We were lucky to catch up with Joseph “Hyde” Zuzula recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hyde, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My business is different than many businesses. I didn’t start off with having a tangible product. I didn’t start off with having much of anything of value for people on an every day basis and quite frankly I still don’t. I started during the pandemic at the end of November creating content and trying to put myself out in front of new people and gaining an audience when the reality was that I had none. I was a guy with a dream that many kept telling me was impossible. I sat on live streams night after night, 8, 10, 12 hours a day, talking with 10, 20 viewers, then 50, then 75, so on and so forth. My plan was just to keep building an audience. Groups of people would join and continue to come back night after night to learn more about me and what I was doing. I was a full time photographer/videographer and musician before Covid and obviously that all came to a screaming halt when the stay home order was in effect. So, I had to do something. I was awarded unemployment but the last thing I wanted to do was sit around home all day, collecting money for doing nothing, and getting nowhere. I decided to take these skills that I have gained and the small internet following that I had and build something out of it. Granted, it’s not massive by any means, I’ve turned what I do into a full time career through platforms like Patreon which allow me to give people who enjoy my art, content, etc something for their support and contribution to my being able to continue growing and pursuing my dream. But, this was all just the beginning, building a platform and an audience was just the tip of the iceberg. Next, I needed space to grow, to create, to upgrade not only my lifestyle but also my content and quality. So, I looked toward buying myself a house and that’s what I did. I made a solid gameplan and was very transparent with my followers. “I’m buying a house and this is why!” Everyone was all for it. Knowing I would be able to increase not only quality but time and effort into this, it seemed like a no brainer. I work every day. 7 days a week. Days that I’m sick, I’m still working on something. Whether it be content creating in terms of filming and editing, or responding to emails and messages from subscribers, it’s a nonstop grind and honestly, outside of just wanting to live the life that I want and dedicate my heart and soul to getting there, I’d like to be a symbol of success for those who doubt their capability. We have all been told we can’t achieve our goals, they aren’t realistic and we should “get a real job” but this is a real job. This is the realest job I’ve ever had and it’s by far the most successful job I’ve ever had. I firmly believe that we can all achieve our dreams if we just believe in ourselves.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

BOKUWAHYDE | “I AM HYDE”

I’m a dream. I’m what a guy who was surrounded by friends and family miserable with their day to day lives and who swore to do everything I could to not be that person, but more importantly, to do what I can to help others not live that lifestyle. In 2004 I received my first guitar for finally doing somewhat decent in school as a promise to my parents who offered to get one for me if I got good grades. I wasn’t much a good grade student. I wanted nothing more than to leave school and just go use my imagination playing video games like Final Fantasy VII or being with friends outside riding our bikes and having a good time. I spent most of High School playing in little garage bands with my friends and playing every week at some local restaurant for a few dollars to feel like we were chasing the dream.
In 2015, I went to cosmetology school to educate myself in style. I’ve always had a thing for visual style and it just seemed like the most important aspect of most things to me. First impressions and all that. I graduated in 2016 and started working in a salon part time. My girlfriend at the time, who owned a successful dance studio, asked if she bought me a camera, would I be willing to learn to use it and photograph her recitals and students for events? I obviously said yes! So, I began my journey as a photographer then and there which became my full time career immediately after. I began doing family photos, weddings, engagement sessions, you name it, I shot it. I stayed incredibly busy with that for quite some time- and then, Covid. When Covid came around this is when I essentially took to the internet and created what we call the “Baby Bats” which is our online community of currently over 1300 subscribers. These subscribers are on a platform called Patreon, which is a tier based subscription platform that allows users to subscribe for a monthly fee to support their favorite artists, creators, etc. Together we have been able to accomplish some great things, donating to bat sanctuaries to show philanthropic support, currently working on donations for the holidays to families in need, and I think most importantly the community in itself. We have seen many people come in to this community who have suffered with suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, drug use, and more. One of the things I’m so incredibly proud of, is that even though these incredible people sign up to support me originally, we all end up supporting each other. We have had a great deal of stories from current members who felt they had no one before joining and finding friends and family connections who they say “saved their life” and helped them change their lifestyles when they felt like there was someone who suddenly does care about them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is a question I get often and though I don’t have a massive presence online right now, it’s grown tremendously over a short period of time. My answer is always this; “First and foremost, you need to do something that you’re passionate about. It’s important to stay true to what you’re happy doing and what you can wake up every day excited to do. I took my passions being cosmetology, photography, videography, music and rolled them into a package deal, and told myself, this is my product, me. I’m the product. Be you. Always stay true to what you desire and who you are. Once you have that, then be consistent with it. Show the world what you do and show them why you do it. Show up every day for yourself. If you’ll show up for work at your 9-5 on time and without excuse then why wouldn’t you do that for yourself and your own dreams. You need to hold yourself accountable and be there for you. Next step is, why you? Why does this person who sees you, your business or your product want to go with you vs another? Be genuine and be humble. Show the world what you have and do it every single day until you don’t have to any more. It won’t be easy, but it will pay off.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

This is actually an interesting question, at first Tik Tok was my huge start. Almost immediately I started gaining thousands and thousands of followers. 50k in a month. 20k another month. Up, up and up until around 300k followers and then almost immediately, it just stopped. Never really went down but it stopped growing. Now Tik Tok will slowly climb and fall but that’s when I moved to Instagram. Instagram has been pretty consistent in growing, although not always by large numbers, I’ve seen my account go from 10k to 130k in the past year. I also started building my Facebook account and Facebook Page account, alongside my YouTube account. I think social media platforms are ever evolving and constantly changing. It’s important to create as much content as you can and share them on all platforms daily. You just never know what photo or video is going to be the one that starts and upward trend for your account or business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bokuwahyde.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bokuwahyde/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bokuwahyde
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Bokuwahyde?si=0pER6OEcV3TXJANy
• Other: Patreon.com/bokuwahyde

Image Credits
Hyde Photography