We recently connected with Ray Hicks and have shared our conversation below.

Ray, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

The truth is… I didn’t ever want to pursue this. Social media drives me absolutely nuts! I started the carnivore diet in hopes of easing joint pain, gaining mental clarity and health, and maybe lose a few pounds. Well, fast forward a month in, and I’ve lost 35lbs, my knee pain is gone, I’m sharp as a scalpel and I feel like I’m taking little happy pills. I thought to myself “this is too good to not share”. So I did just that. I shared a video of my experience and posted it to my personal Instagram & TikTok – not thinking anything would come of it. Well, TikTok RAN with it. I think it got some million + views? Many folks had questions, and I answered them to the best of my ability. Fast forward 5 months and I’ve got 100k followers on TikTok. It dawns on me; I should probably share this on Instagram as well. So, I start a new account, so I don’t bore my family and friends. And it REALLY took off. TikTok did it’s best to stay ahead – but Instagram quickly caught up. In 1 year of posting on TikTok my account grew to 460k followers. In 7 months of posting on Instagram my account has grown the same.

Being an “influencer” was never my goal. Social media stresses me out and quite frankly, some of my happiest times in life are when I have taken a hiatus. But I love people. I truly care about their wellbeing. I’ve had such a dramatic change and have witnessed thousands of others lives changed through this way of eating – I feel that I would be doing the world a disservice if I didn’t talk about this crazy way of eating. Too many people healed, too many lives changed – I’ll never stop trying to get people to consider a carnivore diet if they struggle with losing weight, mental health, or any disease/auto-immune issue.

Ray, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My social media platforms are simply testimonies. Primarily my own, and on occasion other’s testimonies as well. Talking about tips for starting a carnivore diet; (how to shop, save money, do it successfully), tips on discipline, and products I enjoy and trust.

The only true “service” I offer is a community. In my opinion, the carnivore diet is one of the easiest diets one could follow. However, it’s daunting to some, and extremely difficult for others. So I created a community where likeminded individuals can come together – share success stories, where they’re struggling, ask questions, and have two 1 hour group Zoom calls with me each week. It motivates them to keep going.

A large following doesn’t impress me. It means next to nothing in life and if I had to recreate my platforms, I don’t believe I’d be able to do so. This has all happened for a reason, and I am just trying to steward it to the best of my ability. I am most proud of the thousands who have found inspiration from my videos and embarked on a health and wellness journey themselves. Lifelong diseases and illnesses vanishing, weight loss they never thought possible, depression and skin issues vanishing, people being able to better regulate their emotions making them a better spouse or parent. That is pretty darn cool. It’s very rewarding, fulfilling and humbling.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Having grown a social media following of nearly 1 million people across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube in just one year, you’d think I’d have some pretty stellar advice to give someone wanting to grow their platform.

The truth is, I really don’t. I am 100% convinced that if I HAD to do this, I wouldn’t have the success I’ve seen thus far. I am convinced the two main reasons for success is God and luck.

However, there are a few things I’ve noticed that have contributed to this success:

– a niche topic.
Anyone can do a GRWM (get ready with me) video. Unless you already have a large following, or you are the most beautiful human to ever walk the earth, chances are not too many people will care to watch. Shoot, even the space that I am in is fairly broad. There are an endless amount of folks doing their best to create content regarding health and wellness. Going a bit deeper on that broad topic, I talk about the carnivore diet. It’s niche – and it’s fairly controversial.

– consistency.
Like most things in life, often times we expect to do something once or twice and have drastic results. The only problem with that, is that is completely and utterly insane! If we workout once, we will not wake up jacked the next morning. If we skip fast food once in efforts to save money, we won’t have a large savings the next morning. If we floss and brush or teeth once a week – can we really expect to have pearly white teeth? Absolutely not. Yet we expect results anyways. I had a football coach tell me once that “you have to earn the right to cry at the end of the season”. What he was saying, is that if we end the season with anything less than a championship, unless I showed up day in and day out and did my absolute best, I can’t be surprised by not having the outcome everyone else dreams of. Do what is necessary to achieve your goals. If you don’t, you do not deserve a pity party for yourself.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As someone who isn’t particularly fond of social media, I will say it’s incredibly fulfilling to be in this space. When you embark on a creative or artistic journey – you are going to impact people. Plain and simple – you will leave people either better or worse off than how they were prior to discovering your work.

As someone who has a front row seat to seeing lives change for the better, there is no greater feeling. I still work a full-time job as a loan officer because I have the time to do it and I enjoy serving people. Helping someone buy a house (an incredibly stressful process) getting to make that process as smooth and simple for them is a very rewarding feeling. I can say with certainty – that feeling is nothing compared to seeing someone’s quality of life increase due to their health increasing.

Leaving people better for the encounter is hands down the most rewarding part of being a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://carnivoreray.com
• Instagram: @carnivoreray_
• Facebook: carnivoreray
• Twitter: @carnivoreray
• Youtube: carnivoreray