Let's Ride w/ Paul Estrada

Content Creator: From Memes on the Couch to Industry Influencer

• Paul Estrada • Season 1 • Episode 23

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Paul Bernard-Jaroslawski's journey from freight broker to influential content creator begins with a unique international upbringing that shaped his worldview. Born in Chicago to Polish immigrants who fled communist Poland just before its fall, Paul's childhood straddled two worlds—modest living conditions in America and summers spent with grandparents in Poland, fostering a deep connection to his heritage.

The catalyst for his unexpected career path? A knee surgery during the pandemic that left him bored on his couch in Poland after relocating from Ukraine. What started as creating simple logistics-themed memes for fun quickly gained traction when one post went viral, dramatically growing his following overnight. This success sparked a realization that his hobby could potentially become something more significant.

Paul's extensive travel experiences, made possible by his father's airline employment benefits, profoundly influenced his approach to risk-taking and content creation. Visiting countries across Asia and Europe from a young age gave him perspective on privilege and opportunity that many Americans take for granted. This global mindset makes his content distinctive in an industry not typically known for its creativity or humor.

The conversation reveals fascinating insights about content creation psychology, with Paul explaining how edgier content often garners more attention in crowded digital spaces. His background in psychology helped him navigate this landscape, gradually finding a balance between being distinctive without crossing inappropriate boundaries. What's particularly refreshing is his admission that behind the polished social media presence lies personal struggles and challenges—a reminder that influencers face the same human experiences as everyone else.

Perhaps most valuable is Paul's discovery through interviewing industry leaders that success isn't some complex formula or secret—it's simply about putting in the work and taking action. This demystification of achievement resonates deeply, as he shares that content creation is "not easy, but it's simple." For anyone considering this path, his advice emphasizes patience regarding monetization and focusing on enjoyment and consistency first.

Ready to transform your perspective on content creation and discover how authentic storytelling can create unexpected opportunities? Paul's journey shows that sometimes our most significant career pivots begin with the simplest actions—even creating memes while recovering from surgery.

Paul:

Do you know what a social media influencer is? So basically, you watch, like all these different people and they. What they do is they're just on the internet and they just create videos or what's called content, and then people like me and you and your brother and your friends we all watch their stuff, right?

Speaker 2:

I know a lot of people play on like Mr Beast, they play on the internet.

Paul:

And so do you know that that's like their job, though that's what they do for a job.

Speaker 2:

I know.

Paul:

Yeah, so does that sound like a cool job or like what do you think about that?

Speaker 2:

Sounds like a cool job, does it yeah?

Paul:

Is that something you think you would want to do? Yeah, Well, actually what we were just talking about, do you think like being on a podcast? Is that like an influence, or is it kind of like being on YouTube?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Paul:

Okay. So you think maybe you kind of want to be like an influencer, if you could.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but podcasting doesn't have to do with playing video games and moving around. You're just sitting in one place talking to another person.

Paul:

So do you think it's easier or harder?

Speaker 2:

To do a podcast, yeah, easier.

Paul:

It's easier, but you have to put all your thoughts and ideas out there and I know sometimes like you don't want to like share certain things.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, but now you feel more comfortable with what like sharing your thoughts and ideas how long are we having the classes for?

Paul:

well, dude, we guess what we've done.

Speaker 2:

22 episodes I know is this our 22nd this is like our 23rd episode.

Paul:

Yeah, how long do you think you'll want to do this podcast with me?

Speaker 2:

Maybe towards like December.

Paul:

And then that's it. Then you're going to be done.

Speaker 2:

I don't know Okay.

Paul:

Well, here I want to talk to you because you were just asking me. We were talking about it. You said, dad, is this podcast making money yet? And I said, no, dude, it's not making money yet. We need to get more followers, right, yeah? And then you're like, oh, but then what if I or you said, but when we do start making money, what did you say?

Paul:

we can split it split what the money wait, but then that means that you own part of this podcast. Do you think you own part of this podcast? Uh, yeah yeah, do you know why? Why?

Speaker 2:

because, because I talk with you.

Paul:

Oh, okay, so your image and likeness is part of this podcast. You're basically one of the hosts, right?

Speaker 2:

You said that a lot of people like hearing my voice.

Paul:

Of course they do. Okay, so let's talk. So you think, what should we be like? 50-50, or like what should be the deal?

Speaker 2:

50-50.

Paul:

50-50? Dude. You know I have to pay for the equipment and the guy to edit the podcast, Do you?

Speaker 2:

want to share some of that cost with me, and then we can do 50-50?.

Paul:

What do you think? You got to make an investment if you want to own 50%. What do you think?

Speaker 2:

Remember I said I only own one quarter, but you own the rest.

Paul:

Oh, okay, okay, okay. Is that a good deal, you think?

Speaker 2:

So it's like 70, 30, 70, 30.

Paul:

That's your deal. Is that your best offer?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Paul:

Okay, well, we'll talk about it. I don't think we have to worry about it, because right now it's just something that we do for fun.

Speaker 2:

We only have 110.

Paul:

Yeah, maybe one day, if enough people listen to us and follow us, then maybe we'll make some money. But until then, I'm just really happy doing this podcast and recording this and it's giving us a chance to talk and write these or put these memories down so then when we get older and then we can go back and listen to our voices, that'd be fun, right.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Paul:

What we always do this at night I know we always do this, like at 9, 10 o'clock. Wait, don't give away all our secrets, dude. Hi, we always use a 910. Wait, don't be indebted to you forever. Thank you for supporting and listening to the show and for going on this journey with us. Pause, subscribe and let's ride. Our guest today started creating social media content while sitting on his couch, bored while recovering from surgery. He turned a few silly memes into one of the most recognizable brands in his industry. From growing up in a modest Chicago household to traveling the world on standby flights, to launching content that now shapes conversations across an entire industry, what started as a hobby during the pandemic has become a full-time mission as a social media influencer, spotlighting the humor, humanity and hustle of an industry while inspiring others to think bigger. He's also the first guest I've had on with a hyphen in his name. Our guest today is Paul Bernard Jaroslawski.

Speaker 2:

So let's ride.

Paul:

Let's ride on through the rain, come on and take me anywhere that you want to be, so let's ride. As I was thinking about this conversation, I I and doing some research, you know, I saw. You know we talked about Poland. Actually, the first thought that came to my mind was I went to Catholic school my whole life and he was a Catholic brother that left the order. He ended up getting married, but he had a very, very thick Chicago accent and he was Polish and he's like the most proud Polish person you've ever met. He would walk around campus wearing this bright red jacket that said something in Polish on the back and he was just. That was like my first and only like interaction with somebody like that and it was unforgettable, Like you can't forget a person like that.

Paul-Bernard:

Yeah, yeah, we're proud, proud people, that's for sure.

Paul:

Yeah, that's awesome. All right, paul. So I'm going to say your full name because I think this is a first for me. So we have, and please, if I butcher this at all, please let me know. Sounds good, Paul Bernard Jaroslawski. Is that right? Yeah?

Paul-Bernard:

it's good, nailed it.

Paul:

So you're the first person that I know of on the podcast that has a hyphen in the first name, so that's fancy sounding to me. So give us the backstory. Is that a middle name or is that like part of a first name? Like what is that?

Paul-Bernard:

It's legally my first name and my father decided that all of his kids he's got four kids, so I have three siblings that he wants them all to have three names and like, just so that it's very unique. You know everyone's like stands, stands out. No one has the same set of names as any of you know me or my siblings. You know there's a, there's a paul jaroslavsky that's in toronto, but it's not paul bernard jaroslavsky. So, funny enough, that's kind of how it came about, but I'm the only one that has a hyphenated name. I'm not sure why, uh, exactly you're just the fanciest, that's it.

Paul-Bernard:

Yeah, my class fancy if I think it might have been that, like my mom wanted me to be named paul, my dad wanted bernard, and so they decided just to hyphenate the first name, and it sounds like it's a little bit french or something and like it's it's funny, but it's, yeah, it's hyphenated. I don't know, I used to like think it was kind of strange, uh, back in the day when I was younger, uh, especially like in school, when the teacher would read out the name and I'll just call me paul, uh but then after a while I'm like you know what stands out, so everyone's like usually I go.

Paul-Bernard:

that's a long name, you know, so I just I like it.

Paul:

And then, as we were talking about before, we kicked off here. So Jaroslawski is Polish right.

Paul-Bernard:

Yeah, it's Polish.

Paul:

And where can we find you today, by the way?

Paul-Bernard:

Work. Okay, I'm currently in Lublin, poland.

Paul:

Okay.

Paul-Bernard:

That's like an hour 40 minutes southeast of Warsaw. It's about an hour from the Ukrainian border. My mom is originally from Lublin. This is where she met my dad. They went to the Catholic University of Lublin. That's where they met and then they together moved to the United States back in 1988. So that was like basically like two years before communism was like, I guess, eliminated or removed from the Polish government and we became a capitalistic kind of society. So back then Poland was a lot different, you know. It was impoverished, the economy was terrible and everyone was leaving, and so my parents left.

Paul-Bernard:

But interesting enough, like my father's grandmother, so my great grandmother she was born in Evanston, illinois, so just north of Chicago. But when she was four years old her parents decided to move back to Poland because Poland just gained its independence. Poland gained its independence in 1918, after the end of World War One, and that was for 123 years. Poland wasn't on the map. So she was born in Evanston. So my great grandmother was a US citizen, which made my grandmother from my father's side automatically a US citizen as well, and then my father was able to get a green card quite easily and also get papers and everything. So just quite a story there, like we keep moving back and forth, like I was born in Chicago and I live back in Poland.

Paul:

Yeah, and what sent you back to want to be living in Poland?

Paul-Bernard:

You know what? I've always wanted to live in Poland ever since I was a little kid, and I think it's because, when I was 10 months old, my parents got divorced and my mom, she, just had three kids at a young age, within three years. So she had three kids within three years and, you know, she was struggling to kind of like, take care of us properly because she had to work as well, and so she sent us to live with my grandparents here where I'm at right now, like and so, for a couple of years I don't remember this, I was still too young, because I was 10 months old I moved back to the states, I think when I was like three and a half, uh, or maybe three years old, so I don't remember it, but like I spent all my summer or summer, uh, childhood and just teenage years. Every summer I spent the entire summer in poland.

Paul-Bernard:

I remember just coming here, and I never wanted to go back to the states. Every time it was a problem, like I would just like bag my mom to let me stay with my grandparents. I just wanted to go to school here and then I ended up getting all my education done in the States and during college, I remember I was like, oh, it'd be cool, maybe like a US company that has an office in Poland could hire me and just send me to Poland. Like, luckily enough, like the second brokerage I worked for, which is Everest Transportation Systems, they asked me if I want to move to Ukraine and I was like Ukraine's right next to Poland, like there was direct flights from Kiev to Lublin back then before the war, and I was like, yeah, you sent me to Ukraine, like I couldn't even wait to move to Ukraine. I loved you to live in Ukraine too. It was three, uh, for three years, from 2017 to 2020. And then, during a pandemic during 2020, I was like, all right, it's time to move. Just relocate fully to Poland.

Paul:

So, as a dad now of three kids I've got a two week old that just moved in yesterday, um, so we're adjusting over here. But one of the things that my wife constantly talks about is a want to spend at least a couple weeks every year in another country. For us, being of Mexican and my wife has a Cuban Mexican background is to go to a Spanish speaking country so that the kids can learn the language, experience a new culture, and we've been talking about it for two, three years. This year, finally, we went to Spain and we spent a couple of weeks there and kind of got our feet wet a little bit. Now she's talking about Mexico next year, et cetera.

Paul:

For me, it just it feels so I don't know why I'm using this word, but I'm going to say daunting task, and like we're going to pick up our family, young kids, right, five-year-old, a seven-year-old, now a newborn, and we're going to go spend what? We're going to spend a couple of weeks in another country, and I don't know. It just seems like this far-fetched plan, but at the same time it sounds really awesome and really good for the kids. And so now, talking to you, it sounds like you hey, you're somebody that's actually done it, so can you speak to. Like the benefits, obviously, you said your grandparents are there, so I'm sure that's one of the benefits is getting to build a better relationship with your grandparents. But what are some of the other things that maybe come along with being able to spend so much time in another country?

Paul-Bernard:

So I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of like my like years growing up traveling a lot. My father worked for EVA Air Cargo, which is a Taiwanese airline company. He worked in the cargo division at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. We live 10 minutes away from O'Hare and one of the benefits of being an airline employee is that you get like these standby flight benefits and we would be able to travel at least I was able to travel until the age of 24 for very cheap. Like a flight to, for example, poland round trip was like 200 bucks. I would have free flights each year to Taiwan, plus one so I could fly to Taiwan and then fly to Bali I could fly to, like Singapore. So until the age of 24, I traveled a ton and I still travel a lot nowadays, but back then it was because it was just cheap to travel and I would just save up money and go.

Paul-Bernard:

And one of the great benefits of traveling is you get to be very grateful for the fact that you born in the US. I think a lot of people that you know are born in the US and they don't travel a lot, kind of take it for granted everything they have, you know, but like it's unbelievable, like the economy that we have, honestly, like the democracy, the ability just to kind of like if you're willing to work hard for it, you really could achieve a lot, and I think just it made me a lot more grateful for everything. I think that was like the largest benefit. You know, I went to India and just seeing all the poverty and, honestly, like it was just like the chaos of it all, like it was like wow, like this is, like I'm so grateful to be I've been born in the U S, like I could have been born in India, you know, like how old were you when you started traveling Like to that extent?

Paul-Bernard:

So I would say like so my my parents. Funny enough, they got divorced. Then they got back together. They got divorced again afterwards, but when they got back together when I was seven and they were together until, like I was 26 or so, so, like from basically, when my parents got back together, we would end up like traveling like each year somewhere together.

Paul-Bernard:

It's quite interesting because, like my parents, like live paycheck to paycheck, like it was like we lived in a two-bedroom household. There's six of us. It was like, especially for, like us standards, it was tight, it was difficult and then, honestly, the main reason why they got divorced again is just because of financial like problems and just like filed for bankruptcy twice, like at home, from like a hospital perspective, like it was definitely very chaotic for me. However, like the travel allowed me like to realize still, even though, like I don't have everything, especially like in the us, like you know, compared to like my friends and all like right, it's still I was like, wow, I'm still born in the us, like there's, I still won the lottery and yeah. So we would end up traveling a lot from like the age of seven to like 24. It was like like everywhere.

Paul:

So it sounds like it gave you just a ton of perspective at a young age. And how does how does that change? I don't know how you you're touching on it a little bit there but how you interact or your perception of your friends and things like that, it sounds like you guys maybe struggled a little bit in the US. Did you see yourself differently as compared to your friends back then? Or, like I, just how did it in any way change, maybe how you went about your childhood?

Paul-Bernard:

That's a great question. So I did go for a while to like this Catholic private school and we were able to attend there. We got some scholarships, we ended up getting some grants or like some other like more affluent parent families were able to pay for us and stuff like that to go there, okay, and like back then it was like that was kind of like more of a like a shock. I did have like lower self-esteem when I was younger. I felt like I would oftentimes compare myself like to, you know, like the wealthier kids I'd go to like a kid's house and he had an elevator in his house, like he lived like in a what used to be like a country club or like it just was. Was, you know, night and day difference from from our lives and I think it did affect me in some way.

Paul-Bernard:

But I outgrew that and and I I think what the nice thing about having grown up in that kind of like household is like now, like I'm willing to take a lot more risks than the kids that grew up with everything or like I guess cozier lifestyles are like because they're not willing to risk it, because they have like an image to uphold. You know they have like to make X amount of money, like they need to have this kind of car, like I don't care about any of that. Like I that's honestly why I'm in this position I am right now is because, like I am willing to take risks, because I know like, at the end of the day, like the worst thing that could happen is like really not that bad Cause I we, so I want to get into what you actually do, so I'm going to call you a content creator.

Paul:

Is that a fair way to describe it? Would you say that that's what you are? Okay? So again I've got a seven-year-old, a five-year-old, and I'm going to call myself out here but every once in a while, when they're just jumping off the walls, there's nothing like putting them in front of an iPad and flipping a YouTube on right, Because that's really the easy way to just get them settled down. And I've been getting more into it's opening my eyes to all these different content creators out there. Probably the ones that these kids are into is like MrBeast I think he's the number one YouTuber in the world and just a bunch of different people and there's some really fascinating stories.

Paul:

And then, obviously, I think you talk to kids growing up. You ask what do you want to be when you grow up? And you know, as baseball player, astronaut, doctor, and now you can add to that list content creator. Right, there's people or kids that that's what they want to do.

Paul:

They want to make a life or a career out of doing YouTube or just being on social media, and this is, like still somewhat of a foreign concept, certainly for this age group to be growing up saying that that's what they want to do for a living and then for parents trying to figure out, like, well, how the heck do I navigate? Is this real or what is this? So, just touching on your story a little bit, I know you started off in the logistics and freight world just kind of in a traditional career path, but then you pivoted within 10 years into creating content and so I just wanted to know was know, was that something early on that you wanted to get involved? Like, at what point in your career did you say I want to make this pivot and become this person?

Paul-Bernard:

It came up quite randomly and I feel like a lot of the good things in my life like it didn't involve like any planning or like really sitting down and thinking about it. I was a freight broker from 2015. When I graduated college. I got a job as a freight broker. My fraternity fraternity brother his father owned a freight brokerage, trek freight services, that got acquired by Becker logistics a couple years ago got a job as a carrier sales rep. I got really good training at Trek after a year just didn't really like the commission structure and like just I was like I should probably be making more. Plus, I was like this is a little bit toxic for me. I'm going to leave the industry and go travel for a bit before I turn 24 and those benefits from my father would would end. And then, like I came home, broke and got another job at Everest.

Paul-Bernard:

I was at Everest for I think, almost four years, three and a half years and when I had left Everest, this was like November 2020 or October 2020.

Paul-Bernard:

And it was like in the midst of the pandemic, you know, like the shipping, like I guess the logistics industry was in full chaos then with everything that was going on, and like I opened a brokerage, I was like I'm gonna open my own brokerage, move to Poland, just work remotely from here.

Paul-Bernard:

I had a couple shippers lined up and like I was like navigating. You know all of the, I guess, aspects of opening a brokerage and running it, which is so much more work than actually just sitting there and running being an operations manager or director of operations, which I was at at Everest. You kind of don't realize how much has to get done, like all the moving pieces and like like I was just there sitting at my desk and I just started making memes and on Instagram and it was like there was the only reason I did it was because I was just having fun and and honestly, like I was just like this is fun, this is what I want to do. I had some money saved up, so I wasn't really worried about making money at that time and that also probably I would say like because of the fact that I grew up in in like a poor household, like relatively speaking in the U S, I had like need to like make money right now. I was just like I'm just having a good time.

Paul:

So, before we go on, can you tell people, educate them, what is a meme and tell us what was that Like? What sparked that first idea that you had?

Paul-Bernard:

I. A meme is just like basically taking an image that's quite humorous and putting some caption to it that people could relate to, specifically like for us. It's like for people that work in freight brokerage about you know situations that occur. It's very chaotic. You know there's a lot of stuff going on. You're dealing with upset drivers, upset customers. It's honestly like one of the better industries to have memes, because there's so much that happens. That's like irritating and people could like associate with. When they see, in the beginning, like my memes were, I was still living in Ukraine for a couple of weeks.

Paul-Bernard:

This is october 2020. I was. I moved november 1st 2020 to poland, so I had a couple weeks in poland. I just had surgery on my knee, I tore my acl and I was like kind of going to like rehab. I was like you know, chilling on the couch, like getting some stuff done, and I just spent a lot of time on my phone and it's um well, like back then. It's hard for me to say what the memes were. They were just so stupid. I don't even have them on. You can't even find them on Freight Cabbie anymore because they're just so bad.

Paul:

And what was the first one that really took off. Usually there's always that kind of origin story where something's just a hobby and I just was doing this for fun and then all of a sudden you wake up in the middle of the night and you're like I got this brilliant idea. You actually put this out there and you throw it out into the internet and you start coming back and it's like this thing is blowing up. So I'm assuming you had a moment like that. Yeah, what was that experience Like how did that go?

Paul-Bernard:

You know it's like social media is so addicting because it like works in your dopamine neurotransmitters and when you get like those likes and you know people following you reacting to stories, it's so addicting and so I was like hooked on it, right, and I was like just chasing that dopamine.

Paul-Bernard:

I posted one which was there's like a sword coming out and like the first part only has like a part of the sword out and then, like you get the full sword and it's like asking the driver if the load delivered, if the load delivered, and like the sword is like kind of pulled out and it says yes, and then the full sword comes out and it's like yesterday the truck broke down and I made that while I was like sitting getting a haircut. I've had some fire memes like come out like while I was getting a haircut and I posted on LinkedIn and that like went viral. I got a few thousand likes and back then we barely had any followers on Instagram. I remember like it, like took like our Instagram, I think a count from like 1000 to like 2000 overnight and I'm like okay, this is cool, this is cool. I need to do more of this.

Paul:

Yeah. So I think you know a lot of us, um, we like I said, this sounds like a really great idea on paper and then they get, they get into it, they I I'm funny Like I've got some things I could put out there and they do it. And they have this idea like, okay, I just I got to keep doing it. And then, to your point, right, it's like you put some stuff out there and it just doesn't resonate, it doesn't hit, for whatever reason, and maybe they do it for a couple months and then it's like, okay, like this is because creating stuff's a lot of work, you got to be thinking about stuff, you got to actually do it and then to not get the response, to not get the traction, it can be a bummer, right, and so I feel like a lot of people have this idea of doing something and then they get into it and they're just like, oh, this is not, it's not working, and so then they just kind of flame out or they just stop doing it.

Paul:

And that's probably the story of like 98, I'm going to say 98% of the people that are creating content. So it sounds like it didn't. Just you weren't like a necessarily an overnight success, right? Like they say, these things take months or years to develop, right? And so just what is that the grind actually? Like, um, to make this happen? Like so, for those that actually want to do this, like what is the kind of like the hump that you need to get over, and what does that grind look like?

Paul-Bernard:

yeah, it takes a lot of time to like, actually like make money off of this. And I guess the advantage that I had was, first of all, I didn't start off with the idea, like that I'm going to make money off this. I started just purely because I was having the hobby. It was because I was having a lot of fun. And then I guess, secondly, I had runway, financially speaking, where, like, I didn't have to make money. You know, it was just like whatever, I'm doing this for fun, let's keep going.

Paul-Bernard:

And I remember, like so august 2021 is when we hit 10k followers on instagram, and that was the same time ryan rogers, the CEO of Text Locate, was launching his product. And he had reached out then and was basically just slid into my DMs and he was like hey, paul or I guess he didn't even know my name was Paul, but he was like hey, I just launched Text Locate, I was wondering if you could like promote us, you know, on your page. And before then we had a couple of like carriers, maybe brokers, like reach out. You know, I was like I charged him like 25 bucks, you know, just something like I was like I was just so happy to have him like reach out to me. I was like whatever, 25 bucks here, maybe 50 bucks there. Like I feel amazing the fact that like even made that. And and I was like you know, I got a, got a call with Ryan. I'm like I really liked Ryan, you know, just good, great guy, like he's been, you know, in the industry for a like mentor me, like through this, like I'll promote you for free, like I just need some kind of advice. Like you, can you like walk me through, like maybe some of the ideas that you have and how I can monetize this and stuff. And so he agreed and so I was like promoting texlocate and I wasn't getting paid for it but, like you know, ryan would take calls and like we would. You know, we built a relationship, friendship through that.

Paul-Bernard:

And then, like in january of 2022 this was a year and like four months after I launched, I did a podcast with Tim. So we ended up like a year into doing memes. I ended up expanding into the podcast, into the newsletter. I was like this is the right. You know, I had a vision for it, although it wasn't, you know, it was something that came about like just from thinking, while like seeing the growth of the audience and stuff like that.

Paul-Bernard:

I had Tim I am CEO of Ascent TMS and the founder of Ascent TMS on my podcast and after after the show he's like hey, paul, like like what is sponsoring, like Freight Cabriolet look like I like you, like I want to get in on this. I like Freight Cabriolet and you know he ended up like negotiating a rate of like he's gonna pay me 1000 bucks a month and I just like where I could put him every week, like put his logos, you know'll pay a thousand bucks a month and I'm like thinking, damn like, for a thousand bucks a month, like I could live like in poland off of that money. Now it's like this is like actually starting to work and and that's actually around the time I was like thinking like I could do this like full-time. I was still kind of like juggling like between a bro, like running a brokerage and like doing this what do you learn about?

Paul:

just the psychology of people? I mean, when I think of content creators like you've got to be so in tune with how people think, how they react, how the emotion, like the emotions that you could trigger with them, it just feels like you almost. You basically have to be an expert in psychology um what do you learn about just people? Like what, what makes people take and like yeah. What do you learn about people?

Paul-Bernard:

so I actually I I studied psychology okay, well, there you go.

Paul-Bernard:

Yeah, I guess that helps me a little bit, as long as, like, I maybe don't even think so deeply about it because I've, like I have that education aspect already like kind of nailed. But overall, like we used to be very edgy in the beginning, like we used to cross a lot of lines, and I think that helped us a lot, especially like well, during the pandemic, I read the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene and people like sometimes say it is like manipulative. It's kind of like it has like the stark side to it is actually it's like right there that's 40 laws of power. But yeah, it does for sure, and I think like, but reading it also helped me like kind of like see like what needs to happen, especially like in getting attention from like the masses. Like you need to like poke some holes, like if you're like in the middle, if you're like kind of like a balanced content creator, where you're not really edgy, you're not really crossing any lines.

Paul-Bernard:

It's difficult to get noticed, especially in this day and age where there's so much content being made and you notice it's like the, the stuff that gets the most reactions usually, especially like on twitter nowadays, is like very hateful, like it's hate speech, like it's racist, it it's like it's and it's like honestly, one of the things I like I don't like about X is because, like X is kind of really opened up but at the same time, I know it's freedom of speech. Elon's been focused on that. But you know, like these other platforms like Facebook, instagram or Meta and LinkedIn, like they kind of like they, they remove, like the hateful stuff, which I think is good. There's an extent like to which, like you know, I think like premium speeches is important, but like, yeah, like not to spread hate, though, and like. But if you think about like overall, like the content, even on YouTube, like the stuff that gets the most views is usually like the thumbnail. That's very catchy. You know, it's like what is going on here, like the catchy title, and so I think it's very important.

Paul-Bernard:

Like for us, like we were very edgy in the beginning and now we've kind of like found like this middle line of like where like we're funny, uh, and we're different, but we're also like not pushing maybe, I would say, or crossing lines like we used to and we there was sometimes we'll post something, and maybe now I would say it's rare, but over the years, where we post something, we get some backlash about it, we would remove it and we're like all right, all right, we can't move posts like this kind of stuff because, like you know, this this was maybe inappropriate.

Paul:

I think, at the end of the day, like, people want content that's interesting, people want kind of different, unique, and in order to have that, you have to be, you know, pushing, pushing the line with, uh, some aspects of it yeah, when I, when I think of that and that I don't we don't really talk politics on here much, but I but that was the first thing that came to mind was you mentioned the extremes, and it's just like there's so many great things about content I think of, like I said, mr Beast, and he does some fun stuff, but then he has a philanthropy page where my son's learning about they're digging wells in Africa and they're doing this, and then they're feeding the homeless, and so there's definitely the both sides of the coin, but you talk about the dark side and it makes me wonder.

Paul:

That's the part we're going to have to protect him from, or we're going to have to figure something out, because, to your point, people want clicks, and so that can mean going to extremes in things that you may or may not actually believe, but you know is going to elicit a response from somebody. And so then how do you navigate that and what is that causing with, just like, the broader society and how we think about things? Because, yeah, to your point, it's like, hey, look at me, look at me, look at me, I'm going to how could I say the most ridiculous thing possible. That's going to get a response. And then all of a sudden there's all these things and ideas floating online that kind of get a mind of their own.

Paul-Bernard:

I guess say something real quick about the 40 laws of power. There's a story that, like I remember Robert Greene writing about, like there was there's creative ways of getting attention, and I think that's what I love about. Like my current job is like like I have an open book, or an open book and that's the right, wrong word I could do whatever like creatively, like I wanted to do which is amazing, you know and as a freight broker, like I'm stuck by my desk, I gotta like send out emails, make some phone calls, like here. It's like, hey, if I have an idea, like hey, I wanted to go to serbia last month I bought a ticket to serbia and I filmed some content and boom, like we talked about, we talked to dispatchers and freight brokers that are in serbia and that was awesome. And I'm like how can I do more of these kind of exciting things in life? And that's what really fulfills me.

Paul:

and like, what really excites me about freight caviar is that like I literally could do like anything my mind like wants to do creativity yeah, and I was flipping through, uh, the reels and things like that and, and, to your point, you know, I saw a video on there I think it's one of your most watched clips about I think it was like a 91 year old truck driver.

Paul:

Yeah, um, that worked, uh, you know. And so chasing down these stories and so, and putting yourself in a position where you're creating content and some of it could be flippy memes and things like that but the other side of it is spotlighting people and the human condition and just the amazing story. And that's what I'm trying to do is just talk to fascinating people with interesting stories and just have people tell their stories and then the people that are listening hopefully get one or two tidbits of information that they can use in their own lives. What have you learned in just the different people that you've met, with this being your vehicle or entry point to almost probably talk to just about anybody that you want to and have access to these people and learn their stories? What are the key things that you can take away from those conversations?

Paul-Bernard:

I love this question, paul and I. It's quite interesting because I started Freak Out your Podcast just to be able to network with people. I was like, hey, I have this audience on Instagram. This was back when I didn't even have an audience on LinkedIn and I was like I can reach out to them and you know the chances of them actually wanting to do an interview with me because, let's say, had 10,000 followers on Instagram is much, much greater. And you know, almost everyone I reached out to said yes to the interview and I'm like this is so cool.

Paul-Bernard:

Like you know, I'm living in Poland but I'm networking, networking with all these like these, like legends in the logistics industry from the US, and I just kind of realized how like we're all the same.

Paul-Bernard:

You know, I used to think like there are so many differences between like me and like the person at the top, the CEO and founder of a company like you know, that's not me, I'm just an average person. And then you just kind of like learn, like hey, we all have our own insecurities, we all have our issues, we all have, you know, a ton of to do's to do. Like that we're probably never going to get done and at the end of the day, like if I want to, I could achieve like all that they have, you know, and more. It's just like there's really no barrier, nothing stopping me, and I think that's like the wonderful thing that I got from like all these interviews and like just like traveling like helped me become, you know, more grateful and also just kind of helped me learn like the world, the realities of the world, like like networking with people in this industry and doing interviews like helped me like realize like how I'm no different than them, I could do what they're doing.

Paul:

It's interesting you say that, because when I was doing the logistics podcast, that was kind of my thing. I've been fortunate enough to be, because being a buyer also get access to talk to different people, but not to that level of depth it usually stays at a very business level and talking business and industry and things like that but really getting to know the people. And to your point I was like man, okay, I'm going to do this and I'm going to pry and dig until I get the secret to how these people did what they did, how they built a billion dollar company and how they did this and how they did that, and I'm going to finally get the secret sauce to that. And after doing it, probably five or six times, I kind of would get to the ends of these interviews and be dissatisfied. That was terrible. That interview wasn't good, I didn't learn anything. And why was I saying that? Because they weren't saying anything new. They weren't saying anything that I didn't already know. And so I was just like, hey, am I asking the wrong questions because I'm not getting the insights that I want, or what is it?

Paul:

And I think when I finally came to this realization, it's like no, paul, they're human beings, they're people. They put their pants like the saying goes they put their pants on the same way you do, and they wanted it. They literally just put the effort in. They didn't necessarily have some fancy degree or something like that, they literally just put in the work. And I just couldn't come to terms with the fact that the answer could be that simple. But it is that simple, and the more I'm doing this, the more I'm realizing it is that simple Literally. You just have to have an idea, you have to have the passion for it, you've got to have the ability to take the risk and just go for it. And I think people want there to be this more, just like me, that want this more complex answer. And there isn't one, at least I don't think, I mean, unless you've come up or heard one differently than I have. No, that's right, that's it. It's quite simple, that's it, guys.

Paul-Bernard:

It's not easy, but it's simple.

Paul:

All right, well, I couldn't let you go without talking about it. You did say you're in Poland and you mentioned that you had spent some time in the Ukraine. Obviously, there's been a very challenging situation going on there for a couple of years. And so I'm just curious you know, obviously we hear and read what we do in the news, but it's very different to get the perspective that's, you know, at least kind of in the region. And so just if you could kind of shed some light on on what's going on over there and more just like how it's impacting the people I would imagine you know quite a few people that have been impacted by this. And so just like, what can you tell us about that?

Paul-Bernard:

Yeah, so today's a big day. Everyone's talking about, you know, the meeting at the white house.

Paul:

Right.

Paul-Bernard:

I had a workout today with my trainer and like the first thing she says like oh, today's a big day at the white house. You know, it's like I wasn't even thinking about it. You know, I'm just kind of like living, I've got so many things to do. It's everyone was like it's like the border is there's one part of russia that doesn't actually connect to like the mainland part, which is kaliningrad, and it's like we have a short border with russia but we're boarding belarus, we border ukraine, so we're kind of like right here. Like, like, especially logistically. Like two days ago I was like sitting in the field in poland, I was on my bike, I just laid down and I'm like I go on a flight radar at 24, uh, which I love.

Paul-Bernard:

I love planes, I love checking out, especially here. There's not many planes flying. I saw a couple of planes flying above me and I'm like, okay, I was on the app and I was looking and I'm like, wow, there's a big plane about to land in Lublin and it was Atlas Cargo, which is a large cargo airline. It flew from Dover, delaware, to Lublin, poland, and we have like a pretty small airport here and it's a 747 boeing like it's like incredible, like you know, like that it's landing, it's about to land and you know, that's, that's, that's all probably going to ukraine.

Paul-Bernard:

The guy, yeah for sure it's like all going to ukraine like military supplies. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but like with lublin, and then, like there's a city an hour and a half south of here. That's actually the airport where, like zelensky always flies out of, like where any leader like Biden was there when he was president, like any leader that flies into Ukraine or leaves Ukraine, they leave. They have these airport an hour and a half away from here. And so you see, like first of all, you see a lot of Ukrainian trucks, like when I'm on the highway here, like it's like half the trucks are you from, uh have Ukrainian license plates. Um, so like logistically speaking, like this is like a hub.

Paul:

All right. Well, I'm going to try to thank you for sharing that. I'm going to try to end on a heavy note, but yeah, I just I'll ask this just for you to leave just some partying thoughts with the audience. I think you've done something really tremendous. You know, like I said, with content creation, I think in our, in our heads, it all sounds fantastic, and you know the life that we want to live. You're somebody that's actually doing it. What would be just the parting words that you'd have for people that are interested in pursuing a career like this?

Paul-Bernard:

You know it's, I've had a kind of a weird few months. They've been kind of emotional. I broke up with my ex fiance. I moved in with my grandma. I was kind of lost for a little bit.

Paul-Bernard:

I'm getting back in this routine right now. Like I work out every day in the morning, I have like a really good workout. I have like a I take a cold bath afterwards. It makes me feel great, you know, like having a good diet and I feel so alive right now and so rejuvenated. I have so many ideas for free caviar.

Paul-Bernard:

I'm so excited for it and like I think a lot of times like people have this I don't know uh belief that, like you know, they look at my life, especially like maybe my friends. Like I'm traveling, I'm doing all this, oh, it's so amazing. And like you know, deep down, I was like been struggling for the last few months. It hasn't been that easy. Like it was chaotic, it was super chaotic and I would say that, like you know, it's first of all, if you're going to pursue this kind of like goal of being a content creator, it's fun no-transcript mission now I feel like and so like, if you really want to do it, like just be ready first of all, like not to make any money from it for a while, and like, if, if you have this intention to like make money, like, just know that it's going to take a long time uh, it's going to take longer than you expect it to, but if you really want to, anything is possible, especially with nowadays.

Paul-Bernard:

Like it's free, like you post content, it's it's you're able to make an account within minutes on any social media account. Like like you don't need any money to do it, which is incredible, and so that that's how it's just. Let's just do it and have fun experiment have a good time, just grind.

Paul:

Yeah, awesome, paul. I really appreciate the insights. And, um, yeah, we haven't met in person, so hopefully we make that happen soon yeah, thanks for having me.

Paul-Bernard:

Paul had a great time. All right, thank you. So let's ride, let's ride on through the rain.

Speaker 2:

Come on and take me anywhere that you wanna be. Let's ride and let's ride. Let's follow the skyline and when we make it to the other side, We'll find all the bluest guys.