It's so funny - when I made those YouTube videos, it was by pure accident. In fact, I remember I was looking for a monologue and found the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, where Alec Baldwin says the ABC dialogue, "Always. Be. Closing." I know that piece of dialogue so well, I could probably recite it if I wanted to. YouTube was in its infancy, and I was looking at things and I noticed normal, everyday people speaking to the camera. And I thought, what the hell? I could see they've got lots of views, with people commenting and I said, "Whoa, this is strange. Why would anybody watch a random stranger? You're not famous. Why are people watching and listening to them speak?"

Commonality is the foundation of community but shouldn't be restricted to it. I believe people have a natural intent to do positive things that they will be remembered by. Community enables and facilitates that.

I think it's easier, sometimes, when your life is a little bit better, for you to share the struggles that you come from than to share the struggles at the moment. Because I think it is a sense of hope, I suppose, that people sometimes get out of that.

I don't think I have amassed a very large community yet. I only realise there's a community at all when people ask me when am I writing my next book. I do, however, think it's cool that people can create communities based on the things they create.

When I started taking questions on Instagram initially - you say "Ask me a question" and people ask you something, and I'd respond very much about myself, all selfish and self-centred about how awesome I am. I remember that people would often ask me some really serious questions, for advice about their own lives, which I found a little jarring because I didn't expect that. When lockdown happened and I found myself alone, I realized that other people are just as lonely and maybe they just want an outlet for something.

I found out at the end of January 2020 that my brother had a gambling problem. I noticed that I had things that were missing from my place and so I asked him and, eventually, he said to me that he's got this gambling problem. And thought, "Great, thank you for letting me know that. At least I know now that it's something that can be fixed." And he was very relieved.

Social media is a very interesting animal because I think some kinds of businesses need it and there are some businesses that think they need it but don't. If you look at Apple, they don't say anything on social media because they feel that maybe it can be quite a vicious space and it can be pretty intense.

It's not as vicious as Twitter, I think there's that. You don't have people having outrageous debates on Instagram, that's the one thing. But it feels also like, because of the pictures that you see that people post on Instagram, you see a human being. Whereas on Twitter, it's just text and people are saying whatever they want to say - you don't get a sense of the person when you see someone write something. 

Social media is very difficult if you're starting, and it depends, I think, on the business you're starting. It depends on what you're trying to find out. But what I've also found is customers don't always know what they want until you give it to them. So you really have to think deeply about what it is that you are doing in the first place.

Staying authentic is about knowing what attracts your customers to you in the first place. Once you know, it's key to keep that alive despite the changes your business undergoes. Consistency builds loyalty where customers are concerned.