Alex Lotier - Culture Kicks

WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:15.227
Number one it's not that big of a deal, period Like all gonna be okay, and maybe it's just the mindset framework things that you'd have to tell yourself, and for me it would be like it's okay to go slower, to go faster.

00:00:15.227 --> 00:00:16.103
I love you, brother.

00:00:16.103 --> 00:00:20.486
You are not driving to meet another person to hand them shoes ever again.

00:00:20.926 --> 00:00:29.989
What is one when you think about like a company and starting something and you go through so many iterations between version 0.1, 0.15,?

00:00:30.009 --> 00:00:30.810
0.2.

00:00:30.810 --> 00:00:37.395
If you're going to be an entrepreneur that just wants to make your dreams a reality, there can never be a plan B.

00:00:37.395 --> 00:00:39.140
There's only the plan in front of you.

00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:48.045
But with that said, you have to be willing and understanding of the fact that your plan A will constantly adapt and you have to adapt with it.

00:00:52.905 --> 00:00:54.530
There he is, let's go, let's go.

00:00:54.530 --> 00:00:57.667
How are you I got culture, culture, muhammad Ali.

00:00:57.667 --> 00:00:59.432
What does it say?

00:00:59.432 --> 00:01:00.927
Does this look good behind me?

00:01:00.927 --> 00:01:02.435
It does it looks good.

00:01:02.435 --> 00:01:03.079
You know what this is.

00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:03.744
This is Muhammad Ali quote.

00:01:03.744 --> 00:01:04.310
No way, yeah, it looks good.

00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:04.754
You know what this is?

00:01:04.774 --> 00:01:05.459
This is Muhammad Ali quote no way.

00:01:05.859 --> 00:01:10.248
Yeah, impossible is nothing Made up by small men with small minds.

00:01:11.022 --> 00:01:11.784
I love that quote.

00:01:11.784 --> 00:01:12.421
How you been.

00:01:12.763 --> 00:01:13.626
Good how you doing.

00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:18.861
Good, crazy too, since seeing you, whatever city, that was Atlanta, right.

00:01:19.063 --> 00:01:19.745
Here in Atlanta.

00:01:19.745 --> 00:01:21.189
Yeah, that's a funny story.

00:01:21.189 --> 00:01:24.689
I literally just came from picking up my son at the bus stop.

00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:31.352
And I literally just came from picking up my son at the bus stop and he loved seeing you at the show and holding.

00:01:31.352 --> 00:01:36.784
He said who are you talking to when we were walking up here and I said, oh, it's Alex.

00:01:36.784 --> 00:01:46.018
I was like it's the guy that you met at the fair where you were holding the $20,000 shoes and he was like, oh yeah, he was like you know what I want $3,000 shoes.

00:01:46.018 --> 00:01:48.349
And he was like, oh yeah, he was like you know what I want $3,000 shoes.

00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:49.825
And then he goes no wait, I got it.

00:01:49.825 --> 00:01:51.704
I want to make gold Crocs.

00:01:51.704 --> 00:01:55.867
You got his mice, you got it fine working.

00:01:55.867 --> 00:01:57.823
Wow, that's good.

00:01:58.325 --> 00:01:58.707
I love it.

00:01:58.707 --> 00:02:04.441
He started way younger than I started thinking about business.

00:02:04.441 --> 00:02:09.971
It's crazy sometimes I think if I was trying to build all this a little bit earlier, how much more time I would have had.

00:02:09.971 --> 00:02:19.663
It'd be great so but still got some big let me just silence this, really quick a great setup in here too.

00:02:19.663 --> 00:02:23.367
This is amazing like join it the way I just joined.

00:02:23.367 --> 00:02:29.615
It's good, cool um, amazing.

00:02:29.655 --> 00:02:31.901
Well, let's uh, let's do it, let's dive into it.

00:02:31.901 --> 00:02:38.361
So just a little bit of the, the premise that we like talking about, the, the idea of zero to um.

00:02:38.361 --> 00:02:56.092
You know I started this about the time that I I StackList and you know, reading all the books I've got, you know cold start problem and zero to um and who, and radical transparency, all these radical candor, all these sort of things, but but the zero to one thing.

00:02:56.092 --> 00:02:58.602
I think about it when I think about starting a company.

00:02:58.602 --> 00:03:00.086
It's sort of like what is one?

00:03:00.086 --> 00:03:32.151
When you think about like a company and starting something and and you go through so many iterations between version 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, um, and so I love, you know, I love to hear the story from a culture perspective, just that, like you know, I guess, starting off by by your background, sort of pre-culture kicks, and then maybe we dive in specifically to that, like the week before the week of the day of where you're like, oh, I think, I think I got something I got to go do.

00:03:32.151 --> 00:03:35.003
Um, yeah, I'd love to hear that.

00:03:35.905 --> 00:03:50.673
So I mean just kind of growing up into sports, right, Since I was a young kid I loved soccer, played my entire life constantly into shoes, getting the newest cleats, but I still never really saw myself as a sneaker head, I just was an entrepreneur at heart.

00:03:50.673 --> 00:04:00.929
So literally when I was eight years old, my dad would turn on the lights in my room and be like all right, you have a roof over your head and there's snow on our driveway.

00:04:00.929 --> 00:04:04.728
So if you want to make any money today, you know shoveling anyone else.

00:04:04.728 --> 00:04:10.584
You got to shovel ours first and then walk to the neighbors and I think just kind of similar that you were talking about your son.

00:04:10.584 --> 00:04:13.923
That was instilled in me is like you got to work for everything that you go after.

00:04:13.943 --> 00:04:24.173
Yeah, and getting into sports the more I kind of got older and meeting other friends, right and do it, ended up actually going to Syracuse university for college.

00:04:24.173 --> 00:04:33.771
Didn't end up playing soccer full-time when I was going to be division one, potentially at like Lehigh or other schools closer to Philadelphia and learned a lot more about business.

00:04:33.771 --> 00:04:49.726
Um, ended up doing a double major finance supply chain in in Syracuse university and then actually internship in the beautiful New York uh city of New York, new York, new York city and um worked allocations North America for full locker.

00:04:49.726 --> 00:05:01.509
So before I even went back for my senior year, I got a full-time offer to go back to New York, ended up taking it and then about six to eight months later I could not do the Excel anymore and open the laptop.

00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:05.060
But while there I did learn a lot about like the fashion industry product retail side of things.

00:05:05.004 --> 00:05:05.134
And for the laptop.

00:05:05.134 --> 00:05:07.345
But while there I did learn a lot about like the fashion industry product retail side of things.

00:05:07.345 --> 00:05:10.420
And for sure, sneakers, yeah, yeah.

00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:15.783
Believing that, I was like you know, if I can manage a couple hundred North American stores, I could probably do one.

00:05:15.783 --> 00:05:22.930
Built a sneaker business within a mom and pop sports card company, learned how to scale from zero to you know.

00:05:22.990 --> 00:05:23.451
Totally.

00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.290
I thought could be much larger.

00:05:26.290 --> 00:05:40.940
Now I didn't own a single percentage in this business that I joined, but I learned a lot of valuable lessons just working face-to-face with one customer at a time, helping them try on shoes, buy shoes, acquire shoes to then resell.

00:05:40.940 --> 00:05:47.369
This was during the 2020 COVID boom, where every fraud you know you would just go up in value.

00:05:47.369 --> 00:05:57.300
So it was amazing time to be in disposable income land and during that time I met uh chased, and it was in an Applebee's parking lot.

00:05:57.300 --> 00:06:03.666
Now people watching might not know who chase is at the moment, but um ends up being my partner today of culture.

00:06:03.666 --> 00:06:06.639
Kicks um 50, 50 and Bolts of Glue.

00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:13.112
Go into Instagram or TikTok live and just see just go check out the coin toss.

00:06:13.112 --> 00:06:13.880
That's all I'm going to say.

00:06:13.880 --> 00:06:15.024
Just go check out the coin toss.

00:06:15.285 --> 00:06:22.112
It's crazy and we'll get there in a little bit, but I would say at the time he was someone who was very in within the sneaker industry.

00:06:22.112 --> 00:06:27.028
Chase was working a full-time corporate job in the pharmaceutical industry.

00:06:27.028 --> 00:06:29.291
I was obviously going the entrepreneurial route.

00:06:29.291 --> 00:06:31.523
He quit his job to start this side.

00:06:31.523 --> 00:06:35.372
Culture kicks Instagram sneaker page and go into it.

00:06:35.372 --> 00:06:40.788
Once he sold and made probably three X the money that he was making his corporate job in one month.

00:06:40.788 --> 00:06:42.100
He said this is the time to do it.

00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:51.064
And he said what, alex, you have the marketing business sense and there's not anybody else in the industry that I know that I would like to offer half the business to that I've built.

00:06:51.064 --> 00:06:53.088
And that was him at the time.

00:06:53.088 --> 00:06:59.588
And basically at the end of 2021, we started the business, beginning of 2022.

00:06:59.588 --> 00:07:05.930
And we just put our boots on and we just started selling Jordans and Nikes and Yeezys all over Philadelphia.

00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:14.220
We started packing the back of my Jeep Wrangler, driving to casino parking lots from 5 pm to 2 am meetup slots.

00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:21.600
I would have new people coming in that needed their new sneaker for the week, for the month, for their kids, for Christmas, all the way through the end of 2022.

00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.586
I'm like this is pretty cool.

00:07:23.586 --> 00:07:25.867
Again, we want to talk zero.

00:07:25.867 --> 00:07:28.208
Like I don't know where we're going at this point with this thing.

00:07:28.208 --> 00:07:31.951
I'm just like I'm happy to not be reporting to anyone else other than a partner.

00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:45.232
And while we're talking about this and we're putting smiles on people's faces and we're building our Instagram from 3,000 followers to 7,000 followers, I always say everybody starts with one follower.

00:07:45.232 --> 00:07:56.101
You know, and you know, cut me off or jump at any point here, but basically it was till spring of 2023.

00:07:56.101 --> 00:08:04.526
We got a call from the flyers and they wanted to welcome us in, to set up by whatever table and sell our jordans and our Nikes.

00:08:04.526 --> 00:08:14.011
And actually the first ever sneaker reseller inside Wells Fargo stadium ended up selling 150 pairs the first ever night that we were there.

00:08:14.011 --> 00:08:15.264
So it was pretty good success.

00:08:16.261 --> 00:08:29.593
And then kind of just building out our Philly notoriety amongst the city did pop-ups in West Philadelphia barbershops, went to semi-pro lacrosse leagues, um, with a 6x12 and a U-Haul truck behind us.

00:08:29.593 --> 00:08:37.572
And then a couple months go by Again at this point maybe we're like 15,000, 16,000 followers grinding.

00:08:37.572 --> 00:08:40.000
I still remember the semi-pro lacrosse league.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:48.029
We gained 42 followers and I think two of them were on the hosting truck and just wanted to meet us.

00:08:48.029 --> 00:08:50.225
I love it.

00:08:50.225 --> 00:08:59.570
And you know, it wasn't until maybe a month or two later that we were like all right, let's launch our website, let's sell this all over the world.

00:08:59.570 --> 00:08:59.980
Not just.

00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:05.456
Philadelphia casino started running Facebook ads, really understanding like how to sell online.

00:09:05.456 --> 00:09:08.222
Philadelphia casino started running Facebook ads, um, really understanding like how to sell online.

00:09:08.222 --> 00:09:18.024
And then the following calendar year, 2023, not only were we selling on our own website, we joined forces with three other live auction third-party apps very similar to QVC.

00:09:18.024 --> 00:09:23.171
So, like um, you sell this sneaker from $1 all the way up to $10,000.

00:09:23.171 --> 00:09:28.090
And we sold over 300,000 units total in one calendar year.

00:09:29.211 --> 00:09:29.874
That's amazing.

00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:35.763
So at the time there was no culture, tea, right, no culture.

00:09:35.763 --> 00:10:04.070
Product culture hoodies, sweats, bags, accessories, you name it and a sneaker line, but there was just other branded items and basically what we were doing was taking all the profits, putting it into a twenty thousand dollar film camera full-time salary, editor, full-time salary videographer uh, all the travel to get from every city in the country back to philadelphia, right, not breaking even whatsoever chase and I not getting paid for over a full year.

00:10:04.070 --> 00:10:06.653
And 2024 rolls around.

00:10:06.653 --> 00:10:16.370
This year, january, we gain probably one and a half one to one and a half million followers, with legal 50 days.

00:10:17.140 --> 00:10:19.509
I'm always blown away, especially by your TikTok.

00:10:19.509 --> 00:10:22.221
I think that's if there's a zero to one, would we?

00:10:22.221 --> 00:10:25.325
Maybe we replace that with Jeep Wrangler to one and a half million.

00:10:25.325 --> 00:10:26.799
Maybe we replace that with Jeep Wrangler to a half million followers.

00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:34.370
Maybe that's your journey and again it's like, I think just kind of taking a pause there.

00:10:34.370 --> 00:10:40.793
It's a metaphor for like, keep going no matter what, because if you have good people around you, you take care of other people.

00:10:40.793 --> 00:10:42.567
You're putting good energy out in the world.

00:10:42.567 --> 00:10:50.662
Like your time is coming and it sounds like the most cliche thing, but it is like the biggest, truest statement that I could speak right now.

00:10:50.662 --> 00:11:03.042
And you know, just meeting some of the people that I have along this journey, I never have expected in my wildest dreams like when the next greatest opportunity would have come around, and it's never.

00:11:03.042 --> 00:11:06.688
When you think it is Just being ready at all times.

00:11:06.688 --> 00:11:11.224
And you know, meeting people like yourself, like it's, it's absolutely beautiful.

00:11:11.485 --> 00:11:29.788
So one month was just out of this world growth, but again it was two and a half years of investment and grit and grind and 548 different styles of TikTok videos, until we decided to sit, chase down and film a real deal and flip a coin.

00:11:29.788 --> 00:11:38.469
And here we are Fast forward again 10, 11 months here today, november 2024, and now over 3 million total followers.

00:11:38.469 --> 00:11:45.427
Just 12 months ago we had less than 100K and now our own sneaker line that's selling globally.

00:11:45.427 --> 00:11:49.628
Oh my gosh, for launch number two here in December.

00:11:49.628 --> 00:11:51.966
That's amazing.

00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:59.440
I want to unpack some of that journey from let's call it, from Jeep Wrangler to one and a half million followers.

00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:16.229
Is like so emotionally, like, I guess internally, is it one of those that you there's difference between sort of going through the entrepreneurial journey and sort of having doubts about like are we going to make it, but like as for the mission, did you ever have any like?

00:12:16.229 --> 00:12:28.846
Did you ever have any like sort of doubts or qualms or or like a plan B, or was it more sort of like you just knew, or like what was the kind of what was your through line through that whole process?

00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:31.441
I would definitely say there's no plan B.

00:12:31.441 --> 00:12:37.964
If you're going to be an entrepreneur that just wants to make your dreams a reality, there can never be a plan B.

00:12:37.964 --> 00:12:39.727
There's only the plan in front of you.

00:12:39.727 --> 00:12:48.783
But, with that said, you have to be willing and understanding of the fact that your plan A will constantly adapt and you have to adapt with it.

00:12:48.783 --> 00:13:03.994
And you cannot be in a fixed mindset of if this Jordan isn't still going up because COVID money isn't here longer in this industry from 2020.

00:13:03.994 --> 00:13:08.836
And it's because they haven't been able to adapt right their product function they weren't able to change.

00:13:08.836 --> 00:13:21.186
So I would say the shortest answer is like you know, if you, if you can't adapt, then you're not able to put yourself where you're just ultimately supposed to become.

00:13:21.186 --> 00:13:30.812
You know, and all the ways that we got to where we are today, I would have never guessed again that we would have had to make the changes that we did.

00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:34.028
There was a day that I called Chase and I said Chase, I love you.

00:13:34.028 --> 00:13:38.671
Brother, you are not driving to meet another person to hand them shoes ever again.

00:13:38.671 --> 00:13:51.245
If they can find the sneaker on the website, then they are our customer and you are letting that $50 profit sale and that was a hard thing for him to hear, but we sometimes refer to that.

00:13:51.245 --> 00:13:59.714
If you want to put again between the Jeep Wrangler to 1.5 million days, that was the end of the reseller days, because this is not going to be automated.

00:13:59.714 --> 00:14:04.726
If they can't get a debit or credit card to purchase from us, then you know what.

00:14:04.726 --> 00:14:08.331
They're not going to be part of the five-year, 10-year, 20-year plan, so we got to let them.

00:14:09.594 --> 00:14:15.548
I love that and being you know you really think about, especially in the early days.

00:14:15.548 --> 00:14:16.801
I mean, the iterations can happen within a day.

00:14:16.801 --> 00:14:25.682
You can sort of decide we're going to go this way or we're going to go that way, but definitely within a week.

00:14:25.682 --> 00:14:31.825
I've had periods where I've you know, I have an advisor that I talk to every two weeks and when we talk I'm like the first 20 minutes is like you're not gonna believe all the pivots and changes and updates.

00:14:31.825 --> 00:14:36.503
You know what I mean, because it's just like well, doggy are so fixed on this, like I don't know why.

00:14:36.964 --> 00:14:39.687
The best way I can think about it is like an old school business plan sort of way.

00:14:39.687 --> 00:14:43.131
Right, I have written this down, this is definitely what we're doing.

00:14:43.131 --> 00:14:56.369
I like it more in the sort of Rick Rubin sort of the universe and the thing itself that you're creating is sort of uncovering and you're sort of discovering it as you go.

00:14:56.369 --> 00:15:15.485
And if you're okay with that process of discovery and you see it more in that way, instead of it being like there was a very specific thing that I had right here and I've got to just drive that thing home Then to your point, then you might always try and just figure out how to hand people shoes which wouldn't be sort of scalable.

00:15:16.148 --> 00:15:16.610
Absolutely.

00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:18.806
I forget where.

00:15:18.806 --> 00:15:25.485
I seen this quote too, but it's like you know, the problems only get bigger and it's not harder.

00:15:25.485 --> 00:15:37.846
You just get stronger, right, and you just, you just find a way, um, to be able to adapt and and know that there's always going to be a fire burning somewhere, but you just let it burn, right, and you'll get back around to it.

00:15:37.885 --> 00:16:04.480
But, like, your dreams come first, so you have to put everything that matters down on a piece of paper and focus on that and, like, stay to the theme of building from from a founder, co-founder, like a co-founder perspective, how what's the sort of dynamics of how you and chase play, like what's the yin yang in terms of what you, what you're good at, what you take and where you're sort of like areas where you may need support, and then vice versa absolutely.

00:16:04.640 --> 00:16:09.660
That's a phenomenal question too, because it's one that we get very often Like how did you find a partner?

00:16:09.660 --> 00:16:11.302
Is it better to have a partner right?

00:16:11.302 --> 00:16:23.062
We, in hindsight, should have established roles sooner, and I think we were both doing the same two things for those Jeep Wrangler days to the one and a half million, like for way too long.

00:16:23.062 --> 00:16:30.302
And then it really wasn't until like maybe a year ago that we established like okay, who's the ceo, who's the coo?

00:16:30.302 --> 00:16:32.787
Right, like, make the final call.

00:16:32.787 --> 00:16:35.379
Like who really is like the manager of the people here?

00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:40.278
Who's able to like, create and like it was very apparent that chase was always the creator.

00:16:40.278 --> 00:16:47.698
He's the person that, like you know, not only just puts together all of our apparel but some of the ideas that have gone the most viral within content.

00:16:47.698 --> 00:17:01.767
He's able to just think kind of, you know again, just more creatively, like what's going to really pull on more harsh things, and I'm like an operator, doer, manager and executor, and I'm able to imagine that it helps chase not to.

00:17:01.908 --> 00:17:02.434
I know it does.

00:17:02.434 --> 00:17:31.797
When I, if I can get myself out of operations mode and thinking about tools and process and other stuff, then you've got more brain space and more cycles to just sort of creatively stretch yourself versus trying to sort of even mentally task switch between finances and hiring and then being creative and innovative creative and innovative Absolutely, and it frees up again just letting the people do, or the partners do, what they do best, and the more you're able to do that, the farther you can succeed together.

00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:41.324
I think a lot of times with like creator, influencer-esque type brands, something that holds people back is like they all want to be that face, they all want to be in it.

00:17:41.324 --> 00:17:56.125
The power struggle right is like a very hard dynamic for people and that's something that was never an issue for us and we just like understand our roles and again, like he is the face, he is the creator, like I am again, you'll see me drink it here today.

00:17:56.125 --> 00:17:58.000
This is our energy drink company.

00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:58.501
You're bang.

00:17:58.501 --> 00:18:03.301
You're now love, he loves, he loves some of the partners that we work with.

00:18:03.663 --> 00:18:26.827
And like I have to make sure that it's complimentary for Chase, right, and like how we're able to provide the most value, because Chase is an extremely authentic person on camera and that's why the content has done so well and behind the scenes, I'm able to then communicate that to the brands we work with, to the wholesalers we work with, to the team that needs to run to allow him to sit in the chair and blast it to the world right.

00:18:26.827 --> 00:18:35.707
And if he's constantly trying to manage those things as well, then his content, his energy, his ability to produce on camera is going to suffer.

00:18:35.707 --> 00:18:39.986
And just building that partnership, building a good team around you.

00:18:39.986 --> 00:18:45.907
You can go fast as a one-man team, but go far as as a, as a collective group.

00:18:46.394 --> 00:18:46.736
Totally.

00:18:46.736 --> 00:18:52.903
I would say, if, chase, when you listen to this, I love the negotiations.

00:18:52.903 --> 00:18:55.403
I would send fire emojis right now if I could.

00:18:55.403 --> 00:18:58.503
They're so good I it's so like, especially in TikTok when it grabs you.

00:18:58.503 --> 00:19:06.576
When you've got this, what seems like nine year old girl that comes up and goes like all right, I want a hundred dollars, you know.

00:19:06.576 --> 00:19:07.921
And then it tastes like no, 30 and a.

00:19:07.921 --> 00:19:10.207
Secondly, you're like wait a second, what's gonna happen?

00:19:10.207 --> 00:19:15.555
And all of a sudden you're like in in 10 seconds, you're just like locked in and there's no way that.

00:19:15.555 --> 00:19:18.182
I'm like I'm, I'm leaving because I want to see what happens.

00:19:18.182 --> 00:19:24.542
And then you get to the flip and it makes it even more like okay, now I gotta stick around and see what happens after the flip.

00:19:24.742 --> 00:19:36.887
And then you get the reaction and it's just such a, it's such a great like string of, of captivating and emotion, you know, for such a sometimes just a minute of content.

00:19:37.630 --> 00:19:47.699
It's amazing and, you know, fast forward today, right, like 500 million counts across all platforms are engaging with that content on every month, on the monthly.

00:19:47.699 --> 00:20:06.268
So it's like what we're realizing is there isn't 500 million people in the world that actually care about sneak like or really want to like see the newest Jordan or the oldest Yeezy, right, but what they do care about is business making deals, shark tanks, storage, wars, s content and like again said like who's going's gonna win.

00:20:06.268 --> 00:20:21.323
It's a gamified piece of content that we're able to then bring them in and also educate the next generation on like this is how you do business, like not only is this an entertaining way of you know getting deals done, but like you can use some of these same tactics and like it's fun, right.

00:20:21.323 --> 00:20:34.582
So now what we're doing is you know, again back to the pivoting thing is like we're trying to make this as lifestyle as it possibly can be, and we're going out to hungary last week setting up a table on the street and like letting all that.

00:20:34.602 --> 00:20:54.319
There's a four-hour line in budapest for people just to meet chase oh my gosh, 99 of people that can't even speak english, but they're so moved by his energy and the content that people recreate with, like their own language over it, because there's like hundreds of clip accounts now that just basically screen record and post our content with their languages.

00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:55.704
Yeah, watching it.

00:20:55.704 --> 00:21:03.503
But they're so moved and captivated they just want to meet them Right, and they want to sell them anything, anything they could possibly do to just get a coin flip of Chase.

00:21:03.503 --> 00:21:19.961
That's where we're trending and it's like we set up a table in Venice Beach on the boardwalk on like a Monday and there was probably 150 deals done and it was people just like selling their bicycles, selling their jewelry off their neck, like selling their hoodie how much do you give me for this hat?

00:21:19.961 --> 00:21:32.661
People are coming from the woodworks because they see it live on TikTok 20 20,000 live and they're like I gotta go, I gotta leave work guys leave it in the middle of his lunch break to come sell something off his back.

00:21:32.760 --> 00:21:43.876
So it's like that's just imagine, like going into the culture, kicks vault and opening it, and there's like bikes, like you know, earrings and there's, I mean, just all sorts of stuff that people have been like.

00:21:43.876 --> 00:21:45.840
Just, just, please, please, take this from me.

00:21:46.942 --> 00:22:01.667
Or we get that too, we just totally wholesale it, don't even go home and try and resell it, because now it's just our own branded things, but it's for sure a media giant that we're trying to curate to be able to impact positively as many people as humanly possible.

00:22:01.667 --> 00:22:08.598
And you know, fortunately now that we do have some amazing brand deals and starting to make some money with the channels.

00:22:08.598 --> 00:22:09.260
That's another thing.

00:22:09.260 --> 00:22:10.925
It's two years of making nothing.

00:22:10.925 --> 00:22:18.941
It's just pouring money down an investment black hole and then now able to make maybe like two, five, 10,000 a month on some of the platforms.

00:22:18.941 --> 00:22:20.805
We're able to bless facts.

00:22:20.805 --> 00:22:23.920
We're able to give a kid an extra $100.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:29.265
Somebody that's going through a hard time, or like somebody that is a really lifetime long fan.

00:22:29.265 --> 00:22:31.740
We're able to bless them, you know, with some extra money on top.

00:22:31.740 --> 00:22:34.619
Or even buy the shoe and tell them to keep the shoe and the money.

00:22:34.619 --> 00:22:41.965
You know that sort of thing is amazing and you know all thanks to the higher powers now that we're able to do that.

00:22:50.714 --> 00:22:51.759
I'm just trying to build that as much as we can.

00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:53.708
I love that, you know you mentioned a bit of looking into the future from a media perspective.

00:22:53.708 --> 00:22:54.832
Where do you see this sort of you know, expansion?

00:22:54.832 --> 00:22:57.201
You know, do you see expansion outside of just the social channels?

00:22:57.963 --> 00:22:58.746
Absolutely yeah.

00:22:58.746 --> 00:23:05.905
So in the next one to two years we're going to try and bring on new creators and actors behind Chase.

00:23:05.905 --> 00:23:23.208
So there'll be probably one, two all the way up to hopefully 10 in a couple of years complimentary actors of all different backgrounds that are able to not only just do some of the deals similar to Chase but sell live on TikTok on the daily, and that's obviously going to grow our own brand.

00:23:23.208 --> 00:23:48.377
But I think what we want to do is really connect with some of the different cultures no pun intended countries around the world to sell and create content that is very respective to them, and we want to go on international tours to be able to not only just live stream everything we're doing but set up similar like table booths and actually purchase from those fan bases there.

00:23:48.498 --> 00:23:50.001
So again, I mentioned Hungry.

00:23:50.001 --> 00:23:54.659
One day we gained 80,000 followers on TikTok just from being in Hungry.

00:23:54.659 --> 00:24:12.150
That one oh my gosh, chase, I know, even on his personal got a few hundred followers, but it's like all in the brand, probably near 200,000 followers across all platforms, and that was just hungry going there for a weekend, chase being one of the main events on stage and they put together an amazing show.

00:24:12.150 --> 00:24:12.815
Shout out Sneakerness.

00:24:12.815 --> 00:24:20.278
But we wanna really connect with all those people around the world and I think we gotta go to the action.

00:24:20.278 --> 00:24:29.173
So, yeah, it's a little bit of that, a little bit of automating it with other influencer people that you know want to help take culture to the next level.

00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:31.104
Yeah, what does it look like?

00:24:31.104 --> 00:24:34.263
Just the internal team and what do you imagine sort of scaling?

00:24:34.263 --> 00:24:37.972
Looks like a little bit just even on the sort of core ops side of things.

00:24:38.619 --> 00:24:39.442
Absolutely so.

00:24:39.442 --> 00:24:48.122
Right now, chase and I are the majority partners partners.

00:24:48.122 --> 00:25:03.376
Uh, we're actually in the process of hiring a cfo um and also bringing in another full-time editor because we have full-time editor, full-time videographer um, another like out of house, like assistant editor, but we're trying to replace that with a full-time because there's just so much level of content and then our own actual operations to sell our own products.

00:25:03.376 --> 00:25:11.006
We're selling still about 250 items a day and that's just like Chase going live on TikTok Shopify website e-com.

00:25:11.006 --> 00:25:20.232
That takes three to five man team of just like website e-com, worcestershire operations and shipping customer service.

00:25:20.232 --> 00:25:29.444
We're looking at about all in like 10 to 12 employees right now and we're able to keep pretty lean and thin on that front because we don't have a storefront.

00:25:29.444 --> 00:25:42.788
I'm not trying to open a storefront anytime, um, and I'm trying to hire the editors, the creative directors, you know, people that are gonna think ahead, um, and put us in the best vehicle to keep growing.

00:25:43.630 --> 00:25:48.430
That's amazing what do you, what do you see like let's, let's fast forward down the line.

00:25:48.430 --> 00:25:50.345
I feel like this is changing.

00:25:50.345 --> 00:25:52.170
For a lot of people.

00:25:52.170 --> 00:25:55.799
The old sort of retire at 65 is sort of different.

00:25:55.799 --> 00:26:03.721
For the generation now that has sort of decided how to do a couple of different things at once or be entrepreneurial or whatever it is.

00:26:03.721 --> 00:26:17.290
What do you do you see as your, if you, if you jump forward to, to a long-term vision of of what you're doing and and you know, kind of um, not retirement, but like what, what are you doing later in life?

00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:22.150
Yeah, um, so I'll answer that in two ways like both, personally, but as the business.

00:26:22.150 --> 00:26:25.848
Right, so within the next couple of years, we do want to continue raising.

00:26:25.848 --> 00:26:34.807
Right now we have a loan-adjusted raise type deal that cleared past debt but then also gave us room to run, and now we're growing because of that.

00:26:34.807 --> 00:26:51.692
Chase and I definitely want to be part of culture forever, no matter what we see this as, again, a lifestyle brand that other creators are able to engage with, and whether it like join forces on our own product line they or like just do collaborative content.

00:26:51.692 --> 00:27:02.406
The word culture is basically in tune with everything in the world, right, so we want to be able to have that as just a platform to elevate other people and put them on and give back.

00:27:02.406 --> 00:27:17.073
Right, like, in next year we have our second annual, uh, make-a-wish toy drive that we're able to like donate thousands of toys for kids in the city of philadelphia and like that's a super big push for me, just like, obviously, the brand you'd be able to like make the world a better place.

00:27:17.741 --> 00:27:38.703
Um, but then, personally, right, like I do think that we're going to build other, you know, entrepreneurial businesses and and whether it be like consumable goods, things that were able to connect with culture or, uh, scale like similar verticals, like Chase, and I definitely have like, uh, you know, connection and ability to trust each other and and give each other great work.

00:27:38.743 --> 00:28:16.249
That I think, whether it be real estate or whether it be you know, who knows what, what the world brings something ai centered like definitely going to be done and do it, and I think that's kind of like where, like culture right now is like on a zero to one and we're like the arm is like us figuring out culture, but like we definitely want to make culture part of everything that we do, because, again, the audience is just we really have built family and people say like hashtag culture, family, and like they want to buy this hoodies, they want to buy the newest, whatever, um, and just kind of feel like empowered through the energy that I think we're able to display on the world and whatever bit we can carry that through.

00:28:16.750 --> 00:28:21.951
I'm extremely excited to see where it takes us totally yeah, I'm gonna be excited to watch that journey too.

00:28:21.951 --> 00:28:24.244
I think there's there's so much in and around culture.

00:28:24.244 --> 00:28:42.201
The culture has so much culture that it's like it's very much that sort of it's got that, it's got that business trajectory feeling of a nike, but it also has that that sort of um cultural relevancy like a supreme, uh you know where it's sort of it's.

00:28:42.201 --> 00:29:01.643
It's uh, it's not just a, not just like a big, a big brand around something like sports, but it's also like it's so tied into the, into the culture and the sort of zeitgeist of, of social, that, um that it's gonna be really interesting to see, to see how big you guys get we always say, if barstool and nike had a baby culture kicks

00:29:02.765 --> 00:29:05.749
yeah, but yeah, totally, I could see that.

00:29:05.749 --> 00:29:23.507
Um, or would you like if you went back now knowing what you know, like going back to to you know, uh, pre, sort of meeting and pairing with chase and or within that first year of of, um, a partner with chase and and sort of starting to build culture, kicks, what, what kind of few things would you recommend to yourself as an entrepreneur?

00:29:23.507 --> 00:29:24.250
Like what, what, what have you learned?

00:29:24.250 --> 00:29:25.935
What are like the top few things that you recommend to yourself as an entrepreneur?

00:29:25.935 --> 00:29:26.900
Like what, what, what have you learned?

00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:29.588
What are like the top few things that you've learned in this journey?

00:29:29.588 --> 00:29:33.085
That you would be like hey, alex, just hold on a second, I want to tell you these things.

00:29:33.859 --> 00:29:47.951
Yeah, I would say number one it's not that big of a deal, period, like it's all going to be okay, and maybe it's just the mindset framework, things that you'd have to tell yourself.

00:29:47.951 --> 00:30:06.289
And for me it would be like it's okay to go slower, to go faster, like build the six to twelve months out, and again, that's kind of why, if I could establish a role sooner Chase knows that I'm always thinking a little bit too much ahead, right, and he's very keeping me grounded and like living in the present.

00:30:06.289 --> 00:30:09.422
And then, where are we really going?

00:30:09.422 --> 00:30:13.172
Like we're you know, even though it seems like it's so far out of reach.

00:30:13.172 --> 00:30:15.305
Like do you want to go public one day?

00:30:15.305 --> 00:30:21.133
Like crazy thoughts at you know 25, but like do you like what do you want to sell this business for?

00:30:21.133 --> 00:30:22.820
How could you even sell it for that number?

00:30:22.820 --> 00:30:30.765
Like, build the building blocks now, even though it may not even feel possible five to 10 years from now.

00:30:30.765 --> 00:30:34.492
Build them now, because they will become possible.

00:30:34.492 --> 00:30:36.423
So I think those three things.

00:30:36.423 --> 00:30:43.382
And then, just again, really take care of people and don't burn a bridge.

00:30:43.442 --> 00:30:52.054
And we've never done that which has paid forever dividends and hopefully an entrepreneur would want to be a good person regardless, right?

00:30:52.054 --> 00:30:54.320
This is another thing.

00:30:54.320 --> 00:30:59.292
The short dollar, the short quick buck is never worth it, no matter what matters.

00:30:59.292 --> 00:31:04.651
And it's times where you can't make rent and you got screwed over on a deal.

00:31:04.651 --> 00:31:08.527
So you're like all right, this guy just scammed me, so I'm just going to scam this guy now.

00:31:08.527 --> 00:31:10.913
Don't do it, just do not do it.

00:31:10.913 --> 00:31:18.940
And it's like amazed how many times from one of my students as well, who I coach in reselling today I'm like dude, just let it go please.

00:31:18.940 --> 00:31:21.503
Because like you don't need that energy coming back at you.

00:31:21.503 --> 00:31:31.912
And even if you don't believe in that, like screwing them over or screwing someone else over who's totally unrelated is then going to ruin a future relationship for you that you're going to need.

00:31:32.413 --> 00:31:32.814
Totally.

00:31:33.194 --> 00:31:37.008
Yeah, and I, you know similar but related in that way.

00:31:37.269 --> 00:31:50.368
You know, when my wife and I have we've always had sort of this like yin yang between owning our own like digital media agency, designing and building websites, and or I go back to like a traditional job and then I sort of two years in I'm like no, no, thank you.

00:31:50.410 --> 00:31:51.902
And then I end up having my own agency.

00:31:51.902 --> 00:31:59.042
And when you first start out, you you definitely like, oh, you want a website, 500 bucks, like no big deal whatever.

00:31:59.042 --> 00:32:33.135
And then of course you learn like those are the worst, those are going to, those are going to take a year, like they're just going to chase you around for a year, that you, you get to that place where, even if you're sort of hurting for it, that you're like you know what this, the, if the relationship's toxic or this really isn't working out, I will send you your money back and I'm just going to go, walk away and do something else and just like and not even try and like negotiate or get sort of bad, bad vibes about it, just like cut your losses and move on and keep that good forward.

00:32:33.155 --> 00:32:38.338
Momentum energy, nice, amazing, same as people just get too stuck in the loss and it's like take the loss, lose the money, move on.

00:32:38.338 --> 00:32:42.770
Yeah, yeah, it's a new day every day, so go win the day, amazing.

00:32:43.401 --> 00:32:44.707
Well, thank you so much for coming on.

00:32:44.707 --> 00:32:45.804
This is so great love.

00:32:45.804 --> 00:32:50.567
I love hearing the, the, the story of uh, the jeep wrangler to the 1.5.

00:32:50.567 --> 00:32:56.726
What we'll do is what we'll, we'll, we'll, uh, we'll adjust it when we come back on.

00:32:56.726 --> 00:33:01.002
When we're talking about jeep wrangler to ipo, what has that?

00:33:01.002 --> 00:33:01.984
Has the the?

00:33:01.984 --> 00:33:04.449
The new version of that is je Wrangler IPO.

00:33:05.750 --> 00:33:10.867
It's, it's that term, I haven't even uh, but it really works.

00:33:10.867 --> 00:33:12.634
So but it really does.

00:33:12.734 --> 00:33:13.017
I think.

00:33:13.136 --> 00:33:22.010
I think what's interesting, even when you're thinking that big and I imagine someone you know an Elon or jobs or others that sort of are that see so far into the future.

00:33:22.010 --> 00:33:22.491
It's not.

00:33:22.491 --> 00:33:30.840
It's it's not crazy.

00:33:30.840 --> 00:33:36.372
To think like this is why why you've got plenty of other people that have that have done things like that, that have started something out of garages or starting something as a who was.

00:33:36.392 --> 00:33:46.148
I went to see Zuckerberg talk live in in LA or in San Francisco and he was talking about driving around like the Valley and Facebook was like a side project and he was like what am I going to do?

00:33:46.148 --> 00:33:47.770
He didn't even think of it as a company.

00:33:47.770 --> 00:33:51.375
He was just like and so you know B?

00:33:51.375 --> 00:33:53.624
You you never know what those things are going to be.

00:33:53.624 --> 00:33:59.167
And I think to your point about not having a plan B and really just sort of like setting yourself and making sure that you've.

00:33:59.167 --> 00:34:02.423
Also, you're giving yourself some grace and going slower to go faster.

00:34:02.423 --> 00:34:29.239
But I think starting to think in that way of how I'm going to operate and how this is going to happen when I have 500 people and when this is a global company and when it's public, gets you already in that mindset instead of the I'm just going to operate as if we've got like five or six people and go ahead and be that person now and set yourself up with a better foundation be that person now and set yourself up with a better foundation.

00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:44.851
Yeah, I mean, bezos' first desk was a door off the hinges and a piece of plywood next to his wall that said Amazon on it and it's like I love that spray painted sign, Like literally you can hear somebody going no, no, no, no, don't go buy anything, I got some paint right here, Mason see it in my soul, really, and it's like I think you hit the nail on the head where it's.

00:34:49.420 --> 00:35:00.742
You have to believe that you're capable of everything that you put in your own mind and, like I do believe in manifestation, like it is so real, like if you can believe it and you can see it, then it can happen and it will happen, and the only person in your way that is holding you back is literally you.

00:35:00.842 --> 00:35:24.583
So it's like go look in the mirror because I promise you know, if you have good health and hopefully have a good support system around you but even that you don't really need it's like if you believe in yourself, then there is no conditions to stop you getting from, whatever your goal is, and if Cuban can do it, if you know Bezos, zuckerberg, elon all of them, they were all here at one point as well.

00:35:24.583 --> 00:35:29.713
You know what I mean and it's like he had to believe in themselves and they had to overcome and deal with so much bullshit.

00:35:29.713 --> 00:35:33.829
But, like, look at how rewarding it is and look how many lives are able to impact right now.

00:35:33.829 --> 00:35:41.442
Um, so I think it's an amazing point and good way to wrap up too, because those are all some of my you know leaders that I look up to.

00:35:42.023 --> 00:35:44.005
Yeah, amazing, cool.

00:35:44.005 --> 00:35:48.534
Well, let me know when, uh, when, william's golden Crocs are all done, that's all.

00:35:48.534 --> 00:35:52.844
Hey, colts are on the on the back.

00:35:52.844 --> 00:35:58.829
Um, that's the flag, that's gotta be a flagship, uh, uh, piece, amazing.

00:35:58.829 --> 00:36:04.907
Well, thanks so much, and we, yeah, we should do this again, uh, in in the future and figure it with uh, you know, I want, I want to hear the the evolution.

00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:10.684
Thank you so much for having me.

00:36:10.684 --> 00:36:11.608
We'll, we'll talk, like you said.

00:36:11.648 --> 00:36:14.338
Jeep Wrangler to whatever the next one is Maybe Jet Jeep Wrangler to 1 billion followers.

00:36:14.338 --> 00:36:18.007
Right yeah, all right, thank you.

00:36:18.530 --> 00:36:19.693
Have a great one, appreciate it.