Meet Clinton Svatos | Content Creator & Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clinton Svatos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clinton, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
The most impactful decision I’ve ever made, when it comes to my content creation business, was made on August 29, 2019. That night, I randomly decided I would record myself making a very cheap and easy dinner, that the kids wanted. I wasn’t the cook in my marriage and my skills were limited. My wife had just started college classes, and I was then challenged with getting out of my comfort zone, to cook for our children. Lillian, my second oldest, wanted a fried bologna sandwich. I thought I would just record it for fun for a newer app called TikTok. Right before I started, when I was talking to Lillian, I had said something along the lines of you know this is a poor person food and your mom and I used to eat this a lot before you were born, BUT its also a comfort food for sure. A lightbulb clicked and I thought of the phrase poormanscomfortfood. I immediately grabbed my phone to search the internet to see if the hashtag existed. I quickly learned it had not, and I had thought of a title for a series, that was original and not present on social media. Choosing to record the the very simple process of frying balogna, and putting it on a bread, changed our lives, we just didn’t know it then.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I currently balance two full time jobs (three if you can count being a dad as one as well). I am a full time content creator producing videos and posts for YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and others. But something less people know is that I also work full time at UCLA managing the aquatics facilities (we have 5 year-round outdoor pools that serve students, student-athletes, faculty/staff, and the community). I’ve worked in Aquatics since I was 15 years old and I have been a certified lifeguard for 22 years and a lifeguard instructor for most of them as well. My educational background is in teaching (B.S. Education) and Sport Management (M.S.). Applying skills learned in college and skills developed through years teaching and managing student staff at UCLA, have directly made an impact on my content creation. 95% of the content I produce is educational – but something I’ve learned while working with students (and being a Dad), you have to make life engaging AND fun, or no one will value what you are sharing.
Balancing both content and UCLA can be challenging, BUT I am very fortunate everything works out for one specific reason. At the end of the day (well, every day, really), my family HAS to eat. Lillian HAS to have diabetes care. These things would continue on in our daily life, even if a tiny phone camera wasn’t capturing or explaining what was taking place. This fact helps keep me motivated, especially when facing the dreaded creator burnout, which likes to visit often. This happens when creators pressure themselves to create and produce too often and pushing the limits of their mental and emotional capacity. At first I felt like I needed to produce content daily or regularly, without any breaks. I’ve learned that taking breaks from producing content is important for two reasons: 1. to mentally/emotionally recover and 2. the breaks allow me to reflect on why I love to do what I do, and let’s me regain my motivation. It is evident in quality in my content, post break, I have recognized. If there’s any take aways I can share with aspiring creators reading this, I would like them to know that the pressure to produce doesn’t come from your audience/fans, it’s something we burden ourselves with unnecessarily. Realizing that this is an internal challenge, and it is the first step to overcome the feelings we get from it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is one of the most exciting things about living in Los Angeles compared to most of the United States. There is just so much to do and you can never experience everything the city of Angels has to offer (and that’s okay).

I would create an experience filled with things that I love and have personally experienced, but also include new things that would be a welcome surprise to both of us.

For main activities, the following are a must: Santa Monica beach and Pier (Especially if they are not from California), Universal Studios Hollywood (My family and I love theme parks), a concert at the Hollywood Bowl (I am convinced that this is the best venue to see a concert and no seat is bad), La Brea Tar Pits (I still haven’t had the opportunity to visit and have wanted to since seeing the movie Volcano as a child), and visiting the Old LA Zoo (There’s something interesting and morbid to see the remains of how animals were kept over half a century ago).

For Food, there are some things that just taste best here in Los Angeles, from my experience, compared to other parts of the US: Double/Double Animal style from In & Out – potentially even the first stop after bestie lands in LA, Korean BBQ, Food Trucks (any place that has a bunch in one location is even better), Porto’s (now I want a potato ball), Norms, and Sushi for sure!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The people who eat my cooking, support this journey, and motivate me to always improve deserve all of the credit for my success on social media. My wife Rachael, and my children Kara, Lillian, Abigail, and Aubrey are the biggest reasons for my/our success. Rachael is brutally honest, sometimes to a fault, but without that honesty, I couldn’t or wouldn’t have evolved the process in which I create content over the years. Her point of view has impacted the decisions I’ve made (or hadn’t made), and has often helped me see things with a different perspective. She helped me learn that it is okay not to say yes to every opportunity and to evaluate it to see how it would impact us and my “brand”, no matter the amount of money offered. My four daughters, don’t just consume the food I make, but they also “consume” the videos I create from them as well. If they enjoy both eating as well as watching the associated video, I know I am continuing on the right path. There have definitely been some course corrections over the years based on their reactions and feedback to recipes and videos.
On the non-cooking side of creating content, Lillian was diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic prior to any content creation. At some point, we decided to share some of our Type 1 diabetes journey with the world and did not anticipate the impact Lillian would make across the globe. Millions of kids struggling with the same incurable disease get to publicly see someone who is just like them, and Lillian inspires so many Type 1s. I’m incredibly proud of her and thankful she shares her journey with so many people who don’t feel isolated and know there is a community of individuals, just like them.

Website: https://clintonsvatos.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/clintonsvatos

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clintonsvatos/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/clintonsvatos

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/clintonsvatos

Other: https://tiktok.com/@clintonsvatos