Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Littel
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Jeremy was born in Kenosha Wisconsin where he was always cracking jokes at a young age. In school he was quickly labeled as a class clown but also still loved by his teachers. As Jeremy got older he began working in customer service and always had fun with his coworkers and jokes and pranks were always involved. In 2008, Jeremy, now living in Winona, Minnesota got married to Brittany Stinson. In 2010, Jeremy started to work with his father at Sauk City Specialty Products, which is now known at Kickass Snacks. His job primarily involved meeting up with current customers and providing product knowledge to the distributors. With his gift to gab, the job with his dad seemed to just come natural and the company began to grow rather quickly.
In 2011 Jeremy and Brittany had their first child, Anthony. In 2014, Dominic was born. During a family trip to Mexico in 2017, Jeremy was in the pool playing with his kids and looked around to notice that the younger adults were not in the pool but around it with their phone in their hand. He then knew that he needed to be a part of the social media realm and made it his goal for the next few years to grow that part of the business and to find that recognition. Once he went home, he began posting on a few different platforms very regularly to which he began to hear from people in the hunting and fishing realm as well as professional sports including Nascar.
The presence of Kickass Snacks was starting to grow on the internet which was beginning to help with online sales. 2017, Brittany and Jeremy had Brielle their final child. Jeremyy purchased Kickass Snacks from his father in 2018 and really started to push social media marketing even more. Jeremy also started to see if he had the knack for comedy skits and started to do a couple videos and posting on Facebook. It wasn’t until 2019 where Jeremy was introduced to TikTok and his social media career took off. During a fishing trip with some friends that have a presence on Youtube, they were recording for their pages and had just jumped on Tiktok themselves. A video was posted on Tik Tok catching some catfish and it went viral. Jeremy was told that he needed to try out Tik Tok with how he loved to fish and tell jokes.
On September 11th, Jeremy posted his first ice fishing video and it went viral. After a few weeks of posting fishing and some jokes here and there, he took a trip to Talladega to watch his buddy win the truck races. On the way down, the guys were bored so Jeremy started telling “Littel Johnny” jokes and posted them on Tik Tok. They were an instant hit and went viral. The videos kept climbing and so did Jeremy’s following. His Tiktok grew to over 100,000 followers within the next week. Posting jokes and fishing videos were what Jeremy primarily posted along with some motivational videos. In January of 2020, Jeremy decided to make another page on Tik Tok where he would recreate the jokes from his current page. This page also grew very quickly and now He had 2 pages to post on sometimes up to 9 times a day. Once Covid hit hard in the spring of 2020, Kickass Snacks was hit hard as well losing close to 80% of the wholesale business. Jeremy had now reached 1 million followers and took to Tik Tok for the first time to discuss Kickass Snacks. His following on the platform rallied together and helped save the business with over 2500 orders in the course of 10 days.
Throughout the Summer and early fall months things were starting to slow down and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue making videos but then something happened. Jeremy started to get messages and comments that his videos were changing people’s lives. The laughter that they brought was helping them with their depression and days that nothing seemed to go right. It wasn’t until Jeremy received on direct message on Instagram that he knew he had a real purpose to be on Tik Tok.
He was sent a message from someone stating that they were going to watch 5 videos that day and at the end of that, he was going to end his life. Jeremy’s video was the last video that he saw and it made him laugh so hard that he knew his life was worth living. This is what kept Jeremy posting and his motto is, “Make at least one person smile today”
October of 2020 Jeremy decided to add his kids to the regimen of daily comedy on his backup page and it took off like a bat out of hell. His now backup page is become the main page and there was now a new way to hang out with the kids and have fun. Jeremy and his boys and sometimes daughter create jokes in the way of how “Little Johnny” would act and its what the people seem to love. He will continue to do this with his family until people start to lose interest.
Since the start of Tik Tok, Jeremy has since got involve in a multitude of other platforms where you can see all of his material. When asked where he sees himself in five years, he says he’s just taking it one day at a time and riding the wave. As long as people are laughing and smiling and need someone to bring that little glimpse of happiness in their life, he’s here to stay.
Since beginning his journey as a social media influencer and business owner, Jeremy has amassed over 22 million followers across 5 platforms throughout the entire World.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road at all. We started selling jerky out of a 24×24 garage in Milwaukee in 2001 and the biggest challenge was people allowing a product called Kickass Beef Jerky in their stores. We started out as a gimmick and quickly grew to a household name after people realized we had a great name and a great taste.
With the social media side of things, it has its ups and downs. In the beginning making content flowed easily. It was nothing to put out 9-12 videos a day for the first year and a half but I burnt out and had a creative block after awhile. I’ve met some amazing people along the way but the highs and lows can really have an effect on your mental health.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I started my social media career in 2019 in hopes to build up my company Kickass Beef Jerky, but quickly realized that my calling online was to post jokes, outdoor life and inspirational quotes. I figured if I could get people to like who I am, they would in turn support me and my business. I’m known for my little Johnny jokes and comedy skits with my kids. As a content creator and a business owner, it sets me a part from others because I’m thinking of ways to incorporate both into my content. I’m very proud of my team for allowing me to create content while they work hard and strive to grow the wholesale side of the business.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I feel like I was blessed immensely by falling into the social media side of things and I feel like I did my job as long as I can make at least one person smile a day. This nation is so divided so I keep my platforms open for all walks of life. I try to keep everything light hearted and always having fun.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.Kickassbeefjerky.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyfromtiktok/profilecard/?igsh=MTI1OTl4ZmY0b3cxMw==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/12E8zzGKo8G/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jeremylittel?si=8whDi81JD0Gz0ahl
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremy_littel?_t=8sepp3yJKqx&_r=1
