Chris Van Vliet: 4x Emmy Winning TV Host

SPEAKER_02 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frust. Hey, what's happening, everybody? Welcome to the show. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to listen to me. Chat about things that I find interesting that I hope you'll find interesting. This show is brought to you by my friends at Self Publishing School.com. I'm currently writing my second book with Self Publishing School. They've got an incredible program. They put over 2,000 people a year through their program. That means 2,000 people a year are writing a book with their proven system and program. You too can write a book just like I am. Find out more information. Schedule a free consultation call with a book launch specialist just like I did. And uh you too could be making your book dreams come true. More information at self publishing school.com forward slash beyond the story. Really excited about today's guest, a good friend Chris Van Lee. Chris and I met a few years back here in South Florida. The host of a Fox affiliate show called Deco Drive that's been on the air since uh God spoke to Moses and uh he took the position about five years ago. About a year ago, decided that uh new opportunities were on the horizon.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Took a gig in Cincinnati for a new wrestling outfit. And as that didn't work out, he found himself in LA focused strictly on building his YouTube channel and also his podcast. He's not doing that full time, he's got an agent, he's going to castings.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Has no day job. Back to crushing it more with his podcast YouTube and the hustles that he currently works on than actually having a job. How's that for where we're living in the 21st century? Friends, please put your hands together virtually. Well, not if you're driving. And welcome to the show. Mr. Chris Vanley. Okay, we're live. I saw us officially on Facebook, and I'm assuming LinkedIn and YouTube are following suit. What's happening, everybody? Happy Thursday to you. I'm really excited because today I'm sitting down with a very good friend of mine, um, a a fellow uh ex or uh ex-Mamiamian, if you will. Uh his ventures have taken him elsewhere. But uh friends, please help me welcome to the show, Chris Van Vlee. That was a tough name to say at one point in time. Sebastian, thank you so much for having me on. It's it's good to reconnect with you. It's great to reconnect with you too. I I remember the day that uh Deco announced You Driving, and I'm like, who's this Chris guy? Let me look him up. It's like straight from Canada. And I'm like, of course, there's some talent coming from Canada to grace us here in Miami. But those were no easy shoes to fill. I do commend you on that because uh, you know, Louie Aguirre had that, had that, had that position since I mean, and you it was it was one of those, it was one of those roles where you thought that's gonna be irreplaceable. Yeah, but then you came along and it was time for for for for Louie to move uh move on, and you came in and really, I don't want to say filled those shoes because you gave a different personality and a different flair while staying within the same context of kind of goofy, informative entertainment with that Deco has, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

So yeah, Wild Ride spent about five years there too. Yeah, so I spent five years at Deco Drive. And for people that you know might not be familiar with the show, it's this incredible entertainment show on the Fox affiliate in Miami. It's been around for almost 25 years now, which is crazy. That was a case I can remember. Yeah, and you talk about Louis was you know, Louis was such a mainstay on that show, and I don't think he had any plans to leave. I I think that Louis was planning to be there for the rest of his career, and then an amazing opportunity that he couldn't turn down came around with him hosting the insider, you know, in a national level. So yeah, I came in and I knew that those were big shoes to fill, but I also knew that I'm not Louis Aguirre, so I knew that I was gonna go in and do my own thing. And if people liked it, great. If people still wanted Louie, nothing I could do about that. All I could do is go in and do the best job that I could do.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

And it was a it was an exciting job, too. I mean, you weren't just sitting behind a desk, you know, reporting, you know, entertainment news. You were actually out there going through different experiences, creating stories too. So let's talk about that for a minute. That was I'll never forget when we we had a chance to have coffee a couple of years ago. You said, you know, it's a great job and it's fun. I mean, I'm always on to something new. And I said, You certainly are.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Literally, every day was different. So a big part of my job was traveling the world and interviewing the biggest stars in the world. Like, you know, I've interviewed The Rock a handful of times. I interviewed Tom Cruise in Paris in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. That was a lot of my job was traveling around and getting these big celebrity interviews. But I also like in my everyday life, I love to take chances and I go on a lot of adventures. Sure. So I basically handed my boss my bucket list and said, Do you think we can make a segment out of this? And they said, Yeah, I think we could. Turned into a segment called Keeping Up With Chris. And I drove a tank, swam with alligators, tried out for the Miami Marlins and Florida Panthers. It was just an incredible, I went skydiving and I went to trapeze school, just an incredible, amazing opportunity. And I really, it's it's so tough for me to believe that these are the things that I did for a living and I got to, you know, do on TV. Right. And yeah, I'm also very fortunate to be able to have a YouTube channel and a podcast. I've got a lot, just like you, man, I've got my hand in a whole bunch of different things.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

You do, you do, but you so you left Deco and took a gig in Cincinnati with a wrestling outfit, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

So I left uh I left my job uh almost exactly a year ago on Deco Drive because I got an opportunity to be a correspondent for the new wrestling company on TNT. So we were traveling around, and my girlfriend is a traffic reporter for the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati. It's her hometown. And I'm like, well, I can live anywhere. I just need to be near an airport. So might as well come and live with you. And I literally ended work on a Monday, my final day at Deco Drive on WSN. The next morning I flew to Washington, DC for the premiere episode of All Elite Wrestling Dynamite. You know, it was one of the most viewed shows on TNT. I think, I think it was the most viewed show on TNT in five years. So to be able to be part of that, even though I was a tiny little, you know, part of that, but to say I was a part of that was really, really cool. But I've put a lot of my efforts most recently into my YouTube channel, into my podcast. And I also own a fishing brand called Woo Tungsten. That's how it's pronounced.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

I and I remember you telling me about that, and you said the thing just really exploded because there's such a and the the the lesson here if you're if you're listening to this is that when when you when you tap into a niche market, your community grows faster and bigger than you can ever really imagine. That's really what you did. I remember you explained it to me ago, like it's a it's a it's a steel lure, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah, it's a it's a tungsten weight that sinks your plastic artificial baits down to the bottom. So for many years they were using lead, but tungsten is just a better, a better alternative to that. But yeah, when you niche down into your niche, yeah, you know, you you then you then find your customer base, you then find your audience because you can't be all things to everyone. That's that's just great life advice. You can't be all things to everyone. So find the one or two or three things that you're amazing at, and then double triple down on those things.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Right, right, right. And that's exactly what you were growing this while you were at Deco. I mean, this was kind of a side hustle, if you will, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Yeah, I mean, it was this my YouTube channel kind of happened by accident, and the fishing company was just kind of like, I like fishing. And we found this cool new alternative. So let's see if we can sell a few of these on eBay. And we sold those uh we sold them on eBay like in a week. What we thought would be like six months worth of inventory sold in like a week. And we're like, I think we're I think we're on to something here. Yeah, and yeah, it just kept growing and growing and growing. And I was fishing almost every weekend on Lake Okeechobee, so it just kind of went hand in hand. And look, when I get into something, when I'm passionate about something, I dive like all the way in on it. I don't, I don't, I don't go in halfway at all.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Oh, no need to. YOLO. That's it. So uh the the YouTube channel started because you're a huge wrestling fan. Yeah, and uh and that thing is just exploded. Uh, you you mainly cover, I mean, every time I see it's like Chris Jericho or like The Rock or something, you somebody's on you know wrestling related. I'm not really familiar with the wrestling world, uh, but I was a huge Hulk Hogan fan. Let me tell you something, brother.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

No, he literally talks like that. He does all the time. Oh yeah, dude, what's going on, bro? So my YouTube channel started by accident, like completely by accident. I was doing all of these interviews as that you do when you're an entertainment reporter. Yeah. And I was interviewing celebrities and musicians and comedians. But in the world of television, you do this 10, 15 minute interview and you're only airing 20, 30 seconds, just a little sound bite of that. Well, every time we had a wrestler on, I went, man, I asked them all the questions that I wanted to know as a fan. Someone else out there will appreciate this. I know it. So I just started putting the raw interviews on my YouTube channel, which this is in 2011, had like 30 subscribers. And I was just putting the raw interviews on there because I'm like, I want these to live somewhere. So you would get the raw, uh you would get the entire interview from the station and you would just upload that. I would just upload the raw interview because otherwise it was going to get deleted. And I'm like, man, I just spent 20 minutes with Mick Foley and we talked about some interesting stuff. Or I just spent 15 minutes with Jeff Hardy, and I asked him all the questions I wanted to know the answer to. So if me as a fan wanted to know the answer to that, other fans would too. And I just put them online and that was it. Didn't think anything of it. And then they would just start to like kind of organically grow. And I'll never forget, I did an interview with the Miz, Mike Mazanan, who was on the real world. He was on many different MTV reality shows. Now he's a former WWE champion, has been at WWE for 15 plus years. Did an interview with him before he was throwing the first pitch out at the Cleveland Indians game. Because before Miami, I was in Cleveland for five years as an entertainment reporter. Put it up on my YouTube channel, didn't think anything of it. The next day woke up and there were 6,000 views on this. And I'm like, 6,000 views? Like this is that's more than any anything I've ever had on my channel. Woke up the day after that, 36,000 views. Oh and I was like, this is unbelievable. I think I'm on to something here. And what had happened is he said something in that interview that was somewhat newsworthy. A few wrestling websites picked it up, embedded the video, and it just kind of exploded from there. And that's when I realized I think I'm on to something here. Yeah. Anytime wrestling's in town, I'm gonna try to get them into the station. We'll do an interview, and then I'll put the remainder of it on my YouTube channel. And that's kind of it was a nice happy accident.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

I'm surprised you didn't end up with the WWE after all these, like you the traction that you've gotten. I'm surprised, you know, Vince McMahon hasn't given you a jingle.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yeah, well, he can still reach out to me, you know. I'm available.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

I'm available, I'm available.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Yeah, but the cool thing that what I'm doing now is like I can have an interview with a WWE star on a Monday. Yep. Then on Wednesday, I can talk to someone from AEW, then I can have someone from Ring of Honor on the next week, Impact Wrestling the week after that. And so if I worked for WWE, I would only be able to interview WWE people. True, very true. I mean, you could make it work. You can make, as you know, you can make anything work. I tell you that I used to work for Hulk Hogan. Did I tell you that?

SPEAKER_02 11:42

What? Yeah, why not? So uh well, I washed his cars and I worked at his wife's at the time, uh wife at the time.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Uh in Clearwater?

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah, so I so I lived in Indian Rocks, uh Indian Rocks Beach, as as he did too. And um I his wife had a bright idea, it's a wife at the time, uh, mother of his kids, Linda, um, had um had a bright idea to open up a little uh like tea and trumpet type, tea and crumpet type of like, you know, it's in a it was an an in an antique mall, but before that was a little house that had like a little, you didn't go in and have like lunch and you know, fancy chicken salad and whatnot. And it was called the French Hen. And a good friend of mine was a waitress there, and I needed a job. I was going nowhere fast. I was like 19 years old, and you know, they're like, we need a dishwasher. And I'm like, you mean a director of porcelain arts? I'm right. So when I found out, I was and I was like, I was totally jazzed that it was like, I'm like, Hulk! I'm like, what are you crazy? Like, I wasn't a huge wrestling fan, but if you lived in the 80s, um iconic, yeah. I mean, it was Macho May Randy Savage, Jake the Snake. I mean, yeah, I could rattle them all off of Warrior, yeah. Right, right, right. Those bright colors, right? So, but but Hulk was was was was really relevant relevant in my mind. Well, I didn't know that, like I didn't understand at that early age of like 19. I'm like, oh yeah, like he lives in Tampa, like St. Pete Clearwater area. Um, and I and I later learned as I got to know him, uh, the reason was that you know, it's quiet, everybody leaves me alone, it's close to an airport, I live on the water, I live in a dream, I live in a castle for crying out loud. So, anyway, um working for his wife, she wasn't there all the time, but she was involved. And then by default, you know, you know, Terry was, you know, probably picking up the tab, most likely. So he was there a lot. And he was like, I'm gonna get my money's worth. So in on Tuesday mornings after Monday night raw and straight with glasses, and I Chris, the biggest human being that I have literally actually he brought the big show with him one night, one time in that the biggest guy I've ever seen. But he walked in, had to duck his head to get in the door, had his glasses on, and he looked over to me and goes, What's up, brother? And I'm like, Oh my gosh, you really talk like that. And uh, and I said, uh, oh, I'm Sebastian, I'm the dishwasher here. It's just so great to meet you, Hulkster. And he's like, It's great to meet you too, brother. What's your name? I'm like, Sebastian. He's like, All right, brother, keep those dishes clean. I'm like, yes, sir, not a problem, sir. Whatever you need. So he would get so and I didn't give a rip because I figured, what do I have to lose? So I'm bringing in like uh no, he had him. Um he he would bring me like a black, his black and white, you know, NWO, like hookster and like sign and whatnot. Well, one day my mom was in town and she was um going through the antique mall looking at trinkets and whatnot, and found was one of my biggest regrets of my life, found a Hulk Hogan lunchbox from the yellow and like the yellow and red days. So we got that and and I gave it to to Linda and I said, if you can have Terry sign it, this you know, this would be great. Well, one day Terry rolls in with Macho Man Randy Savage, the big show, and like like two other guys. Um, but I only knew you know and talk about sounds exactly the same way. Randy knew that oh yeah, sneak a do a slim jam. And I'm like, you literally talk like that. So when he came in with the big show, uh he popped his head in real quick and he goes, Come here, brother. And he comes outside, he goes, Look at the size of this guy, his name's Paul. They call him the big show. And I'm like, Whoa, and it was the nice guy on the planet. I think he lives here in South Florida. He does, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um, anyway, one day, as my courage continued to get stronger and stronger, I just went out to the table and um, well, Paul was really cool, and we chatted it up a lot, actually. So when I went out there, I was like, yo, I don't know if you guys, I don't I don't mean to interrupt you guys' lunch while you're eating, you know, like four steaks each. Um, but I wash cars. So if you guys ever need any of your cars washed, when I'm done washing dishes, I can just come over to your house and wash your wash your car. I mean, just no shame at all. And my wow. And uh he's like, all right, cool, brother. And I'm like, uh so I didn't I don't remember when I connected with him, but then I said, Um, same for you, Terry. I, you know, I'd love to. Oh, he came in again. I go, I know I mentioned you and the guys the other day, but I don't know who washes your car. He goes, Maybe you do, brother. You ever washed a hog before? I'm like, You mean like a pig? He's like, No, I'm not like a like a Harley Davidson. And he goes, I tell you what, be at the house at four o'clock today. You're hired. I go, Really? And I had no car or anything, but I was buddies with the chef. You always gotta be buddies with the chef. I'm the dishwasher, I'm right next to him for crying out loud. And he goes, Oh, this is great, dude. I'll drop you off on the way there. So he drops me off at four o'clock over at, you know, in the giant castle at the yeah, he had the tiles imported from France on top of this castle. Anyway, this is just is just I'm mind-blowing, right? So the gate opens and I go up there, and my buddy drops me off in his little like rust bucket, chitty chitty bang bang, like 1982 Corolla, right? And I go and I knock on the door, and uh, and I think uh Brooke answered. They were little then, they were probably, I don't know, seven, eight years old at the time. And uh she's like, Can I help you? And I'm like, Yeah, I'm here to see your dad. I'm actually here to wash his car. She's like, Oh, cool, he's down in his gym. Come on, I'll take you down there. And he was down there like flipping through some CDs and he's he didn't have a bandana on. It was bald Terry with just like, you know, just the hookster hair. Right. And he was like, What's up, brother? And I was like, Oh my god, wow. I mean, it's great to be in like Bally's total fitness here in your basement. And uh he goes, Come on, I'll show you around. So he walks me around and then and then uh we go to his office. It has like these huge deer antlers hanging from the ceiling, and like he's like, This is my office, I focus on business, keeps me away from naked women. I'm like, Oh, all right, listen, it's always important, you know. So anyway, we go outside and he goes, All right, I'm gonna have you wash the Viper and you can wash my everyday car, which is my Mercedes. And then he's like, You've never washed a hog before. And I go, Well, I don't I don't know that I'd want to start today washing a Harley, uh, but we could definitely start on the Viper. He's like, All right, cool, here's the keys. Go ahead and pull it around. I get in the Viper and I I pull the his Viper around the fountain in the driveway with the emergency brake on. And I'm going, Hulk, I don't think it's working. I have the emergency brake on. So anyway, I wash his cars and uh we we we get done. And he goes, Hey, you need a ride home, brother? I go, Yeah, yeah, that would be great. Hulk Hogan, uh, a ride home would be awesome.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

What?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Right? So I hop in the car with him and Nick, and he's like, So uh how much you want for these two cars? You wash the two cars today, and I go, Um Sir, whatever you feel is appropriate. I mean, it's just been my my my privilege just to just to just to meet you in BRS. He goes, uh, this is a lesson in life that when people ask you how much, you give them a number because otherwise life's gonna give you a number that that you that you don't expect. Okay, cool, 40 bucks works. He goes, 40 bucks it is. What do you think, Nick? You think it's worth 40 bucks? And that was it. Drove me in my little apartment in Indian Rocks Beach, dropped me off, gave me a high five, wishing me the best of luck. And and then I left the sign. Oh no, he brought me his office because he goes, Come on, I got your lunch pail in my office. So he brings me in his office and uh he goes, You want me to sign at uh Hollywood? Or I go, no, no, no, those were the Hulk days. I mean, you're still Hulk. I mean, you know what I mean, right? But and I'm sitting here thinking, is this like I make six bucks an hour? I wash dishes in Hulk Hogan's home office while he signed my sale at 19 years old. Uh, but I got the lesson of you know, the world gives you exactly what you ask for. Okay. Son, I ask you how much you're charging me to wash two of my cars, not how much I want to pay you to wash two of my cars. And I and I just need you to answer that question. And I'm like, whoa, and imagine I'm like sitting in the he drew it, it was a two-seater uh Mercedes. So I'm in the backseat, but I'm like sitting, bitch, like like in between the two seats, like he's driving a nick right here. And I'm like, so what had happened was I one time Yeah, and it was just, you know, it was it was an incredible experience that I'll never ever ever forget.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

That's an amazing story.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Wow. I'd love to. I've tried to get back in touch with him and and get a hold of him and try to go the like the you know, the the Terry route, like through Clearwater and whatnot, but I've been unsuccessful. Well, maybe I'll make it over to his his beach store one day and be able to see him because I I I I highly doubt that he ever forgot me coming to his house and driving his Viper with the emergency brake on.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

I can guarantee you he wouldn't forget because I've interviewed him three times. And the second time I interviewed him, I said, Oh, I've actually met you before. He goes, Yeah, I remember New Orleans, WrestleMania 30. And I'm like, What? Yeah, yeah, we did it the morning after. I'm like, What? This is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

He's just he's just good people too, man. He's just it's uh it was it was it was a great it was it was memories and experiences that I'll uh take forever. And then my best friend DJ M Dot went on tour with Brooke um probably what 10 years ago, whenever she was starting to do her her music thing, yeah, yeah, and got to know Terry really well too. And he's like, I know him just like my childhood best friend that I grew up with. Uh had the same experience of I grew up like just the butt yeah, man, still still a whole that that that's my extent of of love for wrestling is is you were a Hulkamaniac for life after a story like that, right? Oh, I told him that I had the weight set with the yellow weights and like the poster that had all the different ones. He goes, Oh brother, those are great workouts. I used to do those on the road. I go, you literally had like the Hulkamania weights, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm like, I still got them. Wow. With uh yeah, it had a tape, it had it had a tape with it and then a poster. And then on the poster it had Hulk doing different exercises on there, and then you put the tape on, and I'm never forget you go press play, and like the music starts playing. He's like, All right, you little Hulksters, this way you get our workout on. But yeah, good, good times, good times. Well, if your paths cross again, I'd love to have him on the show.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, I'm sure our paths will cross again.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Yeah. Well, you're not slowing down by any stretch of the imagination. So you so you you we were just chatting before the show. You you picked up and left and went to LA because you said, Well, I mean, I'm an you know, I'm a I'm a on-air personality, I'm I'm a host, I'm a YouTuber. I kind of need to be where my industry is here.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

So I was in I was in Cincinnati and I was actually doing, you know, I was flying to AEW, I was doing a few of their shows, and I was also doing some local commercials, which was cool. I've done a little bit of acting. I was I am I'm actually a very small part when the Russo Brothers new movie comes out called Cherry, which is obviously it's been delayed because of COVID. When that comes out, I'm in a very pivotal scene. I don't have any lines, but I'm in a very pivotal scene in that movie. So I've done a little bit of acting, which was cool because there's a lot of that going on in Ohio because of the uh tax credits. But I was like, yeah, I'm an on air host. There's a lot more work for me in Los Angeles. I've always wanted to live there, and I've been Coming to LA for the last 10 plus years doing junkets. You know, almost once a month, twice a month. I've been here. I feel like I know it really well. And I have so many friends that live here. So I came out in January and I took some meetings and kind of decided, okay, yeah, this is this is it. I'm gonna move out here. And I said, all right, March 16th is when I'm gonna move. So think of what March 16th in 2020 looked like, right? So I was planning, I was planning to come out March 16th. That was a Monday. That Sunday, we were supposed to have my going away party and kind of realized that this COVID thing was maybe a little bit more serious than we first expected when the brewery we were gonna have my going away party was closed. We went, ooh, okay. Like, oh, it's fine. I'll just I'll push my move back. I'll push my move back a week. In a week, we'll have this virus thing figured out, right? COVID's like, hold my beer, watch this. So it got pushed back a week, then a month, then a few months, and then uh July came around and the rent prices actually were going really far down. Like rent rent was becoming very cheap as everyone was moving out. And I'm like, you know what? No better time than the present. I'm gonna do this thing. So I packed up my car, drove out, drove out here almost a 40-hour drive, and I've been here ever since. And there's there's so many opportunities here. I'm really happy to be here, really happy to be able to grow my hosting career, but also my YouTube stuff, my podcast. And who better to talk to about podcasts than you, my friend?

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Well, I mean, you know, this this whole thing kind of fell on my lap. I always just had a podcast. You know, I grew up in a radio station. My dad was a DJ for for for 30 years, and I grew up in a radio station, you know, cutting tracks and watching my dad go sell the ad and come back and cut the track, literally cut the track with a razor blade and tape and put the reel together. So um, I was never passionate about following in his in his footsteps. In fact, we don't even have any really have much of a relationship, but based on you know my experience of growing up and and seeing that, I knew that I wanted to do some form of talent-driven thing. I just never initiated that. I started off in the world of sales uh and figured that was a way of exuding my talent, which it really wasn't. And then when I started Social Buzz TV 10 years ago, I quickly realized that, well, a podcast is an easy way because this podcast stuff's not gonna go anywhere. It's the new radio, so I'll always just have a podcast. Yeah. And then 2016 rolled around and I said, I think I I really I felt very strongly about going, you know, all in with it. And then last year I just all chips in the middle of the table, end of last year. We opened the studio here, and uh, you know, sky's the limit now. And I I what what I found, Chris, is that it's not just helping people go from A to B, the people that are coming through my door to say, hey, I've got a story to tell, and I want to do that by starting a podcast. I've had a traumatic experience that I healed from. And if I'm able to tell this story, other people can heal. So when I when I when we when we look at the the idea and the in the in the notion of doing work that matters, I there's something to be said with following your passion, start you, you, you, you like almost automatically align yourself with being in with with living your passion. And that's truly what it's all about. I never understood that for a long time. A lot of my mentors that were successful would say, Sebastian, do what you love and the money will follow because money is a byproduct of you serving other people and doing the work that you love. And I guess for six years, I really wasn't passionate about the social media stuff. I was passionate about being on stage and sharing my energy and being on camera and creating content, but be able to find that niche into podcasting here. I just, and this is just the beginning. I mean, my goodness, we're just now building the foundation out of the initial, you know, hundred shows that'll later become a podcast network. And then from there we monetize that network. And then Spotify calls and give us a bazillion dollars.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

That's the plan, right? Y'all, yeah. And we're really just in the beginning of this podcasting thing. Like there's only a million. There's a million of there's 15 million YouTube creators, and we're 10-ish years in, but this is still very, very new. Like, I didn't really start listening to podcasts till maybe two years ago. And the only reason I started listening to podcasts is because I didn't want to waste my commute. I was commuting from Fort Lauderdale to Miami 40-ish minutes each way. Right. I thought, well, in 40 minutes, I can probably learn a whole bunch. Sure. And then that's that's an hour 20 each day. Traveling into the first podcast episode. I can probably learn a whole bunch, and that's where it started.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Yeah, it's I I talked uh buddy of mine that uh owns the company that I'm doing my second book with self-publishing school, his name's uh Chandler Bolt. He's out in your neck of the woods in LA, actually, Venice Beach. And um, I just did my I just did a gig with them for their for their live event in Charlotte a couple a couple weeks back. And um he says that writing a book is hands down one of the best things that you can do for humanity. But then if you take it a step further and you look at, you know, he talks about he tries to read eight books a month. And I was like, whoa, so you're lazy, obviously. Sebastian, once you get through a book, it's like a free mentoring session.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yes, and I think I've heard a lot of people talk about it's 20 years put into, you know, how long is it gonna take you to read that book? Right. Four, five, six hours. So 20 years of someone's experience, their knowledge, their expertise, all pared down the best stuff into five or six hours.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Right, which is uh which is unbelievable. I mean, I just you know, I'm not a reader. I try to be. Um, I'm trying to be more of because I'm about to publish my second book. So publishing, I appreciate it, which has been a journey in and of itself on here to be able to sit down and I bet focus on here, but uh, but we're doing it. You know, books are you should do it too. I highly recommend writing a book because I'd like to.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

That that's definitely on the lifetime bucket list. Sure. I just don't know what I'd write it about. And you'll you'll find out. You'll now you're gonna start now now. You're gonna be able to not stop thinking about it. I've been I've been thinking about it for a while, and it just keeps kind of rattling around in my head. I'm like, what could it be? Because as you know, in the speaking world, the book is kind of the barrier of entry. Right. You know, when someone takes the stage, it's like they they kind of need to have that book. They kind of need to have author as one of the lines on their resume. And I feel like a lot of speakers just go out and write a book. Maybe it's not their best work, but they just write a book so they can say, Oh, yeah, I wrote a book.

SPEAKER_02 28:09

I just feel like that I've got so much up here and I've got so many questions on a daily basis from people and feedback and what do you think and where's this going? And I've really become thankfully the go-to source for starting a podcast and for podcasting in general. I'm being grossly negligent to those that I that I'm serving and those that I could potentially serve by not getting all of it out. So I put laid out 40,000 of my my the the the the the of the the best words that I can come up with to break down 11 chapters on my opinion on what it takes to go from idea to iTunes in 90 days or less, and it's called Podcast Suck if you don't have one. So um, yeah, man, I'm stoked. It should be coming out, you know, it was gonna be coming out this month, and then it the the book writing process, because I am self-publishing, I'm working with a brand to do it, but a lot of the work outside of the editing it requires me to go back through the editing. I've got to review things. There's a lot of stuff that hands-on that you've got to do, which I'm totally cool with, but it's taking a little bit longer than expected. And then we get in here to the holidays. So it's either gonna drop before Christmas or it's gonna drop the first of the year, either way. But it's gonna take, you know, that's soon though. Either way, that's very soon. That's amazing. I started it in May. They they get you through their program in 90 days, so it's blank, so it's very comparable to my program. That's why I was attracted to the brand in the first place, is because they take you from blank page to best selling author in 90 days or less. Yeah. With their program. So I thought we need to partner up because I take people from no podcast to podcast in 90 days or less on here. So it's really turned into a beautiful uh uh relationship here. But yeah, writing a book really makes you that it somebody told me no one throws away books, Sebastian. They'll throw away, you know, coasters or you know, white papers that you email them or that free report.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

But they're throws away books. That's so true.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Yeah, it's your new business card, too.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

You know, that's that's definitely that's like I always say it's your barrier of entry.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Think about going to a casting and they're like invested. They're like, we we have you here because we see YouTube, we hear your podcast, we know your experience on traditional uh television too. Uh, we are very invested into the Chris Van Vlee brand and figuring out what we can do with that. And you're like, hey, it was great to meet you as well. Uh I'm gonna write to I'm gonna leave a copy of my book with you too. The book tells my whole story from when I started to do, you know, when I first got interested in being on camera through actually getting my first network gig and to finding myself now on in my own network, if you will. So yeah, yeah. But I think that, you know, that just to kind of an idea of, and I do the same thing too, but I'm a prospective large client. I'm gonna leave them not with my card, but with my book, because even if you don't call me right away, the book may be sitting on a shelf there, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

In fact, that book will be sitting on the shelf forever. Right. This is true. Because no one throws out books, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:45

They give them away or they donate them, but nobody really throws them away. I mean, who's done who does that? So um, so the podcast is doing great. Your YouTube channel's doing great. You said you're actually part of a podcast network uh now, which has helped tremendously with identifying advertisers and sponsors. I love sharing this type of information because people always ask me, I'm starting a podcast. I know why I'm starting a podcast, but monetize, monetize, monetize, monetize, monetize. And I always say, gotta slow your roll because it's not that easy of a process on where it's at. It's a lot of luck and timing meeting themselves for you know, the divine opportunity for you to be able to do that. Now, it doesn't mean you can't achieve the same amount of success, or but there's no time frame uh along with that on here. I bet that was pretty surprising to you when you started to say, hold on a second, not only is the content getting traction, but people want to pay me for it now.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Yeah, that was the that was the wildest thing, is when I was I was throwing these YouTube videos up and not really even thinking about it. We're talking nine years ago. And a colleague of mine, a fellow TV host, said, Oh yeah, I make a few hundred dollars a month for my YouTube channel. I'm like, You do what? And he goes, Oh, yeah, you just click that AdSense button, and you know, those ads that you see on YouTube, yeah, yeah, you get a portion of that. I'm like, this is bananas. I can't believe this. So that's when you know I had some good months early on where I was making like a few hundred dollars, and I just couldn't believe that I was able to make money from that. Drinks on Chris. Right. So as that started to grow and my YouTube channel started to be a bigger source of income, I was actually nervous. I was really nervous to start a podcast because I didn't want to take any attention away from my YouTube channel. I thought any person who's listening to my podcast is now not listening to my YouTube channel. Well, the reality is the person who's listening to my podcast wasn't gonna watch on YouTube anyway. They're in fact a completely different audience. And it took me a long time to figure that out. But last summer, when I launched my podcast, I had a few podcast networks that went, we saw what you did on your YouTube channel. You could probably have that similar type of success on the podcast. So we want to back you. And I'm like, nah, I'm good. I'm gonna do this thing on my own. Then I started having a longer conversation with Bluewire, which is a sports podcast network. And you know, the majority of the conversations I'm having on my podcast are wrestling related. There's some UFC stars on there. And I said, all right, well, let's continue this conversation. And I am so, so grateful that I had that conversation with them. I'm so glad that I went forward with Bluewire because my podcast has grown. Because I've had someone that said, no, actually, you should do it this way instead of this way. Or we can link you up with these advertisers that you never would have got on your own. And here I am now, a little over a year into my podcast, maybe 16 months into my podcast. And yeah, it just keeps growing month over month. And the interesting thing, you can definitely relate to this, is YouTube is kind of watched like television. People kind of watch YouTube, you know, in the same way that they would watch TV. Just you do you watch it to be entertained. Sure. You'll click on this video, and then the related videos will pop up on the side, and next thing you know, you've wasted two hours down this crazy rabbit hole. Welcome to the black black hole of your abyss, the YouTube abyss, YouTube abyss, right. But podcasts are very habitual. And people will get in their car and they go, All right, I'm I got an hour drive, I'm gonna listen to Sebastian. I can listen to half of an episode of Rogan. I can listen to a fifth of an episode of Rogan. Uh, or I'm going to the gym. I'm gonna learn something while I'm there. And COVID, I think, has kind of hurt this a little bit because of how habitual podcasts are. Uh, people aren't commuting to work. A lot of gyms aren't open, depending on where you live. And I think it's really interesting to see that your habits are really driven by your podcast listening. And I'm like, they're two completely different beasts, and I'm glad to be able to have my hand in both now.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Right. So is it different? So you're still doing the wrestling content on the YouTube channel, and then the podcast is different content.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

So I still put my YouTube interviews on my podcast, but I also am kind of doing more like different interviews. Like I had had a fascinating interview earlier this week with Chris Hemsworth Stunt Double. He's worked the last 12 movies as Chris Hemsworth's stunt double. And then on top of that, has also been a stunt double for Batman, Captain America. He was Chris Pine's stuntman and Wonder Woman, one of the busiest stunt men in the world. It was just a fascinating conversation that I knew probably wouldn't do as well on my YouTube channel. So I threw it on the podcast and it did great on theirs. So I like to say that my podcast is about finding out what makes great people great, like getting into the inner workings of how they got to where they're at and how they're succeeding at where they're at.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

It's about story, you know, it's about effective storytelling, like everything in in in in media in life, really. You know, I find your journey so interesting because when I started, when I started Social Buzz TV 10 years ago, I ran around town in a bow tie preaching the gospel of social buzz TV and social media. And but I also was building my brand simultaneously as my personal brand was being built. So I wanted to, you know, that's where the MC stuff and the speaking stuff, and I wrote my first book, all that stuff started to come about. And I thought there has to be some sort of intersection in between traditional media and new media because I would connect with meet folks like yourself and MJ Acosta and all kinds of local peeps. Well, not so local anymore, both of you. But um, I would connect with these people and say, hold on a second, there has to be some sort of intersection because traditional media people, I'd run into Louis Agiri and event, he's like, So what's the deal with this whole Twitter thing? Like the network's like here, get on it and go. Like the early days, it wasn't like they weren't giving you any reason. They're like, that's just what that's the next thing, and it's more exposure for what you just go do it. So I thought maybe I could do something about this. Like maybe we can do like a I remember I'll never forget I put together a a like a like a play reel for NBC, uh, like six in the mix or something like that, where I would be the bowtie buzz correspondent and let the world, you know, everybody know what's going on in Miami for the weekend, social digital media related. So I send it over to the station manager of the time, etc. And they refer me to the sales department. And I'd like, what I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the sales department. Like, I'm sending you guys like a demo reel to say, hey, can we use this guy as a source, as a, you know, as a as a as a you know, an outsourced correspondent. And at that point in time, I was a little frazzled thinking, man, these that that's what well, I wasn't that frazzled because I quickly realized, man, they these people just don't get it. And when I say these people, I mean just network traditional rate traditional media in general, is just so set in their ways of this is the way that it is, and TV and radio and print are the main means of being able to effectively communicate a message. And I was here to tell you, even 10 years ago, that ship is starting to sail like it has already left the port if you haven't logged on to Facebook lately. So I I continue to want to figure that out and say, How do we how do I bridge that gap between traditional and new media? And I had breakfast with a friend of mine uh that was a local beat reporter for uh channel 10. And I was running through her through this whole thing, and I've had an idea to do this and I wanted to do this, and she goes, Let me stop you for a second, Sebastian, because I actually care about you because you're a friend of mine. Why do you want to be on local television or just television in general, like TV in general? Because let me walk you through it real quick, okay? Your job, your life, your schedule is controlled by four guys in bad suits and a corner office in a city that you will never travel to. That's how that world works. And it's all political and it's all red tape and it's clicky and it's logistical and it changes fast. And my life is not my life because of the job that I'm in. But this is this is my passion. And I never really understood those two. She's now doing her own thing and has since moved on from traditional media. Um, but that conversation forever altered my path. And I walked out of there going, you know what? Soon enough, if it even happens, if they have sustainability, if the TV networks, etc. have this sustainability, they're going to be calling me because they saw my YouTube content, heard my podcast, saw some, saw me in a gig somewhere and said, Hey, how can we work together? And I'm going to go to them on my terms and they're going to bounce to my beat because the pendulum is shifting forever. And it's funny because that pendulum shifted for you just out of a, you know, the natural next progression of the business you were in. It was like, hey, my deco days are done. It's time to move to Cincinnati, getting a little bit more into a space that's that that that that I'm that I'm passionate about, something new on here. And then that then led you to doing your own thing and being in complete control of what you're doing. And really, you're you're really controlling your destiny, as cheesy as that sounds, but you're deciding which castings to go to, which meetings to show up to, which sponsors to take on, you know, et cetera. And I just think that's so cool that normally you're forced into that. I think that your passion has brought you here. And I just I just come in.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

No doubt. And it's really interesting that I now see castings that don't care if you have television television experience, they want to know how many followers you have on Instagram. Right. Or are you a YouTuber or are you on TikTok? And it's interesting that you talk about traditional media in the way that you do because I unfortunately I think that a lot of TV stations are still doing local news like it's 2004. And you know, and things have changed a lot. Right. And I mean, they're they're still relying on the the commercials that play, and and I get it, that's that's the traditional model, but you know, things have shifted quite a bit. And I feel fortunate to have been able to see that there were some opportunities on the horizon for me. And I'm fortunate that I was able to go, yeah, those things could turn into something. I'm gonna bet on myself. That was the biggest thing is I bet on myself. I saw these opportunities, and I figured if I can make this work, great. And if I can't make this work, I'll figure out a way to make this work eventually.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Right. Well, you we're living in interesting times here where, you know, 10 to 12 years ago, the fundamental shift that we went through on the way that we communicate in this digital landscape now being our our, I hate to hesitate to use the term new normal, but it really has become. And I believe that it's here to stay. And you know, Gary Vaynerchuk was a is a is a is a dear, dear friend and and mentor in my life. And I followed his his road path for the past probably 12 years, and he's always preached the same message over and over and over again. That is cash in on your passion, whatever you're passionate about. I'm never famous for saying in this one of his most famous uh talks he gave at Web 2.0 back in 2008, when he was wearing like the sweat bands, and he was like, Whatever you're passionate about, start creating content around it. People will be interested. You like Smurfs, fucking Smurf it up, baby. And I'll never forget you like Alf, Alf it up, baby. And that was it, you know, it was so so true because it doesn't. I mean, you're you're you're you're case in point with that.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

You're like, Oh my god, like look, I I'm passionate about pro wrestling and bass fishing, and if I can make a decent living from pro wrestling and bass fishing, whatever it is that you're interested in, like go all in on it. If you love peanut butter, have the peanut butter podcast, have the PBPC. And because the thing is, we now live in a world where we're all connected by the supercomputer that lives in our pocket. So if you're passionate about something as obscure and as weird as it is, that just means there's millions of other people on this earth that are also passionate about that exact same thing. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

100%. Well, dude, we're almost out of time here, but uh you and I could talk. We're gonna have to come back to the show. That's it. I because you're gonna have to go and down and there's gonna be plenty of things going on. And when uh when you know life returns to its, well, I don't know, new normal. I'm sure LA's always on my on my calendar at some point in time. So I look forward to linking up on the on the West Coast. We'll go, we'll go get a Pink's hot dog. Pink's hot dog, and of course, in and out. Of course. I mean, well, I'm a little spoiled because my daughter goes to college in Phoenix, so they have moved slightly east. I think we go as far as like they'll do Phoenix, they do Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

Yeah, they do like Albuquerque, yeah. Yeah, Albuquerque. Oh, well, they got in and out there.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Uh right, right. So that's a justified trip to, I mean, I guess if you wanted to go to Albuquerque, right? Well, dude, congrats on all your uh you know, all your ventures and success that you're experiencing right now. You, you know, you deserve every ounce of it. You're a product of the of the work and passion you've put into the work that you've been doing. And uh you and I met at a gig probably what three years ago, I think it was a Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce or something. And I was like, damn it, finally tracked down this Van Blee guy.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

So congratulations to you. And I want to acknowledge you for betting on yourself and stepping out of you know the norms that uh other people had created for you and going, no, I'm gonna figure this out on my own, and I'm gonna figure out a way to make money off of this. So you're just beginning too. And that's what's so exciting about this is I can't wait to see where you're at in a year, and then five years from now as you continue to build this.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Well, it's that, it's that, it's that, and I appreciate, dude. Thank you for the for the kind words, and I and I reciprocate those words, you know, right back to you. But I've said for the past 10 years that there's a new wave of talent, influencer, host, personality coming up. Because I grew up for the past 10 years in the world of Gary V and Lewis Howes and these people that have continued to just crush and build their brand, but there's always a new generation, not necessarily age demographic generation, but there's always a new phase of individuals that are on the come up, if you will, of being that next. But now we've got, you know, we're we're so properly aligned with with our, you know, with our with our with our content that we're creating. It's not just you're not just a talent anymore. You're now a talent with content connected to a network that makes money.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

And I I remember I remember going to some celebrity interviews, some junkets five ish plus years ago. And you'd have you know the Fox affiliate from this city and the ABC affiliate from this city and on and on and on. And then you'd have a handful of people that were oh they're the internet people. Oh they have a they have a website. Right. Well now they though that website or that YouTube channel is getting 10 times a hundred times the viewers that your local TV station's getting I wonder what TV's going to do in radio. I mean I really think that they don't look I think it's gonna I think it's gonna adapt because if it doesn't adapt it's gonna go away but look I think that this has always happened when TV came along they said oh radio's gonna die now. Right. Well when the internet came along they said oh this that's the end of TV now. No they're gonna figure out a way they're gonna figure out a way to shift and make this work I don't think local news is going anywhere. In fact I think that local TV stations I think local TV stations are going to put more news on their station because it's so cheap to produce it.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Why would I pay for syndicated programming when I can just hire another producer and have another newscast I think that's we'll get a lot more I think it's gonna get a lot more interactive it absolutely it has to yeah because I don't I mean I I I you know I watching the local news I mean short of watching you on deco just out of respect of like colleagueslash friend type of like what's it called that was be the only time because otherwise it's real painful because what I what I find is that and no offense to my local news peeps that are still in the biz rock and roll do your thing it's just that when you're trying so for example if you're like watching like a major network right so you're watching MSNBC or CNN or like we're watching something political and then they go boom right right back to the local hit and they try to follow up on that conversation it's just different.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

I can't describe it I don't know maybe it's a camera maybe it's the lens maybe it's the set but I will say that like local news local news does serve a really important role it plays a really important role especially you know in Miami when sure hurricanes roll through breaking news local angles on that.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Uh and I think that you know I have nothing but a tremendous amount of respect for my friends who work on air in local news or behind the scenes as producers, writers, no editors Yeah it's it's a it's an important role that unfortunately is very thankless sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Right. And it's nonstop too so it's it's this world of you know you and I both know Mg Acosta and she she put in her her she paid her dues here locally here in both in Miami and then moved on to the NBC affiliate in in San Diego and really when I I was able to spend some time with her um one of the times I was out in San Diego and really seeing she was literally she's like I can't stop but you can come with me and it was literally in the editing booth with her editor and then we're running into the studio for the 7 p.m drop and I'm like so when do you get out of here she goes I'll be home about one or two.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Yeah the answer is you're done when you're done holy cow but it's also really exciting. It's really exciting and I think a lot of people that make this shift it's a very popular shift to go from local news to publicity or PR right and I think that you kind of miss that rush of like working for something to the end of the day and like getting down to the absolute last minute to meet the deadline and boom you made it you're on air and that doesn't really happen in a lot of other industries.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

Well you gotta you have you're right you have to you have to create those deadlines that's the craziest part they're they're they're through through product launches and mastermind launches and you know book launches if you will there so well Chris dude always great to see you bro great to catch up too I know we've been chatting back and forth and trying to say let's go you know let's get you on the podcast let's make it happen and you know shoulda coulda woulda but unless we get it on the calendar it just never happens so I'm glad we got a chance yeah I'm glad you're settling in there in uh in in La La Land um have you seen the have you been out to the uh to the YouTube facilities at all?

SPEAKER_00 48:13

No I haven't but I should I mean I heard it's mind blowing I don't know if you can like just show up but I'm sure you know somebody we'll figure it out as you know there's always a way to figure everything out there is I know a guy there it is thank you for having me on and you're right we've talked about this for a while so I'm glad we finally put pen to paper set a date and made this thing happen.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Agreed man agreed good times as always and the uh definitely come back and keep me posted on uh on on your ventures out there and uh I look forward to to hanging with you in one of these cities one of these days sooner rather than later bro come on out we'll have a pink hot dog yeah let's do and in and out maybe at the same hey hot dogs hamburgers dodger game all right brother thank you no thank you friends Chris Van Vlee keep rocking brother thank you you too thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast be sure to appreciate it if you haven't done so already make sure you're subscribed to the show this way you'll get updates as new episodes become available if you feel so inclined please leave us a review be sure to appreciate it signing off from the podcast launchlab.com studios we'll talk to you next time