We recently connected with Jay (spinelli) and have shared our conversation below.

Jay (Spinelli), appreciate you joining us today. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

In 2015, I made the boldest decision of my life. I quit my comfortable corporate job, cashed out my 401k, and took a one-way flight to the Dominican Republic. My dream was to open a wing restaurant—a spot where locals and tourists could gather, laugh, and enjoy some of the best wings they’d ever tasted. I believed in my vision with every fiber of my being.

At first, everything felt like an adventure. The warm Caribbean breeze, the vibrant culture, and the excitement of being my own boss filled me with a sense of freedom I had never known. I poured every penny I had into the restaurant, working tirelessly to create the perfect menu and establish a welcoming atmosphere.

However, the reality of running a brick-and-mortar business in a foreign country soon set in. I faced challenges I hadn’t anticipated—unpredictable costs, supply chain issues, and the struggle to build a consistent customer base. Despite my passion and hard work, after one year, the restaurant closed its doors.

I lost everything. My savings were gone, and I had no safety net to fall back on. Defeated and heartbroken, I packed up what little I had and returned to the United States. I was starting from scratch, with no money and a bruised spirit.
But through the pain and failure, I discovered something important—I loved the restaurant business. I loved creating dishes that brought joy to people. I loved the community that food could build. What I didn’t love was the heavy burden of a physical location.

That’s when a new idea began to form. What if I could share my love for wings and the knowledge I had gained without the overhead of a restaurant? What if I could reach people beyond the confines of a single location? That’s when I decided to create a YouTube channel.

My channel became my second chance. I started sharing recipes and cooking tips that I had learned while in Dominican Republic. Slowly but surely, people started to tune in. They connected with my content and my unwavering love for food.

Today, that YouTube channel is more than just a platform. It’s a community of over 280,000 subscribers. It’s proof that setbacks can lead to new beginnings. And it all started with wings.

Jay (Spinelli), before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Cooking has always been a part of my life, starting at an early age when I would stand beside my mom in the kitchen, watching her work her magic with simple ingredients. She taught me the basics, from seasoning to making a meal stretch for a family, and that foundation stuck with me. Later, as a broke college student, those skills became survival tools. I had to teach myself how to turn whatever was in the fridge into something filling and halfway decent. Over the years, I continued to dibble and dabble in the kitchen, trying out new recipes and experimenting with flavors—cooking became my creative outlet. Then one day, I decided to take a chance on myself. What started as a passion turned into a dream, and I opened my own restaurant, stepping into the world of food entrepreneurship. It was the scariest yet most rewarding leap I’ve ever taken.

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

Building my audience on YouTube was a journey that required both strategy and consistency. First, I mapped out a detailed content strategy, committing to uploading three videos a week for an entire year. I made sure to amplify my reach by sharing every video across my Facebook and Instagram accounts, while also creating profiles on platforms like Reddit to distribute my content there. Engagement played a big role too—I made it a habit to comment frequently on videos from larger YouTube channels in my niche, and I became an active participant in their live streams, chatting and making sure people started to recognize my name. I also sought out collaborations with bigger creators, which helped me tap into new audiences. On top of that, I ran ads to push some of my videos further. But through it all, the one thing that made the biggest difference was staying consistent—showing up week after week, no matter what.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When my restaurant business failed in 2016, and I moved back to the US, I had no choice but to get a “real job.” I knew this wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I had a family to take care of, so I did what I had to do. Still, I never let go of my dream. While working full-time, I stayed committed to building my YouTube channel. Every day on my lunch break, I would sit in my car and read or watch videos about “how to grow a YouTube channel.” I took notes, implemented what I learned, and, most importantly, stayed consistent. Day after day, month after month, I put in the work. Slowly but surely, I watched my audience grow—1,000 subscribers turned into 10,000, then 100,000, and eventually 200,000. My monthly income from YouTube began to surpass what I was making at my 9-to-5. After a year of consistently earning more from my side hustle than my job, I made the decision to take the leap and go full-time with my YouTube business. That was the moment everything changed.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allwingseverything
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/allwingseverything