Technology
Long-Term Vision Planning For Reality Stars And Influencers Ft. Jeff Duncan, CEO Of Ingenuity Live
Jeff Duncan, CEO of Ingenuity Live, shares his thoughts on the rise of AI technology and the importance of long-term planning and vision during a creator’s journey. Keep reading to learn about talent management agency Ingenuity Live’s unique 313 system that helps talent plan a sustainable, successful future.
About Jeff Duncan Of Ingenuity Live
Initially, Jeff Duncan was the CEO of a software company and was helping his friend, Harry Jowsey, grow his career as a creator and reality TV star. Harry had around 56,000 followers then but hadn’t broken into the mainstream media yet.
After being cast on “Too Hot to Handle,” Harry contacted Jeff and asked him to help him with a business strategy. Jeff advised him not to worry about how successful the show would be because you can’t determine how much airtime you have or the show’s reception. Instead, they focused on a cause-and-effect strategy to help him grow his personal brand.
From there, Harry introduced Jeff to other cast members who signed with him.
Today, Ingenuity Live manages many premier talents, particularly in reality TV, and handles extensive business strategies for them regarding legal finance, accounting, TV and film strategy, media PR, and more.
Jeff shares, “Our vision for the organization is to free the talent and entertain the world.“
Long-Term Vision Planning For Reality Stars And Influencers Ft. Jeff Duncan, CEO Of Ingenuity Live
The 313 System
Ingenuity Live provides many services, with its 313 system at its forefront.
The 313 system involves many intensive meetings with the talent to clarify their long-term vision and where they see themselves in three years.
While it focuses on career goals, the meetings also dive into the talent’s family situation, pets, significant other, mental health, and more to really get a clear look at who they want to be in the future. From there, the team breaks down the long-term goals into smaller 90-day sprints and yearly goals and creates a task list to help the creator tackle them.
Jeff says, “Working in quarterly chunks allows us to be very binary. So these tasks that need to be done are they green or red? Are they done, or are they not? If they’re not done — Who is accountable? Who owned that particular item? If it wasn’t done, why wasn’t it done? What lesson have we learned from it? “
By knowing exactly what they want, going after these tasks, and acting like the person they want to be in three years, the creator can roll up their sleeves and take massive steps forward — a huge improvement as many talented creators don’t know what they are pursuing with crystal clarity before this process.
AI tools are also used for creativity and collaboration to benefit their talent.
The Biggest Challenges and Opportunities Facing Content Creators
One of the biggest challenges is captivating audiences across multiple platforms, which is critical for talent diversifying their income streams and brand.
Platforms also support their creators differently, with varying revenue-sharing programs, rules, brand deals, shopping opportunities, and more at creators’ fingertips, depending on their chosen platforms.
For example, Jeff shares, “Snapchat is one of the most lucrative monetization platforms that exist right now. Their ad share program is incredibly lucrative for creators. If they had spent the time to grow their audience on Snapchat prior to that occurring, they would be the beneficiary of that monetization.”
However, spreading yourself too thin across platforms or jumping onto a platform that is currently very lucrative can result in a creator burning out.
Ingentuinty Live helps with this by telling their talent what’s happening, how monetization opportunities are changing, and what new platforms or existing platforms they should pivot to.
The key takeaway is that new opportunities are constantly emerging, but creators must consider whether new opportunities or platforms support their long-term goals. From there, they can act strategically rather than impulsively.
Case Studies
Bre Tiesi, social media personality and star of Netflix’s “Selling Sunset” series has made waves with memes around her Birkin bag and Cheetos and many other hit moments on the show.
Another signed talent is Tommy Winkler, “The Food Guy,” a TikToker with over 10 million followers and a massive love of food.
With Bre’s Cheetos meme and Tommy’s audience of food lovers, they collaborated and made Cheetos-inspired food together in Bre’s kitchen. Out-of-the-box collaborations like these can lead to lucrative brand deals and sharing audiences between creators who you might not otherwise think to put together.
Jeff shares, “It’s about having a balance between creativity and business savvy. And I think that’s what we bring to our creators.”
Advice for Aspiring Content Creators
Jeff’s advice for content creators is to picture yourself at the end. Define your end goal and create a strategic plan to get there.
Jeff shares, “Begin with the end in mind. Start in the future. Figure out who they are. Not necessarily how they got there. It’s less about how they got there. More like what it feels like to be them at that time because, with that, you can start building some strategic plans.”
Next, he recommends that content creators look for help, whether that’s through an agency or hiring out some work.
So many content creators are used to doing everything themselves. Still, there are inevitably some tasks that you won’t be as good at, like negotiating brand deals. Other things you won’t have experience with (i.e., accounting) or may take a lot of time, such as video editing.
However, influencer management has gotten a bad rap from some individuals sharing their bad experiences. So, keep your eyes peeled when signing up for any type of management, and make sure that the agent or company truly believes in your vision and is interested in adding value to your career, not just taking a cut.
Jeff adds, “Talent needs to understand that they should have good people around the table that are all adding ingredients to make the pie bigger.”
Future Plans & Industry Trends
AI technology is constantly emerging, and Jeff predicts it’ll further democratize content creation by leveling the playing field with required creative skill sets.
Before, content creators may have needed years of experience in the industry or hired an expert to know which clips have the best chance of going viral, but new technology is coming out that can predict this with the help of AI.
It’s also a massive benefit for creators who don’t consider themselves “creative” but can use AI to brainstorm new ideas, edit and create content.
In terms of Ingenuity Live, Jeff explains, “Our vision for Ingenuity Live is a lot of very complex talent needing comprehensive management. And we don’t really care about management that isn’t complex or doesn’t need a high level of attention or a high level of resources. We want complex talent that we can help cause a major effect with.”
