Episode 30:  How Jon Garcia Built ‘StrikingEye’ and Found His Purpose

00:08

Alright, welcome back to the Marketing Booth. Today I have John Garcia.  I think we’ve known each other for like 8 to 10 years now. Yeah, about 10 years. Okay. I would call you a friend. Yeah, for sure, man.  We don’t hang out as much, but  you are, you’ve left a job,  one that you were, we were in here at Geekdom for a very long time. Yep.  And during the time after the job, you became  what I would call is a content creator. Yeah. Striking Eye. I want to, I want to hear about this, like how, and I know a little bit of the background.

00:37

But I want to hear from the audience.  Like, how’d you get into that? Like, and explain what it is for, for the listeners. Yeah, for sure. So, uh, yeah, John Garcia  started a Instagram, not, I started a Tik Tok first  striking eye.  Um, it is basically a  Tik Tok page where I talk about the lost and lesser known stories of San Antonio, which  fortunately we live in a city that has a ton of those.  So there’s not a lack of topics or content to cover. So,  um, yeah, last year kind of like.

01:06

you know, what you mentioned, I left a job that I was at for eight and a half years here at Geekdom. uh My mother passed away at the same time that I was uh leaving the job and kind of,  I would say losing my purpose, which is actually my word for last year was like, I need to find my purpose, right? And so  I quit  and said, you know what, let me try to do something. So I’m also a photographer, videographer, and uh producer for documentaries on the side. So. uh

01:31

Not something I totally knew about you. Like I remember back in the Geekdom days, did Geekdom Media with Lorenzo. So I knew you had a little bit of creative side, the photography I knew, but I didn’t know about the documentaries. Yeah. So I work with a local company called White Cloud Media Group. They were also here at Geekdom, it’s actually where I met them. And they pulled me in to help with like interviewing people for documentaries and setting up the lights and the cameras and stuff. So I really love that. And through

01:58

Working with them through the photography, I just fell in love with storytelling, especially being at Geekdom for so long.  A lot of what I told people was like,  everyone on the, you know, here at Geekdom, but just seems like every other person’s working on the next big thing.  What can you do to really differentiate yourself and get people to actually care? And my philosophy is always like  stories  sell, right?  Anecdote that I always use when I’m talking about it is like, if let’s say me you were at a restaurant, we’re having dinner.

02:26

And we overhear someone at the table next to us say like, Oh man, you’ll never guess what I saw yesterday. Or you’ll never guess what happened to me. Like it’s human nature to like want to kind of like eavesdrop a little bit. Like when you know someone’s about to tell a great story, you just have that. It’s again, it’s like second nature to want to know what they’re saying. Uh, if you overheard someone say like, Oh, I just got this many sales. Like maybe you’d be like, Oh, that’s kind of cool. are they working on? But when someone starts off with like, let me tell you a story. Uh, we’ve been doing it for, you know, tens of thousands of years, like gathering around the fire, sharing stories.

02:56

uh So it’s something that’s super important to me. Also just with my family,  it’s like every family gets together like we’re telling the same stories we’ve been telling since I was a little kid, but  it’s still fun, right? So the power of stories. So anyways. I think the storytelling is,  I hear it here and there. People talk about, hey, you gotta tell a story. You gotta  craft a storyline for your marketing, for your sales. Yeah. And  I think that’s also something that people often are not good at. They’re not good at articulating that.

03:25

It’s super fascinating about the stories. Like,  I think about like my father and he’ll tell me the same story like over and over again.  But it is kind of like  a thing that you can go to and it’s a really good hook, especially if you’re like,  you know,  I was in the Philippines  and I almost got kidnapped and it’s like, okay, yeah, like  tell me this whole story. Same thing  with your videos. Like the first time I saw your video,  I didn’t know it was you.  I just.

03:53

I heard this and I was like, oh, I’m kind of hooked. think  I forget what it was. Maybe the salt, the salt Springs or something like that. And I was like, Oh, this is really interesting. then my wife and my wife was, don’t you know him?  And I was like,  uh, oh I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s John.  That’s so funny. The amount of people that have told that exact same story is like, yeah, I was just like scrolling. came on my for you page.  Someone told me that they just had their phone playing while they were making dinner and they were like, I know that voice.

04:19

And then they turned over and they’re like, Oh my God, that’s John. Someone I see like almost all the time. I geeked him. had no idea he was doing this thing, which I kind of like  stealth launched it, didn’t tell anyone and did it. And then a lot of people were like, yeah, I didn’t know you did this. I’m like, well, I do now. It’s just something that was  super new and kind of random.  Um, but back to kind of like the origin of striking eye. When I tell people why I’m doing what I’m doing, I love telling the story of why, cause anyone, I mean, I could just tell anyone like, Oh yeah, I started a Tik Tok and it’s fun. Yeah. Great.

04:46

Instead, I’m like, you know, I was really looking for my next phase in life.  I tell the story about my mom, which is a deeply personal thing for me. And when I left my job, I was kind of lost and then found my purpose in creating content. So, um yeah, it just started off. did a video  on  the Hotwells.  The Hotwells, that’s what I initially saw. Yeah, on the south side of San Antonio. And the only reason I did that is because one time when I visited, just…

05:12

took out my phone. think I had just got my phone. So I was like testing out the video feature.  And then  later on I was like, I have all these video clips. I’m sure this place has an amazing history.  And then I was like, you know what, let me just do a little video on it.  And it worked out.  So  on all these topics, do you know about it or is it kind of a fun like discovery session for you too? Like a little bit of both.  I don’t know enough to make a video just on my own.  So that’s kind of what the fun part of it is, is I get to go and do the research.

05:40

I actually use ChatGPT to help me do like deep research and find like the really interesting bits and then I take the report it gives me and then I craft a narrative, I craft a story and I build the script off of it. So you are working off script, do have like a teleprompter or anything or is it like… teleprompter, it’s like… That is impressive. Yeah, I look at the script and then I try to memorize it and then I look at the camera and then it takes me like 10 minutes to record because I’m stumbling over my words and having to remember a lot but it’s a part of the process. Okay, so fairly new to this…

06:10

How like maybe two, three months now? Yeah. Uh, I started at January 17th of 2026. Okay. And we’re Wednesday, March 25th. We’ll come out maybe in a week, but from, from that day to now, I hear the relationship parts. Like is there like a shift in how people even like interact with you? Like, are you noticing that? Definitely. I, yeah. So I’ve gotten to 11,000 followers. hit 10,000 like right at the two month. Congrats. Thank you. That’s the monetization kind of.

06:40

That’s that threshold. And then I hit a million views on my videos right around the same time. Congrats. That’s, that’s a bigger milestone. I think in a lot of ways. Oh my gosh, this is actually kind of like working out and I never imagined more than 300 people following me. Just a couple hundred people watching my videos. So when it kind of hit that milestone, it was like, I can make something of this. Right? So it’s only been about three months now. Um, I’ve been monetized for a week cause there is like a application process that you go through and all that stuff. So.

07:09

Now that I’m monetized, I’m making like a little bit of money and figuring out how that even works. Um, but it’s, really fun. I’m learning a ton every day. Okay. And you’re editing the video you’re doing, you’re doing end to end. Have you thought about like what, what does scaling look like at all? I have, but I am kind of like of the thought of like, if you want to done a certain way, just do it yourself. Um, so I, and I enjoy it, right? I enjoy the recording. I have a studio at home. I use the

07:38

podcast studio here at Geekdom sometimes. um But I just enjoy the whole process. And again, throughout the whole thing, I’m learning about the history. I’m learning about  new techniques to edit and keyboard shortcuts. And I get really giddy about it. have  OCD. So whenever I get a little micro fascination or something,  it totally engulfs my life. So  the hyper fixation. I have a ton of friends that hyper fixate on one thing.  And that often gets me into it because I’m like, I want to hang out with you and do that.

08:05

It’s a fun thing that I noticed a lot of people do and  it’s often in the craft like in the creator craft You see a lot of people like that. Like they have a style. They don’t want to hire an editor They don’t want to do that. But how are you thinking about? Tick-tock monetization. You’re not gonna make a ton of money. I don’t know. Yeah, I don’t imagine I will but YouTube newsletters like where which direction are you going? Yeah, so to cut I didn’t answer your first question of like how people are kind of reaching out to me now  the first couple videos people were reaching out just saying like hey

08:35

this is really cool, had no idea, thanks for sharing, which is awesome, right? uh And then people started telling me, hey, you should do videos on this thing or that thing and giving me recommendations, which is another really cool thing. It’s like, I have a long list, but the more ideas I have, the better. You should put like a voting board up there, like somewhere. You should find uh a cool service, let people vote, because I would totally love to like vote or even like  Patreon style. was just going to make a because they sign up for the Patreon.

09:03

Definitely thought about that. also liked the idea of going live on TikTok and then engaging with my audience there and then having a poll  and then like in real time discussing some cool ideas. But I just haven’t gotten to that point yet. I’ve tried it  and I’m just really awkward on anything. Really? Because,  you know, like right now I know you as a person and I see your normal interactions. You’re funny, you’re charismatic.  And  I always say this about everybody and myself included. There’s a part where there’s like almost no shame.  You’re just kind of like

09:33

Everything, you know joke won’t land and you’re just like moving on. Yeah. Yeah, but What  do you do you feel like it’s something to do with the camera? Like what do you think it is? Cuz I have that same problem Yeah, I’m just like terrified of dead air like so when I’m sitting there and I’m like, oh I gotta find something to talk about and do I just I’m really weird for anything live and I’m also like Self-conscious that I’m gonna say something wrong or something silly or stupid like especially when I’m talking about like

09:58

Hispanic or Mexican history. I don’t speak Spanish. So like if I say something wrong, I’m going to get roasted in the comments, which happens all the time, but it’s fine. That’s better in some ways. Yeah. You say the wrong thing. You know, you make something a little sensational and then you get all the comments and all the engagement. like, me, keep telling me. But yeah, so people were starting to reach out to me for ideas and things that they wanted to see. And then the first company that reached out to me, that really made me think like,

10:26

Okay. If I don’t make money on monetizing through Tik Tok, at least it can lead to  contracts and like creative work.  Uh, the first company was the quarry golf course.  I did a, yeah, it was super awesome. I did a video on the quarry market and a, and a little cement Ville city town.  So all the cement Ville was that, so that was kind of co-branded with them. Well, so I made that video only because my,  my dad lived in the village. My family lived there. My grandparents worked for the cement plant.

10:54

was a very deep, deeply personal story to me. You can be wrong about a little bit of Hispanic history because you are part of the history. 100%. That is when I listened to that and now it’s coming back. That story, most people don’t even know their parents’ history or they’re like, my family, it’s got rich history, but I don’t really know it. Nobody knows that. But the fact that you can go and say like,

11:19

There’s some lineage here. think you can be wrong about some San Antonio facts. For sure. And it’s funny cause I made that video. I sent it to my dad and he was like, actually son, it was like, I’m my bad pops. Like I didn’t get them on. Have them correct you. So yeah, a little like, guess sneak peek is I’m actually going to bring him on to help me with some stuff because he got super emotional when he watched the video. And I remember him telling me like, Miho, this is history that no one talks about. And I would say like two or three years ago when I started doing the

11:48

the documentary work and stuff. was telling him about it and he was like,  someone needs to do a documentary on cementville because it’s a really major part of San Antonio’s history.  And there are little hints to it, especially like, you know, the restaurant at the golf course is called cementville.  If you go to the quarry market, you’ll see like, you know, remnants of different things like the machinery and stuff. Even the quarry movie theater has like pictures from when it was the factory. um

12:14

But that just really inspired me to like, let me tell the story. It’s a personal one.  And even if I don’t make a dime from this, at least it’s something that I can do for my dad and for my family. ah And so when I showed him the video, he was like really emotional. sent it to like all his brothers and sisters and was like, watch this video that John did. ah Anyway, so  I posted that video and then maybe three days later I get a random DM from someone and they said, hey,  can you email my boss? He wants to talk to you.

12:43

Okay, this is kind of, don’t know, but the email was at Corey Goff and I was like, okay, let me, let me see. So I sent an email, said, Hey, someone told me to get in touch with you.  They responded like 30 minutes later and they’re like, Hey, come and check us out. We’ll get you lunch. We’ll talk.  We’d love to leverage your storytelling capabilities for like some marketing things we want to do.  um, which was again, another really something that validated that people want story-driven content.  Um,  certain companies are looking for creative ways of telling their story.

13:13

And they don’t necessarily want it to be them on camera. They want to like leverage people from the community and work with local creators.  So that was really cool. So I’m currently working on a project with them doing a video for their website  and some other cool stuff that I’ll hopefully be able to share more soon. m But that was the first one. And so that contract was like, oh my gosh, I could probably make a living doing this.  And then I started cold reaching out to some other companies saying like, hey, I’m doing this thing. Like, how can we work together? But it’s mostly inbound.

13:42

people were finding me like just recently a local business  reached out to me and said, Hey, I love your content.  I want to the story of my business. Can you do it for me? What does that look like?  So uh I jumped on a call with a, the person was like, Hey, this is what I do. I’d really like to,  you know, help you out and tell your story. So it’s turning into more like  people are reaching out to me saying, I want to leverage your storytelling capabilities to kind of help sell my business. uh But at the end of the day, it does need a fit with my, my brands and like, I don’t want to

14:10

Monetize my audience just for the sake of making money. I want to do it as long as there’s a really compelling story It’s local and something that you know people can enjoy watching and learning about I I love the the ethics of that because Sometimes especially on internet a lot of people sell out and you know They’ll bring in the right on advertiser do the wrong things and not fit the morals Yeah out there I know it’s a really hard thing too because vetting a business is like they can say all the right things you can do all the right things and then you turn around and Everyone’s like back

14:39

Yeah, it’s a scary place and I understand that of like saying the wrong thing to one person is like, oh shit, I’m sorry. Yeah, not, but saying it to an internet, it’s a scary thing. Yeah, for sure. And like I had a couple of people reach out and they’re like, Hey, you should do Tik Tok shop. Like that’d be really cool. It’s like really lucrative. And I’m like, absolutely not. Like I looked into it. And the last thing I want to do is do a really cool, compelling story. And then the next video is like, Oh, buy this like a waffle maker or something. It’s just, there’s merch.

15:07

That’d be kind of cool. So that’s on the that’s on the the roadmap right now and I’ve like set milestones for myself like the first one was 10k the next one I think is around 50k if I can get there then I want to do like stickers and merch and stuff but I also want to get into like YouTube and that yeah so you I think you’re you you found a hole you are looking for purpose and essentially you said hey I’m gonna become a creator a little bit I want to share some stories or some deeply personal ones

15:36

But then you’re also thinking of it in a business sense. You’re thinking of maybe  thinking creative agency on one side.  And then you’ve also got YouTube and newsletters.  Is that from being in a place with geekdom and  seeing it? I know you did geekdom media in the past. How did you think through all of that?  It’s not common for a creator to do that. Oftentimes it’s just keep producing and they fall into something lucky, brand, personas, all that.

16:06

It’s like,  it’s a funny thing. I did it because it was fun and I did it. I’m doing it because I just enjoy doing it, but I also need to pay my bills  and I I need to make money. Right. And I’ve been,  um, I mean, I guess like a little bit vulnerable story. I’ve been applying for jobs like crazy, right? Just trying to find stability again,  trying to figure out what the next thing is. And I’ve been doing contract work for a while and it’s just, it’s just tough. It’s a grind. Right. And so I’ve had the pleasure of working with probably at this point, thousands of entrepreneurs and startups.

16:35

and seeing them go through it.  And I would always get it from people of like, dude, you’ve been helping people do this. Why haven’t you done it yourself yet?  I just wasn’t ready until I realized that like, oh shoot, I can actually do what I love and like turn it into my profession. Right? So ah there’s a guy here at geekdomsameswashington. He is like just down the hallway. He would always get on me like you make such cool content. Why don’t you monetize and make a business? And I just, I just wasn’t ready. You know, I feel like,  you know,

17:03

Unless  I made the decision myself, like it wasn’t going to be right  until it started working out. And that’s, that’s what I’m doing now. So uh looking at it from the, like a business perspective, I do have like, again, those milestones and plans to grow it. um I’ve always wanted to own a creative  agency. That’s been my dream and my goal for  like forever, as long as I can think. um So it’s seeming like this is organically turning into that. So we’ll see where I am in a year. Right now I’m just going to keep making.

17:32

fun interesting videos and see where it goes. like the low pressure but also the stability and  structure of the pressure because you are giving yourself there.  Now  you’re at 10,000, 11,000 now.  How did you grow there? Was there like a structure like, I’m going to do clips this day, I’m going to do this, like comment, like what was your path to actually growing? it’s

17:55

the hardest part for most people, myself included. Yeah, for sure. I have a personal account where I posted like content, just silly stuff and I,  nothing ever came of it.  So I,  that’s which is why I thought if I started another account, it’s going to be the same thing. But what I really focused on was  a high quality content. like having the lighting and the microphone and the camera  and then consistency. So I set up a schedule.  I’m going to wake up, I’m going to record. I’m going to make sure that I post every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, no matter what.

18:23

I’m going to post something and it’s always going to be  story driven, thought provoking content on history or business.  And then what I did was I started diving into the analytics and seeing which of those videos that I was making, do people  like really love, like which ones are resonating with people, which ones are people watching the full video.  And so I started kind of doubling down on what I knew worked.  And then  another thing I do, which may be kind of cheesy and it’s time consuming, but I respond, I try to respond to every comment and I like it.

18:53

So  I think that’s a really great way of building a community and audience that I can engage with.  People will like hit me up in the DMS and I talk to them there about ideas and just  a lot of people just want to share their stories, which I think is super cool. So  I think that’s a big reason why I’ve grown is because  I’m engaging with people.  I’m commenting, I’m listening to people’s feedback and then I’m  like putting it into the videos.  And I think people really appreciate that. The other thing that I think is really big.

19:20

and why I grew so fast is the shareability of the content. There are certain things, like if I did a video on the history of Fritos, and it didn’t do well at all. It was interesting, but it didn’t resonate with people. But I did one on Big Red, and Big Red has such a cultural significance to people in San Antonio. It’s a cult following. 100%. And it went crazy because people were sharing it and tagging their friends and sharing it.

19:48

Also like the haunted stories that I do, do like spooky stories. Everyone has like, not everyone, most people have their own experiences so they want to share that  with their friends or like comment their stories. And so I think that engagement has helped as well. So  I guess to kind of round it out as the  engaging with the audience and my community  and building that, but then also creating content that is like meant to be shared.  So it’s the, the campfire, you know, the historic, the, family stories and the person that comes in and like,

20:18

You know, say, Hey,  this is what family went through and all of that.  Those are the sharing. Cause I share them all the time with my wife. I’m like, look at this, like the Fiesta one that she just did.  was like, Hey, this is really cool that,  you know, from, from what it was to, you know, today it’s a, it’s a big party and it’s one of the, I believe one of the biggest festivals in the United States that it’s just there, but there’s a rich history and San Antonio  gets a lot of bad rap and  it’s one of the greatest economic divides in the country, but it is.

20:47

Culturally very important all the way to the missions like yeah  It has a lot of history Are you like afraid that you run out of that? Like how are you trying to also  position yourself for? Longevity after you you tell all the stories at some point you’re gonna do it whether it’s a year to three That’s something that I think about a lot and you’re absolutely right. I’m gonna eventually run out of stories  That are San Antonio based.  I’ve you know, try to do some story I did one story on New Braunfels that one did pretty well

21:15

I want to do some other surrounding cities.  have a fear that I’ve kind of like pigeonholed myself into just San Antonio,  but I’m not mad about it because there’s other platforms that I haven’t really dug into. like YouTube, right? I want to eventually start a YouTube channel where I do stories on  things that have a wider appeal, maybe national or global.  So right now, TikTok is very hyper local.  I know I’m going to run out of ideas, but I also think that is going to be a fun challenge of like, okay, what’s going to be the next thing I talk about?

21:44

that hopefully will still resonate with people, ah but not just in San Antonio. So I’ll cross that bridge when it comes. ah But my  goal is to eventually  do longer form content on YouTube about greater,  bigger topics that don’t just keep me in San Antonio. That’s fair. Do you shoot  vertical for the TikTok? Are you thoughtfully thinking that way or  were you thinking horizontal and cropped?

22:10

Like what was your thought there? So I have a think a camera just like the one that you have the a 6400. Yeah. Yeah. I haven’t, I think at a 6,000. So it’s a little bit older. I was using that. And so yes, I’m shooting horizontal and then cropping it vertical. And then I started using my phone. So right now I’m experimenting. I have like lights that I invested in and a microphone that I got and stuff like that. But I’m filming it with the idea that eventually I can take those horizontal videos and then make them into like YouTube content as well.

22:38

Creative agency wise, I want to kind of head that direction.  I’ve always thought you were super creative.  like I said, when you  had left Geekdom, I was like, oh, I could see you doing something creative, but I could also see you like Chief of Staff stuff.  The creative agency  storytelling is a  big, thing right now that I think the AI slop is really driving some of that.  Have you structured any of that?  I feel like the time…

23:07

is to strike now. Set it up, put it there  and kind of like through line, hey, if you want your story told like that.  Yeah. So I’ve done some code outreach  to see  what that would kind of look like. I haven’t been super successful. I’ve set up a couple of meetings.  But that’s my thought, right? Is like, if I can start reaching out to  different companies and say, hey, I’m striking eye or I’m John with striking eye, we’re telling.

23:32

thought provoking, story driven content. We’re making content that’s story driven for businesses. We’d love to do this for you and your company. And so I’m trying to do that. I think that’s gonna be the way that I go. But to be honest with you, I could probably do it a lot more. I could probably be calling people every day and emailing every day. But I’m still- Gotta get some AI to do the automated parts for you. I gotta look into that, for sure. Claude Coer. Yeah, that’s what everyone’s been telling me. Spend the money, do it.

24:01

Once you’re in there, your mind’s gonna be blown. You’re gonna be like, okay, can do the research better. can tell like, stop, it,  do step one. It’s like research, step two.  Give me an outline, step three. Give me a light script based on my other ones.  really, really cool and automated in some ways that doesn’t really mess with your content. Like you’re not telling it to create the content. You’re telling it to do the research and structure it. Yeah, there was one time.

24:30

me and my girlfriend were going to go to the Guangzhou pavilion,  which is over in the medical center. Okay.  And  I knew I was going there in like an hour. So I was like, I really need to write a script so that I can make a video about it since we’re going to be there already.  So I just went to chat, GPT and said, write a script about this thing. It gave me a script. I read it. I recorded it, edited it, posted it.  And I got like demolished in the comments. People are like,

24:55

Homie just literally read the chat GPT script word for word. Crazy. like  I just, it made me feel really bad. I was like,  I kind of, uh, sacrifice the quality of my content just because I was in a hurry to go and film and do something.  I’m very careful with like  using AI, how I use it,  but also making sure that I’m like genuine and like it has my embedded and the facts that aren’t there that maybe the AI doesn’t know.

25:22

For sure. There’s a, there’s a really great guy on tick tock too. Um, he goes around, I think it’s around Texas and he cleans the historical markers. Like, that’s what you should go do some collabs. Like that would be pretty cool. You know, go do a collab with him. Yeah. I’ve seen his stuff. That’s super cool. Yes. It’s such a fun thing that I was like, Oh, you could just like use a free wheel. You just go do that. Like I was like, no, nobody’s yelled at him. Yeah. Amazing. He’s a free will for sure. Yes. Um,

25:52

Kind of last part is  you’re on your journey, you’re being a creator,  this is your first time really kind of independent.  What would you give advice wise to somebody that’s just starting or somebody that’s wanted to start? Like,  I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are like you, that they’re in a job and they’re like, I wanna be creative, but they just don’t know when to do it, how to do it and  like  what they wanna do. Like what would you tell them? Yeah, I think done is better than perfect.

26:18

start posting  and looking at what’s working and what’s not working.  Um, take feedback, I think is another big thing. Like I said, a lot of people will like tear me up in the co, uh, in the comments of my videos. do you take that feedback? Because  trolls are trolls. I get yelled at all the time. I get called some weird names from time to time. Like my favorite insult is people call me Cusco and I’m like,  it’s a fun, it’s all for me. I’m like, it throws me back to like elementary school, middle school, but how do you filter like  actual feedback to

26:48

just noise on the internet. Yeah, I think I take every piece of feedback as a gift, right? It was something that was taught to me way back in my Apple days, like fearless feedback. If someone’s going to take the time to like tell you, you suck, whatever, ignore it. But if they tell you, suck and here’s why you suck, maybe you should like, okay, they took it. At least took the time to tell me why I suck. Maybe I can look into that and see if there’s something that I can change. But I, I take all of it as a gift as long as it’s constructive in some sort of way.

27:17

And so  using that, I’m like trying to better my content. So that’s what I would tell people is like,  um, leverage your network, your friends every time right before I post a video, I’ll send it to like two or three people and be like, Hey, I’m to post this.  What do you think?  And then people will tell me like, Oh, this part, you know, it’s kind of boring or whatever.  And, uh that’s really helped me kind of like hone my style,  getting that feedback is important. And then also, uh, leverage community. So I don’t work for geekdom anymore, but I’ll still say I’m here all the time.

27:46

And it’s been really cool as I figure out what the heck I’m doing with my journey and my career, with my creative stuff, just having people around me that I can talk to, even like running into you and talking about it.  Having a community of people that I can just like throw ideas off of,  collaborate with, that kind of stuff is super important. Cause if I was just doing it alone at home in my studio,  I would go crazy.  For sure. No, that’s fair. And  you mentioned your girlfriend earlier. She’s a content creator. Does that kind of help you? Like did that…

28:15

the fact that you guys understand each other. Like,  you know, you went somewhere and you were like, I need to do a video. Like, did she encourage that? Like,  is  having somebody that understands it kind of also really a help? It’s super helpful. um Because I know she’s been, she’s been doing it for like 10 years now.  She has her niche. She does like tech content and like learning to code content. lot of from CodeFly. She’s been a suitcase coder. Yes, exactly.  She has been an early one. Yeah.

28:43

So she tells me, she’s, taught me a lot. She was actually  one of the first people, if not the first person to like, tell me to do this.  She’s like, you have such a unique ability  to be leverage your creative  skills and tell stories. You’ve been doing it for so long, just start an account.  And I fought it for like two years. I was like, I don’t want to do that.  And then finally  one day we were here on a Saturday working and I was applying for jobs. So he’s you know what, let me just start this.

29:13

account,  what am I going to call it? ah If I were to ever start a creative agency, I always knew I wanted to call it striking eyes. I was like, start great lore.  Yeah. I love that. Yeah. And so I just, I’m going to do it. And then if you look at my account, you’ll see like the first three posts are like me taking pictures. It’s the whole reason I started it was  to hopefully get leads to do photography, right? I was like,  I’m going to, so, I’m also want to shout out an account called the curiosity corner store. Okay. It’s a local business.

29:42

the super cool account  does very similar content to what I do.  So I don’t want anyone out there to be like, Oh, this guy like stole from that dude. I  respect him a lot. Curiosity corner store. Yeah.  I don’t know if they have a brick and mortar anymore, but the whole thing that really intrigued me was that he had a store at Broadway news.  He started making content like the content that I’m making now.  And it made me learn about his business. So I was like, wait, this guy isn’t just posting like, Hey, come check out my business.  He’s telling compelling stories.

30:11

and it’s driving people to go to his business. And so I was like, let me see if I can copy and paste that and do uh post on TikTok about like where I can go and take pictures. And hopefully that would lead to people hiring me to take pictures. That didn’t work out. So I was like, okay, let me just make  story driven content and just try that out. And so that’s, that’s worked. And I’ve gotten a few contracts from that.  All art is stolen art in some ways. It’s everyone’s spin on it.  I, know sometimes people do say, Hey, you know,

30:37

you’ve copied that, but it’s like, yeah, like that format and style kind of works, but there’s only so many formats.  And you put your unique spin to it. Like,  I’ll go watch some of these,  I think you, like,  the uniqueness is you have  a take to it that’s different than his take and your stylistic is  important. Yeah, think with his content, it’s like he’s like going to the places, filming, and then like recording with his phone,  which works, because that like makes it to where he can probably pump out content really fast. For me,

31:05

I’ll go to the place and get photos and videos and then I go back to my studio  and I record the voiceover.  I do the audio engineering myself because I have a background in podcasting. I  want the audio to be high quality.  I want the video to look great. ah It takes a lot longer, but it’s something that I enjoy doing. So ah he was definitely like  an inspiration for me to do stuff like that. And then I’d put my own spin on it. I’d like crack little jokes and stuff like that in my videos because you are pretty funny on those. Thanks, man.  I try.

31:34

Well, I really appreciate it. Where can they find you on the internet? Like you want to plug some of your stuff? Yeah, for sure. I’m  at striking eye on Tik Tok. I am at striking I 33 on YouTube and Instagram.  And  if you want to look at my website and see my portfolio, it’s John Ryan Garcia dot com. It’s J O N R Y A N Garcia dot com. And we’ll put all those in the show notes and man, really appreciate you coming on. Thanks.  I  will try to schedule something I would really love to do like uh when you hit 50,000 because I want to hear

32:04

what’s changed and also just like this pair of social relationships, everything kind of shifts and changes as, you get bigger and gross. Yeah. would love to be back and tell you, uh, like any updates. Yeah. Hopefully 50,000 in like a couple of months. That’s the goal. So we’ll We’ll do it. We’ll check it out in the summer. Thank you. Appreciate it.