Beyond the Buzz: Why Going Viral Isn’t Enough and How Creators Like Tommy Winkler Are Building Real Businesses

Tommy Winkler, known to many as The Food Guy, amassed his following the way a lot of creators do: one video, one post, one reel at a time.

But as many aspiring creators know, one viral moment doesn’t always lead to long-term success. Most of the time, it’s just that: one moment. Winkler had figured out how to get attention and build an audience of millions, but he wanted to turn that into something permanent.

That’s where his partnership with talent manager Jeff Duncan and the team at Ingenuity Live began to change the trajectory of his career.

What happened next wasn’t just growth. It was a shift from creator to entrepreneur.

For Winkler, the biggest change came in his approach and how he viewed what it meant to be successful in the creator economy.

“My mindset has shifted from just creating content to actually building a business around it,” he explains. “Before, I was focused on the day-to-day: what’s my next video, how do I grow my follower count. That’s what I thought success looked like.”

But working with Duncan exposed him to a new perspective. Many creators, especially those who experience a quick rise to fame and notoriety, believe momentum is the same as metrics.

However, Duncan’s approach with Winkler, and the other creators he and Ingenuity Live represent, prioritized longevity over immediacy.

“Working with Jeff and the Ingenuity team has helped me zoom out and think more long-term,” he says. “It’s not only about growing an audience, it’s about what you’re building with that audience and where you want it to go.”

That shift from short-term wins to long-term vision is central to how Ingenuity works with talent.

In today’s creator economy, signing with management is often seen as a milestone. But Winkler learned that not all representation is created equal.

“Early on, I didn’t realize how important the right team and strategy are,” he says. “When you start gaining traction, the instinct is to sign with a big management company and think that’s the next step. I’ve done that before, and you can end up feeling like a small fish in a big pond.”

That experience is what led him to look for a more intentional partnership.

“What I understand now is that it’s more than having management, it’s about having the right management,” Winkler adds. “You need a team that’s actually invested in you, understands your vision, and has a clear strategy for how to grow it.”

So, how did Winkler know Ingenuity plus Live and Duncan were the right management? It all came down to Duncan’s business approach.

“At Ingenuity, we’re very intentional about who we work with,” he says. “We don’t take a volume approach; we take the time to ensure there’s a strong mutual fit so we can fully get behind a creator’s vision.

Ingenuity doesn’t focus on size; instead, they focus on working closely with each creator.

“Our goal is to deploy the appropriate resources and execute against that vision step by step,” Duncan explains. “That’s a different model from traditional management, which frequently depends on scale and hopes a few creators break through. We’re focused on building something meaningful with everyone we represent.”

The common belief is that a large following means that a creator is successful, but according to Duncan, that couldn’t be further from the reality.

“A lot of creators think that building a following is the same as building a business, and it’s not,” he says. “A following is an asset, but the real question is what you do with it.”

Creating content and building a following is just the starting point in today’s creator economy.

“Once you’ve built that audience, the next step is figuring out how to deploy it,” Duncan adds. “Whether that’s through partnerships, products, media, or other revenue streams, that’s where business building actually begins.”

While the industry is obsessed with views and trends, both Winkler and Duncan are aligned that chasing virality alone is a losing strategy.

“Going viral shouldn’t be the only goal,” Winkler says. “It’s important to understand trends, study what’s working, and pay attention to timing, but you also have to make sure it fits your style and what you actually enjoy creating.”

Duncan takes it a step further.

“The goal is to entertain and connect with people in a meaningful way,” he says. “Virality is often just a byproduct of doing that well. The focus should be on building something durable, not merely chasing moments.”

For Winkler, the future isn’t about single posts anymore. It’s about developing something bigger around them: an authentic brand.

“It’s really about diversifying and creating multiple ways for people to engage with what I’m building,” he says. “Instead of just posting content, it’s asking: how do I turn this into something bigger and more sustainable over time?”

That question may be what ultimately defines the next generation of creators.