Creator Unplugged

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At 26, Valeria Lipovetsky was a self-described gray mouse: a mom of two in the suburbs of Toronto who felt the world was too big for her. So she adopted a five-word rule: I do whatever scares me, and pressed post. Ten years later, she runs a media company built around her story, with brand partnerships that have lasted longer than most careers in this industry.

Jun and Valeria get into the roots of it all: her north star (her mother) who immigrated 3 times without the language and rebuilt every time, and the father she knew from a single photograph cut in half, until she flew to Russia at 26 to meet him and ended up posting the video that changed how she shows up online.

Then she gets into the operator side, why she chose to shut down a profitable business, how she fostered long-term brand deals with brands like Dior and David Yurman, and why she hired a CEO for her personal brand back when nobody understood what that even meant.

This episode is for the creator hiding behind polished content, the professional who thinks their life is too ordinary to post about, and anyone still staring at a video they’re too scared to publish.

Chapters:

• 02:34 “I do whatever scares me”
• 04:46 The gray mouse syndrome
• 06:31 The paycheck that made her husband a believer
• 09:45 The mother who immigrated 3 times
• 12:20 Making people feel less alone
• 16:12 Filming the trip to meet her biological father
• 18:48 Hate comments as a guiding light
• 21:22 Vulnerability isn’t crying online
• 26:56 Shutting down a profitable brand
• 30:07 Creatives need systems
• 35:22 Why she rarely does one-off brand deals
• 38:03 Virality isn’t a business
• 44:45 Everybody is interesting, zoom in
• 46:53 Charisma is a game of repetition
• 51:55 The next fear she’s tackling

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

📥 Content is the dream job. ManyChat is the system behind it. Try Manychat PRO free for a month at https://get.manychat.com/real-job with code CREATOR.

🗓️ Learn the art of storytelling by signing up for our final FREE live webinar of the year on November 18-22: https://creatorcollege.com/c/free-live-webinar2

📧 Bookings/Partnerships: [email protected]

Jessica Carter ran the numbers on her waitlist and decided that if her mini-editing course made $10,000, the work would be worth it. It went on to do around $700,000. This is the story of how a mom who spent 10 years posting with almost nothing to show for it, freebies nobody downloaded, videos that went nowhere, finally cracked it.

Jun and Jessica trace the whole arc from the beginning: the basic editing tutorial that felt too silly to post until it went viral, the DM that changed her perspective on selling, and how she built (and confirmed) demand for her course.

Then she gets into the launch itself, with none of the polish you’d expect. No funnel, selling through stories, her sisters jumping in to help with DMs, income reports twice a day because the audience demanded them, and more. Plus the husband-reaction reel that pulled 12 million views and took her page from 70K to over 220K, the hate that came with it, and her faith that kept every scary step steady.

This episode is for the creator who’s years in with nothing to show for it yet, the mom who wants to build an income without pretending to be a guru, and anyone sitting on an idea waiting to feel like an expert first.

Chapters:

• 02:44 The editing video that felt too silly to post
• 03:33 “You’re not a professor, you’re a tutor”
• 07:02 A decade of reps that went nowhere
• 12:07 How she scripts and practices every video
• 17:13 When content stopped being about ego
• 18:54 The video that converted 1 in 2 profile visits
• 22:21 Testing demand before building anything
• 28:01 The DMs that turned a launch into a duty
• 29:02 The messy behind-the-scenes
• 32:42 Her pricing strategy
• 38:36 Teaching for free without losing the sale
• 41:23 Why she opens and closes doors in seasons
• 42:34 The 12M view reel that blew up her page
• 46:39 Income reports
• 49:59 The faith underneath all of it

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

📥 Content is the dream job. ManyChat is the system behind it. Try Manychat PRO free for a month at https://get.manychat.com/real-job with code CREATOR.

📧 Bookings/Partnerships: [email protected]

Hannah Wilson had no idea how to run an Instagram page when she walked into the Insta360 office and demanded a job. After 3 months of persistence they gave in, and her job description became two words: go viral. In a country where she didn’t speak the language, she figured it out, and she’s been figuring it out ever since, building a multi-six-figure business from her phone, out of one suitcase, across more countries than most people visit in a lifetime.

Jun and Hannah unpack the system underneath it all: reverse engineering every piece of content from a concrete objective, the 3 buckets of content she posts weekly, why she stopped taking small brand deals to go premium, and the paid community she shut down and refunded within a month because it didn’t feel aligned.

She then opens up about being more tired of being seen than she’s ever been, and why that feeling is the signal to evolve, not quit. Her next era is already taking shape behind the camera where she’s being paid for how she thinks. She says creators are the most underutilized strategic resource in business, and the smart ones will start getting paid in equity, not just cash.

This episode is for the creator stuck on the hamster wheel posting the same thing every day, the expert who knows they’re worth more than a one-off brand deal, and anyone who needs proof you can start with zero followers and zero clout.

Chapters:

• 03:01 Change before you feel ready
• 05:09 Exposure therapy for an extraordinary life
• 07:56 300 followers and a job to go viral
• 09:10 Reverse engineering virality
• 12:44 The three kinds of content she makes weekly
• 16:27 Evolving without losing your audience
• 19:53 The wrong KPIs beginners chase
• 21:32 A content creator vs. someone creating content
• 23:54 “Tired of being seen”
• 29:31 Her mother as her inspiration
• 36:11 From one keynote to $70K in speaking
• 39:46 The paid community she refunded in a month
• 42:33 Brands need to act like creators
• 49:06 Why creators should be paid in equity
• 55:44 Angel investing without the fantasy
• 1:00:05 How she splits her money
• 1:02:49 “The woman that can do it all”

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

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📧 Bookings/Partnerships: [email protected]

Vivian Tu made $625,000 in her final year at BuzzFeed. She walked away anyway, terrified, with $100,000 set aside and a plan. Today, she's the creator behind Your Rich BFF, author of two New York Times bestsellers, podcast host, and the founder of Ask Dolly, a personal finance and AI companion app.

This conversation is about the money side of content that almost nobody talks about: Why she saved a year of runway before quitting, how creator income actually works, the sponsors she turns down no matter the number, and the brand deal playbook every creator needs before they sign their next deal.

She then gets into the parts that decide whether any of it lasts and how she’s already building her next reinvention before this one runs out, so that you can build something that outlives the algorithm too.

This episode is for the creator who treats content like a business (or knows they need to start), the expert afraid that showing their life will cost them credibility, and anyone who wants their success to outlast their relevance window.

Chapters:

• 01:47 Why your personal life is your superpower
• 02:23 Every expert is replaceable
• 05:55 "I don't actually like making content"
• 10:24 The two-day content week
• 14:08 Walking away from $625K
• 16:31 WME, a podcast, and a book deal in 8 months
• 21:07 Use your 9-to-5 to fund your 5-to-9
• 24:49 What brands actually grade you on
• 28:18 Funnel content: awareness to conversion
• 35:54 How hundreds of DMs a day became an app
• 39:42 Why she refused to raise VC money
• 46:53 A creator's shelf life is 5 to 10 years
• 50:55 "Build a life YOU are proud of, not just your parents"

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

🎙️ With Riverside, launching your own podcast has never been easier. Go to https://creators.riverside.com/CreatorUnplugged and use code JunYuh for one month for FREE on the Pro or Glow Plan.

Bookings/Partnerships: [email protected]

Adley Kinsman spent four years making videos that couldn’t crack 5,000 views. Then the unlock happened. Her company Viralish now pulls in a billion views a month, she’s Meta’s most viewed female creator, and with over 80 billion organic views she can explain exactly why one video dies at 10,000 views while its twin clears 100,000.

Adley explains exactly how Viralish engineers attention, the 90% rule for hooks, why tension equals retention, why niching down keeps experts invisible, and the frameworks her team runs on: simple, repeatable, scalable. Jun and Adley also dig deeper and talk about overcoming imposter syndrome, why passion fades the moment you stop winning (and how to avoid it), and the question that rewires anxious creators: are you making content about yourself, or for the people you serve?

This episode is for the expert whose content is useful but invisible, the business owner who’s been told to niche down, and anyone who wants people to actually watch the content they creator.

Chapters:

• 02:35 The 10K vs. 100K video breakdown
• 04:49 The retention numbers Viralish aims for
• 10:21 Stop calling out your avatar
• 13:53 What people say they watch vs. what they actually watch
• 16:18 Selling to clients with money vs. without
• 18:41 Imposter syndrome never goes away
• 23:44 Entertaining doesn’t mean silly
• 26:56 Entertain the masses, educate the interested, sell to the committed
• 32:24 Cultural vs. contextual relevance
• 34:10 Finding your story: go to the pain
• 41:25 Conversion content frameworks
• 45:20 Her best-performing ad is one sentence
• 47:06 Making the ordinary extraordinary
• 50:57 Service media, not social media
• 52:25 “Passion is BS”
• 54:36 When your why outgrows you

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

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Brock Johnson has taught Instagram strategy for almost a decade and built an audience of a million followers doing it. Jun and Brock get into the system that made him one of the most consistent creators in the game from the story bank he’s kept since his early days to the task-batching workflow that films a month of reels in one sitting.

They also break down what’s working on Instagram right now, the two kinds of content that will win over the next few years, the number one rule that keeps videos feeling real, and a trial reels playbook that gets one video three separate rounds of reach.

Then Brock opens up the business side: the funnel behind his audience, why he runs one offer instead of many, and the reason every creator needs an email list.

This episode is for creators tired of overthinking their content, the expert whose page is all value and no story, and anyone who’s ready to own more of what they’ve built.

Chapters:

• 02:48 How Jun and Brock met
• 03:31 Breaking the “only share value” rule
• 09:11 Weaving your life into your content
• 10:46 Build a story bank
• 15:58 Brock's upbringing in an entrepreneurial household
• 20:25 How to practice discipline
• 25:43 Work-life balance as priority number one
• 30:10 Batching 30 reels in one sitting
• 32:31 Hiring, leadership and who's on Brock’s team today
• 43:39 Realness comes from speed
• 51:21 The trial reels playbook
• 58:02 Inside Brock’s funnel
• 1:09:18 What still matters in 5 years

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

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Partnerships/Inquiries: [email protected]

Vishen Lakhiani built Mindvalley into a nine-figure company on blogs and email, and avoided the camera until age 40. Jun talks with Vishen about why founders who stay invisible are shooting themselves in the foot, and how showing up on camera helped take Mindvalley from $30M to $140M.

Vishen unpacks the childhood programming that makes being seen feel unsafe, and traces his own back being bullied in school, plus the healing practice that finally freed him to post.

Then comes the masterclass: his full storytelling framework with real examples, the science of why stories are 22x more memorable than facts, why confident voices beat qualified ones online, and the trick for creators who think they have no original ideas.

At the end, Vishen flips the interview, pulling Jun's real story out of him layer by layer, and ends with a warning that everyone needs to hear.

This is an episode you don't want to miss.

Chapters:

• 02:36 The limiting beliefs Vishen started with
• 04:20 "Is it too late for me?" and starting at 40
• 06:10 The video that took on Nestlé
• 08:07 How storytelling took Mindvalley from $30M to $140M
• 10:49 Visibility wounding, explained
• 15:24 The inner child & the meaning-making machine
• 22:40 The practice for healing your fear of being seen
• 25:04 The HSTSS storytelling framework
• 25:46 The hook
• 32:28 The stakes
• 33:21 The turn
• 38:45 The scene
• 45:09 Vishen flips the interview on Jun
• 55:05 Why Vishen won't stop until a million lives change

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

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Make sure you follow the podcast wherever you're listening right now! It takes 2 seconds and ensures you never miss any of our upcoming episodes.

Partnerships/Inquiries: [email protected]

Jordan Schwarzenberger is the co-founder of Arcade, the entertainment company behind some of the biggest names in the creator world, and he has news for you: you're probably not as entertaining as you think you are.

At 29, Jordan runs multiple companies, leads a 22-person agency, hosts his own podcast, and is raising 5 kids. Jun starts where most interviews don't: how he holds it all together.

Jordan's answer runs through faith, why pride is at the root of most professional self-sabotage, and the ordering of his life that makes everything else work.

Then it gets tactical: why the future belongs to "content engineers," what makes people care enough to follow you, why delivery beats hooks, and how to stop sounding like a presenter.

And for those of you interested in expanding to live events, Jordan breaks down his fool-proof formula for his live-events business.

This is for anyone who wants to stop guessing at content and start engineering it, and for the ambitious ones trying to build big without losing themselves in the process.

Chapters:

• 02:20 What anchors Jordan
• 11:35 Pride, humility & checking yourself
• 17:26 How he manages it all
• 19:35 Detachment: the skill nobody talks about
• 25:28 Why experts won't own their story
• 28:41 Content is engineering, not talent
• 34:17 How to actually sound natural
• 39:48 Why full-time creator shouldn't be the goal
• 42:30 The economics of live events
• 52:14 The trust crisis on social platforms
• 53:23 Instagram's big mistake
• 55:49 Scarcity & spontaneity always win
• 57:47 What he wants to be remembered for

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun’s Instagram

📌 Ditch all the social planning tools for Rella. Go to getrella.com and use code “CREATOR" for 10% off your first three months or annual plan.

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Partnerships/Inquiries: [email protected]

When something feels off with your health, you probably don't open Google anymore, you open TikTok, Instagram, Reddit... And for millions of people, the voice they land on is Dr. Karan Rajan, the surgeon who made the internet comfortable talking about the things it was too embarrassed to ask a doctor.

Jun talks with Karan about what it means to be a trusted voice at scale, how to spot a fake expert (the red flags are more subtle than you think), and how he protects his credibility while building his supplement company Loam.

They also get into the content strategy behind it all - reaction-video formats, vocalizing contrarian takes, scripting, and so much more.

This episode is for professionals who think their field is too technical and boring for social media.

Chapters

• 01:49 The patient who was too embarrassed to speak up
• 03:28 Making taboo topics watchable
• 04:46 Why informed patients are better patients
• 06:33 Red flags of a fake health expert
• 08:52 Building Loam for the skeptics
• 10:27 How he engineers his content
• 14:11 Inside the reaction-video format
• 18:14 The "secret sauce" AI can't replicate
• 22:10 How he sources what to react to
• 25:19 What entrepreneurship taught him
• 30:31 Brute-forcing your way past embarrassment
• 32:13 How content transformed his communication
• 36:26 Why he canceled his Oura ring subscription
• 39:15 Real health is resilience
• 45:46 Leaving surgery with zero regrets

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun on Instagram

📌 Ditch all the social planning tools for Rella. Go to getrella.com and use code “CREATOR" for 10% off your first three months or annual plan.

Make sure you follow wherever you're listening! It takes 2 seconds and guarantees you never miss any of our upcoming episodes.

Partnerships/Inquiries: [email protected]

Maddie Borge has spent more than half her life on the internet. She started at 12, filming videos in her bedroom in Norway because she dreamed of living like the YouTubers she idolized. Today, she has an audience that literally grew up alongside her, and a travel brand that sold out its restock in 67 minutes.

Jun talks with Maddie about what over a decade online really builds: Why she never felt split between her online self and her real one, the money habits she formed to set her up for success, long-form vs. short-form, and how all those years of trust turned into Pastael, her viral packing-cube brand.

Then, they tackle the operator side of things when it comes to bootstrapping a physical product, six-figure stock orders, months of sellouts, hiring, and everything in between.

Chapters:

• 01:55 Starting YouTube at 12
• 06:14 Identity online and offline
• 09:35 The followers who grew up with her
• 12:59 Why she diversified her income
• 15:11 The idea for Pastel
• 17:55 The real cost of physical products
• 20:01 Building in public without knowing it
• 22:41 Learning to be an operator
• 25:46 What she's learned about hiring
• 27:21 Long form vs. short form strategy
• 32:28 Her "I made it" moment
• 33:37 What makes a pop-up actually work
• 39:30 Building community
• 42:01 What she'd tell her 12-year-old self

Stay connected:

• Creator Unplugged on Instagram
• Creator Unplugged on TikTok
• Jun’s Instagram