Justin Brown: I Do Not Have Followers, I Have My People

Justin Brown (0:00)

I had a goal, not a real goal, but I was just like, I'm just gonna keep doing it. I didn't have a goal of, I'm gonna get 500K followers, I'm gonna make it to a million. That wasn't my goal. My goal was to let people know the places that I like. And that was my only goal. And then it turned into what it is now, where people have fans, people have followers. I have neither. I have my people.

Mick Hunt (0:25)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. Today, we are here with a guy who doesn't know it, but he's actually the one that got me into content on Instagram. We're talking to none other than Justin, The Real Food Stalker, Brown. How you doing today, brother?

Justin Brown (0:42)

Hey man, I'm doing great, man. I'm just glad to be here, man. I appreciate you even giving me the opportunity to be here, man.

Mick Hunt (0:48)

Well, I had to give you a try, right?

Justin Brown (0:50)

You got to give these folks a try. Yeah, hey man, give me a try.

Mick Hunt (0:54)

Yes, sir. So, I will be real, I will be honest with you. When I started the podcast like two and a half years ago, I was a LinkedIn guy, right? So for me, social media like the business side of me, everything was LinkedIn, and I looked at every other thing is like, I don't need to be there. Just a whole bunch of kids on Instagram or TikTok or whatever.

But my business manager was like, hey Mick, you at least got to go on Instagram. So I said, let me see what it's about.

I followed you my very first day on Instagram, and you changed my life, dude, because I loved how authentic you were. I loved how positive you were. And it was just amazing to see the work you were putting in. And I was like, all right, I can go on Instagram, and I'm just gonna be me. I'm not trying to please the whole world. I'm not trying to be silly or funny or anything like that. I can be me. And it was because of you, bro.

Justin Brown (1:47)

Oh, man. See, that's the power of the internet, is that you can motivate somebody without even knowing that you're motivating. And I got lucky that I got to just be me. So it's not like when I'm done, I gotta hit a switch and go back to, I get to be me. So the on switch is on at all times. So even when I'm not eating or I'm not doing nerd stuff, people know that's me. So it's like, all my friends know it's me. And they're like, yeah, you got to stay true to yourself. And I did, I got to. So that's the fun part of it, is that I don't have to change. The hardest part of it is that I don't really care about pleasing people. So that's, and people are always like, hey man, you need to show us where you eat this bad. And I'm like, why? Like if you're asking for directions, if you say, how do I get to Lenox Mall and I give you the directions, do you want me to tell you the wrong directions? Also like, why would you want that? So people want me to be negative about certain stuff and they're like, nah, you can, people always try to make it seem like you're not being negative when you are being negative. They're like, that's not negative, you're being honest. But sometimes honesty is negative. It's gonna have a negative reflect regardless if you are being honest. So I'm not saying you shouldn't be honest, but I'm saying if you can go around it and not post what I dislike and just show you what I like, I mean, that's what I'm gonna do.

Mick Hunt (3:10)

No, I love it, man. It's all positive vibes and, you know, I always start my show by asking my guests, what's there because? Right? That thing that's deeper than your why. If I were to ask Justin your why, it's probably your children and food, right? But if I were to say, why is that your why? Like, what's the deeper reason? That sentence usually starts with, well, because and I care about that. So if I were to say, Justin, all the amazing things that you do, the impact that you're making, not just here in Atlanta, but all over the East Coast and flying out to Phoenix and California to do these reviews and inspire people, what's your because?