Latest / The Scene Projects / Payton Walker on Pawnd'r App, Twitch Integration, and Content Creation Insights

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Payton Walker on Pawnd'r App, Twitch Integration, and Content Creation Insights · The Scene Projects

• 0:01
  Welcome into a very exciting episode of the scene.
• 0:04
  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and with me today is the founder and CEO of the Ponder app,
• 0:09
  Peyton Walker.
• 0:10
  Welcome to the show, Peyton.
• 0:11
  Thank you.
• 0:12
  Thank you for having me.
• 0:13
  I'm very excited to be here.
• 0:14
  I am blessed to have you here.
• 0:17
  You're a mutual friend of our good friend, Kayla Kaye.
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  And, you said you watched our episode, so I appreciate you watching.
• 0:25
  But we're here to talk, a little bit about your project today.
• 0:28
  So before we get into that, why don't you go ahead and, yeah, give us a little, little bit
• 0:33
  of who you are and what it is you do.
• 0:35
  Alright.
• 0:36
  Well, my name is Peyton Walker.
• 0:38
  Thank you for the introduction.
• 0:39
  I am the CEO and founder of the newest app on the App Store, Ponder.
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  I'm 26 years old, have completely went from being a veterinary in veterinary school to
• 0:52
  deciding that's not what I wanted to do, and rescuing animals the passion.
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  It's the goal.
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  Saving the world is our mission.
• 1:01
  I stream on social media as a future president one hundred is my title on there.
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  And, basically, just connecting world changers all over the world, Either you're an animal
• 1:12
  lover or you're a world changer, and that's the community that I have built so far.
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  I love it.
• 1:18
  That's awesome.
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  I think you're our first real, streamer that we've had on the show.
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  So, you grab that title and hang on
• 1:28
  to it.
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  It's another one
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  of those, paycheck list titles as we were talking about.
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  And for people out there, ponder is p a w n d r.
• 1:39
  Correct.
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  Tell us more about the app.
• 1:42
  Yeah.
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  So we are an app that a free app, I'll put that out there, that connects animal shelters to
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  people that are looking to adopt.
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  And so we are the middleman between you finding your forever furry friend and bringing them
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  into your home.
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  We want you to adopt from shelters.
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  There's so many animals in need, and we only work with no kill shelters so you know that the
• 2:03
  people that you are connecting with through Ponder are good, wholesome, animal loving
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  people.
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  And so not only do we help animals find homes, but we also have pet profiles for current pet
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  owners where you if your ever pet ever gets lost, you can post it to the app, and it'll
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  alert your community and say, hey.
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  Bring them back to me and my address instead of the shelter, and that helps shelters focus on
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  animals that are in need instead of the animals that already have homes.
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  Interesting.
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  So how did you come about I mean, obviously, the first thing that you need to do is to build
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  a network of shelters.
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  Obviously, you mentioned veterinary school, but it's difficult to to build networks like that,
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  I would know.
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  So what kind of, you know, obviously, the inspiration is animal loving, but what started
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  the, hey.
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  I'm gonna start finding all these shelters and bringing them under one umbrella?
• 3:01
  I just well, I'm a people person.
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  I love animals.
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  Yes.
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  That's true.
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  But I am a people person.
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  I love connecting with people, especially good, wholesome people.
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  And you can find that in the animal community.
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  And people really know the love and and the passion that comes with, you know, owning your
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  own animal and trying to find these homes and stuff.
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  And so for me, it was, I'm good at networking.
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  I'm good at people.
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  I can connect easily.
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  And if I can use my talent to help others, then I can create an entirely different category of
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  pet rescue.
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  And so there are other apps out there, but none are like Ponder.
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  We only work with shelters.
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  We only our whole mission is to just help people with the love of animals.
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  And so it's it's been a journey, but it's it's so rewarding.
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  And it's the people we've met along the way is just so easy.
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  Shelters are so willing to just be like, oh, yeah.
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  I'll sign up.
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  Absolutely.
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  So it's it's really cool.
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  Right.
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  Well, because they're already doing so much caring for the animals that are there, they
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  don't have the time to run an app on the side or to run a Facebook page to get it out about
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  all these animals that they're trying like, it's a full time job just trying to care for
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  the animals that are in the shelters.
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  We know these shelters are always full.
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  If we had one in Tyndall, it would be full as well instead all the cats are in my backyard.
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  So I understand.
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  The need was there.
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  And I just love that you took initiative and said, hey, I'm good at this.
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  I'm good at connecting people.
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  How do I take this to the next level?
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  What's it like designing an app to to do that?
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  It is a process.
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  I will I will tell you that if, you know, somebody out there is like, I've been thinking
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  about developing an app.
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  You should look into it for sure.
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  Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
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  But, basically, I had to find a developer and because I I can't code myself, and I'm learning
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  more and more as I'm working with my team.
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  But when I first started in 2020, I was young, naive, and just ready to launch.
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  I just I wanted to get this together.
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  Eager.
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  I wanted to help.
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  I was eager.
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  Yes.
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  That's yeah.
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  Thank you.
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  And I actually end up getting scammed for $8.
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  Oh.
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  So so that
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  was when you're 21.
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  Yeah.
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  That was rough.
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  That was rough.
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  And, you know, it took me about ten minutes of just straight crying.
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  And I was like, if I'm gonna let one thing stop me from achieving my dreams, then I'm not meant
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  to run this entire company.
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  And it kept I kept pushing.
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  And so I ended up finding, a program or a a company in Utah called Outcode Software, and
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  they are wonderful.
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  I'm still working with them.
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  We've been working together for about two years.
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  I have my own team of developers.
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  And, basically, I hold the reins, and they tell me, you know, what we what would make it better
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  or what they see in their analytics and their apps that have already been designed.
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  And so I just had to put together the my ideas in my head, put it on paper, and send it off to
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  them, and they made it a reality.
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  That's incredible.
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  It's definitely something that we've thought about with the scene projects because we're all
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  about connecting as well, and, obviously, we're all on our phones all the time.
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  And while the, you know, the social giants, have given us an audience out there in the
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  world, a little bit.
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  It's very hard to communicate with people that way.
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  Right?
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  It's really difficult to try and make sure that the people that you want to see your stuff on
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  Facebook actually see it, you know, even more so on other apps.
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  Right?
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  So it's awesome that you were able to find a team, and I'm sorry that you had to go through
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  some tribulations, but that is that is life, is it not?
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  It is.
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  It really is.
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  Yeah.
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  It wouldn't have been, you know, it wouldn't have been this awesome journey and this awesome
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  story without a serious hiccup.
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  So it was a bummer, but we made it through it.
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  And here we are today, and you can download it for free right now.
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  So it's it's really cool.
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  Well and that brings me to my next question then is how do you kind of pay for, you know
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  obviously, recouping your your money on on the cost of the app is difficult to do, and you're
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  not in it for the money anyway.
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  But are you operating similar to, like, a nonprofit?
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  Are you your own nonprofit that's operating?
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  Or with a free app, I'm just I'm curious how the business side of it now actually works.
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  The service side of it seems freaking awesome.
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  Yes.
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  That's a good question.
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  Thank you.
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  Yes.
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  So I my husband and I have funded the app ourselves.
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  So we're about it's a % paid off.
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  So if you're if you are looking to start an app, it'll cost you pretty close near $50,000,
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  and so keep that in mind if you're ideal.
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  Same projects ain't getting to know
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  an app anytime soon.
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  I got a guy.
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  Let me know.
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  And so the way that it works is another feature that Ponder has is that we love to advertise
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  for pet related businesses.
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  So you can a pet related business can create a profile for free, and that gets you on the map.
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  And once you're on the map, you can decide if advertising through Ponder is something that
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  you're interested in.
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  And so for $20.25 dollars a month, you can advertise on the app.
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  The ads run twenty four seven, or you can pay $250 for the year.
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  And, basically, how Ponder runs is it's just like Tinder, but for animals and animal
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  shelters.
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  And so you put in a filter.
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  So you're you're looking for a two year old German shepherd.
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  It will search every shelter in The US, and you will swipe through those German shepherds.
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  Every five swipes is an advertisement.
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  I think it's five to seven swipes is an advertisement.
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  And then you can either, pay a subscription to say, I don't really want ads, or you can just
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  keep going, and the ads are just as easy to pass.
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  You know, we're not gonna we're not gonna stick you on an ad because we don't want to you know,
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  I don't pay for Spotify, so I've I'd be listening to music.
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  And I just gotta I just gotta, you know, tough it out through that Charmin Ultra Strong toilet
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  paper ad.
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  But we don't want you to do that.
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  We want you to be able to swipe and say, I'm not interested in that ad or say, oh, you know
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  what?
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  I am looking for a veterinarian.
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  Perfect.
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  I just found one through Ponder.
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  And so that's how we generate revenue.
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  Awesome.
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  So, yeah, running an advertising model, but also having the subscription if you don't want
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  to see ads.
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  Okay.
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  So a little bit of recruitment.
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  Obviously, it's a it's a slow process.
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  I'm sure there as well.
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  We hope that, this this episode brings some awareness to your company and some of these pet
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  companies, see what you're doing and and you can drive the price up of ads a little bit.
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  I I think it's it's too low.
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  You're probably just happy to get anything to to nick off that $50 that you've invested into
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  it.
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  Just amazing.
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  So talk about so you're you're a Twitch streamer.
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  I I know you're a gamer as well.
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  Do your worlds kind of crossover online where a lot of your followers know about the process?
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  Obviously, I mean, if you're online a lot, people have watched you go through this
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  journey.
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  Do you have a lot of your, you know, followers of your Twitch streams that are now users of
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  your app?
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  Yes.
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  It's actually, the first people that were downloading the app were obviously friends and
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  family that were close to me, but users all over the world that I have connected with in my
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  video games.
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  And so when you open the app, you can see other pet finders around the world, and, you know, we
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  have people in Belgium, Australia, California.
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  And those are all people that I have connected with through the game.
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  And so it's really cool.
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  You know, I'd I'll do live streams of they have, like, a just chatting category, and it's
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  literally just me working on CEO stuff.
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  And my my viewers love it.
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  They love to see the process of me going through and, you know, what it takes to put the
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  advertisements together and connect and network and and things like that.
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  And so I really try to involve my community because I want people to know that if you know,
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  you can be a world changer.
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  It doesn't matter what age you are, and your dreams are absolutely possible.
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  And so watch me procure my dreams, and I hope I can help you in the future.
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  And that's that's definitely everybody definitely feels loved when they are in the
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  future president's servers, so it's cool.
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  I I probably need to start a Twitch stream and start doing that.
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  I spend so much of my time sitting in this chair just working, you know, designing flyers
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  or or connecting with people, networking, talking on the phone, chatting online, building
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  websites, doing all these things.
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  And to me, I've always thought I'm I'm quite a bit older than you are too, so I didn't grow up
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  in this era of streaming.
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  Yeah.
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  I didn't find my life or at least the behind the scenes part of it to be that interesting,
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  but listening to you now, I I you may be changing my mind.
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  It is.
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  It really is.
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  I mean, even like a time lapse of you putting together a flyer or it's you know, people think
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  that that kind of content really isn't gonna be engaging.
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  That's all your followers wanna see.
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  They wanna see you know, I have Kayla.
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  Kay is an is an artist, and then her cousin, my best friend, his name his name is Lil' Siren.
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  And he will make music.
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  He'll make beats from scratch, and he doesn't post any of that stuff.
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  And I say post it.
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  People want to see the progress.
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  They wanna see you know, you you came up with a word and you decided that's gonna be a song.
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  How did you make that song?
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  And that's the exact same thing with building a company.
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  We wanna see how you did it and give us advice on how we can further, you know, better
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  ourselves.
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  So it's cool.
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  And and we're kind of starting something similar to that.
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  I guess I am starting, you know, a subscription based community, the Midwest Original Music
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  organization.
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  I also have the Midwest Podcasting organization that we're we're getting up off the ground.
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  And it it is to bring more on the education side, to to definitely show people, but more
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  show people that are interested in learning how to do it themselves, not necessarily in just
• 13:09
  watching it for entertainment purposes.
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  You you have inspired me already that I better go set up the Twitch stream and to start
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  showing people behind the curtain a little bit.
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  And, I mean, I'm I'm here all the time.
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  Right?
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  I I'm shooting two or three podcast episodes a day.
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  I'm already on, you know, online and with the camera on, you know, 90 or more all the time.
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  So it's nothing to me to to just do that.
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  And I'm sure being consistent is one of the biggest things in that is showing up and being
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  there.
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  My problem is is that I'm usually not in, I leave the office at 04:00 when most people
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  would be starting to kinda tap in for entertainment.
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  Right?
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  That's yeah.
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  That that is very true.
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  And that's that's so crucial with, you know, what we do is, you know, that especially with
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  social media out there, it's it's such a good tool to use.
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  And so it's it really is cool.
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  And just exactly what you said, you know, you're sitting there anyway.
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  Your community, I can tell you right now, you started at Twitch, your community would draw
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  very fast.
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  I promise you that.
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  Your energy and your your kindness, it will spark.
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  It will.
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  Well, and I forget that the people that are there, right, I'm thinking of my community
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  existing and not a lot of those people would tap in because it's not really their thing.
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  But the community of people that are already on Twitch and are engaging with content like that,
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  those are the ones that we're really after.
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  And to change my change my idea about what Twitch is because I'm not a streamer, I'm not a
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  gamer, I haven't spent a lot of time digging into that community, but I I will now.
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  Now I got homework pain.
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  Thanks.
• 14:44
  Yeah.
• 14:45
  Yeah.
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  It's cool.
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  Actually, a lot of people do game Twitch.
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  That was what it was made for.
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  But the music industry is taking over Twitch rapidly.
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  I mean, that you first when you pull up Twitch and you make your account and and the first
• 14:57
  things you'll see are people, like, playing the violin or playing the piano and just talking to
• 15:02
  their viewers, and it's it is really cool.
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  So, yeah, I I will definitely tune in.
• 15:07
  So Alright.
• 15:08
  Well, as long as I know you're gonna be there, I am jumping on.
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  I am setting up the Twitch.
• 15:13
  You know what?
• 15:14
  I think I have the channels.
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  Right?
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  I have the account set up.
• 15:17
  I just I'm invested in so many things.
• 15:19
  Right?
• 15:19
  My time is going so many places.
• 15:21
  And because I am a bit older, I'll be 39 in a few weeks, most of my crowd, right, are on
• 15:28
  Facebook.
• 15:29
  Right?
• 15:29
  That's where I have the followers, and I've built up these pages and groups and things.
• 15:32
  But the engagement there is so crap that I've I've really pulled away from it.
• 15:38
  And not that I'm looking for somewhere else to put my time, but we're definitely looking into
• 15:43
  pulling new people to what we're doing and to keep growing this this beautiful thing that
• 15:49
  we've built.
• 15:50
  Absolutely.
• 15:51
  Yes.
• 15:51
  And that's that's another cool thing about Twitch is when you record a video, it saves to
• 15:55
  the platform, and you can take that content and spread it out on all social media platforms.
• 16:01
  And so making clips on Instagram and and stuff like that.
• 16:04
  And so but it's it is it is really cool, and and you're doing something really special.
• 16:08
  So I would I would encourage it for sure.
• 16:10
  Alright.
• 16:11
  Well, you've convinced me.
• 16:14
  Peyton, any why don't you go ahead and plug everything before you go, make sure people know
• 16:18
  where to find you and connect with you, and and I'll let you get out of here.
• 16:22
  Okay.
• 16:22
  Thank you.
• 16:23
  Yes.
• 16:23
  Peyton Walker on Facebook.
• 16:25
  You can just search up p a w n d r, ponder, or come directly to me.
• 16:31
  Future president one hundred, if you are on any social medias, we have those are my two
• 16:36
  different accounts, Ponder and future president.
• 16:38
  And so if you have any questions or anything or you're having trouble with the app, which you
• 16:43
  won't because that's why I designed it.
• 16:46
  But if you do, feel free to come and talk to me.
• 16:49
  Otherwise, we have more information at www.ponderapp.info, and that is
• 16:55
  www.ponderapp.info.
• 16:58
  So thank you guys so much for having me on, and I cannot wait to see this live on the air.
• 17:04
  Yeah.
• 17:05
  Well, I'm gonna turn it around quick as soon as I get that Twitch stream up.
• 17:08
  So, Payton Walker, thanks for being part of the scene.
• 17:12
  Thank you so much.
• 17:13
  Have a good rest of your day.
• 17:15
  You too.