On this episode of The Standouts, Aaron chats with Troy Osterberg, a close friend and successful content creator, known for his authenticity and massive online following. Troy shares his journey into content creation and his process, noting that maintaining his real, offline persona online has been key to his success.
On this episode of The Standouts, Aaron chats with Troy Osterberg, a close friend and successful content creator, known for his authenticity and massive online following. Troy shares his journey into content creation and his process, noting that maintaining his real, offline persona online has been key to his success.
They touch on his dating advice series, how he’s started to get recognized in public, and how he uses text messages to connect with his fans! Additionally, Troy reveals his plans to develop an app for enhancing communication between creators and their followers. Between Aaron and Troy, they share insightful perspectives on trends and future directions in content creation, as well as useful tips for budding creators.
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Guest Bio:
Troy Osterberg is an actor and content creator, known for his roles in Colossal Youth, Below Deck Deceit, and My Killer Client. He’s amassed more than 1 million followers on TikTok, and spends his time professionally creating content and managing his personal brand.
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Guest Quote
"I had thousands of people's numbers, which was really cool. And I would text them every day, just to kind of build that relationship. And then, as I would post TikTok videos, I would take the video, put it in my text messages and just blast it out. So, within minutes, I had thousands of kids watching it, as opposed to posting it online and letting it take its course. I kind of cheated the system in a way, and I told so many people about it. I was like, ‘guys, you gotta get on this app.’”
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Time Stamps:
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Connect with Troy:
https://beacons.ai/troyosterberg
Connect with Aaron:
https://www.tiktok.com/@aarongrushowhomes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/423/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_SSHGREChuBaU6u_USIIEg
https://www.instagram.com/aarongrushowhomes
https://aarongrushowhomes.com/
Follow Estate Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/estatemediaus/
Aaron Grushow: [00:00:00] Today on the standouts, I have brought along a very close friend of mine who also happens to be an exceptional content creator and overall amazing creative. So it's my pleasure to introduce you guys. Troy Osterberg, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me, dude. Thanks for being on the show.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah, appreciate it.
Troy Osterberg: More than you know the first and the best one that you've got.
Aaron Grushow: Always the best one. There you go. You have absolutely killed it on, on the socials, just content in general. You are the definition of a standout. You, you, you truly are. I appreciate that. Um, it's been awesome watching you grow online and offline as well.
Aaron Grushow: Um, you have. Massive audience. I think you're close to like, what, two mil now? A little
Troy Osterberg: bit. I don't know, man. I just, something like that. My mom, my dog, and maybe my dad followed me and me as well. That's, and you
Aaron Grushow: apparently, um, you're definitely one of the most recognizable faces on, on TikTok [00:01:00] online in general.
Aaron Grushow: Why do you think people are so drawn to you and your content?
Troy Osterberg: Dude, I don't, I don't know. I just like, I. My content as like relatable as possible. Yeah. No, I think that's, that's really what it is. Yeah. You know, I think like the, the more people just kind of, um, are realize like, I'm just a normal person and anybody can do my job, I guess is, is kind of where I think it people are drawn in.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah. You know, one of, uh, I guess the themes of this show and just my thought process on content in general is authenticity. Totally. And I have the pleasure of knowing. Not just on social media, but off social media. Totally, totally. And for those who aren't fully aware like you are you. On camera. Same as you are off camera.
Aaron Grushow: I appreciate that. Like you're, you're truly
Troy Osterberg: authentic. The thing is, it's, it's hard to be someone that you're not on camera, right? Cause then you have to like, kind of fill this persona, like the entire, eventually I feel like that gets draining. Yeah. So I know there's like a lot [00:02:00] of creators that have like an act and then once they're off camera, that just like, they're them.
Troy Osterberg: To me, it'd just be like very draining to, to put on a face. Yeah. For, you know, however long and then turn it off. Um, I don't know, just, just with me, my life is my. Yeah. You know, so again, it's just authentic, relatable. It's me.
Aaron Grushow: Absolutely. I, I really think that has been a huge catalyst for your success. Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: And it's something that I sort of struggled with when I started to create content. I thought I had to sort of put on a show, you know, um, I had to pretend I'm some, you know, super successful real estate agent. Sure. To, to get views and, and to get people to think I'm, I'm credible and I know what I'm talking about, but I, I soon found out that that was actually.
Aaron Grushow: Of biting me in the ass and I, I needed to be who I truly am and Sure, uh, be a bit more authentic. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to sort of start this podcast is yeah, I wanted to go. Behind the scenes.
Troy Osterberg: Totally. And, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna stop you there. Yeah. And I'm gonna say I drew a lot of inspiration from you just because, like, you were the first one in our group to like, kind of [00:03:00] really make it on TikTok.
Troy Osterberg: Like your, your stuff exploded. Like your what, your views, your likes, whatever. Like you have millions and millions of views. So like, don't discredit yourself, but I just drew, I took a lot of inspiration from you solely. The fact that you just, you were posting and you were just doing it for me, it was like fun.
Troy Osterberg: And I was like, all right, cool. This is like nice and whatever, but you like really took the time to like put in the effort with making your content and so forth. Um, That it really inspired me to be like, yo, I should take this a little bit more seriously and, you know, post a, a bit more frequently than I was at the time.
Troy Osterberg: So I owe a little bit of my, um, success, if you will, call that, that, um, to you.
Aaron Grushow: I appreciate it. Yeah. That means a lot. Um, I don't know how true that is, but No,
Troy Osterberg: I'm serious.
Aaron Grushow: I'm serious. No, but something you just mentioned, like consistency, like posting frequently, like how important do you think that.
Troy Osterberg: That's like anything though.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. You know, if you want to become a better basketball player, you go shooting in the gym. Totally. You know, if you wanna be better at soccer, you [00:04:00] go kick some balls around. It's just like the more frequently you do something, the better off you're gonna get. And that's kind of where, where I landed
Aaron Grushow: a hundred percent.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah. No, I think it was, it was my goal to really just post every single day. Didn't really, obviously quality was important to me. Totally. But I think when starting out. Quantity creates the quality. Sure. Like you just said, the more you do something, the better you get at it. Totally. So I think people, um, in regards to, you know, just getting started on social media, getting started creating content mm-hmm.
Aaron Grushow: Um, they're perfectionists. I definitely am. Mm-hmm. And I have that issue mm-hmm. To where if it's not perfect, I don't want to post it. Sure. Yeah. But, um, ultimately I think that's just like a huge roadblock and you've gotta get past that
Troy Osterberg: completely. Yeah. It's very, it's very trial and error. Yeah. You know, it really.
Troy Osterberg: What I started with making, uh, or the kind of content I started making in the beginning is a complete 180 of what I'm doing now. Yeah. Um, again, that's kind of like your success as [00:05:00] well is like, you are doing a lot of homes and now you're like wanting to show them a little bit more of the personal side.
Troy Osterberg: Right. So we just, we found ourselves along the way. Yeah. You know, it's, uh, like anything, it's a long road. It's not easy. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, like you said, just consistently posting and kind of finding out that, hey, I kind of like this, or I'm maturing, so I want to start. This avenue versus, you know, ab that I was doing last year or two years ago.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: Did you ever create a piece of content or decide to go in a certain direction and it either like completely failed or Totally. You realized you had made a huge mistake. Totally. Like what, what's an example of
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Um, I made a video, I made a, I do a lot of like, since the content is like my life, yeah.
Troy Osterberg: Sometimes I. Make a video based off of like that moment I just had. Yeah. And I'm all like stoked on it. Yeah. Yeah. And. A week later, it kind of comes to either bite me in the ass cuz it's like, Hey, maybe you shouldn't have spoke about that girl [00:06:00] in the gym that you were crushing on. Yeah. Because now she's coming up to you in the gym and expecting you to like talk to her.
Troy Osterberg: Or now I shouldn't have, you know, spoke about, um, some girl that like goes to me online because now she's getting a lot of people not sending her the nicest of messages. So there, there's a lot. But again, like with me, I realize like, hold on one second. You're good. Okay. Go ahead. You're good. Um, so with me, I just, I reali, I, I have to send everything to my mom now to kind of proof it.
Troy Osterberg: I love that. She's like, she's like my producer. I love that slash director, if that makes any sense. Yeah. Just to be like, you know, she sees a bigger picture, so that's kind of like, yeah. Love you, mom. Can I pause you guys a second? One thing I'd love you guys to get more into is what is the type of content you do cool.
Troy Osterberg: Like how you harness it. Like
Aaron Grushow: what, like that
Troy Osterberg: path was to figure out what does work and what's effective and [00:07:00] what, what's not, and, and just give like a, a glimpses of people that pretending that no one has ever
Aaron Grushow: heard of you. Like why Totally, totally. Go to you. Totally. Yeah. I was, I was definitely gonna get into that.
Aaron Grushow: Cool. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure. No, no. No worries. All good. Got this background noise anyway, so yeah. Alrighty. Um, sure. I'll get right into that. You're good. So how would you define your type of content? If someone was like, what, what, what type of content do you make? What do you tell 'em?
Troy Osterberg: That's so difficult?
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Just lifestyle. Lifestyle. Is that fair? Yeah. I feel like that's a very like broad and and generic thing. I used to do dating advice for the longest time, as you know. Yeah. Um, that really seemed to work because there's just a lot of people. As soon as I opened my mouth for whatever reason, a lot of people like started to listen, which was really cool.
Troy Osterberg: Why is that? I, I, maybe a lot of people just need like that big brother. Yeah. Um, kind of vibe. I don't even, that's such a terrible word. I get it. Say it, but no,
Aaron Grushow: like you, the way you treat people in real life. Um, [00:08:00] You treat everyone like family like you really do. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Like you are super humble.
Aaron Grushow: Um, you treat everyone as if they're your like best friend. Cool. And like I really respect that. And someone cool, like the way someone treats other people. Like, I look at that as like that is a key character trait. Sure. And that translate to on, on translates to your content online. Sure. Like you definitely do that.
Aaron Grushow: You come across as like really appreciate that brotherly friendly figure. Yeah. And you like hype
Troy Osterberg: people. I, I try, I think people love that. Yeah. I try. Yeah. It's, it's, I feel like just a lot of people just need a little bit of a motivation or a kick on the butt just to kind of direct them in the, in the right.
Troy Osterberg: You know, path or career choice or whatever it is, it's just people just need a little bit of, uh, oomph as I should say. You know, I don't take credit on on them doing it. Yeah. I'll just, uh, I'll just say, Hey man, like, cuz I've had so many friends or people outside of, you know, TikTok be like, yo, how do I get like you?
Troy Osterberg: Or how do I do this? I'm like, first of all, I don't know why you want to get [00:09:00] like me. You know, like, be yourself. But, um, so many people have been like, dude, thank you so much for kind of helping me, um, or encouraging me to kind of get online or doing something that I actually want to like, you know, do career wise.
Troy Osterberg: And I'll be like, Hey man, like that was all you. I was just kind of lighting the fire on your ass a little bit to kind of get you started. I love that.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah. What advice would you give someone who is looking to get started with content
Troy Osterberg: creation? I love this one. Love this. Without a doubt, just do it.
Troy Osterberg: There's no perfect time. Yeah. There's literally no perfect time. Yeah. Just like you and I know is just like that, we. It's hard because you and I sit here and we're like, yeah, we're such perfectionists, but you'll never achieve perfection. Yeah. So the, the quicker you're just like, let's start it and I'll figure it out along the way.
Troy Osterberg: Right. That's like my biggest, like, I will preach that to, to everyone. I'll preach that to the choirs. Just, just post a video if that's what you wanna do. If you wanna, again, become a soccer player, just start, start playing. You'll figure it out. You'll get good along the way. No, it's, it's
Aaron Grushow: learned by doing. A hundred percent.
Aaron Grushow: It really is. Yeah. Yeah. The more you like, try and strategize and, and think about it, you're gonna [00:10:00] psych yourself out. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You just gotta start doing it.
Troy Osterberg: None of us knew what we were doing. Yeah. I still don't know what I'm doing. It's the same thing. I feel like when it, when it comes to even real estate and like your, your occupation.
Troy Osterberg: You don't have everything figured out. No. Like you know that you don't know a lot. Yeah. But you're just figured out along the way. Totally. So just like get started, just dive in the deep end and you'll finish. Yeah. You'll figure out how to swim.
Aaron Grushow: The more I, I, yeah. See my peers working. The more I see my mentors and the people I look up to Totally.
Aaron Grushow: The more I realize that everyone's just figuring out as they go. A hundred percent. You know, we're literally all just figuring out as we go. No one has all the answers. No. And especially, The world is constantly changing. Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. This whole social media thing, this whole content creator thing, like this is relatively new.
Aaron Grushow: Very, you know, very, and I think it's critical to, you know, growing personal brands, growing businesses. Mm-hmm. And I'm doing my best to leverage that. And, and you are. And other people as well, but I think like, just paying attention to trends as well is super important. Mm-hmm. [00:11:00] How, how do you do that? Like, do you spend a lot of time looking at what is trending?
Aaron Grushow: What's, what's coming up next? And trying
Troy Osterberg: to implement that To be honest. No, cuz again, like, like I said, um, my, my lifestyle is just the content. So it could be as simple as, um, us making a video right here being like, Hey guys, just did a podcast. You know, I probably wouldn't do that, but it'd be like something like just the moment that I'm living, I guess everything's like a slice of life of what I'm doing.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. So, um, yeah, to, to answer your question, I don't do a lot of trends. I mean, there's the occasional like fun one here and there where it's like, hey man, I don't really have anything for the day. Let's just have fun. But Yeah. Um, yeah. Trends to me is just like, they're very, like, they come and go so quickly.
Troy Osterberg: Right. That's what a trend is. Yeah. And I don't feel like, yeah, a hundred percent. That was a little silly to say. I just don't feel like, um, you really get that much out of like a singing or dancing trend. Totally. It's fun, it's entertaining and, and like a lot of people do it, and by all means, I'm not like hating on anyone's success.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. It's just like you don't really get to know a lot about a person by [00:12:00] watching them hit the red. You know, no, you're, you're totally right. I'd rather sit there and help, uh, you know, inspire 10 people than get a million views on me looking like an idiot on a trend. Yeah. You'd rather,
Aaron Grushow: you know, create real valuable content.
Aaron Grushow: Totally. I mean, I think that those are the two key things. If you want to have longevity online, creating content, I think you need to be authentic. Mm-hmm. And you need to create value driven content. Totally. You know? Yeah. And you, you definitely hit both of those points. I
Troy Osterberg: hope so, man. I, I try. I try.
Troy Osterberg: Sometimes it's just, uh, you know, sometimes it's, it's just a silly fun story where viewers are getting entertained and other times it's, uh, it's a piece of advice or, you know, whether it's like dating or, or motivational or whatever it may be. Yeah. You know? So,
Aaron Grushow: um, how has your life offline changed since you know your growth?
Aaron Grushow: Ex exponential growth online?
Troy Osterberg: Expon. Um, not, it hasn't really changed. No, no. I mean, I get recognized a couple more times. [00:13:00] Yeah. Which is cool. How does that feel? It's, uh, it's nice. It's fun. Yeah. Cause it's like a lot of people are just like, Whoa, you're so much shorter on offline. And I'm like, thanks, I appreciate that.
Troy Osterberg: Or, um, most people are like, you're exactly what I thought you'd be. And I was like, really cool. I mean, that's a good thing. I think I I love that. Yeah. That's like honestly the best, the best compliment. Yeah. You know, anyone can get, I think personally, a hundred percent. Um, so yeah, I don't know. We went to the coffee shop yesterday and I was like sitting there trying to like work, and I have people like tapping through the glass, being like, Hey, Troy, like, what are you, what are you editing?
Troy Osterberg: What are you working on? And came by and we sat for like 10 minutes. I try to give everyone like, A good amount of time just to like talk and get to know me. Yeah. Because like, you know, we're all people, you know, I'm no different than them and they're no different than me. We're just all trying to figure it out, like
Aaron Grushow: you said.
Aaron Grushow: A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, this goes back to what I said earlier, like, you truly treat people like family. I appreciate that. It doesn't matter who you are and I think that goes a long way. And again, like projects onto your content. Um, what have you learned about yourself [00:14:00] through this, you know, content journey?
Troy Osterberg: That's a good question. Um, I've learned that I may be a little bit more entertaining than I thought I would be. Okay. That's, that's, that's fair. Um, I don't know. That's a really, that's a really good question. Um, are we good on sound? Yeah, we're okay. Okay. Why don't we take it from the start of the question.
Troy Osterberg: Sure. You learn for yourself and then. Aaron, I'd say, uh, whenever you're reference, like when we're shifting to a new topic Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: With the bullet points, take a
Troy Osterberg: beat just like you would in a podcast. Like if you got like, just since it's
Aaron Grushow: visual Yeah. You might use like some kind of transition or something.
Troy Osterberg: Gotcha. Take a beat, glance at it, and then look up
Aaron Grushow: and ask the question. Gotcha. Okay. Sounds good. Um, you ready? Mm-hmm. What have you learned about yourself through your journey Creating.
Troy Osterberg: Um, what have I learned about [00:15:00] myself? It's a really solid question. Um,
Troy Osterberg: this kind of piggybacks off of what I, what I said, but, um, I don't have it figured out. Nobody really has it figured out, kind of what we, we mentioned earlier. Yeah. Is, um, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm on my way. Is that that fair? Yeah. I'm just, I'm just figuring it out along the way. Like, life is fun cuz it's just.
Troy Osterberg: Constant challenges, you know, the ups and downs and you just have to learn how to, uh, appreciate the good and uh, also appreciate the downs. Cuz that's kind of like your learning curve. Totally. I guess, you know? Yeah. So, um, to me I'm just, I don't know. I'm just, I'm just learning to enjoy the process. Yeah. I think that's kind of what.
Troy Osterberg: What I'm getting at right now. That's awesome.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah. So, just out of curiosity, what do those downs look like? Like I'm sure you've made mistakes. What have you learned from [00:16:00]
Troy Osterberg: Totally. I've learned everyone's made mistakes. Yeah. Um, I've learned not to do them again. So, yeah. You know, to keep things simple. Um, certain things I should, you know, certain things you should keep offline and, and, um, other things you can again, do for, for content, whatever.
Troy Osterberg: I don't know. I don't, I don't wanna say my ups and downs are very drastic, but yeah. Not saying my downs are anything like bad by any means. Um, I don't know. I'm just, I don't, I don't really have a solid answer that's quite over that, that be like, How does your, a little bit more about how your social, the social life has impacted your professional
Aaron Grushow: and personal life.
Aaron Grushow: Sure. A little bit more on both sides of like what you've learned from one and the other and how they interact with each other, their own. I don't know if that's something that might be of interesting. Yeah, that makes sense. We could do something
Troy Osterberg: like that. Standby. [00:17:00] Hit me with, uh, hit me with anything.
Troy Osterberg: I'll
Aaron Grushow: hit you.
Troy Osterberg: Was something, something
Aaron Grushow: juicy. What do you wanna talk about? Well, what Rex's Gotta one. Sure. And anything specific? You don't wanna talk about this? This
Troy Osterberg: is fine. No, I'm, I'm open.
Aaron Grushow: Maybe
Troy Osterberg: instead of learning by yourself, like what, have you ever had a piece of content, like maybe land in a way that you didn't expect or, sure.
Aaron Grushow: Like kind of
Troy Osterberg: decon, you know? Yeah, yeah,
Aaron Grushow: yeah. I dunno how Yeah.
Troy Osterberg: Controversy. That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think that might be a different way to talk about, yeah. Yeah. About yourself. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. That's fair.
Aaron Grushow: Um, cool. Um, I'm trying to think of how to ask that question. You
Troy Osterberg: can just say like, you know what, what, is there any other content that you put out there that the reaction or the execution of it turn into
Aaron Grushow: something very different than you thought it would be?
Troy Osterberg: Sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's [00:18:00] fair. Okay. Have you
Aaron Grushow: ever created a piece of content, put out a piece of content, um, in which you got reactions you really didn't expect?
Troy Osterberg: Uh, short, simple answer. Yes. Yeah. Um, yeah. Again, like I said, everyone on the internet has an opinion and they're entitled to their own opinion.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Um, some things can, can be a little bit misinterpreted. Yeah. Uh, certain ways, um, especially when. When you didn't intend for that video to. Be controversial, right? Or, or just be disrespectful maybe to towards certain religions. Um, I only say that because my, my best friends, um, are Muslim. Mm-hmm. And so we just want to, uh, Dubai and Saudi Arabia and just kind of like overseas.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Yeah. And while I'm sitting there having a lot of fun and learning about the culture and stuff, sometimes I may like [00:19:00] mispronounce a word, you know, wrong, which I really try my best. Or maybe like I'm, you know, I throw on. The iconic clothing and I do like a, a video in like a palace kind of thing. Yeah.
Troy Osterberg: And a lot of people are like, why would you do this, like in this sacred area? Or why would you, which it wasn't like it wasn't a disrespectful video. Um, I didn't think at least. Right. But, uh, yeah. To, to, to answer your. You definitely have certain videos just kind of taken the wrong way and it kind of blows up and makes you seem like a bad person.
Troy Osterberg: And uh, that kind of relates to the highs and lows of Yeah, the internet. Totally. So I would say that's more of like a low, where it's like, shoot, like now people think I'm a bad person. Even though your intentions were just so pure and wanting to like learn. I use that as an example cause it was just so fresh.
Troy Osterberg: No, it's a great example. Just so, so pure and, and, and, you know, Real of you just trying to like learn about someone's culture.
Aaron Grushow: [00:20:00] Definitely you. Yeah. How do you like overcome those negative thoughts? I'm sure people Yeah. You know, sort of made you question that
Troy Osterberg: decision. You know what I'll say, I'll say this because you, you asked me earlier, um, what have you learned about yourself?
Troy Osterberg: Um, I've learned to just let things go. Yeah. I've really just learned to like, let things just be what they are and you can't, it's me versus like a million people. You're not gonna win at the end of the day. Totally. So you just have to be like, secure enough with yourself where you're. All right. You know, that's what people are saying.
Troy Osterberg: I know that I'm not that, you know, and I'll just kind of go about my day. Um, if it's bad, just kind of get off the, get off line for a little bit. Yeah. And uh, you know, go in the ocean, go enjoy yourself for a little bit, and you can come back later. Everything dies out after a while, a hundred percent. You know?
Troy Osterberg: So it's kind of just if things happen and things do happen, just give it a break, you know? Can you ask from the flip side team, like, what are positive impacts or. Things that, that maybe you've seen, that you learned like, oh, I'm doing something [00:21:00] right. Cool. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Maybe ask that. Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: What signs have you seen along the way that made you go, I'm doing something right here, like
Troy Osterberg: this is working?
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. I like that. Um, I've had a lot of females, um, reach out just saying like, when I was giving my dating advice, say how I've, I've changed their lives. Um, which is a lot. They've changed it for them. Again, I was just kind of like helping them, you know, kind of give 'em that confidence. Yeah. Instill that, that, that, uh, inspiration with them themselves.
Troy Osterberg: Right. I should say. Um, but man, I used to have a PO box and I would just get letters after letters, like handwritten letters being like, you save me from like a very dark place. And that was very. Impactful and powerful for me. Um, and it made me feel great. It was a bummer cuz I, you know, when I was giving dating advice, I had so many people coming to me with, you know, dms or again letters saying, Hey, this is like my situation.
Troy Osterberg: How would you kind of overcome this? And [00:22:00] while I enjoyed it a lot, there were times where I got a little overwhelming and I remember calling my mom and I was like, mom, like, what am I supposed to do? I'm not, I'm not like a licensed therapist. Like I can't be giving all these people. Uh, which was like, it was like a blessing and a curse at the same time.
Troy Osterberg: Cause I'm like, this is so awesome. But then it got like, so overwhelming for me cause it's like I'm only like one person, you know? And I, and it's so great that you can like, reach so many people and that's how like powerful, like the internet is as a tool. Totally. Um, but like anything, you know, it, it's just, it was a bit overwhelming and I think that's kind of like why I shied away from that aspect of, of content.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Um, but. Yeah. Sorry, I took you, I took you on a little tangent there.
Aaron Grushow: No, I, I love it. That was, that was great. Yeah. Sometimes, like, at least for me, like I'm desensitized to kind of like having an audience and having people actually pay attention to what you're doing. Sure. And I'm, I'm wondering if you sort of feel that way sometimes.
Troy Osterberg: Why would you say that? Why do you feel [00:23:00] desensitized? Um,
Aaron Grushow: just cause I feel like I've been creating content for like three, four years now. Sure. And. Yeah. It's cool to see a little number with like 1.4 million. Totally. But like Totally. Yeah. It doesn't mean as much as it did. Sure. You know? That's fair. And, and I think, um, I take it for granted sometimes.
Aaron Grushow: Mm-hmm. Um, which is not a good thing. Yeah. Um, and I, I always try to do my best to remind myself and, and be grateful Sure. For, you know, yeah. What I've been able to accomplish and, and do and, and not take that audience for granted. Um, have you ever sort of felt that way in a sense? Do you still, you know, wake up every day and are like, oh my God, like this is
Troy Osterberg: insane?
Troy Osterberg: No, it's, it's definitely cool, but it loses its, its spark I guess, right? Yeah. Um, yeah. At the end of the day, I always say it's just a number. Yeah. That's not me taking, uh, that's not me saying like, it doesn't mean anything to me. Yeah. Um, but it's just not as like powerful as like, [00:24:00] again, at the end of the day, everyone.
Troy Osterberg: At TikTok, everyone has like a substantial following, which is really cool. Um, I think for us is like, we've seen it, um, we've seen that number for so long that it kind of, like you said, I guess you kind of become desensitized to it in a way. Um, I'm still grateful Yeah. For everyone that so Grateful follows me.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Uh, I think it might be a little bit more real sometimes and reminds me when I get, you know, the dms or, or. The in-person connection with? Hundred percent. Oh my God, Troy, like, I watch you online. Like I know everything. Yeah. You know about you. And I was walking, I went to New York like two weeks ago with a, a couple of friends for a birthday, and it's like nice when you're just walking down the street and everyone's like, oh my God, that's Troy on TikTok.
Troy Osterberg: Or like, oh, that's, and they're like, Troy, like we love you. Like, so that reminds me like, okay, I'm doing something right. Yeah. You know? So I feel like when I see it in person or when I experience it in person, it kind of like reminds me. Like you're on the right track. Yeah. But then when you're at home, you're just sitting on the couch and you may like pull it up.
Troy Osterberg: It's not like I like [00:25:00] pull up. I'm like, whoa. Like, that's insane, you
Aaron Grushow: know? No, that's, that's really cool. Yeah, I, I definitely don't have as much in-person, you know, recognition. As you do. Um, it, it's, yeah. It's must be strange. You don't need that though. No,
Troy Osterberg: it
Aaron Grushow: doesn't. That's not ever something I've looked for, you know?
Aaron Grushow: Um, I really just started to create content for fun. Yeah. Like it was, and you should, it was truly just, just for fun. Um,
Troy Osterberg: and that's why we loved it so much. Exactly. That's really why we loved
Aaron Grushow: it so much. Yeah. It's, it's just a creative outlet. And I know you're a very creative guy, so I'm assuming that you started to do it for similar reasons.
Aaron Grushow: Why did you start, you know, really posting and creating.
Troy Osterberg: Oh, good question. Um, I started posting solely because, uh, the pandemic hit and I was acting at the time. Yeah. And we couldn't go into our coachings and we couldn't go into classes and we were on set, just, you know, because everyone was kind of allocated to their house.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Um, so I started doing like little lip syncing acting videos in my living room. Mm-hmm. [00:26:00] And. I just kind of found, you know, I found it, I felt like I found a cheat code for TikTok because while I was like making these acting videos, I would post them and then, you know, the girls or the guys and the other, you know, as the other person in the scene would duet on their channel.
Troy Osterberg: So then, you know, it was here for my channel. Then other people would start dueting it, show their followers, and it kind of grew from there. And yeah, again, it was by mistake. I was there just, I, I, I slowly just didn't have an acting coach. Yeah. So that was the way I can like, look at my facial expressions and try to figure out like, oh, like, you know, like do this or this or this.
Troy Osterberg: It was, it's so silly. So it turned in, that grew for a little bit. Then I started opening, opening my mouth on TikTok, um, which was the dating. Uh, and I was really in it. I was reading books after books, dude. I was like, man, am I gonna become like a love coach? And um, from there I did that. And then I just kind of transitioned into like the lifestyle.
Troy Osterberg: Cause I was like, there's a [00:27:00] bit more content just based off of like the scenes in your life, right? As opposed to being like, Hey babe. Don't let that guy do that, Jing. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. No, a
Aaron Grushow: hundred percent. We're about 30 minutes in, just so you know.
Troy Osterberg: Cool. Even though we've had a little, like, breaks here and there, but
Aaron Grushow: Okay.
Aaron Grushow: Cool. Um, I don't want to get too technical and in-depth, um, here, but what sort of like tips and tricks have you used to, to grow online? Is there any, you know, best techniques you're willing to share?
Troy Osterberg: Um, uh, I was using, Certain, I used an app for a while, uh, called, uh, community texting app. Okay. I basically just had like a whole texting database.
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. And I feel like I, you know, again, kind of cracked the code when Yeah. I would, I had thousands of kids. Um, I had thousands of people's like numbers, which was really cool. Yeah. And I would text them every day, um, just to kind of build that relationship. Nice. And then as I would post [00:28:00] TikTok videos, I would take the video.
Troy Osterberg: Put it in my, in my text messages and just blast it out. So within minutes, I had thousands of kids watching it. Wow. As opposed to posting it online, just kind of letting it take its course. Yeah. So I kind of like, I kind of cheated the system in a way, and I told so many people about it. I was like, guys, you gotta get on this app.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, Which is something I'm currently working on is, is another rendition of that Uhhuh, um, which is my future endeavors. We'll get there. I'd love to hear more about that, but, uh, but yeah, that was like my little, my little crack of the code, if you will. Yeah. Um, for a little bit.
Troy Osterberg: But other than that, um, it's so hard to say, but just. Just be consistent with your posting. You know, it's just like, I, you hate to hear it, but that's really what it comes down to. It's true. Yeah. It really is. And you have to like, you have to be very genuine and organic. So if you don't love what your, what you're doing, don't do it.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. People can see through it a hundred percent. Yeah. You could, you could see it's, it's all faked. So, um, yeah, be consistent. Those were the tools I used back in the day. [00:29:00] Um, yeah.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah. No, that's, that's great.
Troy Osterberg: Um, repurpose content, I guess. That's fair. Yeah. Just put on, you know, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels and Facebook, uh, reels and so forth.
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. I'd say that's a big one. Just so you're putting on four or five different platforms as opposed to one. Yeah. Um, so I guess that could be your little cheat code, but everybody does that, so I feel like I'm not giving you anything completely revolutionary. No, those are good. Like,
Aaron Grushow: Group the idea of like an engagement group.
Aaron Grushow: Sure. You know, is, is genius. Yeah. And I think everyone sort of have like an inner circle where you can send your video and get that immediate, you know, engagement. I think that goes a long way. Mm-hmm. Especially on, you know, short form video platforms, like to talk in reels. Sure. Yeah. That's, that's honestly genius.
Aaron Grushow: Figure that out. It worked for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure it would still work, honestly.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: What do you think is, is next in, in the world of content creation and, you know, short form video, do you see the [00:30:00] longevity of TikTok with everything that's going on in the world, or, yeah. What's next?
Troy Osterberg: Uh, great question.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. I don't know if I knew it was next. I think we'd all, you know, kind of be ahead of the, the. Um, stampede, I should say. Yeah. Um, I don't know. There's, there's obviously a lot of like, apps that are coming out now, trying to be somewhat TikTok. Yeah. I feel like YouTube is just like the bread and butter though, right.
Troy Osterberg: You know, if you, if you got it on YouTube, fantastic. I, I think maybe, and this is my personal opinion, and like 10, 5, 10 years, everyone will have like kind of a reality show. Mm-hmm. And that'll be curated through, um, YouTube, probably not TikTok, um, That's kind of where I see the direction going. And when I say reality show, I don't mean keeping up with the Kardashians reality show.
Troy Osterberg: Right. It'll just be like as simple as this. Like this is what you're doing. Yeah. And it's just like, it's just tons of content about you and your lifestyle and Yeah. You know, people love seeing what other people are doing in their life. So, um, that's where I see it going. But again, do I have any clue [00:31:00] what's going on?
Troy Osterberg: Probably not the right person. Yeah,
Aaron Grushow: I'm sure you're more, uh, credible than you may think in tune.
Troy Osterberg: I don't, I don't know. That's very sweet of you. No, but I don't know. We're figuring it out. We're
Aaron Grushow: figuring it out. I agree though, I think like the authentic nature of like, you know, kind of reality type shows mm-hmm.
Aaron Grushow: People are really drawn
Troy Osterberg: to that. They love it. Yeah. It's, it's very interesting to see, you know, what Joe is cooking on YouTube and what, uh, Whitney is wearing to the Met Gala. People wanna see the,
Aaron Grushow: the behind the. Totally. The moments between mm-hmm. I think are
Troy Osterberg: so huge because those are the most authentic and real moments as opposed to you putting on a dress and being like, oh, this is what I'm wearing out.
Troy Osterberg: It's like they want to see you, like trying to throw on the dress and like falling over on the bed and like maybe tearing it and you're like, oh shoot, what do I do? I have to go there. Like that's real. That's, to me, that's the content. Yeah. So that's why I try to highlight and promote as opposed to, you know, me, like I don't, again, I don't wanna look so perfect online.
Troy Osterberg: I want everyone to like re. With me just being like, that's a normal ass dude. Yeah. You know, like that's exactly the same struggles I go through. Yeah. Or the same thing that I [00:32:00] experience going to the grocery store. Yeah. So that's what I try to highlight and promote as opposed to, you know, yeah. Life is perfect.
Troy Osterberg: I
Aaron Grushow: love that. You know? Yeah. I, I think that makes, you know, complete sense why you've been able to achieve what you have. Like Sure, you are real. And I think that's important for any personal brand. Whether you're a real estate agent, totally content creator, totally working at a grocery store. Totally. You
Troy Osterberg: know, be you.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. That's, that's all you, that's all you can do. Yeah. A hundred percent.
Aaron Grushow: You know. So what's, uh, what's next in the world of Troy Oserberg? What's, uh, what's, what's the
Troy Osterberg: next venture for you? Uh, I'm just, I'm working on an app right now. I'm really excited on it. Nice. Um, it's a nice little combination of, of kind of that texting app.
Troy Osterberg: And kind of, I'm just trying to figure out a, a more direct way that you can curate, uh, relationships with creators slash celebrities, whatever you wanna call 'em. Yeah. And the fans, you know, so, uh, something along the lines of having like direct text communication mm-hmm. Where, [00:33:00] um, the, the creator slash celebrity can monetize through that as well.
Troy Osterberg: Totally. Um, so yeah, not to get too in depth, I don't wanna bore you with the whole story, but, um, that's, What I'm working on right now is, again, like that's a tool that I used for so long and really like helped me. Uh, and I still have kids till this day be like, do you still have your texting app? Like where is it?
Troy Osterberg: Where is it? Um, I'm not using that anymore cuz they were actually charging the creators to like do something like that. Yeah. So I'm trying to flip the script where like, the creator has good con contact with or direct communication with, with the, um, fan. Yeah. And if the creator wants, they can, you know, monetize.
Troy Osterberg: You know, texts and content and phone calls and games and so forth. That's awesome. So, yeah.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah, I think there's definitely, uh, room for, for something like that. Like you said, there are, you know, other platforms Totally. Yeah. Um, that have seen some success, but mm-hmm. I think being able to create a more genuine one-on-one connection.
Aaron Grushow: Is something that could be extremely [00:34:00] lucrative Yeah. For, you know,
Troy Osterberg: yourself and not even just lucrative, it's just, again, it's, it's to curate the relationship. And I've done it and I've seen how powerful it it is and it really did help me get to here. You know, not saying I'm the biggest thing since sliced bread, but I'm just, you know, it's, maybe you are.
Troy Osterberg: It's helped me. It's healthy. Just, you know, hostess spread, but it's helped me. Um, yeah. I'm sitting here with you. You are.
Aaron Grushow: So I think it, it's all about growing your community, right? Mm-hmm. Um, I think when people say they
Troy Osterberg: want to have a growing the community, sorry, I'm cutting you off. Yeah. No. Growing the community, but also really like, like curating it, like really solidifying that relationship.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Because like you can have a community, like you can have a million people following you. Yeah. But if people only follow you, just. To watch a, you know, a video and, and watch you get dressed like, yeah, cool. You really want people to be like interacting, like, where do you get that? Like how, what are the reviews?
Troy Osterberg: What do you think on that? Exactly. That's, that's kind of where I think as, as, as opposed to just giving them like, Like a 2D kind of thing. Yeah, I want that. Like 3D 40, where like people are like, whoa, there's so much more than just the visual. A [00:35:00] hundred percent. You know? And that's kind of like what I look forward to in, in content and, and business outside of, you know, the platform.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. I mean,
Aaron Grushow: yeah, a hundred percent. I think, you know, having a large audience, that's great, but if they're not super engaged totally. Then there's, you know, if they're not
Troy Osterberg: as much value's. Yeah. If they're not fans, and I hate fandom. No, but it's, I hate that word. I say friends. I don't call my fans fans.
Troy Osterberg: They're like my friends. Like, that's literally what it is. And I have full, you know, relationships outside of the platform with those people. Right. Um, but yeah, I get, for lack of better words, like if they're not true like fans, if they're not like hards, then you're not doing something. My personal opinion.
Troy Osterberg: No, I
Aaron Grushow: completely agree with you. Yeah. Awesome, man. Well, I think that's a, a great way to leave this off. Thanks so much for joining me. Yeah, no, thank, appreciate it. I appreciate it as always. I appreciate it. That was a lot of fun. You're a legend. Yeah. Love you. Thanks. Cool. Excellent. Awesome. We always like to give, I think that was awesome.
Aaron Grushow: Is there anything else you, [00:36:00] either of you
Troy Osterberg: feel you want to go back to? Just something you like the answer controlling me? No, I don't have like a, an ulterior motive. Asking that question. It's just something that I like to give the opportunity to do. I'm, I'm totally good. Sweet. If you got anything you wanna ask, go for it.
Troy Osterberg: Two cheat
Aaron Grushow: message.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. I had two questions. And you don't necessarily, and again, if, if y'all don't want to talk about, like, you know, you mentioned, um, a texting app that you were involved with beforehand. Mm-hmm. Um, I'd love to hear a little more content. It sounds like you've been thinking a lot about the relationship between creators and their audiences.
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. Um, I'd love to hear a bit more about that. I'm not fully sure the question, the other question I was wondering. Cause I also dunno how much time we have mm-hmm. With you. No, we're good. Uh, the other question I was also wondering about is, uh, are there creators that you follow that you think are doing like very interesting things in the, who gave you inspiration?
Troy Osterberg: Okay. Yeah, I like that. [00:37:00] That's, that's actually really nice. Yeah, let's go with that one. Okay, cool. Awesome. Um, let me pick and choose who I like. Think about it. Heard that.
Troy Osterberg: Pick and choose who I like. Um, yeah. Yeah. We're good. Cool. Whenever you're ready. We're still recording.
Aaron Grushow: Awesome. I'm really curious who you draw inspiration from. Who do you look up to in the, you know, content creator space and just go, wow,
Troy Osterberg: they're doing it right. Yeah, they're really doing it right. Yeah. Um, I feel like, I feel like the talk of the town right now is Alex Earl.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. I feel like everyone and their mom knows who that is. Yeah. Uh, it's wild. And it was really nice. I got to, I got to meet her in Dubai and um, super sweet. I just feel like, again, she's just like authentically, she's so like, like [00:38:00] unapologetically herself. Yeah. Which is what's great. And that really resonates with just a lot of.
Troy Osterberg: Um, I, it's so funny. I sit here and I just keep on going back to the fact where it's just like authentic, genuine nature, and that's just really what it comes down to. Yeah. Maybe that's because that's who I follow. Mm-hmm. You know, and, and those are the people that I like to watch. Um, uh, well, like, again, the twins are like my best friends.
Troy Osterberg: Theon twins are, are wonderful girls. Yeah. And, um, I took a lot of inspiration going on this trip with a lot of these, these women just because, like, I saw how they do things behind the scenes mm-hmm. And how they film. So, um, I drew inspiration from, um, from a lot of these girls in terms of, uh, content wise Yeah.
Troy Osterberg: And how to, how to like, produce the content. Yeah. Um, I know that's, that might be a little. Of the topic? No,
Aaron Grushow: I'd love to know like what, what, here's a pro
Troy Osterberg: tip differently. Here's a pro tip. Um, a lot of people are gonna steal this one cause this is like my bread and butter right now. Mm-hmm. Um. [00:39:00] A lot of these women, uh, will take their phone as opposed to like filming in the app.
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. They'll flip it so it's back camera. Yeah. And have their whole like, lighting system around it. Mm-hmm. And just record for like 10, 15 minutes of them doing their thing. You know, like a lot of them were just obviously putting their makeup on cuz they're were on a makeup trip. Yeah. I went on the tart trip.
Troy Osterberg: It was like a really big makeup thing. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize how big it was until I was there and everyone's texting me being like, Yo dude, you're on like the biggest makeup. And I was like, I had no idea. I'm just riding a camel right now. Like, how, how am I supposed to know? That's awesome. But, um, it was so cool because what I got from it was a lot of them weren't so pressed on time on the Instagram and just being like, oh shoot, I'm running out of space.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. They're like, let me just film it. If I mess up, I mess up. If things go well, then great. And then I'll just take that 15, 20 minute video and kind of condense it down in another app outside of TikTok. Mm-hmm. Um, so that was really cool cause that really inspired me. Produce my content differently, which was, which was nice.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Um, but, uh, in [00:40:00] terms of just people that I look up to, uh, my whole for you page is just, is just. Creators that are themselves. That's literally what it is. Yeah. It's like that. And maybe, you know, maybe like a chef making like pizza or something like that, you know, it's like, okay, I wanna try that. But it's just everyone and everyone has their own little shtick.
Troy Osterberg: Like that's, you know, you have a guy who's just so fun, can skateboard and do back flips. Yeah. And then there's a girl that just does like heard, get ready with mes. Like makeup wise, I don't even know why I watched like the makeup videos to be totally. But they're just so entertaining. They really are. And, uh, I like the idea of telling a story while doing something.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Personally, it captivates like your viewer a little bit better than if you just set it up and you're just talking. Um, just having like that one like audio appeal and the visual appeal of like, You know, so I kind of always ask myself, how can I do like the get ready with mes that the women do?
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. And, and some men and, and kind of turn it into like my own thing. So that's kind of why I try to do [00:41:00] like my, like morning walks where I'm like walking, doing a couple. So I'm telling a story, but then I try to keep in, if a car goes by and it honks, it's tore at someone, I'm like, I'll always keep that in.
Troy Osterberg: Cause that's, that's real. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So it's not necessarily sitting there and looking, making yourself look great and you know, which is very entertaining. You've seen a dime a dozen, but, um, it's something along those lines, if you will.
Aaron Grushow: Yeah, I think that makes complete sense. Sorry, that was a lot.
Aaron Grushow: No, that was, that was great. You touched on storytelling, which I think is. So critical. Mm-hmm. And you know, you, everyone has a story to tell. Yeah. Everyone's got a story to tell. Yeah. They do. Doesn't matter what it is. Yeah. If you can find a way to, you know, paint it in a engaging Totally. You know, yeah.
Aaron Grushow: Captivating way. Mm-hmm. Like you can do really, really well. Mm-hmm. And it could be a story about just about anything. Just about anything,
Troy Osterberg: you know? Yeah. It could be about you adopting a dog and people were like, that is awesome. Yeah. You know, also, uh, I'd say another, Thing that I, I see and I personally really enjoy is when people tell a story, but they also add images [00:42:00] or videos.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. With a voiceover. Yeah. It's a little bit more like engaging and, and visually appealing just cuz people are able to like live that moment with you. Totally. So that might be a pro tip for some of your viewers to kind of like, you know, if they're thinking about creating and, and even you, it's like as simple as like how.
Troy Osterberg: Uh, talk in your videos and you're like, Hey, today we're gonna go to Malibu, whatever. And it's like you driving and you're getting there and then it cuts on you and you're talking and then it could cut to another frame where you're on the beach. It just, to me, that's just like a lot and it's, it's great cuz people are just like three seconds and four seconds, right?
Troy Osterberg: No, our
Aaron Grushow: tension span is just dwindling. TikTok made it that way. It's do say like, it has completely changed the way we. Interact with content. Yeah. Like we need to be engaged. Yeah. I need things flashing on the screen. I need things popping up, need percent need quick, you know, transitions. It's, it's crazy.
Aaron Grushow: Mm-hmm. The way that we now edit videos has completely changed. Completely changed because of, you know, TikTok and short form
Troy Osterberg: content. Yeah. Which I'm, I'm very, um, aware of when it comes to editing my style of content because, I [00:43:00] always try to make my scenes in like the long, you know, video in a full TikTok.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. I guess I try to make my scenes anywhere from like three to five seconds. Yeah. And then boom, on just another scene. It's still like telling the same exact story. It's just like as simple as like, Hey guys, what's up? How are you today? Whatever, blah blah. Today we're gonna be doing this. You know, so it's, that's three frames as opposed to, Hey guys, what's up today?
Troy Osterberg: We're gonna do, does that make sense? A hundred percent. Yeah. So that's kind of like a little pro tip, which a lot of people do and no. Yeah. I mean, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Just something I kind of keep in mind when it comes to making content. Yeah, definitely.
Aaron Grushow: Especially for like short form, it's all about, you know, keeping that viewer retention totally as high as possible.
Aaron Grushow: Mm-hmm. And I think, you know, getting quick transitions, getting rid of all the dead space. Yeah. Um, it's such a simple thing, but. A lot of people don't necessarily do it. So I, I would highly suggest, you know. Yeah, totally. If you're looking to create shorter form content, try and just eliminate the dead space as much as possible.
Troy Osterberg: Mm-hmm. But sometimes the dead space is [00:44:00] crucial because it really validates your next point. Yeah. It really hits at home. No, you're right. But obviously, you know, you kind of have that like once in a video. Yeah. I wouldn't necessarily put it every other sentence. Yeah.
Aaron Grushow: I guess it's, it's all a balance cuz like the dead space could be.
Aaron Grushow: Authentic gold symbol. Totally.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah. Totally, totally, totally. So don't, don't make your thing so perfect. Throw in the crummy yesness to make it real. That's what I'm gonna say. Yeah. Sorry, I'm not supposed to look at the camera. But that's for you. That's for you.
Aaron Grushow: That's a great tip from Troy. Yeah. Tips with Troy.
Aaron Grushow: Tips. So, Troy, wait second.
Troy Osterberg: Yeah, maybe we should switch positions real quick. I should be interviewing you.
Aaron Grushow: I love that. Awesome.