know, not having, I wasn't having fun in front of people, which is kinda like what they want to see. So, um, with the projects, I try to keep things light. I try to keep things entertaining. Um, I know, like in terms of the content creation side, I know that, um, cause you, you, you struggle, like you want to show people how to do things, right? You want to explain to them how to do it. And you want to make sure that if they're learning from you, that they're learning at least what should be the right way or the Mo the more efficient way to do it. But you also know that if you have 12,000 people that are from. 12,000 people don't want to watch 120 slides of you painting a cabinet precisely. So I realized really early on that direct messages and the messaging feature in general is kind of the way that I can go above and beyond. So when I record projects, I record everything and I take a lot of B roll, a lot of extra stuff, and I don't share any, I don't share all of it. I parse it down into things that are palatable. Um, I, you know, show the funnier parts. I show the fails every time I always make sure that I show like, Hey, this is where I screwed up. This is not going to work. Um, I show all of that. And then I know that for the people who are just here for entertainment, they're going to love it. They're going to respond to me. They're going to message me and they're going to enjoy what they saw that day. And for the people who truly want. I'm sure. You know, they'll message. You there'll be like, Hey, how did you do this? And I have the B roll. I have the stuff, and I can pop on. I record more stuff just for them. I say, Hey, good question. Let me show you exactly how I did this. And also I'll send you some videos. And if I get a bunch of requests like that, then I might add more story content and say, Hey, you know, I have, this is how I did this thing. Cause like I realized I didn't go over all of it, you know? So let's, uh, let me show you a little bit more about how I built this blah, blah, blah, blah. So, um, that seems to work for me. And I like to, I like to be, I like to be able to provide like a bright spot in the day and I like to be able to show that, um, real life is real life. Just like you real life renovation. Like sometimes it doesn't go that right. Sometimes you plan on doing 16 things at one time. It doesn't work out that way. You end up having to go to home Depot six times and it's four o'clock in the afternoon, you're tired. And you're like, that's not going to, this is this project for we're going to, I'm calling it.
Alex:And it's funny because, you know, I've kind of, you know, learning the same thing. Uh, it's just, at the end of the day, people go on Israel for the most part for entertainment. Right. Um, and anyone that's following myself or you or anyone in the DIY realm probably also has, you know, an edge for DIY or creating in that way. But if you're just not yourself, first of all, and you're just sharing step by step. Like, I feel like that's where kind of YouTube niches,
Kyle:like.
Alex:Yeah. And I think that's where I would go to watch someone should give me everything on cabinet painting where exactly. And I'm going to answer it. I'm like, I want to S you know, get the nitty and gritty, but then like have fun along the way, crack some jokes, share my fails and have a personal relationship, which I say you're so great at making everyone feel like you're their best friend. And I
Kyle:have a successful, really good memory. And, um, I'm like, it's weird. Cause I do get, I get like hundreds of messages every single day. And, um, Yeah, I'll post something and I'll just get like 180 200 replies to one frame. And I try to reply to everyone. And now that I, now this is my main job. Um, I take that time to make sure I reply to all of them. And I start remembering all these people. I remember their names and, um, I'll be like, Hey, how are your kids? Um, you know, how, you know, did you end up going on that trip or whatever happened with your laundry thing? And I think people are surprised by that. And I know that not everyone can do that, but I can. And so I try to use that, um, kind of like as my, um, as something that sets me apart a little bit and make sure that people, when people message me and they take the time out of their day to write something, I want to make sure that I can take that time out of my day to reply to them in a personal way and make sure that they know that I appreciate they're here, they're following. And that I care about them too. So
Alex:yeah, a hundred percent, like I'll even have people like messaging back. Like I can't believe you responded. Just a person like
Kyle:you're like, are you, are people not replying? You? Like, you're talking to people and they're not saying anything like
Alex:don't follow. Yeah. I was like, because I view it as a two-way street. Like when I get pop on Instagram, I learned so much from people like, don't mess with me. Like, no, dude, you need to do this. I'm like, you're right, man. And similar, like, people make me laugh in the same way when they reply to stuff and I'll send them voice messages back just because I think sometimes it could be a little bit more personal. Um, it would be just laughing my ass.
Kyle:Yeah. No for sure. Um, it's funny. I have like, so there's this one lady in particular, she's got a private profile and she has just a little thumbnail, so I've never really seen her. I don't know what, you know, what she looks like really, but we talk like every day and it's so funny because she is legitimately one of the, probably she might be the very first person that followed me. That was a total stranger. Like she's been following me. So. Day six. And it's crazy. Like just the other day, she just, yesterday she sent me a message. She showed me, she sent me some videos, pictures of her and the kids in Paris at Disney. And cause we were talking about that a couple of weeks ago and I'm like, do you know that you're like one of the first people that ever followed me and like, how did you choose? Like, I don't even know how I found you. I have no idea. And like, I don't really know her name, but I know all about her. I know where I know what she does for work. I know what her husband does for work and how long they've been married. I know how many kids she has. And like, it's funny cause you make those random, random connections. But I think that's what sets Instagram apart from so many other platforms is that it's very personal and um, the way, because it's so personal, the way to success on this platform is making sure that you. Are aware of that. And you're cool with entertaining that if you're not cool with being personal on here, then this platform might not be the one for you. You could, there's lots of other places you can go, but this one, this one, this one's the one where you're going to want to try to be a little bit more personal. That's a
Alex:hundred percent. Yeah. I think YouTube is exactly for that. A few female don't want to share a lot of your life and you don't want to respond to comments and messages, put out a video and you can walk away on YouTube and just let it do its thing. But answering within the day, you're sharing a lot of your normal life too, like on top of it. Um, you know, and I think that's how you create an awesome community of people that not only support you, but, um, just want to be there for you and watch all your, all your stuff. And whether you post something insanely dumb and they still laugh anyways and make you feel better about yourself or whatever the case may be. But so you, you just touched on it. You've positioned yourself to quit your full-time job. Which I recently did as well. And it's the most rewarding feeling ever. So how do you think, I feel you're about one a month, month and a half
Kyle:in. Yeah. Yeah. I quit December actually. I'm probably two months in December. 17th was my last day of my regular job. I feel great. The time has flown by, um, I will be a hundred percent honest, uh, that I never ever in a million years imagined that I would no longer be working a nine to five job. Um, nothing against a nine to five. Um, but my entire life, uh, As an adult has been, has led up to a career in the field that I was stupid, that I was working in specifically a career at the place that I was working in. I was proud of that job. Um, I loved that job. I gave that job 150% of my time, energy and effort. And I really thought that I would work there until I was 55 or 60 and retire. And, uh, so making the decision to step away from that was difficult. It was really difficult. Um, and it was. Um, my wife supports me constantly. So for her, it was just a matter of like, just do it, just do it. But for me, I'm very, I'm, I'm an anxious person. I have anxiety in general. And so like, I stewed over it for months and months and months. And I didn't think about it for awhile, but once I got those first few brand partnerships and the first, like the first brand that I ever worked with, like legitimately worked with was home Depot. And I was like, that's an aspirational brand for me. That was a, that was a brand that like, you know, when you list your dream brands, who could I work with home Depot was at the top of my list. And for them to be the first one, I was like, okay, that's cool. And then, and then they, then they hit me up for a second one and then I was like, crap. Okay. And then I had another brand reach out to me about like, just, you know, just post this photo is a big national multinational grant, Cisco post this photo and we'll pay you this much money, you know, That's more money than I make in a month.
Alex:Okay. That was the, uh, the work, the office, right? Yeah.
Kyle:It was like just post a photo of your work from home environment, you know, plug this contest. And like, and so once I started doing like napkin math and adding it up, I was sitting there thinking like, okay, I think it's official. Like my day job is getting in the way of me, not only making the money that like that I can use to support my family, making more money to support my family, but it's getting in the way of me doing something that I love every single day, being able to do that every day. Um, and not having a normal job. And, you know, knowing that me, I went to the Haven conference last year for content creators and talking to a lot of the, the bigger accounts going to their workshops and stuff and hearing kind of like, cause they're really cool. They're really honest about dollar amounts and things. Hearing how much money they're making. Um, and then also learning what their engagement rate was and seeing like, like engagement rate is incredibly high comparatively to some of those larger accounts. And then seeing like, wait a second. Some of these accounts that I started following when I first started, like, I'm actually pulling some bigger numbers than they are, and I have a third, an eighth of the following I realized like, okay, if I grind and I work hard and I don't change, I just keep doing what I'm doing. Um, that not only can I replace my income, but I could probably double or triple my income doing this, doing what I love, stay home, my kids. And like, now my goal is like laser focused on paying this house off because like that kind of financial freedom is not anything that I ever thought I could attain. Um, and it's honestly, you know, we have a 30 year mortgage. Every penny that I put toward it is dropping years off of that. I had kids young. Um, so I plan on being on having my fun when I'm older, when my oldest is, um, 18, I won't even before I won't even be 40 yet. And so, um, so you know, my wife and I have always planned on, you know, having our fun and doing our, you know, living our lives when we're older, after our kids are older. And, uh, this, I think these years now that I'm in are actually for the first time ever really gonna prepare me for a life after work. Yeah.
Alex:And it's an investment in yourself. That's the thing is because Dawson actually we finished the episode last week and before we signed off, I was like, do you have any questions for me in Dawson? Yeah. Why? Like what made you finally just pull the trigger and quit job? And I was like, there's so many factors to go into. I was like one, you know, it's my passion. And you know, that has so much weight and just in life in general, um, to do what you love every day, you know? And then two, I was like, it's just, it really is an investment in yourself because you know, when you work, you'll get, you know, you can do well, depending on what your field is, but you'll get your salary bumps and stuff like that. But I'm like, like you're literally have equity in yourself as a brand. So I told Kylie when I was kinda like doing napkin math, just like you were. And I was just like, I'll like, realistically, I'll never make less than I do right now. If, if I do what I'm supposed to. Right, right. Not only will your fallings only go up, but also influencer marketing. Is going up as well, just because brands are realizing people aren't watching TV commercials anymore.
Kyle:No, this is the way that they're hitting audiences. And this is where their millions and millions and millions probably billions of dollars are going towards now this type of
Alex:advertising. Exactly. Like just home Depot with you. They probably them putting on a little commercial on TV where I already know what home Depot does like that doesn't do anything for it. But like seeing what you were able to do with just stuff from home Depot to their bathroom, that resonates, especially with someone I care about that resonates so much more to me. And I think that they're seeing that. So anyone listening, if you already have an account or you're looking to grow it, there really is like, if you just treat business-minded business-wise it's, it really is, can be lucrative. Um, but then just like on a life aspect, like you're, you get to stay home with your kids now you get to be in their lives. It was something I mentioned to Kylie too. Like when we have a family and. That, you know, I didn't want to miss out on a bunch of stuff and have her be a stay at home mom and watch her kids grow up. Well, I come home at six. O'clock exhausted from work.
Kyle:Yeah. That's another thing is, so my wife has never been, like when we first got married, we thought that things would be a little bit more traditional, you know, like, and I, I cringe even thinking about it now, but, you know, we kind of just assumed that she would stay, you know, the goal was for her to not have to work, stay home, take care of the kids. And I would go to the office and I'd do my thing. I think very quickly we realized that that was just not for her, that kind of, you know, she thrives in a business setting. She's an amazing business woman in general, she's a project manager she's excels in that space and she loves doing that. Um, I am not. I mean, I liked that kind of thing, but like my, I really love to be home. I really liked to take care of the kids. I really like to cook dinner. I don't really mind to clean and I don't mind caring for the house and doing those things. And so that was already kind of something that was, um, that I had experienced before. I'd been a stay at home dad before, um, and being able to like, take this leap and go back to that again. Um, has been really cool. And, uh, but you're right. It's a, it's definitely an investment in yourself. It's definitely one of those things where you're like, you know, you have to, everything, everything needs to come on line up a little bit. And we were lucky that we were able to kind of make things work. Um, I'm lucky that I have a wife that supports me that, that I can get them. Then I can do this. And at the end of the day, like the jobs aren't going anywhere. Yeah. Like that,
Alex:I have a degree, like you can always go back, but I was like, I'll kick myself forever. If I was able to show.'cause it's one thing to just quit. And I had like zero followers and no one cared, gave a shit about me. That was like, at least I've proven myself somewhat. I'll take talking to Instagram. And I was like, I just want to follow along, go for it. And if I fall on my face, we gave ourselves like a six month window. I was like, at this, like, I sat her down. I was like, tell me at, I think it comes up in like, mid-March so like, I'm on good page. But I was like, what do I need to like, hit just right. And then if not, then we'll, then I'll go back to my gummy. You know, that's kind of how we approached it.
Kyle:Same. Yeah. We told, I was like, you know, if it, if it doesn't work out, then I'll hit the job boards in June and I'll try and find something. We knew how much, how much buffer we had. And, um, before we had to really start paying. Maybe dipping into savings for other things like car registration and stuff like that. And, you know, um, our month to month expenses are covered with my wife's job, which is great. We, you know, we are set in that way. And so just made that decision a little bit easier. Um, but I definitely have already kind of surpassed those goals that I set. And I definitely think that this is going to be something that I'm going to continue doing for a longterm. Um, I mean, eventually, you know, I might be old and wrinkly. Nobody will want to look at me anymore and will think I'm funny, but you know, that'll be okay because by that point, hopefully I won't, you know, if I, if this isn't working, I won't need it, you know, if I can pay for this house and, um, and I'll have the freedom to do whatever the hell I want
Alex:seriously. So, so staying at home with kids and whatnot, you were the first creator, um, that I've interviewed that has kids. Um, how do you get stuff done? Project-wise with kids, especially when you did work, because there's so many people out there that are just like, I know I can want to say fortunate because I will have kids eventually, but I'm fortunate enough to like, not have that stress yet. I know I will. Um, but how do you, how do you work around that?
Kyle:Um, so, well, one thing that I never really shared, um, just for reasons, uh, but before, when I was working and when my wife was working full time, we had, we had someone who lived here with us, who, who took care of the kids while we worked during the day. So we had a nanny, um, who worked, who lived here in the house. And she, um, you know, she took care of the day-to-day kids'
stuff from 9:00 AM to like 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. So during the day I was able to work. She was off at night. And that was when I did the DIY stuff, you know, nights a weekend. So, um, it was, it was sacrificial in terms of basically I was working with Instagram, probably six hours a day on Instagram related things. And then I had my normal day job, which was eight and a half hours a day. So altogether, you know, 14, 15 hour days for a year and a half. And, um, I, I wanted to be involved in my kids' lives. So, you know, throw in being a soccer coach and, um, you know, doing things like that, it was tough. Like it was incredibly stressful. It was, um, it was mentally exhausting and I did, there was a couple of points there where I was like, I can't do the Instagram. Like I, it's just not a lot
Alex:of work. People, people would think, give you just like talking to a story, like you just hit. No, I recorded like 18 videos and none of them are good. So now I had to cut this one and then I had to caption it and put music over it just
Kyle:like the, uh, like, so, you know, I would try to do the whole, like, I'll record today and then I'll post tomorrow. But then, you know, you end up in this cycle where like, you record yesterday, you want to post today, but you also have shit to do today. So then like, you're like, okay, as soon as I get off of work, I'll post or, you know, I'll, I'll get my post ready for my Instagram story. And then like, you start, you sit down, you start doing it, you add the captions, you add the tags and you try to line up the stupid music and you do it all. And then before you know it, four frames in, and you're like 20 minutes, the clock is ticking. Now it's almost dinner time. You haven't started what you needed to do outside and you still need, like, you still have another eight frames to post on top of this. So, yeah, it was a lot
Alex:and then responding to messages and then they're like, oh, you should do this. And it's like, well, I actually did this 24 hours ago, but I'm acting
Kyle:right. And so, um, it, the whole thing, it was just a lot of work and it was sacrificial. And I always tell people that if you are a working parent and you have a full-time job and you want to try and make Instagram, like your thing that you need to, if you haven't gotten to that point where you don't have a job anymore, that you need to be prepared and you need that, you need to be prepared to work at this sacrificially, you know? And if you are like, well, I don't have that much time in the day, then it's probably not going to work. I'm a really, really, really disciplined person by nature. So I can commit my mind to getting something done and I could do it. If that means that I'm going to get four hours of sleep. You know, but I know I need to, I need to work out every day. I know that I need to respond to the DMS every day. And I know that I need to be on Instagram every day and I need to work my day job every day. I'll do it, but I might go crazy in the process. Um, but I did it. And then, uh, you know, I wanted to quit a couple of times, but my wife really kind of like pulled me through and was like, you know, if you just, you know, you can do whatever you want, but you are doing really well on that. And people like to see you, so you should just keep at it. And I did. And so now, um, now I have a lot more time to, to focus on it obviously. And I love the flexibility. That's my favorite part is how flexible it is and that, you know, if I'm like not feeling like posting anything or like that when I don't post anything, the messages. And it's a little bit it's silent and I can take a day away and no one's bugging me. No, one's doing anything. And it's great. And then when I'm ready, you know, I post a frame and I get my replies and I started going again. Yeah. So
Alex:it works 100% yet. And it's, uh, in the same breath, it can work against you because you're like, when I post, I need to bring it like you can't like, of course you can be real, like InSpec guys. I feel like shit right now. But like sometimes I'll wake up. I'm like, man, I don't feel like documenting on my entire project. Like I just want to get shit done. And so, but so it's double whammy, but I honestly love doing it. And I'm watching you. You're one of my inspiration, Steve, and like star. So you
Kyle:have taught me what I've been experimenting a little bit more with is the voiceover thing. And that. That's not something that I ever really did before, but that has allowed me to not need to, because I try to keep like me talking to the camera face to face. I try to keep that down. Um, just because I skipped through those stories personally, I skipped through a lot of stories where people are talking, like, if you're talking for four or five frames and you got the rolling captions going, like, uh, I just put it, paraphrase it or show me that you're doing something. And like, so, um, I really liked the tick-tock style of, you know, you know, today's what we're going to do and go, I'm doing this. And now I cut this board down and after I ripped the board down, I added, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I've been recording more time-lapses and I've always did time-lapses but recording those time-lapses and instead of stitching them together and putting music over them, I'd have recording of them and throwing a voiceover over them so that I can explain what I'm doing. Well, there's something being shown and I can actually work for a longer period of time without needing. I can just set up the camera and get the shit done. And then, you know, I'll go over it later and record that voice thing and then boom, post it. So I've been doing that a lot more. Yeah. I've,
Alex:I've found it to be really successful. Just also just being able to talk out and document everything, because being able to talk over 15 seconds, I can get so much more value and also be funny and engaging at the same time. Right. Whereas if you put two to three sentences, like it's, it's not as personal, but yeah, anyone that's listening, I've had a bunch of people DM you, what app I use if you use the app in shot. I N S H O T. So like one of the best apps for video editing, it's what I use to make all my reels take tox stories. Um, and it allows you to do voiceovers and an S you don't have to like, get a perfect word. Like one go at it. So I don't know what you use, but I found that to be really helpful. I
Kyle:use splice and I'm cheap. So I have the free version of spice, but I'll have the free to, I'm telling you, I get the free version for these apps and I'm like, I don't want to pay for, so that was all click on something. It's like, you need the premium membership. I'm like, I don't need the period membership. I won't be doing that one.
Alex:Like, Nope. I'll I will be just fine. Yeah. So that's one of my biggest things. Um, okay. I have one more question and then we'll go into quick fire. Anyone that knows Kyle is currently 5:00
AM, 5:46 AM his time. Uh, so while the kids are sleeping, he's, he's out here grinding and gave me an hour of his time. So I'm super appreciative. Um, one question I'd like to ask, and I think everyone always asks these questions is what's your like one tip or resource that you would say for an, a newbie? Not, or it could be a creator, but anyone that wants to really get into DIY and might be a.
Kyle:Just start, honestly start. Um, if you are on the fence about whether or not you can do it, you can do it. Like, I'll just tell you right now that you can, and you're not gonna you're you're obviously you're not gonna be able to frame out a basement tomorrow if you've never done that before. Um, but you can certainly paint a wall tomorrow. Like if that's something you want to do, you can go to the hardware store, you can pick up a gallon of paint, you can grab a roller, you can paint a wall. And you know, those little things, like I think of every project, they do every tool that I buy as like another achievement unlocked. Like I never knew how to do this thing, but I didn't have this tool before. I don't know how to use this tool, but there are people who do, I can watch them. I can buy the tool, I can use the tool. And then now I can do that. Over and over and over again. And so DIY is just a set of skills that you can acquire and anyone can acquire. I know people who, um, who have never, so many people, who've never picked up a tool in their life. Like I, my dad growing up was the something break. You buy a new one or you call someone to fix it. I don't even think that he owned a toolbox. Like I don't remember him fixing a single thing in my life. Um, he was just a busy guy and he would just rather pay someone to do it. I didn't have that luxury. When I bought my first house, I didn't have the money to call someone to pay them to do it. Um, I also didn't have tools. So I would borrow tools from people. I would rent tools from home Depot because that's pretty cost-effective. Um, I would rent a tool for the job and I would watch a lot of videos, do a lot of research and figure out how to do it. And I would just attempt it. And the smaller projects, like maybe start with a furniture flip, like that's something easy, honestly, if it sucks, light it on fire in your bag. Don't tell anyone you ever did it, like buy something cheap, try and flip it. If you hate it, throw it outside on the patio and never look at it again. Um, you know, but you have to start somewhere. And, um, if, if big tools intimidate, you start with smaller ones, you know, big projects intimidate, you start with smaller projects and eventually work your way up, just be patient and treat it just like any other hobby, you know, or a skill that you're trying to learn and you will get there.
Alex:Yeah. And I think a big thing of it too, is on top of the, like the financial way of, oh, I'm fixing up my house and therefore creating more value if you don't actually have some innate enjoyment, like there's definitely times where I, I just want to punch a hole through the drywall. I say the only reason I don't is, cause then I know I have to patch the drywall patching track. It was probably the only reason I don't. But if you don't have some just kind of. Just like feeling of like, man, I feel like a bad-ass right now, then you're probably going to struggle through a lot of the things. But when you get it through that first project and you step back and even if you just painted a wall and changed it from olive gray, dark brown to a different color and you step back and you're like, damn, like I did that. And it's such a big transformation and then you'll walk, pass it to the next three weeks and you've stopped for like 10 seconds at a time. And just like, yeah. Did
Kyle:that. Yeah. You touched on something being frustrated with your project being frustrated, like. I have even as an experienced DIY or I have a lot of moments of frustration still to this day, almost never do things go exactly how I had planned for them to go. And I'm like, oh yeah, this all worked out. This is, this is great. Um, there's always some issue. There's always like last week I was doing a shelf in my room and I was like, oh yeah, I want to do this shelf. And I thought like, cut here, cut here, throw it up. It was an hours long project for a stupid little shelf, but you know, and I had to take a break and I had to step back and sometimes I'll do that. Like when I did my kitchen tile, the hexagon pile was tough. I wanted to give up, I wanted to take it down. I got, I did, I had half of that tile up for a month. Um, because I just, I was like, I can't, I can't even look at these tiles right now. Um, put the wet salt away. I'm going to clean it up and I'm going to do something else. I'll get back to this at the tail end of this project, because it's just, I'm not having. And I got other crap that I need to do. So, you know, don't be afraid to take a step back. It's your house, you know, it's okay to have an unfinished project for a month. I know people who have had unfinished projects for a year. If you hate it, you can pay someone to do it. But I guarantee you before you pay someone to do it, you'll probably pick it up again and try to fix it. Um, if you're, if you're like me at all, you, you will cringe at the thought of having to pay someone to come in and finish it and you'll figure it out. You know, one day you'll have it. You'll have that fire. You'll wake up in the morning and be like, Hey, today's the day I'm going to finish that. And then you'll be happy with that. So don't, don't be afraid to take a break
Alex:a hundred percent. Yeah, I think, I think it's one of the hardest things for me to even do is to take a break sometimes and walk away. Like you said, like, I'll be up till three in the morning. If I had to, even though I'll be telling myself, like you need to stop because you're not even being productive and you're gonna mess something up more. But I struggle with that, but that's one of the biggest things. When I do finally listen to myself and do it, that's an insanely helpful. But yeah, I'm going to, uh, we're going to go onto the last little quick fire round, and then I'll let you get on with your, with your morning. Okay. So these are a couple, we got some funny questions in here, some DIY related questions, but it's really just off the dome. No right. Or wrong answer, whatever you want. Okay. So how would you describe your design aesthetic?
Kyle:Um, probably like a boat, like a modern Bohemian. Um, maybe a little bit traditional. Honestly, my design aesthetic is whatever I want it to look like. I don't like olive garden. You're cool with it. Yeah. Every room kind of sometimes has a little bit of a different vibe, you know? Not all the rooms look the same and they all have a different vibe. Yeah.
Alex:I love it. Okay. Why are your curls so perfect.
Kyle:You know, I, I never knew that I had hair like this until the pandemic. I always cut my hair super short. Um, every two weeks I cut it down to like a number two. And once the barbershops closed last year, it just started growing. The more grew I was like, damn, okay. Like, I didn't know that I had all this. And then, uh, yeah, my wife, my wife was like, she was like, I love it every, every day she loves my hair and she likes the longer it gets, the more she likes it. And, um, it definitely fits my vibe a lot more than my old hairstyle dig. And, uh, yeah, I like, I like my.
Alex:I just can see in the next month or two, you having a sponsorship?
Kyle:I haven't given up pros. I have hit up pros because like, that's, I'm learning now that having a lot of hair is difficult to maintain and like, it's all about finding the right products and stuff like that. Um, and there are days where I just have it up because it's just not going to look good. Uh, I'm learning everyday how to care for it. Um, but I have been recently figuring it out a little bit more. Like what kind of products do you use? It's been, it's been paying off.
Alex:Okay. A favorite project of yours.
Kyle:Um, favorite project, I think so far, it's still gonna probably be my kitchen. Just like bang for your buck, wild factor, a room that we use, uh, a gajillion times a day. And, um, it is incredibly functional for us. And so, yeah, I think.
Alex:Anytime. I'm okay. I'd definitely agree with that. Just from, from 3000 miles away, Raj
Kyle:is a close runner up. I'm really loving that I'm really living in the garage. It's such a cool space. That's a definite runner up.
Alex:I'm so jealous that you have like a garage to do stuff like that in it it's like one of my dreams when we say, cause we currently live in the city where like once we moved to like the suburbs. I got 203 car, four car garage is going to be like a deal
Kyle:breaker. Yeah. Mine's a four, which is hard to find here. It's hard to find in. So Cal, but mind's a floor it's like too wide and too long. So it makes a perfect for a workshop in the back and like party in the front kind of thing. So, yeah, that's my next thing is I want to get the, uh, I want to get the, um, like one of those drop-down screen doors. I saw
Alex:that video, uh, Kyle, Kyle Kylie sent it to me, uh, like last week. Yeah. So bad ass.
Kyle:They're so common here. And so Cal, especially in my neighborhood, we have like every third house has a garage bar. We even have like a garage bar crawl like a couple of times a year where everyone just kind of walks through the neighborhood and hits up all the garage bars. Um, so lots of people have garage bars. I have a garage workshop.
Alex:All you need is alcohol and.
Kyle:Oh, there's alcohol here. Just because it's the workshop doesn't mean there's all golf. That's what gets you
Alex:through the projects? Right? It's
Kyle:definitely, it's definitely a chill vibe.
Alex:I love it. Okay. Well speaking to that, um, mimosa or bloody Mary mimosa.
Kyle:Big time. Yeah. I'm not a blind bloody. Mary is cold tomato soup.
Alex:That's fair. I'm not a bloody Mary Guy. He's going to
Kyle:say it. I'm just going to say it's called tomato soup. I think it's, I'm okay with you drinking it. I think it's a little bit strange, but I, yeah, I'm Alexa, I'm a blank tonic student, myself. Low calorie. Clear. No hangover. There
Alex:you go. There you go. Yeah. I feel like the buddy Mary's, especially when they have an entire meal on top of it, I'm
Kyle:like chicken skier. My wife loves those things. She'll order a bloody Mary at nine o'clock at night at a bar and the bartender. Do you want the chicken skirt? She's like, yeah.
Alex:She's like, I'm actually ordering a chicken skewer with the bloody Mary on the side. Uh, last one task you hate the most.
Kyle:Uh, I can't stand tiling. Like I want to love it. I want to L I want to be. Oh, yeah. Let me show you how easy it is to tile. Like I want to be that guy, but God has different plans for me. Like I can't do it every part about time. I don't like generally don't I don't like messy projects, like, and grouting and tiling is messy. It's very time sensitive. Um, dealing with projects that are time sensitive, like you have this much working time, does things are just always a challenge. They're always a challenge. If you are a busy person, you have to be prepared for that kind of thing to be a challenge because you have only a small working window, which you can get things done. And, um, it doesn't allow for a lot of flexibility. You know,
Alex:if you're trying to post as long
Kyle:as possible, it's hard to get. It's hard to get good content with pilot projects. It's hard to get, you know, and you pilots. So. It's so it's because, you know, if you demo tile, you know how incredibly permanent it is and how much work it will be. It's not like repainting a wall. So you want to pick a tile that you're going to like for a long time, and that's not going to be like ultra, ultra trendy and a tile that is easier to work with at a tile. It's easy to cut and a tile that's easy to grow. And the tile that's easy to care for afterward. You want to get it? You want to get it right the first time you don't want to mess it up. And, uh, you have to be totally prepared and you have to have everything in place. And you're going to get messy. I have like this poncho that I wear, it's just, it's this whole thing. And there's people who are like, I love tiling. And I'm like, what other weird, what other weird things do you love?
Alex:I really love sanding and was like,
Kyle:no, that's not for me. I can't,
Alex:yeah. I was talking with dusk because he's tried the muscle bound. I know you've seen it, right? Yeah.
Kyle:I have. I haven't. Um, I think that there's definitely an application for it. I know like calcium forensic Kelsey for new build newlyweds. I know Kelsey and Ryan, like that girl can title. Like, she's like a tradesman, like she's like, dang girl, how'd you get that up so quick? Cause she's like, I love tiling. I'm like, okay, psycho, but, but she's, uh, she's she works with that product and it works really well. And I think there's a lot of applications where that is the right way to go. Um, but like, um, in the projects that I've used, I haven't been able to really use that. I probably should have done the muscle bound in my kitchen, but you know, it can get kind of big. Um, yeah, I've
Alex:heard it so way more
Kyle:expensive, right? Like just cause it was like three or four times the cost, um, versus like regular mortar in hindsight, muscle bound for that hexagon tile would have made my life so much easier because I had to work in places where there wasn't anything for it to rest on and it was hexagon. And so like I had, I was putting nails under each tile to hold each tile while it set. I was like, this seems crazy. But I feel like it's the only way that I can do it. So I had these little, teeny little nails underneath all the tiles it's holding them so they would set so I could get other tiles underneath them. A muscle-bound that will be the way to go.
Alex:You know, one of my friends, actually, she just messaged me about, she sent me a picture of like the hexagon tiles that she got for her. And she asked me, she was like, she was actually one of my old coworkers. Do you have time? Maybe we could bang this out. I'm like, I don't know what if you, what you got yourself into, but I didn't want any parts of that. I'm so sorry. But yeah, it
Kyle:is, you know, I didn't think about it. Like I did not think about it. I was like, oh yeah, this is hexagon. It's fine. Like no big deal. But normally when you're in tiling, you gotta line up four edges and you gotta keep it straight. But with hexagon you have all these angles. And if one is off here a little bit, you know, you're going to get up to here. And that's what my problem was. I was working around a large window and I had a narrow strip across the top. So like, I'm going up this side, I'm going up that side, checking my measurements. And then I get to the middle and I'm like, they're like this. Oh my God, what am I going to do? I had like, I would have to cheek
Alex:all
Kyle:this back. I ever got to like reconcile it and like trying to figure it out some crap
Alex:above outlets, because I did the hexagon for my bathroom floor, like floor. So when she told me PAX flash, I was like, I'm not messing with vertical. Cause anyone that's tiled knows when you go vertical, you're playing with gravity now. Oh yeah. It's not fun.
Kyle:The muscle, the muscle bound would have helped with the hexagon tile because it would have been able to keep, like, you don't have to worry about gravity. That's like one of the benefits to it is that once it's there, it's there and you're good to go. Um, but then I also had issues with my tile because I grouted it and I ended up scratching some of it. I mean, like I just embraced it and just went with the look like at this point, it's kind of just the way that it is. Um, but you know, when a project isn't exactly. The way you want it, it can get kind of frustrating, but I've learned, I've learned to love that tile project. And I only get compliments on it, even in person, people come over and they see it and they love it. Um, I'm my biggest critic. I think everyone's their own biggest
Alex:a hundred percent. And I'll, I was my biggest critic on my master bathroom. And um, every time I walked to my other bathroom, now, I'm like, my towel works better than this. I'm just like blind. I saw myself install it. So I know where all the mistakes are, but we ended up was like, when I was taking a shower downstairs, I was like, Hmm, it did better than this, but all right. That's all the questions I had. Did you, uh, have anything, uh, before we jump off,
Kyle:how many followers do you have on Tik TOK?
Alex:Uh, around like 180 ish.
Kyle:I cannot like, I don't know. I'm not going to talk,
Alex:so, so here's actually, it's someone just messaged me yesterday about it. Um, the biggest minimalist. The biggest thing I've found that is helpful for tic-tac is to take them on a journey Instagram. So for instance, I just, I dabbled with making funny tick talks and posting on Tik TOK. Don't do well. Right. But I've made the tick talks export of it and post it on my Instagram story and everyone loves them. So that's what I do now. I don't even really post with the funding. We'll take talk, but all that's found on Tik TOK. Cause it's always so cold leads. Like it's usually a random person. That's never seen your videos before Instagram, you know, they've already been on your profile and following you and whatnot. Um, so I just found, just kind of taking them on the journey of like day number one of me renovating my basement. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Come learn with me and I'll ask them to. Teach me and I'll put hashtag contractor and then you get all the contractors in there fighting over each other. And that blows over shit yet. That's one of my biggest tips. I said, well, actually, yeah, but it's so funny. They'll be like, you can't put pressure treated on the basement floor. And then the other person was like, yes, you can do it for 25 years.
Kyle:I've framed out 700 basements. I've always used pressure treated in the Northeast.
Alex:One of my favorite as I woke up to this like Mirage of comments today on my most recent video. And this guy was like, anyone doing this with under 15 years of experience, it's just stupid. And then someone commented, like, how did you get 15 years experience? If you didn't, if you didn't start doing it when you wear it. Yeah. But that's my
Kyle:biggest thing. Yeah, the main comments and things like that, like I can roll with, I don't get a lot of them on Instagram.
Alex:It's so much better than answers a lot more. Like your friends on Instagram, it's like your homeys. And then I'll take targets. People that want to find reasons to hate you. There's people that are scrolling through. Like, I need to find a reason to ruin this person.
Kyle:Yeah, I posted one take talk video, and it was like, what? I mean that not only want to talk video, but I posted one take talk where it was like the, you know, that sounded like seven seconds. Like dad did it. And it was every day I was drinking my coffee, like doing this and checking my coffee, drinking. And, um, I was like, can you talk is kind of nice. Like it got some views and all the comments were like, his smile is so perfect. Make me coffee please. And I was like, oh, like, but then I was, then I started seeing more videos and I'm like, wait, maybe I don't like chick, then people go viral. I'm so afraid of going viral. Like, yeah. I'm so afraid. I've seen so many people around me go viral with, with reels on Instagram. And I feel like generally the consensus is that, I mean, none of them have been like super. Excited about it. It's all just kind of happened to them. And now they kind of have all these followers that aren't engaging. So I'm always a little bit worried about that because especially as a small account, my engagement rate is really important to me being able to secure partnerships and stuff like that.
Alex:So that's the thing is like, my real is, cause I've been posting them now to Instagram, like the tuk-tuks and they've been doing well, and I've been trying to kind of cultivate them on my Instagram stories along with it. So when they come for the video, they go to my stories and then maybe I'm funny that day. Yeah. And then I'm like, maybe I got one, been there, one to support me now instead of being an asshole, but who? Yeah.
Kyle:Yeah. So
Alex:yeah. Anything else before we jump off
Kyle:now, this has been a lot of. Like we could do this more often. Like it moves me around three podcasts.
Alex:Yeah. This was, this was awesome. Like, I literally just felt like I was just talking to one of my boys. So everyone at Kyle did it. Um, I would spell it out, but if you don't know how to spell at Kyle did it, then I don't know what to tell you. Um, and then Instagram ticktack and then you have a blog as well. What's the, what's the website.
Kyle:It's DIY Kyle. Did it.com. Kyle, did it.com with taken? I don't, I don't know what I, yeah, I'm not sure exactly why, but it's that one's taken. I don't exactly. Even know what it is. Wait, I think someone, oh my God. One of my friends the other day, they were like, oh yeah, I was trying to show, I was trying to show your blog. And I, I Google, I searched Kyle did it like on, uh, on like my company laptop in a meeting. And it was like, it was like, I think it was inappropriate, like Asian stuff. And, um, Like that kind of thing. And like animators since me like that, I don't know, but it's not it. That's not me. It's the DIY Kyle jd.com. And I'll be honest with you that blog posts are only ones that people have paid me for. So I'm not like out here blogging my life. It's just brands who have been like, you need to do a blog posts for the deliverable. And I'm like, all right, here's the blog post. I'm not, I'm not like a blogger. Um, I probably should get into it, but it's, it's a lot of work. A lot of work. I have a blog. I have a blog. I'm a blogger.
Alex:I feel like you have to say it with like a French accent Verleger. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. I appreciate you coming on here so much episode four. Amazing. And people are going to get so much value out of this. So thank you for sharing your Tuesday morning
at 5:00 AM with us. We are all super appreciative. No worries.
Kyle:Thanks. Can't wait to, can't wait to see it. I can't wait for your next guest.
Alex:Wow, such an amazing conversation with Kyle. I still can't believe that he woke up on a random
Tuesday at 5:00 AM to have this interview with me. I'm incredibly blessed for that, especially since he's one of the creators I really aspired to be when I first started and he encouraged me and he took the time out of his day to send me a giant voice message on just, you know, how he grew his following. And I'm still thankful to this day. He let me know that I could just be myself and, and laugh as long as I go along my journey and not take everything so seriously. So thank you again, Kyle, from the bottom of my heart, if you don't already follow him, go give him a file that Kyle did it trust me. You won't regret it. And in the meantime, if you enjoyed episode four or any of the previous episodes, episode five will be on the way. And I could really use any five star rating. It's incredibly helpful in the podcast. And even if you don't want to give five, I'm okay. With four, you know what? I prefer five, but don't give me three. Don't give me three. Just give me nothing at all. And if you want to throw a comment in there, I'll take that too. That would be amazing. But if you have nothing nice to say, as my mom would always say, don't say anything at all. So no negative comments, it's only jokes, but I thank you again for being here and I'm excited to bring you up. So five