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Charlie Houpert, the co-founder of Charisma on Command, recently opened up about why he took a break from his business.
In the July 11 episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, Charlie reflected on the turning point in his YouTube career around 2018, when his motivation to create content shifted. According to him, what once stemmed from genuine excitement gradually turned into a desire to please his audience, ultimately prompting him to take a break.
Around, I would say the flip for me was 2018 to when it shifted from 'I personally want to make these videos and I'm excited and I'm learning something in every video' to 'Oh, I've learned what makes them clap and now I want more claps,'" Charlie Houpert stated.
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Charlie Houpert explained that the money was secondary for him, but he became more focused on being liked by the viewers. Over time, this shift in motivation led him from creating videos weekly to feeling he could no longer continue making them.
"And I'd been doing it weekly, and there was an authentic drive to do it weekly, that's then slowly shifted, and it became 'I don't want to do this.' And then it was 'I definitely can't do this,'" Houpert said.
Furthermore, in the podcast, Houpert shared that during this time, he was dealing with other challenges. He admitted he had to have a difficult conversation with his co-founder, as their vision was no longer aligned.
He felt it was necessary to discuss their 50-50 equity split, as he believed his co-founder's ideas weren't working. Houpert claimed that he had been driving their business's growth with his videos.
However, he said that he struggled to open up to his co-founder, so he hired someone else to cover up this issue. Unfortunately, that person ended up causing more harm to their company by stealing money from them and "fabricating more stuff."
He further acknowledged that the root of this problem was his inability to face reality.
"And then I had the experience, the Clichéd one of I've made more money than I've ever made. Everybody wants more. They think it's all great, and I feel like sh*t. I feel awful," Houpert added.
"It was a multi-year process" — Charlie Houpert on evolving from "pleasing" others to standing up for himself
Furthermore, in the podcast, Charlie Houpert shared that it took him years to become comfortable with having difficult conversations, particularly with his co-founder.
He stated that the core of their business was not money, but their friendship. He claimed that both he and his co-founder were caught in a pattern of avoiding conflict to keep things "good" between them.
Explaining that changing his behavior was a gradual process, Houpert stated:
"It was a multi-year process of facing brick by brick those familial patterns of like 'I'm afraid you won't love me, if I say that I'm upset with you. I'm afraid that you won't love me if I take what I think is my fair share. I'm afraid that I'll be alone.'"
Charlie Houpert continued,
"It was pieces first, it was you know, oblique conversations like 'Hey, I'm not feeling this isn't feeling great' and then seeing what I got back, and then it was more confrontational."
The full conversation between Tim Ferriss and Charlie Houpert is available on Ferriss's official YouTube channel.
