For years, Travis Mills hated opening Instagram. Every time he did, he felt like a failure - watching his likes fall from 150,000 to 2,000 and tying his self-worth to metrics.

Then he started telling the truth. In the span of about 50 days of posting vulnerable, honest stories, his following grew for the first time in six years, and his DMs filled with people saying he'd changed their lives.

Jun talks with Travis - rapper, singer and Apple Music podcast host - about the shift that changed everything, and why the stories he was most afraid to share, like addiction, sobriety, and mental health, became the ones that connected the deepest.

If you’re struggling to connect with your “why” and having a hard time telling stories from your lived experiences, tune in and take notes.

Chapters:

• 02:42 What posting content daily has done for him
• 06:56 Getting sick of labels & his "ego death"
• 14:32 Finding his "why" & the power of vulnerability in content
• 19:02 Comparison is the thief of joy
• 23:01 "Be a creator, not a perfectionist"
• 27:11 Silent-film storytelling & reframing the past
• 29:11 Why storytelling feels like meditation
• 35:52 Your "mundane" life matters
• 42:00 What he'd tell his 19-year-old self

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This episode touches on addiction and mental health. If you need emotional support, please call or text 988.

Aileen Xu has been a creator for 12 years, which is long enough to try just about every way there is to make money online - and to learn which ones are actually worth it.

In this episode, Aileen, the creator behind Lavendaire, goes through everything she’s tried: brand deals, affiliates, digital products, courses, a membership, a physical workbook she's run for 10 years, and now a meditation app called Resonance.

She breaks down the pros and cons of each, what she’s prioritized and scaled vs. what she’s let go of, and the mindset shift that changed everything for her: creating for impact and joy instead of validation.

If you’re curious about what it takes to build true longevity as a creator-operator, you’re going to want to tune into this episode.

Chapters:

• 01:11 Starting with an affirmation
• 03:32 How to reset a stuck mind
• 07:41 What her schedule looks like & beating burnout by flowing with your energy
• 11:41 Her healing journey & the slowdown
• 14:05 Significance vs. impact
• 18:40 Building in public without being salesy
• 23:02 Trying every way to make money
• 26:11 Why she built the Resonance app
• 31:29 The pain of physical products
• 32:40 The pros and cons of building an app
• 34:38 Turning followers into paying users
• 39:25 A mantra for creators

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You may have seen Senada Greca's workouts on your feed. What you might not know is that behind them is an MBA and the founder of We Rise. And she built it all by doing the opposite of what most creators do: for a full year, she posted free workouts every single day and never asked her audience for a thing.

Jun talks with Senada about the long game that made it work. They touch on why discipline is something you build, how she thinks like a creator-operator, and why she left millions on the table in brand deals to protect the trust she'd spent years earning.

Then they get into where her content ideas come from, why listening to your audience beats your own good ideas, how fitness reshaped her life, and how she made friends with the imposter syndrome that still shows up daily.

If you feel behind, unqualified, or convinced you have no story worth sharing, this episode will definitely change your perspective.

Chapters:

• 01:41 What drives her
• 06:55 Growing up in Albania and overcoming struggle
• 12:50 Earning her MBA in a year
• 14:30 How fitness improved her mental health
• 21:20 Where her content ideas come from
• 24:10 Listening to your audience to inform content and business decisions
• 29:50 Advice for new creator-founders
• 36:14 Long-term partnerships over quick money
• 40:31 Imposter syndrome as a companion
• 47:15 What she'd tell her younger self

The next episode drops on Monday. Make sure you’re following the show so you don’t miss it. See you then!

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Gabriel DeSanti got arrested filming inside an abandoned building. He'll tell you it's the best thing that ever happened to him.

Because getting locked up made him miss a trip, which left him free to be in New York the next day for the opportunity that changed his entire life.

In this episode, Jun and Gabriel trace the unlikely path that led him to becoming the creator building “the world's longest resume" and now founder of Staj. They talk about the grit, grind and work ethic it takes to becoming a creator, how Gabriel engineers a two-minute video from three hours of raw footage, the story arc he uses to make people actually feel something, and a first-ever Creator Unplugged exclusive: exactly how much he makes (and where it comes from).

This episode is for builders, creators and anyone who's ever been told they'd never make it.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:33 How building the “world’s longest resume” was a total accident
• 06:11 The DM that changed his life
• 08:59 Starting Youtube at 13
• 14:51 The coworker who showed him a future he didn't want
• 18:44 Working for free & commuting 4 hours a day
• 22:58 What others saw in him
• 28:42 Inside the production & the art of the interview
• 32:46 The story arc that makes people feel something
• 34:30 How much he actually makes
• 37:53 Building Staj
• 49:09 What he'd tell anyone scared to start

Make sure you follow the show wherever you're listening right now so you never miss an episode. The next one drops this Thursday. See you then.

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Maggie Sellers Reum was the number one BDR at Salesforce when her boss pulled her into a room and told her she was "smarter than she looks," and that she'd need to change the sound of her own voice to get ahead. That moment set her on her mission.

Jun sits down with Maggie - founder of Hot Smart Rich, investor, startup advisor, and creator - to talk about turning rejection into fuel, why she teaches women to never settle, and why she refuses to niche down with her content. She also gets tactical about what makes a business sellable and why ownership beats the brand-deal hamster wheel.

Jun and Maggie then get into hiring, delegating, and how they both use AI every single day to optimize their workflows.

This conversation is for builders, creators, and anyone who’s curious about turning their content into equity.

Chapters:

• 01:53 The moment that led her to where she is today
• 05:28 What investing taught her about ownership
• 08:52 The viral TikTok video she was forced to take down
• 14:43 How she uses Claude every day
• 24:10 How Hot Smart Rich came to be & why she refuses to niche down
• 31:44 Ownership vs. the brand-deal hamster wheel
• 36:35 The biggest mistakes founders make
• 39:40 Learning to delegate & finding your opposite
• 50:50 How she defines confidence

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Everyone told you the safe path was a degree, a steady job, and a pension. Scott Clary thinks that's now the riskiest bet you can make.

Jun sits down with Scott - founder and host of the Success Story Podcast - to flip the whole risk vs. safe conversation on its head. They talk about why betting on yourself, building a personal brand, and continuously developing new skills have become essential forms of security in a world shaped by layoffs, AI, and rapidly changing career paths.

Scott then shares his hacks to longevity as a podcaster and entrepreneur, beating imposter syndrome, and how you can also build a future that is more resilient, intentional, and self-directed.

If you're building something right now, or even thinking about how to start, this episode's for you.

Chapters:

• 01:27 What's actually risky now
• 04:46 Escaping the golden handcuffs
• 11:06 The story you tell yourself
• 16:38 Building a personal brand from zero
• 24:42 The biggest podcasting mistakes
• 32:12 Treating social media like a funnel & Jun's content system
• 40:28 Why your story is your superpower
• 48:17 How to overcome imposter syndrome
• 1:01:09 Finding joy vs. pushing through

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• ⁠⁠Creator Unplugged on YouTube⁠⁠
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• Scott's Instagram

Inquiries/Partnerships: [email protected]

Natalie Ellis built Bossbabe into a movement that reached millions. From the outside, she'd made it. Then one day, she sat on a Zoom call and said five words she'd never planned, "I quit. Buy me out."

In this episode, Natalie shares why financial freedom never felt like enough, how growing up in chaos activated her nervous system, and how she had to rewire that to build differently. Jun and Natalie also get into the messiness of being a founder, hitting rock bottom and navigating uncertainty, and rebuilding Bossbabe brick by brick until it made $2.2M in the 12 weeks Natalie was offline. Don’t worry, she breaks down how she got there too.

Whether you’re a founder or someone trying to build something and don’t know where to start, don’t miss this episode.

Chapters:

• 01:39 How her definition of freedom changed
• 04:22 External success vs. internal chaos
• 07:42 Why she hid the struggle
• 12:31 How Bossbabe started as a membership
• 16:32 Retention, churn & thinking in CAC/LTV
• 20:15 The green card saga that wiped out her savings
• 25:35 Buying out her partner & burning it all down
• 28:06 "Saying no is a deeper yes"
• 33:45 Growing up in chaos & rewiring her nervous system
• 42:46 Becoming her family's breadwinner & money-mindset
• 55:58 What a freedom-based business really is
• 1:05:58 How she uses AI (and what she won't give it)
• 1:11:33 What she'd tell her daughter not to do

New episode drops on Monday! Make sure you're following the show so you don’t miss it. See you then.

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• Natalie's Instagram

Inquiries/Partnerships: [email protected]

Leana Deeb built an audience of 10M followers in 14 months. Then, she made the kind of pivot most creators are terrified of: she deleted everything.

In this episode, Leana - creator, podcast host, and entrepreneur - talks about why she walked away from the identity everyone knew her for, how starting with a blank slate was the greatest thing that has ever happened to her career, and how staying true to her faith grew her audience instead of shrinking it.

Jun and Leana also get into the parts people don’t see: watching your numbers drop, mastering detachment, staying disciplined when life gets heavy, becoming “the niche”, and the pressure of becoming successful young while taking care of your family.

This one is for the creators who know they’re ready for a shift but are too scared of what they might lose.

Chapters:

• 01:29 What alignment means to her
• 03:03 Journaling, meditation & prayer
• 05:15 The content pivot that risked everything
• 11:55 Building the Gymshark modest line
• 15:29 What drives her
• 18:02 From 8M likes to 20K & detaching from the numbers
• 26:25 Is discipline born or built?
• 33:04 Identity & the creator vision
• 41:17 Everyone has a story
• 44:29 Becoming the provider for your family
• 49:26 Relationship with money
• 51:46 What she'd tell her younger self

Follow Creator Unplugged wherever you’re listening to this and subscribe on YouTube to watch the whole thing. 

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Step one to building a personal brand? Go see a therapist. That's where Chris Do starts: the inner work. 

Jun sits down with Chris - designer, teacher, the one who's been building in the personal branding space for over a decade - and they go deep. They riff about why most personal branding advice is just a sales pitch in disguise, why Chris stopped creating for his audience and they showed up anyway, and how caring less about what other people thought made him more respected. 

Then, Chris runs a personal branding masterclass, starting with how to find your origin story, breaking everything you know into 5 pillars, never running out of content, and his take on pricing that'll change how you charge.

Whether you’re years into building a personal brand or don’t even know where to start, you don’t want to skip this episode.

Chapters:

• 01:45 The key to building a personal brand
• 05:54 Three prompts to find your story
• 09:50 Self-expression vs. performance
• 11:47 Stop creating for your audience
• 14:45 How to pivot
• 19:53 Turn your expertise into a year of content
• 27:42 Personal brand vs. business
• 31:42 Jun's first product
• 33:42 Burnout, a sabbatical, and teaching
• 40:42 Identity & breaking stereotypes
• 50:14 Chris’s lowest point
• 56:46 Pricing and charging for value, not time
• 1:04:06 Buying an art school & fixing higher-education
• 1:08:48 Don't believe your own hype

The next episode drops later this week. Make sure you follow Creator Unplugged so you don’t miss it. See you soon!

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• Jun’s TikTok
• Chris Do’s Instagram  

In the first episode of Creator Unplugged, Jun sits down with Cat Goetze (aka AskCatGPT) to pick her brain about building in public and using AI for both content and business. 

Here's the thing: most creators are using AI wrong. Cat uses it to find her blind spots, poke holes in her own thinking, and tell her why she's wrong - and she explains how you can do the same. 

She also gets into the messy behind-the-scenes of building her business "Physical Phones", the systems holding the content and the operation together, and how that first launch did $120K in pre-sales in 3 days. She then gets really tactical on her content strategy: Where her ideas come from, how she scripts and films, and why she only sells products that look good on camera.

Jun and Cat also talk about how they each use Claude as creator-operators, and the parts of their work they’d never hand over to AI. 

Chapters:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:00 What building in public really means
• 04:05 Where Physical Phones came from
• 08:57 The pressure behind a $100K launch
• 14:03 Sourcing, 3PLs & the first hires
• 18:45 Separating the brand from the business
• 23:40 Customer trust, weekly "cat calls" & email updates
• 28:41 Ideating content that converts
• 33:38 Starting on camera at age 13
• 40:01 Taking intentional phone breaks
• 48:04 Using AI to expose your blind spots
• 56:43 AI on the operations side
• 1:05:07 How creating changed her personally

If you’re looking to level-up your AI game in your content or business, this episode is for you.

Episode 2 drops next week. Follow Creator Unplugged wherever you’re listening to this!

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• Cat’s TikTok