When you find your niche and everything clicks, even if it’s by accident, it’s time to double down!
And that’s all about working on yourself and being ready to shine when you finally get your big chance!
I can’t think of anyone who embodies this mindset more than my friend Tevin Davis. We met as contestants on Survivor and, as you’ll hear in today’s episode, sleeping in the dirt next to someone definitely creates a special bond!
But what I love most about Tevin is the authenticity he’s built a living on!
Even though it was a Kamala Harris impression that launched him to viral fame, Tevin has always put his true self out there. Now, that’s paying off big time in the form of the inspiring creator business we’ll hear more about today!
Tevin shares why brands have him on retainer as a creator, how to post (pretty much) daily without burning out, the top-performing platforms right now, and why it’s vital to charge your worth even if it makes you uncomfortable.
This is one of my favorite interviews so far, so make sure to listen in!
Today’s Guest
Tevin Davis
Tevin Davis is a multidisciplinary artist and content creator whose work spans theatre, television, film, comedy, music, and digital media. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned his BFA in Theatre Performance in 2021, Tevin has built a career rooted in storytelling, performance, and connecting with audiences both onstage and online.
Tevin first gained national attention as a breakout personality on Season 46 of CBS’s Survivor, where he made history as the first contestant to narrate a season premiere. Since then, he has built a rapidly growing digital platform centered on joyful resistance.
He is widely recognized for his viral impersonations of former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he later met and performed the impression for. His new series, You’ve Been Served, has also captivated audiences by combining cooking, comedy, political analysis, and cultural commentary.
Tevin continues to broaden his reach while remaining grounded in the purpose behind his work: practicing joyful resistance and inspiring people to believe in a better way forward.
You’ll Learn
- Leaning into content creation, even if it doesn’t feel natural at first
- How a random Kamala Harris impression started Tevin’s creator journey
- Posting consistently to build a creator business without burning out
- Seizing opportunities as they come without the fear of also saying “no”
- Why you have to double down when you find a niche that works
- The best platforms for monetization and engagement
- Signing next-level brand deals and becoming an on-retainer creator
- Why you have to charge your worth even if you’re uncomfortable
- The monetary incentive to be yourself as a content creator
- Why Substack is an underrated platform for all kinds of content
Resources
- Subscribe to Superfans Secrets—our weekly newsletter on the strategies behind building real relationships with your audience, delivered free, straight to your inbox
- Connect with me on X and Instagram
- Connect with Liz on Instagram
MM 003: On Retainer! Next-Level Creator Business with Tevin Davis
Liz Wilcox: What’s up? Liz Wilcox here, and you are listening to the Monday episode of the Smart Passive Income Podcast. And I love these new episodes because we are featuring members of your community, members of my community, members of the SPI Community at large. And today, oh, my goodness, we’ve got a good one. His name is Tevin Davis, and I like to consider him an agent of change in this generation.
He is blowing up all over the internet, all over the World Wide Web. Over the last two, two and a half years of creating content, he has almost a million followers across all platforms. And we actually met under some really unusual circumstances. We were competing against each other on the show Survivor.
So if you’re new to me, if you’re new to Tevin, we both played Survivor. We were on the same tribe. We slept in the dirt together. It kind of bonds you, and I think you’ll hear that throughout the episode. But one thing that I always noticed about, or the– what I first noticed about Tevin is, man, this guy has such a beautiful way of looking at the world, and I could just listen to him talk all day, and hopefully by the end of the episode you’ll feel the same.
But what I really want you to know about this episode is basically, Tevin got into content creation by chance, and now he runs a full-time creator business. And the three things, maybe four, that I took away from this episode that I want you to really lean into as you’re listening are just be yourself, find joy, and seize the moment and the opportunities that moment gives you. All right, let’s take a listen.
Ah, I’m so excited.
Tevin Davis: Yeah, I’m so excited. Liz Wilcox, my God, today you are truly a pioneer doing the thing. If there’s one thing you could be doing, it’s something business related. You’ve been rich since 2020… 20- when did I meet you, Liz? Was it 2023?
Liz Wilcox: 2023.
Tevin Davis: Is that when we was on the-
Liz Wilcox: Yes, where I was-
Tevin Davis: Yeah, you were rich since 2023.
Liz Wilcox: Well, can we celebrate for a second? Because when we met, I was pretending to be a millionaire, and now I am.
Tevin Davis: Come on. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I don’t have a bell to… I don’t have a bell here- Hang on. I’ve got- … but ding, ding, ding.
Liz Wilcox: I don’t know if you can see this. Can you see me? Can you see the dollars on the screen?
Tevin Davis: It’s, it, it’s- … it’s the dramatics for me. I don’t even know how you did that. But it’s, it’s the money falling for me. It truly is the money falling.
Liz Wilcox: Ah. I love it. I love it. Yeah, I don’t know how I did it either. I paid somebody to do that. I paid somebody to do that. That’s the power of cash flow. So let’s talk.
I-
Tevin Davis: Spoken like a true millionaire.
Liz Wilcox: Yes. Ah, thank you. Okay, so let’s just dive in. I already hit the record button, ’cause we were saying some goodness, but I want to know, like, let’s just start from the beginning. Tell us about your journey into content creation, because when I met you, you were doing a little acting, doing a little, I think it was Whole Foods, and-
Tevin Davis: What a glow up.
Liz Wilcox: Yes, and now you’re here. You’re out of the grocery store, and you’re in our ears. So tell us, how did this all start with content creation and growing on social media?
Tevin Davis: This is also… Liz, I mean, I, I can’t tell you how crazy this is, because I’m the last person that anybody would, would talk about being, like, a content creator, because I always tell people, “I am not a content creator.
I don’t wanna do it. That’s not my vibe. That is not my bag. I don’t want anything to do with it,” because I am a in-the-moment kind of person. I like to be in the moment. I wanna go to a concert and watch it. I don’t want the concert watching me while I’m trying to recreate it for a later version of me. I wanna watch it right now in this moment.
And so I felt that focusing on content creation and what that meant was that I had to sacrifice my enjoyment of the moment to capture it and make sure the angles are right, and it just didn’t feel authentic or, or natural to me. So the fact that I’m here talking to anybody about it is already crazy.
But I certainly got my degree in acting from Virginia Commonwealth University. Go Rams. And I have been acting professionally and educationally since, I mean, since I graduated in 2021. But, uh, I was also working at Whole Foods, and then working at the American Shakespeare Center, which was wonderful in Virginia.
And then I applied for Survivor, did that, went and did that whole thing, and I came back, and I went back to my acting career. I had a show right after the finale. I went to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. I was up there doing three shows at once. And when I was up there, I decided – it was August 2nd, 2024, uh, while I was up there.
We were doing Macbeth, Sense and Sensibility, and Twelfth Night. Those were the three shows that we were doing at the time. And I decided, ’cause Kamala had popped up on my, you know, algorithm, and she was doing her, you know, “You think you just plant a coconut tree?” And she, I mean, it was all over the place.
So I decided to go to the men’s dressing room one day, and I just said it randomly, and all of the men just turned and looked at me after I did the impression, and they were like, “Tevin, do it again.” I said, “I’m not. I’m not doing this again.” And so they were like, “Tevin, do it again.” I was like, “Okay, whatever.”
So I was like, “You know, you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” They just fell out. So for a week it just became a running joke throughout the show or rehearsals or whatever. I would just say it randomly. Everybody would fall out. Cool. And so then they kept saying, “You need to post this. You need to post it.”
I said, “I’m not posting this. I, I don’t post content.” I might post a cute pic of me in New York. I might post I have a show this weekend, come see me. I may post something random, but I don’t post stuff like this. So it took about a week, and then I was like, you know what? I don’t know what came over me, but I was like, “Let me just do it. I don’t care.” I went, I bought a wig from the one wig store in the middle of Bloomington, Illinois, which there were no Black people around, so it was very difficult, uh, to find a, a solid wig. But there was one wig that I didn’t see, and it was on the bottom shelf as I was walking out the door, and I was like, I looked around.
There was nothing. But I was like, “Let me go look.” I pulled it out. Boom. Had dust all over the bag. Opened it up. I said, “This is not exactly Kamala’s hair, but it’s exactly what I want.” So I got that. I got a blazer. I had a yellow blazer, which she does not wear yellow, but whatever. That’s what I had. A yellow blazer.
I had this wig. I bought a little shirt with a bow tie on it. We, uh, I went to the theater. I got dressed in my, my costume, my makeup for Macbeth. I grabbed one of my castmates. I put on my wig, my blazer. Went outside. I said, “Come outside. I want you to say, ‘Madam Vice President, Madam Vice President, do you have anything to say to the American people?'”
He said that, and I said, “I’m gonna improv the rest.” I did. I posted it. I put my phone down in the dressing room. Got ready for the show. Went on stage. Did act one of Macbeth. Came back. Looked at my phone. It was at a million views already. I turned my phone over. I said, “Nope, not doing this.” Went on stage. Did act two.
Came back. It was at five million views. I said, “My God.” And so, I mean, from there it just kept going and going and going, but it truly started just because I had an idea to do something. I did have some encouragement, but I ended up posting something and I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t post it for a reason.
I didn’t post it for somebody else. I posted it because I wanted to have fun with it, and it kinda, it kinda took off, so I’m glad that I got out of my way and allowed it because now look, two ye- two years and two months beyond that moment- And I don’t work at Whole Foods. I’m still acting, and I’m doing a lot of other things, but this is my main source of income.
Liz Wilcox: I love that. So we could say you started a Tevolution with this. So I love that so much. I love that. But you mentioned something that I think a lot of people can relate to, including me, and I’m in that sort of messy middle right now as I try to take over this new company, and the old owner is, like, really famous for being on social.
He has millions of YouTube subscribers, and I’m over here like, “Hey, guys.” And it’s, it’s that point of being in the moment. Tevin and I, I think we have this in common, that we really, we want to live for today. The past is gone. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so let’s live right now. This is, this is all we have.
But there is, as Tevin just said, he was able to leave Whole Foods as his full-time income. Like, there is value and merit to slowing down and hitting the record button and posting. So I wonder now as you post sometimes multiple times a day, you’re in lots of different places, and we’ll talk about that in a minute, but how do you feel about that now?
What does your routine look like, and how are you still able to stay in the present moment when you know, especially for a channel like yours, you have to, like, stay on the up and up?
Tevin Davis: Yeah, it’s, I, I’ve learned, you know, over the past couple years. When I first started, I didn’t, I didn’t even know what I was doing.
I mean, these people were following me in droves. I mean, I, I grew my platform. It started on TikTok, but now it has taken over all of my platforms. Like, I was blowing up on TikTok, which is a great place to start, to start making revenue and, like, to get exposure and things. But now it has really translated across all my platforms.
And so it is difficult to manage all those things, but I found a rhythm that works for me. And so what I tend to do, especially, you know, in the political world, there’s always something, and today’s news is not tomorrow’s news possibly. Five minutes from now may be not, uh, important five minutes after that moment, and so it just is always growing.
And so I have to always know what’s going on. I have to always stay locked in. But what also makes it hard, because if I do Kamala, which I still do, that takes time to curate, like, exactly what I wanna do. Sometimes I just do rapid response. I’ll cut on the video and then respond right there in the moment.
Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out, okay, I’m gonna turn this into a rap. I’m gonna make a little Kamala rap about this, or I’m gonna do a cooking video. I have my You’ve Been Served series that I just started that people are, are loving, where I’m cooking and dismantling an argument. And so that takes a little bit of time to figure out what I’m gonna cook and things like that, so I can’t always be as rapid as I want to.
But what I found is that I try to at least post once… I try to at least do once a day in some variation at least, to try to keep that consistency. But it really does vary because the news varies, and my ability to create certain things varies. And because I have so many other things going on at the same time, I feel like I have to…
Sometimes I can’t post. But I also have to be gracious with myself, and I think that one of the things that I had to learn coming into this business, I guess, is that you do… There is a certain level of consistency that you need, but also that you have to be gracious with what you can do. Because too many people get into it, and they get burnt out because they feel like they, they have to do more and more.
It’s, it’s very much, “What have you done for me lately?” in social media, and people feel like if you don’t post every five seconds that you’re, you’re not relevant. But I haven’t really found that. Sometimes if I miss a day, my people are still gonna be there. But I have to be able to be gracious with all of the different irons I have in the, in the fire.
So it kinda, I kinda make it up as I go along, and I’m still learning it even, even in this moment. But burnout is not something that I want, and so I take care of myself to ensure that, that I can continue to create. Because I, I’m infusing my art into my work so that it’s not just me making a video, but it truly is a form of, another form of, of my artistry, of my acting, of my singing, of myself.
Liz Wilcox: I love this so much. Let’s talk about the day-to-day, ’cause you do have a lot of irons in the fire, so to speak. So what Like what is a typical, and maybe we’ll say week, ’cause I know day to day can really change. We’re talking about full-time content creation. You’re an actor, you’re a singer. I know both Tevin and I were on Survivor, so sometimes we do appearances for that.
So what does life look like lately, and where does the content creation fit in if we’re trying to do it just about once a day?
Tevin Davis: Yeah. It’s, it’s been crazy. Certainly Survivor is a internationally watched show, and I, at this point, with the power of what social media is, I get recognized at a significantly higher rate.
I feel like there’s nowhere I can go. I’ve been on the plane, people have recognized me. I’ve been driving in my car. I’ve been walking down the street. I’ve been in big cities. I’ve been in small towns, Nowhereville, and like people know me kind of across the board. Go to restaurants, things like that. So it gives access because not everybody watches Survivor, but everybody does have a phone, and in some variation, you probably have seen me somewhere.
So typically what a day looks like is that… Well, I guess I brought all that up to say that people that I look up to, that I admire, are reaching out to me now, and I think that that’s a blessing that I’m very, very grateful for and, and I can’t express how grateful I am about it. There’s no words, but it has given me more opportunity, and so there’s some things that are coming up that I can’t announce just yet, but people that I’ve collaborated with and done little things with.
So it’s like every day something could pop up, and someone wants me to come somewhere or collaborate with them, or they are interested in me doing a show with them, or they wanna bring me on a podcast, or they need me to fly to some city. So especially in the last few months, I mean, I have been flown… And Survivor was my first time even leaving the country.
I grew up very desolate, very poor, didn’t have any opportunity. Thought where I started in life was where I was gonna end. And so I literally got my passport to fly to Fiji. That was my first time ever doing anything like that. And now I’m looking, and I’ve been in Louisiana. They’ve– I was flown out to New Orleans for Essence Fest because they wanted me there to collaborate and meet with different people.
That’s where I got to see Patti LaBelle again and Teyana Taylor and all these amazing Black Just brilliant minds. I got flown out to Nashville for the National Urban League, which is like kind of a sister organization to the NAACP. So they flew me out for that. I’ve been flown to New York for all these conferences and events, so I’m always moving, always flying around, always doing something.
So I guess day to day that also fluctuates, but I wake up early in the morning. I am either writing some things, working on some things that I have coming up. I’m filming content. I’m editing content early in the morning. I try to get my content up between 10:00 and 12:30 is like perfect for me. That fluctuates sometimes, but I try to get that stuff up.
I am in here cooking for my You’ve Been Served series, so I’m trying to get content for the next day. So I’m kind of planning for what’s gonna happen afterwards while I’m also planning for what I’m gonna be posting today. I’m responding to emails. There’s a lot of emails to be had, communications between organizations or partnerships or places that wanna, you know, utilize my voice to help propel or push an argument.
So I’m emailing trying to figure out what that’s gonna look like, so I’m doing a lot of stuff on my laptop. I am then probably grabbing my coat and my shoes and running out the door because I gotta catch a flight to somewhere to go to some conference that is a quick turnaround. I mean, I’ve been doing 24-hour turnarounds lately very quickly, and I was in Atlanta for a day.
I got back. I went to DC. I, I left there 24 hours, went to New York 24 hours, back to DC 24 hours. I was in Atlanta again 24 hours, back in Richmond, Virginia 24 hours. Like, it’s just a lot of bouncing around. And so it, it is always– There is no real routine in this specific line. I think depending on what kind of content creation you do, it may be different for you or you can find a routine, but because this is so spur of the moment, some news just broke, there’s something happening, they need me there.
They wanna utilize my platform, my presence, so now we’re doing this thing. Like it fluctuates on a dime. So what it makes me have to do is, is to be ready, which I think Survivor prepared me for because I’m adaptable. It’s like a, a tribe swap and like you just have to go with
Liz Wilcox: it. I love that. You know, you– What I’m hearing is, yes, you gotta be ready.
Get ready to stay ready, right? But you’ve got to seize the moment when it’s available to you. Tevin just mentioned- Correct … like right now I’m getting a lot of opportunities, and very similarly, you know, I just bought this business, I’m getting a lot of opportunities. I did four cities in eight days, y’all, like I…
And now I’m here talking to Tevin. Correct. Like, it is tiring, but it’s so… When you have a passion for what you do, and you love your people so much, and you’re not just creating content to serve the algorithm or, you know, make money, it becomes a lot easier. Would you agree?
Tevin Davis: Oh, yes. I, I love… I would not do it if I didn’t love w- what I do.
And, but definitely the icing on the cake is that I’m able to work for me. I clock in for me. Amen. I don’t clock in for anybody else. Amen. I make my money, I work for me, and I have made more money than I’ve ever made in my entire life doing what I do, and I love to do it. Like I, I… For someone who grew up poor, who grew up generationally poor, I am the light at the end of the tunnel for my family and for my people, because I have taken my life into my own hands and I’ve created this from, I mean, the bottom, like brick by brick, and I’ve been able to be my own facilitator over all of, all of the content that, that I’m doing.
So I mean, I certainly would tell people like yes it is hard, like you said it is tiring, it is exhausting in some ways, but I love it and so I can’t express how different my life is because I chose to step into this or really fall into it, but then take ownership after I fell into it.
Liz Wilcox: I– Oh my gosh, I, I feel so similarly.
You know, I also grew up incredibly poor, and I support three households with my business, and I think that was something Tevin and I really got along and understood each other in that way. And when a lot of people say, “Oh, I don’t know how you do it, Liz,” and I do it for you, you listening, I want you to step into that next level as well.
I want you to rise above your own circumstances the way Tevin has. But I also do it for my brother, my sister, who works for me full-time, you know, my mother, my children. I was able to adopt a child last year because of all the success. Yeah, it’s just, it’s just amazing. And when you find that thing, I think it becomes easy to lock in.
But I wanna go back to what you said. You try to post something between ten and twelve thirty. You have this new series, and something that we talk about a lot is creating a series, and that really helps you keep the momentum. It helps you find followers. It helps you become very relatable and familiar, but not predictable, right?
Oh, I know this series, but I can’t predict what Tevin is about to say, right? So I wonder, number one, what do you film and edit with? ‘Cause I’m just using my iPhone and the Instagram, like, edits app ’cause I’m not on all platforms yet. What are, what are you using? And then I wanna talk about your series a little bit.
Tevin Davis: Well, I, I certainly wanna say that one of the people that I’ve gotten to meet, and actually what was funny is that when we first went to go do Survivor, we went to the island before– the day before the game started, and we did press. And so when I was talking to, I cannot remember who I was talking to in this podcast, but I said– He asked me, “Who is someone you wanna meet?”
And I said, “I wanna meet Ts Madison.” Like, I can’t wait to meet her, wrap my arms around her. Like, I love her so much. I watch her podcast all the time. I love her. A year, not even, later, we had connected, and I got to meet Ts Madison. And so I went to her birthday party. She invited me to her, her show. She’s touring, and I got to open up for her as Kamala, which she found out about me through online, through social media.
So this woman that I love got to see me and my work, and she grabbed me at her birthday party. I’ll never forget, and she said She said, “When you find your niche, you run it for every cent you can.” That’s what she told me, and I never forgot it. And so it is true. That- That’s a direct quote. It’s a direct quote that she gave me, and it, that really, that really helped propel what, what was gonna come next for me.
But because I, once Kamala lost the election, whatever, like, I could have let it all go, but I chose to continue doing it because I knew that it was deeper than that, that people were just finding joy, and we need that in a, in a very divisive type of country that we’re in. And so I knew that that’s something that I wanted to continue doing, and people had gotten used to it.
And so when you find something that people like, they will tell you, and you just keep doing that thing. You can tweak it, you can amend it, but you keep doing that thing over and over and over and over again till the wheels fall off, really. And so I kept doing Kamala. I’ve added other things to it because I didn’t wanna just be known for Kamala, so I started integrating myself more into my content, even though Kamala is the thing that made me known kind of around the, the country certainly, and the world, ’cause I have fans that exist in all different types of countries everywhere.
And as far as my editing goes, what I’ve done, which is not the easiest thing to do as far as I’m concerned, but I record or edit on TikTok. Like, I do all my editing through TikTok because I understand it. It’s easy, and it’s, it makes sense to me. I am not a big… I hate editing. I, that, if I could give that to somebody else, I would.
The thing about it, though, is that my mind is so specific, so I know exactly what I want, and unless I create a n- a clone of me, that other person is not fully gonna know exactly what I want them to do because there’s certain details that go with the thing that I said, and I see it so clearly, but I don’t know how to make someone else see what I see.
So that’s something that I have to do, but I do not love editing, but I try to do it as easy as I can. Now, I’ve heard that it’s easier to do it, like, on a laptop, so people, a lot of my creator friends edit on laptops, and they still use TikTok or CapCut, but they, they do it on, on a laptop, and I’ve heard it’s significantly easier.
But I know how to do the TikTok editor on my phone, and I’m pretty quick at it now, so that’s, that’s what I use. It works pretty well for, for me. I’ve never used the Instagram thing you’re talking about, but I’m sure that works good.
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, I’m… Yeah, well, I’ve never been on TikTok, y’all. I am a dinosaur. On Survivor, they called me Meemaw.
And I’m, and I’m sticking to it. Meemaw Wilcox in the house. So I will live and die on Instagram, uh, and I also love Facebook, so there, there’s that.
Tevin Davis: Facebook is good, and Facebook pays almost the most. Yeah. I make almost all of my money- on Facebook.
Liz Wilcox: Yeah. Okay, so let’s talk about that then. Let’s just change directions.
There are… You s- you mentioned you’re monetized, obviously, full-time income. Well, first, before we talk about all the different ways you can get monetized and such, let’s rank these social media platforms. Le- like, let’s play a little game here. Let’s do it. Okay. ‘Cause I think Facebook is number one. Also, like me, just even on, y’all listening, listen up, because even on my personal profile, which I think I have, like, 3,000 friends, I make, like, $20 to $50 a month just posting, “Hey, this is my new mug. What y’all think?” Like, like Face- y’all are sleeping on Facebook. Facebook is desperate for your posts, and they are paying for it. So that’s how I would, I would rank Facebook number one, but I’m interested to hear how you rank and why. Like, not just monetarily, like what, what are your favorite platforms?
Tevin Davis: The platform I use the most, it’s not monetized unless you get subscribers, is Instagram. But that’s… I love Instagram. I get a lot of, like, what do I wanna say? I talk to my people a lot on there-
Liz Wilcox: Like engagement and interaction …
Tevin Davis: In DMs. Engagement.
Liz Wilcox: Same.
Tevin Davis: Instagram is fantastic. I love my people on Instagram, but I love my people everywhere though, but I started on TikTok, and then, ’cause Instagram is a lot harder to grow followers.
Like, TikTok is a little bit easier ’cause that’s just how the, the system is built, but Instagram is a lot harder. So those people that follow you are more engaged because they are committed when they follow, because it takes a lot to get them to do that. So I love my Instagram people, and they can subscribe, and they do.
I think my subscription is, like, $4.99 a month, and so people subscribe to me there. So Instagram is fantastic for me personally. So I would rank… See, it’s so hard because I, I would rank, I would certainly rank Facebook number one as far as monetization goes, and also they’re very engaged over there. I get a lot of engagement on Facebook as well.
That is just typically, like, my older, middle to older aged folks. Not all the time, but majority.
Liz Wilcox: Your memaws and aunties. O- okay.
Tevin Davis: That’s correct. I… And they, they say that in my comments. They’re like, “Listen, I’m, I’ve adopted you as my, my grandson or my nephew. Hey, nephew.” So I get in, like, Black women, like, I have a lot of Black women supporters, and so I thank them.
I love them to the backbone. I love Black women. They are, like, I s- all of my best friends are Black women. They have always been the foundation of my life, and so I’m so thankful, and of course, that would be the case. So Facebook, I would say number one in terms of monetization. As far as, like, community and family, like, it, it is really, really good.
I would tie Instagram to it. They’re kind of one and the same, but you just don’t make money on Instagram, but I would put those two together. And then YouTube, as far as I understand it, but I, I don’t do long form content yet, but as far as the short form content goes, I make more on Facebook than I do on YouTube.
But if you make long form content and longer than three minutes, then y- they put ads in your videos, and once they put ads in your videos, then they typically pay you a lot of money. So I think that YouTube actually pays the most when you can make long form content. But as far as short form goes, it’s Facebook and then YouTube for me.
Liz Wilcox: Do you know how many subscribers you have on YouTube for your Shorts?
Tevin Davis: Yes, I have. I just- It’s gr- it grows every day. But I think as far as last night, it was 59,500.
Liz Wilcox: Amazing. So I’m just gonna tell Tevin right now. So our former owner of this podcast, Pat Flynn, he has a short-form channel that has over two million, and let me just tell you, he is making bank. So you’re gonna get there.
Yes. Like, you are gonna exceed all expectations of everybody. I’m so… Like, I’m just super jazzed for you because, you know, I don’t know his exact numbers, but I’ve seen behind the scenes, and it’s like fall on the floor type of- Yeah … type of cash flow. I mean, yeah. So you, you’re getting there, and you’re, you’re like 25% of the way of our former owner.
Y- I think he’s got like two, 2.5 million just on his short form, ’cause he has a long-form channel, too, and it’s insane. So I’m, I’m stoked, bro. This is gonna be so epic.
Tevin Davis: I believe that.
Liz Wilcox: Tell me how much Facebook is paying you. I wanna know numbers. I’m nosy as hell
Tevin Davis: That’s, that’s hilarious. I mean, it, it really does fluctuate. First of all, a lot of my creator friends are easily making 30, 40, you know, thousand dollars a month just, like, Facebook, and, and that’s not including- Yeah, that’s amazing
you know, ev- uh, everything else. So-
Liz Wilcox: Right …
Tevin Davis: i’m not doing that. But, you know, Facebook- You’ll get there … could easily … Uh, for sure. For sure. You know, Facebook could easily pay out, I think the most that I’ve … Well, that’s not true either, but they can pay anywhere, they could pay 10,000 for a month. They could pay 15,000.
They could pay 5000. It really just depends on, on the engagement of, of any particular cycle, so it does go up and down. But anything more than zero is crazy to be paid in, in general. Literally. But certainly- Literally … $1,000, $1,000 and up to be paid on Facebook or any platform is, like, a lot for, for my poor brain to, to understand, and let alone- Yes, 5, 10, 15, 20.
And TikTok, TikTok fluctuates, but I get paid rather well on TikTok as well. So between TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, I mean, I make a lot of money through those avenues. And then they, you know, have other brands and partnerships and things too on top of that, so … I mean, I think that’s where the crossover happens.
And so you don’t want to only rely on views, because that can fluctuate. Yes. Engagement could go up and down, but you start to build something so that you can bring in revenue that’s consistent. So what I do now as a, you know, a creator, is that I will have a brand come to me or a, a, a partnership or organization, and they want to work on messaging.
And what I will tell them is, “I would like to be on a retainer,” and that makes sure that I’m guaranteed a certain amount of income every month. You put me on a retainer. You pay me X amount of dollars every month. If you need videos, you just tell me what you need. I’ll get them done for you, and then I get to guarantee that I’m being paid a certain set amount, which helps with my budgeting and things, every month instead of waiting for, “We need a video,” and then they pay me that for one video, and then they might need me again.
It, it just is too much in the air. So I wanna know that I can get paid X amount for this month and for the next few months or whatever- Oh … the agreement is.
Liz Wilcox: I’m gonna interrupt because wow. Listen. Do you hear this man? Retainer. Write it down, all caps. This is… Okay, so I’m not gonna name names, but, you know, I have a lot of Survivor friends, and they’re trying to do brand deals, and they’re getting bigger and bigger, and they’re getting other shows.
And I’m like, “First of all, we need to be doubling your rates.” Um- Yes … fir- first and foremost, what, what is that number? I can’t even see it, it’s so small. Uh, rumored billionaire- … over here trying to tell all her friends to double the rates. But I, I haven’t heard many people talking about retainer. You know, I always tell people, especially when it comes to brand deals, partnerships, the partner itself, the business itself wants something long-term.
Do you know how annoying it is to go find somebody like Tevin and to build that relationship and then have to do it again next month? Like, these people have bosses, these people have budgets, and if they don’t spend the budget, the, the budget is gone, right? It’s gonna be allocated. Someone like me is gonna say, “Well, if you didn’t spend it, I guess, you know, I’ll give it to the other guy,” right?
So I love this idea of a retainer and I’d love to hear, were you nervous asking for that? Like, what was the feeling?
Tevin Davis: Yes. I, I don’t, I don’t do well with, with money actually, but I, I, it’s something that you, you have to do. Like, if you wanna run a business, you have to have a certain level of backbone and spine to be able to say, “This is what I’m valued and this, this is what I’m worth.”
Because to not speak up and to say what you are worth is actually a detriment because… And this is for all businesses, but they don’t care about you as much as you care about you. Like, at the end of the day, they wanna pay you the least amount. They want to make sure that they are good with their budget, which as they should be, but also you need to be concerned about your budget ’cause your bills gotta get done, too.
And so I had to learn that it’s not a personal thing. It just, it has to make… If it don’t make dollars, it really don’t make sense to me. And so if Chase don’t clear the check the right way for me, I can’t do it, and that’s just what it is for me. And so I had to learn to just say, “Hey, let’s negotiate.” But I’m also very kind with it because I understand also we’re in a, in an economy where everyone is pinched and struggling and trying to make things happen.
And so I am gracious with all people, but I also have to keep it a buck and keep it 1,000. And so I tell them, “I would love to negotiate what this kind of a collaboration could look like. What I would prefer is if we could go forth with, with a retainer for a more long-term relationship.” And you just offer them this thing.
You allow them to decide if that’s what they wanna do, and if not, they will- they’ll tell you, and then you kinda negotiate from, from there. But was I nervous about it? Yes, because the fear is that they’ll just go, “Oh, well, we don’t wanna work with that person.” But you have to be okay with that. You have to be willing to walk away from something, and you have to be willing to walk away from an opportunity if it means walking into who you’re meant to be and who you are deserving of and your, your worth.
And so I’m always willing to walk into my worth instead of walking into someone else’s version of my worth because that, that’s not the same as who I wanna be and where I wanna be. So you have to be willing to, to hear no if it doesn’t work out
Liz Wilcox: Oh, that’s so true. And people can smell desperation on you, right?
Yeah. And you might be desperate for the money. I, raise your hand. You might be. Like I, I have been desperate for a lot, a lot of cash before. But going in and knowing if this door doesn’t open, there’s another one waiting. And learning to say no is a huge skill when it comes to your creator business, when it comes to becoming an entrepreneur, and that was something when I started my $9 a month membership, that took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
I was ma- you know, it’s $9. I was making almost nothing for a long time, but I believed in the future of it, and there were people coming to me, “Hey, Liz, I’ll pay you $10,000, $20,000 a month to build this thing for me over here.” But I knew there was value, like Tevin just said, I knew there was value in building this other thing.
And I knew eventually, you know, the short-term payoff wouldn’t be worth it in exchange for this long term and, and I built something amazing, and I, I actually built Smart Passive Income, which is the name of this podcast, and I believe it’s the reason why I own it today. Really being able to say no. But you mentioned brand deals.
You mentioned getting paid by the platforms themselves. Are there any other ways you have monetized this creator business of yours?
Tevin Davis: I’ve turned a lot of, well, not a lot, but I- I’ve, I have subscription services as well, like Substack. Like I, I use Substack and, and have gained quite a bit of traction, you know, over there for my stuff, and there’s exclusive things over there and whatnot.
But also I always tell people like it is a way for you to just kind of pour in. It allows people to kind of become founding members of, of this thing because it is still kind of new, especially over there on Substack. But people are able to pour into the blossoming of what this community is going to be because there is a cost and people don’t always know that.
There’s a cost to content creation. Like I have to cook this food, I have to buy this food, I have to drive around to these locations to get the content. I have to buy equipment. There’s all of these costs that are associated with all of the things that they love, and so pouring into that allows me to continue to do that and allow them to continue to get joy because my whole bag is joyful resistance.
And so in order for us to all take part in that, you know, I ask them that, that they subscribe. I think it’s $5 a month for, for my subscription on, on Substack ’cause I don’t want it to be astronomical because again, people don’t have it like that. Like people are struggling. Healthcare is up, gas is up, groceries are up, everything is up.
And so I don’t want it to be unreasonable. So that’s another way that I am making money through that. So subscriptions, my partnerships and brands, and then my viewership and engagement. And a lot of these platforms also give you bonuses on top of what you make. So you’ll get paid for views and then depending on how high quality or high engaged the content is, they will give you an additional bonus, which I’ve seen crazy, crazy bonuses that have hit my viewership stuff on there.
So it just kind of incentivizes you to make good content, you know, not just throw something together.
Liz Wilcox: Okay. If you’re not watching the YouTube video, like my jaw was literally open. I, I didn’t know about the bonuses. Yo, I, I got to get out here in this creator scene- … ’cause I love a bonus.
Tevin Davis: Yes, I love a good bonus.
Liz Wilcox: That’s amazing. I love that, and I love that you mentioned Substack and those people that care about you, that understand, hey, this costs money, let alone time. Please. And around here we call those super fans, right? Those adopters of you. They believe in you, they believe in the cause, they believe in the community.
And I’m always telling people, and literally there’s a book, you really only need like 1,000 true super fans to make a decent living, to spread the word. ‘Cause those people, not only are, are they paying Tevin $5 a month, they’re also probably over in the Facebook saying, “Hey nephew, I shared this with a few friends.”
You know, they’re over on Instagram commenting and tagging people. They’re sh- posting to their stories. They’re, anytime there’s a brand deal, they’re commenting to make sure that brand knows like, “Hey, we’re here. We’re behind Tevin. Thank you for cashing the check with him.” And I just, I just love that you have so many superfans.
So let’s talk about how many you have. ‘Cause last I checked, it was a whole hell of a lot.
Tevin Davis: It’s, it’s been c- I mean, I didn’t even know how… ‘Cause Substack, you know, originally was designed for like writers and, and, and bloggers and people who write articles and things, which I, I don’t do that often. I, I can write, but I just don’t.
Like, I am a, a camera, on-camera media type of, of creator.
Liz Wilcox: He’s a busy guy.
Tevin Davis: But-
Liz Wilcox: He’s a busy guy …
Tevin Davis: But I am, I, I am a busy guy. And so, but it i- it has evolved into just another social media app. Like, people use it kinda like Twitter. They’ll just type something in, post it, whatever. You can post videos, you can post, you know, articles.
You can do all types, a podcast. You can do anything on Substack. So I think it’s, it’s a fantastic tool, and it works for me because I don’t have to change my routine too much via using the Substack. But when I first started it, I was like, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I hope this works out.” But I think at this point, I have not checked it in the last couple of days, but I know that it’s over 5,000 subscribers that, that are over there.
And so-
Liz Wilcox: Paid?
Tevin Davis: I, I don’t know how many of them are, are paid, but there are a lot of them that-
Liz Wilcox: Okay. I was like, “Ooh- … that are paid … he’s taking me out to dinner.”
Tevin Davis: No, they’re, they’re, they’re not, they’re not all paid, but a, a good- Gotcha … a good amount of them are actually, so. But I have not went through and, and looked at that yet, but I know that there’s 5,000 people that are over there.
Liz Wilcox: Gotcha.
Tevin Davis: And they’re transitioning all the time. Many of them have bought subscriptions for the whole year, so instead of them, you know, paying $5 a month, they just pay whatever it is for, for the full year of service.
Liz Wilcox: I’m the year plan. I think it was like $50, so it’s like 10 bucks off, two months free, or something like that.
Tevin Davis: Yeah, I think, I think that’s, that’s how, that’s how we had set it up. So-
Liz Wilcox: Yeah, like on the consumer side or the super fan side, like that’s a small price to pay. You know, somebody like Tevin, I’ve been watching him for years, and I subscribe to other Substacks too, and I always pay for the year ’cause I’m like, it’s kinda like that bonus.
Like, ooh, somebody paid a year in full. I’m gonna go treat myself or, you know, I’m gonna put that in the pot to buy a better camera or microphone, or this is gonna help me when I’m traveling so I can get a… I can upgrade my room or whatever. I love that so, so much. Can we take it back though? I wanna like sit in a moment ’cause we’re moment people.
Tevin Davis: Yeah.
Liz Wilcox: When you made That first dollar online. What was going through your head? What was going through your body? Walk us through that, ’cause that’s a huge moment that a lot of our listeners are waiting for.
Tevin Davis: Mm. I’m trying to find the words to say what it is I wanna say, but it, it truly was, like, unearthing.
Because I, I, I had… I am not a content creator. I didn’t wanna do this. I said that in the beginning. And so the fact that I had grown this, this TikTok thing, my videos had been going viral. This one girl took a video of me after a, a Kamala rally, and that went viral, and, and that really picked up, and now all of a sudden I’m all over the place.
And because I, I also didn’t know, like, you don’t know what you don’t know, and I don’t want people to do what I did and not know what’s going on, ’cause I wasn’t even in the TikTok creator studio or, or whatever when it first started. So all of my videos are crossing into millions and millions of views I should’ve been getting paid a lot of money for.
And but because I, I didn’t know that I was supposed to sign up for the creator program, I missed all of that money. And so I had no idea you could even make money, but I was doing it because I loved it first. There was no money attached to it. Because I didn’t even know about the money. It just was something fun, and I saw people react to it.
But when that money started coming through and I saw it, I was like, “Oh my God.” Like, I, I couldn’t believe that it was happening, and it… Once it started happening and it became a little more consistent, it just became like freedom, like an, an unlocking of something, like that I have access to make decisions that I couldn’t make before, that I can support myself, that I don’t need to go be somebody else’s worker, but that I can work for me and make my own decisions.
But I guess people tell you that you can make money online, but until you see it, it’s just like, how? But then you see it and it’s like, oh my God, like, I truly can make money myself, being myself, being authentically who I am, showing up as myself. And it was rewarding to know that on the other side of me being me, that there was an incentive, a monetary incentive there waiting for me, that, like, me… that I’m enough. That I, I am enough. And so it, it was, it was other, otherworldly to see it for the first time.
Liz Wilcox: Wow.
Tevin Davis: For a long time, I mean, I had heard of people making it, but I, I wasn’t. And so I’m like, “How are they doing this?” Like, I don’t, I don’t even… How do you crack into that? But it’s easier than, than you might think that it is.
And once you get it, it is so, so rewarding. But I will always say, before the dollar came the joy. And so I was being paid before that moment, and then when I noticed that money could follow that, it just… It took my breath away. Truly, and still does to this moment, ’cause it’s g- gr- it’s growing. Like, what I made then is not what I made a year after that, and it’s certainly not what I make now, and it won’t be what I make a year from now.
And so I’m, I am so baffled by this. I’m, I’m in it right now. Like, I’m not a s- really, truly overly seasoned creator, but I, I am one that has built a platform, continuing to build, and that found myself in rooms with many different people, A-list celebrities and political people and, and past presidents, and just all different types of people that have truly given me the freedom to be a, a full entity, a full business.
Liz Wilcox: I, ugh, I was tearing up because I know that feeling, and I know Tevin personally, and I’m…
It is so heartwarming to hear you have that experience too. It, it truly changed my life. Like, every morning, I-
Tevin Davis: Life-changing. Mm.
Liz Wilcox: It’s, it is- That’s the word … life-changing, and I’ve… It’s changed not only my life, you know, I mentioned my family’s lives as well, and it will, you know, my children’s lives and their children.
It’s, it blows my ever-loving mind. But you said one thing that is the true mic drop, I think, of this whole conversation. You said, “There’s a monetary incentive to be myself.” What a beautiful time to be alive for that to be true. Ugh, I just… What a blessing. Like, it’s, it’s unbelievable how true it is, and I find that, and I’m sure Tevin is finding this as well, the more I lean into who Liz is, the more money I make.
It’s actually-
Tevin Davis: Yes …
Liz Wilcox: Insane. Yes. And suddenly, Liz on Survivor makes sense, you know? Correct. But it’s, it’s so… There is a monetary incentive to be yourself in this current truly creator economy. I love that so much. I have one more question for you, Tevin. Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur?
Tevin Davis: Yes. I am one.
I’ve built myself into one. I’ve cultivated myself. I, I didn’t think I would be. I, maybe I didn’t think that I ever, I could have the opportunity to be, but I am, and all it took was me getting out of my own way, me allowing myself to say yes to the water. You can fight the water, but the water will always win.
But allowing yourself to fully live in the moment and to just say yes to it and allow yourself to, to do something that you might be scared of or uncertain of or unsure of and allowing yourself to be, it has turned me into, into one, and it’s something that I’ve cultivated, I’ve learned from, I’ve made mistakes doing, but that I have, I’ve certainly built that from the ground, yes.
Liz Wilcox: Well, I’m so excited for your next chapter, Tevin. Please tell us if we have been enraptured by you in this episode. Where can we find you online? Where do you want us to go?
Tevin Davis: Listen, follow me anywhere that is comfortable to you. Everybody has different things that they don’t wanna be on this platform or whatever, but you can follow me on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, @tevin.m.davis.
You can find me pretty much everywhere with that username. I believe YouTube might be the same username, but I’ve had to change it because someone took the one I wanted. But it’s fine. If you put Tevin Davis in, it’ll pop up. If you see Kamala, it’s me. If you see cooking, it’s me. If you see Survivor, it’s me.
Not everybody knows they’re all the same person, which is actually hilarious to me. But please follow me on Instagram, follow me on Facebook, follow me on Threads, follow me on YouTube, subscribe to my Substack if you so wish, if you want to pour into what I’m doing. And I think I said everything, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram.
Liz Wilcox: I think you got it all.
Tevin Davis: I think I got it all, yeah. So I want joyful resistance. I know-
Liz Wilcox: He says Google me.
Tevin Davis: Listen, if you want to, you can, you can follow me on, on Google some kinda way. I don’t know. But I want you all to just remain joyful and to step out of your own way. I know it’s scary. It may be uncertain.
It may be, you may be worried about what the future holds. You may not wanna, you know, quit the job because you don’t think you can sustain, but I am a living witness. If anybody, if anybody in the world would think that I could do, it’s crazy, but I am doing it. So if I can do it, I know that you can do it.
And so get outta your own way, and please follow me for more joyful resistance. I know there’s a lot going on in the world, but we all deserve to be happy, healthy, and full of joy, and so I want you to, to feel that. So follow me, not for me, but hopefully for, for the betterment of, of you, and to watch my journey so you know that you can, you can make it too.
Liz Wilcox: Awesome. Thanks so much, Tevin.
Tevin Davis: Thank you, Liz. I love you, girl.
Liz Wilcox: Love you. Ah, that was so great. Thank you so much. I really did. I was tearing up. I… My whole life revolves around other people having that first dollar moment and realizing that freedom. Like, is this real? I always say, like, “These rich folks been lying.”
It’s actually- Yes … it’s actually, you can have your own money. These rich folks are lying.
Tevin Davis: You can have your own money. I… It’s so free. Like, I don’t have to clock in nowhere. I don’t have to work for… unless I do a partnership or something, which is, is on my terms, but I don’t have to do anything other than what I wanna do.
I work for me, totally, and so it, it is the most liberating thing I have ever done.
Liz Wilcox: I’m so happy for you, truly, truly. I cannot tell you, being on the show with you and sleeping in the dirt with you and having this moral dilemma of I’m going to cut this man off from his money that he de- rightfully deserves.
And then realizing, oh, wait, this man is a superstar. I ain’t in nobody’s way. Like, and then, and then for you to go out and just outshine any expectations from anybody, it’s, it’s really inspiring, and I’m just happy to be connected to you.
Tevin Davis: Mm. I love you, girl. Thank you. I’m so, so grateful. It’s crazy. It’s just, it’s crazy.
Liz Wilcox: It is nuts. Do you have a team yet? Do you have any contractors helping you?
Tevin Davis: Nope. I do it all myself.
Liz Wilcox: You know, it took me a long time and making a lot of money to be like, “Fine, someone else can have a little bit.” I’d like my time back.
Tevin Davis: Yeah. Yeah. It, it needs to happen. It, it definitely needs to happen, but I, I I mean, I have a lawyer, so I guess I do have a team.
I have financial people, and I have a lawyer, and I have people that are on my team that do help me. But as far as, like, a team of assistants and things, you know, I do, I do have people that do help. Like, I have people that help me, you know, when I need them to, and, and I try to give them a little something when they, when they help.
But I, uh, certainly do, do it all myself. The emailing and the figuring, scheduling, and the handling of the money, and all of those things really is me.
Liz Wilcox: That’s a lot. That’s a lot.
Tevin Davis: It is a lot. So- But I built it to here, but it- I definitely need to expand it bec- but I’ve- I did get it to here, which I’m very proud of.
Liz Wilcox: You should be. It’s remarkable. I’m so happy for you.
Tevin Davis: It’s been cra- like, I have never been, I have never been this busy in my li- like, in my whole life, I have never felt as busy as I, as I do right now, which is good. I was gonna be- I should be on tour. I should have done my first stop in Philly on Monday, but I actually had to reschedule it because, uh, I have too many other bookings to be able to do it.
Wow. So I’m gonna do it in 2027 now.
Liz Wilcox: Well, that’s amazing. That’s incredible. I feel like I’m in a similar boat, like-
Tevin Davis: Yeah, as you should be …
Liz Wilcox: so yes. Well, I’m trying to work myself out of it now. Like, I bought this business, and now I don’t like to work, you know? Well, you saw me out on the island. I’m like, “I’ll just sit here.”
Uh, you know? Okay.
Tevin Davis: Make money while you sleep. That’s what
Liz Wilcox: I’m working on. Yes, that’s what I- Um- Yes, and you are, and you, you’re doing it, and it’s amazing. But yeah, I’m just… I am at the point now where I have to, like, become a content creator. You know, I have a team, so they can do all that other stuff that I’ve been doing.
So now I need to do, it’s called, like, top of funnel, like, visibility, visibility, visibility. And I’ve gotta get on all the platforms, and I’m doing this podcast three times a week. I’m doing a live stream three times a week. It’s just a lot, so I really commend you, ’cause I’m getting a lot of resistance coming up, kind of like what you were talking about.
I don’t… That’s not me. I wanna live in the moment, but it’s like, okay, well, do you want money? Do you wanna serve people? Do you wanna help people? Go out and find them. Anyway.
Tevin Davis: I’m so proud of you, girl. Thank you. Millionaire status for real this time.
Liz Wilcox: For re- For real this time. All right, I’ll talk to you soon.
Tevin Davis: Okay. Love you, boo.
Liz Wilcox: Love you. Bye.
