Keith Lee started out posting randomly on TikTok with no real strategy behind it.

Does that sound like what you've been doing? Here's a hint: if you're not getting the results you want, then you're posting without a strategy.

For some time, he was wasting time and energy posting every day and not getting any results.

Does that sound like what you've been doing?

Social Media Works If You Post With A Strategy

For a long time, Keith Lee had no business plan.

With one million followers, he was only making $400/mo from TikTok.

Sabina Jules, owner of Motherland Kitchen is a chef I worked with to launch her YouTube cooking channel and she started making $80/mo in her first 30 days on YouTube with less than one hundred subscribers.

Instead of taking years to start making money, Sabina's YouTube channel started making money for her immediately because we started her channel with a business plan.

Imagine where she'll be in 5 years after posting one video per week.

Sabina will be financially free well before then because she is doing the work on YouTube to create that freedom for herself.

Anyone can do this.

Imagine where you could be in 5 years if you started your cooking show today...because nothing happens overnight and if you never get started, you never get anywhere.

Food Education and Entertainment Is A $500 Billion Market

This is how a random guy with no culinary background made himself into one of the leading voices in the restaurant industry.

The market is so big and there's just so much opportunity out here that anybody can create a space for themselves.

Are you willing to do the work and put in the time on YouTube with a weekly cooking show to create a space for yourself?

Don't be mad at Keith Lee because he's in the position you think you should be in because he did the work that you haven't done.

If you're a formally trained chef who doesn't have the platform you feel your credentials merit, that can change as soon as you commit to doing the work to change it. The simplest, straight-line path to having the platform you want is to host your own cooking show on YouTube.

Keep showing up consistently, like Keith Lee did, and you will build your platform...just like Keith Lee did.

You don't even have to show up every day like Keith Lee did, which is why YouTube is better for chefs than TikTok, as I explain in the videos below.

On YouTube, all you need to do is show up once a week and commit to doing that over the long term.

You can create whatever platform you want for yourself, as long as you're willing to do the work.

No restaurant owner needs Keith Lee to save them.

You can save yourself and your business by using that same kitchen you cook in every day to host a weekly cooking show.

YouTube contributed $35 BILLION to the U.S. economy in 2022 and that money went through small businesses. In the YouTube economic impact report, you can see lots of examples of brick and mortar businesses using YouTube to grow their business.

So you don't need Keith Lee to save you. You can save yourself, as long as you're willing to do the work.

Brand Partnerships and Collaborations

No brand is going to partner with you if they don't know you exist.

Keith Lee got his six-figure deal with Wing Stop because he put in the work to make it happen.

Keith Lee got invited to partner with the People vs Food YouTube channel (12 million subscribers), again, because he put in the work to make it happen.

Keith Lee also caused Chipotle to have to change their menu because of the popularity of something he created.

Tabitha Brown did the exact same thing to Whole Foods and it resulted in the partnership that launched her career as a major voice in the food industry.

Your partnership opportunities will come only after you've done the work to demonstrate that you have something to bring to the table because no one is looking to do you a favor.

People who are out here doing the work to build a brand are happy to collaborate with others who are putting in that same work so they can build something bigger together.

But no one is looking to do you a favor by hosting you on a platform that they've worked hard to build.

So if you want the kinds of opportunities that Keith Lee and Tabitha Brown get, you're going to have to do the work that Keith Lee and Tabitha Brown did to put themselves in the position to get those opportunities.

Making A Positive Impact on the Culinary Industry

That's what Keith Lee is doing because he put himself in a position to do that.

He didn't sit around waiting for somebody to do something for him.

Just like Gordon Ramsay, Keith Lee is in the position that he's in because he did the work that was required to get into that position. So don't be one of those people complaining about the position that someone else is in because they did the work that you have not done.

If you look at the comments on various videos about the whole Keith Lee fiasco in Atlanta, you'll see that the people who live there or who have visited agree wholeheartedly with his negative reviews of the Atlanta restaurants that he visited.

It appears that there's a culture of non-hospitality among too many restaurant owners in Atlanta and customers are tired of it.

All Keith Lee did was open an apparently necessary dialogue on what should be expected from business owners in the hospitality industry.

I think most reasonable, objective people would agree that Keith Lee did a good thing for Atlanta...if the restaurant owners are mature enough to accept legitimate, constructive criticism and make changes.

If you're delivering poor customer service, you can't get mad because somebody shared with the world the experience that you gave them.

Where Do You Want To Be In The $500 Billion Cooking Market?

And are you putting in the work on a daily basis to get yourself there?

For chefs, hosting a full-length cooking show on YouTube is how you can put yourself wherever you want to be.

You can change your life as soon as you decide to do the work necessary to change it.

When you're ready for help with your cooking show, click here to schedule your Cooking Show Strategy Session.