Tony P, Tabloids & Truths

Well well well. Talk about a big week. Sorta feels like this is my biggest & most important Trust Fun yet. For some reason, the stakes are just higher. I suppose it is Wild Card weekend. We’re taking a whole new spin on this thing. Gotta keep you all on your toes. Keep reading, I’ll explain.

First of all, I’d like to personally (& affectionally) thank all of you who purchased a trust fun baby hat over the holidays.

It truly means the world. I’ve spent god knows how many hours building & writing this newsletter… From designing the logo in photoshop, to creating the website, to begging strangers to give me their emails, all the way to actually writing the damn thing… It’s been hard work & I’ve most certainly lost money doing it. BUT… I love it so who cares.

Shamelessly, one day, I fantasize about turning Trust Fun into a real, cash generating business. Ya know, potentially get paid for writing & making my own content. The *new* american dream. So, when a few of you actually part ways with some of your cold hard cash to support me, well, that rules. It’s electrifying. Obviously, I’m most definitely still in the red on all this shit, but you guys buying a few hats gives me real hope that the path to monetization is certainly still alive. Who knows, maybe one day the money I make from Trust Fun will help send my kid to college (or buy me a used Ford Focus).

The trust fun baby hat is now sold out (I’m sending my last one to Tony P obviously), but I’m thinking about ordering more. If you want one, let me know by replying to this or just slide into my DMs.

I’ve written 13 (!) versions of Trust Funs thus far… each one ever so slightly differently than the last. Every week, the structure has been, more or less, a public diary. Following a semi-chronological journey of my (un)employment, entrepreneurial schemes & personal shit. I’ve had some high highs and some low lows. This weeks Trust Fun is certainly a high high. Welcome back. Lucky 13🍀

Fireside chat with Tony P

This week, I had the absolute honor to sit down and chat with the man the myth himself… Tony P in DC. We facetimed for over an hour & covered all sorts of topics.

AJ, aka Tony P, and I went to high school @ St. John’s Prep where we served on Student Council together. We were ELECTED members btw. Voted in by our peers. The real deal. Anywho, since then, he’s gone on to become potentially the most influential person in all of Washington DC. No actually. I’m not kidding. He’s probably one of the most relevant & talked about male influencers in America right now. Famous for his arm rolls, vibrant masculinity & salmon recipes, Tony P’s grown a social media following to over 200k people. He’s inked brand deals with the likes of DraftKings, SeatGeek & Subway, and he’s got a literal, organized fanbase called the P-Hive who swarm him when he’s out in public. Not to mention, the tabloids love him. The Washington Post recently wrote a feature on him. 

The list goes on & on. If you haven’t seen any of his content, go check it out here.

I’ve always loved AJ. All the stuff you see online is him be 100% authentically himself. When I met him he was like 14 years old. He dressed the exact same. He was (and still is) compassionate, generous & hilarious. It was so great to catch up with him.

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Cael: So for those who don’t know (which I doubt is very many), who the hell are you?

Tony P: Well… I'm a 25 year old bachelor, indeed, in Washington, DC. Haha. I’m from Boston originally of course. I’m a true middle class kid. I went to Catholic prep school (with you). I was the guy who had the worst car on the lot. Yeah, one of those guys who always was, you know, trying to keep up with the ‘Joneses’ a little bit. I grew up really blue collar, middle class values. So prep school was a big leap for me. Then I went to University of Richmond after that. It was a very big learning curve. But then, you know, once I got into it, I really was able to find my voice.

Cael: How did all of this happen? You know, the Tony P in DC stuff? It’s pretty nuts.

Tony P: You know, I've always wanted to kind of do something like this & be more creative. I did the broadcasting thing for all those years in high school & in college. And, you know, that was just the beginning of it. I always wanted to be in front of the camera. Like, that's kind of what the impetus was. I also thought maybe I could get to like 10k-15k followers & maybe make some side money, you know, just a little income, right? Well, that kind of changed within a couple of months. It all became much more than just that.

Cael: It’s nuts. I think you’re at almost 170,000 followers & climbing.

Tony P: Yup. And I’m finally breaking through my first plateau. Finally seeing growth again.

Cael: Epic. People would kill to get themselves or their brand to that level of organic reach. It’s insanely valuable. Anyways, speaking of valuable… Monetization for someone like you is very important. At the end of the day, you’ve gotta make money cuz I know you’re spending HOURS creating all your content, and time ain’t free. How do you think about monetization?

Tony P: Great question. So the way I make money right now is through a few avenues. The main is brand deals. A lot of my deals are kind of two parts. It's not just me posting ‘canned content’ of myself simply using a product. That’d be boring & inauthentic. My brand deals are wholistic. I'm actually going back and forth, working with social media, marketing & branding teams to establish a content strategy & come up with target audiences. It’s very much a consulting relationship. And the second piece is cameo, I’m a big cameo guy.

Cael: I saw the cameo stuff. You’re always sold out of cameo’s right? People buy ‘em in droves.

Tony P: I do. And I mean, it's a nice stream of revenue, believe me. But it's also a passion of mine where I get to literally just talk to people. I get to be a part of their coolest moments. Their birthdays, their weddings, or graduations, you know. It's pretty freakin cool. It’s nice to make money, I'm not gonna lie. But it's also a beautiful thing to actually, you know help people and be a part of some of those moments.

Cael: That’s incredible. Also, it’s refreshing to hear you say that. I think there is a stigma to creators actually making money & talking about it. But, it’s vitally important that you can turn your hard work into dollars. Like nobody realizes probably how much fucking time you spend editing those videos, right? And coming up with the concepts-

Tony P: Oh! While I have a full-time consulting job.

Cael: Yeah. While you're frickin working a consulting job. That was my next question… Eventually, I think you you and I both know, there's going to be a tough decision that's going to be have to be made about that…

Tony P: There is. And it's coming a lot faster than you think it is.

Cael: Yeah. And we don't need to get into that right now… Do you literally edit every video yourself still?

Tony P: I do. Yeah I do.

Cael: Haha. Holy shit. That’s nuts. What software do you use?

Tony P: Splice. I almost said CapCut. I don’t use CapCut anymore. I’m always on the lookout for new AI stuff too because hopefully it’ll help make this stuff easier to do. But, on the whole though, I love doing the editing. I actually like the act of doing it.

Cael: Okay, so lastly, it's Friday night, dude, what's going on? What’s Tony P doing this weekend?

Tony P: I'm actually gonna do some content tonight. Content & get my taxes ready. Gotta do some tax filing soon. And I might do some self-care. Cook a little bit. But then Saturday I’ve got the Capitals game, I'm having dinner with friends Saturday night. Sunday football, may host a little party in my house. On Monday, got some stuff for MLK Day, very important holiday for me. And, you know, want to be involved in some of the events here in DC… The service events as well as some of the talks & speeches.

Cael: Incredible. Wouldn’t expect anything less than a jammed packed weekend. Thanks AJ. This was awesome.

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Obviously, this was just a segment of the 1+ hour convo that we had. It was a blast and there is definitely more convos like this to come.

Thanks for reading. Long live Tony P. See you next week.