We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aaron a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aaron, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I wish I had started my creative career sooner.

I’m hardly one opposed to some good symbolism, so I took that leap of creating my channel on Leap Day 2024. Truth be told, as a “reluctant procrastinator”, I probably needed the deadline and push of Leap Day to do so. While I appreciate that I was in a relatively stable spot in my life and career at that point, I wish I had started my creative journey a few years prior. Like so many, I found myself on an extended layoff during the COVID-19 pandemic. I wish I had started my food content creation during that season when I had so much more free time than I do now as a full-time worker. If I had taken that leap in 2020 or 2021 instead of 2024, I would have had more time: more time to create content, more time to learn and more time to grow, grow, grow. Content creation, like retirement savings, seems to yield the best results when you start early.

While I do wish I had started my creative career sooner, I don’t regret starting when I did. I could. I could regret it. But what would the point of that be? The important thing at this point is to make the most of the present time and do my best.

Aaron, 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?

So, a bit about me: My name is Aaron. I am truly a lifelong foodie! Inspired by the countless food influencers whose content I’ve spent countless hours watching, I finally decided to take that step and begin to share my passion for food with anyone who cares to give my channel a click. Enter Aaron’s Trendy Eats.

The ambition of “Aaron’s Trendy Eats” (ATE) is really to be a food channel open to “All Things Food” (ATF). The only limitation I might put on that is that I want the channel to be relatable, i.e., readily relatable and accessible. That’s why much of the early content is — and will continue to be for the foreseeable future — centered on fast food. Most everyone eats fast food at times. Most people know the big chains. And, while prices have gone up, it’s still “relatively” affordable. In other words, you probably won’t see me doing a video about cooking a little-known dish with hard-to-find ingredients that takes a very long time to prepare. I love cooking, but that video is probably not coming anytime soon. Or ever. That said, I started posting some fine dining review content to expand the channel a bit. I am a fast food fan, but I don’t eat it all the time! For now, the idea is that the channel content will be centered on three of my passions: food reviews, food challenges and food deals. I believe that the triple threat of having a discerning palate, being able to eat a lot and having a keen eye for savings does make the channel unique. While I think it’s fair to say the channel is not very well-known now, if it continues to grow and eventually shifts into my full-time job, I’d love to transition to more of a food & travel channel. That is the dream!

Honestly, what I’m most proud about is taking that initial leap of faith to launch the channel and give myself a shot of achieving that dream! Truth be told, it’s not so much the “sophisticated” content creators who produce highly-polished videos that inspired me. While I do respect the seriously impressive content some of them create, it is far more the “homestyle” content creators who produce simple videos that engage everyday people that really made me want to give this thing a shot. If they can do it, why not me?

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of doing what I do is that I get an excuse to be my most authentic self and share my passion with those who engage with my channel.

I love trying new food. I love analyzing what makes a new food item great or not. I love sharing my food insight with people. I love snagging a good food deal. All that is a win.

If any of my viewers learns a bit about a food item, saves a few dollars on a food deal or just vicariously enjoys the food from watching one of my videos, that’s a second win.

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

I wish I knew the formula.

Truth be told, I have had some success building my audience, but not nearly as much as I would want. Starting out, I hoped my “never-been-done-before” idea would turn into the viral video that takes me to a million subscribers within a week. Needless to say, that did not happen. Soon, I realized it’s hard work, and maybe a bit of luck.

My advice to those starting to build their social media presence: First, start personal. Family, friends, coworkers, etc. Leverage your personal “followings” to start your professional one. Objectively, one subscriber vs. none is not much different, but that first subscriber means the world for your confidence. Second, learn from those you want to be like and start experimenting. It could be as simple as what hashtags your favorite content creator uses. Or how they title their videos. Whatever the case, keep learning and keep experimenting. Repeat what works and delete what doesn’t. And, if you can, research the algorithms a bit and try to work them. Last, keep going. It’s so easy to get discouraged as an up-and-coming content creator because there are so many other people out there who objectively have been doing it longer and better and have bigger followings and better engagement, etc. It’s easy to go down that rabbit hole, but all you can really do is put in your best effort as often as you can. I believe — and maybe have to believe — that consistency and a constant desire to improve will produce fruit, even if it can seem painfully slow. I believe my channel has come a long way, but I am hopeful there is far more to come!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronstrendyeats
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaronstrendyeats
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aaronstrendyeats