B (3:28)

Thank you, my brother. And I'm glad that I could finally validate 44's sentiments with you today. So first things first. I was saying this off camera. You look good. What are you doing?

A (3:40)

Thank you, man.

B (3:41)

I saw you. I saw you a few weeks ago. We spoke at the same event together, and I thought the same thing. You walked up, got real close, you hugged me. I'm like, he looks younger or better. What are you doing?

A (3:50)

I'm doing everything. You know, I'm a biohacking enthusiast. I am not a scientist, doctor, or anything of that nature. You know way more about health than I do, because you get very granular. But I call myself now more like the. What was the guy who used to travel world eating for Anthony Bourdain of biohacking? I'm trying everything. I'm doing everything. I started going down the rabbit hole. I had cancer in 2017. I really didn't. I thought. I thought that was a wake up call. I didn't take care of myself because then Covid came around. I was drinking more than ever. My wife, who was an amazing, strategic partner, she didn't. She didn't make it a deal breaker. She just kept looking at me and. And saying, are you okay? And I saw the disappointment in her eyes. And then I started following some of her protocols. And before you know it, I was red betting and talking to Asprey one minute and Gary Brecker the other and Dr. Amen the other and Greenfield the other. And before you know it, every single Thing I was looking at, I was like, this is gonna kill me. I'm gonna still eat it, but this is gonna kill me.

B (4:56)

My red bed's right here. There's my red bed.

A (4:59)

There you go.

B (4:59)

I just.

A (5:00)

I got the light system behind me. I got the bio over here. It's infectious. You know, you start doing it, the team starts doing it.

B (5:08)

You know, I just injected my peptides I got from Ben Green Greenfield about, I don't know, 30 minutes ago. And Dr. Amen was the last guy I interviewed on the show. So we're very similar on this. What's working on? You tell the audience something, though. And not everybody can afford all of these things either, unfortunately. I think the more and more people get access to medicine over time, hopefully it becomes something that everybody has access to. Is there something you've done? You're like, look, if you can afford this or you can do it, I recommend X or Y. Something definitively that's worked as.

A (5:37)

You know, man, you've been on this for a while. 95%, you know, if you get out of this conversation, a bunch of gadgets, you've wasted your time. 95% of the things that we do have absolutely zero to do with technology. You know, drinking as much water as you can with no chlorine in it, eating pickles and anything naturally fermented with all of the protein. But more Importantly, I fast 30 hours a week. That doesn't cost me anything. Right. I do intermittent fasting. And, you know, that's why I slip up. I'm not an expert, and that's what I say. Like, you know, I don't have great body like Ed or. Or Gary Brecker. I'm not going to talk high level. I look at it, we're putting 100 poisons in us a day. Can I get it down to 60? You know, can I go and can I. Can I do flossing and making sure the plaque is not going into my system? And get thorough about that. Can I put on the blockers so I reduce the blue lights in my home at night? You know, these very simple things that I'm doing is making a big difference because I can't take a biocharger on the road with me, and I travel 250 days a year.

B (6:47)

That much. You. If you have you on, I gotta talk business with you. The 95% thing you just said, is there something that you used to really believe about business that you just. You're like, not anymore. That's irrelevant now. I mean, like an Overall philosophy. Like I had a conversation with a realtor in Boston this weekend. His name's George Sark. He's number one dude in Boston. I love this kid. And he knows a lot of people in Boston, right? And I said, George, here's what you're limited by. Business used to be about who you know. Now it's about who knows you. Yeah, you got to get the who knows you part down. Something like that, Anything like that that occurs. You're like this used to work. Or I used to think it and I don't anymore.

A (7:29)

Well, two things. I think that you need money to make money was one of my philosophies when I didn't have money and then how did that reverse on me is that when I had a lot of money and FUBU was coming up and I was able to acquire things and do new businesses, I felt throwing money at the business was going to solve it because my ego got in the way. I could throw $6 million in the business. My name is Damon John and those are the two things that I learned. Number one, you have to love what you do and you have to be able to roll up the sleeves if you don't want to be in it yourself. You have to find an amazing partner, distributor, strategic relationship and whatever the case is and somehow reward that person and know that that person had 20 years in the business or that person will, will work 24 hours on this business and figure this out. So you, you can throw as much money as you want. But if you ask that question, money makes money can, you know, you need money to make money and having money is great. Well, I always say 65%, a lot of winners and athletes are bankrupt three years after leaving the league or winning the lotto. That means money didn't work for them. And if money worked for everybody, well then Blockbuster, BlackBerry and Kodak would still be in business in Party City. It doesn't work for everybody. But you look at Forbes top wealthiest 1000 people, 65% of them are self made men and women. That means they were broke like you and I, how we started out. So it's not money, it's putting in the work. There is no shortcuts getting a partner that's going to put in the work. But no matter what, you got to put in the work. The second part about the ego was I thought that my name is just going to get me places. No, you have to work on that name. And everybody is going to sit there and go, yeah, you will go. You go clothing right you're going to be. You're going to be an author now. You're dyslexic. You can barely even read. That's not going to work. Oh, you're going to be an investor. You didn't go to Harvard and Yale. You didn't work at a venture firm for all these periods of time. They will always doubt you. And until you prove your name and your name walks in that room before you, people are just going to push you back. And you have to constantly improve on your name. And it takes you one second to destroy it. You know, so, you know, those are the two things. Name and money. You know, you know, IP and money.

B (10:02)

How you been with rejection? I was with. I was so excited to talk to you because, you know, you and I get asked, like, the same 25 questions most of the time, so some stuff. So I was with my daughter, this thing to Boston I was just talking about, and she's graduated from Clemson. She's going to go into business and.

A (10:20)

Congratulations, man.

B (10:21)

Yeah, thank you. I'm happy to not be paying for it anymore. And that's the best part. But I was talking to her about this. I said, bella, one of the things that I said, I don't know whether you'll make it. You're smart, you work really hard. You don't have that rich kid thing. Like, she's a grind. She's willing to get after it and hustle. But I said, I don't. Where's it? I don't know. I don't know whether or not you can handle rejection in mass. Like, I don't know. And I said, that's one of the things that isn't really talked about that much is how does. Does rejection not only affect you, like, knock you out, but, like, wind you, slow you down, make you flinch a little bit. What about that element? Like, if you're giving advice to just entrepreneurs in general, business people in general, did it bug you real deep in the beginning, and did you have to get over that, or do you think that's one of your, like, quiet superpowers? Of all the rejection, you kept steamrolling through it, or did you have to learn to.

A (11:15)

Well, first of all, I'm married, so rejection is something I face every single morning and every single night. But, you know, coming up, I was able to power through it because I looked around and what I. What I accomplished, I thought. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't. There wasn't social media. I never saw anybody accomplish that at that level. And so I kept going through things, and it wasn't. It wasn't a rejection to me. It was like, holy crap. Out of the 20 times somebody said no, it was like, holy crap. Somebody said yes. Now it's game on. And I. And I. And I qualified the rejection well. Why did they reject me? Well, is it because I'm African American? Is it because I got left back in school? I don't have a history as a designer. And it made me want to give them more reasons to say why this will work. And I had to make it, as they call in Hollywood, an undeniable package, showing them all the things that could work for them. But I'm human. As I came up in the business. And all of a sudden, I have a massive business. I'm doing $350 million a year. This and that, this and that. It seemed like the rejection became more painful, and it hurt more because I was like, well, I did this already.

B (12:38)

Yes.

A (12:39)

Nah, man, you did that. And you know what? You were lucky. And the rejection hurt for about four or five years. But then I found ways to change that around and go, you know what? If they knew any better, then they would be doing what I'm doing. You know, if it was that easy, then everywhere. But he would be doing it. So again, you know, I had to start really proving it. But it's funny, I saw. I saw one time Obama, and he was interviewing Mark Zuckerberg, and Mark was like, I still hear. No. I was like, mark Zuckerberg still here? No, he said, damon. Not Damon. He said Barack. He said, when I came out with something, and I was like, all these kids in Ivy League schools are gonna be on this platform. Everybody said, no way. These kids are too, you know, uppity. Then when he heard, you know what? It's gonna grow and I'm gonna have all kids in university, they were like, the Ivy kids are definitely not gonna deal with these kids. Then when they heard that high school kids are gonna be on it, oh, that's. It's over. Then when they heard a high school kid's gonna find out his nana is on the same or her nana's on the same platform. No way. Then they said, well, you know what? When from desktops to little phones, nobody's going to be riding around the bike, you know, on this little thing, it's. Nobody's going to be on it. Then they said, knowing other country, he still hears no. And he said, I kept thinking, somebody's going to build it bigger and better than me and nobody did and I said it, I'm going to do it. So, you know, I still deal with rejection a lot. You know, you're only guy on TV

B (14:18)

that would surprise people.

A (14:20)

You know, it's funny being a public person. The cheers are big and it's not deserved, that's wrong. And the failures are deep and that's not deserved, that's wrong. It's somewhere in the middle. You know, the rejection's in the middle, the praise is in the middle. And that's where you find, or I find that I'm very comfortable with.

B (14:47)

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A (17:09)

Yeah, I think so. Because it comes with age. You know, you may have met me. You know, Shark tank has started 17 years ago. And, you know, I looked at the show maybe one or two seasons and realizing that no one's gonna know who we are as a business show. And, you know, so hopefully that was a humble aspect. And then now, you know, 17 years later, every single living president has called me for advice and not for money. Every single living one. And I've met, you know, I've met so many great people, but also I've lost so many great people. I lost 28 people in this last 16 months. You know, a couple of them, John Amos, Mr. C, Irv Gotti, Watumbo, and, you know, I got two. And then I'm just a realist, you know, why would somebody respect me? Is it money? Well, then you looking the wrong guy. Cause if Mark Cuban woke up with my money, he gonna think he a crackhead. And if Bezos woke up with Mark's money, he gonn think he a crackhead. And if Elon woke up with Basil's money, he gonna think he a crackhead. Right? So there's always gonna be somebody with a bigger wallet and a bigger brain and a more popularity with you. So again, if you walk in the room and you disarm people and just say, yum, a human being. That's who. If they don't respect you and value you for who you are right there, they're not gonna. You're not gonna make them respect and value. They're the wrong person to deal with it with. They don't respect people or they respect people for the wrong reasons.

B (18:33)

You're so right. I literally just had this conversation this weekend about the levels and what. Literally use about three of the same names you just used. So here's what I like about Shark Tank. Obviously, it's made entrepreneurship a front and center topic. It's made it sexy, it's given it hope. I think there's more young people aspiring to be entrepreneurs than ever. And I think that show has a lot to do with it, culturally. That's why I say you are one of the ten most important people. You know exactly what I meant. Culturally. To have somebody who looks like you with your level of success on TV every single week in the entrepreneurial space is an important thing, plus all of the success you've had on top of that. So what I said is actually that it's actually true. It's a fact. But having said all of that, I also think it's almost made people think two things. Anybody can be an entrepreneur, number one. So I want you to address that. And the other thing is, once guys or ladies get a little bit of money, everybody's become an angel investor, and the vast majority of them aren't very good at it. So, one, ask. I want. I want you to speak to the entrepreneurship thing. And two, honestly speaking, had you not invested in any of these deals you found on Shark Tank, but just invested in businesses you drove that were your businesses, would you be wealthier? Had it just been your money in businesses that you could control and move yourself?

A (19:57)

No, I don't. I don't. That last one, that last question. Ain't nobody asked me that one before. So probably about two of these other questions you haven't. So can anybody be an entrepreneur? No. No. As simple as that, you know, and that's sometimes the beauty of life, you know, that a lot of people can't be entrepreneurs, but they don't need to be. They're built different. You know, there are just a lot of people who are not risk takers. They don't have the vision. They have been brought up a different way where their parents told them that this is what success was, and they won't learn that until later on in their life. And they're just built. They're not risk takers. So I do not believe everybody can be an entrepreneur. Do I believe everybody can and they do work for an entrepreneur? Yeah. Every Batman like me needs a Robin. But I always joke and I say I need a cap. I need. I'm Captain Kirk and I need Spock. Robin was 100% a groupie. Anything Batman did. Holy buttermilk, Batman. How do you know you were going to drink poison, you know, but Spock, you know, I will say. I say that, you know, I'm Captain Kirk, you know, Captain Kirk was wild. He was a wild boy. He was running around. He was doing everything. Okay, we're going to do this sure. Spock will be like, listen here, Captain, 4,997 reasons why this is not going to work. Shut up, Spock. I'm doing it. And you know what Spock would do? He put his ass to sleep. You need the person who's going to check you. You need that person who's going to be that perfect yin and yang. You know, the person who's going to get detail orientated and say, you know, I know you're doing a lot of stuff, and then really hit you sometime and say, now we got to really look at what's working. And so I think that there is a mass. I think there's a massive amount of people who can support entrepreneur, but I do not think a lot of people could be entrepreneurs because it's a. I haven't met any. I've met very few entrepreneurs that were successful on their first venture. They're usually successful on their fourth or fifth. And you have to have a strong rejection muscle to open up a business again after you've been kicked in your teeth.

B (22:03)

Fact. All right, now the bigger one. Would you be wealthier had you just deployed the same capital? So you did no Shark Tank deals. You took your capital and put it into businesses that you drove, that you controlled, that were primarily under your influence. Would you be wealthier had you done that?

A (22:20)

120%. I would. Fubo would be back at at least a 2 to $400 million annual mark. Now, if I did that, and it's about learning again as we opened up, you know, when we first started Shark Tank, nobody knew the show, and the casting agents were casting agents. They didn't sit there and watch hundreds of hours of Kevin and I and the Sharks all negotiating. So, you know, it's like you, Ed, they brought you in somebody, you know, now somebody brings somebody to Ed, and you're a casting agent. They go, yeah, I'm doing $30 million of business. I have two employees. You're going to say, where exactly are you selling crack? You know that that's. That's what you're going to ask, right? They didn't know what to ask. So they brought us poor deals, and they brought us poor deals. Then we also did not know how to deploy money right away. We give money right away. Give money right away. We didn't say, what are the use of proceeds. We're going to give you X amount of money if you hit this mark. X amount of money. You hit this mark. I paid $750,000 in legal fees just to vet about 10 companies. The first year in Shark Tank, when I didn't know there was a, you know, this software, but VC just put it in and, you know, so we were learning ourselves how to be true angel investors. And we also. Then I started to say, well, you know what? I can either deploy, let's say a million dollars a year, or I can pay $150,000, two or three salaries for somebody who's a licensing person, a salesperson, and, And I can then get different software, deploy that for about $200,000, and that's able to handle Shark Tank investments and other investments. So when you come to me, I can basically break down what you need and negotiate the points and options and various other things, the triggers instead of just giving money. One of our guys on Shark Tank, the first year, he gave $500,000. The lady went off, paid all her bills and bought a Mercedes. She never said. He never. She said, listen, I'm taking money off the table. Is she wrong? You know, so we, we grew to be who we are, you know, on the show. And every day we're learning on how to deploy money different ways. Do I want an advisory seat? I'm not trying to have K1s for 900 companies. I'm going to take an option, you know, so a lot of different things, you know, changed over the years.

B (24:38)

So true on the K1s, I'm just, I just got my last K1 right now for last year. I'm like, dude, it just messes up your taxes anyway. That's inside baseball.

A (24:47)

It does, but I love, I love selling to the people. Listen, you don't hand them in. I'm gonna help you out. I'm gonna call the IRS for you.

B (24:53)

Exactly.

A (24:56)

We'll straighten all that up right now because you're not messing up my stuff.

B (24:59)

Yeah, then I get audited because you didn't Send me the K1 on time.

A (25:02)

Correct.

B (25:03)

Now we're in a new world, like, and I don't even know what it's going to look like. I, you know, people ask me all the time, I wish I, I wish I knew I'm talking about this now we're in an AI world. Not that we haven't been already. Is there something you're thinking, doing advice you'd give to entrepreneurs just about navigating this time? I mean, are you familiarizing yourself personally pretty deeply in different. Not just ChatGPT, but Sales AI or Ask Elephant or all these other things that are out there? What's your whole view on where we're going,

A (25:41)

I was speaking for a large corporation, but I've been, you know, getting, you know, as you and I know, we get to peek under the hoods of a lot of large organizations, see what they're doing. And there's a couple of different common discussions that are happening now. Of course. Talent. What are you doing with talent? How are you reducing your cost and increasing your sales? And somebody said to me, so what do you do for a hobby? And I said, you know, I just thought about it. For the last two years, I haven't done any of my hobbies because all I'm doing is studying AI. All I'm doing is studying biohacking and I'm studying live selling. Those are the three things that I'm studying. I said, because I need to have a foot up on everybody because this is moving so fast that every. As a dyslexic, eight of the 12 Sharks are dyslexic. So now I'm trying to see how can I be more efficient in my communication, how can I look at my legal and professional service costs and how can I reduce those every single month as AI moving around, you know, trademark searches, design, designing things, decks this and that, legal. How can I bake more of that information and how can I teach my team and my team teach me to be more proficient? You have a bunch of questions for attorneys, but if you have, you're using a lot of the AI, AI technology, you have a better pointed question for pointed answers. So how am I utilizing all that? How can I mimic myself and come up with avatars and great content and editing? So I'm doing that all now. And yeah, I'm going to be looking at reducing, not reducing my workforce. Most of my friends have reduced their workforce by 30%. I don't want to reduce my, yeah, 30% due to AI. I don't want to reduce my workforce. I want to triple my business with my current workforce. I want my 30 to 50 people to now do this because this is where all of the opportunity is and then take that 30 to 50 people and then have, you know, five more divisions that are running really well because I love my people. I think this is a great time for people and opportunity. So, yeah, I'm full out on AI in this sense. I'm also preparing myself. I'm going to be totally honest, I'm preparing myself for massive disruption in this, in, in this, in this, you know, in this country, in the world, when they have not start, you know, when most of these jobs for, for males are operating heavy machinery and trucking and things of that nature or car, then they're all going autonomous. When retail is all going, you know, and for a lot of women who of course are CEOs and executives, but a lot of the services are now going to be AI, you know, retail and various other things and factories. Where are these people going, you know, when you can go and get a Tesla robot for $30,000 and to get it for your home, but you use that as your landscaping business because you have three of them. Where are these people going? We're gonna, we're gonna turn into California. I know you live in California, you know, so I'm also trying to find ways to protect ourselves because, you know, when, you know, you know, they say when, when, when there's no supplies, you know, conflict will rise.

B (29:15)

You know, that's why I bought an island. I love California, but I just left. But I, I. Everyone, I want you to lean in. This is one of the smartest people in the world. And you just heard what he just said. I mean, I. Do you think Gary Elan calls it the post work Society? I don't know about that. But what do you think about. And this isn't even in my notes, but since you brought it up, you think guaranteed minimum income is like an inevitability what Yang used to talk about or.

A (29:41)

Actually, I do think, I do think it's inevitably.

B (29:43)

You do how long of a window? But do you really believe that we're going to have a guaranteed minimum income at some point? I know you're not positive, but if you were looking at it and you think that's within the next five years, 10 years.

A (29:56)

I think it's within the next five years. And I don't think it's something going to be positive. I think if we looked at what happened when we were, you know, when we were stuck at Covid and there's a big money dump, I see that, you know, drinking went up, you know, and we have too much entertainment on these things right here. And I see that everybody was online for luxury goods. That's the only thing that kind of really, you know, increased. I think that the idle minds in that period of time in that bridge is going to be very, very dangerous. I think, you know, there's going to be a lot of problems. I think you got to idle mind with a lot of times for people to think and get upset. I think it's a problem.

B (30:42)

Here's what I think. I think in five years you all could go back and Watch what we just talked about. And unfortunately I completely agree with him on the wealth disparity and on it becoming a cultural, societal, real dramatic issue that may lead to a very dangerous point.

A (31:01)

Let's be real, let's be real. If the jobs are going to decrease and the government's not going to catch up in time and we're talking about from a state level all the way up to a higher level, don't you think when and they have the data on how we're moving and what we're talking about and the sentiment, don't you think there are also going to many people going to use that to their benefit? I really would love to say, like all the people here, hopefully you're great people, but there's some bad people in the world and they create these campaigns and or ways and propaganda and they know how to tap into what we're doing emotionally now than ever before. And I just think that there's going to be a lot of the when the have nots don't have anything and you know, there's 20 homes on the block and these 17 homes don't have jobs anymore. They're coming for those three. I was out with Jose Andreas and Abaco when the hurricane had hit maybe about 10 years ago and I remember we were feeding the people and I remember somebody said, oh my God, that's that person. That person owned this business. That person owned this business. That person's own this business. And I was like, well why are they online? Why aren't they helping to feed the people? And they're like oh no, the water came up. The gangsters all went into their homes and took their homes and they're the homeless ones. It's not the gangsters, they're the ones who are homeless now. So again, you know, I know we're getting into a very dark area and I hope none of this zero happens. But just be aware, you know what I mean? I'm not going to put my head in the sand and I hope that somehow things are going to move along in a more positive way for all of us. But as entrepreneurs, you and I, we look at not where is it positively going to go, but where is any of the potential roadblocks, hiccups, hurdles that we may face in business, whether it's life without health or whether it's business like that.

B (32:59)

Well, this is good for everybody. This is what two real entrepreneurs talk about privately when we're not just trying to be rosy on camera to sound good.

A (33:05)

This is going on in Every single major corporation room right now. I was in another room. You know what they said? They said that these are the real estate investors. They said, you know, the biggest problem we're going to have, it is not going to be the have nots, is not going to be the super wealthy. It's going to be that middle compressed, highly educated person that was an attorney that was making 150 to $200,000 a year that has a two or four year lease and they know legally how to squat.

B (33:35)

Brother, this is so true. This so everyone, you can just do a swot analysis on your life and your company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. If you're not this, you're not a thinker. I mean, this is what we're really rifting on right now. I'll give you an idea, you guys, like, I just did a big estate plan for my family. It's something you'll all do once you acquire some other. I'm changing mine and I spent a bunch of money to do it. The guy just sent me this big packet information. My next door neighbor here, I'm looking at his house, did the exact same thing, except he just dunked his documents into an AI that put out the entire plan for him. So if you think this isn't coming, this dude's an estate planning attorney. And my neighbor's like, you're still using a human to do that. No offense to all the state planning attorneys, but I had someone who sells insurance the other day say to me, well, I'm safe. Because I said, I don't know, I don't know. So you know, we should just be, these are the conversations you should be having. And by the way, educating yourself about it, trying to get on the other side of it. And you know what, society and culture, everybody has a way of sort of organizing itself sometimes and hopefully it does. But you ought to be ready if it didn't. And you ought to get your family ready and you ought to get your money ready and you ought to get your career ready.

A (34:40)

So anyway, you are, I mean, you know, end of the day, I mean the insurance person, you think that down the road Uber is not going to offer insurance for private owned vehicle. You think that the hospitals and what are not going to use AI to say, you know, if you like this and that here, click these buttons and look at your best. And then they'll just, they'll just compress the insurance, you know, companies down, you know what I mean? It just depends on, you know, it's

B (35:04)

amazing how much you And I agree, Damon. So I was just saying to somebody, it may not eliminate you, but it's going to compress your value to the market. It's going to press, but it's worth even in real estate, look at even some of these online search engines like realtor.com or Redfin or, you know, these other ones, Zillow, they haven't eliminated the industry, but they've compressed the value to some extent of what an agent can charge already. And so this is just the stuff to be thinking about, you guys. And by the way, how to get on the other side of it, how to take advantage of it. You listen to this. Driving in your car today that are doing H Vac and roofs, you're in good shape probably for a while.

A (35:38)

You're in great shape right there, right? And you know what? If you're somebody who your child, we all grow up a different way. If you're like you said, you thank God you had, you're not paying anymore. But if your child is in the 10th grade and looking at a college, you know, you're going to go and borrow 5 to $600,000 worth of student debt for a job that may not even be here in two years. Or will your job potentially, you know, go and do H Vac or like my buddy with crash champions, go and get paid 75 to $80,000 a year to learn a trade? Well, oh, is my kid gonna do crash cars or H Vacs? That's what you want them to do for a living? Well, no. Maybe your kid is gonna realize that, you know what? I'm gonna learn that part of it. But all the baby boomers are going out of business and selling their businesses. They don't have a kid to hand their business down to. So I'm gonna acquire 1900 H VAC companies. I'm gonna be a gajillionaire, but I'm gonna know it from this standpoint. So. And then I'm going to roll into it and get money from other places and I'm going to then hire this industry because nobody's kid wants to be an H Vac person or a plumber when those people are going to be making two $300,000 a year. It's just how you twist it.

B (36:52)

That's exactly right. By the way, I just literally told this kid yesterday who's graduating business school at a very, very prominent school, maybe the most prominent one that you'd all know. And I said, hey, man, don't be opposed to being a plumber because that's where the money's going to be at. And owning a bunch of plumbing businesses is such good stuff. This is why I told you guys what happened when we put Damon and I together. So speaking of that connecting, there's a thing you're doing I want to know more about because I really don't understand it. I want you to tell us what it is. What is CEO access? Because I think you're connecting these CEOs help them expand their brands. Am I right about that? Like what is exactly. So listen, I know what it's like to start a new business. I've done it a few times and let's just be real, it can be really terrifying. Here's the good news. If you see me doing something online, business wise, one thing you can connect it to is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. They do 10% of all E commerce in the US household names to startups like when I started and also big time businesses like this podcast now. So get started with your own design studio. Hundreds of ready to use templates are there. They help you build beautiful online store to match your brand style. You get efficiency, you get uploading, you can improve your closing ratios. It's packed with AI tools, product descriptions, product photography as well. So it's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com mylet go to shopify.com mylet that's shopify.com mylet so you know how when you're doing something that's good for you and then you stop doing it, all of a sudden you feel what the heck changed. So here's what happened to me. I've been feeling great for like a year and a half. It's because I've been on IM8. Then we moved to our place in Maine and I didn't bring my supplement with me. So if you've been looking for something easy to stick with that actually makes you feel better, this might be it for me. It absolutely is something I rely on and I noticed when I missed a few days. So give your body what it deserves with IMA. Go to im8health.comed and use code ED for a free welcome kit. Five free travel sachets plus 10 off your order. So seriously, this is one of those offers you're going to wish you jumped on sooner. That's IM8.com ED and use code ED for a free welcome kit. Five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order at imaidhealth.com ED code ED. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease you're doing.

A (39:29)

It's funny. So, you know, as I. I learned, I evolved. You know, one day, I was. I was. I was talking to one of my CEO buddies, and he said, hey, you want. You. You want to help me brand myself? Because, you know, when I'm finding out that I. I need to brand myself, I said, no, this guy's doing, like, $4 billion a year. I said, you don't need any help. I'm here, you know, I'm here for. I'm the people shark. I'm here for the people. He's like, yeah, okay. Now, I know this man, and this man has adopted many children. He's done a lot of stuff in life, and he is one of the purest people you'll ever meet, you know? And he said, but if you help me, then I can help more people. And I said, holy. I'm becoming what. I'm fighting against somebody, you know? And I said, you know, I'll work with you. And so what I decided is, like, we only have a limited amount of time. If I go on In My Life podcast, you know, Ed doesn't need me, you know, next week or next month.

B (40:26)

But who.

A (40:26)

And Ed is sitting there going, who do you have? And I know everybody would love to be with you, but you. Like, who do you have in your Rolodex that can talk on this topic on a granular level? Because I need to bring real debt. Okay, I got this person. If I go on cnbc, msnbc, I show people that I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I got the Henry Ford thing. But I know the smartest person in the world, and I bring on this person. And what happens is I share stage with them. So a lot of my CEOs, I've gotten them on cover of success magazines and various other things, but for the right reason. Guys who are walking and girls who are walking in the room, and the room needs to know who they are before they get in. And like I tell people, if you're not in charge right now, where. Where the day and age is no longer make it. They will come. They want to know who's making it, why you're making it. But CEOs today, they can't go to their executive, you know, assistant and say, make me famous. For the right reasons. Well, do you hire a publicist? Do you hire this and that? Who's the one who talks to him about estate planning when you now have a billion dollars in your bank? Who's the one who talks to them about being non collectible? So there's a lot of real estate brokers, there's only one Barbara Corcoran, there's a lot of basketball team owners, there's only one Mark Cuban, there's a lot of real estate developers. The most powerful man in the world not talking to religion or politics here. There's only one Donald Trump, there's only one Damon John. I just put a couple of Fubus on a shirt. You have to be able to brand yourself now because if not, you're at the mercy of the kid in the mail room who has 200,000 followers who decide to say you're a racist or a misogynistic pig. You gotta go and get Spin Doctors is over. And you had to cut 40% of that hard working staff because you never had a microphone. And so you know, CEO need to, need to brand themselves. So I've created like a management company for CEO was managed by me and my team and my staff. I'm not only the president, I'm a client, you know, so that's what they treat everybody like they treat me. So that's what co access is. Anybody you think or anybody out there who is interested could potentially qualify. We can only take two a year. Check out ceoaccess.com Very good you guys.

B (42:36)

By the way, it's what I said earlier. It's not who you know, it's who knows you. It's actually both. But this helps with the who you know. Let me ask you this last by the way. This has been a tremendous conversation. I didn't even know we were going to go in some of these directions. I'm really grateful that we did. I love that you have such depth and range of topic. I love that about you. What about this idea of community and brand? I'm just trying to think of something that you know, not everyone's thinking about right now. So you just said for that CEO, obviously them building a brand matters. I feel like I don't know that that's just limited to a CEO like I in real estate. Here I'm in Pontevedra beach. There's a couple, there's a billion realtors, but there's a couple people online that are kind of like become like the mayor of, of Ponte Vedra type brand. You Know what I mean? And I can honestly say, if I was to go sell a house, I'm probably. It's the person I see the most regularly. I would probably go to them. So what about brand building for anybody? Maybe you don't think it needs to be for everybody, and that's completely fine. And then also community. Two things are correlated to me a little bit. How important is it for a company to build a community as it builds its brand? Like. Like FUBU did, like Starbucks has. It's kind of a community, right? Those two things for your everyday entrepreneur out there, should they still be working themselves on building a brand in a community themselves?

A (43:56)

Yeah, absolutely. You know, we talk about the CEOs. I talk about that because that just happens to be where I, you know, where I am and where I can add the most value. But I always, I mean, I wrote a whole book on it, right? The brand within it is for every single person is a brand. So two things. Number one, you are a brand. You are a business. Whether you think a brand that the crest on, you know, the shield representing, you know, a royal family or a family here, or you, you know, you being a brand of a family in a church or a family who loves food, you're. Everybody is the brand. And you are personally a brand. You know, you have to be. I always say people have to be able to put themselves in two to five words. Now, it could be ten words, but if you can't define the two to five words, who you. Well, then you walk into the room, you leave it up to other people to interpret. And why is that more powerful now than ever before? Because we're no longer shaking your hand and looking you in the eye and call your references. We're all looking at you through this. So we're checking you out before you walk into that room. And who is working for you as a founder or in your family? When I'm following them, I don't know if they're talking on their personal time or your time. We have the freedom of speech in this country. But when your child is talking about you or talking about their life, I'm looking at the family's brand. The child is brilliant, the child is smart, the child is nice, the child is cordial, or the child's an animal. Who the hell? It's their parents. Let me see what's going on at home. So you are personally brand community 100% the number one product in Shark tank history, and it's mine. Out of all 54 shark tanks around the World is bombas socks. It's a sock. They do $2.7 billion this year. Hit that mark. And why? Every pair of socks they make, product is king. But they give a pair away to those in the homeless community. Now, they don't just give them away. They're in the communities. They know the directors. They know the people. And so, you know, as a community, brands are community. Don't think that your brand has to be or your community has to be polished and great. Old dirty bastard was an old dirty bastard, and he knew his community. Wu Tang was a certain way, but, you know, you have a brand. Let's. Let's talk about brands really quick. Well, you have this one that's in Bloomingdale or Louis Vuitton. It's the greatest brand. You're only gonna see one of these white shirts ever. Meanwhile, they got 100 in the back, and you pay $200 for that white shirt. All right, you go to Macy's. Well, I want this white shirt. It has a polo horse. It looks like a guy playing horses. And I'm gonna look like I'm sexy. You know, a horse on a yacht. You pay about $70 for that. And that brand, you see other people wearing it. You know where they're from. And then there's the person who's like, I don't care about all that stuff. I'm a slob. And I'm gonna buy three white T shirts for a pack in a pack for $20. And when I spill crap on it, I don't care. By the time you bought that one Louis Vuitton one I got, and I give it away to those in the homeless community, even the people out there who you live, you, are you in California. I'm a tree hugger. Don't get me wrong. I'm a tree hugger, and I'm about to save the planet. But you're gonna still see me around my Land Rover, my Yeti bucket, you know, my North Face. I'm gonna be hugging trees. Looking good. It's still a brand. So again, we are all communities and brands.

B (47:30)

Was this good, you guys, or what? Like, sometimes at the end of the show, I go, hey, share the episode. I don't need to ask anybody to do that today. This is going to people. I guarantee you. This is, like, why I do the show, by the way, everyone, you won't see this then, but it's. He and I, we're four days before Christmas, and we're both still in the hunt right now. Those of you that doors that are on your three week whatever trip you're on. Just so you know, maybe success leaves clues. We're both grinding on the week of Christmas. Damon, this was so good. I, I'm really grateful that you did this. This was, we had a great show the other times. This is awesome right here, brother. So thank you so much.

A (48:08)

I love you, man. I wish we get to spend more time we're always in passing and check on you and we ask all our friends. I'm going down to hand Dan Fleischman's over at the Cassia center handing out 30,000 toys to kids right now. I'm gonna head down there, man. But I really, I, I'm always really impressed by you. You are just such an amazing human being and such a powerful, powerful speaker communicator and man, any, anytime. And let's, let's, I don't want to do the Hollywood. Let's just try to get together but let's just try to get together whenever we can, brother.

B (48:39)

I love you, brother. God bless you. All right, thank you, everybody. Share the episode Max Out.

A (48:47)

This is the Eddie Milan Show. Two kinds of phishing out here, one for Phish, one for your data. Hackers try to hook you, but Cisco Duo keeps every user and device protected. Cisco Duo fishing season is over. Learn more@duo.com.