EFR 897: "The Dancing Weatherman" Reveals His Secrets About Going Viral, Sobriety & Mental Health with Nick Kosir

00:00 - Chase (Host) The following is an Operation Podcast production.

00:03 - Nick (Guest) Hey, what's up people? I am Nick Koser, better known as the Dancing Weatherman, and today I have danced my way right into Chase Tuning's Ever Forward Radio podcast, and I can't wait to have fun and get deep with y'all. Let's do it. It's like he does this for a living. Let's go.

00:21 - Chase (Host) Let's go. So good, so good, man. Well, I'm just going to preface this by saying my audience you don't have to worry about trying to watch me do any kind of a viral dance video. I won't embarrass your audience by trying. I'm the least coordinated person you'll ever meet. That's definitely the moment when my whiteness shines through. So I don't know how you do it, man, but you know, maybe you can teach me a couple of things, but I won't record it, I won't put it out there. We'll go viral for all the wrong reasons basically.

00:56 - Nick (Guest) I doubt it. You're probably way more coordinated than you're giving yourself credit for.

00:59 - Chase (Host) We'll see. I don't know, I don't know, but Nick thanks. I don't know, I don't know, but Nick thanks so much for sitting down with me here today, man.

01:03 - Nick (Guest) This is amazing. Thank you so much for having me. The studio is beautiful, your employees are great and thanks for the water. Oh, no of course, this is the key to a good podcast right here Staying hydrated.

01:13 - Chase (Host) On TV on the news. What's in the mugs? Is it coffee?

01:19 - Nick (Guest) Is it water? What water? Uh, usually water. Or if anybody's having a tough time with their voice there, it's tea with a little bit of honey in there not like grandpa's cough syrup in there not that I know, not that I'm doing um, but I don't know. I can't speak on all of my co-workers I don't know, although sometimes, when you hear me talk, you might think that there's grandpa's cough syrup in there but yeah, it's usually always water for me, yeah anchorman days are long gone, right, yeah, yeah, we should bring them back.

01:44 - Chase (Host) I don't know.

01:45 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, you know what Everything comes back around.

01:47 - Chase (Host) It does.

01:48 - Nick (Guest) It wouldn't be surprising to see the next anchor up there, smoking a cigarette probably, and just drinking some gin or something.

01:57 - Chase (Host) So most people know you as the quote dancing weatherman. That's right, but I got to know what's the story behind that first video, that first thing that everyone was just like. This is the guy dancing on the weather.

02:09 - Nick (Guest) Chase, that's an excellent question, and I've been asked that a hundred times and I still kind of don't know why or how it happened.

02:17 - Chase (Host) Today's episode is brought to you by Audible, my absolute favorite way to listen to audio books. Do you ever wish you could read more books, but just can't find the time? That's where Audible comes in. See, with Audible, I can take my favorite books anywhere On my commute, at the gym, even while walking the dog. See, it turns downtime into story time and, honestly, it really makes reading fun again.

02:40 My favorite part about most audiobooks is that they're read by the authors and they'll tend to do little offshoots. So I love having the hard copy book, but listening to it when the author reads it, I feel like I get even more insider information. Audible has an incredible selection, from best-selling audiobooks to even podcasts like this, also exclusive originals that you can't find anywhere else. I love how easy it is to just open the app, hit play. I can choose my own playback speed a little bit slower, a little bit faster, and I can just dive right into whatever I'm in the mood for.

03:12 Here's the best part, and actually you can try it out absolutely for free as an Everford radio listener. When you click the link in the show notes today under episode resources that's audibletrialcom slash ever forward You're going to get your first 30 days of Audible free, which basically equates to a free book. So you got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Your next audio book could be a game changer. It could change your life, change your relationship, change your health, change your business. You get 30 days to explore all the books and all the podcasts you want. Head to audibletrialcom slash everford and start listening today. That's A-U-D-I-B-L-E-T-R-I-A-Lcom slash everford to get your 30-day free trial started today.

03:58 - Nick (Guest) A little bit of a backstory. I've been a weatherman meteorologist since 2006. So I've been in the game for going on 20 years, Started in small town Ohio. For those that don't know how the industry works, in order to get a bigger, better job for more pay, you have to start small and then move to different cities to get bigger paychecks and get in front of a bigger audience. And keep in mind I started in the mid to late 2000s, before I'm really dating myself here here but it's a safe space.

04:29 - Chase (Host) It's okay. Okay, good yeah.

04:31 - Nick (Guest) Uh, before the internet is what it is now, and so you really had to work your way up and put yourself through the paces. So I started in at a tiny little TV station in Mansfield Ohio, worked there for a few years, and then that's where they make all the toilets. Bingo.

04:48 - Chase (Host) Mansfield toilets. Yeah, that's right, that's right yeah it's a crappy town.

04:52 - Nick (Guest) That was the joke. That was the joke, I didn't.

04:54 - Chase (Host) I can't take credit.

04:55 - Nick (Guest) The dad jokes are going to flow, no doubt, yeah. And so from there moved all over the place. I went to Beaumont, texas for for the next gig, san Francisco, for the next gig. I actually took a step back in market size from San Francisco and went to Boise, idaho, cause we had our, our son, and we were thinking let's put down some roots and pick a town that's safe and, you know, fam, family oriented. So we thought maybe Boise was going to be it for a while and then after a few years we just kind of got the urge to get back east, where all of our family is based. So moved to Charlotte, north Carolina, and then, most recently, to New York.

05:35 But that whole time I've always kind of been a creator at heart. You know I do the weather, I love the weather. But all that while I was making social media videos. Um, first it started on YouTube and then Facebook and then Instagram comes along anyways. So at my time in Charlotte I had been making these videos, kind of going through series. So at one point I was doing fun weather skits, at one point I would do these side-by-side pictures of me dressed like Cam Newton.

06:08 I don't know if you're familiar with Cam and his dressing style, but living in Charlotte during his MVP year, when they went to the Super Bowl anytime he would wear an outfit to a game. It was big news in Charlotte.

06:20 - Chase (Host) I don't even, I'm not a big sports guy and I even know. Yes, he was like a, a modern day neon dion. Yeah, yeah, good parallel, even like a dennis rodman absolutely um.

06:32 - Nick (Guest) So I gained a little bit of local fame online doing those side-by-side pictures of me where I would make the outfit that he would wear to the game.

06:41 - Chase (Host) Who wore a better kind of thing, bingo, but mine was discount.

06:44 - Nick (Guest) My I was like great value brand I would. He would have the designer stuff. I'd go to tj max, yeah, or goodwill and like doctor, up some stuff with tape and whatever, anyways, and then, um so I had always been been creating, you know, going viral before going viral was even a thing. And then our bosses in charlotte one day told us we want you to post 12 times a day online all of the on-air people, and that's exactly what we did.

07:08 - Chase (Host) Around. What year was this?

07:09 - Nick (Guest) This was about 2018. Oh, okay.

07:13 - Chase (Host) So we're creeping up into the more common folks. Modern day-ish.

07:16 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, yeah, Pre-pandemic, you know. And so we all said you guys are wild, that's too many times. But eventually your boss tells you to do something. You kind of have to do it.

07:28 - Chase (Host) And what were the platforms we're like? We want you on the news Twitter, the news YouTube, instagram.

07:34 - Nick (Guest) Good question. At the time, they were putting a lot of emphasis on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but they made it. They told us that we couldn't retweet 12 times. So that was the caveat they told us that we couldn't retweet 12 times.

07:44 - Chase (Host) So that was the caveat, because that would have been to be original, new pieces kind of lifestyle ish.

07:48 - Nick (Guest) They didn't want us to do, um, boring work stuff, you know, because they wanted people to fall in love with our personality, so then they would watch us on TV. That was, that was their idea.

08:00 - Chase (Host) That was their, their ratings marketing driver. Bingo, basically.

08:03 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, so I was doing that and one day I just didn't have anything. I remember I had posted 11 things that day and I just wanted to leave. So I was like what can I post for my 12th thing? So I can just get out of the door and go home and just like unplug for the day. And I was scrolling, found some inspiration day and I was scrolling, found some inspiration. Um, actually the Williams brothers, a very well known dancing group, stopped me in my tracks. I saw their video, that they, that they did a little dancing video. I go, I think.

08:33 - Chase (Host) I can do that.

08:34 - Nick (Guest) Went and did it, posted it, went home, took a nap because I was working the morning show schedule. So the end of my day was noon or one, so I went home, took a nap, woke up and life has never been the same since I woke up from that nap. To be honest with you, everything was popping off. I got all the dings, all the alerts and I knew that things were gonna get pretty interesting because the uh, I don't know if you're familiar with world star, the world oh yeah, especially back then.

09:06 Oh wow, yeah, it's big news yeah, so so they they posted my video and from there everybody was sharing it and posting it and um and this was the one.

09:17 - Chase (Host) This was that was it, dancing.

09:19 - Nick (Guest) It was the slide like this challenge. I posted it like like April 2nd 2019 on Instagram and that was it. You know, that was everything. Had kind of been building momentum online for me, but that was kind of what took it over the top. And then I go crap, I am a dancer now. What do I do from here?

09:39 - Chase (Host) And that's kind of what started it. Was this pun intended news for people? I mean yeah.

09:44 - Nick (Guest) I mean, it was pun intended news for people.

09:45 - Chase (Host) I mean yeah, I mean it was in you dance before, not really no, I'm not.

09:48 - Nick (Guest) I have never prided myself on dancing. I'm not trained in any way. I've never taken a class. I guess you would. People would describe it as self-taught, although that's hilarious to me because all I do is I just watch what the kids are doing imitate exactly, yeah, yeah and so, um, that's it. That's what I started doing so I'm curious.

10:08 - Chase (Host) So you're doing all this, uh, under the the recommendation of your boss, your team, the news channel. So is this your content? Is this the news channels content? Yeah, um is like the dancing weatherman. You know, under ownership, the ownership, the IP of Absolutely.

10:25 - Nick (Guest) That's an how does that work? That's an excellent question, because it did get a little sticky, or it can get a little sticky. I created my accounts and I believe at the time I had to add the Fox 46 admin page as the admin, or at least they had to have admin access to access. So, um, yeah, they they were. We were kind of co owners of the account. The other caveat there is when I worked in local news they owned my likeness, so I signed the contract with them and they own my likeness, so that video blew up and under contract, I couldn't do social media, brand deals or anything because Fox 46 owned my contract, so you couldn't, on like your personal page, do the same dance or repeat the same video more or less, for any personal gain.

11:22 I couldn't do it. Yeah, like if, like I remember, at the time, I think, coca-cola reached out and they were like we want to use your video in a paid ad? No way. And we couldn't do it because it was, it wasn't my video, um, and fox 46 nixed it.

11:40 - Chase (Host) So but coca-cola couldn't pay fox. And then, like you all, work something out. I'm sure this is a much bigger legal conversation, but I don't know.

11:50 - Nick (Guest) They probably could have, but I don't know if fox 46 was receptive to it. I don't know. I mean, you have to remember this is this is seven years ago, now six years ago, so I think at the time fox 46 was like why would we, why would we mess? Around with this little internet clip thing like what, what, but I don't know, that was above my pay grade. If it was me, I'd have been like sign the.

12:12 I'll sign the document and let's yeah, I mean when coca-cola comes knocking, you know they, their, their checks are going to clear yeah, but you know, to answer your question, um, they, yeah, they own my likeness and they, they, uh, they were admins on my page but eventually, when I left, I was able to retain my follower my followers and they.

12:34 You know, after I left they were no longer admins, so it was like a seamless transition and now fox 46 doesn't even exist. That station was bought by another media management company, bought by coca cola or pepsi, that'd be even funnier. Yeah, that'll be good so yeah, but um yeah, at the time I remember going through it was very stressful, thinking I don't know, am I gonna lose all these followers? What's gonna happen? What do I do with them? What do I?

13:02 - Chase (Host) do with them. Or even I have to wonder, you know, once, um, the powers that be at your last place of employment saw, hey, we have something here that works. We got a guy that does a thing and it's bringing in a lot of views and I'm I don't work in the news, but I know that it's all about viewership, it's all about ratings and right, you know, people tuning in, did they then kind of go? You know, hey, nick, we you have to dance for every video. We want you doing this dance. We only want you dancing Like, was it just like dance, monkey dance, kind of thing, you know it's it.

13:30 - Nick (Guest) that's a really good question too, and actually they were great about kind of letting me lead the ship. They never necessarily cracked a whip and said do a dance every week.

13:43 At that point, I think they had seen the fact that I had been investing my own time in social media and I think they were pretty confident in the fact that I was going to keep it going on my own. And that's what I did. And also in that era pre-pandemic Instagram posts if you posted once every two weeks on Instagram, that was a pretty good pace. You were. You were staying relevant.

14:09 - Chase (Host) If you weren't like already leveraging it for a business kind of thing. I think that's probably a fair statement of like the pace of most people.

14:16 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, yeah, if it was just for personal, if it was, yeah, if you weren't trying to sell stuff, push your product once every week or two was a pretty good pace. Now it's different. Now you got to post almost every day if you want to really have some traction. At the very least you got to post every day on TikTok, right, but back then not so much. So, yeah, they never. I think they also understood that it was a creative process and you can't necessarily template out creativity like that. So they were great. I do have to give them their flowers on that, because they never sunk their teeth in immediately and kind of threw dust on the campfire, so to speak. So, yeah, and I think they also understood, and the social media team understood authenticity was key. So they didn't want, I don't think, me to feel bogged down, yeah of course, yeah, probably that would have been smart on them.

15:13 Yeah, they did a good job. I'll give them their flowers.

15:15 - Chase (Host) They did a good job, yeah, so it sounds like this was kind of your foot in the door into what is now called or has been called. You know, I think, really, since COVID is the creator economy, exactly the has been called. You know, I think, really, since COVID is the creator economy, exactly the creator economy. So how did you, how did you navigate this kind of secondary, if you will, career or just, you know, pastime and stepping into? You know, we kind of just learned that maybe there's some economics involved, you know, getting away from the professional side into personal posting. So how did you navigate that transition into the quote creator economy and what's it been like for you in the last six, seven?

15:46 - Nick (Guest) years, Gosh. I could talk about this for infinity, I think. But you have some really good questions. You should have a good, successful podcast.

15:56 - Chase (Host) I dabble, I dabble Subscribe like comment, follow.

16:00 - Nick (Guest) Smash that subscribe button.

16:01 - Chase (Host) He knows, he knows, Calling all small business owners and entrepreneurs. Running a small business is tough enough without drowning in receipts and spreadsheets. I'll be honest Bookkeeping used to be one of the biggest pains of my own business journey, my own entrepreneurial journey, but ever since I switched to QuickBooks it's been a game changer. Now I literally save hours every week and my accounting is organized and secure. Not to mention, when tax season rolls around, I can hand everything straight over to my accountant. They plug in directly to my account or even file directly through QuickBooks' own services. Their online platform is a breeze. Not to mention their mobile-friendly app makes it so easy for me to check on invoices, look at payroll, scan receipts or just get a quick glance at where my business is. Quickbooks has changed the game for my business. So if you're ready to get 30% off of your entire first six months using QuickBooks again, check the link under the episode resources in the show notes today.

17:04 All right, where are all my coffee enthusiasts out there? My coffee fam man? I absolutely love coffee, Not only for the nice little buzz that we might get a little caffeine pick me up, but for me it's just part of my culture, part of my routine, part of my rituals. It's a part of my family history. My parents owned coffee houses growing up as a kid, so I feel like these days, man pouring a cup of coffee is more than just that great morning fix, but it's also this connection to nostalgia and memories and just just great times all around. You're looking for a little bit something more in your cup of Joe.

17:37 I'm so excited to share this great new addition to the lineup from strong coffee company. Their coffee booster See. Coffee Booster is the ultimate upgrade for your morning ritual. Just add a scoop to your favorite brew. They come in these super convenient little packets. You can keep them at home.

17:53 I love keeping mine in my backpack on the go or in the car, so no matter where I go getting a cup of coffee out, I know that I'm actually getting a strong coffee out, and that's because it instantly fuels your body with grass-fed collagen protein for strong muscles and joints. It includes MCT oil for clean energy and electrolytes and trace minerals to keep you hydrated and focused all day long. It's the perfect way to turn your regular coffee into a functional, all-in-one performance drink without changing the taste you already love. It's tasteless Mix is so easy and so convenient. So whether you're chasing workouts, big meetings or just need the mental edge that you know and love from Strong Coffee Company, Strong Coffee's Coffee Booster is going to give your cup the strength it deserves and, just like every other organic latte and coffee from strongcoffeecompanycom, the Strong Coffee Booster, you're actually going to be able to save 15% at checkout when you use code Chase that's my name, so check the link in the show notes today under episode resources, or head to strongcoffeecompanycom and at checkout, throw down code C-H-A-S-E for 15% off each and every purchase.

19:03 Strong body, strong mind, strong coffee.

19:08 - Nick (Guest) Man, it's such a learn as you go thing. Right, you probably are doing the same thing or have done the same thing, but I had absolutely really no idea what was going to happen or what doors were going to open. I remember seeing Vine the explosion of Vine and I remember seeing Logan Paul post an ad. First ad I ever saw through social media was Logan Paul. He did something with Gillette razors and I remember running across that going that's, this must have been 2014 or something.

19:45 - Chase (Host) Yeah, vine was like 2013, 2014.

19:48 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, I think it was around that time and I go I don't know what this is here, but I want in this this, this has to be new, this, this is the new way to advertise. And and as soon as my, my video hit, I go OK, and Coca-Cola comes calling. I'm like this is awesome. Then I find out. Then I find out my tv station owns my likeness. So I was like I was bummed because I couldn't monetize right away. So my plan was from that moment forward. I think on my tv contract at the time I had two more years left where I couldn't go. I was contractually obligated to stay with Fox 46. At the time I said, ok, I'm going to use these next two years to grow as many followers as I possibly can, and that's what I did. So I put all of my effort into making the best videos that I could, without trying to leverage any of my content to get brand deals.

20:55 So, just for like the purity of it all, just for the art, and I made the best thing possible bingo and then whatever happens happens, kind of thing exactly, and so at the time, content purists over here.

21:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah at the time, uh, it was really working for me. I my that video that I mentioned hit in early April and I hit a million followers on Instagram, I think within six months, and at the time, yeah, at the time, people were saying it was the quickest they'd ever seen anyone gain a million followers on Instagram at the time. Shortly thereafter, tiktok explodes on the scene and then Charli D'Amelio happens and Addison Rae and those guys just I was they left me in the dust.

21:38 Yeah, but so that? So that was my. So for two years after the video hit, that was just all I was operating under was that? And then, once my contract started to come up, the end of my contract, then I started reaching out to management agencies and I landed on Millennial Entertainment and they still they still represent me and I'll never forget it. Like the day my contract ended, I ended up getting a job at Fox Weather, where I work at now, in New York City. I ended up getting a job at Fox Weather, where I work at now, in New York City, and there was like a three month gap in between the end of my employment at Fox Weather in the beginning, or, I'm sorry, the end of my employment at Fox 46 in Charlotte, and there was a three month period between that and the start of my new career at Fox Weather. And I go, I'm open for business, baby.

22:31 - Chase (Host) Let's see what happens.

22:35 - Nick (Guest) And the brand deals started rolling in and you could you could, I could do that, you could monetize it Absolutely.

22:40 - Chase (Host) You, and then there could be like meteorologists, you absolutely Fox you.

22:44 - Nick (Guest) Yes and um, I started doing brand deals and I and I go, wow, this is pretty good money and I'm doing it ever since. Brand deals and I go, wow, this is pretty good money, and I'm doing it ever since and just learning as I go. I mean, every year is different. I've made some tiny little pivots and things, but at the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to make good videos, stay family friendly, brand safe and just keep having fun. And that's kind of where I've been ever since.

23:13 Good Don't stop yeah, and you know the grind of it too. It's difficult, especially working a full-time job and trying to keep a toe in both like the full-time gig and the creator world. But you know it is what it is. It's a blessing to have that the both options and so I'm going to keep doing it.

23:37 - Chase (Host) I have a theory that I think in the news world that comes over to the social media world, even vice versa Meteorologists are kings and queens. I think the most followed on social media accounts I've seen of people in the news world they're all meteorologists.

23:56 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, it is funny I will say females.

24:00 - Chase (Host) I'd see, oh, for sure.

24:01 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, it's funny. It's funny Meteorologists on air. Meteorologists, I've noticed, are kind of when you tell somebody that you're a meteorologist, a couple of things happen. Either they say I've always wanted to do that, how did you get into that? Or they're like, oh my gosh, you guys are real.

24:21 - Chase (Host) You're not a green screen too. Or If you turn left, you fade away.

24:28 - Nick (Guest) Or they'll say you know, they'll make the funny joke that cracks me up every time. They'll say, man, I wish I had a job where I could be paid to get get wrong half the time. So one of those things usually happens. But I don't know. There's something about being a meteorologist that lights people up and it's just interesting. And yeah, I think I think you're right. I don't know what the secret sauce is but well, no, a lot of secret sauce.

24:54 - Chase (Host) I see a lot of female meteorologists secret sauce is. Just turning to your profile, there's uh, there's one, um, I don't know her name, but there's one out of mexico oh, I think I know yeah and, like her, she knows exactly very pretty.

25:06 Yes, yeah and her whole thing is she'll and like in stormfront, coming in this way and she does her thing. But I also wonder, navigating like social media and air quote here kind of like the real world still profession? You probably had to kind of help usher that in, because around 2018 ish, when you were really popping off on social media, I don't remember seeing a lot of social media famous news anchors, meteorologists, and there were clips and stuff that would go viral or high views, but they were like of the news. It's like no one's really following Wolf Blitzer for his antics or content.

25:41 Um, so I'm curious, as someone who my words here kind of helped maybe usher that in that, that marriage of these two words in. How have you kind of helped? I'll say, you know the policy of, hey, people are watching us for the news and for the weather, but also they're watching us because of our personalities, our fun, our antics, our social media. How have you kind of helped navigate that air quote here. Policy of the legal, of the economics, of you know what is content, rights and use, look like.

26:12 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, I, um again, it's very nice of you to say that I I guess I guess you could call me like an OG news weather creator and I'm honored beyond belief to even be in that like sentence, um, because I think my timing really did it all. You know, I, I just happened to have a video that got successful right before Tik TOK really exploded and then Tik TOK helped kind of keep it going, um, and it's tough, it's a tough world. I mean you kind of have to pick what you are and and ride it out. You know, I've never I have always been a morning show meteorologist, or at least prior to my videos going viral, I'd always been a morning show meteorologist where morning shows are a little more loose and fun.

27:09 I would always work on the morning shows that had a loose format and I just knew that was my lane, like I'm not the serious evening meteorologist guy and I just know that about myself.

27:22 - Chase (Host) Is that a thing? Is it like if you're a morning meteorologist versus an evening meteorologist, you're, you're fun versus uh yeah, there's a little bit.

27:30 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, there's a little bit of uh delineation there. You know, like al roker um is different yeah, he has fun yeah people know him as a, as a personality guy. I guess now things are a little different, um, but yeah so. So the morning shows typically have more fun than the evening shows.

27:51 It's like evening shows are heavier than than the morning show because the idea is morning shows are supposed to try to wake people up, yeah keep you like, get you in a good mood for the day, I guess, uh, while giving you your, your there's- a whole secret world to the news. I had no idea, oh man it's, it's we try to dial it in. There's everything's ratings and analytics based and it's pretty pretty. It's pretty you can get in the weeds pretty quick.

28:14 - Chase (Host) People need to be happy when they hear the weather's going to suck Okay. So we need you to entertain them a little bit more.

28:19 - Nick (Guest) Exactly, exactly, and so I knew that about myself and so that that made it easier for me. You know, being so, that gave me the freedom to have a little bit more fun on the internet and less pressure to like really have to flip a switch. You know what I'm saying, and so that that always helps. But you know, I've always just kind of been in every market that I've ever worked at. I've always put out fun content, so it's not like it was a weird thing for me to all of a sudden be doing. It was a pretty natural progression, kind of linear from from my journey. So, um, but but now in this day and age, I think and I'm seeing other news people, other weather people and they're they're doing it. You know, in this day and age we're all people and I think everybody understands that now and so kind of like everyone has a personal yeah.

29:12 - Chase (Host) Yes, a bit too.

29:13 - Nick (Guest) Yes, so. So when you're on the air, um, naturally you're going to be different than you are off the air, and I'm seeing, you know, especially the younger kids in the business they're they're having fun with it too. You know, there's there's guys that lip sync and the dance as well, and female anchors do sort of mini vlogging and I think it's awesome. It's just cool to see how things um are progressing and changing and how it's not like the stiff 90s early 2000s broadcasts do you ever get people coming to you looking like, hey, I need social media meteorology mentorship.

29:51 - Chase (Host) you know you crack the code, you know? Do you get you know, johnny from KCAL5. I just made that up. I don't know, like, hey, I just started my TikTok. I really want to try to, like, you know, follow in your footsteps or find my lane with making what I do more fun and grow social media. What do you say to them how do you mentor kind of this next generation?

30:09 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, I've definitely had people reach out and I've mentored a couple and I actually have an accredited class at Mississippi State called the Coaster Code and it's a 10-module thing on how to build your own brand and my story. Yeah. So if you want, if anybody is interested in looking into that, check it out. And it's not a scam. We did it through Mississippi State. Is this a collegiate course? Collegiate course? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's where I went to school. That's where I got my meteorology degree.

30:37 - Chase (Host) So it's so cool to come full circle moment so cool.

30:40 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, so shout out to Sean Owens, who was who was the guy that was instrumental in putting that together. But, yeah, and, and what I would say is just, you know you got to also. Well, first you have to experiment, right, just see what works for you and what you like to do and what you can implement in your own personal workflow, and then, just once you find what you like or what, what works for you, just keep doing it and, um, do it until the wheels fall off, you know, or until you do it so much that you get no traction whatsoever and you're forced to pivot. But I just think in any industry you kind of have to do stuff on social. I'm seeing realtors, dentists, nurses. I feel like you just kind of especially if you're in sales, like the realtor thing, ryan.

31:33 Serhan is a really good he's been great at what he's been doing with branding, but I just think it's so important to build your own brand. It's invaluable.

31:45 - Chase (Host) Yeah, how do you navigate authentic creativity versus imitation? What I mean by that so much of just what I see outside looking in, especially in the like the dancing social media space is it's all trends, so like, I'm going to do a dance that this person did, because they did it, because this person did it viral. So you kind of just ride that until you know, like you said, the wheels fall off. So then what if you're just waiting for, like, the next thing to hit so you can imitate it and do your take on it versus like, how do I become an original creator? How do I create my own dance or put my own twist?

32:21 - Nick (Guest) on it instead of waiting for someone else to pop off so I can copy it. That's a good, that's another good question. I mean, I think I think there's a few things within dance specifically, um, and I'm not sure what it's like for other specific genres of content, like I'm sure skits are different and podcasting is different, but for dance there's kind of three ways where you can delineate yourself. Number one there's a trend, but you can always. Everybody dances differently. It's just the way people's bodies move, the faces you make, right, yeah, your vibe, what you're wearing. Everybody's dancing differently, even though they're doing the same move. So all like, automatically you're going to be, you're just going to be different than everybody else doing the same stuff. There's also you can do some cool little edits. You know you can cut here, splice there, like some. Some creators will do a dance 15 second choreo, all the way through one take. Some will do it and then they'll cut it and there will be different angles.

33:19 - Chase (Host) You know what I'm saying?

33:20 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, yeah yeah, and then from there it's always just important to put your own sprinkle, your own sauce into a trend. So you don't want to do the same trend exactly how everybody else is doing it. You kind of want to take it and put your personality into it, whether it's for me, it's in a sometimes it's at the weather studio. I also dance a lot in times square with like younger people.

33:46 - Chase (Host) What's your sauce? My?

33:48 - Nick (Guest) sauce, my sauce is the suit. Yeah, I think everybody I think this is the suit, I think Everybody.

33:52 - Chase (Host) I think this is the only suit I've ever had in the studio.

33:55 - Nick (Guest) Oh yeah, I'm honored.

33:57 - Chase (Host) I knew he was East Coast the second. He walked in with a shirt and tie. Me too. I moved here from DC. And so it took me a while to let go of the button downs and all that jazz.

34:07 - Nick (Guest) But yeah, la is different, a little more cash out here, which I appreciate. But yeah, different, a little more cash out here, which I appreciate. But yeah, I think I think my sauce has always been the suit everybody, every it's funny in the comments, especially at first everybody would say how many pants have you ripped?

34:22 - Chase (Host) I can't, I can't, you know. And the answer is a lot. Shout out your taylor.

34:24 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, shout out taylor um, and then and they say I can't believe you're dancing in those shoes, they'll say that's pretty impressive for being in a suit. It's kind of constrictive and so that's my secret sauce.

34:36 - Chase (Host) Have you ever heard of a state and Liberty? Yes, oh bro, Do you have? Do you own anything with them?

34:41 - Nick (Guest) I know the brand.

34:42 - Chase (Host) Okay, all right, that stuff I can squat in those suits.

34:45 - Nick (Guest) I'm telling you this the these material, these material that they're making suits out of, have come a long way, and there's some other really good brands out there, similar. Mizzen and Main is another good one. Mizzen and Main.

34:55 - Chase (Host) Yeah, yeah, so good.

34:57 - Nick (Guest) I know I love them all. I'm a big Indochino guy, yeah, but I don't know. There's something about the two brands that you just mentioned. They've dialed it in with whatever I'm wearing their jeans right now, are you?

35:11 - Chase (Host) Yeah, I can like, I can do the squat in them, I can run. I got to stretch out first. We'll see about that. But yeah, shout out state and Liberty. They've, I've, I've worn their stuff for like so many weddings and just outings and you can move and you can grow Once you wear a stretchy suit there's For the first time ever. A couple of years ago my sister-in-law's wedding I got a custom tailored suit. You can't go back. I'm telling you you can't go back.

35:34 - Nick (Guest) Once you see how good you look, yeah, and then you go, wow, maybe going to the gym is actually worth it.

35:40 - Chase (Host) Even in a non-stretchy suit. You know, like those other brands, if you get a tailored suit, the way that you can move like you couldn't before it's fire man, and you can even get a suit from whatever Sears Target If it's tailored good you make it look like a thousand bucks. Would that be a dream brand deal for you? What would make a dream brand deal for you, Dude?

36:00 - Nick (Guest) yes, actually a dream partnership would be a suit company and I've done one-offs Men's Warehouse and a couple of other brands, but I think I don't know. It's to the point. I've been doing this for about six years and I've been kind of in the back of my mind wondering, hoping, manifesting maybe me being in partnership with a big suit company. But now it's to the point where I'm thinking maybe I should start my own and see where that takes me.

36:33 - Chase (Host) That's kind of the angle. A lot of creators go right, you know what becomes what you're known for? What you become known for kind of becomes a natural outlet for something you create. Yes, like so many people my brother included, um, and kind of like the early, my brother's a big fitness youtuber and uh, well, not so much fitness anymore he still works out but, like in the og days, like 2012, um, it was just hardcore fitness workout, vlogs, stuff like that and so many people from that era to kind of like monetize your community. It was just apparel. So, like, people would know you as like exactly, yeah, like, oh, you always wear this color shirt or this is kind of like your thing, so you put your thing on a shirt yeah and uh, go with apparel.

37:09 I think you got a great alley here with the suit man yeah, we'll see.

37:12 - Nick (Guest) Maybe it's time to fire that up. I am a little bit hesitant because I know building a brand, you have to be all in. You really have to dedicate a lot of time and energy, and my energy is already in addition to having a full-time job and being a creator like I've got a son and a wife and I can't ignore them forever. What?

37:32 - Chase (Host) do they think about all this? Are they like, oh my God, here goes that again with another dance. Are you just like busting out the moves everywhere you go? Or how does it work, you know?

37:39 - Nick (Guest) it's really funny. This start Well, like I said, I've been doing this for a long, long time. So my son it's funny. He used to be like my camera guy.

37:47 - Chase (Host) He would film you From a young age.

37:48 - Nick (Guest) Yes, oh, wow, I'd have him out there filming me and taking pictures and so young and me sticking my phone in his hand, being like, take that pic, um, so he doesn't kind of know anything any different. And luckily, his friends seem to. They seem to think I'm cool and I think that that's so, that's okay, like it buys him maybe some some cool points at school and stuff, which that's great. And if that wasn't the case, I think, if his friends didn't love it, I might stop, because I don't want, I would never want what I'm doing to impact the quality of and stuff which that's great. And if that wasn't the case, I think if his friends didn't love it, I might stop, because I don't want, I would never want what I'm doing to impact the quality of his life.

38:26 And my wife is funny because I've been doing this since. You know she met me when I was doing stuff like this, so it's nothing new. You know they've always kind of known that this is my thing. It's just now. Other people know it too, and so my wife. We've been through it before. I went pretty viral actually way back in 2008 as the rapping weatherman.

38:46 - Chase (Host) I used to rap the weather forecast live on the air do we need to drop a beat here because you're gonna like man? I'm too I'm too old now.

38:55 - Nick (Guest) I used to be better. I'm too old to do it now. Cold fronts and cold fronts Spaghetti, spaghetti yeah yeah, bahamut on a sweater, yeah.

39:05 But. And when I went viral for the rapping weatherman stuff, I was younger, you know 26. And good Lord, I made every mistake in the book. I mean, I learned a lot. I let it get to my head At the time I was drinking, so I would drink too much and it was just a bad guy. And then I would do these interviews. I remember doing one interview and I was a little bit tipsy and I just it just wasn't a great interview, Something was. I was clearly off.

39:35 And, and luckily, I'm pretty sure that interview, I think, has been wiped clean or I haven't heard it or seen it resurface.

39:43 - Chase (Host) Not like it was crazy. Wow, you had something screw up from the internet. I didn't know that was real. I don't know. It's out there. It's out there, it's probably somewhere.

39:50 - Nick (Guest) I haven't seen it resurface or heard it resurface and I don't think it was anything crazy. It's just like I could tell oh, I wasn't really nailing this interview and anyways. So I learned a lot and my wife my wife and I both learned a lot from that first little initial.

40:08 - Chase (Host) whatever you want to call it little blip on the radar.

40:09 - Nick (Guest) So second time around here it's um kind of not an app and and just being older, a little bit more wise. I think that's that's helped too. Um, but yeah, cutting out the drinking was a good thing for me and I I accredit a lot of my success online from my sobriety as well.

40:25 - Chase (Host) Interesting. Okay, how long have you been sober now?

40:28 - Nick (Guest) I've been sober eight years.

40:30 - Chase (Host) Okay.

40:31 - Nick (Guest) And my soberversary is September 17th and it's been great.

40:37 - Chase (Host) I mean, my anniversary is the 16th. No kidding September to your wife September 16th. Yeah, yeah, gotcha. Yeah, not to alcohol, but to my wife.

40:46 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, that'd be an interesting thing to keep track of.

40:49 - Chase (Host) The very first day I drank. That's the opposite of sobriety. I celebrate the first day that I drank, not so much.

40:55 - Nick (Guest) I know, yeah, so you know, when I was drinking, it was for me for years and years, and so once I cut alcohol out of the equation, I was able to stack days, and that's been tremendously helpful.

41:27 - Chase (Host) So I want to ask another follow-up question here, um, as we begin to kind of wrap up. You know, at the core Everford radio is a health and wellness, health and fitness show. Um, I definitely add in a lot of other content content, like you know, dancing weatherman here.

41:39 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, I'm honored to break the mold a little bit. Thank you so much.

41:42 - Chase (Host) It's great. But you know, sobriety, I have to assume, was kind of maybe like the first snowball, the first domino into maybe other healthy habits, or kind of just recognizing where you had room to grow in your total well-being. What was it about sobriety that really opened up other areas of health, fitness, wellness for you that maybe it was limiting before I?

42:04 - Nick (Guest) would have motive when I, when I didn't have a drink, I would have motivation to go outside and and run or go to the gym. And then I'd have those beers on a Wednesday night and not feel motivated to go into the gym on Thursday. So there was also that happening physically. But I really think honestly, I think cutting out the alcohol was more impactful on my mental health. How so out the alcohol was more impactful on my mental health. How so? Because I don't know, it's funny, I was self-medicating with alcohol.

42:45 So I have a pretty textbook case of just social anxiety and I found that out after I quit drinking. I went to therapy and I told my therapist all this stuff. She goes yeah, you basically have social anxiety, dude, no big deal, a lot of people have it. She put me on a low dose of Lexapro and I'm off of it now. But that really, I started taking those pills and I go oh, everybody isn't wired the way I'm wired. This is cool, it's fixable. And so I was able to finally see that the thoughts that I was having weren't necessarily healthy or normal or true, and taking those pills.

43:30 - Chase (Host) And there's the product of your circumstances and environment and choices Wiring yeah.

43:35 - Nick (Guest) You know, I think it's a lot of that's in my DNA, maybe ancestral hereditary stuff that I was also battling.

43:43 - Chase (Host) Epigenetics is very real.

43:44 - Nick (Guest) Absolutely and so, and so when you get your mental right, everything else kind of falls into place. And so now I understand there are certain thought patterns that I recognize because I'm a guy that it's funny, because people watch my videos, I think, and they just I come off as pretty lighthearted and fun and that's 100% me at my core. But I'm also weirdly analytical and I'm always trying to strategize and I can really fall into a rabbit hole quickly with anything. And I can really fall into a rabbit hole quickly with anything, especially self-defeating thoughts. And so once I got to the bottom of my like social anxiety, sort of depressive pattern, I just became more healthy mentally and that manifested into health as a whole, and then and then spiritually to.

44:43 that also helped a little bit. When I stopped drinking I was able to, you know, kick up my spiritual game and then also my physical game, so it all just kind of gelled together at the same time. Amazing. I've been just trying to keep it, keep it going ever since.

44:55 - Chase (Host) That's all we can do, right, you know that's that. Keep it going ever since, that's all we can do. Right, you know, that's, that's the goal One day at a time, one trending viral dance at a time.

45:00 - Nick (Guest) Just keep chopping wood and carrying water, man.

45:08 - Chase (Host) So this show is all about helping you know honestly me, but also my audience um, just learn the paths of a variety of other people and what it takes for them, what choices they have made, to learn how to move forward in one area, or you know, collectively all areas of their life their wellbeing Ever forward. Those two words, what do they mean to you, Nick? How would you say you live a life ever forward?

45:26 - Nick (Guest) Ever forward. I, um, I would say I'm a guy that I'm always looking ever forward. I, for whatever weird reason, I cannot rest on my laurels to save my life. I'm not big on nostalgia. I feel I'm oddly always looking forward, um, with hope and optimism. And I just, I just know that the past is in the past and you got to leave it there for better or for worse, know that the past is in the past and you got to leave it there for better or for worse. And I just like that, I really like that mantra, and it's just a parallel for life no matter what happens, it's moving forward, no matter what. And so it's either go with the flow, figure it out, keep putting one foot in front of the other, or you're going to get left behind, and that's a I don't know. It's just one of those things where you just got to keep, keep paddling man.

46:26 - Chase (Host) Keep paddling. If you don't know where or how to put one foot in front of the other, maybe try dancing one foot in front of the other and just see where it takes you.

46:34 - Nick (Guest) Just get your wiggles out, If I can do it. If I can do it, I think anybody can do it. So yeah, Well, Nick, this has been a pleasure.

46:40 - Chase (Host) Thank you so much for making time for us here at Everford Radio on your whirlwind LA tour. We're going to get you skirted over to the next interview and I guess everybody can see you online. But where can they go to to watch you, to hang out with you, to connect with you? Yeah, whether it's a dance or the weather report.

46:55 - Nick (Guest) That's right. Well, yeah, I'm on Fox weather so you can watch me there. Download the app. We're always streaming. That's a. That's where you can get the weather content and then the dancing stuff and the and the fun lifestyle stuff online. Nick koser K O S I R. Search that and you'll be able to find me on most platforms. It's just my name on Instagram. On Tik TOK it's official Nick koser, I think. On Facebook it's Nick Koser, the Dancing Weatherman. So if you search the Dancing Weatherman, you should be able to find me and just real quick, chase, you are awesome. Your questions were absolutely amazing, probably some of the best I've ever been asked. Honestly, thank you, man. Thank you so much. Very smart, in-depth, well-researched questions and thank you so much for today well-researched questions and thank you.

47:41 - Chase (Host) So much for today. I don't do a lot of podcasts because I'm I saw that I'm not a big podcast guest.

47:44 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, I'm not like the most eloquent speaker and they kind of make me nervous, but your demeanor and your approach to this was so calm and chill and I just loved every second.

47:55 - Chase (Host) It's the best feedback. Thank you so much. I try to have fun. I definitely drop in, I get focused and you know I, you know I can definitely get my serious game on. But uh, you know I always try to just match the energy of the guests and what you do is so fun and high energy, so how can we not do the same?

48:09 - Nick (Guest) Yeah, yeah, thank you, man, I appreciate all that.

48:11 - Chase (Host) My pleasure, my pleasure. For more information on everything you just heard, make sure to check this episode's show notes or head to everforwardradiocom.